The Time to Pray is Before the Shooting Starts

Greetings All,

     Today's "thought" comes from the Blog of Melissa Edgington entitled: yourmomhasablog.com  In light of a month that has seen so many needless shooting deaths and injuries, this post caught my attention. I know I sent out a thought on prayer last week, but I would like to follow it up this week with another -- dealing with the rush to pray (or at least promises to pray) AFTER heartbreaking situations occur.  I read Melissa's post and felt it was worth sharing.  I trust you will find it true and challenging. Enjoy.

The Time to Pray is Before the Shooting Starts

  I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among Christians. We are not a praying people.  Oh, we love the idea of prayer.  We love sharing memes about it and ranting on social media about prayer in schools. We love organizing prayer vigils after some awful tragedy has struck.  We follow the same predictable patterns of making prayer a low priority until we have absolutely no other recourse but to turn to the God of the Universe.

     As His children, we must start examining what it is that keeps us from prayer. Is it that we really don’t believe that God is in control? Or do we just not care what He does until He does something that negatively affects us? Do we really think that the best time to pray is after the mass shooting?

     At most prayer meetings, only a fraction of the church takes time to attend. It isn’t a time issue. Parents and grandparents alike can make it to every little league game, anytime, anywhere, with three or four kids in tow. In most cases it isn’t a matter of limited mobility or poor health. The majority of us are perfectly able to meet together to pray. We just don’t want to.

     Imagine how our communities and churches and schools might change if we approached the throne of God with an expectation that He will hear our prayers. With an excitement about what He will do with the pleas of His people.  Consider how things might be different if we had eyes to see how He uses our prayers to accomplish His will, if we had the faith to believe that prayer really matters.

     Imagine if we weren’t afraid to humble ourselves before our God, before our family and friends and fellow believers, if we marked prayer meetings on our calendars in ink, making it clear to our children that we make prayer with fellow believers a priority in our homes. Instead, most of us hear the words “prayer meeting” and tune out. Not for us. Not important. Not worth our time.

     We spend so much time worrying about the world our kids and grand-kids are growing up in, so many hours scheming and planning ways to shelter them, and so little time talking to the One who can actually change things. If you want to know the truth, it isn’t the youth of today or the evil governments or the wicked schemes of man that make me fear for the future. It’s the empty prayer meetings.

     “The Cinderella of the Church today is the prayer meeting. This handmaid of the Lord is unloved and unwooed because she is not dripping with pearls of intellectualism, nor glamorous with the silks of philosophy, neither is she enchanting with the tiara of psychology. She wears the homespuns of sincerity and humility and so is not afraid to kneel.” – Leonard Ravenhill

     After learning of the latest statistics on how few Christians there are that regularly share the gospel, or spend any significant time in prayer, a friend of mine once said (somewhat tongue-in-cheek, of course, regarding what motivates people): "The only mistake God made was that he didn't offer to give us five dollars for every person we share the Gospel with, or contract to pay us an hourly wage for time spent praying. Or better still, that He didn't make our salvation dependent on doing both."   I do often wonder how many more people would do those two things if they were financially reimbursed for the time and efforts. 

     Those are some pretty encouraging promises to be given from the One who has all power in heaven and earth!  Yet, given the commitment to prayer on the part of many Christians, you would never know Jesus had spoken such words!  Yet He did, not only because He intends to make good on them, but also to encourage and move us to pray.  One must ask: What will it take to get us to do so?  Could the carnage be stopped if God's people would flood the throne of grace with petitions for His intervention to prevent them, instead of prayers of comfort for those who have lost loved ones after the fact?  Because I believe Melissa is spot-on - The Time to Pray is Before the Shooting Starts.

     "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, FOR THIS IS GOD'S WILL FOR YOU in Christ Jesus." (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Pastor Jeff

Temptation

Greetings!

     Today's "thought" has to do with temptation -- something every one of us is very familiar with!   In fact, it's something Jesus was very familiar with as well, according to Hebrews 4:15.  Yet, in this thought, taken from a devotional book by Michael DiMarco called "Devotions for the God Guy," (don't let the title mislead you, this one is for guys and girls alike!) he looks at temptation in a slightly different way. The more subtle ways that it works. The often overlooked ways.  The ways where temptation sometimes comes disguised as what we think is virtue.  Enjoy.

"The Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted of the devil." 

Matthew 4:1

     "The most obvious temptation is the temptation to do wrong things.  But what about the temptation to do good things for God? Have you ever been tempted to be great in the eyes of God? Have you ever thought about how amazing it would be to save the world with your gifts, or to become the best in some area of ministry?  This kind of temptation is tricky because it looks all noble and good. But at the heart of it is a bit of pride, and that pride puts the focus on you instead of God.

     We've got Christian "stars."  Those people in the faith who've made it big.  They even have fan clubs.  But that should never be your goal.  When it is, Satan uses your dream of fame to distract you and make it all about you. After Jesus was baptized, immediately he went went out into the desert to be tempted. Do you remember how he was tempted?  He wasn't just tempted to do wrong, but to do God-like things. Things that proved he was who he said he was, like commanding the angels [to keep his foot from striking a stone], or turning the rocks into bread (Matt. 4:1-11).  

     Maybe once you were saved you became tempted to do great things too, so that you could prove yourself, get the glory, be successful, or have a greater purpose. So don't look at temptation as just a chance to do bad things, but look at your heart and make sure it doesn't want to be worshiped just a little bit.  Make sure it doesn't want glory or fame.  Don't let it lead you to try and take the attention away from Jesus.  Everything you do as a God Guy should be to bring glory to God and not yourself (Isaiah 42:8)."

     These are temptations to sin that we often overlook because they're masked under the cloak of what could be seen as virtue in our society.  We have celebrities everywhere, why not in Christian circles?  How could that be so wrong -- especially if it gets us followers who heed what we say about Jesus?  Sometimes we forget that with God it is not necessarily the things we do that makes them sin, but the motive we do them for. After all, what's wrong with wanting people to admire us, look up to us, and be our "fans"?

     It goes back to the admirable attitude exemplified by John the Baptist (which I preached on this past Sunday): "He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease."  Wrong motivations do motivate us, for self-interest is a very powerful motivator.  But it is also the road that leads us to sin in a faith where Jesus is to have the preeminence or supremacy (Colossians 1:15-20).  A faith where we are to see ourselves (regardless of the effort or endeavor) as "unworthy servants" who have simply "done our duty" (Luke 17:10).  As Paul says of himself and Apollos in I Corinthians 3:7 in regard to sharing the gospel and seeing people come to faith: "So neither he who plants (Paul) nor he who waters (Apollos) is anything, but only God who makes things grow."  In a culture which loves making idols out of people, we need to be careful we do not see as good something that is actually a temptation to sin. 

     May we ponder the words of Jesus more extensively when he says, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"-- especially when the evil doesn't seem all that evil.

Only By His Grace, Pastor Jeff

Sacred Pathways

Greetings All!

     This week's "thought" comes to you from Gary Thomas in a new book I just picked up the other day. It's called "Sacred Pathways" and is actually very beneficial in helping earnest Christians to understand each other.  He covers nine "sacred pathways" that Christians follow in their pursuit of God and worship of God.  There is the Naturalist, the Sensate, the Traditionalist, the Ascetic, the Activist, the Caregiver, the Enthusiast, the Contemplative, and the Intellectual. And as any good author should, he points out both the blessings, biblical grounds, and also dangers of each path.

     It's helpful in understanding your brothers and sisters in Christ who worship the same Jesus, but do so in various different (not wrong) ways.  In that sense, it not only offers a chance for greater understanding but greater unity among earnest believers in Jesus who differ in their approach to God and their service for Him. This excerpt is from the second chapter, before getting into the nine different pathways.  Enjoy.

Where is your Gethsemane?

     "The Garden of Gethsemane holds a sacred place in faith history. It is the hallowed piece of ground on which Jesus prayed just before he was arrested. Churches don't normally talk about Gethsemane apart from Passion Week, but the reason Gethsemane had such a monumental role in the famous week, is precisely because it had such a huge and formative role in Jesus' life prior to Passion Week.  John 18:2, in speaking of Gethsemane, says: "Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place, because Jesus had OFTEN met there with the disciples."   Luke backs this up: "Jesus went out AS USUAL to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him."  It wasn't an accident that Judas found Jesus in the garden. The betrayer naturally thought, "Where is Jesus most likely to be found?" He felt certain that Jesus would seek solace in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he was right.

     Jesus had used the garden on numerous occasions to meet with his Father -- to gain spiritual strength and to receive his marching orders... That's why Jesus went there to prepare for what was about to take place...  In fact, Jesus went there every day of Passion Week: "Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night at the hill called the Mount of Olives" (Luke 21:37).  The experience of Gethsemane, of course, is unique to him. None of us will ever have a moment like that.  But in using this sacred space, Jesus leaves us an example to follow. When you need to hear from God, when you need to be strengthened by God, when you need to receive your marching orders from God, where do you go? ... Where is your Gethsemane?  (Is it a garden, a room, a forest, a sanctuary?)

     What I appreciate about using Gethsemane as a metaphor for meeting with God is that it portrays a vivid example of the balance between intimacy and mission, prayer and work. I can't think of Gethsemane without being moved by the intimate communion between Son and Father. On the other hand, this garden is also the scene of intense spiritual preparation for the most important work ever done.  In a healthy Christian life, prayer and ministry go hand in hand. As we build intimacy with God in prayer, he communicates his love for us, but he also gives us our marching orders. In this way, prayer feeds our sense of mission and renews the urgency behind that mission. Likewise, Christian work -- whether it is evangelism, administration, teaching, discipleship, or something else -- reminds us of our need for God's strength and thus drives us further into prayer.

     When we get too caught up in ministry and cut corners in our devotional time, the results can be disastrous. We begin to minister with the wrong motivations, risk losing our passion, and often are tempted to make it all about us instead of all about God.  Dr. Wayne Grudem experienced a glimpse of this while working on the final translation of the ESV (English Standard Version) of the Bible. A dozen scholars from around the world gathered in Cambridge, England, to do the final polish of the translation. They worked nine hour days discussing the remaining tricky passages, voting on final word choices, and completing the project. Informal discussions often stretched into the evening as scholars contemplated the next day's work. Wayne said he started getting up a little later each day, taking away time from prayer.

     Many people might not see the danger in this. After all, Wayne was spending the entire day studying and discussing the Bible! What was the big deal if, for a rather short season, he allowed his prayer life to drift a little?  According to Wayne, it became a very big deal.  After God convicted him for not giving prayer its due, Wayne wrote in his journal about the spiritual sickness that followed from not tending to his heart: "pride, talking about myself a lot, inwardly hoping people would praise me, lack of love for friends, irritability, a general inward feeling of unease, self-reliance, and no peace." These are the classic signs of drifting from God.

     Wayne was devoted to a very pleasing work -- translating the Bible -- but even the act of translating the Bible can leave us spiritually empty if we ignore building intimacy with God through prayer. The image of Gethsemane reminds me that I need to tend to my heart.  When I give God the opportunity to speak into my heart, he motivates me to work -- for the RIGHT reasons. Working diligently, I'm reminded of my need to receive acceptance, favor, and strength from God. In this way, prayer and ministry together become a spiraling upward staircase of devotion."

     In my time on the mission field in Honduras, I met with many missionaries who came to speak with me because they had lost all affectional connection to God. Call it burnout, call it depression, call it a phase, after speaking with them it became clear that for most, they were so busy serving God that they lost touch with God. They skipped their prayer time, devotional time, and other times of contemplation and private worship, and it resulted in the need to step back and set those things as a daily priority.

     As one of my professors at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary once told us in his class: "Don't ever think that as pastors, just because you are in the Bible, studying Scripture, and preparing lessons and sermons on Gospel truth, that you can count that as your personal time with God.  No, you need to nurture your own soul for you, and not in your time of preparing material for others."  I didn't understand the difference then.  I do now.  He was right.  As Corrie Ten Boom once rightly pointed out, "If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy." Too busy to set aside personal quiet time with our God.

