I AM

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


   We are all about to embark on a new year. For most of us this is usually a time of trying to figure out how to create a better us. We do things like: start a diet, read more books, exercise more, spend more time with loved ones, ETC… Most of these start with good intentions, we want to be healthier or smarter, we ultimately want to use our time wiser. However, more times than not these "resolutions" rarely make it to March. Why is that? My suggestion is that we are looking for change in all the wrong places; we are looking with in ourselves whom we already recognize are flawed and we are asking that same flawed person, "Hey why don't you get out there and fix yourself?" Things just don't work out that way, we need a great source for change, someone who knows us better than we know ourselves, someone who knows our strengths, our weaknesses, someone that IS. Here is my challenge for all of us, in the book of John Jesus comes out with some big time statements, some in which ruffled a lot of religious leaders feathers, these statements are the I AM statements, you know the same ones that the God in the old testament used. Starting this Sunday, January 4th, we are starting a series entitled, "I AM, so you can be.." starting with I AM the Bread of Life.  We hope you can join us for great worship and fellowship, we also understand that this may not be possible for everyone so we have resources for that on our web site www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org we have most of our Sunday sermons up for you, this is our way to help you feel part of our family, or if you are on the fence on coming in to visit this will give you a glimpse of what we are about.

May God Bless You in the New Year! My hope is that you allow God to be in your life and in that amazing transformation he will help you become that change that you have always wanted to see in your self. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face to shine upon you and give you PEACE!

Typos and errors

I am sorry if there are grammar and typos throughout my blog many times I write these on my phone or ipad. I will work hard to correct these in the future!

Sermon videos

Check out my sermons at http://m.youtube.com/channel/UCucJz1GIhj2LTJiCYd7F18Q

HAPPY THANKSLiving

We are in the time of year where our country celebrates a time of thanksgiving, a that we set aside to be grateful for what we have. I think that this is an awesome thing, but what if we we re able to find a way to be thankful everyday so instead of celebrating a day called thanksgiving, we live a lifestyle I call ThanksLiving! Here is how you get started,th e first thing you have to do is when you wake up make a choice, you have to choose whether or not you want to be in a good mood or a bad mood. This will determine how the rest of your day goes. Think about it, if you choose good, you will find yourself having a positive perspective and approach to all situations in your day. You will find yourself developing ways of breaking down barriers of resentment and anger and building bridges of forgiveness and thankfulness. It sounds easy when you say it but this is something that takes a lifetime to figure out, that is why it is called thanksLiving, a lifetime of learning how to have a grateful heart. Now if you wake up and choose to have a bad attitude you will find yourself creating mountains out of molehills, you will miss read people's body language and you will be building barriers of resentment and breaking down bridges of love and forgiveness, finding ways to be ungrateful for the life you have been given. This approach is the easier of the he two, because it is much easier to be the victim of life and find ways to loath the cards you have been given. To make excuses of why you can't be a better person, to find reasons to be mad at God, and to find reasons to be mediocre is an easier road than choosing to be the victor of your circumstances. ThanksLiving happens when you choose to not let the world defeat you but to take a stand with the help of Christ and say NO MORE! I choose life and I choose to live it to the full and be grateful for each day, and use the gift of each to to be not only a better person but to be a better spouse, a better son or daughter, parent, student, employee, boss, Christian, there are so many things that we could be better at if we see our role as a gift insteado f a burden. Today is Monday, many of you regret this day every week. You drag yourselves to work and you complain the whole day about having to be there, that is not having a grateful heart. Change your perspective, be grateful you have a job, you make an income and support your family, but even more importantly you have a forum where your positive attitude can impact the lives of others who are struggling, who don't know our savior, and who are just going through the motions of life aimlessly. God has placed you where you are so you can be the light to this world, the salt of the earth. With a grateful heart how much brighter will your light be, how much greater will your flavor of salt be, and how much happier will you be. Let's start today by being grateful for what God has given us,this is Called contentment, a definition I have heard that I liked for contentment is, "contentment is understanding that God has given me everything I need for my current happiness." We get caught in the comparison trap that leads to an ungrateful heart because we have a hard time measuring up to others around us. God wants us to know to that our worth is not base do n what we have but who created us. God made us so special that out of all of his creation we were the only think and he made with his hands and not just his voice. That he so intimately created us that he even are using in his own image. What makes our relationship even more amazing is that even when we were consumed in sin, and were at our absolute worst he sent his son to die for us! If you can't live a grateful life knowing this we will need to check your plus and make sure you are alive! Be grateful choose happiness over anger, choose love over hate, choose forgiveness over resentment, choose good over bad, choose life over death...basically choose God and allow him to lead your life and you will achieve thanksLiving

Time management

There is never enough time in the day, you may have heard this statement or have even said it numerous times. I seems like there just isn't enough time to get all the things you need to get done in a day, with work, kids, their school work and sports, not to mention all the tv you have to watch plus sleeping and playing on the internet ... There just isn't enough time! What if I told you, there was not only enough time in the day for all that but there is even time for God, mainly because we start to put him first. If we truly think about getting our proorities straight we would see that if we place God first , then our family, then our work, then all the other stuff we would see that we can get things done that we need to. Our priorities shift from being all about us to being all about God. In matthew it says, " But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and All these things will be given unto you."

    Seek God first, change your priorities and He will bless you, and your time will start to take shape as you do. Lean on God and his timing and he will bless you.

The Winning Hand

 

In our journey though our series All IN we are going to finish on the idea of Winning the Lost. When I think through all the people in the bible that were all in for Christ, and were ALL IN for seeking and saving the lost there was know one better than the Apostle Paul. Paul and no problem going around and telling others about Christ without embarrassment or fear and calls all others bluffs because he knows with Christ he has the winning hand. Paul in his ministry had great passion for saving those who were lost and he did everything in his power to seek them and share the good news to them. When one goes all in at a poker game their goal is to win it all for themselves, to go home with all the chips and become the winner. When Christ took on the cross he went all in for two things, 1 to glorify his father and be all in for him, and 2 he went all in for all of us. As we consider going all in for Christ we should be doing the same, we should be all in for Christ and all in for each other.

 Paul was so great at this and gives us an awesome example in 1 Corinthians 9 19-23, when he says, "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law though I myself am not under the law, so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law, so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."  I want us to consider a few things here as we discuss this section of scripture, the main point is in order to go all in we have to give all up. I could add a lot to this statement but using this section of scripture lets ponder over 3 things. the first being as we go all in for Christ we have to, "Give up our preferences." Before i explain what I explain what I mean here I want to be clear first and foremost that there is a big difference between preference and conviction. Preference is how you dress, what you like to eat, and other items like that, even cultural norms. Paul gives us the example of this in verse 20 of our text when he says, "To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law though I myself am not under the law, so as to win those under the law." Paul in no way (if you need reference read Galatians) is saying you need the law to be saved, however he knew that if he didn't follow these cultural norms the jews would dismiss him before he even had a chance to share the Good News with them. His preference would probably be to just have them to conform to where he is at and then speak to them, but that doesn't work and he knew that. So when he was around the Jews and wanted to ease into them listening about the message of Christ he wasn't going to work on the sabbath, or eat pork, or whatever would distract them from hearing the message. to nail this idea down we can look at acts 16, when timothy wanted to join Paul on a missionary trip to work with the Jews because timothy had a heart for them, Paul took him and had him circumcised. Paul didn't do this so Timothy would be saved, he did it because the jews knew his dad was greek and he wasn't jewish so they would listen to anything he said unless they knew he was circumcised. This was a preference thing. Its as if Paul is saying in order for us to save this group we are going to have to change our preferences to be relatable to this group of people so that we can break down the barriers and build bridges. We have had some issues in the church of doing this in opposite order we like to break down bridges and build barriers. we use the mind set of if you aren't like us we don't talk to you, its the idea that our preference is to have a spiritual country club where we are all alike and we place our preferences and give them equal or greater value than our convictions. Paul was going to make sure that all the people that he came in contact with could have a chance to hear the message in a way that was relatable to them, without changing the convictions of his message just the presentation of it.

The second thing we have to give up is our privileges. In verse 21 Paul says, "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law, so as to win those not having the law." So this got me thinking is this saying that we should compromise our message to have it work out for other people? The answer for that is absolutely not, this isn't a story about compromise, it is a message of compassion. Paul's messages never show him waning on his convictions he doest water the Good News down, its the opposite, he wants all kinds of people to find Christ, the sexually impure, the idol worshipers, the tax collectors, the Jews, Gentiles, Slave or free, Paul had a heart for people and a passion to serve God through Christ. His compassion brought many to the name of Jesus, by leaving his preference and privilege at the door. 

The third thing we have to give up is our prerogatives. In verse 19 Paul says, " Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible."  During the Roman Empire it is estimated that the slave population was around 30-40%. Imagine that for a second and then think of what every slave wants to be, you guessed it free! but look what Paul is saying here, although i am free, i have decided to become a slave to all, to win as  many as possible. I am willing to put myself into slavery to others in order to win souls. Paul was an incredible man, creating a legacy of humility, placing the work of the cross above his own desires, he truly took Jesus' words to heart in Luke 9:23, "For any of you who want to be my followers must turn from their own selfish ways and pick up their cross daily and follow me." Paul knew what it felt like to be forgiven and shown grace, and he wanted to share that with others with out the filter of preferences, privileges and prerogatives.

So how are we doing with this, how difficult is it for us to meet people where they are at to adjust to them without conforming to the world, how can we allow Christ to transform us so we in turn can help transform others to his message?

come out sunday at 10am for more on the WINNING HAND! visit us on Facebook @ The Grove Elk Grove Church of Christ or visit our webpage at www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

Jump into life!

This will be short and sweet. We are all so afraid to do something new, or something we have never done before. I want to encourage you to get out there, try it and remember " ammatures built the arc, and professionals built the titanic." Follow your heart chase your dream, use your talents that God blessed you with. When you love what you do you will be blessed to do what you love, give God the glory and whatever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of The Lord! 

BIG NEWS

Jesus loves you! It may not be a surprise to some, but to others it is such a great relief to know someone loves and forgives you.Christ came for those that knew they were sinners not those whom thought themselves righteous.

One way in

I wish that if there were one thing we could do better as Christians is get along better with ourselves. How can we focus all our time on seeking and saving the lost, or being in our community planting seeds and reeping the harvest that is so ripe when we are spending too much time complaining about one another or trying to prove how we are the only way to heaven? Christ says, I am the way the truth and the light no one gets to the father except through me." (John14:6)

    We need to realize that salvation has nothing to do with us but by the sacrifice of Christ, the free gift of salvation. Through that gift Christ gives us a simple command. He tells us really to do just two things he says, love The Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength and love your neighbor as your self. Do we need to be aware of false teachers, yes! Do we condemn people, no! Jesus didn't give us the authority to judge others, in fact he says, "Matthew 7:1-6 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. 

    I think we need to evaluate where we are at and strive to love God more and everyday by the love we have for God we learn to love His creation more and more! 

God I pray that you help us be the example of love to the world around us using the example of your son Christ. The perfecter of our faith, and we can walk in the light as he is in the light and have fellowship with one another, and with that the love of Christ will cover our sins. I pray that I don't just use words but actions, and I pray that I start with my family, by being a better husband, better father, and a better man. I pray as a leader I lead better by being a better follower of you! And I pray that you open our eyes more often to your eternal plan for us, and I Pray this in your son holy name, amen.

ALL IN

I love that I get the open forum to talk with people about their faith, the bible, Christianity, life ETC.. The other day I had a conversation with a friend about a verse in the bible where Christ comes across as being pretty insensitive. The verse is Matthew Chapter 8 verse 21-22:  21 another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”

22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. [f]”

    You might read this and say WOAH Jesus eat a snickers you are grumpy when you are hungry. But we need to read this in context and also understand that Christ knows our hearts and where we stand in our thoughts. Jesus was taking a moment to let us know when he calls he wants us to be all in, this may seem like a drastic case but it serves a point for the crowd that was following that hey if you want to truly be my disciple I need all of you, don’t worry of things of this world put all of your energy into what matters most, giving us an eternal perspective. 

     In Luke chapter 9:23-26 he gives us more instructions of what we need to do is we are going to follow him her says, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.25 and what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? 26 If anyone is ashamed of my message, and me the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.” We are called to take this approach to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross daily and understand that yes, daily I need to be restored by Christ and humbled, I do this by lifting up this heavy cross that I cannot carry alone, but only by the grace of God to I get a chance and redemption, and only through Christ may I have a life that is eternal. Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Ultimately we cant be all in if we are stuck on things of this world, we aren’t able to be, I don't want to hold on to something I cant take with me and lose something that I will have for forever.

     Christ wants us all in, and as we take this journey further the next month or so we are going to learn that when we go all in we have nothing to fear because God has already dealt us a winning hand. 

   Join us on Sunday for more information www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

Online sermons

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of blog posts, I have been super busy but I wanted to share with all of you that my sermons are online at www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org if you missed them or would like to revisit the info you can click on the sermons tab on the front page.

Have an awesome and blessed day

Unashamed

Sorry I have been gone from the blogosphere for a while I have been swamped with awesomeness! Wouldn't you love to be swamped with awesomeness also? Here are a few things you can do to turn your ordinary into awesome: 

1: find ways to put others above yourself.

2: seek first the kingdom of Go and his righteousness

3: do not be ashamed of the Gospel, Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit when conducting your business.

I have found that when I am serving God and loving Him with everything that I have, all my mind, heart soul, and strength; and loving what he has created especially my neighbors, my life just gets better. It is hard to deny Christ when you are spending time with him daily.  So the challenge is have you helped someone today, maybe gave a smile, opened a door, have a complement, share a kind word. Have you forgiven someone today? Have you let go of some anger today, and instead spread happiness? Have you consulted in rather with God before making decisions? Have you displayed Christ with out shame in the way you talk to people, the way you work, the way you play, the way you drive? When you start to lie this way (which is a change in how you are living now) you will start to see the world in awesome technicolor wonderment that is the blood tinted glasses of Christ! Try it out and tell me how it goes 

Giving God your Best!!

Quick post for all of us to think about...Are you giving your best to God or are you giving him your tired beat down left overs? I was looking through a bunch of scriptures and I found that God doesnt really like second hand gifts, he likes the best. Cain and Able came before God with their sacrifices to Him, one was great and the other well... not so much. Abel came before God with his best offering from his livestock and it pleased The Lord. Cain he brought the average plate of his produce and fruits to God and God didnt like it so much. it wasnt because one was meat and the other a veggie tray that got God all miffed, it was because it wasnt Cains best. Cain becomes angry and sad and God tells him, Why has your countenance fallen, dont you know if you do what is right you will be blessed but if you do what is wrong sin is knocking at your door and you need to conquer it. There is something to be said about not giving your best, when you give God your leftovers you are telling him that he plays second fiddle to all the other stuff in your world, and he isnt really into that. Or what about in Isaiah 58 where Isaih tell the people who are claiming to fast and worship God, but get chastised for their worship because they were not really giving God their all they were being superficial, and quite honestly they wouldnt hear God because he wasnt near them. God tells them the kind of fasting i want is for you to free the wrongfully accused, loosen the chains on the oppressed, lighten the load of those who work for you, give food to the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, dont run when family asks for help, when you do this your Godliness goes before you and when you call out my name i will answer here I AM! Finally in Malachi the priests were not giving their everything to God in their sacrifices in stead they were using them to turn a profit, instead of giving God the best sacrifices to God they gave lame animals, blind animals, ones with diseases Etc.. God responds like this, "“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. “But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations! (Malachi 1:9, 10, 12-14 NLT)" How blessed could your life be if you truly gave the God of Heavens armies your absolute best, your perspective would be so awesome because the world as you know it would no longer revolve around you, it wouldnt be about wealth of this world, coveting your neighbors stuff, or other women/men, it wouldnt be about greener grass, or bank accounts. It would be about pleaseing the creator of all of those things, giving Him glory and building your true treasures in heaven. God loves you and wants desperately for you to see him as the king worthy of all your praise and when you give that to him he adopts you into his family giving you his inheritance. Dont settle for anything less that giving your absolute best, think about it God gave you his absolute best when he sent you His Son to die on the cross for you!

All to Jesus I surrender

This is one of my favorite hymns, the idea of being able to give it all to Jesus, sounds so, comforting. However we as humans struggle with this, we pretend to give things to Christ, we say things like I prayed about it, or its in God's hands now... What we really mean by this when we say it is I have no control and i am going to be mad if I don't get what I want but you will view me differently because I said I gave it to God. We seek control so often that even in our facade of surrender we long to be in control. We say things like God I am giving this burden to you, and we follow that great act up by saying words like, "If you work this out for me, I promise I will never swear again." or "God if you take this problem off my hands I promise I will go to Sunday night church, and I will actually pay attention." we arent giving our burdens up we are bartering with God. We are trying to play give and take with the creator of the universe. Being able to surrender everything to Christ is being able to say "Lord I pray that in this situation your will be done." and having comfort in not having to get explanations of why God choses to answer your prayer the way he does, or even seeking understanding. Surrendering to God is saying into your hands I give control, I trust that you God have my best interest in mind, and that you will lead me where I need to be. As the song states, " All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give." The hope is that whatever situation you are going through, big or small, whether it be a joyous occasion or a grief stricken sad one, we can freely give it to Jesus, the author and perfecter of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love. "Lay your burden down Every care you carry, And come to the table of grace, For there is mercy.Come just as you are, We are all unworthy To enter the presence of God For He is holy."

The more we trust in the God the more we allow ourselves to give him control, and allow Him to work within us, and not ask for anything but comfort, God is in control and he wants to prosper us.

Jesus' stands alone so we will never be lonely

The night was getting later, passover was just finished Jesus told his disciples over the meal he would be betrayed by one of his closest mates, and his time on this earth was about to be finished. Could you imagine getting that news, news you never thought you would hear because you have given up everything you have and decided to follow a man that you have seen do amazing things and with absolute authority. And now out of nowhere even though he has hinted at this for a while now his time is upon them and he lets them know all of the messianic prophecies were about to be fulfilled. So Jesus takes his closest buddies Peter, James, and John and heads over to the garden, where he asks them to stay up with him and keep watch as he heads alone to pray. Jesus needed to spend this time alone to allow the magnitude of this moment to set in. He prayed so deeply that this cup would pass from him, and the question is why? This is my opinion but I believe Jesus didnt fear death what he wanted to pass from him was the worlds sin that he was about to bear; think about this for a moment, Jesus was sinless, sinless in heaven and sinless as a man on earth, and now he is about to take on the world's dirtiest sins and bear them alone so we would no longer have to. WOW have you ever thought of that, it is bigger than taking the foul for a teammate so they dont pick up their 6th and are kicked out of the game, its bigger than taking the blame for a friend so that he doesnt get into more trouble because of his record, it is bigger than offsetting someones debt so they dont have to claim bankruptcy, it is bigger then all of those combined. Jesus knew that what he was about to do was going to briefly separate him from the father be it just briefly because of the sins of all of us. The picture of Jesus alone sweating blood, stressing about what this sin would feel like, how heavy would this weigh on him, but he chooses to submit to the Father so HIS will would be done, so HE could look upon HIS children and see them the way HE wanted to as PERFECT. Perfection that only comes from a PERFECT sacrifice, CHRIST bearing it all so we can be relieved or released from the burden of our sins so we can live in GLORY for eternity. There is no way to deny the deity of Jesus because no fully human would have ever stepped up to the plate and endure this sort of pain and humiliation for anyone let alone for the same people that were placing the nails in his hands. Jesus' love endures forever, it is the same today as it was yesterday and it will be tomorrow. GOD is GOOD REJOICE IN HIS LOVE, we dont deserve it but God gave it to us, don't take it for granted, celebrate it.

a blog post by Dan Bouchelle something i wanted all of you my readers to check out

I Resign from the Church’s Compliance Office

I’ve grown tired of criticism. Regrettably, it is part of who I have always been. I’ve excelled at it through the years. It comes natural not just to my fallen humanity, but it was nurtured in my spiritual heritage both in the church and the academy. I think it comes from being part of over 500 years of protesting in the Protestant heritage at large and over 200 years of seeking to further restore simple early  Christianity as an heir of the Stone-Campbell movement. Most of our attention has been on fixing the church rather than saving the world.

But, I’ve had enough now. I’m ready to refocus outward. I’m tired of dissecting what is wrong with every other church or ministry out there. I’m even tired of the self-critique. I’m ready to focus on what I’m for and spend my time encouraging what is good in my own heritage and others. I’m old enough now to feel my mortality, and I know I only have so much time and energy left. I’d like to spend it focusing on promoting what I believe in rather than fighting what I’m against.

I grew up in churches who were known for what we were against. I’m from the a capella, non-class, located preacher, multiple-cup, fellowship-hall-attached Churches of Christ. These are my people and I love them dearly. We were known by many within Churches of Christ as “antis” because we were theoretically against more things that they were against, i.e., Bible classes (or Sunday School). But, this was really a misnomer, because we ended up being more ecumenical and less strident on most other issues because of a historical anomaly I won’t explain here.

Never-the-less, like most in Churches of Christ, we were known for what we were against. No one ever said about us, “Oh, you’re the ones who believe in the unity of all believers,” or “you’re the ones who believe in practicing simple non-sectarian Christianity.” No one ever accused us of “being that group who takes discipleship in Jesus seriously.” I wish. No, what I heard was “Oh, you are the ones who don’t believe in music” (which always galled me because a capella is a wonderful form of music), or “You are that group who doesn’t believe in Bible classes,” or the worst one of all, “You’re the ones who think you are the only ones going to heaven.” That was just not true. We didn’t think even most of us were going to heaven.

Anyway, our identity mostly was rapped up in what we opposed which was commonplace among other followers of Jesus. Despite being heirs of a movement that claimed,“We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only,” and who worked hard to end sectarian divisions among believers in Jesus, we multiplied divisions to an astonishing level and each group had an identity rooted less in our commitment to Jesus than in what we didn’t do that most believers in Jesus did. We often heard sermons about what was wrong with the beliefs and practices of other churches and why we didn’t believe in doing what they did. Those days are largely gone now, but the spirit of perpetual evaluation remained deep in my habits of mind.

