Connecting Points

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Today’s Topic: Entitlement                                                                

Today’s Text:  Luke 7:4 (ESV)  And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him…”

I haven’t felt that blessed for a long time. I am convinced it is because I had no expectations or demands. That’s what brings the real joy when a gift is received.

Last Sunday I delivered to our congregation God’s message from Luke 7 on the subject of Entitlements. The Roman Centurion who had a gravely ill servant sent two groups of representatives to Jesus to ask for the healing of the highly valued employee. The first group misrepresented the true character of the Centurion by using the entitlement argument to try and convince Jesus to help. “He is worthy…” The second group was the Centurion’s friends, and they spoke the truth about his humble nature. “I am not worthy…”

We live in a culture that has infected the church with an entitlement mentality. Christians have bought into this arrogant philosophy of self-advancement without self-effort. We believe that the world owes us payment for whatever we have defined as personal pain or loss in our lives. We have set up a personal standard of qualification for reward, and we expect people, employers, benefit programs or governments to pay up because it’s our right.

Prior to Sunday the Lord had really dealt with me on my own personal guilt in this area. Since Sunday He has confirmed what he has been teaching me. The lesson is simple, but so hard to do. But over the last two days I saw it happen. God will bless us if we just stop expecting it.

Tuesday afternoon my wife and I left on a short trip to a place we had never been before. Wednesday is my normal day off, so we decided to get away overnight and relax in Bayfield and enjoy the Apostle Islands. Aside from the incredible beauty of God’s creation which simply thrills me, God did some things that blew me away. They were totally unexpected. They were things I didn’t demand. They were things I did not feel entitled to.

On the drive up north, I turned to Denise and said, “Wouldn’t it be fun to see a bear run across the road?” It was said so simply, so casually, and so uncharacteristically care-free. There was not even a hint of entitlement in the statement. I was not thinking these things at the time and evaluating my motives and planning my words to somehow conform to God’s commands; I just said the words with freedom. Ninety minutes later, as we approached Bayfield and I look down a side road to a marina entrance, a bear ran across the access road. I was thrilled and overjoyed, because I had not expected it.

On Wednesday morning as we travelled by boat out to Devil’s Island to see the sea caves and the lighthouse, I turned again to Denise and said in the same attitude as before, “Wouldn’t it be cool to see a freighter out here?” Without thinking about my rights or how the trip would be ruined if it didn’t happen, I just made a statement. Thirty minutes later Denise nudged me and said, “Look, there’s your freighter.” Sure enough, on the horizon and getting closer, was one of the 1000 foot freighters heading towards Duluth. Then twenty minutes later, there was another one.

By this time Denise is wondering why I am getting everything I ask for. I begin to evaluate it as well, and realize that for one of the first times in my life I have been asking with no sense of entitlement. It was such a blessed realization.

When we got back to the city dock in Bayfield, that captain of the boat announced that one of the gift shops in town had done a drawing of one name from among the 200 plus passengers on the two ships and that the person would win a prize. As we disembarked I was thinking in my mind about where the car was and where we were going to get lunch and what else we wanted to see. Denise asked, “Aren’t you going to check in the gift store?” My first thought was, “Why, I never win anything?” But I think that thought lasted less time than any other time in my life. It immediately smacked of entitlement, and I hated it. So as Denise waited outside I stepped into the store and saw my name on the wipe-off board above the cash register.

I just about fell over. I walked outside and signaled for Denise to come inside with me, and I stood in line with my identification in hand and collected my prize. It was a beautiful print of an original watercolor painting of all the lighthouses on the Apostle Islands. Many of you know my love for lighthouses and windmills. This was an awesome gift, even though it’s basically a poster, and I told the clerk how much it meant to me.

There is incredible joy to be experienced when entitlement is conquered. Expectations are the enemy of joy. Demands are the death of thanksgiving. The pursuit of happiness is the cancer of the Christian life, for it can only be achieved through pre-meditated conditions and circumstances that when not achieved leave us demolished and demoralized.

Thank you Jesus for disciplining me in this area of my life. And thank you for immensely for taking the conversation about entitlement beyond the level of how it applies to others and making it personal for me.

May the Lord do the same for you! Be careful not to think that entitlement isn’t affecting you too.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Today’s Topic: Soon and Very Soon                                                 

Today’s Text:  2 Peter 3:10 (ESV)  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

News headlines from the past month:

• Israel’s  Deputy Foreign Minister Asks Nations to Say Iran Talks Have Failed  (NYT)
• Israel’s Prime Minister: If Iran goes nuclear, it may actually  use bomb — “In a television interview last week, Netanyahu said  that he sees ‘the regime of the ayatollahs declaring what it has etched on  its banner – to destroy us. It is working to destroy us, and is preparing  atom bombs to destroy us. As much as it is dependent on me, I will not let that happen.’”
• New intelligence reveals Iranian military nuclear program advancing faster than previously thought
• SENIOR ISRAELI OFFICIAL WARNS OF “30 DAY WAR” WITH IRAN
• NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: NEW NATURAL GAS WEALTH MEANS HISTORIC CHANGE FOR ISRAEL

The signs of the times are speaking loudly that we could be living in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ for His Bride the Church. Jesus commands us to be observant – From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Matthew 24:32-33 (ESV) I’m not predicting anything, but I know what Jesus said, and what the Prophets said, and what Paul and Peter and John said, and I know that the events of our current age have me looking up and proclaiming “Come Lord Jesus, come!”

His coming is going to surprise the world. In fact, my writing about it is going to surprise and even offend some of you. It is to be expected. Read carefully the full context of Peter’s statement from which our Scripture verse for today was taken:

¹ This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. ¹¹ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ¹² waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:1-13 (ESV)

To quote the words of an old Gospel song, “Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King!”

Are you ready?

Right now?

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, August 20, 2012

Today’s Topic: Choose Friends Carefully                                         

Today’s Text:  Proverbs 27:6 (ESV)  Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

According to a 2006 study out of Duke University, our circle of close friends is getting smaller. Over the past twenty years, the number of people we can discuss “matters important to us” dropped nearly a third, from a mean of 2.94 to 2.08. The number of people who said they had no one to talk to about important matters more than doubled, to nearly 25 percent.

A 2012 New York Times article added that this scarcity of close friends has especially impacted mid-lifers. During midlife it’s harder to meet the three conditions required for making new friends—proximity; repeated connections; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other.

The article went on to state:

In your 30s and 40s, plenty of new people enter your life, through work, children’s play dates and, of course, Facebook. But actual close friends—the kind you make in college, the kind you call in a crisis—those are in shorter supply. As people approach midlife, the days of youthful exploration, when life felt like one big blind date, are fading. Schedules compress, priorities change and people often become pickier in what they want in their friends. It’s time to resign yourself to situational friends: K.O.F.’s (kind of friends).

Sherry Turkle, a professor at M.I.T. and author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, has spent the last 15 years studying how our “plugged-in lives” have changed who we are. She claims that all of our technological devices have produced a world in which we’re always communicating but we’re seldom having real conversations.

Consider the following quotes from Turkle:

       We are tempted to think that our little “sips” of online connection add up to a big gulp of real conversation. But they don’t. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, all of these have their places …. But no matter how valuable, they do not substitute for conversation. Connecting in sips may work for gathering discrete bits of information or for saying, “I am thinking about you” …. But connecting in sips doesn’t work as well when it comes to understanding and knowing one another.

We expect more from technology and less from one another and seem increasingly drawn to technologies that provide the illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship. Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be alone. Indeed our new devices have turned being alone into a problem that can be solved. When people are alone, even for a few moments, they fidget and reach for a device …. Our constant, reflexive impulse to connect shapes a new way of being. Think of it as “I share, therefore I am.”

“The illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship.” Wow! That so clearly describes what is going on in culture today, and it is contrary to what the Creator calls us to, which is intimate fellowship. Within the context of Proverbs 27:6, God reminds us that we need friends that are willing to wound us because the love us. They will speak the truth in love, and we will call them faithful to have done it. But how many of us allow those kind of relationships in our lives? Rather, we prefer the illusion of friends. We can block them if they offend us, and be mad at them if they block us for what we post. We can pick and choose friends who will satisfy some deep-seeded and sinful need for attention, approval, or acceptance. After all, friends are to be used for our gratification, right? Proverbs calls those kinds of friends enemies.

As a result, when the real storms of life begin appear on the horizon and crash in on us with life-altering force, we have no one to talk to. So we’ve created a system of professional help to get us through. In his book Bad Religion, Ross Douthat argues that as families have weakened and true friendships have waned, we have tried to fill the vacuum by relying on professionals. Obviously, many of these professionals truly care about their clients, but this trend also indicates a deeper problem. Douthat writes:

 The United States has witnessed a hundredfold increase in the number of professional caregivers since 1950. Our society boasts 77,000 clinical psychologists, 192,000 clinical social workers, 105,000 mental health counselors, 50,000 marriage and family therapists, 17,000 nurse psychotherapists, 30,000 life coaches—and hundreds of thousands of nonclinical social workers and substance abuse counselors as well. Most of these professionals spend their days helping people cope with everyday life problems, not true mental illness. This means that under our very noses a revolution has occurred in the personal dimension of life, such that millions of Americans must now pay professionals to listen to their everyday life problems. The result is a nation where gurus and therapists have filled the roles once occupied by spouses and friends.

We need drastic and dramatic change. We need face-to-face time with friends, like Moses is described as having with God. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Exodus 33:11 (ESV). I’m not asking you to throw away Facebook or phones, but I am asking you to think about the quality of relationships you have. I know I need to. And today I’m gonna start fixing that. At 11:00 AM I’m going to spend five hours with another man, side-by-side and face-to-face, and we are going to sharpen each other. And I’m turning my cell phone off…or at least to vibrate so if my wife calls I can answer. No Facebook updates. No Words with Friends. No email. Just intimate fellowship with a friend!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, August 17, 2012

Today’s Topic: Prepare for Revival                                                   

Today’s Text:  Psalm 93:1-5 (ESV)
¹ The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. ² Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. ³ The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. ⁴ Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! ⁵ Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.

Last night the worship leader of our church came over for a quick visit. The combination of reasons that brought him to my house was used by the Holy Spirit to teach me an important lesson.

Earlier that day I had texted him to see if we could get together, and he told me he was tied up at a golf tournament all day. When he mentioned the name of the celebrity that was going to be there my mind immediately went to my brother and my best friend and I knew I had to do something. So I rushed out of the office and ran to a local sporting goods store to pick up a couple of small footballs and a Sharpie. From there I went to the golf course and met Matt who was just preparing to go out onto the course. I made it just in time. I gave him the footballs and the Sharpie and he said he would do his best.

Reason number one for Matt to be at my house – to deliver the two small Chicago Bears footballs autographed by Mike Ditka.

I was pumped. What a thrill it will be for me to give those footballs to my brother and best friend. That was cool!

As Matt came into the house and handed me the footballs, he had his phone in his hand and asked me if I would listen to a song with him. Matt’s been going through some tough stuff lately, and worship music has been the place where the Lord ministers to his heart and keeps him strong. He wanted to share a song and have us worship together right there in my living room. So we did. Here’s the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgL6_ylz8io

We cried as we hummed and harmonized. We talked about what Satan was trying to do to destroy the work of Jesus in our lives and in our church. We prayed. We worshipped.

Reason number two for Matt to be at my house – to keep all of life’s fun things in a proper perspective. They are NOT anywhere as important as our spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ and our constant worship of Him. He is amazing!

Then Matt shared an idea with me. He wants to have a night of worship at our church on September 8^th. That’s the night Travis and Paula Barton, missionaries to Mexico from our church, will be there for a pizza and fellowship supper. Travis is also a worship leader and has written some incredible songs. We will eat together, laugh together, hear stories from the mission field, and then close the night with an extended time of worship and prayer. In Matt’s own words he explains his vision for that evening – I want that Saturday night worship event to be so Christ focused that Satan will scram. Right now he is attacking us because we are doing great and mighty things for our Savior Jesus Christ. We are about to build a new building to reach more people for Christ. The following Sunday, September 9th we will be kicking off Sunday school and the events that surround the school year. All of our college students will be coming back and this night of worship would be an awesome night to have the people at Calvary adopt their new student. So many exciting things happening, and music…our worship will be in the middle of it all.

