Q of the Day: Is Luke 12:35-48 talking about unready Christians or non-Christians?

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Luke 12 - click here.

Second, read Luke 12:35-48.

Third, answer the following question: Is Jesus talking about unready Christians or non-Christians?

Soup Kitchen??? Me???

It's coming up on DBC's turn to serve the Soup Kitchen this weekend. We do this every month that has 5 Saturdays, and we take that last Saturday. Other churches are helping out on the other Saturdays.

I'm grateful for those who are involved in the Soup Kitchen frequently, including our youth, who do a great job of ministering to the kids at the Soup Kitchen. I want to especially thank Cynthia Mickler and Janice Stevens for the leadership they have provided over the last few years we've been involved.

I also want to encourage those of you who have not helped with the Soup Kitchen to help out. There are many ways to get involved, depending on your giftedness and availability. None of the jobs are all that demanding. We need shoppers to buy the groceries (at the church's expense), sandwich makers, food servers, people to play with the kids, and people willing to share Christ. The sandwich making is something that can happen in your own home or at DBC.

If you can help, please contact Cynthia.

I encourage participation in the Soup Kitchen for several reasons:

• There is a clear need in our community.
• Christ instructs us to help those in need.
• We have a sinful racial barrier in our town, and serving the Soup Kitchen is a chance for DBC to help break down that barrier. The Soup Kitchen happens in a part of town that's primarily African American, hosted by a predominantly African American church. By crossing this bridge, we are doing a part to tear down sinful walls in our city.
• Helping those in need, some of whom never thank us, helps us to get outside of ourselves and our self-serving pursuits. It requires us to take on Christ's humility (Philippians 2:1-11).
• We have seen spiritual ministry opportunities open up to young and old. Because someone made a sandwich and someone else served it, another person got to share Christ with someone who didn't know Him. That's happened several times.
• People know DBC as a teaching church. I want us to also be known as a doing church.

If you have never been involved, would you please make it your goal to be involved at least one time in the next 3 opportunities we have (Oct 31, Jan 30, May 29)?

# # #

I want to thank all those who have prayed and contributed to help Calvin from the youth group get the help he needs at Teen Challenge. All of the money has been raised, and he should enter this week. Now that his faith is in Christ, he has access to the power he needs to be freed from the bondage he's had in his life. I'm grateful he has been so willing to share his needs with us. The Youth Group will visit Calvin on visitation day on occasion.

Q of the Day: How can we be blessed if we're being mistreated?

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Luke 6 - click here.

Second, read Luke 6:22-23.

Third, answer the following question: How can we be blessed if we're being mistreated?

Q of the Day: What is the blessing for those who remain alert?

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Luke 12:35-40 - click here.

Second, read Luke 12:35-40.

Third, answer the following question: What is the awesome blessing for those who remain alert? What does it mean?

Q of the Day: What can we do specifically to "be alert"?

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Luke 12:35-40 - click here.

Second, read Luke 12:35-40.

Third, answer the following question: What can we do specifically to "be alert"?

Q of the Day: "Am I avoiding or embracing God's discipline?"

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Hebrews 12- click here.

Second, read Hebrews 12:4-13.

Third, answer the following question: Are there ways I'm avoiding God's discipline? How can I embrace it more?

Q of the Day: "Which errors to avoid in Heb 12:5-6?"

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Hebrews 12- click here.

Second, read Hebrews 12:4-13.

Third, answer the following question: What two errors does the proverb in vv. 5-6 seek to avoid?

Feel free to leave comments to discuss this question with others.

Q of the Day: "What is 'discipline'?"

(The video portion of the Question of the Day is being laid aside for a while.)

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Hebrews 12- click here.

Second, read Hebrews 12:4-13.

Third, answer the following question: What does "discipline" refer to in this passage?

Feel free to leave comments to discuss this question with others.

Q of the Day: "Which battle?"

(The video portion of the Question of the Day is being laid aside for a while.)

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Hebrews 12 - click here.

Second, read Hebrews 12:4-13.

Third, answer the following question: This entire passage is designed to help believers fight which particular battle? (And which verse reveals this?)

Feel free to leave comments to discuss this question with others.

Video Question of the Day, 10/15/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Psalm 1 - click here.

Second, read Psalm 1.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"What are the three blessings for those who walk in God's wisdom?"

