tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3561655722681054492024-03-12T19:50:23.512-07:00Bible FountainA site to encourage study of the Bible and about the Bible.
Picture: Young men who recently completed a six week "Future Preacher Class" training period. At the conclusion they conducted an evening service, received certificates, and had a dinner in their honor!Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-51610828750141324892012-01-16T05:36:00.000-08:002012-01-16T05:36:01.178-08:00Victory over the Demonic<div align="center">Victory Over the Demonic</div><br /><div align="center">Matthew 8:28-34</div><br />When Harrison Ford was thrown into a pit full of venomous snakes in a Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, I almost had to turn it off. For me, that has to be listed among the ultimate horrors. I heard a true story about someone falling out of a boat into the middle of a gang of water moccasins. The fury of the snakes churned the water. There was no hope for survival. The anger of the snakes and the poison of their venom is horrifying.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 168px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694544239174247586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0LxexqjGVt5b7DDEEUWNs6poGUTK45BWc3CA5a4fisn8ZcZfczr-pF-0JAkDzgOzk9NS19vMrrnsEt3UyNXWzuWN0Ik9ToIvRr-DMqGgoPvwN8OmfYh31Vhialr02UYXTy3B7N-VI844l/s320/thumbnaildvb.jpg" /> I imagine the fury of the demons taking residence in the two men in Matthew 8 to be something like that. The Bible describes them as so violent that no one wanted to pass their direction. And when Jesus did, they ran out to oppose him.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 194px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694544232824794482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3QI5lMnL3ZZ7eov8l658d8xq6Y8741P7r6ZAQjuObJL-QiUWNwqjQfmn23XZqJDSua8c4ulBGndD_aorWD9KJdC9iioz9FVYHWK4jzrrpMRtCilEKi-baG3y0Zl2CsExHW6L1No90aAb/s320/16041_src.jpg" /><br />“‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’” they shouted. ‘Have you come to torture us before the appointed time?’” (v.29) There is a time appointed for their eventual destruction, and they seem to know that. That time will be when God brings his kingdom in power and destroys all evil. What bothers them is that Jesus has come now, before they perceive the end time to be here.<br /><br />The demons seem to assume that until the end of time when they will be subdued, they have free reign to wreck havoc and destruction. Thomas Long wrote, “They mistakenly believe that, until that last day, they have unfettered license to wreck destruction. They can torment as many souls as they can inhabit, wreck as many institutions as they can infiltrate, cause as much pain and sorry as they can imagine.” (Matthew, 97)<br /><br />How surprised they are that Jesus shows up before the expected time. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. They didn’t just ask. They shouted. They are in rebellion. They are disrespectful. They recognize Jesus as the Son of God, but they don’t honor him for it. They yell at him. Jesus casts the demons into a herd of pigs who rush into the water and drown. The shocked pig herders run into town and report what Jesus has done to the pigs and the demon-possessed men. The towns people come out to get a look for themselves, and then they ask Jesus to leave.<br /><br />Three things stand out in this story as particularly significant. One, very little detail is spent on the demon-possessed men. Mark describes only one demon-possessed man, but explains how he used to cut himself and break the chains that had been used to bind him. He was a crazy man totally out of control. He had no peace. But after the demons were cast out, the man was calm, he got dressed, and he conversed calmly with Jesus (Mark 5). No such details are given in this story about the men. The focus is not on what Jesus can do for them or us. The focus is on the incredible power of Jesus to conquer even demonic forces.<br /><br />Two, the story shows Jesus power over the dark realms. We have seen Jesus’ miraculous power at work all through this chapter. He heals a man with leprosy, so he has power over physical ailments. He heals bodies. Secondly, he healed the servant of centurion, showing his interest in and concern for those outside of Israel. Next, he healed Peter’s mother-in-law and a host of others who came to him for care. After the healings, Jesus’ miraculous powers are turned upon nature when he stills the watery tempest. Then, lest anyone think the span of Jesus authority and power has been exhausted, he shows his complete mastery over the demonic. He casts out the innumerable demons.<br /><br />Three, the people of the region reject Jesus. They don’t really even know who he is. This is Gentile territory so there is no way they can really know him. But, even in Israel the people are uncertain about Jesus. Interestingly, the evil spirits know who Jesus is! The Son of God! The identity of Jesus was revealed first by demonic forces. But, sadly, instead of getting to know Christ, the people cast him out. “Like many communities before and since, this town prefers the demons they know to the power of God they do not know.” (Long, Matthew, 98)<br /><br />Four, the time of God’s defeat of evil is NOW! The Kingdom of God has already been revealed in power. We can take comfort and confidence in knowing that the kingdom is with us already.<br /><br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-8801166256038862322012-01-05T09:37:00.000-08:002012-01-05T09:44:59.654-08:00I Know the Plans I Have For You<div align="center">I Know the Plans I Have For You<br />Jeremiah 29:11<br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Here are some actual headlines I read on Friday, December 29, 2011:<br /><br /><strong><em>A Controversial Year: Health Issues in 2011: Concerns over PSA screenings, mammograms, multivitamins, birth control & much more.</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>The 10 Dirtiest Foods You're Eating.<br /><br />N. Korea: No changes to come.<br /><br />Man, 99, Divorces Wife of 77 Years.<br /><br />2011 scandals: Phone hacking, lewd photo tweets & celebrity meltdowns top the list of 2011 scandals<br /><br />Sears lists the stores it will close: Here are the 79 locations the company plans to shutter, with more likely to be announced.<br /><br />Stocks off to weak start on year’s final trading session: Fitch slashes Sear’s credit rating. Oil declines, while gold surges.</em></strong><br /><br />The article about scandals revisited some of the horrid scenes we witnessed this year in the lives of some prominent people. Among them were Representative Anthony Weaver with his texting of improper pictures, Jerry Sandusky of Penn State with his abuse of authority over teenagers, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the IMF and his abusive treatment of women.<br /><br />This is some cap to the wonderful Christmas season we just celebrated, isn’t it? During the Christmas season we talked a lot about, or at least heard a lot of talk about, peace, joy, happiness, new life. Then we have to read the news.<br /><br />You know, I’m not surprised that some people don’t read the news! Spending an hour or two reading these kinds of articles doesn’t set you up for an energized day!<br /><br />Why read them? I was actually reading them for this sermon. My key text is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”<br /><br />Can you think of a verse that excites more hope? A verse that promises more happiness? A verse that energizes our spirits more? “I have plans to prosper you,” God promises.<br /><br />That is a popular verse in America. On Facebook, on blogs, in religious articles, you will see this verse a lot. It helps us forget the problems we have as a nation. As a church. As individuals. I want to turn the news off and this verse on. I want to forget there is a financial crisis. Cancer. Car wrecks. I want to think about being prospe</div>red. I want to be happy. I want to retire young, live long, and die in my sleep. I love this verse.<br /><br />But, in preparation for this lesson, I read Jeremiah 29:11 in context. Context means you read the verses before and after it. Here is what I found: God’s promise to prosper Israel occurred in a context of pain, abandonment and deeper sorrow than I ever want to swim in.<br /><br />Here is the story in 3 short briefs:<br /><strong><em>1) Israel prospered<br />2) Israel got real proud<br />3) Israel got thumped by God.<br /><br /></em></strong>Being thumped by God meant she was conquered by the Babylonians and carted off to a foreign country. This was actually a process that took place over several years. Some Israelites were carted off in 597 B.C. The rest were carted off in 587 B.C. It took several trips to get all the Israelites from Israel to Babylon.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 218px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694204361904824082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXPB4Z7kZvM4EhuPCmBPhljgiusoAoXBEAMmencL3xuT3UcRQV3ukJfu-mdc6g0lbtpdWUfgW_ffVINjuygo3nODYbrnGwW28Jeu9CPwfsltKt5aQzj0hOnMhqgTt5hJZSwyaa9VNjUHh/s320/James+Tissot+The+Flight+of+the+Prisoners.jpg" />This, verse was likely written in 594 B.C. That means, it was written after Israel was conquered by a foreign nation, and when some of the Israelites were in captivity, and others were about to go. Did you catch that? Jeremiah 29:11 was written during a ten year period of crisis for Israel.<br /><br />Look at some verses. Jeremiah 29:1 provides the setting: “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”<br /><br />We know it is about exile. About shattered hopes and dashed dreams. Babylon came across the desert, conquered Israel and carried the Israelites back to Babylon. The Israelites were held in captivity for about 70 years. When Jeremiah 29:11 was proclaimed, some of the people were already there, and in a few years even more would be there. <br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 278px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694204365514235266" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzRD_uZ0gngTY9qQgUkHiGiuFv5_w7M2bTpn8Bzwl9i6jHgQahATGVsN3CDcRlxTU5gpEECbcUT8-DPQvkYWVczlMlM8bbHMx8meFzyUMbs5bpIy9stEWaUqT442I7WWtSkthc0b89jQn/s320/isaiahmap.jpg" /></div><br /><div>I read some grim news stories from American newspapers. What if we could see some news headlines from Israel in 594 B.C.? This is what we might read in the Jerusalem Times.<br /><br /><strong><em>Israelites in Babylon hoping to be Home Soon. Will they be disappointed?<br /></em></strong><br /><div><strong><em>Prophets say: “Israelites to come home.” Jeremiah counters with: “Not so soon. More are going!”<br /><br />God Voices Displeasure With Our Country.<br /><br />Priests Make Further Departures from the Law.<br /><br />King Forgets his Vows. Harem Grows with Three more Girls.<br /><br />Jeremiah Threatens: Economic Condition Looks Bleak. Babylon to take all our gold.<br /></em></strong><br />How would you encourage a faithful Israelite in those days? They were hoping doom wouldn’t come, but it did, in the form of the enemy. It was God’s punishment. God offered hope by saying, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That promise is followed with another promise in v.14: “I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”<br /><br />In the context of exile and promise God gives the Israelites three charges:<br />1) <strong><em>Do not despair</em></strong>. In verses 5 & 6 he says, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there (Babylon); do not decrease.”<br /><br />2) <strong><em>Seek the welfare of the environment in which you live</em></strong>. Verse 7 says, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”<br /><br />3) <strong><em>Call upon the Lord</em></strong>. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” (Verses 13-14).<br /><br />This gives me hope! As bad as our news headlines are, they aren’t nearly as grim as that of the Jerusalem times. So I can have even more confidence to not despair, seek the welfare of the environment in which I live, and seek the Lord.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</div></div>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-35298414829231829132011-11-15T05:05:00.000-08:002011-11-15T05:05:00.243-08:00America's Religious Heritage #2<div align="center">America’s Religious Heritage #2<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div>I mentioned yesterday that America is losing awareness of its religious heritage. That is a shame, because the Christian faith has played an incredibly important part of our founding and our development as a people. Through every step of America’s progress, Christian faith has been right there, providing guidance and sustenance.<br /><br />A second reason it is a shame is because our religious history is so interesting, even a bit humorous at times.<br /><br />George Whitefield was a British actor who became a preacher. He followed the great British preacher, John Wesley, to Georgia where he started an orphanage. Whitefiled then returned to England to preach and raise money for the children back in Georgia. His sermons spoke of the “new birth,” emphasizing the necessity of a religious conversion. Other ministers and churches banned him, so he preached in open fields. (Liberty, Equality, Power, 106)<br /><br />In 1739 Whitefield returned to America where thousands heard him preach. Preached in Philadephia, NYC, Chesapeake colonies, SC. Benjamin Franklin went out to hear him in Philadelphia, intrigued by what he heard about Whitefield’s booming voice. He was impressed, and estimated that Whitefield’s voice was so powerful an audience 30,000 could hear him. In 1740 he toured New England. Whitefield drew upon his acting skills, imitating Christ on the cross. He was so effective t hat when he shed tears for sinners, his audience wept with him. When he condemned sinners in the audience, they fell to the ground in agony.<br /><br />Other preachers tried to follow Whitefield’s style. A South Carolina preacher named Hugh Bryan began preaching to his slaves. In 1742 he declared slavery a sin. He also proclaimed himself a modern Moses and tried to part the Savannah River to lead the slaves to freedom in Georgia. Unfortunately there was some kind of mishap and Moses, I mean, Hugh Bryan, almost drowned. He later confessed he had been deluded. Due to some over-the-top performances like this Evangelicalism was discredited in the south for years, but it took root among African Americans.<br /><br />Another notable preacher of the 18 century was Gilbert Tennent. Gilbert practiced a “Holy Laughter,” apparently mimicking what he imagined to be the laughter of God at sinners stumbling into hell. In imitation of John the Baptist he grew his hair long and wore a long robe and sandals. He also declared himself the new John the Baptist.<br /><br />James Davenport, a successor to Gilbert Tennet, would act out a wrestling scenario with Satan. Davenport would wrestle Satan back into hell. He started an outdoor school to train ministers, encouraged book burning, and once threw his pants into the fire, declaring them a mark of vanity. They may have been, but the perception of the times is they were also a mark of modesty, and the lack of them was considered immodesty. Davenport was arrested and declared insane. He later repented. (Liberty, Equality, Power, 107)<br /><br />These are some of the sensational stories of our religious past, and maybe some we are not so proud of. That’s ok. I’m sure we all also have some eccentric aunts or uncles in our family tree, but we recognize they are still part of who and what we are.<br /><br />Some of our early preachers may be like those aunts or uncles, but they still factor in our tree. Their attempts to preach the Gospel as they understood it at the time convicted thousands of listeners and kept America on the high moral road. We can be comfortable acknowledging them. And we can pray that God will continue to send us men and women who are equally committed to preaching the Gospel forcefully and energetically in our time.<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-46211297817777637472011-10-28T22:53:00.000-07:002011-10-28T22:55:05.820-07:00America's Religious Heritage #1<div align="center">America’s Religious Heritage #1<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br />Passing from the public consciousness is America’s religious heritage. That is a shame, for a couple of reasons. One, Americans should be aware that the Christian faith has played an incredibly important part of our founding and our development as a people. Through every step of America’s progress, Christian faith has been there, providing guidance and sustenance.<br /><br />For example, the 1730s to1740s was a time of great revival in the Protestant world, on this side of the Atlantic and the other side as well. England, Scotland, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic colonies were all experiencing spiritual renewal.<br /><br />One of the earliest revivals took place among the Dutch immigrants in New Jersey. Guiliam Bertholf, was a farmer, barrel maker, and a lay reader in his church. He felt the call and took up preaching, winning many followers to Christ. (Liberty, Equality, Power, 105)<br /><br />William Tennent, Sr. was a Presbyterian minister. Seeing the need for more evangelists trained with a revival mind set, he established a school in Pennsylvania. It became known as the “Log College,” and it was dedicated to training evangelical ministers.<br /><br />Evangelical in this context refers to “A style of Christian ministry that includes much zeal and enthusiasm. Evangelical ministers emphasized personal conversion and faith rather than religious ritual.” (Liberty, Equality, Power, 106). Tennent sent his trained ministers to other congregations, even other presbyteries. But, this angered the Synod, the governing body of the Presbyterian church. Most of their ministers emphasized orthodoxy, that is, correct practice and ritual, over personal conversion experience. Tennent emphasized just the opposite, causing considerable friction.<br /><br />In 1740 Gilbert Tennent, William’s son, preached a sermon entitled, The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry. Gilbert denounced those preachers who emphasize ritual over conversion and piety. He accused such preachers of leading their listeners to hell. His attack led to the church splitting, and Gilbert started his own Synod of New York.<br /><br />In New England Solomon Stoddard led six revivals between 1670 and 1729. Stoddard was the grandfather of the great revival preacher, Jonathan Edwards. Edwards kicked off a revival in 1734 that electrified Connecticut. His sermon, “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God” (1737) described a revival as an emotional response to God’s Word that brought sudden conversions to dozens of people. His most famous sermon was “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In his “Sinners” sermon, Edwards described in vivid detail the awful destiny of the unconverted who refused to follow God. He described their fate much like that of a spider that is caught by a little boy, tied to a string and held menacingly over the flames. Such a cruel fate awaited those who refused God’s goodness and mercy.<br /><br />Jonathan Edwards was reportedly near sighted and had to hold his manuscript close to his face. He couldn’t look his audience in the eye and establish rapport with them. He stood and read, with his face covered by the pages of his notes. Yet, so vivid were his descriptions and so compelling was his message, that audience members reportedly screamed and fell to the floor. Edwards sparked a religious movement that swept New England and went to other parts of the Colonies.<br /><br />A great result of his work is countless numbers of people were made to reassess their lives in light of the Gospel.<br /><br />Jonathan Edwards and these other early preachers in our history helped to form and shape the moral conscience of America, something we might benefit from even today.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</div>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-65984237573127718312011-09-09T09:33:00.000-07:002011-09-09T09:35:49.167-07:00Producing Positive Change<div align="center">Producing Positive Change<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br />In <em>Appreciative Inquiry</em> Mark Lau Branson says health and dysfunction live side-by-side in every system. We want health to prevail, but it doesn’t always. Sometimes negative attitudes and behaviors overwhelm the positive, and a spirit of doubt, suspicion, and anger prevails.<br /><br />Branson says it is possible for a church to get back on a more positive course, and how it is done has to do with how an organization perceives itself. It’s self-perception is it’s sense of how things are and how they are supposed to be, it’s reality. Branson mentions ten factors that influence how the members of a system create it’s sense of reality. I’ll discuss three here.<br /><br />One, what we focus on becomes our reality. The standard approach to solving difficulties and to promoting growth and change in most systems is problem solving. The trouble with this approach is we focus on problems. We identify them, study them, and contemplate solutions for them. During all this time we are focusing on the problems, granting them our time and energies and thus, by default, making them the object of our focus.<br /><br />This can be seen in someone in a system (business, church or family) becoming unhappy with the leadership or an activity. They talk to other members of the system about it, making it an issue for them. News of the dissatisfaction spreads through the system, eventually reaching the leadership. Management meets to discuss the dissatisfaction and related problems issuing from the original one, namely, gossip and its negative consequences, spreading discontent, loss of respect for leadership, and the rising popularity of the one who started the whole process. The focus of the entire company is now concentrated on the problem and “problem” personality, elevating the dysfunction of the organization to the level of reality.<br /><br />The second factor is related to the first one: our language becomes our reality. Our words and speech express what we are focusing on. If our focus is on problems, our speech will give expression to our thoughts. Without intending to, without even being aware of the dynamic, our language continues to feed the perception that the overriding issue in our system is burgeoning problems. And problems continue to compound.<br /><br />Leadership now feels the pressure of member dissatisfaction and growing negativism in the system. Meetings are characterized by stress over the problems and the press of needing to find solutions. Anxiety overwhelms everyone present. Without a doubt, the focus and language of this group is creating their sense of reality: problems.<br /><br />Another factor is that organizations are heliotropic. Heliotropic is a botanical term referring to a plant’s inclination to grow toward the sun, it’s energy source. People in groups are the same way. They gravitate toward whoever or whatever produces heat or energy. A disgruntled member of the system who is actively promoting discontent is a definite source of energy. It doesn’t matter if the energy he is producing is negative, unproductive, unethical or even wrong. The fact that he is generating heat means he is going to get attention, and his behavior will help shape the sense of reality for the organization. Everyone, both those in his corner and those who oppose his opinions and behavior, can all become consumed by the negativism of this person.<br /><br />By the time leadership can begin to address the initial complaint, a pessimistic undercurrent has permeated the whole group. Suspicions soar. Everyone becomes judgmental and edgy. Small groups develop in opposition to each other. Workers are discouraged. This is not a healthy environment. But it is the reality.<br /><br />A biblical example of this problem occurring in the spiritual community can be seen in the wilderness wanderings of Israel, where complaints against God’s provisions and Mosaic leadership resulted in the rebellion led by Korah, Dothan and Abiram. By the time the festering wound of complaint became public, these men led a contingent of 250 people against Moses. (Numbers 16).<br /><br />The same factors that produce a toxic atmosphere in a family, church or business where members are unhappy and critical can also produce a healthy environment. The leaders cannot allow the current negative spirit to determine the organizational reality. They must rise above the current spirit, envision something more beneficial, and use focus and language positively, allowing these heliotropic factors to produce the new sense of reality they desire.<br /><br />First, the leaders must refocus the attention of the members from the negative to the positive, from dysfunction to health. This can often be accomplished by using a system called “Appreciative Inquiry,” that is, a series of questions leaders ask of members that draws out their image of when and how the organization was operating at its best. “What are your best memories of this organization? Who was involved? What did we do? How did we do it? What were the feelings and the emotions of everyone involved? Just the asking of the questions may be enough to alter the focus of the people from the negative to the positive and cause them to start imagining a more congenial working environment again.<br /><br />Next, the language of the leadership must reflect the positive focus they are trying to instill. To dream of a more positive environment but continuing to use defeating speech (talking about all the things that are wrong) is counterproductive. Leaders must speak of the desired outcome as if it is a current reality.<br /><br />If leaders of a church ask members about a time they remember the body functioning well, and they hear talk about mission emphasis and youth devotionals encouraging faith, they might do well to think about reviving these activities. Members who recall these past functions might even be involved in the planning and reorganizing of them. The organizational stage will be a time for continued positive recall and discussion, allowing language to continue the healthy focus. Newer and younger members also involved in the planning will ‘catch’ the rebirth of the positive feelings. Announcements can continue to use language to promote a healthy atmosphere.<br /><br />The combination of focus and language will hopefully (prayerfully!) promote a heliotropic response, with people leaning toward the source of energy. If the negative energy (grumbling, complaining, criticism) is replaced with something healthier (positive recall, working together toward a common goal, wider member participation and planning), members will be drawn toward that energy, and will get caught up in that spirit.<br /><br />Jesus used such focus and language to create the reality he desired for his followers. “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. (You are) a city on a hill. Let your light shine before men” (Matthew 5:13-16). Such powerful metaphors redirected the theological and social expectations of fishermen, tax collectors and other ordinary men to envision and actually produce a spiritual revolution. The power source they produced by their commitment to Jesus and submission to the Holy Spirit shook the earth with new hope, possibility and reality, the aftershock of which is still felt today in all of us who confess, “Jesus is Lord.”<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</div>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-86891462879963706682011-08-31T14:38:00.000-07:002011-09-01T11:49:42.172-07:00Six Leadership Functions for Ministers/Church Leaders<div align="center">Six Leadership Functions
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<br /><div align="left">According to Israel Galindo (in <em>The Hidden Lives of Congregations</em>), there are six leadership functions of a minister or pastor. These functions may play out differently in a church where there is a strong pastoral leader than in a congregation that has a minister serving under an eldership.</div>
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<br />The first function is <strong><em>providing vision</em></strong>. Vision is the sense of purpose a congregation has for it’s existence and function. “Vision is a blueprint of a desired future state ... an image of that state of being and living that the congregation will work to achieve in the future” (140). Vision is developed after a congregation has a sense of its identity, meaning it knows what it believes and stands for, has a sense of values, and honors it’s past (144). When a church clearly knows who and what it is, it then has the understanding of itself to pursue it’s vision and fulfill it’s mission. Mission is what God wants all churches and Christians to pursue: preaching, teaching, and ministering to the hurts of the community. Vision is the direction of a congregation to fulfill that mission in a manner uniquely suited to its identity and make-up. Is the congregation an inner city church with a large homeless population? Then that congregation’s vision might be to focus its greatest energies and resources in ministering in Jesus’ name to that segment of the population. Is the congregation a rural or small town church with a number of teen pregnancies in it’s community, but little or no resources to assist them? Then the vision of that church might be to function in Jesus’ name by focusing attention, maternal and paternal mentoring, care and financial resources to those teenage boys and girls about to become parents. The mission of every church is to minister in Jesus’ name; the vision of each church is to decide, based upon it’s identity, nature and abilities, how to best fulfill that mission. One function of the minister is to study his congregation and community and help identify a clear and compelling vision for ministry.
