March 15, 2013

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24

 

Christian researcher George Barna concludes, "American Christianity has largely failed since the middle of the 20th century because modern-day followers do not act much like Jesus." Research conducted by sociologists and pollsters shows that "evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered and sexually as immoral as the world in general."

 

Could it be that in our attempts to relate to our culture we have ended up resembling it?

 

2,000 years ago, Jesus anticipated this likelihood. Of his 38 parables He told, 16 were concerned with how to handle  and possessions. As a matter of fact, Christ said more about money than any other subject. The Bible includes 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 on faith but over 2,350 verses pertaining to money and possessions. The Lord said  a lot about it because He wants us to know how He views this important topic.

 

To measure how you compare with Jesus' perspective on materialism, ask yourself these questions:

 

* Do I see other people's stuff and become critical or bored with my own?

* Do I shop for recreation?

* Do I buy compulsively (because I feel like it) without first considering my budget or my need?

* Do I complain a lot about how much I make?

* Do I feel self-conscious when I am around rich people?

* Do I give less than 10% of my income to the ministry of my church?

* Do I get irritated when the preacher talks about money?

 

Jesus declared you can't serve God and materialism. Only one will be your god.

 

A serious, humble and honest evaluation of those probing questions will reveal the truth of whom you serve.

 

 

 

March 14, 2013

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

Here are some excerpts from Skye Jethani's book "The Divine Commodity":

We Americans are CONSUMED with the CONSUMER mentality! We’re used to choosing whatever gives us the most "perks and bennies" at any given time.

We look for a restaurant with the best price and menu and atmosphere and location. We go to the clothing store that carries our size, has our taste in clothes, and has the best sales. And if we can’t find that in town, we shop online! We want to get our groceries at the place that's close to home with the best prices, best selection and that's not crowded. (Good luck with that!)

A lot of people take that same mentality with them when it comes to choosing a church. In fact, we even call it "church shopping."

If we have little kids, we look for a church with a great kids program. If we don’t have kids, we find a church that doesn’t have a bunch of noisy kids disturbing us.

We look for a building that is simple but not shabby, comfortable but not ostentatious, colorful but subdued, cool in summer and warm in winter, and most of all, already paid for so we don’t have to give to a building fund! (By the way, our building IS paid for, praise the Lord! But don’t get too excited, I’m sure we’ll be starting a building fund soon.)

We want the music enthusiastic but not too loud, energetic but not too fast, contemporary but traditional, soothing but exciting.

We want the preacher to be youthful but not too young, relevant but not trendy, spiritual but down-to-earth, funny but full of gravitas...and most of all, able to give a life-changing message in 20 minutes or less!

And if anything stops meeting our expectations, then before you know it, we’re off "church shopping" again!

But the Church was never meant to serve the consumer mentality. The church is unique in that it is not about serving US, it's about us serving OTHERS. In the church, we are more focused on reaching the non-member than the member...the non-attender than the attender...the seeker rather than the already found-er...the newcomer rather than the insider, the desperately lost rather than the comfortably saved.

 

Are you caught up in consumerism or are you centered in the cause of Christ?

 

March 13, 2013

"And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."  Job 1:21
 

Popular syndicated radio talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh often leads into a new segment of his show with the declaration, "Talent on loan from God!".

In my opinion, Rush says that partially because he believes it but mostly because it irritates liberals.

Whether you like Rush or not he is right on this one! You and I and everything we have IS on loan from God! Billy Graham once said, "There are no U-Haul trailers behind a hearse."
 
No one can argue with that obvious truth and no one knows that better than Job. Job had a lot of stuff and lost a lost of stuff but he never lost his faith in God.

So how is it that Job could lose so much so suddenly and so unfairly and still trust God? How was he able to keep such a positive perspective in response to such pain?

The answer is in his answer, "God gave it all so God can take it all back! Bless God!" That was his version of, "It's all on loan from God". Can you dispute that? I can't! Is there the slightest flaw in that logic? I don't think so!

You can only have that attitude if you are free of two other attitudes I battle and I'm sure you struggle with as well.

One attitude is, "I am owed."

When you have been blessed as extravagantly as Job was it is easy to lapse into the attitude, "I deserve this" which is another version of, "You owed me" which is another version of "I earned this". Any of those manifestations is the same attitude of entitlement which can lead to become possessive of the stuff loaned to us by God.

Job was free of that attitude. Are you?

A second attitude is, "I own."

Job could have made the argument that he had worked hard to amass all of his substantial wealth. He probably did. But I he didn't cling to ownership.

Job could have attached his manly ego and self-worth to his extensive wealth. But he didn't.

How do I know that he didn't?

I know because of how Job reacted when it was all taken away. If he had attached significance to his wealth and if he become emotionally connected to it he would have reacted much differently when it was taken away. He would have become angry and resentful when he lost it suddenly. However, I see no evidence of those reactions.

Are you attached emotionally with your money and your material possessions?

Why not remind yourself as you begin this day that yourself and everything you have is on loan from God? Why not offer yourself and all you claim as your own to Him?










 

 

 

 

March 12, 2013

 

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!" Matthew 25:23

 

Kirk Nowery from his book “The Stewardship of Life” shares this story to make a point about why good stewardship matters.

 

At 12:55 pm the mayday call crackled through the speakers at the Flight Service Station on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The desperate pilot of a Piper A22, a small single-engine plane, was reporting that he had run out of fuel and was preparing to ditch the aircraft in the waters of Cook Inlet.

 

On board were four people, two adults and two young girls, ages 11 and 12. They had departed two hours earlier from Port Alsworth, a small community on the south shore of Lake Clark, bound for Soldotna, a distance of about 150 miles. Under normal conditions it would been a routine flight; however, the combination of fierce headwinds and a failure to top off the fuel tank had created a lethal situation.

 

Upon hearing the plane’s tail number, the air traffic controller realized that his own daughter was one of the young passengers aboard the plane. In desperation himself, he did everything possible to assist the pilot; but suddenly the transmission was cut off. The plane had crashed into the icy waters. Four helicopters operating nearby began searching the area within minutes of the emergency call, but they found no evidence of the plane and no survivors. The aircraft had been traveling without water survival gear, leaving its four passengers with even less of a chance to make it through the ordeal. Fiercely cold Cook Inlet, with its unpredictable glacial currents, is considered among the most dangerous waters in the world. It can claim a life in minutes, and that day it claimed four.

 

Kirk adds these thoughts to the story: For reasons we will never know, the pilot of that doomed aircraft chose not to use the resources that were at his disposal. He did not have enough fuel. He did not have the proper survival equipment. Perhaps he had not taken the time to get the day’s weather report. Whatever the case, he did not use the resources that were available; and in this instance the consequences were fatal.

 

I wonder how many other people have died needlessly like these four people did? Why, because someone did not manage and or use the resources they had at their disposal. – I also wonder how many have died without Jesus -- spiritually speaking from others being poor stewards of the resources God has placed them in charge of.

 

Nowery states, "The stewardship of resources is a serious business; and God’s will is that we give it serious attention. This demands that we have the right perspective on our resources, and that is possible only if we have the right focus on our source."

What will your focus be today?

March 11, 2013

 

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  Matthew 6:33

 

As we shift gears to the next "Soulshift", "Consumer to Steward" I want you to give some focused thought to several questions:

 

What does it mean to be a consumer?

 

What is good about it?

 

When is it a problem?

 

What does it mean to be a steward?

 

Which would I want to be?

Why?

Which am I?

Dr. Marjorie Elder was a professor at IWU when I was there as a student. I never knew her very well but I always admired her. As we begin studying this next soulshift I urge you to pray this prayer.
 

“Our Father, when we realize that all we have has been a gift from You, from life to heritage to possessions, stewardship becomes a very demanding practice. Of ourselves, nothing; from You, all.

“We seek a SoulShift that begins with asking You to take our capabilities and show us how to use any gifts we have for Your glory. And take our possessions – all Yours – and give us wisdom in handling them. We thank You for directing the first tenth in a way that helps us know it is wisely used. Thank You for our church. What great planning can be accomplished by a body of believers far beyond what an individual could manage. Then give us wisdom in choosing the places for our offerings. Bless us with a generous spirit and increase our joy as we delight in giving You more of what is Yours. Amen” -Marjorie Elder

March 10, 2013

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

 

A little girl was with her father hiking in the mountains. It was a crystal clear sunny day with a bright blue sky. When they reached a clearing high on a ridge they stopped to take in the panoramic view. Both of them stood speechless for several minutes just overcome by the beauty surrounding them. The little girl broke the silence as she exclaimed, "Daddy! I can see farther than I can see!"

 

I am glad I can see beyond what my human eyes can behold.

 

When you think about it, everything that matters the most will never be seen by the human eye!

 

You will never lay eyes on your soul but your soul is the part of you which will last forever. What is more important than that?

 

You will never see God with your eyes. According to the Old Testament, if you did happen to gaze on with your human eyes you would die.

 

And, you will never see heaven with your human eyes. No one ever has and no one will.

 

Allow this thought to sink in for a little while. All of those "things" we work so hard to attain, those things we see and then we want them will some day belong to someone else and we will be somewhere else!

 

No wonder the Apostle Paul so passionately wrote, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal"  II Corinthians 4:18.

 

If you want to see further than you can see - and then eventually get there - fix your eyes on what is unseen!

March 9, 2013

"By  faith  Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen,  moved with godly fear,  prepared  an  ark for the saving of his household,  by which he condemned the  world  and  became  heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." Hebrews 11:7

 

They are beginning work on the Washington Monument to repair damage done by the 2011 earthquake that was centered some 70 miles south of DC. Measuring 5.8 on the Richter Scale, the quake happened deep below the surface of the earth where some tectonic plates collided along a fault line.

 

No one could see the cause of the quake but it was felt by millions and the effects where obvious above the surface of the ground.

 

So it is with soul shifts. They happen deep inside in the soul of a believer where no one can see but the outward changes are obvious.

 

While there are several great examples in the Bible of people who underwent the soul shift of Seen to Unseen. No one demonstrates it any better than Noah.

 

He had three Define the Reality moments that are necessary to make the Seen to Unseen soul shift.

 

I want to highlight those for you because I think they are key to anyone who will make this soul shift.

 

First - He Committed To Expectations Beyond His Experience - "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen"

 

Noah was a humble farmer just trying to scratch out a living from the land. God chose him to save the human race and most of the species of animals.

 

God spoke to Noah and warned him He would destroy the earth by sending torrential rains that would create a flood. That alone would be enough to stretch his faith but when you consider Noah had never seen rain nor a flood, it became a major reality test for Noah.

 

Would Noah base his decision on what he had seen in his life or would He believe God about something he had never seen?

 

Noah chose to let God define his reality for him.

 

How about you? Can you believe God for something you've never seen or live in the world of the familiar?

 

Second - He Committed To God's Call Beyond His Comfort Zone - "moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household"

 

Noah probably had never seen a boat but now he was going to have to build one. A very big one! To build it he would have to cut down the trees for the forest, drag them back to the building site, trim them and saw them into boards and planks and timbers, then plane them and nail them all together. All that would need to be done in his spare time because he still had to work and provide for his family!

 

Again, Noah chose to let God define his reality for him. He had never seen rain, nor a flood, nor had he built a boat. But yet he answered God's call to do just that!

 

Are you willing to be uncomfortable in order to please God? Will you allow God to redefine reality for you?

 

Third - He Continued To Serve God Even When It Didn't Make Sense - "by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith"

 

So Noah had now committed a century of his life to build something he had never built to prepare for something he had never seen when he wasn't sure when it would happen.

 

Every day for 100 years Noah cut trees and sawed timbers and hammered nails. I am sure he got thousands of splinters and hit his thumb with the hammer hundreds of times. No doubt he got faint from the hot sun and stiff in the cold winds. Progress seemed slow and the work tedious I am sure. And all the while he was completing this task, neighbors were mocking and cursing and ridiculing him.

 

Are you only obedient to God when it makes sense to you?

 

Do you only serve him when you see how it benefits you?

 

Noah saved his family and preserved the human race because he believed what God said more than he believed what he saw. He didn't allow his life to be shaped by the reality he understood but was defined by a great reality - one that is eternal!

 

What is most real to you? Is it what you see or is it what He says?

 

Have you made the shift from Seen to Unseen?