Impact

Joint Venture

Rick — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:51:14 +0000

Joint Venture
Theme of the Week: Marriage Is a Team Sport

Key Bible Verse: A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one (Genesis 2:24). Bonus Reading: Philippians 2:3-4

After several years of marriage, he, the adventuresome male, decided he wanted to serve God in a distant land. She, the risk-averse bug hater, emphatically didn’t want to become a missionary. He plowed ahead with his plan. The marriage ended in divorce.

The question isn’t whether he was “called” and more spiritual or whether she was too timid, but whether they were united in this major decision. Clearly not. They were banging their oars as they paddled vigorously in opposite directions.

I’m suspicious of people who claim a special insight into God’s will while a spouse is vocally opposed or sending signals of quiet desperation. “I’m just following God’s will,” spouts the bullheaded husband as he drags his reluctant wife along.

There are many things I don’t know about God’s will, but I do know he doesn’t want me to wreck my marriage … run roughshod over my wife’s opinion or desires … be stubborn and insensitive. He certainly doesn’t want me to make major unilateral decisions and call it “leadership.”

When you marry, you give up the right to unilaterally pursue just any dream that attracts you. Because you and your spouse have been joined under God, decisions need to be made jointly.

—Dave Meurer in Good Spousekeeping

My Response: What plans or personal visions do I need to talk through with my wife?

Related Resources:

Role Extremes

Rick — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:59:06 +0000

Role Extremes
Theme of the Week: Marriage Is a Team Sport

Key Bible Verse: You will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). Bonus Reading: Romans 15:2-3a

In modern Western society, nowhere has marital confusion reigned more than in the area of the husband’s role. On one extreme is the dominant husband, who feels it’s his responsibility to inform his wife as to what they’re going to do and doesn’t tolerate questions from her.

On the other extreme is the distant husband, who expects the wife to support the family and make all the major decisions while he’s the resident sports information source and keeps his muscles bulging with workouts at the local gym so his wife will by “proud of him.”

Somewhere between these two is a healthy middle road where the husband is responsible, dependable, and deeply committed to his wife and family—a loving leader. On the one hand, he’s able to relate to his wife on an emotional level and express pain and joy, sympathy and encouragement. On the other hand, he’s strong and intent on the well-being of his wife and family. He doesn’t run when things get tough but looks for solutions that will benefit the whole family. He values the partnership of his wife. He wants to be there for her but has no desire to dominate her. This is the husband described in the Bible.

—Gary Chapman in The Transformation of a Man’s Heart

My Response: Where am I now on the dominant-to-distant spectrum? Should I move?

Thought to Apply: Submission isn’t obeying another; it is putting oneself under the other to serve the good of God for that person’s life. —Dan Allender & Tremper Longman

Related Resources:

Blokes Worth Watching

Rick — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:14:47 +0000

Blokes Worth Watching
Theme of the Week: Tried and True
Friday, February 6, 2009

Key Bible Verse: What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV). Bonus Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-14

Paul charges Timothy to select some—not all—to entrust with the ministry of gospel multiplication. So, whom to select? The criterion could not be simpler: it’s “faithful men.” A man who is trustworthy, dependable.

Paul (in today’s Bonus Reading) gives faithfulness as the reason that God chose him for ministry. Likewise, those Paul personally selected to minister alongside him were often listed as faithful. Of Timothy he writes, “he is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord”

(1 Corinthians 4:17). He speaks similarly of his associate Tychicus, calling him a “faithful helper in the Lord’s work” (Ephesians 6:21). Onesimus, Paul says, “is a faithful and much loved brother” (Colossians 4:9), and he calls Epaphras “Christ’s faithful servant” (Col. 1:7).

Of course whether someone is faithful isn’t always immediately clear. How can you tell? Phillip Jensen, dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, has a category of young men he calls “Blokes Worth Watching.” These are men to test against the descriptions of faithfulness in Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Those who measure up may be entrusted with the gospel ministry.—Jon Dennis in Preach the Word

My Response: Who do I know who would measure up for ministry? Would I?

Thought to Apply: God has no larger field for the man who is not faithfully doing his work where he is. —source unknown

Related Resources:

Winning Combination

Rick — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:13:29 +0000

Winning Combination
Theme: Go Ahead, Push Your Values

Key Bible Verse: Godliness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (Proverbs 14:34). Bonus Reading: Matthew 5:13-16

Organizers from many denominations plan-ned a citywide dem-onstration against pornography and obscenity. One Sunday morning, all across the capital city, church people signed a petition. They were also urged to come to a public demonstration against these vices in society. On the day of the dem- onstration, 1,000 people from all walks of life attended a rally in the city square. Church leaders attended and gave full support. Downtown traffic came to a standstill as rally participants marched peacefully to the Parliament building, where dignitaries waited. Six representatives from the demonstrators submitted their petition to the Speaker of Parliament, government ministers, and ten members of Parliament. The room was packed with journalists. The archbishop handed over 12,000 citizens’ signatures. Various officials spoke, prom-ising to look at the grievances.

For the first time the churches of the country had united to speak as one body about an issue that touched the nation. There was a strong sense that history was made that day. Church people marveled that the time had come when the church in their nation could no longer be ignored when it took a stand.

—Bob Moffitt in If Jesus Were Mayor

My Response: I believe the churches in my community should together address this issue: ____

Thought to Apply: Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. —Edmund Burke (British statesman)

Related Resources:

Beating the Odds

Rick — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:07:31 +0000

Beating the Odds
Theme of the Week: Go Ahead, Push Your Values

Key Bible Verse: Don’t be intimidated by your enemies. … We are in this fight together (Philippians 1:28, 30). Bonus Reading: Proverbs 13:11; 1 Timothy 6:10

In 1999 the voters of Ala-bama unexpectedly and resoundingly defeated a referendum that would have created a state lottery. Lotteries have grown enormously popular in our era, when selfish voters demand more services from government but insist on lower taxes, and politicians, more worried about reelection than either morality or common sense, scramble to please them. Lotteries, like taxes, enable states to raise revenue—but in a most regressive manner. The poor spend a significantly higher proportion of their income on lottery tickets than the rich. But the expected return to the bettor is much lower than in the illegal numbers games that lotto-happy politicians pretend to abhor but secretly envy. In short, there are many excellent reasons to oppose lotteries.

But, in the view of critics, the voters of Alabama chose a bad reason: religious conviction. Although preachers thundered against the lottery from the pulpit, Lotto backers did not take this opposition seriously, certain that enough voters had been seduced that anti-lottery sentiment would never prevail. Polls, after all, showed the public voting for the lottery by a margin of 60 to 40. [continued 1/20]

—Stephen Carter in God’s Name in Vain

My Response: By Carter’s definition, would I be counted a selfish voter?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that your power not only changes individuals but also societies. Use me as one of your agents of social improvement.

Resources:

Do You Know Him?

More About Rick Evans

The Three R’s of Revival

Rick — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:49:50 +0000

The Three R’s of Revival

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works . . .”

— Revelation 2:5

Before we can ever talk about revival in the church, every Christian must ask themselves, Am I personally revived? Am I living as a committed, on-fire follower of Jesus Christ?

Ask yourself that question right now. If your answer is that you are not a committed, on-fire follower of Jesus Christ, you exist as part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Listen to what Jesus said to the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation. He says,

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:2–5)

Jesus gave the church of Ephesus the three R’s of revival: remember, repent, and repeat.

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen,” and then He says. “Repent.” In other words, turn away from your sins. And finally repeat, “Do the first works.” Get back and serve God like you once did.

Remember, repent, and repeat. Put the three R’s of revival into practice, because we need to be revived before God.

Whose Script Am I Performing?

Rick — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:02:05 +0000

Whose Script Am I Performing?
Theme of the Week: Go with Your Gifting

Key Bible Verse: As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open fields, while Jacob was the kind of person who liked to stay at home (Genesis 25:27). Bonus Reading: Romans 12:3-8

I was in a secondhand bookshop, thumbing through the introduction to a book, when I ran across a sentence that changed my life. The author, Gil Bailie, was sharing advice a spiritual mentor had given him: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Suddenly my life up to that point made sense in a sickening sort of way; I realized I was living a script written for me by someone else. All my life I’d been asking the world to tell me what to do with myself. This is different from seeking counsel; what I’d wanted was freedom from responsibility and risk. I’d wanted someone else to tell me who to be. Thank God it didn’t work. I couldn’t bring myself to perform the scripts they handed me for very long. Like Saul’s armor, they never fit. Can a world of posers advise you to do anything but pose?

Reading the counsel given to Bailie, I knew it was God speaking to me. I set the volume down without turning another page and walked out of that bookstore to find a life worth living.

My Response: What am I willing to risk in order to “find a life worth living”?

Thought to Apply: The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. —Frederick Buechner (author)

Resources:

Do You Know Him?

More About Rick Evans

God’s Original Design

Rick — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:08:15 +0000

God’s Original Design

Greg Laurie

Devotion:

Throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness—righteous, holy, and true. Ephesians 4:22–24

We hear the word revival tossed about frequently these days. Some churches claim to be having a revival. “Revival this week only! Starts at 7:00 A.M. and ends at 9:00 P.M.,” says their church signage.

I’m sure they’re having some great meetings; and I understand they are using the word revival in a loose sense. But real revival is not something we start or stop. It is something God supernaturally performs.

During dark times of moral breakdown, God has intervened. God in His grace has stepped in and brought about a spiritual awakening. That is what we need today.

The word revive means to be restored to its original condition. People today like to restore old cars. They will find a T-Bird or a Corvette or some other classic car and transform it to its original condition. These are people who are real sticklers about original paint and original parts. They say, “You don’t want any add-on parts. You want genuine parts.”

Spiritual revival is very similar. It means to get back to God’s original design

Charles Finney, who was known to be a part of a great revival, said, “Revival is nothing more or less than a new beginning of obedience to God.” A. W. Tozer defined revival as, “That which changes the moral climate of a community.”

That is the kind of revival we require. Not just an emotional experience and not just a tingle down the backbone. We need to see God work, because our nation needs it like never before.

Something new is not the answer. The answer is to get back to God’s original intent—to the very standards He gave us.

Resources:

Do You Know Him?