Look at the Son

Max Lucado
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

More mornings than not I drag myself out of bed and onto the street…I run because I don’t like cardiologists. Since heart disease runs in our family, I run in our neighborhood. As the sun is rising, I am running. And as I am running, my body is groaning. It doesn’t want to cooperate. My knee hurts. My hip is stiff. My ankles complain.

Things hurt. And as things hurt, I’ve learned I have three options. Go home. (Denalyn would laugh at me.) Meditate on my hurts until I start imagining I’m having chest pains. (Pleasant thought.) Or I can keep running and watch the sun come up…

If I watch God’s world go from dark to golden, guess what? The same happens to my attitude. The pain passes and the joints loosen…

Everything improves as I fix my eyes on the sun.Wasn’t that the counsel of the Hebrew epistle—“looking unto Jesus?”

Ministering to someone who is dying

I think this article is useful regardless whether we are a church pastor or not.

Ministering to someone who is dying
by Rick Warren

More than likely, you’ll have the opportunity to minister to someone who is dying this year. The question is, how do you deal with it? I’m ready to die. More than likely, you are too. Most people are not, though. That means you play a critical role as a minister to help people deal with their own death.

Pastor, no matter how much training you’ve had or how well you know your Bible, walking into the hospital room of someone who is facing death can turn anyone to mush. What do we say? How do we help somebody who’s dying? You can’t promise that they’re going to get well. You don’t know if that’s God’s plan. But you can C.O.M.F.O.R.T. them.

Confront your own fears.
Before you can help anybody else, you’ve got to deal with your own fears. Death exposes the hidden fears in us. That’s why people avoid funerals. We’re afraid of death. And so we want to hide from it. This is as old as Adam and Eve.
Instead of hiding you have to confront those fears. You’re not going to mess anything up. You aren’t going to make things worse. You’re going to be O.K. Before you minister to someone who is dying, deal with the very natural fear you have. Admit you have the fear. And then get over it. You’ll be fine.

Offer your physical presence.
The greatest gift that you can give to someone who is dying is your presence. You just need to show up and be with them. That will mean more than any words you can say. People want someone to be near them as they deal with the dying process.

People do not want to face death alone. And they shouldn’t have to. You don’t need to say anything profound. You may not even talk to them. But you need to be there with them. Real ministry begins by being with the person who is dying. No one should ever die alone.

Minister with practical assistance.
The important question to ask is, “How can I help?” You do whatever they need done. I know you’re busy. But ministering to someone who is dying is some of the most important ministry you can do.

For example, when somebody’s dying, they usually don’t feel well. They’re often in pain. What do you do when somebody’s in that situation? Whatever you can do. You want the lights on? You want the lights off? Can I get you some ice chips? Can I rub your back? You do anything. The little things you do will show love. You offer practical assistance to relieve pain and discomfort.

Fortify them with emotional support.
When someone is dying, they’re carrying a heavy burden. Don’t let them carry it alone. Provide emotional support. How do you carry somebody else’s emotional burden? Pray for them aloud.
How do you pray for them? Whatever they say, mirror it back to them in a prayer. When the person who is dying says, “This really frustrates me...” You pray, “Lord, Susie’s really frustrated by this…” When the person says, “I’m really angry and irritated,” you pray, “God, Bob is really having a tough time right now. He’s upset and angry. He’s frustrated.”
When you do that, you’re lifting their burdens. When somebody is sick, sometimes they just don’t have enough energy to pray. So you pray for them. That’s what intercession is all about.

Open them up with questions.
When people are dying, they’re carrying an enormous emotional load. They’re carrying worry, fear, doubt, shame, guilt, regret, joy, sorrow, and anxiety. Help them get that out. How? Ask open-ended questions they can’t answer with just “yes” or “no.”

Your open-ended questions will often start with their questions. Let me give you three of them that are almost always asked in some manner by a person who is dying: Why me? Why now? Why this? Nobody knows the answers to those three questions. They are unanswerable on this side of eternity. The Bible tells us that in eternity we will see how it all fits together. But we don’t right now.

