oasisCHURCH

People Need The Lord

I don't know about you, but I get most of my news from the Internet these days.  I read the local newspaper, but aside from that, I primarily get news of current events from MSNBC.  I also don't know if times are as bad as I think they are, or if breaking news is just available at an accelerated speed.  My heart has been breaking the past few days as I have read the horrifying news of two more school shootings.  The first one being the young lady who was killed in Colorado after being held hostage and assulted prior to being shot by her attacker.  I could just imagine what her family was going through during this horrible ordeal.  The article I was reading showed a picture of the beautiful 16 year old young lady.  She and her twin brother had received cell phones for their birthdays recently.  The last communication from her to her parents was a text message which said, "I love u guys."  A few hours later she was gone, and her family grieves. 

Then if that weren't enough, a couple days later a beloved principal is gunned down by a 15 year old student in Wisconsin.  It was a small community, with only a few hundred students.  The principal probably saved the lives of others as he ran and tackled the boy as he was being shot.  The community which was looking forward to Homecoming festivities and football this weekend, is instead greiving their loss.  They all spoke highly of their principal.  Last weekend he was working at a car wash to help the school raise money for homecoming activities, and now he too is gone.

When I read stories such as these, several things go through my mind.  First, I think of my own children, two of which are in college and one who is in high school.  Is there any way to make our kids safe? What should we tell or teach our children about such things?  The other question which resonates through my mind is WHY?  What makes people so desparate that this kind of action looks like a viable solution to them?  I'm not sure, but one thing I know to be true.  PEOPLE NEED THE LORD.  That is the bottom line.  He can heal your hurts, and bind your wounds.  He is the answer, and we have a world full of distraught people who need to know this.  I think herein lies the answer.  It isn't gun control.  If someone is desperate enough to commit such an act, they will find a way.  I really believe that we need to be more proactive in our individual communities to share the love of Christ to hurting people. Then perhaps these incidents would eventually begin to subside.

What do you think?

A Simple Truth

Oh how we so quickly forget the basic, simple truths of the Gospel whenever we fill our lives with so many complicated things. This evening as I sat down to put my kids to bed we sang a few familiar worship songs and read a book about puppies. But before I left them in their rooms for the evening I had this urge come over me to play this little tune. And when I played it and we sang the words I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, reminding me of this simple truth:

JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW
FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
LITTLE ONES TO HIM BELONG
WE ARE WEAK BUT HE IS STRONG

YES, JESUS LOVES ME
YES, JESUS LOVES ME
YES, JESUS LOVES ME
THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO

Yes, the Bible does tell us so. And it goes to great lengths to illustrate just how secure we are in that awesome love of God. This is what we will be studying on Sunday. To look ahead, read and meditate on Romans 8:31-39.

The Missional Church

The following is an excerpt from the Oasis BodyLife & News email I sent this week. If you do not currently receive those emails and would like to, simply send a request to oasis@bethechurch.com.

(This week) it was difficult to not notice the new interest in house church. I got to spend an hour at both of our Meigs County house church meetings, and the Spirit was alive in both places.

One question I presented to the house church at Mike and Sharon’s was this. When you consider what it means to be a missional people you have to begin thinking like a missionary. That is sometimes difficult to comprehend when you are living in your hometown, where everyone speaks the same language, and pretty much knows who you are, and even has some connection to or knowledge of church (even though perhaps not the kind of relationship Christ desires to have). It is not like being in Northeast Africa, where you are obviously different from the majority of the culture and the people, and you are obviously there to do a mission as your first priority.

However, we do need to begin thinking with that SAME mindset.

WHAT IF… You imagined you have just moved your family to the place where you live now. And your sole purpose in living where you live, working the job you have, etc. is to help further the mission God has placed you on to extend the kingdom of God?

WHAT IF… You really did embrace this mindset as a way of life—meaning, the mission of God became the motivation and purpose for everything you and your family chooses to do. Therefore your entire life is encompassed by His mission.

WHAT IF… You imagined that your church was the people you connected with for accountability, etc., and you reported to them about the things that are happening in your mission field, and they likewise shared their stories with you. Imagine the encouragement we would receive from one another!!!

This is the heart of the missional mindset. Basically, YOU ARE A MISSIONARY to your community. So whether you choose to pick up your family and move them to another country, or you choose to live in the town you grew up in, it is no different. Some people only look at those who go into foreign mission fields as missionaries, and we view them in a much different light than we do ourselves and where we live (and they certainly do deserve a huge amount of that recognition and respect for what they have chosen to do). But the fact is we ought not to look at them as being any different than any of us. When I say “us” I am referring to ALL Christians.

We must begin looking at ourselves as missionaries, or else we will not have any idea what being “missional” is all about. We will simply find ourselves belonging to another club and conforming to its rules and routines. It is my earnest prayer that all those who connect with Oasis will be missionaries, not country club members.

Ahhh!!! House Church

You rush out the door at 5:55 pm with your cassarolle dish, covered with a sheet of foil that you borrowed from your next door neighbor, because you neglected to pick up a box of foil at the store.  As you drive the two blocks to your destination, you pray that you don't hit any bumps.  You arrive without incident.  As you head toward the kitchen door, Oscar is barking happily in the window of the stairwell, glad to see you.  You hope you don't trip going up the steps and spill sausage and peppers on Mike and Sharon's back-porch.  As you enter the house, you are greeted by your church family, as the aroma of potato soup and chicken fills your nostrils.  Sherrie aka "nurse Rached" is here tonight taking everyone's blood pressure as they come in.  We laugh and talk as we await the arrival of the rest.  Then we pray, and gather around the family table.  The conversation is lively and diverse.  Mike and Bill discuss classic cars.  Some of the women talk about Reality TV.  I listen to the conversation and laughter and throw in my 2 cents worth from time to time. 

Following dinner, we adjorn to the living room as we enter the next phase of our time together.  Tonight the topic for conversation is being a "missional" church and the difference between being "missional" and simply being a church which supports "missions".  As usual, The Holy Spirit guides our discussion, as people share their thoughts and their experiences.  The time goes by quickly.  Before we know it, we are 15 minutes past our proposed ending time of 8:00.  That is ok though, as we love this time together.  We pray, and gather our now empty dishes, and say good-by, until the next time we gather.  As I drive away, my heart is filled with peace and gratitude.  I thank God for my house church family.  House church is like a healing balm, in the midst of my hectic week.  I love it.

If you have ever considered becoming part of a house church, I encourage you to toss your inhibitions, and give it a try.  I promise you will be blessed.

 

A Few Updates

There hasn't been a lot of activity on the site lately. The updates have been slow. I apologize for that. My hope is to have every page designed similar to the new look on this home page. I have also finally uploaded all of the sermons from the past 5 weeks that had not yet been added to the web. You can get those on the Oasis Media page. I uploaded them in separate increments (for the podcast listeners), so you will not actually see the last three until tomorrow. For instance, the August 27 MP3 will be available at 8:00am on Friday. The September 3 MP3 will be available at 4:30pm, and the September 10 MP3 will be available by 10:30pm Friday evening.

This Sunday Mike Kennedy will be leading our teaching time with some challenging thoughts about what it means to be a soul-winning, missional church. Next week, as a follow-up to his message, we will have an online quiz for you to take that will help you determine whether or not you are a "missional" person.

After all, Oasis is only a missional church as long as it is made of up many missional members.

Yes, there is only ONE path...

As I was reflecting on this past Sunday’s teaching, Oasis Strives to be a Christ Exalting Church, I was reminded of a conversation I had a few years ago with a bright young man who did not believe in Jesus. He said he believed in God, but he did not believe Jesus was the “Christ” that the Bible spoke of. He did not believe that Jesus was the Savior, or that he should be exalted to “God” status. So I asked him, “What exactly do you believe about Jesus?” His answer was, “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I believe Jesus was one of the most incredible men to ever live. He was a good moral teacher and a prophet. We have learned much from his life and his teachings.”

But if we use the reasoning we discussed this past Sunday about the claims Jesus made about himself, it creates a very big problem with this young man’s particular view of Jesus. What do I mean?

Well, Jesus said that he was THE way, THE truth, and THE life. And NO ONE could come to the Father (God, the Creator of the Universe) except through Him (John 14:6). In essence he was saying “I am the only way to find God, all other religions, teachings, or paths are just empty and false and deceptive paths which will never lead you to the one true God.” This is a very bold claim.

So when someone makes a claim such as the one Jesus made, there are only two options for how to look at such a claim: (1) He’s telling the truth, or (2) He’s not telling the truth. The young man that I had the conversation with did not believe that Jesus was telling the truth. Remember, he believed that Jesus was merely a good teacher, not God. Therefore, if you believe Jesus was not telling the truth, then you must believe that he is either: (A) a liar, or (B) a lunatic. Of course, there is a third option, and that is (C) He really is telling the truth and he is who he says he is.

But one thing I cannot figure out is this. How can a person who believes that Jesus is either a LIAR or a LUNATIC say that they believe he was a good teacher, and one of the most incredible men to ever live??? This makes no sense to me. Good teachers do not lie to people. We do not honor and respect the lives of crazy lunatics. If you believed Jesus was sadly mistaken about his identity then you cannot believe that he was a good moral teacher. That would be absurd. A good moral teacher would not make false claims about himself and completely deceive a group of his closest friends—either knowingly or unknowingly.

Everything we read about Jesus tells us that both his life and his claims go hand in hand. We believe that Jesus is the only way to find God because Jesus taught that he was the only way to find God, and his life proved that he was the only way to find God.

Exalt Him this week.