Where Did You Lose It

 Where did you lose it? I'm not referring to some lost item you have not been able to locate for some time. I am referring to your passion and love for God. Where did you lose it? Did you willfully choose to disobey God? Can you go back in your memory to a specific instance where you pulled a Jonah refusing to obey? Many have done this in the past. 

You know when you lose your first love. You find yourself numb from His presence.  Your heart hardens. You may do the same things you did before such as pray, read your Bible, and gather for corporate worship only something is missing. It feels like you are just going through the motions. Doing the routine like rituals instead of pursuing a loving relationship with the Lord. Can you go back in your mind to a sinful choice that started the slow drift away from Him? 

Maybe you got hurt. You may even blame God for the pain. You question why He did not protect you. Some go so far as to blame God for inflicting the pain. You have never been the same. You carry a deep seeded bitter grudge against God or someone else. It has hindered your love for God going on years. 

Many people pack the pews on Sundays who lost their first love. They act like everything is the same on the outside as they go through external motions. It is the inside that becomes callused. Cold. We are living in a Laodicean church age with lukewarm believers justifying their condition. They are not cold. They may not be hot either. They exist somewhere in the middle. Such living makes Jesus want to vomit. It is a hard word, but one that is needed. Lukewarm living makes Jesus sick to His stomach. [Rev 3:15-16] 

If we want to be restored to our first love, we have to discern where we lost it. Some lost it in a never ending cycle of busyness. Some of that busyness might even be for God. We can stay so busy doing things for God that we miss spending time with God. Is that where you lost your first love? 

 [Rev 2:4-5] The Laodiceans were commended for doing many things well. They worked hard and persevered through trials. They endured for the sake of the name of Jesus. For all the good, Jesus had one thing against them. They left their first love. He called them to repent and remember from where they had fallen. Can you recall times in your walk with the Lord when you loved Him more, had more passion to serve Him, and were closer to Him. We are all called to remember those times and to repent going back to what we did when He was our first love. 

He is supposed to be first in importance. First in priority. The supreme love of our lives. Our highest ranking love. He deserves our greatest affection, our most passionate pursuit, and our highest priority. To fail here is to fail at the very heart of our relationship with Him. The masses show up and offer shallow worship, ritualistic prayers, apathetic attitudes toward His word, and petrified hearts to His moving. 

It's time to go back to where we lost it. It is time for repentance. It is time for renewal and restoration of that relationship with our Savior. Pleading with Him to return our desire for Him to be our first love. It is time to adjust our lives accordingly. It is time to come back to our first love putting Jesus in His rightful place. 

Who Is God

 By listening to some people talk you would think God had a last name as in the word damn, short for damnation. Who is God? Is He one of many gods. A search on the computer reveals historically there have been over 18,000 gods. Get this straight. There may be 18,000 little "g" gods. There is only one God! He called Himself "I am that I am" in Exodus 3:14. He is self existent. He is self sustaining. Put another way, that simply means He was not created. He has always been. 

In I Timothy 1:17, God is described in several ways. First, He is a King. Not just a king. He is the King. A divine and sovereign ruler over the affairs of the universe. People are subject to Him. He is the ultimate authority in the universe. Many refuse to believe that. Many deny that He even exists. He has outlived and outlasted all of them. He will do the same with current skeptics. 

Next, He is eternal. That is hard to wrap our finite minds around. We live in the limitation of time. We have a date of origin and will have a date of expiration. God has neither. He has always existed. He will never die. He does not age. He is not an old grandfatherly deity decrepit and too feeble to work wonders. He is as vibrant, strong, omniscient, as He has ever been. 

He is immortal. That means He is imperishable and incorruptible. God does not age. He is not weakened with the passing of time. He is not slipping mentally. He cannot be destroyed. He is not challenged. He has no rivals. He stands alone as the supreme deity.  Unequaled. Incomparable. Exclusive. Distinguished. 

