Welcome to Redeemer’s Church

One by One
I went to New York City a couple years ago with a school field trip. For a few hours one morning, I was watching over 14, 7th and 8th graders in Times Square by myself. The students were great, but I was in hyper-shepherd mode. I’m glad that I didn’t just started barking like a sheepdog until I had them all in a corner of the M&M store. Now that I look back on it, I realize that all those kids except one had a cell phone, and that New York City, especially that part is remarkably safe. When I think about my friends and family who are lost without Jesus, I don’t have that sense of urgency and dread over what might happen to them, and what will happen to those who are spiritually lost and don’t get found is unimaginably worse than being 14 and lost in Times Square with a cell phone.
I just wanted to let your heart break a little for the lost people around you. They are sheep without a shepherd, and not only do we know the shepherd, but he has deputized all of us to make his offer of reconciliation known in every corner of the world.
We live in a small town in a smallish county. There are about 16,000 people in our county, and most of them, are what Jesus would call lost sheep. Trying to reach 9,10, or 11 thousand people would be beautiful and incredible. How would you reach out to 10,000 people?
Over the past few months I’ve been praying for vision to lead the church. I’m so thankful to be part of a church that preaches the Gospel freely, that loves and likes each other, that cares about people who are in need, that is receptive to me as a pastor. I think that God has even more for us, so I’ve been seeking him in the silence of the morning and the night, and praying “lead me.” The only thing that has come to my mind so far that seems like vision is the idea of reaching out to our county and area “one by one.” There was even a little illustration in my mind that I think is from God.

What if we begin to reach out to ONE person at a time? Each of us pick ONE person that we see often and begin to pray for them for their salvation and to be open with them about our faith as we daily walk with Jesus. We will ask someone who works with our ONE or is in a club with them to join is in reaching out to the ONE. We will ask someone else to pray for ONE and to pray for us as we reach out to ONE.
You may have heard the story of the boy who was standing by the seashore where thousands of starfish had washed up onto shore to die. The boy began gently tossing the starfish back into the ocean one by one. A man came by and scoffed at the boy: “What a fool you are. You can never save all those starfish, and what does it matter any way?” The boys answered the man: “It matters to this one,” as he tossed a star fish into the ocean, “and this one,” as he tossed another.
Only God could bring about a revival of faith that would reach all or nearly all of the people in our county. Only God can reach your ONE, but God has chosen us to be his voice and hands and feet in a world of lost people, most of whom do not understand the good news that Jesus is calling all sinners to come in freely to his kingdom. Will you join me in reaching out to one person?

Developing a Habit of Humility

I don’t know if you think much about becoming a humbler person, or if you have any habits in your life that will help grow more humble, but you should. Jesus Christ, although he was in nature God, was continually acting in humility during his years of ministry on earth. And we are following the leader. God has deposited a seed in you, and he wants to see you grow. God has put a flame inside of you, and that flame should burn bright and be a light to the world. There is more in you than you know, and without good habits, including a habit of humbling yourself, you will not find out what God dreams for you.

The most important thing you can do to nurture humility in yourself is to serve. Let your service be done as secretly as possible and begin moving your identity from someone who serves sometimes to becoming a servant. Look at Matthew 20:20-28.

For the past month or so I’ve been trying to do three things that author Dallas Willard guaranteed will help me to grow in humility: 1. Don’t pretend to be what I’m not. Read Luke 18:9-14 to see something Jesus said about that. 2. Don’t assume a favorable position in any respect. Jesus talks about this in Luke 14:7-14. 3. Don’t try to push people around or override their will. In Matthew 11:28 and 29 Jesus talks about the yoke that he has for each of us. If we are trying to put people under our yoke, we will not be leading them to His yoke.

A recurring conversation in my past week has been people who are in trouble and have no idea where to go for help. Every time I heard these stories I thought, “Why didn’t you come to my house?” Well, in these cases these people didn’t know me at the time. But what about the people who do know us, but don’t know that we would humble ourselves for them even at a high cost. Helping someone by talking to them at 3 AM or offering a meal or a week of meals is humbling—not because it makes you think less of yourself, but it makes you think of yourself less. And where there is a community of Christians who are committed to being humble as Jesus is, there will be good fruit and people will respond to the Good News.

That seed that’s been planted in you had to die to begin to grow, and you need to continue to die to yourself to let that seed grow, to let that light shine. Who will you serve this week? Who needs to know that you are there for them if the rest of their world falls apart? Do something to develop a habit of humility.

We have not had Sunday morning church with everyone there for two weekends in a row. I miss you all, and I have been working over two sermons about good habits for disciples, silence and humility. Since I’ve had extra time, and since my thoughts have been about silence, I’ve been blessed to have more quiet in my life than usual. I don’t usually fall asleep very well or very quickly. Like many of you, I’m sometimes so tired I can hardly get off the couch only to go lie down in bed fully awake. The past three weeks I’ve been using that time as well as catching other times in the day to be silent.

When my daughter was little, she used to sing a song called “The Daddy Pokey.” It was a parody of “The Hokie Pokey” and it went something like this: “He turns the TV on, he turns the radio on, he turns his computer on, and he plays his guitar. He does “The Daddy Pokey” and turns himself around. . .” We used to crack up over that song. I wonder if y’all do stuff like that. Do you get up and turn on the TV; get your phone on a radio station before you go to the car, listen to background music or news while you work, and so on til you fall asleep with the TV on? I don’t think this is what God wants for us, but how do we break away from it?

In Mark chapter 6, Jesus and the disciples are having a very busy couple days. The disciples were sent out two by two to preach, heal and cast out demons. After the disciples mission trip, Jesus tries to get them to a desolate place for rest and prayer, but 5000 men and their families followed them to the desolate place. He knew they needed quiet and rest, and he wanted quiet and rest. For Jesus a quiet time with Father and Holy Spirit was not a hardship, but a refreshing time that he longed for in the midst of being pressed in upon by humans’ needs and desires. One thing I am learning from Jesus is that silence and solitude are good, and to remind myself that I want them. What’s so hard about getting quiet? Like many things, the hardest part is getting started. This is why I’m setting apart some time to be quiet. If I can’t sleep in bed, I’m going to sit by the fire and listen to anything God wants me to hear. In the car, sometimes I will not listen to the radio, and sometimes I will.

Jesus faced some of his hardest moments in quiet and solitude. At the beginning of his ministry he spent 40 days and nights fasting and alone, and then he was tempted by the devil. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he came to terms with the extreme pain of the cross that was before him, as well as the awful miracle of experiencing separation from Father God. I’m trying to learn to embrace the silence that is filled with heartache and questioning. How many of us, when we were 14 or 15, played music so loud in our headphones at night, because we didn’t want to face the bottomless thoughts that our developing minds were exploring? We still need to face the painful silence, the uncomfortable silence, the empty silence.

“Lord, help me delight in you, even in silence. I want to hear you speak to me through your word and through Holy Spirit. Draw me aside to a desolate place where I can rest and where I can learn to hear your voice. “