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Amen! 🌍

For our 11/22-28/2020 faith exercise, please read Psalm 103:1-5 daily. In her book Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith, Sarah Bessey says, “I believe God hides in plain sight in your right-now life.” During Thanksgiving week, ask God to awaken you to where and how God is hiding in plain sight in your right-now life, and give thanks every time you experience the benefits of God’s presence. Share your God-sighting encounters with others because many people around you need encouragement, especially during this uniquely difficult Thanksgiving week. When we fixate on what we are missing, we miss out on what God is doing. Life in companionship with Christ is the ultimate relationship with benefits!

11/15-21/2020 Faith Exercise: #1) Internalize Proverbs 15:15. Every day is a terrible day for a miserable person, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. (GWT) #2) Ask God to show you what it looks like to live this way. #3) Be willing to make whatever changes are necessary to have a cheerful heart set on gratitude. #4) Discuss this verse with at least three other people.

Thank you Pastor Ric

11/08-14/2020 Habakkuk 3:16-19 faith exercise: #1) Please read Habakkuk 3:16-19 daily. #2) How does your story identify with Habakkuk’s story in verse 17? Does verse 17 sound like any current events? #3) From verse 18, what is your “yet I will” statement of faith? It might be helpful to write or type it out. #4) What words would you use to describe who God is and what God does in verse 19? #5) Use this passage to have a conversation with several people about God, faith, and current events. #6) For a New Testament companion text, consider Colossians 3:1-4.

Faith Exercise: read Hebrews 12:1-2 daily. Who is in this great cloud of witnesses? What is the great crowd of witnesses doing? In this passage, what are we doing? What excess weight are you carrying? What in your life keeps tripping you up? What does “fixing our eyes on Jesus” look like for you? What has Jesus done? Why did Jesus do it? How does this make a difference? Why is this race worth the enduring faith we are called to give? How do you know you are not alone? Who are the examples of faith - both in heaven and on earth - inspiring you to stick it out? What words would you use to describe your very next step of obedient faith?

October 18-24, 2020 faith exercise: #1) Please read and meditate on Proverbs 3:5-6 every day. You can use your favorite translation, or you can use what I put together. “Trust in the Lord with your whole heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways follow the Lord, and the Lord will make your paths straight.” #2) How do you go about making minor decisions? #3) How do you go about making major decisions? #4) What is in Proverbs 3:5-6 that can influence and improve your decision making processes? #5) Discuss Proverbs 3:5-6 with three people this week.

Welcome to our October 11-17, 2020 faith exercise. Spend a few minutes each morning meditating on Philippians 4:8-9. Several times a day, return to the passage and read it. Before you go to sleep, read the passage again. Imagine you are marinating in this passage, letting it soak in and permeate your inner self. Trust God’s Spirit to take it from there, saturating you and seasoning you into this way of thinking and acting. Here is the passage. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is fair and right, whatever is pure, whatever is attractively acceptable, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of moral excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise - keep focusing your thoughts on and filling your mind with these virtues. Likewise, keep practicing these things: what you have learned, received, heard, and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” #1) When it comes to your thought life, are you in a rut? What words would you use to describe your rut? How did you land down there? Who or what keeps you down there? Instead of reading verse 8 with guilt, read verse 8 as the grace-based opportunity it is. Invite God’s Spirit to use these words in lifting you out of your rut by replacing thought patterns. #2) Identify people you know whose lives resemble verse 8. Congratulations! You’ve just named the people God wants to use in pulling you out of your rut!

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Correction: First Christian Church of Bonner Springs will be celebrating it's 137th birthday! Happy Birthday, FCC!

Welcome to our October 4-10, 2020 faith exercise. #1) Read 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 daily, inviting God to apply this passage to you. When, how, and where can identity with Paul’s description of their overwhelmingly crushing experience in the province of Asia? When, how, and where have you reached the end of self-reliance and started living through Christ-reliance? In what specific ways have “the prayers of many” helped you continue moving in this difficult journey? #2) Pray Psalm 94:17-19 at least once a day. “Without the Lord as my Helper, I would never make it - my soul would quickly descend to the land where death silences every voice. When my heart screams, ‘I am slipping!’ or ‘I am doomed!,’ Your fiery and unfailing love, Lord, holds me up and steadies me. When I am upset and crazy inside my head - with anxious thoughts or doubts multiplying - the soothing comfort of Your presence calms my soul and becomes my security.” #3) Pay attention to how God touches your life as you immerse yourself in these two passages. #4) Share this faith exercise with somebody who needs it as badly as you need it.

And I'm forever grateful to You, Lord, that through The Word, through prayers, through the beautiful music I hear today and wherever, through this message and other messages here and there, in your creation, and through the power of the Holy Spirit in my life, you are changing me from the inside out. Thank You! Amen.

