Praising God When Treated Unjustly

The other day I was studying Acts 16:16-34. It tells the story of Paul on his second missionary journey. Paul had planned to revisit all the places where he had started churches on his first journey. But God sent him a supernatural vision that told him to go to Macedonia instead. Paul obeyed the vision, changed his plans, and ended up in Philippi, which was a key city in Macedonia. There he met a business woman named Lydia, who became a Christian because of Paul’s ministry. Paul stayed in Lydia’s home and shared Christ with anyone in town who would listen. As I studied these verses, this is what the Lord showed me.

Verse 16 - Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit of prediction and made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

Paul and Silas were on their way to pray when they encountered a demon possessed slave girl. This slave girl could tell the future through the demon that possessed her. The owners of this slave girl made a lot of money from her fortune telling. When people play with the occult, they open themselves up to demonic attack. Though the occult may at first seem to give a person special power, in reality it makes a person a slave to demonic power. Demons do not care about the people they possess. They only care about power and control.

Verse 17 - As she followed us she cried out, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”

This demon knew Paul was a man of God. It is fascinating that demons know the truth! Even though demons know the truth intellectually, they have refused to accept the impact of the truth. We must remember what the Apostle James said in James 2:19 - You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder.

Verse 18 - And she did this for many days. But Paul was greatly aggravated, and turning to the spirit, said, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out right away.

The demon possessed slave girl followed Paul and his group around for days telling everyone who Paul was. The Bible says that Paul became aggravated about this and cast the demon out of the girl. The Greek word for “aggravated” is diaponetheis. The word can also mean “burdened.” Paul was not as much aggravated at the girl herself as he was burdened about her situation. She was after all demon possessed! When we minister to people whose lives are messed up by sin, we must be careful not to get aggravated at the person. Instead, we should be burdened for how the sins that bind them are slowly destroying their lives. We should be praying for God to deliver them from the chains that bind them. Paul decided to do something to help this young lady. Using the power of Christ, he commanded that the demon leave the girl. Notice he did not use his own power, but the power of Christ. The demon had to obey because Jesus Christ is on the throne and Satan is just a pretender. Satan only has power if we let him have it. Jesus’s power triumphed over Satan on the Cross! But we often let Satan convince us otherwise.

Verse 19 - When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. 

The slave owners did not care if the girl was freed from the spiritual chains that bound her. All they cared about was money. When they realized they would not be able to exploit the girl any longer, they got very upset. What we get upset about reveals a lot!

Verses 20-21 - They said, "These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews, and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

The slave owners distorted the truth. They said Paul was disturbing the city when all he had done was help a desperate little girl. People should have been rejoicing at this good deed, instead they called good, evil, and attacked the good doers. Notice they used a racial slur, “They are Jews.” Racism has been used to justify many sins throughout the ages. Notice they appealed to their customs and their laws. Their customs and laws allowed little girls to be enslaved for the profit of others. Whenever our customs and laws create situations where one person can be wrongfully exploited by another, it is time to chance those customs and laws!

Verse 23 - After they had inflicted many blows on them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them securely guarded.

Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten up and thrown in jail. The jailer was specifically told to guard them “securely,” which meant to put them in the maximum security section of jail. The world’s reaction to the things of God sometime seems severe. But remember, Satan was fueling this response because he had lost a major battle in the spiritual war. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness and the spiritual forces of evil.

Verse 25 - About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Paul and Silas had been unjustly beaten by a mob and then chained to the floor in the maximum security section of the jail. Their response to their situation was to start praying and singing praise to God! How do we respond when we are treated unjustly?
Notice that the other prisoners were listening! Other people notice how Christians respond to unjust difficulties. We must resist the urge to be complainers and instead learn to use the power of prayer and praise in challenging situations.

Verse 26 - Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains came loose.

Though we might be tempted to think that the earthquake was caused by the terrible singing of Paul and Silas, it was actually caused by the POWER of their prayers and praise! Never underestimate the power of prayer and praise! When God’s people start praying and praising, the foundations of Satan’s deepest cells are shaken. When God’s people start praying and praising, closed doors of every kind are opened! When God’s people start praying and praising, the chains of every sin that binds us come loose! We need to be praying and praising God more, especially when we are treated unjustly.

Verse 27 - When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

In those days, if a prisoner escaped, the jailer would be executed publicly. When the jailer saw the doors of the prison opened, he assumed all the prisoners had escaped and he decided to kill himself and get it over with. 

Verse 28 - But Paul called out in a loud voice, "Don't harm yourself, because all of us are here!”

Paul saw that the jailer was about to kill himself and called out to stop him. Paul had been beaten by a mob, arrested unjustly, chained to the floor of cold stone cell and yet he still cared about the jailer, whom most would have considered his enemy. How we treat our enemies says a lot about the kind of people we are.

Verse 30 - Then he escorted them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Notice the change in the jailer’s behavior. He had chained them to the floor but now he was “escorting” them out of the jail. When God gets a hold of our lives, we often begin to change our behaviors without anyone having to tell us to do it. But an outward change of behavior is not enough.  We must not just have a temporary change of outward behavior. We must experience an inward change of spiritual condition. We must be born again. The jailer asked the most important question that anyone can ask, “What must I do to be saved?” We are all sinners and because of our sin we all deserve to spend eternity in hell apart from God, family, friends and all that we hold dear.
Many people ask why a loving God sends people to hell. The answer is that God does NOT send people to hell. People send themselves to hell as a result of their own wrong choices. No one forces us to sin; we do that quite well all on our own.

Verse 31 - So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

Paul answers the jailer’s question by telling him to believe on the Lord Jesus. If we want to be saved from a dark eternity separated from God and all that we hold dear, then we must believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus means believing that Jesus is who He said He was and trusting Him to guide us in our lives. Notice that Paul calls Jesus, “LORD Jesus.” A “lord” is a ruler that tells others what to do. But Jesus is not a cruel ruler who tells others to sacrifice while He sits in a castle living well. Jesus is the kind of ruler that gave Himself for those who follow Him. Jesus is the kind of ruler we WANT to follow. Believing in Jesus is more than just an intellectual acceptance of the historical Jesus. Believing in Jesus is allowing Jesus to become the Lord, or ruler, of our lives. If we want to be saved from a dark eternity in hell, we must believe Jesus is who He said He was AND we must allow Jesus to become the ruler of our lives. If we have not yet been saved, we should consider turning from our sin and placing our faith in Christ. We might express that through a prayer something like this:

Dear Lord, I know I am a sinner and I deserve to be separated for all of eternity from You and from all that I hold dear. But right now I turn from my sin and place all of my hope in You. I want You to be the Lord of my life and help me know how to live. With Your help, I will do my best to follow You and serve You for the rest of my life. Thank you Lord, Amen.

Verse 33 - He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

As soon as the jailer made this personal commitment to Christ, his life was changed. The jailer took Paul and Silas home and washed their wounds. What kind of jailer does this for his prisoners? The jailer and his entire family were baptized as an outward of expression of their new faith. Baptism is IMPORTANT! Far too many people have treated baptism as if it was just a sweet ritual that we should go through to make our grandmother happy. Baptism is a public declaration of our inner faith and a shout of praise goes up from the angels of heaven every time a person is baptized in the name of Jesus. If we have not yet been baptized, it’s time.

Conclusion:

1. We are in a spiritual war against the forces of evil and should not be surprised when demonic forces oppose us and distort the truth.
2. There is power in prayer and praise that will overcome evil and give us strength to endure difficulties in life.
3. Outward behavioral change will only last if it comes from an inner spiritual transformation that begins with believing and following Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
4. Once we have had that inner transformation, we should be publicly baptized to proclaim that faith to the world.

Dealing With Empty Nest

Earlier this summer my daughter got married. She took most of her belongings with her and the little that remained has already found a new home. Her room is empty except for one dresser.

My middle son leased his first house (with three roommates) in August and cleaned out his room as well. His room is empty except for one desk.

Yesterday I dropped my youngest son off at a college more than 400 miles away. I returned home a few minutes ago. I could not resist the urge to walk into his room and "remember" him. That was probably not a good idea. His room is almost bare, except for a few items he stacked in a corner and his bed. To be honest, I find it depressing.

I know I should not complain. I have three healthy children. Some parents have to take of children with long term disabilities and will never experience empty nest. I respect those parents a great deal, and would not want to trade places with them. But it still hurts to have my kids so far away. Some parents have lost a child to death. We almost lost our youngest son when he was four years old due to a severe car accident. I remember the wrenching pain in my chest when the doctor told me to tell him goodbye because I was not likely to see him again. I was in one hospital. He was being rushed to another. I remember the joy I felt when my wife called to say he was going to make it. I am filled with gratitude that all three of my children are alive. But it still hurts to have them live so far away.

All three of my children are walking with the Jesus. At least two of them want to follow the Lord in some type of full time ministry, and I think one day the third one will too. Many parents have watched their children wander from the Lord in their teens years, some never to return to their faith. I pray for my children to remember the love of the Lord they felt in our home. I pray for them to remain faithful to His calling on their lives. I really am grateful that they know and serve Jesus. But it still hurts to have them live so far away.

Many of my friends who have already experienced the empty nest tell me that after a week or two it gets better. I am looking forward to spending more time with my wife, she has always been my best friend. But, right now, it really hurts to have my kids live so far away.

As I sit on my porch listening to the wind in the trees, I wonder how God the Father felt as He sent His Son Jesus down to earth on a great mission to save the world. I know theologically that God is omnipresent, and I cannot pretend to know the depth of God's heart, but somehow, I think He said, "Wow, it hurts to have Jesus live so far away."

For more devotionals like this one, consider Touching the Footprints of Jesus. 

Interesting Stuff About Jonathan Edwards Family Tree

I live about 30 minutes from the place where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. God used that sermon as a major factor in bringing Great Awakening to America. Sadly, the church where Edwards preached is no longer there, only a rock memorializes his famous sermon. But Edwards' legacy lives on, not only in the gospel that has continued to be preached across New England, but through his family tree.

I found the material below on a website earlier today and it spoke to me so strongly that I wanted to re-post it for my readers. In a day when it seems that being an atheist has become "cool" and being a "Christian" is somehow bad, consider the family tree of Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest Christians of all times, and Max Jukes, an atheist, who was one of Edwards peers.

Max Jukes, the atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly girl, and from the union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the State one and a quarter million dollars.

"But, praise the Lord, it works both ways! There is a record of a great American man of God, Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time as Max Jukes, but he married a godly girl. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice-president of the United States, 80 became public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. His descendants did not cost the state a single penny. 'The memory of the just is blessed' (Prov. 10:7)."

Originally posted at:
http://www.ravenhill.org/edwards.htm


Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a church planter in New England. He also writes books and leads seminars on how to help churches be more effective in their ministries. Check out his resources at:
http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY/

The Macedonian Call

In Acts 16:6-10 we read the story of Paul having a vision of a man from Macedonia begging him to come and share the Gospel with his people. This powerful story has much to teach us about responding to the various calls that God puts on our lives.

Verse 6 - They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia.
•               In this verse the word they is very important. It reminds us that Paul never ministered alone. He always had a team who helped him lead and serve. In this situation, history tells us that the team was made up of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.
•               Paul was the leader of the team. Every team needs a leader, otherwise it just becomes a bunch a people sitting around talking about great ideas but seldom actually do anything.
•               Silas was Paul’s assistant and often filled in the gaps that Paul could not. Every leader needs a right hand man to help get the job done.
•               Timothy was Paul’s protégé’, whom he was teaching how to be a leader. If we are not investing in the next generation of leaders, then our team is already in trouble.
•               Luke was a medical doctor, a historical author, and a well-educated intellectual. Every team needs the “smart” person who reads all the books, goes to all the conferences and helps the team think at a deeper level.
•               Each of these people brought something important to the team. When everyone does their part, it is amazing what a team can do! Likewise, when one team member does not do his/her part; it makes the entire team less effective.
•               In this situation, the team traveled through Phrygia and Galatia, which in our modern time, is central Turkey. They preached the Gospel in the central part of Turkey, but when they tried to move toward the coast, the Lord said no. Do not get confused, in this verse Asia refers to the Roman province of Asia, not the continent. The Holy Spirit told them not to go to Asia to preach the Gospel. However, many years later the Holy Spirit did let them go there and many came to Christ. But they had to wait until the time was right, and when this verse was written, the time was not yet right.
•               We must remember that the Spirit knows the right timing for everything. We would be more successful in our lives if we learned to listen to the Spirit more. His timing is always right.

Verse 7 - When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

•               Since the Spirit did not let them go to Asia, they went to Mysia instead. Apparently they spent some time there but when they tried to go to the next area, which was Bithynia, the Spirit once again said no. Imagine how frustrating it must have been to the team for the Holy Spirit to keep saying no. The two areas were right next to each other. They must have wondered why was it okay to go to one place but not another?
•               We must never forget that God works in mysterious ways. He knows when it is time and when it is not. We may understand it, we may not, but we do need to learn to listen to what God says.

Verse 8 - So, bypassing Mysia, they came down to Troas.

•               They finally came to Troas, which is a port city on Aegean Sea. It is across from Greece, where they had no intention of going. At this point they probably felt like they were going in circles, and to be honest, they sort of were. But God had an amazing plan He was about to reveal to them.
•               Sometimes in life we feel like we are just going in circles. In those moments we must trust the Spirit because He does have a plan and when He reveals it, we are going to be amazed.

Verse 9 - During the night a vision appeared to Paul: A Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

•               While sleeping, God sent Paul a vision. A vision is a supernatural revelation from God. Though we must be careful not to think that every dream is a special message from God, we also must be careful not to put God in a box and assume He is too weak to speak to us in a special way when we need to hear it.
•               An important thing to remember is that God will never contradict Himself. Therefore, if we think we get a special word from God and it goes against what the Bible says, then we know it was not from God.
•               In this situation, the dream was a man from Macedonia begging Paul to come share the Gospel with his people. Macedonia is in northern Greece, a place that Paul had not intended to go. But the Spirit had Paul walk in circles until he got to a place where he could gaze at Greece across the sea.
•               Though we sometimes feel like God has us going in circles, God actually has a plan. At some point, we get to the place where we look up and see the plan that God had all along. Maybe God uses some special revelation to speak to us, or maybe we just finally start paying attention, but we finally realize what God wants us to do all along.
•               Notice that the man was pleading for Paul to come help him. In this case, help referred to Paul sharing the Gospel with his people. The Bible clearly tells us that we should help the poor and needy, that we should visit the sick, and in prison, and that we should assist orphans and widows. Far too many churches have neglected these clear commands from God. But in the process of helping people with real needs, we must never forget to share the Gospel with them. Otherwise, we have failed to give them the most important help of all, the salvation of their souls from the fires of an eternal hell.
•               Notice that the man is pleading. Every person has a God-sized hole in his/her heart that he/she cries out for something to fill. Too many people have tried to fill that hole with all the wrong things. They are crying out for Jesus and do not even know it. We have the answer they need, how dare we keep it to ourselves.

Verse 10 - After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.

•               Once Paul had the vision, he immediately made efforts to obey. When the Spirit chooses to move a person, instant obedience is important. Otherwise, the Spirit is quenched and the moment might pass.
•               Paul realized that it was not a man from Macedonia that was calling him, but it was God Himself simply using the man to extend the call of God. God has a call to each of us to do something to share the Gospel with others.
•               At the very least we can pray. At the very least we can give money to help the church or missionaries reach out. It is not very hard for each one of us to go next door or across the street to tell a friend about Jesus. Some of us may even be called to go around the world and share the Gospel through mission involvement.
•               Or, we can choose to ignore God’s call and stay focused on ourselves. If we choose that last option, we will miss out of being part of what God is doing.

Conclusion:

What will we do with the call of God on our lives? Will we listen and respond to His calling? Or will we ignore the call of God and miss out on the amazing adventure He had for us?

Biblical Illustrations About Honesty

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of honesty. You can read that post HERE. To follow up on that theme, I thought I would share two stories from the scriptures that illustrate how important honesty is.

In Acts 5:1-11 we meet a man named Ananias, and his wife Sapphira. To understand this scripture, it is important to note that in Acts 4 many people in the church sold property they had and used the money to help the poor people in the church. The people who did this were heroes in the church and a lot of people liked them because of their generosity. Ananias and Sapphira wanted the prestige of giving all their money away, but they did not actually give it all away. So they sold a piece of property and only brought part of the money to the church to give away to poor people, but lied and said it was all the money. The leaders of the church somehow knew it was not all the money. We do not know how they found it, but somehow they did. The truth will always come out in the end. When the leaders of the church asked the couple about it, they kept lying and said it was all the money, even though it was not. The leaders of the church pointed out that the property belonging to Ananias and Sapphira and they did not have to sell it to begin with. Even after they sold it, the money belonged to them and they could do whatever they wanted to with it. They did not have to give it all away. They did not have to give any of it away.

The honesty problem was not that they kept part of the money. The problem was that they lied about it, and pretended to give it all when they did not. Those familiar with the story will remember that the result of being caught in the lie was the both Ananias and Sapphira died. It is important to note that the Bible does not say that God killed them. The Bible says that the whole church was filled with fear and then Ananias and his wife died. Apparently, when they realized they were caught in a lie, fear of what would happen so overwhelmed them that they died, probably of heart attacks. The point of this story is that lies have consequences. Those consequences are often much worse than we thought they would be.

The second story is found in Genesis 12:10-13. In that story we meet Abram and his wife Sarai. Abram had to leave his home and travel to a foreign country because a famine ruined all the food in his own area. Abram’s wife Sarai was a very pretty and he was afraid the foreign people would kill him so they could have her. No one had actually threatened to do this; it was just something Abram was worried about. Abram justified lying because he was worried about something that might not even happen. Abram asked his wife to lie and say he was his sister. Sarai did that, but of course then all the Egyptians thought she was available since they did not realize she was married. Pharaoh (the Egyptian King) saw how beautiful she was and brought her to his palace to become his wife. It is unclear if he actually married her, or just brought her to his house. If he did in deed marry her and consummated the marriage, imagine how she must have felt, all because Abram was worried about something that might not even happen. God made the Egyptians get sick as a way to let them know they had done something wrong, even though they did not realize they had done something wrong. God has a way of getting our attention when needed. When Pharaoh found out that Sarai was really Abram’s wife instead of his sister, he was angry at Abram. He made Abram take all his stuff and leave the country. Remember, there was a famine going on everywhere else, so leaving the country was a big deal. If Abram had told the truth, he probably would have been able to stay in the nation until the famine was over. But once he lied, he made powerful people angry at him and the consequences were severe.

From these two stories we learn that lying, to either God or people, can have serious consequences. One of those consequences is living in fear of what will happen if we ever get caught. Another consequence is making important people angry at us. Another consequence is that we may get a worse punishment than if we had just told the truth. Lying is never worth it.

Is Honesty Important?

I have been talking a lot lately to young adults about trust and honesty. See one my lessons about this HERE. They seem to be subjects which many people, especially young adults, struggle with. In the discussion we had before my most recent lesson, I asked the group “What is a white lie?” Though the answers varied, almost all of them seemed to define a white lie as something less than a real lie. Most thought white lies were sometimes the “best” way to respond to a situation. Clearly the group did not see white lies as an honesty problem.

We then discussed a list of situations that the group was supposed to rank from most honest to least honest. It was actually a trick question because NOTHING on the list was honest. Though some of the things on the list were definitely more clearly dishonest than others, nothing on the list should really have been acceptable to a person who held honestly in high regard. To my dismay, not a single young adult in the room picked up on my “trick” question. Instead they promptly listed the items in the order they thought they should go and felt pretty happy with the results. When I pointed out that NOTHING on the list was honest, they did not seem to follow my train of thought. Wow, what have we taught our kids?

Impossible Scenarios

Yesterday I wrote about Unrealistic Expectations. I want to follow up on that theme with a discussion about impossible scenarios. Leadership teams in churches, and other faith based organizations, often become paralyzed when one or more members of the team create an impossible scenario that cannot be solved. The group spends so much time trying to solve the scenario that they cannot get anything else accomplished.

Impossible scenarios are created in two ways, either by playing the “what if” game or by playing the “that won’t work” game. Both games are similar, and neither is helpful.

In the “what if” game, someone in the group becomes obsessed with trying to figure out every possible result of any particular action. They then want the group to come up with a solution to those various outcomes before they can proceed. Often hiding behind comments like, “I’m just trying to be thorough” or “We must protect the church from these types of things,” the person who wants to play the "what if" game is actually displaying a lack of faith.

Do not misunderstand, church leadership teams do need to think through the consequences of their actions and be prepared to deal with them. But it is simply impossible to figure out every possible result of every possible action. When a team becomes overly focused on that kind of decision making, they seldom make decisions at all. They meet a lot. They talk a lot. They worry a lot. But they do not get a lot done.

Leadership teams that are trapped in the “what if” game typically have high turnover rates, as those who actually want to make a difference grow frustrated with the lack of progress. In church life, we must never forget the important role faith plays. Matthew 6:33-34 reminds us to “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.” If we have sought the Kingdom first, then we should trust that the Lord is guiding our decisions and will work them out for good. If some unforeseen results occurs, we must have the faith the Lord will help us figure out how to deal with it when it arises. There is no need to borrow trouble from the future as a way to avoid making decisions today.

Team members who play the “what if” game need to be encouraged to pray and ask God for wisdom. They need to be encouraged to exercise more faith. Though they can be frustrating to deal with sometimes, they are actually valuable members of the leadership team because they do force us to think about things before making a decision. So long as we do not let them get carried away, they can be a big help to a team.

The other way that impossible scenarios are created is when one or more members of the team respond to any idea with some version of “that won’t work.” It may be that they tried it ten years ago and it did not work, so they do not they it will work now. It may be that they heard about some other church that tried it and it did not work for them, so it will not work for us. It may be that we have just never done it that way before and do not plan to start now. The reasons for why this person thinks it will not work are endless, but they are adamant that whatever the idea is, it will not work.

Like the “what if” game, this may simply be a lack of faith, and if so, then the same principle applies. They need to be encouraged to pray more and to have more faith, but remain a valuable part of the team. But sometimes people like this are struggling more with control issues than they are a lack of faith. The person who is always saying “that won’t work” often has a specific way that they think will work. If they presented their way and it was rejected by the group, the person may be determined to shoot down everyone else’s idea out of a sense of revenge. Or, if they have a more passive-aggressive personality, they may never present their plan openly. Instead, they keep picking apart everyone else’s ideas until the only thing left is whatever they wanted to do in the first place. If the group does not agree with their plan when it finally emerges, they will keep the group paralyzed indefinitely because in their mind they have already eliminated all other ideas but their own.

Naysayers like this are seldom helpful on a leadership team and if they are allowed to remain in leadership, the church will never be very effective. Since people like this are often strong willed and quite vocal, it can be hard to stand up to them. But at some point, people who are determined to attack all ideas but their own must be removed from leadership until they can overcome this tendency and become more mature. It will not be an easy task, but it must be done.

Churches that are trapped in an endless loop of impossible scenarios must find a way out, or they will continue to talk a lot while getting very little done. Meanwhile, a world around them races head long into eternity with ever knowing the love of Christ.