Thanksgiving Week is soon upon us! To help us prepare for this wonderful time of food, family, and fellowship, let’s consider a passage that really gets to the heart of thanksgiving.
Luke 17:11-19
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
What is the main point Jesus makes?
What do you think the mood of Jesus is, as he sees this scene unfold?
Why do you think the 9 did not return? Do you think they were thankful for the healing they received?
What do you think, if any, is the significance of the Samaritan?
For what are you most thankful?
What else do you want to say this week?
Saturday, November 10, 2007
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Another
Saturday Evening Post
Here’s a post from a friend of mine in Texas. We had several classes together, and he is one of the smartest guys I know. All I can say about his post is this: “been there; done that.” I am thankful that I am not there today.
Note to Self
Remember when Sunday used to be your favorite day of the week? You could not wait for Sunday, to get up in the pulpit.
To preach.
What happened? Now all you seem to dwell on is the criticism, not of the few, but of yourself. You have become your own worst critic. You have taken the few statements of others and twisted them into self-doubt. Let it go. Let others be others, but let yourself be... well... yourself. When you step up into the pulpit in a few hours, try to remember what it is like to be a person in the church who cannot wait to hear the Gospel, who moves forward to the edge of their seat hoping to hear a word from the Lord.
Are there people out there who come ready to critique and measure? Sure there are. But why have you let yourself become one of them?
If you are going to preach, preach to yourself. It sure seems like you need to hear it.
And speak the Word.
Remember that "Gospel" means "good news." Think you can remember all that? Or will you just keep acting like the very people you say you don't want to be?
Parents win right to grow babies for 'spare parts'
What you do think of this?
HERE is a pretty interesting article responding to the, seemingly new, atheists' agression for promoting their view.
Food for thought
Since I love my french toast, I decided to make me a recipe for my french toast and I would love to share it with you.
Gino’s Home Made French Toast
3 eggs
Quarter stick of butter
teaspoon vanilla teaspoon sugar
4 pieces of Frozen Bread
1 piece of bread
2 teaspoon cinnamon
mix eggs, butter, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon into mixing bowl. Heat skillet or frying pan on medium. Take the bread/heal and dip it into the batter. Throw this part of the bread/heal into the trash can. Dipping the frozen bread into the batter, place the toast into the skillet five a minute and a half than turn the bread around and cook the other side for a minute and a half.
now here where the biblical part goes with this recipe. This recipe is my recipe and if anyone add or subtract from this recipe it is no longer mine because it is no longer identical to my recipe. When man/woman/child remove or add something to God's word, than it is no longer God's because it no longer identical to his word.
Deuteronomy 12:32 “whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it”. Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
Revelation 22:18-19 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone add to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Hey, it’s been a good day! After a nice but quick family breakfast I met Tony at the Park to run 10 miles. After cleaning up in the FLC I stopped into see the dedicated, selfless food pantry workers. Then it was on over to Oakland City University - Bedford branch. I met some of my Intro to Christian Education students out front. We got in my van (only 4 went) and made our way to Sherwood Oaks Christian Church to meet with their executive minister, Roger Clark. Roger gave us a tour of their huge buildings and answered our questions regarding their education program and their small group ministry. It was very interesting and enjoyable.
We arrived back in Bedford for my 1 p.m. class, Introduction to Christian Literature. This is one of the quietest class I have ever had, but they tell me that they simply enjoy listening to me lecture. Now you know why I really like them! Ha ha. Seriously, they are one of the most pleasant classes I have had in a long time.
After I class I came home for little while, and then after school Ben, Luke, and I headed up toward Seymour. We picked Marty up on the way, and then met Brent at Cracker Barrel. Lester came from Indy. Why? Because after we ate Brent took us to his work place to show us an amazing car that he has been designing headlights for: a 500 h.p. Shelby Mustang. Wow!
Now I am back home and the upstairs is full of women, Kedra’s Bible study group. I’ll hang down here in the basement until they clear out. I don’t want to interfere in any way!
Today was a day that often led to giving thanks.
What are you thankful for that has happened to you or you have seen or experienced in the last few hours?
As you look back over your life who is it that you are most thankful for? Why?
Another intriguing article about the aggressive move of athiests:
Are Atheists the New Gays?
How NOT to change a tire
This morning I am very thankful for:
a nice, warm home office
a steady, replenishing rain
hot coffee
and
I'd like to request some prayers for my brother Bill and his family.
Bill's wife Lisa, who was due to have a baby in Dec has lost the baby due to complications from pneumonia and becoming septic, and I think she caught a staph infection while at Dunn hospital a week or so ago.
I'm not sure if she is off the ventilator yet or if they have to continue to run dialysis or not but she is fighting for her life up in Methodist hospital in Indy.
My brother flew in from Iraq and is here now. My brother is 44 and this was his first child.
Thanks, Annette
HERE is a good simple response to what the atheists are striving to do.
looking back on my life, the people I give thanks mostly too are the chaplains at the Los Angeles Mission who really help me to understand the bible and pointed out the truth when I needed it. And Pastor/Chaplain Mim from Shiloh Full Gospel. He kept me in line when I was going through the Mission, lost, confused and with one bad attitude.
I was going over all the blog since December because I wanted to take some of the stuff that I had put on here and add it to my book since I am almost done with it and I notice that someone had answered my question when I asked, where in the bible does God tells anyone to try. and someone found some verses for me.
TRY
Jesus (God) said
Luke 12:58
58As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, TRY hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
(God said through) Paul
1 Corinthians 10:33
33even as I TRY to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
and
1 Corinthians 14:12
12So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, TRY to excel in gifts that build up the church.
and
2 Corinthians 5:11
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we TRY to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
and
1 Thessalonians 5:15
15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always TRY to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
and there are many more, find them in the concordance in the back of your bible.
I never went back to read any of this until today and I would like to write the King James version of each scripture.
Luke 12:58
When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
1st Corinthians 10:33
Even as I please all men in all things , not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
1st Corinthians 14:12
Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts , seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
2nd Corinthians 5:12
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
1st Thessalonians 5:15
See that none render evil for evil unto any man ; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men .
God does not use the word try in any of the verses you gave. Why would God tell someone to try to do something if he has given the person the ability to do?
Greetings!
Annette, nice to hear from you and we miss you at MCoC. Will keep your family in our prayers.
Allen, I have said this before but will say it again since you asked. I am thankful everyday for my daughters and their health.
Gino, not sure I follow your post or agree. I may be misunderstanding what you are saying but it appears you are saying that God never asks us to "try" because he expects us to just do it because he has given us the ability to do it. While I agree to a point, I dont think that is totally correct. Yes, we can do anything WITH God ( believe there is a scripture saying that)however, we are human, less than God and less than Christlike, thus the human side of us at times keeps us from acting or doing as God has directed or requires. yes, God wants us to DO but he understands we are human ( this is why there is grace) so he requests we try. For example the alchoholic is loved by God through grace. God would direct and want him to shy away from the wicked drink. God's directive would be for him to TRY and beat this and with God he WILL but he first has to try and God knows the human side will be there and he will fall, but he must keep trying and leaning on God.
In other words if we never had to try and just did, being a Christian would be easy and we wouldnt need a lot of the scriptures because we just do it.
RR
Last night my class was gently interrupted with a birthday cake and a procession of people from the room next door, joined later by some from the other building. Sally, evidently, had been planning this little surprise for me for a little while now. I was touched.
I really like Sally. She is simply sweet. She has a desire to learn and to please. Her actions last night touch me because they were so genuine and real and heartfelt. That does an almost 49 year old heart good.
Sally is humble and, I think, receives the Kingdom like a child.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 18:4
She is a refreshing contrast to the arrogance that is often evident.
Yesterday we had a very nice Thanksgiving gathering during the lunch hour at Oakland City University (Bedford branch). I enjoyed some really good home-cooked food. I was able to sit with 2-3 of my students.
One of them had a chemo treatment on Tuesday and was struggling to be there. This is her third time with cancer; she is not even 30. She has a remarkable spirit about her. Our class has really gathered around her. She has found a community that loves her. She is thankful, and so am I.
The girl who sat to my right is pregnant. We talked for a little while about her situation in life. I asked her if she was married. “No,” she said with embarrassment. They plan to get married sometime and were planning to even before the baby was conceived. I can tell she is struggling with her situation in life. I tried to encourage her.
Yesterday was Dr. Doug Garret’s last day at OCU-B. He is the Dean and all around leader of the place. He is an interesting man; a good man. He has been a tremendous help and encouragement to me in many ways. I will miss him a lot. I am a little concerned about what happens next over there. No one seems to know who his replacement will be.
Evidently the rumor mill says it’s me. And that is news to me. A fellow faculty member came to me yesterday asking if I had applied, and I said, “no.” She said that some are hoping that I will etc. I told her that my life is mostly bound up with the church and that to consider the dean’s job would be a total shift in thinking, etc. It’s simply not something I am interested in at this point in my life. I told her that I love the work I do with the church and would not want to leave it.
