LIFE IS A GIFT

sacred space

2011-08-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

I don't remember how I ran across this, but I would like to recommend to you a website called, Sacred Space. This is a website that will help you to spend 5 or 10 minutes (or longer!) with God. Every day a devotional thought is given and a directed prayer is provided. Check it out!

community hermeneutic

2011-07-13T12:51:00.001-08:00

We began the "Timeless Redeemer" series based out of the book of Malachi. The big idea for the series is this: God has always been at work, continues to be at work today and has gone ahead of us to work in the future. I chose to preach from this book because in looking at the history of things I've preached on at Hillcrest the Old Testament has been neglected.

Let me reiterate something I didn't say strongly enough this past Sunday: We're all in this together! We're all on a journey of discovering who God is and how we're called to live in the world. We do that by looking at how God has revealed Himself to us in Scripture and then by discerning how the Gospel should take "root" in the contexts in which we live. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US HAS IT ALL FIGURED OUT! So, don't feel guilty for not having all the answers and don't feel ashamed to ask questions about the Bible, faith or anything else.

This Sunday we'll look at Malachi 1:10-14 in a message called, "Six Words You Never Want to Hear." Can you read the passage and guess what those words are???

I would encourage you to go to the church's website and click on the "Upcoming Messages" link to see where we're headed on Sunday mornings. When you read the passage ask yourselves some questions like...

What was God trying to say through the writer?
Is there an "a-ha" principle at work that God is speaking to me about?
What does this mean for the Church of Jesus Christ in general, and for Hillcrest Church in particular?

You might consider making this a part of your Saturday night routine. If we ask/answer these questions we will undergoing a kind of community hermeneutic of Scripture as we gather on Sundays and throughout the week during Bible Discovery (a.k.a., "studies") and LIFE Groups. The key to this is moving beyond "what does this mean to me?" to discovering "what does this mean for us?"

May God bless you for the time you spend preparing for worship...

with jesus

2011-03-01T12:41:00.000-09:00

With our Ash Wednesday service next week we will begin the Ashes to Fire series. I am excited to begin the journey with you through the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Matthew 4 through the creation of the Church at Pentecost in Acts 2.

One of the great things about a series like this is we get to look at a big picture view of the Story of Jesus, while at the same time diving into specific events and circumstances in Jesus' life. Sometimes as pastors we pick things to preach about that are interesting to us, or are of concern to us. In the Ashes to Fire series we'll just tell some stories-mostly from the New Testament-and let God's Word speak to for us!

You can go on our website - www.HillcrestNaz.com - to see what passages of Scripture we'll be looking at together as we gather to worship!

book review

2011-02-16T14:57:00.000-09:00

Every once in a while a book gets sent my way from a publisher. Sometimes I take time to read them, sometimes I don't. A few months ago I got a copy of a book called, Manna: The Call to Daily Dependence on God, by Kevin Stirratt. I highly recommend it to you!

Here's a little soundbite for you to chew on:

"We must come to a place where we choose to believe God is here, and not just on a fairytale leve...When we really believe this, peace can dominate our attitude. Yes, when adversity hits, we will struggle to maintain that sense of being protected. Yes, we will call out to God with desperate persistence. But the heart of our cry will be based on the bedrock belief that God is present and cares. Anticipation, rather than accusation, will provide the basis for our emotional plea to God.
God wants to bless our lives with the daily miracles of His provision. Before we will be able to accept that kind of daily, absolute dependence on His ability to provide, we must make up our minds what we really believe..."

seeing through the mirk and mire

2011-02-11T09:54:00.000-09:00

Most of you know that Ainsley is potty training these days. For the past two weeks she has mostly been going on the small potty we keep in the bathroom. We ask her dozens of times a day: "Do you have to go potty? Do you have to go potty?" Sometimes she says no, and then has an accident. Sometimes she says yes, and doesn't have to go.

The other night we began transitioning her to a pullup diaper for bedtime. We kept telling her they were her pretty night time panties, thinking she would think that was cool! After trying to convince her of that for a while, she calmly said, "These aren't panties. It's a diaper." She knew what they were. She was seeing right through the mirk and mire.

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). And much of the time, the things that God sees are the same things that discerning, Godly people all around us see about us. So, why do we try to hide our true selves from God and the body of Christ who are around to help us?

How many times in your life have you put on some kind of false facade to cover up who you really are?

You want people to think you have it all together but you're faith in God is in shambles.
You want people to think you know a lot about the Bible but you only read yours sporadically.
You want people to think you are competent but if anything goes wrong then it's always someone elses fault.
You want people to think you are a leader but you lack the courage to lead.

I believe the greatest obstacle to our spiritual growth is our inability to own up to our own brokenness. When we can be honest, open and transparent about our shortcomings and faults, then we can let God be strong through our weakness.

