God’s Purpose: A Makeover for You

Romans 8:28 is one of the most memorable Bible verses in the minds of many Jesus-followers.  It is a verse of great hope and inspiration in difficult times.  Whether good, bad, or worse, God causes all of our circumstances to work together for good.  Paul indicates God’s works in the lives of those who love Him, and further adds that God has called them out for a purpose.

If you are a Jesus-follower, how often do you stop to realize God has a purposeful plan for your life?  I write often about living intentional lives, and we can do that because God is intentional with us.  He did not redeem us just to count us as a statistic, but He has a purpose for us.

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Sunday Sermon – The Mystery of Life Revealed

Like most of us, you’ve probably asked the question before: why am I here?  For thousands of years, people have been trying to discover the true meaning of life.  We search for meaning, value, and purpose.  Today, we will let the cat out of the bag and reveal the great mystery of the ages.

 

The Mystery of Life…Solved
Colossians 1:24-29

Recap: The Secret to a great life is letting Christ live in and through me.

  1. Live in the PRESENCE of Christ

q The presence of Christ is appropriated by faith
q The presence of Christ can be a moment-changer

  1. Live with the PROMISE of Christ

q “Hope” in the Biblical sense is not iffy or subjective, but is sure and
grounded in God’s reliability

q “Glory” refers to anything good or praiseworthy

q Christ in us assures us that things will occur in our life that are
meaningful and purposeful.

  1. Live for the PURPOSE of Christ

q God’s purpose for your life is to make you like Jesus – Romans 8:29
q The WORD of God is the INSTRUMENT of God to accomplish the PURPOSE of God in the PEOPLE of God.

 

  1. Live through the POWER of Christ.

q So many times we fail to unlock the true secret to a meaningful life
`                                                                                  because we use the wrong keys.

q When we conform to God purpose for our lives, His power comes to
bear to accomplish His purpose.

Sunday Sermon – What a Real Life Looks Like

We kickoff our series through the book of Colossians.  The theme is Life: More than a Game.  The book of Colossians reveals to us the mystery of the real life that God desires to give us.  This message opens up the book by looking at four characteristics of a real Christ-centered life:

 

 

When A Church Got a Pastor at a Yard Sale

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I’m not much of a yard sale person, although I readily admit one can find some tremendous deals at a yard sale. I remember the last yard sale we had; the temp was below freezing and the chill factor below zero. We advertised to begin at 7:00am and at 5:30am when I raised the garage door to move the stuff out, people were already standing in line. By the end of the day we offered everything on tables for “one low, low price.” I never realized someone could find a useful purpose for the stuff that had become “clutter” in my house. The old saying is true, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Last week marked my one-year anniversary as pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Macon. What does that have to do with a yard sale? Read on.

I left my last church in what would be considered a “forced termination.” I wrote about how that felt back in a couple of October blogs. Suffice it to say, I felt I had been thrown out with the trash and that ministry would no longer be an option for me. Thankfully, by the grace of God, I was wrong.

I am thankful for the support, unconditional love, and encouragement that came from my family, both immediate and extended. I also realized how blessed I was with a great number of friends. Looking back, I am most overwhelmed by the providence and plan of an intentional God. Things panned out the way they did because HE had HIS PLAN.

The brave people of Bellevue took a chance on me when other churches passed me over due to my circumstances. I guess those other churches weren’t willing to bring home a “yard sale pastor.” I am thankful that God brought my family and me into the Bellevue family. We have a wonderful church family whom we love dearly. I am so glad they were willing to find treasure in another church’s trash.

I share this with you because I hope it will be an encouragement to you. No matter how difficult a blow life has delivered you, nothing can snatch you from God’s hand and His plan for your life. In fact, He may have allowed that painful circumstance in your life for the sole purpose of moving you on to something better He has in store for you. So don’t lose heart. God is not finished with you. In God’s eyes you are NEVER trash and you are always His TREASURE.

I recommend the following Bible verse for your reading and meditation. You need to know just how God feels about you and what He promises for your life.

Zephaniah 3:17

Romans 8:28, 31-39

Philippians 1:6

What March Madness Teaches Us About Intentional Living

NCAA BB TrophyMarch Madness has begun. Most college basketball teams are playing in their conference tournaments determining which teams will move on to the national “dance” – The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. College basketball is a big deal…and even bigger deal in March. All of the “hoop”-la to win that big ol’ trophy.

No NCAA Championship team began the season without a vision of how they would win enough regular season games, win the conference championship, and win their way through the national tourney to be crowned champions. No championship is won accidentally; champions win on purpose. No team just shows up to play, tosses the ball around, and plays to “make the best” of each game as it comes. Champions work hard for their championship, and they play a full season with (here comes my word again)…intentionality. From the opening practice until the buzzer of the final game they work hard with a singular goal: win the trophy.

Sadly many believers drift through life without a game plan for a successful spiritual journey. Consider the sense of purpose Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian church:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“So run,” he says. “I do not run aimlessly,” he testifies. “I discipline my body,” he demonstrates. Purpose. Intentionality. Vision.

What is your game plan? What are you doing to win in the important areas of your life? Your spiritual development? Your marriage? Your relationship with your kids? Other important facets of you life? What is the game plan?

Let me encourage you to answer four questions for yourself today.

  1. What are the most important relationships in my life?
  2. What would “winning” look like in each of those relationships?
  3. What’s the score right now in each of those relationships?
  4. What are one or two things I can do today to start running better in those areas?

Ask God to give you honest insight into your own life and ask Him to give you wisdom and strength to make the necessary changes to begin living intentionally in those areas. Run to win. Run with purpose. Run with self-control.

Did You Do That on Purpose?

Whether in our Christian development, our marriage, our relationship with our kids, our jobs, or any other facet of life, we live in one of two ways. Either we react to things as they come or we proactively live with intention in these important life areas. We either respond to what life throws at us, or we approach life with purpose and intention. Consider a lesson from a Bible hero named Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs… Daniel 1:8-9

When faced with a decision to capitulate and conform to others around him, Daniel “resolved” to maintain his character. The word translated into the singular word “resolved” is actually a Hebrew phrase literally rendered “set his heart.” Some translations render the phrase “purpose.” I like that.

Daniel would be challenged by the threat of the lions’ den and his three friends by the threat of a fiery furnace. All four at their moments of decision resolutely chose character over capitulation. Why? Not because they took a moment to pray about and weight the pros and cons, but because they had made the decision long ago – well before the pressure moment. They had a plan; they lived INTENTIONALLY.

Intentional living worked out really well for Daniel. He went from the lions’ den to Vice-Emperor. His three friends found favor among their leaders and rose to positions of responsibility in the kingdom. They did it not by chance or luck, but by intentionality in the Hand of God’s providence.

How are you living the most important accounts in your life? Do you have an intentional plan to grow spiritually? To enhance your marriage? To lead your children? To use your job and other activities for God’s glory? Or…do you just leave it all up to chance, trying to “keep the plates spinning,” “tread water,” “take it one day at a time as life comes,” or any number of other reaction-centered clichés? Things do not improve accidentally. You can’t wait on someone else to do “their part.” You must choose to take the necessary steps to live intentionally.

Here is my challenge to you for today.

Choose 1 thing you will begin doing immediately and intentionally…

  • to delve into deeper intimacy with Jesus,
  • to enhance your marriage,
  • to positively affect your kids.

That’s a pretty good start right there. Do it… INTENTIONALLY.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” – Jedi Yoda

Getting My Life in Order

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A little confessional blog today, with an invite to join me on this stretch of “the long way home.”

For most of my life, I have prided myself on the ability to “wing it,” “flying by the seat of my pants,” as they say. (OK, enough of the metaphors!) An honest assessment of the last several years of my life, however, reveals that I have begun to overlook too much, waste too much time, forget things I need to remember, and give less than my best efforts at some important things that should get the best of my attention and energy. I have come to the conclusion that I have allowed my life to drift and that I spend more time reacting to what happens around me than proactively charting a course of life stewardship.

The Old Testament sacrificial system placed great emphasis on the quality of the sacrifice being placed on the altar as well as the sincerity of the heart of the one offering it. A genuine worshipper would not bring just any sacrifice to place on the altar. The quality of the sacrifice reflected the depth of the devotion in the heart of that worshiper. I want my life to reflect a sincere heart and a pure sacrifice.

So… I am getting my life in order.

I am committing to live more intentional than ever.

I will live by God’s priorities,

I will master my schedule,

I will take care of my body, soul, and mind.

Giving more attention to the details of life will not come easily for me, and I have no intentions of becoming obsessive-compulsive about life; BUT, with God’s help

I want to order my priorities properly,

I want to invest my time productively, and

I want to live out my days passionately pursuing what really matters for eternity.

More on my quest for intentionality next time.  For now, I encourage you to take stock of your life. Are you drifting from day to day, trying to manage what happens? Or do you have a sense of what God wants from you and are you living by His design for your life? Interestingly, knowing that the time of his death was drawing near, Paul had this assessment of his life:

 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7

Notice the definite articles. He fought not just any good fight, but THE good fight. He finished not just any race, but THE race. He did not just keep faith; he kept THE faith. Intentionality. The things that really mattered. Paul was not reactive, but proactive. He had a sense of what God wanted from him, and he pursued that passionately.

What about you? In what areas of your life are you adrift? In which parts of your life do you need design and order that only God can give?

Living On Purpose

intentionality_logo

Word for the day: INTENTIONALITY.

