“Safeguards in our Walk with The Lord”
Luke 10:39-44
Nov 2nd 2014
Safeguards in our Walk with The Lord
I. Attentive faithful service to the Lord is good (38)
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
II. Attentive listening to Jesus’ teaching is better (39)
39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
III. Complaining about how others’ respond is not helpful (40)
40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
IV. Keep the main thing the main thing by
A. Not letting service for the Lord distract you from.....
41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
B. Attentively listening to the Lord to enjoy His presence now and forever
42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Friday, October 31, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
In Memory of my Father and Veteran’s Day
This Veteran’s Day marks the eleven
year anniversary of my father, Richard Lovelady, dying of a heart attack in his home in
Portland. Twenty years ago I made our
weekly phone calls a priority when it finally hit me that my father was getting
older and had limitations. This was hard for me to accept because my dad was
always a John Wayne figure. He was bigger than life at 6' 5". He was also
a loner with a strong sense of responsibility and rather poor interpersonal
communication skills. His death was a
surprise and it was not a surprise. Fortunately, I had obeyed an impulse from
the Lord to spend a few days with him
the month before he died. My inability to get a hold of him over a 24 hr.
period motivated me to call the Portland Police to do a welfare check. The shock of his passing was compounded by
the fact that his home was robbed after his death. The quick trip to Portland
and working with my sister to organize the funeral are a fuzzy haze in my
memory.
I made several trips over the
next few months to settle his affairs. What I learned about my dad in sorting
through his stuff confirmed what I knew through my experiences with him. My dad
was a very dependable person. He always lived within his modest means and paid
his bills on time. He was also very
creative with his hands. He made beautiful pieces of furniture: roll top desks,
dresser with a book case, magazine rack, etc... He expressed his love for his
grandchildren by making them many beautiful items: bunk beds, toy box, jewelry box, book shelf,
doll house, etc..
My dad was a retired Air
Force mechanic who belonged to several veterans’ organizations. In sorting
through some of his Air Force papers, I discovered that he had been awarded two
Distinguished Flying Crosses for his service in Vietnam. In reading through a
letter of commendation I learned that he had flown 175 combat missions as a
flight engineer on an AC-47 aircraft. The AC-47 “Puff the Magic Dragon” was
designed for ground support with three Vulcan mini-guns out its side. In this same letter the officer wrote that
his greatest strengths were dependability and creativity. This I fully
understood.
When I had asked about my dad
about his experiences in Vietnam, he would mumble a few profanities about
Washington politicians and then quickly change the subject. What became clear
to me in going through his papers was that he had served honorably and with
distinction in a difficult time because his country called on him to do it.
Over the last decade our country has now called on hundreds of Utah service
people and many thousands throughout the country to serve during a difficult
time. The vast majority of them are serving honorably and with distinction.
This Veterans Day we should honor and support them for their service and
sacrifice. As with my father we may never know the depth of their service to
us, our community, and our country.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
God Chooses His People
I Thes 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
The Apostle starts this verse with what they knew. He knew and they knew that they were loved by God. When you recognize the awfulness of our sin and how it is a stench before a Holy God, you become amazed that God loves you. God does not love us because we deserve his loved. But he in his mercy and grace has chosen to love us.
NOBODY DESERVES GOD”S LOVE
Before I go into the hard part of this verse, I want you to fully recognize that no one has ever merited the kindness and love of God.
Titus 3:4-5
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
What does it mean for God to chose?
How does God Chose?
>Does God Choose some people for eternal life, but not others?
Here are quotes from different evangelical commentators who comes on different sides of the issue of Election. Election is God’s Choice of People for eternal life.
In Broad, we have God’s choice and People’s Choice.
“If we choose to be in Christ, we have been chosen by God. There is nothing arbitrary, therefore, about election. Our choice makes us his elect.”
David Williams, New International Bible Commentary on I Thessalonians
“He has chosen”.... This is God’s sovereign choice of certain individuals...... prior to Adam’s appearance on earth.”
Robert Thomas, Expositors Bible Commentary on I Thessalonians
Two evangelical commentators with exactly opposite view.
The overall issue as we look at How God Chooses is His Sovereignty.
The Sovereignty of God.
My current favorite illustration for the te Sovereignty of God is an umbrella. God is in charge covering it all. That doesn’t rule out genuine choice and genuine accidents under the umbrella.
Chuck Swindoll put it this way...
“God's calling the shots. He's running the show. Either he's in full control or he's off his throne.”
The Spirit working in lives in conviction. The open invitation of Eternal life to all who will believe.
I am sure many of you would like to perfectly know how God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Free Will related to each other. SO WOULD I. But do keep that healthy tension.
It is the EXTREMES that are unhealthy.
