A "City within a City" that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city...

This week we are looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus provides for us a timeless goal that we should strive towards, both as individuals and as a church. As part of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus painted for the crowds listening to Him a word picture to describe what the world should see when they come into contact with His followers. Jesus explained to the crowds listening to Him that those who follow Him are the light of the world.

Jesus point was that, as the light of the world, followers of Jesus are to reveal and reflect Jesus and help provide the guidance and direction necessary for people to be able to navigate life here on earth. Jesus then challenged those listening with two additional word pictures. First, Jesus reminded the crowds listening of a timeless reality that they were all too familiar of: a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

Jesus then provided a second word picture, this time of a lamp that would be used to provide light in a home. Jesus point was that for the light to fulfill its purpose to reveal, display, and to provide the opportunity for those in the house to navigate an otherwise dark environment, the light needed to be in the right position. After painting these two word pictures, Jesus made His challenge to the crowds who were listening unmistakably clear in Matthew 5:16:

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Just like a city on a hill; just like a lamp that is placed on a lampstand, as Jesus followers we are to live our day to day lives in a way that reveals and reflects Christ to those around us. But Jesus does not simply tell the crowds to reveal and reflect Christ: Jesus also tells the crowds how they will reveal and reflect Christ. Jesus explains that we will reveal and reflect Christ when we live our lives in such a way that the world around us may see our good works and glorify God who is in Heaven. Jesus here is calling the crowds listening, and us here today, to reveal and reflect Christ by how we love and serve the world around us. Jesus calls His followers to engage the world by loving and serving those who God has placed around us.

Did you know that the church is the only organization that does not exist for the sake of its members? The church has been divinely designed to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world. And God places the local church in distinctive environments to be distinctively different. We believe that God has placed City Bible Church in Bullhead City to be a city within a city that loves and serves those around us.  And when we love and serve others in a way that reveals and reflects Christ, the result is that we glorify God in Heaven.

That is why, as a church, we partner with Bullhead City to love and serve the city during our annual Saturday of Service project. That is why we partnered with the Boys and Girls club to sponsor over 46 children for their summer program. That is why we Adopted Desert Valley Elementary School to provide technology for their classrooms. That is why we love and served over 2,100 people from our community this Halloween during our Candyland Carnival. That is why we loved and served 94 children this Christmas during angel tree.

And that is why we believe and are focused on the goal that God has given us as a church to be a city in a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city. We believe that as we live life together in community with a focus on engaging those in this city in a way that reveals and reflects Christ by loving and serving those in the city, we will be the vehicle that God uses to advance His kingdom mission and bring Him glory.

Now you might be wondering “well that’s great Dave, but how do we reach that goal as a church? And how do I get to a place in my life where I am following Jesus is a way that reveals and reflects Christ”? If you are asking those questions, I just want you to know that they are great questions to be asking. And my answer to those questions would be this; when we read the letter that make up the Bible, we consistently see that followers of Jesus who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship that reveals and reflects Christ invest their lives in three specific ways.

First, we see that those who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Christ consistently invested their time with other Christians as they gathered corporately for regular weekly worship gatherings and as they scattered to experience community in homes throughout the week. Second, we see that those who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Christ consistently invested their talents serving God by serving others through the exercise of their spiritual gifts. Third, we see that those who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Christ consistently invested their treasure to support God’s kingdom mission through regular and proportional giving.

And we believe that as individual followers of Jesus consistently invest their time by being involved in a regular worship gathering and a community group; as individual followers of Jesus consistently invest their talents serving God by serving others through being a part of a ministry team; and as individual followers of Jesus consistently invest their treasure in order to help create environments where people can explore and grow in their faith while experiencing community, we will continue to be a city in a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city.

Our vision as a church is to create environments where people grow in their relationship with Christ and are able to move from being consumers who view the church as a place where they receive spiritual goods and services to being investors who embrace and invest their time, talent, and treasure to advance the kingdom mission that God has given us. And because followers of Jesus grow and mature in their relationship with Jesus when they  are investing their time in a community group, their talents in a ministry, and their treasure in a way that reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus, as a church, we believe God calls us to plan for the future with three specific goals that will help you grow in your relationship with Jesus from being consumers who are searching and shopping when it comes to Jesus to owners who own a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus to investors who reveal and reflect Christ in their character and conduct and who have fully embraced and are fully engaged in God’s kingdom mission. 

First, we have set as a goal that everyone who attends the church is investing their time, in addition to attending one of the worship gatherings that we have on Sundays, in a community group. We feel strongly about this goal because we believe that transformational spiritual growth occurs in circles, not rows. And community groups create those transformational environments where people can develop loving and supportive relationships that challenge us to take that next step when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. Currently, 56% of those who regularly attend City Bible Church are involved in a community group.

Second, we have set as a goal that everyone who attends the church is investing their talents serving God by serving others as part of a ministry team. We feel strongly about this goal because we believe that transformational spiritual growth occurs when we are leveraging the spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given us in a selfless way that serves others. We encounter God as we use the spiritual gifts we have been given to help others encounter God. We experience God’s transformational activity in our lives as we help others experience God’s transformational activity in their lives. Currently approximately 62% of the people who attend City Bible Church regularly invest their talents serving God by serving others in a ministry.

Third, we have set as a goal that everyone who attends the church is investing their treasure in a way that reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus. We feel strongly about this goal because we believe that transformational spiritual growth occurs when we are leveraging the treasure that we have been given to create environments where people can explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience genuine and authentic community. Over the past year, the average adult gave $37 per week.  As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be generous because Jesus Christ is generous. And when we reflect the generosity of Jesus by being generous, we reveal and reflect Jesus to others.

So, at the church where I serve, we are inviting people to join us in the kingdom mission and vision that God has given us by planning for the future in three specific ways with three specific goals. As a church, we are not inviting people to commit to more than this, but we are not inviting people to commit to less than this. We are inviting people to plan for the future by partnering with us in the kingdom mission that we have been given as a church by investing your time in a community group, your talents in a ministry, and your treasure in a way that reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus.

So here are some questions for you to consider as we launch into 2019: Where are you at when it comes to a relationship with Jesus? Are you a consumer who views the church as a place where they receive spiritual goods and services? Are you a consumer who is shopping when it comes to a relationship with Jesus because you are searching, seeking, or skeptical? Are you an owner who owns a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus but is simply treading water when it comes to your relationship with Jesus and are not investing in the mission He has given us? Or are you an investor who is embracing and investing their time, talent, and treasure to advance the kingdom mission that God has given us?

And based on where you are at when it comes to your relationship with Jesus, what is the next step that you need to take in order to take the next step in your relationship with Jesus? Is that next step to invest your time in a community group? Is that next step to invest your talent in a ministry? Is that next step to invest your treasure in a way that reflects the generosity of Jesus?

What does it mean to be "the light of the world"?...

How many of us start the new year by spending a time of reflection that reflects on the events and relationships that have shaped our lives, either for better or for worse? Then, after that time of reflection, however long it is, we begin the process of moving forward towards a new year. We begin the attempt to leave the past behind and begin a new year with a new and fresh slate and with new and fresh hope when it comes to our future.  And as part of that process, we sit down and make a list of what we are going to do differently in the New Year. We even have a name for that list, don’t we? We call that list our New Year’s Resolutions.

And yet, so often we end up bailing on our resolutions only weeks after making them. Or, worse yet, we make resolutions that are filled with loop holes and exceptions that result in us living a life that fails to reach any of the goals or aspirations we had set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. And then we end up in that familiar place of frustration because we seem to be unable to make the changes that we believe that we desperately need to make in our lives.

And what is the case individually is also the case for us as we live life together in community. Just like individuals, as a church, we have a tendency to look at the New Year as a time to reflect on the past, evaluate the present, and plan for the future when it comes to the unique mission that we have been given. Last week, we ended 2018 by spending our time together reflecting on the top ten evidences of God’s activity at City Bible Church in 2018.

At #10 was our annual Saturday of service... at #9 was the Angel Tree Ministry where we loved and served 41 families/94 children… at #8 was our involvement with the Boys and Girls Club where 46 scholarships given for local children… at #7 was Candyland where over 2,100 people participated in our annual Halloween event… at #6 was our opportunity to host the Global Leadership Summit... at #5 was the opportunity that we had as a church to love and serve those involved in children and student ministry through the Faith That Sticks Conference... 124 registered/84 people participated…at #4 was Community Groups, where 62% of those who attend are part of Community Group…at #3 was the 2020 Vision, where over $513,000.00<> raised toward $2 Million-dollar goal… at #2 was the sale of the parsonage that raised $205,833.00 towards the 2020 vision…and #1 was the Duct tape Dave Night that raised $6,100.00 for 2020 vision.

But as a church, as we move into 2019, what should be on our New Year’s resolution list? What should our focus and our goal be as a church as plan for the future in 2019? Fortunately for us, in an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the gospel of Matthew, Jesus provides for us a timeless goal that we should strive towards, both as individuals and as a church. So let’s spend our time together by looking at this timeless goal and its implications when it comes to our future plans as a church, beginning in Matthew 5:14:

"You are the light of the world.

As part of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus paints for the crowds listening to Him a word picture to describe what the world should see when they come into contact with His followers. Jesus explains to the crowds listening to Him that those who follow Him are the light of the world. Now light, by its very nature, has incredible impact and influence when it enters into an environment. For example, just think what happens when you enter into a space that you have never been in before and turn on a light. When you enter a space that you have never been in before, do you have any idea what is in there? No, you have no idea.

And because of that reality, we often find ourselves searching for a way to bring light into that space, don’t we? And when we are able to bring light into that space, what happens? As soon as you bring light into that space, what is in that space is revealed to you isn’t it? As soon as you bring light into that space, everything in that space displayed for you to see. The whole point of the light is to reveal and to display what is present in that space.

But light does more than just reveal and display. I experienced another function and purpose of light on a camping trip with my daughter Rachel in the Hualapai’s. When we first moved to Bullhead City, Rachel and I had the opportunity to have a father daughter camping trip in the Hualapai’s. After spending the afternoon hiking, we sat down to eat dinner. As we were eating dinner, several deer basically walked right into the middle of our campsite and started begging for food. They were acting more like a family dog than a wild deer. Rachel, who was in the third grade at the time, was having a blast as she had this up close encounter with the deer. Well, what ended up happening is that we became so focused on the deer, that before we knew it, it was dark. And I had not gotten the flashlights out of the tent. And then Rachel had to go to the bathroom.

So, in the near pitch black darkness, I began groping through our tent in an attempt to find the flashlight so that we could make the trip to the bathroom, because there was no way that Rachel was going to make that trip in the dark. Fortunately for both of us, I was able to find the flashlight and we were able to make the trip to the bathroom. You see, in the absolute pitch black darkness of that night, the light from that flashlight provided the guidance and direction that we needed to the bathroom.

Jesus point here is that in the same way, as the light of the world, followers of Jesus are to reveal and reflect Jesus and help provide the guidance and direction necessary for people to be able to navigate life here on earth. After providing this word picture what the world should see when they encounter His followers, Jesus provides two additional images to challenge the crowds listening. Let’s look at these images together:

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Jesus begins His challenge to those listening with two additional word pictures. First, Jesus reminds the crowds listening of a timeless reality that they were all too familiar of: a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  A city that is located in an elevated location can be seen from miles away. In Jesus day, this would especially be the case after the sun set. In the pitch black darkness of the desert of Israel, the light of an elevated city would be seen for miles and miles.

Jesus then provides a second word picture, this time of a lamp that would be used to provide light in a home. Jesus explains that a person does not take the time to light a lamp and then place that lamp under a basket. That would make absolutely no sense. It would make absolutely no sense to place a lamp under a basket because then the lamp would not be functioning as it was designed. The lamp would not be fulfilling the purpose that it was created to fulfill. Instead, Jesus reminds the crowds that a person would take the lamp and place it on a lampstand, which would place the lamp in an elevated position so that the light of the lamp would provide the maximum coverage possible in the house. For the light to fulfill its purpose to reveal, display, and to provide the opportunity for those in the house to navigate an otherwise dark environment, the light needed to be in the right position. After painting these two word pictures, Jesus makes His challenge to the crowds who were listening unmistakably clear.

Friday we will look at that challenge together...  

Numbers 5-1 on the top ten list of the evidences of God's activity in 2018 at City Bible Church...

This week we are looking at a top ten list that involves the top ten things that we are celebrating when it comes to the evidence of God’s activity this past year at City Bible Church. Wednesday, we looked at numbers 10-6 on the top ten list. Today, I would like to share numbers 5-1 on the top ten list of the evidences of God's activity in 2018 at City Bible Church.

Number 6 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our involvement in the Global Leadership Summit. This past August, we had the opportunity as a church to be a host site for the Global Leadership Summit, which is held at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago and is one of the best leadership conferences in the country.  The opportunity to be a host site provides the ability for us to provide top notch training to those who would not have the opportunity to normally attend such a conference.

As a result of the success that we had as a church in hosting what is referred to as a private viewing, we now have the opportunity to invite other churches to be a part of the Global Leadership Summit as a public viewing venue. One of our priorities as a church is to develop spiritually growing leaders within our church, while providing spaces and opportunities for other local churches to develop their leaders as well.

While we are a local church, we want to be open handed and generous to other churches in a way that helps the big C Church advance the kingdom mission we all have been given by Jesus. We look forward to the opportunities we now have to help equip, empower, and unleash leaders from C.B.C. and other local churches to make a difference for Jesus in our community and beyond. 

Similar to number 6 in the top ten list, Number 5 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved the Faith that Sticks conference that was held on October 13th here at City Bible Church. As a church we were able to facilitate a one-day conference designed for those who serve in children and/or student ministry.

The conference focused on creating church cultures that will help young people discover and grow to love the local church.  Matthew Deprez from Fuller Youth Institute shared research findings that have been gathered from churches that serve young people well.  This year, the conference included a track specifically for Senior Pastors and church leadership.  

As a result of the excellent leadership of Christy Bronston, along with a committed team of volunteers, 124 people registered for the conference, with over 88 attending the all day conference. As we talked about with the Global Leadership Summit on number 6, one of our cultural values as a church is to come along other local churches to help develop engaging and effective ministries for every age and stage of life.

We want to be open handed and generous to other churches in a way that helps the big C Church advance the kingdom mission we all have been given by Jesus. We look forward to the opportunities to continue to equip, empower, and unleash leaders from C.B.C. and other local churches to make a difference in the lives of children, students, and their families for Jesus in our community and beyond. 

Number 4 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved the engagement of those who attend City Bible Church in Community Groups. As a church we have set as a goal for the future that everyone who attends C.B.C. would be investing their time, in addition to attending a corporate worship gathering, in a community group. When we read the letters that make up the Bible, we discover that individuals who were involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus consistently invested their time with other Christians as they gathered corporately for regular weekly worship gatherings and as they scattered to experience community in homes throughout the week.

We feel strongly about this goal because we believe that transformational spiritual growth occurs in circles, not rows. And community groups create those transformational environments where people can develop loving and supportive relationships that challenge us to take that next step when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. This past year, 56% of those who regularly attend City Bible Church are involved in a community group.  Current community groups are listed in your bulletin and other community groups will be starting in the future.

Number 3 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved the progress that has been made toward the 2020 Vision. In May 2017, as a church we launched into a three-year capital campaign with the goal to raise 2 million dollars for a new Family Life Center so that we could create the space for the city to encounter Jesus.

The goal of the Capital Campaign is to create an environment where hundreds of children and their families could have irresistible and engaging spaces to connect with Jesus. Our goal is to be able to create the environment where hundreds of students and their families could have irresistible and engaging spaces to know God, own their faith, and make their faith know. Our goal is to be able to create the environment where we would be positioned to create irresistible and engaging spaces that provided training opportunities for churches in the region in areas such as children, student, and family ministry.

Our goal is to be able to create the environment where we could love and serve our community in real and practical ways by creating irresistible and engaging spaces where local organizations could have conferences and training for their employees. Our goal is to be able to create the environment where we could love and serve our community in real and practical ways by creating irresistible and engaging spaces for our community to engage in sports leagues and other activities and interests. Our goal is to be able to create the environment where we would be positioned to meet the potential pressing and practical needs of our community that come through crisis. Our goal is to be able to create the environment where we could reach out to both the church family and the community by creating irresistible and engaging spaces for marriage and parenting conferences.

Since the launch of the 2020 Vision, we have raised over $536,000 towards the 2 million dollar goal. As a church we are grateful for everyone who has made the commitment to be a part of the 2020 Vision. Since we launched the 2020 Vision, we have had many individuals who have started attending the church and who are beginning to engage in the ministries of the church. Maybe I have just described you. Or maybe you were not in a position to commitment to partner with us in the 2020 Vision last year but now are at a place where you could make that commitment.

If I have described where you are at, I would invite you to consider the impact that you could have by making a commitment to the 2020 Vision by prayerfully considering the following questions: Have you been blessed and want to say YEA GOD!? Would you consider giving an additional one-time gift, or increase your monthly giving? Have you not formally committed to the 2020 Vision, but are giving sporadically? Would you be willing to either complete a commitment card, and/or decide to give regularly? If you were not able to join us part of the 2020 Vision last year, but feel you can now: Will you join us by partnering in the 2020 Vision?

Similar to number 3 in the top ten list, Number 2 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved the sale of the church parsonage. This past March, the Lord provided a buyer for the church parsonage. The sale provided $205,833 dollars towards the 2020 Vision while relieving the church of the financial responsibilities that surrounded the care and upkeep of the home. In addition, we were able to bless the buyer with a home as the Deacons did an amazing job of representing Jesus well throughout the process.

Now with that in mind, we come to the number 1 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church. Number 1 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church was the “Duct Tape Dave Night. This past February 7^th, individuals from all ages and stages of life had the opportunity to purchase strips of duct tape to duct tape Pastor Dave to the wall.

This event provided the opportunity for children, students, and their families in a real and practical way, to participate in the 2020 Vision. As a result of the generosity of those who participated that evening, $6,100 was raised toward the 2020 Vision. Just as important, the evening was marked by an energy and enthusiasm in community with one another that was contagious. I still receive comments about what occurred on that evening and requests when it comes to when we can do that again. The evening was an amazing picture of why we feel so strongly about the 2020 vision and the potential that we have as a church to impact our community for Jesus.

So as this list demonstrates, 2018 has been an amazing year where we have been surrounded by the evidences of God’s activity. As we leave 2018 behind and lean into 2019, may we continue to lean into the kingdom mission that we have been given as a church to be a city in a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city....

Numbers 10-6 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 at City Bible Church...

Throughout the letters that make up the Bible, we see occasions where the people of God stopped to celebrate the evidence of God’s activity in their life and in history. For example, after creating the universe and everything that exists out of nothing, God stopped to rest and reflect on His activity in creating history. God then commanded the Jewish people to pause every week for the Sabbath, which was designed for followers of God to follow the example of God and rest and reflect on His activity in their lives.

Then, in the book of Exodus, we see God command the Jewish people to celebrate the Passover so that they would reflect, remember, and celebrate God’s activity in the past that resulted in their deliverance from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. In the New Testament, Jesus instituted communion, where we pause to reflect, remember, and celebrate the message of the gospel that provides us forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for as a result of placing our trust in what Jesus did for us through His life, death, and resurrection.

Throughout the history of God’s movement in history called the church, followers of Jesus have paused to reflect, remember, and celebrate the evidence of God’s activity in their lives. So last week, as we came to the end of 2018, we spent last Sunday reflecting, remembering, and celebrating the evidence of God’s activity this past year at the church where I serve, City Bible Church. To do that, we shared with the church a top ten list.  This top ten list involves the top ten things that we are celebrating when it comes to the evidence of God’s activity this past year at City Bible Church. So with that in mind, lets jump into this top ten list together.

Number 10 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our annual Saturday of Service. On January 27, 2018, we continued a yearly practice of loving and serving the city of Bullhead City in a real and practical way through various service projects. The Saturday of Service is designed to let the community know that as a church, we consider ourselves a part of the community and desire to partner with the community to make it a better place to live.

In 2018, we completed three specific projects in partnership with the city. First, a group of people from the church were involved in a landscaping project on a median island located on Riviera Blvd and Riverfront Drive. This was a part of the city’s efforts to beautify some of the roadways within the city limits. A second group of people from the church were involved in beautifying Rotary Park and the riverfront by picking up trash.

At the same time, two additional groups from the church were involved in a painting project designed to beautify the bathrooms at Rotary Park. We were able to complete every project while representing Jesus well to those in the community and to the city workers who worked alongside us. As a church we are looking forward to our next Saturday of service which will be on Saturday, January, 12, 2019.

Number 9 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our participation in the Angel Tree project.  For those who are not familiar, Angel Tree is a project where we adopt local families where one or more parents are incarcerated and unable to spend Christmas with their families. As part of adopting these local families, we purchase Christmas gifts on behalf of the incarcerated parent. We then have the privilege of being that hands and feet of that parent by delivering the gifts to the children. This provides us the opportunity to reveal and reflect the love of Jesus to local families as we bring a glimpse of the light and love of the kingdom of Heaven to these families in a time that could be otherwise very discouraging and disappointing. 

This past year, as part of the partnership with Angel Tree ministries, we were able to purchase gifts for 94 children and impact 41 families with the love of Jesus. Angel tree has provided the opportunity to engage children and their families by developing relationships that invite them to explore faith and experience genuine and authentic community, and we look forward to being a part of Angel Tree next year as well.

Number 8 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our participation in the Boys and Girls Club Scholarship Outreach. As we have engaged our local community over the years, one of the pressing needs that many families have during the summer months involves providing childcare for their children. When school is out for the summer, many families are faced with the prospect of leaving their children home alone while they go to work to provide for their families. The cost of childcare in many cases, is beyond their reach. In addition, while to Boys and Girls Club provides a summer program, the cost is also beyond what many local families can afford.

As a result of these realities, as a church we raised resources in an attempt to be able to scholarship children that would otherwise be unable to participate in the program. As a result of your open-handed generosity over and above your regular giving, this past spring we were able to raise the resources to scholarship 46 children to participate in the 8-week summer program at the Boys and Girls Club. The impact of your generosity can not be overrated for the lives of local children and families, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the Boys and Girls Club this spring.

Number 7 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our engagement of the community through our annual Candyland Carnival that past Halloween. Every Halloween we take the opportunity to turn our west parking lot into a carnival atmosphere with games, bounce houses, and food, at no cost to our community. The purpose of Candyland is to create a safe space on Halloween night that reaches out to our local community in a way that reveals and reflects the love of Jesus to our community. Candyland provides us the opportunity to redeem the evening for Jesus as we reveal and reflect Jesus to the community.

This past Halloween, over 2,100 individuals from our community were able to enjoy the fun fan family friendly atmosphere at Candyland.  What is so encouraging is that for many individuals and families who call C.B.C. home, their initial encounter with the church was through Candyland. As a church we are so thankful for the many individuals who invested their time, talents and treasure to make Candyland such a success by helping with set up and take down, by managing a game booth, and by helping prepare and serve food for the children and families that were a part of this event.

Number 6 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our involvement in the Global Leadership Summit. This past August, we had the opportunity as a church to be a host site for the Global Leadership Summit, which is held at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago and is one of the best leadership conferences in the country.  The opportunity to be a host site provides the ability for us to provide top notch training to those who would not have the opportunity to normally attend such a conference.

As a result of the success that we had as a church in hosting what is referred to as a private viewing, we now have the opportunity to invite other churches to be a part of the Global Leadership Summit as a public viewing venue. One of our priorities as a church is to develop spiritually growing leaders within our church, while providing spaces and opportunities for other local churches to develop their leaders as well.

While we are a local church, we want to be open handed and generous to other churches in a way that helps the big C Church advance the kingdom mission we all have been given by Jesus. We look forward to the opportunities we now have to help equip, empower, and unleash leaders from C.B.C. and other local churches to make a difference for Jesus in our community and beyond. 

Friday, we will look at numbers 5-1 on the top ten list…

The High Cost of Christmas...

On Christmas Eve, we spent our time together reading the Christmas story. I do not know if you do that at your house, but it is a neat tradition that Julie and I have done with our daughter. If you are thinking about reading the Christmas story, I would recommend doing so out of the Book of Luke, because the Christmas story in the gospel of Matthew is more difficult and messier.

In our culture, we like things to be neat and tidy, and we tend to like our Christmas in a box, neatly wrapped, with little or no complications. Just think of the manger scene you can pick up at a store. The scene with the animals, the angels, the shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, all neat and tidy. Now, if you have ever tried to purchase a really nice nativity scene, you know that these scenes can go fast, so you have to shop early to get just the right one.

Recently I discovered an amazing statistic. Over this past thanksgiving weekend, $21.6 billion was spent in online retail sales. Economists estimate that the total retail sales for the Christmas season will reach over 717 Billion dollars. Much of the sales were done with credit cards that will need to be paid off later.

To give a bit of perspective, what we as a nation spend over the Thanksgiving weekend is more than the entire Gross Domestic Product for the nations of Yugoslavia, India, Pakistan, Cuba, and the Sudan, amongst others. We as a country spend that much on Christmas because, in many ways, Christmas comes in a box which we wrap neatly, put under the tree, and open. The gospel of Matthew’s account of Christmas goes into more detail, and really reveals to us that it was a hard thing to get Christ to earth.

Not only that, but it also reveals that in God’s economy, Christmas was by far the most costly thing that ever happened in the universe. We see that starting in Matthew 1:1-2:

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: ²  Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

At about this point we begin to look for where the record of the genealogy ends and skip down to verses 16-17:

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. ¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

 Now a natural question that could arise here is “Why did Matthew place the genealogy in his Christmas story?” The genealogy shows us the high cost of Christmas in the promise of a redeemer fulfilled. The genealogy shows God’s faithfulness to His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. God even set up a system to point us to the promise.

God gave us the Law to show us our need for a Savior. God gave us the prophets to point us to a Savior, as we learned in the when God speaks series this fall. It is important to understand that this promise was not a knee jerk reaction due to what happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

And Christmas was not some wild thought by God while sitting in Heaven. It wasn’t like God said to Himself “Hey I have an idea! Let’s do something different this year. Let’s have this new thing called Christmas. People can buy gifts for each other and decorate trees and even get a day off work”. Christ was set to be sent from the foundations of the earth.

Christmas was a systematic and clear fulfillment of a promise and is an outworking of God’s plan and activity in His story. The high cost of Christmas is not only seen in His master plan in history. The high cost of Christmas is also seen in a romance interrupted in Matthew 1:18-25:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. ²⁰ But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." ²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³ "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." ²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ²⁵ but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

To truly understand what happened that first Christmas season, we must understand the tradition of marriage during Jesus’ day. For Joseph and Mary, their romance was supposed to go something like this. Joseph would ask Mary and her family, Mary and her family would then agree to the wedding proposal.

At this point, however, things become much different than today, because Joseph would then go back to where his family lived and would prepare a place for them to live, with his family. Joseph would basically build an addition on his parent’s house for them to live in. After the addition was completed, Joseph would then come back with his entire family banging pots and pans in a loud parade-like celebration. The parade would then stop at Mary’s house, pick her up, and take her to be with his family.

That is why Jesus’ words in John 14 are so significant, that Jesus went to go and prepare a place for us and will come again to receive us to Himself. The image that was given to the disciples, and us today, is one of a wedding procession and of an intimate and eternal relationship that is far beyond anything we can imagine. So we have Mary waiting for Joseph, but instead of Joseph showing up an angel shows up, which we see in the account from the gospel of Luke, in Luke 1:26-38:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." ²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. ³⁰ The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶  "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ "For nothing will be impossible with God." ³⁸ And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

 Imagine being Mary for a moment. You are excited about the new life you are about to start with Joseph. An angel appears and then states “Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you”. The passage says that Mary was very perplexed at this greeting. If you are Mary, you might be thinking “hey Joseph must be coming soon and God is really going to bless our marriage. Maybe we even got one of those upscale camels and maybe Joseph was able to really get us a nice large addition that has some distance and privacy from the rest of his family. Maybe he even was able to get a promotion and raise at work”.

Mary quickly learned, however, that it is not worldly favor, but supernatural favor that she is receiving. If you are Mary, how do you respond? All of your plans and dreams have just been shattered by an announcement by an angel. How are you going to explain this to Joseph and his family when they all show up banging pots and pans?

“Hi y’all. You would not believe what happened while you were gone. An angel named Gabriel showed up one night and explained that I was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that I was going to deliver the Messiah”. “Yah, sure, isn’t that great. Holy Spirit, Messiah”. “Sinner, Scarlet Letter”. Joseph, as the passage in Matthew states, being a righteous man, was just going to divorce her quietly instead of having her stoned, as the Law allowed. That is until he had his own encounter with the angel of the Lord.

As Mary and Joseph found out in a most incredible way, the Lord was about to fulfill an echo of Christmas that He had proclaimed over 700 years earlier in Isaiah 7:14. An echo fulfilling the promise of a child who would serve as a sign from the Lord of a deliverer, who the Lord would send to deliver humanity in the face of their unfaithfulness. An echo fulfilled of a child who would be the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send a greater deliverer, who would arrive in a more miraculous fashion, to provide a greater deliverance for humanity in the face of humanities unfaithfulness to the Lord.

As Mary and Joseph found out in a most incredible way, when God moves supernaturally, our lives can be interrupted. What follows is an amazing exercise of faith by Mary and Joseph. In spite of a life that will be stigmatized and dramatically altered, Mary and Joseph do as the angel commanded them. Mary and Joseph’s faith would be put to test, however, with a new threat, which we see in Matthew 2:1-3:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ² "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Herod was threatened by this word of a King that could take his power. So he summoned the chief priests and scribes to find out where this king was to be born, which we see in verse 4-6:

Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: ⁶ 'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'"

As Herod discovered, the Lord was about to fulfill an echo of Christmas that He had proclaimed some 700 years earlier in Micah 5:2. An echo that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places that are viewed as being insignificant by the world. An echo of a descendant of the Jewish nations most famous king, king David, that be the fulfillment of a promise to send a Messiah and King who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

An echo fulfilled in an insignificant, small backwater town of Bethlehem. An echo fulfilling the Lord’s promise to do what would be most significant for the world in a place that was viewed as being insignificant by the world. After finding out the location of this new king, King Herod sent the magi, unknowingly, on a secret spy mission. The magi find Jesus, not as an infant in the manger, as this scene shows, because Jesus is now a child and his family is in a house as we see in verse 7-18:

Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him." ⁹ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way. ¹³ ¶ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." ¹⁴ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON." ¹⁶ ¶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. ¹⁷ Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ¹⁸ "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."

Now that is a part of the first Christmas season that we don’t talk about. We do not talk about it because the first Christmas season was not neat and tidy. When you read the gospel of Matthew, you get a whole different slant on the Christmas story. The Christmas story seems more like a soap opera, messy, complicated, not the eloquent story like we see in the gospel of Luke. There are messages in dreams, late night escapes, and evil forces with devious plans.

The high cost of Christmas is also seen in these devious plans that leave a region weeping. Bethlehem was not a sleepy little town like we see on a Christmas card. It was the scene of a violent revolt, a battle of man against God. And in Bethlehem we see the Lord fulfill another echo of Christmas that He had proclaimed over 500 years earlier through the prophet Jeremiah. An echo fulfilled as Mary and Joseph fled for their lives to Egypt as the women of Bethlehem wept and mourned over the loss of their children.

You see, we celebrate Christmas to celebrate life in the birth of Christ. But Christmas is as much about death as it is life. It is often said, and maybe you have heard this several times, that “Jesus is the reason for the season”. But Jesus is not the reason for the season. Instead, we are the reason for the season. The reason for the Christmas season is the result of our selfishness and rebellion, our desire to do things our way instead of God’s way. See, the problem is that our selfishness, and rebellion kills everything. This revolt of humanity against God cost the lives of every boy under two years old in Bethlehem.

Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well why didn’t God work differently?” That is a great question and my response to that great question is this: God used our rebellion to set up a system of predictions and promises that echoed from the past to demonstrate that Jesus was the fulfillment of His promise to send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, who would provide humanity the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

Because the high cost of Christmas is most clearly seen in Christ. These echoes of Christmas pointed to the reality that Jesus as God would become God in a bod as God got the Son of God into the manger. Jesus exchanged the glory and majesty of Heaven for the manger and flesh. Jesus exchanged that glory not for a carol, or a gift, or His own special day. He exchanged all of that for a mission. Jesus had a mission, not just to get into a body, but to get that body to the cross.

Now another question that could arise here is “Why would He do that?” The reason what Jesus would embrace the mission that He had been given not just to get into a body, but to get that body to the cross was because like the credit card that we use to buy our 717 Billion dollars’ worth of gifts, our selfishness and rebellion creates a debt. Unlike our credit card, however, we cannot do anything to pay our debt that comes from our selfishness and rebellion. Jesus mission was to take that debt of our selfishness and rebellion and nail it on the cross, thus paying it off, past, present, and future.

You see, 717 Billion dollars is nothing compared to the cost to God, and we cannot put that cost into a box. Christmas is costly, and we can rejoice in the fact that we have an all powerful and totally sufficient being that was willing to exchange the glory of Heaven to be Immanuel- God with us, and to pay the highest price for us out of His amazing love and grace.

Because that is what Christmas is all about. And the echoes of Christmas remind us that Jesus entered into humanity to pay the cost so that all humanity could have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and a relationship with Him. Christmas is about the echo of Jesus entering into humanity to pay the cost so that all humanity could have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. Christmas is about an event in history that echoes throughout history.

The echoes of Christmas remind us that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places and people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world...

This week we are looking at another echo of Christmas that is found in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Micah. So far this week, we have seen Micah confront the Jewish people of his day for placing their trust in human plans and power instead of the Lord. Micah then predicted and proclaimed that there would be a day in the future when the Jewish people would be conquered and led captive to Babylon.  Their selfishness and rebellion that led them to place their trust in their own plans and power instead of the Lord would lead to them being conquered and led into captivity.

