Bird’s Eye View

A few years back I had the chance to take a pastor friend of mine to visit Chicago for his first time.  Did I mention my friend is from the African country of Uganda?  Understand that in Uganda the tallest building was 20 stories tall.  So you can imagine his reaction as we walked down the Chicago lakefront and onto Michigan Avenue.  His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped.  I felt like I was walking around with a small child, having to keep an eye on him so that he was not run over by a car or person as he gazed up into the skyline.  As we walked he saw in the distance what he believed was the biggest building he had ever seen, the Prudential building.  This building is 41 stories tall, and twice the size of anything he had ever seen.

Our final destination of the day was the observation deck of the John Hancock building.  Standing at 100 stories, and over 1,112 feet tall, the Hancock is the second tallest building in Chicago, only to the Willis (Sears) Tower.  As my friend walked out of the elevator into the observation deck and saw the panoramic windows before him he was shocked.  After convincing him that it was indeed safe to go look out the windows, he noticed something.  Bill, isn’t that the building we were just looking at? (He was pointing to the Prudential building)  It looks so small from up here.

I would guess that as many of you read this right now, you may feel you are facing struggles and fears than may be overwhelming; much like my friend felt looking at the Prudential building.  Your busy schedule the next few days, paying the bills, having a tough conversation with your kids, needing to reconnect with a spouse, wondering if my job is stable, and more.  Honestly all that life sends at us can be overwhelming, discouraging, and just downright tough to handle.  We can quickly feel like the struggles of our life are the biggest, most overwhelming, that they are the tallest tower.  It is at those moments that it is crucial to step back and gain some perspective.

A simple conversation at your kids sporting event turns when your friend opens up about their family’s financial struggles, and they wonder out loud if they will be able to keep their home.  Suddenly your financial issues seem much smaller.  You are shocked when you hear about a friend’s family dealing with serious medical issues; you suddenly are not so worried about the medical issues in your own family.  As we speak to others, it allows for us to see the bigger picture, to put everything in perspective.  Ever considered reading the Bible as a conversation partner in gaining perspective?  As you read about the struggles of the early believers and how God intervened in their situations, we are reminded that we worship a big God, who is active in the lives of those he loves.  We are reminded of the smallness of us and our lives compared to the greatest of the God we worship.

Gaining perspective does not remove the pain, the heartache, or the stress of the struggles that we each face on a daily basis, but encourages us to remember the place of God in the midst of all that we experience.

Pastor Bill

Discussion Questions:

1. What in your life feels overwhelming right now?
2. Why are those things so overwhelming?
3. How could you gain some perspective on all that is going on around you?
4. Where does God fit in your world?

Watch This

You have heard the conversation between kids before.  I bet I can throw this ball over the house.  I can bend my foot up and lift it over my head.  I can run faster than you, I can jump over that puddle.  I can lift 100 lbs; well I can lift 300lbs.  The conversation just gets bigger and bigger with the kids one upping the one who came before them, and all the other kids sit around saying, “Whoa, no way you can do that?  Really?  I don’t believe it.”

In Matthew 17 the disciples are trying to heal a child that is possessed by a demon, but they are unable.  So the family brings their child to Jesus, and Jesus heals the child.  Immediately the disciples begin to speak, “Whoa Jesus, how did you do that, we couldn’t do it, so how did you do that?”  Jesus looks at them with all seriousness and says to them “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21).  Last summer Amy and I planted our first garden!   I remember getting all the packets of seeds for our soon to be veggies: tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, bell peppers, basil, and cilantro.  As I got home to help plant them I took them out of the packs with disbelief…that’s it?  Our big tomato plants are going to come from this little thing?  This is what Jesus is trying to say to the disciples, if you have faith, just a little tiny bit of faith like that, you will have the ability to move mountains.  No wonder the disciples didn’t believe Jesus.  Faith that small can do something so BIG?  Are you sure?

Jesus can’t mean that we can do that, can he?  Isn’t Jesus just talking to the disciples, who were power houses of faith, of course they will be able to do stuff like that, they hung out with Jesus.  Jesus did not qualify this statement like that at all.  In fact I believe he intentionally said this as a reminder that the power, the strength, the amazing work is done by God, not us.  But do we really believe this? Even today we often think, don’t all big things of faith happen through people with BIG faith?  Isn’t it the pastor, the elders, the deacons, the lay leader’s job to do all the heavy lifting?  They are the ones who can do that stuff, not me; my faith is too small, my faith could never do anything of significance.

