Hosea 1:2-3 (Pt. II)

This is part 2 of Hosea 1:2-3 “The unbeliever’s whoredom.” Last time we looked at the believer’s.
For this section we’ll look at Romans 3 starting in verse 10

“’None is righteous, no not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good;
not even one.’
‘Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.’
‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’
‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’
‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.’
‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”

One who does not believe is first of all, disobedient, and therefore in direct rebellion to God their Maker. Rom. 11:30, 32; Ephesians 2:1-2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6; Hebrews 4:6,11 these verses all speak of the disobedience of unbelievers (some of which have now become believers, by God’s grace) The Greek word is “apeithia” not only means ‘disobedience’ but also ‘rejection of belief.’ Thus when the dead man is not doing good, nor can do good, he is living in unbelief and therefore rejection of the Gospel.
Faith is an act of obedience toward the calling of God in our lives. Now the calling of God is irresistible, yet at the same time it is still obedience to believe the Gospel.
Those who are living unaware in their whoredom are those that do not believe the Gospel; those that do not have the call of God on their life; those that, as Romans 3 puts it, have, ‘no fear of God in their eyes.’
Thus for those of you that do not believe the Gospel, your whoredom is just as real, you just don’t know better. How could dead people know better?
So, examine your life. Do you believe the Gospel? The purpose of this blog is not to make you wonder whether or not you’ve been redeemed rather it is to spur you who are believers on to grow. And to spurn you who do not believe to belief. So for both you who believe and you who do not believe be, “working out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13)”

Laminin

We had another great week of worship at Journey The Way. I think I met like 10 new people yesterday. God is at work and we pray that he continues to move.

Yesterday during my sermon I referenced a video talking about Laminin. I wanted to post that video here for you to see. I think you will be amazed as I am at our creator. Jesus is worthy of our worship and praise.





My prayer is that you realize that God made you and He has plans for you. His desire is that you live all of life to glorify Him.

For the praise of His glory,
Chad

Time with God...

How and when do you get time with the Lord? I have walked with the Lord now for 22 years, and one of the things has marked great times of success in ministry and joy in life has been the times when I have been in the word on a consistent basis. I confess that those times have been minority as opposed to the majority. I think Chandler hits the nail on the head in this interview when he prompts us to ask the how and the when question.

How will you spend your time with God, and when will you do it? Put it in your schedule or else it will be sparse at best.

For the praise of His glory,

Chad

Why Community?

I recently had a very interesting talk with some people from Journey The Way about the need for community. The topic of the conversation mind you didn't center on community but something else entirely, but it became obvious to me that the answer to the problem in question was in fact community.

We have become so completely self-reliant in this country. We don't really need anyone else for much of anything. For the most part if we have a problem we will go to great lengths to avoid bothering anyone else with our little problem. At first glance this looks like a really humble trait, but the reality is that it is false humility. False because the motivation for not bothering others with our problems is so we save face. The thing that really has me thinking these days is that this is so different then what we see in the book of Acts.

Acts 2:42-47 And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

As the church we are suppose to be there for each other. We are suppose to lean on one another. So why is community so important in the Church? Community is important because it is the means by which God meets our needs and humbles us all at once.

For the praise of His glory,

Chad

P.S. thanks to those of you who contributed to this conversation, God used you to teach me something new.

Pics from First Service

Just wanted to make a quick post to update everyone on our first service. We had 58 people there and worship was sweet. Our volunteer team was amazing and God was clearly there. Be praying for what God is going to do next.

A view of the crowd from the side.

Half the band (The other half was at Passion Conference) leading us in worship!

Picture of me Preaching (trust me this is all the closer you want to get, I am a little sick right now).

Every Church should have a disco ball.

The body and the blood!

For the praise of His glory,

Chad

Life: The American Idol

I have been thinking recently about life. It always seems to happen this time of year. The preservation of our life is something that we value more that anything. We will go to great lengths to make sure that we are safe and secure. We will go to the same lengths for the ones we love as well. I am not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with this. However if we are not careful we take the creation (life) and put it in the place of the creator (God). Anytime we do this we create an idol.

Paul said in Philippians 1:21 that for him "to live is Christ and to die is gain". We were created to live for God and to make much of the name of Jesus. By valuing safety and security over God we have replaced our God with an idol. For Paul life meant fruitful labor for Christ, and dying is viewed as a good thing because it means seeing Jesus. Instead of this view many of us think that we exist for OUR good, and to preserve OUR life is gain. This view forgets that our life is nor our own. We were bought at a high price, and we now belong to the King.

Hosea 1:2-3

“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” Hosea 1:2-3

The theme of Hosea is laid out for us in these two verses, “Take to yourself a wife of whoredom… For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Here we will look at the two types of whoredom in two parts. First in the post we’ll look at the believer’s whoredom. In the next post we’ll look at the unbeliever’s whoredom. Let’s begin with the believer.

As believers in the Gospel, this is our condition. We are Gomer. We are the whores. The ones pledging our affection solely to Christ, then turning to love anything else. To describe this better I default to Henry Scougal’s small yet powerful book (originally a letter) “The Life of God in the Soul of Man”. Within which he writes we must,

“…Wean our affections from created things, and all the delights and entertainments of the lower life, which sink and depress the souls of men, and retard their motions toward God and heaven; and this we must do by possessing our minds with a deep persuasion of the vanity and emptiness of worldly enjoyments.”

“This is an ordinary theme, and everybody can make declamations upon it; but alas! How few understand and believe what they say? These notions float in our brains, and come sliding off our tongues, but we have no deep impression of them on our spirits; we feel not the truth which we pretend to believe. We can tell that all the glory and splendor, all the pleasures and enjoyments of the world are vanity and nothing; and yet these nothings take up all our thoughts, and engross all our affections, they stifle the better inclinations of our soul, and inveigle us into many a sin.”

We say we love Christ Jesus more than life, and love, and freedom, and family, and friends and money, yet we spend more time worrying about, thinking upon and hoping for these things than we ever have Christ. We, the believers in the Gospel, are the whores, placing our affections anywhere but on Jesus.

Thus the necessity of the Gospel, we knew not how we ought to love, therefore Christ came; we knew not how we ought to live, therefore Christ came; we knew not what it meant to be alive, therefore Christ came. Paying our debt by dying in our place and propitiating the punishment we so justly deserved. So that, positionally speaking, we now stand before God perfect, by Christ work only. Though we are shot through with our sin, and in dire need of progressive sanctification.

Fight the good fight of faith,

Sam

Romans 7:24-25

For the guys!

Men take five minutes and watch this video...

Jesus is all satisfying, embrace Him.

Chad

DCF

It has been my very great pleasure to get to lead DCF these last couple of months, and I know that God has blessed me with the opportunity to get to know many of you. As most of you know and the rest will soon find out, DCF will be ending at the end of December and we are inviting you to join what God is doing with Journey the Way. God is in the process of starting a church in downtown Wichita KS and this could be your opportunity to be a part of this work. Many of those involved with DCF are also involved with Journey the Way. I would ask you to consider plugging into this work of God. Below is our Core Team Covenant for you to look over and consider.

Journey the Way

Core Team Covenant

c Are you confident that God has called you to Journey the Way.

c Are you willing to be held accountable in the following areas:

o Love God: It is vital for disciples to have regular encounters with God in which they worship Him, hear from Him, and respond to Him in obedience. Bible reading, prayer, private and corporate worship, and journaling are all part of what it means to Love God.

o Love People: As we interact with God, it is vital that we not approach glorifying God on our own, but that we intentionally interact with others who Love God. These “connections” will bring about transformation in us as we authentically encourage, instruct and support one another. Jesus’ love of people was radical and unconditional and so we need to Love People with no strings attached.

o Turn the World Up-side Down: True Disciples will use their gifts, talents, vocations, and time not only to touch our church, but also to touch the communities they live in, and the world. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life. When we live as Jesus lived we will be a movement of servants that have the potential to turn the world upside-down.

c Are you willing to fully pull away from your current church and embrace Journey the Way as your local church?

c Are you willing to generously give of your creativity, time, spiritual gifts and income in order to fulfill the vision of Journey the Way?

c Are you willing to wholeheartedly serve and support the mission of Journey the Way, even in the messiness, ambiguity, and adventure of the early stages?

In awareness of and submission to these expectations, I commit myself to the Journey the Way Core Team.

Chad Pearce

Hosea

Before I begin, by the grace of God and if He wills it, I will be writing an ongoing series of blog posts on the book of Hosea.

