Christ is Risen...Now What?

Sunday morning retuning:  He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!  What a celebration of the resurrection!!  Thank you to each of you who participated and helped to make I’ve Seen Jesus happen Sunday.   I was honored to help lead you.

Because I had issued a bold call for expectant prayer with the 1800 Challenge, I was waiting to get the final attendance numbers for our Easter services before I sent this my next Tunings out to you.  I received those numbers late yesterday but did not want to wait until next Tuesday to get them and some accompanying thoughts to you.  I will explain why later.

The official count was 1649.  I was initially a little disappointed that we had not reached 1800, but immediately it occurred to me that God may have been drawing 1800 but some resisted.  I do not know this of course, but that thought eased my disappointment a bit.

The really is not the important number.  The number that really matters is the one that gives us some sense of how God was moving.  At least 20 people responded for the first-time saying they wanted to follow Jesus.  That is exciting, but I must admit again that what I want to see is evidence that people are walking with Jesus, not just turning to Him.  In addition to those decisions, over one hundred books were given out, and even though many to were people who were planning to pass them along, I believe that some are pondering the reality of Jesus.Only time will tell if that is happening.

The first part of that “time” will be this Sunday.  Will they come back and give us a chance to help them take the next step with Jesus?  Only He knows that answer, but I want to encourage you to pray with me that many will return, get connected, grow, serve and love.  I wanted to get this note to you to ask you to do that and even though you will only have Saturday, please pray.  Let’s together trust God to do what only He can do, but let’s do our part as well.

How about a little reflection?  It is difficult for me to take time to reflect sometimes.  I am already aggressively making plans for our upcoming Worship Workshop in 3 weeks, but I am growing in my belief that evaluation is an important part of constant improvement.  So, I welcome your feedback, especially as it may help us celebrate Easter even better next year.  Bring it on!

One anecdote.  For those of you who were with us for Good Friday, you will remember the cards we nailed to the wooden beams representing situations where we needed to see the Resuurection power of Christ turn our Fridays into Sundays.  I heard of an incredible one on Wednesday regarding a short sale on a home that the realtor commented was “nothing short of a miracle”.  What’s even more amazing is that this was answered even before the close of the day Friday.  Sometimes God works very quickly.

Jesus, help us to see Your resurrection power at work in our lives.  All of us have some difficult situation where we are desperate to see You make a change.  Do it Lord!  Even if most of what You change is us!  We long for more of Your glory and power!  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Son of God: Who Is He?

Sunday morning retuning:  What sight adjustments are you making having heard Sundays message from Luke 16:10-18.  Did you miss it?  Listen to it here.  Remember it is not enough to walk away with a good idea.  You must find a way to allow that idea to motivate you to take the next step in following Jesus.

This Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection, we will be answering this question.  utilizing the main image from the recent major motion picture, we will do so by examining five encounters with the Resurrected Christ:  Mary Magdalene, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the disciples in the upper room, Thomas, and Peter.  It seems odd that they either did not recognize him at first or had trouble believing it was him or why he was there.

Before we become too critical of those disciples, we need to ask ourselves a simple question.  Why do even we who know Him not always recognize HIs presence with us?  We struggle to find the ability to believe even though we know him and that he is always with us.

These words will give us perspective on Sunday morning as we consider our need to encounter Christ in our days.  They are taken directly from the musical.  I want to ask you to pray for those who will be hearing them for the first time Sunday.

Perhaps, like Mary Magdalene, we may be blinded by personal pain, unable to see Him clearly through our tears – until He calls us by name.

Perhaps, like the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, we can become so consumed in daily worries, we don’t realize He is always walking beside us, desiring our fellowship.

Perhaps, like the disciples, we have hidden ourselves behind locked doors, hesitant to proclaim His name to a hostile world – until He is suddenly there among us, saying “Peace be with you.”

Perhaps, like Thomas, we can easily become hardened skeptics, demanding physical evidence of Christ’s claims – forgetting that Jesus offers spiritual assurance beyond any temporal proof.  When we believe without seeing, we are indeed, blessed.

And perhaps, like Peter, we let our past failings rob us of the conviction that we can still serve Christ until we face the Cross and know we are forgiven, forever.

If they who knew Him, and we who know Him, have such reasons for not seeing Jesus clearly, how much more those who have yet decided to follow him.  How this should encourage us all the more to pray for those who do not yet profess to know Him?  Will you pray Sunday?

