Passing on (2 Timothy 2:2) what we know and what we have experienced.

SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 2:2 (TM)

Pass on what you heard from me - the whole congregation saying Amen! - to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others.

STORY:

Life is a matter of building. Each of us has the opportunity to build something -- a secure family, a good reputation, a career, a relationship to God. But some of those things can disappear almost overnight due to financial losses, natural disasters and other unforeseen difficulties.

What are we to do? Daniel Webster offered excellent advice, saying, "If we work on marble it will perish. If we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we work on men's immortal minds, if we imbue them with high principles, with just fear of God and love of their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which time cannot efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity.

OBSERVATION:

A teachable moment. A chance to share. Opportunities to pass on wisdom. Our lives abound with these unique moments … don’t miss them.

The scripture encourages us to pass on what we have heard. Teach it – share it – live it – embody what we believe. Pass it on, it only takes a moment.

What we leave in our path is our legacy. Who we leave in the wake of our life is a living testimony to the reality that lives in us.

Watching a butterfly yesterday reminded me that their path through the air is because they follow a fragrance … a smell … a hint of something from which they can draw some food. As I watched my thoughts wondered about the “fragrance” that I leave in my path and who might be looking for some “food” for their soul.

The sensitivity of the soul is rather keen. It is in direct proportion to the need. The greater the need the greater the sensitivity. A chance encounter. A simple word. A teachable moment. An opportunity to pass on what we know. A unique moment in time for us to share where we have found bread for our souls.

We are building bridges over difficult terrain to make it easier for those who follow.

PRAYER:

Thank you for giving us the wisdom to pass on our knowledge and experience. Thank you God for allow us to make it easier for others who might be following us. 

Hoping against hope we place our trust in earthly realities. Where does God fit into that picture (Colossians 1:5) with a story about Alexander the Great.

SCRIPTURE: Colossians 1:5 (TM)

The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.

STORY:

As Alexander the Great was setting out on his conquest of Asia, he inquired into the finances of his followers. To ensure that they would not be troubled over the welfare of their dependents during their absence, he distributed crown estates and revenues among them. When he had thus disposed of nearly all the royal resources, his friend General Perdiccas asked Alexander what he had reserved for himself. "Hope," answered the king.

"In that case," said Perdiccas, "we who share in your labors will also take part in your hopes." He then refused the estate allotted to him, and several other of the king's friends did the same. 

OBSERVATION:

Hope is interesting. Hope is longed for. Hope is what should be “floating our boat”.  And yet, it seems for most individuals just beyond our reach.

Oh, we speak about hope often, but do we really believe in it? We embrace it as a part of our faith journey, but are we really willing to allow it to take center stage? Do we really hope?

A person sees a doctor. They hope that a hospital stay and surgery are not in their future. A couple invests their savings in a money market account hoping that they won’t lose. Two young people stand before the altar of a church and promise to love each other until death parts them … they hope. Children, dressed in their new outfits, go off for the first day of the new school year … they hope that this year will be different while their parents hope that they will be the best student their child can be. A persons walks into his or her new employer’s business hoping that this job will last longer than the last one did. A couple looks at the mortgage payment book hoping that the economy will turn around and that they won’t lose their home.

Hope springs eternal. Without hope life would meaningless. Without hope life becomes only one long struggle. Alexander the Great reserved hope for the future for himself … that he would be successful as he set out to take Asia, but was his hope lasting? Where is it today?

Where is ours? The only hope that has any meaning is that which is placed in God through Jesus Christ. Oh, we can place hope on our jobs, marriage, children, grandchildren, the economy, our victories, our health, our income, our health, or a hundred and one other things … but does that hope last? Not really. God and God alone is our hope!

PRAYER:

May we keep our hope in you, Eternal God … and may we never lose sight of that reality.

Measuring our wealth by the world's standards or by God's (1 Timothy 6:17) with some help from a list shared by Steve Williams.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Timothy 6:17 (TM)

Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage

STORY as shared by Steve Williams:

From the standpoint of material wealth, Americans have difficulty realizing how rich we are. Going through a little mental exercise suggested by Robert Heilbroner can help us to count our blessings, however. Imagine doing the following, and you will see how daily life is for as many as a billion people in the world.

1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blanket and pads for beds.

2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.

3. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.

4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.

5. Take away the house itself and move the family into the tool shed.

6. Place your "house' in a shantytown.

7. Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and book clubs. This is no great loss because now none of you can read anyway.

8. Leave only one radio for the whole shantytown.

9. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.

10. Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.

11. Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops, of which one third will go to the landlord and one tenth to the money lenders.

12. Lop off twenty-five or more years in life expectancy.

By comparison how rich we are! And with our wealth comes responsibility to use it wisely, not to be wasteful, and to help others. Think on these things. 

OBSERVATION:

How do we measure wealth? Is it based on our bank account? The size of our home? The type of car(s) parked in the driveway? The neighborhood we live in? The number of clubs we belong to? How do we measure our wealth?

Steve Williams list should bring us back into the reality of the real world. We lose perspective and our value system is the victim. More becomes the standard for our lifestyle.

It is no secret that I love Starbucks or as my son-in-love likes to refer to it as “4-bucks” ... but he does treat us both to a large cup when we are out and about. I will admit that I treat myself to a cup of their flavored-skinny latte about once a week … after all, I reason, I’ve “earned” that luxury … but have I really? Walking into my local store recently I had to pass a homeless person and I paused to ponder the imbalance in our society.

We have so much … too much. We are America and we deserve it … or so our thinking goes. And yet, on the streets of our great cities are countless numbers of homeless and needy people. They exist at the very thresholds of our institutions of luxury. It is often heard, as recently posted by a friend on Facebook, “they should get up and find a job.” From personal experience in working with the homeless many of them are veterans and most of them are not mentally capable of holding even a “bush-the-broom” kind of job. It is a sad commentary on our wealthy society that we allow fellow citizens to exist. There, but for the grace of God … and some good fortune … go I!

We can have all the wealth our society can afford us and if we don’t have God we are poor. We can possess the world’s riches and if we don’t have God we are the most to be pitied. We can more than anyone else and be able to afford expensive cups of coffee several times a day and if we don’t have God our souls will be empty. We can have it all … and have nothing.

How do we measure our wealthy?

PRAYER:

Lord, make us sensitive to all those around us. Help us to understand that real wealth comes only in a relationship with you. And, then, make us sensitive to those around us so that we can use what we have for others.

Killing others with kindness and forgiveness (Hebrews 8:12) with a story of what happens between a pious deacon and his "enemy."

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)

I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

STORY as told by Walter Marshall Horton:

There is an old story of a pious deacon who, goaded apparently beyond endurance by the persistent malic of an enemy, publicly vowed to “kill him.” It came to the ears of his enemy, who waited sardonically to see what the good and harmless old fool would do. Actually the deacon sought out every opportunity to do his enemy good. This was at first a source of merriment and some slight annoyance; but when at last the deacon rendered costly and sacrificial service to his adversary, risking his life to save the man’s wife form drowning, the deadlock between the two was broken and a new relationship set up. “All right,” said the man, “you’ve done what you said you’d do, and I admit it. You’ve killed me – or at least you’ve killed the man that I was. Now, what can I do for you?”

OBSERVATION:

“Kill them with kindness” probably needs to be practiced more often in this world. This got me thinking.

What would happen if just a couple of individuals, who claim to be Christians, began to practice what the deacon did in the story above … killing his “enemy” with kindness?

This isn’t a novel idea nor am I the first to suggest it. Could our communities be changed? Could the political temperature be turned around? Could relationships be transformed? Could health issues be resolved? Could we sleep better at night? Could friendships be established? Could families come back together?

Probably on all fronts … Let’s kill someone today with the love of Christ and the kindness of our actions! O.K.? O.K.!

Look all around you ... find someone in need.
Help somebody today! 


Though it be little ... a neighborly deed,
Help somebody today! 



Help somebody today, somebody along life's way;


Let sorrow be ended, the friendless befriended, 
O, help somebody today! 



Many are waiting a kind, loving word.
Help somebody today! 


Thou hast a message ... O let it be heard.
Help somebody today! 



Many have burdens too heavy to bear.
Help somebody today! 


Grief is the portion of some everywhere.
Help somebody today! 



Some are discouraged and weary in heart.
Help somebody today! 


Someone the journey to heaven should start
Help somebody today!

PRAYER:

Help us to help others today. Lead us down the path where we can offer an unselfish act of kindness. Help us to help others today!

QUOTE: Author unknown

Forgiveness is the perfume of the violet on the heel that crushed it.

Do we cheapen the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) with our words and our deeds? With an observation by King George about what he had heard at chapel at Windsor, England.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 1:17 (TM)

God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center - Christ on the Cross - be trivialized into mere words.

STORY:

The officer in charge of the royal pew in the chapel at Windsor, England, noted that King George frequently commented on the sermon as he left the church. If he had been blessed by it, he would say in a cheerful voice, "That will do very well. That will feed souls!" When the preacher's delivery was cold and his words were lifeless and barren of Gospel teaching, he would shake his head sorrowfully as he left the pew and mutter under his breathe, "That won't do. That just won't feed souls!" The king's criterion for determining the value of a sermon is scripturally sound. Ministry of all kinds, whether oral or written, may well be judged by the same standard -- does it feed souls? 

OBSERVATION:

Paul struggled with it. Every pastor worth their salt struggles with it. Any Christian who is serious about living their life to the glory of God should struggle with it. And that being: “Do I empty the cross of its meaning with my words and with my deeds?”

It is natural to say that the Gospel is at the center of all that we do. It is expected. It is understood. It is part and parcel to our life … or at least it should. And yet, too often our focus is on being accepted by others … seeking their approval … wanting their praise … looking to be popular instead of faithful. One is an easy road the other is difficult.

Are we simply collecting a following or gathering souls for the Kingdom?

It is a struggle isn’t. A Monday morning struggle … as well as a Tuesday and a Wednesday and a Thursday and a Friday and a Saturday and a Sunday struggle. We want to be accepted, we want the praises of our family and friends, we want to be popular … but at what cost?

Is it worth it if we diminish the power of the Cross and trivialize the Gospel? I believe that others have called it, “Cheap Grace” … that is Grace without a price and no demands.

Maybe the standard of King George should be adopted by us … “does it feed souls”.

PRAYER:

May our life and our words be pleasing in your sight, O Lord. May souls be feed by what we are about this day. 

A willingness to go for no other reason than we are being sent (John 20:21); with a story about the special relationship between FDR and Harry Hopkins - a willing servant.

SCRIPTURE: John 20:21 (TM)

Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."

STORY:

Franklin Roosevelt's closest adviser during much of his presidency was a man named Harry Hopkins. During World War II, when his influence with Roosevelt was at its peak, Hopkins held no official Cabinet position. Moreover, Hopkins's closeness to Roosevelt caused many to regard him as a shadowy, sinister figure. As a result he was a major political liability to the President. A political foe once asked Roosevelt, "Why do you keep Hopkins so close to you? You surely realize that people distrust him and resent his influence." Roosevelt replied, "Someday you may well be sitting here where I am now as President of the United States. And when you are, you'll be looking at that door over there and knowing that practically everybody who walks through it wants something out of you. You'll learn what a lonely job this is, and you'll discover the need for somebody like Harry Hopkins, who asks for nothing except to serve you." Winston Churchill rated Hopkins as one of the half-dozen most powerful men in the world in the early 1940s. And the sole source of Hopkins's power was his willingness to serve.

OBSERVATION:

The “willingness to serve.” “I send you.” Not a novel idea, but essential to discipleship. Being sent. Instructed to go. Not a novel idea, but essential to discipleship.

And if we are being sent, there must be a reason for our going. God has a plan. A purpose. A goal. He always does. Nothing is done without one. That’s just who God is and how he operates.

His purpose becomes our purpose. His goal becomes our goal. His future becomes our reality. If we will but go. If we allow ourselves to be sent. If … what a big word. Going … for no other reason than God said, “Go.” Going … with no personal agenda. Going … with no reward in mind. Going … without knowing why or where. Going … for no other reason other than our willingness to serve. What a novel idea. What a discipleship concept. What a Kingdom reason for being.

And so we go …

PRAYER:

Set our feet to the pathway of discipleship. Guide our going out and our coming in. Create in us a willingness to serve. 

Can the impossible really be accomplished (Mark 9:23)? With a story from the Lamp Division of General Electric.

SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:23 (TM)

Jesus said, "If? There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen."

STORY:

Years ago new engineers in the Lamp Division of General Electric were assigned, as a joke, the impossible task of frosting bulbs on the inside. Eventually, however, an undaunted newcomer named Marvin Pipkin not only found a way to frost bulbs on the inside but developed an etching acid that gave minutely rounded pits instead of sharp depressions. This materially strengthened each bulb. Fortunately, no one had told him it couldn't be done, so he did it.

OBSERVATION:

How does “oh, that’s impossible” slip into our thinking? Once a day? Twice a day? Or more? Once is too much! Why? Because with God everything is possible! We are just not possibility thinkers.

Our tendency is to look at any task and think of ways that it cannot be done or reason why it cannot be accomplished. We look at our abilities or skills or talents or whatever one would like to name and think our way into negative thinking. But is God a liar? Did Jesus communicate something that was unattainable? Did he create false hope?

“Everything is possible for (the person) who believes.” (NIV) Everything? Oh, come on Jesus, you cannot be serious. And all I have to do is believe? Seems too good to be true if you ask me. “Well,” my child shares Jesus, “I’m not asking you … I’m telling you. Believe it WILL happen!” “Impossible,” we declare. “Okay, prove me wrong.”

Do we take Jesus at his word or simply continue to believe that things in this life are just too impossible to be accomplished? Maybe we need to God-size our vision. Remember: God never asks any of us to do something that we can do! If we can do it then we don’t need God, but when God gets involved and his Holy Spirit takes over whatever he asks us to do will get completed. All we have to do is believe!

PRAYER:

We believe, but help our unbelief … we want to believe that the impossible can be possible. Lift our vision off of ourselves so that we can see life from your perspective.