It’s Hard!

For some strange reason, Easter for me this year didn’t hold what I expected, anticipated, and even planned for.  Even to share this seems somewhat like I am sinning. Easter is supposed to be a big day of celebration and praise, but this year nothing.

Personally, I did all I could to prepare; I rested, studied, sought Him, and even asked in prayer for God to do amazing things.  I truly anticipated that God would move, and we would see a great harvest at Fellowship Church, but to me it was uneventful and blah.  Don’t get me wrong, Jesus Arose; and, that in itself, is glorious and amazing.  The fact that God loved me more than I could love myself is overwhelming.  However, in my remembrance there seemed to be a silence.

Since Sunday, I have struggled with how to reconcile my feelings, am I broken.  What did I do wrong or not do right?  How could the biggest day in the year pass without me sensing His presence in a new and exciting way?  I prayed about it, nothing.  I talked with the team members at FC and nothing stood out.  Tina and I talked, and I expressed my feelings and I just could not put my finger on it.

This morning Mickey sent me a blog post that really fit what I was trying to say and what I was certainly feeling.  So, I encourage you to take a moment to read this post as I hope it encourages you as much as it did me, especially if you are struggling through a dry spell spiritually.

WHY CHURCH IS HARD…

Today I took the advice of another blogger and took a look at the top ten trending stories on Time news website.  As I scrolled down this one caught my eye:

Does the color Pink Exist? Scientist Aren’t Sure

Seriously? Do we really have scientist who study stuff like this?  And we wonder what is happening in our world and why things seem so off center.  Other questions come to mind when I read stuff like this:  How does one get a job as a color scientist?  How much money do people spend on studying colors?  What kind of education would a Color Scientist require?  Can you imagine going up to the local college admissions office to apply for the Color Scientist Degree?

As with all things I like to extract truths that are important to  me as a Christ follower to help me be a better person so I thought about this article and came up with these observations…

1. Some things we will never know – Is it really important to determine if pink really exist.  Tell my daughter that pink was not a real color.  I remember painting and decorating her room in pink, you could never convince either of us that pink was not a real color.  In today’s world we want to prove everything, even the things we can see.  When it comes to God we must place our faith (trust) in what we cannot see, for some this will be most difficult if not impossible. Hebrews 11

2. Some things are just not important to pursue – So what happens if they determine that pink doesn’t exist?  I guess the new name for the color on many walls, cars (Mary Kay), clothing and such will be known as the “Color formerly known as Pink”.   Is it really important (life or death) to know if pink really does exist?  Satan will often use the small unimportant things to take us off task.  The Bible tells us to pursue God with all our hearts, minds, soul and strength, to take the time for silly pursuits will rob us of God’s best. Matthew 22:37  What unimportant thing are you pursuing that is taking you away from God?

3. Don’t let others determine what you believe, trust and know – The whole message of the story is about how our minds have created colors.  There will be times when your faith is challenged and it is even popular today for those who do not believe to tell you that your faith is shallow and void.   Here is what I know, when I painted the walls pink, the color that was on the wall represented a belief system in me and my little girl that was founded on truth.  The wall made us happy and completed our worlds, the exact color she desired to decorate her room.  Faith in God is the same, non-believers may choose to not trust, but I have and it have made a profound impact in my life, the evidence is in the life change.  I have painted my life with Jesus and the evidence is in what God sees and others see.   Satan believes in God, but refuses to trust in God, that does not make God real.  Faith in Jesus is true, do you know Him?  John 3:16, Romans 1

Pink, it doesn’t matter what the “experts” say, it does exist and is alive and well in the hearts of those who believe.  So too is Jesus, the Savior of the world.  Seriously!

Sunday was a great day!

At Fellowship Church we had a day to remember, we baptized 5 people, two adults and three teens.  I hope you will join us in celebrating these decisions to make public a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.  It should also be noted that during the time of invitation following the message we had several who expressed a desire to find out more about fellowing Christ and several who came forward to pray.

As I thought about all we got to see and experience, I could not help but reflect on the message on Faith.  These individuals exercised faith in God by crying out to Him for forgiveness of their sin.  I would suggest this is probably the easy part of being a Christ follower, it is the every day life that causes us to struggle.  Do we have faith that God can cover us in all the details of our life, not just eternity?  Faith says yes and releases control.  Like the five who shared their baptism with us, have you really taken the time to evaluate your personal walk with God?  Have you truly decided to exercise faith in God?

Here are somethings to help you answer those questions:

- Have you ever been lost…

Something cannot be found until it has been lost.  To often we equate salvation and redemption to a prayer prayed during an emotional time at church.  However, one cannot be found until they are lost.  God tells us that we are all lost, hopeless without Him.  Lost means sin filled and far from God.  As we talked in the message on Sunday, faith is not belief, even Satan and his demons believe, but they do not exercise the choice to trust or place faith in.  Faith in God says, “God I believe you are the eternal God who sent Jesus (your son) to die for me.  I trust you completely and for eternity.  (John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8)

- Have you ever been found…

Once you realize your need for God, there must be a time when you surrender and allow yourself to be found.  Every one of us will come to a point in our life when we will run head on into a Holy God and be confronted with a decision.  The decision will require each of us to either accept or reject God.  It is not enough just to acknowledge God as the solution, we must accept the solution into our lives.  To put it another way, we must fully take Jesus as Lord of our life, rejecting our way and accepting God’s way, a changed life.  This changed life will only be possible through the work of the Holy Spirit as you lean on Him for direction and correction.  In the modern church, we have a large group of people who know they are lost and think they are found.  They acknowledge God as the Redeemer, however they never allow themselves to be found, it is a form of Godliness but denying the power of that God.  Belief without faith is religion, religion does not lead to life change, but life adjustment.  God is not just interested in adjusting your life, He wants to change your life, create a new person with a new purpose.  Have you been found? (Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10, 13, 2 Tim 3:5)

- Has Jesus made a difference in your life…

No other person in this world can determine your Salvation.  It is a personal decision that is worked out between you and God.  Unfortunately, so many today have come to the point of realizing they are lost and even want to be found, however they never take the step of surrender, therefore nothing changes.  The only measure of one’s Salvation is life change, are you daily growing more to be  like Jesu?.  If you plant flowers or a garden you can understand this principle.  Plant something and it will grow, if there is not water, sun or food it will die.  Jesus came that we might have life, not death.  Does your life look more like Christ or death?  When a person comes to Christ, life is infused into them and there will be change.  Here is a quick question for you to use to evaluate yourself: Are you closer to Jesus today than you were yesterday, this year greater than last year, this decade over last decade?  Just as in planting there will be seasons, however there is always life.  When something die in a garden it can only be cut down and burned.  (2 Cor. 5:17, John 3:5)

As you evaluate your life and faith in God if you need to talk to someone about your faith you can email any of the staff to set up a time to talk.  There is nothing greater than allowing God to show you faith.  If you are confused, then I encourage you to pray one prayer, “God if I don’t have Salvation show me”.  I can promise you this is a prayer God answers.

I can’t wait for this Sunday as continue to see God do great things.  I hope you will be there with us!