I hope everyone is having a great week. Sorry for the long time periods between blogs.
This week I asked everyone to spend intentional time reading the words of Jesus in Matthew 5,6 and 7. The Sermon on the Mount (our titling) is chocked full of so much wisdom.
We talked this past weekend about QUAD THEOLOGY. It's really the process of how faith is developed.
My quadding experiences taught me about different days in our faith journey.
DAY ONE: The day we move things from theory to real life. The day we move the quad from the trailer to the sand dunes. It is when things feel so perfect, and so awesome and our faith is at its best, when life hasn't wrecked it yet. Seeing literally thousands led to Christ in the last few years has been a blessing. It's that "day" when you get that the story is real. That faith is what God wants. That Jesus really died.
DAY TWO: We "risk" and get a little vulnerable and sometimes get hurt. When we get hurt, we have a tendency to shrink back. In my case, to put the quad back in the trailer. In Hebrews we see that the early Christians literally shrunk back in the face of difficult circumstances. I think today, so often we hear a plastic view of the gospel. Truth is, it is dangerous and you will get hurt. Day two quadding; I fell pretty hard. I tried to logically catch myself and the tire grabbed my foot and threw me from the quad. My tendency was to be done riding. Faith is like that. You have to learn to follow, and in following you get hurt sometimes.
DAY THREE: When we get hurt, we have a tendency to get "stuck" in our faith. I tried to climb a 350 or 400 foot dune (following Chuck) and after watching him, I was inspired to risk again. The problem was when I got to about 250 feet I began to get fearful and really at that point stopped pressing the throttle, which stopped me and I was stuck in the dunes with nowhere to go. I was stuck because I was afraid, and afraid because I was hurt. Fear will paralyze you. When you think about your life, the places you get stuck were the times you got hurt. For me, I had to wait for the person I trusted most (in quads) to come get me. In life, we simply wait on the one who knows us the most and will come to our rescue.
DAY FOUR: I learned about new! In the dunes when the wind comes, it wipes away the tracks. Not only can you not find your own, but you can't see any at all. The greek word Pneuma translated means wind, breath, or spirit. I was talking to Pastor Duane about how the Holy Spirit will come like a wind to erase the tracks in our life, and make us new. The thing is, we have to move past the third day to experience the fourth.
DAY FIVE: Is the day we go home. The great thing about vacations is time and new experiences with family. The best thing about vacations is going home. The best thing about this life is that one day we get to go home. Think about Peter who was walking on water and everything was going well, until he took his eyes off the one he was following. In life we can take our eyes off the prize and forget the day is coming when we get to go home. Keep your eyes on him.
Which day are you in? The newness of faith? Are you stuck? Hurt? Are you waiting for rescue, or wanting to get back out there and make new tracks?
See you this weekend. We are finishing the series with a talk about what it means to reconcile; how it happens, and what we can expect when it doesn't.
I want to start by saying thank you for being the church that you are. Your lives and faith have been instrumental in touching the lives of so many around the world simply because you believe the gospel message, and you believe that Jesus really did come to transform not just to inform people.
As a pastor my first calling and commitment has been to the local church, specifically Living Hope. In that, we have always been committed to walk through the doors Only God has opened. About two years ago, as some of you know, we began to explore a vision of airing on TBN locally once a month. We began to see immediate fruit and have been waiting to see what Only God would do with it. We are so excited to announce that our messages are now nationally syndicated and can be seen in nearly 48 million homes across the country. This could not have happened without the generous donations of the people that believe in the message beyond our walls.
The information about different TV programs and channels is listed below. Our team would love to encourage you to share our message with friends and family across the country. The east coast time is pretty early here (3:30am) so as for me and my house, we will set our TIVO (because even Jesus wouldn’t get up that early!).
As we humbly and prayerfully continue to allow this ministry to reach beyond just our walls, we want to stay in the center of God’s will and give Him all the glory and thanks.
Your prayers, friendship and support matter more than you will ever know.
Have an Only God blessed day,
John and Michelle
P.S. I wanted to share with you some touching testimonies of how God’s message is being used to reach and change lives across our country…Thank YOU for being the kind of church that lives God’s love and gets what we are doing...