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; 
 his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, 
 as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

“For he has torn us.” More often than not when we feel torn down rather than looking to God as the one who has ripped us (directly or indirectly), we either, consciously or subconsciously, think that somehow God lost control. I do this often. Seeing circumstances that I want to go a certain way, but knowing it could very well go the opposite way, and worrying about it. This is unbelief and disobedience (sin). Unbelief that God is sovereign and disobedience to have faith in what He will do. Unbelief that what He will do will be the best for me (even though my past speaks clearly to God being in control and good coming from pain) and disobedience to act in accordance with His sovereignty. I can’t help but think of Hebrews 3:19, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” ‘They’ are the Israelites who were freed from Egypt. Their unbelief led to their disobedience, and because of their unbelief and disobedience they could not enter God’s rest. The same is true for us.

“That he may heal us.” Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Let’s be honest: we’re jacked up and need healing. We, apart from God, don’t know up from down; we are blind; we are deaf; we are dead. For proof look at the Word Romans 3:10-20,23. And if that’s not enough (which it ought to be, God said it) then look at the world. Man’s (yours and mine) proclivity to do disastrous things/acts. Murder, rape, pedophilia and racial hatred to name a few; these things comprise the world that surrounds us, yet they do not shock us… We either need help and healing or to get our butts kicked for being so downright bad. So how can God heal us from our desperate state? Or better, why should He heal us?

Let’s answer the second question first. Why should God heal us? In an effort to be brief we’ll stay within these verses. “That we may live before the Lord. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.” So, why should God heal us? So that we can live before the Lord, and press on to know Him. Does this mean that God is lonely and needs us to keep him company so he saved us? No! If we, as believers, are pressing on to know him, praise will happen. Our natural response to awe-inspiring things is to praise them. But here praise is different because this praise is holy (set apart), all other praise is praise to things, creation (idolatry), but praise that is given to God is right praise, it is God-glorifying. So the fundamental answers to why should God heals us, is not because of our value to him, but because His praise and glory are at stake.

Back to the first question; how can God heal us from our desperate state? “On the third day He will raise us up.” Ephesians 4:8-11, “ Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)” Since we’re on the honest bend, I’ll be frank. Jesus is how God heals us. We’re screwed, and getting exactly what we deserve unless we have Jesus. No ifs, ands, or buts; no Jesus, no healing. So how do we get Jesus to heal us??? Answer: Belief. Plain and simple. Belief in the Gospel, that Jesus became a man, lived a perfect life (the life you and I can never live), died the death we ought to be eternally dying, and then rose from the dead defeating sin (our biggest problem), death and Satan. Leading us, the captives from our former slavery.

-Fight the good fight of faith,

Sam Morris (Romans 7:24-25)

`Sa

Two things to remember when discussing the Church

I believe it is important to remember two things when discussing the Church.

First, that the Church is a whore, a bunch of saved sinners, like Hosea's wife, and she will always be a whore until Christ comes, yet Christ loves the Church to the point of death on a cross. Therefore as a believer I must love her, though I am the worst whore of them all.

Second, we must remember the Gospel. The good news of Jesus becoming a man, living, dying brutally (murdered) on a cross for our sins, raising to life, and now making intercession for believers in heaven.

Though it does piss me off to see churches destroy those people trapped in sin, rather than loving them, and walking alongside them, and getting to know them, and becoming their friend so that at some point to teach truth lovingly to them. We ought to build relational bridges that are strong enough to bear the weight of truth. For God uses sinners, to teach the Gospel.
So, yes, the Church is a jack-up whore; and, yes, she does an awful job at loving; but Christ loves her, therefore so must I.

~Sam

Romans 7:24-25

New Contributors

With all that is going on with Journey The Way you may have noticed that I haven't been able to post as much as I would like. It isn't that I don't have anything to say, but that I have been busy with receiving the blessings of God. So it is my pleassure to introduce you to some new contributors to the Journey the Way Blog. Sam Morris, Anthony Fiorillo, and David Campbell will be contributing on occasion to this blog. I (Chad) will still act as editor and contributor, but you will now benefit from these guys as well. Our format will be to sign off on each post. That will show you who wrote what.

Please continue to pray for us as we move forward with the Church Plant. Pray for Tuesday nights as Journey the Way now leads a worship service in downtown Wichita at Mead's corner. Pray that God continues to move and that we follow His leading.

