A Pastor's Thoughts

The second lesson I learned while hiking in Yosemite has to do with Goals.  Every person likes achievement.  It makes us feel like we accomplished something.  If we never lay down any goals, we cannot say that we have achieved something.  Maybe marking an item off of your task list, maybe meeting a deadline, maybe finishing a project…we all like accomplishments.  In our 5-day journey we set goals for each day.  Each day and each goal brought me a new challenge.  Each day as I would meet the goal, I could mark my achievements.  I can look back and track my progress.  Each goal brought me closer to the finishing the journey.

Monday, our goal was to arrive at the park and set up camp for the first night.  We had to set up in the rain.  Then we needed to make it through the first night.  I am not a camper.  I don’t like tents.  I do like air conditioning, soft beds, and electricity.  So I set up, and made it through the first night.  Tuesday, our goal was to carry our 35-40 lb backpacks past Vernal Falls, past Nevada Falls, and to our campsite.  We traveled about 6 miles and covered 3000 feet of elevation that day.  We set up camp and made it through the night with temperatures dipping down to 28 degrees!  Wednesday, I had to work through sore muscles.  It was tough to stand up from the sleeping bag.  The warm fire (thanks Corey for starting it) motivated me to move.  Our goal Wednesday was to make it to the top of Half Dome and then back down for the next campsite.  I wrote here about that journey.  Thursday, more sore muscles and a 7 mile hike to Merced Lake.  This was a beautiful hike.  It took a long time to get there, but when we arrived we all felt a great sense of accomplishment.  Our goal had been met!  We hiked 7 miles back to our campsite.  On Friday, our goal was to work through more sore muscles and hike the 6 miles back down to Yosemite Valley.

I can look back and know that I achieved many things on this journey.  They are easy to identify since there were goals all along the way.  In our lives as believers, we should set goals for our selves.  We can push towards these goals, and when we reach them…we can rejoice and celebrate.  We have a sense of accomplishment and achievement.  What goals is He asking you to set?

 

I had the joy of spending 5 days and 4 nights in Yosemite National Park June 4th – 8th.  It was an amazing experience.  Over the next few days, I will be posting some of the lessons I learned.

The first lesson is a lesson about limits.  We all have limits; physical, mental, emotional, fears, and more.  If we never push ourselves to the point of our limitations, we can only assume where those limits exist.  The only way to truly know our limit in any area is to push ourselves to the point where we recognize and hit the limit.  Once we are at that point, we no longer assume where the limit lies, we have experienced it.  Form that moment on, we know the limit…we can also push past it next time.

On day 3 of our journey, we climbed to the top of Half Dome.  There were 4 distinct times on that journey where I said to myself, “I cannot and will not climb to the top!”  But, I kept pushing.  I kept realizing my true limit was a little farther than I thought it was.I realized that my limit was much farther than I first assumed.  I don’t like heights, I don’t like unsteady situations.  As my father-in-law said, “worry can’t add a day to your life, but caution can!”

The Lord often requires us to go beyond our assumed limits.  We hesitate at first.  We declare, “I can’t do that!”  We back away from it.  We limit ourselves out of fear or uncertainty.  In life, our limits exist somewhere beyond the end of our comforts.  Life would be dull if we stayed comfortable all the time.  Jesus pushes us, He calls us to go beyond where we think our limits exist.  He calls us to go beyond where we are comfortable.  Once we step beyond our comfort, we must rely on Him.  It is in those times we see His comfort…His comfort is far greater than any comfort we can manufacture in this life.  I pray that we all will be willing to move beyond our assumed limits and into the place of trusting Him!

Here are the places I said “I can’t”.  First was before we began up the hill known as “Sub Dome”

The second time I said “I can’t go any more” was at the top of Sub Dome, looking over to the base of Half Dome.

The third time I said, “I can’t do it” was at the base of the Half Dome cables.  This was looking up the 400 foot climb.  We climbed the face of Half Dome while holding on to the two cables.

The 4th time I felt I had reached my limit was about 150 feet up the cables.  I did not take a picture of that!  I determined that I could take one more step, then one more step, then one more step…

We finally reached the top!  After hiking 6 miles and 3000 feet of elevation on day 2, we hiked 3 more miles and another 2000 feet of elevation to reach the top of Half Dome!

Here is my brother-in-law, Joe, celebrating what we all felt!

It was a long way down to the Yosemite Valley.  The view was breathtaking!

This past Sunday, Cresset Baptist Church celebrated 52 years of ministry during our Homecoming service.  Our guest speaker was Dr. Emir Caner, President of Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, GA.  Dr. Caner preached a phenomenal message!

Click Here to listen or download his sermon.

God has ministered to my heart this week from I Samuel 12.  I want to share what He has shown me.  At this point in the history of Israel they have requested a King.  Their rejection of the Lord has led them to this point.  For a while, Samuel the Prophet has been their leader.  God reminded Samuel that the people have rejected the Lord, not Samuel, as their leader.

In chapter 12, Samuel addresses the people of Israel just when Saul becomes the King.  It was a final speech of sorts for Samuel.  He told the people they had sinned and continued to sin in asking for a king.  Now, they have king, and God judges them by sending rain and thunder on the harvest.  They pray and ask Samuel to ask God to forgive them.  Samuel’s words are encouraging:

²⁰ Samuel replied, “Don’t be afraid. Even though you have committed all this evil, don’t turn away from following the LORD.  Instead, worship the LORD with all your heart.  ²¹ Don’t turn away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or deliver you; they are worthless.  ²² The LORD will not abandon His people, because of His great name and because He has determined to make you His own people.

Even though they have the King they asked for, God will still forgive their past sins!  The consequences of their request are before them, but forgiveness is readily available.  They are still able to choose on THIS DAY to serve and honor the Lord.  God is willing to forgive their past sins and start anew today.  The same is true in our lives.  No matter what has happened yesterday, or last week, or last month, God is willing to forgive us when we come to Him in forgiveness and honor Him.  Today is a new day!  We have the choice, just like the Israelites.

Samuel goes on to say this to the people:

²⁴ Above all, fear the LORD and worship Him faithfully with all your heart, considering the great things He has done for you.  ²⁵ However, if you continue to do what is evil, both you and your king will be swept away.

The people are encouraged to serve the Lord because of His love for them.  We too should serve the Lord because of His great love for us.  He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us, He is patient toward us, He is kind and merciful towards us.  Because of His initiating love, we should serve and honor Him!  There is a “however” in the statement.  Samuel said, if they continue in evil, trouble will continue to come.  It will continue for them and for their king.  We know the story, they didn’t honor the Lord, their new king, Saul, didn’t honor the Lord, and trouble came.  The same is true for us.  This is a new day, we have choices to make.  Trouble will continue if we continue in evil and do not honor the Lord.

There is such a picture of the Gospel in this passage.  Jesus Christ died on the cross to offer forgiveness to all those who will ask Him.  Once we come to Him for salvation, we have a new life to live.  We make choices everyday to follow Him, or to not follow Him.  He honors His children when we obey Him, and trouble comes when we don’t.  Today is a new day.  Ask for forgiveness for yesterday and honor Him today.

 

This past Sunday, I preached a sermon entitled, “Where are we going?”  The new year is a good time to pause and see where we are and where we are heading.  The text I used was Acts 2:41-47.  I believe that we as a church must be the 1st century church living in the 21st century.  There is no reason to reinvent the wheel.  We can learn much from the early church.  It is our task to live this out in the context f the 21st century in our own community.  Much has been written about these verses from Acts 2 concerning the “purposes of the church”.  Most of this writing focuses on designing programs that fall into one of these 5 purposes; evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, and ministry.  I believe that a more accurate way to understand Acts 2 is to see it as a group of followers who are filled with the Holy Spirit.  In the same way a person who is filled with the Spirit will exhibit the fruit mentioned in Galatians 5 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control), a church that is filled with the Holy Spirit and committed to Jesus will exhibit what we see in Acts 2 (evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, worship, and ministry).

You can no more “program” these purposes into the church than you can “program” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control into your own life.  So here’s the key for the church: be filled with the Spirit as individuals and as a church.  Let Jesus guide you as individuals and as a church.

Here is the audio of what I shared Sunday: Acts 2:41-47

Romans part 11 “Why Was Jesus a Baby?”

Romans 5:12-21

Here is Romans part 10, “Peace on Earth”.  This passage deals with the issue of suffering.

Romans 5:1-11

Part 9, “From Death to Life”

Romans 4:13-25

Here is part 8, “How To Be Blessed By God”

Romans 4:1-12

Romans, part 7, “Righteousness is Possible”

Romans 3:21-31