What good is knowing if you don’t also DO?

Sometimes I think we get so caught up in RECEIVING God’s love and EXPERIENCING His presence, we forget to pass it on.  We are inherently selfish people, and that selfishness extends into God’s love.  Here’s what I mean.

The Apostle Paul says this in 2 Thessalonians 3:5  ⁵ May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

YES, we should have a FULL understanding of God’s love.  BUT, we also need a full EXPRESSION of His love as well.  In fact, I would say, if you aren’t EXPRESSING the love of God you may not have RECEIVED it.  At least not fully!  OUCH!

Many times we just want to GET God’s love without having to GIVE it.  We want to RECEIVE it without having to RELEASE it.  But when you’ve REALLY been given a full understanding OF it, you can’t help but EXPRESS it!  It’s just what you do.

You can’t just know…you have to DO!

Trying to do,

Jeff

If all who touched Him were healed, why wouldn’t you have touched Him? 

That’s the question I wrote in my journal as I was doing my devotions recently.  I was reading the book of Mark and came to Mark 6:56 which says about Jesus:  ⁵⁶ Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.

Make no bones about it, I could be WAY off (it wouldn’t be the first time), but the statement “all who touched Him” implies that people DIDN’T touch Him as well.  So, if all who touched Him were healed, why WOULDN’T you touch Him?  Now that was speaking physically, but there is a spiritual parallel here too.  I just jotted down in my journal 2 reasons why:

Some refused — Maybe they didn’t believe.  Maybe it was too much work.  Maybe they didn’t want to “expose” themselves as someone who believed in Jesus.  It could be a variety of reasons but MANY  people still today, SEE the life transforming power of Jesus in people’s lives, but simply REFUSE to touch Him.  They see, they hear, they know ABOUT Jesus, they just refuse to respond TO Him.  They won’t touch Him.

Some were restricted —  The only reason someone couldn’t touch Jesus, would be if they didn’t KNOW about Him.  There are only 2 kinds of people in the world…those who refuse and those who don’t know.  Once you know ABOUT Jesus, it’s your responsibility to decide, do I touch Him or not?

So what does this mean for us?  We better make sure as MANY people know ABOUT Him, so that all who TOUCH Him can be healed!

Showing and Telling,

Jeff

I shared this with our Lead Team this past week as a leadership lesson, but it also relates to our everyday lives.

Ever feel like God’s napping in your life?  Like you’re in the middle of a storm and He just doesn’t seem to care?  Maybe you felt like you were following His leading, you started traveling across the sea in the direction He said to go, then BAM…a storm comes out of nowhere?  Well, if you’ve never felt that way, the disciples DID and you’ll probably face it eventually.

Luke 8:22-24 says this ²² One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and started out. ²³As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger.  ²⁴ The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm.

Jesus KNEW the storm was coming yet He LED them into it anyway.  THEN, in the middle of the storm He was just taking a nap.  So again I ask, have you ever felt like God was taking a nap in your life?  Cause if the answer is YES, then remember this.

God will sometimes lead us into a place of FEAR so He can show His FAITHFULNESS!

God will allow us to face PERIL so He can show His POWER!

Just because you’re in the middle of the storm doesn’t mean that He is NAPPING or that He doesn’t NOTICE…it just might mean that He knows what’s NEXT!  Trust Him!

Waiting for what’s next,

Jeff

—  Found out that TWO people said “YES” to Jesus and accepted Christ as Savior today! WOO HOO!  If only for the ONE!

—  Those two people were first time guests AND we didn’t even give an invitation.  LOVE it.

—  We were right at our average attendance today and packed everybody in to 3 services.  If you are a regular at Element and could attend either 1st or 4th service it would help us a TON!

—  2nd and 3rd service are BY FAR our most popular services, ESPECIALLY for first time guests.  Each seat represents a soul that can hear about Jesus!

