Tuesday, February 23, 2010

One Step Behind Jesus

Dear Worshipers,

Pastor Myron has said this phrase many times lately. I know that I am privileged to spend a good amount of time with him each week so I hear them more than some of you but I know he has been saying them on Sunday mornings as well. They are a significant part of the picture he has in his mind of what God wants North-Mar to look like, and every time he speaks them that picture becomes clearer to me and you.

So what about that picture that is emerging in your mind? Do you see the back side of the Good Shepherd? Do you see the sun beating down on His head, glistening in the sweat on His brow as He turns back to you? Do you see Him gently motioning to you to continue to follow? Do you feel the wind in your face as you press on?

We have been given an assignment this week and I want to encourage you to do it. It was on the back of the sermon notes in the bulletin. In case you failed to pick one up before you left the church here it is, “Take some time this week to root out any legalistic thinking that may be a part of your past.” There were a couple of other encouragements to believe the truth about Jesus, and that God can work in you by His Spirit so you can really follow Jesus, but I want to encourage you to do the first one.

Will you spend some time talking with the Lord about how you view the role of the Holy Spirit in your life? Will you ask Him to reveal and wrong thinking that has clouded your experience of Him? Will you ask Him to show you if there is anything in your mind in particular or your life in general that would impair your yielding entirely to Him?

Though I would want you to come every Sunday with this expectation, I want to encourage you to come expecting to meet God in a life-changing way Sunday as we conclude this two-part series on the Holy Spirit. God has been meeting us in an unusual way recently. I trust you have been sensing that. My call for you to join me in praying for His fire to fall on us is a part of seeing that unfold.

Our desire is to be like Jesus, and a dependency on the Holy Spirit is critical to being like Him. We want to follow one step behind Him, looking to Him for direction and guidance at every turn in the road. Let’s prepare to press into that shared purpose as we gather Sunday. I look forward to seeing you there.

Jesus, set us on fire. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may follow one step behind you. Let Your flame burn to glorify Your name.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Set Us On Fire

Dear Worshipers,

A week ago Sunday we celebrated what God did at North-Mar church in 2009. For me, as I reflected on my inaugural year of ministry here it is overshadowed by these three words “Soak Your Church”. This is exactly what God did as we saw 180 people baptized in May and June. It was a remarkable moving of God.

We sang a song during that season tilted “I Will Never Be the Same Again”. In it were these words. “Fall like fire…burn away the chaff…let a flame burn to glorify Your name”. I think those words were still on my mind as I headed into our weekly time of praying as a pastoral staff.

Pastor Myron was challenging us to pray courageously, being willing to ask God for things that will bring glory to only His name as he does them. We were praying for people to be set free from addictions, for lives to be healed, and marriages transformed. As we prayed, I felt God impressing upon me to ask Him to set us on fire, that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit. I prayed and have continued praying and know what to ask you to join me.

When you think about North-Mar, when you are driving here, or away from here, anytime the Lord brings this place to mind I am asking you to join me in this simple prayer: Set Us On Fire. That God would give us an all-consuming passion for the renown of His matchless name here in our community and to the ends of the earth. Will you join me?

As certainly as 2009 was the year God chose to Soak His Church, may 2010 be the year he chose to Set Us On Fire. Nothing fancy here, just desperation for God to do what only He can do so that when He does it He receives all that glory. That’s the kind of place he wants North-Mar to be. That’s the kind of people He wants us to be. How gracious!

Jesus, set us on fire. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit burn away the chaff of uselessness in our lives and our church. Let Your flame burn to glorify Your name.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Knowing and Obeying God’s Word

Dear Worshipers,

Has this ever happened to you? You hear a message about ________ [you supply words]. A few days later you read a book that talks about ________ as a key element for spiritual growth. Someone sends you an email about ________. You find yourself thinking, “OK Lord, I get the picture.”

That has been my experience these last few days with this core value, knowing and obeying God’s word. I want to share the text from the email I received.

Strange Instructions

"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands" (2 John 6).

A distinguished Indian evangelist named Sadhu Chellappa was on a mission trip to a village north of Madras, when in the middle of the night he suddenly sensed God speaking to him: "Leave this house quickly and run away!"

Not exactly a convenient thing to do. But Chellappa was accustomed to accepting even strange instructions from the Lord without debate, so he dressed quickly and ran into the darkness.

After a while, he was in open country. As he passed beneath a large tree, he felt God tell him, "Stay here and start to preach!" Now, even for an experienced evangelist, this was puzzling--because there was no one to be seen. Why did God want him to preach to an empty field in the middle of the night? But he stopped under the tree and began to preach the gospel.

Finally, he reached the point at which he called on his unseen listeners to give their lives to Jesus. He was surprised to hear a voice from the top of the tree and see a man climb down, crying. The man tearfully gave his life to Jesus. When Chellappa asked why he was in a tree out in the middle of nowhere, the man admitted, "I came out here to hang myself.."

How is your obedience quotient? God calls us to be obedient to that small voice inside that can direct us to sometimes do strange things. Jesus was obedient in ALL things. "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Rom 5:19). God can do exceedingly great things through one man or woman who is willing to be obedient to God's voice.


We all want to be obedient to God’s word, written and spoken. Ask Him with me for the grace and courage to be obedient to His voice.

Jesus, I want to be obedient to Your voice. Fill me with Your Spirit that I may have the grace and courage to listen and obey, radically and immediately.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Highest Purposes

Dear Worshipers,

Last week I wrote encouraging you to set some goals. I gave you a biblical example of the overarching goal that encompasses each of our lives, Christ-likeness. I want to give you another Scripture to consider today as you prayerfully place some goals before you to guide your living.

In a book we are reading as a staff, there is a section titled “Radical, Immediate Obedience”. I know, when I read that I was a little hesitant to flip the page, but wanting to be conscientious I did. The author wrote about the need to guard against comfortable disobedience, rationalizing our unwillingness to fully obey by doing a little less than God has called us to do. He spoke of the need for repentance when we fail to obey, citing Saul and David as bad and good examples respectively. Then came the section that really hit me, and here is where it ties in to our lives and worship.

If you stay away from sin, you will be like one of those dishes made of purest gold-the very best in the house-so that Christ Himself can use you for His highest purposes. [2 Timothy 2:21, The Living Bible]


His highest purposes! Wow. That jumped off the page at me. I consulted several other translations and no others read like this. Most had wording like, “every good work” or something to that effect. [Keep in mind TLB is a paraphrase.] Still, I think there is something profitable to be mined from this.

Certainly, all of the work that God has called us to is noble and honorable. But there are many things that we could set our hearts and minds on that are less than God has called us to do that might be regarded by many as worthy of causes to spend our lives pursuing. These lesser purposes can consume us and become a good reason for not doing the higher things God has actually called us to do.

Though these lesser/higher purposes may be different for you and me let me give you an example. I am confident that part of God’s higher purposes for me is the ministry I exercise on Sunday morning, leading God’s people in worship. I could be involved in a lesser role in the same activity, but that would not be my pursuing God’s highest purposes in my life.

The question I want to pose to you is this. Are you fully invested in God’s highest purposes, or have a myriad of lesser purposes diluted your focus and rendered you ineffective? Consider this question before our Lord and commit to become a dish of pure gold.

Jesus, I want to be engaged in Your highest purposes. Reveal to me if I have rationalized by behavior and soothed my conviction with good works. I am fully dependent on Your leading me and using me.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy