Tick-Tock

As I head ever-closer to eternity, I often find myself contemplating time. I think about how little time I may have left to use the spiritual gifts God has so graciously given me to use for His glory. (Not that He necessarily needs me, mind you. He's quite capable of raising up another to take my place!)  My grandchildren are growing up quickly and I realize how little time I may have to build memories, to interact with them and shine God's truth into their lives. I think of those I teach... the bi-weekly women's Bible study, my 5th/6th Sunday School class, the women I do one-on-one studies with, and my driving desire to transmit to them all the necessary "how-to's" for studying God's Word for themselves, that they may personally know Jesus Christ at an ever-increasing, life-changing depth. The passing of time also leads me to consider how much of it I waste in useless, worthless pursuits. I recall my daughter pointing out once how we all have the same amount of hours in a day. It's how we choose to use them that makes the difference.

Kevin DeYoung (The Gospel Coalition) recently posted a quote from Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done. Though not a Christian book, Drucker does offer useful considerations about time applicable to all of us. He writes...

The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it and no marginal utility curve for it. Moreover, time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday’s time is gone forever and will never come back. Time is, therefore, always in exceedingly short supply.

Time is totally irreplaceable. Within limits we can substitute one resource for another, copper for aluminum, for instance. We can substitute capital for human labor. We can use more knowledge or more brawn. But there is no substitute for time.

Everything requires time. It is the one truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes an effective executive as much as their tender loving care of time.

You may not be as old as me. You may think you have all the time in the world ahead of you. You need to realize that age may have absolutely nothing to do with the amount of time you'll spend here. None of us knows which day will be our last! That should lead us to carefully consider our own use of this commodity called time. Don't allow yourself to get caught up with the notion that "someday when I have more time I'll study God's Word  ... someday when I have more time I'll live for Christ ... someday when I have more time I'll get serious about prayer ... someday when I have more time I'll tell others the good news of the gospel". Your "some day" might not arrive.

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. [James 4:13-14]

Eyes on God: A Lesson from Edwards

Last week's post on Christian Resolutions and July's post about personal relationship with God being the primary focus out of which ministry for God must flow (Who's Running the Show?) coincide nicely with this recent post on the Ligonier site. Buck Parsons revisits Jonathan Edwards' preface to his resolutions to "work out his own salvation with fear and trembling" in the power of the Holy Spirit (sanctification), that he might glorify God and enjoy Him forever. He looks at three particular areas where believers tend to be the most needy: dependency upon God, humility before Him and living for God's glory. "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him ... Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Col.3:17, 23).

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At nineteen, as a ministerial student preparing for the pastorate, I grew concerned that someday I could get to the point in ministry that my passion for ministry would usurp my passion for God — that ministry would become my religion, that the idol of success in ministry would replace my heart’s desire to be faithful to God. With all of this weighing heavily on my mind, early one morning, I slid from my bed onto my knees and cried out to God that He would equip me for ministry, sustain me in ministry, and give me passion for ministry — a passion that would flow out of my love and passion for God Himself. That morning I penned the following words in the front of my Bible: “I shall live for God, not for the ministry.” Every year since then, by God’s sustaining grace, I have surrendered myself to the Lord, imploring Him to help me live for Him and trusting Him alone to equip, sustain, and empower me for His ministry.

In order to remain steadfast in this pursuit of active surrender of living for the sake of God and not for the sake of ministry, I must not only regularly confess my sin of self-reliance I must also resolve to remain resolved every day of my life — living a life of repentance and faith, with every step and every breath, delighting in the Lord’s abundant love and assurance. For if I confide in my own strength, my striving would indeed be losing. 

The Resolve of Edwards

The nineteen-year-old Jonathan Edwards knew his weaknesses and was aware of the destructive nature of his sin, so he resolved to make and keep certain resolutions in his effort to live for God’s glory. He helped pave the way for us all as he prefaced his seventy resolutions with these words:

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

These simple, introductory words of Edwards not only provide a glimpse into the mind of one of history’s greatest minds, they provide us with a glorious insight into the heart of a young man whose heart had been humbled and mastered by the Lord God Almighty. We would therefore do well to consider Edwards’ prefatory remarks as we seek to glorify God and enjoy Him forever in our churches, our homes, and our hearts...

Resolving Dependently

“I am unable to do anything without God’s help,” Edwards admits. We must be sensible in grasping the simple truth that every resolution must be made in dependence on God. And while every Christian would respond by saying, “Well, of course we must depend on God for all things,” most Christians have been sold the world’s bill of goods. They think that once they become dependent on God, then they will have immediate strength. They mimic the world’s mantra: “Whatever doesn’t kill me will make me stronger.” While the principle is generally true, such thinking can foster an attitude of proud independence. We must understand that in being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us means that we must depend on His strength continuously in order to do all things and to keep all our resolutions (Eph. 3:16; Col. 1:11). In truth, whatever doesn’t kill us, by God’s conforming grace, makes us weak so that in our weakness we will rely continuously on the strength of our Lord (2 Cor. 12:7–10).

Resolving Humbly

“I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions.” In making resolutions for the glory of God and before the face of God, we must not come into His presence pounding our chests in triumphal arrogance as if God must now love and bless us more because we have made certain resolutions to follow Him more. In reality, the Lord in His providence may choose to allow even more trials to enter our lives; in His unchanging fatherly love for us, He may decide to discipline us even more in order that we might more so detest our sin and delight in Him. We should approach Him in humble reliance on His grace as we seek not merely the blessings but the one who blesses.

Resolving For Christ’s Sake

“So far as they are agreeable to his will for Christ’s sake.” We cannot resolve to do anything with a presumptuous attitude before God. The whole matter of making resolutions is not just goal setting so that we might have happier lives. We are called by God to live according to His will, not our own — for Christ’s sake, not our own — for it is not unto us but unto Him that all glory belongs.

[Burk Parson's full post at Ligonier site]

Our Responsibility to One Another

From: One-to-One Bible Reading: A Simple Guide for Every Christian, David Helm...

Christians are also called to encourage one another [parakaleo -  literally: to call alongside; to exhort, encourage, comfort, beseech one another with biblical truth] and build up one another.

1Thess.5:11 "Therefore encourage [parakaleo] one another and build one another up..."

Hebrews 3:12-13 "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort [parakaleo] one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

Eph.4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

They are called to instruct one another, to speak the truth to one another, to teach and admonish one another with the wisdom of Christ's word, and to stir up one another to love and good works.

Rom.15:14 "I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another."

Eph.4:15 "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ..."

Col.3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing (noutheteo, from which we get "nouthetic") one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

Heb.10:24-25 "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

In his first letter, Peter says the Word that saved us is the same Word that strengthens us in our faith. He writes: 'long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.' (1Pet.2:2) In another place, the apostle Paul describes the usefulness and versatility of the Bible, declaring it to be 'profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.' (2Tim.3:16) Christians are called to live together as Christians, loving those around them and spreading God's truth to them.

"If Weak in Prayer, We Are Weak Everywhere"

Author Mark Tomlinson, in his biography of Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994)...

"He especially deplored the weakness of the praying of most local churches. He felt the strongest meeting of the church should be the church prayer meeting, but said that it was generally the weakest, if it even existed at all.” In his lifetime Ravenhill saw the daily or weekly prayer meeting disappearing from most local churches. This grieved him because he “directly connected the effectiveness of true ministry with the prayer life of the church."

Ravenhill often quoted his mentor, Samuel Chadwick, who had written...

"The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. No man is greater than his prayer life."

In all the books, articles and blogs currently being written to urge believers into ministry and service, very few talk about the importance of prayer in ministry, about  the necessity of maintaining a vital connection with the God whom we serve. When we don't spend as much time in prayer as we do in ministry, aren't we serving in our OWN strength and putting ourselves in the place God deserves? When we value "doing" and neglect prayer, it's not a very far leap to expecting God to be thankful for what we've done FOR Him!

And when we do pray, how often we view it solely as a source of benefit to ourselves, as a means of addressing our own personal needs and concerns, as a one-way street. Ravenhill wrote...

The praying of a Christian can become a ritual. The place of prayer is more than a dumping ground for all our anxieties, threats and fears. The place of prayer is not a place to drop the shopping list before the throne of God with endless supplies and limitless power.

I believe the place of prayer is not only a place where I lose my burdens, but also a place where I get a burden. He shares my burden and I share his burden.

This is an area where I suspect most modern believers need to evaluate themselves. Let's encourage one another to model  prayerful dependence upon God! Let's be known as people of prayer!

[This biography of Ravenhill is available for Kindle. Amazon has a free Kindle app for personal computers which I use to read works not available elsewhere. They also have free apps for most mobile devices.]

[via Tim Challies' blog]

[Related posts: "Pray Without Ceasing"  "Who's Running the Show?"]

Finding Direction in Ministry

I admit to being taken aback by the tone of some of the ministry books coming out. To me, the mark of a good ministry book is the amount of focus given to rightly divided biblical truth. Am I seeing God... His beauty... His worthiness ... His infinite love and power ... what He asks of us ... the attitude and methods He requires for me to serve Him in the manner He desires? Am I being encouraged to maintain a humble attitude, a God-dependence, a self-denying manner of giving of my "self" to God and others? 

Unfortunately, many young ministry authors are choosing instead to play the "blame game"... who's fault is it? You may be familiar with this type of approach. Everything pretty much boils down to sheer failure on the part of the previous generation of parents and/or church members. The idea of a young, relatively inexperienced author setting himself up as the repository of knowledge and then proceeding to inform his audience about (1) how faithful believers of the previous generation did it all wrong, and (2) how he, the author, has the answer all of them missed, is incredibly audacious, no matter how skilled, insightful or creative he might be. Let me point out a few biblical truths we should never forget.

Truth #1: The parents and Christians of the previous generation, and the one before them, and the one before them, and so on, succeeded or failed as they remained true to God's revealed truth in Scripture. If you really want to be a godly parent or a godly servant of the Lord, then you need to really know God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Know His Word, obey it and teach it. Deny "self." Let the beauty of Christ increasingly shine forth in your attitudes, your words, your priorities and your actions.

Truth #2: Every generation has blind spots ... yours will, too. As each individual believer submits himself to the truth of God's Word, he will be renewed in his mind, which will result in a lifelong process of "putting off" wrong thinking and "putting on" God-honoring thinking.

Truth #3: The power to reach people for God, whether they are your children or those whom you minister to, resides with God. He is the One at work, He is the One calling, He is the One justifying, He is the One sanctifying ...  that He may receive all the glory. Don't be fooled into thinking it's your ideas, your skills, your abilities, your insight. You'll never survive a lifetime of faithful service if you mess this one up.

Truth #4: Developing an outlook, a worldview, a chronic attitude of finding fault will kill your own spiritual growth. Jesus wants you to keep your eyes on Him, not on the real or imagined shortcomings of others. He wants you to edify people using His Word. He wants to use you to build them up, to help them grow spiritually, to promote the unity of the body, to love the unlovely. Did you know the Greek word variously translated "exhort/ beseech/ encourage/ comfort" appears some 111 times in the New Testament? Do you want to know HOW to love, HOW to comfort, HOW to teach, HOW to impact the lives of others? Come alongside and shed the truths of God's Word into their lives! Scripture commands it again ... and again ... and again. Pray for them without ceasing. Keep your eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. Abide in the vine. Abide in the Word. That's how God says He wants you to minister. It may not sell books, but it will honor the God whom you serve.

Who's Running the Show?

Living the balanced Christian life is not an easy thing. A motivating pastor or college professor, a book or two promoting "extreme" Christian living, having an awakening sense of the great need in the world all have the potential to get us running around, darting in different directions like humming birds seeking out nectar. The current stress in Christendom seems to be upon "doing."  But undergirding all that "doing" needs to be a life centered upon Christ. That's ground zero, that's our starting point and that's our resting point. If it's not, then what we're "doing" is in our own strength, not Christ's, for our own glory, not Christ's. Goals can become "ours," not Christ's. Our methods can easily become "what works," not what honors Christ. Here's an interesting piece concerning these things. An excerpt...

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“There is a first-rate commitment to a second-rate mission.” That is what Roger, a leader in global church planting, said as he looked at the rock climbers ascending a cliff in the Alps. Many of us called into ministry feel the same way. Rather than giving our lives to climbing a rock, building a business, or amassing a fortune, we are committed to what really matters; a first-rate mission -- advancing the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ.

But what if we’re wrong?

Roger spent decades serving Christ and planting churches on four continents. But after reflecting on his labor for the kingdom of God, his confession surprised many of us. “I’ve given most of my energy to a second-rate mission as well,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. Church planting is great. But someday that mission will end. My first calling is to live with God. That must be my first commitment.”

What Roger articulated was a temptation that many in ministry face. To put it simply, many church leaders unknowingly replace the transcendent vitality of a life with God for the ego satisfaction they derive from a life for God...

Is impact everything?

The students I meet with often worry about what awaits them after graduation. This is a reasonable concern for any young adult, but for many of them the worry extends far beyond finding a job with benefits. They fixate, and some obsess, about “making a difference in the world.” They fear living lives of insignificance. They worry about not achieving the right things, or not enough of the right things. Behind all of this is the belief that their value is determined by what they achieve. .. When we come to believe that our faith is primarily about what we can do for God in the world, it is like throwing gasoline on our fear of insignificance. The resulting fire may be presented to others as a godly ambition, a holy desire to see God’s mission advance--the kind of drive evident in the Apostle Paul’s life. But when these flames are fueled by fear they reveal none of the peace, joy, or love displayed by Paul. Instead the relentless drive to prove our worth can quickly become destructive.

Sometimes the people who fear insignificance the most are driven to accomplish the greatest things. As a result they are highly praised within Christian communities for their good works which temporarily soothes their fear until the next goal can be achieved. But there is a dark side to this drivenness. Gordon MacDonald calls it “missionalism.” It is “the belief that the worth of one’s life is determined by the achievement of a grand objective.” He continues:

Missionalism starts slowly and gains a foothold in the leader's attitude. Before long the mission controls almost everything: time, relationships, health, spiritual depth, ethics, and convictions. In advanced stages, missionalism means doing whatever it takes to solve the problem. In its worst iteration, the end always justifies the means. The family goes; health is sacrificed; integrity is jeopardized; God-connection is limited.^[1]

...While a vision for serving God is needed, and the desperate condition of our world cannot be ignored, there is a higher calling that is going unanswered in many Christian communities. As shepherds of God’s people, we must not allow our fears of insignificance to drive us into an unrelenting pursuit of church growth, cultural impact, or missional activism. Instead, we must model for our people a first-class commitment to a first-class purpose -- living in perpetual communion with God himself.

[Related post "Eyes on God"]
[entire post here.]
[1] Dangers of Missionalism

Summer Ideas: Teaching Your Kids to Serve

Here we are at the beginning of summer! The kids are out of school... no lunches to make, no early morning car drives, no after school activities, no homework to supervise, no sudden announcements of school projects "due tomorrow". I think I hear a collected sigh of relief. But as you plan your summer vacations, trips to the beach and overnights with friends, take time to think about creating opportunities for your children to serve others this summer. Erin Davis at the True Woman blog writes, "... summer also offers a unique opportunity to do ministry together as a family. A whole lot of free time offers a whole lot of opportunities to reach out to others and minister side by side. If your kids can get a taste of the value of serving like Jesus did, they’ll be learning an important lesson." She offers the following ideas, with a few of my own additions in italics. I'm sure you can add to the list!
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Help with Vacation Bible School
Many churches host VBS during the summer. Instead of just sending your kids off to attend, grab your pre-teens and teens and get involved yourself with serving. If your church doesn’t have a VBS, look for ways to serve in another church, or launch a Backyard Bible Club for a few kids in your neighborhood. [Have your kids help bake cookies to serve at VBS, help prepare room decorations, distribute invitations in your neighborhood, put up signs in your community, pray those who attend will have hearts open to the gospel.]

