Lord, Give Us More

Sunday morning retuning:  What a great celebration Sunday was of many things God did through North-Mar Church in 2014! If you were not able to be with us you missed some great video highlights, but you can see them on our YouTube channel here. If you missed Pastor Myron's remarks, you can find it and some other helpful resources here.

Like most of you I am really looking forward to warmer temperatures which will melt this snow.  I was thinking about that the other day walking across a parking lot and a thought occurred to me as I looked down a saw a really large footprint.  Whose footprints are these I am following?  Always hoping to see God at work around me, this time I quickly transitioned to the spiritual aspect of that question.

So whose footprints are you following?  It starts with a decision to follow a set of prints that you believe will lead you to a better place.  How are you leading yourself to follow such a set of prints?  One way to do that is to develop your conscious thought processes to embrace the work of God in your midst.

Pastor Myron shared a tool to help with this pursuit Sunday.  It was a prayer that voices his desire for God to do more through him and us here at North-Mar.  Maybe you missed the wider purpose it could have in your spiritual life.  Maybe you have wanted to join us on Wednesdays to pray for the church, but were not sure what to pray.  Here is a great tool to help you with that.

Lord, Give Us More

Lord, You trusted us with little, and by your grace, we were faithful. You are now trusting us, as a Church Family, with much, a debt free campus with a broadening scope of ministry and big dreams to serve our world – Lord give us even more!

More opportunity, more impact, more glory for You, Lord, through us. More people coming from spiritual death to spiritual life through faith in Jesus.

More lives dramatically changed. More sicknesses healed. More marriages transformed. More addictions conquered. More sexual purity. More repentance. More devotion and commitment.

More praying. More humility before our Father. More dependence on Your Holy Spirit. More faith in You, Jesus. More trust in Your provision. More obedience on our part. More slow pitches to tell others of You. More courage to be a bright light at school and work and our neighborhood. More passion in worship. More conviction through the preaching of Your Word. More people growing together in groups. More resources to steward. More of us serving our world. More evidence of You at work in us.

I want more!

We are making this prayer available through various outlets, including a print version at the Welcome Center this weekend.  But what really matters is what you do with it, or even more importantly, this idea.  How will you lead your heart to a better place?  Who are you following on the way?

Jesus, help me lead my heart to follow You.  It is so easy to go my own way, and unfortunately I do not realize I am own my own path until I have drifted far from You.  Teach me to follow Your footprints, and use my life of prayer to help me listen better.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Remembering

Sunday morning retuning:  We never actually got the chance to tune Sunday so...I got the text from Pastor Myron Saturday evening that due to the fact that the temperatures were going to be below zero until after noon on Sunday that services were going to be cancelled.  The reasoning?  The Celebration Service we had planned was simply too important to be seen by only a handful of people.  If you missed not hearing a sermon, you can find an archive of some good ones here.

My immediate thought about the decision to cancel services on Sunday was that there was absolutely wisdom in that. As I reflected on it, my agreement with the decision only grew. Here's why…

Remembering is a very important biblical concept.  In the Old Testament I immediately think of God instructing Moses to teach the children of Israel the amazing things he did. The Scriptures themselves are an incredible tool for remembering what God is done. Think of Jesus in the New Testament, instructing his disciples to remember the New Covenant every time they broke bread together.

One of the most powerful demonstrations that remembering is important are the different altars the various individuals, or groups of people, built to commemorate God's activity In their lives.  One of my favorites is when Samuel set up a stone he calls Ebenezer after God routed the Philistines, declaring “thus far the Lord has helped us. I Samuel 7:12  

I am fond of that reference because it appears in one of the original stanzas of the hymn “Come Thou Fount”, which inspired the tunings part of these epistles.  You can find all the original stanzas here.  There are even more than I remember.  And in the event you do not know the old hymn, listen to David Crowder's version here.

The goal of the services that were planned for this past Sunday, which we will enjoy together this weekend, was to remember.  Remember and celebrate. God is doing a great work among us, and it is important that we remember the things He has done.  As we look back at a number of different things that transpired in 2014 we will remember.

It occurred to me as I was thinking about this the many things that we will celebrate this weekend I was not aware of at the time they happened.  If I didn't know about them, I could not help but wonder how many other people did not.  As important as it is to remember, we must acknowledge that the events which we will commemorate this weekend really point to a much bigger reality,  The point of God working in us is not so much that we can celebrate what transpires, as much as it teaches us about him.

So, as we prepare to remember let us consider a few things. You cannot remember what you do not know.  You can not know something you are not willing to learn.  You can not learn something without a teachable attitude.

So my question for you to ponder this week is, will you come with a heart ready to learn even as we remember?

