Farewell Thoughts

It has been an honor to have served you as Pastor of Volunteer Ministries as well as an Elder over the last 20+ years at Tiffany Fellowship. Goodbye is never easy and as believers it is really more of a “See you later”. Sunday morning was such a blessing to Brenda and I and we have been reflecting on the reception and the wonderful cards and gifts you shared with us.

Please note our new address:

John & Brenda Thomas
822 Whispering Pines
Chatham, IL 62629

In my farewell words on Sunday I shared some thoughts and for those that were not there and for those who wanted my outline here you go…

Walk by Faith Not by Sight
It’s easy to walk by sight - it’s hard to walk by faith
Your sight can impede your faith
Faith is heavenly - sight is earthly

It’s not what you’ve done but what are you doing
When did you do it to the least of these? Matt. 25
When was the last time you served?
Who were you serving?

It’s not about doing church it’s about being the church
Tiffany’s new name in the community - “The church that cares”
Small groups reaching the believer - get involved, grow together in the Lord
Sunday morning - is for reaching the lost/un-churched, not for “doing” church

How does Tiffany grow and where is it going? Keep reaching the hurting, nurture/feed the saints… and serve one another!

It’s time to forget ourselves and make an impact on others for the Kingdom!

So until we are together again…

See ya later!

John

Pastor John Thomas
Email: john.a.thomas.csp@gmail.com
Blog: www.tfcreflections.blogspot.com
Follow me on Twitter
Cell: 816-674-3462

Do you volunteer or do you have to be asked?

Do you volunteer to minister or do you have to be asked? Jesus commands us to go... to make disciples and to be "Jesus" to the world.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

We live in such a selfish world... it has truly become the "me" society. You want "me" to go and do... not unless I have to or I am asked or worse told to! What happened to the I will go "immediately" and not wait for someone to have to ask or tell me to go. The disciples stopped what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus.

If the world is to know us by our love... why are we so reluctant to show our love? Even in the church we are reluctant to show our love. Do you have to be asked to minister to your fellow believer or do you volunteer before being asked or told? If someone is in need of prayer do you pray or do you say you will pray? If someone is in the hospital and has a need do you have to be invited to go and minister or do you just so and be "Jesus" to them in their time of need. Ever heard the term Nursery duty" it's not a duty it's a ministry! You are touching the lives of those little ones!

There's a saying; "no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care". As Pastors, Sunday School Teachers, Elders and other church leaders you can preach and teach on Sunday morning and show how much you know but until your congregation and fellow believers know how much you care your knowledge is nothing more than empty words.

The next time someone needs a phone call, a cup of coffee, a hospital visit, someone to volunteer in the nursery or just someone to listen to them... don't wait to be asked - just go and be "Jesus" to them... after all that's what we are called to do!

Pastor John

God's Plan or yours?

Wow it's May 6th already! Where has spring gone? All of sudden it's 80 degrees and the grass green and trees are in full bloom. Before we know it summer will be here. I recently read our Pastor's blog (Here) where he responds to Donald Miller's blog about God having a plan or not having a plan for our lives. I've been doing some reflection on God's plan for us and I believe He has a plan for us! Check out Acts 2:14-36

The last twelve weeks has been a real faith walk for me and my family as we have been asking the Lord for direction and (His plan) for our lives. That's one of the reasons for my lack of blogging as I have been using my evenings to really seek the Lord and not get distracted by my busyness.

As I look at scripture it is clear that God likes to have a plan and He uses plans to carry out His will. Here's where it gets fun... It's one thing to have a plan. It's the implementation of the plan that gets interesting. God's plan for our lives includes choices (He is not surprised when we deviate from or don't implement His plan or when we make choices). That's called our free will to choose.

Here's the personal application. I work for a great company (and a great Christian man) but my office is located in Springfield, IL and I live in Kansas City, MO. For two years I have commuted to work leaving my wife and son during the week. (I did this so my son could complete his High School career). Well, Bradley graduates next week and now it's decision time. Do I stay or do I go (could be lyrics to a song). It's been Brenda's and my desire to eliminate my travel and get me off the road to be home at night so now it's decision time.

So, God's plan or mine? Actively praying and seeking the Lord for direction doesn't mean just reading my Bible every night and just waiting for God's voice to direct me. It requires action! I tried to find work in Kansas City and in fact I had an opportunity even presented to me, but it still wasn't right. How do I know that? I would be here for hours listing the conversations, prayers, scriptures and sermons that confirmed my decision to relocate to Springfield, IL this summer.

God's plan is confirmed to each of us through His word and those He places in our lives. There is nothing better than knowing that He wants the best for us and we get to an active part of His plan for our lives.

God's plan or yours... it depends on who's leading and if you're following the plan!

Pastor John

Primal - By Mark Batterson - Chapter 6 - Holy Curiosity Part Two

Have you ever tried to cram for a test? You know the late night studying, the extra pot of coffee the dreaded no-dose! Only to wake up the next morning realizing that everything you tried to force feed into your mind went in through the eyes and out through the... What did you retain the next day or worse yet what did you remember for the final exam... probably not much!

I agree with Mark Batterson on his comments about us as Christians. You see, when you try to cram truth (God's Word) into the mind it very rarely gets past the short-term memory. And it definitely doesn't get into the soul. I'm afraid that that is what happens in most churches most weekends. I fear that we have lost our holy curiosity!

The church ought to be the most curios place on the planet as Mark says... We ought to be a safe place where people can ask dangerous questions, but all too often we're guilty of answering questions that no one even asks. We ought to be challenging the status quo, not defending it! What if we stopped force-feeding answers and learned to unleash the primal curiosity in our congregations?

So who is more curious... you or your Pastor? Who's spending time more time in the Word... you or your Pastor? How about time spent talking with Lord are you or your Pastor spending more time chatting it up with the Father?

Here's my answer to all of those questions... While Pastor's tend to spend more time doing those things as an occupational job requirement... we both should be spending the same mount of time growing in our personal curiosity, increasing our personal Bible reading and deepening our personal prayer time! My sermon prep or small group prep is different than developing a holy curiosity and desire to know and love the Lord with all my heart.

Don't miss out on what God has for you.... check Him out! Be curious and be amazed at what He will show you! I know He is showing me new things everyday!

Pastor John

Virtual Small Group - 4 week series starts tonight @ 7pm cst

Join us via skype tonight beginning @ 7pm for a four week series discussing the book PRIMAL by Mark Batterson. Tonight's topic is the heart.

You can join in my going to http://www.skype.com/ and downloading the free software. After you have loaded the program look me up. The user name is pastorjohn54 and I will add you to my contact list and invite you into our group chat.

The online chat starts in 20 minutes... see you there.

Pastor John

Primal - By Mark Batterson - Chapter 6 - Holy Curiosity

In chapter Six of PRIMAL Mark Batterson uses a quote from Olviver Wendell Holmes to start this chapter. "A mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original shape".

Why is it that we tend to look back and try to repeat our actions or try to duplicate a scenario verses letting us experience new ideas and scenarios?

God has created us with the capacity to keep learning until the day we die. And that isn't something we should take for granted. It wasn't until I was elected to my local school board that I realized that I need to be a life long learner. And it is not about being taught or having a good teacher that is most important it is about me developing as a good learner and having a desire to know more.

For most people somewhere along the way we stop living out of imagination or learner mode and start living out of memories. We stop creating the future and start repeating the past.

The true litmus test of spiritual maturity isn't how much you know. It's knowing how much you don't know. It's coming to terms with the fact that God is not an object of knowledge as much as He is a cause of wonder. And that sanctified sense of wonder fuels a holy curiosity to keep learning more about God.

So where is your wonder meter? Think you know it all or do you realize you have so much more to learn?

More later on this chapter.....

Pastor John

Primal - By Mark Batterson - Chapter 5 - Seventy Faces

Once again I am challenged by some of Mark's analogies and comments he makes in Chapter five of his book Primal. Being a musical person and someone who enjoys singing I loved the story of the musical trainer working with opera singers who could not hit certain notes that fell within their vocal range. After testing the singers ears they learned that they could not hit those particular notes because they couldn't hear the notes. The problem wasn't singing. The problem was hearing!

Until you hear the voice of God, you won't be able to sing His song. Why, because you're out of tune.

One of the complaints Pastors often hear from people leaving the church is that "they are not being fed". As Pastors we do our best to feed our congregations every week... but think about this... we learned as toddlers to feed ourselves and we should do the same thing when feeding on God's word. If you are relying on a preacher to be fed, that is a dangerous place to be. Listening to a sermon is acquiring second hand knowledge. It's learning based on someone else's experiences. If you want to grow spiritually, you need a consistent diet of scripture.

Let me share with you some excerpts from page 83 through page 85 of Chapter five; The Bible is not an end in itself. In other words, the goal of knowing the Bible isn't Bible knowledge. The goal of knowing the Bible is knowing God.... The truth is that most of us are already educated way beyond the level of our obedience. We learn more and do less, thinking all the while that we're growing spiritually.

Have you ever audited a class? You get no credit, you just take in lots of information. If we're not careful the same can happen in our spiritual lives. You don't get credit for auditing scripture. You've got to put it into practice. Every word of Scripture, with its seventy faces and six hundred thousand meanings, must be translated via obedience.

Obedience is the way our life becomes a unique translation of the Bible. And, ultimately it's the way you love God with all your soul!

He wants to write His-story through your life. And Scripture is the script.

Read it. Mediate on it. Then live it out.

Pastor John