Great Christmas Weekend Services!

We had a great Christmas weekend at Morning Star this year! On Sunday the 23rd our children's ministry had a small Christmas presentation. They sang four songs and memorized the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke chapter two. Cyanna del Rosario our children's ministry leader has done a great job of teaching and training the children of our church. Then on Christmas Eve we had two services. Our worship ministry, tech, and drama teams all did a great job of communicating the simple message of Christ's birth. Our creative ministries have really grown and flourished under Andrew's leadership. He has created a great team of people that make events like this happen. We had over 150 different attenders for the weekend and at least 20 first time guests! As a pastor I am especially thankful for huge team effort that went into making this weekend work. It was a great example of normal people working together to create something extraordinary!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I want all of you to know, especially my immediate family and church family, how much I love and appreciate you. It is the people in my life that bring meaning and purpose to all that I do. There seems to be so much going on at church right now. Our children's ministry did a wonderful job on Sunday singing four Christmas songs and memorizing the Christmas story from Luke chapter two. Cyanna del Rosario is a great children's ministry leader and is doing a wonderful job working with the kids of Morning Star. Tonight we have two Christmas Eve services, one at 5:00pm and one at 8:00pm. It has been exciting to hear from so many of you that you have family and friends coming. Our worship leader and worship team have spent lots of time preparing a wonderful evening for all of us to enjoy. Just about every day I thank God that I get to pastor such a great church and that I have so many friends here at Morning Star. My family wishes you a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Don't forget starting on January 6 we are starting an early service at 9:00am in additionl to our normally scheduled 10:35am service.

Giving Thanks

Sometimes I forget how blessed I really am. God has been so good to me and my family. Tonight, I put my son, Ethan, to bed and since he is such a lite sleeper he woke up again about an hour later. So around 9pm I found myself holding and rocking him back to sleep. As I was enjoyed those moments of holding Ethan close, I started to thank God for my son and that reminded me of how God has healed his congenital heart defect. One thing led to another and the list of items to thank God for went on and on. So I thought I would make a list of some of the things I'm really thankful for:

1. God's grace in redeeming my life and providing forgiveness for my sin


2. My wonderful wife - she is exactly what I need (and want)


3. My kids - each one has taught me so much


4. My parents and extended family - our extended family loves us and each other


5. My church - I'm still amazed that people show up each Sunday to hear me preach


6. My friends - life truly is about relationships and sharing the journey with others


7. Our new home - we never imagined we would ever own a brand new home


8. Did I mention my wife yet :)


9. The Bible - it is still relevant and life changing and offers hope for everyone


10. Living in America - we live in the best place on earth


11. My health -


12. Dreams and visions - I'm really excited about the future. The opportunities and possibilities are limitless


13. Prayer - we get to talk to God. Enough said...


14. Cars that work


15. Food on the table

The list could go on and on, but I need to empty the garbage and put it out on the curb for pickup. O ya, one more thing: I'm thankful for Fridays since that's my day off of work.

Solitude and Meditation

Today was spent at Catholic Retreat Center in Los Gatos. It was a simple, quiet place up a small hill in beautiful surroundings. This is my second year of attending a monthly prayer retreat called "Come Away" which is organized by a group called Eagle's Wings. The habit of reflection, solitude, prayer, and meditation do not come easy for me. In fact the first few times I attended these retreats last year, I was left frustrated because I wasn't able to" get anything done." But thankfully over time, God began to strip away the busyness and distractions from my mind to focus on Him. Today's retreat (my first since last April) was especially refreshing for me. I forgot how much I truly need to get away on a consistent basis to be alone with God. My first few hours were spent mentally chasing ideas and thoughts, but then slowly God began to calm my mind to experience His presence. In our busy, hectic schedules time alone is very difficult to find. But I have found that it is one of the truly transformation disciplines that I need.

Friends

My Wednesdays are very busy. I met at 6:30am at Starbucks for discipleship with one of the men in the church. Then around 8:00am I got to 24hr fitness for my morning work out. After a couple of hours in the office, I had lunch with a high school buddy who is now attending our church. At 1:00pm I have discipleship with another man in our church. It is now about 2:30pm and most of the day is behind me. I haven't really gotten much office work done but there is no doubt in my mind that today will end up being the most productive day of my week. The reason is simple, I believe that God uses relationships more than any other thing to shape and mold us to become like Jesus Christ. My investment and interataction with these three men today is more beneficial to them and me than any amount of pastoral planning, visioning, and office work. Don't get me wrong there is always a need for deep Bible study, interaction with God through His Word and prayer, sermon preparation, and checking things off my to do list; But at the end of the day each of the things I just listed comes to life when they effect my interaction with other people. God has created us as relational beings. And as a followers of Christ, we need that interaction with each other to grow and thrive in our faith. One of the greatest joys of ministry is to be able to be in relationship with so many wonderful men that are helping me become more like Jesus Christ.

