WHAT WILL KEEP YOU FROM MOVING FORWARD

Michael Kelly's most recent post in FORWARD PROGRESS is a must read for all of us on a discipleship journey. - STEVE

 
The New Testament calls us to a different kind of ethic – it’s a new kind of obedience. It’s not one measured in adherence to a code, but an obedience that’s through and through – not just doing right, but being right. Not just acting with love, but truly loving. Not just willingly acting but feeling it as well. But in the middle of all of these demands, there is one that isn’t quite as exciting:

Keep going.

Don’t give up.

Persevere to the end.

Or, as Journey might put it, don’t stop believin’:

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us…” Hebrews 12:1

“If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us…” 2 Timothy 2:12

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13

During those days, these verses were read largely in the context of persecuted believers, or in the prediction of persecution to come. Faith was or would be challenged with loss, and in light of the cost, many would abandon their confession. They would reject what they believed. They would give up and stop running the race of faith.

But I don’t currently live in a persecuted state, and I’m not often tempted to give up my beliefs based on threats of property seizure, social loss, or outright violence. Likely, if you’re reading this, you might not either. But the exhortations to remain in the faith are still there. It seems like a good time, then, for me (and others who live in relative freedom like me) to ask the question of our own selves:
If not persecution, what will make us give up our faith?

You could probably point to many things, so here’s one more to throw into the mix: materialism. Greed. Prosperity. This is what might make us give up our faith. To understand why, though, you have to dig in a bit to the basis of Christianity, and then how prosperity puts a challenge to it.
Christianity is, from the beginning, a humiliating religion. To come to Christ, you can be full of all kinds of sin. But the one thing that you cannot be full of is pride. That’s because the message of the Christianity is a self-debasing one – you are dead in your sin, and you can’t ultimately help yourself out of that condition. You are a person in the worst kind of need.

Understanding that helps us see why prosperity might be the thing in prosperous nations of the world that might most make us abandon our faith. With money comes misplaced security. With money comes misplaced confidence. With money comes the altered sense of self that makes us forget or neglect why we came to the cross in the first place.

Money makes us forget our need of God, and with that forgetfulness comes the abandonment of the gospel.

So be careful, all of us who are rich. Be careful that your money does not replace your God. Be careful that your money does not keep you from believing.

WORK AS WORSHIP

SOMETIMES FAITH DOES TAKE FAITH - From C. Michael Patton

Sometimes Faith Does Take Faith

by C Michael Patton Many things are easy to believe. Its easy to believe that I just finished counseling a couple who are getting married next week. Why? Because I just experienced it. Its easy to believe that I am writing on my computer right now. Though I don’t have the first clue as to how computers work, the experience is enough to persuade me of the reality of my actions. I believe it. So many things in life that we have faith about are easy to believe. But some things are harder to believe.

One thing that we have to keep in mind about the Christian faith is that it often does take faith. I spend a good deal of time trying to help people understand that belief in Christ is not irrational. In fact, I believe that, when we understand things well, it is the most rational thing that we can do. However, just because some thing is rational does not mean it is always easy to believe. Some things that God calls on us to believe are simple and self-evident. Very often, many aspects of our faith are easy and require about as much effort as belief in the reality of my present action of writing this message. Sometimes faith seems to take very little faith.
However, there are things that are not quite so easy to believe. There are times in our lives (often extended) when belief is hard to come by. There are things that cause us to doubt and slip into a mire of uncertainty.

When faith does not come so easy, we often panic, making the situation much worse as we sink deeper into a pit of despair.

It is easy to believe God loves me when things are going well in my life. When the kids are obedient, when my marriage is going well, and when there is enough in the bank to pay the bills. It is easy to believe because we often think that these are the things we should experience if our faith was true. However, when things are not going so well, faith takes a little more faith…
FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO CONTINUE READING >>>
Sometimes Faith Does Take Faith | Parchment and Pen

"JESUS IS NOT GOING TO DROWN ... THAT'S WHERE I WANT TO BE"

One of the most compelling stories in the Bible for me personally is found in Matthew 14.22-33. Jesus is walking on the water and his invitation to Peter to get out of the boat and join him on the waves.  Part of me is captivated by the vision of joining Jesus in being part of something immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine.  As a servant of Christ--the safe, the mundane, the routine are a slow death and lost opportunity in the eternally significant work of the Kingdom.

Yet part of me recoils at the thought of stepping out of the boat.

Unlike many people, I enjoy being on the cutting edge of what God is doing to transform people's lives and the world.  But like many people, I don't want to be too close to the edge lest I stumble and fall over that edge.  I am aware of how easily I stumble.

But what is my fear (because that is what it is)?  Am I afraid of failing, or appearing foolish, or having more trouble than I can handle?

Or am I afraid of being truly transformed?

Peter tended to be on the leading edge of discipleship.  He was drawn towards the potential of being more than a mere Galilean fisherman. He threw himself passionately into what he was given to do.  And although he stumbled many a time along the way ... big time; ultimately he found himself in the vortex of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost where 3000 people gave their lives to the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

I once heard it said that Peter inside the boat out on those angry waves was involved. Peter fifteen steps out on the water was committed.  And Peter was in an entirely different place in his faith and his experience (and ultimately his impact) than the eleven who clung to the sides of the boat.

I don't want to be involved.  I want to be committed.

I don't want to be better. I want to be transformed.

And that will require to answer Jesus' invitation to step out of the boat and walk on the water.  Walking with him on the water. And if I have any hesitation at all, I need to remember that Jesus is out there.  "Jesus is not going to drown ... that's where I want to be."


Leonard Lee has written an excellent blog post on this passage from which I have taken my title quote. (Read Leonard's post ...)

THE LIVING LOGIC OF EASTER

This from a great blog called REAL LIFE WITH GOD

the logic of living Easter
April 25, 2011

In the first few days following Easter, a great Scripture transforms it into a 365-day theology (instead of a 3-day weekend): “In view of God’s mercy . . . offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1–niv).

Jim Elliot, martyred missionary to the Ecuadorian Waodani Indians, journaled in 1949, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Prophetically, he had journaled these words a little over six years before he would actually be forced to reveal how much he believed them true. He and four other brothers in Christ were brutally murdered while simply attempting to reveal the truth of Jesus to those who did not yet know Him. This–Elliot firmly believed–was a Reason worth laying his life down for. He would leave a wife and a 10-month-old daughter behind. Of course, we see this as tragic–and it is. But, it’s not as tragic as we might think.

What did he lose? His life, yes. But, that’s something we’re all going to lose . . . since it’s never a matter of if, but when. Since we’re all going to die, did he really lose anything? He certainly had to let go of his family faster than most of us will or would ever want to. That’s tragic, too, of course. But, what if giving up his family in the short-term meant he could grow THE FAMILY OF GOD in the eternal term? You see, those 5 missionaries’ deaths weren’t the final chapter of what happened in Ecuador. The man who actually killed Elliot later noted that the missionaries had guns in their possession, but refused to use them. They didn’t defend themselves, so as to sacrificially communicate God’s kindness. It cost them their lives, but it didn’t cost them something they were going to be able to hold onto anyway. The Waodani who killed Elliot would later say: “I have killed twelve people with my spear! But I did that when my heart was black. Now Jesus’ blood has washed my heart clean, so I don’t live like that anymore.” Was God saddened and outraged that His servants were murdered? Yes. Is that the only way the Waodani could have come to know Christ as their Savior? That’s unknowable. But, did God use this tragedy for good? Yes. In that way, it confounds our sense of what tragedy is. Jim Elliot was no fool to lay down his life as a “living sacrifice.” Neither are you a fool when you do the same thing. In fact, when it says this decision is our “true and proper worship,” literally he says that it is the logikos (lah-gee-koss) choice of how to live (and die) in light of God. It’s where we get our word logical.

Basically, reasonable people know where to invest their lives. Illogical people invest it into stuff that they can’t carry with them across eternity’s threshold. In Jim Elliot’s journal where he first penned those famous words in 1949, his immediate thoughts that followed were a reference to Luke 16:9–

Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

What are YOU investing in?

PERRY NOBLE ON WHY WOULD YOU NOT DO IT?

Why Would You Not Do It?

One of my life verses that is always in front of me is Hebrews 11:6…
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

One of the myths that has been crippling to Christianity for years is that Jesus has called us to “play it safe”…when that is not taught OR modeled by Jesus OR His followers in the Scriptures.  (See Acts 20:24 and Galatians 2:20)

Jesus didn’t play it safe…Paul didn’t play it safe…none of the Apostles played it safe…the church in Acts 4:23-31 upon being threatened and persecuted did NOT pray for safety…they prayed for boldness!
Yet today we seem to want to play it safe…that cannot be the goal.

So what about you church leader?  Church member?  Whoever…what is that ONE THING that you KNOW the Lord is calling you to do?  You know it’s a risk…you know that in order for it to take place you are going to need divine intervention?  What is it?  Why not do it?

People have asked me before, “Pastor P, how do I know that it’s God telling me to do it and not just an idea I had?”  GREAT question…allow me to share three identifying marks that I have personally experienced.

#1 – This thing that you believe you are called to do by God will not contradict God’s Word! I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit…and I believe that He speaks as loud today as He did in the book of Acts; however, I also know according to the teachings of Scripture that the Holy Spirit will not contradict the Word of God.  So…if “that thing” that you feel called to is in direct conflict with God’s Word…then it’s not God telling you to do it.

#2 – You can’t get away from this thought…it dominates your thinking and the more you marinade on it the more you feel like you might explode. For example…I really did believe back in 1996 that Jesus was telling me I needed to start a church.  BUT…instead of running out and doing it immediately I began to read books on it (Rick Warrens books and Bill Hybels book on the subject of church planting impacted me significantly) and dove into the Scriptures to see what they taught about the subject.  AND…the more I prayed, studied and read about it…the hotter the fire inside of me became.

#3 – Godly people in your life affirm it. (SEE Proverbs 15:22)  What I have learned from personal experience is that if I do not want to share my idea with those in my life who I know really do love Jesus and love me…then…I usually know it’s not a “God idea” but rather a Perry idea.  One of the things that EVERY believer in Christ needs is godly men and women who love Jesus and love the person enough to speak the truth in love…people who value the friend more than the friendship and are willing to say what needs to be said.  ANYTIME I have ever shared a thought/idea that I really believe the Lord has placed in my heart and the people the Lord has placed in my life to love and challenge me push back…I ALWAYS take a step back and pray and think through the idea more until the Lord either gives me greater clarity OR shows me that the wise counsel of my friends is exactly what I needed to hear.

That is what works for me…so how about you?  What is that thing that you know you should do?

Life is short, hell is hot and eternity is forever!!!  The world has NEVER been impacted by Christians who spend their whole lives in a car seat and beg God to never let anything bad happen to them!
Ask HIM to set you on fire with HIS plans…and THEN GO FOR IT!

MEET SARAH COINER

 I am working with a group called Global Media Outreach which trains on-line missionaries to mentor new believers and to respond to seekers via the Internet around the world.  You can learn more about them at GMO.http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com

This is the story of one of those "missionaries" who is an inspiration to us all.