Course Correction

Back in my flying days, part of the pre-flight routine was to make sure my instruments were properly calibrated. If I was making a cross-country flight, I was particularly interested in my directional indicator being correct. On a long flight, it was important to occasionally re-adjust the directional indicator or I would find myself off-course and… well, lost.

Gateway is on a journey. Our journey is for a life-time. Because of the long-distant journey, we must make sure we are on the right course. We must regularly double check our directional indicator. Just a few degrees of course can have devastating effects. There have been moments that we as a church have gotten off course. That is why this past Sunday I took the time to calibrate our church’s compass.

As part of this course correction, we are returning to who we really are as a church. We are body of believers who love God and love people. We love to see God change lives. In fact, this past Sunday we reminded ourselves why we even exist.

Gateway exists to glorify God by equipping people to become passionately committed to Christ.

There are several initiatives we are taking this year. We are going to focus on a few basic, yet crucial areas. I want to lead us to become…

• People of Prayer
• People of the Book
• People with Purpose
• People with Passion

Jesus made it clear what the most important commands were – Loving God with all your being and loving others as yourself. He also gave us his Great Commission – make disciples.

As your pastor, it is my passion that as a church body, we will have a great commitment to the great commandments and the great commission with great passion. When we do this, God will grow Gateway into a Great Church. We must do our part and He will bring the growth!

Do you need some motivation? Then constantly think about the 35,000 un-churched and de-churched people who are within a five mile radius of Gateway. God certainly thinks about them. He thinks about them constantly. And so must we!

Are you Ready for a Great Journey?

God has called us to be a part of His story. If we want to be part of God’s story, then we must begin with a journey of faith.

Jesus said “Because of your faith, it will happen.” (Matt. 9:29).

Faith is like a muscle – it has to be developed. You strengthen it by using it. Did you ever have a broken arm? If so, you most likely had a cast on your arm for a month or more. Remember when you had the cast removed and surprised that your arm was actually smaller? Because of their lack of use, the muscles in your arm lost their size and strength.

Faith is like that… if you don’t use your faith; it loses its power and scope of influence.

God tells us that without faith we cannot please Him. (Heb. 11:6)

So what is faith? It is choosing to believe God. It is having confidence in God. And just as important, it is acting on that belief and confidence. God’s word tells us that faith – (that belief and confidence in God) – without works - (our action) is dead. In other words, without acting on our faith, we will have no impact.

God has placed a dream into the heart of Gateway. It is our dream to connect with the people of our community so that they have the opportunity to experience LIFE in Christ.

Rick Warren taught me the six phases of a journey of faith.

1. God always starts with a DREAM.
2. You have to make a DECISION to do something about the DREAM.
3. God will DELAY the DREAM in order to test and grow your faith. God operates on his timetable, not yours.
4. While your DREAM is DELAYED, you can expect DIFFICULTY. If you don’t have critics, you are not doing anything.
5. God will even allow you to reach a DEAD END while pursuing your DREAM.
   
   Read what Paul said when he reached a dead end:
   We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9
   
   
6. Once Paul stopped relying on himself, God brought DELIVERANCE. God does things in such a way that everyone will know that he did it!
   
   Our Journey of Faith in Ballentine began as a dream. We made a decision as a family to act on that dream in faith. We faced delays. We have encountered difficulties and we encounter difficulties even now. We have a choice of either experiencing a dead end or responding to God and relying on Him for deliverance. As the Gateway family, let us “rely” only on God!

Counting Straws - Part 4

Let’s look at verse 24 again.

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)

I’m assuming you have already sought the Kingdom of God by asking Jesus Christ to be your personal Lord and Savior. I’m assuming that you have a personal relationship with Jesus. You are now a citizen of Heaven!

Another aspect of the Kingdom of God is found in the word kingdom. Another word for kingdom is the word realm. A simple definition for realm is “A royal jurisdiction or domain; a region which is under the dominion of a king; a kingdom.” Of course the kingdom we are talking about is the Kingdom of God. In his Kingdom, Jesus rules.

In one of his last conversations with his disciples, Jesus said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.” Jesus was saying, “I’m the King and all that there is, is my Kingdom, my realm.” As King, Jesus has the authority and right to tell us what to do as his subjects in his realm!

If indeed Jesus is the King, then it is only right for him to claim that he has all authority. His realm extends from heaven to the earth… and everything in between. And if you are still uncertain of the extent of his realm… it includes everything he made… which is everything that is.

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. John 1:3 (NLT)

Here is the kicker – as His subject, I am responsible to do His bidding, His will. When I am obedient, then He will act in my life and circumstances. When I do things my way, then I forfeit His power in my life.

When I was 12 years old, my Dad sat down with me and shared some important thoughts. He told me what I needed to know as I prepared to enter my teenage years. Little did I know that it would be the last conversation I would ever have with my Dad. But I think he knew. He knew that death was near… that the cancer was winning. If you knew that you were about to have one last conversation with someone you loved very deeply, you would choose your words very carefully.

When Jesus had one of his last conversations with his disciples here on earth, He shared very important words. He told us what we were to do with our lives.

Jesus came and told his disciples, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)

Here are a few essential ways by which we live for what is right:

• Seek to please Jesus rather than people. Why is this important? Only Jesus is King.
• Trust Jesus completely to meet all your needs. He has promised to do His part.
• Express your trust and faith in God by praying.
• Study, act upon, and obey the words of Jesus… even when they make no sense to you… even when it goes against “common sense.”

The key phrase in the Great Commission is “make disciples.” That is a command for all believers, not just ministers.

As you develop a Christ-honoring lifestyle, then you will experience the presence and the power of God!