We have a guest minister coming to our church this upcoming week, so I've been listening to a lot of his stuff in anticipation of his visit. Rev. Tim Storey will be at Living Word in La Crosse, WI on Sunday morning (October 21) at 8:15 and 10:30, as well as a special Sunday night service at 6:30. As soon as I heard my Pastor invite Rev. Storey to La Crosse, back in June, I put in a plug to try and have him minister at a special youth service on Saturday night. Well, ask and you shall receive! Travel arrangements and schedules worked out so that Rev. Storey will be with us for "Saturday Night Alive" on Saturday, October 20 beginning at 7:00.
If you've never heard Rev. Storey, you're in for a treat. He is a solid minister and operates in the gifts of the Holy Spirit in a very real, very peculiar way. Spooky, right? Not at all. He has committed his life and ministry to following the example set by Jesus Christ. He calls it "The Jesus Style." And it's a blessing to be a part of his services and watch God move through him.
So, I've been listening to Rev. Storey to help set my expectation for these upcoming services. One of the many things I've picked up is the importance of priorities and motives. I can't be the minister I'm supposed to be if my priorities and motives are out of whack. We as the Body of Christ cannot fulfill our God-given destiny if we are not straight this simple truth:
God must be first. Others must be second. I can be third.
The world we live in has this flip-flopped...if God and others even come into the equation at all. And so much of our culture is driven to take our focus and attention off of God and the work He has for us to do, and put it on to ourselves. We are trained to be selfish, consuming as much for our own gain as we can get. Our own selves become our god. We lose sight of God and the fact that He must be #1. He must be our reason for living, our motiviation, our enthusiasm, our life itself. I have to get this priority set first.
But too often the message then becomes, "Well now that I'm submitted to God, let's get that grace, blessing, and prosperity business started!" But when I start thinking about what Rev. Storey teaches so much about, The Jesus Style, and what I see in my Bible I have to check myself. Did Jesus follow that example of greed, me first, and selfishness? Not even close. He solidified His priorities in Matthew 22. Jesus confirmed that the first commandment, the most important, was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Then He immediately followed it up with the second most important commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Other people must be on our minds. Compassion for people compelled Jesus to help them when they hated Him. Instead of getting annoyed at their repeated mistakes, disobedience, and wrong living, He pushed on to bless them and help them. And it wasn't strictly out of blind obedience to God. The Bible says we are to be willing AND obedient. Jesus had his priorities in order. He was submitted to God above all, and because of that relationship He got ahold of God's love for people.
Jesus was at a wedding, enjoying time with family and friends. People needed help. He put his own comfort and desires on hold to help them.
Jesus was tired. Yet He waited to sleep until after His ministry to the multiltudes was complete. And even then He wakes up from a nap in order to help the disciples in the midst of a storm.
And ultimately, in the face of physical torture and death, He put you and I ahead of Himself so we could be saved.
My comfort, my wants, my life has to be about God first and loving people second. If I try to do it out of order, thinking I know a better way, I'll constantly find myself unsatisfied and wanting. It's so contrary to everything the world follows. But if I do it the right way, then I ensure that God is glorified, people are blessed, and my stuff gets taken care of too. Amazing.
Life is too short to spend it worthlessly trying to hoard everything for myself. Let's get out there and be the Body of Christ in our world. Let's change the atmosphere around us. Let's do God's work on the earth so that He can be glorified and people's lives can be changed.
I'm going to be alive, alert, and unashamed!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Good Enough Is Not
So I'm trying to become a better blogger. I truly enjoy jotting my thoughts down and sharing something that helped me this week. I've been thinking a lot about what to blog next, and how I can really make this meaningful and more consistent. And it occurred to me - just having something to say is not enough. In order to be a better blogger I'm going to have to try to be a better blogger. I have to want it. I have to pursue it.
And I don't want you to think I'd pursue it so I can hang my hat on a large number of views or followers. I believe God has given me things to share. My job is to get those things out there.
If you know me you know I can be kind of intense sometimes. I like to have fun and laugh and all that, but I tend to be a bit more, well, intense. Especially when it comes to God and ministry. I take it very seriously. I'm struggling to find a better word for it other than intense. I don't like it when people stumble; I don't like it when I stumble. I don't like it when I see people give up; I don't like it when I've given up. I'm reminded daily that I have an enemy that is out to seek, kill, and destroy. That's what makes me more intense than some. It's who I am, and that's who God made me.
I was reflecting the other day on my intense nature and was kind of asking God if He would rather I be someone else. Should I try to change my personality? Should I be more like this guy, that youth pastor, this other church member? I struggled with self-esteem for a long time, so sometimes that tries to creep in again and take me off course. But I know who God made me to be, and He's shown me over and over again how He's able to use me and my intense self.
It got me thinking about being a Christian. There are people, even churches, that have lost their intensity for The Almighty God. There are some who never had the intensity in the first place. There are even some, an increasing number it seems, that don't believe that intensity is really necessary when it comes to being a Christian.
But being a Christian is not about just allowing grace to save us from hell in order to "make it" into Heaven. Being a Christian is about pursuing the life that God has planned for us. And that plan is to do more than just barely enough to slide in to Heaven by the skin of our teeth and smelling like smoke. Think of some people that you consider to be truly strong Christians. Are they as relaxed about God, His Word, and His Church as popular church culture seems to be lately? Probably not! I know the people I think about are those people who see God moving on their behalf. They see results. And they pursure God more intensely than a lot of other people.
Going through the motions, getting our gold attendance stars, and just doing things because that's what we "supposed" to do - this is not what Christianity is about!
Here are a few things I set myself straight on this week when I took a gauge of my intensity for my God:
Reading my Bible - How am I going to get closer to Him if I don't listen to what He has already said? A day cannot go by that I don't read and study my Bible.
Church - I need to be there, consistently. And when I'm there, I need to be participating both by serving and by actively listening when the Word is being preached.
Enthusiasm - Enthusiasm is an attitude, and therefore a choice. How pathetic to think people blame their Pastor or the message for their inability to receive something at church? If I'm dialed in and ready to receive, I will. I make the choice. The excuse of "that just doesn't excite me" is a very poor and immature one.
Thoughts - My thoughts become my beliefs. And my beliefs become my words. And my words become my future. I need to spend time thinking about my God. He is my future. And He'll take me to that future that He has planned for me if I don't get in the way!
My encouragement to anyone reading this - pursue God like you never have before. The time is short. The days are evil. God is looking for those true Christians to arise and stand up, to live for Him with the same intensity that His Son died for them.
Let's do this!
And I don't want you to think I'd pursue it so I can hang my hat on a large number of views or followers. I believe God has given me things to share. My job is to get those things out there.
If you know me you know I can be kind of intense sometimes. I like to have fun and laugh and all that, but I tend to be a bit more, well, intense. Especially when it comes to God and ministry. I take it very seriously. I'm struggling to find a better word for it other than intense. I don't like it when people stumble; I don't like it when I stumble. I don't like it when I see people give up; I don't like it when I've given up. I'm reminded daily that I have an enemy that is out to seek, kill, and destroy. That's what makes me more intense than some. It's who I am, and that's who God made me.
I was reflecting the other day on my intense nature and was kind of asking God if He would rather I be someone else. Should I try to change my personality? Should I be more like this guy, that youth pastor, this other church member? I struggled with self-esteem for a long time, so sometimes that tries to creep in again and take me off course. But I know who God made me to be, and He's shown me over and over again how He's able to use me and my intense self.
It got me thinking about being a Christian. There are people, even churches, that have lost their intensity for The Almighty God. There are some who never had the intensity in the first place. There are even some, an increasing number it seems, that don't believe that intensity is really necessary when it comes to being a Christian.
But being a Christian is not about just allowing grace to save us from hell in order to "make it" into Heaven. Being a Christian is about pursuing the life that God has planned for us. And that plan is to do more than just barely enough to slide in to Heaven by the skin of our teeth and smelling like smoke. Think of some people that you consider to be truly strong Christians. Are they as relaxed about God, His Word, and His Church as popular church culture seems to be lately? Probably not! I know the people I think about are those people who see God moving on their behalf. They see results. And they pursure God more intensely than a lot of other people.
Going through the motions, getting our gold attendance stars, and just doing things because that's what we "supposed" to do - this is not what Christianity is about!
Here are a few things I set myself straight on this week when I took a gauge of my intensity for my God:
Reading my Bible - How am I going to get closer to Him if I don't listen to what He has already said? A day cannot go by that I don't read and study my Bible.
Church - I need to be there, consistently. And when I'm there, I need to be participating both by serving and by actively listening when the Word is being preached.
Enthusiasm - Enthusiasm is an attitude, and therefore a choice. How pathetic to think people blame their Pastor or the message for their inability to receive something at church? If I'm dialed in and ready to receive, I will. I make the choice. The excuse of "that just doesn't excite me" is a very poor and immature one.
Thoughts - My thoughts become my beliefs. And my beliefs become my words. And my words become my future. I need to spend time thinking about my God. He is my future. And He'll take me to that future that He has planned for me if I don't get in the way!
My encouragement to anyone reading this - pursue God like you never have before. The time is short. The days are evil. God is looking for those true Christians to arise and stand up, to live for Him with the same intensity that His Son died for them.
Let's do this!
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