NEW BOOK: “Jesus Is…”

Kindle & Paperback Editions

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Ryan+Stratton+jesus+is&ref=nb_sb_noss

“Who do you say Jesus is? Some say he was just a good person. Some say he was a prophet. Others say he didn’t exist. CS Lewis says, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” It is important for us to know who Jesus is because this is who we are being formed into. We are not forming Jesus into ourselves, but rather he is recreating us to make us into his image.

This 8 chapter book goes over the big moments of Jesus’ life to help us see how the life of Jesus is still impacting our life today. The next time you’re asked “Who is Jesus?” you can have some answers to help people understand the power of the Risen Christ that is with us always and who is giving us our identity.”

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Loving to Life Pt 5

SHOW GOD’S LOVE DAILY

As we continue in loving people and organizations to life, we remember we have been praying and seeking God’s direction, we have been allowing the people to be their real selves without judgement, we have been meeting with people in small groups, and we have begun a visioning process for the future of the church/person/organization.

This may all seem like a simple, easy-to-do process (it really is); but it will take time. It can take as long as God is needing. We have to be patient when things are not going as well as we would like right at first.

With this in mind, the saying “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is very true. When we are in a new area, the temptation is to go ahead and begin new steps, new vision, new processes without really taking the time to learn the history, the passions of the people, or really loving the people.

Our mission is to show people the value and worth they have in God through Jesus Christ. Because the people have value in the eyes of God, they also should have value in our eyes.

I have dared congregations and people to pray a very dangerous prayer: to ask God to break our hearts as his heart breaks. Why is this a dangerous prayer? Because, if we begin to see the world, the redemptive potential of the people and the world, we will find ourselves being more compassionate, and therefore, more loving. This goes against the flow and MO of the world.

We hear messages all the time of how evil people are, how many times people do bad things, how we should distance ourselves from those unlike us. The only issue with this is Jesus never did such thing. He was always with the people no one liked, or who were outcasts, and made them experience and live into the worth God has placed in them.

Helping people moving from a place of being stagnant means we have to make sure we love the people and then we show people love through acts and words of grace.

What are some ideas for this?

Number one is to simply spend time with the people and continue to listen to their stories. This is very important because you can simple be present with the people. We all love to know other people have interest in our lives. Now, we may not be able to get to everyone, at first, but this is okay. There are still many ways to try and interact with as many people as possible (many of which we have already talked about in the past few weeks.

Some other things we could do are:

  • Personal, handwritten notes: Have you noticed how many handwritten notes come through the mail now? When you get one, how do you feel?
  • Phone calls or texts just to check on the people
  • Visiting when sick, or at least calling
  • Showing up to important events with them
  • Thank you notes
  • Words of encouragement
  • Of course praying with and for people

These may all seem like small things, and they are; but they have a huge impact on the lives of the people we are around. As we continue to work through a process of loving people to life, keep in mind the great love God has for the world, for the people.

Ask God for help to love the people as he loves them. Seek to do everything, within reason, to show people God’s love through you. Show and remind them of their value in the eyes of Christ. Help them remember the worth they have because they are created in the image of God.

Then, watch God’s love begin to take over in you and see how much you care for the people you are working with and living around.

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Salvation From 30,000 Feet

Recently I was flying back home from a trip. When I fly, I like to sit by the window so I can see what is going on. (Also, I sit by the window because I am more relaxed in that seat.) Looking out the window, you can see beautiful clouds and designs in the earth below. People look like ants. Buildings look like children’s toys you can move around.

Whenever I see pretty sights outside the window, I’ll take a picture. I was flying back at night when I was also reading NT Wright’s book, “Surprised by Hope”, when I looked out the window and saw the dark earth illuminated by many tiny lights. Then, I had this thought about salvation, “salvation is so much more than we realize it is”.

I would ask people, what are they “saved” from and they would say, “sin”. This is true. Then I began talking more with the people and I finally realized, through Jesus Christ, I am saved from myself. Meaning it is the sinful desire within me to do wrong and Jesus redeems this and works within me.

After we talk, I’ll then ask people, “So, what are we saved for?” In the past few years, I have come to realize that salvation is not simply for the individual. It is not simply whether or not we will go to heaven after we die. Salvation is living in the presence of God.

The reality of being with God after this life is incredible. We can easily get swept up in the notion of “going to heaven” that we forget the line in the Lord’s Prayer “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Take some time to think about this. What if we shifted our focus on salvation being some “place” we go to after we die? What if we stopped thinking about “going to heaven” and getting away from this life? What if heaven is not a place in the sky?
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Now, how would our lives look differently if we pictured salvation as this:
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How does this paint a picture of salvation? It is what Jesus did. Jesus came into the dark world and shined his light which changed people’s lives. See, salvation is not only for the individual. That is a very small glimpse of the work God is doing. Salvation, redemption, transformation is for the entire world.

When we begin to follow Jesus Christ and our lives are being transformed into his image, his likeness, the light he gives us begins to reflect.

When I looked out the window and saw the earth with the lights, I thought, this is what we are supposed to do: shine with others so the world can see the Light. As we live out our faith in community, we see more people added and more lights shining.

See, the point of salvation is not going to heaven after we die. The point of salvation is bringing heaven to earth. We do not have to wait to live in the presence of God, we can do that here and now. Everything good we experience here and now is a small picture of what it will be like when the earth is completely transformed and evil/sin is expelled for good.

Living in the Light of Christ, here and now, gives us the opportunity to live in true joy, true peace, true, hope, true love. We know this life is available because this is what Jesus Christ offered the world in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The presence of God working within us, through the Holy Spirit, guides to be the people we were created to be and show the world Christ.

So let your light shine. Be a beacon of light in a dark world. Allow the light and love of Jesus Christ to live in and reflect through you. Watch. We will see more and more of heaven here on earth.

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Finding God Series: Part 1

Finding God at Walmart

Many people can find their “god” at a place like Walmart in the form of deals, money savers, etc. But I think, if we look close enough, we can find evidence of God wherever we are.

EDA5EEE0-F6AF-481A-9F92-35D214DC184AWhen I went to Walmart a few days ago, I went for groceries and other items; but I also went on a search to see if I could see God there. I left disappointed because the consumerism, rushed shoppers, and items all over the place were too much for me to see beyond. At that time, it looked like a bunch of people (I was in the crowd) just focusing on themselves and getting what they only wanted.

I found myself feeling discouraged especially when I was in the parking lot and saw a person asking other people for money. I left that day feeling disappointed because it seemed like the consumerism was too powerful.

But I couldn’t let it just stop with that feeling. I was determined to see how we can find God at Walmart. So, I began looking at pictures of Walmart online and began to see pictures of many, many people. My mind started thinking about the memes and videos of the “people of Walmart.”

That’s when it hit me. We can see God at Walmart simply by looking at the people!
“God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them.”
(Genesis 1:27 CEB)

There is always an abundance of people, of diverse people, shopping at Walmart, even at 3:00am. The people are all different, in there own way. This is what I think we can think about to find God at Walmart.

4CFDC740-8956-4390-9E93-3C0B8DFCB7ECNow, are there people only interested in themselves and not interested in God? Yes. Are there people at Walmart who are not as kept as others? Yes. But this doesn’t mean that anyone there does not have the attention of God.

I am finding out one of the best places to have a Spiritual conversation is at Walmart. No, not in a creepy, dorky, or even weird way. When we have chances to be around people, do our lives reflect the light of Christ?

D1CC4349-AD66-42B7-ACE6-83AB334127CAThere are people at Walmart, people created by God, that need to hear there is hope. That need to hear they have a purpose. That need to hear God’s love and desire for them.

So the next time you’re in Walmart, I invite you to pay attention to the people. You’ll see a vast array of emotions, especially people hurting.

In your actions, words, and even thoughts, show the light of Christ to a world seeking healing and redemption. Who knows, you may be the person God uses to help others find God while at Walmart and help them become part of a community of faith.

Remember the words of Christ:
“I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.”
(Matthew 25:40 CEB)

Ryan Stratton2 Comments

I Saw God at the Water Treatment Plant

Recently, I have heard about clergy turning in their credentials. The reason? He says he realized he doesn’t believe in God.

Too often, I think we get so much in our heads and think too intellectually about God that we can miss the feeling/personal side of him. At the same time, we can get so caught up in the feeling/personal sensations we experience that we can completely miss the intelligence and logical aspects of God. We can completely miss God’s presence and his work all around us.

I would not have expected to see God at a water treatment plant; but all of a sudden, there he was!

From the design of the plant to the area where the clean water comes out, the process involved is incredible. Imagine what you flush down the toilet, throw in a stream, dump down the drain, all ending up at the same place. What you would witness would be something dirty and just plain gross.

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Water was not meant to be filled with so much trash and unclean substances. But there it is. Gross water that really has no purpose…until…it gets cleaned and able to be used.

This is the same with humans. We can put so much gross stuff in our lives (pride, lust, laziness, greed, egocentric attitudes, narcissistic attitudes, and so much more) that we end up being completely unusable to do good work in the world because we get too wrapped up in ourselves. That is until…we realize Jesus Christ has already freed us from being slaves to ourselves, being slaves to sin. We all need to be cleaned and filled with the presence of God in our lives.

There is a process that cleans the water. First the filthy water has to get the big items out (money, turtles, snakes, basketballs, really anything that is flushed or thrown in the water). Then it goes through several other processes where it is filtered even more, and more each with each step. Finally, it ends up in a creek like area where it keeps getting more refined to get even cleaner to be sent for us to drink.

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When I took time to look around, I saw the design of the facilities. Everything was designed with a purpose. The waste water was not able to get to the clean water. Yes, this plant was made by humans; but it was God who gave the people the gifts and talents to design and create these facilities to keep our water drinkable.

We read in Genesis 1 and 2 that God had a design when he spoke creation into existence. Everything that was made was made for a purpose. From the place where they collect the water, to where the water is beginning to get clean, to where the water is clean, even in the lab to test the water. Everything has a design and it is perfectly placed. The same is true for creation and humans.

B036B40A-3AC1-4104-A06E-C03CF4D1B974Then, we got to one of the cleaning ponds and they had goldfish in them. The purpose of the goldfish was to keep cleaning the water by eating and removing algae and other bugs. At this point, I was reminded of the Holy Spirit who works within our lives, constantly convicting and cleaning us out. John Wesley referred to this as “sanctifying grace,” the aspect of grace that is working to make you and I perfect in love.

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There was something there that made me think about Jesus: solar panels. What was interesting was these solar panels did not work. I began to wonder where they got their source of energy. Then I remembered Jesus as the light of the world, and as the living (running) water. (In the beginning…the water…God said, “let there be light!”). If we pay close attention, Jesus is always in the picture.

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The point of this is, just because we are in a somewhat “ordinary” situation, there are signs of God all around. God will always find ways to reveal himself to you and the world. Listen to the nudging of the Holy Spirit to show you his presence. God is even found at the water treatment plant…just keep open eyes.

I pray, you continue to seek and find God in your everyday life. He is there. As Jesus says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Where have you seen God lately?

 

Ryan StrattonLeave a comment

Connecting Points

Click here to read Acts 17.

“All you need to do is to teach that person how to…” This sounds simple enough; but is it really that easy to get people to learn new things? Just teach them? When we teach, we are actually connecting the person to what they have seen, what they have experienced and give it meaning.

The same thing is true for sharing our faith. If we listen to the stories of those around us, we can hear something that we can help connect them to Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus did. He would look around and see everyday objects and use them to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. Think about your life for a moment, what part or aspect has someone used to help you know Jesus Christ or help you deepen your faith in God through Jesus Christ?

When the Apostle Paul was traveling, his goal was to preach Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul writes, “I have become all things to all people, so I could save some by all possible means. All the things I do are for the sake of the gospel, so I can be a partner with it.” He was showing that when we go to people, we find what speaks to them and go with it. He understood where he was, and knew the people’s culture, so he spoke to them in the way they were most comfortable with and he gave the people the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

Many people turned away; but many accepted the message. I’m sure it bothered Paul when people criticized him for the message of Jesus Christ; but he stayed the course and kept preaching Christ and him crucified and raised. He may have used the language, symbols, culture of the people, but his message was always clear cut. When we speak with people, we should have this same kind of conviction.

Acts 17 gives us a time when Paul had a great opportunity to share his faith, and he gets ridiculed. He is placed in front of some of the smartest and brightest minds in Athens to be mocked. How would you feel if you were placed in that position? Paul never waivers; he searches around and sees all of the gods the people have made. It must have been hard to try to find something to relate to Jesus Christ; but there it was, a statue to the “Unknown god.”

That was his starting point. Paul used the people’s own poetry, about Zeus, and gave it new meaning to point the people to the real God. Again, some accepted, some left. But, he stood firm in the gospel message and people responded. Imagine what would have happened if Paul never spoke then? Imagine what happens when we don’t take time to really connect our lives with Christ to another person so they can experience Christ.

There are connecting points all around. Look at everything you can see and you might be amazed at how the Holy Spirit gives new meaning to worldly objects.

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I Believe in the Relator God

Ancient Creed, Living Faith Blog Series Part 1

I invite you to take time to read the scriptures today.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

The Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32)

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

We are beginning a new series on the Apostles’ Creed. How many of us recite this creed week after week and haven’t thought about the meaning of the words in awhile? It is too easy to say the same thing week after week and not pay attention. But this creed has significant meaning still which should impact us on a daily basis. Over the next five weeks, I’ll invite all of us to recite this creed daily (found at the bottom of this post).

Today, we look at the first part: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;”

What does this mean to you? Think about the words “I believe.” This is what we usually use as a form of an opinion (i.e. I believe you will get a good grade. I believe this will happen. I believe (insert sports team) will win the game.). But, these words mean so much more than I think. Belief is actually placing the whole weight of who we are on the statement. Would you be willing to put the whole weight of your entire being on someone getting a good grade? Or even your favorite team winning?

Everything starts with God, the creator who created you and I out of love. God desires to love, so you and I exist. By creating the word, God revealed his all powerful nature. For us to see a larger scope of who God is, we get to look at the person of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus told this incredible parable (earthly story with a heavenly meaning) of the “Prodigal Son.” He told this story to the tax collectors and sinners that had gathered to hear him speak. This is an incredible story about the overwhelming love that God has for his creations, especially you and I. He gives all he can just so we can see how valued we are to him. Yes, we go off and do our own thing; but he is giving a chance to return to him. As we work on our confession and our sincere apology, God is coming toward us, giving us more than we ever dreamed of. More than we ever deserve.

The opening statement of the Apostles’ Creed is one that we cannot just pass over. God, the creator of the universe, created and has a special purpose and love for you and I that he cannot let go of. We are able to love because he desired and chose to love us first. I don’t know about you; but that is an incredible statement and truth.

The same God who set the universe into place, created the world and everything in it, took time to make you and I. When we take time to think about and embrace how much we are loved by the God, our worldview can and should shift to seeing God’s presence and handiwork all around us, especially his Holy Spirit within us.

 

You are invited to print this out, place this creed in a spot you’ll see every day and recite daily.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

*Adapted from a sermon series idea “Ancient Creed, Living Faith” on www.seedbed.com

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