Sermon Recap | Love the One You're With

For those of you who missed the sermon on Sunday, or couldn't get enough of the sermon on Sunday, here's a recap of tweetables from the sermon, "Love the One You're With." This sermon is part of our series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want. Intro Video

http://vimeo.com/50987401

Tweetables

"Stop focusing so much on finding the right person, and start focusing on being the right person." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

"Warning: you are not ANYONE'S fantasy spouse. So quit looking for your fantasy spouse." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

"God doesn't give Adam options to choose from. He gives Adam a spouse." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

"Your spouse is your standard. Love the one you're with." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

"There has to be room in your marriage for your spouse to have weakness." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

"Jesus loves you right now. Not future, when-you-get-it-together you. But right now, despite-all-your-weaknesses you." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

"To love the one you're with, you have to grasp--not just know--the love Christ has for you." http://bit.ly/OieO9n

Listen to the Sermon

Want to listen to the sermon? Check the links below:

[button label="Download Devine Street Audio" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/10072012_Devine_Adam.mp3" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Main Street Audio" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/10072012_Main_Jon.mp3" shape="default"]

Yes, and It's Awesome | A Poem

This past Sunday in our Gatherings, we featured another poem about marriage before the sermon. Here's the lyrics: It all started with, “Hey, my name is Ant. Nice to meet you.” Later it was, “Here’s my number. Feel free to use it, ya know, if you ever need to.” And when we were on the phone, I was thinkin, “Dang, I would really like to see you.” And one day it hit me like, “Man, I think she might really like me too.”

Spent some time learning about her character Cus I only wanted to date if there was a chance I would marry her. So after ‘bout a year of dating, I did it. I asked her. Down on one knee, in front of friends, with thoughts of decades together after.

And amid our friends screaming, crying, and laughter… “Yes” … The answer was, yes!  That’s awesome!

Many questions arise like: Which dress is the right dress? Do you think I should wear a vest? Aren’t outside weddings the best? Wait, so now we can talk about sex? Yes…the answer was, yes!  That’s awesome!

Budget. Can we afford this? Arguments. You wanna spend that much on adornment? Compromise. Our future would have much more of this.

And then, “I do.” until death do us part. Ring on my finger, love in my heart.

An imperfect man, trying to imitate the perfect love of Christ. Difficult. Two sinners trying to share life, But rewarding, sharing ups and downs, valleys and heights, Privileged to know that I see Jesus in the actions of my wife. And He’s transforming me with loving rebukes when I wrongly think that I’m right.

She’s, gracious to me even when I’m arrogant and slow to say I’m wrong. And even when it feels like our marriage isn’t going the way I want … she looks me in the eye and tells me that she loves me. After we’ve just argued and I’m still upset, she hugs me.

Haven't been married for 2 years now, not claiming to be a guru. And if you’re married, we probably have some of the same struggles and sins as you do. Here’s hoping you apply the gospel to those struggles. Do you?

For thousands of sins you've committed, Jesus forgives you! If you keep that in mind, it enables you to forgive too. So, how do you respond when the one you love offends you? Do you forget about your own sin, when your spouse sins against you? What if your spouse brings up a sin you need to admit to Does your proud heart get angry, and try to defend you? Or do you rest in the acceptance of He who is your Savior and friend too?

See, applying the gospel digs to the root of the problems that are seen on the surface And one thing I have learned is that the gospel really does give this union purpose. Marriage is to display to us what the union of Christ and His church is. And its great because even when our attempts to display Him aren’t perfect, We’re reminded by the gospel that we’re trying to display that God’s acceptance of us isn’t based on our works. Its Based on the righteousness of Christ, and we could never earn it.

So with all the difficulties of marriage, does the opportunity to display the glory of Christ make it all worth it?

Yes…the answer is yes. It’s awesome!

This poem is part of our series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want.

Why We Switched Bibles

We mentioned Sunday that we've officially switched our bibles to the English Standard Version. For those of you who have been following along in your NIVs, we assure you that this wasn't a careless decision. Here are a few reasons we switched to the ESV:

• We had to purchase a new version anyway. With the release of a new translation, the translation we were using is being discontinued. With that being the case, we knew we had to purchase a new translation of some sort.
• We were concerned about the accuracy of the new NIV. The easiest transition would obviously to use the new version of the NIV. But in reading through it, some of the updates they made change the meaning of the passage being read, and we weren't huge fans of that.
• The ESV is a good translation. Every translation of the bible has its advantages and disadvantages, but we thought the ESV achieves the best balance of readability and biblical accuracy.
• The ESV was cheap. The bottom line is that our church still doesn't have endless pools of cash sitting around, and we found the ESV we purchased at a price that we could afford. Since we want to be able to give our bibles away for free to people who don't have them, price is a huge factor.

In the end, we think, hope, and pray the ESV will continue to help our church family to learn more about Jesus through the Bible. If you're wanting to buy an ESV, we've compiled a list of links to help out:

[button label="Buy an ESV from LifeWay" link="http://www.lifeway.com/Bibles/English-Standard/c/N-1z13x20Z1z141x5" shape="default"]

[button label="Buy an ESV from Crossway" link="http://www.crossway.org/bibles/choose/" shape="default"]

[button label="Buy an ESV from Amazon" link="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_six_brow_7?rh=n%3A283155%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A12290%2Cn%3A12059%2Ck%3Abibles%2Cp_n_feature_six_browse-bin%3A3069538011&bbn=12059&keywords=bibles&ie=UTF8&qid=1349193361&rnid=2235217011" shape="default"]

Questions to Ask Before You Date

In the last post, we helped identify intimacy issues. In this post, we want to help those of you who are single know what to look for in a person you hope to date. In our life as a church, we have seen more people derail their relationship with Jesus because of dating relationships than almost anything else, so we want to be proactive in helping you think through dating and relationships before they go bad, or even before they start. So here's 6 questions you should ask before entering into a dating relationship with someone:

1. Are they a Christian? And by this we don't just mean "do they go to church?" Tons of people in the south go to church--that doesn't make them a Christian. Take a glance into their lives: is there any evidence of a love for Jesus in their life? Do they love other people? Do they understand and believe the gospel? If the answer is no, do not move on to any other questions on this list.
2. Do they have any good friends? If they don't, that's usually a sign that they don't work well with people, which is going to be pretty bad news for their ability to work well in a relationship. Not to mention, if they don't have any close friends, you're going to end up being their only friend really fast, which is very unhealthy for a dating relationship (and a little boring).
3. Are any of their friends solid Christians? If their closest friends are solid Christians, chances are they're solid as well. If they're closest friends aren't Christians, there's a few options. Either they recognize this and are trying to help them grow, they don't realize their friends aren't solid, or they realize they're not solid and don't care. If they don't have Christian friends, that may also be a hint that they're not a Christian either.
4. What is their dating history? If they have a reputation of going from relationship to relationship, chances are you're about to be the next victim in their careless dating repertoire. They may say "but I've changed." Awesome. Give it time to see if they really have changed before jumping straight into a relationship with them.
5. Are they a part of a church family? This goes back to #1. Don't just ask if they go to church. Ask if they're involved with a church.  There are very few excuses for a "no" on this one.
6. Will you be more effective for Jesus together than separate? If you consider yourself a Christian, that means all of life should be leveraged for the gospel. So if you both become less effective for Jesus because you're dating, that's a fail.

Are you in college and want to learn more about dating and relationships?

