by Caleb Gordon | Jul 11, 2016
I have come to realize that the more we attempt to make it look like we have life figured out, the more exhausting life becomes.
So many times, as you and I walk through life, we come across difficulties and hard times. We stumble through trenches of heartache and depression, and rather than looking for help, we wall ourselves off in the hopes of fixing it ourselves.
I think the main reason this happens to so many of us is because the culture in which we live has fed us the lie that we need to have our life together. Don’t be a bother to people around you; don’t be a drain, so, therefore, when someone asks ‘How are you doing?’ We reply with ‘I’m doing just fine.’ In reality, though, we are on the brink of a breakdown.
The fact is that most of us really don’t have our life together. We just attempt to manage it well, and managing life only works for so long. Eventually you’re going to break, and that’s going to get really messy, and almost all of the time, there is going to be collateral damage.
Being open about who we really are is often times what we need more than anything. But, sadly, when we attempt to be open, sometimes that is met with other types of walls. I’ve seen it, and I’ve done it. I have been the wall builder and the one standing on the other side of the wall. Both sides are extremely lonely.
What we need more than anything is to be a part of a community, an authentic community, where we are allowed to be open about our lives, allowed to show that we can be and have been a little messy. We need grace. We need space to repent. We need people who are willing to love us even when we are not lovable. Why? Because Jesus has shown us an incredible amount of grace, so therefore, we need to be willing to do the same thing with one another.
When we keep quiet about our struggles, our health is compromised. Don’t believe me? Check this out:
“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32:3).
We need to be in a place where it’s OK NOT to be OK, but also be willing not to stay in that place. Be willing to move towards redemption. That’s what the Gospel is. REDEMPTION.
We, the church, are a body of believers that has been given a mandate from God to help people see the light of the Gospel of Christ. So when people come in our doors we need more than ever to help them understand that they don’t have to be perfect, but that they need to look to the ONE who is perfect, because when we do that and we rest in him we can be perfect too.
So my challenge for all of us is stop managing our lives and just simply land in a community that will be willing to come along side you and love you even when you can’t be loved.
by Michael McAfee | Jun 27, 2016
Admit it, you have heard bad sermons before at your church. The preacher may not have been teaching false doctrine or calling congregational members sins out by name; he was just boring. You are sitting there wishing you had recorded the worship service so you could fast forward past the sermon. Trust me, I get it! Not only have I listened to boring sermons, I have preached some myself!
Your pastor could use your help to make his sermons come alive. Actually, you could use your help. Many of the criticisms people have with preachers are actually shortcomings of those of us in the pews to listen well. With that, here are five ways you can make your pastor’s boring sermons come alive
1. Pray for your pastor’s preparation.
I have found that one of the best ways I can help my pastor’s sermons come alive is by praying for him. You can bless your pastor by praying for your pastor’s love for Jesus, family, and for the church. But don’t stop there. Pray for their preparation as they work hard each week to write a sermon for Sunday.
I remember trying this for the first time as a high school student. I prayed for Michael Butler’s teaching for the coming Wednesday every day for a week. When Wednesday night finally rolled around, I could not WAIT to hear what he had to say. Take the challenge: pray every day over the next week for your pastor’s preaching come Sunday.
2. Study the passage before Sunday.
Have you ever made an effort to study the Bible along with your pastor? It is amazing how this makes the sermon come alive! Chances are good, you are in the middle of a sermon series at your church right now. Your pastor probably tells you what scripture reference you will be studying in the weeks to come. Use this as an opportunity to study the passage before Sunday.
Not only will you learn more from your pastor’s sermons, you will come into church with a strong understanding of the Bible text. This will allow you to enter into a “dialogue” with your pastor. Hopefully he addresses some of the questions you had about this passage. If not, be sure to ask him after service or in an e-mail later in the week.
3. Have a posture of expectation.
Let me guess: You sit in the same chair/pew every week with your bible app opened, and you might fill in a few blanks or tweet a good quote as a way of taking notes. Here is a physical change you can make that will affect your mind. Change your posture. Instead of slouching or leaning back as if you were watching a movie, sit up straight or lean forward as if you were playing a video game. Sit ready to listen as if you EXPECT God himself to speak to you. Be sure to have your Bible and journal in hand to take notes so you don’t forget what was said when He does.
My friend used to sit in the balcony and complain about the sermons his pastor preached. I dared him to move to the pew front and center in the worship center. He accepted my challenge. Later, he admitted he felt very awkward the first few weeks. But after about a month, it was amazing how much better the sermons became! The pastor’s sermons did not change, but my friend’s posture did.
4. Review the sermon with others.
Maybe the best thing you could do is to make a habit of reviewing the sermon with others. This also helps you to listen well and take good notes during the sermon, so you can have something to say when you meet with your small group or discuss the Bible with your family at lunch.
Important to note: I am not suggesting analyzing the preacher, or even the preaching event, but the passage preached on. Taking time to discuss the Bible afterwards with others will help you grow as you hear others understanding of the text, and you will help them as you pass along your thoughts as well. Just be sure the focus is on the Bible, not on what you think!
5. Listen for God’s Words not man’s words.
The best thing you can do to improve your pastor’s sermons is to improve your hearing. Every sermon could be better. Pastors have many flaws. Only by listening to their sermons well can you hear God speak. Make the effort every Sunday to test what they say with the Scriptures. This will help you as you listen to a man speak God’s Word.
Pastors, let me encourage you to continue to preach the Word! Christian Millennials not only need it, they are looking for it. I wholeheartedly agree with Russell Moore’s recent statement on Twitter:
If your preacher has encouraged you, take time to encourage them! Send them a note or get them a small gift card as a way of showing how grateful you are for their work. In a day when many people are looking to have their ears tickled, strong gospel preachers are a gracious gift to their churches.
What are some suggestions you have for me? How can I become a better listener? I would love to hear your thoughts below or on Twitter or Facebook!
by admin | Jun 21, 2016
I’ve sat through hundreds of Falls Creek services throughout my time, working as a summer staffer and BGCO employee, but tonight I’m watching my first service solely via the livestream. Since my job while at Falls Creek primarily put me behind a monitor during the services, watching on a TV in my home feels natural and hearing the student respond with applause, laughter and singing makes me feel like I am in the room.
While thousands of students and sponsors are at camp each week, countless parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, Sunday school teachers, and friends pray for God to speak to those campers and for the past century, He has. But in addition to those campers filling that beautiful tabernacle, I think of those summer staffers sitting in the back few rows just to the right of the sound booth.
It’s currently week two and most of the staff are starting to really be confident in their jobs. They are speaking in cabins at night; they are encouraging students who make decisions, and they are getting to know each other both as co-workers and roommates. While a summer working at camp is incredibly rewarding, it’s also crazy exhausting. As you pray for your campers this summer, I want to give you three ways to pray for our summer staffers at both Falls Creek and CrossTimbers.
Sunday nights at camp are for staff worship and are such a coveted time of praise and thanks for the work God did in the previous week and hopeful expectation for His work in the week to come. Pray that as the staff worship on Sunday nights they are spiritually refreshed, and that their time in small groups after worship would be uplifting, vulnerable, and encouraging.
From archery to ropes course, lifeguards to program staff, media to accounting, there are so many areas in which our staffers minister to campers each week. Pray that as these faithful college students minister to our guests, that they also stay unified as one staff and that Satan’s attempts to break them up yield no fruit.
Just like campers who often leave a difficult situation at home when they come to camp, there are members of our summer staff who are surely stressed about school, concerned about their home life, are burdened for their lost family members and are struggling with how difficult it is to work at camp. Pray that each morning as our staff wake up still tired from the day before that the Holy Spirit would comfort them in their stress, worry, and struggles, and give them energy to affect positively students who undoubtedly need positivity from someone who genuinely cares about them.
Make time this summer to watch the Falls Creek livestream and as you occasionally hear the audience, think about the summer staffers who have given up their break to work a job that is exhausting, thankless, and hard, but incredibly rewarding, and thank God that He faithfully calls students each year to serve at Falls Creek and CrossTimbers.
You can watch the Falls Creek evening services at skopos.org/live Monday-Friday at 7:00pm CST.
by Angela Sanders | Jun 14, 2016
“I need you to give biblical references.”
“For what?”
“For all of it, everything you present as fact.”
I swallowed hard. Surely he didn’t expect me to comb through every single sentence and spend hours in my Bible just to prove what most Christians generally agreed upon and accepted as truth!
But he did.
I had just turned in my first Christian curriculum assignment as a freelance writer. A client had asked me to provide morning quiet time material for students to use while at camp. I wasn’t annoyed by his request for references, exactly, just pressed for time with little ones at home.
“Sure. I can do that.”
But a not-so-funny thing happened. Although I was able to find most of the references I needed quickly and easily, some just refused to be found. A few hours later, prickly heat creeping up my neck, I realized that some of what I’d written wasn’t biblical at all—encouraging, maybe, motivational, maybe, but not biblical—and I was glad in ways I couldn’t express that I’d been asked to check my facts.
It’s something I’ve done without fail ever since. Before I turn in any assignment, post any blog, or deliver any message, I always make sure that what I’m presenting lines up with Scripture not only in word, but also in meaning, purpose, and context. When I offer personal opinion, I make sure that people know it.
Many years later, I turned in another assignment to the same client, curriculum for large group use. I felt good about it, confident, eager even, for the words I’d written to fall on wayward ears and bring about change in rebellious hearts.
The phone rang, and I smiled, anticipating positive feedback.
“Angela, I’m going to need a rewrite on this.”
My cheeks flushed hot. Never once had I been asked to do a rewrite in the 10 or more years I’d been freelancing at that point.
“Why?” I managed, hoping the pounding of my pulse couldn’t be heard through the phone.
“I’m not sure what’s going on in your life right now or who you’re upset with,” my client began in kind, diplomatic tones, “but these students are not your enemy. Don’t assume things about people that you’ve never met. Just write the truth and let the Holy Spirit do His job. Don’t try to make things happen.”
So that’s what I did, what I’ve done ever since.
As painful as these two experiences were, they taught me the importance of 1) handling the word of truth correctly so that I can stand before God unashamed (2 Tim. 2:15), 2) letting the Bible speak for itself (Heb. 4:12), and 3) giving the Holy Spirit room to do what He alone can do (John 6:44-45).
Furthermore, my client’s actions impressed upon me the weight of responsibility that those of us who hold positions of spiritual influence or claim spiritual knowledge on any level bear for the spiritual health and well-being of those who look to us for guidance and direction, even in passing.
In a sense, to recommend, promote, or hold an individual up as someone others should listen to, learn from, or be encouraged by on a spiritual level is to hook those who trust us up to an IV and say, “Here. This is good. Take this in,” a dangerous thing indeed in this age of Christian celebrity, feel-good philosophy, and doctrinal ambiguity.
We know that God doesn’t take kindly to those who cause His little ones to stumble (Matt. 18:6), so before you post a link, retweet a tweet, or simply throw out an “I love him/her,” make sure the person you are introducing to your audience
- Is a born-again Christian.
- Seeks God’s glory over his/her own.
- Preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ plus nothing unto salvation.
- Rightly divides the word of truth, preaching Scripture in context, not maiming, mangling, or manipulating It or putting words in God’s mouth.
- Is a faithful ambassador of Jesus Christ, representing Him well in word, deed, and attitude.
- Displays a love for others that overrides his/her need to preserve self or push their own agenda.
Now, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, but that’s exactly why it’s so important that we stop and think before connecting folks to other folks.
One little shout-out and your people could become theirs forever. Of course, the only way to be sure that you never steer anyone wrong is to point them always and without exception to the Bible so they can chew and swallow the bread of life for themselves, but if you feel you simply must use an IV, make sure you know what’s in the bag!
by Chris Carr | Jun 8, 2016
“Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:15-16).
Much of my life I have come seemingly or nearly late to many events or in figuring out many things in life. I recognize a pattern in my life of being late, being behind the 8-ball, catching on seemingly later than most everyone else about many things, missing out on many other things.
For example, I nearly missed the start of my 1981 high school graduation ceremony at because of car trouble on the way. The car trouble magnified post-graduation, and I missed a graduation party with fellow believers, bringing great disappointment on one of the most important evenings of a person’s life.
It took me nearly two years to figure out my major/minor as a student at Oklahoma Baptist University. It took me an extra semester to finish required OBU course work. When I graduated, most of my close friends already had jobs, and some were married. Though I interviewed for several jobs in proximity to graduation, I kept hearing that dreaded response: “You show great potential, but we need someone with experience.” Late again for the job market. And, no one yet to whom I could give my heart and with whom to share my life in marriage. I moved back home to Tulsa with no job and no prospects.
A month later I met Eileen. We courted for a little over a year. I was nearly late for the beginning of our wedding ceremony, having forgotten the ring and running full-tilt in my tuxedo in Oklahoma’s August heat to retrieve the ring from my car’s glove box, arriving back to the church building drenched in sweat. (Eileen married me anyway!)
After we were married, we wanted to have a year or two as newlyweds together before having any children. When we started trying to conceive, nothing happened for many years. We were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. We were late to the game of life, this time with broken hearts and empty arms.
But finally, after nine years and multiple doctor visits, our firstborn, Nathan, entered the world on Dec. 23, 1996, and we brought him home on Christmas night. He was an infinitely better present than any of the gifts under the Christmas tree at our residence as we brought him home that night. Thankfully and miraculously, Tim, Heather, Stephen, and Seth were born without any doctor’s help.
Having served with IMB for 17 years, and recently having accepted IMB’s early retirement option, we have returned to our beloved Oklahoma and Oklahoma Baptists. The economy seems to be struggling and, quite frankly, we feel caught in between the ‘now and the not yet’ with one foot in heaven and one foot on this earth.
We find ourselves again trying to find our way, unsure of ourselves and of what we are supposed to be doing with our lives. Looks like I may be late again, Lord.
But thankfully God is never late. Even when it feels to me like I just showed up for work at the eleventh hour—right before closing time.
Yet recalling the words of Max Lucado: “your blocked door doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you. Quite the opposite. It’s proof He does.”
by Aaron Hanzel | May 31, 2016
The infamous phrase we’ve all heard before “It’s part of God’s plan.” I use the term “infamous” primarily because we as Christians seem to hear or use that term when something bad has happened. When we lose a loved one, an accident occurs, a tornado strikes our neighborhood, or a fire takes our home. As words of encouragement we rely on the promise that God can use these occurrences for his glory. We tell each other “…It’s all part of God’s plan.” Which is true, even if we don’t want to hear it right away. Tough times occur, our focus instinctively shifts from “God’s plan” to “Man, this just stinks.” Hence, “infamous”.
Many times, as we learn to understand Scripture, it does not become relevant to our lives…until its relevant. Paul’s teaching to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 15:12) describes Paul touching on the subject of the Gospel at its core – dealing with an apparent issue of doubting the resurrection of Christ. As we try to understand the relevance of the passage to our lives days, months, or even years go by. A co-worker or fellow believer brings up the same discussion, and we are able to apply what we’ve learned in 1 Corinthians. Then we are able to grasp the phrase “Not relevant until it’s relevant.”
Recently in the news, a massive company filed for bankruptcy, potentially costing hundreds of people their jobs. A large enough company that many employees considered it their career, and not just a job. Retirements, health coverage, savings, all at risk. Now, some of these employees will probably hear those infamous words “…It’s all part of God’s plan.” Not immediately soothing in a stressful situation, but Scripture tells us that it is none the less true. Here is the joy we are able to embrace…It’s all part of God’s plan!
No matter the choices we make, good or bad. No matter the economic climb or fall. No matter how many times the fault lies on others or ourselves. It IS God’s plan. You can take joy in the fact that none of this life is up to you to conquer. Whether we succeed or fall flat on our faces, it’s all part of God’s plan.
Salvation in Christ is not limited to what we can do for ourselves. Instinctively we try to fix things, thinking “Dude, I’ve read the meme’s on the internet. I can do anything because today is a new day.” The biggest and most destructive lie today is when we tell ourselves that we are capable of accomplishing anything based on our own self-worth. If that were true, what is the point of salvation? We can’t even go through life without making bad decisions, how are we then to be able to purify our own sins?
The next time someone you know, or don’t know, is going through a crisis; introduce a new meme-able phrase. The Truth that is the Gospel through salvation in Christ is our comfort, as Christians. When times get rough and the unthinkable happens, like losing your job to bankruptcy, the joy is in the overwhelming peace found in the phrase “It’s all part of God’s plan.”
