Bringing back an old-school word...

Proverbs 1:1-4: The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth--

God’s Word is so amazing. It gives us wisdom and discipline. It helps us to understand the ways of God. It gives us instruction on dealing properly with people.

To sum it up, Proverbs 1:4 uses a word we don't use much anymore: Prudence.

What is Prudence?

Prudence is doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right purpose.

First, it’s doing the right thing. We all have choices every day. Prudence says I am going to, by the grace of God, choose to do the right thing. I am not going to entertain sinful, or even unprofitable, ideas. I am not going to hope I make a good decision. I am making it now. I am making a choice ahead of time. I am going to do the right thing.

But it is also doing the right thing in the right way. You know you can do the right thing but in the wrong way, right? Showing your boss that you are concerned for her is a right thing. Showing it by taking her on a date, wrong way. It’s using discretion: I know what I need to do, what is the wisest way to go about it?

Prudence is even more thorough. It is doing the right thing in the right way at the right time. It has taken me a while to learn this (almost 37 years): but timing is everything. When I have to have a hard conversation, I try to do it ASAP. Not always a good plan. I am not discounting urgency, but I have learned that sometimes it is wiser to wait until a better time to say something hard.

And finally, prudence means doing the right thing in the right way at the right time for the right purpose. What is my purpose? Proverbs 20:5 reminds us a motivation check is always in order. Why am I doing this? To exalt myself? To prove am I right? To put this person in his place? To appear more spiritual than I am? Is this really for the Lord?

In other words, in every choice you have to make, examine:

WHAT is the right thing?

HOW should I go about doing the right thing?

WHEN should I get on this?

WHY am I doing this?

p.s. - this is the proverbial truth. literally

Baptism - What's Trending in Scripture?

This Sunday, we will be discussing baptism. This subject sees a wide spectrum of beliefs, everything from “baptizing babies brings them into the covenant family” to “unless you are baptized you are going to hell“.

As always, we are just going to the Bible for answers. With all due respect to theologians and “church fathers”, their creeds and beliefs are not absolute authority - only the Word of God is.

As a preview, an appetizer, food for thought… get your Bible and check out these passages in Acts. The church came into being in Acts 2, and the book records accounts of people being baptized throughout the rest of its chapters. See if you notice any patterns or recurring themes…

Acts 2:37-41 -

The promised Holy Spirit came down and Peter preaches at Pentecost! Those who believed were baptized, the text seems to indicate it was immediate (v41). 

Acts 8:12 - 

Philip preached, the men and women believed, and they were immediately baptized. 

Acts 8:26-39 -

Philip shares the Good News of Jesus Christ with an Ethiopian Eunuch, and upon belief, he is immediately baptized (v36).

Acts 9:1-19 -

Saul, persecuting the church, encounters Jesus Christ and is blinded for 3 days. God sent Ananias to Saul, who then was filled with Holy Spirit. He regained sight and was baptized immediately (v18).

Acts 10:44-48 -

Peter learns (v34) God shows no partiality - Gentiles included! Cornelius and company listen to Peter preach (v44). They believe and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Then they were, you guessed it, baptized immediately (v47-48).

Acts 16:11-15 -

Paul was preaching at a ladies fellowship (v13), they received the Word and were baptized immediately (v14-15). Then in verses 25-34, Paul and Silas are in prison and having a worship service! An earthquake brought a jailhouse rock. When the jailer is about to commit suicide, Paul stops him, preaches the Word to him, and he is baptized immediately (v32-33).

Acts 18:-1-8 -

Paul is in Corinth, and facing rejection at the synagogue from the Jews. He shook his garments and walked next door and preached to some Corinthians who believed and were baptized immediately (v8).

Did you see the pattern?

The Word preached, person believes, person receives Christ, person immediately responds by being baptized.

Have you been baptized?

Harvest Bible Chapel will be joining North Way (Wexford campus) in a worship / baptism service on Wednesday evening, March 21 at 7:00. Honor the Lord by making this profession of faith! 

p.s. - Need more info about baptism? Come Sunday and hear all about it.

"Do I Love My Spouse?" - Take a quick test and find out

This weekend at Harvest, we are looking toward the homestead as we examine Colossians 3:18-21. As you prepare to receive the Word, as the Lord tells us to (James 1:21), here is a quick test for husbands and wives.

Men, do you love your wives? Ladies, do you love your husbands? Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God, and 1 John 4:8 tells us God is love. So if we are imitators of God, we will see His love in us, right?

 What does love look like? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says:

Love is patient
and kind;
love does not envy
or boast;
it is not arrogant
or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable
or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth. 

Love bears all things, 
believes all things,
hopes all things, 
endures all things.

So here is the test: If you put your name in place of the word / pronoun / implied love, would the passage make sense? Would it read true? 

Go slow, do one at a time and really examine yourself. Try it, your name goes in the blank:

________ is patient.

________ is kind.

________ does not envy.

________ does not boast.

________ is not arrogant.

________ is not rude.

________ does not insist on getting his/her own way.

________ is not irritable.

________ is not resentful.

________ does not rejoice at wrongdoing.

________ rejoices with the truth. 

________ bears all things.

________ believes all things.

________ hopes all things.

________ endures all things.

How did you do? I am sure we all see areas where the Lord, by His grace, is still growing us! And let's be thankful that He is going to finish what He started in us...

p.s. - do polar bears hibernate during the summer?

God Keeps Teaching Me About This, and I Hope Someday Soon I'll Learn...

I want to circle back and say one more thing about expectations. I know, you are thinking, “Dude, move on, you blogged about that, like, 5 weeks in a row recently.” I know. But this is a forum where I can share where God is working on me. And this has been a big one for me. I don’t even think I got it down perfectly, because the Lord is still graciously teaching me.

When the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, he was in a jail cell. A jail cell, as in: a prison cell, as in incarcerated, confined, chained, the big house… as in no freedom, restricted, locked away from society at large. Why am I belaboring the point…? Because when you read Philippians, Paul seems so unbelievably joyful and content! You would think he wrote it from Disney World, but he wrote it from a jail cell (did I mention that?).

So where is the joy? It certainly wasn’t from his circumstances… but neither was it from wrong expectations. We often get depressed, frustrated, or angry because we have unbiblical expectations.

• If only my spouse were a better…
   
• My kids had better be…
   
• My job HAS to start getting better…
   
• My doctor better say…
   
• I should be seeing a better financial situation this year…

When we start laying out un-biblical expectations, we will lose our joy in a hurry. If there is something I had to learn in 2011, and am still learning in 2012, it was to not get my hopes up in my own expectations. Too often I did, and too often I became depressed, frustrated, AND angry. Things I was expecting to happen, didn’t. And things I was almost certain would not happen, did. And the Lord reminded me who is really in control here.

Did Paul have any expectations? He could have said, "I expect to get out of jail, I expect one of the churches to bail me out or break me out, I expect the Lord to rescue me..." He didn't have any of those expectations, really he had just one: it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:20)

I want to honor Christ. In my life, by my death. That’s really all I should be looking towards.

That’s one thing that Paul is saying in this verse. We are not going to meet the Lord and say, “I wasted my life on You?! I gave my years on earth to telling people about You?!”

And I will not be ashamed. I will not look back on my life and say “Jesus disappointed me.” I will not look back on my ministry and say, “Jesus wasn’t enough.”

My expectation is that I will cross over to death and rejoice at this glorious truth: Jesus is worthy. Of everything I had, everything I did, every heartache, every trial. Every day that this was all uphill… He is more than worthy. And I will not be ashamed.

That is my expectation. Too much of this life disappoints. Jesus will not.

p.s. - I promise this is the last time I talk about expectations (until the next time)