Jesus, help me to remember all that You have done and all that You are.  Help me first to know You, then help me live every day remembering what I know, even as I discover more of You.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Redefining Faithful

Sunday morning retuning:  Pastor Myron gave us a great overview of the challenging part of Jesus teaching in the 21 Sunday. We need to be living diligent and vigilant logs as we await the return of our King.  Can you comfortably pray “build your kingdom here, in me”?  If you are not sure, maybe you can find some inspiration here.

Here is a faithful group of people. Volume three of our engage band just finished their final Sunday service in this rotation. I am so honored to have served with each of themAnd to have witnessed their growth and development over the six months.  Thank you for your faithfulness my friends.

For much of my ministry career the parable of the talents (Luke 19:11-27), or a story about three servants,  has been one of my favorites. I've often used it to encourage people to develop their ability and offer the best they have to the Lord. I see tremendous parallels in it with what we're called to do as we serve through music to help the church worship our God.

I've also endeavored to live out that challenge by constantly endeavoring to grow and develop my own abilities. Recently I have done so through Internet course from a good friend of mine Jon Nichols. Jon is a worship pastor at a sister alliance Church in Mansfield Ohio, but he also has an Internet-based worship leader training resource at www.worshipteamcoach.com.

I have learned many things from Jon over the past few months going through the course, but one of the greatest treasures was on covering the first perspective from this parable that I thought I knew fairly well.  Though Jon makes a number of really good points in his blog, I really zeroed in on the idea of faithfulness requiring risk-taking.

It's not just enough to hold on to the resources the master has given you. You must develop them, and then invest them in opportunities which can grow them. Of course investing always requires some degree of risk.

Over the years, I have often found myself at the close of services thinking team members for their faithfulness. My thinking was primarily limited to the fact that they had shown up and served.Though there is something tremendously beneficial in such an act, this idea of encouraging service laced with risk is at least a slightly new concept to me.  I think I have taught it and lived it out in some measure, but John's thoughts encouraged me to teach it as well.

So this Sunday we come to our fourth set of auditions in our new band model with a six-month commitment of two week rotations.There are some new servants who will audition to become a part of our bands and this ministry we share. That is exciting! But equally as exciting to me is seeing our current band members demonstrate risk laced faithfulness.  

How will you model this in your life over these next six months?

[Jon has a lot of resources available online, but if you are interested in growing beyond what those resources might produce in you, let me know and I will get you connected to the resources I've been using.]

Jesus, teach me how to be faithful. I want to be willing to take risks that will allow me to produce what You desire in and through me.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Is your antenna up?

Sunday morning retuning:  Pastor Paul Armitage reminded us that Jesus sees what we offer to Him.  He is more interested in our hearts than any outward expression.  How will you grow in your giving your heart to Jesus.  If you are not sure, maybe you can find some inspiration here.

I was having lunch with a friend last week and we were discussing a high-capacity young person.  He was commenting on how much he was impressed with this young person, and felt badly that a recent experience and left them a little disillusioned. He went on to ask me what I felt the greatest asset was. After commenting about the quality of their heart, their desire to serve, and a reasonably well sharpened intellect, he just sat back and smiled.  "All true," he said, "but her greatest asset is that her antenna is up.  This is the crucial issue."

That really resonated with me for couple of reasons.  First of all, I heard someone say a while back that if you have to leave an animal at home for extended periods of time it's a good idea to leave the radio on to stimulate their minds and keep them used to hearing human voices.To me this seems like a great idea so I grabbed a small boombox that we were not putting to good use and put it in the room where we leave our dog.  What was interesting to me was what a difference it made in the reception based on the direction the antenna was pointed.

Second of all, as a leader of people, and a leader of leaders, I can agree with that comment. I agree because I can attest to the fact that skill is not the most important issue, and neither is capacity.  Someone can have incredible skill but lock the direction to apply it.  Someone can have incredible capacity But lack the vision to employ it.  However, if someone is listening for direction, they can put even limited skill and capacity to great effect.

Then, as I was pondering this idea over the last week I heard someone else speak generally of spiritual discipline, calling it spiritual practice.  They likened spiritual practice to that of an athlete with basketball or musician with scales. The point of the practice is not the practice itself, but the skill that is developed especially when one practices well.

So what does this mean for us?  It is crucial for us to listen well to our Masters voice.  We simply cannot lead ourselves well with confidence unless we have developed our ability to listen  The point of practicing our listening is not the practice, but to get better at listening.  Then, even when any number of things are swirling around you you can still discern the voice of God.

Are you developing this ability? In order to follow God, one step behind Jesus, we must be able to hear his voice. We cannot do this if we are not listening.  Take some time today to listen. Open the Scriptures. Read and pray. Worship and wait.  Learn how to put your antenna up, and keep it there!

Jesus, teach me how to listen. This is my prayer, my desperate cry. In these days I'm living, I want Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done, so help me hear Your voice as I give you my life, my heart. In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy