Ignite 10-5-11

*John 16:12–15 ¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

            How many of you know how to drive? Most of you probably don’t know how to do it yet. You may think you know everything that there is to know about it, but until you actually get behind the wheel of a car, you only have theories.

My Dad is a pretty intense driving instructor. We would be out on the road and he would be pointing out all sorts of things that I was missing. Not necessarily in a harsh way, but in an urgent manner that was meant to get my attention.

After all, when you are driving you have your life and the lives of everyone in the car on your shoulders. If you decide not to pay attention, you could be the reason that someone gets hurt.

            The things that my Dad would call my attention to were not always life threatening. “Your turn signal is still blinking. This guy is about to cut you off. You just cut that guy off… Stay in your lane…”

            The point is that it takes a while for you to learn the ins and outs of driving. That is why they require that you have so many hours of time behind the wheel with someone overseeing before you get your license.

            I tell you what, the first time you are out driving by yourself can be intense. You suddenly are aware that your Mom/Dad/driving instructor is not there to point things out to you. You are on your own. My brain went into overdrive as I tried to make sure that I was paying attention to every possible little thing.

            Driving is not the only thing that has a learning curve. What are some other examples?

            It takes time to get to where you want to be. Many of us want to be different than we are. Sometimes we just don’t know how to get there. So we look around us and wonder, “How did he get such a great physique? How did she lose 20 pounds? How does he have so much money? How does she seem to win at everything?”

What about spiritually? How do you do the things you think a Christian should do? How do you read the Bible? How do you pray when you have a hard time focusing on anything for more than five minutes? How do you become like Jesus Christ when you feel so far from that ideal? How do you get from where you are to where you want to be?

It seems a little overwhelming, doesn’t it? Does Jesus really expect you to be leaps ahead of where you are? Not exactly. Do you remember when you first learned to swim? Can you imagine if instead of spending a few summers in those floatie armbands and going to swimming lessons in the shallow end, your parents just dropped you off at the pool and told you to swim? You might know your end goal, but you wouldn’t know where to begin.

With all the things we feel like we should do or be, sometimes it seems like when we read Jesus’ words, He has given us the end goal without telling us how to get there. For example, we can all agree that it would be nice to live at peace with all people, but what is the first step in getting there? Jesus’ instructions may seem like huge leaps, but they all begin with one small step. Sometimes, if we are really honest, we just don’t know how to even begin. We don’t know what they first step looks like.  

The good news is that we don’t have to have all the answers. The Bible says when we decide to accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation, when we acknowledge that we are sinful and need a Savior, and that Jesus is that Savior, the Holy Spirit moves into our lives. Just like I needed an instructor to help me recognize the steps I need to take so I can drive, God has given us a spiritual instructor. The Spirit teaches us how to live our lives in a step-by-step process, so that we can reach the goals God has set for us.

Jesus said: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). When Jesus was talking to His disciples about the Spirit, He was talking to them after the resurrection. They knew that they had a message to tell the world, and I’m sure they had no idea how they were going to do it.  But Jesus told them the first step--listen to the guide. Listen to the Holy Spirit that will come and guide you.

The Holy Spirit is the helper who lives inside each follower of Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us into the truth of who we are. He leads us into the truth of who God is. He leads into the truth of our sinfulness. He leads into the truth of who we can become. The Holy Spirit is the One who helps us take steps to become more like Jesus. With the Holy Spirit, Jesus doesn’t say to us, “Sink or swim.” Instead He says, “You’re valuable. You’re mine. You don’t have to live this life alone. I’m with you.”

Jesus knew that when He asked His followers to love their enemies, He was asking for really big steps. He knew that trying to do it all on our own would be like leaping across the Grand Canyon. Leaping on your own, well, the end result isn’t going to be very pretty. That’s why He sent an instructor. And the Holy Spirit isn’t just a tool or a guide; He is part of God the Father and Son. God lives inside us. 

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? But nothing is ever mere words with Jesus. He brings words to life. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just help us; He is at work to transform us. In the Old Testament, God described Himself to Moses as “the LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). And those traits show up in the ways the Holy Spirit interacts with us. We read a Bible verse, hear someone teaching, read a book or just see something within ourselves that surprises us, and it makes us realize that there is an area of our lives that is quite ugly--some area where we’re miles away from God, some part of our lives where we’re not aligned with Him. Then we have a choice. We can take a step to change--to act or think in a way that is more like Jesus, or we can just stay ugly on the inside.

