Consider Him

This is the time of the year, every basketball player is dinged a bit. They have aches and pains, ligaments that are stretched, bones that are sore, and they probably ache everywhere pretty much all of the time (KU is probably feeling it a little more this morning). It's then that they are asked to play their best.

Ministry is often the same...except that playing hurt doesn't mean playing through physical ailments (though it can)...but more through emotional or spiritual pain. Many in ministry are experts at it...that's what makes them so amazing to me. Many of them have ministered through unbelievable personal or congregational pain and thus set an example for many. Their role model was Jesus.

Hebrews 12:3 reads, "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

It's true...much of the Christian life is lived through some sort of less-than-optimal state of being. We are to play anyway. If you are in pain today...emotional, spiritual, or physical...consider him.
Consider Him...
Consider Him...
Consider Him...And you will not grow weary or lose heart.

I Am the Blind Man

Lord, without you I am the blind man.
Sitting on the sidelines of life,
I am a beggar. Hoping someone will notice
me and toss me some spare change. Maybe enough to make
it for one more day. My hope of
anything better has long since vanished.
And I am reduced to despair.

Lord, without you I am the blind man.
I can’t see the beauty of the world.
A smile escapes my notice. A sunset
fades unseen. A friend’s need goes
unmet in my darkness. And your
bounty and beauty are wasted
on me because no light gets
into my eyes or brightens my way.

Lord, without you I am the blind man.
How did all this start? Did
my vision begin to fail when my
pride began to rule? Did my sight
dim when carelessness or
greed gained a foothold in my heart?
Have I for so long depended on
myself instead of you that darkness won the day?

Lord, without you I am the blind man.
Pass by, please, one more time
and call me to your side. I’ll tell
you, as before, that what I want—
what I need—more than anything
else is to see clearly. I want to see
your face. I want to see what is real.
I want to see you and follow, praising.

Author Unknown

Who We Are

"We are a fellowship of Christians, bound together by our mutual faith in Jesus Christ, and respect for one another. We are not limited by any denomination, not responsible to any authority but God, and not obligated to promote anyone but Christ.

We are a Bible-centered church. We are aware that we are not perfect, but we strive to please God by "fixing our eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2). We believe that God expects us to demonstrate the Christian life through love, purity of life and commitment to others.

We respect the freedom of opinion of individual Christians, recognizing that there will be honest differences in all of us. We look to the Scriptures as our only doctrinal authority, and where those Scriptures are silent, we honor the wisdom of God by refusing to bind human opinions as creed."

Batsell Barrett Baxter

Happiness

Dennis Prager, author of the shrewd and perceptive "Happiness is a Serious Problem," writes,
"There is a 'secret to happiness,'" Prager writes, "and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person."

Would They Miss Us?

It’s exciting to think about the endless possibilities of a new church building for the Central congregation. The outreach, the expanded education program, easier access for our senior saints, more parking, areas for growth. But I’m also sad about leaving the inner city area. So my question this morning, would anyone in this neighborhood miss us if we move?

See there is a growing frustration among church leaders these days. Seems as if they are believing that their churches ought to make more of a difference in the community than they do at present. So I ask the question this morning, would anyone miss us if we disappeared?

Martin Luther King Jr.

“I hope you can find some consolation from Christianity’s affirmation that death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days.”

Martin Luther King Jr.
1963

York College Tragedy

Published Friday
January 18, 2008

York College wrestler killed in crash

BY JASON KUIPER AND ANDREW J. NELSONWORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
ONAWA, IOWA - A member of the York College wrestling team was killed after a van carrying the team and its coaches rolled in the median of Interstate 29 about ten miles south of here.

The York College wrestling team, including Brock Pigorsch who is the back row, on the left. His brother Brandon is third from the left in the middle row.The school identified the victim as Brock Pigorsch, 21, of Herington, Kan. Pigorsch was a freshman physical education major. His brother was also on the wrestling team.The van was carrying 10 members and two coaches, said Sgt. Dan Schaffer of the Iowa State Patrol. The crash took place about 4:30 p.m.The team was bound for Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, where it was scheduled to compete in the Red Raider Invite Saturday morning.The others in the van were taken to a Onawa hospital for treatment. Once released they will return to the college, located in York, Neb., or their homes.It is not known whether Pigorsch was wearing a seat belt.

