Tag: change

The Power of Habit

page_1Habit matters, and we all have them. The question is do we have good habits or bad ones?

And this was really shown to me a few nights ago.

If I can be honest, I’m not a perfect parent or even pastor. And this story will show that.

We came home late from something, I was tired and trying to get the boys to bed. This just seemed like a hassle, and I just wanted to zone out with Netflix for an hour before we went to bed. But the boys were busy and running, and finally it seemed like we were ready for bed, and I put them in bed.

And that’s why Asher (my 2 year old), started yelling “Bible…Bible…Bible”

Each night we read the Bible together, and we’ve got this good one with kids stories and it’s really good. But on this night I did not want to read the Bible (I know a bad thing for a pastor to say), I wanted to watch Netflix, and I wanted to rest.

So I said, “Not tonight Asher…tomorrow”. At which point both boys started loudly protesting (read – yelling) saying, “But we always read the Bible, no dad we need to read it, Dad just one story”

Do you see the power of habit?

Habits are things that you’ve invested in over time, so that when you don’t want to do the healthy and good thing (reading the Bible) that it feels weird when you don’t do them. That you notice and feel it when you skip a rhythm.

Because we’ve read the Bible so often (on nights when I’m not burnt out), when I didn’t want to do the right action (sit and read and talk with my boys), the habit forced me into the right decision.

This is why habits matter – they force us to make the right decision even when we don’t want to.

So here is my question: what good habits do you have? What unhealthy ones do you have? What good habits should you be starting? Because we all have them, good or bad. I think the challenge is for us to start simple but good habits that make a difference long-term. Some of the ones I think of are eating together, are praying together, reading together, or whatever. The point is that we all have rhythms that our lives play out too. I just think it’s worth to every now and then examine those rhythms and make sure they are the rhythms we want to learn.

And habits work best when they involve others, even little kids with words that remind you to make the best decisions, even when you’re tired.

by Andrew Mills

Journeying Together is Healing

1254520_81286112On Sunday we looked at the story of Ruth, and the power of committing to someone’s journey. The book of Ruth begins with Naomi her mother-in-law in a deeply dark place. She moves to a foreign country, and her husband and her two sons die. This leaves her alone in a foreign land, without support, without care, and with two foreign daughters-in-law.

She is hurt, spiteful towards God, and bitterness oozes out from her. She decides to journey back home. She is so bitter that when she arrives home and people say, “Is that Naomi” (which means pleasant in Hebrew)? She responds with, “No, call me Mara now” (which means bitter). So she has gone from being pleasant to bitter. She now totally identifies with loss, bitterness, and hurt as her companions. She says God sent her away full and brought her back empty.

This is the hard place that she is in. Yet in the midst of this difficult, and this Plan B, things change for her. Things change for Naomi because of her daughter-in-law Ruth.

Ruth commits to being with Naomi no matter what. Naomi seeks to push Ruth away, to say she can’t be helped, to say there is nothing that can be done (Ruth 1:11-13). But Ruth refuses to give up on Naomi. She commits to her that she will be with her no matter what. She says “Where you go, I’ll go, where you live I’ll live, your God will be my God. We will be together”.

And it is this commitment to journeying together that begins to change not only Naomi but also Ruth. Through a series of amazing events, God begins to restore to Naomi some of what she has lost. God begins to heal her. And this only happens though because Ruth committed to journeying with Naomi for the long haul.

The story ends with Naomi being happy and full of joy as she cuddles with Ruth’s new baby, her grandson. Her life moves from Plan B back to God’s promises.

From this story we landed on the main idea that we need each other. Not in the clichéd, hallmark, or sentimental way. But in a real – deep life – can’t get through life without one another. I need you, you need me, we need each other.

So we ended with a challenge. That for some of us we need to go be a “Ruth” to someone else. We need to commit to journey with them, to care for them, and to love them like Ruth did. And while we can’t be a Ruth to everyone in need, that is not an excuse not to be there for someone in need. That was our challenge.

