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Disciple Magazine, Vol. 2, # 18, 9/27/2010—Printer-Friendly Version

Table of Contents:Tactics for Pastoral Success: Make a Mistake - - - 1Be Still and Know that I Am God - - - - - - - 2Two Swords - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 Exegetically Speaking- - - - - - - - - - - - 3Living out the Living Word- - - - - - - - - - 6Points to Ponder - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7The Story behind the Song- - - - - - - - - - 8

Church Builders - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9Counselor’s Corner- - - - - - - - - - - - 10Book Reviews - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10News Update- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -11Sermon Helps - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13Puzzles and ‘Toons- - - - - - - - - - - - -14

__________________________________________________________________________________________Tactics for Pastoral Success: Make a MistakeBy Joe McKeever

In his book, Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them, John Ortberg makes a confession. You get the impression that it was not easy in coming. Here it is in his own words:

“The church where I work videotapes most of the services, so I have hundreds of messages on tape. Only one of them gets shown repeatedly.

“This video is a clip from the beginning of one of our services. A high school worship dance team had just brought the house down to get things started, and I was supposed to transition us into some high-energy worship by reading Psalm 150.

“This was a last-second decision, so I had to read it cold, but with great passion: “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!” The psalm consists of one command after another to praise, working its way through each instrument of the orchestra.

“My voice is building in a steady crescendo; by the end of the psalm I practically shout the final line, only mispronouncing one word slightly: ‘Let everything that has breasts, praise the Lord.’”

Ortberg tells what happened next: “A moment of silence. The same thought passes through four thousand brains: ‘Did he just say what I think he did? In church? Is this some exciting new translation I can get at the bookstore?’

Then, everybody in the place just lost it. They laughed so hard for so long, I couldn’t say a thing. I finally just walked off the stage, and we went on with the next part of the service. I have been teaching at that church for eight years. Of all the passages I have exegeted and all the messages I have preached, that is the one moment that gets replayed before conferences and workshops. Over and over.”

That moment forever endeared Ortberg to the congregation of Willow Creek Church. Nothing he could have planned to do could’ve had quite that powerful of an impact.

I sometimes say to friends, “If you ever find yourself sitting among two or more preachers and want to get something started, ask them about their most

embarrassing moments. Every preacher has had a dozen. And some are pretty hilarious.”

Ortberg says: “Some time ago a psychology journal published an article entitled ‘The Effect of a Pratfall on Increasing Interpersonal Attractiveness.’ The surprising conclusion: ‘Seeing someone you admire do something stupid or clumsy will make you like him more.’”Part of the reason for that is we do like our leaders to be human and to show their humanity from time to time.

Now, we know they’re human. The problem comes when they don’t seem to know it. Earlier in the same chapter, Ortberg writes, “A friend of mine says that one of the hardest things in the world is to be right and not hurt anybody with it. If you have any doubts about that, remember some time in school when you sat next to the smartest kid in class. Did you enjoy it? Being right (or more precisely, having the need to be right) is a terrible burden. An amazing thing about Jesus is that he was always right and never hurt anyone by it.”

I’m thinking of two churches I pastored, one in the 1970s and the other in the 1980s. In the first, we had a lot of laughter in church. It was the spontaneous, unplanned kind from things that happened on the spur of the moment. The congregation grew to love the staff and they still talk about the four men who led the church through those years as some of the best.

The church of the 1980s, however, knew very little laughter. Looking back, I’m not sure why that was. Perhaps it was the tension among the leadership that eventually resulted in several of us departing earlier than we had planned. It may have been a factor of the architecture of the sanctuary, with the congregation sitting far removed from the staff. Maybe it had something to do with the staff of the 80s being new and the staff of the 70s church staying for many years. To this day, the first church speaks of the church staff with fond remembrance. The second church, I wager, can hardly even remember who their staff was back then.

My friend Windy Rich had spoken at Ridgecrest Conference Center all one week, then caught a plane back to Nashville, arriving just in time to change clothes and


rush to church. That’s when he found he was on the program to read Scripture. He glanced over the text, saw no hard words, and confidently waited for his time at the podium.

Like Ortberg, Windy did fine, until he came to the very end of the text. Luke 14:11 came out this way: “For whosoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exhausted.”A Freudian slip, I think we could say.

Pastors know—or learn the hard way—to always read over the assigned readings in advance. Preferably, they will do so several times. The idea is to get the tongue used to forming those syllables in that particular order. In doing so, they may find out something else: the tongue has a mind of its own. So, they want to make this discovery in advance and protect themselves from such goofs. Or not. It could be they will want to make such a slip-up, just for the delight it gives the congregation.

This story is harder to relate because it was rather involved. As the newest and youngest minister on the staff of the great First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi, I was invited to bring the devotional for the annual retreat of the most prestigious Sunday School class in the church. These men and women were a hundred or more strong and easily ranked among the movers and shakers of our state. They met at the Ross Barnett Reservoir at the edge of the city, had a great time of fellowship and supper, and then settled down for a time of inspiration. Just before I was to speak, the church’s elite youth ensemble presented a mini-program. So far, so good.

Then, the musical program over, the singers took the applause and stepped to one side. I walked to the microphone and began to speak. I had not gotten one sentence out when I became aware that the singers were dismantling the sound system all around me. They were unplugging amps and packing microphones and folding music stands--under my feet, in front of me, off to both sides.

No one was watching me and no one heard a thing I was saying. Being young and relatively inexperienced, I was completely clueless as to what I should do. My befuddlement, however, made the moment priceless. The pastor, Larry Rohrman, was on the front row with his wife and enjoying my distress. In fact, the more perplexed I became, the more tickled he got. Finally, he was rolling on the floor—we’re talking literally—and the entire group was in stitches.

Poor me. I was so young and insecure; I did not know how to enjoy the moment with them. I just stood there embarrassed, which may have been the best thing I could have done under the circumstances because the members of that class, all of whom were old enough to be my parents, came to my rescue. Even though they were laughing until their faces hurt, their hearts went out to me. From that moment on, for the full three years I served that church before moving on to pastor the First Baptist Church of Columbus, Mississippi, those people were some of the finest friends I would ever have. Some remain so to this day.

