SOZO CHURCH

sozo church is a community of faith hope & love in Spokane Washington Currently holding Sunday gatherings at 2131 W Woodside Ave @10am sozospokane.org facebook.com/sozochurch twitter @sozospokane

[sozospokane]

SUMMER VS CHURCH

How to enjoy your summer & still stay plugged into your local church

Summer is close at hand & with it’s arrival comes the onset of a battle. It’s a conflict that is usually fought blindly & often without even being acknowledged…it’s the battle between enjoying the brief season known as summer & remaining connected to your church. It seems an impossibility to do both; to get the most out of the sunshine & warm weather while staying engaged in the community where God has placed us. But what if I told you that with just a little forethought & strategy you could win this battle? What if I told you could play at the lake with your friends & family while remaining committed to mission of your local church?

Here’s how:

First make the decision that if you are not doing something else you will be in church

This may see simple but it's a powerful tool. During the summer you'll have weeks that you'll be out of town so make the choice NOW to be in church any weekend you're NOT out of town. Even with this you may still find that you are missing several Sunday mornings (often in a row) due to other commitments & plans meant to help you enjoy your summer. In that case consider...

Make an effort to attend as many "outside Sunday" events as possible

Over the summer churches do lots of BBQs, out-reach events, small group gatherings & ministry opportunities during the week. These can be a major tool in staying connected even when you know you'll be missing several Sunday's in a row so check your calendar &...

Plan ahead

Planning ahead can not only help you stay plugged into your church but it will also help you make the MOST of your summer. By planning you can maxims the short season. As you plan longer vacations or trips consider scheduling these around larger events at your church such as out-reach Sundays, youth camp, VBS or Men’s/Women’s events. Big events are always fun to be a part of & a great way to build relationship; missing them can leave you feeling like you missed out.

Employ these 3 easy steps & you’ll find that you can enjoy your summer but you won’t feel like a total stranger to your pastor in the fall.

- Mark Blair

BONUS THOUGHT!

Really want to stay plugged into to church over the summer?

Sign up to serve on a team over the summer.

Even if you know you'll be out for several weeks during the summer signing up to serve will help you stay connected to those who serve on the team as well as the mission & vision of the church. This can also be the final motivation you need to make the choice to be in church on Sundays you may otherwise choose to play hooky.

Join a small group or create your own by meeting with 1-3 other people weekly

During this busy season, when we are all going in different directions, a little planning & effort can help you stay connected to those God has placed in your life. Consider joining (or staying plugged into) a small group. Relationships are one of God’s main ways of imparting grace into our lives so don’t forget about them! If your church doesn’t offer small groups over the summer (many don’t due to people sporadic schedules) consider a “DIY Small Groups”. Simple ask 1-3 other people (or couples) to commit to meeting/connecting weekly over the summer. Use the time to share life, read a book/bible & pray for one another.

[sozospokane]

5 Steps to finding your place in a local church

Being a part of a local church means both giving & receiving ministry. Churches can seem like big, complicated organizations that leave us wondering how & where to fit in & this can make it difficult to find your place. 

I submit the following as a simple guide to help you find the place that God has for you in the local congregation He has placed you in.

Pray

Jesus is the Head of His Church & by calling you to be a part of a congregation He has a place in mind for you to serve. As you pray ask Him for guidance & grace. Guidance to know where to start & the grace to serve with joy & excellence.

Look for the need

Practically speaking churches have needs. It takes workers to build, run & grow a children's ministry. It takes skilled musicians to lead the church in corporate worship. It takes willing people give joyfully & generously of their finances to meet the churches financial obligations. It’s important to find a place you’ll love but start by looking for places where there is lack; it may be that God has made a hole for you to fill. 

What are you passionate about?

Serving doesn’t have to suck! When God put you together in your mother’s womb He placed within you gifts & passions that He designed to serve to glorify Him & advance His Kingdom. As you look for a place to serve think about what areas relate to things you a passionate about.

Take a test drive

Choosing an area of ministry to get involved in doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Don’t be afraid to try ask to try something for a week or two. Better yet sign up for a trimester & see how things go! You never know if God may knit your heart to something unexpected.

Keep going

Trying new things isn’t always smooth sailing. The unfamiliar can pose unexpected challenges & frustration. When you hit hard seasons it can be a temptation to pull away but keep going, often breakthroughs follow tough seasons. Don’t compare your “success” to those who have been serving for years, in everything there is a learning curve.

Hopefully these steps help you find you place. Remember that regardless of where you serve you are serving Jesus & His purpose.

-Mark Blair

[sozospokane]

The Elephant in My Room

When I set out to publish the Elephant Talks blog series, it was intended to be a series of stories about dealing with the things God brings about in our lives to bring us closer to Him. As the curator of the blog, I ended up writing a few of them, but didn’t feel like God was bringing a whole lot to the surface in the midst of the series. So I asked about elephants and God in His faithfulness and mercy showed me the elephant that has been crushing me for two years. Here is my story; this is my elephant.

Most of you know a bit of my history, but for those who don’t, quick synopsis: I spent a lot of time in college, earned a Bachelors and a Master’s degree, and knew that I was called to serve Sozo Church, but also have a lot of education, which opens the, hypothetical possibility for doing many things in business world as well. Growing up in the church and in a highly encouraging family, I had a really vivid idea of what success was going to look like in my life, both personally and professionally, which led me to work very hard for those successes.

Grad school is hard; it is a privileged hard, but challenging nonetheless (Robert will concur if you ask him). During the writing of my thesis, I developed a mindset of work hard, play hard. I started to think that life was hard, so I deserved to do and have whatever I wanted in my free time. If I wanted chocolate cake, well then I deserved it because I was working hard. If I wanted to binge watch a tv show, then I should because school was taxing and I needed to relax. Not that any of the things were wrong or bad in and of themselves, but it developed a lifestyle of entitlement that slowly, but steadily eroded my happiness and my heart for serving. For two years I had been letting this elephant grow larger and larger until it was suffocating me. So when I finally got up the guts to ask God if there was an elephant of sin in my life. He answered and it hurt, but it set me free.

It’s easy to say that It’s all about Jesus, and to a certain extent it is easy to work for it’s all about Jesus, but I fell into the trap of keeping a portion of my life where it got to be all about me, because all the other areas of work and volunteering were all about Jesus. He wants all of it. And by His grace and mercy and the gift of repentance bestowed, He must have all of my life, because that’s where desire is truly fulfilled and true happiness and comfort are found. They are found in Jesus. So the stereotypical Sunday school answer is right; Jesus.

~Megan

[sozospokane]

The Elephant of How

Genesis 17: 15-17 -- And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Thank God I am not alone in my confusion and I thank Him for His sense of humor and grace in my reaction.  God has made promises and called me to tasks and accomplishments that are far larger than the mindset and the life of now. My reaction is so often first Abraham’s, shock and incredulity; I love the wording of it, he fell on his face and laughed. Isaac’s arrival into the world was both a promise and a call. Abraham was not only requested to trust that God would bring about the promise of a son, but also to trust that when he did what God asked, God would do that which only He could do.

This elephant is a peculiar one in that I am so often hugely aware that I have no idea what the plan is or who I am supposed to be and it seems to be God who is ignoring the issue at hand. I panic each and every time. The panic has lessened over the years as I’ve gotten older, but still, God speaks to me about who I am or His work in my life and I flip out, desperately trying to figure out how it all will work out and what I am supposed to do. How am I supposed to logically believe that the promise will come about or that He will get me to the place to be all that He has called me?

