Saturday Night LiveBlog :: 7.3.10

July 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

On Air
7:08:09 PM: We’re off and running…welcome!

7:17:48 PM: Discussing the ideas of accountability in community…

7:18:50 PM: Reading from Galatians 6:1-16

7:23:18 PM: Group: Accountability = responsibility, commitment, judgement, standards…

7:23:56 PM: Accountability is there to help us flourish…but can it be a negative?

7:25:12 PM: Group: If the accountability does not line up with what we see as valuable or what we see as right, we are only people-pleasing

7:26:41 PM: Accountability should be an internal standard, one that resonates inside us

7:29:23 PM: What is the best way for us to grow in the faith? How do we do this in the most effective way possible?

7:30:44 PM: Most of us, following after Jesus, must admit that we desire to grow and follow closer, not remain stagnant

7:33:27 PM: What Paul says in this text is, in order to follow after Jesus, to continue growing, we must be in accountable relationships with each other

7:34:13 PM: What are the challenges associated with being real with each other in community?

7:34:44 PM: Group: Judgement…being judged

7:36:33 PM: Group: It feels like if we open up to each other, we’ll be judged for our failures

7:39:01 PM: What is the difficulty we have as people to trust others not to judge us?

7:39:46 PM: Group: We are broken and struggle with sin

7:40:40 PM: Group: Hurt people hurt people…

7:45:04 PM: If these problems are valid and the help is community, what do we do about it?

7:46:00 PM: Our struggles are not obstacles to community, they are reasons for it..

7:47:32 PM: In community we find ways, together, to overcome each others obstacles

8:00:03 PM: Disclosure without accountability doesn’t lead us to growth

8:00:41 PM: Is there a difference in being judgmental and making a judgement?

8:03:51 PM: We’ll continue this discussion next week…come join us!

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Thoughts on Freedom

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Freedom in the CrossFreedom is a word we use pretty loosely in our country.  Especially during this time of year.  We wax eloquent about those who died to ensure our freedom.  Those who are free.  Those who aren’t.  What we are free to do and think and say.  We talk a lot and understand very little, I think.

It’s quite impossible for me to truly appreciate the freedom I have in America.  Why?  Simply because I grew up here, completely ignorant to any alternative.  I don’t know what it’s like not to be free.  I don’t know what life without certain unalienable rights would be like.  I don’t know what it means to live bound.

(But perhaps I do…more on that in a second.)

With that logic in mind, then, it makes total sense that I can’t fully appreciate or understand freedom the way someone who lived through the Revolutionary War would have.  In the midst of oppression and dominion, the resulting freedom would have been not only appreciated, but celebrated and cherished above most things.  The experience of the negative only highlights the wonder of the positive.

It’s the way things work.

You don’t appreciate light without the dark.  You don’t embrace peace without knowing turmoil.

You don’t grasp freedom without first being bound.

This isn’t a truth most people like.  We want blue skies and green acres all our lives without realizing that it’s the hard stuff that makes the good stuff great.

As followers of Jesus, we must first understand the binding and shackling properties of sin in order to fully understand the power of the Cross.  If we view Jesus’ sacrifice as something that simply gives us a ticket to heaven, we miss so much of what Jesus came to accomplish.  He said He came to set us free from our slavery to sin.

Catch this:  He didn’t say anything about the afterlife when talking about these things.  He was talking about right here, right now.

What does that mean, then?  In this man’s humble understanding, it means that Jesus wants to set you and me free from the power of sin in our lives.  We’re all subject to it.  We’re all bound up by it.  We’re all shackled.

You see it in your life and others’.  The simple act of gossip and rumor destroys fellowship, bonds and relationships.  The awfulness of adultery affects families, children and  both spouses.  The simple lie can cause distrust and crumbled dependence.  Pick your behavior and I’ll show you the consequence.  Sin is alive and well in all of us.  It causes us to do things we know we shouldn’t.  It causes us to make excuses for those things.  And it brings death into our lives.  Dying relationships, dying trust, dying hope, and dying faith.  These are the fruits of our sinful actions.  All of them.

Yet, God chose to send Jesus, defeat sin and death, and send us His Holy Spirit to live in us.  Jesus promises broken shackles.  Jesus grants us freedom from the circular destruction of sin.  He gives us the most powerful weapon to defeat it…Himself.  But that freedom comes at a price.  He paid it for you and for me.  He gave Himself completely.  And because of that, we can be free of the destructive power of sin in our lives.

Does that mean we’ll never sin again?  Probably not.  Yet, there is forgiveness for it and a hope that God will continue to shape us and mold us to die to our own desires and live, by the power of the Holy Spirit, according to His will for our lives.  That life yields love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self control.  And against those things, there is no law.  There is only good fruit.  There is only life.

May we be among those who see our circumstance, appreciate and cling to the fact that there is a remedy, and seek after it (Him) with all that we are.

May we live free.

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What’s Your Name?

June 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Hello My Name IsThis past Sunday morning, Wayne (pastor @ The Bridge Community) spoke for a short time about the idea of identity.  Specifically, the idea of your name.  The passage we discussed at Open House this past Saturday night dealt, in part, with that exact idea.

In the eighth chapter of Luke, we come to a portion of the narrative that provides some detail about a man who possesses many demons and the subsequent casting out of those demons by the power Jesus carries.  And while the story certainly speaks to changed life and a cause for relentlessly following after our Savior, this facet of the story was not discussed during our time together on Saturday night at length, but briefly noted in a comment made by Mike.

What he pointed out was, as Jesus spoke to the man, we assume His question of, “What is your name?” was pointed at the demon(s) that had taken up residence in this man.  Looking deeper, however, we find that the meaning of the words surrounding this question can lead to the assumption that Jesus was actually asking the man his name, not the demon(s).  What is most saddening here is the fact that, if Jesus was speaking to the man and his answer was Legion, we uncover a startling truth:  the man’s identity had been completely compromised by his circumstance.

This becomes a disturbing reality for you and I if we think on it for a few moments.  What in your life identifies you?  Hair color, height, weight, skill set, activities, organizations, jobs, marital status, number of children, etc., etc., etc.?  These markers do, in fact, give us clues as to interests, life position, age and personality, but they hardly define who you are.  When asked your name, do you ever reply, “Brown hair, 200 lbs.” ?  Do you start spitting out random facts about you current situations?

Of course not.

Yet, subconsciously, if we let ourselves become unaware of who we are in Jesus, we will easily find ourselves tagged, labeled and categorized in our own minds.  Jesus wants you to understand and be mindful of your place in Him.  The Bible states that you are God’s righteousness in Jesus.  That positionally, you are made perfect in God’s sight not by what you have or what you’ve accomplished, but because of what Jesus finished on the cross.  No longer do we find ourselves not good enough or too sinful to be in God’s favor.  Jesus has paid that debt, settling forever the need for us to be good enough.  No longer are you defined by mere labels.  You are defined by what God has accomplished and freely offers you by grace and by grace alone.

It’s wonderfully freeing!

It’s wonderful to hear.

It’s the Gospel:  the good news of Jesus Christ.

..:: Robby Payne ::..

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Community Begets Community

June 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Free Food at the PoolYou may read that title and think to yourself, “Huh?”

With this post, I’d like to tackle two things:  1.) Define the word beget.  2.)  Explain why it happens in the context of community.

For item #1, the Webster’s dictionary definition is:

1 : to procreate as the father

2 : to produce especially as an effect or outgrowth

So, there you go.  I just know I’ve read about so-and-so begat so-and-so in the Bible and that meant, in a loose translation, that they gave birth.  Life.  A person was created from two others.

I thought it a fitting word in the context of this past Saturday.  If you haven’t seen on the webpage or Facebook page, we spend Saturday morning and afternoon as a community, serving others at the city pool here in Elizabethtown.  There were tons of people.  Tons of hungry people, and we were bringing the food and drink.  For about 4 hours, we dished up hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, lemonade and bottled water to any and everyone who wanted it.  We had folks who were swimming, playing on the playground and a few golfers mixed in.  It was truly a wonderful time of sharing the love of Jesus in an unconditional, no-strings-attached sort of way.  There are few things as rewarding as feeding people who are hungry and asking nothing of them.  To give without any thought of return blesses the giver in so many ways!

