Oasis Christian Fellowship : bethechurch

Melilla Jones

This precious little girl is the daughter of Travis and Emilie Jones, Oasis members and missionaries to Bulgaria. Oasis has a very special bond with this family, and although we are presently separated by several miles, we will be walking closely with them in the days ahead. You may have heard by now the news that Melilla (3 years old; turns 4 in April) has been diagnosed with Leukemia. Travis and Emilie were planning to move to Bulgaria next month, and now their plans have drastically changed for a few years. In these coming days we will be remembering Melilla in prayer as often as we gather together as a church, and we ask that you, individually and with your family, take time out to pray for her.

Travis and Emilie have begun a web journal at CaringBridge. If you would like to bookmark the page, here is the link. I will allow Travis to tell you Melilla's story. We will most certainly keep you updated with her progress at all Oasis gatherings and via email and bethechurch.com.

Here is how Travis describes Melilla's diagnosis:

In early January 2009 Melilla got a fever and a bad cough. The fever went away, but the cough persisted.

We took her to a pediatrician and she got some medicine for bronchitis...however, the cough wouldn't go away and the fever returned.

We went back to the doctor and they ran some X-rays and blood work to check for pneumonia. However, what they found was that she was anemic and her blood counts were all out of whack.

So they admitted us to the hospital and did a bone marrow test and diagnoses her with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the Childrens Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, NJ.

The prognosis is positive and ALL is the easiest form of leukemia to treat, control, and cure! We've got a long road ahead, but in all likelihood Melilla will grow to have a normal, healthy life.

The faith and peace that the Jones family is displaying in all of this is such an amazing testimony to the grace of God. Travis & Emilie, we are so encouraged by you. We hope that we will be an encouragement and a refuge for you.

+++ Lord God, You reign supreme over all things, over all sickness, over all disease. There is nothing that occurs in this life that takes you by surprise, and we are comforted in the fact that you hold everything in your sovereign hands. You have not left us here to figure out how to handle things in this life on our own. You do not sit back idly and watch us unfold the pages of history. Your hand is doing the writing. Your hand is actively involved in our lives. We know that Your hand is with Melilla even now. We do not know all the answers to all the questions, but we rest assured that You are not far away. You are near. We rest in the knowledge that You love little Melilla even more than her own parents possibly could. Fo you knew here before she was formed in her mother's womb. She has been fearfully and wonderfully made. She is Your child. Travis and Emilie have been so faithful to raise Melilla in the knowledge and love of Jesus. Even at a young age she is a worshipper, in spirit and in truth. We pray that You would agree with the prayers of your people and instantly remove the leukemia from Melilla's body. But even more so, we pray that your people would agree with with You and come to greater realization of Your glory during this time in Melilla's life. Give our brother Travis and our dear sister Emilie the peace which surpasses all understanding. Help them to rest in your grace. Hold them up when they are weak. May they find strength in the Gospel of Christ alone. Be their source. Be their peace. For we pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. +++

The Living Room 2???

Last night's house church meeting reminded me of this:

Back in November of 2005 we were having such a great time worshiping God together in song, and we were having many new songs written by Oasis people, so we decided to record a worship gathering live at one of our house church meetings. It started out as a simple acoustic plan, but we ended up adding drums and bass, and it came out pretty nice for an off-the-cuff effort. Here's a sample: Trading My Sorrows.

Back to last night. About 45 minutes of our time was spent invested in worship in songs of praise to Christ the King. Such an experience is evidence, in my opinion, that the church body is truly "getting it" in our study of Revelation. Revelation is not an intellectual book to be debated, but an artistic book to be experienced. Likewise, Christianity is not a philosophy to be argued and fully comprehended intellectually. It is a love song to be sung. Of course, this love song is rooted in truth and understanding. But it also must be felt and passionately responded to. The book of Revelation is filled with songs. People often wonder why the church sings songs all the time. Why is music such a large part of church gatherings? We can easily find our answer in the pages of Revelation. If God created humans as worshipers, then that is what we do. That means Christianity is about worship. How is worship most often done? In our Bibles we see that a great majority of the time when worship occurs it is accompanied with singing, playing instruments, bowing down, kneeling, lying prostrate on the ground, raising hands, dancing, shouting, clapping, and loud choruses of song after song after song! God LOVES music. And we are created in the image of Him. We love music because we are image-bearers of God.

God could have chosen anything He wanted to be the primary tool used as means to worship Him, and He chose songs, music, instruments, singing. Yes, there are many ways we worship Him as living sacrifices. But there is no arguing that the primary means surrounding the throne of God as we glimpse into heaven is song and music and loud choruses of praise made by all the created beings.

What does this mean to me? What should this mean to our church? It means that we have been given the privilege of participating in something here and now that occurs constantly in heaven. Concerts, light shows, sound systems, amazing guitar riffs, soothing vocal harmonies, all of those aesthetics combine to draw us closer to the throne of God. Why? My guess is because that is where those things originate. That is what currently, and eternally, surrounds the throne of God.

I could hear and see last night that we are all starting to learn this fact. And we are learning it with more than our minds. God is doing something in our hearts. And He is moving our bodies to respond.

Is it time for a Living Room 2?

Good Friday Letter to Church

The following is a letter I emailed to the Oasis community last Friday.

Dear friends,

Today is a day of paradoxes. It is a gloomy, yet glorious day. It is a sad, yet joyous day. It is a frightening, yet comforting day. It is a day of great loss, yet a day of eternal gain. It is a day of death, yet it is a day of life. How can this all be? How can a cross of execution—used in the 1st century as a symbol of control, fear, and ultimate punishment—be something that today we wear around our necks with great joy, hang them in our homes and in church buildings to show dedication and love, and include them in our song lyrics to give adoration to God? How can such a symbol mean so much?

Because there is no gospel without the cross. We love Christmas, but the birth of Christ is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. We also love Easter, but even the resurrection—important as it is in the total scheme of things—is no gospel by itself. The Good News is not just that God became man, nor that God has revealed a proper way of life for us, or even that death, the great enemy, is conquered. Rather, the Good News is that sin has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof—so the two events do go hand-in-hand); that Jesus has suffered sin’s penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in him can look forward to heaven.

This morning I sat at the breakfast table with my 7-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, and I asked them if they understood what this day, Good Friday, symbolizes for us. They knew that Good Friday was the day that we remember Jesus’ death on the cross, and they were quick to point out that he rose again on the third day, which is why we go to church on Sunday. You might say that’s a good, basic understanding of things. And I am sure my kids have that understanding because they are growing up in a Christian home, with a Christian family and even Christian extended family. But, as my children continue to grow older and gain more understanding in this life, the most important thing I can teach them is that, even though they are being raised in a Christian family and are learning to lead a moral life, they are sinners who desperately need the substitutionary death of Christ to be forgiven by God.

So not only do I need to teach them the basics of “what happened.” I need to teach them the gospel, every day. I need to tell them that they are sinners, just like their mom and dad, and that sin is a serious problem. Sure, I will need to put it into words that their young minds can understand, but I should not ignore or minimize the seriousness of sin. Through their actions and attitudes they have rebelled against their Maker. And this great God is perfectly holy and must respond with fierce opposition to sin. He must punish it.

Some of you reading this right now might find it surprising that I would teach a 7-year-old and 9-year-old about God’s wrath toward sin. But I would contend that I find it surprising that any loving person would withhold this truth from another person they love. Because only when we understand God’s wrath toward sin can we realize that we need to be saved from it. What makes Good News “good news”? Usually good news comes when we are smack-dab in the middle of some serious bad news. You don’t know good news until you know bad news. That is why so many people in our world, who have lived moral lives and are thus considered “good people” by culture’s standards, do not recognize their need for Good News. If we don’t know of any bad news, then why do we need good news?

So, this is the message I want to teach my son and daughter as the hope of their life: Jesus, God’s perfect, righteous Son, died in their place for their sins. Jesus took all the punishment; Jesus received all the wrath as he hung on the cross, so people like Brock and Kaylee and their sinful mommy and daddy could be completely forgiven.

Do you know the gospel? Do you know that the cross is the center of your life in Christ? Can you explain that to someone else? Is your life cross-centered? I want to give you something to contemplate on this Good Friday. The symptoms that arise from not being a cross-centered person are actually quite easy to spot. Do any of these describe you?

• You often lack joy.
• You’re not consistently growing in spiritual maturity.
• Your love for God lacks passion.
• You’re always looking for some new technique, some “new truth” or new experience that will deepen your faith or pull all the pieces of your faith together.

If you can relate to any of these symptoms, then take some time today to re-focus your life on what really matters. It’s never too late for you to reestablish the obvious truth of the cross as the most important truth in your life. The message that Paul had for Timothy is the same message he has for you. You need to rediscover the truth that first saved you. The key to joy, to growth, to passion, isn’t hiding from you. It’s right in front of you. In fact, He actively seeks and passionately pursues after you with this message. The gospel.

If you have been reading these emails and posts this week and you sense that Jesus is speaking to your heart through the Holy Spirit, we encourage you to respond to the revealed Christ and give your worship to him. Some of you who have read these emails this week have become very committed to the fellowship of Oasis, and you know that God is calling you to partner in ministry with Oasis Meigs. But undoubtedly there is a number of you who are reading this right now and you know you have distanced yourself from the church in general, and thus you recognize a greater distance growing between you and Jesus.

Friends, we cannot exist alone. Your relationship with Jesus Christ is more than just a personal, private, autonomous relationship. You have been created by the Creator to, first and foremost, glorify and give worship to Him. Yes, you can and should do that on your own and in private times. But the worship we so often see demonstrated in the Scriptures is a corporate, community act. The encouragement that the early believers received in the Bible was through public gatherings of preaching and teaching. And one of the most common ways God’s people have been strengthened, comforted, and encouraged has been through the fellowship of the gathered church.

If you are thinking to yourself, Man, it sounds like he is trying to get me to come and join the church, you are exactly right. I care enough about you to exhort you in this vitally important aspect of your relationship with Jesus. Don’t try to do it on your own. One of the things worship requires is humility. It takes a humble person to admit need. We need one another. We need to be together, living out our salvation in a community of grace, love, and truth.

I hope you had a great Resurrection Weekend.

Forgiveness

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” (Luke 23:33-38, ESV)

Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship."

Jesus' first recorded words from the cross were words that he had been speaking since the first days of his earthly ministry. He taught forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12). When asked by Peter, how many times should we forgive someone, Jesus answered seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). At the Last Supper, Jesus explained his crucifixion to his Apostles when he told them to drink of the cup: "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28).

In this word from the cross we come face-to-face with man's greatest and primary need. The first and most important lesson any person must learn is that we are all sinners, and as such, not fit for the presence of a Holy God. Everyone has their own ideas for how to do what is right. We all make resolutions, and adopt rules to live by. In our own way we humans try our best to deal with the "sin problem". But our attempts to develop good character and our efforts to please God while there is still sin between Him and us are nothing but vain efforts. What good is a treadmill to us if our legs are paralyzed? What use are glasses if we are blind?

The question of the forgiveness of my sins is the basic, fundamental, vital question of all of life. It does not matter one bit that I am highly respected, famous, prominent, or loved by a wide circle of friends if I am still dead in my sins. It does not matter one bit that I have developed success in business or career if I remain an unforgiven trespasser in the sight of God. What will matter most in the hour of death is, Have my sins been forgiven by the blood of Christ?

[Devotional thought written by Chris Stewart]

Jesus' Seven Statements from the Cross

One thing we know about the crucifixion of Jesus from reading our Bibles is that while he was hanging there during those 6 hours on Friday, he spoke a few words. We often talk about a person's dying wishes, or their last words just before death. Usually a person's final words before death are important, key moments to remember.

Likewise, it has been a tradition in some churches to use the seven statements of Jesus from the cross in Good Friday services, where the members will take some time to reflect on the particular aspects of what Christ said during the last hours of his earthly life (or better said, the last hours before his death by crucifixion; as we know and believe, Jesus died but he returned to life again).

So this week we are going to do something similar. We are going to reflect on those seven statements made by Jesus during his time on the cross. I have invited seven different Oasis members to read, ponder, study, and write a few brief thoughts about one of those words in particular. Every day this week there will be a new post here, focusing on the word of the day, and leading us to the culmination of what is known as passion week, the greatest event in human history, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We hope you will be inspired, challenged and edified by each of these daily devotional thoughts this week.

Wait 'til you hear this!

I just got through listening to a "rough mix" of one of the songs Chad has written in the past year. He sent me the recording and asked me what I thought, and I told him this. "Dude, you need to finish that thing ASAP and get it out to our people because they will absolutely DIG it!" I'm not kidding you. It is incredible. Now I've put some pressure on him to finish it. :)

In all seriousness, we sometimes do not stop to realize the blessings we have that come in the form of people. PEOPLE are the greatest blessings, because God uses people to bless His people. Chad's gift of creating fresh and new worship music for our church is a blessing that a majority of churches in the United States never get to experience. I thank God for my brother and partner in ministry.

Keep an eye out for an MP3 download titled: "The King."

BeTheChurch.com Long Overdue Updates

Oasis and distant friends and family, I realize that our website has been nearly void of any new content during the past several months, but I am pleased to tell you that one important section has recently been updated. For those of you who used to receive our podcasts, your aggregator probably has shut off our link due to inactivity. But turn it back on. When you do, you will notice about 30 newly uploaded sermons, dating as far back as July 2007.

We apologize for the delay. After many months those Sunday gathering recordings have all been edited and made ready for the internet. We are now caught up (to last Sunday), and will be updating the Oasis Media page on a weekly basis again.

I know that many of you have received much encouragement from the media portion of the site, as you enjoy downloading to listen to a sermon that you missed or simply to listen again throughout the week. Again, we apologize for not keeping up with the new content.

All-Stars Baseball vs. Church

This weekend begins a 4-week season of All-Stars Baseball for our 8 year-old son. Brock was actually selected to play on an All-Star team last year, but this year we have had more time to prepare and discuss all of the issues of being on a traveling all-star baseball team. The first and most obvious issue for a Christian family is the dilemma of every tournament being played on weekends. Typically the way an all-star tournament goes is like this: on Saturday all the teams play one another in a "round robin," and according to their records from those games they are seeded in a tournament, which is played on Sunday. The reason this can be a dilemma for Christian families is because tournament games are often played out of town, or could even be scheduled during the morning hours, the same time as most church worship gatherings.

I have chosen to title this article "All-Stars Baseball vs. Church" because it states the tension that so many Christian families have faced over the years of playing sports, taking vacations, going to band or cheer competitions, or any number of different community activities family members have been involved in. Traditionally, whenever anything caused us to consider missing a worship gathering or church meeting many families have been made to feel as though the event they were considering and the church meeting were two things that were against one another. Thus the title "All-Stars Baseball vs. Church." This brings up a very interesting conversation. One that I have been having for several weeks as this year's all-stars season has approached. There are a few other Christian families on Brock's team this year, and together we have been discussing this "dilemma," which has caused us to come up with some very creative ideas for how to help alleviate the felt tension among families who desire their children to be able to participate in other community activities while also honoring Christ and glorifying God in all they do. Here are some thoughts to consider.

Probably the most common answer to this dilemma is to simply state a hard line of right and wrong when it comes to church attendance. For instance, in my youth this question seemed to be a no-brainer: where a person was on Sunday morning was the ultimate test of their loyalty to Christ. Everyone who was truly committed to Christ was expected to be at church regardless, and would be considered a hero of the faith for making the choice to miss a baseball game in order to attend the church meeting.

The problem with that line of thinking is that it puts "being at the church meeting" at such an elevated proof or evidence of faith in Christ, when in fact there are many who attend church meetings faithfully yet have no faith. Therefore we must be careful of saying there is only one right answer to this so-called dilemma. To do so would be dangerously close to a legalistic view of church attendance, and could possibly lead someone down a similar path of the Pharisees, who praised such acts over true and living faith. As you have heard me say many times over the past 4 years, we are called to BE the church, and to live out our faith and glorify God wherever we happen to be, and in whatever we happen to be doing. I would rather see a person of active, living, daily faith in Christ miss a church meeting than see a person come to every meeting of the church but show no evidence of faith any other day of the week.

On the other side of this discussion is the fact that while it is important to live and be part of the world as believers in Christ, it is vitally important that we regularly gather with other believers in a community of faith for our strengthening, encouragement, and spiritual nourishment. To habitually neglect this at the expense of community activities or personal vacations is just as wrong.

As those of you who know me know, I am not interested in old legalism. I have missed church meetings here and there in order to attend games I am coaching or to be with my kids who are playing. But there is also something about the discipline of church attendance (actual participation in a family of faith—the kind of thing that gives Hebrews 10:24ff life!) that is vital. We believe that we’re forming a certain kind of person through such disciplines as this. And it is our hope that our children see our regular attendance at church meetings as not a ritual we keep, but a healthy part of the formation of our lives as believers in Christ.

Someone once attempted to quote me a couple years back and said they heard me say: “God doesn’t care whether or not you attend church.” I never recall saying exactly that, and I hope none of you have ever processed anything I have said in that way. The fact is, I do believe God is very interested in our commitment to be with other believers in a community of faith. What I do not believe is that He is keeping a record of church attendance, from which we will be rewarded as heroes of the faith.

I understand the frustration we have all experienced with old legalism. But we must also be just as careful to not say that this spiritual discipline, this matter of community, this place of being intentional about regularly worshiping and fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters in the faith, does not matter. It most certainly does.

I know that April and I want to be sure that the message we are sending to our children is that God is a priority in ALL of our lives, whether Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or etc. Church meetings are obviously a priority because we have created a regular habit of attending. But more importantly, they know that God is a priority because we have created regular habits of honoring God in a variety of ways: at meal times, at bed times, while driving in the car, while going to school, while on the gymnastic floor, while on the baseball field, etc. and etc.

We are most certainly thinking about priorities, and we are also thinking about the larger understanding of spiritual formation. Our deepest hopes for our son and daughter have nothing to do with playing baseball, cheerleading, or even going to church. Our greatest hopes for our children is that they will develop genuine, living faith in Jesus Christ.

Just 15 years ago, the decision to “miss church” for a ballgame would have been a no-no for me. As I have continued growth in age and in the Lord, I have grown to see church through the lens of relationship—being a way of life, a people—rather than a meeting that happens once a week at a particular place or building. BEING the church means that we are the church—and not a time slot on Sunday morning—which means being the church could happen at the baseball game just as well.

IMPORTANT: do not hear me saying, “Everything is church,” because I am a firm believer in attending regular assemblies with a common Christ-community for worship, Bible teaching, and communion. But these kinds of activities in our lives that we often deem as “in conflict” with church, I believe actually provide us opportunities to teach a deeper lesson about the essence of “church.”

This Sunday morning before I come down to our Oasis worship gathering I will be hosting an All-Star team worship gathering/Bible-study/prayer meeting at the shelter house in the park in Athens at 7:45am. Then, the team will play a game at 9:00am, which I will attend for the first hour. Then I will leave the rest of the game to my assistant coaches and drive down to be with my Oasis family and preach from James chapter 1. After that gathering I will go back to Athens and be with the team for the remainder of the tournament.

Choosing to be involved with the All-Star team the way we are (as a coach and having our son play) has provided us with some wonderful conversations with other brothers and sisters in Christ (who also have kids on the team) regarding church and faith in Christ, and it has even given me the opportunity to answer questions from some who are not yet believers in Christ. I am looking forward to how the next 4 weeks may in fact provide our family with an opportunity to be a witness for Jesus.

I pray that this article will be helpful as you process these kinds of things in your own family. I know that there are a number of varying opinions on these issues, and I respect others who may stand in a different place. Not everyone faces these kinds of issues. But if your family is one that is involved in sports or any kind of community, school activity or group in the world there is a good chance you will be faced with the same "dilemma" at some time or another. Just fill in the blank: "__________________ vs. Church." My hope is to convince you that it does not have to be a hard line one way or the other. Remove the "vs." from the title of this article, and replace it with an "AND." And... "whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Sermon MP3s Are Caught Up

Several of you have asked me what has happened to our sermon MP3s on the Oasis Media page or our podcast links. Well, the past several weeks there have been some technical glitches in our recordings, and I have had to go through each one and clean them up as best as I could. Hopefully everything is now resolved. Today I uploaded sermons from the past 9 weeks. You can get them directly from our media page or from our iTunes podcast.

"Amen."

Bethechurch friends, below is one of the best videos I have seen in a long time. After watching this, go listen to Chad's sermon from last Sunday (James 1:2-18) if you have not already.