The Phil Files

In the Heartlight.org post on “The Main Thing,” I tried to remind us that we must be a people of God’s holy character as well as His faithful compassion. Yet in the middle of emphasizing these things, we must never lose sight of the main thing!

I received a nudge about a small video piece on Viddler. I refer to it a bit reluctantly — not because it is not excellent, but because I am not completely sure it is supported by the folks who released the award winning film on which it is based. So I am pointing you to both the Viddler video and also to the website to consider using the whole video presentation at some time in your church with proper licensing and fees. The film is incredibly well done and has received some of the highest honors. It can be purchased fairly inexpensively for individual use and licensed reasonably for church use. The film is called Most. Beautifully and poignantly edited, this is an incredibly moving piece that helps us understand in some small way the cost to God the Father for the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son. Please check out the website: http://www.mostthemovie.com.

The Viddler video is not nearly as subtle and much shorter, but connects the subtler elements of the movie and drives the point home. It can be found on the web:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/MaximumReferral/videos/1/

Please, don’t use the video without proper licensing. I share it only to help illustrate the point that God sent His Son to do The Main Thing!

Last updated on 11.17.2008

For 11/16 Don’t Forget the Main Thing (4:3-6; cf. 1:13-14, 21-23, 28-29)

This message is for Daybreak on 11/16 and Refresh on 11/30.

Harvest Sunday
Because of the emphasis on Harvest Sunday this week – we will have a Harvest Sunday offering this week – I’ve switched the message for the 30th to the 16th and the previously scheduled message for this Sunday (on our center for thankful joy) to the 30th — for Daybreak, it will remain the same for Refresh. In addition, this can be a much shorter, succinct message, which will be important on a Sunday with a special focus on giving to short-term missions and other mission projects at Southern Hills.

Key Passage: Colossians 4:3-6 – I’m staying away from The Message this week because I think it misses some of the basic meaning of the text and because it uses a word or two that could be misinterpreted – the phrase “don’t miss a trick” sounds manipulative to me in the context of sharing our faith and living before people to influence them to Jesus. However, the Easy to Read Version here is pretty good:

Also pray for us. Pray that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message. I am in prison for doing this. But pray that we can continue to tell people the secret truth that God has made known about Christ. Pray that I will say what is necessary to make this truth clear to everyone. Be wise in the way you act with those who are not believers. Use your time in the best way you can. When you talk, you should always be kind and wise. Then you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should.

Introductory Story:
Years ago, four university ladies in Abilene began to care for an older African American woman who had severe diabetes and was confined to her wheel chair because she had lost most of her lower extremities. For two years, these young women made sure she had food and friendship. Eventually, however, her body gave out and she died. As the preacher in town began to meet with these four young women and the few members of this lady’s family, it became clear that the woman had never made a commitment to Jesus. While what the four young ladies did was admirable, really in those days it was courageously kind, they never took time to visit with this dying woman and talk about her walk with Jesus, her need for grace, her opportunity for baptism and the gift of God’s forgiveness and the power of the Holy Spirit.

In today’s world, under the banner of not judging anyone, we often neglect the opportunity to talk about the most important news of all – the good news Jesus and the opportunity of the Kingdom of God into people’s lives. In the middle of doing lots of good things, we must not forget the main thing. So today, I have only one point: let’s not forget the main thing!

And what is that main thing? Bringing people into a saving relationship with Jesus. John 3:16-17; Colossians 1:13-14 & 21-22

• It’s easy for us to lose focus and neglect this – why we try to guard the Fall
• It’s easy for us to forget how blessed we are with the Hope we have
• We become like the ancient railroad signalman who forgot to light his lantern

Basically, Paul tells these new believers in Jesus to …

1. Pray for him to share the message of Christ
2. Live for opportunities to share the message of Christ (cf. 1 Peter 3:15-16)

LIFE Questions:

What makes it hard to live with “the main thing” in mind?

What is the difference between sharing our faith – our story about what Jesus has done in our lives and our reason for hope in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15-16) – and being an evangelist?

Do you have a story to share with folks about what Jesus has done in your life?

Can you share with someone what they need to do to become a true follower of Jesus?

What makes it especially hard for us to share our faith with others where we live?

Does living for “the main thing” mean we are just nice to people to get them to become followers of Jesus?

How do we genuinely engage in conversation and enter into the life of people that God brings into our lives?

What do we do if they reject our respectful efforts to share Christ with them?

1 Corinthians 14 identifies 3 different types of folks who come to our worship gatherings – brothers and sisters (brethren), unbelievers, and inquirers (mentioned several times but look especially at (vs. 24-26).

What are you doing to make friends and enter into relationship with unbelievers?

What is the difference between inquirers and unbelievers?

What are you doing to share your faith and the way to respond to Jesus with inquirers?

What do I need to do to be prepared to share “my story” and to share Jesus with others to whom God leads me?

What difference has knowing Jesus made in your life?

Using Acts 2:22-47, outline what people need to do to come into a saving relationship with Jesus.

