Keith Price, one of my former students and a fellow Shepherd with the Troy Church of Christ in Troy Michigan has joined the blogging world.
Keith did not come to International School of Evangelism to become a minister. Keith came to prepare himself one day to be an Elder.
Keith and his wife Lora are special people and I hope you will visit his blog from time to time. Click here to take a look. The link is also listed in the blog roll on the right.
One of the major influences in my life to preach was missionaries. Whenever a missionary came through our small town he would preach on Sunday and tell of the lost and how the Gospel was saving them from an eternity without God and keeping them from a place called Hell. I admired these men and women who left their families and traveled thousands of miles away from there friends and family to tell the lost about Jesus.
Not long after I began preaching I read a copy of, “The Shadow of the Almighty” by Elizabeth Elliot. She describe the life and death of five young missionaries who sought to reach out to a tribe of people who had no contact with the outside world and were killed trying to share the message of Christ. That settled it for me. I would always be a preacher and a missionary. Missions and Missionaries was for many back then a priority…a priority that changed my life.
The church today and its attitude toward missionaries are vastly different. Only once in the last seven years have I heard a missionary speak from the pulpit on Sunday morning. During my early preaching days you could pick up a phone, call an elder or preacher and schedule a meeting to talk about a mission work. Today there are so many “gatekeepers” and hoops to jump through that it takes almost an act of congress to get an audience. It has become a world of not what you know but who you know that can open a door and get you a hearing.
Part of the reason for our present reality is the result of our information age. Information overload is a term coined by Alvin Toffler which refers to an excess amount of information being provided, making processing and absorbing tasks very difficult for the individual because sometimes we cannot see the validity behind the information. Personal contact has been replaced by email, printed information and a pile of request so high it is simply overwhelming. This all results in a cursory look over the material, a “well we can’t help everybody” attitude, and into file 13 the request goes.
To use another phrase from the past, we are “shell-shocked” by so much information about so much need that we have literally become numb. We are no longer moved emotionally at the site of a starving child or people dying for lack of clean water. Much in the same way our senses have been numbed by the gore and reality on TV, we are amnestied and no longer feel emotional about what we see and hear.
The reason for our condition IMHO is that our priorities are totally out of whack. We have placed multi-million dollar building programs ahead of reaching the lost. We have been more concerned with our own comfort than the genuine life sustaining needs of the less fortunate. Our faith has been placed in the tangible and not the intangible. Those things that were “first” priority with Christ have been replaced with “our personal” priorities and His work waits until our needs are met.
We have lost the ability to sacrifice for the needs of others. Oh we buy a few groceries for the church pantry and drop a few dollars in the collection plate and then turn around and spend more on a night out than we give to God in a whole month…maybe a year. We have a whole generation in the church that has not been taught to give because we have been afraid of sounding like the charlatans on “Health and Wealth” TV.
But there is hope. The younger generation that is growing up today is seeing right through our faulty reasoning and they are walking away in favor of doing what really brings about change in the lives of people. They are turned off of our institutions and turned on by doing something with their lives that really matters. Right now most of the energy is focused on meeting people’s physical needs only, but hopefully they will come to see that as important as the physical is, it needs to be coupled with meeting the eternal needs as well. When that happens, and only when that happens, will the Great Commission be restored to its rightful place in our priorities. Then the lost will be saved and rewards will be eternal.
May His the grip of grace cause us to see that we live in a world filled with people that do not know Him. And may we repent and make His priorities ours once again.
When God established His covenant with Abram, (later Abraham), to seal His promise He “cut covenant” with Abram. The custom went something like this. An animal was cut in half and each half was placed on either side of a pathway. The two parties making the covenant would then pass together through the bloody half’s of the animal. This covenant carried with it a two fold promise. First, they promised to both walk in accord with the covenant they were making. Second, to break this covenant would mean that the person doing so would suffer the same fate as the animal they were walking between.
But this covenant between Abram and God was different. Everything was in order; the halves of the carcass had been laid out on the edges of the pathway. But God had put Abram to sleep. Gen. 15:12-21. As Abram slept, God walked the path alone.
Here is how the writer of Hebrews describes the scene, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” Heb. 6:13, 14.
There would be no chance for human failure no room for weakness or uncertainty. God would see to it that His promise was fulfilled.
In there book “Furious Pursuit” Why God Will Never Let You Go, Tim King and Frank Martin describe what this means to the security of those who follow Christ.
“When God walked between the severed animal pieces, he was saying to us, “This has never been about your faithfulness; it’s about my faithfulness. It’s not about your strength, your ability to remain in covenant with me. It’s about my strength, my ability, my love, my resolve to save you. I pledge to fight for you, to stay in relationship with you, to walk with you no matter what, from now until eternity.”
Because of the sacrifice of Christ we are heirs of this covenant and the faithfulness of God as well. Paul said this about His faithfulness, “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” II Tim. 2:11f. The only way to break our relationship with Christ is to walk away from it. We can disown Him and He will disown us. But if we are unfaithful, make mistake, struggle, and more…He is faithful.
“We sit in the same padded pew, week in and week out, listening to stories about Jesus calming the wind and the waves. The disciples had a totally different experience. They were in the boat on the lake when the skies grew dark and hurricane winds started to blow. They walked beaches, climbed mountains, and trekked across the wilderness with Jesus. Their experience was four-dimensional, while ours is one-dimensional. So when we read the Bible, we tend to focus on theology, overlooking the Meteorology, the psychology, and even the geology that shaped the stories we read.” “Wild Goose Chase” by Mark Batterson.
When I first began my ministry I spent a lot of time studying proof texts for what I believed. I wanted to be prepared to take on all comers and be able to wow them with my rapid fire quoting of scripture. I love to read those of our fellowship who seem to have all questions answered and knew exactly the right way to present their case for their cause. For a while I missed the real power of Scripture. I missed the experience of Scripture.
Today my study is very different. I have such a hunger to taste, feel and experience the world in which this powerful book was written. I want to try to see what they saw and feel what they felt. I know this has it limitations, but there is a wealth of information out there for anyone who wants to add new dimensions to their study.
Ray Vander Laan has done a wonderful job putting together study helps that bring the scripture alive. There are wonderful videos where he takes you to the places the scripture speaks about and brings them alive. If you are not aware of his site you need to go there and spend some time looking around. It is called “Follow the Rabbi”.
I am presently teaching the Gospel of John on Wednesday nights. One of the helps I am using in class is the movie, The Gospel of John. This movie is word for word based on the Good News Bible translation of the American Bible Society. The acting is filled with reality and very well done. While obviously not perfect (I didn’t direct it (-:), it is a great help to add another dimension to your teaching. Many in the class have bought their own personal copy. (I bought one for $5.00 at a local Family Christian Book Store.) We are becoming more and more a visual society. People learn more and more quickly when you can allow them to experience the scripture and not just see it as words on paper.
I still remember my early days growing up in church. The teacher gave us a booklet with a story for each week. We were to read the story and then fill in the blanks at the end. More often than not, I would give the story a quick read on Sunday morning as I was getting dressed and then filled in the blanks as quickly as I could. When class time came I was ready. The teacher then proceeded to ask each question and if discussions arose they were often not about the story at all, but some rabbit someone wanted to chase.
We live at a great time in history with so much at our disposal. Let me encourage you to take advantage of it. It will truly add new dimensions to your study and understanding of the Scripture.
Phil Barnes came to Madison to fill the Senior Minister position late in 2004. Madison has been blessed by his teaching and leadership in faith. In the estimation of this shepherd one of Phil’s greatest qualities is his transparency, but that is only one of the qualities that have endured him to the Madison family. Phil has now entered the blogging world. I can assure you that you will be blessed by his writing. His blog is called Madison Church of Christ, were we Worship God – Connect People – Reach the World.
Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.
It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can’t walk or talk.
For the past twenty five years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick.
This is not a new story to most of you. You have probably seen news reports or specials about the closeness of this father and son team. Below is a video that I hope you will take a few minutes to look at and listen to. It is not just the retelling of their story. The music uses their visual images to teach a much greater lesson. It is a lesson about our own redemption. It tells your story and my story. As I looked at this video a verse from an old song came to mind.
“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.”
In the tradition of Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impy, and a multitude of other dooms day end time preachers David Wilkerson has renewed his cry from years ago (that never came to pass) that calamity is on its way. Here it is from his blog in his own words.
“I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.
AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE – EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires—such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City.”
God said through Hosea that “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. I might add they are also gullible and deceived. Scare tactics fill coffers and make many of these guys rich, and people never learn. “Buy this book, listen to this CD or watch this DVD for all the facts”, they tell us. Time passes, nothing happens and before long they are back with more books, CDs and DVD and the deception continues.
I guess Forest Gump would say, “ Gullible is as gullible does.”
One of my fellow elders gave me a CD message by Francis Chan after our recent retreat. If you don’t know Francis you should…no you must! Francis is one of the most transparent, open and honest preachers of the scripture that I have ever heard. He challenges my heart. Here is a brief youtube of Francis speaking at a conference.
In 1969 Barb and I moved to Pennsylvania to preach for an established church that needed a pulpit minister. Little did I know that that move would begin my journey out of legalism and into a broader understanding of God’s Grace. We were away from the Bible Belt and in an area with few Churches of Christ. I was fortunate to have fellow preachers within a short driving distance of where I lived. When together with these fellows I began to learn that they did not always see eye to eye with me on my understanding of scripture. The challenges that would follow would send me on a mission to learn the Bible and not just rely on pat answers that I had accepted from our brotherhood preachers, books and publications.
Mike Cope’s blog from the 26th. reminded me of those early years.
Len Sweet talks about the passing of the Jeopardy churches: churches that think their job is to answer every question. (I guess more precisely to match the show, they provide the exact question to fit every answer!)
Most people aren’t dying to be with people who think they know everything. It’s much more exciting to be on a journey — where everyone’s insights and everyone’s experiences are valued and then considered through interaction and discernment.
People don’t need to be given a thousand answers. They need to be invited to follow the One who is himself the Answer/the Way. They need to be invited to a life that is other than self-obsession, self-preoccupation, and self-preservation.
The way of the cross. That is the answer.
Those early years of transition from finding all the answers to finding the one who had all the answers opened my eyes to how immature it was for a person or church to think they could have all the answers. I gradually came to realize that I was simply on a journey with others seekers. We had all begun at different points, but our ultimate goal was to find Jesus and His will for our lives. They were not evil “truth” haters, closed minded defenders of evil. They were much like me, filled with preconceived ideas and opinions put there by folks that thought they were doing the will of the Father.
I am a big fan of “The Dog Whisper” on the National Geographic Channel. This guy understands how dogs think. One evening recently he mentioned how important it was not to introduce two strange dogs to each other – eye ball to eye ball. Rather he suggested that they meet and walk side by side for a bit before they begin the other routines dogs have to check each other out.
That made me think. Meeting eye ball to eye ball sounded a lot like the days of debates. Introductions were made and then the fight was on. I wonder if those meetings could have ended differently if first they had walked side by side and discussed what they had in common. What if we had seen each other as equals on a journey together to seek the will of the Father? What if we had seen each other as people with honest motives and intent?
I like Len Sweet’s characterization of “Jeopardy Churches”. It is sad but so very true. I think “Jeopardy churches” are just generations away from death. The declines of the past years will continue to increase and take there toll as more and more members either die or awaken to the reality of God’s Grace. Their children are already voting with their feet. Sadly, it is just a matter of time.
Answer: They don’t understand God’s Grace. Question: What is the reason churches are on the decline?
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