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Copyright © 1999-2001 Emergency Ministries. All Rights Reserved. |
June 2001 The "instruction book" for life is the Bible.
"Together, Again" June 24, 2001 "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." - Matthew 18:20 (NIV) I heard it again, this week. My wife and I asked a firefighter to come to church with us. The answer? "Well, I don't think you have to go to church to be a believer. I mean, I read the Bible at home." Okay. But, let me ask you a few questions... How many people are there when you worship? Are you the teacher or does someone else in your home do the teaching? When you are in a spiritual valley, who do you go to at home for encouragement? How many people come over to your house that can hear the gospel being taught? AND... Who is discipling you? Think about those questions for a minute. If you really studied the Bible as you imply, you would know that in Old Testament times, God told the believers where to worship... at the Temple. Then, in Jesus's earthly walk, HE was always in the midst of a crowd. Several times in the New Testament you will find the phrase "...when Jesus had gathered them together..." The Book of Hebrews says "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another" And in the Book of Acts, it says that Peter rose and preached the gospel and "about three thousand were added to their number that day." Now, if 3000 became believers that day, how many do you think were actually in attendance. The book also says, "All the believers were together and had everything in common." I will agree with you on a couple of things. First, I agree you don't have to go to church to be a believer. HOWEVER, I think a believer should want to go be with other believers. I think that is how you are supposed to worship. Secondly, I think you should read the Bible at home. More importantly, I think you should do more than read it... study it! And, study HIS Word daily. Who knows, if you do that, you might discover that you are supposed to be with others who are also trying to follow our REAL CHIEF and sign up to be... ...On HIS Shift,
"Fatherly Advice" June 17, 2001 " Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4 (NIV) The word for "father" is found almost one thousand times in the New International Version of the Bible. Naturally, most of the time the word refers to our REAL CHIEF, to our Heavenly Father. But, many other times it refers to us who are fathers. I, for one, need to admit to you that I am no way near being a model father. When I wasn't a Christian, I certainly didn't raise them in a Godly way. Now, though, I am doing the best I can with the one left at home. I am, as our verse this week instructs, trying to her raise her up in the "training and instruction" of the Lord! Our verse also instructs us dads that we should not "exasperate" our kids. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "exasperate" as; 1 a : to excite the anger of b : to cause irritation
or annoyance to So, we are not to anger, irritate or annoy our children. But, what does the phrase "in the training and instruction of the Lord" mean? I believe it means we are required to sit down with our kids and read the Bible to them. And really, even more than that, to explain it to them in terms they can appreciate. I believe it also means we need to make sure they go to church and/or Sunday School with us. When you take your children to church, they;
I believe the whole idea is that we, the dads, must be setting the example. We must demonstrate to our children ON A DAILY BASIS that we pray, we study and we worship our REAL CHIEF, our Heavenly Father. I think they must also see and hear us admit our mistakes and then ask God for forgiveness. "Kids, I am so sorry for the mistakes I have made along the way. Please forgive me and help me show you how much love our Heavenly Father has for you by demonstrating how much love I have for you." No, I am pretty sure I don't deserve a special day to honor me as a father... I don't believe I am worthy of that. But, I DO believe that our Heavenly Father is certainly deserving. HE IS THE REAL "NUMBER ONE DAD!" On HIS Shift,
"Rising Waters" June 10, 2001 "...and said to Moses, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done." - Exodus 36:5 (NIV) This is probably going to be a pretty short article this week. The reason is that we have had a flood here in the Houston area of monumental proportions. Not Biblical proportions, mind you, but huge, nevertheless. The rain started Friday afternoon... during rush hour traffic. Tropical Storm "Allison" decided to spend the weekend. Well, a good portion of it, anyway. I live and serve in Montgomery County, Texas. We are the county just north of Houston... the suburbs. We got hit with the heavy flooding first, on Friday afternoon. But, by Friday evening, Allison was unleashing her damage in Harris and surrounding counties. And the rain lasted until Saturday. Parts of our area measured 14+ inches of rain in less than 7 hours! I was up almost 39 hours straight. Just about every department in this county was making call after call.... house fires, high water rescues, etc. for almost 14 straight hours. So, you ask, "why are you talking about a verse that says we have more than enough to do the work?" This afternoon, I got a call from the Family Services director at a place in our county called Interfaith. She called to tell me that they had received so many donations of food, clothing and other items, that their local shelter didn't need any more. She asked if we could use it over in any of "my" districts. I told her I would check and call back. I drove to the shelter for our side of the county. When I walked in, I was amazed. The middle school gymnasium looked like a grocery supply warehouse! The were piles and piles of clothes and boxes upon boxes of groceries! I talked with the Red Cross shelter director there and she told me that not only did they not need any more donations, but that the Houston shelters were also saying "WHOA!" Our verse this week is recounting the building of the Temple for God. The citizens of Old-Testament-Israel gave so much gold, silver, bronze, cloth and wood, that the officials said...WHOA! Right now, they are estimating that one-fourth (that's over one million) of the homes in our area have water damage. (You can include ours... though we were fortunate, very minimal damage to the carpets.) I am amazed, though, in the midst of all this destruction, at the coming-together of this "little" community of four and one-half MILLION people. Please keep our community and its' people in your prayers. This storm will change our lives for a very long time. On HIS Shift,
"Changing Lives" June 3, 2001 "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." - 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NIV) The word "change" (changed, changes, etc) is found almost 100 times in the Bible. And, rightfully so. You see, when we submit ourselves to our REAL CHIEF, we can't help but change. I was thinking about that late last night. Last night, several lives were changed forever. Three young people in a car struck a pedestrian on the freeway. The person on foot was apparently trying to cross the freeway at a spot where there was very little light. It was a busy Saturday night. Consequently, traffic was fairly heavy, even though it was almost midnight. All of a sudden, there he was... can't avoid him... doing freeway speed. They hit the dark figure, who flips up and strikes the windshield and flies off the car and lands in the middle of the highway. The driver, trying desperately to control the car, turns the wheel and his car, with its' three occupants, leaves the freeway and goes airborne, momentarily, and then crash-lands in a creek between the bridges on the lanes of the freeway. All of that happened within seconds. In a "blink of an eye" countless numbers of lives were changed forever. On scene, I counseled with; - a family member of the pedestrian, who stood and tearfully watched the horrific scene, knowing that was their family member laying shattered underneath the blood-stained sheet. - the parents of the driver of the car, who both know our Lord, but also know that their boy will be changed forever. - one of our junior firefighters, who, at the young age of sixteen, had just witnessed her first fatality accident. Beyond those mentioned, the lives of so many others will be changed because of this one accident. And, how many of you answered a similar call last night? The amount of change is unfathomable. Now, stop and think... did the pedestrian have time to call out and "make peace" with God? I think about those things. Our verse this week reminds us that death comes "in the twinkling of an eye" and that we will change. Our REAL CHIEF offers us so many opportunities to change now... before that "twinkling of an eye." Please don't take the chance by saying to yourself, " I can always ask God to be my REAL CHIEF - later." You may not be granted that chance "later." So, ask HIM to become the CHIEF of your life right now. If you need help in making that commitment to change, email me or contact your local church and you will be given help. Serving our REAL CHIEF is the sort of change we all need. On HIS Shift,
It is my prayer that the verses we discuss help each of you as it has helped me deal with the amount of stress we are all faced to deal with. If you are not yet saved, I have Good News for you. Jesus loves you very much and His Holy Spirit is drawing you to Him. To learn more, click here.
© 1999 - 2001 Emergency Ministries. All Rights Reserved. STRESS RELIEF is written every week, usually on Sunday afternoons. |
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