Giving or Keeping?

The Ponca Indian tradition of giving away all material possessions of the deceased, throughout the year following death, is a great example of giving in a way that few of us understand.

Yesterday was our last lesson in the series, The Corinthian Connection. We looked at Corinth's heart behind their giving. Paul didn't want to guilt the Church in Corinth into giving. He challenged them to give out of love and devotion to God instead of their own selfish wishes and desires.

I believe Paul's encouragement to us is the same as it was to the Corinthians. He’s challenging us to change our perspective and begin to see giving and the passing of the offering plate as something spiritual, not worldly.

We have to understand what an opportunity we have each time we give to God. The act of giving is supernatural and can help us in our own healing and restoration in every need.

Maybe you have heard it said that we should "give until it hurts." Saints, I've searched throughout the Bible and I cannot find that concept in God's Word! It is not about giving until it hurts… it is about giving until it heals.

Think again about the Ponca Indian tradition and understand the healing of grief that occurs over a year of giving. Can't we apply this concept of giving to every need for healing? I sure think so.

True giving never hurts and keeping never heals. So, until He calls us home, until He returns for His bride, as long as the need is there, we must keep giving until we see healing!

Next week, I will begin a new series called "Scrambled Eggs" in which we’ll be looking at a number of things over the next 5 - 6 weeks that answers the question, "Why bad things happen to good people?" Come expecting an encounter with God.

Give until it heals.

Love,

Pastor Steve

Being or Dissing?

In our study of Corinthians, Paul taught the church that most of their problems were caused by lack of respect. It was a pleasure for me to teach about respect on this past Mother's Day. Learning respect in our home is the key to developing respect in our work, relationships and certainly our church.

I challenge you to go to any grocery store, mall or playground and see if you think respect is being taught in homes today. Not only do children often not respect their own parents, they show little respect for authority of any type in their lives.

We could fill up a notebook of excuses on why kids behave the way they do, but the fact is…children must be taught to respect. Respect is a matter of being. You have to choose to be respectful.

It's no surprise that honoring your father and mother was written as one of the 10 commandments in Exodus 20. It’s a tenet of God’s law because it’s so vital to the family unit as a whole. Respecting our parents is a critical part of showing our honor to God.

Saints, we have to lead the next generation by example. We have to give those in our lives the respect due them, with our hearts, because of who they are and because God has placed them in our lives.

Respect begins in the home, and it begins with our parents. This week surrounding Mother's Day, show respect to your mother and the mothers in your life with your listening, your words and with your actions.

Appreciate every moment you've had with her, and go make more opportunities to demonstrate your love.

I have one more week in our study of the Letters to the Corinthians. Our next series is titled "Scrambled Eggs." I'll tell you more about it in Church Sunday.

Be blessed this week as you are BEING respectful.

Love,

Pastor Steve

Calm or Confusion

Confusion was a way of life for the people of Corinth, and to no surprise…it’s a problem we still experience in the Church today.

Much of our confusion and most of the storms we go through are not the result of some outside influence in our life or some other spiritual force. Confusion enters in because of a belief, which leads to a decision and an ultimate outcome that leaves us confused, hurt, and afraid.

Think of what could be different if we rejected confusion in our thoughts. What would happen in our lives if we began to seek God for clarity and use Him and His Word as a compass in our life?

God meant for His Word to be a compass in our lives. He gave it to us so we could find peace in the midst of confusion and hope in the place of despair. Consider if you were stranded in the middle of a forest, what tool would you want in order to help guide you to civilization? Would you want your cell phone or day planner? All you need is a compass to give you direction, to show you where true north is. The problem is, we often use our cell phones or day planners to guide our day when we should be using God's Word instead.

Corinth became confused because they began to do things man's way instead of God's way. They put the needs of their day planner above the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you're feeling confused, lonely, or like nothing you can do will make a difference to your circumstances. Maybe you feel like you're just trudging through life. Well it doesn't have to be that way! God is not the author of confusion but of peace!

Saints of Bixby Community Church, even at your lowest point, God is ready and willing to pour blessings into your life. In fact, there’s no better time for Him to speak to you to help you regain your focus and purpose. Sometimes all we have to do to get rid of confusion in our life is to allow God's presence to settle over us and calm us down.

Whatever you do, enter His presence. Go to church, listen to podcasts, pray, participate in the Daily Bible Reading and honor God with a sacrifice of praise.

I believe you’ll begin to experience a calm and peace like never before. You’ll learn how to shut off all the noise and confusion in your life…plus, you’ll instantly recognize the whisper of God’s voice even in the midst of a storm.

Love,

Pastor Steve

Speaking or Talking?

What was the topic of daily conversation in Corinth?

We know from Paul's writings to the church that their talking was immature and caused division.

I wonder if conversations in Bixby are all that much different from Corinthian chatter.
Are we speaking life and building people up or are we speaking discouragement and tearing people down?

In Job 11, we gain insight into the content of talking compared to speaking. Talk will reduce men to silence. In dominating the conversation, the talker gives no hope, no light, no promise, no building up. It leaves people silent.

Secondly, the book of Job says talking is often filled with idle chatter. Maybe you're not talking about people or bringing others down, but if you’re not encouraging others through your words, then you’re not glorifying God. Idle talk is a step below superficial chit chat. Just think of what would be different in our lives, in our church, if we became a people who didn't participate in idle chatter?

Third, if we are talking, we will have trouble remembering what was said. Have you ever been on the phone with someone and when you hung up, you really couldn't remember what was discussed. This happens to me at the end of a busy, talk-filled day. If I can't remember the words of the day--there's a good chance I was talking more than speaking. Significant speaking is remembered!

Finally, talkers rarely encourage. If you come from a conversation and feel encouraged, then you've just been around someone who has spoken life and love into you. It’s how we should function as a church and people. The sounds of Speaking should fill our homes.

Parents, It is God's commandment for you to correct your children and that includes disciplining them with love in your words. It includes speaking life into your children and into the possibilities of who they are and what they will become. Speaking should be the rule for words in your home.

To determine if you’re speaking, before opening your mouth, ask yourself these two questions:

• Does this give life or death?
• Do I need to say it or do they need to hear it?

If we’re speaking life, then we’re thinking right…and if we’re thinking right then our words will be more in line with God's word. Our speech will give life to the hearer and maintain an attitude of thanks. It will produce love, the antidote to division, not destruction.

Saints, my encouragement to you…is to speak life and love throughout your day. Be sure to affirm to others what they mean to you… tell them what they're good at, encourage them to move toward the possibilities of what God has for them.

Also, begin to speak about what you want God to bring about in your life. God wants you to have an abundant life through kingdom living. Speak life into your marriage, speak life into your friendships, speak life into your finances...when you see trouble, begin to "call things that are not as though they are."

Speak the truth in love as we multiply the Kingdom in Bixby.

Love,

Pastor Steve

Power or Effort?

If you didn’t realize it before I started this series, there are some remarkable similarities between Bixby, Corinth and probably any other city we could name.

This past Sunday, we looked at how the Church in Corinth was beginning to move in their own effort and strength. What they failed to realize was that as men their fruits were limited and their effectiveness was doomed to failure because they were working from a purely self-motivated mindset.

Sounds like something all of us have been guilty of in some capacity or another.

If we’re doing something on our own without God, and we’re struggling at it, then we’re trying to work in our own strength. That’s a sure sign of failure and will only result in our nature working against us. Not only that, but when it's our effort, most times, our work will never reach heights of significance.

Have you noticed how most people, who work in their own strength or in their own effort, are often double minded or even multi-minded? James 1:8 says that a "double minded person is unstable in all his ways."

If there are days you are confused and deeply divided, if you find your values are being compromised, that is not God's best for you. Try to quit working in your own strength, in your own effort and allow God to use His power through you.

There is one simple key to operating in the power of God and not in your own effort…we must enter His presence.

Remember in Exodus 33 how he yearned for God’s presence whether in the desert or in the Promise Land. Israel wasn't about to move into the Promise Land in their own effort. Moses refused to go anywhere, including the Promised Land, unless they were being lead by God’s presence. Moses told God, unless you go before us, we'll stay here. We will not leave your presence.

Don't you wish we could say what Moses said. In God's presence, our thinking becomes right, and peace, joy, and love become more evident in our hearts.

If we step away from it or try to operate in our own strength, then it can spell trouble for us. Start your day in the presence of God through prayer, Daily Bible Reading, praise and worship. And then CHOOSE to seek His presence throughout your day.

The kingdom of God is not a matter of talking, it's a matter of power. Power is received in God's presence.

Love,

Pastor Steve

PS. Make a commitment this week to pray this prayer found in Exodus 33:13-14: "Dear God, I pray that you would be pleased with me, continue to teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you, and so that your presence will go with me, and you will give me rest."

Multiplication or Division…

It sounds funny, but every time I've ever heard a message on Corinthians, my immediate thought has always been “Oh no, someone must be fighting in the Church… here comes a another message on unity.”

But that's not what inspired our latest series at Bixby Community Church. Our purpose in looking at the books of First and Second Corinthians isn't to focus on what we’re doing wrong, but to focus on what we’re doing right. Our aim is to get better, so we can come up higher and learn how to respond to life. The six week goal is to understand the connection between Corinth and Bixby.

This last week, we looked at the spiritual concepts of multiplication and division. It’s curious how anytime we multiply in numbers as a church or grow in maturity, there’s always a test of division put before you.

In the beginning, when Paul first went to Corinth, Paul faced that same test. But, the Lord had a Word for him and I believe it’s the same Word He has for us today: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city” (Acts 18).

Saints, there are countless people in Bixby who need to hear this message...and it is our call to keep on speaking to these people and compelling them to come into this Sanctuary to be restored!

Paul wasn’t afraid to speak out against the church. In fact when he was writing to them in Corinth he wrote about the good, bad and ugly. Take a look at his first comments in 1 Corinthians 3. He wastes no time in chastising them for becoming too worldly. Sounds like the Church today, doesn’t it? People who confess the Lord Jesus as Savior and who claim to live in the kingdom of God, conforming to the ways of the world.

The bad and the ugly in Corinth were found in the hearts of a stubborn people. They didn't need God, and they certainly did not care about His vision for their lives. All they could focus on were trivial issues and preferences. These people became corrupt and started to manipulate others only to benefit themselves and divide the church.

How could they help people when all their focus was on themselves? The simple answer is, they couldn’t! That's why Paul reprimanded them and reminded them of who they were in God…His temple, created to do good works of service.

By building others up, we multiply… by building ourselves up, we divide. It’s that simple. Division ultimately leads to destruction. Multiplication leads to the fulfillment of the vision God has for our community: The vision of marriages being restored, teenagers obeying their parents and making Godly decisions for their life, the vision of helping single mothers, and teaching people how to have an abundant life!

It's really not that hard to multiply and fulfill this vision. If we just multiply love at home, at work, and at church ...things will change.

There’s no simpler rule than that to multiply love across this community.

The secret is to get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus. We need to ask God to help us think right so we can be a witness of His life-saving grace in Bixby and in our own home.

Above all else, we must learn to multiply our love,

Pastor Steve