But culture-changing tides are not just restricted to clothing or hairstyles – the value system of our culture is constantly evolving as well.  The things culture once valued are no longer valued, and the things culture once distained are now praised.

“Going green” is just one example that I can think of.  I’m in favor of being a good steward of the environment – I believe it is a great gift God has given us – but if you’ve studied culture for very long you’ll notice that the “green” movement is a relatively new cultural value.  100 years ago people were probably not nearly as passionate about protecting the environment as they are now, but they probably had a cause in their cultural value system that they felt equally as strong about.  And I can guarantee you that in another 100 years there will be some other value that culture will esteem that isn’t even on today’s radar.

As followers of Jesus we don’t serve a God whose message changes with the shifting of the cultural winds.  Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  But our never-changing Savior tells us to go into an ever-changing world and tell all cultures, all nations, all tribes, and all peoples about Him (Matthew 28:18-20).  In other words Jesus is telling us that regardless of the makeup and look of a particular culture, the people operating within that culture are in need of Him.

Jesus gave us plenty of examples of this through the way that He did ministry.  He was ministering to Roman officials, religious leaders, prostitutes, farmers, tax collectors, fisherman, etc.  No matter what cultural values a person ascribed to, Jesus ministered to them where they were at and showed them their need for Him.  And regardless of what cultural values that person in your life ascribes to, you have the opportunity to show them their need for Jesus because the Good News of His death, burial, and resurrection that offers us eternal life is applicable to all people.

As Christ-followers we should seek to minister in a timely way.  We should study people’s culture in order to understand how best to speak God’s unchanging message of the cross of Jesus to them.  This idea that we are called to minister a timeless truth about an un-changing God into an ever-changing culture is the idea behind The Body Church’s study of Nehemiah 12:1-26 this past week.  If you’d like to learn more, check out Four Points of Timely Ministry here.

Today, I pray, that if we are to make an impact with our tongues on someone’s life for the decades to come it would be a living-giving & healing one, to the glory of God.

Trouble will come our way, the storm clouds will gather, but Jesus has overcome and through Him we will too!  Even though this probably won’t change the circumstances that right now are causing you trouble, it gives us a hope that the bad news won’t have the final word.  The overcomer will.  

I hope you are making plans to join us now for “Off-Limits: Racism”, and be sure to bring your questions.  See you next Tuesday night!  

Now I hate snakes – hate them.  I am afraid of them.  It almost borders on irrational fear.  So when I saw that snake it changed the way that I behaved.  For I while I wouldn’t mow that area of the yard, and when I began to mow again I wouldn’t do so without a shovel in my non-mowing hand.  I mowed very quickly when I did mow the side yard.  I had friends come out and try to find the snake to kill it.  And even though I only saw that snake once (I’m pretty sure it is gone by now), I still get a little nervous when I am over in that spot in my yard.   Fear of that snake has changed the way that I mow my yard.

Fear of the snake motivated my erratic lawn-mowing behavior.  Fear has a tendency to do that – we adapt the way we do things and interact with people because of what we fear.  And everyone fears something – maybe you, like me, fear snakes.  Maybe you have a fear of failing, or a fear of heights, or a fear of storms.  If you fear failing you might never take risks, of you fear heights you might never go up high, or if you fear storms you might allow the weather pattern to dictate your life. No matter what that fear may be, it has a tendency to affect the way we live life.

There’s another fear that many, if not all, of us struggle with – the fear of man.  We fear people.  We want people’s approval.  We want people to like us.  We don’t want to feel rejection by others.  We don’t want to upset others.  Fear of man – just like any other fear, it can affect the way we live and interact with others.  We can easily find ourselves making decisions based not on what we feel called to do, but on who we fear not impressing.

Is there a leap of faith that you know God is calling you to take, but you won’t take it because you are afraid of what others might say or think?  Maybe it’s a sinful behavior you know God is calling you out of, but you keep participating because you are afraid your friends would laugh or scoff at you.  Maybe it’s a tough conversation you know you need to have, but you value that person’s approval of you over helping them walk faithfully with the Lord as you help to point out a blind spot in their lives.

We all do it – skimp on the things we need to do because we fear the people that it might affect.  But what is the solution?  I understand from personal experience that fear of man can be both gripping and, at times, paralyzing.  How do we walk in obedience to the Lord instead of in fear of man?  The answer is fairly simple to understand but takes a lifetime to apply – we fear the Lord.  

In dealing with a situation where the people he was leading were fearing man, Nehemiah tells them in Nehemiah 4:14 “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”  I would echo the words of Nehemiah as I encourage both you and myself to not fear the created, but fear the Creator.  Remember how awesome He is who saved you, who created you, and who created the world in which you live!

Most of us, if not all of us, will struggle with fear of man until we see the Lord face-to-face.  But my prayer for both you and me is that in times that we are fearing man that we would “remember the Lord, who is great and awesome”.  In doing so our behavior will be motivated by a fear of the One who gave it all for us, not by those whom we are called to minister to and minister with.  

The whole pregnancy process has taught us a lot, however there is one lesson that I have learned recently.  I now understand that every plan I make is tentative, because at any moment my best plans could get interrupted with a phone call from my wife telling me she is in labor.  That would preempt every plan I had carefully put together, causing me to drop what I was doing and run to the hospital.  

That is a tough concept for me to wrap my head around because I can get my mind so fixated on what I am doing that even the most important interruptions must wait until I finish whatever “project” I have in front of me.  How terrible would that be, though, if Colleen went into labor and I had to finish my “task” before I could be with her?  

But I’ve noticed that this same fixation on my projects can also be a negative thing when it comes to everyday life.  We see in Matthew 28:18-20 that as Christians we are called to go and make disciples.  The tricky thing about this is that the disciple-making process can happen through planned events, or it could happen through “spontaneous” encounters that actually undo our planned events.

So many times I’ve neglected the opportunity to minister to people because I’ve had places to go and people to see.  Often my day and time are so strictly planned that I couldn’t even stop, have a conversation with, and minister to the neighbor who I ran into outside while getting the mail.  This is one area God is working on me – not making less plans, but being willing to lay my plans aside if God divinely brings an opportunity my way to minister.  

I’m not saying that plans are bad – quite the contrary, plans are good.  Plans keep us on track.  However, I am saying that we should be willing to lay down the best-intentioned plans and projects should the spontaneous opportunity arise to minister in Jesus name.  This is a lesson that hopefully will continue to mold me not just during the next week as our baby girl arrives, but over the course of my lifetime as I seek to make Jesus famous.

One of the crazy things I’ve noticed while spending time at one of my favorite places is that whenever I step foot close to the surf it’ll make a footprint in the sand, however that footprint eventually disappears after about a minute.  Why?  Because the waves continue to come in, wave after wave, and wash away that footstep.  What was there, an ugly irregularity (my footprint) alongside what would be a pristine smooth coast, is washed away by the consistent rhythm waves coming up on the beach.

Often times I feel the same way about the sin in my life as I do my footprint in the sand, that it is a glaring, ugly irregularity on what would be a pristine coastline.  The problem in my life is that there is just so much of it – my life doesn’t look like I took one step on the beach, but that I went break-dancing on the coast.  If I look close, footprints seem to be everywhere!  And often times, if I look at the coastline of my life, I easily can focus on the ugly footsteps on what would be a beautifully smooth coast.

There is something else I can focus on, though.  I can focus on the waves.  If my sin is like footsteps in the sand, then God’s grace must be the waves.  In Christ I know that I am forgiven – but I often forget just how incredible His grace truly is.  I was reminded of the awesomeness of His grace while reading John 1:16, which says, “And from his [Jesus] fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”  It would be so easy to skip over that verse, but, as a Christ-follower who constantly finds himself falling short, I find this verse is very encouraging.

Notice the last part of that verse – grace upon grace – meaning that the grace of Jesus Christ continues to flow into my life just like waves continue to flow onto the shore… just one right after the other.  They continue to cover up and wash away the mess that I am constantly making.  What an encouraging picture of forgiveness and undeserved blessings that are constantly flowing from Jesus into my life.

What does this mean practically?  Even though there is sin that you feel like still holds you captive, in Christ that sin is washed away.  His grace came right up over your mess and washed it away.  That time you lost your temper again – His grace covers that.  That time you lusted again – His grace covers that.  That time you worshiped yourself, your stuff, or your money again – His grace covers that.  No matter how much of a mess you’ve made in your life, if you are in Christ then His grace continues to flow into your life and up over the mess you’ve made.

So next time you feel yourself wrestling with sin, wondering if the Lord could still love you after all that you’ve done and continue to struggle with, remember that picture of the footprints in the sand that the waves cleaned up and washed away… and remember the constant flow of grace of Jesus Christ into your life that washes away your mess.  

