You Are The Church

Since its birth, the church has been among the most misunderstood organizations in existence.  It has been maligned, persecuted, challenged, rejected, and ignored.  And yet, there are millions of congregations around the world, and in many nations the church is growing faster than we can imagine.

It seems striking that while those outside the church are often the ones that misunderstand it, so many times the misunderstanding comes from within.  When those within the church don’t quite understand it, there is often confusion, complacency, lack of vision and direction, decline, and even division.

Often, church members see the church as something you “go to.”  We’ve all had those conversations in which we talk about going to church, or getting others to go to church.  At times, this view causes us to think that if we “go to church,” we are in good standing spiritually, as if being “in church” makes one a Christian. However, as has often been said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”

Sometimes, people see the church as something to be joined.  It is as if we are somehow changed by affiliation or by finding our names on the church roll.  Other times, church people have the illusion that the church is a social organization created to change things around us, or as a place where like-minded friends are.

While all those and many other views of the church contain some elements of truth in them, the fact is that the church is nothing less than every single person, wherever they may be, who live in a relationship with Jesus that has been secured by his death and resurrection.  When any one accepts the forgiveness of God through the grace he has offered us through his son, Jesus, and then determines to follow Christ as a believer, that person is born into the church, not by human choice but by God’s action.

To state it very simply, then, if you know Jesus, you are the church.  We are the church together.  We have been entrusted with the most important task in the world, that of taking the good news of Jesus to a broken, lost, and dying world.  So the church is not a social organization, a gathering of people who think alike, a roster to get one’s name on, or a gathering of religious people.  It is the body of Christ, on mission. It is me. It is you.  It is us together.  We exist together so that Jesus can be made known, so that broken people can be made whole, so that empty people can be filled, so that people who are guilty can be forgiven, so that reconciliation can come to broken relationships. 

When we came to know Christ, we became part of the church. It’s hard to imagine, but God believes in us enough to trust us with being his body in this world.  Of all the things to be part of, the most exciting to me is to be part of the church.  Imagine, Jesus touches broken people with our hands, encourages them with our words, helps them through our giving, loves them with our hearts, and draws them to himself with our witness. 

And so, church rightly understand is not a burden, a chore, or a confining responsibility.  It instead brings great freedom to our lives, freedom to love, serve, give, and belong.  The next time church seems like just one more thing you have to do, take a look at your view of church.  Remember that it is the greatest, most powerful force in the world.

Best of all, remember that YOU ARE THE CHURCH!

Pastor Carl

The Spirit Within

           Two thousand years ago, God came down to earth to dwell among us as a man. He lived, died on a cross, and rose again so that we might experience life.  A few weeks after his death, an equally amazing event took place. The third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, came to dwell within His people for all eternity. Yes, the God of the universe, the One who created everything, and He who holds it all together desires to dwell within our fragile bodies for His purposes and glory.    

On Pentecost, the Spirit came as “tongues of fire” and filled the disciples. They were forever changed. The Apostle Peter, once a bumbling fisherman, now preached to thousands of people from different nations. His hearers, cut to the core, repented and were baptized, not because of Peter, but because of the Spirit of God within him, speaking through him (Acts 2). With a few words or a touch, the disciples healed the crippled, sick, and demon possessed – works of the Spirit of God within them. New believers sold everything they had to share with those in need – evidence of the Spirit of God within them. The evangelist Philip was instantaneously transported 30 miles after sharing the gospel and baptizing an Ethiopian eunuch; the Spirit within was using him for His purposes (Acts 8).

We can easily think such miraculous works of the Spirit were only for New Testament times and believers, but this is far from true. The Church of God movement has experienced many powerful works of the Spirit throughout its history. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, or “sanctification,” has been a central teaching and experience throughout our history. People who were surrendered to the Holy Spirit saw God perform the very same works mentioned in the New Testament because the very same Spirit dwelt within them, within us.

In the early 1930’s, my grandfather prayed all night for a man lying on his deathbed. During those hours of prayer, my grandfather received the spiritual gift of healing and the man was healed instantly. With only an 8^th grade education, my grandfather went on to plant over ten churches and heal hundreds of people. Like the New Testament believers, the Spirit of God who lived within my grandfather gifted him and enabled him to fulfill God’s will.

Is Crossroads a people that is fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit? Are we experiencing fruit only God can produce or are we content with mere human effort as if God were not even with us? Do we merely ask God to bless what we have already done on our own strength or are we using the gifts His Spirit has given to follow His lead, building His Kingdom? Imagine what the Spirit within us desires to do in our lives, in our families, at Crossroads, in our community, and beyond. Wouldn't it be amazing to surrender anew and find out. 

Pastor Jason

For further dialogue on this blog entry and the role of the Holy Spirit in your life, contact Pastor Jason at 419-229-4074 or jason@limacrossroads.org.

Motivations

Over the past couple months I’ve been on a journey in my own life of trying to discover the motives behind my actions.  I’ve been at a place for quite a while now that longs to do the right thing for the right reason.  So many times I do the right thing in everyone’s eyes because I want people to think better of me or I want to gain respect.  The motives behind my actions are not always what they should be. 

Jesus spends most of his time teaching about the heart. It seems as though Jesus cares more about our heart than our actions.  If our hearts are in the right place, won’t the right actions flow out of that?  We have some how switched the two. We think doing the right thing means our hearts are in the right place.  I know this isn’t true because there I times I do the right thing for very selfish reasons. 

I have begun asking the question, why am I doing… fill in the blank.  What I have found in my life is that the reason why I do a lot of things is because there has been someone out there that has told me not to.  Let me give you an example.  One day I was at Chic-fil-A for lunch with some friends.  Chic-fil-A has the best milkshakes, so I usually go for a chocolate shake.  This day was no different. The cashier handed me the milkshake and says, “Don’t squeeze it too hard the lid may pop off.”  After hearing, this I didn’t even think - I just instantly gave the cup a couple small squeezes right in front of the cashier.  The cashier looked at me and said, “I said don’t.”  I have this automatic reaction to people who tell me to do something; I just don’t do well when people tell me what to do.

The question then remains, why do I do that?  Why am I so quick to do the opposite of what people tell me?  What is the reason or motivation behind those actions? When we answer these kinds of questions we begin to understand the condition of our own hearts.  But we must evaluate our motivation, not just our actions.  Jesus says, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”  Jesus is constantly telling parables that people think have to do with farming, finding lost things, and being kind, when the more I read them the more it seems as Jesus is trying to get us to see the condition of our own hearts. 

For me answering these questions has shown me that I have a prideful heart at times.  The reason I do the opposite of what I’m told is because I want to prove to people that I don’t have to listen to anyone and I can figure it out on my own.  That’s the truth.  For the last couple months I have been aware of this and have spent a lot of time in prayer about it.  As we answer these kinds of questions it causes us to look straight in the mirror and own our own junk.  It goes beyond our actions and into our hearts.  This is what Jesus kept trying to get the Pharisees to see. Following Jesus is about more than just what we do, but why we do it.  When we answer that question we are forced to stare at our evil and deal with it instead of being blind to it.  We have gotten really good at playing the game and doing the right thing, but all we are doing is fooling ourselves into thinking that we have it all together.  I hope you spend some time evaluating your own heart by finding the motives behind your actions.   

Jake Kline

Hope

What do you do when the world seems to be falling apart?

I don’t mean your world, necessarily, but the world as a whole. Have you listened to the news lately? I keep up with current events, and the past several weeks have been very alarming. Most recently, there was the apparent suicide of comedian Robin Williams this past Monday. I remember watching Good Will Hunting when I was 13, and experiencing the joy of him as an actor. His comedy was unmatched, and his dramatic roles were incredibly authentic. Then, when I heard he committed suicide, I wondered, “How can a man who has brought so much joy not experience it himself?”

Worse yet, there is a growing fight in the Middle East. Before I talk about it, I will mention that I don’t care about the politics of this topic. In the Middle East right now, there is a “new” terrorist group called ISIS. They’re insistent that America is evil and we should all die. On top of that, they have been linked to another terrorist group called the Hamas. The Hamas group is fighting a different war right now. They’re currently based in Palestine, and their hobby of the month is launching rockets from buildings like hospitals and schools at civilians in Israel. There have been many casualties, and even more disheartening is the cease-fire efforts. Both sides attempt to create a temporary ceasefire, just for respite. The first 72-hour ceasefire that was agreed on lasted around 2 hours. The latest ceasefire lasted around 70, but after that it was straight back to killing. What kind of world is this?

Now, I know that practically speaking, my day-to-day life isn’t changed much by both of these events. I am incredibly thankful for that, but there is pain here too. At the top of my list is the recent fact that my grandfather, one of the wisest, strongest, and best men I’ve known, is being decimated by lung cancer, and no matter the treatment, the news is the same. There isn’t anything we can do to stop it.

