Posted: 12/17/04

Buckner seeks hosts for 'angels from abroad'

DALLAS–Angels from Abroad, a Buckner International Adoption program to expose American families to international adoption, will be offered again in 2005.

The program allows adoption-minded families to host orphan children ages 7 to 14 when they visit the United States during their summer vacation June 4-20.

“Angels from Abroad offers host families the opportunity to make a difference in the life of a Russian child visiting the United States,” said Mary Ann Hamby, community relations coordinator for Buckner International Adoption. “Hosting is a great way for potentially adoptive families to participate in the experience of having a child from Russia living in their home as they consider international adoption as an option for parenting.”

The Russian children will stay in host family homes during their visit and participate in several Buckner-organized events, including a family picnic, Vacation Bible School program, child-centered activities and a swim party. In addition, host families will have the opportunity to plan their own family activities around the schedule of events.

Hamby, who noted that all of the children have been identified as available for international adoption, emphasized the need for host volunteers who are “willing and capable Christian families and single women who can successfully parent these precious children.”

Debbie Wynne, clinical director for Buckner International Adoption, said participating families will be able to call on her agency's staff to make their time with the Angels as positive as possible.

“The Buckner clinical team will be connected with each approved host family and will be checking on the family during the course of the child's visit to lend support and guidance as needed,” Wynne said. “In addition, Buckner will have interpreters available to assist families with translation and regular communication.”

While Buckner is working with churches and donors to help offset a portion of the costs of travel, visas and other expenses, host families must pay a host program fee to help with remaining program, home study and travel costs.

Potential host families must attend a workshop Jan. 11 at the Buckner International Adoption office, 4830 Samuell Blvd. in Dallas or call (214) 381-1552 to view the meeting on VHS. Christian couples and single women at least 25 years old who live in North Texas and are active church members are eligible to be considered as host families. Each family must pass a criminal background check and home study.

Buckner also is seeking volunteers to support the Angels from Abroad program financially as well as prior to and during the visit to assist with some of the events and activities. “We need assistance with playgroups, babysitting, carpools and a carnival for the children,” Hamby said.

Buckner International Adoption is officially accredited by the Russian Federation to place children for international adoption. Buckner has placed more than 150 Russian children in adoptive families in the United States since 1995.

For more information or to host or volunteer, contact Mary Ann Hamby at Buckner International Adoption at (214)381-1552 or mhamby@buckner.org

Posted: 12/17/04

Advocates for BWA look for ways
to rebuild group's financial support

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)–About 20 former Southern Baptist leaders met in Atlanta this month to seek ways to rebuild financial support for the Baptist World Alliance, which lost its largest member and funding source in October.

The leaders–including several former Southern Baptist Convention agency heads and state convention executives–called themselves “Advocates of the Baptist World Alliance,” but no formal organization has been created.

Last June, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to withdraw its membership and final $300,000 in funding from the BWA, an international umbrella organization representing 211 Baptist bodies. The convention's leaders said BWA harbors theological liberalism, a charge denied by BWA and many of its member groups worldwide.

The Atlanta meeting was organized by Duke McCall, retired president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and former president of BWA.

“Our purpose is to retain Southern Baptist participation in and support of the Baptist World Alliance,” said McCall, who also was president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and chief executive of the SBC before fundamentalists rose to power.

“We function within Baptist freedom and the autonomy of every Christian church,” McCall said. “The BWA has inspired and instructed world Baptists in their intention to be biblical Christian witnesses to our Savior Jesus Christ.”

Other participants included Grady Cothen and Lloyd Elder, both former presidents of the SBC Sunday School Board–now called Lifeway Christian Resources–and three former chief executives of the SBC Woman's Missionary Union–Alma Hunt, Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler and Dellanna O'Brien.

Two BWA staff members were present–Denton Lotz, executive director, and Ian Chapman, development director.

The group did not establish a strategy or fund-raising goal in support of the BWA but agreed to encourage churches and individuals to support the international organization, based in Falls Church, Va.

McCall said a formal organization was a possibility going into the meeting “but it never crystalized. I didn't hear this crowd wanting an ongoing organization.” Nonetheless, he said he was “impressed with the vigor of the support” for the BWA.

The best hope for raising money for the BWA is from churches and individuals, McCall said.

Most support for the Baptist World Alliance traditionally has come from member Baptist bodies around the world, but the BWA recently added categories of associate membership for churches and individuals. Supporters are hoping to replace the money lost from the SBC–$425,000 annually until recent years–from churches and individuals who disagree with the SBC's action.

State conventions in Texas, Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri provide avenues of support for the BWA.

Proposals that could have resulted in more funding for BWA recently were defeated in the Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia Baptist conventions.

Catherine Allen, former president of the BWA Women's Department, said many “rank-and-file” Baptist churches have quit participating in the SBC and state conventions but still want to support BWA.

“There are a lot of churches that are SBC-identified who are going to have to make a decision about BWA,” said Allen, who also participated in the meeting. Encouragement from those former Southern Baptist leaders can be a persuasive factor, said Allen, former WMU associate executive director and now treasurer of Global Women.

Other participants included former chief executives of state conventions: Jere Allen, District of Columbia; Charles Barnes, Maryland; Bill Causey, Mississippi; James Griffith, Georgia; Jack Lowndes, New York; and Don Widemon, Missouri. Other state executives who expressed support but were not able to attend included Earl Kelly, Mississippi; Ken Lyle, New England; Reggie McDonough, Virginia; Bill Pinson, Texas; and Roy Smith, North Carolina.

Also attending were Emmanuel McCall, former director of black church relations for the Home Mission Board; Bill O'Brien, former vice president of the Foreign Mission Board; Truett Gannon, professor at Mercer's McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta; and three Georgia pastors–David Sapp of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Bill Self of Johns Creek Baptist Church in Alpharetta, and Craig Sherouse of First Baptist Church of Griffin.

Posted: 12/17/04

Texas Baptist students devote
Christmas break to missions, ministries

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communication

Texas Baptist college students are not just going home for the holidays; they're spreading out around the world to tell others about Christ.

Some students already have left on holiday mission trips, and still more will depart after Christmas. It's all part of Baptist Student Ministry, associated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

For example:

Twenty-six students from Tarleton State University will go to Pensecola, Fla., to help repair a church building “pretty well torn up” by a hurricane this past summer, said Darrell Samuelson, BSM director at Tarleton. The students will do repairs, as well as sing Christmas carols and participate in outreach. Nine students will head to Portland State University in Portland, Ore., to prayer walk the campus and assist in outreach.

Twelve students from Texas State University will travel to Washington state to help with campus evangelism and lead a youth discipleship weekend, said Abe Jaquez, BSM director. Another TSU student will work with Go Now Missions in Dallas.

Forty students from Texas A&M University in Commerce will do remodeling and repair work at an orphanage in Matamoras, Mexico, said Joe Schmidt, BSM director. They also will assist new congregations with door-to-door evangelism.

At least five students from Laredo Community College and Texas A&M International University in Laredo will do light construction and “friendship evangelism” for Emmanuel Baptist Church in Charlotte, southeast of San Antonio, said Lamuel Lara, BSM director for both campuses.

Six University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students will minister in Scotland. Other students will go to Japan, China, Fort Worth and South Texas for a variety of ministries.

Holiday mission trips are pursued “basically out of necessity,” said Tarleton's Samuelson, because the students “work so much” to pay for their education. Students going to Florida raised $100 each, while students headed to Oregon had to come up with $400 each.

But the spiritual and ministry payoff can be great.

Schmidt hopes A&M-Commerce students will get “a better vision of the world and its needs and how God can use them to meet those needs.” Through missions, “they have their eyes opened a little bit” in order to see “how blessed they are and to re-evaluate priorities.”

And some of the students “come back to campus with a renewed passion” for Christ and his work, Schmidt said.

Missions “seems to stoke the flames” in students lives, said Texas State's Jaquez. They start asking, “What could I do here on my own campus?”

There is, quite simply, something different about mission work. “I don't think they get the same experience in their hometowns,” said Laredo's Lara. On the mission field, “they have to rough it out so they're more in tune with what's going on in other people's lives.”

And Lara is looking farther down the road in his students' lives, as well.

“I am trying to get it into their heads that being a minister is very, very possible for today's youth,” he said. And for students who do not pursue vocational ministry, the experience will benefit the churches where they serve as laypersons.

Posted: 12/17/04

Colleyville church feeds 2,800, leads 138 to faith in Christ

By Gregory Tomlin

Baptist Press

COLLEYVILLE (BP)–It wasn't quite comparable to the New Testament feeding of the 5,000, but an army of volunteers served hot meals and passed out sacks of groceries to more than 2,800 people.

Even so, the real miracle occurred in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Colleyville, where 138 people came forward to accept salvation in Jesus Christ, ministers at the church insisted.

“At the end of the service tonight, we are going to give you good gifts. Your money is no good here. We are not taking up an offering, and we will not accept donations,” Pastor Frank Harber told the 800-plus families at the event. “The gift of eternal life is just like that. It is free, and you would offend God if you tried to buy it.”

The dinner, grocery distribution and gospel presentation were part of the church's third annual Mission Colleyville outreach. Attendance at the events has doubled in three years, since one of First Baptist's deacons conceived the idea of feeding and providing for the community's most-neglected residents.

Ron Cogburn, deacon chairman when the idea of the mission was developed, said people in the area have embraced the mission because they see in it true compassion.

“Compassion without action is nothing. True mercy is compassion with action,” Cogburn said. “We are not only telling the people here that Jesus loves them; we are showing them. Where else could they get a meal, groceries and toys for their children? This makes a lot of difference in their lives.”

This year, more than 400 volunteers from the church participated in the mission. Bilingual pastors and ministers from area Hispanic churches also took part.

Carlos Flores, a minister at Highland Meadows Church, strolled around inside the tent on the church grounds where dinner was being served, greeting the families that carpooled from as far away as Irving. Several school buses also transported community members to the church.

Flores, wearing a bright red shirt with the word “bilingual” in white, shook hands, prayed with families and encouraged them to listen closely to the gospel message they would hear in the church's sanctuary.

“The people here at the church are doing this because they have a heart for people. They have a heart for the lost in the Hispanic community,” Flores said.

Eric Vaughan, associate pastor at First Baptist Church, said he expects Mission Colleyville to continue its growth. And he expects his church to seek more assistance from Hispanic churches.

“Each year, we have an increase in the number of Hispanics involved in this outreach. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. As our population grows, we will need to partner with Hispanics to reach into their communities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them,” Vaughan said.

“We have a heart and a passion to reach out to our Jerusalem, or northeast Tarrant County. It all boils down to the fact that this church body at its core, at its heart, is evangelistic.”

Posted: 12/17/04

ANOTHER VIEW:
There'll always be a Christmas

As one grows older, the valuables of life become more treasured. Friendships are rooted more deeply in the soil of human need. Homes are marked within and without with meaningful “hand-me-downs,” pictures of the children and grandchildren, reminders of visits by joy-bringers, gracious serendipities that have added so much to the journey.

We would be hard-pressed to place pricetags on the presence of special individuals, who at trying times have felt voicemail was hardly sufficient. They knew that we needed broad shoulders to lean upon and how to adjust in the crowded world we live in.

There have been the constant pressures to downgrade our moral values; plus a mindset equipped to deal with the gray climate brought upon us by the terrorist who cannot have the priceless gift of peace, nor properly evaluate hope for international brothering.

Yes, and even the Christmas season, declaring the birth of the Savior, is badgered by hatemongers whose outspoken objective is to destroy every semblance of our thanksgiving for the reality of the virgin-born King!

These recent years have brought us the choice of denominational loyalties as well as a strong new call to affirm our commitment to world missions–and all the while, we have been stalked continuously by vile advocators of a world that has no time or place for Christmas!

