The COST – Day 3

Luke 14:25-27.
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Jesus is traveling, and people are following him. They’re no longer showing up just to hear him teach or to watch to see if he’ll perform some kind of miracle, they’re now following him. Where he goes, they go. Large crowds. People from all over the area.

Put yourself in Jesus sandals for a second. I mean this must have been great. I mean, wow, look at this. The people are following me. Man this is awesome. Look at what I’m doing here! I mean, come on! How great is this?!

No. That’s not what he says. No instead, he turns and says, Whoa, wait a minute, where did all of you come from? You’re not all suppose to be here. Because, if you are going to follow me, well, you have to hate your father and mother. You have to hate your husband , your wife, and your children. You have to hate brothers and sisters. Hey, you have to hate your very life, if you are going to be my disciple.

Now wait a minute, there pastor man, just last week you said we were to love. We are to love, not just our brothers, our neighbor, but our enemies. See I was listening last week. I heard you. That’s what you said.

True. But is Jesus really saying we literally HATE, our fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters. No. But what Jesus IS saying is, ARE YOUR READY TO WALK AWAY FROM WHAT YOU LOVE THE MOST to follow me?

Are you willing to leave all the things you know, that the comfort you have, all the people you know to come and go where I am going?

Are you able to leave everything behind, so you can come with me and do what I am going to do?

Can you forsake everything that this world says is important, everything that this world values, everything that this world suggests to be the standards of success; money, power, prestige, privilege?

Because, if I call you to follow me, you need to be ready and willing to walk away from all of that and in order to walk with me.

Can you do that?

Can you list all that you have, all that you love, all that you cherish, all that you consider valuable and important, look at it and that crumble it up and leave it all behind to follow Jesus?

Because that what Jesus says we need to do to follow him, to be his disciple.

He says, Are you ready and willing to pick up your cross and follow me. To GO where I’m about to GO?! To DO what I’m about to DO?!

They knew what the cross was. It was a symbol of death, of pain, suffering, torture, humiliation. People were killed on the cross. They were nailed to it. They were displayed for all to see. And the best part, you carried your own cross. If you were to die on the cross, you were the one who carried the cross out to the place of death!

Jesus says, Are you ready to do that? Are you ready to take your cross, carry it with you? Are you ready, if the time should come, to be nailed to it, to die on it?

You’re following me now, but are you willing to go all the way with me later? It’s easy now for you to walk behind me, but are your ready to leave everything, to carry your cross, and follow me? To Go where I Go? To Do what I will Do?

You see, if you want to follow me… If you want to be my disciple… If I say Come, Follow me… can you do it? Not just when it’s easy? But, for the long haul. For the good and the bad? For the times of joy and for the times of difficulty?

Are you in it for the long haul?

Following Jesus isn’t a one hour weekend activity we do on a Sunday morning. To truly Follow, one must be able to give up everything.

– jay

Be sure to visit us at Harvest Church, located in McMurray, Pennsylvania. We gather every Sunday morning at 10:00 for worship and teaching. You can learn more at our website at, www.HarvestChurchToday.org.

The COST – Day 2

I want to share a quick story with you.

Meet Rick*.
Rick grew up in the Pittsburgh area. He grew up in a Christian home, mom and dad both believers. But at the age of 14, Rick decided that the Christian life wasn’t for him. Instead the lure of drugs and the habit of marijuana quickly captured his life. By the age of 16, Rick was drinking. Then he found money to be made as a dealer. So his life became filled with dealing, drinking, and getting high. Until heroin got a hold of him. This was his life for the next 20 some years. Until he found himself, living in a vacate house with no running water, no electricity, no heat, and now no money. He lost is day job. He lost his job as a dealer. His life had spiraled to a place where he was no longer welcomed in his family home and his alternative was to live either on the streets or in this vacant house.

It was then when he heard of a place where he good find help, real help. Here with this ministry, Rick was able to clean himself up a bit. He started straightening out his life. He was beginning to see and feel the love of Jesus Christ, as the pastor and staff of the house ministered to him.

Rick was making great improvement. Until one night, with the seasons changing, Rick wanted to go to his mother’s house to get some warmer clothes. So he ask the pastor to drive him to retrieve some clothes. But what the pastor didn’t know was that stashed at the house, Rick had hidden a needle and a bag of heroin. Later that night, while the group of men, including the pastor, were meeting for study, Rick excused himself to use the bathroom. The next thing the men heard was a loud thud.

