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“Faith always expresses itself in witness. We believe, therefore we confess… Together these confessions present a rich, historical, and contemporary expression of what we believe. They are an aid to understanding, a guide to raising our children, and a guard against false stories that surround us.”
–Introduction to “Statements of Belief” for Magnify Church
This Spring Men at Magnify will take 7 weeks to better understand our “Statements of Belief.” We want to allow the Lord to strengthen the spine of our resolve as we dig deeply into the Scriptures, church history, and learn to live out our beliefs in our daily lives.
Goals
- Better know and understand the Magnify Church “Statements of Beliefs.”
- Discover the biblical and historic anchors for our beliefs.
- Live out the practical implications of our confessions.
- Take a “Next Step” in faith to be the man God has made you to be.
Notes from Trent…
Good ideas and beliefs drive out bad ones.
A few thoughts have been been rattling around my brain in preparation for this series. I’ve had a number of conversations over the last year where someone said to me something like this…
“You know, I don’t think that denominations or differences in ‘small’ things matter that much to God. I just think sometimes we make a big deal out of stuff and I can’t seem to understand how that makes a difference in who goes to heaven or not. I mean, if we believe that Jesus loves us and died for our sins, isn’t that enough?”
Oh man. Where to begin… so many things to be addressed…
Our words matter. They reflect our hearts and beliefs. Those inevitably will turn into action. We can all agree that it’s important that we use our time wisely, “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:16)
I can understand the confusion that can come with not knowing what we don’t know. And even more: not knowing why what we believe (the nitty-gritty) matters. Frankly, the more I learn, the more I see what I do not understand.
One of the key prayers I have for the men of our church is that this Spring, we can take one BIG step forward in growing our confidence in what it is we profess to believe. Knowing and understanding God more enables us to both receive and reflect His love more. We remain spiritual infants and ineffective servants in the God’s kingdom when we willingly keep our beliefs about Him small.
This is NOT to over-complicate matters. I believe Jesus meant it when He said, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt. 17:20)
I take Him at His word when He said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mark 10:15)
Simple, small and child-like does not excuse us from willful ignorance or lazy belief.
Christ does not call us to uninformed faith. He calls us to believe upon His name on account of His worthiness as God. But what does it mean that Jesus is God? Why exactly did He need to die on the cross for our sins? How did the whole world come to be and where is it going? These BIG questions require us – from time to time – to really wrestle with the Scriptures, with God, and most of all – with our own hearts – to understand not only the WHAT of our belief, but the WHY.
Men, my prayer is this: that you love Jesus more today than you did yesterday. My hope is that you discover more and more of His goodness, grace, and kindness to you as you mine the depths of His grandeur. I hope that you are caught off guard and humbled by how much work it has taken for one generation of Christians after another to pass down the true witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that you can stand in wonder at His glory. I pray God will build into us all STEEL SPINES of confidence and courage. “The days are evil” indeed. Good ideas and beliefs drive out bad ones. Darkness is crouching at the door, not just out there, but also in here, if we let it.
IF
If we allow those around us to not understand the need for a savior, then His death on the cross doesn’t matter.
If we allow the belief in the sanctity of human life to be less-than-robust, we will continue to get what we do with the mass murder of the unborn and with the mutilation of image-bearers on account of “individualistic expression”.
If we don’t know what we believe and why we believe it, we OURSELVES may fall prey to bad ideas.
So let us not slink back from the challenging task ahead. It will be work. It will take effort. It will not always be comfortable to take time to really process our beliefs and dig into the theology around it. There will be lots of distractions and delays along the way. But I PROMISE YOU, those who take a step in faith toward God will always be met with His welcome arms to know and love Him more.
You will not be disappointed.
Looking forward to sharpening the axe together with you all this March.
Stand firm,
Trent Heaton
Director of Life Groups and Men’s Ministry
