ScottFentonBlog

Like most people I spend some time on FB every day spying on…I mean connecting with my friends from afar. I have observed that I am a lot like most people in this regard. Recently I began to notice a ‘theme’ if you will to some posts or updates, these of course are well intended and I do it as well, and it is the fact that  for many of us our present circumstances seem to dictate whether or not we can post a “life is good” statement. You know the ‘I am having coffee on my deck, birds are singing, kids are sleeping, bills are paid, people like me”…therefore (implied) “life is good”. Now, please do not get me wrong here, I am not saying we should ignore such small pleasures in life as those I just mentioned! But perhaps just as a reminder to me, at the end of the day only God is really Good! Life is not always Good, we are not always Good. Well, enjoy you coffee today and your ‘Good life” it is truly a gift from God, but when your ‘Good Life’ turns to ‘Good Grief”, be encouraged that God is always Good and He loves you…..

Read a quote recently that just will not leave me alone….I am not sure if it is original with Mark Batterson, but he said this in his book Primal, “most of us are educated well beyond our level of obedience.” We are in the middle of a teaching series at The Rock Church on the Book of James which of course deals with the tension of our how our faith and deeds work together in our lives. It is easy, I believe in church culture to simply move from one good idea to another, one deep thought to another, or one ‘great service’ to another all in our quest to learn more, do more, say more……it seems as if we are often times just trying to reinvent the wheel! I know that I am guilty of this, in my passion to know more about God, it seems that I find myself doing less for God. Please don’t hear me say that we should not be students of God’s word, or that we should neglect good expository Bible teaching in our churches. How often as a preacher I have heard this statement from good Christian people,” I am just not being fed at my church”. My response is often at first defensive because I am human, but it also makes me think, how much ‘feeding’ do we need as Christians? I am not mad at Christ followers, I am one! But when I look at my own faith journey I am struck by the quote above, what if we were consumed as Christians with obedience and action as it relates to the teaching we have already received? The spiritual leaders of Christ’s day where apparently consumed with knowledge and the detail of the law, they constantly would push Jesus to quantify what loving God was all about. What the pharisees wanted was data, details, knowledge, rules, grand philosophies, simply more for them to take pride in! But Jesus only put things into powerful and applicable words, and with only the way Jesus could, said ‘ Love God and Love people”. You know that alone should keep us pretty busy as it relates to obedience…..what would our churches look like if we obeyed the great commandment? I am reminded of something we as parents say to our children all the time at the dinner table when they want seconds, “Eat what is on your plate first, then you can have more” just a thought, but what if we ate what was already on our plates, before we started asking to be “fed” more.? I am right there with you, as I wrestle with what I am asking God for, perhaps He is just waiting for me to finish whats on my plate!

• On the Journey with you…

Starting a new teaching series at The Rock Church this week called “Follow Jesus”….man, when I think of what it was like for the disciples when they heard those words from Jesus Himself for the first time, I pause to consider what my response would have been. Who we ‘Follow’ is really critical to where we eventually end up! This Sunday we will take a look at following Jesus the Leader, Palm Sunday we will follow  Jesus the King, and finish on Easter by following Jesus the Savior!….Jesus said,”Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”, think about it. Jesus wants to ‘make us’ something entirely different, He wants our lives to be about Him and others! Are you ready? are you willing? It won’t be safe, it will cost you everything, but you will end up with the most valuable thing, life that matters for eternity….

Was in deep thought the other day as I was stuck in a little Lynnwood traffic…..I was thinking about the growth cycle in my faith journey with Christ. Perhaps for you it has been a smooth ride with few if any ‘bumps’ along the way, but for me that has not been the case! As I looked back a little bit though I begin to see a bit of a pattern if you will, not that I have perfected this by any means, but as I wrote down the ’sequence of events’ in my relationship with Christ it brought me some comfort. I see these events in my life not as an end to themselves, but rather a continual and cyclical process that is constantly defining and refining my heart, faith and mission in life!

Event #1 To Know Him, Is To Love Him…this really is the heart of God, to make Himself known to us! And as I am brought into a place of ‘knowing Him’ I find myself Loving Him. Paul prays for the church in Ephesians 1:17, ‘that God would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better’… I have found that the seasons in my life that I have been a student of His word, and a man of genuine prayer that I have grown in my love for Christ…For me the more I know about God, the more I love Him. I am not talking just about head knowledge, or some philosophical position, I am referring to knowledge of the heart, grace, power, and love of God.

Event#2 To Love Him, is to be Like Him.…The beautiful truth of God’s Grace for us is that is truly free! And the fact that we can enter in to a ‘love relationship’ with Christ is also gift that comes to us with no strings attached. Now to become like Him, well that will cost you everything you have and are! But if we are to truly love Him, we must become like Him. Now for some this may come as a bit of ‘bait and switch’, but really it is an opportunity to be completely free of this worlds hold on you! Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will obey me’; this same Jesus promises us victory over death, abundant life, peace in the storms and forgiveness of sins! The cost of following Christ may seem quite high, but when you measure it against how much you are in love with Him, it reveals it’s true worth…..

Event #3 To be Like Him, Is to Serve With Him...As we watch the story unfold in the Gospels, we see Jesus revealing Himself to mankind(Knowing Him),providing access to a love relationship(Loving Him), calling us to life change(Christ likeness) and the sequence of events now leads us to the end? Or perhaps just back to the beginning! Either way Christ invites us to be on mission with Him! I believe we are never more like Christ than when we serve people. Just as Christ invited His disciples to ‘come and follow me’ He calls us today to a life of mission! If you find yourself in a place of confusion or discouragement today please consider that maybe all you need is to revisit your own ’sequence of events’, perhaps like me at times, you will discover that you have ’stalled’ somewhere along the line. Take courage, God has not given up on you; as a matter of fact He is powerfully committed to you!

Hey! well I came across this note on my Facebook page and I noticed that near the bottom I declared that I would start to blog once a week?!…along with some other challenges as well. So here we go….I really do not have much a clue as to what I am doing, but that has never stopped before. Welcome to my insanity…check back once or twice a week, just to see how things are going Ok? I have decided that the year of 2010 must be a year of ‘growth’ for me in these critical areas; Body, Mind, and Spirit. Below is a small outline of how I hope to accomplish it!

My Body- lose 15 pounds, run/gym 3 times per week, complete second triathlon.

My Mind- read and listen more, talk and try to solve problems less..

My Spirit- Recapture a lost discipline; everyday spend time with Jesus for daily inspiration , one overnight with Jesus a month for evaluation and two weekends a year Jan/Aug with Jesus (one alone and one with my wife) for revelation

2010 Theme…I must grow in my knowledge and understanding of who God really is, not just who I fancy Him to be!

*This passage pretty well sums up what I am praying for and intently seeking!*

Ephesians 1:15-23 (New Living Translation)

15 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

Side Notes; Start Blogging a least once a week, date night with my wife a least 2 times a month!

Well, that should keep me fairly busy for the year!

Happy New Year! (a little late, but still true)