(photo via JournalStar.com)

We (2 Pillars Church) made the local paper (Journal Star) yesterday in a feature article regarding new churches in the state of Nebraska trying to reach an increasing population of what the journalist called “unchurched.”

While the article itself is something, I found the comments left on the online version of the article to be quite helpful.  In a day of online publishing and everyone being able to express their opinion on everything, I often find the comments section to be more interesting than the article itself.

Use this as a lesson on how to read your local paper.  Utilize the online format to hear from real people (albeit anonymous because we all know you wouldn’t really want to put your name on said comments – tongue and cheek here) in your real community about real issues in your community.

With that in mind, below is a post I shared with the body of 2 Pillars Church this morning on our private social network regarding the article:

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Church,

We made the paper yesterday.  If you haven’t seen the article, I’d encourage you to read it here: Churches Transforming to Meet the Needs of a Growing ‘Unchurched’ Population.

I met with Erin Anderson (the journalist) last week and did their interview.  In reading the article, I felt she did a decent and fair job of representing us (although, I would object to being the “rock and roll church” since for the most part all we’re doing is taking ancient hymns and putting them to contemporary [to be read ‘contextual’] music).

You never know how things are going to get reported after you do an interview.  It could have been worse.

I was particularly pleased with the fact that she captured us as a place where “people freely talk about sin and confess to one another.” And that “We want people to come to know Jesus.”

Amen to that.

Here’s what I really want you to do though.  After you read or skim the article, go read the comments online.  As of this morning, it was the second most commented-on story on journalstar.com.

Before you get into a tizzy and create an avatar and profile and start posting away in response, I would encourage you to NOT respond in commenting on the article.

Instead, use the comments section as a classroom for mission.

Go to the end, and read them all in order.

These commenters are your friends and family members and neighbors and co-workers and classmates (perhaps not literally, but figuratively).  These are diests, agnostics, atheists, and the “religious” (which I use pejoratively), clearly and publicly expressing how they view the Church, what their experience has been with the Church, how they view Christianity and Christians in general.

None of the commenters (I read them all) view the church as anything other than a building or agenda-driven organization.

No matter how much you disagree, THIS is how those outside of the church and outside of Christianity view us – yes, even us.

And THESE are the people we want to see come to know Jesus.

As you read the comments, you’ll also find that it is a commentary on how some Christians approach and interact with those that do not believe in Jesus.

Writing a blog post or a comment at someone will never turn anyone toward Jesus.  Bashing their beliefs will never turn anyone toward Jesus.  Simply pointing to the scientific evidence or how “my church is different” is never going to turn anyone toward Jesus.  I’m not saying that their intentions are bad, but their methodology is off.

Showing them the love of Jesus while also speaking the truth of Jesus is the only thing that will.  Salt AND light.  Truth AND love.

So read the comments and be educated for mission.  There’s a stat out there that says that the longer you are a Christian, the fewer and fewer non-Christian friends you have.  May that not be so for us as a church.  May we actually be involved in the lives of those who do not believe the same as us so that they may see our lives as exampling Christ and be drawn in by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us – that they would gain a sense of belonging in our community (truly feeling and experiencing the love of our community) before even believing and that in the end, God would give them the grace to repent, to turn from their unbelief and trust in Jesus and His gospel.

May we be vessels of mercy.  May we be mouthpieces for God and be bold in sharing his gospel.  But would we also be a people who put the two togeher so that the unbelieving world sees the church being the church.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)

Grace, peace, and cheers.

Pastor Todd.

Fasting and the Christian Life

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon Resource Guide

This week’s Sermon Resource Guide consists of 3 helpful resources regarding fasting:

• 6 Practical Steps for Fasting - Brief Resurgence blog post written by Winfield Bevins for a multi-part series on prayer.
• Your Personal Guide to Fasting and Prayer - Though we may not agree with every single thing stated in this article, it does provide a robust, practical guide to understanding fasting.
• A Hunger for God - A very helpful book written by John Piper.  Pastor Todd referenced this book in his sermon on Sunday.  A Hunger For God was written to help Christians understand the Biblical nature and purpose of fasting and prayer.  Get a PDF of the entire book for FREE at the link above.

It is our prayer that these resources are a blessing, practically and spiritually, as you seek the Lord through prayer and fasting.

Fasting and the Christian Life

Parenting Guide

Below you will find the Parenting Guide for week 12 of the Sermon on the Mount Series (Matthew 6:16-18).

