Be E N C O U R A G E D !! Part A 1.23.11

This morning, I want to start us out with another little quiz that will give you a little glimpse into my life.

QUIZ: Encouraging or Discouraging? How do I feel on Sunday morning?

·      Caleb, our oldest son had some complications from a surgery this week and we weren’t able to be up in Chicago with him.

·      Over half of my students at school had some kind of police involvement over Christmas Break, and two of them are now locked up in a more restrictive environment

·      Karen’s dad has really gone downhill this week in his fight with terminal pancreatic cancer.

·      Our dishwasher has been broken and the repairman made a mistake and it will still be another week or more until it’s fixed.

·      Our microwave was broken…and that repairman didn’t get it fixed properly either

·      We’re doing some remodeling in our house so we can all sit together, and in the process, we’ve temporarily lost the lights in our kitchen and dining room

·      One of my co-workers that I’ve been sharing Jesus with is planning on moving to Iowa where I won’t be able to have as much contact with her.

As you have probably figured out, I’ve had some pretty discouraging things happen over the past few weeks. My guess is that some of you have had some kind of discouragement come across your path in the last month, the last week, or even the last day.

For some of us, we might have a small trickle of discouragement that is offset by the large amounts of encouragement that is coming into our lives. This allows us to not worry too much about the bad things because there are more good things going on. As those positive things happen to us, they make the other issues of life seem to be not so bad.

However, there are times when we have more discouragement going on than encouragement to overcome the struggles we’re facing. The trickles of discouragement can quickly empty our emotional feelings. The discouragement can just suck the life out of us in those times!

How do we plug the holes in our emotional bucket? How do we get more encouragement flowing into our lives? How do we find encouragement in tough times?

Over the next three weeks, we’ll be looking at the Scriptures to find some answers.

Today, we’ll look at one source of encouragement and then, we’ll be looking at two more in the coming weeks.

In the New Testament, we see that while God is the author of all encouragement, He chooses to use three main sources in the New Testament to encourage believers:

•God, His Son, and His Word

•God’s people in the local church

•God’s messengers from other places

Let’s look at the Scriptures to see what the Lord said through the Apostle Paul.

Read: Romans 15:1-7

Rom. 15:1   We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.  3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”  4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,  6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

In this passage, Paul tells us that one of Christ’s goals on earth was to encourage us as we reflected on all that He endured from the insults of others. His endurance is to be an incredible example for each of us as we follow Him.

I think I mentioned sometime over the summer that I love playing basketball with junior high kids because I can look pretty good when I compare myself against the wrong competition. I think that this passage is also encouraging us against that kind of wrong comparison.

If I didn’t get a raise this year due to the economic situation and my taxes keep going up and I keep comparing myself against someone who just signed a multimillion-dollar sports contract, how will I feel? If I watch American Idol and compare my ability to lead singing at church, how will I feel? If I compare my preaching to Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll or Mark Driscoll who have been preaching for years, could I at times feel discouraged? If I am coming into church on Sunday morning and see car after van after suburban driving down Robinson to the “other church” in town or the full parking lot at the Busy Corner, could I be discouraged?

So, Paul is exhorting us that if we compare ourselves against the things that Christ had to face, that we would be encouraged. Maybe instead, I should be thinking about the pastor in India who has to walk dozens of miles to preach in various churches, or the missionary who sends their third grader to boarding school 12 hours from home,  or the Christian in China or Iraq who is fearful of getting beat or imprisoned for even killed for their faith. Now…how does that reframe our perspective?

If you turn over to Philippians 2:1-2, Paul continues on with a similar theme.

Phil. 2:1   So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Being part of Christ’s body should bring you encouragement and comfort. What part of remembering our relationship with Christ should encourage us?

How about things like:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us

God loved us so much that He sent his only Son so we could have eternal life

We have one mediator between God and man…Christ Jesus

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to keep forgiving us of our sins

As you reflect on these truths, do they bring discouragement or encouragement? Belonging to and being united with Christ and all that He has done for us should bring great encouragement to each one of us.

Going back to Romans 15:4, Paul also tells us that the things that are written in the Bible are there to encourage us and give us hope as well.

4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Think through some of the basic Bible stories in the Old Testament…

·      God provides an ark for Noah and his family

·      God provides a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son

·      Joseph survives being sold as a slave, being falsely accused, being in prison, and he becomes the number 2 man in Egypt…probably in the world at that time.

·      Moses leads the people out of captivity in Egypt!!

·      Joshua leads the people in the conquest

·      David defeats Goliath

·      God shuts the mouths of the lions for Daniel

·      God protects Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace

·      Despite incredible sin, and captivity, God uses Nehemiah to rebuild the wall and Israel starts to function again

Of course, there are dozens of other stories that can provide encouragement for us throughout all of the pages of the OT. As I was working on this message this week, I found myself feeling more encouraged just recounting the AWESOME God that we serve.

Again, as I focused my thoughts on the incredible problems that people faced, but that were supernaturally overcome by God’s power, my issues seemed to dissolve a little bit.

Verse 5 clearly states that God gives us encouragement. I find that in our American society that it becomes so easy to crowd God out that we don’t take the time to listen to Him. We can read a few verses or a quick devotional without thinking through what we’ve read and without taking the time to ask the Lord what He wants us to learn from our study.

At one of the elder’s meetings at Grace in Normal, our pastor was encouraging us to work at studying the Scriptures more carefully and to really reflect on the Word. Recently, one of our older elders came to him and said, “Pastor Ed, you preached on that passage back in September of 1997” or something like that. As John showed Ed his Bible, he had the sermon notes from both messages written in his Bible…and the notes from hundreds of other messages from Pastor Ed and others. That was a huge challenge to me as well as an encouragement to keep on studying the word carefully and taking better notes so I can reflect on what God is telling me as I listen to Him.

As I’ve been getting to know people better here at Goodfield, one of the recurring themes that I’ve picked up is one of discouragement. It seems like there are many reasons for people to be discouraged…whether issues going on with their families, issues at work, and even issues here at church. As I mentioned in my quiz at the beginning of the message, I have those discouraging situations in my life as well. So, I’m not talking as someone who has his life all together; rather, as someone who has to deal with the same issues that you face on a daily basis.

So, together, what are some practical ways that we can soak up encouragement from God? These are ideas to encourage you on ways to be encouraged yourself…NOT a burden of adding additional things to your schedule or to make you feel guilty and discouraged for not doing these things.

a.    Get Godly input from somewhere…first we need to admit that we need that input so that we make it a priority in our lives

b.    Come to church, but is listening to a 30 minute long sermon 3x a month enough? If you’re counting on the Sunday morning sermon to be your only encouragement from God and His Word, you might be surprised that you could receive more encouragement by plugging in more.

c.     Get involved in a Small Group of some kind. I have several friends at work who meet every Tuesday night for their group, and I often hear them planning with excitement or celebrating after their group about what they’re learning and what they see God doing. They don’t all attend the same church, but as believers who work together, they are strongly encouraged in their study of God’s Word together. Of course, you might also figure out how to get together with others here at Goodfield for a Bible Study.

d.    Spend some time with the Lord. I know that this can sometimes feel like a legalistic “you must get up at 3 AM and have your quiet time every morning or God won’t like you any more. However, these two passages show us that you should receive encouragement from your time with the Lord as you get to know Him more and as you celebrate all that He’s done. It should be an energy filler not an energy drainer! As you commute to Parsons, State Farm, driving the highways in a semi, delivering Mary Kay products, picking up and delivering bread, going to Wal-Mart, or wherever you may be heading…invest that time with the Lord.

e.    Read/listen to Bible somehow. Some of you LOVE to read! Some of you HATE to read! Yet, we each NEED to get encouragement from the Word somehow. Maybe you do a great job of reading through the Bible every year. Maybe you focus on a certain Bible book for a while and read the same book over and over so you understand it in a deeper way. Maybe you commute and listen to the Word on CD’s. Maybe you work out, and put the Bible on your iPod so you can listen to it while you run or bike. Again, how would your day be different if you were reminded that God cared enough for a widow that He provided bread for her, her son, and Elijah for a long time during a draught…be encouraged…he can take care of you today as well!

OK…today, we’ve looked at the first aspect of being encouraged. I hope that even if you’ve had a month or a week full of discouragement that something today has at least lit a small spark of encouragement in your heart. I also hope that this could be a beginning step to filling up your “encouragement tank” instead of letting it drain away to the discouragement level!

Next week, we will be looking at being encouraged by God’s people in the local church.

Pray

Goals Part C 1.16.11

Over the past few weeks, we have been looking together at ways that we can be better stewards of our time here on earth. We’ve talked about how some people work hard at setting New Year’s Resolutions…BUT, only about 12% of those who actually set these resolutions actually complete them.

So, we’ve talked some about being more purposeful and setting goals that are manageable and we’ve talked about bringing others along on the journey with us as we try to make a difference in what December 2011 looks like as compared to December 2010.

I’ve heard from several people that you’re in that process of working on changing some things in your life…just like I am. That’s encouraging to me! I pray that together, we’ll see God do some amazing things in each of our lives as we seek to follow after the Lord more closely and as we interact more with others around us.

As I have been working on these messages in January, I keep being drawn back to the final message from our Advent Conspiracy series on Loving All. In looking at these ideas about setting goals for ourselves…and by extension to Goodfield Baptist Church, I think that Love could be the unifying glue that ties our desires for change together.

Think about it… excellence in Loving the Lord and others as we improve the…

Spiritual

Financial

Mental

Physical

Familial and

Emotional…

Aspects of our lives.

Today, I want us to look at these two additional aspects of our lives as we think about setting goals for the coming year: goals for our interaction with our families and the regulation of our emotions.

All of us have families! Some of them look like the traditional families of American entertainment or maybe it’s of American urban legend. You know the kind: A mother and father who met in high school or college, had a perfect dating relationship, got married, a few years later had a little baby boy, and then a couple years later completed that “perfect” family with a little baby girl, and everything went perfect…nobody ever argued, nobody yelled at anybody else, nobody got mad and ran away, nobody committed a major sin, nobody died early, nobody got divorced, nobody lost their job, and on and on…everything was perfect, and they lived happily ever after.

OK…do you have that picture in your mind? How many of you grew up in that kind of family? Mom and Dad, 1 boy, 1 girl, and everything was perfect? As adults, how many of you have provided that perfect environment for your kids?

