Even though I don’t belong to any political party, I wanted to watch some of the speeches at the recent national conventions held by the Democrats and the Republicans. And I was impressed that the speakers presented powerful messages of hope. Oh yeah, they spent time bashing each other. But the biggest part of every speech that I heard had a positive vision for America.
Someone might say that all this positive rhetoric was just a cynical attempt to sway voters. Maybe. However, I kinda believe that there was at least a minimum of sincerity involved in all this partisan rhetoric. I think these men and women genuinely want what’s best for our country.
But their level of sincerity is not my point. Here is what I think is most important: Why can’t the ministers in Sabbath-keeping Church of God movement present more messages of a positive nature. God’s people need more sermons about hope. Especially at the Feast.
I have been keeping the Feast since 1971. I have been to many Feast sites over the years and have come to the conclusion that each Feast site has its own spirit. There are many Feast sites available to God’s people this year. Some locations will place considerable emphasis on conspiracy theories or pushing worldly politics or pushing goofy doctrines or trying to understand prophecy by reading the Bible and Time magazine simultaneously.
If you go to a Feast site that does things like this, I’m sorry to tell you that none of the above is preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God. Most of the above is a waste of time and serves no good purpose at a place where God has supposedly placed His name.
I hope you are going to obey God by attending the Feast this Fall. And I hope you will ask yourself to evaluate the kind of Feast site you will be attending.
Hopefully, it will be a place where Jesus is preached as the world’s future King of Kings.
Hopefully, it will be a place where people are encouraged to be good ambassadors for that future kingdom.
Hopefully, it will be a place where God’s present-day ambassadors are admonished to follow the fruit and nut admonition which says that we were called to bear fruit—not to act like a bunch of nuts.
Hopefully, it will be a place where the true Jesus is taught—not the false Jesus of the world’s churches.
You and I have freedom to keep the Feast or not keep the Feast. You and I have the freedom to attend the type of Feast site we want to.
Freedom is a two-edged sword. Each person is free to make his/her own decisions on doctrine and church administration. Unfortunately, too many of God’s people have not figured out that freedom must always be accompanied by responsibility.
If you have a family, you have a responsibility to take them to a Feast site where they can be inspired. People often say the following about attending church services on the Sabbath, “I come to church to feel better. If I leave church feeling worse than when I walked in the door, then I may need to find a new church.”
The same applies to a Feast site. If your family leaves a Feast site on the Last Great Day feeling worse than when they arrived, you may have taken them to the wrong Feast site.
As you make your Feast plans, may God guide you to choose your Feast site wisely—avoiding any place that promotes futile irrelevancy as you seek a location which preaches the wonderful hope of Jesus.
I hope you obey God and go to the Feast. And I hope you have a great Feast!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
The Value of Young People in Doing God’s Work
Several weeks ago, Nancy approached a young lady in our church about participating in the Dynamic Christian Ministries broadcast. The young lady’s name is Jennifer Killingley. I have known Jennifer’s parents for years. We went to college together in the 70s in California.
Nancy and I wanted Jennifer to be on our broadcast because she is intelligent and witty. She attends college on several academic scholarships. She is sweet-natured.
Before Nancy approached Jennifer about being on the broadcasts with us, we tried to come up with persuasive arguments as to why she should do this. We thought we came up with some good ones.
So now Nancy was ready to call her on the phone and ask if they could chat face-to-face. Armed with her arsenal of reasons as to why Jennifer should say “yes,” Nancy went into the meeting and began her discussion with Jennifer. Nancy was astonished that, before she could get all her reasons out, Jennifer quickly said she liked the idea. Nancy was taken aback. She felt that perhaps Jennifer was accepting only because she was afraid to say “no” to an older person in the Church. So Nancy suggested, “Why don’t you think about it for a few days? I’ll call you and ask for your answer.” Jennifer agreed.
Nancy figured she’d call Jennifer in about three or four days, but Jennifer beat her to the punch. Two days later, Jennifer called Nancy and said, “I want to do this!” Needless to say, we were thrilled to add Jennifer to our cast. So far, we have recorded three broadcasts with her and we are totally pleased with her contribution to the program.
[BTW, we just posted on the DCM website our two most recent programs which we recorded last Labor Day. These broadcasts deal with our on-going study of the book of Genesis. I hope you check them out. They are entitled: “Giants, Fallen Angels, and God’s Law—Parts 1 and 2.”]
Here is the important part of this whole thing. Jennifer is only 17 years old and she is being used as an instrument to preach the truth of God’s Word! She does this with poise. She is articulate. She projects her message clearly.
There is no doubt in my mind that some will be offended by this and say, “Preaching the Gospel is not a job for cute little girls. This job should only be done by old men. This is our church tradition.”
I have stated from the beginning that for the DCM broadcast we were NOT going to put an old man in front of a bookcase filled with books he has never read and have him preach. This is what so many of the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God are already doing. And it is their business how they do their outreach. They need to do what they are comfortable with. Our feeling is that this “old-man-in-front-of-a-bookcase” method worked in the 50s and 60s, but we feel the need to preach Jesus in a more contemporary fashion in the 21st century. We feel that Jared and Jennifer will do much to help us reach younger viewers and listeners. Jared and Jennifer can appeal to younger audiences better than Nancy and I can.
We know that young people cannot do everything that the more mature and older folks in God’s Church should do. But I do know from experience that young people can do a lot more than they do now.
I have found that it’s usually not their unwillingness to help that keeps young people from serving. More often than not, young people do not help because the older adults don’t have the foresight to ask them! Most of the time when I ask young persons to help out with things, they willingly agree. They may be shy about it at first. They may initially feel a little insecure about having the ability to do the job. But with guidance and reassurance, they inevitably perform the task that ultimately benefits the body of Christ.
We need to involve our young people more in feeding the flock and preaching the Gospel. And we want this not so we older people can sit back and take it easy. No. This is not the age in man’s history when any of us can go on vacation. Everyone of all ages must work hard to teach and do God’s will.
Back to these two young people that I am so proud of…
I don’t know how long Jared and Jennifer will be willing or able to be part of our broadcast team. Nancy and I realize that, as young people, they have a lot of interests. They certainly need to be mindful of their educations and their careers. So the day may come when they will need to move on from the program.
In the meantime, Nancy and I feel that God has blessed our broadcasts with these two wonderful young people. At this time, I am asking that you take time to regularly pray for Jared and Jennifer--that God will guide and direct their lives not only as they continue to be obedient to God and His Word, but also as they enthusiastically do their part to preach the Gospel of the true Jesus of the Bible.
Nancy and I wanted Jennifer to be on our broadcast because she is intelligent and witty. She attends college on several academic scholarships. She is sweet-natured.
Before Nancy approached Jennifer about being on the broadcasts with us, we tried to come up with persuasive arguments as to why she should do this. We thought we came up with some good ones.
So now Nancy was ready to call her on the phone and ask if they could chat face-to-face. Armed with her arsenal of reasons as to why Jennifer should say “yes,” Nancy went into the meeting and began her discussion with Jennifer. Nancy was astonished that, before she could get all her reasons out, Jennifer quickly said she liked the idea. Nancy was taken aback. She felt that perhaps Jennifer was accepting only because she was afraid to say “no” to an older person in the Church. So Nancy suggested, “Why don’t you think about it for a few days? I’ll call you and ask for your answer.” Jennifer agreed.
Nancy figured she’d call Jennifer in about three or four days, but Jennifer beat her to the punch. Two days later, Jennifer called Nancy and said, “I want to do this!” Needless to say, we were thrilled to add Jennifer to our cast. So far, we have recorded three broadcasts with her and we are totally pleased with her contribution to the program.
[BTW, we just posted on the DCM website our two most recent programs which we recorded last Labor Day. These broadcasts deal with our on-going study of the book of Genesis. I hope you check them out. They are entitled: “Giants, Fallen Angels, and God’s Law—Parts 1 and 2.”]
Here is the important part of this whole thing. Jennifer is only 17 years old and she is being used as an instrument to preach the truth of God’s Word! She does this with poise. She is articulate. She projects her message clearly.
There is no doubt in my mind that some will be offended by this and say, “Preaching the Gospel is not a job for cute little girls. This job should only be done by old men. This is our church tradition.”
I have stated from the beginning that for the DCM broadcast we were NOT going to put an old man in front of a bookcase filled with books he has never read and have him preach. This is what so many of the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God are already doing. And it is their business how they do their outreach. They need to do what they are comfortable with. Our feeling is that this “old-man-in-front-of-a-bookcase” method worked in the 50s and 60s, but we feel the need to preach Jesus in a more contemporary fashion in the 21st century. We feel that Jared and Jennifer will do much to help us reach younger viewers and listeners. Jared and Jennifer can appeal to younger audiences better than Nancy and I can.
We know that young people cannot do everything that the more mature and older folks in God’s Church should do. But I do know from experience that young people can do a lot more than they do now.
I have found that it’s usually not their unwillingness to help that keeps young people from serving. More often than not, young people do not help because the older adults don’t have the foresight to ask them! Most of the time when I ask young persons to help out with things, they willingly agree. They may be shy about it at first. They may initially feel a little insecure about having the ability to do the job. But with guidance and reassurance, they inevitably perform the task that ultimately benefits the body of Christ.
We need to involve our young people more in feeding the flock and preaching the Gospel. And we want this not so we older people can sit back and take it easy. No. This is not the age in man’s history when any of us can go on vacation. Everyone of all ages must work hard to teach and do God’s will.
Back to these two young people that I am so proud of…
I don’t know how long Jared and Jennifer will be willing or able to be part of our broadcast team. Nancy and I realize that, as young people, they have a lot of interests. They certainly need to be mindful of their educations and their careers. So the day may come when they will need to move on from the program.
In the meantime, Nancy and I feel that God has blessed our broadcasts with these two wonderful young people. At this time, I am asking that you take time to regularly pray for Jared and Jennifer--that God will guide and direct their lives not only as they continue to be obedient to God and His Word, but also as they enthusiastically do their part to preach the Gospel of the true Jesus of the Bible.
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