Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2005

Grace Church of Burlington May 22, 2005 “If you don’t make up your mind, then your unmade mind will unmake you. Here is the place where there must be no dallying. For any dallying will be the Trojan horse that will get on the inside and open the gates to the enemy. God can do anything for the man who has made up his mind; He can do little or nothing for the double-minded.”                                                                      E. Stanley Jones             He sits in a tiny office, wiping sweat from his brow. A smile crosses his face as he picks up the phone. The place is New Delhi, India. The year is 1958. "I would like to place an order," he says into the receiver. "I would like 10,000 fountain pen caps." At the other end of the line, surprise is registered by silence. Then, "We’ll be glad to fill your order, sir, but..., well, what do you plan to do with 10,000 fountain pen caps?"             "Here in India," the young entrepreneur explains, "one who has a pen in his shirt pocket is considered both wealthy and intelligent. I will sell only the tops of the pens. It makes no difference if they can write."             Within two days of arriving in New Delhi, every single fountain pen cap has been sold. And once again the man with the smile on his face enters his tiny office and picks up the phone.             The best stories are those in which we see ourselves, and if we’re honest, most of us won’t have to look far in this one. Too many of us spend a lifetime lining our pockets with surface stuff that makes us seem successful, but down below, down where it really counts, we are as empty as a New Delhi pen cap.             Jesus warned, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). So friend, where are you investing? Basically, Jesus is saying that each of us has three options on what we are going to do with our lives. You can...waste it, spend it, or you can invest it.             Those are your three options for life. You can waste it on living for the moment, and wild partying, and wasting it on drugs and alcohol and sexually abusive behavior. You can waste it on being lazy and procrastinating and throwing opportunities down the drain. You can waste it living for pleasure and having a good time.             Or, you can spend your life. You can spend it trying to be the best and reach the top of whatever it is your trying to reach. You can spend it on doing whatever it takes to reach your goals and running over whoever it takes to get there. You can spend it on being self-focused and looking out for only number one. You can spend it on being the fastest rat in the rat race.             Or, you can invest your life in eternity. You can use the life that God has given you as a living sacrifice, as an act of praise and worship to the One Who has given His Son for you. You can use your time and talents to make a difference in the lives of others. You can use the spiritual gifts that God has entrusted to you for His glory. You can use the time that He entrusted you with to please and honor Him.             This morning is our Annual Ministry Fair. Our Ministry Fair is an opportunity for each of us to choose to invest in something that really counts, something that really matters, something that really has significance. Our Heavenly Father wants each of us to be involved in serving Him. He wants each of us to be involved in serving His family, the local church. The Biblical fact is that a believer without a ministry is a mystery.             Most of us convince ourselves that we’re just busy. Yet God has entrusted each of us with the same twenty-four hours. While we may have different financial resources, all of us have the same amount of time. And we always have the time for what we value.             God’s family ought to value serving Him. That’s our purpose, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). At Grace Church that should mean that we never have to scramble for nursery workers or Sunday School teachers. The church facilities and landscaping should be as nice, if not nicer than our own, because they are a testimony to a lost world. In fact, it should mean that we have to create more ministries because we don’t have enough to go around. It should mean that we look for opportunities to be involved and to serve.             So what are you doing with your life? Are you investing the time that the Lord has entrusted you with for something that really matters...eternity?