Next Generation Evangelistic Network

The New Fundamentalists

2012-01-25T12:02:00.001-05:00

Joel Belz wrote an interesting column in the January 28, 2012 issue of World magazine entitled “The New Fundamentalists.” In the article he talks about how the word “fundamentalists” used to mean that a person believed the fundamentals of the faith. Therefore, it was a complement to say a person knew the “fundamentals” of Christianity. But somewhere along the way that term came to describe people who wanted to force not only their viewpoints, but their rules, on other people. For the vast majority of people in America, that is what the word means today. Consequently, when a person is called a “fundamentalist” in today’s nomenclature, it is no longer a complement.

In the article, Belz makes the point that in the past it was those on the far right who have been viewed as the “fundamentalists” for forcing their conservative views on others. But he points out that there is a new breed of fundamentalists that have arisen in our society, those who have emerged from the far left. These new fundamentalists have somehow managed to get into many key power positions in our culture and our government. These new far left fundamentalists are not just content with sharing their views with others, which would be perfectly fine in a free society. They want to take it one step further and force their views and their rules on others. Belz suggests a number of ways in which “rules” (he calls them “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots”) are being created by the far left and forced onto society as a whole. He points out that “whatever you think of Congress, it’s very inefficiency provides a brake on many silly and arbitrary statues. But when such rule-making is moved from the legislative chambers and happens in the back offices of regulatory agencies, there’s little to slow down the goofiness.”

Though I have not done all the research to fact check Belz various examples, I tend to agree with him when he says that we should be wary “of modern day fundamentalists.” Our children will have to live with whatever is left of the society we are building. If we load society down with so many rules about every aspect of life, how will the next generation be able to function in business, in education, or in the areas of religious freedom and free speech that have made America what it is? This is something that all of us in leadership should be thinking about. Are we simply replacing one brand of fundamentalism with another? And if so, why do we think it will work any better?

Religious Militants - Guest Post by Chris Beltrami

2012-01-23T12:39:00.001-05:00

mil·i·tant   n. A fighting, warring, or aggressive person or party.

Okay, I have a question.

Why do some people violently hate others for the way they believe?

Think about it!

Why do some militant Muslims want to put a hood over their face and chop off someone’s head with a sword?     That’s savage!    That’s evil!

Why does the militant Westboro Baptist Church picket and protest other peoples’ beliefs with such hateful signs and yelling? Demonstrating at a young man’s funeral because he fought in the war - That’s outrageous! That’s cruel!

Why, even, do some atheists become militant towards people who believe in God?

They can be quite mean also.

It seems as though some Darwinian Academia are repulsed with God-believers. They seem to view them as 2^nd class living beings of the human race, mocking their beliefs and ridiculing their prayers. I dunno - They just seem to be so mad!   ... Because someone believes in God!

Especially Christians! Not so much Hindu! Nor Buddhist! Especially - Nor Muslim!

Now, many people believe that there is a God and that through Christ, when they die, there will not be one millisecond of time where their soul and spirit are not still alive.   I believe that!   I believe that when I die, I will slip out of my body and be in the presence of God, who created all things.

Other people don’t believe that way.   Some say that your soul and your spirit will disappear into nothingness and your body will be burned to ashes or rot away in the grave.

Now, I don’t believe that … But, I’m not mad at them for the way they believe.

I’m not mad at anybody for the way they believe.

There is no real reason to be militant.

We should not want to fight or war against those who do not believe the same way.

Proverbs 11:12 “He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

Romans 12:18 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Let’s be filled with love and peace and grace.   Let’s desire that we might be able to offer something good to anyone who is “running on empty” and asks for help.

Usually one person at a time!

You cannot change the world.   But, you can help to change the world for someone.

James 3:17 “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Freedom in Christ

2012-01-22T15:35:00.003-05:00

A sermon outline of Galatians 5:1-14 developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett

Introduction:
•             Galatians was written by the apostle Paul to churches that he had started to reach non-Jews.
•             Some Jewish Christians told the non-Jewish believers that they had to follow all the Old Testament laws and Jewish traditions in order to be real Christians.
•             This was causing a lot of confusion because Paul had told them that all they needed was faith in Christ alone for salvation.
•             Paul made it clear that salvation is by FAITH in Christ and not through religious rituals. Rituals only have value of we FIRST have real faith.
• Once we come to real faith, we should remember the lessons learned from our past but not live in bondage to our past nor turn back to our past sinful ways.
•             As we grow in Christ, we must learn to do things God’s way and in God’s time. When we kick doors open in our own strength, the result is always less than we had hoped it would be.

Verse 1 - Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

•             Christ has liberated us from religious legalism.
•             Christ has liberated us from the eternal punishment of hell.
•             Christ has liberated us from bondage to sin.
•             Let us each take a moment and consider what Christ has liberated us personally from.
•             Christ has liberated us to FREEDOM.
•             We are FREE to love others without carrying all the baggage of the past.
•             We are FREE to love ourselves without all the guilt of the past.
•             We are FREE to love the church without carrying baggage from any negative past religious experiences.
•             We are FREE to love the world around us enough to try to make a positive difference.
•             For us to experience the reality of our freedom in Christ, we must stand firm in our faith.
•             The phrase “stand firm” literally means “a tenacious stand from which a person cannot be moved.”
•             Too many times we let a little difficulty or hardship shake our faith.
•             Though we may go through difficult times that challenge our faith, those are the very moments in which we must stand firm.
•             If our faith is weak, we must trust God to help us stand firm.
•             Romans 14:4 – The Lord is able to make us stand.
•             Philippians 4:13 – I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
•             Now that we are free, we should not submit to our old ways of thinking or acting any longer.
•             The great evangelist D. L. Moody illustrated this point by quoting an old former slave woman in the South following the Civil War.
•             Being a former slave, she was confused about her status and asked:
•             Now is I free, or not? When I go to my old master he says I ain’t free, and when I go to my own people they say I is, and I don’t know whether I’m free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but master says he didn’t cuz he had no right to. So is I free or not?
•             Just like this former slave woman, many Christians are confused on the issue of freedom.
•             Jesus Christ gave us an “Emancipation Proclamation” and He had the right to do so because He paid for that right with His own blood.
•             But our “old master” tells us we are still slaves and far too often we believe it.
•             It is time to throw off the yoke of bondage and be free!

Verses 2-3 - Take note! I, Paul, tell you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law.

•             Though circumcision was only one aspect of the Old Testament law, Paul used it as an illustration because it was graphic enough to get everyone’s attention.
•             Paul points out that if the Galatians were going to try to achieve salvation through keeping the Old Testament law, they would have to follow the entire law, not just one part.
•             The problem with seeking salvation through the law is that it is impossible to follow it all.
•             If we cannot keep the entire law, then we are guilty as a law breaker (James 2:10) and if we are guilty then we have no hope of salvation.
•             The very purpose of the law was to help us see our need for Christ (Romans 10:4) so that we would trust in Christ INSTEAD of the law.

Verse 4 - You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.

•             If we choose to reject the grace of Christ, then all we have left is the law, which we will constantly fail at fulfilling.
•             Therefore, we will constantly “fall” from grace if we are seeking to gain our salvation through the law.
•             Sadly, many people are trying to keep themselves “saved” never really knowing if they have eternal life or not.
•             That must be a very stressful way of living!
•The good news is that just as it is God’s job to call us to salvation to begin with (John 6:44), it is also God’s job to KEEP us saved.
•             Jesus said in John 10:28-29 - I give them eternal life and they shall never perish - ever! No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
•             What a glorious promise from Christ that once we have eternal salvation, we cannot lose it.
•             Some might say that if we cannot lose our salvation then we can live however we want.
•             And they are right!!!!
•             But if we are truly saved, we will want to live right before God.
•             Though there will be times when Christians fail to live right, they will have an inner push from the Holy Spirit to get back to living rightly. And we will not be happy until we respond to that inner push.
•             What about all the people who claim to be Christians but seem quite happy living sinful lives?
•             Though only God is the judge and no one can know another person’s true relationship with God, the sad reality is that many people who claim to be Christians simply are not (Matthew 7:21-23).
•             Real salvation involves making a commitment to turn from our way of living and to follow Christ’s teaching (repentance).
•             Real salvation results in a person growing in their faith and over time overcoming their sinful behaviors as they become more like Christ (sanctification).

Verse 5 - For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

•             We must live through the power of the Spirit while we wait for righteousness to be fully formed in us.
•             Righteousness = rightness
•             Righteousness is doing the right thing.
•             At the present, we do not always do right. But if we are constantly being renewed by the Spirit, we will be moving the right direction.
•             And when we occasionally mess up, it is nice not having to fear loosing our salvation. Christ has made us FREE from fear! (Romans 8:15)

Verse 6 - For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

•             Whether we have kept every single point of the law or not really means little in our lives.
•             Which is a relief since we KNOW we have NOT kept every single point of the law!
•             What matters is that we have REAL faith and that our faith is demonstrated through real LOVE for others.

Verses 7-8 - You were running well. Who prevented you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from the One who called you.

•             The Galatians had been making great progress in their spiritual growth.
•             Then all the talk about religious rituals and traditions got them sidetracked.
•             Paul points out that the urge to pursue things that sidetrack us spiritually does NOT come from God.

Verse 13 - For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

•             If we have trusted Christ as Savior, then our salvation is secure. Though some would use that security as an excuse to live worldly (fleshly) lives, Christ calls us to something better than that.
•             Christ calls us to serve each other through love.
•             Too often we want to be in charge or in control, but we are called to serve.
•             Too often we serve out of duty or obligation, but we are called to serve out of love.
•             Our freedom in Christ should move us to serve others out of a heart of love for God and all He has done for us.

Verse 14 - For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

•             If we love others as much as we love ourselves, we will find ourselves keeping the “law” pretty well.
•             Some people may argue that if we do NOT love ourselves enough, then we cannot love others much.
•             While there may be some truth to that, most of us love ourselves quite adequately.
•             Even people who portray themselves as having a low self esteem are often just “fishing” for complements.
•             A person who is fishing for complements thinks so highly of himself that he considers it okay for everyone else to stop what they are doing and tell him how good he really is.
•             If we love ourselves enough to think that others should stop what they are doing and tell us how good we really are, then perhaps we should portray that same love to others by stopping what WE are doing and telling THEM how great we think THEY are.
•             Loving others as much as we love ourselves really would solve a lot of issues in our lives.

Conclusion:

•             Real Christians are freed from the past so they can live for Christ in the present.
•             Though that freedom is sometimes abused, real Christians will not be able to continually abuse it because the Spirit will be drawing them back to the Father.
•             We cannot find freedom through the law, or any other distraction. It is only found through Christ.
•             Real freedom expresses itself through loving service to others.

The Preacher Said What!!!!!!

2012-01-21T11:23:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was traveling most of the week and due to computer problems I could not get on the Internet. That meant that I had to prepare my Sunday sermon without any commentaries from my library or any help from the Internet. Turns out it was harder than I realized!

The sermon was from Galatians 4:21-31. It focused on why it is important to wait for God’s timing and methods instead of trying to do things in our own way and in our own time. I think this is an important message for the church to hear. In that scripture Paul builds an illustration based on the relationship Abraham had with Hagar, which produced Ishmael. That particular story is not well known among many Christians, so I decided to tell the story as part of the sermon.

The problem was that since I did not have access to any of my reference books I decided to tell the story from memory. My memory failed me and I got the characters wrong and told the story as if Esau was the son of Hagar instead of Ishmael. Though I got the point across adequately, the details were not very accurate. Most of the congregation never realized I had messed the story up. But about 10% of the congregation caught the error. Some realized my mistake the moment I made it. Others knew something about the story seemed off but did not know what it was until they got home and looked it up. Needless to say, we had a great laugh about it afterwards and I sent out an email to the congregation correcting my mistake.

But all week I have not been able to get out of my mind how “easy” it was to tell a “messed up” biblical story and have 90% of the congregation go along with it. Thank God for the 10% who caught it and pointed it out to me. Though we might chuckle about having a name wrong, what if it had been a key theological point? I suspect many people still would not have caught the error.

Regretfully, most Christians sitting in church today are biblically illiterate. They do not know the Bible well enough to spot an error when a pastor or Bible teacher makes one. Though one error might not make a church fall apart, imagine weeks, or months, or years, of errors built on each other. Sadly, that is exactly where many churches are today.

I learned to study a bit harder from this experience. But I was also reminded that we need to help people in the church study the Bible on their own so they will be able to spot an error when it happens. Each of us needs to spend time in the Bible each day. We must be good students of the Word. Otherwise, what starts as a small mistake, if not corrected, can grow into a big problem.

How Christians Deal With Stress

2012-01-19T22:55:00.001-05:00

Think about all the stress producers we have in our lives:
•                Finding out a good friend or close relative lied to us
•                Flunking a big test in school or failing an evaluation at work
•                Seeing our parents or our children fight
•                Being asked a question in public that we do not know the answer to
•                Doing something we know is wrong
•                Having an argument with a sibling or a best friend
•                Not having enough money to meet our basic needs
•                Moving to a new state
•                Losing a job
•                Getting a bad haircut
•                Getting a traffic ticket
•                Being in a car accident
•                Having a bad report from our doctor

The list of things that produce stress in our lives goes on and on and on. When our stress level rises it begins to impact our relationships, our level of happiness, and our spiritual walk with God.

Though some people think that stress is always bad and should be avoided at all costs, others think that a certain level of stress in life is important because it motivates us to try harder and accomplish things we may not do otherwise. I suppose we could debate that concept for hours and not come to an agreement. But what we can agree on is that even if we wanted to avoid everything that may cause stress in our lives, we would be unable to. Stress is a reality that we must learn to deal with in life. Fortunately, those of us who are Christians have some tools at our disposal that help us deal with stress.

Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

•          Notice this verse tells us to trust in the Lord and not to rely on our own thinking.
•          When we are stressed out, our thinking is often clouded and we may say or do things that we would never do if we were not so stressed.
•          In times of stress, we should think about God more often and seek His help.

1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all your care on Him, because He cares about you.
•          One of the greatest advantages of being a Christian is that we can give our stresses to the Lord.
•          We give our stress to God through prayer, through fellowship with other Christians, through serving others, and by following the teachings of the Bible.
•          Through prayer we talk to the Lord about our struggles.
•          As we pray, sometimes we realize the problem is not as big as we thought to begin with.
•          As we pray, we begin to calm down, which keeps us from saying or doing things that might make the situation worse.
•          As we pray, God often gives us an idea of how to deal with a problem that we might not have thought of before.

Matthew 6:33-34 - But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

•          These verses tell us to seek the things of God first and determine to do right.
•          If we did this first, instead of focusing on our own issues, we would be able to keep ourselves out of a lot of situations that produce stress.
•          This verse tells us not to worry about tomorrow.
•          Though a certain level of stress might motivate us to try harder and achieve more, if we become obsessed with what “might” happen, we can become overwhelmed by stress very quickly.
•          Each day will have its own joys and its own challenges. We must take each day as it comes.
•          This is not an excuse not to plan for the future. It is simply a reminder that we can only plan for so much in our lives and then we must leave the rest in God’s hands.

Conclusion:
•          We all face stress in life.
•          When we feel stressed we should think about God.
•          As we think about God, we should talk to Him through prayer.
•          God will help us know what to do if we focus on Him instead of ourselves.

Do Not Kick Doors Open

2012-01-15T16:10:00.000-05:00

An explanation of Galatians 4:21-31 developed by Terry Dorsett.

Introduction:

• Galatians was written by the apostle Paul to churches scattered across central Turkey that he had personally started to reach non-Jews.

• Some Jewish Christians told the non-Jewish believers that they had to follow all the Old Testament laws and Jewish traditions in order to be real Christians.

• This was causing a lot of confusion because Paul had told them that all they needed was faith in Christ alone for salvation.

• The first three chapters of Galatians make it clear that both Jews and non-Jews are saved by faith in Christ and not rituals or traditions.

• This does not mean that rituals and traditions have no place in our spiritual journey. It simply means that rituals and traditions ONLY have value if we first have FAITH.

• Once we come to faith, we should remember the lessons learned from our past but not live in bondage to our past. We must not turn back to our past slavery to sin.

Verse 22 -it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman.

• The Galatians really wanted to experience all the promises of God in their lives.

• They were so focused on trying to experience everything God had for them that they were tempted to seek the things of God through human means instead of spiritual means.

• That was why they were willing to try rituals they did not fully understand or believe in, they just wanted to experience all God had for them.

• Though we can appreciate their good intentions, they were going about it the wrong way.

• To illustrate his point, Paul reminds them of an important story from the Old Testament, as well as secular history, the story of how Abraham had two children by two different women.

Verse 23 -But the one by the slave was born according to the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born as a result of a promise.

• Though God has promised that one day Abraham would be the father of a great nation, as Abraham aged, it seemed to him that the promise was not coming about in the way he had envisioned.

• Instead of waiting on God, Abraham forced the issue and used human means to have a child with Hagar, his slave. That child’s name was Ishmael.

• Though it gave him the heir that he desired, it was not the plan that God wanted Abraham to follow.

• God still had a plan and continued to work behind the scenes to bring that plan about.

• After Sarah became pregnant and had Isaac, Abraham ended up with two heirs.

• In their culture, the oldest child normally inherited everything, but in Abraham’s case, the oldest was the child of a slave, so the younger son would inherit everything.

• Abraham and Sarah’s efforts to help God out produced a lot of pain in their lives and in the lives of their children.

• If Abraham had realized the pain his actions were going to cause, he would not have done it.

• Most of us can relate to this, because we too have often tried to help God out and make bad choices in the process. Those choices often attempted to bypass the rules that God has put in place.

• God has put those rules in place to keep us from pain.

• If we would just live the way God asks us to and trust Him to do the right thing at the right time, we would have a lot less pain in our lives.

• When we fail to do that, we experience the pain that naturally results from bad choices.

• We may argue that it is our life and if we think the pain is worth the price, then we should be free to do whatever we want.

• Unfortunately, the pain that results from our bad choices spills over into the lives of those around us.

Verse 29 -But just as the child born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now.

• The pain of Abraham’s choices impacted not only his life, but the lives of many other people. Follow this train of thought for a moment:

• Hagar’s son was Ishmael.

• Sarah’s son was Isaac.

• In time both grew up, married and had children of their own.

• Their children married and the extended family kept growing.

• This continued until our modern day.

• Though some inter-marriage exists in all cultures, basically the Jews are descended from Isaac and the Arabs are descended from Ishmael. The children of Isaac and Ishmael continue to have conflict with each other.

• The conflict that started when Abraham tried to do good through human means instead of waiting for God’s perfect timing and God’s perfect way has continued through the ages and remains one of the world’s greatest conflicts.

• How much pain and conflict have we had in our own lives because we were in a hurry instead of waiting on God or because we thought we knew better than God?

• How much pain and conflict have we caused in the lives of others for the same reasons?

Verse 28 -Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

• But there is hope!

• Christians are children of the promise!!!!

• God expects us to act like it!

• Yet we often act like we are children of the flesh.

• We often try to kick doors open instead of waiting for God’s timing and God’s way.

• Though in our own efforts and in our own ways we might be able to accomplish some portion of the goals God has put on our hearts, it will never be as effective or as healthy as if we had waited on the Lord.

• We can look at history and at our own lives and find numerous stories that prove doing things our way results in pain and conflict.

• What should we do when we realize our plans and methods are not God’s plans and methods?

Verse 30 - But what does the Scripture say? Throw out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never inherit with the son of the free woman.

• Paul was not suggesting that we literally throw people away.

• Every person has value and every person is equal in the eyes of God, even those caught up in difficult situations.

• Paul was trying to convey the idea that we must “throw away” the plans we have made in the flesh so that we are not tempted to follow them.

• If we have plans to accomplish good but those plans require us to do something against God’s plan, we must completely and totally toss our plans out. The end DOES NOT justify the means!

• We must stop kicking doors open and start waiting on God.

• We must learn that God’s will can only be accomplished effectively when done in God’s time and in God’s way.

Conclusion:

• God has a plan for each of our lives.

• As we begin to discover that plan, we can be tempted to try to help God out by doing things our way instead of waiting on the Lord.

• Though “our way” may produce some temporary “progress,” in the end it will always be less than perfect and full of difficulty and heartache.

• We must stop kicking doors open and wait on the Lord’s timing and methods.

Reaching Non-Readers for Christ

2012-01-14T09:26:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week I was at a training conference in Fort Worth. The conference was for leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention who serve various Baptist associations across the nation. Part of the training was led by Jim Slack, who has done extensive research on how churches can impact the community and reach more people for Christ. He shared a recent report from the U.S. Department of Education that revealed that:

Twenty one million Americans cannot read at all. Forty five million people are marginally illiterate. One-fifth of high school graduates cannot read their diplomas.
More than three out of four people on welfare, including 85% of unwed mothers, lack the literacy skills to get a good job.
Approximately 50% of the nation's unemployed youth age 16-21 are functionally illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.

Mr. Slack theorizes that many churches are unable to reach their communities because they use methods of outreach and evangelism that require a high level of reading skills. He suggested churches think of ways to do outreach that do not require as much reading. He also suggested that if churches offered literacy classes, and perhaps job training, those churches could provide practical help for people while sharing the love of Christ at the same time.

I have been thinking about this all week. Though I grew up poor, I was blessed to be able to attend a private high school. I excelled in college and earned advanced degrees, including a doctorate in administration. Because I am so literate, it has never occurred to me how challenging life must be for those who are less literate.

Being less literate is the not the same as being less intelligent. Being less literate could be the result of incomplete education, such as a young mom who had to drop out of school to care for her child. Being less literate could be the result of a poor educational environment, as is often the case in urban areas with too few teachers serving class sizes that are too large. Some illiteracy is caused by learning disorders. In the past, educators did not always understand how to teach those with various disorders. Today, educators have learned many new techniques so that people with learning disorders can have the opportunities to achieve all they want to in life. Unfortunately, many people with learning issues have often given up because they do not realize all these new techniques exist.

I am not sure exactly what I am supposed to do about literacy. Should we start literacy classes? Should we encourage people in the congregation to volunteer in other organizations already addressing this need? Should we look for ways to adjust our outreach so non-readers can still understand the message of Christ?

Though I am not exactly sure how I should lead my church to deal with this issue. It seems to me that we must do something. This is something I will be praying about in the weeks to come.

One thing that would help me think through this issue would be to know what other churches are doing. If your church is doing anything to meet this need, please consider leaving a comment below describing that ministry.

No Turning Back

2012-01-08T17:20:00.002-05:00

A sermon outline based on Galatians 4:8-20 developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett.

Introduction

• Galatians was written by the apostle Paul to churches scattered across central Turkey that he had personally started to reach non-Jews.

• Some Jewish Christians told the non-Jewish believers that they had to follow all the Old Testament laws and Jewish traditions in order to be real Christians.

• This was causing a lot of confusion because Paul had told them that all they needed was faith in Christ alone for salvation.

• The first three chapters of Galatians make it clear that both Jews and non-Jews are saved by faith in Christ and not rituals or traditions.

• This does not mean that rituals and traditions have no place in our spiritual journey. It simply means that rituals and traditions ONLY have value if we first have FAITH.

• Once we discover real faith in Christ, then we begin to find meaning and value in the various traditions and rituals of a particular church but those rituals are not required for salvation.

Verse 8 - But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods.

• Paul reminds the Galatians that before they came to genuine faith in Christ they had been enslaved by false religious ideas from their pagan deities.

• These false religions had many bad elements in them that enslaved people.

• Paul reminds them what it felt like to be in slavery to these terrible religious practices.

• Once we find genuine faith in Christ, it is important that we not forget what our lives were like before we were Christians.

• That does not mean that we should want to live in the past, or return to our past. It simply means that we must remember how enslaved we felt to our past sins and troubles.

• Slavery to false ideology is NOT positive.

• British statesman Edmund Burke (1729-1797) said the famous line that many politicians use: "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.”

• If we forget our personal history, we may well find ourselves repeating it.

• We must always remember that there was a time in our lives when we did not understand the Lord as we do now, and it was NOT the best way to live.

Verse 9 - But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?

• Paul was asking a rhetorical question; obviously the Galatians would not want to return to the painful lives they once lives.

• Yet by embracing Jewish religious practices without real faith in Christ, they were doing exactly that.

• The Galatians were being tempted to simply replace all their empty pagan rituals with empty Jewish rituals.

• Paul wanted them to understand that one was no better than the other if Christ was left out of the equation.

• They would be enslaved to empty rituals either way.

• In our modern era, some people do exactly the same thing when they jump from church to church without experiencing genuine conversion.

• Some people are truly converted but harbor bitterness and anger toward others.

• They think that by changing churches all those bad feelings will go away.

• But we carry those things inside of us until we learn to go and let grow up in the faith.

• If we refuse to be converted, or refuse to mature in our faith, we will find that life is bankrupt.

• Being bankrupt means that the debt is so large that it can never be repaid.

• We can also be bankrupt emotionally, relationally and ideologically.

• There are some things in our past that we will never be able to fix on our own.

• We must seek God’s forgiveness and offer forgiveness to others so we can learn the lessons we need to and move on in life.

• We cannot live in the past, acting like non-Christians.

• Nor can we “ritualize” away the past acting religious without genuine faith in Christ.

• The way of Christ is the way of forgiveness.

• The way of Christ looks forward in life.

Verse 11 - I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.

• Paul is concerned that perhaps the Galatians had never really experienced genuine salvation.

• Remember, only God knows our hearts.

• Many who act religious will not make it into heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).

• It is relationship with Jesus, not religious ritual, which guarantees our eternal salvation.

Verse 12 - I beg you, brothers: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged me.

• Paul begs them to think about how their actions are impacting their spiritual condition.

• Notice Paul refers to them as “brothers,” which is the way believers in the New Testament identified others who they thought were true believers.

• Even though Paul feared they may not be genuine believers, he gives them the benefit of the doubt. Probably a good example for us to follow.

• Paul begged them to become like him.

• Paul was referring to what he said in 1 Corinthians 9:20-22- To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law— to win those under the law. To those who are outside the law, like one outside the law—to win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.

• Paul was reminding the Galatians how he had to step outside his comfort zone as a Jew in order to reach out to them and share the Gospel.

• Paul did not have to BECOME a Galatian; he simply had to spend some time in their world understanding it so he could connect with them.

• If the Galatians wanted to practice some of the Jewish rituals, or celebrate some of the Jewish festivals or special days in order to better understand the Jewish view point, it was not wrong.

• But they did not have become Jewish in order to be Christian.

• One of the problems they were facing was they were trying to BE Jewish, but they were not Jews.

• It simply was not going to work.

• Pretending to be Jewish was not going to make them spiritual, just as acting the way they used to before they were Christians was not going to make them spiritual.

• They had to be who they were in Christ.

• We all need to be willing to step outside our comfort zone from time to time in order to relate to those around us.

• But we do not have to engage in worldly practices, nor pretend to be super spiritual, in order to be effective followers of Christ.

• To be an effective follower of Christ all we have to do is love Jesus and care about others.

• Paul was trying to get the Galatians to realize that just as he had stepped outside his comfort zone to reach them, they might need to do the same thing to reach others.

• BUT, they did not need to return to the past nor become “holier than thou” in the process.

• It was about relationship, not ritual.

Verse 20 - I would like to be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.

• Paul realized he was being a bit harsh, but it was out of love for these people he had poured so much of his life into.

• If Paul had been physically present instead of “speaking” through a letter, his tone of voice and body language would have projected his real love for the people even if his message was hard to hear.

• Paul wanted the Galatians to hear his heart for them.

• As we step outside our comfort zone so we can interact with other people, we should pray that they hear our hearts even if our words are sometimes inadequate.

• A heart focused on Christ will communicate what needs to be said one way or the other.

Conclusion:

• Some religious ideology is unhealthy.

• A healthy spirituality is focused on Christ.

• That requires letting go of some things in our past without forgetting the lessons learned.

• It also requires stepping out of our comfort zone without pretending to be something we are not.

•We must learn to hear each others' hearts even when our words are not perfect.

Engaging Culture With The Gospel - Guest Post by Kevin Pounds

2012-01-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

You may not know this, but I have an affinity (possibly an addiction) for venn diagrams. For some reason these circles- along with various other shapes, lines, and arrows-help me process ideas. Below I’ve copied some thoughts I’ve been having over the past few years concerning how to best engage our culture and communities with the gospel. Naturally, it requires a venn diagram. I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Terry's note: learn more about Kevin's ministry at: http://kevinpoundsblog.com/

Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church

2012-01-05T15:06:00.000-05:00

Churches across America are losing their young people at a rapid pace. Though some larger churches in more urban areas have developed innovative means to re-engage the next generation, most of those innovative means are not viable for smaller churches and for churches that are in smaller towns or rural areas. Is the small church to simply abandon the next generation because they cannot afford to put a Starbucks in their lobby or hold a laser light show in their sanctuary? No! There are many things small churches can do to reach the next generation. In fact, there are some things the small church can do better than the large church to reach the under 35 crowd.

In Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church, Dr. Terry W. Dorsett gives four key principles that any size church can use to reach the next generation. Those concepts include: helping the church regain its position as the social center of the community, helping the church regain its position as the community religious center, helping the church use its facilities and location as outreach tools, and helping the church regain its position as the philosophical center of the community. While the first three concepts are fairly easy to implement, the fourth one is a bigger challenge.

The first half of the book covers the first three concepts. Most leaders in small churches will find comfort in learning some fairly simple and easy to use ideas for how to implement those three concepts.

The entire second half of the book helps church leaders wrestle with the concepts of postmodernism, which are competing for the philosophical soul of America's young people. With an emphasis on moving beyond the four walls of the church while viewing evangelism as more of a process than an event, Dr. Dorsett shows how small churches can reach out to a generation in pain and help nonbelievers see the logical path toward a God of truth. The final chapter reveals insider secrets to how churches can adjust their worship services to impact the next generation while maintaining a strong commitment to biblical worship.

The book gives practical ideas and real life examples of small churches that are effectively reaching the next generation. Dr. Dorsett, who is a theological conservative, takes great care in showing how to reach out to people who disagree with the church's position on various issues without compromising key biblical values.

Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church is coming to a book store near you soon and will also be available at over 25,000 online retailers in a few weeks. More details to follow.

It’s All About Jesus

2012-01-04T22:32:00.001-05:00

A discussion based lesson developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett

Introduction:

• Make a list of words that describe JESUS. Each word must begin with one of the letters of His name.

• Imagine for a moment that Jesus went to our school, would He be:
Popular or unpopular
What sport would He play?
What instrument would He play in the band?
What would be His favorite subject?
What would be His favorite music group?
What would be His favorite TV show?
Would He feel welcome in our church or youth group?

• It is hard to know the answer to these questions because the Bible tells us little about Jesus when He was growing up. But thinking about these things helps us remember that Jesus was a real person.

• Even when Jesus was alive, people did not always know who He was or what He was trying to accomplish. Jesus and His disciples talked about the issue of how people did not really understand who Jesus was.

Read Matthew 16:13-16 - When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”

Points to Ponder:

• Jesus asked His disciples who people thought He was.

• They said that some people thought Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead.

• They said that some people thought Jesus was a reincarnated from of one the famous prophets from the Old Testament.

• Sometimes people still think usual things like that about Jesus today.

• Jesus asked the disciples who THEY thought He was.

• Peter responded by saying that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

• The word “Messiah” was a Hebrew word (שִׁיחַ). It literally meant “the anointed one” or “the chosen one.”

• When Jewish people used the word “Messiah” they were referring to the person who was chosen by God to save others from their sins.

• The word “Christ” means the same thing as the word Messiah. Christ comes from the Greek instead of the Hebrew.

• Messiah and Christ can be used interchangeably.

• In English we often refer to Jesus as the Savior.

• Savior is another word that means the same thing as Messiah or Christ.

• Using the word “savior” implies that the person being described saves others from something bad.

• What does Jesus save others from?

• Jesus saves us from the future consequences of sin, which is hell.

• Jesus also saves us from living a life full of painful mistakes if we will choose to follow His teachings.

John 3:16-17 - For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

• This verse says that Jesus saves EVERYONE who believes in Him.

• Everyone includes . . . . e v e r y o n e ! ! !

• This verse says that the condition for being saved is to “believe” in Jesus.

• To believe in Jesus means more than just thinking that He exists.

• It means believing in His teachings, His cause, His purpose.

• It means committing ourselves to follow those teachings and help Him accomplish His purpose.

• This verse implies that those who do not believe in Jesus will perish.

• The word that the Bible uses for perish means that something has become completely and totally useless, good for nothing but to be thrown away.

• Sometimes we feel useless and good for nothing. When we feel that way, we “perish” on the inside.

• People who believe in Jesus find purpose and value through their faith.

• Notice that this verse says that Jesus did not come to make people perish but to keep them from perishing.

• People already feel like they have no value, no purpose, and no reason to survive and Jesus has come to change that.

• Jesus saves us from those feelings of defeat and fills us with value, purpose and a reason for living, as well as giving us eternal life in heaven.

• An important question to ask ourselves is “Have we believed in Jesus yet?”

• If we have not yet believed in Jesus, we might consider sincerely praying this Prayer of Belief and Commitment:

• Jesus, I believe that You came to earth to save me from my sins. You proved that you loved me by dying on the cross for me. You proved that you have the power to change my life by rising again from the dead. I believe that by following your teachings I can find real purpose, meaning and value in my life. Right now I turn from my way of living and commit to follow your plans for my life. Help me to live like a Christian from this moment forward. Amen.

Genuine Faith Must Precede Religious Ritual

2012-01-03T10:19:00.002-05:00

A sermon based on Galatians 3:27-4:7 developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett

Historical Background on Galatians:

• Galatians was written by the apostle Paul to churches scattered across central Turkey that he had personally started to reach non-Jews.

• Some Jewish Christians had come into the area after Paul left and told the non-Jewish believers that they had to follow all the Old Testament laws and Jewish traditions in order to be real Christians.

• This was causing a lot of confusion because Paul had told them that all they needed was faith in Christ alone for salvation.

• The first three chapters of Galatians make it clear that both Jews and non-Jews are saved by faith in Christ and not rituals or traditions.

• This does not mean that rituals and traditions have no place in our spiritual journey. It simply means that rituals and traditions ONLY have value if we first have FAITH.

• Once we discover real faith in Christ, then we begin to find meaning and value in the various traditions and rituals of a particular church.

Verse 27 - For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment.

• After having made a strong case that religious rituals only have meaning if genuine faith comes first, Paul then addresses an important Jewish tradition that became a key element of Christian theology, the ritual of baptism.

• Jews used baptism throughout their early history in a variety of ways.

• In Jewish thought, baptism symbolized purity of heart, soul, mind and body.

• Jewish people were often baptized several times throughout their lives as they achieved various spiritual milestones.

• Certain Jewish sects practiced DAILY baptism as a part of their religious celebrations.

• When John the Baptist arrived on the scene, he borrowed this ancient Jewish custom as a symbol for Christian repentance.

• Jesus Himself endorsed John’s use of this symbol by being baptized even though He did not need it.

• Jesus also commanded us to preach the Gospel and baptize those who accept it.

• Baptism was an important religious tradition in Jewish culture, but they had lost the meaning of it because they no longer had faith.

• Likewise, when we are baptized, or take part in other religious rituals, without faith, it leaves us feeling empty.

• But when we have real faith, our baptism is like a wonderful garment that fits well.

• Though we will never be worthy on this side of heaven to approach God the Father, because we are covered with Christ, we can approach God with confidence.

• We approach God not in our own strength or power, but in the Name of Christ alone.

• But if we are not IN CHRIST when we are baptized, then it does nothing for us but make us wet. This is why faith MUST precede baptism.

Verse 28 - There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

• Once we find genuine faith in Christ, then all the barriers between us fall away.

• In Christ we are not ranked by our level of Bible knowledge, or our race, or our economic situation, or our gender.

• In Christ we are ranked by the grace of God as equals and we can go as far with the Lord as we allow our faith to take us.

Verse 29 - And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

• Once we belong to Christ, then we become an heir to all the riches, power and glory of God the Father.

• Though we may not have received all that yet, it has been promised to us.

• If God has promised us so much, why have we not yet experienced the reality of those promises?

Verse 1 - Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.

• Paul uses the example of a child who is the heir to a fortune but cannot use any of that money because he is not yet of age.

• Though such a child technically owns it all, it does him little good until he reaches maturity.

• Likewise, we have often not yet experienced all the realities of God’s promises because we are still immature in our faith.

• We often act like spiritual children when we should be moving toward maturity.

• It is amazing how many people have been Christians for five years or longer but act like they just got on the Jesus track yesterday.

• Though we may yet not be as mature as we hope to be, are we more mature in the faith than we were five years ago?

• We will never be able to experience all the promises of God if we remain babes in Christ.

Verse 3 - In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elemental forces of the world.

• Before we became Christians we were in slavery to our sinful nature.

• All the religious rituals in the world are unable to free us from our slavery to sin.

• We must first place our faith in Christ.

• God is full of grace and gives us time to grow.

• But we cannot use God’s grace as an excuse to not grow.

Verses 4-5 - When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

• There comes a time when God the Father expects us to grow up.

• This was important enough for God the Father to sacrifice His only Son Jesus on the cross to redeem (buy back) us from the world.

• Our spiritual growth cost God His Son.

• Do we really appreciate His sacrifice?

• But God not only bought us back from sin, He has also adopted us as His children.

Verse 6 - And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”

• God knows we cannot do this on our own, therefore He sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts to help us grow.

• How often has the Spirit told us to do something, or NOT to do something, and we ignored Him?

• When we ignore the Spirit, we are acting childish.

Verse 7 - So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

• When we let the Spirit guide us, we begin to grow up.

• When we begin to grow up, we no longer act like the slaves to sin we once were.

• Instead we begin to act like the heir of God that we are.

• Various rituals in the church are designed to help us along the way to maturity, but if we do not start with a foundation of faith, the process bogs down.

Conclusion:

The value of religious rituals is in the faith that under-girds them.
Though we were once in slavery to sin, genuine faith in Christ frees us from that slavery.
God wants our faith to mature so that we can experience all of His promises.
Religious rituals that are under-girded by faith can help us in mature in our faith.

Finishing Well

2011-12-26T13:36:00.000-05:00

The Christmas rush is now behind us. The presents have been opened. The meal has been reduced to leftovers. The parties have come and gone. All that is left is the clean up!

Somehow, taking down the Christmas tree is not as much fun as putting it up. Washing the dishes from the big meal is not as celebratory as the meal itself. Paying the credit card bill is not as enjoyable as the shopping that led to that bill.

In the area in which I live, it is not uncommon for people to not quite get around to finishing up these after-Christmas events. I can often see Christmas trees still lit inside homes for weeks after Christmas has passed. I have seen Christmas wreaths on front doors until late April. We tend to start Christmas with a big burst of energy, but we seldom finish with the same enthusiasm.

While I suppose we might excuse ourselves for our lack of post-Christmas zeal, I think that if we are not careful, the habit of not finishing what we start can carry over into other areas of life. Whether it is a home repair project, a book we are reading, a homework assignment, or some relationship issue we are working through, we need to learn to finish what we start. Though some things we start do not turn out the way we had originally envisioned, we should remain focused and finish them to the best of our ability.

When we do not finish something with the same commitment that we started it, it becomes easier to quit the next time too. Quitting becomes a habit. If we master the art of quitting when things are harder than we thought or do not turn out the way we imagined, we will find ourselves quitting a lot. Life is filled with unexpected events and seldom do our plans work out exactly as we thought they would. Quitting every time we hit a road block in our plans will not lead to a healthy lifestyle.

People who become skilled in the art of quitting seldom accomplish anything of significant value in life. They may be very creative in thinking up things to do, but they seldom get them done. They may begin numerous projects with enthusiasm, but their lives are filled with scattered elements of half complete projects. Their minds race with ideas they never act on. They are often paralyzed emotionally and/or relationally as they bubble over with energy for one new project after another while never quite getting the last one finished. They can be exhausting to be around.

As difficult as it can be, we need to finish as well as we start. We need to do the hard work of bringing various activities in our lives to their logical conclusions. If we fail to do this, we will struggle to find wholeness in our lives. We will lack a sense of accomplishment. As we deal with all the post-Christmas “stuff,” let it become a new pattern in our lives for finishing as well as we started.

Churches Going Bankrupt

2011-12-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

When I was in college I became an intern at one of America's largest churches. When the internship ended three years later, they hired me full time for an additional two years. I enjoyed my five years serving that mega church. I was exposed to innovative ideas and saw how those ideas could be put into practice if a church had the financial and manpower resources to make them happen. I also had the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the most visionary Christian leaders in the nation at that time. Their ideas and passion continue to impact my ministry more than 20 years later.

However, as I moved through my time in that church, I had a growing uneasiness about the size and scope of how mega-churches operate. That local church could only do the things they did because of the unique mix of personalities of the senior pastor and key staff members. That mix is not easy to reproduce. They were also dependent on endless amounts of money that their popular pastor raised from a growing television audience. Televangelists are not nearly as popular today as they were twenty years ago. They were also dependent on a lot of "feeder churches" in the surrounding area that kept supplying the people that made the rapid growth possible.

There came a time when I realized that the mega-church was not for me. That does not mean that I am "anti-mega church." I continue to think that mega-churches have a vital role in doing very unique things that smaller churches are unable to do and denominations and para-church organizations are not in a position to do. However, I realized back then, and continue to believe, that there are inherent weaknesses in mega-churches that sheer size makes almost impossible to overcome. In many ways small and medium sized churches are healthier than some mega-churches.

One of the challenges that mega-churches face is overhead. A small church often has a building that is paid for. If that small church is also a historic church, it may have trust funds designated to keep the building in good repair. This significantly lowers the percentage of the budget that a small church must devote to physical overhead and allows small churches to weather economic downturns more easily. Mega-churches, on the other hand, seem stuck in ongoing cycles of building expansion, normally funded through borrowing.

An article in the December 17 issue of World magazine pointed out that many mega-churches with mega-mortgages are now in financial trouble. While part of those difficulties are simply a result of the current economic situation, perhaps a larger issue is that those mortgages paid for buildings that were simply too large and expensive to begin with. World magazine reported that "since 2008 more than 200 churches and other religious organizations have faced foreclosure." The article goes on to say that "in the decade before 2008, church foreclosures were rare, averaging less than 10 per year." These foreclosures "tend to take place with larger churches, larger sums of money, and greater attention by the media."

Many of those mega-churches have declared bankruptcy as they made their way to eventual foreclosure. Some, such as the Crystal Cathedral in Santa Ana, California, had as much as $50 million in debt. The idea of a church declaring bankruptcy and walking away from its obligations is more than a financial decision. It speaks to the wisdom and spirituality of leaders who led such churches into these huge amounts of debt. It reminds me of 1 John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Leaders of all sized churches would do well to consider this truth as we lead our churches to expand. Growth is good if it is laid on a good foundation. But growth fueled by worldly ideas will produce exactly the results that we are now witnessing.

Making Hypocrites Happy

2011-12-21T16:18:00.000-05:00

Three weeks ago I visited a nearby church service to encourage their pastor. He said many good things in his sermon, but one sentence has stood out in my mind these past three weeks. Pastor Bob Butler of Macedonia Baptist Church of Plainfield, Vermont, said “Hypocrites are never happy and they are impossible to satisfy.” Having been in the ministry for more than 20 years, I have had many opportunities to engage in efforts to make hypocrites happy. I do not recall any of them being very successful.

Hypocrites are not happy because they have an overly idealized view of the world. They want things to be perfect. But things are seldom perfect. People make mistakes. Plans fail. Politicians disappoint. Employers make bad decisions. Churches sometimes forget their mission. When things are not perfect, hypocrites respond by getting upset. And since things are seldom perfect, hypocrites are often upset. Instead of becoming upset, it would be far more productive if they rolled up their sleeves and tried to improve the situation. But that would require far more effort than just complaining about the situation.

One might think that if we just worked a little harder we might somehow create the perfect situation and then hypocrites would finally be happy. But as Pastor Bob has correctly noted, “hypocrites are impossible to satisfy.” The reason hypocrites are impossible to satisfy is because they have reserved to themselves the right to decide what perfection is. Though many situations may seem perfect (or close to it) to many people, their opinions do not matter to the hypocrite. The only opinion that matters to the hypocrite is his own. Therefore, he can declare a situation less than perfect, even when others have worked hard to achieve what appears to them to be a great situation.

We have to decide if we are going to spend all our time vainly trying to please hypocrites in fruitless efforts to create their false version of perfection. If we choose to spend all our time in that empty pursuit, we will have little time left to devote to the people and issues in our lives that really matter. As hard as it is, we must learn to ignore the endless whining of hypocrites. Will that upset hypocrites? Yes, but since they are always upset anyway, we must simply learn to live with their dissatisfaction.

How to be Filled with Joy

2011-12-18T19:42:00.001-05:00

A sermon developed by Dr. Terry Dorsett based on Luke 2:8-18.

Verse 8 - In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

· To fully understand the JOY of this story, we need to understand who shepherds were.

· Shepherds led sheep to pasture and water.

· Shepherds guarded their flocks at night from wild animals and robbers.

· Shepherds kept count of the sheep.

· Shepherds carried weak lambs in their arms.

· Because shepherds spent most of their time outside in the elements, their life was often hard.

· Shepherds seldom owned the flocks they watched over and their pay was so small that it was unlikely they would ever own their flock.

· Shepherds seldom owned the fields in which their flocks grazed, and it was unlikely they would ever own their own land.

· Shepherds often became victims of robbers or wild animals, their life expectancy was short.

· Because shepherds spent so much time away from the village watching the sheep, they seldom were able to complete their education.

· Being a shepherd was mainly the occupation of younger sons and slaves.

· There was not a lot of “upward mobility” for shepherds.

· A shepherd’s life was quiet and simple but it was also full of hardship and poverty.

· It was a life with little joy or excitement. No real prospect for recognition. Little hope of long term survival. Little anticipation that anything great would ever happen.

· Yet it was to these men that the Joy of the World was first announced!

· Adapted from “Interesting Facts About Shepherds”http://www.americanbible.org/brcpages/shepherds

· God chose to reveal to these ordinary people the extraordinary news that the Joy of the World had arrived.

· God still speaks to ordinary people.

· Very few of the rich and famous follow Jesus.

· It is easy to look for some “super Christian” to come solve all the problems in our community.

· But very few “super Christians” really exist.

· Mostly it is just ordinary people like us who follow the Lord.

· God wants to use us ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

· We can accomplish the extraordinary if the joy of the Lord overflows in our lives.

Verse 9 - Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

· Angels are special messengers from God who give us direction in life.

· Sometimes God uses actual angels to give us messages from Him.

· Sometimes God uses people in our lives to give us directions from Him.

· It is far easier to be joyful when we know God is directing us, so we should listen to Him.

· Sometimes we are scared of God’s directions.

Verse 10 - But the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

· We do not need to be afraid of what God is says to us, because God only wants our good.

· We can focus on our problems, or we can listen to the Lord’s directions.

· Joy comes when we get our eyes off of our present circumstances and on to something bigger. God is bigger than our problems!

Verse 11- Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.

· The angel proclaimed that Christ was born..

· Christ came for both the powerful and the weak.

· Christ came for both the rich and the poor.

· Christ came for both the educated and the uneducated.

· Christ came for both the employee and the employer.

· Christ came to SAVE us from the eternal consequences of our sin, which is an eternity in hell.

· Knowing our eternity is secure should fill us with joy!

· If we do not have the assurance of our salvation, that is the first thing we must make secure in order to find real joy in life.

· Christ also came to teach us how to live better so that we might be SAVED from making the same mistakes over and over again.

· We lose our joy when we keep doing things we know are wrong.

· Our lives will be full of JOY when we choose to follow the way of Christ.

Verse 12 - This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

· The angel told the shepherds they would know they had found the Messiah when they found a baby wrapped up in cloth and lying in a manger.

· We have gotten so used to hearing this part of the Christmas story that it sounds “sweet” to find a baby in these circumstances.

· But to the shepherds, this sounded crazy.

· A manger was a feeding trough that food for animals was put in. Then animals came and slobbered all over it while they ate.

· The shepherds, who fed animals for a living, knew this was crazy. No mother would put her new born baby in such a gross place.

· Therefore, they knew if they found a baby in these circumstances, it would be a sign from God.

· How often have things happened in our lives that could only be described as supernatural?

· How many such experiences do we need in order to know Christ is real?

· We need to stop asking God to prove Himself to us because He has already done it numerous times.

Verse 13 - Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God ….

· We should not be surprised that the simple announcement of the Christ’s birth was followed by such an amazing display of God’s power.

· God is always declaring His directions for our lives in both big and small ways.

· We will not find joy until we start listening to what God is saying.

Verse 14 - Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!

· The glory of the Christmas story was NOT in the shepherds, or Mary, or Joseph or even the angels who sang so wonderfully.

· The glory of the Christmas story was God!

· Whenever we get our eyes on ourselves, we lose our JOY.

· When we get our eyes on Jesus, JOY comes!

Verse 15 - When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

· After the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds immediately decided to go check out what the angel had said.

· The shepherds had a tremendous spiritual experience and realized this experience had the potential to change their lives.

· The shepherds realized they could have real JOY if they found Jesus.

· It is important to note that the shepherds recognized this JOY was something the Lord was showing them. It was not from their own will power.

· They were not just pretending to be happy.

· They realized that the God of the universe had stepped into their ordinary lives and given them a glimpse of eternity.

· They could not help but be filled with joy.

· Real JOY has no other source but Jesus.

· We will be disappointed if we think we can conjure up JOY without a deep and meaningful faith in Jesus Christ.

· So the shepherds immediately left what they were doing, risking everything to find Jesus.

· When we sense something spiritual going on in our lives, we should reorder our priorities and press in close to the Savior so that we do not miss out on the JOY God wants us to have.

· Just imagine if the shepherds had said they were too busy, or too poor, or just disinterested in finding the baby the angel told them about.

Verse 16 - They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough.

· The shepherds hurried to find what the angel had told them about.

· It is interesting how we are in a such a hurry to finish school, find a job, make money, get married, buy a car, shop with credit cards, etc, etc, but when it comes to spiritual things, we suddenly slow down and put off making the commitments we know we should make.

· Though we should not “rush” into spiritual commitments that we have not yet thought through, we need to make time to think through what God is saying to us so we can have JOY.

· If God wants us to start having a daily quiet time, or to start tithing, or to join the church or be baptized or start serving in some way, we will NOT find JOY until we HURRY to obey!!!

· As the New Year approaches, we should make a list of things God is calling us to do in our lives.

· Then we should make a list of things we can let go of so we will have time/energy/money to do what God is calling us to do in our lives.

· We will not find JOY in our lives until we are doing the things God has called us to do.

· 2012 CAN BE OUR MOST JOYFUL YEAR!

Verse 17 - After seeing them, they reported the message they were told . . .

· Once the shepherds found the JOY they were looking for, they could not help but tell others what they had experienced.

· When we finally discover the JOY that comes from a wonderful relationship with the Lord, we will have to tell others.

Verse 18 - and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said . . .

· Even though the shepherds may not have been considered “great” or “influential” under normal circumstances, the story they told was so fantastic that everyone listened.

· We may think that our lives are too simple and do not count for much, but when we share with others what God is doing in our lives, they will listen and find the same JOY we have.

Conclusion: To find JOY in our lives we must

· Realize that most often God uses ordinary people to His extraordinary work.

· Realize that we can trust God when He tells us how to follow Him more completely.

· Give up the things that are keeping us from following Christ completely.

· Share the JOY God gives us with others who also need it.

When Cravings Collide

2011-12-15T10:55:00.001-05:00

I started in ministry when I was only 18 years old. I have served as a children’s minister in a large church, a youth minister in a medium sized church, and as pastor of both small and medium sized congregations. In my 26 years in these various capacities, I have seen many families that were torn apart by internal struggles. Though they loved each other, they just could not overcome their negative feelings toward each other. Some families broke apart and no longer have any connection with each other at all. Other families remain connected, but tension lies just under the surface, ready to erupt at any moment. I have often pondered by people who love each other have so many struggles with each other.

In my devotional reading the other day I was reminded of James 4:1, “What is the source of the struggles and conflicts among you? Don't they come from the cravings that are at war within you?” This verse seeks to answer the question of why we have struggles and conflict with other people in our lives. This verse identifies the root of these conflicts as the cravings that are inside all of us.

What do we crave? We crave acceptance.We crave love. We crave control. We crave power. We crave recognition. We crave security. We crave both connection and independence, which makes us feel conflicted internally. Some of these cravings are normal and may not lead to conflict with others. But some of these cravings will cause conflict because the other people in our lives crave the same things.

While there should always be enough love to go around for all members of the family, it is impossible for everyone in the family to be in control. While every member of the family should be accepted for who they are, not everyone in the family will have equal power or independence. When we forget this important truth and our cravings collide with the cravings of others, the result is always conflict.

What is the solution? For non-Christian families, I am not sure there is a great solution. They will just have to negotiate the situation the best they can and hope it works out. But for Christian families, the solution is to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus (Matthew16:24-27). As Christians our goal should not be our own power, our own control or our own agenda. As Christians our goal should be to lift up Jesus in every area of our lives. That can be hard in the midst of a heated discussion with those we love. But it is the only path to lasting happiness and peace. Any other path will lead to constant conflict with those we love.

The next time our cravings begin to collide with the cravings of someone else, we should take a deep breath and ask ourselves what response would glorify the Lord. Then, as hard as it may be, we should choose that response. Though it might not result in the instant gratification that our society has become known for, it will produce long term healthy results. And when it comes to family, we should be looking for better long term results. After all, we will be part of our family for the rest of lives. A future without constant conflict sure sounds better than one with constant conflict.

Responding to Questions About Why God Allows Bad Things to Happen to Good People

2011-12-11T14:45:00.000-05:00

Having served as a minister for more than 20 years, I have often been asked why God allows bad things to happen to good people. I have never really had a good answer for this question. I have some partial answers, which I do share with those who ask, but those answers often seem inadequate to the immense pain of many situations.

A few months ago one of my Facebook friends took up this subject in a post. David Wesley Gould is the pastor at Nashville First Wesleyan Church. Pastor Gould says that when he is asked "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?" he responds with the question: "Who are the good people we are talking about?" Pastor Gould is not being insensitive, he is simply seeking to help us accept reality. Theologically, there are NO good people (Romans 3:10, 12, 23). Though some of us may live better than others, none of us live as well as God has asked us to live. Therefore, none of us are really “good.” I know some of us are uncomfortable with this line of thinking, but if we are honest, we would have to admit that since none of us are perfect, none of us deserve a perfect life. Therefore, any good thing that happens to us, must be seen as a gift from a good God who chooses to bless us even when we do not deserve it.

In his post, Pastor Gould asks another thought provoking question. "Why wouldn't bad things happen to people who are in a bad world?" Even if we wanted to argue that we are “good” people, none of us would argue that we live in a “good” world. The world we live in is cursed by sin (Genesis 3). Even if we wanted to argue that “some” people are “good,” we would have to admit that many people are “bad.” Many would agree that a few people are beyond bad, they are evil. Therefore, the actions of the many bad people, and a few evil people, make our world a difficult place to live. Why do we think that we should somehow be exempt from the normal suffering that comes from living in such a messed up world? When viewed from this perspective, we once again must see any good thing that happens to us a gift from a good God who chooses to bless us in spite of the curse of sin that prevails in the world around us.

Finally, Pastor Gould asks one more thought provoking question: "Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people in a bad world?" Just as we all know people who do not seem to deserve the bad things that happen to them, we can all list some pretty rotten people who have had some good things happen to them. It seems that those bad people do not deserve those good things. Before we get upset with God for letting some good things happen to bad people, let us consider our own situation. If we were honest, many of us would have to admit we were “bad people” at some point in our lives. During those periods of bad behavior, God still chose to give us good experiences. It was often those good experiences that God used to help us overcome our bad behavior. Therefore, once again we must be thankful to a good God who chose to give us good things even when we were being bad.

I am not sure I will ever be able to answer all these questions adequately. But I know that I agree with Pastor Gould’s conclusion that "God is good." Even when I do not understand everything that is happening in my life, or in the lives of those I care about, I can trust in the goodness of God.