Get Closer to Jesus

Written by Pastor Ben McCary

So often, faith seems like a given. Sometimes we have it, sometimes we want more of it, but we rarely consider what it is and why we should try to help it grow. The question may have never crossed your mind, but if you can answer it – "why should I grow my faith?" – you'll have the perfect answer to the other question..."how do you grow your faith?".

For me, the answer to all of these questions started when I think about who I am as a person. I've been undergoing so many changes in the last 2 years that I feel like my head is spinning, even now. I'm learning I'm not as cool as I thought I was, but also that being cool isn't really that important to me. I'm learning that being a father is the most important thing in the world to me. I'm also learning that faith in Jesus is always a miracle.

Here's what I mean: so often, we want our faith to grow. We think of it like a monetary amount, something to stock pile so that we're ready in times of trouble. But that's not how faith works. Faith is a part of a relationship.

In John 7, Jesus says “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” That means that whoever takes the step to walk with God will see whether Jesus' words are true. It's in a relationship that faith begins to unveil.

 As a youth pastor, I get to watch students start to take that step into a relationship with Jesus, and as they do, the small seed of faith is planted. Over time that seed grows. It blossoms. Now, I'm seeing students that used to be in my middle school class becoming adults, youth leaders in our church, and even youth pastors. What started out as a small miracle became a big one.

And it's not the sort of miracle that anyone can atribute to their effort. Anyone who has a strong faith is quick to step back and say, “Jesus did this in me.” It is a miracle that our faith grows when we take the step to form a relationship with God. It happens because we see that God is good and faithful. We see that God loves us no matter who we are or what we've done. As we take steps to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, our faith grows.

So often, we want to know how to grow our faith: To grow your faith, get closer to Jesus. That's the thing that revolutionizes your family, your community and your world.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dGMENMKMvA

How to be ready for anything

Written by Chelsea Zappone When Pastor Tim first asked me to write the blog post this week, I was a little thrown off. I am not a writer, I often struggle over finding my words, and more often than not I have at least one pesky typo hiding in my final drafts. But under that hesitance I found that I was also excited. I have really been enjoying the “5 things…” sermon series. I have been challenged and forced to reevaluate my spiritual health.

It is so easy to fall into bad habits and keep putting off addressing saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow. Surely I’ll have more time then.” However, I find myself never finding that time unless I purposefully set it aside.

That is why I am so thankful that God doesn’t wait for us to get our act straight. He works through the circumstances in our lives. The surprising opportunities, the scary uncertainties, the tough times, even the mundane routines. He is not limited by us.

The times I have found myself most open to God’s guidance is when I am in the valleys, when there is crisis, when I am no longer in control. I turn to him because I know he loves unconditionally, his is omnipresent and omnipotent. No one and nothing can make your problems seem smaller than God can.

Crisis can be like a fire in our life, it can burn away the impurities that have slowly snuck into our daily routines. Pastor Tim has often quoted, “there are no atheist in the foxhole.” A foxholes can take the form of hospital rooms, depths of depression, isolation and loneliness, desperate hopelessness. We all have a time when there is nothing else we can do but turn to God.

God doesn’t bring us suffering but he is right beside us when we are going through it. I love the advice James, Jesus’ brother, gives us in James 1:2-4: “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance's fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

Troubles seem to be a constant presence in our lives either they’re our own, a friend’s, or a stranger’s across the world. God knows our suffering; it is part of living in a broken world. But he gives us a unique opportunity to not give up or even to just endure through it, but to find joy! To grow! To become ready for ANYTHING! That to me is amazing!

When we suffer, we can strengthen our relationship with God, we can encourage others in building community, we can be God’s light in the world. Like I said before, no one and nothing can make your problems smaller than God can. So instead of stressing and worrying, because we know neither of those will do any good (Matthew 6:28-34), turn to God. Find joy. Find the opportunity to grow.

The best is yet to be if God has his way!