We also challenged those of us who are in Naomi’s place to reach out to a “Ruth”. To not refuse the help that a “Ruth” can bring. To not push away that relationship.

Because the truth is the only way we get through life is with one another. This is the beautiful thing about the church ~ Naomi’s and Ruth’s commit to journeying together and both find a new hope in the process.

 

 

Teaching Notes

Big Idea: We need each other; we need to journey together.

Teaching Points:

  • Here’s the truth and this one is thoroughly biblical: throughout life you will face one situation after another that will be completely beyond what you can handle. Pete Wilson
  • We need one another to get through Plan B times.
  • Naomi means “Pleasant” in Hebrew; Mara means “Bitter”.
  • No longer are these emotions that afflict us, they are emotions that define us.
  • Ruth commits to journeying with Naomi.
  • People who are in a deep place of hurt often push away the only people who can help
  • When you are in Plan B, you need community more than ever. Yet because of the pain that comes along with Plan B, it’s easy to miss the God-given gift of community.  Pete Wilson
  • We need one another.
  • “I will go where you go. I will live where you live.”  Ruth
  • Just because you can’t help everyone does not give you an excuse to not help someone
  • We can’t benefit from the power of community until we dare to face who we are.  Pete Wilson

Adult Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it? What was new?

Have you ever been like Naomi, so consumed by hurt, that it defines you? How did it happen? How did you move out of it? Have you ever had someone “be a Ruth to you”? What was that like? How did they commit to journeying with you? Why do you think it’s hard to be a “Ruth” to someone? Why do you think it’s hard to allow others to be a “Ruth” to us? Who is God calling you to jouney with? Is God asking you to allow someone to journey with you?

Discussion Question for Families:

Talk to your kids about the importance of caring for one another. Talk to them about how Ruth helped Naomi by being there for her. Ask your kids if there is anyone they know that needs someone to be there for them. Ask them about ideas for helping them, and then use their ideas.

Challenge for the Week: Be a Ruth to Someone; Invite a Ruth to Journey with You

by Andrew Mills

What’s Your River, Obstacle, or Challenge?

1445165_51775350This Sunday we are looking at how to do you get out of “Plan B” times. You know the times where life seems to fall apart, where Plan A is long gone, where you’re not sure how to move forward.

We are going to be discovering how to find the next step to take to start to move back in the right direction.

The difficulty is that the step we are all asked to take is often into a raging flood. It’s a difficult step, into a fearful situation. But we are going to be looking at Joshua and how God moves in his life to lead him forward.

But before we get there, feel free to read Joshua 1-2 ahead of time,and I have a question for you. What obstacle are you facing in your life? What is the difficulty you are facing right now?

For Joshua he was facing a river that blocked his way to the promised land. What is it for you? A job, a relationship, a health challenge, an uncertain future, what? Are there any obstacles before you? Spend some time reflecting on where God is calling you, and what seems to be stopping you.

And then come on Sunday we are going to see how not only can we overcome obstacles, but how God can do miracles. How he can give us the next step to take, and bring us to our promised land. And that is something worth finding out.

by Andrew Mills

Morning Prayer for Times of Transition and Change

1427667_31525848This was my prayer this morning:

God there is much before me, and much unknown. But you are also before me, help me to find you, and find your way.

Today is my first day without my friend and co-pastor Dave here at the church. He’s been called up north to continue his really wonderful relational ministry there. That leaves a large hole, or many different holes here to fill.

So as I was praying this morning and looking forward I realized that there is a lot of unknowns before not only me but also the church right now. What if we don’t find the right person? What if I make mistakes as I lead? What if in the transition I unintentionally hurt someone or miss something? There are a lot of “what if’s” whenever things change.

But as I prayed I realized something – even though a lot is unknown, there are a lot of potential pitfalls, and mistakes will surely be made (we are all human after all). One thing is sure. God is also before us. God is also leading us. God is also with us.

