Dr. Adrian Rogers. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

adrian rogers“Friend, you cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.  And what one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government can’t give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody. And when half of the people get the idea they don’t have to work because the other half’s going to take care of them, and when the other half get the idea it does no good to work because somebody’s going to get what I work for. That, dear friend, is about the end of any nation.”

I ran across this quote recently on FB and researched its origin. Dr. Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was a Southern Baptist pastor and conservative author who served as a two-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention. This very profound quotation is part of a longer sermon by Dr. Rogers’ from 1984 in a series titled God’s Way to Health, Wealth and Wisdom. I find this to be a very troubling, very frightening, albeit a very prescient quote as I look at the terrible state of our economy today. Continue reading →

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Baptism. I wanna be Bap-pitized!

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

layla roseI am very excited that my youngest son has decided to become a baptized believer. I am so very happy to see that the Lord is working in his life. I am looking forward to that day.

We talk about baptism often in our Kidz Rock worship service. My Granddaughter Layla has been taking all this in and she comes to me saying she wants to be Bap-pitized too. ‘Baptized?’ I replied. ‘Yes, I want to be bap-pitized,’ she says with that “isn’t that what I just said” look that kids get in her eyes. ‘I want to be bap-pitized!’ She was beaming ear to ear with this news. I asked her if she knew what baptism meant. ‘It means serving God’ was her pure, innocent answer. As I was picking myself off the floor I told her that her answer couldn’t be more perfect. Serving God. Isn’t that what we are we supposed to be doing?

Jesus instructs us to have childlike faith. She exemplifies this in every way. I believe God has plans to use Layla in mighty ways. Although thrilled, I am still a bit hesitant and I would like her to have a more adequate understanding about Baptism. I pray that I can be the one to bap-pitize her into Christ. That would make this Grampa the happiest man on earth.

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Plate Spinning: Multi-Tasking or Overloading?

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

plate spinningI remember as a young boy being drawn into the flickering black and white images of The Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday night. For twenty-three years singers, dancers, comedians, tumblers, ventriloquists, Topo Gigio, Red Skelton, the Beatles, even the Rolling Stones were projected into living rooms across America.

Then there were the Plate Spinners. (make sure you’re playing the Plate Spinning music shown above to set the appropriate mood for this post!) If you’ve never seen this whirling dervish of activity, the performer would have a number of thin, long rods upon which he would put a plate. Once he set the first plate to spinning he would go to the next rod and put another plate on it and get it to spinning as well. This would be repeated again and again until he would have an entire row or rows of plates spinning at the same time.

Soon the plates would begin to slow down and wobble forcing the plate spinner to run quickly back and set them to spinning again. Eventually he would be running frantically back and forth trying to keep them all going. Even as a young boy I knew that sooner or later plates would start to fall and break with a satisfying (hey, I was a kid!) crash on the stage floor!

In churches across the country lay-leaders and volunteers are asked to take on additional projects prompting them to either say no to the project, split their time between projects, or allocating additional time for the new project; Plate Spinning. Which can and often does lead to burn out. Continue reading →

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Prayer

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

bonhoeffer 150 x 150Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a Lutheran pastor that grew up in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi party. From a young age he became interested in ethics and moral character. Bonhoeffer served as a courier for the German resistance, trained other pastors, and helped Jews escape to Switzerland during the Holocaust. He was executed shortly before the end of WWII for his part in a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.

His book: ‘The Cost of Discipleship‘ has been pivotal in the way I look not only at my faith, but how that faith is displayed in the world. Originally this book, published in 1937, served as a sharp warning to the churches in Nazi Germany but through the years it has become a classic exposition of what it means to follow Christ in a modern world. At its center stands an interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, what Jesus demanded of his followers, and how the life of discipleship is to be lived.

Bonhoeffer’s booklet, Psalms: the prayer book of the Bible, teaches that the entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity through morning prayer. The morning prayer determines the day.  Wasted time, temptations to which we fall, weaknesses and lack of discipline in work, disorganization in our thoughts and in our conversations with others, all have their origin most often in the neglect of morning prayer.

Of these morning prayers this one is my favorite because it helps me focus on God and not self.

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you:
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before me.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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The cross as a model for us

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

jesus on crossThe cross is arguably the most widely recognized icon, not only today in this culture of ‘pop icons’, but since the second century A.D. It symbolizes the sacrifice made on calvary’s hill. It symbolizes Christ’s triumph over sin, that through His death and resurrection He conquered death itself, and as the instrument of our God’s saving Love.

We do not venerate the cross as a material object seen in isolation, but as the symbol of the sacrifice by which Christ saved us. The cross in and of itself should not be considered as divine. However, two major forms of Christianity do not accept the use of the cross as a symbol of Christianity arguing that there is no Biblical support for doing so and regard it as idolatry. I do not choose to idolize the cross, only God’s work upon it.

For most modern Christians it serves not only as a reminder of Christ’s finished work on the cross, a touchstone if you will, but also as a reminder for us to take up our cross daily.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:23-25

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26-28

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:37-39

The cross as a model for me. take up my cross daily. Jesus is not commanding us to take up a physical cross, but a figurative one, voluntarily asking to have our selfish behavior crucified upon it. Yes, dear readers, our identifying with the cross that Jesus bore should and does have behavioral implications. A continuing, daily application of putting our ‘old man’ to death, day by day, hour by hour or even moment to moment if need be. In taking up our cross we are choosing to die to selfish, personal behavior. We are crucifying the flesh. (Galatians 5:24). Please note that I am not advocating a ‘works’ philosophy “if I do this then God will _ _ _ _ _”.  Far from it. God’s activity and grace is not contingent upon my feeble efforts.

Yes, the cross symbolizes salvation, freedom, sanctification, and so much more…

The cross may be foolish to the natural man, but the cross serves as a model for us as Christians.

 As it has so many times before, this blog has taken me on an unexpected trip. My first title for this included a capitalized ‘Cross’. But after reading Pastor Jim Fowler’s writings on the cross of Christ (http://www.christinyou.net/pages/crosschrst.html) I will no longer capitalize it.

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What’s so Amazing about Grace?

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

You can show effortless grace on the dance floor, say grace before you eat, be graceful, or be a disgrace. You can even get a grace app for your iPhone!

There are many things to say about grace. You can be full of grace, or a disgrace. You can address a duke or a duchess as ‘your grace’, or grace someone with your presence.

You could:

  • name your child Grace
  • add a grace note to a melody
  • be in someone’s good graces
  • fall out of grace
  • visit Graceland;  Memphis, Tennessee

Or you might even have extra grace days on your credit card before they charge you a fee.

There is:

  • divine grace
  • provenient grace
  • irresistible grace
  • actual grace
  • grace alone “Sola Gratia”

There is cheap grace and costly grace. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.

God’s grace can not be bought or bartered for. It is something we do not deserve to receive, that is why it is grace. It was only through grace that Saul, an unapologetic killer of Christians, was able to say with surety; “I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead.” (Philippians 3:13) Forgetting what is behind. All his past disgraces had been crucified with Christ and existed no more. Grace.

The very presence of God himself, allowing us as sinners to approach the throne by way of His own Son’s sacrifice is grace indeed, and there is no one that is refused.

What is so Amazing about Grace? Everything.

Quotes on Costly vs. Cheap grace from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 'Cost of Discipline'
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Nahum 1:7 or In-n-Out Burger Theology

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

nahum 1:78 in-n-out burgerWhile powering down that Animal Style Double-Double, Fries and a nice cold drink have you ever noticed the small writing on the bottom of your Double-Double wrapper? Nahum 1:7. Ever wonder what it meant? Or do you just crumple the bag and go on with your day?

Well, if you thought maybe it looked like something from the Bible, you were right. Nahum 1: 7 says: ‘The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.’ Which is a nice sentiment in a short (three chapters) book that is filled with God’s anger, the destruction, and the ensuing woe of the Ninevites. That’s right! Those rascally Ninevites are at it again! It seems after having repented (remember the whole Jonah and the whale thing?) Nineveh returned to its wicked, brutal ways. This vision or prophecy of Nahum was fulfilled when in 612 B.C.

But wait! There’s more! Not only on the burger wrapper but other places as well:

  • Burger and cheeseburger wrappers
    Revelation 3:20—“Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”
  • Beverage cups and replicas
    John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
  • Milkshake cups
    Proverbs 3:5—“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
  • Paper water cups (no longer in use) for customers. They are now used by employees only.
    John 14:6—“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
  • License plate key chain
    1 Corinthians 13:13—“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

So, what gives with all this? Well, it seems that In-N-Out prints discreet Bible references to verses on their paper containers. These consist of the book, chapter and number of the verse, not the actual text of the passage, in small print on an inconspicuous area of the item. The practice began in the 1980′s during Rich Snyder’s presidency, a reflection of the Christian beliefs held by the Snyder family. What a great way to witness!

And thanks for a great hamburger!

 

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… and forget.

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

forgive and forget“Okay. Now I understand forgiveness, but do I need to forget too?? I’ve heard ‘forgive and forget’ and I’ve heard ‘I’ve forgiven, but I won’t forget’. What’s the right way?”

To forget, or not to forget; that is the question.

Biblically; “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25), and “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34).

As I study the forgiveness prayer from Art Matthias (http://blogomine.com/2011/06/forgive/) I see cancelling indebtedness, cancelling Satan’s power (“over me in this memory, and the resulting pain.”), and I see asking Jesus to “come and heal me of this pain and this hurt.” If I have prayed to be released from these hurtful memories why would I want to pick them back up and revisit them?? Wouldn’t that be akin to when you have a bad tooth we constantly feel a need to search it out and touch it with our tongue? Knowing, KNOWING it’s going to hurt. Makes no sense.

Again, if God’s forgiveness places our indebtedness to Him “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12) and I’m supposed to forgive as He does, then I shouldn’t be continually bringing up painful memories. I’m only hurting myself by doing so.

When I was young I recall reading a short anecdote in Reader’s Digest. The story was about two women meeting a third woman as they walked down the street. After exchanging pleasantries and catching up on old times the two ladies once again started down the street. As they walked away from their friend one lady turns to the other and says ‘I can’t believe you were so nice to her! Don’t you remember what she did? How she Hurt you?’ To which the other lady replies; ‘No, I don’t remember that at all. But I do recall very clearly having forgotten it.’

I remember having forgotten it. What a beautiful expression of Christian love. That she would purposefully forgive AND forget. “as an act of my free will, I purpose and chose to forgive” and forget.

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Forgive

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

forgivenesForgiveness is difficult.

If it were easy Jesus wouldn’t have taught us to forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22). If it were easy there wouldn’t be over one hundred references to forgiveness in the Bible, sixty-four in the New Testament alone. Jesus, in his prayer model, stressed the importance of forgiving by saying we are forgiven in the same manner as we forgive others. The parable of the unforgiving servant drives this home, ending with the cautionary; “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.’ (Matthew 18:35) Even on the cross Jesus personifies this ideal:  ”Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” How much more evidence do we need that this is dear to God’s heart?

This all sounds pretty serious to me, if I want forgiveness I need to be forgiving. Period. I didn’t read any ifs, ands, or buts in there. If I expect God to be forgiving of my sins, and I do, then I must forgive others.

So why is forgiving so difficult? Bottom line answer: because we don’t want to. We want to hold onto our anger and our grudges as if they were precious to us. We want to prove we’re right. We feel we are ‘owed’ something by the person who hurt us.

The answer to this is simple; prayer. “Sure, if it were THAT easy I would have done it already!” Well, let me share with you a specific prayer of forgiveness I learned some time ago. It comes from Art Matthias of Wellspring Ministries (http://www.akwellspring.com/).

Here is the prayer:

“Father, I bring you the gift of my pain and I lay it down before your throne. I confess that my feelings have been sinful, but I have not known what to do about them. “

“In the name of Jesus, and as an act of my free will, I purpose and chose to forgive (the person) from my heart for (what they did). In the name of the Lord Jesus, I cancel all (the person’s) debts or obligations to me.”

“In the name of Jesus, I break and cancel Satan’s power over me in this memory, and the resulting pain.”

“In the name of Jesus, I command all the tormentors that have been assigned to me because of my unforgiveness to leave me now.”

“I invite you, Lord Jesus, to come and heal me of this pain and this hurt. Holy Spirit, please tell me your truth in this situation.” (pause here to listen to the Holy Spirit)

“Thank you Father, that because of the work that Jesus did on the cross that all of this is possible. In Jesus’ name, Amen”

It is my hope and my prayer that this prayer will help you as it has me. When earnestly prayed in faith it has always worked to move others indebtedness to me “as far as the east is from the west” (so far has he removed our transgressions from us.)

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It’s Alive!

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Jim Greensmith

It's AliveIt’s an interesting thing, studying the Bible. I may think I’m headed in one direction when I find myself headed in yet another.

Many times while working on this blog or preparing a Small Group Study I see something in the Bible I never saw before, some thought or concept I hadn’t heard before, or a fresh slant on something old. At times I need to be careful I don’t cover myself in worm castings as I chase myself too far down some wormhole, becoming unable to stay relevant to the original concept.

But shouldn’t that be the way of it then? If you’re having a conversation of substance with a close friend, shouldn’t it challenge you? Set your mind to clicking? Expand your mental box? Hebrews 4: 12 teaches us that:

The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (NIV)

I am very grateful that the Holy Spirit speaks to me through the Word. Continually challenging me, continually pushing and prodding, pulling and persuading me ever onwards toward maturity.

I hope and pray that you will allow my close friend, the Word of God, to do the same for you.

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