Pokemon Christianity

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One of my kid's favorite video games is Pokemon. The game lets a kid take front and center in his world, and through life circumstances, becomes a Pokemon trainer. His goal? To be the best Pokemon trainer in the world. How does He do it? First he has to catch them, then if he wants to be the best, he trains the Pokemon so he can be the best trainer ever.

I never knew until recently that this a distinctly Christian viewpoint. We first go after those without Christ, then we share the Gospel so that we can bring them into the Kingdom. Once, they belong to Jesus, it is our responsibility to train them so they can be the best, strongest believers they can be.

Interestingly enough, do you know what the tagline is for the game? "Gotta' get 'em all!" It is not enough to reach our family and our friends, we've got to go after them all. We know that's what the Lord Jesus wants, He tells us, It is not my will that any should perish, but that all should to repentance. That is Jesus tellng us that we are His agents sent out to find, bring in, and train every available person. He is telling us, "You gotta' get 'em all."

We have an incredible and unique opportunity this Sunday morning to bring in the people God has brought into our lives. This Sunday is Friend Day. We are asking you to bring a friend with you. If you are an adult, bring one person. If you are a child, bring a child with you. If you are a student in middle or high school, or college, bring a fellow student with you. Kids bring your moms and dads. Parents bring your kids. Gotta' get 'em all!

For that to happen, you might need to pick them up. I can guarantee you that you will need to call them Saturday night and maybe even Sunday morning to remind them to be your guest in church. Here's a bonus, we'll have dinner at the church immediately following the worship service. it will be delicious. Tell them you would love to have them stay and eat.

You can also remind them that they get an extra hour to sleep that day; daylight savings time ends. Fall back one hour, get that extra hour, and come on to church.

Finally, I will be telling the story of my near death experience in the worship service. it is an amazing story of coming back from the brink of death. This Sunday is a day you cannot miss. This Sunday is a great day to bring your friend, your neighbor, your acquaintance, your co-worker, your fellow student, or anyone you meet with you. It will be one of the most exciting days this year!

Why are we doing all this? Because Jesus Himself gave us this explicit command: "Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full." (Luke 14:24, MSG). Doesn't that sound a lot like, "Gotta' get 'em all"?

See you this Sunday morning at 10:30.

Pastor Trey Rhodes

Come Be a Part at Oceanside Church this week...

• FINAL SCAREMARE Wednesday night, October 31 after dusk.
• FRIEND DAY this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
• FALL BACK. Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday. Turn your clocks back one hour! You'll get an extra hour sleep.

 

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Believer Defined

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Craig Groschel has said, we are able to be bold with that which we believe deeply. As I look at the what has become the anemic church, I am burdened by what theologians refer to as "easy believism." This concept was first introduced by a man who meant what he said, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He demonstrated that belief with his obedience even in the face of assured persecution. While safely on the shores of the United States, after escaping the Nazi regime, he was clearly told by God to go back to Nazi Germany to stand up for the Jews. He obeyed. He was executed. He obedience still impacts lives. The New York Times bestselling author: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Eric Metaxas's video below tells Bonhoeffer's story better than I can.

It is nothing for us to dismiss obedience as an emotional response to a perceived feeling. It might even be thought of a guilt response to a persuasive speech. But I have to ask, what if the desire to do right is not any of those things, but something that is only able to manifest itself this way in what is our finite, puny human minds. I believe the desire to do right is only given to us as a gift from our holy and righteous God. Think about it, He could have simply let us wander about hoping that we could somehow know what was right to do on our own. But our God has not left us as orphans (See John 14:18).

• He speaks to us through His Holy Spirit

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13 NKJV)

• He has given us a book that makes it clear what His will is for our lives.

If you love Me, you will keep My commands. (John 14:15 HCSB)

• He even gave us a conscience that drives us toward His standards and away from that which goes against His ways

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them. Romans 2:15 HCSB)

Obeying should be an easy proposition for us, but instead, it seems to go against our nature. Why? We don't want to be told what to do. Somehow, we have excused rebellion as a personality trait or a political stand. But it is so much more than that when we are dealing with God. God shows us how He wants us live and the only response we should have is, "Yes, Lord."

We cannot choose obedience when we want, nor when we get emotional, nor when everything is going smoothly. We choose obedience because our Master, Jesus, has spoken to us, and we obey. That is the life of a true believer. Believers live boldly when they believe deeply.

Peter and John understood that. We have recorded for us how they responded to God when He gave them instructions. We see them demonstrate openly what they believed deeply:

But an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said, "Go and stand in the temple complex, and tell the people all about this life." In obedience to this, they entered the temple complex at daybreak and began to teach. (Acts 5:19-21 HCSB)

Why don't we obey? Could it be because we don't truly believe? Maybe we think that can have a mental acknowledgment of God and Jesus and His church without there being any change or repentance. Too often we think that belief is something we think rather than something we are.

If that is where you are, then my call to you is to come clean with God; recognize and submit to His leadership in your life, and when He speaks to you, act. You see, when Jesus bids a man, He bids him come and die (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship). What does that mean? When you know what you believe, to the point of knowing what you would die for, you can truly understand what it is you live for. That should be how we define a believer. Do you believe?

Pastor Trey Rhodes

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Scared

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There can be purpose in scaring. Jude actually says that we are to, "save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear" (Jude 1:23 HCSB). Note the words, "with fear." Our purpose in fear is not to terrorize someone or to have a chill running up your spine or to sell movie tickets. It is to show them mercy. That means we should use fear to push through the distractions of this world we live in to help people concentrate on what really matters: real, abundant, eternal life.

You see, God has placed eternity in their hearts and we touch that part of the heart two ways: showing people how great eternity can be and how awful life and eternity is without Christ. When I think of the prophets, those whose purpose was to demonstrate the awe-inspiring Holy God, I think of interesting and what could be termed scary such as:

• The valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37)
• Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38)
• Wheel within a wheel (Ezekiel 1)
• The beasts (Daniel 7)
• Samuel, Saul, and the witch of Endor warning against dabbling in the occult (1 Samuel 28)
• Bowls of wrath, dragons in the sky, monster frogs, beasts from the bowels of the earth, the scarlet beast, and much more (Revelation 4-17)

These name just a few, but remind me at least, that sometimes this gift of fear can be used for not just a God's purpose, but the best purpose of all...seeing people pass from death to life through a relationship with Jesus Christ. That is what ScareMare is all about.

That's why we need to you to pray, serve, act, build, promote, and invite so we can see more people come to Christ this year. We were privileged to lead more than 20 into a relationship with Jesus Christ last year. Just as the tomb could not stop Jesus in bursting forth in life, this "house of death" will also bring forth life eternal and abundant. I want to be a part of that!

You can watch my take on what ScareMare is all about on this video we played at church on Sunday morning.

See you this Monday as we get to work to change lives, rescuing them from the fire.

Pastor Trey Rhodes

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Shakin' the House

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Rarely have I been able to catch a glimpse of heaven as I was able to in church this past week. My only wish is that more could have experienced the power and presence of God at Oceanside on Sunday. Hearts were moved; the altar was full; and lives were changed. I believe that for many, forever. That is what happens when we are passionate about our relationship with God. That's what happens when we care more about what God thinks than we do what others think. It is a powerful testament to the openness of Oceanside Church to the moving of the Spirit of God. As it was in the New Testament in Acts 4, when they prayed the place was shaken. God shook many to their foundations.

Although this past week was a special visitation from God, I don't think God only wants to work in His people on rare occasions. I believe He wants to do it at every opportunity we give Him. Here's what I mean: we must always be ready for God to move. If we are ready, then when He is ready, supernatural things happen. There are spiritual breakthroughs. There are many convicted of sin. There are others that are converted. Still others experience the supernatural presence of God. All that happened this Sunday. That's power. That's New Testament. That's God the Holy Spirit. I'm glad I was here so He could break through my old, crusty, dulled heart.

God is doing something new at Oceanside Church. We saw it at Camp Kinetic. We experienced it a couple of months back. And now, He broke out again. It is fresh. It is fulfilling. It is wonderful. My challenge to you is to come to church with expectation. Expect God to break out again at any moment. Expect lives to be changed. Expect Him to touch you again and again. Expect Him to touch and change the lives of your friends and family. Just expect Him.

That's what the church in Acts did. They prayed boldly with belief that God would visit and empower them. He did just that in Acts 4:

When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master..." When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God's message with boldness. (Acts 4:24, 31 HCSB)

If we follow in the steps of the early church, we too will speak God's message with boldness. We will testify what God has done for us. We will tell our friends and family and neighbors what Jesus did and can do for them. We will tell that if they will believe, they can experience forgiveness of sin and life in abundance.

Are you ready to be shaken? Once you are shaken, you'll never want to go back to the old, mundane, boring, work-a-day world. You will be changed, and I mean, forever. You will never be satisfied with a normal, unshaken life ever again.

Pastor Trey Rhodes

UNSTOPPABLE Series continues this week with Unstoppable Message. EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD!

www.MyOceansideChurch.com for our website


MyOceansideChurch.podbean.com for most audio messages

www.OCAnnounce.info for our latest updates on ministry and events

 

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Bold at the Pole

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A couple of weeks ago, our church's students joined many more at Wando High School and gathered around a flag pole. They went to school on that morning to pray. They prayed for one another, their school, their friends, teachers, administration, and nation. It meant they had to get up early, stand in front of everyone that would identify them as Christian, and make their colors known. Tthey didn't do it behind the school building or behind closed doors, but they prayed in front of the whole school at the main flagpole. For our students that participated, I want them to know that I am proud to be called their pastor. Keep on living it out in front of everyone. Make your colors known that you are one of His.

With that said, I also want to say that churches in North America have it easy. I am not saying that as a large church pastor that hasn't met the budget for this fiscal year. I'm saying that as someone who takes for granted what we enjoy every single day, freedom. I'm talking about freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, freedom to dissent, freedom to speak. All of that happens in the free enterprise system that we live in and take for granted every single day. For that I am thankful. We CAN stand around a flagpole and pray and proclaim our faith openly and without fear of government reprisal.

It has not always been this way. This is something that we have enjoyed since our founding fathers, by way of Thomas Jefferson and our Baptist forebears, put into the Bill of Rights. What we now think of a standard rights were anything but in the 18th century in which He wrote. Ruling governments made the rules and the people abided by them. That was the end of that.

What I'm saying is that the church has suffered for preaching and teaching the truth for most of its existence. And, except for the fewer and fewer countries that allow for those freedoms to reign, freedom to worship and speak and assemble are greatly curtailed even in the 21st century.

Can that really be true? Even in the 21st century? Case in point, a Chinese church was recently forced to have their worship in the blizzard when the government agents forced them out of building in the middle of winter. What I find incredible is that they didn't go home, they just kept worshipping, in a blizzard, with no protection of a building.

READ MORE ABOUT BLIZZARD WORSHIP HERE

I have to wonder, if we were told, no worhsip inside, would we still worship outside? No matter the weather? Is that how committed I am to Jesus Christ and His church? I was once told by a great man of God that my character can be gauged by what it takes to stop you. That gives us an idea of what an UNSTOPPABLE Church is all about. That kind of church is not stopped by persecution, harrassment, or interference. That is what Oceanside Church must be if want to be called one of His on that day.

From the beginning, the church has been inspired to live bold and unstoppable. Peter and John were commanded... did you hear that? ...commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore. That was where they drew the line early and with great conviction:

So they called for them and ordered them not to preach or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it's right in the sight of God [for us] to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:18-20 HCSB)

They chose what was right, not what was popular. They knew their choice would affect millions of Christ followers throughout history. They knew in the ealiest days that bold living in the foundation of the UNSTOPPABLE church.

Today, we must choose afresh to be bold every single moment of every single day. There must be no doubt in the minds of those around us if we are believers or not. When we live what we believe, there will be a synergy that will take over. We will become God's kind of church. that's my challenge to you: live what you believe, tell your story, make a difference.

Then His church will be UNSTOPPABLE.

Pastor Trey Rhodes

UNSTOPPABLE Series continues this week with Unstoppable Praying. See you there!

www.MyOceansideChurch.com for our website


MyOceansideChurch.podbean.com for most audio messages

www.OCAnnounce.info for our latest updates on ministry and events

 

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Plain Vanilla Christian

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Have you ever heard someone say, "That's just plain vanilla" ? In my thinking, that phrase is usually heard when a salesman is trying to talk you into upgrading into the deluxe model. My usual terse answer is, "There's nothing plain about vanilla." You see, I love vanilla. There is nothing better than a mug of vanilla bean ice cream late in the evening to bring comfort to these weary bones. I don't want cherries, chocolate, marshmallows, or jimmies. I just want vanilla ice cream.

Now, I just found out after making a comment on Sunday about the importance of believers becoming mature, I was right. The best things in life do need to mature, including vanilla. For us to finally get vanilla in useable form takes years. 4 and a half years from planting to your kitchen. The process of planting, growing, pollinating, harvesting, and curing takes large amounts of time and effort. If you want vanilla, real vanilla, not the imitation stuff, you must determine to mature it in the proper way. It is only then that we can use it in our ice cream, cakes, sauces, or anything else I can imagine adding it to.

How does this happen? Here's a excerpt from an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper:

It takes up to three years after a vanilla-producing orchid vine is planted before the first pale yellowish-green flowers even appear, then another 1 1/2 years from the time the flowers are pollinated until the bean is processed. Now you know why vanilla is so expensive: It requires years' worth of labor.

So, I ask you, are you ready for a plain vanilla Christian life? It will take time and energy and willingness for you to grow to maturity. As a college professor once told us, "You can be spiritual in a moment, but spiritual maturity requires time" (Dr. Sumner Wemp, Liberty Unviversity).

