MINISTRY NOTES

Week of January 3, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Several decades ago, I was involved in buying sporting goods. One thing I learned was that the best time of the year to sell exercise equipment is in January. Judging from advertising, that is still true. People's motives may range from overeating during the holidays and wanting to lose weight, to concern for fitting in their bating suit in a few months. If your father gave you a car you would take care of it and change to oil etc. Your heavenly Father gave you your body and it is good to take care of it all year long. Some exercise equipment will lead you to believe that you are making your body look better. The best exercises involve breathing heavy or being aerobic. Then you will know you are exercising all of your body including your heart, lungs, etc. and you will feel and look better. If you are just trying to lose weight, remember that eating less or consuming fewer calories is ultimately the best way to lose weight. You might try asking God what you should eat, every time you think of eating. Not sure you hear God that well, great, you may lose weight, as you spend time asking God instead of eating.

Marriage Workshop Moment

To refresh what you have learned in our Workshop or entice you to experience our Workshop

"Remember, all marriages can be better, if you use what you learned."

Last week, we talked about how events can trigger issues resulting in an argument. For example if money is an issue and the event of a bill coming might trigger an argument. There are also hidden issues. Many years ago I knew a man who grossed over a million dollars a year and yet had money issues with his spouse, including taking her credit cards away. There could have been a hidden issue of controlling. Wanting to control the money or control his spouse. Hidden issues can be powerful issues that partners are unaware of, unable to talk about, or unwilling to talk about. Spinning your wheels in a conversation, avoidance and trivial triggers can reflect hidden issues. Hidden Issues often respond best to open, safe, and clear communication as found by using the Speaker Listener Technique. As a spouse, being sensitive to possible hidden issues such as controlling, caring, acceptance, integrity, commitment, recognition, etc. can help you in your relationship. If acceptance/rejection is a possible hidden issue, you can be careful not to say anything that might trigger this hidden issue, like threaten divorce.

The Better Half

"When your partner won't support your efforts to make your marriage better"

Without your spouse's support to improve your marriage, you can still pray daily for God's will to be done in each of your lives and your marriage ("all things are possible with God", Mark 10:27 NIV). Although in this situation communication is difficult, as a spouse, being sensitive to possible hidden issues such as controlling, caring, acceptance, integrity, commitment, recognition, etc. can help you in your relationship. If acceptance/rejection is a possible hidden issue, you can be careful not to say anything that might trigger this hidden issue, like threaten divorce. Example, if that is a concern pray for God to guide you what to say that might make your spouse feel more accepted.

Understanding the Message:

What I share in the message is what I believe God wants me to share. All the direct quotes from God are highlighted in royal purple. Of course the words of Jesus are in red. Rather than follow some made up doctrine, remember that Jesus said that every thing He said (Jn 12:49) and everything He did (Jn 14:31) comes from God. All teachings and all opinions should be supported by what we learn from God or Jesus (see the scripture referred to in the footnote).

Message:

Blessings Arranged in Advance

Jesus coming was definitely not a secret. After God revealed it to Mary and Joseph, God revealed it to Mary's cousin Elizabeth1 when Mary went to visit her. At the time of Jesus birth, God used angels to announce it to some shepherds2, who after they had seen Jesus told many others about what the angel told them3. Also God revealed who Jesus was to Simeon and Anna when they took baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to dedicate Him to God as required by God's law4. Although there might be several people who would not be happy about Jesus coming, especially if they knew He was the Messiah, most people would not be impressed with what some shepherds and a couple of old people at the Temple said. Just like today, people are more impressed with what people that are considered intelligent and wealthy have to say. As rich, intelligent visitors from the east came and inquired about Jesus, King Herod was so impressed or threatened that he eventually tried to kill Jesus5. We know from the story that the wise men gave Jesus some very expensive gifts. We never heard about these gifts again, but we know that after God warned Joseph in a dream to escape to Egypt, that the family left their work and home and went to a foreign country for a period of time. Many have speculated that God arranged for the expensive gifts so that the family had expense money to leave work and travel to another country. Advance planning by God is normal. One time God arranged in advance for a fish to have money in his mouth to pay taxes 6.

