Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Isn’t It Time for You To Quit Daydreaming And Get To Work?

Isn’t It Time for You To Quit Daydreaming And Get To Work?
But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
— 1 Timothy 4:7

When the time came for our family to move to Moscow to start our next church, my wife and I knew that God wanted us to turn over the care of our large church in Riga, Latvia, to our associate pastor. After serving as a son in the Gospel for many years, he was as well-trained and prepared as anyone could be to step into the position of senior pastor of that church.
My associate was so excited. Just as we were certain he was the man to lead the church, he was convinced that God had chosen him. This was the day he had dreamed of for so long! After serving me for so many years as my associate, he would finally step into the senior pastor position and lead this great church. The vision of God was exploding in his heart as he dreamed of what would be accomplished in the ensuing years.
So with great reverence, my associate and his wife knelt on the platform of the large auditorium before the Riga congregation; then Denise and I laid our hands on him and installed him as the leading pastor of that congregation. After turning over the church to his care, my family and I turned our attention to the new work God had called us to establish in Moscow.
After the first year of leading that church by himself, my former associate told me, “Rick, I had no idea how much responsibility is placed on the senior pastor of a church. I thought I understood so much, but now I see that there was so much I never comprehended. It was only after you left and the whole weight of the church became my responsibility that I really began to realize the enormous responsibilities of a senior pastor.”

I listened with great interest as he continued to give me his views about leading a large church. Then he said to me, “You know, it finally dawned on me that this wasmy responsibility and that I couldn’t depend on anyone else to lead this church. As pastor, it’s up to me to guide and to see that things are being done correctly. It’s a huge responsibility to lead a church — much bigger than I ever realized!”
That conversation made me think of what Timothy went through after he became the pastor of the church of Ephesus — the largest church in the world at that time. Imagine how extremely stretched Timothy must have felt as he led the world’s largest and most famous church! Yes, he had served at Paul’s side for many years and was as prepared as anyone could possibly be for such a task. But now Paul was gone, and all eyes were on him!
The demands placed on the pastor of a large church are immense. His care for the church is nonstop. Twenty-four hours a day he must be available to the members of the congregation. Leaders must be trained; rebels must be corrected; and finances are needed to pay for the church as it grows. And in addition to church responsibilities, the pastor is most often a husband and a father as well. He has a massive church family to oversee and manage, and he also has his own personal family for which God will hold him responsible.

Timothy was just settling into the job of senior pastor when Paul wrote him the letter that became the book of First Timothy. At the time, Timothy’s responsibilities were increasing daily. His massive church was becoming even more massive as it continued to grow. He was constantly training new leaders and replacing old, rebellious leaders who thought Timothy was too young to be pastor of such a prominent church. And in the midst of it all, Timothy was learning how to cope with being the most visible Christian leader in a large metropolitan city. It was in the midst of these developments that Paul wrote to him and said, “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.”
The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what these old wives’ fables were. However, it seems that Timothy may have been so exhausted that he was starting to daydream about finding an easier and more trouble-free way to do his job (like all of us are tempted to do from time to time). I have personally wondered, Was Timothy tempted to daydream about life in the ministry becoming simpler? Was he hoping that things would eventually become a lot less hectic, demanding, and complicated? If Timothy was thinking along this line, his musings would definitely fall into the category of a fable!
When God trusts you enough to give you more and more responsibility, it always demands more of you, not less. I gave up the idea many years ago of thinking that life would eventually become less demanding. Ministry is work, and none of us should ever forget that fact!
If you are mightily anointed by God, it is just a fact that your schedule will get busier, your demands will increase, and your challenges will grow. But as long as you allow God to develop your character along the way, you will find that you’re able to successfully manage anything He puts on your plate!

Paul ordered Timothy to quit fantasizing about things getting easier, telling the younger man to “…refuse profane and old wives’ fables….” The word “refuse” tells us how strongly Paul felt about Timothy’s frame of thinking. It comes from the Greek word paraiteomai, and it means to reject, to refuse, to rebuff, to decline, to snub, or to decisively turn away from something. It denotes the attitude of a person who is so disgusted with something that he has resolved he will have nothing to do with it. His feelings about this issue are so pungent that he sharply rejects what is being offered to him and vigorously declines any form of participation in it.
Whatever these “old wives’ fables” were, Paul viewed them as extremely detrimental — so much so that he strictly ordered Timothy to reject these notions. To better understand what these “old wives’ fables” might have been, let’s see what the words “old wives” and “fables” mean in the original Greek.
The Greek word translated “old wives” is grauodes, which comes from the wordgraus, the word for an old woman. But when the word graus becomes grauodes, it denotes anything that is old-womanish. The word “fables” is the word muthos, which typically describes fictitious stories and is where we get the terms mythsand mythology.
The word muthos describes legends, folklore, or fairy tales — the kind of stories an old woman would tell to entertain her grandchildren. One New Testament Greek scholar speculates that Paul was saying in effect, “Timothy, it’s time for you to quit fantasizing that you’re going to escape hard work and find an easier way to do what God has called you to do. Why, this unrealistic kind of thinking is the stuff of fairy tales! You’re thinking like an old woman who tells fairy tales to children.…

Instead, Paul challenges Timothy to adjust his thinking and to take a different approach to the challenges he faces. Rather than pray for these challenges to go away, Timothy should embrace those challenges and use this time to develop himself. This is Paul’s message when he tells Timothy to “…exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” As noted earlier (see November 3), the word “exercise” is the Greek word gumnadzo, which describes the strenuous physical exercise required to produce the finest athletes.
When you are physically or mentally exhausted, your mind may be tempted to daydream or to wander to other places. It is amazing how the mind tries to escape from reality. But rather than let yourself float away on a cloud of fantasy that doesn’t help you fulfill your God-given assignment, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see things realistically. That’s the only way you’ll be able to put your whole heart and soul into completing your task exactly as Jesus wants it done! You can do great things for God’s Kingdom, but it will require both concentration and commitment!

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Lord, help me to stay focused on what You have called me to do and to embrace everything that comes with Your call on my life. Forgive me for the times I’ve tried to find a shortcut to avoid responsibility. I want to put my whole heart into the race You have set before me — to fulfill my assigned task fervently, passionately, and with the highest level of excellence.
 I pray this in Jesus’ name!

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I confess that I am both faith-filled and realistic about what God has called me to do. I realize that it’s going to take hard work and commitment to take this assignment to the high level that God expects of me. I refuse to shrink from my responsibilities, and I choose to put my whole heart and soul into the task Jesus has given to me.
I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

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1. Have you been trying to mentally escape from the responsibilities of your life? Have you been living in a fantasy that things are going to change without any effort?
2. What do you need to do to bring concrete change to the challenges you are facing in your life? What steps can you start taking today — right now — to start turning things around for the better?
3. Have you considered asking a close friend to help you focus on the things you need to be doing to get things moving in the right direction in your life? Who is a friend you could depend on to encourage you to take the right steps toward needed change?


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

It is hard to please woman

"Someone" sent this list to me.

HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY

1. Feed him
2. Sleep with him
3. Leave him with peace
4. Don't check his phone (Msgs)
5. Don't bother him with his
movements
So whats so hard about that
?

HOW TO MAKE A WOMAN HAPPY

It's really not too difficult but.... To make a
woman happy, a man only needs
to be:

1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a plumber
10. a mechanic
11. a carpenter
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
44. give her compliments
regularly
45. Go shopping with her
46. be honest
47. be very rich
48. not stress her out
49. not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU
MUST ALSO:
50. give her lots of attention
51. give her lots of time,
especially time for herself
52. give her lots of space, never
worrying about where she goes.

BUT MOST OF ALL IT IS VERY
IMPORTANT
53. never forget
*birthdays
*anniversaries
*valentine
*arrangements she makes. —


When I see this, I got few reactions and thoughts. First, woman is 10times harder to please. Second, woman never pleases man. Although there are five ways, but looking into 53 ways to please woman, in the end, man will not be pleased. For example, how can a woman feed man if woman wants man to be a chef (7)? How can a woman not bother with his movements when woman wants man to a companion? Woman requirements also contradicting. How can a man gives compliment yet also be honest? You understand what I mean here right?

Isaac

Friday, February 1, 2013

God heard our cries

Exodus 2:23-25   23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.  24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Judges 3:8-9   8 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.  9 But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, who saved them.

1 Chronicles 4:10   10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. 

These are only few verses that shows to us when people of God cried out to Him in time struggles or suffering, God hears their cries and deliver them. God hears our cries and responded to our cries but interestingly, when Jesus cries out to God when He was hung upon that cross, God could hears it, but He did not respond to it. IF God responded to it, then sin could not be broken.

Mark 15:34   34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Imagine how painful it is. Jesus responded to our cries - the cries of bondage of sins, being chained by the power of darkness. Jesus responded to our cries by sacrificing Himself on the cross. And when He cried, God did not respond to him, but rather to our cries. Because of what Jesus had done on the cross, God hears our cries.

Isaac

The Struggle Of A Priest-In-Charge And The Parishioners

The Struggle Of A Priest-In-Charge And The Parishioners Galatians 1:1  Paul, an apostle-- sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Chr...