Reblogged from Walter Bright:

Billy Graham tells a story about asking a young boy how to get to the post office in a small town. Well, after getting directions, Billy invited the boy to come to his meeting that evening, “you can hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven.” The boy’s response was hilarious – he said, “I don’t think I will be there. you don’t even know your way to the post office.” This is an excerpt from the leadership secrets of Billy Graham

Reblogged from Walter Bright:

Mercy is a description of God and his very nature The earth is full of God’s mercy (Ps. 119:64). God’s mercy reaches to the heavens (Ps. 36:5; 57:10). God’s mercy endures forever (Ps. 100:5). God is rich in mercy (Eph. 2:4). Mercy is also a description of God’s relationship with people God’s mercy is the ground for a person’s appeal to God in times of trouble (Ps. 59:16). Hope comes alive in people because of God’s mercy (1 Peter 1:3). God hears us when we pray because of his mercy (Ps. …

I will begin my 40 days prayer for community in three days and will continue to share articles, prayer tips and encouragement from SeekGodfortheCity. Today we are going to focus on prayer-walking or praying near the people you are praying for.

There’s a story rolling in everyone’s life. God has done and will do good things in people’s lives. He does good things long before anyone opens their life to Christ. It’s the kindness of God that leads anyone to repentance (Romans 2:4). Meeting, following and serving Christ is always a lifelong story. The typical stories have multiple encounters and experiences that turn people closer to or further from Christ. Someone researching effective ways to lead people to Christ found that most people have no less than five significant encounters in which the message of the gospel registers at the heart level.

On the verge of something good. As we connect with people in practical ways, those deep heart connections increase rapidly. I love to assume that God is on the verge of doing something good in the lives of everyone I see in order to bring about yet one more significant encounter with His love. I enjoy getting in on the story by praying my way, or “noticing” my way into what God may be up to next. Praying for people is the simplest way I know to start seeing them from God’s point of view—to notice what they’re facing or to get a hunch about what God may have underway.

Prayerwalk to get in step with what God is doing. When we live at too fast a pace, we can miss God’s invitations to become part of the story He’s unfolding in people’s lives. Prayerwalking is a way to slow down and begin to naturally pick up on the concerns of God. His heart begins to merge with ours. We allow what causes Him excitement or anguish to affect us in the same way.

Prayerwalking is praying near the people you are praying for, in the places where they live or work. Prayerwalking isn’t really about walking around. It’s praying with your eyes and heart wide open so you can take notice of what God may be wanting to do in their lives. You can pray quietly with your eyes open without people necessarily knowing that you are praying for them. Be on the scene without making one.

What to pray You don’t have to have an official “prayer request” to start praying creatively. Try praying in these three ways:

1. Thank your way into God’s story. How has God provided, protected or guided them? We’re told to offer “thanksgiving on behalf of all people” (1 Timothy 2:1). When you think about it, it’s not hard to do. What you’re doing is “noticing” what God may be doing. Such “noticing” makes it easier to pray and easier to see what part God may give you in what’s coming next.

2. Notice what they may be facing. What fears, pain or ambitions are driving them? What relationships or disappointments have paralyzed them? What turmoil or crisis may be overwhelming them? Pray accordingly.

3. Pray with scripture. Almost any of the passages of scripture in this prayer guide can give you ideas about how to pray.

Resource:

vai SeekGodfortheCity

Caring prayers, tangible kindness and well-timed words. Think of your prayers for others as accelerating what God has already been doing. Since God’s work is always a story, your best praying will be part of an ongoing story. We know that prayer is more than some kind of quick-fix for problems. It’s confusing to think of utilizing prayer as a procedure that, if performed correctly, will bring about “results.” Instead, God delights in our praying as a way of enlisting us into His work and His purpose. Prayer is a way of collaborating with God.

God is already on the move. Prayer does not push God to get started. He’s already doing good things in everyone’s life. And He desires to do even better things. Instead of holding off the worst, think of your prayers as asking God to bring on the best.
As you pay attention and take notice of what God may be doing in the lives of others, you will often recognize simple ways for you to do small acts of kindness that can reveal God’s great love to them. Putting God’s love on display often opens ways to present the gospel with sensitivity and clarity. As you take notice of what God may be doing in their lives and ask Him to advance His work (prayer), you will often find that there are simple ways for you to do small acts of kindness that can reveal God’s great love (care). Putting God’s love on display often opens ways to present the gospel with sensitivity and clarity (share). It’s a simple sequence that we can pursue together: Persistent, life-giving prayer for others often leads to opportunities to care, displaying God’s love, which opens the way to share the gospel, declaring God’s love.

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Co-work with God

Co- work with God in the story of His love. The story started early. When did God begin to do good things in your life? Was it only after you became a Christian? Actually, the Bible is very clear about God doing good things in people’s lives long before they even know about Him. There’s a story of kindness in every person’s life.

God delights in showing His premeditated, forever love with tangible acts of kindness. Here’s why: The Bible says that “the kindness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). God’s kindness never coerces us. Instead, His goodness “leads” us through the events of our lives to the point where we can turn, or repent. God will never force people to turn around. We have to do our own turning.
God desires relationship. God is motivated with unstoppable passion to regain relationship with people. He deeply “desires” that “all people” would “come to the knowledge of the truth” about Him (1 Timothy 2:4). Knowing the truth about God can open relationship with Him. That’s what being “saved” is all about (again, 1 Timothy 2:4).

Two ways to co-work with God. Because of His constant desire for every single person to know Him, God gives us two simple but powerful ways to work with Him in accomplishing His purpose:

1. Pray for every person. First, and most important, He wants us to pray for every person. “First of all, I urge that…prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all people” (1 Timothy 2:1).

2. Convey and display the message with perfect timing. Second, God gives His people opportunity to make the message clear about Jesus with divine timing, “the testimony to be given in its proper time” (1 Timothy 2:7).

For more info about the 40 days prayer effort go to SeekGodfortheCity

For the past 12 or more days the story of a young man named Jeremy Lin continues to build and captivate the sports world. The story is fascinating because just a short while ago no one was talking about him and his untapped potential. In fact he was an unknown benchwarmer who was often mistaken for a trainer by Madison Square Garden security guards. But today, the 23 year old has become an overnight sensation, and even Taiwan and China are both claiming him as their own.

We have seen this same scenario before – people who have been over-looked, benched and passed over many times only to somehow rise and shoot for the stars. Jennifer Hudson, for example didn’t even make the top five when she competed on American Idol and got booted out only to go on to win an Academy Award for best supporting actress, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, an NAACP Image Award, a Screen Actors Guide Award and a Grammy Award.

Tom Brady is another example. He got passed over for six other passers and about 192 other players. But today, through him, the Patriots have earned trips to the Super Bowl, winning three of them. He has won two Super Bowl MVP Awards, was selected to seven Pro Bowls, and holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season.

King David also was passed over, looked down upon and wasn’t even invited to the draft for king of Israel. When God wanted to raise up a king for Israel He sent the prophet  Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint for Israel a king. When the prophet arrived, Jesse had all his sons but one lined up for the top job. When the prophet asked Jesse if these were all his sons – he said, well, there is another but he is ‘just a boy’ – just a shepherd boy. David was brought to the prophet and the prophet anointed him king over Israel.

You see, when everybody sees you as just a shepherd boy – God sees something different – God sees a king.

God sees your potential, God sees you ability, God sees more in you. And He is always willing to tap into your potential. When all others see is just a rod in your hand – God sees an instrument that can part the red sea. When all others see is a little boy’s lunch of fish and bread – God sees a happy meal on the kid’s menu that can feed thousands. God sees the potential in you!

So take courage and be not dismay, for your time is in God’s hand. You will be discovered - you will write that book – you will sign that contract – you will get that deal – you will break out – you will break-through – you will be recognized - you will be acknowledged - you will be counted – you will make your mark.

