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Chasing after God with Ambition

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By Bill Naron  

This last Sunday, Pastor Steve preached on the topic of ambition from the book of Joshua. This was a great sermon, and if you have not had a chance to check it out, then click here. In Joshua 14:10, Caleb makes the statement that the Lord had kept him alive for the last 45 years. Then in verse 11, he makes the following statement: “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.”

Upon reflection, I see the boldness of this statement from Caleb. At this point Caleb is 85, and when Moses sent him out, he was 40. In my limited understanding of things, I assume that Caleb is talking about physical strength. As we read through the battles that Caleb fought following this statement, physical strength is part of it. However, I do not think that is the whole picture. He was a God-fearing man and desired to see the will of God accomplished.

In addition to the physical aspect, there is a spiritual aspect to this statement as well. Caleb and this story were not just included in the pages of God’s Word for nothing. The benefit for us as believers today is to see a man of God ambitiously chase the will of God. Caleb saw what God had promised him, and he knew what God wanted to do for the children of Israel. Therefore, he was ready and determined to chase after that promise.

There is a poem by C. T. Studd that I absolutely love, called “Only One Life.” Every stanza of this poem ends with this phrase: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past / Only what’s done for Christ will last.” When I was listening to Pastor Steve talk about having godly ambition the same as Caleb, I thought of this poem. It made me think about the ambition that I have in my own life. I ask myself whether the things that I ambitiously chase are for myself or God.

The strength required to accomplish the purposes of God is spiritual. Caleb lived his life ambitiously chasing after the promises and purposes of God. Ultimately, the things that are done for Christ are the only lasting things that matter. All of us must find ways to cultivate spiritual growth in our lives through consistent time with Jesus. This will help ensure that we have the spiritual strength to be people of godly ambition.

Caleb’s story is included in Joshua for us to learn what it means to have godly ambition. So my challenge to Elim, and what I myself am processing through, is to ask, “Do I have godly ambition? What is my household doing to fulfill the purpose of God? What is Elim doing to fulfill the purpose of God?”

Elim is in a time of transition, and as a church it is important that every individual, every family, and the congregation as a whole wrestle with these thoughts. We are wrestling through what vision of ministry the Lord would have for Elim in the Transition Team. However, this is not something that can only happen at the Transition Team meetings, but this is a conversation that includes everyone. It is my prayer that Elim would find a leader with godly ambition and that we would be a body of ambitious believers who strive to see the purposes of God accomplished.

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On a Mission from God

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Jeff Foerster

What is a missionary? One description I found on Wikipedia defines a missionary as, “a member of a religious group sent into an area to promote their faith or perform ministries of service”. 

Allow me to recalibrate my question: Who is a missionary? 

The Apostle Paul was a missionary. In the back of my Bible are maps that trace three missionary journeys he took. Paul was imprisoned, beaten innumerable times, whipped, stoned, beaten with rods, shipwrecked, and faced many other hardships.  With Paul’s exploits I find it hard to identify.

I recall hearing of missionaries when I was a child and thinking of a land far away inhabited by people of a different tongue and living in poverty and ignorance. Like you might see in commercials where a white, salt-and-pepper bearded man approximately 60 years of age, walks slowly toward a camera among destitute black children surrounded by an obscene number of flies. He carefully gesticulates to accentuate the surrounding poverty while asking you for donations. If you’re like me, this takes place while resting comfortably on a couch while digging greasy fingers into a waning bowl of butter-slathered popcorn and binge watching several episodes of whatever-the-heck.  But I digress.

We have missionaries connected with our church whom we support financially and through prayer. They, like my missionaries of childhood, are, for the most part, in a land far away and among a people speaking a different language. It is possible for any among us to become a missionary, in this sense, and indeed some have sacrificed much in doing so.

However, I don’t see myself leaving everything behind and moving out of the country. For several reasons this is currently not realistic. Indeed, if many were to do so those left behind would find it difficult to financially support those working abroad.

