One of the discussions that Mustard Seed Missions is about to undertake focuses on the number of people/families we can expect to help in the upcoming year. This past year, our first, saw 100 referrals (and counting) from county caseworkers to our fledgling non-denominational ministry. That number staggers me, it is far higher than I would have expected. We've helped about 65 of them thus far, by God's grace and the generosity of individuals and churches in Venango County, and that number staggers me as well. God has been good to us, we've worked hard in his harvest field, but as Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:37) This past year, the workers have been dedicated, but the harvest has been still greater than we imagined. So, what are we supposed to do? Help as many people as we can, as fast as we can, or help a smaller number of people as much as we can? Which method holds out more hope for breaking the cycles of material and spiritual poverty that surround us? Jesus was the Son of God, but even he was exhausted by the press of the crowds hoping to find physical healing, and even he was worn out trying to extend to them spiritual healing as well.
The answer is certainly connected to long-term solutions, and this is something that every aid agency and charity struggles with. How do you meet today's needs and at the same time help prevent them from being tomorrow's needs as well? The wisdom of Ed Dobson in his Ed's Story film series about dealing with his ALS is relevant here. Ed was a successful pastors, his congregation was many thousands, but when ALS started to take away his ability to do his job he had to quit. He lost the ability to reach thousands, and was left with only the ability to reach one at a time. Beyond being an inspirational story of faith, Ed's shift to working with people one-on-one is also a cautionary tale to the rest of us about trying to make spiritual guidance into a fast food industry. The meal that God offers, the Bread of Life, is not to be gulped down on the road. We need to make a difference in the lives of the Lost, we need to care for their needs and introduce them to Jesus; that's a process we can't rush. As I said, we're trying to figure this out, your prayers are appreciated.
This blog serves as an outreach for Pastor Randy Powell of the First Baptist Church of Franklin, PA. Feel free to ask questions or send me an e-mail at pastorpowell@hotmail.com
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Sermon Video: The Martyrdom of Stephen - Acts 6:8-8:2
The powerful story of the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts marks the moment when Christianity became a new religion, and not just a reform movement within Judaism. On it's surface, it is also an important message about remaining faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ no matter what the consequences might be. There is another message for those willing to listen to it, one that may be difficult to hear, and that is the sermon of Stephen itself. If you read the sermon of Stephen, it begins as a summarization of the history of Israel as God's Covenant people. As it progresses, the emphasis shifts to the lack of faith and disobedience of the people, especially the trouble that Moses had in trying to lead them.
When Stephen reaches his conclusion, that his audience are heirs of that "stiff-necked" heritage, the trial itself has become a referendum on those sitting in judgment. Are they followers of the prophets of old, or are they followers of the unbelieving generation that died in the desert? The question is easily answered by Stephen's conclusion, "you who have received the law...but have not obeyed it." To obey the Law is to follow Moses, to ignore it is to follow the path of rebellion.
When you read the story of Stephen, who do you identify with? Most readers would assume that they're on Stephen's side, that they stand with the martyrs against oppression, hatred, and rebellion. Most would assume that, but Stephen's question remains, do you obey the Word of God? Everyone who obeys, by faith, can rightly claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, those who do not, are sitting with the Sanhedrin.
When you hear the Truth, from God's Word or God's modern-day prophets, what is your response?
To watch the video, click on the link below
Sermon Video
When Stephen reaches his conclusion, that his audience are heirs of that "stiff-necked" heritage, the trial itself has become a referendum on those sitting in judgment. Are they followers of the prophets of old, or are they followers of the unbelieving generation that died in the desert? The question is easily answered by Stephen's conclusion, "you who have received the law...but have not obeyed it." To obey the Law is to follow Moses, to ignore it is to follow the path of rebellion.
When you read the story of Stephen, who do you identify with? Most readers would assume that they're on Stephen's side, that they stand with the martyrs against oppression, hatred, and rebellion. Most would assume that, but Stephen's question remains, do you obey the Word of God? Everyone who obeys, by faith, can rightly claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, those who do not, are sitting with the Sanhedrin.
When you hear the Truth, from God's Word or God's modern-day prophets, what is your response?
To watch the video, click on the link below
Sermon Video
Friday, September 13, 2013
Sermon Video, Sharing the Ministry - Acts 6:1-7
What is the proper role of a pastor? What duties, responsibilities, and obligations should be carried out by the person(s) entrusted to lead God's Church? The Early Church ran into this dilemma in its own way when some of the widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The disciples, keenly aware of their calling to witness and make disciples, declined to become personally involved in this aspect of the Church's ministry. Instead, they had the church choose seven men with reputations for wisdom and spiritually maturity from among themselves. The disciples then turned this ministry over to them and continued to concentrate upon prayer and the ministry of the Word.
The episode in the life of the Early Church beautifully illustrates the need for lay leadership in the church and the obvious truth that no pastor(s) can, or should, do everything. The reasons why churches fail to share the burden of ministry vary, from ego to timidity to laziness, but the end result if the same: burnt out ministers and churches more dead than alive. When God's people answer the call of service, there is no limit to what God can do in their midst.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video
The episode in the life of the Early Church beautifully illustrates the need for lay leadership in the church and the obvious truth that no pastor(s) can, or should, do everything. The reasons why churches fail to share the burden of ministry vary, from ego to timidity to laziness, but the end result if the same: burnt out ministers and churches more dead than alive. When God's people answer the call of service, there is no limit to what God can do in their midst.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
The privelage and peril of preaching
Those of you who have listened to my sermons know I'm not one for alliteration (starting each point with the same letter), but that title just slipped out. Preaching is certainly a privilege, being able to stand before God's people and proclaim what his Word is telling them is a rare honor. At the same time, preaching is a path full of potential perils (yikes, 4 more "p" words, I can't stop it now!) There are numerous errors that a preacher can make, lots of mistakes that can creep in, some mostly harmless and some downright frightening. I recently re-read one of my college texts, D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallacies. Carson's book explains a whole host of fallacies (errors) that can be made when interpreting Scripture, among them: word-study, grammatical, logical, presuppositional and historical. The book is excellent, full of helpful reminders, but certainly a challenge to anyone not familiar with English grammar (as a former English teacher, I would say that would be 90% of Americans or more) and those who don't have a minimal knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.
So, what is the person in the pew to do, how can they know that their minister is "rightly diving the word of truth"? (II Timothy 2:15, the AWANA key verse) At the heart of Carson's warnings is the notion that we need to let the Bible speak to us instead of seeking to find in the Bible that which we already think. One of the best ways for a preacher to keep the Word speaking through him instead of the other way around is to honor and respect the context of Scripture. Each and every message brought by a preacher of God's Word needs to be faithful to the text it was taken from, and it needs to be faithful to the message of the Bible as a whole. We have all seen the damage that can be done when politicians take the words of their opponent out of context, far be it from us to do the same damage with God's Word by not properly representing what the original intent of the Scripture was to it's first audience. When we understand what God's Word meant then (or at least have a reasonable inference about what it meant), we can begin to understand what God's Word means for us now.
To help keep myself from error is one of the reasons why I choose to preach through passages of Scripture rather than topically. If I wanted to preach a message about poverty (for example), I would have huge chunks of the Bible to choose from, but isn't the act of choosing itself going to influence my eventual conclusions, won't I be tempted to ignore the passages or verses that aren't on point in favor of ones that seem to be (especially out of context)? Instead, if I let the Scripture speak by working my way through the entire Sermon on the Mount (for example), I will have to explain everything that Jesus said and not just the things that fit the message I wanted to bring. Along those same lines, I don't typically write my sermon introduction until I'm finished with the message for the simple reason that I usually don't know exactly what I'm going to be saying about the next passage of Scripture until I actually write it.
I know that a lot of preachers out there always preach topically, citing verse after verse to support their point that are often scattered throughout Scripture; it isn't for me. The next time you listen to that type of message, jot down each of the references, look up the passages, and see if the verses were used properly based upon their context or not. There are plenty of Exegetical Fallacies that a preacher can make, that's one I'd rather avoid.
So, what is the person in the pew to do, how can they know that their minister is "rightly diving the word of truth"? (II Timothy 2:15, the AWANA key verse) At the heart of Carson's warnings is the notion that we need to let the Bible speak to us instead of seeking to find in the Bible that which we already think. One of the best ways for a preacher to keep the Word speaking through him instead of the other way around is to honor and respect the context of Scripture. Each and every message brought by a preacher of God's Word needs to be faithful to the text it was taken from, and it needs to be faithful to the message of the Bible as a whole. We have all seen the damage that can be done when politicians take the words of their opponent out of context, far be it from us to do the same damage with God's Word by not properly representing what the original intent of the Scripture was to it's first audience. When we understand what God's Word meant then (or at least have a reasonable inference about what it meant), we can begin to understand what God's Word means for us now.
