Being a follower of Jesus requires personal holiness.  This means that after we have trusted Christ and our sins have been blotted out by His blood, we begin a process of becoming more and more like Him.  Scripture calls this “sanctification.”  The command to live a life of holiness is found throughout God’s Word.   Take the Apostle Peter, for example, writes, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14-15).

You see holiness is not just a churchy term; holiness should define our very being -”be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 15).  If we are going to take God and His Word seriously, we must find out how we can apply these words to our own lives.  Hopefully the parable Jerry Bridges uses in his book, “The Pursuit of Holiness,” will be as helpful in your understanding of this issue as it has been for me.

—A Farmer plows his field, sows the seed, and fertilizes and cultivates—all the while knowing that in the final analysis he is utterly dependent on forces outside of himself. He knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, nor can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crop. For a successful harvest, he is dependent on these things from God.

Yet the farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize, and cultivate, he can- not expect a harvest at the end of the season. In a sense he is in a partnership with God, and he will reap its benefits only when he has fulfilled his own responsibilities. Farming is a joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer cannot do what God must do, and God will not do what the farmer should do.

We can say just as accurately that the pursuit of holiness is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But He has given to us the responsibility of doing the walking; He does not do that for us.—

“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 12b-13).

“Road Trip” Week 4

Exodus 9:15-16

Issue one: Right vs. Effective

What did you think about Andy’s point about being right or effective?

Was God being right or effective?  Explain? V. 15. How is our church effective?

Issue two: Faithful vs. Action

If Moses had not listened to God what could the result have been?

Be honest, would you rather just be faithful and not do anything?  Or would you rather do and not have to be faithful? Why are they both so important?

What are some actions our church is doing?

Issue three: Obedience vs. Purpose

When we are obedient like Moses what does that show others? Ourselves?  God?

What was Moses’ purpose?

Have you ever tried to be “obedient” to yourself and fulfill your “purpose” apart from God?  How did it work out?

“Road Trip” Week 3

Ice Breaker: What is the weirdest thing you know of that someone collects when they visit places?

Share a significant event in your life and any scripture that helped you through it?

Read Scripture: Mark 2:15-17

Do you hang out with unchurched? Has anyone ever questioned you for hanging out w/non-christians?

Thinking about your 1 or 2 events….What impact could one of your events have on someone that is unchurched?

What blessing did you receive from one of your events?

Why is being a church for the unchurched so difficult?

Could any of these events help in being a “church for the unchurched”?  How could they?

In case you haven’t noticed, there are some awesome old church buildings in our community.  The picture below is one I took the other day here in Salina; Help me out if you know which church it is -I took it while I was driving and didn’t have time to look at the name (don’t tell my wife).

While this building is beautiful, there are many of us who would take one look at it and call it old-fashioned, or even a dying church.  The sad thing is, here at CrossPoint Salina we can have a hip building, top-notch programs, and loud music, all the while missing the power of God.  How tragic would it be to build a community of people just to stand before our maker and say, “How innovative and cool were we God?!”

Please don’t get me wrong, there are infinite ways to express our worship of Jesus, and we live among people who think God is boring just because we portray Him so in the way we sing and relate with one another.  It is good to adapt to our culture in the way that we do church.  As Paul said himself, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22b). In other words, if we are to reach the people in our culture, we must become like them!

If I’m sounding self-contradicting, stick with me!

Problems don’t happen because we have good programs, cutting edge technology, drums, or electric guitar.  Problems happen when we attempt to build our church on these things.  They must only be a means of how we do church not the overarching goal.

Our goal as a church is to make disciples for the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth and if we are ever going to pursue this goal, we have to be a church alive by the Holy Spirit, and filled with people walking by the Holy Spirit (See Galatians 5:25).  In his book, “God’s Pursuit of Man,” A.W. Tozer confirms our great need.

I think there can be no doubt that the need above all other needs in the Church of God at this moment is the power of the Holy Spirit.  More education, better organization, finer equipment, more advanced methods–are all unavailing.  It is like bringing a better respirator after the patient is dead.  Good as these are they can never give life.

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63).  We must be a church driven by, and dependent upon the Holy Spirit.

As the worship pastor at CrossPoint Salina, I think it is incredibly important to lead by example. I want to love reading God’s word more than eating a good steak or drinking a top notch Americano—a drink Eric introduced me to which I thoroughly enjoy.  I don’t just want to know that God’s Word is important, I truly want to enjoy it as I journey through life.  Let me share why I feel this way.

• Jesus did NOT say, “Man shall not survive on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
• Jesus did say, “Man shall not live on bread alone..” (see Matthew 4:4).

I firmly believe that when Jesus says this, He intends that we delight in God’s Word as our source of strength and guidance, as well as our source of enjoyment.  Jeremiah confirms this when he says, “[Y]our words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart..” (Jeremiah 15:16).

While I do strongly feel that loving God’s Word is greatly important, there are times that I honestly feel that God’s Word is boring, irrelevant, and one of the last sources that I want to go to when making a decision in life -after all, the newest books of the Bible were written about 2000 years ago.  Perhaps there are many reasons for why God’s Word feel’s boring or irrelevant, but what it boils down to is this: If God’s Word is dull to me, then the problem is not with God or His inspired Word but with my own perception.  In other words, the lens that I view life through can get pretty jacked up.  You see, I can try as hard as I want to enjoy reading the Bible, but what I desperately need is not to try harder, but to have the Holy Spirit invade my life and give me a new pair of glasses to see His Word through.

