Phil Ressler

There are many walking around these days with the dim view of the future. Take for instance this Facebook post I recently noticed.

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!! Due to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off!

This is probably the way many people feel these days. They don’t hold out much hope for the future. Maybe that is the way that you are feeling?

It is good to know that God has an unlimited budget. With him there is an abundance of hope. His promise is that he will be with us always and that the gates of hell will never prevail against his church. We walk by faith and not by sight. The world may seem like it is crumbling around us, but we know there is more than what we see with our eyes. God has a greater destiny for us than we could ever imagine. Yet, we become anxious when we see our short-sighted vision for the future begin to crumble. Your short-sided dreams begin to be replaced by God’s desires for you.

Our mission on earth is to help usher in the kingdom of God. The interesting thing about this is the more the world is hurting the more the door is opened to make this happen. The less hope people find in the world, the more and more they will turn to God. We are living in times when people are loosing hope in all the things that they have put their hope in for so many years. America is known as the land of opportunity. But so many are seeing less and less opportunities around us. Although we may see the possibility for human opportunity begin to fade, divine opportunities begin to come to light.

It is good to know God’s is not dependent on the world’s economy. He works with a whole different economy that only knows abundance. With God there is no such thing as scarcity. In fact the more we are pinched by the world’s economy, the more we will be touched by his abundance. As Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”

Did you know the number 1 cause of auto accidents is distracted drivers? Some of the more serious incidents of distracted driving might include reading, watching movies on your iPhone, shaving, or putting on makeup. But it is often the subtle distractions that lead to accidents like eating, talking on the cell phone, changing the radio station, or getting something out of the glove box. All of these things increase your risk for an accident.

Distractions are dangerous, not just while driving, but in life. In Luke 9:51, it says, “As the time approached for him (Jesus) to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” I love this verse! What this verse basically says was that there was nothing that was going to distract Jesus from his mission. He knew what he came for and let nothing get in his way.

God has given us all a mission as well, but there are many distractions in this world that get in the way if we allow them to. We have many “shiny things” and “stuff” that compete for our attention and lead us away from God’s calling in our lives.

Just to give you an idea how distracted we are, consider that the United States is 5% of the world population, but we consume 30% of the world’s resources and produce 30% of it’s trash. If the rest of the world consumed at the same rate we would need 5 planets to accommodate the need.

Does our demand for stuff distract us from God’s work? Consider this quote by economist Victor LeBow in 1955:

“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”

These words are probably more true today than they have ever been. When we are so focused on what we can get, we are distracted on what we are able to give. We forget the words of Jesus when he says it is more blessed to give than to receive.

When I do weddings I will speak a blessing upon the couple being married. In that blessing I include these words: “May the peace of Christ dwell always in your hearts and in your home; may you have true friends, both in joy and in sorrow; may you always be ready with help and comfort for all those who come to you in need. May you be blessed in your work and enjoy its fruits; may cares never cause you distress, nor the desire for earthly possessions lead you away from the highest values in life, values that are eternal.” May these words be true of all of us!

So what can you do to remove the distraction of “shinny things” and “stuff” so that you can live the blessed and undistracted servant life Jesus has called you to?

In the second half of James 2, the relationship between faith and works is examined. In verse 24 James writes, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” When we understand this verse in context we understand “good works” are a natural out flowing of the faith within us. When we receive the incredible grace of God by faith, it is only natural we will want to live lives that honor the Savior. We honor the Savior through good works.

Another way to understand this section of Scripture is to understand that faith alone does not save us. There is a danger of putting our faith in faith. Putting my faith in faith will not save me. Let me explain.

Imagine you went overboard on a ship at sea. Having faith you will be alright is not going to save you. You can be hopeful all you want. Your faith needs to be put in the life preserver thrown out to you from the ship. Faith is the act of reaching out and taking hold of the life preserver. In order for faith to be beneficial, faith needs an object to grab hold of. In the case of this illustration it is the life preserver, attached to the lifeline, attached to the ship.

When it comes to our salvation from sin, having faith we will go to heaven is not enough. Our faith needs to have an object. So we put our faith in Jesus the Christ and his “good work” done upon the cross. There needs to be more than simply believing I will go to heaven. It is trusting the one who has prepared a place for me there. Jesus is my lifeline! Not my faith!

There are many people in this world who have faith they are going to heaven, but nothing more. There is nothing their faith clings and holds on to. Another way of describing this type of faith is to say they are hoping for the best. It is like holding on to a life preserver attached to nothing in the middle of the ocean. There is not much hope. I am adrift. The life preserve alone only gives me a false sense of security.

So where is your faith placed? Is it in the Savior? It it wishful thinking? Are you simply hoping for the best? Or are you trusting Jesus?

Have a great week. As a reminder our Haiti and Chile Earthquake Relief efforts kick off this Sunday. For more information check out www.lolchurch.net/haiti

I am a bit late on sending out my weekly email this week. The reason is that over the last few days I went back to being a student. Every week I am incredibly focused on preparing content to preach and to teach. But this week I had a great opportunity to simply learn and to take notes. I didn’t focus much on getting things done. My focus was simply absorbing a treasury of knowledge.

Bob and Sandy Kessler, Lynda Walker, and myself participated in a week long Crossways training in St. Paul, Minnesota. We spent three days listening to Dr. Harry Wendt. Many of you know who Dr. Wendt is. He preached at Lord of Life last year. Dr. Wendt holds a vast knowledge of the Scriptures in his mind. He has made it a lifelong passion and pursuit to learn the Scriptures. I considered it a privilege just to listen to what he had to say. I consider myself knowledgeable in regards to things related to the Bible, but when you listen to someone like him, you realize there is so much you don’t know.

After this past week, I find myself incredibly refreshed. I can describe my experience as nothing else than a gift. And it all happened because I was open to learning and to listening. I might of had 8 years of Bible training in college and seminary, and 10 more years of studying the Bible it as a pastor, but I still admit there is more I have to learn.

This is a key part of being a disciple. The number one qualification for being a disciple is being teachable. You can’t be a disciple without being a learner. The very definition of being a disciple is rooted in learning. To be a disciple means humbling yourself before another and saying I have much room to grow and to learn. The danger is that when we become competent in a given area. We stop seeking opportunities to grow. We settle for “good enough.” But Jesus desire more than “good enough” from us.

Ultimately, Jesus is the master. He is the teacher. And he puts people in our lives, like Dr. Wendt, to teach us how to grow and to become more Christlike. We all need these godly people in our lives to serve as examples and to disciple us.

Do you have someone in your life discipling you? Who is that you allow to speak into your life? Maybe you find yourself stuck in a difficult situation. Maybe the reason you find yourself in the situation is because you have not opened yourself up to the wisdom and instruction of others. You have failed to listen to others assuming you had the answers and you knew what was best. Never underestimate your ability and need to learn and to grow. Especially in the areas you find yourself most competent!

Ask yourself if you have all the answers or are you teachable? If you have all the answers you are in a dangerous place.

Ask are you the one doing the talking or do you listen to what others have to say? If you are doing all the talking you have no room to be instructed.

There is only one teacher. The rest of us are all students, learning together as we go along. Don’t fool yourself to think you are the teacher when God is calling you to be the student. Listen! Learn! Take some notes! And Grow!

Choose this day whom you will serve . . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Life is filled with choices. We make hundreds and thousands of choices each and every day. Choices about what we will wear, choices about what we will eat, choices about what we will say or not say, choices about how we will spend our time. In every moment we are making choices. You are making a choice right now to either read this email or not.

The challenge for us is to be intentional with our choices. We must choose up front our values and priorities. If we don’t choose these upfront for ourselves, others will choose them for us. Think about going to the grocery store. Imagine going on an empty stomach without a shopping list. You will find that everything in the store is calling out your name. It becomes so very hard to resist the aromas that overload your senses. You walk out with a receipt with a price tag much larger than you ever envisioned.

Shopping at the grocery store is a very different experience when you bring in the shopping list. You choose your priorities upfront. You’ve got a plan. You’ve got a budget. You’ve got coupons. You go in with the list, and you come out with what was on that list. You cut the cost of the shopping trip by simply being prepared. The decisions were made upfront based upon your priorities. It is a much more pleasant experience.

I am not retired by any stretch of the imagination, but I will often talk with people who are. They tell me they find themselves busier in retirement than ever before. I have a theory about that. It is because when they were working, their priority was very clear. It was their occupation. A good portion of their week was taken up by their job. It was a priority that put other priorities in the background. When that one big priority is taken out of a person’s life, there are all kinds of other priorities that vie for that space that the person’s occupation once occupied. The challenge is being intentional with those priorities. If we are not intentional with our priorities, all kinds of other priorities will begin to surface and to fill our calendar.

As much as we have a to-do list, it is good to have a “not-to-do” list as well. Are we willing to put aside other priorities and activities to accomplish what God has established as a priority in our lives? Do we choose to limit our time from doing those things that are not all that important like watching TV? You likely have your own unique “not-to-do” list. Do you know what is on that list? It might be spending less time reading the latest John Grisham novel, so that you can spend more time in the Word of God. It might be less time worrying, so that you can spend more time praying. It might revolve around your finances. That you might spend less money on eating out so you can save for a family vacation or mission trip. It might be choosing to buy the used car instead of the new car so that you can stay out of debt to honor the Lord with your finances.

Be a believer that knows what you want because you know what God wants. The best choices we make are the choices we use the wisdom of God. The best choices we make are the choices we make based on the priorities we establish with God’s help through his Word and prayer. This means I know what is important before I need to choose what’s important. It doesn’t mean I will not be tempted to occupy my time with more trivial matters. The temptation is always there. But simply being aware of the competing priorities is half the battle.