To heavy on God’s choice leads to…. Indifference to people’s spiritual condition
"God will save the pagans in His time."
To heavy on Man’s choice leads to……manipulating people into a “decision or Christ.”
"We need to get them saved."
My personal convictions (repeated from previous post).
>If Christians witness, more people will hear and respond to the Gospel.
>If Christians obey God, they will pray and witness more fervently.
>If Christians pray more, more people will be saved
>If Christians pray more, more circumstances will be changed for God’s glory.
>Dee Duke: “Little pray, little blessing; much prayer, much blessing.”
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Outline - Observations on the Christian Life. 1 Thes. 1:4-10
1 Thes. 1:4-10
October 12th ,
2014
Observations on the Christian Life:
I. God has Chosen
to Love You (4)
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has
chosen you,
NOBODY DESERVES GOD”S LOVE
Titus 3:4-5
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
We have God’s choice and People’s Choice.
“If we choose to be in Christ, we have been chosen by
God. There is nothing arbitrary, therefore,
about election. Our choice makes us his elect.”
David
Williams, NIBC
“He has chosen”.... This is God’s sovereign choice of
certain individuals...... prior to Adam’s appearance on earth.”
Robert
Thomas, EBC.
II. While the Gospel can be explained in Words,
it must be applied by the Holy
Spirit. (5)
5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but
also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
You know what
kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
It is the EXTREMES that are unhealthy.
To heavy on God’s choice leads to indifference to
people’s spiritual condition
To heavy on Man’s choice leads to manipulating people
into a "decision for Christ.”
My personal convictions.
If Christians witness, more people will hear and
respond to the Gospel.
If Christians obey God, they will pray and witness
more fervently.
If Christians pray more, more people will be saved
If Christians pray more, more circumstances will be
changed for God’s glory.
Dee Duke: “Little
pray, little blessing; much prayer, much blessing.”
III. Our
Afflictions Provide Opportunities for Experiencing God’s Grace in unique
ways. (6)
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for
you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the
Holy Spirit,
How does God using afflictions, trials, in our lives?
Considering trials...
(From
Karl Payne outline)
11.
Purpose of a trial - to strengthen us, to prepare us for
things to come.
James 1:2-5 (ESV)
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
22.
Promise to hold onto during a trial
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
33.
Protection
during trials
1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
44.
Plan for the trials
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
IV. Your Life of Faith Speaks
Louder than Your Words of Faith (7-8)
7 so that you became an example to all the
believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord
sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone
forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
V. Your Transformed Life is a Powerful Defense
for the Gospel of Christ. (9)
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of
reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God,
VI. Our Great Hope is The Second Coming of
Christ (10)
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Friday, October 10, 2014
A Christian Dying Well
The following article is from a Christian who is trusting God as she is dying from cancer. The link to the original article
http://thefederalist.com/2014/10/10/brain-cancer-will-likely-kill-me-but-theres-no-way-ill-kill-myself/
http://thefederalist.com/2014/10/10/brain-cancer-will-likely-kill-me-but-theres-no-way-ill-kill-myself/
Like Brittany Maynard, I have
extremely aggressive brain cancer. But I’m not downing any kill pills.
October 10, 2014
I’m not surprised that an Oct. 6,
2014 article by Nicole Weisensee Egan—titled “Terminally Ill 29-Year Old Woman: Why I’m Choosing to Die on
My Own Terms” featuring a well-produced video found on
People.com—has gone viral.
The video, which features interviews
of Brittany Maynard and her family members, is very emotional. Maynard, who was
diagnosed this past spring, suffers from a stage-four gliobastoma multiforme
brain tumor. She has a very aggressive form of brain cancer, and it is
difficult to control its growth. In her video story, she describes how she was
diagnosed and relates her understanding that the glioblastoma will eventually
kill her. She then relates her fear that this scenario will be “out of her
control.”
As I watched the video, I wanted to
hug Brittany and shed tears right along with her because I, too, know those
fears. I was also diagnosed this past spring with a stage-four glioblastoma
multiforme brain tumor.
I can identify with Maynard and her
spunky, adventurous spirit. She describes her love of travel. In my profession
with The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s mercy outreach, I’ve led medical
mission teams and worked on relief projects in 11 countries, loving every
minute of it. I have seen the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick.
I have seen suffering that would make anyone’s stomach turn.
The
Hardest Part Is Not Knowing When
Now I face my own prognosis of
future suffering. Some days are joyful. Some days the diagnosis feels like a
huge weight in my backpack.
The hardest part of a terminal
diagnosis is not knowing the timeline. I speak candidly with my physicians and
pray that they can keep my tumor under control with the latest therapies to
extend my life, one more year, month, day. Someday, I hope my tumor qualifies
to be studied in one of the many clinical trials for brain cancer. I’d like to
think my situation was part of a cure for someone else.