Last updated: 10.17.08

Colossians #9: Leading Others to Jesus (1:28-29) – 10/19

In many ways, this passage is Paul’s mission statement that reflects his internalization of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Several key elements stand out in this presentation:

•    Jesus is the goal – leading everyone to complete perfection in Jesus (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18).
•    This goal, bringing others to Jesus, is for everyone – emphasized three times in verse 28.
•    The power for Paul to meet this goal is not his own strength or efforts, although he clearly has given everything to make every effort as his imprisonment reference reminds us, but instead he relies on the power of that only God can give him

This will be our accompanying video — thanks Corbett!:

In a world of pluralism where every voice is given equal weight, Paul steps forward and reminds us that Jesus is the goal for everyone. His grace, His character, His compassion, and His holiness must be the goal of everyone! Jesus suggested this about Himself in several ways:
•    His “I am” sayings, especially the “I am the way the truth and life, no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6)
•    “You have heard it said … but I say unto you …” (Sermon on the Mount)
•    “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth …” (Matthew 28:18-20)

But more than knowledge about Jesus, Paul’s goal is our “perfection” to Christ. The word is translated mature, complete and in other ways, but its core meaning is the “perfection.” What Paul wants to do is to take the “Christ in you the hope of glory” (1:27) and see Him come to full form in each disciple.

Our focus will be on sharing this simple message of Jesus and working to bring others to complete maturity in Jesus. This would be tied back into our own church vision statement about the front porch – INVITING people to know Jesus; INCLUDING people in the life of Jesus in our church family; and INVOLVING people in the mission of Jesus. Of course this fits in well with our Harvest Mission focus of sharing the message of Jesus.

Special Late Developing Note

I am looking at the possibility at one of the services of exploring what I would call “The Jesus Seed.” The goal is to have Jesus who is in us and is our assured “hope of glory” fully coming to maturity so that Jesus is seen in us. This organic way of viewing the message fits right along with other metaphors that Paul and Jesus use about spiritual growth — “I planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase” and the parables in Matthew 13 and Mark 4.

Clearly, there are several crucial messages in these few short verses:

• Jesus the only true Savior
• Internalization of a mission statement (paraphrasing the Great Commission for our lives)
• The Jesus Seed
• The great mystery

Final update follows:

Christ in us is the assurance of our sharing in glory (1:27). But, the goal is for that “seed” to fully blossom till Christ comes alive in us (1:28-29). So helping Christ come alive in others must be our mission and our vision – “I [Paul] planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6) and “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you … (Gal 4:19). This process is not immediate or automatic, but is a product on our focusing and reflecting Jesus in our lives as the Holy Spirit transforms us to be more like Jesus day by day (2 Cor 3:17-18). We must be willing to be used up to display and share Christ with others, trusting Jesus to be present and to empower us to do that. This is not just the goal for us, for believers, but the goal for “everyone” (3x in Colossians 1:28; cf. Matthew 28:18-20). But this planting of the seed doesn’t happen without our willingness to personally sacrifice to see it that it happens (Col 1:24-25; cf. John 12:23-24)

This is the Sunday to really focus on the call of God and the Great Commission of Jesus to reach all nations with the Gospel. A reminder of … “global economic crisis” and the “global conflict against terrorism” and the “global impact of oil prices” and the “flat world” reality that we live in because of satellites and the Internet – examples of prayer lists for folks like Robert Reagan. In times of crisis and fear and uncertainty, folks are most often open to God’s call in their lives and we can’t let this opportunity pass us by.

The key is to really tie the message of Colossians to our Harvest Mission campaign this week and emphasize the importance of living out the vision.

Ultimately, the issue is how do come to perfection in Christ – having Jesus fully alive in us and seen in all of our activities? That is the issue, Jesus coming alive in us fully so that we can fully come alive?

Daybreak

Focus on Jesus call to take His message to all of the world. The focus would be on this one message as the saving message the world needs. But the goal isn’t just baptisms, but the maturity of people to be the presence of Jesus in their every day worlds. As Jesus says it, “all who are fully trained will be like their teacher” (Luke 6:40).

Use the Great Commission as a Scripture read in the service as a point of emphasis – while we know the normal translations, The Message would be great here as a corporate reading – maybe do it the first time with TNIV, then with The Message, and have us all say it together at the end from The Message. Tie this also to any Harvest Missions announcement and reminders.

Emphasize the “global” term that used is over and over again in media – the global impact of … economy, gas prices, warming in the atmosphere, terrorism, outsourcing of jobs, food shortages …

And those “global” issues have an impact in our houses and apartments and dorm rooms. What we pay at the pump or have in our retirement or what we pay for our utility bills or how far we can stretch our fixed income …

But as things are tough and challenging, one of the interesting ironies is that folks have been historically more open to God during these times. Our own history the great burst of growth during the depression and post depression years (the Stamps Baxter songs that buoyed people’s spirits during these times).

So our faith in Jesus must have global implications as well!

One of the powerful things that Paul reminds us in Colossians is that hard times (1:24) are not a time to back off the commission (1:25) that Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:18-20, but to personalize that commission and live it with passion and power, power he will supply (1:29) because the grace of Jesus and Jesus coming alive in each of us is what is needed for everyone (1:28 everyone is used 3x).

