Turning Point Church of The Nazarene
  • Home
    • What's Happening
  • About Us
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our Leadership
    • Contact Us
    • Location & Directions
  • GIVE
  • Get Involved
    • Children >
      • Children 2
    • Switch Youth >
      • About Switch
      • What We've Done
    • Adults
  • Latest Message
  • Turning Point Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Join Us Sunday

I Can't But God Can

4/27/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
I can’t change someone’s heart…God Can!
I can’t do the impossible…God Can!
I can’t turn a bad situation into something amazing…God Can!
I can’t bring dead things back to life…God Can!
I can’t guarantee how things will turn out…God Can!
I can’t heal your hurts…God Can!
I can’t see the big picture all at once…God Can!
I can’t take something broken and turn it into something beautiful…God Can!
I can’t fill your heart with joy…God Can!
I can’t tell you what your purpose is on this planet…God Can!
I’m so thankful that GOD CAN trumps I CAN’T in anything that comes my way!
0 Comments

April 19th, 2016

4/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
People can be big and God can be small.
 
The sun is big.  It’s 109 times the diameter of the earth.  Yet, if you hold a quarter close enough to one opened eye you can block out the sun.  At that moment the quarter is all you see.
 
God is big.  He’s the creator of all that exists yet can’t be contained by it.  Even so, if you care about people in all the wrong ways, if you fear their opinions or if you convince yourself that you need something from them in order to be “happy” – it’s a lot like that quarter.  God’s glory is eclipsed and all we can see is people.
 
When people are big and God is small life itself becomes a death loop of people pleasing behaviors.  As Psalm 29:25 says:
 
Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
    but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
 
Here are ten signs you might be functionally allowing people to eclipse God in your life:
 
  1. You are over-committed. You find it hard to say no even when wisdom indicates that you should.  After all, you wouldn’t want anyone to be disappointed with you.
  2. You need something from your spouse in order to be happy. You ‘need’ your spouse to listen to you or to respect you in order to feel fulfilled.
  3. Self-esteem is a critical concern for you.  If self-esteem is a recurring theme in your thought life, chances are that your life revolves around what others think. You reverence or fear their opinions. You need them to buttress your sense of well-being and identity.
  4. You have a nagging sense that you might be exposed as an impostor. It means the opinions of other people control you — especially if the might be of the opinion that you are failure.
  5. You frequently second-guess decisions because of what other people might think? You’re afraid of making mistakes that will make you look bad in other people’s eyes.
  6. You’re easily embarrassed. If so, people and their perceived opinions probably define you. Or, to use biblical language, you exalt the opinions of others to the point where you are ruled by them.
  7. You commonly catch yourself in little white lies.  Lying is usually a tactic we use to make ourselves look better to other people. It also serves to cover our shame before them.
  8. People are often a source of anger or depression.  If so, they are probably the controlling center of your life.  You aren’t relying on all that Christ has done for you to make you whole.
  9. You avoid people. Are you distancing yourself from other people?  Ironically this is a sign of how much they control you.
You’re too timid to share your faith in Christ because others might think you are an irrational fool.

0 Comments

The Palacios Family

4/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Step by step we're working to fulfill our vision of expanding our influence through starting new congregations in St Joseph.  Some weeks ago we had the privilege of hearing the testimony of Edson and Krista Palacios and heard of God’s stirring in their hearts to start a Spanish speaking congregation in our city.
 
Here are two huge next steps in the process:
 
  1. Praying for the Palacios family as they consider the strategies and best practices for accomplishing the task of starting a Spanish congregation in St Joe.  We’re also praying for God to open doors for such a work.  Strategies and plans are necessary, but what is essential is the moving of the Holy Spirit to do a work no person or group of people could ever do alone.
  2. Research and Planning: Available demographic surveys report a 5.4% Spanish population in St Joe.  Experience seems to point to a larger number – we need to find some reliable data here. We are also prayerfully working to clarify the “what?” and “how? questions of such a congregation.  What kind of outreach will best speak to the heart of our focus group?  How do we best go about starting such a congregation?  Once we develop these targets we will have a better understanding of the resources needed for such a tall task.
 
We’ll be sharing more as answers to these questions begin to emerge. 
 
 

0 Comments

3 Things That Hold People Back In Their Walk With Jesus

4/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Walking with Jesus is the picture of discipleship.  It’s what Eugene Peterson calls a long obedience in the same direction,
So, here’s a question I want to ask you, “Are you where you want to be in your walk with Jesus?”  
 
Right now, if you translated what you think about your walk to a scale of 1-10, how close would you say you are walking with Him?  (1 being “not at all,” 10 being “We walked on water together this morning!”)  
 
Walking closely with Christ over time, makes you more and more like Him, and becoming more like Him will uniquely influence the people around you.  So, how do we get off track?
 
In 25 years of pastoral ministry there are three MAJOR things that I see over and over again which keep people from experiencing the abundant life that Jesus promises in John 10:10.  
 
#1 – Unforgiveness
There are people who have experienced real suffering at the hands of others. Maybe you were molested, falsely accused, or cheated on—these offenses carry significant and lasting emotional pain and you won’t simply “get over it.”  How do we deal with these things as followers of Jesus who are called to forgive?  
 
There is nothing about forgiveness that is easy, but it is one of the most freeing and powerful things you can do.   It is also the basis of our new life.  If we don’t live forgiveness we are denying the very basis of our own new existence in Christ. 
 
As Jesus was being mocked, beaten and tortured in public prayed for the forgiveness of His tormentors in Luke 23:34.  
 
And then there’s that thing He said in Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
 
To put it simply – “Forgiven people forgive people.”  
 
