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Oct 16
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How To Lead Someone To Christ Without The Sinners Prayer

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If we don’t lead people in the “sinner’s prayer” in evangelism, then how can we lead them to Christ?

Pastor David Platt is answering that question after having expressed reservation over the widely employed “sinner’s prayer.” Earlier this year, he called the specific prayer “superstitious,” sparking debate among Christians.

The Birmingham, Ala., pastor understands that many (like Billy Graham) have used and continue to use the prayer in their evangelistic efforts and that many have come to Christ that way. But for him personally, Platt chooses not to ask people to repeat after him in a sinner’s prayer partly because it comes across as “unhealthily formulaic.”

“I talk with people all the time who are looking for a ‘box to check off’ in order to be right with God and safe for eternity. But there is no box. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone,” he said Monday in a blog post.
So to answer the question, Platt, who leads The Church at Brook Hills, offered to summarize what he teaches at his church’s Institute for Disciple-Making every spring.

First, he explained, “share the gospel clearly … and call people to count the cost of following Christ.”

The person on the receiving end of the Good News must have a biblical understanding of the Gospel, Platt stressed. That is, that God looked upon “hopelessly sinful men and women,” and sent His son to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that everyone who repents and believes in Him will be reconciled to God forever.

Once that is established, “Tell them following Jesus will cost them their life…and tell them Jesus is worth it!”

Platt, 33, emphasizes the latter part because he has witnessed the “sinner’s prayer” being abused among Christians, where people are assured of their salvation simply because they prayed the prayer. But in many cases, the prayer was said without having counted the cost of following Christ.

Next, the believer can ask the person if he or she has any questions and then ask if the person would like to repent and believe.

Then when giving the invitation to call on the Lord and be saved, “you don’t necessarily need to tell them the exact words to say at that point,” Platt noted.

A specific “sinner’s prayer,” is not found in the Bible, he maintained.

“If they see God for who He is, their sin for what it is, themselves for who they are, and Christ for who He is and what He has done, then by the grace of God through the Spirit of God they are more than able to call out in repentance and faith…so let them do so.”

The believer should also be willing to let the person be alone with God, in some cases.

Finally, once that person repents and believes in Christ, the one who shared the Gospel should continue to lead that new believer.

“Remember, our goal is not to count decisions; our goal is to make disciples,” he emphasized.

In the end, Platt remains cautious of the “sinner’s prayer” as it can be recited without a full understanding of the Gospel and of the life they’re committing themselves to.

He highlighted, “Assurance of salvation is not found in a prayer we prayed or a decision we made however many years ago as much as it is found in trusting in the sacrifice of Christ for us, experiencing the Spirit of Christ in us, obeying the commands of Christ to us, and expressing the love of Christ to others.

“Ultimately, however, I don’t want people to look to me or even to a ‘prayer they prayed’ for assurance of salvation. I want them to look to Christ for this. Assurance of salvation is always based on His work, not ours.”
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/platt-how-to-lead-someone-to-christ-without-the-sinners-prayer-77592/#aDlzhyHkxttV364V.99

Oct 16
Love0

How To Share The Gospel With Muslims

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“How do you pray?”

Ahmed and I had been sitting at a little teashop talking about various things when he asked this question. Like many other Muslims, he was curious about how Christians pray. I began to explain how our hearts need to be purified in order for us to approach God in prayer. He agreed and wanted to know more. “What do you say when you pray?” he asked. I told him that we can speak to God as a loving father. I then went on to show him the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6.

“Is that from the Bible?” he asked. “Yes it is,” I answered. He responded, “That’s beautiful! Can I get one?” From the beginning, it was obvious that God was working in Ahmed’s life to draw him to Jesus. It was a blessing to introduce him to Jesus the savior—whom he had only known as Jesus the prophet.

As we talk about Insider Movements and how we should or shouldn’t be sharing Christ with Muslims, two dangers can emerge. First, people can become a leery of Muslim evangelism out of fear of doing so incorrectly. We should have no fear in sharing the gospel with Muslims. It is the gospel that we are sharing, after all. It is powerful to save!

Second, we must remember that Muslim evangelism should not be merely talked about and debated on blogs or in academic circles. It is something that should be done wherever we find Muslims. In that endeavor let me offer some words of counsel to all who seek to make Christ supreme among Muslims.

Ground yourself in the fact that God is sovereign in salvation.

Muslims come to faith by a supernatural work of God, by which the Holy Spirit opens their hearts (Acts 16:14) and grants them the gift of repentance (2 Tim. 2:25). We believe that a Muslim coming to faith is not intrinsically connected to our form of contextualization, but rests solely on God’s divine intervention (Dan. 4:35; Ps. 115:3; John 6:64-65) and our humble obedience to proclaim the gospel (Acts 1:8; Matt. 9:38, 28:19-20). God is not concerned with glorifying a method; he is concerned with glorifying his Son. Strategies are useful and necessary, but none of them offers the “key” to Muslim evangelism.

Be diligent in working to understand the local culture and determine the best way to present the gospel.

God’s sovereignty is not meant to make us lazy, careless, or vague in our evangelism. It gives us hope, because our finite attempts to share the gospel are backed by an infinitely powerful Savior who has “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). Wanting to present the gospel clearly and knowing that God’s grace is irresistible are not mutually exclusive.

When it comes to understanding the local culture, we should seek to do two things:

    1. Know Islam. We need to ask ourselves, What are Muslims longing for? What keeps Muslims from attaining this? Don’t be afraid to read the Qur’an or other religious sources. These things will give you great insight into Muslims hearts and minds.

 

    1. Use their language. When I say “language” I’m referring to two things. First, speak their actual language. If you want to see a church planted among Arabic-speaking Muslims, learn Arabic. If you’re working among Pakistanis, learn Urdu. If among Bengalis, learn Bengali. Second, speak the language (figuratively) that communicates to them. My wife and I lived and worked among Arabic speakers. We learned early on that we could not get people to listen by presenting a beautiful apologetic syllogism proving Jesus is God. We had to use stories, parables, and passages from their religious books.

Center your gospel presentation on Jesus and the Bible.

The degree to which Muslim-background believers seek to retain their previous religion correlates with how we present the gospel to them. In other words, if we use the Qur’an extensively in our evangelism, we risk encouraging a sentimental attachment to it. Muslim-background believers may see the Qur’an as the means by which they understood the gospel and therefore have a harder time letting it go. If we present the gospel as fulfilling their previous religion, we open ourselves up to future problems.

I am not against the proper use of the Qur’an in evangelism. I am concerned with how much we use it. We should not give it center place in our gospel presentation. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Muslims must believe Jesus is their savior, and this belief can only come from the Scriptures. The story of redemption cannot be told from the Qur’an.

Don’t force your ideas on them.

Muslim evangelism can be messy; discipleship can be even worse. Each convert I worked with was different. I made it a point to preach the gospel and let it linger, giving them the time and freedom to think through the implications and determine how they should be applied in that particular culture. We should not attempt to impose our ideas or forms on Muslim-background believers. This means we shouldn’t impose either Western or Islamic expressions of Christianity on them. This is where much of the tension comes from.

We all have an idea of what we hope to see, and how we do Muslim ministry will be determined by our desired outcome. Insider Movement advocates envision implanting the gospel in a Muslim culture with the hopes that it will grow like yeast and lead to transformation from the inside out. In order to do this, they believe, the message must take on Islamic form. Anything less will be viewed as foreign and suspect. Others argue that Muslims need to be called out of Islam and gathered into a separate body with a clear Christ-centered identity. Anything less, they claim, would be viewed as syncretistic.

I would argue that both are correct. The gospel will take on a form of the culture that it is speaking to; if it doesn’t, it will not be understood. But the gospel will also speak with a prophetic voice within the culture that calls for transformation. It goes in and calls out. Our goal is to preach the gospel of Christ from the Scriptures and let the Spirit transform lives and communities.

In the end, expressions of the church or faith communities among Muslims may challenge all our views at some point. However, if these expressions are orthodox in their beliefs, Christ-centered in their view of the gospel, and not deceptive in their practices, we have cause for rejoicing. May God give us wisdom, grace, patience, and boldness as we seek to share the gospel with Muslims.

This article originally appeared on the TGC Blog on May 15, 2012. It was written by J. T. Smith. You can read the post in it’s entirety here.

 

Oct 16
Love0

The Biblical Basis For Missions

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“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (v. 17).

– John 3:16–17

Even Christians who attend churches that are faithful to the teaching of Scripture have an unfortunate tendency to see a tension between God the Father and God the Son. Without necessarily being conscious of it, many think of the Father as harsh and vindictive, seeking only to punish mankind. At the same time, His Son Jesus Christ is viewed as the compassionate and merciful one who must persuade His Father to spare some of His people from wrath. However, this is a gross distortion of the biblical teaching.

As today’s passage indicates, it is the Father Himself who, out of love for creation, has sent His Son to save transgressors (John 3:16–17). In fact, when we look at the wide scope of redemptive history, we find that the Almighty has always been the one who sends out emissaries for the purposes of salvation. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to liberate the children of Israel from bondage (Ex. 3:1–10). Likewise, He sent the prophets to call the people to repent of their sins in order that they might be rescued from destruction (2 Kings 17:13).

The concept of God sending His servants into the world to save them from judgment is so important that the church recognizes her call in the very word used to describe worldwide outreach — missions. This word comes from the Latin verb missio, which means “to send.” When the church sends evangelists and missionaries to preach the Gospel, she is imitating the Creator Himself.

Furthermore, the church sends proclaimers of the Word to the ends of the earth in order to fulfill the Savior’s direct command. First, the Father sent Jesus to save sinners, and now, Christ sends His people to bring the word of salvation to those who have never heard of Him (John 17:16–18). Loving our Redeemer requires us to obey His commandments (14:15), one of which is the call to world missions. We need not fear any opposition that may arise when we go forth, because as we follow Jesus we can be assured that He has asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to go out with us (vv. 16–17). His presence assures us that the task of missions is not impossible; our preaching will surely be used to bring salvation to the ends of the earth when we are sent into the world.

Coram Deo

Not all of us are called to be full-time missionaries, but all of us are called to be involved in missions — if not as goers, then as senders. Have you fully grasped the importance of world missions to the plans of God? Consider today the budget you have established for giving to worldwide outreach. Try to increase what you give to the sending of workers — if not permanently, then in a one-time gift to a missionary who needs support to fulfill his call.

