Personal Axioms and Core Values

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ronjon63

Whenever I feel like my external world is telling me who I am more than my internal world I find it helpful to go back to my personal core values.  I have recently turned of my core values into an axiom which makes them feel less corporate and more personal.  I hope my core values and axioms inspire you to develop your own.

Core Value:  Personal growth.  Axiom:  Make your life a masterpiece.

Core Value:  Intimacy.  Axiom:  Love the front row of your funeral

Core Value:  Impact for the Kingdom.  Axiom: More and better disciples.

Core Value:  Authentic spirituality.  Axiom: Be beautiful on the inside.

Core Value:  Inspiration.  Axiom: Live from your heart.

Core Value: Margin.  Axiom: Life happens in the margins.

 

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Whoa What An Easter

Posted on April 12, 2012 by ronjon63

Okay, I think I am finally recovering from Easter. Wow what a day! I have had all kinds of emails and conversations this week from people who have told me how they experienced God. My favorite moment of the day was when I gave an invitation and saw a long time friend of mine look up with tears in his eyes having received Jesus as his Savior! That alone was worth all the prayer, fasting and work we did to get ready last week.

Some people say numbers do not matter but they do. They matter because they represent people. This is why God cares about numbers and even has a book in the Bible called, “Numbers.” It is why the book of Acts records the numbers from several big days the early church experienced.

What are some of our numbers?
* 50 people made decisions to follow Jesus.
* We are giving away $10,000 to I-Empathize to help four girls in Lakewood who have recently been rescued from human trafficking.
* We had 150 plus volunteers on Sunday.
* We had 747 in attendance.

Names matter more than numbers any day, but when you have to explain a story in a short space, numbers help.

A huge shout out to everyone who volunteered and especially to all those who brought friends who need Jesus. I love our church!!!! Let’s all take a moment to thank God this week for all the great things he did last Sunday.

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Com.Passion Week

Posted on March 26, 2012 by ronjon63

The first week of April will be loaded with opportunities to get into the Easter spirit at Restoration.

* Serve the homeless on March 31st as we provide a meal and an Easter Egg hunt for kids on Colfax.
* Maundy Thursday we will have a time of prayer for ourselves and others. We invite everyone in the church to begin a 24 hour fast.
* Good Friday we will have several stations of the cross in our building that will invite people to experience at a spiritual level the last hours of Jesus life before the cross.  We will break out fast with a meal together downstairs in our building.
* Easter Sunday we will throw a party at each of our worship services that will be a blast. We have some extremely creative elements we are very excited about. The band will be off the hook. We will have babies stealing the show up front. You will not want to miss it.
* 8:30 Easter Sunday will be our sunrise service. If you are a regular please try and come. We will have breakfast before hand at 7:30.
* We will have a potluck after our 6:00 p.m. service.
* FOR EVERY NEW PERSON WHO COMES WE WILL PROVIDE A DAYS WORTH OF RESTORATION SERVICES IN THE LIFE OF A YOUNG GIRL RESCUED FROM PROSTITUTION!

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Why Go To Church When It’s Beautiful Outside?

Posted on March 16, 2012 by ronjon63

I have a love/hate relationship with Colorado this time of year. I love the weather and the outdoors – EXCEPT ON SUNDAY! Trying to guilt people to go when it is this nice is worthless, but what if I said, “Tim Tebow will be there Sunday?” People would be there in droves.

Tim will not be there, just to quell the rumors. But guess who is planning on being there? You guessed it, Jesus. He promises to be there every week. You are far more likely to find him in a worship service than on Mary Jane or Mount Falcon, because he promises in Matthew 18 to be there for sure.

Hey I am not against getting away or being outside, God is there too. But this week, as we begin out new series SHOELACES, we will talk about how understanding worship leads to engagement with the God we worship.

So, I hope to see you Sunday. Someone very important promised they would be there.

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Shoe Laces

Posted on March 12, 2012 by ronjon63

It’s March madness time! John Wooden, the winningest coach in college basketball history, used to begin each year showing his players the best way to lace up their shoes. We never outgrow the basics. This is true of basketball and this is true in our relationship with God. No matter how much a person matures in their relationship with Jesus they always need to return to the basics and find fresh ways to practice them.

Join us this week at Restoration as we go over the basics of our faith in preparation for Easter.

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Margin Misused

Posted on February 29, 2012 by ronjon63

We just finished a series a few weeks ago called “Margin.” The basic idea was that we do best when we have some measure of financial, relational and moral margin in our lives and schedules.

