Keep Pointing in Osage

The Gospel Prayer

This week I've been reading a new book by J.D. Greear called "Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary".  It is all about the centrality of the Gospel to our salvation, thinking and living.  Greear spends a great deal of the book exploring a powerful prayer he calls the Gospel Prayer.  It is a prayer he prays daily to remind himself of the amazing reality of God's love for him and that it alone can empower him for spiritual growth and Christlikeness.  It is not a mantra or prosperity prayer.  Rather, it is a payer to God that refocuses our heart and mind on what God has already done for us, who God has made us and how we have power to extend love and grace to others as well.  I have begun to pray the Gospel Prayer often and found it helpful.  Here's the prayer.  I hope it is a blessing to you.

"In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less."

"Your presence and approval are all I need for everlasting joy."

As You have been to me, so I will be to others."

"As I pray, I'll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection."

Preventing The "Awkward Moments"

Let's be honest - it can feel awkward and forced to share our faith at times.  We often feel weird about doing it and often aren't confident how people will react.  One big emphasis that Prairie Lakes Church has for 2012 is our "One for One" challenge.  We are challenging each PLC'er to reach/invite/disciple one person in 2012 and invite them into a next step.

I recently read an article from Tim Gaydos, a pastor in Seattle, that I found helpful.  In the article, Tim gives seven tips for talking to your neighbor about Jesus.  You can read it here.

Share your faith with others this year.  Be bold.  Have courage.  But don't be awkward.

Mission & Community

Can both be buzzwords around a church.  But what in the world do they mean?  Bill Clem is a Pastor near Seattle, Washington and he gives a fantastic definition of each.  Mission is making a difference in the lives of people who aren't at church yet.  Community is making a difference in the lives of those who are already at church.  As a church, our job is to do both.  To care for the people already present and to reach those who aren't.

Often we see churches that do either one or the other.  Some churches are fantastic at being missional and reaching lost people, but then don't have solid community or a defined pathway of discipleship.  Other churches have solid community, but aren't reaching out to lost people.  Healthy and growing churches do both.

Jesus gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 - "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

He also have us the Great Commandment - "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The Great Commission is all about mission.  Reaching those far from Jesus.  The Great Commandment is about loving God and developing community.  Around here at PLC we say it this way, "Love God, love people, influence the World".  Mission and community.  You simply cannot love God with your whole heart and not be on mission.  And you simply cannot love your neighbor as yourself without being in community.  Following Jesus requires both.

So what about you?  How are you being missional in your life?  Are you being intentional about developing community at church and away from church?  Across all of our PLC campuses there are opportunities to be missional and to develop community coming up.  I would encourage you to think and pray about how you can be missional and develop community.  What is your next step?

 

Celebrating a Promise

Our next Child Dedication Class is coming up.  It's scheduled from 6:00-7:30pm next Thursday, January 26 at the PLC-Osage office - 619 Main St. Suite B.  We will talk about the meaning of Child Dedication, walk you through what parents commit to as a part of the dedication and cover details of how we celebrate it during service.  A free meal will be provided.

Check out this link here to register, gather more information and to download the parent "homework" that you need to bring to the meeting.

I'm excited for this next round of Child Dedications.  It is exciting to see parents choose to dedicate their children to the Lord and for the congregation to also pledge to support parents in raising their children to know and love Jesus.  If you have a child who has not been dedicated or if you know someone at PLC in that position, please encourage them to register for the class.

Next Steps

 

Want to sign up for membership class?  Click here to register.

Want to be baptized?  Click here to register.

Being A Found Person Who Wants To Find Lost People

Hi Friends - I wanted to give you an inside look on the commitment I made last Sunday during worship as we filled out our "One for One" cards.  I want to let you know what God stirred in my heart so that you know that as a pastor, this is for me too.  I also want you to keep me accountable and ask me how I'm doing at pursuing and inviting these people.

On my list from Sunday were three people.  One is a man who I barely know who doesn't know Jesus and is far from God.  He is open to talking about God and to coming to church and I think he's one who simply needs to hear of the love of God and be invited to genuine Christian community.  I think God is close to doing something really soon in his life.  My next step with him is to invite him to PLC and also to sit down with him and talk about the Gospel and where He is at.

My second person is a woman I know only by face and not by name.  I know where she works, but not much else.  I plan to invite her to church soon and also learn more about her life and hear her story.

My final person is a guy who lives in my area of town.  I don't know much about him, but he seems like a good man.  Not sure if he even attends church, but God has really been placing him on my heart for the past few weeks.  My next step with him is to engage him in conversation and perhaps invite him and his family over for dinner or dessert.

All of these steps will require courage and all of them will require me to put fears and worries aside and seek their good and not my own.  As you pastor, I want to lead you well.  That is a frequent prayer of mine.  One of the ways that I can lead you well is by setting a Godly example, so I want you to ask me when you see me about how I'm finding and pursuing these folks.

What about you?  What is your plan to find someone in 2012?  Once you are clear about what God wants you do to, make a plan and be accountable to others so that it gets done!  Let's make 2012 a year of finding folks!

Courageous

 

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Campus Connection

  

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Gaining Momentum Going Into 2012

  

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Merry Christmas!

 

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