Welcome to our 09/27-10/03/2020 faith exercise. #1) Please read Luke 19:1-10 daily, paying close attention to visual words like “see” and “look.” #2) How did Zacchaeus change? When did Zacchaeus change? Why did Zacchaeus change? What role did Jesus play in these changes? #3) When has Jesus acted like this in your life? When has Jesus taken the initiative to meet you right where you are, win you over with grace, and love you into a better version of yourself? #4) Where are you in the grace-orchestrated process of becoming more of a giver than a taker? Where are you in the grace-orchestrated process of becoming more of a steward than a consumer? #5) In what specific ways have you been trying to improve something about your attitude or your behavior, with unsatisfactory results? Spend seven days wholeheartedly welcoming Jesus like Zacchaeus did, keeping track of how you transform in ways you have not been able to reform on your own. When Jesus changes people, they change. Zacchaeus was not a lost cause, and you aren’t either.

Here is our September 20-27, 2020 faith exercise from Mark 12:38-44. #1) In this passage, what do you learn about motivation? #2) What motivates the good that you do? #3) Ask God to give you the heart of this poor widow, and then behave accordingly, knowing God sees your heart and notices with delight the most seemingly insignificant good that you do.

September 13-19, 2020 Faith Exercise - #1) Read Exodus 16, Deuteronomy 8:1-4, Matthew 6:9-13, John 6:25-35, and Acts 4:32-37. #2) Over a seven day period, live day-to-day recognizing God as your whole-life Provider and intentionally relying on God as Your whole-life Provider. #3) Observe how this way of life shapes your financial decisions (spending, saving, giving, etc.). #4) Observe how this way of life amplifies your gratitude to Jesus, the Bread of Life, the One Who gives us this day our daily bread. #5) According to these passages, what words would you use to describe God’s economic system? How does the economy work when communities cooperate with God as Provider? #6) Talk about this faith exercise with at least one other person. #7) I hope this excerpt from The Renovare Study Bible, page 121, guides your faith exercise. “How God chose to feed the people was unexpected. The way God worked to help them did not look like anything they had seen before. Yet they trusted it, ate it, and lived. We also must be prepared for God to work in unusual ways in our lives. We must be careful not to turn away from something because it appears odd and unfamiliar. Many times God does something and we say, ‘What is it?’ - only to find out it is the very thing we need.”

September 6-12, 2020 faith exercise: Please read Matthew 7:7-11 and Psalm 31:19 daily. Spend seven days documenting all of the ways God is good to you. May this prayer from Matthew 7:7-11 and Psalm 31:19 open your soul to experience more of God’s nonstop goodness than you ever have before. “God in Christ, we welcome You into our everything. Thank You for the reality that the inflow of Your goodness never ever ever ever stops coming our way, even when life is bad. From the unlimited supply of Your overflowing goodness, and in the safe security of Your sanctuary within us, we choose to see what is good and to hear what is good and to think what is good and to feel what is good and to do what is good and to speak what is good. How can we not live in loving and reverent awe of You! We will keep asking and seeking and knocking, because we are confident that, in Your goodness, You always hear us and You always respond. Thank You for giving us the good that You know we need. We will not keep Your goodness to ourselves. In the name of the Good Shepherd, may it be so. Amen.”

08/29-09/05/2020 faith exercise - Please read Luke 22:31-32 daily. Here are four questions for contemplation and action. #1) When has your faith been pressurized, weakened, shredded, crushed, or blown away by the trauma of life? #2) How is your post-traumatic faith different from the version of faith you had before the trauma? #3) If you are currently in the middle of trauma, how does Luke 22:31-32 encourage you? What does the passage say about faith? What does the passage say about Jesus? Where do you find hope? #4) Do you know somebody whose faith is being severely tested or even crushed by some form of trauma? How can your post traumatic faith story be an encouragement to that person?

Welcome to our August 23-29 faith exercise. Please read John 6:1-15 daily. In this Scripture passage, what is God saying to you about your life, our world, and Christ’s resources? What do you have to offer based on what God is saying to you about your life, our world, and God’s resources? Who else can you ask to join you? Author and theologian Henri Nouwen once said this. “The fruitfulness of our little life, once we recognize it and live it as the life of the Beloved, is beyond anything we can imagine. One of the greatest acts of faith is to believe that the few years we live on this earth are like a little seed planted in very rich soil. For this seed to bear fruit, it must die. We often see or feel only the dying, but the harvest will be abundant even when we ourselves are the harvesters. How different would our life be were we truly able to trust that it multiplied in being given away! How different would our life be if we could believe that every little act of faithfulness, every gesture of love, every word of forgiveness, every little bit of joy and peace will multiply and multiply as long as there are people to receive it . . . and that - even then - there will be leftovers!”

