Samuel-Part 3

If you want to add God to your life, you need to subtract something from it.

–Pastor Aaron

I wish Israel recognized this quicker. I wish putting this into action was easier. In the book of Samuel, Israel is found to be in utter turmoil after the death of Eli’s entire family. The last-standing member, Eli’s newborn grandchild, is named “Ichabod,” meaning “the glory has departed.” This is a direct reflection of the Israel at the time. They were weak. They had just lost in battle to the Philistines, and were currently without a leader. Moreover, the one thing (the ark) they treasured as their protection and strength was captured by their enemy.

The Israelites loved God and wanted to serve Him, so why is it that His glory seemed to have left them? In Samuel 7:3, Samuel gets to the heart of the issue. He declares to the nation, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” Reading this with modern eyes, I think, “Wow. How could the Israelites have been so ignorant (for 20 years, might I add) of the fact that in order to whole-heartedly serve the Lord, they needed to get rid of other idols?” However, the half-hearted Christianity of the Israelites is not far off from the behavior of you and I in the 21^st century. We tend to fit God into the areas of life where it’s comfortable and makes sense, but the places many falter are in the parts of life that don’t necessarily fit the mold for Christ.

Israel had to learn that God isn’t just an ingredient to life. He is the source, the recipe, and it’s impossible to truly serve Him without surrendering all of our idols.  In the same sense, we can’t truly serve God if we don’t let go of what takes priority over Him. 

I challenge you to identify the things in your life that may be competing for your attention. It’s not easy to surrender things that we value, but it’s so important that they never outweigh God’s value in our lives. The Israelites found themselves to be slaves to their idols, burdened by an absence of glory. It was not until they made Jesus their One and Only that the glory was restored. Therefore, let go of your idols, and let God bring His glory to your life.

Written by: Tamara Sturdivant

Edited by: Jenelle Kelly

Samuel-Part 2

faith·ful (ˈfāTHfəl): 1.loyal, constant, and steadfast. 2. having a strong belief in a particular religion, especially Islam.

 When I began to think about how I would reflect on this week’s message in the Samuel series regarding faithfulness, one of the statements made caught my attention immediately: “There is a difference between being committed and being faithful.” Being someone who values words and language so much, it was a bit of a shock to my ear to discover that there was a discrepancy between two words I had not yet uncovered. Putting my best detective skills, intellectual ideas, and my Google search engine to work, this is what I have come up with. “Committed” has been defined as feeling dedication or loyalty to a cause; while faithfulness has simply been defined as loyal, constant, and steadfast. If there is one thing in the world that is none of these things, it is my feelings. It is what I want to do from one day to the next. I have since wondered why we (or maybe just me?) are just now discovering this distinction. Are we not asked to RENEW our commitments to God daily? It is through constant and steadfast commitment that we achieve faithfulness.

I know it’s been eating at some of you since you started reading this. It’s been an eyesore. You’re worried I’m not going to talk about it and leave you in the dark. “Why wouldn’t she omit that?” “Isn’t this a Christian blog?” “I’M SUPPOSED TO FEEL MORE ENCOURAGED THAN THIS!”  But you read it right. In my quest to discover the true definition of faithfulness, it also became apparent that faithfulness is defined as having a strong belief in a particular religion-especially Islam. However, in the 1828 edition of Webster’s, the definition just says “religion,” and is full of references to Bible verses.

 My heart cannot help but sink at the statement Pastor Aaron made Sunday about how faithfulness is seen over time. Along the course of history, the world has come to recognize Islam as the religion of the faithful. And reflecting on the things I’ve witnessed – even my own life – who can blame them? We’ve spent decades in the church painting a picture of convenient Christianity, of comfort, not having to be too different. “At least we look like everyone else, we don’t require special wardrobe.” Why, instead of becoming complacent because our defining marks as Christians aren’t based on appearance or tradition, have we not sought to be as faithful in love, in righteousness, and in the Fruits of the Spirit that eradicate darkness unlike any false gospel has seen as the Muslims do in prayer and manner and dress? The truth is, the world is taking notice. It’s time we start to as well, and take back the very language of the nature of our God.

This week I challenge you: Recommit yourself to God every morning. Make a NEW promise for a NEW day. Let’s relearn together what it is to die to ourselves, and to be constant in worship as we go through our days. 

Written by: Brianna Vanderveen

Edited by: Jaime Hlavin

Samuel-Part 1

In my childhood, I lost two grandparents to heartbreaking illnesses within the matter of a few years. At age 11, I had to move to another state and adjust to a new school, make new friends, and leave behind the family and town I grew up in. Sometimes life throws us curveballs, and it can be extremely difficult to uphold the burden on our own. As we began the series on Samuel this week, I believe the story of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, struck a chord with many of us. The exposition of her story illustrates the utter anguish she was in as a result of her inability to have children. Furthermore, the taunting of her husband’s other wife plunged her into deeper sorrow.

