Category Archives: purpose driven

The Most Important Answer

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Church, mission, purpose driven, Uncategorized

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Why is it that over 3 billion people are celebrating this week around the globe? As we turn our attention to Holy Week, the most important week in Christianity, I’m confident there are some of you reading this who may not understand the significance of Holy Week. Or, you have someone in your Oikos (relational network) who could use a link to this blog because they just don’t “get what it’s all about.”  There are also those who would say they are Christian, but they are not sure about Jesus entirely and they are apathetic about the pursuit of the full truth in Christ. 

And, there are those out there that would say they are agnostic, which is a person that believes nothing is known or can be known about God. While the agnostic or apathetic belief system may be a convenient one, it certainly will not get you the answer to the most important question. When it comes to your faith or the lack thereof: What you believe about Jesus is the most important thing in your life. It has implications for this life and the life to come.

Briefly, let me give you an overview of Holy Week. Our attention turns to this miraculous week on Palm Sunday, one week before Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:5-9) as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as predicted in Zechariah 9:9, some FIVE centuries before it actually happened: 

Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.
Continuing into Holy Week leads us to Thursday, traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. Jesus uses the setting of the Last Supper to be an example by washing the disciples feet before the meal. It reminds us of when Jesus said  “I have come to serve, not to be served” Mark 10:45. Maundy Thursday also signifies the remembrance of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus had with the disciples before he would be arrested later that night.  Maundy comes from the latin, mandatum meaning “Commandment” which comes from Jesus’ words on that Holy Thursday, in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another.” 

Good Friday is typically a more sepulchral or subdued time where we as Christians reflect on all that Christ did for us in taking our sins on himself and suffering the punishment and death we deserved on the cross. This is a time of worship, communion, reflection and prayer in churches (online this year) and homes across the world.

Then Sunday, that life-changing, world changing day when Jesus Christ rose from the grave and proved he is who he said he is…God in the flesh, forgiver of sins, giver of hope, purpose and life.

So, why are over 3 billion people celebrating this week? They have figured out the answer to the most important question in life when it comes to Jesus Christ. 

The most important thing you have to figure out about Jesus is this … 
Is He God or is He a fraud? 
Let me give you an example: If I said, “Hi, my name’s Jeremy and I teach the Bible and it IS going to help you,” … you could probably buy that. You may even say (if I paid you enough) that, “Hey, Jeremy’s a good teacher.” But if I said, Hey my name’s Jeremy, I teach the Bible, because, by the way, “I’m God,” … you’d have a decision to make! Am I who I say I am, or am I a fraud? Because a “good teacher” in their right mind, would never say that they are God. Yet Jesus did say that. 
Colossians 1:15 claims that Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.” That’s an audacious statement! He claimed to be God many times, even in John 10:30 when he said, “I and the Father are one.“
So, Jesus, although he was a good teacher, he never claimed to be just a good teacher. He actually claimed he was God! That leaves humanity with a decision to make, is Jesus who he said he is or is he a fraud? 

If you’ve been around Christianity you’ll recall this argument. It’s the Liar, Lunatic or Lord argument, and I’ve added another “L”, Likable. It goes like this, Jesus is either a Liar … a Lunatic … or he is the Lord. For many people, they may say, “Well, I don’t think he is a Liar, or I don’t think he is a Lunatic, but I can’t say he’s the Lord.  But I would say he is likable. He taught good things, moral things, he was gentle, he helped people, yeah, he’s likable.” 

But, here’s the problem, Jesus doesn’t leave us with the option of “Likable.” Although he certainly is, he said, “I am God, and when you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” That leaves you with a decision to make.  He is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or he is the Lord of the universe that over 3 billion people are celebrating this week.  The answer to that question in your life, is the most important one you will ever give.

I want to encourage you if you’re apathetic or agnostic or even an honest atheist, to dig, do your own research on Jesus, dig into the claims of Christ. Who knows, you just might find what you’ve been looking for all along; Peace, purpose, happiness, and what over 3 billion people are celebrating this week, salvation in Jesus Christ.

If you want more information please tune in to our Live Good Friday service this Friday (April 10) at 7:00pm PST and our Easter Sunday services at 9:00am, 10:30am, 3:00pm, and 5:00pm PST, all available on http://www.skylinechurch.org.
God bless you, happy Holy Week, and keep your head up, we’re going to get through this Coronavirus together.

Jeremy

And if you’re interested in getting baptized, let me know by filling out our Connection Card. Just check Baptism in the Next Steps section and we’ll get connected!

