Repentance Means Change

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2).

The "X" above is a "kairos" such as in Mark 1:15, "The kairos (time) is here..."

This coming Sunday the churches that we're partnering with are continuing a series that began last week.  They will move deeper into a series on family life.  As I've been studying the scriptures and praying over what direction the Lord is leading us, I'm believing that I am called to do something a bit different.

Even though I'm sure a series on family life would be a blessing, I'm going to get off that particular path for now because I believe God is calling us make a turn, to move in a different direction, to, in fact, spend a bit more time on the Biblical "shape" we've been working on, that is, the Circle.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Circle represents God's call to "Repent and Believe."  (For more on this, see Enter the Circle.)

But the Circle applies not only to "repentance" in the sense of turning away from what we normally THINK of as sin.

It DOES apply to that, of course.  Repenting of something that is clearly against God's commandments and God's will IS a part, an important part, of what the Circle is about.

When we sin, God's call is to turn from the sinful path and believe God's Good News--the good news of forgiveness--the good news that allows us to start over with a clean slate and begin to live in a new and more godly way.

That's "repentance as we know it."

There is another kind of repentance, however.  This other sense isn't closely connected with specific sins that need to be confessed.  Instead, it's a change of mind, a change of heart.* 

One can see this, for example, in Jesus' parable story of the "two sons," one of whom first rebels and then changes his mind and does what his father told him to do (Matthew 21:28-32).

Another example: The people who were transformed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament were not changed by just confessing particular sins.  Their minds were changed about everything in their whole life.  They began listening to a new master, a new shepherd, a new Lord.

Repentance isn't just about saying "I'm sorry" for this or that.  It's a change deep on the inside that affects the outside.  Repentance is change that continues throughout our lifetimes.  By the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we are made over... over and over again... made over to be more and more like our Lord.

It's in that sense of the word repent that we "turn."  We change.  Instead of being stubborn we consider what it is that God might be saying to us.  We're willing to listen.  We don't stop up our ears and wear blinders.  We say, okay.  We say, I'll think about that.  We don't just plod ahead.  We don't wait to be necessarily convicted of a particular sin.  We allow God to change us from the inside out.

Don't just be "conformed."  Allow God to transform you.  Don't just go on and on with your life.  Pray and ask him to intervene today, and then, with other Christians, pray and consider what changes God is calling for in your heart and in your life.  And then act in faith.  Believe me--God knows best.

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* Clear evidence that "repentance" isn't just about sin is found in the Old Testament where we see even God "repenting!"  This does not mean that God sinned and needed to say he was sorry.  No.  Instead, this is "repent" in the sense of doing something different than what had been expected. See, for example, Exodus 32:12-14; Psalm 106:45; Isaiah 57:6; Jeremiah 4:28; 18:8; 26:3, 13, 19; Ezekiel 24:14; Joel 2:13; Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 4:2.  God "repents" or "changes his mind" about punishment when people repent of their sin.

NOTE:  The Lord calls us to "enter the circle" of repentance and change by bringing us to kairos moments.  More about those moments can be found by clicking the word kairos.

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More Than Words

Christians say that Jesus is the "Good Shepherd."  We say that with our voices and we sing songs that say that is true.  Do we also say it with our lives?  

Here are some questions to pray over as we prepare for worship tonight at Crossroads:

• Do you really want to hear your Good Shepherd's voice or do you prefer to go your own way?  
• Is there evidence from your life that our Good Shepherd has called you?
• Are there times you have obeyed His voice, changing something in your life, getting you out of an unwise or sinful path?
• Can you think of an example from the last week? 
• Are there ways you still need to surrender to what you know your Good Shepherd is saying?

Saying one thing and doing another makes our "saying" into a lie. That's not what Jesus has in mind when he asks who we "say" he is.  Jesus is asking you what we truly believe and DO now, in these days, in the circumstances and situation in which we find yourself now.  Are there ways in which your life demonstrates that you are desiring to follow our Lord?  Is Jesus really real for you?  Do you truly want to hear what He has to say?

Come and be with us tonight (see details below).  Let's be Real about our Good Shepherd.  For He loves you more than you will ever completely know.

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At 5:45 p.m., weather permitting, we'll get together at Crossroads Community Church for a simple soup supper and then, at 6:30, we'll move to the worship area for singing, scripture, conversation and prayer.  This is the season of "Lent."  We're continuing this Lenten tradition because it's truly a blessing.  How wonderful to gather for worship twice in a week instead of only once.

Through our cooperative relationship with North Heights and Community of Hope, we are in our second week of a series focused on the "I AM" messages of Jesus and Jesus' question "Who Do You Say that I Am?"  Tonight our theme is from John 10 where Jesus says "I Am the Good Shepherd."  The Good Shepherd brings Psalm 23 to mind as well as Old Testament promises like this one from Jeremiah 3:15 - "I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding."

There are many aspects of the idea that Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  The one that is most important, most important because it allows us to trust Him for the rest of life, is the fact that Jesus love us more than we will ever know.  When Jesus says "I Am the Good Shepherd" he immediately continues by saying that he "lays down his life for the sheep."  That's we can trust him to lead us always, every day.  We can.  Will we?  Will you?

I hear God calling us to focus on hearing and obeying the voice of the Good Shepherd tonight for several reasons.  (1) As you read through John 10, you'll see that theme coming forward several times.  (2) Hearing the voice of God has been major theme of a small group that several of us from Crossroads have experienced.  In what we call a "huddle" we look for "kairos" moments in our lives when God is speaking and then discuss the changes God is calling us to make.  (3) Yesterday the Lord arranged for two conversations about hearing God's voice, one with a Crossroads partner who is seeking after God with all her heart, and one with a friend who does not believe we can hear God's voice at all.  So, we will sing, hear scripture, discuss and pray together tonight, asking God to speak to us, and surrendering ourselves to follow His lead.

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* NOTE:  The Lord calls us to "enter the circle" of repentance/change and belief/action by bringing us to kairos moments.  More about those moments, and "the circle" can be found by clicking the word ►kairos◄.

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Signs and Warnings

Four weeks ago I had a car accident.  It still mystifies me how I could have not seen that stop sign.  I am so thankful that no one was seriously hurt.

On Saturday we were going out to get a Christmas tree and another of our cars, an old Previa van... one that I hadn't been driving recently because my daughter had it.... that van clunked and bumped in ways that could not have been good.  So I brought it to a local mechanic to see what's wrong.

When I was driving down Hwy 37 four weeks ago, I was feeling peaceful and I had no idea that a disaster was impending.  Likewise, my daughter has been driving the Previa in the cities where there are lots of potholes, so she might have thought the clunking and bumping was normal. 

This is a good lesson.  Just because something might feel peaceful or normal doesn't mean all is well.  Sometimes I need to be alerted by a sign, or by someone who might just know a bit more than I do.

Many times we're tempted to go it on our own and not pay attention to dangers.  Even if someone points out that we need help we're often tempted to ignore that warning.  We like to think we're doing just fine on our own.

Read the following scripture from Matthew 3 and ask: Who or what are the signs you need to pay attention today?  Who is calling your attention to them?  Don't just rely on your own strength or your own feelings.  Listen to the warnings and check it out.

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,
    "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
    "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' "
Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many [religious leaders] coming for baptism, he said to them,
    "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Who do you need to pay attention to today?  What in your life needs to be checked out?  Do you dare believe that someone just might speak for God?  It's good to pay attention because God always warns us for our own good.  He proved that by dying for sinners like me on the cross.

(That reminds me -- I need to make an eye-doctor appointment. I need to get the health of my eyes checked out...  I know I need to do that.  Ignoring it would be just dumb.)

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* For more on this subject of "signs and warnings" click ►here◄ to see other posts related to "kairos" moments.  Kairos is the Greek word that the Bible uses for "time" in  Mark 1:15 - The time has come!  The kingdom of God is near!  Repent and believe the good news!

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Your Circle

Another day, another field trip!  Today the bus is at Collinwood, just south of Cokato and Dassel.  It's a beautiful day for the 4th graders to be out exploring and learning about God's creation.  Praise God!

I came into Cokato to have a late breakfast with the other driver and got a message from the Cokato Manor suggesting that I stop and spend a bit of time with a family about to lose a loved one.  So I did that.  It was a God blessed opportunity, seeing that I was having breakfast, at the time, no more than 100 yards away from the nursing home.  And what a privilege to share the good news of Jesus' undying love with those who are near death.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit... Blessed are those who mourn..."

Last night at huddle* we were challenged to notice "God Blessed Opportunities" like that.  God blesses us in so many ways every day, sometimes with affirmation, sometimes with correction.  The key is to NOTICE them and then ask the Lord to help us learn the purposes he has in mind to teach us.  We used a diagram like the one below:

The dotted line represents our every day lives.  The X at the top represents a moment when we notice what just might be God's action in our lives.  The "X" is sometimes called a "KAIROS" moment.  It's not that God isn't acting among us regularly, it's just that at times we think, "hmm... could that be God?" or "Is there something the Lord might be trying to tell or teach me through (whatever it is)..."  Sometimes the X moment is a scripture reading.  Sometimes it's an unexplainable "God-incidence" like the one I experienced today at the café.  Sometimes it's a difficulty or crisis.

In any case, what is good then is to take time out to process what we have experienced instead of just letting what might be a God-moment go by unnoticed.  Doing this "processing" in a group, particularly with others who know Jesus and the Bible, with others who are likewise trying to learn from the Lord... doing this with a group like our "huddle" will keep us from getting too far off track.  I'll process this moment, and others, with those I'm learning to trust in the "huddle" next week.

Once we notice and consider making a change based on observation, reflection (and PRAYER!), we discuss it with others and then make a plan to put what we have learned into action.  The "believe" part of the circle is the way we responsibly act on what we have learned.  Again, it's important that we do this with others so we aren't deceived by our emotions, our faulty perceptions, or our sinful selves.

Over and over again I have seen the Lord put events like the "café call" today.  I've seen these as confirmations or affirmations of my sense that I should stay in the Cokato-Dassel area.  I'll check that with the group next week.

God can speak to us through many kinds of events, even those that are hard.  I have certainly experienced those too.  But, as we will hear in the song "He's Always Been Faithful" on Sunday,

I can't remember
a trial or a pain
He did not recycle
to bring me gain.  (Sara Groves)

So, what is God doing in this "everyday" of your life? What's your circle today?

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*A "huddle" is a group of 8-10 Christians who meet regularly.  Marcus Haug is leading Crossroads first huddle.  We have met three times so far.  For more see Huddle Logistics.

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Enter the Circle

If you've been to Crossroads in the past few weeks you've seen shapes projected on the wall, shapes that were designed to convey God's truth.  The shape above is based on Mark 1:15, where Jesus says:

The time* has come!  The kingdom of God is near!  Repent and believe the good news!

The straight line at the top is symbolic of our lives.  The "X" is a moment, an event, a crisis, an opportunity or just a time when the Word of God speaks especially clearly to you. 

When we encounter such moments, we can react by ignoring what God might be saying to us through it and just keep going, we can stop or go backward, or we can notice it and then enter the Circle--the Circle of God's Purpose.  We do this through a change of direction (that's the original meaning of the word "repentance") and acting on what God teaches us--acting in faith (that is, to believe).

This is God's desire, that we would pay attention, repent and believe.  To understand more about this, I'd encourage you to go to the Crossroads "worship" webpage and listen to the message from Oct. 30 and Nov. 6.  This coming Sunday's message will build on the "circle" as well.

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* The Greek word for "time" in this verse (Mark 1:15) is kairos.

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MOVE tonight

Tonight I'm hoping to meet, once again, with some of the young adult guys who have, at one time or another, come here to 1490 Lydia on Tuesday evenings for a group that I've called "MOVE." I've texted them but haven't heard back yet, which isn't unusual.

Most of the guys have participated in the Communitas Young Adult ministry that Paul Anderson and Nate Johnstone lead. (See "Communitas Minnesota.")

My hope is that we'll encourage each other to hear what God is saying to each of us, in the circumstances of our lives, and then to step out (i.e. "MOVE") in obedience to what God is saying. 

Oftentimes we pay too much attention to the voices of others, including parents and spouses, other family members, bosses, wise adults and well meaning friends, who are probably, with the best of intentions, trying to get us to make positive changes in our lives. In the guys "MOVE" group my hope is that we'll learn to pay less attention to those voices. We do this, in part, by honestly saying to the Lord, "Help me to hear and obey you, and you only." 

The key verse for this is what Jesus says in Mark 1:15 - ""The time (KAIROS) has come. The kingdom of God has come near. REPENT (change your mind and allow God to take control) and BELIEVE (take steps of faith, move toward putting what you hear God saying to you into action) the good news!" The GOOD NEWS is the fact that God never holds your past against you. Every moment, every day is a new opportunity to be changed. 

Please pray for me, for Nathan and Nathan, for Greg and Aaron, and for others who God has continued to put into my life -- now, in the past, and in the days and weeks to come. There is always a new day coming! We know that because of Jesus.

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Full Cycle Disciple

Written Wednesday evening, revised Thursday morning.  

It was too hot to go biking today, and since I've moved to the country I haven't been on my bicycle much at all, but I do know that you can't get very far on half a wheel.  Even a unicycle needs a whole tire.  Can't get far on half.

A disciple is a follower, but more.  I can follow someone without actually doing what the one I'm following is doing.  To be a disciple, follow through.  To be a disciple, I get up on that cycle and ride.

I don't remember, as a young kid, the first time I got up on a bike, though I do remember having training wheels.  I do remember taking the training wheels off my own children's bicycles.  Like I "got it" somehow, so did they.  But they never would have if they hadn't dared to try.  You learn by doing.  And there's no other way.  Try to explain riding a bike to someone who's never done it.

Try explaining how you can feel secure when there's nothing to keep you from falling.  Until you've actually done it, you will not understand.

That's what Jesus is saying in Mark 4.  Somehow, at some point in my life, the message of God's truth and love started to make sense.  I don't remember just when that was.  Because for my parents God's Word was precious and good, it was probably very early in my life when I began to accept what Jesus had to say to me.  Maybe even before I learned to ride a bike.  And for me, though there are times when I resist God's truth, mostly I'm hungry for it.  Mostly I want to know what God has to say.

How did that happen?  How is it that I've been open to God's truth, God's love, and God's sometimes stern correction in my life?  For me it was probably my parents that guided me through the cycle of hearing God's Word even when it hurt.  They ran beside me long enough that I would know that I would not fall, and if I did, I would be okay.  They were God's corrective and loving voice, and they were not content to just have me hear what they had to say.  They did all they could to lovingly help me to adjust and change and live in a way that was more in line with the Lord's will.

Last night Marcus Haug from North Heights came to Cokato and laid out a plan that will help adults do for one another what my parents did for me.  Because the truth is that the Word of God keeps meeting resistance in my hard and rocky and weedy attitudes and I need to be supported as I repent and then adjust my life to live more and more in harmony with God's Word, or, as Marcus said, to "look more like Jesus" day by day, week by week, year after year.

But I do get it now.  I can get up and ride.  I can repent and believe.  I know what it feels like.  God isn't finished with me, but I am a disciple.  I'm not just following along.  And I'll let the wheel of God's word turn all the way around.  I'll let it examine me, and I will change.  I will learn.  Even though I sometimes need you to help, I will follow through.  And I'll help you too.  Together we can be disciples all around.

But, and this is one of the main points of Jesus' teaching in Mark 4, this is not understood by those who will not "get up and ride."  If all we do is think and talk when we are met by God's Word, if we don't follow through with decision and action, none of this will make any sense.  That's what Jesus means in verses 10-12 of Mark 4, when he speaks about those who do not and in fact can not believe, calling them "those outside."  Like riding a bike, life in relationship with Jesus will never be understood by those who have never dared to try.

What do you think?  Can you see how unless "faith" moves to action and experience, there can be no understanding?  We then pray that they will be truly changed and born again, that they will surrender and submit and ride.  Unless they become new people, they will never understand.

Let's talk about this.  I'm not sure if I'm being clear or helpful. 

Mark 4:10-12

When Jesus was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that
     “they may indeed look, but not perceive,
      and may indeed listen, but not understand;
      so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.” ’

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For more on the subject of "Full Cycle Discipleship," see other posts on this blog about the "circle" or "kairos" moments by clicking ►here◄.  (Colored words in this blog are links.)

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Enter the Circle (2)

This is my preparation work for tomorrow's message at Crossroads as of this time.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit would use our worship tomorrow as He desires, to save and free many in Jesus' name. 

Romans 11:33-12:5

³³ O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!  ³⁴ For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? ³⁵ Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return? ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.

^12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

Two weeks ago, on the day before Halloween, I brought tootsie pops to church.  I sucked on one, put it back in the wrapper, and tried to give it to the kids.  ;-)  I talked about how we are infected with "harmartia" (sin) and that covering up sin with a shiny wrapper doesn't work.

Then we looked at the circle of repent and believe--the circle that God uses in our lives to make us new.

The message ended with a story  from the book Too Late In The Afternoon.  A character in the book, Alex's grandson, talked about his grandpa Alex...:

"'...a crotchety old man and had been tight fisted and a hoarder of money… He was always thinking that another Great Depression was around the corner and that thinking robbed him of pleasure.  He had constant anxiety.'"

Then, at the age of 77, Grandpa Alex came to a crossroads--a moment* of truth--

Quoting from the message from two weeks ago:

"'After many years of being a miserable old man, Grandpa Alex got a wake up call.'

"He met a JIM--something BIG in his path."

Who all was here two weeks ago? I mentioned this last week too... I used Jim Richards as the BIG thing... The big thing could be a good thing or a bad thing...  If you met Jim in a dark alley--that would be a good thing... but, in Grandpa Alex's case, the BIG THING he met was bad.

Going back to quoting from two weeks ago:

"'He was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.  He underwent chemotherapy and was in remission the last ten years of his life."

"'Six months after that diagnosis, we started to see a remarkable change in him."

"He became joyful, generous, kind, someone you wanted to be around.'

"God had done a miracle in Grandpa Alex's life."

And then I concluded the message like this:

"It can be done.  You don't need to go on the way you always have.  God can give you a new life and a new spirit. 

"It's never, ever too late.

"Jesus is here to meet you with his grace.  He knows the truth about you.  You can't hide it from him no matter how many layers of tootsie pop paper you put on yourself.  He knows the truth.  And he's willing to make you new.

And after that, I led a prayer:  (Here's a link to an audio clip of the prayer from Oct. 30 - https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/1s4arog8daO4vI).

"Father God, I can't see the hearts of people. You haven't given me that ability.


"But you can; and you know, Lord, how it is that there have been times in our lives when we've walked around pretending to be new and different when there really is some work that you need to keep doing in us.


"So Lord God, we together here, as we say 'Amen' to this prayer, we want to give you permission to confront us, to be that 'big Jim,' and the let us know the truth about ourselves.


"And then we ask that you Lord would walk with us and that you would send someone else to walk with us too as we make a turn, make a change, a transition--as we repent--and as we believe.


"And we ask Lord that you would bring us through this process as many times as necessary to continue to make us new."

So that was two weeks ago.  It was "Reformation Sunday" and I thought it was sort of fitting because we were talking about having reformed lives, new lives, changed hearts.

But I wonder now, two weeks later, what really happened through that message. Have people who heard that message actually ENTERED the circle? Have we looked for times of encounter with God?

I got a note from someone this week that said it would have been good to help people step out in faith on that Sunday two weeks ago... This person said:

There was a time toward the end of your sermon when it would have been very appropriate for you to ask for those struggling with feelings of guilt or not sure if they were saved, etc., to come forward for prayer. I've seen that at other churches and as people came forward, others in the congregation came up behind them, laid hands on them and prayed along with the pastor. Your sermon was great calling out these issues, but then people were not able to get them resolved in a concrete way...

I actually had the same thought... why not give people a chance to step out...

To step out here... to come forward... to ask for prayer out in the open... because, truth be told, we don't walk the circle alone.

Something more I'd like to add at this point--a bit off the subject but I think it's important.

See the word on the right side of the circle?  When I say the word "repent" what do you think of?  It's my guess that many of us think of SIN.  "Repent" can mean changes away from sin and for us human beings it always means that... at least it means stopping being so stubborn... but "repent" doesn't always mean feeling bad or saying you're sorry.  Sometimes REPENTING means just a change of direction, doing things differently, even THINKING differently. 

...Like in the Bible passage we read earlier from Romans 11 and 12.  We step out.  We don't CONFORM to what we've always done.  And I let God TRANSFORM me... and you let God change you... from the inside out.  REPENTING MEANS CHANGE that God makes in our lives... it really NOT about feeling bad about doing something wrong.

But here's what I'd really like to focus on today:  These life changes--becoming a more faithful and more effective disciple of Jesus--they don't usually happen to us all alone--it usually takes a team--sometimes it takes more than one team.

In the Too Late In the Afternoon book God rescues a man from depression through spiritually wise Christian friends, a medical doctor and a psychologist.  Here in Cokato and Dassel God works through teams of Christian friends, professionals and organizations of many kinds.  Local churches like ours can connect people with the help they need as long as people somehow don't keep their troubles to themselves.  Prayer ministry can lead to practical help, and practical help can lead to prayer.

We are called, by God, to walk with one another and with those we reach out to, to walk with them all the way... not to just get them saved... to get them saved for God, and then let them loose to figure everything out alone.  We're called to walk together.  All the way.

One of the people who are a part of our Crossroads church family has recently come clean about an addiction to pain medication.  That person is now getting help through a Methadon clinic in Saint Cloud.  In order to let God deal with that issue, this individual needed to be honest with other people about it.  It wasn't a matter of just dealing with it one on one with God.  She needed other people to enter the circle with her... to come along on her journey.  Many of us are doing that with friends and family every day.

This is something Betsy Simons knows about.   (See Covenant Love for a bit more about Betsy.  Tomorrow we'll ask her to share at this point in the message -- something about how entering and walking the circle of repent and believe TOGETHER is important in her life and/or in her work with Treehouse, a ministry aimed at loving kids, bringing hope, transforming lives.)

You can enter the circle with Betsy and the youth she ministers to by supporting her--and we as a church can consider making her work one of our church's missions.

Still somehow, we do need to enter the circle.

Somehow we need to step out.  For others.  For ourselves.  But not alone.

Here's what I'd like to try.

Let's be a little daring today.

How many of you know someone, either yourself or someone else, who just needs a change... some kind of a change that you know you need God to handle.  Something that's a God-sized challenge... something that just needs to change.  In yourself or in someone you know well, someone you are close to?  Maybe it's an out of control teenager or child.  Maybe it's an addiction.  Maybe it's something that you know, from the Bible, is sinful.  Or maybe it's just something that you  know you'd like to leave behind.

How many of you have that sort of thing going on now either in your life or in the life of someone you're close to, someone you can walk beside?  Maybe it's a simple matter of being saved for heaven.  Maybe you'd like to know that for sure--that you are saved.  There is power in prayer, in admitting you can't do it on your own.

Is there anyone who would like to share what they'd like to pray about?  What the BIG thing in your life is that is leading you to say, yes, I need a change?  (I'll leave a time here for people to share if they'd like.)

Here's what we're going to try:  I would like to pray for you today. a little more personally than we usually pray here.  Just a little more personally.  I'd like to encourage you to take a first public step, recognizing that you have a need to repent and believe God for a change in your life OR in the life of someone you are walking with.

I won't be surprised if almost everyone comes forward today... So what I'd like to do is to have you be thinking of that one God-sized issue--that BIG JIM challenge in your life right now--and I'd like you to step out, in just a minute, to step out of your row and to come up to the front.

Then I'm going to pray for all of you as a group, trusting the Holy Spirit to give the the right words... and then if there are others who would like to pray out loud... we'll have an opportunity to do that.  And then I'll encourage you to let someone else know what it is you prayed for.

This might be hard in a small town where everyone thinks they know you.  But, honestly, until you let someone else know, you'll probably stay on the same old track.  It's not by mistake that the Holy Spirit had the Apostle Paul write about being MEMBERS or PARTS of one another...  Romans 12:15 is one of the simplest teaching on this: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." And we can't rejoice with you, or weep with you, unless we know who you are.

We're in this together, my friends.  Let's not stay back and think we can do it on our own.

(At this point we'll do what was explained above, trusting the Lord to lead us.  We'll then sing a song of surrender to the Lord.)

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* In the Bible, when Jesus teaches about crossroads moments you'll find an important Greek word: kairos.  See, for example, Mark 1:15.

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