Choices: Where you go from here is really up to YOU!

 

Choices matter!

 

Each day you and I are faced with choices that literally steer the course of our lives.

 

Now, when some people stand and look over the course of their lives they see a string of poor choices. Choices that have literally set the course for where they are today.

 

When other people stand and look back at the course of their lives they see a string of good choices. Choices that too have literally set the course for where they are today.

 

You need to ask yourself, "Which of the two people mentioned above do I want to be?"

 

Oh, and BTW...Our circumstances don't always have to determine our choices. I've seen grieving parents choose to give God praise for the life of their four year old son while holding his lifeless body in their arms. And I've witnessed the courage of a young lady who for three years fought an incurable disease but who chose to bless God and not curse God in spite of her circumstances. This young lady's testimony is still impacting lives today. http://gitzengirl.blogspot.com/

 

Today, right now, right where you are, you are going to be faced with all kinds of choices. Choices that will set the course for today, tomorrow, the next day, and for the days to come. Choices that will effect you and those around you including those closest to you.

 

My advice... Choice wisely. And make choices based on Godly wisdom and direction. The good news is that we serve a God who in His grace and mercy has the ability to reset a "life-course" of poor choices if we are willing to choose His ways and to trust Him for the wisdom and direction we need.

 

Just remember that no matter where you are on life's journey, you have the ability to change your course right here, right now depending on the choices you make.

 

At the the end of the day, I believe that life really comes down to just two choices: Am I going to do things "My Way" or God's Way"? Therefore you must very literally "Choose this day who YOU will serve"!

 

Joshua 24:15

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Pastor Christian Watts

www.christianwatts.org

Are Christian’s too busy for Jesus and His Church?

Luke 9:57-62 (NIV)

[57] As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  [58] Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” [59] He said to another man, “Follow me.”  But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” [60] Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” [61] Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” [62] Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Growing up, going to church was a non-negotiable in our household.  In fact, you knew you would be going to church at least three times each week; Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.  On Sunday morning you got up, put on your church clothes and headed out to Sunday School and worship.  Sunday evenings typically consisted of some kind of educational class followed by a more casual worship service that oftentimes saw the youth choir replacing the typical Sunday morning adult choir.  Wednesday night consisted of “Wednesday Night Suppers”, choir rehearsals, prayer meeting, and various children and youth activities.  Maybe you already guessed it… Yes, I grew up a Southern Baptist.   However, I’ve talked with people across denominational lines who’ve told me that attending church and church activities was at one time a regular part of their growing up experience as well.

Now, let me just say that I believe that going to church doesn’t make you a  Christian any more than being born in a bread pan makes you a piece of bread!  But at the same time, I firmly believe that it is vital that Christian’s gather regularly with the Body of Christ for Biblical teaching, fellowship, prayer, and accountability. (BTW… the Body of Christ is the church; the church is not just a building)  How any Christian can stand firm in their faith in this day and age without these things is beyond me.  It’s hard enough for a person to stand firm when they do attend church regularly.

Oh, and BTW… I have to say that when I was growing up, nothing got in the way of going to church.  Going to church came before sports, entertainment, parties, etc.  Family life revolved around church not visa-versa.  It seems more prevalent in today’s culture that if a kid has a ballgame at the same time as church, the ballgame takes precedence.  If someone is throwing a party at the same time as church, the party takes precedence.  If there’s a concert or sporting event happening at the same time as church, well you get the idea.

I can remember a time when coaches would have never scheduled a sporting event on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday evening.  These times were set aside for people to go to church.  I guess for that matter I can remember when almost everything was closed on Sundays because it was a sacred day, a day that was reserved for God and family.  Not anymore!  And the saddest part of it all is that Christian’s are contributing to the demise of church attendance by actually allowing other things such as their children’s sporting events to take precedence over church!  I mean, what are we teaching our children about church if we chose to take them to a ball game or sporting event instead of church?  I’m sorry if I am stepping on toes here, but I believe that many Christian’s today have gotten their priorities way out of whack, and if we want to see the next generation see church as something more than a waste of their time we have to place attending church back on the top of our priorities list.

And man, are we busy or what!?!  But what are we busy doing?  Social networking, email, and the internet consume more of our time than any of us are willing to admit.  I mean, isn’t technology supposed to make our lives easier…give us more time??  Well it doesn’t!  The average person is consumed with emails at work and at home, and of course we have to keep up with everyone on Twitter and Facebook.  And somewhere in between emails, Facebook, Twitter, working 40 plus hours, sleeping, eating, taking care of the house, spending time with the kids, spending time with our spouse, and finding time for some R & R, we have to find time for church.  “I mean, it will get squeezed in there somewhere if there’s any time left in the week.  If not, Jesus will have to just wait until we find time for Him.  It’s ok though because He understands…”

Actually it’s not ok.  As followers of Christ nothing is to take precedence over our relationship and obedience to Him.  Following Christ has a cost, one that seems fewer and fewer people are willing to pay.  And so far we’ve only talked about church attendance.  We haven’t even dug into the topic of serving the church which is a whole other issue!  I mean, trying to get people to serve within the church is like trying to get a vegetarian to eat raw chicken!  Serving within the church is often times seen as a painful task that no one wants to do.  And I’ll admit that part of the reason serving often seems painful is that leaders present it that way.  They come across desperate (because they are) and they rarely gather those who serve for times of play or fun.  Church leaders need to take a few lessons from Google and other major companies who know how to make work (serving) feel like play.  Serving the church should be a joy and not a downer!

Serving the church isn’t something a person does for their pastor, church leader, or to gain “kingdom brownie points”; serving the church is something we do for Christ and for the building up and growing of His church.  The one who is serving must work to keep their eyes and their focus on Jesus because serving is inevitably going to have its painful, ugly moments.  And if we are serving for any other reason than to glorify Christ, and to build up and see His church grow, it will only be a matter of time before we begin looking for a way to escape, and sometimes that means escaping church all-together.  This is precisely where Satan would like to see all of us get to.

So, are Christian’s too busy for Jesus and His church?  I believe for many of us the answer is “YES”.  The good news is that we can change this by restructuring our priorities.  And in my “Biblically based” opinion, I believe our top three priorities should go as follows:

1. God – We are called to love God with All of our heart, soul, mind, and strength

2. Family – I firmly believe that our immediate family should be our first call to ministry

3. Church - Gathering regularly with other believers to glorify God, grow in our faith, and to gain the tools necessary to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Everything else should be prioritized after these three things.

In closing I would like to share a few “What if” with you…

·         What if we got as excited about going to church as we do about going to a sporting event?

·         What if we spent as much time in God’s Word as we do playing “Words with Friends”?

·         What if instead of walking into church with a critical eye, we walked into church with a listening ear?

·         What if we made attending church the top priority of our week no matter how we “feel” on Sunday morning?

·         What if our kids saw us chose church over sporting events, ballgames, or parties?

·         What if we lived out Luke 9:57-62 and made sure that nothing took precedence over Christ and His church?

·         What if Christian’s began taking a stand and once again held Sunday as a day for church, family, and rest?

·         What if everyone who attended church served the church in one way or another?

·         What if each week we traded an hour of Facebook time for an hour in God’s Word?

·         What if Christian’s reprioritized their lives so that God was first, family was second, church third, and everything else coming after?

·         What if people saw Christian’s living what they say they believe?

·         What if… You fill in the blank

Are we too busy?  Are you too busy?  And are you too busy for Jesus and His church?

Only you can answer that.  Certainly something to think about it…

Pastor Christian Watts

Living Bridge Community Church

www.lbpitt.org

Big Church, Little Church: The Same... but Different...

This past weekend was Easter weekend and like many churches I watched as in just one weekend our attendance doubled!  I admit that it was exciting to see a “packed house” on Easter morning and to see many new faces in the crowd.  However, I also know that in all likelihood this coming weekend’s attendance will be closer to what it was two week ago in what should labeled across the nation as, “Back to Reality Sunday”.

Fluctuating attendance is just one issue that church leaders face today, especially those of us who are a part of a small church or a church plant like we are.  My wife and I launched our church with about five couple in September of 2009.  And let me just say that the majority, if not all of the church planting statistics have rung true!  The past 2.5 years have been some of our toughest, most rewarding, frustrating, incredible, God-shaping years of our nearly 17 years of ministry together.

Both small churches and large churches have their good and bad days, and the grass isn't necessarily greener in one or the other.  Having served in both large and small churches, I can tell you that both similarities and differences exist between the two.

Some similarities include…

·        The reality that in both small and large churches, 10% of the people do 90% of the work.  And often times about 5% of the 10% are wearing two or more leadership hats in the church.

·        Even though a large church might have more money (because they have more income), they also tend to have greater expenses.  Both large and small churches can be "financially tight".  Both the large and the small church depend on God’s people to give financially to support their ministries, and both typically live up to, if not above their financial means.

·         Both the large and the small church have a certain number of people who do not attend on any given Sunday for a variety of reasons.  However, it is more noticeable when a person or especially a large family is absent from the small church. 

·         Both the large church and the small church struggle to get people to serve.  However, the small church is typically at a much greater disadvantage.  For one, having less people, the small church only has a certain amount of people resources to go to before the well runs dry.  One advantage of the large church is that if volunteer recruitment fails, or becomes too frustrating, the large church oftentimes has the ability to pay someone to full fill the need where the small church might not have this option financially.

·         In both the large and the small church many people only give financially to the church when they attend church.  In my opinion, giving should be a regular part of our worship that should be done consistently whether a person attended church or not.  BTW… This needs to be taught to our congregations (See 1 Corinthians 16:2)

Then there are the things that separate the little church from the big church that tend to make us different.  

Some differences include…

·         Everything is magnified in the small church.  A person or a family decides to leave the church and everyone notices.  This can be extremely stressful to the Pastor who now feels he has to explain why this person or family is no longer here without coming across as if he is bashing them. People leave large churches all the time.  However, in the large church, and somewhat unfortunately, most of the time no one notices.  The bottom line… Sometimes people decide to leave a church for another church and that’s OK!

·         Both the large and the small church might be financially tight… However, the small church’s “financial tightness” has a lot to do with the fact that they do not have nearly as much coming in as the large church does.  The small church can’t even fathom spending money on Easter mailers, a staff member that does just one job, or the latest Mac Computers.  Often times the large church is financially tighter because they spend money on “bigger and better things”.  Things that I would oftentimes like to ask, “Did you REALLY need that?”

·         Again, EVERYTHING is magnified in the small church.  And almost everyone wants to know every little thing that goes on, even if the church is not a congregational led church.  Oh, and everyone has an opinion about how things should be done, but at the same time no one wants to take ownership.  One of the more frustrating aspects of leading a small church is trying to establish volunteer leaders in some of the more critical ministry areas such as Elder Leadership, Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry, Men’s Ministry, and so on.  Again, everyone wants to tell you what’s wrong or what needs done, but only a scarce few are willing to step up and take the responsibility to do it

The reality is that there will always be similarities and differences between the large church and the small church; certainly many more than are listed above.  However, I believe that there are several needed characteristics that both churches should establish no matter their size.

Some needed characteristics include…

·         The church is the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ

·         The church is not a building, place, or thing… The church is people

·         The church is made up of imperfect people established by the grace of a perfect God

·         When the church gathers there should be Biblical teaching, prayer, worship, and fellowship

·         

·         The church should have no walls

·         We are called to love God and love people.  There should be evidence of church that is doing both of these and doing them well and consistently.

·         The church shouldn't be a place of judgment, fear, persecution, or scorn

·         Not one person, including the Pastor deserves to be a part of the church. Only by God’s grace can any of us be included as a part of the church that is the Bride of Christ

The bottom line… whether our church is little or big church shouldn’t be what defines us.  What should define us as a church is WHO'S WE ARE and WHAT WE DO!  Whether or not your church sees the attendance this weekend that it saw last weekend really doesn’t matter.  What matters is what you and I do as a part of God’s church.  Are we pointing people to Jesus?  Are we allowing His light to shine in and through us?  Are we being faithful to His Word?  Are we loving God, and loving others? These are the questions we need to answer because these are the questions that BIG or SMALL really matter.  Be the church!!

Pastor Christian Watts

Living Bridge Community Church

pcw@lbpitt.org