A Great Bible Study Tool
Every now and then I come across a tool that I find to be excellent and exactly what I need. A couple of weeks ago, I received a marvelous gift that will be so helpful to me that I wanted to pass on the information to you. I think you would find it useful too, especially in daily Bible study. I was given a “Journal 21 Daily Planner.” Over the years, my efforts to keep a daily calendar have been haphazard at best. Unless I need to plan for a wedding, a funeral, or a doctor’s appointment, I trust to memory. However, I will not be using the “Journal 21” as a calendar, but as a daily Bible Study Journal. I prefer the format of the “Journal 21” to any that I have ever seen before, because the numbers along the left edge of each daily page are small enough that they do not detract at all from my recording my daily reflections on my study of the Bible. On the other hand, because the hours from 8 AM to 9 PM are numbered on each page, if I want or need to put a appointment reminder on a page, I can. This way, too, my daily calendar will not look so disorganized, for my main purpose is using the “Journal 21” as a Bible Study tool. In addition, I will probably want to record important events that happen in the course of some unusual days, and there is room for that on each page too. This journal is so nice that it will draw me to it each day and help with my daily study, and I believe it will become a journal worth keeping from year to year as a reminder of what I studied and my thoughts at that time on different books of the Bible. It is of very high quality in construction; and of vital importance to me it is fountain pen friendly!
I recommend that you learn more about the Journal 21 from Quo Vadis Planners.
Another good website for you to see what the “Journal 21” looks like is at this link: http://www.shopwritersbloc.com/exacompta-journal-21-daily-desk-diary–soya-cov21.html
There are two other places I found online that sell the Journal 21, and I am sure there are others.
http://store.alkos.com/exd221o.html
http://www.vickerey.com/pex407.html
I think that because this will be my first year to use the “Journal 21,” that I will find additional ways to use it, but I know that I could not have designed a better one. I am posting this now, because you may be needing a new journal to begin a new year, and this is one to consider. If you have not used a journal before, this is the best one that I have ever found to begin with.
Disclaimer: I do not make any money from any sales by any company of the “Journal 21 Daily Planner,” I am just a very excited about beginning a new year with a truly useable and versatile journal and Bible study tool.
The Death of Lazarus and Jesus Compared
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church, Jesus on May 21st, 2009
We read about the death of Lazarus and Jesus resuscitating him in John 11. We can make these comparisons and contrasts. Perhaps you can think of others.
1. Jesus asked that the stone be rolled away from the tomb of Lazarus so Lazarus could walk out of the tomb. The women wondered who would roll the stone away for them, for it must have been quite heavy, on their way to Jesus’ tomb. They found the stone rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let the women and Jesus’ disciples into the tomb. In His resurrected body, Jesus could pass through walls. See John 20:26, “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”
2. Lazarus would die again, for Lazarus was resuscitated from the dead, not resurrected. Later, after he died a second time, Lazarus would be resurrected at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
3. Lazarus’ dead body decayed, for his family was concerned about the stench of his body after four days. Jesus died, but even after three days in the tomb, Jesus’ body did not decay. See Acts 13:34-35 in reference to Jesus’ death and burial: “The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: ”I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ So it is stated elsewhere: ‘You will not let your Holy One see decay.’” Perhaps even more clear, see “Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay” (Acts 2:31).
4. Lazarus had to be unwrapped from the grave clothes; whereas, Jesus passed through His. The fact that Jesus’ body did not decay and He passed through His wrappings give good reasons (among others) for why the Shroud of Turin is probably authentic.
5. Jesus told those present that if they believed they would see God’s glory. They believed, and Jesus acted because they believed, and they saw Lazarus raised from the dead by Jesus. After Jesus died, they doubted. Seeing Jesus’ glory as raised from the dead, they came to believe in Him and His resurrection. After Jesus was raised from the dead, He acted because they did not believe.
6. Jesus prayed and knew that His Father would raise Lazarus from the dead. The Father and the Son worked together in raising Lazarus from the dead and defeating death. It was not the case that the Father wanted Lazarus to die and Jesus wanted Lazarus to live. The Father sent Jesus to die in our behalf, and Jesus was willing to die in our behalf. Then, the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus said that He would lay down His life and then take it up again. The Father and the Son worked together in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
7. Lazarus’ death demonstrated the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Because Lazarus died and Jesus raised him from the dead, many believed; while some wanted to murder Lazarus because Jesus had raised him from the dead. Jesus’ death was a substitutionary death for our sins, so God could be just and merciful in forgiving those who repent and believe in Jesus.
Can you think of other comparisons and contrasts?
Thoughts on the Death of Lazarus
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church on May 21st, 2009
In John 11, Martha and Mary both tell Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw Mary and the Jews weeping, John reports that Jesus “was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved;” also, Jesus wept. Reflecting on this event in Jesus’ life and ministry influenced me to think of “Seven Things About Jesus Raising Lazarus from the Dead.”
1. Though Jesus was the Creator of all, and though all things were made through Him, Jesus was greatly disturbed and wept over the death of Lazarus (see John 1:10).
2. Though Jesus knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead before He even left for Bethany, and even though He knew the moment Lazarus died; four days after Lazarus died, Jesus wept publicly with Mary, Martha, and the Jews.
3. Was Jesus thinking of His own death when He contemplated the death of Lazarus, and so He wept?
4. Was Jesus thinking of now Lazarus might feel, being brought back from Paradise, and so Jesus wept?
5. Was Jesus thinking about all who must die before the work of His Church was finished on the Earth and He returned from heaven? Was Jesus thinking of the future death of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, His disciples, and others? Was Jesus thinking about the martyr’s death; such as the deaths of Stephen and James in the Book of Acts?
6. Did Jesus weep because He knew that death was an enemy? Even though Jesus wept, Jesus could also rejoice knowing that by His death He would take away the sting and victory of death over all who followed Him. The Apostle Paul wrote, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
7. Did Jesus weep because, as the Apostle Paul later wrote, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15)?
Why do you think Jesus wept? What reasons seem to be the best in your mind?
Mark of the Christian by Francis Schaeffer
Posted by LGP in Christianity on April 3rd, 2009
Recently, a friend of mine reminded me of this poen from Francis Schaeffer’s short work, Mark of the Christian. It is Book Three in Volume Four of The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer A Christian Worldview. Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982. This poem is at the end of this short work by Schaeffer.
Lament
by Evangeline Paterson
Weep, weep for those
Who do the work of the Lord
With a high look
And a proud heart.
Their voice is lifted up
In the streets, and their cry is heard.
The bruised reed they break
By their great strength, and the smoking flax
They trample.
Weep not for the quenched
(For their God will hear their cry
And the Lord will come to save them)
But weep, weep for the quenchers
For when the Day of the Lord
Is come, and the vales sing
And the hills clap their hands
And the light shines
Then their eyes shall be opened
On a waste place,
Smouldering,
The smoke of the flax bitter
In their nostrils,
Their feet pierced
By broken reed-stems . . .
Wood, hay, and stubble,
And no grass springing.
And all the birds flown.
Weep, weep for those
Who have made a desert
In the name of the Lord.
(end of quote)
Lessons I Learned from Francis Schaeffer No. 10
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church, Lifestyle on March 5th, 2009
Lesson 10. “God calls some to leave, and some to stay, and I am not the Holy Spirit.”
In January of 1979, I returned to a Bible-believing faith in Christianity and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My denomination’s teachings began to turn me away from trusting the Bible and my common sense as I was leaving high school and began attending the university. After graduating from seminary in 1973, I struggled to conduct ministry in three different churches without the Bible-believing faith that I had been raised to rely on in serving God and others.
Francis Schaeffer’s discussions and finally his film series How Should We Then Live? (enabled by the Holy Spirit) led me to a saving, biblical faith in January of 1979. Afterwards, I discussed with Dr. Schaeffer whether or not I should stay in my liberal denomination or leave. He said to me, “God calls some to leave (these liberal denominations), and some to stay in them (where they must continue to remain faithful), and I am not the Holy Spirit.” He also went on to say that if he had stayed in his liberal denomination that he would not have been able to be as creative as he had been. He also insisted that if I stayed in that I would need to remain faithful to Christ and stand up and speak up regarding my faith and the Bible’s teachings. Another statement he made I found to be true in my subsequent experiences staying in the liberal denomination. He said, “The theological liberals would rather destroy the church than have it go conservative.”