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College Spring Break

Written by Pastor Rey Diaz About fifteen years ago, I was challenged to do something I had never done before. I was about to embark on my first college spring break, so it wasn’t the best time to begin this practice. Actually, maybe it was the best time to begin this practice. Either way, someone challenged me to wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual and spend time with God. As a freshman in college, that meant waking up at noon instead of 12:30 for my first class at 1pm. Basically it wasn’t a huge sacrifice. So I did it.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if God even wanted to talk with me. I didn’t know what to read in the bible.

The first day I didn’t want to look at my watch. But after what I felt at least 30 minutes had gone by, I checked and I still had 25 minutes to go. This wasn’t working.

I was given a bible reading plan, some verses to memorize, and journal to write down my prayers.

That was the beginning for me. Something changed. It didn’t happen over that spring break or even the first month. But something started that first week. It wet my appetite. It made me hungry for more. I started wanting more and more of God. I had to use an alarm to stop it.

Fifteen years later it’s part of who I am. My identity was established, secured in that devotional time. My fears and worries are addressed during that time. My character and integrity have been shaped in those mornings. Most importantly, my faith and confidence in God began to grow.

Today, I can’t imagine not connecting with God on a daily basis. Like the songs says, “This is the air I breath…this is my daily bread… I’m lost without you.”

Will you join us these next 30 days? Maybe you’ve never tried it. Maybe you used to do it but for some reason or another you quit. Either way, let’s give God the first few minutes of our days and watch what happens.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDcKZB7r2A

Serendipity or God Occurrences

Written by Fiona Monaghan One of my favorite movies is “Serendipity” starring John Cuzak and Kate Beckinsale.

“Jonathan Trager and Sara Thomas met while shopping for gloves in New York. Though buying for their respective lovers, the magic was right and a night of Christmas shopping turned into romance. Jon wanted to explore things further but Sara wasn't sure their love was meant to be. They decided to test fate by splitting up and seeing if destiny brought them back together... Many years later, having lost each other that night, both are engaged to be married. Still, neither can shake the need to give fate one last chance to reunite them. Jon enlists the help of his best man to track down the girl he can't forget starting at the store where they met... Near-misses and classic Shakespearean confusion bring the two close to meeting a number of times but fate will have the final word on whether it was meant to be.” (From imdb)

We love stories where “against all odds” love wins out, right? What if we have the greatest Script Writer in the universe working in our lives to bring about those changes and life altering meetings?

Providential Relationships have a way of entering our lives and making way for some change in one way or another. People and circumstances being God-led, happen, seemingly random and sometimes not, but a change is set in motion that will change the course of a life.

We see it all the time in the stories of the Bible where people have a life changing encounter. Some are love stories and others are the means to put someone on a completely different life path: Ruth and Boaz, David and Bathsheba, Saul and Stephen just to name a few.

For believers we have the idea that when we allow God to direct our circumstances there is no such thing as coincidence. Oswald Chambers wrote:

“The things that happen do not happen by chance, they happen entirely in the decree of God. God is working out His purposes.”

Psalms 40:5 says: Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

So, isn’t it awesome to know that God, your own personal author, takes great care in how your life story will turn out? Give it a try. Turn it over to Him to write your story from this point on, allowing for those providential relationships that can change your life direction.

He has guaranteed that we will be in for a thrill and no matter the hair- raising encounters and jaw-dropping occurrences, we will arrive at the end of our lives with such a story to tell.

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God's M.O.

Written by Pastor Rey At the beginning of any book you read. During the acceptance speech of any award you hear it. Throughout the stories of the Old and New Testament you will see it. You will always find people thanking people. We are all aware that without the help, support, and influence of others, we probably couldn’t accomplish what we have done or become what we are today.

We don’t necessarily call them providential relationships, but that is what they are. I’m pretty confident that if we sat down over lunch, you could look back at the course of your life and identify some individuals who, in retrospect, you believe God put in your life. It wasn’t an accidental meeting it was scheduled. It wasn’t a coincidence you moved next door. It wasn’t a happenstance you sat next to each other. Something else was at work. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you know it was God’s hand.

