As the Calendar year is drawing to a close, I’ve been thinking about these past 12 months, what they looked like, what happened in them, and what we can take away from it all going forward into 2014. After I’d truly thought about it, I came up with a succinct statement that I feel sums up the year fairly well. “It was a year like any other.” Now, before you start wondering what kind of funk I’m in to make that kind of a statement about the past year, let me explain my rational for the statement itself. I started off thinking about the events that have transpired globally, regionally, etc. There were bombings, school shootings, terrorist attacks, financial woes, rampant diseases, you get the point. I thought about the needs of our city. The homeless were still homeless. The needy were still needy. The poor were still poor, and my heart was being moved for them. All in all, I realized that not much was vastly different then the previous years. What it all boils down to is that one thing is exactly the same year after year after year: we need Jesus. No matter what the calendar shows, no matter how many days and weeks may change, the one constant that it will never reveal is that this world is in desperate need of Jesus. Now before you spiral into depression over the last year, let me shine some incredible light on what might seem like a tragic tale. The good news is that God, as in the days of old, is raising up an army, a generation, and a people to boldly and unashamedly take the light of Jesus Christ into this world. That’s where you and I come in. This year, God has been building something in the hearts of men and women across the globe and in this region as no exception. He’s been preparing us to carry His love and be the hands and feet as we embrace the unloved and the broken. This, church, is the brilliant goodness of what the Lord has done in His glory. He’s brought us together to be more than a building, more than a congregation, and more than the sum of our parts. He’s built champions. So yes, this year may on paper look like any other year did. Bought a seedling that is planted in the ground may appear the same way for a season. Then the new season comes and what a difference it makes. Our calender year is coming to a close and a new season is beginning. Get ready church, because this next year will be a year when the unseen becomes visible, where what was done in secret springs forth, where the internal shaping of our hearts breaks forth into the external movement of people reaching out to a lost world that is crying out for help. In other words, next year will be a year unlike any other. -Pastor Joe

Living in Saint Louis, you learn to expect one constant: The weather will change. It seems like you finally get accustomed to whatever the current temperature is, and then in a split second, it’s completely different. This year, I think winter has arrived in a hurry. We were in the 50?s and 60?s one day, and the next, down into the 20?s with snow. I remember one time when I was younger, that my aunt from Virginia was coming to visit. She asked my dad, “What kinda apparel should I be packing for your weather right now?” His response, “Oh you know, t-shirts, jeans, and a heavy winter jacket.” But that’s not the funny part. As will not shock any true resident of Saint Louis, she actually used both the T-shirts and the jacket in the same week. Some of you, well, most of you actually, are probably rather unhappy about the colder temperatures, the snow, etc. I personally enjoy it. (I know, I know. I’m strange) If it’s spring you’re after, you’ve got about 4 months to go unfortunately. That however has me thinking about a similar conversation that occurred a very long time ago.

You see, the Disciples had caught up with Jesus as He was talking to the Samaritan woman. The conversation that followed went like this: “Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:27-35

What we end up reading is an example of opposite focuses. The disciples were trying to find out if Jesus had food. They were focusing on the externals. (food, clothing, etc.) Jesus on the other hand was concerned about this woman He was talking to and her spiritual condition. He was after the internals. We have a natural tendency as humanity to focus on our current situation, our present needs, and plan for the future according to those things. But Jesus, in a perfect display of love for this world, is far more interested in what is here and now: the Harvest. The natural may not scream that it’s time to reach out to people, but the spiritual tells a very different story. In the words of Jesus, “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” In other words, you’re waiting for things to look right according the externals. Don’t worry about those. Look with the eyes of your heart because the time is now! As a church, we’re taking bold steps and decidedly walking out something that would terrify most: we’re choosing to stop looking at the externals. My desire is that we would be united in that regard. Let’s stop focusing on what our eyes see and pay more attention to what the Eyes of Jesus are seeing. Let’s be known as those who cared far more about people than buildings, programs, and the rest. It’s in that place, that positioning of our hearts, that we will see God do more in, and through us, than anywhere else. There’s not 4 months left church. The time is now. – Pastor Joe

If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard someone say at some point in your life, “It’s easier to take the path of least resistance.” More often then not, we use that phrase to talk about the battles we face on a daily basis. Maybe it’s relational, or issues at work, with family, etc. In any case, it’s often the easiest approach to life that we could possibly take. That doesn’t always mean it’s the right path, but rather the easiest one. Most of us, if we’re being honest, probably live with that mentality more often then not. We don’t want to fight and put up with the battle for the potential greater outcome. We’d rather follow what is easier with a less fulfilling reward. Now compare that to following God. Ironically, you’ll find just the opposite. Most of us spend the majority of our times beating against doors that are shut, when God has already prepared, and opened, a door right behind us. All we’d have to do is turn around and walk through it. But instead, we choose too often to fight with futility against a path that God Himself has closed for us! We read in scripture, “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” Isaiah 22:22 The “He” in this verse is Jesus. And what does it say about the things Jesus decides to shut? No one can open it! And the things Jesus opens? No one can shut them! So I wonder, what would our lives look like if we followed the path of least resistance when it comes to the Will of God? What if, instead of fighting God to accomplish our own desires, instead of beating on doors that He’s shut for our own good, we turned our motivations toward simply walking in the favor of the things He’s opened for us? That’s my challenge for you today church. Don’t spend your time struggling to succeed at things that God isn’t blessing. Instead, look for His favor, look for His path’s, His Will, and follow it wholeheartedly. – Pastor Joe