The other day I was asked about when God called me to serve Him in ministry. My response was that it was a few years before I was able arrange my personal affairs so I could start my education for ministry. Later God reminded me that He started arranging future financial preparations many years before I knew that He want me to be in ministry. One day when my oldest son, Paul, was 2 years 9 months old, I was reading him a story and he started reading it to me. At the time, I theorized that he learned to read by watching educational TV. Thousands of young children have watched the same TV programs without learning to read. Now I realize God was preparing my son educationally. Subsequently, Paul taught his younger brother, Mark, to read at 2 years 3 months. That started them both on an advanced track educationally so that many years later, shortly after I started ministry, they were both able to get so many scholarships to college that they had to pay income taxes on their scholarships. Today I realize that God was arranging so when I was starting out in ministry my son's college education wouldn't cost me anything.

Just like God helped Joseph deal with Mary's pregnancy and Jesus birth7, God helped prepare me for a crisis around the birth of my youngest son, Mark. A few months before my second child was due, God told me there would be a death at the time of the birth. I didn't know if it was my wife, Barbara, or my new child. I kept this a secret but I was highly concerned. After I took my wife in labor to the hospital who took her straight to the delivery room, I waited in the waiting room for news. There was a woman in the waiting room named Norma whose husband was in the hospital. She was a very new Christian (only several weeks) with a non-American English accent and I remember I though she was a little flaky, like new Christians act sometimes. I considered myself a very mature Christian because I had known Jesus personally for about two years. (today, over 30 years later, I know that I am still a very young Christian, still learning and I appreciate flaky new Christians' zeal and enthusiasm even more) After about a half hour, Norma announced, "you have a son and everyone is healthy". I smiled and tried to act cool while thinking how could she know that as you could hear no noise from the other side of the doors and in those days no one knew the sex of their child in advance. I also wondered how she could know that I was concerned about everyone's health. About two minutes later the nurse walked out and told me "you have a son" and a couple other things. I was very relieved that everyone was okay and that I had heard God incorrectly. The two days later as Barbara was preparing to leave the hospital, she called crying from the hospital that they wanted her to sign a permission sheet to do a spinal tap on Mark, because he was sick and they didn't know what was wrong. I guess God had prepared me as within minutes before I left to go to the Hospital, I frantically called several friends in Houston and in Dallas where we used to lived and ask them to start praying and to call others to pray. Norma's husband was on another floor but we kept running into her. She was even there the following day when they took Mark down to the ambulance for an hour ride to a major children's, teaching hospital in Houston. We kept in touch with Norma while Mark was in the hospital. After over a couple of weeks when new problems kept arising, I remember asking the head doctor taking care of Mark, "what problem will happen next?" The Doctor's honest response was, "we don't know, as we never been able to keep a child like this alive this long". The next day Norma called Barbara and said, "God said He has turned His face and Mark will live". The first part of the statement was strange and Norm didn't seem to understand it and I know that I didn't understand it. Only recently did I realize how important God considers the direction of His "face"8. God definitely used this baby Christian, Norma, to minister to us. Mark not only lived but he graduated from Medical School last May. Many want God to arrange for their blessings in advance. Jesus tells us how to access God's blessings when He says, "The thing you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you"9.

Let's pray:

"God, thank You for taking care of us and arranging blessing for us in advance. Help us to rely on You and do the things You want us to do. Guide us in living our lives so that You will want to bless us and take care of us, even when we don't know what we need. Thank You for taking care of us, in Jesus' name, amen.

1. Luke 1:41-45

2. Luke 2:8-14

3. Luke 2:17-18

4. Luke 2:25-38

5. Matthew 2:1-16

6. Matthew 17:27

7. Matthew 1:18-25

8. Numbers 6:25-26; Ezekiel 7:22 (NIV)

9. Matthew 6:33 (ICB)