God is very much interested in growing our faith. He uses all sorts of different ways to do just that, but for some reason God especially enjoys using people. It’s God modus operandii, his method of operation. God loves to use flawed, broken, and imperfect people. Check out the list in Hebrew 11 many call the “Hall of Faith”. It includes a murderer, adulterer, prostitute, liar, and a really bad dad. But these people have been used, in a very real way, to grow our faith and countless others.

I promise you that at this very moment, your heavenly Father is sending people into your life in an attempt to grow your faith. How open are you to God’s plan?

I also know that God has sent some of you to help grow the faith of others. How open are you to investing in these relationships?

One way of another God uses relationships to impact and grow our faith. I believe we can take advantage of this principle to work with God. By allowing God to use people in our lives, we can grow our faith. Bigger faith leads to more confidence in God. Bigger faith leads you to a place where you can’t trust God no matter what is happening around you. Bigger faith leads to deep intimacy with your Heavenly Father.

So how will you leverage this principle to grow your faith?

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God uses relationships to grow our faith in him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=172cyKd4Pfw

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How to pray and be still

Written by Fiona Monaghan

“Prayer: Is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view” – Philip Yancey

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer and I wanted to share my experience at a Prayer Workshop led by Pastor Tim earlier this year.

Beginning the day with a simple exercise, we pick a verse that is important to us or stood out to us and meditated on it. After soaking in God’s word in, surrounded by peace, we came back together and shared it with the group.

What was amazing to see was the variety of verses that all had a common thread and that was ‘be still.’ Pastor Tim pointed out that we all have a way of giving 'hugs' our own personal touch. It might be a phrase we use, a type of hug, rubbing the back, kissing the cheek. Cultures have different ways of expressing hugs and God has a way to give each of us a ‘hug’ and it’s with the phrase “Be Still”. It will come through in a verse or sometimes a thought flitting through your mind.

As you get ready to pray be still and fully immerse yourself in God's presence.

Now that you have prepared your heart and mind for prayer beginning with thanksgiving. Actively look for those things in your life you are thankful. Then go deeper and examine the why and wherefores of that thankfulness. If you are thankful for your family, what about your family are you thankful for? Why are you thankful for that? Take the time to really examine and you will find more attributes coming to the surface. Be intentional at the beginning and ending of your day to examine the reasons to be thankful for that day.

Adoration and confession: a time to examine your motives and inward thoughts. Bring them to the forefront for confession in relation to who God is. For example, if fear is present look to where God is addressed as our Fortress in times of trouble. If you are battling something, then to look to where He is addressed as our Shield and Buckler protecting us in times of battle. Needing comfort, what about The Shepherd who guards and takes care of his sheep? Focus on the all names of God and understanding His nature and His glory.

Petition is when we are asking for specific things. We name and present our requests to God. This would be as it relates to us individually. For direction in life, decisions needing to be made, wisdom for a specific item. It is good and right for us to pray for this kind of thing.

God is our Father and He wants to give to His children. We are told that we have not because we don’t ask. It is a time also to be aware that God is all knowing and what we are asking for He will answer from that place of knowing all. He always answers prayer in some way. It may not be in the way we want or thought, but He will answer.

“If our all prayers were answered right now, how would the world change?” Pastor Tim

Intercession is when we are praying for others. I really liked Pastor Tim’s question he asked us, “If our all prayers were answered right now, how would the world change?” Pray for the seemingly impossible. Pray internationally. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for the government. Pray for all the conflicts you hear about in the news.

We can be given a desire to pray and maybe even the wisdom and understanding of what to pray for, but only God can work in a person’s life to make change. We should never take advantage of knowledge about another person except to pray for them, it’s a solemn responsibility.

We are encouraged in two way prayer to pause and listen for God’s response; to have a two way communication and to expect direction. We have been given access to Him and He wants to have that with us.

