Are you "bent" towards "lent"?

Every year there seems to be a growing trend of evangelical Christian believers celebrating "lent" in some form.  I have found it very interesting and I am sure that a few of you have as well.  As a child I can remember being told that only the "Catholics" practiced "lent" and that it was not for us.  Ever since that time I have been aware and listening as people who are not "catholic" celebrate "lent".  If you want to know about "lent" then feel free to use this link to wikipedia about it.

The concept of denying yourself as a part of your Christian Faith is found in many places in the Bible.  We could take the time today to go through them all but we wont.  Please feel free to do your own study on that.  Instead I want to talk about why as a Christian I would fast or deny myself for a period of time.

We are to understand that the Bible clearly teaches that our works will never save us, they will never clean us up enough for God to be pleased with us.  My works, whether they be of activity or sacrifice will not erase my sin.  Only Jesus and His completed work can provide salvation, freedom, cleansing from sin, placing us into God's family being reconciled to Him forever.  So "lent" or any other fasting and denial will not save us, in full or in part.

So what then?  Why should we fast?  We should fast and pray and deny ourselves at times because we need to put aside our humanity.  We need to keep our selfish, sinful, flesh in check.  By doing this we also use such time to with greater intent and clarity focus on God.  This type of fasting and prayer is for the Christian, we are to draw near to God in part by challenging our flesh.  Fasting and self denial is part of how we train our physical self to greater appreciate our Lord.  But then we must also set a strong focus on the Word of God, the Bible is our main tool for the Christian's mind to be renewed in the process.  And the third thing is prayer, we must "commune" with the Father, spend time in communication with Him, this is good for our Soul.  None of this is to improve our standing with God, but should be driven by our desire to have a healthy relationship with God.

So...  "lent" ... are you "bent" towards "lent".  I hope you are not.  Mostly because of the root of the practice is found in trying to please God and prepare ourselves by purification, to celebrate Easter.  Christians are not to fast to please God and we cannot physically prepare ourselves for Easter.  However to take time to fast and pray and camp in the Bible, is good practice as we seek obedience to our Lord and Master.  So my stance is that if you do "lent" then please keep evaluating why you are doing so and do not let yourself be deceived and drawn into a works based salvation.

May we live in a greater understanding every day of the sufficiency of the work of Jesus on our behalf.

Pastor Bruce

Where to start?

Today was a really good day in so many ways that I won't get into here.  However I did get some time to consider some of the conversations of late about where do we go from here?  The direction we should take as a Church and where we should start.  

As I have considered these things, I am drawn back to the Bible.  By reading the Scriptures we find the answers to what we are to do.  Our instruction that we have received is not new but often we have neglected it.  We need to communicate and connect with the one who is our leader, Jesus.  Prayer is essential to this process.  Prayer as time with God both speaking to Him and allowing time for Him to speak to us.  

For any Church to be healthy we as God's people must be striving to be humble and obedient to Jesus and His Word.  The foundation of Prayer and living the Truth of the Bible must be the way forward.  This is not about a program or a set of goals but about a re-awakening a revival of the heart.  We are to move past a daily ritual of reading and prayer, to a living ongoing digestion of the Bible that fuels a Prayer-filled, disciple-making, walk of life.  This is not to be based in emotion but a commitment to be obedient to who Jesus bought us to be.

Jesus purchased us with His shed blood, we are now His and we are supposed to live under His Lordship.  This is not some idea of floating around in emotional spiritual highs and lows.  Nor is it some idea that we must now be perfect in everything we do.  Instead it is a committed life of following our new Master, our Lord, Saviour and Friend, Jesus.  The path is found through the Bible and Prayer, not alone but in a community of believers that we call the local Church.  This is where we start.  

We start by making a fresh commitment to put aside the things that distract us from this basic Truth.  The more we focus on this then the rest will become clear.

Consider the following statements

"I find my deepest desire for God and a closeness to Him when I am most humbled."

&

"When I feel empty and dry and long for a new experience, I must recognize that my sinful self-seeking emotions are driving me and I need to seek God's face repentantly, finding my refreshment in Him and not my emotional experiences."

Pastor Bruce

Prayer for the day

Heavenly Father,  I want to thank you for the opportunity to live and serve You today.  Your Grace is more amazing than I can fathom and yet you bless me with experiencing it daily.   Lord I am sorry for the weaknesses that I struggle with, thankyou for Your great patience with me as I grow and learn.   Today Lord please use me as your vessel, that You would be glorified and the mission that You have given me would be fulfilled.   May this day and all that it holds be used by me to honor You.  At times when struggles and temptations arise please help me to refrain from my old nature.  That by the Spirit of God, Jesus would live in and through me, instead of me.
Fully surrendered to You I ask these things in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Priorities Priorities Priorities ....

Many things run through my mind all day and sometimes all night.  Maybe you are a lot like me?  Lots to do and not enough time it seems to do it all.  Yet we continue on and find ourselves as slaves to the most "urgent" item on our todo list or the emergency that walked through the door.  Yet we know that this is not the way life should be.  We recognize that this continuum is not healthy.  So what do we do?

Well most of us decide to plan out time better, make better lists, take a time management class or get more organized.  Yet almost always we find ourselves back where we started.  Maybe we need to learn from God and His Word.  In the Bible one of the first principles we learn is rest.  In Genesis after God creates everything, He creates a 7th day for us to rest.  The rest principle is not just about a day off, it is far more than time freed up.  It is about us not focusing on the busy things, not being distracted by regular life.  Our rest needs to be directed toward the One who can truly give us rest ... God.  If we fill our rest time with other "busy" things that are not considered your regular work, then you will have some fun maybe but you probably won't rest.  Rest is where we begin to find balance in our lives, that is how God made us and it is where we need to start.

The second thing is that we need intentional time with our Creator, the God who made us and knows us better than we know ourselves.  Prayer is a key part of this relationship.  We need to be a people of prayer more than we need to be a people who climb the ladder of success.  Martin Luther the great Church reformer who dies hundreds of years ago once said "I pray 3 hours every morning but I am getting so busy, maybe I should start praying 4 hours every morning".  This sounds counter productive and yet we are not to live in our own wisdom but the wisdom from God.  you will not find this wisdom in your busy task filled day but instead you will find it in communion with the one who has such wisdom to give.  

So I urge you today to join with me to put the important things first.  God should be first in our lives, and that needs to be reflected in our time with Him.  For that time to be effective we need to be a people of Prayer and the Word.  God will work in us to help us meet the challenges of the day, do not worry, take proper care of your family, be properly involved in your Church, and when you are at work - work hard to honor God in all you do.

Let us press on together, but we need not set a fast pace on the less important things.

Pastor Bruce

Let us Pray

When things change I have come to understand that the most important thing we can do is pray.  Lets look at Acts 1 today, Jesus has just given his final instruction to His followers and ascended to Heaven.

Acts 1:12-14 (ESV)

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.  And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying,Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.  All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

So we have the community of Jesus followers coming together to pray.  They pray as they wait for what He has next for them.  It should challenge us as we recognize that they came together, plural, a group, a community.  This was not singular in nature, but group prayer.  So often we set a focus on "personal prayer time" and not enough on community prayer time.  I find that part of the reason is a lack of proper instruction and training on how to pray as a community.  So I find myself pressed to not only teach on prayer but to live a life of prayer.

I am glad to be here at Faith Fellowship Baptist Church in Brandon, Manitoba.  And it would be easy to just get really busy and start new things.  But I believe it is more important for me as a leader and for our Church family that we be a people of prayer.  So that we will be ready when God gives us a new direction.   Then we should continue in prayer as we move forward, ensuring we stay on the path He has chosen for us.

Blessings

Pastor Bruce