God

KEEPING THE FIRE BURNING.

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I remember as a teenager I gave up piano lessons because I hated the practicing.

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My Aunt took me aside, way back then and told me, that I shouldn’t quit.

I laughed and asked, “Aunt Joan, what possible use is piano playing going to have in my future?”

Of course, it turned out she was right. A large part of my portfolio as a pastor has involved leading worship and piano playing through the years….Go figure!

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Anyway, worship was a such a large part of what I did as a pastor that many believed I could never give it up. I actually continued leading worship for about 6 months after I became lead pastor, but I did give it up.

Then back in September I was called to lead worship again with a ministry called, The Worship Room House of Prayer.

This ministry is dedicated to building round the clock worship and prayer in our region to empower the church and release the grace of God over our region. It is patterned after the thought in Leviticus 6 of never letting the fire go out on the altar:  The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offeringson it. 13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

I believe that if the church is to move forward it will do so from the position of prayer. So when I saw a need I offered my abilities such as they were. I do a devotional hour of worship from the piano on Monday nights from 5-6 P.M. The first month I sounded like a rusty old gate when I sang, and I played more wrong notes than right notes. Even six months into this I am still so weak in this gift of worship, but it is not about me. It is about raising up a prayer that will help the church in our little town move into its next stage of growth. I have to admit It is great fun playing and worshipping again even if the gift has aged in me.

I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE

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One of the things I heard in prayer during the 21 days of fasting and prayer, that our church just completed at the end of January, was that I need to prepare in prayer. Part of that prayer preparation is going to be times of family prayer, I think.

I have a confession to make. I am pretty good at private devotion. I am even good at prioritizing corporate prayer with the church body. The area I have always struggled with is in calling my family to consistent times of prayer.

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Praying as a family for emergencies… I can do that….but I feel like this preparation is going to be more than just the joining of hands through a time of trouble. I feel like God is calling us at this season to consecrate our family through regular prayer times.

In the past I have always struggled with saying yes to so many things that the yes to family prayer got pushed into the back ground. I do guess that is a common failing of young men, but I am no longer a young man. I need to stop living a young man’s mistakes.

It sounds like my family is game for this. So we have chosen a time and we begin this week!

THE HOSPICE PROCESS AND GOD WINKS

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This week’s big “project” at The Vicarage has been setting up hospice for my mother. At last week’s Telehealth appointment with Mom’s primary care doctor she felt we needed an evaluation to see if hospice was in order.

So this week we have had: Two telephone consults, two visits with a nurse, a visit with a social worker and a visit with a home health aid.

It seems to be a God wink thing that is going on. What’s God wink you ask?

God wink (plural God winks) An event or personal experience, often identified as coincidence, so astonishing that it is seen as a sign of divine intervention, especially when perceived as the answer to a prayer.

Here are the God winks we have seen this week:The doctor in charge of the program is actually the doctor mom worked with about twenty years ago when she was nursing at a local clinic; The social worker that came to our house I know personally through other hospice situations I have been involved in; And the home health aid I have known for years as her whole family has been a part of our church throughout the years.

It seems like God is working already to comfort us in all our grief! I love these God winks.

PREPARING TO COME OUT OF THE DECAY PT. 2

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 HERE IS A DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT I RECENTLY SHARED WITH OUR CONGREGATION.

AS A CONGREGATION, we have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

Today I would like to talk a bit about coming out of the decay of our personal strongholds.

DAY 2: PREPARE YOUR SPIRIT(COME OUT OF THE DECAY OF YOUR STRONGHOLDS).

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WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT STRONGHOLDS?

Strongholds cause spiritual decay. 

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Strongholds are controlled by and flow out of our flesh nature. Of this nature Paul the Apostle said, “5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the fleshcannot please God.” Romans 8: 5-8

When we choose not to deal with our strongholds we are for all intents and purposes voting against God and His plan for our lives. When we refuse to deal with our strongholds we are in effect sabotaging our spiritual walk.

IS THERE ANYWHERE IN YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE YOU ARE EXPERIENCING HABITUAL FAILURE? WHAT MINDSET (STRONGHOLD) IS CREATING THE SELF SABOTAGE? 

Pray with me: Dear Lord, You see this area of failure in my life. Forgive me for my sin and help me to see how my thinking is keeping me stuck in this failure. Deliver me from my wrong thinking and help me to start thinking Your thoughts. In Jesus name Amen.

LOTS OF REASONS

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I have been thinking about my grandmother a lot lately. One of her statements, in particular, keeps coming to mind. “There are lots of reasons to go to church, J. It’s not always about God.”

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Now…God is the reason the church exists. He is the center of it all, but my grandmother was not wrong in her assessment. In and through the church God provides many things that are essential for life. One of those things is community. For most of my life and ministry, I have downplayed the need for community to my shame.

This week we met with a hospice agency for Mom’s care going forward. Truth be told, I have been pretty stressed out, grieved and weighed down by this. In spite of all that I am doing OK…because of my family and my church community.

During the course of ministry, I have had the opportunity to meet many people who do not have the benefit of healthy family or community of any kind. They often come to the church in an hour of desperate need because they have no place else to turn. It is not that they have relationship with us at all. They come to us because they have no one else to turn to. Often by the time they reach out to us there is little left we can actually do. I often think though “If only we had known them when the issues were smaller, we maybe could have helped.”

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I will be the first to attest to the fact that church life is not perfect. Our communities, all of them, are imperfect. BUT…I can say with certainty that my life and my family’s life is stronger because we have been part of this church that we minister in and have been ministered to by. My family is strong enough to see Mom through this season of her life because we are part of the church and have our faith and our community to draw on. This is hard, but we will walk through it and come out stronger on the other side. I can credit the church community for the health of my family. I can credit the church community for the health of my spirit and mind.

This morning one of the men in the church reached out to me, as a friend, offering to help in anyway he could. He did that because I am a part of this community.

I cannot imagine facing this gauntlet, called hospice, without the wonderful tribe God has placed me in. There are lots of reasons to go to church. Knowing God is perhaps the most important reason, but a close second is the power of community.

THE NEXT LIST

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I try to pastorally visit all the families in my church regularly. With the growing scope of ministry it takes me about a year and a half to work my way through all the regular attenders once. At this week’s staff meeting I gave my personal assistant, Carrie, the next twenty or so names on my list. Between these pastoral check-ins, connecting with new people and then regular ministry board meetings, I get to do quite a bit of relationship building.I really love it!

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The idea of prioritizing intentional visitation is new to our church. Before COVID we were busy building programs that people could come to, but we did not do much going out for deep personal connection. It’s not a criticism, just a different way of looking at ministry. I am enjoying this work of intentional relationship building. I believe it is what God has called our church to during this season.

Today one of our DLT (Doing Life Together) groups invited Pastor Amanda and me out to a luncheon to celebrate Pastor Appreciation Month. They wanted to have it back in November, but our schedules could not coordinate until this week.

I think there were about 20 of us there. The ladies made lasagna, meatballs, salad and appetizers and then for dessert we had strawberries with ice cream.

One of the ladies let me hold her puppy, Teddy.

In my follow up prayer time this afternoon (some of you would call it vespers) I started sensing that I need to be visiting all of our groups for intentional connection. I don’t always need to be fed, but just being present with the people and hearing what the Spirit is saying to each of these groups will be very powerful, I think.

Look like I have another “Next List” for Carrie.

PREPARE TO COME OUT OF DECAY

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OUR CONGREGATIONAL SENTENCE THIS YEAR IS…

“Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

PREPARE YOUR SPIRIT(COME OUT OF THE DECAY OF YOUR STRONGHOLDS).

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WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL STRONGHOLD?– Paul the Apostle defines stronghold like this in 2 Corinthians 10:4, ” 4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

I. Some strongholds take the form of  HUMAN REASONING. Any thought that causes us to reason our way out of obeying the Scripture. Satan used a stronghold of human reasoning to ensnare Eve when he convinced her to the eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil…

“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it.” Gen. 3:1-6

II. Some strongholds take the form of FALSE ARGUMENTS. These are lies we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better about the wrong choices we make: “My behavior is justified because of the bad behavior of other people towards me”; “This is just part of who I am. I can’t help it.”

III. Some strongholds take the form of PROUD OBSTACLES THAT KEEP US FROM KNOWING GOD. Saul became prideful and decided he was worthy of offering the sacrifices of God in place of God’s priest Samuel. He lost the kingdom because of it.

David became prideful and took his friend’s wife and then covered it up by using his authority to have his friend killed. He ended up losing his infant son and bringing a judgment of permanent war on his reign.

IV. Finally, some strongholds take the form of REBELLIOUS THOUGHTS. “in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. 2 TIMOTHY 3

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR STRONGHOLDS ARE? ASK GOD TO SHOW YOU WHAT FORM YOUR STRONGHOLDS HAVE TAKEN.

GETTING ON THE GOD PAGE

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A few years ago I actually toyed with the idea of moving wholesale into professional writing. It didn’t turn out quite the way I thought it would. I ended up walking away from writing completely because of the demands of ministry.

I thought I probably would never write again. I actually tried to pick it up again several times.I just couldn’t make the writing commitment and keep up with the call of the church. I contented myself with writing a few family blogs every month or so, and the daily devotional video, but the life of stories became a thing of the past.

Lately, the desire for story has returned. I don’t really know where this will lead, but I am taking my word for the year, “PREPARE”, in hand.

During the 21 days of fasting and prayer I PREPARED a blogging plan for the next year along with the next year’s preaching schedule.

It is not God’s way to give us the destination before we start on the journey. He only ever gives us the first step with clarity the rest is just “looking through a glass darkly” to quote the apostle.

SO, as I come out of the 21 days of fasting and prayer, I am committing to get on the page God has given me. I am beginning with the blogging plan and let’s see what develops from there.

WHAT IS DEVELOPING IN YOUR LIFE AS YOU LAUNCH INTO THE NEW YEAR?

A WEEK OUT SICK

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It has been a week at The Vicarage. I came down with a cold that stole my voice after Sunday service and I have been out of commission for most of the week.I feel OK but there is a clog on my throat that sets me to coughing if I talk to much and then I end up without a voice for several hours. I haven’t been able to sing all week. I have a funeral tomorrow. Believe me when I say, I am praying deeply into that one.

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Mom has had a lot of muscle and join pain this week and she has been sleeping a lot. It is good to have Brenda home as she has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting with Mom during my illness. Mom needs someone to walk with her anywhere she goes now because her legs are so weak and she cannot get up under her own power even when she is at her strongest.

Life hasn’t stopped at The Vicarage in spite of my illness.Brenda has had time this week to meet with a couple of supporters and she is going out to lunch today with our cousin, Dan. Amanda and Joe have kept up their regular work schedules and Kristine found out yesterday that she has landed a part time job starting in the next couple of weeks. So we will be talking over the next few days about what Sevy care is going to look like.

Melanie and James have been working and getting the girls to doctors appointment and eye appointments. Lela got her new glasses and they look great!

James had to cover for me at Boy’s Group on Tuesday. One of our other youth workers, Troy, stepped in to help him. I appreciate my son-in-law so much!

Life goes on and the family goes on. I am amazed at how fast the changes and the growth come.

WHAT IS CHANGING IN YOUR WORLD?