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The Bible and Orthodoxy - - - - - - - - - - 1
The Components of Thankfulness - - - - - - - - 2
The Pain of Avoidance - - - - - - - - - - - - 3
Exegetically Speaking - - - - - - - - - - - - 4
Following God - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6
Words to Stand You on Your Feet - - - - - - - - 7
Jewels from Past Giants - - - - - - - - - - - 8
Marks of the Master- - - - - - - - - - - - - 10
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel- - - - - - 11
Book Reviews- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12
News Update - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13
Sermon Helps - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 14
Puzzles and ‘Toons - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
Originally published in Pulpit Helps , June 2009, as part of a series entitled “Taken Captive: Cultural Heresies and the Church”.
“
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ
” (Col. 2:8).
If we are to avoid being “ taken captive
” by the ways and ideas of the world, we must first believe that the
Bible is God’s Word, that it is inspired, inerrant, and
“ profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work ” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
In short, God means what He says, and we have a responsibility to live accordingly.
Holding God’s Word in proper esteem is absolutely integral to our identity as Christians. How we view and use
Scripture speaks volumes about how we view God—if we aren’t willing to take Him at His Word, then we cannot come to terms with His holiness, our need for redemption, or what it means to be the Church. Either God speaks through Scripture and defines our existence, or we presume to dictate to Him “the way things are.” A right understanding of the truth of Scripture (and faithful reading, study, and preaching of it) will allow it to shape our actions and give form to God’s purpose for our lives.
Many who claim the name of Christ around the world, however, want very little to do with His revealed
Word. Mishandling or disregarding Scripture is nothing new; Paul warned Timothy that “ the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths ” (2
Tim. 4:3-4). Five primary ways in which people mistake the
Word stand out in a wide range of Christian traditions.
1) Instead of reading Scripture themselves and allowing the Spirit to shape their hearts through His Word, many believers implicitly or explicitly allow others to handle the Word for them. Getting the Bible in the hands of the people was a rallying cry of the Reformation, yet today many are content to let their pastor, teacher, or favorite author read and interpret it for them, taking whatever they’re handed at face value without seeking the Lord’s wisdom on a personal level.
While there are many faithful expositors in churches around the world, God clearly intends us to interact with His Word both individually and corporately, to internalize it, and to live it out. The Psalmist’s meditations in Psalm 119 do not come from a heart that has merely listened to good teaching but one that has been bathed in the
Word. Christ sets the example in Matthew 4 for us to have the Word in our hearts and minds to turn away the enemy’s attacks, reminding us that God’s Word is the nourishment for our life in Him (quoting Deut. 8:3).
2) Others settle for a cursory exploration of
Scripture and live by a set of “principles” drawn from lessthan-thorough exposition and often taken out of context.
They often use Scripture to advance their own agenda or justify their own decisions instead of letting it speak. Such an attitude not only undermines the purpose of the Word but attempts to use it against God and His work—it is no better than Satan’s temptation of Christ with “snapshots” of the Old Testament.
3) John 1 tells us that the Word is the very essence of God, and that it has been incarnated in Christ. 2 Tim.
3:16 states that “ all Scripture is inspired by God ”—literally
“God breathed-out” ( theopneustos ), and 2 Peter 1:20-21 points out that none of it comes from man but that “ men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God .” The primary work of God’s Spirit is the revealing of His Word to men through Scripture.
Some, however, rely on a special “word from the
Lord” in making life decisions, determining right from wrong, etc. They wait for the Holy Spirit to speak directly to them and allow a “spiritual experience” to guide what they believe and how they live. Seeing the Spirit move, though, is not about witnessing something new and different but rather having Him call to mind the truths that are “ageless and new” and giving us the strength to live them out. Expecting God to speak over and above Scripture is arrogant and ultimately anti-spiritual.

4)
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Still others faithfully study and memorize the century to today has based their teaching in God’s Word.
Word but fail to let it soak into their hearts, renew their minds (Rom. 12:2), and be lived out in their actions. God’s
Those who did not have led people astray. While no individual is perfect in their interpretation of Scripture, we
Word is alive and active (Heb. 4:12), and if it is not having an effect in our hearts, that should serve as an indicator that are to hold each other accountable to the word as the Body.
The Lord uses our collective study and meditation on the we need to confess our sins and be restored to right relationship with the Lord.
5) Finally, there are those who live with total disregard for God’s Word. They neither love nor study
Scripture, and they turn the Church into a purely social institution, shutting God out of the exercise entirely. When a church ceases to be under the authority of the Word, it ceases to be a church.
The apostles were very clear in drawing a line from the Old Testament to the teaching of Christ. The epistles of
Paul, Peter, James, and others are filled with references to and quotations of Scripture, pointing out unequivocally that
Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophecies about
Messiah and showing that His words should be viewed as
Scripture also. The doctrines we affirm are not “extra” teachings but distillations of this same Word.
Every faithful church leader since that time, from
Athanasius and Augustine to the Reformers of the 16th
Word to maintain integrity in our application of it.
Adherence to the Scripture is the thread that ties together the history of the Church; the fact that the faith survives to this day is itself a testament to the power and vitality of the Word. We would do well to remember this in a day in which “truths” that people live by are selected from a buffet line of philosophies according to their self-serving preferences. If the Church fails in its commitment to
Scripture, “Christianity” will become just another option (as it is already viewed by many) with nothing definitive to say about who God is and how we relate to Him.
If, however, we remain faithful to God’s Word and its proclamation, He will continue to use it to glorify His name and empower His followers to be the light in a dark world that He has called us to be.
Justin Lonas is editor of Disciple Magazine for AMG
International in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Everyone agrees gratitude is a wonderful thing. We know it when we see it. We appreciate it when someone extends it in our direction. We miss it when it’s gone. We resent the absence of it in our children and co-workers.
What we have trouble with is nailing that sucker down.
What exactly is thankfulness (gratitude, an appreciative spirit, etc.)? Several sermons on the subject in my library dance all around the subject—blaming it on this, attributing it to that, everything but identifying what exactly it is.
What follows will not be the final word on this subject. You knew this, but I wanted to make sure everyone knows that I’m aware of it too. As the expression goes about art, “I can’t tell you what it is, but I know it when I see it.” Seems to me a judge once said that about pornography. No doubt, it applies to a wide assortment of subjects, including gratitude.
Here is one snapshot of thankfulness. “To be candid with you, I have drifted in and out of this attitude of gratitude in years past. But it’s all different now in my life.
Every day is a gift. Every moment is a precious treasure. If you haven’t been through something like cancer, you can’t know what I’m talking about” (David Jeremiah, God in
You , p. 105).
I’ve had cancer. Eight years ago this month, the tests came back positive. The carcinoma was under my tongue (the tongue! If you want to hurt a Baptist preacher, that’s the place!). We did surgery, then daily radiation for several months, and I’m 6 years cancer-free. It’s a grand feeling.
I’m grateful. Here are the four elements of my gratitude, and perhaps of yours.
I. Appreciation for God’s Mercy. Whew!
Mercy means I did not get what was coming to me.
God spared me. I had earned judgment and condemnation, but it was forgiven and I was pardoned.
By no stretch of the imagination do I believe I am alive today because I deserve to be here. The daily newspaper chronicles the departures of adults younger than me taken down by cancer. Why was mine caught in time and dealt with fully, and I’m still here, and they’re gone?
God knows the answer and no one else. But I’m grateful to be here. Thankful for His mercy.
“ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us ” (Tit.
3:5).
“ He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ” (Ps. 103:10).

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II. Awe about God’s Grace. Wow!
Grace means God gives me far more than I deserve.
God blessed me. I deserved nothing, but God gave me their walk and ministry. Am I blessed? Incredibly blessed.
Thank you, Lord. everything.
In the years since the cancer business, I have done the Katrina-leadership thing for all the Southern Baptist churches in metro New Orleans and enjoyed four years and
IV. Accumulated Debt That Shall Never Be Paid, but on
Which I’ll Be Forever Making Payments. Woe Is Me!
I’ve struggled with how to say this, with whether the first three points are adequate. But the sense of obligation within me has to be figured into this equation. I counting of retirement ministry all over this land. It’s all of grace, friend. And I’m thankful.
“ His divine power has given to us all things that cannot lie in bed or sit in the yard and wait for old age to set in and death to claim me. There’s too much work to do, too pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us...
” (2 Pet. 1:3).
“ He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
” (Rom. 8:32) many lives to touch, too much of Christ within me bursting to get out.
Perhaps it was from looking back and remembering his own misguided efforts to do God’s work in the flesh that
III . Awareness of Today’s Blessings. Wonderful!
At the same time Pastor David Jeremiah was waging his war with cancer, a friend of his was engaged in the same struggle. Charles Page, pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Charlotte, N. C., and Pastor Jeremiah spoke in each other’s churches and encouraged one another in the caused the Apostle Paul to see himself as a debtor.
I owe you. I owe God—not in the sense that I could ever repay
Him, but in a joyful desire to use His gifts for His glory.
What drove the early apostles into foreign, often hostile, lands with the Gospel of Jesus? A sense of gratitude for what God had done in them.
And so it comes down to these four things: He forgave me—His mercy.
He gave me—His grace.
He uses Lord. Charles was called to Heaven; David was left to continue his ministry. Dr. Jeremiah said that he sees each new day, every opportunity, each friend, each blessing, as gifts from the Father’s hands.
Today, I am blogging on this website, writing articles for Baptist Men (a ministry of the SBC North
American Mission Board), teaching a class at our Baptist seminary, doing daily cartoons for the Baptist Press , and preaching when I’m invited all over the place. Often, I get to meet with pastors from all over and encourage them in me—His blessings.
I owe Him—my debt.
By the way, have I thanked you lately? For the privilege of being your friend, of hearing from you, of writing these thoughts and seeing them picked up and reused in various places? This is such a blessing; one for which I will forever be grateful.
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from
New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.
Experiencing pain is hard, but the result of avoiding pain is much worse. The pain I speak of is necessary pain.
This is the discomfort involved in confronting that within us which is the result of what we have done to others and of what has been done to us. It is the pain that precedes repentance and it is the pain that precedes healing.
Allowing ourselves to experience both kinds is unavoidable if we hope to live an authentic Christian life, but avoid them we do.
I’ve never known a true masochist, an individual who consciously derives pleasure from pain. Most of us are all about avoiding it. God does not begrudge us that desire in and of itself. The myriad aches we today experience as human beings come from the fall and serve to remind us that God has a better plan for us and our future. Adam and
Eve knew no pain in Eden until the moment they choose to disobey the only demand their Creator gave them, to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Pain was, and is, the necessary consequence of our rebellion against a just God. We need not have experienced it as a race had we had remained obedient to our Creator. That we do is the greatest evidence that the biblical account of the fall is true.
God takes no pleasure in misery for its own sake. If
He did, He would be a cosmic sadist, and the God of the cross could not possibly be. He looks at the afflictions of humankind as the necessary result of transgression against him, but he does not enjoy it. If He did Jesus would never have been sent to us.
So, all of the sons and daughters of Adam & Eve must know pain in this world. It is part of a just curse upon a fallen race. However, for the blood-bought son or daughter of God, pain has a particular role to play. This role

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Physically it is better to feel the agony of a seconddegree burn than the numbness of a third-degree burn.
Why? Because the pain of the former indicates that the affected nerves and tissues are still capable of healing. The lack of feeling in the latter means that both nerve and tissue have been completely destroyed. Pain is God’s way of sounding the alarm that something is not as it should or could be. It tells us we need to do something about a problem.
Whether that problem stems from what we have done, or what has been done to us, pain is often what brings it to our attention. But we have an option when such a feeling begins to make itself known. We can choose the path of avoidance.
Every mood-altering substance, action, or possession known to human beings is potentially an enabler for such avoidance. Alcohol, sex, and material possessions are respective examples. Drunkenness, promiscuity, and compulsive shopping are all pain-avoiders. All seem to promise an easy alternative to experiencing the hurt that is endemic to our existence. This is a cruel illusion. Most of those who do not know God will, to one degree or another, take this route. It is, for them, a dead-end. The pain they avoid is exchanged for greater pain latter on, compounded by the sinful activity’s destructive effects on their bodies and souls.
Those who know God can choose this route as well; and I daresay that every Christian has chosen to detour
When we do this in sincerity, He will honor our willingness to trust Him and the pain we then enter into and endure will be profoundly redemptive. It will result in the purification and growth of our hearts and prepare us for the
Godly joys God wants all his children to know, the greatest of which is a deeper intimacy with Him.
When pain seems unavoidable it probably is. Our best reaction is to accept it after asking our Lord to use it to bring about His loving plan for our lives. Learning to react to pain in this way is one of the most important lessons of the Christian life. It is not easily accepted, and we should not expect it to be so, but once we have learned this lesson we will be taken beyond the hurt we experience to a place of blessing that will make that hurt pale by comparison.
Then the pain will have been worth it, perhaps beyond what we ever could have imagined.
© Shea Oakley. All Rights Reserved.
Converted from atheism in 1990, Shea Oakley has written over 350 articles for electronic and print publications since
2002, including Disciple Magazine (and Pulpit Helps
Magazine), The Christian Herald, The Christian Post,
Christian Network and Crosshome.com. In 2003 he graduated from Alliance Theological Seminary with a
Certificate of Theological Studies. Shea and his wife
Kathleen make their home in West Milford, New Jersey.
From Exegetical Commentary on Matthew , 2006,
AMG Publishers
Matthew informs us of the day that Jesus came forth from the grave but did not specify the exact time. The
Jews measured time by blocks of time ( chrónos [5550]) and seasons ( kairós [2540]).
Unlike a measured period of time ( chrónos ), a season ( kaíros ) was significant not because of minutes and hours but because of important events that transpired within it. For instance, we divide our year (a measured block of time) by seasons (summer and winter, spring and fall). Most of our memory relates to events, not necessarily the day, month, or year. We remember, for example, where we were when some significant event took place because of the event itself, not because it was Thursday and 3:00 p.m. If we remember the time, it is because of the event, not vice versa.
Jesus predicted several times that He would rise on the third day (e.g., Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19). In Matthew
12:40, He also predicted that He would be in the grave for three days and three nights. This has caused some Bible scholars to assume that Jesus must have been crucified on
Wednesday to allow a full seventy-two hours in the grave.

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The traditional view is that He would be in the grave for 56), had probably observed Joseph burying the body, and portions of three day/night periods or, more properly, three
“night/day” periods. had watched the sealing of the tomb and the posting of the guard (Matt. 27:61). They did not expect a resurrection but
When we in the Western world think of a twentyfour hour period, we usually consider a day starting at had come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body (Mark 16:1;
Luke 24:1). According to John’s account, Mary Magdalene midnight and extending to the next midnight. But we may also think of a day starting at dawn and extending through the night to the next dawn. The Jewish view of this twentyfour hour period begins at sunset and extends through the night and daylight hours to sunset the next day (see, Gen.
1). Paul expresses this idea in 2 Corinthians 11:25 when he uses a single word— nuchthēmeron ([3574], literally,
“night/day”) to describe his being adrift in the open sea for a night and a day.
I believe that the term “ three days and three nights ” in Matthew 12:40, understood in its own cultural setting, simply means three portions of consecutive “night/day” periods. Assuming that the crucifixion took place on a
Friday, darkness was over the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour (i.e., from noon until 3:00 in the afternoon)
(Matt. 27:45). Jesus must have died around that time, because He was already dead when the soldiers came to break the bones of those being crucified as requested by the
Jewish authorities. This hastened death so that no dead bodies would be on the cross during the Sabbath day (John
19:31; see also Deut. 21:22, 23).
Joseph of Arimathea buried Him soon afterwards
(Matt. 27:57-59; Mark 15:43-45). If Christ was crucified on
Friday, as traditionally held, then He was in the grave for a portion of Friday, all of Saturday, and part of Sunday. Any part of a twenty-four hour period was considered a day.
From the Jewish point of view, this would satisfy the term
“ three days and three nights .”
[1] The word translated as “ end
” in the King James
Version ( opsé
[3796]) means “late in the day” when used by itself as an adverb referring to the last hours before sunset (see Mark 11:19; 13:35). But most recent lexicographers agree that, when used as a preposition with a noun, it simply means “ after .” “ And after the Sabbath, as it dawned (from epiphōskō
[2020] from epí
[1909], upon, toward; and phōskō
[n.f.], to shine; see Luke 23:54) t oward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre
” (a.t.).
Sometime before 6 a.m. on Sunday morning when the third day was dawning, Jesus rose from the dead. Mark
16:2 says the women arrived “ very early in the morning…at the rising (from anatéllō [393], when the sun had already risen) of the sun .” Luke 24:1 says “ very early (from bathús
[901], deep, meaning very early) in the morning (from
órthros [3722], at the daybreak or dawning of the day).”
John 20:1 says “ when it was yet dark .”
Matthew mentions two women, Mary Magdalene and another Mary, coming to the tomb. They were among many who had followed Jesus from Galilee (Matt. 27:55arrived first and, on seeing the stone removed from the tomb, ran to tell the disciples that Jesus’ enemies had stolen
His body (John 20:2).
[2] “ Behold ” ( idoú , the imperative of eídō [1492], to perceive; from horáō [3708], to see and perceive; see
Matt. 1:20, 23, et al) calls our attention to something supernatural, in this instance an “ earthquake ” ( seismós
[4578], a shaking). Earthquakes accompanied both Jesus’ death and resurrection. This one is described as “ great ”
( mégas [3173]) because an (the Greek text has no definite article before “ angel ”) angel of the Lord descended (from katabaínō [2597], to descend) from ( ek [1537], out of from within) heaven, came and rolled back (from apokulíō [617] from apó [575], from; and kulíō (2947], to roll away) the stone from the door, and was sitting (from káthēmai [2521]) on it ” (a.t.).
[3] The angel’s “ countenance ” ( idéa [2397] TR; or eidéa UBS) was his external appearance, which, Matthew says, was like lightning, while his clothing glistened like snow. This reminds us of Jesus’ brilliant appearance at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:2). However, this is the only place that this word occurs in the New Testament.
[4] Until now, the soldiers had faithfully guarded the tomb, but as soon as they witnessed the earthquake and the angel, they became paralyzed with “ fear ” (from phóbos
[5401], associated with the verb phobéō
[5399], to fear).
Fear will also grip people when Jesus returns to earth accompanied by heavenly signs and disturbances (Luke
21:25–27). Scripture says that “ men’s hearts
[will be] failing (from apopsúchō
[674], expiring as if the soul
[ psuchē
] were departing “from” [ apó
] the body, literally being scared almost to death) them for fear (from phóbos
) , and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken
” (Luke
21:26).
What Paul calls “ that blessed hope
” of believers in
Titus 2:13 will be “the cursed despair” of unbelievers. Fear either causes persons to flee in terror from God or to fall prostrate in worship before Him. The terror the soldiers experienced was due to their ignorance of the gospel: “ And for fear (terror) of him (the angel of God) , the keepers (from tēréō [5083], to guard) were shaken (from seíō [4579], to shake or agitate) , and became as ( hōseí [5616], an adverb from hōs [5613], as; and ei [1487], “if”) dead .” (a.t.). As they sensed the shaking and saw the brilliant angel, all their strength left them. They evidently collapsed out of sheer terror and became paralyzed with fear.
[5] The angel ignored the terrified soldiers but spoke to the women who had already entered the sepulchre

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(Mark 16:5). Luke 24:4 and John 20:12 inform us that two started out together, but Mary Magdalene took the lead, angels were in the tomb. Evidently, a number of angels were present at Christ’s resurrection; however, only one seeing the stone from a distance. Then, returning from the tomb, they met the other party of women who were on their spoke that we have record of.
Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb way to the sepulchre and told them what they had seen.
They also told the eleven disciples (Luke 24:9). with several women, according to Luke 24:10, which says
“ and other women that were with them .” They had come to anoint the dead body of Jesus, but He was not in the tomb.
The angel who spoke said, “ Fear you not: for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified ” (a.t.). We do not know to which of the several women present the angel spoke. John 20:1 names only Mary Magdalene as coming to the sepulchre, but apparently she was accompanied by
“ another Mary ” (Matt. 28:1; a.t.). She did not say, “I do not know where they have laid Him” but rather “ we ” (John
20:2). Mary Magdalene and the other Mary may have
The angel identified the risen Lord as “ Jesus, the crucified One (a.t., estaurōménon , the perfect passive participle of stauróō [4717], lit., the One who has been crucified).” Since they thought He was dead, the women carried spices to anoint His body (Luke 24:1).
Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as president of AMG
International for over 40 years, was the founding editor of
Pulpit Helps Magazine ( Disciple ’s predecessor), and authored dozens of exegetical books.
When I was growing up, and I was trying to help but causing more problems than necessary, my dad would look at me with this frustrated look on his face and say,
“Wayne Allen if there is a hard way to do something you’ll find it!”
It’s amazing, isn’t it, that in the Christian life, any of us could mess up a “one car funeral” when we choose to do things our way! Here we are, in the New Covenant, with
Christ living in us in His Holy Spirit. We have His grace that sustains and enables us to do what He demands of us.
Yet we consistently turn back to doing things our way.
Our flesh is so deceptive that it gets us thinking there is a better way than doing things God’s way. Israel in the Old Testament is a great example for us of what the flesh cannot do. For instance, in the books of Joshua and
Judges, we see two generations that are as different as night and day. But, even though they are different, they had similar characteristics. The similarity of both generations was that their flesh got the best of them. Sinful flesh, whether it is ours today as New Covenant believers or theirs in the Old Testament, is totally incapable of fulfilling God’s demands and we all need to understand this! Israel modeled this for us in the Old Testament.
Paul illustrates the inability of our flesh in Romans
7:18: “ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not .” Now, the subject of Romans 7 is the Law.
It is mentioned 23 times in 15 verses. This passage is not about whether or not Paul is saved because it fits both equations—a person under the law before the cross was condemned by his own actions, but if he has placed himself back under law after salvation, then he is crippled in his walk. The main thing is the plain thing—Romans 7 illustrates for us how impotent our flesh is when compared to the requirements of God.
In fact, that’s why God gave the law in the first place. He gave it to expose all mankind’s sinfulness, starting with Israel. So, for example, when studying Joshua and Judges we have two generations of Israel that help us understand our own inability to live up to God’s standard.
The first generation under Joshua failed to completely drive out the enemy from the land as God had commanded. But the second generation after Joshua went downhill from there.
Judges 2:12 says, “ and they forsook the LORD, the
God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger
.”
They spiritually eroded and, as a result, they lived in one defeat after another. There is a pattern or cycle in Judges that is such an illustration of the flesh driven lifestyle of a believer.
It goes like this. First of all, the people consciously chose to disobey God. This is what sin is—a conscious choice to do things our own way.
Sorrow is the second step in the painful cycle that we see in Judges. Oh, the pain that we all experience when we choose to disobey God! The third part in this downhill cycle is salvation. This comes when we cry out to the Lord, having realized that we have created our own mess and God in His compassion and mercy delivers us.

In the case of Israel, God raised up a Judge to
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If you are a believer, and are frustrated in your own we have the book of Judges. But, here comes the clincher.
Once a good judge was in place, the people would live efforts to live the Christian life, then rejoice, brother! God’s mercy is fresh every day, and Christ has paid the debt of sin securely for a while, as long as he was alive. God would protect them through their deliverer. But the sad thing was that it didn’t stop there, because as soon as the deliverer, the judge, died, they would once again repeat this fleshly cycle and go right back into sin. When will we ever learn?
Just think about it. Christ is our Deliverer, and in
Him we are secure forever! He never dies, and He has paid for our sins on the cross. He arose from the dead and ascended back into Heaven, where He sat down having finished His work of redemption. Since He paid our sin debt, we owe our flesh nothing. So why do we keep on sending payments to it? Sin, whether rebellious or religious, has the attitude of “I’m going to do things my way.” It will take us further than we ever wanted to stray, keep us longer that you cannot pay. Allow His kindness and goodness to lead you to repentance—a total change from the way you have been living in your own power.
Yield to Him and to His power living in you.
Realize that victory is not you overcoming sin but it is Jesus overcoming you. Stop trying to measure up to what Christ has already fulfilled. Surrender to Him and learn to enjoy
His life that He wants to live through you. You can’t and
He never said you could live the Christian life; but, He can and always said He would! He lives in us to do through us what we should have already learned that we can’t do ourselves. As Israel taught us, the flesh is a dead end street!
Wayne Barber is senior pastor of Woodland Park Baptist
Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
What to Do in the Middle of the Night
“ At midnight, I will rise to give thanks to you, because of your righteous judgments ” (Psalm 119:62).
You wake up from deep sleep and lie there thinking, “Why am I awake? I need my rest.” And then it happens. Your mind cranks up and begins to deal with matters left unfinished from yesterday and assignments looming just over the horizon. There went your sleep.
The typical advice for active people in this situation runs like this: “Keep a note pad next to the bed. When something occurs to you to do tomorrow or you wish to remember, write it down. Then, go back to sleep.” That’s good advice, but not always.
Sometimes the thing to do is get out of bed and go to work. Now, what “go to work” means is different for each of us. For one, it means to turn on the laptop or desktop computer. Another will get his Bible and a notepad.
Someone else will drop to her knees in prayer. Pay attention to what’s happening in your soul.
Many years ago when I was a young pastor, I awakened with a story on my mind. It was a parable of the
Christian life, and it had overpowered my sleep. So, at 2 a. m., I slipped into the living room, turned on the lights, and wrote the article in longhand. Later, I tweaked and improved it, then sent it off to several magazines, all of whom rejected it. Then my wife suggested it was the type of creative piece that His magazine, the publication of
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, ran on the inside back cover. I mailed it off and was pleased that they gave it a prominent spot.
For another full decade, from time to time royalty checks came from other publishers—in New Zealand and
Korea even—who were picking up the article and running it.
These days, that process has been shortcut significantly. One writes the article, posts it on his blog, and the world sees it almost immediately. They don’t call it the
Worldwide Web for nothing! Frequently, online magazines will pick up a piece from our blog and distribute it to their vast readership across the globe. And how wonderful is that. By the way, so much for royalty checks these days— it’s a rare online magazine that pays for the articles they pick up, but if your purpose in writing is to spread the
Lord’s message, it’s all good.
Becky Brown, a full-time itinerant worker for the
Lord (guitar, singing, speaking) and as creative as anyone
I’ve ever met, calls those early times the “WE” hours of the night. She says, “The Lord is there with me.” Some of her best writing is done then.
Everyone, minister or not, learns the hard way that those wonderful insights arriving in the middle of the night and which we “just know” we could not possibly forget by daybreak have a way of vanishing. We do forget them.
That’s why it’s a good idea to have a note pad by the bedside.

write down all that comes to you. The result might be
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But if the idea is flooding your mind and robbing you of sleep, it’s an even greater thing to get out of bed and
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from
New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at wonderful. Or it may not be. All you have to lose is a little sleep. It’s worth the risk. www.joemckeever.com.
Published as a chapter in Laws of Christ for Common Life ,
1884.
What is it to obey Christ? The question appears to be an extremely simple one, but it is possible to suppose that we are obeying Christ when we are really refusing Him any effective authority over our moral life.
I. Christ Is Superior to Conscience
There are, for example, many excellent people who read the four Gospels in order to ennoble their own conceptions of righteousness. They would say frankly, if they were asked, and without any suspicion that they were not acknowledging the great claims of Christ, “Conscience is our supreme authority, but the life and teaching of Christ educate conscience, make its vision keener, purify and exalt its ideal of perfection. We keep the commandments of
Christ because we see for ourselves that they are lofty and good.” But this is not the same thing as obeying Christ
For what is the essence of obedience? Take a case.
If a man over whom you have no authority consults you about how a piece of work ought to be done, you do not complain that he is disobedient if he declines to follow your directions. If you do not convince him that your way is the best, you say that he is a dull man; if you convince him and he does the work in some other way which does not involve so much trouble, you say that he is a lazy man or a fool.
There is no possibility either of obedience or of disobedience where there is no authority.
But suppose one of your own workmen, one of your own servants, asks you the same question, and you answer it—the case is altogether different. He may think that your way involves a waste of labor, a waste of time, a waste of expense. He may not be able to see that it is better than his own way, but he is not at liberty to refuse to follow your directions. It would be more satisfactory if he saw that your plan is better than his own, but whether he sees it or not he has to accept it. You are his master, and he has no choice.
If I keep Christ’s commandments only because I have come to see for myself that they are wise and good, I do not obey Him . If I recognize His authority, I shall keep
His commandments before I recognize that they are either good or wise.
The conscience is instructed and developed by the writings of the great moral teachers, and by the lives of many good men, but no ethical treatise, no saintly biography, holds the same place in relation to the moral life as the four Gospels. Archdeacon Paley may teach me in what sense a promise is to be kept, and he may remind me of invaluable sedatives for soothing and quieting anger. I may act upon his teaching and be much the better for it, but
I do not obey him, for he has no authority over me. He instructs my conscience, and I obey that.
If we use Christ’s teaching and history simply to ennoble our own conceptions of righteousness, and if these remain the supreme authority, we are obeying conscience, not Christ.
Half a century ago many unwise persons thought that children ought always to be shown the reasons for everything that they were required to do. This pernicious theory has happily lost its temporary popularity. It is obvious that children who were brought up under its influence could never be disciplined to obedience. But the inevitable conditions of human life must have made it impossible to translate the theory into practice.
There are many things that can hardly be explained to a baby in long clothes. Even a child of six will not find it easy to understand why it should be compelled to take offensive medicine, or why any limit should be placed upon its innocent pleasures in the vineries and strawberry beds. It is doubtful whether even a boy of nine or ten can be made to understand why he should learn the multiplication table or the Latin declensions. He has to do it first, and to discover the reasons afterwards.
The same principle holds in relation to morals. If a child is not disciplined to truthfulness, industry, kindness, before he can see for himself the obligations of any of these virtues, the chances are that he will never see that lying, indolence, cruelty, are hateful vices. Compel him to be

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And so, if we obey Christ, His commandments will soon shine in their own light. “ He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life .” It is not by mere meditation that we come to see the real beauty and excellence of Christ’s commandments; we must obey them before we see how beautiful and noble they are. We must actually follow Christ if we desire to have “ the light of life ;” if we decline to follow Him till the light comes we shall remain in darkness.
II. Christ Is Superior to Our Own Knowledge
To insist that no commandment that Christ has given is binding till we ourselves are able to recognize its obligations is clearly and flagrantly inconsistent with the acknowledgment of His authority. There are some who make a nearer approach to obeying Him than this, and yet do not obey.
Most men learn before they are thirty that conscience is developed very slowly. To discover duties when the time has gone by for discharging them is one of the saddest and, I suppose, one of the commonest experiences of human life. In early manhood we see that if our moral sense had been clearer and stronger in boyhood we should have avoided many follies and many sins. In middle life we look back with a sigh upon early manhood.
Knowledge has come to us too late. Those who had the strongest claims upon our love, and whom we did not love, have passed away, and it is too late to atone for our coldness and neglect.
We were unjust without knowing it, and those who suffered from our injustice, though living, are beyond our reach, and the harm we did them is irreparable. Wide areas of duty were altogether disregarded—disregarded, perhaps, through the very eagerness with which we gave our heart and strength to some of the great ends of life. And now we cannot go back; the years have gone by forever in which those desolate wastes might have been made fertile and beautiful.
Happy are those who are born into households enriched with the moral traditions of many generations of high and noble living! A single generation cannot learn for itself the great laws of life, and it is not enough, therefore, to be born of parents whose hearts are loyal to duty and to
God. The chances are that much of their wisdom came too late to be of much service to their children.
It is only the slowly accumulated moral wealth transmitted by a long line of honorable ancestry that can avail. The higher forms of morality, like the higher forms of committed by its predecessor, and recognizes from the first some duty which its predecessor had to discover for itself.
Few of us are the heirs of this blessed inheritance.
In the moral order we belong to new families; we have had to make our own way; we have no pedigree. Or some near ancestor wasted the family estate; what had been accumulated before him was suddenly dissipated and lost, and his children were brought to ruin. We begin life with only a rudimentary knowledge of how we ought to live, and we learn nothing early enough to put it into practice.
This experience leads many men to confess that since Christ knows very much more about righteousness than they know, it is a duty to trust His larger knowledge and to follow His guidance, even when He leads them into paths which they would not have chosen for themselves.
They accept His judgments on all moral questions against their own.
Christ says, “ Love your enemies ,” “ Resist not him that is evil .” The duty is not self-evident. It is a man’s natural impulse when he is struck to strike back, and to strike as hard as he can. The hot resentment is not only natural, it seems the kindling fire of a manly virtue. But
Christ condemns it, and those who trust His judgment against their own try to quench the passion and to discipline themselves to the patient endurance of injury.
They also accept His judgment rather than their own of the gravity of certain moral offences. They can see for themselves that there is a want of graciousness and moral dignity in flinging about scornful, contemptuous, bitter words, but if in a moment of heat such words escape them, they think that the words have, after all, not much harm in them. But Christ says that they are very serious, and that by uttering them a man may incur the gravest guilt.
“ It was said to them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say unto you, that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca’, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, ‘Thou fool’, shall be in danger of the hell of fire .” Those who have discovered how slowly conscience develops may be led by this discovery to trust Christ’s moral estimates rather than their own, and to watch more anxiously against the heats of passion and against bitter and contemptuous words.
This is a great advance on the position of those who recognize no authority in Christ’s precepts until they can see for themselves the evil of what they forbid and the righteousness of what they command. It is a great advance, but it is not enough. For this is nothing more than faith in

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Disciple Magazine, Vol. 4, # 21, 11/12/2012—Printer-Friendly Version the larger moral wisdom of Christ; it is not recognition of is what I ought to do, I will do it.” That is a great proof of
His moral authority, and where there is no recognition of authority there can be no obedience. confidence , but it is not obedience.
The younger man has faith in his friend’s perception of what is morally right in
A trust very similar to that which has been just described—the same in kind—may be wisely reposed in complicated business questions, but if his friend asserted any authority over him he would at once resent it. our fellow-men. It sometimes happens that a young manufacturer, merchant, or professional man finds himself in a position in which it is hard to reconcile his personal interests with the claims of others. He cannot measure these claims with any accuracy, still less can he determine how he should satisfy them.
There are three or four courses open to him. One of them he promptly dismisses as involving quite unnecessary sacrifice; he is still perplexed about the others. He consults an older man than himself, a man of large experience, in whose judgment he has perfect faith. His friend tells him that he is bound to take the course which he has dismissed from his mind; it is the hardest, but the only right one. The young man cannot see why. The line of conduct on which his friend insists is legitimate, but he is not persuaded that it is obligatory.
Still his friend maintains that it is the only right course; and the young man says, “I cannot see it, but I will trust your judgment rather than my own. If you are sure this
Christ does not come to us asking only for our confidence, as one who has a larger knowledge of moral duty than we have; He comes asserting authority and insisting on obedience. I do not know how to put it except by saying that He speaks to us as an objective conscience— a conscience outside of us—with an authority to which we are bound to submit.
Robert William Dale (1829-1895) was an English
Congregationalist pastor and church leader. Born in
London, Dale studied at Spring Hill College in the industrial city of Birmingham. In 1853, he joined the Carr’s
Lane Chapel as co-pastor, acceding to the role of pastor in
1859 and holding that position for the rest of his life. He is remembered both for his passionate preaching of the Gospel and as a social reformer for his insistence that the church work to back up her witness by caring for the poor and needy.
Originally published in Pulpit Helps , February 2007.
Have you ever wondered why God made flies?
That’s the first question about God’s creation that I asked, as a farm boy. Those flies were so pesky and so unshooable! My God-loving mother and my Sunday school teachers assured me that our Creator was a loving God—so why would He create flies to pester us?
Since that long-ago day, many similar questions have occurred to me, and I’ve also found some answers— not to all my questions, but enough to convince me that there are answers, whether I learn them or not.
If you’d really like to know why God made flies, you’ll want some day to thank a French naturalist named
Sure enough, the flies found the corpses, and laid eggs in the ones not covered with paper. Two processes began to occur: the fly eggs hatched into larva, which grew fat on the flesh of the birds; and those bodies began to rot.
Neither process was initiated in the protected bodies. They simply dried out. Their chemicals and nutrients were not released to the earth, to be used again.
Of course flies aren’t the only—nor even the most important—way God provided to dispose of dead animals.
He also made many carrion-eating animals…and uncountable zillions of friendly bacteria to break down what’s left. God even made burying beetles: insect
Jean Henri Fabre, who discovered that flies are a vital part of God’s rubbish removal system.
After watching fat blue-bottle flies lay their eggs in the bodies of dead birds, he made an experiment: He searched out the bodies of several dead birds, and divided them into two groups. One group he left out on his laboratory table, with the windows open. The other group he wrapped in newspaper, so flies couldn’t get at them. undertakers, which literally bury carcasses of small birds and animals. Underground, the beetles prepare the dead flesh to be food for their young—and again the valuable chemicals are made available for reuse.
Here’s another problem, and God’s solution: Very few animals eat dung, while all create it. What would the world be like with constantly-growing mountains and plateaus of manure? Well, our heavenly Father took care of that problem, too. Dung beetles are part of His solution.
A fresh cow patty may look and smell awful to you, but to dung beetles it is God’s provision for their next

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The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) lives in Newberg, Oregon, with his wife, Marga. a warm haven and ready lunch for the eggs placed inside.
These are only a few examples of the ways God has provided to recycle natural garbage. They are evidences of the wonderful way all nature functions together as a smoothly-running machine, with no parts either missing or extra. The more we know about our world, the more
Sources:
The Wonders of Instinct, Jean Henri Fabre, Century Co.,
New York, 1918, pp.106-108.
Insects of the World , Walter Linsermaier, McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1972, p. 153.
Originally published in the newsletter of the Evangelical
Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Republished here by permission of the author.
In my pursuit of Certified Fund Raising Executive
(CFRE) certification, I have attended many workshops and meetings in recent years with fellow Association of
Fundraising Professionals (AFP) members as well as with our local Center for Nonprofits here in Chattanooga.
I became aware early on that there is really not much AFP material out there written specifically for the faith-based nonprofit. At least in my local area, where there are hundreds of nonprofits, I represent one of only a handful of Christ-centered nonprofits.
As a result of this experience, I have begun to develop my own philosophy for fundraising within the faith-based Christian community. Hopefully some of what I share below will be an encouragement to others who, like me, are learning a lot of great things but not finding much related to raising funds from a Christian perspective.
I. It’s Not about Fundraising
Having been involved in my local church and in cross-cultural missions ministry for over 15 years now, I realize that it is commonly understood that “It takes money to do ministry.” Christians who are involved with raising funds for ministry (whether through their local church or for a Christian nonprofit) need to have a clear understanding of where these funds come from.
Our perspective as faith-based nonprofit fundraisers will affect our own peace of mind, our planning, and how we communicate with and respond to our donors. While teaching through Second Corinthians recently, my pastor,
Wayne Barber, made a statement that I believe will help us here. He said, “It is not about fundraising, it is about God providing.”
In the midst of all of the techniques and strategies we have on fundraising, as a fundraiser for a faith-based nonprofit, I have the privilege of trusting God to provide for the needs of the ministry I represent. That is the essence behind the term “faith-based.” I can certainly utilize some of the same methods and techniques as my secular nonprofit fundraising counterparts, but in the end, I have to recognize that God is the Provider. It is His nonprofit ministry, and He will sustain it as He sees fit.
II. I Must Accept My Calling
Fundraising as a profession has not been highly regarded historically. Within the Christian community, it can be even worse if we do not have the right perspective on why we do what we do.
Dwight L. Moody, Founder of the Moody Bible
Institute in Chicago, is quoted as saying, “Blessed are the money raisers, for in heaven they shall stand next to the martyrs.” As I see it, this statement speaks of one’s
“calling.” As a fundraiser for a faith-based nonprofit, I must accept the high calling I have been given to seek funding for the expansion of God’s Kingdom here on earth and ultimately in heaven. The fact that Moody had us standing next to the martyrs also shows that he knew a little bit of the hardship associated with this calling but also of the rich blessings to come.
For the faith-based fundraiser, this is not just a job—but also a ministry. Pursuing relationships that help provide for the ongoing work of my nonprofit is about the people more than about the money. Yes, I have to ask, but in such a way so as to honor the God Who called me into this role of raising funds.

