As you stop and reflect, may God give you the wisdom and discernment to discover your "something." Check this prayer out and that'll make more sense:
Prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador
Martyred on March 24, 1980
It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
"While We Wait"
So Lauren and I are in "Baby Land" now, but I still wanted to take time to put some stuff up here. The following is the manuscript/outline to a sermon I recently preached called "While We Wait." It's not perfect, but in the words of Steven Furtick, "God has never depended on your perfect preaching to save lives anymore than He has your perfect obedience to save yourself."
I hope this finds it's way to you, and may the God of compassion, mercy, patience and grace speak to you in this moment!
WHILE WE WAIT
Intro:
Give if it up if you’re loving Vespers tonight! -Professors, friends, ginger jokes- One of ten- makes me antagonistic- Never took humanities- Wife Lauren and baby Alex- Played a little Frisbee, played a little Gotcha.
Overall a joy-filled kind of person.
Talkin about fruit tonight- You guys have these down, right? If you broke out your score card, how would you rate yourself? Joy & Peace for me- 9 or 10, self-control, at least in social situations, 2.5. Generosity, depends on what we’re talkin about- Time- 7 or 8, Money- 4 or 5 Chewing gum- (-3) Patience- well we’re gonna get into that in a second.
We’re about to get preachin here, right? I say we on purpose b/c if God ain’t talkin through me or isn’t listenin through you, we aren’t preachin’. Let’s pray and ask him to do just that!
(I’m not a patient person):
Irony- I’m not a patient person!
The driver that rides your bumper- just lucky no one’s brake checked me yet
Lauren’s nephew Jacob- Scholar Demetri Martin thinks people with stutters just add to the excitement and suspense of life… me I get irritated…. Jacob walks in…. spit it out!- at least I cured his stutter
Family of 4 @ Red Box- ended up not getting any movies
You’ve all got patience worked out though, right? Man, you’ve never lost it with your roommate, have you? I’m sure for all those classes you have you always have the patience to read everything you’re supposed to read, right? You’ve always had patience with your parents, right? What about that friend of your who’s far from God? You’ve never given up on her, right?
Patience so much of a bigger deal than it ever was when I was a Sunday school kid. I think every time I heard someone talking about the Fruit of the Spirit they made it seem so sissified, like it was just about waiting your turn! I wanna tell you something though, truthfully I think if you dug down deep enough within yourself you already know this, and that’s that bearing God’s fruit is more than that, isn’t it?
To be pretty blunt, our culture is terrible at patience. I mean, think about this:
$2.5 trillion dollars- That’s the amount of consumer debt held by all people in the United States alone. In case you’re wondering, that means every one of us is spending about $8,100 that we don’t have!
Then there’s another number: 40%- The number of college girls in America today who have reported “hooking up,” which for them meant everything from making out to going all the way and usually meant more than once. That means in this room, almost half of us aren’t patient enough for marriage to experience this amazing gift that God has given us.
I’m tellin ya man, patience has way more going for it then just waiting in line in the café or dealing with your roommate’s hygiene. For our sake, for our world’s sake, for God’s sake, we’ve gotta get this figured out. Here’s the problem though. I’m confident we could come up with about 1,000 examples of someone having patience and someone not, but if we can’t name patience or define patience we’re never going to know how to get better at patience. If we are going to practice patience then by the love of God we better figure out what it is.
And what better place to figure out what God meant by having patience than Scripture. If you have your Bibles, you can open with me to James 5. If not, no worries it’ll be on the screen. I figured we’re talking about bearing fruit so I wanted to run with this agricultural thread for a bit.
In James 5 starting in verse 7 we read this: Before we even get to the definition, I want to point something out that James is saying here that I just read yesterday. The Greek word here for patience isn’t a noun. It’s a verb. That means that the first thing we have to realize about patience is that it’s not just something we have to have, it’s something we have to do!