Thank God for my wife!

It seems that just about every day I find myself in amazement of my wife Cecil. To me she is definitely a super woman. She somehow manages to find time to clean the house, prepare meals, work part time for our business, and invest lots of time in teaching our children. My kids are so well behaved and smart (obviously I'm a little bit biased), and all the credit goes to my wife. In fact she already has Alanna doing "school" out of a preschool work book. She is truly amazing and I love her for it!

It's All About Relationships

This morning at the gym (I have been going quite regularly over the last month!), I had the opportunity to talk with an acquaintance that I rarely get to see. I was running late (about 2 hours late) and upset at myself for not making it to the gym earlier. After the conversation I realized that God has worked through my tiredness to arrange this meeting. The highlight of the conversation was the opportunity to share a principle that God has really impressed on me over the last few years. The principle is that God uses people to change people. As much as I believe my Sunday sermon, devotions, and other spiritual exercises are important, I truly believe that God uses fellow followers of Christ to shape me more than those other things. In Scripture there is an underlying assumption that every believer is apart of a family or body of believers that helps to encourage, correct, and teach them. I make this following statement with careful thought, "You cannot be in a healthy relationship with God unless you are in a healthy relationship with His body the church." One of the key components that is missing in modern day Christianity is the element of relational accountability. You cannot be a healthy Christian if you view worship services and church involvement as a spectator sport. So where ever you are, go get connected and experience God's movement in your life through others.

Celebrating Communion

During our recent men's retreat at Silver Spur (www.silverspur.com), the director at the camp asked me to lead the men in communion during our final session together. Different churches call it by different names, primarily: Communion, the Lord's Supper or Table, and Eucharist. In a future post, I will do my best to explain how different denominations view Communion, because the way you understand Communion effects your motivations and actions in taking it.

But in today's post, I want to share with you what I explained at the men's retreat. We when we take the bread and drink the juice, I believe that we are making three statements:

(1) We are saying, "We believe." In communion, we join with thousands and millions who have gone before us in expressing our belief in Jesus Christ. We are saying that we believe that Jesus is God become man, 100% God and 100% man. We believe that He lived a sinless life, was crucified, was buried, and on the third day He arose from the tomb. Because of this, we have salvation, which is a free gifts, not earned by our good works, but solely dependent on His grace. We are saying that we believe all of it, that it's real, it's true, and it happened.

(2) We are saying, "We remember." In Luke 22:19, we are commanded by Christ to partake in communion as a remembrance. My view of Communion is called a memorial view. I do not believe that there is anything inherently magical about the bread or juice. It's just normal stuff that we eat on a regular basis in our lives, but when we eat it together as the church it reminds us of the powerful reality of Christ's death and suffering. When I take Communion, I reflect on Christ's suffering, I repent of my sin, and I receive His sufficiency.

(3) We are saying, "We celebrate." When I was younger, I remember the Lord's Supper or Communion always being a serious, somber, dreary event. Everyone was walking around with their heads hanging low, the music was dull and dreary, and it felt as if we were all at the foot of the cross. Although Communion is a very sobering time, I believe it is also a time of celebration. Paul says in Ephesians 1:7-8 that it is because of Christ' sacrifice that we have forgiveness and redemption. That is something to celebrate! As much as I mourn Christ's death, my forgiveness and new life would not be possible if He had not willing gone to the cross and suffered. It is by his suffering that I am healed. I love it at our church because after we've celebrated communion, the band usually leads us in a song of celebration that is made possible through Christ's death. As Christians, we have a reason to celebrate! We have been forgiven and set free!

I hope these thoughts help to add some meaning for the next time you take Communion.

Learning to Say No

I was recently talking with some leaders in our church about time management. If I had my current responsibilities and commitments three or four years ago, there would be no way that I could keep up. My personal discipline and time managements skills were not at the level that they are today. As we discussed these concepts of time management, three key principles developed:

1) God slowly develops our time management skills over time. He never gives us more than we can handle. Yet at the same time, He is continually stretching us to prepare us for the future. I look at other pastors who have many more obligations and responsibilities and I wonder how they do it. The answer is that God has been in the process of preparing them for that moment for a long time.

2) Our effectiveness in life and ministry is found in our ability to focus. Only as we focus on the priorities of life, can we truly be successful. The more scattered my energies and time, the more scattered my results.

3) When we say Yes to something, we are also saying No to something. When I say Yes to attend an event, birthday party, or take on a new responsibility, I am also saying No to some other area of my life. Typically, I have found in my own life, that the things I say No to are usually the more important things. Such as God time, family time, discipleship/leader training.

So keep first things first!

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Coming Soon! One Pastor's Thoughts

This is the blog of Pastor Josh of Morning Star Church in Newark, CA. www.msconline.org
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