How God Calls a Person Part III: Surveying the Task

Posted on April 29, 2011 by James Gorton

Friday, April 28, 2011

The sunday school class that we started began to meet weekly under the big shade tree in Tampa, Florida and couples began to share their struggles and trials in doing marriage. Some were having financial problems. Others were struggling with communication and listening skills issues. Still others were unable to resolve their conflicts. The more we listened, the more we began to realize the problems that these couples were facing. We needed to take an accurate appraisal of what was really taking place so that we could become more strategic in the lessons we developed to more effectively minister to the needs of the couples.

Nehemiah was released by King Artaxerxes to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall and fix the gates of the city. When he arrived in the city, he met the people there, but didn’t tell them what he was planning to do or why he was there. He stayed in the city for three days and then at night took a few men and surveyed the wall and its gates. “I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and it’s gates, which had been destroyed by fire. . . .Finally I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate.” (Neh. 2:12-15). He made a complete circle of the wall inspecting all the damage and the resources that were going to be needed to rebuild the walls and fix the gates. He was seeking to find the scope of the project before he challenged others to become a part of completing the task. It reminds me of Jesus when he spoke of counting the cost before building a tower to see if you have enough money to complete it (Luke 14:28).

I hate to admit it but there have been a couple of jobs in my life where I didn’t survey the task and jumped in to the project before I realized the enormity of the task. It was replacing some plumbing fixtures and when I got into the task, the rust was more than I could handle and had to call a plumber to come and fix the mess that I started. Surveying the task before you start can eliminate much grief and embarrassment if you take on a task too big for you to handle. But if God has called you to a ministry, He will be able to give what you need as you have need.

An important step in God calling you is to survey the task of what He is asking you to do as you journey with Him.

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How God Calls a Person Part II: A Plan

Posted on April 28, 2011 by James Gorton

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A burden for people without a plan to reach the people will cause the burden to over a period of time wane.  I remember getting a camera a while back and was so excited to learn everything about the camera.  A problem surfaced when I didn’t have a plan to learn about how to use the camera in the manual mode and how to take special effect shots.  As of today, I do use the camera, but I still don’t know how to use all the buttons because I never had a plan to take a class to learn all the intricacies of the camera.  I had no plan.  I’m still in the same place I was in when I first got the camera.  Without a plan the dreams and hopes will be unrealized.

Nehemiah, after hearing about his people who survived the captivity in Jerusalem and hearing about the walls and gates that were in disrepair, began to weep and mourn, and pray and fast.  In fact, he prayed for 4 months about this and in the process of praying, he developed a plan of what he would do if given the chance to help his people and his city.  He was burdened so much that when he went before the King to serve him a drink, King Artaxerxes saw his saddened face and recognized it as a sad heart (Neh 2:2-3)  At this time Nehemiah was very afraid because of what the king might do, but he told the king what had happened to his people and his city and asked if he could go back and rebuild the city.  When King Artexerxes said yes, Nehemiah had a plan that he began to lay out for the king.  “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah?  And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates. . .”  Nehemiah not only had a burden for his people, but he had a plan to help them.

If I am going to be a camera buff that knows how to use all the buttons and dials on my camera, I need a plan.  If I wanted to reach out to marriages and families in trouble, I needed a plan.  That plan was to get more schooling (2 masters and 2 doctorates) to prepare myself for reaching out to marriages and families.  If and when God gives you a burden for what He wants you to do, you need to have a plan in preparing yourself for the task at hand and resources you will need to be equipped for His call.

To carry out this journey, we need a plan and roadmap to get from where we are to where God wants us to be.  The mind of a man plans his ways, but God directs his steps (Prov. 16:9)

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How God Calls a Person Part I: A Broken Heart

Posted on April 27, 2011 by James Gorton

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

When I lived in Tampa Florida, I was going to a church that was growing, but had no ministry to the young marrieds of the church.  Every Sunday we would go and see all these young couples with no structure to help them on their new journey in marriage.  I came to the pastor and asked about starting a young marrieds sunday school class and he said it would be fine, but there were no rooms available.  I suggested outside under a tree and he agreed.  We set up chairs and 25 couples came that first Sunday.  It was the start of God building a burden within my wife and I to reach out to marriages and families with their trials and difficulties to equip them for enriching marriages.

