Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
I am not sure why, but for some reason even to a greater degree than at Thanksgiving, at Christmas I get really reflective about everything I have to be thankful for.
There are so many people that have been such an incredible blessing to me at Bethel in so many ways. It has been such a privilege as your pastor to share our lives together. We have celebrated our victories together, we have walked together during our trials. We have rejoiced together and we have mourned together.
I am sitting here as I write this and I am going back over and over in my mind the many things that different members of Bethel have done over the past year to show me that they love me, and to bless me. I feel like I could never repay the many acts of kindness that have been extended on my behalf. I am earnestly asking God to repay your kindness with His blessings.
I just want to stop and pause, and say to you that I do not take for granted the wonderful privilege that it is to serve as your pastor. I am a blessed man. Thank you for the privilege.
From the Hester family to you and yours.......have a very blessed and merry Christmas!!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Help me finish
Acts 20:24 "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God."
The attitude that Paul expresses in this verse of scripture as he addresses the Elders of the church at Ephesus is the attitude that in large measure made this man the spiritual giant that he was. Paul's attitude was one of self sacrifice. He did not calculate every move through the lens of what it was going to cost him personally. He did not withhold anything from God even to the point that he was willing to put his life in danger for the cause of Christ.
Wow! What an example the Apostle Paul sets for us as followers of Christ. What an important truth he teaches us in these words in Acts 20:24. Paul is essentially saying, "I am going to do what God has called me to do and I don't care what it takes, I don't care what it costs me, I am giving no thought to self." Paul understood that this type of attitude was necessary to finish the race well. Notice that he says he adopts this thinking "so that I may finish my course." Paul understood that he would not finish the race if he started thinking about the personal cost involved.
If Paul some where along the way, stopped and thought to himself, "I sure have given up a lot to follow Christ. I sure have made many sacrifices. Look at all that I have done for God and look where it has gotten me. The more I have done for God the more heart ache and trouble I seem to experience. Maybe it's not worth it. Maybe I have done enough for God and sacrificed enough for Him and maybe it's time for me to just relax and enjoy life a little bit. Think I'll go back to Jerusalem and just cool it for a while so these people will stop trying to kill me for preaching Christ."
The minute you start to think about yourself the outcome is predictable. You will be tempted to quit on God, or at least curtail what you are doing for Him.
The attitude that Paul expresses in this verse of scripture as he addresses the Elders of the church at Ephesus is the attitude that in large measure made this man the spiritual giant that he was. Paul's attitude was one of self sacrifice. He did not calculate every move through the lens of what it was going to cost him personally. He did not withhold anything from God even to the point that he was willing to put his life in danger for the cause of Christ.
Wow! What an example the Apostle Paul sets for us as followers of Christ. What an important truth he teaches us in these words in Acts 20:24. Paul is essentially saying, "I am going to do what God has called me to do and I don't care what it takes, I don't care what it costs me, I am giving no thought to self." Paul understood that this type of attitude was necessary to finish the race well. Notice that he says he adopts this thinking "so that I may finish my course." Paul understood that he would not finish the race if he started thinking about the personal cost involved.
If Paul some where along the way, stopped and thought to himself, "I sure have given up a lot to follow Christ. I sure have made many sacrifices. Look at all that I have done for God and look where it has gotten me. The more I have done for God the more heart ache and trouble I seem to experience. Maybe it's not worth it. Maybe I have done enough for God and sacrificed enough for Him and maybe it's time for me to just relax and enjoy life a little bit. Think I'll go back to Jerusalem and just cool it for a while so these people will stop trying to kill me for preaching Christ."
The minute you start to think about yourself the outcome is predictable. You will be tempted to quit on God, or at least curtail what you are doing for Him.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Word
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.......14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John's gospel tells the Christmas story in a different way. Whereas some of the other gospel writers tell us about the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, John cuts to the chase regarding the theological implications of the event.
At the center of our understanding of the gospel is the correct identity of Jesus. He is not simply a good moral teacher who led an exemplary life worthy of being imitated. He is that, but to stop there as many have done is to ignore the most important aspect of who Jesus was. John makes it clear that Jesus was God. He was God who put on flesh and "dwelt among us."
I can ponder that theological truth for an eternity of eternities and never exhaust all the implications. The greatest implication of all is that because He was God, He could save me from my sin.
Thank you Lord Jesus for leaving the glory of heaven, to enter this cesspool of a world, to save sinners like me. My soul and spirit magnifies you today.
John's gospel tells the Christmas story in a different way. Whereas some of the other gospel writers tell us about the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, John cuts to the chase regarding the theological implications of the event.
At the center of our understanding of the gospel is the correct identity of Jesus. He is not simply a good moral teacher who led an exemplary life worthy of being imitated. He is that, but to stop there as many have done is to ignore the most important aspect of who Jesus was. John makes it clear that Jesus was God. He was God who put on flesh and "dwelt among us."
I can ponder that theological truth for an eternity of eternities and never exhaust all the implications. The greatest implication of all is that because He was God, He could save me from my sin.
Thank you Lord Jesus for leaving the glory of heaven, to enter this cesspool of a world, to save sinners like me. My soul and spirit magnifies you today.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Continual worship
Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
The Lord through the prophet Hosea under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit pointed out something lacking in the worship of the people of God. He pointed out that there was outward expression of worship with no inward effect. They were going through the prescribed rituals, like offering animal sacrifices and burnt offerings. The reality of the situation is that their hearts were far from God. God is not pleased with superficial, surface worship.
When Mary says "My soul exalts the Lord" in what has classically become known as "The Magnificat" recorded in Luke 1, she expresses a thought that wells up from deep within her inner being. The word "exalts" is the word in Greek "megaloonay". The first part of that word is borrowed from the Greek language and applied in many contexts in English. "Mega" means "huge". We put "mega" in front of just about any noun if we want to express the idea that it is great, large, or expanding. The idea expressed is that Mary is overwhelmed and overcome by the glory, the wonder, the majesty, and the awesomeness of the Lord.
It does not stop with a one time experience. "Megaloonay" translated in our English bibles "exalts" or in some versions "magnifies" is a present tense continuous action verb. That simply means that it is a continual action. Mary does not express a thought that is a one time event. She expresses an ongoing thought of worship.
That reminds me that my whole life is to be one big worship service. Worship is not something that I am to do at 9am, 10:30am, and 6:30pm on Sunday......it is a lifestyle.......God grant us worshiping hearts.
The Lord through the prophet Hosea under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit pointed out something lacking in the worship of the people of God. He pointed out that there was outward expression of worship with no inward effect. They were going through the prescribed rituals, like offering animal sacrifices and burnt offerings. The reality of the situation is that their hearts were far from God. God is not pleased with superficial, surface worship.
When Mary says "My soul exalts the Lord" in what has classically become known as "The Magnificat" recorded in Luke 1, she expresses a thought that wells up from deep within her inner being. The word "exalts" is the word in Greek "megaloonay". The first part of that word is borrowed from the Greek language and applied in many contexts in English. "Mega" means "huge". We put "mega" in front of just about any noun if we want to express the idea that it is great, large, or expanding. The idea expressed is that Mary is overwhelmed and overcome by the glory, the wonder, the majesty, and the awesomeness of the Lord.
It does not stop with a one time experience. "Megaloonay" translated in our English bibles "exalts" or in some versions "magnifies" is a present tense continuous action verb. That simply means that it is a continual action. Mary does not express a thought that is a one time event. She expresses an ongoing thought of worship.
That reminds me that my whole life is to be one big worship service. Worship is not something that I am to do at 9am, 10:30am, and 6:30pm on Sunday......it is a lifestyle.......God grant us worshiping hearts.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Unity
Philippians 2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
We all love to hear the song during the Christmas season, "It's the most wonderful time of the year". Can I make a declaration? If you work on a church staff that presents its budget in December, that just simply is untrue for you. Introduce the notion of how to spend money in the church and you get a wide variety of opinions. I have now officially been through it as a pastor 11 times. When it comes to creating a church budget, there are always extremes to be dealt with. Some people are risky, and some are very conservative. Some are for "passing a faith budget" that is far beyond the congregation's ability to reach.....Some are for passing a budget that is less than the previous year's tithes and offerings so the church can "squirrel away money for a "rainy day".
When you are on a church staff you see the potential for division. People with different opinions about how to spend money can get polarized, and the enemy can get a foothold, divide and conquer. It is a stark reminder that if we in the church are going to remain unified, it is not our opinions that are going to do it. The last word of our focus passage for the day is the key to unity. It is the word purpose. Our opinions are not going to unify us....it will be a sharp focus on the purpose. The purpose is to make disciples.
