Building Update

I wanted to give just a short building update.  We plan on moving into our new worship area on our second anniversary on Sunday, September 11.  Journey will be two years strong on that Sunday and we couldn't think of a better day to start in our new worship area than that date.
I never cease to be amazed at how God works.  When we started this process we applied for a loan through a church funding organization for $100,000.  We felt that would allow us to build out this 4000+ s.f. side of the building and do some upgrading of our screen and projector.  Our screen is the wall right now and our projector is very old, we have lost some color from it and we have to turn out the lights in order to see it. So we applied for the loan and after a loooonnnngggg review period, they turned us down.  It was very disappointing and discouraging.  But instead of giving up or trying another bank we (the leadership team) turned to God, on our knees, and asked what His plans were for Journey.  You see, sometimes we get going so fast with so many "good ideas" that we just ask God to come along for the ride.  So anyway, we stopped and said, "God this is yours" and we took our hands off it.
Since that time we have had two new bathrooms installed, 4 A/C units installed, all electrical done, a sound booth built, cement floor poured, and lights installed.  We just had donated all the drywall and steel studs we needed and a company just donated all the paint and floor stain we need as well.  The labor has been donated to go along with this.
So we are a little over two weeks away from having a worship area so next, we can build out the children's area for the kids.  Now through all of this we have not paid a cent toward the building because it would a been a long while before we could have had the funds to do this.  How great is our God!!!!!
We are trusting Him to provide a new screen and projector...in HIS TIMING and HIS WAY, not ours.
I am excited, not just because we can make a nicer children's area for the kids, but because there is absolutely NO WAY we could take any credit for this expansion.  God has moved people and provided product and taught us so clearly that HIS WAY is so much better than our plans.
Would you join me in giving thanks to God on behalf of Journey Community of Fernley?


Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.


and one more....


Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.


Take care and hit 'em straight,
Rod

Bumper Sticker Faith

Dear Lord,
I think I may be mistaken in my life and sometimes I think that I am doing enough.  I think that faith is like a nice saying on a bumper sticker or a placque on a wall.  
For instance, please forgive me for the times that I quote (Philippians 4:13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.) and yet don't live like it.  I am sorry that I need you to make sense to me before I step out.  And then I have the audacity to call that faith. It shows up in many ways Lord I know.

• I am sorry that I have said "Let go and let God".  But truth is, I don't do that and I am not sure I believe it all the time and I am definitely too scared to let completely go.
• I am sorry that I want to "Honk, if you love Jesus!" which is cool, but I don't think honking is what you had in mind.  I think if I truly loved you, then I wouldn't worry about honking, I would do more serving and more talking.  Instead, the serving takes too much time and energy and the talking can really make me and my friends uncomfortable, and I don't want to do that!  So maybe instead if you could give them a "Saul on the road to Damascus" experience.  That would be better.
• I love the WWJD bracelets and bumper stickers but man you can't expect that kind of standard!  I mean, Jesus was so good!  So maybe I can't do it, but I am confident I can do a lot better!  I don't wear the bracelet, but I don't need it to remind me.  I have known for a long time that I should try to think about what Jesus would do and then act accordingly.  
• I know I like to say, "Jesus loves you and so do I" but I am not sure if my love matches your love.  Your scripture teaches that there is no greater love than this, that  a man give his life for another.  But truthfully, I have a hard time giving up a "value meal" a week to give to those in need.
• Yep, I know that you own the cattle on a thousand hills...but c'mon really?  You can't possibly want me to give you 10% of MY income to you...do you?  The truth is that you require so little from me, but I act like mine is a sacrifice of great proportion.  All the while I proclaim with great pride about you giving up your life for us.  Those two don't quite match up do they...?
• Finally, I talk about 1 Cross + 3 Nails =4 given, but I don't forgive others too well.  I hold onto hurts, onto memories and allow them to make me an unforgiving and bitter believer.  I got to believe I need to shape up when it comes to forgiveness.  You told me that you will forgive me the way I forgive others.

God I am not willing to die and face you with bumper sticker faith.  I am afraid that I have learned to rationalize my lack of faith with words like wise and discerning faith.  I got to be honest, I want to be wise and discerning while at the same time I want to be a fool for Christ.  I have learned to accept less from myself, while I expect more and more from you.  I have learned to expect you to make sense to me while I am sure I am inconsistent and confusing to you.  I say things while doing the opposite.  I claim a great faith while living with a puny faith.  My words don't match up with my deeds.  All the while I know this, so I just simply accept it as being a flawed human being and expect you to forgive me.  The problem is that I am not seeking to change my ways and step out into arenas I have never been to before so that I might grow and look more like your Son.
Make me bold and courageous.  No check that: I will be bold and courageous.  You don't make me bold and courageous.  WE CHOOSE TO BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS because you are so worthy.  I am not going to put this on you...this is all mine.  I need to stop the compromise and give you my best, not my second best.
God I don't want to try to do your will with my bumper sticker faith.  I promise to mean what I say and do what I say.  I am your man.  So use me as you will, even when it doesn't make sense to me.  I will talk to others about you and not care that I am uncomfortable and I might lose a friend over it.  Eternity is much more important than being comfortable.  I will love people and sacrifice for them.  Giving up time and energy and money if that is what is needed for them to experience the love of Christ.  I will give you money each time I get paid.  I will give AT LEAST 10%, plus money to meet needs, to you and not complain.  Even if I don't know how I am going to pay my bills. Finally, I will forgive as I am forgiven by you.  No more bitterness and holding onto hurts.
I am sure there is a lot more God.  Search my heart and see if there is a wicked way in me.  Cleanse me.  I am your man God.  It's the LEAST I can do.    
I love you...really.
I can never do enough.
Rod

"I pledge allegiance..."

Just in case you missed it:

NYDaily News:

"The Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase "one nation under God" -- except when it's part of NBC's coverage of the U.S. Open Championship. 

Someone in the editing room, trimmed two references to the line during an opening piece that aired Sunday on patriotism. It showed children in a classroom reciting the Pledge of Allegiance."

Yes, that's right, NBC did a patriotic piece about the Congressional Golf Course where this years U.S. Open was played.  NBC hoped to show all the great dignitaries and such who have been members or played at the course over the years.  It was actually a great idea and a nice piece of entertainment.  As they showed the video you can hear children reciting the pledge of allegiance.  As they recite you hear the entire pledge with the omission of "Under God"...and they did it, not once, but twice.  Later NBC apologized for the "omission" saying it was a simple mistake.  Treating it like it was not a big deal because it was a simple error, nothing personal or intentional.
I can see that it could happen...once.  But here it happened twice.  The recitation of the pledge can be heard twice and both times it omits "under God".  
I want to give my opinion on this and this is my blog so I can do what I want...
I DO think it was intentional.  There is a false interpretation of our constitution which states that separation of church and state means that nothing religious can ever be stated, displayed, or mentioned in a public forum, building, or function.  Absolutely not the correct interpretation but it seems to be blindly believed by many in this country.  I think (my opinion here) that they don't like God, or the thought of God or the image of God.  The reason is simple.  God is in control, we are not.  We don't like that too much, but it is true.  Man has always battled God for control.  This is nothing new under the Sun.  My fear though is that we have not learned from history.
Now if I may, let me talk to you Christ-followers out there.  NOTHING is happening here on this earth, in this country, that God does not allow to happen.  God knows that the United States of America is trying to kick Him out of this country.  God knows that our culture is becoming more and more centered on man and not Him.  He knows and He has seen it before.  He has seen it in Ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, Medo-Persia, Assyria, and many other empires that all forgot God, and have been ruined and forgotten.  I wonder if we will ever learn a lesson from past history, from experienced adversity, from former judgments on the nations, that we must NEVER forget God?

Macaulay, the English historian, wrote one hundred years ago, about America, "She will be pillaged and looted in the twentieth century by vandals, and forces within her will cause her destruction."  Hmmm, sound familiar?  Listen, I am not some conspiracy theorist.  I don't have a militia agenda.  I simply want to turn back to God.  We have been trying it our way for about 60 years now...so my question is simple:  "How's that working for us?"  

We spend more on education now than ever before in the history of mankind, yet we see the results get lower and lower.  Is it because of bad teachers?  No.  I think it is because of the bad agenda of our education system.  We have been trying to kick God out of our country for 6 decades now.  We started with the schools.  God cannot honor anything that does not honor Him.  Let's try education with God instead of against God. 

I love the freedom we have in America.  Freedom to state our beliefs, to stand up for our convictions and to hear others.  Unfortunately we have become such an arrogant nation that we actually believe that we are free because of our strength and our might and our intelligence.  I tell you we are free because of God and His gift of freedom.  We remain free because God has called us to protect that fragile freedom with our strength, might and intelligence. 

Let's keep God not just in our pledge, but much more importantly in our Country. Churches and Christ-followers alike need to pray and fast for this country.  I heard that Rick Perry, the governor of Texas has invited all Pastors to go to Houston in August to pray and fast for our country.  I am going to try to go.  But if I can't go, I am still going to fast and pray here in Fernley.  LISTEN CHURCH: RISE UP AND PRAY DON'T RISE UP AND COMPLAIN.  NBC is not God's representation...YOU ARE!  I am...His church! It matters not what NBC does.  I think we need to ask, What are we doing?  Let's begin some regulars times for fasting and prayer.    Let me recall for you a great quote: "America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."–Alexis de Tocqueville

Take care,

Rod  

Thanks to a Father and Son

I just wanted to first of all say thanks to my Dad.  I love my dad, he is one of my role models.  I admire him and am thankful that I have him as my father.  He's not a perfect man but he is a righteous man.  I love him and hope that someday I can measure up to him.  I am blessed to have a dad who had loved my mom for over 56 years and loved the Lord even longer.  He won't be reading this I know.  Computers and my dad don't get along too well.  But I will write it anyway.  Happy Father's Day Dad.  I love you.
Second let me say thanks to my Son, Brad.  Or should I say B-Rad...
I am proud to be the father of a 26 year old son.  If I could describe Brad to you I would describe him as a fighter and a friend.  He has had to fight and be an overcomer after surviving two medical trauma's in his life.  He has had to learn to read, write, walk, talk and all the basic stuff we learn as a toddler, not once, not twice, but THREE times in his life.  And he has.  I am proud of his ability to fight back when he gets knocked down.  (He gets that from his mom).
He is also quick to be a friend to people.  He wants to help people, encourage people and he has a great desire to build friendships.  He's never too busy to help a friend.  He wants to always be available to anyone who might need him.  Also, I feel like maybe...he and I are becoming better friends...I love that.
So to Dad and Brad...I love you both and I am proud of both of you.  I hope can make you proud too!
Take care,
Rod

How do you get ready to meet God on Sundays?

Just a little thought here. Are you ready to meet God on Sunday mornings at church? I mean, if the worship is doing the job, you will be ushered into the presence of God. If the pastor is doing his job, you will hear the voice and the will of God. If the Holy Spirit is doing His job (of all three components, this is the one that I am fully confident IS doing His job), then you will experience an attempt to get your attention to change, grow, continue, persevere, or whatever, but you can be confident God wants to interact with YOU.

So, are you ready? Do you prepare your heart BEFORE you show up at church? I used to have staff that would show up 15 minutes before church services would start. I challenged them to come and prepare for the people long before the people show up. Why? Because if I am not prepared to meet God today then how can I lead others to meet the Lord?

I like to get up real early on Sundays and go into the office and put the finishing touches on my message and read over it a few times to make sure I know it. Then, I spend at least an hour in worship. Just me and God with some help from my ITunes and various christian artists. I do this to prepare my heart to meet the Lord at Journey. I want to be prepared for the Lord to work in my life and in YOUR life. Why? Because I believe HE WILL! Do You? If you do, then get ready, prepare your heart and mind BEFORE you get to your church each and every Sunday. You are about to meet the KING OF KINGS!!

Take care,

Rod

Never mastered...

One of the reasons I love golf so much is simply because golf is a game that you can never master. There is always room for improvement. Even though I have a single digit handicap, I could never play on the PGA tour and I am not even the best golfer at the Fernley Golf Club. I am not even in the top 10! Golf really never lets you have an ego. I like that it takes work every time your out on the course.

Golf is a lot like the body of Christ, the church. I have never met anyone who has mastered the Christian life. I have met some who thought they had, but none has I am sure. We all strive to rid our life of bitterness, lack of forgiveness, hatred, dishonesty, greed, lust, and many other struggles. We try hard, but we never fully master them. We also try to think, act, and live "spiritually" (whatever that might mean). We try, but we never master it.

I don't have a problem with the fact that we never master the Christ-following life. But I got to be honest, I do have a problem with us allowing the things we struggle with to master us. I am always amazed to see people who have been following Christ for years to allow anger or bitterness or lack of forgiveness to be their master. I have seen good, Christ-following people ruin their own testimony by their inability to forgive the people of their past. If their is one thing that we can be thankful for and should try to emulate, it is the forgiveness we have received. Our forgiveness of others should be quick and complete, like that of Christ's.

I have seen people who understand scripture and can teach others, who love their families and love the church, but still struggle with faithful and generous giving. We have learned to rationalize it, but I believe that we can be selfish when it comes to the giving of our finances. Picture this: If Jesus were physically at your church services on Sunday and He passed the offering plate down each aisle, or stood beside the box in the back, would your standard of giving change?

No we will never master this Christ-following life. But what we must pursue with all our strength is that those things we struggle with in the flesh, let's not let them master us.

Matthew 6:24"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.

Take care,

Rod

Am I undivided?

It's early in the morning and I am sitting in my office with a cup of coffee, needing and hoping to hear from God. I say a short "Good morning Lord" prayer then as His Word sits open on my desk and I read Psalm 86.

As I read, I come to verses 10-13:

10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. ¹¹ Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. ¹² I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. ¹³ For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.

That verse 11 really stood out to me: "give me an undivided heart". What is David praying for here? When scriptures speak about an undivided heart it is speaking about a heart that "knows God and knows that He is Lord" (Jeremiah 24:7) and a person who's heart is backed up by his actions (Jeremiah 32:39).

I think that is the call of the church in the United States today. I think we have learned to separate our heart from our actions. In other words, we love Jesus as a Savior, full of never ending grace and mercy. But Jesus as Lord of our life is intermittent at best.

God not only wanted Israel to return to Him with an undivided heart, but He wants His church to have undivided hearts as well.

Does our life match up with our hopeful words? When we praise Jesus as our Savior do we submit to Him as our Master?

I see a dangerous practice in America's churches today of loving the Savior but ignoring the Lord. We often seem to have a rationalization of our actions with the hopeful belief of total forgiveness when we get to the gates of heaven, in spite of the collateral damage we have managed to leave while here on earth. Paul spoke of this in Romans when he wrote in Romans 6: ¹ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Paul wrote this to remind us that Jesus can not be just our Savior...He must also be our Lord. A heart that is undivided lives a life that is not only saved by God but also is a servant to His will and His way.

Well, I got my prayer answered...God spoke to me. Now, what am I going to do about it? How about you?

Take care,

Rod