We know that God ALWAYS sees through the mirk and mire of your life, but most of the time other Godly people who care about you will see it, too. Why keep pretending?

go to the source!

2011-02-03T14:00:00.001-09:00

Conflict in the Church is never a good thing. Christians are supposed to be the people who represent God by the way they emulate and embody Christ. But wherever there are people, there is going to be conflict. We know where two or more are gathered there is bound to be at least 6 opinions! Reconciling conflict is hard and our sinful, selfish natures get in the way.

God doesn't like conflict. He is a God who proves over and over again in the Bible that He really wants to bring order out of the chaos of our lives and the world.

What makes it difficult to work through conflict?

We value being right rather than being in relationship.
We aren't willing to do the hard work of figuring out what caused the conflict.
We don't want to deal with our more deeply held pains so our inner struggles are expressed outwardly through conflict with others.
We think the other person involved in the conflict should make the first move.
We disagree on what reconciliation should look like.
We strive for robotic compliance rather than just seeking open and transparent communication.

I could go on. The bottom line is that although it's impossible to be best buddies with everyone, not dealing with conflict and harboring resentment towards others is not pleasing to God. I pray that our desire to please God would overcome our inability or unwillingness to work through things that are hard.

Here's what you need to do:
Set aside time to meet with the person you are in conflict with. Conflict can't be resolved properly over text, email or Facebook.
Commit to forgiveness regardless of how you feel.
Listen more than you talk.
Pray together and ask God to mend the relationship.
Learn from the experience so it won't happen again.

I'm sure there are some other things I missed. What would you add?

seeing things with new eyes

2010-09-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I read on Facebook that a friend of mine, a fellow pastor whom I love, had grabbed hold of an Andy Stanley quote that went something like this: "If we're going to reach people we've never reached before with the Gospel, then we're going to have to try things we've never tried before." Although I love my friend dearly, I think he and Andy Stanley are wrong.

You see, I don't think we need to constantly try to come up with new things to wow and impress the unsaved and unchurched when we haven't fully tried to live the lives of love that Jesus has called us to live. I think my friend would say he agrees with that in theory, but I think when Jesus said to live lives of love so that others will know that we are His disciples He was referring to theory and practice. I've heard many stories of people reaching their neighbors for Christ, that others have not tried themselves. Why do we need to come up with something new, when there are times we really haven't tried anything?

Perhaps as we look around us and see the people we come into contact everyday we can begin to see them through new eyes -- eyes of love. That's what Jesus did.

enthusiasm

2010-09-13T10:50:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we talked about enthusiasm. Belonging to the body of Christ has the potential to bring out the best and worst in people, because some of us are really good at working with others, and some of us, well, are not!

We all have the power to enthusiastically encourage each other in this journey of following Jesus, or not. How are you doing at encouraging others around you?

Hebrews 3:12-13 / NLT - See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Remember, the root words of enthusiasm (en = "in;" theos = "God"). Enthusiasm literally means for God to be inside of you, or to be possessed by God!

May the way in which we love others be a reflection of how we are allowing God to take control of our lives!

One - One - One (Part 4 of 4) / Service Within the Church

2010-05-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't it be great if everyone at Hillcrest were involved in what I call One-One-One:

Attending One Worship Service,
Engaged in One LIFE Group or primary learning environment, and
Committed to One area of meaningful service within the church.

There are some amazing people at Hillcrest who give, and give, and give some more! You know who you are! Then there are others who, well, don't give so much. You know who you are.

Before entering full-time ministry I always volunteered at the church I attended. It just seems natural to me that a committed member of a local body would ask the question, "How can I help?" Embedded in that question is a desire to be used by God in areas that are uniquely suited to your gifts and abilities.

The idea behind service within the church is to give back to others and to be a good steward of personal resources (time, talent and treasure). When there is no outlet for service then our gifts and abilities are used only for our personal benefit.

My desire for us as a church is to commit ourselves to giving our lives away as Christ gave His life for us. It really is that simple!

One - One - One (Part 3 of 4) / Small Group Experiences

2010-05-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

Here's my dream / hope / prayer for everyone at Hillcrest Church. I call it One-One-One:

Attending One Worship Service,
Engaged in One LIFE Group or primary learning environment, and
Committed to One area of meaningful service within the church.

Let's chat for a moment about the importance of being involved in a small group or regular Bible study. It is in these environments that you can really get to know people well. Their struggles, their families, and their faith. I find that to be a great benefit to being involved in the life of a church. It has been said before, "A solo Christian is not much of a Christian at all."

However, the same thing that makes these environments great (people) is also the same reason why some shy away from active engagement with others. Some of us, for whatever reason, aren't interested or able to engage in these types of environments. Let's be real for a second: Just because it's hard or you don't like it doesn't mean God isn't calling you to do it. Don't replace His preferences and desires for your own.