The first thing I did in early 1979, was tell my congregation that I had now become a Bible-believing Christian and what that meant and how that differed from what my denomination taught. Three families wanted me to leave the church after I told the congregation that from now on I was going to be preaching the Bible as the true word of God. These three families called in the regional minister of my denomination who in a congregational meeting wanted me to resign from the church, but I refused. I continued to serve that church, and it grew, for another 9 years before moving from Rochester, MN back to Edmond, OK. I believe I followed the Holy Spirit in staying, in continuing to learn from Francis and Edith Schaeffer as I stayed in Rochester, and in returning to Oklahoma. The liberals finally killed that congregation about 20 years after I left, and it no longer exists in Rochester, MN.
As I conclude the 10 Lessons I learned from Francis Schaeffer, I will add a more humorous note, with serious consequences. After becoming a Bible-believing Christian in 1979, I remember telling Fran that I would need to re-learn everything, and I asked him how I was going to do it. He replied, “I don’t know.” What God did do, as I became teachable, was lead me to read all I could of Fran and Edith’s works as well as the works of Charles G. Finney. In April of 1979, I was reading Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion and I believe the Holy Spirit inspired me to compile and edit Finney’s Principles of Prayer from that book.
Later, as I continued to learn, I compiled and edited 16 volumes of Finney’s works. Most recently, I have begun a new Finney’s Principles Series of Finney’s lectures and sermons on Romans, the first being, Principles of Righteousness.
So, even though Fran did not know how I was going to re-learn everything, the Holy Spirit did know and I have continued to learn ever since.
You might also like to learn more about Francis Schaeffer from two of his biographies, now online for you to read for free at http://www.labri.net .
Copyright 2009 by L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
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Prayer Steps to Serenity
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A Psalm and A Prayer
Related Reading:
Lessons I Learned from Francis Schaeffer No. 9
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church, Lifestyle on February 20th, 2009
Lesson 9. If your choice is between perfection and nothing, you will always have nothing. Don’t expect a perfect church, pastor, elder, people, things, or situations in this fallen world in which we live.
Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
Many people look for the perfect church, cannot find one, and then do not attend or participate as members in a church. Others look for the perfect pastor, perfect preacher, or perfect Sunday school teacher, and cannot find one so they flit from church to church. Others find they do not have the perfect wife or the perfect husband or the perfect marriage, so they get a divorce and search for a new spouse. Others find they are pregnant in a way that is not perfect or that they are going to give birth to a child that is not perfect, so they choose to have an abortion. Some cannot find the perfect job, so they do not work at all. In many ways, people refuse to possess something or enjoy a relationship because it is not perfect.
Jesus commanded us to “Be perfect.” That is the goal Jesus has set for us as His followers. Jesus set a high standard for us, the highest standard possible, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is our goal, but we will not be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect each moment of the day in thought, word, and deed. By God’s grace, we can overcome the power of sin and resist temptation (or follow Jesus’ way of escape). However, we will not do so perfectly day after day after day, partly because we still do battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Schaeffer taught that in Christ we can be substantially healed spiritually in this life, spiritually healed enough to know that Christ has made a difference in our lives (and others may see this difference too). If the choice we set before ourselves is perfect spiritual healing day by day without a slip or nothing, we will have nothing.
We can set before ourselves the choice to be perfect with the means of grace that God has given us; such as, the Bible, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the example of other Christians and the Church throughout history, the Bible-believing Church, the sacraments, Bible-believing sermons, Christian counselors, Christian families, and other means of grace that you might think of as you are thanking God for His blessings to you. But if we will be satisfied only with perfection or nothing with regard to our appropriation of the means of grace, we will always have nothing.
You might also like to learn more about Francis Schaeffer from two of his biographies, now online for you to read for free at http://www.labri.net .
Copyright 2009 by L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
International Bible Lessons
Prayer Steps to Serenity
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A Psalm and A Prayer
How Would You Describe Your Church?
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church, Lifestyle, Prayer on February 19th, 2009
The Cumberland Presbyterian magazine is usually worth reading from cover to cover. Great articles all the way through. In the February 2009 issue, Jonathan Clark wrote an article about some of the trials that early CP ministers and churches faced. To learn more about the CP Magazine, go to http://www.cpmag.org .
Today, I wrote some of my thoughts to some others on an e-mail discussion list called “The Cumberlist.” Here are some of the thoughts I shared that are miscellaneous thoughts that relate to some recent discussions.
I noticed that some of the key words in the articles describing the CPC in the Cumberland Presbyterian magazine were “loving, nonjudgmental, inclusive, warm, family” (these words come top of mind). I wonder if the CPC would grow better if we emphasized more in our churches some of these words from the 1900’s when the CPC was rapidly growing, “praying, repenting, Bible, Holy Spirit, revival.” While trying to be inclusive and nonjudgmental, how can we also lovingly preach the need for people to repent? Or, have we decided to disregard the need to repent or repentance rather than preach as John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter preached: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38)? It seems to me that true love will motivate us to preach repentance according to the teachings of the Bible regarding the moral law, rather than in our efforts to be inclusive and nonjudgmental we encourage murderers and thieves to keep on murdering and stealing as Christians or people of standing within a congregation. I would guess that the ministers who suffered and were shot at for their preaching (that Jonathan Clark mentioned in his CP article) were shot at for preaching that murderers and thieves needed to repent and stop their killing and stealing.
How to Prepare for Pastoral Ministry
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church, Lifestyle on February 17th, 2009
In today’s world we find many ways of conducting pastoral ministry. If God has called us to be pastors, whether or not we have been called by a church to be a pastor, we can conduct pastoral ministry where God has placed us. We don’t need to call ourselves “pastor” or be called “pastor” to conduct pastoral ministry. Thousands (millions?) of lay people conduct pastoral ministry everyday and all the time while working regular jobs or being retired.
Let’s pray and think outside the box. If you are seeking a call to be the pastor of a church, in what ways are you conducting pastoral ministry now, while you are seeking that call? Sit down and write it out. When applying for a church position, you can articulate the pastoral ministry you are now performing with God’s call on your life and in God’s power, but without, perhaps, “an official call.” You can share with committees, sessions, pastors, friends, and others how you would like to help others perform the ministry that God has called them to where they are, even though they are not “pastors.” Hearing about the effective pastoral ministry of a candidate “without a confirmed call” might influence those involved in the hiring of a new pastor to call him or her.
Jesus said, “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). When a pulpit becomes open, the first people that a church might consider would be those who can demonstrate that they have been faithful with whatever ministry God has given them where He has placed them. I firmly believe there are more opportunities today to conduct pastoral ministry than there have ever been before in the history of the church and the world. If we think and pray, we will embrace the opportunities God shows us and Bible-believing and Christ-centered denominations will grow to the point that they have more growing churches available than they have pastors available to serve them.
The Pastoral Ministry and the Pulpit Ministry
Recently, I shared my thoughts on this topic with some ministers and members in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, I thought I would also share them here as well.
“Regarding the recent discussion on pastoral ministry, after more than 35 years of ministry experience, these are some of my thoughts.
1. If God has called you to ministry, God is your boss. I have only one boss, and not two, God. I see myself as accountable to the Red River Presbytery and to following our CP Confession of Faith, which I think is true to the Bible. Perhaps I think this way partly because I was born, raised, and live west of the Mississippi River. I wouldn’t know.
2. If God has called you to pastoral ministry, you can do pastoral ministry whether or not you are the pastor of a church. This has nothing to do with Presbyterian polity. You are either exercising your pastoral gifts and ministry where you are or you are not, inside or outside of a congregation as a pastor or not.
3. If God has called you to ministry, God has gifted you for ministry, and God expects you to use your gifts for ministry wherever you find yourself, perhaps in a way that no one has ever thought of before.
4. With God’s direction and empowerment, you can use your pastoral gifts wherever you find yourself. You can, perhaps, reach more people with the gospel and your pastoral gifts outside of a congregation (wherever you find yourself) than inside a congregation as a pastor. It is certainly possible for one gifted and called to the pastoral ministry (whether or not his or her call has been affirmed in the traditional Presbyterian way) to minister to more people in a week than many pastors with a pulpit ministry minister to in a congregation of any size.
Of course these are all my opinions, but most of the time our thinking is too small or limited regarding what is pastoral ministry and how to do pastoral ministry. We may find ourselves in a very small church (I am the pastor of a very small church), but that does not mean that we must have a small ministry or a ministry that is limited only to those in our congregation or our denomination. We need to look for ways to reach people outside of the Church, outside of our denomination, outside of our congregation, using all the gifts that God has given us. If we are blessed and honored to be serving God outside of a local congregation, using our pastoral gifts outside of a congregation may be God’s way for us to have a more effective ministry than many pastors conduct who find themselves in a pulpit ministry each Sunday.
