Sunday's Message: Learning To Seek The Lord

Have you ever felt directionless as a dad? Have you ever found yourself in circumstances that only seem to get worse and more random?  Do you feel ashamed because your track record is not what you wish it would be and lose confidence in your calling and purpose?  So did king David. We have the benefit of looking at David’s life in retrospect and we see the scaffolding around his life while God is constructing and shaping David.  According to Ephesians 2 we are also under construction.  In this study we look at 1 Samuel 23 and the three psalms that David wrote during this gut-wrenching season of his life.  There are many jems to be had here if we will look.   Happy fathers day!  

Learning To Seek The Lord  Sunday June 19

My Resolve for Good--Miranda Johnston

I'm in the middle of a 30 day challenge with an accountability group. The challenge is to be up early each morning, before the rest of your family, so you have time for personal devotions and are ready to serve your family with a happy heart. Every day the ladies check in on facebook with an "up and in" if they did it or an honest confession if they didn't. The last few mornings my allergies glued my eyes shut, literally. So I have "in's" but hardly any "up's".  I feel like I'm trying really hard to be self disciplined, I desire to be closer to God and spend time in his Word, and I know that serving my family is something I am called to, and that fulfilling my calling is life giving. So I've been having a hard time understanding why these good things that I desire aren't playing out in my mornings. I'm looking for that thread that Russ is always talking about, the one that connects what your leaning in the Word with what Gods trying to teach you in your circumstances. And I think I found it.

2 Thess. 1:11&12 keeps popping up.

"To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

This verse has been inspiring and comforting to me.

In His Power he will fulfill our resolve for good

• to spend time with Him
• to serve my family well
• to have victory over the things (sin) that keep me from Him
• to live a life that is to His glory

In His Power he will fulfill every work of faith

• to carry me every time I say "I can't, but You can"
• to give me boldness in obedience when every thing around me says its not right, not smart, or not worth it
• to be my courage and confidence when the road ahead looks dark and impossible to travel

By His Power He will make me worthy of His calling 

dictionary.com says the definition of worthy is:

• having adequate or great merit, character, or value

• of commendable excellence or merit; deserving

Deserving. By His power He will make me deserving of what He has called me to. Because I'm not deserving. On my own, in what I think is my own power but is really nothing more than my dressed up weakness, I am completely ineffective. Undeserving of the life he has called me to, unable to taste the fullness of life that He is offering me. A life of joy. A life worth living. A life that brings glory to Him. But by His power I can have all of those things, I can do all of those things! All I have to do is ask, and keep asking. Paul says in this verse that "to this end we always pray for you". What a comfort to know that I have a God who loves me and wants to give me this best life! But at the same time understands me, knowing that if I didn't have to keep asking I would forget Him. 

But there's more.

In His power He will fulfill our resolve for good. Ultimately, what I want is a life of obedience, a life that is satisfied by God. Piper says,

"God is most glorified by us when we are most satisfied by Him."

 But what I've been learning this week is that sometimes the obedience that he calls me to looks a lot different than I think it should. Sometimes my obedience is to resolve to do better, be more disciplined. And sometimes my obedience is to resolve to accept the circumstances He's allowed that are out of my control and not get hung up on what I think life's supposed to look like. Either way it only happens "by His Power". 

Its easy for me to look at my mornings and get discouraged and feel like a failure. A mood that would, no doubt, carry on through the day and make my whole family miserable. But sometimes that "best life" He has for me doesn't include my best intentions and good things. Sometimes the baby has been up all night. Sometimes I'm, or one, or all of my family is sick. Sometimes my plan, my schedule gets thrown off. Sometimes that's a good thing. Because sometimes God is teaching me a different kind of obedience. But even then the truth of all obedience remains the same, it can only be done in His Power.

  

And the best part is that it's all

"So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

God Sings The Melody, We Sing The Harmony

God knows what he is doing, and he is making things.  He loves to create.  "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph.2:10).  This answers a lot of questions about life.  There are entire sections of Borders bookstores dedicated to trying to answer what the meaning of life is.  In fact the two largest sections in bookstores are "self-help" and "how to make money".  Apparently the books don't work because there is a never ending market for them.  I love the simplicity of the Bible; God made you, He sings the melody and we sing the harmony.  I all too often forget that I am His workmanship.  That word "workmanship" means "artwork".   I just started shaping a new surfboard.  It's going to be a 6"11 fish.  It's going to be thick because thick boards work best in Oregon waters.  This board is not being made for California, or Hawaii, it's being made for Oregon, and it's being made for me.   It will paddle like a longboard and move like a shortboard, move like a butterfly and sting like a bee. There are four main factors that come into play while you are planing a foam blank.  1. The angle of the planer in your hand.  2. The speed and which you move the planer.  3. The pressure you apply to the planer.  4. Your vision and intuition guiding these others.  I make mistakes while shaping.  I will apply too much pressure and speed and then catch an edge with the planer and leave a gouge in the foam.  Not so with God.  He is never-changing and perfect.  He knows exactly how to whip us into shape.  He applies perfect angle, speed, pressure, and vision.  Are things taking longer than you expected? His speed is perfect.  Do you feel heavy?  His pressure is perfect.  Do you feel things aren't going as you planned?  His angle is perfect.  Do you compare your artwork with others and wish you were them? His vision is perfect.  I am learning to go with the flow.  It's best to find His melody and sing along.

