Pleasant Hill Community Church

Sunday, Oct 26, 2008

Hangin' out with real people 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

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He was the executive director of an international mission organization. He had traveled the world. And yet on that Friday morning he was at our local park playing tennis with me and a couple of guys from our church. He was just a real person enjoying a real game. I was 16 at the time. That evening when he spoke, I listened more intently because this was not just some talking head, he was a real guy who had played tennis with me. In a sense there was a connection that had been established.

I took a lesson from that event in my life. When we take the time to connect with people in areas where we find common ground we build credibility. God’s deep desire is that all should come into relationship with him through Christ. God has chosen you and me as the agents to carry out that purpose. It therefore stands to reason that you and I need to be actively living our lives in contact with those who don’t yet know Christ so we can build the credibility to share with them our story and how Jesus makes a difference. There is great value in hangin’ out with real people.

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Sunday, Oct 19, 2008

Walking the Line 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 10:31

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“Waking the line” speaks of balance or equilibrium, if you will. Striking a balance in life is hard. We have so many demands that tug at us that it is hard to find our equilibrium. That is not only true in our schedules, but also in our daily decisions.
What are the standards by which you make decisions? What guides that process? What about those areas that are what one could label “neutral” or “gray areas?” How do we navigate them?
Today we will discover that in God’s economy he desires that we learn to live a life characterized by loving others. God is all about healthy relationships. When I love someone as God has loved me, then I am willing to put my rights aside when it will be beneficial for the other person. In willingly making a sacrifice for another person, I live out my relationship with Jesus Christ in a more vibrant way. Then I will find the balance I am looking for in life.

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Sunday, Oct 12, 2008

Real Change is Possible 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

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“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
“A leopard can’t change its spots”
Statements like the clichés above are often used to justify one’s refusal to change a habit. We can each get so comfortable in our routines and we can be blind to the fact that we may be moving in the wrong direction. We tend to fight against change.

Yet the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about change. And it is not a one time change it is a life time of change. Today we will see how God through the truth of the Gospel and the ministry of the Holy Spirit brought about significant change in the lives of the people in Corinth. Their lives were totally immoral and corrupt. They lived for their own gratification. They were caught up in the idolatry of the culture.

Has God changed you? Today celebrate the reality that because of the work of Jesus Christ you and I can change and be the people God wants us to be.

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Monday, Oct 06, 2008

The Best Result: Faithfulness 1 Corinthians 4:1-7

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Our culture wants results. We want profits to increase, teams to win, students to perform and churches to grow. We have developed means to track our results and ways to report to the rest of the world how good we are because of our results.
Never forget that God’s ways are not our ways. God measures success with a completely different standard. God’s measure of success is summed up in the concept faithfulness. Faithfulness is the standard God calls each of us to meet.
How appropriate as we begin our Missions Emphasis month that we are reminded today that in God’s eyes faithfulness is better than results. Many missionaries serve God in places where they may not see someone come to Christ for years. They try a variety of means and methodologies and still to no avail. The culture would call them failures, but if they are being faithfully obedient to God, then they are successful. The best result in God’s eyes is our faithfulness to his commands.