Even though I’ve been doing it for over 10 years I still love to drive.  But, like most drivers today, I find myself engaging in behaviors behind the wheel that are not actually driving related.  Seldom do I spend an entire car ride without talking on the phone.  If I’m not on the phone, I’m flipping through the radio stations.  If I’m not changing the radio stations I’m checking the navigation to make sure I don’t get lost.  While none of these behaviors are bad if done in a safe way that doesn’t distract from the actual task of driving, they do take away from the joy of doing the task I love so much: driving.

What this demonstrates is that what I believe to be of first importance to me, which is driving, often gets clouded when I actually engage in the task.  Other things clamor for my attention, to the point that driving just becomes a task to be accomplished, or a means to an end, instead of a joy to engage in.  And to be honest, this is often the case with my walk with Christ as well.

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Paul reminds us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then, he says this in verses 3-4, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”.  What Paul is saying here is that Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection is of “first importance”.  And even though the Gospel is of first importance in my life, I often act and operate as if it’s not.

It’s so easy to engage in ministry and forget the Savior who propels you to minister.  It seems almost second nature to embark in spreading the Gospel but forget what is of first importance to our lives: the Gospel.  I so quickly forget that apart from Christ I was just a Hell-bound sinner in need of rescue.  For me, this plays out in sharing the beauty of Christ with others but failing to meditate on it for myself.  I will study the Word for sermon prep but not for the spiritual food I so desperately need.  The Gospel, which is and should be of first importance to me, often gets clouded when I engage in the work of sharing it.

My prayer for myself, and for all of you reading this, is that we would not neglect serving the Lord, but would get a clear view of that which is of first importance – that Jesus Christ first served us first through His death on the cross.  I am forgiven because He demonstrated His love by dying in my place!  Once that is clearly in view, let us be go and engage in the ministry that changes the world in Jesus’ name.

I believe that God still can save a multitude just like He did in Acts 2.

I believe that we as the church are called to walk in radical faith, the type of faith that turned the world upside down.

I believe that God has given us His Spirit to do amazing God-glorifying things, the type of things we will tell our grandchildren about.

I am believing God for the seemingly impossible.

That is why I am so excited about The Body Church’s upcoming Vision Night.  I really do believe that Jesus wants to use His bride, the local church, to reach a multitude and grow them up in Him.  And I believe that Jesus is calling The Body Church to walk in a radical faith that declares that we serve a God who makes the impossible a reality.

And so this Sunday, at 7:00, I am going to cast the vision for what we believe that God is calling The Body Church to do so that He may accomplish the impossible for His glory and our joy.  I literally cannot wait to gather together for this evening of vision casting, and I hope you are making plans to join us!

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Many of us have the same story. We have a heart that longs to spend time with our fathers. There is just something special in the DNA of the relationship between a father and his children. We look at our fathers differently than we do any other relationship. We look to our fathers for someone who will guide us, lead us, listen to us, care for us, protect us, and help us up when we fall down.

God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, could have invited us to relate to Him in many different ways. However, He invites us through Jesus Christ to relate to Him as our Heavenly Father. This past week I preached on Galatians 4:1-7 and in that passage we see Paul telling us that, if we are Christ-followers, we can cry out to God as, “Abba, Father.” Let that sink in for a second…God Almighty invites you to call Him Dad.

That means that God wants you to come to Him for guidance, for leadership, for protection, and for help when we fall down. In the same way a child will talk endlessly to dad about their day, God the Father wants you to come to Him and tell Him about your day. In the same way a child has no fear in asking dad for big things, God the Father wants you to come to Him in prayer and pray big prayers. God literally invites you to run to Him as you would your earthly father.

For those who had great dads this idea of “God as Father” brings joy to our hearts, but others have trouble imagining God as a good father because our earthly fathers let us down. I would encourage you to press into scripture, where we see Jesus tell us in Matthew 5:48 that our Heavenly Father is perfect. No matter how great an earthly father he might be, every dad is imperfect. But that perfect father that your heart longs for is fulfilled completely in who God is. You can run to Him, trust Him, tell Him everything, and rely on Him to help you up because He really is perfect.

