"Three Words" 9.22.13

Our daughter Amelia is five.  And when you're five and you have just started big school, you believe that you know everything.  And when you believe you know everything, you decide that you are the AUTHORITY on everything.  And so, when someone decides to, say, "disagree" with you or suggest that you do something differently than YOU believe it should be done, you turn from sweet little girl into angry dictator.

For example, when we were in North Carolina this summer, we decided to go river tubing as a family.  Amelia decided that river tubing was going to be too scary for her and that she didn't want to go.  So, the ENTIRE first half-hour we were in the car went something like this: "NO! I AM NOT GOING TUBING! WE ARE NOT GOING TUBING! IT'S TOO SCARY! NO ONE IN THIS CAR IS GOING TUBING! EVERYONE IS STAYING IN THIS CAR!! NO ONE IS GOING TUBING!"  

Do you hear the authority in that voice?  It's not just "I don't want to go" - it's not just "I am not going!" - it's "I'm not going and neither are any of you!"

Anyway, earlier this summer, Tim bought a new tablet and one day he was letting the girls play with the camera and all the cool little functions it has. One of the functions is called "Smile Shot".  When you use this function, you just select it and then when it detects a smile on the person in view it automatically takes the picture.  Ada just thought it was the greatest thing in the world, but Amelia was another story.  She did not believe that this was actually possible and she INSISTED that Ada was actually pushing the button to take the pictures.  

She started throwing a fit about it, so Tim took it away from Ada and showed her that no one was pushing the button to make this happen.  But she STILL refused to believe him!  "NO! YOU ARE PUSHING THAT BUTTON!! SOMEONE is PUSHING that BUTTON!! THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS! NO NO NO!!"

At this point Tim and I were trying really hard to hold back the laughter - it was SO funny because we had PROVEN to her that this was happening and she still refused to believe us because she didn't FEEL like it was possible.

We are beginning our series on Doubt tonight and I want to start off with a little survey.  Raise your hand if at any point in your life you have wondered whether or not God was real.  Raise your hand if you have doubted God or your faith at all in the last year.  

First of all, I want to make sure that you know that it is OKAY to have doubts and it would actually be ABNORMAL if you didn't have any doubts about God!  It is NOT “normal” to believe that there is this God out there and in this room that we can't see and that this guy who lived 2,000 years ago died and rose from the dead and is alive in us today.  It's NOT NORMAL to just believe that without ever doubting!  The question is: What will you DO with those doubts?

1) HIDE THEM 

A lot of times we don't want anyone to know that we're not strong in our faith, so we just don't tell anyone.  Maybe we try to ask a few questions to our parents or someone and they don't seem to have any answers, so we just bury it all, go with the flow, and hope that they will just disappear eventually. 


2) ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS


We HIGHLY encourage this around here - Tim will be saying this until he's 110 years old: "GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED!"  This is a great way to deal with doubt, but it's not the whole answer because often, as we ask and ask and dig and dig, we just end up with more questions and not enough answers and we get frustrated and we either go back to hiding them or do this third option, which is:

3) WALK AWAY 


Many people give up and just walk away from God completely because there are too many questions and they just can't seem to make themselves believe.

I also believe there is a 4th category.  I'll give it to you at the end, so just bear with me as I get there.

Over the years as I've counseled and mentored and talked with many, many students, I've heard this phrase (or something like it) tons and tons of times: "I just don't FEEL like I believe anymore"

If you don't hear anything else I say tonight, you need to hear this:

Doubt is a FEELING, faith is a CHOICE*


Just because you FEEL doubt, that doesn't mean you can't CHOOSE belief.

Everyone who believes in Christ (especially if you grow up in believing) at some point, goes through a faith crisis.  For many of us that time is in high school or college.  It’s actually very much a part of the way God does things because this faith crisis is what is going to cause you to truly choose Jesus.

Here’s my story: I grew up going to church and Sunday School and believing in God and Jesus.  It was a very normal part of my life and I never really questioned it. Many of you have heard my story of accepting Christ and officially becoming a true believer when I was 16.  And then at the beginning of my senior year of high school, deciding to make my career and my entire life about Jesus.

