Sovereignty of God Part 1

http://churchintheboro.com/media/sermon/soveriengty-of-god-part-1

This is my latest sermon on the Sovereignty of God. It's based out the first part of Romans 8:28, which says, "God works all things for our good." I hope you enjoy.

What does leadership development look like?

I have seen the raising up of leaders in my church as two part process. The first part would be recognizing the gifting of leadership and I would definitely describe this as an organic process. The gift of leadership is something that is given to man by the grace of God. We must look throughout our church body to see who naturally leads people and to see who people naturally follow. Who tends to do well at guiding discussion in small groups? Who is already discipling people? Who among you are faithful men and take initiative to get things done? These are the questions we must ask ourselves when searching for leadership gifting. These men must show the character of a leader as described in 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus. 2 Tim 2:2 specific tells us to "commit ourselves to [b]faithful[/b] men, who will be able to teach others also."

Once you have recognized these men the process then the process becomes more structured. At my local church we do not yet have elders set in, so we instead have our leader who has set up a group of guys we call "Leaders in Development" or LID for short. Each one of the LID guys has a certain ministry area that they are in charge of; mercy ministries, worship team, financial team, etc. Our leader meets with us twice a month, once with the guys and another with the guys and their wives. At these meetings we will go over our specific areas of ministry and give updates as to how things are going with the administration of our areas of responsibility. We will also discuss the progress of different people we are discipling and areas of personal growth as well. Sometimes these meetings will have formal teaching times.

The primary part of developing a leader comes with a very simple but important process. A leader in development must be given tasks to complete and held accountable to complete those tasks in a specific time alloted. A main principle of being a leader is doing what you say you're going to do when you say you are going to do it. So, simply given someone something to do, watching to see how they administrate the process of getting it done and coaching them afterwards on ways they can improve is the essence of leadership development.

Paul's Imprisonment...Not so Bad

I was surprised at what I found on this topic of Paul’s experience while in prison. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, “Roman criminal law did not recognize the imprisonment of free persons as a form of punishment.” Unlike our culture today, Roman imprisonment was simply a way of holding the prisoner until a trial could be performed. There was no such thing as habeas corpus (right to a speedy trial) under Roman law which meant that the time of imprisonment could have been quite lengthy before a trial was given.

During this holding time friends and family were, in most cases, allowed access to the prisoners. Albert A. Bell Jr. writes in his book Exploring the New Testament World, “Some magistrates did gain reputations for treating prisoners cruelly, but this was a matter of individual personalities, not of Roman policy.” The prison systems of today in our culture would be more regulated and be used for holding for trial as well as punishment. The sentence of a 1^st century criminal would never be imprisonment. The closest punishment similar to imprisonment would be exile, but as far as we know Paul was never exiled.

Acts 28:16 tells us that Paul was living by himself, most likely in a house, with a soldier guarding him. This description would give more of an idea of house arrest as opposed to imprisonment that we would think of. In Acts 28:20 Paul talks about being in chains, but this was most likely referring to his transport. Prisoners were usually only chained while being transported from one city to another. Acts 20:23 says, “…they came to his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.”

Paul was still able to do ministry work even though he was imprisoned. As a result of these points Bell seems to conclude, “Being ‘in prison’ in ancient Rome begins to sound more like a minor inconvenience than a fate to be dreaded.” I would have to agree with Bell's statement. I'm not sure what the application is for knowing this, but it is always helpful to have as much information as possible when reading the scriptures in order to come to the most accurate interpretation.

It's been a while

The reason I have not blogged for a while is because I have been focusing most of my writing on my classes for The Trilogy Project. I've decided that instead of trying to keep up with a blog, I will start posting some of my work from my classes. I hope you enjoy. =)

Is it Enough?

Is salvation enough? This is the question that bears down on my heart today. Christine and I have been struggling with infertility for over 4 years now. We are in a church full of babies and everyone around us seems to have them at will. We, on the other hand have been to two different doctors and have spent close to $5000 out of pocket between MRI's, HSG's, Fertility Medicine, Fertlity Tests, and finally surgery this past December. Thank God for teacher insurance. After all of this we have yet to have success in this area.

We were riding home tonight from our friend's house after another month of disappointment. As I was driving down the road I was pretty bummed out and I could tell Christine was as well. I started to ask the question of "why?" when I felt God say to me, "If all I did is save you, wouldn't that be more than enough?" The answer, of course, is a resounding YES!

God saved me. He really saved me. He called me out of darkness, gave me his righteousness, gave me all the inheritance as an heir the throne of grace, and adopted me into His family. He set His love upon me, came off of His throne and paid the punishment that I deserve for my sin all in the name of love. He not only saved me from sin and hell, but he loves me. He loves me with a love that surpasses knowledge; a love that will never be fully comprehended this side of eternity. Because of this he works everything my good. All of the circumstances of my life have been foreordained before the foundations of the earth to bless me and glorify Him. Not only that but God commands that I be happy and gives me all the capacity to have unending joy in Him. This is a joy and pleasure that is unmatched by anything this world has to offer (including the joy of having a baby).

So, the answer is yes. I chose to believe God's promises and deny my flesh, my emotions and Satan, who all want to drag me through the mud of discouragement and despair. I am free of that.

There are many different stories in the bible that speak on this subject. Right now I am reminded of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar tells these three men that He will burn them in the furnace if they do not bow down and worship the gold statue. This is how they replied.

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

This is were I stand right now with the infertility issue. I believe, without a doubt, that God will one day bless us with a child that is our own. But even if He doesn't, I want to make it clear to you, reader, that His salvation is enough.