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In his Tuesday Mornings newsletter, Tom Barnard cites 1 Peter 4:10-11 to remind us of the place of spiritual gifts in this season of Advent: "God had a purpose in mind for the spiritual gifts that he gave to believers. Actually, he had two purposes in mind. The first purpose was to let his generosity be expressed through believers to others. Could God have shown his generosity by going directly to the people he wanted to bless, rather than through somebody else? Yes. But his plan was to express his kindness indirectly -- through Christians. It is no stretch to say that God's purpose remains the same today. How should Christians today manage the spiritual gifts they receive from God, especially during the Advent Season?
And what was the second purpose God had in mind when he gave gifts to Christians? He wants to receive the glory for what we do. Notice what Peter did not promise.
Are these gifts "clergy" gifts? Not really. In fact, Peter addressed this letter to refugees from towns all over the Roman map who had settled in Asia Minor. These refugees were poor -- probably the poorest of the poor. No college graduates here. No wealthy merchants. The lesson for us is simple: God calls ordinary people to communicate his extraordinary blessings to others. Isn't
that what Advent is all about?" (To subscribe to Tuesday
Mornings, send your name and email address to barnard22@cox.net.) Michael
Duduit, Editor
Can we reclaim Mary? Protestants have too often neglected Mary in reaction to what they have seen as excessive devotion of the mother of Jesus by Catholics. In a new book called The Real Mary (Paraclete Press), New Testament scholar Scot McKnight urges evangelicals to give serious attention to Mary as an example of courage and commitment. In his book -- which will be a wonderful resource for Christmas preaching -- McKnight observes, "Mary was the only one who knew some facts about Jesus. She and God and Joseph (because the angel told him) were the only ones who knew about the virginal conception. She was either the only one present or one of the few present when Gabriel spoke, when Elizabeth exclaimed her joy about Mary's child, when Mary sang the Magnificat, and when Simeon and Anna prophesied. She was one of two present when the shepherds announced their good news and when the Magi offered gifts to Jesus, the newborn king. She was one of the few who knew about the wine at Cana, and she was one of the few who heard Jesus speak from the cross. "So, when it is argued that the Gospels are in part Mary's 'memoirs,' we must agree with the general drift: For from whom else would the early Christians -- and the Evangelists -- have learned about these things if not from Mary? . . . She was in the middle of the earliest Christian community as a source of information about Jesus." (Click here to learn more about the book The Real Mary)
Blessing at meals is indicator of religious attitudes Researchers say what Americans do before they eat is a "robust predictor" of all kinds of other attitudes and actions. About 1/2 of those surveyed said they pray daily before meals, while the other 1/2 of the sample said they never or almost never say a prayer before dinner. David Campbell, assistant professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and Robert Putnam, Harvard University professor, have devised a new system to measure "religiosity." They've found that conservative white evangelicals are not the most religious members of the American citizenry. Mormons and black Protestants captured the gold and silver medals in that competition. Putnam and Campbell head up the Spiritual Capital Research Program, a Templeton-funded study that includes a just-completed telephone survey of 3,000 Americans, followed by core studies of religious congregations across the nation. Their research also disputes the conventional wisdom that political activity is rampant in conservative religious congregations in the United States. Far below 1/2 of respondents in all denominations and movements reported political activity in their churches. On top of that, Campbell said "liberals are more likely to get political cues in church than conservatives," although "not too many of them can be found in church." (from Religion Watch via To the Point 11/10/06)
Youth Ministry: More Substance, Please Youth ministries are seeing a hunger for more Bible-based worship and teaching and less fun and games, according to an article in the Nov. 6 issue of Time magazine. "Believing that a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging was the way to attract teens to their flocks, pastors watered down the religious content and boosted the entertainment," according to the Time article. "But in recent years churches have begun offering their young people a style of religious instruction grounded in Bible study and teachings about the doctrines of their denomination. Their conversion has been sparked by the recognition that sugar-coated Christianity, popular in the 1980s and early 90's, has caused growing numbers of kids to turn away not just from attending youth-fellowship activities but also from practicing their faith at all." The move to more substantive programming is seeing results in growing numbers and changed lives. Time reports: "Bible-based youth ministries at churches around the country are enjoying a similar success. At Shoreline Christian Center in Austin, Texas, youth pastor Ben Calmer vetoed the purchase of a pool table because it didn't further his goal of increasing spiritual nourishment. Instead he started a class in which the young people wrestle with such difficult questions as, 'Why doesn't God answer all prayers?' No one seems to be suffering from the absence of the pool table. Youth membership has doubled, to 160, during the 18 months Calmer has been in charge. Similarly, teens at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., are embracing the big doses of Bible study youth pastors now recommend. Teen ranks have tripled, to nearly 600, since the mid-1990s." (Click here to read the full article.) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1552027,00.html
Register
now for Don't delay -- make your plans now to participate in one of the most powerful preaching events you'll ever attend! The third International Congress on Preaching will be April 17-19, 2007, in Cambridge, England. The theme is "Preaching Truth in an Age of Idolatry," and you'll have the opportunity to hear and interact with some of the most effective preachers and teachers in the English-speaking world, including N.T.
