The Problem with God

I am really pumped about The Problem with God series we're doing right now at The Point. Like I said on Sunday, what we believe about God affects and influences all aspects of our life.

Sunday we said that God is good, and while most of us would intellectually agree with that statement, most of us are practicing agnostics. We don't live life like God is good. We don't respond to hard times like God is good. In all honesty, we don't believe that God is good... but he is! It's all over Scripture. Read here and here.

This Sunday is going to be a great follow-up. We're going to look at a confusing story in Luke 10:11-27. Go ahead and read over it a few times. See if you can discern who God is and what he is like from what Jesus shares.

This would be a great week to invite a friend.

One more thing: I would love for this blog to become a discussion board about your thoughts, objections, comments and responses to The Problem with God series. Post a comment. Leave your mark. Let the discussion begin.

Some gardening

I spent some time this morning reading through the book of Acts and the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation just focusing on the church. I encourage all of you to take that little reading journey. But there was something that jumped out at me as I read over the church planting adventures in Acts.

When Paul would go into a city he would start meeting with and talking with people. He planted seeds and then he would water those seeds. Right after Pentecost Peter preached a sermon (planted a seed) and then 3000 people were saved in one day. All the apostles did, all Paul did was plant seed and water.

That's really all I know to do too. I can't make something grow. I can just do what I can to plant seeds, to water seeds, to invest in relationships with the unchurched, to invite unchurched. God has to do the growing.

I forget that. I feel as if I need to force stuff, but the growing is God's responsibility. I don't know why he allows some things to grow faster than others. Why does the green bean plant that my kids planted a few weeks ago grow faster than an oak tree? Why does one church plant shoot to over 1000 in a year and another struggle to make it to 35 folks?

I don't have answers, but I do know what I'm supposed to do: Plant and water. Anybody interested in doing some gardening in Spartanburg?

Great quote

I came across this great quote today from Tim Keller that I think needs to be read. Enjoy.

"If you speak and discourse as if your whole neighborhood is present eventually more and more of your neighborhood will find their way in or be invited. Why? Most Christians, even when they are very edified in church, know intuitively that their non-Christian friends would not appreciate the service. What you want is for a Christian to come to your church and say, "Oh! I wish my non-Christian friend could see (or hear) this!" If this is forgotten, soon even a growing church will be filled with Christians who commute in from various towns and communities far and wide rather than filling up with Christians and seekers from your church's immediate neighborhood." ~ Tim Keller

The church is the missionary

I read a great post by David this morning about the church being the missionary and it got me thinking. Most of you have heard me say that the church doesn't exist for us. If we are Christ followers then we are the church and we exist for the world.

What that means is that The Point is a missionary to Spartanburg. God has planted us here to connect disconnected people to God. If you are a part of The Point then God has called you to join with us to do whatever it takes to connect disconnected people with God.

That's why we are a church for people who aren't into church. That's why we are trying to create irresistible environments for kids and adults on Sunday so that they can come to know the God who made them. That's why we are going to give out free gum and candy during Music on Main every Thursday from April to September. That's why we're taking field trips to learn what it takes to do Church @ the Movies. That's why you need to invite everyone you can to our Easter Gathering (send them this link).

Our church is a missionary. You are a missionary. Let's see Spartanburg as our target area. Let's invest in relationships with people who are far away from God. Let's invite those people to a Sunday gathering. We are here for such a time as this. Let's do whatever it takes. See you Sunday.

Sales-people

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not that fond of people coming to my house trying to sell stuff. Well, today this pest control guy came advertising his bug killing business. Liz answered the door. I was up in my office working. She took his information, but before he left he asked, "What's the deal with the www.theproblemwithgod.com bumper stickers. Liz told him to go to the web site and find out. He wanted more, but she kept him in suspense by telling him to go to the web site. I ran out a postcard with the web site on it just so that he wouldn't forget. We wanted him to check out the web site.

I'll say the same to you. Beginning Easter Sunday we're starting a new series titled The Problem with God. If you've got unchurched friends in Spartanburg then they need to be at The Point on Easter. It's going to be a fun 5 week series.

Do whatever you can to get the word out. E-mail the link to your friends. Give a postcard to the pest control guy when he comes to your door.

