Sunday Shirt—Sunday Shorts

by Marc Backes

I can’t tell you how many times in my life, especially in the last ten years, I’ve had the conversation with someone about what attire they should wear to church on Sundays. I have always held to the firm conviction that it doesn’t matter what you wear. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart. Because of that, I have always encouraged folks to come just as they are. Forget about how you look, how others think you should look, or any other artificial expectations you may have about getting right before God before darkening the doors of the church.

So imagine my surprise and dismay Sunday morning when the words came out of my mouth that went completely contrary to all of that. I was taking a shower, and my son walked into our bedroom dressed in clothes he had picked out himself. My wife observed what he had on and told him she had meant a different pair of shorts and shirt when she gave him instruction on what to pick out of his closet. And then these words came out of my mouth: “Get A Sunday Shirt – And Sunday Shorts“….

And it hit me immediately. “Why did I just say that? I don’t mean that do I? Did I really just tell him to look differently on Sunday than he does the rest of the week? Am I really that kind of parent? Am I that kind of person?” And a hundred more questions lining up from there. And it stuck with me so much that it was the only thing I could write about for this post.

We are so wired as fallen people to dress ourselves up for others to see. It is so ingrained in us and is such a default mode for us that many times we don’t even recognize that we are doing it. From the very beginning when Adam and Eve realized that they stood naked in the Garden, man has sought to improve his appearance before others and hide his shame through exterior means. And if you’ll think long and hard, you’ll begin to see in your own life little ways how you do this:

• When someone asks you what you do for a living, especially if they have a vocation you believe is somehow superior to yours, you “dress up” your job a little in the hopes that they’ll think more highly of you than if you just told them what you really do
• You buy a car that you really can’t afford because you don’t want to be seen driving in the church or work parking lot with your Honda Accord that has 175,000 miles on it and a few dents in it. I mean seriously, how could you ever expect people to take you seriously if you’re driving that old clunker around.
• You spend way too much money on a house in a neighborhood that you feel will give you a little extra stature because of the prices of the homes there. Think about it, if you lived in one of those “track home” neighborhoods, you would be just like every other commoner out there. But since you live in a “nice” development, you can be sure of only positive reactions when people ask you where you live.
• When someone asks how you are doing, you always respond with the safe and practical words “I’m good”. Because you couldn’t possibly let them know what is really going on. Think about it. You’re a highly respected professional who has the nice car and the nice house. You’re not supposed to struggle with the same problems as the “average” person. Your education and training have insulated you from actually experiencing those poor person issues. If you really let people know what was going on behind closed doors, they might begin to question what business you have being the professional that you are.

And the list could go on. But you get the point. It isn’t just that we dress up for Sunday mornings. We dress up our whole lives. We want people to think we are someone that we are not. Vulnerability and truth are hard. We always want to feel like we are doing more than the next guy. And therefore if we can look, act, dress, or live better than him we can feel worse about him and better about ourselves. It’s our default mode. It’s how we are naturally wired to operate apart from the intervening grace of God.

I’m just thankful that God always reminds me through my own actions that I’m still fallen and still imperfect. No matter how far I think I’ve come, I still have a bent towards Sunday Shirt – Sunday Shorts.

Discover Card: Friend or Foe?

by Heather Myer
College students are often lured into filing credit card applications in exchange for freebees. At SMSU, I readily traded my information with Discover Card for a 2-XL t-shirt that hung on my size medium frame, Master Card for a cd-holder, Visa for a lunch box, and American Express for a poster. Commerce Bank offered a free gym bag for opening a spare line of credit. Express, Fashion Bug, Old Navy, Best Buy, Gap, Target, and the Limited received my patronage in exchange for 10% off at the time of purchase. By the end of my Freshman year, over 10 credit cards were tossed in a drawer, unused and inactivated. They were the souvenirs of free prizes, slightly discounted items, and very large t-shirts. These cards were eventually cut up and discarded. Only Discover outlasted the attack. The card’s survival was ensured by a tempting cash back bonus deal and a clever Union Jack logo. A Britophile at heart, it was unthinkable for me to cut up the emblem of the United Kingdom. It was as close to London as I’d ever managed to get. Perhaps using it would allow me to take a trip abroad one day.

After graduating college, I could no longer depend on student loans, grants, and scholarships for financial support. It didn’t take long to learn that despite my education, I had little business sense. Rather than learn to manage and juggle my budget, I began to use my Discover Card to cushion times of need, irresponsibility, and impulsive buys. Vacations to CA, CO, TX, and FL, unnecessary clothing, extravagant dinner parties, and an addiction to Barnes and Noble caused my debt to swell. Discover became an unruly monster that often reared its ugly head. As the balance grew, my credit limit rose from $1,000 to over $10,000. Soon, the burden was daunting, with no end in sight. Desperate for freedom, I trapped the vile temptress in a block of ice. In a matter of weeks, the card was easily thawed and back to its wicked ways. Though unpredictable and untamable, I could not bear to destroy the instrument of my financial despair. What if I might need it? It looked so lonesome and frightened next to the scissors. Giving it a second chance, I foolishly placed it back into my wallet.

Using my Discover Card has became a viscous cycle. I pay it off, only to incur more debt. This year alone, I’ve paid my debt three times, and once again have a triple digit balance. I long to be cut loose from the ties that bind me. My heart has become burdened for freedom from the shackles of slavery. America won the Revolutionary War in 1783, an infant land breaking forth from its tyrannical heritage. It is high time I follow in the footsteps of my forefathers. So long Discover, my adversary since 1997. Farewell Union Jack, for I am an American and you are not my flag. Auf Wiedershen cash back bonus, you never profited much. Good-bye my size 2-XL tee that never fit. Yielding the scissors and with a triumphant cry of victory, I bid my credit card a fond adieu. It now lies in shards. I am free!

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. —Proverbs 22:7

Something’s Got To Give

by Sarah Austin

I never thought I’d be the girl who slacked on her quiet times, but ever since I married Chris and started grad school, I’ve struggled with consistency in that area. In the last month or so, the Lord’s been convicting me, prodding me to get back in the saddle. For a few weeks, I tried reading my Bible before I went to sleep, which proved problematic because by the time I crawl into bed at 11 o’clock, I’m exhausted, and the last thing I want to do is read.

This week, I made a pact with myself and my community group that I would get up every morning at 5 to pray and study my Bible. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings were awesome, and the time I spent with the Lord was wonderful. Today, however, was a different story. Five o’clock rolled around, and I could not drag myself out of bed. Here’s why:

• I can’t go to bed much earlier than 11 o’clock any given night because Chris and I spend time together in the evenings.
• I’m training for a half marathon (about five hours a week)and will be training for a full marathon this winter (about ten hours a week). I run in the mornings before work, so I have to be up by 6 o’clock.
• Endurance sports require sleep. That’s when the body recovers and repairs itself. I’ve studied myself, and I function best with 8–9 hours of sleep, especially when my weekly mileage increases.
• I also work eight hours a day and do the normal house-wifely things.

Something has to give, people. Now I know that being a Christ-follower requires sacrifice and discipline, and I want desperately to have the discipline of daily time with the Lord, and I’m ready to sacrifice to do that, but I don’t know what to do with these other roles and responsibilities. I mean, it’s good to spend time with my husband. That’s pretty important. And it’s good to sleep and exercise. When I don’t sleep, I’m too tired to exercise. When I don’t exercise, I don’t manage stress well. When I’m not managing my stress, I overeat and gain weight, which is what happened to me in grad school and is why I got into running in the first place.

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this. Everyone I know is busy. More than likely, I’m placing too much importance on the running and the sleep. It’s just that the running is the one thing I have that is in no way related to LifePoint, and the people who I run with need Jesus. That certainly doesn’t make the measuring of priorities any easier because we should all be both pouring our lives into people who don’t know Jesus and spending daily time with him in addition to our other roles and responsibilities.

I’m curious to know how you, other LifePointers, handle this struggle. If I figure anything out, I’ll let you know.

Ozark Choirs Sing to the Lord

by Donovan Dobbs

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. —Psalm 100

This is just one of the songs the Ozark High School choirs sang last week at the first choir concert of the school year. At least four of the songs gave praise and honor to God. Two of the songs were even sung in Hebrew. As I sat in the audience, I was thankful that at least one secular school in America is not afraid to give glory to God. It was motivating and uplifting.

Lifepoint youth were well represented in the choir. I know of at least four teens who are active in our church who were members of the various choirs—men’s choir, JV choir, women’s choir, and chorale. It was nice to see them sing publicly and openly to the Lord.

The next to the last two songs of the evening were “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” and “Praise His Holy Name” and were song by the Chorale. They both were upbeat and definitely lifted praise to God. After the end of “Praise His Holy Name,” the crowd stood and clapped!