Worship

The following are three quotes that describe worship. This one is from Israel’s worship.

"Come, let us bow down in worship,let us kneel before the LORD our Maker." Psalm 95:6

This one is out of the idea in Churches of Christ in the 1950s that there are five and only five acts of worship.

"To be scriptural our Lord’s day worship must contain all of these five required items...To have less than these required five is to render the worship vain! To have more than these, is to corrupt the worship!" John Banister (1951)

Finally, this one is from a contemporary writer who follows the “Edification Model” that sees no special presence of God in the assembly but views worship as a way of filling the tank of discipleship to go on living in “daily worship.”

"You won't find any place in the New Testament where these ideas of special presence or encounter with God are part of the Christian assembly...There is no more special presence of God on Sunday morning at the church building than there is in your car Monday morning ... The idea of limited or special presence of God comes from temple traditions and cathedral thinking ... What happens in the assembly of the saints is totally up to you!" Mike Root (2000)

I Really Hate Snow!

My future January home...............

Celebrate and be Glad!

One of my favorite passages is the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Every time I read the story I think about my own journeys away from God. Those moments when I foolishly decide I can do life on my own out of my selfishness and stubbornness.

Then what happens? I fall flat on my face and can’t get up. I see the error of my way and realize there is only One that can’t pick me up, clean me up, and bring me back to life.

That last verse is one that we all need to remember. Because when a brother or sister has realized where they have been and need that forgiving grace, we need to celebrate and thank God for the change of heart.

“Celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Thought for the Day

"The grand point is not to wear the garb, nor use the brogue of religion, but to possess the life of God within, and feel and think as Jesus would have done because of that inner life. Small is the value of external religion unless it is the outcome of a life within."
--Charles Spurgeon.

Nothing in My Hand

Nothing in My Hand
A Prayer last Sunday at the Highland Oaks COC in Dallas

I wanted to bring you the best of last year, Lord.
Something beautiful.
Or holy or special.
Something that would make you smile
on me—make you proud of me.
I looked and searched for just the
right gift, but as you see
I’ve come to you again with
nothing in my hand.

I thought of collecting my tears for you, Lord,
tears for my sins.
I found plenty of sins
and a pool of tears I’d shed.
But I was caught short in my collecting
by the streams of mercy that
washed over me—taking my
tears with it, leaving me clean and with
nothing in my hand.

Maybe my energy or my zeal or
my hours of work in the
kingdom could be bundled and
wrapped into a suitable gift for
you, Lord. But my gathering
and wrapping only produced a
shabby offering—not fit for a
king and surely not valuable enough
to exchange for your forgiveness.

Everything I tried to make into a gift
for you, Lord, from the inventory of
my life, turned out to be light
as air—my goodness, my
good works, my understanding,
my care, my intentions—
all collapsed into nothing. And in
truth I found myself naked,
helpless and very much in need.

Walk with me through this
year, Lord. Show me what
is real and valuable.
Open my eyes to my need
and to your bounty
so that at year’s end
I may have the privilege
of coming to you—rescued, and with nothing in my hand.

Dealing With Difficult People

Dealing with difficult people is something each one of us will have to do so long as we live on planet earth. The world is, of course, filled with individuals who are each unique in their combination of age, health, personality, experience, upbringing, faith, and reasoning abilities.

In this sense, it will be somewhat of a challenge for anyone to relate to another. But we were called by Jesus who commanded us: "Love one another" (John 13:34, NIV). If everyone strived to love one another as our LORD commanded, there would likely be no need for a course on difficult people. The reality is that not only are people individuals but many strive to create strife and turmoil for others.

Difficult People

"I try to get along with Jim, but we always seem to be on different pages. I try to work with him, but a conflict always arises. Then I feel guilty. I don't like the tension, but I don't seem to understand how he thinks and acts or how to get along with him."

Sound familiar? We all have people in our lives that are difficult to understand, work with, or be around. We say things like, "I'm tired of his pushiness," "She's so picky,” "I can't seem to get him involved."

As long as we live, we will experience conflicts. Some persons are more difficult to get along with than others. They seem irregular to us.

Getting along with people takes effort. It means loving them when we don't feel like it and when they are not lovable.

When I look at material for our young professional class I usually look for relevant biblical topics that can be used in the stress filled daily walk that we must live each and every day. The current series that we are studying is one that I chose because it was one that I needed for the New Year. How to Deal with Difficult People is challenging. So many personalities, so many different types of people. Jesus knew just the right way to deal with so many challenging people. The critical Pharisees to his bubbling disciples.

How did he do it?

A Christian Nation?

Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of Scripture for the people of this nation. Patrick Henry, a leader of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, "Give me liberty or give me death"; but in current textbooks, the context of these words is omitted.

Here is what he actually said: "An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."

These sentence s have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry a Christian? The following year, 1776, he wrote this: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."

Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the front of his well-worn Bible: "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our creator." He was also the n chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role. On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this! : "It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, "The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."

In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: " The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools." William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools, with over 125 million copies sold, until it was stopped in 1963.

President Lincoln called him the "Schoolmaster of the Nation." Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: "The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our nation, on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free Institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. For all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology."

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the Scriptures: "Let every student plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies, is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."

James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: "We have staked the whole future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."

Most of what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks. Revisionists have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country's Christian roots.

Something to think about as we elect our next president!

OU Plays for National Championship Tonight

GO SOONERS....................

Daily Bible Reading in 2008

One blog I read offered the following eight suggestions for daily Bible reading in 2008. Writing and underlining is the key. Having some margin space in whatever Bible I'm reading...and a good pen. This can be a wonderful alternative to journaling or supplement to journaling, if you really take your time with the text.

Here are the eight suggestions:

1. Prepare the night before
2. Pray
3. Same time, same place every day
4. Keep track of what you read
5. Write in your Bible
6. Read consecutively (regular succession)
7. Use a journal
8. Respond to what you’ve read

To Die Young

This morning I drive south to one of the Carriger family cemeteries in Oklahoma to bury a cousin who I didn't know very well but have been asked to officiate the graveside service.

Tough to articulate what needs to be said about someones life when you don't really know the person as well as you needed too.

Trying to comfort a mother who lost their son is always a difficult task.

A New Year's Prayer

Holy God of Heaven and Earth,
I know that a thousand years are as a day to you, but we humans are bound up in time. As a new year is beginning, please teach me to ...
care more about people and less about money,
enjoy my work but not let it enslave me,
and laugh more easily than I did last year.
As I get ready for 2008, help me to remember things that are easy to forget ...
that it might well be my last year,
that some people are counting on me,
and that you have things for me to do.
Lord, with the things I have accumulated over the years, please let me ...
shake off the monotony of life,
try some new things in this new year,
and mend some broken fences.
And, Father of Mercies, please teach me in this new and unspoiled year to ...
lighten up and enjoy children, sunsets, reading, and long walks,
avoid quarrels and work at being a peacemaker in this world,
and start next year with fewer regrets than I bring to 2008.
May we live it for your glory!I cannot know what this year will bring, and I am grateful for that! But help me ...
eat less junk food,
exercise and take better care of my body,
and learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
Above all other things, Father, I want to be your instrument for ...
easing somebody's too-heavy load,
relieving some sad person's misery,
and introducing some lost soul to Jesus.
Come what may in the year about to begin, may we live it for your glory, within your will, and to your delight.
We pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

by Rubel Shelly
http://www.heartlight.org

Simple Times in 2008

One of my favorite Christmas movies is one that that came out in the late 70’s that was the pilot for the Walton’s television show called The Homecoming.

I taped the movie several years ago and watch it each holiday season. The story is about a family growing up in West Virginia during the depression that is very poor waiting on their Father who works out of town to return for Christmas. The weather is turning bad and the family is very concerned if he will arrive.

I love the show and the simple way of life for the Walton’s family. They didn’t have all the stuff and luxuries that we enjoy today but they enjoyed true happiness and contentment. Their faith in God was very evident in their daily life.

Simple times. Family times. Faith in God. That sounds like a life that each of us needs as we look forward to 2008.

Happy New Year!