You know they say that one of the most important issues to address when you have a problem is to admit that you do have a problem! So, now that most of us have admitted that maybe life wasn’t and isn’t perfect in our lives, we can move forward with how we can do what we can with where we’re at.

The Scriptures are full of admonitions about how families are supposed to interact. And, in fact, the Scriptures are pretty honest about how families actually function.

Think about some of the families in the book of Genesis:

What did Adam and Eve’s precious boys Cain and Abel do?

What did Isaac and Rebekah’s precious son Jacob do to Esau?

What happened to Jacob & Rachel’s precious son Joseph at the hands of his brothers?

That’s just a small sampling out of the book of Genesis. In other parts of the Word, there are stories of brothers killing brothers, children kicking their father out of being king, brothers with such a temper that they had the nickname “Sons of Thunder”, and on and on.

So, God is very well aware of the kinds of issues that can come up in families. And maybe, some of your families resemble some of the messed up or as we call them today, dysfunctional families, that are recorded for us in the Bible. Hopefully, some of your families have more positive aspects to them as well.

Against the backdrop of these realistic families portrayed in His Word, the Holy Spirit gives some directions in the New Testament for ways that we should relate to one another in family situations. One of the well-known passages about families is located in Ephesians 6.

Eph. 6:1   Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),  3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”  4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

It seems that many parents and many Bible memory systems do a great job of helping kids memorize verses one and two about the need of kids to obey & honor their parents; however, verse four is not recited nearly as much as it relates to the job of parents to not “poke” or to agitate their children to the point that they are provoked into an angry response.

The second part of that verse is more positive as it does give clear instructions about the need of parents to raise kids to love and follow the Lord.

Over in 1 Timothy, Paul gives his “son in the faith” some tips for working with people in the churches.

1Tim. 5:1     Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers,  2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

The implication here is that inside families, younger members are to treat the older members with respect and that peers in a family are to treat each other well.

What are some ways that we can avoid the struggles that we see in many families…both inside the Bible and inside our neighborhoods or places of work? How do we set goals for 2011 to improve or to at least build on the relationships that we have in our families?

Let’s look at various potential relationships within families. I realize that not everyone fits into all of these categories, but each of us will fit into at least one of them!

Parents:

The verse we looked at is clear that one of our primary jobs as parents is to raise our kids to love the Lord.

Some of the ways those of us who have kids at home might work on this include:

·      Spending time praying together at home

·      Spending time doing some kind of family devotion time

·      Talk about spiritual matters with them

·      Do a service project together with them…as part of the Advent Conspiracy series, we bought some gifts for a family I know who wasn’t going to have much of a Christmas, and as a family, we worked to demonstrate God’s Love as we “Gave More”

·      Make sure that your kids are getting involved in spiritual training…maybe that is something like going to youth group, participating in a children’s ministry somewhere on Wednesday night.

·      Provide Godly reading and viewing materials for them

Some of the ways those of us who have grown children who aren’t at home might work on this include:

·      As kids go off to college, the military, or work, to help them investigate church options close to where they’re going.

·      Continue to pray with and for our children

·      Invite them to come to church with you when they’re home or for special events like Christmas Eve

·      Send spiritually enriching materials to them…in a proper way. My parents both subscribe to different email lists, and they forward things like Biblical parenting suggestions or things about faith to us

·      Give gifts of Spiritual significance…one year, my dad gave me his Bible and his daily journal that he had used to read through the Bible and to preach from for a particular year

·      Continue to model Jesus…even for kids who are not walking with Jesus. Our kids continue to watch us and evaluate whether our faith is real and whether it’s just something we “put on” for Sunday mornings.

·      Encourage them to consider getting involved in full-time ministry by using their gifts and skills to make an eternal difference

·      Do a ministry project together…instead of springing for an all family trip to Disney World, find a missionary that you could go and help out for a week!

Some of the ways that Grandparents can impact their grandchildren for the Lord are similar to those above.

·      Keep modeling your faith…no matter what. When I would go to my grandparents’ house, I knew that before dinner, Grandpa would get out his huge black leather KJV Bible and read words that I didn’t always understand, but I KNEW that Grandpa and Grandma LOVED Jesus!

·      If your children aren’t attending church, see if you can bring your grandkids with you to church!

·      The kinds of presents you give to them can also show your passionate faith…a Bible or a popular book? A new video game or a biography of a great Christian?

·      Keep praying for them

OK…what are some goals that children can set for their relationships with parents?

If you’re still at home:

·      Obey your parents

·      Do what they say…without grumbling and complaining

·      Make it easy for them to not provoke you

For those of us who are no longer at home, it may be little more difficult.

Do we have to OBEY what mom says…even if I’m 65 myself?

I think this is where more of that honor your parents part of the verse applies…and some goals we might set for ourselves this year:

·      Thank them for their influence in your life

·      Work out ways to visit our parents more

·      Help in taking care of them if they are in declining health

·      Communicate with your parents more…call, Skype, text, send a hand written note…

·      Help your parents out…give them a ride, provide tech support, get their groceries

·      If it’s appropriate, encourage your children and grand children to spend time with your parents

What about those sibling relationships that Paul writes about to Timothy?

I know many families where due to some problem, siblings don’t get along well…whether they’re 15, 45, or even 65!

·      Work at building bridges with your siblings…again, some basic communication back and forth is helpful.

