The real deal...

If you know anything about me at all you know that I am an avid golfer. I love golf!

Well, recently I had a minor tragedy on the golf course. My Scotty Cameron putter lost a weight in the front of the club. I was devastated. I contacted the organization and they told me to take it to a retailer and they will return it to get it fixed. So I took it to a local retailer in Reno and he told me he would take care of her...(yes, I said her).

After a few moments he came back to me as I was looking at other things in the shop I could easily covet, and he asked "Mr. Idle did you buy that putter here?" "Nope", I said, "I bought on E*&y a few years ago." Then he told me the terrible news. "Well", he said, "I am sorry to tell you this, but it is a fake." All that went through my mind was: What?! Not my Scotty! Then what went through my mind was I paid that much money for a fake? I felt foolish.

Fakes are never, and I mean never, as good as the real thing! The same is true with our faith. Scriptures tell us that true religion, the faith God accepts as pure is this: "to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

This past weekend was "Superbowl" weekend for the church. Resurrection Sunday. It was an awesome weekend. We had our highest attendance in the short history of Journey, 360 people showed up. It was a great feeling. But it was a feeling. The real success of ministry is not in attendance alone, although I think numbers are a sign of health, but the real success of the church is how they are doing in meeting the needs of the needy AND how they are pursuing holy living.

Now I want to be careful here, but I think sometimes the church and sometimes pastors can fall for a sort of "fake" success. We get a lot of people to come to our church and feel that that can mean success. Don't get me wrong, I love it when people come to the church and our seats are full and all of that...but the real religion of Journey needs to that we meet the needs of our community AND live holy lives.

So let me stop and ask you: If your a pastor, is your church meeting the needs of the community in which God has placed you? AND pastor or not, are you pursuing holy living? Are you trying "...to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." You see, I can fool you, but I can't fool God. One day I will stand before the Father and He will have seen through all the "stuff" and see the real me. He won't be impressed because I was the pastor of a growing church or that I said the right things and looked the right way. He is looking for me to lead people in meeting the needs of others and He is looking for me to keep myself from getting polluted by the world. That is what is real to Him. That is not fake...it's the real deal.

Take care,

Rod

Emotions...

I am not a counselor. I counsel, but I am not a trained counselor. There are many things I am not trained to help a person overcome. But one thing I seem to run into a lot is not deep, dark stuff from the past. It is a mistaken approach to life that many people live by, but it's dangerous.

Many people seem to live by their emotions. I think that the church has even helped this happen by telling people that God's goal for our life is for us to be happy. That we are in the center of God's universe. He is pursuing us.

Please don't be offended, but I truly think that sometimes God doesn't care at all if we are happy or not. (Just ask Job, Jonah, Moses, or Paul). You see I don't think I am in the center of God's universe. I think He needs to be in the center of mine.

With the popular teaching that God wants you and I to be happy, I think it has led us to believe that happiness is a top priority of life. Therefore we allow our emotions to be our master. To quote a popular pastor "Emotions make great servants, but lousy masters."

If you are making life decisions based on how you feel, how happy you are, or how happy someone makes you, you are headed for tough times. Emotions lead us up and down like a roller coaster. When we are happy we choose to be devoted, generous, and caring. When we are NOT happy we tend to be less devoted, stingy, and self-focused.

One of the attributes I love about God is that He is not whimsical. He is immutable. Unchangeable. He will always act in accordance with His character. Could you imagine if God behaved in accordance to His feelings! I am pretty sure that there would be times I would be in BIG trouble.

Let's remember, God is not in existence for our happiness. Rather, the opposite is true. We exist to make God happy.

The Cause

I am reading a book by Matthew Barnett called "The Cause Within You". I love what God has done through Matthew's life. If you have never read it before I would encourage you to read "The Church That Never Sleeps" written by him as well. That book helped form the vision for ministry that God laid on my heart.

In his book "The Cause..." he wrote "Fear cannot own you when a great cause rules your heart." For some reason that line just jumped off the page at me. I wasn't sure why, but it stuck with me. I prayed over it and I came to believe that God is going to call me or Journey Community Church or both to do something that has the potential to "scare" us.

This past week it came. Our Crisis Pregnancy Center in our small little city help over 10 young lady's each week. Over 550 people were helped in 2010 through the crisis pregnancy center of Fernley NV. In a town of 18000 people it just seemed to me that was a lot of people. We have supported this ministry since our beginning in 2009 for $250 a month. I knew it wasn't a lot, but it was to us, a new church in a struggling economy. But I always wanted to do more and knew that one day we would increase our support and increase our volunteers there.

Our CPC lost it's financing support from Reno and now has to find new ways to raise $2000 per month in order to keep their doors open. I shared this with our small group because we are studying the book "The Hole In Our Gospel" and it challenges us to find ways to increase our "reach" into the world. So I shared it as a prayer request. Then God immediately convicted me and said "Really Rod, do you really need to pray about it?" The answer was no, I didn't need to pray about it. I know what God expects of His people in times like this. He expects us to protect the unborn...to stand up and defend life...to keep the CPC open in Fernley.

So we are. Yep, there is some fear, but it does not own me. A great cause rules my heart. Not sure how this is going to get done, but that is not my concern. My concern is faithfulness and generosity.

What I ask:

Pray and Give and Volunteer to help this place of hope, help and love stay open in Fernley. 550 women and girls last year!!! Wow, that is a place that we must keep open.

It's a great cause! It's a moment of, as Bill Hybels calls it, Holy Discontent. A great cause will wreck you. Help if you can, Pray when you think of it, and do not FEAR...

Take care and Hit 'em straight!

Rod