I am thankful that my new hometown allows its high school to sing to the Lord. We never know how God will use the words of the songs to reach another person for him. I can hardly wait for the Christmas production.

Choose Your Own Adventure

by Heather Myer

“There are no accidents in art…only happy little mistakes,” Bob Ross cheerfully exclaimed as he painted a happy little cloud above a rolling hillside. The late Bob Ross, a PBS forefather of television paint-along shows, was equally known for his optimism as his artwork. Can the same be said for life? There are no accidents in life, only happy little mistakes. Today’s society would not agree with Bob.

We live in a culture where so many people treat life as a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Many believe that each decision directly effects the next. For example, you are hungry. You can decide to eat lunch at McAlister’s Deli (turn to page 32) or at the Rib Crib (turn to page 68). After your meal at McAlister’s Deli, you discover that you’ve won $5,000 when you call to take a customer-satisfaction survey. With this money, you can pay your deceased half-brother’s lingering debt (turn to page 56) or travel to Quintana Roo in search hidden Myan treasure (turn to page 124). However, if you choose the Rib Crib, you narrowly miss certain doom by choking on a mouthful of chopped brisket, only to be rescued by an employee who knows the Heimlich maneuver. You can ask your rescuer out on a date (turn to page 139) or sue Rib Crib for not chopping their brisket well (turn to page 91).

Society teaches us to view each choice as a paramount decision, with life-altering events. That life’s path is the combination of our past decisions. Is our future dependant on the twists and turns of our past? If so, the pros and cons of our options must be carefully weighed. Each opportunity leads to future success or failure. Could you decide between traveling to Chicago for pizza or Philadelphia for a steak sandwich? Would you attend an educational seminar in Cancun or Denver? Might an Apple or a Hewlett-Packard laptop best meet your purposes? Should you train to run half a marathon or bike the MS 150? What if you could either pursue mission opportunities in Japan or study art in London? Is it best to rent a house in Springfield or buy one in Ozark? Would you join the Army to help fight the War on Terror or finish your Master’s Degree in Counseling? Is teaching high school students arithmetic your future path or should you enter the business world? Would your free time best be devoted to leading a church ministry or working at Express? What about working at the blood bank or serving as a Navy nurse? We cannot rely on our own strength for any of these options. With God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

Does it ultimately matter if you go to Philly for a philly-cheese or Chicago for a deep-dish? God will work in all things for the good of those who love him, who have been called to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Does it ultimately matter if art is pursued in London versus missions in Tokyo? God will work in all things for the good of those who love him, who are called to his purpose. How do we know his purpose? Search the Bible. Psalm 119:130 says, “The unfolding of your Word gives light.” Ask him. Fall to your knees and ask our Maker what he would have you do. God is the grand creator of our lives, the Maker of the universe. Where can we go that he will not be? What can we do that he will not know?

“Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there, your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast,” Psalm 139:7–10.

Psalm 139:1–4 states that he has searched you. He knows you. He knows when you sit and when you stand. He is familiar with all of your ways. He knows your very thoughts. Before you speak, he knows the words that will be on your tongue. God knows you completely. Our maker knows each move we make, every word we utter. If you choose to holiday in Cancun or Denver, God will be there. If you rent a house or buy one, his hand will guide you. If you dine at either McAlister’s Deli or the Rib Crib, he will hold you. All things work together for those who know the Lord and who are called to his purpose. Perhaps Bob Ross was onto something.

God Works in Mysterious Ways

I love stories…especially when they are like the one I heard this week. LifePoint has been preparing for our fall land offering over the last three weeks. A couple of times a year LifePoint sets aside a week to receive a special offering to pay toward the balance on our land. One couple in preparing for their offering wrote their check, placed it in a LifePoint offering envelope and placed it in a stack with others bills that they would be paying. Inadvertently the envelope got picked up and placed in the mail with other bills.

The next day when it was realized a call was placed to the local post office to inquire about the envelope. The post office said that it had been sent to the Springfield office. A call was placed to the Springfield office to try and track down the envelope. After describing the envelope as a LifePoint Church offering envelope that had no stamp and no address on it, the postal employee simply said, “Yes, but we knew that LifePoint Church was in Ozark so we forwarded the envelope and delivered to the church.”