But during my senior year, I also took this class called AP Modern European History.  I know it sounds horribly difficult and boring but I actually had a really great teacher who made it fun and really made us THINK HARD about what we were learning.

It's great to be made to really think about what you're learning - until it challenges your faith.  A massive part of "Modern European History" has to do with the church and the incredible amount of corruption that was in the church at that time.  By the end of the year, our teacher had the class, including me, convinced that Christianity was created by governments in order to control people.

Near the end of my senior year I remember lying in bed one night, crying and literally pulling my hair in frustration - there was an absolute WAR going on in my mind.  I felt like I had lost my faith - I wanted so badly to believe but I just couldn't make myself feel it!  I was about to literally give my LIFE to this and now I wasn't even sure if I believed in GOD at all!

There were two things that got me through my faith crisis:

The first thing was knowing I was NOT ALONE

During my freshman year of college at Eastern, I had to read this ridiculously long and complicated book called "Confessions" by this guy named St. Augustine. He lived in like the year 300 or something and this book was kind of like an autobiography of his relationship with God.

In the book he talks about his struggle to believe and his struggle to follow Jesus. There was this one scene where he was at a point of total despair and he ran out into this garden and he talked about wanting to 'pull his hair out' in frustration.

The moment I read that sentence was life-changing for me - because I realized I wasn't alone.  That if THIS man, who is one of the most loved and quoted and respected God-studiers who ever existed, had doubts and struggles - maybe it was okay that I had them too!  And if he was able to get through them, maybe I could as well.

If you are struggling with doubt right now in your life, you are NOT alone. There is NOTHING wrong with you.  I hope that you can find some comfort in that like I did.

The second thing that helped me was realizing that I could CHOOSE to believe, even if I wasn’t sure.

I had this random CD someone gave me by this guy named Rich Mullins and one of the songs was called "Creed".  The song is just the Apostle's Creed (some of you may have heard of that) and states the basic things that we believe about Jesus.  

But the chorus of the song says this: "I believe that what I believe is what makes me what I am.  I did not make it, no, it is making me.  It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man".  I just played that song all the time and sang that line over and over and over in my head.  It is the very TRUTH of God and NOT the invention of any man.  Eventually I was able to say, "Just because my teacher believes that doesn't mean I have to believe it too!  All of those things he was saying might have been true, but that doesn't mean I can't still choose to believe, even if I look like a fool." 

I want to introduce you to a character in the Bible who didn't just doubt, his entire biblical reputation is actually centered on his doubt.  People often refer to him as "Doubting Thomas".  There are a few things I want to point out to you about Thomas’ story.*

1) Even though Thomas had doubts, at his core, he WANTED to believe.

The scene that Thomas is most famous for is found in John 20.  Thomas was a disciple of Jesus - he was one of twelve men who physically followed Jesus around during his ministry and learned from Him.  At this point, Jesus had already died and come back to life.  He had appeared to a couple of the disciples, but most of them hadn’t seen Him yet.

John 20:19-20 "That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! 'Peace be with you,' he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. [He showed them proof that it was really Him] They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!"

This might have been the happiest day of their lives!!  But there’s detail that was left out – someone from their group of disciples was not there.



John 20:24-25 "One of the twelve disciples, Thomas nicknamed the Twin, was not with the others when Jesus came. [Since Thomas wasn’t there, you can imagine that the rest of the disciples probably COULDN’T WAIT to find Thomas and tell him this amazing news!] They told him, 'We have seen the Lord!'  But he replied, 'I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.'"

This is what Thomas is famous for - this is where he got his nickname.  He wanted proof.  He wanted evidence.  He wasn't going to look like a fool and just believe something that he FELT was impossible.  BUT we read on: 

John 20:26 "Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them."

Hmmm - Eight days later?  Thomas had every reason and probably every opportunity to give up and walk away.  But he didn’t.  He was still there with them eight days later, even though Jesus hadn’t shown up yet!  