It is here and it is now that Christian believers must “draw their line in the sand,” declaring faith and trust in the God of Christmas morning! Forbid it, Lord, should the lights of Christmas lose their glow! We need Christmas so desperately!

I ask forgiveness should these rhetoritics seem overly strained with deep wrinkles of concern. How I wish their humble gift of pen and promise might find a warm lodging in the hearts of believers everywhere.

Nevertheless, we have come again to Christmas to find it inundated with question marks. How long will it last, this glorious grace of Christmas? Should I be given the boldness for replication with all others who share the Christ of kind, I would stand strong to answer:

There'll always be a Christmas

So long as truth remains in trust,

Conceived with promise held inviolate;

So long as faith confirms the birth

Of Day Spring's glad arriving;

So long as Wise Men find the star,

And Shepherds know where angels are;

So long as gifts are bought with care,

And joyful laughter fills the air;

So long as hope responds in kind,

To share the breathless news divine;

So long as children dream their dreams,

Of lions and lambs in single ring;

So long as streets are free from hate,

Where young and old can congregate;

So long as fields awake to green,

Long Winter's wind still welcomes Spring,

So long as angels anthem sing,

And Virgin's Child is crowned the King–

There'll always be a Christmas.

BO Baker, a longtime Texas Baptist pastor and evangelist, has written a Christmas reflection for the Baptist Standard for 29 consecutive years.

Posted: 12/17/04

DBU offers master's-level credit for
participants at Epicenter conference

Dallas Baptist University is offering master's-level credit for participants in Epicenter, the Baptist General Convention of Texas' annual evangelism and missions conference.

DBU students in the Gary Cook Graduate School of Leadership and Christian Education can earn three hours of course credit for attending all Epicenter sessions, making reports and creating plans to implement ideas learned during the conference.

Students must enroll in the “Local Church on Mission” class and pay the standard DBU tuition. Matching grants for tuition assistance are available. Class assignments will be submitted online.

Bob Garrett, professor of missions in DBU's graduate school, said Epicenter provides a unique opportunity for students to interact with leaders on the cutting edge of ministry. DBU's class can help ministers apply what they learn at Epicenter to their congregations.

Epicenter features author Dallas Willard; Jeff Harris, pastor of Grace Point Church in San Antonio; Carol Davis, executive director of Global Spectrum; and Darrell Guder, Henry Winters Luce professor of missional and ecumenical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.

The conference is free and is scheduled Jan. 28-29 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel near D/FW Airport. For more information on Epicenter, visit www.bgct.org/epicenter.

Posted: 12/17/04

DOWN HOME:
He's pathetic or just blessed

Every year about this time, I wind up in the same ol' doghouse. Or, considering the season, maybe it's the reindeer house.

That's because I never can come up with a Christmas wish-list of sufficient length to satisfy my wife.

“Marv,” she said the other day. (Come to think of it, about the only time Joanna calls me by my name is when I'm in trouble.) “You haven't given me a single idea about what to get you for Christmas.”

She's right, of course. I can't come up with a thing. Zip. Nada. Nil. Nothing.

At Christmastime, I realize I'm sort of pathetic. Guys with hobbies and varied interests always have an easy time with wish-lists. They need a golf club or a tackle box or a table saw. Or if they've got an exotic hobby, they have exotic wish-lists. Like the last piece of an antique wind-up train set or Grover Cleveland's signature or a postage stamp from Bimini.

Even my so-called hobbies don't lend themselves to wish-lists. I've got a good pair of running shoes, so that's covered. And between the books I pick up at work, the ones I buy with the occasional bookstore giftcard and the library, I've got enough to read until 2035 or the Rapture, whichever comes last.

And I can't even exactly describe the one thing I'd like for Christmas. An old friend named Lloyd used to have a small bookcase on rollers. It had four sides and spun around. Cool. But I've Googled and eBayed and never found anything remotely like it.

So, you might say I'm pathetic.

But I'd say I'm blessed. God has supplied beyond my needs, even beyond my dreams. While I know the blank piece of paper that could be my wish-list drives my wife and daughters crazy, it makes me, well, thankful.

Actually, I'd have to say I'd do better with a symbolic wish-list than the real thing. If I had a symbolic wish-list, I'd write “gas card” and “clock” on it. That would stand for the ability to travel to visit famiy and friends and plenty of time to spend with them.

Other than the salvation we begin to celebrate as we observe Christmas, the thing I cherish most is the company of the people I love. I'd rather have a simple meal and a leisurely evening with my wife and almost-grown daughters than anything you could slide under the Christmas tree. I'd rather play a game of Hearts with Brent and Jackie than receive anything you can wrap in a bow. That list could go on for pages.

And that's just the beginning. Jesus is my Savior. God has blessed Jo and me with precious children, loving family and fantastic friends. We're healthy. We're productively employed. We live in a land where we're free to worship. And I'm married to my best friend.

No list could match the gifts God has given me already.

Posted: 12/17/04

EDITORIAL:
Avoid shepherds' temptation: Leaving baby in a manger

Whatever happened to the shepherds?

The Gospel of Luke describes how they became eyewitnesses to the birth of Jesus. The evening started like any other. They camped “out in the fields” of the Judean hillside, herding their flock. Then all heaven started breaking loose: An angel popped up, scaring them out of their sandals. Realizing their fear, the angel told them to calm down and announced that the long-awaited Messiah–“a Savior who is Christ the Lord”–had just been born in Bethlehem. As proof, the angel said, in effect: “If you don't believe me, go see for yourself. He's a baby, bundled up, bedded down in a feed trough.” Next, they heard the best concert ever, sung by an angel choir that proclaimed glory to God and promised peace. And then, when the angels sang their last note, the shepherds ran to Bethlehem, where everything the first angel told them came true. They hovered over the manger, ogling the Baby, amazed that the angel described everything to a T. After that, of course, they hurried back to their sheep, all the while “glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”

That's it. The shepherds get 13 brief-but-beautiful verses in Luke 2. And then they pass off the scene as fast as fifth-grade “shepherds” sling off their bathrobes after a church Christmas pageant. We never hear from the shepherds again.

Don't you wonder whatever happened to the shepherds? The Gospel says Mary, Jesus' mother, “pondered” that night, remembering it over and over and over. But what of the shepherds?

Don't you suppose they, too, remembered? Every time lightning flashed across a midnight sky, one of them expected an angel to appear for a progress report on the young Messiah. Perhaps they thought about Jesus whenever they glimpsed a mother carrying a newborn baby. And maybe they were in the crowds, unnamed but watchful, in the scenes we know from Jesus' ministry: A guest smacking his lips at the best wine he's ever tasted at a wedding in Cana. A retired shepherd on a vacation trip to the Sea of Galilee, amazed at the stirring hillside sermon of a young rabbi. An old shepherd who hardly believes his ears when he hears about the teacher who raised a guy named Lazarus from the dead.

We'll never know exactly what the shepherds remembered. Nor will we know how they set that night in the context of their lives. Contemplating the shepherds' experience, Leroy Fenton observed in a recent Bible study lesson, “What they saw was not all there was to comprehend.” The shepherds saw angels, the Baby and a young mother. They heard a fantastic promise. But comprehension–full comprehension–would have carried them far beyond the manger. If they comprehended, they would have understood that Baby would grow up to be a man, Jesus–fully human yet fully divine–who would challenge the so-called spiritual leaders of the day, who would turn conventional expectations of a Messiah upside down, who would “preach good news to the poor, … freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind.” Comprehension would have carried them to the cross and beyond, to an empty tomb and to glory.

Of course, the shepherds could not comprehend the Incarnation, God-in-Flesh, in the face of that Baby. Memorable as the moment was, they went back to work. They basked in 13 verses of fame and then got on with their lives.

Every year at Christmas, we all become shepherds. Summoned by angels, we peer into the nativity. We gaze reverently upon the Holy Family. In the stillness, we can almost hear the Baby Jesus' soft, sweet breath.

