Week 4 of Reading The New Testament 5×5, Mark Chapter 16 – Acts Chapter 4
As we leave the book of Mark I want to bring to our attention that at least 5 times in Mark, healing’s took place when Jesus touched people. It hit me this week as I was reading that so many people in our world today need to be touched. There are sick people, elderly people who have been alone for years, and sometimes perfectly healthy people who just need a human touch. I don’t believe there was any hidden message in the passages of healing about touch but I believe there is an obvious message. As human beings we need to know that people care. If you encounter someone who has just received tragic news, the best thing you can do is hold them and let them know you are there and that you are willing to let them lean on you in their time of need.
I visit in rest home’s and many times the highlight of the visit for the person I am visiting is when I hold their hand and have prayer with them. Human touch can be healing, remember that.
Other than the healing’s in Mark the passage that stands out is Acts 4:32-37
32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. 36 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.
Common sense tells us today that we have to have money to live, but they had to have it to live in Jesus day as well. Yes they bartered and they traded more than they exchanged money for goods in that day but it was the same concept. What happened in that day could happen in this day as well. If it ever did you can rest assured that people would label it a cult.
Isn’t it funny that the closer we get to living the Christian Life the way we see it played out in the New Testament, people label it a cult? It stands to reason that Jesus was misunderstood and when we get close to Jesus, we will be misunderstood as well. It is a shame but today when one decides to be like Jesus, that one will be shunned even by the church. In America we have come to believe that it is everyone for themselves and so that is the way we live.
I would love it if we could decide as a Christian Body of Believers to pool our money and belongings together and make sure that everyone had enough but I really don’t believe what we have seen in the Book of Acts will happen in America again until “The End.” I do believe that in the end, when things start to come to a head and the world is hurtling toward that time, we will realize people are more important than things and we will live this way again. If we could only see that eternity is real and this life is so temporary.
Thought – we also have a messed up concept of what we need. I really don’t need anything. I have so much stuff that even I don’t need, matter of fact I wish I could get my money back for a whole lot of it. If we all agreed that we have a lot more wants than needs, we would be a lot closer to living the way of Acts than we first imagined.
Please share your thoughts,
Pastor Ronnie
The Good Life Week 3 – How Do I Live The Good Life?
Listen to the sermon here: http://sermon.net/fumcoutofthebox/sermonid/1199952666
The Good Life Sermon Series
Every day we are placed in our own Garden Of Eden, we are faced with the same kinds of choices that Adam and Eve made.
We are offered two roads to choose from. Will you believe and obey God or will you believe the enemy?
Will you walk the walk or just talk the talk?
Week 3 – How Do I Live The Good Life?
“Our sinful hearts are cruel dictators and as long as our hearts rule over us, we’re not free. We’re robots”
Trip Lee
#1. Live In Freedom
Titus 2:14 NLT
14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. (Good Works)
We have been set free to do Good Works.
Before we knew Christ we lived in slavery to sin. Sin was our master. Take a look.
Romans 6: 1,2,6
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
True FREEDOM is being freed up to live the way you were created to live.
WE ARE FREE!
Live Free!
When we continue to live in sin, we are returning to slavery. (ROBOTS)
We are clinging to a cruel master who hates us.
Satan hates you. Every time you give in to his lies, he laughs at you.
Every time we do what we know is wrong, Satan says, what an awesome thing that human beings don’t think. (sound familiar?)
Romans 6:4b says just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life. (NCV)
I Peter 1:14-15
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
Our battle is to walk in the victory Jesus has already won. Our mission is to reflect our new identity.
God says be holy – right is right and wrong is wrong. There is no right way to do a wrong thing.
This doesn’t mean that you and I will never sin, we will. And there is forgiveness when we do, but listen, we are not looking for the loop holes as Gods Children, we are looking to be Holy.
God created you and sent Jesus to die for your sins so that you can be good: BE GOOD!
What are the good works that we are to do?
Matthew 22:37-39
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The Good Life Is Built On our Relationship With God and Others.
God says here that the greatest commandment is that you love Him.
How much time and effort are you HONESTLY putting into that?
We have mistaken the American Dream for the Good life.
We have bought into the lie that we are what we have, so we spend our lives chasing stuff.
Rich people love their stuff so they chase after more.
Poor people don’t have a lot of stuff so they spend their lives trying to get some.
We have been taught to build our lives around things that don’t last.
Life is short, why spend all our time on something that doesn’t matter.
Luke 12:13-21
13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” 16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods.19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
When our lives are over, none of the STUFF will matter.
1st Timothy 6:7
7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.
Wealth doesn’t satisfy.
Ecclestiaes 5:10
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
Our hearts are meant to be satisfied by something greater.
1 Timothy 6:10
10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
I Timothy 6: 17-19
17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
Isaiah 55:1-7
“Is anyone thirsty?
Come and drink—
even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
it’s all free!
2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
4 See how I used him to display my power among the peoples.
I made him a leader among the nations.
5 You also will command nations you do not know,
and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey,
because I, the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
6 Seek the Lord while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
7 Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
A letter from Pastor Ronnie to Out Of The Box WC – January 27th, 2013
Hello Awesome People at Out Of The Box,
I have to admit my humanness to you, I thought because of the ice on the sidewalks and parking lots that we would have a low number this morning and God gave us 242 people, wow. I am always amazed at what God does and especially the people He brings to OOTBWC.
Here are a few of the tweets that were shared.
@rararoja I love it when the sound guys dance at church. #ootbwc
This from one of the sound guys…
David Payne Could not hold still!!! What great services. I now have a favorite song- I Exhalt Thee- thanks to Jay Holderfield, Laura Edmonds, Ray Edmonds, Leigh Anne Smith. Great message Ronnie G Collins.
Tammy Horton I like crowd participation songs at church!!! Best ones ever!!!
F. Todd Jennings I shoulda turned around and watched!
Donna Godwin were Jeff and David dancing again?
@DrewRawMcCraw Life is not measured by how much you own. #ootbwc
@j_holderfield Anything you put before God is an idol. #ootbwc
@stephking67 There’s no right way to do a wrong thing #ootbwc
Dancing and jumping at #ootbwc this morning. Is that allowed in church? 🙂 even encouraged… yes encouraged… have a blast church…
I say it every week but it really does get better every week. As you go through this week I pray that you will remember to keep God first. I pray that you will make it priority to seek Him 1st thing every day and all through the day. We are a blessed people and may we never take for granted what He has given us in abundance.
But remember, it’s not even about the abundance, it’s about the Creator of the Universe coming to live as a man and then laying down His life that you and I could be forgiven. Wow, we could never repay Him if we tried so don’t even try. Just simply serve Him out fo your love for a Father who loves you more than you can think or imagine.
Remember, we have so many opportunities for you to serve and be a part of the work God is doing. Just ask and we will put you to work and beware, someone may ask you.
I love you guys and I pray that you will ride the wave of our time together this morning until we are together again.
Pastor Ronnie
Book Notes: Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp
This book was part of my Catalyst Experience Kit and I was pretty excited to dig into it. The book is about the calling of a pastor and the challenges of that call. Contrary to what many may think, this is not a book about how hard it is to work with people in churches, rather it is a book about how we as pastor’s tend to get into trouble all by ourselves. At least this is the way I interpret it.
It is a good book and I have gained insight by reading it. The greatest lesson I learned was actually something I already knew but desperately need reminders constantly. That lesson is “There Are No Lone Rangers.” All pastors need to be pastored. We have to surround ourselves with people who will encourage us. We have to have people around us who will challenge us. We have to have people who will listen to our heart and who will point out to us when we are off the track.
A lot of what is in the book I am reading on a continual basis but I appreciated the reminders.
Chapter six was the best of the book and worth the price one will have to pay for the book. It is entitled “The Missing Community.” it addresses the fact that we preach and teach that our members need to do Christianity together but we often if not almost always leave ourselves out of that need. Pastor’s are people just like anyone else, maybe just a different calling. We need the body surrounding us to help us function properly and in a healthy way.
Not an easy read but a good read.
Ronnie
Book Notes: Seeing Gray In A World Of Black And White by Adam Hamilton
Interesting book and one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. In this book Adam Hamilton takes a look at the stance of what has become known as “Conservative,” “Liberal,” and then the “Conservative Radical Middle” as Hamilton calls it. Hamilton takes a look at the stance of these differing views on what we would call the hot button issues. Issues such as abortion, homosexuality, evolution, war, the infallibility of scripture, etc…
I came away from this book with a better understanding of all sides on these issues. I came away having learned some great ways to do ministry different and to be able to reach out to those who have been marginalized.
Adam Hamilton is a United Methodist Pastor and someone I respect, I have read several more books that he has authored and enjoyed them all. I really appreciate the conversation Adam has in this book and it has helped me to better articulate what I believe about these issues. Thank you Adam for being honest and sharing your heart.
Here are a few quotes from the book that either made me think or held my interest.
“They don’t want to just go “left” or Top of Form
Bottom of Form
“right,” but deeper. Seeking to find the moral ground on which a new consensus can be built and better decisions made is much more appealing than a weak and soulless centrism. More and more people want to see a new common-good politics and bridge-building church.”
“Researchers found that “Americans cannot be easily characterized as conservative or liberal.”
“Liberal and conservative are relative terms—we’re all more liberal than someone, and more conservative than someone else.”
“Among the struggles we have as human beings is our tendency to “major in the minors.” We “can’t see the forest for the trees.” We “win the battle and lose the war.” We struggle to “keep the main thing the main thing.” We make “a mountain out of a molehill.” Our desire for certainty, our need to be right, and our tendency to miss the point have conspired to keep Christians from experiencing unity, and instead have led to endless divisions within the Christian faith.”
“In America alone there are over two thousand different Christian denominations and tens of thousands of churches that are independent and nondenominational churches. Though all claim to be followers of Jesus, most have divided over matters of doctrine or ways of practicing their faith. Each feels that their doctrine and practice is more faithful than the others.”
“I don’t believe all Christians should be United Methodists. In fact, I think Christianity would be the poorer if they were. The truth is that all of the branches in this tree called Christianity are a bit defective. But each adds to the beauty of the whole. What a tragedy if we were to cut off all but one of the limbs. But what riches are to be found if we can humbly listen and learn from one another, appreciating our differences, while together seeking to follow Jesus Christ. How often the Christian church’s ability to accomplish good is diminished by our infighting. What if all 224 million Christians in America were actually working together to shape a nation that looks like Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God, where poverty does not exist, where people practice justice, where love of neighbor is universally practiced? But this will never happen. We are too busy “straining gnats.”
I agree with a lot of these statements, I believe as the church we are guilty of making mountains out of mole hills. I believe we often focus on the minors while people all around us are floundering. I believe Hamilton is on to something in this book. We as the church need to find common ground and fight the enemy. We as the church need to focus on loving God and loving neighbor. We as the church tend to get in-focused and forget about the world around us.
That said, I believe that Adam has compromised what scripture, tradition, reason, and experience have taught and continue to teach us. I am grace filled, I love the sinner and I am one. I love the criminal and hate the crime, I love the sinner and hate the sin. I love people and I believe that Jesus died that we might have eternal life but that’s not all. Jesus died that we might have Abundant Life now.
If we meet in the middle by deciding to embrace sin then we will cease to be the church as God has called us to be. We are an imperfect people saved by Christ. This does not give us the right to use our freedom to sin. This gives the right to use our freedom to grow and pick up our cross and follow God. Jesus said life would be filled with trials, temptations, and troubles of every kind. Fight the good fight, hold fast to scripture and refuse to agree with the world, the flesh, and the devil, even if we ourselves are guilty of the sin that we abhor. Fight it, don’t decide to embrace it just because you have a desire for it.
That said, I love my brother Adam Hamilton and could easily be in ministry with him. I believe that he would love me and appreciate my views as well.
Ronnie
Divine Rhythm 2013 is just around the corner…
Divine Rhythm on the web http://www.divinerhythm.com
Divine Rhythm on twitter @divinerhythm
Worship Leader “Casey Darnell” on twitter @caseydarnell
Preacher “Olu Brown” on twitter @olub
Week 3 of Reading The New Testament 5×5, Mark Chapters 11-15
Bible Study Blog – The Book of Mark, Chapters 11-15
Mark 11:12-14, 20-21
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
12 The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. 14 Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!”And the disciples heard him say it.
20 The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”
a “curse” was a pronouncement of judgment upon a person or object (cf. Mt. 25:41). In this case, there was a command miracle by which Christ spoke words that would cause this tree to die. It was not a purposeless act of intemperance. It represented a strong object-lesson that the disciples needed to learn (and numerous others since that time as well).
Alfred Edersheim has called attention to the fact that “in Palestine the fruit appears before the leaves . . .” (The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947, Vol. II, p. 374; emp. WJ). Thus, to see a leafed fig tree (even at an unseasonable time — v. 13b), warranted the assumption that there would be fruit on the tree. But this tree was an oddity; the leaves were there, but it was fruitless. This phenomenon, therefore, served as a perfect “visual aid” for an important lesson that the Savior wished to teach.
Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, through all the generations
you have been our home!
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from beginning to end, you are God.
3 You turn people back to dust, saying,
“Return to dust, you mortals!”
4 For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,
as brief as a few night hours.