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

The Discipline of Grace

Greetings All!

Today's thought comes to you from Jerry Bridges and is found in his superb book, "The Discipline of Grace."
     What's the theme of the book?  How grace and the effort required to live a life of holiness are not incompatible. He shows how grace does not negate the need for effort, but actually empowers it and makes godly effort possible. Grace is not the need to do "nothing," but the God-implanted and God-sustained motivation and power to do what God would have us do! As Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:10 where he compares himself to the other apostles: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.  No, I worked harder than the all, yet not I but the grace of God that was with me."  Grace, Paul assures us, empowers and sustains effort.  It is undeserved power and divinely given assistance that enables us to do what God wills. It's an unearned and undeserved inner urge, compulsion, strength, and assistance which comes from God and apart from which "we can do nothing" (John 15:5). 
     If you don't have a copy of this book, or have not read it, you have missed out on a real gem.  For he clears up what is for many the seemingly unsolvable paradox between grace and effort, usually caused by a wrong understanding of grace, or the place of grace in the process of our growth in godliness.  The following excerpt is only one step in that process which he elaborates on in the rest of the book. Enjoy.

Good Day Bad Day

     "Grace and the personal discipline required to pursue holiness... are not opposed to one another. In fact, they go hand in hand. An understanding of how grace and personal, vigorous effort work together is essential for a life-long pursuit of holiness. Yet many believers do not understand what it means to live by grace in their daily lives, and they certainly don't understand the relationship of grace to personal discipline.

     Consider two radically different days in your own life. The first one is a good day for you spiritually. You get up promptly when your alarm goes off and you have a refreshing and profitable quiet time as read your Bible and pray... The second day is just the opposite. You don't get up when your alarm goes off. Instead, you shut it off and go back to sleep. When you finally awaken, it's too late to have quiet time. You hurriedly gulp down some breakfast and rush off to the days activities. You feel guilty about oversleeping and missing your quiet time, and things generally go wrong all day.  On the evening of both days you quite unexpectedly have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone who is really interested in receiving Christ as Savior. Would you enter those two witnessing opportunities with a different degree of confidence? Would you be less confident of the bad day than the good day? Would you find it difficult to believe that God would bless you and use you in the midst of a rather bad spiritual day?

     If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have lots of company among believers. I've described these two scenarios and asked audiences, "Would you respond differently?" Invariably about 80% indicate they would. They would be less confident of God's blessing while sharing Christ at the end of a bad day than they would after a good one. Is such thinking justified? Does God work that way? The answer to both questions is no, because God's blessing does not depend on our performance.  Why then do we think this way? It is because we believe that God's blessing on our lives is somehow conditioned on our spiritual performance. If we've performed well we assume we are in a position for God to bless us.  We know God's blessings come to us through Christ, but we also have this vague but very real notion that they are also conditioned on our behavior.  A friend used to think, "If I do certain things then I can get God to come through for me."  People who have a bad day tend to have no doubt in their minds that they have forfeited God's favor for a certain period of time, most likely until the next day... They think God would not use them to share the Gospel with someone on a "bad" day because, "they wouldn't be worthy." Such a reply reveals an all-too-common misconception of the Christian life: The thinking that although we are saved by grace, we earn of forfeit God's blessings in our daily lives by our performance.

     So what should we do when we've had a "bad" day spiritually, when it seems we've done everything wrong and are feeling guilty?  We must go back to the cross and see Jesus there bearing our sins in His own body (I Peter 2:24). We must by faith appropriate for ourselves the blood of Christ that will cleanse our guilty consciences (Hebrews 9:14).  We must remember that even when we have flagrantly and willfully sinned, Jesus bore the sins we've committed this day in His body on the cross. He suffered the punishment we deserve, so that we might experience the blessings He deserved.... I am not proposing a cavalier attitude toward sin. Rather, I am saying Christ is greater than our sin, even on our worst days. To experience that grace, however, I must lay hold of it by faith in Christ and His death on our behalf...

     Now let's go back to the "good" day scenario... Have you thereby earned God's blessing that day?  Will God be pleased to bless you because you've been good?  You are probably thinking, "Well, when you put it like that, the answer is no. But doesn't God work through clean vessels? To which I reply, "Let's assume that is true. How good do you have to be to be a clean vessel? How good is good enough?" ...

     Jesus said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... and your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39)... Have you perfectly kept those two commands (even on your best day)? And if not, does God grade on a curve? Is 90% a passing grade with God? We know the answers to those questions, don't we? Jesus said, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."  And James wrote, "Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point, is guilty of breaking it all" (James 2:10).

     The point of this good-day-bad-day scenario is this: Regardless of our performance, we are always dependent on God's grace, His undeserved favor to those who deserve His wrath. Some days we may be more acutely conscious of our sinfulness and hence more aware of our need of His grace, but there is never a day when we can stand before Him on the two feet of our own performance and be worthy enough to deserve His blessing. At the same time, the good news of the Gospel is that God's grace is available even on our worst days. That is because Christ Jesus fully satisfied the claims of God's justice and fully paid the penalty of a broken law when he died on the cross in our place. Because of that the apostle could write, "He forgave all our sins" (Colossians 2:13).

     Does the fact that God has forgiven us all our sins mean that He no longer cares whether we obey or disobey? Not at all. (Ephesians 4:30, Colossians 1:10)   He cares about our behavior and will discipline us when we refuse to repent of conscious sin. But God is no longer our Judge. Through Christ He is now our heavenly Father who disciplines us only out of love and only for our good.  If God's blessings were dependent on our performance they would be meager indeed. For even our best works are shot through with sin -- with varying degrees of impure motives and lots of imperfect performance.

     So here is an important spiritual principle that sums up what I've said so far: Your worst days are never so BAD that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so GOOD that you are beyond the need of God's grace.  Every day of our Christian experience should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone. We are not only saved by grace, but we also live by grace every day. This grace comes through Christ, "through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand"  (Romans 5:2)." 

     It's another way of stating the truth I frequently tell believers to make sure they don't get it backwards: "In Christ we work FROM grace, not FOR grace."  And believe me, that should be the cause of much thanks and praise!

     Blessings on your day, whether you happen to be having a bad one where you need God's grace, or a good one where you also need God's grace, Pastor Jeff

Gateway to Joy

Greetings All,

     Today's "thought" is a tribute to an extraordinary woman of God who passed into glory June 15, 2015 - Elisabeth Elliot.

     She taught in many of the foreign missions classes I took at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1982-1986) where I majored in missions. And as a missionary herself, who endured many hardships, her thoughts were always extremely helpful.
  For some she is best known as "the wife of Jim Elliot" one of the five missionaries martyred on January 8th, 1956, in the jungles of Ecuador (two months after I was born)! They were attempting to contact and reach out to the remote Auca Indians with the Gospel.  Jim's well-known quote which guided his life was: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

     Yet those who know Elisabeth better know that her reputation does not hang on her husbands coattails. She had a significant ministry of her own, doing Bible translation into the Quechua language, and then going into the jungle to live for two years with the very Indians who killed her husband, taking her three year old daughter Valerie with her. It's a ministry chronicled in her book, "The Savage My Kinsman."

     After leaving Ecuador and returning to the States she became a sought after spokesperson for foreign missions.  One of the first books she authored was, "Through Gates of Splendor," the story of the five martyred missionaries. The documentary by the same name had a profound impact on me and fed my desire to be involved in missions.  In my opinion they should both be on the required reading and viewing list for every missionary candidate. The contemporary sequel, "The End of the Spear" is extremely informative and challenging as well.

Elisabeth has written many other books, including the classic biographical work, "A Chance to Die" -- about the great missionary to India, Amy Carmichael -- one of her childhood hero's. Carmichael rescued, and then started a home for young Hindu girls who had been forced into temple prostitution.

     Elliot also wrote Shadow of the Almighty, Keep a Quiet Heart, Passion for Purity, Quest for Love, A Path Through Suffering, Be Still My Soul, These Strange Ashes, Gateway To Joy, and about 20 others!  She is now in the presence of the One she spent her life serving, but her legacy here will continue through the many who heard her speak, and will continue to read her many books. This particular excerpt comes from, "Gateway to Joy."  Enjoy!