The flip-side to the day, however, was the fact that it was hot and a bit stressful.  It forced us to work together and draw on one another to get through all the setup, serving and cleanup.  As successful as it all was, it was also every bit as tiring.  Being in the hot and sun for the afternoon has a very specific way of sucking the life out of you…and I think everyone was feeling it.  There was little rest to be had, however, as we still had the task of our Saturday night gathering to focus on.

It was a bit overwhelming.

Yet, the gathering was wonderful!  Full of God’s Spirit and discussion, our time together showed no sign of fatigue or weariness.  It was energetic, engaging and very moving!

And here’s the beget part.

When we were wrapping up after an impossibly long day, I found myself wanting to hang out with some folks from our community.  Now, you would think with the fatigue factor and the fact that we had just spent the day together, I would be pining to get home, get a shower and relax.  And ultimately, that’s exactly what I did, but I couldn’t shake the reality that there was something deep inside of me that wanted to continue hanging out with these folks.

Community begets community.

Out of our time in the trenches and in worship and in discussion, a deeper desire for more genuine community was born.  It was produced.  From where?  From community!

That’s an awesome thought, for real!  The idea that we can engage in authentic community with Jesus as the centerpiece and it causes us to desire that community even more.  It is one of the many promises we have.  It is one of the true wonders of living this life in Him.  It is something that, if you’ve never been a part of before, I hope you get the chance to experience.

..:: Robby Payne::..

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Saturday Night LiveBlog :: 6.12.10

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

On Air6:57:56 PM: What does it mean to be a community who extends grace?

6:58:22 PM: It means we must first understand what it means to receive grace.

6:59:25 PM: What does it feel like being people who understand that, no matter our status, we are all “needy” to God.

7:00:05 PM: We like to draw lines…between “good” and “evil”

7:00:49 PM: The truth: the line of “good” and “evil” doesn’t divide “us” and “them,” it runs right down the center of us all.

7:01:28 PM: Luke 7:36-50 and Luke 8:1-3 is the text for this evening

7:02:37 PM: Check out the Open House Blog to get in on the Saturday Night LiveBlog!!! Happening now! http://bit.ly/9uKXna
7:04:48 PM: Interesting. Jesus teaches the Pharisee by using the “unclean” woman

7:10:07 PM: The woman comes in, sobbing uncontrollably, lets her hair down and begins to kiss Jesus’ feet. Simon, the Pharisee, is appalled..

7:10:45 PM: In that culture, this display would be considered out of line and completely improper.

7:12:05 PM: Simon assumes that the woman does not belong. But Jesus flips Simon’s presumptions on their head. He sees people so differently that we do

7:14:20 PM: Through His parable, Jesus showed not only that those who are forgiven much, love much…He showed that we all necessitate forgiveness.

8:10:27 PM: Great discussion tonight!!! Thanks everyone!

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Life’s True Oasis

June 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

OasisServing tables is tough work.

At the busiest times, there are seemingly infinite things to accomplish and only a handful of minutes to work with.  It is stressful, intense, and very tiring.  It’s burdensome.  It’s taxing.  It’s what I do a couple of nights out of the week at Texas Roadhouse.  And in the middle of a shift last week, I was delighted to look up and see my beautiful wife standing in the lobby.  Admittedly, I asked her to come and bring me some ibuprofen for my aching legs, but I was still almost overwhelmed when I looked upon her face.  If I could have, I would have left right then and right there just to stay with her.

It was an oasis moment.

Right in the midst of chaos and confusion, I saw home.  Tricia is my absolute best friend and the safest place I have on this earth.  I love her with all my heart and desire to be with her.  She represents peace.  Hope.  Love.  And in the circumstance, though this all seems a bit dramatic, seeing her was the most refreshing thing I could have asked for.

But she did have to leave and I had to go back to the chaos.  It’s my job, after all.  And when she did leave, I felt a bit of despair creep over me.  Not the I’m-going-to-die kind of despair, just an I-wanted-to-stay-but-had-to-leave kind.  The kind you feel when you travel home from a great vacation a few days too early.  I felt that, right in the middle of work

Our relationship with God is a lot like that, don’t you think?  We’re here in this world whether we like it or not.  We sweat and bleed and cry, but we hold on to a hope that death is not the end and a day will come when there is no sorrow or pain left to be had.  We may only cling to it by a thread sometimes, but we hold on.  Yet, while we are here, we know there is work to be done.  Marginalized people to care for.  Hungry mouths to feed.

