“The Temporal and Eternal”

"1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.  6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

You cannot sit in a hospital ER or patient floor without thinking about this earthly body.  Well, let me re-phrase that.  You cannot be a Christian and sit in the ER or a hospital room without thinking about this temporal body.  

Over the past 5 days I’ve seen and heard many cries for help.  I’ve looked upon those who are hurting severely in this earthly body.  And yes, even heard the called for a “Code Blue” over the intercom system.  That really gets your attention.

I’ve watched my own wife suffer greatly with pain and wonder what was causing that pain.  Where was it coming from?  What was causing it?  Of course it brings it even closer to home when it is your own loved one suffering.  You want to do something to help them, but can’t.

But in my prayers for my wife and her relief of pain and healing, I was reminded that all of this is temporal, not eternal.  Paul states it so clearly in Second Corinthians 5 when he says, “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (5:1).  Now be sure you know, I want to live a long time and want everyone else to do the same.  But, as I said in Bible study a few weeks ago, I am not afraid to die nor for Christ to come back.  I know who holds my future.  I take great pleasure knowing that to be absent from this earthly body is to be home with the LORD.

What about you believer?  Do you dwell on the temporal allowing it to govern your thoughts and emotions for this fallen world?  Or, do you dwell on the eternal, knowing there is more waiting for you beyond this temporal life?  One can bring heartache and pain while  the other brings peace and comfort.  If you have ever dealt with someone dying who does not know the Lord, or their families following that death, the despair is enormous.  No hope is found!  But when ministering to someone dying or families who have lost a loved who was a believer, while sad for their passing, they celebrate their loved ones life for they are home with the LORD!!!

Whether a believer or not, one day folks the eternal will come into play and the apostle Paul’s great announcement will come to pass: Philippians 2:10-11 (NASB) 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I have to tell you, these past 5 days have reminded me of the temporal and eternal once again.  Just thought it might be good to remind you, that is, if you haven’t thought about for a while.

Blessings, 

Pastor Marty          

Worship, Grow, & Serve                      

“The Compartmentalizing Question”

This past weekend brought about the end of the 31st Olympic Games in Rio.  For the past two weeks plus, these Summer games have dominated the television schedule on multiple channels.  It has been the talk on major news programming, sport talk radio, and just about any multi-media outlet you would browse.  And every four years when the Summer games pop up, it becomes, for many Americans, a dominate topic of our conversations and our time.  Even my 11 year old daughter asked on Monday night of this week, “What’s on the Olympic’s tonight?”  As I responded, “Last night was the closing Ceremony,” she said, “Oh no.  I don’t want them to be over.  Now I have to want four more years!”  She is right, four more years, 2020, and we’ll be watching the games from Tokyo, Japan.

I can only relate as an American, but it seems to me we have a way of compartmentalizing everything.  We certainly use calendar dates of days, weeks, months, years to track our lives.  We use hours, even minutes, to track our time to order our life.  And it seems to me as I watch our activities of life, as we compartmentalize everything, certain things will certainly bump out other things as to its importance, and in some cases, rightfully so.  Other times, its just what we choose as important to fill that time and space in our lives.  The past two weeks I have enjoyed watching the American athletes compete and win in many of the 42 sports of these games.  I made time, pushing other things out of the way.

As my daughter said, “Oh no… Now I have to wait four more years,” I realized that these games had occupied much of our time at home.  In some ways that was good, for our family watched them together.  But in other ways, not so good.  Late night watching overshadowed giving time to praying together before bedtime.  Oh, I would say, “Kids, don’t forget to say your prayers,” but that is not our normal family routine.  We allowed something to move out to make room for something else.  And in this case, it was not more important.  Our compartment, that of family prayer time, was pushed aside, and filled with something else.

We have a member at HOPE Church that often reminds us that whatever takes priority over your life it your idol.  We all have little idols, but priority over your life, now that’s a huge deal.  