People like to see their leader discombobulated. It does him good to humble himself and does them good to see it.

Someone once said of his preacher, “My pastor’s not always right, but he’s never in doubt.” I say that pastor is in serious need of a comeuppance moment, a time when he goofs publicly and lets people see his humanity. Of course, it would be best if he would react with grace and laugh along with them. But even if he can’t, so long as he allows them the freedom to tease him about the slip-up, all is well.

In the long run, it may be the best thing he could ever do for his relationship with his people.

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana.

__________________________________________________________________________________________Be Still and Know that I Am GodBy Shea Oakley

Today there are a multitude of voices telling us how to seek God and enter into His presence. A perfunctory look at the shelves in any Christian bookstore will find dozens of volumes purporting to contain the way to greater intimacy with Him. In fact the phrase “intimacy with God” has been so overused as to become almost a cliché in our evangelical subculture. And, as with many aspects of the Christian life, the American Church has bought into the surrounding society’s stress on “doing” rather than “being”. We want to make intimacy happen; we want to exert effort to draw nearer to God.

But what if that approach is wrong? What if we are trying so hard to get into His presence that we are actually making it impossible for God to be present to us? Could it be that all our effort is actually pre-empting Him?

The temptation to try too hard is a powerful one in this day and age. We are uncomfortable with rest. Our theology tells us that faith, not works, saves us but many evangelical believers pay only lip service to this foundational truth. “Sure”, we say “salvation is a gift.” Then we begin what is often a lifetime of attempting to earn our way.


Salvation may be free but sanctification apparently involves a lot of work. While this might be partly true, work without rest is unhealthy and it was never the intention of our Lord. We would do well to remember the occasion when Jesus told a busy Martha to stop criticizing her sister Mary who was resting quietly at His feet simply basking in His presence.

Would it be wrong to rest that way today? If Mary’s behavior in relation to Jesus does not imply deep spiritual intimacy, I do not know what does. Mary had the right idea then and her approach is timeless. Modern day Christians desperately need to stop trying to work their way into the presence of God. By doing this, we may be actually working our way right out of His presence.

Perhaps, in these frenetic days, the children of God need to rest a bit more than they need to work. Secular

culture lures us to multi-task ourselves to death in a sort of Protestant work ethic gone mad. We put a religious face on it and call it a form of godliness, a proof of our zeal. Did Jesus ever rest? Yes, He did. So where, then, is the Sabbath rest for His people today, the Sabbath made for man rather than the other way around?

Maybe it is time for us to try being silent and still. We can invite the Lord to visit us in that quiet. Then we might hear Him. Then we might receive what we long for: His blessed presence and the knowledge of His love.

© Shea Oakley. All Rights Reserved.Shea Oakley is a freelance Christian writer from

Ridgewood, New Jersey.

__________________________________________________________________________________________Two SwordsBy Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’” (Judges 7:20).

Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he bade them, at an appointed signal, break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!”

This is precisely what all Christians must do. First, you must shine; break the pitcher which conceals your light; throw aside the bushel which has been hiding your candle, and shine. Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such, that when men look upon you, they shall know that you have been with Jesus.

Then there must be the sound, the blowing of the trumpet. There must be active exertions for the ingathering of sinners by proclaiming Christ crucified. Take the Gospel to them; carry it to their door; put it in their way; do not suffer them to escape it; blow the trumpet right against their ears.

Remember that the true war cry of the Church is Gideon’s watchword, “The sword of the Lord, and of

Gideon!” God must do it; it is His own work. But we are not to be idle; instrumentality is to be used—“The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!”

If we only cry, “The sword of the Lord!” we shall be guilty of an idle presumption; and if we shout, “The sword of Gideon!” alone, we shall manifest idolatrous reliance on an arm of flesh: we must blend the two in practical harmony, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!”

We can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let us, therefore, in His name determine to go out personally and serve with our flaming torch of holy example, and with our trumpet tones of earnest declaration and testimony, and God shall be with us, and Midian shall be put to confusion, and the Lord of hosts shall reign forever and ever.

From Morning and Evening

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), “the Prince of Preachers,” was a renowned pastor and author who served

as pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for 38 years. His works are still widely read today.

__________________________________________________________________________________________Exegetically Speaking—by Spiros Zodhiates

Offending Young Believers Matthew 18:6-10

From Exegetical Commentary on Matthew, 2006, AMG Publishers.

[6] No gray areas exist with respect to the treatment of young believers. One either “receives” or “offends”; there is no middle road. Children here are likened to


believers: “But whoso shall offend (skandalísē, the aorist subjunctive of skandalízō [4624], to trip up) one of these little (from mikrós [3398]) ones who believe (pisteuóntōn, the present participle of pisteúō [4100]) in Me, it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (a.t.).

Alluring young, unsuspecting believers to any sin is extremely evil. Children can easily be deceived, and habitual sins start by succumbing to momentary gratifications or, more innocently, by simply imitating older people. Those who dare to tempt children are inviting God’s wrath into their lives. The punishment for such offenses is so terrible that the offenders would be better off drowned before they commit the transgressions.

The aorist subjunctive skandalísē is best translated “whoever might even once scandalize”—not “whoever shall.” The aorist highlights the instant of the event when the finger is on the trigger (the Greek noun skándalon is actually used for the trigger mechanism of a baited trap) and the mind decides to pull the trigger. According to Christ, a single action of offending is one too many. Potential offenders will do well to not even think about baiting the innocent for ill-gotten gain. Little children do not have the mental or moral reserves to understand the consequences of sin. Things we do and say can have calamitous, long-ranging impacts on them. Note how the aorist subjunctive of skandalízō here compares with the present indicative of the same verb in verse 8 where the hand or foot is “constantly offending (skandalízei).”

[7] Jesus solemnly warned: “Woe (ouaí [3759], alas; an interjection of grief or indignation; the opposite of makárioi [3107], blessed) unto the world because of the offenses (from skándalon [4625], cause of sin), for it is a necessity that offenses come; but woe to that person through (diá [1223], implying agency) whom the offence comes!” (a.t.)

Here we have the reason why our world is getting worse and worse: People are perpetrating many crimes on children and new believers. The apostle Paul prophesies about the progressive moral deterioration of our world: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1–4).

Woe is always associated with God’s impending judgment, and the woe in the context here is “everlasting fire” (v. 8). Sinners are free to choose, but they are not free to choose the consequences of their sin—for instance, avoiding hell. God taught this fundamental lesson in Genesis 3:1–13, the very beginning of the Bible and creation. God, therefore, sets the consequences, and we would do well to take heed.

Apó ([575], “because of” or “in consequence of”), here in verse 7, carries the sense of source, that is, the cause of woes resulting from offenses instigated by both unbelievers and believers. Jesus was speaking to His disciples (v. 1), and believers should practice what they preach.

When Jesus said it is a necessity (anágkē [318]) that offenses come, He did not mean it is a moral necessity, as if God has decreed it. Rather, it is an inevitable consequence of our sinful world. Fallen human nature being what it is (as long as God allows sinful people to live on this earth) will tempt or otherwise cause others to sin. It is a component of freedom, for if people had to live in absolute obedience, they would have no freedom of choice.

God, on the other hand, has graciously reconciled people through the death of His only Son, but He calls them to voluntarily believe in this atonement. Though He gives humans the choice, He desires that all believe, for He is “the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Tim. 4:10).

When people choose not to believe, sin produces more sin in them. The ultimate sin was committed against the innocent man, Jesus, on the cross. And yet God, in His sovereign grace, has overruled sinful people to bring about the greatest possible benefit to humanity, redemption through Jesus Christ. Even though Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus, the final product of his wicked act ended in redemption for all who believe.

Throughout history, God has constantly overpowered evil with good. Sovereign benefits accrued directly or indirectly from good and, on many occasions, even evil, but praise God, the benefits are eternal (Rom. 8:28). God perpetually thwarts Satan’s purposes for evil, and the nominal results he gets are incomparable to the eternal benefits God brings out of victory over evil.

As long as sin is present on earth, scandals or offenses will occur, but Jesus rightly sounded the danger alarm with “woe,” which implies personal responsibility. In the last phrase of this verse, Christ conspicuously changed the subject from the general woe pronounced on general “scandals” of the world to the particular woe coming on the particular “offense”, which is the betrayal of Jesus Christ by “that man”—Judas. The woe meant Judas was responsible for his premeditated, voluntary (i.e., unforced) action.

Such general scandals and Judas’ betrayal are not acceptable excuses for personal shortcomings. They are sins in themselves; they reproduce like yeast (zúmē [2219]; see Matt. 16:6, Gal. 5:9); and they are destined for everlasting fire. Those who are an “offense to [Jesus]” are those who, like Satan, “do not think with the mind the things of God” (Matt. 16:23; a.t.).

The Lord Jesus is called a “stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense (from skándalon)” in 1 Peter 2:8. Similarly, in Matthew 26:31 we read, “All ye shall be scandalized (from skandalízō [4624]) because of Me this


night: for it is written, I [the Father] will smite the Shepherd [Christ], and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (a.t.).

Jesus equated Judas’ sin against the innocent Lamb of God with child abuse. As the next two verses stress, he would have been better off plucking out an eye or cutting off his hand rather than betraying the Son of Man; in fact, “It would have been good for that man if he had not been born” (Matt. 26:24).

[8] Verses 8 and 9 present us with some of Jesus’ most difficult sayings. If a single offense carries a threat, then how much more a habitual sin? In this verse and the next, Jesus changed from the aorist to the present tense of skandalízō. “But if thy hand or thy foot offend (skandalízei) thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt (from chōlós [5560], lame, crippled) or maimed (cf. Matt. 15:30 from kullós, maimed), rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting (aiōnion [166]) fire.”

Jesus was realistic. He knew that no rational people sever their hands, feet, or eyes because those members led them to sin. Prudent persons know that sin begins in the heart, and if the heart is pure, the whole body is pure. In Romans 2:5, the apostle Paul spoke about unrepentant (from ametanóētos [279]) hearts that cause eyes, hands, and feet to sin, forming sinful habits and finally reaping death (Rom. 7:5). Death for such people will be total punishment (see Matt. 25:46), torment for the entire person—body, soul, and spirit.

Kalós (good) is used here to describe the preference of temporal amputation to a perpetual hell. We cannot begin to imagine how horrible hell will be. But what did Jesus mean when He said, “It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye”? Obviously, He did not mean the literal extraction of an eye, a hand, or a foot, but that we must stop any activity leading to the spiritual entrapment of young believers.

The word zōē stands in contrast to the “Gehenna of fire” (see next verse) that people may enter having their eyesight intact. However, a believer may enter “the life” with one eye, one foot, and one hand, the other having been laid on the altar as a sacrifice made in standing for a principle.

[9] Jesus continued: “And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.” His threat against rebellion was the same here as in the previous verse, but He added the phrase, “the Gehenna of fire” (a.t.), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew ga-Hinnom, which means the “Valley of Hinnom” (Josh. 15:8; Neh. 11:30). Gehenna was a garbage dump southwest of Jerusalem, originally the boundary of Judah and Benjamin (Josh. 15:8; 18:16) and the northernmost limit of Judah’s territory. In this valley, refuse burned day and night. At times in the history of apostate Israel, wicked kings like Ahaz and Manasseh made their children “pass through the fire” in this valley (2 Kgs. 16:3; 21:6) as a

sacrifice to Molech, the god to whom the Ammonites sacrificed their children (Lev. 18:21). Josiah put an end to this vicious practice (2 Kgs. 23:10–14).

The Greek word “Gehenna” is found twelve times in the New Testament: eleven times in the synoptic gospels but none in John. It also occurs in James 3:6, which speaks of the savage nature of the human tongue inflamed by Gehenna. Broadly speaking, Gehenna is a state of open fire, but it is also a place of retributive justice made for Satan and his demons to which the bodies and souls of those who reject Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf will go as a result of their own choices (Matt. 10:28).

In 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Paul says Jesus will be revealed “in flaming fire taking vengeance (from ekdíkēsis [1557] from ek [1537], out of; and díkē [1349], justice, righteousness).” In Romans 12:19, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:35: “Vengeance (ekdíkēsis) is Mine; I shall pay back (from antapodídōmi [467] from antí [473], in place of; and dídōmi [1325], to give voluntarily)” (a.t.). Hell is the alternative to eternal life for those who refuse God’s grace, and heaven is the eternal dwelling place of God, His angels, and believers.

[10] Jesus now came back to the subject of offending little children who believe in Him. He also shifted attention away from the physical violence of a hand or the lust of an eye to the mental attack of scorn: “Take heed (from horáō [3708], to see and perceive) that ye despise (kataphronēsēte, the aorist subjunctive of kataphronéō [2706] from katá [2596], against, or kátō [2736], down; and phronéō [5426], to think; thus “to think down upon or against”) not one of these little ones.”

The aorist tense stresses the avoidance of a single instance of “looking down” on little ones by despising or thinking evil of them, which can lead to physical abuse. It can also refer to misleading a child spiritually. From parallel passages, we see that Jesus was possibly holding a baby brought by a mother for His blessing (Mark 9:36; 10:16).

Then Jesus gave a new reason for treating children with respect—something is happening in heaven: “For I say unto you, that in heaven their angels (from ággelos [32], messenger) do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Hebrews 1:14 broadly defines angels as, “. . . ministering (from the verb leitourgéō [3008], to publicly function like a priest, assisting in worship, charitable relief, or service; Acts 13:2; Rom. 15:27; Heb. 10:11) spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”

These angels, who always see the face of (the) Father in heaven, are presented as “ministering spirits” to believing children. Their sight is directed toward God the Father as if they were on earth, and they seek God’s help for helpless children, those who are “poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), utterly dependent on God’s mercy.

Dr. Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as president of


AMG International in Chattanooga, Tennessee for over 40 years, was the founding editor of Pulpit Helps Magazine, and authored dozens of exegetical books.

__________________________________________________________________________________________Living out the Living Word—by Justin Lonas

Ceasing from Sin1 Peter 4:1-6

Part ten in an expositional series on 1 Peter.

Last month, we wrapped up chapter 3 of 1 Peter, the crux of which is verse 18: “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”

That passage also covered the often confusing verses describing how Christ “made proclamation to the spirits now in prison” (3:19), and how “baptism now saves you” (3:21). Though these concepts seem at first blush to be outside the flow of Peter’s theme of living in righteousness in the face of suffering, we saw through further study that they instead follow reasonably from that.

Chapter 4 begins firmly grounded in that central theme, presenting a clear directive that flows from Peter’s statements about suffering for righteousness (3:13-17) and the work of Christ (3:18). “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God” (4:1-2).

Peter tells us that we are to “arm” ourselves with the purpose (or mindset) of Christ toward suffering for the sake of righteousness. This is an even stronger command than his previous urging to bear up under suffering—we are not simply to tolerate such suffering, but in a sense, to invite and welcome it. This echoes Paul’s injunction from Philippians 2:5 to have the same attitude as Christ toward sacrifice for the Lord’s greatest glory.

The motivation Peter introduces for this obedience (aside from the obvious appeal to Christlikeness) is that “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” He clearly is not implying that Christians can achieve perfection in this life. Romans 7:14-25, 1 John 1:8, Ecclesiastes 7:20, and other scriptures confirm that we cannot. Rather, it seems as though he is describing two characteristics of such suffering, one that leads into it and one that flows from it. 1) Someone identified with and obedient Christ to the point of persecution has, of necessity, put away the life of sinful desires for the pursuit of the kingdom of God. 2) Suffering for righteousness’ sake is purgative in nature—the heart committed to Christ is refined and focused through such persecution to even greater devotion and obedience.

The key issue in this statement is the will. Peter states that the purpose (or mind) of Christ is one in the grip of the will of God. This stands in contrast to the “lusts of men,” which could be termed “the will of the flesh.” “Lusts” here is translated from the Greek epithumía (from epi, “on, upon,” and thumos, “passion, emotional core”). The lusts of men, then are those things which flow out of the “fire of the soul.” The command, in that light, is to replace man’s fire with God’s fire so that the desire, the epithumía, of our hearts is for the will of God. We are to submit our passions to minds renewed and transformed by the Spirit (cf. Rom. 12:1-2), following Christ out of our lives of sin into His righteousness.

Ceasing from sin, then, means making a clean break with our old natures to pursue Christ. It’s not something that we achieve by our efforts, but is simply a marker of the change in our hearts wrought by the Spirit at our salvation and continually worked by the Lord’s directing of our sanctification. His methods are many, and suffering, however painful and purposeless it may seem to us, is often a tool in His hand to carve us more into the image of His Son.

Peter extends his case for departing sinful living, reminding his readers that the time given to them by God is for His purposes, not those of the flesh. “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries” (4:3). As Christians, we have been called out of a life devoted to fulfilling our own desires and into living for God’s will. Just as our souls have been purchased with the blood of Christ, so have our resources, energies, and time. Peter’s message is simple: “You used to live without hope, living only for yourselves, but you’ve been bought with a price and given life. Why would you go back to your old ways?”

The specific sins Peter lists here represent a fair description of the cultural norms of his day. For his readers to refrain from these things was not just to decline salacious practices for righteous living, it was to stand in opposition to what was expected of them. For this reason, Peter writes, “In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (4:4-5). By their very lifestyles, avoiding cultural expectations that ran opposed to


the will of God, believers in the Roman Empire drew a glaring distinction between themselves and the rest of society. They invited scrutiny, and this brought ridicule and persecution.

Nevertheless, Peter encouraged them to stand firm, reminding them that God, not their peers, would judge their choices and actions in the flesh. This same motivation should be alive in our hearts as we navigate the cultural waters of our day. If we have been saved, if we have made a clean break with the sinful lifestyle of our past, then we should strive to live under the expectations of our Heavenly Father whatever the consequences that choice brings from others. We will give an account to the holy Judge, just as they will. If we know His will and shrink from it or abandon it under societal pressure, we invite a far harsher rebuke than anything other men can dole out.

