The Prodigal God

On Thursday mornings, I am part of a group that has just finished reading through The Prodigal God by Tim Keller.

It has been a great review of the parable of Prodigal Son out of Luke 15. There are many facets of this parable that Tim Keller explores in this book but I will only select a few. First, many see this parable as being all about the younger son who takes the inheretance and goes off and squanders it. He is the major character after all, but it is easy to miss the lesson that is being taught about the older son. The dutiful son. The son who always says "Yes Father" and does all that the Father wants but if you read carefully you will notice how the older son reacts to the younger son and his philandering ways, "The elder brother became angry and refused to go in[to the festival]." (Luke 15:28)

Does that make you pause and think? If not, well it has me. I can often play the part of the older son in my relationships with others, looking down on others who aren't walking with the Lord.

Notice how the Father comes out of the festival to talk and "plead" with the older son. The Father is concerned with both the younger son and the older son!

But another thought occurs to me: which son is it that is forgiven and lives in that forgiveness? You guessed it:
the younger son. Neither of them deserve the Father's love and care but the younger son is willing to accept it but to end of the parable, the older son is mad and refuses to participate in the festival.
Let me encourage you to always stay tender towards your heavenly Father!

In another portion of the book, Tim Keller retells a story about a woman who started going to Redeemer church when he was a  minister there:

"She had never heard the message she was now hearing, that we can be acepted by God by sheer grace through the work of Christ regardless of anything we do or have done. She said, 'That is a scary idea! Oh, it's good scary, but still scary.'
I was intrigued, I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: 'If I was saved by my good works--then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life."
"But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace--at God's infinite cost--then  there's nothing he cannot ask of me." (Page 121)

Do you truly believe you are bought with a price and that you are a slave to God? Or are you a taxpayer with rights?

One Act of Kindness Leads to Another!

I have to brag on my daughter! Before Thankgiving of this year, she was asked to collect food by her teacher at school. She came home quite excited about it and wanted to go just then. I suggested we go to close neighbborhood since someone has recently asked us from our street. That Saturday Emily and I went around to every house and asked for donations of canned food for her school. She was hoping for 10 items. We ended up with 37 items of food! She was truly amazed and I was too! Nobody refused and everyone gave something. It was very encouraging! When we got back to the house, she told me she wanted to write thank you notes to each person who contributed. That was incredible because Emily doesn't like to write and we had nine people who contributed so that meant she would have to write nine letters! Well I helped her get the letters preparded and sent out by typing them on the computer but she did write up the addresses to a few of the people. Then the following Monday, we took the food donations to her teacher, we found out she was only one of two students who contributed! She felt very proud of her accomplishment.

But the last part of this story has to do with the Christmas card she received in the mail just the other day. One of the neighbors was so impressed by Emily and her thank you note that she wrote a note and sent it in a Christmas card:

Needless to say we are very proud of our Emily and how thoughtful and giving she is!

FamilyLife Culture Watch: The Manhattan Declaration

Take a look at this post about the Manhattan Declaration. Dennis Rainey is a signator and one of a large contingent of individuals from various Orthodoz, Catholic and Evangelical organizatios and ministries making a strong stand concerning three critical issues in our culture: the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage, and the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

FamilyLife Culture Watch: The Manhattan Declaration

Dennis Rainey on Fox News!

For Veteran's Day, Dennis Rainey was invited on Fox News. Please pray for all who hear this.

Dennis also was invited on the Montel

Right from the Start! Do you need instruction for parenting your young one?

Your blender probably came with more instructions than your child, but here’s help. Parenting experts Dennis and Barbara Rainey give straight talk on applying biblical principles to the daily grind of parenting and the often exasperating, exhausting job of training and disciplining young children.


Whether you feel clueless, or could just use some encouragement, these easy-to-understand video sessions and viewer’s guide will equip you to raise kids that you like, and who honor God. You’ll find tried and true principles, strategies, and insight for getting it right … from the start.

http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.5537697/k.6A02/Right_From_the_Start.htm?from=hpflash2
 
This series of videos in on line and completely free. We can get you the video series on DVD if you want but also it is free online!

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters!

This is an excellent 5 part interview with Dr. Meg Meeker. She has written a number of books and is a practicing physician and so speak from professional as well as personal experience on the topic of fathers with their daughters.
As you know I have two daughters myself, and I found this to be very insightful and helpful. I recognize several pieces of advice my wise wife has told me on many occassions.

If you have daughters please be sure to listen to this. Now as I mentioned it is a five part interview. Each segment is only 7 or 8 minutes long. So when one finishes find the next part and start it to continue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnwzY5m5Fns&feature=related

My Grandmother the Artist!

