November 11, 2010

"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." Luke 9:25

On this Veteran's Day 2010, I want to pay tribute to those who have served to protect and preserve my freedom to write in this blog and your freedom to read it! I am very grateful that there have been millions of brave troops who were willing to risk their lives to defend the American way of life.

They remind us that there are some things that are worth dying for. That alone is worthy celebrating! Why? Obviously, if there was nothing worth dying for their would be nothing worth living for.

What makes America great is what makes it worth dying for - FREEDOM!

Patriot, Patrick Henry expressed it in his immortal declaration, "Give me liberty or give me death!" That is the spirit that has motivated brave young soldiers to leave their cities, and villages, and farms to go to war in far away lands. Far too many never returned.

The highest tribute you can pay is to be good stewards of the freedom for which they shed their blood. And there is no greater freedom than spiritual freedom!

Freedom, with all its blessings, also provides opportunities to do wrong and harmful things. The rights that come with freedom must be balanced by the responsibilities it brings. Our culture is at risk today because so many have lost sight of their responsibilities in a quest to claim their rights. All great empires have crumbled under the weight of the irresponsible abuse of rights and neglect of responsibility.

The veterans we honor today are worthy of respect for this very reason, they surrendered some of their rights and took their responsibilities! That is the very value Jesus is teaching His disciples. If you cling to your rights above your responsibilities you will lose both. If you regard your rights as more important than doing right, you will cease to be free.

Will you be true to your responsibility to God and your nation today? Will you do the right thing and place your responsibilities over your rights?

November 10, 2010

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves......." Luke 9:23

“HEART OF WORSHIP”

There’s a recent song that was written by a young man who led the worship at church. He was an extremely talented singer, but the preacher there took him aside and told him that he could not lead the singing at church until things changed because he saw that he was more interested in the attention he received than in worshipping the Lord. This young man was angry at first and yet the words of the preacher were true, and he knew it. Six months later he wrote a song and taught it to the church there.

The words are these:

Heart of Worship

(words and music by Matt Redman)

When the music fades

All is stripped away

And I simply come

Longing just to bring

Something that’s of worth

That will bless Your heart

I bring you more than a song

For a song in itself Is not what you have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You’re looking into my heart

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about you

It’s all about you, Jesus

I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it

When it’s all about you

It’s all about you,

Jesus King of endless worth

No one could express How much you deserve

Though I’m weak and poor

All I have is yours

Every single breath

Worship can only happen when it becomes focused on Him. It can never be about you, as young Matt Redman discovered.

He was humiliated when he was removed from his position by his Lead Pastor and I'm sure he was upset. Forbidden from doing the thing he loved the most when he knew he could do it well, hurt his spirit, not to mention his pride. But, as he cried out to God for comfort He found that God agreed convicted him about his pride issue. Being denied what he loved doing caused him to examine his heart and when he did he had to repent of his pride.

Worship took on a whole new dimension when his focus changed. His relationship to God went to a new level once he made it all about God and not about him. Now he could lead worship by worshipping rather than performing. Now he sang and played to an audience of One.

Matt Redman's life and ministry dramatically changed when he got to the heart of worship - loving God and living for Him. His singing became serving and his music became sacrifices of praise.

Why do you worship? What is your focus as you worship? Do you make it all about Him? Until you do you learn to deny yourself you will not get to the heart of worship.

November 9, 2010

"Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

What do worship and stewardship have to do with each other? Why mention them in the same context?

I remind you that I define stewardship as "godly life management". Stewardship implies that you have a responsibility to manage your life in a way that honors God and accomplishes His will for you and through you. When you do that you add value to you life and demonstrate God's value in your life. That IS worship!

Worship isn't DOING, worship is BEING! You do worship because you are a worshipper.

I came across this excerpt from an article about worship that expresses this truth:

In his article ’Celebrating God in Authentic Worship’, pastor Glenn Wagner (Calvary Church, Charlotte, NC) points out: "I believe that one of the most evangelistic tools the church possesses, one desperately needed in today’s society, is authentic worship. People want to know, first of all, if God exists; then second, can they relate to Him? If God exists, is it really possible to connect with Him in a vibrant, dynamic way? In genuine, authentic worship, observers see real people connecting powerfully with the real God."

"The outflow of a focus on God, a submission to the real Jesus, and an emphasis on ever-deepening relationships is an energetic, joyful, Spirit-filled, congregational worship of the triune God. Genuine celebration erupts when God’s people discover who they are in Christ. And powerful prayer arises from the hearts of those who have truly entered the presence of God." PreachingNow Newsletter, June 25, 2002

Authentic worship is powerful because it involves the presence of the Lord. When you consider the power of entering the presence of God for and hour or so - what could happen if you LIVED in the presence of God?

Again, enter stewardship. Stewardship is managing your life in a way that allows you to dwell in the presence of God! God calls you to steward your life in such a way that you can be a worshipper.

How?

Desire Him. Deny yourself. Daily follow!

November 8, 2010

"Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Is your life "ship" shape? What is your state of being?

The first "ship" I want to examine is "worship".

What is worship and what should I "be" to enjoy it? I think Jesus gives some clues.

Let's begin with a definition of the word "worship". It has its roots in "worth". To "worship" means to acknowledge and honor the "worthiness" of God.

Therefore, to "be" a worshipper means to be a giver. What does Jesus ask you to give?

Give your best. "Deny yourself", Jesus says.

Being a worshipper requires that I give God my best energy, my best effort, and my best focus. That means I withhold it from myself and my other interests and give it all to Him! He gets my first and I keep the leftovers.

How does that work?

My first thoughts in the morning should be directed toward Him. My heart is aimed at Him. My first hour is given to Him. As a worshipped I am being brought into fellowship with Him. I am acknowledging His worth and drawing value from Him.

Worship is not something reserved for one hour on Sunday morning. Worship is something I do 24/7 365! It is a state of being. I don't "do" worship but I "be" a worshipper. I deny myself to honor Him. I offer my best to Him. I acknowledge His worthiness and draw my worth from Him. Sunday morning "worship" should be the gathering of worshippers who come together to corporately share what they have individually enjoyed all week!

Have you worshipped God today?

How will you have you acknowledged His worth? Have you attached your worth to Him?

Will you purpose to go to church next week not to worship but to go worshipping? Determine not to "do" worship but to "be" a worshipper!

November 7, 2010

"Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple" Luke 9:23



Have you noticed how many "ship" words there are in our Christian faith?



For example, "discipleship", "worship", "fellowship", "stewardship" or "lordship".



What is that about?

The suffix "ship" means "a state of being". So, when we use these words we are talking about being a disciple, or being a worshipper, being in fellowship, or being a steward, or being under the lordship of Christ.

Too often we think of being a Christ-follower in terms of what we have to do or not do. But Jesus gives the call to being. "whoever wants to be my disciple". If discipleship was about doing then religion would work. You and I would be able to do certain things and become a disciple. But we know that is not the case. Discipleship comes out of a relationship, not a religion. To be a disciple we must live in an intimate relationship - a state of being - and He will do through us what pleases Him. Our doing grows out of our being.

That is why I am going to devote this month to exploring this concept of "Getting Into 'Ship' Shape". I hope you will find it helpful and encouraging - and maybe a little challenging or conviction!

I will be covering these topics: "Worship Is Stewardship"; "Fellowship Is Stewardship"; and "Discipleship Is Stewardship". Hopefully I can broaden and deepen your concept of what it means TO BE a follower of Christ!

November 6, 2010

"And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9:22

When Jesus foretold his future He also predicts yours. That is, if you dare to be His disciple.

What a contrast to the attitude of many Christians today. Where did we get the idea that following Jesus is guaranteed to make you healthy, wealthy and generally bullet-proof? It certainly didn't come from Jesus.

When did happiness become our goal? When did possessions become our passion? When did health become the measure of our spirituality? And what have these misdirected values done for the state of our Faith or the strength of our churches?

Being a disciple will cost you something! No, actually, being a disciple will cost you everything! Jesus gave up everything for you and me. What makes you think you can get through life easier that your Lord? How can you expect to follow Him and get a free ride? When did Jesus become your Santa instead of your Savior?

I guess you must understand the purpose of discipleship if you are going to grasp the price. God is not interested in making you happy. Happiness is SO overrated in our culture and it has infested our churches. God is committed to your holiness, although holy people do end up happier! Holiness requires some pressure and some purging to purify your heart and mind and spirit of its selfishness.

Discipleship is about a series of deaths and resurrections that lead to your ultimate eternal resurrection. Death is painful. Nothing dies easily - wrong motives don't, impure thoughts don't, sinful habits surely don't and selfish desires will battle to the end.

So, you want to be a disciple? Prepare for some pain - pain that will prepare you for Paradise!

November 5, 2010

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Luke 9:20

One of my more embarrassing moments in high school was when I let a moment of frustration cause me to forget who I was. My coach reminded me - loudly and in front of everyone.

I was playing baseball for the Warsaw Community High School Tigers. WCHS is a well regarded high school in Indiana for its excellence in academics and in athletics. When you make one of their teams they rightly expect you to represent that level of excellence.

On this day I was having a good game at the plate. I was seeing the ball well and hitting it. But when I came to bat this time I got fooled on a pitch and tried to hold up on my swing. Instead of checking my swing I hit the ball, resulting in a weak little dribbler to the second basement who scooped it up and threw me out at first. Upset at myself I slammed my batting helmet into the ground as I ran across the base. It landed loudly and bounced high and looked bad. I looked bad. I made the team look bad.

My coach just happened to be coaching first base and when I turned around to grab my helmet and retreat to the dugout he was waiting for me and he was not happy. Getting up into my face he earnestly informed my what I already knew - I had embarrassed myself and the team. Warsaw Tigers don't behave that way. He was right. I was humiliated.

Sometimes some clarification is necessary. When we forget who we are we forget how we should be.

Studying this portion of Scripture I noticed that before Jesus issued His call to discipleship He first asked for some clarification, "Who do you say I am?"

Appropriate, eh?

How can you answer the call to discipleship if you are not completely clear on Who He is? Why would you want to commit your life and surrender yourself to Someone you are not clear about?

In this portion of Scripture Jesus not only gives clarification to Who He is but He gives clarification to who you and I should be and in so doing, He clarifys discipleship. Jesus tells us that being a disciple has two components:

SAY IT - disciples declare and confess that Jesus is the Son of the God - the Messiah - the Savior - the Lamb of God - the Lord of all!

SHOW IT - disciples demonstrate the Lordship of Christ by how they live. Disciples daily deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him every day in every way!

Disciples are clear about Who He is and they are clear on who they need to be. The know Him and they show Him. As a result, all who watch theit lives become clear about Who Jesus is!

Are you clear about your calling? Are you making Him clear by how you live? Are there things you need to clear up?