BARE NAKED VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN

#CONNECT UPDATE - latest blogpost at www.patrickgrach.com.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN IN OUR CULTURE?

Don't miss this illustration from Shantung Compound.

THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT FIGHTING FAIR: Learning to dealing with Conflict by the Bible

Read NEW posts at www.PatrickGrach.com Blog. Most recent post "Dealing with CONFLICT."

Please SUBSCRIBE to my new blog, since this blog has been moved. Same author and content, just new location!

Where do you turn when you're not getting your way?

In life, sometimes things don't go our way. In those moments, we are all forced to "trust" something.

Where do you turn? Most people fit into two categories- pride or blame.

If pride, then a person puts their trust in themselves. They trust their:

• abilities,
• power,
• position,
• intellect,
• money,
• people-prowess- charm, manipulation, etc.

If blame, then a person believes that others are at fault for their out-of-control situation in life. They trust:

• others are powerful and they are powerless,
• that their life is beyond control,
• that they are a victim.

Where do Jesus-followers turn when situations don't go our way?

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. Psalm 20:7–8.

For those who love and fear God, the only option is to turn to Him and trust His power, providence, and provision in times of struggle and when situations seem beyond our control.

God is all-knowing, sovereign, and good. He knows the beginning from the end. For those that place their life in God's care, He cares for them.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. Psalm 118:8.

Dear Jesus-follower, don't take measures into your own hands. Rely on God's wisdom, His purposes, and His best for your life. Trust that He sees the bigger picture and has our life under His control. When we take control and either trust ourselves or trust other men, we aim toward destruction.

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Psalm 118:6.

Growing stronger as a Jesus-follower

At Lifehouse, we're kicking off our next Life Commitments Course THIS Sunday!

Sign up now by emailing info@lifehousechurcheast.org.

This is an exciting 8-week discipleship course that teaches commitment to God and commitment to the body of Christ (the church).

We believe the church is a family; and it takes commitment to build a strong family.

The course is an interactive teaching with video illustrations, gifts assessment tests, and plenty of group discussions. The process concludes with an overnight retreat (called Encounter Weekend), where students are given the opportunity to deepen relationships with others in the class, review the material, and allow each person to individually experience God’s presence in a life transforming way.

If you want to go deeper with Christ, get more involved at Lifehouse, and build strong relationships with others who want to do the same, then join Life Commitments.

If you're wondering what your next step is at Lifehouse, and you have not YET gone through Life Commitments, this is the course for you!

Sign up TODAY!

Check out our discipleship map

How the Enemy Attacks- Plot 4

If you follow God and His purposes, then you will be opposed by God's enemies (Ephesians 6). These spiritual attacks can be both internal and external. I've been walking through Ezra and Nehemiah, pointing out the plots/ strategies of the enemy AND the antidote from God through the life of Ezra and Nehemiah to combat those plots.

Here's a brief overview of the previous plots with links to those blogposts:

1. The enemies first attack - friendship and flattery.

2. His second line of attack is just the opposite - insults and ridicule.

3. If these fail, he'll come at you with threats and discouragement (which both lead to weariness).

In Nehemiah, the next strategy to rob God's people of living their purpose didn't come from the obvious enemy (Sanballat and Tobiah) but from within their own community.

This plot from the real enemy, not the obvious one is Selfishness and Strife.

Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers... "Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.” Nehemiah 5:1,4, NIV.

The real enemy of God, the devil, stirred up strife among the people, because of the selfishness of a few. The wealthy were taking advantage of the poorer, and this caused tremendous disunity among all the Jewish people, who were trying to work together in "this great work".

It's really hard to stay focused on following Jesus and serving His purposes for our life if we are angry with other Jesus-followers, feel taken advantage of, and are not serving in unity with the larger body of Christ. Secondly, if our motivation is pride and selfishness, this will stir up strife among other Jesus-followers, who are serving with pure and selfless hearts.

When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. 7 I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them... “What you are doing is not right.” (Ne 5:6-7, 9).

Nehemiah didn't react in haste or overact, but in wisdom, immediately dealt with the conflict and corrected those who were wrong. To overcome this attack of the enemy, we must:

• deal with conflict quickly. 
• confront, correct, and challenge selfishness and pride. 

Why is this so critical?

“Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?” (Ne 5:9). Nehemiah states that the fear of God is the antidote to selfishness and pride among God-followers.
“I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop! 11 Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them—the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil.” (Ne 5:10-11).

