The need for humility...

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
-Psalm 25:9

This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
-Isaiah 66:2b

Therefore, whoever humbles themselves like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
-Matthew 18:4

Do you get the idea that God values our humility? In fact, humility is a key trait for any follower of Jesus. We are studying Proverbs in our Bible Study, and this last week’s lesson really struck this point home.

As I was reflecting on this after the lesson, it occurred to me that humility is a choice. We are really a very proud people, a self-centered people. It’s very hard for us to be a humble people, it seems to run against our nature.

We need to put others in that center spot, we need to step aside and let others in. We need to become other-centered people.

It will require a great deal of self-discipline, it isn’t natural, at least not consistent with how we think. But to be truly honored by God, we must humble ourselves.

Another thought on humility, I once heard it said that humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it’s thinking of ourselves less…

First Heal Thyself...

Be not angry that you cannot make

others as you want them to be,

since you cannot make yourself as you

wish to be.

-Thomas a Kempis

The Bible talks alot about making sure that we are right before the Lord, before trying to make others right. Passages like "first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Luke 6:42), and "if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, first go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23).

While there are passages that tell us to convict our neighbors of their sin, so they grow in their faith, it is very clear that we must make sure we are right before God first.
So before worrying about others, work on yourself.

Tithing time...

I couple of weeks ago, one of our Bible Study participants brought up the idea of applying the principle of tithing (10% to the church) to our time. He felt that our time should be subject to the tithe as well as our money.

I love the idea myself. As a Pastor, I have to admit I was getting pretty excited as I thought about it. What if people gave 10% of their time to the church? What would that look like?

The obvious is that we would always have enough volunteers to work our dinners and Angel Food Ministry distributions, our committees would always have plenty of people participating in the various things that the committees specialize in, and our volunteer church cleaning crews would have enough people to do the cleaning in no time at all.

But what else? I think these would be just the tip of the iceberg. I think that our Bible Studies and Christian Ed classes would be overflowing. But more than that, I think that there would be people here, at the church. Things would get done without a big program to do them. Needs of the church would be filled, without announcing them for weeks on end asking for volunteers. When people saw something that needed to be done, they would do it, because they were here anyway.

Most importantly, ministry would happen. As hard as it is to raise monetary resources in a small church, the hardest resource to come by is people. Can you think with me the ministry that could be done with enough people eagerly dedicated to working for the Lord?

Maybe I’m dreaming. Yet maybe that’s the vision Jesus had…

Sunday's Sermon - February 24

If you are interested in reading Sunday's Sermon - Spiritual Drink - here is a link...

Feb 24 - Spiritual Drink

Something a little different this week. The message is based on John 4, Jesus' conversation with the women at the well. We started with watching a Gatorade commercial...

On School Prayer...

Yesterday afternoon I was at a Together in Ministry Group studying church transformation. Rev. Rich Rose, pastor at First Baptist Church in Ithaca, brought up an interesting comment.

He has heard people say that they long for those days when we still had prayer in school. But he reminds them that back in those days, things were not all that rosy. Segregation was still a major issue, there were little or no women’s rights, and little or no sense of social justice.

His comments make you think. What good does it do to force people to pray, if their heart isn’t convicted? People may have gone to church in much larger numbers than they do today, but was it out of duty to family, or love of God? If the heart isn’t convicted, the people aren’t changed, and the good works that flow out of our faith doesn’t flow.

Perhaps we are better in some respects today than we were then. While we are still battling in some areas, segregation is not nearly as blatant as it was, woman can vote and pursue the career of their choice. Discrimination in most areas is being corrected. Over all, we have come much closer to the equality of all people that the Bible speaks of.

I would still like the option to pray in school to be available. I certainly don't believe a student should be in trouble for bowing their head and offering a silent prayer in a country that values freedom of religion. However, mandating public prayer doesn't change people. Only a conviction of the heart can do that.

So perhaps it is better to not force our faith on others. Perhaps it’s more important to live our faith and let our religious convictions show in a way that all people benefit.

Seeing the Cross in the dark...

Here is something that I read in Paul Gibbs newsletter (Jesscott Music Ministries, http://www.jesscottmusic.com/). He saw it on the Ron Hutchcraft website (http://www.hutchcraft.com/). I hope you enjoy it! Ron wrote:

We had rented a cabin in the mountains, and we didn't want to leave it much. The view across the valley was like a majestic painting. It would change as the sun and the weather changed - all the kind of moods you have in the mountains. I had looked at the mountain across the valley from us many times, but finally I took a good look that direction at night. That's when I saw it - the cross. There was a lighted cross on top of the mountain, glowing in the night from a vantage point where it could be seen all around. Actually, that cross is there all the time but you don't really see it until it's dark.

Isn’t that the way it is? We are surrounded by the love of Christ all the time. Why is it we often don’t look for it until we are in some dark time in our lives…

Sermon for Valentine's Day - Real Love

If you are interested, Sunday's message is available at this link:

Feb 17 - Real Love

Hope you enjoy it!