You never know who is in the crowd

We say it over and over with our leadership team, we pray and ask God to prepare us each Sunday to serve and love each newcomer, regular attender. “Any given Sunday, we have no idea who is in the crowd.”

It has taken me two days to put something to paper about the tragic suicide on Sunday afternoon (9-20-09). Plans had been made for me to meet with Chad and Stephanie Fisher, along with a seeking friend....Brent. Brent was Chad’s twin sister (Candi) ex-boyfriend, father of their young son. Brent and Candi had met while both living a life consumed by Meth. Both had become clean in recent years and had begun to put pieces of life back together in a healthier way.

Both were seekers of sorts.

Brent had begun to ask lots of spiritual / faith questions of Chad. 
Saturday, Brent helped several people from Journey paint Dave Reynolds home.
Sunday, Brent attended our Sunday morning gathering at the Chateau Theaters.
 This Sunday we continued our series on Forgiveness.... the real “f” word and focused on forgiving the offender. How do you forgive someone that has really hurt you.
We showed a media clip from an independent film called “THE GAP”. 

The clip showed a man seeking forgiveness from his ex-wife that he had cheated on.
 The women asked tough questions, but in the end granted forgiveness and let him “go in peace with God.”

Little did we know that this media scene would be played out a few hours later between Brent and Candi. Instead of meeting after church with Chad, Steph and myself.... Brent asked to meet another day.

4:30 p.m. the phone rings and Chad fears Brent has driven off to commit suicide after a brief meeting with his sister Candi. By 5 p.m. Brent is found barely alive. By 7 p.m. he has passed away at St. Marys hospital.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS IN THE CROWD.

Brent was seeking.
Brent heard a powerful and dangerous message on forgiveness.
Brent heard a clear gospel message of how Christ blood, death on the cross is what frees us from our sin and is all God see’s if we are his children. If we have accepted Christ, sought God’s forgiveness... God sees us as clean because of Jesus.

We pray and hope that Brent gave his life to Christ / God before his passing.
He was seeking.
He was hurting.

He was trapped in a dark place that the enemy did not want him to come out of.

I am reminded of the words from Peter. These words have new power and meaning.

 
"8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters[ all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.
 10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen." (1 Peter 5:8-11)

I believe that Brent is with our loving King and Savior.
 I believe that the church will rise up and serve the Fisher family. 
I believe that will be glorified in a bold powerful way some how.
 I believe that new passion and zeal will come of this as we remember 
YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS IN THE CROWD.

May be always be prepared to give an answer for our faith and serve others.

Forgivness #2 - My Own Prison

This Sunday I shared how many of us live in a prison of our own making.
This prison has a name, it’s called “UN-FORGIVENESS”.
This unforgiveness can be because we have not forgiven others, we have not forgiven ourselves or we have not sought out God’s forgiveness.

Unforgiveness can become a dark and deadly prison. The longer we choose to not address the sin in our lives, run for giving or receiving forgiveness the darker the cell or cage becomes. For many people these prison becomes more intense and dangerous as we begin to “self-medicate” ourselves because we can’t deal with the pain and truth of unforgiveness. Rather that face the issue head on we settle for momentary “high” to numb the pain, distract us from the real issue. We “self-medicate” in so many ways, some more dangerous than others. Sex, drugs, alcohol, food, movies , TV, etc. Anything that creates a false sense of happiness, but in the end only numbs us to the real pain of the sin.

This self made prison of unforgiveness kills not only us, but radically effects those around us. The side effects of a “self-medicate” life can be, divorce, loss of Job, anger, bitterness, rage, depression, and suicide. And the tragic thing is that we have no one to blame but ourselves. Because we have chosen a life of unforgiveness of some kind.

King Saul had a tormenting spirit come upon him as he avoided dealing with his sin and other life issues. He choose to not seek forgiveness and he spun out of control. Young David, tried to sooth King Saul by playing the harp (self-medicate). It didn’t work. The bitterness, rage, anger, hatred, self-worth side effects only got worse. How sad... it never had to be that way. Freedom was Saul’s if only he had faced his sin, worked through the forgiveness issues and restored the relationships in his life.

This self made prison of unforgiveness is made by us and our chooses... not someone else. Stop blaming others for your addictions and nasty attitudes and behaviors. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul gives great action steps to freeing ourselves from this prison of unforgiveness.

Philippians 4:8-9
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Keys are in your hands...do you want freedom.... start by addressing the sin in your live.
Look in the mirror and get real.
Then “fix your thoughts” on the truth.... God’s truth. You are loved, you are forgiven, your of value, etc. Start looking for the good in life, rather the dark lies of the enemy.
Then “Practice” what God has taught you. Really, follow Jesus Christ and how he lived, loved, and forgave. His was a life of truth and grace. A wide open adventure... not a dark prison.
And if you are “self-medicating”, get help today. Be honest before you really explode.

Rather than, anger, bitterness, rage, you will finally know God’s peace.

The choose is yours.... the keys are in your hands... what will you choose to do?

NFL 2009 Begins

Kick off 2009... Thursday night game on NBC.
Steelers win in OT!!!!

What a great way to get the football blood pumping.

Sunday night.... Packers and Bears.... oh year!

Bring on the chips, salsa and good times.

Forgiveness.... the real "F" word

This week we kick of a big series, as we explore forgiveness.
Forgiveness, restoration of broken relationships is the central message of Jesus Christ and our churches. So why is real forgiveness so hard to give, receive, accept and find healing in?

Let me start out with this challenge.... Saying "I'm sorry" is NOT FORGIVENESS!
It's a short cut, a cop-out.
Forgiveness is much, much more.
Forgiveness is costly.
Forgiveness is deeply personal.
Forgiveness is freeing for the both the offender and the offended.

Are you prepared to explore the real truth of forgiveness?
Are you willing to admit that forgiveness is something we all want, but hard to give?

See you Sunday.