Judgment Day

“Judge not, that you be not be judged.”  (Matthew 7: 1)

Outside the Golden Rule, this is a saying that can be seared into our lives and the way we live.  This is:  don’t judge others.  Or, better said:  “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”  (Matthew 7:5)

Our world has become one of – who are we to judge?  Even more, the thought of being judged by God is very unpopular, if believed at all.  We want a God of love and who will love us, not a judging God or a God of judgement.  We hear people say – “I like the God of the New Testament, but the God of anger and wrath in the Old Testament….I can’t understand.”  A God who judges isn’t what we want to hear or believe.  It’s not a God who comes across as feel good or seeker-friendly.  It’s not a God our culture would celebrate.

Yet it is very much part of who God is.  And it is what Jesus will do, when He comes again.

But isn’t Jesus about love?  Yes.  Isn’t Jesus about grace?  Yes.  How can we wrap our arms around God – Jesus Christ – who will come to judge us, every one of us?

Perhaps we need a judgment day.  Perhaps the world needs a judgment day.  And if we fully realize that all of us will stand before God to be judged of our lives, will we not take our actions, choices, and words much more seriously?  I hope so.

At Bellwether, we continue going through the Apostles’ Creed.  This Sunday we look at a statement which can be challenging and controversial – “From thence He (Jesus) Shall Come to Judge the Living and the Dead.”  The Scripture basis will be John 12: 37-50 and the message is “Judgment Day.”  We will see why we need, must have a judgment day.

The Bible states clearly we will all be judged.  When Jesus returns, He will judge the living and the dead.  Does this future judgment affect our present lives?  It should.  May it be a part of the Gospel which leads us all to living more Godly lives and giving our lives to Christ in full surrender.

Also:  WE WILL BE PRAYING FOR OUR FIRST HONDURAS TEAM LEAVING JULY 19TH THIS SUNDAY.  WE HOPE YOU CAN BE WITH US FOR PRAYER & SENDING THEM OFF!

Suffering....death....hell....

Yes, not a feel good title.  

However, three realities in our lives are:  suffering, death, and hell.  

Life has many blessings and joys, yet there is suffering and tribulation.  Our suffering can be trite compared to much of the world.  When there are homes in Honduras with walls made of bedsheets and mountainsides, this for a family of 6-10, that is suffering.  When tribes in Africa drink out of "water wells" which look like sewers, that is suffering.  When millions of people live in slums of India, that is suffering.  Pain and injustice is all over our world.  And we suffer too - physically and emotionally.  

Then there is death.  All of us are moving closer and closer to that reality.  It frightens us.  The uncertainty, the finality of death.  

Then there is another reality many do not believe in and others dare not speak of.  The reality of hell.  Eternity in hell.  Is it real?  Yes.  Scripture is clear.  What is it?  A place where there is eternal suffering, separation, and isolation - from God.

Fantastic.  Uplifting.  Inspiring.  Such facts make our day that much brighter. 

However, there is Good News.  That is, we have a person, a Savior, who underwent the greatest suffering imaginable, facing death itself, who literally died, and experienced hell - for us.  For you.  Jesus Christ, on the cross.  He loved us so much, He gave Himself as a sacrifice for all of us - to experience suffering, death, and hell - so we would not have to for eternity.  Do we hear that?  Do we know that?  Our Savior did this, went through death itself, so we could overcome it.

That is good news.  That should make our days, and our lives, better and brighter.  

Sunday we continue going through the Apostles' Creed.  This week we look at the part which states:  "(Jesus) suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.  He descended into hell."  This should be a fascinating look at exactly:  why Jesus went to the cross, what happened on the cross, and how this changes us.  Our Scripture will be John 19:  25-30 and the sermon title is "Paid in Full".

We hope you can be with us for worship at Bellwether - 10: 30am, Sunday morning, at the Jackson Academy Performing Arts Center. 

More so, we hope you know - Jesus Christ has suffered, died, and faced hell itself, so we could have a fountain of life for eternity in heaven.

How to Believe!

Just believe!

You may have had that told to you at some point.  You may have said that to someone out of frustration, someone whom you have hoped and prayed would come to know Christ.  And for whatever reason, they simply just can’t believe.

Beliefs are a big thing.  In one sense, a belief is an opinion.  We believe our country is headed in the wrong or the right direction, we believe ours sports teams will win this year, and we believe our children will grow up to do no wrong.

Yet we also believe in things and people.  We believe in a car we bought.  We believe in a doctor that might could heal us.  We believe in our spouse.  We believe in the church we attend.  We believe in our leaders.  Believing in something or someone is much more powerful than simple opinions.

So, what do we believe in, for our salvation?  Is it Jesus Christ?  Or is it our families, status, careers, or our good living?

We want people to come to faith, to come to believe in Jesus Christ, for their salvation.  This entails realizing nothing in this world  can save us and we place our faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection.  The bottom line is:  He came to sae us.  He came to save you.  He is the only thing we should believe in for our salvation – on this earth, and for our eternal lives.

But this is tough.  Temptation is all around.  Temptation to believe in everything else.  Other temptations that tell us – “why should you believe in Jesus? After all He’s put you through!”  Why believe when you go through a divorce, when you, or a loved one, get cancer, when loved ones die.  Why believe in Jesus?

We are going through the Apostles’ Creed over the coming months at Bellwether.  The first two words of the Creed states:  ”I Believe.”  Sunday, being Pentecost, we rewind to the beginning of the Apostles’ Creed to see how we can truly believe.  Believe in the words of the Creed.  Believe in the Living Word of Jesus Christ.  The message will be “I believe” and the Scripture focus will be John 20: 1-18.  

We hope you can be with us.  It will be a special Sunday.  Why?

We will celebrate Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came down the Church was born.  

We will have a Baptism service before our worship service.  It will be at 9:30am outside the Performing Arts Center at Jackson.  We are baptizing Austin Fowkles Barbour, Jr. and will be celebrating with his family.  

We will honor Jeff Nesbit, who after serving Bellwether will be leaving to be the Teaching Pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church.  We will pray over he and Whitney as they take this next step in continuing their ministry for Jesus Christ.   

We hope you can be with us Sunday and we hope you will truly believe in the Risen Christ, His Holy Spirit, and His Church.

Acts 1: 8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Our Heroes

We love heroes.  They inspire us.  We want, and try, to be like them.  

Many of us have our fictional heroes.  Those heroes from comic books we can love so much - Avengers, Batman, or Wolverine.  Or the great heroes of film move us - Rick in "Casablanca," Scarlett in "Gone with the Wind," and of course, Indiana Jones, Jason Bourne, or even James Bond.  They save the world, and get the girl.  Heroic. 

Then, there are the real heroes.  Our real life heroes.  The Greatest Generation who pushed through the Depression and truly did save the world in WWII.  Parents, who for many of us gave up so much to raise us, nurture us, get us through school, and pick us up when we fell down - from a bike, a break-up, or a job loss.  

This weekend we should all honor some of our true heroes - our Mothers.  They literally carried us, spent sleepless nights nursing us, cooked for us, cleaned up our messes, and worked to grow us up to be men and women.  Happy Mother's Day indeed to all of them - true heroes in our lives.  

So, please, thank your mother and tell her how much you love her.

Then, there is the greatest Hero of all time, for all eternity.  He is the Hero who is both Savior and Redeemer.  Unfortunately, many people look to other heroes, in fiction, history, and life for inspiration.  Only One Hero will fully inspire, transform, and change our lives.  Jesus Christ.  

In today's world where everyone can be their own hero through facebook, tweets, and blogs, we need to proclaim and point people to the greatest Hero, the only Hero who will last - Jesus.  

Sunday, we continue the Apostles' Creed series at Bellwether with "who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary."  Our Scripture will be from Galatians 4: 4-7 and the title of the message is "The Greatest Story."  We hope you can be with us for worship, to honor all our Mothers, and to give witness to the greatest story and Hero our world will every know - Jesus Christ.  

Happy Mother's Day.  Jesus is your greatest Hero.  

The Greatest Question of our Lives

Is not where we will go to college, what career we will choose, or who we will marry.

The greatest question of our lives, is the same question Jesus asked His disciples over 2000 years ago:  “Who you you say that I am?”  Matthew 16: 15

So, who do we say He is?  Prophet?  Teacher?  Moral Leader?  Great man?  Personal Savior?  King of Kings?  Lord of all Creation?

C.S. Lewis once famously wrote that Jesus could not simply be a “good man, prophet, teacher, or leader.”  Why?  Because He said some pretty crazy stuff.  What did He say?