Faith exercise for 08/16-22/2020 - Please read Psalm 59 daily, paying close attention to verses 9 and 17. “You are my Strength, I watch for You; You, God, are my Fortress. You are my Strength, I sing praise to You; You, God, are my Fortress, my God on Whom I can rely.” (Psalm 59:9 and Psalm 59:17 in the NIV). Read these verses silently. Read these verses out loud. Have somebody read these verses to you. Read these verses to somebody else. Consider the words “strength” and “strong.” In what ways do you consider yourself a strong person? What are your strengths? Psalm 59 is attributed to David. A renowned warrior, David was being doggedly pursued by enemies that were stronger than him. What is happening - in you or around you - that is stronger than you are? Is somebody, or something, always there attacking you or distressing you or draining you? Examples include but are not limited to relationships, illness, depression, vocation, and finances. Since these two verses address God directly, they are prayers of confession. Please incorporate these two confessional prayers into your prayer language with God. Say them to God as your prayers. The goal is for you to make a shift in your prayer life. Instead of asking God to give you strength, ask God to BE your Strength and to BE your fortress (your elevated and secure high place). Do you see the difference? How can these two simple verses and this one prayer language shift make a difference in your life this week?

Welcome to our August 9-15, 2020 faith exercises 1) Please read Luke 7:1-10 every day. ...What do you draw from this passage about the Centurion’s relationship with other people? ...What do you draw from this passage about the Centurion’s relationship with himself? ...What do you draw from this passage about the Centurion’s relationship with God? 2) Following the example of this Roman Centurion, be amazing to Jesus. Testing positive for faith is not nearly as hard as you might think it is. Keep in mind that the religious people listening to Jesus would have been shocked that Jesus commended this soldier’s faith, because they would have considered him to be a pagan outsider. How does our religion sometimes get in the way of our faith? 3) What does this passage teach you about distance and God? How can you apply what you learn from this passage to our present socially distant circumstances? How might God want to use your God-given faith to make a difference in somebody’s life from a distance? In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

Welcome to our August 2-8, 2020 faith exercises from Matthew 6:25-34, where we let Jesus lead us in a transformation from worry to wonder. In the New International Version, we hear Jesus saying these words in verses 33-34. “But seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” In Eugene Peterson’s The Message, we hear Jesus saying these words in verses 33-34. “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Author Bob Goff says, “Worry and distraction always travel together. We’re worried, so we’re distracted - and people who are distracted can’t be present. How do we get back to being where our feet are?” (Live in Grace, Walk in Freedom, by Bob Goff, page 160) The moment we are in is what we can count on. Every moment is a breathtaking gift from God. How many moments are we missing because we are living behind the moment or in front of the moment or underneath the moment or otherwise “out of” the moment? How often are we distractedly losing out on whatever God has for us right here right now because we are being pulled apart and fragmented and disintegrated through worrying? How much richer and fuller could we be if we let go of anxiety and show up for our lives in a conscious awareness of God’s loving presence - moment by moment? It’s how Jesus lived in the Gospels. It seems worth whatever it takes for us to simply BE. That is the faith exercise. Let’s go wondering. Let’s seek to lose ourselves in whatever God is doing in a particular moment.

This is the translation of Romans 8:26-30 I am using in the sermon. v.26) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how to pray or what to pray for, but God’s Spirit makes our requests for us in prayer through wordless groans. v.27) And God Almighty, Who sees into our hearts, knows what the Spirit is thinking, for the Spirit advocates in prayer on behalf of God’s people in alignment with the mind and will of God. v.28) And we know that, in the midst of everything that is happening, God is at work orchestrating good with those who love God and are called according to God’s purpose. v.29) For those God foreknew God also predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. v.30) And the people God predestined, God also called; the people God called, God also made right; the people God made right, God also glorified. Welcome to our July 26-August 1, 2020 faith exercises. 1) Please read Romans 8:26-30 every day. 2) There is a practical principle in life called “ACT AS IF.” In the 12 step recovery movement, for example, this principle calls you to think about what it looks like to “act as if” you are a sober person and to then start acting that way. Another example - if you want to make more friends, you “act as if” you are somebody other people want to befriend. For the next seven days, let’s apply Romans 8:26-30 and “Act As If” to our prayer lives. PRAY AS IF God absolutely loves it when you pray (because God DOES). PRAY AS IF God is right there with you translating and fine-tuning your prayers (because God IS right there). PRAY AS IF God is so actively engaged with you in your prayer life that prayer is a sure thing (because prayer IS a sure thing). PRAY AS IF God is using your prayers and everything in your life to make you more like Jesus (because that is exactly what God is doing). PRAY FOR OTHERS AS IF God loves them just as much as God loves you (because God DOES). In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

Our July 19-25, 2020 faith exercise is based on James 5:13-18 and comes from The Spiritual Formation Bible, page 1608. Augustine once referred to the “walls of the church” as those relational braces and boundaries within which individuals who belong to the church are held. James closes his letter by describing those “walls” or means of grace - prayer, confession, healing, restoration - that benefit both the individual and the whole community. #1) Recall an instance in which the church has provided for you in a time of specific need. #2) Now think of less visible or dramatic ways in which your faith community has been a channel of God’s grace in your life. #3) In what ways can you become such a caring presence to a brother or sister, or to your congregation as a whole? #4) Ask God to guide you in discerning and fulfilling that calling. (From “Meeting God in Community”) In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

Our July 12-18 Faith Exercise is to read Exodus 14, paying particular attention to verses 13-15. We are applying verses 13-15 to prayer and action. You can implement this Biblical text through one or more of the options listed below, or you can go off-road with your own personal application! Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: A Few Ideas (Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals 06/30/2020) #1) Hang out with folks who will inherit the earth. (For details, see the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, especially Matthew 5:5.) “Hanging out” looks different right now because of the virus, but it is possible to hang out online or by phone. #2) Offer practical help to somebody who cannot reciprocate (return the favor). #3) As you pray through the names on the church prayer list, stay alert to practical ways you can pray with your feet (or your hands or your ears or your card writing or your phone calling, etc). #4) Look through your clothes. Learn about one of the countries where they are manufactured. Do some research to discover the working conditions of the people who made them, and commit to doing one thing to improve the lives of people who live in that country. #5) Look for everything you have two of, and give one away. #6) Dig up a bucket of soil and look through it to see the elements and organisms that make our daily meals possible. #7) Spend time remembering how God has used other people’s actions to answer your personal prayers. #8) _________________. While Carla Jordan and I were talking about this faith exercise, Carla said to me, “The variety of actions we take can be as varied as the imagination of God because God is our Creator and we are made in God’s image.” If you are in quarantine because of COVID-19, you have the opportunity to find out how God can creatively put action to your prayers while keeping you safe from exposure to the virus! In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

Our July 5-11, 2020 Faith exercise comes from Joshua 5:13-15, Luke 9:51-56, and 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. #1) Temporarily take a step back from the news. Limit your media intake so that these three Biblical passages can hold your attention without competition. #2) Take a break from categorical thinking (either / or, good / bad, left / right, us / them, for / against). #3) Read our three passages every day this week, allowing God’s Spirit to stir them into the way you feel, think, and choose. (Most translations have a footnote attached to Luke 9:55, adding that when Jesus rebuked the two disciples He said, “You don’t realize what your hearts are like” or “You do not know what spirit you are of.”) How do these three passages address our current tendency to typecast people and issues using categories like either / or, good / bad, left / right, us / them, for / against? How do these three passages invite you into a deeper way, the Christ way of self-giving servanthood? Can we really make a difference for our nation? Given God’s glorious pattern of using seemingly insignificant or unimportant people to change the world, why not us? “We aren’t people of the Donkey or people of the Elephant; we are people of the Lamb.” Joining you in the deeper way of Christ, Rick Jordan

Thank you Rick and Sarju for the wonderful service!

Our June 28-July 4 faith exercise comes from Psalm 13, which is a Psalm of lament. Lament is how we spiritually process and pray our way through pain and suffering. Lament is a way for us to be with God and with each other when life is broken and God makes no sense. For the next few days we are going to lament along with this psalmist. Psalm 13 v.1) Lord, I am hurting. How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? How long will you pay no attention to me? v.2) How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day cling to this constant agonizing misery that shakes my soul as I grieve Your absence in my heart? How long will You let my enemy beat me down and gloat over me? God’s it’s been long enough! v.3) Look on me and answer me, O Lord my God! Breathe Your life into my spirit. Give light to my eyes in this pitch black darkness, or else I will die. v.4) Do not let my enemy say, “I have prevailed!” Then my adversaries will celebrate because I have fallen. v.5) But I have always trusted in Your faithful unfailing love. May I rejoice because of Your deliverance. v.6) I will sing praises to You, Lord, for in this You have strengthened my soul. Let my heart delight in Your saving help because You have been so good to me! From verses 1-2 - What questions have you been unable or unwilling to ask God? Go ahead and ask God. It’s okay. From verses 3-4 - What honest appeals have you been unable or unwilling to say to God? Go ahead and say them to God. It’s okay. From verses 5-6 - What statements of faith emerge from your questions and appeals? Go ahead and make those statements of faith. It’s okay. Using Psalm 13 as your guide, write or type or speak your own prayer of lament. I offer this quote from a website called The Easy English Bible. “When you feel sad, or depressed, or want to die, remember Psalm 13. Tell God that you feel sad. Ask God for help. Then tell God that you believe that God will answer you. Remember that the love of God never fails.” www.easyenglish.bible/psalms/psalm013-taw.htm Lastly, is there anybody in your life who needs to cry out to God in prayerful lament? How can you give that person permission to cry out to God? How can you tell that person it is okay to pray however he/she needs to pray? Praying along with you, Rick Jordan

Our June 21-27 faith exercises come from Acts chapters 3 and 4. Please read these two chapters every day this week. Our faith exercise questions are prayers. Question #1 = “God, how are You moving here and now?” Question #2 = “God, how can I join You and move with You?” “Here and now” is a flexible phrase. …“God, how are You moving in this moment?” …“God, how are You moving in this period of time?” …“God, how are You moving in this conversation?” …“God, how are You moving in this issue?” …“God, how are You moving in this relationship?” …“God, how are You moving in this place?” ...“God, how are You moving in this church?” …“God, how are You moving in this _______?” I am attaching a warning label so that you know what you are getting into with this faith exercise. You will experience side effects. We are firing ourselves from playing God. We are letting God be God. We are welcoming the fullness and influence and leadership of the Holy Spirit. I am eager to hear what happens. In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

For our June 7-June 13 faith exercise, please stay close to Ephesians 5:18-21. “Stop getting drunk with wine, which will cause you to lose control and will ruin your lives. Instead, be continually filled with and under the influence of the Spirit. Then you will be talking to yourselves with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; you will be singing and making music to the Lord with your hearts; you will be continually giving thanks to God the Father for everything and everybody in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and you will be humbly yielding to one another out of holy and loving reverence for Christ.” In the sermon I said the Spirit filled life is not about how much of the Holy Spirit we have; it’s about how much of us the Holy Spirit has. How much of you does God have access to? A colleague and friend, Blake McKinney, talked about the Spirit filled life in his 01/17/2019 daily devotional. Blake, who is senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit Missouri, uses practical language to help us understand and experience life under the influence of the Holy Spirit. I will let Blake take it from here. “I bet at some point in your life, someone has told you that you were full of something. Has anyone ever told you that you were full of God's Spirit? Most of us honestly aren't sure if we want to be full of God. Maybe we want just enough of God to get us into heaven, or just enough to be socially respectable, but we don't want to go overboard or anything. And we realize that if we are full of God, there won't be room for other things that we think are so important. We realize, in the words of John the Baptist, that if Jesus increases, you and I must decrease (John 3:30) - and we are a little too full of ourselves to desire that. Are you brave enough to ask God to fill every nook and cranny of your life?” In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

Welcome to our June 7-13 Faith Exercise. Please read Acts 2:1-21 daily. As you read, I invite you to be receptive to the reality that, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to be for us now everything Jesus was for the first disciples more than 2,000 years ago. Chicago pastor A.W. Tozer once said, “Anything God has ever done, God can do now. Anything God has ever done anywhere, God can do here. Anything God has ever done for anyone, God can do for you.” Do you believe that? If not, are you open to the possibility of believing that? Acts 2:1 says, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” 120 of them were together in unified prayer and worship. LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! God’s Spirit came down and took over. More than 2,000 years ago, crossing all barriers, God moved in people’s hearts in order to transform individuals and communities and systems. In June 2020, crossing all barriers, God still moves in people’s hearts in order to transform individuals and communities and systems...or at least God can. Do we need a fresh movement of God’s Spirit these days, the kind of movement that crosses all barriers transforming individuals and communities and systems? Do we need a mighty awakening through God’s Spirit these days, the kind of awakening that crosses all barriers transforming individuals and communities and systems? Due to COVID-19, we cannot be together in one place (like the 120 disciples were in Jerusalem), but we CAN be together in one prayer. Let’s see what happens as, over a seven day period, ALL of us are together in one prayer for the Holy Spirit to take over. You can pray for the Holy Spirit to take over in whatever words you have. If you are looking for language, I offer these words: “God, please prepare us and align us for a fresh movement of Your Holy Spirit, whatever it takes. Please have Your absolute way in us. We pray expectantly in the name of Jesus, amen.” Seven days is not a long time for this kind of praying, so don’t be surprised if God leads you to keep praying this way long after this faith exercise is over. This kind of prayer is not about convincing God. This kind of prayer is not about us proving to God how badly we want it. This kind of prayer is how God aligns us and prepares us for our participation in what God wants to do today. Our broken world is waiting. Let’s go. In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

