Life Center

As God is writing the BEST story for your life, Satan is luring you towards lesser alternative versions.

You can’t live out what you don’t put in.

TRANSCRIPTION

So, so one summer, this kid named Alex was trying to save his money so he could buy a new baseball bat. And he was really struggling to save his money. He was having a hard time of it. So one night, his mom overheard him praying before bed. And he was praying passionately. And this is what Alex prayed. He said, “Oh, God. Please help me to save my money so I can buy a baseball bat. And Lord. Don’t let the ice cream man come down this street.” We’ve all faced temptations, haven’t we? Things that come in front of us that is just too hard to resist. And honestly, temptations can be anything as simple as ice cream but temptations can also be sinister as well.

You and I can face temptations that seem, in the grand scheme of things, pretty small. But we can also face temptations that, when we look at the big picture, when we realize if we make this decision it will change the trajectory of our lives forever, we face a lot of temptations in this life. You know my Dad says that he can resist anything except temptation.

Jesus was also tempted. Jesus at his weakest moment, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, the devil came to Jesus and tempted him in three ways. And that’s the story that we’re going to be reading today. But Jesus overcame temptation. How did Jesus overcome temptation when he was at his weakest? How did he overcome it? And that’s the secret that I want to share with you today that I think will lead us back to the word of God and depends upon it. I believe if we could get this secret into our heads and into our hearts it will change the way we live.

So my contention today is that each and every one of us is being lured away from God’s best in our life. That different opportunities are presented before us that are lesser versions of what God wants for us. And if we, some of us recognize temptation right away. We recognize, “Oh, I’m being tempted right now, away from God’s best in my life.” But many of us just feel pulled and prodded and distracted away from God. Some of us have slowly drifted as we’ve given into one temptation after the next, and then we lift our heads up and we realize we’re really far from God.

And for some of us, we’ve run headlong away from what we know is God’s best for our lives. So we can deal with temptation in lots of different ways. And for those of you who are dealing with temptation, who are struggling with temptation, this message is for you. But listen, if you’re living the perfect life, this message is not for you. So you can just get up and leave now, if you want to. But for those of us who are struggling with temptation, who find ourselves not as close to God as we want to be, for those of us who are in a role in our lives and we’re not feeling like we’re measuring up to that role. For those of us who as fathers, you feel like, “I can’t do this,” or as a wife you’re struggling. If you’re an employee and you’re struggling. If you’re going through anything and you’re struggling and you feel like you’re not aligning with what is best for you, what’s God’s best for you in your life, this message is for you.

So would you open up with me to Matthew 4:1-11. So would you pass those Bibles down? Matthew 4:1-11, it’s page 829. And as we’re flipping there, I want to give you a little context for what we’re reading. We’re going to read the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert. But just before Jesus is tempted, he has this incredible experience. Jesus is baptized in Matthew 3. And when he’s baptized, he goes underwater and he comes back up and the heavens split open. And you hear this incredible voice coming from heaven w

King Herod, the religious leaders, and the Magi all responded differently to Jesus…

Transcription

Merry Christmas!

ILL: Paul Wulff, former head football coach at Eastern and WSU told me  over lunch one day about playing in his first preseason game for the New York Jets in the NFL.  He went in for his first play ever, as a long snapper on a field goal. All-Pro and Hall of Famer Reggie White (a strong believer known as the Minister of Defense) and two other All-Pro’s lined up opposite him.  Reggie asked him, “Do you believe in Jesus?” Paul and the others didn’t know what to say. Reggie asked again, “Do you believe in Jesus?”  More silence. Then just before the snap Reggie said, “Here He comes.”  

When Paul heard Reggie say that, I don’t think it was good news.  I’m not sure what Paul’s response was, but I doubt it was happy! He probably got knocked on his keister.  

Here He comes!  That’s the Christmas story: God came to earth as one of us.   Here He comes! When God announced His arrival, He got a mixed response. 

The first people to hear were Mary and then Joseph.  Mary responded by saying,  

Luke 1:38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

“Yes Lord to whatever You want, no matter what it costs me.”  And it would cost her.

Joseph’s story is found in Matthew 1 (p. 827).  Joseph didn’t believe Mary’s story and had decided to end the engagement.

Matthew 1:20–21 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  (Mark your place.)

