Love Your Neighbor

Wow!  What a tough message to give this past Sunday, but truly a message that is clearly one of God's favorites.  Why?  Because, Jesus summed the Law into two commandments.  The first and greatest command is that humans are to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength.  The second is like it:  humans are to love their neighbors as they love themselves.

If Jesus stressed the importance of loving our neighbors, should we not take it seriously?  I know that this thing called "faith" is merely expressed in relationship:  a relationship with God that is to be first and foremost in our lives, and then relationships with the no-so-perfect human neighbors God brings into our lives.  And the hard part for us to grasp is this:  How we treat our neighbor is how we treat God.  We can't say we love God, but hate our neighbor.  Instead, by loving our neighbor, we prove and show God we love Him.

So, I personally feel it's much more important for me to show my love through actions than to simply express my love through words.  And the best way to show this love is in how I treat my neighbors, even those who hurt me.

Prayer Support

Hello everyone,

Here's my 2nd go round.  Lost the 1st one minutes ago.  Makes you sick to your stomach when you lose time and there's not a lot of extra to go round.

Hope all are doing well.  Caroline and I can't thank you enough for your prayers and support in this mission of planting a church.

Here are some items to continue praying over.

1.  May 14th (May 21st raindate) - Hedgesville Elementary Parent Teacher Organization Fundraising Carnival - 12 - 3 PM at Hedgesville Elementary 
Met with PTO a week ago.  I told them we would provide the following:  15+ volunteers to serve and man different stations throughout carnival; pay for moon bounces so that they can use extra money to continue doing good for the students; and provide a free gift from the church to all parents attending carnival.  Meet again on March 22nd to discuss more details.  They are completely thrilled to have our help and were taken back by our offer to pay for $700 worth of moon bounce rentals.  This offer led them to thank us by mentioning LHCH in their next newsletter.  You see, you do what's good and right, and God provides free advertising:)

2.  March 27th - Second Informational Meeting on LHCH - 9 AM in Theatre 1.
Will discuss more thoroughly what the service will look like, and begin to develop ministry teams.  Please feel free to invite friends from LHE whom you think would desire to join us on this mission.  Feel free to invite people from your sphere of influence; work, school, neighborhood.
 
3.  March 20th - Message by me at both services
Pray God would go before me to soften hearts to hear a truth on love that is probably one of the most difficult things to do:  Love Your Neighbor.  Ask that God use me to proclaim truth that will inspire those who hear to take action in living out this command.

4.  Continue to pray for laborers.  Ask God to send us persons with humble hearts and whose talents are to be used in connection with this ministry.  The two most visible ministries that are in need are children's ministry and sound/worship, though there's always room for growth in every ministry as we will create teams.

We're not just here to do ministry - to say that it's done.  We're here to do ministry for the Lord, which means well and with our best effort.  Remember, this is not about any of us.  If it is, then we miss our purpose and God's favor.  Our mission is merely to bring honor and glory to God through our words and our actions.  Our mission is to show people what God really looks like.  It's when we do this that we see good overcome evil and find people being attracted to a loving God who wants what is best for them.

Thanks again for your prayers and support.  Looking forward to what God's going to do!!!!!

In Christ,
JD 

1st Informational Meeting on LifeHouse Church Hedgesville

If interested in viewing the vision and direction of the church in regard to outreach, discipleship, and children's ministry, email me at the link below and I will forward the presentation to you.  Thanks.

Connect with JD

Prelaunch Timeline

Pre-Launch Timeline

Date                                  Time                Meeting                       Location
Sunday, March 6      6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Cardwell home
Sunday, March 20    6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Cardwell home
Sunday, March 27    9:00 AM          2nd Informational Mtg.   Leitersburg, Th 1
Sunday, April 3        6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Rich home
Sunday, April 17      9:00 AM          3rd Informational Mtg.   Leitersburg, Th 1
Sunday, May 1         6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Cardwell home
Saturday, May 14
(Raindate: May 21) TBA       Student Celebration Outreach   Hedgesville  Elem
Sunday, May 15       6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Rich home
Sunday, May 22       9:00 AM          4th Informational Mtg     Leitersburg, Th 1
Sunday, June 5         6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Cardwell home
Sunday, June 19       6:00-8:00 PM      Life Group                  Rich home
Sunday, June 26       10:30 AM       1st Preview Service         Hedgesville Elem
Sunday, July 17        6:00-8:00 PM Canvassing Hedgesville  TBA
Sunday, July 24       10:30 AM        2nd Preview Service        Hedgesville Elem
Sunday, August 7     6:00-8:00 PM Canvassing Hedgesville  TBA
Sunday, August 14  10:30 AM        3rd Preview Service        Hedgesville Elem
Sunday, August 21   6:00-8:00 PM Canvassing James Rumsey TBA
Sunday, August 28  10:30 AM        4th Preview Service        Hedgesville Elem
M-F, September 5-9 N/A               Week of Prayer & Fasting N/A
Saturday, September 10 TBA            Celebration Picnic         TBA
Sunday, September 11 PUBLIC LAUNCH!

