One Pastor's Perspective

Henry Blackaby wrote in Experiencing God that God is at work all around us. All of the time. Our job is to find Him at work and JOIN HIM!! I believe that with all of my heart. I believe that the times we don’t see Him at work are due to the fact that we are not looking for Him. He is at work all around us! On the other hand, that can present problems to our human nature.

In a church like Ebenezer, God should be at work in MANY PLACES. There are over 1,300 members of Ebenezer Baptist Church. He is at work somewhere around every one of us and wants us to join Him!! The problem presents itself when our human nature tells us WE are the only one working for Him. What WE are doing for Him is the ONLY THING GOING… When we do not leave room in our minds and hearts for others to be at work with Him in other places, we limit God and aggravate each other.

In other words, in a church the size of Ebenezer we MUST realize that there are many things happening for the Kingdom of God. Even though in our minds tell us ours is the most important thing, it actually is one part of a tapestry that IS Ebenezer Baptist Church. A tapestry that IS the Kingdom of God.

Remember today that God is at work in MANY PLACES ALL AROUND US. He is big enough to do that. Are we big enough to recognize it???

Have you ever asked that question??  Have you ever been in a difficult spot in life and wanted God to answer that??  When Ed and I used to drop by Philip Kennedy’s office on Santiago, that would always be the first thing out of his mouth.  “Why me, Lord??”  Miss that dude.

ANYWAY, last night in worship we looked as the story of Queen Esther and saw that she found herself in such a place.  On one hand, her people were about to be eradicated from the kingdom.  She was in a unique place where she held the key to their rescue.  But to save them would require risking her life. I wonder if she went into her room, looked up to heaven, and asked that question???

What would you do?  From the comfort of our lives, we would like to say “I’d risk my life!!”  But if you were staring down the barrel of potential death, what would you really do??  The real shame of this is, there are people all around us that face potential death everyday.  They live in the death of separation from God.  And you hold a key that can set them free!!  And, in most cases, you won’t even come CLOSE to risking your life to tell them.

Will you do it??  In the words of good ol’ Uncle Morty, “Who knows that God didn’t put you exactly where you are for such a time as this?”

Once again, our Florence community is reminded of the brevity of life in an accident that happened on Sunday.  It claimed the lives of two 19 year old men.  Now, two families and many, many friends are devastated and left to wonder “why?”  Sadly, they might never find an answer to that question on this side of eternity.  And here is where our mission meets the urgency with which we should be doing it.

IF we really believe that Christ called us to GO INTO THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE WORLD and make disciples, then we must know that the time to do it is NOW.  What if someone God put into your life, in your path, was victim of such a tragedy tomorrow?

Our mission includes the 17,000 that live within a three mile radius of EBC that do not know Christ.  Our mission includes those halfway around the world that God calls us to go to.  AND our mission includes everyone in between …  Jesus Christ called us to go to the world.  Some will be called to go far.  Some will be called to go near.  ALL WILL BE CALLED.

And, now is the time to answer that call.  Because tomorrow promises to be different and we never know how that difference will impact our world …

Yes, I know it is close to the name of our local ministry, The House of Hope.  But this is a different place.  A very different place.  This is video footage, shot by Dr. John Bingham, of the orphanage as we found it on July 23, 2012.  The unscripted interviews were done on July 24.  John did a GREAT JOB capturing details.  This video tells the story …

That’s one word that fits the North American church to a tee!!  We are distracted.  Not focused on one thing, but on 50!  One of the unique markers of this generation is that we have less loyalty and more “waiting for the best offer to come along!!”  Makes me really feel bad for Justin and Andi, who have to make camp reservations and pay unrefundable deposits.  Sometimes our people will sign up and even give money to put their name on the list.  And when something better comes along, they cancel and many times expect to get their money back.  Even knowing it’s unrefundable!!  Makes life really hard for our children and youth ministries.  (Honestly, I also know there are legitimate reasons why people have to cancel.  And there are times when it is just done because something better came along!)

But, getting on to the real reason for this blog … This mentality creeps into every aspect of life.  Even into our faithfulness to God.  We will be faithful, we will follow Him, we will allow Him to call all of the shots … unless something better comes along.  As long as it’s convenient and doesn’t have what we see as a negative impact on our lives, we will let Hm be God.  But if things start getting uncomfortable or start heading into a direction with which we don’t agree or like, we have this tendency to take control.

Imagine where the Children of Israel would’ve been had they applied this way of life to their trek out of Egypt.  They would still be out there wandering!!

My prayer for Ebenezer today is that we will recognize God for Who He is and give Him the rightful place in our lives!!  HE ALONE IS WORTHY!!

Most of us have this ingrained-trait that we cannot shake … WHAT DO I DO NOW??  We’d rather do SOMETHING than NOTHING.  We’ve got to keep moving!!  Do anything, even if it’s not the right thing, because at least we will be doing SOMETHING!!

