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Table of Contents:
The Reason for Hope
The Ten Best Things in Second Corinthians
Advent and the Miracle of Intimacy with God
Exegetically Speaking
Following God
Words to Stand You on Your Feet
Jewels from Past Giants
Marks of the Master
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel
Book Reviews
News Update
Sermon Helps
Puzzles and ‘Toons
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The Reason for Hope
By John Meador
Originally published in Pulpit Helps,
December 2007.
Why do you celebrate Christmas?
Are you sure of it? The waters of our
seasonal celebrations seem to get murkier
every year. With “Happy Holidays” (instead
of Merry Christmas) and the ever-increasing
commercialism of Christmas by our friendly
retailers, one can get lost in the reason for
celebration. Parents struggle to help kids
see past the gifts to the real Giver of
Christmas. Individuals get to the end of the
celebration and often feel a deep sense of
emptiness. But Christmas should bring
hope, and there is a reason for hope!
It is good to remember that we have a
reasonable basis of belief for believing in
Jesus Christ—and for celebrating
Christmas. In this world of relativism—where
everything is relegated to what one “wants”
to believe—we must have something more
solid than just a sincere faith. We also must
have a reasonable faith. The apostles did
not die for something they just sincerely felt.
They died for what they knew to be true!
We are told to “always being ready to
make a defense (reasonable statement) for
the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15). As we
sit around the dinner table during this time of
the year, as we exchange gifts with one
another or worship together with all the
incredible beauty and pageantry of
Christmas, we can ensure a true celebration
by remembering why we can be confident
that Jesus is the reason for the season. We
celebrate Christmas—and Christ—because
we know He is the Messiah sent from God.
The Apostle Peter knew the reason:
“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired
and searched carefully, who prophesied of
the grace that would come to you, searching
what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of
Christ who was in them was indicating when
He testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glories that would follow” (1
Pet. 1:10-11). Peter does not exalt common
sense or experience as the basis of His
belief. He rather appeals to the prophets and
the obvious fulfillment of their prophecies as
his foundation. These words convey Peter’s
answer to why he knew Jesus was the
Messiah. This verse also gives our reason—
your reason for celebration.
First, authentic prophecies of divine
origin were recorded centuries in advance
through recognized prophets. The Old
Testament prophets were those who spoke
directly for God. What’s more, God spoke
through them to tell of events that were yet
to occur! He told them when to go to war,
and who would win. He spoke to them about
men he would heal, or allow to die. He also
spoke to them, frequently, about the coming
Messiah.
The reason we know these prophets
were authentic was their accuracy. A
prophet who spoke “from the Lord” but who
spoke inaccurately about a coming event
was stoned to death. A bad prophet was a
dead one. That tends to demonstrate who is
authentic and who is not, and the authentic
prophets are recorded in Scripture.
Second, these prophets predicted in
precise detail the birth, sufferings, and
glories of the Messiah. These weren’t just
vague references to a general event. These
prophecies were specific and time-sensitive.
Listed below are only a few of the hundreds
of Messianic prophecies.
A. His Birth
Given: “The Lord…will give you a
sign; Behold a virgin will be with child and
bear a Son…” (Isa. 7:14). Fulfilled: “…she
was found to be with child by the Holy
Spirit…Joseph…kept her a virgin until she
gave birth to a Son” (Matt. 1:18, 24-25).
B. His Ancestry
Given: “A shoot will spring from the
stem of Jesse…” (Isa. 11:1). Fulfilled:
“Jesus…(as was supposed) the son of
Joseph…the son of Jesse…” (Luke 3:23,
32).
C. His Birthplace
Given: “But as for you,
Bethlehem...from you One will go forth for
Me to be a ruler in Israel…from the days of
eternity” (Mic. 5:2). Fulfilled: “…Jesus was
born in Bethlehem of Judea…” (Matt. 2:1).
D. His Timing
Given: “…from the issuing of a
decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until
Messiah…there will be seven weeks and
sixty-two weeks (of years)…” (Dan. 9:2426). Fulfilled: “…Jesus was born…in the
days of Herod the king…” (Matt. 2:1). Herod
died in 4 AD, just after Jesus was born,
according to scholarly consensus, while the
69 weeks of Daniel [after the Jewish and
Gregorian calendars are reconciled] were
completed in AD 33. This fulfills Daniel’s
prophetic dating.
E. His Sufferings
Given: “…they pierced my hands and
my feet. I can count all my bones. They look,
they stare at me. They divide my
garments…” (Ps. 22:16-18). Fulfilled: “…And
they cast lots, dividing His garments…and
the people stood by, looking on” (Luke
23:34-35).
F. His Glory
Given: “You have ascended on
high…” (Ps. 68:18). Fulfilled:
“…when…Jesus had spoken to them, He
was received up into heaven…” (Mark
16:19).
Conclusion: Coincidence or Hope?
Some say Jesus “engineered” all
these things to be fulfilled. Now, that is a
wild statement. How can one possibly
control the day of his birth or his ancestors?
How can a person determine exactly when
he dies, or predict how many pieces of silver
he was betrayed for?
Others say Jesus’ fulfillment of over
300 Old Testament prophecies was
“coincidental.” Peter Stoner says that the
odds of one man fulfilling
just eight prophecies of this nature are one
in 1017! That would be 1 in
100,000,000,000,000,000. I don’t think
“coincidence” cuts it, do you? Only God
could have orchestrated an event of this
magnitude.
Third, these prophecies were
supernaturally fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The
apostle concludes that these prophecies
were heard, fulfilled, and accepted as being
fulfilled supernaturally: “…these things which
now have been announced to you through
those who preached the gospel to you by
the Holy Spirit sent from heaven....” (1 Pet.
1:12).
In other words, this is the witness of
the Holy Spirit and heaven itself—an
unarguable fact. It’s what we preach, Peter
says—and it is what we can believe this
Christmas and throughout all time.
So, why does all this bring hope? It
brings hope to Christmas because it says
that God orchestrated all these events,
literally moving heaven and earth, so that we
might have a Savior who would Himself
bring us to God. And that, my friends, is
hope. I’m sure of it.
John Meador is senior pastor of First Baptist
Church of Euless, Texas.
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The Ten Best Things in Second
Corinthians—Part 2
By Joe McKeever
“For this end also I wrote that I might
put you to the test, whether you are obedient
in all things” (2 Cor. 2:9).
We started this in the last issue, but I
only gave you the first five with a promise of
more. Here they are.
6) 2 Corinthians 8:1-5—a great
example of giving. The Lord’s churches in
the region of Macedonia (which included
Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea) were
something to brag about. Paul used them as
examples: “This is how it’s done!”
Denominational publications will
highlight an individual church for its
outstanding record in ministry, growth, or
evangelism. Critics will often take exception
to doing so, suggesting that to single out
one church for its accomplishment is to
encourage pride and makes other churches
feel inferior. Maybe so, but there is good
scriptural precedent for using the heroics of
one congregation to inspire others.
You have to love the way Paul adds
layer upon layer in lauding the giving of the
Macedonians: They gave liberally, even
though experiencing affliction. Their
sacrificial giving was accompanied by
(inspired by?) an abundance of joy and deep
poverty. These overflowed in a wealth of
liberality. (Not exactly the formula financial
experts recommend, but in the case of this
amazing group of believers, it worked.) Their
giving was not only according to their ability
but beyond that! In fact, they begged for the
privilege of supporting the saints with their
offerings. That tells you they realized that
giving is a privilege, and far more than a
duty. Only the godliest of believers ever
climb high enough to see this truth. Best of
all, before they did anything, they first gave
themselves to the Lord and then to “us” by
the will of God. Only then did they begin
giving. And brother, did they ever give!
7) 2 Corinthians 9:6-9—some
principles of giving. Principles for
contributing to the Lord’s work through the
offering plate are found throughout the
Word, and not bunched up in one place
(See Matt. 6:19-21 for starters; also Matt.
23:23 and 1 Cor. 16:2). Here are some of
the insights from this passage in chapter 9.
You determine the size of the harvest
you want to reap by the size of the sowing
you are willing to do (9:6). I know, I know—
this sounds like something a televangelist
would spout in an attempt to separate you
from your hard-earned cash. But it’s a truth
from Scripture, even if some do abuse it.
What you purpose in your heart
determines the worth of your gift (9:7). Some
have wondered how Heaven assesses the
true value of our contributions. Does God
read the numbers on our checks? I’ve heard
people say the value is determined by how
much you have left over after giving. While
that is worth thinking about, there is a more
reliable method. God gives our gifts the
same value we place on them. That is, if my
contribution is really important to me, it
matters to Him. If it means nothing to me, it
means the same to Him. That’s why what
we “purpose in (our) heart” is so critical.
God wants you to have enough to be
able to give generously (9:8). Not
necessarily enough to buy that Audi or the
widescreen high-definition television, but
enough to be generous in giving to those in
need or in ministry, doing the work of the
Lord. To our shame, we often treat excess
income as an opportunity to indulge our
whims and materialistic urges.
Note—pastors who shy away from
preaching on giving do their people a great
disservice. Churches that look for ways to
protect their members from the offering plate
are caving in to the carnal fears of some—
those who do not like to give—and
failing the Lord and those who love to give.
Many pastors are going to be in big trouble
at judgment when their members arrive
empty-handed, having laid up little or no
treasure in heaven (see Matthew 6:19-20)
because their shepherds were such cowards
who feared criticism. Let the minister help
the people overcome the chokehold of
greed, the burden of materialism, and the
fear of giving. Let ministers teach their
people it is more blessed to give than to
receive.
8) Chapters 10 and 11—Paul invites
us in for a personal look at his embattled
situation. Consider the revelations this
esteemed apostle makes concerning
himself.
“My critics say I’m meek in person but
bold when absent.” This is evidently a
reference to the power he conveys through
his letters (10:1). Paul answers that they are
being superficial, judging according to the
flesh (see 10:7), and this is not the plane on
which spiritual warfare is conducted (10:45).
They say, “His letters are weighty and
strong, but his personal presence is
unimpressive, and his speech contemptible”
(10:10). Paul thought he was being properly
humble when in their presence, but
immaturity does not recognize nor value
humility. They liked “star power!” And they
found that in Paul’s critics. Let every pastor
who has ever been reproached for his lessthan-powerful mannerisms take comfort in
this criticism of Paul. Some people think to
be “anointed” and “filled with the Spirit” is to
be loud, forceful, and personally persuasive.
Humility and quietness have no place in
such thinking. Paul told his hearers that
when he finally gets to their church, he
would be just as forceful in person as in his
letters (10:11). It appears he has just about
run out of patience with this bunch.
Who are your critics, Paul? In 10:12,
he speaks of “those who commend
themselves,” people who “measure
themselves by themselves,” and such. They
boast (10:17) and they put Paul down as a
Johnny-come-lately, not a bona fide apostle
whom they should follow and to whom they
are obligated to support financially (see
11:5ff). Paul calls these critics “false
apostles, deceitful workers, disguising
themselves as apostles of Christ” (11:13).
Later, in 12:11, he calls them “superapostles,” a wonderful instance of the
apostle’s sarcasm.
So, Paul, are you an authentic
apostle? Where are your credentials? His
answer comes in the amazing litany of
11:21-33. We don’t have space to do it
justice here, so I’ll simply point out that Paul
gives a “reverse résumé.” Instead of listing
his accomplishments, awards, and
decorations as proof of his apostleship, he
shows them his scars (11:23-27). We are
stunned into silence. Christian workers who
have thought they were suffering for Jesus
will read this and be ashamed of their selfcenteredness. Paul had good precedence
for “showing them his scars” to verify his
genuineness. In Luke 24:39 and John 20,
Jesus did this very thing, literally.
9) 2 Corinthians 12:7-10—when I’m
weak, I’m strong. Paul could have written a
bestseller called “My 60 Minutes in Heaven”
or something like that. The opening verses
of chapter 12 refer to just such an
experience Paul had. Note that he begins by
referring to “a man in Christ Jesus” and ends
by admitting he’s being autobiographical:
“…to keep me from exalting myself…”
(12:7).
Some think this “visit to Heaven”
occurred when Paul was stoned by
opponents, dragged out of the city, and left
for dead (Acts 14:19). There’s no way to
know. One problem of having such a
celestial vision would be pride. “How
wonderful to the Father I must be!” So, to
put a stop to that business, Paul says a
problem was given to him, one he called “a
thorn in the flesh,” which originated with
Satan, and which did not yield itself to
prayer. What was the problem? He didn’t
say, and we should give thanks for that.
Otherwise, God’s hasty servants would have
presumptuously built theologies around that
particular infirmity and laid more burdens on
His people.
“My grace is sufficient for you; my
power is perfected in weakness” (12:9). That
is a word from God, heard only by Paul but
conveyed to us through the written Word,
and aren’t we glad. Even though it makes
little sense to the outside world, we find
ourselves “amen”-ing him when he
concludes, “Most gladly, therefore, I will
rather boast about my weaknesses, that the
power of Christ may dwell in me.”
10) 2 Corinthians 13—quit testing me;
test yourself. He says in 13:3, “You are
looking for proof of Christ in me.” That is
much of the burden of this epistle, the
harassment he was receiving from this
congregation which owed its very existence
to his ministry. We’ve already looked at the
proof Paul gave them.
Instead of examining him, Paul says,
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the
faith” (13:5). He adds, “Jesus Christ is in
you. That is, unless you fail the test.” And
then, “I trust that you will realize that we
ourselves do not fail the test.” Earlier in this
epistle, Paul told this congregation, “For this
purpose I wrote to you, that I might know the
proof of you, whether you are obedient in all
things” (2:9).
He ends the epistle with this
wonderful prayer-wish: “Finally, brethren,
rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be
like-minded, live in peace; and the God of
love and peace shall be with you” (13:11).
And then this benediction: “The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen” (13:14).
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist
pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He
blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.
Table of Contents
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Advent and the Miracle of
Intimacy with God
By Shea Oakley
Even during this yuletide season, I’m
not sure that we who call ourselves followers
of Christ often give much thought to the
supreme miracle that we are about to
celebrate, the miracle that exists at the very
center of our faith.
The advent on earth of the universal
God in human form is a mystery both
unfathomable and blessed. We are all far
worse off if we do not take time at this
season, or at any time of the year for that
matter, to ponder the sublime reality of God
becoming a man.
No other enduring religion in the
world puts forth the idea of a Supreme Being
so willing to identify with His deeply fallen
human creation as to literally become one of
them. That He would do so out of love—
because only such an “incarnation” would
make possible our rescue from spiritual
death—should become for us an incredibly
sweet and compelling truth if we will simply
ponder it for a while.
It is mind-boggling, yes, but even
though we cannot completely comprehend
the full glory of our Lord becoming incarnate,
we can apprehend it in such a way as to
open a door to one of the greatest and most
transcendent blessings that we can know in
our Christian walk.
Just think about it. We belong to a
God who so loved us as to become one of
us to make that “belonging” possible. What
indescribable condescension must that have
entailed for One who is infinite, eternal and
uncaused Being? I once wrote that it is
somewhat akin to a man becoming a flea to
save a world of fleas, but that barely begins
to cover the magnitude of the descent we
now consider. It is truly the miracle of the
ages.
But do not just use your intellect in
your endeavor to experience the truth of the
earthly advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, use
your heart as well, for this is nothing if not an
affair of the heart. How can our hearts not
love Immanuel, God with us? Christmas
testifies to the beginning of a new and
profound opportunity for human intimacy
with God, an intimacy with God as man.
How can we remain unmoved by a
Holy God, One wholly “other” as one
German theologian once described his
innate separation from us, becoming us?
The mere fact of the Son of God becoming
also the Son of Man is enough, in my
opinion, to make Christianity the most
compelling belief system on the planet. No
one has a God like ours, no one, and it is
Jesus, the God-Man who makes this so.
Perhaps the only thing more
compelling than the Advent itself is the
reality that the God who arrived on earth as
one fully human over two-thousand years
ago then proceeded to go to the cross and
defeat death for what were now His fellow
human beings as well as His creation.
Contemplate that. He made us but, because
of Christmas, he also died for us, as one of
us.
But then that is a story for another
Holy Day, a few months hence.
© Shea Oakley. All Rights Reserved.
Converted from atheism in 1990, Shea
Oakley has written over 350 articles for
electronic and print publications since 2002,
including Disciple Magazine (and Pulpit
Helps Magazine), The Christian Herald, The
Christian Post, Christian Network and
Crosshome.com. In 2003 he graduated from
Alliance Theological Seminary with a
Certificate of Theological Studies. Shea and
his wife Kathleen make their home in West
Milford, New Jersey.
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Exegetically Speaking
by Spiros Zodhiates
The Conspiracy
Matthew 28:11-15
From Exegetical Commentary on
Matthew, 2006, AMG Publishers
The Roman soldiers had been
assigned to guard the tomb so that the
disciples would not be able to steal the body
of Jesus. Pilate was satisfied that he had
secured Rome against such a conspiracy.
[11] But then the report came in that
the body was missing. Some of the guards
went to the chief priests. They seem to have
reported the facts without bias as
“occurrences” (tá genómena, the aorist
middle participle of gínomai [1096], to
become) and reported “all” (from hápas
[537], each and all) the pertinent news (note
the specific hápanta from hápas).
[12] What did these chief priests and
elders do now? “And when they were
assembled together with the elders and had
taken counsel (sumboúlion [4824], a
discussion), they gave large (hikaná [2425],
sufficient, that is bribe) money unto the
soldiers” (a.t.).
This was not the first time the
Pharisees marshaled against Jesus. They
had tried to trap Him with words (Matt.
22:15–17) and to deceive the people
concerning His character (Mark 3:22; John
9:24); they had plotted His death (John
11:53); had bribed Judas to betray Him
(Matt. 26:14, 15); had perverted and
misrepresented His teaching at the trial
(Matt. 26:59–62; Luke 23:1, 2); and had
influenced Pilate to crucify Him (John
19:12). And now, following the glorious,
irrefutable resurrection, they attempted to
hide the truth. They did not hesitate to
endanger the lives of the soldiers that might
be condemned to death by Pilate, who only
reluctantly gave permission to crucify Jesus.
[13] The lie was self-incriminating,
which meant that the money had to be high
enough to compensate for the risk of falling
asleep on duty—a capital offense. The
Romans had no allegiances to the Jews, but
the soldiers were trapped because the body
was missing. It had disappeared on their
watch, and they desperately needed an
excuse.
[14-15] Along with the payment, the
chief priests and elders also offered these
soldiers further aid if Pilate heard what
happened. “We will persuade (from peíthō
[3982], to convince) him and make (from
poiéō [4160], to do or make) you secure
(from amérimnos [275] from the privative a
[1], without; and the noun mérimna [3308],
worry)” (a.t.).
In other words, for confirming the lie,
they would make the soldiers free from
anxiety by eliminating the danger. “So they
took the money (from argúrion [694], silver),
and did as they were taught (from didáskō
[1321]).” They were “taught” not “told,” as
the King James faithfully translates the
original. It was rational instruction and
didactic skill, not orders or a bullying
negotiation. The priests and elders
convinced the soldiers that this was the best
and perhaps the only strategy. Persuasion
like this is typical of the cults who use
propaganda and the suppression of truth to
retain their members.
The aftermath of all this? “And this
saying is commonly reported (from
diaphēmízō [1310], to advertise) among the
Jews until this day.” The body was gone!
What else could they do but lie? This
“conspiracy theory” has continued into the
twentieth century, republished in the work of
Jewish author Hugh Schonfield (The
Passover Plot, New York: Bernard Geis
Assoc., 1965).
Today the Jewish nation as a whole
still rejects Jesus’ resurrection, His
atonement for sin, and His deity. But all this
will change when He returns: “So all Israel
shall be saved: as it is written, There shall
come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom.
11:26). At that time, I believe, Jews will
repent collectively.
Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as
president of AMG International for over 40
years, was the founding editor of Pulpit
Helps Magazine (Disciple’s predecessor),
and authored dozens of exegetical books.
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Following God
by Wayne Barber
A Divine Moment
Originally published in Pulpit Helps,
December 2004.
“But when the fullness of the time
came, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the Law” (Gal. 4:4).
The context of Galatians shows the
difference between Religion and Christianity.
Religion is what a man, whether Jew or
Gentile, can do for God; Christianity is what
only God can do for man. Religious people
have no joy in the celebration of Christmas.
They do not need a Redeemer; they think
that they are righteous in themselves. But
believers rejoice in this occasion. We
understand our need for a Savior. That’s
why Christmas is so special to us!
Christmas is the first of at least five
chapters in the “Book of Redemption”:
Chapter 1—Christ was born of a virgin;
Chapter 2—He lived a sinless life, the Godman; Chapter 3—He died for our sins on the
cross; Chapter 4—He rose victorious over
sin and death; Chapter 5—He ascended
back to the Father in heaven. And we could
add many more! He comes to live in the
lives of believers, etc. But first, He who has
eternally existed had to be born into our
world as the God-man.
God began slowly opening the door
to the revelation of His plan for all mankind
in Genesis 3, when He said to the serpent: “I
will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed; he
shall bruise you on the head, and you shall
bruise him on the heel” (v. 15). God
continued to shed more and more light on
His eternal plan for man as the Scriptures
unfolded. After destroying all but Noah’s
family with the Flood, and after confusing
the languages and separating the people,
God singled out Abraham. In Genesis 15 He
cut covenant with him.
In Genesis 29, Judah was born to
Jacob’s wife, Leah. In 1 Samuel 16, David
was born in the line of Judah. In Matthew 1,
Jesus Christ was born to Mary, who was of
David’s line (cf. Ps. 132:11; Luke 1:32; Rom.
1:3), while she was a virgin. So Paul can say
in Galatians 4:4-5 that Jesus came in “the
fullness of time.”
Exactly the Right Time
God does what He does with divine
precision. Some would say the birth of Jesus
came at a good time. Some might say it
came at an acceptable time. But the Bible
says it came at the precise time, the perfect
time. The Greek for “fullness” is plērōma. It
means when something is fulfilled or
completed. In this context, when it’s time
had come—the time. The definite article is
used with chrónos, time, indicating a specific
time. This is supported by Galatians
4:2: “but he is under guardians and
managers until the date set by the father.”
The word for “date set” is the
word prothésmios, which means a date set
beforehand.
God knew the exact time for Christ to
be born of a virgin in Bethlehem. The date
was preset. There was to be a divine
moment that Christ was to be born in a
manger in Bethlehem—at the fullness of
time.
When Jesus was born, everything
was right for the Messiah to come. Since the
Babylonian captivity, the Jews had finally
forsaken the idolatry that had plagued them
for centuries. No Jew has ever gone back to
it; the pain had been so great. When Ezra
read from the Law and the people repented;
there was a turning back to God like never
before.
The Greek culture had been
established by Alexander the Great. The
magnificent precision of the Greek language
now infiltrated the known world. This gave
people a common language, no matter what
part of the world they were from. The
Roman Empire had established a “peace”
which would allow freedom to travel and for
the gospel message to get out. The time
was exactly right when God sent forth His
Son. It was a divine moment. “God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son so that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life” (John
3:16)!
What about you this Christmas? Have
you received Him into your heart? Do you
know our Savior Jesus Christ? If you do,
then you along with me are rejoicing in your
heart. Jesus is the reason for the season!
Wayne Barber is senior pastor of Woodland
Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga,
Tennessee.
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Words to Stand You on Your Feet
by Joe McKeever
It’s All Right to Let Some People Leave
Your Church
“As a result of this, many of His
disciples withdrew and were not walking with
Him anymore” (John 6:66). “They went out
from us because they were not of us” (1
John 2:19).
Sometimes the best thing to happen
to your church is for a few people to leave.
Not long ago I ministered in a church
where a few longtime leaders had just left.
From the little I know of that congregation,
these were the ones who had controlled that
church for decades, who dominated pastors
and drove them away whenever it suited
them, and who resisted anything remotely
looking like change. The pastor’s greatest
surprise was that they had left. He was one
happy camper.
My seminary professor used to say,
“People measure the effectiveness of a
revival by the additions to the church.
Sometimes, a better gauge is the
subtractions.”
Recently, I “unfriended” a person on
Facebook. This troubled individual latches
on to the Lord’s workers and devotes herself
to controlling their lives, playing on their
guilt, and making demands on their time. I
don’t need this. After we parted ways on
Facebook, she began leaving critical
messages on my blog—two one day and
four the next morning.
One of the luxuries of having your
own blog is you can manage it. We went into
the program and erased her comments. “It’s
pastors like you,” she said on one of the
now-erased comments, “who cause people
to quit going to church.” Interesting logic—
according to that, pastors who refuse to let
strangers manipulate their lives are
responsible if that person walks away from
church. I don’t think I’ll buy any of that today,
thank you.
Plenty of people believe it. Some who
swallow that poison are pastors and sincere
Christian workers. They obsess that
someone somewhere might be offended if
they did this or that—or did not do this or
that—with the result being to harm their
eternal souls. They worry and grieve
themselves into an early grave.
A teenager called me on the phone
one day. This was back in the days when
public schools would invite preachers to
come on campus and address the student
body on topics of faith and morality. I forget
what I had said in the message, but the
student wanted to argue about it. He said, “I
did not agree with you.” I said, “Well, that’s
fine. Not everyone does.”
He proceeded to tell me how smart
he was, and that he had read all the “Great
Books” series (something I once tried, got
about halfway through Marcus Aurelius and
called it off). Whether he actually had or not
is anyone’s guess. The last thing I said to
him was, “When you’re ready to have a real
discussion about this and not just argue, call
me back and we can talk.”
A couple of weeks later, he
committed suicide. I ran over every detail of
our conversation to see if I had failed him in
some way, if I should have picked up on
what he was going through and should have
responded to him differently. I concluded
that I was in no way responsible for what he
had done.
Sometimes, you have to let people
walk away. It’s their choice. People have the
freedom to choose. That means the liberty
to come in or go out.
Watch Jesus. You quickly see that He
did not beat Himself up when an audience
walked out on Him. After the entire crowd—
people who called themselves His
disciples!—got up and left in John 6, the
Lord turned to the twelve and said, “Well,
how about you? Will you go away, too?”
Simon Peter, gifted with the ability to say
precisely the wrong thing, got one right this
time: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life.”
I mentioned to my wife how the Lord
allowed people to leave without going to
pieces over it, and she said, “That’s not all.
He even drove some of them away when He
cleansed the temple.” Good point.
People are free, responsible,
accountable. They want to be free, but they
don’t want to be responsible and
accountable for their freedom. So, they live
in any ungodly way they please and when
the fruit of that behavior begins to drop from
their trees onto their lawn, they say, “Why
did God do this to me?” Answer: He had
nothing to do with this. You are reaping the
harvest for which you have been sowing and
working.
Some will want the freedom to come
in and out of churches, doing as they
please, and when things do not go to suit
them, they blame the preachers. People are
sinners and will often act like they are. Get
used to it, Christian worker. They need to be
saved. They need a new heart, the kind only
available from a life-transforming experience
with the living God through faith in Jesus
Christ.
You know, if you are a regular reader
of my articles here or on my blog, that I
believe most trouble-makers in churches are
really atheists. I believe they don’t have a
clue that God is alive and in this place, that it
matters to Him what they are doing, and that
Jesus Christ takes personally all they do—
good, bad, ugly—to His Body the Church. If
they believed in Him, they would tiptoe into
church and gently offer Him their lives and
service. But they do not believe.
Ministers must not obsess about
some who leave. Some leaders are in the
way of what the God-appointed leaders are
trying to do, they simply do not share the
values of the Lord, and they aren’t remotely
interested in changing. They should get out.
When they do, it will signal a new birth of
freedom for their church.
Our family still laughs about a woman
from my childhood church who uttered a
statement in a church business session that
should be carved in stone since it so
perfectly expresses the attitude of certain
change-resistant members. Speaking about
a longtime practice of the church which the
new pastor wanted to end because it was
not worthy of the Lord and which was now
dividing the congregation, this little woman
who had belonged to that church for what
seemed like 183 years, said, “Well, if it’s sin,
it’s been sin all these many years and I don’t
see no reason to stop now.”
We laugh, but we grieve too. I’ve
found this woman’s sisters and brothers in
every church I ever served. In most cases,
these people do not believe for one moment
that this church belongs to Jesus. This
is their church. “My momma and daddy built
this church.” “My family goes back four
generations in this church.” “We’ve been
here longer than the rest of you, so what we
say should carry more weight.” “Pastors
come and go, but we stay on forever.”
There is no way to say this too
strongly: The best thing to happen to many a
church would be for certain members to
leave; the sooner the better. In fact, we
should pray the Lord would lead some
people away.
I pastored six churches and served
on staff of two over a half century of ministry
(My ordination was exactly 50 years ago this
month). Early on, I began to pray a little
three-pronged prayer which I recommend to
every pastor and leader: “O Lord, send only
the people to this church You want here;
keep away any You do not want here; and if
there’s anyone here You want out, please
get them out. Amen.”
I can hear the protests. “But what
would we ever do without Deacon
Strongarm?” Answer: “I don’t know; let’s find
out.” “How will this church survive without
our tithes and offerings?” Answer: “You
might be surprised to discover the Lord does
not need your money.”
Over all these years, I have seen
many a disgruntled member walk away in a
huff, certain the church would fall into ruin
without their presence and wise counsel and
big gifts. In no case—not one, nada!—did
the church ever skip a beat without them. It
seems to be a matter of pride with the Lord
that He will not let a church suffer when
these self-appointed rulers depart with their
tiny offerings.
Pastors and leaders must never let
themselves be intimidated into submission
because “If you don’t go along with this, I’m
leaving and taking my checkbook with me.”
Let them go. You will never regret it.
Does this sound harsh? It will to
some. They will interpret the departure of
some as a personal rejection and grieve
over what this says about themselves, their
church, their preaching. Get over it.
To those who know their scriptures,
treasure the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and truly want His Gospel to go forth,
the day the naysayers and unbelievers, the
controllers and the demanders, the
malignant and the recalcitrant, depart will be
a banner day for that congregation for years
to come.
I can see it now. A generation from
now, this wonderful church holds a day of
celebration. They erect banners, invite in
longtime members, and invite the old folks to
give testimonies about this pivotal moment
in the church’s history. “Tell us again, former
pastor, about that blessed day when those
people walked out and blessed our church.
We are so indebted to them for leaving.”
Who knows, they even erect a bronze
plaque in the foyer of the church with their
names on it: “Hall of Fame. Due to the
departure of these Christ-denying, churchcontrolling sons of Diotrephes (3 John 9),
our church began to grow and multiply. We
owe them so much.” You never can tell; it
just might happen.
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist
pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He
blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.
Table of Contents
___________________________________
Jewels from Past Giants
On Obeying Christ—Part 2
By R. W. Dale
Published as a chapter in Laws of Christ for
Common Life, 1884.
What is it to obey Christ? The
question appears to be an extremely simple
one, but it is possible to suppose that we are
obeying Christ when we are really refusing
Him any effective authority over our moral
life.
III. Christ is Authoritative
There is a light that lights every man,
but it reaches us dim, broken, obscured. It
shines more and more clearly as we are
faithful to it, but even when we have been
faithful for years we are troubled that the
light is not steadier and stronger. That light
is a revelation from heaven. It is a divine
Word, translated very imperfectly into a
human dialect which, at the best, has no
resources for expressing accurately and fully
the divine meaning. Still it is divine. It is a
revelation of the eternal law of
righteousness; and God’s will and the
eternal law of righteousness are one.
Conscience touches God; God touches
conscience. Whatever obedience I owe to
the law which is revealed to conscience, I
owe to God.
This moral supremacy, this identity
with the eternal law of righteousness, is the
ultimate prerogative, the incommunicable
glory of Deity. That God is my Creator
imposes on me many obligations; but if,
though He is my Creator, He were not my
God, His authority over me would not be
unlimited. His goodness—incessant and
infinite—imposes on me many obligations,
but if, though He is infinitely good, He were
not my God, I should be bound to be grateful
to Him, but not to obey Him: my own
conscience would still reveal the highest
law, and this would determine the measure
of my duty to Him.
His power, in itself, gives Him
absolutely no moral rights over me. It is not
because He can punish me for not doing His
will—it is not because He has actually
menaced me with punishment for not doing
His will—that I am bound to obey Him. The
menace of punishment does not create a
crime; if an action is not already wrong, it is
a crime to punish it.
He is God, and this means that He
has an authority over me, absolutely unique
and absolutely unlimited. Do you ask, “Why
must a man obey God?” You can never
have heard the voice of God if you ask that
question. You may as well ask, “Why must a
man obey conscience?” I must obey
conscience because I ought; there is nothing
more to be said. I must obey God because I
ought; there is nothing more to be said.
And in Christ God comes to me and
claims my obedience. The ultimate
prerogative, the incommunicable glory of
God, is Christ’s. He is the Eternal Law of
Righteousness incarnate. He does not
counsel; He commands. When I discover
who He is, I have no choice but to obey Him.
IV. Christ Must Rule over Our Conscience
This position is challenged. It is
contended that conscience must always
retain its sovereignty, and that even in
Christ’s presence conscience remains
supreme. In support of this contention it is
alleged that Christ Himself appeals to
conscience to recognize His claims.
Miracles the most stupendous can never
compel religious faith or moral submission;
for miracles, in themselves, are simply
displays of power. Conscience must
recognize the moral supremacy of Christ
before Christ can command either our
religious reverence or our moral submission.
If conscience has to form a judgment on the
moral claims of Christ as a whole,
conscience must be competent to form a
judgment on the details of His teaching, on
His separate moral precepts; and only as
conscience recognizes their moral obligation
do they become obligatory. Conscience after
all is supreme.
It is true that conscience must
determine whether or not the claims of
Christ to moral authority are valid; but when
conscience has once discovered that He is
the living, personal revelation of the eternal
law of righteousness, conscience has
recognized its Master and Lord. Henceforth
conscience itself insists that the commands
of Christ must be obeyed.
“But am I, in any particular, to obey
Christ against the dictates of my own
conscience?” Wait and see whether the
conflict arises. It may happen, indeed, that
some of Christ’s precepts impose duties
which conscience has not discovered for
itself, and does not recognize as intrinsically
obligatory even when they are commanded.
The explanation of this is to be found in what
has been already said of the slow
development of conscience.
The jurisdiction of conscience is
august; but conscience is not omniscient,
even in its actual decisions it is not infallible.
Left to itself, it often discovers duties only
when it is too late to discharge them. But
Christ enables us to anticipate experience.
He does not command what conscience
condemns; but in the early years of the
Christian life it is very commonly found that
He commands many duties which as yet
conscience does not enforce.
V. Christ’s Authority Is Real and Personal
These claims of Christ to personal
authority over the moral life provoke not only
speculative criticism but resentment. There
are men of high integrity and generous
temperament to whom they are intolerable.
It is one thing to submit to an abstract law
which conscience discovers for itself—in this
submission there is no humiliation; it is quite
another thing to submit to the government of
a Person.
Nor is it because the submission is
claimed by one who has “been made flesh”
that the claim is resisted. There are, it is to
be feared, many persons who suppose that
they believe in God, but who refuse Him all
authority over conduct. They would
vehemently resent the charge of atheism,
but they regard God as nothing more than a
metaphysical hypothesis to account for the
existence of the universe. In support of this
position they may appeal to the Christian
apologists of the eighteenth century, some
of whom seem to have learnt their theology
from Aristotle rather than from Christ; but
they are in open conflict both with the
Jewish and the Christian revelation.
The Book of Genesis begins, no
doubt, with a wonderful celebration of God
as the Creator of the heavens and the earth,
of the sun, the moon, the stars, and of all
living things; but it is impossible that this can
record the first revelation of God to the
human race. God first revealed Himself in
His immediate relations to living men, and
when men began to know Him for
themselves He led them on to the discovery
that He whom they knew was the Creator of
all things. Both in the New Testament and in
the Old, God’s present and direct relations
to men take precedence of all questions
concerning the great First Cause.
But these relations are to many men
intolerable. While God is nothing more than
the Origin of all things, the personal life is
free; as soon as He claims authority, the
freedom seems lost. The claim is met with
angry resistance. It is thrust aside, out of
sight. To be ruled by a Law—this can be
borne; to be ruled by a Person is to be
reduced to the condition of a slave.
But those to whom the great
discovery of God in Christ has come, know
that in His service there is perfect freedom.
The recognition of His personal supremacy
over life brings with it courage, elastic vigor,
high hope, and a sense of great security and
peace. The rule of Law—not of the personal
God—is the real tyranny. The law can
command; it can do nothing more. It is
inflexible, and to those who are conscious of
moral failure, it is stern and implacable.
It has no pity for our weakness, no
tears for our defeats, no compassion for our
follies, and no forgiveness for our sins. It
does not share our hopes. It does not rejoice
in our triumphs. It leaves the awful
loneliness of the soul in the highest
provinces of life unrelieved. It can receive no
confidences, show no sympathy. It lays
upon us heavy burdens, and gives no
strength to bear them. It raises questions
which perplex us and answers none of them.
When Christ becomes the Lord of
conduct everything is changed. He stands
by us in every conflict; gives strength as well
as defines duty; rejoices more than we
rejoice ourselves in our victories; grieves
more than we grieve ourselves in our
reverses. Henceforth we are never alone,
either in the unexciting and monotonous
duties of common days, or in those hours of
peril in which, but for His presence and
support, our hearts would fail and our
strength faint.
Christ becomes our comrade, faithful
and generous; but yet He is our Ruler and
we are under the government of a higher
Will than our own. Close observers may
discover the wonderful difference that this
makes in the character of a man whose
morality, in the ordinary sense of the word,
has undergone no change as the result of
his submission to Christ’s authority.
The difference is hard to put into
words, but it is as if the man were always in
the presence of one greater than himself;
and this is the actual explanation of his new
temper and spirit. There is no servility in
him, but arrogance and willfulness are now
impossible. There is a new dignity in his
moral bearing, but it is not a dignity that
comes from self-assertion; it is a dignity that
comes from his relationship to the greatness
of another.
No such results follow belief in a God
who is nothing more than a metaphysical
hypothesis to account for the origin of the
universe. In men who have such a belief it
may be perfectly clear that their will has
never done homage to a higher will; and that
whatever discipline they may have received
from education and from the experience of
life, the central forces of their nature are
unsubdued and untamed. They have no
relation to a nature higher than their own.
They have no God.
We have to obey God in Christ. But
when the real secret of the Christian
revelation is mastered, the obedience
assumes a unique character. The Will by
which we are ruled is the will of another who
is yet not another. The fountains of our life
are in Him. We are one with Him as the
branch is one with the vine. He is our higher
self, our truer self. The Will we obey is a
force which acts, not from without, but from
within. It inspires as well as governs, impels
as well as commands. This wonderful
relation to Christ, and this alone, renders it
possible to obey Him. Not until we abide in
Christ and Christ abides in us are we able to
keep His commandments.
Robert William Dale (1829-1895) was an
English Congregationalist pastor and church
leader. Born in London, Dale studied at
Spring Hill College in the industrial city of
Birmingham. In 1853, he joined the Carr’s
Lane Chapel as co-pastor, acceding to the
role of pastor in 1859 and holding that
position for the rest of his life. He is
remembered both for his passionate
preaching of the Gospel and as a social
reformer for his insistence that the church
work to back up her witness by caring for the
poor and needy. Table of Contents
___________________________________
Marks of the Master
by The Old Scot
Size beyond Comprehension
Originally published in Pulpit Helps, March
2007.
When we think about big things, the
Earth we live on seems to be about the
biggest thing we can imagine. It is made up
of great forests, wide grasslands, lofty
mountain ranges, and seemingly endless
oceans—and that’s just on the surface.
If our Earth wore a belt, it would have
to be 25,000 miles long. But if we could
stand so far out in space that Earth looked
as small as a bowling ball, it would appear
perfectly smooth. Our mighty mountains
would be so insignificant that they would not
show up at all.
Another way to think about Earth’s
size is to weigh it—and scientists have
found a way to estimate Earth’s weight fairly
closely. It turns out that our home planet
weighs six thousand million tons, times a
million millions. That’s six, followed by 21
zeros, or in mathematical shorthand, 6 x
1021.
That’s a pretty hefty figure to try to
get our minds around—but actually Earth is
pretty small-potatoes compared to the giants
of space. In fact, Earth seems puny even
compared to other planets in our solar
system. Jupiter, for instance, is about 1,300
times the size of Earth.
And then there’s the Sun: It is so vast
that you could lose the Earth and also our
Moon—including its quarter-million mile orbit
out from Earth—inside the Sun. To put Earth
in perspective, imagine the Sun as a ball two
feet thick. Now walk 215 feet away and put
down a dried pea. That’s Earth.
But now let’s look outside our “local”
Solar System: If you have a star-finder,
locate the constellation Orion, and in it the
bright star Betelguese. Betelguese could
swallow up the Sun and the entire orbits of
Mercury, Venus, and Earth, with 15 million
miles to spare, and hardly burp!
And of course there is Antares, in the
constellation Scorpio. It’s nearly twice as big
as Betelguese. And there are millions and
millions of other stars in the heavens, most
of them larger than our Sun. Any way you
look at it, there’s an awful lot of material in
our “material universe”!
Thinking about all this should lead us
to two other thoughts.
The first is about ourselves. I well
remember the summer night I first really
thought about the stars. I was about eight
years old, and was lying on the soft grass of
our country home, with all the glory of God’s
heavens spread out above me. I hope you
have had, or can have such an experience.
It made me feel very, very small, I can tell
you!—especially the Milky Way enthroned in
velvety blackness.
Then, thinking about how huge
everything in space is ought to help us
realize how great God is, to manufacture all
this by speaking it into existence! “And God
said ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light”
(Gen. 1:3). Truly, our God is a Mighty God!
But there is a third wonderful thought
connected with our viewing the heavens:
insignificant as we seem by contrast with the
mighty works in space, we are precious to
God nonetheless.
So highly does God value us that He
sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you
and me, as well as the rest of mankind. As
Judge, God must judge sin and wickedness;
but as Father He provided the Lamb of God
to pay with His own blood for those sins, for
all who will come to Him in belief and
repentance.
It’s good to demote ourselves from
the center of our universe; but it’s also grand
to know our Father loves us, isn’t it?
The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) lives in Newberg,
Oregon, with his wife, Marga.
Source: Immensity, by Clarence H. Benson,
Van Kampen Press, Chicago, 1937.
Table of Contents
___________________________________
Advancing the Ministries of the
Gospel
When Disaster Strikes
By AMG International Staff
From providing relief in war-torn
Greece in the 1940s, to ministering in
Guatemala in the wake of the 1974
earthquake, to reaching out to our own
countrymen after Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
to helping victims of the 2010 earthquake in
Haiti, disaster relief has always been a part
of AMG International’s work. We do this,
even though we are not specifically a
“disaster relief” organization, for the same
reason as all of our other ministries—to
reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus
Christ
Something in our sin nature always
draws us away from the fear of God and
awe at His creation. We want to believe that
the world is safe, predictable, and somehow
under our control. Nothing shatters this false
trust faster than a natural disaster.
Suddenly, the world we thought we knew
turns on us, threatening our lives and wiping
out the work of our hands in a moment.
Even those of us who know and
worship Christ can forget how fragile life is
until something happens to grab our
attention. We remember all too well the
wave of tornadoes that swept through our
city last year. The shock of seeing friends
lose their homes and other valuable things
brought home the power of a disaster to
shake us.
When people are hurting, their focus
shifts outward as they seek assistance and
answers. Often Christians are among the
first to provide shelter, food, water and
comfort in the aftermath of a crisis. This care
and concern builds trust and opens doors for
the Gospel—people are ready to listen to
Christ’s message when they see that His
people sacrificially extend His compassion.
Because AMG has a ministry presence with
missionaries and national workers in many
countries, we are uniquely positioned to be
“first responders” to both physical and
spiritual needs when disaster strikes a
people we work among.
In recent months, the Philippines
have been hit by a very intense monsoon
season which resulted in widespread
flooding. AMG has many ministries
throughout the Philippines (childcare,
education, and camping projects), so when
a disaster like this strikes, we are both
victims and helpers. With currently available
funds, AMG Philippines expects to be able
to help almost 5,500 families who have been
affected by these floods. Our national
director there, Hector Araña, shares the
following update on what we have been able
to do to serve in the midst of the floods:
“11 out of the 18 AMG childcare
centers in Metro Manila have been affected
by the flood. We have recently distributed
relief goods and needed items to about 830
families with sponsored children in our
centers to cover their needs for two days.
Many others in the communities where we
serve are asking us for help since the
government and other organizations’ relief
assistance is not enough because of the
huge number of victims.
“One of the flood victims asked me,
‘Is this the plan of the Lord for us?’ When
you are right there, the power of touch, a
smile, a listening ear or even the smallest
act of caring, like giving a small pack of relief
goods, have a great potential to turn life
around. [By providing relief supplies] you
have made a difference in the lives of these
people affected by the torrential flooding in
the Philippines.”
Stories like this strengthen AMG’s
commitment to the work of disaster relief. By
offering Christlike compassion in the midst
of such natural disaster, our missionaries
and national workers earn the credibility to
speak about the “spiritual disaster relief” that
is the Gospel of salvation through Jesus
Christ. Far from being an interruption of their
regular ministry, our field staff see these
situations as an opportunity to reach out to
those with whom they may otherwise never
have contact.
This kind of ministry is difficult to
prepare for—you never know ahead of time
when and where disasters will come or how
many people will be affected—so it is
important to always be ready. The relief
packs Hector and his staff were able to
provide were purchased through gifts to
AMG’s disaster relief fund by donors like you
over the past year. Will you continue in
partnership with us so that we can be ready
with a helping hand and the truth of Christ
whenever and wherever we are needed
most?
To learn more about AMG’s disaster relief
ministries around the world and how you can
support them, please visit
www.amginternational.org or call 1-800-2517206.
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel
(AMG) International is a nondenominational, international missions
agency based in Chattanooga, Tenn. AMG’s
distinctive has always been its reliance on
national workers to carry the Gospel in their
own cultures. Today, they operate ministries
in over 40 countries around the world
through partnership with national believers.
Table of Contents
___________________________________
Book Review—12/10/2012
The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for
Leadership that Matters, Albert Mohler,
2012, Bethany House, Bloomington, Minn.,
ISBN 9780764210044, 213 pages, $22.99,
hardcover.
There are not many authors I can say
this about, but when Albert Mohler,
president of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.,
writes a book, I have to think long and hard
before passing it by. He writes with
thoughtfulness and clarity on a variety of
issues facing the Church today, and always
brings a challenging and winsome biblical
perspective. Mohler’s latest offering, The
Conviction to Lead, is no exception, taking a
somewhat tired genre to great heights.
Far from the standard leadership
repertoire of witty aphorisms and
exhortations to work ever harder for esoteric
goals, Mohler offers real, solid advice.
Moreover, his advice is not directed at a
general audience, but for those who are in
positions of leadership or who are genuinely
recognizing God’s call to them in that area.
The advice Mohler offers is a
thorough blend of foundational truths and
principles for Christian leadership and the
practical applications (in everything from
management, to communication, to
developing good media skills) that flow from
that. His guiding idea is “convictional
leadership”, that is, that a leader is only as
good as the truths on which every aspect of
his vision, goals, and methods are
grounded.
Some examples of how this idea
shapes Mohler’s arguments are found in the
ways he discusses some of the “standard”
leadership mantras. He reframes “getting
buy-in” from followers in terms of teaching
the convictions of the faith so that an
organization’s stakeholders can learn and
respond to truth, not charisma. He turns
“brand building” on its head so that the focus
is on stewarding the work God has entrusted
to an organization and giving Him the glory.
He talks about time management from the
perspective of eternity, not just in the name
of productivity and efficiency.
At bottom, Mohler’s idea of
convictional leadership is about motivating
men and women to greatness for Christ’s
sake, not securing success, wealth, or
influence in earthly terms. While he shares
some stories from his own experience, there
is none of the self-congratulatory tone that
often drags down books like this.
Mohler’s stated reason for writing this
book is to transform the way Christians think
about leadership and to raise up a
generation of leaders who are completely
committed to Christ and His Church, and I
think his work here goes a long way toward
those goals. There is plenty of meat here for
both leaders and followers (whether they
want to become leaders and those who wish
to learn which leaders to follow). If you are in
a position of leadership, buy this book and
read it carefully. If you’re not a leader
yourself, buy this book and give it to
someone who is.
Justin Lonas
Target: Pastors/Leaders
Type: Leadership
Take: Highly Recommended
Table of Contents
___________________________________
News Update—12/10/12
Fiscal Cliff Imperils Adoption Tax Credit
With Congress embroiled in debate
over the so-called “fiscal cliff,” many in the
adoption community are concerned that the
adoption tax credit set to expire at the end of
the year could be forgotten, Baptist
Press reports.
The tax credit that provided last year
a maximum of $13,360 to each adoptive
family has helped countless low and middle-
income families afford the costly endeavor.
Unlike a tax deduction, which only reduces
taxable income, a tax credit actually reduces
a person’s tax liability.
In September U.S. Sen. Mary
Landrieu (D-La.) introduced the Making
Adoption Affordable Act, which would
permanently establish the tax credit and
make it “refundable,” allowing adoptive
families to receive a refund “in excess of
their tax liability,” but amid all the debate
regarding the fiscal cliff, the bill “has sort of
been stalled,” says Bill J. Blacquiere,
president of nationwide adoption agency
Bethany Christian Services.
“Throughout this year we’ve always
been told by legislators that this bill would be
taken up after the election,” he said. “Well,
now it is after the election....” Blacquiere
fears that without the tax credit, there will be
fewer adoptions. “People would just simply
say, ‘I can’t afford this cost,’ and they would
back out of it,” he said.
Religion Today Summaries
Belgium: Two Newly Elected Muslim
Politicians in Brussels Vow to Implement
Sharia
Two Muslim politicians who won
October municipal elections in Belgium’s
capital, Brussels, have vowed to
implement sharia, or Islamic law, in Belgium,
the Gatestone Institute reports.
The two candidates, Lhoucine Ait
Jeddig and Redouane Ahrouch, both from
the fledgling Islam Party, won seats in two
heavily Islamic municipalities of Brussels,
and say they regard their election as key to
the assertion of the Muslim community in the
country. In a one-hour video of a postelection press conference, Ahrouch says at
one point that he will strive to make sure the
town council’s “motions and solutions are
durable and definitive and will emanate from
Islam.”
The Islam party, which plans to field
candidates in European-level elections in
2014, campaigned on three core issues:
ensuring that halal meals are served in
public school cafeterias, securing the official
recognition of Muslim religious holidays, and
pushing for a law that would legalize the
wearing of Islamic headscarves in public
spaces.
Ahrouch has admitted he is taking a
gradual approach, saying it may take
decades to enforce sharia, but says his
ultimate goal—creating an Islamic state in
Belgium—has not changed. “I think we have
to sensitize people, make them understand
the advantages to having Islamic people and
Islamic laws,” he told a reporter. “And then it
will be completely natural to have Islamic
laws and we will become an Islamic
state.” Muslims now make up one quarter of
the population of Brussels.
Religion Today Summaries
Philippines Typhoon Death Toll Still
Rising
The death toll is continuing to rise
from a powerful typhoon that flooded much
of the southern Philippines, CBN
News reports. More than 280 people have
been reported dead, at least 151 of those in
the worst-hit province of Compostela Valley
on the southern island of Mindanao, and
more than 50,000 have been forced to flee
from flooded villages.
“The waters came so suddenly and
unexpectedly, and the winds were so
fierce—that compounded the loss of lives
and livelihood,” Compostela Valley
provincial Gov. Arturo Uy told Reuters.
Officials fear the death toll from Typhoon
Bopha will increase as rescue crews and
soldiers reach other hard-hit areas that had
been isolated by landslides and flooding.
Religion Today Summaries
Chen Guangcheng: Forced Abortion in
China “Still Extensively Exists”
Blind Chinese activist Chen
Guangcheng, whose dramatic escape from
house arrest and flight to New York captured
the attention of the world in May, has issued
a powerful video calling on the Chinese
Communist Party to account for crimes
committed against the Chinese people,
ASSIST News Service reports.
These include crimes committed
against Chen’s own family—such as his
nephew, who was just given a three-year jail
sentence for defending himself when
officials broke into his house and savagely
beat him and his parents. Instead of
improving, Chen says “the human rights
situation in China is, in fact, getting worse….
In China, no one is safe.”
Moreover, Chen says “the violence in
maintaining China’s one-child policy still
extensively exists. It is a sin, because life is
sacred.” In 2006, Chen was detained and
tortured for exposing the massive,
systematic use of forced abortion and
involuntarily sterilization in China.
According to Reggie Littlejohn,
president of Women’s Rights without
Frontiers: “Chen Guangcheng has endured
incalculable suffering for human rights in
China, and in particular, for the rights of
women not to be forcibly aborted or
sterilized. He has confirmed that these
barbaric practices are still being used
‘extensively’.... The leaders of the United
States should join Chen in calling for a
peaceful transition away from policies that
are oppressing and terrorizing the people of
China, who are one-fifth of the population of
the earth.”
Religion Today Summaries
Unhappy Egyptians Given Two Weeks to
Consider Divisive Constitution That
Elevates Sharia
Given just two weeks to consider a
draft constitution that will be put to a national
referendum Dec. 15, Egyptians were taking
to the streets in large numbers December 4
to protest the latest development in their
country’s chaotic political transition,
CNSNews,com reports.
Drafted by ultra-conservative
Islamists despite concerns of many nonMuslims and liberals, the constitution
has deepened divisions in Egyptian society.
Voicing support are president Mohammed
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist
Nour Party, the two parties which together
dominated the elected legislature—whose
future remains uncertain since a Supreme
Constitutional Court ruling last June—and
several prominent Islamic leaders.
Opponents of the constitution and
referendum plan include Coptic Christians,
some minority Shia and Sufi Muslims, liberal
and secular political parties, and two former
presidential hopefuls, Amr Moussa and
Mohamed El Baradei. The judiciary also
appears to be divided, with some judges
saying they will refuse to oversee the
referendum, as required by law, but the
Supreme Judicial Council was reported
Monday to have agreed to supervise the
process.
The rush to push ahead with the
constitution followed Morsi’s controversial
Nov. 22 decree granting himself extensive
new powers and exempting his decisions
from judicial review.
Religion Today Summaries
Table of Contents
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Sermon Helps
From SermonHall.com
Sermon Outlines
Mary the Mother of Jesus
Intro.: Mary was chosen to be the mother of
Jesus. Through her, the prophecies of
Isaiah, Micah and other Scripture would be
fulfilled. Notice:
I. Her Holiness
A. Her person was holy—she was a
virgin (Luke 1:27).
B. Her practices were holy. She was
quick to obey God. She didn’t
question God or make excuses (Luke
1:38).
II. Her Humanity
A. She was a faithful wife and mother.
After Jesus was born, Joseph and
Mary were married and had at least
six children (Matt. 13:55-56).
B. She experienced pain and
frustration. Her son, Jesus was born
to die. She knew the teachings of
Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, how He
would suffer and die. She watched as
He performed miracles. She then
watched her Son die upon the cross.
C. She had faith. There were many
things that she didn’t understand, but
she trusted God. Though Romans
8:28 was not yet written, she believed
its message. She had faith that
pleased God (see Hebrews 11:1, 6.)
III. Her Humility
A. Humble acceptance. Mary was
going to have a child, and she was
not married (Matt. 1:18-25). This
surely created misunderstanding and
much gossip for both her and Joseph
to face.
B. Humble attitude. The Son of God
was born in a stable (Luke 2:17). A
humble Savior, showing His humility
through a humble woman.
C. Humble affection. What great love!
Imagine having a Son, who would die
for the sins of mankind at the age of
33. Mary was willing to give “her Son”
to save mankind.
Conc.: Mary was not perfect, but she
pleased God and allowed Him to use her.
Learn from her holiness, her humanity, and
her humility.
Anonymous
Hope, the Gift of Christmas
Intro.: When Christ came to this earth as a
baby born in Bethlehem, he came to a world
that was without hope. But He brought hope.
Peter’s two epistles describe this gift of hope
in four ways:
I. A Living Hope (1 Pet. 1:3)
A. Peter opens his letter by
establishing the basis of our hope on
“the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead.”
B. Because He lives, our future is
guaranteed.
II. A Focused Hope (1 Pet. 1:13)
A. The Christian’s hope is fixed on
“the grace that is to be brought unto
you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
B. We look forward with certainty to
His return and reign.
III. A Secure Hope (1 Pet. 1:21)
A. God “raised Him up from the dead
and gave Him glory; that your faith
and hope might be in God.”
B. God the Father has shown His
complete satisfaction with Christ’s
work of atonement by receiving Him
back into His presence and crowning
Him with glory. Every believer is now
“accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6).
IV. A Challenging Hope (1 Pet. 3:15)
A. “Be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you.”
B. The challenge is two-fold.
1. Our daily lives should be
attractive enough to cause
those about us to notice a
difference.
2. When asked about our hope
in Christ, we will be prepared
to give a clear and convincing
response.
Conc.: The great gap between “hopeless”
and “hopeful” has been bridged by the
saving grace of Jesus Christ, whose
promise is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).
Little wonder that the shepherds rejoiced
over the message of the angels for it was a
message of hope!
Anonymous
Illustrations
The Christmas Gift Is Too Much
The story is told that Julius Caesar
had a friend to whom he once gave a
munificent present. But when he offered it,
the friend said: “This is too much for me to
receive.”
To this, the emperor replied: “But it is
not too much for me to give.”
After all our sinfulness and rebellion,
God’s gift of pardon through Christ does
seem too much for us to receive; but the
riches of divine mercy are so great that it is
not too much for Him to give.
When God forgives, there is not one
sin left unforgiven. Christmas was indeed
too great a gift for man, but it was not so for
God.
Anonymous
Keep Christ Central in Christmas
It is a principle of art that in the
composition of a picture, all the parts shall
be so arranged as to lead the eye inevitably
to the central figure or feature. Whatever
prevents this is a capital defect. Accessories
are only important as they help this end.
When Varelst, the Dutch painter,
made his tulips so glorious that they drew
attention away from the face of James II, in
whose portrait he had placed them, he
violated this canon. So did Haydon when, in
his picture of Christ’s triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, he made the figure of the beast
on which the Master rode more attractive
than the person of Christ.
So does the theologian or the
metaphysician or the logician, who
fascinates by his argument and rhetoric, or
the preacher and liturgist, who stresses his
forms of worship and symbols of religion.
It is not the swaddling-clothes of
ceremonialism, but the Christ of the simple
gospel story consistently lived, that shall
span the continents with love and make
Christmas perpetual in the heart of man.
Anonymous
Bulletin Inserts
On Christmas
If we could condense all the truths of
Christmas into only three words, these
would be the words: “God with us.”
John MacArthur
Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one
purpose, to make a way back to God that
man might stand before Him as He was
created to do, the friend and lover of God
Himself.
Oswald Chambers
You can never truly enjoy Christmas until
you can look up into the Father’s face and
tell him you have received his Christmas gift.
John W. Rice
The cry of this world for meaning and hope
and life, was met one morning far away in
the cry of a tiny babe. And with that cry time
stopped and started again. And it was new.
The hinge of history is on the door of a
Bethlehem stable.
These two Anonymous
Table of Contents
___________________________________
Puzzles and ‘Toons
Church ’Toons by Joe McKeever
Answers to last issue’s puzzles:
Father Abraham and Hidden Wisdom
By Mark Oshman
Originally published in Pulpit Helps,
November 1996
On following pages
Table of Contents