Great Weekend
This past Sunday was great. We had our highest attendance ever for a Sunday morning. Also, in the services we heard a testimony from James Pawelkoski. James shared the amazing story of how God completely delivered him from 16 years of drug abuse. James will be helping to lead the new Celebrate Recovery group beginning next Sunday night.
We continued our Defining Moments series with a message on The Damascus Road from Acts 9:1-20. One thing we talked about from Saul’s experience was how he was blind before Jesus ever took his sight. Sometimes we need God to strike us blind to this world so that we can truly begin to see from his perspective. I was reminded of a quote by Helen Keller in which she said “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
2 Approaches
In class, we discussed two common basic frameworks for spiritual formation. One is the Activist Model and the other is the Contemplative Model. There are dangers to going extreme on either side and the best approach is a healthy balance between the two.
One of the main dangers of an exclusively activist model is the tendency to equate spirituality with action. In this view, to be spiritual is to be doing things and the more you do, the more “spiritual” you are. This is of course a superficial way to approach spirituality.
On the positive side, activity is a necessary corrolary to inward formation. In other words if you love God it will show outwardly in action. It is important to remember that action itself does not produce spirituality.
The contemplative approach focuses much more on being rather than doing. It prioritizes being with God and developing personal spiritual disciplines.
Most people naturally gravitate toward one or the other approach. There is a ditch on either side of the road. I view the danger of the former view as running your car into the ground without stopping to fill it with gas. The danger of the latter view is to never leave the gas station, but merely remain there filling the tank.
In seeking to converge the two it is good to remember this: Contemplation without activism is romanticism, and activism without contemplation is just brute force.
Great Weekend
We had a great Easter weekend at ACC. Wonderful to see so many new faces!
We also kicked off our new sermon series called Defining Moments. In this series we are looking at how Scripture teaches us to experience life-changing encounters with the living God. The message this week was from the story of the Emmaus Road Encounter in Luke 24:13-35.
The story centers on the experiences of two ordinary disciples as they walked along a road. The resurrected Jesus joined them as they walked, but they did not recognize him. Jesus began to engage them in dialogue. It became evident that they were experiencing one of the darkest moments in their lives as they found themselves in a season of tension, discouragement, doubt, and uncertainty after Jesus’ death. Jesus later reveals himself to them and they are overjoyed by his presence.
The main point we hammered on from this account was that: God is always closer than we think, even in times when he seems the furthest away.
Three applications we noted to help us experiencing God’s presence in dark times were:
- Acknowledging that he is always closer than we think
- Invite God to make himself known to you in the midst of your circumstances
- Find some other people who can encourage you in your faith and just begin to walk with them and ask them how you can come to know God more intimately
No matter how dark our circumstances may become, God is always closer than we think and is desiring to show himself to us if we are simply willing to open our eyes and see his activity all around us.
Looking forward to next week!
Good Friday
Good Friday is historically observed by Christians every year to commemorate the death of Jesus. It is a time for reflection and worship before God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Since we as a church will not be having a formal gathering for Good Friday this year, we want to encourage everyone to take time this Friday to remember the crucifixion of our Lord and ponder the full implications of his sacrifice for our sins. We would also encourage families to celebrate communion together and to take some time to read one of the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion.
A common danger in celebrating traditions is the natural tendency to go through the motions for tradition sake. It is important for us to remember why we observe certain traditions and to allow our hearts to be freshly gripped by the truth and reality that they symbolize. This year, let us remember Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice in our place, for our sins. Let us be captured all over again by the love that drove him to the cross for us.
Weekend Reflections
Our two-service launch went great! It was really a ground-breaking day for us as a church. Really enjoyed getting to preach twice! Definitely crashed hard for a nap in the afternoon!
One thing I really enjoyed was the opportunity to spend more time talking to more people. When we had one service, it was inevitable that I wasn’t able to talk to very many people because of the time. With two services it was great to be able to spend some extra time talking with different people.
Really looking forward to Easter Sunday next week!
2 Services Begin This Week!
Just wanted to post a reminder about our new service schedule beginning this Sunday. The services will be at 9:15 & 11:00. Kid’s ministry and nursery will be available at both services. God has been doing amazing things recently. Can’t wait to see what he’s going to do this week!
Practical Scripture Meditation
I’ve really been getting a lot out of John Ortberg’s book The Life You’ve Always Wanted. It is a great introduction to spiritual disciplines and developing a God-centered life.
In one chapter he shares some really good practical tips for making the most of Scripture meditation. Here is his list of suggestions:
- Ask God to meet you in Scripture
- Read the Bible in a repentant spirit
- Meditate on a fairly brief passage or narrative
- Take one thought or verse with you through the day
- Allow this thought to become part of your memory
Sometimes Scripture reading and meditation can seem a little cumbersome, but if we approach God’s word daily with the right posture of heart, it has the power to change our lives. Let these tips be an encouragement in your own Bible journey.
Missional Unity
Today we wrapped up our series on the book of Titus with a message called “Missional Unity.” We walked through Titus 3:9-15 and looked at how God calls us to be unified in our mission and avoid divisiveness. 3 quick applications we talked about were:
- Read Scripture to be changed, not to change others.- Some of the people in the Cretan church were using the Scriptures for their own ends. We should be careful to read Scripture not merely for information but also transformation. The quality of our time spent with God is far more important than the quantity of time.
- Avoid a divisive spirit and focus on building unity as members of the same team.- This passage talks about the true cause of divisiveness.
- Daily choose to root yourself in Jesus and allow his power to bear fruit through your life.- Check out John 15:1-8
Exegesis To Application
There’s one particular method of Bible study I learned in seminary that is really helpful to me. I actually learned it in a preaching class. I know most of you reading this are probably not going to be writing lots of sermons or preaching that much, if at all. But I think these things would help anybody who wanted to study the Bible more in depth. The method is really basic and consists of 3 main parts. These are the exegetical outline, the theological outline, and the homiletical outline. Hope this stuff helps.
The exegetical outline is concerned with finding out what the text meant then. That is, how the passage of Scripture would have been understood to the original, 1st century readers. This involves a little bit of historical and background study. It is also about discovering the author’s intended meaning. At this stage it is important to pay attention to the grammar and other writings by the author. The main concepts of the verses would then be stated in an outline reflecting what the text meant then.
The next stage is the theological outline. This is where you are concerned with finding out what the text means universally. In other words, what are the timeless, theological principles that transcend time. At this point you simply take the statements from your exegetical outline and restate them in terms of timeless truths.
The final stage is the homiletical outline. This is where the outline begins to take the shape of a sermon. It is here that you want to discover what the text means now for people today. This stage is about stating the universal principles in terms of contemporary application.
Christian Conduct In Society
This past Sunday we continued with our 5th message in our series on the book of Titus. The text this week was Titus 3:1-8. The main point was: The power to love and bless comes from being loved and blessed by God. Here’s a few of the applications we talked about:
- Respect and submit to those who are in authority over you (except when it contradicts Scripture).
- Guard your mouth against slander and let your words bless and encourage others.
- Daily remember where God has brought you from, what he has done, and who you are now in him.
Next week we wrap up our series on Titus. This has been a very good and enriching study for me personally and also really fun to preach. Looking forward to starting the Defining Moments series on Easter!