To help keep myself from error is one of the reasons why I choose to preach through passages of Scripture rather than topically. If I wanted to preach a message about poverty (for example), I would have huge chunks of the Bible to choose from, but isn't the act of choosing itself going to influence my eventual conclusions, won't I be tempted to ignore the passages or verses that aren't on point in favor of ones that seem to be (especially out of context)? Instead, if I let the Scripture speak by working my way through the entire Sermon on the Mount (for example), I will have to explain everything that Jesus said and not just the things that fit the message I wanted to bring. Along those same lines, I don't typically write my sermon introduction until I'm finished with the message for the simple reason that I usually don't know exactly what I'm going to be saying about the next passage of Scripture until I actually write it.
I know that a lot of preachers out there always preach topically, citing verse after verse to support their point that are often scattered throughout Scripture; it isn't for me. The next time you listen to that type of message, jot down each of the references, look up the passages, and see if the verses were used properly based upon their context or not. There are plenty of Exegetical Fallacies that a preacher can make, that's one I'd rather avoid.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Sermon Video "I can do everything" Philippians 4:10-19
"I can do everything", it seems like such an awesome promise from God in Philippians 4:13, the kind of thing I could grab hold of for just about anything in life; it seems to imply also that "there isn't anything I can't do". As anyone who has lived for a while as a Christian knows, there are plenty of things we can't do. So, what do the words of Paul here mean, and why isn't this the all encompassing promise that it seems to be at first glance?
The passage of Philippians, from verses 10-19 of chapter 4, are a great example of the need to interpret Scripture contextually, that is, within its proper context. It may be that taking a phrase or verse all by itself will be harmless, but such a cookie cutter approach to Scripture has great potential for harm. As such, we must also strive to see the whole thought of the author, whether that is one sentence, one paragraph, or even a chapter or more of Scripture. When we put Scripture within its proper context, looking at what proceeds it and what follows it, we allow the Word of God to speak to us. There is always a danger that we will look to Scripture for what we want to hear, with blinders on to all else, allowing Scripture to speak to us is a safeguard against that error.
In the case of Philippians 4:13, Paul is talking about his ability to continue the ministry of the Gospel whether his needs are met or not. Paul had to endure times of scarcity, as well as times of plenty, while doing the work of the Lord, but through it all he learned the secret of contentment: God's power. The "everything" in question, when seen in context, is a reference to Paul's ability to be content, to continue God's work, even when times are tough. God's power thus is utilized by Paul to do God's work, and Paul was firmly convinced through his own experience that such power would never run dry.
The next time you see a Biblical quote out of context, take the time to read the entire passage, and then you will know whether or not the person utilizing that piece of Scripture is doing so as it was intended. As Christians, God's Word is our guide, our direction in this life, we owe it to ourselves and to God to listen to all of it.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video
The passage of Philippians, from verses 10-19 of chapter 4, are a great example of the need to interpret Scripture contextually, that is, within its proper context. It may be that taking a phrase or verse all by itself will be harmless, but such a cookie cutter approach to Scripture has great potential for harm. As such, we must also strive to see the whole thought of the author, whether that is one sentence, one paragraph, or even a chapter or more of Scripture. When we put Scripture within its proper context, looking at what proceeds it and what follows it, we allow the Word of God to speak to us. There is always a danger that we will look to Scripture for what we want to hear, with blinders on to all else, allowing Scripture to speak to us is a safeguard against that error.
In the case of Philippians 4:13, Paul is talking about his ability to continue the ministry of the Gospel whether his needs are met or not. Paul had to endure times of scarcity, as well as times of plenty, while doing the work of the Lord, but through it all he learned the secret of contentment: God's power. The "everything" in question, when seen in context, is a reference to Paul's ability to be content, to continue God's work, even when times are tough. God's power thus is utilized by Paul to do God's work, and Paul was firmly convinced through his own experience that such power would never run dry.
The next time you see a Biblical quote out of context, take the time to read the entire passage, and then you will know whether or not the person utilizing that piece of Scripture is doing so as it was intended. As Christians, God's Word is our guide, our direction in this life, we owe it to ourselves and to God to listen to all of it.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video
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