Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Perseverance in the face of adversity is a mark of true greatness.”

 

“Nobody said this was going to be easy!” said Tony Horton, the creator and coach of the popular extreme video workout program P90X. “But if you just stick with it, if you just keep showing up and you just keep pushing the “play” button on your DVD, overtime you will get the results you seek.”

 

What’s true for P90X is also true for the Christian life. Nobody said it was going to be easy! In fact, Jesus promised exactly the opposite. He told us it would be hard. In John 16:33 He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

 

Yes, Jesus has overcome the world and so, as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews told us, we are to just keep our eyes on Him and keep moving forward, determined to successfully complete the race marked out for us. In P90X we all keep our eyes on Tony. He leads us in the exercises, calling out words of encouragement, and coaching us through it to a successful completion. In the Christian life we are to keep our eyes on Jesus.

 

Someone once said, “Nothing is over until you give-up.” In other words, as long as you continue to persevere, you still have a chance of succeeding. You haven’t failed until you have quit. That’s true of life in general but it’s also a key to living the Christian life well. We have to persevere.

 

Perseverance is one of the characteristics of truly great men and women of God. They face adversity with courage, confidence, and patience, and they just don’t give-up. We see such greatness in the spouse who refuses to give-up on a difficult marriage. We see it in parents who never stop loving their wayward child. We see it in the chronically sick person who refuses to be defined by their illness and instead lives life to the best of their ability (and we see it in the family members who care for them).

 

Comparing the Christian life to an extreme exercise program is actually not a bad analogy. In many ways the similarities are striking. “Nobody said this was going to be easy!” And usually, it isn’t. Therefore the key to success is found in never giving up.

 

Perseverance in the face of adversity is a mark of true greatness.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7… “He has also set eternity in the human heart.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

Our thought for today: “We can learn to walk in ski boots.”

 

As human beings we’ve been designed by God for eternity, but at the moment we must exist in the material world as physical beings. This presents a challenge for us because as we walk through this world – spiritual beings with a physical body – it can sometimes be a bit awkward.

 

In his book “Tranquility” author David Henderson used a great analogy to help make this point which I can easily relate to. Earlier in life I enjoyed snow skiing. Every winter I would head for Big Bear Mountain in Southern California. 8500 feet above sea level, I would stand on the top of the mountain on my skis, looking down at the valley far below. Big Bear Lake looked small from that height; in a single glance I could see the entire town of Big Bear.

 

Then I would set out down the slope. Gently swaying back and forth, gliding through the soft powder, picking up speed, the cold air against my skin, the adrenaline building, I would have a smile on my face from ear-to-ear and I would be thinking, “This is great. I was made for this.”

 

However when I got to the bottom of the slope, took off my skis, and went into the lodge, I would discover that walking through the lodge in ski boots was difficult. Up on the slopes those ski boots connected me to my skis and made it possible for me to glide effortlessly and smoothly down the slopes. Walking in the lodge (for which the boots were not designed), was a slow, clunky, awkward process. Some skiers were much better at this than I was, and for them it didn’t seem to be as much of a struggle as it was for me. But personally I never did get comfortable with it. I would always find myself eager to be done with the lodge so I could get back up on the slopes.

 

Great men and women of God have learned how to walk through this world comfortably while wearing their spiritual ski boots. As I said, we’re not really designed for life in this world. We were created for the ski slopes of eternity. And although with practice we can learn to live well in this physical world, for many of us it continues to be a slow, clunky, and often awkward trek. However with practice, we can get better at it.

 

One characteristic great men and women of God seem to share is that they have developed the ability to walk through this life gracefully and with confidence. Spiritually they seem to be less clunky and less awkward than the rest of us. What they have learned and experienced spiritually makes them more graceful, more composed, and more effective in the physical world.

 

I find myself admiring their agility and I want to be more like that myself. With practice I can be. And so can you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him.” Luke 5:27-28 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Truly great men and women of God willingly make sacrifices for the cause of Christ on earth.”

 

In a previous devotional this month I told you the story of author Eugene Peterson and how, despite his increasing fame and the multiple offers he received to become the Pastor of some very large churches, he chose instead to stay for twenty-nine years at the same little church in Maryland. Eugene was more interested in faithful service than a high-profile position, even though it would have paid him much more.

 

Some of you know my friend Bud Lenz. Early in life he was a golf course architect in the Houston area, and he made a nice living. But he and his wife Laura sensed God calling them to serve in international missions. At that time they didn’t understand the full scope of the call, but they did obediently sell everything they owned and moved to the Andes Mountains in Peru. They have now spent more than twenty years in that land, raising their own nine children and running a Christian orphanage where they take care of and raise anywhere for forty to fifty Peruvian children at any one time.

 

In Luke 5:27-28 we read of Jesus calling the tax collector Matthew to leave his profession and become a disciple and key assistant to the Messiah. Without hesitation Matthew closed-up shop, walked away from that career, and never looked back.

 

Truly great men and women of God make sacrifices for the cause of Christ on earth. Sometimes those sacrifices are big, like those of Matthew, Eugene Peterson, and Bud and Laura Lenz. But more often they’re smaller more routine day-to-day things like sitting in the Emergency Room at two o’clock in the morning with a friend; or making a sacrificial financial gift to a worthy cause even though their own budget is tight; or stepping in to fill an important ministry position at church that no one else is willing to do.

 

A common character trait of the truly great men and women of God is that they willingly and eagerly make sacrifices, big ones and small ones, for the cause of Christ. Our willingness to make those sacrifices is a measure of our greatness in God’s eyes.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “True greatness comes from the inside out, not from the outside in.”

 

When we think about the truly great men and women of God whom we have known, and we consider the examples they have set for us, what we’re really looking at is their outward behaviors. We observe how they conduct themselves and we conclude that if we can conduct ourselves in a like manner, then we will be more like them.

 

The problem with that perspective though is that it focuses on behavior rather than character. We observe their behavior, admire it, and then attempt to modify our own behavior to conform more to what we’re seeing them model for us. That approach is superficial and temporary at best because conduct is determined by character, not the other way around. By means of discipline and willpower we might be able to force a change in our behavior and then maintain it for a while, but lasting change only comes from a change of heart.

 

That’s what Paul was writing about in Romans 12:2. Paul was describing an inward transformation that shows itself in outward behaviors. What we were really seeing in those godly men and women who we admire so much is not good behavior controlled by discipline and willpower, but character traits such as humility, love, kindness, compassion, mercy, and sacrificial service – all of which come from a heart that has been transformed and shaped by the Holy Spirit of God.

 

The transformation and spiritual growth that Paul was writing about is something that develops over years and years of faithful attention to the basic spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith – things like daily prayer and Bible study, frequent participation in the life of a good church family, serving in ministry, etc. The more of those practices we incorporate into our lives, over an extended period of time, the more transformation there is.

 

True greatness comes from the inside out, not from the outside in. I encourage you to develop the daily habit of placing yourself in a position before God whereby He can mold you and shape you into the truly great man or woman He wants you to be.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “True Greatness shows itself in acts of service.”

 

I have always like President George H.W. Bush. He has always impressed me as a kind and humble man who genuinely cares about people and who has sincerely strived to do his best for our nation.

 

He was born into a family that had great wealth and political influence. He was sent to all the best schools and was prepared by his family to assume positions of leadership within the family business. The path laid out for him was one of affluence and comfort in the highest reaches of society and business. But George would have none of it. He refused to live his life trading on his family name and on the success of others.

 

Instead, at the age of 18 he volunteered for military service during World War II and became a pilot at a very young age, eventually getting shot down and having to parachute to safety. After that he launched business ventures of his own and had significant success. But soon he became dissatisfied with that life too and decided that true fulfillment would be found only in the service to others. Therefore he established a career in public service, serving first as a Congressman, then in various levels of appointed government positions, and then finally as Vice-President of the United States and then as President.

 

Mr. Bush was a committed Christian who felt strongly about Jesus’ example of true greatness, which is found in service to others. George didn’t go into politics seeking money, fame, or power. He already had all of those things available to him if he wanted them, and in a much kinder environment than politics. He went into public service because he believed that investing his life in the service of others was the highest and noblest thing he could do.

 

That’s exactly the point Jesus was making. His disciples, James and John, wanted to be seen as great in the eyes of others. So they sent their Mommy to talk to Jesus about appointing them to important high profile positions. Jesus essentially said, “You want to be seen as great? No problem. Commit your lives to serving others and you will be seen as “great” in the eyes of God.”

 

The same goes for us. As far as God is concerned, true greatness comes from a commitment to serve others in the name of Jesus. “The greatest among you, will be the servant of all.”

 

In what ways and how often do you serve others? According to Jesus, your willingness to serve others, and the frequency with which you do it, is a measure of your stature in the kingdom of God.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Great men and woman of God set a good example for others to follow.”

 

This morning I want to share with you a very personal story about “True Greatness” that has had a significant impact in my life. The story is about a man who I have only actually met once – and even then only for a few brief moments. But the example he has set through his life and ministry has had a profound impact on my life and on my ministry.

 

His name is Eugene Peterson. Some of you will recognize him as being the author of the popular paraphrase of the Bible, “The Message”. Eugene is also a prolific author of many Christian books and therefore you may have also read some of his other writing. But in addition to being an accomplished author and a popular conference speaker, Eugene spent his entire career in ministry as the pastor of a small church in Maryland.

 

Many of Eugene’s books were written to, and for, and about, Pastors, and they were all based on what God had first worked out in his own life and ministry. I’ve read most of them and Eugene’s example has had a profound impact on my life and ministry in a number of important ways. This morning I only have time and space to tell you about one of them.

 

Once he became famous for his writings, Eugene received many offers to become the pastor of other, much larger churches. But he always declined those offers and he chose instead to stay at the same little church in Maryland for twenty-nine years.

 

Eugene is a quiet and thoughtful man who considers himself to be what he terms, “A Contemplative Pastor”. He even developed a credo for “The Contemplative Pastor”, which I have since adopted as my own. It goes like this:

 

“*The Contemplative Pastor can be with people without having an agenda for them.

*The Contemplative Pastor is able to accept people just as they are. He guides them gently and patiently into a mature life in Christ.

*The Contemplative Pastor is resolved to lovingly shepherd his flock through all the circumstances of life, the challenges and trials, the joys and triumphs, the good times and the bad.

*The Contemplative Pastor resists the competitive nature of the American church culture and does not get caught up in the latest church growth fads.

*The Contemplative Pastor is in it for the long haul.”

 

The mindset Eugene articulated in that credo changed my thinking about my own ministry as a Pastor and has resulted in a sense of peace and contentment that I have never experienced before in any ministry setting. God put the example of Eugene Peterson in my life at exactly the right time, and it has made all the difference for me.

 

This is the kind of thing the Apostle Paul was writing about in 1 Corinthians 11:1. God had brought Paul through a lot of changes in his own life. As a result, in his later years, Paul was prepared to be an example for others to follow. What God had worked out in Paul’s own life, Paul was now prepared to help others work out in their lives.

 

Great men and women of God set a good example for others to follow. I encourage you to find examples like that for you to follow yourself, and then I encourage you to be that kind of example for others to follow.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result – the survival of many people. Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” Genesis 50:19-21 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A truly great person can rise above feelings of pettiness and grudges.”

 

This morning I want to return to the story of Joseph as related by Moses in Genesis chapters 37-50 because right at the end of it, we find one of the most important character traits demonstrated by those who have developed true greatness. Such people are able to rise above feelings of pettiness and they have learned not to harbor grudges. They’re able to step back from the offense, see the bigger picture, and be gracious and kind towards those who have hurt them.

 

Such was the case with Joseph. The conduct of his brothers towards him had been sinful, cruel, and criminal. It caused Joseph thirteen long years of suffering. Therefore, from the perspective of basic human nature, it probably wouldn’t surprise us if we read of Joseph harboring and nursing a grudge against his brothers and, when the opportunity presented itself, seeking revenge.

 

But Joseph was a bigger man than that. He was able to maintain a proper perspective. He understood that God was sovereign over those circumstances and that He was at work in the middle of them to bring about some good thing. Although Romans 8:28 obviously didn’t exist in Joseph’s day, the great spiritual truth it presents did exist, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purposes.”

 

So Joseph forgave his brothers and ended up being the source of great blessings to them. They still suffered some consequences from the wrong they committed against Joseph. They lived for thirteen years with the guilt of what they had done. And as we read in chapters 42-45, they did have to go through a period of confession and repentance. But still, the character of Joseph was such that he was able to rise above the offense and be a blessing to those who had hurt him.

 

There’s a profound and important lesson in this for us. I personally believe that how easily we’re offended to begin with is a measure of our spiritual maturity. A spiritually mature person is not easily offended. And likewise, once we have been wronged, the degree to which we harbor a grudge, and our willingness or unwillingness to forgive, is also a measure of spiritual maturity. That doesn’t mean that we allow people to escape responsibility for what they have done. But it does mean that we find ways to work through it with them, and then we let it go and move on.

 

A truly great man or woman of God does not indulge in pettiness and does not harbor grudges.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man.” Genesis 39:2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Greatness is forged in the fires of adversity.”

 

A common characteristic which seems to be shared by all great men and women of God is that they have had to endure and persevere through times of great difficulty and adversity. It was in those times of trial and struggle that God forged the character traits in them that ultimately lead to their greatness.

 

If you’ve ever read the biographies of people like Abraham Lincoln, Lottie Moon, Hudson Taylor, Teddy Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, or Joni Erickson Tada, then you know what tremendous adversities they dealt with in their personal lives and how those trials created in them the character traits that ultimately made them the great public figures they ended up being. It’s a common story.

 

That’s why I love the story of Joseph, found in Genesis chapters 37-50.  Favored by his father but hated by his brothers; ripped from his home and sold into slavery in Egypt as a teenager; falsely accused of attempted rape and thrown into a miserable prison; thirteen long years of trials and tribulations and mistreatment in a foreign land; but through it all Joseph honored God with his integrity and God in turn “was with Joseph”. It’s a term Moses used several times over the course of telling Joseph’s story and it was always used while describing Joseph’s darkest and most troubling circumstances.

 

As the story unfolds what we discover is that it was in those hard circumstances that God forged steel into Joseph’s character. It was in the midst of those tough times that God molded and shaped Joseph and formed the character that would ultimately become Joseph’s legacy. The reason he became the man he was, was because of the way he conducted himself when times were tough. He was a trustworthy, dependable, and honest man even when it wasn’t easy to be so.

 

Consider the lives of any great man or women of God, famous or not famous, and you will discover the same pattern. They all had to endure tough times – some of them extremely tough – but it was in the furnace of adversity that their characters were formed, the steel was forged, the wisdom was gained, and they ultimately became the man who woman who you now look up to and admire.

 

As you endure your own tough times, stop to consider how God might be using the adversity to mold you and shape you into the man or woman He wants you to be. The tough times will only last for a season, but when it’s over what kind of man or woman will you be? Joseph ended up being a truly great man of God because in the midst of the adversity, he never lost faith and he never stopped honoring God. The same can be true of you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” Genesis 12:2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Abraham was a man of faith and action.”

 

Abraham was not a perfect man, but in the estimation of God he was a great man. Abraham was great by Godly standards for two reasons. One reason was that he was a man of great faith. But the other reason he was great was because he was a man of action. His faith wasn’t something he merely talked about. It wasn’t even something he just quietly practiced in private. Abraham lived his faith. You could see it in the things he did.

 

Great men and women of God are people of action. They do things. First and foremost, they pray. Far too many Christians use the phrase “I’ll pray for you” as a convenient way to end an uncomfortable conversation, but then they often don’t pray for the person. The most important action you can take on someone else’s behalf is to really pray for them. Some of the greatest men and women of God that I have ever known were great because they were mighty prayer warriors.

 

But great men and women of God act on their faith in other ways too. We see it in Abraham’s life when he generously allowed his nephew Lot to have the better parcel of land (Genesis 13:9). We see it again when Lot had been taken captive by an enemy army in Genesis 14:12. Abraham quickly gathered his soldiers and set off to rescue his nephew. No wringing of his hands, no whining about how unfair it was, Abraham simply and quickly acted.

 

We see the action behind Abraham’s faith most notably in Genesis 22:2-14 when he took his only son Isaac and obediently offered him as a sacrifice to the Lord. That was a mighty act of faith demonstrated by real and meaningful action. Abraham knew that whatever God had planned was better than whatever he had planned.

 

How we act, more than just what we say, reveals what we really believe about God. Abraham demonstrated his faith in God by his actions because that’s what great men and women of God do. I encourage you to be a man or woman of action too.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthat, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.” Hebrews 11:32-34 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We are inspired by examples of true greatness.”

 

In Hebrews chapter 11, which is commonly known as “The Faith Hall of Fame”, the writer was attempting to inspire his readers to greater faith of their own, by recalling the examples of heroes of the faith from times past. Some of them were well known, such as David and Samuel, but many of the other examples he cited in that chapter were regular people whose names would not be recognized by most readers but whose examples of faith were heroic and inspiring.

 

One of the reasons I love small-group Bible studies is because those are perfect settings to get people talking and sharing stories from their own lives. With respect to examples of true greatness, most Christians know common everyday people, many from our pasts, who fit that description.

 

I know of one family whose mother was a great woman of God. The family was dirt poor. The father had abandoned the mother and I believe it was seven children. The mother was raising that large family by herself and with no support from the husband. But to hear those adults now talk about their childhood, and the influence of their godly mother, you immediately realize that she was a great woman of God who did an incredible job raising that family under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. An example like that makes the rest of us want to be better people.

 

I know another man who had a similar example set for him by his grandpa. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard this man tell stories about his godly grandpa and the profound impact that man had on this grandson’s life.

 

Those are examples of true greatness. None of the people involved were rich by the world’s standards; they didn’t have advanced educations; they were not politically powerful; nor were they famous. They were just godly. And they were great.

 

This weekend when you gather with your church family there will probably be people in your congregation who meet the criteria of true greatness from a Godly perspective. I encourage you to spend time with them, get to know them, and allow yourself to be influenced by their good example. Who knows, maybe someday people will remember you as having been a truly great man or woman of God whose example had a profound impact on them.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim