The Power Of Now

The advertising slogan by Nike said, “Just do it.” I would modify this to say, “Just do it now.”

There is a power in now. So many times we have a God-idea, and then think/plan/pray ourselves out of acting on that idea. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is great value in planning and praying, but far too many ideas are left undone because they were over-thought and over-planned right out of existence.

When King Hezekiah came to the throne in Jerusalem, the country was a mess. The people were worshiping false gods and had completely abandoned the temple of God. The Bible says that Hezekiah went to work addressing the problem now:

In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them.

After the temple had been restored to service, it didn’t matter that the “official” date for the Passover had come and gone. As soon as the temple was ready, Hezekiah said, “Let’s celebrate the Passover now.”

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, here’s what Dr. King had to say about the power and urgency of now:

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood—it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

Got a God-idea? Get going! Just do it NOW!

Thursdays With Oswald—Integrated Life

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Integrated Life

     God will never allow us to divide our lives into sacred and secular, into study and activity. We generally think of a student as one who shuts himself up and studies in a reflective way, but that is never revealed in God’s book. A Christian’s thinking ought to be done in activities, not in reflection, because we only come to right discernment in activities. Some incline to study naturally in the reflective sense, others incline more to steady active work; the Bible combines both in one life. We are apt to look on workers for God as a special class, but that is foreign to the New Testament. Our Lord was a carpenter; Paul was a weaver. If you try and live in compartments, God will tumble up the time.

From Approved Unto God

You and I don’t have sacred and secular lives. If you are a follower of God, your whole life is holy: it’s all set apart for God. Don’t slack off in areas that you think are secular; treat everything as holy.

Faith-Filled Vocabulary

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

I love this short story in Judges 13. There’s this woman, who for whatever reason, cannot have a baby. The Bible doesn’t say whether she had multiple miscarriages or just simply couldn’t get pregnant. Perhaps her husband’s body wasn’t “cooperating” in the process. In any case, this is a couple who desperately wants a child to carry on their family line, but they have been frustrated.

And then an amazing thing happens!

There must have been countless couples who were childless, but an angel from God shows up to this barren woman and says, “You are going to have a baby boy!” This thrilled (and probably somewhat dazed) mother-to-be runs to tell her husband Manoah what has just happened.

We know from the Book of Hebrews that the definition of faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. But how do we express this faith? … this hope? … this certainty in unseen things?

It starts with our everyday vocabulary choices.

Look at Manoah’s vocabulary. When he hears this news from his wife, he doesn’t say, “Yeah, right!” Instead, he prays this incredible faith-filled prayer:

“O Lord, I beg You, let the man of God You sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”

Not: “I need more proof.” Or even: “A child.” But: “The boy that is to be born.”

God answers this prayer and the angel appears again. Once again Manoah’s faith-filled vocabulary is on full display for us:

“When Your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy’s life and work?”

Not: “If.” Or even: “I hope.” But: “When Your words are fulfilled.”

What a great example from Manoah!

Is there something for which you are waiting on God? Do you feel like He’s given you an assurance in your heart for this? Then change your vocabulary—let it be faith-filled vocabulary.

Change your Ifs to Whens to show that you are confident of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. 

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Leave Something Nice Behind

I walked into a coffee shop for a meeting this morning and someone who had been in Biggby before me was wearing the same perfume that Betsy wears. It made me think of her throughout my meeting. Without even realizing it, some anonymous woman left something nice behind for me.

Here’s a thought…

…how about if we find a way to leave something nice behind everywhere we go?

A few thoughts on how we could do this:

  • Pick up a piece of trash blowing across the parking lot (even if it’s not your trash).
  • Wipe the water off the restroom counter (even if you didn’t splash it there).
  • Smile at the over-worked, under-paid server who is serving you (maybe even leave a larger tip).
  • Straighten up the magazines in the waiting room (even if you didn’t mess them up).
  • Put the toys back in the toy box (even if your kids didn’t play with them).
  • Restack the fallen cups (even if you didn’t knock them over).

Do something unexpected.

Leave everything a little better than you found it.

Leave something nice behind.

C’mon, let’s make a difference.

Apathy Is Not An Option

The old joke goes like this—

Q: What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy?

A: I don’t know and I don’t care.

Corny, I know, but it does make a point.

For followers of Jesus Christ, sometimes ignorance of a situation is acceptable, but apathy is never an option. In other words, you may not know what’s happening around you, but once you know, you’re on the hook. You cannot do nothing. Especially when people need help.

Nowhere in Scripture will you ever see something like this:

  • “If you feel like helping the poor, go for it. If you don’t feel like it, that’s okay.”
  • “It’s okay to look away from the hurting.”
  • “If you’re too busy to get involved, God will understand.”
  • “If it makes you uncomfortable to see that, just pretend you didn’t see it.”

Nope. I cannot do that and call myself a follower of Jesus.

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. (James 4:17)

The consistently righteous man knows and cares for the rights of the poor…. (Proverbs 29:7 AMP)

The godly care about the rights of the poor; the wicked don’t care at all. (Proverbs 29:7 CEV)

Get informed and then get involved.

Do It

Here’s what God said to His people through the prophet Ezekiel, “I will judge you according to your conduct.” God says the same thing in the New Testament too.

It’s not what I believe. It’s not what I discuss. It’s not what I intend to do. It’s not what I know is right and wrong. It’s what I do.

I have to give an account of my conduct. I have to answer to God for how I lived out my beliefs. I have to show God what I did with what I believe about Him. I have to put into practice what’s in my heart.

Do I believe God is God? Do I have idols?

Do I believe God is holy? Do I sin?

Do I believe God forgives? Do I repent?

Do I believe God looks after orphans and widows? Do I?

Do I believe God is my Provider? Do I steal?

Do I believe He is Lord? Do I give Him control of everything?

Do I believe I should do something for the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and imprisoned? Do I do something?

This is what God judges: belief put into action. Not just beliefs, but godly actions motivated by those godly beliefs.

Faith without works is just wishful dreaming. Works without faith is just religious posturing. Works with faith is God-glorifying!

Don’t just believe it… do it.

Life On Life

In my remarks at the funeral in which I was officiating on Wednesday, I quoted the great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. He was reportedly addressing a couple of under-performing players when he said, “When all’s said and done, usually more is said than done.” In other words, don’t talk about what you’re going to do, just do it.

One of my passions is to mentor and equip other people to do great things. I’ve found that the best way to do this is not to just talk about what they should be doing, but to step into their life and do those things with them—to do more than I say.

This life-on-life mentoring is challenging but so incredibly rewarding. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Follow me as I follow Christ. C’mon, let’s pursue this relationship with Jesus together. I’m going to keep you close to me so that you can look in on what I’m doing, and I’m going to be right here for you too. Let’s draw closer to Jesus together” (see 1 Corinthians 11:1)

I love the one-on-one times with my kids … brainstorming with the young leaders-in-training at church … having challenging conversations with an accountability friend … opening our home to a young single mom. These interactions keep me focused on staying as close to Christ as I can. Because if I lose sight of Him, so might the others who are connected with me life-on-life.

It’s pretty hard to say, “Follow me while I do my own thing.” So I’m redoubling my efforts to stay close to the Master today.

Trading A Can For A Kid

Trade off

As we wrapped up our Bigger Than Me series last night, I asked our youth group how we could know that we are putting what we believe into action. It’s easy to deceive ourselves and say, “I’m doing a pretty good job,” but now do we know we’re doing what God wants us to do.

In Bigger Than Me we talked about stepping out of our comfort zone into The UnZone. We looked at the importance of walking in empathy (or, as we said it, walking in someone else’s flip-flops) to know what they are really feeling. Using empathy as the starting point, we then looked at the importance of praying for other people’s needs as though they were our own. And then we talked about how one person doing the right thing—even though nobody else is—made it easier for others to make the choice to do the right thing too.

So here’s the big ask. How do we put this into action? How do we join faith with deeds?

Our youth group was challenged to take on the responsibilities of sponsoring two students in the Latin America Child Care program. For just $64 per month, we’re making sure that two students get a school uniform, eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, get a quality education, and—best of all—have an opportunity to meet Jesus as their personal Savior.

Just $64 per month. For our youth group that’s like each person giving up one can of Pepsi, Coke, Monster (or their other favorite beverage) each month. One drink per month so that two students can have a better future.

Think about it: are you willing to trade one can for one kid? Our youth group did. They responded to the big ask, they stepped up to the challenge, they are putting their faith into action. I’m so proud of them!

How can you step up to the challenge?

The Big Ask

Tonight in our Impact! Youth service we are wrapping up a great series called Bigger Than Me. We’ve been challenging our youth to look out from themselves and see the big world around them. This has been an amazing series and I’ve been so excited to see so many students step out in a big way. You can read more here and here.

But tonight is the big ask. Tonight I’m going to challenge our students to make a commitment that’s going to hit them in a really sensitive area—their wallets. We’re going to present the opportunity to confront a real need in a very practical way: by giving money. Not just once, but every month.

Here’s the way the apostle James laid it on the line:

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

Here’s how you can be involved:

  1. Pray for me that I can present the big ask in a compelling way.
  2. Pray for our students that they’ll be moved to respond.
  3. Check out my blog tomorrow for an update on tonight’s response, and to see how you can help too.

I can hardly wait!

The Compliment Of Application

As a pastor, sometimes I wonder if all of the time and effort I put into prayer, study, message prep, and message delivery are effective. How do I gauge my effectiveness?

One word: application.

I love seeing people not just listening, but doing. Applying what they’ve heard and what’s been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit is the greatest compliment a congregation could give a pastor.Sophie

So I am absolutely thrilled to see the incredible folks from Calvary Assembly of God so quickly applying what we’ve been discussing!

My inaugural series was called “I ♥ My Church.” We looked at the practical ways the Acts 2 Church turned dechurched people—those who knew about God but didn’t have a personal relationship with Him—into those who ♥’d their church. How exciting it is to see such immediate application in our community.

Just a couple of examples:

  • The message board in the lobby immediately sported the message “You are the church.”
  • Stephanie helped Sophie get into the act with her new t-shirt.
  • A group of our Impact! students volunteered their afternoon yesterday packing more food boxes than they could count for the needy.
  • Last week we cleaned the house of a woman recovering from hip surgery.
  • Tomorrow we’re helping a family move into their new house.

Wow, am I a proud pastor! I can’t wait to see how God is going to continue to use this group of committed people to change the world!