VISION

What is Generation One all about?

Habakkuk 2:2 Says, “And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. (Make it Plain, Make it Clear!)
This vision is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.”

1 Corinthians 14:8 says, “For if the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?”

So I ask, “What is Generation One all about?” The answer should be sweet and simple and to the point.

We want our message to be plain, clear, simple, certain, easy to understand and easy to remember. We don’t want to be sending too many messages, or too many mixed messages.

We all know the whistle sound that a guy makes when a pretty woman walks by. He whistles. She immediately knows the message he was sending her way. If homeboy can’t whistle and tries to whistle but makes a farting noise from his tightly pressed lips instead, she is going to receive the message completely wrong. The message needs to be clear!

We want ONE BIG GREAT MESSAGE HERE AT GENERATION ONE!

That message is one that you need to believe in! You need to believe it because if you don’t, then you may work hard in vain. You may work hard and not even like what you are doing. If you don’t believe in the message, the vision of Generation One, than you will just show up here like a single-celled organism, just floating around with no brain.

When I look at Generation One I see that it is alive! It is growing! It is healthy! We are six months old and we are learning new things!

We are seeing students worship and pray to God!

We are seeing people give their lives to Christ!

We are seeing students sign up for Baptisms!

We are seeing new faces every week!

We are starting GO GROUPS and will continue to see more new faces, more people giving their lives to Christ, and more people wanting to be baptized!

Since Generation One is growing as a ministry, we need to grow with it as followers of Jesus.

The last thing we want to do is not keep up with the ministry of Generation One. This is the reason we are starting Leadership on Sunday mornings! We need as many leaders as possible.

At Generation One we need more than just Leadership. WE NEED VISION.

The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, people perish.”

I don’t want you to perish. I want you to be a part of Generation One and be a part of the vision!

Whether you have been a Christian your whole life, or for just a day, and even if you are not a Christian, we believe that Generation One is for you! We want you to be a part of our vision!

So what is Generation One?

Generation One is a Student Ministry of Jesus Christ!

Generation One is welcoming of all people!

Generation One is a gathering of students together as One!

Generation One is looking forward to One future!

Our ultimate goal is worshiping Jesus in heaven in the future, but while on earth we are looking forward to the goals God has in store for us now! God has plans for us! He has plans for Bellingham! And we want to be a team seeing those goals come to pass.

We also have goals as the leaders of Generation One. However, our goals must not just be our goals. They must become a vision centered on Jesus!

We see students coming to know Christ!

We see students passionately reading their bibles!

We see students falling in love with Jesus during worship!

We see students raising their voices in prayer!

We see students praying for their friends at school, work, during sports, in malls and on the streets, at concerts, and on Facebook and Twitter where you spend most of your time!

We see students becoming disciples of Jesus Christ!

We see students being baptized in water and the Holy Spirit!

We see students saving their sex life for marriage and honoring God with their bodies.

We see students stop gossiping and lying and sharing the Gospel of Christ!

We see students that say no to drinking and say YES to the Bible!

We see students laying down their drugs and their munchies and decide to fast for life change!

We see students standing up for what they believe in!

We see students fighting the good fight of faith!

We see students leading the way!

We see students working in the city and the country, telling people about Jesus!

We see students being called by God into ministry!

We see students becoming interns and becoming leaders in the church!

We see students preaching the Word of God!

We see students growing up to become mature adults, mature Christians, and passionate preachers!

We see Jesus pouring out His Spirit on Bellingham! That things will never be the same here! That people’s lives would be changes! And that God would receive all the glory!

You want to hear it simply?! You want to see it in BIG BOLD CLEAR LETTERS?!

We see One Generation Loving God, Loving People, and Loving Church!

Generation One loves Bellingham, Lynden, Ferndale, Blaine, and all other cities!

In love, we are becoming like Christ! We are sharing God’s Good News with people in light of a dark world.

Generation One is restoring people to a life of love, joy, hope! To a life with Jesus!

In love we are not held to a set of rules, regulations, and policies. Instead we are held together by a unifying vision to see God change Whatcom County through Generation One.

What holds us together is the mission to see others experience God’s love, just like we are experiencing God’s love!

People always want to know, “What does the future look like for Generation One?”

I’ll tell you that I don’t have an answer for that question. I don’t know what the future looks like. I could try to make up some crazy numbers, but I just don’t know. I am only human, I can’t see into the future.

James 4:13-15 : “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

All I know is what is happening right now. Today. All I know is who I was and who I have become in Christ. All I know is that God works and he is loving! All I know is that God wants to give people life! All I know is what God has done and what he is doing! Because of that, I know that he will continue to do his will!

I don’t know where we will be in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, or 15 years. All I know is what I have now!

I am not concerned so much with the future of things. I am concerned with right now.

What do we have right now? What are we doing right now?

