Tag: Revival

What’s in your Wagon?

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

In an old Little House on the Prairie episode, Laura and her friend are fishing in a creek when they see something shiny on the bottom of the creek.  They stop fishing to investigate – and it is gold dust!  They secretively begin to collect the gold dust after school and on the weekends.  They begin to dream of what they might do with their new found riches.

After a few weeks, they have so many bags of gold, that they decide to take it to the bank.  So they fill a small wagon with their treasure and pull the wagon to town.  With excitement they show the banker what they have.  But their smiles soon fade, as the banker shakes his head and tells them it’s not gold.  It is fool’s gold.  It looks like gold, but it is not.  Their treasure isn’t worth anything.  They have wasted hours, days, and weeks collecting something without any value.

What is in your wagon?  What are you spending hours, days, weeks, months, and years of your life on?  What treasure have you given your life too?  When you bring your wagon before God, will he shake his head and tell you your wagon is filled with worthless dust?  Will he tell you that you wasted your life?  Or will he see that your treasure was God, that you gave your life to him?  Will he tell you well done good and faithful servant?

What is in your wagon?

Life is a treasure hunt.  Choose your treasure carefully.

Treasure Hunt

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry

Life is like a treasure hunt.  The big difference is that while a typical treasure hunt has clues that lead to a single treasure, life has many clues that lead to numerous treasures.  We have to decide which clues to follow, which treasures to seek.

Jesus used the picture of a treasure in Matthew 6.  He reminds us not to lay up treasure on earth, but rather to lay up treasure in heaven.  Verse 21 reads: “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So what is your treasure?  There are lots of clues leading to lots of treasures.  What is your treasure?

The Psalms give us clues to what our treasure should be.  Psalm 63 tells us that God’s love is better than life; that God satisfies.  Psalm 27 tells us to seek God’s face.  In Psalm 73, the writer tells us that he desires nothing in heaven or earth but God.  In Psalm 16, David says that God is his chosen portion.  Out of all the possible treasures life offers, David has chosen God.  These psalms and many more are clues that point to God as the true treasure we should seek.

Is God our treasure?  The quick “Christian” answer of course is God, but is he really?  Do our lives prove that God is our treasure?  Or do our lives point to other competing treasures, other gods that we bow down to and serve?  Is God our treasure, or is it God and ________ (you fill in the blank)?

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  So where is your heart?  Whatever your heart is set on is your treasure.  So consider your heart:

What do you love more than anything else?

What to seek, desire, long for more than anything else?

What to you praise and talk about all of the time?

What do you trust in for security and satisfaction and meaning?

What do you serve no matter the cost?

What determines your words and actions and relationships with people?

Are the answers to these questions – God, or some other things, or maybe God and other things?  Where is your heart?  That is your treasure.

Life is a treasure hunt.  What is your treasure?

Pastors after God’s Heart

On By BrianIn Heart

I mentioned in a past blog that the Bible uses the phrase “after God’s heart” or something similar at least four times by my count.  Two refer to David.  A third is found in Jeremiah 3:15 –

“And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

The context of this verse references a specific time, but the application is timeless.  We need shepherds after God’s heart – pastors whose hearts beat like God’s heart.  Pastors who have hearts for God and seek to do all his will.

As a pastor, I know all too well how easy it is to get caught in the busyness of ministry.  But what I need is a heart for God.  What the church I pastor needs is a man after God’s heart.  And how will I have such a heart?  Through God’s Word that reveals his heart and through prayer that submits my life to his will.  And then from this heart flows the ministry God desires.

And what does God desire.  Back to the verse: “who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”  God desires his people to be fed.  They need the Word – to know it and to understand it to the point that they can live it.

The apostles said they would devote themselves to prayer and the Word (Acys 6:4).  That must be my calling – to be in the Word and prayer so that I might have a heart for God, and then prayerfully preach the Word so that God’s people might have a heart for God.

God, help me to be a shepherd after your heart, and raise up countless shepherds after your own heart – that you might lead your people to be a people after your heart.

