GUEST BLOGGER: Trevor Charles

“Life is a journey, not a destination…” This is a well known quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that many are familiar with. It’s about living in the moment, not getting caught up with what you have yet to achieve, but enjoying the experience.  However, I think this aptly can be applied to our spiritual life as well. The journey is as important as the destination. When it comes to spiritual growth, one might argue that there is no final destination, at least not in this life!

Not long ago, Rich (Connections Pastor at Fellowship Church) wrote about how when it comes to spiritual knowledge, we all have more to learn.  None of us have reached the “destination”. I have always considered myself to be “spiritual.” I grew up in the Catholic Church, was confirmed, taught catechism school for 3 years to elementary kids, and was an altar server.  I initially thought it was important to know all the stories, know all the prayers, and know all the routines as a means of demonstrating my religious prowess. As I got older, despite having my list “checked off”, I still questioned what I believed.  I knew that I believed there was something more out there, but entering middle school and high school, I was also trying to check off the lists in science and history class; Darwin’s Theory, archeology’s revelations of human development, carbon dating, Big Bang Theory, cro magnon ancestry, and more.  As a young man, all the way through college, I was inundated with the pressure to prove my opinions with evidence, research, expert citations, and evaluate my sources. In fact, as a high school history teacher now, it is still one of the critical skills my department is tasked with ingraining each student with before graduation.  However, while going through my adolescence, at the same time I felt the need to research my spiritual life as well. I thought I could do this by seeking out other religions. I spent a couple years with Jehovah’s Witnesses, then attended Lutheran services, after that I popped into Unitarian services, buddhist temples, a synagogue, and even went to a few Mormon services.  By the time I went off to college, I had come to the conclusion that I was spiritual, but didn’t buy into any mainline religion. Each time I got involved with one, I would research the religion, find perceived faults, and move on to the next option.

Two years ago, my family moved back to the south side of Middletown and we were invited to come to Fellowship.  I initially was as interested in the family babysitting services as much as I was looking to renew my faith. However, the friendliness, the devotion, and over abundance of seemingly happy people peaked my interest again.  I have to admit, that despite the fact that I had been taking my family to catholic services for the past 5 years, it was because I wanted them to learn about religion and be spiritual, much like I had. Although, initially a bit uncomfortable at first, I was quickly disarmed by the powerful, positive, and relevant message of the weekly service, and the church community.  So, back to my research routine I went.

Perhaps it was Bible based messages, perhaps it was the growth groups, and perhaps its the fact that I’m 15 years older… but I realized I had made a grave error in how I was looking at the spiritual journey.  In my past, I was looking for the “evidence” for religion in the dogma, routines, and history; yet for a majority of the time had ignored perhaps the most obvious piece available: The Bible. I started reading the Bible, writing down quotes, and asking questions, much like I do for a textbook or article I’m trying to learn and analyze.  When I came up with questions, I asked church leaders and family members what their thoughts were. I read multiple books on the evidence for historical accuracy regarding Jesus, much like I would George Washington or Julius Caesar. The more I read, the more I analyzed, the more I questioned, the more I believed.

Coming from and working in the world of academia, we constantly regard religions as something that is faith based, whereas science and history are something that has to be proven empirically and researched.  This creates a dichotomy that implies faith isn’t researched or inherently not fact based. But when put to the same tests, held by the same standards, and analyzed to the same lengths, I have been hard pressed to find any document that passes with more flying colors than the New Testament, especially when given its antiquity.  

To circle back to Emerson, my journey has never been more rewarding than it is right now.  I’m currently working on my second read through of the Bible, and without surprise find so much more to connect with the more I read.  My challenge to those exploring faith is to read, and do the research without making assumptions, the same you would any article or book in question.  When you start equitably applying the benchmarks of credibility, bias, and content (the 3 pillars we teach for evaluating a source), I have found it incredibly rewarding to know my faith built on the buttress of high historical standards and research, not a “leap” or presumptions.  

I have been pretty excited lately in seeing all that God has been doing inside of our church. A month ago we challenged FCer’s to read the Bible in one year. 172 people took on the challenge! This will change every one of their lives forever. It has certainly changed mine. Scheduling time with God each day is a ‘game changer’. What you’re scheduling each day in your life communicates to others what’s most important. Exercise, hobbies, Netflix binge watching, video games, prayer, reading the Bible or a devotional, getting together with other believers in a group? No matter what it is, it tells others a lot about you.

As of late, I have had this thirst to be extremely authentic in my faith….the real deal. I’m not there yet, but I’m trying! As I claim to be a Christian, I want to live it out. The ‘proof is in the pudding’…..what does that even mean?!? Just thought it fit there.

