Leah Rade

Salvation Is A Fact, Not Just A Feeling

Pastor Dave's message yesterday was awesome and if you missed it, you can check it out when the message is uploaded to our website by clicking here.  Meanwhile, I have some thoughts, especially for newer believers.  It is very normal for a new believer to experience emotional elation after putting their trust in Jesus Christ.  However, it is unreasonable to expect sustained emotional elation and when this happens, which it will, doubts come into our thinking. 

Our relationship with God cannot be based on emotion, but on what He tells us through His Word, the Bible.  Remembering that you've committed yourself to the finished work of Jesus' death on the cross, gives confidence for you to continue your relationship with Him.  Philippians 1:6 tells us, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Here are some other "facts" that can build confidence and I encourage you to look them up in an easy-to-read translation, like the NIV, then bookmark each:

Romans 8:38-39
2 Corinthians 5:21
2 Timothy 1:12
1 Peter 1:5
1 John 5:13

Independence Day Pondering

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  ~Thomas Paine

Your Hidden Curriculum

I read an article by John Ortberg a couple of weeks ago which has really impacted my thinking.  The premise of the article is that institutions, businesses and people have a "formal curriculum" and a "hidden curriculum."

• The formal curriculum is intentional.
• The hidden curriculum is inherent.
• The formal curriculum is obvious.
• The hidden curriculum is subtle.

What you learn in the formal curriculum often evaporates after your finals. Sometimes even earlier.

What you learn in the hidden curriculum lasts a lifetime.

If there is a contradiction between what's taught by the formal curriculum and what's taught by the hidden curriculum, people always believe the hidden curriculum. Always.

The article continues in the context of church life:

We have a formal curriculum. It gets taught in classrooms and preached on weekends. It gets sung from the stage and facilitated in small groups. The formal curriculum is what gets taught when we study Romans, or learn about contemplative prayer, or take a spiritual gifts inventory.

But we have a hidden curriculum. Who gets fawned over, and who gets ignored? How do the staff and leaders get along when they're off the platform and think nobody's looking? How does a small group respond when someone shares a problem that is untidy and unresolved? Do leaders respond with panic or irritation or confidence or gentleness when a problem strikes? When there is a conflict, do people face it head on or go into avoidance mode? Does the church staff run on fear?

A couple told me recently of visiting a church in a city they'd just moved to. It was a church that prides itself on reaching unchurched people. But it was clear that the hip and the cool and the artists were prized above all there. The formal curriculum said God hangs with everybody. But the hidden curriculum said don't expect to get too close to the core if you tuck your shirt in.  John Ortberg

This really got me thinking about New Horizon Church?  I know our "formal curriculum. Do we have a hidden curriculum?  The article got me thinking about myself?  I know what I believe and I can tell people what I believe...Does my behavior mirror my "formal curriculum?  What are we really teaching?

Lot's to chew on here.  Check out the article here.

Rebelling Against My Indifference

I've been blogging and following blogs for over three years and recently have become very bored. Bored with my own blog and frankly, bored with the blogs that I read.  Hence, no recent blog posts.  Several of you have commented or sent emails asking if I'm okay or asked for reasons behind my blog abandonment. Thank you.

Your concern caused me to pause and realize my selfishness.  Several of you have helped me see that just because I'm bored or don't feel that I have anything to say, doesn't mean that some of you aren't interested.

So, I'm rebelling against my own indifference and promise to post more regularly.  Whether or not you read it, it's up to you, not me.  Thank you again for pushing me beyond myself.

Too Comfortable?

I just read this article from one of the small groups newsletters and, wow, check it out...

Is there anything simpler or more natural than members of a church looking out for their own interests? We like to park conveniently. We want our pew available each week. We expect our kind of music to be sung—not that other ungodly stuff! We like things our way, to our convenience and taste.    How easy it is to make church nice and comfortable for us! And how wrong!    Why? Because church isn’t meant to be comfortable. No pioneering, radical, countercultural organization has the leisure to be comfortable. A country club can be comfortable. A golfing foursome can be comfortable. A family gathering can be comfortable. But a church—that culture-shaking, eternity-changing band Jesus commissioned to turn the world upside down—doesn’t have the charter to be comfortable. It’s commissioned as activist for the kingdom of God!    My pleasure, my ease, my way are really not important. God’s glory, God’s tasks, others’ benefit—that’s the reason for the church. The apostle Paul makes clear that Christians must treat one another as more important than themselves. They are to be “put out” by the interests of others. The church is not my personal vending machine. Instead it is a lifesaving station to reach out to those in peril needing to be made safe.    How does that happen? When leaders decide their responsibility is to follow seriously the One who came to seek and save the lost.    That, however, gets expensive, when the church has to add parking and pews and programs for those not yet in the church. That becomes difficult when the comfortable become discomfited by change. That becomes messy when the sacred mixes with the profane. Granted.    But Jesus emptied himself, humbled himself, and died on a cross for us—and that is to be our mindset (Phil. 2:5-11). As leaders we must proclaim to the comfortable the message of Christ. And then refocus our thinking and strategy on the outsider, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