Whenever you get asked a question that is unanswerable, ask it back to them. Just rephrase it. Why? You don’t want to answer the question. You want to get them talking.

For example, if someone who is dying asks, “Am I going to die?” Don’t answer that question. You don’t know for sure. Rephrase the question back to them and ask something like this: What does dying mean to you? Then wait. That will get them talking and help them talk about some things that they need to talk about.

By the way, if they don’t want to talk about death, that’s O.K. Some people don’t want to talk about it. It’s not good for them to bottle it up, but don’t force them to talk.

Remember the family has needs too.
You can be helpful to the whole family – not just to the person who is dying. For example, you can ask questions that the family might feel uncomfortable asking. It’s perfectly O.K. to ask the dying person if they’ve made any preparations for their death. Somebody’s got to find that out, and you’d help the family by asking. Friends take care of friends, and they take care of friends’ family as well.

Turn them to Jesus.
More than anything else, you want the dying person to accept God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. You want them to be at peace with God.

Tell the dying person that Jesus loves them, that he died for them, that they can spend eternity with him, and that you’d be glad to pray with them about this.It’s the most important prayer the person will ever pray – one that turns death to life.

Article by Rick Warren Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times best seller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers.
Copyright © 2009 Rick Warren

The Observatory by Max Lucado

I'm currently reading a book by Max Lucado.

The Observatory by Max Lucado

A few mornings back I was jogging through my neighborhood, and even I could not miss the significance of that day. It was the first day of school.

It was no surprise to me, then, to see a pretty little girl step out of her house wearing new clothes and a backpack. “Have a great first day of school,” I greeted as I jogged past.
She stopped and looked at me as if I’d pulled a rabbit out of a hat. “How did you know?!”
She was stunned. Somehow I had miraculously discerned why she was up so early and where she was going. And she was impressed.

“Oh, I just know those kind of things,” I shouted back to her. (No need to burst her bubble.)
You, on the other hand, are not so easily impressed. You understand the difference between a child and a grownup. Take the difference between the girl and me, amplify it a million times over, and we begin to see the contrast between us and our Father.

We ask for grace, only to find forgiveness already offered. (How did you know I would sin?)
We ask for food, only to find provision already made. (How did you know I would be hungry?)
We ask for guidance, only to find answers in God’s ancient story. (How did you know what I would ask?)

God dwells in a different realm. “The foolishness of God is higher than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:25). He occupies another dimension. “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8–9).

From The Great House of God
Copyright 1997, Max Lucado

A Sin By Any Other Name

January 16, 2009
A Sin By Any Other Name
READ: Genesis 39:1-9

How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? —Genesis 39:9

Joseph found himself in a difficult position one day when his master’s wife attempted to seduce him. How tantalizing this woman must have been to a healthy young man! And it must have occurred to Joseph how fearsome her wrath would be when he spurned her advances.
Yet Joseph flatly resisted her. His moral convictions stemmed from his clear view of sin and his reverence for God. He said to her, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

Today, it is popular to call sin by more acceptable names. But using euphemisms for offenses against God will only weaken our resistance and trivialize sin’s harmfulness to us.

To Joseph, sin was not just “an error of judgment.” Nor was it a mere “slip of the tongue” or an “indiscretion” in a “moment of weakness.” Joseph saw sin for what it was—a serious offense against the Lord—and he did not play down the gravity of the offense.

God’s moral standards are absolute. It is only when we see sin as something abhorrent to the Lord that we will be motivated to make right moral judgments.

Calling sin by a softer name will change neither its offensiveness to God nor its cost to us. — C. P. Hia

Was it for crimes that I have doneHe groaned upon the tree?Amazing pity! Grace unknown!And love beyond degree! —Watts

There’s no excuse for excusing sin.

Responding to conflict in small groups

Issue #369 1/7/2009
Responding to conflict in small groups by Tom Atkins

If we want to teach our small groups to respond to conflict well, we need to make the Great Commandment a foundation for group life. We need to practice loving God and loving our neighbor. It isn’t the great suggestion. It’s a key part of our witness.
God wants to reconcile all things to himself. Sin separates us from God and we cannot be at peace with him if we have conflict with another person in our life – a brother, sister, coworker, friend, whoever. The Holy Spirit is not going to let us be at peace with ourselves if we’re not at peace with others in our lives – and thank God for that.

