On Sundays, I have been focusing on the mission and strategy of our church. The series of messages is entitled, “This Is Us.” Now it has nothing to do with the show on TV this fall. It has all to do with who we are as the Body of Christ. Where has God been leading to operate in this community and universal body of Christ?
I have been reminded over and over how important it is to reach all generations at all times. We would be missing an important part of our ministry if we neglected the younger ones and their spiritual growth. The church needs to make youth a priority because they are often the key to major revival movements. Making youth a priority is not neglecting the older generation. It is actually pulling all generations together to be holistic in our approach. In the book of 1 Timothy, Paul is investing in young Timothy and training him in how to shepherd and lead the church of Jesus Christ in all matters. This is a letter to Timothy that we draw from to train pastors and also to get some of our administrative direction as a church. You cannot separate the person from the church. So it dips in areas of personal growth as well as body growth issues. In Chapter 4, Paul is instructing Timothy about speaking the truth and counteracting false teachers that are deceiving many people. Some are trying to pull back believers and have them adhere to old ways and customs. He instructs that everything we do is to be consecrated by the word of God and prayer. I want to jump in at verse 6. 6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. 11 Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:6-16 Paul separates out physical training and godliness in verse 8. Granted, there are several that probably need to heed the physical training aspect including myself, but it doesn’t negate the fact that godliness has value for all things and not just the present physical state. We need to be careful what message we send to our younger generation when we put a priority on the physical above the spiritual. As I mentioned on Sunday, building strong spiritual foundations is all about making our faith, the Word, and our community a priority. Track with me on this example. “Son, we need to make sure that we cut the grass each week so it doesn’t get out of hand. With all the rain and everything, it is really growing fast.” The next week comes, “Son, I know I told you that we needed to cut the grass this week but the weather is good and we have to go fishing because the weather is so unpredictable. We’ll do it later.” Later doesn’t come. The following week, “Son, we have been invited over to some friend’s house. We can’t say no again. Let’s put the grass off to another week.” Before long, you can barely see your house over the hayfield. Now I may be exaggerating just a little, but you know where I am going. You may say cutting your grass is a priority; you just never get around to it. What is this father teaching his son about commitment, consistency, and perseverance? Not much. Don’t do I as I say, do as I do. Unfortunately, we do a good job at raising the physical to idol status. We rationalize it because we eventually get our priorities back in line after a while. But look at the lessons we teach in the meantime. Keep up the physical appearance and take care of the unseen later. Unfortunately, the pattern is set and later never comes around. Spiritual foundations should never be seasonal. They are continual. Guard it as if your eternity depended on it. May God show us all how we can spur others and especially this younger generation on to put God first in all of their endeavors. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike
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On Sundays, I have been focusing on the mission and strategy of our church. The series of messages is entitled, “This Is Us.” Now it has nothing to do with the show on TV this fall. It has all to do with who we are as the Body of Christ. Where has God been leading to operate in this community and universal body of Christ?
I have been reminded over and over how important it is to reach all generations at all times. We would be missing an important part of our ministry if we neglected the younger ones and their spiritual growth. The church needs to make youth a priority because they are often the key to major revival movements. Making youth a priority is not neglecting the older generation. It is actually pulling all generations together to be holistic in our approach. In the book of 1 Timothy, Paul is investing in young Timothy and training him in how to shepherd and lead the church of Jesus Christ in all matters. This is a letter to Timothy that we draw from to train pastors and also to get some of our administrative direction as a church. You cannot separate the person from the church. So it dips in areas of personal growth as well as body growth issues. In Chapter 4, Paul is instructing Timothy about speaking the truth and counteracting false teachers that are deceiving many people. Some are trying to pull back believers and have them adhere to old ways and customs. He instructs that everything we do is to be consecrated by the word of God and prayer. I want to jump in at verse 6. 6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. 11 Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:6-16 For the next few weeks I would like to unpack a few of the concepts touched upon in these verses. For this focus, take a look at verse 12. As a matter of fact, let me turn that into a prayer for our younger generation. “Lord, don’t ever let me look down on the youth of the church because of their age. Instead, let them be the ones who by their love for you set an example for the rest of us. Enable them to be exemplary in speech and life and love and faith and purity. I pray for the time to come when they younger generation will challenge us all by the way they live. Do it today Lord!” I look forward in the days ahead, to pull out the many different thoughts Paul poured into Timothy and in turn, pours into us. Let me challenge you to come and learn about the strategy of our church to reach not only this next generation, but all of those who walk within impact of our local church and beyond. May God show us all how we can spur others and especially this younger generation to put God first in all of their endeavors. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike We are familiar with the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. Martha is preparing a meal for Jesus but her sister Mary is not much help because she is sitting at Jesus feet listening to what he said. Martha gets upset because Mary isn’t pulling her weight and helping. Martha wants Jesus to tell Mary to help her but Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better thing by sitting at his feet in fellowship.
