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Pete

Preaching...

Jimmy Smith sent this email out to all of the Pastors in our Association this past week.  As surprising as this may be to many people it is true.   


  Of all the things that pastors must do each week, none is more important than his role as preacher.  It is at the same time exhilarating and frustrating, liberating and confining, easy as pouring water from a clean glass and hard as getting blood out of a turnip.
  It is a task that must be done each week and cannot be put off.  The more a pastor runs from it or puts it off the harder it becomes.  It carries with it a weight of responsibility.  No one can know what it feels like until they have been there.  What may look easy from the third row has come about by hours of prayer, study and preparation.
  Denise George, in her book entitled, What Pastors Wish Church Members Knew, has compiled a list of answers to questions sent in by pastors from all over the United States. Here are two lists she has compiled on pp. 145-146 

So what do you pastors want their members to know about their preacher’s preaching?

• Preaching is the most enjoyable and also the most difficult job in his position as pastor.
• Preaching God’s Word is an awesome responsibility, one he takes very seriously.
• A pastor’s primary goal in preaching is to please God.
• Each week he spends vast amounts of time in prayer, study, and preparation to bring his church members Bible-based, meaningful, and life instructive sermons.
• He shows his love for his congregation by faithfully and consistently feeding them God’s Word.
• The responsibility and challenge of preaching God’s Word can often create frustration, fear, and tension in his life.
• He sometimes questions his own ability to bring fresh, relevant, substantive, life changing sermons to his people.
• He often worries about the future of preaching and the church.
• He struggles to adequately communicate to every individual in the congregation.
• He needs member encouragement as he strives to keep his sermons consistently Christ-centered, and God honoring.

What You Can Do To Help Your Pastor

• Pray especially for your pastor as he studies and prepares his weekly sermons. Tell him, through an email or handwritten note, you are praying for him.
• Respect your pastor’s time.  Be careful not to needlessly interrupt him during his scheduled sermon preparation and study time.
• Encourage him as he seeks to communicate with so diverse a congregation.
• Listen attentively and carefully as your pastor preaches.  Keep eye contact and let him know you are hearing him.
• After the worship service, what you appreciated about his sermon.
• Write him a note or an email of encouragement and gratitude as he begins preparing the next week’s message.
• Thank him often for his dedication to the task of preaching God’s Word.

Don't Forget to PRAY

Hey everyone don't forget to pray for Scotty this week.  He is in Haiti until this coming Saturday.

Pete

The Method Pt. 3 The Life That Wins 1 Thessalonians 1:1–5

The Life That Wins

God's Method starts with Him seeking us, then we see the role the message of the Gospel plays in the process.  Today we will examine the third part of God's method which is the life that wins. This is the main role we play in the method God uses.  When I say "The life that wins" I'm not talking about a life that gets an award for being the best missionary or saving the most souls. I'm not talking about a life that wins for itself. No, instead I'm talking about a life that wins for God. It is so easy to overlook the last part of verse 5. I cannot tell you how many times I have read these verses and read this passage and read this book of 1 Thessalonians, and never even seen the last part of verse 5. I got so wrapped up in the God who seeks, in verse 4. I got so wrapped up in the gospel that saves in the first part of verse 5 that I forgot about the third part of the method.

  Paul says this, "You know how we lived among you for your sake." This is such a simple statement. It is so easy to overlook, but this statement carries so much power and so much impact. The apostle Paul lived his life in a way that was so holy and so pure and so open and so transparent, he could look at people, or he could write to people and he could say, "You know how I live my life. I have nothing to hide. There are no skeletons in my closet. There is nothing about me you have not seen. I have lived it out in front of you, and I've done the best I can."
  Paul said this in the most humble way, for it was Paul who said, "I am the worst of all sinners." He didn't think he was above anybody. He lived his life in such a way where other people could see him striving toward the goal. Paul, time and time again, tells people, "You know how I live my life. Imitate me."

  In the book of Philippians, he says it two times, in chapter 3, verse 17, "Join with others in following my example," he says. "Join with others in following my example brothers." In the book of Philippians, chapter 4, verse 9, he says, "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice." In the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, he says in verse 16, "Therefore I urge you to imitate me." Paul lived his life in a way that won. It won souls.

  He lived his life in a way that as he encountered people, he could look them in the eye and say, "Just imitate me." Not in a bold way, not in a cocky way, not in an I'm better than you way, just in a way that said, "I'm doing the best I can as a man to follow Christ, and you can follow me, and imitate me." That's the life that wins.

  Let me ask you this, when it comes to those you love, your family, your friends, your coworkers, your aunts, your uncles, and anyone else you care for, can you look them in the eye and say, "Imitate me?" Could you stand before those people and say, "Just follow my example, and live the way I do"?

 Personally I want to be the kind of man who can stand before my children as they grow up, and say to my son and daughter, "You can just follow my example. You can just imitate me. Don't worry about what the world is telling you. Don't worry about what your friends are telling you, just imitate me." But if I don't live my life in a way that wins, I can't stand before my children and say that, or my wife, or my parents, or my grandparents, or my friends, or anybody else.

  Paul lived his life in such a holy, and pure, and amazing way that he could say with confidence, "Just imitate me. Live the way I live."  Here's the problem for us today. If we don't live our lives in a way that wins, people will probably never experience the gospel that saves or the God who seeks because we're all they see. If we come to church on Saturdays and Sundays and we act one way, and we go out into the world the rest of the week and we act another, if we come in here and we stuff all of our skeletons in the closet for an hour and ten minutes on Sunday or Saturday night, and then we go out and we let them all out all over the place the rest of the time, we have failed.

  God's method involves you. It involves your life, not an hour on Sunday. It involves 24 hours, seven days a week, your entire life and living it in a way that wins where other people can look at you and you can look at them and say, "Imitate me." If we don't live our lives in a way that wins, they will never experience the gospel that saves or the God who seeks.

  The fact is I am a believer today , not just because God sought me, and not just because the gospel saved me, but because there were people in my life that I could look at and I could imitate. I saw something in them I wanted. It wasn't until I saw that, that I gave the gospel and the God who seeks a chance.
All those times I turned away from the gospel, do you want to know why I did it? Because I looked at the people who were telling me about it, and I said, "Your life doesn't match up. You're telling me one thing over here, and then I see you act in another way over there. What do I want to be a part of that for? I'd rather just be true to who I am. I'd rather just be a pagan and be a good one. I'd rather just be the best heathen I can be, I guess. That's just the kind of person I am. Why do I want to act one way here and be another over there?"

  You see it wasn't until I encountered a man who acted one way and was one way everywhere he went and everywhere he went. I said, "There might be something to this God who seeks and this gospel that saves." We need to live lives that win. We take and have a great part in the method God uses. We're a part of it, and this is plan A, and it's the only plan. Let's be a part of it.  May we all excel in being the kinds of people who strive to live the life that wins.

The Method Pt. 2 The Gospel That Saves 1 Thessalonians 1:1–5

1 Thessalonians 1:1–5 NIV   Paul, Silas and Timothy,  To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:  Grace and peace to you. 2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 

  In my previous post I discussed the Method God uses by focusing in on the God That Seeks.  God's method begins with Himself and His divine love for humanity.  However the second part of Gods Divine plan is The gospel that saves. Paul does a great thing here in verse 5. He says, "Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction," He breaks it down into the different parts of the gospel. However before we examine the different ways the Gospel came to these people let's look at what Paul means when he says  "Our gospel."

  He wasn't saying our gospel because this was the gospel of the apostle Paul, he wasn't saying our gospel because he believed he was the one who made the gospel up. He wasn't saying our gospel, taking possession of it because he was the one who was saving people through his own gospel, no, he was saying our gospel because he believed in what he preached. Do you? Do you believe in what you preach to others? Do you believe in what you read in the Bible? Do you believe? Is it your gospel? Have you taken possession of it? Do you believe it is the core of who you are? Down deep, do you know it to be true?

  The apostle Paul certainly did because he takes ownership of it, and he says, "Because our gospel came to you." This wasn't his daddy's gospel. It wasn't his momma's gospel. It wasn't his grandpa or his grandma's gospel. This wasn't his preacher's gospel or his priests' gospel, or his pastor's gospel. He said, "This is our gospel. We believe it. We know it to be true. We've experienced it. Our gospel came to you." They took ownership of it. They believed in it. We must as well if we're going to be effective. The method depends on it.

  Then he tells us how the gospel came. He says, "Not simply with words." Not simply with words…he uses a negative here in the Greek. What he is saying is that it came with words, but not just with words. He doesn't want anybody to be confused. He doesn't want anybody to say, "Well, you know the reason all these people were saved in Thessalonica is because the apostle Paul showed up. That guy, he is a crafty teacher. He is a great preacher. He somehow convinced them to give their lives to Christ. It was his great sermons and his great teachings, and his great writings that brought the people to Christ."

  So, he says, "The gospel came not simply with words." He wants to make sure everybody knows and everybody understands the gospel came with words because we must verbalize the gospel, but it did not come simply with words. We know words are important when it comes to the gospel. I'm not going to read the entire passage to you. Words are important when it comes to the Gospel and Paul certianly beleived that.  Just look at what he says in 10:14 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" Paul penned these words, "And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Paul believed in the power of words when it came to the gospel, but he says, "The gospel does not come simply with words, or only with words." We must be careful as we're out there preaching the gospel and telling people about the good news of Jesus in two areas…two things we must be careful of.

  First, we must be careful that we do not rely on words alone. We must be careful we do not think because we can explain it well, or because we can talk really well, or because we have a great illustration, or because we have an evangelism cube, or because we have the next greatest track in the world, that we can just go up and by our own power and our own will and convince people to give their lives to Christ. That's the first thing we must watch out for.

  The second thing is that we don't keep our mouths shut and we don't just walk around and say, "You know what? It's not my job to tell people about the gospel because it doesn't come just with words." No it doesn't come just with words, but words are a part of it. It's the only part we get to play in the gospel…using our words to verbalize it. These next three areas we have nothing to do with them.

  He then says, "It came not simply with words, but it came with power." It is not within the scope of this post to analyze this one word in the Greek, but you should know that it comes from the Greek word we get the word dynamite from. This power Paul speaks of is a huge power. This isn't like a power drink. It's not like a powerade. It's not like a boost you get in the morning from a power breakfast, or it's not like how you feel after taking a power nap, man. This is some powerful stuff. It's an overwhelming power.  It's a mysterious power. It's a power that can't be comprehended. The only thing I can even think we might even be able to relate this to is the power of nuclear weapons.

  Sometimes I fear that Christians forget that it was the power of the gospel that transformed their lives, that caused them to go from the old to the new. We forget the power of the gospel, the power to save us of our sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west, we forget the power to take that load off of our shoulders and get rid of it all. We forget the power of the gospel when it came into our lives and filled that hole that we had lived with for so long. We forget we lay in bed that night, or we went through that day wondering, Where did this awesome power come from, and how did it find its way to me?

  Well Paul says, "The gospel came not simply with words, no, it came with power…a great power." Not just with power, it also came with the Holy Spirit, he says. The Holy Spirit plays a major role in the work of the gospel. We forget this all the time, too. We treat the Holy Spirit kind of like a redheaded stepchild, as they say.  Paul says, "The Holy Spirit plays a great role in the gospel." He doesn't just say it here, he says it in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 6 verse 11.  "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

  The book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 13 and 14 says, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of His glory."

  Paul says, "The Holy Spirit was at work in your life when the gospel came to you. It's part of the method."
  Then he lists the last one…deep conviction. The conviction in question here is not that of Paul, Timothy, and Silas. We know they were convicted. They didn't stop when they were shipwrecked. They didn't stop when they were beaten. They didn't stop when they were in prison. No, when all that happened, they just prayed, "God, where do we go next?" We know they were convicted. We know they believed in the gospel. Paul says the conviction came to the Thessalonians. They were convicted of their sins. They were convicted of their shortcomings. They were convicted of their evil ways. They were convicted of their ungodly lives because when the gospel comes, it comes in power.

  When the Holy Spirit begins to move, you begin to get convicted. It came with deep conviction. This wasn't a decision the Thessalonians made on a whim. It wasn't just because Paul showed up and preached good sermons. Remember, it wasn't simply with words. No, it came from their deep conviction. As they pondered their lives, and what was going on, as they searched the Scriptures, they came to the conclusion through their conviction that Christ was the only way. The method beings with the God who seeks and it moves to the gospel that saves. We must never forget that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves and God is still using that message as part of His Method today.

