Well Done!

Most of you know that my mother passed away on October 9th and that Janet and I made the trek to Oklahoma to conduct her funeral service on Sunday, October 11th. It was a great privilege for me as a pastor to preach both mother and daddy’s memorial services. As we (my brother, sister and I) cleaned out my mom’s room, I came across a picture of mother and daddy on their wedding day. They were so young and vibrant with their whole lives ahead of them. And now, their lives are over. Oh, how quickly the years fly by! It made me think of the saying, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” As I held their wedding picture (it’s in a beautiful frame), two thoughts dominated my thinking: 1) The years are flying by for me, even as they did for mother and daddy – Am I living my life in a way that will really count for all eternity? 2) As both mother and daddy are gone now, I’m so glad that they chose to invest so much of their lives in God’s great kingdom work. What comfort it brings me to know that they will hear, “Well done, Art and Gladys Lindell, good and faithful servants!”

Sweet and amazing!

It was a moving experience for me to watch Zachary put his own rose in the vase on Sunday. As many of you know, each time someone makes a profession of faith in Christ as Savior and Lord through the witness of one of our people, we put a rose in the vase behind the pulpit, celebrating that great event. Zachary made a profession of faith at Good News Club at Plain Elementary School the preceding Tuesday. Because Christ took his stand for Zachary at the cross, Zachary was willing to take his stand for Christ before the whole congregation. How sweet and amazing is God’s grace!

Thankful and grateful

I’m thankful for my wife, Janet, especially because in the past 12 years, she could have died twice – once from Crohn’s disease complications and once from having her lungs filled with blood clots due to a cancerous tumor on her vena cava above her liver. So, I am deeply grateful that God chose to leave her with me. With this in mind, I said to her the other day, “With every passing year in our marriage, I want to grow sweeter, more loving, more patient, and more servant-like.” That’s really the desire of my heart, but I know, all too well, that I can’t accomplish this by my own moral resolve. That’s why I am desperate for God’s grace and cry out for it every day.

Mid-Week Thoughts

It was with great joy that I watched Kathryn Williams give her testimony in this past Sunday’s worship services. When I first came to our church as Pastor, Kathryn was 3 or 4 years old. It’s been exciting to see the faithfulness of God’s grace in Kathryn’s life throughout the years. How powerful is the gospel to change and shape a person’s heart. Thanks, Kathryn, for doing such a great job of sharing the faithfulness of God in your life and for being a living example of the power of God’s grace!

The past Sunday I walked through the Children’s Sunday School classes. I walked away impressed with the teachers that work with our children: Rachel Pocisk with the Toddlers; Lesa and Cara Fischer with the preschoolers; Jim and Stephanie Streit with the 1st-3rd graders; and Beth May and Amy McConnell with the 4th and 5th graders. Thanks all of you, for giving your best to our children!

It’s always great to come “home” to worship after I’ve been on vacation. As Janet and I worshiped up in Wisconsin, the worship was kind of “flat” and no one spoke to us before or after the service. So, it was especially meaningful for us to feel the warmth and aliveness of our worship here at Christ Community Church. I appreciate the efforts of those who plan and execute worship and all of you who come to worship with a sense of excitement. It really makes a difference.

Dealing With Our Persistent Sins

All of us sin as Christians. This doesn't make light of sin or excuse it. It just states the truth. If we've been born again and are children of God, then we should have a true hatred of sin. We hate sin because we know it's not just breaking a law, but it is a direct, personal offence against God. It is a rejection of his authority and wisdom.
But because all Christians still have a powerful, sin nature which resides within them, they still sin (1 John 1:8). We must deal with our sin by confessing it and repenting of it. Most of us struggle with persistent sins - things like gossip, irritability impatience, lack of love, lust, etc. Our persistent sins differ because our personalities and upbrings differ. Sins that are particularly troublesome to me may not be troublesome for you at all.
All too often, we can excuse these persistent sins, saying things like, "The reason I react poorly in traffic is because I'm an impatient person. That's just the way I am." However, we need to deal seriously with our persistent sins by making them a matter of urgent prayer each day, trusting that God will transform us and change us by his grace. As we pray, we must cry out for grace asking God to enable us to deal with them. We are the ones who must deal with our persistent sins, but it is the Holy Spirit who must enable us to do it.
The late theologian John Murray (Westminister Seminary) had an interesting and helpful insight on this. He said, "The believer is not endowed with a reservoir of strength from which he draws. It is always 'by the Spirit' that each sanctified and sanctifying activity is exercised."
Since we do not have a "reservoir of strength", we need to pray daily for the Spirit's enabling work within us to help us "put off" our persistent sins.
Don't tolerate persistent sin in your life! Why not write down (for your eyes only) in your journal the persistent sins that you struggle with? Make these things a matter of earnest prayer, seeking the Spirit's enabling power. Paul assures us that our persistent sins can be put to death by the Spirit (Romans 8:13).

A Passion for Christ's Lordship

In simple terms, the apostle Paul told us why Christ died and was raised: "He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:15).
All too often, we as Christians want Christ to serve us in our little kingdoms. But our little kingdoms are too small and too suffocating to bring deep, lasting purpose to our lives. It is only as we surrender to our risen Lord to be used as his servants for his kingdom purposes that we find true meaning and joy and rest.
Cry out for grace to get a true passion for His Lordship. It's the "narrow road" to true blessing!
Happy Easter!

Pastor Jerry

The Spark of Temptation

Imagine for a moment that your body was made of gunpowder rather than flesh. I would bet that you would be very, very watchful to not go anywhere near a spark or fire. Any lack of vigilance could prove to be fatal!
But consider how careless we often are spiritually. We have a highly explosive sin nature that resides within is and yet we are amazingly careless at times of avoiding the spark or fire of temptation. Now, I recognize that many times temptation suddenly confronts us. We don't go looking for it; it comes looking for us. But when the temptation appears, we don't always immediately flee from it (1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22). We actually attracted to the fire and move closer and the results are disastrous. The resulting explosion is hurtful to us and others, and certainly not God-glorifying. This is why Jesus told the disciples, "Watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation" (Matthew 26:41). Let's cry out for grace to be more watchful and careful when we encounter temptation.

Anxious Hearts

A nagging anxiety often lurks just below the surface of many of our lives. It's not just due to the economy and the troubling, uncertain times in which we live. We're also anxious about relationships and our daily circumstances. The tragic thing is that we grow accustomed to living in this perpetual state of anxiety and think it's a normal part of life.
But the truth is that our anxiety is sin. At its very root, anxiety is, first of all, a distrust of God and his promise to take care of us. Didn't Jesus say that if God takes care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, he will "much more" take care of us? (Matthew 6:25-34)
Secondly, anxiety is a lack of acceptance of God's providence. God's providence is simply his orchestrating all the events, circumstances and events in the universe for his glory and the good of his people( us!). The story of Jospeh in the book of Genesis surely illustrates this point. After many years, Joseph comes face to face with his brothers in Egypt. As he looks at them, he recongizes all the ill will that was behind the evil that they did to him. And yet, he says, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20).
So, how do we deal with the anxiety that is so pervasive in our lives? 1) You confess it for what it is - distrust in God's care and providence. 2)But you also must trace the "fruit" of your anxiety back to the "root" in your heart. You seek to examine what you are loving and serving and worshiping more than God. Much of our anxiety comes from the idols of our hearts (what we think we must have to be happy and fulfilled) being threatened. It's why we become anxious! So, you must confess not just your anxious thoughts, but you also must repent of the idolatry in your heart that prompts the anxious thoughts. 3) Lastly, you must cry out for grace - grace to joyfull submit to God's providential; grace to believe that in all things God is working for your ultimate good.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

Sweet Grace

My wife, Janet, was up in Asheville, NC for a few days for a women's retreat. Being footloose and fancy-free, I traveled up to Charlotte on Friday afternoon to see Amy, my oldest daughter who is 33, along with her husband, Jarrod, and their three kids. My grandchildren, ages 5 months to 5 years old, are such a blast. We all went out to eat and I sat next to Amy and just enjoyed catching up on things with her.
On Saturday evening, I met my other daughter, Steffany, who is 30, in downtown Greenville, for dinner. (Her husband, Steve, was down in Florida helping his sister move.) We had a great time together.
As I was driving home, I thought, "Hasn't God been gracious to me? My two, grown daughters are spiritual friends who I really enjoy being with." It made me think of Psalm 86:6: "There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours."

Boring Preaching

I attended a one day preaching seminar this past week at The Cove in Asheville, NC featuring Dr. Haddon Robinson of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Robinson said, "When you get up to preach people might already be a little bored and they have a hunch you're going to make matters worse!"
We all laughed, but then Dr. Robinson went on to say something really challenging and really convicting: "To bore people with the Bible is to destroy life and hope."
O, how desperate we pastors are for the enabling grace of God as we prepare and preach!