Serving others is something Jesus did with humility. It is something he told his disciples to do as well. (e.g. John 13:1-20). Serving locally in our community is a place to start. A couple of local ministries in communities I am familiar with are the SonShine Center in Madisonville, Texas and the Lighthouse in Eagle Lake, Texas. The SonShine Center is a place where donated clothing, furniture, and household items are resold and food is distributed. The Lighthouse is an after school ministry with at risk kids. Both ministries are for the most part run by volunteers. These volunteers are being the hands and feet of Jesus in their communities.
Both ministries started with a vision and a call from the Lord. They started small. The Lord has blessed both ministries.
Do you have a vision and call from the Lord for a local ministry start up? Or are you already helping in a local ministry?
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Redeeming Grace 40-Day Devotional-Journal Volume 1
Volume 1 is a collection of devotionals on various topics in scritpure. A few of the topics are as follows: Spiritual Discernment, Encouragement, Holy Spirit, Worldliness, and others. I use the Thompson Chain Reference Bible with the New Ameican Standard Bible translation. Topic titles are from the Thompson Chain. I do not consult commentaries or other sources. If and when I do, I will acknowledge that. The devotional-journals are the scriptures and my reflections on them. The journal component is for you to do your own refection and writing on the scriptures. The translation of the Bible you use might be different, but that is another way for you to gain understanding of the scriptures.
Always ask the Holy Spirit to be your guide into the scriptures.
By the way, the cover photo is one I took at the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem in 2007.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Redeeming Grace Devotional-Journals
My action of late has been to begin the writing of a series of Devotional-Journals. The series is entitled Redeeming Grace. Each volume of the series goes for 40 Days. There are three volumes completed and ready to distribute. Volume One is random topics from scripture. Volume Two is from Ephesians. Volume Three is scripture verses and passages that have been especially meaningful to me. I, also, have a volume for youth from Proverbs. It is going to be tested by S.A.L.T. (Students as living testimones) in Garwood, Texas before I have it printed. Each devotional-journal also has lessons I have written for a small discussion group. I appreciate all the folks who have ordered so far and I invite others to let me know if you would like to order.
New look...New Focus
The blog has a new look. The blog has a new focus. When I started blogging I called it Thoughts on Discipleship. Now it is We Are the Branches. Discipleship means a lot of things but it has one source. We disciples are the branches of the One True Vine Jesus Christ. "...apart from Me you can do nothing," Jesus told his followers. The new focus of the blog revolves around the actions of worship, study, and serving. There will be plenty of thoughts still, but there will also be reports of action. Mine and others as we live the life of abiding in Jesus.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Self-serving vs. Other-serving
Just read a short article with very little information in it, but enough to stir a thought in me about self-serving vs. other-serving congregations. In the article it was reported that a Southern Baptist congregation in Kentucky has decided to cut staff and program expenditures in order to be able to send more missionaries overseas. I want to know more about this congregation and its decision, but it stirred my imagination!
What if all Western congregations became convicted of their self-serving ways? What if all Western congregations committed themselves to focusing their resources on serving others in the sharing of the gospel and the relieving of human suffering? What if all Western congregations answered the call, the great call of the commission to go into all the world, make disciples, baptize (immerse) them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What if all Western congregations took to heart the call, the great call and commission to teach the nations to observe the commandments of Jesus, the Anointed?
If, one by one the congregations who claim to be Christ-followers were to give up their self-serving ways and become fully other-serving...I'm guessing it would change the world and most of all be pleasing to our God and Father, the Son our Lord, and the Holy Spirit who breathes life into us.
Lord, may we all be willing to make the change from self-serving to other-serving,Great Commission-fullfilling congregations. Amen.
What if all Western congregations became convicted of their self-serving ways? What if all Western congregations committed themselves to focusing their resources on serving others in the sharing of the gospel and the relieving of human suffering? What if all Western congregations answered the call, the great call of the commission to go into all the world, make disciples, baptize (immerse) them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What if all Western congregations took to heart the call, the great call and commission to teach the nations to observe the commandments of Jesus, the Anointed?
If, one by one the congregations who claim to be Christ-followers were to give up their self-serving ways and become fully other-serving...I'm guessing it would change the world and most of all be pleasing to our God and Father, the Son our Lord, and the Holy Spirit who breathes life into us.
Lord, may we all be willing to make the change from self-serving to other-serving,Great Commission-fullfilling congregations. Amen.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sermon from Feb. 6, 2005 FUMC Mission Texas by Ardie Nelson
Why Does God Allow Suffering? Text: Hebrews 5:7-10 In the days of his flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Suffering comes through...
NATURAL DISASTERS: earthquakes, famines, floods, hurricanes tornados, etc.
WARS: worldwide or local
COMMUNITY TRAGEDIES: (examples...)
INDIVIDUAL SUFFERING: bereavement, sickness, disabilities, broken relationships, depression, persecution, etc.
The question is, why does God allow suffering at all? Why does God allow Christians to suffer? In the sermon two weeks ago on the Trinity, I said, "God's activity in God's creation is one of redemption...getting back what once was perfect and whole." This alludes to the idea that the situation in which we find ourselves in our world today is not "perfect and whole." In a booklet entitled "Why Does God Allow Suffering?" Nicky Gumbel says it this way..."Suffering is not part of God's original created order. There was no suffering in the world before humanity rebelled against God. There will be no suffering when God creates "a new heaven and a new earth." (see Rev. 21) We do have this future to look forward to, but in the mean time there is suffering and generations of human have been asking, "why?" That is the question that evoked this sermon.
Last Sunday, Charlie talked of God's omnipotence (all powerful). He spoke of God's self-imposed limitations on his omnipotence and the resulting free will of humankind. God could have exerted his power and prevented sin and thus prevented suffering that comes directly or indirectly from sin. God could miraculously avert natural disasters, but nature is set in motion by God and it follows the laws of nature. Hence, natural diasters have the capability of causing much suffering. They are however natural and to be expected when all the conditions are right according to the laws of nature.
Why did God allow sin and suffering to enter the world? There is as Charlie said last week...a bigger picture. The bigger picture is one of God's love. God loves us and wants us to have the freedom to choose to love him in return. Coerced love is not love. God loves us and gave us freedom to choose to love him back...or not. The human choice under which we live "in the mean time"-- between Eden and the new heaven and new earth--was and is one of rebellion against God. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) That choice was made in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, because of having free will and living in a time when all of creation is not perfect and whole...some of the suffering we go through is a result of our own sin. Some suffering we go through is the result of someone else's sin. Some suffering comes as a result of disasters in the natural world. Some suffering is just because...
No one wants to suffer. While we are in the midst of suffering we don't usually want to hear how this is, or it will be, good for us. The pain of suffering can be great and deep. It is all we can do to hang on to the hope that by God's grace we will come out on the other side of this particular suffering one day.
If you study this subject, you will find that the Bible does not deal with the philosophical question of "why" God allows suffering. There are, instead, plenty of examples of people and their suffering in scripture. What we see in studying these and in observing our own and others' experience of suffering are ways God works in us through our suffering. We are not to think that suffering in itself is good or that we should pursue suffering. We can however remember that when we suffer our faith and hope are in God who loves us.
We do learn, in study and experience, that suffering can be endured and God can use it to draw us to Christ. The Apostle Paul exemplified this time after time through physical distress of illness, shipwreck, strenouous travel and persecution through imprisonment, whipping, and stoning. He wrote from prison to the Philippians, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Nothing mattered to him except "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus..." Paul's faith and Paul's hope was in God.
A contemporary of our is Joni Eareckson Tada. Late in her teens she had a diving accident that has left her paralyzed from the neck down. Her testimony on the Larry King Live show was that she "thanks God for her wheelchair." She calls it her "passport to joy." because there are things in life more important than walking, she says. If any of you have followed Joni's life you know she has great faith and has been in fruitful ministry through art, music, radio ministry, and the organization Joni and Friends...like the Apostle Paul... "because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus..." Joni's faith and hope are in God.
