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Pastor's Blog - Entries from June 2010

ThuThursdayJunJune17th2010

Priorities

Posted Thursday, June 17 2010 @ 8 PM byPastor Trevor Tagged Christian Living 1 comments Add comment

Rather, ironically I just spent two hours writing a blog on priorities only for it to disappear into thin air. So the question is whether or not writing this blog should be a priority? There are many things that I need to be and should be doing. So I have reached a compromise, so to speak. I believe that this is an important blog so I will rewrite it, although with brevity. There are many of us who go week after week and life just kinda happens to us. Our days are on an escalator and we are along for the ride. Many days we look back and have regrets about how we spent our time and wish that we could have that time back so we might do things better. However, our regret rarely brings us to a crisis where we actually do anything about it.

Yet, there is a crisis. How many have been led away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ? (2 Cor.11:3) I believe many are so caught up in the rat race of life and the things of this world that we have lost our focus. How many of us can say Christ IS our life (Col.3:4)? If we can't, then we need to stop making excuses and start prioritizing our lives accordingly.

What were the priorities of those in the early church? There are 4 things I want to highlight that need to be part of our daily lives.

1. Be Devoted to Prayer (Acts 1:14, 2:42, 6:4; Eph.6:18; Rom.12:12; Col.4:2)

2. Be Devoted to the Word (Acts 2:42; 1 Tim.4:13; 2 Tim.3:16)

3. Be Devoted to Fellowship (Acts 2:42; Heb.10:24,25)

4. Be Devoted to Good Works (2 cor.9:8; Eph.2:10; Col. 1:10; Titus 2:7,14, 3:8, 14; 1 Peter 2:12)

These are things that need to be priorities in our lives if we are going to live in devotion to Christ. How does your life measure up against these priorities? If you are not sure, then keep track for a week where you spend your time. Record each hour what you've done. At the end of that time, you will see where your priorities are. Are they what you want them to be? If they are not, then schedule into the following week those things that you know should be your priorities. It may mean less sleep or less leisure time. . . it may even mean some drastic changes in what your family does each week. But. . . it will be more than worth it! Something I heard said years ago still applies today. If someone arrested you for being a follower of Christ, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Prioritize your life accordingly!!

ThuThursdayJunJune10th2010

Hospitality

Posted Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 4 PM byPastor Trevor Tagged Christian Living 0 comments Add comment

Yesterday, we looked at the importance of kindness in the church. Today, I would like to take that a step further. The Bible is clear that we are to show kindness to one another in the body of Christ. We are too good to everyone, but especially the household of faith. The many verses that we looked at yesterday highlighted the need to show kindness to our brothers and sisters in Christ, to those we know.

However, we are also to show kindness to strangers. We translate the Greek word φιλόξενος and get our English word hospitality. The Greek word is actually two words put together. The first word is philos which is a Greek word for love, or a friend. The second word is xenos which is a word for stranger. Thus the word means a friend to strangers or loving to strangers, kind to strangers.

Romans 12:13 says that one should seek to show hospitality. The idea here is to pursue, to do something with intense effort and with definite purpose or goal—‘to do with effort, to strive toward. ^{^[1]} We need to be intentional in our pursuit of being hospitable. It doesn’t just happen. We need to purpose to be a people who pursues being hospitable. Harvest, will we be a church that is hospitable? Will be a church that shows kindness and love to strangers.

When looking at someone who would be qualified as an elder in our church we see that he must be one who is hospitable. An elder should be one who is kind to strangers, one who is a friend to strangers. (1 Tim.3:2; Titus 1:7,8)

The writer of Hebrews highlights it’s importance when he tells them that there are some who have entertained angels when they showed hospitality to strangers.( Heb.13:2) We need to be a church that does not neglect showing hospitality to strangers. When we do show hospitality we need to do it with the right heart attitude. Peter writes that we need to show hospitality without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9) How many people do the right thing with the wrong heart, which ultimately defeats what was to be accomplished. Let us be hospitable with joy and thankfulness. It is our opportunity and privilege to serve God in this way. Who knows what eternal good could come about by our showing hospitality! Harvest let us not neglect the importance of hospitality!!

^{^[1]}Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996, c1989). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd

edition.) (1:662). New York: United Bible societies.

WedWednesdayJunJune9th2010

Kindness

Posted Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 2 PM byPastor Trevor Tagged Christian Living 0 comments Add comment

Every one of us in the church has ministry to do. While we may function in different roles we all have ministry responsibilities. NEVER, EVER, should it be said that there is no ministry to be done. It should never be said, “we currently don’t have anywhere for you to serve”. There is always ministry to be done. While many of us have grown up in churches where ministry has been seen as a position there can be a tendency to think that only the mature and talented can do ministry. However, we miss out on so much when we think of ministry as a position. Everyday there is ministry to be done and everyone that is a believer is equipped to do this ministry, because you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ministry is done through the power of the Spirit. We are to be people that are characterized by the fruits of the Spirit. (Gal.5:22,23) This is how we are to function around one another and throughout our week in contrast to the list that preceded it. The fruit that I want to focus on particularly is the fruit of kindness.

Why is it that I can go to Disneyland I see more smiling faces and people who are kind to me then I find in a lot of churches? From the people who pick you up at the parking lot, to the people you buy tickets from, to the people who check you in, to the staff who run the rides, work at the food places, to the characters...all the staff is taught to be kind...if you don’t you lose your job. If we are not a kind church we ought to close our doors, because we are not exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit.

What does the Bible say about kindness? The Old Testament shows that kindness is to be pursued. “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. (Job 6:14) Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honour. (Prov.21:21) Describing the godly woman the proverbs read, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”(Prov.31:26) He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, (Zech 7:9)

The Rainbow Reminds Us of God's Kindness
(Photo from Harley J Winborn)

The New Testament shows that kindness is not only to be shown to our friends and family, because God is kind to all. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” (Luke 6:35) “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4) “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant.” (1 Cor.13:4) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” (Gal.5:22) “Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph.4:32) Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, (Col.3:12)

This list of verses is by no means all the verses that speak of the importance of kindness. Kindness is important to God. Is it important to you? Is your church known for its kindness? Do people see your kindness in your words, in your disposition towards them and in your actions towards them? Everyone in our church needs to be exhibiting the fruit of the spirit of kindness. This is something that is a fruit of the spirit and to be truly impacting it needs to be an overflow of your walk with the Lord. But we need to be intentional to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Harvest lets be a church that is marked by its kindness! People need to be ministered too!

WedWednesdayJunJune2nd2010

Speaking the Truth in Love Part 2

Posted Wednesday, June 02 2010 @ 12 PM byPastor Trevor Tagged Christian Living 0 comments Add comment

Eph.4:11-16 reminds us of one of the key central purposes of the church. The goal of the church is the maturity of disciples. At HBC Calgary our mission is to see lost people saved, saved people matured, matured people multiplied...to the glory of God. As we see from this passage in Ephesians one of the primary ways that men and women are matured is by speaking the truth in love. What does that look like?

If we were to say it another way we could say it involves saying the right thing with the right action and the right motive.

What is Truth?

Pilate when speaking to Jesus asked a question that all people ask at one time or another. What is truth? (John 18:38) If I am to speak the truth in love I first need to determine what is truth. You will hear people say, what is true for you may not be truth for me. They live with the thinking that there is no such thing as absolute truth when it comes to living. I can not disagree more. I believe that there is absolute truth. That truth is found in God's Word. (Ps.119:60, Is.40:8) That truth is found in Jesus Christ (John 14:6). I may not like the things I read in God's Word. It may be convicting, it might make me uncomfortable, but none of that changes the fact that God's Word is true. I can either submit to it or deny it, but I will be judged according to the truth found in His Word. If I am to speak the truth in love, I need to make sure that what I am saying to someone is Biblically supported.

What is love?

Something that is often said at Harvest is that God’s love is not a pampering love, it is a perfecting love (God disciplines those who He loves (Heb.12:6) Love does not say I will give you whatever you want and I will say whatever you want. Parents with children know the importance of not giving their children whatever they want. My youngest would live on bread and candy if we were to let her have whatever she wanted. I'm sure by 18 she would be regretting that her mom and dad had not spoke the truth in love to her and told her that she needed to expand her food tastes. Love says the tough things, the truthful things even when it is unpopular.

Love says I am going to lay aside my desires for someone to like me out of my love for you. Love compels me to say it...even it jeopardizes our relationship. (Prov.14:25) I realize especially in our day that being bold and being truthful is going to be seen as unloving. But what does the Bible say…speak the truth in love. Prov.27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Profuse means abundant) A true friend will tell you the hard things with the hope that you will become more like Christ, that you will mature in your walk with Him. Speaking the truth in love doesn’t mean cutting the truth in half. (Zech.8:14-17) We are to speak the truth to one another, the whole truth, anything else is really a lie.

Love will not procrastinate...speak the truth in love now, don't put it off. However, when you do speak, make sure you know all the facts...don’t speak in a vacuum. If you don’t know all the facts, don’t approach the person as if you do. Tell them what your concerns are and allow them to clarify the facts. This should be obvious, but the loving thing is to go to the person not everybody else under the disguise of a prayer request. (gossip!)

Lastly, what should your response be when someone is speaking the truth to you in love. We need to welcome it in humility. (Ps.141:5)

I realize two things going through this topic with you.

This is counter cultural and that this is not easy!

Ask God to give you courage to do the right thing when needing to speak the truth in love and the humility to receive instruction. Don't put off doing the right thing, but do it when you have the time to work things through (not when you need to rush away). Be people of prayer.

Our church needs to embrace the value! It has to be held high. Do you want to be a church that is growing quality disciples? Do you want to be mature in Christ? Do you want each part of the body of Christ operating properly? We need to, we have to, speak the truth in love to one another. (Heb.10:24,25)

Pastor's Blogby A window into the heart and mind of the Senior Pastor for Harvest Bible Chapel Calgary.