John Markum

Signs that you ARE getting it

At the end of last week I shared a list of signs that you might not be getting it when it comes to your walk with Christ. I encourage you to check that out here. But today I wanted to share some of the signs that you are getting it:

  1. You are excited about bringing people you know to your church, and pray for them to receive Christ.
  2. When you hear the Word on your own or in church, you ask yourself, “What does this mean for me?”
  3. You feel guilty when, for one day, you miss out on your prayer time.
  4. You can’t be satisfied with status quo.
  5. You genuinely feel as though giving your tithe is an act of worship. (If you don’t have a relationship with Christ, we don’t want your money. Honest.)
  6. You willingly forgive others who hurt you.
  7. You humbly seek forgiveness when you hurt others.
  8. Your moral standard is not based on a set of rules that you should keep, but in a relationship that you should honor.
  9. You seek to obey God in your actions, regardless the cost of others’ approval.
  10. You are whole-heartedly sold out to the work of God in your church.
  11. You acknowledge that faith requires action.

Notice that none of this had to do with how much Scripture you could quote or how many services you attended this week. That’s because getting it, is a heart issue. And your actions will always follow your heart. When my heart is right with God, I want to hear from Him more in His Word, be in His house, and act like Him to the people I come in contact with.

Blessings,

John

Challenge #5: Serve

Edgewood Challenge #5: Give time to serve in one ministry.

 

There’s this statistic that floats around many churches that says, “20% of the people do 80% of the service.” This stat gets called the 80/20 Stat most of the time and simply points out that only a fraction of most Christians ever give of their time and talent to be part of what the church is doing to impact their city for Christ.

It’s a shame, really. We would claim to believe in a God who saves souls, changes lives, and does the impossible – who is eager to capture us up into His mission to redeem the world to Himself – and we would pass. Because of this, one church leader, Ed Stetzer, began referring to this ratio of people who don’t volunteer themselves to the work of the church as the 80/20 Sin. When you and I make excuses for why we do not get connected in serving, we are trying to say that we believe in Jesus enough to save us, but not enough to give ourselves back to Him.

But what if we really lived it…? What would be the potential of our church – of the Quad Cities – if we lived as though our life was not our own, but we were bought with a price? What if the 80/20 statistic was flopped, and 80 % of the people each took a piece of the ownership in serving? The thought of what that would look like is absolutely breath-taking!

The Bible describes the church as the “body” of Christ. But when 80% of the body is not doing it’s function, the body is paralyzed… or dying. The whole body suffers when even a small part of it is out of order. But a body that is 100% operational is alive, healthy, and powerful. Let’s be that church!

Edgewood is such an amazing place because every week we get to see new people coming through our doors, and the potential to turn our world upside-down for the Gospel has never been greater, or more needed. And because our church has 3 weekend adult services, and a youth service, there are plenty of opportunities to use your time and talents to serve in one ministry. Let’s change our world by the way we serve one another!

Blessings,

John

Edgewood 2011

 

This past week, in each of our weekend worship services at Edgewood, we unleashed 7 Challenges for every person that calls Edgewood their church home. I wanted to take the time to reiterate these 7 Challenges this week here on the blog, and so I will deal with each one in a separate post this week. In case you didn’t get the bookmark we handed out this week, here are the 7 Challenges.

  1. Read through the Bible in one year.
  2. Pray for the Church one hour a week.
  3. Share Christ: Lead one person to the Lord.
  4. Increase giving by 1%.
  5. Give time to serving in one ministry.
  6. Find one thing to be thankful for daily.
  7. Bring a Bible to church.

Again, these are for people who call Edgewood their church home. We are not asking, nor do we even want any of our guests to give financially to the ministry of Edgewood. But for those who call yourselves members of Edgewood, or consider Edgewood your church home, this is the year to step up to the plate in all 7 Challenges. I truly believe that as we do this together, God is going to show Himself mightily in our lives, and in the life of our church. We are the people of God! Not even the gates of Hell have power against us! Let’s turn the Quad Cities upside down with the Gospel and see God impact our world through our church like never before. Read more about Challenge #1 real soon…

Blessings,

John

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