Monday, February 27, 2017

Getting to the Core: Community Engagers

Our tagline for Reliant is "Ministry Runs on the Rails of Relationships."  We use a set of railroad tracks to illustrate the thought of people walking parallel to each other in this life connected at different points for different reasons.  The longer the tracks go, the closer they come together, and so it is with the relationships of this life.

One thing I know for sure is that all of life is about relationships.  A person is happy when their life is full of good healthy relationships and a person is sad if his or her relationships are not healthy or non-existent.  God tells us that we were created in his image and likeness which tells me that God is relational as well.  God has no desire to be alone but to share his life and creation with people who will share their love and life with Him. God cares so strongly about having these relationships that it drove him to sacrifice his own Son so that these relationships could be restored and maintained for all of eternity.  This in itself should reveal how valuable these relationships are.  I think it is a shame when people take the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as a ticket to get out of Hell or condemnation and never give God the relationship for which He died.

Our core values at Reliant are:

  1. Disciple Makers: We will make every effort to multiply our faith through evangelism and mentoring.
  2. Bible Believers: The Bible is our final authority for all life and practice.
  3. God Pleasers: By faith we will please God and trust him with our lives.
  4. Community Engagers: Ministry runs on the rails of relationships.
  5. Kingdom Builders: We will take every God-given opportunity to advance His kingdom in this world.
As we look at the pattern and example of Jesus in his earthly ministry, we don't see him building a big building and inviting people to come to it.  What we see is him walking the streets, going from house to house, spending time in the market place, or in the social gathering places (bars and such).  He was where the people were, building relationships with them.  This was one of the main differences to his ministry and that of the synagogues.  Jesus could preach anywhere.  Jesus was willing to go anywhere (John 4). He didn't need a structure to define him, his message defined him.  As he traveled he didn't travel alone, he had hand chosen 12 men to walk by his side and learn the ministry.  These disciples didn't learn to build buildings but to build people.

I don't believe anyone can effectively accomplish the ministry of Christ and not engage your community.  Christ's ministry was not a christian Walmart where consumers can come and find whatever they want and need.  Ministry is in the trenches with other people, loving them right where they are; finding the lost and shining the light of the gospel.  We can no longer sit back and hope that the blind wonder into our buildings.  We must follow the command of the Lord and go into all the world and preach the gospel.  We must seek and save that which is lost.  We Must Be Community Engagers!

Online Giving Here

Monday, February 20, 2017

Getting to the Core: God Pleasers

The more I observe people and churches the more I see the trap of religion.  Religion is a control mechanism that places people in fear in order to produce a desired reaction.  The desired action varies from denomination to denomination but it usually ends up focused around your money.  If you fail to comply, there is some type of hell to pay or God will not be pleased with you.  There is no doubt that God is displeased with people because of our sin, but I would quote to you the same blessing that Paul quoted in Romans 7:24-25, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

You see, the love of Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection have set me free from the old wretched man that I am.  Jesus has not only paid my penalty for sin but has also lived out my righteousness.  Jesus Christ is my everything.  I don't have to live in fear wondering if God loves me because Jesus is the manifestation of that love. The perfect love of God has cast out all fear (1 John 4:18).

Now that I have a relationship with God and I don't have to worry about all the religious stuff that Jesus has already accomplished, how can I personally please God?  The answer is found in Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."  The way I please God is simply by faith; i.e. to trust him.  That's it!!!  To know that He is God and I am not.  To believe that if I seek him with my whole heart I will find him and he will reward me. The call of God to humanity has been the same since the garden of Eden.  God simply says, "Trust Me."

As I was talking with Kim about our new church plant.  I was sharing with her my desire to form a group of people that would learn to walk by faith.  A people that would take God at His Word.  I want to be the church that Jesus looks at and is moved by our faith as he was with the Centurion.  So we called the new Church "Reliant."  And we made sure that one of our core values is being God Pleasers: by faith we will please God and trust him with our lives.

On Sunday, February 1, 2015 we will begin our Core meetings getting ready for our grand opening in August.  I am trusting the Lord for 25 families that are ready to walk by faith and do something amazing for God.  We are asking God to give us our first meeting place that will hold us and our children.  I know God is going to provide.  If you would like to be a part of this new church, please contact me at bill.s@reliantrails.com.  I look forward to leading those that come by faith and walk by faith.  

Monday, February 13, 2017

Getting to the Core: Bible Believers

I remember the call of the Lord on my life to preach at a very young age.  My father wasn't a preacher nor my grandfather, but I knew what God was calling me to do by age 12.  I began seriously studying the Bible my senior year of high school.  I remember going into my local Christian bookstore and wandering around trying to figure out what book I should get and I settled on a book entitled "Coming Events in Prophecy" by M.R. Dehaan, M.D.  I was hooked.  That sparked a fire in me for studying the Bible that has been raging ever since.  I still have that book on my shelf as a keepsake to remind me of where it all began.

It's been 28 years since I purchased that first book and that has turned into the new church plant of Reliant Ministries, Inc.  Reliant is producing Jesus followers of faith that will expand the kingdom of God by their witness and His Word.  This has already begun to happen as we have many starting to embrace our first core value of being Disciple Makers.  Here are our five core values:
  1. Disciple Makers: We will make every effort to multiply our faith through evangelism and mentoring.
  2. Bible Believers: The Bible is our final authority for all life and practice.
  3. God Pleasers: By faith we will please God and trust him with our lives.
  4. Community Engagers: Ministry runs on the rails of relationships.
  5. Kingdom Builders: We will take every God-given opportunity to advance His kingdom in this world.
The second core value is Bible Believers: The Bible is our final authority for all life and practice.  I am amazed today at the number of Christians that can't find the book of Ephesians if their life depended on it (and someday it might).  There is a growing epidemic of Bible illiteracy that has stifled evangelism and is causing the enemy to get the upper hand in the lives of the saints of God.

I am reminded of the words of Jesus when he was praying to the Father and said that he had given the words of the Father to the disciples and they received them and believed them in John 17:8, "For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me." (emphasis mine).  As Jesus continued in that prayer for the disciples of his day and those that would come after, he said, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." (John 17:17)   Jesus knew that the way to live a sanctified life, holy, and unto the Lord was going to come through knowing and living the Word of God.  

Therefore, we will be very intentional about training the disciples that God has placed in our care.  I refuse to preach sanctification unto the Lord and not give them the Word that is able to sanctify.  It is the Bible that gives us all we need to live holy in this crooked and perverse generation.  I believe it is spiritual neglect to withhold from God's people the very words that will set them free.  We are Bible Believers.  The Bible is our final authority for all life and practice.

Consider a one time donation to help Reliant Ministries get off the ground.  Click Here to Give

Monday, February 6, 2017

Three Keys to Discipleship: Accountability

Over the past few blogs we have been discussing the necessity for three key components to any good discipleship process.  Many churches talk about discipleship but fail to see the reality of the lives of their people truly being conformed to that of Christ's. As in everything, stability is bound in 3's and so it is in discipleship.

First, you must build an intimate relationship with God.  This is more than just saying the prayer of salvation or even being "born again." John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."  I love the simplicity and the intimacy of this verse.  An intimate relationship is a constant interaction with God that is real and personal.  (Experiencing God, Blackaby)

Second, The Bible must be the final authority for all life and practice.  If we don't hold the Bible as the standard then people will make it up as they go.  Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD."  There must be a shift in the mind in which a person humbles themselves under the authority of God's Word and trust what He says to be right and true.  When this happens you begin to see real life change as the individual begins a life long journey of change and adjustment.

Third, one must be held accountable by the body of Christ. There are many levels of accountability and a necessity for all levels.  According to Matthew 18:15-18 accountability begins with peer-to-peer.  We have the responsibility to help our brothers and sisters in Christ if we see they are going astray or if they have offended us in some way.  If peer-to-peer is ineffective then there should be a peer-to-group accountability where truth is established and encouraged.  If the person is still walking contrary to the scriptures after the group accountability then Jesus says to take the matter to the Church.  This is outlined very clearly in 1 Corinthians 5.  If the person will still not repent from their sin they are to be removed from the Church in order to protect the integrity of the whole.  Once a person has repented of the sin and are walking according to the Bible they should be fully restored to fellowship and service in the Body of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2).  Although in today's world this might sound harsh, people practice this same thing in families, schools, jobs, and sports.  Why is it that we would guard the name of Christ more than we would these other areas.

My heart is broken over the lack of true discipleship going on in Churches today.  Until we as Christians are willing to take the time to invest in others there will not be the radical life change that Christ can and should bring.  As we start our new Church Plant I am excited to call the church body to a real life changing gospel that will change the course of many generations to come.  What is Christianity without these three keys.  It amounts to new born babes unwilling to take care of themselves and surely unable to take care of others.  

If you are searching for the changed life, if you know you need this kind of discipleship, email me at bill.s@reliantrails.com and I will direct you to a church in your area that will lead you in the ways of God.

Give to Reliant Ministries by CLICKING HERE.