Chris Widener
March 15, 2015 - W1511

When Pastor Wayne asked me to speak at New Hope, I asked God what is it that He wanted me to share with the congregation. So let’s talk about what God is doing and what He would like us to pursue. Today’s message is titled “Greater Pursuits”.

Let me tell you a little about myself first. My dad worked for a big architectural firm and provided a lavish lifestyle for us. We lived in a country club and drove Cadillac’s. But on May 1^st 1970 he woke up with flulike symptoms and in 6-1/2 months succumbed to death leaving only a $30,000 Life insurance policy. Mom had to sell our million dollar home and we moved into a lower middle class dwelling. I was only four year old. But even at that very early age great expectations were put upon me by aunts, uncles and siblings to restore the family fortune. So I had grown up with the notion that I had to be successful.

Now some people can handle such things very well. They cope when problems strike. I rebelled instead. I didn’t handle life well at all. I became a very troubled kid in school. As I got older I began to do drugs. In my 11 grade year I stayed over at my pot smoking friend’s house. It was a Saturday night. The next morning, my friend’s mom said, “Ok get up you are both going to Sunday School”. Now I’ve never been to church so I didn’t know what Sunday school was. But there was a youth minister there and it was through him that I met God at 17 years old. Previously, at that young age I had been given a heavy pursuit burden and because of it I drifted into rebellion and drugs. Now God gave me a different pursuit - a greater pursuit. This youth minister became a role model for me since I had no father or any other father like image to learn from. Soon after his mentoring, I was called into ministry. I became a church planter and motivational speaker.

So today I would like to share with you three pursuits that can make a difference not only for us but for the people around us.

1) The Pursuit of Hope

Now it is very interesting that in the church we call it hope, but the rest of the world calls it optimism. It’s the same thing. We just have different terms. Both are future based in the sense that we are hopeful or optimistic about what the world could become. Now there is a lot of pessimism in the world, but God has insured us. Remember, Jesus said that in this world there will be much tribulations but that He will overcome the world.

A good way to remember hope or optimism is this: “opt” means to choose. Hope is a choice. In the times of strife you can choose to say, “Where’s God? He left me.” Or you can choose to say, “God is in the midst of all those negative things.”

Let me give you an illustration. If you hold a mirror up in front of you, what do you see? Do you see a reflection of hope or of being hopeful or optimistic or do you see something else?

Another thing about the word optimism, is that you also can derive words like optometry which refers to sight. So optimism is also the “choice to see”. To be hopeful is to choose to see Jesus in everything we go through. And believe me the world needs to see our optimism, our hope, as Christians. There is too much negative forces out there in the world. We need to provide hope. We all go to different places meet different people, we are the beacon of hope to those we meet.

When you are asked, “How are you today?” Don’t just say “I’m okay under the circumstances.” No one wants to be buried under “circumstances”. People need a sign of hope. Now you don’t have to be overly enthusiastic, just be yourself. If you are the quiet, more introverted self, be that positive, quiet person you are. If you are vibrant and loud, be energized. Just exude that feeling of hope to the world. I call hope a pursuit because we do have to choose to be hopeful. When life deals you a difficult situation, choose to remember that God is still with you in spite of the circumstances.

2) The Pursuit of Service

Now the one thing that this world is so consumed by is the question “What’s in it for me?” Everyone only thinks of themselves but God wants us to consider others first. In Philippians chapter 2 it says:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but rather consider other people’s interest more important than your own.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

Imagine if everyone left here saying, “Because of my relationship with God and all that Christ has done for me I choose to go out and serve the people.” What a place this world can become. Remember, Christ said that the Son of God did not come to be served but to serve. Jesus also said that we are the light of the world. Also remember John the Baptist, whom everyone thought was the Messiah, said that there was someone greater.

So I ask you, do you wake up and ask, “Okay, who is going to serve me?” Or do you ask yourself, “Whom shall I serve?" Also remember that Jesus said that we are to be His witness to the world. So He calls us to serve. Here’s a deeper meaning, the world is lost and it is simply looking for anyone who will take the time to care. So as God went out into the world to serve, go out into the world to care. So instead of thinking only of your own agenda, take the time to think of other people’s needs ahead of your own. And take care to listen to their needs.

3) The Pursuit of Spiritual Depth

Paul wrote that even though we are believers in Christ some of us are still infants, still drinking milk. In other words we need to grow deeper in the spirit, we need to mature.

Now I want you to imagine if the richest man in the world Warren Buffet asked you out for dinner. You’d go, right? Because through him your knowledge of the financial world will grow as he teaches you about all about mutual funds and investments over a meal. You would have grown deeper in financial security. And then when he says “but above all else…” You eagerly whip out your notebook, and wait with anticipation as to what he will say.

This is very much like King Solomon, the wisest king of all, who asked for wisdom not wealth. King Solomon wrote down much of his wisdom and all the knowledge God gave him and he wrote,

“And above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”(Proverbs 4:23)

Now why do we as Christians have to guard our heart? There is a war out there against us for our heart. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy us so he can get the upper hand. He constantly does battle for our soul. We have to protect ourselves. It doesn’t mean that we remove ourselves from the world, we still live in the world but we do not live of the world. We protect our hearts. How do we protect our hearts? Well, we protect our hearts by not allowing vile, sinful things to permeate our hearts. We have to discipline ourselves to guard our heart not just sometimes but all the time. Build a fence around our hearts and keep it dedicated for Christ. Make it our pursuit.

People often ask me, “Why do people who become very successful seem to implode and actually end up destroying or killing themselves?” It is because they have made “success” too important to them and it became bigger than their heart could handle so they imploded. It’s like the foundation of buildings, if you don’t have a strong enough foundation and you put too much weight on it, the structure will implode.

If you want to go out and be successful and achieve your goals, God wants to partner with you. He needs successful people who can go out into the marketplace and share generously with others and to encourage them. But in order for us to do this we need to develop our hearts to maturity.

So here is a challenge for you, when you go home, look into that mirror, what do you see? Are you a person who exudes hope? Will you go out into the world and breathe life into people? The Bible says that the tongue has the power of life and death. Are you the type of person that lights up a room when you enter it or lights up the room when you leave? Are you pursuing hope? Are you pursuing service?

Are you willing to die to self and pick up your cross daily walking with Jesus into the workplace or into your family? Are you pursuing a relationship with God to allow yourself to grow, to be strongly rooted in Christ? Because in doing so you would have successfully found the greater pursuit.

1) What do you see in that mirror?

2) What are your pursuits?

3) What are your goals in your service to God? To the people?

4) What can you do to guard your heart?

5) How can you grow your heart to maturity in Christ?