Today's Word

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Ephesians 3:12

Today's Preaching Insight...

Let the Children Come to Me

In a sermon based on Mark 10:13-16, pastor Mike Milton observes, "As Art Linkletter used to say, 'Kids say the darndest things.' But in the passage today, it is Jesus who says the most amazing things. And what He says is not only about children but about each of us.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them (Mark 10:13-16).

We have all heard about the infamous novel where a mystery was supposedly encrypted in the paintings of Leonardo di Vinci. Well, today, we come to a Scripture that has inspired many works of art. In fact, the "Suffer the Little Children" stained glass window in our balcony depicts Mark 10:13-16 and its parallels in Matthew 19 and Luke 18, the story of Jesus welcoming little children.

I once preached in Whitefield Chapel at Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah, Georgia. That same scene was memorialized in a stained glass window in that chapel. Each Sunday, as I do here, I would look at it, but today, I want to say that there is a message embedded in that painting. I would call the painting "Children in the Arms of a Loving God." If God helps us today, we will be able to see with eyes of faith the truth behind the scene. In this scene of children in the arms of a loving God, God has placed a story to be told, lessons to be learned, a key to unlatch eternal life, and a promise to bring you ultimate happiness. Whoever learns these lessons and latches on to this key and leaves with this promise will never be the same."

Today's Extra...

This Week's Laugh

A drunken man stumbles across a baptismal service on Sunday afternoon down by the river. He proceeds to walk into the water and stand next to the old country preacher. The minister notices the old drunk and says, "Mister, are you ready to find Jesus?"

The drunk looks back and says, "Yes, preacher, I sure am."  So the minister dunks the fellow under the water and pulls him right back up.

"Have you found Jesus?" the preacher asks."No, I didn't!" said the drunk.

The preacher then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up, and says, "Now, brother, have you found Jesus?"

"No, I have not, Reverend."

The preacher now holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this time, brings him out of the water, and says in exasperation, "Man, have you found Jesus yet?"

The old drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher, "Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Matthew 16:16

Today's Preaching Insight...

Our Deepest Questions

Forty-one years I have served as a pastor. Throughout those years I have been bombarded with questions, honest questions, by sincere men and women who are trying to decide whether or not to say "yes" to Jesus.

Most of these questioners are genuine people, serious in their quest for spiritual reality. Some are young people, raised in the faith, who are now ready to throw it all out or have already thrown it all out, because of a cynical professor and/or friends who have put questions to them that they had never heard addressed before and are urging them to lifestyles contrary to biblical standards. Some have gone through life tragedies that have caused them to question everything. Some, in their intellectual development, have just come to honest questions for which they want answers.

Some of the questioners are adults who, for years have been nominal, cultural Christians, attending church because that is what you did in the communities where they were raised. They have never had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have always thought that church attendance was a good thing to do and have put it at a level beside joining a service club, such as Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis, and taking leadership in the local PTA. But now they are discovering the pluralism of American culture. Some of their friends have totally dropped out of church; they don't have time for civic and specific religious organizations. Others of their friends are claiming a "born-again" experience with Jesus Christ and are not just attending church occasionally but have become extremely active in what they call "the family of God," personal Bible study, prayer, faithful worship attendance, weekly participation in a small group, reading books and attending Bible classes. Not only this, they are engaged in local and world mission projects, even giving ten percent and more of their gross income to the work of Jesus Christ.

Others who raise these questions to me come from completely non-religious backgrounds. They know nothing about the faith. A few have never been to church before. They tell me that the first time they came they didn't know when to sit and when to stand, and the language was foreign. It was all new. They were raising questions they had never raised before...

I could make a life work out of trying to answer each one of these. These are big questions, not easily resolved. But, sooner or later, you have to make a decision whether or not to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

(To read the entire sermon, "The Answers to Our Deepest Questions" by John A. Huffman Jr. at Preaching.com, click here)

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation..."
Luke 17:20

Today's Preaching Insight...

Illustrations for the Lost

In a Preaching magazine article on reaching lost people within traditional worship services, Larry Moyer describes the importance of using illustrations that can be understood by non-Christians.

"Pastors who effectively use illustrations are the most relatable to lost people. Lost people do not understand the Bible, but they do understand life. Therefore, a pastor who uses illustrations effectively tells the lost person that he understands not only the scriptures but him and life.

