|
|
Unless I miss my guess, you have wondered about spiritual gifts at one point or another in your life. When I learned that these gifts are bestowed to believers, I immediately wondered what my gifts might be. I still do at times, but I have a few ideas what they might be. Of course, the ones I am aware of are not necessarily all-encompassing. There may be gifts that I haven't discovered yet. Also, it's important to know that if you don't have a gift in one direction or another, that doesn't exempt you from serving the Lord in that way. You may not have a gift for evangelism, for example, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't witness to others how the Lord has made you whole.
The quest to find one's gifts has come to the internet also, and I took a test of 108 questions to see what kind of results it would find for me. The results? I scored higher in the areas of showing mercy and of teaching than I did in the other areas. Showing mercy is definitely a gift that I have from the Lord. Before I was called to Him, I was an angry man who was feared by those who knew me best. There was a violent anger in my heart that just isn't there any longer. I prayed to the Lord, asking for a hunger for His word, but I never prayed that my anger be taken from me. That just happened, and I wondered at times how it could be removed so completely, so quickly, without my request for help in that specific area. It can only be a gift, given me as a surprise. But you know what? The best gifts I have ever received were ones I didn't think to request.
Teaching as the second possible gift? I wonder how that could play out. I do have a desire to make our church library more than just an offshoot of the building. Once upon a time, I remember when people would actually browse the shelves to find something worthwhile. In our church, the library is in a crawlspace where the music stands are stored. What's up with that? Aren't we to love the Lord our God with our minds? My thought in this matter is to expand the bookshelves in the room where we congregate before a service to eat cookies and sip coffee, so at least half of the books can be on display there. We also need to have a small table set up with some suggested books for others to read, and anyone who reads a book should submit a review of 5-5000 words on that book, so the next person to read it can know what another member of the congregation thought of it.
If I were to take a more traditional role in teaching, I would likely use some quality books in a Sunday School setting, with the class being a discussion of just how the lessons in those books could be applied to our lives. I have a couple favorites picked out, should that ever come to pass. I'd start light, with Gettin' There, by Steve Farrar, and if that works well, discussing the heavier lessons found in Desiring God by John Piper.
Hmm... Perhaps I should discuss these possibilities with the men who meet every other Thursday in church.
Today's reading is found in Ezra 9:1-10:44 and Nehemiah 1:1-2:20.
Well, the lesson has been learned and the Israelites are ready to move forward again, right? Wrong. No sooner had they been out on their own, not backed into a corner, than they quickly turned away from the wishes of God. I wasn't even there and I remember the warning that God laid out about the priesthood marrying anyone but a Jewish virgin. Ezra was absolutely shocked by this! His prayer pretty much sums up the situation. I'll sum it up even farther to a Cliffs Notes version. "Our sins have caused us great disgrace." "Your grace has allowed us to prosper even as slaves." "We never have avoided the evils that were in this land, but embraced them." "We deserve punishment far greater than what you've imposed on us. Your mercy has been enjoyed."
This prayer caught the attention of nearby Israelites and they joined Ezra in his grief. Soon a decision was reached to expel anyone that was not a Jew, including spouses and children. I don't like this plan myself. Once a vow has been made to hold someone in matrimony, or a child has come into the picture, there's a responsibility involved. Nevertheless, the foreigners were expelled.
Nehemiah was the cup bearer for King Artaxerxes and managed to use his position for a favor. He got royal permission to rebuild Jerusalem and written orders that he not be interfered with and also that he be given materials and assistance. When he began the building of the wall, though, he was mocked and called a traitor.
Today's reading is found in Nehemiah 3:1-7:3.
Those Israelites sure were good at repairing and rebuilding when they set their minds to it, huh? Of course there was opposition to the rebuilding. It started afresh with taunting from their neighbors and then with threats. These threats were met with armed Jews to guard the building. At first this seemed like a sensible idea, but the more I think about it, the more foolish it seems. God was to be the guard, not man. If the other armies had attacked the building, it would have been a massacre! Nehemiah, however, agreed with this and acknowledged the strength of God fighting for them and told them to carry arms, so it must not have been an insult to God's strength.
How about this quote: "Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?" That's a question that needs to be asked no matter what problem you are looking at. Enemies are something that will be found in every form and in every era, save the last one. Many of them are quite fearsome. Isn't that a perfect reason to walk the path God has laid out for you?
When the Jews turned to God, He delivered. Surrounding cities had the intention of destroying Jerusalem, but when they learned that the outer wall was completed in fifty two days, they knew that there was a powerful, living God watching over Israel and their self-confidence wavered. God never left the Jews. They had left Him and were now coming back.
Today's reading is found in Nehemiah 7:4-8:12.
There's a saying that's alive and well in Iowa. "If you build it, they will come." This is shown to be true even now, several years after "Field of Dreams" was in the theaters and it was true for Jerusalem as well. The early settlers asked Ezra to read the Law of Moses to them and he did for hours while the people listened closely to what was said. I've been pretty impressed with them for these last two days!
A little later, the Levites instructed the people in the Law in such a way that it was easy for the people to understand. That's very important for any teacher to do. I refer to this kind of instruction as "placing the cookies on the lower shelf." When someone wants to get to the cookies, and these cookies are of the kind that you want them to be able to get to, you help them get to them as much as you can. That's a good trait for any minister of the faith to have. If you leave church wondering what just happened, its a good idea to ask some questions.
Today's reading is found in Nehemiah 8:13-10:39.
Every now and then the Israelites turn around to check their back trail and see where they've come from. This usually happens when their fear of the Lord is revived, lest they have to face their grief and shame. In this reading, a revised history of their people is given and at the end of it, they decide to make a binding agreement to follow the Law of God.
They didn't do so well with these rules before, but before they hadn't been through all that their history told. We'll see how they do this time around, though.
Today's reading is found in Nehemiah 11:1-12:26 and 1 Chronicles 9:1-34.
This leads us to the lots that were cast to see which people would live in Jerusalem. One of every ten people was to live in Jerusalem while the other nine stayed where they were. I find this to be a curious matter. It says that the people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. Does this mean that Jerusalem wasn't exactly the location they were looking for? What I mean is, did they not want to live in Jerusalem? Can you tell that this reading confuses me a bit?
Today's reading is found in Nehemiah 12:27-13:6, Nehemiah 5:14-19, Nehemiah 13:7-31, Malachi 1:1-2:9.
This looks promising. The people celebrated the finishing touches with such noise that it could be heard far away and the Law of Moses was being taken seriously once again. Nehemiah also speaks about how he was a very non-demanding governor. He knew that life for the Israelites had been so hard in the recent past and as many breaks that could be given them would be helpful. As governor, he could have demanded taxes of items for his own comfort, but he didn't do that.
He also "cleaned house" a bit with the temple, removing things that didn't belong and replacing them with things that did. That isn't as great as it sounds, though. If the people were as eager to turn to God as they acted, this action wouldn't have been necessary, would it? Let's remember that in our lives. Paying lip service to God is not a wise decision. Either you're devoted to Him or you're not and there is no middle ground on that one. God demands the best from us and that is not too much to ask. Do you expect second-best from Him?
Today's reading is found in Malachi 2:10-4:6 and Joel 1:1-3:21.
Yesterday's house cleaning shows that though most, if not all, of the Jews were vocal in their faith during festivals. It also shows that in their hearts, many were still prostituting themselves to false gods and worldly desires. The people who had intermarried with people had put themselves in difficult positions. God warned that they not do this as intermarriage had led to the worship of the wife's idols. God also hates divorce. So the choice is to stay with one's wife in a relationship that is not pleasing to God and to divorce her, which is also displeasing. Let's not forget that these people were responsible for their own quandary. Quandaries are the natural result of marching to your own beat rather than following God's path. I've been in them and so have you. Let's work on that, shall we?
Another thing that my wife and I are working on is our tithing. Being a member of a church is more than being just a regular to the services and a contributor to the pot lucks. It means putting your money and your time where your mouth is, and giving them as an act of worship to the Lord. This is the only time that I know of where God issues us a challenge quite like this one. He is saying to give to His cause and He will reward you many times over. God's promises are ones we can take to the bank!
Weekly LinkThe Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics In my quest for truth, I heard about some historic church documents, such as the Creeds, Confessions and Catechisms. Wondering where I may be able to find more information about these, I went to the internet and located this site, which has an exhaustive collection of them, all with full scriptural references to support their statements. Admittedly, I haven't read the entire site, for that will take some doing. I have begun to read The Westminster Shorter Catechism, because the size of the Larger Catechism frightened me, truth be known. There is some great stuff there, much of it has insights that I may never have come to on my own. I encourage everyone to look over these documents, and if you are uncomfortable with any of the statements made, look up the reference in your own Bible, and try to refute it. Refuting the truth is a large part of what led me to the truth, you know, so please don't misunderstand that last sentence. |
I hope you enjoyed this e-zine. If you know anyone else who would enjoy this newsletter, please forward this e-mail
to them or direct them to http://www.coffeeswirls.com/weeklybible/
Thanks for sharing my goal of reading the Bible in
its entirety this year!