This week we started the Not a Fan a fan DVD series and were
introduced to the concept of the DTR. If you missed last week, you can watch a 10-minute
synopsis by Kyle Idleman on You Tube by clicking the following link.
This week’s series
focused on defining the relationship you have with Christ. The discussion after
the group was magnificent and many people felt the prompting to share their
thoughts and ideas. One common theme developed and is the focus of this week’s Deep
in the Week.
Back to Basics.
The sum of the study had us looking at our relationship with
Christ. What does your look like? Have you thought about it much? If you had to
sit down right now, face to face with Jesus what would you have to say? Would
you have to get him caught up on what has been happening in your life because
you haven’t talked to him in awhile?
Is your relationship with him just casual or are you
committed? Do you just believe in Jesus or do you follow him? Does He come to
work with you at all? What about Friday night?
Many people, I’m sure, have made that decision to believe in
Jesus, just as Kyle Idleman says. They believe the truth about Jesus but that
is all. They go through the motions of being church people. They maybe have the
Real Life Church sticker on their car, they wear the T-Shirts and listen to
Christian music. They look good going down the road jamming to out Jesus music and
they have that fish on the bumper.
Of course, I am not suggesting that those are bad things,
but when you truly think about it, how does any of that improve your
relationship with Jesus? Isn’t that just a “no strings attached” relationship?
Maybe you have never considered that you needed a
relationship with Jesus and have a hard time grasping what that looks like. I know
I did. I’m a word person. When we start talking about specifics that I am
unsure of I want to know specifically what it is we are talking about. I looked
up the word “relationship” in Webster’s dictionary and here is what I found:
1: the state
of being related or interrelated
2: the relation
connecting or binding participants in a relationship: as
A) kinship
B)
a specific instance or type of
kinship
3:
A) a state of
affairs existing between those having relations or dealings
B) a romantic or passionate attachment
Now think about your closest friend. Maybe it is a current
friend or an old one you had years ago. Maybe it is your spouse, grandparents,
parents, or children. Who are you closest to?
In that relationship I am confident that one of the things
that helped that become what it was had to do with one thing: communication. You
talked right? Like all the time? When you did talk you were intimate. You
opened up and shared intimate personal details about your life with each other.
The two of you shared it all through the struggles and celebrated good times.
I have a core group of friends and family with whom I owe a
lot for being there for me through my divorce. It is not a lot of people, maybe
4 or 5 at the most. They were helpful to me because we talked. They were
invaluable. Of those 5 I had a triangle of strength from 3 of them. We spent
countless hours either on the phone or in person in conversation and no
boundaries were off limits. Yes, sometimes I heard things I didn’t like and
there were truths revealed that I needed to hear. In the end, these folks are
my closest friends and I would not have those close personal friends if hadn't talked with them
daily. Honestly, God knows where I would be today if they had not been there for me.
Do you know it is no different with Jesus? That is what He wants
with you. He wants to be intimate with you. He wants to hear from you. Just talk to Him. Pastor
Jared echoed that this weekend didn’t he? His message this weekend convicted me
and laid down the facts for me consider. Did it do anything to you?
He taught from Matthew 7:13-14 NIV
13 “Enter
through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads
to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Jared also laid down some bold statements to wake us up.
"Some
of us are going to hell"………..ouch.
Really? Yeah, he said that if I am not following Jesus on the narrow path then I am
following Satan on the wide road that leads to destruction.
Hard but true. Offensive but true. This is so true friends. If you don’t believe Pastor Jared or maybe you thought he was being a bit harsh then you need to consider these words from Christ, spoken later
in Matthew. Perhaps Christ's words can clear this truth up for you.
Matthew 12:30 NIV
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and
whoever does not gather with me scatters."
There are only two roads. Which one are you on?
Jesus wants us to talk to him. He wants us to be with Him.
He loves you and LONGS for relationship with you. He doesn’t want weekly
visits. He wants to be first on your list.
Getting back to basics means, we have to pray. We have to
talk with Jesus daily; just as you would with your best friend or your spouse. So pray to God and pray to His son.
Jesus is patiently waiting for you too just start talking and He will never want to hear you shut up either. Don’t be on the wrong road. Get talking. Get praying. "Prayer is a love language between you and God". Pastor Jared said that. He was so right.
If you are still not sure about prayer, please reach out to us. We would love to help you in this area.
OK, so we have covered talking to to God through
prayer. But if we want true communication then we need to recognize that it is not
just a one way street.
We need to also listen to God. Not only listen, but to be a follower we must also act on what He says.
James 1:22 - Do not merely listen to the
word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
There are so many distractions in today’s world. There are
so many things fighting for our attention that we must be careful. Consider all the marketing that you get bombarded with today. Everyone wants your attention, this world has created so many ways to get it to: radio, internet, TV, billboards, movies etc...Consider this quote posted in an article I found on CBSNews.com.
"Well, it's a non-stop blitz of advertising messages," President of the
Marketing Firm Yankelovich, Jay Walker-Smith said. "Everywhere we turn
we're saturated with advertising messages trying to get our attention." Walker-Smith says we've gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970's to as many as 5,000 a day today.
Whoa, 5,000 advertising messages a day. Folks, we must be
intentional about listening to God. We must find time to be still and allow Him
the chance to speak to us. We can not afford not to. What road to you want to be on?
Listening for God can be one of my biggest challenges. I'm just being open and honest about
that. It isn't always easy to hear. Sometimes I get it and sometimes it is completely lost on me. There are
times where I wish He would just send me a certified letter! Ha, I keep checking my
mailbox and so far nothing.
But I don’t lose heart. This doesn’t mean God is not talking
with me. I think he talks to us in many different ways. Sometimes he comes to
us in a small still voice or the Holy Spirit prompts us in directions we should
go in our lives. He is always trying to get our attention. Don't you think He knows what He is up against? 5,000 advertising messages a day. That is a lot of static.
One thing is certain though, he knew we would be distracted
so he wrote down what we need to know.The Bible is the primary place to hear God’s will for our lives.
When we take time each day to read the bible and pray we increase the
opportunities to hear from God.
Being fully committed to Christ means that we will have to sacrifice and the first thing you should consider sacrificing is some of your time for Jesus. Spend time with Him each day.
If you want to learn more about daily devotions, or if you need to talk with someone please contact us. We would be happy to meet and discuss ways you can begin improving your relationship today.
Your thoughts and comments are welcomed an can be posted below.
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