If I want to be all that Jesus has for me, I better spend time with Him. The same can be said if I want to be an astronaut, I’d probably want to be spending time at NASA. To be what we wish to be takes being in the right places. My faith has grown immensely by being in church on Sundays, having quiet time daily with God and even attending groups throughout the week. Being with other like-minded people who are trying to grow in their faith as well has really helped my journey. It also has given me a bunch of close friends who I can go to for encouragement.

Our FC Groups are starting next week. These are usually an hour long and meet once a week for 10 weeks. These groups really change the week! Check them out here. Many of us leave Sundays at church and enter toxic environments at work. It’s great to get another serving of sanity and love on a weekday. I highly recommend these groups. The leaders are incredible people that love Jesus and love people. They also love the church and understand the importance of making disciples.

It’s your decision. It’s been said that we are ridiculously in control of so much more than we think. We can decide today to be a ‘game changer’, a ‘difference maker’ and most importantly, a true Jesus follower. It’s your move.

It’s interesting how often we ‘tiptoe’ into each Christmas. Most of you have heard the ‘offensive’ greeting of saying “Merry Christmas” before. One may rebuke, “It’s Happy Holidays!” We are in a fascinating time where a kind gesture can be misinterpreted as offensive. As a Christian, if someone was to come up to me and say, “Happy Hanukkah!”, I would not get upset……in fact, I may not even correct them. It was a nice gesture, I’ll take it. 

For me, Christmas and Easter are opportunities to really celebrate my faith, not to offend. The fact is, we don’t celebrate these two holidays without this faith. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ while Easter celebrates Him raising from the dead. So I would say if any two holidays were ok to talk about Jesus, these may be them. Can St. Patrick’s day really be celebrated without mentioning St. Patrick…….ok, bad example….not sure if he’s ever mentioned. Could be the alcohol intake. 

This Christmas (less than 2 weeks away), I will again go into the holiday feeling extremely blessed and joyful that I get to celebrate a God who loves me and you unconditionally. A God who will never leave you or forsake you. A God who gives me an overwhelming sense of peace in an absolutely crazy world. A God who has blessed me with so much that I want to tell the world of His saving grace. A God that is just waiting for you to say YES to Him.

On Sunday December 23rd(9:00 & 10:30AM) and Sunday Christmas Eve (5:00PM) Fellowship Church will have a one-hour service celebrating Jesus. We’ll start with some upbeat music, a skit, a story for all the children right on stage, a candlelit rendition of Silent Night and a short relevant message on the hope of Christmas. There will also be coffee and cookies. This has been the start to my families Christmas for almost 20 years and I wouldn’t change a thing. I really hope you’ll join us. 

I’ve been involved in the church for almost 20 years. I’ve seen a lot. In those years I’ve seen so many people take great steps in their faith. I have seen hundreds of people accept Jesus Christ into their heart, many go public with their faith and be baptized, and many serve in many different capacities. 

I’ve also seen people come into our building with more of a ‘what’s in it for me?’ attitude. I get it, it’s how we enter most buildings – movie theaters, restaurants and stores. We want to leave satisfied and happy with the way everything went – for us. The thing is, church was not created for ‘me’, it was created for ‘you’. The more ME you bring into church, the less you understand what the church was supposed to be. Yes, it’s a place to be ‘fed’ and to learn more about Christ. That’s the consumerism in it. But it’s not conditional feeding. We can’t go into a church each Sunday in hopes of them talking about what we want to talk about (most people like to talk about the stuff they’re not struggling with). It’s a big crowd and everyone is in a different place. The remarkable thing that God continually does each Sunday is to ignite people to take next steps. I cannot tell you how often so many people on Sunday swear the Pastor was talking directly to them! God does that. 

Here is my ask for all of you who read this and attend a church. These are some great ways to help the cause and build the church…..the church that Jesus died for:

1.    Come with an open mind and open heart. Leave the ‘junk’ at the door. Don’t allow anything to distract you from what God wants you to leave with.

2.    Go each week. Don’t allow the world to keep you from growing in your faith. Don’t allow children’s coaches to have a say in your child’s faith. Don’t allow that extra hour of sleep to keep you from the much needed one hour of God. Make it a habit. You won’t regret it.

3.    Get to know others at your church. Don’t wonder why no one is introducing themselves to you, you introduce yourself to them. There are great people in churches today (there are also some that are a bit different) Love them all. Stop taking the easy road by hanging out with the same ‘clique’ each Sunday. When first time guests come into a church full of pockets of people so consumed by their conversations, enough not to even look up, chances are they’ll go elsewhere looking for churches less ‘cliquey’. 

4.    What works for you may not work for others. The message you loved may not have had as much of an impact on someone else. The song that brought someone to tears may have no effect on you. What wasn’t meaningful to you may have been profoundly meaningful to others. God is doing things each week, trust that.

5.    When you feel as though you’ve shown enough grace, show more. People are broken. We’re all some sort of messed up. Let’s stop knocking each other down. Let’s start assuming the best in others instead of assuming the worst. Let’s understand that until we walk in other’s shoes, we really have no clue. People are a certain way because of a certain upbringing, their surroundings, their previous hurts, and all that’s happened along the way. Our role is to help them. We, as a church, welcome everyone here in hopes they get introduced to the ONE, Jesus Christ, who can take care of all the baggage they’re carrying, all the hurt and pain they’ve been through and all the mistakes and sins they’ve made along the way. 

I see a bright future for the church. I’ve seen all it has done for so many. In fact, there really is nothing like a church family. So how about you?

•  Are you coming with an open mind and heart?

• Are you coming each week? If not, what is the reason and is it something you’re ok with. (I get it, some of you work on Sundays, some kids sports ‘promised’ no Sundays, etc) 

• Are you getting to know different people at church or are you a bit guilty of staying in your comfort crowd? 

• Showing an abnormal amount grace?

We were driving the other day and suddenly a guy on his phone swerves into our lane and was inches from smashing into the passenger side. The funny thing is he still isn’t aware he did it. This must’ve been a very important phone call, text or social media post! These incidents constantly remind me of the fact that death can happen in a second.

I’ve learned that everything today changes ‘on a dime.’ I’ve done some funerals lately and see the brevity of life. I’ve seen how quickly it all happened with so many families. It breaks my heart. When one is diagnosed with cancer, on to hospice care, then it’s over……on a dime. It may have felt slow in hospice but looking back it was fast. I’ve seen it with my own mom and several other loved ones. My mom was diagnosed with cancer, went into a very short remission and then it’s over. Cancer may just be the biggest play on emotions ever. Hope to hopeless, hope to hopeless, and so on and so on.

But there is the hope. There is something else I see each time we have to process through this. I see life at a standstill. I believe this is God designed. We all sit at a funeral or a family or friend’s house afterwards trying to digest what just happened. It’s in those moments where we laugh, cry and reminisce. We embrace a bit longer and we leave with an intentionality to get together more often.

The world we live in today gradually speeds up and only you can slow it down. It shouldn’t take death and tragedy to help us pause. We need to schedule the ‘lull’. We need to create the margin. Otherwise we regret. We regret not scheduling time with loved ones. We regret allowing our jobs to take precedent over our families. We regret looking at Facebook before we spend time with God. We regret allowing our hectic schedules to come before the One (Jesus) who allowed us to live these hectic schedules.

Today, let’s slow things down. In fact, I appreciate the fact that you slowed down enough to read this. Today, lets see life as temporary (James 4:14) and take advantage of every minute we have to do the things we’ll never regret. Let’s do things that make us forget to check our phone.

Most of us have a moral compass of sorts, or at least I hope so. What’s ‘crossing the line’ with you may not be ‘crossing the line’ for others. I have found that the more I had ‘crossed the line’ in my life, the less I saw it anymore. 

What is this line? Well, to me it’s a decision you make that deep down, you know better. It’s the movie that you watched where you felt rotten afterwards. It’s the flirty comment you made to a co-worker even though you’re married. It’s talking about your friend to another friend and acting as though it’s not gossip. It’s telling your boss you’ll “work” from home as you catch up on laundry, mowing the lawn and to-do lists instead. We all have a ‘line’ and most of us at some point have crossed it. 

Although as Romans 3:23 says,‘everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard’, I do believe there is hope. I’ve learned along the way as I pursued God more and more and studied His Word (the Bible) that there are many ways to combat this. I’ve learned that in order to avoid crossing these ‘lines’, we need to set some boundariesor as Andy Stanley, a Pastor down in Atlanta called it, a guardrail. Yes, a guardrail is damaging to a vehicle but it keeps the vehicle from worse or even catastrophic consequences. 

Here are some examples of boundaries or guardrails:

• One who has a tendency to drink too much should not be in an atmosphere where they specialize in serving drinks (a bar or liquor store)
• One who has a tendency to look at inappropriate images (a porn problem) should never have access to a computer behind closed doors. A computer in the most occupied room works. There are also programs like Covenant Eyes that can help here. 
• One who tends to talk about others (gossip) should have a close friend in their life who calls them out on this and helps them along.

All of these guardrails or boundaries work best with an accountability partner. One who you can talk openly to and one who will pray for you consistently. James 5:15 says “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”Some of us who follow Christ see Him as an ‘invisible god’ who we feel is not really paying attention to our failures or lapses in judgment. This is why it is so beneficial to have an an actual accountability personin our life that will check on us and ask the tougher questions. 

Here’s the thing, all of this is not easy. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, who was absolutely sold out for Christ, and who knew more than most struggled with sin. Paul says in Romans 7:18-21“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.  But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.” 

We are all born into sin. If you have any children, you see this right from the start. “Mine, mine…!” We didn’t teach them that…they were born with that. Our job is to help them get away from that! That is what scripture is all about. There is this wonderful Book, The Bible, that is full of practical ways of living a life more fulfilling, more relational, more purposeful, and more loving. This book has changed my life. I know who I once was and I know what Christ has done to me through His Word and I’m so thankful. Yes, I have a lot to work on but as I lean into Him daily, He’s lessening the load.

I encourage you all today to draw the line. Become aware of that line. Commit to not crossing it, and I promise you, it will change your life.   

GUEST BLOGGER : RANDY SARNO

Everyone believes in something. Even atheists have to have a belief in their disbelief of religion. Many religions are guidelines to how you need to act or think or even worship in this world. Christianity is the belief that we are loved no matter how hard we fall and have been cleansed of our past and future sins because God sent Jesus who had to die on the cross. "This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins"(1 John 4:10). That verse can overwhelm the mind thinking about how much we as Christians are loved no matter what we think of ourselves. 

     Unfortunately we are surrounded by a 'see it to believe it' mentality by others as soon as we enter this world. Even the apostles were subject to these thoughts. Thomas, known as the twin, was very loyal to Jesus while in his company. When Jesus was setting out to resurrect Lazarus in Judea a few of the other apostles complained about almost being stoned the last time they were there but Thomas replied "Let's go too-and die with Jesus" (John 11:16). Thomas was ready to die for the cause he believed in at that time. Thomas was always a little worried about the future and would question Jesus about following him when he left even after Jesus would repeatedly ask to trust him. "We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?"(John 14:5). Not to long after though Jesus would be crucified, resurrected, and then seen by his followers without Thomas being present and his disbelief gave him the nickname Doubting Thomas.  

     On the evening of the resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples. However, Thomas was not present at the time. Even though Jesus foretold the event and Thomas was present for many miracles he refused to believe. Thomas stated "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side"(John 20:25). Thomas would not even accept a visit from Jesus as genuine unless he looked and touched the result of the crucifixion on the body. For his doubts and unbelief Jesus waited eight days to let worry and wonder fill Thomas's heart. When the time was right Jesus appeared, showed him the wounds, and told Thomas "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me"(John 20:29). Jesus never had to show himself to Thomas, but he did to prove the everlasting love God has for all his children no matter how much doubt they have. It has been reported that Thomas did keep his faith and traveled to India where he had success preaching the Good News but was also martyred there for his faith.  

     Today we have the choice to believe without seeing. We can put on the armor of God towards the world. We can live in joy knowing that whatever happens if we follow Jesus there is a better life ahead. Faith is the base of things we hope for, the product of the things yet to be seen. The world will say you need to see it to believe it but God's word reminds us if you believe it you can see it come to pass. We need to look through the eyes of faith not just what is right in front of us.Instead of thinking I can not believe a miracle is here unless I see it or touch it,  if you believe in the miracle first then you will see it. That is the evidence that you are in faith. 

Sunday I shared a message about the importance of serving called, “Flip Flops”.  My desire was to convey that we as followers of Jesus were saved to serve.  That in order to live and love like Jesus, we need to engage in serving. 

I’m so thrilled at the response of so many at Fellowship who decided to take a step in service!  I know that your lives will be different because you did.

One of the the mindsets we battle most when it comes to stepping into service is our own feeling of inadequacy.  Can I really make a difference?  After all, we deeply know our weaknesses and shortcomings better than anyone.  We can see others who appear more talented and outgoing stepping up, but maybe not ourselves.  

What if God wants to shape your significance through your service? I want to encourage you to trust God to step into service here at Fellowship.  God knows and understands your potential more than you do.  He loves you and believes in you and has placed you in this local church for a reason.  

So if you don’t trust yourself, trust God and see where He can take you. How He wants to write your story, and uncover gifts and talents you never knew you had.  

You can do this!  Check out the opportunities we have HERE and join the team today! We also have many opportunities to serve at our LAST BLAST. You can click HERE to sign up that.