Our May 31 - June 6, 2020 Faith Exercise, from Acts 1:1-11, consists of seven bundles of questions. All of these questions rise from the passage, so staying in Acts 1:1-11 will be to your advantage. If you want to enhance your experience, bring Luke 1:26-38 alongside Acts 1:1-11 (like I did in the sermon). You can concentrate on one bundle of questions each day or you can go after it all. Your pace is your choice. As answers to these questions come to you, please take time to be still in God’s presence. Be in touch with what God is revealing to you or stirring in you or activating in you. Today (Sunday): In Acts 1:6, the disciples were asking Jesus when He would take care of their problem with the Romans and take over (like they had wanted Him to do all along). What questions are you asking God these days? What are you waiting for these days? Monday: In light of Acts 1:6-7, do any of your questions need to change or stop? Through your questions, are you trying to hurry God? Through your questions, are you trying to help God do God’s job? Tuesday: According to Acts 1:8, what can you count on receiving from the Holy Spirit? How does this influence you? What abilities do you have only because Christ indwells you and comes over you through the Holy Spirit? Wednesday: According to Acts 1:8, who does Jesus call us to BE through the Holy Spirit? I am asking what Jesus calls us to be, not do. How does this influence you? Thursday: Three times in Acts 1:8 we read the word “you.” Originally, Jesus was referring to the disciples, His inner circle. Can you hear Jesus saying “you” to you? Can you take this verse personally? As you do, what happens inside you? Friday: In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells His original hearers that they will bear witness to Him in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Where does God call you to bear witness to Jesus? To whom is God calling you to bear witness to Jesus? Keep in mind that the inclusion of Samaria would have rattled the disciples, because Jewish people had nothing to do with Samaritan people. Samaritans were “the others.” Is God calling you to bear witness to Jesus among people who rattle you because they are so different or because you would not go near them otherwise? Instead of a people group, is it an individual? Saturday: What do you see in Acts 1:1-11 that encourages you or motivates you? Because of Acts 1:1-11, how do you want to be different from now on? Because of Acts 1:1-11, what is your new prayer? In the humble love of Christ, Rick Jordan

May 24-30 Faith Exercises First, please read Romans 5:1-5 from a translation (like the New International Version or the New Revised Standard Version or your personal favorite). In this faith exercise I am also sharing Romans 5:1-5 with you as I have adapted it from Eugene Peterson’s The Message, because The Message vividly describes the life Jesus offers us. Here it is. “By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us-set us right with God, make us fit for God-we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that God has already thrown open God’s door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand-out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling short changed. Quite the contrary-we can’t round up enough containers to hold all of the love God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” Second, please read this story from John Jean-Baptiste (The Way Bible NLT, 04/01/2012, page 1347) “I've lived my whole life in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and never before sensed a need for Jesus. Not that my life was easy or anything, but Christianity didn't seem to have any real connection to me. In my country, religion always seemed like a strange thing, with churches and voodoo blending in some places and fighting in others. Mostly I just stayed away from it all and didn't give it much thought. From what I could tell, the religious people didn't struggle any less than I did, so I didn't see the benefit. That all changed on January 12, 2010, the day of the earthquake that almost completely destroyed my city - and everything in my world. As the earth shook and my family's house started to crumble around me, I ran out to the street like everyone else in my community. As I ran, I heard many people crying out to Jesus. In that moment, I experienced something I still have a hard time putting into words. I suddenly knew that Jesus was real and that I needed help. I don't just mean that I knew I needed physical help in that moment - though that was true. I mean that I had this strong sense that Jesus was real and that I needed Jesus with my whole life. I am sure that sounds a bit strange, but running from an earthquake is a strange experience. While I was still running, I knew a shift had taken place in my thinking and heart; I knew that I was now a follower of Jesus. Since that day, my life has been filled with many things, including great suffering and lots of questions about my future. I am living in a tent made of sheets tied to sticks, as is pretty much everyone I know. We don't really know what the future holds, and every day is a challenge for survival. But I'm living with something else too, and it has surprised me. I'm living with hope. I had wishes before - things I'd like to have, things I'd like to accomplish or experience. But I didn't know hope. It's odd really, that it took losing everything and it took being tossed into a turmoil of uncertainty and questions that cannot be answered to discover this sense of hope. I feel like I know less than I ever have about what my life is going to look like and how I'm going to make it through this situation. But I know, deep inside my stomach, that God is with me. I am convinced that God spared me. And I'm on a path to figure out what God spared me for.” Third, please write or draw or tell your story about how you are trusting Christ to move you into a more “Wide Open Spaces” life, a life characterized by peace, grace, joy, hope, and love. Don’t worry that your story is not finished. It’s okay if this faith exercise catches you during a tough stretch in your story. Find the presence of God in whatever chapter your story is in right now, because that’s precisely where God wants to be with you...where you are. In the peace, grace, joy, hope, and love of Christ our Life, Rick Jordan

Our May 17-23 Proverbs 18:10-11 faith exercise is adapted from The Spiritual Formation Bible, page 847. Let your imagination play with the image in Proverbs 18:11, which says, “The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.” Picture a house of cards. Are you relying on any imaginary towers, self-made towers, towers that are actually houses of cards? Are you relying on money, on material “stuff,” or on yourself or on human relationships to build a false sense of security? Now let your imagination play with the image in Proverbs 18:10, which says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.” Picture a strong tower, a place that represents divine safety and security for you. Imagine that you are outside the tower, vulnerable, under attack. Who or what is attacking you? As you are driven back toward the tower, imagine that you call on the name of the Lord (see John 6:37, Philippians 2:5-11). At once the tower opens and you run inside and up into safety. You are lifted up into God’s heart of constant unconditional love. The tower is a relationship. In this relationship your enemies cannot reach your soul. You are spiritually safe and secure in the tower of Christ’s strength and goodness. Continue in your imagination and look around. You are not alone. Who is with you in the tower? Who else is in your towered faith community? How do your tower people contribute to your sense of spiritual safety and spiritual security? How do you contribute to their sense of spiritual safety and spiritual security? Keep reading Proverbs 18:10-11. Even better, let these two verses read you. Pray the name of Jesus as a one word prayer. It’s not an incantation or a magic password, but praying the name of Jesus opens us up, elevates us, fast-tracks us into childlike faith, and gives us access to who Jesus is and what Jesus does. Jesus ALWAYS knows what we need. Jesus can ALWAYS take it from there, even when all we can do is say Jesus’ name. Maybe ESPECIALLY when all we can do is say Jesus’ name. During this faith exercise, pay close attention to what happens in your soul. Share this faith exercise with anybody who comes to your heart. From one tower person to another, Rick Jordan

The May 10-16, 2020 faith exercise comes from James 1:17 which says, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Using this passage, create your own blessing baseline. How has God blessed you? My blessing baseline starts with the fact that I still have a heartbeat, then proceeds to the fact that I still have the ability to breathe. Do you see what I mean by “baseline?” This is the list we can fall back on any time we need to remind ourselves how good God is and how blessed we are, no matter what is happening around us or to us. LIFE IS A GIFT! Over a seven day period, try to add three new blessings each day. On my calculator, that means by the end of May 16 you will have a baseline of 21 blessings. I checked the math three times to make sure. Share James 1:17 and your blessing baseline with at least three people this week.

For the May 3-9 faith exercises, please read Isaiah 40:27-31 daily. v.27) O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? v.28) Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. God never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of God’s understanding. v.29) God gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. v.30) Even youths will become weak and tired, and young people will fall in exhaustion. v.31) But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. The COVID-19 crisis has comprehensively changed our lives and culture, and what we are currently enduring may only be the beginning of those changes. Nobody knows where all of this is heading. Nobody knows what life after lockdown will look like. Nobody knows how many cycles or phases of isolation we will have to ride out before the Coronavirus becomes even fractionally manageable. “Crisis” is defined as “a period of intense difficulty or danger,” but crisis is also defined as “a turning point for significant change.” The following questions are not meant to discount the dreadful severity of the Coronavirus. These questions are meant to explore and affirm the turning points for significant change that are taking effect in our souls. 1) During this shutdown, what are you discovering about yourself that has been surprising to you in a good way (changes you did not see coming)? 2) What is God developing in you during this shutdown? 3) How are you becoming stronger in ways that were not true of you in pre-pandemic normalcy? 4) In what ways are you “maxed out” (at the end of your internal resources)? According to Isaiah 40:27-31, your weakness qualifies you for God’s NEW strength. This week, devote yourself to the kind of strength described in Isaiah 40:27-31. Power up by wrapping yourself around God in tenacious trust and expectant hope. Trust God in Christ to supply you with new strength for new challenges. Don’t keep it to yourself. Let somebody know how it goes, okay?

Me am here

Our April 26-May 2 Faith Exercise comes from Psalm 61:1-4. Here it is. “Hear my cry, O God. Pay attention to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart grows faint and is overwhelmed. Lead and lift me up onto the Rock that is higher than I because You have been my refuge. As if I am in a strong Tower, You have lifted me high above the fray in the face of the enemy. I long to keep dwelling with You in Your tent forever. I will take refuge, hiding my life under the sheltering cover of Your wings.” Notice what David asks from God. “Lead and lift me up onto the Rock that is higher than I.” If you study the Biblical imagery of God in Christ as our Rock, you discover that God promises to be our secure relational place of stability, a relationship that is higher and more solid than our circumstances, our perspective, or our powerful feelings (anger, anxiety, loneliness, grief, despair, sadness, etc). When we are trusting ON God like this, God has a way of placing us ON a new and much better foundation or perspective. Faith exercise #1 is to PRAY these verses every day and keep track of what happens inside you. Pay particular attention to your thoughts and your feelings and your perspective. How is God leading you and lifting you? What is it about you that is being elevated? Faith exercise #2 is to make a list of people in your circles of relationship who need to be uplifted, people whose hearts are growing faint and overwhelmed. Pray these verses for them every day. Do not be surprised if God answers your prayers by giving you an opportunity to lovingly listen to the people for whom you are praying, because often God chooses to pull us up through the people God has placed in our lives.

Our April 19-25 faith exercise comes from Psalm 46, specifically verse 10. For the context of Psalm 46, you can read Isaiah 36-37. The circumstances of the coronavirus are currently keeping us more externally still than usual, but are we becoming more internally still? To me, that seems to be the covert opportunity being handed us. In Psalm 46:10, God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” The biblical Hebrew word translated “Be still” has multiple shades of meaning: calm down, slow down, step back, let go, relax your grip, cease striving. Sequentially speaking, it is when we become still that we start knowing who is God, maybe because until we become internally still we are STILL playing God. Start simple. Pick a time of day or night that affords you the best chance to become still in God’s presence. Begin with five minutes a day, and then increase from there. Some people use music. Some people use a candle or a cross. Some people can actually melt into the silence (you are a different species than I am). I use a Bible, and when I am resolute about internal stillness I make sure my mobile device is elsewhere because that blasted thing just won’t leave me alone otherwise. Internal stillness calms us and centers us, and who couldn’t benefit from becoming more calm and centered? However, spiritual disciplines like this develop S-L-O-W-L-Y. The 4,592 times you lose focus or drift away, don’t worry about it and do not give up. God knows you, loves you, wants this for you more than you do, and has divine patience. When we discipline ourselves into stillness in God’s presence, the benefits easily outweigh whatever it costs us to do it. AND once we can regularly become still in environments conducive to stillness, it becomes possible for us to become internally still in environments conducive to clamor. This stillness in motion enables us to know that God is, in fact, God, even in the surging chaos of this life. If you extroverts need a partner in stillness, or even two, don’t hesitate to reach out for companions. After all, Psalm 46 is FULL of plural pronouns. In Christ, Rick Jordan

It's so lovely to see these beautiful faces! Fills my heart with fond and happy memories. Stay well my friends. My heart holds you all close, always.

Our April 12-18 Faith Exercise comes from Matthew 28:1-10 and from author Bob Goff in a devotional book Carla and I are using this year. Bob’s book is entitled Live in Grace; Walk in Love (Thomas Nelson Books, 2019, page 122). Please read Matthew 28:1-10 and then read this excerpt from Bob Goff’s book. “Few times are as loaded with negative energy as the space between bad news and good news [Good Friday and Easter]. It doesn’t matter what the doctor says after the doctor has told you something’s wrong; you just want hopeful test results. No kind words bring reassurance after you’re let go at work unless it’s someone else saying you’ve been hired. Even if you know there’s light on the other side of the storm, it’s lonely to travel in the dark. When the lights have gone out and you can’t find your way, remember the end of the story has already been written [resurrection]. What difficulty are you facing? Have you been hoping for something and were let down? Be not afraid. Even if you don’t feel like hope is here right now, hope is waiting for you just up the road.” Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” He said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.” (Matthew 28:9-10) What are you afraid of these days? The faith exercise is to move away from the kind of fear the soldiers had (v.4) and to move into the kind of fear the women had (v.8).

April 5-11, 2020 Holy Week Faith Exercise The coronavirus is reminding us on a daily basis that we are not in control. When we experience life as unmanageable, we often try to cope by hyper-managing people and places and things and God. But God is also unmanageable. There are five people groups in Matthew 21:1-17 Group #1 - The crowd tried to manage Jesus through celebrity adulation and hero worship. Five days later they were still shouting, but the content had changed to “crucify Him!” Pastor Craig Bowers says, “Today, so many have made Jesus into a personal ATM that gives them everything they want.” What if Christ came not to give us everything we want but to shape us into people who want what God wants? Group #2 - The religious leaders tried to manage Jesus through legalism. Legalism is what happens when a spirituality of dynamic relationship is domesticated into do’s and don’ts. Author Brennan Manning liked to call legalism “housebreaking God.” Group #3 - The disciples simply trusted and obeyed Jesus even when Jesus didn’t make much sense. Group #4 - The blind and the lame simply came to Jesus on Jesus’ terms. Group #5 - The children simply ran around worshiping Jesus. Which of these five groups are you in right now? Which of these five groups do you need to be in? What is your next best step? We cannot manage Jesus, but we can trust and obey Jesus. We cannot manage Jesus, but we can come to Jesus when we are blinded and broken by the unmanageability of life. We cannot manage Jesus, but we can worship Jesus with childlike simplicity. As we move through Holy Week toward Easter Sunday, may the crucified and risen Christ become unmanageably real to us!

Here is the faith exercise for 03/29/2020 - 04/04/2020: In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus instructs us to lavish the same forgiveness on others that God has so graciously lavished on us. Take a few minutes to put yourself in the first debtor’s position: How does it feel to be forgiven such a large sum? Imagine the weight removed from your shoulders as the entire debt is canceled. Now think of those to whom you can offer the same forgiveness that you have received from God. (Adapted from The Spiritual Formation Bible, page 1298)

Thank you and God for allowing us to receive this meaningful sermon. J

Faith Exercise for March 22-28, 2020 Please read Matthew 17:1-8 and Romans 12:1-2 every morning. Be still in God’s presence with these two Scripture passages and with this truth: what happened to Jesus can happen to you. You can be transformed. Here is Romans 12:1-2 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message - “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what God wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” The Faith Exercise is to live these words all week long. By fixing your attention on God, you are going to be changed from the inside out. Give God unhindered access to the deepest you. Place no limits on God. Expect the miracle of transformation. Go with it. You Will Never Be The Same