He is all the above and invisible. He is unseen. His works are visible. He is not. In fact, nobody can see God and live. That is what God told Moses in Exodus 33:18 when Moses asked to see God's glory. God responded that nobody could see Him and live. He put Moses in the cleft of a rock and let Moses see the backside of His glory. Moses face radiated with glory a long time afterward. 

Even saying all of that does not scratch the surface. God is like an iceberg plunging deeper than we can see. He is like a mountain that no person can ever climb to the summit. He is wiser than we can comprehend. Greater than we know. He is therefore to be honored. That means He is to be valued and respected. The masses give Him no value nor do they consider Him worthy of any respect.  He will have the last word and people will honor and respect Him in the end. 

We are to glory in Him. The word glory means to praise in approval. We have the choice to glory in Him voluntarily now. The day will come when people will do it involuntarily. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. He will not be toppled ever. He will not be outlasted. He will stand uncontested as the only God through the ages forever. That is just a small sampling of who God is. 

A Deeper Commitment

 The older I get and the longer I've followed Jesus, I find myself longing for a deeper commitment to Him. To not be satisfied with past experiences or my current level of devotion. I know there is always room for improvement. There is closer communion with Jesus possible. There are new heights to discover and deeper depths to explore. There is more. 

I want to know Him more. Our youngest son, Turner, who is studying to be a youth minister and a psychologist, recently asked me if I could ask God for one thing what would it be. I did not hesitate to answer. This has been a matter of prayer for a long time. I want to know Him more and hear Him more clearly. N\I don't content to settle for what He can do for me. I want to know Him more. I want draw closer. I do not want to settle to know more about Him. Many Christians do that. They settle for gaining information. I want a closer relationship. I know that cannot happen without spending more time alone in His presence. To prefer His company over the company of the crowds. That is why one of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 63:8 in the King James Version. "My soul followeth hard after Thee O God." Following hard is more than a verse. It is an attitude of life. To be in constant pursuit of God to know Him more. Paul wrote that we should strive to know God in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings in Phil 3:10.

Another sign of a deeper commitment is to please Jesus more. Put another way, that simply means to obey Him more. To do the things He commands us to do. Like tell others about Him. I just walked out of a meeting with two ladies from a volunteer organization who will be using our facilities in the near future. I will probably never see these two ladies again since they are front people for the volunteer group, and will not actually be a part of the team that comes. After our business ended, I asked them both where they would spend eternity, and talked about Jesus' death on the cross taking the place for our punishment. I did not put them on the spot for a decision. I did please Jesus by spreading His good news. I wish I always did that. I missed an opportunity with a lady at Sonic earlier this morning. I don't always please the Lord. Many times I fail and must come back to Him in repentance. It is my desire to please Him more and more in all areas of my life. To strive to submit and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in holiness. I Pet 1:15-16

Another way to show deeper commitment is to glorify the Lord more. In John 15:7-8, Jesus told us one way we glorify Him is to bear abundant fruit. In Matthew 5:16, He also instructed that we can glorify Him by doing good works. That is my desire. To glorify Him when I preach, teach, write, and serve. Not trying to draw attention to myself. Not seeking to be honored. Deflecting accolades and attention to Him. I coached football, basketball, and baseball to glorify God. I wrote books and numerous blogs to help people and glorify Him. I desire to glorify Him by the way I endure trials and suffering. I want to glorify Him by answers to prayer when I get to testify to brag on Him. He gets the glory when we baptize someone. He is glorified through a sermon or gospel witness, He deserves all the glory. It is all about Him. Not about us. 

We can show deeper devotion to our God and His Son Jesus Christ by constantly striving to know Him more. Our commitment is demonstrated and we continually discipline ourselves to please Him more. He is most pleased when we deflect any person glory and deflect it all onto Him. 

Fellowship of the Burning Heart

 Jesus appeared to two people walking on the Emmaus road in Luke 24. They did not recognize Him at first. It was only after He broke bread and gave it to them that their eyes were opened to understand the risen Jesus was in their presence. Immediately Jesus disappeared. The two made a curious statement in [Luke 24:32]. They commented, "Were our hearts not burning within us while He was speaking to us."

The year was 1947 and renowned teacher, Henrietta Mears, taught at a retreat where several young men and women were in attendance. Several would later play prominent roles in ministry endeavors. Among them was Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ, and Richard Halverson, who later became Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. That night Mears challenged the young men and women to fully commit themselves to the cause of Christ, and to be expendable for Christ. A few of those students went silently to a study room to pray. 

Those students and Mears wrote out a contract and signed it to remember their decision to fully commit to the Lord that night. They pledged to maintain devotions through prayer and Bible study for the remainder of their lives. They pledged self denial and to live disciplined lives for the Lord. They also pledged to holy living. Lastly, they pledged to witness for Jesus and to bring at least one person to salvation every twelves months. They identified themselves as the Fellowship of Burning Hearts. 

The famous preacher and author A.W. Tozer also wrote about the Fellowship of Burning Hearts. He identified those included in this fellowship as those who loved Jesus Christ. Not just a casual love. To love Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. [Matt 22:38]  He wrote that those in the fellowship would love Jesus and enjoy the worship of Him so much that they would not have to be entertained in worship services. Tozer continued that for those in this fellowship Jesus was their everything. Their all in all. People in the fellowship would abandon themselves to the pursuit of Jesus. They would also be unashamed to testify for Jesus to those who did not know Him. 

The fellowship of burning blazing hearts was formed informally over seven decades ago. Some have joined this fellowship over those years. Most have never even heard of it. Do the things Mears and Tozer wrote about describe your relationship with Jesus? Or do you find yourself a member of the fraternal order of lukewarm living? 

You cannot passionately pursue Jesus and not have Him set your heart ablaze. It is impossible to live in Laodicean lukewarmness when you spend time in the presence of the foremost burning heart of all time in Jesus Christ. Will you abandon yourself to Him? Will you pursue Him relentlessly as Mears and Tozer did? Tozer even wrote a classic book titled, The Pursuit of God. I long to be a part of this fellowship of burning hearts. Never satisfied but always hungering for more of Him. Unashamed to testify about Him. Seeking to burn more and more in His presence. Contented in Jesus and not needing nor even desiring to be entertained as a cheap substitute for substantive and soul satisfying worship. O Lord, let me burn for you so hotly and brightly that others are attracted to the flame and set ablaze as well.   

Holy Ambition

 From as far back as I can remember I had ambition. I used to sit in elementary classes practicing my autograph because I had ambition to be a professional athlete. I worked out in my junior high and high school years alone in the hottest part of the summers to excel in sports. I pushed my body and mind through ambition to succeed so I could play college football. 

When Jesus saved me, He did not take away my ambition. He redirected that ambition. It became a holy ambition, or at least it started out that way. I never dreamed I would become a pastor and preacher. In my early years in ministry, my ambition was to lead the biggest youth group in town. I worked relentlessly sharing my faith with students and saw dozens and dozens get gloriously saved. God grew that youth group. We saw multiple rows of pews filled with teenagers on Sunday mornings. We were big and influential. 

I left that ministry to become a pastor. My ambition to see the church grow intensified. We did grow in that first church. We doubled in size. It was during this season that God had to refine my ambition. I wanted the growth because I wanted the accolades. We won the award for the fasted growing church in our area one year. It was hollow. Between when we turned in our attendance statistics and the time I received the award our church split. Over the next few years attendance dwindled dismally. I cut my salary voluntarily several times. We met outside in the warmer weather on Sunday evenings because we could not afford to run the air conditioning all day on Sundays. I did not tell the church that, but they probably knew it. 

Over and over again I kept that ambition to see churches grow. To baptize more people. To see attendance increase. Always ambition for more. I struggled with contentment. Instead I chased ambitious success. God had to refine that ambition. I encountered systematic failure over and over again. Failed church plants. Decreasing attendance. Relocations. Only to experience more failure. 

It took decades for God to get me to a place of real holy ambition. To become kingdom of God minded. To reset my mind to not ambitiously focus on building my kingdom. Matt 6:33 exhorts us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. Paul challenged us to learn to be content in all circumstances in Phil 4:10-12. Holy ambition means to let God set the parameters of our ambition. I am still driven and focused. Still forward focused. Still ambitious. I set a goal this year to lead a minimum of 12 people to Christ. I ambitiously set a goal to baptize 100 people this year. I have never even seen 50 people baptized in my ministry. Only God can do that. Here is the difference than in my early ministry. I wanted to grow and baptize people because it was biblical, but I also wanted the recognition. 

Today, I shun the recognition. I want to glorify God. I got an email last week from the editor of a denominational magazine wanting to do an article on our church. I prayed over it and did not feel a peace about it. I want to guard against pride or ever stealing glory from God. I prefer to do my work with ambition, but behind the scenes where only God sees. I don't want to be in the spotlight. The only recognition I desire is from God. He will reward in eternity. I do not desire the accolades and my pride certainly does not need it. God gets the glory for 100 baptisms. My name or even the name of our church is not the focus. God saving people is all about His glory. It is all about Him. John the Baptist put it perfectly when he said in John 3:30, "He must increase and I must decrease." That is holy ambition. 

A Thousand Compensations

 I have served smaller churches most of my ministry. I have never had retirement set up as part of a salary packages. I will have to work as long as I am physically and mentally able to do so. No problem because I love my work. Small churches mean small salaries. On more than one occasion I have worked bi-vocationally. I am here to say emphatically that God makes up the difference. God's provision for pastors come in a thousand compensations. 

I heard that last statement today listening to a pastor speak on a podcast. God provides for pastors in a thousand compensations. Brenda and I have seen that repeatedly over the past three decades. It may bore you, but I am going to make a list of things God provided for us. Vacuum cleaner. Beds. Chest of drawers. Chairs. Dining table. 9 vehicles. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Televisions. Bags of groceries. Tuition payments for school. Tanks of gasoline. Suits. Ties. I could d go on and on. God makes up the difference when there is lack. 

God proves Himself faithful to His people over and over again. He also does this for His pastors in unique ways. Many congregations are not able to adequately compensate their pastor. Some just choose not to do so even though they have adequate resources. It doesn't matter. God is able to make up the difference. His storehouse is amply supplied. He never runs out of resources. According to Ps 24:1 the whole earth is His and everything in it. Ps 50:10 is a reminder that our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He can meet any need. He knows every address for His people. He can get His provision to those who need it most. 

In I Kings 17, God used ravens to provide for His prophet Elijah. Night and day God commanded the flight of the ravens to deliver meat to His servant. How out of the ordinary. Miraculous. He is able to do those kind of things even to this day. I experienced it again this morning. 

My time with the Lord this morning landed in I Kings 17. My faith was lagging. My vehicle had multiple mechanical issues. I planned to take it to a mechanic and dreaded the diagnosis. Before the morning was over, I experienced God answering another prayer of provision. Provision in answer to something I've prayed for at least two years. I was offered to buy a vehicle that we can afford without going into debt. The offer left me speechless. I certainly prayed for God's provision of vehicles. I just never saw the means by which He would make that provision. Just another reminder that in my life God has a thousand compensations besides my salary. It is humbling, astonishing, and cause for rejoicing. He did it again. 

I asked God for six vehicles without any debt. I did not ask Him for brand new vehicles. I asked Him for debt free vehicles. God has provided two of the six in the last month. If He can do that, and He has, I trust that He can certainly provide the other four in His way and in His timing in a thousand compensations. To my God be the glory.