Settling for Spiritual Fast Food

“It is in fact the most normal thing in the common Christian life

to pray together.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Over 99 Billion Sold.” That’s the number on the sign that you’ll see in front of McDonald’s. That’s been McDonald’s line since April 1994, when it stopped updating the number. McDonald’s won’t comment on whether it still tracks the number of burgers sold. Confession is good for the soul so I’ll admit I periodically go to McDonald’s, usually for the free WiFi. While I like their sausage biscuit with egg, there’s not much else that I want there.

  Now if you called me up and said, “Scott, would you like to meet for dinner at Texas Roadhouse?” I’d start salivating at the mere mention of the name. I love steak! Jane scored wife of the year again when we had steak on New Year’s Day. What a way to kick off the year!

  When it comes to prayer, most of us settle for McDonald’s. I know that I do. Yet, read the pages of the New Testament and you will quickly discover that the early church was committed to prayer. One of the most dominant features of the New Testament church was that they prayed.

  After the ascension of Jesus, His followers were left in Jerusalem without Jesus’ physical presence, yet, they’d never been so intimately in His presence because they prayed. When the disciples selected the replacement for Judas, they prayed. Following Peter’s sermon on Pentecost that resulted in so many new believers, those new Christians were instructed in key spiritual growth tools and among those was the necessity of prayer.

  Prayer was such a part of their lives that they took time out each day to spend time in prayer together. Prayer was so important to the apostles that they chose other believers to administer the caring of the physical needs of the widows, so that they could spend extended periods of time in prayer.

  Do you see the importance? Prayer wasn’t tacked on at the end of a service or a drive-thru window part of their lives. It was their life-breath. That’s because prayer is to be primary for the child of God and the church.

  If we want to see our church Spirit-empowered, we must pray. God acts in response to our prayers. If you and I want our lives to count and for what we do to have eternal significance, we must be people of prayer.

  It’s noteworthy that the early church didn’t pray for the things we usually pray for. They rarely prayed for healing or safety – though those are important. They instead focused on spiritual health and spiritual safety. Their prayer lives were focused on the eternal, not the temporal.

  My son, Aaron, and his wife are in Taiwan. If you’re tracking the news, you know that portion of the world is heating up. I hope that they’re safe. Yet, I’m much more concerned that they are spiritually safe. Nearly every day I pray that they will draw closer to the Lord and to each other.

  Jesus’ last words to us were to command us to reach our world. Eternity hangs in the balance. Scripture tells us that God wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). So, is part of our regular prayer life praying for family and friends to come to Christ? What about our neighbors? Can we really say that we love or care about someone if we’re not concerned enough to pray about their eternal destiny?  

  We are family! Do we love our brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we praying for their soul health? Often we know where another fellow-believer struggles. Do we pray for them, that they’ll have victory?

  In a culture that values self-sufficiency, prayer reminds us that we need God. We have so little under control. Anything that we think that we have under control, we don’t. The essence of prayer then is to join God, not God joining us. We need to be in our Bibles so that we will pray for what’s on God’s heart rather than telling God what is on our hearts.

  Prayer is the lifeline that saves the drowning soul. It’s the umbilical cord that provides nourishment to the starving spirit.

  Augustine, the early church father described prayer to a man in a hapless boat who throws a rope at a rock. The rock provides the needed security and stability, and even life for the helpless man. When the rock is lassoed, it’s not the man pulling the rock to the boat; it’s the pulling of the boat to the rock. Jesus is our Rock. We throw the rope to Him through prayer.

  If we do pray, our prayer lives are often anemic because our focus is on ourselves, our needs, concerns, comforts, wishes and wants, than on God. If we want God to answer our prayers and desire His will, then God must become central in our prayers and in our prayer times together.

  Our Heavenly Father is preparing us for eternity. He is building character within us that will last forever. He’s most concerned about our character and motives. The unique trials each of us face on earth are designed by our loving Heavenly Father. They’re not some mistake or bad luck. God uses them to bring about spiritual and eternal fruit in our lives.

  Prayer helps us be aware that God sees everything in an eternal context. Our world wants everything now and is driven by immediate gratification. That muddies our thinking so we focus on the temporal when we must focus on the real world of the eternal. When we lose the meaning of eternity and fail to see life from an eternal perspective, we lose everything important from God’s point of view. To apprehend eternity in this life is not only to anticipate a future enjoyment, but it’s also to appropriate a present reality. We must pray, yet we must learn to pray in the context of eternity.

