"Biblically I am a Masterpiece" by Pastor Brian Adleman

You ever get those thoughts about how you are useless, no-good, not skinny enough, not strong enough, not cool enough, etc? Man, we all get these thoughts, but the thing is these thoughts are all lies. This world feeds us this garbage everyday. You can’t turn the TV on or listen to the radio without having some lie plastered in your head, making us feel less important in this huge world. I used to be depressed thinking I was worthless, but then I found truth about who I was. God says that we are a “Masterpiece” in Ephesians 2:10. The definition of Masterpiece is “the most outstanding work of a creative artist or craftsman.” A Masterpiece is not worthless. In Colossians 1:22 it says “Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” When I read that, it just clicked in my head and in my heart. The world says we are nothing, but God the Truth says that we are HOLY, BLAMELESS, and WITHOUT FAULT. We are truly a Masterpiece; don't let the world or anyone else tell you differently.

Addiction: Perfection or Problem?

by Noah Nickel



There’s this show on TV called “Intervention.” I’ve watched a few episodes, and then last night I caught the new one with my wife. If you are unfamiliar with this show let me give you a quick run-down. The show is based on individuals who are addicts; people who are facing problems with drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, and the like. The show follows them around filming them. The ‘addict’ thinks they are partaking in a documentary on addiction, but what is really happening is that they are about to have an intervention by their family and friends for one final plea for them to go get help. It’s a very moving, touching, frustrating show -maybe that’s why I like it- there’s so much darkness, but hope and love always shine through.

So I watched the show last night. This morning, my wife is leading staff prayer here at the church and she says a phrase that catches my attention and I can only focus on this phrase for the remaining of our prayer time. She says something to the effect of “God, we are dependent on you.” I’m not sure why this caught me and stuck with me, but it did. So I started to think about ‘dependency,’ and needless to say I paired it with this show I had just watched last night of people that were ‘dependent’ (or so they thought) on these substances or actions. And I had to ask myself, “Noah, what are you dependent upon? Really, think about it. What do you depend on? What do you need in your life to keep you going? What can’t you live without?” To be honest with you, I couldn’t come up with anything. I mean, I have many things in my life that I love and that I want, but dependency -that’s like an addiction- and I don’t believe I’m addicted to anything. Now at first that sounds good. “Bless God, Christians shouldn’t be addicted to anything!”, is the phrase that is ringing in my head. But is it? Is it really a good thing to not be addicted or dependent? Of course, we could say being addicted to destructive behavior wouldn’t be a good thing in which I totally agree. But what about other things?

What about our addiction to love and sharing? Why can people become pathological liars, but not pathological sharers? Why can people have “uncontrollable anger” issues but not have “uncontrollable acting out in love” issues? Why can we feel like we need to sit in front of the TV for hours every day after work or school, or sit down on the internet googling our name or looking at stuff that we really don’t even care about, but we can’t “need to read our bible or pray”? Why are some people addicted and dependent on being around others -they need friends and relationships, and always have to be out doing something- but are ok with never spending time in silence in the presence of God or having a conversation with Him?

So the phrase “God, we are dependent on you.” caught my attention, because in all honesty, I’m not dependent on Him, and I’m not addicted to Jesus. But I realized that in order for my walk with Him to be more perfect, for my life to grow in Him to the “perfection of the saints” like Paul says, I need to be addicted. Do you?

The Danger Of Demonizing

Let me start by apologizing for slacking on recent blog posts. Ok..now that you’ve forgiven me let’s move on.

Over the past few weeks (more like months) I’ve come into contact with a concerning trend. I am one who is very strong on the belief of right and wrong, of sin, morality, purity, integrity, justice, and righteousness. I agree whole heartedly with not being wishy-washy when it comes to your stance on biblical and moral issues- I get all of that. But my latest concern is some people that take that stance so far that they begin to demonize people that believe or live differently. Let me give some examples- I don’t need to tell you that we are in the middle of a giant political drama unfolding before our eyes. In working at a church I receive lots and lots of e-mails (some wanted, many others unwanted)- and the growing trend over the past few months is the influx of e-mails I get telling me how one candidate is evil, a moron, stupid, and overall a not good person. Now, I understand that as Christians we are normally on the conservative side of politics- but the issue I have is when we start to no longer be concerned about facts and qualifications for leading our country, but we now are more concerned about smearing this individual and joining with the rest of the world in name calling and less-than Christ like attitudes towards people.
Rick Warren had the 2 candidates at his church a while ago for an open forum- and I love how Rick said “we must be careful to not begin to demonize people” – I think that says it all. I understand that we are extremely passionate about our political views, but we must be careful that in our disagreement with a certain person or party we don’t resort to name calling and demonizing another person for believing differently.
I have also over the past 2 years been extremely uncomfortable with the way that the church as a whole has dealt with the issue of homosexuality. Let me be very clear- I believe homosexuality is wrong, it’s sin, and there is no middle ground. But over the past few weeks I’ve come across a couple of preachers who in talking about the issue of homosexuality have not offered help but instead have used phrases, words, and name calling to describe those that are dealing with homosexuality-this in my opinion is not acceptable at all!
Overall the reason that I wrote this entry is to encourage all of us- when in a disagreement or presented with someone or something that goes against the convictions of your faith- let’s remember that we can still stand strong in our beliefs without having to lower our standards of love, compassion, and tolerance that Jesus taught us to have. Remember Jesus ate with tax collectors and prostitutes, he hung on the cross with two thieves, he came to heal the hurting and the broken- and you will never reach a person or have them feel comfortable enough to talk to you about their struggles if you and I continue to build up walls with our words and attitudes.

For Him
Noah

Who's Eating Your Lunch?

Who’s Eating Your Lunch?



I enjoy golfing- if you have been around me for any length of time, or attend any of our services- you know this. I have come to a point in my “golf life”- I now realize that when you put a golf club in my hand you will get one result, but when you put that same golf club in say…Tiger Woods’ hand- something completely different happens.

In the book of John chapter 6 :1-14- you find the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 (more likely 15,000 if they counted men, women and children). Now when I would normally read this story- I would just focus on the amount of people and all that was left over from just 2 small fish and 5 small loaves of bread. But the other week I was reading in John and came across this story and something else caught my attention- “Andrew said…this boy has his lunch with him”- this “boy- has his lunch with him”…hmmmmm. I started to think about who this young boy was, what was his story, and what is his significance. And without writing you a 5 page blog- let me sum it up- the boy found Jesus, he gave him all that he had- his lunch- the thing that was to sustain him, the thing that was going to keep him going- and he gave it to the hands of this man from Nazareth. Jesus takes the lunch- the bible says he places it in his hands- and blesses it.

You see- I believe when we take what sustains us, when we give all that we have to God- our talents, our gifts, our dreams- he puts his hands on them and blesses them- taking what is our natural ability, and putting his “super” on it- and making it supernatural. So the question of the day is- “who’s eating your lunch?”- have you given all you have to the hands of God and let him do with them what he sees fit- because you never know- through you he may be able to perform a miracle that will meet the needs of thousands of others.



For Him,



Noah

coffee snobs

Coffee Snobs

Noah Nickel

This entry is going to be short, but hopefully thought provoking in some way. I, like millions of other Americans have bought into the sick desire to wait in long lines just to get an overpriced cup of coffee from a well known chain of coffee shops that are decorated with a mermaid. I have recently had back to back encounters that have left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth (not talking about the cups of burnt coffee I have received from there either). I have pulled through the drive thru, after waiting in line for longer than I should, I hand the “barista” my money (paying more than I should), only to receive (both times) rude, exaggerative, and condescending remarks about how I like my coffee. IT’S MY STINKIN’ COFFEE- NOT YOURS- GO MAKE IT – GIVE IT TO ME- AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!! The sad thing about this is I know I will continue to purchase these drinks, pay the same amount, and possibly be treated the same…..sick isn’t it.
My purpose for writing this is that through these small, brief, but impacting encounters- the understanding of the effect that others have on you was re-ignited to me. I don’t know either of those ladies, probably will never meet them on a personal level, don’t know if they’re married, have kids, like their job, their age, if they go to church anywhere, nothing. It’s kind of like a lot of the people that we come across at school, work, in the gym, even coffee shops- those that we’ll probably never see again, or get to know personally. The question is- what kind of impression do we leave on them? I can tell you that mine wasn’t too good.
I think when it comes to calling ourselves “followers of Jesus” – we really need to take that to heart. Everywhere you go, every word you speak, every interaction you have- is to represent him. There’s a scripture in the bible that actually says that we are “ambassadors” for God. We are his representatives. So, when you’re out and you are interacting with others – who are you representing?

I Have Seen, Therefore... Do I Believe?

by Jordan Smucker

In John chapter 6, we find Jesus telling his disciples, his followers, to eat his flesh and drink his blood. The craziest thing about Jesus’ bizarre statements of cannibalism is that he doesn’t explain himself. Jesus, standing before a huge crowd of would be, could be devoted followers, out of left field, tells these people that if they want to experience eternal life, they have to EAT his flesh and DRINK his blood.

Imagine this for a moment. . . We all love and respect Pastor Noah. We believe him, we trust him, we follow him. We could say that we are followers of Pastor Noah (I just used ‘we’ a lot in the last 3 sentences). One Wednesday night, Pastor Noah is teaching and out of nowhere he says “Okay listen everyone, I am going to cut my fingers off and I want each of you to take turns chewing on one of them.” We would all stare at him for awhile to see if he was joking and just by the time we realize that he’s not he continues. “If you all choose to chew on my fingers and eat them, I will personally ask God to give you eternal life”.

I realize that this is a little far stretched but that’s pretty much what Jesus said to this huge crowd of people! These laid back country folk looked at Jesus and said “Who are you? You are just an average man like us. Sure we have seen you do a few miracles, but how can you give us eternal life. And do you realize that you are asking us to eat your flesh and drink your blood?”

We know that Jesus wasn’t speaking literally here and the truth is, these people knew that too. It wasn’t difficult for them to understand that Jesus wasn’t literally telling them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It was difficult however, for them to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the one and true living son of God. See, they saw Jesus as a baby and knew his parents. They saw him trip on a rock and stumble through his words. It was tough for them to grasp what Jesus was saying because He seemed just like them.

Many people deserted Jesus that day. They left, they quit following him because they didn’t want to believe that Jesus was sent by God and had the words of eternal life. Jesus even says “You have seen me but you don’t believe me”. These folk saw Jesus do all sorts of miracles but still didn’t believe him. At last, Jesus looks at his closest friends, the infamous 12 disciples and says “Will you leave me too?”.

Peter is the first to speak up. . .”Jesus, how could we leave you? You are the true, holy, and living son of God. You alone have the words of eternal life. We believe them, and we KNOW that you are the holy one of God.”

Peter KNEW Jesus and BELIEVED that if he followed Him, he would receive eternal life. The difficult words that Jesus spoke of earlier didn’t cause Peter to stumble because he had a relationship with Him. Contrary to the popular belief of that time, Peter was sold out for Christ.

Do you really KNOW Jesus, or do you just pretend to know Him. Talk to him like you would your best friend. Spend time with Him. When you have a real relationship with Him, nothing will cause you to stumble because you know that Jesus has got your back.

Are You Fruity???

Are You Fruity????

Let me start off this entry by addressing the title- I’m well aware of the many implications that this phrase may bring about, all of which I’m upfront letting you know are not applicable here….read on and you’ll see.
When I read through the bible and I come across interactions that God has with individuals, it’s interesting to me how often the idea of increase is brought about. Now I am the first to say that I think the “increase/prosperity” message has gotten extremely out of hand and off base in the past couple of years, but you also can’t ignore bible. You see, first God says to Adam to increase and then just a few chapters later in Gen 9:1 God says to Noah "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth…”.
I am very aware of the fact that multiple people of different ages subscribe and/or read this blog- but I want to for the next few moments gear this towards young people. We live in a crazy culture, a distraught society, and what in the natural seems to be an “unsure” economy. I’m not always sure that adults and the media understand the importance that young people play in the future development and success of this country, and I’m not sure young people do either.
I was home recently in Wisconsin for a funeral, (one of my grandmother’s went home to be with the Lord), and I was in discussion with my little brother (who’s really not “little” anymore- he’s about 2 inches taller than me and about 80 pounds heavier than me- and really, he could kick my butt in a second if he wanted) - and we were discussing his work. He used to wash windows- like the guys that’d get up on tall ladders or scaffolding and do big buildings, etc…- then he became a bouncer for a while (again, reference to strength and him not really being “little”)- and now he’s back to the window deal again. But in my talks with him he was sharing about how he was doing side work, and the work was pretty decent, and then he said that he would just like to do it on his own, not have to work for a company, no boss, make up your own hours, and get paid well. And we ventured down this road of self-employment for a bit, and through this conversation I realized something. Most young people have a desire in them to create, to venture out, to build their own thing. I run across a lot of young people (especially in my role as a pastor) who are desiring not to work for a huge company or anything like that, but to break out and start something of their own. I think it’s amazing- I think it’s great, but then 2-5 years pass and the economy starts to become more real to them, the responsibilities of marriage, college, kids- all starts to play a roll- and let’s not forget the thing that helps us make 99% of all life decisions once we are adults……our mortgage.
And I think it’s sad, I think it’s heartbreaking, I think…….I think it’s not what God intended. When God shares with individuals throughout scripture to “be fruitful and multiply”- I believe he’s encouraging creativity- he’s encouraging ambition- he’s wanting people to go out there and do what they desire- and be FRUITFUL!!!! Too many people give up on their initial dreams- …..DON’T!!!- God wants you to increase and be successful- one scripture says “God gives us the power to get wealth”- power to me means the ability, the dream , the drive- it’s not all about money- but it’s all about independence about being fruitful, about fulfilling the dreams we have to not be tied down by something like a mortgage, or some boss breathing down their neck- but taking the opportunity to get out there and create….so the question today is……are you being fruity???? As a young person- are you fulfilling what your heart is leading you towards, what God is leading you to do????? ……apple anyone?

For Him,

Noah

Blood and Water

It’s an interesting combination…blood and water. In John chapter 19 – it’s recapping the crucifixion of Jesus, and it gets to the point where they are about to break Jesus’ legs to speed up the dying process, but when they get to him he’s already dead. So a soldier picks up a spear and pierces the side of this proclaimed “king of the Jews”. The the text goes on to tell us that when that happened “…blood and water gushed out of his side”.

God’s been dealing and working these verses into me the past couple of months. Blood and water- you see, I believe there’s something extraordinary happening here. The symbolism of blood and water are the two most necessary things for us to live our lives as followers of Christ. You see, the blood represents the forgiveness of sins- the redemption of our souls, but, the water is a representation of what we partake in after we have been saved. You see, in Rev. 22:1 John reports seeing a river (also in Ps. 46:4) in heaven that is the “river-of-life”. God knows that once an individual enters into salvation through the shed blood of Jesus, there is a maintaining that will still need to take place. I’m beginning to understand the large numbers of people that end up walking away from Christianity, those that after a while turn their back on their faith, they leave the cross, and forsake the blood that washed away their sins…………their thirst.

Thirst is an interesting thing because when someone becomes thirsty enough they’ll start to do and go through extraordinary measures to quench their thirst. Once a person comes into contact with God and is “born-again” or “saved”, that’s not enough. It’s kind of like this- I enjoy having an excess amount of things- so with that comes my appreciation for a store like Sam’s Club- where you can buy a 5 gallon bucket of mayonnaise and be good for like 3 years. The thing about Sam’s Club is that you can’t just walk in off the street and shop there- you need an id card to get in to shop there. The blood (not to minimize, but for the sake of analogy) is like our Sam’s Club ID card- it’s given us the availability and validation to get to the store. The store would be the presence of God. Just because you have the id card and access doesn’t mean your going to go there- you could sign up and become a Sam’s Club member and never-ever shop there. And this is where a lot of believers miss it. They have been washed in the blood, and have the ability to access the presence of God, but they never go “shopping”. Only when I go to the store can I pick up the things that I need- if you never participate in the presence or the river of life – which the water of Jesus’ side represents- you’ll eventually get thirsty for something else- and you’ll start shopping around to other places.

Acts chapter 3 says “…repent and turn to God so that your sins may be blotted out (this is what the blood does), so that times of refreshing may come” this is the representation of the water that came out of Jesus’ side). We as Christians need to continually access and get to the presence of God, the river of life, and get refreshed, filled up, and rested in him. It’s a daily thing that must take place- or else our “thrist” will lead us to something else, and pull us away from his presence- so I guess the question is – when is the last time you’ve been down by the river?

For Him,

Noah

The Resume of Relationships

So we're talking about relationships now on Wed. nights. I'm constantly learning the importance and need for others in our lives. As young people we get caught up in the idea and pattern of life and we start to attach ourselves to individuals without much thought. In the bible in Psalms 1:1 it says "Blessed is the person who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly." The crazy thing about this is during prayer and studying for this series God brought me to this verse and showed me the magnitude of what it's saying. You see Psalms is the largest book of the bible (150 chapters)- and to start off this massive book - the very first verse talks about relationships. I believe that if we as followers of Jesus determine in our lives to keep our counsel (our friendships) consistent with those of like faith (and there's a whole lot we can talk about with those who claim to be of "like faith") - then what we are doing is we are opening our lives up to allow God to bless us in ways we wouldn't otherwise experience.
You see, relationships are crucial- they're needed- YOU NEED FRIENDS!!!! If anyone tells you otherwise, well, sorry...but they're lying. In Genesis when God created Adam- he formed him and then walked with Adam, talked with Adam, engaged a relationship with Adam. He didn't form him and the say "yo Adam, good to form ya- gotta go make some more crazy creatures in heaven..text me sometime...peace." No, he stuck around and was involved with Adam's life- then he took another step and formed Eve (oh Jesus, help me- I don't have time to go there about the importance of a good wife) and said "i'm hangin' with Adam, but it's not enough, it's not good for him to be alone." So Eve comes about. We need other people, it's in our genes, in our existence as humans. The thing is, our relationships need to be founded in the idea that this person is a benefit to my life and i'm a benefit to them. We have too many surface relationships, I honestly believe we make friends too fast!!! Please pay attention to this next statment: "There is a process for friendships"- pals go through a process. Your friendship and what you have to offer someone is amazing, don't just give it and let anyone have it. Make sure they are going through a process where you evaluate there character, integrity, and most of all, their love for God. You need to ask youself this..."Since I've been friends with this person, am I closer to Jesus?" We need friends that challenge us, and hold us accountable to love God and walk in his ways. So..........do you love him more? And if not, then I would say there needs to be a healthy seperation. Paul and Mark were friends, both Christians, but they had a falling out on one of Paul's apostolic journeys and Mark took off under what I'd imagine weren't the greatest circumstances. Then you read at the closing of 2 Timothy in chapter 4- Paul says, "...and bring Mark to me, for he is a benefit to my ministry." Sometimes "Christian" friends need a seperation to make sure they are loving and following God whole heartedly in their own lives. Maybe there's some relationships you need to seperate from for a time. Becuase remember......your friendship is valuable.