Will you pray today?  Will you take the 1800 prayer challenge.  Join me in asking God to double our normal Sunday attendance, then to reveal His glory and His power everyone of us.  Pray Ephesians 1:16-21.

Jesus, open our eyes to see You for Who You really are as we worship You this Sunday.  And not just us, but hundreds who will worship with us, and millions who will worship in churches all around the world.  Revive Your Church.  Awaken the masses.  Show us Your glory!  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Standing in the Shadows

Sunday morning retuning: Are you willing to make eternal investments?  What risk do you need to take this week that could pay off eternally?  Are you willing to take it?

That last bit of snowfall we had, notice I said last, left just a dusting on the ground.  I happened to look out the window of my study and notice this interesting sight.  As the sun was moving across the sky, it was melting away the snow.  Only the snow in the shadows remained.  I snapped this picture and pondered the implications of standing in the shadows…

It is cold in the shadows.  You can really feel that this time of year.  Stepping into the sun can change the temperature from cold to comfortable.  So why would we not want to?

It is safe in the shadows.  Some things are hidden, or at least not as exposed. People simply do not know us as well if we stay in the dark.

The choir is singing a song by that contains the phrase “Been standing in the shadows”, describing the disciples in the Upper Room after the resurrection, before they took their stand.  It continues, “Drifting out to sea.  Denying that I know You, denying You know me.  Before the battles started I’m running in defeat, O Lord.”  How often might we be able to say this, mirroring that fear of the disciples?

I think this fear it comes immediately before us when we consider inviting someone to a church event.  I want to ask you to do something bold.  Actually, most of you have already been asked.  Easter is 12 days away.  We have prepared invitation cards to give to people welcoming them to be your guest at our Easter services.  We will boldly and beautifully answer the question “Son of God: Who Is He?”

But that is not the bold thing I am asking you to do.  I have begun to pray that God will double our church on Easter Sunday morning.  Our average attendance on Sundays in March was 898.  Will you pray with me for 1800 people on Easter?  1800 souls, undoubtedly many who can not say they are following Jesus, confronted with the reality of His resurrected glory.

If you are willing to join me, please let me know by replying to this email simply saying “I will pray.”

Will you step into the light?

Do you see that gorgeous blue sky?  I want to the clouds to part and the sun to shine down on some unsuspecting souls next Sunday.  Join me in the light, praying.

Jesus help us to lift You up.  You said if we will lift You up You will draw people to Yourself. [John 12:32] Show Your faithfulness and draw them Lord.  We are asking for you to double our church next Sunday as we celebrate Your resurrection.  Bring 1800 people into that sanctuary. In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Sunday’s Coming

Sunday morning retuning: We were each lost and dead in sin, then Jesus rescued us!  What a great reminder these last two Sundays.  When you think of rescue, is there someone who comes to mind.  Have you taken the opportunity to introduce them to the Rescuer?  You know Easter is right around the corner...

Of course, we all know this, but no one better that preachers, including those who lead worship.  Every Sunday is a reminder of a sorts of the most important one, that Resurrection Morn we will celebrate in a couple weeks.  I have felt inclined to approach it in a slightly different way this year.  Let me explain.

I believe that to appreciate the height of the ectasy of Easter, we have to descend to the depths of despair of Good Friday.  This generally leads me to plan a solemn remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice.  While we will remember that again this Good Friday, I want to look ahead to the difference that Sunday’s coming makes even on our bad Friday’s, that is our darkest days of disappointment and failure.

We will watch this video featuring S.M. Lockridge’s classic sermon.  Then I will give us time to ponder what “Friday” each of us is living currently.  We will write that on one side of a piece of paper.  On the other side we will write what we are hoping our “Sunday” will look like one day, believing it can be because of what Christ has done.  We will then nail these to a block of wood at the foot of the cross in faith that what is, is not what will be.

You see, it’s Friday, but Sunday's a'comin.

It always has been, and nothing has changed, but I am sensing a need to change the way I am going about it.  It has occurred to me recently that the more planning we are able to do further out from Sunday, the more creative we can be.  If we can find a way to involve more people in this process, the creativity could be effected exponentially.  What might that look like?  I am not sure.  

While this was all percolating in my soul, I had a conversation recently with someone about a show at Disney called Fantasmic.  It is a water fireworks light show extravaganza.  They were sharing with me how it really got their creative juices flowing as they marveled at what was required to pull off this techincal, artistic, logistical marvel.  That got me thinking.

