The Upward Call

It has been my practice to post a summary of each week’s teaching on this blog, however, after getting three weeks behind, I am realizing that my summer schedule won’t facilitate this.

We are still continuing our study through the Gospel of Luke each Wednesday night, but I will be discontinuing my weekly summary of each teaching – at least for the summer.  I will continue to post information about upcoming events on this website, so check it out often.

Blessings,

~Pastor Andy

We invite you to join us as we continue to study through the Gospel of Luke every Wednesday night.

We meet at 7pm in the sanctuary for worship with the adults. At 7:30pm we split off and meet downstairs for the remainder of the evening.

The Church address is: 1201 S. Alameda Ave Klamath Falls, OR 97603

2010 Mazama High School Graduate - Jason Coker

Congratulations Jason!

The school year is over and our lone Senior is graduating.

Jason Coker has been part of the CCKF family for a long time.  He will be missed in the youth ministry, but we are very excited to see what God has in store for Jason.  Make sure to congratulate him when you see him.

On Friday, June 11th, we are having an overnight celebration to kick-start summer break. Both Sr. High and Jr. High students are invited. We will start and end festivities at CCKF, however, we will be spending the majority of the evening at the YMCA. We will have swimming, live music, video games, junk food, prizes, and more!  Make sure to invite a friend.  We will need a permission slip and a $5 admission fee for each student. Please click on the links below to view or print a copy of the permission slip and a list of what each teen needs to bring.

Permission Slip

Stuff girls might need to bring

Stuff guys might need to bring

Please contact me with any questions.

-Andy

cell: 541.892.0245

email: andy@ccklamathfalls.com

Jesus’ teaching to His disciples, while atop a plateau, reminds us just how much God’s nature and priorities differ from ours.  Last night, we took a look at the first part of this teaching.

Jesus laid out a list of four corresponding blessings and woes.  This list goes completely against our own natural inclinations, it also goes against what the world teaches.  The world teaches us that blessed are the rich, full, pain-free, and well respected.  Jesus taught us that the ones who are really blessed are those who are poor, hungry, broken, and excluded.

The point of this teaching is not to say that there is some inherent virtue in being poor but, rather, a warning that we would not seek after the same things the world seeks after.  Jesus died to give us eternal life – are we living with eternal priorities or are we only living for the here and now?

We invite you to join us as we continue to study through the Gospel of Luke every Wednesday night.

We meet at 7pm in the sanctuary for worship with the adults. At 7:30pm we split off and meet downstairs for the remainder of the evening.

The Church address is: 1201 S. Alameda Ave Klamath Falls, OR 97603

The High School Ministry of CCKF is blessed to support this Gospel For Asia missionary with a $30/month sponsorship. Please visit the Our Missionary page for more information about Sudhakar and Gospel For Asia.

This week’s post is a summary of the last two weeks of teaching. Last week was a busy one, so I didn’t get around to updating the website like I had hoped.  So here we go…

At the beginning of Luke, chapter 6, we see the Pharisees questioning Jesus and His disciples about the Sabbath.  The Old Testament law commanded Israel to keep the seventh day (Sabbath) holy.  The Bible gives very few regulations regarding the Sabbath:

• No work to be performed (a day off for everyone – servants and animals included)
  
• No kindling a fire
• No preparing or gathering of food

The Pharisees had taken these few rules and created a comprehensive list of how these rules should be followed.  The Sabbath was given to men as a day of rest to relieve burdens, but the Pharisees (missing the point) had come up with a bunch of man-made rules that made the Sabbath a burden.  That is the problem with religion – we can fool ourselves into thinking we are doing well because we are keeping our checklist while we are really missing the point and our hearts are distant from God.  When we live by the law, we will usually use the law to justify ourselves (even our sin) and condemn others.  We cannot be pleasing to God when our hearts are far from Him.

Jesus then went on to choose twelve men that He would train up for ministry.  Before choosing these men, Jesus spent a whole night praying on a mountaintop.  Jesus communicated with the Father the same way we do – PRAYER.  Jesus did not offer token prayers of religious duty like we often do.  Jesus prayed, knowing that the Father would hear Him and answer.  May we find ourselves praying with like faith, knowing that God hears us and  will answer us.

The twelve that Jesus chose were a ragtag bunch.  They were not the best and brightest by human standards, however, Jesus trained them and God used them to turn the world upside down.  This gives me hope for myself and relieves me of the frustration that sometimes comes from dealing with other people in the Church.  My focus needs to be on growing and on helping those around me to grow in Jesus.  Let’s keep our eyes on Him and our hope in Him!

We invite you to join us as we continue to study through the Gospel of Luke every Wednesday night.

We meet at 7pm in the sanctuary for worship with the adults. At 7:30pm we split off and meet downstairs for the remainder of the evening.

The Church address is: 1201 S. Alameda Ave Klamath Falls, OR 97603

We’re going to eat us some pig and mac salad – “Aloha” style.  So be sure wear you flip flops, board shorts, and Hawaiian print shirts.

After we eat, we’ll goof around outside (unless it snows) and then come inside for dessert and surf videos.  The cost per student is $5.

For more info, please call me: (541) 892-0245 or email me: andy@ccklamathfalls.com

-Pastor Andy

Sinners and tax collectors were the topic of conversation when Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees.

Jesus had just called Levi (also called Matthew) to follow Him in discipleship and in full-time ministry.  Levi was a tax collector by profession.  Tax collectors, at that time, were Jews who worked for Rome and often took advantage of their Jewish countrymen for financial gain.  Because of this, many tax collectors were banished from Jewish religious and social life.

After obeying Jesus’ call into ministry, Levi threw a feast for Jesus.  Many of Levi’s friends came.  Because of his profession, most of Levi’s friends were tax collectors and other secularized Jews – those who were “outsiders” to religious life and relationship with God.  “How could Jesus eat with these sinners?”, the Pharisees wondered.  The Pharisees believed that their righteous standing was maintained by staying away from these people.

Jesus, when asked about this, did not argue with the assertion that these people were sinners.  He likened Himself to a doctor tending sick people – sick people need help to be made well.  Jesus also pointed out that the supposed righteousness of the Pharisees was just that – “supposed”.  The Pharisees were also sinners who needed to repent. The Bible says:

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23

And

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…” Titus 3:3-7

We have to be careful not to adopt the same attitude as the Pharisees.  God has called us to reach out to sinners because He reached out to us when we were still sinners.  When we lose sight of that, we begin to lose compassion for a lost world and we become distanced from the heart of God.

We invite you to join us as we continue to study through the Gospel of Luke every Wednesday night.

We meet at 7pm in the sanctuary for worship with the adults. At 7:30pm we split off and meet downstairs for the remainder of the evening.

The Church address is: 1201 S. Alameda Ave Klamath Falls, OR 97603

This week, we saw Jesus heal a leper and a lame man.

At that time, having leprosy was like having a living death sentence.  It would mean alienation from your friends, family, and society until the disease finally took your life.  You would have to warn anyone approaching you that you were a leper -  you could imagine the stigma and the shame that would come from that.  This man came to Jesus for healing because there was no other hope.  It was certain that this man could not heal himself.

When the man asked Jesus for healing, Jesus did the unthinkable and touched the man, and the man became clean.  When we fall into temptation and sin, Satan will often try to keep us in that pit by convincing us that we must first cleanse ourselves before coming to God.  We can feel that we must prove ourselves or do something to regain fellowship with the Father.  We forget that we, like the leper, are unable to cleanse ourselves.  We must go to Jesus for healing and cleansing.  We must put aside the lies of the enemy and believe the word of God that says: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16

The lame man was brought to Jesus by his friends.  The house was packed and they had no other way to get their friend to Jesus except to kick the roof in and lower him down.  These were friends who demonstrated both love and faith.  Their love was demonstrated by their stopping at nothing to get their friend to Jesus.  Their faith was demonstrated by their absolute certainty that Jesus could heal their friend.

When we fail to bring others to Jesus, it is because we are lacking either love or faith.  We can lack love and grow numb to reality that our unsaved friends and family are destined for hell.  We can lack faith and find ourselves worried what people will think of us.  Our lack of faith can sometimes even convince us that certain people are lost causes and that we could never convince them of the truth of the Gospel, so we never try.  We also need to push past these lies as well, and heed the word of God: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Romans 1:16

The Gospel itself is powerful – all we need to do is share it.

We invite you to join us as we continue to study through the Gospel of Luke every Wednesday night.

We meet at 7pm in the sanctuary for worship with the adults. At 7:30pm we split off and meet downstairs for the remainder of the evening.

The Church address is: 1201 S. Alameda Ave Klamath Falls, OR 97603

After a long, fruitless night of fishing, Peter and his co-workers were cleaning and mending there nets.  Jesus (after using one of the boats as a floating stage) told Peter to go back out and cast his nets one more time.

Peter obeyed Jesus even though it didn’t make much sense in Peter’s mind.  They had already been out and caught nothing, it was the wrong time of day to go fishing, plus, what would a carpenter know about fishing anyway? But Peter trusted Jesus and brought in the biggest catch of his career.  This is a perfect illustration of Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

This catch was certainly a super-natural event.  Peter had no other way to explain it.  It became clear to Peter that Jesus was far greater, and more powerful than he first imagined.  After the biggest catch of his life, Peter left his fishing business behind and heeded Jesus’ call to ministry;  he surrendered his livelihood, his plans, his friends, and his future to follow Jesus.

Jesus is not necessarily calling all of us to leave our homes, jobs, and friends behind to go into full time ministry.  What He requires of us is that we put Him before all things in our lives.  Jesus must be the first priority.  Jesus called Himself “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”; if we believe this to be true, are we seeking life in Him or in something else?  What are we living for?

We invite you to join us as we continue to study through the Gospel of Luke every Wednesday night.

We meet at 7pm in the sanctuary for worship with the adults. At 7:30pm we split off and meet downstairs for the remainder of the evening.

The Church address is: 1201 S. Alameda Ave Klamath Falls, OR 97603