The Presbyter's Page
Electronic Edition - November 2000
Original articles published July 1997
Section 12 - LA
District UPCI
Donald Bryan - Presbyter
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Sermon
Thought: “The Little Foxes”
Living on
the Edge of Disaster
Five Signs
You Need a Church Administrator
Sermon Thought:
“The
Little Foxes”
Scripture Text – Song of Solomon 4:15
In 1991, six homes were destroyed in Hawaii. How? Molten lava from a volcano engulfed the homes. This event made national news because it was unusual. In that same year, over a million homes were partially or completely destroyed by termites, but these did not make the news.
The dramatic events get attention but the mundane is much more insidious. Let a plane crash anywhere and it will make news, but each year 400,000 people die from cigarettes and no one notices. If a toy is unsafe and chokes a baby, it will be pulled off the shelf, but each year 55,000 Americans will die in car accidents while we continue to drive.
The big things get attention, but it is the little things that make up life. Life is lived with the ordinary and with little things. The test of a person is then found if he can be faithful in the little things. This principle is found in Matthew 25:21, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.” God gives the ordinary and the common things to prove us. Can you be faithful when life is not dramatic, but is instead mundane? What are you doing when seemingly nothing is happening? Being faithful?
In Exodus 16:4 the Israelites people were tested with manna. The manna was God’s examination, well-planned and administered on a daily basis to see if they could be obedient to persevere and to be grateful. Anyone can rejoice when the Red Sea is parted, but can you rejoice when there is nothing but manna?
It is the daily things of prayer, fasting, reading the Word, worship, giving and forgiving that build the foundation of a Christian life. Consequently, it is the little foxes that destroy the vines where in is found the tender grapes. When a Christian neglects the little things, he will lose the big things. Are you still praying, fasting, and worshipping? Those are the little things that make a Christian.
We rejoice with Daniel’s victory in the lion’s den, but forget that he prayed 76,650 prayers while in captivity. Daniel was faithful with the little things. Don’t despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10).
It’s in the small things that victory and growth are found.
Communicator Keys
American society is in the midst of a communications
explosion. All sorts of electronic and
print media vie for people’s attention.
Amid this cultural revolution, there you are, trying to communicate the
most important message of all time – the good news of Jesus Christ. How can you possibly compete? Following these 10 principles will ensure
greater impact for your preaching.
1. Believe in what you say. Ferdinand Foch said, “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” All the crafting in the world can’t save a message that has no passion in it. If you can’t get excited about a subject, don’t preach on it.
2. Believe that people can change. Keep in mind that all great communicators have one thing in common: They expect their message to change lives.
3. Live what you say. Unless you have credibility, even the best content will get you nowhere. If you don’t live it, your listeners won’t either.
4. Know when to say it. Be observant of people’s reactions to your message. When you sense that people are receptive, it is time to ask for a response.
5. Know how to say it. Creativity greatly enhances communication. Use all the tools you can to make the message interesting and memorable: plays on words, acrostics, humor, stories, skits, music – all can help increase your impact. Avoid being too predictable. If people always know what you are about to say or how you will say it, they will tune you out.
6. Know why to say it. Develop an action-oriented thesis instead of a subject-oriented thesis. You’d be surprised by how many preachers expect their people to apply what they’ve learned without ever being asked to.
7. Have fun saying it. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Relax and show that you enjoy communicating your message. Nobody likes an uptight speaker.
8. Show it as you say it. People are visually oriented. Use body language, hand gestures, descriptive language and word pictures that bring life to what you are saying.
9. Say it so people can own it. People will not respond to a message that doesn’t seem to apply to them. Know your audience and make them a part of the message instead of mere observers.
10. Say it so people will do it. For people to act, four requirements must be met. They must have a receptive attitude, see the benefits of acting, understand how to act and be capable of acting. Even the best-planned and delivered message will be useless if the people don’t have a clear picture of how to carry it out.
Living on the Edge of
Disaster
Are you about to
crash and burn because your personal life doesn’t measure up to the
expectations of the ministry? Here are
three warning signals to watch for.
1. Anger. Anger usually results when we feel that we have lost control of a situation or circumstance. Many times we instinctively know that some area of our lives is out of control. That is when we become less tolerant of those around us.
Outward bursts of wrath are easy to detect. Another expression of anger is harder to recognize, but it needs
to be viewed as a “red flag” of a troubled heart: sarcasm.
Anger turned inward often comes out in the form of sarcasm. This form of anger is veiled in humor and it
may seem harmless, but it has a detectable “edge” to it. It subtly fires darts of hidden criticism.
In Ephesians 4:26-27 we read, “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
nor give place to the devil” (NKJV).
This scripture is not giving us a license to entertain the emotion of
anger. Rather, it is saying that we must
deal with this damaging emotion before the day ends. If we don’t, we will give place to Satan.
2.
The Elijah Syndrome. A second symptom of spiritual bankruptcy is
what I call the “Elijah Syndrome”. We
first see it demonstrated in the life of Elijah himself. The syndrome is displayed in the infamous church
service described in I Kings 18:21-40.
But in I Kings 19:9, we see that in not time at all, Elijah went from
basking in the blinding light of God’s glory to cowering in the corner of a
dark cave. He became imprisoned by
despair. When we are facing any kind of
difficulty, one of the most effective lies Satan feeds us is that no one can
understand what we are going through. “No
one else has it as bad as I do,” we think.
As a result, we begin to cut ourselves off from those who can offer us
wise counsel. We are then left to our
own distorted reasonings and perceptions.
Any time Satan can get us to believe that our situation is unique, then
he can dismantle us within our self-imposed state of isolation.
3.
A Lack of Vision.
The third symptom of spiritual
emptiness is a lack of vision. This
lack of vision will affect two areas of our lives. The first area deals with the sense of our own life’s purpose. Vision brings a sense of purpose that will
always provide direction for our lives.
Without it, we become slaves to circumstances and the opinions of men.
The second area relates to our personal relationship with Jesus. The neglect of this relationship causes our
vision of who and what we are in Him to lack the clarity and conviction
necessary for us to make decisions that guard our integrity. As Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no
vision, the people cast off restraint, but happy is he who keeps the law.”
The end result of a poor relationship with Christ is what I refer to as
a “conflict of values.” Just as our
vision serves as a compass, giving our lives clear direction, our values serve
a similar purpose. Are you running on
empty? Perhaps you’re not there yet –
but you know you are getting dangerously close. Don’t be afraid to confess and get help.
Five
Signs You Need A Church Administrator
Here are five symptoms that indicate you need a church administrator to
help with the load:
1.
More that 25% of your time is spent on church
administration. Pastors often find themselves attending to administrative needs that
are beyond the scope of a secretary’s authority. This may include tasks such as directing the volunteers who clean
the church, reviewing the accounts payable and managing the building
maintenance.
2.
Your administrative tasks are increasing – with no
relief on the horizon. A growing church will generate an
ever-increasing amount of administrative tasks. Although the financial strength of the church is a key factor in
determining the right time to hire an administrator, the problem of
administrative overload will have to be faced and resolved sooner or later.
3.
You can’t seem to find enough time for prayer and
sermon preparation. Too many hours spent on administration can result in a starving
flock because your times with the Lord and your personal study of the
Scriptures have been neglected.
4.
You are spending less time with your church leadership
team. Equipping
people for ministry is a primary responsibility in a senior pastor’s
portfolio. Spending excessive amounts
of time on administrative tasks can drain your emotions and sap the time you
need to directly impact the key people in your church.
5.
Your frustration over paperwork gives you a negative
attitude toward your ministry. A pastor’s negative outlook can’t always be
blamed on Brother and Sister Sandpaper.
Many pastors are frustrated by a struggle to find time for exercising
their pastoral gifts. They may not like
administrative work, but they feel trapped by the responsibility to get it done
– regardless of the cost to their ministries or their personal lives.
Do these symptoms of administrative overload apply to you? It may be time to consider hiring a church
administrator. It could make your
ministry much more enjoyable, freeing you to concentrate on the pastoral areas
you are more gifted in.
Pastor Bryan and/or
other members of the Pentecostals Online ministry staff personally recommend
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Secret
Sources of Power by T.F.
Tenney, T.
Tenney
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This book, published
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father of Tommy Tenney.
Creative
Time Management for the New Millennium
by Jan
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List
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