But what we see in that manger is “not all there is to comprehend.” Unlike the shepherds, we know the rest of the story. Even in the Gospels, the sweetness of that moment soon passes. And then we see what that Baby arrived to become, the Suffering Servant Savior. If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we comprehend that Christmas is about far more than warm feelings and glad tidings and goodwill to all. If we pay attention, we comprehend Christmas is about more than a virgin birth, but the arrival of God, who took on human flesh to communicate his love for us and to provide us with redemption from our sins.

If we comprehend, we will not succumb to the shepherds' temptation to leave Jesus in the manger. If we comprehend Christmas, we will worship at the foot of the cross.

The Baby in the manger was and is God-in-Flesh, who came not to warm our hearts or bring us cheer, but to save the world from sin.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 12/17/04

El Paso Baptists' 2004 church-starts
nearly double previous year's number

EL PASO–Baptists in El Paso already held their annual church-planting banquet, but they've got room at the table for others who want to help them start churches.

They had plenty to celebrate at this year's banquet, reported Josué Valerio, director of missions for El Paso Baptist Association.

“In 2003, we started 16 churches, but by the end of this year, we will have started 30 churches in 2004,” Valerio said. “This is a remarkable accomplishment for one association with limited ministry resources in an impoverished area. We thank God for this blessing.”

And Baptists in El Paso expect that blessing to multiply, he added. In 2005, they hope to start 50 churches. That goal is part of a 10-year plan to start 500 congregations that will reach 75,000 people–10 percent of the population of the border city on the far tip of West Texas.

“We could not do this alone; we have partners,” Valerio said. In addition to local contributions–such as the funds raised at the annual church-starting banquet–El Paso Association teams up with others to launch the churches.

Those partners include the Baptist General Convention of Texas and its Church Multiplication Center and Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, as well as Caprock-Plains Baptist Area, which includes the Caprock, Llanos Altos and Staked Plains Baptist associations. In addition, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has offered to help the association start Spanish-speaking churches as part of its partnership with the Hispanic Baptist Convention.

The association has raised $62,800 so far this year. The money will be used in 2005 to start congregations and to provide matching funds for purchasing property.

In the past two years, the association has helped start Spanish, English, bilingual, Chinese and African-American congregations.

Church-starting in the city has an international flair, Valerio said, citing the “constant flow of family and activity that occurs daily across the border … with Juarez, Mexico.”

With 54 established churches, the association has 42 mission congregations in the start-up stage. And only 19 local churches have the financial strength to help start the missions, he said.

Consequently, the association is looking for other church-starting partners, Valerio noted. “Anyone who wants to be a co-sponsor (of a new congregation) is welcome,” he said. “We stretch our budget to the limit.”

For more information, contact Valerio at El Paso Baptist Association, 2012 Grant Ave., El Paso 79930-1017; (915) 544-8671 or e-mail josue-epba@sbcglobal.net.

Posted: 12/17/04

Shared holiday meal fills El Paso
Baptists with renewed passion for missions

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

EL PASO–A holiday meal filled several Texas Baptists from El Paso with a renewed desire to see and meet needs around them.

Four members of First Baptist Church celebrated Thanksgiving at the Alfa & Omega School in Denia, Spain, where they taught children about why Americans celebrate the holiday. The Texas Baptists served turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce to more than 100 people.

The Texas Partnerships Resource Center of the Baptist General Convention of Texas has a relationship with Spanish Baptists.

The volunteers explained to the school's students, staff workers and their families why Christians thank God for blessing them, said Debra Collins, First Baptist Church's minister of missions, community ministries and women's ministry.

“It was a lot of work,” said Gay Brown, a member of First Baptist Church. “It was a lot of fun. And it was an enormous blessing.”

The experience invigorated the travelers, who shared details of their trip with their church one Wednesday, Collins said. They also are telling stories about their journey to different segments of the congregation through Sunday school classes and personal relationships, she added.

Brown emphasized to her class that God calls each person to be involved in mission work.