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<br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 323px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 246px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647139894351880002" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyfI2tCgeqRdu8Z74juzhjsy9KJhxtya06YIvp3_aJwEKT9P3Zit1HeIOOMbLebd4HhUybFMpZaI7utgvySvIi8OmuVpnLgpGMcRrKHm6zRR-pTTgzOlAboaTbTRIF96ZrdWed-MOKP7hh/s400/stainedglass_Jesus.jpg" />
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<br /><strong><em>Managing crisis</em></strong> is a second important function for a minister. Crisis is created by change that lacks purpose or focus and thus “introduces disequilibrium, uncertainty, and makes day-today life chaotic and unpredictable” (150). Changes in leadership, the perceived direction of the church, or corporate structures and functions, such as worship, can all create this disequilibrium for the members, especially if they cannot discern a purpose for it. They feel “threatened and out of control” because the personalities, processes and structures that have provided their spiritual security are gone (150). When disequilibrium or systemic anxiety hits a church, the following responses, as identified by Rabbi Edwin Friedman, can be discerned. One, reaction. Members may be scared, frustrated, angry, or nervous, all indicative of chaos. Two, blame-casting. No one immediately assumes they are responsible for the confusion, so they look to others to lay the blame on. Leaders become primary targets and, if they initiated the changes, they may be legitimate targets. Three, herding. People of like mind begin to group together, finding equilibrium and comfort in solidarity. Grouping together means there is an “us versus them” mentality and should signal to the leaders that there is a real problem in the congregational unity. Four, a demand for a quick fix. The inner turmoil caused by the chaos can become unbearable, and the sufferers demand an immediate remedy. It may be going back to an old practice, firing a staff member or insisting on the resignation of an elder or other congregational leader. At this point, the leaders can experience what Friedman calls failure of nerve. A failure of nerve is when the minster or leaders get caught up in the anxiety of the system and become part of the chaos by giving in to unrealistic demands or by participating in any of the members’ chaotic behaviors (reacting, blaming, herding or seeking a quick fix; Friedman, <em>A Failure of Nerve</em>, 54-55). Leaders must stay engaged and continue to function with the aim of helping to regulate the system (discussed in #3 below).
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<br />Thirdly, ministers exercise leadership by <strong><em>staying connected</em></strong>. This is especially critical during periods of conflict and upheaval. The best response of the leadership is to remain differentiated from (calm and above the chaos of) the members while at the same time staying connected to (visiting with and listening closely to) them (152). The calmness of the leaders allows the members to know leadership is still in place, and remaining emotionally engaged and connected with them helps regulate the anxiety. The tendency of leaders to “hunker down and fly under the radar”(151) during crisis and conflict to avoid attacks opens the door for greater systemic dysfunction and for others to vie for positions of power and influence. It is my experience that some people intentionally incite conflict in a family, business or church to disorient the leadership and open the way for the initiator to step in and begin to function as the leader, as invariably happens if the existing leadership is disengaged from the members of the system. Not all conflict is started purposely by someone to wrest control for himself; it is often the result of changes leadership tries to make for the health of the congregation, or changes that are inevitable, such as the aging or passing of older leaders. Whatever the cause of the crisis and chaos, effective visionary leadership means the minister (and elders) remain engaged. Leaders must understand that “effectiveness depends more on relationships (with the members) than on official status or in the office they hold” (152). Remaining connected means listening to the members to understand their perspectives, showing concern, and challenging them to responsible behavior (152).<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 252px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 324px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647139889325933090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-aYYrj11ju_Kv0iRQWEn4BB4AvHeXHcD9m7X-3Ho9Um9IX8Fs0bwE5dFpiuUP2QP3viLpLpqYYdLY4PaeYQH7opT9iD2X1urHu5F2k8p7eb7CqPOtetHl7WKGnxx0trOj5xln3HXPqsI/s400/DSC_0026.jpg" />
<br />Fourthly, ministers function as the <strong><em>resident theologian</em></strong> of the congregation. Without a strong orientation to scripture and what it teaches for the life of Christians and the church, many members will base decisions and actions on expediency. It is particularly important during times of crisis for theology (biblical teaching) to inform peoples’ viewpoints and behavior, since during chaotic times people are more prone to act out of intense emotions than reasoned and biblical thinking. Congregational peace can be sacrificed to a desire by competing sides to win. To challenge leaders to thinking more theologically, Galindo asks them how theology informs their decisions. He finds that even many ministers make church decisions based more on expediency than theology. One role of the resident theologian is to help people fit their story into God’s story. How does the life of the congregation and individual members fit into God’s ongoing story of redemption for his people? Most people don’t think in those terms: it is the theologian’s job to train them to. All of our lives must be interpreted in light of the Gospel and God’s claim upon us. Ministers continue the ancient biblical narrative into the life of the congregation by use of: 1) speech (terms for our redemption and relationship); 2) themes (key ideas, doctrines and dreams); 3) conflict (helping the congregation interpret and process fears, tensions and challenges); 4) rituals (worship, meals, and a sense of belonging) and 5) issues and stories of belonging (what it means to be part of this community) (156).
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<br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 219px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 311px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647139892621172306" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSR_civ8H_s8b6lFqcE_Ts-ZOK9BRaoAbfdK7MIgnM0e3F5C6AAQIWQGIpOLJDpkUlrR0sAY-oKAVwUBkqI1nbBpXS9CP5W7YSFKcxcdq52wJannNl0rsUQqdsXhGQm8bh40O-DlG9FZZ/s400/DSC_0031.jpg" /> A fifth function of ministers or leaders is <strong><em>management</em></strong>. Some understand leadership to be relational (connected to and leading people) and others for leadership to be the management of an organization (“through process, procedures, organization, and the control of resources,” 158). Both approaches are actually necessary. To be a successful leader/manager, a minister must understand the congregation’s purpose, and have a vision to achieve it’s mission. In smaller churches, leadership/management is more relational than administrative. “Relationship management means being attuned to people’s emotions, and practicing influence with a purpose in order to move people in the right direction” (159). This requires being emotionally connected to and involved with the congregation.
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<br />The sixth and final leadership function according to Galindo is <strong><em>influence</em></strong>. More critical than any skill or ability is for the church leader to earn the trust of the congregation and thus be able to exercise influence. Leadership means influencing others in a way that “believers will trust and respond to the Head of the church for themselves, in order to accomplish the Lord’s purposes for God’s people in the world” (Galindo, 160; Stevens and Collins, <em>The Equipping Pastor</em>, 109). Influence in Christian circles is not charisma, manipulation or personal power; it is the proper exercise of positional and personal leadership within the church. If one is granted a position of leadership within the body (minister, elder, deacon, teacher, etc.), he or she has a degree of positional leadership. Personal leadership is relational: “influence is the result of the leaders ability to stay connected in significant relationships with the members” (160). The aim and direction of the minister’s leadership is to influence the people to live out God’s claim on their lives, submitting to his will, obeying, and engaging in mission to lost and needy souls.
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<br />These six leadership functions identified by Israel Galindo are a huge challenge for today’s minister or elders. Most of today’s ministers were trained to work within the church culture, meeting the needs of the members. Because of changing church and cultural circumstances, many churches today are in serious decline, and congregations are anxious about their church dying. It is imperative that ministers, elders, and other church leaders realize that ministry within the church is never to be an end in itself, but it is to prepare the people to engage the world with the Gospel (Eph. 2:10; 4:11-13). Leaders must exercise their influence to lead members out of the comfort and safety of the closed church environment out into the world where ministry must be done today. Kennon L. Callahan wrote, “The day of the churched culture is over. The day of the mission field has come” (<em>Effective Church Leadership</em>, 13). Galindo’s six points can help ministers and elders navigate the changes that will be necessary to posture the church for the future, by moving it from an inward to an outward focus.
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<br />Warren Baldwin
<br />August 31, 2011
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<br />Note: the photos on this page are used by permission of <a href="http://ambocullum.blogspot.com/">Amber's Articles</a>.
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<br />Also: If anyone would like me to email this article to them as a simple text, please leave your email address in the comment section, or email the address to me. Thanks.
<br />Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-16146999177352372352011-08-24T17:00:00.000-07:002011-08-24T17:00:04.444-07:00Three-Legged Stool of Spiritual Growth<div align="center">Three-Legged Stool of a Spiritual Life
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<br />You’ll never sit on a three-legged stool that wobbles. If the legs are disproportionate lengths you may sit a little sideways, but you will still sit securely. A four-legged stool might wobble on you, though, because if one leg is short, it won’t touch the floor until you lean that way. Then, as you shift your weight and the stool leans with you, you may fall right off the seat. A three-legged stool is more secure because all three legs will reach the floor.
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<br />A vibrant spiritual life rests on a three-legged stool of spiritual disciplines. Roy Oswald and Barry Johnson describe such a stool in their book, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities. A healthy spiritual life needs an environment that encourages people to pursue faith through asking questions about God, encountering people of compassion who manifest the fruit of the spirit in their lives, and who are taught about submission and obedience to Jesus (55-56). In such an environment, such a church, people can practice the three-legged stool disciplines and grow in the grace and mercy of the savior.
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<br />The first leg of the stool is home rituals. Such rituals would include praying in various occasions, such as at meals, for family and friends who are sick, and in private. They would also include observing seasonal religious dates, such as Christmas, and being free to discuss biblical issues around the dinner table. Such discussions would not be negative, as in criticizing the theological views of other people at church, but would be positive discussions of biblical texts, possible interpretations, and applying God’s truths to our lives.
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<br />The second leg is membership and active participation in a small group. The function of the small group is to study and discuss biblical issues, pray, and share faith stories. Faith stories are simply the experiences of people that have impacted their faith and their life journey in someway. They may share about the death of a loved one and the hole they still feel in their life; an abusive situation that leaves them suspicious and distrustful of everyone; or a school teacher that loved them through that difficult time and planted the seeds of faith that are just now beginning to sprout, and has them in this small group. Members of this group will need to be open, loving and non-judgmental to give the seeker plenty of room to question, experience love, and grow.
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<br />Corporate worship is the third leg of a healthy spiritual life. People of all ages, theological perspectives and faith development will be able to function together in a church if they can “come together to worship God, united in their common offering of praise and thanksgiving” (57). Participation in the Lord’s Supper is the chief symbol of their unity together. (Discussion of these three legs is found on page 57).
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<br />Too often churches rely on only the third leg, corporate worship, to develop the faith and spiritual vitality of young Christians. That is only one-third of what a new believer needs to root him in deeply. Some of them may attend Bible classes, but if the function of the class is primarily to teach and not share faith stories, younger Christians may not feel comfortable being vulnerable about their past. Or, if they do share sensitive and embarrassing episodes from their history, members of the class who may not be as open and accepting might offer judgment in response to what is shared rather than the affirmation and support the new Christian so desperately needs. Or, if the class discussion turns heated, sensitive new members may decline to attend in the future. I saw a newly baptized Christian quit church after attending his first Bible class, a class where a heated discussion erupted over a question of church management of money. “If that is what following Christ is about, I don’t need it,” he said as he walked away, never to return.
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<br />Churches can’t make anyone participate in these three activities, but they can teach about the importance of faithful involvement. They can also offer basic training in home devotionals and small group leadership. The goal of this three-legged stool is to encourage the faith and growth of everyone in the orbit of the church, from the seeker just beginning to explore faith, to the mature Christian still seeking to grow in the grace and favor of God.