But here’s the part most of us don’t quite get. This process happens for the entire remainder of our lives. It’s why people use words like journey or walk to talk about their relationship with God--because we never arrive at perfection while we walk this earth. There’s never a point where we have it all together. You could solve the problem you have now, the thing you don’t like about yourself or some action you want to change, but there will be another one behind it. And another one behind that. That’s how messed up we all are.

It’s why when you meet someone who has been passionately following Christ for most of his or her life, that person doesn’t seem arrogant or unapproachable because they have achieved some great spiritual level of holiness. Those individuals understand just how gracious and merciful God is because they have seen time and time again how huge their sin is, and how amazing God’s forgiveness and love are as well.

You may expect your life to look very different when you are thirty than it does today, but you won’t become that different person by making leaps. Jesus knows it takes steps for you to arrive at that point you desire--and He wants you to go to that point and beyond. And every step will look different. Sometimes you’ll move forward quickly; other times you’ll feel like you’re in slow motion. And then there will be times when you are simply standing still waiting to move. God knows where you need to go, and where He’s leading you personally may look different from those around you. Every step gives you the strength and faith to take the next one. You can look back and see that the God who brought you this far can continue to lead you forward.

Right now you have to ask yourself two fundamental questions. One--are you willing to take the step forward? And two--what type of step are you willing to take? If you step letting the Spirit guide you, then you will be transformed more into God’s image.   

Take a step forward today. God doesn’t expect perfection. He doesn’t expect you to instantly arrive at some point that would require a huge leap. You may not have the kind of relationship with God that others have, but your relationship with Him is personal and real, a relationship that grows step by step.

The October Torch is Available Online

Check out our "Torch" tab and download the latest copy of the "Torch". Or pick one up in the youth wing this Wednesday night!

Courageous Review

     As you know we recently sponsored a showing of the movie "Courageous". In the past I honestly could not watch a Christian movie and take it seriously. They often seemed corny and their humor was, well, laughable. That may seem a bit harsh, but for a person who loves movies and wants to see the Christian movie business grow, I was often disheartened with what I encountered. 

     The movie "Fireproof" was a pleasant surprise, but "Courageous" took things to a whole new level. This really sets the standard for Christian movies. It was an incredible film that not only had humor that I genuinely enjoyed, but drama that would make any grown man cry, and a few action scenes that literally had me on the edge of my seat.

     In the middle of the movie there is an amazing gospel presentation. It doesn't come across cheesy or overbearing, but is simple, to the point, and effective. I was so impressed!

     The call of the movie is for men to stand up and start taking charge of their families in a Biblical way. It simply asks us the question, "Why be a good father, when you can be a great father?". Men, married or single, are called by God to be leaders in their families, communities, and churches. As the lead character says, "So where are you men of courage?"

     I would encourage everyone to go see this movie. It would be great for a guys night, or something to take a non-christian friend to see. Let's not only stand up to be Godly men, but let's utilize this movie to reach the lost for Christ!
     In my book this movie gets an A+, 10 out of 10, 2 thumbs up, or however you want to say it.

Suprise Theme Night Oct 5

This Wednesday night from 6:00-9:00pm. This theme night is a surprise so you will have to show up to find out what the theme is. There will be food provided! We meet from 6:00-9:00pm on theme nights so please plan accordingly. 

We would love to see you all there this week!

Guys Night Bible Study 9/21/11

            As men we have been given a huge responsibility to be the guardians and protectors of what God has given us. First and foremost God has given us life and a responsibility to honor Him with our decisions.

*Proverbs 20:11 “Even a young man is known by his actions, by whether his behavior is pure and upright.”

            God wants us to have an abundant life that is adventurous and amazing, but a lot of the time we go through and screw things up pretty badly. That is why we are cautioned so much on the choices that we make. The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom about becoming a man of character and of valor. The Bible in general pleads with us to grab a hold of wisdom and never let go.

            Tonight we are going to be looking at the lives of two different men and will see how their choices affected their future. These two men were brothers, but their choices were completely different. God honors one and leads him into a life of some pretty awesome adventure. The other gets himself in more and more trouble and leads a life of regret.

If you don’t hear anything else tonight, hear this: Who you are now directly impacts who you will be later in life. It not only affects you, but your children as well.

            What do you guys know about Joseph? His dad loved him, gave him a colorful coat, dreamed some crazy dreams, et… right? His brothers hated him from the get go. Joseph may have ended up a pretty wise guy, but at the beginning he really knew how to make people angry.

*Genesis 37:2–4

            “² These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. ⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.”

            What was Joseph doing here? He was basically tattling on his older brothers. We don’t know what was going on, but apparently his brothers were already making some bad decisions and Joseph was calling them out on it.

            Joseph also had a series of dreams that irritated his brothers. They basically stated that his family would bow down to him. Now, if your younger brother or sister came to you and said, “Hey, you are going to bow down to me when I am older.” Would that make you excited? Probably not. But does Joseph just skip telling them when he has a second dream saying the same thing? Nope. He goes right on ahead and proudly lets them know them both.

            This is where we pick up in the story. His brothers are still mad at him for getting them into trouble and for telling them about those dreams. Joseph was just sent out to go find them and see how they were…

*Genesis 37:18–28

“¹⁸ They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰ Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹ But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. ²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. ²⁴ And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”

Judah

What I want you to see here is that Judah sets up who he was going to be in this very moment. From this point forward Judah lives a life of covering up his decisions. He was looking out for himself by deciding to sell his brother into slavery. He wasn’t concerned about what would happen to Joseph. At least the blood wouldn’t be on his hands this way.

Let’s look a little deeper at what takes place in Judah’s life after this point. Does it consistently get better as he gets older?

Genesis 38 tells the rest of the story. Judah has a few sons, but the Lord kills them because they are evil. Where does a son learn to become a man? Where does he learn how to treat women? A son learns that from his father. The life that Judah had been living was quite literally passed down to his sons and they were killed for it. Out of this process his daughter in law is widowed.

Judah didn’t grow from this situation and turn from the life he was living, instead he continues trying to cover his sin. On a trip out of town this is what takes place:

*Genesis 38:15–19

“¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷ He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” ¹⁸ He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.”

*Genesis 38:24–26

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” ²⁵ As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” ²⁶ Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

Judah tries to cover his tracks to the best of his ability, but his actions come back to haunt him. Notice the double standards that he has in verse 24. “Bring her out, and let her be burned!” He is angry with her for sleeping around when he was the one that did it in the first place! The decisions that Judah had made tainted his life and led to remorse and regret instead of the full life that God wants for us. He thought, just like a lot of people today thing, that boundaries only held him back from freedom instead of protecting him from messing things up.

Joseph

            What is the difference between Joseph and Judah? Look at the difference between their choices. Instead of being involved in evil, he was exposing it (Gen 37:2). He sets his standards on God’s and holds true to them even when it is difficult.

*Genesis 39:2–6

“² The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵ From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶ So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.”

            Even after being sold into slavery Joseph honors the Lord in his conduct. What does that gain him? Success. The Lord is with him in everything that he does. God even blesses Joseph’s master, his house, and even his fields!

            It seems like Joseph has it pretty good doesn’t it? This part of the story makes you think that honoring God in your decisions is pretty easy when the outcome is so great. But what happens when the opportunity for sin enters the picture?

*Genesis 39:6–10

“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” ¹⁰ And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.”

            Joseph was entrusted with everything in his master’s house. God wants Christians to be in this position, but it doesn’t happen without making good choices now and leaning on His leadership.

            When his master’s wife came to him and asked him to “Lie” with her what could have happened. No one else was there. No one would know. But Joseph saw the situation through God’s eyes. “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” He was focused on his relationship with God, not anything else.

            This would be a hard situation to face once, but scripture tells us that she came to him day after day! After refusing over and over potiphar’s wife eventually frames Joseph and he is imprisoned for something he didn’t do. But through another series of events he is given favor and rises to second in command to the Pharaoh himself!

            Joseph set his eyes on God and put his standards on God’s level. He was honored and given a life of great reward. God used him to literally save nations from famine! That is a wild legacy to leave your kids isn’t it?

            Judah had his eyes set on what he wanted and his standards were to do whatever felt right to him at the time. What legacy did he leave?

*Genesis 42:22

²² And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.”

            Joseph still remains righteous and treats his brothers with mercy after everything that they put him through!

            God wants us to be men of strong character. The decisions you make today will impact who you are in the future.

*Proverbs 20:11 “Even a young man is known by his actions, by whether his behavior is pure and upright.”

Courageous Oct 1st

     We are having a private showing of the movie, Courageous, on Saturday October 1 at 3:00pm at the Regal, Fairfield Commons. It only costs $5 per person! Seating is limited, so tickets will be first come, first served. This will be a great movie and I would love to see all of our students there. Let me know if you need a ride.

Guys and Girls Night 9/21/11

Our next guys and girls night is coming up quick! We will be meeting at the youth wing and then will split up the guys and girls. Girls get to do girl stuff, guys get to do guy stuff. This was a good time last month, come out and join us.