So even amidst change, transition, and uncertainty – I don’t believe we need to be fearful. Instead I think our call is simply to remain faithful. Faithful to God, and faithful to one another.

Because I really believe one thing is certain ~ God is before us. And if we look for him we will find him, and find his way for us.

So whatever today you might be facing, whatever uncertainty wonderings, or difficult futures I think the point is the same for you. God is before you, search and find him, follow him and he will get you through. The way may not be clear now, but the calling is: finding God and following God.

So may you do that this morning, and maybe even pray my morning prayer with me:

God there is much before me, and much unknown. But you are also before me, help me to find you, and find your way.

Amen.

by Andrew Mills

Sharing Your Story…

1077691_68991810I believe that as Christians we want to be able to share Jesus with other people. This is natural and a good thing. Whenever anything good happens in our lives we want to share it with those that we care for. The trouble is that when it comes to sharing Jesus with others many of us have no idea how to do it in ways that don’t seem forced, aggressive, or insensitive. We want to share the grace of Jesus, with the same posture and spirit as Jesus – but in general I don’t think we know how.

When we think of sharing Jesus we think of going up to people cold, of artificially steering conversations towards him, or of handing out tracts or something. So since we don’t know what to do, we don’t end up doing much of anything.

And so many of us have a desire to share what Jesus has done in our lives, but no idea how to do that with our lives. In fact, because I think so many have shared about Jesus poorly, many of us are fearful of saying anything about Jesus at all. But if Jesus has honestly transformed our lives ~ freed us from greed, apathy, anger, and given us hope, life, and love ~ we should be able to share that with our friends, family, and neighbors.

The question is how?

That’s precisely the question I want to examine on Sunday. How do we share Jesus, not in an arrogant, or insensitive way but a natural and even beautiful way?

Well on Sunday we are going to look at one story that can really demonstrate to us how we can share the life and love of Jesus without repelling people from Jesus. How we can invite people to experience and understand the beauty of who Jesus is without some of the baggage often associated with ‘evangelism’.

But before we get there let me ask you a question. How did you come to know and believe in Jesus Christ? What was it that impacted you into considering a relationship with Jesus?

I’ll make a bet – it had something to do with someone sharing their story.

And as we’ll find out on Sunday, sometimes that’s all you have to do.

by Andrew Mills

Broken Pasts, Limited Futures, and New Life

1310598_43430592On Sunday we explored the story of Moses but looked at it from a different angle. We looked at it from a failed past angle. Moses was surely thought to be the man to bring salvation to his people. His story from the very beginning seems  destined for greatness. He was miraculously saved in an ark, grows up in Pharaoh’s court, and seems to be a man of limitless potential whom God will use to save his people.

Fast forward to when he is older, and ready to step up and be the hero. The story in Exodus 2 jumps to his moment when we think he will save his people. But what ends up happening is that Moses makes a rash and impulsive decision and kills an Egyptian burying him in his sand. This leads to Moses fleeing from Egypt leaving behind his destiny to live in the desert.

It’s at this place that we catch up with Moses, a man whom we must assume has many regrets. He was raised in the lap of luxury, and is now a man alone watching sheep as a shepherd in the desert. My guess is that if we were to ask Moses what his future was like he would say dim. That he would assume that his past is limiting what God can do with him in the future. That even though he once had potential his failures define his future.

But what I love about God is that our past is never ever wasted with him. That our past never defines our future. Our God can even transform our pasts into new futures for us.

So God comes to Moses and says, “go to Pharaoh and speak to him and save your people.”  This is amazing because Moses is probably the only Israelite person in the world who can actually get to Pharaoh. It’s like you or me trying to get a personal audience with the President of the United States – it’s just not going to happen. But Moses grew up in the court, Moses might have even grown up with the current Pharaoh, Moses knows the ins and outs of political landscape. He can get to see Pharaoh.

And so Moses thinks that his future must limit God, but God wants to use Moses precisely because of his past. His past doesn’t limit God, but actually allows God to do something amazing through him.

And I think this is true of all of us. Our pasts with God are never wasted, instead God can use them, transform them, and build on them to accomplish something amazing through us. Through Moses and his checkered past God saves all the Israelite people. And through us no matter what our past is like, God can use us as well.

The question is this: do you believe that God can use all of you?

Do you honestly believe God can use all of you?

Because this story points to the fact that your past doesn’t limit God. Your poor decisions, awful events, hurtful encounters doesn’t stop God. In fact, God can use your past to bring about a new future for you and for others.

So the question is “do you believe that God can use all of you, no matter what you’ve done? And if so are you willing to be used?”

We ended up on Sunday with the challenge for each of us to carve out some time and go to God and give him all of ourselves. To offer to him all of us, broken pasts and everything, and invite him to use us. I think it’s the right way to start. Moses encounters God in the burning bush and everything is changed. So today why not go and encounter God and discover that he can change and transform your past and your future. Because that is how great our God really is.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Your past is never wasted

Take Aways…

  • We don’t drift into making a difference
  • One of the single biggest obstacles to finding God’s future is often our past
  • We have an assumption that God works best with perfect people
  • Moses is gifted with amazing potential
  • In Moses we see someone with unlimited potential, falter and fail
  • We end up rehearsing and regretting our failed decisions
  • For many of us decisions in the past decide and determine our future
  • Our God can change the past
  • We often feel like our past limits God’s future for us
  • God chooses Moses because of his past, not in spite of it
  • Your past is never wasted
  • Will your story be one of regret or transformation?
  • Do you believe God can use all of you?
  • Give God all of yourself

Adult / Group Discussion Questions:

What stuck out to you from the sermon? What was challenging to you? How did God speak to you through it?

Have you ever deeply regretted a decision? What happened? How come you regretted it? Have you ever felt like you were destined to do something important? In the sermon could you relate at all to Moses regretting an impulsive decision?

What in your past have you wished you could let go of? How might God be wanting to redeem and use your past for his good? How might God want to transform your past, so that you might transform others today?

Do you believe God can use all of you? Share your thoughts on this question.

Plan a time to spend with God giving him all of your past

Discussion Questions for Young Families: Take sometime to talk with your kids about how with God he heals our past. Ask your kids if there has ever been a choice they regret or something that really hurt them. Talk to them about how with God he can heal our hurt pasts. Talk to them about how we can go to God with all we have in us and find peace. Spend some time with your kids praying, and bringing to God anything they have.

Challenge for this Week: Give God all of Yourself

by Andrew Mills

Can God Transform Your Past?

794034_32889557I’m going to say something, that while it’s not true, many of us believe: our past limits God.

For whatever reason in Christianity we have this unwritten assumption that God does his best work with perfect people. That people who have failed less than us, made better choices than us, who are closer than God to us – have more potential than us. And while we might not ever say it that bluntly we assume that God would rather use someone who didn’t have that messy past: that affair, that moral breakdown, impulsive decision, lack of courage, whatever.

The point is that we think that somehow the wrong and regretful decisions we have made limit what God can do in and through us.

That’s the assumption I really want to honestly examine on Sunday. Does our past really limit God? Is our past something we need to overcome to be able to be useful to God?

What I think we’ll discover is something really unique, shocking, and subversive. God wants to use us, because of past not in spite of it.

But before we get there on Sunday why not spend some time honestly reflecting on your life. Are there encounters, decisions, or things that have happened to you that you feel disqualify you or limit your future? Does anything from your past have a hold on what could happen? Does that relational blowup, decision to dropout, moral failure, wrong choice, or just missed opportunity still determine some of what you believe God can do in and through you?

If so, simply start to recognize the places and things that you believe might limit God’s working in and through you. Bring them with you on Sunday, and we’ll see what God might do with them. I’ll give you a hint: even though it seems impossible…God can transform our pasts into a new future.

by Andrew Mills

Finding God’s Purpose for Our Church

Plattsville_Missionary_ChurchThere is an old Chinese proverb that says:

If your vision is for a year, plant wheat.

