“The Factual Data” Sheet (For Narratives)

June 17, 2013 — Leave a comment

1. STUDY THE CONTEXT (Macro Hermeneutics)

A. Context of narratives (Narrative is the most common genre in the Bible making up 75% of the Bible.)

1. The literary art of narrative or story is a means of communicating the author’s theological message.

2. The narratives were written not only to teach a message but to persuade the listeners to respond to the author’s message.

B. Context of the book

1. What is the theme or theological message of the book?

2. How is the theme developed?

C. Who wrote the book?

D. To whom did he write the book?

E. From where did he write the book?

F. To where did he write the book?

2. EXAMINE THE DETAILS OF THE PASSAGE SELECTED TO PREACH (Micro Hermeneutics)

A. Identify the scenes in the story you will preach (In the NT Epistles the preaching unit is the paragraph, in Hebrew Poetry it the stanza, and in narratives it is the scene)

1. Scenes are identified by content changes (Nehemiah 1:5-11)

2. Scenes are identified by time changes (Nehemiah 2:1)

3. Scenes are identified by location changes (Nehemiah 2:9)

4. Scenes are identified by circumstance changes (Nehemiah 4:1)

5. Scenes are sometimes identified by key introductory words (“because” therefore” “since”)

B. Identify the plot or the story line. The plot is the organization of events or scenes in order to inform in an interesting way the author’s message to persuade the listener to respond.

The plot has a basic pattern:

1. The beginning or background (Here the main character or characters are introduced: their names, personality traits, position in life, geographical or historical information, etc. in Nehemiah 1:1)

2. The middle of the story provides the crisis or complication or climax as in Nehemiah 1:2-3)

3. The end of the story which provides a resolution to the crisis is Nehemiah 1:5-11

a. Within the stories look for Scene Depiction where the author speeds up and down the action to make his point. The author speeds up the action in Nehemiah 2:11 which covers four months of travel and slows down the action in 2:12-16 which emphasize one important  night of inspection.

b. Within the stories look for Characterization

1) Protagonist (central character as Nehemiah)

2) Antagonist (forces arrayed against the protagonist as Sanballot)

3) Foils (characters who heighten the central character by providing a contrast or occasionally a parallel as Hanani in 1:2)

a) These characters are idealized (Nehemiah) or villiainzed

b) These characters are sometimes given designations or titles that can reflex their character (“the cupbearer” 1:11 and “the man” 1:11 “uncircumcised Philistine” 1 Samuel 17:26)

c) These characters are rarely physically described and also reflex their character when physical descriptions are provided as in 2:2)

c. Within the story look for Dialogue (which is more important that the action in a story)

1) In narrative dialogue is compressed and precise

2) In narrative dialogue sometimes communicates the theme (1:3)

3) In narrative dialogue provides insight into the character of the speaker (1:5-11)

d. Within the story look for Repetition of words, phrases, sentences that create an atmosphere, announce the theme or structure of the story (“the walls of Jerusalem are down and the gates are burned with fire” repeated in 1:3; 2:3, 8, 13, 17, etc)

e.  Within the story look for Theologically significant words (“remnant” 1:3 “covenant” 1:5 and quotes 1:8-9 historical events 1:3, 10)

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Father’s Day Sermon: “Thanks Dad For All the Little Things”

June 16, 2013 — Leave a comment

Michael Bryson, a first-time father, surprised his wife on her first Mother’s Day. He did so by bringing their six-month old son, Jason, to the hospital where she worked as a nurse. After the balloons and the laughing and the sharing was over, Miriam returned to her post and her two men returned to the car for the trip home.

You can imagine that getting all the stuff back into the car was not an easy job. Michael balanced the baby carrier with Jason in it on the roof of the car while tossing the candy in the front seat, arranging the flowers on the floor, and wrestling the balloons out of the wind into the backseat. Finally, he got everything arranged and headed home.

Suddenly, other drivers began to honk at Michael and flash their lights. He could not figure out what was happening, until he hit about 55 miles per hour on the highway and heard a scraping sound move across the top of his car. Then, Michael watched in horror through the rearview mirror as the baby carrier – and Jason – slid off the roof, bounced on the trunk, dropped to the road, and began to toboggan down the highway behind the car.

The driver in the car behind Michael’s had spotted the baby carrier and was prepared. He screeched to a halt behind the car seat to shield it from oncoming traffic. Michael slammed on his brakes, ran back to Jason, and discovered the baby had only minor scratches. Then, as the waves of fear, guilt, and relief hit him, this new father began to sob uncontrollably on the highway, while holding his son in a tight embrace (Bryan Chapell, Holiness By Grace, 2001, http://www.preachingtoday.com, 2003).

When I read that nightmare story, I was reminded that we fathers blow it often times. Think of the fathers in Scripture: Samuel, the last judge over Israel, appointed his sons to be judges who were spiritually unqualified in 1 Samuel 8:1-5. David is notorious for failing as a father. Jacob paid favorites with his sons. On and on I could go.

Eugene Peterson writes,

A search of Scripture turns up one rather surprising truth: there are no exemplary families [that show us a father, mother, and children], portrayed in a way that evokes admiration. There are many family stories, there is considerable reference to family life, and there is sound counsel to guide the family, but not one model family is given for anyone to look up to in either awe or envy.

The biblical material consistently portrays the family, not as a Norman Rockwell painting around a Thanksgiving turkey, but as a series of broken relationships in need of redemption (Eugene H. Peterson, Like Dew Your Youth. Eerdmans, 1994, p. 110).

On this Father’s Day, I want to encourage you fathers and also exhort all who are not fathers to encourage our fathers.

1. God Compares Himself to Fathers (Luke 11:2)

In Psalm 103:13 “Like as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on them that fear Him.”

Listen to George Sweeting, a former president of Moody Bible Institute, in a sermon of fathers:

“Consider the word father. There is no more important word in any language. God even uses the word to describe Himself and His relationship to His people.”

Jesus taught us in the model prayer to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven….” (Luke 11:2). Notice, Jesus did not teach us to pray, “Our mother, brother, grandparent who art in Heaven.” But, “Our Father.”

Sweeting then directly challenged us dads, “Fathers, you stand symbolically in the same position over your family that God stands in over His people. You represent God to your family” (Special Sermons on The Family, page 91).

Jesus in a parable again compared earthly fathers to our heavenly Father in Luke 11:11-13: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you (fathers) being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”.

God compares Himself to human fathers not because earthly fathers are perfect, but because just as God the Father is the leader of the Trinity, so are fathers leaders in their homes. God the Father is the creator and sustainer of the universe and so are fathers the providers for their families as we will see shortly in 1 Timothy 5. Not only does God compare Himself to human fathers, God the Father made a special provision for the fatherless in Scripture.

2. To be Fatherless is a Great Hardship

Fathers are important. So important that God makes special provisions for fatherless homes. On behalf of the oppressed poor, the Psalmist prayed to God, “You [God the Father] are the helper of the fatherless” (Psalm 10:14). To the poor who had no dad, the Psalmist promised, “The Lord relieves the fatherless and widow” (Psalm146:9). In the New Testament this provision was made a mark of true Christianity, James taught, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows” (James 2:27).

Fathers are instructed to provide for their families. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul is giving guidelines for helping struggling widows and their children in the church. First, the family of the widow should help her before the church is obligated. In 1 Timothy 5:8 expands on that guideline: “If any provide not for his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.”

When a father can’t provide for his family, that puts that wife and kids in great hardship. So Scriptures make provision for the fatherless.

3. We are Commanded to Honor Our Fathers

Paul gave this instruction in Ephesians 6:1-3. This command has two parts. The first part is addressed to children still at home: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this right.” The second part is for grown children who are no longer at home. Even though grown children are adults on their own, they still should, “Honor your father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise.”

But some adult children may object, “You don’t my parents. My parents, especially my dad was abusive to my siblings and me. There is no way I will honor my father.”

Wednesday, I went with our members to Open Door Ministries to serve lunch. Before lunch, Kathy, the director, was giving out announcements. She also reminded everyone that Sunday is Father’s Day, and if their father was still living, they should call him and tell him that they love him. Across the table from where I was sitting was a young lady still in her twenties. She became defiant when told she should tell her dad that she loved him. She shook her head, “No!” Whispered, “No way!” She made hand gestures where she wished her dad was dead. If Kathy had read Ephesians 6:2, that young lady would have responded, “There is no way I am going to honor my dad. He doesn’t deserve honor. He deserves to be in jail. I wish he were dead.”

First, to help someone who is thinking this way, we have to define what it doesn’t mean to “honor your father.” It doesn’t mean you have to give them public praise or throw a party and celebration for him on Father’s Day. Secondly, to honor may simply mean to privately express gratitude for some good he did.

To honor your father means you find something for which to be thankful. Your father brought into this world, gave you life, fed and protected you when you were to little to protect and provide for yourself. This is the advice of Donald Sunukjian who said, “The human infant is not like an animal infant—able to take care of itself after a few month.”

Maybe your dad had a job he hated and a boss who was a slave driver. But because times were hard, he toughed it out so he could provide food, clothing, and shelter for you. You can honor him by saying, “Thank you Dad, for providing for me while I was growing up” and obey God’s Word in Ephesians 6:2 (Invitation to Biblical Preaching, page 100).

I want to give the same advice that Kathy at Open Door gave the down and outs, “If your dad is alive, tell him that you love him.” I want to add, thank him for some small things he did for you or with you.

Brooks Adams kept a diary from his boyhood. One special day when he was eight years old he wrote in his diary, “Went fishing with my father; the most glorious day of my life.” Throughout the next forty years of his life, he never forgot that day he went fishing with his father; he made repeated references to it in his diary, commenting on the influence that day had had on his life.

Brook’s father was an important man; he was Charles Francis Adams, the United Sates’ ambassador to Great Britain under the Lincoln administration. Interestingly, he too made a note in his diary about the fishing trip. He wrote simply, ‘Went fishing with my son; a day wasted” (Sweeting, page 93). Of course, the day was not wasted, but the father never knew how much that one day meant to his son.

This Father’s Day let your father know about some little things that he did that meant a lot to you. I have a Father’s Day card in which I thank my dad for the fishing trips, one on one basketball games and the 410 shotgun he got me, which I still have, and our rabbit hunting together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Spiritual Life of the Pastor

June 15, 2013 — Leave a comment

An elementary teacher was helping one of her kindergarten students get his cowboy boots on before leaving for home. He had asked her for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and pushing, the boots just did not want to fit all the way – they seemed too small. She persisted and by the time she got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, “These are on the wrong feet.”

You know how boots can sometimes be hard to tell – so she looked closely and sure enough, they were. She tugged and pulled and finally pulled the boots off. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on the right feet. Finally, just as she was finished, he said, “You know, these aren’t my boots.”

She bit her tongue rather than scream. Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off, when he said, “See, they’re my brother’s boots, but my mom said I could wear ‘em.”

She did not know if she should laugh or cry, but she mustered up what patience she had left to wrestle the boots back on his feet one more time. Finally, she finished. Helping him into his coat, she asked, “Now, where are your gloves?” He said, “I stuffed ‘em in the toes of my boots.” In two years, she will be eligible for parole (Davey 3).

If we are not careful as pastors and teachers of God’s Word, we will lose our patience, burden, and love for our people and get like Nehemiah (and the elementary school teacher) and want to do bodily harm to those to whom we minister. There is only one remedy in order to remain effective in ministry: cultivate a spiritual life before God.

Cultivation of the Spiritual Life

Charles Spurgeon, in his classic for pastors, Lectures to My Students, set a precedent when he entitled his first chapter “The Minister’s Self-watch.” He based this chapter on Paul’s exhortation to his apostolic representative Timothy who was serving in the role as a pastor: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:16). Spurgeon wrote 28 chapters in Lectures to My Students on pastoral ministry. But before he instructed his pastoral students in his Pastor’s College in London on the call to the ministry, or sermon preparation, or the use of gestures and illustrations in preaching, Spurgeon warned each pastor not to “neglect the culture of yourself” (7).

In his second paragraph, Spurgeon quoted M’Cheyne’s advice to another pastor friend: “Remember you are God’s sword. In great measure according to the purity and to the perfection of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents that God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God” (qtd. in Spurgeon 8).

Most of us reading these words from some of yesteryear’s great pastors know of men who neglected the culture of themselves or they sharpened their professional skills but did not “take heed” to their likeness to Jesus. Without hardly thinking, a half dozen names and faces come to mind of pastors who were once awful weapons in God’s hand. Now the words of David, in his lament over the death of backslidden Saul, describe these once cutting edge pastors: “How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perish” (2 Samuel 1:27).

How can you and I as pastors “take heed” to ourselves? How can we stay spiritual? How can we love God with all our heart? How can we love our people as ourselves? A fellow minister who was recently in the process of writing his resignation said to me, “My heart is no longer in this ministry.” How can we keep our heart in what God has called us to do?

Conversion and the Cultivation of the Spiritual Life

Before we talk about what some writers call the “spiritual disciplines” or the “means of grace”, I want to start where Spurgeon started in his first lesson to his pastoral students. Before all other advice, Spurgeon wrote of the need for the pastor to be regenerated saying, “It should be one of our first cares that we ourselves be saved men” (9). Spurgeon quotes Richard Baxter’s stern warning to unsaved pastors: “Many a preacher is now in hell, that hath an hundred times called upon his hearers to use the utmost care and diligence to escape it” (qtd. in Spurgeon 12). Can you imagine entire congregations rising up in Hell and cursing their pastors for leading them there? Hopefully, few who read this chapter will need to trust Christ as their Savior, but again most pastors know pastors who preached for years the good news without having received it themselves. I re-baptized one such pastor who had preached for decades and had sinners come to Christ under his preaching before he was converted. The first and most obvious means to cultivating the spiritual life is salvation.

Spiritual Disciplines and the Cultivation of the Spiritual Life

Next, to cultivate our spiritual life we must “exercise or train ourselves” in godliness. Paul instructed Timothy to enter God’s gym in 1 Timothy 4:7 and spiritually work out. Paul uses an athletic word when he wrote “exercise.” This English word comes from the Greek word gumnazo from which we get “gymnasium” and “gymnastics.” Kent Hughes based his book Disciplines of the Godly Man on 1 Timothy 4:7:

The statement from Paul to Timothy regarding spiritual discipline in 1 Timothy 4:7 — “train yourself to be godly” — takes on not only transcending importance, but personal urgency. There are other passages which teach discipline, but this is the great classic text of Scripture. The word “train” comes from the word gumnos, which means “naked” and is the word from which we derive our English word gymnasium. In traditional Greek athletic contests, the participants competed without clothing, so as not to be encumbered. Therefore, the word “train” originally carried the literal meaning, “to exercise naked.” By New Testament times it referred to exercise and training in general. But even then it was, and is, a word with the smell of the gym in it— the sweat of a good workout. “Gymnasticize (exercise, work out, train) yourself for the purpose of godliness” conveys the feel of what Paul is saying. In a word he is calling for spiritual sweat. (Hughes 16)

The gym where I exercise has a wide range of ways to physically work out. Likewise there are different spiritual exercises that produce godliness. There are private spiritual exercises such as private Bible reading, study, memory, meditation, and prayer. Some would include fasting, silence, and solitude. There are also corporate spiritual disciplines, which include the public hearing of God’s Word preached and worship. Wayne Grudem discusses eleven means of grace within the fellowship of a church (these are in contrast to private means of grace) in chapter 48 of his Systematic Theology: teaching of the Word, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, prayer for one another, worship, church discipline, giving, spiritual gifts, fellowship, evangelism, and personal ministry to individuals (Grudem 951).

Before the Greek athletes competed they removed every encumbrance. The author of Hebrews exhorted us “to lay aside every weight” (12:1) so that we can run the spiritual race that God has set before us.

Henry and Richard Blackaby discuss a series of sins that easily weigh down pastors. “Every year thousands of leaders shipwreck their careers, their organizations, and their families by making careless, foolish choices” (230). This is the opening line in their chapter entitled, “The Leader’s Pitfalls: What Disqualifies Leaders”? in Spiritual Leadership. They discuss ten pitfalls into which too many leaders crash: pride, sexual sin, cynicism, greed, mental laziness, oversensitivity, spiritual lethargy, domestic neglect, administrative carelessness, and prolonged position holding.

I want to focus on only one: mental laziness. “Good leaders never stop learning” (Blackaby 244). Homer Kent’s commentary on The Pastoral Epistles commented on Paul’s request that Timothy bring books with him (2 Timothy 4:13) when he comes to see him in prison before he is martyred for his faith. Kent wrote: “Books are tools. The quality of some sermons heard today makes one suspicious that some preachers haven’t read a serious book since they graduated from seminary” (301). Blackaby provides the following example from the ministry of D. L. Moody:

At the height of D. L. Moody’s success, he realized he had grown stale. He was leading enormously successful evangelistic campaigns in Great Britain and the United States, and he had become one of the most famous religious leaders of his day, but he had grown spiritually and intellectually malnourished. He had been continually preaching, but he had not been learning. Moody’s biographer, John Pollock, notes, “At the moment of reaching a height of influence in the United States he stood in danger of spiritual insolvency.” Moody realized he had told people everything he knew and that he had nothing new to say. Moody confessed: “My lack of education has always been a great disadvantage to me. I shall suffer from it as long as I live.” Moody moved to Northfield and refused to accept major speaking engagements until he felt he had studied enough to have

fresh, new insights from God’s Word to share with people. He set a rigid schedule that included six hours of study every morning. Even after he began traveling once again, Moody carried a small library with him. He was determined that despite the press of people and responsibilities upon his time, he could not afford to stop learning and still be effective as a spiritual leader. (246)

D. L. Mood overcame mental laziness. R. C. Sproul contends that many believers do not seriously study God’s Word: “Here then is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy” (17).

Moody was willing to make serious life style and schedule changes in order to spend time in God’s Word for his own spiritual advancement and so he could advance others spiritually. Do you need to make this life altering change?

The Spiritual Discipline of In Taking the Word of God

One of the spiritual disciplines that God uses, and the most important, as a means of grace in our lives is the intake of God’s Word. We cannot be spiritual without the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God which is “profitable….that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Are we using every tool available to us to learn and grow with the passion of Paul for the Word of God? Paul wanted to finish his last few days studying and feeding his soul with the researched Word of God and the books. What precious times Paul must have experienced with God’s Word as he faced imminent martyrdom in that cold, damp Mamertine prison in Rome.

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) was professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1887-1921.  Warfield is considered the last of the great Princeton theologians before the split in 1929 that formed Westminster Seminary under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen. He delivered a sermon to the pastoral students at the Autumn Conference of Princeton Theological Seminary on October 4, 1911. The sermon was titled The Religious Life of the Theological Student. What Warfield preached to the pastoral students needs to be heard by pastors today who are still students of God’s Word.

Warfield began his sermon: “A minister must be both learned and religious [after reading the sermon one knows that by religious Warfield meant godly]. It is not a matter of choosing between the two. He must study, but he must study as in the presence of God and not in a secular spirit. He must recognize the privilege of pursuing his studies in the environment where God and salvation from sin are the air he breathes” (3). Oh that all of us students of the Word, whether students in preparation or pastors in their studies, had this appreciation. The theological student is training to be “apt to teach.” This requires learning. But he must also be godly.

There should be no antithesis between being able to teach and being godly. Warfield quotes someone who said, “Ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. What! is the appropriate response? Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must turn from your books in order to turn to God” (qtd. in Warfield 5)?

Warfield warns theological students (and pastors) of the danger of constant contact with divine things. They can become like the Old Testament priests who handled and moved the tabernacle furniture, around which God manifested His glory, as just mere earthly materials. If our study of theology and God’s Word has become commonplace, then we have become “weary of God” (8).

The Word of God is not a worker’s manual with which we become skilled technicians. Paul called what he preached “the Word of His grace which is able to build you up” (Acts 20:32). The Word is a means of God ministering His all sufficient grace into our lives. If our theological studies or sermon preparation is not causing us to grow in holiness, then we are hardening. Our study of God’s Word should be a “religious exercise out of which you draw every day enlargement of heart, elevation of spirit, and adorning delight in your Maker and your Savior” (Warfield 10).

The Word Feeds Meditation

How can our study of God’s Word, either in devotions, sermon preparation, or even in our general reading, usher us into the presence of God? How can our study and preaching of God’s Word actually be a means of grace as it was in Paul’s life (Acts 20:32)? One answer is meditation of God’s Word. It is easy for us who are bombarded with information not to meditate or process all the input to which we are exposed. We are inundated with news from our car radios, emails at work, texts and tweets from friends, web-site surfing, and podcasts and TV in the evenings and endless cell phones calls.

How can we overcome the endless competitors for our time and attention and grow in the grace and knowledge of God’s Word? Meditation! Donald Whitney in Spiritual Disciplines for The Christian Life defines meditation as “deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer” (44).

Whitney gives an analogy of enjoying a cup of hot tea. In the analogy you

are the hot cup of water and the Word of God is the tea bag:

Hearing God’s Word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup. Some of the tea’s flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more thorough soaking of the bag. In this analogy, reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word are represented by additional plunges of the tea bag into the cup. The more frequently the tea enters the water, the more effect it has. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish brown. (44)

Spiritual success according to the Bible is only promised in relationship to the Bible and specifically in regard to meditating on God’s Word (Psalm 1:1-3; Joshua 1:8).

Jonathan Edwards, the 18th century theologian and pastor, cultivated his spiritual life through the meditation of God’s Word. Whitney related the following example:

When he was younger, Edwards had pondered how to make use of the time he had to spend on journeys (on horse back). After the move to Northampton he worked out a plan for pinning a small piece of paper to a given spot on his coat, assigning the paper a number and charging his mind to associate a subject with that piece of paper. After a ride as long as the three-day return from Boston he would be bristling with papers. Back in his study, he would take off the papers methodically, and write down the train of thought each slip recalled to him.  (48)

Just like Jonathan Edwards, we have to discipline ourselves to creatively use our time wisely in order to meditate on God’s Word.

Meditation Feeds Prayer

Meditation equips us to apply God’s Word. Just as meditating should take place after hearing, reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word, prayer should be the practical application of meditation. Thomas Manton wrote of this process: “The word feeds meditation and meditation feeds prayer” (272-273).

Daniel, in the Babylonian Captivity, was meditating on Jeremiah 25 as Daniel 9:1-2 records. When he understood the significance of the passage to his life and circumstance, he set his face “unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fastings, and sackcloth and ashes.” Meditation fed one of the most remarkable prayers in God’s Word, found in Daniel 9:3-19.

David also benefited from his meditation, which led to this outburst of praise: “O how love I your law! It is my meditation all the day. You through your commandments have made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep you precepts” (Psalm 119:97-100).

One on my favorite Psalms is Psalm 103, which is a Praise Psalm. In this Psalm of pure praise (there is not one negative comment or complaint), David praises God for what He has done and who He is. Sometimes at night I join David in praising God. I simply meditate my way through the Psalm praising Him for His works in 103:1-5 (forgivness, healing, deliverance, and spiritual satisfaction) and for His attributes in 103:6-22 (holiness, justice, mercy, eternality, and sovereignty).

When I remember what God said through Asaph in Psalm 50:23, praising God becomes an act of worship: “Whoso offers praise glorifies me”. It is the mediation on God’s Word, however, that leads to prayer and praise that enables me to bring glory and delight to God.

As a result of his recorded meditations, Jonathan Edwards, being dead, yet speaks and impacts our lives to this day.  If we would commit ourselves to this lost art of concentration, we also could be used of God to be agents of change in the lives of those God has called us to minister.

We pastors have the greatest advantage in cultivating our spiritual lives because we are privileged to study God’s Word as a major part of our ministry. We spend more time in God’s Word than administration, or counseling, and or visitation. When we study God’s Word as in the presence of God, mediate on it, delight in it, and then pray it back to God in praise, the Word truly is “the word of His grace which is able to build you [us] up” (Acts 20:32).

  Works Cited

Blackaby, Henry & Richard. Spiritual Leadership. Nashville: Broadman & Homan, 2001, Print.

Davey, Stephen. “Surprised by the Appearances of Love.”  wisdomonline.org. Web. 2007. May, 10, 2012.

Hughes, Kent. Disciplines of the Godly Man Wheaton: Crosway, 1991, Print.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994, Print.

Manton, Thomas. The Works of Thomas Manton. Reprint, Worthingtion, PA: Maranatha Publications, n.d.  Print

Sproul, R. C. Knowing Scripture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1977, Print. Spurgeon, Charles. Lectures to My Students. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954, Print.

Warfield, B.B. The Religious Life of the Theological Student. Phillipsburg, P & R Publishing, 1992. Print.

Whitney, Donald S. in his Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991. Print.

 

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Funny Sermon Illustration: Prayer that Works

June 13, 2013 — Leave a comment

Prayer that Works

When I was probably eleven or twelve years old, I used to love to throw a rubber ball against the side of the house and play catch with myself. I once was visiting my cousins in Tennessee. My aunt was inside the kitchen cooking with the pressure cooker and I was outside throwing the rubber against the side of her house. On that side of the house was a  storm door that led into the kitchen. I accidentally threw the rubber ball and hit the bottom of the storm door, which was made of metal. The rubber hit the storm door with a WHAM!!! Well my aunt thought the pressure cooker exploded and could hear her scream from outside. She immediately burst out-door blessing me out for nearly scaring her to death.

Life is like a pressure cooker. You may be on the verge of exploding. Remember the pressure cooker had the regulator on top and it jingled with the release of steam and pressure. That is what prayer is for the child of God. And when we do not pray and release, we explode.

More Funny Sermon Illustrations at dtrimwhite.com and Sermon Central

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Accept Others Because You’ve Been Accepted

June 10, 2013 — Leave a comment

Leslie Flynn writes about the disagreements believers have over nonessentials:

A Christian from the South may be repelled by a swimming party for both men and women, but then offend her Northern friend by wearing a pant-suit to church. At an international meeting for missionaries, a woman from the Orient cannot wear sandals indoors with a clear conscience, while others think her silly for coming barefoot. A Christian from Eastern Europe thinks it terribly worldly and wasteful for a Christian acquaintance to have a wedding ring, yet a woman he knows from further south would consider it a scandalous thing to be in public without her wedding rings on. A man from Denmark is pained in his spirit to watch British Bible school students playing soccer on Sunday afternoon, while the students, in turn, are grieved when he lights his pipe on his porch (R. Kent Hughes, Romans: Volume 2, Crossway Books, 1991, p. 259).

So many believers think they have a corner on Christianity and how church should operate. They think they can elbow their way into the Trinity and determines God’s will for everyone. These same believers reject other believers who do hold to a different litmus test from theirs. Guess what? Paul addresses this shallowness in Romans 14-15.

In Romans 15:7, Paul instructs these who have differing views and who are rejecting one another to “Receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”

St. Augustine’s statement comes to mind: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

In Romans 15:7, Paul writes a great principle for living: Since Christ has accepted us, we should accept others.

This principle is stated in other places in God’s Word. Jesus in His Model Prayer taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4).

Paul in Ephesus 4:32, said similarly: “Be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”

Since God has forgiven you for sins offensive to the holy, Triune God, forgive that person that has offended you, an equally sinful person.

1. Christ Has Received Us (Romans 15:7b)

God loved us when we were undeserving of His love according to Romans 5:5-10. God poured out His love at our salvation in verse 10. Now Paul describes that love in verses 6-10. God loved us when we were helpless (5:6a) ungodly (5:6b) sinners (5:8) and His enemies (5:10.

There are parents in this room who would give your life for your son or daughter. If your child needed a transplant that meant you would die so your son or daughter would live, you would make that sacrifice. But would you die for your child’s murderer? If your son was eight year old Richard Martin, who was one of the victims in the Boston massacre would you die in the murderer’s place so he could go free? NO!

Christ the God/Man, the sinless Son of God who knew no sin, in whom was no sin, who did no sin, died for His murderers. He cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

2. Now We Are Accepted (Ephesians 1:3-6)

In Ephesians 1:4-6, Paul is praising God the Father for choosing unholy sinners to be in His family. He chose you and me in eternity past to be holy and blameless because we were unholy and not blameless. He chose us and accepted us as His children by grace. We did not deserve His acceptance.

The same description said spoken to Mary in Luke 1:28 when Gabriel said Mary was going to be the mother of the long, prophesied Messiah, “Greetings, you are highly favored or much graced, blessed are you among women.” God chose a poor, uneducated girl not from Rome, Alexandria, or Jerusalem but from Nazareth, which had the reputation of producing nothing good.

God also chose us.

A. To God we are His most valuable creation (Matthew 6:25-33). God loves animals and flowers. We know this by just looking at His creation. And He knew we would also love animals and flowers. Why else would God create cats? What are cats good for? You can’t eat them nor work them. God created cats to make cat lovers happy. Jesus concludes: “Are you not much better than they?” Yes!

B. We are God the Father’s children. God is our Heavenly Father. He does not rejects us because of our sins because He has forgiven us our sins. We are accepted. We are His children. If you are rejected by narrow minded people who think they are know it-all’s for your life, you are not rejected by the most important person in the universe, all knowing Ruler of the universe.

3. Therefore, We Should Receive Others (Romans 15:7a)

A. We should stop judging people’s worth based on externals (2 Cor 10:7-12)

The reason Paul makes this statement is because the Corinthians were judging Paul superficially on his outward appearance and comparing him to other preachers. So Paul states two very important guidelines for life:

1. Stop judging people’s worth based on externals

2. Stop comparing others with others

We value people as important if they are attractive, competent, blessed with high IQ, verbal and winsome in personality.

We criticize people if they are not pretty. I hear people describing some one as ugly. I feel like asking, “Are you a Hollywood model?” We exalt the talented. What if a person’s only talent is kindness. We criticize someone who is not intellect. (“Boy that was a dumb thing to say”). “Do you ever say dumb things.” Is every statement out of your mouth profound?  We praise people who are blessed with outgoing personalities. What about people who are introverts or people who have offensive personalities? What about the bulls in China shops and lose canons on the deck kind of Christians? “I just don’t like being around them.” Do all people like being with you?

On one occasion, Jesus was preaching, and His perpetual critics who thought they were experts on all things religious, said, “You have a devil.” Wow! Did they ever misjudge! To them Jesus said, “Judge not according to the appearance.”

B. We should accept others as God’s creation (Psalm 139:13-16)

When God finished the creation of the universe in six days, He said, “It is good.” When He finished His creation of you in your mother’s womb by means of procreation, He said, “You are good.”

What is true of Jeremiah is also true for you and me according to Psalm 139:13-16. God created you with a certain DNA that preplanned your IQ, talents, looks, personality, So when we make fun of people we are making fun of God’s creation.

Read to God telling Jeremiah how God from the womb had a plan for him (Jeremiah 1:5). This was not just true of Jeremiah. It is true for you and me as well.

 

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You Can Defeat Procrastination! Part Three

June 6, 2013 — Leave a comment

ProcrastinationThe NASA space engineer tell us that most of the fuel used in a rocket launch is burned up in the first few seconds of liftoff. It takes tremendous energy and thrust to get the rocket off the launchpad. Once it’s moving and headed for orbit, it requires much less fuel and is easier to control and direct. It has overcome inertia (Rick Warren. The Power to Change Your Life, p. 15). Procrastinators must spend whatever energy necessary to launch off their behinds into spiritual productivity.

1. Procrastinators who say, ”Tomorrow, I Will Get Saved” (See Part 1)

2. Procrastinators who say, “Tomorrow, I Will Confess and Forsake Sin”

The writer of Hebrews is writing to Jewish persecuted believers who are about to stop serving the Lord because of the difficulties. The author warned them not to follow the bad example of the generation of Jews who were delivered from Egypt but would not follow God into the Promised Land. They could have traveled into the place of victory after victory in just eleven days. But they chose to wander aimlessly for 40 unproductive years (Hebrews 3:7-11).

Why did this tragic loss of productivity for the Lord happen? They refused to trust God and obey His will for their lives. They were the O. J. Simpsons of the O. T., the Heisman Trophy Winner who now rots in jail. They all this potential at one point in their lives but then they squandered it.

The author pleads with his generation who are experiencing hardships not to let their problems cause them to linger in apathy and unconfessed sin (Hebrews 3:12-15).

I meet so many people who are getting ready to live, but never live. “I’m, aiming to change,” they tell me. And I want to reply, “That’s good, but when are you going to pull the trigger?” (Warren, p. 14).

3. Non-procrastinator who said, “Today, I Will Serve God and Others.”

Paul is writing his last words in 2 Timothy before he is martyred for faithfully serving his Savior. Paul has traveled his last missionary journey, preached his last sermon, and written his last epistle. He is headed for the chopping block. Paul instructs his son in the faith, Timothy, to come quickly in 4:9: “Stop what you are doing, and come quickly.” Why was Paul so urgent? He informs us in 4:21: “Do your diligence to come before winter.”

Paul knew that harbors shut down for the winter and sailing was over until spring. What if Timothy procrastinated? How would Timothy have felt if he lingered and did not immediately respond to Paul’s urgent plea? What if Timothy finally got around to leaving Ephesus and going to Troas to pick up Paul’s winter coat and some books only to find to the port already closed down because it was no longer safe to sail. But, because we believe Timothy acted with dispatch both Timothy and Paul received a spiritual blessing.

Has God laid on your heart a ministry that could be a refreshing to someone else? Has God burdened you to serve Him by giving someone an encouraging phone call, hand written letter, visit, invitation out for a meal, or some practical deed?

According to tradition, Julius Caesar was handed a letter as he ascended his chariot to go to the Capitol on that fateful day on the Ides of March. The bearer of the letter urged him to read it immediately, but Caesar refused, saying, “I will open and read the letter later.” Shortly after the incident, Caesar died at the hands of the assassins. The letter, which contained a warning which might have saved his life had he read it, was found unopened in his tunic.

Timothy did not throw Paul’s letter on his already big pile of things to do not yet done. We have to believe he acted immediately. Pull the trigger by trusting Christ as your Savior NOW, confess that sin that has been nagging your conscience, and go be a Timothy is someone’s life today.

Resources:

Michael Hyatt’s Five Ways to Stop Procrastinating (Michael gives five tips for defeating procrastination)

C. J. Mahaney’s series

Hugh Pyle’s sermon One More Night with the Frogs

The Battle between the Gods by Stephen Davey on Pharoah’s procrastination

Felix, Later, Lord by Stephen Davey on Felix’s procrastination

Come before Winter by Dr. Clarence E. Macartney (some background of the sermon)

Come before Winter (The Sermon)

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You Can Defeat Procrastination, Part Two

June 5, 2013 — Leave a comment

ProcrastinationDid you know there is now an on-line cheating web-site. Not on-line dating but on-line cheating. This company will help you cheat on your mate and not get caught.

Unlike Match.com, Chemistry.com or Eharmony.com, AshleyMadison.com isn’t just another dating Web site for singles. It is a dating Web site for married people who want to commit adultery.

Business was really good for AshleyMadison.com the day after last Mother’s Day. For the disappointed wives whose husbands did not meet their expectations of Mother’s Day last Sunday, on Monday 31,000 sign up for an affair. The slogan for AshleyMadison is “Life is short, have an affair.”

Our next procrastinator, had he the chance, would have been a great customer for AshleyMadison.com. See You Can Defeat Procrastination, Part 1.

Felix the Procrastinator

In Acts 24, Paul is standing trial before Felix the Roman governor of Palestine. In his defense, Paul alluded to the fact that he was a Christian. Later Felix, with his third wife Drusilla, invited Paul to return to further explain his Christian belief.

Paul preached the gospel in 24:25. Paul’s sermon had three points. Point one: You are unrighteous but Christ can make you righteous. Point two: You are selfish and sinful but Christ can give you self-control. Point three: You are going to be judged for your unrighteousness and selfishness but Christ can save you from judgment to come.

When Paul was through with his fiery sermon, Flex was literally trembling with conviction (24:25b). We are not surprised because Felix had stolen his third wife Drusilla.

This is a woman who was front page news in every tabloid in the Middle East. She is a Jewess, Luke reminds us. So, in other words, she is a woman who sold her national birthright for a mess of royal pottage; a woman who had long ago walked away from the God of her fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Drusilla was a raving beauty, historians pass down. By the age of fourteen, she was the wife of a Syrian prince. However, she was mystical and superstitious – and Felix used that to steal her away. He had a magician named Atomos, persuade her that the stars and spirits said it must be. So, she left her husband and at the age of sixteen, married a more powerful, wealthier man – Felix (Stephen Davey’s sermon ”Later….Lord” on Acts 24).

The word “trembled” comes from the Greek word from which we get our English word “phobia” or fear. There are all kinds of phobias. There is claustrophobia, which is the fear of closed places. There is hydrophobia, which is the fear of water. Then there is Gospelphobia. This was Felix’s phobia.

Felix procrastinated to a more “convenient season.” The devil did not whisper in Felix’s ear, “There is no heaven,” or “There is no Hell,” but the Devil simply suggested, “There is no hurry.”

J. C. Ryle observed, “Satan cares not how spiritual your intention or how holy your resolution if only they are fixed for tomorrow.” But why did Felix delay his decision to receive Christ as Savior? Pharaoh tabled the idea because his heart was hard against God.

Money was the culprit with Felix. In 24:26, Felix postponed freeing Paul, hoping that Paul would bribe him to get his liberty.

How many times have I heard, “I am going to get involved in church just as soon as my business launches. Or just as soon as I can afford not to work so much.”

Felix hit the snooze button for two years instead of waking out of his spiritual sleep in 24:27. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil including the rejection of Christ.

Resources:

Michael Hyatt’s Five Ways to Stop Procrastinating

C. J. Mahaney’s series

Hugh Pyle’s sermon One More Night with the Frogs

The Battle between the Gods by Stephen Davey on Pharoah’s procrastination

Felix, Later, Lord by Stephen Davey on Felix’s procrastination

Come before Winter by Dr. Clarence E. Macartney (some background of the sermon)

Come before Winter (The Sermon)

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You Can Defeat Procrastination! Part One

June 5, 2013 — Leave a comment

ProcrastinationDid you know there’s actually a Procrastinators Club of America? They claim 20,000 registered members, but they also affirm that 20 million more haven’t got around to joining yet. Their motto is “We’re behind you all the way!” They hold a Fourth of July party every January 6th. Do we have any members present this morning?

Why do people procrastinate? Why do people put off tasks to some future time that need to be accomplished today? Why do some drag their feet postpone breaking a habit today until some later date? Why do they take a rain check on dealing with uncomfortable circumstances until a better day?

Here are some myths about procrastination?

Myth # 1: I can’t today because I might fail!

People who succeed don’t succeed because they never failed but because they learned from their failures. John Maxwell’s book Failing Forward is all about learning from inevitable failures.

Myth # 2: This task is just too hard. I don’t have the energy!

We usually have the energy to do what is important. It is like high school or college students who are just too tired to complete an assignment. But a buddy calls up and says, “Hey, man, lets go shoot some hoops.” An amazing burst of energy suddenly rushes through the student’s just a second ago exhausted body.

Myth # 3: I can’t do this job perfectly. 

We are dillydallying when we say, “I’ve got to prepare some more. There are to many flaws.” Chuck R. Swindoll wrote:

The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind–jump in.

It is like most Christmas plays. If you have directed one you know you can’t just keep practicing until it is perfected. At the last practice before the actual play, you know the play is going to be a disaster. You have practiced, you have done you best, and guess what? The play is a success. Perfection is the mother of procrastination.

Myth # 4: I have other things to do (things usually not as important).

Procrastinators are not always lazy. Some are very busy doing things that are not the most important. They are doing the urgent instead of the most important. They are like the deck hands on the sinking Titanic straightening the deck chairs when the ship is taking on water and people are frantically loading lifeboats on ships.

