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Day’s Journal
Today was a great day. We woke after a good night’s sleep and prepared
for the Crown Small Group Training session for pastors. Jan is doing the presenting today and
Mario will be presenting tomorrow at the Business Leaders’ conference.
I was up a little earlier
than the rest so I went into the living room to work on the devotional for
today’s conference. Here’s the
outline:
Morning Devotional
Crown Pastors’ Small Group
Training
November 6, 2007
Who do I see when I look at
you?
1. People
who serve God in difficult circumstances
2. People
who are faithful to God’s call on their lives
3. People
that I am privileged to serve
(Put glass of water and an
aspirin on the podium)
Question. What do you take when you have a
headache? I take an aspirin. That’s the most important medicine when I
have a headache.
Matthew 22:35-40
1. Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind
2. Love
your neighbor as yourself.
The Pharisees had about 600
biblical commandments that they had identified in scripture. Being good government bureaucrats they
had expanded these to over 3,000 laws.
Master can you give me the one that is the most important? I just can’t get my arms around all these
rules.
It’s interesting that when
asked to name the most important commandment, Jesus felt compelled to list
the second one as well. He basically
said that there is one that is most important but it can’t be obeyed
without the second one as well.
So what does it mean to truly
love your neighbor as yourself? It’s
a struggle that has been with us ever since we first heard of the
requirement.
The young man asked Jesus “who”
his neighbor was. And Jesus was
pretty clear as he described the actions of a despised and hated man to
another one unable to help himself.
But this morning, for just a
few minutes, I want to focus on “How” we love our neighbor.
The Bible says that we are to
love our neighbor “as ourselves”. In
my mind this is the defining portion of this scripture.
So let’s talk about how we love
“ourselves”:
1. Food,
clothing and shelter
2. Medical
attention
3. Intellectual
stimulation
4. Job
skills
I believe that God uses our
family to teach the “how”
Luke 11:11-13
1. Bread
or stone?
2. Fish
or serpent?
3. Egg
or scorpion?
So what does this “Love your
neighbor as yourself” commandment have to do with a Crown Small Group
training session?
If you truly love those who God
gives you the ability to influence (as much as you love yourself), you will
want to give them the best possible opportunity to understand and live by
God’s design for their lives. That
includes His design for how they live their lives in every aspect…
Including financially.
(Take the aspirin)
Remember what I said earlier
about an aspirin being the most important medicine when I have a
headache? Yet it doesn’t work unless
I take it. That’s the relationship
between Loving God with all your heart… It doesn’t work unless you love
your neighbor as yourself.
Who do I see when I look at
you?
I see people who are preparing
so that they can love their neighbors as themselves.
Okay, so it was more like a 3
week sermon series than a devotional.
I learned time keeping from my pastor, Ron Gleaves.
Robert had expected 25
participants and that’s exactly the number that attended. Counting us white guys (and gals) there
were 32.
Jan did a great job of
setting the stage for the need for starting small group studies for
teaching God’s financial principles.
He had really done his homework and the participants were so very
surprised to see that Africa had more land that the United States, China,
Argentina, Western Europe and a few other countries combined, yet is only
1.5% of the total GNP of the world.
From that moment on he had everyone’s full attention.
I must say that every church
should be involved in teaching God’s financial principles to its
members. Whether you use Crown, Dave
Ramsey or some other material, get the truth out. It will change your members’ lives for
the better.
We had lunch down the street
at about 1pm. Rice, cassava and meat.
Dave and I skipped as we were trying to put the final touches on the
itinerary for the balance of our stay.
We think it’s pretty much nailed down.
After lunch Dave and I
slipped out and walked around the corner to see Audry
Waimes who, with her husband Dave, operates Equip
Liberia. They do some wonderful
Christian health education work and see tremendous decreases in the leading
causes of death in the communities where they train local villagers in the
basic health care issues. I don’t
have their website with me but you can Google “Equip Liberia” to find
them. They are in need of several 1
year or longer missionaries. A
doctor or nurse practitioner, a social services worker and others are
needed. Send an email if you’re
interested directly to Equip or to STS if that’s easier.
At the end of the conference
we loaded up and went back to the compound to rest for a few minutes before
Robert came by to pick us up for the Norman’s and supper. We ate with Ken, Hayne and Dave (I think)
who are here with God’s Kids to visit various orphanages and see how they
can help.
The meal, as usual, was
great. Rice, beef stew, plantains,
pineapple, etc.
I think I have unraveled the
problem with my internet connection so I’m going to quit and post this if
possible.
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