Thursday, May 8, 2008

Has My Fire Gone Out?

As the preacher Paul writes to his young protégé Timothy we see the genuine concern in his letters.  Paul writes from his cell words of encouragement.  Timothy has the same problems any young preacher might have.  Certain men in the church are teaching error.  Paul is writing to tell Timothy to point out the error.  Some have left the church over the love of money.  Timothy is instructed to stay away from this temptation.  To make matters worse Timothy is having some health issues.  Perhaps the health issues are related to the pressures of a young preacher trying to stand for God.

Paul begins the second book by telling Timothy he knows his background and it is good.  Timothy is reminded of his sincere faith.  Paul states that he knows his mother and grandmother and reminds this young preacher of the fine family background he enjoys.  Paul further encourages Timothy by telling him he has a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.  Certainly the pressure of Satan would have been intimidating to a young preacher.  Paul is telling his young protégé not to be intimidated.   Instead Paul tells him to fan the flame.  Timothy don’t be ashamed to preach Jesus, don’t be timid, and most of all don’t let the fire go out!

Today, we face the same difficulties as Timothy.  Sin still exists, temptation still abounds, and the fire of our commitment at times wanes low.  Different situations present multiple problems.  For one family it may be a divorce.  For another it may be a sudden death.  At times our fire burns low due to poor preaching or poor study habits.  Occasionally we lose our fire because we lose focus on the things of God.

What can we do to rekindle the flame?  First, we must be aware of where we are.  Does our heart contain smoldering embers or is it a burning fire?  Second, remember where you were.  When Abraham was dejected God told him to return to Bethel.  Return to the time and event when you were closest to God.  Third, repent.  If you have lost your fire it is sin before God.  Repent and turn back to the Father.  Fourth, refocus - In order for us to lose our commitment we must lose our focus.  Refocus on the things of God.  Fifth, get back in the Word of God.  The Word of God is to the Christian what wood is to a fire.  It is our fuel.  Without a steady dose of God speaking to us our fire will burn low.  Sixth, seek the face of God in prayer.  This is about relationship.  I don’t mean going through the motions of prayer but genuinely seeking God’s fellowship.  There are many important questions we need to ask but none as important as this “Has my fire gone out?”

Posted by onedaysoon at 00:46:08 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Friday, February 22, 2008

Commitment?

    

 How deep is your commitment?  How many times have we asked a similar question?  Almost all preachers have a sermon on this subject in their files.  One of our responsibilities as a preacher is to continue to build commitment in the lives of fellow Christians.  I feel confident we agree on this point.  Great churches need hearts filled with deep-seated determination. 
    The questions that continue to trouble this preacher are simple.  What or to whom should we dedicate our lives?  What are the standards?  How do we measure this dedication?  
    Which standards will we use to measure commitment?  Some measure the depth of intentions by the number of times we attend worship in a given week.  Others measure the depth of our commitment by our ability to defend the accepted doctrine.  At other times we consider true dedication to be tied with our ability to give.  Almost always we bind our dedication to being part of the right church.  I am convinced  we are using incorrect standards.  If we begin with the wrong foundation we will never develop into the mature Christian God wants us to be.  
     Our dedication must be to Christ.  If we miss this point nothing else matters.  If our relationship with Jesus is lacking, everything else pales in comparison.  None of the above  standards matter. Without Christ it isn’t important what we do in formal worship, which church we choose, or the doctrine we believe.  
    When we make a decision to become a disciple we dedicate ourselves to following in the footsteps of the master.  With many in our fellowship this is misunderstood.  We have been taught either directly or indirectly that our commitment is to the church.  When we are discussing someone’s lack of faithfulness we make statements similar to these.  We say, “He has become unfaithful to the church.” Or we might say, “She needs to come back to the church.” Can the church save?  Since when does the church cover our sins?  Our commitment is to Christ rather than the church.  Could it be that we have placed so much interest in restoring the first century church we have missed the deeper matters?  Our commitment must be to Christ.
Posted by onedaysoon at 02:36:36 | Permalink | Comments (10)