I don’t know where you find yourself today. Maybe you are in the middle of a great season of life…thank your Father for blessing you. Maybe you have fallen and you need to be picked up…cry out to your Father who loves you. Maybe you feel lonely and need the comfort of your Father…know He is there. No matter where you may find yourself today I am praying that the reality that God is our Heavenly Father would free us up to run to Him in the midst of all of life’s circumstances.

Is masturbation within marriage Biblical?

Why is porn so addicting?

Should a Christian marry a non-Christian?

These are some of the questions that we got at last week’s Off-Limits.  When we started planning for the Tuesday night interactive teaching that we are calling Off-Limits we had a vision to teach on topics that many consider too taboo to talk about in church.  One of those topics is sex.

For so long the culture has continued to define and redefine how people should view sex, while the Christian community has, for the most part, either remained silent or only told a part of the story.  Last week we taught about how God did in fact create sex, and He created it very good.  We saw this truth in the Song of Solomon, where there are plenty of references to the married couple in that book enjoying sex with one another.

However, we also talked about how sex is not God.  To properly understand sex, we must understand that God created it to be enjoyed, but He knows how best to steward and enjoy it.  When we worship sex as god, we will do whatever we think is necessary to get us closer to our god, which leads to all different types of sexual experiences that will ultimately hurt us because God never intended for it to be expressed in those ways.

And then came the question & answer time.  People were able to text in their questions and we answered as many as we had time to answer.  This was such a fun part of Off-Limits because the group directed where the discussion went.  Our hope was that everyone would understand that they can ask questions that they’ve always wanted to ask but were afraid to because they thought they were “off-limits”.  People got the memo – we got some great questions!

We will be continuing Off-Limits tonight at the Young Life office at 658 Colonial Road in Memphis (38117).  We will be starting at 7:27 and I hope you can make it.  Be sure to bring your friends and your questions as we continue to discuss the subject of sex.  Hope to see you tonight!

Sex.  The 2012 world we live in today is giving us a constant stream of ideas and thoughts that instruct us on how we should think, feel, and act as it pertains to sex.  To say that our culture has a couple of opinions about the topic of sex would be an understatement.  It seems that everywhere you turn you can get heavy dose of views about sex.

However, there is one place that seems to, at least traditionally, be mum on the subject of sex.  That place would be the church.  While the world is sharing their opinions the church has often times become quiet on the subject.  It also seems that when the religious community does speak up, it is only to condemn the idea of sex.  So when the church joins in conversation about sex it is only to scream “don’t don’t don’t”.  Today, sex is Off-Limits in the church.

But is sex Off-Limits in the Bible?  Does the Bible even say anything about sex?  Some people would say that the Bible does speak about sex, but does it have anything positive to say?  God created our bodies, but is He surprised that they operate this way?  Is sex strictly a bad thing, or is it an amazing gift from God that sinful humans can manipulated and twisted in a destructive way?

The Body Church, in conjunction with Young Life, is excited to start a new Tuesday night teaching event called Off-Limits.  During this time we will answer these questions, and many more, about sex.  After we finish up the topic of sex, we will also address many other topics that are considered “off-limits” in the church but seem incredibly pertinent in our culture today.  Some of these topics might include alcohol, drug usage, money, racism, dating, etc.

We will start at 7:27 at the Young Life office at 658 Colonial Rd in Memphis.  Come prepared to listen to some teaching and to ask some questions afterwards via text message for our Q&A time.  Our first Off-Limits event will take place this Tuesday, June 12 at 7:27.  We look forward to seeing you there!

www.facebook.com/OffLimitsMemphis

And as we dug into our text this past Sunday we saw an example of Paul having to call a fellow Apostle back to the true Gospel.  Galatians 2:11 says, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.”  Paul looked at Peter’s life, saw that there were actions he was taking that didn’t match up with what his mouth was proclaiming, and confronted him on it.  He compared the actions of his life with the truth of God’s Word and saw that something was amiss, and spoke to him face-to-face.

Truth is, we are all very good at spotting “hypocrisy” in others lives.  The more familiar with God’s Word we become, the easier it is for us to see the mismatches in people’s lives.  So before we ever approach and brother or sister in Christ we must remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:4-5:

“4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

So before we ever approach someone about something in their lives, first let us examine our own lives to see if we have areas that we need to repent of.  Then, as Jesus says, we can see clearly to remove the speck from our brother’s eye.

