Light the Night

I just finished participating in an awesome event! For the first time we took the Light to a local neighborhood on Halloween. Our church Tiffany Fellowship rented one of those portable light towers and lit up an house in our neighborhood. It was "Light the Night" time! The corner was lit up and people from over 2 blocks away came to see what was going on.

Neighbors that I haven't talked to in over 2 years came out tonight, old neighbors were back walking the streets collecting candy with their kids. One of our local High School Principal's came by walking with his grand kids... Candy, popcorn and hot dogs... and games to play brought the kids parents over to check us out. In just over 90 minutes we handed out over 240 hot dogs and 400 bags of candy.

As we shut things down I began to reflect on a few of the conversations that took place. One neighbor said... "what a great way for your church to be "in" the neighborhood!" Another commented... "we came to your church for an Easter egg hunt years ago!" One that stuck and stung too..."aren't you the church by Quicktrip? Yes we are I said... I drive by that building everyday but never thought about going to church...but this is real nice what you are doing tonight."

It was real nice what we did tonight, 20 volunteers giving of their time to be "in" the neighborhood and show the love of Christ to a world that needs Him.

You see, in order for the church to reach this generation we can not maintain a model based upon the past and tradition. The church must become the answer to the needs of the current generation.

It's time we become an Acts2 church!

Pastor John

I love riding Bumper Cars...

I remember as a Junior High student going to Worlds of Fun and one of my favorite rides... "The Bumper Cars"! Not yet having my drivers license I would try to drive that little electric car perfectly straight, calculate every turn to be sure not to "bump" into another car or the wall! My friends quickly showed me that, that is not the game of "bumper cars"and it's not the fun of "Bumper Cars"! The goal is to "bump" people, knock them off course, run them into the wall, get them stuck in corners or get them stuck in traffic while you keep cruising around the track!

Now some 30+ years later that ride hurts when I get in those little cars. One is I am a lot bigger and the car isn't very comfortable! Second, when I get "bumped" it hurts! Third, I don't like having some person I don't even know come by and "knock" me off my plan or change my course on the track!

So why the blog on "bumper cars".... well, I find some adults that are riding through the game of life like it's a bumper car ride. Their goal is "bump" people off their course, to disrupt others plans or frustrate them, get them stuck while they keep moving around the track doing their own thing. Instead of following the direction of traffic and "gently" nudging those around them to keep everyone moving forward and keep from having "head-on collisions!

God gave us boundaries, just like in the game of bumper cars... walls that keep us from going off course. A center line to keep to keep us moving in the right direction. He is also the power to make our cars move, when we move from His power grid the car of life stalls very quickly!

So what's in it for me (WIIFM).

1. Let God set the boundaries... you just need to get in His car and connect to His power.

2. Follow God's direction... don't drive your way and cause "head-on" collisions.

3. When there are people in your path, don't knock them around with the purpose of hurting them or getting them stuck in the corner or traffic, gently nudge them and let them stay in the game and move forward too.

4. Stay in flow of God's moving, when you get out to the edges or in the corners it is easy to get stuck!

5. Have fun! God is the source of life and He wants us to enjoy our days!

Until we "bump" into each other again!

Pastor John

Why Worship?

God’s blessing for the true worshipper, when true worship takes place, Look at these promises!

1. Be with them (Matt 18:20) and to have close personal interaction (Rev 3:20)
2. To guide and surround them with his glory (Ex 40:35, 1Peter 4:14)
3. To shower them with blessings (Eze 34:26) especially peace (Ps 29:11)
4. To give them overflowing joy (Ps 122:1)
5. To answer their prayers when offered in sincere faith (Mark 11:24)
6. To freshly fill them with his Holy Spirit and with boldness to live for Christ and to tell others about him (Acts 4:31)
7. To work among them in special and obvious ways through his Holy Spirit (1Cor 12:7-13)
8. To guide them into all truth through the Holy Spirit (John 15:26)
9. To purify, develop and set them apart for his purposes through the power and instruction of his Word and Holy Spirit (John 17:17-19)
10. To comfort, encourage and strengthen them (Isa 40:1)
11. To expose the reality of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8)
12. To spiritually save people whose sinfulness in revealed to them during a worship service (1Cor 14:22-25)

It's Sunday morning... time to enter into His courts with Praise!

Pastor John

Worship - What does that really mean? - Part 3

Other ways that we are to worship the Lord....

Prayer is a vital aspect of worship. The OT saints constantly communicated with God through prayer. The leaders of the NT church also prayed continually after Jesus ascended into heaven and prayer became a regular part of Christian worship. These prayers could be personal or they could be intercessory. As with singing, praying could be done with a known human language or in tongues.

Confession of sin was clearly an important part of OT worship. God had established the Day of Atonement of the Israelites as a time for national confession of their offenses against God (Lev. 16) In his prayer at the temple Solomon acknowledged the importance of confession. When Ezra and Nehemiah realized how much God’s people had broken and neglected his law, they led the entire nation of Judah in an intense public prayer of confession (Neh 9). When Jesus gave his followers an example of how to pray he taught them how to ask for forgiveness of sins. James instructs believers to confess their sins to each other (James 5:16) because admitting spiritual faults and failures can provide accountability and inspire assurance of God’s gracious forgiveness.

Worship also includes the public reading of God’s Word and the preaching of its truth. In OT times, God arranged that every seven years, at the feast of Tabernacles, all Israelites were to assemble for a public reading of the Law of Moses (Det 31:9-13). The clearest example of this element of OT worship came during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh 8:1-12) Scripture reading became a regular part of the Synagogue worship on the Sabbath. In a similar way, when NT believers gathered for worship they also heard God’s word along with teaching, preaching and practical challenges based on the truth of the Word (1Tim 4:13)

This week take time to worship in prayer, confessing your faults before the Lord and when the Pastor preaches the Word, maintain your attitude of worship and let the Lord bless you!

Next week - Worship part 4

Pastor John