Passages for Further Study

 

Isaiah 6:8
Jeremiah 1:4–19
Matthew 28:18–20
Acts 13:1

From Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul. All rights reserved. Website: www.ligonier.org | Phone: 1-800-435-4343

Oct 16
Love0

Dangerous Sin Symptoms

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The first thing to do when seeking to put a sin to death is this:

Consider Whether Your Lust Has These Dangerous Symptoms Accompanying It

He goes on to list several of those dangerous symptoms.

Inveterateness (hardened or deep-rooted). Here is what he says: “If it has lain long corrupting in your heart, if you have suffered it to abide in power and prevalency, without attempting vigorously the killing of it and the healing of the wounds you have received by it for some long season, your distemper is dangerous. … When a lust has lain long in the heart, corrupting, festering, cankering, it brings the soul to a woeful condition. In such a case an ordinary course of humiliation will not do the work: whatever it be, it will by this means insinuate itself more or less into all the faculties of the soul, and habituate the affections to its company and society; it grows familiar to the mind and conscience, that they do not startle at it as a strange thing, but are bold with it as that which they are wonted unto.”

Secret pleas of the heart for the countenancing of itself without a vigorous gospel attempt for its mortification. He offers two ways in which this may happen:

  • “When upon thoughts, perplexing thoughts about sin, instead of applying himself to the destruction of it, a man searches his heart to see what evidences he can find of a good condition, notwithstanding that sin and lust, so that it may go well with him. For a man to gather up his experiences of God, to call them to mind, to collect them, consider, try, improve them, is an excellent thing—a duty practiced by all the saints, commended in the Old Testament and the New. … But now to do it for this end, to satisfy conscience, which cries and calls for another purpose, is a desperate device of a heart in love with sin.”
  • By applying grace and mercy to an unmortified sin. “There is nothing more natural than for fleshly reasonings to grow high and strong upon this account. The flesh would fain be indulged unto upon the account of grace, and every word that is spoken of mercy, it stands ready to catch at and to pervert it, to its own corrupt aims and purposes. To apply mercy, then, to a sin not vigorously mortified is to fulfill the end of the flesh upon the gospel.”

When a man fights against his sin only with arguments from the issue or the punishment due unto it. “This is a sign that sin has taken great possession of the will, and that in the heart there is a superfluity of naughtiness [James 1:21]. Such a man as opposes nothing to the seduction of sin and lust in his heart but fear of shame among men or hell from God, is sufficiently resolved to do the sin if there were no punishment attending it; which, what it differs from living in the practice of sin, I know not. Those who are Christ’s, and are acted in their obedience upon gospel principles, have the death of Christ, the love of God, the detestable nature of sin, the preciousness of communion with God, a deep-grounded abhorrency of sin as sin, to oppose to any seduction of sin, to all the workings, strivings, rightings of lust in their hearts.”

Here’s a helpful explanation of what he means:

Try yourself by this also: When you are by sin driven to make a stand, so that you must either serve it and rush at the command of it into folly, like the horse into the battle, or make head against it to suppress it, what do you say to your soul? What do you expostulate with yourself? Is this all—‘Hell will be the end of this course; vengeance will meet with me and find me out?’ It is time for you to look about you; evil lies at the door [Gen. 4:7]. Paul’s main argument to evince that sin shall not have dominion over believers is that they ‘are not under the law, but under grace’ (Rom. 6:14). If your contendings against sin be all on legal accounts, from legal principles and motives, what assurance can you attain unto that sin shall not have dominion over you, which will be your ruin?

When your lust has already withstood particular dealings from God against it. God oftentimes, in his providential dispensations, meets with a man, and speaks particularly to the evil of his heart, as he did to Joseph’s brethren in their selling of him into Egypt. This makes the man reflect on his sin, and judge himself in particular for it. God makes it to be the voice of the danger, affliction, trouble, sickness that he is in or under. Sometimes in reading of the word God makes a man stay on something that cuts him to the heart, and shakes him as to his present condition. More frequently in the hearing of the word preached—his great ordinance for conviction, conversion, and edification—does he meet with men. God often hews men by the sword of his word in that ordinance, strikes directly on their bosom-beloved lust, startles the sinner, makes him engage unto the mortification and relinquishment of the evil of his heart. Now, if his lust has taken such hold on him as to enforce him to break these bands of the Lord and to cast these cords from him—if it overcomes these convictions and gets again into its old posture; if it can cure the wounds it so receives—that soul is in a sad condition.”

This post was originally an article on www.challies.com. You can read the article in it’s entirety here. 

Oct 16
Love0

Are Short-Term Mission Trips Worth Doing?

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They can be.

At the time of this recording, this coming weekend our church will do another seminar with an expert in short-term missions. He will seek to train leaders to make them what they ought to be.

A huge thing is that you should only go where you’re wanted.

You don’t foist yourself on a missionary. I have had missionaries say, “Frankly, short-term teams are more trouble than they’re worth.” So you don’t do that! Don’t make yourself more trouble than you’re worth. If somebody doesn’t want you to come and they don’t have a plan for how it advances their mission, then, good grief, don’t take a vacation, grab your eighteen teenagers, and go make some missionary’s life miserable.

Rather, talk to the missionaries. Work out a plan. And if they want you to come, then come.

That way it should work out both ways. If older people, or young people, or multi-generational teams are really serving, pouring themselves out according to the needs of the missionary, then it’s the best of both worlds.

For one, though it may not feel like the fun and games some were hoping for, it will be deeply satisfying, because it is more blessed to give than to receive. And, secondly, it will be helpful to the missionary, because he is able to get some projects done that he hoped to get done.

So the answer is not an easy one, it’s not a simple one. Yes, short-term trips can be a mess. But yes, they can be worth the work and energy and finances.

One of the payoffs is that there is scarcely today an under-fifty missionary on the field who didn’t do a short-term mission before they went out. The testimonies are widespread that tastes of what mission life might be like were gotten on short-term trips.

So I’m for them. And Brad Nelson, who oversees them now at Bethlehem, knows the issues really well. And he’s not going to force any of our teams on anybody that doesn’t want them. And he’ll see to it that they are fruitful.

 

Oct 16
Love0

Listen To Them Or Lose Them

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The following is an article written by Barbara Challies and originally posted on the True Woman Blog. You can see the original here. Barbara Challies is mother to five grown children (three of them girls) and grandmother to eleven grandchildren. She and her husband, John, live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Yep, you guessed it . . . she’s mom to prolific author/blogger Tim Challies!)

Daughters. How we long for them and love them. But what exhausting little creatures they are! Ask almost any parent and I think you will hear the same thing. They love to talk . . . and talk . . . and talk.

Fortunately as a woman, I love to talk . . . and talk . . . and talk, as well. But I also love to listen. Over the years, I have spent an astounding number of hours listening to my three daughters. In retrospect, I think this is one of the best gifts I have ever given them. Let me explain.

All children are born with questions, big ones. I remember Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Francis Schaeffer’s daughter) saying that every question she has heard from an adult she has also heard from a child–just presented in a different form. An adult might ask, “What are foundational, epistemological principles?” A child just asks, “How do I know I am not really a robot?” (a secret fear of mine as a child). Children need answers to big questions, desperately. One of the most important functions of a parent is “prophetic,” interpreting life to tiny people who have next to no context for determining the nature of truth and reality. What a privilege this is for the parents! What a gift to the child! The importance of this type of communication applies equally to boys and girls.

The reason girls become particularly exhausting is that the world of ideas is just one level of their being. Along with this, they have tremendous interest in the world of people. Specifically, they are extremely sensitive to people as they impact their own lives. “What did she mean by that?” “Is she really saying she doesn’t like me?” “Are they better friends than we are?” And so on. Girls twist themselves into knots responding to their own world of people. Because of this, they are often desperately insecure. And the related pain is very real.

If you don’t parent them on this level, there is generally one result. They can’t carry the burden of these emotions and they harden. As I tell my grown children, “Listen to them or lose them.” For any child, time spent with him equals love. But for girls, time “being listened to” trumps any other activity. Their need for support, to know and be known, is simply voracious. And there is nothing wrong with that. They resonate to “people vibes.” It is the way God has made them.

If you work with this, they feel known, loved, and safe. You win their hearts. They become your friends. You don’t cease to be a parent, but you have a genuine friendship, as well. And this bodes well for the future. As they get older, the bond of friendship–the horizontal bond–pulls them toward faithfulness and loyalty to you as parents just as much as the vertical bond of authority. There is just too much love and intimacy for them to easily go astray. Girls do not readily violate intimate relationships. It is just not their nature. They are “bound” with bonds of love–built on the foundation of listening.

Of course, alongside this is the nurturing of an intimate relationship with God–also built on the two layers of the objective and the personal. God and His ways fulfill both mind and heart wonderfully. When girls are well-known by parents–both the best and the worst about them–they “dare” move close to their heavenly Father because they understand grace. It has been offered to them from childhood. And it all stems from listening to them–knowing them better than they know themselves, then caring deeply and intimately for their souls. This is what they most want. They will love you deeply for it.

Sep 02
Love0

Parenting for Recovering Pharisees

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This article was originally posted on the Gospel Coalition website found here.

Cooking dinner, I hear the sounds of angry hearts bubbling over into stinging words. It gets louder, and soon someone is crying. Two boys come out into the great-room, red-faced, fists clenched, and both yelling at once. After multiple attempts, I finally gather that one had frustrated the other, who responded by kicking his brother.

I begin by saying, “Remember how Jesus said we were to treat one another?”

“I’m not Jesus!” my oldest responds immediately, his face scrunched up as his feet stomp the tile floor. He runs off to his room.

Sometimes, my children speak words that the Spirit has been trying to pierce into my heart for a while.

The pasta is boiling over. The water makes sizzling sounds as it hits the red glass cook top. I stare at it, knowing I need to leave the kitchen and talk through the conflict with them. I think of how quickly anger can overflow the heart, spattering burning hot drops of pain on anyone nearby.

Turning down the heat on the pot, I walk into the boy’s room, hoping to do the same with their anger. I find them both calm and playing with Legos. I get down on the floor, look my oldest in the eyes, and say, “I know you’re not Jesus.”

Deep into the Past

How often does a parent’s response to her child’s behavior imply that we expect perfection? The pharisaical heart has roots that dig deep into the past–back into childhood. A child can learn quickly the ways of self-righteousness. When they have behaved, they hear, “You’re such a good boy.” Over the years, they can grow to believe that the good they do comes from their own ability. When those beliefs take root, they can struggle with seeing their own sin. And perhaps even struggle with seeing their need for a Savior.

“Jesus called us to live as he lived. But he knows we can’t be perfect as he is perfect,” I tell my son. “That’s why he died for us, because we can’t do what’s right. Through faith in him, he gives us the Holy Spirit. We have his power living within us. That’s the only way we can ever obey. We need to pray and ask for his help.”

