authentic E-Newsletter for Jan...Week 1

This is a newsletter that I sent out to those who have been attending authentic...I am excited about it and thought that I would post it on here as well.

I would like to introduce you to this idea of sending you a weekly e-newsletter to help you grow in Christ. We are all on a journey to follow Christ in word and in deed. God has designed us as our Creator and is changing, shaping, molding us to become more like Christ. Scripture tells us to work out our salvation…not that we have to work FOR our salvation, but now that we are saved we have to WORK to become His disciples. The role of the church is to help you in that process of becoming a mature and complete disciple. That is why I feel God leading me to guide you (and me) in that process.

To start our study we will look at these six marks of a disciple, each one for the next six weeks in further depth. But here is a brief start to explain why I am providing this “do it yourself” devotional. Our desire is for you to grow in your relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My prayer is that through these devotionals and your study time with God, He will speak to your hearts and continue to shape you into the disciple that He is calling you to be.

Devotions
Below is a break down of scripture and some questions that relate to the scripture. I recommend reading the scripture and then asking your self the questions that follow. Think about your responses or jot them down, and read the scripture again. After this you can think about what other questions come to mind. Let God lead you from there and go where He wants to take you.

Monday – Intimacy – John 17:20-27 – Jesus’ prayer for YOU just before He was arrested. What is He praying for you to do? Make this your prayer this week.

Tuesday – Holiness – 1 peter 1:13-2:3 – What does it mean to be Holy? What does a Holy life look like?

Wednesday – Community – Colossian 3:12-17 – What has God forgiven you for? Who do you need to show that same grace towards and forgive for the wrong they have done to you? What does it mean to “put on love”?

Thursday – Servant hood – Luke 10:25-37 – Are you the priest, Levite, or Samaritan? Who do you pass by “on the other side”? How can you become more like the Samaritan?

Friday – Calling – Acts 1:1-8 – Where is your “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria”? Do you possess the power of the Holy Spirit that Luke is writing about? What exactly is that “power”?

Saturday – Dependence – John 15:1-17 – Are you connected to the vine? Do you produce fruit that shows that you are connected to the vine?

Sunday – Re-read John 17:20-27 – This just blows my mind.

Challenge
The challenge section of this e-newsletter will be an area that I will encourage/challenge you to do something that maybe you wouldn’t normally do. It will almost always apply to the devotions for the week and taking something that we read and actually applying it to our lives. Application is extremely important in our growth to become more like Christ. If we claim to follow Him, then our actions need to resemble His. It’s not enough to just learn about Christ and gain head knowledge, but we need to imitate Christ in our words and deeds as well.

Be the “Samaritan” to someone this week. Go out of your way to serve someone you wouldn’t normally serve.

Please respond to me with anything that you would like to share about these devotionals or the challenge for the week. I would love to hear how these may be making a difference in your life. Also, forward these on to friends/family who may also enjoy them. If you would like to be added or removed from the mailing list please send an email to jhoppa@lighthouse-ministries.org

God Bless

What is your fear?

FEAR!!! That big word that creeps into everyone's life at some point and snuffs out our zeal, fire, and passion for giving God our all. So, what is it for you? What fear do you have that is holding you back from letting go? Or, from keeping you from taking that risk? What is keeping you from going where God wants you to go?

Some good questions, but let me change it a bit. Instead of thinking of fear as a negative thing, let me throw this out there. Here is a phrase that I saw this week, "If there is no fear in your life then you are not attempting anything great." There is some truth in that statement for sure. Scripture talks about fear more than anything else, and it says for us to NOT fear. Facing that fear and doing something great is far better than playing it safe and staying comfortable. Christian, we need to get out of the mind-set of being "conservative". There is nothing conservative about following Christ. We need to be bold, to do things differently than what we are even used to.

Fear can be devastating and I believe that we need to recognize the source of our fear. Do we fear doing something because it isn't "socially acceptable" or because it isn't the "norm". Remember, Jesus didn't fit into the "norm" either. Jesus healed on the sabbath, worked on the sabbath, and yet He was/is perfect. Don't let traditions keep you from following Christ. I challenge you to look outside that box that you have put Christ into.

What are you going to do that you have been holding back because of fear? Do something great regardless of the fear knowing and trusting in your Creator who will care for you and take care of your every need. Go ahead...Do it!!!

Hypocritical Christians

Are Christians hypocritical? That seems to be the perception of the "college-age" generation, and maybe even of all generations. I am currently reading a book called "UnChristian" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. The book is a spring board from some research that was done by the "Barna Group".

Anyway, let me share with you some of the results that came from their research, and then let's talk about Christians being hypocrites. This is what the book says, "In virtually every study we conduct, representing thousands of interviews every year, born-again Christians fail to display much attitudinal and behavioral evidence of transformed lives. For instance, based on a study released in 2007, we found that most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those of non-born-again. When asked to identify their activities over the last thirty days, born-again believers were just as likely to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal, nonprescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person's back. No difference."

The book goes on to share that even in regards to "sexually inappropriate behavior" there is no difference between believer and non-believer. However, we (born-again Christians) are less likely to use profanity in public, and buy a lottery ticket. Maybe because of the image we need to portray! Although we did rise above the bar in one area...We were SLIGHTLY (and I emphasis "slightly") more like to help a poor or homeless person. Yeah for us!

Another study found that, "84% of non-Christians say they personally know at least one committed Christian. However, just 15% thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm." So, are we hypocrites? Yes, absolutely! This is why we need to be authentic. We need to stop pretending that we are perfect and confess when we screw up, when we fall flat on our faces, and ask for forgiveness. Nobody really expects us to be perfect, so we need to take off our "Sunday morning smiles" and share our struggles and burdens. Then the church can be the church and the body of believers can hold each other up in prayer.

People can't accuse us of being hypocritical if we don't pretend to be someone that we are NOT! I realize that this isn't an end all to the whole hypocritical perception especially when we are called to be different than this world. The truth is that we shouldn't be engaged in those activities that this research shows...so, not only do we need to be honest about our faults but we also need to rise above our "flesh". We need to stop indulging in the cravings of the "flesh", and we can't overcome that on our own, but ONLY through the power of the Holy Spirit. If we take Galatians 2:20 to heart, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ live in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." When we surrender to "self", then we can live for Christ and not until then will the statistics change and show a transformed life. Give me your thoughts...

being authentic is the opposite of being a hypocrite.

What's Christian Love Without Christ?

Okay, this should be a good one. There have been some comments in regards to this in the previous posts, so you can elaborate on those, but let me first share a real story that happened today.

Okay, Rhonda and I just went to Walmart in Grandville to buy the kids some Christmas gifts and as we were leaving we were sitting at the red light on Kenowa and 44th Avenue heading north on Kenowa. It's the corner with the two story Panera Bread. Yes, I associate corners by coffee shops...Is that bad?

Anyway, as I pull up to the corner we hear someone honking their horn, but have no idea where it is coming from. Finally, we see a guy who is now in the middle of the intersection that is trying to turn from 44th Ave. south onto Kenowa. Well, he jumps out of his little sports car and starts pushing as traffic is going by all around him. We are still stopped at the stop light and as I see this guy trying to steer and push the car by himself out of the intersection while everyone else just kept weaving around him. I felt compassion for the guy! I said to Rhonda, "I am going to go help, and you jump into the driver's seat." So, I jumped out of the van, ran into the middle of the intersection, and pushed the car while the guy steered safely out of the intersection and to the side of the road.

Now, what I did was showed "Christian Love" by helping someone who was in need. BUT did he know the reason I wanted to help him is because I am a Christian? Although my motivation and willingness to help him may have come from my religious beliefs, I don't believe that he understood it that way. He could be just thinking that I was a really nice guy who felt sorry for him...or something like that. The point is, anyone could have helped the guy...Christian or not.

So, here is the question. If we are to be witnesses of Jesus Christ to this world, and that includes our own community, then is it good enough to just do good things to help people? Is it good enough for me to just push the car for the guy and be on my way? Or is our mission more than that? Do we have to open our mouths and confess the name of Jesus?

Now don't take me to the extreme and say that I am suggesting we need to confront every person we come across and say to them, "You need Jesus!" In a "talking down to them approach" I am just simply asking, "is meeting people's physical needs merely enough?"

Be authentic

Practice What You Preach

I want to share with you what happend last night...I had one of those moments where I had to make an effort to practice what I preached, and this from my message just from Sunday...Oh how quickly I forgot.

Rhonda and I have been trying to get rid of our dog, Otis, for about a couple of months so Rhonda finally put an ad in "craigslist". If you don't know what it is I would suggest checking it out. Anyway, She posted the dog first on "PetFinder", but we just got some crazy people responding and a lot of spam/junk email. So, Rhonda's mom suggested posting on "craigslist", we did and we started getting good responses right away.

Anyway, not to drag out a boring story longer than it has to...Rhonda had called one of the responses that we had gotten that were very interested in Otis to set-up a time to come over an look a him. This was about 9:30pm last night. I told Rhonda that it was cool, but I was just going to stay in the bedroom and not come out to the living room to meet or talk with them.

Then I heard that voice which often comes at times like this...it said, "Jason, were you at church Sunday? I heard a really good sermon about being hospitable to those around us." As I rolled my eyes the voice continued, "You should have been there." My response was, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Feeling extremely guilty from my comment I quickly changed my mind about the whole thing. When they arrived I came out to greet them, and we had a truly awesome time visiting and talking. We didn't just talk about the dog either, we asked them where they worked, where they were from, we also were able to share about where we go to church, and in all we just had a great time visiting.

They must have been comfortable too, because I looked at the clock when they left and it was 11:00pm. Before I went to bed I thought, "That is the meaning of being hospitable to those we come in contact with on a daily basis."

I wanted to post this story because it was funny that Rhonda called me out using my own sermon, but also to show that I don't have it all figured out (for most of you I don't even need to say that, because you know that already...I just want to be clear with everyone). I am still learning how to take the messages that I hear (and give) and apply them to my life. I am so glad that I don't have to pretend to be perfect, that I can share my faults and failures in an effort to be authentic, and to encourage others to be authentic as well.

Sharing my authenticity through my failures.

My Remarks to Your Comments

Wow, those were some good comments from the last blog post! Thanks for all your input. Let me share just a few things that I have been thinking about in regards to your comments.

• Yes, I was "assuming" these bands were "Christian" because I hear them on the radio. That is my bad. That was my assumption, but not anymore.
• Yes, I will still enjoy the music, but I will only take it for what it is. It is good "clean" rock, with a good message, but it just comes up short from Glorifying God. (I don't know, but isn't that what we are suppose to do? Glorify God? Isn't that what we were created for?)
• I do NOT believe that a good message is basically the same concept as a Christ centered message. Giving a "Christian theme" in a song is not going to save many souls. After all I know many agnostic people who can show "love" towards others better than Christians can and do. The point is we can't "show Christian love" without telling them about Jesus. Jesus didn't just serve others...He told people every where He went about the Kingdom Message, and why He came. We should do the same! That is why Romans 10:14 says, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without somone preaching to them?"
• Brandon, you know that I too listen to the all sermon station, but sometimes you just have to worship in song, ya know. I am once again more interested in gleaning wisdom from the likes of Alistair Begg, Paul Sheppard, Skip Heitzig, and others because of this...

I am keeping this short intentionally. I hope to have more thought-provoking information like this in the near future. Thanks for being real with me by giving your honest feedback.

Keep it real.

Somebody Help Me To Understand

Okay, so I just got home from the the Switchfoot/Relient K concert tonight that was at the Deltaplex. For starters...let me say that I got the tickets for FREE!!! That was awesome especially since they were on the floor, and there is no seating on the floor, so Rhonda and I were right up in the middle of everything. It was awesome!

Both bands totally Rocked! Seriously! I think I prefer the Relient K style a little more, but I knew way more of the switchfoot songs. One thing that I found interesting was the crowd that was in attendance...Let's just say...I felt a little old. There were a lot of young high school age kids there. Oh, and there were a decent amount of parents as well (I guess to keep an eye on their kids). So, there were Teenagers and around 40+...but not much in my age group, but it didn't matter we had a good time.

