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Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
OPPORTUNITIES ARE ONLY OPPORTUNITIES WITH THEIR BACKS TO YOU
Pray for our outreach to the freshmen of Alabama State University. Our assigned venue on campus is closed because of a leak in the roof. We don't have a confirmed alternate location to bring the Word...yet. We believed God had opened this door for us to bring the gospel to these young people at this crucial point in their lives; so now we believe God has a door for us to bring the gospel to these young people at this crucial point in their lives.
In the natural it is frustrating to be less than a week out from any planned event and see critical parts of the plan fall apart. But, I know that what we do in evangelism is not about the plan, or the venue, or even the event. It's about the gospel which is about Jesus.
So, if Hall Memorial CME Church and our ministry partners at New Walk of Life Church have to go mic-less and accapella on the steps of the Acadome, we receive what God has prepared because by faith (with prayer and fasting) we claim the fruit of what God has planted in our hearts.
Pray for us. Pray with us. Fast as God leads you.
We walk with our Father around this obstacle. We stand in Him as the obstacle turns around. And when He reveals what is on the other side of this obstacle, we will praise Him for the opportunity to do His will.
In the natural it is frustrating to be less than a week out from any planned event and see critical parts of the plan fall apart. But, I know that what we do in evangelism is not about the plan, or the venue, or even the event. It's about the gospel which is about Jesus.
So, if Hall Memorial CME Church and our ministry partners at New Walk of Life Church have to go mic-less and accapella on the steps of the Acadome, we receive what God has prepared because by faith (with prayer and fasting) we claim the fruit of what God has planted in our hearts.
Pray for us. Pray with us. Fast as God leads you.
We walk with our Father around this obstacle. We stand in Him as the obstacle turns around. And when He reveals what is on the other side of this obstacle, we will praise Him for the opportunity to do His will.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Hit 'Em With Everything You Got!
I haven’t seen the new “Star Trek,” but I’m sure that the following scene is in the movie, because this scene’s in every movie like “Star Trek.”
The hero’s ship is under attack from an enemy vessel. The enemy vessel is larger, more heavily armored, and equipped with superior firepower. Heavily damaged, the good guys are on the verge of being destroyed. The heroic captain orders his crew to arm every torpedo bay, shift all power to the weapons, commit every ounce of energy to one final attack. Looking forward at the enemy, the captain orders, “Hit ‘em with everything we got!”
They fire the weapons. Every laser, bullet, missile, arrow, rock, and bottle on board streaks forward and strikes the enemy target head on. There’s a massive explosion; and when the smoke clears----- the enemy vessel is still there.
The heroic crew is battered and wounded. Their ship is defenseless, systems are failing, smoke erupts from every corner. One more shot from the enemy will end them. This is it.
The moment that the good guys ……..win.
Cause something unexpected happens. They try some military maneuver that’s never worked before; they execute some risky new technical operation; they discover that they’ve held out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Something always happens after the good guys have “hit ‘em with everything they got” and they’ve got nothing left. That’s always how the good guys win.
In 2 Kings 13:14 – 19, the nation of Israel is in bad shape. The 10 tribes that make up Israel, the northern kingdom (also known as Samaria)have fallen into national idolatry, mixing worship of the true God with pagan rituals and regular sacrifices to false gods. And they are dominated by the superior military power of their enemy Syria (Aram). The Syrians raid at will, demand tribute, and harass the Jewish people at every turn. Syria’s army is a larger, better equipped, and seemingly unstoppable power. It has been only the intervention and intercession of powerful prophets like Elisha that have kept Syria from completely destroying the kingdom of Israel. And Elisha is dying (verse 14).
Joash, king of Israel, goes to see Elisha before he passes away. When Joash arrives at Elisha’s bedside he weeps over him and says “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” This touching statement is an exact quote of what Elisha himself said when his predecessor Elijah was parted from him and translated into Heaven. This would be a touching scene of grief and piety but for one small detail.
Joash isn’t a true believer. Verse 11 says that Joash did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them.
Point? Joash knows how and when to quote the Word of the prophets. He’s religious, but he’s not faithful.
Like us, Joash isn’t really, truly, in his heart-of-hearts interested in submitting to God by faith, but he is very interested in getting God’s favor. He’d love a blessing, preferably without having to do a bunch of obeying and stuff. (Sound familiar?)
For the sake of His people and His promises to His people, God offers Joash a chance to be blessed. Elisha orders the king to take a bow and shoot some arrows into the ground. He explains that the arrows represent God’s deliverance (verse 17).
Joash fires. One arrow. Two arrows. Three arrows. Then he stops.
He probably stopped and looked at Elisha, trying to gauge the prophet’s reaction, read his expression. Probably trying to see if he’d done enough. That’s us.
We want to know when we’ve done enough of the religion thing.
“How many times, Lord, do I have to pray before You answer?“
“How many months do I have to tithe before you pay off my student loans?”
“How often do you expect me to witness to so-and-so before I can give up on his hard-headed tail?”
“Exactly how much church do I have to attend to make up for the dirt I did this past week?”
Joash shoots 3 arrows and stops. And Elisha is maaaaaad! He says in verse 19 , “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
Now let’s be fair to Joash. It’s not like Elisha told him to fire 5 or 6 arrows and he just decided not to. How was Joash to know how many was enough? How could he know (and, by extension, how can we know) how much of our time, how much of our energy, how many of our prayers, our resources, our “arrows” God expects us to throw at our situation? Simple.
Elisha said, “Take the arrows…Strike the ground”
Joash should have asked himself what we must ask ourselves: How many arrows do I have?
Instead of trying to find the minimum acceptable level of religion, Joash should have targeted the ground and hit it with every arrow he’d got.
When we seek deliverance from God, we are to seek the Word not just as a means of appearing religious, but in a desire to be truly and totally obedient. We must take up whatever arrows are available. Look around in your church, in your home, in your life. What talents are there? What financial resources? What gifts? What time not obligated to work? What knowledge? What connections and contacts? What ideas unshared? What labor unperformed? These are your arrows.
We make the mistake of trying to give the least we can give, do the least we can do and still be acceptable to God. Target the ministry needs, opportunities, and challenges in front of you and instead of trying to calculate how little you can do, hit ‘em with everything you got!
Joash had 3 arrows worth of faith, so God gave him 3 victorious battles. Sometimes the reason we get only temporary deliverance instead of full victory is because we only believe for temporary deliverance.
We sin and then pray that God will deliver us from the immediate consequences, but we don’t believe He can free us from the addictions and sinful habits that led us into sin.
We believe God will keep our children from getting expelled, but we don’t believe and obey Him to deliver them from the sins that underly their expulsion-worthy behavior.
We pray for this month’s rent, but we don’t believe and obey to see total deliverance from the bondage of debt.
We walk in sin everyday and pray for forgiveness every night, but we don’t commit to full repentance and the ultimate deliverance of our soul from sin and Hell,
We have partial deliverance because we attack our issues with some of our faith, some of our resources, some of our “arrows.” God commands us to commit all to His work. (Matthew 22: 37; Deuteronmy 26: 16; Ecclesiastes 9: 10) Target what God has placed and allowed in front of us and hit it with everything we got. And when we do, guess what?
It won’t be enough.
The problems in our lives may very well prove to be more than we can overcome with the resources available. The sins in our heart may very well prove to be to deeply entrenched for our single will to excise. The history of bad decision-making in our families may be to commonly reinforced. After all the smoke clears the enemy may still be there.
But… something will happen.
Joash probably wondered, "How can a bunch of arrows fired into a dying preacher’s yard defeat the great Syrian army with it’s superior armor and overwhelming firepower?
I need more than all these arrows in my hand.”
Wrong.
When we have the faith to hit the work of God with everything we’ve got, then God will make something happen.
If Joash had kept firing, after 5 or 6 shots God would have provided complete victory over the Syrian army. Just as David chose 5 smooth stones to throw at Goliath and found that he only needed one (1 Samuel 17: 40), so we, if we go all out for God, will discover that the resources already given to us will be enough, more than enough to do the work to which we’re called.
When we’ve exhausted every resource, God will give us a new idea, revive an old one, send us help from an unexpected area, …He’ll make something happen. That’s how the good guys always win.
Stop waiting for more. Stop procrastinating. Stop excusing ministry-lessness because we don't have enough resources.
By faith, commit to His work, take up whatever God’s put in our hands and
“Hit em with everything we got!”
2 Kings 13: 14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped.
19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
The hero’s ship is under attack from an enemy vessel. The enemy vessel is larger, more heavily armored, and equipped with superior firepower. Heavily damaged, the good guys are on the verge of being destroyed. The heroic captain orders his crew to arm every torpedo bay, shift all power to the weapons, commit every ounce of energy to one final attack. Looking forward at the enemy, the captain orders, “Hit ‘em with everything we got!”
They fire the weapons. Every laser, bullet, missile, arrow, rock, and bottle on board streaks forward and strikes the enemy target head on. There’s a massive explosion; and when the smoke clears----- the enemy vessel is still there.
The heroic crew is battered and wounded. Their ship is defenseless, systems are failing, smoke erupts from every corner. One more shot from the enemy will end them. This is it.
The moment that the good guys ……..win.
Cause something unexpected happens. They try some military maneuver that’s never worked before; they execute some risky new technical operation; they discover that they’ve held out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Something always happens after the good guys have “hit ‘em with everything they got” and they’ve got nothing left. That’s always how the good guys win.
In 2 Kings 13:14 – 19, the nation of Israel is in bad shape. The 10 tribes that make up Israel, the northern kingdom (also known as Samaria)have fallen into national idolatry, mixing worship of the true God with pagan rituals and regular sacrifices to false gods. And they are dominated by the superior military power of their enemy Syria (Aram). The Syrians raid at will, demand tribute, and harass the Jewish people at every turn. Syria’s army is a larger, better equipped, and seemingly unstoppable power. It has been only the intervention and intercession of powerful prophets like Elisha that have kept Syria from completely destroying the kingdom of Israel. And Elisha is dying (verse 14).
Joash, king of Israel, goes to see Elisha before he passes away. When Joash arrives at Elisha’s bedside he weeps over him and says “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” This touching statement is an exact quote of what Elisha himself said when his predecessor Elijah was parted from him and translated into Heaven. This would be a touching scene of grief and piety but for one small detail.
Joash isn’t a true believer. Verse 11 says that Joash did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them.
Point? Joash knows how and when to quote the Word of the prophets. He’s religious, but he’s not faithful.
Like us, Joash isn’t really, truly, in his heart-of-hearts interested in submitting to God by faith, but he is very interested in getting God’s favor. He’d love a blessing, preferably without having to do a bunch of obeying and stuff. (Sound familiar?)
For the sake of His people and His promises to His people, God offers Joash a chance to be blessed. Elisha orders the king to take a bow and shoot some arrows into the ground. He explains that the arrows represent God’s deliverance (verse 17).
Joash fires. One arrow. Two arrows. Three arrows. Then he stops.
He probably stopped and looked at Elisha, trying to gauge the prophet’s reaction, read his expression. Probably trying to see if he’d done enough. That’s us.
We want to know when we’ve done enough of the religion thing.
“How many times, Lord, do I have to pray before You answer?“
“How many months do I have to tithe before you pay off my student loans?”
“How often do you expect me to witness to so-and-so before I can give up on his hard-headed tail?”
“Exactly how much church do I have to attend to make up for the dirt I did this past week?”
Joash shoots 3 arrows and stops. And Elisha is maaaaaad! He says in verse 19 , “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
Now let’s be fair to Joash. It’s not like Elisha told him to fire 5 or 6 arrows and he just decided not to. How was Joash to know how many was enough? How could he know (and, by extension, how can we know) how much of our time, how much of our energy, how many of our prayers, our resources, our “arrows” God expects us to throw at our situation? Simple.
Elisha said, “Take the arrows…Strike the ground”
Joash should have asked himself what we must ask ourselves: How many arrows do I have?
Instead of trying to find the minimum acceptable level of religion, Joash should have targeted the ground and hit it with every arrow he’d got.
When we seek deliverance from God, we are to seek the Word not just as a means of appearing religious, but in a desire to be truly and totally obedient. We must take up whatever arrows are available. Look around in your church, in your home, in your life. What talents are there? What financial resources? What gifts? What time not obligated to work? What knowledge? What connections and contacts? What ideas unshared? What labor unperformed? These are your arrows.
We make the mistake of trying to give the least we can give, do the least we can do and still be acceptable to God. Target the ministry needs, opportunities, and challenges in front of you and instead of trying to calculate how little you can do, hit ‘em with everything you got!
Joash had 3 arrows worth of faith, so God gave him 3 victorious battles. Sometimes the reason we get only temporary deliverance instead of full victory is because we only believe for temporary deliverance.
We sin and then pray that God will deliver us from the immediate consequences, but we don’t believe He can free us from the addictions and sinful habits that led us into sin.
We believe God will keep our children from getting expelled, but we don’t believe and obey Him to deliver them from the sins that underly their expulsion-worthy behavior.
We pray for this month’s rent, but we don’t believe and obey to see total deliverance from the bondage of debt.
We walk in sin everyday and pray for forgiveness every night, but we don’t commit to full repentance and the ultimate deliverance of our soul from sin and Hell,
We have partial deliverance because we attack our issues with some of our faith, some of our resources, some of our “arrows.” God commands us to commit all to His work. (Matthew 22: 37; Deuteronmy 26: 16; Ecclesiastes 9: 10) Target what God has placed and allowed in front of us and hit it with everything we got. And when we do, guess what?
It won’t be enough.
The problems in our lives may very well prove to be more than we can overcome with the resources available. The sins in our heart may very well prove to be to deeply entrenched for our single will to excise. The history of bad decision-making in our families may be to commonly reinforced. After all the smoke clears the enemy may still be there.
But… something will happen.
Joash probably wondered, "How can a bunch of arrows fired into a dying preacher’s yard defeat the great Syrian army with it’s superior armor and overwhelming firepower?
I need more than all these arrows in my hand.”
Wrong.
When we have the faith to hit the work of God with everything we’ve got, then God will make something happen.
If Joash had kept firing, after 5 or 6 shots God would have provided complete victory over the Syrian army. Just as David chose 5 smooth stones to throw at Goliath and found that he only needed one (1 Samuel 17: 40), so we, if we go all out for God, will discover that the resources already given to us will be enough, more than enough to do the work to which we’re called.
When we’ve exhausted every resource, God will give us a new idea, revive an old one, send us help from an unexpected area, …He’ll make something happen. That’s how the good guys always win.
Stop waiting for more. Stop procrastinating. Stop excusing ministry-lessness because we don't have enough resources.
By faith, commit to His work, take up whatever God’s put in our hands and
“Hit em with everything we got!”
2 Kings 13: 14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped.
19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
Saturday, June 13, 2009
JUNETEENTH BANQUET
You are invited to join the pastor and congregation of Hall Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Saturday, June 20, 2009, at 7 P.M., for our 2nd Annual Juneteenth Banquet.
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of Juneteenth as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement.
Join us as we celebrate with praise, song, dinner, and documentaries the journey from our past to the present.
This occasion will enlighten, educate, and inspire.
Tickets are $15.00. Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com or call 334-288-0577 to reserve your tickets or to send your support.
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of Juneteenth as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement.
Join us as we celebrate with praise, song, dinner, and documentaries the journey from our past to the present.
This occasion will enlighten, educate, and inspire.
Tickets are $15.00. Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com or call 334-288-0577 to reserve your tickets or to send your support.
Monday, May 18, 2009
SLEEPING SHEPHERDS
A funny think happened on the way to church this Sunday morning. Actually, it was Sunday afternoon, and it wasn't my church I was headed to. I was on the way to Pleasant Grove CME curch in Troy, AL. I was to preach the message for a service in honor of Pastor Carlton Pickett's 5th year as their pastor.
I'd driven to this church at least twice before, and I had written directions. But I was exhausted so my wife drove and I went to sleep. When I woke up we were 25 miles past where we should have turned.
Now, there was nothing wrong with the written directions. They were correct and clear. The assigned driver fully intended to reach the right destination. The problem was, their pastor, their shepherd, the one who most intimately understood the way, was asleep. So the flock went astray.
We made it to the service---- 40 minutes late. The title of my sermon was: "Thank God for Pastors Who Are Awake and Have Your Back."
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
It would be easy for preachers, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and other leaders in the church to say (correctly) that the same Holy Spirit in us is in our students; and to then say (incorrectly) that whether we do our jobs or not the people will get what they need from the Lord.
Each Christian has a calling, not necessarily a calling to the pulpit, but a calling to some area(s) of ministry. We each have a responsibility, a responsibility to fulfill our calling correctly, consistently, and courageously, fully aware (awake) that we must answer to God for whether or not we do.
1 Peter 5:1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Ezekiel 33: 7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
I know that we get tired, and we shouldn't always be the one in the driver's seat. But we must make sure that before we fold our hands in sleep, we have properly expounded the written Word and prepared the assigned under-shepherd so that our flock does not go astray.
Isaiah 30: 20, 21 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” …
I'd driven to this church at least twice before, and I had written directions. But I was exhausted so my wife drove and I went to sleep. When I woke up we were 25 miles past where we should have turned.
Now, there was nothing wrong with the written directions. They were correct and clear. The assigned driver fully intended to reach the right destination. The problem was, their pastor, their shepherd, the one who most intimately understood the way, was asleep. So the flock went astray.
We made it to the service---- 40 minutes late. The title of my sermon was: "Thank God for Pastors Who Are Awake and Have Your Back."
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
It would be easy for preachers, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and other leaders in the church to say (correctly) that the same Holy Spirit in us is in our students; and to then say (incorrectly) that whether we do our jobs or not the people will get what they need from the Lord.
Each Christian has a calling, not necessarily a calling to the pulpit, but a calling to some area(s) of ministry. We each have a responsibility, a responsibility to fulfill our calling correctly, consistently, and courageously, fully aware (awake) that we must answer to God for whether or not we do.
1 Peter 5:1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Ezekiel 33: 7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
I know that we get tired, and we shouldn't always be the one in the driver's seat. But we must make sure that before we fold our hands in sleep, we have properly expounded the written Word and prepared the assigned under-shepherd so that our flock does not go astray.
Isaiah 30: 20, 21 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” …
Saturday, May 16, 2009
WHAT KIND OF PARENT GETS BLESSED?
Because of what I see in the trailers for "Angels and Demons," I'm not going to see it in the theaters and I'm not going to rent it. Not because the trailers make it seem blasphemous, but because the trailer make it seem boring.
However the release of the latest installment of "The DaVinci Code" does evoke some thought on the past wrongs of "the church." Setting aside Dan Brown's fictional (We do all remember that these books and movies are made-up stories, right?) conspiracies, there are some actual areas in which our forefathers and we have dropped the ball.
One's the way we used to, and in some cases still do, deal with unwed parents. Consider 2 Kings 4: 8-17.
2 Kings 4: 8 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food.
9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly.
10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
A financially well-to-do, married, upstanding lady becomes the prophet's benefactor. She and her older husband build him a mini-parsonage and support his ministry. God rewards her with a son (verse 16 & 17). The child tragically dies (verse 19 & 20). But God through Elisha revives the child and returns him to the arms of his righteous and upstanding mother.
Beautiful, simple, and fair. She's a good person who does good things and has lived the right way. Therefore, she deserved this miracle. Right?
Consider 1 Kings 17.
1 Kings 17: 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Elijah, Elisha's mentor, is directed by God to leave a place of divine provision and to seek support from this widow lady. But this sister is not like the other.
She's a widow = single mother.
She's so poor (1 Kings 17: 12) that she's about to cook her and her son's last meal before they starve to death.
And, she has a questionable past.
We know this because in verse 17, she refers to her past sins that may be a reason for the tragedy she's experiencing.
So a poor, single, mother with a questionable past comes in contact with the prophet Elijah. She doesn't have any means, but God miraculously provides for her (verses 14-16) and she becomes Elijah's benefactress.
And, her son tragically dies (1 Kings 17: 17). But God through Elijah revives the child and returns him to the arms of his mother (verses 19-23).
The miracle of physical resuccitation is not promised (see Jesus' comments in Luke 4: 25, 26) in every case of physical illness, but these scriptures point to the equally powerful, and longer lasting miracle of spiritual resurrection.
So, what's the connection? These two mothers have nothing in common socially, yet each experiences God's miraculous provision and the deliverance of their children.
Therefore, we conclude that it is not Mama's (or Daddy's) social status, marital status, or past that determines their ability to bring blessings upon their family. But it is their present standing with God.
Receiving the prophet into their homes represents receiving the Holy Spirit that empowers the prophet. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the mark of salvation (Ephesians 1: 13).
However a parent comes to have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them, the power of the Holy Spirit which comes with Salvation in Jesus Christ, is the only things that can deliver a family in distress.
Some mamas and daddies come to this place because they were raised the right way. Some mamas and daddies come to this place out of the desperation and despair of living the wrong way.
By no means does the Scripture compromise in its call for sexual purity and neither should we, the Bible-believing church. By no means does Scripture negate the fact that our past choices have consequences for our present and future lives and those of our children. By no means does Scripture imply that the God designed sequence of marriage-then sex within the marriage-then babies is no longer valid. But I hope that we have realized that it is the pre-marital/ extra-marital sex that is the sin, not the pregnancy and not the child.
The church has the responsibility of going to parents and offering Christ and the fellowship of believers, whether the trip takes us to the home of a "notable woman" or to the squalid dwelling of some poor single parent with a questionable past.
If they will hear the Word, receive Jesus, and walk in the leading of Holy Spirit, miracles can still happen. God loves these parents. So must we.
However the release of the latest installment of "The DaVinci Code" does evoke some thought on the past wrongs of "the church." Setting aside Dan Brown's fictional (We do all remember that these books and movies are made-up stories, right?) conspiracies, there are some actual areas in which our forefathers and we have dropped the ball.
One's the way we used to, and in some cases still do, deal with unwed parents. Consider 2 Kings 4: 8-17.
2 Kings 4: 8 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food.
9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly.
10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
A financially well-to-do, married, upstanding lady becomes the prophet's benefactor. She and her older husband build him a mini-parsonage and support his ministry. God rewards her with a son (verse 16 & 17). The child tragically dies (verse 19 & 20). But God through Elisha revives the child and returns him to the arms of his righteous and upstanding mother.
Beautiful, simple, and fair. She's a good person who does good things and has lived the right way. Therefore, she deserved this miracle. Right?
Consider 1 Kings 17.
1 Kings 17: 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Elijah, Elisha's mentor, is directed by God to leave a place of divine provision and to seek support from this widow lady. But this sister is not like the other.
She's a widow = single mother.
She's so poor (1 Kings 17: 12) that she's about to cook her and her son's last meal before they starve to death.
And, she has a questionable past.
We know this because in verse 17, she refers to her past sins that may be a reason for the tragedy she's experiencing.
So a poor, single, mother with a questionable past comes in contact with the prophet Elijah. She doesn't have any means, but God miraculously provides for her (verses 14-16) and she becomes Elijah's benefactress.
And, her son tragically dies (1 Kings 17: 17). But God through Elijah revives the child and returns him to the arms of his mother (verses 19-23).
The miracle of physical resuccitation is not promised (see Jesus' comments in Luke 4: 25, 26) in every case of physical illness, but these scriptures point to the equally powerful, and longer lasting miracle of spiritual resurrection.
So, what's the connection? These two mothers have nothing in common socially, yet each experiences God's miraculous provision and the deliverance of their children.
Therefore, we conclude that it is not Mama's (or Daddy's) social status, marital status, or past that determines their ability to bring blessings upon their family. But it is their present standing with God.
Receiving the prophet into their homes represents receiving the Holy Spirit that empowers the prophet. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the mark of salvation (Ephesians 1: 13).
However a parent comes to have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them, the power of the Holy Spirit which comes with Salvation in Jesus Christ, is the only things that can deliver a family in distress.
Some mamas and daddies come to this place because they were raised the right way. Some mamas and daddies come to this place out of the desperation and despair of living the wrong way.
By no means does the Scripture compromise in its call for sexual purity and neither should we, the Bible-believing church. By no means does Scripture negate the fact that our past choices have consequences for our present and future lives and those of our children. By no means does Scripture imply that the God designed sequence of marriage-then sex within the marriage-then babies is no longer valid. But I hope that we have realized that it is the pre-marital/ extra-marital sex that is the sin, not the pregnancy and not the child.
The church has the responsibility of going to parents and offering Christ and the fellowship of believers, whether the trip takes us to the home of a "notable woman" or to the squalid dwelling of some poor single parent with a questionable past.
If they will hear the Word, receive Jesus, and walk in the leading of Holy Spirit, miracles can still happen. God loves these parents. So must we.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
SOWING ACROSS GENERATIONS
A few months back my wife realized that many sermons and Bible lessons make references to sowing and reaping (planting and harvesting), but many of our children and young people have no understanding of these terms.
They’ve never dug up the ground and laid seeds in it. They’ve never tended growing crops and battled weeds and insects on their behalf. They’ve never prayed for rain to come or for the rain to stop so that their work would not be in vain. Many members of our congregations, adults included, have never picked from a bush, plucked from a branch, cropped from a plant, or cut from a stem any of the fruits or vegetables they consume.
The Lord had given Brother Charles Moore, our chief steward much the same realization. So this Saturday we planted our first church garden. We’ll use the fresh vegetables in our church kitchen and share them with the community.
Bro. Moore tilled up the ground in a corner of the church yard a few weeks back. On May 2nd, he taught our first gardening class. The kids, and some adults, came out to learn the proper way to plant tomatoes, okra, corn, and squash. They used the tools and handled the seedlings and the seeds. They even helped with the tiller. (A tiller’s a machine that break’s up the ground. It looks like the miniature offspring of a push lawn mower and a tractor that has some egg-beater genes.)
Everybody got dirty, my wife “supervised”, and those of us who grew up on farms reminisced. It was great.
But, the best thing about it was seeing the kids so excited.
Excited about the prospect of growing something with their own hands.
Excited about the feel and promise of farming.
And excited to be learning from the elders of our church.
Our children are not doomed to the intellectual imprisonment of computer and tv screens. Their knowledge of how to survive in the word does not have to be confined to the environs of school hallways and virtual landscapes. Our elders and the skills they’ve acquired over a lifetime are not obsolete.
We are all responsible for remembering that and for facilitating a tradition we’ve generally strayed from: the tradition of the elders passing on their stories and their knowledge to the children.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be a lecture.
It can be as simple as, “Drop these seeds here. Now pull the dirt over them and go get some water.”
When we connect the elders and the children we plant something old and eternal, something Biblical; something that is steeped in love and knowledge, connection and expansion.
And you know what the Good Book says, “You reap what you sow.”
They’ve never dug up the ground and laid seeds in it. They’ve never tended growing crops and battled weeds and insects on their behalf. They’ve never prayed for rain to come or for the rain to stop so that their work would not be in vain. Many members of our congregations, adults included, have never picked from a bush, plucked from a branch, cropped from a plant, or cut from a stem any of the fruits or vegetables they consume.
The Lord had given Brother Charles Moore, our chief steward much the same realization. So this Saturday we planted our first church garden. We’ll use the fresh vegetables in our church kitchen and share them with the community.
Bro. Moore tilled up the ground in a corner of the church yard a few weeks back. On May 2nd, he taught our first gardening class. The kids, and some adults, came out to learn the proper way to plant tomatoes, okra, corn, and squash. They used the tools and handled the seedlings and the seeds. They even helped with the tiller. (A tiller’s a machine that break’s up the ground. It looks like the miniature offspring of a push lawn mower and a tractor that has some egg-beater genes.)
Everybody got dirty, my wife “supervised”, and those of us who grew up on farms reminisced. It was great.
But, the best thing about it was seeing the kids so excited.
Excited about the prospect of growing something with their own hands.
Excited about the feel and promise of farming.
And excited to be learning from the elders of our church.
Our children are not doomed to the intellectual imprisonment of computer and tv screens. Their knowledge of how to survive in the word does not have to be confined to the environs of school hallways and virtual landscapes. Our elders and the skills they’ve acquired over a lifetime are not obsolete.
We are all responsible for remembering that and for facilitating a tradition we’ve generally strayed from: the tradition of the elders passing on their stories and their knowledge to the children.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be a lecture.
It can be as simple as, “Drop these seeds here. Now pull the dirt over them and go get some water.”
When we connect the elders and the children we plant something old and eternal, something Biblical; something that is steeped in love and knowledge, connection and expansion.
And you know what the Good Book says, “You reap what you sow.”
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