New Year’s Goals and Resolutions

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in purpose driven, Uncategorized, vision

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“Happy New Year”

 

I love the new year. I love new beginnings. I love setting new goals for the new year and making resolutions to reach them. According to StatisticBrain.com[1] The top resolutions made are

 

1 Lose Weight / Healthier Eating 21.4%
2 Life / Self Improvements 12.3%
3 Better Financial Decisions 8.5%
4 Quit Smoking 7.1%
5 Do more exciting things 6.3%
6 Spend More Time with Family / Close Friends 6.2%
7 Work out more often 5.5%
8 Learn something new on my own 5.3%
9 Do more good deeds for others 5.2%
10 Find the love of my life 4.3
11 Find a better job 4.1%
12 Stop being a Raider fan 13.8%

 

Ok, I added the last one, that category is actually “other.” I find it interesting that only about 9% of people who make resolutions actually attain success with the resolution.

 

Percent of Americans who usually make New Year’s Resolutions 41 %
Percent of Americans who infrequently make New Year’s Resolutions 17 %
Percent of Americans who absolutely never make New Year’s Resolutions 42 %
Percent of people who felt they were successful in achieving their resolution 9.2 %
Percent who have infrequent success 48.4%
Percent who never succeed and fail on their resolution each year 42.4%
People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions  

 

I believe resolutions have POTENTIAL for greatness. Goals are important in attaining success in any resolution. Every resolution needs a process. Every goal needs incremental steps. No resolution can be accomplished without the PROCESS. Committing to a goal is great. But, if the goal is committed to but there is not a clear process of how to achieve that goal, well, a 9% success rate is actually surprisingly high. In that case, it’s more luck than anything I suppose. However, when one takes a goal and puts a step by step process to it, they are much more likely to achieve your goal. According to mindtools.com[2] you need to set goals to be successful in life, but you also need well defined steps to help you accomplish those goals.

 

As a Pastor, I know many people make a resolution to read the Bible in a year. Using this as an example; There are 1,188 chapters in the Bible. If someone were to resolve to read all 1,188 then they need a clear plan to get them there. And, there are a number of ways they can do this. If you take 1,188 and divide it by 365 you will see that you get 3.25 chapters per day. If someone were to read about 3 chapters a day they would read the entire Bible in a year. Reading about 3 chapters a day is a plan and a step by step process to complete the goal of reading the entire Bible. Whether it’s a spiritual goal or a physical goal or any other goal, it must have a clear step by step process and even smaller goals within the bigger goal to be realistically accomplished.

 

In our new series, Re-Wired I will be talking about the different areas of our lives and how we can be changed for the better in the areas of our spiritual, relational, emotional, financial, vocational, and other areas of our lives. But, it takes more than a resolution, it takes a step by step plan to get you there. Thankfully, the Bible has laid it out for us. God’s Word doesn’t just tell us, “Get better!” It shows us how on a step by step basis we can grow in each of the areas God has called us to grow. I hope you’ll join us as we kick off the series on January 7. If you can’t be here in person, join us online, live every Sunday at 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am. If you miss a message, you can always grab them on our app or on our website at www.7sd.org.

 

Join me, in Resolving to Change in 2018! With Jesus at the helm of your life, this year will be different!

[1] https://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/

[2] https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_90.htm

A Great Week

20 Tuesday May 2008

Posted by in Church, jeremy, mcgarity, PD, purpose driven, seven sd

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It’s been a great week. We had Sagemont Church from Houston Texas in town for the week helping us with missions work in the Chula Vista community. This is a college group of 22 people that gave up a week of their vacation to make a difference in our community. They are such a great group…what a blessing to have them out here. All their hard work in the community paid off. On Sunday we had our largest attendance since we’ve moved to the theater. It’s exciting seeing what God is doing in such a young church.

Sagemont helped us survey our community and continue to get the heartbeat and pulse of Otay Ranch. Questions that were asked on the survey included: 1. Do you go to church (if yes, we said thank you and moved on). 2. If not, why not. 3. What would a church need to pique your interest to go? 4. Any suggestions for a brand new church starting in your community? After they completed the survey we asked if there was anything we could help them with, i.e., yardwork, etc. We are compiling the information and looking forward to seeing the results so we can better serve the people God has placed in our lives.

Now, I just drove up to Saddleback Church with Koby Orr (our worship leader at Seven SD). We’re at the Purpose Driven Network conference in Lake Forest, CA. It’s great visiting with friends and meeting with National Leaders, learning and growing. I am a learner (according to “Now Discover Your Strengths”..Marcus Buckingham) so an environment like this really fires me up. Just heard a great comment, “the mind can only absorb as much as the seat can endure.” my seat is a hurtin’ man but mind is absorbin’….been here about 10 hours now…lots going on…all good.