Yet, here we are faced with the Great Commission commanding us to go out into the world and make disciples of Jesus among all people.  What to do?  How are we to fulfill our mandate?  Is it possible that each one of us has been given a mission to a unique people in our sphere of influence? Has God made us to be missionaries to those at our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, even in our own home? Is there any place or any time or any person to which the Great Commission does not apply?

At Elim, just above  the double doors at the front entrance is a sign that reads, “You are now entering the mission field”.  Is it possible that this sign is correct and each of us is a missionary to those in our path, in our influence, in our lives?

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If We Wanted Easy, We’d Be Done . . . and Probably Doing It Again

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By Dan Amos

“Challenging.” That’s the nice way of saying being pushed out of your comfort zone. That’s where I am regarding our transition to our next pastor and exactly where I expected to be. We chose to engage an intentional interim pastor, not because we expected him to do things for us, but because we wanted to be challenged. We want Elim to reach its potential for what God has for us.

In elder meetings and Transition Team meetings, we are looking at where Elim has been and where we want to be in the future. I don’t always like what I hear, nor do I always agree. But the process is important, and I remind myself that we want this and need this. It would have been simpler to immediately form a search committee and hire a senior pastor, but we want to find the right person who will lead us to more effectively reach our community. Even saying “reach our community” is a decision. We could focus internally and create a place where people can come in and worship. Or, we can reach out and bring people in.

We’ve spent a lot of time over the last several Transition Team meetings trying to create a mission statement. Over the decades, we’ve spent a lot of time on mission statements.

An oasis for renewal with God and one another

Nurturing passionate followers of Jesus Christ who know God, grow together in Christ, and go and serve South Hill and beyond

I would be lying if I said I enjoy mission statements. My job title is strategy analyst and I’m no stranger to mission statements. In our exercise at Elim, we are looking for a handful of words that describe who we are and what we’re about. Words that will speak to those outside the church and inspire those within. Words that will be a measuring stick for what we do and whether we’re successful.

Within that, we continue to go back to the Great Commission, looking to tie our mission to what Jesus told us, His disciples, to do. This is exceptionally difficult in just a handful of words that speak to those inside and out, that inspire and draw in, that challenge and measure. But I believe the process has been good. This group of 20 plus people are wrestling with the future of our church. Within this, I have been challenged by a number of thoughts.

We value transparency and authenticity. People can see when we’re trying to hide and when we’re not. We want a place that is full of imperfect people building each other up into something better—Christlikeness. We want a place where we can come with all our faults and mistakes and worship the God who knows them and died to forgive them.

One phrase my wife suggested for a mission statement was doing life together. That challenges me deeply. That means not just coming to church on Sunday and serving here or there. It means being an intimate part of other people’s lives. Sharing in their joy and pain, struggles and triumphs. It means bringing others into mine, too.

The last challenge I’ll share is our current assignment to interview community leaders and unchurched people. We have a list of questions to prompt a conversation, but really, we’re going out and talking to people we don’t know and asking them to think about what our little church can do better to serve and reach our community. Challenging. Necessary. Impactful. A first step . . .

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Megaphones, Lights, and the Great Commission

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By Bill Naron

The word gospel appears in the New Testament over 75 times. Most of the times this word is used, it is accompanied by words such as preach, publish, and heard. So, is the gospel really a thing that is “lived” out, or is it something to be proclaimed and maybe preached on street corners?

Here is where I would like to challenge our mindset just a little bit, and I would like to give another perspective on this idea. First, let’s define what we are talking about—it is the gospel. The word gospel is defined in the dictionary several ways. The first definition is “the teaching or revelation of Christ.” Gospel is the Good News! It is in its very essence the announcement that Jesus was born and that He performed miracles, lived a blameless life so He could go to the cross and pay the price for our sins, then rose from the grave, defeating hell and death (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Romans 1:16).

