Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark : Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark . 

ONE: Don't miss the boat. 
TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat! 
THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. 
FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. 
FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. 
SIX: The Ark never had a rudder; so God did the steering.
SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs. 
EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. 
NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile. 
TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. 
ELEVEN: No matter the storm, there's always a rainbow waiting. 
TWELVE: Even when we're 'all at sea', God has a perfect plan for us.

Shattered Dreams

""If I were a pastor, I would want to preach in the spirit of the New
Covenant, inviting everyone in the congregation to see the heart of
God revealed in the cross of Christ. I would encourage them to
interpret all of life''s hardships not as problems to fix or struggles
to relieve or pain to deaden, but as important elements in a larger
story that all God''s children long to tell. I would urge them to
accept wherever they are on the journey, whether happy or miserable,
as the place where God will meet them, where He loves them, where He
will continue to work in them. And I would offer my own life as a
growing, struggling, sometimes painfully unattractive example of what
doing that might mean. I would beg God to deliver me from Calvary-
denying sermons, which leave people feeling scolded and pressured.

I would ask God to never let me again preach an Eden-denying message
where psychological insights replace biblical wisdom in a misguided
effort to repair emotional damage when the real problem is a serpent-
inspired determination to experience life without God." " - Larry
Crabb "Shattered Dreams" (via Tom Wood, www.gracedagain.com)

Finding Rest in the Busyness of Ministry

Hi Nick,

Mark 6:31: And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

Some of the ingredients I 've found helpful to "rest" while you're busy in ministry:

~A grace-oriented daily devotional (like His Victorious Indwelling, N. Harrison)

~Personal Bible reading plan that is primarily for my fellowship with the Lord instead of sermon preparation. (See Grace Note; Balanced Diet Reading Plan.)

~Resolve overt and covert anger/frustration. This engages stressful circumstances to drain us emotionally and mentally. God's radical solution: full surrender to Him and abiding in Christ. (See Grace Notes: Defusing Anger, Transforming Irritations - www.GraceNotebook.com/ Grace Notes / Search)

~Finding a peaceful place. You may feel like there's no quiet place; find one somewhere. I've used the local library as a secondary office. Put cell on vibrate and answer calls together when ready.

~Listen to praise music (headphones) at the end of the day to unwind, refresh, and re-focus. Your dreams will be more positive.

When I came across Steven Covey's material years ago, I noticed biblical principles involved (tho he's a Mormon). For example, The "7th habit" has to do with the wisdom of budgeting time and resources for personal rest, intellectual growth and--most of all-devotional refreshment. Here's a summary of Covey's version: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit7.php

May the Lord give us wisdom to apply the "sabbath" principle in a way that is personal and practical.

Psalm 116:7: "Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you."

- John Woodward

Humility - True Greatness

"In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for 'God opposes the proud

but favors the humble.' So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you... Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith." I Peter 5:5-9 (NLT)

In Humility True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney quotes John Stott: "At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend."

[He goes on to state] "Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness."

"Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him."

"The proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God, thereby attempting in effect to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive.  No wonder God opposes pride.  No wonder He hates pride.  Let that truth sink into your thinking."

"Serving others for the glory of God.  This is the genuine expression of humility: this is true greatness as the Savior defined it."

"Let's ask ourselves: When it comes to the values we live by, what will others say about us one day:  Will they testify that humility characterized our lives?"

I ask myself often, am I more concerned about what people think or am I looking forward to hearing my Savior say "well done thou good and faithful servant!"

I'm struggling with life and all the "stuff" we go through as I'm learning to Keep my eyes on Christ.  I want to be able to say with Paul "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

I pray for each of you, that Jesus will be more real to you today and as you learn to humble yourself before Him, know that He will lift you up in due time.

In His Marvelous Grace,

Dave Broome

Heb. 12:1-4

achievers4him@yahoo.com

G.R.A.C.E.

I have been doing a study on Grace and as I was meditating these
thoughts came to mind:

G--Grace, God's gift

R--Reigning in us

A--Abounding Actively with

C--Continual victory by constant trust

E--Exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ask of think

The Gift of God, through Christ for us to receive by faith without
wavering.

Praise You, Lord for the gift of Grace through Christ Jesus

contributed by S. Alt

Evangelism seminar available

One of the challenges of equipping church members to do evangelism is the follow through. To what extent will they have increased confidence and motivation to be faithful in sharing the gospel?

Grace Fellowship International (sponsor of RevitalizingPastors.org) has just completed a seminar that relates the message of the Cross and identification with Christ to the ministry of evangelism. The seminar could be given on a weekend or formatted differently to fit a church's schedule.

Excerpt from the first section of the seminar:

1.Introduction 

What is effective evangelism? 

  -Ineffective witnessing - Matt. 7:21,22 

  - Effective witnessing 

       Decision and disciple - John 5:24; 2 Pet. 1:10 

      "Fruit that remains" - John 15:16; Col. 1:23 

The importance of effective evangelism 

 - The Great Commission - Matt 28:18-20 

       Evangelism is the beginning of discipleship 

       Discipleship is the validation of evangelism 

The chronic lack of effective evangelism in American churches 

 -Statistics 

 -Significance 

     Neglecting evangelism is a sin of omission - James 4:17 

     Equipping without witnessing quenches the Holy Spirit  - 1 Thess. 5:19 

     Evangelism is the privilege and responsibility of the whole Body of Christ - Matt 4:19 

Evangelism as a process: The parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) 

-Till the soil (live the abundant life, build relationships, pray) 

-Sow the seed (share the Gospel) 

-Water the seed (patiently ask and answer questions, pray, show love) 

-Pull weeds (be able to politely refute unbiblical viewpoints - 2 Tim. 2:23-26) 

-Harvest the wheat (invite him/her to receive Christ - John 1:12) 

~~~~~~~~

The seminar also introduces complementary materials and resources that are available for pastoral and lay ministry.

We would be glad to get feedback from pastors as we make this module available.

Baptized into Christ

"...OR DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT AS MANY OF US AS WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST
JESUS WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH?" ROMANS 6:3

When we continue reading through verses 4 and 5, we understand that
when we were baptized into Christ at our conversion experience, we
were baptized into His crucifixion, burial and resurrection. That is,
we became spiritually crucified, buried and resurrected.

When we respond to the guidance of Romans 6:11-13, we actually
experience our own spiritual crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
Then Romans 6:14 says that by experiencing our crucifixion, burial and
resurrection, sin will no longer rule over us because we are not under
law but under grace.

Galatians 3:27 says: "For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ."

Galatians 3:28 adds, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus." When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized
into a spiritual oneness with all believers.

A clear explanation of our baptism into Christ is presented in 1
Corinthians 12:12-13, which says: "For as the body is one, and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are
one body: so also [is] Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond
or free …."

As the human body is one with many members. Jesus is one body with
many members. Again we see that when the Holy Spirit baptized us into
the one body of Jesus, we were baptized into a oneness with all other
believers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Living by Grace, Oct. 10, 2010. www.livingbygrace.org.
Copyright © 2000-2005 David Kuykendall Ministries.