Plan a local short-term missions trip
You don’t have to be a missionary to take a missions trip. Simply think of a group of people who have a need, and find a way to meet that need while sharing the love of Jesus. You can go for a day, a weekend, or a week. Here are a few missions trips my family have done:

• Clean up a playground in a low-income housing area, and then offer a free hot meal to the residents (hot dogs and chips work great!).

• Find an area of your state that has been impacted by a natural disaster, and get plugged in with a relief organization such as the Red Cross or Samaritan’s Purse. 

• Ask your pastor for a list of widows or shut-ins, and call and offer to do lawn work for free during the hottest days of summer.

• Call that same list of widows and shut-ins and offer to bring them fresh produce from your garden. They likely don’t have the oomph to garden themselves, but would love to share in the bounty of your back yard. 

• Call your local pregnancy care center and offer to come and sort supplies for moms in need. 

• Volunteer together at your local Food Pantry & Clothes Closet. Have your kids organize a neighborhood or church food drive of non-perishables to donate. Follow up your efforts with prayer.  

This list is just the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities are endless!  

Serve lemonade
Encourage your children to set up a lemonade stand to raise funds for people in need. Even young children will enjoy creating and decorating a lemonade stand, making lemonade and treats, and collecting money from “customers.” (I would recommend calling friends and neighbors and encouraging them to stop by). Then, give your child a few options of organizations and let them go with you to deliver their hard-earned money.

Adopt a family
Not every momma gets to stay at home with her kids in the summer. This can be especially true for single moms. That means some kids are left to fend for themselves while their parents work. If you know a family in this situation, offer to take the kids during the day for the summer, and be sure to specify that you don’t expect any payment in return. Will it be a sacrifice? You betcha! But God’s Word urges us to look after each other in practical ways like this. Be intentional about looking for a family that you can help by being generous with your time.
  
Create a Prayer Wall at Home
Find a blank wall to turn into a wall of prayer. Teach your kids the importance of praying for others rather than focusing on their own desires and needs. On one side of the wall, have kids tape prayers for those in need and on the other side, ask the children to write down something for which they are thankful. Teach children to pray as a way of praising God and relying on Him when things seem hopeless. (Idea from eHow)

Summers provide a unique opportunity for families who have the time and flexibility to break free from routine. Using that window to serve others in Jesus’ name is one of the  best uses of your family’s time.

Gifted to Serve as Part of a Body

When it comes to using our God-given gifts within the local body, much confusion can arise. Many expect that if God has gifted them to use a spiritual gift within their local assembly, they should not only be quite proficient at it, they should also enjoy every moment using it. "Therefore," the thinking often continues, "if I am not good at doing [insert spiritual gift], it must not be my gift." Or perhaps, "It's hard and uncomfortable for me to do "x", therefore it must not be my gift."  Allowed to go on over time, this kind of thinking leaves many paralyzed, unsure how to serve as a functioning member of their church, waiting to "discover" what it is they are "good" at. A related expectation is to believe that a person who has been exercising a spiritual gift for many years has always been able to do so at the ability level they currently enjoy.

Should we find ourselves in such a dilemma, it's good to remember the following Scriptural truths.