So where do we start? What is our focus?
1.    Letting the Christ seed come alive in us! (Rob Video) Our focus on the Gospel of Luke and sharing the story of Jesus we learn for ourselves (Last week!)
2.    Personalizing the Great Commission for our own lives – what is God calling me to do, what is spiritual life job description? In other words, how do we let the “Hallelujah” come out in us?
3.    Encourage, sacrifice, and support the work of getting the good news to as many as possible (Harvest Missions)

Refresh

Focus on Jesus as the only hope for all of the world. Emphasize the exclusivity of Jesus versus all other faiths and how that is more than just believing a message about Jesus, but Jesus coming to life in each of us.

Sundown

Focus on exclusive claims about Jesus in other parts of the New Testament and how they fit with Jesus claims about himself, especially in the “I am” statements in the Gospel of John – cf. Acts 4:12; Revelation 1.

LIFE Questions

Is it close-minded to say that Jesus is the goal of everyone?

Why do you think it is so hard for folks to say that Jesus is the only way to God?

What are some passages of Scripture or stories that emphasize that Jesus is the only way?

Read Matthew 28:18-20 and then take the basic gist of that and use your own words to write a life’s mission statement for your life in Christ.

What is the difference between “perfection in Christ” in terms of our daily lives and just having lots of knowledge about what Jesus did?

A brother in Christ shared the following with me. This brother has — as the ol’ Timex commercial said — “taken a lickin’ and kept on tickin’.” I believe you will find this both convicting and powerful:

My Name is Legion

My name is Legion, and I am hurting –

… hurting from the loss of someone I love through deaht, or life

… hurting from a loneliness that overpowers (Doesn’t anyone care?)

… hurting from physical pain that has no relief

… hurting from mental anguish that almost drives me mad

… hurting from rejection, or a slight, or a put down

… hurting from guilt — surely what I did was unforgiveable

… hurting from gossip spread about me — true or not

… hurting from prejudices because of skin color, education, or money

… hurting from being avoided when I need a hug, a touch

… hurting from loss of direction when I need a guide

If you have love and compassion, look for me — I’m all around, for …

My name is Legion, and I am hurting

Jimmy Denio

Yes, we have opportunities all around us. Will we look for them, reach out, and care?

I’m looking for response to my article in Heartlight.org today, entitle “ALL!” I’m also looking for response to the post yesterday called, “A Heart for the City.” Help me out with some insight here!

Why is it so hard to be a church that is committed to reach “ALL” people?

How can we as believers reach out to “ALL” and not just to people just like us?

How can we learn to love the people of our city more and include them in Jesus’ circle of grace?

(Please share your responses below — don’t forget to put in the number code or the responses won’t post! Thanks.)

Ever since my heart was captured by the Gospel of Luke and the companion volume called Acts, I have been convicted that God had a special heart for the city.

“Which city?” you might ask.

My answer, “Any city, but especially the big cities!”

Jesus’ ministry was focused on the key cities — Capernaum and Jerusalem especially — and the book of Acts revolves around key cities — Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, and Rome.

I recently received a message in my inbox that spoke so powerfully about this focus and something that has been on my heart lately. This message came in a regular email update called The Bronx Prayer Letter. In it, Jared Looney powerfully speaks about a love for the city, especially the people in the city. As I preach on Jesus’ call for us to be an “ALL” focused people today — something I will discuss more with you in my Heartlight.org article tomorrow — I can’t think of a more powerful way to demonstrate the love necessary to do this than Jared’s letter. Be blessed: but even more, be convicted. I have been!

Dear Friends,

Lying in bed last night, I kept thinking about the faces, the names, the situations, and dramas unfolding. It is easy to look at the city, calculate its toughness and spiritual despair, and decide that “it’s not for me.”

Like the rest of us, people in the Bronx are deeply flawed. While part of our society wrestles with the violent sins of neglect, places like the Bronx are flawed in more obvious ways. There is a rawness to life and to relationships, and life is desperate for many. For missionaries from the burbs, it is easy to appreciate the poor when they are new and their stories inspiring, when there is a certain admiration or intrigue,when we are entering an experience that stimulates our sense of adventure. That is, before the glit and glamour of urban messiness becomes actually… messy.

In theological discussions around the country, many are renewing conversations about Incarnational ministry. That is, the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us as a (or THE) model for ministry. However, I wonder if short term missions has sometimes skewed our view of this practical doctrine. For all the discussions of incarnational ministry, they are only discussions until the glamour rubs off and we’re sharing life with other (and perhaps differently) flawed people. When Jesus repeatedly sat at the table with “sinners and tax collectors” or called fishermen who thought of children as an annoyance, Jesus shared life with them — and at the same time he was life for them. He sought their transformation, and when necesary he released them to their choices. And I’m sure with a sensitivity to sin that shadows even the holiest of consciences, he journeyed with them as their friend.

Early in this journey, the Lord impressed upon me to love the city. I knew what that meant more & more over time. The city is the people, and I love the city.

Jared Looney