I am committed to the MCOC and do not plan to leave unless I am asked to leave or if I discern that in some way I am a hindrance to the work and growth of the church.
I do enjoy the small amount of work I do at OCU-B. It’s Kingdom work. I am thankful for the opportunity.
If you did not get my email regarding my sabbatical, then you can read it here:
A Time of Renewal
allen, that would be pretty cool to be the dean of OCUB! However, glad you are content with MCoC!!!
Hey, when you are on your sabatical, what are your plans for the blog? Just curious, but i think it kind of goes with the small group and community we are striving for even though participation has been lower lately.
I too thought last night was neat and I thought back several months to the series on the heart of a servent.
RR
I have always enjoyed Barbara Brown Taylor. I have read many of her sermons and books. She is a wonderful thinker, writer, and speaker. I am presently in the midst of her latest work Leaving Church - A Memoir of Faith. It’s good, so you’ll be seeing some excerpts. Let’s start with this:
To be a priest is to know that things are not as they should be and yet to care for them the way they are. To be a priest is to suspect that there is always something more urgent that you should be doing, no matter what you are doing, and to make peace with the fact the work will never get done. To be a priest is to wonder sometimes if you are missing the boat altogether, by deferring pleasure in what God has made until you have fixed it up so that it will please God more. “When I wake up in the morning,” E.B. White once wrote, “I can’t decide whether to enjoy the world or improve the world; that makes it difficult to plan the day.”
Gino, I have made a decision that you probably won’t like: your comments are no longer welcome on the blog. This is a forum for the exchange of ideas, sharing thoughts, etc. I don’t mind controversial comments, if they are from someone willing to learn. Humility is always nice too. You continue to demonstrate to me that you have little interest in learning; you only want to criticize and argue. I see little humility in your comments.
We have had private conversations about this, and we can have more, but you are discouraging and angering several readers of this blog. This is unacceptable to me.
Golly. Get bronchitis for a couple of weeks and you miss all kinds of stuff...
I was congested and couldn't sleep and thought I'd have a look at the posts. Also, I think I've taken too much cold medicine. Is it okay to see your pulse in your eyeballs? :)
Allen, I'm a little concerned about your sudden preoccupation with atheists. We may be better off turning our attention to other things. They remind me of a Far Side cartoon Gary Larson drew several years ago. He was talking about monsters, but I think it applies to atheists, too. You're better off ignoring them; the more you believe in them the more they try to get you.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I don't hold my Nyquil like I used to.
Donna
Yesterday, in talking about the Dean’s job at OCU-B, I did not mean to imply that I thought I could have it if I wanted it. I hope no one took it that way. I don’t want it, but even if I did, I doubt I could have it. I don’t have any experience or background in the field of college administration.
Dear doped-up Donna, I really don’t enjoy apologetics all that much. I much prefer other things, several other things. With the posts about atheism I am simply trying to reflect what I see as a new move among the fools (you know, the ones who say there is no God).
This new movie coming out, The Golden Compass is a part of it. While the first movie is fairly harmless, the trilogy of books that stands behind it has a little girl eventually killing a character called God because he is false and causes people to believe and do things harmful to humanity.
So I think we are going to have to start paying attention to it/them.
Donna; I understand what you are saying about the atheists; yet it reminds me of what people did concerning the Nazi's they just sort thought they were a passing fad and we know what they ended up doing. I think with matters of this sort we should not let them take hold of our every thought but we should be knowledgable of their beliefs and tactics so that we can be on guard of them at all times. I hope you get to feeling better; I would hate to think of Todd having to live off of fast food and frozen pizza. Robin
Guys, we have to be really careful about getting pulled into a debate with these people. I agree,they're gaining a bit of ground in the public arena, but,for the most part, the public is far mosre sympathetic to us than to them. I realize this could easily change. However, we risk losing an enormous amount of credibility if we are drawn into public debate with them. We have the Truth on our side, but ours is the realm of faith, not logic. I'm not implying faith is anti-intellectual or unreasonable.Simply that they have a lot more "facts" on their side, and the skill to defend them. We could find ourselves out-logicked, no matter how right we are. And, they have the increasingly-scornful media on their side. We may be far better off simply being as winsome, compassionate and genuine as possible and leaving them to look as if they're picking on us.
Donna
Donna; well put, I take it you are felling better or the medicine has kicked in? Robin
Neither, unfortunately. Simply the outworkings of a fevered, sleep-deprived mind.:) FYI, tho, a couple of days ago, during my nocturnal web-surfing, I discovered research indicating that there's a substance in dark chocolate that effectively suppresses the cough reflex. Of course, choco-holic that I am, I had to try it and--it worked. Surprisingly. The article said 50g of dark chocolate suppresses coughs as effectively as codeine. I would have to say that this is true, in my experience. Of course, by the time I'm over this, my rear end will be two axe-handles wide...
Donna
Donna,
I hope you are feeling better soon. At one time, I think I would have agreed with you about not going to battle with the athiests. I'm not so sure anymore. I'm thinking about my kids. Do I want them to have to put up with laws in their lives that are athiest driven, could I do something about it now? If I could make their lives easier, wouldn't I? They're never going to go away, but I shouldn't have to stand back a let them overpower my world.
I'm reading a book right now (and if you know me, that's unusual if it doesn't have a car on the cover) that is called the 6 rules that every man must break. One of them is the rule of "I must be passive". He makes some very good points. Jesus never walked away from a fight with the Pharasees. He new that they were spreading a "bad religion" with a bunch of add on rules that were driven to condemn and chain people instead of liberating them. Maybe it's more of a warning to us as a church, but I think it's also a warning that we should not stand back while these folks (atheists, muslims, gays, etc...) come in, change our laws, change our freedoms, and affect our kids lives (on earth and in heaven).
I think that we are heading into t time, where we are going to have to start standing up for a rights again. Standing back and hoping that our government is driven by God is not going to be enough. We are going to have to step out tof the "silent majority" banner and start being heard. Not in a brash, arrogant, self-serving way, but in a God honoring, God driven way.
I think sometimes we take the stance that we can't make a difference by ourselves. That's true. Only by abiding with God, can we make a difference.
Donna, I'm not picking on you. I just think it's dangerous to stand back and ignore certain threats.
Check out: www.doesgodexist.org
Well, I'm going to get off of the soap box now. Maybe I'm getting cranky in my old age.
;)
Brent
Good post Brent. It goes along with the book we are reading in Gary's Sunday class called "In his steps". It is a fictional novel but tells the story of a church that changed a town by asking "what would Jesus do?" ( it is where that slogan came from) but it ties in to what Brent is saying, you can make a difference. Good read. Brent, I would like to read that book when you are done that you mentioned.
I honestly can say I have never met a true atheist. I have met a lot of people who did not recognize God or factor him into their lives but none that say with out a doubt God does not exist. Not sure where I really stand on addressing them because I havent had that experience. Hmmmm
RR
I was actually engaged (briefly) to an atheist, once, back in my early 20's. He was very bright (emphasis on 'very'), cute as a button, and oddly enough, wanted to marry me. To a small town Presbyterian girl, his atheism was sort of edgy and exotic, and anyway, I was pretty sure I could change him. I was wrong. After several months, lots of tears and anger, I realized I didn't want to raise kids with a man who scorned my deepest beliefs. He's now a rich brainiac at a big computer company. Before this rambles on much farther, I told you that to tell you this: I couldn't change his mind. He was a lovely, well-meaning person, but his intellectual arrogance was so complete, he couldn't compromise and even pretend to respect my beliefs, even tho he really loved me. I'm no Einstein, but I'm not Forrest Gump, either, and this guy could argue me into the ground! We (conservative Christians) made some big mistakes in how we handled the secular world the last 30 years and the church has suffered for it. NOW, you want to go and make the same mistakes again? Didn't we learn anything from the Falwells and Robertsons of the last decade? Mother Teresa had a greater, more positive impact than a whole truckload full of Jerry Falwells, and she wasn't in the least combative. Guys, I'm thoroughly convinced we've got to stop trying to "Change the World", which ain't gonna happen, and start being the Church--changing hearts and minds. Starting fights with a bunch of knuckle-headed atheists is only going to put the church on the defensive. That's always a bad place to be.
Donna
I am thankful for each breath, each bite of food God provides, a job and ability to earn money to provide for needs, for my precious family and extended family, my parents who are now gone, encounters with Christians in my early life and in my early faith for their patience and kindness and confidence they placed in me. I am thankful for the seasons in nature and the seasons of life for all the beautiful changes that come with each. I have so much to be thankful for but the the utmost gift of forgivness which has been given on the cross for each of us and for His abiding grace and presence in our lives through his Spirit who works in each of us I am most thankful. Without God there is no hope, without God there is no joy, without God we are nothing. Sherron
Sherron, you're a good soul. Your posts are always a pleasure to read.
Donna
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