The past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about Romans 5:5.  “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”  If God never did another thing for us besides pour his love into our hearts when we come to Him, then he would still offer us the grandest prize and greatest treasure of the human experience.  A heart that is full of love is a heart that knows an inward Heaven though still on earth.

This is part of the job description of the Holy Spirit — to fill us with God’s love.  Whether it’s God’s love toward us, or God’s love toward those around us, to be filled with the love of God is an awesome thing.  In fact, I find this to be the bedrock and baseline of how I can measure whether I’m really “filled with the Spirit” as the Bible teaches.  It shows itself in so many ways: my attitudes, my patience when driving, how willing I am to forgive, my sense of peace.  Just let this verse speak to you and ask yourself whether you are filled with God’s love, or are you empty and hollow?  If so, it’s probably time to take a walk or get alone and kneel down and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you again with God’s love. Ask him to show you any sins you may be clinging to, any unforgiveness you may be harboring, or anything for which you may need to repent* of and ask God for His forgiveness. Or if you have never had that life-changing encounter with God, perhaps now is the time to ask Him to come in and pour his love into your heart.

This Sunday I’m planning on talking about this verse and what some of the implications may be for us.  I am often amused at the way The Message version of the Bible states things.  I’ll end this little piece with the way it words this verse:

“We can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”

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*repent – In today’s culture, many such Bible words have either lost their meaning or been so caricatured by non-Christians that people don’t really understand them.  I have included an ingenious picture (below) of the word as provided by the Visual Thesaurus.

We have the new signs up on the building and in the windows, and have begun to renovate the new restroom.  The East wall has been painted and part of the floor scraped in preparation for new carpeting.

We will most likely have to hold some services without carpet once we tear out the wall between the 2 units.  Things will be changing, but we promise to make the new space every bit as nice as our present room, and probably even a little nicer!

I’m meeting with our landlady again today to finalize plans for the next steps in creating the new church space.  I’m available on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week and next (Apr.12-14, 19-21) to aid any who will lend a hand in working on the building.  There is painting to be done, walls to be built, lights to be removed and new lighting installed, and a wall to be torn out.

And so I invite you all to take part in this aspect of building for the future!

P.S. A special thank-you to all who have already been helping in the work and for those who are giving financially…you are the ones God is working through to make this growth possible.

It’s impossible to have passionate Christianity without real repentance.  This Sunday’s message: “The Power of Real Repentance”.

One of the foundational elements of being a follower of Jesus is going through times of real repentance.  Not just saying “I’m sorry” or throwing up an apology to God for messing up, but entering into real, heart-wrenching, sometimes painful, long and serious soul searching.  If we will not look at and confront our sins, we will never live a holy life before God.  The Bible often refers to God’s presence as being like fire, a purifying fire that consumes the heart.  The kindling and fuel for that fire is our willingness to allow God to bring a deep renaissance of heart to our sinful lifestyles.

Read what David wrote in Psalm 51 after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba as he was going through repentance before God:

Psa 51:1  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

Psa 51:2  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Psa 51:3  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Psa 51:4  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Psa 51:5  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Psa 51:6  Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Psa 51:7  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psa 51:8  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Psa 51:9  Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Psa 51:10  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psa 51:11  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Psa 51:12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psa 51:13  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.

Psa 51:14  Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

Psa 51:15  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

Psa 51:16  You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Here is a link to a tremendous article about repentance at foundationsofmorality.com.  It is very thorough and very long; long enough to be a small book, but if God is working on you and you need real life transformation, I highly recommend it.

Related Articles:

Fresh Start 2011

“Everyone struggles with relationships; yet God has wired us for relationship.” This was my main idea this past Sunday as I began a teaching series at our church called, “LOST”.  It’s a series about surviving the wreckage of relationships. You can find more about it or listen online later this week on the Messages page of our website.

One of the ideas I would like to write about is especially for the guys, but it really applies to anyone.  It comes from Ephesians 4:1-2 (New Living Translation): “Therefore I… beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each others’ faults because of your love.”

Notice the word, “gentle”.  That’s not much of a “guy word”; guys like me don’t always connect well with it.  I mean, I definitely don’t want written on my tombstone something like, “He was so gentle.”  No, huh-uh.  However, when you get past the possible effeminate affiliations and see what it’s really about, it’s powerful.  Think of it like this: self-control.  Don’t “power up”.  When you have been wronged, instead of powering up, you exercise self-control and you gear down.  This makes you a gentle man.  It gives you a strong part of the foundation of being a true gentleman.

Being a gentleman doesn’t mean you’re being a wimp.  Quite the contrary; it takes a real man to exercise self-control.  Anyone can vent and spew their anger or unhappiness.  It takes great strength of character to gear down and be kind and patient when facing the faults of others.