What kind of a team of people must be required to pull off such a feat?  How would you even begin to conceive of such a monumental task?  How long would you have to prepare and plan to make it a reality?  In short, it would take a lot of creative, disciplined people a long time get it done.

Though I have no intent on creating our our version of this, Christasmic, it did advance my previous thinking a little further.  I want to involve others in the creative process.  I am not certain what that will look like but I want to explore it.  When you read above what we will do on Good Friday did it stir your creativity?  Do you sometimes have creative ideas to express our worship corporately?  

Will you consider what your role might be in that?  Maybe it is just am imagineer?  But maybe it is a bit more.  Maybe you have been standing in the shadows and you need to step into the light...more on that next week.

Jesus give us eyes to see You all around us.  You are there and we need to see You.  Then give us eyes to see You as we prepare to say goodbye to all this life holds, and hello to what the next does.  Grant us peace, and open eyes.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Retracing Old Steps

Sunday morning retuning: Do you remember when Jesus rescued you?  As we closed the service Sunday, did you have someone in mind who needs the same rescue you now enjoy?  Jesus invites us to join His rescue team.  Are you willing to stay one step behind Him?

Sometimes there is great value in retracing old steps…

Our choir is repeating a musical that we did a few years ago. My initial thought on this as I listened to the Lord's leading was frustration. I like to do new things. I want to keep the Easter message fresh for me personally and our musicians. But I think God had a different plan.

As I saw the choir respond favorably to repeating an old work, I was encouraged.  When I heard several of them say it would give us an opportunity to do it even better this time than we had in the last, a few new thoughts occurred to me.  I drew some inspiration from their response.

First of all, you can do it better on your second go around.  Hopefully, if you learned from that first experience, you can improve on it. Second, you can discover things you missed before.  Your eyes can be wide-open because not everything is brand-new.  That familiarity can help you see even better.  Finally, you can wade even deeper into the truth you are learning/communicating.  You're knowing can create a safe scenario for you experience more.

In short, retracing old steps can create an environment that makes hearing Jesus a little easier.  Hearing Jesus enables our creativity and profound ways, even in the simple things.  This place of rest in Hm gives you the opportunity and space to think creatively if you're willing.

Here's another way I learned this recently.  I went to an old place with old things which the Lord used to challenge me to think in a new way.  Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to visit the Butler Museum of American Art in Youngstown with my third-grader.  We saw a variety of different mediums used to communicate some very beautiful scenes.  

There were portraits and landscapes and seascapes, there was technology and sculpture so much more.  I think the most captivating was the image below done in acrylic.  It was stunning!

In Flanders Field-Where Soldiers Sleep and Poppies Grow, 1890

ROBERT VONNOH 1858-1933

I was so inspired by the creativity of the artists that I had to consider my own contribution to the bigger picture, pun unintended.  Even going back and doing something I had done before still provided great opportunities to be creative.  We will use three different soloists, none of which I have worked with in this capacity before.  I can put our LED lights to use to enhance the message of the musical.  Mike Kelly is directing the orchestra, which allows my energies to be focused in other areas.  I'm so excited!

So I want to ask you a question again this week.  Even if you're retracing old steps, doing some of the same things you've done for awhile or at least sometime before, how can you breathe new life into them or it?

Jesus help us to go wherever You want us to go, whether old or new, knowing all the while we never walk alone.  Give us the faith to follow.  We need it!  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Running Out of Gas

Sunday morning retuning: How important is your relationship to God?  Truth is, it is the most important single thing in our lives, but we do not always act like it.  We must be preoccupied with Jesus.  Then and only then, when He is at the center of not only the heavens, but also our hearts, will we have Him in his rightful place!

Well, it finally happened.  After flirting with disaster over the entire time we have owned our Chrysler van, last Thursday I ran out of gas.  I cannot tell you how many times over those years the man has showed 0 miles to empty in the computer and I just kept chugging along.  My wife had warned me any number of times not to do this, but in my pride I ignored those warnings.  That arrogance, coupled with the urgency of needing to be somewhere and not stopping to get the gas I needed even more, left me stalled going up the hill on East Market Street.

So there I was, stuck in the middle-of-the-road, wondering what I should do.  I turned on my emergency flashers and got out of the van to signal traffic to go around me.   The only problem was at 5 p.m. on East Market you need both lanes and I was blocking one.  Before I could even voice prayer for help or wisdom or deliverance, it was already on the way.

The vehicle that was immediately behind me, the first vehicle to go around me in my empty shame there in the middle of the street, was a friend from church.  He pulled into a parking lot just ahead of where I was stranded, and came to my rescue.   Literally.  

