A Rearview

We concluded the God at the Movies series this past weekend. It was a great four weeks on many levels. During the course of these weeks I had someone say to me “it seems like this is the most on the money series we have done relative to our vision.” I have to say I do agree. I am a little sad to see it end if I am totally honest. I do have a few thoughts that I am going to share in three categories.

*What I Loved...

• I loved how God is so deep in our souls that even when it is not intended we see His fingerprints and His story. I loved digging into the most popular medium in our culture and finding God.
• I loved how this series clearly presented a relationship with Christ in the most accessible terms. It gave us great opportunity to have God-centered conversations with those who have not yet become Christ-followers. It was as my friend said the truest reflection of what we want to be as a church.
• The band just got better and better as the series went forward. They really did an excellent job bringing relevant secular music into the series that reinforced the message about God.
• We had several of our guests comment on how cool it was to walk in to movie popcorn and candy. Theming the environment sent a huge message that we really had thought hard about everything. It also communicated loudly that we really do want people to come and feel welcome as they find God.

*What I Wish...

• I wish we had been much more aggressive about our invites. We have to become much more passionate about engaging people and getting them to experience the community of faith. The connections that occur within the context of the community of faith are a critical component to help people discover God.
• I wish we had a couple more weeks. We left several good movies out of this series that would have been fun to engage. I also feel like we just hit our stride and could have gone a couple more weeks.

*What I Left Out...
On any given week there are many things that get left out of a message. God directs me to the things with which we need to wrestle. Everyweek in this series we had many options of issues to discuss. I have done my best to hear God’s leading and speak on what He has for us.

The Ironman message had a strong component that I chose to bypass but instead just mention in this blog. It is the idea of armor. There are weeks of teaching on this issue but there are a few things that I feel like God wants us to wrestle with as a way of tying a knot.

The armor of God is given to us as the means by which we are strong enough to stand against an enemy that is stronger than we are. Like Tony Stark it is not power that we possess ourselves that allows us to resist the attacks of Satan to cause us to sin and stumble. Instead it is the suit that possess the power. Ironman is strong because of his armor.

That suit is beyond cool, but as I have thought more about it that suit is nothing in comparison to the suit (armor) of God. We are called to put that suit on in Ephesians 6 and when we wear it we can resist and stand against the schemes the enemy has to destroy us. His schemes include causing us to sin, trapping us in discouragement, contain us by distractions and many other things.

There are basically six components to the suit of God: Helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, belt of truth, shoes of the gospel and the sword of the Spirit through prayer and the Bible.
I am not trying to give a thorough explanation of these components but simply make a few observations.

• Each component works with the others to make the suit powerful.
• Some of these components are given to us in one simple step of faith and others are intended to be worked and developed. For example the helmet of salvation is ours when we receive the forgiveness God offers to us. On the other hand we must continue to spend time in prayer and Bible study.
• To wear the suit of God we have to make a choice to receive each of these components into our life. We have to chose the truth versus living lies.
• This suit is intended to advance not retreat. There is no back component. We are calling to move the Kingdom of God forward by advancing in at least two areas. First, we should advance in the area of personal growth and commitment. it seems clear that these things occur when we grow our love for God. The second area of advancement is in rescuing those who are not yet a part of God’s family. Both of these advancements are not for the exceptional Christ-follower they are for EVERY Christ-follower.

So take on the suit of God and become the Christ-follower you we intended to be!