e-Soundings

What were you like before? What are you like now..... after an encounter with Christ?

As we prepare to gather for our Annual Conference in Redlands, (see below) most of our attention usually  focuses on the actions we want to see taken, or the successes in ministry we've had this year. 

We rarely talk about how Jesus Christ has changed our lives and set us on a new path.

I ran across the following video and it set me to wondering.    Watch it now and then read the rest of this note.

"Cardboard Testimonies" from Hillside Christian Church, Amarillo, Tx

The Core Values of our Fellowship

Our Mission / Vision Statements (mentioned in a previous post) are “filled in” by a comprehensive statement about out Core Values and how we are going to live out those statements.

Below is our agreed upone "constellation of values" that we are working toward with every decision, action and intent that we engage in.
We have identified the following values to be the positive attitudes that we all affirm and try to live be in our fellowship.

   First and foremost, we are: ** Christ-Centered **

   We seek the sacrificial, loving and graceful presence of Jesus Christ in everything we do, especially in our leadership style and our relationships.
   The following form a “constellation” of behaviors that surround our “Christ centeredness.”

Are you making any headway against the Christmas shopping onslaught?

  This used to mean that by now you’d have all your Christmas shopping done, your family events were planned or underway, and you were getting down to wrapping.

    However, new thinking is challenging all of that. 

     The “Advent Conspiracy” is a web page that helps us think of ways to keep our focus on the birth of Christ.  http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

     It has lots of links and other resources to help us think about what we are really doing by consuming so much, rushing about so much, worrying so much.

     It’s part of a trend over the last 10 to 20 years to return our celebrations to their spiritual roots rather then simply give up and “go with the flow.”

     The problem comes when you mess with some sacred and cherished

Why does the church always ask for money?

This is a common  perception that is often reinforced by the frequent pleas for donations to worthy causes and even the weekly "passing of the plate."

When this concern is voiced, it's often with the idea that the church is asking for money for itself.

However, there are plenty of weekends and seasons when the need to fund the body of Christ isn’t even mentioned.

True, we take weekly offerings.  And we have opportunity to respond to the various needs of Hurricane & Earthquake relief, support music, missions and other groups in our church.

But only once a year do we ask you to think about the year ahead and what God is leading you to do about the “hard reality” of funding such a great organization such as ours.

Our “Stewardship” program is simply a time to consider our use of money in a prayerful way.

We do this with great care and reliance on God for we know that “the love of money is the root of evil.”  1 Timothy 6:10.

Notice that this does not say that “money is the root of evil,” but it’s the love of the stuff that sets us up for a fall.

In fact, the love of anything above all other things can lead us into evil.

We are all called to love God.  We are called to make God #1 in our lives.  We lose our way when we love other things more than God.

That’s why this Stewardship Season is such an important one.  It helps us put our priorities back in place.

It challenges us to examine any “slippage” in the focus of our love.

On Nov. 5 & 6, we’re gathering together for worship and catered meal.

We are urging each and everyone to come and hear about God’s power when it gets control of our money.

The meal that follows each service is our way to say: “Thank You!... and Thank God for You!” in all the ways you support our congregation.

And it will provide a way for you to make an “estimate of your giving” for 2006.

This is important because our Finance Team will then go to work to match up our income with the hopes and dreams all our leaders are having about God’s work here.

Our leaders have already pledged to challenge each other to a 10/10 Challenge… working to see a 10% increase in their pledges as well as seeing if there are some of that who could “step up” into “tithing.”  (Give 10% of their yearly income.)

We hope that you can join them in this 10/10 Challenge....

We know that God has blessed us all in many abundant ways.  We’re looking forward to how God will be blessing us through your giving in the coming months.

Please keep our whole church and all our leaders in your prayers.

How goes it with your soul?  …and what scripture has stayed with you lately?

What would others around you say they learned about

Christ from you this week?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Terry

P.S.  We’re double checking, but it looks like we’ve given away over 20% of the moneys we’ve received to missions, benevolences and apportionments outside our church. Wow! We’re a “double tithing” church!

Growing an ‘Attitude of Gratitude’.

    There are many ways to live your life.

   You can live in hope, or you can live in fear.

    You can structure your live around things,
            or you can structure your life around love.

    You have a choice in how you approach your life and how you approach those around you.

    If you feel that the world is unfair and has dealt with you harshly, it’s easy to become bitter and defensive.

    If you feel the power and presence of God’s love in Jesus Christ, then anything you face, anything you see around you, and every person you encounter is seen no longer by your eyes, but by God’s eyes.

    This is the secret of living with an “Attitude of Gratitude.”

    It’s an attitude that says: “Thanks!” to God many times a day.

    It starts with a prayer called “grace” over meals, and ends where every breath in and every step you take is a joyful affirmation of God’s presence and power in your life.

    An “Attitude of Gratitude” looks into the eyes of your loved ones and sees a gift of God in their soul.

    An “Attitude of Gratitude” hears the sounds of life swirling around you and joins in their heavenly song.

    An “Attitude of Gratitude” is a spiritual discipline that sings the song of “thanks” every day of your life.

    How do you say “thanks” to God?  Do you engage in regular prayer? 

    Do you stop and “smell the roses” to say thanks?  Do you simply say: “Thank you Lord!” whenever you look out the care window?

    Many of us add to all these ways to live a grateful life by returning a “first fruits” gift to God through our church.  It’s usually calculated by a percentage:  3% - 5% - 7%....

    And some of us are challenged to give a “tithe” (10%) as one of our spiritual disciplines.

    I invite each and every one of you to discover ways to say thanks to God during your daily activities.  Find moments to reflect on how much God loves you in Christ.  Open your heart to the “nudges” God has for you and your actions.

    Grow an “Attitude of Gratitude.” You’ll be surprised where it takes you.

A Meditation on Tithing

"And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land,

or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD."

Leviticus 27:30*

The “tithe” is that biblical tenth of our income that we give to God and it ties us to the numerous accounts in the Bible of people tithing. 

 

It’s our response to a graceful, giving God, who is the creator of everything that exists.

God owns everything and we are simply stewards, managers of what we have been entrusted with.

The tithe principle is this; "He gives unto us, we give back to Him one-tenth of all that He has blessed us with."

Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, Isaac tithed, His son Jacob and many others also even before the law was given.

Many Christians tithe with an “Attitude of Gratitude.” It's an act of grace that matches the grace of God in Jesus Christ and no longer a legal obligation. It's a faith discipline.

Simply considering a tithe and the sacrifice it entails, is to struggle with God.

Perhaps you may decide on 5% or 7% with a prayerful promise to move toward tithing next year. Or you may decide that 10% is really not enough and you want to

A surefire way to follow through...

One of the hardest things to do is to keep a new habit strong and effective in our lives.

Over the centuries, one way has been discovered and re-discovered over and over again. It’s the power of fellowship around a common purpose and vision.

Business has learned this. Schools, non-profits and even governments have learned of its strength and taken advantage of its truth.

Churches would seem to have a single purpose: Jesus Christ. And we would appear to have lots of regular "meetings." But too often we do not pay that much attention to what we are doing. We easily lose our sense of common unity and power of being the body of Christ.

In our current season of terrorism, natural disasters and a general feeling that our society is drifting in the wrong direction, it becomes all the more important to seek out the bed rock ideals and understandings that we hold.

When we have a strong sense of who we are before God, it becomes easier to accept others, not be threatened by them or by new ideas. We are able to listen better, prayerfully evaluate and seek God’s holy will together.

We become a strong and healthy body of believers, willing to follow the Lordship of Christ.

Our time of “stewardship” is an important time for this process to happen. (See the previous article on stewardship.)

We pause in our church schedule to consider all the blessings that God has provided us, even in the midst of trial and struggle.

We then look seriously at what it means to live together, to provide a place of worship, education for our children, inspiring music, important mission and outreach activities.

And then we commit to each other for another year. We place our gifts and blessing on the altar-table before God and we ask God to guide us in all our actions and decisions (especially as a gathered church.)

And so we take another step together on the spiritual journey that God challenged us with. We surround each other with support and encouragement and Christian fellowship.

The journey with Christ is the most exciting and challenging journey you will ever take. It will push you to your limits and then take you beyond. You will meet people you never would have sought out. You will change not only your own life, but also the lives of many people around you.

Open up your heart to God’s challenge. Join a group, become part of a study. Plan to be regular in worship.

Let Christ not only heal and strengthen you, but lead you into a new way of living, a new adventure of life.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Terry Van Hook

A time for sacrifice?

Sacrifice.

It’s a word we don’t hear much about these days.

Once, it guided a nation, was the motto of parents, was expected to be shouldered by everyone in the society.
World wars were won because of shared sacrifice. Generations were educated because of sacrifice. Safety and security were assured because of sacrifice.

Now, it’s power seems to be found mainly in the military.

It’s time to restore this value in all our lives.

It was the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that changed the world. It was the choice of God to become real and present to us that allowed us to be changed as well.

It is the challenge of sacrifice that now faces us and our nation as we begin to sort out the ways to respond to the deep and tragic destruction of the Gulf Region as well as to the challenge of Terrorism and the War in Iraq.

I invite all of you to take time and pray about what sacrifice means to you.

Perhaps you need a time of study and struggle about what God has done in Jesus Christ. Out of such and act, we learn that God is willing to sacrifice for us. And so we lean that to sacrifice for others out of our love of God is at the very heart of Christ.

Love God, Jesus tells us, with all your heart, mind, body and soul, and love others as you love yourself. (Matt 22:37)

It’s quite a challenge. It requires us to sacrifice.

Perhaps we need to realize that while finances are limited, other parts of our lives could be offered in terms of the time and talents God has given us.

Sacrifice could be in the way we examine our attitudes and work to change them to be more in line with God’s will.

Sacrifice could be in the way we recognize our own sinfulness, our desire to go our own way even if that means we leave God behind or marginalized.

Sacrifice could simply mean putting our life in God’s hands and trusting with all that we have.

Are you ready to consider sacrifice as a life style? Are you ready to see where God’s love might lead you?

Then Jesus told his disciples,
‘If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit them
if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?'
(Matt 16:24-26)

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Terry Van Hook

Prayer for renewal in times of Crisis

On 9/11, which was also the week when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, this prayer for renewal in times of crisis was offered at the end of my sermon.

"Allow yourself to become a new person in Christ.
In your heart pray these words:

Most creative and yet loving God.

I do not understand it all
but I know your heart is seeking the best for everyone.

I'm sorry I've let you become secondary in my life.
I’m sad I’ve let Jesus slip away.

I open my heart to you.

Change me and all that I do
into the loving person you want me to be.

Help me risk,
help me reach out,
help me offer hope,
the hope that only comes through Jesus
and his victory over death.

I give you my life, forever.

Amen.

The hard work of reconstruction...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Now comes the hard work of reconstruction, rebuilding and reconciliation.

The crisis stage has passed, and while some families are still separated and others are in deep grief, many are returning to the place they called home and are asking: “what now.”

It will be all too easy for us to move on in our lives, trying to get back to normal without asking the same question.

We usually work hard to gain some normalcy in our lives. ...To have safety and security for us and for our family.

But the world has changed.

Just as it did on 9/11, our lives are now different, and we are called to examine our priorities, our hopes and our dreams.

Will God have a place in our considerations?

Will we invite Jesus into our hearts in a new and powerful way?

Before it gets to hectic again with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, take time to sit and pause and put your life in perspective, evaluate where you are and where you want to go...

Your life can change and you have been given the power of God to make it change. Are you ready to do that? Are you willing to let God open you up to new possibilities?

Jesus has made it possible for us to engage the loving heart of God and make a difference in our lives.

It takes hard work, but it is the time of reconstruction, rebuilding and reconciliation with God for all of us.

Let’s make a difference and help the world God wants to see come into being.

Let's allow Christ to be at work in our lives, in our families and in the world around us.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Terry Van Hook