A couple of days ago I wrote about needing faith.   I think one of the reasons that this topic is hitting so hard with me is because it’s one that I struggle with.  I’ve been mulling over Chapter 6 this weekend.   The first day I read it I something struck me about the 6th verse (and there are 56 verses in the chapter).

It’s the story of Jesus going back to his hometown of Nazareth and the rejection of the people.  What struck me was verse 5 and 6a:

“He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them  And he was amazed at their lack of faith.”  (Mark 5:5-6 NIV)

“He could not do any miracles there”.  Of course, It wasn’t because he COULDN’T do them – look at that 6th verse, “And he was amazed at their lack of faith.”

You see, Jesus wasn’t about doing miracles to convince the skeptics.  When we see Jesus performing the miracles and healing we see that it was done for those that have faith.  Looking back at Chapter 5 we just read of a sick woman who had faith that just by touching Jesus’ garments she would be healed (Mark 5:25-34 NIV).  His words to her in verse 34 were, “Daughter, you’re faith has healed you.”

I look at my own life and I wonder if I were really put to the test which of these camps I would fall into.  Would I be alongside the woman or the town of Nazareth?  I think if I’m being honest, too often I would be with the town.

I just have a hard time “letting go and letting God” sometimes.  I want to be in control and make sure that everything is going to go exactly how I envisioned it (hmm…sounds like pride).  I believe that God is in control and that all things are possible through him, but my actions don’t always follow that.  Will God really pour out his blessings as long as I try and maintain control over things?  I don’t think so.

Lord, help me to put all of my faith in You and not in my own desires and plans.  May my actions be in line with Your Word and my heart be aligned to You.

My buddy Ben put up a very interesting blog post tonight that got me thinking.  I really agree with what he’s saying.  Knowing the Word of God and what it actually says as opposed reading the Word of God and making it say what I want it to say is something that I have really been coming to grips with lately especially if you are put in a position where you are leading others (like in a Bible Study).

I think that’s part of the reason why I’ve started blogging about what God is showing me in the book of Mark.  I’ve realized that so many times in the past I have rushed through scripture instead of really trying to learn from it – understand it.  I’m sure that some of what I will blog about as I go through Mark may be ‘off’ – and that’s where I’m hoping others like Ben will come along side me to guide me away from my opinions and back to God’s truth.

As I’ve been reading through the chapters in Mark I’ve been reading them in various translations, looking up commentaries and other helps to try to understand it better.  I don’t have a vast library but that’s when I’m thankful for sites like Christianity.com where they have a number of free online resources – lots of Dictionaries, Commentaries, History, etc.

In Ben’s closing he says that we “need to be passionately engaged in the Word and considering how that Word applies to us.”  I hope that is something of what I’m trying to do here.  I’m hoping to encourage others to dive into God’s Word and hopefully see how God is speaking to them through His Word.

Finally he says, “Take teaching seriously and humbly as a gift and privilege from God!”.  One of the challenges for those that lead a Bible Study is to make the time (note I didn’t say ‘find the time’) to put in the preperation and study.  We don’t all have the opportunity to go to seminary it doesn’t excuse us from learning all we can to be disciples.  We must always give God our best in all that we do.

Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. (Mark 3:11-12 NIV)

So, as I continued reading through Mark I see many instances of Jesus healing and casting out demons yet when he does this, what happens next?  He tells them not to tell who he is.

Why?

And why speak in parables?

He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ” ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ” (Mark 4:11-12 NIV)

Why not just pull out the scroll, state the facts and bring some good ol’ hellfire and brimstone – let them know what was coming if they didn’t believe in him and what he was telling them?  That would have been so easy!  He could have brought down a league of angels!

I am not a biblical scholar (so those that are – help me out) but for me, personally, it comes back to faith.  We can choose to believe that Christ was the Son of God or we can choose to believe that he was just a man.  We have to have faith that Christ was the Son of God.  Look at the response Jesus gave when the disciples asked him to increase their faith in Luke 17.

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” (Luke 17:6 NIV)

It’s easy to talk – mant of us do that really well – heck, I’ve typed out over 300 words already, but Jesus knows that in order for us to truely know him we have to work at it.  We have to sit, listen and pray.  We have to abide in him.  We have to have faith that what we read and hear is true – at least until that day comes where we stand before his throne and bow in reverence and worship.  As the passage in Luke says, even a small amount of faith will allow us to do great things for God’s glory.

What do you think?

I decided to start reading through the book of Mark again yesterday.  The plan is to read a chapter a day and blog on what God is showing me through His Word.  I would love for you all to join me and perhaps we can start a dialogue here about what God is revealing to us through His word.

As I read Chapter 1 yesterday God spoke to me in a new way concerning this scripture.

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” (Mark 1:9-13 NRSV)

What I noticed for the first time was the fact that as soon as Jesus was baptized and the Spirit descended on him he was driven into the wilderness.  Not a week later, not a month or a year later - immediately!  Looking at this it’s no wonder why we hear of new Christians getting frustrated or falling away.  Once Christ takes a hold of their life it’s like Satan puts a giant bulls-eye on their chest!

One of the things we are beginning to plan for in Rittman is a new contemporary worship service in the fall.  Our prayer is that this service will reach out to a community that doesn’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and draw them in to begin a relationship with him. 

But here’s the thing that has been pressing on my heart lately.  The fact is that before we play one chord, sing one note, hit one drum, write one sermon or project one word on a screen we have to be sure that we have a place for these people to plug in.  We need to start planning small group ministry, home groups, connection groups, discipleship groups – whatever you want to call it. 

We need to start training people up to shepherd these people and walk with them on their journey.  Be there for when they have questions, encourage them and pick them up when they stumble or fall, pray for them and share the love of Christ with them!  We need to be praying for them NOW and for the relationships that will be formed. 

As the above verses remind us – once we are filled with the Spirit, once we accept Christ, that’s when Satan really goes to work.  Jesus had angels to wait on him, we need to be those angels for each other. 

Thoughts? Who’s with me?

So, I’m hoping to start jotting down some thoughts after service as many weeks as I can.  I’d say I’ll do it every week – but I know things come up from time to time and it won’t always happen.

So, it’s the fourth week of Lent and today’s scripture readings were Ephesians 2:1-10  and John 3:14-21.  This morning was also the first opportunity I had to lead worship at the new church.

The first hymn was traditional hymn “God Whose Love is Reigning O’er Us” played on the organ.  After the Ephesians reading we had the children’s moment.  I’ve got to say, I’ve only been there for about a month now but that was probably the largest group of kids I’d seen there yet!

Once the children’s moment was done I did “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)”.  I set it up by referring back to Ephesians 2:8 that we had just heard and invited the congregation to sing along.  I’ll admit – my legs were shaking pretty badly for about the first half of the song.  There’s something about doing something for the first time that just can give you those butterflies.  As I got into the song though I just let the words of the song flow over me and give me comfort and peace that only God can provide.  The congregation really embraced it and had no problems with the altered melody line.  It was beautiful to hear the congregation singing back at me.

After the offertory we did the song of readiness.  This morning I led “You Are My King (Amazing Love)”.  Even though this was probably not a song that some of the congregation knew they seemed to pick it up really quickly.  Hearing everyone lifting up those words “You are my King” to the Lord was a beautiful thing.

Pastor Chuck brought us a message based on the Gospel of John scripture with a focus on John 3:16 that reminded us all that God has already paid the price for us – there is nothing that we can pay to earn or buy the grace of God – it’s been freely given to us…we just have to open our hearts to him and receive it.

We closed the service with a hymn that I had never heard called “Living For Jesus”.  I liked the text of the hymn (though if I’m being honest I’m still not sure of exactly how the melody went).  Learning new songs is always a good thing.

All in all the congregation seemed to receive the new music very well.  We’ll continue to blend contemporary music into the current service as we continue to pray and plan a new service for this fall.

As I mentioned last week my mom’s birthday was on Thursday, my dad’s was on Friday (I won’t say how many years for these) and their Anniversary was today.  They have been married for 40 years and are still very much in love.  I thank God for bringing them together and for being the glue that holds their relationship together.

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’  ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one.  Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Mark 10:6-9 NIV)

Two more thoughts on tonight – one impressive the other funny.

First, as a guitar player, it’s always important to keep the guitar in tune.  I’ve seen many artists re-tune while they were talking.  Making it nice and seemless.  Paul Baloche loves to invite the congregation to “sing with just your voices” when he needs to stop playing and re-tune.  But tonight I watched Matt Maher re-tune all six strings WHILE continuing to sing “As It Is In Heaven”.   He never missed a beat and came back in seamlessly.  Trust me that this is no easy feat – practice, practice, practice…and then practice some more!

One of the funniest moments of the night came courtesy of Brenton Brown.

Kelly Minter had just finished and the lights went down and Brenton was just supposed to be there – but he wasn’t.  Finally he comes on stage looking a little disheveled.  As he’s trying to get his guitar plugged in he says, “I just had a SpinalTap moment.  I was trapped – I tried seven different doors before I found one that opened and let me come out here.”

If you don’t understand why that’s funny watch this clip (disclaimer:  this is NOT an endorsement of the movie or the band Spinal Tap):

So, today I had the opportunity to head over to the Akron Baptist Temple for the Worship Together Live tour.  This was a half-day training event followed by a night of worship.

The first session I was at was done by Matt Maher and was a great seminar talking about the liturgy of the church, the significance of it, what “modern worship” can learn from it and what liturgical churches can learn from “modern worship” churches.  This one session was worth the cost of admission and after I go back through my notes I’ll share more of what I learned.

After this was a fun session on songwriting with Michael and Lisa Gungor, followed by a session on Creativity in Worship with Michael Gungor.

The final session of the afternoon was down in the sanctuary with Brenton Brown and the band for the evening.  This session was what I would call a “shop talk” session with each of the instrumentalists – great for us geeky music types.  This session could have lasted 2 -3 hours and still not been long enough (it was only 1 hour).

The evening concluded with a 3 hour worship concert featuring the house band from the Temple, Kelly Minter, Brenton Brown, Matt Maher and finished up with a rocking set with the Michael Gungor band.

It was a really great day and I am so grateful that I was able to attend.  I came away with some great things to think about and pray about and will definitely be able to use a lot of it at Rittman UMC.

I’m pretty excited about today.  The Worship Together Live training and concert is going to be here in Akron at the Akron Baptist Temple and I’ll be headed over to it.  Matt Maher, Brenton Brown, Michael and Lisa Gungor and Kelly Minter are going to be providing training on topics such as:  “The Old & New: Modern Worship & the Liturgy”, “Songwriting for the Church”, “Worship & Creativity”, Arranging the Band”, “Visual Media in Worship” and others.  The challenge at an event like this is deciding which seminars to go to.

These types of events are great to get new and fresh ideas for worship, plus you get to meet and network with other worship leaders from the area which is a great thing.  I’m looking forward to spending time with Paul from Wadsworth UMC and Doug and Brett from Medina UMC. 

The evening will be topped off with a worship concert by all of the artists at 7:00 that Beth and the kids will be joining me at.  It’s always great to be able to just worship the Lord, and it’s even better when you can do it with your family. 

It’s not too late to come to the conference ($65 at the door which includes the concert) or concert – tickets are available at the door for $5 (they’re half-off – makes me wish I didn’t pre-order mine!!).

So, Taylor wanted to “dress up” for school today.  He picked out his outfit and decided to dye his hair, “since leprechauns have red hair.”  Of course, he had second thoughts as he was getting out of the van at school.

So – HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY from my little leprechaun, Taylor.