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                           Dr. Keith Shorter



      When was the last time you did something that made God smile? 
      Don’t you enjoy doing things that make people smile? 
      Sometimes, we make people smile by telling jokes. Sometimes, we make people smile by what we give them. I think one of the best ways to make people smile is by doing something that pleases them. It makes you feel good when you do something for someone else, when you make them smile. 
      When was the last time you did something that made God smile? Couldn’t we say that there is at least a possibility that God would smile if you do what He wants you to do? There might be a day when you stand before the Heavenly Father, and He would say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” It is my personal opinion that, if God smiles, that would be a time He would be smiling – when He looks at you and what you’ve done pleases Him, and He says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” 
      I think one of the things we need to do to make God smile is to adopt God’s agenda. I Timothy 1:15 says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—that’s God’s agenda. Sometimes, we need a fresh reminder of what God’s agenda is. I believe the Word of God is plain and clear: God’s agenda is that all come to a personal relationship with Him. God’s agenda is that none would be lost but that all might be saved. God cares about those who do not know Him. In fact, that is what God cares about more than anything else—that those who are lost will be found, that those who don’t know Him will be restored to a relationship with Him. He sent His Son to be the seeker and Saviour of those who are lost. That’s what He cares about more than anything else. 
      You matter to God. You’re special to Him. God cares about those who are lost. He wants His lost children found. God wants those who are lost back where they’re supposed to be—in a relationship with Him. That’s what He cares about. If we’re going to make God smile, I believe we’ve got to care about what God cares about. I believe that, as individuals, as churches, and as associations, we’ve got to care about what God cares about. 
      Al Marchant was on United Airlines Flight 175 that hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Four years earlier, Al was a policeman, and, in his spare time, he worked as a bartender. Al didn’t have a relationship with God, and didn’t want a relationship with God, but, eventually, Al Marchant came to trust Christ as his Lord and Saviour, and he had a complete life change. He stopped working at the bar, and he started sharing with his buddies who went to the bar how they could know Christ, as well. 
      He quit his job as a police officer and became a flight attendant, telling his wife that he believed it was his life’s calling. He said, “What if a flight is going down, and I’m the only person on the flight who could share the Gospel? I want to tell those people who are about to die how they can live forever.” 
      On September 11, when that plane was about to crash into the Tower, I believe the Heavenly Father smiled, because there was a man who had adopted His agenda. While people were weeping, and rightly so, I believe there was a celebration in Heaven, because souls were freshly taken to Heaven because a man had adopted God’s agenda for his life. 
      We need to care about what God cares about. Our job is not to set the agenda, but to find God’s agenda, not to do what pleases us but to do what pleases God, not to do what we care about, but to focus on what He cares about. It’s not my agenda and my church that matters. It’s God’s agenda and God’s church that matters. 
      I want to raise up an army of Al Marchants who will say, “I want to be the man on the plane who, in the last 30 or 40 seconds, can stand up and tell them about Jesus. I want to have that kind of heart. I want to have that kind of agenda.” 
      We need to abandon all distractions. Anytime you try to do God’s will, Satan will see that there are plenty of distractions to hinder what you’re trying to do. A distraction is what you see when you take your eyes off the goal. That’s exactly what Satan would like for us to do—take our eyes off the goal. 
      My brothers, Dave and Larry, and I had one of the godliest men as our father. He worked as an appliance repairman most of his life. I learned to work on appliances by going with my Dad. His job was to do the work, to fix the appliance. My job was to shine the light where he told me to. I would do that—for awhile. I’d stand there and watch him work on a dryer and shine the light where it was supposed to shine so he could see how to do the work. Then, I’d notice something on television. Of course, the light wasn’t shining where it was supposed to. He would lovingly correct me and tell me to put the light back, to focus. 
      You can probably relate to that. Your Heavenly Father is trying to work, and He has called you to come alongside and help. It’s His job to fix the broken lives, but it’s your job to shine the light so He can do it. And we do that—for awhile. We’re shining the light, and doing a good job. Then, we get distracted. We get lax, spiritually, and start watching things we ought not to watch and listening to things we ought not to listen to, and, before you know it, the light is not shining where it should be shining. We get distracted by all of the busyness in life. We get overwhelmed from the demands on our schedule, and the light is no longer shining where it used to shine. Before you know it, we’re not fully devoted followers of Christ like we once were. There is a broken relationship, and we don’t make it right, and, before we know it, the light’s not shining where it used to shine. There are so many ways we can get distracted. 
      There are so many ways we can allow our light to become useless. God’s response is very simple. God’s response is one word: focus. It’s the same response Dad used to give to me: “Keith, focus that light here. Son, I can’t work if you don’t put that light here. Focus on what I’m doing. Look at what I’m doing. Focus the light.” God is saying to you: “Focus. Live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.” 
      If we do that, we can’t fail. 
      Have you ever failed at anything? Sure, we’ve failed. 
      You can learn a lot about life from the funny pages. There is a Charlie Brown cartoon in which Lucy is on the baseball field. She has never caught a fly ball in her life. When she misses it, she explains to Charlie Brown, “I thought I had it. I thought I was going to catch it. But then I remembered all of those other times I failed. I let the past get in my eyes.” 
      Have you ever wondered if your life really matters? Have you tried your best but sometimes you feel like a failure? God says, “Focus.” Don’t let the past get in your eyes. Live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. Focus. Don’t let Satan tell you you’re a failure. Don’t let the past blind you. Don’t keep the past in your eyes. 
      And don’t get your job mixed up with God’s job. God’s job is to fix broken, sin-plagued lives. Your job is to be the light so that He can do the work. God’s agenda is very simple—to seek and to save those who are lost. Our agenda is simple—to adopt His agenda and avoid all distractions. 
      I’m not asking you to do that because it sounds good. I’m asking you to do that because lost people go to Hell. I’m asking you to do that because lost people need Jesus. God’s agenda ought to be our agenda because lives are at stake. 
      I went to see a man who drinks and does everything you can imagine, and I talked to him about salvation. He said, “I’ll tell you this—if there is a God, and if there is a Heaven and a Hell, I’m going to Hell.” I said to him, ‘Would you like to know how you can have a personal relationship with God? Would you like to know how you can have Heaven as your home?’ And do you know what he said? “I’ll come listen to you at church.” 
      God’s agenda is not that he come to my church. God’s agenda is that he come into a relationship with Him. When we see lost people as God sees them, and we say, “God, that’s what I want my agenda to be,” I have to believe that the Heavenly Father smiles and says, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You finally got it. It’s not about churches. It’s not about buildings. It’s not about programs. It’s not about you. It’s about my agenda. I sent my Son to seek and save that which was lost.’ 
      Our Lord said that no man who will put his hand to the plow and look backward is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Jesus said that God will give you all that you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
      Matthew 28 is the Great Commission, which was given to the disciples and, ultimately, to the church. Who is the church? You and I are responsible. When you really get hold of that truth and follow through with action, I believe the Father smiles. If you’ve been distracted by sin, you need to repent. If you’ve been distracted by problems, you need to ask God for help that you might maintain God’s focus in the midst of problems. If you’ve been distracted by the lure of money or the promise of pleasure, you need to put Jesus first once again in your life. If you’ve been distracted by your own plans and your own agenda, you need to say, “God, I want to once again grab hold of your agenda.” If you’ve been distracted by busyness, then you need to get back to the main business. 
      The Gospel is only Good News if it gets there in time. We say we’ve got good news, but it’s only good news if it gets there in time. Across the street or around the world—it’s only good news if it gets there in time. How will it get there in time? When God’s people—churches, individuals, and associations—adopt God’s agenda and avoid all distractions. We’ve got good news to share, and we want to make sure it gets there in time.



Dr. Keith Shorter is Pastor of Mount Airy Baptist Church in Easley, South Carolina.


      Link: www.mtairybaptist.com