Here is an observation I have made recently. Margin always gets filled with something. If we do not put Jesus first in our lives then the our margins and resources will get filled with new activities, new products, new experiences.

The question I would want everyone to ponder is, “Who deserves my margin?” The answer I would like everyone to give is Jesus.

If Jesus is first in our lives then we will be with him in our margins. We will serve him with our margin. We will share our faith with our margin. Our financial margin will increase his Kingdom rather than ours. Finding joy and rest in our margins comes from giving them to him instead of the next sexy opportunity that comes along.

Who or what is getting your margin?

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How To Invite a Friend To Church

Posted on February 6, 2012 by ronjon63

Many want to invite their friends to our upcoming series, “Sexpectations” but are not sure how. Here are a few tips.

* Send them our Sexpectations evite with an email note. This will put it on their radar that we have a series you think they might find helpful.
* Call them and invite them. Following Jesus is incarnational. Jesus put flesh on God and became very personal. He wants us to do the same. Face to face is best, but in today’s digital world a phone call is now considered high touch.
* Tell your friend something like this. “Hey Matt, this is Ron. Got a minute? Great. I sent you an evite earlier today. Our church is doing a series that I think will be really good. It’s called, “Sexpectations.” It’s about how to find what we most want in marriage and relationships. I’d love to have you join me. Are you interested?”
* Listen. Once you share what is going on stop talking and just listen. Christians almost always talk too much. Answer their questions and see if they decide to come.
* Don’t get discouraged. Most people are busy and a bit scared by church. I find most people come to RCC about the 4th of 5th time I invite them.
* Pray. It is ultimately God who draws people to himself. He uses us for sure, but he does the heavy lifting. The pressure is off.
* Meet them at RCC so they feel comfortable. Go to the service that best fits their schedule.
* Debrief. Ask them after the service what it was like for them. Don’t be defensive if they did not like something.
* Have fun. Partnering with God in helping people go deeper with him is a blast. Enjoy the experience.

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Beauty Not Morality

Posted on February 1, 2012 by ronjon63

We are finishing up our Margins series Sunday. We will be talking about moral margins. Usually when pastors speak on this subject they “move the lines.” If our culture says it’s okay to watch porn, pastors say, “You probably should not even dance with the opposite sex” or something crazy like that.

Colossians two says that rules do little to restrain sensual indulgence. So what helps? What will help us not cross certain sexual lines that could lead to addiction, broken families, lonely kids and the inability to fully enjoy pure sex the way God made it to be enjoyed?

In a word – holiness. Psalm 96:6 says, “Worship him in the beauty of his holiness.” Holiness is beauty. It means to be like God the beautiful one. When you realize the beauty he wants to give you. When you realize how breathtaking he wants your life to be. You don’t need moral limits because you are too focused on something better – living a beautiful life and inviting others to the same.

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Smokin 6 PM Service

Posted on January 16, 2012 by ronjon63

Last night was our second evening service and my first. I was out of town last week due to my father having brain surgery. I was really looking forward to to being there last night and I was not disappointed.

* The worship was all world! I have to give a shout out to Paul our worship leader. His band was tighter than the bark on a hickory tree. Last night was the best worship set we have ever had a Restoration. I loved it.
* About half the people there were first timers. The word is getting out that Restoration is a great place to be wherever you are on the spiritual continuum.
* The series we are doing on margin is right where we all live. We are all needing margin to be able to invest our lives in those things that matter the most and bring us the most joy. Jesus really does have a better life for us all.
* The ambiance of our building, at night, is amazing. It is so warm and inviting.

We are off to a great start with our evening service. Spread the word about our Denver church!

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It’s About Time

Posted on January 13, 2012 by ronjon63

We are talking about building margin into our schedule this Sunday at Restoration Community Church in Denver. It dawned on me this week how paradoxical God’s time management principles are. He deeply wants us to have more time for the things that matter the most. His ways of creating margin are counter-intuitive to progress driven westerners.

Here are a of God’s time management principles.

1. We gain control of time by surrendering it to God.
2. Margin and doing nothing helps increase productivity.
3. We prepare for eternity by accepting current limits.
4. We become free from temporal pressures by pondering eternal treasures.
5. Living for God’s mission increases overall capacity.
6. Relationship with God and people usually happens in the margins of life.
7. We get what we most want and need by seeking God first.

I am excited to unpack some of God’s counsel on this topic this Sunday. If you are a around I hope to see yo there.

For more information on church follow this link: Churches in Denver

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