He nods his head, listening.

“When you don’t obey, remember that Jesus died for that disobedience. He loves you that much. When you feel the anger rising within you, pray and tell God you are angry. Ask him to help you to obey him.”

As a recovering Pharisee, I struggle with living as though I can earn grace. I know how the self-righteous heart can look down on those who don’t follow the rules. I don’t want my children to grow up with the heart of a Pharisee.

I do want them to know the holiness of God. I want them to know all that he expects, what he commands, and what glorifies him. I also want them to realize that they can’t perfectly obey him, and they need a Savior. I want their hearts to be grieved and humbled by their sin. I want them to run to the cross when they sin and remember his grace and mercy.

God’s grace covers even my parenting blunders. How grateful I am that his grace is greater than all my sin! I rest in his promise that he is at work in my children’s hearts despite my failed efforts. I trust in the story of redemption he is writing in their lives. And I look forward to that day when we will finally be like Jesus.

 

Christina Fox is a writer, blogger at www.toshowthemjesus.com, homeschooling mom, and coffee drinker, not necessarily in that order. She is a licensed mental health counselor and women’s Bible study teacher. She lives in sunny South Florida with her husband of 15 years and their two boys.

Aug 31
Love0

Lord’s Prayer (Part 3)

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The following is the third part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…” 

Matthew 6:9

As we meditate through the Model Prayer, we come next to “…hallowed be Thy name…”

Hallowed…a very odd sounding word to the modern American ear.  Sounds kind of old-timey, doesn’t it?  That’s because it is old-timey.  The dictionary calls it archaic and obsolete.  And you’ve got to admit, this isn’t a word that just pops up in everyday conversation.

That explains why we see it in books dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, like the King James translation of the Bible.  But why do we see it in modern translations like the New American Standard?

Well, that has to do with a deficiency in modern English.  For all its flexibility in communication; for all that most of the world seems to have adopted English as a universal communication tool; for all that some of the grandest written works in human history have been rendered in or into English, it’s not perfect.  It has a few flaws.

One of those flaws is there is no verb form of “holy” in modern English.  We can say “be holy” or “make holy” or “is holy”, but we can’t say “God holied” something.  But to handle the Greek correctly, translators sometimes have a need to be able to say “to holy” someone/something when translating the New Testament.  And that is why modern translators will sometimes use “hallowed” in translating this verse; because this archaic word is a form of a Middle English word that basically means “to holy” something or someone, and it allows them to correctly translate the Greek word.

So in “hallowed be” what we have is a prayer that something be “holied”.  And what is the object of that desire?  The name of God.

As a child in Sunday School, way more years ago than I care to think about, this phrase never made much sense to me.  I had the idea back then that “hallowed” somehow meant something like “praised”.  And that sort of made sense to me.  Even in my early years as a believer, I understood enough to know that God deserved praise from His children.  But “praise the name of God” statements never made much sense to me.  What was so special about the word “God” that made it something that should be praised?

Even if I had known that “hallowed” meant “holied”, it still wouldn’t have made much sense to me.  You see, in our modern culture names are only labels.  The label most people know me by is “David”.  Now that name has meaning—it means “beloved” in Hebrew—and I know that my mother chose it for me with intent.  But in our society, we don’t think about names the way the people of the Bible did.  I sure didn’t in my earlier years.  And we especially don’t understand that when the Bible talks about “the name of God”, it is talking about so much more than a mere divine label.

You see, in the Bible, when one of the writers talks about “the name of God”, the word “name” is being used in a very particular way.  It’s not a reference to any of the thirteen names of God found in the Old Testament:  Yahweh, Elohim, El Elyon, Yahweh-Yireh, El Shaddai, Yahweh-Shalom, etc.  Those names all express characteristics of God, true:  creator, possessor, provider, peace, etc.  But that is different from what one of those writers says when he writes “the name of God”.  The ancient Jews believed that the name of God encompassed the essence of God, His power, and His glory.  Take a look at the following verse.

 

Some boast in chariots, and some in horses; 

But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.

Psalms 20:7

They weren’t talking about boasting in a label.  “The name of the Lord/God” wasn’t just a label to them.  That phrase was filled with meaning and import.  When they used it, they were invoking the power and might and glory and majesty of God: the God who always has been, is now, and always will be; the God whose mind held the plan of the universe and of history before He said “Let there be light”; the God who will draw all creation to an end and then create a new heaven and a new earth.

That’s not a God that you just stick a label on and believe you understand Him.  That’s a God who is beyond our ability to comprehend.  Yet the Bible still gives us glimpses of Him.  And one persistent theme in the Bible, particularly among the Old Testament Prophets, is that God is holy.  Many times He is called “The Holy One of Israel”.

What is holy?  Well, the Greek word means pure, clean, without blemish, flaw, or taint.  So in a spiritual application, it means to be morally and spiritually pure, without a touch of sin at all, anywhere, at any time.  God is holy.  You could also say God is holiness.  Holiness is such a part of God’s nature that it can’t be separated from Him.

In recent years I’ve come to believe that holiness is the preeminent characteristic of God.  I know a lot of people, including very learned commentators, would disagree with me and put forward the idea of “God is love” as being the most important aspect of God for mankind.

The problem I have with that is if God is not holy, then everything else about Him is meaningless.  Of what value is the justice of a God who is not holy?  Of what value is the power of a God who is not holy?  Of what value is the love of a God who is not holy?  And ultimately, of what value is a salvation offered by a God who is not holy?

Everything that we know about God, everything that we value about God, everything that we cherish about God flows out of His being holy.  Regardless of which metaphor we pick—cornerstone, keystone, core—it is the holiness of God that is the beginning and end of who God is.  All the other characteristics of God are not necessarily secondary, but must be seen through the lens of God’s holiness.  God is peace because He is holy.  God is the righteous judge because He is holy.  God is love because He is holy.

 

So let’s come back to our prayer.  If God is holy, then what does it mean to pray “hallowed be Thy name”?  I mean, it does sound a bit silly for us to pray for God to be holy when He already is holy, when holiness is such a part of Him that we can’t separate the two.

 

Well, I think there are a couple of things at work here.

First, the prayer acknowledges the holiness of the almighty God.  We need to be constantly reminded of that holiness.

Second, I believe there is a prayer for personal application implied here:  “God, You are holy.  Let Your holiness be evident—in me.”

 

Holiness should be the goal of each believer.  In fact, we’re commanded to it.

 

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” “

1 Peter 1:14-16

 

It should be our desire, individually and collectively, to be holy.  Not “holier than thou”, not self-righteous, not judgmental.  Simply holy.  And our prayers should reflect that desire, because we can’t be holy on our own.

 

Peace and grace to you.

 

David

Aug 30
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57 Billion Dollars

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This is the figure to chew on… Pornography has become a $57 billion industry worldwide. It produces more revenue in the United States than the combined revenues of all pro-football, baseball and basketball franchises or the combined revenue of ABC, CBS, & NBC.

It robs the workplace of the time and talents of employees. 20% of men admit accessing porn at work, 13% of women.

One in five children ages 10-17 has received a sexual solicitation over the internet.

Three million of the visitors to adult websites in Sept. 2000 were age 17 and younger.

 

It is a huge problem that is taking men and women of all ages captive, including those who call themselves followers of Christ. Yet nobody wants to talk about it until its too late when a marriage ruined, a career ended, a life damaged and a mind corrupted.

Is there help, is there a way out of the bondage?

As I recommend this WEBSIGHT I realize that most of the trouble is on the Internet (because of its secrecy and accessibility) but there is help there if you GO TO THIS SIGHT AND NO OTHERS.

www.menlivingup.org

But don’t stop there! Get with another man, a godly friend you can talk with and open up exposing light to the darkness.

‘Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. For the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.“

James 5:16

 

Want to talk? Email Jim

Jimmy Jackson

Family Pastor at Heritage Baptist Church, OKC

Aug 30
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Is it worth it?

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During the past 16 years serving overseas, many people have asked if it’s worth it to live so far away from home.  There have been days when we have asked ourselves the same question.

“Is it worth it?”

Is it worth it to live 10,000 miles away from your college-age daughter?

Is it worth it for your son to miss out on seeing grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on a regular basis?

Is it worth it to miss important family gatherings, such as weddings and holidays?

Is it worth it to miss out on the fellowship of your church family every Sunday?

Is it worth it to leave behind almost all of your earthly belongings and have to start from scratch to turn a house into a home?

Is it worth it to give up your house near the beach to live in an apartment building in a congested city of 8 million people?

Is it worth it to give up your dog who is too old to move overseas?

Is it worth it to live in a foreign country where your light hair, fair skin, and blue eyes make you stand out like a sore thumb?

Is it worth it to spend months studying a foreign language and still only be able to speak on the level of a 3-year-old?

Is it worth it to be illiterate– unable to read signs, letters, books, menus, and even your remote controls?

Is it worth it to deal with the transportation hassles of having no car?

Is it worth it to have to run errands, go to class, and everywhere else on a bike in the hot sun, pouring rain, and bitter cold?

Is it worth it to give up all the conveniences ofAmerica?

Is it worth it to live in a country that denies the existence of God?

The answer is YES!  If even one person hears of Jesus Christ from our lips, sees Him through our actions, and learns of the miracle of Immanuel, God With Us, then every minute we spend so far from home is most definitely worth it!   Thank you for generously giving  to fund our work.  We couldn’t be here without your support.  Thank you also for your prayers which sustain us on a daily basis.  May God bless each of you in 2011.

Editor’s note:  Whisper a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s call on our missionaries’ lives and their faithfulness in ministry.

(names, locations and original blog links omitted due to security issues)

IMB Prayer, Missionary Blog Digest, 2011

Aug 23
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Preach the Gospel to Yourself

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The following is an article from Tim Challies. You can fin out more from him and his ministry here.

 

Jerry Bridges was talking about preaching the gospel to yourself and being gospel-centered long before it was cool to do so. One of the great burdens of his ministry has long been to have Christians understand that “the gospel is not only the most important message in all of history; it is the only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing Christians to live their entire lives without clearly understanding it and experiencing the joy of living by it. … Christians are not instructed in the gospel. And because they do not fully understand the riches and glory of the gospel, they cannot preach it to themselves, not live by it in their daily lives.” In other words, we teach people just enough gospel to get saved, but then move on to other things. Bridges wants us to understand that we never move on from the gospel.

In the third chapter of The Discipline of Grace, Bridges provides a powerful, thorough review of the gospel and does this by looking at Romans 3:19-26. He offers an exposition of that passage and through it leads to this imperative: Preach the gospel to yourself. Let me provide an extended quote that gives some of the how and the why:

To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.

