Good Monday Morning MABC,

He is risen! If we are honest, this shouldn’t be just something we shout around Easter time.  I can be guilty of that. But this should be a spirit that propels us all year ‘round!  People need to know about this important event and the impact on their lives if they choose to join us in following Jesus.  I think back to one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time.  It is the 1947 black and white version of Miracle on 34th Street.  Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is visiting with Doris (Maureen O’Hara) about Christmas.  Kris tells Doris that he is worried Christmas is losing its meaning. She remarks that “Christmas is still Christmas.”  And Kris responds with one of the best lines in the movie:

“Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day,it’s a frame of mind…and that’s what’s been changing.  That’s why I’m glad I’m here, maybe I can do something about it.”

Christmas has continued to lose importance as a faith-based event and slowly becomes more and more secular as fewer people identify as followers of Christ.  I am afraid Easter is falling prey to the same.  As followers of Christ, we make a big deal of it because Jesus defeated sin and death so that we may have eternal life.  But it’s much more than that!  Easter is also a frame of mind.  It is not just a singular day or event. The Apostle Paul tells us that it is much more than just making sure we get to spend eternity in Heaven.  It’s about changed lives…new lives:

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.  1 Cor. 15:21-22 NLT<

And it isn’t just about a life to come after death on earth but it’s also about the life we live on earth.  The resurrection should change the way we live NOW:

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Rom. 6:4 NLT

Easter is about changed lives.  Baptism is the key Paul says because it represents our death and resurrection into new life just like Jesus!   And our lives shouldn’t just be changed because change is fluid.   The recent presidential election is evidence of that.  Things are changing from the previous administration and in four years things will change again as someone new leads our country.   The word “transformed” is much better than “changed.”  I like Paul’s pleading that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2).

Next Sunday, we will look at Paul’s life “transformation” beginning in Acts 9.  Paul was one way…and then he was another.  The thing that changed? His relationship with Jesus.  We will begin and end our message with Acts 9:20…

And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”

Pastor Rick

But you man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness,  faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  I Timothy 6:11

Sherry and I were in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, for a niece’s wedding celebration this past weekend.  My niece had gotten married the weekend before in a small ceremony with parents, siblings and a few close friends.  This week we celebrated like it was ancient Jewish wedding…feasts Thursday night, Friday night and then Saturday night.  Thursday night was at a local eatery. Friday night was at a really nice VRBO that belonged to one of the kids’ friends.  And then Saturday night was at a venue for the “reception.”  Cocktail hour, dinner and then the prerequisite dancing.  It was a great time to be with family and friends.

However, getting to the wedding feast itself was not quite so great.  Oh, the plane travel was good. It was the rental car portion of the trip that is where things went awry.  Sherry and I had to update our driver’s license with our new address about 10 days before.  They clip the corner of your driver’s license and then give you a temporary paper slip to use as your current driver’s license. The rental car company that Expedia included in my package didn’t like my current temporary paper driver’s license even though I had my clipped DL with me.  They didn’t recognize it as a valid license and refused to rent us a car.  Despite my best pleas that it was indeed a valid license in KS they didn’t relent.  Luckily, I was able to get in touch with my brother who had arrived a day earlier and did have “valid” license.  We were able to get around to all the venues and events with the help of family and a couple of Uber drivers.  We even made it out to Red Rock Canyon to do some hiking even though it didn’t start so well. 

Life is a lot like this past weekend.  All of us have been invited to a wedding feast.  In Revelation 19 we are told that theprophetic  time of the marriage feast has arrived and that “blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the lamb.”  We have been invited but just like this past weekend, there will be bumps in the road on the journey to the feast.  We shouldn’t be surprised because Jesus told us we would have trouble…trials (Matt 6:34, John 16:33. 1 Cor 7:28).  If you are a follower of Jesus, with the help of family – including your church family – you will make it to the feast one day and it will be great!  We will celebrate and the trials will no longer be an issue.  But before then, Sherry and I will have another wedding feast to attend to as my other niece in Henderson will get married in October ’26.  We know there will be bumps along the way between now and then but it too will be a great celebration.

I want to remind you that this Saturday morning from 9 to Noon we will be readying the church for a great celebration of our own.  You see there was a price to be paid for the wedding feast we attended this weekend.  Someone had to pay for all the food and fun!  The best part of that feast was it wasn’t me! The price paid for the wedding feast in heaven was paid for by Jesus on Good Friday.  On Sunday we will celebrate that the cost of our sin – which would have kept us from being invited – was paid in full.  Let’s invite those who need to hear of the hope we have in Jesus and then bring them to our “venue” for a celebration.  We will also need help cleaning up after breakfast which will take place during our Life Studies hour at 9:10 am on Sunday.

See you this weekend!  He has risen!

Pastor Rick 

But you man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness,  faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  I Timothy 6:11

Good Monday MABC family,

What a beautiful day in the heartland!  The weather for our area looks fabulous for the rest of the week.  As for Sherry and me, we will be in the Las Vegas area (Henderson) for my niece’s wedding celebration and the temps for our arrival on Thursday?  A balmy 94 degrees!  We will return on Tuesday evening so I will not be in the office next week.  Please enjoy the cantata and Rick Nelson’s message.

This morning Sherry and I went “walk-about” and handed out door hangers on N. St. Paul Street.  As we headed south from 2nd street towards Douglas, we came across an apartment complex on the west side of the street.  Sherry said she felt like we were supposed to do some door hangers there and I told her I hadn’t ordered enough hangers to do that.  As we finished on the east side of N. St. Paul and headed north on the west side, we realized there weren’t as many houses on that side and so we had about 15 extra hangers.  Sherry said let’s go to the apartment complex do what we can.  We decided to pick out 15 cars and place them on the windshields. 

Now, I tell you this all not because we are special but I began thinking about yesterday’s message   I am guessing Sherry’s leading to consider the apartment complex was prompted by the Holy Spirit.  Remember the first thing about being a messenger is to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit.  I was anxious to get back to the church and change the street sign.  However, the second step in being a good messenger is to be available.  Sherry was available while I was more focused on the task of the sign.  I relented to her cue and we made ourselves available.  The third factor in being a good messenger was to take initiative.  We did that by finding a way to get the invites out by putting them on the windshields.   I can’t give you an example of being tactful because we didn’t get to interact in the parking lot.  I was able to interact with a couple of neighbors as we were walking though.  I helped one with tree limbs she was dragging to the back yard and another was heading out to work and he even thanked me for the invite.

This idea of being a messenger is not new to us.  Our home church in El Dorado “back in the day” was a very evangelistic minded church.  I took a 12-week evangelism course that included “OJT” and neighborhood witnessing.  It was a very intentional program.  We went on mission trips to Mexico to help build churches and we witnessed to those in the surrounding area.  You see, being evangelistic has become a lifestyle for us.  And it can for you as well if you will allow yourself to become “uncomfortable” and/or “unsettled.” After all, Christ commanded us two different times to do so (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19).

In the coming weeks, will you allow yourself to become uncomfortable and unsettled?

Quick couple of tidbits.  One, Les Pierce is interested in covering the last two blocks of door hangers but needs a partner.  Would you consider walking with Les?  Reply “Les Pierce” on this email to connect with him.  Also, we took in a total of $2632 for our America for Christ offering.  Wow!  Well above our goal.  Give yourself a hand!

Enjoy the week!
P.R.
Rick Neubauer

Good Monday Morning!

A little chilly this morning as the Kansas weather continues its crazy, normal patterns.  Great chances of rain in the next week so continue to pray for that. 

Yesterday we looked at keys to identifying a true gospel message – focused on Jesus, leads to freedom and brings joy to life.  A false message is one that lifts up someone else, promises to solve all your temporal issues and has a power based on something other than the Lord.  If you need to watch it again go to YouTube and search mabcvideo.  That’s how I get there.  You can even subscribe!

We also talked a little about being able to clearly discern if something is from God or from Satan.  This morning I want to encourage you to focus more on being a disciple of Jesus.  The Greek word for disciple is mathetes which means pupil or learner.  When associated with Jesus, it is widely recognized as someone who adheres and follows the teachings of Jesus.  Adhere means to hold fast or to stick by as if by gluing, suction, grasping or fusing.  Of all of those, I like fusing as the best goal for us to have as followers of Jesus. Fusing means blending or melting.  When I blend marshmallows and butter to make Rice Krispy treats at some point they melt together and it is impossible to visually discern the butter and marshmallows.  They make one really good base for a sweet treat.   That should be our goal as followers – to have a life so sweetly blended with that of Jesus that it might become hard to differentiate between the two.  It would be irresistible!           

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

      Galatians 2:20 NIV

We won’t get there on this side of earth but we should aspire to live a life such as this.  In our men’s life study class yesterday we discussed the words aspire and desire.  Aspire means “to long for something”.  It is an internal focus.  The Greek word for desire means to have a “passionate compulsion.”  It is the drive to live a life like Jesus.  Desire is an external action that means to “stretch out or reach to obtain a goal.”  As I told the men, I can’t take my little old Ford Ranger pickup and park in the Ford dealership garage and hope that it becomes an F-150 pickup overnight!  As much as I would like that!  It takes effort, not osmosis.

Do you desire a life that looks like Jesus?  Patrick Morley, a leading men’s author, says that “a bible, a small group and serving someone else will solve most of your problems.”  Do you have a bible?  Most homes do but they have a layer of dust on the cover.  Are you in a group that helps you grow?  Not a social group but one that digs into scripture so that you can KNOW Jesus, not just know about him.  And, are you serving?  Jesus said he “came to serve and not be served.”  (Matt. 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 14:14-15)

Friends, we will never “accidently” become a disciple of Jesus Christ.  In the Great Commission Jesus alludes to a process when he said “go and MAKE disciples.”  It will take effort and it is a lifelong pursuit that we undertake.  The ending point only comes when the Lord calls us home.  Reach out and stretch this week to become a disciple for the first time if you never have.  If you are a disciple…don’t settle for the bare minimum.  Strive for next level discipleship.

P.R.
Rick Neubauer

I hope you enjoy the warm week ahead! Temperatures expected to be in the mid-70’s all week with a high on Thursday over 80!

I received an email this morning from Christianity Report speaking about persecution.  Christianity Report is an organization that gathers faith-based news from several sources and compiles some of the highlights in one place.  I decided to do a little research into the worldwide persecution of Christ followers going on in the world today.  Interesting stuff.  Remember the quote I shared from Tertullian, the early church theologian, this past Sunday?  He said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”.

The actions we find in Acts chapter 8 carried out by a man named Saul are alive in our world today.  Verse 3 says Saul began to destroy the church.  He was going home to home, dragging off men and women to prison.  Open Doors International’s world watch list says that 1 in 7 Christ followers around the world are persecuted.  The rate in Asia is 2 in 5 and in Africa that number is 1 in 5.  Open Doors estimates that approximately 310 million Christ followers face high or extreme levels of persecution.  I didn’t use “Christian” here because it is hard to define.  Some studies show that a number of people identify as Christian in religious surveys just because they aren’t Jewish or Hindu or Islam.  Some identify as Christians because they occasionally attend church.  I am using “Christ-follower” here because if you go through some of what these persecuted followers do, you aren’t just checking a box because you don’t identify with other faith backgrounds or you occasionally attend church.  In many countries attending occasionally and picking the wrong Sunday can land you in prison!

In Syria right now, an Islamic coalition is using extreme oppression to stop Christianity.  They are using starvation by restricting food into certain communities, cutting the pay of workers identifying as Christian, threatening violence and overturning Christian cemeteries.  Reports of suicide bombers awaiting orders to attack churches are being heard.  Despite being one of the oldest Christian communities in history ( first century AD) the number of Christians has drastically dwindled in the past 15 years of so.  In 2011 it was estimated there was about 1.5 million Christians in Syria and today the estimate is closer to 300,000.  Violence, homes being taken by force or having neighborhoods where power was cut off forced many Christians to “scatter.”  (See Acts 8:1)

In other news, countries that are experiencing the greatest growth in the number of “Christ followers” include the Asian countries of China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Remember, 2 in 5 Christians in Asia are being persecuted!   In these countries, the church is highly regulated by the government.  In these countries the church is highly regulated by the government.  Censorship of content is almost assured.  In China, no one under 18 can attend church.  The growth is coming from underground churches where the risks are the greatest.  You are not a nominal Christian in these countries…you have to really love the Lord your God with all you have. No hokey-pokey “Christian” is going to risk loss of job, home, family or the threat of prison for being partially in on Jesus.

Keep this in mind as we move through the next couple of chapters in Acts.  The threat in many places is just as great today as it was in the first century AD

Pastor Rick

But you man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness,  faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  I Timothy 6:11