Rock Bridge Community Church
Another Reason to Attend Church
If you are a Christian, somewhere along the way you’ve been taught to attend church or “meet together” with other believers. The biblical reasons for doing so are to receive encouragement (Hebrews 10:25), hear the preached Word of God (2 Timothy 4:2), be equipped to serve God (Ephesians 4:11-13), pray (I Timothy 2:1), and praise God (Colossians 3:16).
I want to suggest another extremely important reason: to evangelize. Yes, your attendance and active participation in a worship service can be an act of evangelism (evangelism is telling & showing others God’s worth as revealed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ or you could say that evangelism is simply recruiting more worshippers for God).
How is worship part of evangelism?
1-Unbelievers are present in most weekend worship services … so they are watching you!! This means your worship is a witness because how you are responding to God is showing unbelievers how much God means to you. While unbelievers cannot worship God because they do not yet know Who He really is, they are still worshipping something (we are all pre-wired to worship) so they understand passion, excitement, and authenticity. The fact is most unbelievers see more worship at a football game than in a church. Some suggestions to improve your worship witness:
a) Sit like you are interested and excited about what is going to happen. If someone offered you tickets on the 50-yard line or the end zone ‘nose bleeds’, you’ll take the 50 every time.
b) Sing. Read the psalms, read the OT, read the NT, and note how many times music is involved … you will see that music is like God’s “love language”. God loves for His people to sing His praises. He is drawn to it. A side benefit is that the more you participate in a service, the more you’ll tend to enjoy it.
At RBCC, we are very intentional about picking songs that are easy to sing and easy to learn. We talk about and evaluate this literally EVERY week because it is that important to our overall worship environment.
c) Take notes during the sermon. Again, you’ll get more out of it and you demonstrate the “weight” of God’s Word in your life.
2-God is attracted to worship and when God shows up in a service, people don’t tend to stay unaffected. In fact, the Apostle Paul taught that when worship is rightly focused, rightly ordered, and God’s Word rightly preached then unbelievers will be converted and become worshippers –
“…if an unbeliever or some inquirer comes in [to a worship service] … he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!‘” {I Cor. 14:24,25}
3-Worship fuels evangelism. When we worship God, we are declaring His infinite worth and value to us. This also should produce a burden in us for those who do not yet know the God we worship. So worship drives us to tell others (i.e.-evangelize) about the worth of God.
May people say every week at RBCC that “God is really among us!”
Moment or Movement?
Our church appears to have been touched by the presence of God at last week’s First Wednesday service. We thank God for speaking, for moving, and for affecting us during that moment in time. But what now? What happens next?
First, let me address what usually happens — nothing. We go back to our routines, habits, and typical patterns. We shared a great moment together but we then move back to life as we know it. But we must remember that whenever God uniquely encounters His people (as we believe He did last week), He does so for more than our momentary pleasure; He wants to move and accelerate His people to His purposes for them. In other words, God “moments” in our lives should lead to God “movements”. The overall direction and trajectory of our lives and our church should be somehow permanently altered. A new normal should be defined, a new pattern should emerge, and new habits should form.
To encourage us toward a “movement” of God and not just a “moment” with God, I believe God has ONE simple step: immediate obedience. However God spoke to you (conviction, challenge, comfort, awakening, awareness) last Wednesday, act on it now! Delayed obedience is sin –
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
James 4:17 {NIV}
So God revealed something “good” for you to do, you must do it and you must do it now while it is clear in your mind and while there is a sense of God-given confidence in your heart. If you wait, you will become less clear and less sure of your next step.
Here are a few suggestions to encourage your immediate obedience and fuel what I hope is a movement and not just a moment in the life of our church body:
1-Write down how God touched you and what you sensed Him saying. Then tell a friend and/or your small group and ask for accountability — tell someone to ask you if you have “acted” on what God revealed within 10 days.
2-Pray for boldness. Your struggle is not lack of knowledge of God’s will, but fear. God’s perfect love casts out fear and God’s Holy Spirit gives you courage, not timidity. Know His love for you and be bold in your obedience to Him … your obedience is how you tell God you love Him!
3-Remember the goal is obedience, not a certain result. Most of us fear what our obedience will cause or lack faith that our obedience will matter. Our obedience matters and God will use all obedience for His purpose … so give God your obedience — today!
Praying we “move” together with God!
Matt
Special Invitation!!
Hello Rock Bridge!!
