SO, I wonder what the Lord has been challenging you with since Sunday mornings message about “Maintaining”. During staff meeting this morning, Pastor David prayed for us as a church that we would dwell in constant communion with God. The Holy Spirit reminded me in that moment that we exist as a worship ministry to foster that kind of intimacy.
We talk about worship as a lifestyle, which already is beginning to sound dated. Maybe a better way of putting it is that it must be a way of life, THE way of life for us. We must live to maintain our relationship to God, for otherwise we have no life, or have we forgotten.
When we live with a right understanding of Who He is, then we can more accurately see ourselves. When we live with a right understanding of Who He is, we long to glorify Him. When we live with a right understanding of Who He is, we are apt to worship. That is the best way to maintain your relationship with God, worship Him.
Does that characterize your living today? When the Lord presents you with an opportunity to die to self and live for Christ through the strain of a relationship at work or at home, do you worship Him? When you are suddenly given the opportunity to share a part of the story of God’s goodness to you to a co-worker or classmate, do you take advantage of it or let it slip by? When the Spirit of the Living God gives you the chance to display His power, do you cover it with your weakness? Claim His mercies, new every morning and walk under the influence of His Spirit today. Cry out to heaven to hear you and help you. God will hear if you but call out to Him.
As we look forward to knowing and abiding, let us make certain we are maintaining.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
The Waiting is Over
The waiting is over! I am reveling in the unspeakable joy of having witnessed the birth of my third son, Josiah Lee. He came eight days late, according to our calendars, but right on time according to God’s. Those of you who may have spoken to me about this over the last couple of weeks probably heard me use the word imminent to describe his appearing. I learned through ordination that this is also a good word to describe the return of our Lord. It means “threatening to occur at any moment”. His return will be awesome and awful at the same time. Probably the way birth could be described by the one experiencing it.
Such a sense of tremendous anticipation had consumed the lives of our family over the last week it was almost crippling. Almost. We used all that excitement to continue to make ready our home and our hearts to welcome our newest blessing. During some quiet time on Tuesday of last week I was convicted that I need to live with the same sense of anticipation with regard to the return of my Lord. An almost crippling anticipation that leaves me preoccupied yet busily making preparations. We are waiting for Him, actively waiting.
I firmly believe the Lord wants to reveal things about Himself, His purposes and His ways all the time. I believe He uses prayer, the Bible, circumstances and the church to reveal Who He is and what He is doing. I am convinced He wants to do this through the mundane as well as the momentous occasions in our lives. Even today. Jesus wants to show you something about Himself that will inform your living. Open your eyes to see it. Then simply respond with sincere faith as an act of worship glorifying Him. What will God show you today? What will He show us Sunday?
Having celebrated His ascension, should make us all the more ready to remember the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which Jesus promised in His last words to His disciples. Ten days after His ascension, as the disciples were gathered in an upper room, the gift of the Spirit came upon them. They reveled in the unspeakable joy of the promise fulfilled, and the power given to be witnesses for Jesus. But have you ever wondered what day nine must have been like? Waiting. Actively waiting, for as the Scriptures declare, “they all meet together continually for prayer.” (Acts 1:14) Can you imagine the sense of anticipation that must have filled their souls? Even so, it was not equal to the joy ushered in by the coming of the Spirit.
We are in desperate need of the power from on high, the only way to maintain intimate fellowship with God. Power from on high, to be witnesses here, there, and everywhere. Power from on high, to get it done, to complete the assigned task, to complete the mission. Power from on high, for the glory of God, and the good of all people. Let us wait, until we have received the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Such a sense of tremendous anticipation had consumed the lives of our family over the last week it was almost crippling. Almost. We used all that excitement to continue to make ready our home and our hearts to welcome our newest blessing. During some quiet time on Tuesday of last week I was convicted that I need to live with the same sense of anticipation with regard to the return of my Lord. An almost crippling anticipation that leaves me preoccupied yet busily making preparations. We are waiting for Him, actively waiting.
I firmly believe the Lord wants to reveal things about Himself, His purposes and His ways all the time. I believe He uses prayer, the Bible, circumstances and the church to reveal Who He is and what He is doing. I am convinced He wants to do this through the mundane as well as the momentous occasions in our lives. Even today. Jesus wants to show you something about Himself that will inform your living. Open your eyes to see it. Then simply respond with sincere faith as an act of worship glorifying Him. What will God show you today? What will He show us Sunday?