The trip to Spain gave volunteers a broader view of how God is expanding his kingdom, Collins said.

El Paso Baptists saw ministry can take many different forms, she noted. They took that information home with them and are looking to apply it in their community.

“It gives us an extra focus that there are things we can do outside receiving support for Juarez and El Paso,” Collins said.

“Whether we go to Spain or we go across the river or are serving right here in El Paso, we are to be sharing the gospel,” she said.

Brown said she more clearly sees the needs in El Paso and its surrounding communities. She particularly mentioned ministering to people who live in a valley north of the West Texas city.

"We don't have to go to Mexico," she said. "We don't have to go to Spain. We have (needs) all around here."

For information on partnering with Spain and other countries, contact the Texas Partnerships Resource Center at (214) 828-5181 or via e-mail at texas_partnerships@bgct.org.

Posted: 12/17/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Dec. 26

Be a good steward of the riches God has given

Lesson Passage: Luke 16:1-13

By Pakon Chan

Chinese Baptist Church, Arlington

It is wise to learn from the past and plan for the future. Planning is the first step to managing our lives. We are stewards of God to manage our lives. We are entrusted by God with many things and also held responsible for them.

Among all things, money is one of the most important possessions that either enriches our lives or destroys them. The Bible reminds us many times to handle money cautiously and wisely to avoid turning it into an evil thing (1 Timothy 6:10). Jesus uses the parable of the shrewd manager in this chapter to tell us to manage money wisely.

This parable is not easy to understand since Jesus praises a shrewd but immoral steward. Definitely, Jesus does not praise the immorality of that manager. What Jesus wants to show in this parable is his shrewd management skills and the wisdom of planning for the future.

Consider the future

Why did Jesus use an irresponsible and dishonest manager in his parable to teach the disciples? There may be several reasons for this. He wants to compare the worldly people with the people of the light (Luke 16:8). If the worldly people can manage their own lives so well, shouldn't the people of the light do even better?

Being stewards of God, we should plan for our future. If we want to live meaningfully today, we should have a good plan for tomorrow. The manager in this parable is very future-conscious, and he knows that tomorrow he will lose his job, so he plans for the rainy days.

I was told that American culture does not encourage people to save for the future. I also see a lot of Christians have no personal savings and no plan for their lives. Having savings or plans for our future does not necessarily mean we do not trust God. We should make a godly plan for ourselves so that we can make full use of our lives to serve the Lord.

Make wise decisions

We should plan for our lives, for it is a spiritual discipline. When we plan for our future, we should examine our lifestyle to see if it is Christian. We need to define our lifestyle first and then find out what our daily necessities are.

The manager in this parable is very smart. What he does may benefit both his master and himself in the future. The debtors may work even harder for the master since their debts are reduced. These debtors also may become the future resources of this manager if he needs their help (v. 4). Making wise decisions is important for a successful plan.

It is wise and Christian to define first our daily necessities and the things that most need to be done to start the planning process for next year. We should give higher priority to the things needing to be done, and money needed to be used to take care of our family, career, church life and God's works.

Two principles guide us in planning–the principle of balance and the principle of pleasing God. The principle of balance helps make a plan that can benefit our family, career, spiritual growth and church life. The principle of pleasing God will guard our plan against putting any ungodly wish into our lives.

I encourage you to share your plan with some Christian friends for prayer support. We may selectively share part of our plan if we have some personal things in it we don't want to share. It also is good for Christian fellowship that people will help each other grow in Christ.

Use money faithfully

One of the major issues in our plan for next year is money management. It does not matter if we have a lot of money or very little money under our care, we need to manage money well in order to glorify God and fulfill our responsibility as stewards. The Christian lifestyle should determine our way of using money, and our way of using money also will reflect our lifestyle.

God has entrusted us with worldly wealth. By managing this wealth to glorify God, he will entrust us with the true riches (v. 11). If money has any value, it should assist us to live joyfully and meaningfully. But money by itself cannot achieve these goals.

We are responsible to manage the money God gives us through our work and paychecks. We need to spend money wisely and give generously to God's ministry. We need to set aside the portions of tithe and giving to mission and other ministries first before we plan to spend the money for our daily necessities. If we still have any money left, put some money into savings for the future. Then, we can plan to spend the rest of the money on our wish list.

If we can practice this spiritual discipline in making plans for next year and managing money to fulfill our responsibility as stewards, we will prevent ourselves from worshipping money and becoming its slaves (vv. 13).

Discussion questions

Have you ever made a plan for your life?

What is your habit of using money?

Do you think that it is possible for sharing your plan for next year with some Christian friends for support and prayer?

Posted: 12/17/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Jan. 2

Don't let Christ's return catch you unprepared

Luke 17:20-37

By Pakon Chan

Chinese Baptist Church, Arlington

During the New Testament time, much apocalyptic literature was circulating in society. The Pharisees knew all the apocalyptic expectations raised by the people of Israel under the Roman oppression. They expected the Messiah would come to re-establish David's rule.

It was their understanding of the coming Messiah and the kingdom of God. There was not any difference in the understanding of the Messiah and God's kingdom at that time between the disciples and the Pharisees.

Present now

After seeing Jesus perform so many miracles, they wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah. There was a practical reason behind their curiosity, for if Jesus was the Messiah, when would he restore the Davidic kingdom for them? To them, the Davidic kingdom was nothing less than the kingdom of God.

But Jesus gave them an answer beyond their understanding. The kingdom of God was not what they had expected. It had nothing to do with politics or land. Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).

Jesus told them the kingdom of God was where his sovereignty reigned. If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord in our lives, God's kingdom is in our lives. God's kingdom has no boundaries that can be located on a map.

It starts in the hearts of his believers. “Within you” can also be understood as “among you.” God's kingdom is within Christians, since the kingdom is in every Christian's heart. If we do God's will and let him be our Lord, then we are the kingdom of God.

Not yet

Even though we do not wait until we die or the last days to see the kingdom of God, God's kingdom is not yet totally here. God's kingdom will be fully established the day Jesus returns to earth.

Before then, the disciples will wait for a long time. Therefore, Jesus warns them while they are waiting, “Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them” (v. 23).

There are at least two reasons we should not run after the false prophets. Jesus tells us that, when he returns, it will be very clear and visible to everyone, just like the lightning flashing in the sky (v. 24). The other reason is the expectation that God has for us. Jesus reminds us to be prepared always to wait for his return.

He uses the story of Noah to make this point clear. Noah had prepared for the flood, so he and his family were saved. The people of his generation did not heed his warning, so they were destroyed by the flood.

If we are always prepared for Jesus' return, we don't need to waste our time and energy guessing and will not “go running off after the false prophets.”

Not expected

Jesus goes on to warn us not to take chances as if he will delay his return. Like the flood in Noah's day and the fire in Lot's day, Jesus will return unexpectedly.

I have heard many people say: “I will accept Jesus as my Savior in my last years. I want to enjoy my life now.” Or, “I don't want to serve the Lord until I am retired.”

Jesus will remind us, “Remember Lot's wife” (v. 32). We may think that if we give our time and life in serving God, we will lose them. So we wait until old age, and not much time and life are left to serve God. Or we wait until the last minute that we cannot enjoy our life, then we will accept Jesus and become a “ready to go Christian.”

For those who are not prepared for Jesus' return, the warning is very scary. Jesus tells us that “whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (v. 33). And he goes on to tell us that “on the night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left” (v. 34).

It is a very good reminder at the beginning of the year. When we make plans for this year, we should have a right attitude of preparing for the return of our Lord. Please put the second coming of Jesus into your perspective when you make your plans for the year 2005.

Discussion questions

Are you expecting the return of our Lord? What do you expect it to be like?

What emotions does the thought of Christ's return stir up within you?

What have you put off that you would do immediately if you knew that Christ would return today?

How would your church's ministry be different this year if it were certain Christ would return Jan. 1, 2006?

How will your understanding of Jesus' return affect your plans for this year?