The Desires of the Heart

PSALMTEN:3 & 4

He (the wicked man) boasts of the cravings of his heart…
In his pride the wicked does not seek him (God);
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

The wicked are selfish – looking only for the desires of their hearts. I have often struggled with this, with putting my heart before anything else [especially God].

My wife has a great saying, “The Lord gives you the desires of your heart.” Unfortunately it is easy to misconstrue this statement. In my soul and flesh this idea is entirely incorrect – why would God ful fill my desires for myself? Unless…

Unless our heart’s cry is for God’s heart – then it is not about God fulfilling our desires, but about us adapting to God’s desires.

When it is about our heart’s cravings, it comes out emotional and physical – we become needy, which leads to self-reliance or overtly others dependent, which leads to defiance of God and others – quite the opposite of the Greatest Commandments.

He is Risen Indeed

Nobody ever wants to go through a season of hard times or challenges, but when I do, struggles and hard times have a way of making me stand back and ask, “What am I really counting on? Am I building my life on a foundation that’s solid enough that circumstances beyond my control cannot sweep it away?”

That’s why I look forward to this weekend so much… because this weekend we gather to remember the only hope capable of sustaining a human life through everything we experience.

People have not gathered for the past 2,000 years to say, “The economy has risen. It has risen indeed.”

They’re not gathered to say the employment rate has risen, or the value of my 401(k) has risen.

Here’s the one hope that has held human beings across every continent and culture together for two millennia in the face of difficult times of poverty, of disease, of pain, of hardship, of death itself:

Christ is risen.

People at Easter services have always responded back with one additional statement: He has risen indeed.

That’s the phrase right there that simply means it is true.

It’s true. It really happened. It’s not a metaphor. It’s not a vague hope.

It is not a whimsical illusion that is given to comfort children who lost a pet or sick people who have lost their health.

There is only one explanation that accounts for the overnight transformation of an impoverished, confused, frightened little group of people into a courageous, emboldened community that would sacrifice everything including their lives for a Gospel message that turned the world upside down and that is that they actually believed… He Is Risen. Indeed.

The Most Important Thing

A short while ago I was investigating righteousness and it’s relationship to God and man.  This was based on my discovery that I was lacking in self-control based on my inadequate knowledge of God and who I am because of God.  I learned that God is righteousness – it is the foundation of his throne.  Therefore, if God is righteous and he made me in his image, I am to be righteous as well – in fact, because of Christ’s sacrifice, I already am [justification] and I am becoming more righteous leading up to the day of Christ’s triumphant return.  I am becoming what I already am.  It seems confusing, but it’s the beauty of the mystery of Christ.  It’s not always something to be understood – but accepted.  This is my faith.

And so with that knowledge I press on.  Peter says, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…For if you do these things you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

It is interesting – Peter says that grace and peace is ours, in abundance!, through our knowledge of God and Christ.  How often am I at war with myself, feeling uneasy or that I am not good enough for the grace of God?  Yet all it takes is a better understanding of God.  If you struggle with living righteously, take some time to better understand God [it's a life long process for sure!].  And then note the next sentence – Jesus, with his divine power, gives us everything we need to live righteously [a godly life], again, through our knowledge of him.  Note the phrase “divine power.”  Divine comes from the Latin word divus, which simply means god-like.  Power finds its root in the Latin word posse, which simply means to be able.  Jesus has godlike ability, which is important because through that godlike power he gives us promises which lead to our ability [or power] to participate in the godlike nature.  Nature comes from the Latin word natura, which means birth or quality of something.

To be able to be like God – righteous, just, self-controlled, loving, peaceful, joyful, faithful, patient, kind, gentle, and many more things – is inherent in us – if only we would turn and learn, turn and grow, turn and be.  That is bigger than big.  That is life changing.  Knowing God is the most important thing.  Being with him is the result.

Love’s Lifestyle

From Pastor Tricia -

Recently, in Travelers (you all are invited, by the way, to join us Thursday nights at 7.00), we have been exploring what the Scriptures teach about the concepts of love, obedience and unity and how they relate to the life of a disciple or follower of Christ.  We are on a quest to bring definition to these terms and out of that we hope to bring definition to our lives, ultimately displaying the life of Christ in, around, and through us (godly living), as we adjust our lives to what we are learning.

As we have let the Scriptures define love, we have discovered that the Word encourages us to so much more than just having an understanding of the concept of love, but invites us to actually put it into practice and live a lifestyle of love.

So what does it look like to live a lifestyle of love?  While the New Testament makes a great case for God’s love for us and of our love response back to Him, did you know that most of the mentions of love in the NT have to do with how you and I as Christ followers should live a life of love. In The Message Bible, Paul brings great definition to living a life of love in his letter to the Ephesian church: “Mostly what God does is love you.  Keep company with Him and learn a life of love.  Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was not cautious but extravagant.  He didn’t love in order to get something from us, but to give everything of Himself to us.  Love like that.” (Eph. 5.2)   Learn and live the love of Jesus…give everything and expect nothing… love like that…

So what’s your lifestyle of love look like? How well is Christ being shown in, around, and through your life these days?  Maybe it’s time for some definition.

How Do You Know?

How do you know?

In the midst of all the circumstances of life, the good, the bad, the struggles, how do you really know what God wants you to do?

The Bible says there is a way to know.

We’re learning in this series, Know Him, about our great God.

The writers of Scripture have these remarkable ideas, names, pictures of Him.

He is a Father. He is a Redeemer. He is a Judge who brings justice. He is a Comforter.

But can we really know what He wants us to do?

From the very beginning when God was forming a people to call His own, He came to Abraham…Abram, as he was known then. The Word says, “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1

God guided Abraham.

Then when it was time for Israel to leave Egypt, we are told that the Lord would go before them as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.

This was a physical picture of a spiritual promise.

In the book of Proverbs, the Word says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5

He knows just what I need.

God doesn’t leave people on their own. James puts it like this: (First chapter of James)

“Whoever among you lacks wisdom…” Anybody ever make a bad decision? You ever needed any wisdom? Anybody need any right now? “Whoever among you lacks wisdom, ask God (just ask God) who gives generously to all without finding fault.”

Our God is a guiding God.

But here’s what I think.

I think of all the facets of the greatness of God, this one…the guidance of God…is the one I think is most confusing to people in terms of how do we actually experience it? There will be some people who use the language of divine guidance quite easily. “The Lord told me to do this,” “God spoke to me about going here,” “God put this burden on my heart,” “God showed me this.”

Then there are other people who love God deeply, who follow God, who learn about God, who honestly simply never find themselves having that experience. They wonder, Am I doing something wrong? Is there some secret I don’t know? Am I off-base, or are other people just making stuff up? Are they using language, you know, a little slickly.

Some denominations and traditions use that language of guidance all the time. Other ones just as devoted to God never use that language at all.

Again the question… how do you know?

Does God communicate with us?

What does it mean to communicate with someone?

This is a very important subject. Quite a miraculous thing we’re able to do. We just take it

for granted. People can communicate. It’s essential to community, to communing, communication. Communication is simply guiding somebody else’s thoughts.

When someone is communicating with you, all they are doing is causing you to think certain thoughts you would not otherwise be thinking. Those thoughts are going on in your head. They’re your thoughts, but somebody else is prompting them. That’s communication.

Now because we’re finite creatures, we have to use finite means to guide each other’s thoughts. I’m doing that right now, because you’re reading this, you are having thoughts you would not otherwise be having, right? We make sounds, or we write symbols down on paper. Then when people look at that, those symbols…it’s amazing how this happens…they prompt thoughts in us. That is what it means to read.

Because we’re finite creatures, we have to use finite means to guide each other’s thoughts. But God is infinite, and among other things, this means God can guide your thoughts directly. He doesn’t have to use sounds. He doesn’t have to use symbols. He can; He doesn’t have to. He has direct access to your mind.

He can simply guide a thought without using any other means at all.

But now part of what this means is it’s possible for God to guide a thought in my mind, but I may not know it’s God doing that.

God will guide our thoughts as we interact with Him through the Bible. It is truly remarkable to me how God will speak directly to issues in my life as I read scripture. You see we can view the Bible as a bunch of stories, or as God’s story for our lives. We can disengage from the truths in scripture or let them become truth for our lives. As we let the Word of God enter into our lives it begins to read us, that’s God, rather than us just reading it.

And prayer is not just me talking with God. If God wants to, God can also talk back. Jesus says about His people, “When He (the Good Shepherd) has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him (this is a picture of guidance) because they know His voice.”

To have a personal relationship with Jesus means I must be open to the possibility that the Spirit of God is prompting me, guiding me.

Jesus says this in the book of John,

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ^14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. ^15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. John 16:13-15

Very often the Spirit will prompt us with ideas. When that happens – which it will happen this week; a thought will come – write somebody a note or encourage somebody who feels alone or serve somebody who is in need or confront somebody who is going down a wrong path or go up to somebody who is lonely. I talked to somebody this week whose life got altered because somebody in this church…they were visiting New Life…invited them out to eat. It ended up altering the trajectory of their life.

When those thoughts come, the main thing is not to say, “Hey God is speaking to me.” What is important is that you actually do what the prompting is. I want to say this to some of you. It may be that you have been obeying those kinds of thoughts, serving God your whole life long and never really identifying that that is God’s voice. The main issue is not that you say that is God’s voice. The main issue is that you actually respond with obedience. That is the adventure, and that is our guiding God.

