Just like these Jews, there are times in my life when I need to reaffirm my relationship with the Lord Jesus?  How about you?  Do you need to sign over the deed of your life to the Lord?  I encourage you to do that because God’s Word promises that He will change your life.

Elsewhere we find lists of Academy Award winners, best-sellers, Fortune 500 companies, stock market listings, and let’s not forget our to-do lists and those honey-do lists.  If we are not careful, it is easy to get lost in all of our lists as we struggle to make it to the top and please others.

I am thankful that God’s list for us is short.  The Bible says in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The next time that you’re feeling that living for God is getting too complicated, blow the dust off Micah’s list: to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with God.

The Bible says in Psalm 119:1, “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.”

Do you have a spiritual game plan?  If not, I encourage you to develop one.  Start by reading your Bible and spending a few minutes in prayer today, and then go to church this Sunday.  Before long you will be winning in life.

God’s people in 2 Chronicles 20 were facing their own insurmountable obstacle.  Three nations were marching against them at the same time.  Notice their response.  The first thing they did was pray and look to God for help.

This was their prayer:  The Bible says, “O our God…we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

I encourage you to put your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him to guide you through the storms of life.

The Bible says in Zephaniah 3:17, “The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Remember today that the God of the Bible loves you unconditionally.  He rejoices over His children.

We had such great aspirations when we started listing out those resolutions, but for whatever reason, they never became anything more than just talk.

The Bible says in Proverbs 14:23, “In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”

 I encourage you today to not just talk about what you want to do…go do it.  Get back in church.  Go back to school.  Put down the cigarette.  Get on the treadmill.  Just do it, and you will begin to win again.

“Discontentment Anonymous”

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

“I just don’t know why I came to this place.”

It was the strangest sight I’ve ever seen, the image of that unexplainable slip of paper waiting for me on my desk this morning.  Every afternoon I leave with my desk clean, as I had yesterday, yet there was that small slip staring at me, waiting to be read.  I hadn’t left it there.  Who could it have been?

It hadn’t been cut or ripped away from what seemed to have been a larger piece of paper.  It appeared independent, crafted so small as a scrap meant to stand alone, not as some misplaced part of a whole.  It also appeared personal, meant specifically for me.  All it said was, “D.A.” with an address and a time.  The time was easy enough to decipher, and the address was familiar, but what was the meaning of “D.A.”?  Was I to attend a meeting at this place and time?  How could I entertain something so mysterious?  How could I not?

All morning I pondered, “D.A.  This makes no sense,” yet I knew what curiosity alone would demand I do.  Shortly before the time inscribed on that strange slip of paper I found myself driving, parking in front of an unassuming building I’d passed many times before except never having the slightest inclination to enter.  “I’ve never seen a sign at this place.  What’s inside this building?” I wondered aloud.

With five minutes to spare I actually entered its front door to find a short, well-dressed man leaning over a greeter’s desk.  He looked up from his newspaper only long enough to ask, “Your letters?”  “My letters?!” I replied.  “Yes, your letters… you’re new here and you must’ve come because of a slip of paper with two letters.”  Then it dawned on me, “Yes, sir.  This makes no sense.  Can you help me?  Mine says ‘D.A.’”  Returning his gaze to his newspaper yet nodding to his left, he mumbled, “Down that hallway, fourth door on the right.”  “But can you tell me what this means?” I pleaded.  Never looking up, the man repeated, “I just point the way, sir.  Down that hallway, fourth door on the right.”

This was the strangest place I’ve ever been.  Except for that unhelpful greeter this place looked completely abandoned, a total waste of space.  Walking this dimly lit hallway, with every step resounding in a tile-floored echo, was the most unnerving thing I’ve ever done.  Finally I saw a door, “A.A.”  I know of Alcoholics Anonymous, of course.  Perhaps a local group of theirs meets here.  Then at the next door I saw, “B.A.,” and at the next, “C.A.”  Then I got the picture.  “At least I didn’t draw ‘Z.A.,’” I laughed, hoping humor would relieve my worry.  Unsuccessful, knowing that my door was next on the right unnerved me all the more.  Standing in front of it, the letters “D.A” etched on it in plain view, I found myself slightly out of breath, heart racing, nervous… “Am I actually going to open this door?  I just don’t know why I came to this place.”

Turning the knob and walking through, my senses were struck with sights and sounds I’d have never expected in a million lifetimes.  Instead of finding a small, empty but cramped meeting room, my eyes spied a vast arena of people.  I was instantly looking down at an aisle with filled seats on both sides–an aisle leading downward not to a court or field but to a solitary platform with a single microphone placed in the center.  My curiosity fully in control now, I hurried to the lone empty seat I saw.  Settling in and more anxious than ever, I instinctively checked my watch.  With its time matching the time I read on my slip of paper, I noticed another well-dressed man making his way to the microphone.  Amzaingly this enormous crowd of people silenced as one when he tapped the microphone.  “Are they as nervous as I am?  Do they know why we’re here?  What is he possibly going to say?” I wondered, my mind racing but every ounce of me hushed, straining to hear…

“Welcome, everyone, to this week’s meeting of Discontentment Anonymous.”

“Discontentment Anonymous?!  What in the world is this about?” my mind exploded.  “There’s no reason for me to be here!  And it certainly doesn’t feel too anonymous!”  Before I could storm back up the aisle and out, though, he spoke again, “My name is Joshua, and I have a few folks for you to meet.”

Nearly turned at this point to leave my seat, I paused as another man made his way to the microphone.  Curiosity again won the moment as he introduced himself, “Hello, everyone.  My name is Jim.”  Nervously he grabbed my attention, continuing, “and I struggle with discontentment.”  Jim seemed so exposed and graphic in what he shared.  “I grew up in a family that had nothing,” he said.  “My mother and father did their best to provide for us, scraping us by on what seemed like so little.  We just never had what other families had.  I found myself so envious of them, thinking I deserved better, resolved that my life would be different.  I worked my way through school and slaved my way to the top of a local company’s food chain.  On our home we’ve spared no expense.  I drive whatever I want, as does my wife.  Every gadget I purchase the day it’s introduced.  We take vacations and spend like there’s no tomorrow, but I’m never satisfied… never.  It’s never enough, even when I make myself think that once I buy this or achieve that I will have ‘arrived.’”  Jim shocked me as he turned seemingly inward, “What’s wrong with me?  I never thought about it until recently, but I really struggle with discontentment.”

The crowd murmured to each other as Jim left the platform, leaving me to glance innocently at others around me.  As powerful as Jim’s sharing was, part of me was consoled, “I don’t struggle like that.  Thank God I’m a Christian,” while again wondering, “Why am I here anyway?”

Again entertaining thoughts of bolting, I was interrupted by the sight of another person climbing the steps of the platform, this time a woman.  “My name is Linda,” she said, choking back tears, “and I struggle with discontentment.”  To my surprise I heard hundreds respond, “Hello, Linda.”  She continued, as if bolstered by the crowd’s greeting, “I’m a wife and a mother of three young children… this is very difficult for me… I love my husband, believe me, I do.  There’s something missing between us, though.  He’s never been mean or abusive, but I find myself always dwelling on his faults, about how my needs just don’t ever seem met.  I can’t get what I desire out of my mind, always feeling like I’m settling for less than I deserve.”  Weeping, she finished, “The other day I found myself talking to a coworker, tempted as never before by the thought of what life would be like with him.  What’s wrong with me?  It’s like I’m never satisfied!  I’m really struggling with discontentment.”

Never have I heard a crowd this size so quiet as Linda left the platform.  I was watching people identify with her pain and struggle, fighting emotions as they did so.  Still I counseled myself, “I may feel discouraged from time to time, but I’m not like Jim or Linda.”  Then I watched a third person take to the platform.  Portraying an air of regret mixed with conviction, he spoke, “Hello, my name is Bill.”  This time what seemed like thousands responded, “Hello, Bill.”

“My struggle with discontentment showed itself in my life with my church,” he explained.  “I’m a Christian, very active as part of my church family.  I’ve served in every way you can imagine… on committees, in ministries, helping with events.  Doing my part is important to me because I look around and see so few others doing anything of value.  I’ve heard for years the idea that 80% of the work churches do is done by only 20% of its membership, and how real that is frustrates me.  Lately, though, my frustration has grown worse, all but out of control.  I hear others arguing and competing with one another as if we’re rivals, and it angers me, but the more I look at myself the more I see the same coming from me.  I nearly exploded the other day when our budget committee recommended what it did, and all but ripped our worship leader’s head off after that song sounded not quite right.”  His eyes flashing with relived agitation yet his body language clearly showing a fight for self-control, Bill settled in to finish, “I realize I’m as big a part of the problem as anyone else.  I’m never satisfied and always fighting the thought that I and my efforts aren’t treated as deserved.  I’m really struggling with discontentment,” he paused, ”but I don’t want to anymore.”

By this time I was bent over, head in my hands, suddenly understanding why that scrap of paper had mysteriously become mine.  I may never know exactly who left it but I knew in that instant how God intended it.  Funny, though, as I came to grips with my own struggle I was reminded in thought, “But I’m a pastor.  This can’t be true of me.”  Yet the Holy Spirit used Bill’s testimony to expose what was my own…

“D.A” was for me… I was but one of an unnumbered throng in the middle of an age-old struggle against discontentment.

My mind again was racing, no longer with nervous energy but with the spiritual energy of recalled Scripture verses bubbling to the surface of my memory.  I remembered discontentment being at the root of Israel’s problems throughout their exodus, how they grumbled against Moses and, by implication, God, earning a generation of wandering in the wilderness and death for it.  I remembered Job being warned about discontentment, Solomon wisely teaching against it, Jeremiah lamenting over it, Jesus demonstrating the opposite of it, Paul exhorting away from it, even James condemning it.

I remembered Psalm 37:1, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!” plus verse seven, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”

I remembered Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ for it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”

I remembered Luke 3:14, where Jesus taught, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

I remembered Galatians 5:26, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

I remembered Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” plus verses 14 and 15, “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

Finally my memory stuck to Philippians 4:11-13, to one particular phrase, in fact.  “Not that I am speaking of being in need,” Paul wrote, “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Up the aisle, out the door, back up the hallway, past that well-dressed, newspaper-reading greeter, outside and nearly to my car I was before I realized it, so fixated had I become on what God was saying to me.  It was no longer Jim’s, Linda’s, or Bill’s voice resounding in my spirit.  It was His, and He was overwhelming me with my need to repent, to embrace the secret of being content in Him.

Finally sitting in my car, I found my mind drifting back to a moment of study some time ago, on a day I was preparing for a sermon on discontentment.  I’d read commentary by Dave Harvey of Sovereign Grace Ministries, believing what he’d written would relate well to what many of our listeners were obviously experiencing.  Suddenly I realized that his words were as much for me.  Harvey had said, “Contentment comes when we compare what we have to what we deserve,” a statement I understood in light of God’s grace but adapted, contending, “Discontentment comes when I feel that I’m not getting what I deserve,” which is true.  Harvey went on to teach, though, ”Sometimes I think believers don’t really comprehend that to live is to experience unfulfilled desires… when those dreams are unfulfilled, it can prompt discontent in our life.”  Discontentment at its heart is “frustrated ambition,” Harvey continued, “disappointment because we’re not getting what we want when we want it in the way we want it.”

At the root of discontentment, then, is pride… simple, garden-variety selfishness.  I realized that I couldn’t blame what discontentment I felt on my circumstances or how difficult life seemed.  I realized that I couldn’t blame what discontentment was mastering my thoughts and actions on others or how I was being treated.  Discontentment is never the fault of circumstances or other people in our lives.  Discontentment is the choice embraced by us once we’ve allowed room for the sin of self-indulgence.  We cultivate the ground of sin with preoccupation on what we want or feel we deserve for what we do, say, or are.  We water what we’ve planted with lingering self-absorption, always viewing the world in which we live through the myopic lenses of our own pride, soon enough convinced that others should as well.  And the plant of discontentment grows, seemingly full-grown as quickly as it sprouts yet continuing to take over our lives, smothering what glory we might be to God because our every thought is dominated by disappointment over what is compared to what we think should be.

. . . . . . . . . .

Was it all a dream?  The slip of paper… the drive… the building… the greeter… the hallway… the door… the aisle… the crowd… the platform and those testimonies… the way God seemed to speak through it… was it all a dream?  It doesn’t really matter, does it?  What matters in this moment is my realization that I’m now little better within the kingdom of God than part of its biggest problem.  I struggle with discontentment, and a vast, unnumbered throng of believers struggle right along with me.  It’s the cancer among churches that mostly goes unidentified until it’s too late, yet the warning signs are clearly there for those willing to see them.

If you have “frustrated ambition,” or you’re constantly losing the battle against disappointment because you’re not getting what you want when you want it in the way you want it (whatever “it” is), or if honesty forces you to admit how frequently unsatisfied you feel over the idea that you’re just not receiving what you deserve, it’s not an appointment with “Discontentment Anonymous” that you need.  It’s a fresh dose of Christ-centered humility that you and I need, created in a genuine encounter with Him and resulting in the killing of pride.  The longer we let it breathe in our lives, the more suffocation the plant of discontentment causes, and the farther we drift from any contribution we might make that would truly be for God’s glory.

My name is Michael.  I’m one of thousands of pastors in the life of the kingdom of God as it is present in the world today.  I’ve seen God do wondrous things in the lives of people, drawing them to His Son for salvation and growing them for service.  In spite of this, I have succumbed too often to discontentment.  Selfish pride has been allowed to have a grip it should not, and I too frequently find myself battling the kind of frustration and disappointment about which I’ve spoken here.  Unlike what was said in the fictitious testimonies I penned above, I know what’s wrong with me.  I understand why dissatisfaction becomes so real at times, that there is a time for godly dissatisfaction and for action fueled by it, but that this kind of frustration cannot be rationalized away.  It’s not the fault of my circumstances or of others around me.  Discontentment is the choice I’ve too frequently made on my own, but I don’t want to struggle against it anymore.  Lord Jesus, You’ve been too good to me, Your love far too unfailing and Your grace too amazing for me to let this continue.  If the secret to contentment in any situation is so abiding in You that humility and satisfaction in You are the results, then I surrender anew.  Lord, be my satisfaction today.  So dominate my thoughts and line of sight that what I would desire would be filtered completely by Your presence and power.  Equip me to leave no further provision for my flesh or its selfishness, then to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow You all over again tomorrow. 

One day at a time… one desire at a time… everything in submission to Him… therein must lie the secret of being content in Christ.

What about you?  Please consider this your “scrap of paper,” and right now as your time.

Until we meet again, press on…

Michael

http://www.immanuelbaptisttemple.org/index.php?page=pastors-pen

The month of June is always busy, exciting, and intentional.  This year is no exception.  We kick things off with Vacation Bible School (June 1-5).  Our VBS will be in the evening again this year.  The times for Tuesday through Friday will be 5:30-8pm.  Then on Saturday, June 5, we will end the week with our Family Day which will begin at 11am.  We have several of our members serving in various capacities, and I want to extend my appreciation for their commitment to Christ and the gospel.  VBS is all about the taking the gospel to children, so thank you for helping us do just that.  However, for those who are unable to serve in VBS this year, let me share how you too can help make a difference in children’s lives.  You can pray.  That may sound simple, but in reality it is the most profound thing that any of us can do.  We must saturate this week in prayer.   So allow me to give you four things to pray for:

1. Pray for God’s touch to be upon each adult who will serve
2. Pray for God’s Spirit to draw many children to our church during that week
3. Pray  for God’s Spirit to draw lost children to faith in Jesus Christ
4. Pray for God’s help so that we might connect with unchurched families whose kids will come

VBS is going to be awesome; we believe that the Lord is going to change lives during that week.  We also believe that the Lord is going to change lives in Orlando, Florida.  On June 10^th, eight of us will head down to Orlando for four days to work with CrossOver Orlando.  This is an evangelistic week of events geared toward taking the gospel to the city of Orlando in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting.  Please pray that God will use us there to lead people to Christ.  Also pray that God will do a great work in our hearts and burden us like never before for the lost people that live all over the Shoals.  Pray that God will stretch us mightily in our faith and commitment to Christ.

There is one last thing I need to share with you.  On Sunday evening June 6^th, we will have another family meeting.  I want to encourage every member to join us on this evening.  We will spend some time praying together, sharing together, and observe the Lord’s Supper.  I believe that this meeting is very crucial for the future of FBC Sheffield, so please make this evening a priority for you and your family.

Please know that Kara and I deeply love you. 

Blessings,

Pastor James

Well, I am greatly encouraged today because our God still reigns supreme.  Jesus Christ is King!  He is sovereignly enthroned in Heaven today presiding over the affairs of the world, and He has invited us to join Him in what He is doing all over this planet.  What a privilege He has given us. 

The Lord flat encouraged me this morning.  While making a hospital visit, I bumped into a local pastor friend.  We got to talking about missions and all that God is doing in and through his church (Parkview Baptist).  They have seen many people trust Christ as Savior lately.  In fact this past Sunday afternoon, during a new believers class, twelve people gave their lives to Christ and were saved.  The pastor shared with me how their church is engaged in missions.  They’ll have over 125 people participate in some sort of mission trip this year both in America and internationally, and they are planting a church in Massachusetts this year.  I don’t know about you, but this is what cranks my tractor.  The real amazing part of all this is that less than ten years ago, the church was running less than a hundred people and had put their property up for sale.  Today, they are in two Sunday schools, two worship services, and planning to build on in order to accommodate the growth. 

I asked the pastor what the turning point was.  His response was, “We came to the point where we understood that we can’t change the past.  We can’t control the future.  The only thing we can do is take care of the present.  We knew we were supposed to worship and fellowship together, minister to others, evangelize the lost, and disciple new believers.  So we committed to doing that.  We realized that we needed to humble ourselves before God, which began in our prayer closets.”  He said the change started with just a few who began to catch the vision and mission God has for the church.

What a blessing that story is to me personally.  If you would, will you pray that God will bring First Baptist Sheffield to that kind of place in the life of our own church?  We need a God-moment like that so desperately, and I believe it is coming.  I can’t wait to see what God does in and through the lives of those going to Orlando in June.  Please pray for our team as they prepare to take the gospel to the people of Orlando, Florida, June 10-14^th.  Perhaps, the Lord will use those on this trip to spark a mighty movement of God here at First Baptist. 

Ed Stetzer said recently, “The purpose of the church is not just to get together, but to get on mission.”  Let’s rally around the Gospel of Jesus Christ and recommit ourselves to the Great Commission.  Evangelism has a way of making us healthy both individually & collectively as a church. 

I pray this story blesses you like it has blessed me today. 

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. – Eph 3:20-21 (NASB)