Well, friends, there are times in life where ALL we can do is wait on the Lord.  Stop, be still, and know He is God.  Listen.  Remain faithful and true to Him.  He has brought you this far … He WILL see you through.

Just before God delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh once and for all, He led them to a place that really seemed to be a dead end.  Go read about it in Exodus 13 and 14.  I would’ve hated to been Moses that day …  The Children of Israel were TERRIFIED and they asked Moses, “What, it wasn’t good enough to let us die in Egypt so you brought us out here where there are NO GRAVES???”  They completely lost faith in God.  Pharaoh and his army were closing in and there seemed like no where to go.  Then Moses told them “Don’t be afraid!!  Stand firm and SEE how God will deliver you!!”  And He did just that.

I tell you, STAND FIRM, TRUST HIM, and just SEE how He works it all out!!!!!

Honduras is a beautiful place full of great people.  And they are very different from us, living in a much different context.  A much more poverty-stricken context.  And I found out yesterday what the “gold currency” is of these people is the Bible!!

Bibles … We get excited about new cars and big screen TVs.  They get excited about God’s word.

Bibles are terribly expensive over here,  Abnd it humbles me to think about the fact that my family could miss one “eating out meal” a month and buy TEN Bibles.  Ten gold bars.

Really makes you think, huh??  By the way, our medical clinic saw a metric ton of people (I would guess it to be over 150, but I don’t know for sure) and we had 18 people accept Christ.

I know I’ve posted about this before.  But it strikes me again this morning:  Have you ever noticed how most sitcoms we watch (that are funny) revolve around SELFISHNESS??  Many husband/wife conflicts on the tube are based on what he wants vs. what she wants.  All we have to do is choose sides and laugh!!

I wonder how much that programs us in our dealings with others.  Do you trust others?  Do you approach life with the servant mentality, or a mentality derived from “The Art of War” ???

I’ve used this wording in wedding ceremonies before:  “A contract is based on mistrust, but a covenant is based on trust.”  A contract is meant to protect you if someone doesn’t live up to their end of the bargain.  It gives you leverage for legal action if another does you wrong.  But a covenant … that is an animal of a different tune.  A covenant is based on TRUST.  If you look at the great covenants of God and those of history, they are based on a mutual trust.  They are based on counting ON each other, not expecting each other to fail.

How do YOU approach relationships??  Are you in it for whatever YOU can get out of it??  Or do relationships mean something more??  Are you a contract person, or a covenant person?

Hmmm …..

God and I have been talking this morning, and He is reminding me of a truth that I cannot escape.  I don’t want to face up to this and THAT has something to do with how my brain is wired … But, it is true and I have to admit it.  I have to agree with Him on this!

Before I reveal it, let me ask you to read the entire thing before you jump to conclusions or make assumptions about me.  I wish this were not true and it DOES NOT mean I give up.  But fact is fact.  So here goes:

I cannot make ANYONE serve God.  I cannot make ANYONE live for Him.  The ONLY ONE I have control over is ME.

There are many people in my life, and specifically in my church, for whom I care deeply.  I want to see them succeed.  I see what I believe is great potential in their lives.  Some of them reach for it and even far-exceed my estimation of what God has for them.  And some are happy just existing … not engaging with God or His will for their lives.  Although I don’t know God’s will for anyone but ME, I can see it by the fruit in their lives (or lack of it).

So, today, God gently reminds me that I need to be the best David I can be.  Keep praying.  Keep loving.  And allow the Holy Spirit to do His job.  And I am praying for just that.

In all of the hustle of life, how hard is it to put God first??

I mean, after all, baseball season is starting!!  Spring is here!  Grass to cut.  Skin to burn in the sun and shells to collect.  Places to travel.  People to see.  It’s gonna be hard… right??

When the business of life replaces God as number one in our lives, in has effectively become our god.  Whatever we allow to preside on the throne of our lives is our master.  None of this makes the stuff in the sentence above wrong … but if it is more important to us than our relationship with Jesus Christ, THAT is a problem.  Yesterday we heard a quote from Jesus that is is “harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.”  Have you ever thought about that??  How hard would it be for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle??  IMPOSSIBLE!!

Is Jesus shouting down wealth??  If I were a televangelist, I might slip a sly line in here like “SOOO, brothersandsisters, send ALL of your evil wealth to me and I WILL DISPOSE OF IT FOR YOU!!!  PRAISE THE LAUD!!!”  Good thing I’m not like that ..

Jesus is not shouting down wealth, but He IS shouting down us putting ANYTHING in our lives to be more important than God.  When God comes first, everything else finds it’s appropriate place in our lives.  And the things that do not belong find their way OUT of our lives.  The best thing we can do today is put God first!!