Many people have given Martha a bad rap over the years as we use the phrase, “Be a Mary and not a Martha.” I don’t think the point of this passage is to say that Martha was bad and Mary was good. They both were good. We should learn that we can’t make another person the way God wired us. We need to celebrate our differences and yet submit ourselves completely to God with the way he has made us. Did you know that I sat in camp meeting this summer between Mary and Martha? It was not an easy task to do. They were fighting back and forth the whole service. One said, “this,” the other said, “that.” I could hardly keep the noise down because of their complaining about each other. Ok, maybe it wasn’t all that bad. Yes, I did sit between Mary and Martha. They actually rode together each day to go the service. The truth is that they were not actually fighting. I just made that up for fun. It was fun to tell people that though. Mary Honecker and Martha Weigman just rolled their eyes. There is another passage in John 12 where Martha serves a meal. Jesus must have eaten at Martha and Mary’s house several times. This one is before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We celebrate that on Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of Holy Week. Lazarus and the disciples are there too. Martha, in only the way she could do it, served up another great meal. This occasion was to celebrate the raising of Lazarus from the dead. I would have loved to have been there. There was Good food, good company – and just being in the presence of Jesus. Then Mary, in typical fashion, took some expensive perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus. She has gone from questioning where Jesus was when Lazarus had died in the previous chapter, to not being able to contain herself by worshipping Him with all of her heart and mind. It was an expression of giving your best to Jesus and worshipping Him like no other. Mary was extravagant in her worship, holding nothing back. When Jesus makes his presence known, an outpouring of worship naturally flows from people who have been touched by the Savior. Mary expressed her heart and wouldn’t you know it, others were there to criticize as if she is auditioning for America’s Got Talent. When things are done with a pure heart and motive, don’t let other’s criticism steal your worship. Don’t let it steal your joy. Express to God how much He is worth to you in spite of your surroundings. By the way – I want to be like Mary and Martha. I don’t want to have to choose between two women that Jesus loved hanging around with. Martha was a hospitality queen and Mary could not hold in her expression of worship in showing Jesus love in her own way while not worrying about how the meal was going to be prepared. We need both. Please don’t draw a line and wish someone else was like you or that you were more like someone else. God made you just the way you are. He should be in the center of what it is we feel called to do. May God bless you today as you are all He created you to be. I am looking forward to worship Jesus with you on Sunday. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Matthew 4:1-11 As we met today for our prayer time, I was led to read the preceding passage. It speaks of a time when Jesus had just finished fasting and praying for forty days and nights. The Scripture says that the tempter came to him and tempted Him three times. Each time the Lord used the powerful Word of God to combat this season of testing. I am reminded that temptation and sin are not the same. Everyone is tempted, even Jesus. Temptation begins in our minds. It then tries to lodge itself in a continual loop to get us to dwell on it. Then when the tempter is successful at getting us to dwell on that temptation, we are then set up to say, “Yes!” to that temptation. Then a major foothold gets in our lives and when it is not dealt with and confessed, can lead to more sin which will eventually harden our heart to the things of God. Jesus cut it off at the first stage where the enemy wanted Him to ponder the half truth presented. Jesus’ relationship with the Father was always on His mind. Any attempt at the father of lies to suggest anything else was rejected immediately. We should take note and not allow anything to overcome our thought life that does not make it through the filter of the Holy Spirit. Believe me, there are plenty of opportunities throughout the day to fall to such a demise. When a given temptation results in a string of defeats, our lives become ineffective and unproductive. On the other hand, consistent victories translate into a life of power and productivity in the Spirit. That sounds like a revival waiting to happen. Take heart… You are victorious in the Name of Jesus! He will provide the strength needed when tempted: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 Here is the formula to use when tempted: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 I am looking forward to a great day on Sunday. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike |
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Rev. Mike McClurgSenior Pastor, Findlay First Church of the Nazarene Archives
March 2020
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