And so we press on through the good and the bad.

Sometimes, though, we get the chance to encounter Heaven here on earth.  We get to sense God’s presence through worship, serving or community.  We see His hand at work in forgiveness and selflessness.  We sense Him speaking to our heart, sharing wisdom and guidance.  And if you are like me, you want to stay lost in those moments.  You want to hold onto them.

But you can’t.  And I can’t.  They are just foretastes.  They are hints at what the Kingdom will be like.  They are small glimpses into Heaven.  And what is Heaven?  It’s simply where God is.  And I’m happy, for now, that He chooses to invade where we are sometimes.  He becomes so real, it seems tangible.  May you experience those times this week.  May you not yearn to hold on to them, but look to give them away.

..:: Robby Payne ::..

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Why Over Your Head is Not The Target

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ConfusedMost people who know me know that I have a penchant for cell phones and wireless technology.  I read about it, talk about it, think about it, and most importantly, I buy quite a bit of it.  Truth be told, I probably have a small problem.  I can’t help it, though!  I love the stuff!

In Barnes & Noble a few days ago, I noticed they had erected a rather large and impossible-to-miss display to show off their eReader device:  The Nook.  And even though I’ve seen and played with the device before, I had to stop in and give it a glance.  After all, it’s a tech toy and I’m a sucker for the stuff.  Long story short, I got into a discussion with the ladies at the counter about whether or not there was a Nook app for download in the Android Market.  I was met with a most annoying, “No, but there is one for the iPhone.”  To which I stifled a small cringe and went on explaining the irony that the Nook itself runs on the Android OS and yet there is no app for it in the Android Market.  I also went on to explain that I was going to purchase the upcoming EVO 4G on Sprint and that it runs on the Android platform and how nice it would be if there was a Nook app out there for Android.

Is any of this over your head?  Don’t feel bad, because the ladies started looking at me as if I was growing a second head as I was met with questions such as, “What is Droid?  Is that like Android?  My son just bought some phone called the Droid…superb?  Fantastic?  No…that’s not it…what is it called?”

“Incredible?” I knowingly responded, trying not to sound condescending.

“Yes!  That’s it!” she replied.

I took a few minutes to get them up to speed about the fact that Android is Google’s open source operating system, that “Droid” is a play on that word that Motorola and Verizon have used as a marketing ploy to gain traction and market share, and that essentially, this same operating system is present on the device they were trying to sell me only a few minutes prior.

I say all that to say this:  sometimes, more knowledge and understanding makes it more difficult to talk to the vast majority of people who don’t share your passion.  In this case, as in most cases, people don’t care what OS a device runs or what differentiates it from any other OS.  They want to know if it works or not.  They want to know what, if any, benefit it will bring to their life.  They want to know what it does.

And I think the same can be said about the Gospel.  We church-going folks can throw around terminology, have all the right Sunday School responses, and generally play along with everything that happens in our Christian circles.  We study, go to church regularly, attend small groups, read Christian books and listen to Christian music because we’re passionate about a Creator who has redeemed us.  No harm in that!  But I think we must be very careful about what drives us.  In talking about saving grace, sanctification, holiness and trinity – all terms that make sense to us – we must be smart enough to figure out that there are tons of people who don’t know any of this language.  There are tons of people who don’t know what to think when we start throwing it around.  And there are tons of people who don’t understand the things that we simply take for granted.  If we aren’t careful, we speak right over others’ heads and lose the ability to teach or convey anything.

Am I advocating that we stop learning?  Absolutely not!  Perhaps, though, we need to temper our knowledge with the understanding that there are many, many times where all our facts and proofs don’t matter.  There are many times where simple is better.  There are many times where it’s enough to simply proclaim what God’s done, through the work of the cross, for you and allow that story to penetrate and transform.  Not flashy and not earth-shattering…at least not to those who’ve known it for a long time.  But remember, there was a time in your life when all this was new and all you needed to hear was, “Your sins are forgiven.”

And in that simplicity, your world was completely realigned.

..:: Robby Payne ::..

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Saturday Night LiveBlog :: 5.22.10

May 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

On Air6:00 PM:  Reading John 14

6:01 PM:  Define “Believe”

6:03 PM:  Group:  conviction, giving something the benefit of the doubt

6:06 PM:  Distinction between casual belief and belief that leads to trust

6:11 PM:  Belief is rooted in trust in someone or something.