At Hillcrest we are seeking to move forward as a church and maintain a very simple ministry structure. In other words, I have no plans to fill up your calendar with the busy-ness of belonging to a church. Instead, I hope to see Hillcresters serious about One-One-One. If we (all of us!) do that, and only that, then I believe God will really begin to use us as a church!

We've scaled back ministry in order to keep church simple and give more time to you to pursue relationships outside of the church as well. Our LIFE Groups are designed to be the conduit through which service to others outside of the church takes place. Our lack of programming within the four-walls of the church is not an excuse to get lazy, rather it is designed to give you permission to pursue personal spiritual growth and to be "salt and light" in the world with a laser-like focus that is not possible when you're too busy at church.

I believe that One-One-One is an expression of the basic things that are of essential value for us to be a part of in the Kingdom of God. Hopefully it is refreshing to you to think about Loving God and Loving Others without having to feel like you've been swallowed up by the work of the church.

One – One – One (Part 2 of 4) / Weekly Worship

2010-04-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

My dream/vision for everyone who calls Hillcrest Church their home would be engaged in what I call One—One—One

I’d love to see everyone here

Attending One Worship Service,
Engaged in One LIFE Group or primary learning environment, and
Committed to One area of meaningful service within the church.

It’s very interesting to me that some people who consider themselves to be Christians have found no room in their theology for worship. I guess there will always be folks out there who want all the benefits and blessing that God has to offer without having to be obedient to Him or accountable to other believers. That’s the American way, but unfortunately God has other plans for us!

About worship Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions” (Mark 7:9 / NIV). Jesus’ jabs at the Pharisees caught them off guard at first, and then made them angry. The sad thing is that in our day and age there are “spiritual people” who are neither caught off guard nor angry at being told that they fall short of God’s essential will for their lives. There are people who don’t really care what God has to say about worship and prove it by their lack of involvement within a community of faith.

Through worship we acknowledge that God is who He says He is. He is Creator, Sustainer, Comfortor, Counselor, Healer and Savior! As a worshipping community, we gather together on Sunday morning as a visible testimony to God and others that we believe that God is who He says He is! Something that we often don’t think about when we are not participating in corporate worship in a church is that we fail to not only receive the personal blessing of belonging to the body of Christ, but we deny others from receiving the blessing of worshipping with us! In other words, our lack of involvement doesn’t just hurt us, but it hurts others.

Worshipping God is to be done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days in the year! But, the authenticity of our worship revolves around our involvement on Sunday mornings. If we’re engaged on Sundays, then our weeklong worship will be more vibrant. If we’re not engaged on Sundays, then chances are our weeklong worship will fall flat.
What can we do to make our worship more meaningful for ourselves and others? It all comes down to preparing ourselves for worship:

· Begin to prepare yourself on Saturday evenings. Invite other believers over to your home for a meal and fellowship. Ask God to begin preparing your heart and mind to receive Him through the music and message on Sunday. Read God’s Word (the Psalms in particular). Finally, record SNL and get a good night sleep! Don’t stay up too late.

· Arrive to church on Sunday on time! If you have responsibilities to serve on Sundays try to be early. It might be that you being late is putting a damper on other’s abilities to prepare themselves for worship. There’s nothing more distracting than when people arrive late for the worship service. If you arrive late then not only are you not prepared to worship but you have distracted others from worshipping.

· Worship throughout the Week. Take what you’ve heard through the music and message with you and apply it throughout the week. Remember, as leaders we don’t prepare Sunday morning worship for you so you can just forget it the moment you leave the church. We prepare worship for you so that you can connect with God and hear what He has to say. If you come to church on Sundays, but never think about and apply the music and message the rest of the week, then you have really just gone through a “spiritual drive through” and have missed an opportunity to feast on the amazing “buffet” of grace and mercy that God has for us!

One-One-One (Part 1 of 4)

2010-03-10T13:28:00.000-09:00

I have a dream! Okay, actually I have several dreams including riding in a fighter jet and going into the Oval Office. But, the most important dreams I have are for the Church! My dream is that everyone who calls Hillcrest Church their home would be engaged in what I call

One—One—One.

I’d love to see everyone here

Attending One Worship Service,

Engaged in One LIFE Group or primary learning environment, and

Committed to One area of meaningful service within the church.

So often people attend church’s and aren’t sure what is expected of them there. In the interest of clarity, One—One—One is my dream. It’s more like a passion of mine! It’s a way in which I would define “active” participation as a Hillcrester. It’s a way of measuring whether those who are attending Hillcrest are well-rounded in their worship of God, in their followership of Jesus, and in their service to the Church. By the way, any one of these three things without the other is going to leave you falling short of the irreducible minimums by which God calls us to be actively doing life together as a body of Christ. This dream is God's dream as well!

Over the next few weeks I’ll explain the importance of each one of these three One’s. If you find that you are not actively participating in one, two or all three, then I would challenge you to keep pursuing these things as evidence of your love for God and others.