 I am blessed that my individual life is going well, but the world seems to be crashing down around me. It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while I start to feel hopeless. I look at these scenarios and think, “Where is Jesus in all of this?” One of the defining things about ISIS is they hate Christians. Their big thing right now is finding and killing any Christian they can. The hard part is, you know those Christians prayed. They probably prayed harder, more earnestly, and if I can jab at how we talk about prayer, with “more faith” than we have. When I try and empathize, my heart breaks. I want to yell at God, not knowing how He, the perfect loving creator I believe him to be, can listen to those cries and seemingly do nothing.

I hope I have made you feel the tension I feel lately, and I want to share with you the resolution. The first one is simple, but deep. As Christians, we believe that Christ died to make all things new. If that’s correct, that means we must have hope in the face of a world that’s falling apart. That’s the reality. That’s what sin is doing to the world. The cool part is this isn’t the final state of things. Eventually Jesus will fix it all. That knowledge, if we let it take root, gives us hope in even the worst situations. The second resolution is linked. Jesus, while he will eventually fix it all, isn’t content to wait. He didn’t just die on the cross to eventually save us. He died so he could start renewing things immediately.

So what does Jesus’ renewal look like? To me, a renewed world is one that is full of Love. This isn’t cheap, worldly love, which is the word I use interchangeably for music, tacos, and my friends. This is the deep, deep love that God has for his children, like a good father towards his kids. This kind of love isn’t natural. It shouldn’t be able to exist in this broken, sinful world. And yet, this kind of love pokes through into our world like a light through clouds. This is the love that I got to experience this past weekend with my cancer-ridden grandpa. This past weekend was his and my grandma’s 60^th wedding anniversary. My grandpa, his loving wife, their three boys (one of whom is my dad), and all of their grandkids got together to celebrate them. I will never forget that night, or the look of pure joy on my dying grandpa’s face as we sat as a family and watched old 8mm tapes of my grandparent’s vacations, early Christmases, and other big moments. The love of Christ was there. It’s the same love that, in the midst of a country that’s tearing itself apart, is showing up in people. Honestly, I don’t have a specific story I can tell you from the Middle East that tells of how Christ’s love is showing up there. However, I know Jesus. I know that wherever there are Christians, He is there too, meeting people in the midst of their unbelievable pain. He doesn’t avoid the hard situations. He walks towards them.

Jesus wants to renew the world, and he wants to start now. The catch is that he isn’t here anymore. Who do you think Jesus wants to start renewing the world? 

I want to challenge you this week as I challenge myself.  First, we must have hope in all situations. And whether or not the situations around you are big or small, I challenge you to walk into the darkness, the hurt, the confusion, and take the light of Jesus there.

Seeing God in Nature

The sunset last night was beautiful.  Did you see it?  Every night I intentionally watch for 2 things; the sunset and the night sky.  I live in the country so I have a panoramic view of both events.  I have always loved nature but lately I use it as a reminder of God’s created beauty for us…for me to enjoy.  It is intimately given to cause us to ponder the Creator so over the past months I intentionally looked for the unusual. 

In January it was Snow Rollers.  Our property was scattered with random sized snowballs with no footprints marking their creation, just skid marks as they grew in size.  Snow rollers, snow logs or Mother Nature’s snowballs, as they are called, are a rare creation which requires perfect conditions of cold snow topped by wet, loose snow and strong enough wind to roll but not destroy the fragile creation. 

Then in April I set my alarm for a 2am wakeup call with hopes of viewing the first of four blood moons to occur on and between April 2014 and September 2015.  All four blood moons will occur on major Jewish holidays! Cloudy skies prevented any sightings but I anticipate the second blood moon in October.  I will once again set my alarm for the early morning hours.

It is so intentional, God’s gift of beauty and wonder.  I am drawn to Him.  I praise Him, the Creator of my sunsets.  

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. Romans 1:20 NLT

My search for the wonder in nature has renewed my focus on God in all areas of life.  It has become an intimate moment of praise and worship to my Savior where He fills me with joy.  It is so much more than a sunset.  It is a priceless gift that a loving father gives to his child to experience, enjoy, and ultimately draw me closer to Him.

Susie Rosengarten

Taking a Sabbath

Sabbath rest is such a much-needed part of life that we in the Western Christianity have largely ignored and at times even criticize.  We live in a culture that rewards multitasking, long work hours, and an abundance of activities.  Even our vacations are so busy and draining that people often say they need a vacation from their vacation.  Persons who know the art of rest, rejuvenation, and Sabbath are often criticized as being lazy or weak.  And yet I believe this is exactly how God has wired us. 

God provided the model of Sabbath when He rested on the seventh day from all of His creating.  When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, the longest of all referred to taking a Sabbath each week.  Even their fields got a Sabbath 1 out of every 7 years in order to replenish and renew.  Peter Scazzero in his book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality” writes:  “Sabbath keeping summons us to slow down to God’s rhythm. For when we are busier than what God requires…we do violence to ourselves… And in doing violence to ourselves, we are unable to love others in and through the love of Christ.”

When we don’t take time to rest, renew & rejuvenate; our bodies, minds and spirits begin to break down.  We become shells of who God created us to be.  Instead of living at peace we become anxious, instead being patient we become hurried, instead of forgiving we criticize, and instead of loving we even begin to hate. 

We often think that we will get more done and be more productive with less Sabbath, and yet the opposite is true.  In the February 9^th, 2013 edition of The New York Times Tony Schwartz writes: “A new and growing body of multidisciplinary research shows that strategic renewal — including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent vacations — boosts productivity, job performance and, of course, health.”  People are finding out the truth of what God already put into place.

So how do we do this idea of Sabbath?  Find time throughout each day to stop and be renewed by God.  Take a whole day each week to be stop and rest.  Take multiple simultaneous days each year to be able to listen and be refreshed by His Spirit.  What should we be doing during that time?  Peter Scazzero writes that we should stop, rest, delight (in his creation, other people, play) and contemplate (focus on God).  While this can happen anywhere, Crossroads has provided Deep Woods (cabins, prayer walk & trails) for this very reason. 

Begin with small steps so that it won’t be an overwhelming experience that soon goes by the wayside.  Learn from others that are practicing it well.  Just do something, and by that, I mean at some point stop doing and rest. 

God Bless!

Jason 

Vicarious Spirituality

Have you ever noticed that as Jesus, the long awaited Messiah, began his earthly ministry he drew large crowds? The people of that time thirsted for hope, hungered for justice, longed for a word from God and Jesus was their answer so they flocked to hear him, see him, touch him…at least for awhile. But in three short years the crowds grew smaller. In the end, even Jesus’ small band of disciples deserted him in fear and as he hung on the cross only a few were there to suffer with him.

How does the Son of God so quickly lose his popularity? It was always meant to be that way. Jesus never intended for any of us to live our spiritual lives vicariously through Him. He didn’t come to create a new cult and set himself up as the leader. His purpose was always to lead us back to life with the Father. Dare I say it…Jesus is NOT the subject…he is the way…the verb that reconnects us with God. Jesus wouldn’t allow his disciples to be satisfied with a vicarious spirituality that depended on him as the focal point. For that reason he challenged his disciple to grow up, to own their stuff, to speak out, to share, to let go, to try and fail, to be full and active partners in establishing the Kingdom that God has designed.

We continue to be a vicarious culture. Our real lives aren’t interesting or fulfilling enough so we live vicariously through other means. We vicariously feel important through famous people who have made it big. We live vicariously in the home of our dreams through HDTV. We vicariously run, pass, and play while seated comfortably in our easy chairs watching endless hours of sports programming. We vicariously experience romance through the Hallmark channel and adventure through Bear Grylls. We have vicarious sex on pornographic websites and meaningful friendships through clicks and emoticons on social networks… and on and on it goes.

Often, even our spiritual life is lived vicariously through the church’s weekend programming or through someone who we consider close to God…like maybe a pastor.

In this season of transition as I step aside as Lead Pastor of Crossroads church and as we wait for God to bring a new leader, I simply want to remind you that your life with God cannot be lived vicariously through Jesus, through a saintly family member, through a Bible teacher, through church activities, through comfortable Christian traditions, through me or any pastor from the past or that is yet to come.

We are all instruments to connect you to real life with God.

God calls you into relationship with him.

God calls you to be salt and light to the world.

God calls you to love as Christ loved.

God calls you to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

God sends you out into the world to make an impact.

Don’t settle for a vicarious spirituality!

It’s time to grow up, own your stuff, to speak out, to share, to let go, to try and fail, to live as a disciple, to be full and active partners with God in establishing the Kingdom He has designed.

Go live…really live!

Randy Bargerstock

Lead Pastor

Crossroads Church of God

Lima, Ohio

*Pastor Randy will step aside as Lead Pastor of Crossroads Church on July 31^st, 2014 to pursue the next challenge that God is preparing. This is his last Blog entry on this site. He plans to share further reflections on his own Blog site in the near future.