Treasure Reveals Heart (Mt. 6:21)

Read Matthew 6:21.

Treasure reveals heart, not vice versa.  Where is your treasure?  Here are some questions to help you evaluate.

• What does your checkbook say?  Are you tithing on income and increase or are you studying to form well-sounding theological loopholes? (Making loopholes is a characteristic of a Pharisaical spirit.)
• What do you value?  Who or what do you talk about more than anything else?  That is who or what you will sacrifice for.  You sacrifice for that which you treasure.
• Do you spend more money on Christmas than you give to God during the year?
• Do you spend more money on vacation than you give to God during the year?
• Do you spend more money on your pets in a year than you give to missions or benevolence?
• Do you dread the offering or battle internally when it is announced?  If so, why?  What are you afraid of?
• Do you find more joy at the golf course than you do in church?  

Your "House" (Prov. 24:3-4)

Your house -- build it.  It won't build itself correctly.  Effort, investment, consistency, details.
Your house -- establish it.  Durability, strength, continual reinforcement, habits.
Your house -- fill it.  Delayed gratification, occupation, training, teachable, etc.

Forsake, Not Just Surrender (Lu. 14:33)

Read Luke 14:33.

Why did Jesus use the verb "forsake" (MEV) instead of the word "surrender"?  Perhaps it is because "surrender" can be a mental arrangement with the possibility of un-surrender later.  When one "surrenders", he merely does what is in his best interest at the time.  His heart might not be in it.  While it isn't easy to measure "surrender", it is easy to measure "forsaking." Either there has been a separation, a leaving, a distance or there has not.  You are over here now and what you left behind remains over there. The evidence (the gap) speaks for itself.

Have you merely "surrendered" to Jesus or have you actually forsaken things? Have your priorities been re-ordered?  What does it cost you to follow Jesus?

Enemies of The Seed (Mk. 4:13-20) (Part 5)

THE SEED ON THE THORNS (4:18-19)

• What’s the big picture here?
• This group of hearers is trying to fit too much stuff into too small a space.
•  Life gets choked when too many things compete for number one priority.
• When weeds are choking your plants, how do you know?
• You are looking for intertwining.
• The weed becomes a vine that grows all over and around the plant.
• The weeds can live with the plants, but the plants have difficulty coexisting with the weeds.
• What’s the enemy here?
• Competition.
• Jesus isn’t the only One who wants to occupy your heart.
• Specifically, what competition is mentioned? (1 Jn. 2:15-16; Jam. 4:4-5)
• Cares of the world
• Deceitfulness of riches
• Desire for other things
• Your heart – the internal, invisible place where you house your priorities – is not a mansion; it is a studio apartment.
•  It is designed to house one – one person (Jesus), one priority, one tenant.
•  Maybe something needs to be evicted!
• Prov 4:23
• If you are to properly hear, understand, and respond to God’s Word, the third enemy you must conquer is competition.

Something For The Hunters

This is too good not to share.  Enjoy!

A couple of friends went hunting.  Later in the day, one of the pair came home with a trophy buck. After showing it off to his wife, he said, "I've got to go back and get Bob."  "Where's bob?" his wife asked.  "Oh, I think that he might have had a heart attack helping me drag this deer out of the woods" the guy says.  "I left him propped against a tree."  His wife chastises him, "What kind of friend are you?  Why didn't you help your friend, leave the door and go back later for it?"  "Look," the guy says, "Nobody is going to steal Bob."

Immel, Don.  "Hunting Story."  EconneXions.  Mechanicsburg, PA:  Penn-Del District Council of The Assemblies of God, November 12, 2015.

Short-Term Sacrifices for Long-Term Benefits

 "...things which are short-term urgent tend to trump items which are long-term significant."  That is an unhealthy pattern.  The future of your vocational, relational and financial stability hinges upon understanding the difference.  Read Joe Sangl's post at http://www.josephsangl.com/2012/04/30/short-term-urgent-vs-long-term-significant/.

God Number One at All Times (Gen. 22:1-19)

People, things and dreams tend to climb the priority ladder quickly.  Who or what is reaching right now for the top rung, the one that's reserved for God alone?

It doesn't matter that God knows He's number one.  You must know it and show it.  The way you show it is through obedience and faith.

The test is never just for you alone.  I'm sure Isaac learned a thing or two here!

Keeping God number one all the time will be delightful and painful.  Delightful, because you want to please Him.  Painful, because what's asked from you could be hard, perplexing or permanent.

Priorities

What should the pastor's priorities be? It's one thing to have a vision statement. Do you have a pastoral priorities statement? After much praying and lots of reading I'm convinced that my priorities, in my current assignment, need to be...

1. Praying. I must be the spiritual leader of the congregation. This cannot and should not be delegated. Nothing except frustration happens without prayer.
2. Leading. I must train more leaders. This will mean more teaching, more meetings, more planning, more time with people.
3. Outreach. 100% of L.A.G's growth will come from outsiders. Preferably, I want growth from conversion instead of transfer. Outreach is both intentional and sytematic. It can be time-consuming.

Call it the PLO aproach. I'm still working through how much time should be allotted for each priority. Where do I put sermon preparation? Perhaps that's part of #1?