Enthusiasm

John Wesley said: “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.”




That’s my word for the week. If the church needs anything, it needs enthusiasm. This past Sunday a number of people came forward to pray during our altar call. Such actions stir the soul to go forth with the message of Christ to the world. There are so many people in our world who are searching for something that gives them reason to soar. Mr. Wesley knew long ago that people are drawn to enthusiasm. Our challenge is to be enthusiastic people who just naturally lead people to want to know about the Christian journey.

Enthusiasm is a state of mind that cannot be hidden. It defines who we are and how we act. It brings a smile to our face and kind words to our lips. Practice enthusiasm and it will be as infectious as the flu. We are followers of the “MOST HIGH GOD” – what could be more exciting?

Missional Suggestion #14

Forgiveness: The Church's Business

The church is not in the morals business. The world is in the morals business, quite rightfully; and it has done a fine job of it, all things considered. The history of the world's moral codes is a monument to the labors of many philosophers, and it is a monument of striking unity and beauty. As C. S. Lewis said, anyone who thinks the moral codes of mankind are all different should be locked up in a library and be made to read three days' worth of them. He would be bored silly by the sheer sameness.

Is the word forgiveness the priority word in you Christian life or perhaps its another word. A young lady told me not long ago--"I come to church to get guidance and answers and the church gives me questions." Today I have n answer.The most important business of the church is forgiveness. It is what the church exists to do and out of forgiveness the wok o the church will flow. Your Missional task this week is to forgive.

• Forgive without getting it straight.
• Forgive before you know the whole story.
• Forgive before the other says I'm sorry(I was wrong)
• Forgive because it defines you.
• Forgive because its what Christians do !

Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Matthew 18:21-22 (NRSV)

Practice Forgiveness

Wait

John Wesley said: “When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed.”


The older I get the less sure I am about so many things. Age has a way of making us turn to God as the compass of life. The things I really know and rely upon I have found in scripture, times of prayer, and worship. We live in a world that demands answers and yet our best answer is to say we wait upon the Lord.

The word for the week is WAIT.

• Wait for God to answer your prayers.
• Wait for your children to grow mature.
• Wait for your job to improve.
• Wait to get well.
• Wait to understand the ways of God.

28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

Just a Thought #2

There are two birds that fly over our nation’s deserts: One is the hummingbird and the other is the vulture. The vultures find the rotting meat of the desert, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.


In life, there are two birds. The one bird looks for foolishness and stupidity, the other looks for wisdom. The vultures seek to fill themselves with the rotting flesh of drunkenness and debauchery, the hummingbird sobriety, freshness, and the Spirit. In the desert of this world you have your scavengers who are angry and ungrateful, but you also have those who hum a grateful hymn of thanksgiving. The irony is that you find what you are looking for.

I'm sure that all of us want to find what is wonderful and fresh. We want to be in the company of people and things that ad value to our lives. Unfortunately we sometimes seek out the wrong things. We find ourselves drawn to things and people that diminish us rather than build us. Remember, it all there for us to find.

Missional Suggestion #15

Care for Your Ducklings

One of the best things about riding a bicycle around town is that you get to observe things up close and personal. Bike riding puts you in the middle of the action. You can smell the smells, feel the heat and hear the sounds you miss in your car.

In a recent ride along Bayou St. John I noticed a mother duck and her ducklings swimming in the bayou. I stopped as she came on shore and began to lead them to a new spot. One of the ducklings began to lag behind the group and suddenly the volume of her “quacks" went up to an ear crushing sound. Sure enough the little slacker knew that it was a signal to speed up and catch up. He did and the rhymic quacking continued as they moved to a place to rest.

You may ask, how can this relate to the missional practice of a Christian?

Let's think about that for a moment.

• The ducklings began as a unit. It was not the mother duck that left the duckling behind but the duckling that moved slower than the rest.
• The mother duck had the best and the brightest duckling right behind her.
• The slacker was slowing down the journey.
• The slacker caused the mother to expend more energy.

What missional points can we gleam from this little story?

• We must allow for those who don't follow the crowd.
• We must set the pace of our journey so that all can travel.
• We must expend energy and time to help those who are less motivated.

Remember we are called to care for each other as we are on the journey.