"Years ago I was speaking in a church on the subject of marriage and the family using Genesis 2:18-25. I was addressing the subject, 'Why did God start it all?' I told the audience that one of the reasons God instituted marriage was for companionship. God plainly said, 'It is not good that man should be alone.' I then addressed the subject of loneliness, giving the illustration of a 29‑year‑old single man from Topeka, Kansas, who said, 'For myself I can only describe the word 'loneliness' as being a gut‑level sick feeling at the pit of your stomach. It's so far within yourself that you fear you are in a trap and will never be set free.' After the service, a non-­Christian sought me out and said, 'You couldn't have described me any better. That quote really penetrated.' I had the privilege of taking him aside and leading him to the Lord."  (Preaching, Nov-Dec 2002)

Today's Extra...

Weddings

A little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd (alternating between bride's side and groom's side). While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar loudly.

So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR all the way down the aisle.

As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the front. The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and was near tears by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear." (from Mikey's Funnies)

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Revelation 3:10

Today's Preaching Insight...

From Tired to Inspired

We all get tired. Somebody once told me the crucial question for ministers was not, "Am I tired in the work?" but, "Am I tired of the work?" I have to admit there've been times when I could answer either query in the weary affirmative.

Even preaching, my first love in the ministry, the thing I truly feel called to do, I've gotten tired in and of. There have been days when I felt I could make more impact throwing beans against the wall (or at the folks in the pews!) than by preaching. There have been days when study time insidiously morphed into e-mail time and sermon preparation sailed dangerously close to sermon rehashing. Even though I try to remain fresh and engaging, the very words I'm required to use Sunday after Sunday — believe, repent, confess, even Jesus — can sometimes lose their flavor. Depending on what's going on in the church — infighting, a scandal, simple doldrums — an imp seems to hover near my eye with brush and jaundice- palette.  I'm tempted to cynicism.

Been there? Because we preach as sinners to fellow sinners, we all have. Thankfully, for most of us, such times don't last. Thankfully, God's grace and power somehow waft back to our lives, lifting the sagging sails, refilling our preaching with purpose, clarity, and emotion.

It might be a vacation that does the trick or maybe a conference. The rekindling of power might come with sunshine after weeks of slate-gray skies. Or maybe it comes wrapped in some member's thoughtful, encouraging note.

(To read the entire article "From Tired to Inspired" by Gary D. Robinson at Preaching.com, click here)

Today's Extra...

Courage, Prayer, Worship

In his book Surviving Hell: A P.O.W.'s Journey, Leo Thorsness tells of the courage it took to worship in the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison in Vietnam. Thorsness tells of a memorable service after the prisoners were rounded up in response to a failed rescue attempt.

The senior ranking officer in one cell stood up one Sunday and said, "Let's have church service." The men agreed. The guard came in and forbade them from having a service. The men discussed the problem and said they were all committed to having a service the following Sunday no matter what. That Sunday, Ned Schuman stood to open the service, and the guards came in and took him off to be tortured. After that, the second-highest ranking officer said, "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer." While praying, about halfway through, he was sent to be tortured. At that, the third in command stood and said, "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer." The guards took him out for torture. Number four stood up and said, "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer." At this the guards not only carried away the officer but began hitting the soldiers with the butts of their guns, shouting for them to stop. Number five took his time getting to the center of the room; and before he could speak, the soldiers took him out. The guards locked the door behind them, and number six got up. "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer," he said.
Thorsness says that this time they finished it. He went on to say that even though five men were tortured, they all thought it worth it.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9

Today's Preaching Insight...

The Message Entrusted to Us

Speaking to a renewal conference some time ago, former Asbury Seminary President Maxie D. Dunnam said, "An incredible message has been entrusted to us, a powerfully compelling message of an earth-shattering, world-changing, person-transforming fact. At the heart of it is Jesus, His incarnation, life, teaching, death and resurrection."

"People within and outside the church are starving spiritually. Within the church they ask for bread and are given stones. Witnesses abound. Persons in pain and sadness share stories of their long endurance in one of our mainline congregations, but they could take it no longer. Their pastors not only disregarded, they denigrated the authority of God's word. So the person sought another congregation where Scripture was honored and preached . . . They were starving for the Word.

"People outside the church are starving as well. They are starving because the church has betrayed her first love, has become so ideologically bound that she is spiritually barren. Committed to theological pluralism and making diversity redemptive within itself, we are diverted from the core dynamic of the Christian faith: what Christ can do for persons and for society.

"Redemptive, transforming power is in the Cross of Jesus - His sacrificial death for our sins. ... The fire is there to burn up the filthiness, decadence and destructiveness of sin and unrighteousness. The energy and fire are there in the fact that God became incarnate, walked the earth, died, rose again and turned evil's seemingly supreme triumph in its most crushing, irrevocable defeat."  (The Layman Online, October 31, 2002)

Today's Extra...

This Week's Laugh

The children's Sunday School class was learning about the Second Coming of Christ. Meanwhile, next door, another group was preparing to see a drama about a Bible story, and the man in costume was standing in the hallway. When one of the children stepped out of his own room and spotted the man in robes, he turned back to the class and shouted, "He's here now!"

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
John 20:29

Today's Preaching Insight...

Not Professionals

"We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry," John Piper writes in his book Brothers, We Are NOT Professionals. "Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry."

Professionalism leads to spiritual decline, Piper believes: "For there is no professional childlikeness; there is no professional tenderheartedness; there is no professional panting after God."

In the chapter, "Brothers, Fight for Your Life," he urges pastors to take 20 minutes a day, six days a week, just to read.

"Without time of unhurried reading and reflection, beyond the press of sermon preparation, my soul shrinks... For your own soul and the life of your church, fight for time to feed your soul with rich reading."

Today's Extra...

Time

A friend said, "My problem is that I have surrendered my time to work, to other people, and to bad habits." We should first surrender our time to God. God owns it anyway. Our task is to manage properly what has been entrusted to us until he returns or wants it back, including our time.

Think about a compass and a clock Two very important tools, but two very different instruments. One would be wise not to confuse the two. To surrender our time to God is to be governed by a compass rather than to be controlled by a clock. A compass provides a sense of direction, purpose, vision, perspective, and balance. A clock measures duration, the expenditure of time. A compass determines effectiveness-doing the right tasks. A clock determines efficiency-how long it takes to accomplish a task. Both have their place. But, the compass must come before the clock, therefore, effectiveness before efficiency. The "mega priorities" of the compass subordinate the "mini priorities" of the clock.

A compass, therefore, becomes a symbol of an internal guidance system that provides us with our values and convictions based on God's Word. This non-negotiable governs our lives. In the same manner that the gravitational force pulls the compass needle; it is God that governs the drive of our lives. We surrender to his force.

Our time should be surrendered to God daily. I asked a friend who is engaged in many pursuits successfully, how he managed it all. He said, "I give my first minutes to God, then I commit the remainder of the day to his Lordship. And amazingly I work more effectively and efficiently."

Have you surrendered your time to God?  Is your time in his hands? (Rick Ezell, One Minute Uplift newsletter)

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Mark 16:15

Today's Preaching Insight...

Leave the Popularity for Jesus

It is the biggest temptation every preacher deals with. Every preacher? Yes, every preacher; and if one ever tells you he or she has never experienced its power, do not buy a used computer from that preacher. What is it? Popularity!

Phillips Brooks, who gave the world his wonderful carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem," knew popularity's seductive powers. As a preacher, he experienced it firsthand and declared, "To set one's heart on being popular is fatal to the preacher's best growth. It is the worst and feeblest part of your congregation that makes itself heard in vociferous applause, and it applauds that in you which pleases it."

Truth is that the love of popularity does not just seduce preachers. Everybody likes to be liked. For preachers, however, it is an especially deadly enticement. More than one unusually gifted preacher has been caught up in its grips and weakened, even destroyed, by its deadly power.

These days Jesus is literally everywhere. He is in newspapers and on the covers of magazines. He is on TV and radio.

You can find Him on football fields and on the tailgates of SUVs. He gets a mention in the great debates of the day—from Iraq to gay marriage, from evolution to the environment.

He is a celebrity unequalled in human history, this Jesus you and I are called to preach. My granddaughters might tell you, "He's hot!" That's right, He sizzles! Of course, it will not last, will it? Jesus will go out of fashion as quickly as He came in once the media tires of Him, don't you agree? No? Me neither!

(To read the entire article, "Every Preacher's Fiercest Temptation!" by Robert Leslie Holmes at Preaching.com, click here)

Today's Extra...

Complaining

According to the authors of the book Significa, the world's champion complainer was a man named Ralph Charrell. Charrel received over $100,000 as a result of his systematic complaining. His smallest refund was of $6.95 and his largest was $25,000. Charrel spent time every day making phone call and writing letters of complaint. He even wrote two books, How to Get the Upper Hand and How I Turn Ordinary Complaints into Thousands of Dollars. While we all have the right to stand up for ourselves, would you want to be known as the "World's Champion Complainer"? Wouldn't it be better to be the "World's Champion Encourager"?

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Matthew 24:7-8

Today's Preaching Insight...