Christians ask the question, “Where are we going? What does the future hold for us?” What we really want to know is, “What is God up to?” We want to know God’s plans for our lives. How will Jesus continue to change my life and continue saving me? What does my future look like in light of Jesus? How is the Holy Spirit guiding me and what is he guiding me to?

These are the questions we ask God about the future! Believe me! I have asked him myself about Generation One.

The real answer to these questions is: I DON’T KNOW!

I read the bible and verses like Jeremiah 29:11 that say, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

But ultimately, I don’t know what that looks like. God says that HE knows the plans, and they are to give us a hope and a future! I do not know, HE knows!

That’s it! That’s all we know! We don’t know HOW it’s gonna happen, we just know WHAT God wants for us!

Today we are talking about the vision of Generation One.

WE KNOW THAT IT NEEDS TO BE BIG AND CLEAR SO PEOPLE CAN EASILY READ IT AND RUN WITH IT! WE KNOW THAT GOD WILL GIVE US HOPE AND A FUTURE! But we don’t know what it’s going to look like physically.

I do know that what it will look like spiritually though. It will reflect Jesus. It will be full of the Holy Spirit and full of power! There will be an energy that can only come from God. There will be a love and desire for Heaven that is not man-made but that is given by God!

GOD’S PLAN + OUR VISION =

Energy, Power, Change, Discipleship, Full of Grace and Full of Faith!

GRACE OF GOD

I have two sisters. One is a year older than me and the other is 11 years younger than me. I would share a lot of things with my older sister. Like video games, toys, friends. We didn’t share bedrooms because I am a boy and she is a girl. However, me and her and all of our friends would always be playing together and we would run through the house, playing in my room, and her room, and the living room, and outside. We would create chaos in the house. Then when after our friends would leave our mom would say its time to clean up your mess. I think like all kids, cleaning up our mess pretty much meant shove it under your bed. That was about all the cleaning we would really do. Although we always made sure that we would get each others toys back in the right room. If I left my toys in her room, or if she left her toys in my room, than it became that persons toy. Even if my sister left a Barbie in my room, man, my GI joes were tough and would snap the limbs off that Barbie. Or if I left my GI joes or ninja turtles in her room she would twist the GI joes bodies until they snapped in half, or I would find the ninja turtles eaten by the dogs.  We would always tell each other, “Well you left it in my room so it became mine!” Anything that was in a bedroom automatically became the other persons. I would have to play swat to go rescue my toys and keep them safe from my sister.

It was also like that with my younger sister, except completely different. Anything and everything that was in my room was off limits to my younger sister. I would get candy for Christmas, in my stalking, and hide it in my room so my little sister wouldn’t get it. Whenever I was gone at school, I was in highschool, she would go into my room and look for my toys, play my video games, and eat my candy.. ahhhhh, it made me so mad. She wouldn’t even be secretive about it. She would leave the video games on and candy wrappers all over the floor. And I would ask her why she did that, and she would say, “It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it.” She kind of eventually learned to be more secretive about it and turn off the video games. But she never threw the wrappers away, she would hide them. I would find them all over my room. Some of the most frustrating times were when I would be going to bed and I would find them under my pillow. It was so annoying.

And I would always tell her, “Stay out of my room! It’s mine!”

Some of you are about to cry finding out that I used to break barbies in half, and tell my sister to stay out of my room. Let’s open the Bible. John 15.

Joh 15:1  “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.

Joh 15:2  He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.

These verses say many things.

1: Jesus is the Real Vine that grows in a Farm.

The vine is connected to the ground, Jesus says that he is the vine. He also says that there are branches connected to vine. The branches are not connected to the ground, they are connected to the vine. The branches are to produce grapes. This is how a grape vine works. The vine grows from the ground and up a trellis, you know one of those things that holds grapes up. Then there are tons of branches that go out of the vine. Some of those branches produce grapes, but all of the branches have leaves. The leaves of the grape vine are edible. But no one grows a grape vine to eat the leaves. So the branches that only produce leaves and no grapes are literally stealing nutrients from the grapes. So then what the farmer is left with is nasty bitter grapes that aren’t good for eating. So the farmer then cuts off the leaves that don’t produce grapes in order for the other branches to produce better grapes that are actually worth eating and enjoying. Jesus is the vine from which all fruit is produced. In just a little bit we will see more about what Jesus is talking about.

2: God is the farmer.

He owns the land, he does the plowing, he plants the seeds, he waters the plants, and then he tends the fields and sees what grows and what does not grow. He owns the whole enchilada. It’s all God’s! You go into God’s farm it’s like you are going into God’s room. It’s all his. He owns everything. But God does not say, “STAY OUT!” Instead this is what he says….

Joh 15:3  You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

Joh 15:4  “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

Joh 15:5  “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.

Jesus is the Vine! He is the life source! He says that the branches must be connected to the vine because the vine is connected to the ground where all the nutrients come from.

Jesus says, “LIVE IN ME! MAKE YOUR HOME IN ME JUST AS I DO IN YOU!”

This is a statement of love, of acceptance, of mercy, of compassion, of living together. This is a statement of GRACE!

GRACE says LIVE IN ME AS I LIVE IN YOU!

I think as humans we quickly default to saying, “STAY OUT, This is my room!” We want our own things for our own benefit so that we could look cool and enjoy everything for ourselves. I think that when we see other people having nice things, we tend to want to destroy those things, like snapping heads off of Barbies and breaking GI Joe into pieces. Our natural tendency is to sin.

We don’t understand GRACE. Grace is the very nature and being of who God is. His attitude is Grace. His behavior is Grace. His default position is Grace. His natural tendency is Grace.

If I were to define grace for you I would say it like this, “Every action the God takes towards mankind” is grace! That means, when God acts, he acts in grace.

When God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, he did so in grace.

When God told Noah how to build a boat, he did so in grace.

When God met Moses at the burning bush, he did so in grace.

When God forgave King David for committing adultery and murder, he did so in grace.

When God got Mary pregnant by His Spirit, He did so in grace.

When God became a baby child so that He could live with man, HE DID SO IN GRACE!

GRACE says LIVE IN ME AS I LIVE IN YOU!

Grace makes its way to you and lives in you! God wants you! The grace of God is that he wants to be connected to you. He loves you. He is the originator. The Creator. The life giver. The Life Sustainer. Jesus died on a cross so that you could be saved. Jesus is the Life Saver!

I believe in a Jesus who does not say STAY OUT, but who says LIVE IN ME AS I LIVE IN YOU! Jesus is the vine and he is saying “STAY CONNECTED TO ME!”

Jesus says  “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.

To sum this up, Jesus is saying, “The only way to be UNITED with me is through my Grace! When you are UNITED with me there is a deep, intimate, organic, real, producing much fruit life going on!”

Jesus is saying, “By my grace I want to be United with you, then and only then, will there be fruit.”

He says, “Separated, you can’t produce a thing.”

Joh 15:6  Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.

This is like, “Bummer. Jesus, why do you gotta say depressing things like that?” No one wants to hear the words, “I’ll throw you in the bonfire.”

I’ve been camping quite a bit. Anyone else go camping? There are some essentials to camping and then there are some non-essentials to camping. The essentials are a tent, an ax, band-aids (because you know someone is going to get hurt with that ax), food, and graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. The non-essentials are things like shampoo and deodorant. When you go camping you have to make s’mores, which mean you have to make a fire. And I am a boy, I like big fires. It gets kinda hard to roast marshmallows on big fires. You have to stick your hand way out there while trying to keep your face from the heat. Just getting close to the heat is intense. You kind of have this buffer zone around the fire, like “this is too far away,” or “this is too close.” Nobody wants to get too close to the fire, which makes it really hard to roast marshmallows.

And Jesus says, “Anyone who separates from me is thrown into the bonfire.” I don’t want to stand that close to the bonfire, let alone be thrown into it. This is not exactly a comforting saying of Jesus. He isn’t petting your head and saying, “It’s ok, you’ll be thrown into the bonfire.” He is giving a warning here. He is telling us not to leave him and separate ourselves from him.

I told my sister not to go into my room because it was my room and not hers. Jesus is telling us that we need to stay in his room and that we better not leave, because if we do than there are serious consequences.

Jesus then says, in John 15:7, “But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.”

This is the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus comes to earth and makes himself home on earth. Then, he welcomes us into his life, where we actually have life, where there is love that is organic and intimate. And he is so loving and gracious that he warns us that there is no life without him. That walking away from Jesus only leaves death and destruction. But that staying with Jesus results in life and promises and our prayers being answered.

This is Good News to us, and to me. I, who was a spoiled brat that wouldn’t share with my sister, have been given life by a gracious Jesus. When all I deserved was punishment, I was forgiven, and Jesus said, “LIVE IN ME! LIVE IN ME AS I LIVE IN YOU!”

This is a miracle!

FAITH OF MAN

This demands a lot of me. The grace that I have been given should not be left dead and without fruit. But it should be alive and productive because of being connected to Jesus, the vine, there should be fruit producing from my life.

Joh 15:8  This is how my Father shows who he is–when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

When you mature as disciples it means that you are producing fruit. The fruit is literally like a grape. Earlier I said that the grapes were bitter and nasty because the other branches would steal the nutrients from the grapes. After those branches have been cut off it allows the grapes to grow better. Maturing as a disciple looks like a grape… you are not so bitter and nasty, but more plump and delicious, so that others can benefit.

Bad disciples are like bad fruit. No one wants one.

Good disciples are like good fruit. Everyone wants one, and they keep coming back for more.

Jesus is saying, “In order to become a good disciple, you must remain in me.”

If you don’t then the consequences will be one of two things. While you are living on earth, God will cut away things that steal your ability to produce fruit. This can sometimes be painful. It’s necessary, and sometimes we respond to that pruning and bear fruit. And sometimes we don’t respond to that pruning and don’t bear fruit. If that happens and you reach the end of your life, then the other thing will happen. The consequence for being a bitter, nasty, good for nothing, dry, shriveled, fruit-producing branch is to be tossed into the fire.

A person must make this choice in life. WILL I FOLLOW JESUS? The answer must be either YES or NO. Not, Yeah, I guess so, I’m not sure, well maybe, I would like to but, how about we rock-paper-scissors to follow Jesus…

You cant Rock-Paper-Scissors to follow Jesus. It has to be a definite Yes or No.

“Will you follow Jesus” is a question of faith. Grace is “Every action that God takes towards mankind,” and faith is defined as “every action that man takes towards God in response to grace.”

We live in a place where there is great judgment for saying no to God, But we are offered an amazing grace to say Yes to God!

Joh 15:9  “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.

Joh 15:10  If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done–kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.

Joh 15:11  “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.

Jesus wants us to follow his example! And when we live like he lived and produce much fruit, we can have joy!

Joh 15:12  This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.

Joh 15:13  This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.

Joh 15:14  You are my friends when you do the things I command you.

Joh 15:15  I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

Joh 15:16  “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

Joh 15:17  “But remember the root command: Love one another.”

After reading this I think back to the story of me and my little sister. I think about how I yelled at her to stay out of my room. To keep her hands off my things. Now, because Jesus loved me and because I choose to follow him, I must love my little sister. It means that now I would welcome her into my room and allow her to play video games with me, and I would share my candy. It means I would have fun just hanging out with her.

The point of all this is to say this: In Bellingham only 7% of people say that they know Jesus. That means that 93% still have yet to profit from the gospel. What if there were schools open to the public and only 7% of people went to school and graduated and got a degree. There would be a huge problem and America would be in a state of emergency. No one would be satisfied with only 7% of the population getting an education. But for some reason we are ok with only 7% of the population knowing Jesus. To me that sounds ridiculous. This means we have something to do about giving it away. We have something to share, and yet we don’t share it. The grace that has been given to us needs to be given to others. Those 93% may have heard about Jesus, may know the story of Jesus, but they have not benefited from Jesus. They have not accepted his grace and salvation. And it’s our job to share it with them. That means we have to welcome them in, let them know that being United with Jesus is the only way to have life, and then we need to model that life for them!

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To me this was interesting. Kinda makes me curious and excited about the things to come in the future. I am also glad that diarrhea is no longer a leading cause of death!

Christmas is the best time of the year!

Christmas is also a very important time of the year.

What separates history: BC from AD?

What separates Old Testament from New Testament?

It’s Christmas!

Christmas separates things.

Christmas divides history from BC to AD. BC stands for “Before Christ” and AD means Anno Domini. It does not stand for AFTER DEATH, like some of you may think, but it stands for Anno Domini, which is Medieval Latin, how do you like that, its medieval, and it means, “In the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Some people don’t like the idea that BC and AD are in reference to Jesus, so they tried changing it to BCE (Before Common Era) and to CE (Common Era). There is an academic movement to try to take Jesus out of the picture that divides history. But if you were to ask those people, “what other significant event happened around that time to divide history?” They would have no answer for you. They would just say that the world is progressing towards academics, or knowledge, wisdom, insight, and enlightenment, and it is “moving further away from religion.” They say that since time is moving farther away from the birth of Jesus, than they might as well too and follow it towards the common era of academics. For us, this means people think in terms of time. We are consumed with time. We are consumed with calendars and history. We write down every event that happens, and now we blog about it, and there are so many events happening that the records keep getting larger and larger, that the event and birth and life of Jesus now seems smaller and smaller that it is nearly forgotten.

And it is typical to say that the birth of Jesus Christ isn’t that important.

Even as Christians we magnify greatly, and rightly so, the death of Jesus, but only to reduce the Birth of Jesus. See history is not separated by the death of Jesus Christ, but rather it is separated by His birth. BC is separated from AD by the Birth of Jesus.

That means that Christmas is a very special time.

Christmas is the very first event that happens in the New Testament. The New Testament of the Bible starts with Matthew. The very first thing that Matthew does is give a record of where Jesus came from. These are his peeps and his family. It’s like saying, “You were born into THAT family,” or “You can’t pick and choose your relatives.” All these people talked about are from the Old Testament, like Abraham, David, Solomon, Josiah. Then it continues with people right up to Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents. Then the story starts and it’s known as “The Birth of Jesus the Messiah.” This is what Matthew does: he starts with Christmas. Of course it wasn’t known as Christmas then, but he starts telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.

This is the starting point of the New Testament: Christmas.

You want to know what separates the New Testament from the Old Testament.

Take a look at the very first story told in the New Testament.

It’s The Birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

It is one big glorified birthday for one big glorified God.

Christmas is the starting point of the New Testament and it’s the ending point of the Old Testament.

What I am saying is that Christmas separates things.

From this point on, nothing will ever be the same again.

Not only does Christmas separate things, it also unites things. So that nothing will ever be the same again. This means that history stopped at the birth of Jesus, and begins at the birth of Jesus. The reason I say that nothing will ever be the same again is because GOD BECAME MAN. Never before has this happened. The Old Testament talks a lot about how God dwelt with man, walked with man, and wrestled man. However, this was the first time, the last time, and the only time God has ever became man.

The Old Testament is about how God dwelt with man, but the New Testament is about how God became man.

Jesus is God in Heaven and then he becomes a man. He decided to separate himself from Heaven and unite himself to man. This means that God did not reduce himself to the level of a human, but rather God added to himself human form.

In this way, through the birth of Jesus Christ, God unites things.

Christmas unites things.

The first thing that Christmas unites is You to God.

Matthew 1:23 says, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’”

Jesus is known by different names here, such as Immanuel, God with us, and the promised Messiah.  Jesus, being God in the flesh, was to come and save His people from their sins. This is reason why Jesus was born. From Heaven Jesus saw sin destroying mankind, and he didn’t like that. So Jesus came down from Heaven to live on earth, to be with man, and to destroy sin. Sin is like a disease that lives inside of you. It’s like a cancer, but worse, and everyone has it. Sin is killing you and there is nothing you can do about it. But Jesus, being God, miraculously takes the sin away from you, cures you, and restores your hope for life. This is the reason why Jesus was born: to take away your sin, to cure you, and to restore your hope for life. This saving act of Jesus unites people to him. “God with us” means that he is not separate from you, but that he is united to you.

God delights being with you. In fact, it was God’s idea in the first place.

You don’t have to feel awkward or ashamed to be in God’s presence. You should be glad, blessed, joyous, and extremely happy to be in God’s presence.

The second thing that Christmas unites is You to others.

We live in a world where people are constantly fighting, getting separated, divorcing, killing each other, stealing from others, or just plain being greedy. However, when we focus on the very big reality that Jesus became man for us, to free us from sin we no longer are against each other, but we are for each other. We begin to see people as just like us. We begin to see that Jesus became just like us. And it makes us say, “Jesus did something for me. Now that he has given me a hope for life, how can I do that for others?” It’s not about what I can get out of Christmas, but how can I give Jesus a gift for his birthday?

Christmas is one big glorious birthday party!

It’s not our birthday party. It’s Jesus’ birthday party. So how is he being glorified? What can we give him this year?

The third thing that Christmas unites is You to the church.

Unfortunately, right now, we don’t have the extreme privilege of seeing Jesus born in a manger.

We don’t have the privilege of seeing Jesus walk around on earth and perform miracles.

We also don’t have the privilege of seeing Jesus crucified, resurrected, and ascending into heaven.

That means Jesus is not here on earth anymore. It means that we can’t really throw a birthday party for Jesus, because he is no longer here on earth. So we don’t need to break out the cake and 2000 candle and try to wish Jesus a happy birthday. We don’t need to wear party hats, and blow on noisemakers during Christmas.

Throwing a birthday party for Jesus means celebrating who he is, and why he was born. When we do this, together, all of us, we become the church.

The good news is that Christmas unites what was once separated.

The fact is that Jesus throws some good birthday parties; in fact, he probably throws the best birthday parties, in Heaven. Our job, on earth, is to continually celebrate Jesus for his birthday. And the one thing that Jesus loves to get for his birthday is new friends. He likes it when new people celebrate him.

I guess I should say it plainly. For Christmas this year, get Jesus what He really wants: You and your friends!

Christmas is a time of peace—because we are united to God through Jesus.

Christmas is a time of joy—because we are celebrating Jesus as “God with us.”

Christmas is a time of gladness—because Jesus invites new people to him.

Christmas is a time of promise—because God’s promises were fulfilled in Jesus’ birth.

Christmas is a time of miracles—because Jesus cures his people from sin.

Christmas is a time of gift-giving—because Jesus is the greatest gift ever given.

Christmas is a time of being together—because Jesus is the one savior that unites all people.

The heart and soul of the Christmas message is that the baby in the manger is God.

It is amazing how a Christian in church can relate to this story. There is a vision of newness ahead of them and they want details of the future. The question is always asked, “Hey, Past’r. Where are we going?” Without all the answers and details, a pastor’s response is often, “To the ‘New World’”, and vision is casted and people can, figuratively, get on board with that! However, the excitement can sometimes wane when people don’t see the newness immediately. They get tired, depressed, weary, burnt-out, bored, and all this leads to complaining or leaving ministry all together. Some people just lose vision, and for sake of illustration, they jump ship. Then there is that awkward guy who seems to be on board with whatever is going on. He always wants to help and do whatever he can to make the vision seem like its happening, even if it means “swabbing the poop-deck!” He feels that his job is to keep morale high of the team, because if he doesn’t, than the ship may go down, or begin to wreak of poop. Eventually, the pastor says, “LOOK!” Then, the team looks and sees the vision beginning to take shape and form on the horizon! They are excited to get to work! They become eager and can’t wait for the new adventures that lay ahead!

By reading this, your belief of vision should be this:

• Vision is much bigger than you!
• If you are a Capt’n/Past’r your vision should be on what Christ is calling you to do, which is to seek and save the lost by developing the people you have within your care to become disciples, and then they will help disciple the lost. My pastor, Mark Robinson, says it like this, “We need more and better disciple!”
• If you are not a Capt’n/Past’r than your job is to be a “Matey”/Team-player! You can support your pastor and keep the morale up of the other teammates! When other people are down, be excited and eager for what is to come! Even if you’re a little awkward, and not a ministry superstar, your job is to support the vision. You are the church and a refreshment to all pastors!
• Ask yourself these two questions: “What is God doing?” and “What is the evidence of that?” In this, you’ll be looking for clarification of the vision and for the vision being fulfilled!
• Remember, vision is bigger than you. In the church, vision comes from God and is for God’s glory! We are all called to the same mission: “GO and make disciples…in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!” That mission is full of adventure, excitement, hope, and love! Get ready for what God is doing and look for it eagerly!!

Love, Pastor Logan

Once, I read an article by Paul Scanlon called, “Complaint or Compliant,” in which he talked about how people will either become compliant with how things are (accepting the status quo), or they will have a complaint about the status quo. People will commit to the same boring thing over and over day after day, or will seek new adventure in bright and spontaneous ways for the hope of living life. People will either settle, or will have vision for change. My hope for this blog is not to pursue change, nor to change everything. Likewise, I do not advocate we cling onto everything in the name of comfort and familiarity to where nothing changes. Some things must change, while other things will never, and must never, change.

In saying this, I emphasize that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will never change. They are, in all fullness, living today and are not dead. God is not the status quo. Jesus is not the status quo. The Holy Spirit is not the status quo. It is only human effort that becomes status quo, due to time, change, culture shifts, ignorance and laziness, among other things. Programs and ways of doing things can quickly become status quo. These things may have been cool at one time, but when they become outdated they become useless or obsolete. When people hold on to what is useless, those things have the potential to become idols. Things that become idols need to be recognized as status quo. Holding on to status quo is to hold on to idols. It must be understood that idols are dead, and to accept status quo is to accept death. However, people are not made for death. People are made for life, and life to the fullest. To accept Jesus is to accept life! The life that comes from Jesus is not dead, boring, mundane, ignorant, lazy, or the same day after day. It is vibrant, exciting, fresh, adventurous, spontaneous, and hip!

To become compliant is to accept Jesus as status quo. To say that Jesus is the “Sunday-school answer” for children and that adults need practicality and “real” answers is to call Jesus status quo. It is saying that Jesus is useless and obsolete. It is saying that he is no longer the answer; that upon graduation of Sunday-school the “Jesus is the answer to every question” was thrown out the window in hope for practical approaches to ministry. It is saying that one Sunday morning sermon on Jesus is not the answer, but a 6 week sermon series on topical real life issues is the answer. Where is hope and faith placed? Is it placed in a creative eloquent sermon series? Is it placed in techniques of ministry? These questions are not meant to produce feelings of shame, guilt, condemnation, or conviction. These questions are to promote complaint against all forms of idolatry and settling for status quo. These questions are to show Jesus as the answer, and that all human wisdom does not even compare to the whisper of name of Jesus. This should be sobering.

As a follower of Christ, I must say that he is the answer. I must say that his grace in enough for all people and for all situations. I must say that by trusting Jesus, you will find his ways to be easy and his burden to be light. I must say that all the scriptures point to Jesus and how he has loved humanity and desires to be loved in return. I must say that the love of God cannot be replaced. Instead, it must be celebrated and worshiped in the life of Jesus. Lastly, these are the words of Jesus in John 5:34-40:

“Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message. But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.  And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you. You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”

Don’t replace Jesus with theology or teaching or self-discipline; instead, let Jesus change your theology, teachings, and self-discipline! Don’t replace his love; instead, accept it and embrace it!

Logan & Amy – Divin’ Deeper in Relationships

• Moving out of Kirkland
• Moving into Bellingham
• Cleaning
• Painting walls
• Stocking pantry with food
• And any other way you can think of!

Once we are settled in our new home we would love to have visitors!!

When Amy and I first got married, I struggled with the thoughts that I was only a good husband when I did something good. When I would do the dishes. When I would vacuum. When I would wash the car. When I would go look for the cat at 1 o’clock in the morning…. Then I would think that I was a bad husband when I didn’t do good things, or when I did nothing at all. Like when I didn’t do the dishes. When I didn’t vacuum. When I didn’t wash the car. And especially when I didn’t go look for that cat at 1 o’clock in the morning.

Some Christians hold a view that God will only love them if they perform right. If they say the right prayers. If they read the right amount of verses in a day. If they read their entire bible in a year. If they invite enough friends to church every Sunday. If they get their entire family saved. If they lead a ministry in church. If they go on a mission trip every year. If they pay their tithe. If they could worship to all the songs with their hands lifted as high as they could possibly go and never bring them down while holding all the right tones of the songs and never forget or miss a single word, and without opening their eyes!

I had to learn that Amy didn’t love me any more or less based on my performance around the house. She loved me because I am her husband. It is the fact that I am her husband! That’s why she loves me. She loves me unconditionally. And I love her unconditionally. When we first started dating Amy knew how much I liked her. I told her all the time, “I like you!”, “I enjoy you!” And even well into our dating relationship, she knew how much I liked her. This liking evolved into love. I told her that I loved her, and she knew it! She didn’t have to discover whether I loved her or not based on an external condition. She didn’t grab every flower that she walked by and start plucking away, “He loves me? He loves me not? He loves me? He loves me not? I hope he loves me?” She knew that I loved her unconditionally. She didn’t need to try to discover it, but she knew it because I told her so.

During the night that I proposed to Amy, it was February 16th, 2008, we went to a park where I had some blankets laid out and candles surrounding them. It was a clear night, but it was bitter cold. We could see the stars as we laid on the blankets. One thing Amy didn’t do was pray, “God, show me a sign! Is this the man I am supposed to marry? Is he the one? Just give me a sign. God, make one of the candles burn out and light back up. God, send a shooting star across the sky. Just give me a sign.” As a matter of fact, a shooting star did go across the sky that night. I told her to make a wish. She wouldn’t tell me what she wished for, but I have a feeling it came true!! You don’t need an external condition or a sign to tell you that God loves you. God loves you unconditionally. He tells you so in Romans 5: 5, “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” We know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Jesus is our sign. Jesus is the condition that God loves us. And we wonder how we are loved by a righteous God. Romans 5:17 says, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. It is by God’s grace that we are loved. Grace loves us.

One afternoon, Amy decided pizza would be for lunch. So she sets the timer and throws the pizza in the oven. 12 minutes later the timer is going off. So I get up to go get out the pizza. There is nothing special about this pizza. It’s a normal pepperoni pizza. And just like all the other pizzas we make, I handle it the same way. It’s one of those pizzas that just goes right on the oven rack. There is no cookie sheet needed, which makes it tricky to get the pizza out. So what I usually do is grab a spatula and cutting board and slide the pizza out. While doing this my right hand hits the side of the oven and gets burnt. In reaction, I send the pizza sliding to the other side of the oven. I try to catch it, but my left hand now gets burnt. I burnt both my hands and flipped the pizza over, and ruined the pizza. I’m thinking to myself, “I just did a very bad thing. Does she love me? What I did was not good. Does she love me? I screwed up. Does she love me? I just crushed her salivating dreams of a yummy pizza. Does She Love Me?” And her response, “HAHHAHAHAHAAAAAAHHAHa!” She laughs and slaps her knee. She didn’t get mad and remove her love from me. She embraced my mistake because of her loving grace for me.

When you screw up and sin, and you think to yourself, “Does God still love me? My world is falling apart. Does God still love me? I haven’t prayed in days. Does God still love me? I lost my bible. Does God still love me? I think she might be pregnant. DOES GOD STILL LOVE ME?” You need to remind yourself of his loving grace. He doesn’t remove his love from you. He doesn’t get mad. He brings his righteousness into your life. He guides your life according to his righteousness. And he does this by grace. His grace reveals righteousness to you. God loves you because he is grace.

Sex

• The average age of when people lose their virginity is 16 years old.
• Time magazine says 40% of adolescents have intercourse before ever talking to their parents about safe sex, birth control, or sexually transmitted diseases.
• 1/3 of students experienced precoital touching behaviors
  >> 43% of these students experienced sexual intercourse
• 12% of students experienced vaginal sex by age 12
• 7.9% of students experienced oral sex by age 12
• 6.5% of students experienced anal sex by age 12
• 4% of students experienced all three types of sex by age 12

Among sexually active middle school students:

• 1/3 experienced vaginal or anal sex without a condom within the past three months
• 1/4 had four or more partners
• Currently, the United States has 750,000 teenage pregnancies each year.
• One in four (25%) U.S. teen girls have sexually transmitted infections.
• In 2008, 4 out of every 1000 people reported that they had Chlamydia.
• And every 1 out of 1000 people reported that they had Gonorrhea.
• In 2004, 745,000 pregnancies of girls under 20. In 2006, 22,000 10-24 year olds have HIV/AIDS.
• In 2006, 1 million 10-24 year olds have Chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis.
• In 2008, King County spent $4.4 million dollars on STD funding.

