SERMON SERIES    Psalms
SERMON TITLE    The desire for only one me
SERMON DATE    01/22/2009
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Psalm 15
David Moore was a very successful pastor of the SW Community Church in Palm Dessert, CA.  His church grew from 400 people in 1987 to over 7000 people.  He erected a $36M, 300,000sqft complex set on 42 acres.  (HUGE!)  He had over 80 pastors and support people.  He was a masterfully gifted speaker and writer and set up a non-profit organization called Moore on Life.  He sold best selling books.  He had a national radio ministry.  He became an itinerant speaker.  I actually heard him speak twice at Hume Lake Camp while his ministry was in its heyday!  He was incredible… gifted… inspiring… likeable… and WILDLY influential.
In 2002… a former friend of his in child custody proceedings… what on the surface was leverage against his ex-wife… presented as evidence… 4 photos of David Moore…  and David’s wife… and this MAN’s ex-wife… in a hot tub… without clothes… » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    God’s Playlist
SERMON TITLE    …worship when I feel spiritually flat?
SERMON DATE    01/18/09
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Psalm 95
Dr John Stott is one of the most perceptive theologians of our time.  And he identifies… 3 hungers of the human heart.  1)  The hunger to matter… the desire to be significant… we want our lives to MEAN SOMETHING… and to be INVOLVED IN… things that will AFFIRM… SIGNIFICANCE… None of us want to come to the place where we end our life and realize… it didn’t really matter for ANYTHING… that we even lived.  2)  Is to belong!  We want to feel connected to other people without fearing risk to ourselves!  We want to feel a part of a family… a community… a group that has our best interest in mind.  When you walk in a room… you want to have people know you… and are encouraged you showed up!   We want to BELONG… and BE KNOWN… and KNOW OTHER PEOPLE.  3) Is to believe.  Not just in anything!  He calls it “a quest for transcendence”.  And that’s just a fancy way to say we hunger to relate to a power greater than ourselves.  It takes a few screws to fall loose somewhere to think that you REALLY ARE… the TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN in the universe!  We KNOW… there MUST BE SOMETHING BIGGER out there… and BURNED INTO OUR HEARTS…  is this HUNGER… to BELIEVE… And if there REALLY IS a God… we long to DISCOVER Him… and KNOW Him personally… and be TOUCHED personally by Him… KNOWING He’s PLEASED with you… and ACTUALLY SEE HIM intimately WORKING in your life… … » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Hebrews
SERMON TITLE    What Makes faith Unforgettable
SERMON DATE    06/22/08
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Hebrews 13:1-40
Last week we posed that the 18 commands presented in this last chapter are here because 1) of the real needs these people were facing at the moment.  And 2) to plead with them to exercise their faith!  He wants them to persevere… GO FORWARD in the face pressure!  He wants them to NOT QUIT GOD!  And so the commands are meant to make their faith SOLID… and show how faith shows up unforgettable!  Last week (v. 1-6) he said it shows up in our relationships.  In our 1) love for others, 2) for strangers, 3) for suffering, 4) and marriage, 5) and in NOT LOVING money…
But it ALSO ought to BLEED THROUGH… in our relationship with GOD!  And you know what’s interesting to me when he turns to our relationship with God… THE VERY FIRST AREA he looks at… is in our relationship with spiritual LEADERS.  » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Hebrews
SERMON TITLE    What Makes faith Unforgettable
SERMON DATE    06/22/08
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Hebrews 13:1-40
It took a dozen chapters for the writer to stretch our minds and challenge our convictions.  He’s taken us from the ancient past and pondered when the Son of God fashioned our world… to far into the future where the same Son will reign supreme as King over a new universe.  And in between he’s argued that the death of Jesus was foreshadowed by the sacrifice of animals through the old covenant.  And that old covenant – all about laws… and rules… and procedures – is no longer in effect for those who accept the sacrifice of Jesus.
And in those first dozen chapters… amidst all these severe warnings that, “You can’t go back!”… there’s hardly a smattering of commands.  Barely a handful of them – five, maybe six – over all of those chapters.  But now when we come this thirteenth last chapter… the page is littered with them!  In fact… 18 commands in 25 verses!  And he isn’t giving just random suggestions for no particular reason.  He’s not saying, “Okay, no rolling stops at stop signs… Uh, try something new spiritually every once in a while to mix things up.  Floss.  Okay, read your Bible, and take a walk now and then.”
No.  The commands here are presented because of two reasons.  » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Hebrews
SERMON TITLE    Seeing the Unseen
SERMON DATE    06/22/08
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Hebrews 11:1-40 (I’ll try, Travis!)

Whatever else you might say about faith… it’s very clear that it matters.  “Faith” surfaces 40 times in the letter to the Hebrews.  28 times in this chapter alone.  It’s what THEY needed in that day.  And it’s what WE need desperately in our day – It allows us to persevere – to live in a way that pleases God – and to make an impact in our world.  Faith is odd.  It’s not a commodity.  It has no existence outside the person who exercises it.  On the other hand, it TOTALLY TRANSFOMRS the person in whom it resides.  Faith isn’t OBEDIENCE, though it leads to obedience.  It’s not DOCTIRNE though it permeates doctrine.  It’s SO IMPORTANT in Scripture – that the NT calls us… “BELIEVERS” (people who have faith).  Your faith can GROW… or it can SHRINK.  It’s DYNAMIC!  It can be WORKED OUT and it can ATROPHY.  And it can THRIVE and it can DIE! » Read The Rest

Rebecca Watson, an internet blogger made famous for her religious skepticism and atheism, said, “I once was a born-again Christian…but I’m not any more.” Every once in a while I a comment accusing me of being a liar, saying it’s impossible for me to once have been a “real” Christian and now to be an atheist. Of course, the people who SAY THAT didn’t know me as a Christian.
Here’s my story: I was 9 years old.  “Jesus loved us”, the pastor said, “and gave his life freely to save us from sin and hell. Wouldn’t anyone like to accept Jesus tonight, this holy night of Jesus’ birth? If you would, get up out of your seat and come down to the altar, and pray with me now.”  I didn’t get up. I sat quietly in my seat as a few adults walked up to the front of the church to be saved. But when Pastor had the new converts repeat the sinner’s prayer, I closed my eyes and said the words silently in my heart.
» Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Hebrews
SERMON TITLE    The Hard Edge of Christianity
SERMON DATE    11/30/08
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Hebrews 10:26-39
Dr. Michael Schermer is a writer for Scientific American and founder of the Skeptics Society and an advocate for evolution. (B.A. in biology, master’s in Exp. Psych, a PhD in the history of science).  You might recognize him as one of the scholars that Ben Stein interviewed in the recent documentary Expelled.  He freely confesses… “I am an atheist. When asked if I believe in God I simply reply… ‘No!’” » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Hebrews
SERMON TITLE    What Makes Christianity Better?
SERMON DATE    11/16/08
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Hebrews 9
One of these movies received the stamp from the American Human Society:  “No animal was harmed in the making of this movie.”  One of them… didn’t.  Guess which.  It’s a funny thought when you see that line… sometimes all through the film… human life is seen shot… blown up… and speared… and grotesquely maimed… …but what the producers and the humane society wanted us to be assured of… is that “No ANIMAL was injured in the making of this film.”  This may sound shocking… maybe a bit confusing… But if the book of Hebrews were a movie… at the end of it… the credits would read…  “Hundreds of thousands… maybe millions of innocent animals… more than anyone could count… including sheep, goats, cows, rams, doves, and pigeons… were killed in gory and bloody fashion… in the making and the keeping of this covenant.”  blood… was everywhere…  and you’ll see why. » Read The Rest

The “Big Ten” are the laws and ordinances of the old agreement that God made with Israel.  That’s where we GET the 10 commandments.  And the Law generally… and the 10 commands specifically… are VERY, very good!  They’re VERY insightful… they’re COMPLETELY true…  but there are a couple of things the 10 commands… WERE NEVER INTENDED TO DO! » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Hebrews
SERMON TITLE    What Makes Christianity Better
SERMON DATE    11/09/08
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Hebrews 8
Two times in my life my wife and I have purchased a home.  Maybe you’ve had that same experience.  The choosing… the deciding… the evaluating… and the dreaming all come down to this heart-stopping moment around a table with a 6 inch thick pile of documents.  And those documents spell out the entire transaction.  You scribble your name on that dotted line so many times that your own name begins to look funny.  And the papers and small-print explain all the expectations… the commitments… the terms… that the house and the land… will be ours if we pay a certain amount of money over a certain amount of time at a certain interest rate… and we SIGN everything… we make arrangements with the lenders… and we WALK away… owners (well, co-owners). » Read The Rest

I’ll never forget the woman who couldn’t wrap her mind around the truth that confessing her sin to me… did nothing to right her relationship with God!  I had to let her down!  “I CAN’T DO THAT!”  Countless times I’ve waded in to untangle a complicated relational mess… help them sort things out… show them the spiritual side of it all… and put things on the right track… and like trying to hold a bucket full of sand with your fingers… the relationship unravels beyond my ability to fix… I TRIED… but somehow… I wasn’t enough!  The times I’ve prayed for a person struggling through a critical issue or clinging to life itself!  And I prayed… I prayed often… I prayed as much as I could… I prayed more than most… but I’d stop to eat… or spend time with family.  And the issue went bad!  What we feared worst… happened! » Read The Rest

I’m not telling you anything new when I tell you that most of us have been disappointed by a minister… a pastor… or a priest.  Either he wasn’t what we hoped… or he couldn’t help like we thought… or he let us down in his word or our expectations.  Maybe he was just all too human.  He failed morally… or he didn’t seem to care enough… or he didn’t know what to do… or he didn’t memorize your name… or couldn’t be in two places at the same time.  THEY… WE… I… disappoint!

But what if there really was someone who understood… REALLY UNDERSTOOD!  What if that One knew me better than ANYONE ELSE – even better than I know myself!  What if he could REALLY help me – REALLY counsel me – REALLY CHANGE ME?  What if he could represent ME and my FAILURES and my NEEDS to God… and REALLY BRING GOD NEAR (into my life)?  What if He would NEVER, EVER leave me?  And never let me down?  These and a thousand other questions swirl around the passage in Hebrews chapter 7 we are looking at today.  But it will be difficult to understand… But ONCE we understand… trust me… it is going to be IMPOSSIBLE to forget!  So stay with me. 

» Read The Rest

……………”Why isn’t He saying something?  Why doesn’t he DO something?  This waiting is annoying!  I’m just not going to sit here doing nothing!  I expect more!  If he doesn’t act or speak very soon I think I’m going to leave!”  These are not the thoughts you have of me… these are the thoughts we have… of God.  And the few seconds or minute that I burnt in silence doing nothing in front of you… while you were expecting me to act…  represent the hundreds… of moments… and days… and weeks… and months… AND YEARS… that WE WAIT… AND WAIT… and wait… on God… and wonder… “Why doesn’t He DO something?” (none of us like waiting… our patience wears thin… check out line… drive up… green light… work day to end… important phone call… letter in the mail… job interview to get back… doctor’s report)  Sometimes waiting takes even MONTHS… (pregnant) or even YEARS… (pay off your college loans… or you retire).  WAITING IS DIFFICULT… and if we HAD OUR CHOICE… it would be something that we’d rather not do.  It tests our patience… it saps our energy… it tries our convictions… and sometimes makes us miserable in the moment… And yet WAITING… is what GOD DEMANDS… of you. » Read The Rest

A woman prays a prayer to accept Christ… but after a few months she starts to drift away from church because she hears things she doesn’t like.  Like… giving… or hell… or something about homosexuality.  A young man in a Muslim country after professing Christ… is violently rejected by his family and friends and is persecuted by his government.  After time, eventually, he recants his faith and goes back to being a Muslim.  A child goes through confirmation and seems to be committed to Christ through high school years, but then in college… what we fear happening… happens.  He’s confronted by antagonistic professors who mock him and make fun of his faith…  and as he observes in his peers around him the prevailing lack of moral restraints… everyone seems to be indiscriminately indulging and, frankly, enjoying it… and so… by the time he graduates… he no longer professes Christianity.  A woman attends a church that splits viciously leaving relationships bruised and bloodied… Having invested so much of her spiritual journey… it all now feels like an utter waste of an experience… So she leaves that church… and she walks away not only from THAT church… but ANY CHURCH… and adopts more of a new age belief… so later in life… whatever remnants of faith she once had… barely rattles around… and she expresses little hope in anything that will outlast death.

Defection happens.  And when it does… it’s confusing… and disturbing… and it disrupts… OUR FAITH!  WE QUESTION… “What’s going on?  What does this mean?  How could that happen?”  And the closer the person is to US… the more troubling… the more hard a pill it is to swallow. » Read The Rest

If you were here last week. Ch. 5:11-14 is a rebuke! Because as a Christian… it’s NOT OKAY… if you’ve been a Christian for any reasonable amount of time… to not grow up! And know this… spiritual maturity is not a state that you enter and don’t leave. Spiritual growth is not on a ratcheting spool (explain). Even mature believers need FEEDING and at to exercise their faith. And when you stop EATING… and stop GROWING… when you neglect PRACTICING your faith and APPLYING what you learn… you start DETERIORAING… you REGRESS in your faith… your faith ATROPHIES… and the DANGER… if you let your self go… well it’s just bone chilling!

God rebukes all of us who settle for spiritual superficiality! So wherever you find yourself spiritually… the challenge, then is to grow up! “Well, okay! how?” In Chapter 6 of Hebrews he tells us. 1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,^[a] and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so. The first thing he wants us to do is to pass the “A, B, C’s”. He says, “let us leave.” That doesn’t mean let us “forget.” It means “let us graduate” and “let us go on.” Because spiritual growth… is cumulative. It builds on things previously learned! (“Do I have to know this for the test?” “Probably.”) And so he touches on 6 lessons basic to the Christian faith – 2 concerning the foundation and 4 concerning living distinctively in the new life. » Read The Rest

A number of years ago Robert Fulghum scribbled a note that became a popular poster… and then was expanded into the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten. It’s simplicity and innocence really makes you smile. “All I really needed to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at school. And these are the things that I learned… share everything – play fair – don’t hit people – put things back where you found them – clean up your own mess – don’t take things that aren’t yours – say “you’re sorry” when you hurt somebody – wash your hands before you eat – flush – warm cookies and cold milk are good for you – learn some, think some, draw some, paint some, sing some, dance some, play some and work some every day – take a nap every afternoon – watch out for traffic – hold hands and stick together – be aware of wonder …think about what a better world it would be if we all had warm cookies and milk about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap – or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back as they found them and to clean up their messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world it’s best to hold hands and stick together.”You know, as heartwarming as that is, you have to ask yourself, “Wait a minute… is kindergarten enough? And if it WERE then why didn’t God just say it all in a paragraph like that rather than, what, almost 2000 pages in our Bibles? Did God overdo things a bit if that’s all you really need to know?” More to the point, maybe not all our problems are solved with cookies and blankies and a nap in the afternoon! » Read The Rest

Derek Redmond arrived at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona determined to win a medal in the 400. The color of the medal was meaningless; he just wanted to win one. Just one.  Derek’s father Jim had accompanied him to Barcelona, just as he did for all world competitions. They were as close as a father and son could be. The best of friends. When Jim watched his son run, he always pictured himself running right next to him.

When he was 19 he had shattered the British 400-meter record. But then in the 1988 Games in Seoul, 10 minutes before the race, a freak injury forced him to withdraw.  And his dreams were shattered.  He underwent five surgeries over the next year… started the long road of rehab… and began training for the next Olympics… And when the 1992 Games arrived, this was his stage, his moment, his time.

The stadium was packed with 65,000 fans. The race begins and Redmond breaks from the pack and quickly seizes the lead.  All his hopes… all his dreams… are about to be realized.  Then, down the backstretch, 175 meters to go, Redmond’s right hamstring blows. As if shot, Redmond falls, rolls and winds up in a heap on the track.  Jim Redmond, when he saw this happen, was watching the race four levels up.  And reacting on instincts, begins weaving his way down from the top row… to the field level. » Read The Rest

My wife ran the San Diego marathon in 2004… pregnant!  It was an amazing ordeal.  Not the pregnant part.   My wife has been pregnant most of our marriage.  What was amazing to me was what she described at the end of the marathon.  As she and the other 20,000 runners were coming nearing the end, they entered the naval base,  turned the a few corners, and came upon what she described as… sort of a false ending!  There were balloons… erected towers… flying banners you ran under… media trucks… blasting music…  water tables and so on.  The only thing was… the real finish line was about 800 yards around another corner!  Thousands of runners were stopped short, exhausted, bent over, some hit the pavement drooling, grimacing, vomiting.  They were DONE!  But they hadn’t  finished!  The ankle bracelet they were wearing that registers each individual finish time hadn’t been carried through the final gate!  So what happened was amazing!  Thousands of runners ran back to the false ending point…. to give a REAL picture of the end!  They got down in their faces… eye to eye… nose to nose… and said… “This isn’t the end!  C’mon!  It’s right around the corner!  You’re not done yet… Let’s go…  I’ll do it with you.”  I want you to compare this to what it means to be a Christian… In the OT God powerfully and MIRACULOUSLY saved MILLIONS of people from Egypt… sustained them, meeting their every need along the way… leading them to the Promised Land!  And here’s the comparison… God rescued YOU from the slavery of sin…  not to leave you WANDERING AROUND IN LIFE… but to TAKE YOU someplace better… the likes of which you have never experienced. » Read The Rest

Let me spell out two very different pictures of the Christian experience. We’re born. Somehow through the course of our life we come to understand the gravity of our moral failings… that we’ve done wrong and gone wrong before a Holy God… and through His grace… we come to see Jesus as our Savior. We accept that what He has done was enough to make us right before God… and in return He gives us forgiveness and new life! And it seems like a pretty good deal and so we accept it! We become… “a Christian.” And then we go about our lives… we attend church at least half the time… we make a living… we have a family… and eventually we retire… and we live out our days… and then we die. AND THEN WHAT? WHAT HAPPENS? <heaven!> Well, what’s that like?

» Read The Rest

A year from now some of you will no longer be here.  For some of you… a job may take you to another city.  For some… you may move away to college…  Some of you… may decide to change churches even… for any number of good reasons.  And some of you… may no longer walk this earth.  Your time will be done… and, although you maybe didn’t see it coming… you will step into eternity and will never see the face if THIS earth again. 

I’m not troubled by any of those moves.  Movement is a fact of life.  I’m not worried of any of you at all who will no longer be here for any of THOSE reasons.  BUT, some of you… a year from now are going to be ABSENT… for DARKER REASONS.  Where God was once central in your life… where worship and fellowship once nurtured your life… a year from now… you’ll strangely be absent.  In its place will be something else filling your time, occupying your heart, and captivating your attention.  And it won’t happen all at once!  But, it will happen QUIETLY… it will happen over TIME… almost imperceptibly… because various reasons you’re going to “untie your rope”… you’ll quietly float away like a sailboat drifting away from the dock.  And I hope it never happens to you… but as a pastor I can tell you that every year… I see it happening to someone. » Read The Rest

The Californian reported yesterday that 80% of Americans believe there are many ways to believe about spiritual things… many legitimate options of religions… and you’re fine!  (Oprah denies Christ illustration.  “There just CAN’T BE one way!  There just CAN’T BE!”) One of the most offensive beliefs of Christianity to modern thinking is that among all religions… Christianity is unique…  that Christianity alone reveals the WHOLE TRUTH about God… and in fact is the ONLY WAY to God.  That exclusivism… just galls people!  “I mean, how pompous, bigoted and blind can you get?  EVERY RELIGION IS EQUALLY VALID!  NO ONE BELIEF is absolutely right or wrong!  There are hundreds of millions of non-Christians in the world… and their gods are just as real and valid as Christianity.  And if you’re one of those who don’t understand that… then YOU’RE the one in need of guidance, sympathy… and spiritual pity!”. » Read The Rest

The pull to quit is very natural. Everyone of us has had to learn not to give up when the task before us becomes difficult or dangerous or just plain pointless. We’d rather just walk away and just do something else more productive… or maybe just pain-free! It’s parents… teachers… coaches… and mentors… that stick their nose in our faces… and tell us… “DON’T quit!” “DON’T give up!” “KEEP going!”. This December… in the throws of the hardest, most intensely painful parts of full-blown labor… my wife locked eyes just inches from my face and confessed… “Jeff, I just can’t DO this anymore!” At that point… it’s hard to find the words to say… “Honey, despite everything in you WANTING to quit… You just can’t!” » Read The Rest

Scripture:  Matthew 6:25-34

Although you might not verbalize it, I’m sure the thought goes through your mind… “What if…?”  What if he loses his job?  What if it’s… cancer?  What if I’m not good enough for them anymore?  What if they grow up and quit God?  What if my parents find out?  What if I fail?  What if they say “No?”  What if we never get back on top of these bills?  What if he doesn’t love me anymore?  What if I’m not accepted?  What if I’m… pregnant?  What if I never get pregnant?  What if we lose the house?  What if I’ve reached the top and this is as good as it gets?  What if I end up alone?  What if?… » Read The Rest

Trouble has a way of narrowing our focus… not necessarily in a good way.  You know, you hit your thumb with a hammer and pretty much all you can think about is the throbbing of your thumb.  It narrows your focus.  You let somebody ridicule you, and all you can hear in your head is the echo of their words.  Fail miserably and what will haunt you are all the things you should have done differently – only AFTER you can’t do anything about it.  “I WISHED I would have done this… IF I ONLY would have done that.”  And it tends to FREEZE our brains in place.

When trouble comes into our lives… it has a way of distorting our gaze.  And we find it difficult to see much else.  At times in my life… when more things are going wrong than right… the first thing to go… is the wide-angle view… because I’m riveted on the close-up!  Using a magnifying glass on our problems… even a harmless spider can look like a hairy, horrifying monster!  Yet, in reality, in keeping the wide-angle view through our problems… instead of looking at Goliath with the close-up view and cowering, saying, “He’s so big!  We could never kill him!”  With the wide-angle view, young David looked at the SAME giant and said, “He’s so big!  I can’t MISS!”… » Read The Rest

So… can we TALK?  Last week we learned the reasons it isn’t as easy as we might think.  But what we learned last week is that the problem in communication isn’t with our mouths… but with our hearts.  Sometimes the problem isn’t our WORDS… or even our SKILLS…  the problem is with our HEARTS.  Because, out of the overflow of the HEART… the mouth speaks! Secondly, we find it difficult to talk because we don’t realize that all talking is an act of trusting.  What we want to say we’re afraid to say… because we’re not really certain that the person listening… will turn around and use it against us.  And after repeated painful attempts… We find ourselves weighing carefully the explosive topics… and permanently steer clear of them… and communication… clams-up.  Third, we fail to recognize the presence of distortions in our talking.  We looked at a number of those distortions last week.  And, finally, we mistakenly think that our ways of communicating will work.  We speak for effect… to force responses… and it’s not talking at all… it’s just two people manipulating each other with actions and words.

Today we want to focus on how to improve... » Read The Rest

We’ve taken a look at the following aspects of marriage: That it was God’s idea in the first place. We’ve asked the question, “Why not have sex with anyone?” We’ve asked the question from both sides, “Can I respect You?” And we’ve realized, with God’s power… and two people surrendered in a relationship with Jesus… it’s possible! And now I want to get back and do a couple of bonus messages. I want to ask and answer the question, “Can we talk?” See this Gary Larson cartoon? It says, “After many years of marital bliss tension enters the Kent household.” You see what she’s embroidering after the big red “S”? “’S’tupid’”! I’d say that there was a communication breakdown in the Kent household right there.

No marriage is bulletproof! … » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Stay Married
SERMON TITLE    Can I Respect You – part2
SERMON DATE    05/04/2008
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Ephesians 5
Last week we saw, that because of sin, Conflict has ravaged the human landscape.  It is the main cause why a lot of marriages go belly up.  And now for relationships to even have a chance… men and women must have roles.
Unfortunately, both genders… are naturally disposed to hate their assignments… Two of the most common complaints I hear women say are, 1) “My husband won’t take the lead spiritually in the marriage.  You know, he’s a leader at work… but when it comes to the home and the marriage… he doesn’t do anything.”  And, 2) “My husband misuses his leadership.  He orders us around and he just keeps us under his thumb.”
On the other hand, the ONE complaint I hear about the wives is this, “My wife is nagging.  She’s on my back, she’s not on my side.  At every turn… she uses every means to manipulate and control… She ruins me publicly with her words.  My wife is a constant and unrelenting source of discouragement.”  » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Stay Married
SERMON TITLE    Can I Respect You
SERMON DATE    04/27/2008
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Gen. 3
A woman took her husband to a doctor for a check up.  And before they left, the doctor pulled the woman aside and said, “You know, stress is killing your husband.  If you don’t make some dramatic changes, he is going to die.  So let me make these recommendations.  Each morning fix him a healthy breakfast and send him off in a good mood.  At lunch time, talk to him.  Make him a warm, delicious meal or at least encourage him.  Third, prepare a nice dinner and avoid complaining about household chores.  And fourth, have sex with him several times weekly and try to satisfy him emotionally.  And on the way home the husband asked his wife, “Well, what’d the doctor say?”  She said, “You’re going to die.” » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Stay Married
SERMON TITLE Why Not Have Sex With Anyone? – part 2
SERMON DATE 04/20/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT 1 Cor. 6
We talked about this last week… we live in a sexually supercharged society. So why not have sex with whomever you want? Typically, Christians respond without thinking very hard… But did you know, as we began to take a look at Scripture last week, the Bible actually provides cogent… reasonable… and today… you will see… extremely weighty explanations for avoiding casual sex.
TO catch us up from where we left off… instead of just thumping them over the head… telling them to “Just stop it! Paul says, “PEOPLE THINK!!! Ask yourself a few questions!” Firstly, is it constructive? “Okay, WE ARE FREE IN CHRIST!!! AND SINNING DOESN’T GET YOU UNSAVED!!! BUT DOES IT OCCUR TO YOU… FOR A MINUTE… to make moral decisions that benefit you… If not you, how about OTHERS… if not others, how about JESUS? Does Jesus’ best interest occur to you at all? AT ALL? Hmm… It doesn’t do you… others… OR JESUS… any good… and you still do it? Hmm…

» Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Stay Married
SERMON TITLE Why Not Have Sex With Anyone?
SERMON DATE 04/13/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT 1 Cor. 6
Let me begin today with a disclaimer. This message does carry a PG-13 rating. I say that tongue-in-cheek mostly because, when it comes to talking about sex in church… we typically skirt the issue. We don’t talk very directly… we deal with it hopefully as sensitively as we can… but rarely do we get specific enough where people can actually say… “Now, he’s talking straight!” Or, “Okay, that makes sense!” So, as a disclaimer… the topic is sex… and I plan on speaking very straightforwardly and pointedly… and go into detail about how God made us sexual beings… and He has something to say to us about this… so if you need to… If this seems uncomfortable to you or you’re a parent who wants to have more control over the dissemination of information to your children… no big deal… excuse yourself… download the message later and pick it apart. » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Stay Married
SERMON TITLE Why Get Married – part 2
SERMON DATE 04/06/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT Selected Scripture
On rare occasion… I’ve have given people the finger. The last time I remember it… was about 3 years ago… It was mid-June… the freshness and excitement of the beginning of summer was in the air… there’s a certain predictable sort of electricity… the streets and and shopping centers come alive with students from high schools and colleges who are freshly freed from being pent up in classes for nine months.
I don’t take what happened too seriously. But I was driving down the 15 and a car full of college girls pulled up next to me on the freeway… » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES    Stay Married
SERMON TITLE    Why Get Married?
SERMON DATE    03/30/2008
SPEAKER    Jeff Paschall
TEXT    Selected Scripture
If you ever want to know the real answer to tough questions… ask a kid.  (Andrew, “Have you ever been to a funeral?”  “…do weddings count?”) We have a lot of questions about marriage… and, thanks to kids, now we have all of the answers.  Yeah!  Like answer to questions like, ,  “How do you decide whom to marry?”  Alan (10) “You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chip and dip coming.” Or Kristen (10) says, “No person really decides before they grow up who they’re going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you’re stuck with.”   » Read The Rest

This is a cool picture Micah Durham took of me and the fam.

Yesterday Andrew (9) and I were talking about easter and Jesus and death and I asked, “Andrew, have you ever been to a funeral?” And he replied, “Do weddings count?”

The popular television drama ER usually led off with a predictable incident that would grab your attention. There’s a flurry of activity… racing bodies clad in turquoise wheel a gurney into the ER… and you know what happens… on the count of three they transfer the bruised and bloodied person onto a table where they simultaneously take is respiration, his heartbeat and his reactions are measured. You’ll hear them say things like… “blood pressure 75/40 and dropping” “respiration shallow” “pulse weak.” And they’re all talking at the same time but in concert. And in seconds the patient is hooked to an IV. And a heartrate monitor begins beeping… and the beeping adds to the already thick tension in the air. » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Palm Sunday
SERMON TITLE The God You’ve Been Searching For
SERMON DATE 03/16/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT Daniel 9; Luke 19:41-44; Rom 8
Finding God is a lot like playing hide and go seek with a two year old. I remember it most playing with Jordan when she was little. When she was old enough to understand the concept… hide and go seek was her absolute favorite game. And there’s something unbelievably special about playing it with young children. YOU WANT THEM TO FIND YOU… you go out of your way to HIDE BAD… Jordan would cover her face with her little hands and begin counting to ten. Mom would help her with the even numbers. And when she popped off number ten she would go out looking for me… she KNEW I couldn’t be far… she KNEW I wasn’t a good hider… and I think in the back of her mind… she knew… I WANTED TO BE FOUND… » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Contagious Christianity
SERMON TITLE When You Open Your Mouth
SERMON DATE 03/02/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT I Peter 3; Mark 2:15-17
When I was 19 I used bus tables at T.G.I. Friday’s. One of the men who frequently visited was Dave. He was a middle age man… he drove a black Corvette ZR-1… he ALWAYS came in after the dinner rush… he ALWAYS wore charcoal grey three piece suit… and he ALWAYS came in alone. Dave was the kind of guy that was hard to have a conversation with because he had a knack for sponging up 20 minutes of your time without blinking an eye.
On one occasion, hunkered down into a discussion with him – that led to my revealing that at the center of who I was as a person… was a relationship I had with Jesus. Then I asked him… what he believed….… spiritually… » Read The Rest

Some churches grow by shuffling the decks. You know, Christians just moving around from one church to another. Some churches grow by childbirth (fertility drugs in the communion juice). Some churches grow by just filling a room with whoever, however. But filling a room is not the point! The point isn’t to get people to sit in the seats! That’s not the point! It’s troubling to me that so many of us pastors want our churches to grow for all the wrong reasons. and they go to great lengths to make sure the thing is growing, and have more people there than last year! So they flock the mega-churches, study scientifically proven methods, marketing research, sociological studies, and demographic charts and all that stuff. And really… you have to wonder how the early church did it? They didn’t have any of those things? So how did the early church grow? Well it’s amazing. Let me show you. » Read The Rest

John 14:12 Jesus tells his disciples in some of His last words to them, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” As this reference implies… an adventurous life that dabbles in the miraculous will accompany those who follow Jesus with radical faith… And people mistakenly think that the “greater things” Jesus are referring to MUST be miraculous signs… healing people… walking on water… spiritual languages… or miraculous insight… but Jesus tips His hand as to what he’s thinking about when he says “greater things…” If you read the surrounding verses… “greater things”… the BIGGEST miracle… you could get involved in… is INTRODUCING people… TO GOD… watching… for the very first time… the spiritual lights turn on… Showing them the God… that first loved them… and show them… that through Jesus… how we can begin… to love God back.
You want your life to dabble into the miraculous? You want to see God work in your life and do things in you… around you… and through you… like you never have seen before… Dare to die to yourself… pray for the lost… and be willing to reveal God to other people. Creating the universe… parting the Red Sea… raising the dead… parlor tricks to God… Becoming a Contagious Christian… Being available to God to be used to bring someone to the Savior… well those are… “greater things”… It’s the life Christ had in mind…

This is going to be used in a sermon someday!