So after this, how do we address this area of conflict?  Look back at verse 11 of Galatians 2.  It says Paul went to him face-to-face.  Paul didn’t take the approach that many of us take.  He didn’t avoid the issue, gossip about Peter, continue to berate Peter long after Peter repented, or get angry with Peter without any hint of love.

No, Paul saw the issue that needed to be addressed and addressed it.  God used Paul to bring Peter to repentance.  God often uses others in our lives to bring us closer to him through pointing out areas we need to repent of, because they can see our blind spots – the areas of our life that we are prone to drift in that we can’t see for ourselves.

So there will be times that we will have to be Paul and address the shortfalls in our friends’ lives – let us do it in humility and love, face-to-face.  And there will be times we will find ourselves in Peter’s position, having our shortfalls addressed in love, face-to-face – let us receive these as corrections from a friend that can be trusted.  I pray that in both these circumstances we would allow the Holy Spirit to work on our hearts and grow us closer to Jesus as He makes us more like Jesus.

*You can watch the full message here*

Ever been there?  Maybe for you it was graduation – you graduated high school and moved to a college where you didn’t know anyone.  Maybe it was that new job, leaving behind all the old co-workers and tasks you had become so comfortable with.  Maybe it was the transition from single life to married life.  Change – it’s going to happen, and often times more frequently than we count on.

I find that God is constantly calling me out of the familiar and into the unfamiliar, out of the comfortable and into the uncomfortable.  You’ve probably noticed God doing this in your own life.  Situations in life and seasons of life are guaranteed to change, so how do you and I find comfort in all the uncomfortable times of change as we walk into the unknown?

Two things that bring me comfort in the times of transition.  First, I serve a God who never changes.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  My situation may change, my finances may change, my family makeup may change, friends will come and go, but my Lord and my Savior stays the same.  He never changes.  He is the unchanging rock in the midst of all my changing situations.

The second is that He is always with me.  Matthew 28:20 says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Even when things seem to crumble around me, He is there.  He promises to never leave.  What is even more incredible is that in those times of discomfort, hurt, and change He makes His presence even more known to us.  We see Him in the difficult times in ways we could never seem Him while we operated in our comfort zone.

So maybe you find yourself in a season of change.  Maybe you don’t, but you eventually will.  Remember, Jesus never changes and He is always with us.  In fact, I would encourage you to not waste your time of transition.  If you look you might just see Jesus clearer than ever before.

-Jason

1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful” and I believe our church is an excellent example of His faithfulness. I could tell story after story about how God displayed His faithfulness to our church when there was no ordinary way to make something possible.

I remember months before our first service last May sitting in a room with our core team as we discussed the fact that we had no place to meet and no worship leaders. God was faithful and brought us two incredible worship leaders and gave us a great location to meet in.

I remember giving away thousands of gallons of free gas. I remember how we didn’t know where the money was going to come from, but we felt called to do it. I remember how a week before we still didn’t know where all the money was going to come from, but God took care of us. He provided in an incredible way and people were blessed in the name of Jesus.

I remember moving to the Paradiso and how big of a financial jump it was for us to make that move. Once again, we didn’t know where the money was going to come from, but God did. He provided a way, and months later God is still providing and He is still making a way for us to continue to worship Him at the Paradiso.

And most importantly, the very reason we do church, is to see God change lives. I remember the story of our first salvation in the church, and in that seeing that God truly does draw people to Himself through the preaching of His Gospel. I remember the baptisms, seeing people go public and confess Jesus as Lord. I look at all the members and regular attenders who have given and continue to give of themselves to make The Body Church a reality and I see God’s faithfulness in them. I see God faithfully maturing the Christ-followers in our church. God’s faithfulness is all over the lives of the people of The Body Church.

And I could go on and on. Truth is, I am so thankful for all God has done, but I know that God isn’t done giving us things to be thankful for. I truly believe God is just getting started. I believe that there are many more people in need of Christ that will meet Him at The Body Church. I believe there are many hopeless situations that God wants to infuse hope into, and I believe that we as a church are going to get to see Him do that. I thank God for His past faithfulness, and I know He will continue to be faithful. I love my church and truly believe our best days are ahead of us!

-Jason

So, starting this Sunday (March 4) we will be meeting at 9:30 in theater 13 of the Paradiso.  As the Pastor of The Body Church, I am excited about this move for countless reasons, and I would like to share six with you today.