The thing that’s so remarkable about this story, however, is not the battle Hannah had to face. Rather, it is how she chooses to respond. As it states in Samuel 1:10-11, In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life.” This is so different from what may be considered a “natural response” to struggle. Instead of asking God, “Why?” and begging Him to fix everything, she surrenders. She offers to give her time, her heart, and even the precious gift of a son to the Lord. She was reverent, and she was faithful.

God heard Hannah’s genuine cry and responded by blessing her with a son, whom she named Samuel. Because of her faithfulness, God lifted Hannah’s burden. He provided her with peace and comfort, even before she conceived. In the same way, God is willing to carry our burdens. Although He may not always take away the struggle, He will walk us through every step if we are faithful.

I can’t help but wonder where I would be if God was not at the center of my struggles, guiding me through every “curveball.” Like Samuel, I am also blessed to have parents that led the way by their faithfulness to God in the hard times. If you are at a point in life where things aren’t going so great, I challenge you to reach towards the Lord. Instead of questioning, trust Him. Serve Him. God wants to take away your burdens, but you have to let Him into the struggle in order for Him to calm the storm.

Written by: Tamara Sturdivant
Edited by: De Ann Sturdivant

The Next Thing Now-Moving into Outer Space

Several years ago, while we were on a family vacation, I was a first time guest at church for the first time in a very long time. (As a pastor’s wife, I don’t have this opportunity very often. And when I do, it’s usually at a fellow pastor-friend’s church or my husband is guest speaking so the whole “first time guest” experience isn’t quite the same.)

On this particular Sunday, after we awkwardly found our way into the building, I parted ways with Aaron and fumbled around for the children’s wing. After traversing check-in procedures and getting my kids settled in, I attempted to find the correct Worship Center (yes…there was more than one.)

En route, I found the ladies room and locked myself in a stall where I promptly burst into tears. And that immediately made me feel angry and foolish, because I am a pastor’s wife for heaven’s sake! I’m just visiting a church! Why am I acting like this?!

It occurred to me that attending a church for the very first time is hard. And awkward. And uncomfortable. And people are rarely ever just visiting a church. They are making a life decision for themselves and their families.

I know you’re thinking, “Duh. Like I don’t know that. I’ve done that a dozen times!” And for what it’s worth, now, so many days, weeks, months or years after the fact, I hope your first time experience at Freedom was free of difficulty, awkwardness and discomfort…once you finally found a parking space.

And there it is. A parking lot. The last thing on earth anyone truly wants to be excited about raising funds for.

But that parking lot is the first thing a guest experiences at Freedom. THE. VERY. FIRST. THING.

And it’s not just for the first time guest.

It’s for that lady who’s been coming to Freedom for quite some time now, and has been through the most difficult year of her life. This past week, life has completely beat her up. And this Sunday, she just needs to be in church. With her friends. With her children. With her Jesus.

But she’s running late this morning and she pulls into the parking lot ten minutes after service has started.  There are no parking spots left. She could park over at the elementary school…and traipse her young children on this blistering, cold, messy January day across the sidewalk, down the driveway and into church.

Instead, in defeat, she decides to turn around and go home…as her kindergartener cries in the backseat because he was so excited to turn in his Buddy Barrel today to help meet one of the big BGMC Goals that Glo has set this year.

So, it’s not just expanding a parking lot. It’s not just big giving goals. It’s creating a place and an opportunity. For people. For you. For me. For your family. For that guy sitting across the worship center who is broken and lonely. For that person who just pulled into the lot who is on the verge of salvation.

Faith and sacrifice are often two sides of the same coin. If I have faith that God is going to do something big, often my first action step is to make a sacrifice. Our family is taking steps, cutting back, taking on special projects and finding creative ways to make money so that we can give sacrificially, too. We are standing together with you as we move forward into the next thing…now.

Written by: Jaime Hlavin

Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant

The Next Thing Now-SERVE

Today I want to share a little thought with you that has been nagging at me for quite a while now.  It’s a little two-word thought with big implications.

Something we do continually in Christendom is sing, pray, and even tearfully cry out for “more of the Holy Spirit.”  You do it.  I do it. We all do it together, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But one day, as I was crying out to God to let me experience more of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, I had this thought:

“What for?”

I had been meditating on one of my favorite sections of scripture, John 14-16, and I was becoming troubled by my reaction to something Jesus had said.  Jesus was telling the disciples that it was better for them that He goes away so that they could receive the Holy Spirit.  If you had asked me any time before if I would rather have the physical, flesh-and-bones Jesus walking and living beside me, or the Holy Spirit living within me, I would have answered that I’d rather have the Holy Spirit. I knew intellectually that Jesus had said it was better.  But this time, I forced myself to really face the reality of whether or not I really believed it was better.

I love Jesus.  I cannot express in words how badly I want to see him face to face, to hear what his voice sounds like, to laugh with him, to share a meal with him.  If Jesus physically lived with me, and spent every day with me, and taught me personally, would I ever feel distant from God?  Would I ever worry or be afraid?  Would I ever be lonely or discouraged?  Would I ever lack boldness?  Not likely. 

