Loves As Jesus Loved

I had the opportunity to watch the movie Fireproof this week and what it lacks in its acting, it makes up for in a very strong message. Kirk Cameron is the main character who has been challenged by his father to take a 40 day Love Dare challenge and he comes to a breaking point half way through those days where he has done everything humanly possible to win her love. He keeps telling his dad it is no use because with every attempt, he faces rejection over and over again and then his Dad leads him to find Jesus.


A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13v34


So, you’re thinking ok, I can do that. I can love others and specifically like minded people who love Jesus. However, Jesus isn’t finished, there is another sentence here with this command and it starts with ‘As I…As I have loved you! I have been called to love as Jesus loved! He didn’t give us a ‘do as best as you can’ kind of command. He is actually telling us to love the way that He did. He loved in humility with a servant’s heart, He loved powerfully with complete forgiveness and He loved us sacrificially by laying down His life for us. This is no ordinary kind of love and actually it is an impossible challenge.

Jesus’ love is:

1. The Great Exchange

If we are going to love as Jesus loved, we need the power and strength that only Jesus can give us. Jesus was good at this and gave the kind of challenges to drive this point home. He told his disciples, “pour your heart out in prayer and this mountain will be thrown into the sea.” Mark 11:23 He also challenged Peter, “Walk to me on the water” in Matthew 14 or how about how many times do I forgive…well Jesus said try seventy times seven. Jesus was always bent on setting the bar so high we would know that the only way that we could reach it would be to live a completely and entirely different way. This may surprise you, but Jesus doesn’t want you to try harder, muster up more drive from somewhere within you. Christianity is not a try harder faith and it is not a ‘change’ faith. It is an exchange. Isaiah 40:28-31


I think we’ve all felt that sense of desperation that comes from trying to do ‘whatever it takes’ to win someone over whether it is our spouse, a child, a friend and yet feeling empty because there was no response, no reciprocation of the kind, no result. However the greatest difficulties that a relationship or lack thereof has to offer us always brings us to the greatest opportunity to trust the Lord.

Our prayer of exchange: Dear Father, I don’t have the strength to turn this relationship around, I can’t do this on my own. I need to exchange my strength for Your strength, I need to exchange my desperation for Your hope, my lonliness for Your companionship, my heartache for Your comfort, my love for Your love.


2. Acting Before Feeling.

John 13 begins by describing to us the sense of urgency that Jesus felt as He knew His earthly ministry was coming to a close. We read that He was now ready to show them the full extent of his love. So, he begins by wrapping a towel around his waist and proceeds to wash his disciples’ feet. It is an act of humility and a true expression of love.

He wanted to teach us the importance of the heart of a servant. A servant will be brought low so that others may be lifted up. A heart of love will call us to lay down our own personal aspiration of greatness or fulfillment. Jesus didn’t tell us to feel this way, He told us to act if our life depended on it. He taught us to wash each other’s feet and He led by example. You might be thinking but how do I serve someone in love that I really don’t love? Isn’t that being dishonest with others and myself? How can that kind of love be real? It is a good question but in our life again and again we have to do things that we don’t feel like doing. You can’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘well I don’t feel like going into work, so you know what, I’m not going.’ Well, you can only do that for so long.

We can’t command feelings but we can command an action. Jesus didn’t feel like going to the cross. He knew exactly what was going to be expected of Him and the complete and utter stench of sin that He would bear for those who didn’t even want it. Yet He said in Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

This kind of love is referred to as a ‘nevertheless love’. This is the kind of moment when every fiber of your being wants to resist it, wants to keep the wall up, wants to burn silently in the frustration and anger. It is the time when you want to raise your voice in self defence or run away that you pray for nevertheless love to well up in you.

But what about the lack of feelings and how do we resolve that. Once again, you pray that they will come as you begin to act in love out of a heart of obedience. The feelings, the pulse, the rhythm will come in time.

Have you ever exposed your hands to the cold longer than you should have? What happens? Well, your fingers become so numb that they feel like stumps, like there is nothing there. The same is true of our heart if we keep it out in the cold too long. It is a dangerous place to go, to let your heart become numb in bitterness and anger.

