Amen Brother Linus

CB: Isn't there anyone who can tell what Christmas is all about?
LVP: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.

[Luke 2:8-14 (King James Version)]

8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

videophiles can find this greatest moment in the history of animation here.

A review.

and finally, from the expanded director cut.

Availability Discussion

We began with a discussion on the irony of Availability and Diligence studies garnering attendance of less the 1/3 and 1/2 of the invitees, respectfully. If there's an intention to be there, and you miss the mark, check out the Blog Archive for September, Week 3 and Week 4. It's a message worth repeating, especially in light of how it's a cyclical, if not consistent, challenge.

I. subject
Isaiah 6:5-8 Addresses how we fall woefully short of perfection, yet, by grace, can have a use in the kingdom. Here am I. Take me.

This is a great example of what Mr. Henrichson pointed out as factor one in availability;

1. The Volunteer Spirit.
followed by;
2. Free from Entanglement. See 2 Tim 2:3-4 and Proverbs 22:7
3. Freedom from Sin
4. Training. See 1 Chron 12 -- this is the book-end to the volunteer spirit. Eagerness doesn't equal availability. Your preparation, your equipping, is a key element.

II. object
To whom are we making ourselves available? Maybe it's obvious that it's to God -- to God's will. Maybe Paul had it easy. Acts 9, he's confronted. His subsequent submission seems like a pretty obvious choice.

But, how do you determine God's will for you? Of course, there's the Word. Firmly placed at the head, 1 Cor 12 , is Christ. Easy, right? But the reference isn't to a disembodied head. The head implies that the body of Christ and its various spiritual leads -- think fruit of the spirit to get a manifold view of the way of leadership -- manifest the will of God, too. The body's doing what the head wills.

2 Cor 8:5 and Acts 6 each present spirtual leaders as executors of God's will.

III. verb
So, what's up? Mr. Henrichson suggests that nothing erodes availability like a feeling of your own importance.

It's relatively simple to understand being God's servant. How are we doing at serving the body -- at our willingness to be treated like a servant, albeit not called one, when it's coming from the body and not the head?

Availability

FROM BILL --

Next week on Friday (12/15) we are back to house in front of the fireplace.

A disciple of Christ is FAT ---- Faithful, Available, Teachable.

To prepare for next Friday morning (12/15), please listen to this excellent message by Walt Henrichsen on the subject of Availability.

Message: http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/C032.mp3

Webster says to be Available is to be "present and ready for use; capable of being used for the accomplishment of a purpose."

Are you present and ready for use in the purpose to which God has called you or do you feel you too often sacrifice GREAT on the
altar of GOOD?

Listen well and take good notes so we can sharpen each other when we meet.

Merry Christmas as we honor the birth of our KING!

Diligence Discussion

I'll focus on a couple of elements from our conversation. Mr. Henrichson's focus (see below) was on 2 Timothy, chapter 4.

Bonus content was his outline of 2 Timothy as Paul's last will and testament.
By chapter;

1. Inheritance

2. Commitment

3. Learning

From bad examples

From good examples

From Scripture

• verse 14 Application
• v. 15 Power
• v. 16 Divine Origin
• v. 17 Purpose

4. Diligence

The nugget I'll choose to share in this space is related to Phil's thought starter. In the world of law, especially the world of law students, there's much ado about negligence. Basically, if there's proof of negligence, you can identify damages and set a judgment accordingly. The mass of grey area exist outside the realm of negligence. That is, you don't have to be diligent, you just shouldn't be negligent.

My take had been somewhat dialectic in nature also, but from the other end of the spectrum. That is, if you aren't diligent you are being negligent, especially in light of what we know and whom we serve. See Romans 10:9-10.

The difference between the world view and the Christian view is nothing new. However, this could be especially disconcerting in light of our consistent failure in being ever-diligent.

Relief comes in the form of Paul's close to the letter. Grace

2 Tim 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

and with you

Diligence

Diligence is a word you don't hear much any more. It is the opposite of negligence. According to Webster, diligence is "interested and persevering application; devoted and painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken."

Hark! Could that possibly be a defining characteristic of a godly man ---- at home, at work, in ministry?

Listen to an outstanding 37 minute message by Walt Henrichsen on the subject.

Message: http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/C097.mp3

Listen with dual purpose:

(1) Intake -- How does this apply to me personally?
(2) Output -- How does this apply to my ministry?

Week 11

2 Peter 2
1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

Interesting chapter to end our Summit conversations. Perhaps we're just taking a break, and the freshness of this message will keep us mindful over the couple of months away.

It does serve to remind us that the Word is the undeniable champ at directing us and protecting us. Accept no substitute.

My sister does production for San Antonio's AT&T Center. She had a chance to see Benny Hinn last week and described a scenario that seems very much like the one Simeon Peter describes.

Mr. Hinn comes out one night and does some pretty good, insightful sound biblical teaching. He goes a couple of hours a second night, same thing. Then, near the end, he calls up folks who were "healed" during the course of his teaching. They testimonialize, then Mr. Hinn first waves his hand at folks, thus knocking them down which leads to his sprite-like dance where whole sections fall.

