Deer Valentine

So it was a little chilly yesterday morning. It was fourteen below zero. on this February 14th, Valentine's Day. Warming up now, it's six below, as I am heading into town for worship (I am dictating this entire message).

I thought I would tell you a little story, a Valentine's story, that my wife and I saw last night. Three deer came into our yard after the sun went down. They stood around a little bit and then all three of them just settled down for a cold winter's nap . . . thirty feet from our house . . . in the snow. They spent the entire night in our backyard.

This morning my wife looked out the kitchen window as we ate breakfast. She was hoping the three deer would still be there. They were. But now there were four. Interesting.

She watched them for a while. One of them was pretty far off. But eventually my wife left for church so I took over as head deer watcher. What a treat! I happened to notice that this fourth deer coming closer was . . . a buck!

Now my wife and I had just spoken this morning about how we never see bucks in our yard. We have only seen one in our 34 years of living in our house. We always see does and now she wasn't around to see this big boy so I ran to get my camera and took some pictures to show her that, yes, there actually WAS a buck in our back yard.

I couldn't get a really good shot so I moved out into the sun room. Well, my focus being on the buck, I didn't notice the doe that was eating out of our bird feeder which is about ten to fifteen feet away from our sun room. The doe got scared by my movement and ran off down the trail into the distance.

I turned my focus back to the buck and I noticed he was staring at the fleeing doe that had run off. And he was staring at her rather intently. She continued to run, white tail wagging in the air. The other two does just continued to lie there but the buck was not focused on them. He just continued to stare at the running doe. Then he took off and he pursued her.

When he caught up with her she finally stopped and they both stood there together. He had left the two does behind to chase after the one that was frightened.

That Valentine's Deer story, played out in our back yard,  reminded me of the story Jesus told of the man who had 100 sheep and how he left the 99 sheep behind to chase after the one that was lost.

12 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? 13 If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 14 So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish." - Matthew 18:12-14

Have you gotten frightened or "interrupted" in life? Have you run away from the flock, so to speak? Often we think there is no going back. That's not true. God loves us, He pursues us and He wishes that none of us should be lost.

How many times does it tell us in the Bible, "Do not be afraid" or "Fear not." Let the story of the deer be an encouragement to us this morning. He gives us examples of His love wherever we look. Even in the back yard.

God gave me that example of unconditional love Sunday morning, when the buck gave up his morning breakfast to chase after the one who was frightened. May God encourage YOU this day. May you not become afraid as you walk through this world. And may you stand boldly in the position of a child of God, through your faith in of Jesus Christ. Amen.

As The Deer

We Have Forgotten Our First Love

“‘3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." - Revelation 2:3-5

Jesus wrote those words to the Church in Ephesus. Even though they were living their lives in the name of Jesus they had forgotten something very important - Jesus. It is all too easy to draw comparisons to the churches of today . . . and to ourselves.

As I look around the world I can easily see the same thing happening in His churches today that happened to the churches 2,000 years ago. We have become so distracted with ourselves, or with other "idols", we have lost our first love - Jesus. We CALL ourselves Christians, and I am one, yet we are simply are not ACTING like Christians these days. I would like to explore that sad truth a little bit here today.

What are some of the things we are doing as Christians that would make Jesus want to remove OUR lampstands? What are we doing, or not doing, that would make Jesus think we are forgetting Him?

First we must go back and examine where we came from. Do you remember what it was like when you first met Jesus? What did you do? How did you act? What changed in your life when you first met Him?

I can only speak for myself, really, but I have also been witness to other people who have become believers and what I observed happening in THEIR lives when they first believed. Here is a short list of what I have observed.

1. We read the Bible more
2. We went to church/worship more
3. We prayed more
4. We repented more
5. We were more obedient
6. We were more humble
7. We were more teachable

I see many Christians today, living double lives, or at least unrepentant ones. Again, I include myself in this group. When I first came to believe I couldn't read enough. I couldn't learn enough. But today, I have a hard time finding the time to read my Bible. Each chapter I read seems like a major accomplishment. Back then, I simply couldn't read and learn enough. How much do YOU read each day? DO you even read . . . everyday? I often fail at this.

Going to church. Has this become routine in your life? When I first believed I couldn't attend church enough. I sometimes went to multiple services each Sunday. I don't do that as often as I once did. "Church" doesn't mean the same thing to me today as it once did. Back when I was young and new in my faith. We walk in the doors in casual dress, we clutch our coffee mugs as we enter the sanctuary. Church has become more about OUR comfort than our repentance. We should be feeling worshipful on Sundays and, I believe, we should be feeling UNcomfortable in our sin.

Prayer was something I use to do every morning. I got up and knelt in the living room and prayed. Today, I just don't have the time to pray. At least that's what it boils down to. I have to get to work. I am grateful to have a friend to pray with each workday morning. Prayer is the way we communicate with God. Can we ever pray enough? I think not.

And what about obedience? How are we doing with that? In my opinion, we fail miserably in our obedience. "Yes, I am a Christian. And yes, I am living with my boyfriend." Do you know what Jesus would say to that? My guess is . . . "Hypocrites!" Or perhaps you are living an alternative life style. "Repent and come to me," He would say. Jesus would call us idolators and lovers of self. And He would be right.

I went out to eat with some family members last night, Did we pray? No. Why not? We all profess Christianity. Why didn't we give thanks to God for our food? Good question. I mouthed a prayer in silence but I did not bow my head or close my eyes. Why not? Afraid of what others might think? Hypocrite!

Are you open to learning new things about God? Or do you think you know it all and have heard it all? We need to be more teachable, more humble and more repentant.

Repentance is one of the biggest things we are missing in our faith lives today. We go to church and are told to make ourselves "comfortable" and to "worship as you please." Instead, shouldn't we be worshiping in a way that pleases God? Does God want us to be comfortable as we worship? I don't think so. I think He's rather see us fall on our faces.

Today is Valentine's Day. Spend some time with your first love. He loves you and misses you. Tell Him that you love Him . . . as long as it is called today.

Love Knows No End - Hillsong