Many students don’t know the bible and can’t even quote John 3:16, but they can quote an entire song about sex.

Parents quoted songs from the Beatles, “I wanna hold your hand,” and the youth are quoting songs from Beyonce, “I know you want my body. Tonight I’ll be your naughty girl.”

Oral sex

A spouse would not be faithful to their spouse if they have been having oral sex with someone else. They would be unfaithful. Oral sex is sex.

Porn 

• $12 billion a year is spent on porn. That is more money than spent on baseball, football, and basketball combined. Baseball in now longer America’s favorite pastime.
• 90% of youth ages 8-16 view porn online.
• Average child sees porn online at age 11.
• And boys 12-17 are the highest rate of porn viewers.
• Some of the junior high and high schoolers in youth ministries probably have naked pictures of their girlfriends on their phones.

 Top 100 Kid’s Searches Online (18yrs and under)

• #4 – Sex (#4 for boys & #5 for girls)
• #5 – Porn (#5 for boys & #24 for girls)
• #32 – Boobs (#17 for boys)

We must teach them that porn is porn, regardless of the source, and sexual impurity is a sin in any form.

Masturbation

When thought about, sex alone with one’s self does not make sense. In fact, it’s not sex at all. It’s simply self-gratification. By attempting to gratify one’s self, one believes that they are independent of anyone else to meet their sexual needs. They become sexually selfish, and when married, have no desire to satisfy their spouse’s sexual needs. Rather, they seek to satisfy themselves by using their spouse for sex. This is still selfish sex. Masturbation, which is self-sex, leads to all sorts of selfishness.

Sex in the Bible

Song of Solomon 8:4 – Do not awaken love until the time is right.

Job 31:1 – I made a covenant with my eyes not to look upon another lustfully.

God’s Idea of Sex Displayed in Jesus

Sexual sin — in all it’s forms – is all bad. Jesus said whoever looks at a woman and lusts in his heart has committed sin. The issue is lusting. It’s a matter of the heart. Is your heart full of self-interest that you have to gratify yourself by looking at others lustfully?

God demonstrated his love for us through Jesus. Jesus lived in holiness, purity, and celibacy as a single person.

• Sex is not God. Don’t worship sex. In the Old Testament, people had perverse sex issues. In the New Testament, people had temples for sex. 1 Corinthians describes temples with 1000’s of prostitutes. People were confused. Paul had to straighten some things out: can’t have sex with mom, family, outside marriage, more than one person.
• Sex is not gross. It’s not dirty, nasty, violent, or wrong. Some Historical Theologians say that the human body is bad, so anything that pleases the body must be bad, therefore sex is bad. That is wrong. We do not want to deny ourselves and our own pleasure. We do not want to say that sex is to be avoided. Rather, sex is to be waited. Unfortunately, Christians are known more for what they are against than what they are for. People say that Christians are against all sorts of things, and sex is one of those things that we are labeled as being against. The reasons why people think Christians are against sin is because we preach so much against sex outside of marriage, that they interpret it as we must be against all sex. Sex isn’t gross and we aren’t against it.  
• Sex is a gift that God gives us to treasure, steward, save, protect, and within the context of marriage to shared, cultivated, and enjoyed.

Jeremiah 2:13 – People abandoned God, the Living Water and decided to drink unclean water from self-made cisterns. They were drinking impure, dirty water. If you’re thirsty, don’t drink from the toilet. Although there is water there, don’t drink from it. It will make you sick and unhealthy. If you want what’s good for you, then go to the place where there is healthy wholesome water. If you want good sex, then go to the place where you can find good sex. That is within marriage, learned from God through scripture. Dont abandon God’s design for good wholesome sex.

God made man and woman and said it was good. They must have had sex in the garden. And they didn’t get kicked out of the garden for having sex. So God confirmed that sex was ok.

God’s plan is not that people would date, date, date, date, date, kiss, kiss, kiss, touch, touch, touch with different people and then try to figure out what you like. God’s plan is that you would be interested in your spouse. God doesn’t want you to compare your desires and then try to choose what you think is the best, where you try to pick and choose all your desires, because then you would be lusting. God wants you to be satisfied in your spouse, and you can’t be satisfied in your spouse if you are constantly comparing, or lusting, about others. Constant dating, kissing, touching, and sexing before, or outside of marriage, creates mindsets that comparisons are ok. And when you get married, all you will do is compare your spouse to others, and probably conclude that your spouse isn’t like someone else, and then adultery happens.

Zechariah 3:3 – Zechariah was wearing filthy rags, but God took away his filthy rags and put new clothes on him. You don’t want to give someone a filthy rag. You may feel filthy, but God takes away our filthiness and gives us righteousness. He makes you new and pure. Just because you have made mistakes, it doesn’t disqualify you. You just need to ask God to change your life, make you new, pure, clean, and righteous.

Do you see yourself as Jesus sees you? As clean? As righteous?