They ran to the second floor bathroom to find Rick laying on the floor. Rick shared that he was down for almost 30 minutes. Paramedics did everything they could to revive him, while pastor and the men stood by praying. After working now for almost 40 minute the one medic said, he would try one last thing. He shoved a needle into Rick’s heart, and immediately, Rick stood up in front of all of them.

Rick’s pastor tells the story that when they were at the hospital, the pastor told Rick that he couldn’t go on living the way he was. That night he almost died and he didn’t yet know the saving grace of God. He would have gone to tell. The pastor says, “I told Rick that he needed to give his life to God that night. That he had to give God his addictions. That he had to surrender his life totally to God. Rick did. And as Rick said, immediately, the addictions were gone. He was a changed man. God had captured Rick’s heart and changed everything about him.

Rick ends his story by sharing what God has done in his life. Rick is totally clean. And has been clean. God led him to a place of leadership within the ministry working along side his pastor. While ministering on the streets, Rick met who would eventually become his wife. After a couple of years, they were married. Not only are they married, but just a few months ago, they welcomed their little boy into their lives. Rick and his wife continue to minister to the lost and the broken who are just like they were.

God is in the business of changing people in radical, powerful ways.

Now, I don’t have a story as dramatic as that. But what God has done and is continuing to do in my is just as powerful. He is changing me. Making me more like his Son with every struggle, difficulty, high, low, joy, and day of my life. Because God is in the business of changing people in radical, powerful ways.

Is he changing you?

When we answer Jesus’s call to “Follow me.” he radically changes who we were to be who he created us to be.

– jay

*While the story is true, names have been changed to protect privacy.

Be sure to return tomorrow for day 3 of our series, The COST. And visit the Harvest Church website at, www.HarvestChurchToday.org

The COST, Day One

This past Sunday, I started a 2 week mini-series called, The COST. This series and the one that will follow starting on Sunday, September 15th, both came following a three month season of prayer where I asked God to provide his clear vision and desire for our church, Harvest Church. It has been almost 2 years since we started on this epic adventure. In my mind, we had to a place where I asked, What has changed? In 2 years of new church work, what has changed; for those involved, those in the community, and of course, what has changed in me?

Church planting is not easy. It’s hard work; filled with ups and downs, success and heartbreak. And it’s a HUGE step of faith.

The reality is, much has changed, and there is still more change ahead. After spending 3 long months in prayer, a vision began to be made clear. I suddenly felt as though God had spoken a plan into place. The Spirit opened my eyes to see what God wanted me to see. It was exciting. It was wonderful. And it was big. So before I spoke anything of this vision, I wanted confirmation. I wanted to be 100% sure that what I was experiencing was from God and not something from my own self ambition or drive. This past week, as I was preparing to teach part 1 of this series, I prayed, “Lord, confirm all of this for me, that I know this is all from you!” Wednesday, evening, on an invitation from a fellow pastor, my family visited his weekly summer Bible study. There was a special speaker coming in that he wanted me to hear. That night, God confirmed his vision in an amazing and undeniable way. And of course, the timing was perfect.

You see, there is a cost to following Jesus. Sure, the gift of God’s grace is free. Yes, the life that Jesus died to provide is free. But in order for us to follow him, we must be willing to not only accept the free gift he gives, but to also be aware of and willing to accept the cost of following him.

Luke 14:33 reads, (Jesus is speaking) “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” You see the cost is, total surrender of self to say, Yes, Jesus, I will follow you anywhere. Unfortunately, in today’s culture, we don’t always take Jesus’s words as literally as perhaps he intended.

So over the next few weeks, I will be posting segments of The Cost, and portions of my follow up series, The Life You Were Meant to Live, to the blog. I don’t want what is said on a Sunday morning during the teaching time at Harvest to become whispers in an empty room. I want them to be the echoes that bounce from wall to wall in our hearts. Words that the Spirit continues to speak. Words that challenge us to respond with obedience to God’s call to, “Follow me.”

This Sunday morning I started with these questions.

Q.1. Why are you here this morning?
– What has brought you to this place? Why are you here?
– If you come regularly, what keeps you coming back?
– If this is your second or third or fourth time visiting us, what brings you here again?
– If this is your first time here, what led you to place?

Q.2. What do you expect to happen when you come here?
– Are you hoping for your favorite song to be song?
– Are you hoping to see your friends, to catch up, maybe make plans to lunch together?
– Do you hope to hear something that will make you feel good about yourself, to help you feel like your an okay person?
– Do you hope to hear a message that encourages you, maybe challenges you, maybe convicts you?
– Are you hoping that we’ll be done on time so you can get on with your day, enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend?

Q.3. When or if, you have given space in your life for God, Jesus, Church; what did you think it all entailed?
– Did you think life would be easier?
– Were you told that without Jesus, you were a sinner, heading to hell, but it you ask for forgiveness and “give your life to Jesus, then you would go to heaven when you die. – You will live forever and ever?
– Do you think, okay, I’m a Christian now, now I don’t have to worry, I’ll just go to church, I’ll drop some money in the offering plate, maybe I’ll help out in some way. I’ll make sure my kids are involved. I’ll make sure my wife is happy. And hey, maybe I’ll make a friend or two, who knows?

How would you answer these questions? Honestly. Take some time to evaluate what you thought you were getting into when you first said yes to Jesus.

Be sure to check in tomorrow as we continue the discussion.

– jay

Visit us online at: HarvestChurchToday.org
Come and visit us in person this Sunday! Location and directions available on our website.

God’s Forever Faithfulness…the final chapter

Friday morning arrived. The car was loaded. Our dog was picked up by a friend who would care for him while we were gone. And we were about ready to hit the road. But just before we left, we were told to wait. A delivery was made. An envelope and the words, This is from Anonymous.

They depart and we got into the car. Driving out of our driveway, Amy opened the envelope. Tears filled her eyes. In the envelope was cash, almost the amount we had originally saved for vacation but used to fit both cars.

In his forever faithfulness, God provided. Again.

We were humbled and tremendously grateful.

It’s been said over and over again, ministry is tough. I have experienced my share of highs and lows. I have been on top of the world and I have wandered the darkness of insignificance and inadequacy. But never have I felt the fears and uncertainty as I do now.

The last 12 days have been days filled with so much fear. Fear of returning to the unknown. Fear that I am not the right person to be planting a church. Fear that I will not be able to provide for my family, pay the bills, and put food on the table.

Vacation is suppose to be a time of rest, a time to enjoy the family, to have fun and make memories. But to be completely honest, I have been too stressed out and afraid to enjoy anything.

I thought seriously about changing careers. Maybe if I get a “real” job, or at least a job that can pay enough to provide for my family, well then, things will be better.

But then God reminded me of what I love most in this life; serving Him.

We visited a church this past Father’s Day, Saddleback’s San Clemente campus. For those of you who read the blog regularly or know me well, know that I am a huge fan of Saddleback and what they do as a church. While at the San Clemente campus I was renewed. I looked around at what the staff and volunteers were doing, and I found myself getting excited. Not for Saddleback, but for Harvest; the Church that God has called me to serve and care for.

I spend some time that day in prayer and conversation with God. He began showing me the areas where I need to pick it up. He reminded me of my passions, my gifts. He rekindled my love for students and student ministry and how I need to give it more time, using the gifts I have and the passion for students to grow a student ministry. But not just to grow a program, but to re-engage with a part of the Church that I love and know well. A part of the church that needs pastors who get it and can care for e youth worker and the students.

He made me aware of how I could be a better pastor to the congregation that he wants to assemble and how I need to lead by example, sacrificing my discomfort and insecurities trusting that in my weaknesses his strength will be revealed.

He has encouraged me to pursue the things that the church needs; a worship leader, a children’s director, and a youth pastor.

He has given me a greater desire to connect with those around us, our neighbors and friends. And that in doing this he will build his church.

And he has given me a vision for Harvest that will takes us into Canonsburg, by way of Southpointe, then spreading into the communities around us. Communities such as Burgettestown, where people need the healing love of Jesus Christ.

It’s time for Harvest to prepare its labors. The fields are white and ready for harvest!

Are all of my questions answered? No.

Are all of fears relieved? Not yet.

Are all of my worries forgotten? No.

I am still afraid of what waits for us when we arrive at home. But what I refused to do is allow the fear, the worry, the doubt, and the questions to prevent me from trusting God, and living my life in obedience to the call he has given me.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds. But I do know who holds tomorrow. And so I cry, “Abba, Father…” “Daddy, I need you.”

– jay