RickyFocus

Friendship

2008-02-25T10:16:00.002-06:00

What kind of a friend are you? I have been convicted in some relationships this week that I haven't been a great friend. I got to a place where it was all about me in a way. The times when I wanted to hang out or decided I had time would be when I would engage in those relationships. Its important to manage your time effectively and I do have a lot going on right now but what value does that show I put in those relationships? I do value my friendships that I have been neglecting but its time for me to start acting like it. I ask this question of you because I think you can get some insight into your relationship with God through the answer. I have found that when I am lazy toward my relationships with other people that my relationship with God becomes something that "I'll do tomorrow..." Garrett's talk last night really cut me to the heart. I urge you, don't let your relationship with God become a victim of your schedule, make your schedule a response to your relationship with God. I'll leave you with a few questions:

What do you spend most of your time doing during the week? Why?
Do you actively initiate in your friendships?
How often do you pray or have a quiet time with God?
Are you consistently late or cancel on friends or discipling studies?

I will tell you one thing that I know from experience and I think its the same in our relationship with God. In friendship the most important aspect is consistency. Five, ten, fifty years down the road specific memories will fade, I can't remember some stuff that happened last year! I can however recall how dependable my relationships were with different people. Guess what, the ones that made the biggest impact on me were the ones with people who placed consistent value in our relationship. I think its the same way with God. Be a great friend, to God and to men.

How Do We View Christ

2008-02-11T16:28:00.000-06:00

Travis and I had our one on one study this morning and we got to talking about something that I thought I would share. He and I are reading "The Life of Christ" and we got to talking about the lack of detail contained in the gospels of Christ's childhood. Some writers have filled in this gap with astounding stories of Christ turning clay birds into real ones and other miraculous but seemingly pointless acts. We discussed this for a while and came to some conclusions about why these accounts were written. As humans we don't like the unknown. We try and fill in that which we can't explain to set our minds at ease. We also thought that those stories were an attempt to make Jesus a "cooler" messiah. How much easier would it be to appeal to non-Christians or Gentiles if Jesus was a cavalier Fonzie character who did miracles all the time? It's easier to believe in power that is shown plainly.

Here I would like to ask you to think about how you view Jesus and how you present Him to others. Do you edit His life and teachings to make Him easier for you to understand or believe in? Do you try and make Christ an all smiles anything goes messiah in your conversations with non-Christians? We aren't doing anyone any favors, ourselves included, by painting Christ as something He isn't. Whether its His view of sin, His singular way to God, or the way He calls us to treat our enemies; what are the things that challenge you the most about Jesus' message? Do you try and sweep the things that you don't like off to the side and forget about it? Do you present an incomplete messiah to others? I know there are things I do this with, there are things that I simply pay lip service to. Usually the commands and teachings I don't want to deal with are the ones that God really wants me to change but I'm comfortable where I am so I run and lie to myself about what He thinks about them to make myself feel better. I worship a forgiving God I tell myself.

Lets deal with the truth and the whole of Christ. He was who God wanted Him to be. There is alot of hope and freedom in His message but there are also a lot of hard teachings, see the sermon on the mount. Lets worship Christ in His full glory and grow in a relationship with the complete messiah.

Hope this didn't confuse you!

John Lesson 1

2008-01-30T18:09:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder on what we discussed in John 1-3. We noted that the main purpose of John's Gospel was to proclaim Jesus as the son of God. In the time when John wrote his gospel, near the end of the 1st century A.D. there were a lot of teachings that taught Christ to be something other than the divine man he claimed to be. As I read through the first three chapters I found that John very quickly tries to establish Christ as the one and only son of God. In the first chapter John describes Christ from three perspectives beginning with the divine, "In the beginning..." He followed this with the prophet's perspective, John the baptist and finally finishes the chapter with the perspective of the common man Philip and Nathanael. In all three cases the observers recognized Christ as the son of God. In Chapter 2 John uses the miracle at the wedding feast I think to show that these observations were indeed correct. Finally in Chapter 3 Jesus gives his mission statement that describes why he needed to come to the world, John 3:16 and following.

Tonight will be our second lesson on chapters 4-6. I can't wait!

Core Schedule

2008-01-30T18:01:00.000-06:00

Hey guys! Its been awhile. I hope that everyone has recovered from the amazing amount of sickness that has been going around. Below is the list of responsibilities that we signed up for. As you can see the last month or so is blank. We will address these holes as we get closer to April.

6-Feb Worship Thought: Jeff
Snacks: Jeff
13-Feb Worship Thought: Chris
Snacks: Darien
20-Feb Worship Thought: Need Volunteer
Snacks: Need Volunteer
27-Feb Worship Thought: Matt
Snacks: Chris
5-Mar Worship Thought: Tim
Snacks: Tim
19-Mar Worship Thought: Travis
Snacks: Harper
26-Mar Worship Thought: Gianfranco
Snacks: Gianfranco
2-Apr Worship Thought: Harper
Snacks: Need Volunteer

Start School!!!

2008-01-08T12:34:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone is as excited as I am about starting a new semester. Core will continue to be at Apt 2011 on Wednesday nights at 8:30. If you have conflicts give me or Chris a call and we will try and set you up with a Core meeting at a different time. Our first meeting will be this Wednesday January 9 and come ready for lots of fun!