However, within the subculture of my church heritage was a profound irony. We claimed to be committed to the practice of local congregational autonomy. In a way we were deeply committed to this practice. We believed every congregation of God’s people should be self-governing under the direct authority of God as mediated through scripture. We did not believe God intended the church to organize above the level of an individual congregation and we didn’t—at least not formally. The elders and preacher (if he was considered part of leadership) were accountable directly to God and King Jesus. Each congregation was responsible to read the Word of God and obey it as they understood it and no one could interfere. We were against denominational and hierarchical structures. We didn’t believe in regional, national, or global bishops.

Yet, if we believed every church was free of accountability to other churches and answered only to the Lord Jesus himself, why did we feel compelled to pass judgment on other churches? Why stake out our identity in what we rejected? Isn’t that illogical? If we are responsible and free to practice our communal faith as our church sees God’s will revealed in the scriptures, without the oversight of others, how could we ever have gotten to the place where we were known for what we rejected in other churches? Wouldn’t that be largely irrelevant? Shouldn’t we have simply been known for who we were and what we did without comment on the practice of others? Well, theoretically yes. But, while in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is.

I bring this up because I believe one of the best gifts of my spiritual heritage was the belief in congregational autonomy. I think this doctrine, which is not stated directly in the New Testament, but which is defensible based on the practice of the early church (the apostles role not-with-standing) is absolutely critical to overcoming the worst burden of my spiritual heritage. The divisions into groups and sub-groups was a product of not respecting one of our own core beliefs. If each congregation is free to obey as they understand scripture, each congregation should also be free of the condemnation of others. Had we really believed in the autonomy of each congregation, we could not have had the wide-spread splits which crossed congregations and created the many sub-groups of my fellowship’s family tree. Every time we lumped congregations together and judged them in mass, assuming we were standing on true ground and could critique all others, we violated our own values.

The great thing about believing in congregational autonomy is that it creates enormous potential for missional flexibility and local contextualization. Perhaps no other doctrine is more critical in serving God’s mission in a global post-Christendom world than this one. Being committed to the authority of scripture, trusting the leading of the Holy Spirit, and letting each community of believers read and practice what the Spirit of God says to them in community is essential as never before. And, it should put the breaks on the ubiquitous, iniquitous obsession Christians have with critiquing each other. 

So, let me know how I can help you. Ask me what I believe and what I’m for. I’m happy to join God in building and expanding his work. But, please don’t ask me to critique another group of believers. I may not agree with them. I might not be able to go where they are going or do what they are doing. I may not think they read scripture correctly, at least from my vantage point. I may have all kinds of problems with their faith claims. But, they don’t answer to me. I am no one’s Lord. No churches give account to me. No preachers or elders answer to me. I have my theological convictions, which grow out of my reading of scripture as part of the communities of faith of which I partake in the cultures that impinge on me. But, I am increasingly committed to recognizing that the church is solely owned by God and only he has the right to judge it.

So, it’s time for me to shut my mouth except to confess what I’m for. While I may discuss trends and ideas for the sake of encouraging what I believe to be good, I will not stand in judgment on preachers or churches. I will unapologetically work with everyone who wants to pursue the way of Jesus everywhere we can find common ground, and I will let them answer to the only Lord they have. I will not apologize for or defend my associations to those who would pass judgment on them. Neither will I attack those who attack those with whom I associate. I’m ready to spend all the time I can advancing what I’m for. I’ve resigned from the compliance office of the Kingdom of God. Now, who is with me?

Posted 2 days ago by Dan Bouchelle

Watch your words: What are they teaching?

We are finishing up a series on being the body of christ and i have to tell you i am excited for this sunday. We are going to be discussing the role of our words. Here is a good cliff note version of what we are going to be talking about:
James 3:7-12 NLT
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

or how about this scripture:
Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless. The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense. (Proverbs 10:19-21 NLT)

Godly people should think first talk second, be slow to speak and it will help keep feet out of your mouth. We can forget how powerful our words can be, what we may think could be a innocent joke or insult could be so damaging to a person. The line "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me;" what a lie. Words may not only hurt you but they could leave scars that last forever. Our words are so powerful and so important, and they say so much about us, who we are, and what we represent. When we claim to be the body of christ I cant help but look at how Christ used his words to teach and to lead people to him with his love. Christ spoke to his disciples all the time finding every opportunity to reach them and help grown spiritually. There were times he would stop alongside the road using a vineyard as an illustration to let us know that we are branches and he is a vine and without him we can not thrive grow or even live, and definitely cant produce fruit without him. Or how about on the sermon on the mount when jesus taught the masses on a mountainside near the Sea of Galilee. He told people how they should live so that they would be happy and pleasing to God. He told them to be peacemakers; they would be called the children of God. He told them to love their enemies, and to do good to people who hated them. They were to pray for people who mistreated them. He said they were to be like salt, like a city on a hill and like a light that would light the way for others. His followers were to be a good influence on others and try to get other people to do the right thing. He wanted people to share with others out of love for them.

Ultimately Christ taught us one thing that sums this all up, Love The Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as your self. Use your words in love, be a person that encourages instead of someone that brings people down. Find ways to fill someones cup instead of pointing out how empty it is. More importantly live your words out, words without action is more detrimental than anything, like Christ we need to live what we speak, and be upfront if we make mistakes and learn to grow from them.


Lord I pray that we can use our words for the good, teaching our children to be peace seekers, using wisdom, knowing when to remain silent and when to speak, knowing how to use tact to deal with a difficult situation, and God i pray that our actions may match our mouths. In Jesus name Amen

You Don't Know You're Beautiful

I know what you are thinking why is a grown man quoting the title to a One Direction song in his blog? I catch myself saying the same thing... My 4 year old daughter has fallen in love with this song and she sings it every time it finds its way into our radio, and as I started to listen to it I thought to myself, "Man, I wonder if God looks down at us and says, why cant you see that you are beautiful, I cant believe that you don't see you're beautiful!" God spent some time in crafting us, he loved us so much that he created us in his image both male and female (as it tells us in Genesis). I am pretty sure that in our uniqueness every time God created us and planned us out before we were even conceived he looked at what he made and said it , "You are beautiful,what a beautiful and good creation is this!" The best way to illustrate this point is for us to take a look at Psalm 139, David is talking about how power of The Lord and how he is our creator, he says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! (Psalms 139:13-18 NLT)
IF you have been walking around down in the dumps because of the comments of others or even the comments you have for yourself, maybe you need to read this again, David says, "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!" God thinks so highly of us, he loves us and likes us so much he cannot be away from us, when we are asleep he is still there, and when we wake he is still with us. His thoughts about us are like glowing remarks that a proud father has of his children and he cant help but saying them to everyone he meets. Like when I meet someone and they see the picture of my daughter and sons, I cannot help but share the many ways I am blessed by my children, how Beautiful and handsome they are, and how they complete my life. So to be contrary to the song it is not the fact that you think you arent beautiful that actually makes you beautiful, you are beautiful because God made you that way. Your most quirky feature is precious in his eyes, your faults, your strengths, that one hair that never likes to follow the rest of the group, or for some of us the hairs that no longer like to grow on your head, were made by God and daily he looks down upon you and says, "THATS WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL!"
I hope today you start seeing yourself and others through the eyes of God, we are each made beautifully for a purpose, and our beauty becomes more and more apparent when we are living these created lives to serve our Lord and Savior. We do this by following one easy command by Christ, "Love The Lord your God with all your HEART, Soul, Strength, Mind, and love your NEIGHBOR as yourself."

May God Bless You Today And Make His Face Shine Upon You and Give You Peace

I am taking a poll and need responses

Hey everyone, it seems that there are a decent amount of people that are checking out this blog or maybe one personal likes to look at posts a lot, I am not sure, I was thinking about doing a podcast or a video cast and was wondering what people would prefer, this would be a weekly bible study that would probably be topical with hopes of being applicable to your lives and mine for that matter. So the poll would be, what would you all want a video cast so you can see my lovely face or a podcast that you could listen to wherever. Leave comments or emails to ghavinn.crutcher@elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

Body of Christ Sermon Series

Ive been writing post about the importance of Christians claiming to be the body of Christ, this sermon series challenges us to start acting like it. This series is inspired by the Casting Crowns song entitled "If We Are the Body" I hope this speaks to you, if you have any questions please ask i will do my best to answer them, if you want to visit us and see what the Elk Grove Church of Christ is all about please join us on sunday, visit www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org, below are the links to this sermon series for you to listen to, this sunday we will be talking about our feet moving, will be a blast hope you join us.


If We Are The Body

If We Are The Body: Arms Reaching

Feet Going

Words Teaching

God Bless

No Regret Sermon Series

Click on the link below to hear my sermon series on living with no regrets, we learned the verse that moses spoke in his only psalm, "Teach us to number our days aright so we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 this scripture and the book 1 month to live inspired this sermon series. i hope thee bless you and help challenge you to live well and live fully the way God has intended for you.

LIVING OUT THE DASH

LIVING PASSIONATELY

LOVING COMPLETELY

LEARNING HUMBLY

LEAVING BOLDLY

if you like what you have heard and live in the sacramento elk grove area join us on sundays, visit www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org for more details. if you don't live close and these sermons bring up questions for you please leave comments or email me directly you can find my email on the website listed.

If we are the Body, Where are our feet moving?

We are continuing in our study of being the body of Christ, today I wanted to discuss our movement. When I walk into churches in the area I can truly tell which families are actively moving towards something and those that are complacent and sitting in the park position. In revelation Jesus asks john to write this letter to the church of Laodicea discussing what they must do to find favor in Him. It reads "“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. (Revelation 3:14-17 NIV)" How often as a body do we ride the fence, we talk about being Christ to the masses on sunday but when we leave the building we just become another member of the world. As a body we need our feet moving, moving toward the goal, which is Christ and on that journey pick up some folks along the way. I would like to believe that we should be viewing our journey like the school age game the blob, where our goal is to get every player involved to become part of a bigger unit picking up more and more people until everyone is apart of the blob. Wouldn't that be a great idea, as Christians as we walk around through this world our excitement for God is so huge that we cant help but to pick up more and more as we carry on through our lives. I hope with all of my heart that we as a body not just in Elk Grove but all over the world can be a church that is on fire for Christ, one that wont be spit out of the mouth but savored in it because of its amazing flavor. How do we do this you may be asking? We can start by moving our feet toward those who are hurting, those that need help, those who are hungry for whats missing in their lives, we move to them instead of sitting in our safe buildings waiting and hoping for the day they come through our doors and move toward us. Have you been moving toward your co-workers leading them with your actions to Christ? Have you moved toward your family member that has been distant, showing them the comfort they need that only comes from Christ? have you been moving anywhere at all in your actions for serving the father? This week my challenge is for you to notice your feet, make an effort to move in a direction that can lead others who are following behind you as individuals and as a church , that you will lead them to the cross and as they sit under its majesty they can't help but to bow before it and say "God, I am ready to accept you in my life, I am ready for you to lead me, guide me, and yes I am ready, so ready, to be forgiven!" what a glorious day that will be.


