“It is one of the ironies of the ministry that the very man who works in God’s name is often hardest put to find time for God. The parents of Jesus lost Him at church, and they were not the last ones to lose Him there.” – Vance Havner (American preacher, born 1901)

 That just might sum up the “Blurry” series!  How often do we get caught up in “doing church” that we forget to connect to Jesus in minute by minute worship.  We are more concerned with high attendance week in Sunday School then we are applying the Bible study to our life.  We go to church to get instead of investing in people around us.  We talk about our church rather than Jesus.  We join a church based on the ministries our family can receive rather than the ministries our families can get involved in.

 We get so good at church (and maybe a ministry like Havner said) that we leave Jesus and his purpose for our life out out of the equation.

 P.S. I know you’ve been wondering and yes, that is Vance Havner in the picture

1. Make a commitment to be uncomfortable (sharing Jesus with people will do that to you)

2. Ask someone to “come and see” what God is doing at TXT3

3. Tell your story with someone.

Three things to do if we are going to love people.  I decided to type those out, because I think most of us are still thinking about the video blog from Penn Jillette.  Pretty powerful stuff.  There are a couple of things that have stuck with me this week as I’ve reflected on it (and I should say that this was my first experience with Penn Jillette and I’m in no way an expert on what he thinks or has said).  First, it is interesting that Jillette refers to the man who gave him a Bible as a “good man.”  Ironically, there is no such thing as “good” without some sort of moral reference point.  That is one of the logical problems with atheism.  God’s character gives us a definition of what is good and acceptable.  Without that we are left to our own ideas of good or we define good by what the majority of people (i.e. a country) deem as good.  That might sound like it makes sense, but ask a Jewish person who lived in Germany during the 1940s if “good” can be defined by a country’s laws.

The other thing that I’ve pondered is what happened to Jillette in his life that soured his openness to God.  He’s more than an atheist.  He’s an activist.  He spends a lot of time denouncing the God that he doesn’t believe in.  He says that religion causes a lot of problems in the world.  That is certainly a debatable point.  Why the closed eyes to all of the great things that the followers of Jesus have brought to the world? 

I don’t know the answers and I doubt I’ll ever meet him, but today is certainly a day that I can pray for him!

According to Yahoo maps, that’s how far away we are from you, but it also takes you to Georgetown via San Antonio and that makes no sense!  Several of our TXT3 students and adults flew to Oceanside, California, to serve Jesus and Generation Church.  So far we have gutted an entire house (EVERYTHING was taken out of the house), pulled all the floors up, built a retaining wall, tore down and rebuilt a chain link fence, passed out over 200 flyers, and played with kids at an after school program.  That was just today!  Needless to say we are exhausted, but God is doing some good stuff.  I just want you to know that I missed bowling with everyone on Sunday night.  I was looking forward to connecting with the everyone a little bit more.  We’ll definitely have to do it again.  I heard it went great and I hope you had a great time singing together and doing community together!  Looking forward to this Sunday night!

Application Ideas

• Join a cell group. They start March 22nd. (If you haven’t already, fill out this form so we can be prepared for you)
• RSVP to go bowling next week after TXT3 (Send an email to kclark {at} fbcgt(.)org with how many you’re bringing)
• Invite people over for dinner, a movie, or a creative get together at your house
• Combine last weeks message with this week’s by reading all the New Testament passages with the phrase “one another” in it.  You can search for them at www.biblegateway.com
• Grab a bunch of guys and buy some inexpensive tickets to watch the #1 ranked Texas Longhorns play the #5 ranked  Baylor Bears in baseball on Wednesday, March 11th.  If you do this, I’d suggest eating dinner at Freebirds (you’ll want the Hancock location in Austin)!

Text Answers

[Brett profusely apologizes for forgetting to talk about the answers you all sent in on Sunday!]
This week’s question was: Name a place or a group of people where you feel deeply connected.

• church.. sometimes
• dinner out
• Sunday morning life group.
• the church
• my wed small group!
• home
• my accountability group of 5 girls
• i feel deeply connected to the people i show horses with
• home
• with my friends <:) TERA >
• small group
• running group
• Wednesday small group
• small group
• the youth group at fbcgt
• camp, retreats
• with my christian buds and the country
• Family and church
• FBC ladies bible study
• My friends:)
• co-workers at school and my family
• To my small group bible study here at the church.
• my girlfriends
• with family
• friends and family
• family
• with my accountability group of 5 girls
• with women seeking seeking God
• Life group mens night out.
• Small Group on Wednesday’s
• my answer is with the people i show horses with
• My family & my church singles group.
• with cats
• with choir

Music

Majestic, Lincoln Brewster
If We Are the Body, Casting Crowns
Hosanna, Hillsong
Overcome, New Life Worship

Video

MeChurch

You’ve probably never thought about what gangs and the church have in common, huh?  Hopefully the number of answers are few and far between, but there is one element that should be shared, and unfortunately gangs do a better job at it.

It’s community.  Why do people join gangs?  Some are in it for the money, but most are in it for the security and belonging.  Your average gang member probably wouldn’t use those exact words, but there is a lot of truth to it. 

It can be a cruel world.  No one wants to face that alone.  Give me some other people who will walk with me.  Surround me with some people who’ve got my back when I’m in trouble.  I want some people that I can share life with and have a sense of belonging.

Am I describing a gang member or the average person’s desire?  The answer . . . both!

When the church begins to care for people like Jesus does, we might just pass gangs as the place to connect and find life!