Sometimes the devil’s greatest tactic is to get us so busy doing good things that we fail to do the best things.  Here is a story from Operation Desert Storm sure to challenge us to set our priorities and stick to them.  Today, will you chase the jelly or fulfill the mission?

I still remember the wreck. I was a Saturday morning when I was 12 years old that my dad and I were on our way to watch a rec league football game. Not very far from our house, the road we were traveling yielded right of way as it merged with another road. Our truck was the second vehicle in line, and my dad looked back to see if traffic was clear before moving on to merge with the other road.

My dad naturally expected that the car in front of us, which had already begun moving forward onto the other road, had cleared and that it was our time to go. The problem was that since my dad was looking back checking traffic, he didn’t see what had happened in front of us. The car in front decided not to go and suddenly stopped. About the time my dad turned back around to the front he saw the stopped car and gasped just before crashing into the rear end of the car.

I heard my dad gasp, and I turned back to the front to see what was going on. I never saw the impact. I heard the crash, I felt the windshield, I got up off of the floor of the truck with a bloody nose. Yes, this was before we were smart enough to wear seat belts. Although we didn’t go to the doctor to check it out, I think the impact with the window broke my nose. My nose left an impressive web of cracked glass on the windshield.

Ever since that day, I have loathed looking back – literally and figuratively. Even today when I park, I try to pull through so that I can pull straight out when I leave. Unfortunately, I know too many people who spend too much time figuratively looking back at the past in their lives as well. They spend so much time looking back, they miss what is going on right in front of them.

Churches, as a group, can be guilty of living in the past as well. We can spend so much time reliving the “glory days” of the past that we miss what is happening in the contemporary culture around us. Past hurts and failures can cripple us with fear, and past victories and joys can paralyze us with nostalgia. Either way, we live paralyzed by memories of the past and miss out on a new, exciting future God wants to give us.

The lesson of the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1-12), when Jesus turned water into wine, is that with Jesus the BEST IS ALWAYS YET TO COME. The good ol’ days of the past can pale in comparison to the glory days Jesus wants to make of our future.

Learn from your past, but do not live in it. Celebrate your past, but do not worship it. Neither the failures nor successes of your past define you. Long for new and fresh adventures of faith as God’s Spirit works in you and through you. Like Apostle Paul, forget the things that are behind and press on for the things that lie ahead of you (Philippians 3:13-14).

Always expect God to outdo Himself.

God has assembled us together as a church for a reason. You are part of Bellevue by God’s great and grand design. This message takes a look at how we can function together as the body of Christ to make disciples.

Functioning as the Body of Christ

Notes:

Functioning as the Body of Christ
1 Corinthians 12:1-11

3 Ways God Provides for us to FUNCTION

1. DIVERSITY for the common good (vs 7)

varieties (vs 4-6, plural) of

gifts
services
activities

           common good = bring together for usefulness, assemble in a heap

2. POWER to accomplish Spiritual Work (vs 11a)

3. INTENTIONALITY of God’s purpose. (vs 11b)

3 Applications for TODAY:

1. You are UNIQUELY You

2. God will enable you for His work

3. You are here ON PURPOSE

Articles and Blogs

6 Areas Where the Enemy Attacks Your Church – Chuck Lawless

It’s OK for Kids to Be Bored During Church – Melissa Edgington

5 Books You Should Read This Election Year – Trevin Wax

Worth Repeating

“Do NOT ever forget that only Jesus can make America great..but only if we repent, turn back to Him, honor and bow to Him and welcome Him back!” – @MichaelAYouseff

“There’s a big difference between sermons that people like, and sermons that are powerful.” @crazylove

“If it takes much time to learn things in our sport, our class, or our job, we say it’s too hard. Taking a lot of time to excel at something does not mean it’s too hard. It simply means that it takes time and our job, as expressed by my teaching colleague, Tami Blackshear, is to ‘Give time, time!’” – Bobby Simpson – Higher Ground Softball

“Being able to trust God and carry on is essential to withstanding trials.” @davidjeremiah

“You become like the 5 people you spend most of your time with. #choosewisely” Cindy Smith = @cindywsmith

Another Look

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A friend messaged me a question the other day that set me to thinking: “Why don’t Baptists celebrate Lent in some form?”

The first explanation is that Baptists began as a revolt against both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in large part because of prescribed rituals the church demanded that were not explicitly required by Scripture. Lent is certainly one of those. While the idea of self-denial and fasting are both Biblical concepts, observing them as a ritual is neither prescribed as a mandate nor described as a common practice among early followers of Jesus. At some point in Church history, the Church established the practice as a necessary means to demonstrate one’s piety. For the most part, Baptists – especially THIS ONE – tend to push back against mandated outward expressions of religiosity.

Second, Lent largely has become a forty-day feel good exercise for many. They can perform an act of “devotion” for 40 days then live like the devil the other 325. Most people who observe Lent do not treat it as such, but rituals like Lent can give one a false sense of holiness. Holiness is found in a relationship with Jesus daily walk with Him, not in a religious ritual. “Being good” outwardly for a short amount of time is no substitute for walking with the Lord daily.

Finally, fasting, prayer, and self-denial are to be regular parts of our Spiritual Disciplines, not relegated to a season of time. Lent precedes our celebration of the most important event in history – the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we should live in the power and reality of the Resurrection every day.

There is nothing wrong with observing Lent and there is equally nothing wrong with not observing it. To assess one’s devotion or piety based on their observance of a ritual not commanded in Scripture is legalism. Paul encouraged the Colossian Christians to not let others pass judgment on them because of their observance (or lack of same) of festivals, moons, and celebrations. (Colossians 2:16-23)

So what is a healthy approach during the Lenten season?

First, on a daily basis cast off all sin and whatever other weights hinder your walk with Christ (Hebrews 12:1).

Second, practice regular self-denial (Mark 8:34). Our own desires compete for devotion that belongs to Jesus.

Third, be in constant prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and abide in God’s Word every day (Colossians 3:16).

What a unique gift reminded me about life purpose.  Watch the video and see what you think.

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord! -Psalm 134:1

The Levites were the servants of the Lord who bore the responsibility of mediating between God. Among other things, these priests prepared placed on the altar the sacrifices brought by people seeking to be right before God. They also prayed on behalf of the people, made necessary repairs and maintained the Temple, as well as keeping the censors burning with incense and all other furnishings in the Temple operating as God prescribed.

Night duty could seem a boring task. The crowds were pretty much gone, the place was empty, and mostly mundane, tedious tasks remained such as refilling censors, keeping the fires going, and basically making sure things were ready for the next day. Night duty was not the most glamorous, but nonetheless, the priests took it seriously and rendered their service to God.

In our Christian walk, we may sometimes feel like we are on “night duty.” No one notices what we are doing. We have a low profile while other Christians get attention for their more visible acts of service. We find ourselves engaged in the routine, mundane activities of the faith and long for something more glamorous or exciting.

Psalm 134:1 is a reminder to us of the importance of the “night shift” in God’s eyes. If the night shift did not do their duty, the fires would go out, the incense would not burn, some needs would not receive intercessory prayer since they would get pushed back on the daytime to do list by the hectic schedule encountered by the day shift. If the night shift were not on duty, the Temple would not be open during the night season, when God may be dealing one of His wayward children directing them to sacrifice and pray.

Never mistake the “night shift” of your faith walk for a useless, wasted time. God has you where you are in your season of life for His purpose. Use the down time to pray more fervently for people on your heart. Be prepared for God to send someone your who needs the special attention someone more swamped with spiritual activity could not give them. Regardless of how it may seem, “nothing” is never happening.

Be faithful on the night shift. God may have strategically placed you because He wants to “leave the light on” for some returning child.

Imagine a large room in heaven with wall to wall shelves, those shelves rising from the floor all the way to the top of a ceiling so high it is barely visible from ground level.  On those shelves, stacked as tightly as imaginable, are thousands of blessings…blessings intended for God’s people in response to their obedience and faithfulness in the area of generosity.  The blessings are in this room because they are unclaimed.  What if we are missing out on receiving some of God’s greatest blessings because we are not faithful with what He has given us?

Articles and Blogs

21 Signs Your Church Needs to Change – Carey Nieuhof

Why the Missional Movement Will Fail – Mike Breen (VergeNetwork.org)

10 Misperceptions Laypersons Have About Pastors – Chuck Lawless

Worth Repeating

“Maturing is realizing how many things don’t require your comment.”  From Life Hacks twitter feed

“Buildings don’t reach people; people reach people.”  Dr. Michael Catt, Pastor, Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, GA

“A congregation who prays for their pastors will be a better-fed congregation than those who do not.” — Alistair Begg  from @MattSmethurst

“Sometimes the most intelligible thing we could ever say is, ‘I don’t know.'” @CindyKeating

“Self-control is the ability to do the important thing rather than the urgent thing.” – Tim Keller @DailyKeller

Another Look

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Francis Chan – How NOT to Make Disciples

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