People After God’s Heart 3

On By BrianIn Heart

In the last post, we noted that to be a people after God’s heart is to to do all his will.  Saul’s problem was that he didn’t – he had a bad case of selective obedience.  But wait – David – the man after God’s heart – wasn’t perfect either.  He didn’t do all God’s will – he blew it some very serious ways.  So what was the difference?

I think the difference was the heart.  David wanted to obey fully – Saul didn’t care.  When confronted, Saul just started making excuses.  David was broken – crying out for mercy and forgiveness.

So which one are we more like?  Saul with his selective obedience and excuse-making?  Or David trying to obey and repenting with a humble contrite spirit when he failed?

People After God’s Heart 2

On By BrianIn Heart

The phrase “after God’s heart” or something similar is used at least four times in Scripture – two to refer to David.  God says of David that he is “a man after my heart, who will do all my will” (Acts 13:22).  That second phrase helps define the first.  A person after God’s heart is one who does all God’s will.  Not part, not some, not a little – all.

This was Saul’s problem.  He chose to do some of God’s will.  He was content to wait for Samuel to make the sacrifice – until Samuel didn’t come, then Saul did it his way.  And he was told that his kingdom would not continue because God had “sought out a man after his own heart” (I Samuel 13:14) – a man who would do God’s will.

Later God tells Saul to wipe out the Amalekites.  Saul wipes out some of them, and then brings the rest for a sacrifice to God.  How religious and pious of him!  But no – again he did it his way rather than doing all God’s will.

We can be like this.  We try to do the Christian life our way.  We obey partly – when it is easy, or it makes sense, or we feel like it.  We have selective obedience.  I have a pastor friend who tells his congregation that the Christian life is not like a convenience store.  At a convenience store, you take just what you want.  I’ll take salvation, but not baptism; church attendance, but not ministry; some prayer today, but not tomorrow; some love and joy and peace, but not patience or self-control.  Each of us can fill in our own tendencies, but God didn’t design the Christian life this way.  He wants us to be a people after his heart – who do all of his will.

What are we doing our way instead of God’s way?  How do we pick and choose like Saul what to obey?  How are we failing to be people after God’s heart?

People after God’s Heart

On By BrianIn Heart

The Bible’s description of the human heart is not flattering.  It is evil and stubborn (Jeremiah 3:17, 18:12), with evil intentions (Genesis 6:5, 8:21), sick and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), and goes after detestable things (Ezekiel 11:21).  Or as Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us – we are dead in our sins.

But Ephesians 2 goes on to say that God mercifully makes us, who were dead, alive together with Christ through faith (v4-5, 8).  That is, God gives us new hearts (Jeremiah 24:7, 31:33, 32:38-39, Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26-27).  No longer stubborn evil hearts, but hearts that seek to do God’s will.

And why does God do this?  Because of his mercy and love and grace (Ephesians 2:4-5) – this is God’s heart for us.  And Ephesians 5:2 says we should walk in love as Christ loved us.  That is, we should have the same heart God has – a heart of love.

So we might sum it up this way: with a new heart we respond to God’s heart with the same heart.  We become a people after God’s heart.

But what exactly does it look like to be a people after God’s heart, to have a heart for God?  And how can we grow to have more of a heart for God?  This is what I want to write (and preach) about for the next several weeks.  Basically, I looked up every passage using the word heart in the Bible.  There are 766 occurrences in my translation for those who like statistics.  After weeding out passages that don’t really apply (like Jonah being thrown into the HEART of the sea), I have grouped passages into themes that spell out what it means to have a heart for God.  Each week we’ll look at some of these themes.  Hope you’ll join me on the journey and add to the conversation!

Why Don’t We Talk About Jesus?

On By BrianIn Heart, Revival2 Comments

In my last two posts, I wrote about using every context of our lives to talk about Jesus – to encourage other believers and to share the good news with those who are dead in their sins.  My question here is – why don’t we do this more?