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Everybody has bad days. We’re all flaky from time to time. My wife knows when I’m just a little bit touchy and she makes allowances for that. She realizes those are bad days, and she cuts me some slack. I do the same for her.  We both realize that the bad day or the period of edginess will end.  We find it helpful to just let the other know, “Hey I’m a little edgy today.”  Maybe we know why, maybe we don’t. Either way, it helps to make the same allowances for others that we sometimes need ourselves.  If you’re going to be more patient, you’ll need to give people a break from time to time.

The Bible says, “Be patient with each other, making allowances for each other’s faults, because of your love” (Ephesians 4:2 NLT). Sometimes the people you’re around are just having a bad day. Resist the urge to retaliate. Show your love by making allowances for their faults – and bad days.

Note: This series is an adaptation based on a recent newsletter article by Rick Warren.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. ~MK

I found this very compelling and very challenging.  I began to wonder what dramatic changes our church planting team may need to make in order to rise to the next level of performance.  Many thoughts came to mind, but it became more powerful for me as  as I migrated the concept from the group/corporate dynamic into a personal dynamic: “what do I need to change dramatically to rise to my next level of performance?

To answer these questions takes a great deal of courage and perhaps more time than we may be prepared to invest.  I wonder how many advances we miss because we are simply unwilling to change?  And not just change, but change dramatically.  My wife and I have been reworking our way through an in-depth Bible study called, “Experiencing God”.  I highly recommend this study.  In last night’s session we read that when God reveals something of His plan to us, He expects us to respond at the time He reveals it.  Not later after we’ve considered it, not later after we’ve decided whether we like it, and not later after it becomes more convenient for us.  Change.  Dramatic change.

Where do you need to change dramatically in order to rise to your next level of performance?  Consider your family life, your career, your spiritual life.  What does God want you to change?

“God, who has ruled from eternity, will hear me and defeat them; for they refuse to change, and they do not fear him.” –Psalm 55:19

5 Questions to Help You Decide

Looking for a new church to attend can be an uncomfortable affair. As a pastor, I rarely get an opportunity to test-drive other churches. Our church recently took a short break while we began preparing to relocate. For practical reasons we began meeting on Saturdays, so my wife and I had the chance to experience searching for a church to attend. We found it very helpful in deciding what our church will be like as we had some good experiences and some, not so good. There will be other factors for you to consider in your search, but I hope the following 5 questions may be immensely useful.

1. Did you feel welcome?

Did you experience the church as seeming cliquish, or was there potential to get comfortable? I say potential here because it’s rather unusual to feel very comfortable on your first visit. If you like it well enough, you should go a second and third time. Here’s another way to frame this question — Did people seem to want you there or did they seem indifferent?

2. Was it relevant?

As a long-time Christian, the first area of relevance to check out is whether or not they use the Bible as the basis for their teaching. Believe it or not, there are churches where there is not a single reference given from the Bible. The Bible is incredibly relevant on big issues in your life. This leads to the next question of relevance. Was it helpful?

3. Did you find it “moving”?

Did the worship and the teaching help move you toward God? Was it engaging? Inspirational? If not, even though it may be comfortable, you face the very real danger of getting into a religious rut, simply going through religious motions, rather than experiencing a life-altering dynamic interaction with God.

4. Would attending that church help you to better know and follow Christ?

This is the million dollar question. You need to be in an environment where you will grow in your faith, coming to know God’s ways and His work in and around you. It’s one thing to simply “do the church thing”. It’s something entirely different to have a serious life-impacting faith in God.

Similar Helpful Articles

http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/01/05/it-takes-all-kinds-of-churches/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25123032/Why-Are-There-Different-Types-of-Christians-Article

It seems that for me humility doesn’t often come easily. Sure, I have my share of humble thoughts. Oddly, the moment I become aware of them they seem to morph into a kind of self-righteousness where I am momentarily pleased with my awesome, humble self. Yeah, that’s not so good.

I sometimes even venture into my own private little wasteland of self-reproach, only to find that that isn’t real humility, either. One thing I’ve discovered is that we all must wrestle with this very subtle shape-shifter called Pride.

The Bible shows us that Pride is the hidden driver for many of our failures and shortcomings. The amazing thing is that Jesus can use those very same failures and shortcomings to grind the Pride right out of us. He will then recycle those same areas into something useful and good. All He needs from us is a little faith, a little trust, a little patience.

This is why I’ve chosen “Recycled Pride” for today’s subject. We all need it. So where in your life do you need to have some pride recycled? Ask God to make something new happen there.