Stewardship Series - TEMPLE
If you don’t know where you are going then any road will
take you there. If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time!
- I am reminded of Jim Elliot’s words: “He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”[1]
- Excellence carries a price-tag. Everyone desires it, but few are willing to pay.
- The “tyranny of the urgent” robs people from achieving excellence and settling for mediocrity!
- Do you know where the most valuable piece of real-estate is located? It is not gulf-side, or lake-side. It is not mountain-top or valley. It is not east, west, north or south. It is the burial plots of man-kind. The untapped potential that was never harnessed.
- I do not believe that “determination is our problem. We are fiercely independent and determined to do pretty much what we please. The real problem lies in our determined focus to do what is most important instead of what is most urgent.
- Only the Apostle Paul could say to us; “My determined purpose is that I may know Christ” while sitting in jail.
- Yes Paul is imprisoned while writing to the saints at Philippi. The theme of this letter is “Count it all joy!” You can’t help but notice the contrast of ideas with Paul: Prison Vs. Joy. The last time I checked, I would not naturally associate these two concepts in the same sentence.
- The sense of over-whelming joy from Paul spills out into his writing to this church. By the time you get to the third chapter it becomes clear that Paul is focused and is directing his passion to a single purpose: “…that I might know him…”
- He includes some items that probably don’t excite us too much; namely suffering and death. These principled beliefs are not what the average seeker is looking for when selecting a belief system or church to join.
- When considering this aspect of our stewardship series, the temple in the Bible is that place where the worshipper and God intersect. It is a place where we can adore and receive life’s marching orders.
- We cannot ignore this valuable facet of the Christian journey.
- What is your determined purpose? To know Christ?
[1]Wiersbe, W.
W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition
of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Php 3:7). Wheaton , Ill.
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