Accountability Accountaschmility
Mar 7, 2011 Sacrificial Followers
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned in one of my posts that “Often the way we use accountability is a stupid thing because it doesn’t actually accomplish anything. But if used well, it can be a powerful tool.” It was suggested that I devote an entire post to this topic and I planned on doing so…until I read these two posts by Tullian Tchividjian. He so nailed everything that I was thinking and more so I decided it would be better to just link to his posts.
Please take the time to read both of these…
Reminders are more effective than Rebukes
Tags: accountability, life groups, mentorship, repentance, sin
Proclaimed from the Housetops
Oct 5, 2010 Sacrificial Followers
Jesus made this most remarkable statement:
Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. – Luke 12:2–3
Let that settle in for a minute.
At Riv, we’ve been going through a series on sins that we consider to be “Not That Bad.” There’s one sin I am not going to have time to hit on so I decided to do a little blog post on it instead:
It’s your Secret Sin.
You know the one. It’s the one you won’t tell anyone about but you continue to struggle with day after day. You think it’s better to hide it than to let it be known. Well, the truth is one day your sin will be known.
Michael Garrett explains how this could happen in a moment:
We don’t wake up one morning and say, gee I think I am going to die today, so let me get prepared. When this does happen, your death, your family will be going through all of your things. Your wife, your kids, maybe even some of your friends who are trying to help your wife cope with your death. They are going to go through your wallet, your cell phone, your bank accounts, all the files in your office or your “space” and your computer. They will see all your files, where you visited on the internet and EVERYTHING.
Secret sins never stay a secret forever. They may be found out in this life time or in the next, but they will be found out.
I have a past that is pretty messed up in a lot of ways. Having grown up in the Lansing area (and having never left the area), there are more and more people who show up around Riv who “knew me when.” They know who I was. My present life continues to be filled with temptations and struggle. Just like everyone else, I have pet sins that continually press in on my life and if I leave them unchecked, they will wreck me.
I’m sure the future will be no different. Like the Apostle Paul, I consider myself to be the “foremost of Sinners.”
That’s why I can’t let my temptations and those times I succumb to temptations remain a secret. Those very things I desire to keep secret are the very things I need help with. And you are just like me.
So let’s commit to dealing with our secret sins the same way we have been dealing with all the sins we have been talking about during this series:
Name Your Sin
Call it what it is: a sin. It’s a big deal and you can’t hide it anymore.
Apply the Gospel
Remember that Jesus died for that sin, he nailed it to the cross. If you are a Christian, he has already dealt with the eternal consequences for it, even though there may still be some earthly consequences. If you are not a Christian yet, Jesus offers you forgiveness if you will just turn toward him and away from your sin.
Apply the Word
Do a little Bible search to find some verses about the sin you are dealing with and memorize them.
Apply your Team
This the hard one. Come out of hiding and tell someone about your sin. There are people in my life who know all my dirty little secrets. There are people in my life that I call when I am facing some sort of strong temptation. You need people like that.
Apply Prayer
Along with your team, pray. Confess your sin to God and pray that he will help you to deal with it through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tags: forgiveness, repentance, secrets, sin
Awesome Story
Sep 13, 2010 Sacrificial Followers
A few weeks ago, our weekly handout dealy at Riv featured a story from Brittany Jozwiak about what God has done in her life. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to read it, I wanted to post it here. It’s so cool to read stuff like this!
I first got involved at Riverview when I was a freshman at Michigan State three years ago. After committing my life to Christ in high school, I was worried about what that would look like while I was away at college. I had been praying for months before coming to State that I would find a way to serve and a solid place to help me grow in Him. Through a few people who were willing to invest in me, I got involved with the Young Life ministry and was invited by some juniors who were active leaders to come to church with them.
Riverview was unlike any other church I had been to — and was what I had been looking for. The sermons challenged me to answer hard questions about my life and the worship music helped me praise God when I didn’t have my own words to express. God had really heard my prayers and laid out His plans for me.
My life before knowing God was normal. I had two great parents, a brother, and was for the most part a “good person.” I went to church regularly with my family, but I had no idea that God loved me. My aunt, when I was fourteen, asked me to come with her to a Bible study and drove a half an hour out of her way to and from the church where it was held just to take me. There wasn’t really a single moment when everything changed, but I started to realize that God was filling the void in me I didn’t know could be full. Since then, God has challenged me daily to test His faithfulness and love so that I could know that He is real and personal. I wrestled with depression and anxiety for two years, and when I finally decided to give up control to Jesus, the worry and pain slowly disappeared. I’ve been free of that for three years now.
When I first came to Michigan State, I was studying to prepare for medical school. It took two years for me to figure out that although I wanted to help people, this wasn’t the way I was supposed to do it. When I was honest with myself, all I really wanted was to be around people and love them through service. I switched my major to Community Relations, and my friends now affectionately call me the “volunteer major.” I became involved with the agency LAAN (the Lansing Area AIDS Network) through Riverview. I spend about twelve hours each week helping at the reception desk and in the food pantry, and learning about the needs of people who live with HIV and AIDS. Riv’s Compassion Ministry gave me the opening to volunteer there and I have grown so much because of it.