I want to ask all of you who consider Rock Bridge “your” church to be at First Wednesday on October 5th (that’s next week). As your pastor, I have some things I really need to share with you. We are at an exciting place in the history of our church as we approach our 10-year anniversary. We are also at a crucial place in the life of our church. I believe with all my heart that Rock Bridge was created and positioned by God “for such a time as this”; therefore, we must steward this time and the opportunity it presents for the glory of the living God.
I look forward to sharing God’s Word, worshipping, praying, and taking the Lord’s Supper with you, my family in Christ!
Matt
Rock Bridge Calhoun
Dinner at 5:30; Service at 6:30
Gordon Hills Shopping Center*
Message will be LIVE STREAMED!
Rock Bridge Chatsworth & Dalton
Dinner after 5 pm in Stage 123
Service at 6:00 pm in the Wink Theatre*
*Child care provided through 1st grade; 2nd graders & up attend service w/parents.
Elder Selection
Rock Bridge is now entering into a process of nominating, screening, and selected new elders who will begin serving in 2012.
To read more about the selection process or submit a name for nomination, please click here.
Elders are mentioned numerous times in the New Testament. Throughout Paul’s writings he charges elders to guard the church from false teachings, shepherd and care for the members, address and oversee matters of church discipline, correctly teach the Word of God, govern the overall affairs of the church, and display the fruits of God’s work in their lives.
At Rock Bridge, we put these various functions in three broad categories: discerning, shepherding, and guarding. Elders discern God’s will for the church and help determine our overall direction. They shepherd God’s people in the church through prayer, care, and accountability. Finally, elders guard and protect our unity, teaching, vision, and resources.
Rock Bridge Elders come from our church’s membership (elders must first be a member of the church for 1 year), live out our church’s values, model a life devoted to Christ, and are approved by the Church and therefore, authorized by the church to be the “leading servants” for the church. They serve a three-year term and may serve 2 consecutive terms. The Elders cannot call a new Lead Pastor, approve the church budget, or appoint new elders. Those decisions are made by a vote of the church membership.
Excelling in Giving
Last year our church approved a faith-based budget of $3.2 million dollars. This budget was born out of prayer and a vigorous pursuit of wisdom. We doubled the amount of money we invested in local and international missions. We sought to wisely and adequately fund our own ministries for worship, children, students, discipleship, and day-to-day operations.
Even with the troubles in our local economy, we have seen our weekly giving increase this year! However, we are still falling short of our budget by around $2000 per month. Because we have some reserve funds and some built-in margin, we are not in a crisis. We can easily adjust our spending to handle this shortfall, but that means cutting back on some investments to which we believe God has called us.
We believe this is an opportunity for us to “excel in the grace of giving” as Paul encourages churches to do in 2 Corinthians 8:7. So rather than back down and reduce our budget for the remainder of the year, our Elders believe we can rise up and exceed our budget by finishing strong in this last quarter of 2011! Here’s how:
The $10-$50 Plan
Our church currently has about 1400 giving units (a giving unit could be one person or an entire family). If each of those giving units increased their monthly giving by $10 to $50 we would easily meet and even begin to exceed our budget goals!
So we are asking anyone with an income to prayerfully seek to raise your current monthly giving by between $10 to $50.
Think about it this way: over 30 days that represents about 3-5 gallons of gas, 3 Starbucks’ coffee drinks, or 1 movie ticket!!
If you have never given consistently to God’s church, then would you prayerfully consider starting to give around $10-$50 per month? This is a simple way for you to begin giving regularly and begin to experience God’s leadership over your finances.
Remember: it is simple and easy to set-up online giving directly from your checking account (called “E-Give”). You can sign-up directly from our web site by clicking here.
If we as a church take this step together, a few things will happen:
1-We will meet and could even exceed our 2011 budget!!
2-We will be more like Jesus by becoming more generous (2 Corinthians 8:9).
3-We will resist the pull of complacency, instead experiencing the thrill and joy of being open to God’s direction and leadership in our lives (2 Corinthians 2:14).
4-God will be more glorified as we invest in His Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and kingdom work locally and globally.
Thank you for being a part of what God is doing at Rock Bridge! We know God is moving and we know that He is providing through the generous hearts of His people!
**If you have no income, are unemployed or under-employed and need assistance, please allow your church family to help. Financial counseling and/or assistance with groceries or other basic needs are available and part of our budget to minister to those in our church family who are experiencing tough times.
The Lord’s Supper
For me, teaching the subject of the Lord’s Supper and participating in this gift of Christ to His church is more than just theology and obedience; it is personal. During some stretches of Beth’s treatment and recovery from bone marrow transplant, I was with her and unable to be in church. I remember just desiring to connect with God and sense His presence in a more tangible way than prayer and Bible study. This literal ‘hunger’ pushed me to learn more about the Lord’s Supper and want to observe it. Christ gave us this gift because He knew we needed it, and He gave it special symbolic and spiritual significance to indeed help satisfy our hunger for Him. I believe He did this for several reasons:
1) He knew we tend to be forgetful. Over and over again we are warned not to forgot God or His faithfulness, and yet over and over again we do. The Lord’s Supper is a visible reminder to us that God is faithful (He gave us His Son), God is sovereign (even over death!), and that God is for us (“This is My body, which is for you …”).
2) God uses our 5 senses to strengthen the “6th sense” of faith. Just as food and drink nourish our bodies so does Christ nourish our souls. We truly do not live on bread alone (Matthew 4:4)! Just as we receive physical benefits from eating and drinking, we receive spiritual benefits from feeding on Christ through faith. We receive forgiveness, grace, mercy, strength, peace that passes all understanding, and hope that does not disappoint. Through proper observance of the Lord’s Supper, Christ does in fact become more “alive” and real to us.
3) God creates anticipation of His future grace in the form of His promises. Christ has promised to come again (“… whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.“). Christ has promised us more grace than what we now have. This future grace helps fuel our present day obedience and keep us joyfully focused on what is sometimes the difficult and narrow way of walking with Christ. The Lord’s Supper calls us again and again to live by faith in God who keeps His promises of love to His children.
4) The Lord Supper prompts examination and thus exercises preventative discipline and if necessary, corrective discipline in our lives. The Lord’s Supper includes a process of examination that should prompt repentance and feasting on God’s amazing grace. And let’s be honest, we often wait to change until we experience pain and consequences. By bringing us close to Christ’s painful death, the Lord’s Supper can serve to awaken in us the desire to change, to repent, to confess and therefore, be filled anew with God’s presence.
The goal of the Lord’s Supper is not just to do it as a task to complete. Paul warned the church at Corinth by saying, “…it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat …”. We take communion in order to facilitate closer communion with Christ. We do not merely observe the Lord’s Supper but experience the Lord of the Supper. And any encounter with the Risen Christ, will strengthen our faith and deepen our joy.
Membership Matters
Because God loves us and because He is honored when we make godly commitments, the Bible is clear that membership to a local church is the normal practice for a Christian. Scripture speaks of Christians being committed to a specific church leadership (Hebrews 13:17), to intentional meetings with each other (Hebrews 10:25; I Corinthians 11:17-18; Romans 16:5), to mutual accountability (Matthew 18:15-17; I Corinthians 5:1-13), and to being known as a serving member of a church (Romans 16:1; 16:3-16).
Clearly a commitment to a specific group of Christians (how we define membership) is expected and the normal practice in the New Testament and too many verses in Scripture could not be obeyed without a membership commitment. But are there other reasons for committed membership? Here are four:
1-Membership defines the team, enabling the team to be organized, efficient, and effective in fulfilling its mission. This makes sense in sports, the military, businesses, and even in our families. It also makes sense in the local church. There is a reason why banks want to see the “membership” of a church before giving churches loans — they are assessing the strength of organized and declared commitment.
2-Membership helps the elders protect the church from false teachings and unhealthy influences. (see Titus 1:9)
We require background checks for all volunteers that work with children and youth and rightfully so. Protecting them is extremely important. The Bible also mandates that the church be protected from false and incorrect teachings. Membership helps the elders ensure that the church body and those who teach it (children’s workers, small group leaders, etc.) adhere to sound biblical teaching. Unhealthy spiritual influences can wreck havoc on a person and in a church.
3-Membership defines the protective scope of the church. I don’t discipline my neighbors kids. I don’t feed them or clothe them either and they don’t sleep in my house. Why? Because they are not my kids. Christians need discipline, care, and at times provision. Membership defines where these things most readily and naturally occur. Membership is us giving permission for our church family to provide discipline, accountability, and care.
For example, there are certain sins and sinful tendencies that are part of my life story. Only in an environment of love, trust, and commitment can these sins be addressed and biblical accountability provided. This protects me from sin and its consequences as well as the witness of our church. The church by definition and by practice exists in part to protect one another from sin while protecting the overall “salt and light” witness of the church before the world. Membership defines the protective (and at times corrective) reach of the church.
4-The work of the universal, and eternal church will be advanced further and faster through committed members of healthy local churches. If every community had multiple healthy, biblical, Christ-centered churches and if every church had committed members, then more people would be saved and discipled, more money would be available to reach the world for Christ, and the church’s ‘light’ of hope would be brighter. When Christians act as if church were optional, hop from church-to-church, or withhold their full commitment, then the Body of Christ is weaker and the cause of Christ suffers.
Ask yourself: If every church had members as committed as you are, what would the future of Christianity be?
Why Community?
The Bible says many things that are mind boggling and hard to understand. One of the most incredible is that human beings are made in the image of God. This truth immediately communicates to us how much we are valued and loved by God. But to fully grasp what being made in God’s image means, we must also understand more of Who God is.
Central to understanding God is knowing the doctrine of the Trinity, which simply means that God exists in three distinct personalities (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) yet is still one God with one purpose and one nature. The Trinity means that God has always existed in a community of love before we ever existed. The Trinity assures us of God’s love and His desire for a relationship with us. If there was no Trinity, we would be left to wonder, “Why did God actually create us?” The Trinity of God assures us that God’s initiative to create us came from an overflow of His own community and His desire to love.
Therefore, being made in the image of the triune God means in part that we belong in community with God and others. There is no escaping the fact that we are wired for community because we were wired by God who has eternally existed in community.
Sin has undeniable affected our wiring and made community more difficult and loving others much more challenging; however, the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only changes our eternal addresses, but also our earthly desires. Christ gives us the “want to” as we start wanting what God wants. God has always wanted us in community with Himself and with others (“It is not good for man to be alone“).
So as we continue talking about the Body of Christ in our new sermon series, we cannot miss how important community is to God because God is community. We cannot downplay the church and our connection to her as Christ’s body.If you want to take a step toward community, consider learning more about Rock Bridge small groups:
A Blog to Catch-up
So much has happened in the past 5 days that I felt like a quick blog just to catch-up would be worth it. From storm relief to the death of Osama to “How is Beth?” and the launch of a new series … here goes:
STORM RELIEF
The loss and grief is almost hard to bear, especially when this is home or so close to home. Please continue to pray for God’s comfort, strength, and hope to be alive in these affected areas.
The response of supplies and volunteers (and the necessary coordination efforts) have been amazing. Rock Bridge, we are BEING the church. You can stay updated via our web site and Facebook pages.
OSAMA’S DEATH
This blog post by Pastor J.D. Greear is worth the read. ”Thinking About Osama”
NEW SERIES: MODERN FAMILY
It appears Part 1 of this series struck a nerve in our church. I’m praying for all the conversations taking place right now, asking God to bring clarity and courage into families, marriages, and singles. I’ll address some questions that have already been raised at the start of Part 2 this weekend. This is a great series to invite a guest and to make sure your WHOLE family is in church! Please pray that God’s Word is made clear and God’s Spirit works in all our lives. I know some of what we have (and will) cover will be uncomfortable and challenging at times; however, if we keep our eyes on God, lean into His grace, and follow Him no matter what … it will be worth it!!
HOW IS BETH?
Still fighting the Epstein-Barr Virus which at times makes her very uncomfortable. We think the doctors will remove her tonsils on Friday since the bulk of the infection is in that area. We need prayer for healing, for comfort, and for strength. Someone called me several months ago and quoted a Scripture in a voice message to me that has been the basis for how I pray for her.
Isaiah 41:10-13 {NIV}
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
Responding to the Storms
The devastation in our area is tremendous from the storms that ripped through NW Georgia. While much of Whitfield, Murray, and Gordon County was spared, our neighboring communities were not. So this is a “Good Samaritan moment” for our church to meet needs in Jesus’ Name and to be His hands, feet, and face to our hurting friends.
Our staff has been working fervently to develop an action plan and many of you have called asking what can be done. We are in communication with area churches, the Red Cross, as well as the “Rock Bridgers” who live in Catoosa County (as far as we know they are ok physically). Please know that as of now most of the affected area is closed to everyone but emergency personnel.
Pray. We can immediately ask God’s presence and Holy Spirit to touch people supernaturally with His grace, comfort, and strength.
Supplies: Our church is serving as a collection point for the Red Cross. You can bring items to the church office on the corner of Hamilton and Gordon Streets OR to any lobby space at any Rock Bridge venue during our weekend services. Right now the needs are:
- Hand sanitizer
- Feminine products
- Toilet paper
- Paper towels
- Wipes
- Bottled water
- Flashlights
- Tents and tarps
Financial Assistance: We will be giving from our missions budget. We are still working out details of how best to give. If you do wish to give additional money, you can make checks out to “Rock Bridge Community Church” and write ”Storm Relief” in the memo line.