5 You sweep people away like dreams that disappear.
They are like grass that springs up in the morning.
6 In the morning it blooms and flourishes,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We wither beneath your anger;
we are overwhelmed by your fury.
8 You spread out our sins before you—
our secret sins—and you see them all.
9 We live our lives beneath your wrath,
ending our years with a groan.
Without going deeper into what Jesus message was, it was a reference back to the Jews when he cursed (pronounced judgment on) the fig tree.
Mark 11:15-19 NLT
15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,16 and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. 17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
18 When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.
19 That evening Jesus and the disciples left the city.
20 The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”
Hosea 9:16a
New Living Translation (NLT)
16 The people of Israel are struck down.
Their roots are dried up,
and they will bear no more fruit.
Mark 11:22-24 – Jesus was speaking of a specific mountain.
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
Matthew 17:20 New Living Translation (NLT)
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.
There is a mountain in Bethlehem called the Herodian where Herod built one of his great palaces. Herod was known for his extravagance and power. When Herod built this magnificent palace, he forced his slaves to make two hills into one huge mountain. Herod literally moved a mountain to create his palace. Some even said Herod desired his palace to be taller than the temple mount, as to display his power over God’s. The people of that day were surely amazed that Herod could build a mountain. When Jesus said, “You can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move,” Jesus was revealing that His power is greater than any world power. The Herodian represented the world power of that day.
Matthew 12: 18-27 NLT –Discussion about Resurrection
18 Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: 19 “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.[d] 20 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. 21 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her.22 This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. 23 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. 25 For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
26 “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[f] 27 So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
#1. The Sadducees believed there was no resurrection.
#2. The Sadducees rejected everything except the Old Testament
#3. “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures…” and then the resulting state of mind from not knowing the scriptures, “…and you don’t know the power of God.”
From this we can surmise the problem the Sadducees had was not enough information. They were taking the scriptures lightly and not studying them to “know the power of God”.
“You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
“You have, you must, you gotta have an understanding of who God is and how God acts based on all Scripture and not taking verses from here and there to build a theology of God.
#4. There is a Resurrection
#4. We are like the angels in that we will not reproduce there. We will not have a need to marry, we will not have sex there.
#5. We will love all people equally and we will love God immanently.
#6. Many references in scripture where people had died and gone to heaven and they were still the same person. We will know each other there.
Mark 14:66-72 Cock-Crow
66 Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by 67 and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.”
68 But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.
69 When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” 70 But Peter denied it again.
A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”
71 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.
Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.
Note of interest concerning the rooster crowing twice.
The Cock Crow and what is it?
The cock crow has been thought of as being a rooster crowing and that is the interpretations of many of our bible translations. I believe this is a mistake. Jewish law forbids chickens in the Holy City. The hour of 3am was called the cock crow. The sign of the changing of the guard at 3am was signaled by the blowing of the trumpet. The word for trumpet call in Latin is “gullicinium”, which means cock-crow. The reason that there would have been two blowing of the trumpets is to cover the city by blowing the trumpet in two directions. The Romans divided each day into three-hour segments and the ones at night were called watches. The first night watch started at 6pm. Mark 13:35 says watch because you don’t know if the master will come at the midnight watch, or the cock-crowing, or in the morning.
Hopefully this will give you a good understanding of the cosk-crow.
Book Notes: Renegades Write The Rules by Amy Jo Martin
If you know me, you know that social media is one of the tools that I use in pastoring a church. I know this still sounds crazy to some people but to the generation of today, it makes a lot of sense. This book is about innovation and social media. Martin says that the rules are still being written and that really there are no hard and fast rules. We have to innovate as we go, discover what works and use it. Get ready for criticism and those who will tell you that you are just crazy. I’m use to that as a pastor by the way.
“The world of communication was rapidly changing with every new Facebook user, Twitter handle, and YouTube video. I was standing at the edge of the new world, and I could see the open frontier in front of me. I had a choice to make: stay in the cozy corporate gig or forge a path through the largely unknown expanse of social media.”
For those of us in 2013, I believe the only choice is to forge ahead and learn to use this new (not so new anymore) communication tool or simply stop being relevant in today’s world. I am in the church world and we tend to be late adopters of innovation when it comes to anything that is outside scripture and sometimes when it is in scripture. I don’t believe we can afford to ignore social media and even worse criticize and demonize it any longer.Social Media is not the great evil, people don’t have affairs because of facebook, that would be like regretting the printing press because some choose to use it for bad, example, porn. No people have affairs because their hearts are out of order, not because of social media.
This is a great book for those who are debating whether or not you should jump into the ring of using social media and it is also beneficial for those of us who are already in deep. Social media is a way of life in 2013, we need to have conversations around what is working and what is not working. We need to also have conversations about where we draw the line when it comes to social media but we need to most of all use common sense.
This is a really good book, I recommend it to those who want to get started and to thise who have been involved for a few years, there is always room to learn and grow.
Amy Jo Martin is called the “Queen of Twitter” and she has been successful in her own business of marketing with social media. For those of us in the church world, this is not a book written for us but we can learn a lot from it.
Ronnie
Free Cars For Life – This is not a trick, it’s an Education
Financial Peace University – Led by Cort Godwin at Out Of The Box Worship Center will begin in February. I hope you will take advantage of this life changing study.
Pastor Ronnie
Financial Peace University – Coming To OOTBWC in February 2013
Contact me if more information.
Pastor Ronnie
A letter from Pastor Ronnie to Out Of The Box WC – January 20th, 2013
Hello OOTBWC Family,
Oh how we missed being in Hillsville on Sunday morning. It is great to get away and be with people from the family and experience something like we have this weekend but it is always hard being away. Misty, the boys, and I had the awesome opportunity to travel with 60 others associated with our church to Gatlinburg Tennessee this weekend. We attended “Resurrection” a ministry to youth where several thousand teens come every year and get revived and excited. It was an outstanding conference as always and I really loved the messages preached by Rev. Lisa Yebuah. It is amazing as last week I spoke about “getting a word from God” and all of Lisa’s messages this weekend led to getting a word from God, hearing God’s voice. It was really amazing.
It is always really special during these times also because it gives me the opportunity to get to know people better. It’s just easier for some reason when you are away from home to get to know people. I always grow closer to the youth and the adults on trips like these and this weekend was no different. We have an awesome group of tweens, teens, college students, and adults.
Misty and the boys hung out at the hotel and when sessions were out I took the boys swimming, lets just say that I am tired and ready for a restful day tomorrow.
On Sunday afternoon the rest of the group headed home and Misty and I attended the 1st Annual Rez Kidz and it was AWESOME. What a great job Jason and Holly Roe did in putting this ministry together. You will definitely be hearing more about this ministry and we will definitely plan to take families to this event in 2014.
Needless to say, it was a good but tiring weekend. We have been blessed and in turn pray that you will be blessed by the impact God has made on our lives this weekend.
I look forward to listening to the sermon you heard on Sunday morning with Pastor Ty. I have heard lots of great comments and thanks to all of you who texted and tweeted to let us know how things were going and that you loved and missed us. We will get back on track with “The Good Life” this Sunday and I am so excited to be back. There really is no place like home.
Pastor Ronnie
Book Notes: 20,000 Days And Counting by Robert D. Smith
Life is short. Our days are numbered. Our lives are limited. Life can pass extremely fast.
The Bible says that a person’s life is like a breath or vapor (Psalm 39:4–6).
OK, the title and purpose of this book snagged my attention really quick. I am one that is bent on making life count. I want to make a difference in the lives of people, lots of people. I want to leave this world one day having made a major contribution and leaving it better than it was had I never lived. So, numbering our days is not only biblical, it is smart, it is wise, is helps us live our life on purpose.
Smith wrote the book after discovering one day that he had already lived 20,000 days. Do you know how many days the average man or woman will live on this earth?
Average life of humans 78 years or 28,470 days
As of today, January 15th, 2013, I have already lived 17,308 days. WOW
I plan to beat the average, I don’t like being average. However, if I live to be the average age of men today, I have 11,162 days remaining. Now, that could be depressing or it could make me want to get up each day with purpose.
Here are a few things that I took from the book, the main nugget I received being what you just read above.
Starting with some good questions each of us should ask.
“A hundred years from now, what will you have left behind? What will your legacy be?”
“What can you and I do right now in order to make the most out of the years in front of us?”
“I am always, very literally, only one step away from dying, from meeting my Creator face to face. Any moment. Any day. Anywhere.”
I like the style in which the book was written, in short chapters. I assume this is what most books will be like in the future as we are fast living in a world where people want information in 140 characters and just the facts please. If you’re interested in discovering how many days you have lived just follow this link to Robert’s website where you can find that number quickly. http://www.therobertd.com/
It made me think and I gleaned some usable insight. A worthwhile read.
Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.
The Bible also says that life is like a shadow that only temporarily appears (Ecclesiastes 6:12).
And like a flower that flourishes then quickly withers and fades away (Job 14:2).
The Good Life – Week 2 Keys To The Good Life
Listen to the sermon here: http://sermon.net/fumcoutofthebox/sermonid/1199943064
Week Two: Keys To The Good Life
The Good Life Is Living By Faith In A Good God.
#1. Getting To Know The Word – I Corinthians 15: 3-4
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
This passage of scripture is the Gospel!
What exactly does it mean to be a Christian?
There is a lot of confusion in our world because some who claim to be Christian go to church and others don’t. Some are really nice to people and others aren’t. Some live good moral lives and others don’t.
What does Gods Word say it means to be a Christian?
Being a Christ Follower does not make you GOOD it makes you FORGIVEN.
God is not just a NICE guy; God is the CREATOR of the universe.
God is Holy, He will not just stand by when we sin and do nothing because sin has a penalty.
God sent Jesus to be the substitute who paid for our sin.
Rom: 6:23 The wages of sin are death but the gift of God is eternal life.
There is more to FOLLOWING God than SAYING a prayer.
Mark 1:15 Jesus says, Repent and believe in the gospel. (Repent, turn from your sin)
#2. Getting A Word – I Samuel 3; 1-11
The Word of God is LIFE to the Christian as BREATHING is to humans.
3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
People ask me all the time, do you believe God speaks audibly?
God is God and does what he pleases. If he wants to speak audibly to you he certainly can.
Like Samuel, you have to listen.
You have to be tuned in to hear God!
Sometimes he speaks audibly.
Sometimes he speaks through a still small voice.
Sometimes he speaks through other people.
Sometimes he speaks through circumstances.
More often than not, He speaks through His written Word.
Breathing Techniques: Prayerfully, Humbly, Carefully, Often
Prayerfully – Spending time in prayer is spending time with a person! You get to know someone by spending time with them.
Humbly – We should be ready to rearrange our lives according to what God says.
You don’t CHANGE the Word of God. The Word of God CHANGES you.
Carefully – If we really want to know God we should be willing to dig deep.
Often – I don’t know about you but I can read the Bible at 6am and be rocked by what I learn and by 11am I can forget every bit of it.
We never drift toward Jesus, we always drift away.
#3.The Word On God’s People
If we’re going to live the good life, a life of faith in a good God.
#1. We need the Gospel – Jesus died to pay the price for our sin. It’s ours for the asking but we have to really mean it.
The evidence of a changed heart is a changed life.
#2. We need a word from God – If we are going to live the Good life, we are going to have to be in relationship with, in conversation with, the God of the Universe.
#3. We need each other – the Church
Matthew 16: 13-18
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
Misconceptions about the CHURCH.
Church has a bad reputation!
Self-righteous hypocrites
Screaming preachers
Long Boring services
I have seen some real ugliness in church. It is usually when people get focused inward rather than outward.
It’s all about us on the inside and the church exists for those who are not here.
The CHURCH is important Biblically.
Matthew 16:16 – Jesus gave his life for the church and he intended for us to do life together.
As a church we are supposed to shine light in this dark community.
We were not designed by out creator to do life alone.
Are you ready to make a commitment to JESUS and His CHURCH?
Book Notes: Replenish by Lance Witt
This book right now is $4.39 on Amazon for Kindle and well worth the price for busy pastors. This book is a breath of fresh air and it is air that we need to breathe.
I like the way the book is laid out, short chapters but lots of meat to chew on. I think Replenish is a great title but it could also be “Margin.” This is a book about how to get renewed, refreshed, and how to have some margin in our day-to-day lives to keep us from being burned out and defeated. You know as we all do, we live in a busy, fast paced, world that will allow us to work ourselves into a frenzy and totally forget about our relationship with the one we tell the world about. Do not sacrifice your soul on the altar of looking after everyone else. Matter of fact, you will take so much better care of others when you take care of yourself first. It is the same concept of putting on your air mask first in case of an emergency, keep yourself healthy so that you can help care for others, it is time well invested.
Taking the term investment, this book is an investment in my ministry. I plan to take the time to glean from this book throughout the entire year, until it gets ingrained in me.
Here is a question asked and a statement made in the book.
If you stay on the road you’re traveling today, where are you going to end up?
“If we don’t change the direction we’re going, we’re likely to end up where we are headed.”
Everywhere I go today in ministry circles I hear the same things. I am tired, I am too busy, I am unappreciated and not respected. I have felt all of these things myself but this book and others have helped me to see that I have been doing some things very wrong.
Take a look at these staggering statements.
1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America.
80% of pastors and 85% of their spouses feel discouraged in their roles.
70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
Over 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could but have no other way of making a living.
Over 50% of pastors’ wives feel that their husband entering ministry was the most destructive thing to ever happen to their families.
30% of pastors said they had either been in an ongoing affair or had a one-time sexual encounter with a parishioner.
71% of pastors stated they were burned out, and they battle depression beyond fatigue on a weekly and even a daily basis. One out of every ten ministers will actually retire as a minister.
Wow, I don’t want to be a statistic, I am going to make some changes to make sure that I do not become one. Here are a few of the Awesome nuggets from the book Replenish.
“We have neglected the fact that a pastor’s greatest leadership tool is a healthy soul.”
“When leaders neglect their interior life, they run the risk of prostituting the sacred gift of leadership. And they run the risk of being destructive instead of productive.”
“Mother Teresa said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to put oil in it.”
“Your Ministry Is Not Your Life Paul said, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Notice the words “Christ, who is your life.”
“Paying attention to your outer life while your inner life languishes is like getting a facelift when you have a malignant tumor.”
“The greatest danger is in getting comfortable with it, learning how to “succeed” with a disconnected soul.”
I think these quotes should give you a picture of what this book is about. I consider this book to be a gift that could possibly save ministers from caving in on themselves. We have to learn that our greatest task in this life is to first take care of our life with God. There are things we must do in order to take care of ourselves and to be really honest, the church you serve will let you work yourself right into a hole. They don’t mean to do it, they just do not understand what it is that you really do. You are the shepherd, you are the one God has placed for this time in that place to care for others and in order to feed others we have to be fed. In order to help others get free from addictions, we have to be free from addictions. To help others learn the rhythm of Sabbath we have to understand it.
Do this for yourself, get this book and chew on it for a while. I for one am making some changes. Matter of fact, I took my first guilt free Sabbath last week, took a two hour nap.
Ronnie
Week 2 of Reading The New Testament 5×5, Mark Chapters 6-10
Let me start by saying what a huge blessing you are to me. Words cannot describe how excited I am that more than 100 people are reading the New Testament together in 2013. 100 people connected to Out Of The Box through membership and others who know us and appreciate what God is doing here at OOTBWC. I stand amazed in HIS PRESENCE.
This week the major question that came was on the matter of “DIVORCE.”
By the time you finish reading this, some of you will write me off as a heretic, some will laugh and say that I am crazy, some of you un-friend me and never speak to me again, some of you will weep, some of you will finally get it – “THE GRACE OF GOD.”
I only ask that you read it all the way through. The Bible says that you will know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will SET YOU FREE, that is John 8:32. BUT, if you know me, you know that I always say, it can set you FREE but it may just make you MAD!
If what you believe isn’t true, wouldn’t you want to know? If you believed something because someone told you it was true and then someone else proved different, wouldn’t you want to know? The fact is, some people do not want to see truth and some never will. Some of you will read this and cast it aside because you don’t want to face what I have to say.
I will make you a deal. If you read my work here and it makes you mad, I want to hear about it. If you read my work here and it sets you free, I want to hear about it. If you read my work here and can prove by the Bible that I am wrong, then I will apologize, I will write a blog post and tell the world that you proved me wrong. BUT REMEMBER, you need to prove it by scripture and drop your preconceived ideas, drop what you have been taught if you have been taught wrong.
Do you want to know the truth? Can you handle the truth? Here goes.
Mark Chapter 10 verses 10-12 TNIV
10 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Question #1. Is it sin to get a divorce? Yes and if one marries again it is ADULTERY!
Mark 10:11-12, Jesus said, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
It does not matter what you call it, it does not matter if the divorce was your fault or not. #TRUTH
Now, let’s do a little homework…
Genesis 2: 20b-24
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
This is the 1st instance in the Bible of what we call “marriage.” The uniting of a man and a woman, the two become “one flesh.”
There is no marriage ceremony handed down to us from God in the Bible.#Truth
There is nothing wrong with such a ceremony, in fact they are quite nice and they are a tradition that scripture mentions several times. We get some outstanding teaching from the Hebrew tradition marriage ceremony. BUT, the marriage ceremony is not what makes a man and woman married.
Take another look. Genesis 2: 2-4a TNIV
2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my servant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaanten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian servant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
There is no mention of a marriage certficate or a minister to perform a ceremony. Abram had sex with Hagar. #Truth
Take another look. Genesis 2: 64-67 NRSV
64 And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65 and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
He “TOOK” Rebekah means that he had sex with her. #Truth
What constitutes a biblical marriage? The sex act! #TRUTH
Take another look. I Corinthians 6: 15-20 NLT
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never!
16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her?
For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
God says in Genesis that the two will become ONE FLESH. #Truth
Paul says that if you have SEX with a Prostitute, you become ONE FLESH with the prostitute. #Truth
WHAT on earth am I saying here?
I am saying that by biblical standards, you are MARRIED to every person you have ever had SEXUAL INTERCOURSE with.
Go back and read it again, this is where many will laugh, cry, get mad, un-friend me, and call me a heretic, but I invite you to prove me wrong.
What does this have to do with adultery and sin? The Bible says that adultery is sin and if you are married to one and then marry another (have sex with another) then you commit adultery. Those who have believed or want to believe they have never committed the sin of adultery yet they have had multiple sexual partners, you are guilty! I know, I hear you screaming through the computer, the truth has made you mad. You still think that you can get to heaven by being good. I know, I know, it stinks, it hurts, you thought you were better than the person who had been legally married in a ceremony in our culture, multiple times. You thought you had sex with someone other than the one but that wasn’t adultery but it was and it is. #GUILTY
Take another look, just one more and you can write me mean letters…
Matthew 5: 27-30 NLT
Jesus said, 27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 BUT I SAY (Jesus says), anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Now wait a minute, it’s not the same. JESUS says it is! #Truth
I don’t care what you say, it’s not the same and I am not guilty just because I had the thought. BUT JESUS says it is the same.
I love you and that is why I am real and raw when it comes to telling you the truth. I am guilty! Everybody, almost without exception is GUILTY! This is Jesus point, we are GUILTY people. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked. You have no right to look down on anyone. One day in heaven we will be so ashamed that we judged people for what we are guilty of.
BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS
Jesus came and died for my sin and your sin and the sin of the whole world. You can be forgiven and if you have asked for forgiveness then you are FORGIVEN! You do not have to wallow in your sin and this is not a license to sin, as Christians we are supposed to be getting better. Don’t you dare go out and say I’m guilty anyway so I will just have fun, shame on you. You have been forgiven, be thankful and walk with God now.
Titus 2:14 NLT
14 He (Jesus) gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
I love you but more than that, Jesus loves you. If you are guilty and all of us are, come running home to Him.
Pastor Ronnie
A letter from Pastor Ronnie to Out Of The Box WC – January 13th, 2013
237 people at Out Of The Box Worship Center this morning in the two services and what an awesome service it was. When I left home this morning and as I drove up the interstate to get to the building, there was a spirit of joy that was un-explainable except for The Holy Spirit of God. Once I got to OOTBWC there was the same spirit of joy in the praise team as they were warming up and getting ready to lead this morning. It was a feeling of freedom or I should say, a spirit of freedom. A freedom to praise God, a freedom to bask in His presence, and lets just say it was AWESOME.
Here are a couple of fb and twitter posts for you to see what I see.
“What a service Out Of The Box Worship Center this morning. Living the good life and hip hop to boot. Being a Christ follower does not make us good, it makes us forgiven. In our church, we have the right to be wrong but we don’t have the right to be mean to others. I would love to invite you to my church where anyone is welcome ♥” Rebecca Stanley Roberts
“Whoooohooo a rocking rolling morning at ootbwc#PraiseGod#ootbwc’ Sandra Patton
“This mornings service was AWESOME! The music was great!” Jenna Alderman
“Hip hop music in a CHURCH service. In southwest VA? That. Just. Happened. #ootbwc” Jay Holderfield
“Not only did church rock this morning, it hip-hop’d the house #ootbwc” Cheyenne Nester
“God is Holy-we are to be reverent, but I’m thankful to have a church family&a pastor that isnt afraid to be real&get in the trenches#ootbwc” Brenda Harmon
“Hip Hop at church this morning! So love my church family! We can’t change the Word, the Word changes us. #ootbwc #Word” Brenda Harmon
“Totally wrecked by the presence of God @OOTBWC” Pam Sutherland
“Every Sunday gets better and better. #ootbwc” Jacob Holderfield
“I have really enjoyed the last couple of Sundays that I have been at Out of the Box you sure have something good going on there. Keep it up.” Linda Hill
“Had a great time at church today (Out of the Box). The praise team did such a variety of music. The sermon was also spot on. Already looking forward to next Sunday.” Neal Roberts
“Alex came home from church so happy and so excited today… he got a coin from the youth’s mission trip to Nicaragua. He is so proud of it :)” Caroline Jones
“Yes we rap at church! We’re that awesome!” Shatlyn Ayers
“You know every week I think what a blessed and wonderfully cool Sunday at OOTBWC and every Sunday God blesses us with even more of well everything from hearing His message to the greatest praise team and wonderful friends and fellowship. Then the blessing of such precious children. God I praise you with all that I am. Your love and how You work before we even know brings joyful tears to my eyes. Thank You God for this wonderful place of worship. May OOTBWC be blessed and may many be blessed by You at OOTBWC. Help us God to reach out far and show people Jesus.” Sandra Patton
I don’t know what I can add except that I love you guys more and more every day.
Pastor Ronnie
Here is a short clip of the Hip Hop song from this morning.
October Baby will be shown at 1st UMC Hillsville this Sunday evening @630pm, join us and bring friends…January 13th, 2013
225 Fulcher Street
Hillsville, Va. 24343
276-728-2434
Parents, this movie is recommended for 12 and older.
The Good Life – Sermon #1 “What Is The Good Life?”
Listen To The Sermon Here: “What Is The Good Life?”
Series “The Good Life”
Week One: What Is The Good Life?
Everybody wants to Live The Good Life. Wouldn’t you agree?
We spend our lives pursuing what we perceive to be the Good Life. We pursue the things we believe will make us happy, bring us joy, and make us fulfilled.
Who wouldn’t want to live a life full of happiness and joy.
When I ask people today what they believe the good life is, here are the responses that I get.
Big houses, nice cars, large bank accounts, a pretty wife or a good looking husband.
Even more sad, alcohol, sex, drugs.
Even worse, some would paint the good life as laying in a hammock 16 hours a day doing nothing then going to bed and sleeping 8 hours.
I believe we would paint these pictures because it is what we have been taught! It isn’t something we dreamed up on our own.
It is what we have seen and heard from the television, from the people we hang around, from teachers, you name it, people are spouting off about what the good life is.
Problem is, the people telling you this, they are not happy!
There are three enemies that stand in our way to living the good life.
The WORLD – the ways of culture & society that oppose the Lord.
The FLESH – the constant battle we will fight until the very end.
(Paul said he struggled with it, and that’s a good thing. The harm comes when we give in and stop fighting.)
The DEVIL – The problem is, Satan doesn’t have a red tail and he doesn’t carry a pitchfork. Fairytale, Santa Clause, tooth fairy, Easter bunny. We have placed Satan in the same category as these and we don’t take him very seriously.
John 10:10a 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
John 8:44 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
How Do You Kill 11 Million People
LIE TO THEM
I recently read the book “How DO You Kill 11 Million People?” by Andy Andrews
In the book Andy is attempting to answer the question, “Does the truth really matter?”
Andy answers the question by asking the question, “How do you kill 11 million people?”
11,283.000 is the number of people killed by Adolph Hitler between the years 1933-1945.
Why month after month and year after year did millions of intelligent human beings – guarded by relatively few Nazi soldiers – willingly load their families in tens of thousands of cattle cars to be transported by rail to one of the many death camps scattered across Europe?
And the answer is YOU LIE TO THEM.
“According to testimony provided under oath at the Nuremberg Trials, the act of transporting the Jews to death camps posed a particular challenge for the man who had been named operational manager of the Nazi Genocide. Adolf Eichmann, known as the Master.”
“Eichmann went about the task as if he were the president of a multinational corporation. He set ambitious goals, recruited enthusiastic staff, and monitored the progress.” He charted what worked and what didn’t and changed policy accordingly, Eichmann measured achievement in quotas filled. Success was rewarded. Failure was punished.”
“An intricate web of lies, to be delivered in stages, was designed to ensure the cooperation of the condemned (but Unknowing) Jews.
First, as barbed-wire fences were erected, encircling entire neighborhoods, Eichmann or his representatives met with Jewish leaders to assure them that the physical restrictions being placed upon their community were only temporary necessities of war.
As long as they cooperated, he told them, no harm would come to those inside the fence.”
“Second, bribes were taken from the Jews in the promise of better living conditions. The bribes convinced the Jews that the situation was indeed temporary and that no further harm would befall them. After all, they reasoned, why would the Nazis accept bribes if they only intend to kill us and take everything anyway?”
These first two stages of deception were conducted to prevent uprisings of even escape.