I was reading the book of Nehemiah and was struck with the wisdom that he had in dealing with various kinds of crisis in his life.  Nehemiah was the son of Hakaliah and was living in the citadel of Susa.  He had been exiled with some of his Israelite people and over time got a job of being the cupbearer to the King Artaxerxes.  The cupbearer position was a very important job as the cupbearer would taste all drinks before being given to the king.  If there was any poison in the drinks, the cupbearer would die and not the king.

During this time he was the cupbearer for the King, one of his brothers and some friends had come from Judah where Nehemiah had been exiled.  Nehemiah asked his brother and his friends about the status of the people back in the homeland and the status of the city.  They replied, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” (Neh. 1:3)  When Nehemiah heard the report from his brother, Hanani, he wept and mourned and fasted and prayed for many days.  His heart was broken to hear about his people, his relatives, his friends, his city.

When God wants us for His work, one of the first steps in His call on our lives is a broken heart for a group of people he wants us to work with.  Nehemiah’s heart was broken not just for a moment when he heard about his people, but the more he thought about their situation, the more it affected his life and consumed everything he thought about and prayed about.

What group is it for you that you have been burdened for?  Abused children?  Abused mothers?  Alcoholics?  Lost children?  Pregnant teenagers?  Marriages in trouble?  Teens in trouble?  Infants?  The elderly?  When you hear of a particular group and the problems that they are facing, do you find your heart breaking?  One of the first steps in God calling a person to a particular ministry or mission in life is giving that person a burden for what they want to do.

On this journey, finding a purpose in life and a passion for what you do makes every step you take worthwhile but it will start with a broken heart.

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Accountability

Posted on April 26, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday April 26, 2011

Accountability is a concept that we wrestle with our whole life. We first are confronted with it in our families. When our parents tell us to pick up our toys, we are held accountable for whether or not we pick up our toys. As we grow older we are told to carry out the trash or clean our rooms and are held accountable for whether or not we accomplish the tasks. When we go to school we are given an assignment and are held accountable for turning in that assignment. When we go to work, we are held accountable by our employer for doing what we are called on to do. When we have children, we are accountable to the society to teach them right from wrong. We are accountable to our government to follow the rules of the land. Accountability is all around us. Accountability is with us all of our lives.

Accountability helps us keep in line. There are three kinds of accountability. There is external accountability where someone from the outside is holding us accountable for whatever we have been charged with to do. The second type of accountability is self accountability where we hold ourselves accountable for the task at hand. This is much healthier than the first type because when no one is looking I am going to do my best. When someone from the outside is holding me accountable I will perform my best only when I am being observed. The third type is God’s accountability where we will one day stand before Him and have to give an account of what we have done here on this earth. That one should be the most motivating for us to do our best but unfortunately it often is lost in our daily actions.

I was reading in Ezra this morning and came across this accountability in action. Ezra was in charge of rebuilding the temple that had been torn down over the years. Once the temple was rebuilt he was given the task of bringing back the articles that were taken from the temple. He assigned a group of priests and Levites for the task of bringing them back. After giving them the articles he said to them, “Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the lord in Jerusalem before the leading priests and the Levites and the family heads of Israel.” (Ezra 8:29). Ezra was making the pastors of the day accountable for completing the task they had started. As you read on you see that when the priests and Levites came into the temple, they were called upon to bring the articles and account for everything they had brought. Accountability. It’s with us all our lives.

On this journey the sooner be begin to hold ourselves accountable, and understand God’s holding us accountable for what we do, the more fulfilling the journey becomes. We begin to do things for His glory and not our own.

