Treasures

Matthew 6:19-21   Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for your selves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

In these past few days I have been challenged on “what” I treasure.  In my head I say, yes, I am storing up treasures in heaven, but my actions often speak differently.   

The question I find myself asking is; How can I say I am storing up treasures in heaven, when so much of my time is spent focusing on the cares of this world? If I really do value and desire all that God wants to do in my life,  and if I want to see the fruits of the spirit in my life, then my actions need to line up.   Am I always worrying about my job, money, or the thousand other activities that can fill up my time? 

So for this fast time I am asking in prayer what it is that God treasures, what does He value?  I pray that we as a church would all begin to see the treasures around us.    Father, open our eyes.  

Obedience and Expectation

One of the things I look forward to each day during my commute is listening to the radio—to listen to the news, enjoy the lively banter between the hosts, and get updates on the weather and traffic every 10 minutes! I never drive without it. So I decided that turning off the radio would be part of my fast. I would try to stay in conversation with God, focusing on praise or gratitude or intercession. And I would use the words of favorite hymns to worship when my own prayers began to drift.

I would love to be able to report that I’ve heard from God or received new insights. So far, that has not happened. Perhaps as we go further into the fast, I will have spiritual insights to pass on. Right now, I see my participation in the fast as an act of obedience with an expectation that God will meet me there regardless of whether or not I hear Him. And for now I have found that I am seeing Him from a larger perspective than I do when I sit at home to pray. (Being less introspective is always a plus!) I have been taking more time to pray for our church as a whole, for the pastors, for our Leadership Team and for individuals in our body. I arrive at work with the joyful sense that I have been in a delightful carpool with a dear Friend.

Cornerstone friends, I do pray that this time of fasting will create in all of us a thirst for a closer walk with Jesus. May God bless your obedience to this call to fasting and seeking Him, and may we become a church that finds her greatest joy in Him.

Trust and Check

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

“Trust and check, always trust and check.” said my supervisor one summer at a Christian camp.  His motto encouraged us to trust the people we worked with, trust the kids to do what was right, trust him, but always check on the results.  As you check and see that all is well, trust those more and check less.  When you find results different than you expected, trust less and check more.

Jesus talks in Matthew 25 about a man who goes on a trip and entrusts differing amounts of money to three servants.  While the man is gone, the first two servants invest the money entrusted to them and double their master’s investment.  The third, who was given the least, dug a hole and buried the money because he was afraid of losing it.  After a long time, the master returned and checked on the money he had entrusted to his servants.  He rewarded the servants who invested well, but punished the servant who hid his money out of fear.

No matter our resources, we fail unless we use them according to God’s plan.  As we study God’s Word and seek Him in prayer, let us consider how we can invest what God has entrusted to us.  In Psalm 34:8 we are even challenged to “try before we buy” by declaring “Taste and see that the Lord is good”.  God has been checking in on my life and I am realizing that I have not trusted enough.  What about you?

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”   Luke 6:38

What is Fasting?

I'm feeling a bit hypocritical posting on the blog since I am headed out for a two week vacation tomorrow and fasting will most likely be the last thing on my vacation agenda! But I was searching for a meaningful post to share with you and I found these words written by John Eastman that I took to heart:

"In the days of the Apostles, fasting was connected in one way or another to great signs and wonders, miracles, mighty works and doors being opened for the Gospel. Likewise, I do not believe that the body of Christ, his true church, will go forth in power to do the work of God unless it also becomes a fasting and praying church. Yes, God commands Christians to fast, and true Christians will desire to fast for God's righteousness in their lives."

What I take away from this is that in order for Cornerstone to truly be open to all that God has planned for us in the work of His Kingdom, we need to be praying and fasting. I may not be fasting with you in the next few weeks, but I certainly will be praying fervently for great signs and wonders, miracles, mighty works and open doors for Cornerstone.

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:13

All-Church Fast 2012

It's that time of year again! Cornerstone church is participating in our annual all-church fast. I'm really looking forward to this year, even more than years past, for some reason. I'm anxious to spend some significant dedicated time to prayer during these next three weeks, some time really listening to what God has to say.