He said He was the Son of God.  Luke 2: 49

He said He could forgive sins.  Mark 2: 10

He said His words  would last forever.  Matthew 24: 35

He said He was the Son of Man who would return in power.  Mark 14: 61-62 & Daniel 7: 13-14

He allowed Himself to be worshipped.  Mark 14: 33

Jesus was either who He said He was, or He was a lunatic or something even worse.

Thus, for all of us, the greatest question is:  who is Jesus?

At Bellwether, we have begun a 12 week series on the Apostles’ Creed, focusing on each statement of belief in the Creed.  This week, we look at “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.”  Thus, for us, is Jesus Lord?  Lord of our lives?  Lord of all creation?

The truth is – He is.  We only hope He is for you.

Our Scripture this Sunday is Ephesians 2: 1-7.  We hope you have a great weekend, and hope to see you at church this Sunday, where we will worship Jesus for who He is:  Lord of all.  Make Him Lord of your life.

What do you Believe?

Beliefs are dangerous.  Beliefs start wars, make history, and change the course of nations.  Democracy, Communism, Nazism, Socialism, all began with simple beliefs.  They grew to causes, good and evil, that people were willing to die for.  Beliefs do that to a person.

Beliefs are passionate.  When people "believe in" a candidate for President, they can become passionate about that person.  When people "believe in" a sports team, they will cheer, scream, and even start fights with opposing fans.  

Beliefs are personal.  "Don't tell me what to believe - that's my right!"  People say this.  Beliefs are what make a person who they are.

So, what do you believe? 

Is it a cause, a philosophy, a way of life, a person, an agenda, a family, or a Savior?  

Do you believe in Christ?  Really?  

Sunday, we begin a journey that will take us through the coming summer as we look at the essential beliefs of a Christ follower.  These beliefs are best articulated in a statement, or creed, many of us know very well - the Apostles' Creed.  Many of us grew up reciting it in church. Yet do we truly believe it?  Do we view the Apostles' Creed as tradition or truth?  We will dig deep into the Creed, the Scripture to support it, and our own lives to see, truly, what we believe.  

We hope you will join us this Sunday, as we begin with "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."  Our Scripture focus will be Ephesians 2: 8-9, Ephesians 1: 2-7, 17-23, and Isaiah 45: 5-12. 

We hope to see you Sunday.  And, we hope you will invite someone who needs to truly believe in Jesus Christ, and to know why they should believe in Him.  

Easter, Prodigals, and Permanent Place

What a great Easter weekend!  We hope you were blessed by our Maundy Thursday, Good Friday Tenebrae, and Easter Sunday services!  We were honored to be part of 8 baptisms on Easter morning!  Praise God for His New Life in Christ!  

Our Easter service blew the roof off!  It was so powerful to all celebrate our Risen Lord - and that He is indeed Lord of all!  We hope and pray you know this today - because 4 days later - He is still Risen and He is still Lord!  

Thank you for helping, serving, praying, and being part of all our Easter weekend services.  May every Easter we celebrate at Bellwether be so uplifting.  

Now, for this Sunday, the Sunday after Easter, don't take a break or a breather!  We want to keep proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that He and only He brings salvation to us. 

We are doing a "stand alone" message on the classic parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  This is a powerful story of how the Gospel can save - both the younger brother and the elder brother.  Please try to be with us and invite someone!  Why?  Because they will hear the Good, Life-Saving news of Jesus Christ proclaimed!  

Finally, thank you for all you do and have done for Bellwether Church - in service, prayer, worship, and love.  We made a big announcement Easter morning that we are setting a goal of being IN a permanent facility by the end of 2013.  I would love to see us have our FIRST service in a new permanent home Christmas Eve 2013!  I know God can do this and I believe by stepping out if faith, we can do it too!  Thus, as pastor, I ask for you to pray as you never have for God to guide and direct His Church over the next 20 months.  That He would show us precisely where we need to be, and He would keep raising the leaders here to help make that happen.  Please know - we will be open and transparent about every possibility we are looking into, and we will be sharing more in the weeks and months ahead on Sunday mornings.  

This will be an exciting time as His Church, Bellwether, takes the next step in our life together.  We want you to be part of it and we want you to grow as a leader for Christ here.  That is why we exist:  to raise leaders (our way of saying make disciples) of Jesus Christ for the furthering of His Kingdom. 

We look forward to seeing what God will do as we are faithful to Him.  

Hope to see you Sunday and God bless you!

Bellwether Holy Week Services

This week is Holy Week, the most important week in the Christian calendar.  We celebrate, remember, honor, and can ultimately be transformed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

At Bellwether, each year we try to honor Holy Week in a great way.  We do our best to take you through Holy Week, event by event, step by step - from the Last Supper to the cross and the empty tomb.  Each service is unique and powerful in its own right.  We hope you will be able to attend some of them.  At best, we hope you can be at each one.  If you can, we believe you will experience the fullness and magnitude of this Easter Holy Week.  

Here are our planned services, times, and places, and what they are about:

Maundy Thursday:  6pm dinner, 7pm service.  At Bellwether Fondren beside Cups.  This service is about experiencing in a small way what it was like at the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples.  We will eat together as the body of Christ, we will reflect on what was happening that evening, and we will take Holy Communion together.  Again, this service is at 7pm, with dinner before.  You are welcome to bring the entire family.  This year, we will have the service outdoors in our Fondren space.

Good Friday Tenebrae service:  11:30am, Jackson Academy Performing Arts Center.  Many people say this is our most powerful service each year.  It is extremely moving.  A Tenebrae service is when you focus on the death of Christ on the cross.  It will be extremely dark, in lighting and in tone in reflecting the death of our Lord.  We will go over each sentence Christ spoke on the cross, and give a brief message on what He said.  Please try to attend this service and invite someone to it. 

Baptism service Easter morning.  7am.  Outside Jackson Academy's Performing Arts Center.  Bellwether will have its immersion baptismal outside to baptize new believers of Christ.  At this moment we have 8 people who will be baptized.  However, anyone is welcome to come forward and be baptized by water and the Holy Spirit.  Why this baptism on Easter morning?  A tradition of the early church was to baptize new converts each Easter morning, and have them affirm that they believe the tenets of the Apostle's Creed.  We will honor this tradition of the early church as we begin to celebrate that Christ has Risen! 

Easter Resurrection - 10:30am - Jackson Academy Performing Arts Center.  He is Risen!  We will rise again if we have faith in Him!  This is our Easter celebratory service of New Life and that Jesus is Lord!  We hope you can be with us to worship, celebrate, and invite someone who needs to hear the Good News of New Life in Christ!  

We hope to see you often in the next few days as we walk together through the Last Supper, the Cross, and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We believe He will bless you, and change you, through it.  

In the World, Not of It

Many of us have heard that:  as a Christian, you are in the world, yet not of it.

How does that happen?

The Sunday School answer is that Christ is in you, so you are to be different.  The reality is it is immensely difficult.  The world is very tempting:  physically, emotionally, spiritually.  We look to the world for good times, good advice, and good feelings.  As a Christian, we are to always look to Christ.  For His strength, His Word, His Power, His Love, His Mission.  

Then, when we do look to Him, and when we proclaim Him, the world wants nothing to do with us.  We see this all the time – from celebrities who profess Christ and are ridiculed, to professing Christ to friends and not getting as many invitation to parties.

Jesus says that His followers would “have His joy fulfilled in themselves”  (John 17: 13).  How can we have joy when we are persecuted?  When we suffer dishonor for His name?  How can we truly live in this world, yet not be of it.

This Sunday at Bellwether, we try to answer that question.  We will focus on John 17 and the message is Jesus’ Prayer.  In Jesus’ Prayer, He shows us how we can have His joy, and how we can live in this world now, yet be completely His – which is not of this world.

We hope you can be with us for worship Sunday morning.

We hope you will pray, as we continue “Utter Dependence – Prayer & Fasting.”  You can text in prayer requests, time prayed or fasted, and testimonies to 601.896.3200.

We hope you will be with us Sunday Night for our Night of Worship at 6:30pm.  And bring a friend!  

The Holy Spirit in Prayer

Many people ask these questions:  why should I pray?  Does it really work?  What happens in prayer?   

The short answer to such questions would be: Yes, in prayer we are communicating with God our Heavenly Father.  He is with us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

How all this happens is reliant and dependent on that, the power of the Holy Spirit.  He (not an it - the 3rd person of the Trinity) is our Mediator, Helper, Counselor, and Advocate.  He is real.  He speaks to us in our prayer.  He reveals the things of God to us, as amazing as that sounds.  1 Corinthians 2: 12 says - "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God."  

That we may understand the things of God - our sin, the Truth of our salvation in Christ, and His guidance - by prayer.

We are focusing on prayer during this Lenten campaign called:  "Utter Dependence - Prayer & Fasting."  As we pray and look at prayer in Scripture, we must focus on the Holy Spirit - who leads us and speaks to us in prayer and even prays for us......when we don't know how. 

Ultimately, if we have salvation in Christ, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Often, we don't fully know or understand the power of the Holy Spirit - what He can do in prayer for us and through us.  We hope to help you understand what He can do for you as our Helper, Counselor, Advocate, and Mediator.  We want you to know this, believe this, and feel His presence in your prayers in a fuller, greater way.  Because if Christ is in us, the Holy Spirit is speaking and working on us.

This is our focus Sunday morning as we worship at Bellwether - "The Holy Spirit in Prayer."  Our Scripture passage will be John 16: 7-16.  We hope you can be with us for worship and prayer as we lead up to Holy Week & Easter Resurrection.

More so, we hope you will know how the Holy Spirit helps you in prayer and even prays for you.  May we all rely on Him to fill our lives.

Life...IN...Prayer

Often we hear about people who lead a life OF prayer.  We all know them - saints, pastors, mentors, or simply our "prayer warriors."  Hopefully we all have them in our lives.  

We can easily say - "that's not me.  I can't lead a life of prayer.  It's not my gift or my thing."  Instead we focus on achieving, accomplishing, producing, and doing.  We let other people pray for us.  Until things in life hit the fan and we fall on our knees.  

What if, instead of thinking about living a life OF prayer, we lived a life IN prayer.  That is, each day, we were constantly lifting up prayers:  when we woke up, during meals, driving our car, in between meetings, playing with our children, even in the middle of a conversation (they won't realize you're doing it) and before we end our day.  What if we could focus our life being lived IN prayer.  

Every day.  Every hour.  Lifting up prayers.  To Christ.  In Christ.  For Christ.   

We can do this.  And it will benefit us.  It will draw us closer to God.  We will be in constant communication with Him.  We will hear Him more.  We will, I believe, see results.  Even if it may not always be the result we want.  

"Utter Dependence:  Prayer & Fasting" continues over Lent at Bellwether Church. We hope you are praying more.  We hope you are fasting from something to get closer to God.  Why?  Because life in prayer matters, is real, and what our lives are to be all about.  It is life with God, our Heavenly Father.

Sunday we talk more about what Life IN Prayer looks like.  Our Scripture will be from John 14: 12-20.  We hope you can be with us, invite someone to worship with you, and continue this Lenten season in prayer.  Our prayer is it leads all of us to living our lives IN Prayer.   

Who we pray FOR

When the majority of people pray, they believe they are praying TO God.  As Christians we pray to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Other religions believe they are praying TO some other god (even if they are praying to a false god).  Even agnostics would admit that when they pray, that their prayers are going TO some higher being.

Yet the bigger question is, in our prayers, who do we pray FOR?

We all pray for different people:  the loved one we know we want healed, the child we want born healthy, the spouse we want to love again, the past relationship we want healed.  When we pray, most times, we are praying FOR someone else.

Often times we simply pray for ourselves:  the job we want, the marriage we want, the child we want, the family we want, the love we want, the healing we want, the peace we want.  We could go on and on.  Our prayers, for the most part, revolve around ourselves.  We are praying for US.

All that to say, do our prayers reflect Christ?  Do we pray for Him?  Not that Jesus needs anything from us.  However, He does need to be lifted up in this world.  He does need to be proclaimed over and over again to the ends of the earth.  Do we pray FOR His Name to be exalted?  Do we pray FOR the glory of God?  Do we pray for Jesus to be honored – in our prayers, in our churches, in our families, in our lives.

We should.  That is what prayer is essentially all about.  It is what the Lord’s Prayer – our Lord, Jesus Christ – instructed us to pray for:  ”Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven….”  His Name uplifted.  His Will done.  

During Lent, Bellwether is doing a campaign for Prayer and Fasting.  We call it “Utter Dependence.”  It is to do just that:  utterly depend on God by prayer and fasting for all our needs.  If we believe this – that we have to totally depend on God, then we need to be praying FOR His Will to accomplished in our lives and in our world.

Tomorrow at Bellwether, we continue this preaching series with “The Names of Prayer.” We hope you can be with us for worship, prayer, and holy communion tomorrow morning.  And may we pray in this Lenten season for God’s Will to be done and for Jesus Christ to be heard, seen, and followed.

Does Prayer Work?

We live in an increasingly “get ‘er done” world.

We do.  We achieve.  We work.  We plan. We check things off our list.  We set goals.  We accomplish them and set bigger goals.  We run like machines.  Why?  So we can be in control, so we can rule – whatever there is for us to rule – our lives, families, businesses, parties, churches, nations.

And we believe we can do it.  We can get it done.

Questions:  do we achieve more than prayer can achieve?  Do we even believe prayer can accomplish things?  When our prayers aren’t answered (if we  actually pray) do we stop believing in the power of prayer?  The honest truth is, many of us do.  And we fall into the faith that we….can accomplish more….than prayer.

Lent has begun.  We have 40 plus days until Resurrection Sunday.  Why honor Lent?  Because it is historically, traditionally about turning to God in repentance.  It is about turning to God in prayer.  Real prayer.  Prayer we believe in.

Thus, for the next 40plus days, we are engaged in a campaign we call “Utter Dependence:  Prayer & Fasting.”  We are encouraging one another to pray, and to fast.  Why?  Most of all, becausethe words of Christ are clear:  ”and He told them….they ought always pray and not lose heart” – Luke 18: 1.  

God desires us to come to Him in prayer – to open our hearts and empty ourselves where He can fill us with His Strength and His Spirit.  This occurs even when we don’t receive the answers to our prayers – or at least the answers we want.

So, we are encouraging everyone to pray, and fast.  We are challenging people to pray 30 minutes a day.  Not because you have to, but because we hope you will draw closer to God.  We are challenging people to fast a day a week.  Not because you have to, but because you will become more dependent on Christ.  

We also want to hear about how you are praying and fasting, or any testimonies you may have from your prayers.  You can text the time you’ve spent praying, fasting, and testimonies to Bellwether’s number of:  601.896.3200.  

We hope you can be with us for worship each Sunday over Lent as we proclaim God’s Word about prayer and fasting.  This Sunday the message will be:  ”Why Pray” and the Scripture focus is Ephesians 1: 3-6, Matthew 11: 28-30, and Luke 18: 1-8.  

Most of all, in Lent, our prayer – is that you know Jesus in a greater, deeper way, and that He totally overwhelms your life, your family, your church, and your world.  He can, and will, through prayer.   

Ash Wednesday

We hope you can be with us for worship & communion this Wednesday at 6:30pm at Bellwether’s Fondren Space.

This is our traditional Ash Wednesday service, marking the beginning of Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter.  Again, it will open this special time of year with worship, communion, and a message of:  ”The Marks of the Cross.”

It will also lead into the launch of our Lenten campaign on Sunday Feb 26th of:  Utter Dependence, Prayer and Fasting.  Over the next 40 days in Lent we will be preaching, studying, and living out prayer & fasting at Bellwether.  This week, we hope you will commit to go to God more in prayer over Lent (we are challenging people to pray 30 minutes a day – not necessarily all at once), and even consider fasting one day a week.

Why are we doing this?  Simple.  To be utterly dependent on God.  And it begins with prayer.  We want to empty ourselves and let Christ fill our lives, our families, our church, and our world.  This is possible.  Yet it’s only possible when we come to Him in humble, utter dependence.

We hope to see you Wed night at 6:30pm to begin this time.  We are asking all B Groups to join us for this service so we can be united as a church body and move forward over the next 40 days in utter dependence on God.  

Looking forward to all Lent will bring us and we hope to see you Wednesday evening.

The Hope of the World

In your world, what is your hope?

Is it your career?  Your country?  Your family?  Your spouse?  Your children?  Yourself?  Do what hope do you - we - hang our hats?  

Many times, I've said and believed:  "the local church is the hope of the world."  That phrase is not new.  It was actually stated in a sermon by Charles Spurgeon in the late 19th century in London.  Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church outside Chicago, says it often in his sermons and leadership talks.  Many pastors believe it and recite it now.  

 I love the saying, yet I would offer a slight tweak to it at this point in ministry and my Christian walk.  It would be this:  "The Gospel of Jesus Christ, through the local church, is the hope of the world."

Without Jesus, there is no church.  Without His Gospel:  of God's love for us in Christ, His death and resurrection, forgiving us of our sin and living with God by the Holy Spirit - no church can offer hope.  With this Gospel, individual lives, families, marriages, nations and the world can - and ultimately will with His Return - change.  

We have been talking the last few weeks of "What is Bellwether?"  We have seen the church is both Jesus (His Body) and His Church (His Bride).  We will be closing this series tomorrow with Part 4 - "Give & Go."  More so, we will proclaim and see how:   The Gospel of Jesus Christ, through the local church, is the hope of the world.  That means it is hope for YOU individually.  We hope you will believe it.

Have a great day, and we look forward to seeing you at His Church. 

Our Scripture reading will be in Acts 2, 2 Corinthians 8-9, and 1 Corinthians 9

Who is your Jesus?

Is He your teacher, your buddy, or Lord of your life?

So many of live with the Jesus we learned about in Sunday School – He is good, He is kind, He is there for us, He does miracles, He even raises the dead, but is He Lord of our Life?  Is He the King of the Universe?  Is He the One we literally bow down before?  Is He Maker and Creator of all things?

IS HE LORD OF YOUR LIFE AND ALL THE WORLD?

For so many people, He is not.

Over the next few weeks in Sunday services and beyond, we are talking about what Bellwether is.  It’s simple:  it’s Jesus.  If it’s a church, then it should be Jesus.  Because the Church is the “body of Christ” (Colossians 1: 24).  It’s not us, it’s not our group, not our pastor, or our leadership – it’s Jesus!  At church then, we should go to see, find, hear, and know Jesus better.

That is what we want.

This Sunday and in the weeks to come, we will get into what that looks like.  Because if our church is Jesus, and Jesus is our Lord, then it changes everything.  It changes how we do church.  It changes how we do life. It means Jesus is truly Head, CEO – of the organizational charts of our churches and our lives. It affects how we look at people, what we worship, and what we believe is possible on this side of heaven.  It AFFECTS AND CHANGES everything!

Sunday, we will talk about church being Jesus.  In doing so, we continue:  ”What is Bellwether.”  This week is part 2 – Jesus’ Faith.  Our Scripture will be from Matthew 17: 1-21 and we will also look at 1 Timothy 2: 3-6 and John 1: 1-3.  

Have a great weekend, and we hope to greet you Sunday to worship and see…..Jesus.

Restart

2 Corinthians 5: 17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Have you ever wanted to restart your life?  Burdened and weighed down by past mistakes, failures, or relationships, you simply want a new start in life?  People do this all the time, usually by things like taking on a new look, losing weight, moving to a different city, or taking a new job (if the opportunity arises).

The bad news is:  ultimately these surface changes don't get to core issues, which are often deeper and more internal.

The good news is (if you believe it, and I hope you do) you can get a restart, or reboot on your life, yet it ONLY happens in Jesus Christ.

Why is that?  Because only in Jesus are you allowed to humbly repent and be forgiven of your sins.  Only in Jesus can the past truly be past and erased.  After all, if you give your life to Him, He's not concerned with your past - and He's God of the Universe - so why should you be!!!!  

After you've released your past sins, He's also there to help you move forward in faith.  He is always present with you by the Holy Spirit, and He has given us His Body in a church - a fellowship of broken people who are to love, edify, correct, and shape one another in Christ.

This is Good News!  Unfortunately, so many people don't even pursue it.  Instead, they put on their band-aids of moving to a new house, new city, new job, new look, new friends, new everything else - except new life in Christ.

At Bellwether, we want everyone to have a TRUE restart:  centered in Christ.  Where people repent, receive forgiveness, and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit within the fellowship of a local church.  This can happen to anyone.  This can happen to you!  

Even more, at Bellwether, we are undergoing a restart, reboot, relaunch, whatever you wish to call it.  What is it?  We're not going anywhere anytime soon - it's an internal reboot.  Bellwether is redefining who we are, what we believe in, what our "DNA" is.  So  what is that?  For starters:  our church is a place that offers second chance grace to everyone, that proclaims the Word of God, and Shepherds people to live holy lives.  We are redefining TO YOU what our church is about so YOU WILL KNOW and you can COMMUNICATE it better to others.  

Bellwether begins it's restart this Sunday at 10:30am.  We hope you will be there.   Even more, we want you to always know:  the only restart you will get in life is by Jesus Christ.  As His Church, we will help make that a reality any way we can.  Start new today - by Christ.

The Way of Jesus

I hear people constantly say – “I want to grow more in my Christian life, but don’t know how.” I hear people all the time say – “I want to be a better or stronger Christian, but don’t know how.”  

We all want that.  At a point, it’s a matter of actually doing it.  Taking a step.  Moving forward.  Actually becoming a stronger believer in Christ.  Thing is, all of us CAN!  Jesus has provided the way and it’s CRYSTAL CLEAR!

We first have the Bible.  It is God’s Word.  We need to read it.  We need to study it.  We need help learning and applying it with pastors and teachers.

But it is only the beginning.  Remember, Jesus didn’t HAVE the Bible.  He certainly knew the Scriptures and taught them in such a way that was different and more compelling.  Yet how did He “help people grow….in Him?”  It’s simple.  He took 12 men – a motley crue (we would regard them as “losers” in today’s world) and spent time with them, taught them, loved them, encouraged them, coached them, told them hard truths, and pushed them to ultimately go and die – first to their selves…..and eventually for Him.

In the end, those 12, they did it.  We stand on their foundation.

Now, we are to continue the way of Jesus:  to be discipled, and to disciple others.

What does that mean for you, the person who wants to “grow in Christ, their faith, as a Christian?”  It means you first have to be discipled.  By someone else.  You need someone.  You need someone in your church, our church to help you, to do the same thing Jesus did with his 12.  We all need…..must….be discipled if we are to truly grow as God wants us.

This is what we want to provide at Bellwether:  a culture of discipleship.  Where everyone is looking to be discipled, and we have hundreds willing to disciple others.  To be honest, we are not there yet.  But we have started in that direction, and most importantly, that is where we are headed.

Last Sunday I preached on evangelism.  This Sunday it will be on discipleship.  These are the two attributes every church must have.  These two sermons are a prologue to our church’s re-boot series:  ”What is a Bellwether” beginning on January 22nd.

So if you want to know what discipleship is, how to do it, and how to take that first step into, please be with us for worship this Sunday.  The message is:  ”Go & Die.”  Why such a title?  It is the essence of discipleship:  Christ calls us to take up our cross, those who are willing to lose their life for His sake, will find it.

We hope to see you and worship together this Sunday at Bellwether Church.  God bless.

What the King Commands

What, or who, do you think of of when you hear the word King?

Maybe it's kings of old.  The world at one time was ruled by kings of nations - from Herod to Richard to Lear.  Kings would war against each other, hoping to have more people and nations bow before them.

Maybe it's kings of current times.  Elvis?  Or the king of motown?  Babe Ruth was the "king of swat."  We may say there are no longer kings, yet who are we kidding?  When Will and Kate got married last year, millions tuned in.  Before them it was Charles and Diana.  We are still enchanted with kings and kingdoms.  We still give royalty to the things and people we love and adore.

We can even be our own kings, planning or ruling our own little kingdom.

Do you really know the King of Kings, Jesus Christ?  Do you know ultimately every worldly king and nation will bow before Him?  Revelation 21: 22-26 tells us - "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day - and there will be no night there.  They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations." 

Is He your King?

We hope so.  If He isn't, He wants to be.  You can come to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, turning to Him in repentance and He will give you forgiveness and salvation. 

Yet, do you know the King of Kings commands something of us?  It is to worship Him and Him alone.  Then when we worship Him, we begin to understand His Heart to seek and save the lost.  We are commanded to move out of ourself and help shepherd others into a life-giving relationship with Him.  Why?  Because He wants all to come to Him - to offer that same forgiveness, salvation, and life, that we receive in Him.

Do you worship Him?

This Sunday we will see "Who we Seek, Worship, & Shepherd."  I hope you can be at Bellwether to worship with us, yet more importantly, to worship the King of Kings.  Here is Scripture we'll be looking at:  Matthew 2: 1-11, Deuteronomy 18:14, Matthew 4: 10, Acts 4: 12, John 21:16.  

Have a great weekend, and we hope to see you Sunday.