  Currently, we have a scheduled prayer meeting each Tuesday night at 6:15 pm. We’d love to have you come. Yet, you don’t need our church to schedule or organize praying together  (though we’d love to help). If there is a better time or place, please initiate getting others together to pray. Maybe it could happen once a month early on a Saturday morning. We’ll make the building available. Just let us know how we can help.

  If we’re going to be spiritually healthy, if our church is going to grow spiritually, prayer must be a consistent part of our spiritual diet.

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

A Persevering Mom...Priceless!

“The race is not always to the swift

but to the one who keeps on running.”

  893 Quadrillion to One. That’s the likelihood of what’s happened to 20-year-old Dylan McWilliams. He was bitten by a shark, attacked by a bear, and bitten by a rattlesnake—all in just over three years.

  A few weeks ago, Dylan McWilliams was body boarding off the island of Kauai, Hawaii, when he felt something hit his leg. “I saw the shark underneath me. I started kicking at it—I know I hit it at least once—and swam to shore as quickly as I could,” McWilliams told the media. The wound required 7 stitches. The odds of being attacked by a shark in U.S. waters is 1 in 11.5 million. For perspective, the average American has about a 1 in 5,000 chances of being struck by lightning during a lifetime.

  While shark attacks get most of the media attention, the odds are that you’re more likely to be attacked by a bear (which is just one more reason to never go camping 😊). McWilliams, who backpacks across the U.S. and Canada, had a black bear bite him on the head while he was sleeping on a camping trip in Colorado last July. He escaped by poking the bear in its eye but it took nine staples to the back of his head. The odds of being injured by a bear are 1 in 2.1 million. In the lower 48 States just 14 people have been killed by bears between 1900 and 2009.

  I should mention that in 2015, “Mr. Lucky” stumbled onto a rattlesnake while hiking in Utah. He said the bite had little venom in it so he decided not to go to the hospital, even though he was sick for a couple of days. The odds of being bitten by a poisonous snake in the U.S. are estimated at 1 in 37,500. The odds of being killed in a car accident are much more frightening at 1 in 112 (the moral of the story – don’t ride in a car).

  Dylan McWilliams chalks all this up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and encourages everyone to experience the outdoors. “I still go hiking, I still catch rattlesnakes, and I will still swim in the ocean.” But I believe that he’s a wuss…compared to a godly Mom who perseveres.

  Motherhood can truly be the greatest adventure. Being a successful Mom doesn’t come from doing all the right things, or children making straight A’s or being all star athletes or the most popular kid, or even dressing them like they just stepped out of a Kohl’s ad. It’s not from buying natural food and preparing tasty, yet nutritional meals. It’s not from being able to balance out a career with being a Mom. It’s not even from having perfect kids or little angels at church. Great Moms are those who persevere!

  We all know the horror stories of Moms who walked out of their marriages and worse, walked out on their kids. Yet, one can walk out emotionally and spiritually, yet still be 100% in place physically.

  Being a Mom is never ending work. It’s to give it your all and do your best 24/7, but still be told that “You’re the meanest Mom in the world!” It’s to wonder what you ever did to be despised by those who you’d willingly give your life for, faster than a New York minute. It’s to be dissed by the media and culture who seems to only be impressed by super women, like a Senator who nurses her baby on the Senate floor, yet still holds down a powerful position. Or celebrities who six weeks after having a baby are back to their svelte high school figure.

  Being a successful Mom doesn’t come from being beautiful or still able to fit in your wedding gown in middle age. While there are many spiritual fruits that are part of being successful, this first one is critical – persevering. It’s means that you’re faithful and still plugged in spiritually, mentally and emotionally when you’d rather bail. It’s saying “No” and sticking to it because saying “No” is the right decision. It’s saying “Yes” as much as you can to all that’s good for your children and what will help them be godly adults even when they’re screaming “No!” And when they’re adults and have walked away from God and everything you love and thought that you’d instilled in them, you still persevere on your knees.

  One of forgotten heroines of the early church was Monica. Her son was a nightmare. Because of her faith, he ran away as far as he could from her. He was vile, debauched and immoral. He was everything that a Mom hopes her child will never be, but he was. To make matters worse, she’s married to a pagan husband and has no support at home or in her marriage. But even though her son ran from her, he couldn’t outrun her prayers. She made it her mission on earth to be the one who would constantly pray for her son…Augustine. To be the one, again from a human perspective, that God would use in bringing Augustine to Himself.

  In his book, The Confessions, Augustine relates that his mother, Monica, told him, “There was only one reason, and one reason alone why I wished to remain a little longer in this life, and it was to see you…to see you become a Christian.” Wonderfully, Monica lived to see her prayers answered. Augustine not only became a Christian, he became one of the greatest leaders in Church History. 