One way this can happen for me is by reading different versions of God’s Word.  Doing this can help me from just scanning over passages I’ve read so many times.  If you can relate, I urge you to try it!  Eugene Peterson, author of “The Message,” tells us about why he decided to translate yet another version of God’s Word.

While I was teaching a class on Galatians, I began to realize that the adults in my class weren’t feeling the vitality and directness that I sensed as I read and studied the New Testament in its original Greek. Writing straight from the original text, I began to attempt to bring into English the rhythms and idioms of the original language. I knew that the early readers of the New Testament were captured and engaged by these writings and I wanted my congregation to be impacted in the same way. I hoped to bring the New Testament to life for two different types of people: those who hadn’t read the Bible because it seemed too distant and irrelevant and those who had read the Bible so much that it had become ‘old hat.’”

I read this refreshing/convicting passage this morning first out of my English Standard Version (a more literal translation) and then out of The Message which is quoted in the following text.

“I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily” (Galatians 2:19-21, MSG).

May God stir our hearts as we read His exciting Words that apply to every facet of our lives here in Salina and around the world!

“Change the World” Week 2

Ice Breaker: What plans do you have for this summer?

What did you think about the sermon, questions, thoughts, etc.?

Read Matthew 19: 16-22

What are your thoughts, agreements, and disagreements, with these passages?

Why does Jesus (v17) tell him to obey commandments instead of believing Jesus was God? Isn’t that the way to eternal life?

Why does Jesus tell him to DO something else in v. 21?

Do we have to sell everything in order to follow Jesus? Explain

Do Christians in the U.S.A ignore these passages or simply interpret them differently?

Right now, if Jesus asked you to sell everything and follow him would you do it? Is this a command or suggestion?

Share anything (material or not) that’s keeping you from fully committing your life to Christ.

The idea of loving God apart from Jesus is not only undesirable, it’s impossible. In Paul’s letter to Rome he tells us, “None is righteous…no one understands; no one seeks for God” (3:10-11).  These words are nothing short of terrifying; yet we know that in the midst of our sinfulness, Christ’s grace is enough.  “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rmns. 5:20).

Since God’s grace is greater than our sin, we are free to put off our old self and pursue a relationship with Jesus. In fact, we are commanded to do so.  I think Francis Chan hits the nail on the head when speaking on this very topic.

Imagine going for a run while eating a box of Twinkies.  Besides being self-defeating and sideache-inducing, it would also be near impossible—you would have to stop running in order to eat the Twinkies.

In the same way, you have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin.  When you are pursuing love, running toward Christ, you do not have opportunity to wonder, Am I doing this right? Or Did I serve enough this week?  When you are running toward Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear.  As long as you are running, you are safe.

Put on your running shoes CrossPoint Salina!

the·ol·o·gy – “the study of God and of God’s relation to the world”

It really is a tragic thing that the American church belittles theology, for in doing so we minimize God’s very nature and existence.  You see, theology isn’t about gaining a knowledge that puffs up, theology is about seeking to know God with a spirit of humility.  You probably don’t think of yourself as a theologian but by definition we all are theologians -we all have developed a lens with which we see God through.  It’s not about using fancy terms or going to seminary, it’s about reading God’s word and asking for the help of God’s Spirit which He has given to His children to understand Scripture (Illumination).

If we aren’t studying and getting to know God better, then we saying with our actions that God isn’t great enough to be known and loved.

So the question isn’t about how much time you and I should take reading the Bible and praying, the question we all should ask is this: do I really love Jesus?  If you are like me, you find yourself wanting to Love God more than you already do, yet your desire to understand and know the Jesus of Scripture is weak.  You feel that God’s Word is stale at times and find yourself turning to earthly pleasures to give you joy instead of finding it in the Creator of joy.

The problem isn’t God -the Word is not boring!  Jeremiah 15:16 says, “When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight…”

If you really want to grow deeper in your affection for the Lord, then would you take the time to pray the following prayer along with me?  While their is no magical format of how we should pray, I have found the words in this prayer to be honest and powerful.  It wows me that this prayer was written by an uneducated theologian who took time and energy to know God.  It is my hope that the Spirit will use prayers like this one to daily stir our hearts toward knowing Jesus.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow  Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- A.W. Tozer

“Change the World”

Ice Breaker: What’s your best “work smarter not harder” tip?

What are your thoughts, questions, etc. on the sermon?

What is God doing in your life this week? Convictions?

Read Matthew 28: 16-20

Do you agree or disagree with these passages? How so?

In your own words describe what these verses mean for Christians? What does it mean for those who don’t believe?

V. 17 How do you think they worshipped him? Does your worship look like that? Why or Why not?

V. 19 What does this mean? Baptizing in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is it just a “water” baptism?

Pick one or two words in verse 20 that catch your eye and discuss why.

Discuss how seriously you take these passages. Does your life reflect that view? If not what do you need to do about it?

“Mutual Conflict Resolution”

Icebreaker:  What is the first thing (other than people) you would grab if your house caught on fire?

Read James 2:2-13: The Sin of Partiality

What are some (practical) ways that you avoid impartiality?

What are some ways that you show impartiality?

Is it Biblical to treat family like Gentiles or tax collectors?  What does that look like in practical terms?

Have you ever had to talk to another Christian about them sinning against you?

Who should you take with you when confronting someone about an issue?

What does “bear with each other” mean to you?

8.  Read Proverbs 25:21-22, Why does God reward us for making people angry?

Read Jude 20-23