If your vision is for ten years, plant trees.

If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.

I think it’s really true and quite deep. A vision that lasts a lifetime must be centred on people. That’s what we really ended up exploring on Sunday. How Jesus Christ changes people. How he changes lives, and how he invites us into doing the same thing.

On Sunday we talked about Jesus’ mission and vision for life found in Luke 4. Here he states and shares what he is here to do. He is absolutely clear he is here to free people, to provide healing, to provide restoration, and to set things right again. In short, he is here to change all of life, in the here and now. Jesus is about changing lives in the present. And he is still about doing that today. And he actually invites us into changing lives with him. Becoming like Jesus means participating with Jesus in what he is doing.

So on Sunday we discovered our foundation for the next series. Our deep desire and goal is this: to be changed by Jesus, and join Jesus in changing lives.

Our goal is to first have our lives absolutely transformed by Jesus Christ. You can’t share something you don’t have. So we first need to experience life, transformation, and change before we can ever begin to share that with others. Our deep desire is that anyone who joins with us will not remain the same. That through Jesus Christ being active in our church each person would experience lasting life change. They would find restoration, healing, hope, and new life.

But if that transformation just remains with us it will turn stagnant and bitter. As a church we are also equally called to share life with others. We are called to change lives with Jesus. That “with” is important because it recognizes that God is already active in our friends, family, and communities. We aren’t bringing Jesus with us into relationships. We are discovering where Jesus is already active in relationships and starting there. Through our commitment to serve, to bless, to give, we believe we will see change. We see change happen only when we are living life like Jesus Christ ~ with a posture of grace, openness, willingness to enter someone else’s world, and most of all humility.

That is our deep deep hope. I could care less about us being the biggest or best church in the area.  I care a lot about being the church to the area. We are not content to run nice services if those services don’’ send us out into the community seeing life change in our friends, family and neighbors.

So this is what we want to be doing, and in all honesty, it’s what we’ve been trying to do for a while. Now we simply want to become more intentional, because as I said in my last post: you don’t drift into making a difference. Making a difference starts with making a decision and that’s what we did on Sunday. Making a decision to be changed by Jesus, and to partner with him to change others.

So that’s our decision about where we are going. But maybe for you today it’d be worth making a decision of your own. Why not take a moment and ask him how today you can join in what he is doing. And then why not do this each and everyday. Because my guess is if we do that we will not only be changed by Jesus, but changing others with Jesus.

Sermon Notes

Big Idea: Being changed by Jesus, and changing lives with Jesus

Take Aways…

+       Where is your life headed?

+       If you don’t plan where you are going, you’ll end up going nowhere

+       Churches and Christians in general have a vague idea of what we are called to do.

+       That people who do great things, set out to do great things

+       You don’t drift into making a difference

+       Vague direction leads to a lack of action

+       New life isn’t coming it’s here because Jesus is here

+       If it’s not Good News for everyone, it’s not Good News for anyone

+       Jesus is here to change all of life

+       The Christian life isn’t a self-interested one

+       Being changed by Jesus, and changing lives with Jesus 

Adult / Group Discussion Questions

What direction is your life headed? If you were to answer the question, “Jesus is leading me (where)…” what would you say?  What has Jesus already changed in you? What freedom, restoration, and hope has he given in you? What do you think he wants to change in you? How might he do this, or what is he asking you to do?

How is your life having an impact and changing others? Are there those in your workplace, family, or neighborhood God is calling to leave an impact? Do you have any ideas how you might do that?

Are there people you can journey with over the next few weeks? How can you make that happen?

Who should you invite to church, or to journey with you discovering how Jesus wants to change us, and change lives through us?

Discussion Questions for Young Families            Talk with your kids about what Jesus is about: us being changed by Jesus, and changing lives with Jesus. Ask your kids how Jesus has changed them. Really listen to their answers. Ask them how they might help change the lives of their friends. And then help them do it. 

