Love is…Patient

Last week as we began our Focus 40 family devotions, we talked about love.  We talked specifically about the characteristics of love outlined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  When we were wrapping up, I asked Abi which characteristic we needed to work on most as a family.  She didn't hesitate a bit when she said, "Patience!"  So for the last several days I have been relearning the beauty in being patient.

On Monday, I got back to the office at 5:00pm after a pretty rushed afternoon of an FCA event in Willard and an after school event in our neighboring community at Fulbright Springs.  I usually go home after Fulbright but tonight I was going to be bowling with the "Man Group".  I plugged in my poorly charged phone into my computer for charging purposes and it asked me if I'd like to update my phone software.  This is usually a 5 minute process so of coarse I clicked "Yes".  At 5:50pm I am still sitting in my office waiting for the update to finish, too afraid to unhook it in fear that everything would be deleted and not working.

On Tuesday, I had a few minutes, after work and before my evening meeting, to stop by the local Wally World store to pick up my 2014 fishing license.  No one was at the counter, no one was in the department, the only employee I found at first was the maintenance guy who gladly called a manager on his walkie to let them know I was waiting.  15 minutes later, I went to the automotive department and asked if they could round someone up for me.  She paged the entire store.  I thought, man, I am learning about patience.  10 minutes later I went back to the automotive department.  This time the lady was very apologetic but wasn't so nice on the intercom.  2 minutes later there is another voice on the intercom, politely asking someone to help me in sporting goods.  By this time, I am no longer by myself at the counter.  At least 2 other customers are needing help.  10 minutes later, I am on my iPhone calling the Wally World store and asking the dispatcher if she can send someone over.  I hear a manager get on the intercom system and name a specific employee this time to come to the Sporting Goods.  She was there in less than 30 seconds.

I got home last night and my internet had crashed.  We all love being on the phone with internet providers don't we?

Today I am ordering at lunch and the girl behind the counter is pretty flustered because the manager keeps asking if she will be able to work additional hours tomorrow.  This girl keeps saying no because those hours fall during her classes.  So I got to witness the 10 minute conversation, as the girl can't take my order and respond to her manager at the same time.

How did those situations turn out?
Monday-I got to the bowling alley right on time and had a blast.

Tuesday- With a great cloud of witnesses (literally) they got to see how a patient person smiles to the lady who finally came so I could buy my license.  I was kind and polite.  No complaining.  Just thankful she came.

Wednesday morning-I got to upgrade our internet free of charge (at least for a year anyways)

Wednesday Afternoon- I got to show kindness to the young lady who was totally stressed out by her manager.  I sympathized with her.  I felt the pain in hearing her communicate to her manager but not actually being heard.  Finally they settled on a time for her to come in tomorrow, it was after a full day of classes.  I smiled and said, "Don't worry, you can probably do just about anything.  You can do it!"

Love is patient…I sure am glad our Creator God is patient with me.

Week 3, Day 5

Hi friends,

Yesterday we talked about King David and how he went above and beyond giving what was required of him.  That is generosity.  Today we take a glance at the end of David's life.  Just a quick background to the story:  The Ark of the Covenant was a sacred box that the Israelites built on their way to the promised land from Egypt.  This box held the 10 Commandments and various other items.  When the Israelites would travel the Ark of the Covenant would lead the way.  When the Israelites would camp for the night, week, or month, they would set up a temporary shelter for the Ark called the Tabernacle.  It was said that God himself would dwell in the middle of that Tabernacle along with the Ark of the Covenant.  It was where God lived.  When David became King (and before his reign), he witnessed the vulnerability of the Ark being held in a temporary shelter.  It was stolen in battle several times.  So finally at the end of David's life he decides it is time for a more permanent home.  David decides to start collecting money to build what we know as the Temple.  This is where we pick up the story in 1 Chronicles 29:1-5:

Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God. ² With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise,^[a] stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. ³ Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: ⁴ three thousand talents^[b] of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents^[c] of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, ⁵ for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?”

You see, not only did David go about collecting funds from the National Treasury to build this temple, in verse three he tells us that he has opened up his personal treasury "over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple".  I believe there are times, when God's vision is set so clearly before us, that we will be compelled to personally open up and give abundantly from our own personal treasuries…above everything else we have already provided.

But what happens when we do not have any personal treasuries to give from?

Join us on Sunday Morning at 10:00am to find out.

This week…continue to be generous,

Pastor Jon

Week 3, Day 4

I love the Old Testament!  Well most parts anyways.  It is full of the histories of God's people and the nation of Israel.  In this section of the Bible there are wars, love stories, famines, times of abundance, blind faith, miracles, people who obey, people who do not obey, and so much more.  

I'm speaking on Generosity this Sunday and I have come across some "bonus" material in the Old Testament that I would like to include Sunday but unfortunately, will not fit into my allotted time slot.  However, fortunately, God has blessed us with email/facebook/internet access and so, here is the bonus coverage.   

I love any story that is King David related.  This story is found in the book of 1st Chronicles.  David, as you may know, is revealed to us in Scriptures as "the man after God's own heart".  However, at this particular time in David's life, he has just committed a humungous sin.  He disobeyed God.  You can check out the entire story found in 1 Chronicles 21.  However for time sake, we will take a glance at the end of the story.  The part where David is seeking forgiveness.  We will pick up the story at verse 18:

¹⁸ Then the angel of the Lord told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁹ So David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him through Gad.²⁰ Araunah, who was busy threshing wheat at the time, turned and saw the angel there. His four sons, who were with him, ran away and hid. ²¹ When Araunah saw David approaching, he left his threshing floor and bowed before David with his face to the ground.

²² David said to Araunah, “Let me buy this threshing floor from you at its full price. Then I will build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.”

²³ “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, and the threshing boards for wood to build a fire on the altar, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all to you.”

²⁴ But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not take what is yours and give it to the Lord. I will not present burnt offerings that have cost me nothing!” ²⁵ So David gave Araunah 600 pieces of gold^[b] in payment for the threshing floor.

²⁶ David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And when David prayed, the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar. ²⁷ Then the Lord spoke to the angel, who put the sword back into its sheath.

²⁸ When David saw that the Lord had answered his prayer, he offered sacrifices there at Araunah’s threshing floor. 

Did you catch it?  Read verse 24 again.  David could have used his status as King to accept something that was free and then present it to the Lord.  This sacrifice then would have cost him nothing.  But he was asked to make a sacrifice to the Lord by an Angel so this would be more out of obligation then generosity right?  Yes, however, in verse 28 we see that David continues to sacrifice beyond the requirement.  I believe we have a tendency to become ritualistic.  We come to church every week, give the same "tithe" every week, and we lose something along the way.  We have a tendency to forget what we have been rescued from.  We forget what we have been forgiven of.  We forget that our offerings and tithes are not a requirement but a response to the goodness of God.

Tomorrow, we will find David at the end of his life and see if he remembers God's goodness.

This week…continue to be generous,

Pastor Jon

Week 3, Day 3

Hi Friends,

Yesterday I wrote to you about how I thought God was messing with me.  On Monday, He interrupted my day so I could be reminded that generosity is more than just finances.  Yesterday, as I was beginning to write my thoughts, a missions organization rep and volunteer showed up at the church and knocked on the door.  They reminded me of the generosity of the Springfield churches.  How homes, churches, and businesses had been built in Nicaragua by some very generous people.  They even talked about how different churches from our city had been able to financially support students in Nicaragua so they could graduate from High School and then provided micro-loans to assist them in starting small businesses.  They were excited to hear about LifeQuest's involvement in organizations such as "Friends against Hunger", "Compassion International", and "Avant Ministries".  It is in moments like this where I am reminded that God's people were created to be generous.  If you look at the second chapter of ACTS you will see how the first Church displayed a generous heart by sharing everything they had with one another.  I believe God wanted to remind me (and this is me reminding you) that we are in this together.  There are other organizations and churches out there that have a generous heart.  Sometimes we get in a funk and think that we are all alone in this fight, but we are not.  God has some great troops stationed along with us in Springfield and all through out the world.

This week…be generous,

Pastor Jon

Week 3, Day 2

It appears that God is messing with me. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but it is happening to me right now. Yesterday, I challenged you to be generous. It is apparent that God is challenging me this week to be generous. We are in the middle of a series called "Honor$" here at LifeQuest Church. We have been challenged to; honor God with our finances, trust God with our finances, get out of debt, and this week we will be talking about being generous.

Yesterday, as soon as I finished sending you all an email about being generous, my phone in my office rang. It was a family that needed someone to be generous with their time and vehicle. It seems this always happens on a week when my to-do list is about sixty pages long. I know God wants me to trust Him in all areas of my life, even if it means being inconvenienced. I knew God wanted me to be generous with my time yesterday because there is a secret about pastors: God typically makes us practice what we preach. So I obeyed. Believe it or not, as I was getting ready to start this email there was a knock on my door. I'll fill you in on that conversation tomorrow.