And yes…they did deliver the envelope with the offering enclosed in time for the special offering Sunday. I cannot say for sure that God altered the course of history by directing that envelope to LifePoint. What I can say is this…the facts shows that an envelope with “no address” and “no stamp” processed through two post offices and was successfully delivered to its intended recipient on time. I can say, “I don’t have to say it…that just happened!” Sunday was a great day and the offering was a blessing. What a blessing to have the opportunity to participate by giving toward the land. I pray you will join us in this great work the Lord is leading us in.

Over 100 people came out on Sunday evening to participate in our prayerwalk on the land. It was a great time of joining together on the property to pray…for the future, for our development, and for our master planning process as we begin. Continue to pray as we move forward with this. The elders will bring a report and ask for your input soon. Let’s continue to seek the Lord in all as we take steps to follow all that he is doing among us. And next time you have a moment to stop and pray…drive out in front of the property and offer a prayer for all that God desires to accomplish through LifePoint.

—Pastor Lane

The Ponderings of a Heather

Repetitive Thought Process

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know!
Should I stay or should I go?
—The Clash

Application

Kindly refer to the Choose Your Own Adventure/Bob Ross post.

90 Minutes in Heaven

by Sarah Austin

I must admit that when my mother recommended Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven, I was skeptical. A guy dies, goes to heaven, and comes back to life to tell about it? Right.

In fact, I really had no intention of reading the book until 1) I found a copy to borrow (or rather, it found me) and 2) I found myself without anything to read. I had no excuse to not read it. Funny how that works sometimes.

The title sums up the book’s plot, but there’s a bit more to it than a dead guy spending 90 minutes in heaven. The author—Piper—dies in a car accident. The paramedics announce him dead at the scene and simply have to wait for a judge to come and make it official. While the accident clean up continues, a pastor who is stuck in the traffic behind the accident, walks to the scene and starts a conversation with a cop. He feels the Holy Spirit prompting him to pray for the dead guy (at the time, the pastor didn’t know the dead guy was also a pastor and that they had both been traveling home from the same pastors conference). The pastor crawls into the back hatch of the dead guy’s car, puts his hand on his shoulder, and starts praying for him.

Meanwhile, the dead guy is in heaven. He’s welcomed by all the Christians in his life that had gone before him. He sees the pearly gates, he sees the streets paved with gold, and he sees the city of heaven. In heaven, there is music we’ve never heard and colors we’ve never seen on earth. Just as he is getting used to the idea of heaven, Piper finds himself back in his car. He had been dead 90 minutes.

The pastor who had prayed Piper back to life had prayed specifically that Piper would have no head or internal injuries, and he didn’t. In spite of that miracle, the injuries to Piper’s leg and arms were horrific. Piper spends the rest of the book detailing his recovery with the Ilizarov device and how that device and his experience in heaven have allowed him to minister to others in similar situations.

I was a skeptic when I picked up this book, but somehow I know Piper’s experience in heaven is true. His description of that place is just how I would’ve imagined it, and beyond my own imagination, his description makes sense to me. While some have been changed from hearing how Piper recovered, his heavenly experience has changed how I come to worship. Heaven is a real place to me now—almost something tangible. And as I imagine singing with other saints before the Lord’s throne, I am excited for that day.

Area Church Planters Meet at LifePoint

by Marc Backes

Last Tuesday was a great day at LifePoint. Twenty some folks gathered, some as far away as Oklahoma, to pray, worship, encourage, and discuss church planting. Jonathan McIntosh, from the Journey in St. Louis, spoke to us today about the centrality of the gospel in church planting and exhorted us to make sure we were keeping the Gospel front and center in our churches. Jesus is the hero of every sermon, and the point of every passage in the Bible. All of the Old Testament and the New Testament point to and expound upon Jesus. If we lose Jesus, we lose the church.

Over lunch, we had the opportunity to do some Q & A and talk about how the theology of the gospel fleshes out in practical terms such as giving, growing members to maturity, reviving passion in our congregations, and seeing our church folks truly grasp how the gospel plays out in their entire lives. We talked about the importance of the folks in our churches grasping that all of life is worship and not just the hour we spend together on Sunday.

The cool thing about this meeting was that it was the first we have done in the Southwest Missouri region and we had a good turnout. Prayerfully, as we move forward, we can build this network to serve as a support, encouragement, and help to men who are in church plants, looking to plant churches, or thinking about church planting and discerning whether it’s for them. Lane did a good job of laying out what the objectives of such a meeting were and challenged us to consider our own pride, arrogance, and insecurities as church planters when we come together and to really pray to see this network be all it can be. We’re looking at getting together again in January. I would suspect maybe January 8th? Stay tuned…

It was a great meeting with great men. I look forward to continuing the friendships that were started today.

In his message to us, Jonathan McIntosh referenced Tim Keller quite frequently. For all things Tim Keller and more resources from him than you can shake a stick at, you need to go here and check it out.

Thank you to everyone who attended today and to the folks who helped serve and make it happen. I’m grateful for a church like LifePoint who has a heart to see the movement grow.

Quotes from the Day

The Gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of Christianity. The Gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the kingdom. We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow and are renewed. It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier… All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. —Tim Keller

The Bible is not a collection of ‘Aesop’s Fables’, it is not a book of virtues. It is a story about how God saves us. Any exposition of a text that does not ‘get to Christ’ but just ‘explains Biblical principles’ will be a ‘synagogue sermon’ that merely exhorts people to exert their wills to live according to a particular pattern. Instead of the life-giving gospel, the sermon offers just one more ethical paradigm to crush the listeners. —Tim Keller

A recovery of the gospel is often a spark for movements.

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating night and day, I gave heed to the context of the words.. and there I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates… This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to paradise. —Martin Luther on Romans 1:17 (“The one who by faith is righteous shall live.”)

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given to me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” “I was a Christian before but I only had the faith of a servant, but not the faith of a son. —John Wesley, founder of Methodism talking about his “second experience”

I was walking in a pasture behind my house one day. A pastor not far from me had had affairs with five women; he crashed and burned. Another guy north of me had a megachurch, but he was going to the pen for embezzlement. I told God, ‘God, I’ve got my pants on. I’ve got my hands out of the offering plate. You’ve got these guys over here doing all this stuff. Why aren’t you blessing me” All of a sudden this little question came to my mind: When will Jesus be enough for you? Sometimes, I think that’s when I became a Christian. I just began to weep, because I realized he wasn’t. I was miserable because of our attendance the day before. … Why is my joy based on having to grow my church as big as Rick Warren’s or Bill Hybels’s? —Bob Roberts

There is no commitment we will make as church planters of greater importance than living close to Jesus. For church planting can become an idol factory; a prostitution ring; a cruel taskmaster; a breeding ground for addictions… we need church planters who will love Jesus with abandon, and who cultivate a lifestyle of growing in His grace and knowledge. Until you know yourself to be slow of heart to believe the gospel, you will never cultivate a burning heart for the gospel. Churches planted with the DNA of the gospel will be led by those who live a life of gospel astonishment. —Scotty Smith

The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine….Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually. —Martin Luther

Autumn

by Heather Myer

Autumn is upon the Ozarks. The mornings are crisp with mist that lingers low over the hay fields and dew that settles on the grass. Cool morning breezes make mothers pull sweaters over the heads of struggling school children. Afternoon rains wash over the dry earth, refreshing the soil from the summer’s harsh sun. The trees, broken and devastated after last January’s ice storm, are healing and displaying a renewed beauty. The once lush green woods are now shimmering with burgundy, orange, and gold leaves. The birds are migrating south in V-shaped flocks, pausing on telephone lines for rest from their long flight. In the evenings, it is necessary to add a blanket to the bed for warmth.

God is sharing his glories with you today! He has created beautiful and alluring scenery that a brush cannot paint and a camera cannot capture. He is calling you to share serenity with him. This afternoon, set aside your daily routines. Leave the bills, the projects, the worries, and the headaches of life aside. Answer our Lord’s simple request for your presence. Leave the car keys (but not your house key) on the kitchen table. Pull a sweater around your shoulders. Grasp your spouse’s hand if you are married. If you are not, know that you are deeply loved by a King who created this day, this moment, especially for you. Walk beneath a canopy of red and gold maple, elm, and walnut trees. Pause and rest your eyes upon the stillness that penetrates civilization. Gaze upon the rolling hills of the Ozarks. Feel the cool breeze brush upon your cheek and rush through your hair. Let your skin drink in the gentle rays of sun. Listen for the song of the crickets or the gleeful laugh of a child. Sing praises to his name. Ask our Father to allow you to feel his presence. Ask him to take away the empty burdens of your busy day and fill you with a peace that only he can grant. Rejoice in the splendor and majesty of this very moment. Our King created it for you alone.

Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. —Joel 3:23

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