God bless you this week

Reach out and touch The Lord

In 2007 I was blessed to take s group of 10 people to South Africa for a mission trip. This trip was amazing, one of the things that made this trip amazing was a stop at a church in one of the "black" (as they call it) town ships. This church was very passionate about their worship to God like many other "3rd" world countries. During our time there they sang a song titled "reach out and touch The Lord" they sang this song through a few times and each time more and more passion came through them. One of the lines out of this song is "reach out and touch The Lord as he passes by you know he is not too busy to her your cry, he's passing by this moment your needs he'll supply, so reach out and touch The Lord as he walks by." It got me thinking, we need to understand that Jesus as he walked by spent so much of his time reaching out and touching others, and on the occasions when others reached out to him even without asking for healing, received it because of how strong their faith was. How many times have you reached out to Christ in faith and prayer for healing, guidance, marital help, emotional fulfillment or whatever. I feel it is rare that we reach out to God and have faith that he isn't too busy to hear our concerns, yet instead as he is walking by we watch him carry on because we lack the faith to reach out and ask for his help. Don't be too full of pride that you can't ask for help, God reveals himself in mysterious ways don't miss your opportunity to be in his presence.

Body of Christ part deux

How many of you have decided that you weren't good enough to do something at church because so in so does it better. Or maybe you had great ideas or talents but you couldn't use them because someone was already doing that job. If you have felt this way I want you to read through 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. Paul is talking to the church of Corinth and letting people know, hey guess what every piece of the body is important from the toenails to the hair on your head. The body won't be complete without all parts working together in unison. God blessed you with certain talents some of us talk well, other are huggers, encourages, givers, preachers, singers, cleaners, cookers, etc... We all have gifts each are equally important because through our gifts people can find God. With all of this said I want you to realize how important you are and that God made you great for his kingdom. Don't take it for granted but use your gifts until you can't anymore and when you can't teach others to carry it on.

Join us www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

Are we taking seriously being the BODY of Christ?

There is a song by "Casting Crowns" Titled "If We Are The Body" and it talks about a few things that i want us to delve into these next few weeks. The line goes like this, "If we are the body why aren't his arms reaching, why aren't his hands healing, why are his words teaching, and if we are the body why aren't his feet going, why his love not showing them there is a way." I want us to think about this for a second, we call our selves the body, a group of people that meet to declare that the Lord Jesus Christ came and DIED on the CROSS for our SINS! However ultimately we declare this only to a bunch of other people that already know this information and rarely do much more than that. We may see someone that is hurting and disheveled and instead of reaching out to them we cross the road because we don't want to be on the same side of the street as that kind of riff raff. Or how many of you have done this one, where you know someone is looking for someone to talk to but you know its going to take a long time and you don't want to "deal" with it so you scoot out the back door, or find something to take your time away from them so you won't get "Stuck" with them. How about we don't beat around the bush here, you talk a mean Christian and know all the right things to say but ultimately what outsiders see is just a "Mean Christian." Is this ringing home; over the next few weeks we are going to get back to the basics, we are going to see how Christ used his earthly body to show us that there is a way. A way to a better life, a way to healing, a way to be lifted up, a way to be forgiven, a way to heaven, and Jesus is the way. Through this discussion and topic i hope we see that Christ used his body to reach out to the unreachable, to forgive the unforgivable, to touch the untouchable, and to heal the unhealable. Christ's body was constantly at work and found new ways to engage others at their level of learning so they couldn't deny his wisdom and power. i hope that in our lives each and everyone of us can reach someone at their level accepting them helping them understand there is a way, I found my way through an amazing mother that wanted to emphasize a life with Christ is better than any life without him. a Mother that wouldn't force us or give us standards we couldn't reach but instead, reached out with her arms and hugged, put her hands on us and kissed away out hurts, walked with us in our journey, and used her words often in a way that would teach us and impact us for a lifetime. My mom understands she is a vessel for Christ, I am hoping to take that example and let my kids and the generations that is following me to live that example out as well. Hopefully you have someone like that in your life that helped you find your way and if you did, pay it forward there are many who are hurting and empty inside looking for the way, the hope of being fulfilled. do me a favor and write down some names of people you have been putting off talking to about Christ, and look at that name pray everyday for the rest of this week that you will gain the strength wisdom and opportunity to talk to them about Jesus. We are not guaranteed tomorrow it maybe the time today to help people find their tomorrow in Christ.


questions or comments leave them here or email me ghavinn.crutcher@elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

MAY GOD KEEP YOU AND BLESS YOU AND MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU AND GIVE YOU PEACE!

Leaving the world a better place

Have you ever been in a situation where you were it group and you had to add a new person, that person came in caused a ruckus and left the group all together and when they left, the group was way worse than when they Joined. Man is that frustrating! It is very rare in our world that someone leaves a situation better than when they got it. Everyone who has ever rented a car knows what I mean, you know who you are, you get your ford festiva and pretend it is a off road rock crawler, you feel like its no big deal when you got your car it was clean and had good alignment, and you returned it with a new mud paint job and a wobbly suspension. Have you looked at your life and thought about how you are living it and will that life make this world better after you've gone or will no one even remember it, or even more important will they remember it for the wrong reasons. When Paul was talking to Timothy he was confident in the life he lived, he said I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I am ready to meet my maker. In a sense, I have left this world much better than I received it. I hope that the series we have been covering has helped you realize that we only have one dash between the day we are born and the day we die, it is usually shorter than expected and only you get to choose how to live it out. I hope this series hasn't been a series about dying for you but one that has inspired you to live fully. Part of living fully is to know our days are numbered, and that we need to live the out with passion, to love completely, to learn humbly, and to leave boldly. In your journey through this life what legacy are you leaving along the way? What are you teaching your children? Are you taking serious the call to make disciples, are you being a good mentor to others? Are you going to be remembered more than just for being a good person? Are you living so fully for Christ that others can't deny your faith? You can't change your past but you can spend more time in your present making each day the best you can so that your future will be stamped and sealed, a future that was promised to us, a future living in Glory with God our father. As the song says, "this is your life are you who you want to be." Well..... Are ya, are you who you want to be, are you who you want to be remembered as, are you who God made you to be, are you timid, weak in heart, ashamed? If so then you need to wake up o sleeper and rise from the dead so Christ may shine on you, because Christ didn't give you a spirit of timidity but of power, discipline, and self control. Lets get out there and leave this world better than when we entered it, leaving an amazing legacy for Christ!