We learn by reading the stories of others (from the Bible or other reading) and from our own experience that God uses suffering to bring us to Christian maturity. God uses our suffering to make our lives more fruitful. I think of Corrie ten Boom. Do you know her story? Billy Graham Association made the movie "The Hiding Place" based on her book by that name. Her family was Christian and during WWII they hid and helped Jews make passage to safety from their home in Holland. She, her sister and father were catpured by the Nazi's and suffered tremendously like so many others did in the concentration camps. Corrie's sister and father died in the camp. One of the things they suffered while in the camp was an infestation of lice. They complained but then realized that the guards would not come near them because of the lice. Many years ago I heard Corrie speak at the college I was attending. The witness of her closeness to Christ was evident not only in the words she spoke, but...also...in her face and in the quality of her voice as she spoke. To me she sounded like an angel with a very Dutch accent. She spoke of the many consolations she received from the Lord...even in the suffering of the concentration camp. She survived and was released from the camp. She became tremendously "fruitful" in ministry. Corrie ten Boom's faith and hope were in God.
God often uses suffering to bring about his good purposes. This was part of the text for last Sunday..."all things work out for good, to them that love God and are called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28) Sometimes this truth takes time...years even to be realized. In the Bible Joseph's jealuous brothers sold him into slavery. For years he languished in an Egyptian prison. Later he found favor and received a place of honor and power in Pharaoh's court. When famine hit his family back home, they came to Egypt and it was Joseph who took them in and save them from certain starvation. Joseph endured because his faith and his hope were in God.
Maybe, instead of asking "why God allows suffering" it would be more helpful to recognize that suffering is part of our brokenness. That suffering will be with us until there is the New Heaven and New Earth. Maybe, instead of asking "why" we need to instead make sure our faith and hope are in the One who suffered for us and suffers with us in our afflications.
There are things going on in our lives righ now...and in our world that we do not know how they can be used by God for some good purpose in some future time. We don't see how going through what we are going through will mature us or make us more fruitful. We wonder how this will bring us closer to Christ. Let me ask you...when you suffer, where is your faith and hope? Do you have faith that God is good? Do you hope in the promises of God we find in the scritpures? We might not be able to explain the "why" of our suffering or any one else's suffering, but we can place our faith and our hope in the One who loves us and gave himself up for us.
As you come to the table today, remember Jesus as he asked his disciples to remember him. Remember Jesus as God the Son, the One who came that we might have life--fruitful life--life made possible by his suffering.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Suffering comes through...
NATURAL DISASTERS: earthquakes, famines, floods, hurricanes tornados, etc.
WARS: worldwide or local
COMMUNITY TRAGEDIES: (examples...)
INDIVIDUAL SUFFERING: bereavement, sickness, disabilities, broken relationships, depression, persecution, etc.
The question is, why does God allow suffering at all? Why does God allow Christians to suffer? In the sermon two weeks ago on the Trinity, I said, "God's activity in God's creation is one of redemption...getting back what once was perfect and whole." This alludes to the idea that the situation in which we find ourselves in our world today is not "perfect and whole." In a booklet entitled "Why Does God Allow Suffering?" Nicky Gumbel says it this way..."Suffering is not part of God's original created order. There was no suffering in the world before humanity rebelled against God. There will be no suffering when God creates "a new heaven and a new earth." (see Rev. 21) We do have this future to look forward to, but in the mean time there is suffering and generations of human have been asking, "why?" That is the question that evoked this sermon.
Last Sunday, Charlie talked of God's omnipotence (all powerful). He spoke of God's self-imposed limitations on his omnipotence and the resulting free will of humankind. God could have exerted his power and prevented sin and thus prevented suffering that comes directly or indirectly from sin. God could miraculously avert natural disasters, but nature is set in motion by God and it follows the laws of nature. Hence, natural diasters have the capability of causing much suffering. They are however natural and to be expected when all the conditions are right according to the laws of nature.
Why did God allow sin and suffering to enter the world? There is as Charlie said last week...a bigger picture. The bigger picture is one of God's love. God loves us and wants us to have the freedom to choose to love him in return. Coerced love is not love. God loves us and gave us freedom to choose to love him back...or not. The human choice under which we live "in the mean time"-- between Eden and the new heaven and new earth--was and is one of rebellion against God. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) That choice was made in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, because of having free will and living in a time when all of creation is not perfect and whole...some of the suffering we go through is a result of our own sin. Some suffering we go through is the result of someone else's sin. Some suffering comes as a result of disasters in the natural world. Some suffering is just because...
No one wants to suffer. While we are in the midst of suffering we don't usually want to hear how this is, or it will be, good for us. The pain of suffering can be great and deep. It is all we can do to hang on to the hope that by God's grace we will come out on the other side of this particular suffering one day.
If you study this subject, you will find that the Bible does not deal with the philosophical question of "why" God allows suffering. There are, instead, plenty of examples of people and their suffering in scripture. What we see in studying these and in observing our own and others' experience of suffering are ways God works in us through our suffering. We are not to think that suffering in itself is good or that we should pursue suffering. We can however remember that when we suffer our faith and hope are in God who loves us.
We do learn, in study and experience, that suffering can be endured and God can use it to draw us to Christ. The Apostle Paul exemplified this time after time through physical distress of illness, shipwreck, strenouous travel and persecution through imprisonment, whipping, and stoning. He wrote from prison to the Philippians, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Nothing mattered to him except "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus..." Paul's faith and Paul's hope was in God.
A contemporary of our is Joni Eareckson Tada. Late in her teens she had a diving accident that has left her paralyzed from the neck down. Her testimony on the Larry King Live show was that she "thanks God for her wheelchair." She calls it her "passport to joy." because there are things in life more important than walking, she says. If any of you have followed Joni's life you know she has great faith and has been in fruitful ministry through art, music, radio ministry, and the organization Joni and Friends...like the Apostle Paul... "because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus..." Joni's faith and hope are in God.
We learn by reading the stories of others (from the Bible or other reading) and from our own experience that God uses suffering to bring us to Christian maturity. God uses our suffering to make our lives more fruitful. I think of Corrie ten Boom. Do you know her story? Billy Graham Association made the movie "The Hiding Place" based on her book by that name. Her family was Christian and during WWII they hid and helped Jews make passage to safety from their home in Holland. She, her sister and father were catpured by the Nazi's and suffered tremendously like so many others did in the concentration camps. Corrie's sister and father died in the camp. One of the things they suffered while in the camp was an infestation of lice. They complained but then realized that the guards would not come near them because of the lice. Many years ago I heard Corrie speak at the college I was attending. The witness of her closeness to Christ was evident not only in the words she spoke, but...also...in her face and in the quality of her voice as she spoke. To me she sounded like an angel with a very Dutch accent. She spoke of the many consolations she received from the Lord...even in the suffering of the concentration camp. She survived and was released from the camp. She became tremendously "fruitful" in ministry. Corrie ten Boom's faith and hope were in God.
God often uses suffering to bring about his good purposes. This was part of the text for last Sunday..."all things work out for good, to them that love God and are called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28) Sometimes this truth takes time...years even to be realized. In the Bible Joseph's jealuous brothers sold him into slavery. For years he languished in an Egyptian prison. Later he found favor and received a place of honor and power in Pharaoh's court. When famine hit his family back home, they came to Egypt and it was Joseph who took them in and save them from certain starvation. Joseph endured because his faith and his hope were in God.
Maybe, instead of asking "why God allows suffering" it would be more helpful to recognize that suffering is part of our brokenness. That suffering will be with us until there is the New Heaven and New Earth. Maybe, instead of asking "why" we need to instead make sure our faith and hope are in the One who suffered for us and suffers with us in our afflications.
There are things going on in our lives righ now...and in our world that we do not know how they can be used by God for some good purpose in some future time. We don't see how going through what we are going through will mature us or make us more fruitful. We wonder how this will bring us closer to Christ. Let me ask you...when you suffer, where is your faith and hope? Do you have faith that God is good? Do you hope in the promises of God we find in the scritpures? We might not be able to explain the "why" of our suffering or any one else's suffering, but we can place our faith and our hope in the One who loves us and gave himself up for us.
As you come to the table today, remember Jesus as he asked his disciples to remember him. Remember Jesus as God the Son, the One who came that we might have life--fruitful life--life made possible by his suffering.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Jone's book The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person
E. Stanley Jones' book was recommended to me several months ago. With our recent move and resettlement, I just now finished the book. It has brought a renewal in me, a renewed joy in living this life...this Kingdom life.
I had learned what I understood about the Kingdom of God from various sources. Little patches of information from scattered places through the years. I had tried to put it together in my mind, but with Jones' book, it has all been layed out in one place and understandable. It has come at a good time for me, too, because I have for some time been disillusioned with the Church. I didn't want to be because the Church is the Bride of Christ. I love the Church and honor her, but the institutionalization of the faith and the business model and the religiousity that seems to have taken over the church disturbs me. In fact, I have come to think that the Church has been given pre-eminence over the Kingdom of God and that ought not be.
Jones' articulates all that I have believed and more about the Kingdom. I can see that probably from early on the Church got side tracked from living the Kingdom way on earth in preparation for the coming of the Bride Groom . Instead the Church has become something she was never meant to be.
There are many implications to this which I am not prepared to put in this post tonight. But, it is freeing to me to have the insight from Jones about the Kingdom which is unshakable and present on earth. It is a joy to wake up every morning knowing that life in the Kingdom is good and the way of the Kingdom is God's way...and the Way, the Truth, and the Life is all wrapped up in the Unchanging Person, Jesus Christ. All this inspite of the circumstances that surround modern life in a primarily unbelieving world. All this inspite of whatever circumstances come into my personal life.
And, somehow, it makes me more patient with the Church. The Bride of Christ needs, I believe, to get back on track in preparation for the coming of her Bride Groom. Preachers, teachers, and all Christians need to key in on the Kingdom of God. It needs to be preached, taught, and lived by the Church. After all, it is what Jesus preached and embodied. The Kingdom is what Paul taught. The Church needs to humbly seek first the Kingdom of God...not other things. The Church needs to live the Kingdom of God for the world to see. Jesus tells us much about the way of life of the Kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount.
I am so grateful to God for his grace and the gift that it is to have my sins forgiven and to be a part of his kingdom. I am grateful to him, also, for all those who have experienced this grace as I have who are also part of the Kingdom of God. It is unshakable and the Person who emodies the Kingdom is unchanging and that all gives me great confidence and joy in the Lord.
I had learned what I understood about the Kingdom of God from various sources. Little patches of information from scattered places through the years. I had tried to put it together in my mind, but with Jones' book, it has all been layed out in one place and understandable. It has come at a good time for me, too, because I have for some time been disillusioned with the Church. I didn't want to be because the Church is the Bride of Christ. I love the Church and honor her, but the institutionalization of the faith and the business model and the religiousity that seems to have taken over the church disturbs me. In fact, I have come to think that the Church has been given pre-eminence over the Kingdom of God and that ought not be.
Jones' articulates all that I have believed and more about the Kingdom. I can see that probably from early on the Church got side tracked from living the Kingdom way on earth in preparation for the coming of the Bride Groom . Instead the Church has become something she was never meant to be.
There are many implications to this which I am not prepared to put in this post tonight. But, it is freeing to me to have the insight from Jones about the Kingdom which is unshakable and present on earth. It is a joy to wake up every morning knowing that life in the Kingdom is good and the way of the Kingdom is God's way...and the Way, the Truth, and the Life is all wrapped up in the Unchanging Person, Jesus Christ. All this inspite of the circumstances that surround modern life in a primarily unbelieving world. All this inspite of whatever circumstances come into my personal life.
And, somehow, it makes me more patient with the Church. The Bride of Christ needs, I believe, to get back on track in preparation for the coming of her Bride Groom. Preachers, teachers, and all Christians need to key in on the Kingdom of God. It needs to be preached, taught, and lived by the Church. After all, it is what Jesus preached and embodied. The Kingdom is what Paul taught. The Church needs to humbly seek first the Kingdom of God...not other things. The Church needs to live the Kingdom of God for the world to see. Jesus tells us much about the way of life of the Kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount.
I am so grateful to God for his grace and the gift that it is to have my sins forgiven and to be a part of his kingdom. I am grateful to him, also, for all those who have experienced this grace as I have who are also part of the Kingdom of God. It is unshakable and the Person who emodies the Kingdom is unchanging and that all gives me great confidence and joy in the Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)