Different people will have different opinions in the church on how to spend the money, but if the ultimate focus is to reach people for Christ, God's people are not going to press their opinions to the point that it divides the body, and thus compromises the church's ability to reach people for Christ. There will be a "big picture" understanding, so that those that do not get their way will not do damage to the body over the fact that their suggestion or budgeting philosophy was not ultimately adopted by the church.
I saw some disagreements and some differences of opinion during the budget process at Bethel this year. I am happy to report that even though the discussions got spirited at times, no one got nasty. Everyone expressed their opinion in a respectful way. When it comes to those that did not get their way, nobody took their marbles and went home.
We are moving forward together....as soldiers of the cross. That's the way it should be.
We all love to hear the song during the Christmas season, "It's the most wonderful time of the year". Can I make a declaration? If you work on a church staff that presents its budget in December, that just simply is untrue for you. Introduce the notion of how to spend money in the church and you get a wide variety of opinions. I have now officially been through it as a pastor 11 times. When it comes to creating a church budget, there are always extremes to be dealt with. Some people are risky, and some are very conservative. Some are for "passing a faith budget" that is far beyond the congregation's ability to reach.....Some are for passing a budget that is less than the previous year's tithes and offerings so the church can "squirrel away money for a "rainy day".
When you are on a church staff you see the potential for division. People with different opinions about how to spend money can get polarized, and the enemy can get a foothold, divide and conquer. It is a stark reminder that if we in the church are going to remain unified, it is not our opinions that are going to do it. The last word of our focus passage for the day is the key to unity. It is the word purpose. Our opinions are not going to unify us....it will be a sharp focus on the purpose. The purpose is to make disciples.
Different people will have different opinions in the church on how to spend the money, but if the ultimate focus is to reach people for Christ, God's people are not going to press their opinions to the point that it divides the body, and thus compromises the church's ability to reach people for Christ. There will be a "big picture" understanding, so that those that do not get their way will not do damage to the body over the fact that their suggestion or budgeting philosophy was not ultimately adopted by the church.
I saw some disagreements and some differences of opinion during the budget process at Bethel this year. I am happy to report that even though the discussions got spirited at times, no one got nasty. Everyone expressed their opinion in a respectful way. When it comes to those that did not get their way, nobody took their marbles and went home.
We are moving forward together....as soldiers of the cross. That's the way it should be.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Spiritual breathing
1 John 5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
One of the things that we do quite naturally if we are healthy is breathe. We don't have to think about it we just do it.
I want to introduce you to a concept that Campus Crusade for Christ founder the late Dr. Bill Bright called "spiritual breathing". It is a concept that if practiced will transform your spiritual life. Spiritual breathing first acknowledges that people sin even after they are saved. Many Christians are in denial about that idea, but the bible says in 1 John that if we say we have no sin we are liars and the truth is not in us. The idea is to recognize it when we sin, and to confess it right away.
When we sin, we know that we have grieved the Holy Spirit. We often just go on about our business without doing anything about it. We try not to think about it and often just try to suppress it in our thinking until the Holy Spirit reminds us about that sin some time later. Dr Bright suggested that what all Christians ought to do when they sin is confess and ask forgiveness right away. Do not let long periods of time go by with unconfessed sin in your life. When you sin, don't wait until the invitation after the Sunday sermon to get right with God. Confess your sin to the Lord immediately. Sin breaks fellowship with God. You can sense it when you disobey the Lord that your fellowship with Him is broken. Confessing sin restores fellowship with the Lord. Confess your sin, then ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, appropriating His fullness in your life again. Continue walking in the Holy Spirit now that your fellowship with God has been restored. IF you practice this it will become as natural as breathing....thus the term "spiritual breathing".
Let's review the process of "spiritual breathing". When you sin, confess it to the Lord right away. Do not wait. Claim 1 John 1:9 which says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit understanding that it is God's command to be filled with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 5:18). Understand that the bible teaches us that we get what we ask for when we ask according to the will of God (see 1 John 5:14-15 above). So now having restored fellowship with God, walk in the fullness of the Spirit.
Practice this art of "spiritual breathing" and you will have less time in your life with unconfessed sin in your life. As you keep short accounts with God, your fellowship with Him will deepen.
One of the things that we do quite naturally if we are healthy is breathe. We don't have to think about it we just do it.
I want to introduce you to a concept that Campus Crusade for Christ founder the late Dr. Bill Bright called "spiritual breathing". It is a concept that if practiced will transform your spiritual life. Spiritual breathing first acknowledges that people sin even after they are saved. Many Christians are in denial about that idea, but the bible says in 1 John that if we say we have no sin we are liars and the truth is not in us. The idea is to recognize it when we sin, and to confess it right away.
