Hello everyone!

I just wanted to update you that Ryan has official website.  All blog posts will now be put there, and look forward to a CD release coming sometime soon as well.  This blog site will no longer be used.

Hello all, sorry there haven't been any posts for a while.  There has been lots going on.  The one thing that I want to focus on is a quick post from Scripture on how we are to cope with the loss of a pastor.

Sometimes, we tend to get comfortable in following a human leader, whoever that leader might be.  We place high trust in that leader and then one day, that leader might not be there anymore.  Maybe we expected it, maybe we had no clue.  But how do we respond?  By keeping our focus on Jesus Christ.

The Corinthian church was dealing with a similar situation.  The church had just been officially formed after the day of Pentecost, and the big names were teaching.  Paul, Peter and Apollos were all major teachers and were teaching great things.  But in the midst of their teaching, the Corinthian church started placing their trust in the men, rather than in the Man they were teaching about.  Divisions began happening and Paul felt it necessary to encourage and challenge the church to unity.

"Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgement.  For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.  Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos" and "I of Cephas (Peter)," and "I of Christ."  Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Corinthians 1:10-13

In this difficult time of a loss of a pastor, we need to be careful that we do not fall into this trap that Paul is talking about.  We need to make sure that our foundation and trust is in Jesus Christ and His Word.  As Paul goes on to say later in chapter 3:

"For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?  What then is Apollos?  And what is Paul?  Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave oppurtunity to every one.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth....For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's buliding.  According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.  But each man must be careful how he builds on it.  For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:4-7; 9-11.

As we go through a time of transition, let us remember that our foundation is always Jesus Christ.

Well...here we go!

Now Microsoft has made it easier for all of the people who are non-geeks to subscribe to blogs just like this one.

If you've just downloaded IE 7 and are freaking out that it looks weird, I want to point you to a very nifty little button on the right hand side under the google search bar.  It is the RSS feed button.

It it's orange, like it is right now, that means you can use it to subscribe to this page.  You don't even need any extra software!  Then, all you have to do is click on the 'favorites' star on the left side of the page and then go to feeds, and you'll see that this pages feed is right there.  I'm guessing that it will more than likely show you if you have an updated feed.

Now, all you have to do is open your internet explorer, and these posts will come directly to you.  Enjoy!

Christmas is the absolute best time to talk about humility.

God, the Creator of the entire universe; the one who hung the stars; the one who created man and woman, came up with a plan to redeem that man and woman who He had created, along with the rest of us.

His plan could have just been to snap His fingers and make everything right again.  His plan could have been to say, "I gave you all a first chance, but since you failed, too bad."

Amazingly, God's plan was so radically different than anything we could have ever come up with.  God, Creator of the universe, decided to leave His majesty and come to us, to save us!

Not only did He come to us, He came as a humble baby, and that humility continued throughout His whole life! Why then, do we sit in our pretty churches, in all our majesty, and hope that people will come to us?  Why then, do we think we're better than everyone else?  Check it out...

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:5-8

Jesus, God Himself, left His home to come to us as a humble servant.  We are called, just as He did, to leave our comfort and go to the people who truly need Jesus.

Let's worship Him by bringing Him to the world, not waiting for them to come!

You may have noticed that we're singing a few new Christmas songs this season.  While the traditional Christmas carols are great and tell great truths about Christmas, sometimes we get bombarded with them from every direction.

And while contemporary music is great, sometimes it fails to tell great truths about God like the hymns do.  The new CD, Savior, from Sovereign Grace Music, is a fantastic resource of  new Christmas music that tells the classic story with timeless truth about Jesus.

The opening song, "Christ the Lord is Born Today" is a fantastic call to worship the newborn King.  It communicates what Christ has done while still keeping the joyous sound of Christmas.

The next track, "Hope Has Come," is another awesome call to worship declaring that God has "come to rescue sinners," and "come to meet our desperate need."  The song declares that "we once were slaves in misery, til You appeared and set us free."

Throughout the entire CD, the sound of Christmas is not lost amidst the contemporary rock/pop style, the truths of Christmas are not lost amidst keeping the lyrics real and worshipful, and the story of Christianity is not lost amidst singing about the events of Christmas.

One song that particluarly hits home is the sweet lullaby, "Sleep, Jesus, Sleep."  In the song, the mystery of the event where God became a baby on this earth is explored.  The lyrics declare, "You who reigns forevermore, Ruling as the Lord of lords.  You who never had a need must sleep."  The song also contains the amazingly worshipful line, "One day, You'll deliver me."

I highly recommend this CD, especially if you need a fresh sound for the season of Christmas that does not lose the amazing truths of what Christmas is.

Yesterday we started an Advent series called "A Way In The Manger."  The idea is that where it seemed like there was no way, God provided a way for everything the night He sent Jesus into the world to be born as a man in Bethlehem.

Songs:
The River is Here (Park)
Immanuel (From the Squalor) (Townend)
Rejoice (Altrogge)
O Come, O Come Emmanuel (arr. Don Chapman)
Your Name (Baloche/Brown)

While there were a few things throughout the morning that were quite discouraging, one positive thing really stood out at me, and let me see that God is indeed working in people's lives.

There was a man in our congregation who I knew was going through a rough situation, but after the closing comments from our Vicar, he just remained standing where he was and continued to sing the last choruses of "Your Name" with the worship team.  It touched my heart to see someone in the midst of struggle not care what people think and just worship.

I wonder sometimes why we are afraid to worship in this way.  I wonder why there are not more people who will joyfully stand up and give praise when they feel led.  I wonder why there are not more people who pour out their hearts while worshipping God.  Often, I wonder where our passion for Jesus is.

My heart is that our church will become ingnited; that we will become so passionate about our Savior that we can't help but worship Him; that we can't help but spread the news of how He changes our lives.

There is no way that we can hope to offer our lives back to God without His power, but He has called us to do it.  Sometimes it seems so hard, but we have the perfect model: Jesus Christ, who offered His very life, once, for all of us.

Sometimes it is hard to get Scripture to come alive, but after you watch this, you will never see these two chapters of Hebrews the same again.

Ryan Ferguson has memorized the entire book of Hebrews, but just shared these two chapters at a recent worship conference.  Thanks to Bob Kauflin from Worship Matters for posting this.  How incredibly inspiring is the Word of God!