Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Goals

Dear Worshipers,

I read an article a couple of weeks ago, right after the turn of the year that talked about coming up with some goals, both personally and pastorally…

I saw a note that Sarah had written with regard to a goal she has set for herself that challenged and motivated me…

I am feeling led to prayerfully consider writing down some things I hope to accomplish with God’s help in 2010…

And I want you to join me.

Setting and striving for goals is a very biblical concept. Sure, management and self-help books will speak of the necessity of writing down realistic and measurable goals, but they did not invent this idea. God did. This is how Paul put his goal setting.

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 3:12-14, NIV]


What powerful word! Forgetting what is behind…straining toward what is ahead…pressing on toward the goal to win the prize. That’s the best goal anyone could have, but there are also lesser goals that are very important, some of them being steps in reaching that ultimate one.

I want to encourage you to pray and write down at least one goal. Maybe it is something short-term, in the next month, or by summer, or by the end of the year. Be realistic. “I will loose 98 pounds this in 2010”, would not be a good example. Make it measureable. “I will grow closer to Jesus”, another bad example.

Take some time this week to ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to set at least one goal. Write it down and put it where you will see it regularly. Tell somebody about and ask them pray for you that you will be able to press on toward reaching it. Make a plan to take steps to see it fulfilled. Give glory to God when it is.

Jesus, help me set a goal that will help me press on. I want to be more like You, and that means taking steps toward to the goal that you have called me heavenward to attain. Fill me with Your Spirit as I do.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Worship and Suffering

Dear Worshipers,

To follow up on my thoughts about a generous life from last week I want to borrow the words of a new friend to help you think about worship in a broader sense.

True Worship Steps Into Pain
From Dan On Haiti


Tonight, my heart is half a world away, with friends who are aggressively working to respond to the crisis in Haiti. I don't know all those friends by name; I do know that I am
thankful for their feet going in my stead, ambling through airports and stepping into rubble.

It is ours to remember, that in a time like this in the world, when poverty stricken nations find trouble upon trouble mounting toward them, that we who bear the Hope of the
world enter into their pain - like the God Who we follow.

If Jesus' life evidences anything to us about true worship, it is that the God unseen enters into, walks into, even runs into, the pain of those who are "other." He spends Him-
self on behalf of those He loves. This is His way.

We who live far from Haiti in these moments must allow ourselves to bear pain with them, as part of our human family, and as another reason for the great wealth and gifts we possess in our parts of the world. Strength finds its reason and purpose in covering another's weakness. This is His Design.

They are our family, no matter each one's faith perspective.

We do not all need to be in Haiti. We must trust that those who must go, will go. But is not enough to shake our heads and share moments of awe and sorrow. We must make the
request of God that He reveal to us our part to play, no matter how simple it may be.

I encourage you, as an act of living worship as your read this, to ask what your part is to play. Then, simply respond.

We each have a portion in one another's story. We are connected with Haiti's turmoil in ways we may only sense when the lights are out and we are considering the world in which we find ourselves.

In this case of pain that reaches our eyes and ears, we are invited by God to weep and mourn with them over what is all of our great loss. If it were directly my own, I would wan them to ask what their part was to play in coming to my loved one's support.

True worship, in the face of great suffering, asks for an invitation into the pain that God and the sufferers carry. Simply ask, then simply respond. It is enough.

In this journey of willingness, we find real prayers rising, authentic acts of physical and spiritual generosity, and the ability to partner with God in the ways in which He is inviting us.

It is a privilege to worship with you, in our generation, and to lead others into the kind of worship encounters that compel us into the very Heart of Love, and into the very Heart of Suffering.

We, as followers of Jesus, choose both.

In prayer with you for Haiti,

Dan

Dan Wilt, M.Min.
Learning Community Director
WorshipTraining.com


Jesus, help me understand how stepping into pain can be a powerful act of worship. Lead me with regard to Haiti, and the arenas in my life where I must experience pain first-hand. Give me Your heart of love, the most generous.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A Generous Life

Dear Worshipers,

I hope you are looking forward to what God is going to do in us as a church and in you individually as we consider His truth over these next several weeks. I want to encourage you to pick up the devotional booklet and go through it, either with your family a friend or with Jesus alone. I know as a family we are going to consider how God would want to love us along in this continuum of living a generous life.

This is an area where I am aware I need to grow. I might be tempted at times to use this as an excuse even though I should know better but giving is not one of my primary love languages. Actually, it may very well be the lowest. For this reason I know this is an area where I need to grow in grace. Though I endeavor to be a faithful and dutiful tither, the above and beyond is not something I excel at. I say this to my shame. But God is at work in me, and I trust will be faithful to complete that work.

Maybe for you giving of your resources is not an issue. Maybe you struggle giving in some other arena, whether it is time or talent. Maybe it is relationally or emotionally. There are a lot of ways we can give and I trust that this season will be a very fruitful one for you if you will spend some time reflecting on the scriptures in the devotional book and what Pastor Myron brings to us on Sunday mornings.

We are going to be memorizing some scripture together over these next few weeks and I would encourage you to do the same. We are starting with Psalm 24.1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” As you are reading and reflecting on those scriptures take some time to allow the Spirit to write them on you heart. As you do, trust Him to work those truths out in your life. He will amaze you.

Reflect on the words of the song we will be singing through this season and consider if it is your expression of worship. “I Will Offer Up My Life” by Matt Redman.

I will offer up my life
In spirit and truth,
Pouring out the oil of love
As my worship to You
In surrender I must give my every part;
Lord, receive the sacrifice
Of a broken heart

CHORUS:
Jesus, what can I give, what can I bring
To so faithful a friend, to so loving a King?
Savior, what can be said, what can be sung
As a praise of Your name
For the things You have done?
Oh my words could not tell, not even in part
Of the debt of love that is owed
By this thankful heart

You deserve my every breath
For You've paid the great cost;
Giving up Your life to death,
Even death on a cross
You took all my shame away,
There defeated my sin
Opened up the gates of heaven
And have beckoned me in


Jesus, make my life a generous life. One that reflects your heart to those around me. Change me to be like you.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy