Yesterday we looked at 5:12-32 and God’s plan of redemption. If you are interested in listening to or reading the notes from it or any of our messages in Luke click here.

Soon and very soon I will be switching my blog url to www.smalltownpreacher.com

I hope to have this site point to that one for a while and then phase this one out completely. If you have any insight about switching wordpress sites to private hosting please pass it on.

I’ve just spent the last few hours writing the text for the back of our bulletins. It’s funny the last time we made bulletins I forgot about the text for the back until the last minute and I ended up writing it in about 5 minutes at midnight to make the deadline before printing.

Here is the text

I wanted it to capture the vision of our church. Let me know what you think.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel of Crook County

We are a group of people who have a passion for knowing Jesus and making Him known to a lost and hopeless world.

Therefore as we gather together this morning we desire to:

Worship Jesus and not ourselves.

Preach Jesus and nothing more.

Serve Jesus by serving one another.

In leaving here today we pray that you are equipped to worship Jesus in your daily life, preach Jesus when given opportunities, and serve Jesus in all that you do.

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

We started two services on January 4th. I was a little hesitant to make this move because I knew that we would go from one full, rocking service to two half full services and that naturally it would take some excitement out of the gathering. So far this prediction has come to pass but our attendance is up overall and and to my amazement first service (9am) has actually been larger than second  (11am). I believe this move will allow our church to fulfill it’s vision of reaching more and more lost and hurting people in our community. It will allow us to continue to grow whereas we were limiting ourselves with only one service.

I am looking forward to this upcoming season (late winter-early spring) as it is typically our time of greatest growth in the fellowship. The weeks leading up to Easter are an exciting time in the life of the Church as we ponder afresh and anew the wonderful message of the gospel.

In ligth of that I would like to recommend two books to you…

1. Death by Love (Mark Driscoll)
Death by Love Website
Death by Love on Amazon

2. The Prodigal God (Tim Keller)
The Prodigal God Website
The Prodigal God on Amazon

Both of these book capture the heart of the gospel in an amazing way. If it strikes you wierd that a Calvary pastor would recommend two books written by Calvinists then you don’t know me very well

In all seriousness both of these authors have a unique perspective and although I don’t agree with all of their theology I respect them, their ministries, and their focus on the gospel immensely. I will be happy when the Church gets to a place where it no longer divides itself along party lines of denominationalism and arrogant labels but simply identifies itself with the timeless truths of the greatest message ever told…the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I plan to write more in the coming days and weeks so don’t take me out of your bookmarks yet!

grace…ryan

What does the Psalmist mean when he writes, “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” in Psalm 122:6?

With the recent military struggles in Gaza the evangelical Church in America is once again calling for concentrated prayer for Israel and there will most definitely be a charge to support the Jews with money and other resources.

While I believe that we should pray for Israel I’m not sure that our prayers for Israel nationally and militarily are exactly what God has in mind. It seems that the Church has become rather myopic in its perspective regarding Israel.

Clearly God loves the Jews…but does He not love the Palestinians equally?

Certainly the terrorism that takes place in Israel is tragic, but is Israel completely without fault? Now don’t get me wrong. I believe that the land called Palestine belongs to the nation of Israel and that the Jews have every right to be there because it was given to them by God, but I don’t think that makes them blameless in this crisis. Israel is a godless country and until they turn to Jesus there will be no peace in Jerusalem.

I read this article on a pastor’s blog that I write for and frequent. It’s written by Shaun Sells who is the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Cheyenne, WY . Shaun does a great job of making the point I’m proposing here.

1. Lose 30 pounds (29 to be exact) – I currently weigh 209 lbs. Which wouldn’t be too bad if I was 6′ but I’m only 5’8″ and although I’m built pretty stocky this is “weigh” too heavy. I’m currently on an 1800 calorie per day diet which should help me drop about 10 lbs per month. I also plan on doing a fairly intense workout regimen. We’ll see how it goes

2. Spend more time in the Word devotionally…it is very easy for me as a pastor to substitute studying for devotions and fail to spend quality time with just my Bible, Jesus, and me…not thinking of how this would make a great sermon but simply seeing it through the lens of my own life.

3. More organized with my time - I am going to schedule certain meetings and appointments early in the week to allow for more study and preparation time later in the week. This is difficult to do as things come up but I need to say no, more often.

4. Read 12 books – I would like to read at least 1 book per month.

5. Take a day off – I take Friday’s off…it’s what we call our family day. But with a Blackberry and laptop I’ve got a mobile office and I need to be more disciplined about turning it off or leaving it at home so that my focus is upon my family and not the “urgent” phone call or email that just came in. This is completely my fault…I can’t expect life to stop on Friday but I need to make sure that I prioritize my life better.

Well that’s it for now…I think 5 is enough. If you feel led you can help keep me accountable.

blessings on your New Year!

Here are some, 9 actually, trends to look for in the corporate gatherings of Christians in 2009.

1. Mega-Churches will continue to lose numbers as people (not only young people) seek community and authenticity.

2. Due to the economy churches and church leaders will look for alternatives to the big slick attractional methods of outreach.

3. The emergent church will come up with some definitive answers or they will become even more irrelevant.

4. Christians will realize that blogs, facebook, and online teaching cannot replace real live people with whom God has called us to influence and be influenced by.

5. Churches to transition from spectator events to the living organism God intended them to be as church leaderships are forced to rely more upon volunteers to do the work of the ministry.

6. Pastors and churches will attempt to be more relevant and in so doing will become less Biblical.

7. Alcohol will become less of a big deal as Christians continue to realize that its use in moderation is not sinful.

8. Churches that focus on Jesus and the gospel will grow as hurting people seek hope beyond the struggles of this life.

9. There will be a simultaneous increase in division and unity within Christianity as the mindsets and practices that lead to both will perpetuate.

Happy New Year!!

While we were at Andrea’s parents house the other night I picked up this book off the coffee table. My father in law informed me that it was very good and that it was given to him by my brother in law after his church’s  leadership went through it together.

It’s a very unique book both in style and content. I have read about half the book and I’m pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t expecting much based on the title, some of the quote sources (Dog the Bounty Hunter for example) and the odd format in which it’s written.

The theme of the book is integrity. The authors believe that good character and lasting integrity is the result of complete honesty with someone(s) you can trust. They postulate that when we keep struggles to ourselves we empower those sinful proclivities, enslaving ourselves even further. I couldn’t agree more with this theory and hope to implement some of their ideas into our leadership and church.

What I like about this book is that they concede the fact that accountability is only as good as the people involved. It doesn’t do any good if I’m just honest after the fact. Accountability is supposed to keep me from doing stupid stuff…the only way this is going to happen is if I’m honest with the little things that lead to the big life altering failures.

My only criticism so far is the lack of Scripture. While I believe the principles they are purporting are biblical I’m curious why they chose to quote Duane “Dog” Chapman and not God Himself.
Unfortunately this is becoming more and more prevalent amongst those who claim to be teachers of the Word.

Last night Andrea and I went to see this movie…

Stewart (our worship leader) had told me it was amazing, but the review on Crosswalk wasn’t so positive. So I went with mixed expectations and conflicted anticipation.

As usual we showed up to a packed theater right when the movie was supposed to begin. There was no where to park except in the back forty lot so after driving around like an idiot for 5 minutes I finally found a vacant spot along the road right by Red Robin. I don’t want to brag but I pulled off a sweet parallel park job and off we went.

To our surprise the previews were still going as we entered theater number 3. The movie begins with some cool foreshadowing and then launches into what is a very difficult storyline to follow. But those that can track with it, and tolerate the unusual plot arrangement this movie employs, will be pleasantly surprised how good this movie actually is.

The spiritual implications are huge…the moral and ethical lessons are compelling.

Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is clearly a conflicted man who struggles with many things but the self-sacrifice he displays in this movie will make you think through how you treat others.

I highly recommend this movie. There is some language (a few GD’s) and one sensual scene that shows some kissing and then the couple in bed but there is no nudity and  it’s fairly short.

We are going to be starting a quarterly movie viewing and discussion night called “Film and Faith” and this will definitely be a movie to crank up for that.

So take some time over the holidays and go watch Seven Pounds you’ll be glad you did.

It was really cool to look out at the congregation and see all those candles shining in the dark but I was unprepared for the mess these little suckers would make

As some of you know we just bought brand new chairs for our sanctuary…now they are brand new chairs adorned with candle wax.  We also have a remolded building that is less than a year old…now we have new carpet with huge splotches of white wax to add some character.

Actually I’ve heard there are some simple remedies to wax removal…either freezing it with ice until it hardens and crumbles or heating it with an iron and soaking it up with a paper sack are the most recommended solutions.

Not ideal especially for the folks who clean the church but we’ll get it cleaned up and research some alternatives for candle light for next year.

It does prove that you can have small disasters like these and still have a great service…everything doesn’t have to go perfectly for the Lord to bless His people. I’m continuing to learn this principle maybe one day it will REALLY sink in.

Have a Merry Christmas!

These are my friends “Agents of Christ”. They are two families (the James’ and the Chaffee’s) who sold everything they have so that they could travel the country coming alongside churches to help them in the area of evangelism and drug and alcohol abuse prevention.

Please pray for them as they put on evangelism classes, preach the gospel, share their testimonies with young people, and minister to whomever the Lord leads them to as the travel from city to city in their motor home and van.

Currently they are in the Phoenix area and plan to travel to New Mexico and Texas over the next month and then eventually all the way across the south and then up the east coast.

If you are a pastor or church leader in these areas and you are interested in having them come alongside your church you can contact them from their website here.

This is an article I wrote for our local newspaper, the Central Oregonian.

Merry X-Mas…

Does that offend you? I don’t blame you if it does because I too loathe the removal of the word Christ from Christmas.

However isn’t X-Mas a better title for the holiday that we celebrate on December 25^th each year? Christmas has so little to do with Christ why not change the name? But it’s not just Christmas that no longer has Christ as its focus. Those of us who follow Jesus are called Christians but many of us should probably change the name of our religion to X-tian because our lives, like Christmas, have little or nothing to do with Jesus.

Christians have replaced Jesus with Self. Self-esteem, Self-help, Self-love, and SELFishness are the Kings of our life. All the while attaching Jesus to our self consumed lifestyle never giving it a second thought because certainly Jesus wants me to be happy…right?

Jesus came to the earth for one purpose; “to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10). He didn’t come to give you a better life, or to fix your marriage, or to solve your financial difficulties. He came to rescue sinners from certain judgment. Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, humbled Himself and took on human flesh so that He could bridge the gap between a Holy God and sinful man (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus longs to have a relationship with you; a real and vital relationship that is rooted in the Word of God and not this world’s narcissistic mindset.

My friends Jesus did not leave the glory of heaven and endure all the suffering of the cross so that you could fulfill the American dream. The gospel was never intended to give you a better life or make you a better person, the gospel is about death to self so that you can have new life and become a new person.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have come new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Now that isn’t to say that if you give your life to Jesus and allow Him to give you new life that it won’t make your life better, improve your marriage, or help you through your financial struggles, but those things are only the result of completely surrendering self to the message of the gospel. To follow Jesus means that we completely abandon self. It means that we recognize our spiritual poverty; and our inability to approach God apart from His grace and love.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Let’s put Christ back in Christmas, this holiday season, by admitting our need for Him and making Him the center and focus of everything we do.