Did I mention, I was really not thinking clearly by this time?

He came directly to me and calmly encouraged me to drift off the street, this subverting sure disaster with the congestion I had created.  He lived nearby and offered to run home quickly and bring me some gas to get me on my way.  Even when a police officer stopped by a couple of minutes later as I awaited my friends return, I was able to reassure him that help was on the way and he quickly and quietly left me alone.

My friend returned with a couple gallons of gas.  A few minutes later I was headed up East Market Street again.  You must understand this was not a random act of kindness.  That my friend could've ignored my need, he did not.  I choose to call that encounter providential, believing fully God had placed him there for my good.

That got me thinking.  How often has this happened and I was not even aware?  How often has God provided a way out from a difficult, even dangerous situation before I was even aware of my need?  As I try to practice the presence of God, not always doing a very good job of it by the way, I pray he will heighten my sensitivity to such provision.

When I feel empty, I need to remember that He desires to fill me up.  He has fueled my soul with the invograting power of His Holy Spirit.  All I nned to do is ask, and I am filled.  But how often I fail to ask, drifitng along on the fumes of my flesh as it were, instead of surging ahead on the limitless energy of the Holy Spirit.

What might be the lesson in this for me, and maybe even you?  As we try to move with Jesus, how often are we out of gas and he sends some help?  It reminds me of the scripture, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41b There are certainly times when I do not have the capacity to do what is right [I am empty], and yet I am able to because God provides a way [He fills me up].  May that, more and more often, be not only my story but each of ours, and all for the glory of our God.

Jesus give us eyes to see You all around us.  You are there and we need to see You.  Then give us eyes to see You as we prepare to say goodbye to all this life holds, and hello to what the next does.  Grant us peace, and open eyes.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Helper

Sunday morning retuning: So I bet it will be a while before anyone who heard Pastor Paul’s message Sunday will call shotgun?  We are called to serve others, in part by preferring them and giving them the places of honor.  We are called to value people over position.  If we claim to live in Christ, we must walk as Jesus walked.  To dig deeper click here.

The last few weeks we have been singing/praying Holy Spirit, a powerful,modern hymn that allows our souls to voice the desire to be filled and under the control or influence of the person of the Holy Spirit.  As is often the case in my walk, God is bringing several different streams together to teach me a larger principle.  I am slow, so I appreciate the force of the convergence of these multiple influences into one lesson.

Last week I challenged you to consider the words of Jesus in John 14:12 where He told us we would do even greater things than He was doing.  I have wrestled with this for some time, but I am beginning to come to terms with it.  I am empowered to do so by the next thing that Jesus taught.

After promising that He will do whatever we ask in His name, He actually says it twice in slightly different ways in 14:13-14, He reminds that if we love Him we will obey His commands.  We are only able to do that, and the greater things He has in store for us because of the next promise He makes in 14:16-17, our Helper [or Advocate or Counselor] the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit.

Now that is some good news!  I mean come on, first Jesus tells us that going to do greater things than he was doing, and if that wasn't enough he lay down the gauntlet of saying if we obey him we will obey his commands.  I have walked with Jesus for several years now, and of all the things I am confident of this is certainly one of them. I cannot follow his commands in my own strength. I just cannot do it.

Living that reality helps me to sing that line from All I Have Is Christ we sang on Sunday with even greater conviction and confidence.  "Now Lord I would be yours alone and live so all might see the strength to follow your commands could never come from me."  That strength comes from the Holy Spirit, and Him alone.  He is a good Helper, for without Him we would have no hope of living in a way that testifies constantly of the grace of our God.

So what does this mean for us today? 

It means that before our feet hit the floor in the morning, we need to remind ourselves how great our need for this Helper truly is, how desperate we are for Him to fill us that we might be useful to our Father.  Then we need to keep asking Him to continue to fill us throughout the rest of our days.  Only then are we able to sing the next line, our prayer.

O Father use this ransomed life in any way You choose, and let my song forever be my only boast is You.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Greater Things

Sunday morning retuning: How wonderful to celebrate not only what Jesus did 2000 years ago to redeem our lost souls, but how He is working through us today to do the same!  How are you letting Him work through you today, in what you are doing, to show His love and truth?  If you are not sure, ask Him to show you. Get ready, He will!

We sang the song God of This City a few weeks ago in response to a number of things we heard on February 2 that God is doing through us as we learn to Serve Our World.  The chorus says, "Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in the city."  This is an expression of the promise Jesus gave us in John 14:12.

I have often struggled with that statement from our Lord, not only as I reflect on my own life but as well as when I contemplate what I have seen in the church, His people.  Then I was reading that passage again the other day, and a thought occurred to me.  It particularly deals with Jesus healing the physical needs of the people who were immediately before Him.  Jesus then went on and told his disciples that because He was going to the father, they/we will do even greater things.

I wondered to myself, what would be greater than healing the physical needs of everyone who might come to us?  And then it hit me.  Though every physical need is great, it is simply an indicator of the much greater spiritual need every living soul possesses, and can only be met in Christ.  Think of it this way, what is the greater thing, healing the physically or spiritually blind?  If we heal the physical, and not the spiritual, that person will still die an eternal death, but if we heal the spiritual, even if we do not heal the physical, that person will still live an eternal life.

That perspective changes everything without changing anything.  Does it mean that meeting physical needs are not important?  Obviously not, for if Jesus was willing to employ effort into such cases, and in so doing reveal his glory, should we not be willing to do the same?  Of course.  Meeting those needs is often a bridge by which we can carry the resource, Jesus, Who meets even deeper and more significant needs.  

This is an expression of the latter half of what Jesus answered was the greatest commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, Mark 12:29-31.  Those two commandments are on our church billboard on East Market as I type.  If we are going to be like Jesus we must walk as He walked, which implys that we will live what He declared as the greatest commandment.

We must do both, be engaged in meeting physical and spiritual needs.  That is what the Bible teaches, and it is what we are trying to practice.  Jesus healed physical maladies, and in so doing opened the doorway for the greater work of healing spiritual ones.  We can most effectively do this when both parts of Jesus' mission is at work in us. Help us, Lord.

Jesus help us to do the works You did, even as well long to see your words fulfilled as we do even greater things.  We want this for Your glory and power to be revealed for the good of those we serve.  Continue to change us to be more like You.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Changes

Sunday morning retuning: Our two week series on tithes and offerings took us to Malachi 3:8-10.  Are we robbing God?  If we are not tithing, the answer seems pretty clear.  Will you put God to the test this year?

When I started to write down these thoughts last week it was about -2 degrees and I was going to call this entry “Cold”.  What a difference a week makes, huh?  Sometimes a day, or even one decision can make a huge difference in your life.  Part of my thinking last week was to be an encourage that if you do not like this season, hold tight there is another one coming, wrought with the purposes of God just like this one.  It made me think of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”   That made me think of that great setting of the text by The Byrds, “Turn Turn Turn”.  Groovy man!

I think that was partly on my mind last Tuesday because I was still trying to shake off “vacation brain”.  My family had a great visit with our extended family back in West Virginia and having returned over the weekend I was still trying to get in the groove.  This was complicated by the fact that I had been inspired through some reading over break to purge 16+ years of ministry files/resources.  OUCH!  I am nowhere near completed and I have already disposed of close to 70 gallons of outdated materials.

Then on Sunday we were offered a great challenge, to live lives marked by health, in our living and our giving.  I have taken the challenge and I hope you will join me.  I am really excited that our church is promoting health in every arena of life.  And I am looking forward to shedding a few pounds along the way to a healthier me.

So now that I have outlined at least three different themes that have been converging in my life, here’s my point or question rather.  What changes are within your control that you can initiate to produce a more fill in the blank you?  But I want to caution you with Proverbs 20:25 from The Message.  “An impulsive vow is a trap;  later you’ll wish you could get out of it.”

Do not be impulsive about the changes you want to make.  First of all, you need to identify if you actually have the control required to make the change.  If you do, you need to ask yourself if you are truly ready to make the adjustments in your thinking and living to make the change a reality in your living.  Otherwise, you will only find yourself frustrated like millions of folks who have made pie-in-the-sky resolutions before you.

With those sobering words behind us, I want to encourage you that with God’s help you can make the changes He is leading you to make so that your life can better honor Him.  So I ask again, “What changes are within your control that you can initiate to produce a more fill in the blank you?”  What is God putting on your heart as we have walked into another New Year?  None of us has arrived and we need to continue to grow and change.  And with God’s help me can.  So, let’s stay a step behind Jesus and let Him change us to be more like Him in every facet of our lives this year.

Jesus we acknowledge that as much as change is a part of life, it is especially true of our life in You.  We want to be more like you in every way.  Stir us in this pursuit in the days ahead, and guide us to create goals that will move us in that direction. For the glory of Your name.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy