A Learning Day
I’ve never experience THAT before. Interesting. Since our church is located of Highway 68, there is only one road that accesses our driveway, so a car accident this past weekend shut down the road entirely for the entire duration of our Sunday services. Slight bummer.
Here are some lessons from the weekend:
First and foremost, we are serving Jesus! After the first service, once it became apparent most people weren’t getting through the police barricade to attend service 2 and 3, I was asked, “do we go on?” Yes! Although slightly awkward holding worship services in a mostly empty sanctuary, it was refreshing. We grouped together, prayed, and reminded each other that this is all for Jesus, an attitude that must follow us into each and every ministry endeavor.
I love technology. Having the services broadcast live online was actually a major reason to push forward with the services. We knew we wanted to take care of everyone who hit the roadblock and were forced to go home to watch online.
I have silly fears. Confession time. I had a quick worry that everyone would just drive to another church, enjoy it, and stay there in the weeks to come. Just being honest. That tells me I’ve got some work to do in allowing the Holy Spirit in to crush some of my fears and insecurities as a pastor. It’s just gotta happen!
All that said, I hope we don’t have a Sunday like that for quite some time. My heart goes out to my brothers in other parts of the country who deal with the Sunday effects of snow, heavy rain, or other weather difficulties on a regular basis. It was hard preparing all week to teach, only to have the message reach a much smaller group than anticipated. God knows!
Yearly Planning Meeting
A couple months ago while teaching at Calvary Monterey I made a reference to a yearly all-day planning meeting Christina and I conduct to help us get our priorities straight for the next year. A friend of mine recently emailed me to ask if we had a template of subjects to discuss. While I did not, I was able to quickly jot down a few ideas and thought I’d share them with you.
This is not really comprehensive, but hopefully it helps.
Our worship: church, bible-reading, prayer lives, Christian book reading.
Our marriage: romance, intimacy, dates, goals for the next year, scheduling, lifestyle pace.
Our children: goals for each child, parenting strategies.
Our work: financial goals, career goals, savings goals.
Our ministry: hospitality, friendships, new ventures, review current.
Our household: projects, savings plan, big purchases.
Our bodies: health goals, exercise.
Our dreams: think out loud.
If you’ve never really talked about these things with your spouse I would advise you to go slowly and keep it light. If you aren’t used to this kind of dialogue you might want warm up to it for a year or two. All of this, of course, should be accompanied by much prayer. Christina and I like to take a full day to discuss this stuff, accompanied with and broken up by walks, meals, and coffee throughout the day. Have fun!
PS. While much of this is marriage/family centered, much of it is not, so I would encourage you to do something like this even if you are single. Just adapt it to your needs!
Out Of Poverty
Mark 12:44 Jesus said - “For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Jesus watched the wealthy give their financial gifts to the temple treasury. He watched “how” everyone gave. He saw a lone widow give “more” than anyone else. From man’s perspective she gave next to nothing, but from God’s perspective she gave the most. How?
This woman put in “out of her poverty,” while the rest had given “out of their abundance.”
The Abundant Life
The life we want to live is the one where we give our lives to the Lord out of poverty, not out of abundance. We want to live in the “out-of-our-poverty” level.
I’ll be honest, this woman’s life wrecks me. I get rocked reading about Jesus and His value system. It works me to think about the kind of devotion and life He adores.
It has always been this way. God has always loved acts of mercy more than acts of outward worship. He wants our bodies to obey more than He wants our lips to profess.
My Prayer
I am asking God to help me see the areas of my life where I can go deeper into the poverty-level of giving. This is hard. But Jesus, as the Son of God, was rich and became poor for me, so I want to give my life back to Him (2 Corinthians 8:9). I am also asking God to give me the guts to actually do what He shows me.
I would encourage you to do the same. Ask Him to open your eyes to this beautiful, abundant, out-of-poverty life!
Jesus Only
Mark 9:8 “And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.”
I’ve always wondered what it would have been like to be Peter, James, and John, the three disciples Jesus reserved wonderful and specific mentoring and teaching for. These disciples saw Jairus’ daughter raised from the dead, heard Jesus pray in the garden on the night of His arrest, and in this place, were called up to the mountain to watch Him transfigure. They literally caught a glimpse of His deity peak out from His humanity as He prayed.
It was then that Moses and Elijah, two prominent Old Testament figures who represented the Law and the Prophets, arrived to speak with Jesus. Peter got the idea to build tents, go camping, and remain on the mountaintop - not a horrible idea, but not the best idea! While he spoke, the cloud descended and the Father spoke; “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” The cloud dissipated and they saw none but Jesus!
Our Tendency
We love to do much of the same. We will often embrace Jesus as a good thing, but along with a bunch of other “good” things. Family, church work, business, recreation, friendships, financial planning, a spouse, fiancé, or boyfriend/girlfriend can all easily occupy too high of a position of prominence in our hearts.
Our Aim
Our aim is to hear Jesus. To hear Him. It was only by hearing Jesus that Peter would ever successfully interpret Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. And we will only be able to interpret the good things in our lives correctly by placing Jesus where He belongs, alone and first in our hearts, recognizing Him as the one deserving preeminence, the King.
When Jesus is first, all the rest in our lives will be viewed correctly.
Your spouse, family, friendships, relationships, work, finances, recreation, or any other thing can only be viewed correctly when Jesus is in the first place. We only see them accurately when He is on the throne.
Our Push
I encourage you to allow Jesus to sit on the throne of your heart. Perhaps you have believed in Him, but have allowed a measure of spiritual apathy to invade your heart. Perhaps you have drifted. Perhaps some very “good” things in life have overtaken you like an all-consuming fire.
If this is you, get alone with Him. Pour out your heart, mind, and soul in confession before Him. Tell Him that you’ve been wrong to allow anything else to sit on the same level with Him. Receive His grace and mercy. Walk afresh with Him.
When He is first, everything else can become clear, but when He isn’t everything will become cloudy. Hear Him.
In Christ,
Nate
Shaken, Not Stirred
Psalm 46:4-5 - “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.”
The verses around this text depict chaos. Specifically, the earth giving way, the mountains melting into the sea, waters roaring and foaming, and mountains trembling. Sounds like the world falling apart.
In the midst of this shaken world, however, is a wonderful river that flows into the city of God. This river brings peace and, it seems, the very presence of God.
Perhaps your world is “falling apart” or stress filled. Rush to God. Rush to His river. Only the presence of God - made possible only by the blood of Christ - can offer the calm and peace we need in a chaotic world.
