Greetings,
Whenever I hear thunder and see lightening, I am reminded, very vividly, of a day many years ago. I was getting a concrete slab ready to be poured with my father. We were out in the fields east of Dallas, Oregon and the sky was threatening as it often does in the Willamette Valley in the fall. I approached our work truck in order to grab a tool that we needed when I paused for just a moment.
Praise the Lord that I hesitated just before grabbing hold of a large metal pole because a split second later, the truck was hit by lightning. The power knocked me back and the sound was deafening. The lightening entered the hood of the truck and exited two or three inches from where it entered. A bolt also hit the lightening rod on top of the house. All of the workers saw the lightening hit the top of the house, but no one knew how close I was to getting hit until we saw the burn marks on the hood of the truck. I have always loved storms, including lightening and thunder, but storms have never felt the same since that day.
There are moments in life where something that we experience changes or tints our perspective. Someone once told me that we are all one experience away from completely changing our perspective.
Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." I know that the Lord is good and you may know that the Lord is good if you have had an intimate experience with His goodness. But there are many people who have never had even one experience with the Lord, let alone a perspective-changing experience. Many preachers and well-intentioned people have boldly said things like: God is good, Jesus is amazing, His grace is amazing. But if you have never experienced it, how can you say that you have known the greatness of God? It would be difficult to agree that He is good or that His love endures forever.
God can and has invaded people’s lives as unexpectedly as lightening. A person that regularly reads God’s word, seeks Him, and is willing to go where God is working and do what God is asking and put their trust in Him, can't help but have an experience with the God of this universe. Through our interactions with the living God, we can have our whole worldview transformed.
It is only through the Holy Spirit that anyone can truly experience the life altering power of the Living God. The Israelites witnessed it and it still didn’t change most of them. Moses experienced God first hand and it transformed his life forever. Pray that you and those you love would taste and see that the Lord is good and that lives would be transformed.
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
It is here again. School is in session, fog will begin to roll in soon, pumpkin spice is in the air and all of the merchants have begun selling Halloween swag. The fall has always felt like the true beginning of a new year. I am not sure if it because of my many years as a youth pastor or because my whole life has revolved around the school schedule. It is this time of year where we begin to make some renewed commitments and get geared up for all of the many projects and tasks that lie ahead.
I am excited to continue to use the foundation of our community series and apply it to all of our fellowship groups from now on. That series really laid a nice foundation of focusing on what the church was called to do in devoting ourselves to the apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer. The supreme call to us as individuals and the church as a whole is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. When you read the word supreme what comes to mind? For me I think gasoline, Taco Bell, a mo town band, and the highest court in our country.
We are beginning a new series this week called the Supremacy of Christ! It is a study through the book of Hebrews. I know some may think, didn’t we just do a study through Hebrews? The answer is yes some of you did about three years ago. But the great news is that the word of God is alive and brings new insights to us even when we read the same passage over and over again. This will be a series that will take us from now until Easter with Advent in December. So as you can see we are not going to go inductive in our study but I would encourage you to read through Hebrews on your own several times throughout this series.
I am excited to go through this study on the Supremacy of Christ with you. Praying for each of you by name this week and I love you dearly... and Jesus loves you supremely!
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
Summer is almost over and we completed our sermon series on cultivating community. I have been thinking and praying a lot about what we have learned throughout this series and how to apply it all to Way of Life daily. I know that our leadership at Way of Life is determined to provide opportunities to cultivate community and we are praying about what that looks like. However, after this series I think we all realize that the responsibility to be committed to each other in deepening our relationships and our faith in Jesus must come from all of us.
I want to invite you to gather together for “authentic fellowship” in your homes. What is “authentic fellowship”? I think it is what the early church experienced in the book of Acts and I think it is what our current society craves. In general it is devotion to each other. It is knowing each other well enough that we aren’t surprised by our sins and we can celebrate together our growth in discipleship. Authenticity assumes a level of transparency and intimacy that requires trust and trust must be built over time and time requires a commitment. Fellowship is mentioned in the New Testament and the root words are metocos and koinonia.
Fellowship based on these words means that we are to be devoted to each other in relationship, even more in partnership, and still deeper in companionship as well as in stewardship. So, our desired goal as a fellowship is to be walking so intimately with each other that we can not imagine being apart from one another.
This fall would you consider being a part of or starting a fellowship in your home or in some location? We have a few that will begin shortly. The structure for a group is simple but profound. Devote yourselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, break bread, and pray together. My hope is that you would invite those that are around you that are not a part of Way of Life or any church to join in. Imagine the possibilities of seeing people around you experiencing freedom that comes from knowing Jesus because you invited them to read the word of God with you in your home and be a part of something authentic and life-giving!
I think Jesus is going to do something big through Way of Life, especially the more devoted we get about living in authentic fellowship.
Here's a few groups you can plug into. If you have an idea for a new group, please contact me right away! If you are interested in hosting, but not leading, or vice versa, we can connect you with others so you can partner in facilitating a group.
Gospel of John (Adult Bible Study) -- Sundays, 9:00-10:15am @ Battle Creek Elementary (ongoing)
Corporate Prayer -- Sundays, 7pm @ the Robertson's (moves to 6pm beginning Sept. 8)
Character Studies (Adult Bible Study) -- Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm @ Matt & Liz Jones' house (starts Sept. 17)
Men's Group -- Wednesdays, 6:30-8pm @ Robertson’s (starts Sept. 11)
Youth Group (Middle & High School) -- every other Wednesday, 6:30-8pm @ Edelblute's house (starts Sept. 11)
If you would like info on joining a group, just send us an email and we'll get you connected.
Love ya,
Chris