Author: pastorscottwordofgracefellowship
Pastor of Word of Grace Fellowship in Raytown, MO.
Anybody remember this old song? I think it was a pop love song, not a hymn, but the line above could have easily been written by God! Life is hard, and the Christian Life can be even harder. Not only do we have the normal struggles with economics and physical health, but we have also been called to be holy and to have a good attitude about the struggles. I for one would like to be happy, healthy, wealthy, wise AND hear “Well done thou good and faithful servant” when this life is done. How about you? Wouldn’t you like a trial free life that serves God’s purpose and keeps you smelling like a rose?
Last night in our home bible study, we were looking a Daniel 5. There is a really interesting turn of events right before God ends, forever, the reign of Nebuchadnezzar’s family. After Daniel reveals the meaning of the writing on the wall, “Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that HE now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.” Did you notice who got the glory? God’s man, not God. Contrast that with the Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians chapter four:
”If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!” (2 Cor 4:7-12 MSG)
Now, don’t hear me saying that God is going to forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), or that He doesn’t care (1 Peter 5:7), but do hear me say that if life isn’t going as planned, perhaps it’s because God is ensuring that He gets the Glory! After all, nobody gets their sins forgiven and their home in heaven guaranteed, by having faith in Scott!
Deborah Tannen does not write as a Christian, but rather as a professional rhetorician. In her book, The Argument Culture, she recognizes the difficulty for Americans to appreciate societal benefits against a backdrop of individual rights and privileges:
“Perhaps the most fundamental [difference between American and Asian cultures] is the Western assumption that the individual self is in ongoing opposition to society. You can hear this in everyday conversations, as people talk about learning to be true to themselves by resisting society’s expectations. Donal Carbaugh listened to hours of talk on the Phil Donahue show and found that a conflict between society and the individual self was a pervasive theme running through the comments of guests and audience members. For example, one guest expressed the hope that women would learn to “make a decision all by themselves without regard to what society or somebody else says.” Society is seen as the individual’s enemy, imposing demands that conflict with actualizing your own self.”
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
This article was posted by Shawn Nichols on a Sermon Illustrations sharing site; I don’t know if it’s original with him – but I thought it was worth re-posting. I don’t think there is one if us who doesn’t struggle with this! Pastor Scott
This little reminder about vigilance is special to me because I’m a big Steve Green fan and, because, my best friend from High School is a concert rigger. This a powerful a easily remembered reminder of the Water-Walker’s words! Steve Green tells the story of getting to know the crews who fearlessly hung speakers and lights, in event venues, from ceilings 100+ feet in the air:
Green says, “What they didn’t like, they said, were jobs in buildings that had false ceilings–acoustical tile slung just a couple of feet below the rafters. They were still high in the air, and if they slipped, their weight would smash right through the flimsy tile. But their minds seemed to play tricks on them, lulling them into carelessness.”
It’s a reminder to me that Satan’s business is not so much in scaring us to death as persuading us that the danger of a spiritual fall is minimal. No wonder Peter advised us to “resist him, standing firm in the faith” (I Peter 5:9). ~Pastor Scott
Jesus famously said, “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” – Matthew 15:11
As I’ve been preaching on marriage and family these past few week it occurs to me that one’s self isn’t all that is defiled – whole families are brought to ruin by the tongue alone. The “world” is even starting to notice…check out the Newsweek article:
In order to uncover the processes that destroy unions, marital researchers study couples over the course of years, and even decades, and retrace the star-crossed steps of those who have split up back to their wedding day. What they are discovering is unsettling. None of the factors one would guess might predict a couple’s durability actually does: not how in love a newlywed couple say they are; how much affection they exchange; how much they fight or what they fight about. In fact, couples who will endure and those who won’t look remarkably similar in the early days.
Yet when psychologists Cliff Notarius of Catholic University and Howard Markman of the University of Denver studied newlyweds over the first decade of marriage, they found a very subtle but telling difference at the beginning of the relationships. Among couples who would ultimately stay together, 5 out of every 100 comments made about each other were putdowns. Among couples who would later split, 10 of every 100 comments were insults. That gap magnified over the following decade, until couples heading downhill were flinging five times as many cruel and invalidating comments at each other as happy couples. “Hostile putdowns act as cancerous cells that, if unchecked, erode the relationship over time,” says Notarius, who with Markman co-authored the new book We Can Work It Out. “In the end, relentless unremitting negativity takes control and the couple can’t get through a week without major blowups.”
U.S. News & World Report, February 21, 1994, p. 67.
Do you remember the rather silly children’s song “Arky, Arky?” I honestly don’t remember if it’s from my childhood or from my children’s era – but since Thursday, April 5th, when we received our Permanent Certificate of Occupancy, that silly song has been running through my head! We (BRBC/WOGF) have been in selling, packing, moving, and unpacking mode for longer than Noah and his family were on that Ark. Yes, we weren’t suffering or witnessing what they were, but as far as I’m concerned God has caused “the sun to come out and dry up the landy, landy!”