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Conquering Habitual Sins

Posted on April 25, 2011 by James Gorton

Monday, April 25, 2011

Today’s topic is one that most of us can relate to, that is habitual sins that we can’t seem to get rid of. I know some of you are thinking of the more serious ones that may not have grabbed you. The most obvious ones are drinking to excess on a regularly basis (alcoholics), pornography (sexual addiction), and drug addiction to name a few. If your problems are not in these areas, it doesn’t necessarily let you off the hook. A couple of the ten commandments include not coveting a neighbors stuff and not lying falsely. These can be habitual sins when we keep our focus on the things we don’t have or conveniently lie so we don’t have to suffer the consequences of our wrong actions. How about gossiping about someone else misfortune under the heading of wanting to pray for that person. Do you have a problem of losing your temper and allowing your anger to say destructive things to others? If I haven’t hit one of your problem areas you might want to take a look at Romans 1 or Galatians 5 if you are so inclined to identify an area that could be a problem area for you. I’ve got mine identified.

The question after we become real with ourselves about problem ares in our life is what we want to with those problem areas. I find that Ezra, a teacher of the word of God spoke to this issue because he was dealing with a habitual sin that the nation of Israel and in particular the men of Israel were having a problem with, that being the marrying of foreign women. They had been told not to marry foreign women, but didn’t heed the warning, and it became the downfall of the Israelite nation prior to Ezra. Ezra found out that the men had gone back to that practice and He tore his clothes and wept for the sins of the people. We pick up his prayer to the Lord regarding what had been happening. “From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. . .The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. (Ezra 9:9-11). What the men were doing is the very thing that had caused them to be captured and taken to foreign countries.

In dealing with habitual sins, the first step in removing the sin is to admit that it is there. Any minimizing, denying or justifying of the problem will cause ther problem to remain. Secondly, the consequence of the sin has to be greater in pain and suffering than the short term pleasure of the action in order for true change and removal of the sin in our lives. If the pleasure of the effects of alcohol out way the consequences our drinking has on our family, our marriage, and our job, we will continue to habitually sin. As the negative consequences of sin overshadow the pleasures of sin, victory becomes more real. Once there is truly a desire to quit, a plan needs to be developed and lastly actions need to be taken to stay away from the temptation.

On this journey, sometimes we have to take some time to uproot destructive things in our lives before we continue on this path.

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CHRIST IS RISEN

Posted on April 24, 2011 by James Gorton

SundaynApril 24, 2011

CHRIST

IS

RISEN

This is the source that causes us to go on this wonderful journey with the Savior. Have a blessed Easter Sunday

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Christ Died For Our Sins

Posted on April 22, 2011 by James Gorton

Friday, April 22, 2011

CHRIST

DIED

FOR

YOU

AND

ME

Sometimes on this journey it’s good to stop and reflect.

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Grace and Humbleness

Posted on April 21, 2011 by James Gorton

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Have you ever wondered how God feels about people that are so wicked in our world today?  I’m sure you have come across people who are going in the opposite direction of what God wants and they seem to be unaware of the destructive path they are making in their wake.  It also seems that at times they are getting away with their destructive actions with no negative consequences.  We could name a few in our generation that fit into this category.  Adolf Hitler.  Jack the Ripper.  Manson.  Child Molesters.  Physical abusers.  Emotional abusers.  Murderers.  The list goes on.  What is God’s perspective of these kinds of people with obvious actions that turn our stomachs to think of their actions.

The person I read about today is named Manasseh, king of Judah for 55 years.  On March 29, 2011 I commented on Manasseh and his relationship with his father Hezekiah and that parental business can have a negative effect on our children’s paths as they move into adulthood.  Today, my focus is on Manasseh and his choice to humble himself.  He was indeed one of the most wicked kings in the land of Judah.  He sacrificed his children in the fire, practiced divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists, among other things.  It says, “Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.” (II Chron. 33:9)  Do you get the picture of the kind of wickedness that Manasseh brought to his nation?  He can be put into the same camp as those we despise and want God to snuff out.

God tried to get his attention, but Manasseh wouldn’t listen, so God brought the Assyrian army and took him away.  “In his distress, he (Manasseh) sought the favor of the lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.  And when he prayed to Him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea, so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.” (II Chron. 33:13)  True humbleness for what we have done wrong is one of the keys for getting God’s attention and causing Him to listen to our prayers.  It is looking at our own sin and not pointing out what needs to be done in the lives of others.  We look at obvious destructive sins of others, but our own sin stops us from having fellowship with the Lord.  It is in our humbling ourselves before God that we can experience his Grace and forgiveness for what we have done.

On this journey we can go astray from the road that God wants us to take and is in our humbling ourselves and recognizing our destructive actions and attitudes that God will listen and put us back on His road for our lives.

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Power and Pride

Posted on April 20, 2011 by James Gorton

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

I remember growing up wanting to be the best high school coach in Colorado. When people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would verbalized my desire. I had those thoughts constantly of wanting to be the best at coaching. I wanted to be successful, but not just successful. I wanted to be the best. During those early years, I had no thoughts on being a coach in college or in the pros, but high school was where it was at for me. I started coaching right after I was too old to play little league baseball. It was a passion of mine. Now all of this seems good and healthy, but underneath all this desire was a passion for being recognized. Over the years, I continued to get recognized in part because none of the teams that I coached ever had a losing season and a few of them won championships in their respective leagues. The problem with having success is that it can lead to pride and self focus on what one has done, not recognizing the God who gave the tools and skills and drive to be successful.

This morning in my reading a similar King had a problem with success. King Uzziah became Judah’s king at the age of 16 and reigned 52 years. That is one of the longest reigning kings of either Judah or Israel. He was a good king, but he had a problem. Success caused Uzziah problems. In II Chronicles 26:5 it says that as long as Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success. In other words, when he wasn’t successful, he sought the Lord, but when success came, he began to internalize the successes as coming from his skills and talents and insights. In a passage later in this chapter it says that he was greatly helped until he became powerful (vs. 15). I think the most telling passage comes in verse 16 when it says, “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.”

It is so easy and tempting to internalize our successes and power as coming from our self. Our skills. Our talents. Our knowledge. The “I” and “My” are deadly in creating and cultivating pride in our lives. Solomon, the wisest men in all the world, says that pride goes before destruction and the fall (Prov. 16:18). In fact he speaks a lot about pride and how with pride comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

On this journey be careful to recognize God as the source of all that you are and all that you have and all that you do.

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A Mother’s Revenge

Posted on April 19, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I had a friend who was struggling with some feelings of anger for God and for her husband. He had been physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse and had continued to do all of those things until she moved out, but she was having a hard time dealing with her feelings. I told her that it was never in God’s plan for her husband to abuse her. He chose do it himself and that the wisest thing for her to do was to get out from that terrible situation. He had no remorse and was continuing to do it when they had any interaction. I share this because we live in a fallen world where bad things happen, and we sometimes have a difficult time making sense of why those things happen to good people. It was never in God’s plan for us to be abused, but God gave all of us free will and because of our sinful nature, bad choices are part of what we have to experience from others, and even sometimes our own bad choices.

Today as I was reading I came across a choice of a mother that caused me to ponder. It’s a little confusing, but Athaliah was the mother of Ahaziah and the wife of Jehoram who had been king for eight years. He was the one that killed all his brothers after taking the throne. Jehoram had more than one wife, but Athaliah was one of his wives. Her son (Ahaziah) was the youngest of Jehoram’s children and was chosen by Jehoram to follow him as king. Ahaziah was 22 when he took the throne and he reigned one year before he was killed. Rather than one of his son’s becoming the next king, his mother took control of the situation. “When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. (II Chron. 22:10) Can you imagine this. A woman killing all her family, her relatives, her step children, boys and girls, aunts and uncles. She killed the WHOLE royal family. Like husband, like wife.

As I try to get my head around this, it’s hard to imagine killing anyone, let alone relatives and family. Unfortunately, when we are around people who practice patterns of destructiveness, there is a tendency to take on those same patterns in solving our own problems. In order to break the chains of destructive patterns from our past, it is critical that we look outside ourselves to the Creator to give new insight and wisdom  how to do things differently. I think it is healthy to look at the patterns we were raised with and the structures we have seen to analyze whether those patterns are healthy and God honoring.

On this journey, sometimes it is essential to cut away patterns that are destructive to family connection and fellowship with God so that future generations don’t copy our destructive behavior.

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