However, when you take action and bring your heart in from the cold something happens. You begin to have a heightened sensitivity and just like the pain your fingers feel when the blood starts to flow so too will your heart feel pain and the feelings will come back.

I am praying that God will give me heightened sensitivity to the needs and awareness of both Sharon and my children. If there is one thing I need to learn it is the importance of knowing where they are at so I can respond and be there for them. I can’t do that apart from Jesus and here’s the thing. I don’t have to be perfect or have it all together, I just have to give the little that I do have and lay it at Jesus’ feet and He will take whatever I give Him and do so much more!

Don’t give up, don’t give up on people. Don’t give up on your spouse, your kids, your friends because God wants to surprise you. Don’t give up on prayer and when you feel like you just want to give up, choose to act, but act on his command with the infusion of His love.

3. A Renewed Discovery

Repent and do the things you did at first. Revelation 2:5

In a renewed discovery, we recognize the power of repentance, calling ourselves out on self destructive behavior. We all know how it feels to be vulnerable to temptation, but we pray for the clarity, insight and courage to step away from any environment that would steal away His love in our heart.

The pathway to a renewal of our love is allowing the Spirit of God to reign in us and reminding us about our initial discovery of the Christ life whether it was through a crisis or an act of surrender.

We need to rediscover the spark that ignited the flame in our soul and gave us the passion to follow.

There are really two different approaches on this. One is the ‘I think I can mentality’ and the other is knowing I can’t but knowing that God can

We remember what we knew so clearly, the childlike faith, the evangelistic heart, the tears of compassion and we pray that God would make us feel again.

4. The Gift of Forgiveness and the Price of Sacrifice

Matthew 18:32-35

Forgiveness means that I choose not to hold someone’s sin against them. It is the ability to clear the ledger, to let my desire to get even go. It does not mean trusting a person again right away to allow them to hurt me again. It is wise in this way, but it is not bitter. It is accepting the free gift I have received and in turn blessing others with it.



1 John 3:16-20

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:10

For someone to receive, someone has to give. If someone has benefited and be blessed, then someone had to take the time and paid something.

If someone is fed, someone provided the food.

If someone is inspired, which means that life has been breathed into them, then somebody else had life breathed out of them. Rob Bell

A Jesus follower is living ‘communion’ in that we allow our bodies to be broken and our blood to be poured out for the healing of the world.

Writer Anne Lamont writes that the most powerful sermon in the world is two words, ‘me too’

Me too.

When you are struggling

When you are hurting

Wounded, limping, doubting

Questioning, barely hanging on,

Moments away from another breakdown

And somebody can identify with you-

Somebody who knows the temptations that are at your door

Somebody who has felt the pain you have been feeling,

When somebody can look you in the eyes and say, “Me too”

And they actually mean it, it can save you.


A church is not a center for religious goods and services, where people pay a fee and get a product in return. A church is not a Christian shopping mall with storefronts to appeal to every age group and demographic. We are not in the business of surveying the demographic to find out what the market is demanding at this given moment and adjusting our strategies to fit that niche.

The way of Jesus is one of holy communion where we understand death to self and alive in Christ. It is our willingness to enter into other people’s lives and just begin to understand their pain, their suffering. It is our weakness reaching out to their weakness with the perfect love of Christ that casts out all fear. John 4:18

Why do we bother meeting here each Sunday…. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The word ‘good deeds’ here in the Hebrew is ‘mitzvot’ which means actions taken to bring healing the world. You can only do this as you live from the inside out.

We are here to spur each other on, to inspire each other to not random but intentional acts of kindness.

The GFN store received 35 bags of brand new clothes and we are blessed to turn them inside out as Sharon and her team have sorted clothes to bless our Women's Shelter, to minister to First Nations kids through Pathway Camp Ministries through Gord and Anne, clothes are being sent to India courtesy of Rosie and Charles, Annika is sending clothes to Ghana, Africa and we have already one suitcase of toddler and baby clothes for Mexico!!! WOW! That is inspiring!




Questions For Discussion:

1. How can I trust Jesus for the impossible in a relationship?
2. As a couple consider taking up the Love Dare Challenge and pick up the book at Family Christian Bookstore in Burlington.
3. How can we as a church keep from losing our way?
4. Where and for who do you need to be poured out?

Love The One You’re With!

It has been 20 years since my first Valentine’s date with Sharon at the Shoestring Café in Three Hills, AB and I made her a card. You see it really isn’t that hard for me to be creative because she has scrapbooking supplies that can make any husband look good. So, after she got over the fact that I used a ton of her ‘rub ons’ she really did appreciate the card…You see I didn’t ask her just to be my Valentine yesterday, I told her to be who God has created her to be…in her card, I told her to be yourself be Sharon, be inspired, be creative, be hip, to be accessorized…

Relationships are powerful and they are wonderful. They affect us profoundly and can bring out the best and worst in us and so in turn they can bring both wonder and pain. As a pastor it doesn’t take me long to think of couples who by their example have brought great joy on each other and those who have heaped shame. God created marriage to be a covenant where He is the center. We express the meaning of oneness when we repeat vows or write them out and exchange rings during a ceremony. Making a statement is one thing, but it is quite another thing to live it out! The meaning of oneness that God desires for us is profoundly counter cultural. This morning we are going to focus on placing the highest value on relationships and where that ultimately places us!

1. Getting past myself to see YOU!

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4 v7,8

The #1 roadblock to relationship renewal is self centeredness. It predates any type of wounding in us by its very nature. Self centeredness is the main problem in marriage and we struggle when we have to defer our desires. To take myself out of the center takes the filling of the HS to break it.

In the army, they know how to break it. I will never forget watching Jordan Lazarski as he invited me to watch him as he went through his training during a coop. When you join the military, you give up your right to when you get up, when you take holidays and when the commanding officer barks an order, you follow because it is life and death, not just for you but for the whole unit.

Now I know that there are those here who have been profoundly wounded in a relationship and I’m asking you to take a step away for it this morning. The default mechanism is that we self protect and you must not let their evil define the rest of your life. Abuse aggravates self centerdness.

OK, so here is what happens early in a marriage.

1. We begin to notice how profoundly selfish our mate is
2. We also see how profoundly selfish we are.
3. Our final discovery…my selfishness is not nearly as severe as their’s!

The key to moving forward is getting beyond my self righteous thoughts, ask for the filling of the HS, bow the knee and allow God to become the center. It sounds easy enough but it goes against our natural tendencies.

2. Getting past sin to see YOU!

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. v9,10

Over the course of a long relationship we begin to acquire an elaborate repertoire of conditional reflexes. Some things can be little idiosyncrasies like all the glasses having an exact home in the cupboard, the toilet paper having to be rolled over not under. Then there are the more noticeable ones like a nervous laugh and a twitch. Often a critical personality is developed out of a personal state of insecurity. We often criticize in others what we don’t really like about ourselves.

When we sin, guilt is a holy and healthy reflex. It is the conviction of the HS that leads us to repentance and so we thank God for that. His Word tells us that it is His kindness that leads us to repentance. The moment we confess our sin to God we are forgiven, but the problem for most of us is we have a lot harder time learning to forgive ourselves. If we don’t allow His grace to saturate our lives we will be forever fixated on our past so that we are unable to receive the anticipated opportunities He has in store for us.

I want to say this as well that nothing does more to recondition your spiritual reflexes like prayer. When we begin to pray for that person in our life, like our spouse or a difficult person at work, it will change the way you feel about them!

Here’s a challenge. If you want to really impact someone’s life, love them when they least expect it or deserve it. Now, you’re thinking to yourself…what, reward bad behavior?? No, but think about this, in that moment you will have the opportunity to impact their life forever. Don’t we always need the grace of God? Absolutely.

At the same time too, I want to state the importance of using discernment and there are times when yes, discipline will be better than letting someone off the hook. However remember this, as one writer states, God is at his best when we were at our worst. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8


Getting Past Each Other To See God

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us 1 John 4v11

The strength of a relationship begins with the filling of the HS, to learn to bow the knee and let God become the center.

The foundation for a great marriage is the understanding that we have entered into a covenant with God and with each other as we see in Genesis 2:24. A covenant creates oneness and wholeness before God. The Hebrew word for covenant is a ketubah. This is not a contract, this is not about if you love me, I will love you. This is about drawing on the love He has for both of YOU!!

An authentic Jewish wedding takes place outdoors under a canopy called a chupah it stands for the hands of God. I had the opportunity to officiate the wedding a few years ago for my niece Amy and her husband Adam. It was there during an outdoor wedding on the beach in Kincardine that I drew on the rich symbolism of a covenant relationship that is found in the Jewish wedding ceremony. In a Jewish wedding, the wedding takes place under a Hoopa ‘Chupah’ a canopy outside which symbolizes openness on all sides just as Jewish tradition tells that Abraham and Sarah had their tent open on all sides to welcome friends and family in unconditional hospitality.

There is also a beautiful seven fold Hebrew blessing that is pronounced on the couple:

You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, who created everything for his glory.
You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, the creator of man.
You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, who created us in His image, in the pattern of His own likeness
Let the barren city be jubilantly happy and joyful at her joyous reunion with her children. You are blessed, Lord, who makes Zion rejoice with her children.
Let the loving couple be very happy, just as You made Your creation happy in the garden of Eden, so long ago. You are blessed, Lord, who makes the bridegroom and the bride happy.
You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, who created joy and celebration, bridegroom and bride, rejoicing, jubilation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. May there soon be heard, Lord our G-d, in the cities and in the streets the sound of joy and the sound of celebration, the voice of a bridegroom and the voice of a bride, their feasts of song. You are blessed, Lord, who makes the bridegroom and the bride rejoice together.
You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, creator of the fruit of the vine


In the ceremony the Kallah, bride circles his Chatan, the groom 7 times The biblical number 7 represents perfection and the perfect love of God that surrounds the couple. As the bride circles her groom 7 times, the couple understands who builds the walls of their home and together with God, this is a symbol of completion and wholeness, something that you would never be able to achieve alone.

I think we too easily forget the importance of God at the center of the relationship. Sure, we may give it lip service, but it is quite another thing to constantly bow the knee in sacrificial love to each other.

The husband also does something symbolic as well. To symbolize his role as a provider of stability, leadership and integrity, he will take off his jacket and place it around his bride during the celebration afterwards. It is his responsibility to lead by example in the home.

It is also a symbolic representation of the sacrificial love that Christ has for the church.

We build on a promise, on a vow in front of a community and as we rest it on God, we build a rock solid foundation.

The Takeaway

The power and strength of love is bowing the knee to the Lordship of Christ in all relationships.

Life is defined by memories and I don’t want to ruin anyone by my pride. One of my most vivid memories is seeing my dad as I walked past their room praying by his bedside. I don’t want my wife or my children to see me as proud, but a man of humility.

Are you willing to be vulnerable?

C.S. Lewis wrote.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and you heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one…wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entaglements; lock it up safe in the casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.


Questions For Discussion.

1. What are sinful, selfish tendencies that easily rise up in you?

2. What self protective layers do you need to strip away?

3. How is God’s love made complete in us?

4. What does bowing the knee look like in your relationship?

The Value of Multiplying

Jesus knew that He would not always be with His disciples and even though His desire was always to reach the masses, He knew He had to invest in the few so that ultimately more could be reached. He used intentionality and focus as we can see from His life. Based on his interaction in the gospels, we can identify 17x when he was prioritizing winning people but we can also see of the course of that time at least 46x he was interacting with the disciples.

Transformation of A Life

In order to prioritize the value of multiplication, He looked for people who were AFT’R more.

We can see these qualities in who Jesus hand picked to be his disciples in Luke 5.

Available – These men gave Jesus the opportunity to use their boat as his platform to speak to the masses. Don’t forget that they had been out all night and could have easily said…. ‘Rabbi, we’re tired and we’re hungry, maybe there is another boat that you could use’
Faithful - To have a vocation as a fisherman in that day called for dedication, perseverance and patience. It was not a job for the faint of heart and often came with long hours as we see here in verse 4,5. As a fisherman you know that every day you will have different results, but that you stick with it.
Teachable – They knew the significance of what just took place. Simon Peter recognized the hand of God and it left him completely undone as he was so overwhelmed with his own sinfulness. He saw the awesome power of God in this miracle and worshipped Jesus right away.
Responsive- They left everything and followed him! What? Are you kidding? They had just had their most amazing catch, the most amazing fish story ever! Today God had provided for their needs and there was so much income to be gained right now. They were set for the week, maybe a month, but they walked away. As great as it was to see their needs met, they walked away! They knew there was more to be gained that being wrapped up in the temporal, eternity was at stake and Jesus called them to be fishers of men and they responded. Seek first the kingdom of God and the rest as we like to say is ‘just details’.


Transformation in Appointment

Mark 3 refers to the appointment of the apostles so that they might be with Him in His kingdom mission.

In the same way a King would knight an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of faith, loyalty, courage and honour, Jesus empowered his disciples

Luke 9 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive our all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Luke 10 The appointments continue to be made and the essence of His commissioning is that you will be my official representatives. He calls them to travel light except in one area and that is where they must carry the most weight…with the living and powerful presence of Christ.

It is clear that the authority comes only when we appropriate and come in the name of Jesus. The parallel of authority can only be seen in a police officer who must be first obedient to his superiors. He can not run renegade. He also knows that there will be resistance and that he must turn up the heat of his authority when being countered; however he knows that he will prevail. We must be prepared to struggle and lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of us.

Ephesians 6 it’s our turn now!

Transformation in Power

Acts 1:8

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you!

The HS breathes the newness of the Christ’s life into us. We are told no many times over in the Psalms to sing a new song…why? Studies have shown that we stop thinking about the lyrics after singing a song 30x. God wants to be more than a memory in your life. he doesn’t want lip-sync worship. He longs for us to discover new postures, new words, new thoughts and bless us with new feelings and awareness so we can not help but speak

Sometimes for us to really sense the presence of the Spirit, we need to change the routine and free up our schedules to feel again. For some of you that might mean you need to volunteer at the Deck, for others, you need to begin a journal of thankfulness to reflect on with others. You may need to take a day off and do a personal retreat.

Exodus 4:2-5 God called Moses to throw his staff down. The shepherd’s staff would about 6 feet long and curved on one end. It would have been used by Moses in warding off wild animals while he worked for Jethro. He would never leave home without it because it was his security. It was also part of his identity and when he looked in the mirror that was all he could see. However, God saw so much more! He saw what He wanted Him to be and that is what matters for all of us. It is not about who we are, it is about WHOSE we are!

Has God ever called you to throw something down? Could it be something that is part of your identity or part of your security for that matter? This July I am taking a preaching sabbatical to keep the routine from being routine. Together with my family we have been planning to go on a missions trip to serve in Ensenada, Mexico. In many ways it is a sabbatical from much more than preaching. It is a sabbatical from our culture and for our children a sabbatical from the typical summer to an opportunity to serve.

We have been asking our kids to pray about it and listen for what God might be telling us as a family. Well this week, Brynley posted this note for us as we came home after being out for the night.

Mom & Dad,

I was reading my Bible. I had randomly opened it to this verse, Proverbs 14:21. It said, blessed are those who help the poor. I don’t know if that means we will be blessed if we go to Mexico and help the poor so I needed your opinion.
- Brynley

Well as it turns out, she didn’t need our opinion. As Addi relayed the story to us, she shared how Bryn was so excited about this verse, she was running around the house.

For us it was so encouraging because you see Brynley is the one that we are most concerned about. She has a severe peanut allergy and we know that she would be the greatest at risk and for God to show Brynley this was an amazing confirmation to us.


So, what if Moses didn’t throw down his staff? It would have remained a shepherd’s staff and he would have gone right back to shepherding his flock.

Mark Batterson states in a book on the Holy Spirit called ‘Wild Goose Chase,’ “If you aren’t willing to throw down your staff, you forfeit the miracle that is in your fingertips.”

It is here that we discover the miracle of transformation for Moses because his staff doesn’t just become a snake…no, it is transformed into the rod of God!

If we find our security outside of Christ then we have a false sense of security.

You might think I’m too old for all this risk taking, more of the Spirit stuff in my life. Well, remember the Bible is chalk full of late bloomers and my mom is an amazing testimony to me. She is 73 and still going on missions trips. She just got back from Haiti last month and she said, Jack, get as many soccer balls as you can find so I can bless the children down there!

I can testify that God loves using us before we feel like we’re ready because that way we will be sure to give him the credit. I wasn’t ready to get married at 21 and neither should Sharon have said yes to me at 19, but she did and you know what, God has shown us a lot of wonderful things along our journey. We weren’t ready to have kids and definitely not four for that matter, but once again God provides and somehow you barely don’t go crazy!! It is the same in the spiritual realm when God calls you to follow His leading. You will be ready when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!

One writer shares

It seems to me that the people God uses the most make the fewest assumptions. Joshua didn’t assume that the sun could not stand still. Elisha didn’t assume that an iron ax head couldn’t float. Mary didn’t assume that virgins cannot get pregnant. Peter didn’t assume that he could not walk on water. And Jesus didn’t assume that dead people cannot be raised to life again.


And you will be my witnesses -

A witness testifies to what they have seen or heard. We testify to what we have seen or heard God do in our lives. Don’t get confused with JWs…you are so much more than Jehovah’s Witness….they do it because they are mandated to do it. We are witnesses to the transforming power of God and we can’t help but share. When you have a ‘God-story, you want to share it! It’s powerful and life changing.


Remember often that human interruptions are divine appointments. I have been involved in every type of witnessing. I have gone street witnessing, I have been door to door, but the most rewarding times for me have been when God has totally ‘set me up’ and I share and His words flow through me.





The Takeaway

Have a holy discontent for the status quo and surrender to the Holy Spirit for His transforming power in your life.

When that happens, you will be ‘totally set up’ to be His witnesses!!!

Questions For Discussion

1. What quality in the disciples in Luke 5 is present in your life right now? What needs to be present?
2. In the past, when have you made a false assumption about God or His will for your life? How did you discover your error?
3. What assumptions do you think could be limiting God in your life right now? How can you challenge those assumptions?

The Value Of Winning

1. The Missional Heart of God
Leaving The 99
Luke 15


Jesus told stories for church people…
Why does the record show so much attention given to interaction with the Pharisees? Over 100 references to them… What can these people teach me about holiness? Jesus wanted to ingrain in our minds His thoughts about the subtle and unseen dangers of being good!

The Pharisees were good people!
There were the most balanced religious group of their day
• The Pharisees became prominent during the time of the Macabees – 160 –60 BC. There two greatest rabbis were Hillel and Shammai. They had a growing group of scholars who were men of the book. They were determined to get back to the Bible. The synagogue was known as the ‘house of study’ and Bible studies were being pumped out on every aspect of life.
• They held to traditional values and protested the corruption of religion and resisted the humanism of the day, the influence of the Greek culture, literature and entertainment.
• They revered, studied and memorized Scripture. John 5:39 states that they diligently studied the Scriptures. They heard good preaching in the synagogue.
• They would sign our doctrinal statements, Christ endorsed their teaching, calling us to obey them and do everything they do. Matthew 23:2.
• They were excellent givers, they prayed and fasted regularily. They knew all the fundamentals of prayer, adoration, confession, thanksgiving and petitions.
• They were active in evangelism, travelling over land and sea to win a single person. Matthew 23:15
• The very name ‘Pharisee’ meant separated ones, they hated sin and actively pursued holiness.

The Pharisees’ had a disciplined life bible memory would win them any quizzing contest, their evangelistic zeal would make them prime recruits for an outreach team. Their faithfulness in giving and being good stewards, second to none. They were extremely bent on being righteous and they would sign our pledge cards.

However as we will see it was their essential goodness that was part of their problem they had with Jesus and He with them. The Pharisees were so close to the kingdom, but they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. It is often those who are closest to the kingdom of God who are the farthest from it. Why? Let’s look at the passage.

The Pharisees show us how misguided people can be morally good. The truth is a good religion doesn’t necessarily produce good people and neither does a bad religion necessarily produce bad people.

And so Jesus told ‘missional’ stories for Pharisees like us!
Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep! V6

This is a beautiful picture of our Father God who actively seeks out sinners and brings them home. My question is also about those “99” who are in the fold? Are they really in the fold, the only way into the fold is through God pursuing all of us. We all need to repent, make the 180 degree turn. Ultimately it is not us that find Jesus, God like the song. The truth of the matter is that we love God because He first loved us. We have a seeking God who takes the initiative. This was a revolutionary lesson for the religious people, the rabbis, who only saw God as one who welcomes a penitent sinner. 1 John 4:19 We can’t be righteous apart from him. The Pharisees thought they were in the fold. The question we are left with here is are we in the fold?

The second discovery is that we should never be satisfied with the status quo. There are lost sheep out there that need to be found and we must never get to the place where we are happy with the way things are. God wants to work through us.

Finding the lost is a joyful experience, it is what we are all about and it is the most amazing race, adventure out there. We carry our friends to Jesus like the friends who cut the roof open

The joy in heaven is not that we are all safe and protected in the fold, no, it is rejoicing over taking risks to get out there and there and reach out. It is a dangerous mission to go out there, out of the safety of our church walls and be a true expression of Jesus. We might get a bad rap, others may question your motives, call you names.

The shepherd carries the sheep on his shoulders, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders.v5 we carry each other’s burdens and we bring them home!!
Jesus strategy of evangelism is all about pursuit and celebration

Jesus strategy was to ‘lose’ the ‘found’ and find the lost! There is a huge difference between being religious and finding God. To those who really understood the extent of their spiritual sickness, He was their caring doctor. What made Jesus so attractive to the irreligious. He took the initiative, he gravitated to the soul sick. He genuinely loved the people others couldn’t stand. Unfortunately for the Pharisees they saw contamination coming from contact with sinners.

To those who took pride in their goodness, He did whatever it took to put His finger on their sin. He has no interest in us living with our the fake-security of human righteousness.


Matthew 11: 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions

Jesus went after the lost, He went to where they were and He spent time with the spiritually seeking.


Why does the church need to change?

WHY?

Because there is a growing trend of the marginalization of church in culture. People aren’t seeing the difference.

Because 95% of people in our churches never bring another person with them.

BECAUSE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH PURSUIT AND CELEBRATION!!

Years ago when Howard Schultz bought the Starbucks franchise and began to dream about bringing the European café culture to America, countless sceptics and critics scoffed. No American will ever pay more than a dollar for a cup of coffee! He proved them massively wrong. And now Starbucks is all too familiar.

In his book, Pour Your Heart Into It, he operates on the following four principles as a coffee evangelist.

Care more than others think wise
Risk more than other think safe
Dream more than other think practical
Expect more than other think possible.

Our message of the saving grace of Jesus Christ is worth so much more than a cup of coffee. Let’s learn the lesson of change and throw some creativity and passion into our relationships and ministry here at Southside.

It starts when we leave the safety of the 99 and begin pursuing the 1, we need to start with the one God is laying on our heart and reach out to them with the loving arms of Jesus.

2. The contagious heart of God
Mark 2

In order to connect people to their God-given family, we need to be contagious people, contagious with love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law and it is all good, the good fruit of the Holy Spirit

It is a Spirit thing and as we learned last week when we began our series on discovering that the church, it is all about the Spirit of God moving in us and through us to testify to the things we have seen and heard.


I want to look at a passage of Scripture that tells the story of a serious roof problem, a roof that was leaking with a body! It is the story of the paralyzed man in Mark 2.

On the scene comes these four guys bringing their friend who is paralyzed. There is part of me that wonders how did this guy who couldn’t move get four friends to begin with! Maybe he was a funny guy, an intriguing person, a great personality. It doesn’t say. Maybe it was that these guys were involved in an accident together with their friend doing some kind of crazy stunt together because the stunt they were about to pull off shows they were not your typical group of friends.

The first thing we discover here that there are often obstacles that keep our friends from Jesus. v1,2

The place was a packed house and the guys’ friend was paralyzed. They could have easily given up right there, right then. This can wait, we’ll get it another day. We like to give ourselves excuses. I don’t feel ready to share, I don’t feel ready to act in love, but these guys knew all about going out of your way.

Because going out of your way is on your way as was shared by Lucie’s mom about the way that her mother was.

The second thing we discover is that these friends realized what was at stake v4

They knew that Jesus was the only hope, He had a ministry of healing and they knew that Jesus gravitated towards the soul sick. They didn’t have all the answers, but they took Him to the one who did. Jesus had come back to his hometown and they knew he had a huge following. This might be the closest they would ever get.

Their friend was paralyzed and today many people are paralyzed by fear, lonliness, anger at God and it keeps them from coming to Him. Our friends are spiritually paralyzed and what are we doing about it? The god of this age has blinded their eyes to the light of the glorious gospel.

The third thing we see is that they real friends have authentic faith

They came up with a plan, a very unorthodox plan to get their friend to Jesus, they made an opening in the roof
Ripping open someone’s roof could call for a lawsuit, but they went for it and Jesus is incredible. Someone was asking me where is the contagious laughter in the Bible. I have to believe that Jesus had to be smiling with a laugh watching this happen. He doesn’t focus on the hole in the roof or even the interruption in the meeting. His focus becomes crystal clear and He sees the eternal, the spiritual responsiveness and responds to not just the paralyzed man, but to all of them…. He saw their faith!! Mark 2:5

We spend time with good friends
Eating together (where there’s two or three gathered. . . there’s food)
Sharing experiences together
Spending time together
Common interests
Trust

That’s quite a list. And what would it mean to our congregation if we began redefining our church and ministry by using what we listed above? Would things start looking any different?

If we take a look around today, we can see that our society is in a relationship famine. We crave relationships., “Four persons in 10 say they have been lonely for a long period of time.” People are finding relationships in a multitude of ways. We participate in different activities, organizations, clubs, and gatherings so we can belong. We’ve often replaced our family or neighborhood with other relational groups. I’d like for you to take a minute or two, turn to your neighbor, and identify a few of the places people look for relationships.


Chat rooms on the Web
Sport organizations
Running clubs
Book clubs
Church

Here’s where we’re going with this today. What if the church recaptured its place in filling this relationship void? What if we decided to evaluate our ministries using this friendship filter, and intentionally turned everything we do into opportunities to build friendships? What if we took the initiative to provide people a place to belong before they believed?

Thom and Joanie Shultz of group publishing talk about a friendship filter at church. Here are a few points to consider on this.

The Friendship Filter

Which option will best induce and enhance relationships—with others and with Jesus?

If you were trying to grow a warm, human relationship using one of these options, which one would you choose?

Now remember, we just read a story about doing something that goes against what is proper protocol

What are the boundaries that we have set up and maybe unintentionally that keep people from forming friendships with Jesus or with us…. Maybe it’s time cut a hole in the roof.

If someone new walked into our church, what is the first thing they see?

I’ve been studying the ethos of a church and have realized that most people make their decision about whether to be a part of a local church community within minutes of arriving. Every church leaks and it is contagious…

The UGLY can leak…

Especially if it is negative, negative gossip spreads like wildfire and cantankerous comments grow like cancer like it did with the Pharisees. All they could see was a theological debate, not an act of faith. Often it goes unconscious and unintentional, but it happens.

But the good can leak too! We had 7 people in our 101 class and 7 different stories of how they were connected!

What are we willing to do to get our friends into the presence of Jesus?

I believe with all my heart that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him, when God see our faith it will be rewarded

Being a friend to the soul sick may get you into trouble v13-17


We may say, “Unbelievable. I can’t believe the Pharisees would say that to Jesus. We would never do that.”

Really?
The Takeaway
1. A winning attitude must begin in our church with each of us and we need to be open to the leading of the Spirit and when we are, it will be contagious.
2. A winning attitude must engage its community. We must be missional.
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
We need to start listening to our unchurched friends. Nothing is more simple, more accurate than to understand where they are coming from. There is a lot of brokenness and openness. People are asking questions now and do we have answers when they ask what is the hope for this world? Do we have hope? Are we ready to be open to the Spirit leading us to speak to what God has given us?