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Archive for the ‘Quotes’ Category

On this Memorial Day, pray for leaders so that we might live peaceful lives in all godliness

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on May 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

For the most part, I don’t live an angry life anymore.  Doctors, educators, social workers, people on the street – God has helped me see (most of the time) that they are also people made in his image and deserve a respectful, God-honoring engagement.

But there’s still one group I’m too easily willing to see as being incompetent, lazy, corrupt or stupid – elected officials.  My expectations are pretty low in that area, though they are the very ones who make decisions that result in the need for remembrances like Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  And today millions of people live with disabilities they incurred through their military service as well.

As I reflected on the following Memorial Day letter from Joe Scheumann, a young man with whom I work at Desiring God, I recognized (again) I’m just hurting myself with my attitude about elected officials.  Whether or not they hold a life-affirming, God-honoring position on unborn babies with disabilities or special education opportunities, we are called to pray for them SO THAT we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity – and it pleases God!

So, on this Memorial Day 2011, let us remember those who have died in military service.  And let us also do something God has said is good for us and pleasing to him: supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for “all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Email to Desiring God’s Philippian Fellowship, May 27, 2011:

May 30, 2011, is Memorial Day; a day in which the United States pauses to honor American soldiers who have died in all wars. So, in light of this holiday I thought 1 Timothy 2:1-3 is a very relevant passage of Scripture on which to meditate and pray. It says,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Paul first calls us to make supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all people and for kings and all who are in authority. Paul does not limit our prayers to only people or leaders of the country we live in; instead, he calls us to pray for all men and all authorities.

Next Paul gives the reason for our prayers. The goal of our prayers for all men and authorities is that we might lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. Notice that this is not merely a peaceful and quiet life, but it is a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This aim of the prayer is then grounded in the character of God. In verse 3 Paul links the goodness of peaceful and quiet life in godliness and dignity with God’s nature. Paul says this is good in the sight of God our Savior and the aspect which Paul chooses to highlight about our Savior is that he desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

So then, this Memorial Day weekend, will you join me in obeying Paul’s exhortation in making supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all men and all authorities? Let us pray for them so that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and dignity knowing this is good in the sight of God our Savior.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer,

Joe Scheumann

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Why does God take some things away from us?

Posted in Quotes on May 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Mark Talbot, “True Freedom: The Liberty that Scripture Portrays as Worth Having,” in Beyond the Bounds: Open Theism and the Undermining of Biblical Christianity, p. 88.  Emphases in bold are mine:

Initially, this involved my realizing that my continuing disability was the chief means by which God kept blessing me and keeping me near to himself. As my accident has had more negative consequences—weakening hands from damaging my ulnar nerves when, losing my balance, I fall on my elbows; coming under permanent risk of stroke from dissecting my left-internal carotid while trying to keep in shape; and so on—I have found that, rather than these things becoming occasions for doubting God’s goodness to me, they have become sources of spiritual strength by helping me to see where I cannot place my heart.

In other words, I have come to realize that God is protecting me from idolatrous self-sufficiency by taking various goods away from me so that I am not tempted to rest satisfied in them.  Each morning as I get up, my disability prompts me to trust God rather than to rely on my own strength. And so, in this second stage of my coming to understand how God works in and through our difficulties, I came to realize that some things that are really evil. . . are also really good and that, as such, these evils are actually ordained by God.

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“Why was this child born blind?” Countering an objection to the sovereignty of God

Posted in Quotes, Sermons on May 25, 2011| 1 Comment »

In his sermon, Why Was This Child Born Blind?, Pastor John anticipates an objection:

Let me address an objection at this point. There are some pastors and teachers who dislike intensely the idea that God might will that a child be born blind so that some purpose of God might be achieved. One of the ways they try to escape the teaching of this text is to say that Jesus is pointing to the result of the blindness, not the purpose of the blindness.

Pastor John is only scratching the surface of the objection some will make.  For those of us in God-centered, Bible-saturated churches, the idea that God isn’t purposeful about everything is astonishing.  We might not be ready for the not-so-subtle shift of the argument away from purpose.

Yet we should be ready.  There are scholars who take a run at finding new meanings by changing the punctuation.  The influence of these arguments then play out in other arenas, like youtube preachers who think ‘the works of God’ sounds more like the works of the devil.

Pastor John helps us read the Bible more carefully through his three responses:

1.  Pastor John points out the importance of actually reading what is happening, in this case, what are the disciples really asking Jesus to answer, and is his answer consistent with their question?

One is that the disciples are asking for an explanation of the blindness, and Jesus’ answer is given as an explanation of the blindness.

2.  Pastor John reminds us about who God is in terms of his foreknowledge and control:

God knows all things. He knows exactly what is happening in the moment of conception. . . If God foresees and permits a conception that he knows will produce blindness, he has reasons for this permission. And those reasons are his purposes. His designs. His plans. God never has met a child from whom he had no plan. There are no accidents in God’s mind or hands.

3.  Finally, Pastor John uses the Bible to interpret the Bible:

And third, any attempt to deny God’s sovereign, wise, purposeful control over conception and birth has a head-on collision with Exodus 4:11 and Psalm 139:13.  “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’” “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

The only thing I would add to number 3 is that God is directly speaking to the issue of disability in Exodus 4:11, and does so again in John 9:3.

We should learn this lesson as best we can so that we can be prepared when objections are raised to God’s sovereignty over disability.  I’ve read various articles trying to reinterpret Exodus 4:11 and Psalm 139.  But the strongest objections typically come against John 9:3, Mark 2 (the healing of the paralytic) and John 5:14.

I’m grateful Pastor John continues to lead us in how to read the Bible carefully for ourselves as we seek to understand more about God and his incredible purposes in his creation.  And that, obviously, includes disability.

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There is no better gift than this – and it includes suffering

Posted in Quotes on May 18, 2011| 2 Comments »

I had to stop and reread this a couple of times.  I’m not sure I can entirely wrap my mind around it!

The Father can’t think of anything better to give us than his Son.  Suffering invites us to join his Son’s life, death, and resurrection. Once you see that, suffering is no longer strange.  Peter writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Paul Miller, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, Kindle location 2968.  It’s no longer free, but still a very good read.

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We are made for joy!

Posted in Quotes, Sermons on May 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

God chose fit to lay me flat on my back on Tuesday, along with my youngest son.  And Paul needed to come home early after having one of his spells.  Pray for my wife as she tends to three sick members!

So, I pulled out a little book by A.W. Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship, and discovered this gem on page 67:

I was created to worship and praise God. I was redeemed that I should worship Him and enjoy Him forever.

That is the primary issue, my brother or sister. That is why we earnestly invite men and women to become converted, taking Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

God is not asking you to come to Christ just to attain peace of mind or to make you a better businessman or woman. You were created to worship. God wants you to know His redemption so you will desire to worship and praise Him.

Sick or well, ‘normal’ or living with disabilities, we were created to worship Him and enjoy Him forever.

Pastor John paused this past Sunday to go over that foundation of joy.  I was encouraged by this ‘classic sermon‘ and especially recommend it to you if Christian hedonism is a new concept for you.

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Jesus can do it still – Charles Spurgeon

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on May 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The accounting of the man who was paralyzed going before Jesus by being lowered through the roof his companions vandalized is one of the best-known healings in the entire Bible.  It is told in three different Gospels, including Luke 5:17-26.

There is so much packed into those 10 verses!  It is easy to focus on the gifts that are provided – forgiveness of sin and healing of paralysis.

I deeply appreciate how Charles Spurgeon guides our attention away from these extraordinary acts of forgiving sins and healing paralysis to the actor who made both of those things possible:

After our blessed Lord had taken away the root of the evil, you observe he then took away the paralysis itself. It was gone in a single moment. Every limb in the man’s body was restored to a healthy state; he could stand, could walk, could lift his bed, both nerve and muscle were restored to vigor.

One moment will suffice, if Jesus speaks, to make the despairing happy, and the unbelieving full of confidence. What we cannot do with our reasonings, persuadings, and entreaties, nor even with the letter of God’s promise, Christ can do in a single instant by his Holy Spirit, and it has been our joy to see it done.

This is the standing miracle of the church, performed by Christ to-day even as aforetime. Paralysed souls who could neither do nor will, have been able to do valiantly, and to will with solemn resolution. The Lord has poured power into the faint, and to them that had no might he hath increased strength.

He can do it still.

Charles H. Spurgeon, Carried by Four: A Sermon, delivered on March 19, 1871.

I’m grateful for this reminder to hope in Jesus above all things, even very good gifts like healing.

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“They are gifts no matter how or when they come.”

Posted in Quotes, Special Events on May 9, 2011| 1 Comment »

Pastor Kenny Stokes – again! – recognized the God-granted value of children with disabilities during the dedication of children on Saturday evening.  This section of his remarks is about a minute long.

Pastor Kenny – ‘they are gifts!’

I am deeply grateful for pastors who intentionally and carefully recognize that not all children will be the same, nor will the paths of parenting be the same.

Pastor Bud Burk closed the dedication with a wonderful, encouraging prayer.  I’m glad we caught that as well.

Pastor Bud praying May 2011

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“What good does it do?”

Posted in Book Commentary, Quotes on May 7, 2011| 1 Comment »

If you still haven’t downloaded Paul Miller’s book, A Praying Life (still free as of Friday for the Kindle and the Kindle app which can work on most computers and mobile devices), I hope this will encourage you to do so:

I was walking down from our campsite to our Dodge Caravan when I noticed our fourteen-year-old daughter, Ashley, standing in front of the van, tense and upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I lost my contact lens. It’s gone.” I looked down with her at the forest floor, covered with leaves and twigs. There were a million little crevices for the lens to fall into and disappear.

I said, “Ashley, don’t move. Let’s pray.” But before I could pray, she burst into tears. “What good does it do? I’ve prayed for Kim to speak and she isn’t speaking.”

Kim struggles with autism and developmental delay. Because of her weak fine motor skills and problems with motor planning, she is also mute. . .

Prayer was no mere formality for Ashley. She had taken God at his word and asked that he would let Kim speak. But nothing happened. Kim’s muteness was testimony to a silent God. Prayer, it seemed, doesn’t work.

If you’ve ever thought that, I encourage you to read his book.

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Is this kind of suffering sharing in the sufferings of Christ?

Posted in Quotes on May 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

R.C. Sproul answers this question: Can suffering in general rather than suffering for our Christian faith be counted as sharing the sufferings of Christ?

I think it can. If the suffering is done in faith – that is, throughout the suffering we place our trust in God – then I think we are participating in the sense that we are willing to suffer and to trust God in the midst of suffering, even as Jesus trusted the Father. . .

In regard to the man born blind (John 9), the question was asked of Jesus, “Who’s sin was it, this man’s or his parents’, that he was afflicted with blindness?”  Jesus said it was neither. In other words, the question was a false dilemma. And those who asked it were trying to reduce to two options something that had more than two. There was another option. Jesus said, “It wasn’t because of his sin or his parents’ sin. This person was born blind so that the power of God and the grace of God may be made manifest.” That person was suffering not from persecution. His suffering was used by God to bring honor and glory to Christ.

I mention this instance because it is a clear biblical case in which suffering has theological value – not merit, but value – insofar that it is useful to the purposes of God. Christ himself tells us that we are going to have afflictions and suffering in this world. He certainly indicates that we are going to suffer persecution, and he gives a particular blessing to that in the Sermon on the Mount, saying that the reward will be great. He also indicates that there will be other kinds of suffering that come our way and that we are suffering in him and with him.

R.C. Sproul, Now, That’s a Good Question, pp. 473-475

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National Day of Prayer 2011 – Suggestions from Joni

Posted in Quotes, Special Events on May 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Joni Eareckson Tada is the Honorary Chairperson for today’s National Day of Prayer.  Joni offered several specific things we can pray about today (and every other day, too!).

For the National Day of Prayer, remember to intercede for all members of society, including the elderly, children and adults with disabilities.

  • Let’s make the Gospel accessible to all — pray for churches to not only welcome, but learn to embrace people with disabilities.
  • Caregivers need a break — pray for parents and spouses needing respite as they give full-time care to their loved ones with special needs.
  • A disability can be lonely — ask God to draw people who feel isolated into an abundant life with Him.
  • Siblings have feelings, too! Pray for children who sometimes feel neglected because of the attention demanded by the medical needs of their sibling.
  • Marriages with a disability are under stress – pray that marriages will be strengthened, not weakened, by a disability.
  • Remember to pray for America’s brave warriors who have returned home from Iraq or Afghanistan bearing wounds of conflict.
  • The abortion rate of unborn children with disabilities has escalated in the last 3 years – pray with a pro-life perspective.
  • It’s time to make Luke 14 a reality – ask God to empower churches for active, effective outreach to people affected by disability.

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