This is powerful stuff, but we cannot literally live the proclamation of Jesus and who He is; we can only live in the transformative implications of the gospel. That is, we live differently after coming to salvation because of the work that the gospel does in our lives.

Jesus is the very central point of the gospel. He is the Good News. When we are raised to new life in Christ, we live differently. Paul mentions this in Romans 12, when he says to not be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In John, Jesus talks about how He has chosen us out of the world, calling us to live a life that is set apart from the world. I am presenting that the change in living our lives differently is only the start of our faith journey. We are then called to verbally share the Good News and express who Christ is and how the truth of Scripture has affected our lives.

Therefore, in doing so will onlookers be provoked to question our faith. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” In this Scripture, Peter is not asking us to be prepared to invite people to church on Sunday or even stating that only pastors need to be prepared to give an answer to those who inquire. Instead, he challenges every follower of Christ to be prepared to give a response when asked the reason for the hope that is within him.

We are a people who have been set apart and chosen out of the world; embrace that identity and live into it. You have been chosen to partake in work that is far greater than you could even imagine. You have been chosen to go forth into your community to preach the Good News of Jesus. Understand with clarity that Jesus calls you friend so, therefore, you know what God the Father and Christ are doing. Understand with clarity that you are covered in His righteousness and that the old is gone and the new has come.

So, let us go out to the world that is so dark, and let us be lights. Live a life and faith that is set apart from the world and let us also be megaphones for Jesus. Speak kindly and talk constantly about the goodness of the Lord in our own lives. Then when someone asks about the hope that they see in us, we should also be willing and able to engage in that conversation. This is the Great Commission.

 

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Sex and evangelism

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by Stan Peterson

What do sex and evangelism have in common? When Christians bring these topics up in conversation, both tend to produce feelings of guilt, anxiety, and shame. I will save the talk on sex for a later date, but for now let’s talk evangelism. The guilt that comes from not being obedient to Jesus’ command (Matthew 28:18-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”) can be overwhelming. All I have to do is look at my life and see that I have fallen short of the glory of God in this area.

The anxiety and fear that comes with sharing our faith will lead us in one of two directions. The first direction is paralysis — our guilt paralyzes us into a passionless state in which we lose all enthusiasm to obey, for we are regarding man above God. We prostitute ourselves to comfort and grow indifferent towards God and His heart. The second way fear will manifest is through our pride when we become defensive and arrogant. We become controlling and take on an “I am right you are wrong attitude.” Statements such as, “I was persecuted for the sake of Christ” spew forth, when in all reality we should be saying, “I was a controlling jerk.”

When we allow guilt and fear to shape our lives as opposed to the Gospel, we stay in a state of distortion. Our minds are no longer being renewed by truth but are being swayed by our sinful flesh, the lies of the enemy, and the world. This often leads us into shame. Shame will destroy us by fueling the distortion of ourselves leading us into a place of bondage.

How do I break this crazy cycle of guilt, shame, and bondage brought about by my disobedience and a pattern of unhealthy thoughts? We need a miracle. We need God to reveal our rebellious hearts and kiss us with His mercy at the same time. God’s goodness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). As we embrace the truth of the gospel and receive our identity in Christ, the chains of guilt, fear, and shame are broken. By the Truth, Jesus Christ releases us into freedom, a freedom to love God in a greater capacity, a freedom to love others in a greater capacity. God’s love fills us, and as we are filled with God He spills over, touching all around us. We find ourselves loving our enemies instead of avoiding them, blessing our neighbors who curse us, doing good to those who hate us, and praying for those who spitefully use and persecute us.

Our evangelism must be based on God’s love and freedom, not on guilt. This is the only way we can fulfill the Great Commission. Evangelism is not a method to be used, or a program that can be taught, or an argument to be won. True evangelism will flow from a heart that is connected to God. This is not a duty to be performed but a privilege to be delighted in. Will you join with me on this journey? Let us together break the chains of shame! “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

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