Good Tuesday morning this week!

Remember Sunday when I said that we haven’t been called to an easy road?  Well, at home we are finally unpacking our office “stuff.”  I picked up “my laptop” and headed to the church to get some work done yesterday morning and when I unpacked by bag and pulled out the computer?  Sherry’s older computer!  The Microsoft Office software on it must have been on a one-year subscription rather than a life time purchase. And I didn’t have my church email list to send out anything anyway! So I sat in my church office with no way to write put together my Monday morning writing.  I always write it out in Word before copying and pasting to the email.  So we are a little late…it’s never easy!

Sunday we read about Stephen using his spiritual gifts of serving and miracles.  Doing so and standing strong in the faith cost him greatly as he was stoned.  It may seem standing for Christ ended badly but I am a firm believer in Romans 8:28 that God uses all things for good for those that LOVE him and are called to his PURPOSE. As a result of Stephen’s death, a new chapter in the “church movement” is initiated!  Up until now all of the church growth had been in the “neighborhood.”  It is estimated that it Stephen’s death occurred 2-3 years after Jesus ascended into heaven after giving them the directive to be his witnesses.  Now, the Gospel begins to fan out into Judea and Samaria.

After Stephen’s death, persecution of the followers of Christ began to ramp up.  The followers, with the exception of the apostles, began to scatter out into Judea and Samaria.  Along with them went the message of Jesus.  From here on out, in the midst of persecution, the gospel will grow like wildfire.  Each one taking the message of Jesus and sharing it in new places to people who needed to hear the message of hope.  This persecution seems to be greatly perpetrated by a man named Saul who was present at the stoning.  Saul is man who will one day be called to God’s purpose and fall deeply in LOVE with the Lord.

We need to be faithful at home first with the sharing of the Gospel through our spiritual gifts.  If we LOVE the Lord and give ourselves to his PURPOSE – as Stephen did – great things will begin to happen.  Please take some time to explore the Missions Fair this coming Sunday.  Maybe your part of the mission will be the “Pew Prowlers” I talked about. That simple task will free someone else up to use their gift which will in turn free up someone else.   It will be much like the apostles appointing the seven to take care of the widows.  It says after that the message spread and the number of believers increased greatly.

Every one of us has a part to play and no part is too little.  Please pray that God would show you your part as you visit the ministry teams before and after worship this coming Sunday.

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

It is going to be a beautiful day and looks great the whole week.  No rain in the 10 day forecast at this time though.  Hopefully you can get out for a walk and soak us some Vitamin D!

Today is pretty much a potpourri of thoughts!  One interesting one that I had heard about before as I thought about it came from Wilma Arbogast.  It was in reference to 1 Corinthians 13.  She said we should insert our name in the passage wherever the word “love” is used.   I have included verses 4-7 here to help you out:

(Your name) is patient and kind. (Your name) is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. (Your name) does not demand (his/her)  own way. (Your name) is not irritable, and (Your name) keeps no record of being wronged. (Your name) does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. (Your name) never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Give it a try and see how you feel.  I know I have some areas to work on!

I am including a picture from a birthday celebration this past Saturday.  Our oldest daughter Tina’s birthday was Saturday and she and her boys came over for a dual celebration Sherry’s birthday.  This was one of the gifts Tina got for Sherry.  Sherry loves her coffee and her bible so it is appropriate.  There were other gifts but this tiny little bookmark got the most conversation over the evening as we played board games and ate cheesecake.  It doesn’t seem like a significant “gift” but it probably brought the most joy.  Your spiritual gift may be just like this little “coffee spill” bookmark.  It may not seem significant but you will never know how much joy your gift will bring if you don’t share it!

A note to the men of the church.  We are starting a new book study in our 9:10 am Life Group on Sunday, March 23.  The book is called “Dialed In,” a study of the qualifications of elders and overseers from Titus 1 and the letters to Timothy.  It is an easy read with discussion questions and an inventory at the end of each chapter. I will be ordering books tomorrow morning and the church is funding them.  Let me know if would be interested in joining us. Guys, if you are already attending “I gotcha!”

P.R.

Rick Neubauer

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

I know that some of you are not all on board with the spiritual gifts series and push.  I get it!  I am hoping you will see that understanding your spiritual gifts and actually using them are going to be the driving force between seeing MABC actually grow and thrive and not just exist.

You see, the early church didn’t care much about attendance.  They were concerned with ENGAGEMENT!  Engagement is emotional involvement or commitment to something.  People get passionate about things they are involved in such as a hobby or a sports team.  Football fans are passionate about their team.  Fans will show up in sub-freezing weather, tailgate for hours and then sit for three hours or more in the cold to cheer on their team.  They will spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and merchandise because they are passionate and engaged. They are not just spectators but they cheer when their team scores or makes a great play.  They moan in agony when things aren’t going their way.  They don’t just go and sit for an hour and then leave.  They are invested and engaged.

We are not ever going to be an attractional church where people will come because we have a flashy band or the latest and greatest video boards and cool graphics.  We aren’t going to have camels and a petting zoo at Christmas. I know of a megachurch in Wichita that actually built “camel doors” into their church design just for Christmas!  We aren’t going to have advertising on TV.  Our livestream right now is not a multi-camera production that people are going to be “wow, you gotta watch this church’s service!’  Those are just the cold hard facts.

We are a church that will need to make an impact in our neighborhood by engaging community and the people in our community.  We need to focus on using our gifts in a few ways.  One way is to benefit those already here by helping them grow in the Lord and become engaged followers. We also use our gifts to create an environment that is welcoming and comfortable to those who happen to visit. Another way is to use them to reach those who aren’t here now or don’t know Jesus. We are planning some events to serve community and engage our neighbors.  Our centennial celebration will not just be a celebration for us but an opportunity to engage our neighbors. Hopefully you will plan on sticking around on March 23 to visit with our teams about where you can engage.

This is not just about enlarging our attendance but to engage people so that they may see the goodness of God – his compassion, mercy and love (1 Peter 2:9). People who use their gifts and are passionate about their church are “attractional” in and of themselves.  We don’t just want people to attend – that includes you – but we want them to be engaged by becoming followers of Jesus. Culture is shifting and looking for community.  Younger people are especially interested in being a part of something that is impactful in community. In the early church, the people were engaged…daily…not just for an hour on Sunday. You are the body of Christ and are important in helping the body grow.  If a child was not growing, we would be concerned and do everything we can – passionately – about helping the child grow.  Let’s be that passionate about helping the body of Christ grow and trusting that the Lord will help us to grow in return if we are obedient to the Great Commission. That’s how we ensure another hundred years of MABC.

Let’s be an engaged people passionate about showing the goodness of Jesus to those that need to know about him.  Let’s be passionate and engaged about finding those that need to know about Jesus and his desire for them to his followers!

Have a great week!  If you haven’t done your inventory, please take the time to do so. I believe that gifting evolves with time and spiritual maturity.  I also believe God pulls some of your lesser gifts to the forefront depending on your place in the body at any given time.

Pastor Rick 

But you man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, 

It’s going to be a beautiful week!  Get out if you can and enjoy the warmer temps and sunny skies! Hopefully you won’t spend all of your time outside but you will  find the time to complete your Spiritual Gifts Inventory this week.

I came across this in my reading and thought it would give you a great example of why everyone’s gifts are needed to effectively minister.  This example is about how the various gifts might be employed in a neighborhood setting, something that we have been emphasizing for the last six weeks or so.  Follow along:

Let’s say a neighbor finds themselves ill and bedridden for a month. If that person’s neighbors have varying gifts, how might they use them in ministering to that person?

• Prophesy (under edifying)– Remember not predicting! Someone who desires to see God’s will be done.  This person may pray for the ill one both at their bedside and in private, praying for strength and endurance according to God’s will.
• Servant – will take over meals, run errands, do housework, mow the yard.
• Teacher– may struggle to relate a little but will bring over some good books that might scripturally strengthen the ill one for the journey.
• Encourager – if you are gifted in this area you are probably there right away at bedside sharing uplifting bible verses for improving their spirits.
• Giving – will bring food and other gifts but probably more important in this situation giving of time talking and listening.
• Leadership– will find out the person’s needs and go around organizing the other neighbors to meet  those needs.  Set up a meal train or a schedule of rides to doctors appointments for example.
• Kindness/Compassion– this person will ask how the ill neighbor feels, empathize, give hugs, maybe even cry with the neighbor and will often sit by the bedside for hours.

It will take all of us to meet the neighbor’s needs.  The Leader is good at organizing but not be as much of an encourager.  His or her time is better spent scheduling and securing volunteers.  That doesn’t mean they can’t share some encouraging words but not like the Encourager can.  The Giver may not be good at organizing the neighbors to help but has time to give and will ask for help if need be.

It will be good to gather together next Sunday to find out “Whadjuget?”  (Hint: the title of next week’s message!

P.R.

Good Monday Morning!

I think today will be a good day…comparatively speaking!  Tomorrow sounds like it is going to be not so good!  Be safe and stay warm.

I don’t know about all of you but God just continues to amaze me.  He has really been hitting the “love your neighbor” idea and also this idea about “fruit.”  The last two weeks we have touched on the idea of “going and producing lasting fruit” (John 15:16-17) and “your lives will produce every kind of good fruit” (Col. 1:10).  You’re probably tired of seeing or hearing them!  Well, this morning I open up my daily devotion and it is chapter 21 of the Book of Matthew.  What is it you say?  The parable of the fig tree!  It is about producing fruit and how Jesus feels when appropriate fruit isn’t being produced

         In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He  went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up.   Matt. 21:18-19 NLT

Jesus sees a fig tree looking the part.  It has leaves and he anticipated it having some figs on it.  He gets there only to find out that the fig tree looks good from a distance but up close…nothing! Nada! Zip! Zilch!  No fruit at all.   Jesus curses it and it withers.

The expectation was that if the tree was filled with leaves it would produce fruit.  It is the same with us.  If we look the part…we are sitting in the pew on Sunday, we are carrying our bibles, we tell people we are followers of Jesus…write a tithe check but we aren’t producing fruit…how do you think Jesus feels about us?  The John 15 passage says Jesus “chose you!”  He “appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit!”  That is the expectation.   Nothing less!  The Pharisees looked and played the part but Jesus had very few positive words towards them.   They certainly were very “religious” but weren’t producing any real fruit.

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells the people that you can identify a tree by their fruit.  A good tree produces good fruit and bad tree produces bad fruit.  Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.    Then, a few verses later he says that “not everyone who calls out to me “Lord, Lord!” will enter the Kingdome of Heaven.  Again, what is the expectation?  If you are a follower of Jesus…love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength…then you WILL PRODUCE FRUIT!   And this isn’t just about us as individuals.  This idea of bearing fruit is for the institution of the church as well!  I read a very scary statistic the other day that says only 3-5% of growing churches are growing by “conversions.”  In other words, growing by reaching the lost.  Otherwise, church growth is just “sheep swapping.”  It is estimated that there are 3 churches closing for every church being planted.

What kind of fruit are you producing?  Are you producing fruit?  Or are you just a tree that looks the part?  As a church, is MABC producing fruit…good fruit?  Lasting fruit? I know those are harsh words but we are living in trying times where the church needs to up its game and start producing more fruit.   Let’s be the oasis of fruit production here in “the neighborhood!”

 P.R.

Rick Neubauer