Joel Schuster » Church http://joelschuster.com Need a good tagline, any ideas? Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:14:02 +0000 en hourly 1 God’s movement among “The Next” now! http://joelschuster.com/37-gods-movement-among-the-next-now/ http://joelschuster.com/37-gods-movement-among-the-next-now/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:22:43 +0000 joel http://joelschuster.com/?p=37 I was hanging with the Sr. High Youth tonight and saw kids responding to the movement of God in their lives.  Some were seeking prayer for tough things, other were asking good questions, each had the opportunity to pray with a leader who loved and cared for them.  I can tell you there are few things cooler than seeing the next generation responding now.  I praise God that our leadership is carefully listening to and responding to His leading in reaching the kids He is bringing to us.  Cause each of these young ones has something to add now.  That is something I have been learning daily, it is both humbling and exciting.

It was not too long ago, I was one who was making Sr. Pastors and Elder boards nervous with new ideas and optimism about what it takes to reach this next generation.  Probably still am making some people nervous.  But now I am the one who is nervous, which is interesting.  I am learning to get out of the way, let go, equip, and encourage what is coming.  Because I really believe the best is yet to come.  God is really doing something cool, and I am excited to see MCC be a part of it.

Pray with me that this next generation would continue to respond and God’s Spirit would continue to move among them.  Pray for their leadership to continue to push the envelope doing whatever it takes to reach this generation for Jesus.  Pray for me and the other leaders at MCC for wisdom in how we encourage, empower, and engage this movement now.  May God be glorified by His mighty and surprising work among us.

P.S. Thank you to all of you who are serving and sacrificing for our youth.  You are making a big time impact

Because together, young and old, new and mature, regardless of where we come from, what’s happened or who we are; we all benefit by experience the image and presence of God together in His movement called the Church

]]> http://joelschuster.com/37-gods-movement-among-the-next-now/feed/ 1 The Upside of Anger http://joelschuster.com/28-the-upside-of-anger/ http://joelschuster.com/28-the-upside-of-anger/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:45:32 +0000 joel http://joelschuster.com/?p=28 Tomorrow morning at Church we hit the 6th command and will be spending our time meditating on Jesus teaching concerning the command.  In that teaching he hits hard on the root of murder which begins in our heart.  But is all anger wrong?

The other side of anger takes us to John 2:13–17 where Jesus clears the temple.  A number of times through out the New Testament we see Jesus’ indignation toward a number of different things most often surround His passion for God’s glory and his distaste for sin masquerading as righteousness. So where does that leave us.

There are some things that should disturb us.  They should reach down and touch a nerve in our heart that moves us to action.  This indignation reflects the things that move God’s heart to righteous anger toward the brokenness we find in our world.  As His people the things that sadden God should sadden us, the things that anger God should anger us.  Bill Hybels calls this our “holy discontent”.  It is up to us as people who follow Jesus to be a voice for the voiceless, and advocate for those who lack the power and resources to do something about their situation.

What is it that bothers you?  Bothers you deep down to your core.  What issue stirs your heart and leads you to prayer, in the hope that God will intervene.  Maybe that intervention is you! Maybe God is waiting for us to allow ourselves to get stirred up enough to do something about the things that bother Him.  Maybe has been waiting for you and me to get sick and tired of seeing nothing done about the the things that break God’s heart.

Sometimes there is an upside to anger when it moves us to prayer and moves us to righteous action based upon what we find in God’s word and the problems we see in ours.  He is looking for His people to get stirred up, to take His heart and His hands to a world that is desperately seeking him.  So I ask again what is it that bothers you, that you have been praying about?  What is it that God might be calling you to do?  Are you bothered enough to do something about it?

]]> http://joelschuster.com/28-the-upside-of-anger/feed/ 0 Jesus — “I will build my Church” http://joelschuster.com/22-jesus-i-will-build-my-church/ http://joelschuster.com/22-jesus-i-will-build-my-church/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:26:00 +0000 joel http://joelschuster.com/?p=22 Recently I have just been geeking out on Matthew 16:18 where Jesus states “I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”.  It is one of those passages that just struck me right between the eyes.  We spend some much time making our plans, bound by the busyness of life and ministry and then wonder where and when God might show up to bless what we think He should be doing.  And when things don’t go our way, people seem indifferent, we have less people rather than more people we wonder what happened.

But this verse just kicked me in the pants.  Jesus is busy building His Church.  I think more often than not He is waiting for us to be attentively listening and waiting for His voice because He has a great idea on how to build the Church.  So far we have to admit He is fairly successful, with a couple billion saved world wide and growing.  My daily prayer recently for Marsh Creek Church has been for Jesus to be the architect and builder of His movement here, and now.  I have been praying that He would give the people of Marsh Creek and the surrounding Churches a bold vision and big dream of what God has been desiring to do in Central Chester County through His body, the Church.  And that whatever happens is something that could only be attributed to God.  You see when we understand who the builder is, and acknowledge thankfully it is not up to us with our limited skill set, there are no barriers to what is possible.

This verse puts the emphasis back where it needs to be, on the architect of the Kingdom we serve.  And what’s more exciting is the statement that follows.  “The gates of hell will not prevail against it”.  That just gets me pumped up.  I am always moved when I see the power of God at work in people and communities.  But after reading this I am ready to storm the gates of hell because the devil has already been defeated, He has no victory.  Whose coming with me?

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