·      Honor your siblings by asking for their opinion on subjects they are more knowledgeable about

·      Apologize…is there something between you that has been there for years…get it out into the open and deal with it…life is too short to live with conflict!

·      Work together to bless your parents

So, those are some of the various family issues that we can set some goals about. One final area that I’d like to review is that of our emotions.

The Bible is one of the most emotional books ever written…think about the various emotions:

·      Joy: Creation; entering the Promised Land; building of the temple; returning from captivity; the birth of Jesus; celebrations around the eternal throne of God

·      Sorrow: various death’s; Saul’s failure to follow God’s plan for a king; sin in the churches

·      Despair: captivity; Joseph in jail; the ruins of Jerusalem; the early believers being pursued by Saul of Tarsus; Jesus dying on the cross

·      Anger: God towards idol worship; Haman towards the Jews; Pharisees towards Jesus and Stephen; believers who weren’t getting along in various churches

·      Guilt: David for his time with Bathsheba; Judas for betraying Jesus; The Apostle Paul for his injury and killing of Christians

·      Embarrassment: Mary trying to explain how she was pregnant; the apostles for turning kids away and then being publically rebuked for it by Jesus; Peter after denying Jesus

And the lists of various emotions could go on and on. However, in American Christianity, it seems that emotions are an area that we don’t talk about too much…let alone something that we’d set goals about for a coming year.

I know this has been an extremely emotional year at Goodfield Baptist Church both personally and corporately! This may be the year that you need to specifically address some of your emotions and move on. Whether these are emotions towards people in your family, your work place, your school, your community, or even here at church, how are you going to deal with your emotions?

As I read through that list of emotions, did any jump out to you? Did any of them make you cringe? Did any make you tune me out to think about the Bears game because they hit too close to home?

I’m really not sure where people are at with each other or with your kids or your family or the person sitting closest to you here in the sanctuary. But in my years of ministry and my years of just being a person myself, I am confident that many or maybe all of us are struggling with some aspect of our emotions. How do we address that?

Some of our emotions need to be adjusted by our own choice! Am I going to choose to obey the Lord and love someone else that I don’t really like right now? Am I going to choose to forgive someone…even if they have done something wrong to me? Am I going to allow something from the past to control me, or am I going to choose to let it go?

My dad started pastoring his first church when he was 19. It was in a small community smaller than Goodfield, but in a congregation about this size. He would come home every weekend from Chicago where he was going to Bible school to work in that church. He quickly found out that two women didn’t get along…AT ALL! After doing some investigative work, he discovered the critical issue…at a church potluck some 20 years earlier, the son of one lady took the last piece of pie that the other lady thought belonged to her son! For decades, these ladies endured conflict that they should have just chosen to forgive and then moved on with their lives.

Others of you might be dealing with something much deeper that may take a friend to help you with as you talk things out…or it may be something that is so tough that you need to see a professional counselor about.

Again, in the American Christian culture, we have no problem going to the doctor for a broken arm, a bad gall bladder, or to have a baby; BUT, we have a strange aversion to accepting that we might have some issues that we need some help with…people might think we’re crazy…people might think I’m not spiritual enough to just pray through it…people might think I have a really bad problem.

Time is short…each of us are an hour closer to eternity than when we started this service this morning. Time is too short to be controlled by negative emotions!

As you think about goals for this area of your life for 2011, you might need to jot down some initials of someone you need to forgive or someone you need to go to and ask forgiveness of. You might need to make the determination that you’re going to contact someone to get some professional help for something that’s been dragging you down for a long time.

You may need to set some positive, Biblically based, emotional goals for this year…I won’t let the sun go down on my anger, I’m going to rejoice always, I’m going to give thanks in all situations, I’m going to live in peace with my brothers and sisters in Christ, if I’m wronged…I’ll go to that person first and try to work things out instead of talking about it to everyone else, I will choose to Love All.

I’m not sure where you’re at in this process of setting goals for this year, but I’m confident that if you work on these two areas of your life…your family and your emotions… that you’ll look back on 2011 and say that it has been a good year!

Think about the incredible joy you’ll feel if you see the relationships in your family grow stronger…both with other people, but most importantly with God! Likewise, if you’re feeling the struggle of negative emotions that are dragging you down, imagine the release and joy of being able to let those things go.

Of course, as we reflect on all six of these areas, I’m full of excitement to see what our amazing God will do in our lives as individuals and as a congregation over the next year!

Let’s work together this year to set…and to achieve at a much higher rate than 12% some goals in the Spiritual, Financial, Mental, Physical, Familial, and Emotional areas of our lives.

Goals Part B 1.9.11

How is your New Year’s going?

How many of you have written 2010 instead of 2011 on something already? It does seem that life is speeding up doesn’t it?

In the midst of times where life continues at what appears to be a faster and faster pace, I believe that it’s important for us to make sure that we make the most out of every month…every day…every hour!

For some of us, that comes easily! We do great at setting goals, making lists, challenging others to keep up with our pace and perhaps even berating people who don’t keep up with us.

Others of us are wired differently and we kind of like to go with the flow and we like to “stop and smell the roses”. It’s easier to just get up and see what the day brings us instead of stressing about accomplishing something in particular.