James continues- I think God, through James, is giving us the perfect definition of patience here that I wanna give to you and I hope you’ll write it down. Then we’ll unpack it a bit: Patience is waiting in anticipation and preparation.
James uses the example of being patient like a farmer. I’ll be honest, I don’t know jack about farming, I never grew up on a farm, no one in my family had a farm. What do you think though, does a farmer have a boring time waiting for crops to grow? I guarantee it’s way more engaging than watching paint dry. Anyone know anything about farming? What’s something farmers have to do while their crops are growing?
Friends, there’s a lot more that goes into patience for a farmer. Patience isn’t just waiting for the sake of waiting. It’s waiting with the sense of expectancy that God is going to do something incredible! Patience is waiting in anticipation and preparation. Anticipation because he isn’t thinking about the situation as it seems now, he’s got this vision of what it’s going to be if he lets God work in it. Then there’s the preparation, all that stuff a farmer has to do in the meantime. That’s what patience looks like.
These past few months I’ve had to do a lot of waiting in anticipation and preparation, and I know there’s more to come.
I have to tell you about this little guy: Alexander Michael Fultz- Alex’s story- I can see his hair, and it’s not red, diaper bombs to the nurses, having to put him back after we fed him, not really being able to hold him… only way we were able to put him back each time was because we knew we had to wait in anticipation and preparation. We were doing the anticipating, the lights were doing the preparing. It was such a struggle to wait like that, and I know when it comes to something we really want we all struggle with that kind of waiting, but that’s what patience is all about.
Then there’s my dad. – Taught me a lot about life, best friend, asked him to be my best man, worked out together like 5 nights a week in high school, house every Friday night after work- didn’t know Christ, grew up Jehovah’s Witness, didn’t want much to do with church or God, not hostile just not interested. Kind of a pervert, always had to remind him I was married, Talked all the time about God like I was steppin into the Octagon, always had to stop. Found him last November, doing terrible, 2 cancers, month later, that was it. I don’t think I have the words to describe how hard that was. Only hope came from one night, went in – grace & I want some of that!
Eight years I had been sharing Christ with my dad and in that moment, I knew it was all worth it! How often though when we’re trying to reach people far from God do we just throw up our hands and quit? We simply need to learn the art of patience, not waiting in passivity, but waiting in anticipation and in preparation. Patience isn’t passive, it’s highly active, and there’s plenty to do while we’re anticipating the results of what God can do in us and through us.
Which brings me to right now- My call to plant churches story- I’ve lived and breathed it for years now! If God called me tonight and gave me the opportunity to plant a church, I’d be on it in a heartbeat. A few months back I was in NY visiting some church planters and this church planter, Chris Travis, gave me the best advice I’d ever heard: “Imagine the kind of church God’s calling you to plant and spend from now until when that day comes becoming the kind of pastor you need to be to plant that church.”
I think that’s the heart of what I’m saying tonight friends. In life, we want stuff, we long for stuff. James talks about longing for Christ’s return, and won’t that be a good day when it comes!? I wanted to hold my son, I wanted my dad to know Jesus, I so badly want to answer God’s call on my life, but in all of those things, patience isn’t just about waiting, it’s about waiting in anticipation and preparation!
So where in your life do you need patience, true patience? Is there something you want but aren’t willing to wait for? Are you spending money you don’t have? Do people constantly irritate you? Is there something you’ve been trying to accomplish but just haven’t had the chance? Are you here at Milligan working on a degree so that you can do something great for God? What if I told you that preparing for whatever that is needs to start right now? Don’t wait for the real world, this is the real world. If I were going to apply the words of that guy to your life: think about what God’s calling you to do and spend the rest of your time here at Milligan becoming the kind of person you need to be to do that thing!
