MINISTRY NOTES

Week of September 27, 2009

Hi Everyone,

The other day I was blessed with an email from a precious couple, who attended our Marriage Workshops in 2005. They have moved to Kansas City and are doing well. Even invited us to visit them. (yes, they are now receiving Ministry Notes in Kansas City) I have been praying daily for them along with everyone who has ever attended any of our Marriage Workshops. I also pray for each of you daily, who receives Ministry Notes. How do I pray for you? I pray the way Jesus teaches us to pray, that God's will, will be done in your life (Matthew 6:10).

Someone asked me the other day "how's life treating you" and I didn't know how to respond because it is never a concern. Later I thought, "well God is treating me pretty good". Sometimes people ask how "the Church is doing". I realize that our Church is not compatible with many of the world's standards for churches, except that every month God provides in many different ways enough to pay our obligations on time and occasionally a little extra for our mortgage principal. Probably the world's standards are not compatible with God's standards. I know that our Church is blessed because we are doing what God wants us to do and that is all that is important. We are blessed that we are able to share this email with you. Some times I praise God that there are not more people around at Bible Study or our Marriage Workshop or even Church Services (praising God for poor attendance is definitely not what Pastor's are supposed to do). I praise God because frequently as I'm able to help people more, when there are less people around. Yes, I am open to better attendance and people making personal appointments, but I take God's opportunities and blessings as He gives them.

Message:

How to Make the Best Decisions

Back in my early college years, we had a 3-hour psychology lab one afternoon. When we discovered that we were going to get to watch a movie, we felt we had been given the afternoon off. The movie was about twelve people on a jury and in the first vote there was one "not guilty" and eleven "guilty". The rest of the movie was about people slowly changing their minds until there were twelve "not guilty". After the movie, we were brought back to reality when they handed out a sketch of the jury table with twelve people blanks and we were required to number in order, as people in the movie had changed their minds. We passed those sheets in and were divided into groups of 4 people and told to go get coffee and come back in an hour with one sheet for each group filled out. Yes, the group decisions were statistically more accurate than our initial individual decisions. Good decisions are improved when more people are involved.

One of the key factors in our Marriage Workshops is improving communication thereby enabling couples to have a better marriage and make better decisions as a couple. James correctly wrote in his letter that "… Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry"1. In our country we feel that we have a better government because we allow the people to decide by voting, which we call a democracy instead of a dictatorship.

All this sounds nice but we all know that groups and juries both make bad decisions. We make bad decisions in our marriages and most of our country can tell you of bad decisions our government has made. So the question is, how do you make good decisions all the time?

Jesus has help when He made decisions. Jesus used God's help. This is the kind of help we all need. Jesus is able to say He is the truth because God helped Him2. Jesus points out that we "…judge by human standards…" but that His decisions are right because God helps Him3. And God is perfect4.

Many of you are thinking well "I'm not the Son of God" or "I don't hear God's voice", etc.. Sure, you are encouraged to pray and seek to hear God's voice7. However God can help you make decisions, even if you don't have a close relationship with Him. If your finances are a problem and you and your spouse decide to rob a bank (a bad decision), you could read what Jesus shares, that God taught in the big ten about not stealing5, before you commit a crime. If your neighbor makes you mad by parking in your parking spot and you and your buddy decide to let the air out of his tires to retaliate, probably Jesus repeating what God teaches about "…love your neighbor as yourself…"6 would be helpful to make the best decision, for a response. We can have perfect decisions in many instances without any special relationship with God by just following what God or Jesus teach, which we learn when we read our Bibles.

Let us pray:

"God help us to remember to consider what You want when we make decisions. Remind us to consider what You want before every decision is made. Thanks you for Your guidance in every situation, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. James 1:19 (NIV)

2. John14:6

3. John 8:15-16; 12:49

4. Matthew 5:48

5. Mark 10:19; Exodus 20:15

6. Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18

7. John 10:27