Last week, I asked someone who was working for the church in the finance department to give money to two ministries and they refused. They said the money should be given later when other things were done. They were light about the things of God. They were not taking God seriously, and putting His commands to give and sow seed off to another day. One thing no pastor or church leader must ever be is light about the things of God. Cain put off giving until later, Abel gave the first-fruits of his income. Only Abel was a man of faith!
Some people have a naturally practical temperament, that’s true, but we must no matter our temperament take the Word of God, the Spirit of God, the office of a pastor or the kingdom of God lightly. We have to take that more seriously than anything else.
One of the things that differentiates people who are fruitful in the kingdom and those who are not fruitful is the speed in which they move when God speaks to them. Some people move at their own pace, doing what they want when they want, other people move at God’s pace, listening to Him and putting Him first. As pastors, we need to be in the second group!
In John 7.6 Jesus said “My time has not yet come, but your time is here!” Think about that – Jesus was saying my time is not your time. A lot of us are living by our time, but we need to repent and start living by his time. If you had asked me the time on Wednesday 7th September, at around 3pm, I would have said it’s an hour before my pastor’s Zoom, it’s a few hours before I do a livestream, and it’s my wife’s birthday soon so I need to get ready for that. If you had asked the Queen of England what time it is, I doubt her answer would have included my pastor’s meeting or live stream, she might have mentioned high tea, meeting a family member or a meeting or something. But it was actually a day before she died! Her time was not my time.
I have my time, I have a timetable for my life, you have your time, a timetable for your life. but we all should be looking to God for His timing, His plans, His way of doing things.
I cannot imagine putting giving off to a better day. I don’t ever ask how much is in the bank when God tells me to give, I just obey God, knowing it is better for me, better for others and ultimately better for God. However, there was a time I did put God off, for about six months, I knew God wanted me to yield to Him and be born again, but I didn’t do it until much later than God started dealing with me. I’ve met people who know God has called them to be born again, but they haven’t responded and it is decades later! They just haven’t done what God said to do, they are putting it off. What they have done is taken God’s Word and God’s instructions lightly.
When I was at Bible College, I met students who had been called to go to Bible College over ten years previously, but put it off. I know someone who called me recently when I planted one church telling me God had told them eight years previously to plant a church there, but he had never got round to it. I don’t know what to say. I sometimes see pictures of some Bible Colleges, not all thankfully, and see a sea of gray hair. I have been planting churches for over a decade and I feel I am only just starting my ministry. I am not sure you can have maximum results if you put things off over and over. Now if you have put things off, obey God now and receive grace, but stop doing it – stop taking God’s instructions lightly.
Lightness to the things of God is one of the problems of the age. We have to take things seriously, life is not Pacman – we only get one life, we only get one run through, let’s use it to make waves now.
People are not sharing their faith, saying they will do it another day. Jesus said do not say four more months! We have to stop taking that lightly. Stop taking prayer lightly, stop taking prayer lightly, stop taking purity lightly, stop taking giving lightly.
It’s a really sad truth, but one that is universal is that many Christians never get to where God wants them to be. Indeed some Christians seem to be growing worse!
One of the main reasons is a lightness to the things of God. We need to be heavy when it comes to God – taking God seriously. You need to spend time meditating about the things of God, you need to spend time in the Word, you need to spend time in prayer, you need to feed from God, listen to sermons. Not the light sermons either, but heavy ones, ones full of nutrients from the Word. You and I don’t have time to waste on froth and bubbles!
A lot of us are too irreverent to God, like His Word doesn’t matter, like His ability to provide and help means nothing. There is so much of this going on, some of it sadly in the name of grace. We need to spend the time listening to God that when He speaks in a church service, that you as the pastor know how to move and flow with the gifts, you know how to heal the sick, prophesy over people and lead people into a deeper walk with God. Pastor, do not take the things of God lightly!
There is a lightness when someone can ignore and fail to implement a godly instruction from a pastor. If I see an usher doing something they shouldn’t, I don’t normally get personally involved, I speak to the deacon. If a business man had a problem with a cleaner, he would speak to the cleaner’s boss. God is as smart as me and as a business man! God tells pastors things to do sometimes, and people should then not take that lightly. If you are in church this week and the pastor says we are going to sing that song again, and again, and again – listen and do it and do it with passion. No one ever died from singing a song over and over, and if the pastor is in tune with God it will absolutely help you encounter God! Pastors, make sure you are in tune with God and when God leads you to do something, do not give a rip about what anyone else thinks, obey God!
In Tree of Life we will see the glory fall on people this year – unless people are light about it, those people won’t see it. Pastors, you should be aware of what was happening in advance, you need to become serious enough about the things of God that you do. A lot of what is going on with the gifts is light not heavy, and it needs to change, we need to develop!
Selah.
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 