Locations and times are subject to change. Updated information will be posted through facebook and email. Please contact JD if you would like to subscribe to updates.

CARDWELL HOME
JD & Caroline Cardwell
181 Burdette Drive
Martinsburg, WV 25404
H: 304-262-1685
C: 304-261-3269
E: lifehousechurchhedgesville@gmail.com

What is Truth?

Is truth real? Can truth be defined as absolute? Is it something that is only relevant to the person and the circumstance he/she is in?

In the Bible, John 4, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman who had divorced 5 times and was now shacking up with another man. He exposed her sin by telling her this fact about herself. She didn't like the way the conversation was going so she began to argue over the fact that the Jews saw the Samaritans like people view West Virginian's today (uneducated hillbillies, living in shacks with vehicles jacked up on concrete blocks, who worship with snakes.) She said to Him, "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." His response to her was: "A time is coming and has now come (referring to himself) when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for these are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth."

So what is truth? Truth is understanding that God is spirit and we are designed to worship Him in spirit and in truth. God has shown Himself to us through His word and through our own personal experiences. He has shown us some things which we love, and some things which we find painful. He has shown us that He is holy, loving, caring, and compassionate. He has also shown us that He hates sin, is just, and will one day judge all of humankind. But one thing that can never be forgotten is that God is patient with us and grants us grace. If He were not, we would all have burn marks on us from the lightening bolts He would strike us with everytime we mess up.

Jesus was asked this same question, "What is Truth?," some 2000 years ago in John 18:36-38. But let's take Pilate's question and paraphrase it into something we can understand because we've probably thought or asked the same question ourselves: "Jesus, you're talking about truth. But what makes your truth more absolute than mine? You're just a man like I am a man. How can you, or any of us, claim to know what is truth?"

The answer Jesus gave actually came prior to Pilate's question when He said, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

Take for example this story by Frank Peretti about a neighborhood summer playground if you take the absolute truth from the picture.

Posted on the fence of the playground are some rules: "No hitting. No profanity. Only age ten and under on the monkey bars. Only age eight and older on the basketball court. Ten-minute limit on the tetherball court." The rules work well because mingling through the crowd of children is Mrs. Kravitz. She has a keen eye, and if you misbehave, she will give you a pink slip. Two pink slips and you're out of the playground for the summer.

But take Mrs. Kravitz out of the picture. How long do you think it will take before the rules begin to be violated? "Hey, he hit me!" "She spit on me!" "Hey, get those kids of the monkey bars! Little kids are getting hurt!" "Hey, he cut the tetherball off!"

Who will soon rule the playground? The biggest, the strongest, the most antagonistic. That's what is happening in our society, because there is no regard for the rules. The Ten Commandments are no longer obeyed, and the Bible is no longer respected as a source of authority in our culture. You take away the absolute truth and chaos takes its place.

If we want to know truth, then there is only one source - the Word of God. Yea, some can say that the Bible is not valid for us today. Well, if that's the case, then we no longer have Mrs. Kravitz to provide order on the playground. And without her, we see fear, discouragement, lack of esteem, hopelessness, etc. because there's a "new sheriff in town" called self - the bully.

Think about it this way. Truth for the bully is to beat a person down to get what he wants. Truth for the adulterer is to lust after another woman because he's allowed. Truth for the murderer is taking life for the mere pleasure of power. And truth for you and me is nothing more than getting what we desire. Add everyone's truths - their wants and desires together, the sum is pure chaos.

So what is truth? It's merely listening to Jesus and doing what He says.

The debate of Standard

It's very interesting that we as a society, who claim "freedom to speak as we wish," don't truly mean what we say. In fact, we have gotten so bad about this that when someone does not agree with us, we get our feelings hurt. Then as a result, we take sides and begin to fight with our words. We would rather claim tolerance than truly live it (so much easier to speak than to act).