So fellow Word of Gracers – what are waiting for? 🙂
Oh rise and shout and give God the glory, glory.
Oh rise and shout and give God the glory, glory.
Oh rise and shout and give God the glory, glory.
Children of the lord.
It’s not just a fuzzy sentiment; Jesus said it Himself:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11 NKJV)
Jesus really was our “scapegoat;” a concept the Father wrote into the Law itself:
Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:21-22 NKJV)
Seven Hundred years before Jesus was laid in a manger in Bethlehem, the prophet, Isaiah, makes it clear that Jesus was slated to die FOR us:
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 NKJV)
The Apostle Peter wraps up his discussion of Christ’s suffering with these words:
…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25)
I deserved eternal punishment as a consequence for my sin – Christ suffered a brutal death and infinite suffering on that Cross – “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – so I could be forgiven and declared righteous! Yes it is a VERY Good Friday! For me and for everyone who has believed in His name! (John 1:12)
Father, I commit Word of Grace Fellowship to you and ask that you will help us to glorify you in all that we do, that we will be a church that will clearly love you and not love the things in and of this world, that you will give us Christ-centered, close relationships with one another, that you will mend and restore any broken relationships and friendships.
I pray that our building will look and feel like a refuge to our community, that you will give us flexibility, that you will empower leaders within the church and that you will help us to be clear in our communication and have sensitive spirits. I ask that you help us to organize the building well and efficiently, that new visitors and attenders will feel welcome and at home in our new facility, that your Word will always be preached with truth and grace in our new church home and that the Holy Spirit will revive our hearts so that we can have the “living water” flowing through us as Jesus said in John 7:38.
I pray that you will encourage our missionaries and give them wisdom, that there will be open doors and open hearts in the surrounding neighborhoods. I commit the elders to you and pray that you will speak through them and that their plans will be your plans, I pray that the men of our church will become mighty spiritual leaders, that our women will clearly believe and see their worth in Christ and stand firm as women of God, that the teens will stand firm in an ungodly culture and see the treasure of loving Christ, that our children will grow up to love, honor, and serve the Lord,
I pray that you will protect our building from evil, both spiritual and physical, that our building will be mechanically sound and that you will allow it to run efficiently, that you will help us to be creative in reaching the lost and that you will use us to share the gospel boldly!
I pray that we will all love to study and accurately teach your truth, that you will keep our pastors and congregation healthy, and that you will give us wisdom as we minister to people who are hurting and in need. Thank you, Father.
I pray all of this in the strong, precious and holy name of Jesus. AMEN
{This prayer was composed by R. Wilson from a bullet prayer list that was put out before the move; and edited to its current format after the last moving truck drove the 3.3 miles to our new church home – I, Pastor Scott, think it’s a prayer that should be on all of our hearts!)
Below is an old poem that describes the refining process of gold in a furnace. As I read it again this week, the one line jumped out and hit me between the eyes!
“As we saw the fire, but not the Master’s hand.” It reminds me of Peter out on the water, taking his eyes off Jesus and sinking in the waves or of the good seed that was choked out by the thorns – the worries of the world. And I have to ask myself, is my God bigger than my circumstances? The answer is a resounding “yes!” that is indeed what I believe – Lord, help my unbelief!
He sat by the fire of seven-fold heat,
As He watched by the precious ore.
And closer He bent with a searching gaze
As He heated it more and more.
He knew He had ore that could stand the test
And He wanted the finest gold,
To mold as a crown for the King to wear,
Set with gems of price untold.
So He laid our gold in the burning fire,
Though we fain would have said Him, “Nay.”
And He watched the dross that we had not seen,
As it melted and passed away.
And the gold grew brighter, and yet more bright
And our eyes were so dim with tears,
As we saw the fire, not the Master’s hand,
And questioned with anxious fear.
Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,
As it mirrored a Form above
That bent o’er the fire, though unseen by us
With a look of infinite love.
Can we think that it pleases His loving heart
To cause a moment of pain?
Ah, no, but He saw through the present cross
The bliss of eternal gain.
So He waited there with a watchful eye,
With a love that is strong and sure,
And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat
Than was needed to make it pure!
Source Unknown, but, perhaps, informed by passages like 1 Peter 1:6-9 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.”
I recently spoke on Kindness in Awana. I used the story, in 2 Samuel 10, of David’s kindness to servants who were given time to grow back their beards. Today I visited a shut in who gave me a clipping {reprinted below} from “Bits and Pieces – Feb 1989” I figure God’s trying to tell me something or, maybe, He wants me to tell you all something 🙂 And it’s simply that a little kindness goes a long way….
Mamie Adams always went to a branch post office in her town because the postal employees there were friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait in line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. “I know,” said Mamie, ‘but the machine won’t ask me about my arthritis.”
Pray for me as I pray for you!!
Pastor Scott
Grace Notes 