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<br />Warren Baldwin
<br />Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-12436487577553374312011-08-02T09:09:00.000-07:002011-08-02T09:42:17.591-07:00Wives Who Bless the Fountain<div align="center">Wives Who Bless the Fountain<br /></div>Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be your alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. Proverbs 5:16-18<br /><br />While these verses speaks primarily to husbands, there are implications for wives as well. For example, even though a husband may be unfaithful, the wife doesn’t have to be. This passage acknowledges that if a husband doesn’t avail himself of the thirst quenching water he has at home (a satisfying sexual relationship with his wife), he may seek it elsewhere. When he does so, he leaves his wife emotionally starved and unsatisfied. Solomon acknowledges that some women in this situation may become springs that overflow in the streets; that is, they seek love and romance else where.<br /><br />But, they don’t have to. They shouldn’t. Since Proverbs is addressed primarily to young men, most of the moral instructions are directed to male temptations: the lure of attractive women, voluptuous kisses and sensuous perfume (cf. Prov. 7:10-18). But Proverbs is concerned about developing wisdom and a moral consciousness in everyone, male and female. Proverbs warns against the wiles of the immoral woman who draws men from the moral path (chapters 2, 5,6,7) and who seeks pleasure in stolen water (a likely metaphor for immoral sexual behavior). But it also honors the moral woman for building a healthy home (14:1). Also, the Wise Wife of Proverbs 31 is extolled for the selfless attention she showers upon her husband and children, something she likely would not do if her energies were spent upon a secret lover.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 246px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 258px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629734316013961074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWKmBs4eDinFpEIsvP8DIcMJc1GGOf0tqlGpIt8CrMuXVZq5xQfmJOEt99WwDVh1gEcKmQdQgtWHDR8hY89TOna65LW14s7Op7f_A4jsoZQvFI0FYrtk0dy6PBul3B4VcB8VojYurHEU/s320/Amy+Free+Family+8a.jpg" /><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo from </span><a href="http://www.amyfree.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Amy Free Photography</span></a></p><br /><br /><p align="left">While Proverbs enjoins moral behavior for the male, it clearly assumes it for the female as well. So, if a husband is unfaithful, seeking sources of sensual refreshment from a woman other than his wife, that doesn’t mean the wife has to do the same. She can exercise her moral fiber and rededicate her efforts to do all she can to preserve her home.<br /><br />A wife has tremendous power to nurture refreshment in the home to help prevent it from deteriorating to the point of either partner seeking affection elsewhere. She can use initiative and creativity to ensure that the springs and fountain of the home continually attract the attention of her husband.<br /><br />Proverbs 7 presents us with a sexually aggressive married woman who, unfortunately, is unfaithful to her husband, and is directing her energy toward an unsuspecting young male visiting the big city. She spots the aimlessly wandering boy and accosts all of his senses with her feminine appeal. She wears alluring apparel (v.10), envelops him in a passionate embrace, kisses him energetically (v.13), speaks temptingly (v.14-18), and perfumes her private chamber (and likely herself, v.17). Everything she does inflames the young man’s mind and body! Yet, everything she does is so wrong because she is not married to this young man. Her drive and ambition is completely misdirected because such affection is meant for her husband.<br /><br />Why the woman acts this way Proverbs doesn’t say. It just warns young men to avoid such volatile, moral situations. God gives men five senses to experience pleasure. When all five of them are under sensual attack at one time, it will be difficult for even the strongest, most centered of men to resist for long. The immediate response in a family-oriented man must be to just run!<br /><br />But let’s look at Proverbs 7 from another perspective. What makes the woman of Proverbs 7 so dangerous to a man? The fact that she is offering what every male craves: a healthy, inviting, and energetic romantic encounter. And while the approach of the Proverbs 7 woman is so wrong when exercised outside of her marriage, it is so right when directed toward her husband.<br /><br />Tell me, what man wouldn’t double time it home if he knew ready to embrace him was the love of his life acting out Proverbs 7 toward him!? Wives, the greatest weapon your husband has in his arsenal to ward off the overtures of the seductress is you. At least occasionally, show him the same level of excitement and interest that the immoral woman may have already tempted him with earlier in the day.<br /><br />Jobs, demands of the home, and caring for energetic kids often leaves a wife and mom so exhausted she simply doesn’t have the strength to give an energetic and sensuous greeting to her husband. It’s unfair to expect her to. At least all of the time. There are years when the children are little when romance seems to take a back burner. While that is understandable and sometimes unavoidable, it is also very dangerous. The sizzle in a marriage may falter and die, but the need for love, acceptance, embrace, and sex does not. And if a husband and wife don’t find them in each other, they become easy pickings for any aggressor on the prowl. Don’t let exhaustion give room to a Proverbs 7 woman claiming what is yours. And, yes, while all the adultery chapters in Proverbs hold the man accountable for his moral offenses, even when he is under assault by an aggressive woman, a loving wife who is equally aggressive at home can do so much to assure the faithfulness of her man.<br /><br />Wives, be the spark plug sometimes. Your romantic aggression means more to your husband than he will ever tell you, largely because men don’t like to talk about their feelings. But if you notice your husband smiling more, being kind and gracious in the home, telling you to go shopping while he watches the kids, and taking out the trash without being asked, you’ll know why. Your initiation of a sexual encounter will make your husband feel valued, proud (in a healthy sense), wanted, and deeply, deeply thankful to you. Conversely, never initiating can leave your guy feeling bruised in his self-esteem, unwanted, and hurt. Pride will keep him from saying, “I’m hurt,” so he will likely mask his bruise in anger, speaking and acting in ways that will hurt you back. Eventually, he may even begin to withdraw from you.<br /><br />Men want to know that their wives do more than tolerate their advances; they want to know that they are wanted, sexual needs and all. You can communicate that by occasionally being the aggressor. If you don’t, the Proverbs 7 woman is ready to.<br /><br />Don’t leave sensual allurement for your husband to women who shouldn’t be offering it. Your husband picked you because you were the most beautiful and alluring of women to him. He loved you. You are the one he wants to knock his socks off, and if you do, the Proverbs 7 woman doesn’t stand a chance.<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 260px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 284px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629734315212386946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJxEST7tQCvPfIsSbwqu73Npg0TwW05NjqBKJQnoZ49FFbaVWXU9OwbE4ioLzCh_hhdo94uJLp8aEXL25zRj4jeznq5d6vDDbV8U8_1pG5Dr0c8DTmFp7ZbFe4bnSZYz6RodXgYdHeijw/s320/Amy+Free+Wedding+2c.jpg" /><br /></p><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo from </span><a href="http://www.amyfree.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Amy Free Photography</span></a></div><br />God wants a husband’s fountain to be blessed. That means you share in that blessing. You are that blessing! Keep the cistern cool and refreshing, and you guarantee where he will be coming to drink.<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-66630678149359002252011-07-28T15:29:00.000-07:002011-07-28T15:52:06.412-07:00How To Preach Proverbs: One Sentence Proverbs #1<div align="center">How To Preach Proverbs<br />One Sentence Proverb Sermons<br /></div><br />The one-sentence proverbs from chapters 10:1 to 29:27 offer challenges to preaching because of their brevity and succinctness. They seem to lack sufficient material from which to develop a full length lesson. But, there are a couple of approaches to these proverbs that make them valuable material for sermons.<br /><br />Behind every proverb is a story, and the single-statement is simply a summation of a drama lived out in real life. For example, the Sage provides the background story to the numerous sluggard proverbs. In 24:30-34 he describes an experience of observing the unattended farm of the sluggard. Weeds had overtaken the crops and the protective wall was crumbling. The Sage wrote, “I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit, and scarcity like an armed man” (vv.32-34). This brief statement of financial and social doom for the lazy man is a summation statement of a larger story that the wise man has studied with keen observation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634534898436681906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY8Jt5rL_8kC4AOAwAX72u8i8JswCO33PPF83L1hQMvcMSs4yzhbfayjuUnbtMi7FSThkSTJuGSyUsFL4vhZoBtrKG88_F8MdS1MK088lispu_15biIoFc5k_7GKcwGUFLwLPR9tKH7fv/s400/IMG_2695.jpg" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo Compliments of </span><a href="http://theblairaffairs.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Jennifer Blair Photography</span></a></div><br /><br /><div align="left"><br />The approach of the Sage is to study the attitudes and behaviors of people and the eventual outcomes of their actions. He pays attention to cause and effect, noting how certain actions produce discernible results. He then summarizes what he observes in brief, tightly worded phrases that capture the essence of what he has observed and reflected upon. The result is a compact statement encapsulating a vital truth distilled from a much larger and complicated drama. The proverbs thus provoke our thinking, luring us into their story, and challenging us to imagine their application in the drama of our own lives.<br /><br />There are several steps I have found helpful in using the sentence proverbs for sermons or classes. Even if we don’t know the original context for a proverbial statement, we can catch the essence of it and imagine situations where it would apply. The steps are as follows:<br /><br />1) Read, reflect and pray upon a particular proverb. Look for key words or ideas in the sentence being repeated in surrounding verses. Does this verse fit into a larger theme? What seems to be the main idea? What does it say about attitudes, behavior or life?<br /><br />2) Think of an Old Testament story that illustrates the truth of the proverb you are studying. Since there is a story behind every proverb, find one that seems to flesh out the truth of a particular proverb.<br /><br />3) Think of a New Testament text or story that illustrates this truth as well. Many times a statement of Jesus or situation in his life complements the proverb.<br /><br />4) Finally, think of a situation in your own life that exemplifies the message or statement you are studying. Ideally, you will spend enough time reflecting upon a proverb that you will think of situations in your own life where it applies. You may think of an instance in where you lived up to the expectation of the proverb, or you may think of a situation where you didn’t. In either case, your own life experience validates the truth you are studying.<br /><br />Here is an example of how a sermon may be developed from a one-sentence proverb. I’ll use Proverbs 11:24: “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.”<br /><br />1) Study, reflection, prayer, and larger context.<br />This verse is part of a larger theme in the book about generosity and selfishness. Following verses discuss generosity, hoarding (selfishness), goodwill (the result of a generous spirit), and trusting in riches. This one verse opens up a wide array of possibilities for a sermon, and even at this early stage it is apparent that you will have to think about how to narrow the scope of the lesson.<br /><br />2) An Old Testament story.<br />Possibilities could include Moses, who gave up life in the palace with its accompanying wealth to live among the impoverished Israelites. He did not give material things, but gave his very life to his people, and what he gained was not physical possessions or wealth, but much spiritual treasure (Exodus 2:11ff; Hebrews 11:24-28).<br /><br />Think also of Boaz. He graciously allowed the less fortunate to glean his fields after the initial harvest (as the law stipulated). He gave freely and God blessed him not only with an abundant harvest, but with a wife, Ruth (Ruth).<br /><br />These are two stories that exemplify the positive aspect of Proverbs 11:24. Negative examples can be considered, too. During David’s sojourn in the wilderness he requested aid from a local farmer. Instead of providing aid the farmer, Nabal, offered insults, and almost lost his life when David came after him in anger. Only the intervention of his wife Abigail spared him. But, even that was very short lived as he died shortly after. Nabal withheld and came to a fate worse than poverty (1 Samuel 25).<br /><br />3) A New Testament story.<br />Numerous stories from Jesus’ life and ministry would fit here. Think of the two brothers fighting over an inheritance (Luke 12:13ff), the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19ff), and the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18ff). These stories all contain negative considerations of what it is to withhold blessings from others. Considered positively, think of Zacchaeus. As a tax collector Zacchaeus earned his living by overcharging the citizens in his territory. Tax collectors were thought of as little more than legitimized thieves. They were hated by the people because of their abuse of power and how they amassed their fortunes by taking from others. But after his encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus opened up his tight fist and began to share, pledging to make proper recompense for overcharging, and giving half of his possessions to the poor. This man overcame his tendency to withhold and began to give freely. What did he receive for his change of heart? Jesus said of him, “Today salvation has come to this house ...”<br /><br />4) Personal story.<br />I remember my parents offering help to people on numerous occasions: to motorists stranded in the country; to an injured friend; to neighbors needing help repairing their homes. Sometimes what was freely given was money; at other times it was time and labor. I have seen my parents gain from their generosity. It may not have been money, but appreciation and friendship.<br /><br />In Proverbs, the man or woman who withholds is considered selfish and greedy. They do not receive God’s approval, and will not be blessed for their behavior. God likes the righteous spirit of generosity and mercy. These are the attitudes and dispositions we want to pass on to our children, and Proverbs 11:24 was written to help us do that.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</div>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-26235364855893785952011-06-01T23:06:00.000-07:002011-06-01T23:07:53.433-07:00Worship in the Temple<div align="center">Worship in the Temple</div><br /><div align="left"><br />When the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem the Hebrew people were devastated. The Psalmist describes his reaction to this horrible event:<br /><br />“They (the Babylonians) behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees. They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets. They burned your (God’s) sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name ... They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.” (Psalm 74:6-8).<br /><br />Israel was horrified because the temple is where God dwelled among his people. With the temple gone, would God’s presence ever be felt in the land again? This was a legitimate fear for the people. The Psalmist continued: “We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.” (V.9). Apparently he wondered.<br /><br />The temple was central to Israel’s relationship with God and to it’s own identity as a people. God was present in his temple. So long as the temple stood, the Israelites knew God was dwelling in their midst, and they felt free from harm. What would life be like if the temple was destroyed?<br /><br />From later OT writings we know that even without a building God could still, and did, commune with his people. But from the perspective of an ancient Hebrew, the temple was central.<br /><br />- A faithful Israelite wanted to live righteously so he could commune with God in the temple: “Lord, who may dwell in our sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous.” (Psalm 15:1-2)<br /><br />- The heart of a faithful Israelite yearned for communion with God in this special building. “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God ... I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” (Psalm 84:1-2; 10)<br /><br />- The Israelites who lived in communion with God and worshiped him felt secure in His protective care. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.” (Psalms 125:1-2)<br /><br />Worship in the temple provided ancient Hebrews a sense of the transcendence of God. “In the temple, instead of want they found surfeit; instead of abandonment, care; instead of pollution, purity, instead of victimization, justice, instead of threat, security; instead of vulnerability, inviolability; instead of change, fixity; and instead of temporality, eternity.” (Madigan and Levenson, Resurrection, 93-94).<br /><br />After the Babylonian destruction and exile, Israel did return to the land and were allowed to rebuild the temple. God was again present.<br /><br />Christians don’t have a central building, an earthly structure, where God’s presence is located. Instead, God dwells in and among his people (1 Cor. 3:16 & 6:19). God dwells in his church, in you and me. God communes in and with us.<br /><br />Can we bring that same zeal the Israelites had for their building to the church? Here, in the midst of other believers, we find abundance, care, purity, justice, security and eternity. We find these blessings not because of the perfection and faithfulness of other believers. We find it because God is perfect and faithful. “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!”<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</div>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-78948130950455060372011-05-03T18:52:00.000-07:002011-05-03T19:02:08.438-07:00Tongues of Silver<div align="center">TONGUES OF SILVER </div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="left">The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. Proverbs 10:20<br /><br />Miners, speculators, investors and even brides have always prized gold and silver. These precious metals are rare, usable and maintain their value. They are also beautiful when refined and used in art and jewelry.<br /><br />Gold and silver have been cherished since ancient times. Kings and queens used them to decorate thrones and crowns. In the early days of our country, people sold everything they owned to venture out west, risking their wealth and their health to find strands of gold and silver in the earth. Today, young men and women symbolize their love for each other shiny bands of gold and other jewelry made of silver. Gold and silver is valuable and precious.</div><br /><div align="center"><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602673457224145026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPcvvHHJHcMMGefT9iVTdhnk5UsUzgp1XVsblIJjz3zYBzNJM5mqLHRd2vgkA-vJpjIKx4zKCR633xp-nqC2EWuPBswZdVYg_SoGmCbq7azY5A1tvBb-y7FOLpIpARsxpdwvKaEYJ4Qv4/s400/Karli+B+gems.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo compliments of </span><a href="http://thebonnie5.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Karli Bonnie Photography </span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><br /><p align="left">Drawing on the beauty, usefulness and value of these commodities, Proverbs compares them to something else of great value: wisdom. In Proverbs 2:4 says we should look for wisdom as a miner looks for silver and treasure. The English word "look" really doesn’t convey the idea of how intense this search for silver, treasure and wisdom is supposed to be. The idea is that something is missing and you seek in earnest for it, striving with emotional intensity (Bruce Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, NICOT, 1:222).<br /><br />I remember my aunt losing the diamond out of her wedding ring. I was just a kid and was confused by the frantic search all the adults in the family were making looking for that little stone. I asked my mom, "What’s the big deal? It’s just a little rock, right?" Sure! I learned what intensity was that weekend! I have a friend who lost his wedding ring, and years later his wife is still angry at him for it. There is a lot of emotion tied in him those little emblems of gold, silver and precious stone. We feel deep loss if they go missing. That, the Sage says, is what we ought to feel in our search for wisdom. Earnestness. Intensity. Loss if we don’t find it.<br /><br />With this discussion in mind, think of Proverbs 10:20 again: The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.<br /><br />This verse appears in the midst of an extended discussion about wise and foolish tongues. Wise speech comes from the mouth of the righteous and is a fountain of life (10:11). While a fool is busy chattering away a wise man is busy storing up knowledge (10:14). The wise know how to hold their tongues, not speaking when it is inappropriate and not speaking to much (10:19). When the wise man does speak his words are worth listening to. The righteous speak words that are wise and fit the occasion (10:31,32), so their speech brings nourishment (10:21).<br /><br />Foolish speech emanates from a heart that is not devoted to acquiring wisdom. The one who speaks foolishly stirs up hatred and violence against others and ultimately against himself (10:11) One way a foolish person stirs up hatred is in the lies he tells and the slander he spreads (10:18). The foolish mouth also stirs up anger because it simply talks too much and has no value or substance. Two times the Sage says "a chattering fool comes to ruin" (10:9,10). The fool speaks of things that are wicked and disgusting (10:31,32).