Category Archives: My Walk

Blog entries in this category are my own personal reflections, experiences, and growth.

How I study the Bible

Posted on August 18, 2014 by | Comments Off on How I study the Bible

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What I am going to share is nothing new; I am sure that there are others out there that use a method similar to what I do. For others, they have found a way that works for them when they study the Bible.  I personally think that there is a reason why there are only a handful of scriptures that instruct us how to study the Bible.  There’s Paul’s guidance to Timothy: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15), and David’s heart’s desire as recorded in Psalms: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word (Psalms 119:148). Also, in that same psalm, David wrote, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalms 119:11). There are about thirty other verses that deal with the concept of meditating on God’s word, but no Biblically defined right or wrong way for the believer to do study the Bible.

Recently I was asked how I study the Bible by a former student of mine.  Until that moment, I really hadn’t thought of how I study the Bible as being much different from anyone else’s. Before 2006, I never seriously studied the Bible before beyond a casual reading and the use of a monthly devotional. In 2006, when my life was literally a mess, I decided that I needed to become more serious about my faith.  It began with two verses: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6) and Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15). At the time, I was attending graduate school and working towards a Ph.D. in American History.  From that moment, I decided that if I could spend all the time and effort reading, researching, and studying American history as my vocation, I should be able to study the Bible just as intently.

What helps me to get the most out of a Bible Study are some pretty simple things that helped me through graduate school.  I am a creäture of habit, and so taking full advantage of that, I decided to develop new habits that would help me develop my Bible studies. What I decided to do was to set aside a part of my day, a time that will not only allow me to devote that time exclusively to focus on the study but that will be consistent from day-to-day. While this does not sound like much, it is important – and I will have to admit that I am now off my normal routine.  Being a morning person normally, I like to do my Bible studying in the early hours of the morning, when no one else is awake.  This way, I am able to study uninterrupted and without distraction.  For you, it may be that you have to do yours at night or some other time during the day; there is no right or wrong time, just as long as the time you choose is free from interruption and you can consistently spend that time with the Lord. 

Once I found a time that worked for me, I decided to handle my Bible study as I did my academic studies.  Just as I had tools that I used within my study of American history, I knew I would need tools to help with my Bible study.  I played around with online Bible study aids, but for me the temptation to surf the web was too strong and were too much of a distraction.  After a few months of Bible study, the tools I discovered that helped me out the most were some things that seemed common sense: my Bible, a notebook dedicated to my Bible studies, and a pen.  Over time, I added some specialty tools that aided my study efforts: a good Bible dictionary, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Biblical Mathematics by Ed Vallowe, Strong’s Concordance, Cruden’s Concordance, and a good dictionary.  There are those that would say that it shouldn’t cost anything to study the Bible or that one should not have to spend money on Bible study tools and at one point in my life, I would have agreed with that.  However, with most of us, we would think nothing of dropping a couple of hundred dollars buying a new tool if it helped us with our jobs or a hobby.  If we can do that for things that we cannot take with us into Heaven, then why do we hesitate to spend money on things that not only can help us to walk a closer walk with God, but on things – knowledge about the Lord Jesus Christ – that we can take with us to Heaven?

For the first few months of my new Bible study, I played around with a variety of formats.  What I felt worked best for me was to begin each one with prayer, where I would not only ask the Lord to help me learn more about Him, but about myself as well and the needs of the members of my church family.  Once I had done that, I would then begin by reading one chapter from Proverbs.  For example, since today is the 18th day of the month, I would read the corresponding chapter, chapter 18, from Proverbs.  Each month, I repeat this pattern since there are 31 chapters in proverbs and even the longest month only has 31 days.  I still do this today and although I read the entire book of Proverbs 12 times within a year, I am still learning a lot from this simple exercise.  What I have discovered is that as a Christian, I should desire to have a life that God would find pleasing and Proverbs provides that guidance of how I can do just that. After reading the chapter of Proverbs, I follow a plan of reading that will allow me to work through the Bible in two years. I know that there are many people who brag on reading the Bible through in one year, but for me, I want to take the time to digest what I have read and to learn as much from it as the Holy Spirit leads me to learn. Remember, it is not about seeing how fast or how many times you can read through the Bible that counts.  It is the reading, the understanding, the meditation, and the application of the Word to our lives that provides the reward for our study efforts.

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Unreached expectations and some lessons learned

Posted on August 12, 2014 by | Comments Off on Unreached expectations and some lessons learned

180231HrfI love gardening and each spring look for seeds to plant and watch grow.  This past spring was no different.  On one of our family shopping trips, my daughter and I were looking at the seed display rack when one package stood out above all others. Being impressed with the pictures and descriptions on the package, I decided to buy a package of cosmos seeds for around a quarter. My daughter and I took an old egg carton, filled each cup with dirt, and planted two seeds into each cup, then placed the egg carton in the window sill.  Just as stated on the package, within ten days, the first sprouts of green appeared in the makeshift seed starting pots.  Within another three weeks, the seedlings were ready to transplant into window boxes.

I would love to tell you that the plants grew and gave an abundance of blossoms as the picture above or even on the seed envelope had shown.  What happened instead is that one set of plants were attacked by bugs, leaving only one plant unscathed.  It never bloomed.  In the other window box, we had four out of six plants survive whatever it was that ate the other ones, but only one plant bloomed – and the two flowers it had were asymmetric – a far cry from the pictures that had led us to buy that particular seed to try.  As my daughter and I dumped out the window boxes this morning, we began to have a discussion about why things don’t always do what we hope they will.  It started simple enough, “Daddy, these flowers didn’t get very pretty like the pictures. What happened?” At one time another, we have all asked that question – “Lord, why didn’t this work?” I am reminded of this passage of scripture: Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil (James 4:13-16).

We’re all guilty of it; we make plans independently from the Lord and when they do not work out the way we want, we immediately begin our attempt to understand why by asking God, “Lord, why didn’t it work?” We even see that the disciples during the time when the Lord Jesus walked the earth also asked this same question: Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? (Matthew 17:19). We all know the story, the disciples went to cast out a devil out of a young man and could not do it.  They then brought the boy to the Lord, whom then was able to cast out the devil.  Instead of rejoicing about the deliverance of the young lad, the disciples kept the focus of the story on themselves; in effect they asked “Lord, why didn’t it work for us?” The gospel of Matthew doesn’t tell us if any time passed between the working of the Lord and the question posed by the disciples.  Knowing myself, it would have been a consuming question that probably would have driven me to ask it nearly immediately after the miracle was performed.  I imagine that the disciples were shocked when they discovered – at the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ – that their attitude was the very reason for their failure to deliver the boy.

So, some of you may be wondering what does planting seeds and the inability of the disciples to release the young boy from being possessed? Had both been successful, where would the glory have been placed?  In the case of the window boxes, I probably would never have thought to give the thanks and praise to the Lord.  Chances are, the disciples would probably have had a similar reaction and would have focused more on their abilities and not the Lord who had given them the abilities.  It would have been nothing to think “wow, those flowers sure are pretty; glad I planted them” or “wow, we just released this precious boy from the devil that possessed him” and not giving the glory, the thanks, and the praise to the Lord. This is the message that the apostle Paul was trying to convey to the early Christians at Thessaloniki when he wrote, Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

As Christians and children of God, we must remember that our failures do affect God.  Just as I become concerned when my daughter is not able to carry out what she sets out to do, I am sure God has a similar reaction.  I know as a parent there have been several times I have thought to myself, “Sweetie, that’s not going to work…” then have to comfort her as what I knew what was going to happen did.  Since the Bible often compares the roles of parents and the Lord Jesus Christ, I bet there have been times in my life where the Lord has thought, “I wish he would wait, listen and wouldn’t do that…” or “it’s not going to work…” just to have to watch my best made and intended plans fail. With our finite and feeble minds it is hard for us to understand that God has the benefit of being all-knowing, and sees the beginning from the end.  If we just turn to him more in the things that we do and seek His guidance, we would probably experience less failures and more joy. Instead of turning to God when it doesn’t work, what if we make seeking the Lord’s will our first step in even the smallest plan we have?

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A response to an errant view on stewardship

Posted on August 8, 2014 by | Comments Off on A response to an errant view on stewardship

CountryChurch_Large1There are a number of websites that I have subscribed to that send out “morning updates.” While most them are politically based, about a quarter of them are faith-based.  There are some faith-based subscriptions that focus on issues such as abortion, developing church leadership, and even the struggles of Christians facing persecution around the world.  One subscription I receive is for encouraging pastors and leaders of other ministries both inside and outside the local congregation. This morning, that particular subscription focusing on pastors and ministerial leadership had an article that focused on what the writer called the “unwise stewardship of the small congregation.” I have decided to keep the author’s name and the affiliated website to myself for various reasons including that normally I find most of the stuff posted on this particular site useful, encouraging, and enlightening.

Being a member of several small churches over the last thirty years, I have witnessed what I considered to be poor stewardship of church resources. Now to be fair, I will share with you that I see anything that does not increase the visibility of the church in the community, that does not further the reach of the church, or does not give support for the ministries of the church as being a waste of church resources.  I once went to a church that hired a professional decorator to come in every two weeks to come in and decorate the sanctuary so that it would be aesthetically appealing and fresh. Yes, while I do believe that having a nice looking church building is important, spending close to $300 a month to keep the place “fresh” is not wise stewardship.  Many churches have women and men who love to do the exact same thing and if asked, would probably be willing to do the same thing for just the cost of the materials or even for free.  I am sure that many of you could also share stories of things that churches have spent money on that have not always shown the best judgment when it came to stewardship of the church’s resources.

So, with all that said, I fully expected the article to discuss similar issues with some suggestions on how the church leadership could guide the church body into making more sound decisions.  I was surprised as I read past the first paragraph to discover that the author was not focused on poor spending habits of the church but on the wastefulness of small church congregations.  The author, an associate pastor of a large church in the Boston, Massachusetts area was lamenting that smaller congregations, by their very nature, are a waste of God’s resources.  His entire article was that by remaining open and unmerged with larger churches so that their financial resources can better serve the Lord, these churches were wasting those resources. Smaller congregations were identified as any local church having fewer than 300 regularly attending Sunday morning services.  The ideal church, according to the article, were those that regularly had a “participating” membership of 300 or more. Again, the author identified those as “participating” as simply showing up for Sunday morning worship. As a part of the benefits of smaller congregations merging to form larger congregations, the author counts the benefits of such actions as the ability to better support paid positions within the church, the ability to have better worship facilities, and the ability to adequately fund various activities within the local church. The very basis for the article was fundamentally flawed on several levels.

The first thing that came to my mind was the apostle Paul’s description of the local New Testament church: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him (I Corinthians 12:13-18). I, as well as other preachers and teachers, have used this passage to discuss the importance of each believer in the local body of Christ but there is a larger application that can be made.  Each local New Testament church has a specific role within the larger body of Christ. Within any denomination, each congregation has its own unique and distinguishable character.  Just as each member of a congregation has a specific function within that congregation that only they can fill, so each local congregation has a specific role and function that it fills within the larger body of Christ.  

Where the author of the article focuses solely on the financial aspects of stewardship, there are other areas that must be considered beyond church finances. As someone who has served as both pastor and interim pastor, I do know the pressures of serving in a smaller congregation that could not financially support a full-time pastor.  My heart’s burden is for the smaller congregation and I admit I am somewhat biased.  In all the churches I served in within those two roles never did I ever consider the money offered by the congregation as a part of my reason to serve.  In every case, I was approached and I saw an opportunity to serve the Lord.  I prayed about the decision and allowed the Lord to lead me without any regard to the amount of money offered. When I did accept the position offered, I was ready to do what was necessary, both in the role I was serving in and as provider of the family.  If I had to have a part-time job to support the ministry I was in, I was ready to do it wholeheartedly and  without complaint.  With this particular author, he was lamenting that as a seminary graduate, it took him serving as an associate pastor nearly ten years before he could find a church that could financially support him. While I understand the hardships that can be caused by insufficient income, any man who approaches a church with an attitude of “if I cannot get paid $xx, then I will not serve as your pastor” is actually hindering the work of the Holy Spirit and is not living by the faith he exhorts others to live by.

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