Each 1 Reach 1

It is very exciting and satisfying as a pastor to hear that so many of the people of Living Hope are sticking with their reading and are walking in the Word. We have gotten a handful of reports that there are people outside of our church that are listening online and walking in the Word as well.

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I know that God is going to do something amazing in and through the lives of the people that invest in reading the Bible. God makes the promise about what His Word will do in Isaiah 55.11, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty.”

When God’s Word goes into a person’s life, something divine comes out. God’s Word accomplishes good things. Things we can’t plan for or know before they happen.

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One of my prayers is that God’s Word will produce an opportunity to share the Gospel with our lost city. Over 65,000 people within a ten mile radius of Living Hope will not be in church on Sunday. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we know many of them.
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It is fortunate because we can do something about it. We can INVEST time, prayer and truth in them and then INVITE them to attend church or to know Christ.
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How does this work? A school teacher eating lunch with her fellow teachers was catching up on her reading and was asked what she was doing. She shared how we were walking in the Word and invited those who don’t attend church to come. A landscaper was reading his Bible during break and a coworker asked what’s up and he invited him. A solon worker shares with every person who comes into the shop.

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Someone might say, “well, I’m not outgoing or well versed in the Bible.” The key to inviting someone to worship or to know Christ is the same as inviting them to a restaurant you like. You share your previous experience, how you enjoyed it and how it blessed you. You could then say you ought to go and leave it at that, but if you are truly invested in the person with time, prayer, and truth you would say, “let’s go together.”

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On Sunday February 11th it is my prayer that every family of Living Hope will be in worship with an unchurched guest they’ve INVESTED in and INVITED. Just imagine the excitement and joy as we lift our voices in praise to our God and sit under the teaching of God’s Word knowing that eternity for hundreds or more could be changed. Remember God has said that His Word “will not return to me empty.” If we will share the Word, God will bless the listener.
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Let’s each one reach one!

Why the Bible?

We are giving an entire year to studying the Bible at Living Hope. I preach from the Bible every Sunday and throughout the week every week of my life. I have spent over a decade getting a formal education to understand the Bible. Men and women have given their lives to make the Bible available to others.

But why? What is it about the Bible that makes it so important? Why is it worth so much time? Why would a person die to enable others to read it?

When I was in college, I had a professor that was a good friend and mentor to me. I had one fatal flaw in his opinion. It drove him crazy that I would only consider an idea true or of value if it aligned with the truth of the Bible.

My professor said to me one day, “Jason, my prayer is that one day you will live your life on a broader foundation than just the Bible.” We then spent some time talking about what that would look like and I listened to what he had to say. Our conversation ended with me saying to him, “If I could find something that was a firm foundation like the Bible I would consider it. But there is no other foundation that I can stand on in life and death.” That is my conviction and my belief.

The Bible is worth reading. Preaching the truth of the Bible is worth my life. It is my life’s wok. It is worth the lives of God’s people to spread it throughout the world.

I listened to a sermon by one of my heroes Pastor Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Community Church. Last week I challenged you to listen to Andy Stanley from Northpoint Community Church. Take some time and go to http://www.northlandchurch.net/Sermons and listen to the sermon from 1/7/07 entitled “Introducing the Bible (True Stories)”. He does a wonderful job explaining the value and importance of God’s Word in our lives.

If you can, post why God’s word is valuable to you and why you read it and sit under the preaching of those who preach it.

Unbelievably Bold or Unbelievably Boring?

If you had to pick between unbelievably bold or boring, which would describe your prayer life?

I just got finished listening to an amazing sermon by Andy Stanley. I encourage you to listen to it (http://www.northpoint.org/- Go to sermons and click on the 1.7.07 message “Asking Big”). I am going to require the staff to listen to it this week. Andy does a tremendous job of laying out how God wants us to pray.

The challenge I received from it is what I am passing on to you today. How do you describe your prayer life? Is it important? Do you have such a passion for something that you desperately need God’s blessing and intervention? Are you attempting to accomplish something so great for God’s Kingdom that unless God shows up, you are done for? Do you have the courage and faith to ask God to make your life count for eternity?

I have to spend a good amount of time each day in prayer. I’m not going to say how much because to some it will seem like a little and to others it will seem like a lot. The time I give to prayer seems like a lot to me. I have to schedule it in my day and I treat it like an appointment because unfortunately it will get pushed aside with busy work if I don’t.

While I am praying, I am desperate these days. I am desperate for God to revive Living Hope so that we can see thousands of people in South Central Kentucky get to God. I am desperate to see hundreds more Hopers connected in small groups. I am desperate to see Hopers give their time, talent, treasure, and temple to God as He has commanded in Scripture. All of this hinges on God. I can only preach and prod the people of Living Hope with what God’s Word says. God will have to produce the growth.

Each time I pray I find my blood pressure rising and my eyes lighting up. I picture what would happen if we saw hundreds saved, hundreds more growing in Christ through small groups, and the mission work that could and would be done if God’s people at Living Hope were willing to be obedient.

What about you? What are you desperate for? Is it bold or boring?

Take some time and think about it. If you have something you are truly passionate about then be bold and post it. I promise I will join you in prayer for at least one week and look forward to seeing how God answers the prayers you share.

Please join me in prayer for what I am passionate about – seeing people Get to God, Grow in Christ, and Give to Others!

The Goal Is Progress Not Perfection

This year we are on a journey through the Bible. “Walk in the Word” offers us the opportunity to know God in ways we never have before. By studying God’s Word, preaching through God’s Word, and discussing God’s Word in small groups we are going to see who God is. God has revealed Himself in Christ and through the Scripture. To know Christ is to know God and to know the Bible is to know God better.

As it pertains to your individual study, worship attendance, and small group participation realize you might miss occasionally. You also may not fully understand everything you read, hear, and discuss with others. That does not mean you need to quit. Just because you do not participate and understand perfectly does not mean that it is of no value.

Please understand that the goal is not perfection. We will not be perfect until we enter heaven. The goal is progress. We must all seek to be able to say what the Apostle Paul said.
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14)

So if you miss a day on your devotions don’t give up and don’t go back. If you miss Monday, January 8th on Tuesday read the devotion for January 9th. If you miss church, be there next Sunday. If you miss your group one week, go the next time. If you don’t understand something, pray and ask God to give you understanding and talk about it in your group. If you have a question that your group can’t answer, ask an elder, a pastor, or log a comment here and I’ll answer it.

Let me add one more thing. You may not be ready to read 4 chapters and a page of commentary. If I were to prioritize your study for you, I would say that if something has to go, the Carson book would be the first thing to go. Then reduce chapters down to as little as 1 chapter a day, if you need to.

Again, the goal is not perfection. The goal is progress.

Inspirational or Inconsequential?

At the end of 2007 will it have mattered to anyone in the world or in heaven that you lived through this year? Year after year God gives us 365 days to invest ourselves in. What are you going to do with yours?

Every year at this time I think about and offer these kinds of questions to the congregation I serve and to the people closest to me. I am inspired to do so by my old pastor and mentor Pastor Bob Mowery who every year at this time sends out an update of all he did with his life in the last year. In his eightieth year of life this year brother Bob led 29 people to Christ. He preached countless sermons and ministered to hundreds of people each week. He was and is an inspiration.

There are many Christians who have never led a single person to Christ or even tried. Statistics tell us that only 20% of all so-called Christians in America have ever read the entire Bible and less than that read it daily. Many Christians are languishing in mediocrity spiritually speaking because they are more interested in making a buck, a name, or getting another toy or gadget they don’t need for themselves.

Let’s get serious. You and I are far too valuable to be wasting our one and only life. Our God is too great and good for us to ignore Him. God’s Kingdom work is too important for us to call in sick or busy.

This year I challenge you to do 3 things. They are the three passions of my life and the mission of the church I serve.

One, Get to God every week through worship and help other people do the same. A great way to do that is using a tool called “i2”. The first “i” stands for invest. Invest time, prayer, and truth into another person’s life and build a life-long friendship. The second “i” is invite. Invite that person to church with you and invite them to know Christ.

Second, Grow in Christ through Church membership and Bible study. Read through the Bible this year. Get in a small group and discuss what you are learning. At Living Hope we are using D.A. Carson’s book “For the Love of God” as a guide to read through the entire Bible and asking everyone to get in a small group.

Third, Give to Others. Don’t just go to church, serve your church. Find a place to minister to other people. There are plenty of needs in the nursery, the children and youth areas, the parking lot, the ushers, the choir, or anywhere you can use your God-given gifts. And look beyond your church and give to others in your community, your nation, and your world. Provide a service project in your community with your small group. Go on a national or international mission trip. Give to other people and you will find that God is pleased and you are the true beneficiary.

We’re not going to get this year again. We might as well make the most of it! Be an inspiration and avoid being inconsequential.

And Then There Were 5!

Well, it finally happened. He is here! Asher James Pettus was born Friday, December 15 at 1:44 pm. He was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches long. Mom and baby are both at home and doing well. It is a pretty exciting time at the Pettus house. The other two Pettus kids love having a baby brother around. He eats good, goes #1 & #2 good, and is sleeping good, which are all very important things.

It is amazing to me that something so small will grow and become so big. I look at my other 2 children now, Mackeznie 10 and Jackson 7, and am amazed at how big they are compared to him and they still have a lot of growing to do. It may be that this little 8 pound mound of pure Pettus will one day be bigger, stronger, and smarter than me. It may be that this little one may have to care for me the way I am caring for him now .

For that to happen, Asher has a lot of growing to do. He has the potential for great strength, great love, and great thoughts, but in order to realize his potential he will have to eat and sleep, and in time exercise and study. It is only by being fed and later learning to feed himself, and then using those calories for productive purposes that he will become all that he can be.

So it is true of all babies. And so it is true of all who are born in Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”

All believers are born as babies into God’s great family, but God does not intend for us to remain as babies. God’s will is that we grow. Ephesians 4:13-15 “...and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”

God’s will is that we be capable of fulfilling His plan for us in Christ, which He has prepared us. Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

In order to grow and fulfill God’s plan for our life, we must do the basics. Feed our soul on the Word of God. Exercise our spiritual gifts in love and share the Gospel with the world. We are to give all that we are to God for His glory.

One of the things I love most about being at Living Hope is that we all, pastors included, are given the opportunity to help people get to God, grow in Christ, and give to others. This simple and yet profound mission enables us to fulfill our potential in Christ.

In 2007 Living Hope is going to “Walk in the Word”. We are going to study the Bible from beginning to end. Every time the church gathers for worship a book of the Bible will be preached through. Each person who is willing will read through the Bible using D.A. Carson’s devotion For the Love of God. It is our hope that everyone will be in small group by the end of the year so they can discuss what they are learning and how they are growing in Christ and do life with other followers of Jesus.

Pray that Asher will grow and reach his potential. As his father, I promise to challenge him and provide every resource necessary.

Pray also that we will all grow and reach our potential in Christ. Our heavenly Father has provided every resource necessary. James 1:17-18 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

Officiate Your Life Well

On Saturday night, December 9th I sat in astonished silence in Diddle Arena where Western Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team was being dismantled not by the opposing team, but by the officials. They were from the Missouri Valley Conference where the opposing team, Southern Illinois, is from and though I would not want to condemn the conference or the team, I can not help but know that these officials were showing partiality and a lack of integrity. They were calling fouls on WKU and ignoring fouls committed by SIU. Two of WKU’s players fouled out, which rarely happens to a WKU player, especially at home.

These officials were inconsistent, incompetent, and inclined toward a specific team. The outcome of the game was decided not by the players on the court, but by the poor performance of the officiating crew.

That sounds like a strong accusation and it is and in all honesty I am in no position to criticize them. At times I have done as poor of a job officiating my own life as they did in officiating that game.

God has commanded His followers, like me, to officiate our lives. We are to blow the whistle on sin and remove from our game of life the things that keep us from winning the prize God has called us to heavenward in Christ Jesus.

When it comes to sin, we are to be consistent in calling it what it is and keep it from working in us. This requires competence that is gained through rightly understanding the rules, God’s Bible. Our bias is to be toward holiness and purity.

Unfortunately, there are times when we let our guard down and let things go. We forget how God has called us to live because we don’t spend time daily being reminded with what God has commanded us to do in His Word. Our bias becomes more toward what our bodies and sensual desires demand.

Romans 6:11-14 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.