The Time Is Now...

End times...eschatology is the church word for it. We seem to love to try and figure it out. Like it is the great end-of-the-world mystery and it is just waiting for us to solve it. Many have made predictions about it, and many have been wrong.

Jesus specifically tells us in Scripture that no one will know. So why so much time spent in the debate? I think it is because we are naturally curious (doubtful is a better word), and overtly prideful (we deserve an answer). That’s nice, but I don't seem to be able to find the part about deserving an answer anywhere in Scripture...weird? Or maybe it's the way it’s supposed to be?

Fact: the world will end. Fact: no one knows when. Problem: what are we supposed to do instead of trying to figure it all out? That is what is really at issue - what are we supposed to do? I am gonna go out on a limb here, but I think we are supposed to do what the rest of the Bible tells us to...just a hunch.

Maybe we need to spend more time trying to live our lives "FOR" our Creator instead of trying to figure out what He is going to do next. Seriously, if we would spend a lot less time worrying about what is next, we could spend more time experiencing what is now…the present.

So what is next? It is clear in Scripture that at the end there will be judgment. Something we all want to put off, and when it does happen we are hopefully thinking we might have an opportunity to explain. Unfortunately, explanations will not be necessary or even an option. At that moment there will be two things left - wrath or reward. Everything will be based on our lives and choices we have made. So how does one avoid this wrath? Assuming you want to.

What can satisfy God's wrath? What price must be paid? Problem is there is nothing we can do...we have made choices that have consequences. But, there is a choice we can make that changes everything...that will "save" us from His wrath...Jesus.

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12 NIV)

So when the end comes doesn't really matter...WHO you choose does. You can choose yourself or Jesus. Your way, or God's way. God's wrath will not discriminate, and it will either fall on you or Jesus. Cool thing - you can choose now.

Who ya gonna call (on)?

In His Grip,

Pastor Pat

What Am I Missing?

We run through our days, going from one moment or event to the next as quickly as we can. This hurry is excused as a “lifestyle”. Most of us believe the lie that the more we do the better we will be. Yes, this is a lie. More is not always better, most of the time more is just more.

Although, there is a sense of accomplishment that comes with doing so much, but what is the cost? Stress levels are at an all time high, medical issues, and some all-important traditions are being dismissed due to scheduling conflicts – like family dinners, and divine appointments.

Gotta be honest here, not trying to do more is something I have to consciously be aware of. This morning I was contemplating putting off getting an over-due oil change, again, but I decided that with my gear and the ability to write on my iPad I could work while I waited. So I went.

Little did I know that God had put a woman and her daughter in the waiting room of this dealership that I needed to meet. I did not see this as I walked up…because I had plans to write – this blog post to be exact. The interruption that came next was nothing more than heaven sent. We had a brief discussion about the TV show that was on (Elmo’s something or other) and I asked how many kids she had. Three she said: Grace (who was there with her) and two sons – Jacob and Christian. OK…REALLY? I closed my back pack, sat back, and asked where they went to church.

The conversation that followed was both inspiring and humbling as she shared how God has and was working in their family’s life, and the miracles they have been recipients of. WOW…and I almost missed it! She told me that her and her husband have been praying for an answer to a conviction they felt God had put on their heart, and that she believed our conversation just might be the answer they were looking for. She also told me she too had tried getting out of going to the dealership this morning as well.

God is NOT a God of confusion, and the faster we move through this life the more confusing it becomes…

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV)

This being the case, then how and what do we need to do? Funny…He tells us that too:

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalms 46:10 (NIV)

Do you want to be in a position to seek out divine appointments and not end each day wondering if you missed any? Then SLOW DOWN. The question you should be asking is not: “What am I missing?”, but “OK God, what divine appointment is next?”

Think of the change in your perspective if you could start to look at everything and everyone in front of you as a divine appointment and not a speed bump or roadblock to your plans for the day…think about it.

Maybe you are where you are supposed to be for God and not just for you…just saying’…

In His Grip,

Pastor Pat

COMMITTED!?

So what does this mean? It’s just a word: three vowels and six consonants to be exact. It is a word that we use when we want to express to someone that we are really, really, “involved” with something or someone. For example: “I am in a committed relationship.” This statement carries the inference that person is only interested in the one they are currently dating. Or one might say: “I am committed to see this project through to the end.” This statement carries the inference that whatever the project at hand. will be kept as the number one priority until it is finished.

I have heard this about the word: Who is more committed to a breakfast of eggs and bacon, the chicken or the pig? Well? Seems like the chicken gave what she had, and the pig gave all that he had. That sums up committed.

When I do a wedding, and I have done a bunch, I always tell the bride and groom this: “Love will not sustain your commitment, but commitment can and will sustain your love.” The inference here is that a time will come when your “loving” feelings might not be as strong as they are today (really?), and if that is what is holding you together you just might be in trouble.

Sometimes we want use the word committed with exceptions: “I’m committed unless… or I’m committed until… or I’m committed if…” These exceptions can be spoken or non-spoken, but they are made to ensure something – maybe a way to break the commitment if needed. We are making the word subject to our personal definition as to how we really mean it in the current situation.

Let’s look at the definition of the word: to entrust, especially for safekeeping. Seems that if we put conditions on the commitment then we are no longer “committed”, it simply becomes a statement. If there is a “catch” then we are not really giving something away in trust are we? That’s fine not to, but then don’t commit, right?

How about in reference to one’s faith? “I have committed my life to Christ.” What is this all about? This sounds serious, like we are supposed to make Christ our number one priority. But what about my life? What about everything I have and my work and my family, and my friends, and my wife, and my…?

Well what about it? Do you know why we commit our lives to Christ? Because He committed His life for us, and gave everything He had…His life, for us, so that we may truly live. There is no wiggle room here, no exceptions, no what about? Jesus was committed.

We need to fix our commitment priorities. First, with our commitment to Christ: I believe that if we get this commitment right, all of our others will follow suit. We need to be a church committed. Committed to Jesus as He was committed to us, and using Him as our guide and model.

Look at this passage, and read it through several times:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

If this is how we work at everything, then it is Christ who you are committing to first when you commit to anything. It changes how we honor the commitment in our marriages and relationships. Heck, it should change how we honor all our commitments to anything or anyone for that matter.

So, you committed or what?

In His Grip,

Pastor Pat

Church Time

So where are your priorities? We would all say that they change when our seasons change. We are born, we go to school, we get a job, then we get a career, get married, have kids, have grand-kids, retire, and then die. REALLY??!!

Is this ALL there is? People tell me all the time that God is their priority, heck I have said it a million times myself. But is He? Well? A priority is only a priority when we act on it. If we say being with our family is a priority then anything we do instead of becomes a higher priority, right?

I know…”But I have to work to survive!” Yes, we do. But we do not have to work to provide a certain “standard” of living. We set our own bar on this one. Like the old adage says: I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go…” The more we owe, the more we go…off to work that is. Our obligations become our priorities, and what were our priorities start to become just more obligations…crazy talk, I know, but true.

So how do we change this? Want a right life? Get your priorities right. Stop making excuses…like: I’m BUSY…there I said it. It is the common answer to explain why we do not do what we say is important to us: “I would have been, gone, done if I wasn’t so busy!” “I wish I weren’t so BUSY, then I could do what really matters…”

BUSY is not a reason…it is an excuse. If God doesn’t exist then really nothing matters. But, if God does exist, then nothing else matters. As professed believers we need to begin with the basics – Is God real? Am I willing? Will I act on it?

Making God “the” priority in life is not just left to the “pros”, like only those in full time ministry are responsible to God all of the time. Again – REALLY??!! It is everyone’s job…otherwise the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ would never “go” anywhere. Churches would be circus tents with barkers outside shouting at people to come in and see what they have to offer…oh wait that sounds uncomfortably familiar.

Our “church time” is not the time we relegate to give to some institution on occasion to put us in better position with God. According to the Scripture, we ARE the church. Each a necessary part that makes up Christ’s Body here on earth. We are the chosen vehicle by which God wants to reach a broken world. The Gospel is not just for us to come and get…it is for us to take and go.

If we are the church, then all of our time is “church time”. When our day comes to meet our Creator, I am betting (and I am not a betting sort of guy, at all) that how much “church” we did will have less to do with how much “church” we lived.

God does not need to be our first priority, God needs to be first in all our priorities… Get this? It changes everything when you do…

In His Grip,

Pastor Pat