To preach the gospel to yourself means that you take at face value the precious words of Romans 4:7-8: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

It means that you believe on the testimony of God that “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It means you believe that “Christ redeemed [you] from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for [you], for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). It means you believe He forgave you all your sins (Colossians 2:13) and now “[presents you] holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:22).

Turning to the Old Testament, to preach the gospel to yourself means that you appropriate by faith the words of Isaiah 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and theLORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

It means that you dwell upon the promise that God has removed your transgressions from you as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), that He has blotted out your transgressions and remembers your sin no more (Isaiah 43:25). But it means you realize that all these wonderful promises of forgiveness are based upon the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

It is the death of Christ through which He satisfied the justice of God and averted from us the wrath of God that is the basis of all God’s promises of forgiveness. We must be careful that, in preaching the gospel to ourselves, we do not preach a gospel without a cross. We must be careful that we do not rely on the so-called unconditional love of God without realizing that His love can only flow to us as a result of Christ’s atoning death.

This is the gospel Bridges wants the Christian to preach to himself day-by-day. “When you set yourself to seriously pursue holiness, you will begin to realize what an awful sinner you are. And if you are not firmly rooted in the gospel and have not learned to preach it to yourself every day, you will soon become discouraged and will slack off in your pursuit of holiness.”

To learn very practically about how Bridges preaches the gospel to himself, click here for a short quote from his book Respectable Sins.

Aug 23
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A Black and White Choice NOT to read Fifty Shades of Grey

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The following is from www.womengonewise.com and is written by Mary Kassian

A Black and White Choice NOT to read Fifty Shades of Grey Photo | Girls Gone Wise “Fifty Shades of Grey,” an erotic novel by an obscure British author based on Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, has electrified women across the country. Readers have spread the word like wildfire on Facebook pages, in college hallways, at office functions and in spin classes. Within six weeks of publication, the three books of the series, Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, claimed the top three spots in USA Today’s Best-Selling Books list. Sales have topped 10 million. The series is so popular that last month, author E. L. James was listed as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World“.

Red Room of Pain

The books in question are erotica that explicitly describe sexual bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM). The story follows an unfolding affair between a recent college graduate, the virgin Anastasia Steele, and handsome young billionaire entrepreneur, Christian Grey, whose childhood abuse left him a deeply damaged individual, and who enlists her to share his secret sexual proclivities. Steele is required by Grey to sign a contract allowing him complete control over her. Because of her fascination and budding love for him, she consents to a kinky sexual relationship that includes being slapped, spanked, handcuffed, and whipped with a leather riding crop in his “Red Room of Pain.”

A few weeks ago, the book popped up as Amazon’s suggested buy on my Kindle. I declined. Like my friend,Dannah Gresh, I absolutely refuse to read these books.

Smut is Smut

Undoubtedly, the series portrays BDSM in the context of an engaging, passionate, tender, romantic relationship that culminates in the characters falling in love, and the conflicted girl assuaging the billionaire’s troubled soul. But it doesn’t matter to me how the author sweetens it up. The tasty red Kool-Aid doesn’t offset the bitter poison. Smut is still smut.

I don’t have to read the book to know that it’s bad for women. Nor do I need to read it to tell you that I think it would be unwise for you to read it.

7 Reasons Not to Read 50 Shades

1. It violates God’s design for sex:

God created sex to be exclusive to marriage. In 50 Shades the relationship is based on a sex contract, not a marriage covenant. The Lord says that sex outside of marriage is sin. It grieves Christ when we take pleasure in something He abhors.

 2. It violates the biblical concept of authority:

The relationship between a man and wife is to mirror Christ’s relationship to His Bride. BDSM tells a lie about the nature of that relationship. Christ taught and modelled that authority is for the purpose of loving service. It is not an egotistical power trip. Christ is not into domination, control, abuse, and humiliation. So in my mind, there’s something seriously wrong when we get a kick out of interpersonal domination/humiliation, and bring BDSM into Christian bedrooms.

3.  It violates the biblical concept of submission:

A wife’s submission is first and foremost to Christ. The biblical directive to submit does not turn women into brain-dead, passive, weak-willed doormats who acquiesce to the whims of dominant, controlling men. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Lord doesn’t want His daughters to be wilting, weak-willed, wimpy women who welcome and enjoy abuse. BDSM perverts and mocks the beauty of what true submission is all about.

 4. It encourages the sin of sensuality:

Erotica is a genre that aims to arouse sexual desire. It evokes sensuality, a sin that appears in numerous New Testament lists of vices (Gal 5:19, Rom. 13:13, Mark 7:21-23, 1 Pet 4:3, 2 Cor. 12:21). Sensuality is anything that

  1. is characterized by lust
  2. expresses lewdness or lust,
  3. tends to excite lust.

Scripture tells us to flee all such things.

5. It promotes sexual perversion:

“Curiosity” has led to the downfall of multitudes who have been trapped in the destructive, downward vortex of sexual sin. Fifty Shades piques curiosity. It dangles behaviors that are forbidden, unfamiliar, and titillating. Maybe you’re just curious, or maybe you rationalize that it might boost your libido and marital sex life. And it might. Temporarily. But the problem with erotica, as with porn, is that you’ll end up craving increasingly graphic, perverse images over time. Erotica/porn lead to deeper, darker erotica/porn. What’s more, they end up robbing people of the joy and satisfaction of “ordinary,” non-twisted sex with an “ordinary” spouse. In the end, they assault and diminish a healthy sex life.

6. It glamorizes pathological relationships:

The male protagonist is a very tortured and misunderstood soul with a proclivity for sexual perversion. One moment he is abusive, and the next he is tender and romantic. The girl feels she is the only one who can reach him and help him. Hmmm. Sounds like a seriously dysfunctional co-dependent abusive relationship to me. AsDr. Pinksy, a relationship expert said, “the idea that women look at this relationship as anything other than absolute, categorical, profound pathology is more than I can imagine… I worry about the 15-year-olds and 19-year-olds reading this and formulating a notion that this is anything close to a reasonable relationship.”

7. You won’t get it out of your head:

The Bible tells us to think about things that are pure, right, excellent, praiseworthy, lovely, admirable, noble, and true (Phil 4:8) There’s truth to the old proverb that “as a man thinketh so is he,” and the modern day adage, “garbage in – garbage out.” Your thoughts have transformational power – for good or for evil. Filling your head with thoughts of sin, sensuality, dysfunction, and BDSM will lead you further away from the things of God and not closer to them. Darkness has incredible “sticking power” – Once exposed, it can be extremely difficult to get the images and thoughts out of your head.

As Dannah says,

“God has given me more than fifty shades of truth in His Word and when just one of them is in conflict with my entertainment choices, I choose to pass! To be clear: I wouldn’t drive my Envoy into the front of an oncoming semi-truck any more than I would open the pages of Fifty Shades of Grey. I love my marriage, my God, and myself too much.”

So girls, have some respect for the Lord, and for yourselves. Exercise some discernment, and don’t read this book!

In my opinion, the choice whether or not to read Fifty Shades of Grey is pretty black and white.

Aug 23
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Here’s Your Sign

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The following is from www.housewifetheologian.com and is intended to get us thinking. Enjoy.

 

Well it happened again. There I was, innocently driving my car,  only to come face to face with another bad church sign. Here is what the latest offender said:

“Pray” is a four-letter word that you can’t say in public school.

Really? Let’s get our facts straight before we put them on our church signs. The word “pray” is not banned from public school. Praying isn’t banned either. I remember when my oldest daughter started elementary school, she and a friend used to “say grace” before their lunch together everyday. (That’s in a public school, by the way.) Now in middle school, she is part of a student-led “Bible Club” that meets after school a couple of times a month. She has never encountered opposition from administrators for these things, because it is perfectly legal.

What this church sign is intimating is the Supreme Court decision in 1962 to ban any form of organized, state-sponsored prayer or religious services in school. But we have to also look at what led up to this. Originally, Christianity was taught in the public school. Children actually learned their ABC’s and biblical catechism’s together (for a good little history lesson on this, read Stephen Prothero’s book, Religious Literacy):

A–In Adam’s Fall, We sinned all.

B—Heaven to find; The Bible to mind.

C—Christ crucify’d; For sinners dy’d.

School books such as spellers and readers taught biblical knowledge, integrated with their learning tasks. One of the primary motivations for literacy was for more Americans to be able to read their Bibles. Not a bad idea. And yet, these well-intended motivations led to inevitable conflict.

I don’t think it’s helpful to paint public schools out to be our enemy. There were many factors in our American history that contributed to the removal of religious content from the public schools, such as the Sunday school movement and Bible and tract societies, that were not the result of the evil government stifling faith. For the sake of ecumenism in teaching Christianity, religious content was diluted. While it first seemed wise for Christian religions to come together and teach their children, theology had been replaced by morality. The biblical content itself suffered on account of nondenominationalism. We can’t just blame the government for taking the Bible out of the schools. History shows that the Protestant verses Catholic wars on which Bible translation was to be used in schools led to the court cases that banned religious material and organized prayer.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I don’t want my children’s public school teachers teaching them how to pray any more than I want my pastor to teach a math lesson from the pulpit. The Fourteenth Amendment required the scope of this federal amendment to be applied at the state level. The first part of this amendment, known as the Establishment Clause, assures me that there will never be an established religion imposed on my child. The second part, known as the Free Exercise Clause, ensures me that “pray” is not a four-letter word. My kids are allowed to pray on their own, as long as they are not being disruptive.

Of course, I don’t want to paint a picture of the public schools with rose-colored glasses. As Christians, we recognize that many of the secular interpretations of natural revelation are taught under a world view that is different from the biblical account of creation. We all want our kids to receive the best education we can provide them in the natural sciences and in the content their faith. Since we are the primary arbitrators for our children’s education, we need to consider all obstacles and benefits of our choices, whether public, private, or homeschooling. And we need to be equally discerning in the churches we join.

We can also acknowledge that some of the best educators are public school teachers.  My husband happens to teach fourth grade in the public schools.  We should be happy to have Christians working in this field for both believer’s and unbeliever’s children.  Hopefully, families will be sensitive in their decision-making not to hold their own convictions about how to educate their children above other families.  These are difficult choices.  None of them are without pitfalls, and we should make our decisions with humility.

It just isn’t helpful to pit the church against public schools. Plastering misinformation or exaggerations on your church sign does not contribute in a positive manner to the problems that do exist.

Ironically, the church across the street from this offender was advertising their extreme couponing workshop on their church sign…

Aug 12
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Lord’s Prayer (Part 2)

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The previous post can be found here.

Continuing with some meditations on “The Model Prayer” (or “The Lord’s Prayer”, as most of us in my generation know it).

 

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven…” Matthew 6:9

 

“Our Father who art in heaven…”  That’s not just a form of address.  It’s a promise.  In what way?  Well, walk with me for the next few minutes and let’s see if I can explain this.

 

Heaven.  When you read or hear that word, what comes to mind?  Most people associate that word at least with pleasant thoughts, with the end of pain and suffering, with eternity, with a time of joy and freedom.  We as believers, as disciples of Christ, immediately jump from heaven to God.  Why?  Because we believe that heaven is the abode—the dwelling place—of God.  There are many verses in the Bible that tell us that heaven is the royal seat of God, that His throne is established there.  Here’s one as a case in point:

 

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.  Revelation 4:2

 

So God rules and reigns in heaven.  We’ve all accepted that, if we’re believers.  We all believe that God is in heaven.  We’ll come back to that thought.

 

But what do we really know about heaven?  Do we know what it’s made of?  Does it have a physical existence that can be found, located, described?  Mmm, well, maybe not so much.  Scripture indicates that angels and a few men go “up” to heaven, and “down” to earth.  That would make us think of heaven being somewhere “out there” (waving our arms to the sky).

 

Now I’m not going to try and rationalize heaven with the natural science of the world.  But back in the days when dirt was new and I was in high school, I had a science teacher who taught me that our universe has four dimensions:  length, breadth, height/depth, and time.  These are what we can perceive with our bodies, right?  (Yes, I know there are some physicists who are postulating other dimensions, but let’s stick with what we can experience.)  Okay.  Now, mankind has pretty much been all over the earth.  We’ve at least peeked into all its nooks and crannies, even if we haven’t walked there.  The mountaintops have all been viewed.  Any sign of heaven?  Any sign of God’s throne on earth?  Not that I’ve heard about.

 

Man has learned to fly through the air.  Any sign of heaven lurking in the clouds?  Not that anyone’s reported.

 

Man has learned to send sophisticated scientific measurement devices out beyond the atmosphere.  Any sign of heaven on the moon, or Mars, or any of the other planets of the solar system?  Any sign of heaven glimpsed by the Hubble telescope?  Nope.

 

Does that mean that heaven doesn’t have a physical existence?  No.  But it does mean that if heaven is bound into the physical universe of length and breadth and height and time, it’s either a lot farther away than we can see, or it’s in a form that we can’t recognize as being heaven.

 

But . . .

 

There is one verse in scripture that makes me believe that a search for a physical heaven is wasted, that heaven is not a physical place or structure.

 

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  2 Peter 3:8

 

Time is an inextricable part of the physical universe.  And from the creation of the universe until today, time has always marched in one direction.  And despite the theories of the natural scientists, no one has ever been able to substantially affect the flow of time.  A second is a second pretty much everywhere on earth.

 

The temptation is to treat Peter’s words as poetic imagery, as hyperbole to create a feeling or effect.  The problem with that is this verse is out of the middle of a sobering passage describing to believers many of the effects and consequences of the last days.  But to me this passage is also saying that God is not bound up in time.  Therefore, God is greater than the limitations of our physical universe.  God is within our universe, yes, but He is also without it.

 

And if God is not contained within the strictures of time and length and width and height, then it makes sense that heaven is also not contained within them.

 

So how does heaven exist?  Well, I think we get a clue in the following verses:

 

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  Colossians 1:13-17

 

 

In Christ all things hold together.  Another way of saying that is that the mind of God holds all things together.  And if that is true of the physical universe, then it is undoubtedly true of heaven.  Heaven exists because God wills it to exist.  And if it exists in some manner not bound into our physical universe, it does so because that’s how God wills it to exist.

 

All of the descriptions of heaven found in scripture are given to us by way of visions, no two of which seem to be exactly alike.  Is that a problem?  No, not really; because in each case the visions were being given to diverse individuals for diverse reasons.  God was allowing them to see what they needed to see to convey God’s particular message for thatparticular time.  They could not and did not see all of heaven.  See the following verses where Paul describes what all authorities believe was one of his own experiences:

 

Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago —  whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows —  such a man was caught up to the third heaven.  And I know how such a man — whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows — was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.  2 Corinthians 12:1-4

 

“Inexpressible words.”  Things that Paul heard could not be expressed in Greek—I dare say could not be expressed in any human tongue.  Likewise, trying to describe the wonders of heaven with any human language must be impossible.  What we read in scripture is only the poorest description of the beauties of the place created by God for Himself.

 

And now let’s circle back to the beginning, where I said that the phrase “Our Father who art in heaven” was a promise.  Turn now to John 14:1-3.

 

“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  John 14:1-3

 

We have the promise of Christ–the promise of God Himself—that we will one day stand in that indescribable inexpressible place outside of our physical universe, that place which God formed for Himself; the throne room of God.  And because of that, when we pray “Our Father who art in heaven” we should feel great joy at the reminder of that promise.

 

Prayer should always begin with joy.

 

Peace and grace to you.

 

David

Aug 12
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Modern Day Knight

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A book recommendation for Men

I just finished reading one of the best books for dad’s with sons, its call ‘Raising a Modern Day Knight’ by Robert Lewis. This has an outlined plan for dad’s to encourage, instruct and give their sons wings to soar into becoming a man of God. There is even an iPhone app you can download with monthly reminders. Even if your dad didn’t model this for you, you can break the cycle and learn to give this precious gift to your sons. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 10 plus!

Jimmy Jackson

Family pastor at Heritage and father of three daughters who desires for their husbands to be a men of God!

Jul 19
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The Lord’s Prayer

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This is part 1 of a study on the Lord’s Prayer by one of our members, David Carrico. We are printing this to help spur one another on towards godliness and to stoke the fire of our affections towards this great God we have. It is also a great example of different parts of the body using their gifts to build up the whole. We hope you will read it and be blessed.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

As believers, as followers of Jesus Christ, as those called Christians after Him, we are supposed to be a people of the Book (the Bible, in other words), and a people of prayer. That means we should seek God in His revealed word, and we should seek Him in prayer. I am convinced that none of us do enough of either one, but for the next few blogs I’m going to focus just on prayer.

There are many scriptures, of course, that refer to prayer, and that point us to the need for prayer on a constant basis in our daily lives. Just picking one almost at random, listen to the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:18:

“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…”

Pray at all times. Pray constantly. But pray with a focus.

It’s not for nothing that Jesus’ disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1a)

So a review of Jesus’ first teaching on prayer is always in order. I’m old enough to remember when everyone called it ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, although today it is usually referred to as ‘The Model Prayer’. Turn to Matthew 6:9.

Jesus begins with:

“Pray, then, in this way: Our Father…”

Let’s consider just that bit today.

Our Father…

Christians refer to God as Father all the time. It’s almost endemic in us. It’s part of our culture, and even for us Baptists it’s become a part of ritual. (And yes, even Baptists can have rituals. We just don’t call them that.) I knew a guy at a church I once attended who didn’t seem to be able to pray without saying “Father” at least three times in every sentence.

Why do we do that? Because Jesus taught us to do so, in passages like this one. And when you stop and think about it, it is a very awe-inspiring thing to be given the right and the privilege and permission to call the God of the universe “Father.”

Or at least, it should be. The problem is that when we human beings do things over and over again, we all too often slip from a reasoned understanding of what and why we’re doing them to a rote routine mentality. In other words, we do it because we’ve always done it. We do it out of reflex. We do it because it’s programmed into us at some point and it doesn’t require any thought. We become flippant and matter-of-fact. We approach God casually. And in doing so, we are disrespectful to God.

We need to be more aware of the majesty and awe of God. The Jews certainly were; so much so that God is only called “Father” once in the Pentateuch (books of Moses), and only seven times total in all of the Old Testament. (Deut 32:6; Psalms 89:26; Isaiah 9:6, 63:16, 64:8; Jeremiah 3:4, 19) In contrast, Jesus calls God “Father” 17 times just in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7.

“But,” you say, “isn’t the word translated as ‘Father’ in this verse the word ‘abba’, and doesn’t that mean ‘poppa’ or ‘daddy’ or ‘dad’?”

Yes, that’s true. “Abba” is Aramaic for the informal form of endearment that is most equivalent to “poppa” or “daddy.” (The Hebrew form is “avi”, for you trivia buffs.) But a familiar form of a word is not equal to a casual or flippant treatment. And certainly there is nothing in the Law that God gave Moses almost 4000 years ago that indicates God considers casual/flippant to be a good thing. On the contrary, look at the following verse:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Exodus 20:12

You recognize that as one of the Ten Commandments, I’m sure. So God considers all fathers worthy of honor, so much so that there’s an implied curse there on those who don’t honor them. How much more so is God the Father worthy of honor? And this verse:

‘Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:3

So God the Father considers all fathers worthy of reverence. Then in the next breath, He commands that His sabbaths be kept. Do you think that is a coincidental connection of the statements? I don’t think so. This verse can be read to say that reverencing fathers is of as great an importance to God as the worship of Himself. And finally this verse:

‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.’ Leviticus 20:9

If these are the things that God commanded in the law He gave to Moses about earthly fathers and how they are to be treated, about how they should be revered and honored and respected, how much more do you think He feels is due Himself?

I don’t think it’s a very good thing to be disrespectful to God. We need to rethink our attitudes about how we approach God. After all, we’re talking about the God whose mind contained the basic design of the universe and the plan of all history before the universe was created. We’re talking about the God who had a plan of salvation for fallen man already in place before the events of Genesis 1:1. We’re talking about the God who sacrificed His own Son to accomplish that plan of salvation.

Don’t you think that that God, Who is and did all those things, is one who should be approached with awe and respect?

The miracle about prayer, to me, is two-fold:

1. First, that we are allowed to approach God at all in any way, shape, or form. By rights, God in His holiness should not allow it. That we can is an expression of God’s mercy.

2. Second, that we as believers are allowed to address God as “Father”. That God gives us that privilege is an expression of His grace.

Calling God “Father” is a gift, a grace, a privilege; and it is something that we do not deserve and should never take lightly. When you talk to God in prayer, always keep that in mind. He is awesome. He is worthy of awe and reverence and honor, and we should always approach him that way, even when we begin with “Our Father….”

Peace and grace to you.

David

May 10
Love0

The Body of Christ

By Uncategorized

The Body of Christ is a vivid image of what our lives should look like as we daily interact with other Christ-followers and unbelievers as well; but its more than an image, it is what we are a part of. We must fight against the tendency of ‘doing Church’ a few hours on Sunday morning to ‘being the Church’ which is the Body of Christ functioning 24/7. Can you imagine if your body only functioned a few hours one day a week – the unmet needs of the body, the malnutrition leading to infections leading to disease, and the list could go on?

We must Understand, Thank and Obey God for His wise placement of each of the members of His Body.

‘But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.’ 1 Corinthians 12:18

This verse should be branded on our heart for the times of weariness, feelings of being forgotten, overlooked, taken advantage of or inferiority to the placement and gifting of others in the Body – God wisely chose your part in His Body and only you can fulfill its function.

Over the next few weeks Jimmy Jackson will be preaching through Hebrews 10:23-24 at Heritage.

 

Apr 24
Love0

Cross the Street, Reach the Nations…

By Uncategorized

There may be no more famous image of people crossing the street than that of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. Often imitated and forever etched in pop culture, it has held up well over the years. But what if we looked at it from another perspective? Would we see things differently? Would we notice something else? Who really cares is the proper answer… What I am getting at is that a change of perspective is often necessary with things that are familiar.

Our normal lives often require us to see things from a different perspective and what could be more normal than our neighborhoods? We drive them or walk them everyday. We know most of what happens on those streets and we tend to overlook the opportunities right before our eyes. The following is an article on this very thing: Changing our perspective when it comes to those right next to us. Read it. Think about it. Then walk across the street…

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A missionary with years of experience in the Muslim world was visiting back home in the United States when he struck up a friendly conversation with an immigrant shop owner.

“I said, ‘Thanks for coming to America,’” the missionary recalls. The shop owner was moved almost to tears. “He put his arms around me and said, ‘You’re the first person who has ever welcomed me to this country.’”

During the same U.S. stay, the missionary spoke at a church in a Southern town. Before he arrived there, a member of the church surveyed the community’s 20 or so Muslim families. Some of them had lived in the area as long as 10 years. The church member asked them if anyone in town had ever visited to tell them about Christ. No, they answered. Had anyone ever mentioned the name of Jesus to them? No. What was their chief emotion about living in America?
“We’re so lonely,” they responded. “No one ever talks to us. No one wants to hear our story. No one wants to have a meal with us.”

The immigrants arriving in America these days include people who are very hard to reach with the Gospel in their home countries. Here, they can be reached by crossing the street.

But you have to cross the street.

“God is giving us a second chance. He is bringing the nations to us,” the missionary says. “But we’re running from the nations in our midst. Having Muslims in our homes is not brain surgery. But the thing that is driving the church is fear. Until we get over our fear, we will not welcome the lost in our midst. We’re afraid of Muslims and we’re afraid of foreigners. These people are so lonely and isolated. Get out of your church. Go to their homes. Invite them to your home. Shop where they shop.

“We’re in a free country, and yet we’re not exercising our freedom to witness to the nations in our midst.”

What are we afraid of? Lots of things. Fear or suspicion of the stranger, the foreigner, the “other” is part of human nature. The United States has alternately welcomed and shunned immigrants over the past century, opening and closing its borders depending upon events, political-economic forces and social attitudes. More recently, the flood of illegal immigration, the competition for jobs in a recession-ravaged economy and the ongoing reverberations of 9/11 have played into the mix. And racism, even in our supposedly enlightened era, still poisons minds and hearts.

Within the church, there’s another dynamic worse than fear or resentment: indifference. If we’re not sharing the Good News with neighbors we’ve known for years or a lifetime, we’re not going to share it with newcomers who don’t act and talk like we do.

We need God’s perspective. He told the children of Israel again and again to welcome the “stranger and the alien in your midst,” reminding them that they once were aliens and refugees in Egypt.

Throughout history, observed the late, great missiologist Ralph Winter, God has been “kicking people out of one culture into a new one” — from Abraham’s move to Canaan, to Christian slaves carried off by pagan conquerors, to the present day.

God often uses such migrations, forced or otherwise, to place believers in cultures that haven’t yet heard He is Lord. Alternately, He moves nonbelievers into cultures where they can hear the Good News, then sends them back to their own people groups to spread the Word.

The United States leads all nations of the world as a destination for migrants, according to new findings from the Pew Research Center. No surprise there. With 43 million foreign-born residents, our country counts more than three times as many migrants as Russia, the second-place destination. America is home to one of every five migrants worldwide.

“The United States has been the leading destination for many, though not all, religious groups,” Pew reports. “The U.S. also has been the top destination for Buddhist migrants … and for people with no particular religion (including many from China). The U.S. has been the world’s second-leading destination for Hindu migrants, after India, and for Jewish migrants, after Israel.” More than 2 million Muslim immigrants were living here in 2010.

According to mission research, nearly 600 unengaged, unreached people groups can be found in North America — many of them in urban areas. They haven’t heard the Gospel in ways they can understand it and respond to it, and no evangelical group currently has a viable plan to reach them. Up to eight of every 10 refugees resettled in the United States come from unreached areas of the world.

As participants in the recent “ethnéCITY: Reaching the Unreached in the Urban Center”* conferences have learned, many of those new arrivals are moving to medium-sized urban areas and suburbs, rather than the traditional ethnic enclaves of big cities. By 2010, slightly more than half of all immigrants could be found in suburbs.

According to The Brookings Institution, the number of foreign-born people in the United States topped 40 million in 2010, a 28 percent increase since 2000 and about 13 percent of the nation’s total population. More than a third of new immigrants during the decade came from Asia, while the fastest-growing group came from Africa.

The five cities with the largest foreign-born populations are New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Houston. But the fastest growth is happening in smaller and midsize cities. Brookings reports: “A swath of metro areas from Scranton (Pa.) stretching southwest to Indianapolis and Little Rock and sweeping east to encompass most of the Southeast and lower mid-Atlantic … saw growth rates on the order of three times that of the 100 largest metro areas’ rate. These include Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville and Indianapolis, all of which passed the 100,000 mark for total foreign-born population by 2010.” Similarly, the states with the fastest-growing foreign-born populations are North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Nevada and Tennessee.

That’s essentially the Bible Belt, folks. How will we respond?

As a mission worker in a Muslim country used to tell me: “These people haven’t rejected the Gospel. They haven’t heard the Gospel.”

 

For the original blog post and site click here.

Apr 24
Love0

Marty update

By Uncategorized

Thursday, June 7th 5:00 pm

Marty is still doing well recovering from the brain surgery. Yesterday  he felt abdominal discomfort and this morning he had out-patient surgery  for kidney stones; he is out of surgery and doing well.  The following is from Marty a couple weeks ago:

Once again Jan and I are so grateful for a loving church! You have done so many things so well and we feel that we are surrounded by the incredible love of the Lord in great part through you.  One of the signs of a healthy church is that when one staff member is knocked out, the others take up the slack and the church continues on. Heritage has done that, by God’s grace and the effort of a great group of leaders in our pastoral staff and elders and a great congregation. As I shared previously, I am still not out of the woods, to quote the neurosurgeon. June 12th is a pivotal date when I will have another CT scan and meet with the neurosurgeon to determine if a small hematoma that remains on the right side of my brain is being absorbed by my body or if he will have to do surgery again. We will gratefully accept whatever the Lord’s providence brings to us, and we would love to have you join us in prayer for the outcome. Once again, thank you very, very much for your loving and faithful prayers!

Tuesday, May 8th, 9:00am

Hello everyone. We wanted to tell you everything appears to be going well with Marty’s recovery. He even made his way up to the church for a brief hello yesterday. His days are filled with rest and visits to the doctors. There really isn’t much to say and that is exactly why we are writing.

Tomorrow we will be transitioning this update system away from the main page of the Heritage to other channels. If the need arises for us to go back to daily, even regular hourly updates, we will certainly put it back, but for now that approach seems like overkill.

The plan is to move the updates to the Heritage Weekly and the Heritage Facebook page. Please let us know if you have any questions. We would love to answer them for you the very best we can.

Saturday, May 5th, 3:00pm

Good news: The Brown’s are going through the final process of being released. Marty is going home! He will get to sleep in his own bed… This is obviously a huge milestone, but the recovery is far from over. They will most likely not get home before 6:00pm, but they are heading in the right direction. Please be praying for a smooth transition and for the recovery to proceed. As if this really needs to be said: They are really excited.

Friday, May 4th, 4:00pm

Things have continued to go well today. Marty has been making laps up and down the hall. He is free of almost all his connections to machines and things that drip fluid into him. His spirits are high and that zest for life we have all seen in him has returned. Marty’s headaches are gone. He told me it is the first time in over a month his head has not hurt. He is making progress!

Progress...

With everything in the head moving in the right direction, we are now praying for the things in the bladder to get moving as well. There is no going home until the bladder works properly. He will be tired after his marathon walk this afternoon, but all rings considered, he is making great progress. Oh… Whoops! I almost forgot. They took his staples out. He still has some stitches, but the row of staples across his head are gone. Praise God!

Friday, May 4th, 11:00am

Today, Marty’s head is doing great. No slurrring. No headaches Reading is a little slow, but he is making good progress. He has shown tremendous improvement since Wednesday when he could NOT put words together at all or put it on paper.
He is fighting off a potential bladder infection. Pray his brain communicates to the bladder to go! A Urologist friend is going to be coming in today to see what steps to take. If the bladder stuff gets better his improvement over the past few days gives them a chance of going home sooner tater than later.
And of course they want to go home… We praise God for the BIG improvement of his head. The only medication he is now on for his head are Kepra and Tegretol (for seizures) and Tylenol. Compared to the amount and strength of the medication he has been on, this is nothing.
Marty and Jan have continually mentioned their gratefulness for everyone’s prayers. Please keep praying. Though he is making progress he still has a long journey in front of him.

Thursday, May 3rd, 4:00pm

Jan just told me this has been a great day! She was very excited and thankful for seeing real, tangible progress. Marty has been alert and feeling better throughout the day. His speech has improved and he was even attempting to read out loud for a bit. Marty’s appetite has returned and he is regaining some strength. He is definitely not well, so don’t stop praying. And as has been mentioned here frequently, he has had good days followed by tough one’s, but this is encouraging.

Thursday, May 3rd, 9:00am

The results from the MRI were good. Marty had a good night and his speech has improved slightly. He was smiling this morning and excited for the day. His voice was strong and spirits were up.

Marty on Tuesday

This obviously has taken it’s toll on the family, but Jan is encouraged by that classic song “Stand By Your Man”. She is the hospital equivalent of Tammy Wynette, having shaved her head to match her husband.

Jan and her hair to support Marty

There have been some rumors of seizures floating around. Doctors think this MAY be what is going on. Again, to the best of my knowledge no one has confirmed he is even having seizures. They are looking for what are called “mini focal seizures”. This is why they have put him on two seizure meds for now.

The doctors are planning on changing his meds today. He is currently on a number of serious medication and the hope is he can be moved off of a few of them. Marty is happy for this, but concerned the headaches will return.

For the record, Jan did not shave her head. The picture is not real. The other day she was joking about cutting her hair, so we made it happen. Please don’t let anyone cut their hair to support Jan.

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Wednesday, May 2nd, 8:00pm

Marty had an MRI this evening and they are still waiting on the results. There will most likely be nothing until the morning. The hope is for this test to give a better look at what is going on. Let us be found praying for clarity, wisdom, healing, and improvement.

One other item I know Marty wants people to remember is how God will be glorified through this ordeal. We are praying He will be working in lives, near and far, through ways only the Lord can use. In our prayers and concern for Marty lets also plead for the souls of others, that God would rescue them from their spiritual death. There are Doctors, nurses, support staff, other patients, and other families we want to be praying for and Sharon with.

We will update as soon as there is more info to share.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 6:00pm

Apologies for the internet silence today, but enough about the Narrator. Marty has had a tough day. Again, the “Two steps forward, one step back thing”. He is on a slew of medications and some are working better than others. It is my (completely non-medical) opinion they are still trying to find the right medicines and right levels for his body. This could be clarified with more specifics from a Doctor who has knowledge of Marty’s condition, but as of 6:00pm I have not spoken with one.

Please keep praying. The slurring of speech has been present throughout the day. This is may not amount to much, but it is certainly frustrating for Marty and scary for Jan. Please refrain from visiting right now, even for Jan. It is not good for Marty to have visitors at this point and someone coming for her means she will have to leave the room, go down the hall and visit with people away from her husband. She does not like leaving him for more than a few minutes during the day. Your cards, comments, e-mails, texts, and calls are being received and they are a blessing. Her phone has been going off constantly whenever I have been with her. If you do not hear back from Jan right now, please understand she is under a tremendous amount of stress and it is understandably taking it’s toll. I’m sure she will be expecting a beach trip when they get through this…

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Tuesday, May 1st, 5:00pm

Today has been a good day… Marty has eaten, walked twice, and for the most part spoken well all day.

He told me he got to preach to the Speech Therapist. Of course he thought it didn’t go we’ll, but all preachers think that. If you ask me, this was the best medicine or therapy he could have received.

I heard today that people can and do make complete recovery from this type of issue. One thing they stressed was that the patient needs rest. Sleep allows the brain to heal. There are still two spots that need to heal in his head and rest will go a long way toward helping. The family continues to ask for there to be no visitors and the nurses have now placed a sign on the door for anyone who forgets.

All things considered, this seems like good news, a good day, and a great step in the right direction. Marty looked good and sounded good. He was laughing about the red tint in his hair and eagerly anticipating the crab bisque he is having for dinner. All of it, including the food, sounds good to me.

Let’s praise God for encouraging news and keep praying for progress and healing.

Monday, April 30th, 7:00pm

As mentioned earlier, there are a few new Doctor’s on the scene. Forgive my lack of specifics on titles and roles, but suffice to say, there is a new neurological specialist looking into what is going on with Marty. They were thinking it was normal post-op recovery, but now that it has persisted they are pursuing other options. His continued headaches are troubling and a sign that something else may be going on. There is enough abnormality to take a new track, so this may have turned to more of a vascular issue… They are hoping to find out results from tests on his carotid artery, as well as, an EEG (to measure the brain’s electrical activity). As if that is not enough, there will most likely be a heart test in there as well.

The following from earlier today is still true.

MARTY IS STILL EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. Issues with speech slurring after this procedure is not at all unusual. Not everyone experiences these problems, but none of the doctors have been surprised. What is less clear is how long these struggles will persist…

What has not been expected is for this to last as long as it has and for the headaches to still be so severe.

The family has asked that you be made aware of what is going on, so you will know how to pray. Marty is still in a great deal of pain and very uncomfortable. The good news is, when they isolate the issue, progress should be right around the corner.

Monday, April 30th, 5:00pm

Lots to update everyone on. They have just ordered more tests. Marty will be having tests run on the veins in his neck and another test on his heart to make sure everything is operating properly. There is also a chance of him moving to a regular room. So, let’s get to praying.

The day has been one steady stream of doctors, specialists, and tests. Both Marty and Jan are exhausted. Due to the storms last night, Jan woke at 4am and was up at the hospital shortly there after. We can pray she gets some rest. Marty is being assisted in his rest by medication, even though he is constantly be pushed and shoved by the hospital staff. Let’s assist Jan in her rest by asking the Lord to fill her up far more than any amount of sleep could supply.

Marty looked and sounded good when I was with him today. It is true he is experiencing periodic slurring of speech and moments where he cannot communicate. I have not been sharing this detail, because I was respecting their privacy and letting them release details on their timeframe. Yesterday, Jan posted the details of the speech difficulties. Therefore, it is now appropriate to give some perspective.

MARTY IS STILL EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. Issues with speech slurring after this procedure is not at all unusual. Not everyone experiences these problems, but none of the doctors have been surprised. What is less clear is how long these struggles will persist…

Please be praying for the doctors to have clarity on what to treat and how to go about it? Please be praying for Marty to continue making progress and for his headaches to be removed and speech to improve. Jan joked with me
This afternoon that everyone should brace themselves, because he will be returning with a whole bunch of new sermon illustrations.

Monday, April 30th, 12:00pm

Directly from Jan:

Wow! It has been a long morning. Everything started around 6:30. Marty got a cat scan. It was stable which means it hasn’t gotten worse. The Dr said it actually had improved a tiny little bit. His headaches haven’t been as bad which we are very thankful for. Our biggest concern is Marty’s speech. His words are slurred and seem to happen more frequently today. We had a neurologist come by and evaluate him. He used some BIG word which I have already forgotten. So they plan on doing an EEG sometime today. They plan to move him to a regular room today but the Dr said NO visitors. They think he is getting a little over stimulated and needs more rest.

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Sunday, April 29th, 2:00pm

The Doctor came through and looked at all the tests this morning. Praise God they didn’t show any signs of infection, however they said the CAT Scan looked the same as yesterday. I believe they were hoping it was a better CAT Scan and the fluid on the brain would have been more absorbed which it wasn’t. His speech has not been slurred any this afternoon and he hasn’t thrown up any more. We can be praying he gets his strength and energy back. They have him back on liquid IV, no food or water, and a Tylenol IV for pain. His head has been better this afternoon but the Dr said they are watching how he does today. If he doesn’t do well, they are going back in. Also, decisions will depend on the next CAT Scan. Please pray that won’t be the case. Sounds like Monday should be busy.

Sunday, April 29th, 7:30am

This morning got off to a rough start. Marty has been experiencing nausea and generally wrestling through the night. It sounds like they got his fever under control at some point in the night. Jan was concerned and asking for prayer. By the time I made it up to the hospital, he had already left for an impromptu CAT Scan. He was looking better than i expected and even in good spirit this morning considering the night he had.

I think this is clear by now, but Marty has a lot of recovering to do… From what they tell me, operating on the brain is a big deal. There will undoubtedly be good days and bad ones. The family is appreciative for all the cards and call, but is still asking people to hold off on visiting.

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Saturday, April 28th, 6:30pm

The need to continue to pray is being voiced loud and clear. Marty has had a tough day with a return of a pretty serious fever, headaches coming back with some force, and some concern over Pneumonia. Apparently he has a history of Pneumonia. Please be praying for the family and of course with Marty’s recovery. They met with a Therapist today and will start therapy just as soon as Marty can handle it. They are tired and ready to see some real steps forward. Jan expressed her weariness this evening and just asked for all of us to continue praying. The tough thing is, it is just the beginning of a long road…

Saturday, April 28th, 9:00am

The word is Marty got a bit of his appetite back this morning, filling up on sugary cereal. Jan said he never gets that at home, so it was a real treat. His head still hurts a great deal, but the Doctors are saying everything is still making progress. We will update as more details become available.

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Friday, April 27th, 9:30pm

They have decided to check on him every two hours tonight. Doctors have “up’d” the meds while watching for any signs of trouble. He ate a whole bowl of crab bisque and moaned as he ate, so his taste buds are working… Several of his grandchildren have been able to come by and visit for a short time. They found him walking the halls with Jan, but very tired. We have been asked to not stop praying. Recovery is a rough road.

Friday, April 27th, 11:30am

Pastor Marty with Pastor Orhan last August

Well, what do they say? Two steps forward and one step back. That may be a bit of overstating things, but it does sum up the situation nicely. Marty had a great day yesterday. He moved rooms, walked the halls, ate a ton, and even got up and shaved. This morning it appeared the busyness took it’s toll. He was weary and struggling a bit. The Doctor gave him another CAT Scan just to make sure everything was doing well. Praise God the report was good. Marty is making progress. His pain is a bit higher today, but they should be able to manage it and he is currently resting.

Again, the family is asking for no visitors, but to use that time and energy to pray. You can pray for Marty, but you can also pray for Pastor Orhan in Riverland as Marty and I did this morning. While meeting briefly with Marty and Jan and praying for their situation, Marty asked that we pray for Orhan and his health situation. He is waiting on the results of tests for Cancer. Please lift Orhan and his family up, even if you have no idea who that is.

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Thursday, April 26th, 1:15pm

Marty wanted to share this pic with everyone.

He has been eating better today and is generally feeling much better. Earlier he got up to shave his face. Now he is resting. Thank you for your prayers and for all your kind words.

Thursday, April 26th, 10:15am

Marty is being moved to a “Step Down” room right now. He seems more alert, is talking and eating. Pray this move doesn’t take too much out of him and that he continues to make improvement.

Thursday, April 26th, 8:30am

Talking with Jan this morning was a reminder that this recovery is a marathon and not a sprint… Marty had a CAT scan last night and another this morning. He is experiencing what the Doctors are describing as normal reactions to brain surgery. Apparently, removing the fluid has left a void in his head. I will let all of you fill in the punch line, but this is something they are watching and something we can be praying about.

Yesterday, he had little to no appetite and was sleeping a great deal of the day. They are hoping to sit him up more today, so we can be praying this transition will go smoothly and for the move to a regular room.

The family is asking for there to be no visitors, but for people to continue praying. Marty is expected to make a full recovery, but it is a long road. It is normal for our attention to be focused on the day of surgery, but let us be people who remember to pray through the recovery as well.

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Wednesday, April 25th, 8:30am

The Brown’s met with the Doctor this morning finding out the drains have been taken out and they plan on sitting Marty up late this afternoon. The plan is for him to remain in ICU until tomorrow, then move to a regular room for a few days. Marty mentioned feeling much better this morning which is a huge relief given how bad he felt yesterday. The family wanted to mention how grateful they are for the prayers and cards. They have repeatedly expressed how overwhelmed they have been by the love of the Body.

That being said, I came across an interesting article this morning that may be of interest to many of you since you are coming here to find out information on Marty and wondering how you can support him and his family. The article is from Ligonier Ministries and can be found here.

3 Simple Ways to Encourage Your Pastor

FROM Apr 25, 2012 Category: Articles

Pastors are human too. That means, of course, that they sin, but it also means that they have ordinary human needs. While no one joins the ministry in order to receive riches or accolades, honor or power, while shepherds are called to serve others rather than themselves, such doesn’t mean that they are not given to discouragement.

Most of us, most of the time, love our pastor, and are grateful for him. Few of us, however, understand that he needs encouragement. What even fewer of us grasp is how we can be an encouragement to him. Here are three simple ideas.

First, pay attention to his labors. Though we do not have a duty to be at the church every time the doors are open, one thing that discourages pastors is our unwillingness to simply avail ourselves of his gifts. When the pastor labors in his study to prepare a Bible study lesson, or writes a blog post, and the sheep under his care pay no attention, it is discouraging. It says to the pastor, “I do not value what you do for me and my family. Your efforts have no effect because I won’t even be bothered to read, or to listen. I will download the sermons of celebrities that don’t know me. I will read the wisdom of those with book contracts.” It’s not that your pastor is jealous of the gifts of others. It is instead that he is jealous for you and your growth in wisdom. A less gifted man who knows and loves you is far more potent in your life than a more gifted man far, far away.

Second, speak well of him to others. When you speak well to the pastor, if he is prone to discouragement, it might not have the impact you wish it to have. Such kind words can easily be written off as kindness rather than gratitude, as flattery rather than sincerity. But if word comes back to him, and it will, that you have spoken well of him, to others in the church, or even to those in your community, he will have to take your good word to heart. It might also encourage those with whom you speak to have a deeper appreciation for your pastor, and that’s usually a good thing. Of course the one you should be speaking to the most about your pastor is the Great Shepherd of the sheep. Pray with gratitude for the man Christ has given you, and the man will be encouraged.

Third, pursue godliness. Because he loves you, what your pastor wants more than anything else is for you to grow in grace and wisdom, to become more like Jesus. What is most discouraging for him then isn’t how poorly he may be treated, how badly he may be honored, but how poorly his sheep are doing. He is encouraged most, however, when you are doing well. When he sees your wife’s beaming face, he knows it is because you are seeking to be a godly husband and father, and is encouraged. When he sees you turning the other cheek in your relationship with your pew neighbor, he is encouraged to know that the leaven of the kingdom is spreading among his flock. When he sees you visiting the widow and the orphan, he knows you are practicing true religion, and rejoices.

Don’t, in short, tell your pastor how smart he is, nor how brilliant his sermons are. Don’t tell him how funny he is, nor how dignified. Show him how his labor in showing you Jesus is making you more like Him. That is the desire of his heart, because that is the desire of His heart.

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Tuesday, April 24th, 4:30pm

The CAT scan simply showed post surgical changes. Jan didn’t really know what those changes meant, but as they said earlier “No news is good news.”
Both Marty and Jan slept this afternoon. Marty did have a slight temperature around 1:00 of 100.4. She asked everyone to keep praying for the pain to decrease, the Doctors to have wisdom, and for a speedy recovery.

Tuesday, April 24th 12:00pm

Jan just told us Marty is recovering quite well. She has asked for people to continue to pray for Marty’s pain. He is still hurting a great deal. They are waiting to hear from the Doctor and would appreciate prayers for clarity on what is next.

Tuesday, April 24th 10:00am

Pastor Marty is said to be recovering in ICU this morning and still experiencing some discomfort. This is to be expected given the nature of the operation and he will be closely monitored over the course of the next few days to see if there are any complications. We will update this page with more details as they become available.

The other day Marty asked us to gather some information on how we as believers should respond to tough news, to sickness, or to suffering. Well, it’s been a bit busy and we are just now able to make some of these things available.

This morning we want to remind you of James Montgomery Boice, Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Pastor Boice was diagnosed with Cancer and ultimately died from it’s complications. On his final sunday before his congregation, he stood before his people in the call to worship and counseled his church to approach the issue with these precious words.

A number of you have asked what you can do, and it strikes me that what you can do, you are doing. This is a good congregation, and you do the right things. You are praying certainly, and I’ve been assured of that by many people. And I know of many meetings that have been going on.

A relevant question, I guess, when you pray is, pray for what? Should you pray for a miracle? Well, you’re free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who is able to do miracles—and he certainly can—is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they’re rare by definition. A miracle has to be an unusual thing.

I think it’s far more profitable to pray for wisdom for the doctors. Doctors have a great deal of experience, of course, in their expertise, but they’re not omniscient—they do make mistakes—and then also for the effectiveness of the treatment. Sometimes it does very well and sometimes not so well, and that’s certainly a legitimate thing to pray for.

Above all, I would say pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying himself in history and you say, where in all of history has God most glorified himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it wasn’t by delivering Jesus from the cross, though he could have. Jesus said, “Don’ t you think I could call down from my Father ten legions of angels for my defense?” But he didn’t do that. And yet that’s where God is most glorified.

One other thing many of you have done has been sending cards, and I want to say how much I appreciate that. My wife and I have been reading them all. There are far more than I would ever have believed could come. One person in the church said that he has taken out a special prayer concern for the postman that delivers the cards that he won’t develop a hernia, and I think that’s thoughtful. Many prayers should be made along that line.

I think, although I want to assure you that I’m reading the cards, I don’t envision ever being able to answer them all. And then some of you who are in a position to do so have said, “We would like to be of help in any way we can. ” And many have been already. Again, we’re overwhelmed with offers. We’ll never be able to take advantage of them all, but we appreciate all of those offers.

If I were to reflect on what goes on theologically here, there are two things I would stress. One is the sovereignty of God. That’s not novel. We have talked about the sovereignty of God here forever. God is in charge. When things like this come into our lives, they are not accidental. It’s not as if God somehow forgot what was going on, and something bad slipped by. It’s not the answer that Harold Kushner gave in his book, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. God does everything according to his will. We’ve always said that.

But what I’ve been impressed with mostly is something in addition to that. It’s possible, isn’ t it, to conceive of God as sovereign and yet indifferent? God’s in charge, but he doesn’t care. But it’s not that. God is not only the one who is in charge; God is also good. Everything he does is good. And what Romans 12, verses1 and 2, says is that we have the opportunity by the renewal of our minds—that is, how we think about these things— actually to prove what God’s will is. And then it says, “His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Is that good, pleasing, and perfect to God? Yes, of course, but the point of it is that it’s good, pleasing, and perfect to us. If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you’d change it, you’d make it worse. It wouldn’t be as good. So that’s the way we want to accept it and move forward, and who knows what God will do?

The above quote was just an excerpt from his remarks that morning. To read the full transcript and to find out more about ht elite and ministry of Pastor Boice please follow this link.

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Monday, April 23rd, 7:00pm

As of 6pm on the 23rd of April, Pastor Marty is doing fine and recovering from surgery. His wife Jan told us everything went well and they are expecting him to make a full recovery. The blood that had collected on his brain was drained and he is now resting in ICU. He will be having a CAT Scan tomorrow to take a better look at the area and make sure everything is recovering properly. The good news is he is moving his arms and legs, acknowledging his family and on his way to being much healthier. Obviously, his family is very relieved and praising God for the good report.

We will be updating this webpage with new information as it becomes available as a service to Marty and his family. Our goal is to lighten their load, help respect their privacy and give out up to date, accurate information.

As with all major procedures there is a chance of complications, so please be in prayer for Marty and his family and respect their wishes for no visitors at this time.

Has to stay flat on back for the next few days

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Apr 17
Love0

Pray for Turkey

By Ministry

P4T: English (HD) from PRAY4TURKEY on Vimeo.

 

From the body of Christ in Turkey, to our holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are writing to you from Turkey – from the land of Noah, of Abraham, of Paul, of Mt. Ararat and Harran, of Antioch, Ephesus, Galatia and the Seven Churches of Revelation……

Yet today in our land of 72 million, which is 99.8% Muslim, the size of Christ’s flock is only a handful. We are writing to ask, indeed to plead for your prayers.

As Turkish Christians we love our country very much. Pray for God’s will to be done, and for His Kingdom to come!

Pray that the Lord’s hand will be with us and a great number of people will believe and turn to the Lord.

We, the church in Turkey, have invited the worldwide church to pray for the land and the church of Turkey this day, April 18. We ask you at your church to pray for us, joining the prayers of millions around the globe. April 18 is when back in 2007 three of brothers were murdered brutally for their faith, the first martyrs of the modern Turkish church.

We are praying for you, and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding and we beg you brothers .

Pray for us! The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

 “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many…” 2 Corinthians 1: 11

These are a few points to help direct your prayers for Turkey. Please feel free to pray for any other points you feel led to pray for.

1- Please pray for the blessing and peace of Turkey in general, as the Lord desires us to bless and be a blessing to all.

“By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted.…” Proverbs 11:11

2- Pray the Lord will display His love and mercy to the people of Turkey by pouring out His Holy Spirit upon our land, revealing His glory through healings, signs and wonders.

3- Pray the Lord breaks down the lies and the endless disinformation about Christ, the Bible and Christians that has blinded and hardened hearts in our land. Pray that God redeems the negative memories of history.

“Of course, we are living in the flesh, but we do not fight in a fleshly way. For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the flesh. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey Christ.” 2 Co. 10:3-5

4- Pray that hearts and eyes are opened to see Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.

5- Pray for the Turkish believers who are always on the frontline to walk close to the Lord. Pray for refreshing, emboldening, strengthening, protection and encouragement.

6- Pray for more servant hearted leaders. For good role models. For faithful laborers.

7- Pray for the ongoing unity amongst the churches and for its increase and deepening.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus that together you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist.” Romans 15:5,6

Thank you for your prayers. May the Lord’s hand be upon you always.

On behalf of the Body of Christ in Turkey
Alliance of Protestant Churches (Turkey)

The following is the trailer for the Malatya Film. Follow the link for more information and how to get our copy.

Malatya Trailer from Nolan Dean on Vimeo.

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