How to Neighbor - Week #4

Almost all of us have experienced the generosity of a friend, family member, neighbor, or co-worker. Generosity is powerful. Generosity tears down walls. Generosity is hard to resist.

There is a theme throughout Jesus' teachings & the New Testament to be generous with no-strings-attached. In Luke 6:32-36, Jesus moves people to that standard by saying:

• Love your enemies.
• Do good to those who can't or won't do good to you.
• Lend money without expecting to be repaid.

Then in Luke 6:35, Jesus lays out the reason why we are to be generous "you will truly be acting as children of the Most High". God's generosity toward us causes us to be generous toward our neighbors. This type of generosity was not common in Jesus' day, in fact it was a complete paradigm shift. These people knew "liberalitas" - to give to get something in return. There was no reason to help those who couldn't return the favor, but Jesus said NOT so in my Kingdom. The Jesus follower's reason for generosity is because God has been so generous to us.

Historians tell us the early Christians lived extraordinarily generous lives even though, 

• They had NO wealth.
• They had NO building.
• They had NO voice.
• They had NO political power.

When plagues would hit a village, the Christians were the only ones to stay and care for the sick. When famines would threaten to devastate families, the Christians would give what little food they had to feed those who were hungry.  When the pagan poor had no one to care for them, the Christians would care for them, so much so that the Roman Emperor Julian would take notice!

In Philippians 2:15, Paul describes how that type of generosity can impact those around us, "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky".  That kind of generosity can still capture the hearts of people today.

The challenge for this week is to be generous by supporting our Food Drive by bringing canned goods to our Lobby this Sunday 11/27.

How to Neighbor - Week #3

As followers of Jesus, it can be very easy for us to focus on answering the question "What must I do to make & keep things right between God & me?" If we aren't careful our relationship with God can really be all about us and what we benefit from it.

Jesus challenged this self-spirituality all the time. In Matthew 25, we read of one particular instance when Jesus was referring to the last days, particularly about who will inherit eternal life in God's Kingdom. His point through this example is that serving God means loving our neighbors.  Those who...

• Feed the hungry
• Care for the thirsty, sick & stranger
• Cloth the naked
• Visit those in prison

When you love & serve those neighbors, it is as if you are actually serving God. Following Jesus is an invitation to leave what's all about you and embrace the neighbor beside you. Your devotion to God is illustrated, demonstrated, and authenticated by your love for your neighbors. We are to care for others' sake - just like Jesus came for others' sake.

Andy Stanley, a pastor in Georgia, has a great question to help us determine if we are simply embracing ourselves or really loving our neighbor "What does love require of me?" Thinking about perfect love, how would someone with perfect love respond to that neighbor? Following Jesus is not only for your benefit, but the benefit of your neighbor.

As a way to practice loving our neighbors, we have an opportunity to serve with West Valley Community Services. On Saturday, November 19th from 9am-12noon, we will help clean their food pantry that serves many local people everyday. To ensure we have enough participation, please register by Thursday, November 17. This is a great opportunity to partner with a local organization who does some amazing work in our community!

How to Neighbor - Week #2

You might not have experienced being adopted, but maybe your life was impacted by some caring adults who invested in & mentored you. You might not have been a foster sibling, but maybe you have friends who are foster parents. Many of us have been impacted by hearing stories, knowing people, or watching families foster or adopt kids.

In Galatians 4, Paul discusses God's desire for us that goes way beyond just a simple legal response of being forgiven. Even though we are all slaves to the laws we have broken, God chose to send His Son as the payment for our sin. Unfortunately, every law we have broken created a debt/debtor relationship with God that we could never pay back. In a legal sense, God through Jesus took care of erasing our debt to allow us to be forgiven.

However, Paul says that isn't all God has done through Jesus. God wants so much to be in relationship with us that He has chosen to adopt us! When Paul wrote this, his audience would have understood this to be an adult adoption. This means that God would choose to adopt you not just as an innocent baby, but as a guilty grown-up. If you place your trust in Jesus, you have been adopted into God's family.  If you have questions or would just like to talk with Pastor Chris, click the button below to email him.

As a response to God adopting us into His family, we have challenged our members to consider helping the huge foster care problem in Santa Clara County through Foster the Bay. Here are 3 ways we are challenging people to get involved:

1. Attend an Interest Meeting - to learn more about becoming a Support Friend, Foster Family, or volunteer with Foster the Bay.
2. Volunteer - to help provide child care, host food, or setup & tear down for their meetings.
3. Donate - to expand their reach, equip more families, and support local agencies.

How to Neighbor - Week #1

Clarity is very helpful for following through and getting things done. Confusion or fog does the opposite and takes away our urgency to act.  

When it comes to loving our neighbor, sometimes we all try to fog up God's command. His command though is pretty simple & clear, "You must love the Lord your God...And love your neighbor as yourself." However, we say things like, "It's not as simple or easy as that." Or we ask what a religious expert asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

In Luke 10:25-37, we see Jesus tell a parable that doesn't answer the man's question of "who is his neighbor". Rather, the Good Samaritan parable answers the question of "how to neighbor". It really is quite simple. We should help our neighbors who need help.

Our challenge from this week of the series is to give to support & share the amazing gift of Christmas with kids around the world through Operation Christmas Child.

How to Neighbor

You don't get to pick who your neighbors are, but you can choose something far more important: How to Neighbor.  Join us beginning October 30 as we talk about what this means, and how we will practice our neighboring in 4 ways. Click the links below to learn more:

• Give
• Love
• Serve
• Feed

Fearful or Freedom

Freedom can have many different meanings.

• Freedom is acting without restraint.
• Freedom is not forced to behave in a certain way.
• Freedom is not free.
• Freedom means you are not enslaved.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.””

— Galatians 5:1, 13-14 (NIV)

God came into history to set people free from the uncertainty of their status with others or with gods.  But what is holding you back from trusting God more?

If your fear is that...

• You can never be good enough.
• You can never get over this particular struggle.
• You can never get rid of your fear.

You don't have to live in fear.  God offers to set you free.

• What does that look like in your life?
• What fear do you think might be a necessity for you?  
• What fears do you have that you can allow yourself to be free from?

Fearful

At some point we all have to answer the question "How fearful are we going to be?" We could allow parenting to make us fearful...the safety of our homes, the security of our jobs, the future of our country, and on and on. At some point, we all have to decide how we are going to respond to the anxiety and fear in life, including the upcoming election.

For Christians, Jesus gives us some pretty specific instruction on how we are to handle fear. For those not sure about Jesus or religion, we have to determine how far we will let fear control our lives and who/what we will trust in beyond that.

Jesus used almost any event to teach his disciples about this. In Matthew 8, Jesus uses a stormy boat ride to challenge their trust in Him beyond what the storm could do to their body. Then in Matthew 10, Jesus prepares them for the difficulty & persecution they will face in the future as He sends them on their own.

Then, Jesus summarizes how we should respond to fear:

Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.  Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. - Matthew 10:28 NLT

• Who or what is making you fearful?

• Do you think that person, circumstance, or thing could hurt you beyond this life?

• What is holding you back from the kind faith in God that overwhelms your fear?

Message adapted from Andy Stanley.

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #5

How do you feel when you realize someone just wants something from you? Maybe your boss,  your friend, or that marketing phone call, if that is the general direction of a relationship, it is not as enjoyable.

If that is your view of religion and God (that He only wants something from you), then that definitely could lead to a bad religious experience. Thankfully Jesus' philosophy of life was different.

As we look at John 13, we see that Jesus was close to His crucifixion, He was still trying to love & prepare His disciples for the future.  Immediately after He knew that His Father had given him authority over everything, He washed His disciples feet.  He could have done anything, asked for anything, and leveraged anybody for His benefit, but He chose to serve others instead. He continued to demonstrate who God was...

God doesn't want anything FROM you.

God wants something FOR you.

Series adapted from North Point Community Church 

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #4

For some people, their bad religious experience began when the religion behaved like a location or valued the location/building over the people.  When religion behaves like a location, it can make for a bad religious experience.