God Will Get Holiness

The Christian life would have quite a few less bumps and bruises if we would realize just one simple truth: God will get holiness from us. It is an undeniable biblical truth. He will get it, and He will get it from us.

When we are born from above into new life, God commits Himself to the process of making us perfectly holy (as C.S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity). Whether we bargain for it or now, whether we are aware of it or not, whether we want it or not, God obligates Himself to the task of making us perfectly holy. We are declared holy when we are born from above, but we are made holy through this process over the rest of our lives on earth. (This is the classic distinction between justification and sanctification.)

That means that God, being God, will get what He wants. And what He wants from us is perfect holiness. So, that's exactly what He's going to get. Since He commits Himself to the process, we know it will not fail.

When we work against this process, we get the bumps and bruises. When we make decisions that are contrary to the process God has unfailingly committed Himself to, we are going to get bruised up, because we will be constantly banging into the unshakable process of God.

It's not a question of if God will get holiness from you, but how. He gives us choices on the how part of the process. If we welcome God's work in our lives to identify, raise, expose, and make us face our sin so that He can work it out of us, then we are cooperating with His process. If we deny our sin, or resist God's process of showing us our sin, or refuse to let Him work freely to work that sin out of us, we are working against the process. But the process will succeed, with our without our help.

Whenever someone discovers something ugly about themselves that they want to ignore, I say that they are blessed, because God has chosen this particular time to bring up this issue that has been part of that sinful mess for years. Right then is the time that God wants to work that out of us. God is at work! It may be uncomfortable, but it's more comfortable than constantly banging up against God's unstoppable process!

Give God free reign. When He exposes your sin, don't try to hide or pretend it's not there. Thank God for showing it to you so that it can be dealt with. And then work alongside God in dealing with it.

You'll have a whole lot fewer bruises that way.

Video Question of the Day, 10/14/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Luke 11 - click here.

Second, read Luke 11:27-28.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"How is it that Mary is truly blessed?"

Video Question of the Day, 10/13/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Ecclesiastes 10 - click here.

Second, read Ecclesiastes 10:8-20.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"What does verse 17 tells us about how we should vote?"

Question of the Day, 10/12/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Matthew 11.

Matthew 11.

Second, read Matthew 11:2-6.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"What does it mean to be blessed for not stumbling over Christ (sometimes translated, "takes no offense at Me")?"

Question of the Day, 10/8/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Isaiah 30.

Isaiah 30.

Second, read Isaiah 30:18-23.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"Those who wait on the Lord will be blessed. But who else in this passage is waiting for something? For what?"

The YGRV

What is the YGRV? The "Youth Group Revised Version." Heretical? Not at all.

The youth were studying Romans 2:17-29, which was is written to Jews who treat the externals of their religion as if they were sufficient for true faith. Paul soundly criticizes an "externals only" attitude. But how they studied it is actually a great technique to understand Scripture for anyone at any age.

The youth broke off into two teams and rewrote this passage to an audience of modern-day teenage Christians. It was a difficult exercise, but the results were excellent. Both teams clearly understood the passage because they so clearly reiterated the main ideas in modern language and circumstances. (You might even ask one of them about what they wrote.)

Here's the best part - I didn't have to teach a thing! They taught the passage to themselves. That's exactly what we want to create in all believers - the ability to study and understand Scripture on your own. Without it being an exercise "to learn how to study Scripture on your own," that's exactly what they did.

The lesson for us: One way to understand a passage is to try to rewrite it with modern trappings and language, without losing the meaning. If you can do with some level of accuracy, then you're obviously understanding the passage.

Question of the Day, 10/7/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Isaiah 30.

Isaiah 30.

Second, read Isaiah 30:18-23.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"What are the blessings in this passage for those who wait on the Lord?"

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Isaiah 30.

Isaiah 30.

Second, read Isaiah 30:18-23.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"How can the Lord of justice be the one who wants to have compassion on us?"

Question of the Day, 10/5/09

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Isaiah 30.

Isaiah 30.

Second, read Isaiah 30:18-23.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"What does it mean to wait on the Lord?"

First, open the following link in a new window to get to Matthew 5.

Matthew 5.

Second, read Matthew 5:1-12.

Third, click play on the following video to get the question of the day. (If you're looking at this through Facebook, there will be no video - instead, click here to go to the full blog.)

"Are the blessings described rewards or the natural consequences of being that kind of person?"