I am afraid most of us go through the moments of our days without stopping to realize the opportunities placed before us. We endure our jobs merely for the paycheck we receive. We attend school for the education we receive. We live in a neighborhood because of the benefits we receive from living there. We associate with certain friends because of the camaraderie we receive from their company.

What would happen, however, if we began to view the moments of our days in terms of what we can give rather than receive? What if we began to live out what we read in the writings of Paul?

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. –1 Corinthians 10:31

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:17

What if we lived in such a way that others could say about us what was written of Hezekiah?

Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered. – 2 Chronicles 31:20-21

How would it change our lives if we lived to make Paul’s admonition in Colossians 1:18 a reality?

And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.

  • Would it change what matters in our church preferences if we really sought the preeminence of Christ?
  • Would it change our approach to our jobs if we realized Christ strategically placed us there so He could use us for HIS purposes?
  • How different would our parenting be if we recognized that Jesus blessed us with our children so HE could use us to shape the next generation of godly leaders?
  • What of our behavior at the shopping venues and the ballpark?
  • Would we behave differently toward our neighbors if we understood God placed us in our home to be salt and light to those around us?

Will you take the challenge to change your life paradigm from an accidental and coincidental life to a life of INTENTIONALITY? Ask yourself – why does God have me here and how can God use me here?

Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:15-16

FBF: Marking Time

Before I began this blog, I had another blog on a different site for several years.  That blog is now closed, but each Friday, at least for a while, I want to resurrect some of my favorite posts from the previous blog.  These will be my Flashback Friday (FBF) posts.

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Several events of late have cast me into a contemplative mood and led me to evaluate my life and the priorities by which I live.  Psalm 90:12 challenges us: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. As I thought about that verse, I resolved to make three life adjustments.
First, slow down.  Psalm 46 contains a word unique to the Psalms.  The word selah is a musical notation that means to pause and to reflect.  Three times the word is used in this psalm, as the writer encourages us to stop and reflect on God’s presence (vs 1-3), provision (vs 4-7), and power (vs 8-11).  In today’s rat race, however, we find ourselves too busy to stop and reflect.  We have lost the disciplines of silence and solitude practices by the saints who walked before us, and as a result, our faith is not as deep as was theirs.  I am resolved to building margins of time into my regular schedule that I might reflect on God and what He wants to say to me and work in me.
Second, simplify.  1 Thessalonians 4:11 challenges us “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.”  This “quiet life” is not one absent of sounds, but rather absent of strife.  We can accomplish this objective by following the instruction found in the rest of the verse: “to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands…”  How much “noise” do we create in our lives by not minding our business?  These two statements work in tandem to instruct us to stay so busy fulfilling our own responsibilities that we have not time to meddle in others’ affairs.  My grandmother used to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  We create more drama in our lives by involving ourselves in things that aren’t ours to own. I am resolved to eliminating the unnecessary from my life and taking care of the responsibilities God has entrusted to me . . . and ONLY those responsibilities.
Third, focus.  In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul challenges us to trade our earthly perspective for a heavenly one.

 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 
In his essay The Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel laments that we sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent.  Life has a way of distracting us from eternity.  Christ followers live with a view to eternity.  Not only is this life not all there is, this life is inferior to what awaits us in eternity.
Unfortunately, sometimes I fall victim to the temptation to focus most on things that have the least (if any) eternal value.  In Philippians 1:10, Paul prays that the believers in Philippi would “approve what is excellent…”  We need to learn the difference between acceptable and excellent; between good ideas and God’s ideas. I am resolved reorder my priorities around God’s eternal values.
I am not sure how many more days I have to number, but I think it is safe to say I am past half way. I have lived more days than I have left.  The question that matters most is “what will I do with the days that remain?”

Fulfilling My Purpose for Life

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Several years ago, I ran across this summary of the life of David found in Acts 13:36:

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.

The phrase, “he served the purpose of God in his own generation,” has forced me to ask myself what I am living to accomplish with my life. One question that struck me this week was, “What do I want the preacher to say about me at my funeral?”  That seems a morbid thought, but in reality, we preach our own funeral by the way we live our lives.

A couple of good diagnostic questions we can ask ourselves are, “For what do I want to be known, and how do I want people to remember me?” 
We can find a plethora of good things with which to occupy our lives. It is a noble intention to be good spouses, parents, teachers, workers, friends, and citizens.  In the end, however, will I be able to say honestly, “I have served the purposes of God for my lifetime”?

I guess the more important questions are WHY and FOR WHOM do I do the things I do.  Do I live my life each day to fulfill my own agenda, or do I live for God’s purposes?  When God made us, and specifically when He redeems us, He hardwires us to bring Him glory.  Much of the emptiness and frustration we feel in life is because we devote ourselves to things other than His things for us.

Take some time today to get alone and ponder the direction your life is going.  Ask yourself how you can use the everyday events of your life to reflect glory away from you and toward Him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:36