3 Key Questions for 2011

So what will it look like for you?  Do you have a plan?  I believe the reason we fail come March, is because we begin to think, "How in the world can I keep this up until December???"  When all we should be thinking about getting through today, knowing that "His mercies are new every morning."

3 key questions you must ask if you will do things differently in 2011.


WHEN?  If you don't determine when you will do it, it won't happen.

HOW?  If you don't have a game plan, it won't happen.

WHO?  If you don't have someone walking with you through it, you will most definitely fail.  So who is your accountability? 

The times I have been successful are the times I have continually begged the Lord to do it in me.  I don't have what it takes to pursue the Lord over the long haul.  He MUST do it in me!  If you don't beg him to do it in you, it won't happen...and even if it does, it will be futile.

If you want to read some more about this or you want to know what my game plan is for 2011, check out my personal blog HERE.

Praying for more of Him in 2011!
Dave

A Vision for 2011

The image to the right is a bust that is featured at the St. Louis Art Museum called St. John the Evangelist dated 1500 AD. I saw this image first a couple of years ago at the museum. The transcription talks about the artist wanting to portray his image of John looking upon the cross and the dead body of Jesus. Every angle on the sculpture is pointing down, giving it a very somber feel. If you look at this and study it, you begin to connect with what that moment must have meant to John. I see the passion of a man who loved Jesus deeply.

The elders of North Church want to cast a vision for that sort of passion for Jesus in 2011. This image is one of sorrow, but it is a deeply passionate sorrow. We are praying that 2011 will be a year that our church engages and chases hard after the person of Jesus and that doing so will result in a passion for Jesus similar to the one captured by this sculpture.

We want to encourage you to read through My Utmost for His Highest. This is a daily devotional. This link has each day's reading on it and is very user friendly. If you have never heard of the book or have gone through it before, we want to encourage you walk with us through it this year. We will be blogging consistently about it and encourage you to engage it and engage us as we walk through this together.

George MacDonald said, "Whatever a man does without God he must fail miserably, or succeed even more miserably.” In short our vision for 2011 is that we would pursue God with great vigor in 2011 and live this year with Him.

We have also found a free on line resource from The Gospel Coalition and D A Carson. The resource is a Bible reading plan and short companion commentary. Volume 1 goes along with a family reading plan and Volume 2 goes alone with a secret reading plan.

You will be hearing more about this vision on Sunday in the sermon. If you can't make it on Sunday be sure to listen to the podcast. You will also be seeing blog entries in the coming weeks as well. So we invite you to walk with us in 2011 as we seek to chase hard and passionately after Jesus.

Have an Intentional Devotional Life in 2010

As we get ready to launch into a new year, I'm been thinking a ton about what 2009 has held and what I want to be the same and or different about 2010. The one thing I keep coming back to is our calling to relationship with our God. John 17:3 defines it incredibly well - "This is eternal life, that you KNOW HIM." So regardless of what your relationship with Him has looked like in the past, it can and should look different in the future. Prov. 4:18 teaches us this very truth -- there is alway more of Him to be had in our lives. I found an article written by an Acts 29 pastor on this very topic. I thought this was incredibly helpful and wanted to share it with you. The content is below or you can access the attached link. Will you join me in 2010???

Planning an Intentional Devotional Life for 2010. Do you have a plan?

by JR Vassar, Pastor of The Apostle's Church NYC

The most important thing you can do in 2010 is cultivate a devotional life that facilitates the intimate nearness of God. You won't accidentally get close to God. So, for 2010, I wanted to encourage you to embrace a focused intentionality in your devotional life. Here are some things I have been thinking through with regards to my devotional practices in 2010.

Have a no exemption time and place to meet with God. If you do not schedule in focused time with God, everything else in your life will schedule it out. Have a time and place and treat it as an appointment with the most important person in the universe. And, keep it; no excuses. It might be morning, evening, night, whatever. Just pick a time that you devote to seeking God with uninterrupted focus. If you have to put it on your calendar, do it.