“Finally, Eichmann would appear before a gathering of the entire community. Accompanied by an entourage of no more than thirty local men and officers of his own – many unarmed – he addressed the crowd in a strong, clear voice. According to sworn statements, these were his words.”
“Jews: At last, it can be reported to you that the Russians are advancing on our eastern front. I apologize for the hasty way we brought you into our protection; Unfortunately, there was little time to explain. You have nothing to worry about. We want only the best for you. You will leave here shortly and be sent to very fine places indeed. You will work there, your wives will stay at home, and your children will go to school. You will have wonderful lives. We will be terribly crowded on the trains, but the journey is short. Men? Please keep your families together and board the railcars in an orderly manner.
Quickly now my friends, we must hurry!”
The Jews were relieved by their explanation and comforted by the fact of so few armed soldiers.
They helped their families into the railcars. The containers designed to hold 8 cows, were each packed with a minimum of 100 human beings and quickly padlocked.
At that moment they were lost. The trains rarely stopped until well inside the gates of Auschwitz.
And this is how you kill 11 million people, YOU LIE TO THEM.
Hitler said this to his inner circle: “How fortunate for leaders, that men do not think.”
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
In Mein Kampf, Hitler’s autobiography, he wrote, “The great masses of people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one.”
90% of the Germans stood by and watched. Mothers and fathers held their voices, covered their eyes, and closed their ears. The vast majority of an educated population accepted their salaries and avoided the uncomfortable truth that lingered over them like a serpent waiting to strike.
In at least one German town the railroad tracks ran behind the church.
Here is an eyewitness account.
“We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because we felt, what could anyone do to stop it”
Each Sunday morning, we would hear the train whistle blowing in the distance, then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in cars!
Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sounds of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us. We knew the time of the train was coming and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.”
“Years have passed and no one talks about it now, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep.”
How Do You Stop Someone From Living The Good Life?
Lie To Them.
Genesis Ch. 2: 8-9,
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
(God created mankind, he supplied all that was good for us.)
Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
(God, the creator of mankind now says, look, eat anything you want, hundreds of trees in the garden, no doubt various kinds of fruit. Think about it, pears, plums, apples, mangos, peaches, you name it, it was there.)
Genesis Ch 3: 1-13
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
DON’T EAT THE FRUIT!
When the Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence, there is always a SEPTIC Tank under it!
A New Definition of The Good Life
The Good Life is: Living by Faith In A Good God
John 10:10 (I read part of this verse to you earlier)
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. (NLT)
Proverbs 14:12
12 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. (NIV)
Luke 11:28
“Blessed are those who hear the teaching of God and OBEY it.” NCV
The Good Life is: Living by Faith In A Good God
Week 1 of Reading The New Testament 5×5, Mark Chapters 1-5
It has been an amazing start to reading The New Testament through in a year. Many people have commented on the facebook page with questions as well as insight into the passages of scripture. I believe that scripture was meant to be read and studied in community. Thank you for being a part of this life changing event.
Some of you may be wondering why the reading plan begins in Mark, it is because most scholars believe Mark to be the oldest Gospel of the four. This doesn’t make it more significant, just older.
Here are some of the recurring verses we saw mentioned in our reading for the week with a little bit of commentary.
Mark 1:15
15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” NIV
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” NASB
15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” NLT
The reference here “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Near” is a to the fact that Jesus is here, he was there with them and therefore the God is near. It was the promise of the arrival of the Messiah.
Mark 1:23-27
23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, 24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”25 Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. 26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!”
Many times in the Gospels we will see evidence of demon activity or demon possession. It is something as a society we have placed in the category of cartoonish, or cheap horror movies and therefore it has been laid aside as if it didn’t exist today. There is no evidence that demon possession has ceased to exist and good evidence that it is rampant in society today. Some have asked if this could have been what we would describe today as different mental illness and of course there could be occasions of such in scripture. However, in this instance as in many others throughout scripture it is an evil spirit, a demon spirit that has taken possession of a person.
One of the main problems with recognizing demon spirits if that people tend to see everything as a demon spirit that is wrong or else we see nothing as a demon spirit and both are equally wrong.
Ephesians 6:12
12 we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Demon spirits are real.
Remember when you pray that we are not fighting what is visibly seen. Pray and ask God how to pray. Part of the defeated life is not understanding the enemy we battle.
Mark 2:5
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” NLT
Don’t ever forget this man was healed by the faith of someone else. We are not told this was the mans friends even, we are told some people came and brought him to Jesus. Who do you know that needs someone to bring them to Jesus so they can be healed?
We don’t get off the hook so easy, we play a larger role in the salvation of others than we want to take responsibility for.
Mark 2:18-22
18 Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?”19 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. 20 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.21 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.22 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”
When new wine was poured into a wineskin it had to be a new wineskin because as it fermented it would expand. An old wineskin would become brittle and burst when the new wine started to expand.
Jesus was not saying that we should not fast, he said it was hard for the disciples to fast while he was with them, it was a time of rejoicing.
Here is my interpretation of this passage.
Jesus is here, I’m so excited I’m about to bust. We are going to hold off on the fasting for now because if we do that now we would be pouring this new excitement into an old tradition and it’s time for something new. Traditions are great, as long as they glorify Christ and are meaningful. We had traditions in my family growing up that mean nothing to my children today but we have made new traditions that have taken their place and they are meaningful to us. Jesus was saying, it was a tradition for the people of that day to fast at that time but it wasn’t a command. It was expected and still is that we will fast but there is no command to certain times. There is a time to fast and there is a time to feast.
Mark 3: 7-12
7 Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.9 Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. 10 He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. 11 And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!”12 But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.
Note: Notice, it is the demons that Jesus commanded not to tell who he was.
Mark 3:21
21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
Jesus own family said he was crazy. Do our family and friends ever notice that kind of difference in us?
Mark 3:29
29 but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.”
Blasphemy of The Holy Spirit is not taking God’s name in vain as is often taught, it is saying no to Him for the final time. (More on this later)
Mark 4:11-12
11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, 12 so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:
‘When they see what I do,
they will learn nothing.
When they hear what I say,
they will not understand.
Otherwise, they will turn to me
and be forgiven.
12 so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: NLT
I believe this is a mis-translation, the Greek word here “hina” is translated “so that” and the passage is pointing back to a passage in Isaiah 6:9-10 which reads:
9 Then the Lord said, “Go and tell this to the people:
‘You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.
You will look and look, but you will not learn.’
10 Make the minds of these people dumb.
Shut their ears. Cover their eyes.
Otherwise, they might really understand
what they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears.
They might really understand in their minds
and come back to me and be healed.”
In light of this we have to see this passage as pointing back and not that Jesus was saying he didn’t want some people to hear the gospel and repent. The scripture is clear that Jesus made salvation available to all.