God of Comfort

From Pastor Steve:

Knowing and understanding God can seem to be a difficult proposition.

It is hard to see God working in the midst of the struggle and pain of our lives.

There are so many times in life when it is difficult to see God’s love and goodness that it seems as if this thing we call “Christianity” is nothing but a cruel  joke.

Several years ago I stood holding a single mother in deep grief at the grave of her only child, a beautiful six month old boy. After all of the struggles life had dealt her, she now had lost all that had  given her purpose.

Where on earth could she find any comfort?

Is it possible to know comfort in the midst of such excruciating pain?

“Praise be to God…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…”

There are parents who mourn a wayward child. It can be so difficult to feel comforted when a child turns their back on parents, family, and on God. For parents, their hearts will break as long as the child drifts away. Is it possible to see that God loves their child more than they do?

“Praise be to God…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…”

There are husbands and wives who have seemingly been abandoned by their spouse. They have to struggle to keep their family together and to protect the children in the face of deception, overcome with fear for the future and the incredible pain of betrayal. Life itself to some degree has lost its meaning. Where is God when there is so much disappointment and pain?

“Praise be to God…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…”

For any of us, and for all of us who have experienced the pain and fear of day to day life, we know it can get tiring after a while. It gets old and we cry out to God, to remove the struggle, to get rid of the pain. Sometimes the reality of our weariness, fear, anger and the shear pain is seemingly more than we can handle, and we are right. We long for comfort.

Isaiah says; “In all their distress, He too is distressed.” Isaiah 63:9.

We can assume that God should make us feel comfortable in our distress and yet there is an amazing difference between feeling comfortable and being comforted.

The comfortable feelings will come and go but the Comforter is with us regardless of the circumstances.

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

As we come to know God, to really know His love and grace for our lives, our confidence becomes anchored in knowing God as our Comforter.

Comfort is not found in the absence of pain but in the midst of it.

To come to terms with this unshakable truth of God’s comfort is crucial but it also carries with it a certain mystery.

After the initial greeting in beginning the second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul starts with this joyful praise of a Jewish benediction usually offered in Jewish prayer and worship: “Blessed be the God”. Paul then makes the ancient blessing a Christian one when he adds “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. To this he adds the description of God as the loving Father from whom flows compassion and comfort. God has a gentle love for those of us who are hurting and He comfortsus in our time of need. Paul writes “the God of all comfort.” Wherever hardships present themselves in our lives, God is always near.

If anyone could understand what it is for those of us who have had to endure affliction, it was Paul himself. He had experienced and continued to experience hardships because of his calling to proclaim Jesus to the world. Paul was able to testify to you and me, that the painful experiences can draw us closer to God, to truly know Him more.

“…we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5: 3, 4

Paul knows that God not only comforts and sustains us in our struggles, but also gives us both the ability and the task to comfort others who suffer hardship. The parallel in Paul’s thinking is that we are so loved by God that we are then able to love each other – and in the same way we experience the comfort of God we can then comfort each other.

Knowing God as our comforter changes us as it fills us with hope and purpose!

The reality of our lives is that we are never more fulfilled than when we are giving of ourselves to others.

Paul understood this as his whole reason for living.

We can get so preoccupied in our own comfort zone and we hesitate taking a chance to step outside of where we feel most comfortable.

Life is unbelievably exciting when we are willing to risk something for God.

Our lives, our pain, our suffering, our grief can serve the greatest purpose when we give away what we ourselves have received.

Knowing God’s comfort gives purpose and meaning to our lives.

There is something to be learned in giving to others.

The process is always one that will bless us as a result.

New Look Answer Sheet

From Pastor Jake:

The main thing the Answer sheet has been used for (before we had a fancy name for it, it was simply known as “The Bulletin”) is informing people of the various things that go on at New Life – everything from classes (such as Cleansing Stream), to serving opportunities, to events (such as the Super Bowl party).

While that has been a good thing, and it will continue to be something we do, our main goal with the Answer sheet is to keep you informed, not just of the weekly events, but of the grace and power of God in the lives of people who are or have been a part of New Life.

You see, it’s easy to talk about the things we do – there’s so many, we often can’t fit them into a single page – but the thing that brings life, the words that speak most to the heart of the people of God are stories of what he’s done and visions of what he will do. That’s what this second page is for: to keep you informed – no – to tell you the stories of God – of who he is and what he is doing in our lives.

If you know of someone who has a great testimony, or someone who serves in any capacity at New Life, I’d like to hear about it! Grab me after service, call me up this week, or email me and let me know. The life-breath of the people of God comes from the word of testimony…

Coming Soon…

Soon, the pastors at New Life will be blogging!

A little here and a little there, we hope to have at least a weekly post to explore the things of God, what’s going on at New Life, and different things we need you to pray for!

Looking forward to it!