At his core, Thomas WANTED to believe.  And if Jesus was really alive, Thomas wanted to be there if He showed up again.  He wanted to believe, even if he was struggling.

If your heart, if something inside of you wants to believe, sometimes that is enough!  Don't beat yourself up when you have doubts!  Jesus compares our faith to a mustard seed, which is this tiny seed that grows into a huge tree.  Even if you just have that little tiny bit deep in your heart that wants to believe - don't give up!  Stick around and don’t walk away!

2) Jesus didn't CONDEMN Thomas, He reached out to him.

John 20:26 "Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. 'Peace be with you,' he said.  Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!'"

Jesus could easily have scolded Thomas for his unbelief.  But He didn't. He came into the room and went right to him. Even more than Thomas wanted to believe, Jesus WANTED Thomas to believe - He wanted to show Thomas the full proof that it was really Him.  

Jesus wants you to believe and He wants to show Himself to you.  He's not mad at you and He's not condemning you for having questions and doubts! Just because you have doubts doesn't mean you're kicked off the team, He wants YOU, no matter how small your faith seems.

3) Thomas learned that he didn't need evidence, all He needed was a PERSON.

John 20:28 "'My Lord and my God!' Thomas exclaimed." 

Remember how Thomas said, "Unless I put my fingers into the nail wounds and put my hands in the wound on His side"  He wanted PHYSICAL evidence.  Jesus was offering Thomas the physical evidence he had wanted, but it doesn't say that Thomas ever took him up on the offer.  He just said, "My Lord and my God!" I think when Thomas saw Jesus, he really SAW Jesus and all of his demands for physical evidence went out the window!  

The more and more you dive into getting to know Jesus as a person, all of the evidence your brain is demanding is just going to seem unnecessary.  Because all the evidence you'll need is how He is going to change your life as you grow in a relationship with Him!

But sometimes in order for that to happen, you have to get to that point I talked about earlier.  Option #4 in what we do with our doubts.  

4) CHOOSE FAITH, EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR DOUBTS

John 20:29 "Then Jesus told him, 'You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.'"

I'm not suggesting that you should stop asking questions and just blindly accept what everyone is telling you.  I'm saying this: Your FEELINGS of doubt do not have to have the AUTHORITY in what you CHOOSE to believe.  You will never be 100% sure about God because God Himself doesn't work that way!  You will never be 100%, but that doesn't mean you can't still CHOOSE Him. 

I still FEEL doubts on a regular basis.  I stand up here and talk to you, but every once in a while I have moments where I think, "What if this is all for nothing?  What if this is all just one big lie?"  And what do I do in those moments?  Do I ignore them?  No. Do I research harder and find more evidence and study the Bible more just to make sure I'm getting it right?  NO!  I throw myself at the feet of Jesus and dive into my relationship with Him.  Because the act of doing that is my CHOICE.  And that choice ALWAYS ends up changing my feelings.

In the story I told earlier, Amelia chose to allow her FEELINGS about "Smile Shot" to have AUTHORITY over her CHOICE to believe. But I’m challenging you to flip it around and let your CHOICES over time become the AUTHORITY over your FEELINGS.  

What are you currently doing with your doubts - which of those four options best describe you?  Are you allowing your feelings to determine where you are at in your faith?  I challenge you to write out a prayer or write in a journal this week. Write it down.  Make it real.  Where are YOU at?

*Ideas from Angie Smith's message on Thomas at Women of Faith, Philadelphia 9/7/13

Make It Real For You

1) Which of those four “What Do You Do With Your Doubts” options best describes you? 

 

 

 

2) Are your feelings important to you in deciding what you believe?  How important?   

 

 

 

3) Journal Challenge: Where are YOU at? 

"Why Are YOU Here?" 9.8.13

This August, our family took our annual trip to Mr. and Mrs. D's cabin in North Carolina.  It was amazing as usual and we had tons of fun boating, tubing, swimming and riding things behind the boat.  This year was huge for our family because we now have two kids riding behind the boat on their own.  The pictures make it look like they just did these things with no hesitation, but what you can't see are the hours of convincing and sometimes even all-out bribery we go through to get them to try new things!

