Showing posts with label Many Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Many Thoughts. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Study of Adonai
Now, I really understand what it means when “WE” say that “our finite minds cannot obtain an infinite God”. For the last three (3) weeks, I’ve been studying a name of God, “ADONAI”. This descriptive name of God has given me so much trouble in studying it that I’ve decided to abandoned it until a later time. When? Who knows but not right now!
My approach to studying the names of God is to study by it’s 1st mention of Scripture. This particular name is mentioned for the first time in Genesis 15:2; But Abram said, "Lord GOD (translation ADONAI), what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house [is] Eliezer of Damascus?". I’m not understanding how God reveals Himself has “Adonai” in the text.
I’ve researched in every resource possible to find a clear meaning of the name and its relation to Genesis 15. I did a Google search and not much came up that was understandable in my opinion. Here’s what I mean.
www.net.bible.com
ADONAI - a-do'-ni, ad-o-na'-i ('adhonay): A Divine name, translated "Lord," and signifying, from its derivation, "sovereignty." Its vowels are found in the Massoretic Text with the unpronounceable tetragrammaton YHWH; and when the Hebrew reader came to these letters, he always substituted in pronunciation the word " 'adhonay." Its vowels combined with the tetragrammaton form the word "Yahweh (Yahweh)."
Uh!!!!!!
www.blueletterbible.com
Use in the Bible: In the Old Testament Adonai occurs 434 times. There are heavy uses of Adonai in Isaiah (e.g., Adonai Jehovah). It occurs 200 times in Ezekiel alone and appears 11 times in Daniel Chapter 9. Adonai is first used in Gen 15:2.
Variant spellings: None
TWOT Reference: 27b
Strong's Reference: 0136
Adonai in the Septuagint: kurios — Lord, Master
Meaning and Derivation: Adonai is the verbal parallel to Yahweh and Jehovah. Adonai is plural; the singular is adon. In reference to God the plural Adonai is used. When the singular adon is used, it usually refers to a human lord. Adon is used 215 times to refer to men. Occasionally in Scripture and predominantly in the Psalms, the singular adon is used to refer to God as well (cf. Exd 34:23). To avoid contravening the commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" (Exd 20:7), sometimes Adonai was used as a substitute for Yahweh (YHWH). Adonai can be translated literally as, "my lords' " (both plural and possessive).
What???!!!!!
It appears that this particular name of God is based on statistics of usage and grammar structure. Am I missing something here?
Nevertheless, I’m struggling with the meaning and revelation of God to Abraham as Adonai in Genesis 15.
So, I thought I would write to see if I could make sense of my research thus far. These are scattered thoughts and nothing is definite as of yet.
OT meaning of Adonia: I’ve read just about every cross reference I could in my study. There are a couple of words that came out in my reading of Adonai: reverence. The OT use of Adonai was used in place of YHWH (YAHWEH) because the people held God’s name in high esteem. They lived in practice of Exodus 20:7 – “"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
I also see that Adonai means authority or sovereignty. This is seen throughout the Psalms.
Psa 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Psa 8:9 O Lord , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psa 16:2 I say to the Lord , "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
Psa 22:30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
Psa 35:17 How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
Psa 35:22 You have seen, O Lord ; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!
Psa 35:23 Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
Psa 54:4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
There are many other OT passages that explain “Adonai” - God’s sovereign authority over our lives.
Did I just discover the meaning of Adonai? I’m not sure I’ll keep writing.
Adonai in the Septuagint means kurios — Lord, Master. Kurios means he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord. The possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner who has control of the person, the master. It is title of honour expressive with which servants greet their master.
The OT usage of Adonai is in dual and can refer to God when used with capital letter “L” or can be used for a human being when used with lower case “l”. This seems so technical trying to explain this name. Geeeeesh! But, I guess I have to dig through the technical in order to understand the meaning of Adonai. I hope those reading can follow my messy study.
In the NT Adonai (kurios) is used strictly referring to Jesus (God, the Messiah). It appears that the NT strips the dual reference of Adonai from referring to God and man to just referring to God, alone. Jesus makes it plain to His disciples in Matthew 10:24; “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” Jesus also says in Matthew 23:8b – “…you have only one Master and you are all brothers.”
In the NT, I see two words of importance; master and servant. God might be many things to us, but He is always our master, and we are always His servants. Adonai reminds us of our place in God’s order.
When we put all this together, the question still remains what does Adonai mean? What is the relation of Adonai and Abraham in Genesis 15? Should I take another route to studying this name? Why is this one so hard to comprehend? Is it fear of discovering a great truth that’s causing me to abandoned this great name? Or is God so big that I’m not ready to receive Him to Him in this manner of Adonai? I don’t know. I have a bunch of question and it frustrates me to study a text for three weeks and still don’t have anything. I pray I become a better expositor on the other side of this study.
Everything within me says live it alone but I think that’s a cop-out move.
If I’ve gained anything from studying the names of God so far I think it’s this for certain, WE SERVE A BIG GOD AND HE DESERVES ALL REVERENCE!!!!!!!!!
Decisions, decisions, decisions, Sunday is here what is a preacha to do?
My approach to studying the names of God is to study by it’s 1st mention of Scripture. This particular name is mentioned for the first time in Genesis 15:2; But Abram said, "Lord GOD (translation ADONAI), what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house [is] Eliezer of Damascus?". I’m not understanding how God reveals Himself has “Adonai” in the text.
I’ve researched in every resource possible to find a clear meaning of the name and its relation to Genesis 15. I did a Google search and not much came up that was understandable in my opinion. Here’s what I mean.
www.net.bible.com
ADONAI - a-do'-ni, ad-o-na'-i ('adhonay): A Divine name, translated "Lord," and signifying, from its derivation, "sovereignty." Its vowels are found in the Massoretic Text with the unpronounceable tetragrammaton YHWH; and when the Hebrew reader came to these letters, he always substituted in pronunciation the word " 'adhonay." Its vowels combined with the tetragrammaton form the word "Yahweh (Yahweh)."
Uh!!!!!!
www.blueletterbible.com
Use in the Bible: In the Old Testament Adonai occurs 434 times. There are heavy uses of Adonai in Isaiah (e.g., Adonai Jehovah). It occurs 200 times in Ezekiel alone and appears 11 times in Daniel Chapter 9. Adonai is first used in Gen 15:2.
Variant spellings: None
TWOT Reference: 27b
Strong's Reference: 0136
Adonai in the Septuagint: kurios — Lord, Master
Meaning and Derivation: Adonai is the verbal parallel to Yahweh and Jehovah. Adonai is plural; the singular is adon. In reference to God the plural Adonai is used. When the singular adon is used, it usually refers to a human lord. Adon is used 215 times to refer to men. Occasionally in Scripture and predominantly in the Psalms, the singular adon is used to refer to God as well (cf. Exd 34:23). To avoid contravening the commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" (Exd 20:7), sometimes Adonai was used as a substitute for Yahweh (YHWH). Adonai can be translated literally as, "my lords' " (both plural and possessive).
What???!!!!!
It appears that this particular name of God is based on statistics of usage and grammar structure. Am I missing something here?
Nevertheless, I’m struggling with the meaning and revelation of God to Abraham as Adonai in Genesis 15.
So, I thought I would write to see if I could make sense of my research thus far. These are scattered thoughts and nothing is definite as of yet.
OT meaning of Adonia: I’ve read just about every cross reference I could in my study. There are a couple of words that came out in my reading of Adonai: reverence. The OT use of Adonai was used in place of YHWH (YAHWEH) because the people held God’s name in high esteem. They lived in practice of Exodus 20:7 – “"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
I also see that Adonai means authority or sovereignty. This is seen throughout the Psalms.
Psa 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Psa 8:9 O Lord , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psa 16:2 I say to the Lord , "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
Psa 22:30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
Psa 35:17 How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
Psa 35:22 You have seen, O Lord ; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!
Psa 35:23 Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
Psa 54:4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
There are many other OT passages that explain “Adonai” - God’s sovereign authority over our lives.
Did I just discover the meaning of Adonai? I’m not sure I’ll keep writing.
Adonai in the Septuagint means kurios — Lord, Master. Kurios means he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord. The possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner who has control of the person, the master. It is title of honour expressive with which servants greet their master.