  Mothers, God does not ask you to be successful. His first requirement is that you persevere, that you be faithful to Him. Study the pages of Scripture and Church History. You’ll find a consistent pattern. Often in the shadows, behind nearly every man or woman who loved Jesus and made a difference for eternity, is a faithful mother who persevered. It’s a Hanna, a Eunice, a Susanna Wesley or a Ruth Bell Graham…or YOU!  

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Real Royalty!

“He was created by a mother whom He created. He was carried by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.” Augustine

Maybe I’m missing something but I just don’t get it. Personally, I don’t see why it even made news, but it did. I’m referring to the recent “history-making announcement” that Prince Harry and his American girlfriend, Meghan Markle, are engaged and will wed in the spring (Uhm, should I stop yawning now?). But don’t we celebrate every 4^th of July about getting free from royalty, for something like 240 years now? Didn’t that mean we switched tea for coffee? Soccer for a man’s sport, like football? Stopped talking funny and all proper? Replaced tiny cars with big ones? (They don’t even drive on the right side of the road.) And who wants to live on an island when you can have a continent?

  Yet, in spite of all the reasons that we’re glad that we’re not British, countless Americans still treat British royalty like royalty…even though in the U.S. of A, we don’t have royalty. And if Meghan and Harry get married at 3 am, gazillions of Americans (particularly those of a certain gender) will get up to watch the whole affair.

  Have you ever noticed that the very ones who should have sought out royalty at Christ’s birth didn’t? In the narrative of His birth I find one part that always leaves me bewildered. It’s in Matthew’s Gospel. When the wise men came to Jerusalem looking for the “King of the Jews,” the theologians and professional clergy all knew, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel’” (Matthew 2:5-6). So since they all knew, why didn’t the religious leaders go to Bethlehem? After all, it was so close, a mere six miles. If they knew that the Messiah was to be born there, why didn’t they go and check it out for themselves?

  Comparatively, the Magi knew so little, yet came so far and gave so much. The priests and teachers of the law knew so much but did so little. If Jesus came to Milwaukee, would we go and see Him? What if Jesus came to Chicago, would we be too busy to check it out? But they didn’t.

  Why not? It’s the age-old problem, good people, nice ones, and particularly religious people don’t think that they really need Jesus. In spite of those silly Facebook quizzes about who is naughty or nice, most of us believe we’re on God’s “nice list” and Jesus didn’t come for “nice people.”

  Nice people think that ultimately their niceness will pay off, that in a sense God owes them. Good people are fastidious in their compliance to ethical norms. They faithfully fulfill all the traditional family, community and civic responsibilities, but it’s often a slavish, joyless drudgery.

  The word “slave” has strong overtones of being forced or pushed rather than drawn or attracted. A slave works out of fear—fear of consequences imposed by force. This goes to the root of what often drives the “good” and religious crowd. Ultimately, good religious people live good lives out of fear, not out of joy and love…and certainly not freedom.

  The bottom line is that though they may be kind to others and even helpful to the poor, at a deeper level, they’re doing it either so God will bless them, or so they can think of themselves as nice, virtuous, charitable people. They’re not really doing things for other people or even for God. They’re not feeding the hungry and clothing the poor for the poor. They’re feeding and clothing themselves. The heart’s fundamental self-centeredness is not only kept intact, it’s nurtured by fear-based moralism. Religious and moral duties are an incredibly heavy burden. Emotional frustration and inner boredom with life is repressed and denied. Good people are under extreme pressure to appear, even to themselves as nice, happy and content.

  But the greatest loss though is a lack of assurance of God’s love and acceptance. What are some signs of a lack of that assurance? Every time something goes wrong in their life or a prayer goes unanswered, they wonder if it’s because they aren’t living as morally or upright as maybe they should. Theirs is a “hope so” religion. “I hope God really loves me.” “I hope I’m forgiven.” “I hope I’m on my way to heaven.”

  Jesus came to give us assurance and true hope as part of God’s forever family. He came to be our Savior, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior” (Luke 2:11). The religious leaders in Jerusalem were ignorant of their greatest need. Though they were good and religious, it wasn’t enough – they needed a Savior, and so do you and so do I.

  Perhaps you’re very nice, religious and believe in Jesus, but for far too many that belief has never led to a point of personal commitment. You know Him intellectually, but not personally. And we all have the same great need. It’s the one that the angel told Joseph about, “you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  We all have a sin problem. It’s one that we can never solve ourselves. It’s why Jesus came. But we must come to Him, like the shepherds and Magi. Christ never turns away any heart that’s open to Him. Those who seek Him find Him. The wise still seek Him. Have you sought Jesus as your Savior? 