Personally, I could submit a list of a dozen pastoral ministry options for people to pray and think about conducting that have nothing to do with being the pastor of a church, or being called first to be a pastor of a church, or having presbytery affirm your call. Consider your natural talents. They are the gifts of God. Consider your spiritual gifts. They are the gifts of God. Pray and think. The Holy Spirit will show you how to use all of these gifts to serve Christ wherever you find yourself. If you do these things, if and when the time is right, you may or may not be called to the pulpit ministry, but you can always have a pastoral ministry. If you are not called to the pulpit ministry, I would almost bet that if you do these things, wherever you find yourself, your ministry will be more effective than many of us who preach each Sunday.
If we learn to pray and think outside the box, we will find ways to conduct pastoral ministry that other ministers, congregations, presbyteries, and church leaders have never thought about, and we will reach people for Christ as He leads and empowers.”
Lessons I Learned from Francis Schaeffer No. 8
Posted by LGP in Christianity, Church, Lifestyle, Prayer on February 12th, 2009
Lesson 8. Pray for the people of the Lord’s choice to come and pray for Him to keep the others away. Pray for the Lord to meet your needs without asking for money.
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matthew 9:36-38).
The motivation for our evangelism is not to build a bigger and bigger church, to get more people to help pay the bills and the pastor’s salary, to have control over the lives of more and more people, to have the biggest and most impressive building (or campus) in town, or to feed our egos. From time to time, perhaps, we have suspected the motives of those who have been evangelistic in their efforts and who have attempted to start a church or increase the size of their church.
Jesus’ motivation for coming into our world, for doing the work of evangelism, for calling forth disciples to help Him spread the good news of His coming, was compassion. God the Father loves us. Jesus the Son of God loves us. Because God is love, the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). Ultimately, God will indwell every true believer and will fill them with His love and presence, “So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them (1 John 4:16).
When Francis and Edith Schaeffer began their work in Switzerland, that became known as L’Abri, which means “The Shelter,” the love of God motivated them. They did not begin their work with the motivation to grow a great work. They began their work with the compassion of Jesus Christ, to speak the truth in love, to show the love of Christ by their example and lives, to lead others to know and love Christ too so they might be filled with the love of God and know Him for eternity. The love of Jesus Christ in them, their love for people and their love for the truth, motivated them to do what they did as they did it with the Holy Spirit’s leading.
As they began their work and it grew, they prayed for the people of the Lord’s choice to come to their home or to their meetings when they went forth from their home to reach out to others (in churches or in restaurants or in college lecture halls, for example, wherever the Lord called them to go). They prayed for the people of the Lord’s choice for them to meet and talk to. They prayed for the questions that would be asked and for the right answers to be given and given in the right way. They prayed for the Holy Spirit to do His work as they did the work the Holy Spirit led them to do. They also prayed that the Lord would keep all others away. These “others” might just be looking for free hospitality and lodging instead of coming to them for the services that the Lord had prepared them to render. These “others” might be disruptive people or “tares” that Satan might sow to disrupt their service to others as they gave honest answers to honest questions.
As the work grew, they prayed for the workers of the Lord’s choice, and for God to make it clear who these workers should be who would join them. They took the time to prayerfully and carefully prepare these workers to join the work. They prayed that “false workers” would not be made a part of the work.
As their work grew, they decided not to try to hang on to people or try to persuade people to stay in their work, either as students or workers, but pray for the Holy Spirit to lead people both into and out of their work. Fran said that this helped them keep from becoming a cult.
Finally, they prayed for the Lord to meet their needs day by day without asking for money. This approach enabled them to see more clearly the leading of the Lord as their prayers for God to meet their needs were answered. It also enabled others to see God answering their prayers, that they might know the one true God is a God of compassion who can be trusted to keep His promises and meet the needs of His people.
As I have conducted my ministry over the past thirty years, to the best of my ability I have tried to follow these same principles in building my church and otherwise. The Lord has never failed me or my family. In the church I serve, Stonegate Church, we believe that everyone who comes in the door has been drawn there for a purpose, whether for a long time or a short time as the Holy Spirit leads. We have also experienced the Lord drawing people out of our church that were or had become “tares” in our midst. We have experienced the Lord providing the financial resources we need in a variety of ways. We have experienced and know the love of God in each others lives as we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and have sought to know and do His will according to the Scriptures in the power of the Holy Spirit.
You might also like to learn more about Francis Schaeffer from two of his biographies, now online for you to read for free at http://www.labri.net .
Copyright 2009 by L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
International Bible Lessons
Prayer Steps to Serenity
Serenity Groups
A Psalm and A Prayer