The coming judgment for all men has always been a key reason for the preaching of the Gospel—if there is nothing to be saved from (i.e., God’s holy wrath), why proclaim salvation? Peter writes, “For the Gospel has for this purpose [i.e., because of judgment] been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God” (4:6).

At first glance, this verse appears to be just as confusing a passage as 3:19. However, as we saw in our discussion of that passage, the most scripturally and logically satisfying explanation of that passage shows that the “spirits now in prison” heard the proclamation of Christ in spirit through the ministry of Noah when they were still

alive on earth. In the same way, the “dead” in 4:6 who had the Gospel preached to them most likely refers to those now dead who heard the Gospel when they were alive on earth. Because of that message, though they are judged for their deeds in the flesh as men (as we all shall be), they may (if they responded in faith) live eternally in spirit because of the blood of Christ.

Some have wrongly asserted (ignoring Heb. 9:27, 2 Cor. 5:10, etc.) that this implies a “second chance” in which the Gospel is preached to those who have died. Others propose that Peter must mean that the Gospel was preached to the “spiritually dead”. While this approach does not contradict scriptural truth (for we all were spiritually dead when we first heard the Gospel), it does not seem to follow from the wording or the immediate context that Peter is adding this nuance to his statement. As with most such passages, a straightforward reading that does not violate the context or any other Scriptures offers the best interpretation.

The sum of Peter’s statements in this passage is his ongoing message—when we suffer for righteousness’ sake, we follow in the footsteps of Christ in obeying the will of the Father. We can endure faithfully to the end, forsaking temptation and earthly pleasures, when we remember the price which was paid for us and the calling to which we have been called.

Justin Lonas is the editor of Disciple Magazine for AMG International.

__________________________________________________________________________________________Points to Ponder—by Stephen F. Olford

Faith is the Victory

Editor’s note: David Olford was unable to provide a column this month due to a very busy schedule, so we are reissuing this “Points to Ponder” column from the February 2000 issue of Pulpit Helps. Thank you.

Text: “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36, read verses 5:21-24, 35-42).

Thoughts: Jarius was a man of strong faith; otherwise he never could have said, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live” (v. 23). As often happens, however, the maximum strain is imposed upon this man’s faith at the moment of greatest hope.

The Lord Jesus was just about to start for his house when the messengers arrived to say, “Your daughter is dead” (v. 35). How utterly shattering! But it is in the face of such disappointment and distress that Jesus says: “Do not be afraid; only believe” (v. 36). Observe that it was Jesus

who “heard the word that was spoken” by the messengers. He anticipated the sad news with His own triumphant reassurance: “Do not be afraid; only believe.” Surely the lesson is clear. With Jesus the most devastating situations can be faced with:

Courageous Faith “Do not be afraid.” The presence of Christ banishes

fear; “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). If fear lurks or remains, it is because the Savior is not fully recognized in any given situation. Until Jesus entered the upper room to transform His early disciples into the mighty men of Pentecost, they were paralyzed “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19).

Confident Faith “Only believe.” This is conquering faith because it

is clinging faith. When you cannot do anything else but


cling, you reach the glorious position where God can begin to work. He renews hope: “The child is not dead, but sleeping” (v. 39). He removes doubt: “He had put them [the scorners] all out” (v. 40). He restores life: “I say to you, arise” (v. 41).

Thrust: Give me faith, O Lord and Savior, Faith unwavering, true, and strong; Faith to order my behavior, Faith to sing the triumph song. Amen.

Stephen F. Olford (1918-2004) was a renowned pastor and Christian leader known for training countless pastors in the

skill of expository preaching. His son, David L. Olford, teaches expository preaching at Union University’s Stephen

Olford Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

__________________________________________________________________________________________The Story behind the Song—by Lindsay Terry

In the Shadow of TragedySong: “Blessed Be Your Name”

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Matt Redman has rapidly become one of the most respected worship leaders and songwriters in the praise and worship music genre and in youth revival movements around the world. Redman’s songs, such as “The Heart of Worship” and “Better Is One Day,” are regularly featured on countless praise and worship projects and at worship events in many countries. Matt and his wife, Beth, make their home near Brighton, England. They have three children.

Following is his own record of how he and Beth wrote “Blessed Be Your Name.” This song, born out of the recognition of human suffering, has risen in popularity among Christians to the point that it is now sung by millions in many nations.

Matt said of the song, “Although the song wasn’t born from any one particular circumstance, it is a song that stems from the story of our lives in general. Both my wife, Beth, and I had tough upbringings—a lot of different issues to do with fathers—and over the years we’ve come to realize that worshiping God is a choice, and the best choice we’ll ever make.

“Trust is a beautiful act of worship. It says to God, ‘I believe in you—in your unfailing goodness and greatness—no matter what season of life I find myself in.’ So this is a song we’d wanted to write for years.

“There are a couple of other reasons that led to the song overflowing out of us. We were on sabbatical at the time in the U.S., and the song was written in the shadow of the tragic events of 9/11—just weeks afterward. It struck me how little of a vocabulary we have in Church worship music to respond appropriately in the dark times of life. No doubt being immersed in the spiritual and emotional climate of those days was an important factor in writing the song.

“It is really a song born out of the whole of life; a realization that we all face seasons of pain and unease. And

in those times we need to find our voice before God. The Church (and indeed the world) needs its songs of lamentation. The people of God have always had their laments. The Psalms are filled with a whole host of intense emotions and expressions toward God; so many of the psalms were birthed in times of suffering and struggle.

“The other element that led to the song being birthed at this time was rereading the book of Job. Many say this book is about suffering. I think it’s really a book about something much grander—the sovereignty of God-of which ‘suffering’ is more a subcategory! At the end of chapter 1 we read, ‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ Or, as other translations word it, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’

“I have to say that we’ve received more personal testimony feedback from this song than any other we’ve written. I have come across some of the harshest life circumstances I’ve heard of as people have e-mailed in their stories of how they’ve chosen to worship our amazing God even in some of the most difficult times of life. More than anything this reminds me of how much pain there is in the world, and about how important it is to be real, honest, and true (yet always remaining reverent) in the worshiping Church.”

