Christ Community
On June 10th, we left the life we lived for three years and began the transition into the yet life unknown. New church, new city, new schools, new friends, new neighborhood, new job, new house, new bills, new everything. I knew it was going to be hard moving to a city where I didn't know anyone especially after coming from having developed so many incredible friendships in Naples.
We moved into our new house on June 30. Knowing that we needed to find a church, and find one fast, we set out on that first Sunday to begin our search for a home church. It was tough y'all. Before Christ Community Church the biggest congregation we've ever participated in was no more than 75 people, this church has the capability to seat 1000! Overwhelmed doesn't begin to explain what I was experiencing. I was lonely, terrified, sad, you name it I was it. I wound up crying through the entire praise and worship (about 30 minutes) and then again during the closing prayer. At the end of church, we just sat there and Sean gets a tap on his shoulder. This beautiful soul asks if we are new. We say yes, very new. He introduces himself, Jack, and Sean introduces us to which he replies "I have a grandson named Adin, how do you spell your name?" Adin spells it out and Jack replies, "Wow, that's how he spells his name too!" (A side story: Sean's grandpa, after whom we named Adin and who Sean was so very close to, had been nicknamed Jack by his family and friends. We lost Grandpa about 10 years ago before Adin was born, but he died knowing that if the baby just beginning to take shape in my belly was a boy, he would certainly carry his name.) So, Sean and I were pretty stunned at this point and I for sure knew that our Faithful Father was looking out for us in this hard time. The following week we went back to Christ Community, and there was Jack at the end of the service looking for us. He said he wanted to take us out to lunch. We were experiencing yet another emotionally draining day, but accepted because we didn't want to stand in God's way and what He was doing through Jack.
Fast forward a couple of months, some good stuff, some bad stuff, some happy stuff and some sad stuff. Each day is better than the last, yet some are just better because we got out of bed. It's rough, I can't say much more than that. Change is hard, it stretches and challenges us. You know what else it does, it makes us remember His faithfulness to overfill our cups when we least expect it. Each Sunday we attend, the Spirit touches our hearts through the sermon, through the people and their powerful prayers, through it all. So, again I fast forward to this past Thursday. I attend the mom's group at Christ Community where we break into small groups. I'm the new one in my group, the other ladies know each other and have for quite a few years. I tell them my story about how we found Christ Community. One lady, who is an elder with her husband for the church and is choked up at this point, asks me, "Do you know who Jack and Barb are?" I say no. She goes on to tell me that they are the founders of Christ Community. This church was built out of their living room, it is because of them and a handful of other couples that we have what we have today, and the story I just told them was a terrific example of what the heart of Christ Community looks like. Wow. Just wow.
So, today, September 11th, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Christ Community Church's existence. We learned of Jack and Barb's hearts for a handful of couples who were struggling and desired a church closer to their community on the Westshore. We walked through three different buildings Christ Community called home over the last 50 years. We witnessed a now pastor talk about knowing Jack and Barb as a child while listening to our lead pastor say upon meeting Jack, "Jack was like Dick Clark to the body of Christ!" We witnessed the fruit of 50 years of loving labor in the Lord. We witnessed most importantly the grace and faithfulness of the Lord through two servants who responded when called. Pastor Hess read from Hebrews 13:7, "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." He added to the end, "...be as bold in your adventures as they were in theirs."
As I stood there applauding for Jack and Barb, my cup overfilled for these two very special people and once again I am reassured that the Lord is taking care to put us exactly where we need to be. Great is thy Faithfulness.
Comments
Luke 18 section 18-25 says: A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Matthew 5 section 43-48 says: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In Old Testament, the Jewish people and their ancestors were given the Law to observe. First, What Adam and Eve should observe was that they could not eat the fruits from the tree of wisdom. Then, their son Cain was told that he should not kill. As sins became increased, the laws were also added more. Up to the generation of Moses, the Law in Old Testament was given to Israelites. We know that the Law is good and the Law is used to punish people who commit sins, but people cannot obey the Law because the sinful spirits are in people. Even that we know stealing and giving false testimony are sinful, but greedy and pride spirits in us drive us to do sinful things. So as Old Testament prophesied we need to get rid of our sinful nature from our spirits.
Jeremiah 31 section 31-33 says: "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Ezekiel 36 section 24-27 says: "'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
The prophecies are fulfilled when Jesus begins to teach love. The two greatest commandments are " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Love is above the Law and if people have love they are free from the law of sin and death. If people who are full of love will not think about stealing or giving false testimony but are merciful and they feed hungry people or give thirsty people something to drink or invite strangers in or clothe people who need clothes. The Law is for people who commit sins. Nobody will say that he will get reward because he does not steal before. But love is the grace we get. And with love we will get eternal life.
Romans 13 section 8-10 says: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Luke 17 section 20-21 says: Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say,' Here it is,' or ' There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
John 4 section 23-24 says: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."