Jesus speaks directly to how Christians should behave and what the church should be.  In Matthew 16, Jesus gives us insight into his intentions for what the church should be.  Keeping in mind this context of Jesus & the disciples, it is even more amazing:

• They didn't travel more than 30 miles around Jesus' home

• The religious leaders hated Jesus

• There were only 13 of them

• The Romans had conquered everything

With that in mind 2,000 years ago, Jesus predicts a global gathering or movement of people that will be unstoppable.  He didn't predict a location, a building, or a cathedral.  He predicted a gathering or congregation of people.

For us to be a movement not just a building, we have to :

1. move towards messes

2. have some disorganization

3. embrace change

4. impact the community

Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #3

Have you ever been bored in a religious service? We all could probably relate. Maybe it was uninteresting, irrelevant, unhelpful, just unnecessary, or something outside the communicator's responsibility. Whatever the reason, the longer we are bored in a religious experience the more we begin to endure the religious experience. The longer we endure the religion the more likely we are to endure "god".

At that point, we probably don't have a completely accurate view of "god", but rather

• a pocket-sized "god"

• a religious checklist

• do's and don'ts

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said some helpful words to an audience who were weary & burdened from enduring religion. They had been enduring a religion that was handed down to them through the generations. They had ten main laws that became surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of other laws meant to support the ten main laws. However, those extra laws made their religion so cumbersome it wasn't a relationship anymore. Jesus came to change that.

Some of the problem can come from religious aspects that are meant to help us with our relationship with God  - prayer, scriptures, serving & giving. Focusing on the relationship with not the responsibility to God can help.

Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #2

Many of us have had a bad religious experience for one reason or another. For many people, the main cause of the bad experiences is judgment about their past. In some way the religion or church has judged, alienated or made people feel disqualified because of their past.

There are several reasons why this happens, but when we look at Jesus and the Bible, we see something different. In the book of Acts, we see Saul/Paul who had a very bad past - worse than all of ours! Yet Jesus chose to use Paul to spread His message around the world!

If there is hope for Paul, there is hope for ALL! Your past doesn't have to stop God using you. There are three ways to deal with your past:

1. Acknowledge it.

2. Deal with it.

3. Leverage it.

The second is where we can help. If you would fill out this form about your situation, we will contact you about ways to deal with your past and possibly allow God to leverage it to help other people.

 Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #1

Religion is one of the taboo topics in our culture. However, unlike politics, sports, or technology, religion doesn't have the same type empirical evidence to support positions, arguments, or beliefs. Many people rely on their religious experiences to determine what or how they feel about religion. Unfortunately, all religions have created bad experiences that have pushed people away, especially Christianity.

One of the big obstacles for many people searching for "god" or meaning through religion is that it can seem like an exclusive club designed for exclusive people. There is a way things are done, disciplines to practice, routines to do, and expectations to meet. All of these can create an atmosphere where outsiders can't join or don't fit in. This isn't a problem if religion is all just kind of made up.

But what if God really did something in the 1st century for everybody? If we look at Jesus' life against the actions of the early church, we see that the church was becoming an exclusive club for exclusive people.  In Romans 3, however, Paul shows us that Jesus' message is for everybody so the church should be for everybody too!

Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience

Have you had a bad religious experience?  

• Maybe it was boring.

• Maybe the group was unwelcoming.

• Maybe the people were hypocritical.

What if "god" is actually more than that, better than that, and bigger than that?

Maybe we should talk about it.  

The conversation begins Sunday, September 11.

Guardrails - Week #4

All of us regardless of our spiritual beliefs, have hopes and dreams for our future. For those of us who are Christians, we even believe that God could use us to positively impact the future. However, we all also have the potential to miss that future because of how we manage our appetites or desires.

There are many appetites beyond food like an appetite for progress, love, responsibility, or things. If we don't keep our appetites in check, we all know that disaster could be close by.

In Genesis 25 we learn from the story of Jacob & Esau that we shouldn't trade our future for a bowl of stew. Our appetites can cause us to sacrifice future opportunities and relationships. Re-framing the decision in light of how it could impact future is one way to handle this.

What appetite guardrails do you need to establish to protect the future God may have for you?

Guardrails - Week #3

God knows something about all of us because what has been true of all humanity is true of you & me.  God's chief competitor for your heart is your money.

Jesus was very clear in Matthew 6:24 that you cannot serve both God and money.  Whatever money or stuff represent for you - safety, security, opportunities, material possessions, or control  - the pursuit of those things can capture your heart. Then we are led towards one of two danger zones - saving or consuming.  We justify our positions by saying...

• I'm a saver
• I'm careful
• I'm just a spender
• I enjoy life

The problem is that both danger zones can be self-centered, fueled by greed, and leave us living as if there is no God.  God uses the habit of giving to combat money from being the master of our hearts and lives.  Giving a percentage of our money away helps us remember that not everything that comes our way is for our consumption.

• What guardrails do you need to establish for consuming or saving?
• Are you giving away a percentage of your income?

Giving to your local church is a great way to support the mission of God and to remember that God is the Master of your life not money.

Guardrails - Week #2

This Sunday we had a special combined program with our Chinese Congregations in which we celebrated 6 baptisms! Click here if you want to learn more or sign-up for a Life Group.

Friendship can a be a good and bad thing because friends can influence us. We are all acceptance magnets - attracted to acceptance and repelled by rejection. We open up when we feel accepted; we close down when we feel rejected. Unfortunately this principle doesn't care if the friends are wise or foolish.

While most areas of life need at least some guardrails, friendship particularly needs 2 guardrails. In Proverbs 13:20, Solomon teaches 2 powerful, friendship guardrails.

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

- Are there some foolish friends you need to distance yourself from?

- Are you in opportunities and environments to make wise friends?

Guardrails - Week #1

A guardrail in driving is "a system designed to keep vehicles from straying into dangerous or off limit areas". We don't usually argue that guardrails shouldn't be present on bridges, medians, or cliffs. In driving, we acknowledge that there are some dangers beyond the guardrail.

In our lives, we also acknowledge danger somewhere out there. But we usually do not acknowledge that we need guardrails to protect & direct us away from that danger.

Our culture will not encourage us to establish guardrails, in fact they most likely will not understand them at all. In Ephesians 5, Paul says that we must be careful how we live, as wise not unwise, and taking advantage of every opportunity.

What area of your life do you need some guardrails?

Guardrails New Series This Sunday

Guardrails are important in driving. However, they mostly go unnoticed until we need them. Thankfully for us, someone else already established them. In our lives the same can be true. Unfortunately, we are the only ones who can establish them, and our culture will not encourage guardrail development. Join us starting August 14 as we discuss different guardrail areas and how to establish them.

YOUnited States of America - Week #5

Just like the nation of Israel, there is something inside of you that wants to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want.  Similarly our God will still hear our cries for help even in our disobedience.

In these dark days of disobedience with no King in Israel, God was beginning to decorate for Christmas in the book of Ruth.  He would use 2 women and a man.  One of the women had come to the point believing God had abandoned her or didn't care about her.  The man decided to go against the culture around him and believe that God was still at work.

While none of them could probably fully comprehend the magnitude of their involvement, they were all at the epicenter of the activity of God.  Throughout Ruth we see an important question answered in different ways...when you could yield your life to another, will you be the king or yield to the King?

YOUnited States of America - Week #4

Everyone has had a moment when we had to answer the question - what do you do when your body wants what your heart knows is wrong?  Your answer to that question can speak to the success and/or happiness you feel.

Unfortunately this is nothing new for humanity.  Back in ancient Israel, one of their leaders Samson faced the same dilemma.

Samson had been set apart for something extraordinary even before his birth.  He had superhuman strength that God was going to use to rescue the nation of Israel, and God's Spirit rested on Samson in a special way.

Unfortunately Samson's desire for the enemy's women got in the way of what he knew was right.  He was so intoxicated by what his body wanted that he did some very stupid things and went to the edge of disaster...and eventually over the edge.  

You have the freedom to do what your body wants or what your heart knows is right.  Because your body can be the temple of God's Spirit, you should honor God with your body.