What was Joseph’s response?  He obeyed—he took Mary as his wife.  Like Mary, Joseph said, “Yes Lord to whatever you want.”

Please don’t miss why Jesus came.  Look again at verse 21. “He will save his people from their sins.”  He came to save us! If your life is perfect—we’re really happy for you— this won’t mean much to you.  For all the rest of us, this is good news!

If you’re stuck in an addiction, a habit, a behavior that you just can’t overcome…

If you carry a load of guilt or shame from your failure…

If you feel far from God and wish you were close…

If you just wish you were a better person, a better spouse or parent…

This is good news!  Jesus came for you—to save you, to free you, to change you!  Here He comes! What’s your response?

Michael read the story of the shepherds and their response.   They rushed to Bethlehem to see Jesus and then gladly spread the word about Him!

And that brings us to our text: the visit of Wise Men or Magi, found in Matthew 2 (p. 828).  You’ll see three very different responses to Jesus’ arrival in this story.

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”  Someone said that this is the first Star Trek!

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 

6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; 

for out of you will come a ruler 

who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had see

Are you making room for Jesus? In this final talk about four essential prayers, we’re preparing our hearts as His home by praying a power prayer, “Here”. Right now, Is there any room for Jesus in your life? Home? Family? Friendships? When Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, nobody welcomed them in because there wasn’t any room… Let’s make room for Jesus, by learning to pray the prayer of availability, Here I am!

TRANSCRIPTION

Good morning. As many of you already know, Sarah and I are expecting our third child on February 20th. Which we’re also excited about, but also very nervous about, because that’s three and three is more than two. So we’re going to be outnumbered. But because of this, because we’ve got this third baby coming, we’ve had to make some changes, and we’re currently in the process of making changes in our home. So the play room that our kids use right now is going to be turned into the nursery. So we’ve got to move things out, move things in, we’ve got to make room, we got to make space for this baby, because this baby is coming.

The Christmas season is not just a day where we celebrate the arrival of Jesus. It’s also supposed to be a season where we prepare our hearts for his arrival in us. So in the Christmas season, it’s not just my wife and I who are expecting a child, everybody is expecting a child. We’re all expecting Jesus, right? This is a season where we prepare ourselves once again to receive Jesus anew in our hearts. And so today we’re talking about this prayer of availability of saying, “Here I am God.” making yourself available for Jesus to come in every day and dwell in you. And it’s a prayer that is difficult at times. Like I said at the intro, but I believe that it’s incredibly powerful.

So right now, is there room in you for Jesus? Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your family? Is there room in your friendships? Is there room in your life for Jesus? You know, when Joseph and Mary… We’re jumping ahead of the story that we’re going to read, but when Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem, Mary is about to have baby Jesus, and they’re looking for anywhere that will take them in, but nobody has room. No one has availability to receive Jesus. I think often in the Christmas season, we can end up being like the people in Bethlehem. We’re in the midst of Christmas. We’re in the midst of his arrival, but we have not prepared for him.

We’re not ready to receive him when he comes to us, and so in moments where Jesus is saying, “Can I have space in your life?” We don’t have any room because we haven’t made it for him. So we’re going to learn today what it looks like to pray this prayer of availability from Mary, who says to the Angel Gabriel, “Here I am. Let God’s will be done to me.” So let’s pray that prayer before we dive into this scripture. Jesus, here we are. We want to be used by you. We want to be filled by you. But most of all, God, we want to be with you. We want to know you. We want to experience your love, and we want to hear from your words. So God, would you teach us as we submit to your word, speak to us words of life. We pray this in Jesus name and everyone said, amen, amen.

So, if you’d open your Bibles to Luke 1, starting at verse 26-38 it’s on page 879, so pass those Bibles down the row. Make sure everybody’s got a Bible. If not everybody has a Bible then scoot next to the person next to you, and share your Bible with them. We want everybody to be able to see this, and engage with the text. So 1:26-38, page 879. As you’re flipping there, I’ll tell you what we’re going to read. We’re reading again the story where the Angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary and says, “You are going to have a baby.”

And she goes, “Whoa, timeout. IR

But to lose our sense of wonder is also to lose the motivation for worship.

Imagine a God who loves you so much that He never forgets a single prayer you’ve prayed.

Wow!

TRANSCRIPTION

Thanks! Help! Wow! Here…. We’re talking about four essential prayers.