I am really impressed at these paintings! They are very well done watercolors. I am thinking of having a couple framed! A couple of them are oil on canvas. I am not an artist at all so it makes me wish I could have known my grandmother more. She was a very influential lady in her day in Connecticut politics.

Grandmother's Watercolor Paintings

She was a talented lady!

Whitney Phipps! and the story behind "Amazing Grace"

Whitney Phipps is an amazing singer! Watch this video as he explains the background of the negro spiritual "Amazing Grace". Oh you didn't know that Amazing Grace was originally a negro spiritual? Watch and see!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfGytXRpfho

The Lost Art of Reading?

This is an insightful article by my boss, Dave Boehi!

I can relate to this phenomenon because I wasn't even able to finish reading this article before I was distracted by an email!

Can you make it through?
Let me know.
Nick




The Lost Art of Reading?
Posted: 19 Aug 2009 08:34 AM PDT
By Dave Boehi
The article by David L. Ulin of the Los Angeles Times begins with a familiar complaint: “Sometime late last year—I don't remember when, exactly—I noticed I was having trouble sitting down to read.”
I’ve read this lament fairly often over the last year. In The Atlantic Monthly, Nicholas Carr wrote:
Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.
Ulin and Carr are part of a growing number of writers, researchers, and thinkers who are looking at the way our Google/Facebook/Twitter culture and asking some important questions like, “How is this affecting us?” and “Is all this good for us?” While the Internet offers many wonderful benefits to our lives, it’s important to consider how our preoccupation with media, the web, and social media is changing the way we interact and communicate and even think.
For obvious reasons, I’ve been particularly interested in how our reading habits are changing. A huge shift is occurring in the way we gather and process information.
In one sense, this is just the latest twist in a story that has been growing for nearly a century. It seems that each new media invention—movies, radio, television, VCRs and DVDs, the Internet—inevitably affects the way people read and reduces the time they devote to it. What feels different about recent trends is that the Web is still so new, and it is evolving so quickly that few people are stepping back to look at how it is changing us.
In his Los Angeles Times article, “The Lost Art of Reading, Ulin says:
Reading is an act of contemplation, perhaps the only act in which we allow ourselves to merge with the consciousness of another human being. We possess the books we read, animating the waiting stillness of their language, but they possess us also, filling us with thoughts and observations, asking us to make them part of ourselves … In order for this to work, however, we need a certain type of silence, an ability to filter out the noise. Such a state is increasingly elusive in our over-networked culture, in which every rumor and mundanity is blogged and tweeted. Today, it seems it is not contemplation we seek but an odd sort of distraction masquerading as being in the know.”
At the end Ulin concludes that reading is “harder than it used to be, but still, I read.” Then I noticed the italicized biographical information on the next line: “Ulin is book editor of The Times.”
This guy reviews books for his job, and he still finds it difficult to force himself to be quiet long enough to do read them? If he has trouble, what does that mean for the rest of us?
I suspect we are becoming a society of people who rarely allow themselves to slow down enough to think and contemplate. It’s difficult to spend time reading a book—or, more important, reading God’s Word—when there are so many other distractions calling for your attention. And when you spend so much time with those distractions that you grow impatient and fidgety after only a few minutes of quiet.
It requires a strong will to force yourself to read something longer than a few hundred words. It requires discipline to study and apply the Scriptures, to talk with God. I suspect that in the coming years, many will come to realize that, without this quiet time, they will feel increasingly empty.

What He Must Be...

Voddie Baucham is an excellent thinker about family and marriage. This week on FamilyLife Today is a five interview with this excellent guest!

I highly encourage you to listen to this series and get the book he wrote.

Here is a summary that I wrote about this book:

“God has given us a clear picture of the role of the husband/father in the home, and in What He Must Be…If He Wants to Marry My Daughter [the author] breaks this picture down into ten desirable qualities. Not only should parents of young women seek these qualities in a son-in-law, but parents of young men should strive to cultivate these qualities in their sons.” (Back Cover) This book is called the “down-to-earth apologetic of biblical manhood”.

He quietly, but strongly supports courtship as a model for finding a marriage partner. “’Let’s just drive around until something grabs me.’ Unfortunately, most of us treat the search for a spouse the same way this man treated his search for a house… We must find a better way. We must commit ourselves to preparing our children to find suitable mates without relying on the pagan, relativistic mythology that dominates our day.” (Page 49)

He makes an excellent case for marriage as the preferred state for our children in chapter two titled “The Ministry of Marriage”. Parents need to prepare both their sons and daughters for marriage. “We will not give adequate attention to the preparation of young people for marriage unless we view marriage as the preferred state.” (Page 42). To clinch this argument, the author pointed out that Jesus even though single as a man on earth is spending His time in heaven since His ascension preparing for His Bride (the Body of Christ, cf. Revelation 19:7-8 and 21:9). “Jesus is our ultimate model for biblical manhood, and as such he shows us what it looks like for a man to spend his life preparing for marriage.” (Page 45)

Now if I could just get to send photos and videos from my cell

Serving Under His Mercy,
Nick Alsop

This is my first blog oost using text on my cell phone!
What do you think?

Serving Under His Mercy,
Nick Alsop

Marriage in Times of Adversity

I run across articles at times that seem to make sense.
This one makes a point that I wonder if it rings true in your marriage?


- MARRIAGE IN TIMES OF ADVERSITY.....

In Marriage, Worse First Can Mean Better Later Tiffany Sharples Time.Com Aug 8, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/mjn6u9

Just a few months before John Gottman, a leading American marriage researcher and psychologist, was to be married, his father died, leaving Gottman to contend with overwhelming loss during what should have been one of the happiest times of his life. No one would have blamed him for putting the wedding on hold. But in the end, Gottman says, the strain of dealing with his grief made him that much more devoted to his future bride. "My wife helped me through it," he says. "I was able to cope with the loss, and it was really a bonding experience."

Few couples would choose to marry during periods of severe relationship stress, but then, trials come unexpectedly < you can't plan for layoffs, illness or a raging wildfire that forces a change in wedding venue 24 hours before the big event. That bad start, however, can have benefits. While an abundance of research shows that stressful life events often amplify a couple's problems < turning a husband's short temper into abuse, for example < and increase the likelihood of divorce, studies also show that hardship can have an upside. For some couples, it's protective, helping solidify their commitment into an unshakable us-vs.-the-world resolve. Data from the Great Depression suggest, for instance, that economic adversity held many couples together. "Those families who were cohesive before the Depression, they banded together as a team and really became more cohesive in dealing with the economic crisis," says Gottman < surely good news for the untold numbers of newlyweds who have faced job loss or foreclosure in the past year.

Surviving the gauntlet of misfortune early in a relationship can be a valuable litmus test, say counselors. A relationship crisis "smashes the illusion of invulnerability," says William Doherty, a psychologist and marriage researcher who runs the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Minnesota. That illusion, he says, "was going to go away anyway, and I don't think there's any great loss to it going away sooner than later."

So what about all those unlucky couples whose early years are marked by nothing but peace and happiness < what is their litmus test? There are two key predictors of a resilient relationship, experts say: mutual support and a willingness to sacrifice. In a recent study of newlyweds who became first-time parents, Gottman found that two-thirds suffered sharp drops in happiness during their child's infancy, under the strain of new parenthood.
But for one-third of couples, the experience was cohesive and increased intimacy. Gottman says he could predict which couples would blossom under
stress: those in whom, years before, he had observed better communication and more mutual support. "Even at the time of the wedding, the men were more respectful of their wives, prouder of them," he says.

Beyond respect and pride < and even love < it may be the willingness to sacrifice that leads to a lasting marriage, according to researchers. In a
2006 study by Scott Stanley, the director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, and colleagues found that the willingness to forgo personal interests and put a partner's needs ahead of one's own was directly linked to a long-lasting, happy marriage < provided that such sacrifices weren't damaging or one-directional. "If your partner has a really big opportunity to sacrifice because of some crisis in your life, and they don't, that's pretty bad," says Stanley.

But before you go seeking disaster just to test your spouse, remember that resilience evolves over time, as long as couples make it a mutual priority < and that takes patience. Keep in mind also that over the long haul, the health and mental benefits of marriage are countless. Says Diane Sollee, a marriage and family therapist and the founder of SmartMarriages.com:
"You've
got to know that you actually do better if you hang in there."

So my question to you is? When did you have your first adversity in your marriage and how did it affect your marital relationship?

Nick

Richard Dawkins and Ben Stein

I know I am a little slow but I just watched Expelled by Ben Stein.

It was a fascinating piece even though there is much that was not very professional about it.

Now I see the overarching theme of the "documentary" is the freedom of ideas and he does an excellent job of showing how the scientific establishment has squelched any possibility of opposing Darwinism or evolution educationally, politically, or through the media.

Ideas are important and do influence our lives and the society we live in. He made allusion to the current state of the regard for human life (abortion and euthanasia) and its tie to Darwinism and evolution.

