Worship Set 6-15-08

If we are the Body (Casting Crown)
No One is Righteous (Rodney Morton)
Better is One day (Matt Redman)

Post Communion

WOW!!! That's all I can say about the worship at the Coffee House tonight. We shared in Communion tonight and man did the Spirit of God consume that place. One of the best times in worship yet. This Communion meant more to me tonight than any of the others that I have participated in. I had been excited about it all week. Wow, I wonder, if we would get ourselves pumped up and excited each week for the following Sunday worship service if the Spirit of God would show up like that. Probally so. :) God Bless!

Don't Be a Stumbling Block

Romans 15:20-22 Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might make another believer stumble. You may believe there is nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between you and God.
There is a lot of controversy dealing with this verse among followers of Christ. I’ve talked with a lot of people about what is and what’s not appropriate in the Christian life. In most cases we tend to know what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate. Like, you probably shouldn’t kill someone because you didn’t have anything better to do. Or, it might not be a good idea to rob a place of business for the pure fun of it. These ideas are just common sense, even among unbelievers. The idea Paul is talking about in Romans are the things that we do that might cause other believers to fall, even though you don’t see anything wrong with it.
Several years ago when I was serving in a church back home, my Pastor and I and a couple other guys had went to play golf. (I had just submitted my life to Jesus and was living like I thought I should be. I was reading my bible, praying, just trying my best to build my relationship with God.) It was an awesome spring day, perfect golf weather. I was teeing away slicing the little white ball right and left and it seemed everyone around me had their game under control. All was great until we started at hole #5 and my world came tumbling down. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with my own eyes. My Pastor, who I looked up to, was chewing tobacco. Agh!! I was in shock. I was confused and did not know what to think. I was deeply hurt. To make a long emotional story short. I had made my mind up, that if he can chew tobacco and preach then I could be a follower of Christ and do what I wanted to do. So then began a fall back into drugs and a bunch of other things.
That might sound a bit extreme but it is the truth. At the time I really didn’t have a balance in my life and I was a very young Christian. He probably wasn’t thinking anything about it because he didn’t see any wrong in doing it.
Do you see what Paul is telling us in this passage?
I have talked to Christian friends about the subject of consuming alcohol and if it is right or wrong. Personally I don’t see anything wrong with it along the lines of our laws. They drank wine in the bible. The bible tells us not to become drunk with wine. The problem with this is if another believer has a conviction with drinking and you drink while he is around, then you are in the wrong according to Paul. There are several other things that we could put out there in place of alcohol, but I used this because it’s the #1 topic I talk to people about.
I leave you with this. As followers of Christ we need to put others before us. We need to think of what will best benefit our friends, family, co-workers, etc… It is far more important to build up the church than it is to exercise our freedoms. We should not partake in things that result in others sinning against their conscience.

Fathers Day

This Sunday is Fathers Day. Do you know what you're getting your dad yet? My wife had talked about getting me tickets to the MMA event at Crown Coliseum this weekend but when I saw the prices I was like, uh you can just give me a hug. :) I am a big MMA fan especially with the UFC. But I am not paying $83 dollars a ticket to watch a couple no name fighters that might not put on a good show. That's nothing compared to the ticket prices for the UFC. You'll pay $300 for nose bleed seats and a whopping $1000 or more for lower level seats. I'm pretty particular about how far away I am from the entertainment I have paid to see. You'll never see me pay for tickets to a concert or any event where I have to watch the Jumbo Tron in order to enjoy the show. I would have a better time at home watching it on TV and it's free. So as for my family and I, we will probably go out to eat. Whatever you decided to do for dear ol' dad, be safe and have fun.

Worship Set 6-8

Be Glorified (Chris Tomlin)
I Want to Love You (Todd Fields)
Rain Down (David Crowder)

Communion @ the Coffee House

This Friday at 7:00pm we are kicking off the Real Life Coffee House with Communion. All are invited to attend. Darrell will go in depth on what Communion is and why we do what we do. He will explain the bread and the body and juice and the blood. This will be an awesome time in worship. We will have an intimate acuostic worship set that night.

Coming up this week!

This Friday is going to be an exciting time at Real Life church! We are going to share in our first Communion as a body of believers. It's gonna be different than what most people are used too, but thats O.K. We are going to take a new approach to communioin. I grew up in church my whole life and we always shared in Communion on the 5th Sunday. The deacons would pass around the little crackers and welches grape juice and the pastor would read a couple of verses out of the new testament, and just like that it was over. I believe that Communion this Friday will touch the deepest part of your spirit. Don't miss it!
I'll keep you updated through the week.

Don't leave this page without watching this 8 min video!!!!!AWESOME STUFF!!!!!!

Counterfeit

My family and I are getting ready to move into a new place of residency and I can't help but notice that my wife has bought some ne home decor. That's great because I love a house that has a decorated theme; It really makes a house a home. As I'm packing our belongings into boxes and loading it into the back of my truck, I notice some artificial trees and shrubs that my wife had bought. We love artificial trees, I guess because we don't have to take the time and energy to keep real trees living. Also it keeps people from knowing how much of a green thumb we don't have. :)

As I start to think about the pros and cons to having a fake tree opposed to having a real and living tree; these thoughts come up....

PROS Fake Tree CONS

PRO*there is no up keep(just dust now and then) CON*its not real, u get to enjoy the smell

PRO*it never dies of plastic

CON*The cost is higher in most cases

Real Tree

PROS CONS

PRO*it's a real tree nothing fake about it CON*you have to take responsibility to

PRO*some trees smell good keep it up so it will grow

PRO*it's neat to watch a tree go through CON*if it is knocked over you might have

stages of growth a mess to clean

PRO*if your not feeding it correctly, it will

show. You learn from your mistakes.

Looking at the pros and cons it you probaly be more fulfilling to have a real tree, but I promise you that is not going to happen because I'm just making an example. :)

I'm sure if you've been in or around church people, you have run into someone who has contradicted themselves. They say one thing and do the total oppisite. Maybe this is you. I know I have struggled with this more than once, and I have seen the repercussions of it. It ruined any credibility I had with certain people and now they are more confused about a faith in Jesus Christ than before I even opened my mouth. Then there are some that come into church on any given day and act like thay have it altogether. I have fallen into that category also. We put a mask on to cover up our hurt or shame.

How does that help people on the outside looking in? If they see that it looks like we have it altogether and they know that they are not even close; do you think they are going to come in swarms to the church?

Jesus didnot teach this. He actually taught agianst it. In Matthew 23:25 Jesus calls out the religous leaders and says, "Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First was the inside of the cup and the dish, and the outside will become clean too."

There are millions of people here in the U.S. who are searching for something real and genuine and I promise you most of them are not flocking the church. Be real and honest with people, I don't mean you have to throw all of your garbage out where everyone can see it because in the world we live in you could be smeared across the wall, but if youe see someone hurting or struggling with something, you might just be the one God uses to show them love and compassion.

Phillip Yancey, in his book What's so Amazing about Grace? makes this conclusion:

Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think He preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch Him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.

Give us Clean Hands

In Exodus 34:14 God tells us, "You must not worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you."

What do you think about when He says not to worship or bow down before any other gods?

Do you picture Buda, or Muhammad, or maybe a statue made of gold?

That's what first comes to my mind most of the time, probaly because I think about other gods that people put their faith into. I believe God is talking about these kinds of idols but I also believe He is telling us to be careful about what we let take control of our lives.

I love to play video games! I can sit in front of a TV screen for hours at a time and almost hypnotize myself playing them; ecspecially if I'm playing a RPG like Final Fantasy. My mind and imagination will immerse into the action or story line. It's almost like I'm really in the game.

It's fun and relaxing, and that's great. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem comes in when that's all I do. Staying up until 12 or 1 in the morning playing games when I need to take responsibility and go to bed a little earlier or spend time with my wife and kids or when I need to spend time with God in prayer or study or even helping somebody in need. This is when I know enough is enough. The satisfaction I used to get out of the game has turned to conviction and now I must make a choice.

God is a passionate God and He wants no other in front of Him. He longs for the relationship that He created you for.

Do you struggle with putting things before God? What do you put before Him?

Make a daily choice to put God first in your life. If something is getting in the way, you might need to take a break for awhile.

I personally had to sell my games to get them from in front of me so I wouldn't be tempted, because I tend not to have a lot of self control in that situation. I'm not saying you have to do the same thing, but I am saying pay attention to your life and whats going on. If you feel spiritually drained and out of sync with God, maybe ther's something you are putting before Him.