Who said this?
“This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.”
This quote is attributed to Adolf Hitler in 1935 – Adolf Hitler never said it.
For more information about it take a look at:
http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcbogus.html
But this does bring up an important issue. Guns. Weapons in general.
Our US Constitution protects our right as a citizen to keep and bear arms.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
What does the Bible say about gun ownership? What about the use of deadly force for the protection of life and property? How is shooting someone exercising love, “turn the other cheek,” or “do good to your enemies”?
There were many times when God told the people of Israel to go to war. Some people may say, “But that was in the Old Testament. What about the New Testament?”
We are warned by Paul: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Notice how this passage speaks of having non-carnal weapons. Does this then exclude the use of carnal weapons? No. This passage ends with the command “and being ready to punish all disobedience.” We use spiritual weapons of prayer and God’s Word to do our warfare on spiritual ground but not exclusively.
Jesus understood this concept when He told the disciples: “Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. … So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough." Luke 22:36-38
Jesus knew He would soon die on the cross and His disciples were going to be without his physical presence. When Jesus was preparing to leave He told the disciples, “he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”
In the beginning of their ministry, the disciples were instructed to not carry a money bag and they did not have any savings account. After following Jesus for three years the disciples would not have many garments. Since they were traveling all the time they had no place to store their clothing. They would only have the clothes on their back and one extra change of clothes. Their extra clothing was probably the most valuable thing they owned. Jesus told them if they did not have a sword they were to sell their garment and buy a sword. Jesus did not instruct them to give the money to the poor or use the money to by something for someone. This proves Jesus placed a very high value on the disciples carrying a sword.
It also shows something else. Jesus permitted the disciples to carry weapons while they were traveling with Him. Notice what the disciples said in reply: “So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”” Two of the disciples did not need to go get a sword because they already had one.
Here is Jesus, King of Kings, Creator of the Universe, and he is allowing his disciples to carry a weapon. What would happen if pastors encouraged the deacons to carry weapons? I can just imagine the gossip.
Jesus knew there were spiritual weapons and their power. He also knew there was a need for physical weapons too. The sword was the most powerful weapon used by the citizens of that day and Jesus supported carrying one. The principle is found as an illustration in Luke 11:21 where it says: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.” and in Mark 3:27.
Jesus was not against the use of weapons for personal defense. We have spiritual weapons we are commanded to employ, but physical weapons are necessary at times too. Jesus said we can move mountains by prayer and faith in Matthew 21:21. We can also move mountains by tools and strength.
Consider this:
David didn’t only use faith to defeat Goliath. God used David’s weapon and skill to bring victory.
Gideon at times used a sword to kill and at another time used a pitcher with a lamp inside.
For the rest of the New Testament there are no recorded incidents with the disciples and swords.
"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matthew 26:52-53
What Jesus did not say to never carry one. Jesus said to put the sword up into it’s place, not throw it away.
A faithful, loving, caring, biblical, Christian will support the right to carry a weapon.
Most of all the biblical Christian will live biblically.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Revival, Project Management style.
In years gone by it was not too uncommon to see a tent revival in and around our communities. When I was in High School in Indianapolis I was blessed to be a part of more than one tent revival. Our Youth Pastor would borrow a big tent, find some vacant land and secure permission, then we would set up the tent and borrow chairs from the church.
Next we would go door to door inviting people in the area to come to the tent revival. In the day we would visit and go soul winning and in the evening we would hold revival services. We would collect an offering and pay our expenses and buy our food with the offerings. Our Youth Pastor and 3 or 4 of us would sleep in his pickup truck camper and spent a whole week in this process.
In our churches we have transitioned from revivals that would last 2 or 3 weeks. Every evening there would be preaching on various topics of righteousness, sin, salvation, hell, heaven, holiness, morality, mortality, etc. People attended not because they had to but because they wanted. People actually looked forward to getting together every evening and hearing the Word of God preached by a man of God.
If you strip away all the exterior, what is left? What is revival? Today, many people see no need for a revival and more do not know what one is. Some people have never seen a true revival. Probably there are a few who hope they never do – (after judgment they will think differently).
The word “revival” never appears in scripture. But there are several times when revival occurred both in the Old and New Testaments. Habakkuk prayed for God to revive His work in Habakkuk 3:2:
“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”
Samuel preached a very simple revival message and because of obedient listeners, it became a national revival in 1 Samuel 7:3-4:
“And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.”
Second Chronicles 7:14 puts it this way:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
In all these passages there is a process to revival. It is not the result of magic spells or of clever tricks. Revival is the result of work.
Paul understood the work of righteous living and drawing near to God and the influence godliness has in power.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1Corinthians 2:1-5
There are clear duties involved in revival. First, Recognize you are not where you need to be.
In project management they teach you to do a gap analysis. The first step in this analysis is to get an accurate picture of what is happening now. So what is happening now? Are your prayers being answered? Are you witnessing and leading people to the Lord? Are you talking the talk and walking the walk? Do you have the joy of the Lord? Do people see you as an example of what to do, be, and say? Is Jesus first? Get a real good picture of where you are in your relationship to God. How is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control being expressed in your life?
The next step of the project management is to develop a model of where you should be. What is the biblical picture of the ideal Christian. If all conditions were perfect, what type of relationship would you have with Christ?
Next you have to look at the distance from where you are and where you need to be and see the ‘gap’ between the two. Let the scope of that distance sink in.
After you understand the gap, develop measurable steps to go from where you are to where you should be. The key word is measurable. To say, “pray more” is fine but it would be better to say, “I will pray every morning for at least 15 minutes.” Now you have something measurable to gauge whether or not you are successful in making the change.
Once you have made a map or a plan for change, work the plan. Do it. Make necessary changes in your behavior to do what God says to do.
But that is not the end to a good Project Management plan. There are still two more steps.
Next, after you have worked the plan for a week, reevaluate. Take another look at the progress you have made in the past week. Does your plan need to be modified to make it successful? Are your steps to revival to large to be practical.
Paul reminds us:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2Corinthians 5:17
The Christian life begins with an event and becomes a lifetime process.
Finally, the last step to the process is, after you have reevaluated your plan and adjusted your steps, do your plan until your next reevaluation time. Reevaluation is an important part of the growth process.
That’s a look at revival through a project management lens.
The main part of revival is to love the Lord with your whole heart. Don’t be a half-hearted Christian. Your love for Christ should be so deep it should bring tears to your eyes. There should be nothing that stands between you and the Saviour.
When this happens you desire to put away worldly distractions (wicked ways). A revival is an opportunity to get clean. You not only want to put away ungodliness, you do it. You actually stop doing things that grieve the Holy Spirit and start doing things that please God.
Sometimes we get dirty in places we can’t see. The revival preacher holds up the mirror of the Word of God so we can see the dirt we may have missed. It’s embarrassing to find dirt on your face, but even more so in the presence of the King at Judgment. The time to get clean is before you go to court.
Finally, after we have become a clean vessel, get busy serving. We are given blessings to be blessed but more importantly to bless others. What better blessing can we share than to share the Salvation of Christ? Tell someone about what Jesus has done for you. Tell them how they can have the Love, Joy and Peace you have. Tell them you love them by telling them about Jesus.
You may attend a revival, but will you have revival? That decision is up to you.
Will you pray for revival in your own heart? Will you invite / bring people to the services to hear the Word of God? Will you pray for revival in the hearts of others? Will you commit to finding ways to serve the Lord? (Teach / assist in a children’s Sunday School Class, Cook meals, write cards, welcome visitors, call and invite the unsaved)
Let’s not just wait for revival – let’s go get one!
Next we would go door to door inviting people in the area to come to the tent revival. In the day we would visit and go soul winning and in the evening we would hold revival services. We would collect an offering and pay our expenses and buy our food with the offerings. Our Youth Pastor and 3 or 4 of us would sleep in his pickup truck camper and spent a whole week in this process.
In our churches we have transitioned from revivals that would last 2 or 3 weeks. Every evening there would be preaching on various topics of righteousness, sin, salvation, hell, heaven, holiness, morality, mortality, etc. People attended not because they had to but because they wanted. People actually looked forward to getting together every evening and hearing the Word of God preached by a man of God.
If you strip away all the exterior, what is left? What is revival? Today, many people see no need for a revival and more do not know what one is. Some people have never seen a true revival. Probably there are a few who hope they never do – (after judgment they will think differently).
The word “revival” never appears in scripture. But there are several times when revival occurred both in the Old and New Testaments. Habakkuk prayed for God to revive His work in Habakkuk 3:2:
“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”
Samuel preached a very simple revival message and because of obedient listeners, it became a national revival in 1 Samuel 7:3-4:
“And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.”
Second Chronicles 7:14 puts it this way:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
In all these passages there is a process to revival. It is not the result of magic spells or of clever tricks. Revival is the result of work.
Paul understood the work of righteous living and drawing near to God and the influence godliness has in power.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1Corinthians 2:1-5
There are clear duties involved in revival. First, Recognize you are not where you need to be.
In project management they teach you to do a gap analysis. The first step in this analysis is to get an accurate picture of what is happening now. So what is happening now? Are your prayers being answered? Are you witnessing and leading people to the Lord? Are you talking the talk and walking the walk? Do you have the joy of the Lord? Do people see you as an example of what to do, be, and say? Is Jesus first? Get a real good picture of where you are in your relationship to God. How is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control being expressed in your life?
The next step of the project management is to develop a model of where you should be. What is the biblical picture of the ideal Christian. If all conditions were perfect, what type of relationship would you have with Christ?
Next you have to look at the distance from where you are and where you need to be and see the ‘gap’ between the two. Let the scope of that distance sink in.
After you understand the gap, develop measurable steps to go from where you are to where you should be. The key word is measurable. To say, “pray more” is fine but it would be better to say, “I will pray every morning for at least 15 minutes.” Now you have something measurable to gauge whether or not you are successful in making the change.
Once you have made a map or a plan for change, work the plan. Do it. Make necessary changes in your behavior to do what God says to do.
But that is not the end to a good Project Management plan. There are still two more steps.
Next, after you have worked the plan for a week, reevaluate. Take another look at the progress you have made in the past week. Does your plan need to be modified to make it successful? Are your steps to revival to large to be practical.
Paul reminds us:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2Corinthians 5:17
The Christian life begins with an event and becomes a lifetime process.
Finally, the last step to the process is, after you have reevaluated your plan and adjusted your steps, do your plan until your next reevaluation time. Reevaluation is an important part of the growth process.
That’s a look at revival through a project management lens.
The main part of revival is to love the Lord with your whole heart. Don’t be a half-hearted Christian. Your love for Christ should be so deep it should bring tears to your eyes. There should be nothing that stands between you and the Saviour.
When this happens you desire to put away worldly distractions (wicked ways). A revival is an opportunity to get clean. You not only want to put away ungodliness, you do it. You actually stop doing things that grieve the Holy Spirit and start doing things that please God.
Sometimes we get dirty in places we can’t see. The revival preacher holds up the mirror of the Word of God so we can see the dirt we may have missed. It’s embarrassing to find dirt on your face, but even more so in the presence of the King at Judgment. The time to get clean is before you go to court.
Finally, after we have become a clean vessel, get busy serving. We are given blessings to be blessed but more importantly to bless others. What better blessing can we share than to share the Salvation of Christ? Tell someone about what Jesus has done for you. Tell them how they can have the Love, Joy and Peace you have. Tell them you love them by telling them about Jesus.
You may attend a revival, but will you have revival? That decision is up to you.
Will you pray for revival in your own heart? Will you invite / bring people to the services to hear the Word of God? Will you pray for revival in the hearts of others? Will you commit to finding ways to serve the Lord? (Teach / assist in a children’s Sunday School Class, Cook meals, write cards, welcome visitors, call and invite the unsaved)
Let’s not just wait for revival – let’s go get one!
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