Soul Health
Preaching
THE WESLEYAN PREACHING ANNUAL 2001--2002
Marva Dawn and Eugene Peterson, in their book, The Unnecessary Pastor, wrote: "The constant danger for those of us who enter the ranks of the ordained is that we take on a role, a professional religious role, that gradually obliterates the life of the soul" (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000, p. 14). Those of us in ministry, in whatever capacity, must guard the life and health of our own souls.
The world in which we minister is an obstacle course scattered with mine fields. Sin presents something new and enticing nearly every day. The temptations to be "too professional," to be popular, "with it" persons, to be on the cutting edge, as opposed to being "too laid back," over committed, too middle--of--the road, are enemies against which we fight. And in the midst of all the struggles to "keep up," we sometimes neglect soul health.
Dennis Kinlaw has a good caution for us. He writes: "The pastor's common mistake is to turn to his work to relieve the pressure, rather than to seek Christ's presence for restoration and needed grace" (Preaching In the Spirit, Grand Rapids: Francis Asbury Press, 1985, p. 23). The lure to be contemporary sometimes is more urgent than soul health. It is a caution we must consider.
The pastor must know that the temperature of the heart determines life - its issues, purpose and passions. Henry T. Blackaby, in his book, The Power of a Call, wrote: "Everything in the pastor's life and ministry flows out of the condition of the heart" (Henry T. Blackaby, Henry Brandt, The Power of a Call, Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997, p. 124).
How you and I nurture our souls is vitally important. What priority does God have in our day? Our devotions? Where does His Word deeply impact our own hearts? How does our communion with God, our prayer time, influence our own hearts? In the midst of doing ministry, our hearts must be made ready by the work of the Holy Spirit. His passions must become our passions, His love must become our love, and our ways must be His ways.
The only way this will happen is for us to spend time with the Father. Jesus did. We must make our soul health number one priority. We must disciple life to this end. We plan our days and hours to include Him in vital and deep ways.
The roadblock to this kind of spiritual development is the call of the culture surrounding us. In efforts to ease our way into their acceptance, we allow culture to define us in ways that rob us of our call, our mission and our individual passions. Read these words from David Wiersbe:
Concern for appearance dominates our culture. American culture wants pastors to heal wounds and soothe troubled feelings in the same way an executive promotes unity and good spirits among the ranks. The culture, however, resists our proclaiming truth and rebuking sin. To bow to culture's image of desirable leadership, by emphasizing our abilities as managers and minimizing our role as pastors, puts us in dangerous territory. Weigh Eugene Peterson's caution to shepherds: "But if I, even for a moment, accept my culture's definition of me, I am rendered harmless." (The Dynamics of Pastoral Care, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000, pp. 18--19)
Let us hear the trumpet sound and give attention to our soul's spiritual health. Let's let the Holy Spirit identify our mission, our calling and our passions. For where the soul is spiritually healthy, where the heart is warmed at the altar of God, there one is equipped and energized for ministry in Jesus name.
C. Neil Strait
May 5, 2002 Sixth Sunday Of Easter
WORSHIP HELPS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Do not be afraid. I am the first and last. I am the living One. I was dead, and behold I am alive forever!
People: We are not afraid. We come to You first and last. We know You are the living One. We experience Your life now and forever.
All: Glory to the name of Jesus.
OFFERING THOUGHT
Dear God, we know how easy it is to take from You and others. May we learn easily how to give to You and others.
BENEDICTION
God has spoken from His holy heaven to our lowly hearts. Let us leave this sanctuary humbled enough to serve.
SERMON BRIEFS
The God Who Is There
Acts 17:22--31
"So near and yet so far." Those words are descriptive of what the Apostle finds as he walks amongst the Greeks on Mars Hill. They would also be appropriately descriptive of any modern believer browsing the "spirituality" section in the mall bookstore. Like the Athens of Paul's day, ours is a time of people worshipping what they do not know. The incurably religious impulse of human beings is served by any number of unknown gods. And there is no better definition of the ministry task of the Christian community than the words of Paul here, who determines to proclaim to these people that which they worship as the unknown God.
The people of Athens tried to touch all the theological bases, playing it safe by erecting an altar even to the "god" they may have missed. In our own times, this same phenomenon plays itself out in the syncretism and pluralism that combines all religious ideas into a kind of theological mulligan stew. The task of trying to sort the God of scripture out of this religious morass is daunting indeed, but it is clearly the task to which we are called.
Paul's model here counsels us to differentiate the God of the Bible from the popular misconceptions by debunking some of the common claims made about Him. Using language that is carefully chosen and wonderfully descriptive Paul proclaims to these crude worshippers the God of the universe. First, Paul asserts that God is not impersonal. This is the God who. Unlike some Greek conceptions of impersonal forces which rule the air, or the more modern conception of God as some "elan vital," Paul insists right off that we are talking about a personal Being when we speak of God. Further, He is not human. He doesn't live in human housing, He doesn't need humans to help Him. He is personal, but He is not merely an extension of humanity. As Karl Barth put it, "God is more than man said in a loud voice!" One of the great failures of modern thought is the failure to account for a God who is bigger than humanity.
Paul continues. This personal God who transcends human categories is not uninvolved.
Unlike the often petulant gods of Greek religion, who were too busily engaged in their own divine fulfillment to take any notice of humankind, Paul argues that the God of heaven is totally involved in the affairs of earth. This is a God who relishes the details. He determines times and places. Nothing that happens on this planet escapes His notice - nothing happens apart from the parameters of His permissive will. He is not absent, He is not some bored superhuman off in some far corner of the universe entertaining Himself, fiddling as it were, while the world of Rome burns. The God of heaven is not human. He is transcendent, but He is also immanent. He is intimately involved in the events of humankind.
He is not hidden. This is perhaps, the critical claim that Paul makes for he is talking to people whose conception of God is that He is unknown. But the God of scripture has not hidden Himself, rather He has revealed Himself in a number of ways with the hope that human beings will seek and find Him! Paul states, we don't have far to look for in Him we live and move and have our being. We live in a God--drenched world.
Finally, and as a result of the preceding, Paul says that God is not amused. Because of the clarity of His revelation God has set a day in which He will bring all humans to account before Him. Ironically, in our information age, we see here the ultimate price of ignorance. "He has set a day." God, who is the inescapable presence, will someday serve as the inescapable judge of humanity. For this reason, we proclaim Him.
J. Michael Walters
Let The Praise Begin!
Psalm 66:8--20
As a Christian, what is the most important thing we can do? Is it paying our tithe? Praying? Exercising our faith? All are good answers but we need to remember we were created to praise God. We also need to remember that in heaven we are destined to praise Him forever. This life is a dress rehearsal for an eternity of praising Jehovah.
Unfortunately we often find ourselves too busy, too stressed out, and too burdened to praise God. This passage brings us back to the important business of praising God. It shows us why we should praise Him and what elements ought to be included in our praise.
I. You ought to praise God because of the following elements ...
We should praise God because verse 8 tells us we are commanded to do so. Every parent has uttered the words, "Just do it because I said so!" Parents know that some things ought to be done just because it is good for our children. We are commanded to praise God because He knows it is good for us to praise Him. Praise gets the focus off of us and onto God. Praise Him just because we ought to focus on Him!
We should praise God because, as verse 9 reminds us, He has protected us. We will never know how many times God has protected us until we get to heaven. He has protected us physically and spiritually more than we know. Praise Him for that!
We should praise God because He has refined us (vv. 10--12a.). Thank God He did not leave us as He found us. He brought us from where we were to where we are today. Another way to look at this refining process is to think of the old woodshed. Some of the most valuable spiritual lessons ever learned come from God applying a lesson to the seat of knowledge. Praise Him for refining you.
We should praise Him for the abundance He has given us. The words in the last part of verse 12 literally mean a place of run--off. God has given us so much blessing that it just runs right out of the top of the cup. We ought to praise Him for the blessings of life.
Add all this up and we ought to be a praising people.
II. Your praise ought to include the following elements ...
Your praise ought to include the positional element found in verse13. What is the positional element of praise? It is simply that praise takes place best in the position called the temple (church)! Yes, God can be praised anywhere but corporate worship is the prime spot for worship. By definition there is no sound in the woods as the tree falls if no one is there to hear it. Likewise, even though God can hear our praise anywhere, praise is best expressed when others can hear it. Praise, by design, is to bring glory to God. Think of how much more glory God gets when He is praised in corporate worship than under a tree while you are deer hunting!
Your praise ought to include the attitudinal element exemplified in verses 13--14. The worshipper is determined to fulfill his vows. What a great attitude! So many people praise God with the wrong attitude. They praise Him for what they can get out of the experience. They want an emotional thrill, a blessing, and a high. Like a junkie they come to church looking for their fix. But real praise has a different attitude. It wants to see what it can give to God, not what it can get from God.
Your praise ought to include the sacrificial element of verse 15. Real praise costs us something as it did the worshipper of the Old Testament. What will it cost you? If you are like many worshippers it may cost you some pride. As you praise God you may need to stop worrying about what others think and start worrying about what God thinks. How many times have you swallowed an "amen" or stifled the impulse to raise a worshipping hand? True praise will cost you something.
Your praise ought to include the invitational element modeled in verse 16. Praise, by it's nature is invitational. Built into it is the admonition to come and see what God has done. Don't fight this element but embrace it. Join with the psalmist as he invites others to "come" and listen to his praise.