The Elephant of How is solved with this simple principle; trust His heart, hear His voice. How does it all work? Thank God, He is faithful and He has the big picture and figuring it all out is not my problem or task, it is His. At the end of it all we are led to the same conclusion as Job, who in 42:3b and 5 repents and says, “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… I had heard by the hearing of my ear, but now my eye sees you.” I believe that the elephant leaves when I come to the realization, again, that the How is His and His alone. I position myself to listen for His instruction, to be faithful to take the next step in this present moment, and then rest in the knowledge that this is all about Him.  ~Megan

[sozospokane]

The Elephant of Questioning

When I first started going to church, I was at a stage in my relatively new faith that I found my mind swirling with questions.  Yet, I felt that to be a Christian was to walk in blind faith and that to ask the questions was to, in a way, sacrifice my new faith at the altar of my intellect.  Then when I finally gained the courage to ask some of what I saw as the ‘less volatile’ questions I had, it never seemed that the answers were substantive nor what I was actually looking for.  I was frustrated because I wanted to understand the faith, but I was uncertain of whether I could with my brain intact.  I was inclined to academic study, but thought I had to live in a constant state of bad faith if I was to pursue it.

The elephant in the room at that time was that of questions.  Could I have these doubts and these questions and still be a Christian?  Could I think critically about what I was being taught without being ostracized from the church?  Were there actually answers out there that didn’t require me to check my brain at the door?  I was terrified that to ask questions was to turn my back on God.

The problem was that I had too narrow of an understanding of God.  I thought perhaps God was just waiting for me to show a lack of faith so that He could strike me down; however, that isn’t the case.  As I started to study theology and classics from people like Saint Augustine and others in the early church, I found they wrestled with many of the same questions I had (and still have).  These great leaders of the faith didn’t have it all figured out either and they used their reason as they approached questions of God and Scripture.  God didn’t strike them down for their inquiry, but rather, met them in it.

I discovered that to ask questions often does not constitute a lack of faith (although it can), but rather, we have questions because a healthy faith builds in us a desire to understand and know the God we worship.  As Saint Augustine said in a sermon, “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”  We may not find all of the answers to our questions, but we need not be afraid of seeking them out.  Because when we ask questions in the church, we are in good company.  When we seek out answers in faith God rewards us with understanding and sometimes gives us peace to simply live in the mystery.

- Robert

[sozospokane]

The Elephant of Letting Go

Let It Go.

Since the introduction of this phrase in Disney musical format, just the words themselves are enough to make most adults cringe and look to stop whatever singing is inevitably bound to continue unless abruptly interrupted. Having interacted with many members of the under 7 age category within the last two years, I understand this reaction, but something happened in my heart the last time my niece informed me that she had a really great cd we should listen to and those fateful first notes floated from her Hello Kitty cd player; I actually listened to the words. The song tells a story about letting go by giving up and running away from a situation that has gotten out of the main character’s control. God speaks to a deep part of me and mentions how often I do the very same thing to avoid the difficult places and scars in my life. With that realization, I see the elephant wave from the corner and that is when I wince.

There are things that I know I have been called to do and to be… or at least I am pretty sure. And then there’s the reality that I am not good enough, strong enough, energetic enough, a lot of things enough to do and be all of those things. There is a black gunk that threatens to coat my heart; original sin, generational sin, societal sin, all of it is working against me and I so often succumb to the idea that I must hide myself and build walls to protect myself and all those around me, which in turn blocks me from being who I am for me and for those God has placed in my life. It’s so much easier to give up and run away. To stay in the midst of the work in my life while letting go of the illusion of control, the worry about what pain might come, the fear of failure, that is the hard part. However, it has proven true that letting go and trusting in God provides the freedom to hold on to  the promises of God’s grace, His faithfulness, and the steadfastness of His salvation in me.  When we trust in God by giving up our desire to be in control, we are leaning into Him for strength instead of running away from that which confronts us.  

Let It Go. Easier sung than done, but when we see that our God is the answer for everything, absolutely everything, then the cost of hanging on steadily climbs higher than the cost of letting go. ~Megan

[sozospokane]

The Elephant of Invisible Truth

Seeing is believing. It’s commonplace these days, in some circles, to reduce reality down to that which can be perceived by the five senses. At times the temptation to question the idea that ‘that which is seen is temporal but that which is unseen is eternal’ is nearly too easy. The elephant in this particular room, a nagging question about what is really true, can appear to be more visible in my imagination than the invisible God I worship. Distractions abound, keeping me entertained a thousand different ways which also keeps me from addressing the ever-present elephant; an interloper which would prefer to remain undiscovered so as not to be evicted from its comfortable quarters in my heart and mind.

Yet I’m even more provoked when something quite outside of my will and control causes the elephant I’m so familiar with to seem somehow smaller. A new challenger emerges. Another elephantine contender has entered the ring of my thoughts, and this one asks a wiser question. When my heart is suddenly softened though I knew it to be an impossibility; when my anger gives way to love; when my fear inexplicably becomes trust - who is behind the scenes working all things together for my good? The invisible God all at once becomes more substantive than the questions for which I have demanded answers. When I see myself as He does, it seems I’ve been holding my own soul hostage until I get the answers which I think will bring peace. I put God on trial and try to convince Him to jump through hoops to win my trust. Instead, He gently lifts me out of my confusion and makes me more than merely sound. He makes me want to be good. He, Himself, becomes my peace and I find I have no questions left to ask.

Thomas would not believe Jesus had returned from the invisibility of death unless he was given the proof of feeling for himself Jesus’ nail-caused scars. Only what he could see and touch would suffice to be worthy of the name ‘truth.’ Jesus met Thomas in his fear and reluctance and spoke to a questioning heart which I would later inherit. His hopeful words echo across time and win the war for my affections (where once an immovable elephant sat) as he looks into Thomas’ eyes - my eyes - and says: ‘You have seen and so you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believe.’ - Jae

[sozospokane]

The Elephant of Trust

I find myself sitting on the floor of the kitchen having a staring contest with the dog. The elephant in the room right now is that I have a blog post due in less than 12 hours and I still haven’t started. There have been lots of elephants in my house. I see them and figure out ways to gracefully trip around them while living life. They can be so easy to avoid; the dishes need to be done, laundry needs to be folded, emails should be written, I should call my mother, there are books to be read and ways to figure out how to be a better person. As long as they are managed properly the elephant doesn’t get too big and can be ignored… right up until it takes over.

Lately my elephant is the need to trust. Not the trust that carries you through the dark times when all hope is lost; no, that trust is easy for me. When God is my only option, I have no trouble choosing Him. I don't claim to understand any or all of the hard stuff, but I trust He does. The trust that eludes is the kind that justifies day after day of an ordinary existence. I don’t wish for hard times; I dream of grandeur and the blessed existence of a full and meaningful life. I work for it and I believe for it, but it has yet to arrive. 

It sounds so horribly ungrateful and I get that. I am undoubtedly and incredibly blessed, but there are still dreams unfulfilled and hopes waiting dormant. In the midst, God asks the question: Do you trust Me? My head says yes, but the scars on my heart from years of deferred hope muffle the deepest answers. So I scoot the elephant over on the couch and curl up next to it, knowing that the mammoth sitting in my room isn’t always a monument to my struggle with the illusion of control, but more often than not, an expression of His great faithfulness. ~ Megan

[sozospokane]

The Elephant of Why

 I’ll never forget the day that my brother, Byron, was diagnosed with cancer.  That night at a family gathering, his body refusing to keep down any food or water, his face gaunt and skin covered in hundreds of little itchy sores.  He had stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and it had gotten to the point that I wondered if that was the last time I was ever going to see my brother.  He was dying and I was completely powerless to do anything about it.  This father of two beautiful little girls and faithful husband to his wife Sarah had a failing body at the age of twenty-nine.  