Forgiveness is not a feeling. It’s not something we offer to people when we think they “deserve it!”  It’s a decision followed by a series of other decisions every time we have a negative thought or emotion towards someone that hurt us.  We decide, “in this moment, right now, in spite of how I feel, I choose to forgive.”
 
#2 – Sexual Sin
All sin is destructive, but sexual sin seems to carry extra power to erode our faith in Christ.  The Apostle Paul highlights the effects of sexual sin in I Corinthians 6:18 when he says…
 
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
 
Paul uses strong words when talking about sexual temptation.  Don’t flirt with it -  RUN from it. Then he uses the phrase, “…all other sins.” Yes, sexual sin is in the overall pile of things that separate us from God, but sexual sin can create scars of guilt we carry with us in ways other sins do not.  
 
When Jesus saves us, He forgives us from ALL OUR SIN (see Colossians 2:13)   In its place he gives us permission to live a life free from sexual sin and the guilt associated with it (see John 8:1-11.)  
 
#3 – Money
Jesus clearly says in Matthew 6:21 that a person’s heart is where their treasure is.  
He also said in Matthew 6:24 money can easily become the master of your heart in ways that should only be reserved for Jesus.  
 
Early in life my parents taught me the importance of allowing God to lead my financial decisions. I learned quickly that when I put all I have in the hands of the ONE who is more capable than me, He can do way more than all I ever asked for or imagined.

0 Comments

Help Us Celebrate A Graduate In Your Life

4/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sunday, May 22 we will be celebrating people who are graduating from High School and any other post high school degree program.  If you know a student we should celebrate help us out by letting giving us their information including their name, and email address and the school and level at which they are graduating so we can prepare for them.

    Let Us Know Who's Graduating

Submit
0 Comments

6 Ways to Avoid Election Infection

4/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
We are deep in the heart of the political silly season and I have to admit something.  I love it!
Yes, that admission puts me on the “People That Are Strange” list for many of you, but I’m just being honest. 
 
Yet, as much as I love the political plot twists and partisan banter, I also see what many of you see - Political discussion in our current culture is divisive.  I call this election infection.  Nothing can harm a relationship faster than a heated political disagreement.  If you take serious the call of Jesus to be the salt and light of influence in our world when it comes to eternal matters then you’ll need to be careful with political conversation. 
 
I do my best to keep the flames of my political opinions away from any bridge of influence I may have with someone.  After all, when we die we all spend eternity somewhere, but that somewhere is not in a political party.
 
How do we keep politically involved yet maintain influence with others?


  1. Put people ahead of politics:  A great resource for this is found in Matthew 22:37-40.  When asked what is most important Jesus told us a love for God expressed in our love for our neighbor. 
  2.  Have a political opinion:  Yes, Christians can and should have both political opinions and a political voice in the public square.  Yet our political opinions must always be in service to our faith and not the other way around. 
  3. Don’t be so arrogant: Be confident – of course, but the gospel reminds us that we are saved by what Jesus did and not by our brilliant opinions.  A person who keeps in mind the price of their salvation can’t afford a posture of arrogance.
  4. Engage in political discussion where it is appropriate: Enough said here.
  5. Get some context:  When someone has a view different from yours you are basically getting the last sentence in a very long story.  Often when we go at someone’s political opinions what we’re doing that we don’t intend to do is attacking their story.  I’ve found some questions that help me understand a person’s statements in context:
  • What led you to that view?  Here I’m asking them to take me on a journey.  It’s hard for me to depersonalize someone when I know the journey that got them to their opinion.
  • Have you always held that view?  This helps me clarify moments that were important to the formation of their opinion.
  • Have you ever met the candidate you’re going to vote for?  The question sounds snarky and could be depending on your tone.  The purpose is to turn down the temperature in the discussion.  In a subtle way I’m reminding them they don’t have all the information just like I don’t have all the information about a candidate.  Nearly 100% of the time they will say no.  My response is always the same – “Oh,”  and that’s all I say.
  • Then, I usually say something like, “I get most of my information from the media, how about you?”  This comment sounds silly (we all get our information from some kind of media), but it is another way to cool the temperature in the room.  It gently reinforces the message that both of us are trying to make sense of incomplete information.
  1. 6.  Never make a point at the expense of future influence:  Why would you give up influence with someone over your opinion.  In our country it’s your vote that counts, your opinion is secondary.  How tragic it would be to burn a bridge of influence to the point that when the political conversation is over and they have a need or a question they can’t or won’t talk to you about it? 
 
So, I want to lay down a challenge for all of us.  Between now and November 8 I challenge us to put our faith before your politics. That means I call us to be a Jesus followers first and a Democrats/Republicans/Libertarians second.
 
After all - Republican, Democrat, left or right we are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves all the little children of the world.
 
At Turning Point we take the command of Jesus seriously.  If you come to our church we will love you as we love ourselves, whatever your politics.  We use the way we treat others as a gauge for how much we love our God.

0 Comments

What's Next at Turning Point

4/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
As a person who has recently attended Turning Point you might be wondering, "What's next?"
If that's you, then you are invited to NEXT.  Next is a luncheon at noon following the worship service April 24, 2016.  You'll get a chance to meet other folks who serve and lead through Turning Point, learn what we're all about as a congregation and you'll find out how to take advantage of all the church has to offer you and your family.

If you'll just register below, and tell us how many people will be with you then we can make sure there will be plenty of food to go around.  It's completely free and all you need to bring is yourself, your family or a friend and your questions.  We look forward to our time together.

Submit
0 Comments

    Archives

    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2017
    June 2017
    October 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    May 2015

    Categories

    All
    Social Media
    Worship

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Turning Point Church of the Nazarene, 2014. All rights reserved.
Turning Point is located at 5211 Frederick Blvd, Saint Joseph, MO 64506
Call or email for more information: 816.232.1169
tpnazoffice@gmail.com