James

Some have asked for hard copies of my sermon notes in my series in James. I have decided to make them available through this blog. I will upload a few at a time and please feel free to share. I have really enjoyed this series and I am learning a lot from it. My prayer is you would as well. Enjoy and God Bless

Jeff

When You Have To Practice What You Preach

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2 - 4

I love being a Pastor and I love God's Word. However sometimes I don't always like being a Pastor who has to practice what I preach from God's Word. I say this only half jokingly. Recently I began a series on the book of James. This Epistle was written to Christian Jews who were being persecuted (not to the point of death but more like being ostracized from society). James (probably the brother of Jesus) tells his readers in the second verse of chapter one to count it all joy when they meet various trials. This is, for me, probably one of the hardest passages to preach on because I have a hard time actually doing it and I also know that after I preach on it various trials will come my way.

Recently I have been facing some trials in my own life both physical and spiritual and am finding it difficult to find joy in all this. I am encouraged as I continue in this passage as I am reminded that when I do find joy in trials my faith ultimately is strengthened or as James writes the testing of faith produces steadfastness. Steadfast is defined as, "dutifully firm and unwavering". I need to be completely reminded that in my trials I will emerge a stronger and better follower of Christ. I think this truth is the only thing that helps me get through my trials.

The Confusing In-Between

As many of you know I have been reading (slowly) through Pete Scazzero's EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY SPIRITUALITY and it has been a HUGE blessing in my life recently. As I have been reading through the chapter entitled "Enlarge Your Soul Through Grief and Loss" he introduces the concept of "Wait in the Confusing In-Between". I love when someone gives a name or title to something that I have been feeling but am unable to articulate. Scazzero writes, "My greatest challenge in following Jesus Christ for over thirty years has been waiting on God when things are confusing." To that I say amen.

As a person I tend to be wired as a "fixer". A fixer is a person who tries to fix something when things don't go the way he/she plans (especially when they are out of his/her control). Simply put, I am a man of little patience and I dislike not being in control of certain situations. I know and believe Psalm 37:7 (Be still and know I am God) but I find it hard to flesh out in my life. I don't like to wait in general but I really don't like waiting when I am uncertain of things around me. The confusing in-between is a place where I find myself often and I need to have patience in this place. Peter Scazzero writes, "The confusing in-between resists all earthly categories and quick solutions. It runs contrary to our Western culture that pervades our spirituality."

Lord, give me peace and patience in the confusing in-betweens so I may truly be still and know you are God.

Some Excellent Free Resources

I came across two resources from Pastor John Piper that I would like to share with you.

The first is John Piper's new book BLOODLINES which is a fantastic read on race, racism and Christianity. Dr. Piper gets very personal with his upbringing as a young Christian in the south and how God dealt with his racism. Click the link below to download a PDF of the book.

John Piper's New Book Bloodlines Ebook

The second is a four minute video clip on fighting bitterness. This clip challenged me greatly and hit the core of my need to learn forgiveness and overcome bitterness. Be prepared to be challenged by this...

Fighting Bitterness

Like A Ton Of Bricks

I have been reading the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero for nearly a half year. The reason it has taken me so long is because there is a LOT of meat in this book to chew on. I have been trudging through it slowly so as not to miss any morsel that God has placed on my spiritual plate.

Today I read one FULL chapter (yes it was so good I couldn’t put it down) and I was completely blessed. I feel led today to share one area where God really hit me today and share it with you. The Chapter title is “Going Back in Order to Go Forward: Breaking the Power of the Past”. In this chapter Scazzero talks about how our past directly shapes our future. He uses the family as the crux of his chapter as to how we need to deal with some of our baggage from the past (or “imprints” in our lives that cause us to act a certain way) in order for us to move forward.

Without getting into the full details of the chapter I want to focus on one section titled THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF YOUR FAMILY. He writes, “We often underestimate the deep, unconscious imprint our families of origin leave on us. In fact, my observation is that it is only as we grow older that we realize the depth of their influences. Each of our family members, or those who raised us through childhood, has ‘imprinted’ certain ways of behaving and thinking into us. These behavioral patterns operate under a set of ‘commandments.’ Some of them are spoken and explicit. Most are unspoken.”[1]

As I chewed on this I not only read it in the context of our biological family history and baggage but I also read it in the context of the following “Ten Commandments” that are ingrained in our hearts and minds can also be said about our Church family we are part of as well.

Many of these “Commandments” are “hardwired into our brains” that we so often bring these expectations to our family (church) and ultimately it shapes (not in a healthy way) who we are and how we fit into the body of Christ.

1. MONEY
• Money is the best source of security.
• The more money you have, the more important you are.
• Make lots of money to prove you “made” it.
2. CONFLICT
• Avoid conflict at all costs.
• Don’t get people mad at you.
• Loud, angry, constant fighting is normal.
3. SEX
• Sex is not to be spoken about openly.
• Men can be promiscuous, women must be chase.
• Sexuality in marriage will come easily.
4. GRIEF AND LOSS
• Sadness is a sign of weakness.
• You are not allowed to be depressed.
• Get over losses quickly and move on.
5. EXPRESSING ANGER
• Anger is dangerous and bad.
• Exploding in anger makes a point.
• Sarcasm is an acceptable way to release anger.
6. FAMILY
• You owe your parents for all they’ve done for you.
• Don’t speak of your family’s “dirty laundry” in public.
• Duty to family and culture comes before everything.
7. RELATIONSHIPS
• Don’t trust people. They will let you down.
• Nobody will ever hurt me again.
• Don’t show vulnerability.
8. ATTITUDES TOWARDS DIFFERENT CULTURES
• Only be close friends with people who are like you.
• Do not marry a person of another race or culture.
• Certain cultures/races are not as good as mine.
9. SUCCESS
• Is getting into the “best schools”.
• Is making lots of money.
• Is getting married and having lots of children.
10. FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS
• You are not allowed to have certain feelings.
• Your feelings are not important.
• Reacting with your feelings without thinking is okay.[2]

As time permits I would like to look over the next few days/weeks each commandment and write a little bit about them. The end goal is to see how we can have a healthy spiritual and emotional view of the church thus becoming an emotionally healthy spiritual church family.

---

[1] Scazzero, Peter, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Nashville, TN Thomas Nelson, 2006 ), p.90

[2] Ibid 90, 91

Healthy Leadership

5 Signs of Healthy Leadership Teams.

1) They trust one another - Without trust a team cannot function effectively.

2) They engage in healthy conflict around ideas - Contrary to popular belief conflict is not always bad as long as it is healthy. If you do not trust one another there will like be unhealthy conflict or apathy.

3) They commit to decisions and plans of action - The key word here is commit. Teams make decisions together and they stick to them.

4) They hold one another accountable - With trust, healthy conflict and commitment present then teams will have the freedom to hold one another accountable.

5) They focus on achieving collective results

Year End Thoughts

I cannot believe 2011 is coming to a close. It seems the older I get the faster the time goes. It is hard to believe that my family and I have been in Spring Valley for close to four and a half years. God has been faithful to us and I pray for his continual faithfulness in the year to come.

As we enter 2012 there are a lot of things I am believing God will accomplish. My number one prayer request for the year would be for our church health altogether. I am really excited about the new series I am starting in December called Christian Idols and my prayer is that this series will be an entry level series for the future health of our church. My purpose for this series is to look at the idols we Christians put in our lives that many times we fail to see as idols because they are not necessarily bad things. However anything that we place above God in our lives are considered idols no matter how good they may be. The Bible is clear that God will not tolerate idolatry among his people so as his children we need to recognize what things we have in our lives that are hindering our true worship of God. I hope you will join us on Sunday mornings as we go through this eye opening series.

In October the Deacon and Trustee boards met with the 4-C’s Director of Conference Care and Church Development John Kimball as he introduced to us a the Natural Church Development (NCD) and Vista Assessment surveys. Vista is a an assessment tool designed for the leadership of the church to help determine the mission, purpose and Spirituality of the church. The NCD is a 20 minute survey that is to be taken by active members and non-members of the church and evaluates Eight Key Principles of our church. The Principles are…

1) Empowering Leadership

2) Gifts Based Ministry

3) Passionate Spirituality

4) Effective Structures

5) Inspiring Worship

6) Holistic Small Groups

7) Need Oriented Evangelism

8) Loving Relationships

John Kimball proposed and the boards concurred that we do both the Vista Assessment and NCD. The Boards are currently determining the date we would like to administer the NCD and it is important if you are an active attendee of Spring Valley Congregational Church to be willing to take this survey. After taking the survey the results will be compiled and areas of concern will be addressed. Please keep your eyes open for the date and time for this survey as we need about 30 to 40 participants in order for us to get an accurate look at the health of our church. If you would like more information on this process please feel free to contact me.

I would like to invite you to join with me in praying for the coming new year and ask that God would provide all we need in order to have a healthy and effective ministry here in Spring Valley. Join me in thanking God for his blessings on the youth ministry and in his blessings of our new members which will be installed by years end.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I look forward to celebrating our Saviors birth at the Candle light service and Christmas morning.