Having celebrated His ascension, should make us all the more ready to remember the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which Jesus promised in His last words to His disciples. Ten days after His ascension, as the disciples were gathered in an upper room, the gift of the Spirit came upon them. They reveled in the unspeakable joy of the promise fulfilled, and the power given to be witnesses for Jesus. But have you ever wondered what day nine must have been like? Waiting. Actively waiting, for as the Scriptures declare, “they all meet together continually for prayer.” (Acts 1:14) Can you imagine the sense of anticipation that must have filled their souls? Even so, it was not equal to the joy ushered in by the coming of the Spirit.
We are in desperate need of the power from on high, the only way to maintain intimate fellowship with God. Power from on high, to be witnesses here, there, and everywhere. Power from on high, to get it done, to complete the assigned task, to complete the mission. Power from on high, for the glory of God, and the good of all people. Let us wait, until we have received the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Mother's Day-Ascension Sunday
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. We will take a few moments at the beginning of the service to highly value mother’s before turning our attention and energies to highly exalting our Lord. This would be our normal pattern on Mother’s Day, but certainly is the case on the Sunday we commemorate the ascension of our Lord.
What is the ascension? I am referring to Jesus being taken up in bodily form before his disciples’ very eyes. We read the account in Acts 1:9. “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” We know from the Scriptures that this occurred forty days after His resurrection. [That would mean we would celebrate Thursday, but we will move it to Sunday since there will be more of us at church.] After appearing to a large numbers of his disciples at a variety of different times Jesus was taken up into heaven. He ascended into the clouds. Then angels appeared to announce to us that He would come back in the same way He went into heaven. What good news! I hope you believe that.
Do you remember what Jesus said just before He was taken up? His “famous last words” are recorded in Acts 1:8. After reminding his disciples that only the Father knows the time of His return to establish His kingdom He told them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1.8 As much as I hope you believe in His ascension, I hope you believe His promise here! We have been given the Holy Spirit. [The Day of Pentecost-ten days after His ascension-next Sunday]. We have been given power!
What does that power look like in your life? How are you exercising that power in your daily living? As we have been considering lately in our services, we need to confess and repent if we are not experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I want to encourage you today to claim the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have surrendered your life to Christ, repenting of your sin and self, and relying totally on His finished work on the cross for your redemption, then you have received the Holy Spirit. You have been sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4.30) The problem is that most of us place ourselves under the influence of other things instead of the Spirit of God.
We have been bought at a great price, the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us no longer live for ourselves and the passing comforts of this world. But let us live for Jesus and the eternal pleasures of the one to come. Let us build not our kingdoms of earth and stone, but the kingdom of the living God in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls. Surely as we turn from the pursuits of the former and give ourselves over the latter, we will know the power of the Holy Spirit. So let us claim it. But as we do, let us make certain we have determined we will use it for His glory, for otherwise to ask is vanity.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
What is the ascension? I am referring to Jesus being taken up in bodily form before his disciples’ very eyes. We read the account in Acts 1:9. “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” We know from the Scriptures that this occurred forty days after His resurrection. [That would mean we would celebrate Thursday, but we will move it to Sunday since there will be more of us at church.] After appearing to a large numbers of his disciples at a variety of different times Jesus was taken up into heaven. He ascended into the clouds. Then angels appeared to announce to us that He would come back in the same way He went into heaven. What good news! I hope you believe that.
Do you remember what Jesus said just before He was taken up? His “famous last words” are recorded in Acts 1:8. After reminding his disciples that only the Father knows the time of His return to establish His kingdom He told them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1.8 As much as I hope you believe in His ascension, I hope you believe His promise here! We have been given the Holy Spirit. [The Day of Pentecost-ten days after His ascension-next Sunday]. We have been given power!
What does that power look like in your life? How are you exercising that power in your daily living? As we have been considering lately in our services, we need to confess and repent if we are not experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I want to encourage you today to claim the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have surrendered your life to Christ, repenting of your sin and self, and relying totally on His finished work on the cross for your redemption, then you have received the Holy Spirit. You have been sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4.30) The problem is that most of us place ourselves under the influence of other things instead of the Spirit of God.
We have been bought at a great price, the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us no longer live for ourselves and the passing comforts of this world. But let us live for Jesus and the eternal pleasures of the one to come. Let us build not our kingdoms of earth and stone, but the kingdom of the living God in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls. Surely as we turn from the pursuits of the former and give ourselves over the latter, we will know the power of the Holy Spirit. So let us claim it. But as we do, let us make certain we have determined we will use it for His glory, for otherwise to ask is vanity.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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