This week…be generous,

Pastor Jon

Week 3, day 1

Hi Friends,

This week at LifeQuest Church we will be continuing our series on Honoring God with our Finances.  Our verse for the week is 2nd Corinthians 9:6-7.  It says "Remember this--a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop.  But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.  You must each decide in your heart how much to give.  And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. 'For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.'"  If you'd like to take an additional journey this week, I'm hoping to send out a few "primer" emails to get us warmed up for Sunday's message on generosity (notice I didn't say TITHING!!!)  That message comes later in the series.  Today if you have 4 extra minutes I'd like for you to watch this music video by Audio Adrenaline called "Kings and Queens".  I was listening to this song on the radio the other day and the bridge of this song caught my attention.  It says:

"If not us who will be like Jesus
To the least of these
If not us tell me who will be like Jesus
Like Jesus to the least of these"

I pray that God will soften your heart and my heart to bring hope to the least of these.  Please watch the video by clicking on the links on this page.

This week…be generous…

Pastor Jon

Looking out for others...

Jeff Manion reveals a great leadership lesson in the short 2 minute clip below.  Who are you looking after?

At the Harmony House...

"Everyone deserves to live a life free of abuse".  That is the statement written on the home page of The Harmony House website.  On Sunday, our CYM students, Parents, and Staff volunteered their time to have a part in making sure this safe place endures.  We cleaned like crazy!  What does cleaning have anything to do with making sure a life "free of abuse" endures?  Well, we want to do our part in making sure these women and children feel loved by the Church.  We want to make sure that the environment in which they live is not only safe, but clean...similar to the house you and I live in.  Unfortunately, because of the lack of Government assisted funds, over the past couple of years the Harmony House has not always been able to hire for the custodial demands that 110 residents need.  That is where CYM has stepped in.  We, along with many other volunteers from all over Springfield, have developed a partnership to offer our volunteers once per quarter.  This past Sunday we spent our time cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, and organizing.  We quickly realized, as we looked into the eyes of a young child, this was a ministry that reached deeper than a clean floor.  This was a ministry that helped the residents feel valued.  When was the last time you felt valued?  When was the last time you added value to someone else's life?  If you would like to add value to a person's life, then volunteer to serve with us next quarter at the Harmony House.

Katie and Christine scrub down a recently vacated room.

Rachelle helping Christine and Katie in a room

Alley sweeping one of four hallways

Alexis and Kim cleaning the dining room

Sarah and Katie working on a hallway

Ellen, Katie, and Alley scrubbing walls

Christian, Joey, Dave, and Scott in the basement

Patty helping in the dining room

Scott and Jon deciding what needs to be done next

Surge in Review 8/29/12

There was a ton of energy last night at CYM.  It was fun seeing everyone get untangled and it was really awesome seeing kids and students worship their Creator!  Last night we talked about ways we could continue being a Christ Follower at school.  We talked about the pressures to act and talk like those who are not.  We looked at 4 specific ways to "Connect" so that we could persevere by being who we say we are.

1. We need to connect with God through prayer-prayer is vital for helping us resist temptation
2. We need to connect with God's word- knowing what the right things are is vital for us to follow through
3. We need to connect with Christ Following friends-find someone in your school who has the same standards as you and stick with them
4. We need to connect with Adults-find adults who will pray for you constantly  

Students at CYM were: Makensey, Alley, Alexis, Chrissy, Hailey, Katie, Corrie, Kim, Jonathan, Ryan, Elijah, Alex, Luke, Zach, Colten, Jayson, and Brian

SURGE in Review 8/22/12

Last night we talked about one of the craziest stories in all of Scripture...David and Bathsheba found in 2 Samuel 11.  Our main focus last night is to be students and people of integrity.  Are we the same people by ourselves as we are when we are at church or at school?  If we are by ourselves do we watch the same shows on TV as we would if our parents were watching TV with us?  Do we listen to the same songs by ourselves that we'd feel comfortable enough to share those with a friend or through the sound system in the CYM room?  Which of your electronic devices tempts you the most?  TV, Phone, Computer?  What steps are you taking to create accountability for the times you are alone?

Students in attendance were: Makensey, Alexis, Chrissy, Donya, Hailey, Katie, Corrie, MJ, Kim, Frankie, Jonathan, Ryan, Zach, Colten, Luke, Christian, Jeremiah, Jeigh, Mason, and Brian.