A Healing Community [Watch Sermon]
From the "Imagine the Possibilities" series
Preached on February 11 & 12, 2012
by Matthew Ross
It is our nature to be skeptical of anything new. Regardless of what that new thing is, once we make friends and put down roots, our first instinct changes, and we want to protect ourselves and those around us. To this day, I remember the first time I moved and had to make new friends for the first time in my life. It was halfway through my freshman year in high school when I moved and had to start at a new school; however, everyone there was welcoming and friendly, and I quickly made new friends. But, as time went on, I found that, while it was easy for me to make friends, feeling like I belonged was another story altogether.
For the few years when our family lived in North Carolina, I was blessed with some great friends and grew close to some incredible people; however, when it came to friends at school, I always felt somewhat out-of-place. When we moved, all of my classmates from school threw me a going-away party. They even had a few going-away gifts for me. One of them was a handmade collage with photos of all of my classmates. Toward the end of the party, I had a conversation with one of them that changed my life. During one brief moment of the conversation, I said that I was having a great time but that part of me had never felt like I totally belonged or was an important part of their lives. They were pretty stunned and, after a moment, simply said, “It is just the opposite. When you moved here, it felt like you had always been here, and I guess we kind of took that for granted and never tried to make sure you knew that.”
In the course of one sentence, my life changed forever, and I learned something important that day. We can welcome people into our lives and befriend them, but unless we make a conscious effort to include them, part of them will always feel like observers and like they do not belong. The question is: Who in your life is God asking you to include (not just befriend)? And who are we as the Church being asked to reach and include regardless of outward differences? This week, take a few minutes to ask God to give you a burden for someone in your life whom he wants you to make a conscious effort to include in your life and in the life of the Church. Then make the effort to reach out to them.
Keep practicing your praise [Watch Sermon]
Preached on February 4 & 5, 2012
by Matthew Ross
I spent years playing basketball and soccer and a few years playing tennis as a kid. I saw myself as the next sports megastar in whatever sport I was playing at the time. But no matter how good I pictured myself being, I was never actually that good and never really became that much better than when I started. My coaches always encouraged me to practice at home, but I rarely found the time to do so. I figured that, if I just tried hard enough at each game or team practice, it would be enough. As I grew up, I began to notice that behind the cliché statements about practice making perfect or being prepared was the heart of something that everyone needs in order to succeed at anything in life: commitment and dedication.
In many ways, this principle of dedication carries to our spiritual lives. God wants us all to come to faith through him, but he wants so much more for us after that. The problem is that we have to daily choose whether we are going to pursue him and let him mold us and change us. One of the things that we are constantly encouraged to do through Scripture is to praise God. So often, our natural reaction is to be negative and cynical in our lives. Our world is far from perfect, and sometimes we get caught up in the consequences of our own actions and/or the consequences of others. When we praise God, we are reminded of the amazing things that God has done in our lives. Praise helps us to remember that God’s work in our lives is rarely instantaneous; it always takes a lifetime. Sometimes what God is rebuilding in our lives is not just for us; it is also for our kids and the generations that will follow us.
This week, ask God to reveal some areas in your life where you need to see healing and restoration. Then begin to praise him for the work that he has already done and will do in your life. When we praise God, we allow him to continue the work of restoration and healing that he started in our lives when we came to him. As you go about your week, remember that you do not need someone to give you the lyrics. In your own way, purposefully find something to practice your praise with every day.
How do we talk to a holy God?
Preached on January 28 & 29, 2012
by Matthew Ross
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gave us a template of how to pray. It started out by saying, “Our father in heaven …” In an age where the more important you were, the longer title you had, Jesus told his disciples that, when you pray, pray with the attitude as a child praying to their father. The theme of God as our heavenly father is repeated in many places throughout Scripture and is key to understanding who God is, his relationship with us and how he sees us as his children.
I have to say that no relationship has impacted me more or been of greater importance to me than my relationship with my father. I do not know if he ever realized it or not, but being able to hear him preach and watch him walk out his sermons in the good and bad times in his life has taught me things that I do not think he could have expressed in simple conversation. An author named Clarence Budington Kelland was talking about his father and said, “He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it.” As I look back to when I was a kid and even as an adult, I can remember many great conversations with my father. But what I remember most are the things that he lived in front of me every day, regardless of the cost physically or financially. It might have taken me a long time to understand, but I can see my father’s heart best when I view it through the lens of his devotion to his family and to God.