[button label="Sign up for College Fall Retreat" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/events/college-fall-retreat-2/" shape="default"]

Sermon Recap | What Your Annoying Aunt Doesn't Realize

For those of you who missed the sermon on Sunday, or couldn't get enough of the sermon on Sunday, here's a recap of tweetables from the sermon, "What Your Annoying Aunt Doesn't Realize." This sermon is part of our series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want. Intro Video

http://vimeo.com/50531751

Tweetables

"We are all designed to put the gospel on display. Whether you're married or single, you have an opportunity to do that." #marriage

"Don't just ask if you should be married or single. Ask WHY you want to be married or single." #marriage

"People look to marriage to answer the question 'does anyone want me?' In the cross, that question has already been answered."#marriage

"Our identity is not in our earthly family. Our identity is in being a part of God's family. So marriage is optional." #marriage

"Whether you're single or married, a spouse doesn't complete you. Jesus does." #marriage

Listen to the Sermon Want to listen to the sermon? Check the links below:

[button label="Download Devine Street Audio" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/09302012_Devine_Alan.mp3" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Earlewood Audio" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/09302012_Earlewood_John.mp3" shape="default"]

Li'l Help Please

Family: We have a fantastic problem: a lot of people come to our Gatherings. In particular, a lot of people come to our 7:00pm Gathering at Devine Street. We've always had a lot of college students coming around, and 7:00pm tends to be the most optimal time for college students to attend. The reason that it's a problem is that we have limited seats at that Gathering. The past few weeks, we've had anywhere from 10-30 more people than we have seats.

So here's what we want to ask of you: if you normally attend the 7:00pm Gathering at Devine Street, please consider attending the new 5:00pm at Main Street. Our new Main Street Campus opens this Sunday, and for the first time in a long time, we have room to grow. But in case you're still hesitant, here's 4 reasons you should attend Main Street this week:

1. It's closer to campus. As I mentioned earlier, our 7:00pm is largely made up of college students. If you're a USC student, our new Main Street Campus is actually closer to campus for you. Google Maps lists the trip to Devine Street as a 7 minute drive, while the drive to Main Street is a 4 minute drive. Get to the Gathering faster by going to Main Street.
2. The building is beautiful. We have seriously been blown away by how incredible the Main Street building is. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you look at the photos or take the video tour.
3. Opening up seats is missional. If the 7:00pm Gathering is our most popular service, then you going to Main Street could be opening up a seat for someone who needs to hear about Jesus. You going to Main Street may be more effective for the kingdom than you realize.
4. Grab dinner with people afterwards. Attending an earlier Gathering frees you up to grab dinner with people you meet at the Gathering, or go to the Gathering with. As we mentioned in Party Jesus, meals are great opportunities to build relationships with people. A 5:00pm Gathering makes going to dinner afterwards and inviting people to go with you a more natural thing to do.

Some of you still don't want to go to Main Street because your friends don't go there. Good news: go to Main Street, and bring all your friends there with you. That would help even more!

Thanks in advance for helping us open more seats at a more ideal time so that we can together reach more people for Jesus. You can always find all our Gathering times and locations on our Gathering page.

For Jesus' Glory, Adam Gibson Devine Street Campus Pastor

Do You Have Intimacy Issues?

In last Sunday's sermon, we mentioned that there are lots of places we search for intimacy in other than Jesus. Here's a few ways to help identify if you have intimacy issues. So here's 7 ways to recognize intimacy issues:

1. Do you always need someone on the hook? Is there always someone you're trying to reel in? Someone you need to show an interest in you? This might not be someone you're dating or interested in dating, but just someone you want to be interested in you.
2. When bored or lonely, do you start texting? On the more uneventful nights, do you shoot out some texts to different people of the opposite sex to see who responds first? Do you use texting as an escape from your loneliness?
3. Do you look at porn? Porn usually goes deeper than sexual sin. It reveals a heart that desires intimacy without commitment.
4. Are you a serial dater? Do you jump from relationship to relationship constantly? Do you always need to have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
5. Are you a serial flirter? Are people constantly thinking you're interested in them when you're not, because you flirt constantly? Serial flirting usually reveals a heart that is looking for intimacy from anyone.
6. Are you needy for attention? Building off of #5, do your actions and words indicate that you need everyone paying attention to you? Do your Facebook, Twitter, & blog posts cry out for someone to pay attention to you?
7. Are you a totally different person around the opposite sex? Are your mood and mannerisms so different around the opposite sex, that your friends hardly recognize you? This is one more way to grope for attention.

Hope for Intimacy Issues The reality is we were all made to be loved, to be pursued, to be chased after. The problem is that looking for that solely in the opposite sex or in dating relationships almost always goes really bad. What we truly need is to have our intimacy issues dealt with by the cross of Jesus. Jesus gives us, in the gospel, what we're really looking for in the numbers 1-7 above. Jesus tells us that in Him we are fully known, and still fully loved, in such a way that relationships or flirting could never provide.

So if you're looking for intimacy somewhere else without first finding it in Jesus, then stop, repent, be overwhelmed with his love for you in the cross, and then look to show that love to someone else. If you reverse that order, it goes really bad.

Are you in college and want to learn more about dating and relationships?

[button label="Sign up for College Fall Retreat" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/events/college-fall-retreat-2/" shape="default"]

Ain't No Party Like a Midtown Party

Sometimes on our Day Mission Trips, we help paint or build houses. Sometimes on our Day Mission Trips, we help serve food or do some yard work. And then sometimes on our Day Mission Trips, we dance. All through the Party Jesus series, we learned about how Jesus loved to enjoy parties, meals and celebrations with people, and how he calls us to do the same. So when our friends at the Babcock Center asked us if we'd help host their dance party, we jumped at the opportunity.

The Babcock Center is an organization that loves, serves, and houses people with lifelong disabilities. And last Friday night, we got to party with them, and we've posted some photos below.

Join the Production Team

Every Sunday, a group of people arrive to the Gathering a couple hours early and passionately see to it that all the details and people are in place to make our Sunday Gatherings a success. We love our production team, because they love to lead our family in making our Gatherings happen. But in order to understand why we love our production team, you should know a few other things. We do not consider what we do on Sundays the most important thing we do as a church, but we do take Sundays seriously and desire to see people worship the Lord and come to know Him. With that being the case, we want make every effort to create an atmosphere that is welcoming and clearly communicating the Gospel.

We do not believe that perfect lighting and  a cool graphic on the screen will bring people to Jesus, but we do believe that spending time making those things good will help make an atmosphere for people to feel comfortable at the Gathering. So in every postion from Sound Engineering or fading the lighting, to putting scripture on the screen, we are passionate about our production team.

We would love to have more help in this area, and all areas of production. Since we have two locations and so many Gatherings each Sunday, we are constantly looking for more volunteers to help each week. Here's a list of the available positions:

• Producer: Oversees all audio/visual elements on Sundays. This person directly oversees and leads all other positions on the Production. They are ultimately responsible for how everything goes during a Gathering.
• Sound Engineer: Responsible for set-up, sound check, and maintaining comfortable and clear audio levels at gatherings (some experience required).
• ProPresenter: Responsible for the display of all on-screen elements at Sunday gatherings. This person is in charge of cueing all slides and videos during the services.
• Lighting Tech: Responsible for stage and crowd lighting at Sunday gatherings. This person works in conjunction with the ProPresenter and the band to make sure that lighting is at comfortable levels depending on the feel of the song/speaker and how much light is necessary for the room.

If you've got a passion for using technology to worship Jesus, and a willingness to learn, we'd love to have you as part of our production team.

[button label="Ready to volunteer? Sign up here" link="https://midtowncolumbia.ccbchurch.com/w_form_response.php?form_id=129" shape="default"]

Poems, Books, & Standing Room Only | A Photo Essay

This past Sunday, we launched our new sermon series and campaign, A Marriage You'd Actually Want. We gave out  somewhere around a thousand Campaign Resource Guides, had live spoken word at all services, and had our highest attendance at a non-Easter week ever. In light of all the excitement, we wanted to post a photo essay with images from all our services and locations. Enjoy!

