Sam Ford – Page 8

The Uncomfortable Call

2017-03-28T06:10:32+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Note to Self...and Others|

This past week at the men's retreat, we learned a lot about call and being "on mission." We learned that every Christian has a calling, a gift, and a place to begin "going", whether that be in our home, our church, or our "work" (everything else). I was reminded yesterday, listening to an excellent sermon by Tim Keller, that going on a "radical" mission with God is safer than being comfortable without him. But a call to be "RADICAL" will look different for all of us. The one consistent theme amongst all of our missions, however, is that they will always include a call to LEAVE whatever makes us SECURE and to GO without understanding how everything will work out. It is a call to walk a path where our only confidence is that Jesus has said, "follow me.". I would encourage everyone to listen to Keller's sermon. It is [...]

Church Planting Lesson #31: No One and Everyone

2017-03-28T06:10:23+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101|

Over the limited years I have had as a pastor/planter, I have learned that there are two kinds of CHRISTIANS that come to, and sometimes through, a church. They both have very different expectations coming into a church family and, as a result, both have very different experiences. One comes in expecting to get everything and plans to give nothing. They reach out to no one. They connect with no one. They talk with no one. They fellowship with no one. They learn with no one. They pray with no one. They give (nothing) to no one. They serve no one. They sacrifice for no one. In the end, they have helped no one and no one knows them. Then, in their time of need, no one shows up, and they judge everyone. The other comes in expecting nothing but plans to give everything. The reach out to everyone. They [...]

Church Plant Lesson #30: Pruning

2017-03-28T06:10:10+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101|

Do you really believe God knows what He is doing? Do you really believe God is in control of everything that is done? Do you really believe that everything He does is purposed for good? I have been asking myself these questions today. When your expectations are met, they are easy questions to answer. When your expectations are not met, the answers come more slowly, as the substance of your faith is tested. Because God is the faithful gardener of His church, dedicated to its beauty, devoted to its health, and committed to its growth, He never fails to prune, trim, and thin when necessary. It is not a matter of if, but when. And when he does this, it is always at a time when His church is robust; it is always by means of something that is painful; it always results in a church that is less than [...]

Weeping to the Glory of God

2017-03-28T06:09:55+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others|

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, [...]

Re:Sermon – Jesus, Hula Dancing, and John 14.

2017-03-28T06:09:36+00:00By Sam Ford|Re:Sermon|

Below is an excerpt from an old Sermon in 2006. It made me laugh.The other day, my oldest son Fischer came home with a special flyer from this school. Apparently, a local group was offering Hula Dancing Lessons to boys and girls. For $120, my son, my one day going to be a man son, could experience 8 weeks of grass skirt hip gyrating exercise that would be the envy of manly Dad’s everywhere. Not Karate or Kung Fun, not hammering nails or building forts, not skateboards or video games…no, hula dancing. It took me all of three seconds to decide that my son would not be doing it, although Caylin had said he was really excited about it. So I had to tell him…“Fischer, you will not be doing hula lessons.”“Ohhhh…why?”“Hula dancing, well, it’s, um, it’s for girls. You’ve already mastered the art of twisting and shaking your bottom. [...]

Am I a Christian? A simple “self”-test from 1John.

2017-03-28T06:09:46+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others|

1JOHN 1 TEST v. 6 – 7 Do you walk in the light or the darkness? If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. V.8 -9 Do you believe you are a sinner? if we say we have no Sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1JOHN 2 TEST V.3 -5 Do you keep his commandments? And by this we know that WE (not YOU) [...]

On Keeping and Saving….

2021-07-04T17:57:14+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101|

Wednesdays are when I spend most of my day on sermon prep. I usually go to my nearest second office (read Starbucks) and spend several hours reading and studying. I can say with confidence that I am one of "those guys" who probably irritate the baristas because I spend a $1.65 to rent a table for a couple hours. Today was no different other than the fact that my wife and I are now running with one car. We sold my dream truck--a T100--because it was beginning to fall apart. I wept. Since that time, we have managed to use one car. It has worked for the most part, resulting in a few days where I bike to work or Caylin is left stranded at home. She hasn't complained once. I have.But today, like every Wednesday for the past two months, I WALKED up to the nearest Starbucks a mile [...]

A Hackneyed Gospel-Everything

2021-07-04T17:57:52+00:00By Sam Ford|Culture and Christ, Random Thoughts|

If you are anything like me, I have grown weary of seeing the word "gospel" attached to everything. We have gospel-centered, gospel-driven, gospel-community, gospel-doctrine, gospel-communication, gospel-marriages, gospel-everything. There is nothing wrong with the word, but I fear its overuse will eventually make it meaningless...or worse. I agree with what I believe is the intent behind the use of these compound words. Authors, bloggers, pastors, and teachers are all addressing heart motivation. The last thing they want is someone to approach discipleship, marriage, doctrine, or any aspect of life, in a self-centered or self-reliant way--the very antithesis of the gospel. I don't argue we should stop using the word, rather, we should regularly remind ourselves not only of the facts of the gospel, but its implications. In other words, we need to stop assuming people understand the truth of what we are talking about just because we attach the word Gospel to [...]

Monday Morning Preacher: Hope & Suffering in Ruth

2017-03-28T06:12:46+00:00By Sam Ford|Re:Sermon|

For the month of July, we are taking a pause from our study of the book of Judges and spending time in Ruth. After 15 weeks of disturbing stories with disturbing characters, we get to spend four weeks in a short love story. But this is not your typical love story about a knight in shining armor finding a princess to save. It is that, but much more. In truth, the story pictures not only the salvation of a helpless widow, the the salvation of a helpless people. It is the amazing, and somewhat confounding, story about a faithful God loving an unfaithful people, and rescuing them from their sin. But the first thing the author of this story wants to establish is just how HELPLESS we in fact all are. The theme of Judges, which is the setting for this story, is that "without a King...men did what was right [...]

For Freedom Christ set us free…for free

2017-03-28T06:13:03+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others|

So, there are a lot of things that Christianity has become defined as...and as I have talked to different people, I have learned one thing that it IS NOT understood as, one thing that all of those TV shows, individuals and churches have in common, is that for some reason, people do not see that the gospel of Jesus Christ is FREEING. They see religion. They see control. They see oppression. The concept of being set free is, in many ways, the last thing that comes to mind for non-believers—and perhaps even a lot of believers. Regardless of the truth, regardless of what the Bible teaches, regardless of what Jesus’ himself taught, for some reason, Christianity is viewed as something designed to restrain their happiness; and the church as the great moralistic prison that people actually choose to enroll in. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Though the Bible has much to [...]

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