But the most shocking thing I found in the whole video is the part where Ben Stein secures an interview with Richard Dawkins. What Richard Dawkins admits in that interview astounds me.
At about 4 minutes into the folllowing clip, Ben Stein aks if Dawkins thinks that ID could have any contributioin to genetics or in evolution.

He is a die hard evolutionist but he admits that Intelligent Design is a possibility to answer the question of origins of this earth. Albeit he is not going to say that any god anywhere has anything to do with it but that is astounding that Richard Dawkins finds ID to be an "a possibility, an intriguing possibility" where he purports that an "earlier civilization ... seeded life onto our planet." So I see Dawkins as believing in aliens and UFOs and such.

So if Dawkins admits this, isn't he admiting that universities should be able to teach ID even if they take the whole god thing out of it? Isn't that all that most ID proponents are asking for?

What do y'all think? Have you seen the video? Have I missed something?


http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=fb627ff95e49f546adb0

This is a picture of the Cog Railway car that took us up to Pike's Peak and down again. What an incredible journey. It moves very slowly and sometimes climbs at a 25 degree angle! The conductor told us that meant that for every 100 feet we moved on the track we climbed 25 feet. It felt very steep at times.

Not only were the views amazing when we got to the top but even along the way!

Our God is an awesome God. I learned that Katherine Lee Bates went up to Pikes Peak and wrote America the Beautiful! Awe inspiring!

The Family Manifesto

As a reviewer and researcher I am constantly working the Family Manifesto. It is one of the six criteria we use in reviewing resources for the ministry. So if you want to get a taste of what we are dealing with, take a look at it. Let me know what you think.


In 1992, FamilyLife created a document to address the critical issues regarding marriage and family in today's world with guidelines from it's Creator. As I read it afresh today, it is as fresh and relevant as it was when it was created 17 years ago.
Following is the Preface. To read specifics on marriage, husbands and wives, childlessness, the sexual union, and commitment read The Family Manifesto on the FamilyLife website.

• 
  During the latter half of the twentieth century the American culture has suffered an unrelenting decline. Although scientific and technological advances have created an outer veneer of prosperity and progress, our inner moral values and convictions have rapidly crumbled. Once, most Americans based their sense of right and wrong on Judeo-Christian principles, which provided them with a solid, biblical foundation for life. Today, a growing number of Americans see morality and ethics as relative and subjective and have developed their own version of "morality" with little regard to absolute standards.
  This idea of moral tolerance has been eroding the foundation of the American family and society. Many Americans today have little or no concept of how to maintain a successful marriage and how to raise children to become responsible adults. In addition, a growing number of educators, politicians, and members of the media are attacking and redefining the family, creating a vast amount of confusion about what a family is. Many people today proclaim that "family values" are important, but the gradual shift to moral relativism has led to a great debate about what "family values" ought to be.
  Abraham Lincoln once said, "The strength of a nation lies in the homes of its people." It is our conviction that the family is the backbone of the Christian church and of society as a whole. History shows that, if any society wants to survive, it must uphold, strengthen, and continue to build upon the biblical institutions of marriage and family.
  The Bible begins in Genesis with the marriage of a man and a woman and ends in the Book of Revelation with the marriage of Christ and His bride, the Church. In between, God provides timeless blueprints for family life, which, if followed in a spirit of humility and obedience, provide us with the only true way to maintain healthy family relationships.
  The following document affirms this biblical model and challenges us to consider how we should live within the walls of our own homes. It is offered in a spirit of love and humility, not of judgment or contention. Furthermore, it is not intended to be a comprehensive doctrinal statement about what the Bible says about marriage, family, and related subjects.
  Unquestionably, this document attempts to face critical cultural issues. We invite response from anyone who wishes to affirm the truths of marriage and family from the Scriptures. It is our hope that this document will serve to accurately represent the truth God has revealed to us in Scripture, will provide insight into what a biblical family looks like, and will show how we can honor and glorify Him in our family relationships.
  We freely acknowledge that we, like all people, have often denied the biblical truths of family life by the way we live. We desire, however, to live by God's grace in accordance with the principles stated herein and to pass these principles on to future generations so that He will be honored and glorified as our families reflect His character.

Read The Family Manifesto in its entirety at FamilyLife.com.

FamilyLife in Central America!

Global Outreach is the international department of FamilyLife. Their goal isn't just to develop little FamilyLifes around the world but to empower the local population to implement Biblical training and ministry for marriages and families in their countries. One of the great tools they have developed is called Movement Makers. They start with a core of people who want to affect marriages and families for Christ and training uing the Movement Makers manual. Read an example of how this is happening in Ecuador:

Through yesterday we’ve presented three sessions of the basic Movement Maker Training here in Guayaquil, Ecuador. There is a Campus Crusade couple who led the outreach to families in Guayaquil. Here are some highlights:

Several Navy couples are participating in the Movement Maker training. This NCO is giving a presentation to the class. His class group developed a diagram to explain the three phases of developing a spiritual movement with families: launching, developing and maturing.




The couples are participating in a group project. This hands-on learning methodology keeps the students fully engaged in the material and helps them to own the ideas and express their personal involvement to implement the spiritual movement strategies.



This couple has been seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ make a powerful impact in the lives of couples as they have been leading a HomeBuilders group over the past year. They have been married six years and have learned a lot as they have been working through their own marriage difficulties and learning how to apply biblical principles in their own marriage.

They stepped out in faith last year by deciding to lead a HomeBuilders couples study in their home on a military base. They went through their neighborhood, knocking on doors. They offered to pray for couples and asked how they could support and encourage them in their marriage. The couples responded to this warm invitation from a sincere couple—they agreed to join the Morans by going through the HomeBuilders study guide called: “Building Your Marriage”.

Four couples came and also four ladies who attended without their husbands. The husband explained how the couples showed up with all their baggage—some of their marriages were in significant trouble. One wife was contemplating suicide. Through God’s intervention and the love and encouragement of this couple, the wife accepted Christ into her life and began to grow in her faith. This couple learned that much of her personal suffering and mental anguish came from an extraordinarily difficult relationship with her husband. He was frequently drunk and frequently unfaithful. However, the wife began to pray for her husband and their marriage. God intervened and the husband also prayed to receive Christ into his life. His entire life changed from the inside out and now they both attend the HomeBuilders couples study with this couple.

Another couple in the group had a pattern of abuse and heated quarreling. The wife was able to spend some time counseling with this wife and praying with her. However, the marital crisis erupted to the point where the husband threatened to kill his wife. His wife fled to the wife's house in desperation. While she was pouring her heart out, the wife explained there was only one person who could help in this situation—that person was Jesus Christ. The desperate wife prayed to ask Jesus into her life and to seek His help to heal her broken heart and her broken marriage. Eventually her husband joined her at the HomeBuilders study group and he also asked Jesus to come into his life.

God has given FamilyLife an incredible message of hope and salvation to deliver to hurting marriages and hurting families. God has also given us great partners around the world . However, it’s the volunteers that generate the life-on-life ministry to so many couples—that’s what provides real meaning to the idea of “Helping you to help others”.

2009-05 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Partners,

Here is our Prayer letter for this month:

http://www.alsops.org/currentnewsletter.htm

Serving Under His Mercy,

Nick and Lisa Alsop

Emily got a Gold Medal!

Emily entered the Diamond Edge Championship skating competition and won a Gold Medal in the category called Non-Test Group 3.
I have included the video of her performance

DTS Professor Dr. Hoehner went to be with the Lord!

I just today found out that dear Dr. Hoehner went to be with the Lord back in February!

No one told us.

Nick


Here is another testimony to Hoehner from Dr. Wallace back in Dec 2008:
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2008/12/harold-w-hoehner/#more-1541

A Tribute to Beloved Professor Dr. Harold W. Hoehner
1935-2009
February 12, 2009
If you have a story to tell about how Dr. Hoehner impacted you, please share it at http://www.dts.edu/landing/hoehnertribute/
The Lord called home a faithful servant on February 12, 2009. Dr. Harold Hoehner passed away at the age of 74. His legacy and influence on Dallas Theological Seminary will be lasting. Dr. Hoehner was Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies. He carried on a very fruitful and significant career, teaching and providing leadership to the academic work of Dallas Seminary for forty-two years—twenty-seven of those years as Director of Ph.D. Studies and twenty-four as chairman of the New Testament department.
As a department chair, he brought the highest ideals in academic standards to the DTS campus along with compassion and encouragement to his department faculty and their families. Along with others in the department, he crafted a thorough yet learner-friendly model of New Testament Greek exegesis that is widely used today.
As a teacher, he always pushed his students toward excellence, careful study of Scripture, and fair-minded interaction with the wider world of New Testament scholarship. His magnificent commentary on Ephesians—his magnum opus—will continue to instruct and inspire pastors and teachers for many years to come. Because one of his books is entitled Herod Antipas, he became affectionately known to a generation of students as “Herod Hoehner.” He was known for his unwavering love for the style manual by Kate Turabian. With King’s College of Cambridge, England, as his doctoral alma mater, some have said his only educational regret was that he did not attend Texas A&M (simply because he loved Aggie jokes so much)!
As a person, Harold was a man of integrity, frugality, hard work, strong opinions, and fairness to others coupled with a loyal, collegial spirit, humility, and humor. Though he was not a good actor by his own admission, he took opportunities to participate in Senior Chapel or Missions Conference videos because he knew students would get a laugh seeing him trying to act cool. His loving and exemplary family life with Gini, their four adult children, and eleven grandchildren was a model and blessing to all of us.
In 2006, the New Testament faculty, former students, and fellow scholars published a book on New Testament exegesis as a tribute to Harold as their teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend. The editors concluded the preface with these words: “Most of all Harold has shown us what it means to be a man of God, committed to Christ and His gospel, and reflecting the fruit of the Spirit over a lifetime of faithful service.”

"Come What May" Great Movie

Have you noticed the item at the bottom of this blog? It is an advertisement for a movie called Come What May. I was really excited about it because it features Patrick Henry College where Katie wants to go) and it involves the debate team and the Moot Court the have each year. This time it was about the abortion.
I have been waiting for the right time to watch it and so I did last night. I was disappointed but not by the story. It was the acting. It kind of reminds me of Flywheel by the Kendrick brothers, who just brought out Fireproof! I think they have created a great story but often you feel like the actors are fake.
Now this is their first movie and it got a lot of things right, like scenery, plot, etc.
So in the same way the Kendrick brothers started out small and started making better movies I hope the same for this group!
So I kind of hope they enhance it and come out with Come What May 2.0.

Encouragement from Steve Douglass (President of CCC)

This is a great reminder of what we need to be about!

In John 15:5 we find Jesus saying: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (English Standard Version).
Nothing! That is the extent of the significance of what we do apart from Jesus.
The corollary to this is illustrated in Philippians 4:13 where Paul says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
So there is our choice: Nothing or everything. And it hinges on whether we depend on God. You might be thinking “I know that, and I teach it to my disciples.” Good, but the question is, “Do you (and I) practice it?” Are we completely dependent on God in our thoughts and actions?
In December the Global Leadership Team and the Directors of Affairs met together. We were considering what we most needed to change if we wanted to pursue God’s calling effectively. Five areas of “culture change” were already proposed and were being planned in more detail. But one subgroup was appointed to consider what else needed more emphasis – in addition to the five. This group prayed and discussed and they came back to the main meeting with “more passion for and dependence on God.”
They concluded that, although there are many excellent qualities of Campus Crusade there is one thing we cannot afford to lack: Wholehearted trust in God.
There were right. We dare not be just OK in that. We need to be outstanding.
Again, we know that. We have a great deal of ministry content related to that. So what needs to change for each of us?
Let me tell from my own experience where the danger lies. I have been in full-time service of our Lord for 40 years. I have seen the ministry face very significant challenges and seen God deliver us from some of them. I have experienced the deaths of both of my parents and had God provide supernatural peace in spite of that. I have personally had to give leadership during a number of crises and seen God provide solutions miraculously. But as wonderful as that is, those very experiences plant the seeds of self-reliance. I can feel like I know what I am doing now. Very subtly I can begin to depend on my experiences more and on God less.
That can happen to all of us in the Christian life in general. When we begin to master some of the basic disciplines of the faith, like prayer and Bible Study, we can start believing more in our knowledge, experience and training and less in God.
So what can we do about that? We can start by admitting it. If it is true of us, we have to see it before we can address it. Second, like with any sin, we need to repent of it. Personally, I am horrified when I sense signs of self-reliance. I quickly ask God’s forgiveness for my foolishness. How could I overlook or deny His gracious action and provision in the past?
Third, we can ask Him for fresh ways to depend on Him:
• How to be sure we are filled with the Holy Spirit continually.• How to pray about everything.• How to exercise faith in practical ways.
My prayer is that our lives will be characterized by the supernatural presence of God. I certainly see evidence of that in many stories that come to me every month. But, I also know how easy it is to stop depending on God with our whole heart.
So my exhortation is let’s learn to trust God together even more. We can do nothing apart from Christ.
For you thoughts and prayers during some future devotional time:
1. Are there sometimes when you have found yourself moving toward reliance on yourself versus on God?
2. When you notice that, have you found you can see it as sin and repent of it?
3. See if you can think of some fresh ways you can depend on God more continuously.

Fear Not!

I wanted to share these passages of Scripture with you. Notice especially the text in RED.

God is on your side!

Psalm 27:1-3

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the defense of my life;
-
Whom shall I dread?

When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,

My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

Though a host encamp against me,

My heart will not fear;

Though war arise against me,

In spite of this I shall be confident.”


Psalm 46

“God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change

And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;

Though its waters roar and foam,

Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride…

The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;

He raised His voice, the earth melted.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold…

Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold.”


Psalm 112

“Praise the LORD!

How blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

Who greatly delights in His commandments.

His descendants will be mighty on earth;

The generation of the upright will be blessed…
He will not fear evil tidings;

His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is upheld, he will not fear”


Proverbs 3:25-28

“Do not be afraid of sudden fear

Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;

For the LORD will be your confidence

And will keep your foot from being caught.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,

When it is in your power to do it.

Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back,

And tomorrow I will give it,’

When you have it with you.”


Isaiah 35:3-6

(Jesus quoted from these amazing verses to John the Baptist when
John was in prison and was questioning the Messiah’s goodness!)

“Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

Say to those with anxious heart,

"Take courage, fear not

Behold, your God will come with vengeance;

The recompense of God will come,

But He will save you."

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.”


Sermon on the Mount

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25)


Jesus to His newly commissioned disciples

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master… Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:24-31)


Upper Room encouragement

"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also… Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:1-3, 27)

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)


Not a spirit of fear

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ …

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:14, 18)


Fear not, but be ready

“Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:14-15)


Love casts out fear

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18)


Peace of God… God of peace!

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:4-9)

Fear of the Future?

Probably the greatest temptation during times of economic uncertainty is to hoard your wealth. Fear and uncertainty can create the following three temptations:

• A longing for a life of comfort and ease.
• The Perceived right to a particular lifestyle.
• The desire to be protected from any consequences of economic uncertainty.

taken from Ron Blue and Jeremy White Surviving Financial Meltdown page 33.

Wisdom from Ecclesiastes

Have you ever read through Ecclesiastes in the Bible? i have and it can seem quite depressing but what I do appreciate about it is the perspective it gives on riches or wealth during these kind of economic times.

This morning Bob Lepine read from and commented on Ecclesiastes 5:10-6:12 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eccl%205:10-6:12&version=31).

It is a good reminder that wealth can be a stumbling block to knowing God. Wealth can seem like such a desirable good but it also creates such a need for attention that it distracts from what is truly important!

In 5:10, Solomon shows us how wealth also will never satisfy our craving for meaning or purpose.

Verse 12 seems to point to the fact that those who have much wealth end up with sleepless nights worrying about their wealth. It is like a magnet. Wealth just draws us towards itself. In this case wealth is having more than we immediately need.

So what do you think? Are you wealthy? and if so how does your wealth affect you?

Testimonials about FamilyLife outreaches!

We went to your marriage conference years ago. Saved my relationship with my wife and my Lord. I love this ministry and no matter how hard it gets will always support you with whatever funds I have.
Shelton, CT

Thank you for your ministry! We did Passport to Purity with both our daughters, and we all were blessed!!
Lancaster, CA

This is our second year for Weekend to Remember. We plan on going every year. It has made me and my spouse grow so much more in love and our marriage has grown in God. Thanks to everyone who does this and thank you Dennis for starting this.
Amanda, OH

We want to continue to support your work for marriages. Great job!!
St. Louis, MO

I regret asking you to remove us from your Legacy donors list of mailings. Please save the postage since we will no longer be able to donate. Your ministry has helped me learn sound biblical principles that help me in becoming the godly husband and father that God wants me to be. Thank you for the many years of teaching and encouraging. God bless!
South Charleston, OH

I love all the practical, day-by-day info about what biblical living "looks like." The resources you provide are invaluable.
Sacramento, CA

I ordered Karen Kingsberry's interview - we were so blessed, traveling in our car laughing and weeping. Lovely!
Marietta, GA

I love your program and resources. The strength and encouragement is such a blessing.
Oak Lawn, IL

I believe in marriages and the power and influence Godly marriages have on society. The resources (information, workshops, etc.) FamilyLife offers to individuals and couples are so important that I wanted to offer support through prayer and monetary donations.
Simpsonville, SC

The resources and radio programs give me HOPE and keep me encouraged - God bless!
Lawton, OK

Listening to CDs of your broadcasts has enriched our lives and we are able to share them with others and encourage them too…Thanks!
Napa, CA

You encourage me daily to live life through God's principles and promises as a widow.
Topeka, KS

I listen everyday and your program is so educational, interesting, fun, funny, and full of God's wisdom that I need. Thank you.
Danville, CA

I love the resources you send me each month. I keep hoping and praying that one day my husband will too! Thank you!
Jupiter, FL

I have seen lives transformed (forgiveness received after divorce, stressed marriages finding resources that are of practical help, college students having spiritual strength) from your work, videos, publications, etc. Thank you.
Reistertown, MD

Godly homes are the foundation for our spiritual lives. We must use our resources for ministries which strengthen family members to be salt and light in a lost world that needs to see Jesus in us.
Lexington, KY

Your daily broadcast has encouraged and empowered us a parents and the Weekend to Remember Conference has provided a blueprint and a fresh start for our marriage.
Philadelphia, PA

FamilyLife radio ministry (and now internet) has been such a blessing to our marriage and family for many years. Thank you for the top quality programming and for your service to the Lord and to so many families - us included. We gave a year end donation and want to do this monthly donation to partner with you in reaching people for Christ. Keep up the great work!
Lake Forest, CA

I like your radio programs. The topics speak to our needs today.
Pasadena, CA

Retired now, but when working (graveyard) your program kept me going for the night, always promoting family values. Please keep it going - it is so needed today!!!
Seattle, WA

I have seen over the years I have heard stuff you guys are doing, like the Weekend to Remember, and I love it. You are hitting the core problem in this country, the family.
Montezuma, IA

Encouraging News from a WTR

You just never know how God is going to use what you are doing to impact people.
Consider this one couple who came to a WTR a year ago.
No greater mission—EVERY home a godly home,

Nick

Dear FamilyLife,

I really should share with you. Last year, my husband and I attended because we had been struggling with each other due to infertility and many problems with adoptions. We had had so many ups and downs with the adoption that it was taking a toll on us. The week-end was amazing and we left renewed. At the conference I had put a prayer in the prayer box for "the perfect placement of our daughter" as we were pursuing an adoption of a little girl in Taiwan. We left on Sunday, feeling really good and then on Monday received a horrible e-mail stating that there were new requirements that we did not meet for the adoption (after 10 months of turning in paperwork, sending money and going through the home study). We felt like God had turned his back on us. Really I'm not sure we as a couple would have been strong enough to have endured this had we not just attended the conference. To make a long story short, we then found out we were pregnant in October and in January found out it is a girl. I now realize God did answer our prayer of the perfect placement of our daughter, just not the way we thought it would happen. Praise God. Thank you so much for offering such a wonderful week-end.

Rosy

Flowers for Algernon

With all the reading I do for work, I like to keep at least one book that I read for pleasure. So I keep at one least one book by my bed to read before I go to bed most nights.

The book I just finished reading (actually I did read this as an eight grader) is Flowers for Algernon. I bought the copy I have back in Duncanville, TX before we moved here to Little Rock.

I decided to reread it because I had heard a dramatic interp at a recent speech and debate tournament in Houston, TX and it piqued my interest in the book again.

I found it a great read. It is a story of a severely retarded boy who gets selected for a highly risky experiment where they do surgery on his brain and intend to make Charlie Gordon smart!

The surgery is successful! He becomes extremely intelligent but there is a down side too.

Charlie grows in his intelligence far quicker than he does in his emotional IQ.

I have heard much of EQ (or emotional intelligence) in the last few years. But now I have come to see how this book really opened the question far in advance of the recent inquiries!

It made me realize that being emotional mature is as important as have the brains.

What do you think?

Think before you sign up!

Recently, a Facebook craze has hit the nation. Everyone loves staying in touch with their friends, and what better way to stay in touch than on a safe, user-friendly service like Facebook? If you thought that, you were wrong. FOX News had a new article today telling you what exactly you are signing up for when you sign up for a Facebook. Apparently, when you sign up, you agree to the Terms of Service. What most people do not know is that the Terms of Service state that the company is granted "an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or ... (ii) enable a user to Post." If you don't understand that, then this means that basically anything you post on your Facebook, the company has a right to use. Without your permission. Scary, huh? This shows us that we need to read EVERYTHING before signing up for something. We also need to make sure we don't post anything we would regret later on a social networking site. So many times, people post without thinking and end up regretting it. Our society has become so numb to Internet predators, pornography, cyber-bullying, etc. that we are putting our lives and the people we love in danger. We need to be careful and take steps to ensure the safety of the people we love.

--Katie

A New Way to Stay in Contact!

We are constantly looking for new ways to stay in contact.

Recently, I (Nick) went to Lunch and Learn here at FamilyLife about blogging. So I am starting this blog. Many times I have wanted to share some info with you and I have sent a few emails but I think this will be more effective.

If you want to keep getting these blog posts please sign up on an RSS Reader or better yet there is a link where the system will notify of a new post by email!