October 10, 2009

"When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted." Matthew 28:17

Now, why did they put that last phrase in there? Isn't that curious? I understand that Matthew would want us to know that the eleven remaining disciples worshiped the Risen Jesus - but did we need to know about the doubters?

How could you doubt Jesus when He is right there; risen, alive, and triumphant?

This serves as one more proof of the authenticity of the Bible. Had it been written by men who were trying to deceive they would not have included those three words "but some doubted".

So, what should we make of that statement?

Personally, I take encouragement from it! Here's why:

First, it tells me that these "some who doubted" (and we don't know how many of them there were) worshiped through their doubts. Even though they were unresolved in their faith, they didn't let it keep them from falling at the feet of the Resurrected Jesus.

Haven't you come to church some time when you were struggling with a doubt? What better place to be when you are unresolved in your faith?

Second, it tells me that God can use spiritually unresolved people to change the world! This same group of eleven became the foundation for the Church of Jesus Christ. So, not only did they worship through their doubts but the served through their doubts.

How many times have you stepped out into some new endeavor for the Lord and you weren't sure what the result would be. It was scary and uncomfortable for you but you leaned on His strength and worked through your doubts! I'm sure you have done that. I know I have!

Third, it doesn't say whether the doubts they had were toward Jesus or about themselves. For every doubt I have had about Him, I have had a thousand toward myself. In fact, when God began to lay the calling for ministry upon my heart, I resisted for four years primarily because I had serious doubts about my ability to measure up to that calling. I believed God could do it I just didn't think I could. Fortunately, a good friend assured me that when He calls He enables.

Why are those three words included in this significant portion of Scripture? I think it is because God want us to know that it is okay to have doubts as long as we worship through them and work through them. God is greater than our doubts!

If you are struggling with some doubts today - bring them to the feet of Jesus!

October 9, 2009

".....teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you....." Matthew 28:20

Like many young boys, I once harbored a vision of becoming a major league baseball player. There was one problem with that vision, I wasn't talented enough to play at that level. I probably didn't have the physical talent to play college ball either - but I did - for four years. And I played a lot. So, I got closer to my dream than my physical ablilities warrented.

How was I able to reach a higher level of competition than I probably deserved? Why was I able to compete with more physically gifted athletes and hold my own? Was I lucky?

Not at all! I earned every inning that I got to play. I worked very hard, trained and practiced by the hours.

When I started playing baseball at the Little League level I was fortunate to have had a coach who was a major league scout and had played some minor league professional ball. Because he knew the game and had played it well, he was able to teach me the fundamentals of baseball. Because he had been what I was hoping to be, I trusted him and I did everything he taught me to do in the fundamentally correct way he showed me to do it.

I enjoyed a college baseball career for one reason - I played the game exactly the way Dean Ford taught me to play it. Everything that I did was fundamentally correct. And because of that, I performed at a college level with limited physical talent. My college success was fundamentally sound because I did everything exactly as he had told me to do it.

How do we teach someone to obey?

Jesus taught us to obey by being personally obedient to The Father. He modeled it. He demonstrated it to the very point of His death on a cross.

These disciples were very average men who became pivotal players in the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ by being obedient to Jesus. They did "everything He commanded them". Therefore, they became much more effective than they should have been because they did life and ministry just like Jesus told them.

They learned obedience by obeying what God told them to do. And they achieved more with their lives than they would have without obeying Jesus. Living and serving as Jesus had showed them to do it allowed them to change the world.

It wasn't so much that they changed the world but it was the power of Jesus working through their obedience.

So, how do we get others to become obedient followers of Jesus? What do we have to "do" to teach them to obey? Simple! Obey!

God's vision for evangelizing the world included our obedience allowing His power and grace to flow through us!

Embrace the fundamentals of obedient service and play at a much higher level than you ever envisioned!

October 8, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20

In yesterday's post I began laying out the vision for FredWes.

Today, I want to build on and show you where the vision originated.

My vision for FredWes is to become a healthy church by growing from the inside out.

How do you grow from the inside out? Isn't church growth about adding outsiders and making them into insiders?

Absolutely, but I am talking about the growth that needs to happen inside the hearts of the people in the church that will motivate them to reach outsiders. I am talking about making a spiritual commitment to live the Great Commission every day.

How does that happen?

First, Know God

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted." Vv. 16-17

Jesus called the remaining disciples, minus Judas, to meet Him at a familiar place. Do you have a familiar place where you meet Jesus? If not, do you really know Him?

Jesus wanted to be with His beloved followers one more time before He ascended to the Father so He called them to be with Him.

The word "church" comes from the Greek word "ekklesia" meaning "called out ones". Jesus was calling out His disciples to be with Him so they could know Him better and understand His will for them.

Jesus' vision for the Church was that believers would be called out of the world to know Him so that through them the world could come to know Him.

I share that vision.

Second, Grow In God

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." V. 18

Growth is about what you do after you get to know Jesus. Just having knowledge and information and facts doesn't automatically translate into growth. It takes strength and power.

When Jesus called them out, and when they answered the call, He empowered them to grow. The power to obey what He calls them to do. The power to throw off bad attitudes and habits. The power to resist temptation and take authority over evil.

In the three years that these men had known Jesus they had grown inwardly, but now it was time to demonstrate that growth to the world.

We are called out to grow in God.

Third, Go In God

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Vv. 19-20

You can't go where you haven't been and you can't teach what you haven't learned.

Jesus called out the disciples to know Him and grow in Him so that they could go for Him. That is what I mean by growing from the inside out!

If you don't truly know Jesus, you won't grow in Him and you certainly won't go in His name.

That is what makes a healthy church - disciples who know God, and are growing in God and therefore, are going for God into a lost world.

How well do you know Him?

What evidence is there that you know Him?

When was the last time you shared Him with someone else?

October 7, 2009

"Where there is no vision the people perish......." Proverbs 29:18

Jesus had a vision for the Church that He loves so much. The Church is referred to as His Bride and Scripture tells us that Jesus gave His life for the Church.

So, those of us who are leaders in the church ought to pay close attention to His vision as we frame the vision for the church we lead.

Christ's vision for the Church is found in two familiar Scriptures, the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20 and; the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:37-40.

From those two truths we get our vision statement "Knowing God - Growing People".

That's how I break down those mandates from Jesus. We are to know the love of God, we are to grow in that love and we are to go take His love to the world.

Over the next few posts I will break down the vision for FredWes. But to summarize it, here is the outline:

VISION FOR FREDWES
“Knowing God – Growing People”

At Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church Our Vision Is To BECOME A HEALTHY CHURCH BY GROWING FROM THE INSIDE OUT!

INSIDE

3D VISION – Love In Three Dimensions

Based On The Great Commandment

LOVE GOD
LOVE OTHERS
LOVE SELF

OUT

HD VISION – Life In One Direction

Based On The Great Commission

SEEKING LOST PEOPLE
SHAPING LIVES

It is no longer about what the church will do for you. It is about learning to love God together and living out His love in your world.

Do you know the love of God in a personal way? What are you doing to grow in that love? How are you sharing that love with others?

October 6, 2012

Founding Pastor Gerald Rodgers

District Superintendent Greg Reynolds & Wife, Becky


Celebration Crowd

Kidz Choir Starts Off Celebration!

FWC Pastors All Together
L to R: Former Pastor Joe Horrell and Shawn; DS Greg Reynolds and Becky;
Founding Pastor Gerald Rodgers and Brenda; Current Pastor Brad Snyder and Barbara;

Pastor of Spanish Congregation Eliseo Flores and Liz

"Where there is no vision the people perish....." Proverbs 29:18

It is fun to share some of these pictures from our exciting 15th Anniversary Celebration. Pictures capture the moments and help us relive the memories. Photos are about as close as you can come to preserving time. These "Kodak moments" are significant to our lives.

Pictures are important to the past, too bad we can't see pictures of the future.

Actually, we can! It is possible to see a picture of the future! It is called "vision".

Vision is a clear picture of a preferred future.

I read once that on the day that Disneyworld had it's grand opening in Florida - on the magnificent scale that only Disney could do it - someone leaned over to Walt Disney's wife and commented, "Oh, if only Walt could have seen this!" Mrs. Disney responded, "He did! That's why we're here!"

What was Mrs. Disney talking about? Vision! Walt Disney had a vision for an entertainment mecca on a scale that had never before been imagined. He saw it long before anyone else did! And we are able to see it today because he saw it then! That's the power of vision.

The celebration we had Sunday was possible because of the vision God birthed in the mind and spirit of Pastor Gerald and it was a joy to have him be there to see his vision fleshed out.

Having celebrated the past, we now begin to look toward the future. It now falls on me as leader to receive the vision from God and show you snapshots of what that looks like. Where there is no vision there is no future.

Over the next few days I want to pick up the paint brush a begin to create a picture of a preferred future for FredWes. This Sunday I will be sharing that with the church. I pray that picture will be as clear and compelling as those digital snapshots from Sunday!

October 5, 2009

"But to each of us grace has been given." Ephesians 4:7

Yesterday was a day of celebration! It was a big time brithday celebration for a beloved 15 year-old - Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church!

We praised God for His faithfulness to the church. We celebrated the numbers that reflected the work of the ministry - 188 salvations, $3 millions plus in income, $150,000+ in money given to missions. None of those would have happened apart from the grace of God!

God graciously gave us two talented pastors, our founding pastor Gerald Rodgers and his predecessor, Joe Horrell. We celebrated them and honored them and recognized the grace of God expressed through them. That was fun!

But to make this significant celebration happen it took a lot of energy, effort and planning. I want to talk about that because I believe that as the church was celebrating its history in a public service, the church was serving behind the scenes. As the congregation was celebrating God's grace, His grace was operating through the giftedness of a hard-working team led by Emily and Colin and a few committed children's workers.

While the crowd was singing and celebrating, the few were watching kids, changing diapers, warming up food, setting up tables, decorating tables, transporting food, getting ice, and missing the big event to make the event big for others.

The grace that was operating behind the scenes made it possible to celebrate the grace in the big event. That IS the church! That is the Ephesian 4 model in action! The very thing we were celebrating was happening as we celebrated.

How appropriate that as we celebrate fifteen years of God's grace to our church, the very grace that got us to this point was making the celebration happen! I believe that was the real story behind the story. It took a great team to pull of this signature day in the life of FredWes! The very thing that got us to that day also got us through that day and it is what will bring us to many more celebrations of grace!

While we appropriately honored our pastors, it reminded me that even great pastors like we have had can't get the job done without a team. It has been my observation over nearly 40 years of pastoral service in a variety of church cultures that gracious lay people do more to make a pastor great than a pastor does to make the church great. God's design is for His grace to flow through the pastors and leaders to the people and through the people to the world. That happened yesterday! That has happened to get us TO yesterday! As that continues to happen there will be many more celebrations!

October 4, 2009

"It was He who gave.......some to be pastors and teachers...." Ephesians 4:11

God used a pastor to changed my life. After God changed my life, He called me to be a pastor. He has used me to change some lives. A few of the lives that he has changed through me He has called to become pastors. I think pastors are important.

On this day we celebrate 15 years in the life of Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church. We will praise God for His goodness and faithfulness to the church. There is no question He is most worthy of the praise.

But we also want to thank and honor the pastors who God brought to lead this church, especially our Founding Pastor, Gerald Rodgers. Gerald and Brenda came to Fredericksburg with little more than a hope and a dream. They came in the power of Jesus to represent the love and power of Jesus to people who had not known Him. That sort of faith, vision and courage deserves to be celebrated. That's what we will do! God gets the glory, Pastor Gerald gets to bask in it!

And we honor Pastor Joe Horrell who was FWC's second pastor. He and his wife Shawn were hand-picked by Pastor Gerald to bring new energy and youthful enthusiasm to the community. God used them to transition the church to a slightly younger and more contemporary version of itself. But the passion for worship and the desire to see lives transformed was true to the founding vision of the church. God used this gifted couple to transform lives and train believers that strengthened the church. Today we will honor them for their commitment and faithfulness. God will get the glory and they will bask in it.

Pastors are important and FredWes has been blessed with good ones. God has been good to us! We honor Him as we honor them!