125 years before the events in history would actually occur, Micah proclaimed that the Assyrian Empire would be conquered by the Babylonian Empire, which would then invade the Jewish nation and, in 586 B.C., conquer the nation and lead them into captivity. In addition, Micah proclaimed that there would be a day in the future, after their captivity, that the Jewish people would be given the opportunity to return to their home. And in 538 B.C., 50 years after being conquered and led captive by the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Emperor Cyrus, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, allowed the Jewish people to return home in fulfillment of this prediction by Micah.

Micah also proclaimed that while King Sennacherib and the army of the Assyrian Empire, which consisted of forces from other nations that were in treaty with the Empire, were intent on desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, the Lord had gathered them together for a far different purpose. Instead of desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, King Sennacherib and the Assyrian army would be desecrated and destroyed.

However, while Micah proclaimed the future deliverance of the Jewish people by the Lord, he also proclaimed the sadness and suffering that the Jewish people would experience at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. Micah proclaimed the reality that there would be a day in the not too distant future where the Jewish people would be forced to muster their troops in defense of the city of Jerusalem. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the Jewish people would mourn over the impending attack that would take place in light of the siege of the city of Jerusalem that would occur. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the king of the Jewish people would be humiliated by the invading Assyrian army.

However, while Micah proclaimed a time of mourning and humiliation for the Jewish people and the Southern Kingdom of Judea, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet Micah, made a promise that served as an echo of Christmas. A promise that is recorded for us in Micah 5:2:

 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."

Here we see Micah proclaim that there would be a day in the future when the Lord would fulfill a promise that He had made to the Jewish people’s most famous king, King David, that one of his descendants would be the messiah and ruler that would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. However, the town that would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise would not be Jerusalem, its capital city. Instead, the town that would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise would be the little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was not a bustling metropolis; Bethlehem was a small rural community. Bethlehem was not a destination that up and coming people moved to in order to start their careers; Bethlehem was a departure point that people left as soon as they grew up. However, Bethlehem, this small, unimportant town would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send a descendant of King David, who would be the Messiah, who would rule over the Jewish people. And this Messiah, this ruler, Micah explained “goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

In other words, this Messiah, this ruler, would not be a simply another human ruler who would rule temporarily over the Jewish people. Instead, this Messiah, this ruler, would be eternal and His rule would be eternal. This Messiah, this ruler, would be God in a bod who would usher in the kingdom of God. However, in the midst of this promise from the Lord for the future, there would be punishment and judgment from the Lord in the present. We see Micah reveal this reality in Micah 5:3-6:

 Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel. ⁴ And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. ⁵ This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. ⁶ They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will deliver us from the Assyrian When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory.

Micah proclaimed that the Lord would send the Jewish people away as a conquered people into captivity, where they would remain a divided people until the birth of the Messiah. However, the Messiah, upon His arrival, would reunite the Jewish people. Micah proclaimed that the Messiah would shepherd the people of God in the power of God and in the name of God. And in the future, this Messiah, this ruler, would rule in a way that would result in His fame and renown spreading throughout the world. This Messiah would rule in a way that would defend and defeat the enemies of the Jewish people as He united the Jewish people and provided leaders for the Jewish people.

And it is here, in this prediction and promise by this prophet, that we discover a timeless echo of Christmas that reverberates as a reminder to humanity throughout history. And that timeless echo is this: The echoes of Christmas remind us that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places and people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world. You see, it is in the prediction and promise by the prophet Micah that we see the Lord remind the Jewish people of the reality that He often accomplished His greatest work in the world by those who were often overlooked by the world.

For example, the Lord did His most significant work in the life of the Jewish people through their most famous king, King David. However, King David was not viewed as being significant in the eyes of those around him. Instead, King David was the youngest of eight sons who was given the insignificant job of watching the sheep. And when Samuel was sent by the Lord to anoint and appoint the next King of the Jewish people, both Samuel and David’s father totally overlooked David. As a matter of fact, King David’s father had to call and get David from the field where he was watching the sheep because his father did not even believe that he was significant enough to be in the presence of Samuel.

Yet, while David was viewed as being insignificant, the Lord was about to do what would be most significant for the Jewish people, and for all humanity through David. You see, it was through this insignificant youngest child that the Lord would anoint and appoint to be king that the Lord would promise to send a Messiah and King who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. And this descendant of David would be born in an insignificant, small backwater town of Bethlehem.

However, while Bethlehem was viewed as being insignificant in the eyes of the world, Bethlehem would be the place where the Lord would begin to do what would be most significant in the world during that first Christmas. Because that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the Lord doing what is most significant in the world in a place that was viewed as being insignificant by the world.

And the timeless reality is that the Lord still operates the same way today. In the Lord’s eyes no place and no person is insignificant. And each and every day the Lord is at work to do what is most significant in the world in the places and the people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world.

However, the reality that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places that are viewed as being insignificant by the world is not the only echo of Christmas. Next week, we will uncover another echo of Christmas.