6:12 PM:  Why don’t we put stock in the words of Jesus?

6:14 PM:  The disciples didn’t believe the words of Jesus.  Even they had trouble.

6:17 PM:  In John 14 Jesus tells the disciples it’s good for him to go away. He promised to send the Helper.

6:18 PM:  Why is that good news for us?

6:20 PM:  Group:  The whole body gets empowered for ministry.

6:24 PM:  Group: mission is transferred to us, and the hope of the gospel is moved forward to future generations.

6:25 PM:  The Spirit is our guide, helper, and the one who empowers.

6:32 PM:  Jesus invites us into community. Our community can reach further than one person. It was good for Jesus to go away and send the helper.

6:37 PM:  To be a Christian is to be on mission. We do what Jesus did…what we see Him doing.


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Saturday Night LiveBlog :: 5.15.10

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

On Air7:03:38 PM: Discussion will be coming from Acts 1:1-11

7:04:44 PM: The early church hinged on this one point: Jesus did indeed rise from the grave. The resurrection in true and real…

7:09:20 PM: We cannot do the work of Christ without the power that comes from His Holy Spirit.

7:11:33 PM: We are the continuation of Jesus work here on earth.

7:12:18 PM: Jesus calls us all to be witnesses to Him…but what exactly is a witness?

7:18:04 PM: Group: Someone who sees something happening. Evidence personified.

7:19:02 PM: If witnessing is just seeing and recalling, why did Jesus say to wait for power from the Holy Spirit?

7:20:25 PM: Group: Without power or authority, without the actions behind the words, the witness is weakened.

7:21:15 PM: Group: In our brokenness, others can see God’s power in our lives, working despite our flaws.

7:26:13 PM: Group: We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be humble and full of love for the glory of God. With that love comes a witness of power.

7:28:12 PM: It’s not about what we can do to earn favor with God…it is wrapped up in God’s unlimited grace…

7:38:47 PM: We don’t serve God to get grace…we serve Him because of it.

7:39:53 PM: With this empowerment of the Holy Spirit comes zero bragging rights…we can’t boast about anything. It’s all about God!

7:40:28 PM: The heart that has fully embraced and tasted grace is transformed!

7:43:39 PM: So much discussed, so much going on here. Hope you can join us sometime soon! Good night…

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Live Blogging :: What it is and Why it Matters

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Open HouseIf you come by this site very often, you’ve likely seen the blog posts with the title “Saturday Night LiveBlog.”  The problem, I’m finding, is that many people don’t have a clue what a “live blog” is and why we would even do it in the first place.

Here are a few thoughts on the matter.

A live blog is simply a string of thoughts and updates that arrange themselves in chronological order on a website or blog.  As the discussion unfolds on a Saturday night, the highlights and summarized comments are broadcast via Twitter and are placed ever-so-neatly into a separate blog post for your reading pleasure.  That’s about it.  Nothing too amazing here, but the “what” isn’t what makes this process so important.

That, my friends, is the “why.”

So why live blog?  Other than the fact that it’s cool and I’m a tech-head, there really are some useful and interesting uses for the live blog.

  1. It allows anyone, anywhere to keep up with what goes on during our Saturday night gatherings.
  2. It gives those who don’t call Open House home a chance to see what is discussed and how it’s discussed on a weekly basis.  It gives anyone a chance to see what we are about and if plugging in to that is a realistic thing.
  3. It supplies anyone who was a part of the discussion with a simple and effective way to go back and replay the discussion after we meet.
  4. It gives those who are regularly at Open House a chance to keep up if they are out of town or can’t make it on a Saturday night.
  5. Accountability.  The things we discuss usually have very practical roots and call us to change.  Now those comments are cataloged so we can see if we are really “walking the walk” or not.

Bottom line?  It’s all about connection.  It’s about availability.  It’s about the realization that what is going on during our gatherings is bigger than us and begs to be shared.  It’s about making connections with those who want to be part of this mission and see worth in what we are about.

If you haven’t already, check out last week’s live blog below.  And if you are reading this and have never joined us on a Saturday night, I hope you can tune in Saturday’s and see what we’re about…and then come join us in the flesh.

..:: Robby Payne ::..

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