Now does the holy spirit have the power to do any of those things? Absolutely. Does Benny Hinn? Well, the behind the scenes view of many of the "healed" gathering and getting instructions prior to going on stage makes one incredulous. What isn't in doubt is the impact it had on non-believers that were also part of the production for the AT&T Center.

They laughed.

Haven't heard of Benny Hinn? Maybe you've heard of this influential sprititual leader.

And the way of the truth will be slandered.

Week 10

The flesh is a good servant and a bad master.

1 Peter 2:11- 15 is about separation by Christians from the world/worldliness. However, it's not a monastic separation. It's separation by our actions.

I'm somewhat fortunate in my ability to separate from the world. I've practically been trained in it.

But, as brother Tim pointed out so well, there's not a clean binary track that gets me in place. Retreating from the world is one thing. Linking to the kingdom of heaven is quite another.

One can be done by denying, not doing. The other? Sure, it means you resist temptation and sin. But the linkage to heaven most of all requires work. In the world and not of it.

Check out J. Vernon McGee.

Week 9

So, is faith enough? What of works? Finally, the pay off for having the blog. Although I'll send you guys a detailed "how to" primer for posting comments, I kind of get the last word here. Insert maniacal laughter here.

It's tough for me to argue with my namesake that faith without good deeds is a dead faith. Are you saved if you accept Christ as your savior? Absolutely. Once saved, always saved? You bet. However, there's a commitment beyond saying words or believing.

James 2:19 (MSG)
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

I really need help understanding the concern here. What's the relevance of discussing if you need good works to be saved? Have faith and you'll love others as yourself. You'll take up your cross daily. You'll seek his righteousness and have things added. God's will will be done on Earth as in Heaven. Reverse any of those statements and they're nonsense. Same here.

Paul's - or someone very Pauline's - verification, not contradiction, comes in Ephesians 4:8 (NASB)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God

The works don't save you. Even the love doesn't save you. It's the faith first. The works are part of the gift from God. Why do we look at them like a chore?

Week 8

Another great Wednesday chapter leads to another excellent Thursday discussion. More than just giving me license to keep wearing all the Spurs stuff I've acquired as hard core fan of my beloved cagers, Hebrews (HEB -- coincidentally a SA based grocer ... or is it?) provides a great verse at the core of community.

Heb 10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Leroy Eims looks quickly and closely at this verse http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/TMS10S.mp3

Mr. Eims also takes us beyond the what and into the how, who and whom. Implicit in how we spur one another on to love, for example, is by loving. Good deeds, by doing and encouragement in humility to the humble. Awesome stuff.

Week 7

Admonish. Get to the rebukin'! J. Vernon McGee gets to it, and I mean right to it, when you click http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/58044HEB.mp3

It's just a couple of minutes, but it gets to the core of what Hebrews' author was challenging his readership to. See Hebrews 5:11-14.

From whom do you accept a good rebukin'? How do you accept it? Help me out, there's a Psalm that sounds like a Proverb that talks about the slap of a righteous man being better than the kiss a fool -- at least that's how I remember it. What's the verse?

How do you move your own walk from Simulac to Three Forks?

As Mr. McGee says, no growth occurs without the Bible. All the "I feel, I think, I believe" in the world won't get the point across like a good solid verse. II Timothy 3:16 makes the promise and if you so choose, not a day will go by without the promise being kept.

Week 6

Sure, there was some Philemon talk. By the way, as my mother so astutely pointed out this weekend, it's pronounced fi LEE mun. My response? "How would you know?" Not one to break a commandment, and post said break, I wasn't being disrespectful. It was more sardonic commentary on the under-utilization of this Pauline letter. Really.

What happened in our meeting was less exegesis and more intercession.
Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Frankly, we all struggled with what to talk about with Philemon on the docket. But as we investigated forgiveness in light of the neighborhood scene, we uncovered a potential opportunity to breathe life into a potential drowning victim about to reach teen age.

Donald Miller's, To Own a Dragon came up. Then, BAM! Out comes Todd Wagner with some quotes from the book Sunday. Tim's testimony places him first on the list to read it, but maybe it will make its way around.

Fortunately, there's not a tidy summary statement to this entry. Just encouragement. Stay disciplined and in the Word. Rest in the confidence of Romans 8:26. Rest in Hebrews 4. Rest in Psalm 23. Rest.

Week 5

I'd circled the word persecuted in 2 Timothy 3:12. And although we haven't experienced the objective persecution Paul describes, I think we agreed that there's an enemy lurking, and attacking, in the subjective, spiritual plane. At least.

I spoke with another group. They had, in the same context, identified Satan as the source of persecution. Awesome. Don't you know it ticks him off when we expose him? He's not known as the dark one for hanging out in the light.

So, what do we do with this?

Check it out --
Ephesians 6:17 (NASB) And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Bringing it back to Paul's second letter to young Timothy,
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Pretty good tool, yes? But, like the kid who uses Daddy's seven iron to hit rocks -- seven irons are great at that, sure, but to what end -- let's say we don't always use it to its maximum efficacy.

If you have a helmet and sword, when are you going to put that on? Before bed? How about before you face the enemy? What if you're always under seige, would you want it all the time? -- place it on your heart, boys (Psalm 119). Could be we don't fully grasp its power. Hebrews 4:12 helps me get that. Or its versatility -- 2 Timothy 3:16.

Can I get an Amen, brothers?

Click the Hand Illustration to see more of how the Navigators help build the God-breathed, teachin', rebukin', correctin trainin' in righteousness, joint and marrow-piercing sword of the Spirit, living Bible into kids like us. It may even help your short game.

Week 4

Our discussion focused on 1 Timothy 4:6-16. Lo and behold, yet another speaker on Discipleship Library covered the same content. http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/A296.mp3

Paul' s letter to young Timothy was a bar raiser, for sure. In ten verses he pre-empted whatever excuses were pre-loaded, "too young, they won't listen to me..." boo hoo. Listen, little brother, this is about words of faith, sound doctrine, but more than understanding the facts of obedience, it's about building our relationships through obedience. Treating obedience as a verb, not a noun. Of course, I'm speaking of obedience to God first.

However, we seem to resist obedience in every facet of our lives. Bill Cosby does a bit on the wedding vow to love, honor and the oft-forgotten, obey. Alas, Mr. Shakespeare, we can't even to our own selves be true. Missed appointments, tardiness, failed workout programs, diets, quiet times, scripture memory, the list goes on.

We keep laying rail for our life to run on, create a dozen or so switches, computerize our switching mechanism, plan our schedule to match Dutch efficiency, then immediately head, ATV-style, off the very tracks we just laid. What's up with that? Cue Dana Carvey's church lady. Could it be? Satan?

Well, consider that for a moment. What was the fall all about? Was it based upon the false syllogism that God's plan is restrictive, and restriction's bad and therefore God's plan's bad? Surely if you eat that fruit you won't die.

Is it as simple as that? Should we try doing one thing with flawless obedience before we try to master 2 with varied obedience. Maybe. I'd love to hear your thoughts, men.

Week 3

Once we waded our way through Cindi's new menu, only to discover all we needed to know was in our heads or on the "Egg Special" table card, we were off and running toward another great meeting.

We all inspired each other to be steadfast in what we're doing well and even to re-commit to known practices that lead to spiritual growth. Focusing quiet times and verse memory around the Journey seems like a great decision.

Click the attached graph to see how the Navigator's "old school" 2:7 illustrated the 4 stages to application.

Pray for discipline in this area. We seem to have at least 1 - 2 licked. Three? Four? How ya doin'?

See you Thursday.

Week 2

After finishing our discussion on the hypothetical impact of living in a Tim Simms-centered world, we got down to business with 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Ray Stedman has a study on those very same verses @ http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/NET01591.mp3.

Mr. Stedman noted Courage (v. 1-5), Gentleness (v. 8) and Faithfulness (v. 9-12) as the key attributes Paul evokes. Each of us seemed to respond well to the balance Paul provides in this letter.

The element of courage was the theme from a "Fact of the Matter" e-mail I recently received from Jim Kennedy. I've attached it as a comment. Let me know if you'd be interested in getting on Mr. Kennedy's e-mail list. His notes are always thought-provoking (understatement).

The bottom line; if we're authentic in our faith and if/since we believe in the Jesus Paul describes in Colossians 1;

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

. . . how else can we respond other than with courage grounded in this omnipotence, gentleness from our association with this omniscience and a faithfulness that parallels the omnipresence of the holy spirit?

Week 1

Hey guys, Tim and I had a great conversation this morning on Colossians 1.

Just like last time, if you keep up with the Journey, you'll keep pace with Summit. We'll focus on Wednesdays' Journey chapter each Thursday morning.

When we read Col. 9 - 14 this a.m., verse 11 jumped out as a point of focus for growing strong as Christian men.

11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance . . .

Leroy Eims brought this out in one of his 4-minute, daily walk through the bible presentations. http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/DD0297.mp3

If you're interested in seeing all Mr. Eim's daily walks, visit, http://www.discipleshiplibrary.com/daily_discipleship.php?m=100&n=200&s=code%2Cseries_order

This encouragement, and reminder of our strength and power as followers of Christ served to lift the Colossians then and us now. That idea should also serve as a launching pad to get with it and stay with it. Paul would say something like steadfast.

How would you say it? One of the questions today was for a mission statement. Paul's may be Col. 1:28. What would yours look like?

Introduction

Hey guys. Here's something fresh and new to support you during our fall session of Summit. It's likely I'll still send an e-mail or two. For the most part, however, I'll provide links to this blog. That way, I can satisfy the joy providing content brings me while respecting your desire to "drive your experience."

The LINKS in the side navigation will take to more global resources. I'll provide specific links, photos, graphics, etc. within each specific blog entry.

However, to a much greater extent, your content provision, in the form of comments and posts will be what makes this thing pass or fail.

Let me know if you have any questions.