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I just finished reading a remarkable book. 102 Minutes (Times Books) by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn recounts the events that took place in New York's Twin Towers from the time the first airliner hit until the second tower fell. Dwyer and Flynn did extensive research based on tapes of emergency responders, calls for aid from persons trapped in the building, and interviews with survivors and families. (Click here to learn more about the book.) It is a reminder that even in the face of terrible evil, hundreds responded with heroism and concern for helping others. It is also a tragic reminder of how systems often fail to work as intended -- for example, the police and firefighters couldn't communicate with one another because their communications gear wasn't synchronized. Even though many flaws in emergency response had been discovered in the 1993 Trade Center bombing, eight years later many of those flaws had not been remedied, and more people died needlessly. It has only been four years since this terrible event took place. It's important that we not forget the lessons taught by that day. Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. Recent topics: What's really motivating Islamic trerrorists? Moral anarchy and the courts. If you missed this year's National Conference on Preaching, you can still obtain audio tapes and CDs. Click here to learn more.
Passion requires time for message to percolate Mike DeVries at the "Awakening blog" (click here to visit) recently participated in a simulcast training event with Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids. (Rob is one of the most creative preachers around today.) Here are some of the insights Rob shared: "Weekly teaching can be destructive to creativity. . . . I don't teach something that has not been a part of me for six months to a year. Think about it, if I asked you to talk about your wedding or something else that has changed you, would you really need notes? "What would happen if on Monday morning you sat at your computer and instead of staring at a blank screen, you're already looking at ten teachings that could take place and deciding which one was the most ready to be taught, or most needed to be taught? "The best messages are not purchased off a shelf or a website, but are grown in your own backyard. . . . As a teacher, you need to live with a text -- allow it to ferment in you, take up residence in you -- then connections begin to be made. "The Bible is about real people in real places in real times. It's taking place in an on-going historical narrative. What we need to remember is that we are in the same historical flow. Teaching is about connecting real people in real places in real times with us, here, today. We live in the same flow of what God is doing in history. "Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God made you to be . . . to be about anything else is sin. "Are you teaching because you have to say something, or because you have something to say? People, especially outside of 'Christianity,' know when you are passionate. That kind of passion makes them say, 'Maybe this stuff really did happen.'" http://awakening.typepad.com/_awakening/2005/06/index.html
What does church history have to do with preaching? Participating in a forum in the Summer 1999 edition of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Timothy George cites the value of church history in preaching and worship: "Doctrinal preaching has both a propositional and incarnational dimension. It is the truth of God's word distilled and applied to fallen and redeemed human beings, but it is also that truth lived out in the flesh and blood reality of the people of God. In an era when narrative preaching and personal autobiographical reminiscence has become the norm in many pulpits, I think we should extend the scope of our narrative reach to include those who are now, by God's grace, in the Church Triumphant. Our lives and our stories are intertwined with theirs, and we have much to learn about living the Christian life today from a close acquaintance with their failures and faithfulness, their suffering and perseverance. "Much of our debate in the current 'worship wars' reflects a near-total ignorance of historical precedence and liturgical developments. One of the best ways to overcome this is to connect great hymns of the faith with sound biblical and theological exposition. Who could not preach on the grace of God after singing Charles Wesley's "And Can It Be"? Or on forgiveness after "Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven"? Likewise, in celebrating the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the 'visible words' of God in bread, cup, and water should always be accompanied by thorough instruction. In these and many other ways, church history is a wonderful resource for the preaching ministry of the Church." (Click here to read the full article in Acrobat PDF format; free Adobe Acrobat reader required, available at www.adobe.com.)
Plan for great days -- and a great life In his TIPS newsletter of June 26, Philip Humbert shared this: "I love the quote from Annie Dillard, 'How we live our days is how we live our lives.' If our days are stressed, chaotic, unfocused and unsatisfying, at the end of the year (and at the end of life) we tend to look back and wonder, 'What happened?' On the other hand, if we make sure each day contains some joy, some gratitude, a bit of organization and purpose, some honest work and a bit of fun, I'm convinced our lives will be the same. I've often joked that while I may not know how to live a great life, I can (usually) create a good day, and if I just put a few thousand good days back to back, that may come close enough to a great life. So the question is not how to have a great life over 80 years, but how to have a few thousand good-enough days, back to back. Here are a few suggestions: 1. First, plan each day. After coaching hundreds of high achievers, I am convinced most of us do not put nearly enough time into deciding exactly how we want to live each day. We don't choose our priorities, affirm our values, and make hard choices about how we will -- and will not -- use our time. I use a 3x5 card to list my priorities each morning. I think it helps. 2. Second, surround yourself with great people. There's an old proverb that says, 'Show me the five people you spend the most time with, and I'll show you your future.' To some degree, of course, we are all surrounded by people we did not choose. But we also have the responsibility to choose our friends and to associate with the best, most inspiring people we can find. Choose wisely. 3. Third, write your biography in advance. We tend to live our lives in accordance with a myth or story we tell ourselves, so why not tell yourself a GREAT story? Write the 'script' for your own life, and read it often. Think about it and re-read it daily. Where are you going? What will your legacy be? Too often we get caught in the busy-ness of daily living and it pays to review and affirm your dreams every single day. 4. Fourth, read and learn from the great people in history. It may be true that 'experience is the best teacher' but I've noticed that it also charges the highest tuition. Life is short and we simply don't have time to make (and recover from) all the mistakes in life, so learn from smart people who have gone ahead and left a trail for us to follow. Personally, this has been one of the greatest inspirations I've ever found. In the past year, I've read biographies of Lindbergh, Churchill, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, to name just a few. They were all flawed and none of them are perfect models, but they were smart people who achieved quite a bit, and I can learn from them. 5. Fifth, share the dream. Tell your loved ones, your best friends and trusted associates where you're going in life so they can support you. We all need cheerleaders in life, and the people around you will usually (not always -- choose wisely!) offer help and encouragement if they know what you're trying to accomplish. FDR had his 'brain trust.' Most successful people have had a 'master-mind group.' Every sports team has cheerleaders and so should you. In the end, we get what we think about most of the time. Over time, our lives pretty much look like our days and if you want to predict your future, look at your daily activities. If there are things you need to change, change them! If you need a coach, get one! If you need to set better boundaries, re-affirm your values or assert your priorities, do so! In life, we usually end up pretty much where we are headed. Choose wisely, and day by day, do the 'little things' that make a great life. (Copyright © 2005, all rights reserved. You may contact Philip E. Humbert at: www.philiphumbert.com or email: Coach@philiphumbert.com.)
ILLUSTRATION: Faith Few times must have seemed darker than it was for Great Britain at the end of 1939. Europe had already fallen to the might of Hitler's armies, and the island nation was increasingly isolated and endangered. As King George VI prepared his annual Christmas message to be broadcast to the British people, there was little good news to share. Instead, he turned to the words of American poet Minnie Louise Haskins, and her work "The Gate of the Year." He read these lines:
Preaching Truth Conferences Set for More Cities A new round of our one-day preaching conferences -- using the theme "Preaching Truth in a Whatever World" -- are scheduled for cities across the U.S. this fall. Each event will feature presentations by Dr. Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching magazine and PreachingNow, and an array of outstanding guest speakers. Here are dates and areas for fall conferences (exact church location/address is at our website, www.preaching.com/truth):
These conferences will offer insights into the unique preaching challenges of today, and will offer a toolbox of strategies and ideas for effective biblical preaching in today's "whatever" culture. Here are some of the comments from pastors who participated in this conference last fall: "For anyone wanting to reach a post-modern audience with the truth of the gospel, this seminar is a "must-attend." Practical and Biblical material presented well." (Chuck Sackett, Madison Park Christian Church, Quincy, IL, and Lincoln Christian Seminary, Lincoln, IL) "The preaching conference gave me a fresh perspective concerning the task and joy of preaching the good news, not just preaching but the whole process of sermon preparation." (Ronnie Jones, Gethsemane Church of Christ, Mechanicsville, VA) Visit our information page (www.preaching.com/truth) for more information or to register.