Here's Some Good News!

When I was five I got my first bee-sting. A honey bee was the culprit who landed on my ear. So I slapped him/her? It's stinger was left stuck in my chubby right hand and the bee died.  Honey bees usually sting only once because they have jagged barbs on the end of their stinger that get stuck in their victim, which happened to be a chubby five-year old.  In 1 Cor. 15: 54-57 Paul speaks of the victory we have in Jesus in similar language when he says,
"Death is swallowed up in victory, Oh death where is your victory, O death where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."


The law points out that we have sin, and sin leads to death.  The law condemns each of us.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that Jesus was pierced by the stinger of the law, and the law only has one stinger. All of it's venom was injected to Jesus as he took the wrath upon himself, "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me."  Colossians 2:13-14 states, "having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with it's legal demands.  This he set aside nailing it to the cross." 
The law has been fulfilled by Jesus.  He took the sting. Those who believe they are walking a tightrope of performance to secure their salvation or usefulness in the kingdom do not have a correct understanding of the gospel (good news).  "There is now therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus"(Rom. 8:1).  What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? It means to trust and believe in Him.  When this happens we are given the Holy Spirit who will begin to make us more like Jesus day by day(sanctification), by convincing us, convicting us, encouraging us, comforting us, and leading us into the truth.  Because of this truth you can leave what's in the past in the past and press into the never stopping grace of God.  Preach the gospel to yourself today and to others!

How to play "Holy Spirit Fall"

 I'll be posting "how to play" videos of other songs in the near future as well.  If you have any requests you can send me an email at westvalleyfellowship@gmail.com

Metallica And Crying Babies

This last week Miranda and I zipped down in a rental car to Coos Bay for a concert.  We usually drive a dark grey 1999 GMC suburban.  We needed the rental car because our brakes were sounding like Metallica and crying babies making noise at the same time.  We only had the "littles"  which is what we refer to as our two youngest kids named Jack and Max.  When they are together they like to speak loud gibberish where every word sounds like it is being said backwards.  It's funny but can get really monotonous and grating.  Sometimes I hear this voice in the back of my head say, "who do you think you are trying to minister to others when you hardly can keep your sanity in this car?"  There are many times when our life with four boys get's crazy, and just getting them to church seems like an exhausting obstacle course and then I remember I am the pastor who is speaking that morning.  I didn't have much time to prepare for our concert let alone Sunday morning when we got back, yet I find that God graciously gives us what we need when we need it.  As long as we are singing harmony to God's melody we will find the strength we need when we need it.  Duet. 33:25 states, "as your days, so shall your strength be."  The times I get overwhelmed are when I am wondering how I'm going to make it the next day.  Jesus said, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matt. 6:34).  Don't jump off the cliffs of your mind today precious people.  Cling to Jesus and stay the course with what is in front of you today.  Make a decision to take one step today of obedience and trust the God of all provision. 

Children Are A Gift From God

Psalm 127 tells us "Behold, children are  heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward..."

Children are a reward.  Everyone likes rewards and enjoying rewards.  How are you doing at enjoying your reward?  Sometimes we are so concerned about how we are doing, or not doing, as parents that we simply forget to enjoy them.  They become our clean up projects instead of our joy.  I love how my wife finds the funny in everything they do. She frequently posts their goofiness on her facebook page, and I believe in doing so she paints glimpses of the gospel.  Kids are messy and you gotta learn to have fun with the messiness.  Perfectionism is sin.  It's a misunderstanding of the present predicament that you and your kids are in.  We live in a messy world, and if you expect your kids to not be messy you are going to lead them away from the cross in a hurry.

  In fact they will get messier as time goes on, and instead of spilling their cheerios, I hope they will be able to spill their hearts out on our dinner tables because they know  Mom and Dad need Jesus  too. 

One afternoon, when we were just a year into our church plant I was at a church BBQ and my three-year old was acting up.  I was so afraid of what others would think that I took him into the bathroom and scared the Jesus out of him literally.  It was my fear of man and my unbelief in the gospel that led me to do so with that motivation.  I have learned over time that the fear of man is a snare to my motivation to discipline.  I want them to fear and love the Lord by fearing and loving me. Pastor's and their kids need Jesus period.  This has freed me up to enjoy them and embrace their messiness and discipline them well. In fact scripture declares we are to delight in our children before we go about disciplining them (Prov.3:12). I am learning new ways to have fun with them.  Here are a few ways I enjoy my children, that I have recently found rather refreshing.

1. Turn up the music in the living room and dance with them if they are still young.  They love it and you will love it too.  They will also grow in a freedom of expression that most kids don't ever learn, and you will get a big smile on.

2.  Plan a date with them. Call it a daddy date or mommy date or something special that they will look forward to the rest of their lives.

3.  If you have boys do some wrestling with them.  I get full on workouts, probably burning like 1000 calories from chasing them all over our yard.  

Those are my three favorites currently, and I am sure they will change every year that goes by.  I'd love to hear new ways you are enjoying your children.....please share how you are doing so!