Just do it!

Training is tough.

In today's modern world of 24-hour digital connectedness, where everyone has a personal computer in their pocket, you can receive a wide variety of training in a wide variety of ways. Or so it seems.

You can screen out best practices from a blog. You can purchase online education for almost any undertaking. Youtube has videos demonstrating everything from playing the guitar to repairing a carburetor, and google has pointers for every pursuit from breastfeeding your baby to house-training your pets. You can find twenty solutions to any problem, as long as you can articulate it and google it. Information is everywhere, and it can be in your hands at the speed of light.

But information is not the same as training. 

Despite the nearly omniscient nature of the internet, I think something often gets lost in translation. There's every sort of learning available on the web, but I think real training in most areas still requires three components that the internet struggles to provide: experience, accountability, and oversight.

In most cases, these components require real people in real relationships. In most cases, you can learn ABOUT a skill by watching others do it, but, in order to LEARN a skill, you have to actually PRACTICE it. Maybe hundreds of times. Maybe thousands.

It's no different walking the Way of Jesus. In order to learn and grow, you have to do. And everybody and their brother has an idea of what that should look like. Everybody has a plan or a program. But talk is cheap. And time is short. And there's just no substitute for doing.

Like the great angst-ridden, teen-aged philosopher, Holden Caulfield, I'm not a big fan of "phonies." But, sometimes ya' gotta fake it 'til ya' make it. Sometimes, you just have to figure out what needs done, and go do it.

Fortunately, the way this whole Jesus thing is set up is that you don't have to do it alone. You should always have experience, accountability, and oversight on the Way of Jesus, because they’re built right into the system. It's called the church. And if we’re doing it right, church should be the perfect example of training done right. But you can’t do it by watching, and you can't do it yourself. You can’t do it in a book or a pew or a laptop. That's not the way it works. You have to do. You have to try. You have to go. Together.

Just do it!

Pastor Ed

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Series Title: 7 THINGS

Message Title: God isn't gullible

Date: 5/8/16

Main Passages: Romans 12:1

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• What is most unnerving about the fact that you can't fool God?
• What makes you most nervous about following Jesus?
• In what area do you feel least qualified in following? Love? Grow? Go?
• What's the main thing that's keeping you from truly following?

Good news!

So, last week at Quest, we talked about how our God is so great and powerful that we can't fully know him (if you missed it, you can listen HERE). But can we know him enough? Can we understand the Creator of the universe well enough to grasp what our relationship with him should be? 

We talk about "being saved" and "repentance" and "The Way of Jesus," but what do those things really mean? Can we understand them in a practical way? Can we truly know how to respond to a God who is so huge and powerful, but who also insists that he is present with us whenever we gather? What do we do with that?

One guy who did a really good job of wrestling with it is Paul. He was a smart guy, and he worked his way through these ideas, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and fortunately for us, he wrote it all down in a series of letters to the very first churches and their leaders.

One of those letters was written to the churches in Rome, Italy, which was, at that time, the central hub of civilization. And there is a long-standing tradition, in the church, to grapple with salvation and what exactly we are saved from, by working our way through the Roman letter.

This is often accomplished with something called "The Romans Road" - a series of verses in the Roman letter, which, when read in order, should open up the good news of Jesus Christ in a clear and understandable way. I have put together my own version of the Romans Road for your consideration, and you can download it HERE.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed
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Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God isn't simple
Date: 4/17/16
Main Passages: Job 38:4-7

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• If you've ever tried to "share your faith" what was the most difficult part?
• When do you think it's appropriate to do so?
• Would you be more or less likely to share if you had a resource like this? Why?
• What do you think is more important, conversion or discipleship? Explain.

Did you read the directions?

Have you ever heard the world "Bible" used as an acronym? 

Have you ever heard it said, “B-I-B-L-E stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth?”

When my kids were enrolled in Christian school, I heard this quite a bit, and, back in the day, there was even a Burlap to Cashmere song with that title. That would be great, right? It would be great to have a basic instruction manual to get us out of this life alive, wouldn't it? 

I see little handbooks all over the Christian bookstores that seem to take this stance on the Bible. But is that what God's given us? Is that what the Bible is?

If it is, that certainly would make life a lot simpler.  If we could just have a little glossary where we could look up a problem, then follow the glossary listing to the appropriate page, and we'd find simple instructions on how to handle every situation.

     - Depressed? See page 1042.

     - Child misbehaving? Page 619.

     - Wife not being submissive enough? Follow the diagram on page 196.

     - Bit of leprosy? See figure 11b, page 746.

     - Being overrun by pagan hordes? See pages 593-615.

     - Evangelizing? Consult flowchart, page 1267, entitled “Soul Winning for Beginners.”

That would sure simplify things a mite. But if you've ever cracked open a Bible, you know that's not what’s there. Every time you read the thing, it seems to be saying something different to you. It’s so rich and lyrical that it speaks to you differently depending on the day of the week, the level of your research, state of your mind, and the condition of your soul. It describes itself as “living and active” for a reason.

It’s both simple and complicated, which implies that the one about whom it speaks is likewise both simple and complicated, both unfathomable and understandable. Which is why we can view him with both awe and love - both fear and longing - which seems, at least to me, like the perfect qualifications for worship.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed

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Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God isn't political
Date: 4/10/16
Main Passages: Matthew 17:24-27

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):
- How much do you think God gets involved in the affairs of man?

- What does it look like for God to respond to our prayers?

- What do you believe about the Bible? Is it without error? Is it written by men? God? Both?

- Why do you think the Bible isn't more specific? Why does it seem contradictory?

Future Shock

We've been talking about how God isn't looking for excuses to punish you or reasons to weed you out, but instead, he wants to help you become a good citizen of the kingdom. So, if God is more interested in what we're becoming than he is about who we are and what we've done, then maybe he's just generally more interested in our future than our past? Maybe he's less interested in our record - how we've responded to things previously - than he is about how we respond from here on out. 

If that's true, part of me says, "That's great! It's all about what's next! It's all about potential!" But another part of me says, "Oh, dear. What if I don't do any better than I have? What if my future is just as messed up as my past?"

Good question. But maybe a better way to think about it is to remember that Jesus didn't just stroll into your life once you noticed him. You didn't call him out of retirement. The reason you noticed him is because he's been there all along; you just didn't notice him until you figured out what to look for. He's been at work in your life, and a huge part of your development as a Jesus follower - as a disciple - is noticing that. The first big step in your sanctification process - your God-directed forward movement - is this awareness that your future matters, both to you and to him.

With that understanding in your back pocket, the rest of your life is all about a kind of four-step process: engage - respond - correct - repeat. Prayerfully step out. Respond to things as best you can. Based on results, make prayerful corrections. Then do it all again. And again. If you keep this up, God will use you, grow you, and bless you.

It's not easy, but it's awesome.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed

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Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God's not exclusive
Date: 4/3/16
Main Passages: Galatians 3:28

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• In what ways have you felt excluded - in life - in the church?
• Does the idea that God is "inclusive" make you uncomfortable? If so, how? If not, why not?
• What -isms have you struggled with receiving or giving (racism? sexism? ageism? etc.)?
• How has your church family helped you with any of this?