Patty was so touched by John's message and the story shared. This was the first time she had seen the program. She just happened to wake up and it was on. She wanted prayer for her husband who left her and turned away from God. She wanted to pray for him to come back to Jesus and for reconciliation and restoration for them as husband and wife. She also wanted prayer that they would be able to move and get a brand new start (mentioned would love to move to Washington and attend Living Hope). Patty said she loved what she saw of John. She said he was fresh and new and had a humble spirit that she really liked. She wants to continue to watch him on TV (GMC-Massachusetts)
“My husband and I are having a lot of marital issues in our lives right now and it’s very scary. We have been together for 12 yrs and married almost 6yrs, and we have 4 wonderful children that we need to look out for. This is a very hard time for the both of us right now and we are trying to cope and deal with this situation that has come upon us to get through it as fast as we possibly can to have a stronger marriage and to have the happy family without the issues we are dealing with. I would just like to ask everyone to pray for us and give us the strength and support we need to get through this not just for each other but also our child. Thank You & God Bless” (TBN- Washington)
A man named Kevin called and left a message. He was overflowing with good things to say about Pastor John and the ministry. He said John’s message really touched his heart. He shared with me that he was in his fifth year of sobriety and was working at coming out of the gay lifestyle. He remarked that he would like to hear John speak about that issue, because John comes across as non-threatening. I shared with him about Living Hope hosting Ted and Gayle Haggard and invited him to church. He was so excited but unable to attend without a ride. The second time I spoke with him he was just as excited about coming to Living Hope saying he’s been searching for a good church home for a long time. He also said he wanted to get baptized! (TBN- Oregon)
Sunday morning I was blessed with a call on the John Bishop TV hotline. A man from Illinois named Rick “just so happened” to wake up early in the morning for no apparent reason. He couldn’t sleep due to a mind full of spiritual warfare. He sat down and turned on the television and as he started channel surfing he stopped on John Bishop TV. John was starting part two of the Boy Meets Girl series, and God immediately started working. Within ten minutes of the service starting, Rick had broken down. When I answered the call he was in tears as he started to explain his story to me. He’s been in a relationship with a wonderful girl and a miracle baby on the way. He lost his job, some other things went wrong and the spiritual warfare in the relationship started to get heated. She had just left him and he’s been struggling to see God's plan through it all. He had been trying hard to find hope but he felt like there was none left and no reason to go on. I talked to him for 30 or 40 minutes and than prayed with him. What an amazing blessing and encouragement to see God working so powerfully across the United States bringing hope and healing. (GMC- Illinois)
I am actually now on my way home from Prineville from our annual family reunion/vacation.
Excited about our new series and am pumped as our campus pastors kick it off with their "family" stories.
The fact of the matter is, families matter. When the family breaks down, all of society breaks down. Every year we have intentional focus during our summers on family issues.
This series will, I believe, bring encouragement, needed conviction, and definitely wisdom from God as we turn away from what culture does and says to what God has said. The one thing I want to say is that in families it is always too soon to give up.
Galations 6 says “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. “
Thanks to all the pastors who help lead our church and campuses for sharing this weekend, and for allowing God to work through your lives. What you do matters. Who you are matters. I’m so glad to be able to serve with you.
Campus pastors will rock the house at Living Hope this weekend!
1. Great ending to a really great series. Over 100 people baptized at all campuses today. Awesome memories.
2. I love that we were able to have July 4th off so our staff and volunteers could spend time with families.
3. I’ll never forget Beula, officially the oldest woman baptized at Living Hope Church, who will be 97 years old next month. After making the huge effort to climb into the pool, she said to me “I have to publicly declare my faith in Jesus”. To see her then help baptize her daughter and granddaughter was simply priceless.
I was thinking about how she has limited eyesight, and yet could see more than most of us. She could see Jesus and what He wanted for our lives.
4. Every time we do baptisms and I see an entire family baptized like today, a husband and wife, 2 kids & a grandma, it reminds me of the book of Acts where it says whole families were being saved.
5. I love seeing different campus pastors baptizing people from their campuses who I have never even met. To see them so loved by the people they have served blesses my heart.
6. The tireless volunteers who always make what God does so worth it. Photographers, choir, bbq team, worship team, ushers & greeters, setup team, baptism team. Awesome.
7. I met a guy (a 6’8" rugby coach), who has not been in church for 29 years. He loved Living Hope, the authentic people, the feeling of acceptance, and the down to earth message. (Although he said I looked like Jack Black… not sure how to take that)
8. We now actually have ONLY GOD beach towels. Who would have known that so many people in Vancouver would want huge bright beach towels?
9. The vast majority of the people baptized today were saved today. I love the verse in Luke that says “heaven rejoices when one person repents”. To see our church rejoicing each time someone is baptized is just incredible. Have I ever said “I love this church”?
10. My daughter Hannah made a commitment to Christ in October of last year. Last night she told me she wanted to be baptized. The priceless memory of being a daddy knowing all three of his kids know Jesus is a blessing beyond words. She was the last person of the day to be baptized, and it was so cool that Michelle, Katie, David, and myself all got in the pool and together baptized our baby of the family.
I want to blog more about the things Hannah said and need to talk to her first. But it was incredible insight from the heart of a 14 year old girl…
I’m excited about the new series “All in the Family” starting next weekend. There is always a lot to say and learn about families. It will be a great series.
More updates later this week.
See you John and Michelle
P.S. I wanted to share with you the stories we saw this weekend, and the reason we do what we do. Check it out...
