This Sunday I preached a message out of John 15:5-8.  The thesis is that we prove to be Jesus’ disciples by producing much fruit.  From John 15 we jumped to Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower.  We learned that we are able to produce good fruit by being fruitful soil.You can listen to it here:  http://greenhillschurch.org/Podcast/2_28_10.mp3

After the service someone asked me to elaborate on how the Holy Spirit allows us to be good soil.  I felt that the best way for me to address this question was here, online.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is God’s main tool to transform us into the likeness of his son Jesus.  The Holy Spirit speaks to us by convicting us of sin and moving in us to do God’s work.  The best way to have the Holy Spirit work in your life is to begin to have a relationship with him.  The Bible tells that he is the third part of the Godhead.  That means that he is as much God as God the Father and Jesus.  Although he isn’t human, he is a person with the desire to be in relationship with us.  As we grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit, through prayer to him and trying to do his will we will change into being good soil.

One of the most powerful roles that the Holy Spirit does in our lives is being a helper.  Jesus tells us about the role of the Holy Spirit in John 14.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  John 14:26

I find great confidence in becoming good soil knowing that the Holy Spirit is working in me. That he is going to teach me all things and that he will help me follow Jesus’ teachings.

To hear more about the role of the Holy Spirit you can listen to this message on the Holy Spirit that we taught on Recently.  Just click on the link!

http://greenhillschurch.org/Podcast/1_10_10.mp3

Hi!  I want to invite you all to the Show Love Benefit Concert.  It is a concert to raise funds for Brad and Katie Dunlap who are adopting a child from Ethiopia.  It is Saturday night February 20th at the Edgehill Cafe at 7PM.  Josh Bronleewe, Jason Eskridge and Sarah Jane Madole are performing.

Adopting a child is a huge undertaking.  It takes a lot of time and money ($25K at last count).  So please be praying for them and if God puts it on your heart you might consider donating to bringing this child home.

You can follow their journey at http://www.dunlapadoption.com/

Whenever something really tragic happens, whether it is a hurricane, earthquake or personal loss.  When that happens we struggle with why God would let something like that happen.  This reveals that we really don’t trust God.  At a core level our hearts do not trust that God is in control.  I wrote a long article about this last year and thought it would be appropriate to repost it again here today.  I hope it is helpful.

I have found that most of us struggle with a fundamental distrust of God.  Even if you are a devout believer in God, when tough times come it is easy to begin to doubt the fundamental nature of who God is.  That is because at our core we believe that bad stuff shouldn’t happen to good people.  We think only good things should happen to good people.  We believe subconsciously in a cause and effect relationship with the universe.  Subtly, we begin to see God as someone who spends his time averting evil from people who follow him and rewarding them for doing good.  At the same time he is punishing people for doing bad things and bringing chaos into their lives.

Unfortunately in the real world, bad things do happen to nice people.  Good things happen to bad people.  It seems really unfair.  When pain enters into our life we doubt whether God is good, omniscient, and all powerful.  We may even wonder if God exists at all.  This is because we do not have a good understanding of the God of the Bible.

It is easy to lose hope in God when we think that he allows evil things to happen and for justice to be withheld without a good reason.  But just because we can’t fathom a reason why bad things may happen to us or to those we designate as good, does not mean that God doesn’t exist.  It’s a form of pride in our own mental abilities, to imagine that with our finite understanding of the universe and the limited time we have on the planet we could figure our all of God’s reasons for why we experience pain.  But as we look at the Bible we can find an answer to the question of evil.

In the Bible, we find a God who is good, all powerful,  and hates evil.  However, he allows evil to exist in the world for an important reason.

The reason that God allows evil to exist is rooted firmly in the gospel.  This is Christianity 101.  God allows evil to happen because he loves people. I understand this seems very counter intuitive.  Why would God allow pain and suffering in the lives of people that he loves.  Isn’t that sadistic and cruel?  That doesn’t seem very loving.  According to the Bible however, God allows evil to exist because he wants to rescue humanity from its clutches.  God has vowed to end evil, pain,  and suffering forever someday but he has held back because he is extending grace to those who are perpetuating this cycle of evil, namely you and I.

You see, if God was to destroy evil and suffering today, then he would have to destroy all people who are currently under the domination of sin.  It is a package deal.  If he were to destroy one part of the construct of this world he has to destroy all of it.  Humans are tied into the story of suffering and injustice because we are the ones who initiated it into this world.  We are not exempt from the system of this world that we are born into. God does his work of limiting evil by setting constraints upon it.   When he finally does away with evil, all those who do not come to a repentant relationship with Jesus Christ will be destroyed along with evil, injustice and pain.  God is extending mercy upon humanity by waiting to do away with evil.

An interesting side effect of God extending mercy on humanity is that God has not exempted himself from the human problem of pain.  Jesus entered into the world and experienced pain and suffering first hand.  God has not chosen to keep pain at an arms distance but has instead chosen to enter into it.  He understands what it is like to suffer.  He understands what it is like to be mocked, because he was scorned by the religious crowd.  He understands what it is like to hurt when a family member dies young, his earthly father Joseph died before his time.  He understands what it is like to be different, he was seen as an interloper by the leaders of the Jews.  Jesus knows what it is like to be beaten and cursed at.    He even understands what it is like to die for what you believe in.  He understands pain.  And he has chosen to weld his story with ours so that God no longer has the choice to opt out of human suffering.

This is why we can have confidence in God.  Because God has said that we are now his people.  That we have been shown mercy.  1 Peter 2:10 says ‘Once you were not a people but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.”  God now offers us a chance to get away from the consequences of sin and pain through Jesus.