Sometimes we overthink prayer and make it harder than it needs to be. Sometimes

it’s as simple as saying one heartfelt word. Thanks! Help! Or today’s word:

Wow!

Wow is the prayer of wonder, of amazement, of worship and praise! This is

the prayer our hearts offer when we see God do something amazing, when we get a

glimpse of His great grace and mercy and goodness, or when we see the beauty of

His handiwork in creation. Wow!

Anne Lamott says that this prayer, “Wow, is often offered with a gasp, a

sharp intake of breath, when we can’t think of another way to capture the sight of

shocking beauty or … an unexpected flash of grace. “Wow” means we are not

dulled to wonder.” 1

Not dulled to wonder. Children are not dulled to wonder, but as we get

older, we often lose our sense of wonder. “Oh that,” we say. “Yeah, I’ve seen that

a million times.” We can see a sunset without remark, or a newborn baby and our

only thought is that we’re glad it’s not ours. Dulled to wonder. But to lose our

sense of wonder is also to lose the motivation for worship. Perhaps this is why

Jesus said that we must become like children to enter the Kingdom of heaven. We

must maintain our sense of wonder, of awe and amazement—and worship.

I want to look at four things that make me say “Wow!”

1. Wow! When you see God’s works.

I love being outdoors. I love seeing God’s creation!

This is why I love backpacking! We see God’s creation as few people get to

see it, and you can’t help but stand there and say, “Wow!” This September, 5 of us

spent a week hiking 38 miles through the northwest corner of Yellowstone Park.

(Three pics—take about 4 seconds on each one.) It was one Wow moment after

another. I did have one small problem: my boots gave me a blister, and I hiked the

1 Lamott, Anne. Help, Thanks, Wow (p. 71). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

last 20 miles in some cheap water sandals! That’s also a “Wow!”—but a different

kind. But other than the blister, the hike was one long prayer of Wow!

This is also why I love riding my motorcycle. We go places that are just

stunning! Last summer, we rode through eastern Washington, central Oregon, and

northern California, to the Redwoods, and then up the Oregon Coast and past Mt.

St. Helens and Mt. Rainier on the way home. Wow! The summer before, we rode

through 5 national parks in Utah: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef,

Canyonlands, and Zion! Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Being on your motorcycle

seeing these kinds of things is a worship experience. I love the bumper sticker that

says, “I’d rather be on my motorcycle thinking about God than in church thinking

about my motorcycle!” Forgive me! I’m here thinking about God!

I played golf in late October on the Oregon Coast with my lifelong friend,

Kip Jacob. It was almost 70 degrees and sunny and no wind. We kept saying,

“Wow! Wow! Wow!” It was all about the weather, not our golf shots. My golf

shots inspire another kind of Wow: Wow.

Pete Grieg, in his excellent book, How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal

People, writes, “No one stares up at the northern lights thinking, Wow, I’m

incredible! We are hardwired to wonder and therefore to worship.” 2

No one stands before the beauty of creation and thinks “Wow, I’m

awesome.” Just the opposite—we feel appropriately small!

Psalm 8 (p. 465)

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set

your glory in the heavens…

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the

stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

Have you ever looked up into a night sky and considered the vastness of the

universe, and thought, “What am I?”

ILL: My first experience with this was in

Do you ever wish you were better at praying? I do!…Maybe we’re overthinking it. Maybe we’re making prayer harder than it needs to be. Maybe, a great prayer is simply, “Help!”

TRANSCRIPTION

Walk-up Song: Help! By the Beatles.

Help!  Great song!  And a great prayer!  Help! In fact, I pray this prayer more than any other.  Help!  Isaac Singer said, “I only pray when I’m in trouble; fortunately, I’m always in trouble.”  How many of you identify with that?  Me too.  And when I’m in trouble, this is my prayer: “Help!” 

Do you ever wish you were better at praying?  I do!  When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, Jesus gave them what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”  It’s a prayer marked by its brevity and simplicity.  Short and simple.  Which makes me wonder…Maybe we’re overthinking it.  Maybe we’re making prayer harder than it needs to be.  Maybe, a great prayer is simply, “Help!”

Today we’re going to talk about this prayer, take a look at some examples in the Bible, and then practice it.  We’re going to pray some “Help” prayers for ourselves and others.