—James D. Berkley

Why Self-Deprecation Drives Me Crazy

Not too many things drive me crazy.  However, when people belittle or undervalue themselves (self-deprecation) in the name of humility...aaack!

I've been reading a lot of Frederick Buechner lately and here is how he defines humility:
    "Humility is often confused with the polite self-deprecation of saying you're not much of a bridge player when you know perfectly well you are.  Conscious or otherwise, this kind of humility is a form of gamesmanship.
    If you aren't much of a bridge player, you're apt to be rather proud of yourself for admitting it so humbly.  This kind of humility is a form of low comedy.

    True humility doesn't consist of thinking ill of yourself but of not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you'd be apt to think of anybody else.  It is the capacity for being no more and no less pleased when you play your own hand well than when your opponents do."

Wishful Thinking, A Seeker's ABC, Frederick Buechner

Thoughts?

Simple Question

I've been asking this simple question of leaders in some leadership meetings lately and it's generated a lot of conversation - When did Jesus become real to you?

I'm interested in your response - When did Jesus become real to you?

ESV Journaling Bible

I'm really excited about my new ESV Journaling Bible, and when I'm excited, you know I'm going to share.  Journaling is an important discipline for me.  Writing thoughts about scripture or prayer is very powerful, as when I reflect on those written thoughts, I am reminded how God works and speaks to me through Scripture and prayer.

I discovered this new tool a few weeks ago and absolutely love it.  Now, I can record my thoughts and study comments in one place.  It has added renewed excitement to my study and quiet time, so I want to share it with you.

Check it out and let me know if you decide to use this tool.

Lots of Life Going On

Sorry about my absence...lots of life stuff going on.  Let me share a few of them with you.  First, last Sunday, Michael, our youngest child (hardly a child), graduated from Wheaton College.  To say we we proud is understated, as he not only excelled academically, graduating with two degrees; but more importantly, he excelled in his character and personal growth.

Our trip to Chicagoland included a stop in the Columbus, Ohio area to visit our daughter, Alana.  It was so fun to see her all nested in.  Her apartment was very "Alana-esque", which is very comforting to a mom.  From Ohio we traveled to Chicagoland to spend 3 whirl-wind days celebrating with friends and family, the achievements of our children.  It was awesome to meet some of Michael's beloved professors who invested so much of themselves in our son.

Monday was crazy as we picked up Michael from his campus house and drove out of Wheaton.  It was a new experience for us, as we had never brought Michael home from school, always flying him home.  We dropped Alana off at O'Hare airport and hit the road, heading toward Cincinnati, where we planned to stop and visit my dad.

We arrived in Cincinnati late in the afternoon, after losing that hour traveling from central time to eastern time.  It was a bit sad to see dad, who suffered a massive stroke last May.  It had been nine months since we visited last, and sadly, there has been no more progress in his recovery, as he fully relies on aids and my sister to care for his every need. 

We arrived home at 4:30am, Tuesday morning, frantically unpacking the van so we could return it to RDU before 5:00am, which surprisingly we did.  We fell into bed at 6:00am and slept for 3 hours or so, then I came into the church.  It's always an awesome feeling to miss your colleagues and ministry that much!

Since Tuesday I've been eyebrow deep in ministry planning, as well as meditating on our upcoming series, So You're Dead...Now What?, which begins tomorrow.  I've been praying for our pastor, as I know this series, while bringing comfort, also brings pain. 

Preparing my heart and mind for the upcoming series, I came across this comment by Billy Graham on Heaven: "Heaven will be a place in which its inhabitants will be freed from the fears and insecurities that plague and haunt us in the present life...We will be free from the economic and financial pressures that burden us down here, free from the fear of personal and physical harm...There will be no fear of personal failure...Our relationship with Him will be intimate and direct.  I'm looking forward to that glorious day of going to heaven."

Not sure about death?  Heaven?  Join us tomorrow at 9:30 or 11:00am for Dave's first message in this series, Death.