Leaving Boldly

We have reached the end of the series of 30 days to live, it is interesting where we have gone, we have learned that we have a dash between the day we are born and the day we die, we only get one and it is usually a lot shorter than we expect it to be. W have learned that to live a life with no regrets we should allow The Lord to teach us to live with passion, to love completely, to learn humbly, and ultimately to leave boldly. The apostle Paul talked to Timothy about his days coming to an end, that he had fought the good fight and he had finished the race, he stood upon the goal of leaving a legacy that would out live him. He was investing into something that was bigger than him. There was a professor that did research based on people that were over a 100 years old and they asked them if they could go back in there life would they change anything. There were 3 things that stood out the first response was I would take more risks, the 2nd wash would live with more purpose, the 3rd stood out the most, they said I would spend more time investing it things that would out live me. I would invest my energy, time, money, talents etc... Into things that had legs as they used to say in the news paper. To me that sounds like leaving a legacy. What are you doing now, what are you investing your time in now, are your investments currently building sand castles or are they building foundations that are solid that generations behind you can take and start to carry out, continuing the legacy. Wouldn't you want to invest into things that will out last you, the biggest legacy you could leave with anyone and will out last anything is the foundation of Christ, that foundation is based on love, forgiveness, grace, and everlasting life in heaven. Gd is good and his love endures forever! For more on leaving boldly joins on Sunday for more info on times and locations, elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

Learning Humbly (are you willing to Learn)

As we start to finish up on our series of 30 days to live we have reached a part that is pretty difficult. Which is being a humble learner. I am going to give the tease version and hope that you tune into church on Sunday at 10am for more on this but as I was studying for this my heart started to weigh on me. Long story short there is something that gets in the way of us learning and being humble learners; that something is pride. Pride doesn't allow us to be good listeners and in turn when we do not listen we have a hard time hearing what God is trying to teach us. When Cain was angry that God found favor in Abel instead of him, God tried to teach him something but pride plugged his ears. God was teaching Cain that if you do what I ask you will be blessed but if you do not sin is knocking at your door and you must conquer it. We find out later Cain didn't conquer it instead he felt killing his brother was a better solution. There are so many times in our lives that sin is knocking at our door and instead of listening for gods guidance and learning through the struggle we play def to it and act as if it doesn't exist. When we do this I often call us appearance managers. An Appearance manager will do whatever he has to do to let people think he has it figured out where in fact we don't. Appearance managers are people that get frustrated and ticked off when things are said about them that aren't glowing remarks, A.M's are people that get upset when others around them get promotions instead of them, A.M's are people that when things start to unravel in their lives they blame others and circumstances first... Is this hitting home? Well it did for me, I have a huge issue and I will give full discloser here sometimes to save face or to avoid conflict I won't tell the truth 100% of the time. I has been eating at me because I have found myself doing it over little nothing situations. Let me tell you there are a lot of regrets here; I got some good news however, I am a person that wants to learn, and learn humbly... I have started truly listening to God to allow him to guide my heart and choices. God is trying to teach me something and for so long pride blocked my ears but I am ready for them to be open so I can truly hear his calling for my life. Your word to know for the day in tapenoprosune I may have spelled that wrong so forgive me... It is the Greek word that means push down oh your gut when translated directly. It also means, the having a humble opinion of one's self a deep sense of one's (moral) littleness modesty, humility, lowliness of mind. God is saying when your sinful gut desires approach you push them down and come before him with a humility, understanding that you do not know everything and believe it or not God knows you better than you do and he wants to prosper you. Take time today to be still and know that He is God, and he is trying to teach you something today, are you listening and are you ready and willing to learn.

May God bless you, if you need prayers or have something on your heart you want to share, leave a comment or email me, ghavinn.crutcher@elkgrovechurchofchrist.org we would love to be apart of your lives and have a great family that will support you, come visit it us elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

The Mountain of Resentment

Another teaser for this sundays sermon on "No Regrets: Loving completely" we are going to be talking about love with the metaphor of being like a mountain. There is a point toward the top of Mount Everest that is called the dead zone, it is called the dead zone because at that high of altitude there is not enough oxygen to sustain life, and it is an awful and slow way to die. When we are learning to love completely and we are loving people regardlessly of how they perform, and loving people that may not deserve it we have to learn how to forgive. it is like looking at a mountain that is impossible to climb because it is a mountain full of resentment, a mountain full of hurt, full of disappointment, and it sucks the life right out of us. Maybe you have found yourself saying but he lied to me, or she wasn't faithful, or he took my heart and crushed it. Maybe today is the day that you decide in order for me to truly live a life that is full and has no regrets, I need to forgive those that hurt me, to forgive those that have taken advantage of me, because in doing so you are allowing yourself to finally heal.

For more on how this all wraps up join us sunday, there is a hint here, we will never understand the power of forgiveness until we can see for ourselves the depth and height of God's forgiveness for us.

jon us sunday at 10 am Elk Grove Church of Christ

www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.orrg for more details