As Christians, most of us give a conscientious effort to being “Christ like”. We do our best to abstain from all appearances of evil, we try to the best of our abilities to be excellent at what is good an innocent of all evil deeds. It is easy to get so focused on this aspect of “Christ Likeness” that we lose sight of the model of ministry that Jesus Christ Himself lived during His earthly ministry. For this reason, I appreciate so much the philosophy of missional ministry models. There was once a time in my life when I would not be caught dead in some of the worst dens of demons where sinners congregate to practice the selfish desires of their flesh. Then one day, it dawned on me. The places I did not want to be caught dead in were the very places that Christ was caught alive in when He was alive. He was so often caught in these places, that the religious leaders greatly criticized Him for it. I had to ask myself how it was that Christ sat down with the publicans and sinners, yet I felt I was living His mandate to stay away from such places. I realized in my heart that “Christ Likeness” doesn’t mean stepping over and walking past those who are dead in Christ on my way heaven as if they were meaningless dead people with no more hope. We are their only hope in some cases. So often, we pour our efforts inward toward a model of ministry that has an emphasis on attracting the sinner to come to where we are. Let’s face it, is church a place that should reasonably appear “attractive” to someone bound in the practice of sin? Doesn’t it make more practical sense to follow after the very model Jesus lived for us and go to where the sinners are. Going to where the sinners are conveys to them a certain degree of Christ’s love, in that He is still willing to go where they are to connect with them and show His love to them there. Romans 12:2 says, do not be conformed to the actions of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you will able to prove that which is the perfect will of God. While this commands us not to be conformed to worldly trends and behaviors, and to live transformed through a renewed mind, it by no means justifies the forsaking of the greatest commission given to man by God, to go into ALL the world and preach the good news of Jesus Christ, making disciples and baptizing them. While we may be in this world, we are certainly not of this world. True “Christ Likeness” doesn’t just involve living like Christ, but ministering like He did as well.

Often times in life, we may feel lonely, empty, or that no one cares. We lose track of everything that we thought was great and only the bad or the painful stick out. The more this happens, the deeper and deeper we feel like we are falling and the harder and harder it is to come back. The crazy thing is, often times God is right in front of us and we just refuse to see it.

Since relocating to Arizona five months ago, I am amazed and feel blessed with seeing God every night. He doesn’t appear in a dream or in front of me, but it is still awesome. When I walk outside and look to the west, it is hard not to see God. There is a beautiful sunset and God put it there just for us. Remembering that God created the universe, and therefore created everything that happens in the universe, he made the sunset those beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow, purple and blue. He didn’t have to do that, and it certainly wasn’t necessaryfor the world to work, but he did it for our benefit. That is one of God’s little “I love yous.” There are many more of these “I love yous” out there, and it is absolutely amazing to think of the fact that God did that just for our benefit. The sunrise, sunset, the changing of the leaves in the midwest, the flowers; He made all of these just for us.

Next time you feel alone, or unwanted, or unloved, look to the west at sunset, or the east at sunrise. God made that just for our enjoyment. He made that just to say “I love you.” It is hard to feel unloved when you know that the most beautiful painting in the universe is just for you.

You are Loved!

You know, life is a funny thing isn’t it? It seems like there is always something going on. To think about, be happy about, be scared about. I heard someone once say that in our life we are always either in some type of trial or test, coming out of one, or going into another one. Doesn’t feel like there is a whole lot of hope in that statement, does it?

As we think about what some people might call the “Goodness of God”, I think that many of us realize that the closer we do draw to God, we do not become exempt from problems and issues in our lives. Many times, it is my opinion that the closer that we draw to God, the harder our life becomes. The great thing is that it also becomes more rewarding as well. Finding and/or moving closer to God is not going to exempt us from facing trials and tests in our lives, it does give us a hope and a reason to have, for what we can receive from these trials. The next time that you find yourself in the middle of a difficult situation in your life, try and ask yourself some of the following questions:

1. Why am I going through this situation? Was it because of my actions or something greater that I find myself in this current situation?

2. What could God be trying to teach me through this situation?

3. How can I use this situation to draw closer to God?

4. Where else in my life could I begin to depend more on God and less on myself?

5. Who might I be able to help because I have gone through this?

6. When this is over, how much more complete of a person will I be?

We never may understand why we have to go through the things that we go through but let me convey some encouragement found in God’s word. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Remember, as long as you are following after God with your whole heart, you are always on the right path and you will be blessed if you don’t give up!

Ever sat back and began to wonder, “What the heck I am here for?”. Wondering if you are working at the right company; dating the right person; going to the right church; living the right life?

Did God had out the wrong assignment when you came to the front of the line? Were you born into the right family? Were you raised in the right city?

The answer to the truth of destiny lies in our ability to discover a very complex and often disguised plan that God has for us. As my mom used to tell me, “I was not born with a owners manual!” We don’t have some appendix in the back of some manual that gives us step by step directions on how to troubleshoot our lives. We don’t have a live chat button on our desktop that links us directly to some crisis consultant that IM’s God and relays info our way. There is no level 2 technician waiting in the wing when we are at our wits end with ourselves.

What we get is some “still small voice” inside of us that takes guts to listen to; humility to follow; and a whole lot of support to live by.

The answers to all of Life’s questions can of coarse be found in God’s word, but why must it be so hard to find them. Is God really playing games with us and we just don’t know it? Are we pawns on the board of God’s game making for amazing entertainment for God’s house guests?

You see, many times we seem to be in the dark as to God’s plan and purpose for our life. I’ve seen so many bystanders in the game of life and very few actively engaged in the pursuit of understanding God’s plan. I suspect that as long as we are alive, we are still very much able to attempt to understand God and His plan for us. We have the right to do our best to understand His plan and in the very likely event we fail, God, by His very nature, is willing to extended us another opportunity. You see the more we know what’s NOT God’s plan, the better the chance we have in understanding His divine plan and destiny for us. Simple elimination.

I think it is important to remember that our mistakes are what make God, God. If we could do it on our own, why would we need Him? Why would we want Him? Why would it be His plan and not ours?

Spend some time in your life searching for your destiny and beware that sometimes your greatest growth comes, when through your greatest failure, God is revealed. Press on….

Praying for you and your destiny…

Mike Clack
Lead Pastor

Check out the new Fellowship Connection Church Website. There are some significant improvements as well as some additional detailed info. Check it out and let us know what you think!