3 Ways to Take Up Your Cross

I have thought about how some live Christianity as a competition. Some use there faith as manipulation of others. The Bible says we are to die to self. Here is a great blog about taking up our cross.

This is From the Blog of Mark Batterson

3 Ways to Take Up Your Cross
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34-35


This may be the most important description of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the entire gospel, yet most of us have no idea what it means. We understand the imagery, but we don’t know how to live it out. What exactly does it mean to take up your cross?

First, it means self-denial. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t want to experience self-fulfillment, but the only path to self-fulfillment is self-denial. There is no other way. While self-denial may sound miserable, it’s actually wonderful. We simply deny ourselves those things that are temporarily pleasurable but eternally painful. We deny the desires of our flesh. We deny the temptation of sin. We refuse to settle for anything less than the best which is God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Second, taking up your cross means torture. And we wince at the thought, but stop and think about it. Any great achievement requires torture. Athletes torture their bodies. Thinkers torture their minds. And we get that on the physical and intellectual plane, but wish there was another way on the spiritual plane. There isn’t. Just like the physical realm: no pain, no gain. Are you willing to suffer temporal pain for eternal gain? That’s what it comes down to.

Finally, it means death. You have to die to self everyday. How? By allowing your circumstances to help you become more like Christ–especially the circumstances you don’t like. Anytime you feel the pain of an insult, disappointment, suffering, physical challenge, failure, injustice, or trial–it’s an opportunity to die to pride, die to ego, die to sin, die to self. And if you keep dying to self, you’ll come alive in ways you never imagined. In fact, you’ll live forever.

We worry about all the wrong things! You only have one job and it’s this: take up your cross. That is your portfolio as a Christ follower. You simply need to deny yourself, endure torture, and die to self. If you do that, God will do the rest. If you do it everyday, you have all of eternity to look forward to

Keeping things Clear

Clarity is important if we want to see the results we are looking for. Just exactly what are we going to do to achieve the results we desire. Do you need money to expand? How are you going to bring that money in? Do you want more people? What are you going to do to get those first time guests? Do you want people to commit to the ministry? How are you going to make that happen.

To help with clarity keep things simple. In ministry sometimes we equate business with progress. We can spread ourselves so thin that we become ineffective. We must learn how to devote ourselves to those things that are helping us fulfill the vision. Here are some of the things we are doing over the mext 6 months to give clarity to the vision of The Springs.

THE SPRINGS=TRANSFORMATION
Our emphasis over the next few months is GOING BIGGER GROWING DEEPER.

We want to go bigger so we need more sanctuary space. Our plan is to improve and inlarge our worship center space. We need money so we are going to have a vision banquet to raise the money to make this happen.

We want to go bigger so we are doing everything we can to make our Sunday morning service a destination for people who need to take there next step toward Christ. We have committed to 3 summer events to expose people to the ministry of the church. That means putting our mid week gathering on hold until September 2011 to focus on these events and make them our focus. We have entitled them the 3rd Wednesday.

We want to grow deeper so we are planning to provide a summer devotional series for people to do at home through a worksheet or online. We are going to encourage people to spend time in prayer through providing a weekly prayer list and specific times of prayer before service on sundays.

Our mission is to see transformation in the lives of people. We want to help people experience life change that can only come through an encounter with Jesus Christ.

On September 18th, 2011 we will have a big day to fill our new worship space with 150 people and then in December we will have 3 Christmas services with a total attendance of 200 plus.

The Great Commission

Jesus made it crystal clear that He wants us to reach the world with the God News of Jesus Christ. The Church needs to enlarge it's circle and the church needs to grow deeper. The Great Commission gives us these 2 important mandates. When a church starts to get serious about going bigger and growing deeper it will face challenges. The challenges the church faces will come in many different faces. Sometime a church will have to look at what it is doing schedule wise. Sometime programs will need to be reevaluated or even eliminated. Parking will always need to be addressed. Space issues are always a concern. Worship space, Children and nursery areas will need upgrades. Bathrooms are key to maintaining larger crowds.

Now is the time for the church to take to heart the great commission. Now is the time for the church break down walls and fear not the unknown. Our God is able to provide for every need. Now is the time for us to seriously reach out to a world in desperate need for a savior who transforms us with His great power. We must pray. We must study. We must work. We must give. We must go bigger and grow deeper.

Go Bigger Growing Deeper

There is a tension between numerical growth and Spirtual growth in the church. We know it is Gods will for the church to grow numerical but it is equally essential for the church to help the body grow spiritually. As we reach out to the unchurched and the drop out church member we need to make our message meaty enough to spur the believer to greater maturity.

During the month of May here at the Springs we are going to be adressing this issue with the goal of challenging the church to go bigger and grow deeper. I am excited that our church is growing and I want to make sure that we help all people saved and unsaved take that next step to Christ and in Christ.

Breaking Barriers

Today at the Springs we broke a barrier that helped to see ministry in a totally different light. Today our church opperated at a different level because the more people you minister to more must be done. Here are several things we have to keep in mind.
* Parking needs will always need to be adressed and thought through. You need to have a parking plan. You can't grow with out a good parking plan and
room to park.
* You need volunteers to help greet people joyfully and give directions.
* You need people willing to help bring and serve snacks and drinks to the guests.
* You need to make your church facilty as nice as you can with what you have.
* You need to put your best foot forward in providing children's ministry
* You need good music
* Your message must speak to the needs
* You must be mindful of the time. If you say 1 hour than 1 hour. state your time of starting and ending.
* Let people know how much you appreciate them being there.
* above all put your whole ministry in the hands of God and trust Him to the work only He can do.

You can learn alot by setting goals to break barriers but it is worth it. When we break one barrier our faith grows and we know we can through the help of the Lord we can do all things through Christ.

That My House be full

Luke 14:23 teaches us that God desires a full house. God wants as many people in house as possible. A full house is a house full of possibilities. A full house is a house full of potential. A full house is a house filled with promise. God loved the world so much that He gave us His Son Jesus. The world is a big place filled with billions of people that need transformation. People are lookinbg for life change because what they are doing is not working. People are looking for meaning in life and for a cause bigger than themselves.

God has plans for people and He wants to get people in a position to get those plans. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is Gods instrument to help people find Gods plan. God wants a full house because that means people are in a place to find a great life.

April 17th, 2011

Breaking barriers is huge. We are going to break a barrier here at the Springs on April 17th, 2011. The barrier we are going to break is about people. This barrier is about changing our culture to one that values reaching as many people as possible for the Glory of God and the expansion on His kingdom. It is our hope and prayer to have over 100 people in our worship service on April 17th, 2011 at 11am. This has never been done in this church.

LCD- Several months ago we put into place our LCD plan. This plan is simple

L=50
C=100
D=500

We wanted to have a consistent 50 people in our worship service and preach transformation of people, culture and attitude. Thanks be to God we have seen this. Now it is time to challenge our selves to the next step. 100 people in worship with a transforming message of life and growth.

Join us and make HIS-STORY on April 17th. Everyone is invited to help us smash this growth barrier and never look back again.