Category: Love One Another

Not a 9-5 Job

Posted on by Dorci

Pastors only work a couple of hours on Sundays, right?  Maybe a couple more if there’s a midweek study?  Well, not quite.

Not even close.

Besides spending time in prayer, studying God’s Word and preparing the teachings, pastors oversee all the church staff, each ministry, all the events, manage the church building maintenance, allocate church finances, counsel hurting people, resolve disputes (at least try!), perform weddings and funerals, and I’m sure a lot of other things that we don’t even know about.

And they do it all while also managing their own household, marriage, children, all with the same challenges we all have.

And it’s not only what they do, but how God calls them to do it – with all love, grace, mercy, humility, wisdom, patience, and stewardship.

In his first letter to Timothy (third chapter), Paul says, “Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.  (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”

And speaking of the devil, make no mistake, pastoring a flock is a front lines position. Pastors, and their families, are particularly open to spiritual attacks.

This is not a job, but a calling they pour their hearts into, day in and day out, 24/7, and pastor burnout is not uncommon.

That’s where we come in. 

“Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to appreciate those who diligently work among you [recognize, acknowledge, and respect your leaders], who are in charge over you in the Lord and who give you instruction, and [we ask that you appreciate them and] hold them in the highest esteem in love because of their work [on your behalf].”
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 AMP

Every Sunday we walk in and sit down, taking for granted that someone has laid down his life in service to the Lord and to us, to feed us, to train us, to care for us as the Lord would have him do.  Showing our appreciation is the very least we can do to serve them back, to encourage them, to let them know their service is not in vain, but is making a difference in our lives.

Of course that can be done any time of the year, but to come together in October to corporately show our appreciation during Pastor Appreciation Month is a way we can stand together with our pastors, and their families, as one in the Lord.

Thank you, pastors!

 

Heavenly Father, we lift up our pastors to you and ask that you would fill them up with your Spirit, and renew their hearts with the love, wisdom, and encouragement they need to continue faithfully in the service you’ve called them to.  We pray you would strengthen their marriages and protect their families from the enemy.  Help us to never take for granted all they do, and remind us to pray for them, this month and always.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

 

 

How God Can Put Together the Broken Pieces of Our Heart

Posted on by Dorci

Last weekend our church had the distinct privilege of hearing this man give a little bit of his testimony about what happened on the day this photo was taken and afterward.  You might be familiar with this image of Chris Fields and Miss Baylee Almon that was taken, unbeknownst to him, on April 19, 1995, the day of the Oklahoma City bombing.

He described a little bit about that horrific, rainy day that would end the lives of 168 people, 19 of them children, and injured more than 500.  How rows of first responders dug their way through rubble, 5 gallon buckets at a time, passing each one behind him or her until late into the night, looking for people, dead or alive.  How they had to try to match body parts to the rest of the body. How they came across a woman, barely alive, and were able to get her to safety, only to learn later that she and her unborn baby didn’t survive.

And how another firefighter handed Miss Baylee (the name her family called her) to him for a few moments while he went to find something to lay down so they wouldn’t have to lay someone’s precious child directly on the ground. Even how the Pulitzer Prize winning photo itself caused a lot of grief and controversy.

Chris struggled hard to deal with all that had happened.  Sometime later, when the smell of wet cement triggered a flashback of that day, he began to realize just how much the events were affecting him.

Chris talked about the fact that his mom had always been the family’s prayer warrior, and she told him God had a plan for him.  But Chris didn’t see it, and he decided to make his own plan, and he moved away from his wife and young sons.

Chris’s wife, Cheryl, talked about the fact that she didn’t grow up in a Christian family like Chris had.  Still, when her husband left, she turned to the Bible. People encouraged her to read the Psalms, and when she didn’t understand something, she called Chris to explain. And she began to pray.

She didn’t try putting on pretenses with God. She was honest. She prayed that if Chris wasn’t coming back, the Lord would take away her love for him.

Some people might not dare pray a prayer like that. Some people might just get mad at God and not pray at all.  And they might miss out on all God wants to do in their lives because of it.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

Cheryl kept praying, and never once did God turn her away for praying that prayer. On the contrary. Sitting in the presence of God, over and over, allowed God to work in her heart. Of course, God didn’t take away her love for Chris. He strengthened it.

God filled Cheryl with His amazing grace. And when Chris called one day about a year and a half after he’d left, Cheryl said, “Come home.”

And he did.

I’m sure the road since hasn’t been easy. There’s been counseling, and Chris still gets emotional talking about it. But with God they’ve persevered.

Since then Chris and Cheryl have spoken to many groups about PTSD, and about the hope that God gives. Looks like Chris’s mom was right (as moms often are).

The enemy does not have the last word. he will not have the last word as long as we sit with God and pour out our hearts to Him. He will never turn away someone who’s genuinely seeking Him, no matter what the prayer.

God’s not one bit surprised at the thoughts we have. He knows our hearts better than we do and already knows the thoughts we have. He just wants us to be honest, and know we can go to Him with anything. He’s our loving Father, and He wants us to know that no matter how broken our hearts are, if we’ll offer up those pieces to Him in prayer, He can put them together even better than they were before. If we abide in Him – cling to Him – through the good, the bad, and the ugly, He can fill us with His love and grace and mercy, fulfill His plans for us, and set us on a path we never dreamed possible.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for all you do.  Thank you for loving us through everything, for giving us your strength and courage as we go through trials.  Help us to give you our hearts, no matter how dark they seem or how many pieces they’re in, so you can heal them and fill them with your light. Help us to daily abide in Christ. Help us hold onto Him, to pray without ceasing, no matter what. Make us more than conquerors, Lord, and we pray that you have the last, victorious, glorious word in our hearts and in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

How One Degree Equals a Million Miles

Posted on by Dorci

You get on a plane bound for Paris.  Your future spouse is waiting, along with your wedding party, your officiant, and all your guests.  You fly for what feels like forever and finally land, only to find out you’re in Belgium instead. 

Now, Belgium is nice, but it’s not Paris, and it’s not what you planned.  The pilot profusely apologizes when he realizes he’d set his course one degree off.  One degree?  How could one degree cause such a mess?

God told Adam “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  Genesis 2:16-17

Enter the serpent. The master of “It’s only one degree…”

He says to Eve,“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'”  Genesis 3:1

Already he’s begun planting doubt and confusion in her mind. “Wait, did God say that…?” And she replies,“We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden(so far so good), and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

Uh oh.  One degree off.

The serpent retorts,“You will not certainly die. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Funny how satan always makes it seem like we’re missing out on something when in reality he is enslaving us.

Of course we know the rest of the story.  Eve goes one degree off by adding something God did not say (“you must not touch it”) and she’s suddenly off course.  Then, as she’s off the path God plotted for her, her pride takes her another degree by doubting God’s motive, and then another by coveting, and she walks over to the tree, plucks the juicy fruit, and takes a bite.

She hands it to her husband, he shrugs his shoulders (conveniently forgetting what God had told him), and he takes a bite, too.

And suddenly sin enters the world.  And the story continues to this very day, and the world is a million miles off from what God desired.

Yes, we have Christ and the cross, and anyone who puts their faith in Him is forgiven of all their sin. Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy and through Him we have victory over sin and death.

Still, the battle is not over.  The war of degrees continues, and we are warned “Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Jesus may have won our souls, but satan’s looking to swallow our lives, our service to the Lord, and our witness to the world. And he does it one degree at a time.

“Did God really say…not to eat that, not to drink that, not to watch that, not to read that, not to smoke that, not to go there, not to do that? Everybody else is doing it. Your friend is doing it and see what a great person he is?  Your Christian friend posted it and it sounds inspirational. Yeah, that’s not what the Bible says, but it’s the 21st century. Your pastor is reading it. It’s a Christian book, right?  So what about the parts that aren’t exactly scriptural. It doesn’t matter.”  

One degree. And then another, and another.

Just a meme. Just a book. Just a movie. Just a piece of fruit.

Discernment gets walked out of the cabin and relegated to the backseat. We base beliefs on who is saying it, rather than on what is said. On its popularity, rather than God’s Word. On our political affiliation, rather than our position in Jesus Christ.

We adopt beliefs because they sound good, and though they may be part truth, they may also be part untruth – just one degree off – and we adopt the belief, mixing it with some truth, and then other untruths we are bombarded with from the world are built on that, decisions are made based on those unscriptural beliefs, and soon we look back and around, and we’re lost. We’re far from God, and the lion is crouching in the bushes, stealing God’s plans and replacing them with needless pain and suffering.

Maybe the question we all need to ask ourselves is – who is my pilot?  Me or God? My feelings or God? The world or God?

He will never lead us off course. Yet when we find ourselves off the path, with Him, through Christ, there is an abundance of mercy and forgiveness. We are always one prayer of repentance away from being whisked back to God’s side, walking with the Spirit again.

There may be consequences of our sin, though, which is why God lovingly warns us to always be alert and of sober mind. Let us “resist {the devil}, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”  1 Peter 5:9

We’re all in the same boat, or plane, in keeping with my original analogy. We need each other’s prayers and encouragement and strength as we walk this walk, and we can only do that as long as we’re walking next to our Lord, and not off eating fruit that’s bad for us.

God’s given us an entire garden of life-giving fruit. Let us revel in His provision, stay on course, walk with Him and do His will, and remember that one day we will see “Paris” – the great place of the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride.