So how do you teach small groups to respond to conflict well? Here are 10 suggestions:
Set guidelines and expectations for the group up front.

We’ve found that setting expectations cuts out about half the conflicts in small groups. We created a list of suggested guidelines that we give hosts when starting a group. They cover things like making group time a priority, keeping what’s discussed in the group confidential, avoiding gossip, etc. Groups can refer back to the guidelines whenever an issue arises and remember the agreement they made with each other.

Nip gossip in the bud.
As humans, we tend to want to talk about conflict. We say things like, “Pray for my buddy Joe. He’s been on those Websites again, and he’s not getting along with his wife.” A “prayer request” becomes a flimsy excuse to gossip. We need to keep conflict between us and the other person and avoid talking about the situation with those who are not involved.

Point people to God’s word to resolve issues.
Sometimes conflict arises from a lack of biblical knowledge. Sometimes people want to do what the world says is OK, not what is biblical. You’ve always got to go back to God’s word. Find biblical teaching that applies to the situation. And without mentioning you’re doing it, teach the group on the subject that’s really at the heart of the issue. That way resolution is based on Scripture, not one person’s opinion.

Be sensitive to EGR people (extra grace required).
Have you heard the saying “hurt people hurt people”? It’s very true in small group life. Sometimes there are people in small groups who would do better in a group like Celebrate Recovery first. We want to give everyone a chance for fellowship, but some people can pull a whole group down into conflict if they’re in a season of dysfunction. We need to be sensitive to that when forming groups and make sure people get the help they need.

Take the log out of our own eye first.
Any time we’re in a conflict, we need to get the log out of own eye before attempting to remove the speck from another person’s eye. We need to honestly ask, “What’s my part of it?” Conflicts don’t happen with just one person; it takes two people to make a conflict. It may be 90 percent one person’s fault or even 95 percent, but there’s still that other part. God wants us to surrender whatever our part is to him.

Don’t enable patterns of bad behavior.
Sometimes we think the Bible says to bail out a brother or sister and help them out, but we actually make things worse by enabling bad behavior. For instance, if someone in the group is having financial problems, a good rule to teach members is never to loan money to somebody in the group that they’re not willing to give. The relationship is more important than the money.

Address God, self, and others in a spirit of repentance.
Reconciliation involves repenting and confessing our part of the conflict. The first thing to do is make sure you address everybody involved. That includes God, self, and others. You’ve got to take responsibility for what you did in a spirit of repentance.

Apologize specifically.
When you’ve wronged someone in the group and need to make amends, admit what you did specifically. Be detailed. Deal with your attitudes as well as your actions. Acknowledge the hurt you caused. Tell the person how you plan to alter your behavior. This is especially powerful when in conflict with a new believer. It will strengthen their walk when they see you deal with conflict in a biblical way.

Accept the consequences graciously.
Where there is conflict, there are usually consequences as well. For instance, somebody may need to repay somebody else financially. If there are damages, they need to be repaired. It takes time to restore broken relationships. We need to face the consequences graciously.

Forgive and don’t dwell on the incident.
When someone has wronged us, we need to forgive them and move on. Biblical forgiveness always includes not dwelling on the incident. When true forgiveness happens, the issue is gone. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to think about it, but you’re never going to use it as a weapon against the other person. You’re not going to talk to anybody else about the incident if you’ve forgiven the person. It’s off the table. Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. God forgave us so we need to forgive others.

The Matthew 18 model
Another way to address conflict in small groups is to follow the model presented in Matthew 18:15-17. If another believer sins against us, we are to go privately and point out the fault. If the other person listens and confesses, we have won that person back. But if we are unsuccessful, we should take one or two others back with us so that everything can be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, we are to take our case to the church. If the church decides we are right but the other person won’t accept it, we are to treat the other person as we would a pagan or a tax collector.

