I often say my prayers
But do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart
Go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down
And worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God
A prayer of words alone.
For words without the heart
The Lord will never hear,
Nor will He to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere.
Anon
Do you pray because you have been assigned or delegated, “arrowed” ?
Do you pray because you are scheduled and expected to mouth certain ” spiritual words” publicly?
Do you pray because it is ” one of the acts of worship” ?
June 2nd, 2008
Lesson from Mother Goose.
THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread.
She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
a)Is this old lady shepherding a flock or managing an organization?
b)Is she more concerned with efficiency or the needs of each child?
c)Why do you think she didn’t know what to do?
d)How is she coping with maintaining order without compromising numbers?
e) Do you see an example of “one size fits all” approach?
f) If the shoe is a church of poor lost hungry children for God, what kind of leader does this old woman represent?
g) How does such a leader ” whipped them all soundly and send them to bed” in a church setting?
h) Is such a leader feeding the flock to grow spirirually healthy or just feeding a flavour of the real thing wihout much substance as in ” broth without bread” ? What kind of sermons do these people preach?
i) How does the size of a church change a family to an organization?In what way does an increasing congregational size a disadvantage?
Is the church to make disciples or increase headcount in membership?
Why do you think such a situation arises in modern churches especially?
June 2nd, 2008
Biblical words describing Christians are humbling. Makes you think twice whether you should call yourself leader and what behaviours should shine forth instead.
You will realize that not all words translated as ’servant’ or ‘minister’ have the same meaning.
1.Doulos - a bond servant, one who voluntarily or involuntarily bond himself up to the will of another
a. Paul
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant (doulos) of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…
b. Apostles
2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants (doulos) for Jesus’ sake.
c. James
James 1:1 James, a servant (doulos) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…….
d. Simon Peter
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant (doulos) and an apostle of Jesus Christ…
e. Christians
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants(doulos) to obey, his servants(doulos) ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
We become his slaves out of our own free will.We choose to be subservient to Him.
2. Oiketes - house servant, menial servant or in South East Asia we may say “coolie” of a household.
My grandfather used to have a faithful coolie who came from China at a young age. With no family of his own he was just grateful simply because he had a roof over his head and food provided for his hard labour. He remained faithful even to my father after the death of my grandfather.
Luke 16:13 No servant(oiketes) can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant(oiketes)? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
If you are a menial worker for one master who provided for you, how can you serve a master from another house? All coolies are judged based on what the Master has instructed. Coolies listen to the call of the Master.
3. Misthios - hired servant, servant paid for their labour; wage earner. (more…)
February 6th, 2008
Some folks think King James Version translation of the bible is closer to the original text. Even swear by it and insists every one has to use it. This may be so provided you understand old English, as old as Shakespeare and Queen Victoria.
The chain is as strong as the weakest link. In this case the weak link is not the accuracy of the translation but the language ability of the modern day reader.
I grew up with King James Bible and American Standard Version which my prejudiced view thinks they have wonderful prose. If only every one uses it. Indeed my sister studied the KJV in the university as a literature text. But then…how many of us are English literature major?
A modern reader is bound to read with a modern slant raising befuddled questions even if the text is better translation of the original Greek and Hebrew.
Example:
1)What do you understand by the word ‘without’?
Hebrews 13:11-12 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned WITHOUT the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered WITHOUT the gate.
My reaction as a modern reader is to assume it means “don’t have”. E.g. I left home without my keys.
So it is odd that the sacrifice is burned not having the camp and Jesus suffered with no gate?? Why did he need a gate for? what gate? Strange, isn’t it?
To my surpise I later learned in old English it meant the opposite of ‘within’ so we have withOUT and withIN. Or in our modern world it means Outside!! (more…)
January 7th, 2008
Does the Holy Spirit work through the word only?
To answer this interesting question requires us to understand and have an agreement on what is this “word”?
There are 2 ways I think we can deal with this question. One is by the scholarly way, i.e. by going Greek,. The second way is the layman’s way of questions in applying what we have been taught by our more scholarly brethren, (without even the need to quote book, chapter and verse).
A. Let’s do the easy one first – The layman’s approach.
When you hear or see this “word”, what do you have in mind?
Most of us in the educated world will probably relate it to the written word i.e. the Bible.
So the question then is, “Does the Holy Spirit work though the “word” i.e. the Bible only?”
Let us use what we have been taught. Those of us who grew up in the church would know the following:
1. We do not have a headquarters
2. Each congregation is autonomous
3. We are of the royal priesthood. There is no separate clergy.
4. The gospel is for all
5. God is no respecter of persons
6. Jesus taught the poor and less educated.
The modern church is very educated. We are very fond of study.
If the Holy Spirit works through the Bible only, it means you have to be educated or at least literate.
Does it mean that some of us who are less smart or not well endowed with opportunities, will not know Jesus and His wisdom? Not smart enough to know Jesus by studing a Book? (more…)
October 10th, 2007
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