Finally, Nehemiah models, then challenges them in generosity. Generous giving is the antidote to selfishness.

How do we overcome the plot of selfishness and strife:

• deal with conflict quickly,
• confront and repent of selfishness and pride,
• guard the testimony of God among and within the Church,
• Give generously to overcome selfishness.

How are selfishness and pride sabotaging God's purposes in your life? What conflict do you need to deal with quickly? What sin do you need to repent of? Where can you begin to give generously?

Re-discovering Masculinity in a Love-crazed Culture

Subscribe, download, or just stream weekly podcast sermons at Lifehouse Church East.  Currently in a series called Love & Other 4 Letter Words, and examining what it means to love as Jesus-followers, and how that love impacts every part of our life.

Most recent message addressed the identity and role of men according to the Bible.

Yes, it's counter cultural. Yes, it'll offended some people. Yes, it will challenge you to live different than what you've been taught by our cultural teachers of TV, news, and movies.

BUT guys need a challenge and a fight worth fighting.  In a generation plague with fatherless homes and male role models like Charlie Sheen, we could deeply use an infusion of counter- cultural teaching that goes counter- intuitive to our own desires and nature.

To a generation that has seen the role of men torn down to nothing more than negligent sperm-donors or helpless saps.

We need a strong teaching and model of what it means to be real MEN. HUSBANDS. FATHERS.

Listen to this teaching from Ephesians 5:25-33. and discover what it means to BE a MAN!

Discover the Man's Role in Love - Tomorrow

Is this the image of what a man should be? Most guys think so, and so do the women.

Come out to Lifehouse Church East tomorrow at 9am or 10:30 and discover what the Bible says about the role of men in love, marriage, and community!

Prepare to be challenged as we continue our series "Love & Other 4 Letter Words".

Lesson #9 from 2010 WARNING: CONTROVERSIAL

Most people HATE conflict, in fact, they have conflict with conflict.

Lesson learned: conflict isn't bad. How we handle conflict is either good or bad, but conflict itself is an opportunity for growth or reveals an area where we need to grow.

I've taught this since we launched Lifehouse, and often challenge our leaders to NOT avoid conflict but to handle it biblically. 2010 was a year when my conviction to hold to this biblical stance was seriously tested.

Here are my personal reasons why I didn't want to deal with conflict, (then I'll share how I overcame them):

• dealing with conflict felt scary and uncomfortable,
• was afraid a person wouldn't like me if I address a reason for tension,
• didn't want to lose a friend, and thought, "if I address this issue, they won't want to be my friend anymore". I know, it sounds like I'm a kindergartner, does it? But it's how you think, too.
• it takes too much time and energy. Time better spent elsewhere,
• it'll go away on it's own, and if I bring it up, it will get worse,
• what if I'm not "right"?
• what if dealing with conflict reveals a weakness in me?

How I've grown and overcome some of these challenges:

• deal with conflict quickly, before it becomes "cancerous" and destructive, both to relationship and the church,
• give people the benefit of the doubt,
• don't believe second-hand info, but let people share their thoughts first-hand,
• avoid my personal insecurities and fears from debilitating me by trusting God and getting over myself,
• recognize that I still have a lot to learn and that God will use conflict to grow me (this one is hard to learn and hurts the most),
• unresolved tension grows destructive, so deal with it headed on and often until it's resolved,
• allow people time to think and grow. Don't demand immediate resolution.
• conflict might take a lot of time, but it takes less time on the front end than if left unresolved. Eventually, it will become all-consuming and a massive drain on your time.
• Even when we disagree, people are still precious to God and should be loved and treated with value.
• I LOVE those with whom I've had conflict. Even when things don't turn out like I wanted, they may not even know it but I regularly PRAY for them and think of them often. I wouldn't address issues of conflict if I didn't care. 
• God heals and brings the ultimate reconciliation in relationships. If things can't be resolved, we must turn it over to God.
• When we receive forgiveness from God, we MUST give forgiveness to and ASK forgiveness of others.

This was a very raw and personal approach to conflict. Listen to a sermon I preached on this topic in BIG part 4.

Big take away, "Conflict inevitable, combat optional". Watch this video for a laugh:

Roller Coaster Living

Confession: Laura likes roller coasters more than I do. I enjoy them, but would rather do something else crazy, and honestly, I try to act like I'm enjoying the ride a whole lot more than I actually am.

Confession: I've lived the roller coaster life and don't enjoy that either. And unfortunately, so have you. And we don't enjoy watching other people live this way- roller coaster attitude, roller coaster marriages, and a roller coaster spiritual life.

You don't enjoy it either, even when you're life is swirling around on the track. Here's what roller coaster living sounds like:

• in love with their spouse one day, and ready to kill each other the next.
• happy about their weekend, then miserable on Monday afternoon.
• use words to bless, and then using such colorful language that you'd make a sailor blush, and mothers are plugging their kids' ears.
• speak of godly things in one conversation, and then tell a dirty joke.

This is partly the human condition. We battle between feeding our spirit and our flesh. We battle, as Christians, with being instantaneously made "perfect" in Christ's righteousness at the moment of salvation, and yet we are being "perfected" through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

That part I completely understand. But I find the roller coaster life exhausting and unacceptable! Maturity, especially in the Christian life, means that we are becoming more consistent and stable. My directive, GROW UP! If you're loving your spouse one moment, and mistreating them the next- STOP IT! If you're words bless and curse, ask God to transform your vocabulary. If you're spiritual life looks more like this guy attached to the roller coaster track than a mountain path, SEEK GOD!

The apostle James challenges us in James 3:4-18 to be wise with "wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

Hope this serves as a word of encouragement rather than correction. I feel the same tension and roller coaster ride. I'm just prayerfully submitting myself in humility before God to be transformed and unstrap from the tracks of my sin-nature.

Big Announcement- We're going to 2 Services

Excited to announce that Lifehouse will have 2 Sunday services starting on January 10th. Here's some important info you'll want and need to know about the WHY's and WHAT's of this transition to 2 services.

First, the WHY's:

• So grateful that so many guests and regular Lifehousers show up every weekend. We've been averaging about 485 people per Sunday, and that means we're running out of seats.
• To reach more guests, we need more chairs. By adding a 2nd service, we double our seating capacity. This gives us more space to reach more people with whom we can share the amazing message of the gospel. And that is our ultimate Cause- to share and show our world the gospel of Jesus!
• More options: for more people to attend (can pick time that works best for them), and allow people who couldn't come before, to now join us!
• More opportunities to serve: some people don't want to serve in ministry during the service, because they don't want to miss it (we totally understand!). This way, everyone can participate in one service and serve in the other, and always get to participate in a service.
• INVITE YOUR FRIENDS. Our main purpose is to give us room to reach more unchurched and de-churched people. God loves everyone you know, and He wants them to discover the abundant life and salvation through Jesus. Invite them to join us during one of our services.

Now, the WHAT's:

• Times: 1st service- 9-10:10am; 2nd service- 10:30-11:40am.
• Café- 8:30-9am & 10-10:30. We want to continue providing coffee and light breakfast foods for both services, but don't want to wear our team out, so we're limiting this to 1/2 hour time slots and limiting what will be served. So, if you want coffee and breakfast get there early and say lots of THANK YOU's to the Café Team!
• Children's ministries: will be available during BOTH services. Additionally, for children that will be in both services (since many parents will be serving during one services), there will be Kidz Life Groups (discipleship classes) available during the 9am service.
• Sunday morning Life groups: we do offer adult life groups at 9am currently. We will offer life groups during both services. So, you can participate in one service, attend a life group in the other. Most life groups are available during the week in homes, but Sunday morning groups are available for those who need childcare and are only available on Sundays.

Addressing a few concerns/ questions you might have:

• Won't 2 services mean it will feel like their are 2 churches? Service styles will be the same, including sermons. We will be giving our best to both services, so quality and experience will be very similar. Primary difference will be time.
• Won't I feel disconnected from people in the other service? Great question! Yes, but do you feel connected with everyone in our service right now? Probably not. Why? If any church has over 40 people attending, it's impossible to be intimately connected with everyone. Additionally, Sunday services are NOT designed to help people feel more connected to each other, that's what life groups and ministry groups are for. We passionately believe in relationships. To get more connected to a small group of people, so that you feel like you're part of the Lifehouse "family of friends", join a ministry and a life group. Trust me, those small groups are the best place to find friends and feel connected NOT MATTER how many people Lifehouse continues to reach on Sunday mornings.

How can YOU help? Thought you'd never ask! Between Now and Jan 10th, we'll be asking you to commit to the following:

• which service will you be participating in: 9 or 10:30?
• which service will you be serving in: 9 or 10:30?
• which ministry will you be serving in: see our website for more details or sign up next Sunday?

Hope this helps provided so much needed information.

Please PRAY for God's favor during this transition and that we would continue to REACH many unchurched and de-churched people with the message of Jesus' salvation.

Gravity: To Be First, Be Last- 11/01/2009

There are elemental laws, forces, principles of nature and universe that "operate" to meticulous perfection. Mankind, especially scientists for thousands of years, has worked to discover “how” these laws work. However, they always work, whether we know or understand them. So, our goal is to not only figure out how they work, but more importantly, to cooperate with them.

All of these forces and laws are so finely "tuned" to perfection that to the objective observer, the whole of existence can be described as nothing less than the “Elegant Universe".

The force of gravity is perfect, but it didn’t have to be that way. Newton discovered and theorized gravity (the force of attraction between any 2 atoms). Gravity is usually undetectable, but with great mass can come significant gravity, i.e. on earth, which makes apples fall from trees, but also keeps the moon in orbit (9.81m/s2 or 32ft/s2).

Gravity on earth doesn’t change because the mass of earth doesn’t change, but what if it did? Exact pull keeps not only us from being thrown form earth as it spins, it keeps certain gases in our atmosphere in and others out. It keeps sea water in the ocean, and air breathable. That’s why if you go to higher elevations, it’s harder to breathe. Atmospheric pressure (based on gravity) is lower, which means fewer O2 molecules concentrated per unit of volume of air.

Newton figured out most of the formulas that we still use to this day, and he didn’t even know WHY it worked. Einstein came along and wrote theory, discovered laws of relativity, including gravity.

If you’re thinking, “I don’t get it.” That’s okay. Remember, you don’t have to understand the laws for them to work. Sometimes things do work as we think, like a bowling ball sinking in water. We certainly try to understand, more importantly cooperate with and live in harmony with these “laws”.

Then, there are times when these laws don't work as we expect. Then what do we do?

For sake of illustration, what about this 10 lbs bowling ball that floats? Not what we expect, right?

Explanation: density is the key (mass in volume). Density of water (about 1 g/cm3, or 8lbs/gal). If the density of the bowling balls are greater than the density of water, they'll sink. If less, then they'll float.

Don’t always work as we think they should, sometimes even want to fight them. We can try to resist, and become frustrated, or fight them to own misfortune and destruction.

Similarly, there are fundamental principles in human life that are always in operation, whether we know or understand them. And like the laws of nature, it is always best to live in harmony and cooperation with these principles.

However, sin messed up natural tendencies and instincts, reversed our innate understanding, more importantly to cooperate. Sin turned everything upside-down, broken.

Our sin nature is out to destroy us. Like someone with an urge to jump from high places, which everyone agrees is contrary to nature and a destructive tendencies (Psychologists would call it Masochistic/ Self-Defeating Personality Disorder).

The Bible states that sin fractured our nature, our understanding, and even messed up the whole of nature, by inserting death and sin into a perfect world.

Read Romans 5:12-13, 14 and Romans 8:20-21.

Here's one example of how sin messed things up. When God designed creations, it was absent of death and destruction. However, through sin, death entered into our world, death led to the basic instinct of self-preservation, which leads to all sorts of evil, especially selfishness.

We are hard-wired by our fractured nature to be selfishness. Even my "perfect" daughters say things like, “I want” and "It's mine", too often. We are constantly looking out for MY needs. We want the last cookie.

This instinctive selfishness doesn’t preserve us, however, but actually destroys us and the relationships with others that we value.

When we follow our natural tendencies, it's similar to following the urge to jump from a cliff against the force of gravity. However, instead of protecting or liberating us, it destroys us and others.

Sin is always out to destroy us, and therefore, our nature is a destructive force in our life. Read John 10:10. Were not not alone, as soon as sin entered world back in Eden, mankind has been living under it’s cruel curse. Even Jesus’ disciples show the self-protecting, self-exalting cycle with all it's selfish instincts: Read John 13:3-8, 12-17.

This is a counter-intuitive model of life, that goes against everything instinctive and selfish.

Jesus came to restore our lives back to the original design, help us re-discover the basic principles of true life so that we would not live destructive lives leading to death, but so that we could truly live in cooperation with God and in harmony with His perfect plan. Now, read the full verse from John 10:10.

So, what can we learn from Jesus teaching that will help us prosper, live in harmony with God’s absolute principles of life so that we can experience true life and blessing, as Jesus promised in John 13:17?

Here's the Big Idea: To be first, be last!

No, were not in kindergarten anymore! So, we’re not pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line, well unless you're driving down the road in rush hour traffic... But Jesus wasn’t talking about trying to get to first place in line, but about posturing for fame, greatness, recognition, and self-preservation.

His completely counter-intuitive lessons challenge us to stop following our natural, sinful tendencies that lead toward the destruction of all things, and start following His way and listening to God’s Spirit inside of us, leading us toward a new way of living and thinking.

What does it mean to “be last”?

If we want to be greatest, become the servant of all. If we strive to be in charge as a master, then we must follow His example and become a servant in the most humble of circumstances.

This isn’t about looking down on yourself, or having low self-esteem or any lack of self-worth. Jesus had great self-worth and a knowledge of His value and position with the Father, as clearly stated in John 13:3-4.

Just the opposite is the case, when we’re aware of our true value and worth to God, then we stop fighting and posturing. We stop living so cut-throat, and following the self-defeating life that leads to destruction. Then, we can willing serve others, because we’re not looking out for our interests but God’s.

By trying to be first or greatest or most recognized or to be see as important, we fall into the self-defeating, destructive trap that destroy us and leave us as the least. We become a slave to sin and in bondage to the very things we seek. Money becomes a snare, fame a curse, and power a tool for destruction.

BUT when we take on the role of a servant (counter-intuitive), we reverse the forces of sin, and embrace a whole new way of true life that Jesus offers.

TO BE LAST means to serve others, rather than ruling over them. Preferring others ahead of ourselves. Wanting the best for them, as much as for ourselves. Lift others up rather than always wanting to puff ourselves up. To be humble and bend down, while others stand proud. To wash feet while others refuse to ever do the work of the slave.

Do you want to get ahead in this life? You may achieve it, only to arrive at that end, and discover that it gave you the opposite results as you expected.

Jesus’ teaching is NOT complicated. It’s just so contrary to our instinctive way of living, that it seems wrong, weak, “it’ll never work”. But we, and our world, are the ones who are broken, not this teaching.

Jesus reveals one of the most profound, yet basic principles of life. It's even taught in MBA programs, politics, business, consultation- servant leadership. 820,000 links on Google.
It’s always at work, not matter whether we understand it or not, whether we agree wit it, or expect it to work as it does.

Jesus challenged His disciples, and in turn us, to live in harmony and cooperation with God’s plan for all life.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. John 13: 17, NIV.

Live blessed, full, meaningful, eternal life.

Dr. Phillis (a new and unfiltered sermon series)

Okay, a little crazy and definitely a risk...

But why not?

Let's "attack the relationship killers" and what better time the Valentine's Day weekend to begin! Watch this ridiculous trailer to our new series, "Dr. Phillis attacks relationship killers".



What are the "killers" in your relationships? What topics would you like to see us address?

Growing Rich in Love

Today's challenge in our THRIVE devotional is to use our words to build people up rather than tear them down. So, let me take it one step further. When we are mean, unkind, or hit-below-the-belt, we withdraw from our relational bank account. Like this:



Well, I thought it was funny.

When we sow kindness, gentleness, and love into a relationship, it's like putting a deposit into the bank. We must make more deposits than withdrawals if our relationships are to be healthy and functional.

Are you adding to or detracting from the relational bank accounts of your friends and family?

Date Night

Laura and I enjoyed a date night.

Got a chance to go see Fireproof at the Cinemas. Our first movie out together in about 6 years. Was a little nervous about it being a chic-flick or something. But I thought it was great, both from a personal perspective and as a pastor.

I'd HIGHLY RECOMMEND to every couple to go see FIREPROOF. It will give you plenty to discuss in your marriage, great insight into your spouse, and I think it's the kind of movie we should be supporting at the cinemas.

Why I Love Lifehouse

Now that I'm back into the mix of things, and enjoying my busy schedule, I'll take a moment and tell you what I love about Lifehouse:
10. Blue jeans while preaching.
9. cool website and I can even drink coffee on the web.
8. my next door neighbors come to church with me.
7. we're not hypocrites (at least I hope we're not).
6. authenticity and candor.
5. raw Christianity.
4. I actually like everybody at Lifehouse.
3. Even though I'm the pastor, I feel like I can be real and have friends at Lifehouse.
2. Our leadership team may be the best team of any church.
1. Coffee and breakfast every Sunday, even while I preach.
0. Jesus goes to Lifehouse Church East.

So, there you have it. I love Lifehouse Church East unabashedly.