October 3, 2010

“HAPPILY EVER AFTER”

Week Three – “It’s Heavenly!” John 14:1-6

Bishop Fulton Sheen in his autobiography, Treasure in Clay wrote about an experience he had when he was traveling around preaching, "I stopped to ask a few boys for directions to the Town Hall where I was giving a lecture. They told me where the Town Hall was and then asked, "What are you going to do there?" "I’m giving a lecture on heaven and how to get there. Would you like to come and find out?" "You’re kidding," one boy said. "You don’t even know the way to the Town Hall."

Everyone has an “ever after”! But not everyone will have a “happily ever after”!

The only “happily ever afters” are those that end up in Heaven. As we discussed the past two weeks there are only two “ever after” places and one is REALLY, REALLY good, and the other is HORRIBLY HORRIBLE. You MUST know for sure where your “ever after will be spent”.

How can you be sure you have a “happy ever after”?

(SUMMARIZE SERIES)

Grab your Bibles and flip over to John 14!

I. Heaven Is A Peaceful Place, V. 1

A couple from north Oklahoma decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to thaw out during one particularly icy winter.
Because they both had jobs, they had difficulty coordinating their travel schedules. It was decided that the husband would fly to Florida on Thursday, and his wife would follow the next day.Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the motel. He decided to open his laptop and send his wife an e-mail back home. However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address, and sent the e-mail without realizing the error.In Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband’s funeral. He was a pastor of many years who had been called home to glory. The widow checked her e-mail, expecting messages from relatives and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted and fell to the floor.The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

TO: My loving wife FROM: Your departed husband SUBJECT: I’ve arrived!

MESSAGE: I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.


P.S. Sure is hot down here!


This dear woman had found some peace in the midst of her mourning by holding on to the hope that her husband was in Heaven with his Lord. That peace was temporarily stolen by the distressing email.

Jesus was preparing for the worst week of His life. And He was beginning to prepare His disciples. Since He knew they would be facing some big problems and big pressures He gave them a big promise!

How would they keep their hearts from being troubled when the big problems would come? By resting their hearts on the big promise of Heaven!
Jesus was saying, “When you trust in my promise you will have my Presence and that will bring you my peace! And then someday you will get Heaven!

Heaven is a place of perfect peace – with God – with self—with others. Heaven is a place where the lion lies down with the lamb. Heaven is a peaceful place where there is no war and no worries, no sin, no sickness and no suffering, no tears and no terrorism, because Heaven is ruled by the Prince of Peace.

The assurance that there IS a Heaven, that Jesus is there and that YOU are prepared to go there is the source of great peace!

Do you have that peace?

II. Heaven Is A Plentiful Place, V. 2

John MacArthur , “When it says dwelling places, I’ll promise you this, there going to be a whole lot like mansions. The actual Greek word is "dwelling places." I can even go further than that. The real Greek word is "room."
How could you say, in my Father's house are many mansions? Have you ever seen a house with a bunch of mansions in it? You could say, in my Father's house are many dwelling places, but that doesn’t even make sense. What the Greek says, ‘in my Father's house there are many rooms.’"

”You know when I was a little kid I use to imagine Heaven as a big, big, place--sort of like London. Because somebody told me basically that the square 15x15x15, you know 1500 cubits by 1500 cubits by 1500 cubits is suppose to be the city, the eternal city, the New Jerusalem. If you figure 1500 cubed, its so huge that it would be the square area of London only cubed. I mean which is tremendous, you could hold everybody who ever lived in the world and still have room.”

Knowing that God is not willing that anyone should perish but that everyone come to repentance you might suppose that God built Heaven spacious enough to hold everyone. With that in mind it is heart-breaking to think that not everyone with make it.

The best thing about Heaven, though, is not how spacious it is but the fact that it is God’s home. That is what makes it Heaven – the Presence of God – forever! AND with loved ones forever! ARE THEY READY? ARE YOU?

III. Heaven Is A Prepared Place, V. 2b

Bill Bright, just months before he died in July 2003: "Even though I’ve always believed in heaven and hell, after I became a believer, I gave little thought to it. But in recent months I’ve been writing on heaven and hell. My logic is this: The God whom we worship created at least 100 billion galaxies—some astronomers would say 200 billion. Do we give God credit? They say it was the Big Bang. But it was this great Creator God who made all this majesty and glory.
You can imagine, then, what he’s done to create a heaven? "Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither knows the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him"—beauty and magnificence beyond anything our little finite minds can imagine."

When you think that Creation happened in six days and that God has been preparing Heaven for over 2,000 years – THINK HOW GOOD THAT WILL BE!

Jesus told the disciples that He was going to prepare a place for THEM!

God is preparing a place that will be perfect for us but it will be especially prepared for you!

Not only will it have the majesty of God’s personal preparation – the best thing is that it will have His Presence!

IV. Heaven Is A Personally Promised Place, V. 3

Billy Graham once said, “What is heaven going to be like? Just as there is a mystery to hell, so there is a mystery to heaven. Yet I believe the Bible teaches that both are
literal places. I’m not worried about where they are, because I know where Jesus is and he told me to meet him there."

A promise is only as good as the person that makes it.

How many of you have been disappointed by a broken promise? What happened next time that person made you a promise?

How may of you have made a promise that you didn’t keep? How did that effect the next promise you made?


“HAPPILY EVER AFTER”

Week Three – “It’s Heavenly!” John 14:1-6

Bishop Fulton Sheen in his autobiography, Treasure in Clay wrote about an experience he had when he was traveling around preaching, "I stopped to ask a few boys for directions to the Town Hall where I was giving a lecture. They told me where the Town Hall was and then asked, "What are you going to do there?" "I’m giving a lecture on heaven and how to get there. Would you like to come and find out?" "You’re kidding," one boy said. "You don’t even know the way to the Town Hall."

Everyone has an “ever after”! But not everyone will have a “happily ever after”!

The only “happily ever afters” are those that end up in Heaven. As we discussed the past two weeks there are only two “ever after” places and one is REALLY, REALLY good, and the other is HORRIBLY HORRIBLE. You MUST know for sure where your “ever after will be spent”.

How can you be sure you have a “happy ever after”?

(SUMMARIZE SERIES)

Grab your Bibles and flip over to John 14!

I. Heaven Is A Peaceful Place, V. 1

A couple from north Oklahoma decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to thaw out during one particularly icy winter.
Because they both had jobs, they had difficulty coordinating their travel schedules. It was decided that the husband would fly to Florida on Thursday, and his wife would follow the next day.Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the motel. He decided to open his laptop and send his wife an e-mail back home. However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address, and sent the e-mail without realizing the error.In Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband’s funeral. He was a pastor of many years who had been called home to glory. The widow checked her e-mail, expecting messages from relatives and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted and fell to the floor.The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:TO: My loving wife FROM: Your departed husband SUBJECT: I’ve arrived!
MESSAGE: I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.P.S. Sure is hot down here

This dear woman had found some peace in the midst of her mourning by holding on to the hope that her husband was in Heaven with his Lord. That peace was temporarily stolen by the distressing email.

Jesus was preparing for the worst week of His life. And He was beginning to prepare His disciples. Since He knew they would be facing some big problems and big pressures He gave them a big promise!

How would they keep their hearts from being troubled when the big problems would come? By resting their hearts on the big promise of Heaven!
Jesus was saying, “When you trust in my promise you will have my Presence and that will bring you my peace! And then someday you will get Heaven!

Heaven is a place of perfect peace – with God – with self—with others. Heaven is a place where the lion lies down with the lamb. Heaven is a peaceful place where there is no war and no worries, no sin, no sickness and no suffering, no tears and no terrorism, because Heaven is ruled by the Prince of Peace.

The assurance that there IS a Heaven, that Jesus is there and that YOU are prepared to go there is the source of great peace!

Do you have that peace?

II. Heaven Is A Plentiful Place, V. 2

John MacArthur , “When it says dwelling places, I’ll promise you this, there going to be a whole lot like mansions. The actual Greek word is "dwelling places." I can even go further than that. The real Greek word is "room."
How could you say, in my Father's house are many mansions? Have you ever seen a house with a bunch of mansions in it? You could say, in my Father's house are many dwelling places, but that doesn’t even make sense. What the Greek says, ‘in my Father's house there are many rooms.’"

”You know when I was a little kid I use to imagine Heaven as a big, big, place--sort of like London. Because somebody told me basically that the square 15x15x15, you know 1500 cubits by 1500 cubits by 1500 cubits is suppose to be the city, the eternal city, the New Jerusalem. If you figure 1500 cubed, its so huge that it would be the square area of London only cubed. I mean which is tremendous, you could hold everybody who ever lived in the world and still have room.”

Knowing that God is not willing that anyone should perish but that everyone come to repentance you might suppose that God built Heaven spacious enough to hold everyone. With that in mind it is heart-breaking to think that not everyone with make it.

The best thing about Heaven, though, is not how spacious it is but the fact that it is God’s home. That is what makes it Heaven – the Presence of God – forever! AND with loved ones forever! ARE THEY READY? ARE YOU?

III. Heaven Is A Prepared Place, V. 2b

Bill Bright, just months before he died in July 2003: "Even though I’ve always believed in heaven and hell, after I became a believer, I gave little thought to it. But in recent months I’ve been writing on heaven and hell. My logic is this: The God whom we worship created at least 100 billion galaxies—some astronomers would say 200 billion. Do we give God credit? They say it was the Big Bang. But it was this great Creator God who made all this majesty and glory.
You can imagine, then, what he’s done to create a heaven? "Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither knows the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him"—beauty and magnificence beyond anything our little finite minds can imagine."

When you think that Creation happened in six days and that God has been preparing Heaven for over 2,000 years – THINK HOW GOOD THAT WILL BE!

Jesus told the disciples that He was going to prepare a place for THEM!

God is preparing a place that will be perfect for us but it will be especially prepared for you!

Not only will it have the majesty of God’s personal preparation – the best thing is that it will have His Presence!

IV. Heaven Is A Personally Promised Place, V. 3

Billy Graham once said, “What is heaven going to be like? Just as there is a mystery to hell, so there is a mystery to heaven. Yet I believe the Bible teaches that both are
literal places. I’m not worried about where they are, because I know where Jesus is and he told me to meet him there."

A promise is only as good as the person that makes it.

How many of you have been disappointed by a broken promise? What happened next time that person made you a promise?

How may of you have made a promise that you didn’t keep? How did that effect the next promise you made?


Jesus promised that when He left earth He would return to Heaven and prepare a place for them. It would be an unbelievably beautiful place, He promised it would be an eternal place and a happy place and a holy place. And He promised He would provide a way where we could be with Him.

Heaven Is “Prepared For” Place, Vv. 4-6

A tourists gets lost and is wandering around the desert looking for water. He finally arrives at a little remote store and asks for water. The clerk tells him he doesn’t have any water but can gladly sell him a tie. The parched tourist begins to curse and yell at the storeowner. The clerk, unmoved, offers the rude tourist an idea: Beyond the hill, there is a restaurant; they can sell you water. The tourist keeps cursing and finally leaves toward the hill. An hour later he’s back at the tie store. He walks in and tells the merchant: “Your brother tells me I need a tie to get into the restaurant.”

It takes preparation to get into Heaven! Now one will get in unprepared!

A 2006 GALLUP POLL FOUND THAT 78% OF AMERICANS EXPECT TO GO TO HEAVEN WHEN THEY DIE, BUT ONLY 31% SAID THEY EVER PRAYED, READ THEIR BIBLE, TITHE, OR ATTENDED CHURCH. – How Does That Work?

C.S. Lewis observed, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in’; aim at earth and you will get neither.”

“For the Christian, Heaven isn’t simply a destination; it’s a motivation.” (Warren Wiersbe)

WHAT IF I OFFERED YOU AN ALL-EXPENSES PAID TRIP TO HAWAII OR ANY OTHER TROPICAL PARARDISE OF YOUR CHOICE? Would you jump at that?

WHAT IF I SWEETENED THE OFFER BY OFFERING TO PAY FOR ALL YOUR EXPENSES FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND YOU COULD STAY IN THE TROPICAL PARADISE YOU CHOSE!
WOULD YOU TAKE THAT DEAL?

Heaven Is Fantastic Eternal Place That Has Been Prepared For You!

Have You Prepared For Heaven?

October 2, 2010

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:1-3

It is easy to make promises isn't it?

Have you ever made a promise too big to keep?

Me, too.

Not good.

Jesus makes a BIG promise to His disciples. And with good reason!

He made a big promise because He knew that were facing some big problems. Before He shared the bad news about His impending death, He prepared them with the good news.

The bad news was that He was going to die and leave them but the good news was that He was going to prepare a place for them to join Him when their lives ended.

Christians aren't immune from problems - even big problems. You have probably discovered that. But while Christians may have big problems, they also have big promises! And God's promises are bigger than your problems.

But, promises only work if you are willing to trust the promise. The promise is only as good as the one who makes the promise. Jesus knew that so He said, "If you trust God then trust me."

Let's be honest, it is harder to trust God in the midst of big problems. Big problems bring big pressures and pressure can distort judgment.

How do you withstand the pressure of problems? Focus on a promise!

What promise?

You have the promise of His presence in the midst of the pressure and His presence brings peace.

That is what Jesus meant when He said, "Let not your heart be troubled." He is telling you to focus on the presence of God in the midst of the pressure and the promise of God beyond the problem. His promises are bigger than your problems!

October 1, 2010

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." Jesus the Way to the Father Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:1-6

If there was ever a person who is qualitifed to comment on how to have a "Happy Ever After" it would be Jesus. He is the Only One Who came from eternity into time and in this text preparing to return.

Because Jesus knows His impending departure will be a serious blow to His disciples He begins preparing them for it, as well as comforting them regarding their "Ever After". Let's listen in and learn.

Here are three hopeful facts that Jesus shares with these followers:

1) The Reality of Hope

There is a life after this life and a place after this place! In fact, the eternal life and the eternal place are actually MORE real than life on this planet!

Jesus assures them that He is returning to this greater reality and will be preparing an "Ever After" place for them. Even though death is real and the pain and despair associated with death can be overwhelming, Jesus reminds them of what IS real - the greater reality of eternal life!

Hope is the result of getting in touch with a greater reality. Jesus is the Way!

2) The Reason For Hope

What is the difference between hope and wishful thinking?

The answer is simple: JESUS!

Because Jesus is the Word, when He says there is an eternal place that He is preparing for us that is a fact! That fact is reason to hope!

But Jesus is not just the Word, He is also the Way to the eternal place. Not only does He tell us about this hope, He provides the hope! He is the Hope because He is the connection between our faith and His Father!

3) The Relationship of Hope

Jesus was facing a very terrible and trying final week of His earthly life. Not only was He teaching about hope He was reaching for some hope Himself. As He reminds His followers of these faith facts, He is reminding Himself.

His hope is found in His knowledge of His Father and His relationship with His Father. And He had this hope because of His obedience to the will of His Father.

That is the key to your hope as well! Hope is found by trusting Jesus and living in obedience to God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life - the Way to what? He is the Way to the Father. The Truth about what? The Truth of who we are and Who He is and the obedience we need to please God. And, He is the Life, the eternal life that transcends our brief visit to planet earth!

Hope is found in a faith relationship with God through Jesus!

So, as we think about "Happily Ever After", know the reality of hope, the reason for hope and the relationship of hope! And then grab ahold of that hope!

September 30, 2010

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." Jesus the Way to the Father Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:1-6

Jesus was preparing His disciples for his impending death and departure.

First, He wanted to get them focused beyond the grave. Death brings separation and seems very final to those who lose loved ones. Jesus wasn't looking forward to being separated from them and He knew they were not ready to be separated from Him. This was going to be some difficult days. Jesus was about to be arrested and abused and saddistically murdered. If they are not focused beyond death and the grave they will be devastated.

Second, He wanted to give them a big picture idea of where He would be and plant in their spirit the possibility of them being able to come and join Him some day. Just as He would have a safe and serene place to be for eternity, so would they if they will follow Him. Just as they believed in His life they must believe in His death and His "happy ever after".

We are the beneficiaries of this assurance Jesus gave to His disciples. Over the next few days we will learn about this eternal place where Jesus went and where the disciples have subsequently joined Him. Understanding that this place exists, what it is like and how to get there is crucial to having peace when death invades us to steal a loved or when it stares us in the face. When we can look beyond death to a better destination we can take courage to face death.

There is a very real sense in which Jesus came to live to teach us how to live. But He also came to prepare to die. He prepared us to die by assuring us that real life begins on the other side of death. And just as the Father created a beautiful place for us to live our 70 plus years, He also has created an unbelievably incredible place where we can live our eternity.

Don't you want to know about THAT place?

Stay with me the next few days! It will be "Heavenly"!

September 29, 2010

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " Luke 16:27-31

For the past few days I have been sharing about the topic of urgency. God has been pushing this button in my heart since I studied this text for my message Sunday. As I prepared for Sunday morning I was moved and challenged by these last four verses of chapter 16 which picture the formerly rich man trapped in hell. It wasn't until he found himself condemned to this horrible fate for eternity. It was almost to unbearable but he was moved with an urgency to reach his loved ones and spare them his terrible fate.

I had to examine my own sense of urgency toward spiritually unprepared people. As I meditated on this condemned man and reflected on my own experience, I realized that the enemy of urgency is complacency. So, I asked myself, "What turns urgency to complacency?" I came up with three attitudes that rob urgency and faster complacency.

The first is success. Being successful can be cause complacency especially when you presume that your success is a direct result of God's blessing you. You reason that since He is blessing you then you must ok spiritually. Once you buy into that thought you begin to become careless.

The second we talked about was excess. Once you get too much "stuff" it distracts you from your primary purpose and passion for living. With all that stuff you have to guard it and grow it and get more of it. If success = blessing and blessing = stuff then the more stuff the bigger the blessing. That happened to the rich man and it can happen to you!

Thirdly, complacency can replace urgency because of access. This rich man had access to have compassion and help Lazarus, but he didn't. He remained detached and unaffected by the needs of this desparate man. Because he was unmoved by the needs of the man, he became complacent.

Everyone of us who want to live with passion and urgency need to stay connected with spiritually needy people. We need to have some good friends who are spiritual seekers. We need to befriend those who have an interest in spiritualility but who have not yet been exposed to the gospel. The only way to get an urgency or a burden to reach spiritually lost people is to spend time with them. Make time in your schedule to play golf with them or have coffee with them or go fishing with them or hunting with them, etc. Spend time in their world so you learn how to connect with them and lead them in to our world.

I am glad someone had a sense of urgency about my salvation. I want to be that for others.

How about you? How is your urgency for the lost?

If you don't care enough about lost people, get into a civic club or a golf league or a bowling league, some place where you can spend time with non-believers and begin to reach them for Christ. That will generate a sense of spititual urgency that is healthy and necessary to complete the Great Commission.

Fight complacency. Fuel urgency. Access lost people.

September 28, 2010

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " Luke 16:27-31

This formerly rich man now found himself in hell tormented by the horrors of the place plus tortured by the regrets he had about not taking advantage of the opportunities to prepare his soul for Heaven. He was eternally lost and he knew it.

He was suddenly urgent about the eternal destiny of his five brothers who were still living. He wanted to save them from a similar fate.

How is your urgency toward the eternal destiny of people you care about?

He became too urgent too late to help the situation. We tend to do the same. Why?

What are some things that cause us to become complacent rather than feeling urgent? What should we look for? What attitudes can we resist?

In our last post we mentioned that success can lead to complacency. Another attitude that can lead to complacency is excess.

This rich man, in his earthly life, had all the necessities and many of the luxuries and he wanted for nothing. Good for him! We should be so lucky!

Unfortunately, that level of comfort can erase our concerns about other people. You can get so busy enjoying yourself that you lose touch with the needs of others. That insulation from the needs and conditions of others can make you complacent.

In addition, when you have all that stuff you have to guard it and maintain it and protect it and secure it and find time to use it and all that takes time, energy and focus.

I have to believe that this rich man's success and his excess causes him to become complacent. Enjoying and caring for his "stuff" robbed him of his urgency toward the needs of others.

It can happen to you as well. Maybe you don't have an excess of stuff but you can spend an excessing amount of time focused on it or working to acquire more stuff.

Understand that I am not anti-success nor am I against having a lot of stuff. What I am concerned about is whether that success or that excess steals your urgency toward the eternal welfare of your own soul and the destiny of others.

Don't be like this guy and become urgent too late. Have as much stuff as you can get but don't allow it to have you.

September 27, 2010

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " Luke 16:27-31

One of the things that has always plagued the Church is complacency. The Church consists of Christ-followers and Christ-followers are to be about the mission of winning converts and teaching them to follow Christ. There should be a sense of urgency about accomplishing this mission since it is the central reason for the church to exist.

But, it is easy to lose the urgency and fall into complacency. Jesus was speaking about that in this portion of Scripture and told a story about a guy who had done just that. Over the next few posts I want to deal with a few things that cause us to lose our urgency and lead to complacency.

Success can lead to complacency.

In the Jewish mind-set, success was linked to spiritual blessing. That is a mistaken notion but it has also found its way into some Christian thinking as well and it can lead to complacency because we can deceive ourselves into believing that because we are doing well materially we are also doing well spiritually. That may not be true. In the case of this guy it wasn't.

So, living under the impression that he was spiritually blessed had dulled his sense of urgency for reaching others or helping those who could have benefited from his generosity. That was illustrated by Lazarus, the beggar who laid outside his house in desparate need but was ignored and neglected by the rich fellow.

Having wealth and privilege should have increased his urgency to help and reach others but it caused him to be casual about it because he mistook his wealth for God's blessing. The truth is that when God does bless us materially He does it so we can bless others. People who do give to others do so because they have an urgency over the spiritual and material needs of that person. And because they give to those people, their urgency toward them grows.

I know human nature and I know that when I am having success it is easier to become content and complacent. You no doubt have struggled with that. It may be natural but it is not acceptable for believers who are called to do what Christ did and care for others. It may be human nature but it is not what called has called us to do. Our calling is to be Christ-followers who serve as the hands and feet of Jesus doing what He would do were He here.

Have you allowed yourself to become complacent? Has your comfort level taken the edge off of your urgency to reach others?

That question deserves an honest and urgent response.