This month christianaudio.com is giving away a free audiobook of Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders. Simply go to the site, add the download to your cart and use the coupon code SEP2010.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." ~Psalm 19The heavens are telling the glory of God, and their expanse declares the work of His hands. The Apostle Paul wrote, that “by taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.”
This series will take you on a rich journey through the cosmos, allowing you to peer into God's universe to discover the amazing magnitude of His greatness and grace.
Why would someone risk his safety, destroy his schedule, and become dirty and bloody to help a needy person of another race and social class? And why would Jesus tell us "Go and do likewise"? Like the wounded man on the Jericho road, there are needy people in our path- the widow next door, the family strapped with medical bills, the homeless man outside our place of worship. God call us to be ministers of mercy to people in need of shelter, assistance, medical care, or just friendship.Keller uses Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan, as the paradigm for the church’s understanding of mercy. He seeks throughout the book to answer the question the expert in the law asked to Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”, by explaining the parable and bringing the rest of Scripture to bear on the question.
Some of the questions Keller addresses in the book include:
The first half of the book deals with the principles of mercy ministry, and the second half gives some practical ways you can start putting the principles into action at the church level.
Here’s where the interesting observation comes in.
On a given day, my children could be engrossed in a movie of some sort. I can nonchalantly walk through the room, grab the youngest child, put them on my lap, spread a box of puzzle pieces on the floor... and within seconds. The couch is empty, the movie is mere background noise and I have kids all around me fighting over who gets the corner pieces. I can waltz through the room and say, “Oh... I’ll see you guys later... I’m gonna go for a bike ride around the block...” (pause)... and I have three kids begging to go with me. Did I mention the heat index is a hundred-and-eight? Suddenly, being hot is no longer a factor. Regardless of the activity, if I merely begin doing it, engaging it, etc - my children join me. Interesting!
It’s like they wanted to do something more active and engaging, they just didn’t know it! They needed to be lead. They needed to be shown. They needed to be engaged. I wonder if much of our parenting frustration is caused simply because we tell them what to do, but fail to show them how to do it? We ask them if they want to do something, when all they need is to be invited to join us.
Now, let’s turn the tables a bit.
How does this principle apply to our own spirituality? How often do we not want to do that which is most needed to do? Perhaps engaging some spiritual practice (Scripture, Prayer, Serving, Fasting, Giving, etc)... I’ve discovered, quite often we’re just like our children. One of the keys to spiritual maturity is being able to discern what we need and how to do something about it. Often, I’ve learned that if I simply begin engaging a practice or discipline, before long (like my children) I actually enjoy and find pleasure and benefit in doing it. I just need to be lead.
Often we spend too much time following our heart,
and not enough time leading it...
During a train trip from Chicago to Texas in the late 1940's, A.W. Tozer began to write The Pursuit Of God. He wrote all night, the words coming to him as fast as he could put them down. When the train pulled into McAllen, the rough draft was done. Although written in such a remarkably short period of time, Tozer's passionate classic offers not only a deeper understanding of Biblical Truth, but a personal encounter with the very Source of that Truth.