The first point to note is that resolution starts just between the two of you. What God intends is that if there is a conflict between two people, it’s kept between two people. And when we go to the other person, the goal is to restore the relationship, not to confront the sin. We need to go in love and be willing to listen. We need to approach the person with kindness and gentleness. That’s what transforms people and resolves conflicts.

But sometimes a one-on-one meeting isn’t possible, or the results aren’t good and you need to go back with someone else. If one party is intimidating, boisterous, or controlling and the other party is more meek and mild, you may want to have two people come with you. If there was abuse or battery going on, or there’s a possibility for somebody to get angry, make sure you have another person there.

If that step also fails to bring resolution to the issue, take the matter to the church. If it gets to this point, think of it as a great teaching opportunity – an opportunity to talk about what Christ’s love is all about. We want to make sure that we don’t become Pharisees. We don’t want to become God’s police looking for problems. We want to be there as humble servants helping people. We want to give grace without compromising God’s principles.

God’s kindness leads us to repentance. His power is greater than any evil, and when we unleash it through prayer in a spirit of love, we will see reconciliation in our small groups.

Article by Tom Atkins Tom Atkins has been on staff at Saddleback Church since 1997 and now serves on the Small Groups Team as pastor to 330 couples and 200 international small groups. He is a graduate of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and has taught pastors and seminary students at Purpose Driven Church Conferences in Syria, Japan, and Sri Lanka. He and his wife, Dianne, have attended Saddleback since 1993. © Copyright 2009. Tom Atkins.

ARE YOU LIVING AS A SPIRITUAL PAUPER, OR AS A CHILD OF THE KING?

A bit late, but good to post.

"THE FACTS OF THE MATTER"
"A weekly letter of encouragement to business and professional men and women"
December 10, 2008

Good Morning!

ARE YOU LIVING AS A SPIRITUAL PAUPER, OR AS A CHILD OF THE KING? +

We live in a society with a victim mentality: “My mother was an alcoholic.” “I couldn’t qualify for scholarships to get through college.” “I came from a poor family.” “The Government failed me.” Reminiscent, is it not of comedian Flip Wilson’s, “The devil made me do it” mentality. In other words, it’s not my fault or responsibility for the way I am. Yes, you are responsible because you have a choice as to whether you will live as a spiritual pauper, or as a child of the King:

WE SAY:
GOD SAYS:

We say: “It’s impossible.”
God says: "What is impossible with men is possible with God." (Lk. 18:27) (See Gen 18:14)

“I’m too tired.”
God says: "Come to me…and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28-30) (See Jer. 6:16; Heb. 4:1)

“Nobody really loves me.”
God says: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...” (Jn. 3:16)

“I can’t go on.”
God says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) (See Exo. 4:10-15; Josh. 1:9; Isa. 43:2; Jer. 1:6-9; I Cor. 10:13; Heb. 4:16

“I can’t figure things out.”
God says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Pro. 3:5, 6)

“I can’t do it.
God says: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

“I’m not able.”
God says: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:8)

“It’s not worth it.”
God says: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28) (See 1 Pet. 1:7,8)

“I can’t forgive.”
God says: “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness…” (Psa. 130:3, 4) (See Matt. 6:14, 15; 18:23-35; Jms.. 2:13; Eph. 4:32)

“I can’t manage.”
God says: “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches
in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19) (See Psa. 23; 84:11; Isa. 40:31; 2 Cor. 4:7-10; 9:8; 1 Thes. 5:24)

“I’m afraid.”
God says: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7 NKJ) (See Lk. 1:74, 75; Act. 20:24; Rom. 8:15; 1 Jn. 4:18)

“I’m always worried and frustrated”
God says: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Pet. 5:7) (See I Sam.)

“I’m not smart enough.”
God says: “…You are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God…” (1 Cor. 1:30) (See 1 Chron. 22:1, 2; Pro. 2:3-6; 8:5; James.1:5)

“I feel all alone.”
God says: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5) (See Dt. 31:6-8)

“IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US.” Rom. 8:37)

+ Source unknown

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