A few weeks ago, we asked, “What is the purpose of life?” We said that every person that is born knows when they are born, but why are we born? What’s are purpose? What’s your purpose?  Each person that attended was given a piece of paper with a box on it, and the box represented your purpose in life.

If you put money in your box, and you say, Money is the most important thing to me – lots and lots of money is the most important reason why I live, then that would take me in a certain direction in my life, and I would become a certain kind of person. If I put success in my box, then that would take down a certain road in life and I would become a certain kind of person. If I put pleasure in my box then that would take me down another road and I would become a certain kind of person. Each thing that we put in the box is like a road and it is a road that goes in a certain direction and we become a certain kind of person on that road.

In that message, we came to the conclusion that God wants to be in our box. We were created for God to be the main purpose in our life, because when God is in the box of our lives, that is a road and a direction, and we become certain kinds of people – people that God created us to be.

When God is at the center of our lives and the main purpose for why we live, God heals us, and transforms us, and he provides us with love, and joy, and peace, and patience. In a nutshell, God brings some of heaven to earth when we seek him and his kingdom and his righteousness as the main purpose in our lives. But the question that I was asked after that worship gathering was “how do we do that?” That’s what I’d like this series to focus on over the next month or so.

 
We looked at these two verses that tell us to: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

And

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Mark 12:30 (NIV)

When our kids are small, it’s a really big thing when they learn how to take their very first steps. They teeter and wobble, and they are very unstable at first, but then each day they keep taking more and more steps. In fact, once they start taking steps they never stop, but that’s not true in our Christian lives sometimes, but there’s always a next step toward putting God in the box.

So, this morning we are going to be talking about spiritual growth or spiritual transformation, and the idea is that there’s always a next step to take no matter whether you’ve been a Christian a long time, or whether you are new in the faith. You can always take a next step toward Jesus.

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 Today is a defining moment in our congregation. New Community is two year’s old today; that’s a milestone for us – it’s a defining moment!  40 percent of all church plants never get to be this old. Being two is very special as many of you parents can affirm.

Last month, I met with the church-planting leader of our region and I shared with him where we were and told him the great ministry that was going on here and he was just elated for us.

They’re elated they stuck their necks out for us in many ways. One of those ways is they had never planted a church in a small town, much less a small town that wasn’t really growing. Usually churches are planted in suburbs that are growing, where new churches are needed, not in existing towns where there is no growth.

Because of what God has done through us, New Community has become a model for planting future new churches in small towns.

This is a defining moment because not only are we just not dieing, but we are living and growing in many ways, and we need to give God thanks and praise for this great privilege of being used by him in a great way.

Turning two is a defining moment for New Community, but I’m guessing that you’ve had some defining moments in your life as well.  A defining moment is a moment that begins or maybe ends a chapter in your life.

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Fifteen years ago this fall, Shannon and I found out that we were going to bring a new life into the world. One of the things that we did to prepare for that moment was to go together through Lamaze. I learned about how I should be a “Coach” for my wife. They gave us a lot of advice. For instance, at that time in Lamaze, they would never use the word pain, because they thought that would psych people out. They would use the word discomfort. “You may experience some discomfort.”

They helped me with the whole “coaching” deal, and then the day came when Shannon went into labor. It lasted 32 hours. Yes, it was a marathon. The worst part of it was that the baby was turned the wrong way, so that the hardest part of her head was pressing against Shannon’s spine. The worst moment was that at one point the doctor reached with his hand into my wife’s body and wrenched the baby around 180°…inside Shannon. She let out a scream that I will never forget as long as I live.

So I said to her, “Dear, are you experiencing some discomfort?” And she said things that I can’t say here. Then, the baby arrived, and it was the closest thing to a miracle I had ever seen. What makes the pain bearable-what allows people to go through the pain-is the purpose that lies on the other side. There is purpose to it. Athletes endure much pain because there is reason to the pain. They know that if they don’t have any pain then they don’t gain.

Several hours after Faith was born, I said to Shannon, “When you look at this little life, the pain wasn’t really so bad after all, was it?” And she said things to me that I can’t say here!

It’s a funny thing. If someone asks you, “When were you born?” Everybody knows the answer to that question. But the real question is, “Why were you born?” They don’t print that one on the birth certificate, which is too bad. An alarm clock will tell you when to get up every morning; but what is it that an alarm clock can’t tell you? Why? Why should you get up?

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A few weeks ago, Shannon and I met some friends at the lake to go water skiing at 6:45 AM on our day off. Some of you don’t even realize that 6:45 am on your day off even exists, but it does. It was a beautiful crisp, cool, bright sunny morning. It was so quiet that you could hear the an orchestra of crickets in the background. Steam rose from the grass as the sun struck warmed the dew there. It was one of those mornings that I was so aware of the beauty all around me. I loved it! I delighted in it! It was so Good!

Last week we talked about this idea that God loves the earth and he delights in it. God created the earth “Good” and he loves it and he delighted in creating it and he delights in managing it and he created us to do love it and delight in it with him, and what we said last week was that we haven’t done very well in this area, and it’s time for the church to stand up and step out and not hide on this issue. Read the rest of this entry »