—  As we’ve been talking about, we are offering extended worship in our 4th service.  If you like the music portion of Element and enjoy extra singing, that service would be a great opportunity for you.  If you are an Elementer, PLEASE at least consider attending one of those two services.  In doing so you really are helping us tell more people about Jesus!

—  Was glad we only had 3 services today.  Had a little bit of a cold or something this weekend so my voice was already rough coming into the day.

— I actually started seeing a voice therapist to try and help me prepare and care for my voice.  I’m a pretty aggressive preacher (if you haven’t noticed), and I want my voice to be as strong as possible.

—  We started our series called “Movement” today and asked the question “What should be seen in a movement?”.  That will be our big question for the whole series.  We’re taking a look at the first church in the book of Acts and the qualities that made them a movement.  The big idea for today was “Life Transformation”.  Here are some excerpts on the day:

• We may not use the word movement anymore to describe the church, but it’s really what we are, or at least what we should be.
• We’re not talking about the church you’ve always dreamed of, or a church devoid of problems but the church that God designed.  A church that God desires.
• We’re not gonna deny we have problems as a church, we’re just not gonna let them keep us from pursuing our God sized purpose.
• I want to pursue a mission and vision SO BIG that if God doesn’t show up we’re destined to fail.
• The Apostles weren’t satisfied with 3,000 people because they understood something.  They weren’t a mega church when compared to how many people STILL didn’t know Jesus, and that to them was a MEGA problem.
• God doesn’t want you to do what THEY did, He wants you to do what only you can do…and WHEN you do, people will notice you’re an ORDINARY person doing OUT of the ordinary things because you serve an EXTRAordinary God.
• When you hear about Jesus you might be taught about life, but if you’ve BEEN with Jesus your life will be transformed.
• If people watched the way I live, could they say “He’s been with Jesus?”.
• Without life transformation there is no movement, and where God brings a movement there WILL BE life transformation.
• It’s one thing to live the kind of life that MAN takes notice of.  It’s another thing entirely to live the kind of life GOD takes notice of.  (Job)
• A lot of us could talk a LOT about Jesus, the question is, would Jesus want to talk about me?
• I’m not talking about being perfect.  I’m talking about being different.
• I think sometimes we read the book of Acts and think “Well, that was then”.  But friends I’m telling ya…I read the book of Acts and think “WHY NOT NOW?”.
• We are gathered here today because 120 or so people were CRAZY enough to believe that God could actually do what He said He could do.

—  I’m SO EXCITED about this series.  This next weeks message could truly be LIFE CHANGING for many people.  I believe the five things we’re going to talk about in this series will be so inspiring, encouraging and challenging.  CAN’T WAIT to see what happens.  Trusting God for BIG THINGS!

—  Don’t forget, on March 4th, Lord willing I’ll be giving a CLEAR Gospel presentation.  Please be thinking about and praying for who you could invite to come to church that week to hear about the LIFE CHANGING message of Jesus.  (If God could save PAUL He can save ANYBODY)

—  I challenge you to read the book of Acts this month as we go through the series.  We will be in Acts the whole time and it would be a GREAT time to read Acts again, or read it for the first time.

—  Enter worship and prayer experience is this Tuesday night.  This is a GREAT time of community as we seek God in worship and prayer.  6:30 PM & childcare IS provided!

—  I believe the MOVEMENT of God is still going.  It’s just up to us whether we will join it or not!

—  Alright, I’m gonna watch this final quarter of the Super Bowl.  GO GIANTS!!

Till the end,

Jeff

We WILL be having our three morning worship experiences AS NORMAL!  8:30 // 10:00 // 11:30 AM.  If you can attend our 8:30 service that would be GREAT!  Expecting a full house in the other two.  Our normal schedule will pick back up on February 12th.  I encourage you to get together with friends & co-workers.  Use the Super Bowl as an evangelism tool.  Invite people to church with you for NEXT week.  Be the person at the party that models purity and godliness.  Bring someone you’ll be watching the game with that night, to church this Sunday morning.