And why should that even be a big deal? Why even be patient? Is it too cliché to say that God was patient with you first? For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus tells this story (Matthew 18:21-35) It’d be so easy for God to stop waiting on us to get our act together, but God continues to wait for us in anticipation, and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was all the preparation needed to prepare the way for us. That’s patience. James goes on in that same passage to say this: (5:11)
Yes, you might have to be patient and wait. God waited for you. But don’t just wait, wait like a farmer- prepare and anticipate! Let’s pray!
I hope this finds it's way to you, and may the God of compassion, mercy, patience and grace speak to you in this moment!
WHILE WE WAIT
Intro:
Give if it up if you’re loving Vespers tonight! -Professors, friends, ginger jokes- One of ten- makes me antagonistic- Never took humanities- Wife Lauren and baby Alex- Played a little Frisbee, played a little Gotcha.
Overall a joy-filled kind of person.
Talkin about fruit tonight- You guys have these down, right? If you broke out your score card, how would you rate yourself? Joy & Peace for me- 9 or 10, self-control, at least in social situations, 2.5. Generosity, depends on what we’re talkin about- Time- 7 or 8, Money- 4 or 5 Chewing gum- (-3) Patience- well we’re gonna get into that in a second.
We’re about to get preachin here, right? I say we on purpose b/c if God ain’t talkin through me or isn’t listenin through you, we aren’t preachin’. Let’s pray and ask him to do just that!
(I’m not a patient person):
Irony- I’m not a patient person!
The driver that rides your bumper- just lucky no one’s brake checked me yet
Lauren’s nephew Jacob- Scholar Demetri Martin thinks people with stutters just add to the excitement and suspense of life… me I get irritated…. Jacob walks in…. spit it out!- at least I cured his stutter
Family of 4 @ Red Box- ended up not getting any movies
You’ve all got patience worked out though, right? Man, you’ve never lost it with your roommate, have you? I’m sure for all those classes you have you always have the patience to read everything you’re supposed to read, right? You’ve always had patience with your parents, right? What about that friend of your who’s far from God? You’ve never given up on her, right?
Patience so much of a bigger deal than it ever was when I was a Sunday school kid. I think every time I heard someone talking about the Fruit of the Spirit they made it seem so sissified, like it was just about waiting your turn! I wanna tell you something though, truthfully I think if you dug down deep enough within yourself you already know this, and that’s that bearing God’s fruit is more than that, isn’t it?
To be pretty blunt, our culture is terrible at patience. I mean, think about this:
$2.5 trillion dollars- That’s the amount of consumer debt held by all people in the United States alone. In case you’re wondering, that means every one of us is spending about $8,100 that we don’t have!
Then there’s another number: 40%- The number of college girls in America today who have reported “hooking up,” which for them meant everything from making out to going all the way and usually meant more than once. That means in this room, almost half of us aren’t patient enough for marriage to experience this amazing gift that God has given us.
I’m tellin ya man, patience has way more going for it then just waiting in line in the café or dealing with your roommate’s hygiene. For our sake, for our world’s sake, for God’s sake, we’ve gotta get this figured out. Here’s the problem though. I’m confident we could come up with about 1,000 examples of someone having patience and someone not, but if we can’t name patience or define patience we’re never going to know how to get better at patience. If we are going to practice patience then by the love of God we better figure out what it is.
And what better place to figure out what God meant by having patience than Scripture. If you have your Bibles, you can open with me to James 5. If not, no worries it’ll be on the screen. I figured we’re talking about bearing fruit so I wanted to run with this agricultural thread for a bit.
In James 5 starting in verse 7 we read this: Before we even get to the definition, I want to point something out that James is saying here that I just read yesterday. The Greek word here for patience isn’t a noun. It’s a verb. That means that the first thing we have to realize about patience is that it’s not just something we have to have, it’s something we have to do!
James continues- I think God, through James, is giving us the perfect definition of patience here that I wanna give to you and I hope you’ll write it down. Then we’ll unpack it a bit: Patience is waiting in anticipation and preparation.