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III. Personal Stewardship
As a Christian fundraiser, before I can ask others to that, while following this can bring success, it is in fact just that—a formula—and God does not work by formulas.
The faith-based nonprofit fundraiser must realize that God will provide, but it is rarely at the time we want support my faith-based nonprofit ministry, I have to have my own personal plan of stewardship that I am living out.
This simply falls into the category of “not asking others to do what I myself am not doing” and is a matter of integrity.
Without this, my motives become clear, and I am a fraud. If I am asking others to support my nonprofit ministry, and I am not giving to this same ministry myself, I make the strongest statement possible that it is not worthy of support.
IV. Wait and Pray
Making the right “ask,” for the right amount, at the right time, and from the right person is understood to be the
Him to do so. As is so often true in life, waiting is a big part of seeing the funds come in. Recognizing that God does not work the way we often think He should goes a long way toward keeping our focus where it belongs—on the God we serve and the relationships He has given us to help provide for His ministry and in His time.
Patrick Ragan serves as vice president for development for
AMG International in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission , Tim
Chester & Steve Timmis, 2012, Crossway, Wheaton, Ill.,
ISBN 9781433532221, 161 pages, softcover, $14.99.
As an American Christian, I confess to being overly comfortable with my culture and overly sensitive to perceived threats to religious liberty and biblical values. In light of recent hostility by the U. S. Government toward
Christian institutions (through mandated provision of contraceptive and abortifacient drugs for employees) and the apparent confirmation of these policies through the reelection of politicians who champion them, it is easy to see the Church’s influence waning in our society and be tempted to anger or despair.
In that frustration, Everyday Church was an excellent wake-up call, breathing Gospel life back into my understanding and expectations of the Church and its relation to culture. Timmis and Chester both serve as pastors in the United Kingdom, a country whose Christian heritage has all but disappeared, so their sound scriptural advice is also given the weight of experience.
The authors’ premise is that the West is no longer
“Christendom” but has become the mission field. Though this cliché has been around for many years, they argue that churches can no longer do evangelism and outreach in the
West from the assumption that people have a basic knowledge of the Christian story and jargon. Instead, they propose treating the West as the mission field it is, adopting the methods and perseverance of pioneer missionaries who devote themselves to learning the values, habits, and language of the people they are called to in order to find out how best to reach them with the Gospel story.
Over six chapters, Timmis and Chester build their case (mostly through an exposition of 1 Peter), showing how believers can reach their neighbors through engaging in the rhythms of their local communities and seeking to plant, water, and reap Gospel seed through living intentionally “ as aliens and strangers ” among their neighbors.
They exhort churches to take their focus from programs and projects that consume all their members’ time
(operating from an “if you build it they will come” approach to evangelism) and working instead to equip believers to reach their neighborhoods through plugging in to existing social structures. They remind readers frequently that ostracism and persecution are the norm for most
Christians around the world (and throughout history), and that Westerners need to rediscover the faithfulness and boldness that comes from this.
The authors’ compelling call and their practical discussion of what church life, pastoral care, mission, and evangelism look like when the Church has moved from the center of culture to the margins make Everyday Church required reading for Western Christians. It is time for us to recognize that Christianity has been pushed aside from its favored place in society and to begin discovering how to be faithful witnesses for the unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ in this new reality.
Justin Lonas
Target: All
Type: Church ministry/missions
Take: Must read

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A pastor was killed and 11 others wounded in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa on November 3, when suspected Islamic extremists launched a grenade through the sheet-iron roof of Utawala Interdenominational Church during the worship service, the Christian Post reports.
At least three of the 11 injured had wounds so serious they were airlifted to Kenyatta General Hospital in
Nairobi. According to a source, the grenade “landed right at the podium where the chaplain was delivering a church sermon, hitting him right at the forehead, and he died immediately.” Then followed several gunshots, the source added.
It is suspected the blast could be a revenge attack by sympathizers of the terror group al Shabaab in neighboring Somalia, where Kenyan forces are involved in fighting the Islamists.
Religion Today Summaries
Although Mitt Romney lost his presidential bid,
Christians should be prepared for higher Mormon visibility and credibility in America, according to an interfaith witness expert and a seminary professor, Baptist
Press reports.
Tal Davis, who spent more than 20 years with the
North American Mission Board training Christians in interfaith witness, said: “When Mormon missionaries knock on people’s doors, they will be seen in a more positive light when people know that [Romney] was once a Mormon missionary. They will likely gain entrance into homes where they formerly would have been denied.”
Ant Greenham, assistant professor of missions at
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, said
Mormonism may be on track for complete acceptance in
American culture, but that it would be “due more to society’s postmodern tendencies than to ongoing Mormon efforts to achieve acceptance.” Both Greenham and Davis encouraged Christians to become better informed of their own faith, the distinctives of the Mormon belief system, and the differences between the two.
“Mormonism is not Christianity,” Greenham said,
“no matter how much Mormons would like to be considered part of the Christian mainstream.” Davis advised Christians to “engage Mormons with love and friendship….
Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the need to share Christ with them. Mormonism is undeniably a false system and those in it are lost and need the salvation that only Jesus can provide.”
Religion Today Summaries
Maine and Maryland voted to legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday, breaking a 32-state record of states voting down gay marriage rights. They will become the seventh and eighth states to legalize gay marriage and the first to do so through the people’s vote rather than a court decision or legislative act.
Minnesota and Washington State also had similar measures on the ballot. Minnesota voted down an effort to define marriage in the state constitution as being between one man and one woman; results from Washington show voters narrowly approving same-sex marriage.
Religion Today Summaries
American Roman Catholics voted for Barack
Obama over Mitt Romney by 50 to 48 percent, while
Protestants preferred Romney by a 15-point margin—57 to
42 percent, the Religion News Service reports.
Obama won 70 to 26 percent among Americans with no religious affiliation, 69 to 30 percent among Jews and 74 to 23 percent among other religions. Evangelicals voted for Romney 78 to 21 percent—the same rate as
Mormons.
Additionally, those who said they attend worship weekly preferred Romney by 20 points, 59 to 39 percent, while those who said they attend less frequently went for
Obama by 25 points.
Religion Today Summaries
An abortion center in Falls Church, Va., bragged about not letting Superstorm Sandy shut it down, WORLD
Magazine reports.
The Falls Church Healthcare Clinic told supporters that in the aftermath of the storm “we got in around 5:30 a.m., [and] there [was] two inches of water in the surgery room, water on the carpets, two offices totally soaked, water leaking in from our large windows. We put out hundreds of towels and started mopping up…. We started seeing patients at 10 a.m.”
Pro-life organization Live Action wrote on its blog:
“On what planet is it safe to perform surgery under those conditions? Falls Church Healthcare Center does indeed perform first-trimester surgical abortions, presumably in

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According to Jerry Dykstra of Open Doors USA, their surgery room, which was flooded with two-plus inches of water.”
Live Action continued: “Operating rooms generally are supposed to be sterile. But apparently that’s not an issue the implementation of such a constitution is expected and can only mean deepening trouble for Egyptian Christians.
“It is hardly a surprise that the Muslim Brotherhood is now when abortions need to be performed. Time and again, abortionists prove that they aren’t interested in the ‘safe’ part of the ‘safe, legal and rare’ mantra that they tout so frequently. If it comes between making their blood money and the safety of women, the money will come first each time.”
Religion Today Summaries pushing sharia as the law of the land in Egypt,” Dykstra said.
“Strict Islamic law has always been its main agenda for Egypt. President Morsi attempted to disguise this before the election, saying his government would be moderate.
Now the true face of extreme Islam is being unveiled to the
world. The high hopes of the revolution and overthrow of
Mubarak have now been replaced by the reality of another form of extremist government—an Islamist one.”
Islamists have dominated every election since the
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-majority government continues to debate the phrasing used while ousting of Mubarak, and ultra-conservative Salafis are pressuring the new government to make sure sharia is drafting its new constitution, which will more than likely have sharia (Islamic law) as its foundation, the Christian
Post reports. followed. Last week, the Associated Press reported that the
Brotherhood was “committed to enshrining Islamic sharia law as the main source of a new constitution.”
Religion Today Summaries
Following a Faithful Lord
Mark 10:32-34
Prop.: The plan for the passion of Christ was for it to provide entrance into the Kingdom of God for those who accept its substitutionary value.
Intro.: This account of the story would have served as an encouragement to the Roman Christians, who were suffering persecution at the time of Mark’s writing—as well as to contemporary Christians around the world.
I. The Preparation for the Passion Was Designed: “ He took the Twelve aside …”
A. The historical aspect: “ They were on their way up to Jerusalem .”
B. The volitional aspect: “ with Jesus leading the way.
”
C. The emotional aspect: “ and the disciples were astonished .” Only Mark relates the disciples’ amazement and fear—but compare John 11:7-8, 16:
“ Let us also go, that we may die with him .”
D. The spiritual aspect: “ and told them what was going to happen to Him .”
II. The Prediction of the Passion Was Detailed (10:33-34)
A. The divine authorization is apparent: “ He [the
Son of God] said .”
B. The divine information is accurate: “ and the Son of Man will be betrayed .”
C. The divine vindication is arranged: “ Three days later he will rise
.”
Conc.: The methodology of crucifixion was calculated; the anatomy of crucifixion was cruel; the sociology of crucifixion was critical (symbolic of humility and suffering). We should cooperate with the plan for the passion of Christ by accepting His substitutionary death for us.
Steve D. Eutsler
Four Timely Admonitions
Matthew 6:24-34
Intro.: In this materialistic, worrying world, we need these four timely admonitions for direction and guidance.
I. It Is Impossible to Serve God and Money (v. 24)
A. Ananias and Sapphira tried and died.
B. Rich young ruler went away sorrowful.
C. Christians, heed 1 Tim. 6:6-11, 17-19.
II. Minimal Faith Produces Maximal Anxiety (vv. 25-30)
A. Does God provide for birds?
B. Does God provide for flowers?
C. Won’t He provide for you?
D. Learn to trust God (2 Cor. 1:8-10).
III. Worry Is Worldly (vv. 31, 32)
A. Phil. 4:6.
B. Ps. 37:1.
IV. Put God First and He Will Take Care of Your Needs (v.
33)
A. God’s promises are sure and true.

1. Mal. 3:8-10.
2. Ps. 37:25.
B. Put God to the test and rest.
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Disciple Magazine, Vol. 4, # 21, 11/12/2012—Printer-Friendly Version was seized with a desire to taste it. When he sent his servant with the request that he be given some of the fruit to take to the king, she replied that she only had enough fruit to meet
Victor Knowles
Disappointing People
“ Woe unto you…ye also outwardly appear her own needs.
She thus laid bare the fact that her expressions of gratitude had been mere words which lacked the element of truthfulness.
Anonymous righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity
” (Matt. 23:27-28).
For some time after World War II, you could walk along the much bombed Queen Victoria Street in London and come upon a lovely Georgian doorway which had been left standing. The walls had been blasted or knocked down and carted away as rubble. Only the beautiful mahogany door, standing half open, was left of what was once a prosperous business establishment.
Glazed glass doors were visible within, and one could imagine large rooms filled with busy people beyond.
But there was nothing beyond—nothing but a huge hole torn up by the enemy’s bomb. That door was a beautiful facade—every promise of something within, but belying
On Gratitude
True thanksgiving is a cultivated habit rather than an occasional emphasis.
We can be thankful in a topsy-turvy world if our lives are right side up.
True thanksgiving is a cultivated habit rather than a yearly ritual.
These Three Anonymous
The greatest possession for which to be thankful is a that promise with an awful emptiness and ruin.
Perhaps that door without a house is similar to some people we meet. The door is so beautiful. Their words, their looks, and their manners are delightful. We long to walk through the half opened door, and into their minds and heart and be enriched by our friendship with them. But, alas, we soon discover that the door is all. They have never bothered to develop their spiritual life. Beyond the flashing smile there is boredom and dullness. They put up a good front, but it conceals a horrible hypocrisy and life of iniquity. Jesus says unto all such, “ Woe unto you!
”
Anonymous
Living Gratitude
We may offer fervent expressions of gratitude in the prayer meeting and sing aloud in the praise service, but our real sense of indebtedness must manifest itself in more practical ways.
The story is told of a king who had saved the life of one of his subjects, and every day afterwards she came to his gate with protestations of gratitude.
“I can never begin to pay the debt I owe him,” she wailed.
One day the king, in his chariot, passed her cottage.
He saw in her garden a tree bearing some luscious fruit, and thankful heart.
No one really gives thanks unless he is willing to give more thanks.
If you will learn to appreciate the good things you have, you won’t miss the good things you don’t have.
A thankful heart doubles our blessings, causing us to enjoy them twice—when we receive them and when we remember them.
If we pause to think, we’ll have cause to thank.
Gratitude takes three forms: a feeling in the heart, an expression in words, and giving in return.
These six via the Old Union Reminder
Critical words that come from the mouth originate in an unthankful heart.
Those that blame God for the bad times are likely to be those who do not thank Him for the good times.
These two via Wayne Nix

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