Is Jesus Your #1 Priority

You've heard it said before that Jesus has to be #1 in your life... that he has to be your first priority. After church yesterday, someone shared with me a great truth. She said that if Jesus is our number one priority, then that assumes that we have a list of what is number two, number three, number four, etc., and that we are supposed to pick Jesus before we pick those other things. The problem with this is that assumes that when we pick number 2 or number 5, we are leaving Jesus behind. She went on to explain that Jesus is not our #1 priority... Jesus is our everything!!! He fills every spot, and we only do what we do in light of the fact that Jesus is in our minds, he is in our actions, he is in control.

I was visiting with a friend of mine last week, and he shared something similar. He asked me a question that he likes to ask people: "What is the most important thing you can do with your life?" The answer: "Glorify God". We are to shine light on who God is, but the problem is that we tend to compartmentalize our lives and only "glorify God" when we are in a spiritual mode. When we are in a family mode or a workout mode or a career mode or a school mode or a leisure mode, we tend to "shut off" our spiritual mode.

Here's what I'm saying: You can prioritize your life, but EVERYTHING you do should be done with Jesus Christ as the filter through which you do it. He created you with himself perfectly in place in your heart, and at some point you created a void by walking away from him. Then, you tried to fill that hole with many other things, and then some of us tried to fill in the gaps with Jesus. You have to get that other stuff out and put Jesus back where he belongs as your everything. Then, you will begin to glorify God when you are in family, workout, career, school, leisure mode. There will not be a separate place for your spiritual mode - your entire life will be your spiritual mode.

Keep climbing... Keep walking... Keep moving towards Jesus!

Are You A Consumer or a Servant?

Churches are popping up all over the world, and some of them are growing fast. I just visited with a pastor from Tulsa who was sharing the story of his church. They began 17 years ago with a few people, and today they run around 5000 in attendance. Over the past few years, I have noticed a trend towards "providing" people with "consumable goods and services" at church. It looks something like this... People ask what programs your church offers, and they choose a church or move around from church to church until they find the one that "meets their needs". This disturbs me a little because I can't find anywhere in the Bible or in the direction of the Holy Spirit where church is supposed to be about "my needs" or the program that I want for me or my kids. But the temptation is to program this way because it seems to work in "growing a church".

So you can imagine as I talked with this pastor that I was skeptical about his church. Then, he told me something that blew me away. He said that the strength of their church was their "empower" ministry which got people involved in ministry and service. He said that their volunteer ministry was what makes them a great church. I was speechless, but I was impressed.

Then, as I was studying for my message last Sunday, "Freedom From Sin", I found this peculiar verse in Galatians 5. As Paul was saying, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." I had never thought of serving as the opposite of sin. I don't know if that what Paul is saying, but I do know that when you fill your life with ministry and service, your mind is preoccupied with that and you might be less likely to sin. Try to be at Antioch this Sunday, August 16, at 10:15 AM, as we discuss this idea of serving in greater detail from Galatians 6.

So what do these random thoughts mean? Our mission at Antioch is to connect people to God, to connect people to people, and to empower people to serve. Are you a consumer or a servant? What areas are you serving in? What areas would you like to be serving in? If Antioch doesn't have an opening in the area you want to serve in, how can you create that opportunity?

Noam Chomsky said, "All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decision and to consume." You are NOT helpless. What can you do to become empowered? 1. Read Galatians 6 and see how it applies to servanthood; 2. Come Sunday to hear the message called, "Freedom To Serve"; 3. Pick up an "Empower Card" at Antioch to see what opportunities are currently available.

When you consume, you will never be satisfied and will always be looking for others to fulfill you, but when you choose to serve, you will take ownership and you will become more fulfilled than you could ever imagine!