NEW SERIES AT THE GRACE PLACE: THE HUNGER GAMES!

May 20th through June 24th! 10:30am 

GRACE CHRISTIAN CENTER…

The Grace Place presents:

The Golden Ticket March 25^th, April 1^st and 8^th

Each Sunday morning at 10:30am in the “Living Room” auditorium we will feature Willie Wonka and the Golden Ticket series. Admission is FREE.

On the 8^th of April following the morning talk the CHOCOLATE fountain will open, Easter Egg hunt for the kids and much more!

March 25^TH: Golden Ticket..Can you Imagine

April 1^st: Golden Ticket…Gold or God?

April 8^th: Golden Ticket…The Reward

March @ THE GRACE PLACE

The Mission we have been given by Christ is the same Mission He carried out while on the earth. In Luke 19:10 He established His purpose on earth:

“¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

For some this passage alone over simplifies the “Mission” Christ gave the church. In Truth this passage is not simple and is the essence of God’s work among mankind since the Garden of Eden where man first fell in sin. From that time to this God has sent: Prophets, Priest’s, Kings, common men, established the church and it’s leadership, pastor’s, evangelists, apostles, teachers, His very Son, The Holy Spirit all to do what this passage states. 

This mission should be the great joy of the church and the family of God. Instead we sometimes see that it is the dividing point for some church family members. Take a look at a recent response to our proclamation of this mission on our website by an anonymous  individual who claims to be a Christian:

 I checked out the website. Even though I’ve been dissolusioned by my past experiences at church, I still was taught basic truths and Christian Biblical foundation to live by. I was confused by your mission statement. You say it is Luke 19:10 where Jesus had just talked to Zaccheaus who was a tax collector and people considered him a sinner and people wondered why Jesus associated with sinners and he said he came to save those that are lost. I don’t understand how that is a mission statement. I mean, every church does that. I mean, in Acts Jesus told the disciples to wait for him to give them the Holy Spirit. During that time they didn’t go out and save anyone. They focused on prayer and fellowshipping and eating with each other while waiting.

Then your website says Jesus summed up the 10 commandments in 2 statements, Love God First, Love people second. That’s not a very good summary at all. Jesus never said that. That sounds so harsh…not loving at all. To put people in a numerical order of importance sounds like what you are saying. I mean, he picked out Zaccheaus to save him…but Zaccheaus didn’t love Jesus first. He was interested in who Jesus was, that was why he was in the tree. Just having Jesus address him personally he felt God’s love and before even having Jesus to his house to believe in him, he said he would give back all the taxes and more he had wrongly taken from people. Matthew 22:35-40 says Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, that this is the 1st and greatest commandment. And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself, that all the law and the prophets hang on these 2 commandments. That basically if we do these 2 things, they are the foundation to accomplishing all the other commandments and saving the lost will happen when we love the Lord like that and treat others like we want to be treated. To “love people second” isn’t what Jesus said. Loving your neighbor as yourself isn’t loving people second. 

So how can a church’s sole mission statement be based on one verse and a very poor summary of what Jesus really said?”

Why is the mission outlined in Luke 19:10 so difficult to live out?  As stated above by the anonymous  writer: “I don’t understand how that is a mission statement. I mean, every church does that.” Later the writer states: “in Acts Jesus told the disciples to wait for him to give them the Holy Spirit. During that time they didn’t go out and save anyone. They focused on prayer and fellowshipping and eating with each other while waiting.” 

As I read the response from our writer it is curious to me why anyone, especially a Christian could find fault in the clarity of mission expressed in Luke 19:10. Jesus is the Head of the church and it seem reasonable that whatever was central and important to Him on earth must also be central and important to us who follow Him. Is it too difficult to see that the preparation  of the disciples and early church in Acts 1 and 2 was about the “mission” which encompasses the rest of Acts and the New Testament?

The answer to the question at the beginning of the previous paragraph is: ACCEPTING AND GETTING INVOLVED IN THE MISSION JESUS GAVE HIS FOLLOWERS IS WHERE HEARING THE WORD AND DOING THE WORD MEET.  In other words, many who claim to follow Christ in mission can show you their Biblical notations but they cannot show you their fruit. Nothing is more revealing than a fruitless tree. 

Seeking to build on the argument the writer launches into a brief on the two “greatest commandments” and wants to focus on how our website/church may be confusing the issue. In reality it is nothing but a smoke screen, an attempt to divert attention away from another fruitless tree. An attempt to explain why there is no fruit, it must be the fault of bad teaching in the church or poor examples of spiritual leadership, better yet we need to just water the tree more and give it more food and someday it will just naturally start producing more fruit. Not true. We must engage in the Mission Christ has given to us. We must GO, SEEK, LOVE, REACH OUT to all who do not know Him. 

FEBRUARY 2012 SERMON SERIES

I have not seen it all but I have seen a great deal when it comes to the church. I grew up as a Pastor’s kid, went into full time ministry in June of 1981. I have served as a children’s minister, youth pastor, associate pastor and senior pastor for 29 years. My entire life has been given over to service in ministry and it has, for the most part, been incredible and wonderful. 

One interesting challenges of a career in ministry is how often you will be called into question by those you lead. This is somewhat unique to ministry. I can’t imagine a pilot being told how he should fly a plane everyday by the passengers on his plane. It would be hard to believe that the GM at your local Walmart would have the people who shop his store lined up outside his door each week to call into question his management skills. I say all this tonge in cheek, but there is a measure of truth in what I am saying. 

Certainly, no pastor/leader is perfect and it is a good thing that we are held accountable for our ministry. The Bible gives us a review form we can use not only to check on our pastor but to check on our own lives as well. We will talk about this more in a moment. First let me say a bit about Style of Ministry. There are different styles of ministry and most of us were influenced by one or more of them at some key point in our life. We must be careful not to mandate STYLE as doctrine. My pastor was my dad and he had a gentle grace style, however we had a lot of personalities and different styles of ministry come through our church and I was exposed to many in our movement as well. 

I enjoy particular styles more than others, they are easier for me to understand and grasp the content of what the preacher is saying. I have made it my practice to be open to all the syles of ministry. So long as the clear Biblical doctrine is prerseved, taught and practiced, I can open to the preferred delivery method of any minister of the Gospel. 

So how can we know for sure we can trust our pastor/leader. The Apostle Paul encouraged his followers to follow him only so long as they noted that he was following Christ. Paul understood his sin nature and kept a humility about who he was in the scheme of things. He recognized how much he needed Jesus everyday Ro. 7:24. The Bible gives us a review sheet for our lives and for those who would seek to lead us. We are told in John 13:35 the world will know we are Christians by our love! We are told in Matt. 7:17 that good trees bear good fruit. In Gal. 5:22-23 we are told what that good fruit is. 

When it comes to judging a particular pastor/leader use the Biblical method. Do not disregard a spiritual leader God has placed in your life because you are more comfortable with a different style of pastor or spiritual leader. If we do that we will miss out on some incredible blessings. 

LET’S BE FRIENDS! In order to make new friends it is a given we must be a friend. This requires taking the risk of opening up to those we want to develop a friendship. Friendship is risky business. Those who get close enough to be our friends will learn a great deal about who we are, how we act and respond to pressure. 

Having said that, friendship is worth the risk. No we are not perfect. Yes, we would like to hide from the world at times. Given all that your fear of intimacy is understood but we were created to be together in community. It was God who said “It is not good for man to be alone”. We need each other. 

Take the risk, reach out and make a friend of those God has placed in your life. 

LEVEL TWO… Pre-Friendship

The mistake most of us make in the friendship process is that we have no process. We meet someone, we learn their name, we part get caught up in life and forget. If by chance we see the person again and remember them we probably do not remember their name. We may not even remember details of our conversation with them. Given that the chances of us extending the first meeting into friendship are close to zero.

Level two is our process for friendship development. There must be purpose in our daily encounters and a method for adding this new acquaintance as a friend. You can never have too many friends. Remember as we stated in the previous post you will only have a handful of CLOSE friends in life but you can have 1000’s of friends. The simple definition we used for defining a friend and Close friend is this: If your car breaks down you can call a Friend and they will give you a ride to work. If you call a CLOSE friend they will probably loan you their car. 

So let’s talk about the friendship process and how to implement it in your life.

1. Prepare for the meeting. God will put people in your pathway daily. Make sure you are prepared to greet them. Remember conversations starters from our last post. Use a business card if you like as a stater. If they do not have a card do name association like: 

-Today I met Stephen at Starbucks. Stephen is a Systems Analyst for Dell.

2. Listen more talk less. Ask questions, listen to responses, make mental notes as you listen. Do not be thinking about how you are going to respond when they stop talking, just listen closely. 

3. Set up the next encounter. This is not always possible but some initial encounters will automatically open for an additional meeting. Be bold. Make the next encounter a comfortable and easy ask. 

4. Be transparent and seek to deepen understanding with each engagement. Let your new pre-friend know you are interested in them and want to be helpful. The old saying goes: people do not care how much we know until they know how much we care. 

Alan Kirkpatrick

For most people, adding friends to their life is a difficult process and not a natural one. In truth, many regular church attendee’s consider the church, the only or primary place where they build new friendships. Although the church is a wonderful place to find friends, we need to be purposing to develop new friendships everyday, everywhere we go. 

Let’s talk about the friendship process I call “The Four Levels of Friendship”. This is a method I have used throughout my life to ensure that I am regularly building new friendships and maintaining old ones. 

LEVEL ONE: The Acquaintance level. At this level it is important that I am conducting my daily activities in such a way that I am meeting new people regular. For example: Going to the Gym, stopping by the coffee shop, going to the market, shopping, community volunteering and many other ways. I must recognize that it is not enough just to go to these places but I need to engage people as the opportunities arise. 

How do I begin a conversation with a stranger? Here are some tips..

-Ask for help

-Compliment good behavior

-Ask about the weather

-Offer to help when someone else is asking for advice or directions

-Exchange business cards

-Compliment someones attire or shoes

-Be helpful, assist someone who needs it.

The Primary Goal at the acquaintance level is to set up another opportunity to connect. Leave a lasting impression. Be attentive to what they say, do not think about how you will respond to what they are saying. God has placed this person in your path and it is your job to discover where the connection is to lead you both. It is possible that it will only be that one encounter. It may be that you will have an opportunity to connect them with someone else or they may be the ones God uses to connect you to someone or something else. 

Take time to write a note on your encounters. ex. “Today I met Ben. He is a Tech for memorial medical. He is married and has one child. He is new to the Austin area and is looking for a home church. His email is: ben@email.com, We are meeting at Starbucks next week and bringing our families so we can get to know each other better”

This level is the Starting blocks of all NEW FRIENDSHIPS. If we fail here we will not be adding new friends in our lives. If we avoid this step we create a closed “clic” most probably in our own church. That means that even when new people visit our church we will likely not reach out with the effort needed to add them to our friendship group. Whereas if we are active in Level One friendship building we will naturally make the effort needed to make new friendships within our church as well. 

Alan Kirkpatrick

Pastor The Grace Place