Let’s look first at some Bible characters that were defeated by procrastination and then later at a Bible character that defeated procrastination.

1. Procrastinators who say, ”Tomorrow, I Will Get Saved”

Pharaoh the Procrastinator

God is pouring out His ten plagues in Exodus 7-12 because of Pharaoh’s rejection of God’s invitation to get right with Him. Each plague is directed toward an Egyptian false god.

Stephen Davey describes the frog god:

The Egyptians had a key god called Heka. Heka was known as the frog god. This god was actually a goddess whose body was shaped like a woman, but whose head was shaped and fashioned like a frog. It was not a very attractive god. So the frogs, although they were considered unclean, were revered. This goddess was considered the goddess of fertility. She was supposedly the one that would aid women in childbirth.

God attacked this frog god in the second plague in Exodus 8. Egypt was flooded with green, slimy, croaking frogs. Frogs were in their beds, between the cushions on the couch, in the cabinets, in the oven, in their pots and pans.

It was like Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie, Birds, except in this horrible nightmare there were frogs everywhere.

Pharaoh finally calls for Moses and said, “In treat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord” (8:8). Moses asked Pharaoh, “When do you want me to ask the  Lord to take away the plague of frogs?” Pharaoh’s unbelievable answer was, “Tomorrow.” What? Why did not Pharaoh shout, “Today” or “Right Now.” Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God. So his procrastination was really a postponement of repenting of his sin and turning to God (Exodus 8:15).

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. For some this is easy. They put off Christ as their Savior yesterday and they will do it again today.

In my next posts we will look at other procrastinators.

Resources:

C. J. Mahaney’s series

Hugh Pyle’s sermon One More Night with the Frogs

The Battle between the Gods by Stephen Davey on Pharoah’s procrastination

Felix, Later, Lord by Stephen Davey on Felix’s procrastination

Come before Winter by Dr. Clarence E. Macartney (some background of the sermon)

Come before Winter (The Sermon)

 

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Three Ways To Encourage Yourself When In Despair!

May 28, 2013 — Leave a comment

6-29-11-stepping-on-little-person-lIn 1979, Ron Hamilton lost his left eye to cancer. About that time his firstborn son, Jonathan was born. Also at that time Ron Hamilton wrote the song born out of heartbreak that has blessed thousands of heartbroken believers: “Oh Rejoice in The Lord.”

Ron Hamilton turned his tragedy into a blessing for hundreds of thousand of children and their parents by becoming known as “Patch The Pirate” producing “Patch the Pirate” tapes for children. Our boys grew up on “Patch the Pirate” tapes. We listened to them especially on long trips. On Mother’s Day this year, Jonathan who had been battling mental illness, jumped to his death from a parking deck in Greenville, S. C. Right before his death, he texted his parents, “Goodbye, I love you.”

At the funeral, 34 years after writing “Oh Rejoice in the Lord,” Ron Hamilton led the choir and congregation in “Oh Rejoice in the Lord.” He encouraged himself in the Lord again with these powerful lyrics. He first encouraged himself when he lost his eye, now when he lost his son.

Oh Rejoice in the Lord

God never moves without purpose or plan, When trying His servant and molding a man. Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long; In darkness He giveth a song. 

I could not see through the shadows ahead; So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead. I bowed to the will of the Master that day; Then peace came and tears fled away.

Now I can see testing comes from above; God strengthens His children and purges in love. My Father knows best, and I trust in His care; Through purging more fruit I will bear.

O Rejoice in the LORD, He makes no mistake, He knoweth the end of each path that I take, For when I am tried And purified, I shall come forth as gold.

Maybe, you need to encourage yourself in the Lord today. Have you lost the battle with depression, a dear one to death, a long time friendship, the acceptance of co-workers in ministry, or success in your profession?

You and I have a great example in Scripture of a believer who did encourage himself in the Lord. David at one of the lowest points in his life did as 1 Samuel 30:6 records, “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”

The reason David had to encourage himself in the Lord is because he sinned himself into trouble. In 1 Samuel 27, David, worn out from fleeing for his life from jealous King Saul in exile, departed into enemy territory and became the body guard for Philistine king, Achish. God graciously and providently spared David from fighting for his enemy and against the people of Israel over whom he had already been anointed king. When he and his 600 soldiers returned from fighting for King Achish to their temporary home in Ziklag, they found the city smoldering from having been burned to the ground by another perpetual enemy, the Amalekites. The Amalekites also kidnapped their families.

Now David’s once loyal followers turned their grief into anger and threatened to stone David to death for having led them into this tragedy. David has already been in a pit. But now the bottom drops out of the pit. For seven long years, David has been hunted as a fugitive through no fault of his own. He did backslide into Philistia and there was rejected by the Philistine commanders. Now his home and the homes of his people are destroyed with fire. His most loyal people are about to take his life in revenge. David is absolutely alone.

Listen to Spurgeon’s assessment of David’s trial:

David had, by this time, become sick of men and weary of trusting to himself! God was beginning to cure His servant by a bitter dose of distress and the evidence of the cure was that he did not encourage himself by the hope of others coming, but he encouraged himself in the Lord, his God! The man of God is looking to God, alone! Before, David was down there in the valleys with his policy and his craft—in the stagnant atmosphere of self-trust and worldliness—but now he stands in Ziklag, a friendless man, but free and true” (Ziklag or David Encourages himself in the Lord. Sermon #1606 Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol 27, page 4).

How Can We Encourage Ourselves In The Lord In Our Great Suffering?

1. We Can Encourage Ourselves by Claiming the Promises of God’s Word.

The same word, “encouraged” in 1 Samuel 30:6 is used to describe Jonathan’s ministry to David a few years earlier in 1 Samuel 23:16. David was just starting his life as a fugitive, when Jonathan “strengthened his hand in God.” Jonathan assured David with the promise from God of being Israel’s next king.

Child of God in despair let God’s Word rescue you. When you don’t hear words of encouragement from God’s people, look up and meditate on the Words of God such as Romans 8:28; Proverbs 3:5,6; on Philippians 3:14.

2. We Can Encourage Ourselves in the Lord by Remembering God’s Past Deliverances.

This is what David did as a lad facing a giant problem. The giant problem was named Goliath. David recalled the victory God gave him when he faced smaller but very dangerous testings in 1 Samuel 17:34-36.

I would encourage you discouraged believer to revisit your diary or journal. Read some former victory God gave you in answer to your faith in Him or His promises. “Think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Go ahead, right now, recall and mediate on a past victory from God.

3. We Can Encourage Ourselves in the Lord by Turning to our Great High Priest.

David in 1 Samuel 30:7-8 called for his priest, Abiathar, to bring the Old Testament means of communicating with God, the Urim and Thummin. God answered David’s prayer by instructing him to pursue and take back his stolen possessions and kidnapped family.

“We have a great high priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God….Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16). “We may not get precise answers to our questions but we will find ‘grace to help,’ which we usually need more than answers. I don’t often need information but endurance; I don’t need to know something—I only need to stay on my feet. Use your Priest; use your access; it’s part of strengthening yourself in you God” (Dale Ralph Davis. Looking On The Heart, page 173).

At this moment cast all your anxieties on “the God of all Comfort” as David did and experience joy of God’s all sufficient grace to help in time of need. God Bless!

Response: What problem are you facing and how are you planning on dealing with it? Let me know.

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Does God Care? Part 2

May 17, 2013 — Leave a comment

Noël Piper, John Piper’s wife, tells this example of God’s providence:A young couple was snorkeling, for the first time ever, in the warm Caribbean bay, near a harbor where boats were coming and going. “The boat sounds seem very loud,” Mrs. Clausen said. Another woman nearby, who had snorkeled many times, said, “Whenever you hear a boat, look up! Don’t just assume that the boat is far away. Always look up to make sure.” She had no idea how important her words would be the very next day.

The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Clausen went snorkeling again, this time in a place where no boats are supposed to go. When Mrs. Clausen heard the sound of a boat, God reminded her of the warning, “Look up!” She looked up and saw a boat speeding straight toward her. There was no time to swim out of the way! Immediately, she dived straight down, hoping to get deep beneath the boat. The propeller of the motor hit her legs and cut them very severely.

If she had not heard the warning the day before, she would have ignored the boat. Then the injury would have been to her head or body, probably killing her. The warning that God had given her through the other woman saved Mrs. Clausen’s life.

What would happen now, though? She needed immediate medical attention, but this was a small island with no hospital and not much medical equipment. Usually, people who get injuries like hers get terrible infections. The infections can cause almost as much damage as the original injury.

God had prepared for this very moment in Mrs. Clausen’s life. A couple was vacationing next to the beach. When the man saw the accident, he ran to get his wife. His wife was a highly trained emergency room nurse. She knew exactly what to do to fight infection. She ordered the other vacationers, “Run straight to your cottages, and bring me glasses of water – lots of glasses of water!” Then she very carefully poured fresh water into and around and over every part of the wounded legs, cleaning away the bacteria-filled sea water.

Then the nurse rode with Mrs. Clausen to the clinic. Since she was there to help, the clinic doctor could concentrate on the most urgent medical needs.

It was a long time before Mrs. Clausen recovered completely, but today she is healthy and her legs are fine. When she remembers that terrifying moment of being hit, she says that there was only a split second to think about anything. The most important thing that flashed into her mind was, “I know God loves me.”

Not only is God’s eye on Mrs. Clausen and the sparrow, but His eye is on you.

1. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Purpose (See Part 1)

2. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Protection (See Part 1)

3. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Provision 

This is the first example of birds that Jesus used in Matthew 6:25-26. The little birds works hard for their food, but they don’t worry. God feeds them. “He who feeds the sparrow will not starve His saints.”

If God feeds the little four-inch dully colored of little value sparrow will He not provide for you who are made in the image of God and made over in the image of Christ at conversion.

If God feeds the sparrow, which could be purchased with less than one penny, will He not give for you who were purchased with the precious blood of Christ. Then trust Him!

“Worry is like a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind which if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained out.”

4. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Providence

Spurgeon preached a sermon on Matthew 10:29-30 entitled Providence. He said the doctrine of providence is the doctrine of the supervision and wise care of God.

A. God providently controls the small things. Not just the archangels, Michael and Gabriel, but the sparrows. Once an old farm rooster crowed and did God’s will reminding Peter of his denial of the Lord.

The writer of Proverbs writes, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.” The President makes major national defense decision like going to war with Iran. Daniel writes that God puts down kings and raises up kings. I am concerned with Iran building a nuclear bomb. But God is going to protect His chosen people even if our nation does not. Like one preacher I heard recently say, when Jesus returns it will not be on a democrat donkey or a republican elephant, but on a white horse as King of kings. He is our only hope.

But God is also concerned with little things of our lives. An incident recorded in the book of Esther illustrated this truth. The very night the wicked, anti-Semite Haman built gallows on which to hang Mordecai, the Persian king could not sleep. The king asked his secretary to read to him out of the royal minutes, hoping that these business meeting minutes would put him to sleep. The servants read about Mordecai saving the king’s life by exposing a plot against him and also that Mordecai was never rewarded for his good deed.

God’s providence produced the king’s sleeplessness. God’s providence caused king to request the business meeting records to be read to cure his insomnia. God providence moved the secretary to read from the exact page that had noted Mordecai saving the king’s life. These were not happenstances but examples of God’s hand in the glove of our circumstances. God’s providence through a series of small events caused Haman to be executed on the gallows he built to hang to death Mordecai.

B. God providently controls the difficult things. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” This illustration was given in the context of persecution and death (10:16-28). Paul used the same example in one of the worst storms of his life in Acts 27:34. Paul used the illustration to encourage those in the storm that God would spare their lives.

This statement was common proverb. The people of Israel used this proverb in 1 Samuel 14:45 to defend Jonathan against his father Saul who wanted to kill him. The people in defense of Jonathan said, “There shall not one hair of this head fall to the ground.”

It is also used in Luke’s gospel on persecution in the future Tribulation Period which includes death (Luke 21:18). This proverbs teaches two truths about God’s providence, first, nothing will happen to you except what is God’s will and secondly, if it is God’s will for death to come, nothing can affect your eternal life.

If a sparrow drops to its death it is because the Father willed it.

Spurgeon attended a funeral of a friend and heard this parable told by the preacher. There was much weeping on account of the loss of a loved one, and the minister told this parable.

Suppose you are a gardener employed by the owner and master of the garden; it is not your garden but you are called upon to tend it, and you have your wages paid you. You have taken great care with a certain number of roses; you have trained them up, and there they are, blooming in their beauty. You pride yourself upon them.

You come one morning into the garden, and you find that the best rose has been taken away. You are angry; you go to your all your fellow employees, and charge them with having taken the rose. They will declare that they had nothing at all to do with it; and one says, ‘I saw the owner walking here this morning; I think he took it.’ Is the gardener angry then? No, at once he says, ‘I am happy that my rose should had been so fair as to attract the attention of the owner. It is his own; he has taken it; let him do what seems him good.’

Spurgeon added his comments: “It is even so with your friends. They wither not by chance; the grave is not filled by accident; men die according to God’s will. Your child is gone, but the Master took it; your husband is gone, your wife is buried,—the Master took them; thank Him that He let you have the pleasure of caring for them and tending them while they were here, and thank Him that as He gave, He Himself has taken away. If others had done it, you would have had cause to be angry; but the Lord has done it.”

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; 

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

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