Don’t give up – your time is coming. Nothing can stop it!

Love does not envy or boast

Love is not arrogant or rude

Love does not insist on its own way

Love is not irritable or resentful

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing

Love rejoices with the truth

Love bears all things

Love believes all things

Love hopes in all things

Love endures all things.

Love never ends

…Pursue Love…

Scripture Reading from: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; 1 Corinthians 14:1

Luther left Wittenberg to attend the Diet convinced he would finally get the hearing he had requested in 1517. As he was ushered into the Diet, Luther was awed to see Emperor Charles V himself. He was surrounded by his advisers and representatives of Rome, Spanish troops decked out in their parade best, electors, bishops, territorial princes, and representatives of great cities. In the midst of this august assembly sat a table with a pile of books.

Luther was asked if he had written the books, and if there was a part of them he wished to recant. He was taken aback; this was not going to be a debate but a judicial hearing. Luther became confused, stumbled, and begged for another day: “This touches God and his Word. This affects the salvation of souls. … I beg you, give me time.”

He was given one day, and back in his quarters he wrote, “So long as Christ is merciful, I will not recant a single jot or tittle.”

The next day’s business at the Diet delayed Luther’s return until evening. Candlelight flickered off the crowd of dignitaries jammed into the great hall.

He was asked again, “Will you defend these books all together, or do you wish to recant some of what you have said?” Luther replied with a short speech, which he repeated in Latin.

There were three kinds of books in the stack, he declared. Some were about the Christian faith and good works, and these he certainly wouldn’t retract. Some attacked the papacy and to retract these would be to encourage tyranny. Finally, in some he attacked individuals (and, Luther admitted, perhaps too harshly), but still these couldn’t be retracted because these people defended papal tyranny.

Surely, the reply came, one individual could not call into doubt the tradition of the entire church! Then the examiner declared, “You must give a simple, clear, and proper answer. … Will you recant or not?”

Luther replied, “Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning … then I cannot and will not recant, because it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience.”

Then he probably added, “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen.

Are you willing to die for what you believe in?

Are you willing to defend the truth at any cost?

What are some truths worth dying for?

What are some truths you are willing to risk  it all for?

Excerpt

 via The Accidental Revolution

This post concludes our four-part series on the ethics of birth control. Here, Mark Driscoll discusses five “levels” of birth control and the biblical and scientific amorality of each of them.

Adapted from Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions.

There’s no doubt the Bible says children are a blessing, but the Bible doesn’t seem to address the specific topic of birth control. Is this a black-and-white topic, or does it fall under liberties?

Level 1: No Birth Control

At the very least, every Christian married couple should cover every aspect of their marriage with prayer, including future children God may bless them with. Through prayer, the Christian couple is demonstrating faith in the goodness and sovereignty of God over all of life, including the womb.

Some Christian couples determine to use only prayer in their family planning. As a result, they simply enjoy normal marital sexual relations and trust that if God desires that they have children, he will provide according to his timing. When a Christian couple chooses this approach, trusting that whatever happens is God’s good will, it is acceptable.

Level 2: Natural Birth Control

Natural methods include any kind of contraception through which pregnancy is prevented by abstaining from vaginal sexual intercourse on days when the wife is likely to be fertile. The most popular natural method is the calendar-based rhythm method, which has been replaced by more effective methods such as the symptothermal method and the standard-days method. Fertility computers are a new development in contraceptive technology that make these natural methods easier to use by telling a couple when sex will or won’t result in pregnancy. The Roman Catholic Church approves the use of natural methods.

Natural birth control methods have many benefits, including the involvement of both husband and wife, as well as the fact that such methods are free, safe, and reversible. Additionally, these methods require no surgery, chemicals, devices, or drugs. Natural methods can also be used with other methods, such as a condom, during fertile times. One of the potential difficulties is that natural methods require discipline and planning, which not everyone is equally faithful to ensure. In conclusion, natural birth control is permissible for a Christian couple.

Level 3: Non-abortive Birth Control

Like the natural methods, non-abortive birth control methods also seek to influence the timing of conception but do so by taking either temporary or permanent additional measures. This method of birth control has quite a long history.

Temporary non-abortive birth control methods are generally barrier methods. Barrier methods of contraception include all methods that permit intercourse but prevent the sperm and egg from coming together. Perhaps the most common is the male condom, which was invented three thousand years ago by an Egyptian couple using a linen pouch.49

Permanent non-abortive birth control methods are often chosen by couples who have decided not to enlarge their family. (For the purposes of this chapter I am referring to voluntary versus involuntary sterilization.) Such preventatives can be achieved by either female sterilization, also called tubal ligation, or by vasectomy for men. Both of these methods require minor surgery and should be considered permanent, although it is theoretically possible, but difficult, to undergo a reversal.

Three things need to be mentioned regarding permanent non-abortive birth control methods.

• First, the heart needs to be examined regarding motive on this issue; this method should never be used to completely abandon the blessing of children.
• Second, it is unwise to make this decision too early in life, because it is not uncommon for a couple to later desire more children, or for someone to remarry after being divorced or widowed and desire to have children with their next spouse.
• Third, some Christians are legalistic on this issue and declare that there is essentially never a good reason for such a permanent measure. However, life in a fallen world is complicated and painful. A pastor and his wife, good friends of mine, suffered eighteen miscarriages before he had a vasectomy to stop what had become for them incredible physical and emotional pain.

To summarize, levels 1 to 3 are options that Christian couples can consider without concern of terminating a fertilized egg, thereby taking a human life.

Level 4: Potentially Abortive Birth Control

At the next birth control level we tread into murkier waters, where it is more difficult to discern what is biblically right. “The pill” is a categorical term for more than forty types of oral contraceptives, which are also referred to as birth control pills and sometimes combination pills because they contain a mixture of estrogen and progestin. These hormonal contraceptives are designed to override the female body’s normal cycle and “trick” the woman’s brain into believing she’s already pregnant, thus preventing the release of an egg from the ovaries.

Birth control pills were introduced to America in the 1950s. In 1965 the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the nineteenth-century law prohibiting the use of contraceptives.65 Today, fifty to sixty million women worldwide take the pill each day, and it is the most widely prescribed drug in the world.66

The Pill Debate

The debate over hormonal birth control, particularly the pill, is whether it results in the taking of a life by destroying a fertilized egg. Author, pastor, and pro-life leader Randy Alcorn has written a great deal on this subject.69 Alcorn writes, “The Pill is used by about fourteen million American women each year. Across the globe it is used by about sixty million. The question of whether it causes abortions has direct bearing on untold millions of Christians, many of them prolife, who use and recommend it.”

Alcorn goes on to point out that there is not one but rather three purposes for birth control pills.

• First, the pill exists to inhibit ovulation, which is its primary means of birth control.
• Second, the pill thickens the cervical mucus so that it becomes more difficult for sperm to travel to the egg.
• Third, the pill thins and shrivels the lining of the uterus so that it is unable or less able to facilitate the implantation of the newly fertilized egg.

The bottom line is this: the first two purposes of birth control pills are contraceptive in nature and therefore acceptable for use by a Christian couple. However, the third function of birth control pills is potentially abortive in that it seeks to disrupt the ongoing life of a fertilized egg. That potentiality is incredibly controversial; thus, faithful Christians who are staunchly prolife and believe that life begins at conception are divided over the issue.

To help provide some clarity, Focus on the Family’s Physicians Resource Council (PRC), under the leadership of James Dobson, examined the issue for two years. The PRC is comprised of prolife Christian doctors from a wide variety of fields. They sought to thoroughly study the issue of whether combination oral contraceptives (those with both estrogen and progesterone) cause abortion. Ultimately, even they were undecided:

Pro-life physicians who have carefully and conscientiously studied this issue have come to different conclusions regarding the interpretation and implications of the relevant scientific data. After two years of extended deliberation and prayer, the PRC has not been able to reach a consensus as to the likelihood, or even the possibility, that these medications might contribute to the loss of human life after fertilization. The majority of the experts to which Dr. Dobson has spoken feel that the pill does not have an abortifacient effect. A minority of the experts feel that when conception occurs on the pill, there is enough of a possibility for an abortifacient effect, however remote, to warrant warning women about it.72

Therefore, whether to use birth control pills is a very complicated issue about which faithful prolife Christians and doctors disagree. As a result, it seems legalistic and inappropriate to declare that use of the pill is sinful. Conversely, it seems that Christian couples need to be informed of the potential abortive nature of birth control pills so that they can study the matter further and prayerfully come to an informed decision according to their own conscience and the leading of God the Holy Spirit.

As a pastor who is, admittedly, not medically trained, I do not encourage members of our church to use the pill but also would not discipline a member for sin if they did.

Level 5: Abortive Murder

Abortion is taking a human life by killing a fertilized egg. Biblically, it is also known as the sin of murder. Abortions include medical procedures of various kinds as well as RU-486 and the morning-after pill. Other items that cause abortion are the intrauterine device (IUD) and Norplant, which do not prevent conception but prevent implantation of an already fertilized ovum. The result is an abortion, the killing of a conceived person.74

Thomas W. Hilgers of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, studied over four hundred articles on the subject and concluded, “The primary action of the IUD must be classed as abortifacient.”75 Tragically, some 2.5 to 3 million American women use IUDs.76

It may seem odd that I, as a pastor writing primarily for Christian readers, include this level as a form of birth control. Yet, tragically, many people, including Christians, use abortion as a form of birth control. Undoubtedly, there are very rare cases in which even the most devoutly Bible-believing, pro-life Christians are caught on the horns of an ethical dilemma involving abortion (e.g., when the mother’s life is at stake), but for the purposes of this chapter I am speaking of abortion in its majority sense as a murderous form of birth control.

SUMMARY

In summary, as a pastor I would support Christian couples practicing levels 1 to 3 of birth control, urge those considering level 4 to prayerfully and carefully reflect on their decision, and oppose any Christian couple considering level 5, unless there are extremely weighty extenuating circumstances.

Footnotes:

• 49: Cutrer and Glahn, The Contraception Guidebook, 72.
• 59. Ibid., 77.
• 60. Davis, Evangelical Ethics, 35.
• 61. Cutrer and Glahn, The Contraception Guidebook, 82–83.
• 62. Davis, Evangelical Ethics, 35.
• 65. Ibid., 30.
• 66. Ibid.
• 68. L. S. Potter, “How Effective Are Contraceptives? The Determination and Measurement of Pregnancy Rates,” Obstetrics and Gynecology 88 (September 1996): 135–235, in “Oral Contraceptives—An Update” Population Reports (Spring 2000), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/ mi_m0856/is_1_28/ai_62723391/print?tag=artBody;col1.
• 69. One of his great works on the subject is his book Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? You can download the entire book or read condensations of the book for free here: http:// www.epm.org/books/does_the_birth_control_ pill_cause_abortionsDetail.php. In addition, articles on abortion, birth control, and related issues can be found here: http://www. epm.org/resources-prolife_abortion.html.
• 72. Focus on the Family, “Position Statement: Birth Control Pills and Other Hormonal Contraception,” December 30, 2005, http://www.family.org/sharedassets/correspondence/pdfs/ miscellaneous/Position_Statement-Birth_Control_Pills_and_Other_Hormonal_Contra- ception.pdf.
• 73. “Possible Post-Fertilization Effects of Hormonal Birth Control,” Hormonal Birth Control, http://www.cmda.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay. cfm&ContentI D=3045.

Related articles

• The Ethics of Birth Control. Part 1 (waltbrite.wordpress.com)
• The Ethics of Birth Control Part 2 (waltbrite.wordpress.com)
• Birth Control and Insurance Companies (virginiamccabe.wordpress.com)