<br /><br />In the middle of this discussion is the comment about the tongue of the righteous being choice silver. The imagery of rarity, usefulness and value are applied to the speech of the righteous person. The speech of the wise is rare because there is not enough of it. It is useful because it encourages and transforms lives. It maintains its value because it imparts life. Such speech is choice silver, having been refined to produce purity. "The dross of evil intentions and effects" has been removed from the wise man's heart and thus his mouth (Waltke, 1:471), revealing one more important reason wise speech is so critically important. It honors God's social order by promoting wholesome life for individuals and the community.<br /><br />The power of wholesome words to uphold God's order and impart life can be heard in the words of Jesus, "Neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11). Taken to heart, those words could perform to heal the shame of this woman and restore refreshment to her life. May our words do the same.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin </p>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-66298449369644787352011-04-12T15:30:00.000-07:002011-04-12T18:48:09.995-07:00When God Acts #5: When Job Suffered<div align="center">WHEN GOD ACTS #5: WHEN JOB SUFFERED</div><br /><div align="center">Job 3:1-5</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="left">Job. What a man he was (1:1-5). Can you imagine such a life? Seven sons and three daughters who actually enjoy being together! Over 10,000 animals on his ranch. A large number of servants. And to be called, "The greatest man among all the people of the East." What purity of heart: every morning he prayed for his children’s forgiveness just incase they had cursed God in their hearts. Could you imagine a better life? Could you imagine anything bad happening to a man like this?</div><br /><p>Suffering knows no favorites. If you know anything about this story, you already know what I am saying. The fact that one is leading such a good life and has been so blessed by God is in no way a guarantee that one’s life will continue in such an idyllic state. In fact, the fact of one having such a good life may well be what invites trouble. Not only was God watching Job, but Satan was too. Satan accused Job to God. That is appropriate for Satan, for his name means, "the accuser." 1:9-11, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."</p><br /><p><strong><em>The accuser</em></strong>.</p><br /><p>That is such an appropriate name for him. Had Job sinned in any big way to invite trouble? Had he harmed anyone? Had he cursed God in his heart? No. Then why not just leave him alone? Because that is not the way of Satan. When there are not discernible sins in a person’s life for Satan to make accusation to God against, Satan will manufacture them. And his accusation against Job was, "Do you think Job is serving you for nothing? He is serving you because you have blessed him so. Take away those blessing and you’ll hear this man curse you to your face." </p><br /><p>We may have a hard time with what happens next. God gives Satan permission to wreck havoc in Job’s life. And Satan spare’s no time or fury in his mission. Job’s livestock - over 10,000 head - were stolen or killed. His servants were put to death my invading enemies. Job’s children were enjoying a dinner together when they were killed in a horrible accident Job’s response? 1:20 - tore his clothes, shaved his head, fell to the ground and he worshiped. V.21 - "May the name of the Lord be praised." What a testimony to purity of heart. .22 - "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."</p><br /><p>The next time Satan appeared before God, God upheld the integrity of Job. 2:3. Blameless! But Satan wouldn’t leave matters alone. V.4 - "Skin for skin!"</p><br /><p>In other words, let me inflict his body with pain, and you’ll see a different response!" Again God said, "Go ahead, he is in your hands. Just spare his life." V.6. At that, Satan struck Job with painful sores from his head to his feet. Job felt so much pain and misery that he scraped at the sores with broken pottery to relieve the pressure.</p><br /><p>And perhaps the greatest test to his integrity came next, from his own wife. 2:9 - "Curse God and die." More painful than that may have been her calling into question his integrity: "Are you still holding on to your integrity?" In other words, "Do you still hold to your innocence? Your good standing before God? Come off of it!! Nobody with good standing before God has to suffer like this!!" But still Job kept his heart. "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said." 2:10.</p><br /><p>What do you do when you suffer, and you don’t think you deserve it? What do you do for friends who suffer, but they don’t deserve it? How do you maintain your own integrity or support a friend? Job had 3 friends come to see him. When they saw the wreck of his life, they didn’t know what to do! So they sat in silence. For seven days. 2:13. And sometimes that is the best thing to do! Sit in silence. When Job’s friends began to speak, they didn’t encourage their friend. Instead, they only made his burden greater.</p><br /><p>Job is actually the one who broke the silence, though. In Job 3 he breaks the silence with a rather dim statement about the condition of his own life: 3:1-4. He follows this with 5 questions. Five questions that begin with the word, "Why?" (3:11, 12, 16, 20, 23.)</p><br /><p>In other words, Job asks, "God, why have you let me live? Why didn’t you allow me to die as a baby? Why did you give me a mother to receive me and nurse me? Why didn’t you give me a grave, and spare me the light of day? Why must I experience this misery called life? Job’s questioning doesn’t end here, but continues to the end of the book.</p><br /><p>Now is when Job’s friends begin to speak up. But they do not speak words of encouragement. Instead, they speak words that tear at Job’s heart. 4:2-5 - You had advice for others. But how are things for you now? Don’t you love such kind words of sympathy when you need them? 4:7-8 - If you have trouble, it is because you deserve it. The friend Eliphaz is verbalizing a belief many people have - if you are suffering, it is because you somehow deserve it.</p><br /><p>How many sincere Christian parents have received these kind of comments from other Christians when one of their children stumbled? Probably you better than the rest of us can appreciate the pain and confusion in Job’s heart.</p><br /><p>One of the real hard problems for Job in all of this is HE KNOWS HE IS INNOCENT. I don’t mean he doesn’t have any sin, but that he has no discernible sin that justifies the intensity of the suffering he is enduring. I think 6:29 is a key verse in Job. Mark it in your Bibles. "My integrity is at stake." Inside, Job knows he has lived for God. He is not receiving this pain in his life because God is punishing him for sin. As a result, Job can not suffer in silence. And that leads to another one of the GREAT verses in Job that you ought to highlight and memorize: 7:11.</p><br /><p>Only 3 times in the Heb. OT do the terms complain and bitter appear in the same verse. And all three are in Job. (7:11; 10:1; 23:2). Because Job does believe he is innocent is one more reason he is having such a hard time. So he asks some more "why" questions: 7:20, 21. Why pick me out to terrorize? If I have done something so wrong, why not just forgive me?</p><br /><p></p><br /><p><strong><em>Why</em></strong>?</p><br /><p>It is hard to cover Job in one lesson. Maybe I’ll do a series on him one day. For today though, let’s jump to the end of the book, chapter 41. God is speaking now. He says to Job and his friends: 41:1-10. "Can you control the forces of nature? The wild beasts? No, you can’t. But they are not problems for me, I made them."</p><br /><p>Job responded to God’s speech in 42:3. "God, you are bigger than me. I just couldn’t see the whole picture. I’m sorry." Then 42:6. Repent. That is a good word. Here, it probably doesn’t mean, "Turn from sin," but instead, "I humble myself before you and I am comforted. I no longer lament."</p><br /><p>What does he mean, "I no longer lament?" What does lament mean? It means to cry. To cry out. To say, "Therefore I will not keep silent ..." Job is saying, "The time of my crying is over. I am comforted now. Thank you God."</p><br /><p>Let me make a comment about one of Job’s "why" questions: 3:23 - "Why has God hedged my life in?" Job was right - his life was hedged in. But Job was wrong about one thing. Job thought God hedged his life in so that he would suffer. "For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water." (V.24)</p><br /><p>What Job didn’t realize is that God hedged him in to protect him! In 1:10, Satan accuses God of hedging Job in so that he would be blessed! I don’t want to oversimplify this, but I do need to make this point: When life seems to tumble in and things see so bad in our lives, think of the hedge.</p><br /><p>The hedge - the protective wall God puts around his children so that it isn’t any worse than it is. No matter how bad it seems, how much worse could it be if God’s protective hand wasn’t over you? </p><br /><p></p><br /><p>Three things Job did in the face of unbelievable suffering:</p><br /><p>1) He cried. He lamented. He cried out to God. "Why God? Why?"</p><br /><p>2) He trusted God.</p><br /><p>3) He received comfort.</p><br /><p>Finally. We can do that, too. Just remember, God is always in control, and God is always bigger than our problems. "Thank you God."</p><br /><p>Warren Baldwin</p><br /><p>(Many of the ideas for this series come from the book Yet Will I Trust Him by John Mark Hicks) </p>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-78641366156704726992011-02-27T05:00:00.000-08:002011-02-27T05:00:03.890-08:00Suffering: Redemption<div align="center">WHEN GOD ACTS #4: REDEMPTION</div><br />Sad, and hurtful things are the bane of our existence. Why do they happen to us? Or to people we love? Sometimes it may be because of punishment (as in Amos 4). It may be to get people’s attention and turn them back to God (Deut. 4:30). Sometimes it may be because God wants to discipline us (Hebrews 12:5b-9). God tests his servants (Gen. 22:1) to see what is in their hearts (Gen. 22:12).<br /><br />Sometimes, act of God that result in suffering may be for REDEMPTION.<br /><br />Some think that every act of God is for the redemption of people. Even when it results in suffering and death, God hopes that will turn people back to him (Deut. 4:30). As Amos 4 showed, it doesn’t always work as God hopes! In Amos the people suffered, but they didn’t turn back to him.<br /><br />But, sometimes suffering does cause the response God wants (Psalm 119:67, 71; 76:10).<br /><br />There are times, however, when God acts in ways that are especially for redemption. "God’s redemptive acts are those moments when God acts to remove suffering, to overcome evil, and to destroy death. Those are the moments when God rescues, delivers, and restores his people." (J.M. Hicks, Yet Will I Trust Him, p.138-39). We think of the cross, and rightly so, as God’s great redemptive act.<br /><br />But the OT is also filled with stories of God acting redemptively to save his people: Calling Abraham; Sending Joseph into Egypt; Delivering Israel from Egypt; Raising up judges to conquer enemies of Israel; Sending of prophets; Returning Judah from captivity.<br /><br />The OT is a history of redemption. But, two redemptive events stick out as particularly significant. Both of these events provide the context in which Israel interprets God’s redemptive work in their lives.<br /><br />THE EXODUS<br />Exodus 3:7-10 says God heard the cries of his people and he redeemed them from bondage. This would fulfill a promise God made earlier, back when the Israelites under slavery were told they had to gather their own straw. At that time the Lord spoke to Moses and reassured him (Exodus 6:6-7). God revealed himself so that his people could know him.<br /><br />Dating<br />What is the purpose of dating? To have fun? Get to know people? Yes. Ultimately, dating is about getting to know someone you will marry. Dating is about marriage. Dating doesn’t start out with commitment, but it ends with it. How do we know when we find "the right" person that we want to marry and trust that they want to marry us? By what we reveal about ourselves. Our thoughts, values, goals. Ideas about family. Unfortunately, too many young people think dating is about concealing. We want to conceal the parts of ourselves we feel insecure about. We may feel we are unattractive, dumb, clumsy. So we hide those parts of ourselves as best we can. The truth is, dating is an opportunity to reveal who we are with the ultimate view of finding the person who loves us for what we are and wants us in marriage.<br /><br />The Exodus - God dating Israel<br />I know this may sound like a stretch, but to God the Exodus was like an opportunity for him to "date" Israel. An opportunity for him to reveal himself in the hopes that Israel would accept him and love him.<br /><br />What did God reveal about himself? His power over nature. Think of the plagues. His power over people. Think of how Pharaoh finally gave in to God. Why did God do all this? Exodus 10:1,2 - So that he could reveal himself to his children. Why do we take pictures and put them in albums? So years from now our children can show our pictures to our grandchildren and say, "We are going to go see Grandma and Grandpa. Do you remember them? Here, let me show you their picture." God said, "Years from now, show your children the photo album. Tell them of the good things I did for them so that they could be free." God wants his children to know and love him. And the Exodus shows a side of God that his children could love.<br /><br />THE RETURN FROM EXILE<br />God blessed his children with life in the promised land. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. A land free, for the most part, of hostile enemies. Crime was low. Wealth abounded.<br /><br />But what often happens in times of plenty like that? In times of ease? The people forgot God. And when they forgot God, they sinned. They sinned in abundance. Their punishment was to be conquered by foreign enemies. The northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria and the southern kingdom by Babylon. Also, thousands of Israelites were taken into captivity in Babylon to live as slaves (Jer. 30:15.).<br /><br />And that didn’t make God happy. As much as they deserved their punishment, it grieved God. In Jer. 30:18 God promises to restore their fortunes because he love them with an everlasting love (31:3). Jer. 31:20 says God yearns for them. The idea of ‘yearning’ is God still wants fellowship with these stubborn, rebellious people.<br />So God enacts a bold plan. He will bring his people home. They are miles away in a foreign land. They are working as slaves. They do not have the freedom to just get up and return home. But, that is not a problem for God. God works in the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia. After Cyrus defeated Babylon, he told the Jewish people, "Ok, you can go home now. Go back to your lands." And they did.<br /><br />And this is just as God wanted (Jeremiah 33:11b-16). My favorite verse in all this is Jer. 31:5 - they will plant fruit trees that will bear them fruit. Why would God be so kind to such a rebellious people? (Jer. 31:18-20). These were HIS people.<br /><br />"God punished Israel, but in his compassion he redeemed a remnant. The remnant sought God in their exile, and God responded to their prayer. God will be found by those who seek him (Isaiah 55:6). Redemption flows out of God’s great love whereby he seeks to share his communion with his people. God yearns for a people and he acts in the world to create a people for himself." (Hicks, p.148).<br /><br />Ultimately, God’s yearning for a people finds fulfillment in the events we read about in the NT. But that story comes later.<br /><br />For now, remember this about suffering:<br />Sometimes we suffer because God is punishing us.<br />Sometimes we suffer because God is disciplining us. Making us stronger.<br />And sometimes we suffer because God is working redemptively in our lives. Ultimately, God wants all of us back home in fellowship with him.<br /><br />Years ago, when I was a kid, I heard a preacher tell a story about when he was a teenager. He was rebellious. He yelled at his parents, slipped cigarettes into his room, smoked and in other ways was disruptive in the family. He left home in anger. He took what money he had and went a long way from home. And like the prodigal son of Luke 15, this boy ran out of money and friends. He had no food, no home, and no money. So he called his dad collect. Dad paid for the call and the boy poured our his heart. "I’m sorry Dad. I realize now how wrong I was. I was rude and disrespectful. I broke the rules of the home. And I’m so sorry. Will you and mom forgive me." The Dad cried. The Mom cried. "Of course we forgive you son. You are our boy and we love. And you have a home here waiting for you."<br /><br />"Oh thanks, Dad. Could you send me the money for a bus ticket Dad?"<br /><br />"Of course not, son. You got yourself in this mess because of being selfish and undisciplined. Now, learn some discipline. Get a job, save your money, and buy your bus ticket home. And we’ll be here for you."<br /><br />I know a lot of us might think that Dad was pretty cruel to his own son. Wouldn’t even buy him a ticket home. Let him stay a couple of months far, far from home, all alone and broken-hearted. Did the dad make the right decision? Well, the man I heard tell the story was the son, all grown up, matured and disciplined. And he said he learned more from his time in captivity than he ever would have learned if dad had wired him the money.<br /><br />Time in captivity may be for punishment. It may be for discipline. But ultimately it is for redemption. God wants you home. He wanted the Israelites home. It took some suffering to get their attention, but they left captivity to be with the Father. And God wants you home. You may be in the captivity of sin, or in the captivity of suffering. But you can come home to the fellowship of a father who is waiting for you to call.<br /><br />(Many of the ideas for this series come from the book Yet Will I Trust Him by John Mark Hicks)Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-17969527243704248872011-02-13T17:00:00.000-08:002011-02-13T17:00:02.654-08:00When God Acts #3: Discipline<div align="center">WHEN GOD ACTS #3: DISCIPLINE</div><br />Why do people suffer? Especially innocent people? Why do children have to die in war? Why do babies get HIV and fetal alcohol syndrome through no fault of their own?<br /><br />We can never satisfactorily answer all such questions. Even if we accept that WE LIVE IN A FALLEN WORLD, a world that is not as God intended it to be, we still wonder sometimes, "Why?"<br /><br />As horrible as suffering can be, God has a way of using it for his purposes. Sometimes God uses suffering to punish the wicked, a retributive action. They are getting their "just desserts." God also uses suffering as punishment for the purpose of deterrence - to warn people, to turn them from sin. God has two other purposes for suffering - REDEMPTION, which we will look at in another article, and DISCIPLINE.<br /><br />Suffering has a way of refining, training and educating a person, especially a believer. Through the process of suffering, especially suffering as discipline, we can learn to love the Lord more and depend upon his grace and his resources. There are basically two forms that suffering for discipline can take.<br /><br /><br />TESTING<br />"God has always tested his people." Abraham is one example. In Gen. 22:1 the Bible says, "God tested Abraham." Some versions read, "God tempted Abraham." The Hebrew word here, ns, means "test, try, prove, tempt, put to the test." It is incorrect to think of it in terms of "entice to do wrong." (TWOT, p.581). The idea of "God tempting would not fit with Matt. 4:3, where the devil is the tempter, and James 1:13-15, where it says God does not tempt people to do wrong. But God can and does test people.<br /><br />God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his only son (Heb. 11:17-19). Would Abraham love his son more than God? Would Abraham, like Adam and Eve, choose to go his own way and do his own thing? Abraham was put to the test. And I can’t imagine what kind of emotional agony it must have been for a dad to lead his son to the place of sacrifice, knowing it was his own son that was the offering. When my children ask me a question of a spiritual nature I get a funny feeling inside. These are my offspring, my children that I want to see in heaven, and they are asking me a question! I have to answer it right! These are my children at stake!<br /><br />And Abraham had a lot at stake - his son. And more than that, his direction. Where would Abraham’s heart lead him? In the way of the Father, or self? When Abraham chose God over son and self, here is the commendation the Father gave him: "I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son from me, your only son." Gen. 22:12.<br /><br />God frequently tested the children of Israel. Exodus 15:25 - God tested them in Marah with bitter water. Exodus 16:4 - God tested them with mana. He would give them plenty, but would they trust God and take only what they needed? Or would they prove to be selfish and lack faith, taking more than necessary?<br /><br />One reason for God testing people is to learn their hearts. Deuteronomy 8:2 says God led the Israelites in the desert for 40 years to "humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands." The reason for this is explained in v.5 - "Know ... that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."<br /><br />Wandering in the desert was also punishment. Punitive punishment. People died the in the desert for their sins. The would never see the promised land. But for their children who also wondered in the dry, dusty climate, hoping for rest, it was not punishment. It was a testing.<br /><br />Is there suffering in your life? What may God be trying to tell you? Is he trying to discipline you? Discipline from a loving Father has the aim of testing our hearts. Do we truly want communion with the Father? Who do we love the most, God, or self? Testing, suffering bears that out.<br /><br /><br />EDUCATION<br />Sometimes God is trying to teach us something through our suffering. Hebrews 12 is the classic passage about suffering as a means of "learning." Eight times in verses 5-11 some form of the word "discipline" is used.<br /><br />What is the nature of the suffering or discipline in Hebrews that chapter 12 is referring to? Persecution. In Heb. 10:32-34 the writer calls upon these Christians to remember an earlier persecution they suffered - they were publicly insulted and persecuted. They were thrown in prison and had their possessions stolen by the state. But they didn’t lose their faith! Now, another contest of suffering is upon them (12:4). There is more persecution. Will they stay strong? Faithful? The writer wants them to know that this suffering is not because of punishment! It is for discipline. (12:5b-9).<br /><br />The word for punish literally means, "to flog." Many of God’s followers have been literally "flogged." Jesus and his disciples were. Some of the witness in chapter 11 had been (see 11:36). Some of the current readers might be! But it is important for them to realize that this "flogging" or suffering is not a retributive punishment. It is a form of discipline to motivate the sufferers to reach higher levels of maturity. (12:10-11).<br /><br />What good does God intend by this discipline? That we share in his holiness. That the "training" we experience from suffering produces righteous and peace. "God uses suffering and pain to produce a fruit whose purpose is communion with him." (Hicks, Yet, p.137). Suffering teaches us discipline.<br /><br />But one more thing it teaches us ... Joy and perseverance. (James 1:2-3). And the great reward for persevering under trial (testing, suffering)? James 1:12 says it is the crown of life!<br /><br />"The crown of life is worth the trials, and God disciplines us with that goal in mind. God acts, sometimes by inflicting pain, even floggings, to train and prepare us to share his holiness. God intends good even when it seems painful and senseless to us." (Hicks, Yet, p.138).<br /><br />Is there suffering in your life and you wonder why? We all do. Please, when suffering comes into your life, don’t let it break you or discourage you. I know that is easy to say in a time free from suffering. But try to hold on. Remember, one way God uses suffering is to teach us to be stronger and more like him.<br /><br />If suffering is in your life right now ... suffering of any kind ... take it to the cross. One way we all suffer is from the contamination of sin. And Jesus stands ready to clean that up as soon as we have suffered enough and are ready to come to him for cleansing.<br /><br />(Many of the ideas for this series come from the book Yet Will I Trust Him by John Mark Hicks)<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-55106510923399057152010-12-29T11:38:00.000-08:002010-12-29T13:07:30.750-08:00I Do It ... You Do It: Thoughts on Mentoring<div align="center">I DO IT ... YOU DO IT<br />Thoughts on Mentoring<br /></div><br /><br />"See how I hold the bat straight up? Do you know why I do that?" the coach asked. "Because the bat is lighter when held straight up. Less surface for gravity to pull on."<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556209252192483074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 232px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0YEY5hZPNRMzJhOl-CtptcoVcHsqpCjwOR8LqXSwup1FZ3PKnC9eWvvh2SIjVJGPClCzrLseXaR4WXURhk7EfNM829qllkPEMk0HU4yxBYzb6JiylkSyS9y4_8KTJpNpV7Ngn3KMGu-5o/s320/img252a.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />"Hold your bat back like I am. As the pitcher throws the ball, respond with your body the way mine does. Pivot your front foot, twist your hips and shoulders, bring your arms around. If you decide you like the pitch, bring the bat around with you. If not, hold up. Understand?"<br /><br />We didn’t. We were a bunch of eight year olds being drilled in the art of batting. And the coach, my dad, was tasked with making sure we had some idea of what we were doing.<br /><br />But, would that be enough? Is it ever enough to just tell someone, "Clean your room. Don’t do drugs, alcohol or sex. Make sure you do well in school. Treat a girl right. Drive carefully. Make sure the boys respect you."<br /><br />We might think that just verbalizing these instructions is enough, but do any of us catch on to abstract concepts or even concrete behaviors that easily? Don’t we need someone to go beyond the verbal instructions to show us what the ideas look like or how the behaviors are performed?<br /><br />My dad taught us in his batting clinic. But, he did more. He showed us. "Hold the bat like this." John Maxwell identifies four biblical steps to training someone. The steps are:<br /><br /><strong><em>I do it</em></strong>. Before anyone can teach they must first be proficient themselves. Proficiency is developed by faithful and careful performance over time.<br /><br /><strong><em>I do it - and you watch</em></strong>. The teacher or coach instructs and performs the deed as the students watch, hoping they catch as many of the details as possible. An experienced teacher or coach knows that not much is going to be caught or understood by the students, so they move to the next step.<br /><br /><strong><em>You do it - and I watch</em></strong>. The teacher and student now exchange roles, with the student performing the desired action. It may not go very well at first. That is why the instructor is still present, correcting, teaching, guiding and demonstrating again how to perform the task. There is still one more step.<br /><br /><strong><em>You do it</em></strong>. As the student gains proficiency, he is now ready to be entrusted with the job. He has been trained and mentored to perform at a higher level, all under the caring and watchful eyes of the mentor. (John Maxwell, Mentoring 101, p.17)<br /><br />After steps one and two in the batting clinic, dad moved to step three, You do - and I watch. He gave each of us a bat to perform the various exercises he demonstrated - holding it upright and straight out to experience the difference in weight; holding it behind us in a readied stance; swinging. After spending most of one practice session on these basic drills, dad moved us to step four, You do it. We batted. The rest of the season we continued to receive mentoring.<br /><br />Maxwell says, "In all the years I’ve been equipping and developing others, I’ve never found a better way to do it than this." (P.18) The Bible says, "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2). That is mentoring.<br /><br /><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556191845108588386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkCc4JnhIfGoUjuVF5fw80e7sEplOHnGvUqGCQmsNAc8vkcXqoVxNACDyEZMIlo3cSZaJp5RhN6cP73s_QhL1amM3H7ynw9n2QLwcBFsfyHIpRJZsPz7-83m8dnepLQsR0SfmEKaTpNtZ/s320/5040782480_105d039664_b.jpg" border="0" /><br />"Am I doing this right?" (<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.ashleysisk.com/">Ashley Sisk Photography</a></span>)</div><br /><p>These four steps apply not only to a batting clinic or to Paul preparing Timothy to minister. They apply to the issues and concerns in our home, family and spiritual life. To a child keeping his room clean. To a teenager keeping his body free from addictive chemicals. To a boy or girl dating carefully. To a student doing well in school. You set the example. Then teach and show them what the idea looks like. Then entrust them with restricted levels of freedom to perform how you expect, while providing oversight. If they abuse the freedom, reel them back in for more instruction, with correction and discipline. Then, they move out to perform on their own.<br /><br />This year, is there someone in our lives - a child, friend, co-worker, or neighbor - that we can mentor in the ways of spiritual living and godly perspective?<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</p>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-87942602021960774012010-12-12T05:01:00.000-08:002010-12-12T05:01:00.346-08:00ENGAGED<div align="center">ENGAGED<br /></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-09cx_hTvV0-oS7PlgIsp_PwBfcGiJlZdI4Y6NPe9aIpaLjB-Hod2QCF0UtMy67aahMYGc2uVGeDKXkPqAmxW8ZIugSQ1hE5MqsCOrlV3CjLNJ850qvdIdiaTR0NixWcj53Zek_e-MTG/s1600/Amy+Free+Engaged+1a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543256030025093826" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 235px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-09cx_hTvV0-oS7PlgIsp_PwBfcGiJlZdI4Y6NPe9aIpaLjB-Hod2QCF0UtMy67aahMYGc2uVGeDKXkPqAmxW8ZIugSQ1hE5MqsCOrlV3CjLNJ850qvdIdiaTR0NixWcj53Zek_e-MTG/s320/Amy+Free+Engaged+1a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The engagement period is exciting for a young couple. It should be. After dating and falling in love, the couple is now seriously envisioning a future together and are making concrete plans for it. The engagement period signals to the world that this couple is committed to a lifetime together.<br /><br />There is an element of ecstacy during the engagement as the man and woman draws even closer together. Intimacy develops naturally and deeply as the couple continues to learn about each other, talk about their love, plan the big day, and dream about their future. The world seems like a wonderful place when you are engaged to the person of your dreams and are about to take that joyful step into committed and intimate connection.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>Participate Together<br /></em></strong><br />There are a few things couples can keep in mind during the engagement to make this transition period to the wedding be meaningful and bonding. One, be aware that while the engagement period is exciting, it can also be a time of stress, especially for the bride, as she plans the wedding. Guys usually get out easy on this, much of our contribution being, "Yup, oh yeah, that’s nice, sure, whatever you say."<br /><br />It doesn’t seem fair, does it? But as most of us know, men are not as concerned about matching plates and linens, dresses and suits, and the host of other details that are planned for the wedding during the engagement. But, guys should be aware that it is important for the bride, so we shouldn’t discourage her attempts to make the wedding as nice as it can be. This is a time for us to participate in something meaningful with our future bride.<br /><br />For me, this participation was shopping with Cheryl for the cake knife. I didn’t know people shopped for cake knives! The first store we went to had a nice knife and Cheryl said, "I like this one." I said, "Good, let’s get it." She said, "No, we have to go look at some other stores first." So we did. Several stores. And I don’t remember for sure, but I’m certain that while we were there we also looked at other things as well. Then Cheryl said, "Ok, let’s go back and get the knife"<br /><br />"Which one?" I asked.<br /><br />"The knife at the first store."<br /><br />"Why didn’t we just get it when we were there the first time? We did all this other shopping for nothing," I said.<br /><br />"No," Cheryl corrected me, "We had to go to all the other stores to make sure the first one is really the one we wanted."<br /><br />"Well, I was sure."<br /><br />"Maybe so, but I wasn’t."<br /><br />Boy, I had a lot to learn. One of the things I had to learn was that marriage is sharing of hearts and activities. It is a participation in the life of the other person, even shopping for knives. The engagement is a good time to learn that.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>Planning Your Future<br /></em></strong><br />Secondly, the engagement is a time to seriously plan your future together. There are several very important things to discuss. Having kids, for example. You might want to have five but your finance only one, or even none. That is a good thing to find out and discuss now! I wanted four kids and Cheryl wanted two. We discussed that during our engagement and settled on three (and then I wish I had said six). We began having our children at the same time some of our friends did. In one family, the wife wanted two or more kids but the husband only one. She expressed her frustration with us and asked what we were going to do. I said we talked about that before we married and plan on having two more. "You talked about that before you were married?" she asked, incredulously.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiztoCp2bJ5w1kL6i3Z547F2mHCsYKMmQiAfbME58NcpNeDl5pAmMlZ62AqotyP0un3KPJ2R942w5ZDTrFMid3WfKKI-KpB8qAnLjjRAOWs9H98pF2h47vOxhFYOHVaYaBC7Bl5mj_NtyRg/s1600/Amy+Free+Engaged+3a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543256215363631298" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 249px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 292px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiztoCp2bJ5w1kL6i3Z547F2mHCsYKMmQiAfbME58NcpNeDl5pAmMlZ62AqotyP0un3KPJ2R942w5ZDTrFMid3WfKKI-KpB8qAnLjjRAOWs9H98pF2h47vOxhFYOHVaYaBC7Bl5mj_NtyRg/s320/Amy+Free+Engaged+3a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Related to having kids is having some serious discussion about raising the kids. What are your styles of discipline? Will you warn a child once if he misbehaves and then administer some form of correction, or will you warn him numerous times? Will one of you stay home to raise the children, or will you seek daycare? These are things to know before the children begin to arrive, and the engagement period is the optimum time.<br /><br />Other issues to discuss are relationships with in-laws, relationships with friends (be aware that your fiancé may not share your warm feelings toward your life-long best friend) and where/how to spend the holidays. You may not know at this point how you will handle some of the issues or situations, but at least you have eliminated some painful surprises later on.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>Exercise Restraint</em></strong><br /><strong><em><br /></em></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehPEPvddnpxfD84KUDb6btUthCrRGs0-5_xtxTUfKFXso5MBqoWRDvzyAlBk4W8f-5mhfuBqLCuhzInqKA0u3bUlecstfFy8qftbdlU6T1NvelzWtBEphdP1CI4WTokb5v_IkrmPzkFtg/s1600/Amy+Free+Family+8a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543256042719993042" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 246px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 258px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehPEPvddnpxfD84KUDb6btUthCrRGs0-5_xtxTUfKFXso5MBqoWRDvzyAlBk4W8f-5mhfuBqLCuhzInqKA0u3bUlecstfFy8qftbdlU6T1NvelzWtBEphdP1CI4WTokb5v_IkrmPzkFtg/s320/Amy+Free+Family+8a.jpg" border="0" /></a> Thirdly, during the engagement you are committed to getting married, but you still are not married. This has important spiritual and moral implications. Because they are going to get married, it is so easy for engaged couples to begin acting as if they are married. And in some things, that is good and shows wise planning. Making joint purchases of furniture, getting the paper work to change the wife’s last name, making arrangements with banks about joint accounts and other details is good.<br /><br />In other ways, though, acting as if you are married before you actually are can be a problem. During the dating years showing affection is exhilarating, even when shown with great restraint. It is a taste of what the full measure of romantic involvement will be like the night of the "I do" and of the days to follow. That anticipation can be difficult to contain during the months leading to the wedding. "Since we are going to get married anyway, can’t we go a little farther than we normally do in showing affection?" is a normal question for engaged couples. Emotional, psychological and even spiritual restraints can melt away in the warm embrace of the one you are going to marry in only 37 more days. But those 37 days can seem like 37 years at that moment.<br /><br />Sadly, I’ve seen a few young couples reason, "We are going to get married soon anyway," and engage in levels of sexual behavior they previously resisted. In some cases, and for a variety of reasons, they didn’t follow through with the wedding plans. Now, here is a young man and young woman who had saved themselves for 22 years wracked with regret because they didn’t wait a little longer.<br /><br />I encourage engaged couples to continue to exercise the same discipline during the engagement that they did during their dating years. Becoming sexual involved now just complicates the relationship, creates feelings of guilt and regret, and robs the wedding night of much of its allure. Wait.<br /><br />The engagement period is an exciting time. But, it is also a time for some important relationship and character issues to develop and grow. It is a time for wholesome participation in the other’s life, for planning life issues, and for exercising a rugged discipline of the mind and body to keep the relationship pure. Hebrews 13:4 is as appropriate for the engagement as it was for the time of dating: "Keep the marriage bed pure." To help encourage this purity, I encourage young couples to have a lengthy dating period, but a very short engagement.<br /><br />My hope for the couples who read this is that your engagement will be fun, joyous, pure, and an exciting taste of what your years together will be like as marriage partners. God bless.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin<br /><br />Note: This article appeard in three segements on my other blog, Family Fountain. I am reposting it here in one article for ease of coping or sending. Feel free to share this article with anyone.<br /><br />Also, a special thanks to <a href="http://www.amyfree.com/">Amy Free Photography </a>for permission to use these pictures.Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-25540374756346089492010-12-05T17:27:00.000-08:002010-12-05T17:39:14.453-08:00Suffering as Punishment #2<div align="center">WHEN GOD ACTS #2: PUNISHMENT</div><br />This series of lessons is about SUFFERING. The title is WHEN GOD ACTS. I chose this as the title because sometimes the acts of God result in suffering. In our suffering. And there are three particular purposes God has when he allows suffering to be visited upon us. This week we look at PUNISHMENT.<br /><br />Most moms and dads have rules for their house and home. If they don’t they need to! "Don’t talk with your mouth full." "Don’t hit your little brother." And most of us use means to enforce the rules when the little ones think they can break them. "I will tell you one time and one time only. After that you are in trouble." I knew one lady that would count to 10. The kids always waited until she got to 9. Why waste all that time? Just count to 1. And they better be moving!<br /><br />Parents, this really is important: If we do not ENFORCE the rules, our children will never respect us. They will never take us seriously. Not when they are little and not when they are grown. Also, if we do not PUNISH them when they break the rules, they will forever think that rules are made for other people, but they can do whatever they want.<br /><br />Rules let us know how we are supposed to live. Punishment lets us know that the rules are for real. That they are not to be ignored or laughed at. A firm spanking administered immediately after a little one willfully breaks a rule teaches a lesson learned for a lifetime.<br /><br />If punishment works for earthly mothers and fathers who are trying to train their children, doesn’t it make sense that it would also work for the heavenly father who is trying to train his children? Us? And if punishment causes pain in our children, then we can expect it to cause pain in God’s children.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>Punishment actually serves two purposes</em></strong>.<br /><br />One, <strong><em>punishment involves retribution</em></strong>. That is, the idea of pay back. You did something wrong and hurtful, so now something hurtful will be done to you. Rom. 3:23 - 6:23. Bible says we have lived lives of sin. And that deserves only one thing - punishment. Sometimes the punishment or pain doesn’t just come at the end of this life. Sometimes it comes now. If you are committing armed robbery, and you die in a shoot-out with the police, that is punishment. Wouldn’t you call that "just desserts"?<br /><br />Secondly, <em><strong>punishment involve deterrence</strong></em>. When an evil person is punished, that serves as a warning to the rest of us. Hopefully, the death of the armed robber would deter some others from committing the same sin.<br /><br />Ultimately, however, punishment is about retribution. Getting our just desserts. God giving us what we deserve. Suffering and death - because of a world of sin. That is what hell is all about. Rev. 21:8. The ultimate suffering. That is what we have earned. Psalm 7:11. Hell is the wrath of God. And only when we accept that can grace truly mean anything to us.<br /><br />The "ultimate" punishment, hell, is reserved for the end of the world. But sometimes punishment can come during this life as well. Amos 4:2-13 illustrates how God works in the lives of people to punish them for sin. And to deter them from sinning any more. There are 3 points.<br /><br /><strong><em>One, the sinful behavior of people draws out the urge in God to punish</em></strong>.<br />In Amos 4 the people are acting like Adam and Eve - they are doing their own thing. They are walking away from God.<br />- Instead of worshiping in Jerusalem they are going to Bethel and Gilgal.<br />- They oppressed the poor and needy (2:6-7; 4:1; 5:10-13; 6:1-7).<br />So, God determines to punish these people. They are stubborn and arrogant. They care only for themselves. They are like Adam and Eve, doing what THEY want.<br /><br /><strong><em>Two, God punishes the people to DETER them from further sin</em></strong>.<br />- He gave them a shortage of food and empty stomachs (v.6)<br />- He stopped the rain so the crops would burn up (v.7)<br />- The people were weary from thirst (v.8)<br />- Blight, mildew and locusts destroyed their crops (v.9)<br />- The young men God allowed to die in battle and by the plague (v.10)<br /><br />Why did God do all of this? These are horrible acts! These punishments were not just retribution - punishment for doing evil. If it was, God could have caused even greater death. Instead, it was punishment for deterrence. God hoped this little bit of punishment would cause people to say, "Hey, we don’t want to sin any more. We are going to follow the ways of the Lord."<br /><br />The punishment was intended to restore Israel’s desire to follow the Lord. We know that is the case from a refrain God repeats FIVE TIMES. 4:6,8,9,10,11.<br /><br />Here are God’s warnings: 5:4b, "Seek me and live." 5:14ba, "Seek good, not evil, that you may live." Then, Amos promised, "The Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is." 5:14b. But the people wouldn’t listen. So, now, God moves into another phase of punishment.<br /><br /><strong><em>Three, God punishes the people, not as a deterrence anymore, but to give them their ‘just desserts.’</em></strong> This is retribution, or retributive justice - getting what you deserve. Amos 4:12c - "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel." And this will not be a pleasant meeting.<br /><br />God has done everything he could to call his people back to him.<br />- He has sent prophets to preach.<br />- He has sent hunger and thirst, destroyed crops and a few deaths.<br />But nothing would move the people. Punishment did not warn them. "If you do that again I’ll spank you again." Nothing worked.<br /><br />So now the punishment would become more severe. And it wouldn’t be a warning.<br />It would be "getting what you deserve with no hope of reversing it."<br />Here is what it will be like when they meet the Lord: 5:16-17; 27; 6:14; 9:8.<br />The Assyrians, a hostile nation, will conquer Israel. They will kill many of the Israelites, and take many away into captivity. And the northern kingdom would never again exist.<br /><br />That is punishment. And God did it. In 1 Chron. 5:26 says God "stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria." Isaiah described Assyria as God’s "club of wrath" (Isaiah 9:11). God punished Israel.<br /><br />"God is patient with sinful people, but his patience ultimately wears thin with the arrogant. Eventually their cup becomes full and God destroys them." (J.M. Hicks, Yet Will I Trust Him, p.129)<br />- God did it in the flood<br />- He did it at Babel<br />- He did it to Israel<br />- Later, he does it to Judah<br />- Later still he does it to Rome.<br />Can we expect that God is stll doing it? Could some of the suffering we experience now be our "just desserts" for sinful living?<br /><br />Israel was conquered by an oppressive foreign country. Her citizens were killed. The healthy teenage boys and girls were taken as slaves to a foreign country. 2 Kings 17:22,23. Just as Amos predicted.<br /><br />That is a horrible story!!<br /><br />But there is a glimmer of hope. Amos 9:14: "Yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob." God will keep a remnant for himself. Why? He wants fellowship with us.<br /><br />I believe everything God does is about fellowship with us.<br />1) God created us for fellowship<br />2) God sent Abraham to call people back to him. For fellowship.<br />3) God sent Jesus to call people back to him. For fellowship<br />4) God sends punishment to call people back to him. For fellowship<br /><br />I can not say that suffering in one’s life is ALWAYS punishment. But I think I can say that if there is suffering in your life, God is hoping you will see it as a sign to come back to him if that is what you must do. And if you haven’t left him and you suffer ... well, that is our next lesson.<br /><br />God wanted fellowship with Israel. And God wants fellowship with you. Don’t, like Israel, move arrogantly away. Come to him in humility.<br /><br />(Many of the ideas for this series come from the book Yet Will I Trust Him by John Mark Hicks)<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-28886328603550373582010-11-26T20:32:00.000-08:002010-11-26T20:41:57.175-08:00Why Do We Suffer? #1<div align="center">WHEN GOD ACTS #1: WHY DO WE SUFFER?<br /></div><br />Things occasionally happen that cause us to ask, "Why? Why did that happen? Why did someone I love get ill? Why didn’t I get the job? Why do good people die young?" Stories like what happened to Job: Job 1:18-20. How do you explain that?<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr8CX8y9LgqXDTCEL9QGdXRXDytYdril9JixaUXeAzha5fsxtK0DKzxJNt-6PzJr204TjKzMGUMDFHoeeCSWSb0fl6zTDaw5tZoplUsBHZDxcELcHLIz5T18uWDwMTdKV1qIHhAgEgcN4/s1600/%2521cid_92A7EDDFE57D4695A42978B47550818F%2540acer56fb35423d.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544083840514994226" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr8CX8y9LgqXDTCEL9QGdXRXDytYdril9JixaUXeAzha5fsxtK0DKzxJNt-6PzJr204TjKzMGUMDFHoeeCSWSb0fl6zTDaw5tZoplUsBHZDxcELcHLIz5T18uWDwMTdKV1qIHhAgEgcN4/s320/%2521cid_92A7EDDFE57D4695A42978B47550818F%2540acer56fb35423d.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />It helps me to remember that we live in a fallen world. Things are not the way God intended them. If you read the first two chapters of Genesis, you will see that God intended things to be good. There was clean water, fresh food, happy people, loving relationships and no illness.<br /><br />But sadly, all that changed when man decided to go his own way. You know the story of God putting two trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man was allowed to eat of the Tree of Life, but not of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But man ate of that tree, anyway.<br /><br />The decision man had was not between this fruit or that fruit. No, the decision was over communion with God or separation from him. Would man choose communion with God or life independent of him? That was the issue. A friend of mine wrote, "The trees are not about fruit. They are about fellowship. They are about life and death, a choice between life with God or life apart from God. The trees symbolize that choice, and the choice expresses what the heart truly desires." (J. M. Hicks, Yet Will I Trust Him, p. 67).<br /><br />And what man truly desired was life apart from God. So in the Garden man left God. Yes, God drove man from the Garden, depriving him of eating from the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:24). After that man would experience death (Gen. 2:17). But really, even before man left the Garden, man had left God. He left when he made the decision to eat of the wrong tree and live independently of God.<br /><br />Man lost three things when he sinned in the Garden, three things that continue to plague us today. Three things that lead to some of the horrible experiences in our lives that cause us to ask, "Why?"<br /><br />One, man lost his innocence. Gen. 3:7 says that the man and woman realized they were naked, and they made clothes for themselves. Prior to eating of the fruit, man and woman had been comfortable with themselves. Now they were not. They became "self aware." They became selfish.<br /><br />So, two, man lost his relationship with others. Gen. 3:14. Adam blamed Eve for the fruit incident. Eve blamed the serpent. Oh, Adam was still married to Eve. They would still have their children. Even now we have marriage, children, friends. But the innocence is gone. Relationships do not occur with the ease and grace they used to. We battle selfishness and envy. Honesty in relationships doesn’t come as easily as it did before the fall. Just as Adam and Eve used fig leaves to hide their bodies, we use lying and deceitfulness to cover other aspects of our lives.<br /><br />Three, man lost his standing with God. Gen. 3:8. At one time man enjoyed the actual physical presence of God. Did Adam and Eve see God face to face? I don’t know. But God was certainly manifested in some physical way so that the first couple could hear him, talk to him. That is gone now. We can still converse with God through prayer. We can still read his Word. But wouldn’t it be nice to have God over for a visit and ask him some questions that he would answer personally, audibly? Adam and Eve used to have that. But they chose independence over fellowship. (Points 1-3 are from Willis, Genesis).<br /><br />And when Adam and Eve chose independence, going their own way, doing their own thing, over fellowship, three important things changed: their relationship with themselves, with others, and with God.<br /><br />But God still loved, still LOVES, man. And God has done a number of things recorded in the Bible to call man back to him. God called a man named Abraham. Gen. 12:1-3. God would bless Abraham and through Abraham bless others. God hoped this would open the eyes of people to God so that they would seek communion with God again. God sent Jesus. The hope for Jesus was that he would bring together all the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and even those who were not of Israel. Rev. 3:10. God used these two men to call people back into fellowship with him.<br /><br />I believe that everything that God has done and is recorded in the Bible has been with the view of calling people back to him. God wants us in relationship with him. "This was God’s intention in creation, and it is his intention in re-creation/redemption. God’s goal is an eschatological community among whom he can dwell as God and they as his people. He seeks fellowship with a people who will share his holy triune communion in a new heaven and new earth." (Hicks, p.119).<br /><br />God has used two men to call us back to him: Abraham and Jesus. But God has used other means to call us back to him as well: the tough situations in life that make us ask, "Why?"<br /><br />In a fallen world, people are frequently unhappy. Sad things happen. People get ill, or they grow old and die. People argue and fight. Friendships dissolve, sometimes shatter. How can we live like that? So people try their hand, often independently of God, at ways of being happy. We try to be happy through our work. We marry someone who we hope will make us happy. If we still are not happy, we hope kids will be the secret to happiness. "We are restless until we are happy, and we are unhappy because we are restless." (Hicks, p.119)<br /><br />Some good news is that God wants us to be happy, too. But God’s view of happiness is not the same as ours. Ours tends to be self-absorbed. We are selfish in our pursuit of happiness. But eventually we must accept that happiness depends upon something beyond ourselves. Real happiness is to be found in God. And God’s desire for our happiness is that we live in his presence. Forever.<br /><br />Eccl. 3:11 says that God has set eternity in our hearts. I think that means that God gives us a sense of restlessness so that we WON’T be too happy here. If we are too happy here, would we look forward to God? So God’s intent is not to make everyone happy THE WAY WE WANT to be happy, but to make us look to him. And one way God does that is by allowing affliction to come into our lives. AFFLICTION. The sad things that make us ask, "Why God? How could you allow these things to happen?" The answer is because God wants us to look to him.<br /><br />Lets look at two verses in Psalm 119:<br />V.67 - "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word."<br />V.71 - "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."<br />What was it about affliction that brought David back to obeying God’s Word? Somehow the affliction in his life made David realize that he needed God. And it broke him from his independence and brought him back to communion and fellowship.<br /><br />And I wonder if the terrible tragedies of life that make us ask, "Why," don’t still happen for the very same purpose? To bring us back home into fellowship with the Father? Matt. 11:28-30.<br /><br />We lost three wonderful relationships years ago. Our relationships with ourselves, with others and with God. And everything God has done since then has been to try and bring us back home ... to Him.<br /><br />Future lessons:<br />WHEN GOD ACTS #2: PUNISHMENT<br />WHEN GOD ACTS #3: DISCIPLINE<br />WHEN GOD ACTS #4: REDEMPTION<br />WHEN GOD ACTS #5: WHEN JOB SUFFERED<br />WHEN GOD ACTS #6: WHEN GOD SUFFERED<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-65117813973170889262010-11-02T20:15:00.000-07:002010-11-02T20:16:22.320-07:00Crafting Words<div align="center">Crafting Words</div><br />The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse. Proverbs 10:32<br /><br />The righteous know what is fitting because they know three important things: the heart of God, the heart of others, and their own hearts.<br /><br />"The lips of the righteous know what is fitting" refers to speech. Fitting speech refers to words that are spoken at the right time to the right people in the right circumstances. Someone who handles words this appropriately are artists and craftsmen.<br /><br />My girls were excited when I arrived at home with a bunk bed kit for their room. But excitement turned to disappointment when several re-cut pieces didn’t fit and pre-drilled holes for the screws didn’t line up. Someone in the factory was careless with their measurements, cutting and drilling.<br /><br />It is too easy for our speech to be as haphazard and ill-fitting as the pieces of the bunk bed. For the wicked, speech is perverse, meaning it violates moral and societal standards. Perverse means to "turn upside down." It is immoral, offensive, and inappropriate. Children exposed to this kind of speech grow up without any internal apparatus for tuning in to spiritual thoughts or behavior.<br /><br />But inappropriate speech doesn’t just emanate from those with impure and wicked hearts, nor is it limited to that which is immoral or offensive. Inappropriate speech is that which fails to take into account people’s feelings and situations.<br /><br />One year after losing their oldest son, friends of ours were asked by a lady at church, "Are you still grieving for him? It’s been a year." She has no idea how she cut the heart of our friends. It wasn’t wickedness that prompted her cruel comment; it was simply an unsympathetic and undiscerning heart. Because she didn’t know the heart of God, the heart of her friends, or even her own heart, she spoke words that tore the spirit.<br /><br />The heart of God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, loving and faithful (Exodus 34:6). To know his heart is to walk in his kindness, showing compassion to the hurt and suffering. Someone attuned to the heart of God would never so callously dismiss the constant ache felt by grieving parents. God knows the pain of losing a son.<br /><br />Secondly, to know the heart of another person is to place ourselves in the drama of their lives and feel, as best we can imagine, the joys and hurts they experience. Though our children may be alive and healthy, can we imagine what it would be like to visit our own child in the cancer ward? Can we stretch to think what it must be like to make the funeral arrangements for our son or daughter? Such thoughts are not pleasant, but neither are they morbid if the focus of such thoughts is to enter into another’s suffering and experience life with them.<br /><br />Finally, to be able to speak words that are fitting, we must know our own hearts. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"(Jeremiah 17:9). We all have an amazing capacity for thoughts, speech and behavior that is inconsiderate, selfish, and even evil. We can become so absorbed in our own lives that we become blind or insensitive to the circumstances of others. For those of us who have never experienced loss, grieving for a year may seem like sufficient time to calm the ache of a heart. But have we really put ourselves in the place of those parents who still see the empty chair at dinner time?<br /><br />It takes a craftsman who knows wood to fashion furniture so that the pieces fit and are aesthetically pleasing. Likewise, it takes a craftsman who knows hearts to fashion words so that they fit the setting, offering peace, comfort or even rebuke, as the situation may demand. To become a craftsmen of words, studying hearts, beginning with the heart that yearns to make us righteous: God’s.<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-92206865006883361242010-10-15T07:55:00.000-07:002010-10-15T08:02:06.606-07:00Ministry to Youth<div align="center">MINISTRY TO YOUTH<br />Dan Stockstill, Ph.D., Harding University<br /><br /></div>Note: The following notes are from three sessions on youth ministry that Dr. Dan Stockstill presented at the Harding University lectures, Sept. 2010. I am presenting the notes here as I wrote them down - in a very simple, outline form. I hope they are useful. And thanks to Dan for his great class.<br /><br />_____________<br /><br />The challenge for teens - they don’t know how to grow up. What is adulthood? There is no definition. It is subjective. It is not discussed in detail in scripture. It is an assumption.<br /><br />Many churches see the ministry of the youth minister ending at high school graduation. But, where do they go next? Many churches do not have a college ministry, and they may not feel like they fit in the adult class or programs.<br /><br />When does a teen become an adult? "I am an adult when I say I am an adult." We may say they are adults when they are ready to accept the privileges and responsibilities of this life stage.<br /><br />Alvin Toffler -<br /><br />Historical periods -<br /><br />1) Agrarian Wave - 3,000 BC to 1700 AD<br />The male became an adult when he could run the farm<br />The female became an adult when she could bear offspring and manage the home.<br />Adulthood was achieved when one could function as an adult.<br /><br />2) Industrial Wave - 1700 AD to 1950<br />Adulthood - when you could get a job.<br /><br />The Agrarian model was communal - running a farm contributed to the larger clan.<br />The Industrial model is individualistic - stand apart from others.<br /><br />In the Industrial model you buy a house, but not on the farm. You have separate living arrangements. Also, there was a move from barter to money.<br /><br />3) Informational Age - 1950 - 1990<br />Information is key.<br />Education now emphasized. The GI Bill gave a new perspective on what it meant to be an adult. A watershed event was mandatory high school education (1875?). In 1904 the word adolescence entered the English language.<br /><br />In the Agrarian model everyone had to farm. The value was in having children, because then you had other hands to help on the farm.<br /><br />The Industrial era saw the development of an upper elite. The elite had education, leisure and time to think. These privileges were for only a small percentage.<br /><br />In the Information age, the longer you go to school, the longer you put off adulthood.<br />High school - college - graduate school.<br /><br />In the Agrarian model you had to toil or perish.<br /><br />4) Digital Wave 1990 -<br />Industrial wave - accumulate information<br />Informational wave - control of information<br />Digital wave - information is for everybody.<br /><br />What does it mean to be an adult?<br />When they want to be.<br /><br />How do we help them?<br />Extend family support until they can make decisions.<br /><br />In our culture what defines adulthood? Independent decision making, responsibility, managing finances, relationships (how they are formed, maintained, kept)<br /><br />The Generations<br />GI Generation<br />Boomer<br />Buster (Gen X) - in the middle<br />Millenials - about age 30<br />Digital - about 8 years<br /><br />The Industrial approach no longer applies.<br />This model segregates and separates; divides and conquers.<br />When used in churches this segregates and separates by age, grade, gender, etc.<br />Smaller churches group a wider array of ages by necessity.<br /><br />A mission - reach the ones that don’t fit.<br /><br />Our definition of adulthood affects how we interact and what we expect.<br />Ministry that segregates creates competition.<br />Isolation by generation creates generational competition over resources, time and recognition.<br /><br />System - when one part suffers it all suffers. It takes a village to create a community where it is safe for a child to become an adult. Loving, nurturing. This environment doesn’t exist elsewhere.<br /><br />The model of youth ministry for the last 40 years has been to keep good kids, good kids. We have had activities, trips for them. The unspoken message is that kids go on mission trips, to youth rallies, etc., but adults don’t - "This is what I do as a teenager, but it is not what adults do."<br /><br />Teens go on mission and fun trips. But, from about age 15 to 25 many of them become inactive. During the years 25 to 35 many become active again, but often in other religious groups. We must build intergenerational bridges.<br /><br />Questions of Adolescents (but, is really true of our whole life):<br />1) Whom Am I?<br />2) What is my community?<br />3) What is my purpose?<br />When we are young we ask these questions in the security of the home.<br /><br />Congregations must ask these questions of themselves, too. Must ask about our identity, community, and purpose in ministry.<br /><br />Interaction - invite people to mission trips who are not part of the teen generation.<br />Kids want to be respected.<br />What do we owe the kids at church? Mark 3 - Jesus asked, "Who is my family?"<br /><br />How divisive can we make our body? How do we do outreach to connect with those not in our church? What we win them with is what we win them to.<br /><br />The pursuit of a youth group is not necessarily the pursuit of a youth group in Christ. If a youth group is valued only in the box - class, devotional, leading singing - it is not big enough for a kids to give their lives to. Christianity is not defined by the box.<br /><br />We need to concentrate on what goes on outside the box - ministry to the world. That will make what goes on inside the box more relevant.<br /><br />Who is weak? Weary? Wounded? What are we going to do about it? If we focus on the box - our own little group - that is self-serving. It promotes narcissistic values. The end result of narcissism is self loathing. They end up hating what they should love.<br /><br />Images of church/worship:<br />1) Water station in a marathon race. Refreshing.<br />2) Family meal - talk about your day. But you don’t spend your whole life at the table.<br /><br />Adulthood is not the certainty of a final decision, but the certainty of direction.<br /><br />Are we giving teens tools to<br />1) Handle their questions<br />2) Place them in community?<br /><br />The single most significant cry of teens over the last 60 years has been "I’m lonely!"<br /><br />Most teens feel like an island in the sea. If they feel that way when they graduate high school, they will not be an island in the sea, but a boat in the sea, blown about. (Who knows to what they will be tossed and finally feel connected?)<br />Stuff today - like plastic. Not quite as good as the original stuff, like Facebook.<br /><br />Three key questions of pre-adults<br />1) Who Am I<br />- Giftedness<br />- Becoming<br />- Christ’s<br /><br />2) Community<br />- God<br />- Authority<br />- Same gender<br />- Opposite gender<br /><br />3) Pursuit of purpose<br />- Mission<br />- Sustaining<br />- Equipping<br /><br />How you define adulthood has a lot to do with how these questions are answered.<br /><br />Be patient and persistent<br />Are challenging a cultural norm<br />Will take extended energy before change that norm.<br /><br />How do we help young people become adults as God intended them to be?<br />Cultural norm - minor/adult. Age limit. Not always valid.<br />An adult who is weak or immature may need more legal protection than a minor.<br /><br />The church must encourage and equip.<br /><br />WHO AM I?<br />1) Giftedness.<br />The age of the individual and connection to the body may not be otherwise where we expect them to be.<br />Giftedness is not an arrival but a process.<br />Grow like Jesus. In one year, will we be more like him?<br />Governing question - what can I do to please him?<br /><br />2) Becoming<br />Purity, community, sin<br /><br />3) Christ’s<br />Be more serious in how we do church.<br />It is Christ, first, last, always.<br /><br />COMMUNITY<br />1) Authority<br />All of our authority is reflective, none inherent.<br />We all answer to God.<br /><br />2) Relationships<br />Same and opposite gender.<br /><br />PURSUIT OF PURPOSE<br />1) Mission - pursuing what God has left us to do.<br /><br />2) Sustaining - supporting those doing mission - uphold their hands.<br /><br />3) Equipping - getting people ready.<br /><br />Generational segregation leads to generational competition. How overcome?<br />1) Listen to one another’s stories, so they become our stories.<br />Kids should hear stories of grandparents - dating etc.<br />Teens would be amazed at struggles of grandparents.<br /><br />Find ways for table time to be table time.<br />This is more important than the number of songs and efficiency of delivering.<br />Hurts, helps, challenges that brothers and sisters have faced, are facing, will face.<br />Share stories. Start with our stories.<br />[Blog article - Granparents - tell your stories to your grandkids]<br /><br />2) Organize the learning of life skills.<br />Find projects to work together. Not church supporting teens doing it, but church doingit together as a group - young and old. Can be highway cleanup.<br />When people work together, they begin to work together.<br /><br />Think about intentional bridging.<br />Mix and match instead of segregating.<br />Parents and teens open Word together.<br />Family devotions - can’t jump start. Equip.<br />Everyone in congregation has something to do. Ex. A 4 year old can pick up bulletins lying in pews.<br /><br />Tom Sawyer - getting people to do job. How?<br />1) Make it appear it takes someone special to do it.<br />2) They invest themselves to make it work.<br />3) He projects an image they buy into.<br /><br />IF WE MAKE IT A PROGRAM WE WILL DESTROY IT.<br /><br />Do not be negative, be positive.<br />Not a public speech, but a personal connection. "I need help with this."<br />Thousands heard Jesus, 120 (or 12) changed the world.<br /><br />Mentor. Mark 3:14. To be with him, 3:6<br />Try to get adults to help teens.<br />Get teens to help adults. Prayer.<br />(Tutor sewing. Make bags for single moms)<br />Find something for everyone. Good at counting? Count kids on a trip :)<br /><br />God’s grace is without limit, his gifts are without limit.<br />Gifts - find someone who is good at finding people’s gifts.<br /><br />Things we can do immediately<br />1) Integrate teen and parents of teens. Small groups.<br />2) "Teen explosion" - break up. Have to sit with someone you normally don’t.<br /><br />3) Be willing to learn from others. "I want to learn your songs" instead of "I want you to learn my songs."<br /><br />God sets the orphans and widows in family. (cf. Psalm 68:6)<br />Mentoring - woman-teen girl; man-teen boy<br />The only work is to pick a mentor. Do stuff together. Whatever the lady wants to do with the girl, or man with the boy.<br /><br />On new kids who are destructive to the building - "If we let them abuse our stuff like they abused Jesus, then we are starting to live like Jesus."<br /><br />Everyone is worth something and Christ paid the cost.<br /><br />Dan Stockstill<br /><br />Mentoring<br /><br />Working from some of the suggestions by Dan, I have begun setting up mentoring relationships in our church between adults and teens. Some of the following materials and ideas are to be shared in a meeting with the mentors before they begin meeting with their mentoree. I’m still working on this, and will make changes/additions as they develop.<br /><br />For mentoring program:<br />1) George Smythe article on respecting teens<br />2) Mentoring purpose statement<br />3) What mentoring is:<br />4) Mentoring form<br />Date _______________________<br />Nature of visit ___________________________<br />To commend ______________________________<br />To be concerned about _____________________________<br /><br />(3 on a page)<br /><br />5) Assessment form<br />Name of Mentor _______________________________________________<br />Name of Mentoree _____________________________________________<br />Number of visits _______________________________________________<br />What were some good things about your visits:<br /><br />What are some things in the life of your mentoree that we need to encourage (e.g., pursuing their education, work habits, relationships, self-esteem, etc.)<br /><br />Mentoring<br />1) All good kids. Not trying to help them overcome criminal orientation (that we know of)<br />2) Light-hearted, fun. Just trying to get to know them better; connect.<br />3) Guidelines:<br />A] Lunch, dessert in your home, attend sporting event together.<br />B] Talk. Some openers -<br />How was your day?<br />What is your favorite sport? What do you like about it?<br />What is your favorite subject in school? What do you like about it?<br />Have you thought about going to college? Where?<br />C] Key off of their answers for further conversation.<br />Tell part of your story.<br />If they talk about struggling in school, tell them about a struggle you had in school.<br />If they are heart-broken over a relationship, tell them about a dating struggle you had.Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-59711955980061572292010-10-09T21:50:00.000-07:002010-10-10T12:50:53.109-07:00Baptism and Identification<div align="center">BAPTISM AND IDENTIFICATION<br />Matthew 3:13-17</div><br /><br /><p>Jesus came to John to be baptized and John was reluctant to do it. "I need to be baptized by you," he said. "And you are coming to me?"<br /><br />I understand John’s hesitation. John baptized for repentance and the remission of sins (Mark 1:4). Of what sins did Jesus have to repent? What sins did he have to wash away? None. So why be baptized?<br /><br />John felt confused and unworthy. "I need to be baptized by you!" John is a great guy! He proclaims the Word. He is the forerunner of Jesus. But is he worthy to baptize Jesus? He didn’t think so.<br /><br />Jesus said: "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (V.15). "It is proper" means God wants it. It is to "fulfill all righteousness" means it is doing God’s will. But why, if Jesus has no sin? In his baptism Jesus is doing something important in relation to his Father and to us.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Jesus is identifying with God and his purpose for life</strong>.<br /><br />God always calls for his people to declare their allegiance to him. "Chose you this day whom you will serve ..." (Joshua 24:15). God gives his people numerous ways to identify with him - the moral laws, ceremonial laws and cleanliness laws. All of these were for his people to tell the culture around them, "We belong to God." Anyone in the gentile nations could look at a faithful Hebrew and say, "They don’t live like us. They live for their God." That is identification.<br /><br />Jesus’ baptism did that. Jesus was saying, "I belong to God. I humble myself to his will and his ministry for me." It was bold commitment and humble obedience. God responded with lavish praise to his son’s baptism:<br /><br />"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (16-17).<br /><br />Humble obedience pleases God whether it is rendered by Jesus or by us.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Jesus is identifying with his people</strong>.<br /><br />In baptism Jesus identified with everyone else who was baptized. "Jesus thereby shows his solidarity with his people in their need."3<br /><br />Jesus’ ministry was one of humble obedience. He walked among people and bore their struggles. He wept with them, struggled against the religious establishment with them and listened to them. Jesus healed people. He bore their sin on the cross. Jesus also took on the humble, obedient nature of a servant in baptism. He had no sin and no rebellion but he identified with sinners and rebellious people.<br /><br />To fulfill all righteousness Jesus was baptized. Jesus was the unique son of God, born of a virgin. He was a powerful worker of miracles and the triumphant king. Jesus was also a humble, obedient servant. Jesus’ humility and obedience beckons us. Jesus calls us, even today. "Follow me. I obey the Father. You, too, can obey the Father."<br /><br /><br /><strong>Our baptism</strong>.<br /><br />John baptized people for repentance and remission of sins. Later, Jesus’ baptism would be for this but would include the dispensing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16). Today in baptism we receive the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit. In baptism we experience what Jesus did.<br /><br />Like Jesus, when we are baptized we identify with God. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came upon him. When we are baptized the Holy Spirit comes upon us (Acts 2:38). When Jesus was baptized he was identified as the son of God. When we are baptized we are identified as sons of God (Gal. 3:26,27).<br /><br />Secondly, when we are baptized we identify ourselves with other followers of God (Acts 2:41; 1 Cor. 12:13). We don’t live the Christian life alone. We identify with other followers and live in community with them.<br /><br />The Optimist, Rotary and Kiwanis clubs all have initiation rites for new members. The ceremony welcoming new members has nothing to do with the cleansing of sin or recognizing passage from rebellion to humble submission to God. But their initiation ceremony does offer a chance for the new member to identify himself to and with the group. After learning about the club a person may decide, "I want to be a part of this group." The initiation ceremony becomes his or her opportunity to officially identify themselves as a club member.<br /><br />Members in these clubs receive a pin and new member packet recognizing their status in the club. Jesus’ baptism accomplished that ... and more. Jesus received the accolades of heaven: heaven was torn open, God manifested himself in the form of a dove that descended upon Jesus, and the voice of God spoke affirmingly. Now, all who so desire can have fulfilled in their hearts what Isaiah prayed for years ago: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down ..." God has torn open the heavens and he has come down in the form of Jesus, the dove, and the spoken word. The dynamic for this revelation of God is the baptism of Jesus.<br /><br />I’ve never performed a baptism where the heavens opened, a dove descended, and the authoritative voice of God spoke from on high. But I know from scripture that any baptism today performed as scripture teaches is no less significant in what it offers to our lives: identification with Jesus and his people. </p><br /><br /><p><strong>Addendum</strong><br /><br />The following story isn’t about baptism, but it is about identification. I think it captures some of the thought of what it means to identify with Christ and others at a deep level. To identify with us, Jesus not only submitted to baptism, he submitted to emptying himself and leaving heaven to dwell for awhile on earth. He deprived himself and suffered for the sake of those he was seeking to redeem. Some of that is captured in the following story.<br /><br />John Austin is 13 year old living in Hong Kong. Last week he was in a bike accident and received a corneal scratch. His eye bled and he had to go to a top pediatric ophthalmologist. The doctor told John’s parents that the scratch will heal and the blood clots drain. The blurry vision will go away and John will eventually see clearly again. But there is more to the story.<br /><br />As John was suffering with his painful eye he received a text message from a Japanese girl and classmate of John’s. She wrote,"I know I am not a Christian, but I want you to know that I have been praying for you."<br /><br />John Austin was thrilled and told his mother, "You know Mom, as bad as this is for me, it would sure be worth it if my friend came to know Christ because of my pain."<br /><br />I would say this young man knows something about identification with Jesus and his people. He is willing to suffer for the kingdom, like Jesus, and he is willing to suffer for the redemption of others.<br /><br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwT6L_LYX4p-eeJcI8HG6bOEYt7KJQS6tCtFTLiThoKv_TA1BFhcT8o4OZvXxobAwDb33bOZBne-TnIrD9s1uIVs5B5V-PEAGanJb0l-N0jW-I7ga6b0ag4XIvHzehcyOHIdVehwpmYuQn/s1600/IMG_0138.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526505765542667794" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 134px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwT6L_LYX4p-eeJcI8HG6bOEYt7KJQS6tCtFTLiThoKv_TA1BFhcT8o4OZvXxobAwDb33bOZBne-TnIrD9s1uIVs5B5V-PEAGanJb0l-N0jW-I7ga6b0ag4XIvHzehcyOHIdVehwpmYuQn/s200/IMG_0138.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p></p><p>I think the Spirit of God must still be saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Anytime we so identify with God’s purposes and God’s people the heart of the Father is pleased.</p>(You can read about John Austin's story at <a href="http://everydayadventuresinfaith.blogspot.com/2010/10/real-time-application.html">Everyday Adventures in Faith</a>).<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-36439641115756118712010-10-08T07:31:00.000-07:002010-10-08T07:33:57.817-07:00Two Problems with Forgiveness<div align="center">Two Problems With Forgiveness<br />Micah 7:18-20</div><p><br />Read Micah 3:1-5. Where is God? How do we know he is there, especially when evil things are going on as described in Micah 3?<br /><br />Micah 3 affirms that the way you treat others has removed you from God. If you treat others abusively, you can call God, but will get a busy signal.<br />V.1 - You will know justice (but not in a way they will like!)<br />V. 2- You hate the good and love the evil. You tear the skin from off my people<br />V.3 - You eat the flesh of my people; break their bones. You chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron<br /><br />Micah is describing cannibalism. Are they literally cannibals? Probably not. This is likely a reference to how they are abusing people, usually financially. Micah 2:9 says they drive women from their homes; deprive children of their inheritance. We use the term "skinning" people in reference to financial abuse.<br /><br />But in ch.4 God doesn’t completely give up on people. This describes how life could be if people followed God. Ch.5 offers a prophecy of a king to be born in Bethlehem. Israel is called to be a good force in the world.<br /><br />What does God expect of us?<br />Ch. 6 - Summons to court. God goes to court with Israel to see who is right. Israel is found guilty. Ch. 7 - Lament. Micah is waiting on the Lord. And the people need forgiveness.<br /><br />Two fundamental problems with forgiveness.<br />1) We confuse our inability to forgive with God’s ability to forgive.<br />2) We sometimes don’t feel forgiven because we don’t feel good enough to be forgiven.<br />Feeling forgiven is a major issue in forgiveness.<br /><br />(Stories of hurt and forgiveness.)<br /><br />Micah 3:1-2 - If anybody should be forgiven, it is certainly not these people! These people are like cannibals. That is how they are described. But God is bigger then any of our sins. And this chapter is not the last word in Micah.<br /><br />Micah 7:18b - God delights in being merciful; forgiving. This is a great verse to memorize - God does "not stay angry forever but delights to show mercy."<br /><br />Seven affirmations about forgiveness: Micah 7:18-20<br />1) God pardons us. 7:18b<br />Pardon means "to lift off." God lifts off our sin.<br /><br />Overview of Leviticus<br />1] Chs. 1-15 - about worship (sacrifices)<br />2] Chs. 17-27 (the end) - how to live after forgiven.<br />3] Ch. 16 - Other chapters revolve around this one.<br /><br />Ch. 16 is about the Day of Atonement.<br />Atonement is about forgiveness. Ch.16 is about how their sins are forgiven. Two goats are brought forward. One is sacrificed. Then the sins of the people are place on the other goad. The sins of people are taken off - lifted off - and put on back of the goat. The goat is then taken to the wilderness. V.20-22<br /><br />2) God forgiveness us. 7:18b<br />Forgiveness means he passes over transgressions. Remember the plagues on Egypt. Pharaoh’s heart was hard. The most severe plague was death. Blood placed on door post - death passed over. Same terms.<br /><br />3) God does not stay angry forever. 7:18c<br />Exodus 32:27-28 - example of the wrath of God. He kills the Israelites with the sword for making and worshiping golden calf. About 3,000 killed.<br /><br />Exodus 34:6 - the love of God. "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." Then, 7b reminds us that God will punish the disobedient and unrepentant. 34:6 - "Slow to anger." Literally translated as "Does not have long nose." Something concrete to explain an abstract concept. The Hebrews believed anger originated in the nose.</p><p>4) God delights in showing mercy. 7:18c<br />Word for mercy is chesed. Means steadfast love (ESV); mercy (NIV). Good translation - loyal.<br /><br />In Hebrew this word is void of emotion. Has nothing to do with how we feel. How we feel does not matter; not a part of chesed. Chesed is an act of the will. A decision to be with someone. It is an act of God’s will to be loyal to his people; to forgive them.<br /><br />5) He has compassion on us. 7:19a<br />Compassion is gentleness. Another concrete word - compassion refers to a woman’s womb. The verb means, "show compassion." The imagery in Hebrew - the way a woman feels about her unborn baby in her womb is how God feels for us.<br /><br />6) He treads our sins underfoot. 7:19b<br />It means he stamps sin underneath him.<br />Ancient practice - soldiers would walk on the corpses of those they killed. Showed complete triumph over their enemies. That is what God does to our sin. He destroys it; stomps on it.<br /><br />7) God throws our sin into the depths of the sea. 7:19c<br />Exodus 14 - God parted the Red Sea. When Egyptians tried to cross, were drowned in the depths of the sea. God takes our sins to the deepest part of the ocean and drowns them there.<br /><br />Forgiveness<br /><br />Here are seven positive affirmations about how God handles sin in the one who is penitent. Seven is a complete number. Means God has done everything to remove our sin from us.<br /><br />Remember the two fundamental problems with forgiveness.<br />1) We confuse our inability to forgive with God’s ability to forgive.<br />2) We sometimes don’t feel forgiven because we don’t feel good enough to be forgiven.<br />Feeling forgiven is a major issue in forgiveness.<br /><br />But, we must also remember ...<br />God forgives, not because we are good enough, but because he is good enough.<br />1) God’s forgiveness involves forgetting.<br />2) God’s forgiveness involves grace. God is good enough.<br /><br />If you are struggling with feeling forgiven, God says, "What you can’t forget I can’t remember. What you are not good enough to do, I am."<br /><br />What freedom from guilt and shame God gives us!<br /><br />Note: Dr. Harold Shank of OC presented this lesson at the Kansas Men’s Retreat in September, 2010. These are his notes that I took, with some of my thoughts added in. It was an excellent lesson that I wanted to share with you.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin </p>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-45961677031994345282010-09-17T13:25:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:36:34.113-07:00Taking A Pounding<div><div><div><div align="center">Conversion of Paul<br />Acts 9:1-19</div><div><br /><strong><em>The Nail</em></strong><br /><br />A nail is only useful after it has been pounded on. Before that it is only an item-in-waiting, hidden away in some drawer or a tool box in a garage.<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGX1Xnj5G484rbeX8pPNnCqGihsz-Y-cQE8yLtsxQ1BkX88SdNzCf2WFvQZ6YcQlBZ16eE7ds92bjiPCN-yKqUcp_zAkMW0D8ANd_ikvLr8kbyYfLv_EAoztuFIT7n4ooitd0zXYv9BGi/s1600/104_4174.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517983001019703778" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGX1Xnj5G484rbeX8pPNnCqGihsz-Y-cQE8yLtsxQ1BkX88SdNzCf2WFvQZ6YcQlBZ16eE7ds92bjiPCN-yKqUcp_zAkMW0D8ANd_ikvLr8kbyYfLv_EAoztuFIT7n4ooitd0zXYv9BGi/s200/104_4174.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div><br />Sometimes we feel like a nail that is being pounded on. Events of life can often beat on us, battering our bodies and emotions. It may be an illness, financial woes, or mistreatment by other people. Why? Why do painful things happen to us?<br /><br />1) Sometimes it is just life. There is no apparent reason except that "life happens."<br /><br />2) It may be that we deserve some of the pounding. Some of our own behavior may be coming back to haunt us. Rudeness invites rudeness; lack of saving invites a gaunt retirement; laziness invites hunger.<br /><br />3) It may be that we are the innocent victim of someone else’s evil. The evil are always looking for opportunities to take and harm. There have always been such people. "Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand." Micah 2:1<br /><br />4) And it may be that God is pounding us to break our hard and stubborn hearts.</div><div><br /><strong><em>Paul’s Pharisaic Mission Work</em></strong><br /><br />When Paul set out on his mission trip he did so with a clear conscience and the full expectation that he was God’s righteous ambassador. But his heart and mouth was full of "murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples" (Acts 9:1). He was going to purge the synagogue of Damascus. If he found any in the synagogue who were Christians, he was going to take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. There they would stand trial before the Sanhedrin.<br /><br />This was not Paul’s first "mission work." When the preacher Stephen was killed with stones by angry Jews who rejected Jesus, Paul was there offering his full assistance. He watched over the clothing of the witnesses to Stephen’s death. These witnesses probably removed their outer robes to be better able to cast the stones. Paul approved of this murder (Acts 8:1).<br /><br />The next we read of Paul is in chapter 9 when he begins his journey to Damascus to persecute Christians. But, there is a long gap between 8:1 and 9:1. In this gap Paul was on many other missions to harass Christians. That story is told in Acts 26:9-11:<br /><br />I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.<br /><br />The fuller picture of Paul in Acts is that he was exactly what he describes in Philippians 3: proud, over-confident, self-righteous, and yet, amazingly, very religious.<br /><br />If anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more; circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. (Phil. 3:4a-6)<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>Religion vs. Relationship</em></strong><br /><br />One of the scariest things about religion is that it often serves to make us<br />feel righteous, even when we shouldn’t and<br />feel justified, even when aren’t.<br /><br />As a Pharisee in good standing Paul saw it as his duty to uphold the tradition of the elders of Israel. This didn’t mean he preached and supported the Old Testament; it meant he stood for the very traditions Jesus condemned in Matthew 15:8-9. A host of traditions grew up in Israel. These traditions included issues of cleanliness, righteousness, who was in and who was outside of Israel, and fellowship.<br /><br />In time, these traditions became even more important than scripture in dictating terms of faithfulness to Israel and standing with God. If a story from the Bible didn’t fit with their new traditions, Israel neglected them. So, Israel forgot some of the beautiful stories of God’s grace and compassion, like his care for the Gentile widow from Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-16) and the Gentile warrior, Naaman of Syria (2 Kings 5:1-14). God’s love extended to all people everywhere.<br /><br />But the job of the Pharisee became to narrow the scope of God’s grace and mercy to just a few people. First, it was narrowed down to those of Israel. Then, it was narrowed down even finer, where only a chosen few within Israel were right. The Pharisees were able to dismiss many within Israel as a "mob that knows nothing of the law - there is a curse on them!" (John 7:49). How is that for a loving disposition by spiritual shepherds over Israel?<br /><br />What the Pharisees missed was the relationship God desires to have with people. They were making a connection with God contingent on following the letter of the law perfectly, something no one could do. They reduced truth to formulas, rulings and creeds. They failed to see that at the heart of truth is a man: Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Yes, God calls for our obedience, and Jesus says that we will be his friend if will do what he says (John 14:23; 15:14). And what does Jesus call us to do? "A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).<br /><br />God wants a relationship with us. He sent Jesus to be the basis and means of that relationship. This relationship would provide for eternal life, abundant life now and everlasting life later.<br /><br />And Paul, along with many of the other Pharisees, missed that. He saw the Christians not properly following the Pharisaic laws, and he saw them following after this strange Galilean, Jesus, and he wanted to stop them, even punish them. He was full of zeal for the traditions of his fathers and thought he was in the right. Even when he helped kill the Christians.<br /><br />How do you get the attention of someone like that?<br /><br /><strong><em>The Hammer</em></strong><br /><br />A nail is only useful when it has been pounded and beaten. Prior to that, a nail serves no real purpose. But, pound that nail into a wall and you can hang a hat or picture on it. Pound enough nails into some lumber and you have a house. It is only through beating and pounding that a nail becomes truly useful. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzxbYOxRq-3Ts7qORArokDhsqeQ5lxKkV8G0hOXYxTRcJWMti2IAximD0PNjp1w27y1uCBZ4fMLU1MG9_ivt8kXbP5lJKHip5ZRa2iRND-S9agz4KSHcKxU86sJCxj-dDWjgvJphTd2Wz/s1600/104_4176.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517983004341284034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzxbYOxRq-3Ts7qORArokDhsqeQ5lxKkV8G0hOXYxTRcJWMti2IAximD0PNjp1w27y1uCBZ4fMLU1MG9_ivt8kXbP5lJKHip5ZRa2iRND-S9agz4KSHcKxU86sJCxj-dDWjgvJphTd2Wz/s200/104_4176.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />I wonder if that isn’t why we sometimes get beaten and pounded in this life? God is trying to make us into something useful. Even if the observable reasons seem to be that it is just the misfortunes of life, or we deserve it, or we are victims, maybe the real reason is that God is shaping us.<br /></div><div>Could that be what happened to Paul?<br /><br />On the way to his Pharisaic "mission," a bright light flashed from heaven and blinded Paul. The voice that spoke to him said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." (Acts 9:5).<br /><br />For three days Paul was blind. For three days he didn’t eat or drink. He had to be led around. Paul, the fiery, independent reformer bent on eradicating all signs of Christianity from Judaism, was reduced to a helpless, dependent child. The Bible gives us no indication of what he must have been thinking during those dark three days. Fear? Panic? Self-doubt? "Woe is me!"? We have no idea. But we know that he was helpless. Right now his self-righteous posture was failing him miserably.<br /><br />Then the preacher came. Ananias laid hands on him. Paul’s eyes were healed and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately he got up and was baptized.<br /><br />Why baptized? We know from other verses in the Bible that it has to do with sins being remitted (Acts 2:38) and being added to the body (1 Cor. 12:13). These certainly applied to Paul as well (Acts 22:16). And I think the immediate motivation for Paul is that he finally realized his legalistic righteousness availed him nothing. Everything of the flesh that he prided himself in - circumcision, pedigree, legalism and zeal - all failed him. Later, he considered all of these things as rubbish (dung, KJV; Phil. 3:8).<br /><br />Baptism is a humbling experience. It means we accept that our own efforts to be righteous are not only insufficient, they are wrong. Legalistic righteousness, or self-righteousness, condemns. It keeps us from a saving relationship with Christ. Baptism means that we are no longer lord; Christ is now Lord (Romans 10:9).<br /><br />In three days of humbling darkness Paul learned righteousness-by-law didn’t work, and he learned he wasn’t lord over his own circumstances anymore. He needed Jesus Christ. And when he received his sight he was baptized. Receiving his sight meant more than just seeing with his eyes; it seems to mean he could also see with his heart.<br /><br />Paul was pounded on like a nail. And it hurt. But as a result of that pounding Paul became a Christian, and he became one of the greatest evangelists of the first century. The pounding he took made him into a useful instrument for the kingdom.<br /><br /><strong><em>Useful Today?</em></strong><br /><br />Does that same principle of taking a beating work today? Can the things we suffer make us into useful instruments for God and other people?<br /><br />I think of a young wife who lost her husband in the current war. He died of complications from his wounds four years after they occurred. During those four years she had the constant companionship of other wives whose husbands were severely wounded and handicapped. Now, she feels a separation from them. Also, her situation isn’t exactly like other wives whose husbands died over there and were brought back as heroes. She feels so alone she wrote an article about her experience. This woman has taken a terrible pounding that is so unfortunate and unfair. But she is finding something useful now. As a result of her writing she has found other widows in a similar situation, and she is building a whole new support system.<br /><br />I have a friend who took a pounding from drugs. His health suffered. His finances suffered. He was arrested and taken to jail. He went in for rehab. Later he went on to college to get a counseling degree, and today he counsels other addicts.<br /><br />You may be taking a beating today and think it is terribly unfair. And it may be. But it may also be a summons for you to see what God is trying to do in your life. For Paul it was to be baptized and become an evangelist. For a young widow it was to become a writer. For an addict it was to become a counselor. Instead of worrying and getting angry at the injustices in your life, ask instead, "God, where are you leading me?" And keep your heart open.<br /><br />Warren Baldwin</div></div></div></div>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-21488845482042502202010-09-10T00:57:00.000-07:002010-09-10T07:41:08.504-07:00How Can God Use Me?<div align="center">HOW CAN GOD USE ME?<br />1 Samuel 17</div><p>Have you ever asked "How can God use me?" That question will have different answers for different people.<br /><br />Jack Lewis is an intellectual giant among preachers. He has two Ph.D.s, one from Harvard and one from Hebrew Union. When he was young he listened to a sermon about one of the prophets. The preacher talked about how the prophet may not have had much to offer, but he was willing to give God what he had - himself. And then God could use that however he wanted.<br /><br />Jack said, "I listened to that preacher. His lesson wasn’t particularly outstanding in its development, but it emphasized something I needed to hear then. God could use any man who was willing to be used. I determined to do what I could with my life in service to God."<br /><br />Years later Jack had his two Ph.D.s and began teaching at a Christian school. Today he can boast that he has trained as many preachers, missionaries and Bible professors as any other teacher in his church’s fellowship, all because he asked, "How can God use me?"<br /><br />One night in the mid 1990s Jack would stand outside of the mansion at the graduate school that housed the faculty offices. Fifty years of his research and work was in the building. In the middle of the night fire billowed out of the broken windows. Jack stood there with his wife Annie Mae and said, "There goes a whole life’s work up in flames." Annie Mae said, "That’s not your life’s work, Jack, books and papers and notes. Your life’s work is out in the field preaching the gospel." And they were. Thousands of guys. All because Jack asked, "How can God use me?"<br /><br />God’s answer to that question for you may be different. I have friends who serve as missionaries in Africa, Brazil, Europe, Asia, the Unites States and Canada. The serve in those places because they asked, "How can God use me?"<br /><br />I have friends who are firemen and emergency personnel. I have friends who are school teachers, nurses, doctors, mechanics. I have friends who are construction workers and big game guides. They faithfully serve God in ways he makes available to them. The question they ask is, "How can God use me?" The answer to that question may differ for us individually. But let’s make sure we asked the question. And let’s listen to God’s answer.<br /><br />A young boy once asked, "How can God use me?" I don’t know if he actually asked the question out loud, verbally. But it was in his heart. And God answered his question.<br /><br />"Be a servant to your brothers. Help them out."<br /><br />"My brothers? You have to be kidding? God, when I asked, ‘How can you use me?,’ I wasn’t asking to be a servant boy. Don’t you have anything else for me to do?"<br /><br />God must have said, "He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. I want to see how you handle the little chores. Do as I say. Serve your brothers."<br /><br />"Ok, Lord, I will serve. What shall I do?"<br /><br />"Take some food to your brothers and their boss."<br /><br />No service in the name of Jesus Christ is really "small service." We use that term: "serving God in the ‘small things.’" But the small things are often big things. A $1.00 bolt that gets left out<br />of an airplane can cause millions in damages, not to mention loss of life. What is the real value of a $1.00 bolt on an airplane if it is carrying our family members?<br /><br />In Matt. 25 we see a glimpse into the heart of God regarding the "small things" we do in his name. (Verse.34-40) The small things become big things when done in the name of Jesus.<br /><br />How can God use me?<br /><br />"Ok, Father, I’ll take the food to my brothers." This young man was about to learn that faithfulness in the small things opens doors of opportunities to the big things.<br /><br />Jesse knew he was sending his son into a war scene. But did he think his son would be in the war? I doubt it. What kind of a father would let his son go off into a war unprepared? Untrained? (1 Samuel 17:17-19)<br /><br />But God knew. God knew it was a war scene. And God let David go. What kind of a God is he? A God who can see things we can not. God knew there were two battles being waged that day in the valley of Elah.</p><p align="left">One battle was being waged by Goliath, a big hunk of a man. Nine feet tall, armor weighing 125 to 200 pounds. His shield was larger than a man. Everyday Goliath would come out and taunt and challenge the armies of God. (17:8-11) Everyday his insolence and bravado sent chills into the hearts of Saul and his men.<br /><br />This was David’s first battle scene so far as we know. And it was a big one. All the soldiers knew that. None of them would take up Goliath’s challenge. They cowered in fear.<br /><br />And then David said, "I’ll go fight him."<br /><br />"You? You’re only a boy, a delivery boy. You do good with bread and cheese. But that guy out there is not a sandwich. He is a soldier. A big one. He’d break you in half with his bare hands."<br /><br />And David said again, "Let me go. I’ll fight him." When he tried on the armor he said, "I can’t wear that stuff."<br /><br />With the blessing of the commander David ran down to the stream. He looked into the<br />clear water for the stones he wanted. He picked out some smooth ones, put them into his bag and went after the bear of a man.<br /><br />Goliath wasn’t impressed. (V.41-44) And David wasn’t impressed with Goliath. He ran at him with his sling, threw the rock and knocked the giant to the ground. David won.<br /><br /><strong><em> He started out delivering cheese and he ended up delivering Israel.<br /> He started out tightening $1.00 bolts and ended up flying the plane.<br /></em></strong><br /></p><p>And it all started with an attitude of heart: "God, how can you use me?"<br /><br />I told you there were two battlefields that day. One was in the valley of Elah. A valley where men pitched tents, cooked over open fires, sharpened swords, tested their bow strings, and laid awake at night worrying about the next day. A battle where men hurled insults and challenges to each other. A battle where men dreamed of killing.<br /><br />The other battlefield that day was pretty much ignored by most people. It still is today. It was the battlefield of heart.<br /><br />This battle was really fought and won in someplace other than the valley of Elah. For David it began sometime before. In 1 Sam. 16:12 God told Samuel, "I pick the boy David." Then, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David IN POWER (16:13).<br /><br />Fighting a giant was really nothing to David. The spirit of God reigned in his heart. Fields of battle are much easier to win after you’ve won the battle of the heart. That is why David could say to Goliath, "I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty" (17:45). And, "This day the Lord will hand you over to me." This wasn’t really David’s battle - it was God’s.<br /><br />And this explains why Saul wouldn’t fight Goliath. 1 Sam. 16:14 says the spirit of Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit took his place. Saul lost the great battle, the battle of the heart. So Goliath really was a giant to him.<br /><br />On that day many years ago there were two battles. One between armies. One in the hearts of men. In a sense, Golaith doesn’t even matter in the story. He was only filler. The real story was about a young boy who asked, "God, how can you use me?"<br /><br />What do you think God’s answer to you will be when you ask that question?<br /><br />Warren Baldwin </p>Warren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356165572268105449.post-52802717814713765292010-08-10T09:33:00.000-07:002010-08-10T09:35:04.181-07:00A Cheerful Look<div align="center">A CHEERFUL LOOK</div><br />A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. Proverbs 15:30<br /><br />Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation...." (Walden). Thoreau applied this saying to men whose work is oppressive and they fail to find satisfaction and enjoyment. But, it could equally apply to those who suffer in silence from any number of blows life can deliver. Think of a family that struggles financially all their lives but never gets their head above water. They miss vacations, new vehicles and a retirement program they hear so many others talk about.<br /><br />Think also of a family that struggles with perpetual health issues. They can’t eat this; they can’t eat that. As neighborhood children gather to play baseball and football, their son or daughter watches from the safety of the living room window, but inside they hurt with a burning desire to be out there among friends, having fun.<br /><br />A middle-aged man faces his failure everyday. Co-workers receive significant promotions and raises while he still languishes in obscurity. None of his hard work and devotion has caught the attention of company executives. He’ll end his career largely where it began, low on the rung of corporate position and pay scale.<br /><br />Every teenage boy and girl knows the feeling of quiet desperation. Every teenager at some point feels alone, isolated, judged and unworthy. It may be acne, a body that doesn’t measure up to the image of feminine beauty or masculine toughness, or general insecurity, but every teenager has felt those devastating emotions. More than few adults have, as well.<br /><br />A mother of a special needs child wrote this a couple of weeks before Christmas: "We did skip Christmas last year. We had the Christmas morning thing with Stephen and my parents came by on Christmas Eve to bring his presents, but we skipped our family get together. That’s right. No "Mia’s famous cheese ball", no cakes, pies or fudge. No eggnog, no hot apple cider. Baaah! It was almost as if Ebenezer Scrooge himself lived here (before his transformation). When did I start disliking the holidays so? What used to be my favorite time of year is now something I dread like a root canal. No, that isn’t true. I’d rather have a root canal. I think as Stephen has gotten bigger and the care giving has gotten more difficult, I’ve gotten older and more arthritic. Therefore, the part of me that once enjoyed doing those things was shoved aside as real life, as we know it, forced its way in. I want to enjoy the holidays, I just don’t have the strength to get there. Exhaustion is a wicked, wicked little monster."<br /><br />The feelings of weariness, failure, aloneness and futility assail most everyone at some point. When those emotions linger they become stifling and oppressive. Elsewhere the Sage writes, "All the days of the oppressed are wretched" (Prov. 15:15a).<br /><br />Writing and reading this seems heavy, even oppressive. But, it is the stuff of life, and Proverbs is not afraid of tackling some of the stickiest burdens we face. Proverbs acknowledges that sometimes the painful issues of life attack without mercy and leave our hearts hurting and bones aching.<br /><br />Proverbs 15:30 addresses the inner being of a person. The heart is the center of emotions and thoughts. It is the inner concept we have of ourselves. We may feel like we are a failure, an outcast, a worthless being. These kinds of negative impressions of ourselves can come from the way others treat us or from our own misbehavior. When David summed up his feelings about his sin with Bathsheba he wrote, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). David wanted purity of heart to replace the sinful images he had of Bathsheba. But I think he also wanted to feel freedom from condemnation. We repent after we sin and know in our heads that God has forgiven us. But can’t we sometimes carry that shame and reproach of that sin, and we can’t feel the freedom of forgiveness? I think that is what is troubling David.<br /><br />David writes further, "Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones you have crushed rejoice" (v.8). God didn’t literally crush David’s bones. But David is feeling such intense inner pain it is as if his bones are fractured. You can’t do much with fractured bones. You may not be able to stand, walk or lift anything. Life shuts down. A fractured spirit does the same thing to us. The weight of failure, shame and loneliness can shut us down like a fractured leg. "Heal me," David pleads. Let the feeling of fractured bones deep in my heart heal so I can enjoy life again."<br /><br />What can we do for someone we may know suffering from any of these debilitating emotions? Proverbs 15:30 mentions two things we can do for the weary spirit.<br /><br />One, we can give them a cheerful look. A cheerful look may be as simple as a smile or a kind greeting. But the effect of the cheerful look is immeasurable. The cheerful look is "probably the eyes of persons whose good demeanor encourages those with whom they come in to contact" (Tremper Longman, Proverbs, p.323). A sincere cheerful look communicates forgiveness, value, and dignity. That gives fresh hope and life to an aching heart that thinks it is unworthy.<br /><br />Two, we can speak good news. "Good news gives health to the bones." Sometimes it is hard to know how to speak good news. What do you say to someone who has lost a job, their health, or a loved one? Great care must be given. Ultimately, good news is associated with what we know about Jesus: he loves us, he values us, and he wants to forgive us, no matter what we have done.<br /><br />The Luke 7 woman could tell us about a cheerful look and good news from Jesus. In her quiet desperation she barged into a luncheon of Jesus and some important Pharisees. She was a sinful woman, and everyone there knew that. When she touched Jesus feet one of the Pharisees thought to himself, "How could Jesus let her touch him? She is a sinner!" Implied in his evaluation of this woman was derision and disgust. No doubt the woman felt the eyes of the Pharisees boring into her with the unspoken message: "You make me sick."<br /><br />But Jesus let her touch his feet. Then, looking at the woman, he spoke to Simon the Pharisee and said, "Her many sins have been forgiven - for she has loved much." Remember, he spoke to the Pharisee, but looked a the woman as he spoke. And what do you think his stare was like? I’ll bet it was cheerful. Jesus gave a cheerful look and good news to this desperate woman. Then he told her, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." She could go in peace because Jesus brought joy to her heart and given health to her bones.<br /><br />A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. We know the one who delivers joy and is the good news - Jesus. We have experienced his healing.<br /><br />There is a mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation. We can’t change their circumstances. They still have to work jobs that may not be fulfilling, work through feelings of failure, loneliness and worthlessness, and struggle with health issues. But we can help change their lives. We can deliver joy and health with the power of our look and the story we tell of Jesus.<br /><br />Warren BaldwinWarren Baldwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956713921509659993noreply@blogger.com5