Unfortunately, not everyone has good memories of their father. Some people did not even have a father in their life at all. What Jesus is telling you is that, regardless of how good, horrible or absent your father was, God is a better father. Maybe God is asking you to let him show you what it means to have a good and loving father. Make a choice this week to let God be that ultimate heavenly father in your life, then step out in faith. No matter how good or horrible your father was, God is a better one, and he is asking for a chance to show you what that means.
What could God do through a healthy spiritual community? [Watch Sermon]
From the "Imagine the Possibilities" series
Preached on January 21 & 22, 2012
by Matthew Ross
I spent most of my childhood in Lubbock, Texas. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lubbock, there are two important things to remember. The first thing to remember is that Lubbock is a few thousand feet in the air, but it’s on a plateau, so it is incredibly flat. The second thing to remember is that Lubbock is in the middle of nowhere. The closest big city is Dallas, and that is six hours away by car. Lubbock was a boring town, so when there was no school or church to occupy my time, I rode my bike a lot. One day, while I was riding my bike, I found some dirt piles about five feet high. Without any hesitation, I decided that a chance like this would not present itself again. I got as much distance from the dirt piles as I could, then I put my bike in high gear and peddled as fast as I could.
The good news is that it worked and I made the jump from one dirt pile to the next. But there is a catch. Rather than land on it like a ramp, I landed in the dirt pile headfirst. Over the years, I have reflected on that story and asked myself why I would have done something like that. Maybe it was because I was young or did not understand gravity. It really comes down to something simple: I saw a chance to do something awesome, but, rather than take it seriously and commit to doing it right, I put it on the same level as buying a pack of gum and just hoped for the best. In many ways, it is easy to be a Christian in America. For most people, it is simply a choice that they make, and, if you do nothing with it, then Christianity will never have any impact on your life. But God does not want us to be casual Christians; he wants us to commit not only to him but also to one another as the body of Christ.
This week, during your commute to work or your quiet time, ask God to show you a few ways in which you can minister to those around you. Maybe you can buy lunch for someone; maybe you can pray with someone. You could do something as simple as hold a door open for others or help them pick up something that they dropped. These are all small things that can have a big, positive impact. When we take what God has called us to do seriously, we begin to change society one person at a time and demonstrate what it means to be Christ followers in practice and in name alone.
What would it take to make Jesus the Lord of your life?
From the "Imagine the Possibilities" series
Preached on January 14 & 15, 2012
by Matthew Ross
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done’” (“The Great Divorce,” C. S. Lewis). It can seem like such a simple choice. Either it is our will or God’s will in our lives. Either we have lordship, or God does. However, for many, there is no word more offensive than lordship or authority. In many respects, the goal of growing up is to be in control of our own lives, live our own lives and be responsible for our choices.
When it comes to our spiritual lives, often the more we grow as Christians, the more God asks us to live under his lordship, which sometimes means giving up things that we care deeply about. But it is so much more than a matter of control; it is a matter of the heart. When we want control, it comes from selfishness and pride that we are better or can do a better job at guiding our lives than God. When God asks us to let him be lord of our lives, it comes from a deep love for us as his children and the desire to keep us on the right path and help us to grow so that he can bless us.
We all have those things in our lives that bring us great joy. For me, one of those things is photography. The idea of seeing what is beautiful in the world and then sharing it with others is just amazing to me. However, about nine months ago, I felt God asking me to change my priorities and give up photography for a while. At first, I was certain that I had just heard God wrong. I mean, why would God ask me to give up one of the things that he knew I was passionate about? But, as time went on, I knew that I had heard God correctly, and it was up to me to decide whether or not to obey. A strange thing started to happen. The more certain I was that God was asking me to change my priorities, the more angry I got and the more hurt I felt. However, once I decided to obey him, some incredible things started to happen in my life that would have never been possible if I had not given God lordship over that part of my life.
Take some time this week to ask yourself one very hard question. When it comes to who has the ultimate say in what you do with your life, do you say to God, “Thy will be done,” or does God say to you, “Thy will be done”? God will not ask you to give something up for him out of condemnation, fear or hurt. There will always be a promise of something greater than the cost of what he is asking you to give up. God is asking you to take your eyes off the cost of what he wants you to do and to keep your eyes on his blessings that will come after the cost.