Although I had read it some time ago, I found myself pulling the autobiography of George Mueller off my shelf while preparing for Sunday's message. For those of you who have never read it, it's one you don't want to miss. It's one of the best manuals on prayer you'll ever read.
For those of you who don't know, George Mueller was a nineteenth century pastor who wrote down thousands upon thousands of prayer requests and documented how God answered them. Many times the responses are nothing less than amazing.
A few favorite passages of mine...
June 25, 1834: "These last few days I have had very little real communion with God, and have therefore been irritable and weak spiritually."
June 26, 1834: "I rose early this morning and spent nearly two hours in prayer before breakfast. I now feel more comfortable."
September 29, 1835: " Last evening when I said goodbye to the family, I wanted to go to sleep at once. The weakness of my body and the coldness of the night tempted me to pray no longer. However, the Lord helped me to kneel before Him. No sooner had I begun to pray than His Spirit shone into my soul and gave me such a spirit of prayer as I had not enjoyed for many weeks. He graciously revived His work in my heart. I enjoyed that nearness to God and fervency in prayer for more than an hour. My soul had been panting for many weeks for this sweet experience."
On one occasion, George Mueller rebuked a member of his congregation for working all of the time, claiming that it was to "feed his family." Mr. Mueller replied, "My dear brother, it is not your work which supports your family, but the Lord. He has fed you and your family when you could not work at all because of illness. He would surely provide for you and yours, if, for the sake of obtaining food for your inner man, you worked fewer hours a day to give you proper time for rest."
Do yourself a favor and order a copy.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The Prayers of a Three Year Old
Not too long ago, something clicked during family devotion time. Brenda, my three year old daughter, suddenly decided she really likes to pray. Sure, she enjoyed it before, but only with lots of help focusing from Mom and Dad. Then suddenly, one night while sitting in my lap, she just started thanking God...for everything!
Thank you God for my pink blankie. Thank you God for my white blankie. Thank you God for my yellow blankie. Thank you God for Daddy's silver car and Mommy's blue van. Thank you God for this finger and this finger and this finger...(followed by a prayer for each of her toes). Thank you God for...hey Daddy, what's this? ("That's your wrist," Daddy supplied.) Thank you God for my wrist. Thank you God for Mommy, Daddy, Jesse-monster and Brenda. (She never fails to thank God for herself.) Thank you God for color red and purple. Thank you God for head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. (Just like the song.) Thank you God for missiaries (missionaries). Thank you God for Osiel, Ramon, Jorge, Mario, Raffy and Lori (the six missionaries our church has "adopted."). Thank you God for Daddy loves Mommy. Thank you God for air (meaning air conditioning). Thank you God for lions. Thank you God for ducks. Thank you God for tv, moonies (movies), mukick (music) and dancing. Thank you God for church. Thank you God for Jesus and the boat (her favorite Bible story). Thank you God for Grandma and Grandpa.
At some point as the prayer went on (and on), Mommy suggested that she pray for her friends. Brenda replied, "Hush Mommy, I'm praying!"
I'm probably forgetting a good bit of what she thanked God for that night. But what a blessing to be reminded that we can thank God for everything that comes into our lives.
Thank you God for my pink blankie. Thank you God for my white blankie. Thank you God for my yellow blankie. Thank you God for Daddy's silver car and Mommy's blue van. Thank you God for this finger and this finger and this finger...(followed by a prayer for each of her toes). Thank you God for...hey Daddy, what's this? ("That's your wrist," Daddy supplied.) Thank you God for my wrist. Thank you God for Mommy, Daddy, Jesse-monster and Brenda. (She never fails to thank God for herself.) Thank you God for color red and purple. Thank you God for head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. (Just like the song.) Thank you God for missiaries (missionaries). Thank you God for Osiel, Ramon, Jorge, Mario, Raffy and Lori (the six missionaries our church has "adopted."). Thank you God for Daddy loves Mommy. Thank you God for air (meaning air conditioning). Thank you God for lions. Thank you God for ducks. Thank you God for tv, moonies (movies), mukick (music) and dancing. Thank you God for church. Thank you God for Jesus and the boat (her favorite Bible story). Thank you God for Grandma and Grandpa.
At some point as the prayer went on (and on), Mommy suggested that she pray for her friends. Brenda replied, "Hush Mommy, I'm praying!"
I'm probably forgetting a good bit of what she thanked God for that night. But what a blessing to be reminded that we can thank God for everything that comes into our lives.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Why Nebo-Sarsekim Is Actually Important to Your Life
Jeremiah 39:3
"Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon."
Let's be really honest here. Some verses in the Bible are tough to digest. Sometimes, it's hard to read the minute details of God's Word and see how they apply to your life. If you've read the book of Jeremiah, you've read the above verse. If you gave it any thought, you probably wondered what was the big deal? Why did God decide to tell us that there was an officer in Babylon named Nebo-Sarsekim? How does that help me get through my day?
Well, it turns out that Nebo-Sarsekim was a pretty important guy. Yesterday, a report came out stating that the British Museum has obtained a 2,500 year old cuneiform tablet containing the name of Nebo-Sarsekim. It was a receipt for a financial transaction that took place involving this individual. What's the point? Nebo-Sarsekim is only mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3, almost as an afterthought. His name is about the most inconsequential detail anywhere in the Bible. And now we have archeological evidence that he was an officer in Babylon, just as the Bible says! It is proof that even when recording the most inconsequential tidbits of information, the Bible records it accurately!
Now let me ask you a question: If we can trust the Bible when it tells us about the officers in Babylon, can we not also trust it when it comes to weightier matters involving my life, my marriage, my decisions and my eternity? If the Bible is right about Nebo-Sarsekim, is it not also right about sin, forgiveness, heaven and hell?
I propose that God decided to include Nebo-Sarsekim in the pages of Scripture so that thousands of years later we'd have one more piece of evidence that the Bible is, in fact, the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. And that's why Nebo-Sarsekim is important to my life and to yours!
"Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon."
Let's be really honest here. Some verses in the Bible are tough to digest. Sometimes, it's hard to read the minute details of God's Word and see how they apply to your life. If you've read the book of Jeremiah, you've read the above verse. If you gave it any thought, you probably wondered what was the big deal? Why did God decide to tell us that there was an officer in Babylon named Nebo-Sarsekim? How does that help me get through my day?
Well, it turns out that Nebo-Sarsekim was a pretty important guy. Yesterday, a report came out stating that the British Museum has obtained a 2,500 year old cuneiform tablet containing the name of Nebo-Sarsekim. It was a receipt for a financial transaction that took place involving this individual. What's the point? Nebo-Sarsekim is only mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3, almost as an afterthought. His name is about the most inconsequential detail anywhere in the Bible. And now we have archeological evidence that he was an officer in Babylon, just as the Bible says! It is proof that even when recording the most inconsequential tidbits of information, the Bible records it accurately!
Now let me ask you a question: If we can trust the Bible when it tells us about the officers in Babylon, can we not also trust it when it comes to weightier matters involving my life, my marriage, my decisions and my eternity? If the Bible is right about Nebo-Sarsekim, is it not also right about sin, forgiveness, heaven and hell?
I propose that God decided to include Nebo-Sarsekim in the pages of Scripture so that thousands of years later we'd have one more piece of evidence that the Bible is, in fact, the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. And that's why Nebo-Sarsekim is important to my life and to yours!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
2800
There is a number that is taking on increasing importance among Southern Baptists. That number is 2,800. Why is this number so special? No, it doesn't refer to 2,800 pot luck dinners, 2,800 baptist business meetings or 2,800 committees serving in every church!
This number represents the number of new missionaries needed by the International Mission Board of the SBC in order to appoint one missionary for every unreached people group left in the world. For those of you who pay attention when your pastor preaches on missions, there are a lot of people groups, most consisting of thousands upon thousands of people, that have no evangelical church or missionary presence of any kind. You may also know that not too long ago, this number was a lot bigger. That fact that it is now only 2,800 is proof that God is working.
Out of 45,000 churches, 2,800 missionaries might not seem like a great task. But it is when you consider that we currently only have around 5,200 missionaries and that adding 2,800 more represents $115 million more that our churches will need to give every year.
I really hope our churches will step up to the plate and accept this challenge. FBCH is gonna hear a lot about the number "2,800" in the next few years. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Baptist churches have decided that it's better to do missions on their own. They've decided that cooperation is no longer a good idea. Some of these churches choose to spend the money on themselves and they have big staffs, buildings and programs to show for it. So they must be on to something, right? Not so fast. For every SBC missionary we support, we see 91 baptisms per year. That's right, 91! There is not an SBC church out there that does missions individually that can compare with that. If you care more about the kingdom of God than you do your own local church, the best thing you can do is support missions through the IMB. I'll be praying about how my family can increase our giving to make 2,800 a reality. Would you do the same?
This number represents the number of new missionaries needed by the International Mission Board of the SBC in order to appoint one missionary for every unreached people group left in the world. For those of you who pay attention when your pastor preaches on missions, there are a lot of people groups, most consisting of thousands upon thousands of people, that have no evangelical church or missionary presence of any kind. You may also know that not too long ago, this number was a lot bigger. That fact that it is now only 2,800 is proof that God is working.
Out of 45,000 churches, 2,800 missionaries might not seem like a great task. But it is when you consider that we currently only have around 5,200 missionaries and that adding 2,800 more represents $115 million more that our churches will need to give every year.
I really hope our churches will step up to the plate and accept this challenge. FBCH is gonna hear a lot about the number "2,800" in the next few years. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Baptist churches have decided that it's better to do missions on their own. They've decided that cooperation is no longer a good idea. Some of these churches choose to spend the money on themselves and they have big staffs, buildings and programs to show for it. So they must be on to something, right? Not so fast. For every SBC missionary we support, we see 91 baptisms per year. That's right, 91! There is not an SBC church out there that does missions individually that can compare with that. If you care more about the kingdom of God than you do your own local church, the best thing you can do is support missions through the IMB. I'll be praying about how my family can increase our giving to make 2,800 a reality. Would you do the same?
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