Microchurch Minute
Would you drink poisoned water? What if it’s just a splash of poison in there? The poison is clear. No one can tell by looking at it that it’s dangerous for you. No one would know as it burned it’s way through your esophagus and into your stomach. It’s internal, right? (*PSA* do NOT drink poison!)
But now that I’ve got your attention, how much sin is “safe” for you to ingest? Just a little splash? After all, maybe no one would be able to see it anyway. John is very clear about this, there is no place for continual sin in the life of a believer. When we choose to walk with God and receive the Holy Spirit, we want to honor God. We walk in obedience to God by doing what is right, inside and out. Our spiritual family and community will see us holding our heads high with clear moral conscience. We will show love to all of God’s children. What if you don’t want to? Simply put, whoever does not love his brother or sister abides in death. If you’re with the Lord, we cannot be hating brothers and sisters, especially within the body of Christ. Mere humans won’t be able to express the true agape love of our Heavenly Father, but that is the level of humble excellence that we are called to pursue. Don’t just talk about it, walk out your actions. Actually love them, actually embrace them, actually tangibly bless them. God knows our hearts, He sees when we are freely giving and when we are selfishly withholding. God is greater than my heart, I pray that He sees, knows and exposes my heart until I am fully aligned in Him. When we fully surrender to His will, our obedience will yield spiritual fruit in this life.
Microchurch Minute
The second chapter of 1 John gives us a look at the contrast of authentic believers and deceivers of the Word. When we accept salvation through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, He becomes our advocate. It doesn’t mean that we won’t sin. But it does mean that when we do, there is an ally by our side, charging the debt of our sins to the full payment rendered on calvary’s hill. See, your sin shouldn’t make you shy away from Jesus. that’s just what the enemy wants you to believe. When we recognize that we’ve fallen short of the lifestyle that Christ has called us to live, we’re invited to run and cling to the robes of our savior. But what is put on you in this scenario, is your responsibility to acknowledge your sin and turn from it. Jesus’ perfect life on earth is the standard to which we are held and should aim to attain. Without God’s help to raise us up, this standard is simply impossible to achieve in your own strength. It’s a sad reality that the gravitational pull of the world is doused with lies from the enemy. You are held personally accountable to recognize those lies and reject them. But how do you successfully recognize lies? Test every claim, prophecy and belief against the bible. Like muscular endurance built in exercise, this skill becomes stronger the more that we abide in God. We are called to have nothing to do with the lies of false teachers as we lean on the foundation of biblical teachings and our spiritual family in submission and obedience to the lifestyle God is calling us to.
The beautiful thing we see repeated here is that God loves us and has given us a route back to Him. He provides atonement for our sins and uses us to shine His light into the darkness of the fallen world. People can be easily distracted and blindly fall into being tools of the enemy, yikes. What if we kept our focus on the life of Jesus, the Word of God and helping those around us? It’s a pretty stark contrast from the self serving culture that we live in. It’s not about self glorification or satisfying the lusts of your flesh. I dare you to invite Jesus into all the “rooms” of your life and pursue Him constantly. When you put good in, you get good back out. What are you feeding your mind and soul with today?
Microchurch Minute
We jumped into 1 John on Sunday, written by the disciple that Jesus loved. What a letter that has been preserved for us to study! Are we truly convicted in our faith? God provided us written accounts from apostles that were with Jesus in real time. They experienced Jesus, touched him, learned from him, ate with him. Jesus was very real! It is with great joy that John shares these truths with us. It is revealed that Jesus is light and brings light to those who choose to walk with him. The light sheds sight on our sin, sin that we all have. By walking in the light of Jesus, we can reveal both our own sins and those of our spiritual brothers and sisters. But good news, because we have sin, we need a savior. We have a savior. The ultimate savior, divine light, that laid down his own life to reconcile us to His father, our Heavenly Father, the God of the universe. If we aren’t aware of our sin nature. we wouldn’t know just how desperately we need the Savior! We’re granted relationship with God, because He is faithful and just to forgive us, to cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Though we cannot reach perfection, we choose to turn from walking in darkness in pursuit of the God that has never stopped pursuing us. Don’t stop confessing your sin both to God and within your spiritual family. Confession frees us from the agonizing snares that attempt to hold us back from our God-given potential. I encourage you to never stop walking this sanctification journey through the relief and accountability received from living openly with God. He is joyed to do life with you, to walk alongside you and convict you to do His will.
Microchurch Minute
Hello house church family and happy Tuesday. We had a full house Sunday, as we wrapped up our summer of Psalms. What better way to finish our summer than to answer the agonizing question “What am I here for?”. You have been made to praise God! In all known history there is nothing that compares to His unequaled greatness. This is the God that is responsible for all of creation, the parting of the Red Sea, the crumbling of Jericho, closing of the lion’s mouth’s and supernatural resurrection. While wholly incredible, these are only a drop in the bucket when we continue to list His infinitely amazing acts of greatness. The bible refers to Israel as God’s chosen people. Take a look at that today, how can they even still be standing? God is good. What is our response to be but to shout and bring attention to the majesty of our great leader! We sing, dance and let instruments ring out in a musical extravaganza, fit only for the most high God. Just like an instrument we learn to play, our faith grows from a practice squeal to a harmonious roar. Never stop playing your trumpet! It is music to the ears of your Father in heaven.
Microchurch Minute
Dr. Luke gives us a confident account of Jesus’ time on earth between His resurrection and ascension. Since God is something we do not have the capacity to handle seeing in His entirety, we are so blessed that He chose to send Jesus to earth in human form. Jesus proved to be resurrected, fully man and fully God during His walk among us. Prior to His departure, we were adorned with the promise to receive the Holy Spirit as we prove to be faithful witnesses to our town, city, state and even the world! A lot of modern day western civilization is offput by the front that church goers can put on. We definitely don’t have it all together and should humble ourselves to be accepting of the rest of God’s flawed children. We have a unique opportunity to share our testimony with them, showing where we were and where God showed up in mighty and powerful ways. In this light, it comes so naturally to share the good news! That is what you are called to in this life. While the day of Christ’s return is so beautifully anticipated, what are we doing in the waiting? I continually pray that God reveals to me His plan in my waiting, that He uses me to touch the lives of those around me and allows me to learn what He has intended for me to learn. Let me keep my eyes upon the Lord so that He may elevate me to the path that He is leading me on.
How does that look for us, as a church? We believe in the up, in and out lifestyle. To primarily worship God, while living in community as the spiritual family He has appointed us to be in and being on mission to reach those around us. Our gatherings are based on scripture readings, diving directly into the Word of God through conversation and prayer, both privately and corporately. We must also lean into the responsibility of intercessory prayer. It is such an act of true Christian friendship and devotion to actively pray for one another. When is the last time you prayed for your spiritual family or even an acquaintance? When is the last time you chose to be vulnerable and ask for prayer? Now is the time to rip off the veil of false confidence. My confidence is in God, alone. There is no earthly being that will control, protect and comfort the way that my Heavenly Father will and has proven to time and time again. Trust in Him and allow yourself to be used in the aggressive pursuit of relationship with the community He’s placed you in.
What did we see the early church doing? Prayer and community. We see the disciples gathered together to act in accordance with God’s will. It would have been easy, at the time, to fall away after Jesus ascended and was no longer physically present to hold these men (and women) accountable for the instructions they had been left with to go forth as witnesses to the world. This group refers back to prophecies that needed to be fulfilled. Judas needed to betray Jesus. Jesus needed to be put to death. Judas needed to take his own life for the disciples to replace his spot in the twelve. These candidates didn’t go around campaigning, nor was it a popularity contest. These men were known to be in Jesus’ presence during his ministry and witnessed His resurrection. In the realm of political uproar we find ourselves in currently, isn’t it shocking to see this group of decision makers pressing into the Lord in unity to request His decision and His will be done. Our election season sure would look different if we were taking this approach with our ballots. Friends, I encourage you, even in times of stagnancy, keep pressing into Jesus. Not only for political influence, but that He would use us all in our waiting and allow us to be obedient to Him.
Obedience to Christ also leads us to the act of baptism, and let me tell you, Sunday made my heart sing. We are so grateful for the witnesses present in joining us for Tina’s baptism this weekend. A little over two years ago, I was looking for every excuse not to go to our discipleship group gathering, but I told the enemy he wasn’t going to win and I went anyway. I walked in the door to see this fabulous lady sitting alone on the end of the couch and, for the first time in my adult life, I very clearly heard God say “that’s the one.” I had no idea what that meant, but in true Samantha fashion I ran with it and found my new best friend. God is so good to us as we respond to Him in obedience! Navigating her journey with God has been such an incredible faith building experience, not only for her, but many of us that surround her. She has proven to be such a strong and powerful woman , growing unshakable faith and inspiring many of ears that hear her. The questions she asks press us all more deeply into the Word of God. The spiritual warfare raging against her was clear proof that God had her on the right track, and the enemy was trying a mountain of maneuvers to deter her. Tina, we are all so proud of you and the dedication you have made to Jesus. You are an inspiration to your family and the spiritual body that is blessed to be around you. Keep playing your trumpet!
Microchurch Minute
In Acts 2 we see the Holy Spirit moving in like a whirlwind and a thunderous presence. The Holy Spirit descended on the people of Jerusalem with flames of fire and gave them all different languages so that their fellow Jewish brothers and sisters could understand the gospel in their own language. It was the greatest gathering of Jews from all around the world for Pentecost and God is showing off His power to be able to communicate truth by giving the people languages! This is an initial fulfillment of the Joel 2 prophecy. It was an encouragement and challenge for us to lean into the power of the Spirit in our lives and surrender fully to Him. We need to be more willing to surrender control and embrace the uncomfortable, then we will see more and more of the miraculous signs from God in our own lives.
We see the way the church lived with inspiration as to how we should be living out our faith with our brothers and sisters. Commonly, the church is thought of as a building, with a human leader, dress code and activity times. Western civilization church-goers look to find something that will accommodate their busy schedule with a simple checklist so that they can arrive and leave while feeling fulfilled. We push for organized programs put on by the church leadership, in an effort to shirk the responsibility of leading our families ourselves, often times because we simply don’t feel “qualified” to do so. But what if the church is actually made up of the entirety of believers? (hint: it is) It’s not an activity that we do when it fits our schedule, it is a community that we are involved in and a lifestyle through which every aspect of our lives is affected in the most beautiful ways.
We are called to live communally, and while this may not be a present day compound, it most certainly indicates the necessity of proximity and vulnerability. While there is biblical instruction to provide for your children’s children, we also see inspiration to give to others what we have. Does this mean you need to go sell your house today? Ask God. This level of obedience speaks to each individual believer’s heart posture. I pray that I am so fixated on God, that I have no doubt when He speaks to me with instruction to sacrifice worldly possession, while trusting that He will continue to provide for me. Our God is a God of provision, I have seen this played out time and time again in my own life and the lives of others.
Dear Jesus, please know the depths of my soul and stir in me desires that match your own. Allow me to give what You will have me give. Open my eyes to the needs of those around me so that I may joyfully surrender my time, gifts and talents for Your glory.