God uses many avenues to accomplish this. Maybe a thought in your mind, a scripture that you read that just illuminates what you are praying about or something someone says. For myself, I have found that journaling my prayer is an excellent way to stay focused and also receive direction. For example, when writing my frustration and praying for guidance on a particular thing and as I put words to my feelings I felt myself calming and the words became more productive and by the end of twenty minutes of writing I had my answer on what to do next. I truly believe God worked in that scenario for that end.

In the book Crossroads by William Paul Young references prayer by writing “Prayer is a conversation inside a relationship.” That is it in a nutshell. When we care about someone, we share our thoughts, fears and ambitions with them. This communication called prayer is that very thing with our Heavenly Father. Jesus took much time to communicate with His Father when he lived on this earth and we have been given that very right and responsibility to aid us in our lives on this earth.

Living Word

Written by Fiona Monaghan Ever find yourself looking at your horoscope? Or taking an internet quiz claiming it can tell what job would be perfect for you or what your name really means for your life? It is fun and sometimes a bit silly but it speaks to our desire to find direct and personal guidance in our lives.

In this series “Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith” we’ve been looking at the ways God uses to grow our faith. The first way is the teaching we receive from God’s Word for our personal lives. The Bible is called the “Living Word” because, if you put it to the test, it will have relevance for your day to day lives, just as if it was written personally for you.

It is full of promises, direction, and encouragement. For example, the Book of Psalms, written thousands of years ago, is full of the entire spectrum of emotion. Written mainly by King David it has something for every mood we experience ranging from desperation (Psalm 25) to anger (Psalm 4) to joy (Psalm 95). Proverbs has words of encouragement like:

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Proverbs 3:5-6 (The Message)

Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. Proverbs 29:11

Ecclesiastes has the time honored verse about “a time for every season…” How to raise children, how to treat people, how to get along in business, how to handle our finances and our emotions…it all can be found in the Bible!

Isn’t that cool? There are so many verses that speak to your heart and mind. They give comfort, advice, and guidance. Truly a Living Word and much better than a horoscope or a buzzfeed quiz.

Give it a try! Start reading with an open heart. Take a moment to really pay attention to the practical teaching God provides us in His word. I think you will be surprised at how relevant it can be for your life today.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMl5dT63Ny8

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I trust you

Written by Pastor Rey Diaz If you’re anything like me, your faith journey is a roller coaster ride. Some days are better than others. Some days I feel like I have absolute confidence God is with me, for me, and working through me. Other days, I feel that God is absent, He’s forgotten me, and I’m all alone.

I just returned from a family trip to Honduras. Day 3 of the trip, my wife had to visit the hospital because of salmonella. “It’s okay. God’s in control. Everything will be okay.”

Day 4, my son was at the hospital because of E.Coli. “Okay God, I thought you were in control. What’s going on?”

On day 5, my daughter was at the hospital in the middle of the night with a stomach bug. “Its official. God has lost control. Help!”

Then on day 6, I, the last man standing, crashed with the same stomach bug my daughter so generously shared with me. “Well, at least I will die among family and can complain to God face to face.”

I wish, pray, and honestly yearn for a deep, unwavering, steadfast faith in God no matter the circumstances. But so often the circumstances creep in and skew my view of God. I feel more that anything else God wants me to trust him. God wants to take us to a place of overwhelming faith where no matter what we face, we can say with absolute confidence “I trust you.”

• You don’t always answer my prayers, but I trust you.
• You don’t always make sense, but I trust you.
• I don’t always understand you, but I trust you.
• Life doesn’t always go my way, but I trust you.
• Wife and kids are sick and I’m dying, but I trust you.

Sermons come in all shapes and sizes. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear God saying the same thing in most sermons—“trust me.”

In all the ways that you could respond to God, the most important thing is that God is asking you to trust him. When things are going well, it doesn’t require a lot of faith to trust God. But when life turns messy, is your faith leading you to depend on God, or do you put your trust in something else?