One of the days we were in North Carolina, we decided to boat over to a rock jump.  We chose this specific rock jump because there were also some lower jumps for the kids to do.  As we were pulling up to it, some crazy whim came over me and I thought, "Hey, why not?".  It really didn't look that high and I've known TONS of people who have done this exact jump and made it look really easy!

So I climbed up there and walked toward the edge.  And then I looked OVER the edge.  And I froze.  It looked A LOT different from up there and all I could think was, "What did I get myself into?  What was I thinking? This is NOT happening!" Over the next minute or so I tried to think up a way to get out of doing it.  Since none of the other adults in the boat were brave enough to even climb up there, I could easily just turn around, go back down and be done.

But then I looked down at my little girls sitting there watching me.  How many times have I said to them, "I know you're scared but if you just do it, you're gonna have so much fun!"  And in that moment I realized I HAD to do this.  Not for me, but for them.  I had a purpose and a reason to do this jump.  And all of a sudden - it was easy.  I made the girls count down from 10 and when they got to 1 I just did it.  I jumped.  

It was no less scary going down and, oh man, did it hurt!  (What I'm actually scared of is not the fall or hitting the water - it's going too deep under the water and it taking forever to get back to the top!  So when I jumped I put my arms out to prevent that from happening - OWWWWW!)  But no matter how petrified I was that I was going to die, having a reason and having a purpose outside of myself for taking this plunge changed everything.  

We're kicking off our first night of Community for the year and we are so excited that YOU are here.  And it's not just because we like you and we want to hang out with you (we do!) but there is SO much more to it than that. There is a bigger reason and a greater purpose for WHY we are all here and that is what we're going to talk about tonight. 

My question for you is "Why are YOU here?"  Maybe this is your first time here.  Maybe you're here because someone invited you and for some reason you said "Yes".  Maybe you're here because your parents are making you come.  Maybe you're here because these are your people and you want to hang out with them.  Maybe you're here because you knew the guy or girl you like was going to be here tonight.  Maybe you're here because you know you need some God in your life and you think this is probably a pretty good place to do that.  

Whatever your reason is, even if you think it's NOT really a good reason, we really are SO glad that you are here! I hear a lot of little complaints and I've been doing this for a long time, so this is nothing new: "She's just here for a guy!" or "He's not here for the right reasons!" and this is what I have to say about that - I DON'T CARE!  No matter what your motivation for being here, we really just don't care as long as you're here!  And every time you are HERE, you are putting yourself in a position to HEAR from God and that is awesome.  Just come and let other people come - regardless of what gets them in these doors!

But here's the deal - all of those reasons are great to get you in the door, and maybe even keep you coming for a while.  But someday that reason isn't going to exist anymore - maybe your crush fades or your actually start DISliking the people here and NOT wanting to be around them.  Maybe your parents will give up and stop forcing you or maybe all of this will just get old.  And you'll be like me, standing on top of that rock jump - are you going to do it or not?  Are you going to keep coming?  Like me looking down at my little girls, will you have a purpose that is strong enough to keep you here when all that other stuff fades?

And I believe there's only ONE purpose that's going to work, ONE purpose that will make it worth it to take that jump, to keep coming even when everything inside of you says not to.  And His name is Jesus.  

Of course that probably seems pretty obvious that our purpose here, at a church would be Jesus, but let me break it down like this: Our purpose here at COMMUNITY and every event we do is: Jesus.  But specifically it's to KNOW, LOVE and SHARE Jesus.  

First of all, KNOW.  

We're going to start in John 17:3: "This is the way to have eternal life—to KNOW You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one You sent to earth."

We KNOW the one true God by KNOWING the one He sent, Jesus Christ.

A lot of people believe that it's good enough to just know ABOUT Jesus. You know, the basic information - He was born on Christmas, died on Good Friday, rose again on Easter.  Long hair, flowing robes, and a halo around His head.  He performed miracles and said some cool things about God.

But this verse doesn't say "to know ABOUT Jesus" it says to KNOW Jesus. There is a really big difference between knowing ABOUT Jesus and KNOWING Jesus.  

Tim and I absolutely love the show "Survivor".  We have watched every season of Survivor for 13 years - we're coming up on Season 27 this fall and we're so excited!  Anyway, we've seen so many seasons of Survivor that we KNOW Jeff Probst, the host of the show, really well.  We can even predict what he's going to say and do in almost every episode of the show. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final.  The person voted out will be asked to leave the tribal council area immediately."  We like to try to predict how they're going to show him travel from the island to the live show during the finale episode.  There are a lot of things we know ABOUT Jeff Probst. But since we've never met him or talked to him or had any personal experience with him, we don't actually KNOW Jeff Probst.

So when John 17:3 says that the way to eternal life is to KNOW Jesus, it's not talking about knowing the information about him.  It's talking about KNOWING Him as a person and having a relationship with Him.  

It sounds kind of funny to say that you can KNOW this person who lived 2000 years ago, but it's VERY possible and VERY real.  Here's how it works:

1) To know means to CONFESS  

Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  If you want to begin a true relationship with Jesus, you must confess - or admit - what you believe.  You have to take that INFORMATION that you know - that Jesus lived, died and rose again and make it personal - for YOU.  You have to choose to make that apply to YOUR life.  That's it.  You don't have to be a good person to have a relationship with Jesus.  You don't have to clean up your life first.  You don't have to know the Bible from cover to cover, you just have to CONFESS that you believe in Jesus and want Him to be the Lord of your life.

And all it takes to do that is a simple prayer and doing what we refer to around here as "accepting" or "receiving" Christ.  You can do that right now!  I'm going to pray and if you want to make Jesus your choice right now, if you want to have eternal life with Him and a real meaning and purpose in this life, you can just pray silently along with me in your heart. You're not born with this, you're not just "in" because you've gone to church or because your family is "Christian", it has to be a decision you make for yourself.  If you haven't done that, why not now?  God KNOWS you and He loves you deeply and He wants you to make the choice to KNOW Him. Why not pray right now and CONFESS Jesus for YOU? 

Jesus, I know I need You in my life.  I want to truly know You.  I believe that You lived, died, and rose again.  I accept Your forgiveness and the love that You have for me.  Thank You for saving me, thank You for loving me so much.  Amen.

2)  To know means to CONTINUE

If for some reason Tim and I ever had the chance to meet Jeff Probst, it might go something like this.  Someone might introduce us and we might say, "Hey, we're big fans of the show!" or something totally lame like that.  Then we might have a short conversation with him about how we're from the Philadelphia area and he might say "Oh, I heard they have great cheesesteaks there!" and that would probably be it.  I could have said that I MET Jeff Probst, but I still couldn't say that I KNOW Jeff Probst unless we started to spend time with him on a regular basis.

Once you CONFESS and meet Christ, the point of KNOWing Jesus is that you CONTINUE to KNOW Jesus.

How do you grow a relationship with Jesus?  The same way you grow a relationship with a person.  Two things: TALKING and TIME.  If Tim and Jeff Probst decided they wanted to start being friends but they never talked to each other or spent any time together would their relationship grow? No way!

TALKING: You talk to Jesus the same way you talk with a friend.  Just talk to Him!  You can talk out loud or in your head, it doesn’t matter. He knows everything you're going to say because He's God - He just wants you to talk to Him and listen to Him like you would any other friend.

TIME: Any time that you spend praying, reading the Bible, listening to songs about Him, coming to Community, going to church on Sunday mornings, going to FCA on Tuesdays, serving Him - that's time spent in the best way possible - growing your relationship with Jesus.

This leads us to purpose number two which is LOVE.  Our purpose is to help you go beyond just knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Jesus, but to actually LOVING Jesus.  

I think sometimes when we hear the word "love" we get caught up in making it all about feelings.  That's a little bit dangerous because even though love and feelings are related, they aren't always the same thing.  It is possible to love Jesus without really "feeling" warm and fuzzy and it's possible to feel warm and fuzzy, but not really be LOVING Jesus.  It's easy to feel like you really "LOVE" God when you're here singing and the music and the words are giving you that "warm, fuzzy" feeling, but truly loving Him is a much greater thing.

Loving Jesus, according to the Bible, can pretty much be summed up in this: CHOOSING Him and His ways and what He wants for you above all other things.  

Jesus said it this way in John chapter 14:

John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments." 

John 14:23 “All who love me will do what I say."

John 14:21 "Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me."

Notice that Jesus doesn't say, "Those who really feel it, those are the ones that love me."  A feeling of love toward Jesus may absolutely be involved. And as you KNOW Him more and grow in your relationship with Him, those feelings of thankfulness and admiration and just plain awe of Him will probably grow, too.   

But the root of this love is the CHOICE to obey Him - to learn His ways, to listen to and choose the things that He wants for our lives over all the other options out there.  We LOVE Jesus by choosing Him and His ways above our own.  

For example, I love coffee.  This means I’m at a restaurant or over at someone's house, and coffee is on the list of beverage options, coffee is going to be my choice.  Out of all the other things available, I’m going to choose the one that I LOVE.  That’s how you know I LOVE it!  We love Jesus by choosing Him, choosing to obey Him in every decision, every day, over all the other options out there.

In the book of John, Jesus also mentions three other things that people LOVE instead of Him because they choose these things OVER Him.  These are things we are tempted to CHOOSE and therefore LOVE instead of Him.

John 3:19 says, "And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people LOVED the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil."  There's something inside of us, especially at your age, that just wants to be bad.  There's something about the darkness, even though we can KNOW that it is most likely going to end bad, it just looks so GOOD!  We know that we shouldn't choose sin, but we just can't say no.  Regardless of what you SAY you love, what you choose is what you love and very often we choose to love the DARKNESS over Jesus.

John 12:43 mentions another one: "For they LOVED human praise more than the praise of God." Loving human praise just means caring more about what other people think of you than what God thinks of you and, therefore, allowing what other people think of you to influence the choices you make.  We choose chasing after HUMAN PRAISE instead of living to please God.  

And finally, John 12:25 says, "Those who LOVE their life in this world will lose it." It's a great thing to love life - I absolutely love my life!  But when I am faced with the choice to obey God, but it means I will have to give up my comfort or take a risk and I choose the comfort, I am choosing to LOVE my life over Jesus and what He wants for me.

We are here to help you learn to love Jesus and make Him your first choice.  That's why we stand up here and teach you from God's word - because you can't obey the things that Jesus said if you don't know what He said in the first place!  And even if you do know what He said, it's still really hard and we are here to help you.  THAT is our purpose.  And we hope that no matter where you are right now, that THAT will become your reason for coming, too.

Like I said in the beginning - having a PURPOSE - knowing and loving Jesus - as the REASON that you come here will change everything when you're standing at that moment of decision.  Because everything in the world is going to tell you, "You don't need that youth group, you're fine on your own!  You're too busy, anyway. It's just NOT really that important.  And besides it's all cliquey and awkward and they're all just hypocrites anyway." But if the reason you are coming is to KNOW and LOVE Jesus more, then none of that stuff will matter and you won't fall for the lies.

"Help Me Find My Own Flame"

"Do what only You can do in my heart tonight!"

"The Furnace Club" at Community

We had a night of powerful worship followed by a message from Pastor Roman challenging us to believe that God is able and take a bold step of courage - because even if He "does not" we may just meet Him in the "furnace"!

Would You Rather?

Good times at Engage tonight!  We may be "grown up" high-schoolers but we still love these games :)

"Whom Shall I Fear?"

We had a powerful night of worship at Community, "releasing" our fears to our God who is an "ever-present help in times of trouble" (Psalm 46:1)

Dance Party!

Random Connect dance party! Woo-hoo!