You might be sitting reading this thinking of all the mountains that have been a part of your life for far too long, mountains that have been crushing you, and mountains that you are unable to get rid of no matter what you have tried (and you have tried about everything).  Mountains of debt, fear, depression, broken relationships, addiction to pornography, drugs, or gossip.  But Jesus message is clear, faith the size of a mustard seed, faith that God can do it, is able to move mountains, to change the world, to change your life.  The question remains do you believe it?

Pastor Bill

Discussion Questions:

1. What mountains and obstacles are you facing in your life right now?
2. What makes it challenging to believe that mountain can be removed?
3. What would moving a mountain out of your life look like?  How would you know it was moving?

When the Going Gets Tough

I am sure you heard this phrase growing up, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  If you have ever been in a relationship with another person you know what this looks like well.  To build a strong relationship or marriage, it takes a tremendous amount of work.  The easy solution is to just coast, take things for granted, sweep challenges under the rug, and hope it all works out for the best.  The greatest challenge is to work at that relationship.  It is tough to have blunt conversations as you try to hold each other accountable.  It is tough to talk about intentions, dreams, and plans, especially when they are not congruent with the other person in your relationship.  Best put, relationships are lots of hard work.  Yet the deepest and strongest relationships require hard work, and overcoming challenges and obstacles together.

Our faith is no different.  Right now we are in a time of 21 days of prayer and discernment.  We are seeking to listen to God for his leading in both our lives and our church.  We are working hard on our relationship with God, to grow, and to grow as a church together.  But that is not easy work, because as we hear in 1 Peter, “Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you.  Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:7-9 NIV)

This passage makes one thing clear, although God is for us, the devil is against us, hoping that we fail, hoping that we get discouraged, hoping that we will give up, change course, stop trying, and just take the easy way.  Jesus puts it this way, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14, ESV)

As I write this, I am trying to fend off the sniffles, because I have some sort of cold bug.  I don’t write this to say I am sick because we are in a time of prayer, but I think the two are connected.  Are you finding yourself fighting with your spouse more?  Ever considered that our time of prayer might have something to do with it?  Has work been more challenging, been in more disagreements at church, and struggled more than ever to find time to read the bible?  The road to life is HARD.  As we seek to listen to God, to hear this calling on our lives, it may be hard.  But hard does not mean we are on the wrong track, it does not necessarily mean that we need to stop or change direction.  Hard may be a confirmation that in fact we are hot on the trail of what God has for us, and the devil is working hard to make sure we don’t get there.  So instead of, “if the going gets tough, the tough get going,” let’s instead try, “If the going gets tough the faithful pray for one another, lean into God, and trust that He will be with them.”  When it gets tough let us pull together as one body to lift up and support one another in the work that God has called us to.

Discussion Questions

1. Are there are places in your life right now the going is getting tough?

2. How do you typically respond to challenges and obstacles?

3. How will you look to others for support in tough times?

Pastor Bill

Count the Cost

Each day we make choices and decisions.  What to eat for breakfast, to speed or go the speed limit, to be kind to others, or have a chip on your shoulder?  Every decision that we make comes at a cost.  Sometimes the cost is obvious, we chose to buy a product and it’s lowered the balance of our bank account, we make a business decision that has a tangible financial cost to it.  Yet every one of our decisions comes at a cost.  Treating your co-workers with kindness or with cruelty may inform their perspective of Christians.  Working overtime everyday takes a physical and emotional toll on you as well as friends and family closest to you.  All our choices have an effect on both ourselves as well as those around us.

Have you ever thought about being a follower of Jesus as one of those choices that we have to make?  Jesus talked very bluntly with his followers about this importance choice and its effect on their lives.  Jesus used this analogy, “”For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him.” (Luke 14:28-29, ESV)  Jesus challenge to the disciples is count the cost.  That each of their decisions as a follower of Christ has consequences, and they have better thought through the long term consequences of their actions, not just the immediate ones.

Yet as we read this we often think of the big decisions, buying a home, a car, starting a family and more, but it is not just the big decisions that we need to be thinking about, or as Bishop T.D. Jakes puts it, “The costliest decision that you ever make for your business, church, or family may the decision that you chose not to make.”  Perhaps the most costly decision with investing money would be not selling a stock off and keeping things just as they were, and losing thousands.  You notice your lifestyle is leading to weigh gain, but changing would be so hard so you don’t, until you gain 40 pounds, and find out the cost of losing those 40 pounds.