Challenge for this Week Commit to the Journey, Journey with Others, Invite Others on the Journey

 

by Andrew Mills

How Do We Change Our World?

This Sunday we are really exploring a difficult, if not life-changing, topic. The topic is this: how do we live as follo

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wers of Jesus in our world?

Because if you haven’t noticed so much of our world isn’t Jesus-like. There is hate, anger, greed, self-interest, materialism, environmental abuse, violence, and difficulty. These are things that are both prevalent around our lives and affec

t our lives.

The truth is that our world in many ways is far from the Kingdom of God. In God’s Kingdom people don’t go hungry, in our world they do. In God’s Kingdom people are valued, in our world people are left out and alone. In God’s Kingdom

violence has no redemptive power, in our world we think it does. In God’s Kingdom the marginalized are

welcomed, in our world they are forgotten. This isn’t though a case of pessimism because Jesus is clear that his Kingdom is here, it is growing

, it is moving, and it is always also coming. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we can have hope in a better world, and not just one we find when we die, but one we can have while we live.

The question then is how do we change the world we are a part of? Because Christianity has been about chan

ge from the beginning. Transformation of personal lives, of communities, of neighborhoods, and even of the entire world. So in light of the major difficulties of the world, how are we to live so that we partner with Jesus in bringing change?

Well on Sunday we are going to be looking at a story that is all about changing the world around: everything from our communities right up to the world of politics around us.

We are going to be looking at the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den.

I remember a prof once joking that we shouldn’t talk about sex, money, or politics in church. And since I’ve already covered sex and money, I thought why not cover the last one.

So that’s where we’re headed on Sunday, but before we get there why not think about this question and post an answer if you have it. How do you change the world? And where does change start?

by Andrew Mills

Jesus’ Promises to Us

941675_66474867So on Sunday we explored how God both hears our cries and responds to our difficulties. We then explored how God does this, and also most importantly what he promises to do. In Exodus 6:6-8 we read of three promises that God covenants with his people. That he will:

  • I will take you out
  • I will rescue you
  • I will redeem you
  • I will take you to me

Traditionally then at each Passover these promises would be remembered, and glass of wine accompanying each promise.

Jesus then in the last supper, while having a Passover meal, raises a glass saying “this is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people” (Mark 14:24). In this moment Jesus is reminding the disciples of the promises of God given to his people in Exodus 6. And Jesus is now saying that these are his promises to his followers as well that because of his death and resurrection: Jesus will take us out of our difficulties, Jesus will come and rescue us from our bondage, Jesus will redeem us from sin, Jesus will take us to his presence and Kingdom.

Jesus’ promise to those who follow him is that just as God in the Old Testament heard his people’s cries and responded, so too does the Son of God. He hears our cries and promises to come and take us out of difficult, rescue us from trouble, redeem our past, and take us into his future for us.

So we ended on Sunday by putting these things into practice: believing and trusting in the promises of Jesus. I think that’s a good way to end any Sunday, and start any day. To trust that Jesus is the one who comes to us, redeems us, rescues us, and takes us to his Father.

Sermon Notes:

Big Idea: Jesus Keeps His Promises

Take Aways…

  • God hears our cries
  • God listens and responds to us
  • God gives four promises:
    • I will take you out
    • I will rescue you
    • I will redeem you
    • I will take you to me
  • These promises aren’t just for back then but for today

Adult / Group Discussion Questions: What surprised you? What made you think? What did you take away? What was new? How does knowing that God hears and responds to our cries make you feel? Change you? Shape your Prayer life? Which promise did you need most today? What made that promise resonate with you? How might Jesus come through on his promise to you?

Discussion Questions for Young Families: Talk with your kids that just as how when they cry out, you come and respond to their needs – that God does the same thing. Share with them that they can cry out to God at any time. Ask them if there is anything they need from Jesus today?

Challenge for this Week: Trust in Jesus promises

by Andrew Mills