I’ve had the opportunity to have some amazing conversations with clients (all of whom are HIV positive or living with AIDS) and get to know their stories. The best part is seeing them come to the office for their next appointment and having them remember my name or recall my voice on the phone, with a friendly hello and update about their lives. Some will come and volunteer their time as well, and to work alongside them and be considered trustworthy to know their deepest regrets and struggles is a humbling feeling. It’s made me realize that you don’t have to know what to say or be anything extraordinary. Just being there and listening is more than someone could ask for.
If you are searching to know God deeper, go out and meet broken people where they are. It’s helped me see the way God looks at me, and how, despite where I’ve been, I am still lovely in His eyes. Riv’s Compassion Ministry is a great place to look for opportunities. They work with a number of different populations in need that you may feel a pull toward serving. If you are interested in helping LAAN, just go to their website, LAANOnline.org. They are always looking for people to volunteer to drive clients who cannot use or afford transportation or who are willing to help out at the front desk or in the food pantry.
Tags: compassion, social justice, suffering
Financial Generosity
Sep 28, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my slightly longer than a week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Financial Generosity
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus uses the money God has entrusted him to further God’s purposes. Simply put, what we do with our financial resources is a barometer of our priorities. Here’s a little bit of my teaching on this from a few weeks ago:
Here are a few suggestions to help you in this area.
- Get out of Debt – Seriously…start now. I know it seems impossible, but it’s not. I taught on this a few years ago at Riv. You can listen to the audio here or watch a really crappy video of the message here (we didn’t have our fancy HD camera yet). The bottom line is you can’t be generous if you are throwing your money down the toilet of interest every paycheck!
- Get Help – If you need help with your budget or getting out of debt, we can help. Here are a bunch of resources.
- Pick a Percentage – While we don’t teach that a Christ-follower has to give a certain percentage of their income to God, it is super helpful to pick a percentage of your income that you are going to use as the minimum you will give. My wife and I decided over a decade ago that 10% was going to be our number. And by the grace of God, we have always given at least that much. During the current building campaign, we have given substantially more–the first year, we nearly doubled it. Now I don’t say that to brag, rather, I say it to challenge you and to show you what you can do when you aren’t saddled with a ton of debt.
- Graduate your Giving – Let’s say you pick 1% as your number this year. Next year, make it 2%. You will be used to giving already and the extra 1% won’t feel like much. You do that every year and you are giving a lot in no time.
- Give up a Raise - This is a great year to use this strategy. The cost of living has actually decreased in Michigan this year and yet some people will still get raises. Why not commit your raise to God this year?
- Look for places to Give - While a Christian should give first to their local church, we should also be finding other places to give. There are tons of great causes out there from missionaries who raise their own support to AIDS research. Find something that is near to your heart and give.
- Make it Automatic - My wife and I “let the red bucket pass” each week not because we are not giving, but because we do so automatically online each month just like all of our bills. You can sign up to do that here.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Promoting Community
Sep 24, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Promoting Community
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus sees the value of Christ-centered friendships and pursues connectedness with the larger body of Christ. Here’s the little snippet of my teaching where I talked about this:
Pretty much everyone sees the value of having friendships. The big question for a Christ follower, though, is whether or not we have friendships that are centered on our relationship with Jesus. Many of our friendships are shallow (at worst) or avoid spiritual things (at best) because they are centered on activities we enjoy together, shared employment, or proximity alone.
So…how do we develop community that is focused on Jesus? Here are a couple basic suggestions:
- Look around. Do you have close friends that are Christ-followers? That’s the perfect place to start. Begin to deepen that friendship by talking about what’s really going on in your life, spiritual journey, etc.
- Begin serving. A lot of times we can find close Christian friendships simply by beginning to serve somewhere. At Riv, we have tons of places where you can serve and I know several people who began serving in an area of ministry and ended up finding lifelong friends in the process.
- Open up. I won’t hit on this too much because I wrote about it yesterday, but once you find this friend, it’s time to Be Genuine.
Another simple step would be join or start a Life Group.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Being Genuine
Sep 23, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Being Genuine
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus is appropriately open and transparent with God and others. Here’s an excerpt from my recent teaching on this:
We have a sinful tendency to do one of two things: bottle everything up or blab everything about our lives to anyone who will listen. Here’s a simple question to ask yourself if you fall into one of these two categories.
For the Bottlers
“What are you afraid of?” – A lot of times, we bottle everything up because we are afraid–afraid of being found out, mocked or belittled. Maybe someone hurt us once when we shared our lives and now we won’t go there. If this is you, start by giving those fears to God. Then, take a step of faith and share something (even something little) with a friend.
For the Blabbers
“Do you believe what God says about you?” - Many blabbers I have met have a hard time accepting that God has forgiven them or that he can help them with their lives. Instead, they talk with every living soul about their issues because they are seeking validation, approval, or help from others that should be coming from God.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Aggressively Teachable
Sep 22, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Aggressively Teachable
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus recognizes his need to grow and goes out of his way to do so, at the expense of self when necessary. This is not something our culture does well but it is an essential mark for someone who claims to follow Jesus. Here’s a little bit of my recent teaching on this:
This can be a difficult trait to have in our lives, I know this personally. There are many things that have historically hindered my ability to be teachable and I’m just going to list a few of them out without a lot of commentary:
- Defensiveness
- Pride
- Inappropriate View of Self
- Insecurity
- Hidden Sin
- Fear of “Getting Found Out”
- Letting my “yes” be “yes” and my “no” be “no”
So, what “defense mechanisms” or practical suggestions would you add?
Prayerfulness
Sep 21, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Prayerfulness
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus engages in prayer, which is a consistent, authentic, intimate conversation with God about all aspects of his life. Here’s a snippet of a teaching I gave on this topic a week or so ago:
This is an area I have struggled with in my life. I read excellent articles like this one on prayer in the New Testament and I am challenged to pray, but I feel like I fall flat. I want to be a “prayer warrior” but fall terribly short of that ideal. I am surrounded by people who are great at this and it is an uphill battle for me.
I think the biggest reason is I have carried unrealistic expectations of what prayerfulness is. I have imagined it to be someone who sits down for a long period of time each day and wrestles with God about what they are dealing with.
Over time, I am learning to let go of this image of a prayerful person (as accurate as it may be for some people) and to embrace a different picture that is true to Scripture and also true to how God has wired me. Here are a few things I do to help me in my prayer life:
- I keep a list of prayer requests. I used to try to keep a “prayer journal” where I wrote lots of stuff about what I pray for and how God answers my prayers. That literally never lasted more than a week. Instead, I just keep a list of prayer requests. If you ask me to pray for you, I add you to my list and I take it out several times a week to pray through.
- I walk and pray. I am not very good at sitting still so I walk around when I pray. In good weather, I’m outside; in bad weather, I’m inside.
- I pray throughout my day. As I face different situations, I just stop and pray for a few seconds. When I read email from people, I stop and pray for a few seconds. When I surf Facebook, I stop and pray for a few seconds.
- I subscribe to the RivChurch prayer requests and pray for them as soon as I read them.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Tags: prayer
Loves the Bible
Sep 20, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This weekend at Riv, we talked about growing as a Sacrificial Follower of Jesus. For the next 8 days, I am going to blog about the marks of a Sacrificial Follower and linking to a bunch of resources that may be able to help you grow in them.
The most important part of this will be your interaction, though. Please post your own suggestions, thoughts, and links so I and other people can learn from you as well. We each come from very different perspectives and what works for me may not work for you.
With that said, here are some thoughts on the first mark of a Sacrificial Follower.
Loves the Bible
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus uses the Bible as the final authority on issues related to his life and faith. Here’s a bit of my teaching last week where I talk about this area:
When we asked Riv how well they did at this area of their life, it had the lowest number of people who said “I rock at this” of any of the 8 marks we went through. This is definitely an area we need to grow in! Here are a few basic ideas to help you get started in the the Word:
1. Get a Bible
This may seem very basic, but many people don’t have a Bible so it is pretty impossible for them to read it! Now it can be a bit overwhelming to pick one out in the bookstore, so here are a few suggestions:
If you are really new to reading the Bible or you are someone who has difficulty reading, pick an easy to read translation like the New Living Bible (this is the translation I teach from during the weekend services). If you are a bit more of a reader or someone who wants to dig deeper, check out the English Standard Version, which is a bit harder to read but “meatier.” For other thoughts on different translations, read this little paper.
You may also want to get a bible that has a commentary in it. Two I recommend are the Life Application Bible and the ESV Study Bible. Again, pick the one that fits your reading style / experience with the Word.
2. Get a Plan
At Riv, we are reading through the New Testament this year by reading one chapter each weekday. You can join us at Text.RivChurch.com. If this plan doesn’t work for you, just Google “Bible Reading Plan” and you will find about a thousand other ideas. You can even download an iPhone ap that will give you a daily reading.
Here are a few tips to help you as you are putting together your reading plan:
Set aside a specific time and place to read the Bible. Find the time and place that’s easiest for you. Are you a morning person? Read before diving into your day. Night person? Read in bed before zonking out. Find a rhythm that works for you.
Enjoy it. Reading the Bible shouldn’t be a chore, so don’t make it on! Try to read it with the same enjoyment you would an email from a close friend.
If you miss a day, skip it. Seriously, skip it. Don’t give it another thought. Remember, this isn’t a chore, so don’t feel guilty if you miss a day here or there. Just dive back in.
Make your reading a community deal. Discuss what you’re reading with others. You can talk about it in your Life Group each week or with your family around the dinner table.
Here are some other great resources to help you get started.
So, what practical suggestions would you add? What resources help you?
Tags: bible