As follower of Christ we are regularly asked to make decisions, some for change, and some to keep things the same.  Jesus reminder in this passage is that as we weigh decisions that we need to count the cost.  To change nothing comes at a cost, sometimes even higher than to change everything with weigh loss, investments, and our faith and church.  As we continue to seek the Spirit’s leading for our work and ministry this is a central question that we each need to wrestle with.  What is the cost of this?  How does this affect others at church, in my family, and at work?  Jesus call here is that mature and responsible disciples make sure they understand the consequences of their choices before they are made.  Because sometimes the costliest, most painful decision that causes the most loss, is the decision to do and change nothing, to remain on the same path.

To Preach or Not to Preach

Each week pastor’s stand before churches all over the world and preach.  So what is it that they are trying to accomplish?  I can only speak for myself, but I want to share what it is that I believe I am called to do when I preach from God’s Word.  First of all, I am not trying to add to or modify God’s Word, we are told clearly in scripture that God’s Word is a, “lamp to my feet and a light for my path,” (Psalm 119:105) and that God’s Word is, “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

As a parent, you are faced with a significant challenge, teach and mold your child so that one day they can grow up and live on their own as an informed and mature adult.  But you also know that as parents you can not prepare you child for each and every specific situation.  Instead as a parent you work from an early age to teach your child a number of foundational principles and thoughts to guide their life by.  That way when they encounter a situation they have a foundation to stand on as they make decisions.  Parents who have prepared their children to be adults well have children who have learned to maturely think and process, and to make their own thoughtful decisions.

For the message to be a place for the pastor to shed light and give all the answers about anything scripturally related is just not accurate.  As a pastor I have been given lots of training, and spent plenty of time studying God’s Word, but there is still a lot that I don’t know, and don’t have the answers to.  But what I do know is that each week we open God’s Word, and that can change our lives.

There is no way that we can cover every topic and answer every question in church.  But instead the hope is that each week in the message I take time to bring a deeper understanding of the bible, the language it was written in, and the context it came out of to everyone listening.  Each week the message is meant to be a place to allow you grow in your biblical foundations, so that you have firm ground to stand on as you make decisions and figure our living a Christian life looks like.  I hope through preaching I can help to prepare you to see the world through a mature, developed biblical worldview.  I hope you can reflect each week on God’s word in a new and deeper manner than the week before.  And I pray that together we might spur one another on to keep learning and keep growing in our knowledge of scripture, and our relationships with God.  So next time you wonder, what is he doing up there during the message, you have a little glimpse into what I pray is happening.

Can We Talk?

Can we talk?  This may be the most dreaded line that is ever used in relationships of any sort.  Before you even answer, you begin to dream up all sorts of awful what-ifs, about all the terrible reasons that you may need to talk with that other person.  It is not often that we ask, “Can we talk?” for positive reasons.  We are reminded often that our relationships live and die on communication.

This week at church we are going to begin a series on those sacred conversations that we have with God in prayer.  How often do we communicate with God, both in listening or speaking?  Throughout Scripture we are told that prayer is integral to our lives, it is the air that we breathe, and a cornerstone to our relationship with God.

As we reflect on our own prayer lives, when or how do we speak with God?  Like in many relationships I think that we can fall into ruts of doing things the same way.  Are you in rut when you speak with God?  Do you offer the same prayers, in the same way day after day?  Do you listen to God or just talk?  Do you offer prayers of thanksgiving and adoration, or a laundry list of needs and wants?  Do you even speak with God outside of times of crisis?

Throughout the history of the Church thousands of different ways to pray and communicate with God have been used, many of which I learned about for the first time as I attended seminary. Often our picture of prayer is shallow.  We envision closing our eyes, bowing our heads, or praying a memorized prayer like the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostles Creed.  If we believe that prayer is communication with God, then prayer is much broader and deeper than most of the ways that we currently pray.  Prayer can involve listening or being loud, we can pray through music, writing, drawing, and dance.  We can pray with our minds, our hearts, and our bodies.  How we communicate with God can be as unique as each of us.

I encourage you to think about how you communicate with God.  For some, prayer involves meditating on scripture to hear his leading, playing a musical instrument, writing out prayers in a journal, praying out loud, and more.  Take time this week to think a bit about your prayer life, and perhaps how you can improve how and when you talk with God.

“Sacred Conversations” Series

July 25^th Psalm 121 – “Trust”

August 1^st 2 Chronicles 7:11-18 – “At the Core of it”

August 8^th Matthew 6:1-14 – “More than Me”