For the praise of His glory,

Chad Pearce

Community Groups

We are starting community groups next week (week of November First). These groups will be used for discussing the talk from Tuesday's DCF.

Here they are with their leader and day/date starting:

#1

When: Sunday, November 8th

Time: 6pm

Leader: Chad Pearce

#2

When: Wednesday, November 4^th

Time: 7pm

Leader: David Campbell

#3

When: Thursday, November 5^th

Time: 6:30pm

Leader: Sam Morris

#4

When Thursday, November 5^th

Time: 8pm

Leader: Anthony Fiorillo

What I have a blog?!

Let me start off by apologizing for not blogging in over a month. You have to understand the reason for not blogging isn't for lack of stuff to say, but rather because God is doing so much that there hasn't been time to record it all. A lot of what has been going on centers on a bible study called DCF (Downtown Christian Fellowship). This study started out as a ministry of Metro East Baptist Church in Wichita KS, and was led by a good friend of mine Matt Redmond. Matt and his wife are moving from Wichita to Birmingham to plant a church. You can see why Matt and I are good friends.

For some time now Shaina and I have been a part of this group and enjoyed the teaching and the fellowship. I was even privileged enough to get to teach a few times over the summer. With Matt preparing to move the church voted to give this ministry to Journey the Way. They are even graciously paying the rental fee on the location through the end of the year. We started leading this group last Tuesday and I couldn't be more excited.

So what does all this mean? Great question, but all I can tell you for now is that you need to stay posted. Details will be divulged as they develop. I can tell you that God is so good and His grace is amazing. He promised to build His church and that means in His timing and in His way.

In other news my life has been really busy lately with the church, Re:train, and moving into a new house. Not to mention trying to be a good husband and father. I thought I knew what it meant to be busy, but I was wrong. Pray for me that I would have the energy and the wisdom to do the things that God deems most important and that I would delegate the rest. Also please continue to pray for our core team, that they would be mature and complete not lacking in anything, and that God would continue to give us a Spirit of unity. Pray for us as we begin 4 community groups this next week. God is moving!

Chad

Update on Planting

I know I have been neglectful of the blog world. So here is an update to share with you some of the things God is doing. We have had four core team meetings to date and have had around 20 people consistently. God is doing some really cool stuff through these people. I have heard stories of gospel conversations and of people building relationships with sojourners. The feel of the group has been great. Each week when we gather together there is plenty of conversation and much of it centers on Christ.

We hope to start another group sometime in october and we need help spreading the word. If you know of someone who may be interested in joining a community group, please get them in touch with me ASAP.

Chad

1st Meeting!!

Well what can I say, God is amazing. You know how you have something all built up in your head? You have this picture of what things will be like, and then God totally blows your idea up. For the back story, Shaina and I have been praying for a long time that God would build this church and that He would do it for His glory. Specifically we have prayed that God would raise up a core team and that He would lay the idea of a new church on people's hearts. That is exactly what He has been doing and we got to see first hand evidence of this fact tonight.

We had 21 people at our house tonight sharing and praying together. I had the privilege of sharing vision for Journey the Way. We dismissed at around 9:00 and most people stayed for another hour talking and getting to know one another. At one point in the night we broke up into groups and got to know each other a little better and to pray for each other. It was cool to hear stories of how God had brought each one to this meeting at this time in this place, with a desire to see this church planted.

I want to thank each and every one of you who prayed for us tonight, and ask that you continue to pray for us on Thursday nights. I know that this is a big commitment, and I know that this is how some of you will be a huge part of what God is doing here in Wichita.

For the Praise of His glory,

Chad

Core Team Meetings

Well it is finally here. Thursday at 6:30 we (Journey The Way) will have our first core team meeting. I am totally stoked and a little nervous. I think we will have at least 15 there and could have as many as 25, only God knows for sure. I am writing this post to ask for prayer for this night. I am looking for at least 10 people to commit to pray for our meeting on thursday.

Pray that God will:

1. Lead us where He wants us to go.

2. Be the focus of all we do.

3. Spur hearts to fall more in love with Him.

4. Speak through me and also keep me from saying anything stupid.

5. Continue to bring more team members.

6. Clearly identify some leaders.

If you are willing to pray for us while we meet please either email me or post a reply.