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  To count yourself means “to think” – to believe that something really is true!  That’s the first step!  Monitor and change your thinking!

Now that doesn’t mean you’ll give in or fall on my face.  No!  But it does mean you believe now you are no longer a slave to sin!  » Read The Rest

“The only thing I like about baseball is that you get to smack things… and sometimes break things on accident.”

- Andrew Paschall, 9

I think you would have liked James. James had a magnetic wit and a warmth about him that seemed to put everybody else at ease. He loved kids. And He saw in Jr. highers the potential to turn the world upside-down for Jesus. I think that’s why he volunteered every minute of his spare time at his church in Salem, Oregon where I got to know him, in student ministry. He was great at guitar and other instruments and drew tons of kids in whom he taught and showed who to worship Jesus… He was the funniest thing at youth group every week. And the one who made others around him have the most fun. He was just fun to watch.
I had the chance to work with Him in ministry while I was a youth pastor in the Northwest. Is wife Julie was a masterful vocalist and led worship every Sunday. He was the father of three beautiful children, and, though he was never on paid staff… he was unreservedly recognized… as a pastor to the youth.
One Saturday he went out to do some running and when he returned he complained to his wife that his arm hurt… » Read The Rest

I know how we think, because I’ve thought this too. Jesus… doesn’t really ASK much of us! After all, he simply tells us to BELIEVE in Him… and TRUST in Him to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. AND HE ONLY ASKS… that we have FAITH! That’s ALL HE REALLY asks of us! “It’s all His GRACE anyway – it’s not anything we DO that makes us any more deserving – WE really do NOTHING - HE does it all! And doesn’t really ask us to do… ANYTHING! All we do… is accept His gift… and not much else. » Read The Rest

Jesus must have been a P.R. staff member’s worst nightmare!  Jesus, at the peak of his popularity turns to see the sea of people who claim to follow Him and tells them bluntly… “EXPOSURE to Christ… dose not make a FOLLOWER of Christ.”

Jesus isn’t distracted by the inflation of his ego that his following was reaching unprecedented figures… he wasn’t tantilized by the sheer volume of resources that were at his fingertips… Jesus wasn’t concerned with nickels and noses… but with hearts.  He’s not concerned with filling a room… but with WHO IS FOLLOWING ME?

So he says in Luke 14 (bold added)

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his » Read The Rest

I thought I learned it all.

We ended a 12 week series through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount titled “Inside Out.” And I was amazed at what I learned. The most impacting thing was how Jesus deals with the pandemic problem we have with greed and worry. And that in Jesus’ terms… BOTH of those problems… come from an excessive concern for the material. And his solution is wrapped up in the famous verse, Matt. 6:33.

³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. » Read The Rest

Born 9lbs. 2oz. at 3:07pm, Thursday, December 6th, 2007.

Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Jesus is urging people to take the initiative. Come on! Make the spiritual decision… and interact with God about that decision. He’s saying, “Talk to Him! Ask Him things! Interact with Him! Seek Him! Set aside fruitless pursuits! Search Him out! Take steps toward finding Him! Knock! Are you knocking on doors? Are you expecting God to act – to guide you?” He’s saying, in general, “Take the initiative spiritually!” And here’s why. » Read The Rest

Although you might not verbalize it, I’m sure the thought has gone through your mind… “What if…?” What if I lose my job? What if it’s… cancer? What if I don’t make the team? What if she grows up and doesn’t live for Christ? What if my parents won’t understand? What if I fail the test? What if they say “No?” What if we can’t ever get back on top of these bills? What if he doesn’t like me? What if I don’t get accepted? What if I’m… pregnant? What if I never get pregnant? What if we never get approved for that loan? What if I’ve reached the top of my career and this is as good as it will ever get? What if I end up alone? What if? » Read The Rest

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

It’s impossible to do two mutually exclusive things. You can’t go east and west at the same time. You be faithful to your spouse and play the field. Those are contradictions in terms! And here’s the point, you can serve God… OR money… but not both. God will tell you the most important thing in life is not money or stuff. Stuff and cash will tell you the most important thing in life IS NOT GOD… or church… or worship… or spiritual things… They’re OPPOSITE things. …so you’ll have to choose.

Now, you and I don’t sit down and say, “Well, I have to make a choice here… I think I’m going to serve… money!”

I don’t think many of you have said that. I know a couple people who have said that… but it’s not very common. It’s more insidious than that. When you wake up and find that your life is just cluttered with stuff… priorities and commitments are in everything but spiritual matters… maintaining and caring for the concerns of money and stuff overwhelm you… managing investments and bank accounts and stuff becomes so absorbing that eventually it demands your full time and attention… we wake up one day… and all we answer to is the master of stuff and money! You simply don’t have any time to give to God. You have no energy left to respond to Him. You’re busy! You’re overloaded. You’re overwhelmed! You’re… tired! You can’t serve God! Because you’re serving money! You LOVE God! You just can’t respond to Him. And by every action… you’re just entrenched in materialism…

Jesus would say, “The problem is in what you believe…” » Read The Rest

In our weakest moments we reverse the order of the Lord’s prayer. Instead of praying how Jesus instructed - God’s glory - then our good - we put ourselves on the spotlight. We worship… not God… but ourselves. And this is how it sounds.