The Method Pt. 1 The God That Seeks 1 Thessalonians 1:1–5

1 Thessalonians 1:1–5 NIV  Paul, Silas and Timothy,  To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:  Grace and peace to you. 2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

Paul says in  verse 4, "For we know, brother loved by God, that He has a chosen you." Understanding this text starts with being able to comprehend that our God is a personal being of purpose and plans.  God has a plan and purpose for our lives.  There simply is no denying that, He is a God of purpose, a God of plans. So Paul says, "He has chosen you." He has sought you. He is the God who seeks. He is the God who was in control of Thessalonica long before Paul showed up. He is the God who had chosen, or sought these people at this church before Paul had ever even arrived on the scene. Therefore Paul contends, "We know brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you."

  Wow, what an incredible thing! As I think back to the time before I was a Christian, I am so thankful that God continued to seek me despite the fact that I rejected Him the first time, and the second time, and the third time, and the fifth time, and the tenth time, and the twentieth time, and the thirtieth time, and the fortieth time, and the fiftieth time. I kept walking away but He continued to pursue me. I had heard the gospel and my friends had told me about Jesus. They had invited me to youth group. They had invited me to church camp. I thought, Oh rubbish. That's a bunch of foolishness. Who needs all that stuff?
I walked away time after time after time. I am so thankful that God continued to seek me. He continued to pursue me. He continued to stay with me. I'm thankful that, as the book of Ephesians says, "Even when I was an enemy of God, He continued to love me, and He continued to seek me, and He continued to pursue me."

  Paul wanted these people in Thessalonica to know that he (Paul) loved them.  Twenty eight times, in the book of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Paul greets these people as brothers, brothers in God, or brothers in the faith, and things like that…28 times. It's remarkable.
But more than that, he wants to remind them that God loves them. He says, "Brothers loved by God."  You will only find this phrase two other times in the New Testament. Once in the book of 2 Thessalonians, the letter he wrote to this same church. The second is in the book of Romans. Paul doesn't use this phrase often. It is the most affectionate and loving phrase you can pen whenever you want to tell somebody in the Greek language that they are loved by God.

He wanted to remind them that he (Paul) loved them and God loved them as well because they served a God who seeks, and a God who loved them despite their deficiencies, a God who loved them despite their moral shortcomings, a God who loved them despite their evil ways, a God who had been seeking their very souls from the beginning of time. He wanted to remind them they were loved by God. And the message is the same for believers today.  God loves you, and He is seeking your soul.

 It is so good to know that there is a God who is a God of plans and purposes, and He seeks our souls. No matter how many times we run, no matter how many times we hide, no matter how bad we've been or how far we've gone, He continues to pursue us. His method begins with His love for us and His desire to have a relationship with his most treasured creation.  No matter who you are or what you have done God is pursuing you not for vengeance or revenge, but instead for relationship.

Stress Versus Burnout

I received this article in an email today from the Frio River Director of Missions. This is a concise and informative look at Stress and Burnout. Maybe it can help us all understand the issue better.

Stress Versus Burnout

Sometimes we have really stressful days. And sometimes those days turn into weeks. Seasons of stress come and go.

Burnout, however, is the result of cumulative stress developed over time. Dr. Archibald Hart, founder of the Hart Institute, describes how the symptoms of stress can turn into symptoms of burnout over the passage of time.

Take a moment and read through these sentence pairs, the first describing symptoms of stress while the second describes symptoms of burnout.

Stress is characterized by over engagement;
Burnout is a defense characterized by disengagement.

The exhaustion of stress affects physical energy.
The exhaustion of burnout affects motivation and drive.

Stress produces disintegration.
Burnout produces demoralization.

Stress can best be understood as a loss of fuel and energy.
Burnout can best be understood as a loss of ideals and hope.

The depression of stress is produced by the body’s need to protect itself and conserve energy.
The depression of burnout is caused by the grief engendered by the loss of ideals and hope.

Stress produces a sense of urgency and hyperactivity.
Burnout produces a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.


Mad Church Disease, Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic. Anne Jackson, Zondervan, 2009. p. 95