Good Day

Today was a good day. It started off early with me driving to Easley to drop off my taxes. While there, I stopped by my previous church of employment to say hey. It was good to see some of the guys that I used to work with at Mt. Airy. Out of that I was inspired to ask them to send a mission team to do some servant evangelism with us. Well, on May 5th they are sending a team our way to help us out. I'm working to get The Point a booth at Spring Fling to hand out free stuff and I am so thankful to have a team from Mt. Airy helping us.

I was able to have lunch with Tim William, pastor of Roebuck Baptist Church. Tim and his church have been great supporters of The Point, both financially and with encouragement. Tim has agreed to be a part of a team that helps with leadership accountability for our church.

Since last week, I've been in contact with Darryl at the city of Spartanburg talking about partnering serving them at Shamrocks on the Square. I had lunch with Darryl last week and he's a great guy. I felt prompted to invite Darryl and his family to church. He said he'd like to take me up on the invitation.

Here's the deal. I've been praying all day for an opportunity to invite someone. I think God shows up when he knows we're serious. Will you join with me in being seriously intentional about inviting people? I believe that we are a part of the most important movement in the history of the world: The Church. It's a mission that requires all that we are. It's our opportunity to contribute to an eternal cause. Invest in some new relationships. Invite someone this Sunday.

Dream-caster, Dream-chaser, Dream-enabler, or Dream-Killer?

I’ve been working on this Sunday’s sermon this morning and can’t wait to see how it develops. Here’s what I’ve been mulling over out of Nehemiah 2:16-20.

Each of us has a dream for our lives. Some dreams are small, some are huge, some are outlandish, some are personal, some are private. But, even more important than your dreams for your life is God’s dream for your life. Did you know that God has a dream for your life? He has a dream for every aspect of your life: Finances, family, relationships, job, health…the list could go on for a while.

Responding to each of the dreams that we have are four types of people: Dream-Casters, Dream-Chasers, Dream-Enablers and Dream-Killers. This leads to some questions: Which am I? Who in my life is in each category? Who am I listening to? How should I respond to each (especially Dream-Killers)?

We will be discussing these and other questions this week at The Point. You NEED to be there and you NEED to bring some people with you. I promise it will be worth your, and their, time.

I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts about this. Please comment.

PS If you've got some extra time check out these two posts: here and here.

Me, a missionary???

My passion is that each one of us would see ourselves as missionaries to Spartanburg. This is where God has put us. We are were we are on purpose, for a purpose. So that begs the question: Who are you influencing towards Jesus? Who in your circle of influence are you investing in relationally with the goal of them one day (hopefully soon) becoming a follower, a disciple, of Jesus?

My passion is that God will use The Point to reach people. Well, you are The Point. You are our body. You are our marketing. You are our outreach program. You're it! No pressure, just fact.

Now that you know that you're it, what are you going to do about it? Who can you bring with you this week? Who are you developing a relationship with so that you can invite them in a month? God wants to use you. Each encounter you have with another person is an opportunity. Be intentional. You are where you are on purpose, for a purpose.

Jonathan Herron had a great post that relates to this here. Check it out.

Sunday @ The Point

Are you ready for some football? Are you ready for some food? This Sunday we're having a Super Bowl Party at The Point. We'll be showing the game on the big screen, and we'll have lots of food to munch on. If you're not a football fan you have no need to worry. We'll have lots of games to play and you can still eat the food! I am looking forward to hanging out with our church. It should be fun. Bring a friend, and go Colts!

Comfort: Ours or theirs

Anyone who's been a part of The Point for any length of time will recognize these verses: Listen! I Hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the Lord through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together (Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT emphasis mine).

I love that passage because I think it gets to the heart of who we are and who we will always be as a church. We want to do whatever it takes to bring people who are far away from God to a place where they are disciples who are making disciples.

But so often we, as Christians, get in the way of that because it can be very uncomfortable for us. We want to be comfortable in church...after all, we're the one's who are on the inside, right? (Churchplanters.com has a great post on that that you can read here.) But the thing we've got to remember is that our heavenly Father's heart is for those who are on the outside.

So let's work to create a church where outsiders feel comfortable. Let's be like our heavenly Father. Let's be less concerned with our comfort and more concerned with those who don't yet have what we have.

Mystery quote

Christianity is not about the bless-me club. It's not about the holy huddle. It's about others.

Ok, who do you think said that? Got any guesses? Bono, the lead singer for U2 said this. Isn't it kind of sad that Bono realizes something that so many Christians in America don't?