So the question, or The Compartmentalizing Question is this; what have you allowed to push out worship, prayer time, reading the Bible, devotion time, ministry time, service to God time in your life that should be permanently set aside for God?  As a believer, God’s expectation is that we will place Him first.  There is no debate in that.  This expectation is the first of the Ten Commandments and Jesus calls for it first as He gives the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-32; Luke 10:27).  We all know that as we push Christ out other things take that place.

But Marty, you are pastor and that is your life 24/7.  You might say, I have other responsibilities you don’t have.  Really?  I have a life too.  Children in school, two of our kids have jobs we have to schedule around, sports they are involved in, homework, two in college, etc.  Life is busy for us all.  So are you saying, nothing else, but Christ 24/7?  No!  We all need to enjoy life and life’s opportunities.  We live in a great awesome country.  We have families to enjoy, events to attend, work to do, fellowship to participate in.  Time for vacations are great and much needed.  Nothing wrong with that.  Just a thought though for you to consider.  While on vacation, what do you do if it happens to fall on a Sunday?  Do you attend worship?

I’m just trying to get us ALL, that includes me, to think about our days, weeks, months, even our hours of the day and realize that we compartmentalize our lives in such a way that unless we are intentional to place God and time for Him in our lives, regardless of your profession or stage in life, something else will fill that time.  

We all need to set time aside for Him.  And while Sunday worship should be one of those non-negotiable times, there should be daily time set aside too.  When He becomes our priority, the compartmentalization question will be answered.  So for me, I say, “OK Lord, I’m convicted!  I will do better!”

Blessings, Pastor Marty          

Worship, Grow, & Serve                      

“My Identity Is Rooted In Christ”

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 5:16

I mentioned last Sunday durning my sermon that I am a sports lover.  Usually when I’m asked, “What do you like to do for fun?  Do you play golf like most pastors?”  I say, “No, just once every two or three years.”  “Do you run?”  “No, my knees won’t allow me.  But I do walk!”  What is your pass time then?”  “I love to watch sporting events,” I say.

I know, many of you cannot fathom that watching sporting events could be a pass time.  But for me, I can unwind, I can relax, and even just get lost in the moment of watching a good game or event.  So as you might imagine, the Olympics being on now has caught my attention.  And part of that is hearing the “back stories” of some of the athletes participating in the Olympic Games of 2016.

I marvel at their work ethic, their dedication to the process to get them to this point in the career to be an Olympian as their story unfolds.  But some of the stories go untold.  Like Michael Phelps being at the point of despair and a retired linebacker named Ray Lewis gave him a book titled, “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren and he regained purpose in his life.

But there are times when a few athletes speak out about their journey and it is breathtaking, refreshing to hear.  On Monday night the diving event was being broadcast on TV and I was watching as the American team of David Boudia and Steele Johnson were diving in the finals for a metal.  Through much of the competition they were in second place.  The team for China was the favorite and were performing awesome dives.  David and Steele were, likewise, diving very well.  Their sixth and final dive brought home the Silver Medal for the Americans.  Immediately after their successful event, they were interviewed pool side.  As the NBC announcer asked what this metal meant to them, David Boudia said, “This metal does not define me.  My identity is rooted in Christ.”  She turned to Steele Johnson with the microphone and he said, “Like David, I give God the glory.  This moment will not define who I am.”  Of course the interview was done from that point by NBC.  Can’t have to much of this Jesus stuff on the airwaves.

I was so proud to hear David and Steele say, “This is not what defines me.”  Diving, an Olympic Silver Medal, being an American, no, my identity is in Christ Jesus.  When these men qualified for the Olympic Diving Team in Indianapolis in June at the Trials, they witnessed for the Lord and David said, “This is nothing compared to the sacrifice made for our eternity.”  WOW!

This scripture from Matthew 5:16 came to mind, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

How many times do we have an opportunity each day to let our light shine so that God receives the glory?  No, we are not on TV nor are we Olympic medalist but if you are a believer, your identity is found in Christ.  NO OTHER!  And if we are identified in Christ, shouldn’t we give HIM the glory?  When we point to God and not “self,” our focus is placed in the right direction.  The minute we say, “Look at what I’ve done” the focus is diverted from Him to us.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with being proud of your accomplishments, but give Him the glory for your good works so others may see the Christ living in you.

I was so proud of David and Steele sharing their faith in the moment last Monday night.  I’m sure God was too.

Blessings my friends,                                                                 

Pastor Marty               

Worship, Grow, & Serve                      

"Know Him"

As some of your know, 6 of our nine kids have attended Sandhills Classical Christian School.  Yesterday was the first day of the 2016-2017 school year.  The High School grades opened the school year with a day called “Opening Academy.”  This is a day when the Principal of the Rhetoric brings in outside speakers to talk to the students on different topics.  At the end of the last school year the Principal asked me if I would be willing to come in and talk on one of the aspects of bullying.  My topic was on Bullying from a “Spiritual” perspective.  I said yes.  So yesterday, Tuesday, August 2nd I was up.

I have thought much about this topic over the past few months.  I’ve seen report after report of those who have been bullied and taken their life.  Bullying comes today in so many forms.  When I was in school it was mostly verbal and physical, but today you have to add social and cyberspace.  It is unreal the cruelty many kids unleash on other kids.  Here is the things though, the more I thought about it, it comes back to “Spirituality.”

Before I spoke a Pediatric MD spoke about these four types of bullying I mentioned above and did some role play with the kids on how to handle different situations that they may face.  She gave some really good advice.  But again I was sitting there thinking it’s “Spiritual.”

I won't go through the entire talk, but I wanted to share a few points and scriptures with you that I shared with the students.  I opened with two questions.  First I asked, “Please raise your hands if you have heard of Jesus of Nazareth?”  The second question I asked was, “I don’t want you to raise you hands on this question, but answer it in your mind with yes or no.  No other answer will work.  Your answer has to be Yes or No to this question.  Do you know Jesus of Nazareth?  Really know him?”  If you answered yes to the question then you need to know what the scriptures say about one who believes.

First, John 14:16-18 tells us that those who believe will have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, two characteristics of this person of God deals with us on this topic.  Those being “Guidance” and “Conviction.”  We cannot have Jesus Christ in us and think it is OK to bully someone.

Second, Matthew 22:34-39 (as well as Mark 12:29-31) states, “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

So here is the deal, to love God with all your being, and to love your neighbor cannot include bullying.  So the answer to my second question is so important.

1st John 2:9 “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness…”  You cannot say you know Jesus and treat your brother with hatred.  So again the answer to my second question was so important.

Then I shared this question, “What if you find yourself in a bullying situation?”  The good doctor had given some good advice, as I said, but Jesus gives great advice as well from a “Spiritual” perspective.  Matthew 18:15-17 gives us the biblical process of handling conflict with others.  I talked a little about that with the students.  If you are unfamiliar with this passage, I would encourage you to read through it today!

After closing with a personal story from my grade school, I had to go back to address that second question again.  “Do you know Jesus of Nazareth personally?  If you answered ‘Yes,’ that was great.  But if you answered ‘No,’ I want you to think about that answer.” Then I said, “The answer to this question is the most important answer you will ever make in your life.  Every other question pales to this one.  Answering ‘Yes’ to this question will affect everyday of your life.  It will affect how you relate to others and how you glorify God.  By answering ‘Yes’ to this question you are to glorify God in all you do.  You will experience a peace like never before.  Your  love of God and love of neighbor will lift up your witness of Christ where bullying will degrade it and getting that positive witness back will take a long time.” 

I asked those that did not answer “Yes” to this question to talk to a teacher, pastor, parents, or the Principal or me if they would like to know how to answer that question “Yes.”

Folks, if you have read this far, I want you to know, how we live our life in this fallen world is dependent on whether we know, really know Jesus of Nazareth, the very Son of God.  Know Him, honor Him, let your witness Glorify Him and then you will marvel at who His is and what He’ll do through you.

As for the students, my hope is that I planted a seed in each whether they answered “Yes” or “No.”  God’s Word is so great and true that my prayer is that it will dwell in their hearts and minds.  My desire is that they all know Him.

Blessings,                                                                 

Pastor Marty               

Worship, Grow, & Serve