That night the elephant in the room was the question of ‘why?’  Why was my brother suffering like this?  If we serve the God we see in Scripture, the one who heals the afflicted, why were we gathered around my brother crying out to God for healing and not seeing an iota of difference in his condition?  That evening I had a screaming match with God.  I was furious about the disease and crushed over God’s seeming indifference to the matter.  There was no answer.  The sky didn’t rend and angels descend.  There was no assurance of healing.  Only silence.  

Yet, I, along with countless others, continued to believe for his healing over the coming months. Sometimes I had the strength to pray, other times I would sit despondent on the couch.  While I continued to pray, I had to resign myself to the uncomfortable fact that in the midst of my brother’s sickness, God is sovereign.  As Tim Keller explains in his excellent book Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, we are called in Scripture to pray against sickness and pain as the enemy of God while holding it all in the knowledge that God works through and in the midst of that same sickness and pain. I had to find my comfort in the knowledge that even in the midst of the suffering, Jesus Christ did not abandon us, but rather was suffering with us.

But it was not pointless suffering.  As my brother went in for treatment, God was doing amazing things.  While there was no instantaneous healing, God worked through the treatments and the pain to draw those around my brother to Godself.  While he did eventually, by the grace of God, make a full recovery, during his treatment he was able to share the Gospel with countless others who shared his situation or worked in the hospitals.  He was used by God to give hope to those who were hopeless. People who may never have heard the Gospel if not for my brother’s cancer.  Because, while we might not understand the reason for sickness and pain, God uses it for God’s glory and does not abandon us in it. - Robert

[sozospokane]

Elephant Talks

Hello! Sozo is back in the blogosphere and so excited to be here!!

These last few months have been busy ones with joining together as two congregations to express the reality of God’s love and glory in Spokane. As we move forward in this mission, we hope that this blog will encourage you in your journey of faith and bring about a greater revelation of Jesus in your life.

For the fall semester, Sozo just launched a new series called The Elephant in the Room. This sermon series takes a verse by verse look at Isaiah 64 and examines the topics God points out to us that must be addressed in order for us to continue to grow closer to Him and more effective in glorifying His name. As a part of the series, there will be a concurrent series of blog posts from members of Sozo sharing their stories of when God addressed an elephant in the room of their life. Each of these stories come from people who know what it is to wrestle with issues theological and practical that they wanted to ignore, but God pointed out and intervened on their behalf to bring glory to His name and wholeness to their life.

I am so excited for this series; the topics addressed in Isaiah are deep and if we allow God to work in our hearts, this will be a life changing time for all involved.  Thank you for following us and for taking the time to read the blog. We really appreciate it.  If you are challenged, encouraged, or moved in some fashion, please let us know! Share, like, comment, tell your story, join us on Sunday mornings and in community groups; be a part of what’s happening.  Have a great week and we’ll talk again soon.  - Megan

[sozospokane]

It seems that every time I listen to media I'm being told just how hopeless the world we live in has become. Whether it's global financial instability, war, famine, governments attempting to censor our lives or secret organizations trying to take over the world it can be hard to remain hopeful about the future. Add to this the personal struggles of paying your bills, finding a spouse, raising a family, doing well at work or school & generally just trying to figure out why you are sucking air on this planet & it can be hard to see the importance of Church or even see why God is still letting this whole thing keep spinning.

This trail of thinking can leave us wandering aimlessly through life. It can make us wonder why we should even try. But we must remember something. I believe Jesus said it best when He said:

"I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." -John 16:33 (MSG)

He tells us that difficulty is a part of being on this planet but that because of our faith in Him we can have both peace & the assurance of victory. This fight is not the end, this struggle is not forever & that even in the midst of it we can find peace in Him. You see He has a plan & purpose for this world & you. He is working in ways we may not perceive but He is working nonetheless.

Below you will find 7 roots to draw strength & life from. These are not meant to be profound or especially not new or hip but rather to serve as simple reminders that as we face the ups & downs of this life (personally or globally) we can be anchored & draw life in these. My personal hope is that as you read them you will be (re)inspired to dedicate your life to God's working in the earth today. That you will plant yourself & your family into a local church & find joy of being used by God as a part of His body.

1.    God made the earth perfect. (Gen 1)

God is good. When God set about to create the world He did so out of His very nature. Thus there was no imperfections, lack, want, need or pain. When the world was formed it was good.

2.    Man was given stewardship over the earth. (Gen 1:27-28)

The care & maintenance of the world was given to man. This was not a task to cause hardship or burden but rather to impart purpose & duty. Along with the duty was given the authority to fulfill the duty. Like a police officer charged with keeping the peace, man was given the power to enforce God’s order & maintain His divinely imparted perfection.

3.    Through the deception of Adam & Eve by Satan man, & creation fell. (Gen 3)

Because of this fall:

a.    Sin entered creation

b.    Suffering, sickness & strife resulted from sin

c.     Satan gained authority on the earth (John 16:40)

4.    God’s ultimate plan has always been the full restoration of the earth. (Rev 21:1-5)

We know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. The fall of man was not a surprise to God & He is at work in bring about the total restoration of all things. His desire is that we would know His redemptive nature fully through this process & that all things would be restored.

5.    Through the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus Christ the authority Satan subverted from man has been regained. (Eph 4, Matt 28:18-20),

In His death Jesus not only paid a ceremonial price but rather took upon Himself the penalty of our sins. He descended into hell itself & reclaimed that which had been stolen.

6.    God’s means for fulfilling His restoration of the earth is the church. (Matt 10:1; 16:18, Acts 1:8)

After descending Christ also ascended to the highest heights. As He did He reinvested the authority He regained into His church. He has given us the keys to bind & loose here on earth that which is in heaven. He has empowered each of us to fulfill a purpose in His plan of restoration.

7.    The church is victorious in her assignment. (1 John 5:4)

Our assignment is not one of futility but of victory. God has called us as His bride to enforce the victory won on Calvary. Revelation teaches us that in the end the church will triumph over all darkness.

*Mark

[sozospokane]

move

“So, He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.” Matthew 14:29

Stepping out of the boat may seem simple at times…It’s a step. A movement from one place to another…Movements occur every moment and most without thought.

But, out of the boat, why the difficulty? Is it the boat, or the step? Or in realty could it be the call?

 If you are called to step out, then you are singled out by the Creator of the universe, and yet, this is the same place that we often find our struggle.

Therefore this movement is unlike our unconscious happenings of the day to day. It has been ordained, anointed and called forth, with the backing of heaven. So is our hesitation the boat?

The boat often represents the securities of life. A place in which we are protected from the storms of life, a barrier between us all that we may come in contact with. This may seem great, until we are called. Called to step out of the boat. In the boat, we are protected, but limited in our experiences. As long as we are in the boat we cannot truly be immersed in the realities of all this life has to offer.

What about the water? Is that the true apprehension of stepping out of the boat? It’s the water that we have no control over. Not only are there waves that we may not be able to control, but somehow a miracle must happen in the walking on water. We weren’t called to make the water a solid surface, we were just called to step out, to move, to shift from one place to another.

So, what if we step out, and the miracle doesn’t happen? We get wet. The boat is still within arms reach, we could get back in. Or we could find our sea legs and start to walk on water. We could see dreams become reality. It’s a conscious movement that takes a decision.

It’s your move.

*Tai

[sozospokane]

Faith & Works

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 

James 2:15-18

What does it mean to have faith? Is it a feeling, is it simply believing in something, is it hoping for something to happen? James tells us that simply “having faith” which does not produce action isn’t really faith at all.