  If you want to watch the royal wedding next year, go ahead and enjoy it. Yet, whatever you do, please don’t miss out on the real King and true royalty that can make a difference in your life now and for eternity. Crown the one true King, King Jesus, as King of your life today.  

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Even the world is NEVER enough

“The world says: ‘You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.’ This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  So when is “enough” really enough? Less than a year ago, I did a funeral for an 18 year old who’d overdosed on heroin. While it was a tragic death, most were shocked because of her age, but not shocked because she had so much to lose and was leaving it all behind. Over the years, I’ve done funerals for several suicide victims. Again, most are shocked by the tragedy yet not because the individual took their own life. Some were seeking to escape consequences of bad choices they’d made. Others had recently broken up with someone or were unemployed. In other words, from the world’s perspective, they were at the bottom and they didn’t particularly have anything to live for.

  But is there any real difference though between them and Oscar-winning actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman? Seemingly, Hoffman had it all – all that we’re continually told has value and meaning. His net worth is estimated to be $30 million yet he died from an apparent heroin overdose. And he’s not some fluke. To learn of a “star” who’s not addicted to alcohol or drugs seems like it’s the exception. We’re not shocked when we learn some powerful politician wasn’t satisfied with the position or power, and had to have more, so they took kickbacks or had sexual liaisons. The same is true in sports. The recent revelations about Ryan Braun or Alex Rodriguez were sad, yet sadly, not shocking. Enough is never enough.

  It’s easy to conclude that it’s just the rich and famous, but is it? How many content, joy-filled people do you know? How many Christians do you know who are content and joy-filled? That begs the question: Is the Bible really true? Can we really trust Jesus? After all Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). But is it? Do we believe that?

  While most of us aren’t foolish enough to believe joy, contentment and meaning are found in a needle, we do erroneously believe that if we just have _________, then we’ll be satisfied. But we won’t!

  Why are the statistics for divorce among Christians nearly as high as those who don’t know the Lord? It’s the erroneous belief that if I was just out of this marriage or had someone who really loved me, then I’d have  joy, contentment and meaning. How many Christians think if they just had more money, a better job, a nicer house, better kids, a newer car, better health, etc., etc., etc…then they’d be satisfied. But joy, contentment and meaning are not circumstancial. Some of the most miserable people you’ll ever meet live in Florida. Yet, I meet believers all the time who think that if they just go on that dream vacation or fantastic getaway, then they’ll have joy, contentment and meaning…at least temporarily. Ironically, many of them go and are miserable in the midst of Paradise. Or, they’re addicted to pleasure, relaxation and recreation much like Philip Seymour Hoffman was to heroin. They need another “fix” to have joy, contentment and meaning. This may shock you but God did not design us to live for the weekend. Or, to find joy, contentment and meaning temporarily only when we’re vacationing in some exotic place…or, in some new relationship or a new house or with that new whatever. Most of us are as foolish as Adam and Eve who believed Satan’s lie that there had to be something more than God and what He’d already provided. Satan’s lie hasn’t changed.

  Let me encourage you to list out everything, and yes, I mean everything that you feel makes you unhappy. Don’t leave an option out. Think of everything you’ve bemoaned over the course of the past week that you wish you had or didn’t have. For many, a day might be enough.

  So if you had all those things, if ALL of them were “fixed” would you have joy, contentment and meaning? No, not unless you first had a right relationship with Jesus Christ. Augustine was right, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

  True power is not found in having our external circumstances changed. True power is having joy, contentment and meaning in the midst of whatever our circumstances are. Most of us live under the circumstances. True power is found when we really believe and plug into Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” That’s why Paul could write, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” 

  Remember those famous words from Albert Einstein, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Too many of us are “insane.” We think if I just live there, go there, have that, or even that person – then I’ll have joy, contentment and meaning. It’s trying to find a “fix” in something, anything. When the only “fix” that will truly satisfy is found in Jesus Christ. Most people are shaking their heads at the tragedy of Philip Seymour Hoffman, yet most of them are just as foolish. Though they’re not looking for satisfaction in a vial of heroin, they’re seeking to find it in something else. And when it doesn’t work, they usually just up the dose.

  Are you satisfied? Is your life filled with joy and contentment? My friend, Jesus is the only person who can satisfy your soul. Stop looking for your “fix” somewhere else and come to Jesus. His promise is true, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Will you do that?