The Rock Blog

House of Love (What Do You Think?)

Jesus Christ  taught that to love God and to love others was the most important thing we could do with our lives (Matthew 22:36-40).  He also taught his followers that their love for each other is the most powerful evidence that they in turn, love God (John 13:34-35). 

The approach that many believers take to Christianity might imply to the objective observer that they believed that Christ's most urgent directive pertained to righteous living, consistent tithing or church attendance, not swearing or drinking or smoking, performing "good works", or just making it out of the parking lot on Sunday afternoons in time to beat the crowd to Red Robin.  However, Scripture is clear, Jesus taught that loving God and loving others is the most important thing his followers could do. 

If you spent time with your Rock Church Family this Sunday morning, you heard Derrick Schumacher share the following story:

A lonely woman was overheard talking with her friend in a bar, saddened that she had no plans for her birthday the following day.  The man that overheard them asked the bartender if the ladies were in that bar often and found out that they were there everyday at the same time.  The man returned the next day at the same time with a birthday cake and easily persuaded all of the bar patrons to sing Happy Birthday to the woman.  The bartender was overcome by his curiosity as to why this man (who didn't seem to want anything in return) would do this for his regular customer.  The man replied that he was a pastor at a local church, and just wanted to share God's love with someone.  The bartender, jaded by negative past experiences, couldn't believe the man.  He expressed his disbelief that Christians behaved like that, and said that if they really did, he'd go to church himself. 

The intent of this story isn't to beat Christ followers down with reminders of how we often misrepresent God's love for the people around us.  The intent is to remind us, that one unselfish expression of love on our part can go a long way to opening up another person's heart to God.  Are the people around you overcome with wonder at the loving way in which you interact with people?  Should they be?  What do you think?

Looking for More?

John 13:34-35

Matthew 22:36-40

House of Love | Listen Here

The State of Our Church

Yesterday, our Rock Church Family reviewed some of the challenges and successes we experienced in 2009, and discussed the hopes that we have for our future in 2010.  Our Lead Pastor, Scott Fenton, expressed his desire that our church family be guided in 2010 by the following passage from Ephesians 1:16-18:

I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called-his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

We hope that this year, our church family will embrace the importance of daily time with God by establishing habits of prayer, Bible study, and journaling.  We hope that members of our church family will either begin or continue to experience the joy of giving both their time and finances towards showing God's love in tangible ways to members of our community and people in need all over the world.  Today, we encourage you to take the first step in doing something amazing for God in 2010.  Stop for a moment, take a look at the people you will come in contact with this week, and then take deliberate action to show them the love that God has shown you. (Luke 7:36-50)

Looking for More?

The State of Our Church  | Listen Here

Time With God - Friday!

Every day this week we'll be sharing a resource for spending private time with God, with you! 

Sometimes, when you've gotten out of the habit of spending alone time with God, it's nice to just focus on some Scripture without someone else's commentary.  Did you know that our very own Rock Church website has a couple of 2-week reading plans that are quite useful for getting yourself back on daily-private-time-with-God-track?  You can choose between 2 Weeks in the Life and Teachings of Christ and Two Weeks in the Life and Teachings of Paul!  Here's Day 7 from the Life and Teachings of Jesus, Luke 15:

Luke 15

Parable of the Lost Sheep

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!  So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Parable of the Lost Coin

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

Parable of the Lost Son

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.  About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.  He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.  The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.  “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!  I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,  and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’  “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.  And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house,  and he asked one of the servants what was going on.  ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’  “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,  but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.  Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’  “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.  We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

Time With God - Thursday!

Every day this week we'll be sharing a resource for spending private time with God, with you! 

Any old school Christians out there remember Keith Green?  Besides running a property called Last Days Ministries where he offered a safe place for healing to recovering criminals, drug addicts, and prostitutes -  Christian-Uber-Hippy Keith Green wrote, recorded, and performed songs that have impacted many lives both before and long after his death at 28 years old in 1982.  A book with some of his devotions called "If You Love The Lord" was published posthumously in 2000.  Keith Green took an unapologetic, aggressive stance on the Bible's teachings, and readers will find the same candid nature evident in his writings.  You'll find his thoughts on why prayers sometimes go unanswered in a devotion taken from page 177 of "If You Love The Lord".

The Answer for Unanswered Prayer

When God wasn't answering the Israelites' prayers anymore, they came up with some interesting theories as to why not.  They decided God was getting a little old.  Maybe his hands had shriveled or he had arthritis, and didn't have the strength to reach out anymore.  Possibly he was going deaf.  What other reasons should there be for their unanswered prayers?  How could anyone trust a tired old grandfather in the sky?

Isaiah shook his head.  You've thought of everything, he said, except the obvious:

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. - Isaiah 59:1-2

You see, Isaiah told the Israelites that God hasn't changed.  He told them, "You have.  Your sins are cutting off your communication with him.  God can't hear what you're saying because of your sin."

Many of us have the same problem, and it crushes the life out of our prayers.  We cry out to God in vain because there is sin that we know about but won't confess or forsake.  Sometimes it's unconfessed sin from the past.  Other times it's sin we're secretly indulging in now.

Either way, we forget the words of David: "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18).

But that's the beauty of prayer: If we ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and, in turn, we confess our wrongs, God's always listening.

Time With God - Wednesday!

Every day this week we'll be sharing a resource for spending private time with God, with you! Chances are you've already heard of, and possibly read Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life.  This book purports to be:

"...a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I hear for? By the end of this journey you will know God's purpose for your life and will understand the big picture - how all the pieces of your life fit together..."

If you've never read the book - get a copy and spend 40 days working through it!  If you read it and loved it, check out the daily devotional that Rick Warren now publishes online (and via free email subscription) called, "Daily Hope".  The following devotional from Daily Hope was published on January 24th of this year:

Three Habits to Help You Grow Spiritually

But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. Psalm 59:16

We all want our relationships to be characterized by persistence and self-sacrifice. But we can never do that on our own. The kind of love we long to show others is only found in a growing relationship with God. Without God's power in our lives, our love will run out.

You don't build that kind of relationship with God (one that will help you love others when you want to give up) by accident. You do it through habits. Here are three habits that will help you grow in your relationship with God.

1. A daily quiet time -- Let God talk to you through the Bible and through prayer.. Nothing will help your life more. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, "This is the reason we never lose heart. Our body does suffer wear and tear but every day the inward man receives fresh strength." Outwardly our body suffers wear and tear. But spiritually we can be renewed every day by spending time alone with God. It's not hard. Read through a chapter of the Bible, mediate on it, and talk with God about what's going on in your life.

2. Small group -- The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..."  You need to spend time with other believers. I hope you have a church family. Be a part of whatever mechanism they have to connect you within a small group - whether that's a Sunday School or off-campus small groups. You need the prayer support and encouragement of other believers. A Christian without a small group is an orphan.

3. Worship through song -- Psalms 59:16 says, "I will sing about your strength, my God, and I will celebrate because of your love."  Singing builds you up. The singing time at your church isn't just the warm-up act. It's just as important as the message. Don't miss it this weekend. Also, put some worship music on your I-pod this week - and don't be afraid to sing along. It'll recharge your soul and give you the God-given strength to love others.

Time With God - Tuesday!

Every day this week we'll be sharing a resource for spending private time with God, with you! 

Today we're sharing a devotional from "Our Daily Bread" which is published by RBC ministries.  RBC has been around since 1938 and their FREE daily devotional is now published in over 30 languages.  Procure one of these handy booklets in your language of choice and you'll have content for 5 minutes each day with God for three months at a time!  We always carry these booklets at the Connection Center on Sunday mornings and if you prefer, you can find a new devotional online each day at: www.rbc.org! 

When God starts changing things, He usually begins with changing us.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” - Luke 7:39

A friend once told me, “In my lifetime I’ve seen a lot of things change, and I’ve been against them all!” Perhaps he overstated the point, but many of us would agree that we don’t like change—especially if it involves altering our habits and attitudes.

That’s one reason Jesus was so unpopular among the Pharisees. He challenged their long-established system of good works and self-righteous living. Consider the incident when the town “sinner” entered the home of the town “saint” in Luke 7. Simon the Pharisee wasn’t impressed with the woman’s lavish display of affection for Jesus. Reading Simon’s self-righteous thoughts, Jesus immediately challenged his flawed perception of his own goodness by telling the story of two debtors—one who owed much to his master and one who owed less. “Which of them will love him more?” Jesus asked (v.42). Obviously, the one who had been forgiven more. Speaking to Simon’s I-feel-pretty-good-about-myself attitude, Jesus said, “to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (v.47).

The challenge is clear. Lulled into thinking how good we are, our love for Jesus wanes because we have forgotten that we too are among the ones “forgiven much.” And when that happens, ready or not, it’s time for a change!  — Joe Stowell

Suggested Reading: Luke 7:37-49

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Regular, private time seeking the presence of God is vital to the health of any Believer (if Jesus needed it, chances are that you do as well... Luke 5:16)!  Every day this week, we'll be sharing our favorite resources for spending private time with God, with you!  We'll start the week with a devotional derived from:  Experiencing God (Henry & Richard Blackaby, Claude King).  If this format appeals to you, you can find a full year's worth of similar daily devotionals in: Experiencing God Day-By-Day.  You'll find this passage on p. 118:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me." - John 14:6

If you are walking daily with the Lord, you will not have to find God's will - you will already be in it.  If you are walking with Him in obedience day by day, you will always be in the will of God.  The Holy Spirit's role is to guide you step by step to do God's will.  Walking closely with God each day guarantees that you will be exactly where He wants you to be.  You would have to reject all of the Holy Spirit's activity in your life in order to get out of the will of God.

The disciples never had to ask Jesus where they should go next.  They simply looked to see where Jesus was going and stayed close to Him!  Jesus was their "way."  They didn't need a map as long as they had Jesus.  Too often, we would prefer a road map of our future rather than a relationship with the Way.  It often seems easier to follow a plan than to cultivate a relationship.  We can become more concerned with our future than we are with walking intimately with God today.

Jesus will never give you a substitute for Himself.  He is the only way to the Father.  That's why it is critical that you clearly know when God is speaking to you (Isaiah 30:21).  If you are disoriented to how God speaks, you will not understand when He is giving you a new revelation about what He is doing.  If you want to know God's will, take time to cultivate your relationship with Jesus and learn to identify His voice.  He is more than willing to show you the way.

Monday Morning Reality (Part Four) | What Do You Think?

What kind of person do you want to be?

It seems like the answer to that question gets longer as we continue to grow older.  Ask a 5 year old that question, and they might answer, "a movie star" or "a firefighter".  Ask yourself that question and hopefully you consider issues more weighty than occupation.  You might want to be a good parent, spouse, and/or friend.  Maybe you focus on being responsible with your finances or being physically fit.  You might want to devote a great deal of energy to becoming a faithful follower of Christ.  Whoever you want to become, chances are that you (just like everyone else in the world) have experienced setbacks in your attempt to become the person that you want to be. 

When we experience such setbacks, it's sometimes difficult not to feel like a failure.  You acted like a total jerk, or you maxed out your credit card, you ate too much pizza, or you haven't cracked open your Bible in three months.  We beat ourselves up and forget that we can start over.  The Apostle Paul addressed this same issue in his letter to the church in Philippi:

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. - Philippians 3:12-13

You can apologize for the thoughtless things you said.  You can come up with a plan to pay off your credit card debt.  You can eat salad instead next time.  You can find some place quiet to open your Bible and find what God has for you there.  Don't. Give. Up.  Forgive yourself for your failings, seek the forgiveness of others if your behavior merits it.  Decide not to let your past define you, your present consume you, or your future discourage you.  We think that with God's help, you can become the person you want to be.  We think that if you ask, God will not only show you who He wants you to be, He will help you become more like that person every day.  What do you think?

Looking For More?

Philippians 3:8-14 | Galatians 2:20 | Ephesians 4:1-16 | 2 Corinthians 7:10 | Philippians 4:13 | Isaiah 43:25 | Hebrews 12:5-13 | Lamentations 3:20-24

Monday Morning Reality (Part 3) | What Do You Think?

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked.  “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” - Mark 9:23-24

Mark 9 records the story of a Father's encounter with Jesus.  This man's son was horribly ill and in imminent danger of death.  In his desperation the father reaches out to Jesus and says to God Himself,  "Help us, if you can." 

We can all relate to this man's somewhat uncertain plea for help.  We go to church Sunday morning and nod and smile as the pastor waxes eloquent on the complete sufficiency of Almighty God to meet all of our needs.  But when Monday Morning comes we look with uncertainty at the difficult and painful struggles in our life and wonder... We wonder if God can really help us.  We wonder if God cares enough to help us.  We wonder if God is really there at all. 

We are not alone in our doubt.  Followers of Christ have asked these same questions for two thousand years.  To those who wonder if God can help us, Jeremiah reassures, "there is nothing too hard for God" (Jeremiah 32:17-19).  To those who wonder if God cares, Jesus reminds that He not only cares, He loves us and calls us his friends (John 15:12-17) and David boasts that God's love for us is beyond what we can hope to understand (Psalm 139:1-18).  To those of us who look at life through the filter of our own suffering, who struggle to find evidence of a loving God in this imperfect world, who have time and again sought out a quiet place to close our eyes and ask in spite of our uncertainty and doubts, "God, are you really there?" - to us, Jesus says:

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

We think that God can help us, that He cares enough to help us, and that He is: today, yesterday, and forever - really here.  We think that our lives would change radically if we believed all of that as completely on Monday as we do on Sunday.  We think that if we ask Him to help us overcome our unbelief, He will hear us.  What do you think?

Looking for more?

Mark 9:14-29 | Jeremiah 32:17-19 | John 15:12-17 | Psalm 139:1-18 | John 20:24-31

'Monday Morning Reality' Teaching Series (Part Three) | Listen Here

Monday Morning Reality (Part Two) | What Do You Think?

Why do we feel that we have to pretend that life is perfect and that we are perfect when we arrive at church Sunday morning, when we know all too well the imperfections that we will face come Monday morning and Friday night?  At our Sunday Morning Gathering yesterday, our Lead Pastor, Scott Fenton proposed that one of the reasons we feel compelled to reenact this charade week after week, is that we have lost hope.

In his book, Surprised By Joy, C.S. Lewis articulated the Believer's loss of hope when faced with a painful/disappointing reality by sharing his experience in a boarding school with a particularly cruel headmaster.

"Life at a vile boarding school is in this way a good preparation for the Christian life, that it teaches one to live by hope. Even, in a sense, by faith; for at the beginning of each term, home and the holidays are so far off that it is as hard to realize them as to realize heaven. They have the same pitiful unreality when confronted with immediate horrors. Tomorrow’s geometry blots out the distant end of term as tomorrow’s operation may blot out the hope of Paradise. And yet, term after term, the unbelievable happened. Fantastical and astronomical figures like “this time six weeks” shrank into practicable figures like “this time next week,” and then “this time tomorrow,” and the almost supernatural bliss of the Last Day punctually appeared."

When we find ourselves in the midst of a particularly painful experience, it is hard, sometimes nearly impossible to feel hope.  Like an exhausted athlete facing the final miles of a grueling marathon, the promise (Romans 5:3-5) that we will gain endurance and character does not often provide immediate comfort.  But just like a child in school learns that summer break always comes, and just like a long-distance runner learns that consistent training pays off - we learn, although slowly and repetitively - day after day, that God does care for us (Matthew 10:29-31 | Psalm 139:1-18), and that our hope is never futile or misplaced when we put it in Him. 

Looking for more?

Psalm 139:1-18

Matthew 10:29-31

Romans 5:3-5

Ephesians 1:18-20

Hebrews 6:16-19

'Monday Morning Reality' Teaching Series (Part Two) | Listen Here