Okay, here's the thing. This will relate to my previous posts about the "Millennial generation". First of all, have you ever listened to the lyrics of either one of these two bands? I think they are totally targeting this generation and many of the things that we discussed about "cause oriented, and tolerance". In my opinion you can take their lyrics and really mold them to whatever you believe. I didn't hear anything specifically about Jesus Christ, or even God for that matter.

So, somebody help me to understand why I hear these bands (and others) on my local "christian" radio station? Not that it was bad, it wasn't, and it could have been much worse...that's for sure. But, let me elaborate a little more, we get to the front doors and anyone who is over 21 has to get a wrist band...didn't think much of it until I realized that they were serving alcohol. However, that didn't make sense to me...Most of the attendees were underage to begin with, and I just thought that was odd for a "christian" concert.

After we get in and we are jamming to the music and all, and it hit me that in all of the introductions to the songs they never mentioned anything about Jesus, or God. Rhonda and I were just kind of like...okay, weird, but whatever. We found ourselves at every break waiting for them to give praise to God, or at least something. Relient K finished and we were totally disappointed that they didn't say anything, but there was still hope that Switchfoot would say something. Again, we were disappointed, and left without these "supposedly" Christian bands even mentioning God, let alone praising Him. The real sad part is that I have heard this before from other "so called christian bands."

So, I was still in disbelief so I got home and immediately went online to their websites thinking okay there has to be something on here. But again...I couldn't find anything on their web pages. So, now I am confused, frustrated, and I feel misled. Can someone explain to me why this happens? Should we be more careful about what our local christian radio station is playing?

I will end here, but there was more that I could post about. Be real with me...give me your honest opinion...And do you think all music on "christian" radio is God honoring?

Being authentic by saying I am a little frustrated.

My thoughts on the article

Thank you for your input and opinion on the article that I posted yesterday. I want to write a little bit today about my own thoughts about these characteristics of Millennials.

As I said yesterday I found the article interesting...however that does NOT mean that I don't have concerns. For starters let me share a few of the points that I personally agree with, because it is accurate with how I feel. (My responses were shortened to prevent myself from writing a book-I could go on and on.)

• Bullet #2 - denominational identifications are unimportant...Now that I have said that let me explain, before it is taken wrong. It is unimportant to me in regards to which type of fellowship I would worship in. I have been in non-denominational, southern baptist, wesleyan, pentecostal, assembly of God, reformed, and other denominations. However, I don't feel that I belong to one particular denomination over another. I belong to the body of Christ! I can worship in any fellowship that has a solid biblical foundation. A church that puts no other thoughts, ideas, or books before the Word of God.
• Bullet #5 - I guess I am more interested in a "religious experience", although I would probably say "spiritual experience", which also is a characteristic of Millennials. It's just more personal. I am more interested in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ than I am knowing a certain set of beliefs. (Note: I think a balance needs to be found with this generation pertaining to this. It's not bad to be more interested in a "religious or spiritual experience", but you have to KNOW what you believe!)
• Bullet #7 - There's my word "authenticity", and that is what it is all about for me. Don't just talk to me about the truth in scripture that you know, but SHOW ME! Give me humility, openness, and most of all be honest - about everything. There are too many "hypocritical" Christians in the world...I want the real deal!

Now for a couple of the things that really concern me about this generation in regards to these characteristics.

• Bullet #3 - Tolerance is very typical, and quite scary these days. My concern is this...We (Christians) have the truth of our Savior who died on the cross for the sins of the world. If we are tolerant of the other religions we are allowing them to die and essentially escorting them to hell. The argument behind tolerance is that we need to "love" everyone. I couldn't agree more, so out of love we should tell them the truth about God's redemptive plan - faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. So, how can we be tolerant when so many are dying without the truth of salvation that we could share?
• Bullet #8 - This is really scary...this generation is "creating their own hybrid religious identities." We were raised being taught that we can be whoever we want to be, do whatever we want to do, and believe whatever we want to believe. How dangerous is that? Who are we that we can create our own belief system of truth. Even to the extent of saying, "what's truth for me may not be truth for you." What?!?!? Think about it, we have basically been taught that there is no limit, and if there is no limit to what we can do then we have basically made ourselves our own god.