It is time to let the praise begin. We know why we should praise Him. We know how we should praise Him. Now, let's just do it!
Randall Hartman
The world in which we minister is an obstacle course scattered with mine fields. Sin presents something new and enticing nearly every day. The temptations to be "too professional," to be popular, "with it" persons, to be on the cutting edge, as opposed to being "too laid back," over committed, too middle--of--the road, are enemies against which we fight. And in the midst of all the struggles to "keep up," we sometimes neglect soul health.
Dennis Kinlaw has a good caution for us. He writes: "The pastor's common mistake is to turn to his work to relieve the pressure, rather than to seek Christ's presence for restoration and needed grace" (Preaching In the Spirit, Grand Rapids: Francis Asbury Press, 1985, p. 23). The lure to be contemporary sometimes is more urgent than soul health. It is a caution we must consider.
The pastor must know that the temperature of the heart determines life - its issues, purpose and passions. Henry T. Blackaby, in his book, The Power of a Call, wrote: "Everything in the pastor's life and ministry flows out of the condition of the heart" (Henry T. Blackaby, Henry Brandt, The Power of a Call, Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997, p. 124).
How you and I nurture our souls is vitally important. What priority does God have in our day? Our devotions? Where does His Word deeply impact our own hearts? How does our communion with God, our prayer time, influence our own hearts? In the midst of doing ministry, our hearts must be made ready by the work of the Holy Spirit. His passions must become our passions, His love must become our love, and our ways must be His ways.
The only way this will happen is for us to spend time with the Father. Jesus did. We must make our soul health number one priority. We must disciple life to this end. We plan our days and hours to include Him in vital and deep ways.
The roadblock to this kind of spiritual development is the call of the culture surrounding us. In efforts to ease our way into their acceptance, we allow culture to define us in ways that rob us of our call, our mission and our individual passions. Read these words from David Wiersbe:
Concern for appearance dominates our culture. American culture wants pastors to heal wounds and soothe troubled feelings in the same way an executive promotes unity and good spirits among the ranks. The culture, however, resists our proclaiming truth and rebuking sin. To bow to culture's image of desirable leadership, by emphasizing our abilities as managers and minimizing our role as pastors, puts us in dangerous territory. Weigh Eugene Peterson's caution to shepherds: "But if I, even for a moment, accept my culture's definition of me, I am rendered harmless." (The Dynamics of Pastoral Care, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000, pp. 18--19)
Let us hear the trumpet sound and give attention to our soul's spiritual health. Let's let the Holy Spirit identify our mission, our calling and our passions. For where the soul is spiritually healthy, where the heart is warmed at the altar of God, there one is equipped and energized for ministry in Jesus name.
C. Neil Strait
May 5, 2002 Sixth Sunday Of Easter
WORSHIP HELPS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Do not be afraid. I am the first and last. I am the living One. I was dead, and behold I am alive forever!
People: We are not afraid. We come to You first and last. We know You are the living One. We experience Your life now and forever.
All: Glory to the name of Jesus.
OFFERING THOUGHT
Dear God, we know how easy it is to take from You and others. May we learn easily how to give to You and others.
BENEDICTION
God has spoken from His holy heaven to our lowly hearts. Let us leave this sanctuary humbled enough to serve.
SERMON BRIEFS
The God Who Is There
Acts 17:22--31
"So near and yet so far." Those words are descriptive of what the Apostle finds as he walks amongst the Greeks on Mars Hill. They would also be appropriately descriptive of any modern believer browsing the "spirituality" section in the mall bookstore. Like the Athens of Paul's day, ours is a time of people worshipping what they do not know. The incurably religious impulse of human beings is served by any number of unknown gods. And there is no better definition of the ministry task of the Christian community than the words of Paul here, who determines to proclaim to these people that which they worship as the unknown God.
The people of Athens tried to touch all the theological bases, playing it safe by erecting an altar even to the "god" they may have missed. In our own times, this same phenomenon plays itself out in the syncretism and pluralism that combines all religious ideas into a kind of theological mulligan stew. The task of trying to sort the God of scripture out of this religious morass is daunting indeed, but it is clearly the task to which we are called.
Paul's model here counsels us to differentiate the God of the Bible from the popular misconceptions by debunking some of the common claims made about Him. Using language that is carefully chosen and wonderfully descriptive Paul proclaims to these crude worshippers the God of the universe. First, Paul asserts that God is not impersonal. This is the God who. Unlike some Greek conceptions of impersonal forces which rule the air, or the more modern conception of God as some "elan vital," Paul insists right off that we are talking about a personal Being when we speak of God. Further, He is not human. He doesn't live in human housing, He doesn't need humans to help Him. He is personal, but He is not merely an extension of humanity. As Karl Barth put it, "God is more than man said in a loud voice!" One of the great failures of modern thought is the failure to account for a God who is bigger than humanity.
Paul continues. This personal God who transcends human categories is not uninvolved.
Unlike the often petulant gods of Greek religion, who were too busily engaged in their own divine fulfillment to take any notice of humankind, Paul argues that the God of heaven is totally involved in the affairs of earth. This is a God who relishes the details. He determines times and places. Nothing that happens on this planet escapes His notice - nothing happens apart from the parameters of His permissive will. He is not absent, He is not some bored superhuman off in some far corner of the universe entertaining Himself, fiddling as it were, while the world of Rome burns. The God of heaven is not human. He is transcendent, but He is also immanent. He is intimately involved in the events of humankind.
He is not hidden. This is perhaps, the critical claim that Paul makes for he is talking to people whose conception of God is that He is unknown. But the God of scripture has not hidden Himself, rather He has revealed Himself in a number of ways with the hope that human beings will seek and find Him! Paul states, we don't have far to look for in Him we live and move and have our being. We live in a God--drenched world.
Finally, and as a result of the preceding, Paul says that God is not amused. Because of the clarity of His revelation God has set a day in which He will bring all humans to account before Him. Ironically, in our information age, we see here the ultimate price of ignorance. "He has set a day." God, who is the inescapable presence, will someday serve as the inescapable judge of humanity. For this reason, we proclaim Him.
J. Michael Walters
Let The Praise Begin!
Psalm 66:8--20
As a Christian, what is the most important thing we can do? Is it paying our tithe? Praying? Exercising our faith? All are good answers but we need to remember we were created to praise God. We also need to remember that in heaven we are destined to praise Him forever. This life is a dress rehearsal for an eternity of praising Jehovah.
Unfortunately we often find ourselves too busy, too stressed out, and too burdened to praise God. This passage brings us back to the important business of praising God. It shows us why we should praise Him and what elements ought to be included in our praise.
I. You ought to praise God because of the following elements ...
We should praise God because verse 8 tells us we are commanded to do so. Every parent has uttered the words, "Just do it because I said so!" Parents know that some things ought to be done just because it is good for our children. We are commanded to praise God because He knows it is good for us to praise Him. Praise gets the focus off of us and onto God. Praise Him just because we ought to focus on Him!
We should praise God because, as verse 9 reminds us, He has protected us. We will never know how many times God has protected us until we get to heaven. He has protected us physically and spiritually more than we know. Praise Him for that!
We should praise God because He has refined us (vv. 10--12a.). Thank God He did not leave us as He found us. He brought us from where we were to where we are today. Another way to look at this refining process is to think of the old woodshed. Some of the most valuable spiritual lessons ever learned come from God applying a lesson to the seat of knowledge. Praise Him for refining you.
We should praise Him for the abundance He has given us. The words in the last part of verse 12 literally mean a place of run--off. God has given us so much blessing that it just runs right out of the top of the cup. We ought to praise Him for the blessings of life.
Add all this up and we ought to be a praising people.
II. Your praise ought to include the following elements ...
Your praise ought to include the positional element found in verse13. What is the positional element of praise? It is simply that praise takes place best in the position called the temple (church)! Yes, God can be praised anywhere but corporate worship is the prime spot for worship. By definition there is no sound in the woods as the tree falls if no one is there to hear it. Likewise, even though God can hear our praise anywhere, praise is best expressed when others can hear it. Praise, by design, is to bring glory to God. Think of how much more glory God gets when He is praised in corporate worship than under a tree while you are deer hunting!
Your praise ought to include the attitudinal element exemplified in verses 13--14. The worshipper is determined to fulfill his vows. What a great attitude! So many people praise God with the wrong attitude. They praise Him for what they can get out of the experience. They want an emotional thrill, a blessing, and a high. Like a junkie they come to church looking for their fix. But real praise has a different attitude. It wants to see what it can give to God, not what it can get from God.
Your praise ought to include the sacrificial element of verse 15. Real praise costs us something as it did the worshipper of the Old Testament. What will it cost you? If you are like many worshippers it may cost you some pride. As you praise God you may need to stop worrying about what others think and start worrying about what God thinks. How many times have you swallowed an "amen" or stifled the impulse to raise a worshipping hand? True praise will cost you something.
Your praise ought to include the invitational element modeled in verse 16. Praise, by it's nature is invitational. Built into it is the admonition to come and see what God has done. Don't fight this element but embrace it. Join with the psalmist as he invites others to "come" and listen to his praise.
It is time to let the praise begin. We know why we should praise Him. We know how we should praise Him. Now, let's just do it!
Randall Hartman
