On the Road
As a community of faith we are talking through the road to following Christ. We are studying what Jesus said, then how the early church lived out that teaching & then asking ourselves are we on the same road? Are we traveling the same direction? Are we moving on the same path?
Last week, we talked about Covenant Gospel Partnership, we looked at the life of Jesus with his disciples in John 15:15-17 then we looked at Paul’s relationships in Phillipi in Phil 1 & with Timothy, Luke and John Mark in 2Tim 4.
After the service over 30 people joined the Avenue not as members but as Covenant partners. It was a very exciting day!
Here’s why we do covenant partnership & not membership.
Membership sounds entitled, in our culture it denotes receiving benefits, as the American Express commercial says, membership “has its privileges.” It leads people to say that’s my seat on Sunday, that’s my ministry to run, and don’t you dare disrupt my world!
Covenant has always defined relationship. From Abraham to God, from Jonathan and David to every marriage I perform as a pastor, even now as we are in relationship with a covenant God. Covenants define relationship!
First, we are people of Covenant. Covenant represents a commitment to do whatever it takes to see a relationship work. It represents a willingness to commit to responsibilities, duties, or obligations in exchange for specific relational connectedness. Covenant people are loyal people. Dedicated people. Responsible people. As Christians, our covenant faithfulness is a reflection of the nature and character of God – the same faithful God who keeps covenant – in our lives!
Second, we are Partners. Partners with Christ in the cause of the Gospel; and, subsequently, partners with one another. Partnership implies active participation and involvement. Partnership means sharing together common goals, common challenges, common experiences, common resources and common achievements. Partnership reminds us of the significance of our “togetherness” with one another in a world that is dominated by individuality.
We believe the church is a FAMILY on MISSION together.
“The heart of true fellowship is self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision.”
The way this fleshes out is this simple equation -
Common Mission + Shared Sacrifice + Gospel Partnership = Brotherhood (Community)
Alan Hirsch calls this COMMUNITAS.
He would say that we don’t find community in proximity, or in common interests or goals. Community doesn’t just happen because we hang out together & watch football, listen to the same bands or like the same activities.
Community happens when we have……….
a common mission (for us that’s to be a Community living like Jesus, Changed by Him & Changing the city for His glory)
A shared sacrifice towards that mission – Sacrificing time, treasures & our hearts for the mission & for each other
A gospel partnership in the midst of that mission (living like a family is supposed to live) – Phil 1 – “I have you in my heart”
Are you involved in real gospel partnership?
Are you sharing in a common mission?
Are you sacrificing with others to make that mission happen?
If not why? If not you are missing out on the most life giving relationships we can have on this earth!
If you are interested in any way in joining us on our mission & being a part of a covenant gospel partnership with us email us @ info@avechurch.com & we would love to grab coffee or lunch & talk through the specifics. Also we will be having a partnership class on Jan 22nd following both services just comment below if you would like to come!
Monday Morning Look Back (1/30/11)
A few random thoughts from last night:
- Last night concluded our first Partnership class in which we welcomed 10 new people into our church family. They are Jessica Longest, Asa & Ashley Glass, Bob & Karen Glass, Susannah Gilbert, Chris Allen, Danielle Beiswanger, Dave Paris, Sarah Rose. It really is an amazing course (props to Jeromie Jones) it gives you a quick overview of who we are, what we believe & what it means to partner with us in order to become a Community living like Jesus changed by him & changing the city for his glory.
- I was so thrilled to have Patrick Nethery back from Afghanistan. He is a good friend, a solid servant & one of the original partners with the Avenue. Welcome back my brotha!
- I want to send a quick shout @ Christian Novicki who has been a huge help for our worship ministry & he has literally taken the lead on finding a band, a worship leader, choosing songs & putting up with my unorganization (i made up that word). I love how many college students serve faithfully @ the Avenue & not only have found a home here but a family here as well!
- Also can Joy Murdoch sing or what! Loved the Show me your glory song – great call to worship song!
- Baptizing my neighbor Glenn last night was great moment for Sarah & I & for the church. We have been praying for Glenn since the day we met him around a year ago & we are so thrilled to have him in God’s family & into our family @ the avenue! He had a really rough time getting up the stairs & getting baptized without his oxygen, but he wanted to tough it out in order to get baptized I’m really proud of him & proud of the way our community has loved and served him.
- The Use Somebody series is going to be very fun & important. Next week we are going to be splitting the teaching 3 ways so you will get to hear some from Karl, Jeromie & myself as we talk about Genesis 29-30 – Read through them this week to prep for Sunday. What a messed up family!
- Last thing – I love all of you who love to hunt, fish, wear camo & drive F150’s!
Can’t wait for next week I love you all
Ben
Monday Morning look back – 1/24/11
Each week I want to simply look back @ the service & share some things that stand out from our Sunday worship gatherings.
So here are some random thoughts from Sunday:
* We now have over 65 people in app groups, becoming a family & pursuing the mission of the Avenue together. 2 new groups just started & I highly suggest you jump into an App group if you are not already in one. Sign up Here
* I loved getting the chance to teach our partnership class last night before church about the core values of the Avenue. I never get tired of telling the story of what God is doing everyday & about our dreams for the ministry. Also the partnership class is a great way to find out more about the Avenue & about how you can get involved more. So excited to see so many new people joining the church.
* Speaking of our dreams, I mentioned them again in my message & a number of you have asked for those they can be found right here
* You all were supposed to repeat after me much more than you did during the message but I got so excited about preaching it I didn’t care 
– We believe in the church & we are the church together!
* Commissioning all of those leaders after the message was amazing – Lets each encourage one another by asking each other questions about our who & where!
* Remember our job is to help you find you who & where – to equip you for your who & where & to encourage you towards your who & where.
* I did not think I would get so emotional commissioning people to go & serve on behalf of the Avenue, I cried a bit with a few of my friends & then when I commissioned my wife on behalf of the Avenue to go to our children & to our neighbors I broke! Awesome moment for Sarah & I – God is so good!
* I love watching & listening to Stephanie Leonard lead worship – Loved the emotion she showed while singing Nothing but the Blood. Stephanie was baptized @ the Avenue on launch day & watching how powerful the gospel story is to her is very cool.
* I loved that the Ave actually awkwardly clapped during the last song last night – Loved it even more that it made the band start giggling! By the way don’t miss Dave’s CD release concert this Friday – The Cd is brilliant & Dave has served the Ave so faithfully lets get out there & support him!
* Last thing our messages are online now – Right Here
* Get out there & get after your who & where!
What we believe – Prayer
I was just reading a passage from Eugene Peterson, (Karl Halverson’s hero). In a book written to pastors he said the most important thing we can do for our congregations is not teach a great sermon, not be there to love & listen, it is to teach them how to pray!
We have a deep desire to “live like like Jesus lived and walk as He walked” which means we must desire to be connected to the Father and lead by the Spirit in the same ways that Jesus taught his disciples to be!
Here is what we believe about Prayer & why it is central to who we are as a church!
(1) Prayer is the language of the mysterious willful choice God has made to let us talk to and listen to Him
- It is the relational connection of our seen lives with the unseen but knowable author of life
- i. Matthew 6.6; 2 Corinthians 4.18
(2) Prayer is both the language of receiving from God and the language of giving ourselves to God
- He has chosen us to receive from Him and give ourselves to Him through the language of prayer
- i. Psalm 63.1; Isaiah 26.9; Isaiah 30.18; Matthew 6.7-8
(3) Prayer is a language of life’s immediate circumstances and continued motion.
- God’s desires is that we not just have an “on again/off again” relationship with Him but that we grow into people who are continually seeking and recognizing His presence. To continue to seek Him, in spite of not seeing Him, is to give Him the material to grow us into those who desire more and more to be His.
- i. Psalm 71.14, 107; Matthew 9.27-29, 20.29-34; Luke 7.2-10; 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18
(4) Prayer is a language which reveals the power of God to a skeptical world.
- It is God’s power which gives value to prayer. It is through praying that we can then acknowledge something “miraculous” having happened to have happened because of Him.
- i. Matthew 14.13-21; 1 Kings 18;
(5) Prayer is essential language of the relationship between God and us
- While Scripture is the most important way that God speaks to us, it is in prayer that we express the language of our relationship to God and it is in prayer that God grows us into people more discerning of His movements in the world.
- i. Mark 1.35; Psalm 1.1-2, 16.7, 32.8, 73.24
(6) Prayer is the language with which we address God
- There isn’t some “special” language that is only for those with “lots” of faith. Prayer is the normal way in which we address God. Anything “more” than the prayer which comes from the heart is suspect.
- i. Psalm 5.3, 55.16-17, 88.13, Matthew 5.5-13; 1 Corinthians 14.13-17
(7) Prayer is the language of the anticipation of what God is capable of doing and just might do.
- We don’t often (if ever) know what God will do but in prayer we can express the anticipation of what He might do and the faith that whether or not He does it, He is still good and true.
- i. Daniel 3 (esp. v. 16-18); Matthew 26.36-45;
What we believe – Gods Word –
Over the next few weeks I want to review some simple what we believe statements:
Sunday, we talked about our desire to do more than “hear” a teaching each week but to immerse ourselves in a text for a week. To quiet ourselves before God and to give Him time to work in our lives by giving the passages we are studying more than a few simple minutes on Sunday but to dwell on those passages for an entire week. So we don’t simply open the word of God on Sunday, we open it everyday believing, hoping, and seeking to find God!
so we believe that………
1) – The bible is one story of God putting His family back together again through Jesus Christ
- We do not have a Veggie Tales faith, with a collection of moral stories that help us become better people. We have one story that all points to Jesus and the salvation of Gods family from sin.
2) - It’s Our Story
- We never really read it until we find ourselves in the story
3) – We read the bible looking for God
- Not for a moral lesson, a way to be fed, or for an idea or concept to get me through the week. We are looking for the most Holy God to lead us, to guide us to direct us to speak clearly into our current realities & situations
4) – We Own It
- We are a part of the ongoing story of God. The stories are our heritage!
So today as you open the word of God hopefully to Matt 5:3 (that is what we are studying this week) what are you looking to find? The answer to that question may be one of the most important questions we ever ask ourselves!
How does our reading of scripture change when we approach it with these 4 simple ideas?
A prayer for the builders!
Sunday we discussed the story of the tower of Babel and we had a simple time of confession for our building!
For our pride and for our desire to make our names great.
Read through Gen 11
Here is a great prayer for us this week as we reflect deeply on the concept that His work > Our work:
We are among the builders,
We do silos and missile silos,
We do tall towers and large granaries,
We do pyramids and monuments and steeples and high rises,
We build because we are able,
because it looks good,
because it feels good,
because we have so much stuff to store we need bigger, better barns.
We make it tall and shiny & beautiful
only to discover that moth and rust consume,
only to discover that shiny surfaces turn empty shell,
only to discover that storage is for goods thatmelt and sour.
We end closer to empty-handed than we imagined.
As we are able we turn from our cities to you,
we turn from our successes to you,
we turn from our reason to you,
we turn from our power to you.
To you, to you, to you, to you,
our help is in no other save in you alone.
You only, you enough, you in your generosity.
Whom have we in heaven but you?
There is nothing on earth we desire but you!
-prayer by Walter Bruegemann
His Work > Our Work – Building Towers
Last night, we gathered together and discussed Gen 10-11 and the idea that his work is greater than our work. Its one of our core values which means its really important for us know & understand. We live in a world of 5 year plans, a type A society that teaches us to go & build! The moto of our culture could literally be “come lets build something so that we can make a name for ourselves.”
So this week we want you to really reflect on Gen 10-11 and pray about what towers you have been building!
So here are a few questions for reflection:
Lets be the body of Christ & discuss this together.
1) – What towers do you build & how is the root of your building pride?
2) – Where are you tempted in your life to “gather & not scatter”?
3) – How do we in a culture of “builders” live in a way that is distinct from the world pointing not towards our glory but the Lords?
Alright friends we need you to discuss
Dad Life
I saw this video made by some friends at Church on the Move & I loved it. So being a father I may be the only one who loves this video but I loved it so much I wanted to share it! Enjoy!
The Story of Us
Each week, I simply want to tell a story of life change and a story of what God is doing in the life of our church. After what we are really about is life change. We want to be a community living like Jesus changed by Him and changing the city for his glory. So I would love to take a few minutes each week and simply share how we are being and changed, how our neighbors are being changed and how great our God is.
Last week, we had our first missions team come and visit us. FAC youth from Lexington. My cousin Stevie and his wife Jenny serve there and they volunteered to join us in serving our neighbors and they were such an amazing blessing to us. Around 30 students cleaned neighbors homes, they helped neighbors moved, pulled weeds, passed out flyers & frisbees about the Avenue, mulched yards and helped our friends at South Louisville get ready for their yard sale. The proceeds from that yard sale will send 20 inner city kids to camp.
It was an amazing day of watching the gospel lived out by a group of teenageers.
At the end of the day our neighbors were in love with these kids. I watched the gospel lived out in a tangible way through the service and the kindness of these students and the great thing about it is was so did our neighbors. The neighbors started pitching in and helping out serving each other, laughing and caring for each other. At the end of the day we had one neighbor tells us with tears in her eyes that she thought God had given up on her until today. Another neighbor, said this would be the first night in a long time that he was going to pray before he went to bed. At least 3 neighbors said they can’t wait for the Avenue to launch because they will be there every week. One neighbor an amazing artist gave the group a painting for their youth room. Below is our group in front of his apartment.
Micah 6:8 “He has showed you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Pray God gives us more chances to serve & to love our neighbors. Pray that he teaches all of us that most ministry is not done in the pulpit but in the front yard of neighbors, in the booth at the coffee shop, and in the tiny God sized moments of a conversation.