James uses the example of being patient like a farmer. I’ll be honest, I don’t know jack about farming, I never grew up on a farm, no one in my family had a farm. What do you think though, does a farmer have a boring time waiting for crops to grow? I guarantee it’s way more engaging than watching paint dry. Anyone know anything about farming? What’s something farmers have to do while their crops are growing?
Friends, there’s a lot more that goes into patience for a farmer. Patience isn’t just waiting for the sake of waiting. It’s waiting with the sense of expectancy that God is going to do something incredible! Patience is waiting in anticipation and preparation. Anticipation because he isn’t thinking about the situation as it seems now, he’s got this vision of what it’s going to be if he lets God work in it. Then there’s the preparation, all that stuff a farmer has to do in the meantime. That’s what patience looks like.
These past few months I’ve had to do a lot of waiting in anticipation and preparation, and I know there’s more to come.
I have to tell you about this little guy: Alexander Michael Fultz- Alex’s story- I can see his hair, and it’s not red, diaper bombs to the nurses, having to put him back after we fed him, not really being able to hold him… only way we were able to put him back each time was because we knew we had to wait in anticipation and preparation. We were doing the anticipating, the lights were doing the preparing. It was such a struggle to wait like that, and I know when it comes to something we really want we all struggle with that kind of waiting, but that’s what patience is all about.
Then there’s my dad. – Taught me a lot about life, best friend, asked him to be my best man, worked out together like 5 nights a week in high school, house every Friday night after work- didn’t know Christ, grew up Jehovah’s Witness, didn’t want much to do with church or God, not hostile just not interested. Kind of a pervert, always had to remind him I was married, Talked all the time about God like I was steppin into the Octagon, always had to stop. Found him last November, doing terrible, 2 cancers, month later, that was it. I don’t think I have the words to describe how hard that was. Only hope came from one night, went in – grace & I want some of that!
Eight years I had been sharing Christ with my dad and in that moment, I knew it was all worth it! How often though when we’re trying to reach people far from God do we just throw up our hands and quit? We simply need to learn the art of patience, not waiting in passivity, but waiting in anticipation and in preparation. Patience isn’t passive, it’s highly active, and there’s plenty to do while we’re anticipating the results of what God can do in us and through us.
Which brings me to right now- My call to plant churches story- I’ve lived and breathed it for years now! If God called me tonight and gave me the opportunity to plant a church, I’d be on it in a heartbeat. A few months back I was in NY visiting some church planters and this church planter, Chris Travis, gave me the best advice I’d ever heard: “Imagine the kind of church God’s calling you to plant and spend from now until when that day comes becoming the kind of pastor you need to be to plant that church.”
I think that’s the heart of what I’m saying tonight friends. In life, we want stuff, we long for stuff. James talks about longing for Christ’s return, and won’t that be a good day when it comes!? I wanted to hold my son, I wanted my dad to know Jesus, I so badly want to answer God’s call on my life, but in all of those things, patience isn’t just about waiting, it’s about waiting in anticipation and preparation!
So where in your life do you need patience, true patience? Is there something you want but aren’t willing to wait for? Are you spending money you don’t have? Do people constantly irritate you? Is there something you’ve been trying to accomplish but just haven’t had the chance? Are you here at Milligan working on a degree so that you can do something great for God? What if I told you that preparing for whatever that is needs to start right now? Don’t wait for the real world, this is the real world. If I were going to apply the words of that guy to your life: think about what God’s calling you to do and spend the rest of your time here at Milligan becoming the kind of person you need to be to do that thing!
And why should that even be a big deal? Why even be patient? Is it too cliché to say that God was patient with you first? For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus tells this story (Matthew 18:21-35) It’d be so easy for God to stop waiting on us to get our act together, but God continues to wait for us in anticipation, and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was all the preparation needed to prepare the way for us. That’s patience. James goes on in that same passage to say this: (5:11)
Yes, you might have to be patient and wait. God waited for you. But don’t just wait, wait like a farmer- prepare and anticipate! Let’s pray!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
