Waiting and Working

I am back from vacation. What a wonderful time I had with my family relaxing. I so needed that time to be refreshed and rejuvenated. I hope that many of you are finding a way to do that as well this summer. A busy season of ministry is just before us.

As much as I enjoyed the rest of my vacation, it was really only a foretaste of the rest that has been promised to us in Christ. I am really looking for the eternal light and divine embrace that will be ours in the mansions of the Lord, as you are as well I am sure. Let us labor on together that many more may share that longing with us.

We have labor to do here until we receive our inheritance, and I hope you are not going weary in well-doing. Plans are emerging for the fall for choir, worship team and orchestra. We will be spending some time together in the classic Oswald Chambers devotional My Utmost for His Highest. More on that later. We will also be learning a musical based on that famous work which I believe will help us better understand how we are to live the call on our own and together.

I am excited about what the Lord has in store for us as we come to a place of abandon in our relationship with Christ. That is not a word we use very often today, but an understanding and practice of it are essential for any who long to give their very best for God’s glory, their utmost for His Highest. That is exactly what we are about in our worship ministries at the Alliance and I look forward to the unity God will foster as we focus on these concepts on a daily basis.

IN CHRIST,

Pastor Scott

What Are You Looking Forward To?

I ended last week telling you how much I was looking forward to writing you this week about what the Lord was going to do on Monday. So here it is. Though it was a very hot day, we had about twice the crowd of last year. We went from 3 churches involved to 7. And we did not even have to get the mayor of the county commissioner involved. Overall, I think it was a grand success. [For those of you who were involved, thank you for the joy of leading you. It was a blessing. You did a marvelous job.] But beyond all that I continue to wonder exactly what the Lord is doing through this thing. The most recent chapter has been written, and I had can hardly what to see what the Author has prepared for us in 2006. Whatever it is, I am looking forward to it.

Which reminds me: I asked the question last week, “What are you looking forward to?” What is it that you have your heart set on. Maybe some favorable future, some joy that is yet beyond your reach, some answer to prayer. I say again, whatever it is, be certain it informs the way you live. I am looking forward to vacation, which for me starts tomorrow. [YEAH!] My tasks today are consumed with preparations for that. You get the point. In short, if you are truly looking forward to heaven, it informs the way you live by helping you to invest more there than here.

So what are you looking forward to? I am not encouraging you to wish you life away for some pie in the sky daydream. I want you to apprehend the eternal glories set before as a part of your inheritance in Christ, then to live every moment of every day with them in view. This does not demean this life while we wait for the next, but instead shows us that this life has meaning and purpose as we labor for our King and our God in such a way that hastens His return and the ushering in of that grand Tomorrow.

May worship be your way of life as you enjoy Jesus in these days of summer. Until next time…keep looking up, and live in a way that helps others do the same.

IN CHRIST,

Pastor Scott