When we sin, we know that we have grieved the Holy Spirit. We often just go on about our business without doing anything about it. We try not to think about it and often just try to suppress it in our thinking until the Holy Spirit reminds us about that sin some time later. Dr Bright suggested that what all Christians ought to do when they sin is confess and ask forgiveness right away. Do not let long periods of time go by with unconfessed sin in your life. When you sin, don't wait until the invitation after the Sunday sermon to get right with God. Confess your sin to the Lord immediately. Sin breaks fellowship with God. You can sense it when you disobey the Lord that your fellowship with Him is broken. Confessing sin restores fellowship with the Lord. Confess your sin, then ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, appropriating His fullness in your life again. Continue walking in the Holy Spirit now that your fellowship with God has been restored. IF you practice this it will become as natural as breathing....thus the term "spiritual breathing".
Let's review the process of "spiritual breathing". When you sin, confess it to the Lord right away. Do not wait. Claim 1 John 1:9 which says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit understanding that it is God's command to be filled with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 5:18). Understand that the bible teaches us that we get what we ask for when we ask according to the will of God (see 1 John 5:14-15 above). So now having restored fellowship with God, walk in the fullness of the Spirit.
Practice this art of "spiritual breathing" and you will have less time in your life with unconfessed sin in your life. As you keep short accounts with God, your fellowship with Him will deepen.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Listening while busy
1 Kings 19:12......and after the fire a still small voice.
I have some more thoughts to add to Tuesday's blog post regarding the small still voice. I mentioned a key to hearing the small still voice is to get alone with God and block out the competing noises. That is true and I do not wish to hedge that thought. Jesus got off by Himself and spent time with the Father and we need to do the same.
However, there is one key idea that I think is definitely worth talking about when it comes to this concept of listening to the small still voice of the Holy Spirit. We can not always stop what we are doing and get off to a quiet place to listen to God. We must be able to hear from God in the midst of a busy, noisy life as well. Most of us are only able to have quiet time in the morning and have jobs that do not lend themselves to taking breaks to go pray. So the question begs asking, don't we still need to hear from God in the busy and loud portions of our life? I would say so. If that is true, then we had better develop our ability to hear the small still voice of the Holly Spirit even when there is a lot of noise, a lot of activity, and many competing voices.
If we are going to walk with God, we must hear moment by moment. That is only done when we learn to sense the Holy Spirit's guidance when life is full of activity and there is no opportunity for getting quiet and still before the Lord. That is why the Apostle Paul taught that we are to "pray without ceasing." We can not constantly stay on our knees with our eyes closed and our heads bowed, but we can live our lives in a constant attitude of prayer. When we live our lives in a constant attitude of prayer, we have listening hearts that hear the voice of God even in those portions of life that are noisy and busy.
Lord help us to block out all the noise and hear you, so that you might order our steps even in our busy day to day routines.
I have some more thoughts to add to Tuesday's blog post regarding the small still voice. I mentioned a key to hearing the small still voice is to get alone with God and block out the competing noises. That is true and I do not wish to hedge that thought. Jesus got off by Himself and spent time with the Father and we need to do the same.
However, there is one key idea that I think is definitely worth talking about when it comes to this concept of listening to the small still voice of the Holy Spirit. We can not always stop what we are doing and get off to a quiet place to listen to God. We must be able to hear from God in the midst of a busy, noisy life as well. Most of us are only able to have quiet time in the morning and have jobs that do not lend themselves to taking breaks to go pray. So the question begs asking, don't we still need to hear from God in the busy and loud portions of our life? I would say so. If that is true, then we had better develop our ability to hear the small still voice of the Holly Spirit even when there is a lot of noise, a lot of activity, and many competing voices.
If we are going to walk with God, we must hear moment by moment. That is only done when we learn to sense the Holy Spirit's guidance when life is full of activity and there is no opportunity for getting quiet and still before the Lord. That is why the Apostle Paul taught that we are to "pray without ceasing." We can not constantly stay on our knees with our eyes closed and our heads bowed, but we can live our lives in a constant attitude of prayer. When we live our lives in a constant attitude of prayer, we have listening hearts that hear the voice of God even in those portions of life that are noisy and busy.
Lord help us to block out all the noise and hear you, so that you might order our steps even in our busy day to day routines.
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