See this post from week 1 for more information about the parenting guides.

Sermon on the Mount – Parenting Guide Week 12

God provided amazing weather for us.  It was 60 and sunny and beautiful as we began.

If all goes well, we will get our temporary occupancy permit this week and be meeting in the new space this Sunday.  If not… pray for more great weather for us!

Proof the church is not a building but a people:

This video was shown this Sunday during our worship gathering. In the video, Pastor Todd takes you on a tour through the new home of 2 Pillars Church (the old Cedars building at 1430 South St.) and gives an update on the progress of the renovation project.

This is an exciting time for 2 Pillars Church. We expect to hold our first-ever worship gathering in the new space this Sunday!

For a more detailed look at the worship auditorium, check out this interactive, 360 degree panorama.

For those of you in the Lincoln area, we hope to see you there this Sunday!

Prayer and the Christian Life

Parenting Guide

Below you will find the Parenting Guide for week 11 of the Sermon on the Mount Series (Matthew 6:5-15).

See this post from week 1 for more information about the parenting guides.

Sermon on the Mount – Parenting Guide Week 11

Sermon Resource Guide

The Sermon Resource Guide is intended to aid you as you spend time studying the passage of Scripture from each week’s sermon on your own, with others, or even in your Gospel Community.

This week’s Sermon Resource Guide consists of a link to an article written by Dr. Tim Keller: Prayer and the Gospel. Keller is the Senior Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

Here is a short excerpt from the article:

One of the most basic things that the gospel does is change prayer from mere petition to fellowship and the praise of his glory. Galatians 4:6-7 teaches us that when we believe the gospel, we not only become God’s children legally, but we receive the Spirit in order to experience our sonship. The Spirit leads us to call out passionately to God as our tender and loving Father. The Spirit calls out ‘Abba’ (4:7). In the very next verse Paul refers to this experience as “knowing God” (4:8). We do not just know and believe that God is holy and loving, but we actually experience contact with his holiness and his love in personal communion with him.

No one had a deeper insight into the gospel and prayer than Jonathan Edwards. Edwards concluded the most essential difference between a Christian and a moralist is that a Christian obeys God out of the sheer delight in who he is. The gospel means that we are not obeying God to get anything but to give him pleasure because we see his worth and beauty. Therefore, the Christian is able to draw power out of contemplation of God. Without the gospel, this is impossible. We can only come and ask for things- petition. Without the gospel, we may conceive of a holy God who is intimidating and who can be approached with petitions if we are very good. Or we may conceive of a God who is mainly loving and regards all positively. To approach the first “God” is fearsome; to approach the second is no big deal. Thus without the gospel, there is no possibility of passion and delight to praise and approach God.

. . .

Read the entire article HERE.

A thought bomb is a thought of someone else’s that explodes when you read it thereby creating your own, related yet distinct, thoughts in your own head.

Recently when preparing a sermon on Matthew 5:38-48, I stumbled across a great thought bomb on the friendliness of churches by Dan Doriani in his excellent little book, The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple.  Because it was too tangential to the focus and direction of my sermon, the thought bomb did not make the cut for Sunday, but I share it here in hopes that it has the same explosion effect on you that it did on me.

The following is a comment Doriani made in treatment of Matthew 5:47 which reads, “And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”:

“Many churches seem cold and unwelcoming to visitors, but almost every church thinks it is friendly. Why? Because the members are friendly with their friends. They greet everyone who greets them. This is not noteworthy. Genuine love keeps an eye open for the quiet, the awkward, and the friendless, and seeks them out.”

Is your church “friendly?” Do you realize that you are the church and thus the friendliness of your church is directly proportional to the the friendliness of the people that are the church? Namely, you.

Boom.

Lately, I’ve been being ministered to through John Owen’s little book, Indwelling Sin in Believers. While John Owen has never been accused of being easy to read, I think it’s that characteristic of his writing that makes it so fruitful for me to steep in.  Owen slows me down.  I have to concentrate.  It commands me to reflect.  I have to focus and pay attention to what I’m reading.  As such, I’m forced to steep, not just read and consume.

Owen is one of my favorite theologians to read on sin, its presence and effects, as well as mortifying it.  Though nearly three and a half centuries old, Owen’s treatment of sin is still one hundred percent relevant and applicable today.

This morning, God ministered to me through Owen with this poignant perspective on how sin works:

Where grace has the dominion, it will never be utterly expelled from its throne. It will retain its right and sovereignty.  But its influences may be interrupted for a time  and its government suspended by the power of sin….

Sin in such cases is like an untamed horse which, having first thrown off his rider, runs away in a fierce rage.  It first casts off a present sense of the yoke of Christ and the law of his grace, and then hurries the soul to do what it wishes. Let us briefly consider how this is done.

Because grace occupies the whole soul – the mind, the will, and the affections (since the whole soul is renewed by grace into the image of God, Eph. 4:23-24, and the whole man is a new creation, 2 Cor. 5:17) – the law of sin must try to interrupt the operation of the same faculties.

It darkens the mind, through countless prejudices and false arguments and through the heating of the affections by lusts that have taken hold of them. So the saving light in the mind is clouded and cannot transform the soul into the likeness of Christ as it should (Rom. 12:2).

The habitual inclination of the will to obedience is first weakened and then nullified by continual temptations. Finally the will surrenders to its adversary.

As for the affections, usually the evil starts with them. They oppose one another and torture the soul with their impetuous violence. So the rule of the law of grace is thwarted by the law of sin in its own seat of government. Then sin makes sad work in the soul.

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Because of all of the above, I want you to be prepared.  Here’s how.

1. Pray – Pray for me and protection for me as I seek preach God’s Word in this area. It’s literally going to be impossible for me to cover every little thing that needs to be covered in a single sermon, so pray that the Holy Spirit will take my measly attempt to hit this issue and flame it into a fire.  Pray for yourself and fellow GC Leaders.  Pray for the men of 2 Pillars – for freedom over this area of sin.
2. Confess your sin – You cannot realistically be prepared to help anyone else until you’ve done business yourself with God.  Confess this to others.  Again, if you struggle with this, I want to talk with you – before your GC meets next week.
3. Read – I’ve attached two articles (three links since one is split into two parts) I want each of you to read which will help you gospel yourself, and also gospel others.  These articles lay a biblical foundation for counseling regarding lust, porn, and masturbation.  Read “When the Problem is Sexual” first, then the two-part “Breaking Pornography Addiction” article after that.  These are short, you can probably get through them all in 30 minutes.  I encourage you to try to do so before Sunday morning.

As of now, we are planning to print and hand out to every single man a copy of Driscoll’s Porn Again Christian booklet on Sunday morning.  I’ve attached that here (the fourth link) in case you want to get an early start on it.  Warning: while the sermon content is rated PG-13, this little e-book is closer to an R rating (due to the graphic nature of some of the language used).  The book’s subtitle is, “A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation.”  It is just that.  Frank.  It is written by a man for men and therefore contains more of a locker room feel and tone than a book meant for a mixed readership.  While that may turn some off, I have found it extremely helpful and more practical and specific than any other resource you’ll find on the topic.

Finally, Tim Challies has written a great little book called Sexual Detox which is probably the best on the subject.  I entreat you to get a copy and digest it for the sake of your soul and the souls of those you’re leading.  It has questions at the end of each short chapter and makes an excellent resource that you can use to walk through these issues with other men who are struggling.

All of these resources will be compiled and pointed to in the Sermon Resource Guide this week so that you can easily point others to them as well.

Praying that we would stand together against this, men.  Praying that we would stand by each other in this as well.

Grace, peace, and cheers,

Pastor Todd.

Resource Links:

5. Prepare yourself.   On Sunday morning one of the biggest things I’m praying for is that as a church we would take the lid off this can of worms that no one really wants to talk about.  When the lid stays on and the topic remains taboo, Satan wins.  He loves that churches don’t talk about these things on a regular basis.  He loves that men are too scared to admit sin in this area.  We want to be a church that takes the lid off of this, spreads the worms out on the table, and begin dealing with them.  All of this means, you need to be prepared.  My expectation is that after Sunday, you’re going to be faced with multiple men in your GC who are looking for help in this area.

I have spoken with men that span the gammit on this issue.  I know there are men who are trapped in this sin who have never talked about it to anyone.  I have personally spoken with men in our church who confess this as sin and are struggling to make any progress.  I have spoken to men who have confessed it and are making progress against it, getting open with others, seeking accountability and heart change.  I have also spoken with men who are married struggling with this, struggling with children who are struggling with this, and one man who came up to me after a sermon once and flat out told me “I’m addicted and I cannot stop and it’s killing my marriage and I need help.”

These men are in your GCs.  I know them by name.  Some of them you know by name.  You need to prepare yourself.

To be continued…