One of the "Gateways to Joy" -- COMMIT TO SERVICE 

     "There has been a tendency to think of service to God as necessarily entailing physical hardship and sacrifice. Although this is not really a scriptural idea, it has gained wide acceptance.  It is easy to recall the saints who climbed the steep ascent of heaven through peril. But the Bible also makes mention of Dorcas, whose service to God was the making of coats...

     When I lived in the Auca settlement (deep in the Ecuadorean jungle)... some correspondents envied me, some pitied me. Some admired, some criticized. I could not help asking myself if perhaps I had been mistaken. Was I really obeying God, or had I merely obeyed some misguided impulse, some lust for distinction, some masochistic urge to bury myself in the forsaken place?  There was no way of being sure what was in the murky reaches of my subconscious, but I was sure I had committed myself to God for His service, and I knew no other motivation.

     The opinions of others -- whether they commended or condemned -- could not alter my duty.  But their very diversity caused me to ponder carefully what that duty was...  My duty was one thing, theirs another.  My responsibility lay there, but the responsibility of some of my correspondents (who gazed starry-eyed at my role) lay perhaps in an office, or a kitchen, or the cockpit of an airplane.  The commitment to wholehearted service in obedience to God looks different for everyone. 

COMMIT AT ANY COST...

     When I was sixteen years old I copied in the back of my Bible a prayer of missionary Betty Scott Stam, whose visit in our home when I was very small (living in Brussels, Belgium, with my missionary parents) had made such a deep impression on me.  Her prayer:

"Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Your will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to You, to be Yours forever.  Fill me and seal me with Your Holy Spirit.  Use me as You will, send me where You will, work out Your whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever." 

     The cost, for her, was quite literally her life only a few years after she had prayed that prayer.  Betty was martyred in China in 1934." 

       Some of you may have prayed similar prayers -- yet your commitment to service and obedience has looked much different. 

    God is not into making clones. He is putting together a body that is made up of many different parts with many varied gifts. And therefore, what may be obedience for one would be disobedience for another.  The path one is called to trod is not the same path we are all called to follow.  His plan for the ages sends people down a plethora of varied paths - some rough and some much smoother. The key, or the gateway to joy, though, remains the same for all -- commitment at any cost to do His unique will for your life.

       Hopefully we can all pray, with earnest and transparent hearts:

"Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Your will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to You, to be Yours forever. Fill me and seal me with Your Holy Spirit. Use me as You will, send me where You will, work out Your whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever." 

     Two women prayed the same prayer. One was led to China where she was martyred for the faith.  The other ended up losing her husband, living in the jungles of Ecuador for a time, and then spent her later years speaking, writing, teaching, and doing a weekly broadcast north of Boston, Massachusetts. For others it may be a career, parenthood, fidelity in marriage, service in the local church, a neighborhood outreach, helping at a homeless shelter, Hospice, some support group, or another form of obedient service.  The, "as You will... where You will," is up to God and looks different for all.  Yet the call to commit, or, "give ourselves, our lives, and our all, utterly to God, to be His forever" -- that is the same for every believer. Offer Him that and you will find your place in His plan.

With Prayers for a Surrendered Heart, Pastor Jeff 

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

Greetings All,

   








Today I received a package in the mail from a friend in Florida. It contained two books. After opening it I immediately started looking through each one and found this "thought' which I share with you today.  It comes from a book entitled: "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands."  The author is Paul David Tripp, a lecturer at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA.
     It has to do with how true change takes place in anyone's life, and how that change is really impossible apart from changing a person's heart. For true change, as he points out, is not simply a matter of behavior modification, but deep heart-transformation.  Enjoy.

