Thankful for...

What are you thankful for?  For what are you giving thanks this week or even this month?

This is one of the things for which I always give thanks: The people through whom God ministers to me and serves me with his Gospel.

The pastoral heart of Paul just oozes out (I was reading 2 Corinthians 6-13 when I gave thanks).  In so many different ways Paul makes his heart known to the Corinthians, whether he is urging them to grab the day of salvation now, whether he is showing them his love for them and opening wide his heart so they can see his love, whether he is encouraging them to finish the offering... again and again Paul shows the Corinthians his love for them.  Paul daily felt the pressure of his love and concern for the Corinthian Christians.  They were always on his heart and mind; they were always in his prayers.

So, often I read this section of Scripture and pray: "Lord, make me more like Paul.  Give me a pastoral heart like his."  I haven't stopped praying that prayer.  But today, my prayer changed just a little bit.

This is a great opportunity to stop and give thanks for those who have Paul's heart for me. I thank God for my wife, my parents, even my kids; I thank God for the members of AF congregation, for my pastors past and present, for my brothers in the ministry; I thank God for all who have a heart for me and long to support me and build me up into Christ.  Sometimes they bear with me in my weakness and foolishness.  Sometimes they correct me in my weakness and foolishness.  Sometimes they have to rightly put me in my place and call me to repentance.  But always they show me Christ and the cross.  Always they show me the strength and power of Christ.

Who is it that God has given you?  Who is it in your life who has a shepherd's heart for you?  Who is it that has your eternity at heart, an eternity that is yours only through Jesus' life and death?

Give thanks for them, for those who shared the Word of God with you so that you might be saved for all eternity.

Thank you, Father, for the ministry by which you care for me.  Thank you for the shepherds young or old, experienced or not so much, who have called me once again to hear your voice.  Let my heart be lifted up by the love and concern of your servants who care so much for me.  In your name, dear Jesus. Amen.

We will stay.

Dear Family and Friends of Abiding Faith,

As you perhaps know I received a divine call on October 27, 2013  to be the pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Salina, KS.  The leaders at St. Mark and in the Nebraska District gave me a clear picture of St. Mark, it’s hopes and its dreams.  As some of you noticed from my descriptions of the congregation and the city, I was and continue to be excited about the opportunities they have.  I was led to give thanks for so many different reasons.  Most importantly I give thanks that they know and trust their Savior.  By God’s grace through faith they will be standing around the throne of God in front of the Lamb praising him day and night.  They have a strong desire that God’s Word would be shared among them and in their community.  I also give thanks for their outreach zeal, which you know I share.  Though they are challenged as a small congregation in a smallish city, they have been bold in their outreach, starting a pre-school and taking on other aggressive efforts.  There is much to be excited about regarding the opportunities God is giving his people in Salina - a city of 50,000 souls.  In many ways, I am drawn to the challenge of reaching people in this community!

For many reasons, I also give thanks to God for you, my Abiding Faith family.  Most of all I give thanks for the faith that we share.  When Jesus returns we’ll get to stand firm and stand tall together before the throne of God.  One family!  Together!  Forever.  We’re a forever family through faith in Jesus.  And that is exactly what you are to Ruth and I, along with our kids.  You welcomed me in as a pastor still wet behind the ears and walked with us these last ten years.  We have shared many joys and just as many sorrows.  You loved me even when I frustrated you.   More than that, I also give thanks that we have worked side by side to develop a ministry plan that is exciting and inspiring.  Though we face challenges as a congregation reaching out into this community, that has not dampened your zeal or excitement.  More and more I see your desire to grow up in your faith, to grow together with your fellow believers so that you can support each other as we walk through life, and to reach out into the diverse, multicultural community into which God has planted Abiding Faith.  You have taken hold of the ministry which God has entrusted to Abiding Faith.

As I look back at the last 10 years (at least, almost!) at Abiding Faith I am in awe at God’s grace and mercy.  In spite of me, God has blessed my family and his church during our time here in Fort Worth.  Your comments and encouragements honestly left me on my knees in praise that God has used my time here to bless his flock.  I can’t believe that God would use me as he has!  Now, I am counting on his continued grace and mercy into the future because I have decided to remain serving here at Abiding Faith and to decline the call to St. Mark.  This much is abundantly clear to me: my heart is still with you and my desire to reach our community is still strong.  We have work to do!

I look forward to moving ahead with confidence at Abiding Faith under the shepherding of our Good Shepherd.  Ruth and I look forward to raising our children here.

I humbly ask for your continued confidence in me as your pastor.

I ask you to join me in the work that God has given us to do at Abiding Faith, to be involved in the ministry of Abiding Faith both as a recipient and as a servant.

I, for one, am thanking God that I get to serve you and our Lord here at Abiding Faith and in our community!

He is risen!

Pastor Nate

Rest!

It's amazing how constant activity is from dawn til dusk, from rising in the morning until going to bed at night and even beyond.  Text messages.  Phone calls.  Email pings.  Tasks list reminders.  Calendar alerts. Conversations.  Projects and jobs.  Soccer games.   Almost everyone is so busy, so distracted; their - really, our - lives are so full of activity when can we rest?  

Even at church we don't really get to rest.  Church has for so many become a place of work.  We come to serve other people - and rightly so!  We come to preach and teach, to serve snacks, to give of ourselves, to give our offerings, to teach the kids, to carry on the ministry of a congregation. Has Sunday morning become another day at the office?  We may put our phones on silent (maybe even airplane mode and "do not disturb"), yet we're still getting pinged by email alerts, messaged on Facebook, messaged by text, alerted by the latest tweets.  We've got projects and tasks at home that need our attention.  Cares and concerns about our life outside the sanctuary that are waiting for our attention.  We're harassed and harangued by work even in a place that should give us sanctuary.

I wonder how the people in Jesus' day (and even before) felt when the came to the temple.  They were coming to fulfill a command from God.  They were coming to worship the only true God, yet they were surrounded by the bleating of goats and the jingle of change.  There was no rest there. There was no sanctuary there.  But the problem that Jesus addressed had nothing to do with what was happening.  There was a  need for money changers and goat sellers to be in the temple.  God had told his people to buy what they needed for the sacrifices when they got there since many were traveling such a long distance to worship. 

Here's the problem - God's people were distracted from the primary reason for which they came to the temple; God's people were kept from the sanctuary and the rest that God wanted them to have in him.  And that could have happened even with the bleating of the goats and the jingle of the change.

Tomorrow, we're going to gather for worship in God's house.  Tomorrow - but, why wait, do it today! - we rest in God alone.  He's our Savior.  He's our God.  He's our refuge and strength.  He's the Creator of all things.  He's the Sustainer.  He's our Provider.  Take a moment to keep describing him and all his works, all his ways.  Find rest in him!

So, turn your phone off for just a moment.  Turn off your alerts, quiet your mind and think on your God!  Focus on his works not yours.  Focus on his activity not yours.  Not that you can leave your work on your desk, or leave your house chores undone - but that you can rest your heart and your mind, that you can completely rest from your labors just as God did from his!

Psalm 62:1-2, 7-8, 11-12 "Truly my soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.... My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge... One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: 'Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love."