Characters of Christmas - Week #2

While we all may have different adult Christmas experiences, if we compared our Christmas experiences as kids, they probably would be quite similar. Most of us experienced the agonizing wait for Christmas to arrive.  As kids it seemed like it took forever, but the good thing was that Christmas always came!

The dynamic of waiting, waiting, waiting, actually setup the first Christmas. For many, many generations there was a remnant of Jewish people who waited eagerly for the arrival of the Messiah God promised. However, over the years many Jews would abandon their hope & trust in the God who "may" have given this promise hundreds/thousands of years earlier. There were 2 followers who didn't lose their hope & trust in this God & His promise.

This is an important story because at some point in all of our religious experiences, God is so quiet. God seems so inactive.  In those moments, seasons, years or periods of life, it is normal to ask "Why am I doing this?"

In Luke 1:5-27, we read about Zechariah & Elizabeth's faithful service to God and yet they couldn't have kids even into their old age. Even though all the circumstances around them said God wasn't coming through personally or nationally, they continued to live their lives as if God was faithful and would come through. The story of Christmas renews our hope & trust in God. The story of Christmas is a reminder that your faith & hope in God are not in vain.

Will you be a part of that remnant of people who continues to place their hope & trust in God?

Characters of Christmas - Week #1

Regardless what you believe about Christmas, many people would agree there are some interesting characters connected to the story of Christmas. There are the obvious characters of baby Jesus, Mary the mother, and Joseph the father. However, some of the supporting characters provide interesting perspective and even the ability to relate to this amazing & peculiar story.

Matthew starts his account of Jesus' life with a genealogy, which might seem strange to many of us. However, Matthew's main audience was Jewish people wanting to know if this was the real Messiah. All of them knew that the real Messiah would have come through the family line of King David. So Matthew starts off with the genealogy to answer that question first.

In doing so, Matthew includes some rather odd family members, especially 4 women. In this time, histories were written by hired men to make kings, emperors, and generals look good, almost always leaving out the defeats & unsuccessful children or at least downplaying them. And just about every time women were not mentioned - just men. However, Matthew had a purpose to include these women:

• Tamar - a sketchy story to say the least
• Rahab - a woman with a past
• Ruth - a non-Jewish woman
• Bathsheba - the woman who committed adultery with King David

It would be reasonable to wonder why would Matthew include these women and seemingly unnecessary distractions to proving Jesus was from David's family?

Matthew knew these somewhat shady, unexpected characters & situations were the point of the story he was about to tell. Matthew knew their sin & distance from God was the issue that Jesus came to address. Jesus didn't just come for sinners. Jesus came from sinners because...

The story of Christmas includes sinners & those far from God.

From Matthew's experience being with Jesus for 3 years, hearing Jesus teach, watching Jesus interact with various types of people, seeing Jesus die on a cross, and standing at His empty tomb, he experienced this purpose of Christmas. Matthew's own story (Matthew 9:1-13) of being an outcast sinner (tax collector) who was far from God also was part of the reason he wanted to include these scandalous characters in Jesus' genealogy. He knew better than many that Jesus came for sinners from those far from God.

Characters of Christmas

Every family has those "interesting" characters:

• that uncle with the checkered past
• the cousin who gets into everything
• the grandparent who tells those stories.

Jesus' family was no different. Join us starting December 4 and bring a friend with you, as we discuss these interesting Characters of Christmas.

The Power of an Invitation

At every major intersection in our lives, there has probably been an invitation of sorts. Somebody invited you somewhere to something, for something, or for someone. Some of the greatest things in our lives were the result of an invitation. Some of our greatest regrets were the result of an invitation. Invitations are powerful, sometimes life changing things.

You have the power to change someone's life through an invitation. In John 1:35-49, we see several examples of this principle in Jesus' life. People would discover Jesus was the Messiah, and they would invite their friends and family to come as well. Those people doing the inviting knew they couldn't answer all the questions, prove Jesus was the Messiah, or convince anybody of anything. However, they did know to invite their friends and family to "Come & See!"

As people come and be a part of the church, God does that thing that only God can do. When people, who are far from God but want to be close to God or have been beaten up by sin are facing its consequences, when they come and are among people who are following Jesus, something special happens.

We want to be a place for unchurched people to feel comfortable and welcome, while removing all possible obstacles to trusting in Jesus. As we enter the Christmas season, who could you invite?

• for dinner?

• for coffee?

• for Christmas Eve?

Message adapted from North Point Community Church.

How to Neighbor - Week #4

Almost all of us have experienced the generosity of a friend, family member, neighbor, or co-worker. Generosity is powerful. Generosity tears down walls. Generosity is hard to resist.

There is a theme throughout Jesus' teachings & the New Testament to be generous with no-strings-attached. In Luke 6:32-36, Jesus moves people to that standard by saying:

• Love your enemies.
• Do good to those who can't or won't do good to you.
• Lend money without expecting to be repaid.

Then in Luke 6:35, Jesus lays out the reason why we are to be generous "you will truly be acting as children of the Most High". God's generosity toward us causes us to be generous toward our neighbors. This type of generosity was not common in Jesus' day, in fact it was a complete paradigm shift. These people knew "liberalitas" - to give to get something in return. There was no reason to help those who couldn't return the favor, but Jesus said NOT so in my Kingdom. The Jesus follower's reason for generosity is because God has been so generous to us.

Historians tell us the early Christians lived extraordinarily generous lives even though, 

• They had NO wealth.
• They had NO building.
• They had NO voice.
• They had NO political power.

When plagues would hit a village, the Christians were the only ones to stay and care for the sick. When famines would threaten to devastate families, the Christians would give what little food they had to feed those who were hungry.  When the pagan poor had no one to care for them, the Christians would care for them, so much so that the Roman Emperor Julian would take notice!

In Philippians 2:15, Paul describes how that type of generosity can impact those around us, "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky".  That kind of generosity can still capture the hearts of people today.

The challenge for this week is to be generous by supporting our Food Drive by bringing canned goods to our Lobby this Sunday 11/27.

How to Neighbor - Week #3

As followers of Jesus, it can be very easy for us to focus on answering the question "What must I do to make & keep things right between God & me?" If we aren't careful our relationship with God can really be all about us and what we benefit from it.

Jesus challenged this self-spirituality all the time. In Matthew 25, we read of one particular instance when Jesus was referring to the last days, particularly about who will inherit eternal life in God's Kingdom. His point through this example is that serving God means loving our neighbors.  Those who...

• Feed the hungry
• Care for the thirsty, sick & stranger
• Cloth the naked
• Visit those in prison

When you love & serve those neighbors, it is as if you are actually serving God. Following Jesus is an invitation to leave what's all about you and embrace the neighbor beside you. Your devotion to God is illustrated, demonstrated, and authenticated by your love for your neighbors. We are to care for others' sake - just like Jesus came for others' sake.

Andy Stanley, a pastor in Georgia, has a great question to help us determine if we are simply embracing ourselves or really loving our neighbor "What does love require of me?" Thinking about perfect love, how would someone with perfect love respond to that neighbor? Following Jesus is not only for your benefit, but the benefit of your neighbor.

As a way to practice loving our neighbors, we have an opportunity to serve with West Valley Community Services. On Saturday, November 19th from 9am-12noon, we will help clean their food pantry that serves many local people everyday. To ensure we have enough participation, please register by Thursday, November 17. This is a great opportunity to partner with a local organization who does some amazing work in our community!

How to Neighbor - Week #2

You might not have experienced being adopted, but maybe your life was impacted by some caring adults who invested in & mentored you. You might not have been a foster sibling, but maybe you have friends who are foster parents. Many of us have been impacted by hearing stories, knowing people, or watching families foster or adopt kids.

In Galatians 4, Paul discusses God's desire for us that goes way beyond just a simple legal response of being forgiven. Even though we are all slaves to the laws we have broken, God chose to send His Son as the payment for our sin. Unfortunately, every law we have broken created a debt/debtor relationship with God that we could never pay back. In a legal sense, God through Jesus took care of erasing our debt to allow us to be forgiven.

However, Paul says that isn't all God has done through Jesus. God wants so much to be in relationship with us that He has chosen to adopt us! When Paul wrote this, his audience would have understood this to be an adult adoption. This means that God would choose to adopt you not just as an innocent baby, but as a guilty grown-up. If you place your trust in Jesus, you have been adopted into God's family.  If you have questions or would just like to talk with Pastor Chris, click the button below to email him.

As a response to God adopting us into His family, we have challenged our members to consider helping the huge foster care problem in Santa Clara County through Foster the Bay. Here are 3 ways we are challenging people to get involved:

1. Attend an Interest Meeting - to learn more about becoming a Support Friend, Foster Family, or volunteer with Foster the Bay.
2. Volunteer - to help provide child care, host food, or setup & tear down for their meetings.
3. Donate - to expand their reach, equip more families, and support local agencies.

How to Neighbor - Week #1

Clarity is very helpful for following through and getting things done. Confusion or fog does the opposite and takes away our urgency to act.  

When it comes to loving our neighbor, sometimes we all try to fog up God's command. His command though is pretty simple & clear, "You must love the Lord your God...And love your neighbor as yourself." However, we say things like, "It's not as simple or easy as that." Or we ask what a religious expert asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

In Luke 10:25-37, we see Jesus tell a parable that doesn't answer the man's question of "who is his neighbor". Rather, the Good Samaritan parable answers the question of "how to neighbor". It really is quite simple. We should help our neighbors who need help.

Our challenge from this week of the series is to give to support & share the amazing gift of Christmas with kids around the world through Operation Christmas Child.

How to Neighbor

You don't get to pick who your neighbors are, but you can choose something far more important: How to Neighbor.  Join us beginning October 30 as we talk about what this means, and how we will practice our neighboring in 4 ways. Click the links below to learn more:

• Give
• Love
• Serve
• Feed

Fearful or Freedom

Freedom can have many different meanings.

• Freedom is acting without restraint.
• Freedom is not forced to behave in a certain way.
• Freedom is not free.
• Freedom means you are not enslaved.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.””

— Galatians 5:1, 13-14 (NIV)

God came into history to set people free from the uncertainty of their status with others or with gods.  But what is holding you back from trusting God more?

If your fear is that...

• You can never be good enough.
• You can never get over this particular struggle.
• You can never get rid of your fear.

You don't have to live in fear.  God offers to set you free.

• What does that look like in your life?
• What fear do you think might be a necessity for you?  
• What fears do you have that you can allow yourself to be free from?

Fearful

At some point we all have to answer the question "How fearful are we going to be?" We could allow parenting to make us fearful...the safety of our homes, the security of our jobs, the future of our country, and on and on. At some point, we all have to decide how we are going to respond to the anxiety and fear in life, including the upcoming election.

For Christians, Jesus gives us some pretty specific instruction on how we are to handle fear. For those not sure about Jesus or religion, we have to determine how far we will let fear control our lives and who/what we will trust in beyond that.

Jesus used almost any event to teach his disciples about this. In Matthew 8, Jesus uses a stormy boat ride to challenge their trust in Him beyond what the storm could do to their body. Then in Matthew 10, Jesus prepares them for the difficulty & persecution they will face in the future as He sends them on their own.

Then, Jesus summarizes how we should respond to fear:

Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.  Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. - Matthew 10:28 NLT

• Who or what is making you fearful?

• Do you think that person, circumstance, or thing could hurt you beyond this life?

• What is holding you back from the kind faith in God that overwhelms your fear?

Message adapted from Andy Stanley.

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #5

How do you feel when you realize someone just wants something from you? Maybe your boss,  your friend, or that marketing phone call, if that is the general direction of a relationship, it is not as enjoyable.

If that is your view of religion and God (that He only wants something from you), then that definitely could lead to a bad religious experience. Thankfully Jesus' philosophy of life was different.

As we look at John 13, we see that Jesus was close to His crucifixion, He was still trying to love & prepare His disciples for the future.  Immediately after He knew that His Father had given him authority over everything, He washed His disciples feet.  He could have done anything, asked for anything, and leveraged anybody for His benefit, but He chose to serve others instead. He continued to demonstrate who God was...

God doesn't want anything FROM you.

God wants something FOR you.

Series adapted from North Point Community Church 

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #4

For some people, their bad religious experience began when the religion behaved like a location or valued the location/building over the people.  When religion behaves like a location, it can make for a bad religious experience.

Jesus speaks directly to how Christians should behave and what the church should be.  In Matthew 16, Jesus gives us insight into his intentions for what the church should be.  Keeping in mind this context of Jesus & the disciples, it is even more amazing:

• They didn't travel more than 30 miles around Jesus' home

• The religious leaders hated Jesus

• There were only 13 of them

• The Romans had conquered everything

With that in mind 2,000 years ago, Jesus predicts a global gathering or movement of people that will be unstoppable.  He didn't predict a location, a building, or a cathedral.  He predicted a gathering or congregation of people.

For us to be a movement not just a building, we have to :

1. move towards messes

2. have some disorganization

3. embrace change

4. impact the community

Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #3

Have you ever been bored in a religious service? We all could probably relate. Maybe it was uninteresting, irrelevant, unhelpful, just unnecessary, or something outside the communicator's responsibility. Whatever the reason, the longer we are bored in a religious experience the more we begin to endure the religious experience. The longer we endure the religion the more likely we are to endure "god".

At that point, we probably don't have a completely accurate view of "god", but rather

• a pocket-sized "god"

• a religious checklist

• do's and don'ts

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said some helpful words to an audience who were weary & burdened from enduring religion. They had been enduring a religion that was handed down to them through the generations. They had ten main laws that became surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of other laws meant to support the ten main laws. However, those extra laws made their religion so cumbersome it wasn't a relationship anymore. Jesus came to change that.

Some of the problem can come from religious aspects that are meant to help us with our relationship with God  - prayer, scriptures, serving & giving. Focusing on the relationship with not the responsibility to God can help.

Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #2

Many of us have had a bad religious experience for one reason or another. For many people, the main cause of the bad experiences is judgment about their past. In some way the religion or church has judged, alienated or made people feel disqualified because of their past.

There are several reasons why this happens, but when we look at Jesus and the Bible, we see something different. In the book of Acts, we see Saul/Paul who had a very bad past - worse than all of ours! Yet Jesus chose to use Paul to spread His message around the world!

If there is hope for Paul, there is hope for ALL! Your past doesn't have to stop God using you. There are three ways to deal with your past:

1. Acknowledge it.

2. Deal with it.

3. Leverage it.

The second is where we can help. If you would fill out this form about your situation, we will contact you about ways to deal with your past and possibly allow God to leverage it to help other people.

 Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience - Week #1

Religion is one of the taboo topics in our culture. However, unlike politics, sports, or technology, religion doesn't have the same type empirical evidence to support positions, arguments, or beliefs. Many people rely on their religious experiences to determine what or how they feel about religion. Unfortunately, all religions have created bad experiences that have pushed people away, especially Christianity.

One of the big obstacles for many people searching for "god" or meaning through religion is that it can seem like an exclusive club designed for exclusive people. There is a way things are done, disciplines to practice, routines to do, and expectations to meet. All of these can create an atmosphere where outsiders can't join or don't fit in. This isn't a problem if religion is all just kind of made up.

But what if God really did something in the 1st century for everybody? If we look at Jesus' life against the actions of the early church, we see that the church was becoming an exclusive club for exclusive people.  In Romans 3, however, Paul shows us that Jesus' message is for everybody so the church should be for everybody too!

Series adapted from North Point Community Church

My Bad Religious Experience

Have you had a bad religious experience?  

• Maybe it was boring.

• Maybe the group was unwelcoming.

• Maybe the people were hypocritical.

What if "god" is actually more than that, better than that, and bigger than that?

Maybe we should talk about it.  

The conversation begins Sunday, September 11.

Guardrails - Week #4

All of us regardless of our spiritual beliefs, have hopes and dreams for our future. For those of us who are Christians, we even believe that God could use us to positively impact the future. However, we all also have the potential to miss that future because of how we manage our appetites or desires.

There are many appetites beyond food like an appetite for progress, love, responsibility, or things. If we don't keep our appetites in check, we all know that disaster could be close by.

In Genesis 25 we learn from the story of Jacob & Esau that we shouldn't trade our future for a bowl of stew. Our appetites can cause us to sacrifice future opportunities and relationships. Re-framing the decision in light of how it could impact future is one way to handle this.

What appetite guardrails do you need to establish to protect the future God may have for you?

Guardrails - Week #3

God knows something about all of us because what has been true of all humanity is true of you & me.  God's chief competitor for your heart is your money.

Jesus was very clear in Matthew 6:24 that you cannot serve both God and money.  Whatever money or stuff represent for you - safety, security, opportunities, material possessions, or control  - the pursuit of those things can capture your heart. Then we are led towards one of two danger zones - saving or consuming.  We justify our positions by saying...

• I'm a saver
• I'm careful
• I'm just a spender
• I enjoy life

The problem is that both danger zones can be self-centered, fueled by greed, and leave us living as if there is no God.  God uses the habit of giving to combat money from being the master of our hearts and lives.  Giving a percentage of our money away helps us remember that not everything that comes our way is for our consumption.

• What guardrails do you need to establish for consuming or saving?
• Are you giving away a percentage of your income?

Giving to your local church is a great way to support the mission of God and to remember that God is the Master of your life not money.

Guardrails - Week #2

This Sunday we had a special combined program with our Chinese Congregations in which we celebrated 6 baptisms! Click here if you want to learn more or sign-up for a Life Group.

Friendship can a be a good and bad thing because friends can influence us. We are all acceptance magnets - attracted to acceptance and repelled by rejection. We open up when we feel accepted; we close down when we feel rejected. Unfortunately this principle doesn't care if the friends are wise or foolish.

While most areas of life need at least some guardrails, friendship particularly needs 2 guardrails. In Proverbs 13:20, Solomon teaches 2 powerful, friendship guardrails.

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

- Are there some foolish friends you need to distance yourself from?

- Are you in opportunities and environments to make wise friends?