One Christian organization that holds a massive amount of Matt Redman’s attention and with which he travels a great deal is Passion Conferences, an American-based ministry to Christian college and university students, led by evangelist Louie Giglio.

The most important aspect of our worship should be the giving of our complete attention to praising and glorifying our heavenly Father, no matter what the circumstances of the day may be. For it is in Him, and Him alone, that we live and move and have our being.

© 2008 by Lindsay Terry. Used by permission.


Lindsay Terry has been a song historian for more than 40 years, and has written widely on the background of great

hymns and worship songs including the books I Could Sing

of Your Love Forever (2008), from which this piece is excerpted, and The Sacrifice of Praise (2002).

__________________________________________________________________________________________Church Builders—by Bernard R. DeRemer

Tireless Missions Promoter: Luther Rice

Luther Rice (1783-1836) helped establish schools, actively promoted missions, and became one of the pioneer foreign missionaries from the United States of America.

He was born at Northborough, Mass., and grew up in a farm family with a father whose poor treatment deeply affected the young man. He was also burdened with a deep sense of guilt, fearing that he would never be saved from his sins.

In this unhappy, troubled state he joined the Congregational Church “as a Half-way Covenanter” (one who has “marrying, burying, and baptism” privileges through the church, but denies a conversion experience—opposition to this practice was a driving force in the ministries of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, among others). Eagerly he read Richard Baxter and John Newton during his spiritual search; peace came at last on Sept. 14, 1805, when he trusted Christ as Savior and Lord.

He studied at Williams College, which had seen a great spiritual awakening. There he came in touch with others, all greatly burdened for foreign missions. One summer day, several students caught in a thunderstorm took refuge in a haystack near the campus and began praying together. In what became known as the “Haystack Prayer Meeting”, five young men committed themselves to foreign missionary service; Rice joined with them later.

Rice and Sam Mills Jr. “spent many hours in prayer and discussion” about mission work. Mills and Rice formed a group of like-minded students called the “Brethren”. Rice transferred to Andover College (now Andover Theological Seminary) for further studies. The accounts of William Carey and others who had left England to serve in India greatly affected and inspired students.

Rice helped found the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He and Adoniram Judson sailed for India in 1812, among the first foreign missionaries from the U.S. In addition to the great difficulties of international travel in those days, they faced dangers from storms, pirates, and French war ships.

En route, he studied his Greek New Testament and became persuaded that the Baptists were right on this important doctrine and practice. So he resigned from the Congregational group and became a Baptist.

But the reception in India was not what they wanted or expected. Despite the opportunity to meet with Carey,

English merchants fiercely opposed any new missionary work, presumably fearing profits might suffer. As a result, the government ordered all newly arrived missionaries out. Judson went on to Burma but Rice returned to the U.S. in 1813.

It was a cruel blow, but Rice determined to redouble his efforts for the cause. He became a leading spokesman for missions as “the only American who had gone out into the darkness of paganism and returned to tell us what existed there.”

He was appointed to travel among the various Baptist groups to inform them about the work of missions and raise support for Judson’s work in Burma. In 1817 he reported that he had traveled 6,600 miles, preaching nearly every day. Through his efforts, “Baptists were being molded into a national body [to carry] the Gospel to the ends of the earth.” This work grew into the organized “Triennial Convention” of Baptists for missions, which later grew into the Cooperative Program of today’s Southern Baptist Convention.

Rice wrote many letters and circulars raising money for missions, long before typewriters, computers, and other modern facilities. He helped found Columbian College (now George Washington University, Washington, D.C.) and a theological seminary in Philadelphia. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Brown University in recognition for his work in promoting missions and education among the Baptists.

Luther Rice never married; three proposals were rejected. He felt that “Every Christian had both the responsibility and privilege of sharing in the work of world-wide evangelism.” Zealously he devoted his life to that high calling. Laboring to the end, he passed away in 1836 while on the road in South Carolina raising funds for missions.

Rice’s legacy lives on in the powerful force for the kingdom that American missionary efforts of the past 200 years have become. Luther Rice University, founded in 1962, was named in his honor, and specializes in distance education for pastors and missionaries. Spiros Zodhiates (longtime president of AMG International and founder of this magazine) and Charles Stanley are among its many graduates.


Bernard R. DeRemer chronicled the lives of dozens of heroes of the faith in more than a decade of writing for

Pulpit Helps Magazine. He continues to serve in this capacity as a volunteer contributor to Disciple. He lives in

West Liberty, Ohio.

References: This article is based on information from Luther Rice Seminary & University and from Wikipedia, “Luther Rice”.

__________________________________________________________________________________________Counselor’s Corner—by James Rudy Gray

The Power of Hope in God

Quite often we, as counselors, encounter people who simply want things to change. They want circumstances, people, etc. to change so they can feel better, get their way, accomplish something, or avoid something. Just as often, nothing changes. What are we to do then?

We live in a world that continually reels under the curse of sin. The condition affects everybody and everything here on earth. There is a very real devil with great power, but there is also an awesome God infinitely more powerful than the devil. As we go through life, we will encounter people we want to change or at least see changed. That hope or prayer may never materialize. Many people at this point develop various emotional problems and dysfunctions. There is a better way to live.

One of the great examples of faith and hope in Scripture is found in the closing verses of Habakkuk. The prophet wanted God to change the ungodly society that dominated Judah. He was upset that God was not doing things his way. Then God reminded him that He was at work: sending judgment against Israel in the form of Babylon. In the closing verses, Habakkuk shows us a picture of a nation in severe economical crisis and a prophet who is in deep personal crisis. Yet he writes in verse 18, “I will exult in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Nothing had changed. God was still sending judgment against Judah. The nation would be destroyed. But Habakkuk was rejoicing in God. How did that happen?

Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” In Galatians 5:22, the apostle stated that part of the fruit of God’s spirit is joy. “Joy” and “rejoice” come from the same Greek root word. Joy is a noun and rejoice is a verb. Here is the important point: You cannot act out the verb until you have the noun. In Habakkuk’s situation, the God of grace was blessing His life even in the midst of sad circumstances.