ILLUSTRATION: Lord's Prayer In his new book The Prayer God Longs For (InterVarsity), James Emery White says, "When we pray, we are to pray for God's kingdom, God's will, not only to come into our lives and take root, but through us to spread throughout the earth. God's kingdom was announced by Jesus, and makes its way into the world from that beachhead as individuals give their hearts and lives to Christ. In that sense God's kingdom has arrived, and we have bought into that kingdom as believers. But the full consummation lies ahead. So to pray that the kingdom will come is to pray that his kingdom will grow as we pursue our witness to Jesus and live lives of salt and light. So with the Great Commission comes a cultural commission. We pray for the kingdom to take hold on the planet, in governments and institutions, judicial systems and media. "I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the tenth anniversary of the end of apartheid. That day was borne on the prayer for God's kingdom to come. Years before I was in Moscow, worshiping in a church filled to capacity. Seeing the front rows filled with women wearing scarves, singing with a passion and intensity that was captivating, I leaned over to the pastor and asked through my interpreter who the women were. He answered, 'Those are the women who prayed communism out of Russia.' "The kingdom is meant to come." (Click here to learn more about the book The Prayer God Longs For)
ILLUSTRATION: Sin - Consequences of In his Turning Point Daily Devotional for June 21, 2005, David Jeremiah points out that sin always has unintended consequences. Take the Seattle man, for example, who tried to steal gasoline from a motor home. Attaching a siphoning hose to the vehicle, he started to work; but police found him shortly afterward writhing in agony in the street. Seems he had attached the hose, not to the gasoline tank, but to the motor home's sewage tank! The owner declined to press charges; he was too busy laughing. (http://www.globe-rider.com/bull1e.html accessed on February 20, 2005.) Facing the consequences of our sins, however, is no laughing matter. Colossians 3:25 says, "He who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done" (NASV). Some people think when they confess their sins to God, He dismisses the consequences; but that's not always the case. He does forgive the guilt, and He forgives freely; but sometimes the consequences remain. When we sin, it's important to confess it and accept God's pardon. But better to avoid sin in the first place. It's
impossible to get away with sin; but it's also impossible to get
away from God's love. Remain close to Him, trust His forgiveness,
and keep the sewage of sin out of your soul.
Just
5 more days to enjoy summer savings Take advantage of Preaching's summer subscription sale. If you're not a current subscriber, act now and you'll receive a full year of Preaching for just $29.95 (a $10 savings), plus a free copy of our new book Conversations on Preaching, and a special bonus gift: a free six-month subscription to Preaching you can give to a fellow minister who isn't a current subscriber. This offer is only good until August 1, and it is only available to new subscribers (as a way to introduce you to Preaching). To
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ILLUSTRATION: Addiction, power, sin Ben
Witherington III tells the following 'parable of the ravenous
eagle' to illustrate the addictive power of sin: "In an ever-narrowing
circle he floats above the Niagara River. He spots a deer carcass
on an ice floe heading toward Niagara Falls. He believes he has
time to eat and fly away before the ice reaches the falls. He
says in his mind 'I am free and strong, I can fly away at the
last moment.' And so the eagle circles down to the carcass, sinks
his talons into the carcass, and begins to eat and eat, feeding
his deep hunger. All the time, he can hear the increasingly loud
noise of the rushing waters, but his mind tells him, 'It will
be okay. I can fly away at the last moment.' What the eagle does
not realize is that his talons have frozen to the carcass of the
deer, and when the moment comes for flight, the eagle is unable
to escape and goes over the falls with the ice floe." (from
Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary.
Submitted by Steve D. Eutsler, Living Water Assembly of God, Elkland,
MO)
ILLUSTRATION: Speed, Progress Two New York city slickers tired of life in the city and bought a West Texas ranch. They wanted to live like their ancestors. These New Yorkers asked their neighboring rancher if he had a mule for sale. He didn't, but they started chatting and the slickers noticed some honeydew melons piled up against the barn. They asked what they were, and the rancher decided to have a little fun. He told them that they were mule eggs and if they wanted to buy one, it would hatch, and they would have a mule. The asking price was fifty dollars. Boy, what a deal! During the bumpy ride back to their ranch, the mule egg bounced right out of the truck. A Texas jackrabbit saw the melon and happily ate away. Racing back to the egg, they saw the jackrabbit sitting in the middle of the melon. They were astounded that their mule egg had hatched. The jackrabbit took off, and they chased it through a pasture. After chasing it for over a mile, the city slickers fell down from exhaustion. One lamented that they had lost the mule, and the other responded that he didn't really care -- he didn't think he could plow that fast anyway! (Charles Lowery, SBC Life, June/July 2005)
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ILLUSTRATION: Bravery One dark night outside a small town in Minnesota, a fire started inside the local chemical plant, and in a blink of an eye it exploded into massive flames. The alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around. When the volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the chemical company president rushed to the fire chief and said, "All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved. I will give $50,000 to the fire department that brings them out intact." Despite the prize, the roaring flames held the firefighters off. Soon more fire departments had to be called in as the situation became desperate. As more firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department who could bring out the company's secret files. Still no takers. From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into sight. It was the nearby rural township volunteer fire company composed mainly of Norwegians over the age of 65. They had fled Europe after WW II, and established their own town. To everyone's amazement, the little run-down fire engine, operated by these old Norwegians, passed all the newer sleek engines parked outside the plant . . . . and drove straight into the middle of the inferno! Outside, the other firemen watched as the Norwegian old-timers jumped off and began to fight the fire with a performance and effort never seen before. Within a short time, the Norsemen had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas. The grateful chemical company president joyfully announced that for such a superhuman feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave, though elderly, Norse firefighters. The local TV news reporters rushed in after capturing the event on film and asked, "What are you going to do with all that money?" "Vell," said Olee Larsen, the 70-year-old fire chief, "Da furst ting vee doo is fix da brakes on dat truck!" (Mikey's Funnies)
LeaderLinks is a web-based publication for Christian leaders. The July-August issue is now available at www.leaderlinks.com, and features "Learning from Failure" from the book The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham, "Myths That Mar Vision" by George Barna, plus featured leadership resources and more. LeaderLinks is a publication of American Ministry Resources, which is the publisher of PreachingNow, Preaching magazine and preaching.com. Visit at www.leaderlinks.com.
ILLUSTRATION: Hugs Hugging is the cheapest medicine available to us today. It relieves many physical and emotional problems. I love the bear hug where you use both arms, face your partner and perform a full embrace. Researchers discovered that when a person is touched, the amount of hemoglobin in their blood increases significantly. (Helen Colton, author of The Joy of Touching.) Hemoglobin is part of the blood that carries vital supplies of oxygen to all organs of the body -- including the heart and the brain. An increase in hemoglobin tones up the whole body, helps prevent disease and speeds recovery from illness. (Sandra Schrift, "Monday Morning" newsletter, 6-27-05)
"The world is but a great inn, where we are to stay a night or two, and be gone; what madness is it so to set our heart upon our inn, as to forget our home." (Thomas Watson)
Be sure to mark your calendar for the 16th annual National Conference on Preaching April 24-26, 2006 at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas Theme: "Preaching Creatively" Visit
www.preaching.com/ncp2006
for more information!
Signs That This Summer is Way Too Hot ~ The pizza you ordered is still at oven-temperature when it finally gets it to your door an hour later. ~ Cows give homogenized milk right there at the dairy. ~ Chickens lay hard boiled eggs. ~ Instead of "smoking or non-smoking" your favorite restaurant offers "smoking AND smoking." ~ You can cook a full meal in your crockpot without ever plugging it in. ~ The frozen pork loin you bought at the grocery is fully cooked by the time you get home ~ Your church budget committee finally authorizes turning on the air conditioning in the sanctuary. ~ "Ice Cube" forced to change his name to "Wet Spot." ~ You sat through the movie "Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl" just so you could be in an air-conditioned room for two hours. ~ You shaved ten minutes off the morning commute by cooking breakfast on your dashboard on the way in. ~ Mirage in the living room keeps attracting dehydrated, bedraggled neighbor children. ~ Richard Simmons releases new diet program: "Sweatin'. Just Lyin' Around Motionless Sweatin'." (adapted from Sermon Fodder and Joke A Day Ministries. To subscribe go to http://www.sermonfodder.com or drop an email note to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.)
And finally . . . A German court has decided that a man's hair is not essential. Easy for them to say. According to a July 21 Reuters story, the court ruled last week that bald men in Germany have no entitlement to state support for toupees. Rejecting a legal challenge by a bald 46-year-old man, the court said the state was not discriminating against men even though health insurance covers the cost of wigs for women. The man had filed suit when the government health insurance system refused his claim for a 440 euro ($530) toupee. "In contrast to women, the involuntary loss of hair among men is common and accepted as nothing out of the ordinary," the court ruled, rejecting the suit from the man who said he suffered because of his baldness. "The state health insurance only has to pay for hair replacement when a bald head disfigures a person so severely that they would be ostracized from public life," the court added. "That is not the case with men."
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