September-09,-2012-1

September-09,-2012-3

Devine Teaching

Devine Books

Earlewood Panoramic

Earlewood Music

Jon Vision Time

Ant Earlewood

Jon Teaching Doors

Text in Your Marriage Questions

We want our our new sermon series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want, to be as helpful as possible. In an effort to do just that, we wanted to make it possible for anyone and everyone to text in their questions about all things marriage (that includes singleness, sex, sexual abuse, porn, parenting, and anything else that relates to marriage). During three specific weeks of the series, we'll pick some of the questions you text in and answer them live from stage.

You might be asking, "how do I participate in such a wonderful thing?"

Here's your answer:

Text the word MARRIAGE followed by your question, to the number 411-247.

And don't worry: this isn't a ploy to get your mobile number and annoy the snot out of you. At the most you'll receive one follow up text, just to let you know we received your question, and then you'll never hear from us again. The texting is just one-way.

Feel free to send in as many questions as you like. Even if your question doesn't get answered in this series, it may help us to know how and what to teach in future sermon series.

Happy txting!

5 Ways a Marriage Series is Helpful for Single People

In our city and in our church family, the probability that you are not married is as good if not better than the probability that you are married.  Those who are single in college, single out of college, single living at home, lifelong singles, divorced, widows, and those dealing with same sex attraction make up a majority of our urban community. We want to make a few things extremely clear:  Our decision to do a series on marriage is in no way an attempt to make you feel unloved, ostracized, excluded, or out of place in our church family.  Your marital status does not dictate your identity or your value.  A wedding is not graduation into a more valid status of life.  Marriage is not heaven.  It’s not our hope for the good life.  Jesus is.

At the same time, marriage is a gift (Proverbs 18:28) and throughout the Scriptures, God uses marriage as an incredible picture of the gospel. So, for a number of reasons we are excited to see God use this series to sanctify our entire church family, including those who are married and those who are not (a.k.a. you).

“How?!  In what ways can I possibly grow from a ten-week series on marriage when I’m not married?  It doesn’t apply to me!  You guys must hate me and don’t care about me!”  That is simply not the case.  Here are five ways this series applies to you:

1. Understanding marriage helps you understand the gospel. The marriage relationship is used over and over throughout the Bible to describe Christ’s relationship to the church.  What that means is that whether you are married or not, properly understanding God’s design and intentions for marriage helps you understand how Jesus loves, leads, forgives and walks in relationship with His bride, the church.
2. Understanding marriage helps you understand other relationships. Marriage is the first human relationship that God ever invented.  As such, it serves a specific role in informing all of our relationships.  Marriage is a microcosm stage where the friendship, tensions, conflicts and reconciliations we experience in all of our relationship gets played out on a daily basis and in extraordinary ways.
3. Understanding marriage helps you interact with married people. Whether you are married or not, you are likely to either already have or to have in the future close friendships with people who are married.  Understanding, studying and praying about what God and His Scripture have to say about marriage allows you to interact with married people (neighbors, parents, coworkers) in an informed and helpful way.  It’s interesting here to note that much of the teaching about marriage that we’ll be looking at comes from Paul and Jesus, neither of whom was married.
4. Understanding marriage helps you live on mission. Marriage is one of the most prevalent and clear pictures of how we live in a good world gone bad.  Broken marriages are in the news.  It’s in the tabloids.  It’s in our family histories.  It’s in our personal histories.  And no one believes that the brokenness of marriage in our society is how it was designed to work.  Everyone knows that marriage has been skewed since sin entered the world, whether or not they would use those words to explain it. So, the more you understand how Jesus loves to repair broken marriages, the more equipped you are to offer a uniquely Jesus-centered and hopeful position to the people in our city.
5. Understanding marriage equips you in the event that you get married.  We intentionally left the most obvious reason for last.  Statistics show that some 87% of all people will be married at some point in their lives.  That’s almost nine out of every ten people. Some have accused the church of rounding this number up and treating it like one hundred percent.  We don’t want to do that.  But we also don’t want to fail to prepare and equip the 87% of people who will statistically get married.  So if you turn out to be one of the 87% of people who get married at some point in the future, we hope this series goes a long way to equip you now in terms of preparation.  If you are single and turn out to be part of the 13% who don’t get married, refer back to reasons 1 through 4.

(This post was adapted from the Campaign Resource Guide)

Campaign Resource Guide

(Update 9/7/12: The PDF has been updated to include editable fields in place of blanks.) As we gear up for our new sermon series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want, our desire is for the series to be as helpful as possible, especially to the LifeGroups of our church.

As a resource to our LifeGroup leaders and members, we've published a Campaign Resource Guide to help learn and apply the teaching from the series. The guide walks through additional content for each week and includes discussion questions for you to discuss with your group, whether you're single or married.

Want to begin preparing you and your LifeGroup for the series?

[button label="Download the Campaign Resource Guide" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/AMYAW_LGBook_Editable.pdf" shape="default"]

A Marriage You'd Actually Want (a Poem)

http://vimeo.com/48293839  

Marriage.  Holy Matrimony.  Your fairy-tale romance is set to begin because you’ve found that one and only. So, now the two of you are off to live happily ever after With days filled with smiles, hugs, kisses, and laughter. 

But the state of marriage today is really pretty saddening Half of all marriages end in divorce; and half of the rest don’t seem happy The news is reporting that only 50% of adults today are married, That’s down from about three-forths in 1960. Hey why is this happening?

It seems our culture is looking at marriage like, “No thanks, I think I‘ll pass.” It’s not worth the risk. Besides, marriages really don’t last. So, I’ll just spare myself the pain from the old ball and chain Just to have my marriage eventually crash… 

And burn. And, because of divorce, there are some who, as children, were burned. Things got heated, people got mistreated, and you just heeded the lesson learned. The lesson: Don’t touch a hot stove because when you do, it leaves scars that last. Especially if you still have the scars of a divorce that happened in the past

Or maybe you’re in a marriage and its not what you hoped. There’s dysfunction and bitterness, and you don’t know how to cope. You’re trying to hang on, but you feel like you’re at the end of your rope. But what if you could have a marriage you’d actually want?

What if the husband loves his wife the way he loves himself, And she responds to his love with much love and respect? And what if the two were so struck by the love shown on the cross That they gave their lives to serve each other, no matter the cost? And what if the primary purpose of marriage is to display the Gospel of Christ, Showing each other genuine love and grace demonstrating his sacrifice?

What if you truly treasured your marriage, and your best friend was your spouse And the two of you could not wait for the next time you could have a night out.

So many have given up on marriage.  Here’s hoping that you don’t. What if, through in Jesus, you could have a marriage you’d actually want.

A Video about the Marriage Series

Teaching pastor Jon Ludovina shares a little about the upcoming sermon series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want. http://vimeo.com/47876161

Best First Week Ever

Every year when USC students arrive on Columbia's campus, Midtown throws a week of amazing events to kick off the school year. This year is no different. For Best First Week Ever 2012 we're bringing free coffee, a dance party, a dodgeball tournament, football and lots of food. A smörgåsbord of goodness and you're invited!

Sunday - College Hangout

Details: frisbee, spikeball, football, music, food, drinks. 8/19/12 || After our 7pm Gatherings, from 8:30-10pm at Strom Field

Monday - Greene Street Day

Details: games, music, costumes, life-sized jenga, cornhole, free shirts, freezie pops 8/20/12 || 1-3pm in front of Russell House

Wednesday - Cool Beans

Details: free coffee from Cool Beans, games outside. 8/22/12 || 8-10pm at Cool Beans

Thursday - Dance Party

Details: Need we say more? DJ'ed by DJ Willdabeast. 8/23/12 || 8-10pm in the Russell House Ballroom C

Friday - Dodgeball Tournament

Details: Bring a team of 5 (or just show up) and throw down. 8/24/12 || 2-4:30 at Blatt Field

If you're in college, you're invited to come hang out with us this week. All of the events are free. Definitely swing by, it will be a lot of fun. Best First Week Ever!

5 Reasons Sunday Gatherings are Incomplete

As a church, we seek to be the church by gathering corporately on Sundays, and by gathering in LifeGroups in each other’s homes.  We do this to follow the biblical model of the early church seen in Acts 2:42-47. For a long time, we have correctly emphasized the need for Jesus-centered community through small groups, in some part to fight the ever-popular “Sunday-only” mentality about church in our culture. We have not spent as much time explaining the biblical reasons for our Sunday worship gatherings. Sunday gatherings are both important and incomplete.  So, here are 5 reasons Sunday gatherings are incomplete. To find out why Sunday gatherings are important, read part one.

1. More difficult to consistently show our love for one another. In John 13:34-35, Jesus tells His disciples to love each other the way that He has loved them.  Then He tells them that people will know that they are His disciples if they have love one for another.  If showing up on Sundays is our only church experience, we won’t have the opportunity to really love each other the way Jesus loved us. Additionally, outsiders won’t be as able to see His love at work in us.

2. Easy to just “sit and watch” If we only attend corporate gatherings, there is often no one to encourage and/or rebuke us if we aren’t applying God’s Word to our lives and repenting of sin. This form of accountability is much easier to do when God’s Word is being taught and discussed in a small group format.

3. Easy to hide If we're honest, there’s a part of us that doesn’t want people to see the sin in our lives even though it is beneficial.  If we only attend corporate gatherings, it is very easy for us to show up, sing, and hear a sermon without every being transparent with others about what’s really going on in our lives.

4. Lack of relationships Often in corporate gatherings, it is extremely difficult to build relationships that are deeper than the surface.  In order for us to live out our identity as family, we should pursue deep meaningful relationships with our brothers and sisters.

5. Easy to hear the gospel, but harder to experience its effect. Only attending corporate gatherings keeps us from experiencing and displaying the gospel in the most tangible ways in our relationships.  For example, we can experience the gospel in a real way when our LifeGroup family keeps forgiving us because of Christ after we‘ve sinned against them multiple times.  This often puts the gospel in perspective in a way that hearing the gospel does not.

5 Reasons Sunday Gatherings are Important

As a church, we seek to be the church by gathering corporately on Sundays, and by gathering in LifeGroups in each other’s homes.  We do this to follow the biblical model of the early church seen in Acts 2:42-47. For a long time, we have correctly emphasized the need for Jesus-centered community through small groups, in some part to fight the ever-popular “Sunday-only” mentality about church in our culture. We have not spent as much time explaining the biblical reasons for our Sunday worship gatherings. Sunday gatherings are both important and incomplete.  So, here are 5 reasons Sunday gatherings are important.

1. Jesus and early church leaders preached to large gatherings On multiple occasions throughout Scripture we see Jesus and Peter addressing thousands of people at once. Paul also often taught to large gatherings of people on a regular basis. Christians have been gathering in large groups to worship and teach Scripture ever since the church began. If Jesus, Peter, and Paul consistently gathered in large groups; it seems important enough that we should too.
2. Gospel proclamation God is a preaching God; using His word ever since creation to enact change in the world. Throughout Scripture God has chosen to speak through the mouths of men to His people. Sunday gatherings give us a great opportunity to continue to faithfully proclaim God’s word and the message of the gospel.
3. Unity As we try to be the church through LifeGroups on mission, Sunday gatherings give us the opportunity to unify under Christ as we pursue His mission. We gather together as the church to unify all of our LifeGroups under the gospel, committing together to continue to pursue God’s mission with Him.
4. Corporate Worship Sunday gatherings give us the opportunity to worship God together through giving, singing, and teaching. As Paul instructs both the Ephesian and Colossian church to address each other in “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” gathering together each week allows us to address on another and God to address us through worship.
5. Mission Sunday gatherings continue the mission of God. We are able to proclaim the gospel and introduce people to Jesus-centered family each time we gather to worship and proclaim the name of Jesus. Gathering allows us to host our city well as we pursue Jesus-centered family on mission loving and serving the city with the gospel.

Tomorrow we'll post part 2, "5 Reasons Why Sunday Gatherings Are Incomplete."

10 More Ways to Spot Pride in Your Life (21-30)

In keeping with our current series on Humility, we've been posting practical ways to spot pride and cultivate humility in your life. Below you'll find 10 more ways to spot pride. If you've missed the previous two posts, you can find #1-10 here, and #11-20 here. 21. Do you have a hard time admitting you're wrong? Do you often find yourself covering up, excusing, or soft-selling your sin instead of admitting it?

22. Do you have a hard time receiving correction? Do you find yourself jabbing back, changing the subject, or joking to redirect attention after someone calls you out? Do you view correction as an invasion to your privacy and dismiss the person correcting you as being invasive?

23. Do you end up resenting people who correct you? Instead of responding with gratefulness whens someone helps you see sin in your life, do you often get bitter and withdraw from the relationship? Do you respond by dwelling on their faults, whether it's internally or verbally toward them?

24. Are you constantly finding yourself in conflicts with others? Do you have a hard time getting along with most people? Do people regularly tell you they "struggle" with you?

25. Do you have little esteem or respect for others? Do you think lowly of people? Do you have a hard time complimenting or honoring others?

26. Are you self-willed and/or stubborn? Do you have a hard time cooperating with others? Do you love your own way and insist on getting it?

27. Are books and sermons consistently "too shallow for you?" Do you regularly dismiss teaching through various mediums because you consider yourself too mature to learn from them?

28. Is it hard for you to learn from people different from you? Discernment is a good thing, but do you refuse to learn from anyone that isn't exactly like you, just because they're different?

29. Are you quick to speak? Is your voice always your favorite voice in the room?

30. Do you constantly find yourself wanting to impress people? Do you use clothes, possessions, money, talents, and the like to point to yourself and draw compliments from others?

10 More Ways to Spot Pride in Your Life (11-20)

Here's 10 more ways to spot pride in your life. If you missed the previous post, you can find it here. To follow along with our sermon series on Humility, find the podcasts here.

1. Are  you prayerless? If you are slow to pray, you're believing the lie that you are self-sufficient. You aren't moved to prayer because you believe you can handle whatever it is by taking matters into your own hands.
2. Do you hate asking for help? If you need help with something, but won't admit it or ask for it because you "don't want to be a burden." Often pride masks itself with fake selflessness.
3. Are you easily offended? If you're always offended, it screams of an "I deserve better" attitude. When people make fun of you, is your first instinct to jab back? When you are forgotten, neglected, or overlooked, do you sting back or respond with passive aggressive comebacks?
4. Do you fish for compliments? Again, sometimes pride wears a humility disguise. Do you go to people and say "I'm really not good at this," just hoping they'll disagree and pay you a compliment?
5. How much do you compare yourself to others? This can take all different forms: looks, possessions, abilities, talents, religious performance, morality, income, job performance, and most anything else. Most always, comparison is a way to puff up pride in yourself.
6. Do you use social media to draw attention to yourself? Fishing for laughs, retweets, 'likes,' pity, sympathy, argument, or love via Facebook and Twitter are easy ways to walk in pride and avoid walking in community.
7. Do you love expressing your opinion? Feeling like your required to give your opinion and answer for every question and every subject says "people can't survive without knowing what I think on this." My opinion is as valid, if not more valid than everyone else's (Proverbs 18:2).
8. Are you unkind or harsh? Being insensitive towards others often indicates an understanding that they aren't worth your time or effort.
9. Is it hard to admit you don't know something? If you consistently make up answers on the spot rather than saying "I don't know," it usually indicates a "must hold it all together" attitude, or pride.
10. How often do you interrupt? Do you regularly interrupt people before they finish a thought so that you can express yours?