The problem is that we struggle when times get hard.  We quickly stop trusting God when pain enters into our life.  That is because we are really in it for ourselves.  However, God does promise to redeem terrible situations for good.  God is in the redemption business.  God wants to use our hard times to show himself to the world through us.  God uses our suffering as a stage to reveal himself to people far from him. There is a purpose behind the things that we go through.  I love John 9:3 what Jesus says when he is asked about a man who had been blind from birth.  His disciples wanted to know whose fault it was that he had been born blind.  Jesus said, it was neither the mans fault or his parents fault, but it was so the works of God might be displayed in him.  That is amazing.  God allows the pain of this world to exist so that he can show himself to be God.

I don’t know if you are struggling today with some sort of suffering or pain, but I know that God is at work within you if you let him take the stage.  If you say God, I trust you with everything, then he is able to take your pain and make something amazing out of your life.  God has not forgotten where you are and what you are going through.  1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast your care upon him because he cares for you.”  The first step to casting you cares/suffering upon him is to trust Jesus. Trusting someone that you have an innate tendency to mistrust is a difficult process but it is one that brings eternal dividends.  It is a leap of faith that God really has your best interest in mind.

My buddy Josh Bronleewe just decided to enter the blogosphere.  If you have been checking out my blog for a while you probably have heard some of his music.  Anyway, I wanted to recommend his blog to you.  Here is an excerpt from his latest post:

God has broken my heart for something. Over the past few weeks many thoughts and promptings have been swirling around in my heart and mind, and on Saturday morning they all came to fruition in a puddle of tears on my pillow. That morning I woke up and started weeping. Not crying, weeping. My first instinct was to shut it off. So I tried. And then I wept a little more. It’s been a long time since I’ve wept like that. Now, this is a bit embarrassing to share in my first blog post because I rarely cry, let alone admit it! But it’s all good because I know it’s from God, and this is why I wept: God has broken my heart for Africa.

Before we go there, let me jump into your world for a second and then we’ll make our way back. So, whether we’ll admit it or not, most of us have bought into the philosophy that what we need to finally make us happy is just more of what we already possess. More things, more success, more whatever. Those of you reading this on an Apple computer know exactly what I’m talking about (yes, I have a macbook). In annual fashion, Apple will unleash a new line of sleeker, cooler, savvier gadgets that will wow the masses. Mouths will salivate, eyes will sparkle, and wallets will become lighter. It’s just understood that the gadget you bought last year is now archaic, inefficient, and lame. This attitude pervades our culture, and it’s madness. I believe it’s why Christmas has become so commercialized – acquisition pumps through our veins. Over the next few weeks we will make our way through stores buying things to give to people we love, all the while knowing we’ll get something back in return, we’ll have something under the tree with OUR name on it. Something NEWER. Something BIGGER. Something BETTER than the thing we had before. “Maybe THIS will make me happy,” our hearts say. This makes me very sad. There are tremendous and staggering needs in Africa (thousands, mostly children, dying of starvation every day) while we observe the wonderful Christmas traditions of trading ipods for tv’s in our comfortable, padded lives. Some would respond to that by saying, “That’s just the way things are.” You’re right. But they don’t have to be! Somewhere along the way, we decided to close our fists tight and began to hoard. Self preservation runs our lives.

To keep reading the rest of his post check him out at:  http://awakenmyheart.wordpress.com/

If you want to meet the next mother Theresa read this blog: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ She is 20 and serving the poor in Africa.  Please read her blog.  It will move your heart!  Her story about Josie-Love is amazing.

Serving children who have needs is something that always grabs my heart.  I started sponsoring a child several years ago and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  To be honest it is a sacrifice.  Even though it isn’t a ton of money every month, its only $38 a month, it still is a sacrifice to care for someone else.  To be a good compassion sponsor you need to open your heart to someone else.  You need to pray for your child.  You need to write them and let them know who you are.  Sadly, I don’t do a good job of keeping up with my compassion kid.  But today I watched this video that challenged me.  If you have 5 minutes today please watch it.  It is so worth it.

Green Hills Church made the news.  Fox 17 (the local Nashville affiliate) asked to do a feature on us this past sunday.  The piece aired September 20th on the evening news.  It is a really cool piece that gives a good look at our church and why we are in Nashville.  You can get a good look at what our worship environment, music and teaching looks like.

Check out the video here:  http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/top_stories/wztv_vid_1460.shtml

Here is the excerpt from Fox 17’s website

Local Church Congregations Worshiping in Non-Traditional Places – Blair Simmons

It’s a growing trend — congregations are finding off-beat places to meet. It’s partially because of the economy, but in large part, their aim is to reach a different crowd.
Churches are getting creative. They’re meeting in coffee shops, business complexes — there’s even a “Cowboy Church” that meets in a rodeo arena… but if you think that’s unorthodox, check out Green Hills Church. They meet in a bar.

Ok!  So I have a confession to make.  I just joined Twitter last week.  I feel kind of like a sell out but I think it will be a cool instrument to continue reaching people through this blog.  If you are into Twitter you can follow me at Mike_Harder or http://twitter.com/mike_harder

See you online!

For those of you who came to Green Hills Church this Sunday you know that Josh played an amazing song after the Sermon.  Josh is a really talented song writer as well as being a stud worship leader.  Anyway, the song is called wake up.  If you like Howie Day, or Ben Folds Five, you will love this song.  Check it out here at  http://www.myspace.com/joshbronleewe  Let me know if you like the tune!

If you are interested in what we talked about on Sunday, Brad Dunlap, taught a great message about living a life in God’s light.  I think it is the best message I have heard him teach.  You can check out the podcast here.  

Just click the link to listen: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=274809927

As promised, here are pictures from our picnic and baptisms!  What a special day.