1. We are going to talk about Jesus.  Ever wonder what all the fuss is about surrounding Jesus Christ?  As a church, we will always (every week) talk about Him!  Through Him we have true life, through Him we have true forgiveness, through Him we have joy!  We want this for everyone that we know.  So we seek to tell others about Him so they can experience the life that He provides, and we are praying for that to happen every Sunday.
2. We are going to talk from the Bible.  Ever wonder about what God is truly like?  Well, God wrote us a book about Himself.  That’s incredible.  And because He wants to make Himself known to us through His book, we are going to teach and preach from it.  My prayer is that every time you come to The Body Church, including our first service at the Paradiso, you’d hear, “Open your Bibles…” and together we can see who God is and how He loves us.
3. We are going to worship the God of the universe.  Through Jesus we get to know God and we are going to worship Him this Sunday, as we do every Sunday!  And, this Sunday we are going to have much more stage space that will allow us to add elements to our musical worship (like drums) that we haven’t yet had.  In case you haven’t heard them, our worship band is out-of-this-world awesome!
4. We are going to form community. Wish you had a church community that you could engage with not only on Sunday, but also Monday through Saturday?  How about the type of community that will walk with you through the good times and the bad?  At the Paradiso this Sunday, that type of community will continue to take shape.  All too often believers isolate themselves, but we are praying that through our corporate worship experiences people would get connected and the church would truly function as the church.
5. We are going to watch The Dark Knight afterwards.  Just kidding, although this is one of the best movies ever and I will totally go watch it with you some other time.  I will definitely be watching it sometime before this summer, when the “epic conclusion” of the Dark Knight series concludes with what I am hoping will be the best movie ever: The Dark Knight Rises.  Anyone else watch that trailer at least 10 times yet?
6. We are praying that we would see life change.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active.”   We believe this is true, and believe that through its proclamation God changes lives.  We are praying that at the Paradiso this Sunday lives would be changed, people would find the hope that is in Christ and grow in Him to become faithful disciples.

So, in summary, we cannot be any more excited about moving to the Paradiso.  Hope to see you at 9:30 on Sunday!

But every so often a car does come along that does just that.  Such was the case a few days ago.  I got a phone call from a person who, to make a long story short, had probably a gallon of barbeque sauce spill all over the back of her car.  If that was not bad enough for this unfortunate soul, this person’s schedule did not allow for them to immediately clean up the mess, so it sat and spoiled for a couple of days.  After about five days, I got the call to try to clean it all out.

By the time I got the car, it stunk – I mean it stunk.  Despite the fact it was 45 degrees outside, I rode with windows down to help alleviate the foul smell.  Fortunately, after a couple of hours of work I was able to get the car cleaned up, but unfortunately the fragrance of barbeque still lingered.  Honestly, it lingered in my nostrils long after I finished the car, seeming to have been forever seared into my nasal cavity.  However, the owner was extremely grateful and I went home to take a shower.

On my way home I was thinking about the fact that if the owner wasn’t in a time crunch at the time of the spill and was able to clean it up immediately that the damage would have been minimal.  Sure, it would have possibly stained some carpet and stunk a little but it wouldn’t have compared to the nastiness that remained five days later.  Because the sauce sat, the smell kept getting worse and worse until it the odor would burn the nose hairs of anyone who found themselves in the same parking lot as the car.

As a Christ follower, God showed me that my experience with the barbeque sauce often mirrors the way I handle sin issues in my life.  Instead of immediately dealing with a sin issue when it crops up through repentance, I let it sit for a while.  As it sits it begins to get worse and worse, finally culminating in a set of circumstances that cause me to shake my head and wonder how I ever even got there.

However, just like immediate attention to the nasty mess in the car would have minimized the terrible stink, immediate repentance could have helped me to avoid so much of the hurt and anguish associated with unrepented sin.  In Acts 20:21 Paul defines this idea of repentance, saying, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”  Repenting is turning from sin and turning towards Jesus, not just confessing sin and continuing to walk in it.

The Bible is full of warnings about the danger of continuing to walk in unrepentant sin.  One Biblical example that comes to mind is that of King David.  In 2 Samuel 11-12 we see the story of David and Bathsheba.  David sees Bathsheba bathing and lusts after her, even though she is another man’s wife.  He doesn’t repent, but continues to walk in sin.  He summons her to the palace and sleeps with her.  She conceives a child, his child.  Instead of repenting, he unsuccessfully tries to cover it up.  When the husband of Bathsheba does not aid in his cover up, David doesn’t repent, but instead has him murdered.  What started as an opportunity to repent of lustful thoughts instead went unchecked and unrepented of, eventually resulting in adultery and murder.

