When we read of Jesus' first miracle in the second chapter of John, we usually glance it over and say to ourselves, 'Eh, pretty neat trick Jesus. The whole water into wine thing. I would have chosen a different opening act, but that's ok.'
I grew up reading this story that way, but I was missing out on the purpose of why this miracle took place. If you read John 2:11 you'll see that the miracle was to reveal God's glory and as a result the disciples put their faith in Him. As we talked about on Sunday, this wasn't a story about a cool wedding trick but a test of obedience. Jesus instructed the servants of the banquet to give the master of the banquet water from the ceremonial washing jars as a solution to the wine shortage. He was instructing them to hand out BATH WATER!! He didn't even tell them it had been turned into wine, and it doesn't appear that he even touched the water or the jars.
But the servants did as they were told without knowing the end result.
I'm a planner. Especially being a pastor of a church. I like to plan ministries, events and even services so I can get an idea of what the end result will be. After reading this passage of scripture, I'm realizing I need to loosen the reins a little bit (ok a lotta bit!), and let the Spirit take even more control over my life, my ministry, and my family. Even if I don't know what will come of it, I know that I serve a God that will never leave or forsake me.
So, where are you today? We were asked the question yesterday at The Rescue, 'Is God asking you to do something without revealing the end result? And if so, what are you going to do about it?'
Maybe He is simply saving the best till' last!
-PC
Monday, March 4, 2013
On The Desk
My book for February was 'Multiply' by Francis Chan. One thing I love about most of Francis Chan's books is that he connects a website to the chapters and so before or after reading them, you can watch a video of Chan explaining a little more. The purpose of 'Multiply' was to provide a background and plan for Christians to produce disciples. Now we know that our human attempts at discipling will fail if we don't invite the Spirit to direct us and guide us. So Chan outlines (with a ton of scripture-which is AWESOME! Thank you Bible reading authors!) what it means to be a Christian, how the Spirit can use us, how the early church functioned, and what it means for us today. Not a very deep book, but I don't believe that was the purpose. It lays out the foundation for starting a discipling ministry. We will be promoting this book through our small groups for an upcoming study. If you'd like to be a part of a small group at The Rescue you can email me at pastorcory@rescuesumner.org.
So 'Multiply' was authored by Francis Chan with the foreword being done by David Platt...so...
for March I'll be reading 'Follow Me' by David Platt with the foreward by.......Francis Chan! You saw that coming, huh?
-PC
So 'Multiply' was authored by Francis Chan with the foreword being done by David Platt...so...
for March I'll be reading 'Follow Me' by David Platt with the foreward by.......Francis Chan! You saw that coming, huh?
-PC
Monday, February 25, 2013
Success
In all of our minds we have an idea of what success is. Lots of money, great job, types of possessions, social status, etc. We've all thought about it when our head hits the pillow at night. As Christians we are called to a different kind of success. A success that when experienced here on earth does not benefit us in this world but glorifies the God of all creation.
Some of you are reading that and thinking, 'Hmmm, that sounds mighty churchy, and when I look at most 'popular' Christians in this culture they seem to be doing just fine.'
To be honest, at some level I agree with you. Being in the 'church business' I see a lot of pastors and a lot of churches and ministries. We have lost the motivation to proclaim Jesus' name above the name of our church. As pastor of The Rescue my goal is that we would always raise the flag of Jesus Christ higher and louder than any flag of The Rescue Church. I pray that even my position as pastor would not get in the way of the fact that we all have the same teacher and His name is Jesus!
In order to achieve this success for the glory of God, I believe the church needs to lay the foundation for souls to be saved. At The Rescue we call it our 'Process of Discipleship'. This is where no matter who you are, you will find yourself in this process and deepening your walk with God.
Our first step is our 'Christ Centered Service'. This is simply what we do on Sunday mornings. There should never be a Sunday when you come to church and Jesus is not proclaimed. Then we have a step called 'Starting Point'. This is where I, Pastor Cory, want to take some time to get to know you. This can simply be a coffee on me; we sit down and assess where you're at on the journey. From there we want our people to join a 'Small Group'. This is nothing new, but we believe that joining other families once a week in someone's home can greatly encourage you in life's trials. From there we have our 'Leadership Development' stage. This is where we get our people involved in the work of God. This could be helping in one of our age level ministries (nursery, children, and teens), being apart of our music ministry, or our Intro Team that sets up every Sunday. There are many more opportunities than this, but it's very important to us that we teach the saved to serve. Our last step of our 'Process of Discipleship' is church planting. I believe that church planting is a necessity for reaching the unsaved. We want to be known as the church plant that plants. We never want to become the 'drawbridge church' that is more worried about keeping everyone safe within, but rather engaging the world outside our walls with the Gospel of Jesus. As we endured the challenges and obstacles of planting The Rescue, we found that God was waiting for us to be obedient to His calling.
This is merely a process and one that will most likely be tinkered with, but our view of success will never change. Letting God's love work through The Rescue and bringing people into relationship with Him.
We must always be listening to God and when he tells us to go and make disciples, we have no choice to make, we must go.
-PC
Some of you are reading that and thinking, 'Hmmm, that sounds mighty churchy, and when I look at most 'popular' Christians in this culture they seem to be doing just fine.'
To be honest, at some level I agree with you. Being in the 'church business' I see a lot of pastors and a lot of churches and ministries. We have lost the motivation to proclaim Jesus' name above the name of our church. As pastor of The Rescue my goal is that we would always raise the flag of Jesus Christ higher and louder than any flag of The Rescue Church. I pray that even my position as pastor would not get in the way of the fact that we all have the same teacher and His name is Jesus!
In order to achieve this success for the glory of God, I believe the church needs to lay the foundation for souls to be saved. At The Rescue we call it our 'Process of Discipleship'. This is where no matter who you are, you will find yourself in this process and deepening your walk with God.
Our first step is our 'Christ Centered Service'. This is simply what we do on Sunday mornings. There should never be a Sunday when you come to church and Jesus is not proclaimed. Then we have a step called 'Starting Point'. This is where I, Pastor Cory, want to take some time to get to know you. This can simply be a coffee on me; we sit down and assess where you're at on the journey. From there we want our people to join a 'Small Group'. This is nothing new, but we believe that joining other families once a week in someone's home can greatly encourage you in life's trials. From there we have our 'Leadership Development' stage. This is where we get our people involved in the work of God. This could be helping in one of our age level ministries (nursery, children, and teens), being apart of our music ministry, or our Intro Team that sets up every Sunday. There are many more opportunities than this, but it's very important to us that we teach the saved to serve. Our last step of our 'Process of Discipleship' is church planting. I believe that church planting is a necessity for reaching the unsaved. We want to be known as the church plant that plants. We never want to become the 'drawbridge church' that is more worried about keeping everyone safe within, but rather engaging the world outside our walls with the Gospel of Jesus. As we endured the challenges and obstacles of planting The Rescue, we found that God was waiting for us to be obedient to His calling.
This is merely a process and one that will most likely be tinkered with, but our view of success will never change. Letting God's love work through The Rescue and bringing people into relationship with Him.
We must always be listening to God and when he tells us to go and make disciples, we have no choice to make, we must go.
-PC
Monday, February 18, 2013
Where's the Attention Going?
Who do you bring attention to?
I love watching, coaching and trying to play sports. I love listening to interviews with professional sports athletes, whether on the radio or tv. You can tell who is good in front of a camera and who is not (which is the majority). But if you take a closer listen to the types of words they use, you find out more about them as a person and not just an athlete.
This last week at The Rescue we chatted about how at the largest sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl, we heard from the biggest stars of the sport. Their focus-personal achievement! Players talking about how they were the best players at their position and since they won the Super Bowl they had achieved the 'ultimate' in life.
As Christians we are called to be different.
John 1:23, 'John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert; make straight the way for the Lord."'
John 1:26, '"I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."'
These are some words from John the Baptist. He had been preaching about a Messiah, and had inherited quite a following, but he pointed to the one that deserved ALL the attention-Jesus.
For us today, we need to put down the motivation that is felt from self promotion. We serve a Savior and Lord that gave everything for us. We are to live a life of thanks for the love that's been given.
Who do you bring attention to?
-PC
I love watching, coaching and trying to play sports. I love listening to interviews with professional sports athletes, whether on the radio or tv. You can tell who is good in front of a camera and who is not (which is the majority). But if you take a closer listen to the types of words they use, you find out more about them as a person and not just an athlete.
This last week at The Rescue we chatted about how at the largest sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl, we heard from the biggest stars of the sport. Their focus-personal achievement! Players talking about how they were the best players at their position and since they won the Super Bowl they had achieved the 'ultimate' in life.
As Christians we are called to be different.
John 1:23, 'John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert; make straight the way for the Lord."'
John 1:26, '"I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."'
These are some words from John the Baptist. He had been preaching about a Messiah, and had inherited quite a following, but he pointed to the one that deserved ALL the attention-Jesus.
For us today, we need to put down the motivation that is felt from self promotion. We serve a Savior and Lord that gave everything for us. We are to live a life of thanks for the love that's been given.
Who do you bring attention to?
-PC
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Day After
My wife and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day early this year. Yesterday after church, Grandpa and Grandma Hettman took Carlee Joy for the day and we were free for an old school date day. Went to one of my favorite restaraunts-Famous Dave's for lunch. Ate too much. Then my wife and I went bowling. I'm one of those guys that is a 50% germaphobe and so I have a hard time putting my fingers in the holes of the bowling ball, but I survived by both of my games getting into triple digits. YES THAT IS A GOOD GAME FOR ME. Went to our favorite coffee stand, took a stroll through Target, picked up Carlee and then ended the night with a movie. A wonderful day with the love of my life.
Oh, and in the morning we planted a church.
It is starting to dawn on me the journey that God has laid out for me and my family. I couldn't think of any other word to describe The Launch yesterday then 'blessed'. We have received so much support from our Nazarene District, other pastors, friends and family. God knew exactly what we needed and where it would come from.
We are starting The Rescue with a sermon series called, 'The Light-A Journey Through John'. There is a certain amount of responsibility that comes with being a pastor to lead a group of people to God. My hope and prayer in the days to come would be that we don't lose sight of The Light. From those of you who were there last Sunday, I hope you understood that we are here to speak the name of Jesus. We will not glorify 'The Rescue' or Pastor Cory or even our ministries-we are here to glorify Jesus.
John 1:14, 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.'
Have a Blessed Week,
PC
Oh, and in the morning we planted a church.
It is starting to dawn on me the journey that God has laid out for me and my family. I couldn't think of any other word to describe The Launch yesterday then 'blessed'. We have received so much support from our Nazarene District, other pastors, friends and family. God knew exactly what we needed and where it would come from.
We are starting The Rescue with a sermon series called, 'The Light-A Journey Through John'. There is a certain amount of responsibility that comes with being a pastor to lead a group of people to God. My hope and prayer in the days to come would be that we don't lose sight of The Light. From those of you who were there last Sunday, I hope you understood that we are here to speak the name of Jesus. We will not glorify 'The Rescue' or Pastor Cory or even our ministries-we are here to glorify Jesus.
John 1:14, 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.'
Have a Blessed Week,
PC
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
On The Desk
What a great start to 2013! Kelsey and I have been blessed time after time already in this new year, and we can't wait for the future. Alot of this excitement is due to our little fireball we call Carlee. Christmas morning she started crawling around and has not stopped since!!
With the close of January also came to the end of another couple of great books that I've read.
Fusion by Nelson Searcy-God blesses each church with visitors. How do we treat that blessing? It's a complex and complicated question, but if churches don't take time to discuss this crucial ministry, we could very well be mistreating these blessings. Searcy says, 'The Kingdom only grows by one person at a time. So focus on the one, and the one will turn into many.' Great words. Thanks to Brandon Martin, pastor of Starting Grounds Church, for the use of this great book.
In the Name of Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen-I am really starting to enjoy the books written by Nouwen. They are all pretty short and concise books, but the contemplations that are presented are astounding. Its the kind of book that you will read again, and even though the entire book might take a few hours to read, you will only read a chapter at a time and just think about what you've read. This book is pointed at 'Christian Leaders', so mainly pastors, but I believe it's a book for Christians. A great passage from this book, 'Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and thus finding their source for their words, advice and guidance.'
For the month of February, I'll be reading one book-Multiply by Francis Chan. A birthday gift from my brother, Aaron.
Please keep my family in your prayers this week and this month as we plant The Rescue Church. Our prayer is that our hands will always be open to the work of the Lord.
Blessings,
PC
With the close of January also came to the end of another couple of great books that I've read.
Fusion by Nelson Searcy-God blesses each church with visitors. How do we treat that blessing? It's a complex and complicated question, but if churches don't take time to discuss this crucial ministry, we could very well be mistreating these blessings. Searcy says, 'The Kingdom only grows by one person at a time. So focus on the one, and the one will turn into many.' Great words. Thanks to Brandon Martin, pastor of Starting Grounds Church, for the use of this great book.
In the Name of Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen-I am really starting to enjoy the books written by Nouwen. They are all pretty short and concise books, but the contemplations that are presented are astounding. Its the kind of book that you will read again, and even though the entire book might take a few hours to read, you will only read a chapter at a time and just think about what you've read. This book is pointed at 'Christian Leaders', so mainly pastors, but I believe it's a book for Christians. A great passage from this book, 'Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and thus finding their source for their words, advice and guidance.'
For the month of February, I'll be reading one book-Multiply by Francis Chan. A birthday gift from my brother, Aaron.
Please keep my family in your prayers this week and this month as we plant The Rescue Church. Our prayer is that our hands will always be open to the work of the Lord.
Blessings,
PC
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