Offering:

One of the prayers we’re going to talk about in this series is “Wow!”  And here’s a wow moment: last weekend you gave over $90,000 to the work of Spring of Hope. 

1. “The first great prayer”: Help!

In Anne Lamott’s thoughtful, honest and often funny book, Help, Thanks, Wow: the three essential prayers, she calls this “the first great prayer.”  Help!  It’s the first great prayer because it’s what most of us think of when we think of praying.  What is prayer?  We ask God for help.  Pete Greig, in his wonderful book, How to Pray: a Simple Guide for Normal People (highly recommended), writes:

Prayer means many things to many people, but at its simplest and most obvious, it means asking God for help.

Prayer means many things: thanksgiving (Michael talked about that last weekend), worship, surrender, praise, lament, even complaint.  But at its simplest and most obvious, “the first great prayer” is asking God for help.  Help!

I’ve listed some Bible references on your outline—these are only a sample of prayers for help—I could have filled up the page.  This prayer is everywhere in the Bible.  Let’s take a look at a few.

Exodus 2:23 The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

When the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, they cried to God.  Help!  And He did.  God sent Moses and delivered them.  What do you do when you’re enslaved, addicted, trapped, stuck?  Cry for help! 

Later when the Israelites were escaping Egypt, Pharaoh sent the Egyptian army to destroy them, and they cried for help again.

Joshua 24:7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them.

God heard their cry for help and set a dark cloud between them and the Egyptian army and then split the Red Sea and led them through to freedom.  What do you do when you’re about to be overwhelmed?  Cry for help!

After they reached the Promised Land, the Israelites began to stray from God, and foreign armies invaded and conquered them.  Time and again, they cried for help. 

Judges 6:6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

God heard this cry and raised up an unlikely leader named Gideon who led the people to an unlikely victory over the Midianites.  The invading army was “like a swarm of locusts, impossible to count.”  Gideon gathered an army of 32,000 men but God whittled it down to 300—so they would know that it was God who delivered them, and not themselves.  Help comes in unlikely packages! 

Daniel prayed this prayer when the Persian king, Darius gave an edict that anyone who prayed to any god other than him would be thrown into a den of lions.    By the way, do you know the difference between you and God?  God never thinks He is you!  Darius evidently didn’t understand that: “Everyo

Everyone wants community; everyone wants friends; everyone wants to be included. It’s simpler than you think!  It’s often as simple as making an invite: “Come with me.”

We’re ok with loving people, with being friends, but we get nervous about the telling part, talking about Jesus, for lots of reasons. But as we’ll talk about, having a gospel conversation is as simple and natural as talking about anything else that you care about.

Transcript

November 9-10, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

You can do this!

Tell what you know

Opening:

ILL: I recently had a meeting with a friend that I love.  I was concerned because the meeting had the potential of going sideways, and I didn’t want that.  So I prayed, and the Lord gave me very specific direction: what to do and not do.  I did exactly that, and the meeting went really well.  Afterwards, I thanked the Lord, and thought, “I would have handled that very differently on my own. The Lord had mercy on me.”

I’ll bet you have a story of God being at work in your life this week.  We’re going to talk about that today.  First, let’s worship the Lord with singing.  God is worthy of our love—so let’s sing with gusto!

Introduction and offering:

This is Veteran’s Day weekend, when we celebrate all those who have served our country in our military.  Would all the vets, and all of you who are serving now our military please stand and let us thank you. 

ILL: When I was doing youth ministry in Eugene, we did a spring break youth conference one year.  We brought it a great speaker and a nationally known band.  The Third Avenue Blues Band was a big deal, and most of the players had recently met Jesus.  Every morning, students met for prayer and teaching; every evening, we did a service at a local high school.  And in between, we hit the streets, accosting strangers and passing out Jesus tracts and invitations to the evening meeting. 

One afternoon, I was on a street corner with no one to talk to.  So I flagged down a passing car.  They pulled over, no doubt concerned for me.  It was a sweet older couple, and she rolled down her window and asked if I was ok.  I said, “Do you know Jesus?  He loves you!”  That was as far as I got before her husband said, “He’s a kook,” gunned it and off they went.  Not one of my finest moments!

We’re not asking you to do that!  But we are talking about how to help people find and follow Jesus.  That’s our mission, and there are better ways—more natural and simple ways—to do that than accosting strangers on the street!  My motivation was good—I wanted people to know Jesus!  But my methods were not just suspect; they were probably harmful.

In this short series, You can do this! We are talking about some simple and natural ways to do the mission Jesus gave us.  You can do this!  In fact, you already do it in some ways and don’t even recognize it.  Let’s start with:

1. A quick review:

What is our mission at Life Center?  Our mission is to help people find and follow Jesus.  Where did we get that?  From Jesus.  After His resurrection, just before He ascended to the Father, Jesus gathered his troops and gave them their marching orders.

Matthew 28:18-20 (p. 857)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This is called “The Great Commission.” In these final words to His followers, Jesus gives them and us our mission: to make disciples of all nations.  To help everyone everywhere follow Jesus and do what He says.

How do we do that?  Last weekend I told you our story of trying all kinds of things to help people find Jesus and finally landing on one very simple way that worked.  And not surprisingly, it’s in the Bible.  It’s how the first disciples did it—naturally. 

John 1:40–42 (p. 912)

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his bro

Jesus gives us our mission: to make disciples of all nations. Have you ever felt awkward or ill-equipped to help other people find and follow Jesus? I have! What if your mission was simpler than you thought?

Transcript

November 2-3, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

You can do this!

Find someone you love

Opening:

“You can do this!”  We say it all the time. 

To our kids when we’re cheering them on at a game.

To a friend when we’re encouraging her to take on a challenging task.

To ourselves when we’re tired or discouraged. 

“You can do this!  You can do this!”  Today, I want to say that to each of you regarding God’s mission.  God wants us to be His hands and feet, to represent Him and do His work in the world.  It feels overwhelming.  “I don’t know how.  I’m not good enough.  I’m not a professional Christian like Joe.”  But…You can do this!  And I’m going to show you how! 

Introduction and offering:

Let’s start with a very important Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20 (p. 857)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This is called “The Great Commission.” In these final words to His followers, Jesus gives them and us our mission: to make disciples of all nations.  To help everyone everywhere follow Jesus and do what He says.

That is why at Life Center, we say our mission is to help people find and follow Jesus.  This is the mission Jesus gave us. 

But there are two big problems.  First, many Christians are not convinced this is what we should do.  Second, even those who are convinced find it difficult and intimidating.  Let me briefly address those two objections.

First, many Christians don’t think we should evangelize.  Live and let live.  Don’t push your religion on others.  A recent Barna survey revealed that almost  half (47%) of millennial Christians think it is wrong to evangelize (to share your faith with the hope of helping the other person believe).  And it’s not just millennials.  I recently talked with a friend who is a Boomer and a very devoted Christian who said she is not convinced it’s right to try to convert others.  The idea is that we should respect everyone’s beliefs and not try to win them over to ours.  That sounds so…nice!  But let me show you why it’s wrong.

The first reason we must help others find and follow Jesus is because Jesus commands it.  If you are a follower of Jesus, you do what He says—and He clearly says to do this.  Make disciples of everyone everywhere—starting at home.  Jesus says, “Believe,” and we believe.  He says, “Be baptized,” and we get baptized.  He says, “Love your neighbor,” and we love our neighbor.  He says, “Make disciples,” and we say, “I’d rather not.”  Sorry—not how it works if you follow Jesus.  First, Jesus commands it. 

The second reason is more compelling.  It’s love—not only love for God, but love for people.  You all know: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

  Jesus came to bring us eternal life—life to the full, abundant life now and forever.  Without Jesus, without that life, we perish.  There are the two options: eternal life or perish.  Which one do you want?  What do you want for those you love? 

ILL: Have you heard of Penn and Teller—the illusionists?  Recently after a show, a man approached Teller and after chatting briefly, gave him a Bible with a nice note written inside.  Teller said the man looked him in the eye, was kind, respectful, and complimented him on the show.  And then he gave him the Bible.  Now, Teller is an outspoken atheist. What was his response?  It may surprise you!  He said:

“If you believe that there is a heaven and hell and that people c

Have you ever let your fear make decisions for you? If we let it, fear will steer our lives out of God’s will and into the very things we fear. That’s why God commands his people, “Do not be afraid!”

Since 1999, John Mazariegos has been a missionary to Mexico whose passion is helping people grow BIG faith in Jesus!

Jealousy takes your focus off of your own blessing and desires someone else’s. When we are content with what God gives us, we can celebrate what he gives others.