Here is something from Max Lucado to think about...
SUPPOSE JESUS CAME to your church. I don't mean symbolically. I mean visibly. Physically. Actually. Suppose he came to your church.
Would you recognize him? It might be difficult. Jesus didn't wear religious clothes in his day. Doubtful that he would wear them in ours. If he came today to your church, he'd wear regular clothes. Nothing fancy, just a jacket and shoes and a tie. Maybe a tie ... maybe not.
He would have a common name. "Jesus" was common. I suppose he might go by Joe or Bob or Terry or Elliot.
Elliot ... I like that. Suppose Elliot, the Son of God, came to your church.
Of course, he wouldn't be from Nazareth or Israel. He'd hail from some small spot down the road like Hollow Point or Chester City or Mt. Pleasant.
And he'd be a laborer. He was a carpenter in his day. No reason to think he'd change, but let's say he did. Let's say that this time around he was a plumber. Elliot, the plumber from Mt. Pleasant.
God, a plumber?
Rumor has it that he fed a football field full of people near the lake. Others say he healed a senator's son from Biloxi. Some say he's the Son of God. Others say he's the joke of the year. You don't know what to think.
And then, one Sunday, he shows up.
About midway through the service he appears in the back of the auditorium and takes a seat. After a few songs he moves closer to the front. After yet another song he steps up on the platform and announces, "You are singing about me. I am the Son of God." He holds a Communion tray. "This bread is my body. This wine is my blood. When you celebrate this, you celebrate me!"
What would you think?
Would you be offended? The audacity of it all. How irreverent, a guy named Elliot as the Son of God!
Would you be interested? Wait a minute, how could he be the Son of God? He never went to seminary, never studied at a college. But there is something about him ...
Would you believe? I can't deny it's crazy. But I can't deny what he has done.
It's easy to criticize contemporaries of Jesus for not believing in him. But when you realize how he came, you can understand their skepticism.
Jesus didn't fit their concept of a Messiah. Wrong background. Wrong pedigree. Wrong hometown. No Messiah would come from Nazareth. Small, hick, one-stoplight town. He didn't fit the Jews' notion of a Messiah, and so, rather than change their notion, they dismissed him.
He came as one of them. He was Jesus from Nazareth. Elliot from Mt. Pleasant. He fed the masses with calloused hands. He raised the dead wearing bib overalls and a John Deere Tractor cap.
They expected lights and kings and chariots from heaven. What they got was sandals and sermons and a Galilean accent.
And so, some missed him.
And so, some miss him still.
From A Gentle Thunder
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1987) Max Lucado
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Updates for Our Community
Mrs. Carol Nance has two announcements:
Subject: Two important dates for everyone in our church and community
Subject: Two important dates for everyone in our church and community
- Cottonton Baptist Church is having Carol Herschel, with "Sound Choices", to speak at their church Sunday afternoon at 4:30 (our time). This Sunday is "Sanctity of Life" Sunday. The meeting is open to the community if you would like to learn more about what Sound Choices is all about. You will have plenty of time to go hear Carol and still be back at our church well by or before our 6:00pm service. As you know, we have David Shemwell coming to speak to us about the "Feeding the Valley Program". Please make plans to attend.
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, there will be a Health Fair at Cottonton Baptist, open to the community (free) from 10am - 2pm. There will be all types of representatives there checking for various illnesses or symptoms, some of these are folks from Montgomery. I don't have the time yet, but will get it to you when Pat Boyd gets back with me.
Richer or Poorer?
Proverbs 31 Ministries had an interesting article I thought you might like to read by: Shari Braendel.
"One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." Proverbs 13:7 (NIV)
Devotion:
I watched Maria as she put her arm around her young son and drew him to her side. He responded by leaning in. They were a family of little means and just walking around her house would make even the most hardened heart cry. The shack had a roof made of sharp tin with tree branches mingled in between the layers. It certainly could not keep the elements out and as I peered up and saw light peeking in I wondered how they kept dry when it rained.
The floors were made of cement in some places, dirt in others. Bricks surrounded the little house and as Eric proudly showed me the bedroom that he shared with his mother and two brothers, I smiled. I was then led into the meager kitchen that was stocked with some old pans, a bag of potatoes, some carrots and a sink that refused to release water from its spout.
There was not a bathroom or laundry area except for the ragged line that hung outside with a few items of clothing on it. For all of this bareness, the children were genuinely joyful. As the boys hugged their mom, there was that sense of sweetness that happens between a child and his mother that no amount of money or material goods can replace. This family had each other and they had Jesus.
Ecuador is extremely impoverished in regards to material blessings. I've decided, however, that many in the U.S., though they have an abundance of possessions, are much poorer in other aspects. Families in Ecuador don't seem to know they are poor. Ironically, so many people living around me don't know they're poor either - spiritually in need.
I arrived home from Ecuador with a new vision of blessing. You see, the families I encountered in the homes I visited may not be blessed with material things but they consider it a privilege and gift to know Jesus. When people place highest value in Jesus, not possessions, they gain a life of hope. Hope without end. I can collect everything money can buy, but if I have no hope, I have nothing of value.
Dear God, thank You for the richness and fullness that I have in my life because You sent Your Son. opHelp me to keep my eyes on Jesus instead of wanting more things that will never fulfill me the way You do. I know that it is only through Christ that I can be truly wealthy. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do You Know Him?
Sponsor a child from Ecuador thru Compassion International
Too Small to Ignore by Dr. Wess Stafford
Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock
Visit Shari's blog to hear more about her trip to Ecuador
Application Steps:
Pray Romans 15:13 for the nations: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (NIV)
Are you feeling hopeless today? Proverbs 11:25 says "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (NIV). Refresh someone today with the hope of Jesus—you will in turn be refreshed with His hope.
My visit with Maria and Eric in Ecuador was through the child sponsorship program of Compassion International. No matter who we are or where we are, we can bring Jesus' hope to the nations through the simple act of sponsoring a child. Compassion International makes certain each sponsored child hears about Jesus and is given the chance to accept true hope. Check out Compassion International today to learn more.
Reflections:
What in my home is excess?
Who can I give it to that needs it more than I?
Power Verses:
2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (NIV)
2 Corinthians 6:10, "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." (NIV)
© 2010 by Shari Braendel. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.proverbs31.org
"One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." Proverbs 13:7 (NIV)
Devotion:
I watched Maria as she put her arm around her young son and drew him to her side. He responded by leaning in. They were a family of little means and just walking around her house would make even the most hardened heart cry. The shack had a roof made of sharp tin with tree branches mingled in between the layers. It certainly could not keep the elements out and as I peered up and saw light peeking in I wondered how they kept dry when it rained.
The floors were made of cement in some places, dirt in others. Bricks surrounded the little house and as Eric proudly showed me the bedroom that he shared with his mother and two brothers, I smiled. I was then led into the meager kitchen that was stocked with some old pans, a bag of potatoes, some carrots and a sink that refused to release water from its spout.
There was not a bathroom or laundry area except for the ragged line that hung outside with a few items of clothing on it. For all of this bareness, the children were genuinely joyful. As the boys hugged their mom, there was that sense of sweetness that happens between a child and his mother that no amount of money or material goods can replace. This family had each other and they had Jesus.
Ecuador is extremely impoverished in regards to material blessings. I've decided, however, that many in the U.S., though they have an abundance of possessions, are much poorer in other aspects. Families in Ecuador don't seem to know they are poor. Ironically, so many people living around me don't know they're poor either - spiritually in need.
I arrived home from Ecuador with a new vision of blessing. You see, the families I encountered in the homes I visited may not be blessed with material things but they consider it a privilege and gift to know Jesus. When people place highest value in Jesus, not possessions, they gain a life of hope. Hope without end. I can collect everything money can buy, but if I have no hope, I have nothing of value.
Dear God, thank You for the richness and fullness that I have in my life because You sent Your Son. opHelp me to keep my eyes on Jesus instead of wanting more things that will never fulfill me the way You do. I know that it is only through Christ that I can be truly wealthy. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do You Know Him?
Sponsor a child from Ecuador thru Compassion International
Too Small to Ignore by Dr. Wess Stafford
Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock
Visit Shari's blog to hear more about her trip to Ecuador
Application Steps:
Pray Romans 15:13 for the nations: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (NIV)
Are you feeling hopeless today? Proverbs 11:25 says "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (NIV). Refresh someone today with the hope of Jesus—you will in turn be refreshed with His hope.
My visit with Maria and Eric in Ecuador was through the child sponsorship program of Compassion International. No matter who we are or where we are, we can bring Jesus' hope to the nations through the simple act of sponsoring a child. Compassion International makes certain each sponsored child hears about Jesus and is given the chance to accept true hope. Check out Compassion International today to learn more.
Reflections:
What in my home is excess?
Who can I give it to that needs it more than I?
Power Verses:
2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (NIV)
2 Corinthians 6:10, "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." (NIV)
© 2010 by Shari Braendel. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.proverbs31.org
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Training in Godliness
I thought you might like this from Dr. Charles Stanley:
Deuteronomy 4:9-10
Our desire as Christian parents is to help our children mature into godly men and women. We want them to believe that God has a plan for them and that they are accountable to Him.
I remember teaching my children from a young age about these important truths, because I wanted biblical principles to shape their thinking and their choices. After explaining about God's will, I told them they were accountable to the Lord for their behavior—as well as to their mother and me. If kids believe their only accountability is to parents, then when they are apart from Mom and Dad, they are likely to think that they don't have to answer to anyone.
When my children objected to my decisions, I taught them to speak to their heavenly Father about it. Over time, they developed the habit of talking things over with Him. This training became very important in their teenage years. Instead of giving a quick no to some of their requests, I said, "Find out what God wants you to do. Whatever you two agree on, I will accept." I knew this was risky, but I had to trust the Lord and give my children the opportunity to practice what I had been teaching them—that they are accountable to God.
Training in godliness begins before children establish a personal relationship with Christ. We should continue the process by modeling righteousness all through life. Kids need to know about the Lord's plan for them and their accountability to Him. They also need parents who speak their name to God.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Deuteronomy 4:9-10
Our desire as Christian parents is to help our children mature into godly men and women. We want them to believe that God has a plan for them and that they are accountable to Him.
I remember teaching my children from a young age about these important truths, because I wanted biblical principles to shape their thinking and their choices. After explaining about God's will, I told them they were accountable to the Lord for their behavior—as well as to their mother and me. If kids believe their only accountability is to parents, then when they are apart from Mom and Dad, they are likely to think that they don't have to answer to anyone.
When my children objected to my decisions, I taught them to speak to their heavenly Father about it. Over time, they developed the habit of talking things over with Him. This training became very important in their teenage years. Instead of giving a quick no to some of their requests, I said, "Find out what God wants you to do. Whatever you two agree on, I will accept." I knew this was risky, but I had to trust the Lord and give my children the opportunity to practice what I had been teaching them—that they are accountable to God.
Training in godliness begins before children establish a personal relationship with Christ. We should continue the process by modeling righteousness all through life. Kids need to know about the Lord's plan for them and their accountability to Him. They also need parents who speak their name to God.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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