Reason number three for Matt to be at my house – to cast the vision for a united church in worship and ministry, equipped by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the commission given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to go into all the world and make disciples by sharing the Gospel with them.

Now, go back and read Psalm 93. Five short yet powerful verses that describe the revival that is about to happen in our midst if God’s people will come together and seek His face with all their hearts, setting aside the fun things of life for the greater and grander glory of God. Here’s what it will look like:

• God reigning in majesty in every area or our lives
• God’s strength and power being displayed in all the circumstances of our lives
• His Kingdom, not the kingdom of man, will be revealed
• Opposition (the seas) is overcome by the might of the Lord on high.
• The Word of God (His statutes) is honored and valued above all other words of man.
• Holiness becomes the primary passion of our lives and will adorn the house of God

Get ready. Get committed. Get on your knees. Revival of God’s people is coming. He is amazing!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Today’s Topic: Carry the Load                                                          

Today’s Text:  Philippians 4:13 (ESV)      I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Thanks to some faithful readers who sent me this story. It’s just what I needed today!

The Ant and the Contact Lens: a true story

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens. ‘Great’, she thought. ‘Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.’ She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn’t there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the Bible verse ‘The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.’

She thought, ‘Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.’

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, ‘Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?’

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn’t end there. Brenda’s father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, ‘Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I’ll carry it for You.’

As we consider the burdens that we are carrying right now, I think it would do all of us some good to say, ‘God, I don’t know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it’s awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will.’

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him….I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

What a glorious day it was, and all the glory goes to Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Head of His church. After almost eleven years of watching our Lord accomplish His timeline and prepare His people at Calvary Baptist Church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, groundbreaking ceremonies for a new ministry center were held on Sunday, August 12 at the conclusion of the morning worship service. Over 250 people gathered under the big tent on the 10-acre building site for two hours of worship music, ministry testimonies, prayer, and preaching. The challenge from God presented by Pastor John van Gorkom was taken from Genesis 11:1-9, where in the story of the Tower of Babel we discovered that the Lord requires right management, right motives, right materials, and the right mission.

Following the message, everyone gathered outside the tent with their shovels in hand. The Elders of Calvary began the groundbreaking ceremony with Scripture that God had given us during the previous eleven years of planning.

Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. Isaiah 54:2-3 (NIV)

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12 (NIV)

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it. Isaiah 45:8 (ESV)

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. Isaiah 44:3 (ESV)

And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26 (ESV)

It was a great blessing to have representatives of two of our NCCBA churches (Chippewa Falls and Bloomer) present to represent our partnership in the Gospel with our sister churches. Also present was Gordon Ellison of World Venture to represent our worldwide mission.  Each brought greetings, along with representatives of a local mission supported by Calvary and a representative of Derrick Construction, our general contractor.

Pastor Dennis Pond then introduced our honorary groundbreakers, consisting of seven church members with over fifty years of ministry at Calvary who were not able to be present because of health reasons. The honorary groundbreakers also consisted of two charter members, Marlene Cripe and Wilma Hodges, several other long time ministry partners including Joyce Russell, John Schone, Bob Strait, Marilyn Thames, and Janet Faulcner. They were joined by former Pastor Ralph Miller and his wife Dorothy. These people represented the heritage of our church, and were given the honor of turning the first shovels of dirt. Our ministry guests turned the second shovel, and then all of the congregation joined in turning over dirt in what will eventually become the children’s ministry center of the facility.

The service was closed with everyone praising God with shouts of rejoicing and then singing what has become our theme song of our mission, “Mighty to Save.”

The timeline for construction is as follows:

• Hauling of fill to begin as soon as DNR issues permit, hopefully this week.
• Excavation for footings should begin mid to late September.
• Construction completed in late April

The building will be over 21,000 square feet.

Connecting Points

Friday, August 10, 2012

Today’s Topic: The Test

Today’s Text:  1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV) ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

When it rains it pours – quite literally. For weeks and weeks we have gone without much rain, and then yesterday the sky let loose. It wasn’t predicted to be that much, and according to the official report at the airport it was only sixty-two hundredths of an inch, but it caused us some problems. Our big meeting tent up on our new property where we will hold church and our groundbreaking ceremony this Sunday collapsed, with people inside. Fortunately no one was hurt. The ground became saturated with heavy rain so fast that the tent stakes loosened enough for the wind, a constant issue on top of this hill, pulled the stakes right out of the ground. All of the thrift sale merchandise that was left at the end of yesterday’s sale is underneath. Today we have to try to re-stake and re-erect the tent so we can donate all the remaining items from the sale to the Hope Bargain Center. It will be a huge job, and any help, including prayer, will be greatly appreciated.

I find it very interesting that the rain yesterday symbolizes two types of rain mentioned in Scripture – the rain of blessing and the rain of judgment. When mankind had become so evil and obnoxiously opposed to God in the days of Noah, God sent the rain as judgment. In the days of Moses as the people of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, he declared, Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. [Deuteronomy 32:2 (NIV)]

Look at how the rain is depicted in these passages:

• Hosea 10:12 (NIV)  Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
• Isaiah 45:8 (ESV)  Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it.
• Isaiah 44:3 (ESV)  For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
• Ezekiel 34:26 (ESV)  And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.

For the past several months – eight to be exact – there has been a steady rain of the Holy Spirit upon our church. People have been turning to Jesus in repentance to receive the forgiveness of their sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Disciples are being trained by faithful followers of Christ as they pass on what they have learned from the Lord to the new believers. Our Head Jesus Christ has given us clear directions for the future ministry growth of our church and its outreach into our local area and to the world beyond. If our eyes are fixed on Him, the finisher of our faith, we are filled with an inexpressible joy.

But with the rain of blessing has come the rain of trouble. It is the rain Jesus spoke of when he told the parable of the two houses – one built on sand and one built on rock. He declared that the storms will come. The wind will blow. The rains will wash over the land. And when they do, only the house built on the Rock will survive.

The rains of trial have been washing over our church. Health issues, accidents, deaths, broken marriages, financial hardships, and temptations to satisfy the flesh have all multiplied since the rains of blessing have begun. All of these trials and troubles are tests of the foundation of our faith. They force us to consider the ground upon which we stand. Is our faith in the temporary things of this world or is it in the person of Jesus Christ who has graciously granted us a permanent position in glory? Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you,  who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [1 Peter 1:3-6 (NIV)]

Yesterday, after the tent collapsed, one of the Deacons of our church who has worked so hard to keep the Thrift Sale and the tent running smoothly and prepare for this weekend, sent me a text message that simply read, “This is just another one of the Devil’s schemes to try to get people down and negative.”

I refuse to get down about the rain God is sending. Even the rains of trial are blessings, for they strengthen our faith and prove it to be genuine. Let the rejoicing begin. God is blessing us. Satan is trying to devour us. But one thing Satan cannot eat is the Bread of Life, so we who feed on Jesus are untouchable. We may be physically challenged and hurt, but our spirits are unquenchable, for we know the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

Let it rain. It only softens the ground more so we can dig deeper foundations!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Today’s Topic: Let’s Build

Today’s Text:  1 Chronicles 22:19 (ESV)  Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God…

I’m scared. It’s not an unfaithful fear, but a humbling fear. It’s a faith-building fear that comes from an honest perspective of the awesomeness of God and my human frailty. It’s a faith-strengthening fear generated by the relationship between the incredible mission God has assigned and the recognition of my weakness. It’s a fear I embrace.

I’m experiencing this fear this morning because my heart is fixed on the upcoming events of Sunday. This Sunday is going to be an historic day in the life of our church. God has ordained it. This Sunday we break ground on our undeveloped property and officially begin the construction process of the facility God is giving us as a tool to accomplish His Son’s mission for us. That mission is to go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ the Lord.

The magnitude of this upcoming event is overwhelming me. Who am I that I should be the leader of this movement of God? Why would the people of God trust me at this time? I know my flaws, and so do they. I know my weaknesses, and so do they. I can recall more failures than they know. I’m weaker than they think. In my flesh I cannot be trusted.

HOWEVER, it is in my weakness that Jesus Christ is revealed as all-powerful. It is in my weakness that Jesus Christ is revealed as all-knowing. It is in my weakness that His eternal presence is experienced. For when we are humble, then God is exalted. The fear I am feeling is the beginning of such faith.

I have wasted so much time in my life trying to make myself strong, only to discover the extent of my weakness. I have endured so much self-caused pain because of the power I have granted to pride to dictate my decision to overcome my weakness with more self-effort. It is a vicious cycle of bondage that can only be broken at the point of weakness before pride kicks in again.

The fear I am experiencing is such a point of weakness, and I embrace it. Satan would like me to fear it from my flesh and allow my strength to attempt to conquer the day. The temptation to do more in my own strength to prepare is strong, but I am resolved to let go of the wheel and trust completely the power and purpose of Jesus Christ. It is His day, not mine. It is His vision, not mine. It will be His provision, not mine. It will be for His glory, not mine.

Today I choose the truth of Proverbs 3:5-6. I will trust in the Lord with all my heart, and not lean on my own understanding. I will acknowledge Him in all my ways, and He will direct my paths. Today and every day, I will set my mind and my heart on seeking the Lord my God. And on Sunday, we will arise together and begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, August 06, 2012

Today’s Topic: Let Go

Today’s Text:  Proverbs 1:32-33 (ESV) ³² For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; ³³ but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

He woke up early in the morning with a question burning in his heart. Could I ever convince anyone that God is real? He thought back to the many experiences of his life, and was convinced that He had never heard God’s voice, and most certainly had never seen God’s face. Yet he believed.

As he got into his pickup that morning and drove away from the farm that was home to over a dozen horses, he began to talk out loud to his heavenly Father. He asked why God had never spoken audibly like he had read about in Scripture. He wondered what he would ever tell someone who wanted proof of the existence of God. He looked at the seat next to him currently occupied by a pack of necessities and accessories for his day and stated, “God, I know you are as real as this black bag, and that you occupy this seat with me. But I want to see you like I can see it.” As he related the story to me I thought to myself, “Be careful what you pray for.”

Later that night, after a hard day of work and an evening visit with a friend, he got back into the pickup and headed for home. He was in a hurry – too much of a hurry. Excessively exceeding the speed limit on a rural North Dakota road, he was within a half mile of home when he came over a small hill. As the truck leveled off at the bottom of the hill and the headlights raised to illuminate the path ahead he saw a frightening sight. There on the side of the road was one of his horses – the same horse that had been returned to him the night before after escaping through a hole in the fence that he had planned to fix early that morning.

Instantly his mind went into high gear. Isn’t the brain that God created for us amazing? The speeds at which it can process information is incredible, even though it’s not until well after the event that we realize how much information was processed. Options came to his mind. Decisions had to be made. I can maintain control and try to go around the horse, but he will likely be spooked and jump into me and end up coming through the windshield. Which way would he jump? Which side of the road do I choose? I’d better slow down.

He slammed on the brakes. As the information processed he chose an option that was in his own words totally stupid – he jerked the steering wheel hard to the left and sent the truck into a spin and headed for the ditch. Later he would make this statement – God’s grace covers stupid. That was lesson number one, but not the most important lesson of the night.

As the truck skidded sideways and backwards down the highway, he began thinking of more options. He knew from years of experience that the outcome of this decision was going to be tragic. He knew that as soon as the truck went off the road and down into the ditch that the wheels would catch in the dirt and the truck would flip and roll uncontrollably. At that moment a he says a peace came over him that he cannot explain and that he had never felt before. At the moment of impact with the ditch he knew from the depths of his heart and soul that he should let go of the steering wheel and sit back and relax. That’s exactly what he did – he totally let go.

As I stood where this happened, I saw the spot that the truck hit the ditch backwards and the back bumper dug into the ground and carved out a mini ravine.  That contact caused the truck to flip end to end and roll side to side. I stood on the glass-covered spot twenty feet away where the roof over the driver’s seat hit the ground and was crushed to within inches of the steering wheel. Anyone sitting in that position would have been killed. I walked up the hill where the truck had flipped again, clearing a barbed wire fence and rolled several more times up the hill.

Somewhere during the first flip, before the roof was crushed, the driver was extracted from the truck through the passenger door window and catapulted sixty feet through the air into the ditch, suffering multiple rib fractures, a punctured lung, hip and leg injuries which required surgery, and multiple bumps and bruises. When he regained consciousness, he tried to make a call to a friend for help. In a nightmarish moment his phone battery died. But the black bag in the truck contained an extra battery. It was his only hope for life.

As he pushed himself up to his feet he was amazed at the power of adrenaline. He felt no pain, and was able to walk slowly to the barbed wire fence. Have you ever tried to cross a barbed wire fence going uphill with a smashed knee? Somehow he was able to hoist each leg high enough to get over the fence and make his way up the hill to the truck. In the dark as he circled the truck he saw the shadowy image of the black bag in the pasture grass. After replacing the phone battery he made seven calls before he finally got someone to answer. By now he barely had any breath left as a result of the punctured lung and the pain was beginning to overpower the adrenaline. Weakly he asked for help and was barely able to say, “I’m south of the farm.”

As he shared the story with me and took me to the place where it all happened, he declared several eternal truths:

• I never fully experienced God because I had never totally let go.
• Our control of our lives limits God’s presence and power.
• God is revealed only in our weakness, not in our strength.
• God became as real as the black bag and my only hope for life is in Him. I may only see shadows of His presence, but He is there, and in Him is found the rescue for human sin and for human stupid.

Be careful what you pray for – but be assured of this – God hears you, and will reveal Himself to you according to the level of your surrender. Let go, and know God!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, August 03, 2012

Today’s Topic: Accept Correction

Today’s Text:  Proverbs 1:23 (ESV) If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

Within each of us is a terrifying enemy of God. Not terrifying to God, but to us. Unfortunately, we have embraced this enemy and signed what we think is a lasting peace treaty with it. In reality, this treaty is a lie, and sooner or later we all discover that the enemy has deceived us and brought us to destruction.

The enemy I refer to is Pride. God hates pride.

• Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. Psalm 101:5
• The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. Proverbs 8:13
• Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:5

Pride manifests itself in a variety of ways in our lives. If time and space permitted I would tell you all the ways it comes gushing forth from me. I was made very aware of it on my recent trip to see friends as there were several instances where my desires and wishes tended to dominate the decisions that were being made. I was embarrassed and ashamed, and repented both to them and to the Lord.

But the single most prominent way that pride reveals itself as both the enemy of God and the enemy of my life is this – I reject correction. When confronted with a wrong and a challenge to change there is an immediate rise in my pride pressure, and just like an exaggerated rise in blood pressure, my heart is at risk when it happens.

Pride seeks to protect when in reality it is causing harm. We are deceived into believing that we are guarding our hearts – our value system and our image – when actually we are moving quickly towards the destruction of our spiritual hearts. Just as high blood pressure is an indicator of hardened or constricted arteries, so high pride pressure is an indicator of a hardened heart.

King Solomon makes it very clear that pride is conquered only when we respond humbly to the reproof of God when He lovingly disciplines us for our sin. How we respond to God’s correction reveals the nature and extent of pride in our hearts.

Those who embrace the perceived benefits of pride’s self-protective responses will find themselves alone, abandoned, and absorbed with awful consequences.  Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. (Proverbs 1:29-31) But those who in humility seek the Lord and embrace His correction comes the abiding Presence of God in the Person of His Holy Spirit, and a constant understanding of God’s Word – His purpose for our lives and the power and provision to accomplish it.

What a contrast. The choice is ours. Pride resulting in only what we can do for ourselves, or correction resulting in what God can and will do in us. Today, and every day from here forward, while I know I am weak and pride is strong, I choose to read God’s Word not for knowledge, but for transformation, calling out for God’s reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

How about you? How do you respond when someone tries to correct you? What does that say about the enemy of God in you? What will you do about it?

Pastor John