Preaching the Beatitudes

David Buttrick is author of Speaking Jesus: Homiletic Theology and the Sermon on the Mount (Westminster John Knox). He notes:

"We must be careful: The Beatitudes are not law and not moral instruction. They are neither didactic teachings nor rulebook rules. Preachers can urge congregations to be forgiving or to work as peacemakers, but look out, for there are complicating factors. First, we must not forget that human sinfulness runs deep. Not only is there a strange reluctance in each of us to choose God's will over our own dreams and desires, but when we are 'packaged,' that is, put together in social groups - corporations, nations, clubs, clans, even churches - we are doubly dangerous. To tell congregations to go out and make peace everywhere is unhelpful moralizing unless you spell out how difficult it will be to ignore prejudices, political alliances, social pressures, patriotisms and the like, all of which are formed by sin. In view of sin, the Beatitudes rely on God's own innovative grace."

Today's Extra...

Grace, Divine Protection

In his book The Red Sea Rules, pastor Rob Morgan writes, "Several years ago, I was walking down a sidewalk in East Nashville, making a pastoral visit. Suddenly I saw a German shepherd flying across a lawn, barking, snarling, teeth bared, mouth frothing. I was so startled that as it lunged at me, I screamed and jumped backward. But between me and my would-be attacker, there was a chain-link fence. The dog struck the fence full force. My heart was racing, but I was utterly safe because of the protective fence.

"Satan can growl and bark, lunge and threaten. But when we're enclosed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, he can do us no real or lasting harm."

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect--if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
Mark 13:22-23

Today's Preaching Insight...

Preaching That Confronts Injustice

With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Discipleship is an Abingdon Press book that contains sermons by Peter Storey, former President of the Methodist Church of South Africa and Bishop of the Johannesburg/Soweto area for thirteen years. The book contains sermons preached in the midst of a society crippled by apartheid along with sermons reflect the nation's deliverance from that oppressive system. (Storey is now on the faculty of Duke Divinity School.)

One of the sermons, "When God Turns the Tide," was preached just days after the 1990 announcement of the abandonment of apartheid. Here is a powerful moment in that sermon.

"When President DeKlerk made those dramatic announcements that opened the prison gates of despair, I stood still for a long time, transfixed and emotionally overwhelmed. Then I walked to our kitchen window. From there you can see a distant hill, and on that hill there stands a church where, back in the 1950s, a young priest once ministered to the people of a vibrant black township called Sophiatown. It was there that he tried to stop the military trucks that came in the night to take the people away and the bulldozers that smashed their houses down.

"I looked out on the white suburb that rose on the ruins of Sophiatown. I remembered the final insult in the naming of that suburb, Triomf. [The Afrikaans word for "Triumph."] I remembered the little book written by that priest to expose apartheid's evil to the world, called Naught for Your Comfort.

"The priest was admonished by his bishop and sent home to England. But he took with him his book to alert the world, and he left behind a young black teenager who had been his altar boy and whom he had faithfully visited in the hospital when the boy had tuberculosis. The priest's name was Trevor Huddleston. The altar boy was Desmond Tutu. Huddleston's book may be dated now, but the altar boy is not. Huddleston's impact on South Africa through Desmond Tutu is immeasurable. There is a direct line between his witness in Sophiatown and this moment.

"There have been many, many others who have stood for the truth. They have been a minority, but together, the convictions of that minority and their commitment to obey God and stand for God's truth have made it possible for this moment of God's intervention - God's turning of the tide. Never underestimate the importance of ordinary people standing for the truth, because they also enable others to play their part."

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:8

Today's Preaching Insight...

War

In a past issue of his Breakpoint commentary, Chuck Colson observes, "This fallen world is dangerous, and out of mercy, God has given legitimate governments the power of the sword to protect us. The just war doctrine, derived from Scriptures, enables us to evaluate and hold our national leaders accountable when they must use the sword.

"We know from 2 Chronicles that King Jehoshaphat of Judah was a great warrior with a large, seasoned army. But when Jehoshaphat was confronted with an invasion, instead of riding out to meet the invaders, he led the people in prayer. "We do not know what to do," he prayed, "but our eyes are on you." And God's deliverance came in a thoroughly unexpected way. Jehoshaphat's army didn't fire a shot.

"Christians should follow the example of Jehoshaphat in prayer. Yes, we have the finest fighting men in the world... But remember that prayer is mightier than our armies, and God alone gives the victory or defeat."

Today's Extra...

This Week's Laugh

A pastor went into the pulpit one Sunday morning wearing a pair of new bifocals. The reading portion of the glasses improved his vision considerably, but whenever he looked through the top portion of the glasses he got dizzy. He explained to the congregation that the new glasses were causing problems, then said, "I hope you will excuse my continually removing my glasses. You see when I look down I can see fine, but when I look at you, it makes me sick."  (from George McCracken in www.sermonfodder.com)