February 27th, 2009 by Tim Moore

It’s time the church gets serious about what Jesus commissioned us to do.  It’s time to connect with those around you.  It’s time to build relationships with people who are heading to hell.  It’s time to wake up!   I hope and pray that the people in my church are feeling inspired to do something about it.

Inspiration without perspiration becomes information.

Inspiration with perspiration becomes transformation.

What are you waiting for?  Just do it.  Get active.  Tell someone about why you believe in Jesus.  Ask someone if they go to church.  If not, ask them to go church with you.

What if they laugh?  What if they don’t appreciate me asking?  What if they look down at me?  Or…  What if they are looking for a church?  What if they are looking for God but don’t know where to find him?  What if they just moved to the area and have no friends?  What if they are thinking about killing themselves, because no one cares?

Stop playing the “what if” game in your head and just do it.  Stop waiting for the bright light from heaven to shine down to prompt you.  Just do it.

The other evening a few of us went out to eat after an awesome 4th Wednesday service.  I try to always carry invite cards for the series we are doing at church.  At the end, I pulled one out and invited our waitress to church.  You never know how someone will react.  But as we began to talk about it, she said…”My family is looking for a church”.

You never know who you will meet and whose life you can touch by something as simple as handing out an invitation to experience God.  Invite as many as you can.  You never know who you’ll meet and how God can use you to change someone’s eternity.

February 26th, 2009 by Tim Moore

What do you see?  It’s there just keep looking.  You have to concentrate. 

See it now?

Sometimes we go through life and never notice what is really right in front of us.  The problem is we just aren’t looking long enough.  I find myself sometimes going through life never noticing how many people around me don’t know Jesus.  The truth is…they are there.  We just aren’t focused enough to see them.

One of the main reasons we don’t often reach out to the lost is that we are simply too distracted.  We are in such a hurry today that we don’t bother talking to the person in our checkout line. We are too consumed with our own life that we don’t even notice the broken lives of those around us.  I’ll admit, I’m guilty of doing this too often.

Just like the horse in this stereogram, the people are there.  Don’t be so distracted by your to-do list that you ignore someone God might want you to invite to church.  Keep looking…they are there.

February 25th, 2009 by Tim Moore

What is it that keeps us from truly reaching out to the lost?  What changes in us from the day we receive Jesus and we just have to tell everyone to the day when we keep quiet so as not to attract attention?  Perhaps it is simply osmosis.

I’ve noticed something interesting in our church.  People who recently find Christ tell everyone.  They bring more people to church than anyone.  When we first experience a new life through Jesus we almost feel as though we have found the cure to cancer.  It’s like the being let in on the best kept secret.  But usually within a year or so we seem to lose that excitement.  We lose the drive to tell everyone what we’ve found.

We go through osmosis.  Slowly over time we submerge ourselves into the Christian culture and tend to lose touch with the rest of culture.  Which is often why the church struggles to reach the lost.  We become great at Christian community and poor at connecting with those who don’t know Jesus.  This is why I believe the church needs to embrace Paul’s words in 1 Cor 9:22.

“To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”

Jesus didn’t desire us to be separate from the world (John 17:15), but rather to be engaged with the world…albeit not to be like the world.  Somehow we wake up one day and through osmosis we have disengaged.  The more withdrawn we become…the less effective we are.  As a pastor it can be easy for me to become isolated from the world.  That is why we must be intentional about reversing osmosis.

Here are a few ways you can be intentional about connecting with the world.  (I am working on these myself)

• Have a neighbor over for dinner.  Make time to be with neighbors who don’t know Christ!
• Join a local gym.  Get a workout partner who doesn’t know Jesus.
• Use the marketplace as a way of connecting with people during the day.  Build relationships with people you work with.
• Visit a local establishment (coffee shop or restaurant) regularly and get to know the staff.
• Get involved in community events or activities that are not being hosted by a church.

Don’t become another person who through osmosis to the Christian community has lost touch with reality! (This is reality – people all around you are headed for hell if they don’t meet Jesus)

February 24th, 2009 by Tim Moore

The term Christian apparently carries different meanings today.  I recently read a survey taken in America where nearly 8 out of 10 people claim to be a “Christian”.  I guess anyone can call themselves anything they want…but does that make it true?  In that case, I am a professional golfer.  Better yet I am an astronaut.  But reality would show that I am neither of those.  I’ve only shot in the 70′s once in my life and the closest I’ve ever been to outer space is with a telescope.  You can call yourself whatever you want, but how you live your life really defines you.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that 80% of the people in this country are Christians.  The term Christian was actually a derogatory statement people used to call true followers of Christ.   In other words, they were so much like him that they were being called copy cats.  Today, the church has basically accepted the term to mean a follower of Christ.  But does that fit 80% of the people you know?  Is that how they live their life?

Jesus loved the unlovable.  Jesus touched the lepers.  Jesus ate with ones that the church despised.  Jesus fed the hungry.  Jesus was on a mission to reach those who were lost.  Jesus wasn’t distracted by money or things.  When I read about Jesus, I am convicted that I’m not more like him.

Maybe the church should scrap the term “Christian”.  I don’t like to use it today.  If being a Christian is what I see in 80% of the people around me…then I don’t want to be one.  I want to be like Jesus.   I don’t want to claim to be like him…I want my life to show it.  I imagine that if the church started living like him, we might see more of the “Christians” around us get saved!  Imagine that.

February 23rd, 2009 by Tim Moore

A while back I was challenged by something I read.  The question was asked, “Do you have any unsaved contacts on your phone?”  I had to stop and look through my contacts just to see.  I did have several in there, but they weren’t necessarily people I call often.  More than anything I was challenged by what was being implied.

Too often we become Christians and then become disconnected from the rest of the world.  Somehow we completely miss the real Jesus of the Bible.  He didn’t live in a closed community of believers.  He spent time with the down and out, the prostitutes, and those that were completely lost.  As Christ followers, we talk about being like him…but are we?

It bothers me that we (Christians) can become so isolated from the people who need us most.  It bothers me that I have in many ways isolated myself from those God wants me to reach.  I hope it bothers you too.

This week I am going to share my insights into why we are like this and how we can begin to change this stigma.

February 19th, 2009 by Tim Moore

I found this blog by Craig Groeschel (pastor of LifeChurch.tv) most challenging in regards to reaching people in a different generation.  Thought I would share it.

Generational Ministry

Posted: 19 Feb 2009 02:27 AM PST

I saved this topic for last because I believe it is most important and also the most overlooked.

If you want to reach the next generation, you must believe in them and invest in them.

Many in my generation don’t believe in those coming behind us (much like the generation before me didn’t believe in my wild ideas).

Here are some of my thoughts:

• Most of this generation had both parents working. They were given lots of things but not lots of time. Deep down, most crave support.
• In their mostly gray world, they hunger for a someone to point to black and white.
• Many were materially blessed and didn’t have to “scrap” to make it. No one expected a lot from them. They want to be pushed.

I challenge you to invest in this coming generation. They want to learn from you. (And they can also teach you some things.) See yourself as a Paul and find a Timothy. Even if you are only 23 years old, find an 18 year old and speak life into them.

It is one of the greatest joys in my life to invest in the next generation of pastors and leaders.

February 18th, 2009 by Tim Moore

That’s the book for me.  I remember singing that song as a kid.   Growing up I had quite a bit of exposure to the Bible.  I attended Christians schools for most of my early education (until high school) and regularly had classes on the Bible.  In fact I can even quote the books of the Bible in order in about 25 seconds.  A skill that doesn’t come in handy too often.

But I have found that there is a big difference to knowing information about the Bible and  knowing God through the Bible.  The only way God’s Word changes you is if you read it often.  At first I really did not want to read it.  Then someone gave me a One Year Bible and I made myself read it every day.  It began to change me.  I actually began to love reading it.  I was hooked.

Hebrews 4:12 says…For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

I don’t know how to explain it, but if you will simply start reading it every day, I believe that the same will happen with you. You will connect with God in a new way.  Your life will begin to change…one day at a time.

February 13th, 2009 by Tim Moore

It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while it lands on Friday the 13th.  Are you superstitious?  Are you worried that something bad is going to happen to you today?

I have long wondered how Christians could be superstitious.  I know that there are probably millions of Christians who would say they are.  However, I don’t really see how you can be a Christian and believe in superstitions.

The word for superstition comes from a Latin word superstito which means – an unreasonable or excessive belief in fear or magic.  The problem I have with superstitions is that the Bible tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear.  If you are living with excessive fear about anything then you have given power to the enemy to control you.  You are saying that you don’t believe God is strong enough or big enough to protect you.  You are making a pretty big statement when you let irrational fear run your life.  I don’t believe as followers of Christ we are to live in fear of anything, let alone myths that have no basis whatsoever.

When I see open ladders…I intentionally walk under them.  Actually, I don’t believe in superstitions so much that I own an all black cat!  And I can’t stand cats.  I refuse to live in fear that something bad might happen to me because I stepped on a crack.  Why would you want to live that way?  I refuse to live in fear and I will continue to walk under ladders.

February 12th, 2009 by Tim Moore

None of us like problems.   We hate when our car breaks down and they tell us it is going to cost $1200 to get it fixed.  We freak out when our furnace dies in the middle of the winter and we have to consider selling one of our kids to have it fixed.  We feel stressed out when our marriage or relationship is struggling.  Let’s face it…we despise adversity.

I have been reading a book called “In a pit with a lion on a snowy day” by Mark Batterson.   It is a great book, I highly recommend it.  Chapter 5 talks about facing adversity.  One statement by Batterson has changed my outlook on life.  He wrote, “No problem equals no miracle.”  We can’t see God work in amazing ways when life is always perfect.  If life was always predictable and went as we planned we probably would never pray!  Adversity creates a need in our life for God!

We need adversity.  We need uncertainty in our lives.  That is what makes life worth living.  So if you are facing one of your biggest challenges right now, believe that you can be approaching your biggest miracle.   And since I want to see God do something big and amazing in my life…I guess I’d better crave adversity.

February 10th, 2009 by Tim Moore

I am excited to get back to preaching.  Being off for this many weeks has been killing me!!

I hope this new series called TXT inspires people to get into their Bibles!  Should be a great series for people who want to know more about their Bible.

God is good even when I don’t feel like it or see it!

When is the last time you thanked God for what you do have?  Too often we take for granted our health, our families and our jobs!

Is this new spending package from the Government really going to boost our economy?  I must admit I am skeptical.

We are planning a crazy Easter egg hunt at our church.  Have you ever seen 10,000 eggs before?

Again…can’t wait for this Sunday!