Why is it that we talk about Jesus in Sunday School and the Worship Service, but before, between, and after we talk about everything else but Jesus.  Why don’t we talk about what we heard from God’s Word just minutes before.  Why is my Facebook account filled with “friends” who are Christians but who rarely if ever mention Christ?  Why is it that we don’t talk more about Jesus?

Let me be clear – I’m not judging anyone – because I am guilty of this too.  I’m just wondering why we are so slow to talk about Jesus.  Could it be that we don’t talk about Jesus much because we don’t think about him much?  Or maybe we are afraid to mention his name?  Or are we so distracted by the things of this world that other things take our focus and hence we talk about those things?

If Jesus is most important in our lives, wouldn’t we be talking about him?

Together For The Gospel

On By BrianIn Biography/History, Revival

Just finished reading biographies about George Whitefield, Charles Wesley, and John Wesley – the three leaders of the Great Awakening in England.  I confess I was most interested in Whirefield as I am more at home with his theology.  The Wesleys were interesting when they weren’t railing against the Biblical doctrine of predestination or pushing their unBiblical view of Christian perfection.  Okay that was strong – but that was Whitefield’s view.  Of course, the Wesleys thought Whitefield’s views were unBiblical.  And yet, for most of their lives, they were friends.

They met and became friends at school before any of them were saved or famous.  After they were born again, they ministered together preaching the gospel around England (and beyond).  But then, despite Whitefield’s plea, John began preaching against and writing against predestination.  Whitefield felt he had no choice but to respond and defend the doctrine.  The cord of three was broken.  But over time they came together again.  The gospel was central in each of their lives and it was around this that they came together.  They agreed to disagree on the other issues – the main thing was the gospel.  Indeed at the end they were preaching for each other again.  When George Whitefield died, John Wesley led the service in England.  Charles Wesley wrote a long poem about his friend.  In particulars they differed, but they were friends in the gospel.

Which brings us to today.  Calvinism is on the rise – and I praise God for it.  Yet it is often antagonistic toward non-Calvinists.  On the other side is a responding antagonism against Calvinism.  Can we agree to disagree?  Can we come together around the gospel like Whitefield and the Wesleys?  Can we keep the main thing the main thing?  Whitefield didn’t want Wesley to publish against predestination because he didn’t want to divide the church and hurt the revival that was going on.  For the sake of the church, and the hope of revival, can we keep the gospel central and rally around it?

We have much to learn from these men.  For further reading, check out these biographies that I just read:

George Whitefield – Arnold Dallimore (I read the one volume edition, there is also a much more complete two volume edition)

George Whitefield and the Great Awakening – John Pollock

Assist Me To Proclaim: Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley – John Tyson

John Wesley – Stephen Tomkins

Your Will Be Done

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival1 Comment

The third request in the Lord’s Prayer is “your will be done.”  What does this mean?  First, we are praying for God’s moral will to be done, that his commands would be obeyed.  We want God to help us do his will.  Second, we are praying for God’s providential will to be done.  We are expressing our trust in God’s plan for our lives as Jesus did in the garden before the cross.

Do our prayers look like this?  Is this our heart’s desire?

Your Kingdom Come

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival

The second request in the Lord’s Prayer is “Your kingdom come.”  What does this mean?  First, we are praying for Christ’s return, when his kingdom will come in it’s final fulfillment.  Second, we are praying for people to come to Christ, when the king comes into their lives and they enter the kingdom.  Third, we are praying for God’s people to submit to their king, when they act like true subjects of the kingdom.  The question is, do we really want these things?

Do we long for Christ to return?  Do we long for people to be saved?  Do we long to live for Christ?  Does these desires affect our lives?

Again, our prayers reveal our hearts.  What do our prayers reveal?  Are we crying out for Christ to return?  Are we crying out to God for our lost loved ones, co-workers, neighbors, communities?  Are we crying out to God for his grace to help us live for our king?  Do we pray like this?  Is this our heart’s desire?

O Lord, change our hearts more and more that our desires and prayers might be focused on your kingdom!