Today's Word

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

Today's Preaching Insight...

Back to the Water Source

What about your life, pastor? Do you have supernatural power in your life and ministry? What is your power source? Are you weary and worn-out — can people hear the dipper banging against the bottom of your bucket? Or are you vibrant and victorious?

We have before us one of the most remarkable and challeng­ing statements in the whole of the New Testament. Jesus said,"If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). These words were spo­ken by Jesus to people who were spiritually dry, empty and defeated. They are like many people of our day, going through religious ritual and ceremony but finding no real meaning, life and victory.

The apostle John includes the commentary on the words of Jesus. Verse 39 tells us that Jesus' statement about "rivers of living water" is a reference to the Holy Spirit.

When it comes to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, it is possible to go to extremes. However, despite our fear of one extreme, we must not go to the other extreme and be devoid of the person and power of the Holy Spirit. Herein lies the power for life and ministry. The Holy Spirit is our power source.

(To read the entire article, "Rivers of Living Water" by Roger D. Willmore at Preaching.com, click here).

Today's Extra...

Words

It happened in the 1840s in Uruguay. The Uruguayan Navy was desperate. They were fending off the navy of an aggressive force from Argentina. They ran out of conventional ammunition and thought their cause was lost. Someone came up with a creative idea. They would use old cheese as ammunition. So they raided the kitchen and loaded their cannons with old, hard Edam cheese and used it as cannonballs. Incidentally, they won the battle.

Is it possible for us to take good things and turn them into weapons? Words for instance can be used to edify; or, if hard, they can be used to destroy.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Today's Preaching Insight...

More about the Father

More recently scholars urge us to discover that the parable is more about the father, the main character who shows up in both chapters of the story. After all, the very first words of the parable are "a certain man had two sons."  Scholars invite us to see the loving father or the waiting father or perhaps the forgiving father. Why not take a clue from them and pay more attention to the father in the story but with an angle?

One day while going over this beloved story I put two things together I never had. When it first hit me my admiration for the father in the story soared. This father, on the very same day, reached out to both of his sons with a fistful of grace and love for each of them.

This father loved both of his sons! God loves disreputable sinners and reputable sinners. Our appreciation of God expands exponentially. So many sermons lately appeal to our selfish desires. If you are up for it, why don't we say a good word about God this time.

(To read the entire article, "Twice in One Day" by Peter Rhea Jones on Preaching.com, click here.)

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. Proverbs 17:1

Today's Preaching Insight...

Daniel: A Travel Guide

The Book of Daniel is the place where prophecy and theology meet in a teenage boy named Daniel in captivity to a foreign king. Along with Daniel's friends, the reader comes face-to-face with the realities in his own life:

How a believer must live in times of apostasy

How a believer may follow the Lord in the most secular of conditions

How a follower of Christ can trust Christ even when it seems He is not in control

How a disciple of Jesus can meet the demands of discipleship in the tough, hard places of life

This part of Daniel grips me as your pastor. So I am back to why I love travel books. Think of Daniel as your divine guide to living for God in those times when it looks like God is nowhere to be found. And if we are truly becoming the secular nation that many say we are, then Daniel is God's guide for our lives as we stand up for Him in this generation.

(To read the full article, "Disciple in a Strange Land" by Michael Milton on Preaching.com, click here.)

Today's Extra...

Preachers are always on the lookout for good commentaries, and the Brazos Theological Commentary in the Bible is an outstanding new series that will be welcomed by those who preach and teach the Word. Two of the most recent volumes -- in what will eventually be a 40-volume series -- are Jonah by Phillip Cary and Deuteronomy by Telford Work. Both are clearly written and offer valuable insights into the biblical text.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Who has put wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind?
Job 38:36

Today's Preaching Insight...

Priorities

"In 1988, Greg Simmons, a brilliant young businessman whose ideas helped revolutionize American life insurance, flew to New York to make a presentation to Board members of AT&T. It was a deal with a commission potential worth more than one million dollars. At the last minute, the AT&T CEO was delayed. He requested that Greg make his proposal the following day. Greg politely explained that was not possible. 'Tomorrow,' he said, 'is my daughter's fifth birthday. I promised her I'd be at her party.'

"For Greg Simmons, his daughter's birthday party was more important than a million dollar deal. I wonder how many big-time CEOs have played second fiddle to a little girl's birthday party. I also wonder if Greg had any idea he would die in a mountain fall a few months later.

"Priorities! At the time, some people said Greg's priorities were all out of whack. But when you stop and think about it, none of us knows when we might attend the last birthday party for someone whose love we value beyond price. I was Greg's pastor. He was my best friend. His example of well-placed priorities taught me a lesson I hope I never forget!"  (R. Leslie Holmes)

Today's Extra...

Flag, Patriotism

Henry Ward Beecher once said, "A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth." (from The American Flag)

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

Today's Preaching Insight...

Teaching Spiritual Truths

"Parents believe that they are primarily responsible for the spiritual development of their children, but few parents spend time during a typical week interacting with their children on spiritual matters," states a report by the Barna Research Group of Ventura, CA. The report "underscores the need for churches to help parents address the spiritual needs of their children more intentionally and effectively."

The Barna study reports that 85 percent of parents of children under age 13 "believe they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religious beliefs and spiritual matters. Just 11 percent said their church is primarily responsible, and 1 percent said it is mostly the domain of their child's school. Few parents assigned such responsibility to friends, society or the media. Nearly all parents of children under the age of 13 - 96 percent - contend that they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children values. Just 1 percent said their church has that task and 1 percent assigned that role to the child's school.

"Related research, however, revealed that a majority of parents do not spend any time during a typical week discussing religious matters or studying religious materials with their children. However, about two out of three parents of children 12 or younger attend religious services at least once a month and generally take their children with them. Most of those parents are willing to let their church or religious center provide all of the direct religious teaching and related religious experiences that their children receive."

Don't forget the young ones under your pastoral care! 

Today's Extra...

Christian Media 'Outdraw' Churches

"A greater number of adults experience the Christian faith through the Christian media, such as radio, television or books, than attend Christian services," the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) announced, according to a story in The Washington Times.

The NRB categorizes this as a "wake-up call" for churches and producers alike, noting that while 132 million adults attended church in a recent month, 141 million used some form of Christian media.

While this outreach activity helps the public focus "on things that matter," said poll director George Barna, it won't get far without a supportive community. "The people factor must always be incorporated if Christianity is to be an expression of God's intent."

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.
John 3:21

Today's Preaching Insight...

Faith makes a difference

Americans who help religious congregations not only give more time and money than people working with secular causes, but provide three-quarters of secular charity as well, according to a study that was reported in The Washington Times.

The study found that "religion-giving households" in 2000 gave 87.5 percent of all charitable contributions in the nation, for an average of $2,100 for each household. "Givers to religious congregations are dramatically more generous than others," said the report, issued by Independent Sector, a nonprofit research organization, and the National Council of Churches.

Six in 10 American households give to a religious congregation and more than 85 percent of those also gave to secular organizations, said the study . . .

"The influence of faith extends to volunteering," the study said, noting that 54 percent of regular worshippers also volunteer. That compares with a volunteering rate of 32 percent by Americans who do not attend a house of worship. Religious givers volunteer for secular charities as much as secular Americans, averaging about 10 hours a month. And the most actively religious people work the most volunteer hours. "In round numbers, one-third of the people give two-thirds of the time," the report said.

For more on this topic, check out The Grace of Giving by Bill D. Whittaker at http://www.preaching.com/resources/from_the_lectionary/11547537/faith%20giving/.

Today's Extra...

The Dying Man and Cookies

An elderly man was at home, upstairs, dying in bed. He smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie before he died. He fell out of bed, crawled to the landing, rolled down the stairs and crawled into the kitchen where his wife was busily baking cookies.

With his last remaining strength he crawled to the table and was just barely able to lift his withered arm to the cookie sheet. As he grasped a warm, moist chocolate chip cookie, his favorite kind, his wife suddenly whacked his hand with a spatula.

Gasping for breath, he asked her, "Why did you do that?"

She replied, "Those are for the funeral."

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple...In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26-33

Today's Preaching Insight...

Communicating Across Generations and Gender

In her Preaching article on "Preaching to Women," Alice Matthews of Gordon-Conwell Seminary talks about the issue of cross-cultural communication as it relates to both generations and gender:

"It may be easier for us to grasp the reality of cultural difference in terms of different generations. When I am with any of my six grand­sons, I hear them speak a language different from my own. Yes, they use words that are in my vocabulary — words such as cool or awesome or radical — but they do not attach the same meanings to them. So I might ask Chris, "When you say that Eric is cool, what do you mean? What's cool about Eric? He seems pretty warm to me." I listen to the vast array of inflections used in the ways my grandsons pronounce a word such as cool, and I know that it is an important word with many meanings and many uses. I just don't speak that language.

"But if my husband, Randall, and I sit sipping coffee together after breakfast, chatting about our family, our work, and the day ahead of us, I can easily assume that he and I speak the same language. After all, we have lived together for more than half a century! But once in a while he says something that reminds me that we are not always speaking the same language. For example, though we both grew up during the Great Depression and share conservative attitudes about the way we use money, we do not talk about money in the same way. His father lost his job in 1933 and was unable to support the family. My father had work through­out the Depression, and though we were poor by today's standards, we never went hungry. As a result, I tend not to worry about losing every­thing we have in the same way Randall does. He is more cautious about spending than I am, coming out of a life experience that is different from mine. Thus, the words save and spend carry different freight for him.

"The same thing happens countless times between the pulpit and the pew. When a pastor steps into the pulpit on Sunday morning, the odds make it likely that nearly three out of every four adults waiting to hear the sermon are women, although the ratio will vary from church to church. But the reality is that most pastors speak to more women than men every Sunday. It is this reality that makes it practical and logical to think about women as listeners." (Preaching, May-June 2003)

(You can read the article in its entirely at Preaching.com by clicking here).

Today's Extra...

Book of the Week

Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide, by Reggie Joiner (David C. Cook, 2009).

Former family ministry director Reggie Joiner looks at what would happen if the church and families both decided that they could no longer do business as usual, but instead combined their efforts and began to work off the same page for the sake of the kids.

Written to support the Orange Conference and Tour, Think Orange shows church leaders how to make radical changes so they can:

engage parents in an integrated strategy;
synchronize the home and church around a clear message;
recruit mentors to become partners with the family;
provoke parents and kids to fight for their relationship with each other; and
mobilize the next generation to be the church.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
Acts 26:20

Today's Preaching Insight...

Sermons must be rooted in God's Word

In his book The Passion-Driven Sermon (Broadman & Holman), Jim Shaddix reminds us that scripture must be the foundation of every sermon.

"While it is certainly not wrong for a preacher to utilize information from outside the Bible to support, illustrate, or apply the truth of God's Word, a line is crossed when the observations and assertions of some other preacher, psychologist, researcher, or futurist become the primary content of sermons. And it doesn't matter whether the contentions are those of a Christian or non-Christian. . . . Regardless of how enticing it may be, human wisdom will never positively affect the spiritual makeup of mankind." 

Today's Extra...

Strength

According to wire service reports, a New York man has set a record for the most records in the Guinness Book of World Records. His name is Ashrita Furman, and he is the first person to hold 100 records at the same time. His records include a mass poetry reading of the poem "Precious" in 111 languages, 27,000 jumping jacks in five hours, and eating 38 M&Ms with chopsticks in one minute.

Furman has held 234 total records, but many have been broken. He is quoted as saying, "I believe we all have an inner strength that we very rarely use." He also said, "I just love the challenge of trying to be the best in the world in something." While we might question the need to be the best at something rather than to simply do our best, we would all probably agree that we have inner strength we rarely use.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Romans 3:20

Today's Preaching Insight...

Consider Shorter Attention Spans

In the May 2003 issue of Ministry magazine, executive speech coach Patricia Fripp observes, "Today's audiences have very short attention spans. The first and last thirty seconds have the most impact. Don't waste those precious seconds with trivialities. Come out punching. . . . You might start with a story, an interesting statistic, a startling statement - anything rather than something predictable. Being too predictable can be boring.  With the advent of the TV remote control, no one watches anything that stands still long enough to bore. Today's audiences will forgive you for anything except being boring. . . .

"We must keep our audience's needs in mind. In the first sentence or so, you want people in your audience to elbow their neighbors and say, 'This is going to be good. I'm glad we're here!' When a sermon is immediately compelling, it's as if you forget everything else. It's important to memorize the first three or four sentences of your introduction. This allows you to start fluently, connecting with your audience."

Today's Extra...

Influence

Rivers gain more attention than the little streams that create them. You can name the great rivers of the world, but you cannot name their tributaries. However, without the tributaries, there would be no river. And it must be remembered that the smaller streams, while less well-known, are purer and are found on a higher elevation. Some of our lives are tributary lives. It is our role to provide the pure water from the higher elevation that enables another to be a mighty river of power and influence.
J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Romans 4:2-3

Today's Preaching Insight...

It's Not About You

We make statements that are saturated with self as if worship is all about us:

"Why can't we sing more of the songs that I like?" 
"I don't think the preacher should talk about this or that!" 
"I can't believe so-and-so didn't talk to me today!" 
"No one ever notices what I do in the church."
Here's the problem: Worship isn't about getting anything; it's about giving everything to God! The above attitudes make us idle judges of activity rather than active participants in adoration toward a holy God. Christian consumerism defines the quality of our worship by the number of ministries for people, the size and quality of our buildings, the popularity of our pastors, the style of our music and an obvious determination to make people happy. One concern emerges as primary: "What have you done for me lately?"

Unfortunately, we still fall short of making everyone happy, and God is disgusted with our obvious worship of and preoccupation with ourselves. Our efforts to be seeker-sensitive and self-sensitive have made us insensitive to the Divine Presence who is to be the focus of our worship. Or, as the apostle Paul said, we have "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25).]

(To read the full sermon, "It's Not About You" by Adam Dooley at Preaching.com, click here)

Today's Extra...

Optimism

There is an old Far Side comic that illustrates the power of perspective. As with many of Gary Larson's comics, it contains animals that behave like people. There is a family of dogs deep in an underground fallout shelter, while there is a nuclear holocaust on the surface. One of the dogs says, "Well, we must face a new reality. No more carefree days of chasing squirrels, running through the park, or howling at the moon. On the other hand, no more, 'Fetch the stick, boy, fetch the stick.'"