Wright and a host of additional speakers and workshop leaders. (Click here for a complete list.) The best hotel rooms are beginning to disappear, so act now to begin planning your ICOP adventure. Registration is currently available at an earlybird discount -- register today and save $55 off the normal rate. To learn more or to register, visit the website at www.preaching.com/icop or call (800) 288-9673 (outside the US, call 615-312-4245.)
ILLUSTRATION: Pain, Focus Between his cancer diagnosis in 1996 and winning his first Tour de France bike race in 1999, seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong endured a refining process that made him stronger in the end. In his book, It's Not About the Bike, he tells not only about the grueling brain surgery and chemotherapy, but wrestling with whether to race again. Once he made that decision, he became a different kind of champion -- one with a purpose and focus he couldn't have had without going through the refining fire of cancer. David Jeremiah writes, "It seems to be the universal testimony of those who suffer that it is a clarifying experience. Pain is a type of preparation like no other, allowing the unimportant to fall away and the critical to rise to the top. Moses was prepared for eighty years -- forty in Egypt and forty in the wilderness -- before being called into divine service by God. When he returned to Egypt to free the Hebrew slaves, he was focused and faithful, something he might not have been at a younger, more pain-free point in his life. "All of our yesterdays are preparation for today and tomorrow. Let God prepare you for what only He knows is coming. Let pain bring clarity to your life and vision." (Turning Point Daily Devotional, 11-1-06)
ILLUSTRATION: Criticism The senior pastor was called away unexpectedly by the illness of a close family member so he asked the new youth pastor to fill the pulpit. The Pastor's wife stayed home. When he returned, the minister asked his wife what she thought of the young man's sermon. "The poorest I've ever heard," she said. "There was nothing in it, nothing at all. It didn't even make sense. It was very unorganized. I was disappointed." Later that day, the concerned pastor met his young associate and asked him, "How'd the Sunday service and sermon go?" "All went very well, sir, absolutely wonderful," he said. "I didn't have time to prepare a new sermon of my own on such short notice, so I got on your computer and pulled up one of your old sermons from last year."
ILLUSTRATION: Humility Alan Redpath wrote, "It was C. H. Spurgeon, I think, who one day after a morning service was confronted by a lady who said to him, 'Mr. Spurgeon, that was a wonderful sermon you preached this morning.' "Yes, ma'am," he said. "The devil told me that ten minutes ago." Redpath goes on: "What we need in our churches today -- urgently, desperately -- is not that people should come to hear a preacher, and then tell him what a good (or bad) sermon he preached, but that they should leave the house of God saying, 'What a wonderful Lord!' When all praise is given to Him and taken from man, a church rises in spiritual temperature and becomes irresistible." (Alan Redpath, Victorious Praying: Studies in the Family Prayer; provided by Franklin Kirksey)
ILLUSTRATION: Threats, Weapons Comedian Robin Williams observes, "In England, if you commit a crime, the police don't have a gun and you don't have a gun. If you commit a crime, the police will say 'Stop, or I'll say stop again.'"
To add to your Christmas list . . . Here are some books and more that I've been enjoying recently, and you might as well. (If you'd like more information or wish to order a copy, just click on the title of the item.) Mark Batterson is lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC, a multi-site congregation that meets in various spots around the city. He's an excellent communicator, and that is plain in his book In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day (Multnomah). Its an encouraging book about letting your life challenges become springboards to greatness -- or as Mark puts it, the book is "a survival guide for lion chasers." I'll guarantee that after you read it you'll want to preach on Benaiah (2 Sam. 23:20-23). In The Mission of God (InterVarsity), Christopher J.H. Wright takes a sweeping view of the scriptures and helps us see more clearly than ever that God's purpose throughout history has been to reclaim the world to Himself. Wright (who works with John Stott) offers powerful insights into the missional nature of God's Word. This is an important book for any church leader. His The Next Christendom was an eye-opening book for me, so I was anxious to read Philip Jenkins' latest offering, The New Faces of Christianity (Oxford). Subtitled "Believing the Bible in the Global South," Jenkins takes us further in the process of understanding how the critical mass of Christianity has moved to Africa, Asia and South America, and how that will influence the Christian faith for all of us. And if you're ready to take a break from reading and need a good laugh, check out Thou Shalt Laugh, a terrific DVD featuring an assortment of top Christian comedians in concert. Our whole family loved watching it, and the kids are still quoting lines from their favorite comic. ("I am staring at the man.") This would be a great stocking stuffer for the whole family.
"There are three stages in a person's life. First, he believes in Santa Claus. Second, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus. Third, he is Santa Claus." (Donald Guthrie)
From the sponsor of this week's edition: Rick
Warren's "Bible Study Methods" Learn how to study the Bible the way Rick Warren does. With simple, step-by-step instructions, America's pastor guides you through twelve different approaches to studying God's Word for yourself. Doing so will help you fulfill the third purpose of The Purpose-Driven® Life: becoming more and more like Jesus.
ILLUSTRATION: Urgency, Correction A preacher was walking down a country lane when he sees a young farmer struggling to load hay back onto a cart after it had fallen off. "You look hot, my son," said the pastor. "Why don't you rest a moment, and I'll give you a hand." "No thanks," said the young man. "My father wouldn't approve." "Don't be silly," the minister said. "Everyone is entitled to a break. Come and have a drink of water." Again the young man protested that his father would be upset. Losing his patience just a little, the clergyman said, "Your father must be a real slave driver. Tell me where I can find him and I'll give him a piece of my mind!" "Well," replied the young farmer, "you can tell him whatever you like just as soon as I get this hay off him." (Mikey's Funnies)
"It is when we forget ourselves that we do things that are remembered."
Insights from student test papers . . . Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock. Magna Carta provided that no free man should be hanged twice for the same offense. Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Wittenberg. Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. Question: What is one horsepower? Answer: One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second. We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on. To most people solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists, solutions are things that are still all mixed up. You can listen to thunder after lightening and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it you got hit, so never mind. Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers. In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's. Clouds are high-flying fogs.
And finally . . . Maybe he just wanted to play "Jailhouse Rock"? Morgan Conatser, 29-year-old man in DeQueen, Ark., was arrested after trying to slip a solid body electric guitar out of a local store in his pants and jacket. According to a Nov. 29 AP story, the owner of Guitars and Cadillacs in De Queen, noticed Conatser walking out of the store with "bulges in his leather jacket. I said, 'Hey what have you got there?'" Clifton Lovell explains. When
Conatser said he didn't have anything, Lovell pointed toward the
unusual shapes in Conatser's jacket and pants and said, "You've
got something." "The neck of the guitar was almost down to his knee and the back of the guitar was almost up to his neck. It wasn't hard to spot. There was no way he could sit down or get into the pickup," Lovell said. Although the store manager planned to let it go without calling police, he soon discovered a wireless sound system was also missing. Sheriff's deputies found Conatser at home, where the man went to his bedroom closet and retrieved the sound system. Conatser was arrested on a charge of theft of property under $500. He is currently singing the blues, though without a guitar or sound system.
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