As I continued researching ways for us to do better at accomplishing some of our New Year’s Resolutions or our Goals for 2011, I came across this list from Alexandra Levit.   http://www.phxfocus.com/2011-01/yourcareer-2.html

She gives six great ideas (and my thoughts about her ideas) for greatly improving the odds of you following through on achieving your goals:

1.    Make a Plan: think things through…don’t just do something on a whim

2.    Set Micro Goals: Specific, Measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound (How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!)

3.    Create a to-do list: legal pad, pictures, Blackberry, computer…somehow

4.    Reward yourself: do something special along the way as you meet your goals

5.    Enlist friends and family: ask them to pray with and for you; give them permission to check in on your goals; establish a network of people to encourage you (Evangelism Leadership Team email requests)

6.    Consider the consequences: What happens if you don’t accomplish your goals? What happens if you get to December 2011 and haven’t achieved what you set out to do.

These are really good ideas in this process of moving ahead with what we believe God is calling each of us to do. Sometimes, I feel like “the rules” of setting New Year’s Resolutions state that we can only set these goals at the New Year’s Party we’re at or on New Year’s Day between parades and football games. However, in my research, I have not been able to find that “official rule” anywhere. So, if you’re sitting here today and wondering if it’s too late to set some goals since we’re already almost a third of the way through January, the good news is an emphatic NO!

Last week, we talked some about our need to set some goals in the Spiritual and Financial areas of our lives. Of course, I realize that each of these areas has some overlap with other areas in our life, and it’s really hard to separate these aspects into neat little compartments.

This week, I’d like for us to look at the Mental and Physical segments of our lives.

How many of you are in school this semester…grade school, jr. high, high school, college, something else? Is anybody a teacher, professor, or even trainer in their work?

I think that often times in American society, we tend to think that we only stretch or exercise our mental capabilities when we are in some kind of formal school or training situation. But, I’m not sure that’s accurate.

Recently, as we have started this “second half” of our family, I have been reminded about how much is caught in the process of life…from learning to speak to learning to shot a Nerf Dart Gun…from learning to eat baby food to learning proper table manners…from learning about mommy and daddy to learning about our Heavenly Father…from seeing others in a family reading to personally learning to hold and love books. Of course, that’s just a drop in the bucket of things that can happen without ever sitting down in a school desk.

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul challenges us to make sure that we evaluating what is going on in our minds…not by going to a psychiatrist, but by being diligent to make sure that we are keeping our focus on godly things as we renew our minds.

Rom. 12:1   I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Last week, I read some lyrics from very popular songs. And I know it is very easy for us to listen to and even join in singing songs that go against what we say we believe!

Having grown up in the church, having hung out with “good kids”, spending most of my adult years in full-time ministry, I’ve become accustomed to people speaking in certain ways. However, at my job at the Baby Fold where I work with kids who have some of the toughest emotional and behavioral issues in this region, I’ve been introduced to a whole new vocabulary by even junior high kids who can string together a very impressive list of “bad words” to call other students or even staff. There are many days that I feel the intense need to have my mind renewed by listening to music on my iPod to transform my thinking pattern back to what it was prior to being verbally assaulted!

Over in 2 Corinthians, Paul directs us to make sure that we’re obeying Christ by taking every thought captive.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

What are you thinking about right now? Are you thinking about your roast in the oven? Are you thinking about what you need to buy at the IGA with your bags so you can save $.05? Are you wondering if the preacher will be done in time for you to watch the football game (it’s OK…the noon game is only Baltimore and Kansas City…the cheese heads don’t play until 3:30)? Paul tells us to take our thoughts captive so we can follow and obey Christ.

What are you thinking about in general? Are you worried about something coming up at work? Are you contemplating getting involved in some kind of sin? Are you listening to someone’s gossip or slander? Where does your mind go when it wanders? Paul tells us to take our thoughts captive so we can follow and obey Christ.

What are you reading?

If all that you’re putting into your mind is what you get out of the Journal Star or the Pantagraph or from People Magazine or even National Geographic, it’s a pretty small world view. If you find it easier to tell me the main characters in the Twilight series than the names of Christ’s disciples…. If you can name the offensive line for the Bears, but don’t know the books of the New Testament…. If you know what Sean Hannity, Dick Durbin, Sarah Palin, or Barack Obama believe about a topic, but you aren’t listening to/reading perspectives by Godly people like John Piper, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, Jill Savage, Ravi Zacharias, and other great Christian thinkers….

In the past couple of months, I’ve been reading a few books that have been really helpful for me. One is “Extravagant Worship” by Darlene Zschech. This book stretched my thoughts about what worship is all about and it helped me focus my worship more fully on God. The writer of the famous song “Shout to the Lord” and one of the lead singers on many of the Hillsong projects also did a great job of challenging me to reevaluate why and how I enter into God’s presence to worship from a Biblical perspective.

A second book that I read recently was “From Good to Great in God’s Eyes, Ten Practices Great Christians Have in Common” by Chip Ingram. This book was one of those books that was GREAT on one hand, but also AWFUL! It was great in that it stretched my thinking about some of the goals that I need to really work on and it challenged me to several things better. It was a tough book in that parts of it were like some kind of medical diagnostic test that exposed some areas that I need to work on more. There are some of these practices that I struggle with and need to work harder at. There are aspects of these spiritual habits that really made me think long and hard.

A third book I’m currently reading is “The Church God Blesses” by Jim Cymbala at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. In this little book, my American pride and my desire to do things “my way” have been stretched as Pastor Cymbala continually drives home the point that a healthy church is totally dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit to make things happen. He ruthlessly focuses on the need that churches have on seeking the Lord in prayer and to earnestly seek the Lord in overcoming any struggles that we might be facing. Cymbala is confident that God desires to bless and assist churches no matter where they’re at physically or spiritually as long as they passionately desire God’s presence.

A fourth book that I’m in the process of reading is “One Church, Four Generations; Understanding and reaching all Ages in Your Church” by Gary McIntosh. This book is helping me understand some of the needs of different groups of people in the congregation…from those of you in your 80’s to those in your 60’s, 40’s, 20’s, or even teens and younger children. I think this book has a lot of good thoughts for a church like Goodfield Baptist where we have a few people in each of these age brackets. How do we effectively minister to each group of people while meeting their needs without neglecting other groups? How do we reach out to each of these groups with methods that are attractive to them without alienating others? How do we personally relate to people in these different groups and build relationships with them so our church has an intergenerational flavor?

I know many of us lead busy lives and it may be hard to renew our minds by taking time out to read books. However, I’ve found that like we looked at earlier, if I set specific goals to work on renewing my mind, I’ll be able to find time to read good books.

I often sit outside time out rooms when our students are unable to handle it in class for some reason or another. Often times, they will sleep for hours, and a staff person has to sit with them for 30-60 minute time blocks. I found myself often wasting that time. About 18 months ago I felt really convicted that I should be using this time better. As a result, this became one of my goals that I started working seriously on. Now, I keep a book on my desk at work so I have one to grab when I have to sit with one of my students. I also typically carry a book and my Bible in my backpack so if I have to wait for an appointment I have something to read in other situations as well.

I really want to encourage you to think about ways to renew your mind…whether by reading books, focusing your thinking when you’re being taught spiritual truths, thinking proper thoughts about others, or working to keep bad thoughts out of your life all together.

This is an area that takes a lot of work to keep focused on, so I’m confident that it is at least one of the areas that you should consider writing out a goal or two for.

Another area that we need to think about is the area of our physical health. If you remember from last week’s message, two of the top ten American New Year’s Resolutions were related to exercising more and losing weight. While there are not a lot of verses in the Scriptures that talk about physical exercising and being the ideal size with the perfect build, there are a couple of passages that talk about some of the important areas of taking care of your physical body.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul uses the example of athletes who run to encourage each of us to exercise self-control in all that we do. I find Paul’s combination of issues to be interesting! He is using the race metaphor to prove his point that we need to go through the same kind of strict training that a professional runner would go through in order to win a race as we grow in our spiritual lives.

I think that there are clear parallels here that he draws about our need to practice self-control in all areas of our life…especially in disciplining our bodies.

For instance, one of the things I REALLY like is Dr. Pepper. I could drink several at each and every meal…and probably in-between most meals. However, one of the goals that I’ve set is to reduce my intake to less than one a day. So, I’m taking strides in my self-discipline to make sure I have ice water or hot tea around me all the time so I reach for that instead of another pop to drink.

Another goal that I have is to ride my exercise bike at least five days a week. It’s been a rough goal for me to work on, but like the list of ways to achieve goals lined out earlier, I’m setting the goals and then working on it consistently…and then rewarding myself with a large Dr. Pepper after each time I ride…JUST KIDDING!

I don’t know what that means for you…are there some of these physical goals that you want to work on?

1Cor. 9:24   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.  25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

I realize that it’s a careful balance. In another passage Paul tells Timothy that while bodily training is good, it’s not as important as training to be a godly person. I have friends who would NEVER miss their morning run or their afternoon trip to the gym, but have no problem missing a daily appointment with the Lord. I have other friends who seem to have sold their souls to their kids’ travel soccer, baseball, or basketball teams such that they may miss church more than they make it during those seasons.

Am I say that playing sports is bad...absolutely not! Rather, we just need to be careful to not make the pursuit of athletics more important than our pursuit of the Lord!

1Tim. 4:6   If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.  7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;  8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

When I started preparing this message, I was thinking in my mind about the importance of being healthy…you know…those issues I just mentioned…exercising and losing weight. However, as I worked on the passage, I really felt like the Lord was reminding me of the many other aspects of our physical lives that we might need to include in our goals for this area of our life.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses several areas of our physical life:

Matt. 6:25   “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

OK…I’ll give you a break today and not have you raise your hands in front of your friends, but if we’re honest, how many of us HAVE been worried about these things? I have had times when I have worried about all of these things! Whether it was getting laid off from Young Life due to the economical issues several years ago…but God provided a man in our church who had a Hostess cupcake route, and he traded cupcakes to a bread truck driver to get us bread, and a farmer friend gave us fresh milk!

I get concerned each week about what to wear to preach in…does this look appropriate, does it need to be ironed, wait…did I wear this last week or the week before? Is it a “cool enough brand”?

I worry about the length of life for others and myself. About 11 weeks ago, the doctors gave Karen’s dad 8 weeks to live due to his cancer. So, worrying about that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference either does it?

These physical aspects of our life are the things that many of us worry about…will I have a job in this economy, will my retirement account last, will there even be Social Security for me to retire on, what happens if my company goes bankrupt, and on and on those questions about money can go on and on.

But what does Jesus say? Seek HIS Kingdom first and all of these other things will be taken care of…our food, things to drink, our clothes, our life, our finances, etc…. God already knows what we need, and HE will take care of us.

Again, as in the words from Paul, Jesus reminds us that while the physical aspects of our life are important, we need to keep in mind that God is still in control and He is the one taking care of us.

It’s very important to be careful and to be a wise steward of our health and our physical possessions, but ultimately our spiritual health is most important.

So, as we’ve looked at four areas of our lives, I do want to encourage us to evaluate the issues in our lives where we need to set some realistic and achievable goals so that we can keep focusing on becoming more and more like our Savior and to honor Him with our spiritual growth, our finances, our mental focus, and even our physical lives.

Goals Part A 1.2.11

Happy New Year!

We are glad to have you hear with us this morning as we start 2011 out together.

Over the past few weeks, I have sure appreciated the positive comments that I’ve heard about how you’re evaluating and making some changes to your Christmas celebrations based on the Advent Conspiracy series we went through in December. I want to again thank the Christian Ed Board for their work to find that series.

I think that we need to keep evaluating how we interact with these core things of our faith and our life, because it is soooo easy for us to slip back into “normal mode” or “auto-pilot” instead of intentionally engaging our culture and those around us. This JUMPED out to me on Friday as Karen and I were driving past a business that had a sign out front stating that they had Christmas stuff on sale for 75% off. Before I thought, I made some comment to Karen about why did they still have Christmas stuff around. In one of those “duh moments”, she quickly reminded me that Christmas was just a week ago. SHOOT! The culture got me! I still have work to do!

As part of that ongoing process of keeping our focus on Jesus throughout the year…not just when we think about Him in the manger or on the cross, over the next couple of weeks I want us to look at some specific areas of our life in this coming year where we can improve our success at being Christ-followers on a daily and weekly basis.

During this current week, there are many people talking about resolutions that they’re making for the New Year. About.com had these listed as Americans top ten resolutions for Americans:

1.    Spend more time with Family and Friends

2.    Fit in Fitness

3.    Tame the Bulge

4.    Quit Smoking

5.    Enjoy Life More

6.    Quit Drinking

7.    Get Out of Debt

8.    Learn Something New

9.    Help Others

10. Get Organized

Many of these sound like good options don’t they! Obviously, missing from the list is anything related to building up a person’s spiritual life. However, so much of our lives are based on the core of our faith in Jesus and our ability to live out our beliefs from the inside out!

I also found in some research (http://www.quirkology.com/UK/Experiment_resolution.shtml) that while 100% of people who set some resolutions for themselves, only 52% of people are really confident of their success with these resolutions. BUT, of every 100 people who set New Year’s resolutions, how many do you think are actually successful? Only 12% are!

Now, as an educator, 12% doesn’t seem like a very good percentage of people who pass a certain test! Actually, 12% doesn’t sound like a good percentage for much…except maybe if you were making 12% on your savings account J.

This same research did find out that when men engaged in more purposeful goal setting like losing a pound a week instead of the more generic “lose weight”, they did better. Likewise, for women who made their goals public and got support from other women around them that they did much better in achieving their goals.

I think from what I’ve read, one of the key issues here is the need to move from thinking about resolutions which might be something that is “made to be broken” to setting goals which are more clearly defined and are more likely to be successfully completed.

So, as we purposefully move ahead with the coming year, I thought it would be good for us to pause for a minute and think through some of the areas of our life that we’re involved in.

Each of us gets the same amount of time each week: 168 hours.

Some people waste that time, some spend that time, and some invest every day for the sake of eternity.

Think about your weekly schedule. What things fill that up?

Work/taking care of your kids

Retirement

Sleep

Time with/for God

Family time

Ongoing education

Watching TV/Movies

Talking on the phone/texting

House/Yard work

Shopping

Surfing the Web/FaceBook/MySpace/games

Exercise

Building relationships with Christian friends

Building relationships with Pre-Christian friends

Recreation

Other______________________________________

While I often hear people talk about the importance of putting God first in your life, your family second, and work third, and everything else including your self after that, it’s pretty rare to find people who actually do that with their schedules isn’t it?

For the next couple of weeks, I have chosen a few areas of our life where I believe that we can set some goals that will help us improve our life as we follow God’s principles. If you really want to call them New Year’s Resolutions, that’s sure OK, but HOPEFULLY, we will do much better than a 12% success rate!

Spiritual:

Since we’re here at church and we’re talking about ways to become more Christ-like, I figured one of the best places to start our study on improving ourselves is to see what ways we can increase our spiritual walk with the Lord.

Three verses kind of jump out to me (and I know there are MANY more that emphasize this point). This is probably a topic that we could spend several months on looking at various aspects of how to improve our “Spiritual Quotient”.

2 Timothy 2:15   Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Some versions translate this, “Study, Work hard, Be diligent, Do your best” to be approved by the Lord as you are involved in God’s Word

Of course, this assumes that we are involved in God’s Word outside of just listening to the sermon on Sunday morning. As you can see by the kinds of words that are used, God expects us to use some effort in our interaction with His Word.

Another passage is located in Colossians 2:6 & 7  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,  7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Here, Paul expects those of us who are Christians to live our lives like Christ lived His life. We are to make sure that we are developing strong spiritual roots so that our faith is being established and strongly nourished. For those of you who have farmed, had a garden, or even had house plants, you know how important the root structure is to get a healthy flower or fruit. In the same way, each of us needs to make sure that we are feeding and fertilizing and nurturing our relationship with the Lord in such a way that we are living out our faith daily.

A third verse reminds us of our prayer needs: 1 Thessalonians 5:  16 Rejoice always,  17 pray without ceasing,  18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you

Again, it’s not rocket science nor is it a totally unfamiliar passage of Scriptures. But it’s sure a good reminder that the Lord expects us to be in an atmosphere of continually praying…and proclaiming thanks and giving joy in that process. How do you live your daily life? As you come across a struggle, do you stop and offer up a quick prayer? When something good happens, do you pause to thank the Lord? Do you remember to pray for the requests that people bring up here at church on Sunday mornings?

These are just three brief glimpses into ways we could evaluate our spiritual health and might be some discussion starters as we look to establish our goals or resolutions for the coming year.

Here are a few areas for you to jot down there in your bulletin as some things to think about during this coming year:

·      Read your Bible

o   Small sections each day

o   Read through the Bible in a year

o   Read a passage over and over again to understand it

·      Pray

o   Pray for your family

o   Pray for the church

o   Pray for sick people in the hospital

o   Pray for friends who don’t know Jesus

o   Pray for friends who are struggling

o   I’m part of several prayer email lists and I meet weekly with other believers at work to pray for students and staff at our school

·      Pay attention to the sermon

o   OK…that was just a joke to see if you’re really listening or not J

·      Listen to Christian teaching (Radio/Podcasts)

o   As you commute to Bloomington or Peoria or wherever, listen to something that will boost you spiritually

o   Search…I have some podcasts that are 45 minutes, some that are 30, and some that 5-10 minutes long. That way, I can listen to a variety of options depending on the trip I’m on

·      Listen to Christian music

o   There are so many different options out there

o   I’m not getting my sledge hammer out to smash your music…but there is a difference the content of songs!

o   It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now
Said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without
I just need you now (Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” #1 Country song)

o   I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing
Just prayed to a God that I don't believe in
'Cause I got time while she got freedom
'Cause when a heart breaks, no it don't break
No it don't break, no it don't breakeven, no

I'm falling to pieces, yeah
I'm falling to pieces, yeah
I'm falling to pieces
I'm falling to pieces (Breakeven “The Script” #1 song from WBNQ)

o   Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
Then what could stand against. (Chris Tomlin, “Our God”)

·      Study with someone else

o   Join a Bible study

Financial:

Again, I know that while we could go on and on about ways to increase our Spiritual journey in the coming year, we could do the same thing as it relates to our finances. I know, people get nervous when preachers start to talk about their money…it’s almost as bad as when any of our politicians start to talk about “our money”.

One area of finances is the whole area of giving to God’s work. Paul wrote to the Corinthian people, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.  2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, gas he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

This too is just one little snapshot of ways we can set goals for the coming year. But, I think it’s an important one! How is your giving to God’s work? We talked in our Advent series about Giving More, and that is sure an important part of Christmas, but it’s also very important on a daily basis.

How are you investing the money God has entrusted to you? Are you hiding God’s money under your mattress, or are you releasing it to impact people today?

Here are a few nuggets for you to think about as it relates to your financial goals for the coming year:

·      Invest in eternal purposes

o   Friend helped finance an international adoption for a youth pastor

o   Friend is starting a Christian medical clinic to minister to the poor on Bloomington’s West side instead of continuing in her physician’s practice

·      Preparing for the future

o   In several places in Scripture, we’re instructed to prepare for the future and to be wise with our financial planning

o   Do you have a will so your money will be dispersed according to your values and convictions instead of the government’s?

o   Do you have a plan to leave part of your estate to multiply ministry beyond your life?

·      Getting out/staying out of debt

o   As I started researching American debt, I got discouraged!

o   The numbers vary, but I saw multiple places that place the average family’s Credit Card debt between $10 & $15k

o   Bankruptcies and foreclosures are all around us!

o   Many of my friends owe tens of thousands of dollars in school loans…several of them owe well over $100,000 between two of them

o   Maybe you need to work hard to get out of debt this coming year. Maybe you’re tempted to get into debt…DON’T!

o   If gas goes to $5/ gallon, if our economy suffers under the load of the debt we have, if the State doubles our income tax…what will happen?

·      Of course giving to the ministries of the church

o   What kinds of things could we do as a church if everyone gave generously?

o   What additional ministries could we fund?

o   How could we help our teens or even adults with missions projects and trips?

o   What special programs could we do or partner with to advance God’s Kingdom in this area?

o   What aren’t we doing due to finances?

Whew! I’ve stepped out a little today to talk about our spiritual life and our financial life. However, I do hope that my sermons are stimulating some thinking and some reflection long after Sunday afternoon lunch!

As we head into this brand new New Year, I want to challenge each one of us to be developing some goals for how we expect to increase our passion for following Jesus and for becoming more and more like Him instead of becoming more and more like our culture.

In the 166.5 hours before we gather again next Sunday, let’s come up with some ways that we can make better eternal investments in both the Spiritual and Financial areas of our lives. Next week, we’ll look at some other areas where we can be better stewards of our lives.