Sound Christian Fellowship

What does it mean to share your faith?

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:02:00 +0000

Admittedly, there has been quite a lapse in time between the last post and now! My hope is that we can get more contributors to the blog and allow for more topics that lead to discussion. I really believe we have great tools to reach out to those that need to know the love of Christ, and sometimes I think we get so accustomed to doing things the way they've always been done, that we don't grasp onto what the Spirit is doing.

This past week, our Saturday morning men's group was assigned the task of sharing our faith with one other person. On the surface, it sounds easy enough - take what we've learned, with the burden that God places on our hearts to share the Gospel, and be led to someone you think looks willing to hear you.

But somehow, no matter how much book knowledge I acquire, no matter how many great and simple strategies or scriptures I come across, somehow here I am on Friday night and I haven't shared my faith with one single person! Why do you think that is? Am I afraid of the reactions I'll receive? Am I afraid of being rejected? Am I worried that the words I know are true won't escape past my lips?

I believe that there are two educational points in my procrastination this week (probably more, but two is enough). I could list a slew of excuses about how busy I was this week, but honestly — if I'm too busy to do what my God asks of me, I'm too busy. And, that's the kind of 'busy' that He won't give me rest from.

1. Just as the Holy Spirit is our Advocate, Satan is our prosecutor
When I accepted Christ as my Lord, I also submitted my body to Him. It is in this submissive state that He is able to live in and through me. Even when we aren't aware of what He's up to, people will take words I've said and things I've done and He will give those things a certain Jesus 'twist' on what I mean, so that He's seen and heard by others. He is extremely good at building others up — both inside the church and outside — when I allow Him the room to do this.

But, there is also one who used to be my lord, and he's furious that I no longer belong to him. He will at times tempt me, but it would be the same as if another employer asked me to do work for him. He can promise me great things (all temporary), but at the end of the day, the employer I have now is who sustains me and who I have to own up to tomorrow. If I try to play the field and work for both employers, work for one of them will suffer (and I'd probably be exhausted!). I can't serve both employers. Eventually my body of work will show for whom I really work.

So, Satan is furious not only because he no longer has me, but that I'm trying to pull others away from him. And, because of this, he will interfere with my efforts. This usually comes in the form of "alternate reality" thoughts of my experiences, witnessing to others. I think, "I'll probably seem like one of the mall vendors who try to pull people in with a "quick five minute survey" which turns into a two hour product demo. I tend to avoid people with clipboards like the plague. So the enemy puts an image of me with a clipboard into my head and...that's usually all it takes for me to go from super-jazzed to super-deflated.

2. Sharing my faith means being able to receive someone else's.
No, I don't mean we start believing whatever someone else tells us! What I mean is, so often we approach the task of witnessing to others as something that is either all about our experiences or all from the study materials we were given. Sure, we might ask, "Do you believe there is a God and that He has a plan for you?", but are we listening to their response or are we just waiting to get to the next question?

If you think about it, the clipboard carriers at the mall are like that. They're just waiting for you to get through all of the questions. Are they really interested in your preference for fizzy drinks? Would they enjoy your enlightened perspective on why lunch meat B tastes better on saltine crackers? Probably not. To them, you're just a name on a piece of paper.

But, God loves us and loves those we witness to so much more than that! He loves an honest conversation. He wants to know how we're feeling and why. He wants us to grow closer to Him, to rely more and more on Him.

So, when we share our faith, remember this: The ones we are speaking to are more important than the script we're trying to follow. They're more important than our fear of how they will respond. So, if we're going to share our faith, let's let that word be meaningful - let's be willing for them to share how they feel about the church, about Jesus, about their ability to believe or why they feel they can't. Our ability to listen may just make the difference between a saved soul and another excuse for why Jesus isn't for them.

What are your experiences sharing your faith or having others share their faith with you? What do you think helped you know your need for the free gift of grace through Jesus Christ? What didn't work well?

Fishing for the Big One

noreply@blogger.com (pastorjohn) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:05:00 +0000

It seems quite coincidental that a recent sermon dealt with the text of Jesus after the resurrection on the shores of Galilee telling his fishermen friends to throw the net on the other side of the boat and they would find fish and just this last Saturday my Most Beautiful Babe, Natalie, arranged a Charter fishing trip for myself and my two sons as a birthday gift for me. We had a blast and caught fish almost as fast as we could put the bait in the ocean. The truth is it doesn't matter which side of a boat you fish from. Fish don't follow a strict set of swimming rules as in: "if the boat waaaay up there is travelling into the current then always swim on the port side, however, if the ship is travelling cross-current then we swim in circles until we get dizzy." There are no rules for them but one: eat or be eaten. I brought many of them home in order to fulfill that rule. Jesus knew that the disciples were exhausted and worn out and yet they did as He said and the result of their obedience to a simple command resulted in overwhelming blessing.

Well, it's time to go to praise practice. Lift up your heads O ye gates and be lifted up ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in. O Lord, my heart is open wide and my mind is set on You. Please come in and dine with me.

pastorjohn

Vote for a song!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Hey Everyone,

Please reply to this post to vote for one of the following songs that the Worship team will be learning next. This is a great opportunity for you to also learn the next possible song we'll be playing!

"From the Inside Out" by Hillsong United:

An Extended Version of "The Stand", also by Hillsong United:

"Audience of One" by Big Daddy Weave:

"Born Again" by Third Day:

"Your Grace Is Enough" (Chris Tomlin version):

"Nothing But The Blood" (Matt Redman version):

From Richard Pomeroy

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:02:00 +0000

I received this email from Richard and asked if I could share. Please join me in prayer. Thanks! --Jon
************************************************

To my dear Christian friends and acquaintances,

THIS IS AN URGENT PLEA FOR PRAYER for the Christians of Bamni Wala, Pakistan. The Mullah (the head priest of the mosque) in nearby Kasur, Pakistan declared jihad against all of the Christians in this small village.

Since my crusade in Kasur, two new Christian churches have grown up there. My host in Pakistan has been preaching there since I left and there are now many more people who have now professed faith in Jesus Christ. I learned in an e-mail from Lahore yesterday that eighty houses belonging to the poor Christians living in Bamni Wala have been burnt. Their cattle and sheep have been stolen. Their church buildings have been seized. I have not yet heard any reports of injuries or deaths.

Please pray for the safety of these new believers. Please also pray for the safety of my Pakistani host. He is about to travel to Kasur to see the extent of the damages and begin bringing in relief, and this is a perilous journey for a Christian minister right now.

No, you haven't heard about this on the news. The story was covered by 35 news cameramen from thirty-five different television stations, but they are not being allowed to broadcast it. The government of Pakistan is suppressing it. The news reached me by e-mail from my friends within Pakistan, who are very concerned for their comrads in the faith.

My Pakistani brother has been feeling the heat from the twenty-six crusades we did together in February and March. A militant Muslim organization is now trying to trace his location to silence him. As quickly as I can I am going to take down all the information about him from my website so that they cannot use any information from it to trace him.

I am making it my goal to return to Pakistan again in February, 2010 to join him in the wonderful work he is doing there. I have already made arrangements for a leave of absence from my job. Please ... please ... please pray for the safety of my corespondent and all of the other wonderful believers that work with him in the ministry there.

This may be your last chance to view my Pakistan web page unabridged. http://www.richardpomeroy.com/mission_pakistan.htm. Very shortly a less informative page will appear in its place.

Please pray.

In Christ,

Richard Pomeroy

First Monthly Challange!

noreply@blogger.com (Naomi) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:13:00 +0000

Hello to the Youthgroup (and all visitors, or course!),

We will soon have a youthgroup-only blog that you will be able to access anywhere! We will be able to share our personal thoughts and feelings and support each other with Christ-like exampleb with privacy and consideration for those surfing the site. But for now, we will be sharing the church blog.

With that I give you the challange for this month:

Memorize All of the Names of the Books of the Bible!

If you already have memorized the books, memorize who wrote them (if known).

At the last evening service of the month you will be challanged - and richly rewarded.

God's Peace be on You,

Naomi

(Youth Leader, Cornerstone)

Jesus in The Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Once in a while I get into a Jesus-geek mode, and this time I thought I'd share.

Have you ever seen an area of a Web site where there are lots of different, related words with different font sizes? You might see something like this for cities in Washington:
Federal Way SeattleTacoma

This is called a "Search Cloud" and it's becoming more and more popular for social networking sites to show what kind of content people are looking for and display it so that if you're looking for similar content, it's easier for you to find as well.

Well, that got me thinking - what words are we using in our conversations with others? What words are common to how you speak? Is Jesus a Jesus Christ in your conversations or maybe just a Jesus Christ?

As we encounter the love and grace of God in our lives, we should find that the only way to keep it alive is to share it with others, and sometimes that means examining what we are choosing to promote in conversation. Whether we choose to or not, we are all walking billboards - without saying a word, we can choose to communicate our beliefs, faith, likes and dislikes and who or what we associate with.

Is Jesus in your cloud? Find ways of interjecting his name or "glory", "forgiveness" or grace.

Delilah - the Samson Version

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Oh this is hilarious!
http://www.tangle.com/timhawkinscomedy

"Revelation Song" Music Video

noreply@blogger.com (SCF) — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:24:00 +0000

After hearing Phillips, Craig & Dean do this song on Spirit 105.3 today, I did a search for "Revelation Song" and found this video. It's pretty moving, so thought I would share.

--Jonathan