Have a plan. What will you do during that time? The obvious answer is that the time will at least include contemplative bible reading and prayer. But, what will be the content of that contemplative reading? There are several options and no one option is best or right. You need to find what keeps you engaged and maybe even mix it up a little. Here are some options that some friends have shared with me on Twitter:

The M'Cheyne Reading System. Robert Murray M'Cheyne was a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1835-1843. He died at the age of 29 but left an amazing legacy. This is a plan he developed. The esv.org site explains this plan as "featuring four different readings for use in both family and personal devotions. Each day has two passages from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from either the Psalms or the Gospels. In one year, you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice." You can subscribe theRSS feed and have it delivered into your google reader every day. Or you can download a printable version here.

ESV Study Bible Reading Plan. In my opinion, the best study bible available today is the ESV Study Bible. The Doctrines section in the back exceptional and the notes are very helpful. There is also a reading plan in the back of the ESV Study Bible. The esv.org site describes it as "readings every day from the Psalms and Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch and History of Israel, Chronicles and Prophets, and Gospels and Epistles." You can subscribe to the RSS feed and have it delivered to your google reader everyday.

The Book of Common Prayer. For those of us from the free church tradition, this seems a little foreign, but I have found the BCP daily office to be a great approach. Every day the BCP gives you a morning and evening Psalm, an OT reading, a Gospel reading and an NT reading. The great thing about the BCP is that Christians all over the world are reading the same Scriptures everyday together. You are reading with the Church. The BCP daily office is a two year cycle, each cycle beginning in the season of Advent. We just started Year Two. You won't read through the entire bible in those two years, but you will get a wide and diverse diet of the Scripture. For more information on the BCP visit this site and click on the Daily Office Lectionary. You can also subscribe the RSS feed and have the readings delivered to your google reader everyday.

Customize Your Own Reading Plan. If you want to customize your own reading plan so that your reading is heavier in one area than the other, you can use this website and have your customized plan emailed you to every day.

Choose Individual Books. Some prefer to stick in a book and go deep with it for a season. For instance, you might want to spend a month or two in the Gospel of John focusing on the glory of Christ. It is a good idea to alternate between OT and NT and different genres. Again, which plan you choose is not the most important thing. Don't stress over it. Just have a plan.

Begin your time with prayer and confession. Confess your sins to the Lord and ask him to cleanse your heart (of things you have done and things you have left undone) and open your eyes to behold wonderful things in his word (Psalm 119:18). You want a heart that is open and responsive to God and confession and prayer postures us in that way.

Read out loud. Maybe it is just me, but if I don't, I get really distracted.

Look for Gospel patterns. As you read, realize that Jesus and the Gospel is The One Story of the Bible. Look for Gospel patterns, grace on display, as you read. Especially in the OT. Every story has Christ as the ultimate hero. For example, don't read the story of David and Goliath and leave your devotional time "ready to face your giants." Realize that you are Israel in the story, not David. You are weak, powerless, cowering before your enemies of sin, Satan, and death, and you need an anointed King to defeat your enemies and cause you to rise up in hope and courage. Jesus is the true and better David, and he is the point of the story of David and Goliath. Look for these patterns in everything you read and rejoice in what God has accomplished for you in Jesus. We don't have devotions and pray in order to avoid the guilt of not having devotions and not praying. We have devotions and pray to know Jesus and his Gospel, and revel in all that he is for us and all that he has won for us.

Journal your thoughts and prayers. Journaling helps us process what we are reading and learning from the Lord. It is good to go back and read your journal to remind yourself of how God has been at work in your life in the past. Get a moleskin or a cheap equivalent and just do it for a season and see if it helps you.

Realize that this is a community project. You need to share what God is saying to you and have others share what God is saying to them. Consider doing one of the above plans with a group of people, a spouse, a roommate, or your church staff.

Don't give up. I have missed meals in the past, but never gave up on eating. I just made sure I did not miss the next meal (and usually made up for it). You are going to miss days, often times multiple days. Repent of your neglect of God and press on in knowing him. Your righteousness is not in how consistent your devotional life is; it is in Jesus Christ who is constant and ever faithful. So, relax and pick up where you left off.

The beauty and joy of 2010 will not depend upon your circumstances, but upon your experience of the One you were made for. As much of him that you want to experience, you will experience. He promises to reward those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).