But time is not enough. You see, as you have seen over and over, some people never grow up, they only get older and bigger. This is why we spent 5 weeks at Oceanside Sunday morning services and at our small groups explaining why we must sell out to the Jesus as Lord. That means life, or BIO, as we have discovered, means that to mature, we get:

BEFORE GOD - spending 10 minutes a day with Jesus (the 959 plan is a great place to start. Please contact us for more information about this great starting point).

IN FELLOWSHIP - making it a point to be in church and in small group every single week.

ON MISSION - being able to tell your story with people God brings to you at work, at school, at play, or wherever you are.

The Bible tells us that we are to mature. Prayers have already been offered to the Lord for us to become mature. Read what 2 Corinthians 13 tells us:

"We also pray that you become fully mature" and "become mature" (See verses 9 and 11)

So, how about it? Are you ready to experience life, BIO, as never before? Get started now. Become a "vanilla" Christian as you mature in Christ. You will truly be UNSTOPPABLE!

Pastor Trey Rhodes

See you Sunday Morning at 10:30! UNSTOPPABLE Series begins this week. See you there!

www.MyOceansideChurch.com for our website


MyOceansideChurch.podbean.com for most audio messages

www.OCAnnounce.info for our latest updates on ministry and events

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Motivated by the Dead: the Story of Marshall

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I really want to watch a relatively recent movie that has been called a sports movie that's not. In other words, it is about something much more profound than a sports team winning games. The movie is We Are Marshall. It is the re-telling of the account of 76 Division 1 football players dying in a plane crash, and the school's response to the tragedy. Here's a quote from a website that discusses the real life drama:

"The new players didn't know the story. They didn't know the magnitude of the tragedy," he said. "This was to help them understand the magnitude if this tragedy and what role they needed to play in the future to build the foundation for the future generations of Marshall football."

Lengyel said this was a "private moment" for the team, which traditionally happened at 6 a.m. before the first game of the year with only the team, coaching staff and team managers there.

McConaughey uses the phrase, "The funerals end today," but Lengyel said he had to make that known not only to the players but to the schools the team played. Each time the team traveled, the school would have a memorial for Marshall, but Lengyel said the team couldn't continue and grow under those conditions.

Read the actual story of Marshall's football team airline crash

The coach made sure that the Marshall football team had to remember the sacrifice, but couldn't dwell on the tragedy of the needless deaths every moment of every day.

So, how important is at that we remember those who died before us? To answer that, I need to tell you about some questions my daughter fielded in one of her classes at Charleston Southern University. Her class has been reading Fox's Book of Martyrs. Her classmates said that they didn't understand why this book is such an important part of Western literature (if somehow you don't know what this book is, you need to get a copy on your Kindle, tablet, or computer and read it). What is the point of reading it? After all, it's just tragic, horrible, depressing stuff about believers that lived many centuries ago. What good could it possibly do for us today? My daughter was incredulous. This is a book she's been read; she has also read, and had been taught from since a child. Now, here was someone all but thumbing their nose at its importance.

So, why is a "book of martyrs" important to Christians? What difference can it possibly make to us in 21st Century America? In the same way that we must never forget the attack on America on September 11, or the unprovoked surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, or the holocaust of the Jews before and during World War II, we must never forget the martyrs who died for their Lord. Even the Bible reminds us in Hebrews 11 that the world was not worthy of those who were imprisoned, tortured and many even died for the faith. There is a special place in the heart of God for those who were marytyred for Him.

With that in mind, I must ask myself, what is my motivation? Is it the living or the dead? In many ways, I believe it to be both. Read the words of 2 Corinthians 5, the Bible exhorts us all:

And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:15 HCSB)

It takes death to brings us to understand our deepest motivation as Christians. That is meant in at least two ways:

1) Because Jesus died, we have no reason to live for ourselves. His example is that love in truth is always worth dying for. Remember from last week, God so loved, He gave..."

Read about Love and John 3:16 here

2) Because others have died for the Faith and are dying without the Faith, we must tell them that Jesus died for them, not as an example, but in order to reconcile us all to God the Father and to take our sins away. Theologians call that "imputation." This is a banking term that means to "place on one's account." That means that Jesus' death as the sinless, perfect Son of God allowed us to place our debt of sin on Jesus' infinite account (See 2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

Through death, we find life. In that, Jesus is our motivation, and in another way, they are our motivation. We live for Him because He died for them. We live for Him because they died for Him. Death is as much a part of life as birth. So because of that, the funerals will go on, but not in fear, but in hope that life doesn't stop with death. Death, because of Christ's resurrection from the dead, is now a conquered foe that holds no power over us anymore. No matter the circumstances, we can die in the Faith knowing real life has only begun.

Living for Him who died and is alive,

Pastor Trey Rhodes

www.MyOceansideChurch.com for our website

MyOceansideChurch.podbean.com for most audio messages

www.OCAnnounce.info for our latest updates on ministry and events

 

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