For the praise of His glory,

Chad

Update on Planting

God is amazing! I could stop there and let that sum up my thoughts on the update, but I will go into more detail. We have been praying for three major things since we started, people, resources, and Wichita. I want to give you an update on all fronts.

People: God has been bringing several people to join our core team. We will officially start meeting on the 27th of this month. Pray for God to bring who He wants to this meeting. We could have anywhere from 12-35 people at that meeting.

Resources: God has been faithful in our fundraising efforts. We have had two new churches who have come on board to partner with. We are in talks with another church here in Wichita and our hope is that they will partner with us. This would be a good fit. Please pray that this partnership happens.

Wichita: God is in the process of doing a lot in this city. It is clear that there is an entire generation that is longing for a Gospel expression in their language. There are all kinds of College students who have no church to call their own. There are real problems in this city, but God is clearly at work. The more people we talk to the more we learn about how God is preparing to use Journey the Way. Pray that God continues to teach us about this city, and that He teaches us how to contextualize the Gospel for this city.

Chad

Turn The World Up Side Down

I wanted to take a post to share the notes from a talk I did last week at DCF. DCF is a bible study that meets at Mead's Corner in Wichita KS, every tuesday night at 8:00pm. I need to do a real post soon. I will be in Seattle all this next week. Anyways here are the notes:

Turn the World Up Side Down

Text: Matthew 28:16-20 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Our Motivation: The Glory of God

- Illustration:

- Text: V. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

- Translation: We must first and foremost notice what the disciples did when they gathered to receive their final command. The worship Jesus the risen savior.

- We can’t overlook this, because it is the basis or the motivation for the disciples going forward.

- Often times our motivation for making disciples or sharing our faith is in order to earn favor from God.

- Or we share b/c people are perishing, and while that is a great motivation it isn’t the greatest motivation.

- Our foundational motivation for making disciples needs to be for the Glory of God. SO that Christ is exalted.

- Application: Our motivation for making disciples must be the Glory of God.

- If we are motivated by anything else we miss the point.

Our Warrant: All Authority

- Illustration: I love Law and Order…they are always trying to get a search warrant…We have our warrant…

- Text: V. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

- Translation: Because Jesus is risen, He has ALL AUTHORITY. God has given Jesus all the authority.

- This means that there is nowhere we tread that is not His.

- Application: This is in essence our warrant, which enables us to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

- For us this means that though our message may seem offensive to some, and people label us intolerant we have been given the authority.

- Now this isn’t a license to be belligerent or unloving.

Our Mission: Make Disciples Everywhere

- Illustration:

- Text: V. 19-20a Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

- Translation: Our mission is literally to as we go make disciples everywhere.

- Two aspect to this call:

o 1. We do this as we go: the implication here is that we are all on mission, and that our field is wherever we are going. Discipleship is a lifestyle more than a class.

o 2. We are to make disciples: this means that we share the gospel and teach people to live like Jesus. Making Disciples is more like an apprenticeship than a degree.

- Application: Who are the people you come into contact with as you go in life? How can you diciple them?

- Do you view discipleship more as class? How can you use the relationships and the time you have to help people journey toward God?

Our Partner: God The Holy Spirit

- Illustration: Have someone attempt to jump over a dollar while holding onto their toes…Part of the problem with making disciples is that we see it as an a task we can handle…we reason that we will simply share the things that we “do” in order to walk with God…As if we had anything to do with it…Or we see it as an impossible task…Either way we need a partner.

- Text: V. 20b And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

- Translation: We don’t go alone. Jesus is with us in the form of His Holy Spirit.

- Notice too that He is with us always, which means forever and at all times.

- This mission is ours but not ours alone.

- We represent Him and He goes with us.

- He is with us to the end of the age and then we get to go be with Him.

- Application: We need not fear for He is with us, and we must remember that He is the one with ALL Authority, and that He is with us!

- We shouldn’t fear messing up, or saying the wrong things.

- The Disciples were fear filled men, and as soon as the received the Spirit Peter, who was once fearful, boldly proclaimed the Gospel. This is made possible b/c He is with us.

Chad

Core Team Meetings

To all of you who follow the blog and live in the Wichita area I want to invite you to be a part of our core team. We will officially begin meeting on Thursday night Aug. 27th at 6:30. We will have a meal then spend some time in the word, while getting to know each other. I would love to know if you plan to attend, so please find a way to let me know if you are coming. We will meet at our house in Andover, for now that is.

Chad