I found myself contemplating on this topic as I was reading some dialogue on Facebook about homosexuality. I read phrases such as, and I paraphrase: 10% of the population is born gay, therefore God loves them for who they are; Who are we to judge how someone lives his/her private life?; and Gay people are good and don't force their lives on us so why should we force ours on them? And as I read the debate I began to realize one thing - no one "wins" this conversation if the standard for our views is purely human.

We can try to throw science in to prove our view, but for every theory for there is always one against. We can try to throw reason alone in to prove our point, but for every statement there is a converse, inverse, or contrapositive statement that may prove our logic false. Just think of some of these contradictory examples out there today: bisexuality (how can a person be born both heterosexual and homosexual?), or homosexual repentance (how can a person who is born gay repent of his/her lifestyle and become heterosexual?)

So how do we come to any conclusion on this debate, or any other moral debate for that matter? Well, speaking first hand from knowing a young man who was sexually abused by a homosexual when he was nine and ten, who has also forgiven the abuser, he struggled to understand his identity as he grew into a teenager. The struggle stemmed from the fact that society determines a persons value and identity by his/her "sexuality." So, is my friend homosexual because he unknowingly participated (had no idea what sex was)in homosexual behavior? That was a question he had to grapple with in his early teen years.

And the answer that God showed me is that our value is not determined in our sexuality - how beautiful or sexy we are - but in our being made in the image of Him. And this concept comes from the Scriptures - the Bible itself. God created us to be in control of our sexuality for procreation; not for it to control us for sensual pleasure. God created us to be self-disciplined; knowing our identity was in Him and not in ourselves. God created us to do what was right, but we chose to do what was wrong.

Now some may say that the Bible is not a standard to be used in this conversation. Then my question is: What do we use? Ourselves? Our feelings? Where do these get us? Back to the argument of who's right and who's wrong. Only God can be our standard for concluding this debate, and the Bible, created by God through man over many millennia, states what that standard truly is.

If we decide we want to throw the Bible out because we feel it to be invalid, then we must throw out Jesus as Savior as well. Without the standard of the Bible written as it is, we throw away any proof that Christ ever lived, died, and rose again. Our only prove of His existence comes from an early church who, inspired by God, wrote what they witnessed.

So the question is not whether homosexuality is sin or not. The real question being debated here is whether the Bible is the standard upon which sin is determined. Hmm? I'm going with the Bible. I've messed up too many times on my own.

What's happening at LifeHouse Hedgesville

Wow! Here we are nearing the end of January, about 8 months away from the launch of God's new church. It's hard to believe that we're that close, yet still have so much to do.

First, I want to say farewell to Matt and Kristen Cassidy as God has called them to pursue a career in the military. Matt was one of the first people I told about God's calling to plant a church, and he was instrumental (no pun intended) in directing us to our home church, LifeHouse East. We hope and pray for God's blessings and safety to be upon them as they begin this new phase of their lives. We also pray that God lead another worship leader to LHCH as we draw nearer to our launch date.

Second, there's a lot of things happening behind the scenes. Obviously, there's this blog (lhch.blogspot.com) and an email address (lifehousechurchhedgesville@gmail.com). Just recently I have been working on a Facebook page to represent the church. I would love to use this social media to invite our friends and families to join and support us. This past Sunday we shared the vision of LHCH with LifeHouse East and made a call to the them to see who might come along with us on this journey. Fifteen committed followers of Jesus said they'd like to be part of our adventure - our cause - and we are very excited about this.

Third, with the window of time beginning to narrow, we've begun a calendar to show some very important dates and times in the life of LHCH. Beginning in February and concluding in May, we will hold monthly informational meetings to discuss the pathway of the church. Here we will also look at the roles Christ's servants will be responsible for in getting LHCH up and running. In May, we will also celebrate 17 students I tutor, along with their families, by throwing them a picnic with fun and games in honor of their hardwork throughout this school year. This event will be our first major event in reaching out to our community. In June, we will hold our first Preview Service to begin working out some of the kinks of the worship experience. This service will also let the team truly feel what the worship experience will be like. We will then begin inviting friends to our next Preview Service in July, and will continue to tweak the overall experience so that at launch we will be giving our best. We will continue to invite friends to our final two Preview Services in August, hoping that with each service the attraction builds for what we're doing. Finally, in September, the weekend after Labor Day, we will launch LHCH on a infamous day in history, 9/11. We're praying that God use this date to help people realize that the security and freedom they may not have in this world can be realized in Christ.

And so, there you have a glimpse of what's happening in the world of LHCH. I hope it excites you as it excites me. I'm chomping at the bit to see what God is going to do through us. Love you.

In Christ,
JD