We’ll be kicking off our series called MOVEMENT!  Can’t WAIT to talk about what we should see in a movement! I’m expecting God to do HUGE THINGS through this series.

“WOW!”  That was my only response.  “WOW!”  That, and I was moved to tears.

Like “big church” does each Sunday, Pastor Derek offers a chance for kids to turn in any prayer request they would like prayed for, and that’s what my daughter Mariah turned in.  Again…WOW!

This is one of those moments as a parent I live for.  SHE GETS IT!  Her prayer?  “More people to come to know Jesus and come to element church!”  Nothing like the heart of your child to convict the parent.

Her prayer makes Mark 10:15 come to life  “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

What do you say?  Will you join my daughter in this prayer?  I think it’s THE MOST important thing we could pray for.  “More people come to know Jesus…AMEN!”

Praying,

Jeff

P.S.  And I LOVE she put her name “Mariah Maness” and then added “Jeff’s daughter”.  YES SHE IS…and I’m PROUD to say it!  And by the way, she prayed that prayer Sunday and FORTY PEOPLE acknowledged to us they accepted Jesus as their Savior.  YES!!

The Circle Maker came at JUST the right time in my life.  I can honestly say, it is the most challenging yet encouraging book on prayer I’ve ever read.  Inspiring to say the least.  I would say that last year was the best year of prayer I’ve ever experienced.  I was more motivated and moved by God through prayer in 2011 than I ever have been, and The Circle Maker only fueled my fire for prayer.  I truly believe that prayer is the forgotten discipline in the church.  I’m convinced, if we fully understood the power that prayer has to connect us with the heart of God, it wouldn’t be just the thing we add before a meal, or the desperate plea for provision.  We’d be DEDICATED to seeking God daily in it.

Trying to capture the essence of The Circle Maker in one blog is impossible, but here is one statement from the 2nd chapter of the book that I think sums it all up:  “Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers.  God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers.  he is offended by nothing less.”  WOW!  Makes me wonder about my own prayer life.  It inspired this statement in me “Our prayers should be so big we SHOULDN’T expect them to happen, but our GOD is so big we do.”  I want to pray those kinds of prayers.  Prayers that are generational.  Mark talks about that in the book.  That God is outside of time.  There are prayers He’s already answered 50 years from now, that we haven’t even PRAYED!  (That’ll blow your mind)  Makes me want to pray BIGGER prayers over my children, my grandchildren…OUR CHURCH!

From PRAYING through things and PRAISING through things (new concept for me).  From fasting to goal setting, Mark covers it all.  I was literally captured from the first sentence.  Rarely are there books that I can’t wait to pick up and continue reading…this was one!  All that to say, if you’re looking for a practical yet inspiring book on prayer, this is one I’d recommend.  I’ve started praying circles around things in my own life, in fact, I think it might have even inspired a whole sermon series I’m circling in prayer!

Praying Circles,

Jeff

—  40 people acknowledged to us they said “YES” to Jesus and accepted Him as Savior! WOO HOO!  If only for the ONE!

—  Preached on honoring God with our bodies and people got saved.  I LOVE it!  The Holy Spirit is not limited to the topic of the message OR the one who delivers the message.

—  Concluded our series today by asking the question “How do I know if God has my body?”.  Preached from Romans 12:1-2.  Today’s message was VERY tough to prepare for and even more difficult to deliver.  I believe it was one of the most avoided subjects in the church, the issue of the body!  I appreciate people allowing me to speak into their lives on this subject.  Hope it was helpful.

• A lot of people are willing to give God their heart, we’re just not willing to let go of our bodies.  Subconsciously we say “I’ll let Jesus forgive me of all my sins as long as I can still be in charge of all my senses.”
• We cannot control how long we’ll live but we can control how much life we’ll have.  We have no say in how long we’ll be alive but we do dictate how much living we’ll do while we’re alive.
• “It’s my body I can do what I want.” NO it’s not and NO you can’t!
• Everything I have is a gift from God, and I am to manage everything He’s given me in a way that pleases Him…INCLUDING my body!
• As Christians we are saved FROM sin, but also TO bring glory to God and we do that with how we manage what was given to us.
• Our motivation in how we use, care for, treat and manage our bodies should be honoring, glorifying, obeying and worshiping God. If we truly believed our bodies were instruments of worship, we’d change the way we manage them.
• Everything’s better with bacon!! (had to be there)
• Shared some of my own struggle in my life with self-control as it comes to food and exercising.  It is a discipline I’m still trying to master in my life.
• Taking care of our bodies is an act of worship.
• I don’t want us to be obsessed about being healthy, I want us to be obsessed with JESUS and we’ll naturally want to live healthy lives.
• It’s not about looking better, feeling better or living longer, those are great benefits…it’s about worshiping JESUS by living self-controlled lives with our bodies.
• Spent some time talking about our habits that need to change.  Addictions, pleasures, activities, lifestyles that are NOT honoring to God in our bodies.
• If God has my body, my body will be used to build HIS Kingdom.  Yet when it comes to kingdoms, often times it’s OURS we’re most concerned about.
• The main reason there are Christians who don’t help build God’s Kingdom by serving through His local church, is because we’re so concerned with building OUR Kingdom we believe the local church is there to serve us.
• The first 11 chapters of Romans are about the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, how God loved us so much He gave us Jesus to bridge the gap, not only so we can be WITH Him but so we can be more LIKE Him.
• The first 11 chapters are building up to chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 where Paul says “BECAUSE of all God’s done for you, I PLEAD with you to give Him your body.”

—  I spent the majority of our talk on the health portion of our bodies.  I felt it was the one that is the most prevalently needed and probably least talked about.

—  I feel like we could have done an entire four week series based on the four points we talked about today.  1.  How I am — a matter of my health; 2.  What I do — a matter of my habits;  3.  Who I am — a matter of my hunger (calling); 4.  WHO’S I am — a matter of my heart!

—  When it came to our bodies, I just couldn’t ONLY talk about our health.  Our bodies include EVERYTHING we are!

—  Excited about our new series starting this Sunday called “Movement: Church as it should be”.  We’ll be looking at the book of Acts, the FIRST church, and talk about the signs that the original movement of God had.

—  This series is not about the RIGHT or WRONG way to do church, but looking at the characteristics of the very first church.  The church that GOD designed.  We are here today because of that movement THEN!

—  If you want to read ahead, start reading the book of Acts.  Specifically gonna be in chapters 1 – 4 this week.

—  That’s it!  Element Church, you guys are AWESOME!  See you next Sunday.

Till the end,

Jeff

Well, this past week was Jonah’s dad time, and over the course of the past couple months we had been working on writing a rap together.  Jonah is a NATURAL writer.  He LOVES writing songs, poems, or just journaling his thoughts.  After several cumulative hours of working on the rap (Jonah dreams of being a performer), it all came to fruition this past Saturday when we recorded it at Pastor Adam’s Triple Pane Studio.

So without further adieu, here is the OFFICIAL release of Good Times by Jonah Maness (Download lyrics HERE)

Church…When you hear that word what comes to mind? Everybody thinks of something. Whether it’s stained glass & steeples with pews & potlucks.  Or smoke & seats with projectors & ear plugs. We all think of something.  Some say it’s nothing but a crutch. An organized religion used to manipulate people. Some say it’s home, a family. A place where they’ve been accepted.  We all have opinions on what should be done. Church should be this or church should be that. We should do this and we should do that. But the one thing you never here is movement…and that’s really what we are. A movement. Not a church as you’ve always dreamed of, but a church that God designed.  A movement…church as it should be.

Come to Element Church starting February 5th as we look at the very FIRST Church, and talk about the MOVEMENT that was started roughly 2,000 years ago and how it relates to GOD’S church today!

Sunday mornings @ Element Church 8:30//10:00//11:30 AM & Sunday EVENINGS 6 PM.