  Over the years, faith has become a central theme to many of the messages God has called me to preach. Which has lead me to spent a significant amount of time studying the topic biblically, reading books about it & listening to preachers give their insight into this ever-important idea. My desire in doing this was to find, what science reverse to as, the “irreducible complexity” of faith. Irreducible complexity is the state in which something has been stripped down to only its essential parts, the point at which if anything were to be removed it would cease to function. I wanted to find the point at which something is indeed faith but at it’s most basic, simple & least complicated form. So what did I find? What I have come to believe is that faith is simply hearing God & choosing to respond to what we hear regardless of what we may feel, think or experience (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11; James 2:14-26).

  So then faith is two-fold hearing & doing.  If we remove either of these two pieces of faith it can no longer be called faith. It can be called hope, belief, trust, assurance or even knowledge but it cannot be called faith. I think in this lies the heart of why many people aren’t having the expected results from their faith; they are missing one of these key elements. A simple test to see if you are missing one of these key elements is to ask yourself 2 questions:

  What has God spoken to me?

This is vitally important! If we miss this we miss it all. Faith is not about what we think or what we feel or what we believe, it’s about what we hear. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing. Habakkuk 2:4 tells us that we LIVE by this faith. These 2 verses, when taken together, tell me that my life as a child of God is lived by the revelation of God to me. Our faith is received through hearing God’s word & the believer’s life is lived by this faith. If we are going to be people of faith then we MUST be people who are preoccupied to the point of obsession with hearing from God, in both the big & little things of our lives.

  Stop & ask yourself what it is that you have heard God say to you. What is it that He has revealed to you? Start as far back as possible. Has He spoken His love for you, His grace in the person of Jesus Christ? Write down everything that you can remember, pray for the Holy Spirit to bring back to remembrance as many of the words as possible. If you journal, take out your journals & look over all the things that God has spoken to you over past few weeks, months or even years.

  What are you doing in response to what God has said to you?

Hearing is where we start but it is not where we end. If we are to live by faith then we must respond to what we hear. James tells us that faith that does not result in response is not living (or livable) faith. It is not a faith that can produce because it hasn’t been able, or been allowed, to produce in our own lives. Faith that can’t produce in us most certainly can’t produce through us. The reality of this can be seen in Peter walking on the water. He stepped out; he did something at the beckoning of Jesus to come to Him. What he heard caused him to respond. Out of that response something previously thought impossible was made possible, he walked on water.

  Now that you have your list of things that you have heard God speak to you ask yourself what you are doing in response to what you have been told. What actions did you take, are you taking or will you need to take? What things in your life need to shift in order to facilitate an obedient response to what He has spoken to you? I’m not saying these responses will be easy but I am saying they are required if you are to experience the full, complete & promised outcome of what God has said

*Mark

[sozospokane]

Why One More Church??

Do you see them? You probably drive by many of them each day on your way to work, as you go to the store, while taking your kids to school or maybe as you walk down your street. They are everywhere. Honestly there are so many that we almost don’t notice them out of their sheer volume. So what are they? They’re churches & most cities have lots of them. Some are growing, some are not, some are serving the hungry, needy & poor, some are not but with so many why start one more?

I could quote you statistics & studies, facts & figures but to me it all boils down to one simple truth…with all the churches that currently exist there are still people who need the grace of Jesus & the instrument God has chosen to proclaim that grace is His bride, the church. There is a world in desperate need to be confronted with the tangible, relevant, reality of God’s love & He has chosen His people, His body to be the way He facilitates these encounters. It’s been shown through many studies that the most effective way of increasing the number of people having this experience is to plant a new church. It’s not complicated, more churches equal more people hearing about Jesus.

But the church is more then just a way for people to hear about God’s grace, it’s His instrument to dispense it into their lives & the life of a city. It’s simply not enough for people to hear the gospel, to preach at them or even to “convert” them. They must be placed in the midst of the body if they are to grow in His love & increase in their understanding of His grace. God said in Genesis that it is not good for man to be alone, we were built for community, designed to live life in the context of others. In the church we not only find a place to share our lives but also we are challenged to grow & equipped to fulfill our destiny.

Why one more church? Why not!

*Mark