Word for Today, Mon, 16 Aug 2004: Where is God in it?
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Today's devotional message comes from the PCCWeb. The message
concerns being faithful and encouraging our pastor. I am all for
that. I believe in our pastor holding up standards for a church
that are based on biblical principles. I believe in following
and supporting the local pastor as much as possible, as long as
the man follows the Word of God.
I have a pastor that I love a great deal, and I follow his
leadership as much as I can. Even so, I watch and listen
carefully to what he says. I make sure that what he says is
consistent with what he reads from scripture, and that it also
matches what I read from scripture myself. As long as all the
pieces fit, I trust and follow the man, as the man follows God.
The message today encourages people in the local congregation to
hold up a standard. As long as we are clear that the standard
that we are holding up is the Word of God, I can agree with
that. What concerns me about so many churches today is that we
claim to hold up the standard of God, and we even say that we
follow God's Word, but in reality, we fashion our own concepts of
what that Word is and what it says. That really concerns me.
Read the scripture below, then read the devotional message that
follows. Note that what Moses was holding up was "the rod of
God". He didn't consider it to be just a shepherd's staff or a
stick, it was the rod of God, for through God that rod, staff,
whatever you want to call it, performed many miracles.
What we need are many people to uphold God's standard. We need
to uphold pastors that preach the real Word of God.
Unfortunately we need to get rid of some pastors that don't do
that. Let's focus on the positive, though. Let's make sure to
encourage whenever possible. Let's help our pastors by not
tempting them to cave in to popular culture, but to hold the
standard high. That standard is God's Word. Let's help our
pastors hold that Word in highest esteem.
Note that in order to do that, we have to read and study His Word
ourselves. Isn't that a big part of what the Christian life is
really all about?
Yours in Christ,
Brian
____________________________________________________________
Exodus 17:9-16, KJV
9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out,
fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill
with the rod of God in mine hand.
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with
Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel
prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it
under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his
hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side;
and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of
the sword.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a
book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly
put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it
Jehovahnissi:
16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will
have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
PCCWeb Daily
Monday, August 16, 2004
Today's Devotional
The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Pastor
Some time ago, the pastor at the church where I was
worshipping had resigned after several years of dedicated
service, and the church was awaiting the arrival of a new
pastor. Of course, both the congregation and the board
talked about what they needed in a new pastor, what skills
and talents they would like to see in the pastor in order
to make a perfect fit for our church. During the search, I
heard comments like, "The pastor should be a good giver, a
good preacher, teacher, and prayer warrior." About this
time my attention was drawn to this passage in Exodus.
Exodus 17:11-13 - As long as Moses held up the staff with
his hands, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever
he lowered his hands, the Amalekites gained the upper
hand. Moses' arms finally became too tired to hold up the
staff any longer. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to
sit on. Then they stood on each side, holding up his hands
until sunset. As a result, Joshua and his troops were able
to crush the army of Amalek. (NLT)
Here, Moses, the leader of the Israelites, was leading his
people in a battle against the enemy. When he was able to
hold the staff over his head, the Israelites were making
gains over their enemy, but when he tired and the staff
came down, the enemy made advances.
Our spiritual leaders, pastors, teachers, and other
officers of our churches are trying to hold a standard high
against the advances of Satan, our spiritual enemy. And
when the standard is held high, they do make these
advances. However, many of our leaders are weary; they've
been holding the standard high, on their own. Now we, the
lay people in our congregations, need to come alongside and
hold up our leaders' arms in prayer. I believe that if we
do this, it will make a difference in the spiritual
advancement of all our local congregations.
Prayer: Dear God, remind us that our Christian leaders need
our support. Amen.
Elaine Ingalls Hogg mailto:hugh.hogg@ns.sympatico.ca
Smiths Creek, New Brunswick, Canada
Today's Canadian Bible Society Scripture Reading: Luke
13:10-17
http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=Luke+13:10-17
=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail