As part of our annual discipleship campaigns, we always include a service component. Serving our community is part of our mission statement where we say: “We exist to develop a community of disciples who experience God, love one another, and partner with Christ to heal the world.” Serving is a way we partner with Christ to heal the world!
We are going to be doing another discipleship campaign during the season of Lent this year. If you’ve been here the last two years, you may have experienced one of our all church discipleship campaigns. In 2016, our theme was The Good Life. And then last year, we did a campaign called Fully Alive. As part of the Fully Alive campaign, we had over 850 groups throughout Central Ohio go through the Fully Alive small group materials. 550 of these were brand new groups!
Corporations understand how powerful service is in developing a faithful clientele. This has been the secret of corporations as diverse as Neiman-Marcus and Frito Lays. They serve their customers.
At Christmas, we are urged to be generous – by countless commercials, newspaper editorials, and especially by seeing the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales pulling a sleigh filled with presents. Of course, our model for generosity is God himself. God was generous in creation by giving human beings the earth. God is generous in caring for the earth. God was generous in giving us his Son, Jesus Christ, to teach us about who God is, to show us the way to live, and to die on a cross for our sins. God is generous in giving eternal life to every person who trusts in Christ. God is generous in giving us other human beings so that we wouldn’t be lonely. God is generous in answering our prayers. God was generous in sending us his Spirit. God is generous in healing us when we hurt and filling our hearts with hope when we think we can’t go on. If there is one quality about God that stands out, it is that God is a generous God!
Vineyard Columbus recently hosted a conference titled “Light the Fire” with Jordan Seng, a pastor from Hawaii. Many, many people were encouraged by the conference to believe God for more of his presence and power. Many, many people experienced God’s Spirit in a powerful way. And we have received testimonies of several remarkable healings that spontaneously occurred during the conference sessions.
In the past month, three of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the United States in recorded history brought economic devastation, suffering and at least 120 deaths to Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and several other states. How should a thoughtful Christian think about hurricanes and other natural disasters? There are several unhelpful ways to think about hurricanes:
Like many Americans, I was sickened to watch Nazis and so-called White Nationalists march in Charlottesville last week. As a Jew, I couldn’t believe that in the year 2017 certain Americans would march down a street in our country chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” and “Blood and soil” (a Nazi slogan glorifying people who till the land over against “Jewish shopkeepers” and “Jewish doctors”). One protestor told a reporter, “The reason that we’re here is to kill Jews!”
If you talk with secular people who are upset with Christianity, one of the charges that’s frequently hurled against Christianity is that the Bible oppresses women! How can you believe in a book that denies the full equality of women and men? How can you in the 21st century believe in a book that says that women are not allowed to lead in the church or be ordained or preach to men? What a Neanderthal viewpoint! How backward can you be?
Are you facing a major decision in the next 6 months—a decision that will significantly impact the course of your life? For example, if you are a teenager, you may be considering college or, perhaps, joining the military, or taking a year off to travel, or do ministry. If you choose college, which college should you go to? Should you start off in a community college or should you pursue a four-year degree? How much debt should you take on? When you go to college, what should your major be? Perhaps you already have a Bachelor’s degree and are wondering whether you ought to enroll in a Master’s program, or pursue your doctorate.
If someone was to come up to me and ask, “What is the one thing, apart from salvation, that our nation needs at this particular moment” or if someone was to ask you that question – “If you were to give our nation one gift or this world one thing apart from a relationship with God, what would that one thing be?”