“Hey, God! Make me look good! May other people see me and know me and like me! Make other people do what I want them to do as if I were You! I expect You to give me what I need in advance and give me what I want as well. Let me get even with my enemies for what they’ve done to me! Forgive me in advance for when I give in to temptation… which I will. And deliver me from consequences! Praise God, hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. Amen!”

That, unfortunately isn’t far from the truth.

You and I make the choice every day. Will we chose to orbit our lives around God’s glory first then our good as it falls into place after that? How you answer that question… determines who you have chosen to worship.

Someone I came to know when I became a youth pastor surprised me when I head him confess that one of the unspoken rules in his family as he was growing up was to evaluate everything in light of one particular question. They never outwardly asked the question (well, maybe they did). But they lived under the question for sure. The question was: “What will other people think?” It shaped what they bought. It shaped the places they went. It shaped what they ate. It shaped what they drank, or didn’t drink. It shaped the style of clothing that they wore – who they spent their time with – even when, how often, and why they went to church… And, in his rawest moments he’d confess, “You know, Jeff, it is a terrible thing to live under the burden of trying to impress everyone!”

You and I are wired to crave approval. We acquire the taste of people’s approval at an early age. » Read The Rest

This note was posted in the office of a church I visited this summer over the copy machine It read, “Dear God, so far today I’ve done alright. I haven’t gossiped. I haven’t lost my temper. I haven’t been greedy or grumpy or nasty or selfish or self-indulgent. And I’m very thankful for that. …but in a few minutes God, I’m going to get out of bed… and from then on I’m going to need a lot more help.”

I don’t think I make it that far. Usually I blink open my eyes… and look around and I think… “O God! Forgive me!”

Standards are not evil. The OT Law is not poison. Jesus says, the problem is not with the law but with us!
You know, you don’t get mad at the thermometer because it registers 101° fever. Do you? We don’t say, » Read The Rest

This photo was from Christmas break 2006. I just thought it was cool.

Early on when I was first attempting to learn the game of golf I remember it being an entirely frustrating experience… The entire sport is so impossible! I knew very little about keeping score… which club to use… and I quickly learned that, no matter how skilled you are at controlling a little white ball over acres of varied terrains, that it really wasn’t about skill… the sport is all about managing errors.
But one day I learned something that changed everything. One day I went golfing with a couple of older men I knew. The first guy went to tee off. He placed his ball on the tee, hauled back and smacked it. And it veered drastically to the right – and I mean really badly – into the empty chaparral hillside. …and things were a bit uncomfortable for a second… we all paused for a moment… and then his partner looked at him and said, “Want to take a mulligan?” The other guy said, “Yup. Better.” And he dropped another ball. And hit it! » Read The Rest

Most of us are familiar with the term “politically correct” – although I’m not sure many of us can define it very well. It rarely has to do with politics and often… it isn’t even correct! The more humorous ones are things like: It’s no longer called “toilet paper” – it’s “bathroom tissue”. There are no short people – they’re “vertically challenged”. Companies no longer fire people they “curtail redundancies in the human resources department.” It’s politically correct to save the rainforest (jungle). It’s politically incorrect to wear fur. It’s politically correct to recycle. But it’s politically incorrect to oppose abortion. It’s politically correct to live and let live. And it’s politically incorrect to believe or express anything exclusive or morally defined.
What is political correctness? This is a stab at a general definition. It refers to the prevailing opinions, values and standards of our culture to which we feel pressure to conform.
There are a few laws to go by to help you identify political correctness. » Read The Rest

In August this year our staff had the opportunity to attend one of the satellite locations of the WCA leadership conference at Journey Church in La Mesa. One of the speakers was pastor John Ortland who is also the author of a book called The Life You’ve Always Wanted. It’s a book about how God uses the practical disciplines of the Christian Life to change us from the inside out. And in chapter 10 he explains that in theory all of us affirm the idea of purity (we generally like it). But in practice we often settle for less – often with results that are disastrous. He says, » Read The Rest

Most of the time we don’t know what would make us happy… one time I ate a whole box of fried mozzarella sticks from Smart and Final… And I was happy!… for about 2 days… I’m not going to say what happened… And I won’t tell you when I did it either… It was a long time ago… when I was stupid… but I’ve grown out of it… …sometimes we don’t know what will make us happy. So what would make us really happy? …What would it take for you to be… really happy? Probably most of us in our most unguarded moments, if we were honest with ourselves, would say, “Well, more money than I’ve got and a lot fewer problems.” » Read The Rest

If you think that lawyers have it bad with stereotypes about them… think for a moment about preachers.

For the longest time I didn’t want to be one because most were overweight. They wore white shoes. A lot of them had big, poofy hair. Preachers are notorious for speaking long and not saying very much - they’re all bark and no bite. They tend to ramble and wander with their thoughts and it always seems that when preachers run out of logic they just crank up the volume, bark louder and dab their forehead with a tissue between ooh’s and aaah’s.

Those are the stereotypes! It’s no wonder we get criticized.

» Read The Rest