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  

Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick pigs from thorn-bushes or grapes from briers. The good man brings things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of evil stored up in his heart. For out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks."  Luke 6:43-45

     "If you want to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of others, you need to know how God designed human beings to function. Why do people do the things they do?  Why can your toddler be so contrary?  Why did your friend get so upset in the middle of the conversation?  Why is your teenager so angry?  Why is Amy so swallowed up in depression and despair?  Why would a man risk his family for twenty minutes of sexual pleasure? Why do you get angry in traffic?  Why is that once-romantic couple now engaged in guerrilla warfare?  Why is Bill so driven in his career? Why is Sue so critical and controlling? Why does George speak so bluntly and unkindly?  Why is your daughter afraid of what her friends will think?  Why does Pete refuse to talk?  Why do people do the things they do? The simplest and most biblical answer is the heart...

     The Bible uses the word "heart" to describe the inner person... or your spiritual self (Ephesians 3:16).... [The heart] encompasses all the other terms and functions used to describe the inner person -- spirit, soul, mind, emotions, will, etc.  These terms do not describe something different from the heart, Rather, they are aspects of it... The heart is the real you.  It is the essential core of who you are.  For example, when you say you are getting to know someone, you are not saying that you have a deeper knowledge of his ears or nose!  You are talking about the inner person, the heart. You know how the person thinks, what he wants, what makes him happy or sad. You can predict what he is feeling at any given moment. Because the Bible says your heart is the essential you, any ministry of change must target the heart...

     Sin, for instance, has its roots in the evil stored up in the heart (Luke 6:43-45). In Christ's example (in that passage) the roots of the tree equal the heart. They are therefore underground and therefore not as easily seen or understood.  Jesus' point is that a tree has the kind of fruit it does because of the kind of roots it has -- we speak and act the way we do because of what is in our hearts... In many ways we deny this connection and blame people and circumstances for our actions and words.  Here Christ calls us to accept responsibility for our behavior. He calls us to humbly admit that relationships and circumstances are only the occasions in which our hearts reveal themselves. If my heart is the source of my sin problem, then lasting change must always travel through the pathway of my heart. It is not enough to alter my behavior or change my circumstances. Christ transforms people by radically changing their hearts. If the person's heart doesn't change, the person's words and behavior may change temporarily because of an external pressure or incentive. But then the pressure or incentive is removed, the changes will disappear...This often happens in personal ministry. From a distance it looks as if the person has really changed...But the changes don't last and in six weeks or six months, the person is right back to where he started. Why?  Because the change did not penetrate the heart, so changes in behavior were doomed to be temporary. 

     This is what happens to the teenager who goes through the teen years fairly well under the careful love, instruction and oversight of Christian parents, only to go off to college and completely forsake his faith.  I would suggest that in most cases he has not forsaken his faith. In reality, his faith was the faith of his parents; he simply lived within its limits while he was at home. When he went away to school, and the restraints were removed, his true heart was revealed. He had not internalized the faith. He has not entrusted himself to Christ in a life-transforming way. He did the "Christian" things he was required to do at home, but his actions did not flow from a heart of worship.  In the college culture, he had nothing to anchor him, and the true thoughts and motives of his heart led him away from God. College was not cause of his problem. It was simply the place where his true heart was revealed. The real problem was that faith never took root in his heart.  As a result, his words, choices, and actions did not reveal a heart for God.  Good behavior lasted for a while, but it proved to be temporary because it was not rooted in the heart.

     Christ's illustration in Luke 6:43-45 establishes three principles that guide our efforts to serve as God's instruments of change in the lives of others: 

1.) There is an undeniable root and fruit connection between our heart and our behavior. People and situations do not determine our behavior; they provide the occasion where our behavior reveals of hearts. 

2.) Lasting change always takes place through the pathway of the heart. Fruit change is the result of root change -- and the root is the heart...  Any agenda for change must focus of the thoughts and desires of the heart.

3.) Therefore, the heart is our target in personal growth and ministry. Our prayer is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in others that results in new words, choices, and actions."

     If you would like to know how that change takes place, tune in to next weeks' thought. Yes, that's right -- this is my first "to be continued" thought for the week! Until then you may want to consider if you are one of those people who appear to change when things get more peaceful and situations are less tense, but go right back to the old you when those things or situations become tense again. If so, then chances are you are only engaging in behavior control or behavior modification and not true heart change .... which we will look at next week.

Yours in the bonds of Christian fellowship, Pastor Jeff