There...these are a few of my thoughts about these characteristics. I do believe that we need to love everyone just as Christ loved us, that even when we rejected Him-He died for us. In fact, that is the same love that God has for His creation. God does love everyone...every color, culture, language, ethnicity, nation, and every difference, after all He created it all. Maybe His love for the world is shown best in the popular verse, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." But it will do us all good if we didn't stop there but kept reading verse 17, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." And verse 18, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

My honest thoughts in an effort to be authentic.

Interesting Article

A typical Monday, not a lot going on, let alone wanting to do something...after all it is Monday. However, Chad came into the office this morning and handed me a copy of an article that he thought I would like. The article is called The Millennial Generation by Donald E. Miller & Richard Flory (Worship Leader Magazine/September 2007)

The Millennial generation covers those born roughly between 1977-2000...(Yes, I am a part of that age range.) I thought I would list some of the characteristics for this generation from the article since most of you fall in that age as well. Let me know what you think.

Here are some characteristics of Millennials:

• They perceive religion to be a choice and not an obligation
• Religious labels, including denominational identifications, are relatively unimportant to them.
• They are typically tolerant of other people's beliefs and, in fact, enjoy the variety of different religious practices that they see on campus.
• Religious authority is internal rather than located in some external source, such as the hierarchy of a church.
• They see more value in reigious experience than in a codified set of beliefs.
• They affirm the idea of being on a religious journey rather than embracing a static set of beliefs and practices.
• If they join a religious group, they are more interested in the authenticity of the people-their honesty, openness, and humility-than they are in an authoritarian presentation of the truth.
• They have no problem being eclectic in their religious taste, which sometimes includes creating their own hybrid religious identities.
• They want to make a difference in the world and therefore believe that religion should address issues of justice and equality.

I was happy to see the word "authenticity" in the article, as it is a staple for this generation. Not to mention the reason behind this blog and our college-age ministry called, "authentic"!

I am interested in your comments about any of these bullet points. Keepin' it real with you, so you can be real with me.

authentic - what does that mean?

dictionary.com's definition of authentic is: not false or copied; genuine; real

In regards to the christian faith, what we mean when we say authentic is to be real, to be honest about who we are. Real enough to say that, "life isn't perfect" that we have struggles, difficulties, temptations, and to be honest enough about those things to admit them. To lay them out on the table and say, "Here am I broken and weak." That is part of being an authentic christian.

The other part is to be like the original, the genuine, the first. Since Jesus Christ is God's own Son whom He sent to this earth to live perfectly. So that, He could be the perfect sacrifice on the cross, to pay the debt for the sins of the world. Since, Jesus did that He is our example...He is the original, the genuine. Then that is who we follow! Being an authentic christian is striving to become more like the original. That is the goal, that is what we desire to become more like. However we need to know that along the way we will stumble and fall, because of our imperfection. Romans 3:23 - "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But by no means do we settle for that.

Unfortunately we have been taught or have gotten the perception that "christians" don't have problems...or we have bought the lie that if you have enough faith then you won't have problems. How far from the truth that really is! Think about it. Jesus' life wasn't easy, why do we think it should be easy for us? Why do we even pretend that we don't have problems. We come to church, put on our "nice" clothes, and our smiling faces...Why? If that is a picture of our lives, then we don't need church. If we have it all figured out, then why would we come to a place to be built up, encouraged, and to learn, if we already have it all figured out?

Let's stop pretending...Let's lay it all down and say, "here I am", I have struggles in my life, difficulties, trials, temptations, weaknesses, hardships, and failures. I am not afraid to bare them...to lay them down at the cross. Galatians 6:2 says, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." We are to share our burdens and up hold eachother in prayer. Together we take our burdens to Christ. Oh, and if you keep reading verse 3 says, "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Let's be Real!