The Most Important Things

Do work that matters. What does that mean? To each person it will be different. To me, since I am working for God as a disciple of Jesus, work that matters is work that builds the kingdom. Work that matters is work that pleases God. If you read Luke 12, you will see what kind of work matters to God. Here’s a couple samples:

Verse 14, “Life is not measured by how much you own.”

Verse 21, “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Verse 33, “Store up treasure in heaven…And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes.”

Verse 42, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.”

So, do work that matters…to God. That kind of work matters for eternity. Don’t just talk about it, do it. Do work that matters.

The other night I found myself thinking, after a particularly powerful service, that it [the service] was old school. I thought, “yea that was good and old school!” Only moments later did I catch myself recounting Jesus words about “old school” or rather “old vs. new.” More about that later.

It’s interesting to me to note that whenever we refer to a powerful or charismatic service that we typically rely on the phrase, “old school” or “classic” or “old time revival.” We rarely say, things along the line of, “that service was brand new” or “fresh.” Every now and again we talk about the “next level,” but that’s not a new thing so much as it is a replacement thing. No, our typical verbiage is about the “old.” Jesus had something to say about this in Luke 5:39, He says, “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”

We typically prefer the “old” for 2 reasons:

1. The old is familiar. We have experienced it already and we can relate to it. It’s far easier to remember what HAS happened than imagine what CAN happen.
2. The old is “better.” From what I have heard, old wine is typically less potent in flavor than the new. So, it’s something that is more palatable than the new wine. The new wine is sharp and biting. The old wine is smooth and mature.

Yes! Another holiday list blog, just what you’ve been waiting for. Well, this year I added one thing I hate just to spice it up! Here goes…

1. I am thankful for the things around me – Jesus, my wife, my family, my job/ministry, my church. These are the things that I am continually and daily thankful for. I thank God everyday for these. I talk about these things everyday of my life! I love them and cherish them.
2. I am thankful for the ability to pray, praise and worship wherever and whenever I want. Thank God for spiritual freedom, nationally and personally!
3. I am thankful for Coca-Cola Classic. It’s naturally gluten-free, can double as a toilet cleaner and can make you burp as loud as a 10,000 lb canary. Is there anything it can’t do?

Well, it took me longer than I anticipated to finish off this blog. Or rather, longer than I procrastinated. Anyway, here are the last 2 thoughts, to complete the 4 thoughts regarding seed faith! (Click here to read part 1.)

1. Continual Harvest - Many people overlook this simple principle. If you want to harvest all year long, you have to plant all year long. Every season yields a new harvest and a new fruit in your life. Each natural season yields its own special harvests and so it is in the spiritual. Sow consistently and you will get a consistent harvest. Sow occasionally and/or erratically and you will get an inconsistent harvest!
2. Due Season - In Galatians 6:9, Paul writes: “Do not grow weary…for in DUE SEASON you shall reap…” While there are 4 seasons to every year and many spiritual seasons to every lifetime. The Due Season is a spirit-ordained season, that can override the natural timing of seedtime and harvest. To put that into some natural terms, imagine the due season like this: It takes a tomato seed anywhere between 55-100 days to go from seed to fruit. (Tomato is a fruit, after all.) The Due Season for a tomato seed would work like this, you plant a tomato seed today and you reap tomato fruit tomorrow. The Due Season defies the logic of nature to produce a harvest immediately! Now imagine that in a spiritual context. You sow a seed of money today, you get a harvest tomorrow.

I have been reading and meditating on “seed” and “seed faith” for the last few months. It has been very rewarding and interesting. All of this has “evolved” from studying the broader topic of faith this past year. There are four really important points that I have learned, and want to share, about seed faith and planting spiritual seed in general. Ready? Ok, here we go!

1. Qualify the soil. In the parable of the sower, the sower throws seed onto 4 different types of soil. They are: the path, the rocky, the thorny and the good soil. 3 of the 4 soils result in no usable harvest! But the seed that fell on good soil produced a harvest of 30, 60, and 100-fold. It’s easy for us to do the math. Either you have no harvest or 30, 60, 100-fold harvest. So, qualify the soil! Make sure that you are putting your seed into good ground. Don’t just throw it everywhere, plant it in good soil. Choose the soil that you are sowing into very carefully.
2. Define the harvest. Oral Roberts once said, “we’ve taught people how to sow, but they don’t know how to receive their harvest.”(Full disclosure: I must admit that I am learning and growing in this second point.) His point being that, maybe, you have done a good job of sowing and qualifying the soil. But have you defined and identified your harvest? A farmer knows what kind of harvest he’s going to receive by the seed he planted. So, the conclusion is when you sow your seed, define what type of harvest you are believing for in return.

These two thoughts have been transforming my seed sowing life. (Remember, seed isn’t just money. It can be time, energy, love, or anything that can be “planted.”) God has put laws in place in the universe, like sowing and reaping, that anybody (even unbelievers) can comprehend and apply. However, when a person of faith learns these laws and applies them WITH FAITH the result is accelerated and exponential! So, learn them and apply them with faith.

Stay tuned for part 2…you will love the last 2 points!

Recently, I have been talking with my children about the “First Answer.” What is the “First Answer?” It’s, Yes. The reason we have been talking about this is that excuses, arguments and “buts” arise when an instruction is given. Nobody is looking for any of those. We are all very tired of hearing excuses as to why things can’t get done (i.e. controlled budget in the gov’t or why a project “can’t” be done). I would rather have someone tell me, “no” than make excuses. At that point, I can deal with their rebellion because it is blatant and obvious. Whereas somebody who is always giving excuses tries to veil their motives through a partial “yes.”  Yet, we live in a culture today that has ZERO respect for yes and no. And, in many instances, is afraid of saying: “no.”

Don’t believe me? When asked by Facebook if somebody is your friend, what are your options? Yes and no? Wrong. It’s “confirm” and “not now.” Why is that? Fear of responsibility and follow through. (It’s also a measure of tolerance. Who are you to say if somebody is your friend or not.) If somebody friended you and you hit “not now” you have the chance to weasel out of why you declined their “friending.” You just didn’t want to be friends with them right now. Contrast that with this answer, “No, I do not know you. Therefore, I am declining your friend request.” Sounds harsh? Not really. Yet, too much tolerance and political correctness in our lives pushes us into the grey areas of life. To the point that we live in fear of being considered “intolerant.” So, what does Jesus have to say about yes and no?

Jesus has always been very clear about the answers we are to have. He was also very clear with His answers. He says in the Gospels to let your “Yes be yes and your no, no.” Later, Paul writes “All His promises in Christ Jesus are Yes and Amen.” (paraphrased.) These are insights into how God desires us to respond.  There’s also the parable of the 2 men who the Master offered work to. One said, “no” and later came back to work. The other said, “yes” and never got around to it. This only furthers our example of being forthright and honest in our answers.

The point that is being made here is that our first answer to Jesus should be yes, and we should follow through with it. I want my children to be people of their word, accountability and responsibility. I want to be that too! My first answer to authority and to Jesus is YES! And Amen!

What’s your first answer?

One of the most important things in a Christian’s life is…fruit. Making disciples is fruit. God desires that we produce fruit in our lives! Jesus talked about fruit a lot. IN fact, He explained to His disciples that when they understood the parable of the sower(which is about seed and fruit), they would understand all the other parables. So, let’s take a look at the parable of the sower.

In Mark 4:13-20, Jesus explains the parable, there are 4 soils that the farmer scatters seed on: the pathway, the rocky, the thorny and the good soil. We could spend countless hours talking about each soil but for the sake of brevity, let’s look specifically at the thorny soil.

The thorny soil represents those who have allowed the soulishness of their life to drown out the Spirit of God. They are worried about this life (the temporal), the lure of wealth and desire for other things. The thorny soil is the realm of the lukewarm! The lukewarm are always caught up in carnal, soulish pursuits such as: money, possessions, and worrying. The Spirit-filled are pursuing souls, eternity and relationship with God. The lukewarm hear the word of God and let it get choked or drowned out by the temporal. Don’t be thorny soil. Don’t let this world crowd out the seed that was sown! The worst part about this type of soil is that it produces no fruit!

We must become good soil. Those who hear the word of God and receive it. That word “receive” in the greek means to accept as one’s own. Accept the word of God and the word of being “in the Spirit” as your own today. Become a person who produces 30, 60 and 100 fold harvest! Only you can keep your “soil” good. You must cultivate a heart of sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit. You must keep the offenses of this world from making you into a hardened pathway. Only you can keep your mind pure so that it doesn’t become rocky.

Become good soil and produce fruit!

I love Jesus. I love His word, it always builds my faith and increases my understanding. There is a major lack, in the church today, of spiritual understanding. Many are not aware of the Holy Spirit or are quickly stuffing Him away. We need spiritual understanding to help us in every situation because we live in a spiritual world. Anyone of us can have natural understanding, just by living life. But there IS a difference between natural understanding and spiritual understanding. We MUST discern and pursue spiritual understanding. Spiritual understanding is an awareness, recognition and dedication to hearing the what the Spirit is saying.

If you are not aware that the Holy Spirit wants to speak to you all the time, you lack spiritual understanding. If you are not recognizing the Holy Spirit is working (and wants to work) in every situation, you lack spiritual understanding. If you are not pursuing intimacy with the Holy Spirit everyday, you will never have spiritual understanding!

In Matthew 13:12 Jesus says this, “to those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.” I call this the “spiritual understanding parable of the talents.” If you don’t use the understanding given to you by the Holy Spirit, you will lose it. This situation happens in many believers lives. They hear something from God and they don’t apply it or search it out. The result is that they lose their understanding. I don’t want to be that way. I want to be so hungry to hear God’s voice, that I hear something from Him everyday!

In fact, it has been my personal goal to hear from the voice of God everyday of my life. This has helped me understand the bible, the world and many other things. But the Holy Spirit has spoken to me, recently, and put a new goal in my spirit. The goal is this: to be “in the Spirit” all day long. It may sound simple, but let me tell you–it takes more effort than it sounds! Yet I have found great joy in walking in the Spirit! And it has only been by the Spirit that I have been able to walk in the Spirit for any amount of my day. (Full disclosure: I have not lived a whole day in the Spirit yet. But I press on!)

I would encourage you today, be hungry for more of the Holy Spirit. Pursue understanding that comes from the Holy Spirit! Make yourself recognize and be aware that the Holy Spirit was given by Jesus, to help you out…in everything! In all your getting get understanding, in the Spirit!

I am sure we are all familiar with the phrase, “opportunity knocks.” Well, it’s true. There are many forms of opportunity and it’s “knocking.” Typically, we associate that phrase with some sort of financial gain, but that’s not all it represents. Here are 3 opportunities you should NEVER pass up!

1) The opportunity to receive Jesus Christ. Rev. 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, Iwill come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus was never overly aggressive in His ministry. He never opened “doors” Himself. He would knock and wait for each individual to open it. Open the door. If you miss this opportunity, it could be your last!

2) The opportunity to serve. Servanthood is a seed into the life of another person! You may not have any material possession to sow into somebody’s life. But you do have your life! Sow your life into serving others. As you serve others you will gain favor and more opportunity to serve. Rebecca served Abraham’s servant unquestioningly and her reward was: her husband Isaac, the inheritance of Abraham and birthing Israel! All she did was serve. Who can you serve today?

3) The opportunity to learn. This is important because, learning (and more importantly revelation from God) increases our capacity. I love to read books that expand and push my thinking outside of the norm. Having said, that I won’t just read anything. I am very selective as to what goes into my spirit through my mind. My first love is the word of God and I read it everyday.

Also, learning doesn’t come from books. Who is mentoring you? Who is holding you accountable in your life? Who is pushing you to be great? If you want uncommon results you need an uncommon mentor. (Think Elijah and Elisha.) You need to find a mentor who will press you onto greater results. Often times, this is someone who is not easy to be around. Elijah told Elisha to leave him 3 different times! He also asked Elisha what he wanted, after Elisha had burned all of his livelihood! Talk about hard stuff! Jesus told people to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He told them to let the dead bury themselves. Paul told Timothy he had to be circumcised. The list goes on. If you want uncommon success, you must find an uncommon mentor.

The door of your life is being knocked on today. Open the door! Receive Jesus! Find someone to serve! Read a book! Find an uncommon mentor!

Spiritually dull is becoming the norm in the western church. We seem to have placed an inordinate amount of focus on the temporal. We are always thinking about how to improve our lives on earth or how we can become more successful. Of course, we have created elaborate justifications for it all. We say things like: I want to be rich to bless others. Or, we are just trying to reach more people by becoming more diplomatic in our gospel presentation.(note: I am not against generosity and/or gospel preaching) Instead of preaching in–depth messages and bringing more believers to maturity we end up creating a fickle, temporal christianity. A kind of christianity that gets offended and hurt at basic gospel truths. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.” OUCH! Imagine how immature those believers had to have been for them to say that! What’s even more shocking is that the writer is talking to jewish converts. Jews were required to memorize the first 5 books of the “bible.” As opposed to our 1–minute bible christianity.

Anyway, the argument gets worse as he continues, “you have been believers so long now that you OUGHT to be teaching others.” OUCH again! How many christians are held back or are afraid to teach others? Part of that is their own fault, part is the fault of the american church which has done a poor job of properly maturing believers. There are countless christians who really should be discipling/ teaching others but are not because they are content to sit and “listen” to the word. This ought not be so!

Finally, the writer gets to this part, “Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.(also good and evil)” It’s on that verse that I want to focus. A definition of immaturity can be this: the inability to discern the difference between right and wrong. That seems overly simplistic, doesn’t it? Yet, how many christians do you know who cannot do that? They cannot discern that listening to music with overtly sexual and/or perverted themes is evil. They cannot discern that watching horror movies is wrong. They cannot discern that rebellion and pride are still sin in God’s eyes. All the while they continue to do their own will rather than submit to God. If you desire to be mature in your faith, you must begin to understand the difference between good and evil and right and wrong. The only way to do this is to know the Word of God and to know the God of the Word.

Notice also, how it says “who through training have the skill?” There is no shortage of training offered christians in America. We have bible colleges, internships and every church has a litany of training courses for believers. Yet, the problem is that no one has the skill to recognize the difference. Why is that?! (I say it’s the training, but that’s for another post.)

God’s desire that everyone of us become mature believers. Here’s a way I look at it: if you have ever been in a relationship, then you know that the more time goes on the greater you understand the other person and their nuances.You really begin to understand what they like and don’t like. This same idea can be applied to God, the one who created relationship. If you want to know what God loves and hates – SPEND TIME WITH HIM AND HIS WORD! It really is that simple. The more you know Him and become like Him, the more mature you will become. Our goal is to become like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.