Happiness comes from the root of “hap” which means chance or circumstance. We feel happy when good or favorable things happen to us or for us. We feel sad or unhappy when unfavorable things touch our lives. Being happy is good, but having joy which comes from God in spite of circumstances is much better. Happiness and joy feel about the same but they are based on totally different sources.

When Paul was thrown into the prison at Philippi unjustly and illegally, the happenings in his life were not favorable. He may not have been happy, yet at midnight he and Silas were praising God and singing hymns. They were rejoicing in God not because of favorable circumstances but because God and the joy He produces were filling their lives.

As counselors, there are so many times that we cannot offer a person the prospect of things or people changing. However, we can assure them of the supernatural joy of God and the ability to rejoice that flows from that experience. That lifts the spirit and encourages the heart. It allows a person to see that our hope is not in circumstances, people, or things but in a great sovereign God.

Christ is real. His Spirit ministers in lives today. He can provide hope in the midst of troubling circumstances even if the circumstances do not improve. To walk with God in the middle of difficulty is better than to walk without Him in favorable circumstances. Joy does make a difference in a person’s life and when that person experiences joy and rejoices in the Lord, encouragement, hope, and witness resound in this world.

James Rudy Gray is certified as a professional counselor by the National Board for Certified Counselors, and is a

member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He serves as the pastor of Utica Baptist Church

in Seneca, S.C.


__________________________________________________________________________________________Book Reviews—9/27/10

Editor’s Note: In this issue, due to a recent influx of books (but in the absence of time and energy to read them all in depth) we are offering brief overviews of six noteworthy recent releases in lieu of our usual full reviews.

Hurt Healer: Reaching out to a Broken World, Tony Nolan, 2010, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Mich., ISBN 9780801013522, 219 pages, $17.99, hardcover.

Nolan, an evangelist who often travels with Christian bands, writes to rouse the church out of “practical heresy”—encouraging us to match our lives with our knowledge of God. He stresses that we cannot meaningfully reach a hurting world when we pursue our comfort above the will of God, and he urges believers to embrace their own brokenness (and God’s power to redeem) in order to connect with those around us for the Gospel.

God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, Thomas S. Kidd, 2010, Basic Books, New York, ISBN 9780465002351, 298 pages, $26.95, hardcover.

Kidd, a Baylor University history professor, offers a comprehensive look at the role of religion in the American Revolution and the early days of independence as the country’s unique balance of stateless but freely public religious expression took shape. Kidd’s work is a timely reminder that America’s freedom stems from its collective religious heritage.

Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There, Leonard Sweet, 2010, David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, ISBN 9781434764744, 329 pages, $19.99, hardcover.

Sweet examines evangelism from the perspective that God is the primary actor in the spreading of His Gospel. He counsels believers to look and listen for God’s direction and then to reach others with the Gospel by “nudging” them to recognize the pre-existent reality of God’s presence and pull on their lives.

Is God Just a Human Invention? (And 17 Other Questions Raised by the New Athiests), Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow, 2010, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Mich., ISBN 9780825436543, 302 pages, $16.99.

McDowell and Morrow (with the help of numerous contributors including Randy Alcorn, William Dembski, and others) set out to systematically address some of the most pressing questions about the nature and existence of faith and God that are so prominently publicized by today’s atheists. This is the latest in a long line of such books, but it seems to address its points succinctly and with careful attention to Scripture.

America’s Four Gods: What We Say About God & What That Says about Us, Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, 2010, Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 9780195341478, 272 pages, $24.95, hardcover.

This book is not expressly Christian, but rather analyzes four primary ways that Americans tend to visualize God’s character (Authoritative, Benevolent, Critical, or Distant) and the unique sociological outflow of those views. I found it an interesting commentary on the ways we distort God’s character to our own preferences and experiences rather than letting the Bible inform us about who God truly is.

God Sent Tommy: His Journey to Heaven, Helen Hefner Owen, 2010, Wheatmark, Tuscon, Ariz., ISBN 9781604943559, 173 pages, $15.95, softcover.

Helen Owen writes from the perspective of her late husband, Tommy Owen, to describe the trials of growing up and making a life after the crippling ravages of polio. In spite of the handicaps that this brought, Owen was greatly used by God both as a pastor and a police officer, and was blessed with the love of a family to carry him. This is a heartwarming story of the ways God works through our struggles to work His plan and bringing to His name and joy to our lives.

__________________________________________________________________________________________News Update

Algerian Christians Arrested for Eating During Muslim Fast

Worthy News reports that two Christians in Algeria were brought to court on Aug. 13 for not observing the Muslim fast of Ramadan.

Hocine Hocini and Fellak Salem were seen eating at noon on a private construction site during the month-long fast. They were arrested by religious police.

“I am optimistic,” said Hocini. “I have no regrets, I am a Christian. We are innocent, we have not hurt anyone.


We are Christians and we did not eat in a public place.” Their lawyers say the men were not subject to the law.

“Algeria has ratified international conventions on freedom of worship,” said Ait Larbi, one of the defense lawyers for the two Algerians. “It is an outright violation of the constitution.” Many Algerians say the country suffers from increasingly strict Islamic influence from Afghanistan.

Religion Today Summaries

South Korea: Thief Apologizes after Bible Reading A thief in South Korea turned himself into police

after he tried to steal a Christian teacher’s purse and she read to him from the Bible, the Metro UK reports.

Ling Cho walked into the English language institute in the city of Ulsan Jungbu and threatened the female teacher with a knife while demanding money. The teacher asked Cho why he was trying to rob her. Cho told her his life’s story, including his recent divorce, financial problem, and his start in crime.

The teacher then read the Bible to him, prompting an unsolicited apology from the would-be thief. She gave him an MP3 player filled with gospel music and let him go, even refusing to report him to police when he returned and asked her to do so a few minutes later. Cho turned himself in to police, and facing five years in prison for attempted robbery.


Billy Graham TV Special Recaps 60 Years of Ministry

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will soon release a television special chronicling its 60 years of ministry.

“My father was always willing to go anywhere, any time, any place to preach the Gospel, and we are still doing that,” Franklin Graham says in the program. “Everything that we do at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is geared around taking this Gospel message to the ends of the earth.”

The television special features rare footage from Billy Graham’s historic visits to preach the Gospel in communist countries in Eastern Europe, along with audio and video from the ministry’s earliest national radio and television broadcasts.


Report Finds Spike in U.S. Poverty Levels

The number of people in poverty in America increased to its highest recorded point last year, and the poverty rate rose to its highest level since 1994, according to Religion News Service.

The Census Bureau released data Sept. 16 that showed the rate of poverty increasing 1.1 percentage points to 14.3 percent in 2009. A total of 43.6 million live in poverty—the highest since recording began in 1959—and up from 39.8 million in 2008.

Social service programs such as Catholic Charities USA are faced with the challenge of increased needs from individuals and working families, budget cuts and a decrease in individual donations. The Rev. Larry Snyder, president and CEO of Catholics Charities, said that while the statistics were staggering, they did not come as a surprise to those who work with people in poverty on a daily basis, especially after two years of recession.


Christians Pray in Shuttered Church in IndonesiaDozens of Christians near Indonesia’s capital of

Jakarta defied a police perimeter on Sunday and met to pray in their shuttered church.

“We just want to carry out our obligations as Christians, but authorities are treating us like terrorists,” said Advent Tambunan, a member of Batak Christian Protestant Church in the industrial city of Bekasi. “There’s no justice for us in this country,” he told The Associated Press.

The church was surrounded by hundreds of police and unarmed security guards following last week’s attack on the church that wounded two church members. Islamic hard-liners have harassed the church for months. On Sunday, local officials had seven empty buses on standby outside the Batak Christian’s shuttered church Sunday, ready to transport them to an alternate site of worship provided by the government to avoid community backlash.


South Sudan Needs External Help, Says Mission Group

The standard of living in South Sudan is so far behind modern society that it dreams to one day reach Third World status, says the head of a mission group that works in the region.

Bill Deans, president of Mustard Seed International, said, “For the past three generations they’ve been in war. Every family is touched by that.” The decades-long civil war between the Muslim North and Christian South left at least two million people dead and four million people displaced.


The country faces a referendum in January that will likely result in South Sudan seceding from the North. Still, Christian Today reports that the country’s troubles are far from over. “There is a great number of orphans, the infrastructure in the South is non-existent, there are no

paved roads, thus the ability for the South to sustain itself is not there,” Deans added.


__________________________________________________________________________________________Sermon Helps—from www.sermonhall.com

Sermon OutlinesHindrances and Helps to Praying ProperlyInquiry: How does a believer pray properly according to the Book of Proverbs?I. There Are Hindrances to Avoid:

A. Allocating to buy God off is a hindrance to prayer (15:8):"The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked."B. Advocating to put God off is a hindrance to prayer (15:29):"The Lord is far from the wicked."C. Aspiring to shut God off is a hindrance to prayer (28:9): "If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable."D. Aiming to back God off is a hindrance to prayer (28:13):"He who conceals his sins does not prosper" (cf. 1 John 1:6-9: "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth").

II. There Are Helps to Appropriate:A. Abiding with God rightly is a help to prayer (15:29): "He hears the prayer of the righteous."B. Advancing towards God quickly is a help to prayer (18:10):"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."C. Admitting sins to God sincerely is a help to prayer (28:13):"whoever confesses?finds mercy."D. Abandoning sins to God completely is a help to prayer (28:13):"whoever?renounces them finds mercy."E. Asking of God modestly is a help to prayer (30:7-9): "give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread" (cf. Matt. 6:9-13: "Give us today our daily bread").

Steve D. Eutsler

To Err Is Human!Psalm 12:4: "Who have said, ‘With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’”Foundational Inquiry: What are the most common and arrogant errors of the wicked? I. That Man Himself Determines Life's Outcomes! (4a)

II. That Man Himself Controls His Words! (4b)III. That Man Himself Serves Only Himself! (4c)

J. A. Gillmartin

Sermon IllustrationsThe Home Is the Foundation

The Christian home is the most important institution in the world. That does not minimize the position of the Church and state; they also have been ordained of God. But He places the home first—in time as well as in importance.

It is the foundation upon which all other institutions are built; upon it the church and state will either stand or fall. What the homes are, the churches and schools are—and the government will be. Every place where there has been a neglect of home responsibility, there eventually has been a crumbling of the nation.

Wesley L. Gustafson

Receiving God's SignalsIs encouragement a part of your daily agenda? My

Favorite Martian was a popular old television program that featured an unusual fellow who could sense incoming signals around him. You see, he was equipped with a set of antennae.

God has equipped His people with a similar device: spiritual antennae that can pick up signals from the Lord, directing them to other Christians who need encouragement (cf. Phil. 2:1-4).

What a miracle it is that we often receive a signal, a prompting from the Lord, that burdens us to encourage and minister to the sick and dying, the poor and needy, the brokenhearted and backslidden, the unsaved and lost, the lonely and empty, and the orphan and widow.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide

Bulletin InsertsOn Suffering


God does not send us through deep waters to drown us, but to cleanse us.

Croft M. Pentz

Adversity serves its purpose if it strengthens the one who has to endure it.

R. Whitson Seaman

People are like tea bags—you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.

When God is about to do something great, He starts with a difficulty. When He is about to do something truly magnificent, He starts with an impossibility.

These two via The Book of Living Quotations

As a field must be plowed before being sown, so a mind must be troubled before being introduced to a new idea.

The Old Union Reminder

__________________________________________________________________________________________Puzzles and ‘Toons

Church ‘Toons by Joe McKeever

Answers to last issue’s puzzles: Editor's Note: Due to a printing oversight when these puzzles originally ran, we cannot locate the answers to last issue's "Hidden Wisdom" puzzle. We hope you were

able to solve it on your own! Our apologies for leaving you hanging.

Father Abraham and Hidden WisdomBy Mark Oshman

Originally published in Pulpit Helps, April 1996


Hidden Wisdom on next page

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