We all understand that God is a gracious God, and for those of us that trust in Christ are sins are paid for on his cross.  David, when confronted by the prophet Nathan, did repent and God was gracious and forgave him.  You cannot ever sin beyond God’s grace in Christ, nor does sin cause a Christ-follower to fall out of God’s grace, however those truths don’t take away the fact that all sin has consequences and as sin increases so do the consequences.  After David’s sin with Bathsheba his life was never the same.  He still had to suffer great consequences even though his sin was forgiven.

David serves as a great reminder for the Christ-follower of the necessity to readily and hastily repent of sin while we walk with Christ.  So what about you?  Is there any sin in your life that you are sweeping under the rug?  Is there any sin in your life, despite the constant reminder that it is there, that you are ignoring?  Maybe it’s in an area of sexual purity, or unforgiveness.  Maybe it’s in giving and generosity.  Or maybe it’s in an area of pride.  Whatever the sin issue is, the truth is that we usually are aware of the sin issue, we just need to repent and turn to Christ.

One last thought.  You cannot outsin the grace of Jesus Christ, so no matter how bad the sin may be, He is willing and ready to embrace you in repentance.  Remember Jesus’ words in John 6:37, where He says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”  No matter how nasty the smell of your sin might be right now, no matter how deep the stain of the sin may be, understand that Jesus will never drive you away when you run to Him.  So let us as Christ-followers continue to walk in repentance as Christ makes us more and more like Himself.

-Jason

For the past nine months, The Body Church has called The Great Hall and Conference Center home for our Sunday worship experience. To make a long story short, God provided in a miraculous way that allowed for us to even meet there at all. About six to eight weeks before we were even set to launch, we still didn’t have a place to meet; but God led us to The Great Hall, which has been the perfect place for our first nine months as a church.

However, we understood from day one that this setup was temporary (if you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about). So, from day one we have prayed that God would steer us away when it was time to move. Over the past couple of weeks God has begun to do just that. Through the opening of doors, the providing of resources, and the stirring of the hearts of the leadership we knew that it was time to move.

So after pursuing a couple of different options, God has swung the door wide open for us to move to the Paradiso, and we couldn’t be more excited! For those who haven’t been there, the Paradiso is the Malco movie theater located in East Memphis, behind the Clark Tower and Houston’s restaurant. So as of March 4, The Body Church will officially open a new chapter in the history of our church when we move the location of our Sunday worship experience 5.8 miles west.

As I preached about on Sunday, there are so many reasons we are excited about this move. We absolutely love the location! From a regional Memphis perspective it will be a more centrally located venue. We have people who have driven from Downtown Memphis and even Arkansas to come to church, so even at our early age we understand that we will be a regional church. Since this is the case, being centrally located is very exciting to us.

As we toured the Paradiso, Josh Newman, our worship leader, looked at me and said, “I never thought about how great a movie theater would be for acoustics.” In every way, including acoustics and worship, the actual theater will allow us to many exciting things. We can now expand our worship band and move towards the vision we have for our worship team. With use of the Paradiso’s party room, we also will have a dedicated childcare room for our Little Bodies during Sunday service.

Another thing the theater allows us to do is grow. We will begin meeting in a theater that holds approximately 90 people. When we outgrow that, we don’t have to move physical locations. We only have to move across the hall. We can move to a theater that holds 150. When we outgrow that, we can move across the hall again to a theater that holds 220. We can grow all the way up to 325 people (which is the capacity of the largest theater). Not having to move locations every time we experience a season of growth is another plus.

Finally, the overarching hope behind all of this is that in moving to the Paradiso more people will come and hear about Jesus and grow in Him. He is our passion, our Savior, our Lord, and the reason for our existence as a church. In moving we don’t just want to do the next “big” thing but we want to glorify Christ. That is the vision for our church and the vision for this move.

We are very excited here at The Body Church about this move. We hope to see you March 4!

-Jason

Welcome to The Body Church’s new website! We hope that our website and this blog will allow you to both grow in your relationship with Christ and better connect with our church. We also hope that you will come back often to see what’s happening at The Body. Thanks for taking the time to visit our new site and we hope to see you on Sunday morning!

-Pastor, Jason Ellis