I am still working on this one. (More to come soon)
OK, these are some of the things we will focus on Wednesday night in Bible Study. I am open to hearing your comments on what I have offered here. Please do not hesitate to disagree if you have good reason to do so and let’s be in conversation.
Ronnie
A letter from Pastor Ronnie to Out Of The Box WC – January 6th, 2013
I preached in a Christ Chapel T-shirt today and Leigh Anne Smith played with Christ Chapel in their Praise Team. Several people have asked me why we do these things and it is because we’re in this thing together. We’re not in competition with any other church, we’re all in competition with Satan for the souls of Gods Creation. It’s time we all work together to defeat the enemy.
Matter of fact, we talked about that enemy today. So often we see Satan as this cartoon like character with a red suit, a pointed tail, and a pitch fork. He is seen to be much like Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, The Sand Man, or some other character who doesn’t exist. But the fact is, we have an enemy in Satan, he is real and he has a mission. He wants to steal what you have, the opportunities in your life, you life’s work, he wants to destroy your testimony, and he ultimately wants to kill you and keep you from Christ.
Don’t eat the fruit of Satan’s lies.
We had 247 awesome people this morning, every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God. His house was full this morning. The worship was over the top as always, we are extremely blessed with a talented team but more than that, we are blessed with a team who seek God and they are there to worship as much as anyone else. It is His House and it is Him that we come to be drawn closer to.
I received one of the greatest blessings a person could ever receive this morning. Someone gave me a pen and when I said no, take the pen back, this person said to me, “You led me to Christ, the pen is nothing.” Wow
I am humbled, I am honored, I am blessed, and I am more determined than ever to keep running for Jesus. The work we are doing at Out Of The Box Worship Center and every church is no small thing. It is a matter of life and death, a matter of eternity. Run harder and more steady than ever, time is short.
I just want to take another opportunity to say to every volunteer and staff of 1st Hillsville/Out Of The Box Worship Center/Out Of The Box Youth, thank you. You are awesome people, hard workers, Christ Lovers, part of an awesome team God has brought together for such a time as this.
I love you guys more every day.
Pastor Ronnie
Evan Nester Preaching @ Out Of The Box Worship Center – 2nd Chances
Listen to the sermon here: 2nd Chances
Looking back at 2012
James 4:14
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
I turned 47 years old in 2012 and I understand better than ever what James is saying.
I am the pastor of a growing church, the husband of a wonderful wife, the father of three awesome children, and the grandfather of two of the greatest children in the world. I am a blessed man.
I Fasted the first 40 days of 2012.
I did much better with taking Sabbath in 2012.
I watched as our Hillsville Youth led worship at Resurrection before thousands in 2012.
I ran 1360 miles in 2012.
I trained a lot of miles to run a Marathon that I didn’t get to run. (sad)
I ran the Atlanta Half Marathon in 1:47, loved it.
I read 80 books in 2012.
I posted to the blog 299 times and the blog was viewed 41,000 times in 2012.
I preached 120 times in 2012.
I preached a few revivals and two camp meetings.
I baptized several people in 2012, one of my favorite parts of ministry.
I officiated a few funerals and a few weddings.
I attended Ministers Convocation @ Lake Junaluska.
I traveled thousands of miles, mostly for ministry.
The family spent a day and night @ Dollywood. So much fun!
We started Wednesday Night Bible Study.
I attended March Forth for Children in Knoxville.
I attended and led The Holston Evangelism Conference in Knoxville
I experienced Exponential in Orlando.
I started serving on The Board Of Ordained Ministry for Wytheville UMC in 2012
I went on a week-long mission trip with our youth to Alabama.
The family vacationed a week @ Cherry Grove Beach. One of my favorite places.
I attended Annual Conference @ Lake Junaluska with the Family.
I made a lot of new friends and reconnected with some old ones in 2012.
The family spent 4 days in Pigeon Forge @ a Great Camp Ground, Loved it.
I have tried to answer a lot of WHY questions this year. So many are hurting.
I had a couple more places removed and tested for skin cancer, both were negative.I saw two great movies in 2012, Courageous and Avengers.
The family spent Labor Day Weekend in the Mountains of West Va, 4 Wheeling, it was awesome!
I read The Hunger Games Series and loved it.
I attended Catalyst in Atlanta and will never be the same.
I bought a new car in February and already 21,000 miles.
We spent a lot of time as a family around the fire pit, just talking, laughing, and eating, as a family and lots of friends.
Yes it was a busy year and maybe more busy than God ever intended for us to be but it is the pace of the world we live in. A lot was accomplished, a lot of memories were made and a lot of work was started that is now in progress. Matter of fact, I could fill a book with all that happened in 2012.
But 2012 is behind us, 2013 is before us, what will we do in 2013 that will have a lasting impact?
I will continue to run as long as my health allows it, it is my strength building exercise. It is where I de-stress, it is where I pray, it is where I fellowship with friends who love to run, it is awesome in my life.
I will continue to read everything I can get my hands on. It is what helps me to grow, prepares me to speak more than 100 times in a year, where I de-stress, where I pray, where I will always be a lifelong learner.
I will continue to preach, study, travel, sit by the fire, eat, laugh, make new friends, and spend time with old friends.
When 2013 is over, I want to look back and see all the lives that have been impacted and changed for God, that’s all that matters. I am doing that now with 2012 and it is humbling. There are times when I want to do my own thing and go my own way but I keep looking to heaven and that day that really will come sooner rather than later and I want to spend my life living for something, someone greater than myself.
Thank you God for another year of good health, great family and friends, and blessing.
Ronnie
About Ronnie G. Collins
I am the Planting Pastor of Out of the Box Worship Center and I also serve as the Associate Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Hillsville Virginia. We are a Multi Site Church, one church in multiple locations. Our 1st campus is located at 225 Fulcher Street in Hillsville Virginia. Our 2nd location is on Main Street in Hillsville, FUMC Downtown, Out of the Box Worship Center, and our 3rd location is 522 North Main Street in Hillsville and this is our Youth Ministry Center, FUMC Downtown “Out of the Box”, Youth Ministry. The most recent ministry we have is “Out Of The Box Worship Center” and we are located at 516 North Main Street Hillsville. This site is now my main focus, along with the Youth Ministry.
I have a Passion to see hurting people come to know Jesus Christ. I believe that we as Christians have to demonstrate God’s Love to the world, rather than just telling them they are loved. I am married and have 3 sons two very special nephews that are like sons, 3 grandchildren, 5 great nephews, and one great niece that are like grandchildren. I am a blessed man.
I attended school at Carroll County High School, Wytheville Community College, Liberty University, and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.
My passions are as follows:
God
Family
Others
Reading
Running
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