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Like Daniel

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were among the many young men taken from their homes in Israel and brought as captives into Babylon.  You may remember some stories about them.  Maybe the story of Daniel and the lion's den comes to mind or the story about the burning furnace that didn't consume Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These men will forever be known for making big decisions to honor the Lord even when their lives were on the line. But long before these men had to make the big decisions of life and death they... "resolved".

Daniel 1:8
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

Daniel resolved not to defile himself and evidently so did the other three (Daniel 1:11-12).  Don't overlook this event in the lives of these four men.  Although they may have been living in a new country they resolved to be set apart - to be different from the place in which they lived.  Ultimately, their resolution was one that placed the Lord first despite what people around them were doing or popular opinion was communicating.

Not only did they resolve, it appears that they resolved with hope.

Daniel 1:11-13
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”

Why else would they ask to be tested except that they resolved with a hope they would pass the test.

Each of us will be tested in this life.  As Jesus himself said in John 16:33, "In the world you will have tribulation".  The person that will be most equipped to pass the test then will be the person who resolves in their heart now to place the Lord first.  Had these four young men not resolved to place God first the story may have ended differently.  Just as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we too must resolve in our hearts to place the Lord first.

Daniel 1:14-17
14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

You may think that you are too busy to pray or to spend time in the word, but take the time to sit at the table of the Lord to eat from Him and see... just see if you are not stronger than you were and more able to handle the things in this world.

The Heart of Parenting

Bend City Church is hosting a Friday night/Saturday morning parenting seminar November 11th and 12th. The seminar will consist of 5 sessions with 2 being on Friday and 3 on Saturday. Childcare will be provided for those attending.

Who is Invited: Anyone Who Will Benefit

Do you Have to Attend Bend City: No

Location: Bend City Church, 224 Butternut St, West Bend

Date/Time: Friday, November 11 6:30-8:30pm

Saturday, November 12 8:45-12:00am

Topics:

The Parents Heart, Authority & Influence, Discipline, Empowering Parents Through Distinct Biblical Gender Roles, and "Law, Gospel, and Parenting"

For more information, you can read the entire flyer on Google docs at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B34Ys5zYwA-CNjVkYjhhZjQtMWVjZC00Y2NhLWEzMWItYmM0NzgzMDUwMzE5&hl=en_US

Great Article on Being Missional by Tim Chester

http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/10/04/tim-chester-10-simple-ways-to-be-missional/

The King that We Serve

Isaiah 11:2-5

English Standard Version (ESV)

²And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

1 Timothy 2:3-6 (NIV)

³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

I am encouraged that God wants those close to me that don't know Jesus to know Him. We can pray with confidence.

Upcoming events...

Monday, August 22nd 7:00pm Sort/pack the backpacks at Bend City Church

Saturday, August 27th 11:00am-1:00pm Backpack Hand Out at Arbor Trace

Saturday, September 10th Brewers Game with tailgating for the MEN. Meet at Bend City Church at 3:00pm. $22 dollars for ticket and food.  Andy Christophersen will provide the food.  Game is at 6:10pm.

Sunday, September 11th Baby Dedication during service.

Sunday, September 11th City/Church wide 9/11 Memorial 4:00-5:00pm at West Bend High School auditorium.

Saturday, September 17th 1:00-5:00pm Scrap Booking Outreach at Bend City Church. See Lisa Austin with questions. Please bring friends.

Sunday, September 18th  Baptism after church at Yahr Park. Bring your own lunch.


Sunday, September 18th 6:30-8:30pm Calling ALL Women please join us for a Night of Encouragement.

Ministry Training

In my last post "Timeline of an Outreach", I'd mentioned one of the areas we wanted to focus on was training of those in the church. Here is a portion of the post:

"As we came into 2011, we wanted to push forward as a church in 2 particular areas. The first area was "to equip the saints for work of ministry" (Eph 4:12) which is essentially training already committed members of the church to minister more effectively to build up the body of Christ. This goal is obviously focused toward training within the community of the church."

For the past 5 weeks, we have been trying to do just that by meeting on Tuesday nights from 7-9pm for ministry training. There are many different forms a ministry training could take, so I wanted to give a picture of what we are doing and why.

The key verse for the structure of the training comes from 1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV)

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Paul points out 2 basic areas of focus for being a person that is able to save both oneself and the others around them: what you believe and how you live. Both are important.

We've taken this verse to give direction on how to focus our efforts on Tuesdays. The first half of a Tuesday night consists of diving into the bible on a doctrinal issue of the gospel. The second half of a Tuesday night consists of looking at a life issue and how we can live according to the will of God. Many times we've tried to have corresponding life issues that relate to the doctrine being studied.

The overall message we've been looking at on the doctrine side has been the different aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Essentially, what Christ accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection for those that believe. The life side of the night then flows from the knowledge that Christ is with us and for us 100% and we can and should live for him and his kingdom.

The topics for the weeks are:

Doctrine / Life

Sinfulness of Man / Usefulness of the Word

Christ's Sufficiency / Repentance and Confession

Christ's Forgiveness / Forgiving Others

Justification and Righteousness / Serving and Giving

New Creatures in Christ / Being Set Apart from the World

True and False Converts / Evangelism

Sanctification / Working Hard for God's Glory

Security and Apostasy / Life of Faith

Faith and Works / Purity

Fear of the Lord / Exercising Freedom and Restraint

Humility

The ministry training is not geared toward a specific area of ministry such as small group leader, personal evangelism, or kids ministry, but is intended to give believers a greater knowledge of God and thus, love for God. Love for God that would drive us respond to Him in obedience. Love for God that would compel us to the area of ministry God has called us to. It is our hope that from this training and others to follow, God's people would be more equipped to do His work for His glory.

Both are essential

Luke 18:2

New King James Version (NKJV)

² [Jesus was] saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.

In this passage Jesus is setting up the parable of the persistent widow by giving us a snap shot of the judge.  You probably remember the story.  This widow comes before a judge asking for justice; the judge refuses to grant it to her; the widow persists; the judge gives in not because of any of his goodness but because of her relentlessness.

Years ago as I read this parable it was this verse that jumped off the page at me.  Jesus is trying to describe a judge that lacks righteousness.  He is painting a picture of the widow's nemeses.  Jesus wants us to understand what this woman was up against.  And so, he attributes two negative characteristics to this unrighteous judge.  Number one, he didn't fear God.  Number two, he didn't regard man.

This quickly became a prayer of mine.  I have often prayed that I would fear God and regard man.  Both of these are essential.  God is the only one that we should fear and when you truly fear Him it will free you up to regard and care for others.  If you fear man you can never truly regard others.  You will only fear what each person thinks.  This will be a snare to you.

Proverbs 29:25

English Standard Version (ESV)

^25(A) The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

The Timeline of An Outreach

This summer we have some outreach events planned for reaching out to a particular area in West Bend. The area we are targeting is the Arbor Trace Apartments off of Decorah Rd. in between Main St and the high school. I wanted to fill everyone in as to how we came to choose this location and how we came to decide what we will be doing there.

As we came into 2011, we wanted to push forward as a church in 2 particular areas. The first area was "to equip the saints for work of ministry" (Eph 4:12) which is essentially training already committed members of the church to minister more effectively to build up the body of Christ. This goal is obviously focused toward training within the community of the church.

The second area was to reach out to West Bend with the love of Christ that we have received and now are commanded to give to others. The point of this blog post is to explain how we started as the non specific goal of reaching out to the city and came to the specific direction of outreach at Arbor Trace. (A second blog post will follow as to the equipping of saints)

In January, Scott and I and other leaders from Bend City prayed and fasted asking for direction as to how we could practically be "the light of the world" to our home city. Then in February, we asked the church to pray and fast every Wednesday throughout the month asking God this same question. How could we be used by God to reach out to West Bend as a church community?

From this prayer and fasting a number of individuals within the church had ideas as to how we could reach out and where. As we waited, talk through ideas, kicked around possibilities, it became apparent that God was leading us together as a church body to reach out to the area of Arbor Trace. The leading consisted of relationships in the area, a sense of caring for the individuals there, and a growing desire to minister the love of Christ to that specific apartment complex. We believe God answered the where.

From there, 3 separate people from the church came with 3 separate ideas of how we could reach out to Arbor Trace and begin to develop relationships there. From these ideas, more prayer and discussion, a plan has been laid for the months of July and August for the outreach.

The first outreach is taking place Monday, July 18th through Wednesday, July 20th and will consist of a Backyard Bible Club (BYBC) from 9:00am to 11:30am each day. We have rented a 20'x40' tent, hung up a large banner at the apartments, and are going to be handing out flyers 2 times before the 18th. As the day is growing closer, excitement is building as we are looking forward to what God is going to do in the kid's lives there.

Before the tent is taken down, on Saturday, July 23rd we will be having a free pancake breakfast that will include pancakes, sausage, and other good stuff. Our hope and goal is that these two outreaches will help us to develop relationships with new people that we may not meet in our day to day lives.

Finally, we are following up these 2 events by doing a backpack program for the kids at Arbor Trace. Any school age child that would like to get a backpack and back-to-school supplies for the fall school season will be able to sign up at the BYBC or pancake breakfast. On Saturday, August 27th, we will come back to Arbor Trace to deliver the backpacks.

Needless to say, these outreaches are going to take A LOT of work by A LOT of people to happen. We are excited as we feel God has lead us to do this and that by his strength we will get it done. Please pray for God's favor in this work and ask God if and how you could be involved in it. More updates to come-

Shane

Prayer

Starting Wednesday, May 18th, we are asking the men of Bend City to come together for 6 Wednesday mornings in a row to pray at 6am. We will meet at my house (Shane) for prayer for the different things going on in the church community. A few things, among others, we will be praying for:

1 God to use the preaching through the book of Colossians to bring people to know Him

2 Specific wisdom on reaching out to the city this summer

3 That God would use the leadership training starting in June to raise up people to care for His people

4 Individuals that God has placed in our lives

Please come if you are able. God answers prayer and we need Him for everything we do as a church. - Shane

Patience

Proverbs 16:32

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

Brad Hayes in Town

Brad Hayes will be joining us this Sunday. Brad and his family are missionaries to Romania. You can learn about his ministry, Outstretched Hands of Romania, here:

http://www.handsofromania.org

Pursue God and He Will Hear Your Prayers

There are a few preachers I like to listen to regularly, one being Matt Chandler. I was listening to a sermon of his this week and he was discussing prayer and whether we are heard by God. There are various verses in the bible discussing why God may or may not hear prayers of people. I thought Chandler's take on John 9:31 was worth posting:

Matt Chandler from "God Hears and Responds" (January 16, 2011):

I’m not saying that you have to be perfect for God to hear your prayers. Even Jesus, when He’s teaching the disciples to pray, says, “And forgive us our trespasses (or sins) as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus is acknowledging, “You’re going to fall short.” So you don’t have to be perfect;you just have to be pursuing. John 9:31 does a great job at this. “We know that God does not listen to sinners. . .” Is anyone in here a sinner? All of us. So the Bible just gave us really bad news. “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” So we know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, a pursuer of God, He hears him. So we’re not perfect; we’re just pursuing. And the Bible says, “In that place, God hears.” So I’m not saying you have to be perfect for God to hear your prayers. If that were the case, no one would be heard. But because of the cross and because of the grace of God,we are actually told in the Scriptures to boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence. We are to pray with confidence, pursue with confidence and chase with confidence.

Religion and Politics

I've been told "you just don't talk about religion and politics". Sorry, today I'll talk briefly about both. No, I'm not going to take a stance one way or the other in Walker's budget reform bill, so if you're looking for that, you'll have to go elsewhere. I do have an opinion, as does everyone, but because my main purpose is to help as many as possible grow closer to Christ, we'll pass on that.

The purpose of this post is to speak to an issue that rears its head on every major political debate. The issue is the incredible amount of misleading or incorrect "facts" and "truth" being spouted on the issues. I say there are misleading "facts" because it does not take long to read 2 articles written addressing the same "fact" that differ hugely in the numbers and future numbers. In this case, either we are running a surplus for this fiscal year or a deficit depending on who you are reading. And we are talking to the tune of 100 million dollars either way, no small difference. Whether you believe it is one way or the other, I hope we all can honestly say that there is one actual truth. And on the other side of truth is error. Both cannot be true.

So what happens with many people is if you think health/pension benefits should not be cut, they agree with all figures that show a surplus. And for others that want benefits cut, they agree with all figures that show a deficit. I am, of course, making a generalization here that does not fit all people, but you get the point. Really, how can the truth be so obscure?

This situation can give us some insight into the human nature. How common is it for us to love the truth when it fits our personal agenda. Or to love what we think is the truth when it fits our personal agenda. Sometimes the "truth" can become conveniently ignored on the altar of passion for an issue. Or we just stop caring about the "truth" because the "other guys" are either greedy or lazy or vice versa. The fact is, as obvious as this is going to sound, that the truth is the truth........and the truth is important.

At this point, I have to turn the conversation to biblical truth as this is the main point of the post. How many things do we believe or do that we have never considering from a biblical perspective? How many times have we sacrificed truth for passion? Have you ever found yourself arguing passionately about something that you later realized you had little biblical grounds to argue?

I hope it is our desire to have a greater and greater biblical world view as we grow with Christ. I know that I have been guilty of "going with the flow" at times in my walk with Christ and not searching the Scriptures to know the truth on all things. The apostle Paul ran into this as he preached in Thessalonica in the first century. This is not a new issue.

As a contrast the Thessalonians, there was one church that caught Paul's attention as receiving the word eagerly and searching the Scripture to see if what he was teaching was true. This is found in Acts, chapter 17.

Acts 17:11

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things we so.

We often think of nobility in terms of doing the right things, standing up for the weak, or having high integrity. Paul, here, simply says knowing the Scriptures and testing what we hear against the bible is noble. I aim to be a noble Christian. I hope you do to.

And remember, as you listen to the rhetoric from the "wrong side", love your enemy as yourself.

Later- Shane

Use it

Mark 4:24-25

²⁴And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵ For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

At first, this verse seems so UnJesus-like. Somebody with very little will have it taken away? Is that fair?

The Scripture is found directly after Jesus teaches on the lamp not being brought in to be put under a basket. He is teaching that we have an obligation to use what we have been given to further advance the kingdom of God. According to Jesus, it would be unfair if somebody does not use their God given ability to help others know Jesus and is not punished. Jesus definitely made a habit out of not sugar-coating this teaching. Definitely in line with Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents or Luke 19 and the parable of the minas. Notice "cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness" in Matthew 25:30. I don't want you or I to be that servant.

Bend City Twitter

Courtesy of Andy Christophersen, our church twitter man, you can follow Bend City on twitter at twitter.com/BendCityChurch

Deep conviction

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5

For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.

Paul explains to the Thessalonians that a sign that God has chosen them was their deep conviction. The ESV renders it "full conviction." What did the "full conviction" of the Thessalonians look like to Paul. He goes on to list a few things:

1. Imitated Paul and the Lord, v. 6

2. Received the Word although suffering for it, v. 6

3. Became a model for other believers, v. 7

4. Their faith became known to other believers, v. 8

5. Turned away from idols, v. 9

6. Wait for Jesus return, v. 10

As I was thinking on these verses, a few things are clear:

1. These amazing characteristics of these Christians are a result of God "choosing" them. I'm very glad it is not the other way around and we are not chosen only if we have these characteristics.

2. We need to pray in faith for "deep conviction" that accompanies the power of God and Holy Spirit.

Congregational Meeting

Sunday Night January 23rd from 6:30-8pm.  No child care.

Who should come?
ALL who consider Bend City Church there home.

We will be discussing where we believe God is leading us over the course of this year

Prayer and Fasting

As we have been seeking direction for Bend City, Scott and I have decided to do some fasting in January and will likely ask the rest of the body to fast at some point in February. Since there may be some that are not familiar with the idea and practice of fasting, I thought it would be helpful to write briefly about it and why we are deciding to do it.

First off, I think it is helpful to note that fasting is not commanded in the New Testament. There are many direct commands throughout the gospels and letters of the New Testament, but fasting is not one of them. With this said, although it is not commanded, fasting is spoken of often. At one point, when Jesus is asked why disciples do not fast, he plainly tells them that his disciples will fast when he leaves the earth. Jesus was sure that his disciples would fast.

Matthew 9:14-15

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees
fast, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding
guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Other times fasting is mentioned in the New Testament are Matthew 6:16, Acts 13:2, Acts 14:23, and 1 Corinthians 7:5.

Purpose of Fasting

When Jesus was on the earth, his disciples did not fast. When Jesus returns and we are with him, we will not fast. This gives us insight on the purpose of fasting. Fasting exists because we are not yet with Jesus. Fasting should come from a longing to be closer and have deeper relationship with God while we are not physically with Him. There are very practical ways that fasting creates deeper relationship with God. Once a God-given pleasure such as food or marital relations is voluntarily removed for a time, it is constant reminder of the giver of all gifts and a reminder of the necessity of the giver. Also, if fasting is combined with seeking God in prayer, the hunger caused by fasting can remind the faster to seek God in prayer. This is obviously not meant to be an exhaustive explanation of fasting, but a general overview.

What Fasting Is Not

There are 3 main pitfalls that I can see regarding fasting that bear mentioning.

1. Fasting is not a means to earn acceptance from God

Luke 18 tells of a Pharisee that was excited because of all that God had allowed him to do and was basing his acceptance from God on his works. One of which was fasting twice a week. Jesus explains in Luke 18:14 that this Pharisee, despite his twice a week fasting, was not justified before God

2. Fasting should not be done to distinguish yourself as a good Christian to others

Matthew 6:16-18
"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

3. Fasting is not an arm twisting of God for Him to answer your prayer

This is probably the most subtle of issues that can arise. The chain of events can go like this. We have a prayer need. We’ve decided to not only pray, but to pray and fast to seek God’s guidance. When the answer does not come as expected, we feel cheated because we were really devoted to God and he didn’t fulfill his end of the bargain.

Fasting must be done in an attitude of humility as we seek guidance and direction from an all-knowing, all-wise God. God, in His wisdom, may choose to withhold what we think we need or answer in an unexpected way.

Why Call Bend City to Fast

As we are entering our second year as a local church, there are 2 issues that we see needing direction and wisdom from the Lord. Among other needs, these are going to be the 2 needs we focus on during our time of prayer and fasting.

1. Direction of Discipleship- Jesus commanded the church to make disciples and to teach the disciples. This is a given. What is not a given is how this is done. We feel God will give us specific direction and wisdom to teach and train the disciples, raise up leaders from among the body, and create an atmosphere for making disciples that make disciples.

2. Ministry to the City- We are expectant that God will make more clear where we are to focus our efforts in being a light to the city of West Bend. More specifically, where can God’s people be empowered by God’s spirit to do acts of service to the world around us.

Fasting- The Practice

Some will argue that fasting must be done in such and such a way. If you feel called to fast from a certain food or only eat certain foods or fast from entertainment, etc., that is excellent and you should be obedient to your Godly conviction. From Scripture, I do not see a certain prescribed method of fasting, and thus, believe there is some freedom on the matter. Scott and I will be fasting from certain foods similar to what Daniel had done in Daniel 10. Other methods of fasting that can be done are eating only bread and water, drinking only juice, abstaining from TV and internet, or abstaining from other forms of entertainment. Remember, the goal is closeness with God, not how much can I resist proving I am Godly.

Looking forward to seeking God with you for His glory.