See God in every place - (Not so) Wordless Wednesday

"To hide the truth is no less falsehood than to spread error."

Amy Carmichael

 

 I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.

Mother Teresa

Eight handy ways to spoil the renewal in the church - Part 2

This is the second part of a series about renewal in the church. The series has four parts in total and is posted once a week, on consecutive Tuesdays.

3. Leave the decision making to the people who have no clue of what they are doing

If you want to be really effective in spoiling the renewal you should keep the key people in the church, like the team leaders and the elders, complete misinformed.

Only hold meetings with the elders when you cannot avoid it and only talk about the issues in the meeting plan.

The issues should be as basic and boring as possible.

Maybe the elders could decide if the church needs a new row of pews?

This should keep them both uninformed of what is really going on and help them to lose all the motivation they ever had to do their job.

Meet with different team leaders as seldom as possible and make them feel that they should know what they are doing without your explaining it.

And if they still keep doing their job well, you can always make them feel like they are missing some really important point, that you can’t really explain because they should know it if they are real Christians.

A good frustration is excellent antidote to renewal.

4. Don’t let the leading pastor to choose their co-workers

If it’s possible, do not hire a pastor who wants to have renewal in the church.

But there is the risk that even the most boring pastor can suddenly become a burning preacher who searches the renewal for their congregation.

In this case it is imperial to prevent their coworkers to catch this renewal spirit.

If this happens, they will make a strong team that can lead the whole church to the renewal.

To avoid this, and forestall it from happening, make sure that the leading pastor never gets to work with people they have chosen.

Instead make sure that people who are against renewal and the pastors policies more openly in the church are chosen to work with him.

This is the second part of the series.

To read the first part, go to Part 1

September 2nd

To the strangers and aliens

God promised to Abraham to bless all the nations of the world.

He took care of the Egyptians by giving the Pharaoh dreams.

To the nation of Israel He gave the law, so that all the other nationalities could see what is goodness and wisdom.

God sent Daniel to the king of Babylonia, so he could learn the language and culture of Chaldea.

And so that Daniel could lead the king of this alien nation in knowledge and truth.

God healed the Syrian warlord from leprosy.

Jonah did not want to go warn the people of Nineveh but God worried about the strangers on that strange land.

Isaiah prophesized about a Messiah who would be the light to all the nations.

In the times of Jesus’s birth the nation of Israel had forgotten the words of prophet Amos.

“Are you Israelites more important to me
    than the Ethiopians?” asks the Lord.
“I brought Israel out of Egypt,
    but I also brought the Philistines from Crete
    and led the Arameans out of Kir.

Amos 9:7 NLT

This is why Matthew in his evangelism reminded the readers about God’s original plan.

Among the ancestors of Messiah can be found mothers from other nations.

Jesus is celebrated by strangers, wise men that came from other countries.

He praised the great faith of the alien women who begged the crumbs under the table of the children of Israel.

²⁸ She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”

²⁹ “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.”

Mark 7:28.29 (NLT)

³¹ Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

³² “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! ³³ And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! ³⁴ And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

³⁵ “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. ³⁶ You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

Luke 6:31-36 (NLT)

Paul explains to Romans that the Gentiles, the alien nations and strangers, have been grafted in the Abraham’s tree.

Now we also receive the same blessing that God has promised Abraham and his children.

¹⁷ But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. ¹⁸ But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

Romans 2:17-18 (NLT)

God still sends us to the strangers and to the aliens.

He still wants us to go to foreign countries and to other nations and make all the people His own.

¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)

It is not easy to encounter the strangers and the aliens.

As humans we prefer the people that we know, and the culture and customs we are familiar with.

Everyone remembers the Golden Rule, but Jesus exhorted us to do even more as Christians.

We are to love our enemies and do good to the people who hurt us first.

We are to lend them, and not expect them to be repaid.

We are to be compassionate, like God is compassionate.