1) A spiritual gift manifests itself by what God does with it. The amazing thing is not so much your "giftedness" as that God chooses to use you in such a way that He may bring about the change, the encouragement, the understanding in the hearts of those to whom you minister or to meet a need in your church that enables others to use their gifts more effectively. It is not you being so proficient at something that you cause the desired result. [1Cor.12:4-7] Don't take God out of the equation. You are not "the star", He is! The truth is that every believer is gifted by God for service as part of their local body, perhaps in multiple ways. That's true whether you're a brand new believer just starting out or an aged saint who has been serving for years. [There's no "retirement" for a saint, just perhaps "reassignment".] That's encouraging! It means you can be used NOW!

2. There is not one specific, unique way to use a spiritual gift. As I've heard some do, I might say I have "the gift of teaching 5th/6th graders" or "the gift of teaching groups of women" or "the gift of biblical counseling". What I actually have is a teaching gift that can be used in multiple ways ... teaching 5th/6th graders or teaching groups of women or bringing Biblical truth to bear on someone's problem. Today I teach groups of women. Tomorrow I may be teaching the Bible to my nursing home roommate. The implication is that I should not expect I have to use my spiritual gift in any one specific way. This understanding is crucial! The leadership of my church may decide to reassign me at any time to an area they see as a vital need at that particular point in time. Or they may believe the women I teach would be better served by a different teacher or in a different context. The Lord may change my health at any moment making it impossible for me to regularly teach a group Bible study. But I could still exercise my gift by teaching through the medium of letter writing or the Internet or telephone conversations or one-on-one studies with women. And if I was physically unable to do any of those things, I could concentrate on a ministry of prayer. [I actually was "reassigned" to that task for several years due to health problems. It was incredibly satisfying and encouraging to be able to draw near the throne of grace and devote so much time to prayer!]  Amy Carmichael, missionary to India in the late 1800's to mid-1900's, was bedridden at the end of her life, reassigned by God to write edifying books and devote herself to prolonged, deep prayer. I've often used books written by her then to encourage women now!

3. Our spiritual gift should not be our primary focus. Humbly and cooperatively serving God alongside other believers in our local body, under the direction of the leadership God has placed over us is the focus. (Eph.4:11-13; Heb.13:17) A local body of believers is meant to function as a unified whole, working together as one, building up one another in order to do the work of ministry. The modern Christian world has too many divas. Your church does not exist to display your spiritual gift. Your spiritual gift was given to you by God in order for you to serve in the manner He has decided is necessary within the particular local assembly He has placed you in, within the timing He has chosen. Don't take God out of the picture and promote your gifts to superstar status. Don't expect your local assembly to accommodate every idea you might have for using your gift. That's not an attitude that brings any glory to God. At that point, you're serving yourself, not God. (Phil.2:1-2, 14-15)

4. There is a learning curve. Phil.2:12-13 tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling ... because it is God who works in us both to do and to will. What a perfect example of "both/and"! Yes, God gives the gift, but you also participate by seeking to use it to the best of your ability. That means your comfort level will change. Your abilities will change. What may be difficult and uncomfortable today, can be accomplished with hardly a second thought once your Bible knowledge has increased, once you've practiced doing it time and time again, once you have matured in your Christian walk. So, yes, even a brand new baby believer is gifted to serve, BUT they are not meant to stop at that level of service. They are to be progressively growing in knowledge and experience. (Heb.5:14) It takes effort and it takes time.

Greek scholar Bill Mounce recently wrote about his first experience preaching as a young believer. I found his reflections most encouraging. It brought to mind my own first experiences teaching. It was terrifying, and admittedly, I wasn't very good at it! But I did it because there was a need and my pastor thought I should apply myself to it. May you also find Mounce's recollection encouraging. Remember everyone had to start somewhere!

"I was terrified. Stand up in front of people! What was God thinking? I still remember that Sunday. I wore this long sleeved gold and white shirt with a gold colored sleeveless sweater. (Does that date this story or what?) I remember preaching, rivers of sweat poured down my back and sides, and being glad that the baggy shirt and sweater combination wouldn’t show how nervous I was. And when I got down I said to myself, “If there is one thing I now know, it is that God has not gifted or called me to speak in public!”

As I stood on the front steps today of Mount Zion Church 38 years later, I know how wrong I was. I love to preach and teach; it is my gifting and calling. But just because you are called and gifted doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of hard work ahead of you. For me, it was finishing college, a MA and PhD, and then years of teaching in college and seminary, and preaching hundreds and hundreds of sermons.

If you are just starting out, if you think you are called and gifted to pulpit ministry, or a teaching ministry, please understand that the call and gifting are not sufficient. Gifts and calling have to be nurtured, developed, practiced. So be patient. Don’t think you necessarily made a vocational mistake just because you are struggling with term papers, taking finals, or delivering what in your mind was the worse sermon ever preached. These are the fires we get to walk through in order to learn and to grow.

Did you think that being a herald of the king would be easy?"

Be Faithful in "Little Things"

Tim "happened" to run into someone who remembered me from some 25 years ago when his family attended FBC for a short time.  I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember him, even though he could recall my name after all this time.  But the incident got me thinking about our lifetime walk before the Lord.  There are times I feel so burdened that I'm not bringing God the glory He deserves, that I'm not saying the "right" thing at the "right" time, that I'm not reaching "enough" people with the gospel, that I have such little impact reflecting God's glory in this dark world.  There is such great need!  But... when you get right down to it, few of us ever have the opportunity to  see what God does with all those "little things" we might do in His name and for His glory.

Then I saw this video Challies posted on his blog today and it hit me.  Serving God is a lifetime endeavor of "little things" done faithfully, day by day.  For a few short years we are allowed to be but one small part of the advancement of God's program.  All He asks of us as believers is that we walk faithfully before Him TODAY, that we persevere in following Him, that we keep our eyes on His eternal truths, that we just be faithful in the "little things" and leave the "big picture" up to Him.  Viewing this video made me realize that in the 32 years I have been a believer, I have met and interacted in some small way in the lives of individuals in nearly every one of those situations mentioned!  In each case, whether I realized it or not, I  had represented God according to the God-given ability I possessed at that moment in my Christian walk. As difficult as their circumstances were, God's Word was able to reveal their greatest need, letting them know that the best answer to their life situation begins with Christ.  I have absolutely no idea how God used any of those experiences.  He is a mighty God, though my efforts may be feeble!

Now, 25 years later, God has chosen to use my child to possibly impact the life of an individual who has been given yet another chance to know God, to repent and trust in the finished work of Christ.  What a blessing to be given this peek at God working!  May we continue to walk faithfully before God TODAY to the best of our abilities by the power of God's grace ... no matter how "small" the task.  To God be the glory!

[Click here to see the video.]

The Life Behind the Service

Daniel Block, Wheaton Prof & OT Commentator was guest speaker at Winterim at The Master's Seminary last week. Concerning the use of spiritual gifts (particularly in worship music), he stated, “The life of the person is more important than the performance.” 

How true this should be for ALL ministry. God is NOT looking for “talent”, He's looking for obedient faithfulness. Shouldn’t churches seek SS teachers, Youth workers, etc. based upon their faithful walk before a holy God, rather than looking at ability alone or attempting to “fill holes” with whoever can be talked into doing the job? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people concentrated on their Christian walk to the point that they would feel “honored” to be considered qualified enough to be asked to serve some way in the local assembly?

I've heard people complain that their “gift” is not appreciated, nor utilized by their assembly… and so they become church jumpers. Isn't it better to be concentrating on your walk before the LORD and on being sensitive to His leading into a particular area of service?

Over my first year as church secretary I’ve received multiple calls from people wondering if we could use their “gift” in our church… yet never asking a single question about what we believe or preach! I’m serious! The second most asked question is, “What kind of music do you have?” or “Do you have contemporary music?” In the past year I’ve never had a SINGLE question concerning whether we have expository preaching, if we stress Missions & Evangelism, asking to see a Statement of Faith or wondering how many Prayer Services and Bible Studies we offer.

Putting the emphasis on your “gift” instead of on your walk with the One who GAVE you that gift is tantamount to serving yourself and not God.