“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give Him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)”
Revelation 19:6-8

 

Gifts > Talents

Posted on by Dorci

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:4-8

If you knew me very well you might think it funny that I have a strong desire to encourage people.  I don’t feel encouraged a lot of the time.  I feel a lot of other things like exhausted, frustrated, distressed and sometimes depressed.

But through all that haze of human struggle God has given me a gift of encouragement. That, to me, is amazing.

God delights to show Himself strong where we are weak.

And because it’s very obviously not my nature, but God’s, He gets all the glory.

Once the Holy Spirit placed that gift in my heart, it was up to me to yield myself to Him and allow Him to shine that light of encouragement through me.  And yet sometimes all I have to do is walk through a check-out line.

I was doing just that once years ago when I was a fairly new believer.  The store was crazy busy, all the lines were long, and I stood in one of them holding my new pair of shoes.

I finally…finally…finally reached the front of the line, and the poor cashier looked frazzled.  Her head was down, finishing up from the last customer. As she looked up and into my eyes, she stopped, smiled, chuckled a bit and said, “I felt better when I saw your face.”

Now, it was not me and it certainly was not my face, per se.  There were plenty of other perfectly nice faces that had gone through that line, and there was nothing about mine in particular that would comfort this overworked girl, except that it was the face of someone who was in love with Jesus and had been given the gift of encouragement.

It was the Holy Spirit, graciously and mercifully using that gift to shine His light of comfort from one of His children to, quite possibly, another.

That’s what spiritual gifts are for: the building up of the Body.

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

So, lest any of us think we have no spiritual gifts, God’s Word tells us that if we are part of the body of Christ – if He is our Lord – then the Spirit has given each of us at least one gift for the benefit of the body. It’s not to keep for ourselves and it’s not to hide, but to share.

The Church is weakened when all its members are not fully using their God-given gifts for the benefit of one another.

 

One issue is that many times talents and gifts are misunderstood, and human talents are being used rather than spiritual gifts. Gifts of the Spirit are being minimized in favor of works of the flesh; pride is trumping humility and submissiveness to the Spirit of God.  And when that happens, the church becomes nothing more than a sing-a-long, but not true praise; nothing more than an inspirational teaching, though not Spirit-inspired; nothing more than a religious duty, but not actual worship. And we all suffer for it.

Human talents rely on our own personal knowledge, practice, understanding, strength and power.

Spiritual gifts are given and used strictly by the power of the Holy Spirit and our yieldedness to Him.  

God can give gifts to complement the talents He’s given us, but His gifts still work solely in the power of the Spirit.  

Gifts are given to us, not because of who we are, but in spite of it.

The Church needs our gifts.  We are each a brick in the Church of God with Christ as its Cornerstone.  Remove just one and though the foundation stands, the building falters.

If you don’t know what your gift or gifts are, I encourage you to pray and ask the Lord to show you. There are some tools that, with prayer, can help you find your spiritual gifts.  This is one: http://www.spiritualgiftstest.com/

And once you find your gift(s), ask the Lord to show you how He would have you use it for the building up of the body.  Beside our personal relationship with Christ, being used by the Lord and fulfilling His plan for us is perhaps the most rewarding blessing on this earth.

And may I add – let’s encourage each other in our gifts and allow ourselves to be built up by one another. We need each other right now, and we need the gifts God’s given to all of us.  There may be darker days coming for believers than we’ve seen in recent headlines and we need every spiritual gift to prepare and empower us and spur us on to victory.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”  1 Thessalonians 5:11

Grace and Peace,

Stumbling Block

Posted on by Dorci

“‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

As we grow up in Christ, we learn to put away our so-called rights. We learn that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. It doesn’t mean it is good for our walk, good for the building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ, good for our witness to the unsaved world, and good for glorifying our Father.

As our love grows, so does our desire to put aside those things that would keep us from shining as brightly as we can in this dark and aging world. More than the “thing”, we desire to magnify the Name of Christ and to be about our Father’s business, not our own.

If you had one week to live, what would you put away for the good of Christ and to make the most of the time you had left for Him? People are dying around us, if not physically, then spiritually. If we have a chance to be Christ for them, so to speak, to be the embodiment of the Spirit, which we certainly are, and to show them there is a different way, a holy way, a godly way, is the “thing” worth it?

People may not say it, but they are looking for something different. Something other than what the world offers, because what it offers is sin and disillusionment and destruction and death. They are looking for a way through, an answer, a peace in the middle of the storm, a purpose.

They don’t know it, but they are looking for Christ. Is the “thing” you would give up a stumbling block, for yourself or for them? Is it worth it? Life is short and we have one purpose: to glorify our Creator. To know Him and make Him known. Is it time to kick the stumbling block out of the way?

In Christ we have the freedom to do, but even greater is the freedom we have to give it up.

In His great grace,