Vision

I’ve been thinking recently on the topic of using our talents for the Lord. Reason being, I help to teach our church’s Sunday School class, and that’s what the most recent lesson was about, taken from the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Some questions I was asking myself, (a few of these were mentioned in class):

• What “talents” do you/I have, and are we using them to serve the Lord?
• Am I burying my talents?
• Am I acknowledging the Source of any talents I might have, and am I giving Him the glory or “showing off” my talents as if they originated with me?
• How do our talents affect our choice of career/vocation and our calling/choice of ministry?
• How can young people develop their talents for the Lord?
• How are youth to discover their talents? (excellent question asked by a student)

As I was thinking along these thought “threads”, I happened across an excellent message by Emanuel Esh entitled, “Spiritual Ministry“. I highly recommend you listen to the whole message (click on the link), but if you are short on time, I’ll give you the gist of what it was saying to me:

• Ministry is looking around, finding someone to help, finding someone that you can help
• True ministry starts by seeking after God
• Even the most mundane tasks (scrubbing the floor, doing dishes) can be a true Spiritual ministry if the heart is there.
• Spiritual ministry begins with a heart attitude of serving others
• Sometimes ministry is born out of adversity (people who have gone through difficulties can help others who are going through the same or similar circumstance)
• See a need… Meet that need… If you ask, “Why does no else do that?” Maybe it’s because God wants you to do it.
• William & Catherine Booth were effective in their ministry because they met the needs of the people to whom they were ministering…on their level.

Lot’s of food for thought, so, what do you think? Feel free to comment.

Through various webcasts and blogs my interest has been piqued recently, regarding the persecution of Christians in North Korea. I knew it was bad, but didn't realize that it is the worst country in the world for persecution and that they have huge prison camps where terrible atrocities are commited against Christians and other "enemies of the state". If you have a bit of time, the 2,150 word Time Magzine article, Long Walk To Freedom, is a shocking, yet information packed and intriguing story. Apparently a route for escaping North Koreans called, the Seoul Train, has been opened up and been compared to the Underground Railroad.  I highly recommend you read it.  Let's all remember to pray for the persecuted church at large, and especially North Korea.

OK. This post may be a little weird. A few months back, I recorded these two cats having a duet in our backyard. They weren't actively fighting; just "howling" at each other. There's almost a weird doleful harmony in it. Check it out by clicking on the link.

Matthew 17: 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

I've heard from various people about the idea of "having faith" for others. An example I read this morning is listed above. The lunatick son… Jesus often tested the faith of those he healed (the Syrophoenecian Woman), but that wasn't the case here. The lunatick man had no faith to be healed because of his demon possession. It wasn't until Jesus cast out the devil that he could be free to trust in the Lord Jesus as his Savior. In how many instances today could this happen? Am I willing to "have faith" for others and pray for them even when they don't show any response and perhaps even reject me and/or anything to do with Christianity?

Well, who could imagine it to be this easy? I was able to set up a Word Press account, import all my Blogger posts from the last year and write this little review in under a half hour! To all you friends, neighbors and country men out there in the blogosphere who are using other blogging tools, you don't know what you're missing. Try it out. You can always go back if you don't like it.   I'm still discovering features that I wouldn't have dreamed of on Blogger, but that just make sense once you use 'em.

Well, hopefully this will prove incentive enough to keep me posting on a more regular basis

Over the last 3 days I’ve been afflicted with acute nasopharyngitis, ie the common cold. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Unfortunately it:

• is the most common communicable health problem that can afflict humans.
• causes Americans to spend $2.9 billion on over-the-counter drugs to dampen its effects.
• results in a loss $20 billion due to work loss in the US.
• has no known permanent cure.

Thankfully, it is not fatal in most cases and only lasts 3-7 days on average. For further info and some more depressing statistics click HERE (wikipedia article).

I am amazed every time I need some detailed information on a given topic at the thorough in-depth articles on Wikipedia. To think that an entirely volunteer unaffiliated group of people from around the world can produce a research tool of such magnitude in a few short years! If you haven't added it to your favorites yet, you are definitely missing out. I haven't cracked open a paper based encyclopedia in the last two years and probably won't need to again (unless I'm disconnected from the internet). Of course, as with any source of uncensored information, you have to use caution. It is definitely written in a humanistic world view, though every precaution is taken by contributors to remain "unbiased". (IMHO there is no such thing as unbiased) Anyway, check it out when you're working on your next research project. I've even contributed to some of the articles myself.

Wednesday evening at church was absolutely great. We had a visiting preacher by the name of Pete Peters give a message on What Does It Mean To Be Free In Christ? Freedom to a Christian is a far cry from what most of the world would define it as. With lots of Bible references Pete showed us that true freedom is:

1. Freedom from sin, bondage & their associated misery
2. Freedom from the OT law; walking in grace.
3. Freedom to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
4. Freedom to love our brother.

Five basic truths about freedom are:

1. Freedom is only provided in Christ
2. It is one of the greatest privileges of the Christian because it satisfies one of his deepest needs.
3. Freedom is the condition where somethingcan develop according to its design.
4. It is found in living in the Truth. "…ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…"
5. Freedom brings with it responsibility…

One of the truths that really stuck out to me, came from the last point where Pete pressed home the fact that all things are lawful to the Christian, but all things are not expedient. If it causes my brother to stumble, then maybe I'd be better off not eating a certain type of food or dressing a certain way or something else of that nature that would be an offence.

I was deeply challenged to maintain that Christian freedom that Jesus wants all of us to enjoy.