So I asked myself, “Honestly, can I really say that what I’ve experienced in my relationship with the Holy Spirit is better than that?”

I knew instantly that I had a problem.  My experience hadn’t been better than that.  To be honest, I was still choosing physical Jesus.  So either Jesus was wrong, or I didn’t have a right understanding about what kind of relationship was available to me with the Holy Spirit.

How could I experience more in this relationship?  How could he help me do the “greater things” Jesus had promised in the book of John?  To see what I was missing in my relationship with the Holy Spirit, I turned to the book of Acts. It didn’t take long for me to discover an interesting trend.

Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”  On the day of Pentecost, Peter, the recent three-time denier of Christ, preached the Gospel and 3000 people were saved (Acts 2.)  Later, after being arrested, “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit,” stood trial before the Jewish council and gave a defense of Christ that left them “astonished.”  Upon their release, the believers prayed, “and they all were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”  (Acts 4)

As displayed in scripture, the people who were experiencing the power and presence of the Holy Spirit were the people who were actually doing things. 

That day I had to face the harsh reality that I wasn’t really doing anything for Christ.  I went to church, asked God to give me more power, and then I did….nothing.  Could this be why I wasn’t experiencing the fullness of my relationship with the Holy Spirit?

On Sunday, Pastor Aaron pointed out that the only people who knew a miracle had taken place at the wedding (in John 2) were the people who were serving.  In the same way today, let us understand that the pathway to seeing “more of the Holy Spirit” at work in our lives is not found in a lifestyle of quiet church-going.  The call to follow Christ is not a call to comfortable, safe, consumption. It is a call to action.  If you want to experience more of the power of God, put yourself in a position where you need that power and see how God comes through.

The next time you find yourself in a place where you just don’t “feel God” anymore, the next time you’re crying out and asking for more power from the Holy Spirit, consider this:

What for?

Written by: Pastor Travis Buerky
Edited by: Brigit Edwards

The Next Thing Now-GROW

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3

If you give me a flower or a bouquet, I will kill it. I am not a gardener. I am terrible at tending to things if they don’t make noise when they aren’t taken care of or haunt me every waking moment. Plants fall in both of those categories. My desk is essentially a graveyard where innocently cut flowers have gone to die a lot quicker than they should. I. Am. Not. A. Grower.

 I cannot even begin to describe to you then, the peace and security this verse brings to me. To know that my inadequacies can be covered by the glory and goodness I know is almost unfathomable at times. No, God has never made any house plant of mine flourish against all odds, but He has done so with me many times. Whether I had planted myself at the bottom of an ocean of apathy, or in dry, hot sands of disobedience, He has taken me time and time again (once I am willing to tear up my roots) and brought me back to life. But more than living, He has made me come alive.

What’s so absolutely AMAZING about this little verse is that it has taught me that my failures and mistakes in this process of growing do NOT have to equal stunted growth. There’s no Spiritual Snakes n’ Ladders for every time we falter. God has provided so much through the Holy Spirit and the redemption of the Cross that we can be confident in our ability to grow as we serve Him.

To be open enough with people of faith in so many different stages of life is such a unique thing in the church world today, and I truly believe one of the things “His divine power has given us” is our congregation. It’s so encouraging to go to a church that is now embracing this idea. I get so excited talking about the “next thing now” because I imagine all of these people thriving in the spaces of life God has created for them, and helping one another find the tools needed for growth- no matter what that path of growth may look like.

Written by: Brianna Vanderveen

Edited by: De Ann Sturdivant

The Next Thing Now- CONNECT

John 13:34-35 states, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

 This verse can be a bit challenging. It’s easy to love those who love us, but what about everybody else? God instructs us to go far beyond loving friends and family. In fact, He commands us to love those we don’t even know (Hebrews 13:2.) Furthermore, the world will know we are His based on the love we show. In other words, how we treat others is a direct reflection of our relationship with Him. This is so important. Jesus is teaching us here that in order to reach people, we need to love them first.

I think we have all stepped foot into a place before where nothing was familiar—whether it be a classroom, a workplace, a new church, or someplace else. Regardless of the environment, it’s natural for one to desire to feel a part of the community. Likewise, we all know what it’s like to feel alone. As Christians, we have the opportunity to show God’s love to those that are feeling isolated and detached from their environment. Sometimes this can be easier said than done. However, it’s so important that we choose to not grow so comfortable with the familiar that we miss these moments. Jesus created us to connect with others, and love them like we love ourselves. When it comes down to it, Jesus loves us all equally even though we sometimes like to think differently. Therefore, it’s time for us to see others with the value that He sees.

It is part of our church’s vision to carry out this principle, as it is vital to our growth both personally and outwardly. I challenge you, this year, to get a little uncomfortable. Go out of your way to love, care for, and welcome someone you have never met before.  Practice hospitality. One of the strongest human desires is to feel loved, and God demonstrated His love for us greater than any man ever could have. Therefore, let us follow His example and show the world how much He loves each and every one of His children.

Written by: Tamara Sturdivant

Edited by: Jenelle Kelly