Over the next month our church is going on a journey to grow BIG faith. We believe there are five primary things God uses to grow our faith. We discovered them by observing how God works in the lives of believers - and even unbelievers.

Why do we want to grow our faith? Because your faith in God matters to God. In fact, God is most honored through your living, active, death-defying, out-of-the-box faith. That being the case, he's committed to growing it — BIG.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2HmYD7VHLc

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How to study the Bible as a family....

Written by Pastor Becca McCary An ancient Christian prayer/bible study practice called "Lectio Divina" (Latin for Divine Reading) is meant to help you listen to God as your study His Word. This prayer practice is not just for adults or “serious” bible scholars but can also help young children grow in their faith- bringing the pages of the Bible alive and helping them make connections to biblical characters.

This prayer practice can easily be done as a family in a developmentally appropriate way if crayons and paper are used.

Here is how it is done...

1.) Choose a bible passage to read and appoint one person to be the reader. - HINT: A great place to start is part of the Easter Story from Luke 22 or 23.

2.) Give everyone a sheet of paper and Crayons or markers

3.) Read your passage one time. As the passage is read, everyone draws the scene, but NOT Jesus yet. Try to soak up every detail of the passage. The scenery, what people are thinking and feeling. All of it.

4.) Read the same passage a second time. As the passage is being read, everyone adds a layer to their drawing by including Jesus this time. You can use light colors to show characters responding to him with open hearts and dark colors to show characters whose hearts are closed to him. What is Jesus thinking and feeling? Where is his power seen? Is anything surprising about Jesus?

5.) Read the passage a third time. As the passage is being read, everyone adds in one final layer- the put themselves in the drawing. How would you respond to Jesus in this scene? What colors would be around you? How would Jesus address you? What would he have to say to you?

6.) Share what you drew and why? What did you learn from the details of the passage? What does God want to teach you personally from this story?

 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

 Colossians 3:16 (NLT)

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Today is still Easter

Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish brought a new baby into the world.John 16:19-20-21 (NLT)

Written by Pastor Tim White

I love Easter. We had such a blessed time at Washington Cathedral this year. A turnaround church is a miracle and Easter marked the breaking of the barrier – building the core, envisioning the spiritual growth that we can all experience through the risen Lord.

Today is still Easter; not the holiday we celebrate once a year based on its relationship with Passover, but Christ the Lord is risen! He is indeed. Everyday!

As Jackie and I enjoyed our Easter family dinner and egg hunt with our precious little grandkids, who will be committed world changers, we basked in the chaos. They are all so cute! We love our extended family and in-laws so much. We could not help but dream in such a joy-filled setting.

That night I was reminded again of the gift of joy when I was watching an interview with John Travolta, one of my favorite actors, where he was defending the church of Scientology. He said, “Find me any other religion that has one of its main tenants as joy.” I yelled at the TV, “Following Jesus Christ! ‘Joy to the world’, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’, ‘Joy at the resurrection’, ‘Joy as a fruit of real spirituality’.” Of course it was a one way conversation but the sentiment rings true, especially as we celebrate Easter.

Now is the time to live with a new sense of joy and power from Easter. Joy to tackle each of our problems from the foundation of a loving grace-filled community of friends like Washington Cathedral.

I was reminded again of this community at Washington Cathedral when Jackie came and read to me from the hundreds of contact cards that had been filled out from this weekend’s services. Some said, “Where has this church been? I’ve been looking for a community like this.” Cards from many people in our church said, “I love my church family at Washington Cathedral.” As we read all the encouraging notes we both said, “It’s going to be fun to see what God has for us and those we love in the near future.” What we didn’t say aloud but felt deeply was that every day is Easter because Jesus is still risen – still alive and still being a revolution of love in this world.

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Easter Message by Pastor Tim White: Why do you look for the living among the dead?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feZ7SpOw11o

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