Faithful or Fizzle – Which are You?

Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

Prov 20:6 “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?”

Fizzle Out! Have you ever heard that expression? What might you picture if you heard that expression? One of the definitions for fizzle is “A failure or aborted effort.” When I think of this term, I think of people that claimed to be excited about something or make great commitment to something only to later “fizzle out.” I’ve seen many a person claim their faithfulness and commitment to many things only to soon “fizzle out.” I’ve seen people fizzle out of their marriages, fizzle out of the good intentions of their parenting efforts, fizzle out of their plans to trim down or get in shape, fizzle out of their commitments to things that they said, “God had told them to do.” That’s why today’s Fresh Manna verse says that many people will proclaim all the great and wonderful things they can or are going to do, but I always wonder who will still be there doing what they started out to do in the end?

I have always had great admiration for people who are faithful and stick to and finish what they start out to do. This country was founded by faithful pioneers who had a vision of great things that could be and were faithful to that vision. Pioneers and people faithful to a cause usually make innumerable unseen sacrifices of their own time and resources for the future good of others. We are blessed to be living in a land that was pioneered by the faithful with tremendous sacrifice so that we may experience the prosperity and freedom that we have today.

I find myself surrounded by faithful people. I’ll give you one example although I could give a hundred. Years ago I saw a tremendous lack of parenting skills in parents with young children. This was pre-SuperNanny and Nanny 911 – two television shows that have come to be a gift from God for parents. I felt that most parents did not realize that if they would put forth the hard but wonderful work of consistent hands-on teaching, instructing, reproving, and discipline with their children in these powerfully formative years, the rest of their growing years with their children will be a cake walk compared to those children that get minimum parenting. Parents that don’t set boundaries that they enforce with discipline, end up with children that run wild. God had put it on my heart to help many of these young parents so that they could avoid all the pitfalls and heartaches that so many parents face later on when their children turn to teenagers.

I started a class called “Parenting Young Children” that Renee and I taught for a few years. Parents loved it and the fruit of what we taught was immediate in the lives of these families. My responsibilities at our church of 10,000 people are enormous and never ending. I started our Small Group Ministry over 20 years ago and we have a great diversity of groups. It has always been important to continue to add groups to meet the needs of our church. Years ago while I was teaching ”Parenting Young Children,” a couple came along that told me they had it on their heart to help. I was grateful and glad to have their help. They were and are wonderful people. Seldom do I just turn something over to someone. I spent time working with this couple, letting them learn what we were teaching and eventually giving them the opportunity to teach what we had taught. They did a delightful job and in many ways brought new dimension of creativity and fun to the group that helped it to continue and greatly prosper. Because of these people, the vision and importance of the group continued to expand. They eventually took the helm freeing me to start something new.

People like this are the faithful. There are often working quietly and diligently behind the scenes without much glory or fanfare. These kinds of people aren’t driven by that. They are driven by inward vision and passion to a cause. They are the salt of the earth. They build things now for the good of others later. Few people understand the sacrifices they make of their personal and family time to help others. They have the same demands on their life that everyone else has and yet, they selflessly let go of some of their personal time and resources for the well being of others. People like this are the gold and precious stones of the earth. They are the salt that brings mankind its flavor. They are God’s living and breathing blessings manifest in this earth to make our lives better.

I am surrounded by people like this at our church. The “faithful ones.” People that have been faithfully serving others out of their heart and unto the Lord for 10, 15, and even 20 years. They consider it a part of their destiny and God-given purpose. What they do is a hugely significant part in God’s wonderful scheme of things.

The faithful are a huge part of what makes my life rich. They don’t know what “fizzle out” means. They live a life of faithfulness. Today’s Fresh Manna verse says, “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?” I hope you notice the faithful that touch you and your family’s lives and let them know that you’ve noticed. As I said, they don’t live for fanfare but a simply sincere thank you fills their tank to go on and on!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2009 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

“Delighting Yourself in the Lord”

Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

Isaiah 11:1-3 “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him–the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord– and he will delight in the fear of the Lord…”

I remember once sitting in a small group of about eight people. I wanted to think of an ice-breaker to get the group introduced to each other and to jump-start some conversation. I asked the group to think about things they really love or enjoy doing and talk about them for a couple of minutes. It didn’t take long for someone to start out sharing. People quickly joined in. It was a free-flowing and excited conversation that seemed to cover a large gamut from sports, to hobbies, to food, to traveling, and more.

In our society we use the word “love” when speaking of things we really enjoy. Another word that could be used and would be more appropriate by definition would be “delight.” “Delight” is defined as a high degree of or great pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture (meaning ‘getting caught up in.’) That would surely describe the group’s conversation regarding those things they were excited about.

In the book of Isaiah, we read about the prophet Isaiah prophesying about the coming of Jesus and just how God’s Spirit would rest upon Him as He lived in the earth as a man. It reads, Isaiah 11:1-3 “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him–the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord– and he will delight in the fear of the Lord…”

These verses reveal some powerful truths about Jesus but one in particular I’d like to focus on today. Jesus was one that “delighted in the fear of the Lord.” That means He took great pleasure and enjoyment in “the fear of the Lord.” It means He exceedingly reverenced His Father God. Having great delight in reverencing God was not one of the “delights” that people talked about in the small group.

Have you ever had the thought that our society has been turned upside down and inside out? Does it seem that morals and values and disciplines and restraint for what is good has or is being stripped from life? What would be the cure for that? It’s simple – at least to say. The cure would be for mankind to “delight or take great pleasure and enjoyment in the reverential fear of the Lord.”

Of course we know that’s not possible because all mankind will not receive Jesus into their hearts and experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What all mankind will one day learn is that God is not mocked. There are consequences in life for every avoidance and abandonment of God’s will and ways. Galatians 6:7-8 puts it like this: “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death.” These words represent the “fear of the Lord” on the negative side. These words are for those that mock God’s ways and act like or teach that they aren’t true or don’t exist. These words strike fear in the hearts of many people. They don’t like them so they say they choose not to believe them or they avoid hearing them and suppress them from their thinking.

Those verses continue with a positive encouragement to those that do love God. Galatians 6:8-9 “But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.”

Isaiah revealed to us that the Messiah that would come – Jesus, would have the Spirit of God resting upon Him. He also revealed that Jesus would “delight” or take great pleasure in reverencing His Father.

You may think – “Well, that was Jesus. The Spirit of God rested upon Him, not me!” That is not true. The Spirit of God rested upon Jesus so that He could reverence God and fulfill God’s will. By fulfilling God’s will and taking our sins and punishment upon Himself, He created the way for God’s Spirit to rest upon us. God’s Word confirms this powerful truth saying:

1 Cor. 2:12 “And God has actually given us His Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us”. And,

2 Cor. 1:21-22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

The cure for society’s woes is for Christians to “delight” or take great pleasure and enjoyment in the reverential fear of the Lord. Delight or pleasure and excitement are strong physical and mental stimulants that motivate you toward something. Learning to reverence God actually carries that pleasure after you’ve walked with God closely for a season. When you sincerely take the time to reverence God with and by what you see in His Word, and then in prayer, and then in your thought processes, you will change. The Holy Spirit will sift your thoughts and actions like sifting pebbles from sand. Reverencing God helps you see the pebbles in your life and purify your heart and mind. If Christians would just do this as Jesus modeled, life as we know it would greatly change. Our lives would be transformed and so would society. I pray that you delight yourself in the fear of the Lord today!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2009 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Radically Saved From A Life of Destruction

Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

2 Cor. 4:15 (NLT) All of these things are for your benefit. And as God’s grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

I woke up this morning thinking about how Jesus radically saved me from a life of destruction. My thanks to Him is beyond my ability to communicate it to Him in words.

In 1977, I lived in a little rented house in the inner city. I lived in a neighborhood of inner city people that smoked a lot of pot, grew a lot of flowers, and that wanted to “give peace a chance.” They were “free spirits” doing their own thing as was I. Drugs and alcohol had become my addition and were slowly derailing my life. What I never knew or could see was that God was calling to me. God was watching over me. God was reaching out to guide my extremely misguided life.

I was young man raised right in a good family that had gone astray – not out of rebellion, just off the straighter path of life looking for meaning and more fun. I grew up with a work ethic taught to me by my parents that as I look at in hind sight – was far stronger than most I knew. It was deteriorating from the use of pot and being aimless. I had given Greyhound five years of my life and loved the people I worked with but I started to feel an unrest and knew I needed to make a change. I was clueless as what to do. One day while getting a hair cut, the stylist mentioned that he had applied to be a flight attendant for the airline in town. While driving away from that hair cut I thought, “I need to go apply there.” Little did I know that his mentioning this job was God’s grace speaking to and directing me.

When I applied there, they apologized. I was told they’d received over one million applications for the flight attendant positions nation wide and couldn’t accept any more. I was disappointed. The next day, while visiting my parents, I waved to and got into a conversation with their next door neighbor, a very pleasant woman we grew up next to. She had been a widow but had recently gotten married. She had asked me how I was doing. I mentioned that I was ready for a change of jobs and had tried to apply at the airlines but couldn’t get my application in. She smiled and said, “Give it to me. My new husband is a vice-president of that airline.” God’s grace was working unbeknownst to me.

When the interview came, it was a group interview with about a dozen people. This may sound funny, but they were beautiful people – both guys and gals. She had each person tell of their family, school, and work experience to date and why they wanted the job. I was the last to talk. Each person came from great families, had college educations, and incredible travel experience. I thought, “I have about as much chance as a snowball in …… “ When it came to me, the interviewer had this glow and smile that put me at such incredible ease. I told about my family and being one of ten children. I told them that my college education was on hold. I told them about my work experiences. She hired me. I was floored! A year later she told me it was because “the Lord had spoken to her and said, you need to hire him.” “I have a plan for him.” God’s grace was working unbeknownst to me.

After working there for about a year, I worked with a flight attendant who was this glowing person. She was special and I wanted to know why. She ended up sharing Jesus and the gospel with me. I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Although it took about three months for me to figure out what this really meant and to find a church would teach me the Bible, my life was radically changing. God’s grace was working mightily in my life even though I had no idea what grace was.

Shortly the drugs were gone, the alcohol was gone, the profanity was gone – my desire for anything offensive to Jesus and His Word fell out of my life. My friends thought I flipped out. It was just a short time later that I met this breathtakingly beautiful Christian woman named Renee. I had fallen radically in love with Jesus. Now I was radically falling in love with her. I was often overwhelmed with thanksgiving to God. I remember a six month period where I would stand in church worshipping the Lord thanking Him for plucking me out off of a path leading to destruction and Hell and filling my life with Him and all these new good things. I would cry with thanks during worship almost every Sunday. I was almost embarrassed for feeling so emotional. It was not typically me, but every time I would think about what God did for me, I’d be fighting tears of thanks.

Two years ago, my son Peter was at our annual Men’s Advance with a couple hundred men. The week following he told me, “Dad, I am happy in my job but this past weekend, I saw the influence and the good you bring to all those men’s lives. I want my life to have that kind of significance.” I just smiled but didn’t say much. I knew in my heart that God’s grace was calling and leading Him.

Today’s Fresh Manna verse says, All of these things are for your benefit. And as God’s grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

My life is so rich today. I am full of thanksgiving for the richness of God’s grace and mercy and I do give Him all the glory for every good thing in my life. Praise His name forever!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2009 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/