Pastor Bob Fox
Micah 4:1-7

When Christ returns to rule the earth, humanity will move closer than they have ever been to conditions like those in Eden. The Biblical data allows us to develop the following picture of that age.

The Earth’s People Then (implicit)

1. There will be a large, diverse population left in the aftermath of Jesus’ intervention.
2. All will have become believers in Jesus Christ.
3. They will be spiritual infants.
4. They will compose multiple nations, all willingly submitted to Jesus’ rule.
5. They will be thoroughly repentant, but imperfect, being nurtured by God’s perfected family.

The Earth Experience Then (explicit)

1. All people will feel eager to learn and implement the ways of God.
2. Jesus will settle disputes, including age-old religious/ethnic stalemates.
3. Conquest, subjugation and armament will give way to pursuits that free and bless.
4. Personal well-being and peace will be universal.
5. Jesus will govern in a way that enables humanity to recover much of what evil has robbed them of.

Your “One Thing” Today―Be a good manager!

Listen to Bob.

Pick one of the following and work on it this week…

• Know you giftedness: Get to know what your spiritual gift is and how to use it by signing up for the one-on-one Blueprint Series. (Sign up on the communication card).
• Pray for Discovery: Discovery is a new members class being held this Saturday morning. Pray for the people who attend to feel connected to God, to RMCC, and to some new friends.
• Be a Good Manager: Of the things Yahweh has put in your charge, pick one that you can let Him have more power/influence over.

Pastor Bob Fox
Zechariah 12-14

The most spectacular, dramatic and sudden shift ever to occur in the world’s economy, its politics and its spiritual climate awaits us. It will come about when God’s Kingdom becomes a visible reality on this earth. That shift is planned by God to finally bless all who have ever believed in Him. It will confirm once and for all that:

1. God is sovereign: What He desired for Israel and has projected for them (Gen 12, 15), will be brought about decisively and speedily by Him, in spite of their many enemies. With that will come His desire for His fallen creation.
2. Jesus is humanity’s Savior: God’s mercy and grace will be demonstrated when He orchestrates the greatest spiritual awakening ever. In an instant Jesus will convert the Jews to Christianity in spite of their historic stubbornness toward Him (Ezekiel 37:1-14). Many others will follow.
3. Jesus is King: Jesus―God in human flesh, an Israelite―will suddenly take over the world as its supreme ruler. Everything will be done as He desires because of His unequivocal power.

What it Means For you, if you believe in Jesus Christ . . .

1. You have Hope through the “mixed bag” experience of this life (John 16:33).
2. You will be there to rule with Him (Matt. 19:27-29; 1 Thess 4:13-18).
3. You’ll be very different, with a new body, perfected in holiness (1 Cor. 15:51-58).
4. Your role in His kingdom is being determined by your faithfulness today (Luke 19:11-27).
5. Be His witness, fully invested in His kingdom (Acts 1:6-7).

Listen to Bob.

Pick one of the following and work on it this week…

• Tell Us About One Area of Growth: Help us celebrate your growth toward Yahweh. Tell us about a recent step you have taken in your spiritual growth. How have the Spiritual
  Challenges challenged you? Email your story (short paragraph) to bhagler@rmcchurch.org.
• Pray for a Teacher: Send a short note to your child’s teacher(s) letting them know you are thinking and praying for them as the school year starts.
• Notice Yahweh More: Pick one large & lofty and one warm & fuzzy attribute of Yahweh. Watch for ways (Bible reading, conversations, nature, etc) that Yahweh reveals Himself to you in those ways this week. When you notice, let Him know with a simple praise or thank you.

Pastor Carlyle Naylor
Communion, August 3, 2008

Last Sunday after my wife and I left church, we rendezvoused at home to combine our efforts into one vehicle. We left for Costco to pick up a few things that we forgot the last time we were there—day earlier. As we found the things we forgot, and then some, we divided efforts again and Tina went to the food court line as I sought out a table close to the aisle so our cart was close and secure.

Within a few minutes, Tina came to our table with a polish sausage for me and hotdog for her. We tagged-teamed again so one person could guard our purchases while the other one accessorized our mystery meat with condiments. As we both landed on our seat, I prayed a quick prayer of thanksgiving for the quick meal.

As we began to eat, I remembered what day it was. We had acknowledged the day earlier, but I amusingly realized how romantic it was that we were eating hot dogs at Costco on the day of our wedding anniversary. I pointed out to my beautiful bride how I had gone all out for a romantic dinner right there in the exit aisle of Costco. We both knew that we had a real dinner planned for later in the evening. She joined in the jesting as she reminisced about how we started our marriage similarly 23 years earlier. We would go to a local convenience store where we could get refillable mugs refilled for 25 cents and 2 hotdogs for one dollar. And we loved it.

We loved that we were being frugal—not healthy—but frugal none-the-less. We were making the most of what we had at the time—both from the aspect of our budget and from the aspect of the best place to eat for the least amount. We were travelling together—learning how to live together within the circumstances we found ourselves.

That reminded me of a verse in John 17. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. This phrase from Jesus comes in the prayer discourse Jesus made for His disciples—or for His “learners by any means.” Each sentence of this verse struck me:

• Why did Jesus mention mutual ownership here?
• Why did glory come in here?
• How exactly did his disciples become glory-agents for Him?

The word glory comes from the word Doxo—like Doxology—the song that starts “praise God from whom all blessings flow.” The word Jesus uses for glory has a unique meaning—unique in that it is different in Jesus vocabulary than in ours. The word Jesus uses does not mean to bring glory to BUT to reveal the glory of. This means to bring attention to something that already attention worthy. We are not the ones causing the glory—the glory is already caused. Whether we acknowledge it or not, it is already acknowledged. Glory is not contingent on something we do; it is based on something already done. In light of whom God is whether or not we acknowledge Him or not, he already is—and that is glory-worthy.

Up to this point in Jesus’ ministry, when he mentioned glory, He only wanted glory to come to His Father. This is the second time Jesus speaks of His own glory—The first is in the previous chapter (John 16:14) when He predicts the coming of the Holy Spirit—who will bring glory to Jesus by revealing things to us. The second time he share in the same glory due His Father, He does this right after He speaks to His mutual ownership of all things. Jesus is speaking of his divinity here—even of his pre-existent glory. Jesus may even be speaking of Yahweh as Trinity here. He is foreshadowing the arrival and the work and the Holy Spirit.

• What about the “glory” thing?
• How were the disciples bringing glory to Jesus?
• What were they doing?
• What had they been doing just before this prayer?

I think the hint to this is in Chapter 16, verses 29-31. Jesus was telling His opportunistic learners about his eminent departure and the eminent arrival of the Holy Spirit. In verse 25, he says that He has been speaking figuratively to them, but that a time was coming when he would speak plainly to them. He also told them the Father loved them because they believed in Him.

And then we get to verse 29 through 31: Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God. You believe at last!” Jesus answered. I think Jesus had a sparkle in His eyes when he said this. Any teacher knows what I mean, when you keep teaching something and finally your students get it.

The disciples were seeing more clearly now. They were excited that Jesus was speaking plainly. But if you look at what he said, it is still pretty big and pretty deep—but yet they understood. But bigger and deeper than that, they believed. Jesus did not acknowledge them for their understanding; he acknowledged them for their belief.

So the glory that was coming to Jesus was coming because they now believed that He was who He had been saying He was. They believed that He was from God—that He was the Son of God and that He was God.

So Jesus’ disciples brought glory to Jesus by believing.

When we take communion we are proclaiming our belief that Jesus is qualified to die for us. We are proclaiming that we believe that Jesus was the only one who could do that for us. We are proclaiming that tonight we see clearly enough to express our faith in Him and in that act we bring glory to Him—and like His disciples—we are His glory-agents!

In John 16:31-33, Jesus is letting his disciples know that the nature of their relationship will be changing soon. He will die soon. But just as the Father has been with Jesus all along—but they couldn’t see the Father—so will He (Jesus) be with them—although be it not physical.

Jesus then tells them (and us) that in this world we will become isolated from each other and even from Him. And He let His learners (you and I) know that in the midst of peace, we will have trouble. We will have tribulation—we will experience “pressure” in the world—the world that Jesus has overcome.

The first way we glorify Christ is by believing in Him. The second way we glorify Christ by walking with the Spirit.

That takes me back to Costco. As I sat there enjoying my anniversary hotdog with my bride of 23 years—I was sorting through the files of our life together. I was admiring the woman she has become; I was thinking of that 19 year old girl that walked the aisle—committing herself to a dreamer—not knowing how it would go but committing to me just the same.

Boy-0-boy did we experience pressure. When she married me, I had just closed my own small business days before and after our honeymoon we were moving into the shelter home to be the resident mangers. But she still did it. She still committed to journey through life with me. Committing herself to not knowing but trusting—to not fully understanding, but believing in me.

Let’s remember when we “walked the aisle” to Jesus. Let’s remember how much we have discovered about Him—how much we have discovered about ourselves because of Him. Let’s remember because we believe, we are committed to discovering more about Him—that we desire to grow in our ability to understand Him—just like the disciples did. And we can picture Jesus getting excited that we get it—with a twinkle in His eye.

Let’s remember that each day we can grow in the depth of our relationship with Him—not knowing how it will all turn out—but trusting Him anyway. Not understanding all there is to understand about Him, but believing anyway.

Let’s pause, know and remember our belief in Jesus as our Savior and our commitment to following Him in the Spirit.

Pastor Lee Stephenson
Hosea 6:1-6

When we find ourselves in pain or trying to navigate life’s “dead ends”, our tendency is to trash God. In these moments, there are some things that God wants us to realize about us and about Him.

The tendencies we have that need trashing in times of struggle:

1. We look at God as one who exists for us rather than us existing for Him.
2. We look at God’s justice as something negative when things don’t go “our way.”
3. We lean towards getting the “Karma” scale balanced instead of focusing on the heart of God.
4. Being fickle in our relationship with God.

What God wants us to know about Him:

1. The greatest good in this world is Him; therefore, God’s one desire and goal for our lives is Himself. This is demonstrated to us through His:
• Healing
• Preservation
• Confirmation
• Dependability
2. In the end, God wants us to move closer towards intimacy with Him rather than emphasizing religious rituals.

Listen to Lee.

Pastor Bob Fox
Zechariah 7:11-12

Israel demonstrated that we instinctively do four things that cause a vibrant relationship with God to degenerate into meaningless, irrelevant routine. Their mistakes teach us four things we can do to keep ourselves fresh.

1. Read God’s word and ask, “Is this describing me?”
2. Absorb the shock of truth, don’t deflect it with various excuses.
3. Faithfully go to the places/people that activate your conscience.
4. Intentionally make yourself vulnerable to God, reminding yourself that you can trust Him.

Summary: Trash the “happy thoughts only” approach to God. Seek conviction. You’ll be amazed how good it feels!

Listen to Bob.

Pick one of the following and work on it this week…

• Pick One Area of Growth: Take time to identify one area of life where God would like you to grow. Then, think about how the Lord is arranging circumstances or using friends and family to bring about that change. Praise Yahweh for His activity in your life.
• Make a list of specific evidences which show how Yahweh has proven to be dependable: Give yourself practical reminders of His goodness to you. Thank Him for these acts of lovingkindness.
• Determine to Give to the Lord this week: Choose to either volunteer in a ministry, spend time with a neighbor who needs to know the love of the Lord, share your faith with someone you know, etc. Be His “hands” and “feet” to speak and show Yahweh’s love to others.

Pastor Bob Fox
Hosea 4:1-8

The Lesson of Israel is . . . Humanity is broken. Even when we are armed with good intentions and a clear understanding of God:

1. We tend to trash truth, grace, and personal relationship with God.
2. Then our culture becomes increasingly deceptive, self-serving, and violent.
3. Then the entire planet reels under our fallenness.
4. Then we informally agree not to bring up each other’s sins.

God’s provision for rescue includes . . . building among us a counter-culture, community life based on grace and truth, governed by His own Spirit.

THEREFORE: We must trust God enough to trash our agreement of silence in favor of truthful, empathetic, constructive counsel.

The stakes for us . . . Our agreement of silence spoils five things.

1. Our experience of the blessing of truth.
2. Our quest for the truth.
3. Our spiritual heritage.
4. Our spiritual role in Godís kingdom.
5. Our spiritual legacy.

Listen to Pastor Bob.

Pick one of the following and work on it this week…

• Compromise Less: Think about something that your work, family, friends, or situation has caused you to fudge a little on God’s good and holy intentions. Move toward God in this area of your life.
• Counter More: Find your spiritual voice. Speak lovingly about how you feel about a controversial issue in our world.
• Pray for people’s finances: Many people are struggling through how to make ends meet. Pray that they/we can seek God’s guidance in the financial area of life.