The last couple years I have fasted from lunch during the week. This year, I'm changing things up. I am giving up my caffeine during the day, and for those of you that know me, you know that's a significant thing. Not that I always need my cup of coffee, or 5 hour energy, or anything, but you will often find me with a Coke Zero in my hand, on my desk, or within reaching distance. My hope is that every time I think about getting one, I will be prompted to spend some prayer time instead. And if every day is like today has been, that is going to amount to quite a bit of time.

For me that time will be spent praying for the individual members of our congregation, and also time listening for where God is leading us to next. I feel a little like we are leaping from stone to stone across a river, and we're watching for God to show us the next stone in the line.

Some of that has already occurred, as people have heard God's voice in their own lives. I have had a number of conversations with people who have a heart for doing ministry, or for being the church out in the community. I'm already excited to see how God is moving among his people.

If you'd like to share, feel free to leave comments below about what God is pushing you to set aside for the next three weeks. How can we pray for each other along the way? And what do you hope to hear from him?

Pastor's Corner: Selective Listening

This week's upcoming sermon is going to be about listening to God, and once again, my own boys have managed to capture the essence of our relationship to God.

How often are my boys doing only what they want to be doing, whether it's reading a book, or playing a game, or whatever, and then Big Bad Dad comes in and ruins all their fun by asking them to accomplish some task? Usually something they've already been asked to do before. But there's one sure-fire way to get out of it: Selective Listening.

Selective Listening means that you only respond when you want to respond, and that you hear only the things you want to hear. Extremely frustrating as a parent, especially a task-oriented one, because you feel ignored.

But how often is this the case with us and God? How often is he asking us to do something, or to be something, and we simply can't hear it because we don't want to hear it? Or because there was too much going on around us for us to concentrate on what really matters? In a few days, Cornerstone will be headed into our annual All-Church Fast. And my prayer is that we will learn how to remove those distractions, and really listen. And not only listen, but then get up and do what God us telling us to do, or go where he is telling us to go.

Pastor's Corner: Why I Tweet

The joys of social media... Today I read a Facebook post from a seminary friend who retweeted a post from John Piper responding to a blog by musician John Mayer. World Wide Web, indeed. But it got me thinking. After all, I am a relative newcomer to the world of social media. I've read it for years now, but as a life-long introvert, I was reluctant to put myself out there and write my own tweets or blogs or posts.

Part of my reluctance was that I felt so much of what I was reading was boring, inane, and a real waste of time. Even high school friends I was trying to keep up with via Facebook weren't letting me look into their real lives, they were simply posting about what they had for breakfast, or that they wanted my help in their Farmville game, or were simply repeating the meme of the week.

I felt like that wasn't what I wanted out of my limited internet time, and so I opted against doing the same. If the world wanted to cut out any significant conversation, and limit themselves to 140 characters, they didn't have to take me along with them.

But I have become convicted recently of the reality of social media, and how ignoring it completely cuts me out of a large portion of potential interaction. At the end of Colossians, Paul says "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Two things. One, we need to walk in wisdom toward outsiders, and not wait for them to come to us. That may very well mean (gasp) tweeting. Two, maybe 140 characters currently defines the "best use of the time."

The challenge is to say something worthwhile, but to say it succinctly, and in a way that draws people in. Piper said it this way in his blog:

Tweets do not diminish my ability to have a complete thought, they demand it. That’s what a Tweet is—a thought that is complete enough to press some God-focused truth into someone’s consciousness. The aim is to pack much into little. Big into small. Great into ordinary. Truth into language. God into space and time. This kind of tweeting does not distract from thinking. It demands thinking.

If I did not know a great God and a great Savior and a great Life and a great Plan, I would not bother writing Tweets—or books. But if God can be spoken of meaningfully in a 300 page book, he can also be spoken of in a 30-minute sermon, and a three line Tweet....

Tweeting is to preaching what the book of Proverbs is to the book of Romans.

My hope is to use these opportunities to walk in wisdom, to share my thoughts, make the best use of the time, and to honor God along the way. If you'd like to interact in that kind of forum, feel free to follow me. We can travel this strange road together. I can't promise it will all be enlightening or wise in any way, and you may get more personal stuff than you like. And if you look at my history, you might not find what you're looking for. After all, I'm just feeling this out myself. But I can promise you one thing: No Farmville requests.