My doctors have applauded my
decision to step down from my physically and emotionally demanding job to spend
precious time with my family. I have a husband and three daughters who I hope
will always remember me as a strong, thoughtful (but bull-headed) woman,
carrying Christ’s mercy and compassion for others in my soul with rich joy and
meaning.
Suicide
Is Not the Answer to Brain Cancer
And here is where my comparison with
Brittany Maynard ends. Maynard chose to move her family to Oregon earlier this
year to have legal access to physician-assisted suicide and to receive a
prescription for drugs that she has stated she will use to take her life two
days following her husband’s birthday, on Nov. 1, 2014. It’s interesting that
Maynard steadfastly refuses to refer to her decision as an act of suicide, even
though she will, quite literally, take her own life.
Many people who choose
assisted-suicide have expressed that they are uncomfortable with the term.
Assisted suicide, which means helping someone take his or her own life, has
been redefined into the more euphemistic “aid in dying” or sometimes “death
with dignity” campaign which has been spearheaded by the well-funded
special-interest group Compassion and Choices (previously known as The Hemlock
Society).
However well-intentioned, this is
one area where the old adage that “Hard cases make bad law” comes into play. To
make good policy decisions about assisted suicide for our society, we need to
follow the rabbit trail all the way down the hole to see where it leads.
Marilyn Golden, a senior policy analyst for the Disability Rights Education and
Defense Fund, warned that “assisted suicide is not progressive, in fact, it
puts many vulnerable people at risk, and we have already seen examples of that
where it is legal.” Folks concerned about the rights of people with
disabilities are worried about this.
Dignity
Lies in Love
But there isn’t any dignity in
cancer or other debilitating illness. In my own treatment, I’ve been poked,
prodded, radiated, chemotherapied, and cut open so many times that I stopped
worrying about being dignified quite some time ago. Instead, I prefer to get my
dignity by appreciating the dear people who care for me with their individual
expressions of love and prayers on my behalf.
Maynard can choose to call her act
anything she wants to enable her to feel better about her decision, but that
doesn’t change the facts about how she has chosen to die. Dr. Eric Chevlen, a
diplomat of the American Boards of Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology,
Hematology, and Pain Medicine and director of Palliative Care at St. Elizabeth
Health Center in Youngstown, Ohio, once quipped, “Just as rape is not
about sex, euthanasia is not about comforting the dying. It is about power.
What is intolerable to the (assisted suicide advocate) is not suffering or
dying, but not having control over life and death.”
A recent opinion piece in The
Atlantic by Ezekiel Emanuel (President Obama’s adviser on The Affordable
Care Act) entitled “Why I Hope to Die at 75,” forged ahead in the
assisted suicide debate by equating the value of human life with that human’s
ability to be productive.
Death
Is Always Out of Our Hands
When I was a young mother, my father
had a traumatic accident that severed his spinal cord and left him paralyzed
from the neck down. The last five months of my father’s life, which he lived as
a paraplegic, were filled with utter helplessness. He wasn’t productive in any
meaningful way. He couldn’t even shave his own face. Would Emanuel or Maynard
find my dad’s life useless? I didn’t. My siblings and I soaked up our father’s
presence, realizing that caring for the needy person we loved so dearly showed
each of us some unexpected things about ourselves. As writer Cheryl Magness says, caregivers get a
chance to grow in compassion, responsibility, and selflessness as they care for
those in need.
This will serve me now as I face my
own debilitating mortality. Death sucks. And while this leads many to attempt
to calm their fears by grasping for personal control over the situation, as a
Christian with a Savior who loves me dearly and who has redeemed me from a
dying world, I have a higher calling. God wants me to be comfortable in my
dependence on Him and others, to live with Him in peace and comfort no matter
what comes my way. As for my cancer journey, circumstances out of my control
are not the worst thing that can happen to me. The worst thing would be losing
faith, refusing to trust in God’s purpose in my life and trying to grab that
control myself.
I watched Maynard’s six-minute
video. I cried, and my heart broke for her and her family. I pray she changes
her mind and decides to allow others to care for her in her illness. I felt
blessed that my tumor came later in my life (I’m 51), and I have had the gift
of raising three lovely daughters. I want my girls to learn servanthood and
selflessness as they care for me. And I also want them to know that, for
Christians, our death is not the end. Because our Savior, Jesus Christ,
selflessly endured an ugly death on the cross and was laid in a borrowed tomb
(no “death with dignity” there), He truly understands our sorrows and feelings of
helplessness. I want my kids to know that Christ’s resurrection from that
borrowed grave confirms that death could not hold Him, and it cannot hold me
either—a baptized child of God!
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