The OT usage of Adonai is in dual and can refer to God when used with capital letter “L” or can be used for a human being when used with lower case “l”. This seems so technical trying to explain this name. Geeeeesh! But, I guess I have to dig through the technical in order to understand the meaning of Adonai. I hope those reading can follow my messy study.
In the NT Adonai (kurios) is used strictly referring to Jesus (God, the Messiah). It appears that the NT strips the dual reference of Adonai from referring to God and man to just referring to God, alone. Jesus makes it plain to His disciples in Matthew 10:24; “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” Jesus also says in Matthew 23:8b – “…you have only one Master and you are all brothers.”
In the NT, I see two words of importance; master and servant. God might be many things to us, but He is always our master, and we are always His servants. Adonai reminds us of our place in God’s order.
When we put all this together, the question still remains what does Adonai mean? What is the relation of Adonai and Abraham in Genesis 15? Should I take another route to studying this name? Why is this one so hard to comprehend? Is it fear of discovering a great truth that’s causing me to abandoned this great name? Or is God so big that I’m not ready to receive Him to Him in this manner of Adonai? I don’t know. I have a bunch of question and it frustrates me to study a text for three weeks and still don’t have anything. I pray I become a better expositor on the other side of this study.
Everything within me says live it alone but I think that’s a cop-out move.
If I’ve gained anything from studying the names of God so far I think it’s this for certain, WE SERVE A BIG GOD AND HE DESERVES ALL REVERENCE!!!!!!!!!
Decisions, decisions, decisions, Sunday is here what is a preacha to do?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Many Thoughts!
I took yesterday off from work and blogging to run errands for the church as we get closer and closer to construction completion. So, here's what I call "many thoughts":
Sunday was a good day of worship. Our attendance has been off since the start of construction and worship time re-scheduled to 8:30 am. But, God knows what He's doing and knows who should be there. We continued our series on "The Importance of Supporting the Local Church":
Topic: Support the Local Church With Your Prayers
Text: Colossians 4:2-4
Thesis Statement: I am under no illusions that a strong church is a praying church and a praying church has praying people. The best support a person can give to the church is to pray for their church and the people of their church.
Let’s look into this letter from Paul to the Colossian church to help increase the level of prayer support in our local church assembly.
I. The Consistency of Your Prayers - v. 2a
- Never Stop Praying
- Prayer is hard work
- Prayer is Powerful
II. The Conduct of Your Prayers - v. 2b
- Be Ready to Pray at all times - "continuing earnestly" (I need to clarfiy, this is not speaking of the act of praying. The point I was driving home is that praying earnestly requires that we guard our prayer life. Some translations say "Devote yourself to prayer".)
- Be Grateful in your in prayers - "with thanksgiving"
III. The Content of Your Prayers - v. 3-4
- Pray for Opportunity to share the gospel – “as for me, that God would open to us a door for the word”.
- Pray for direction in sharing the gospel – “that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
I know this request is from Paul, the Apostle, but it has universal appeal. We all should be praying for opportunity and direction in sharing the gospel with a dying world.
________________________________________________________________
After service Tracy and I went to "Full G" (Pastor Payne) to hear Pastor John Reed from Fairview Baptist Church in OKC. I caught the tail end of his message but he was vintage Reed as usaual. After that I went home to eat leftover BBQ I cooked on Saturday and took a nap before my softball game. I had been since 2 am getting ready to preach so I was tired.
Later that evening Tracy and I slipped away from the kids and went to the movies to see "The Secret Lives of Bees". Excellent movie. Queen should get an Oscar for that performance and Jennifer Hudson was stellar as well as Alicia Keys.
_________________________________________________________________
Yesterday, I ran errands for most of the day with Tracy. Got back home at about 2 pm and went to sleep. Please be in prayer for my son, Myles, he's a freshman in high school and struggling with some of his classes. I took him off the football team so he can focus on his education. I explained to him that the older we get the more responsible we must become. Education is more important than sports. He's capable of doing good work but can't focus on more than one thing at a time. I'm committing to spending more time with him to help him through this transition.
__________________________________________________________________
This week is going to be pretty busy for me but with God's help I will survive.
Bottom, yesterday was a good day!
Sunday was a good day of worship. Our attendance has been off since the start of construction and worship time re-scheduled to 8:30 am. But, God knows what He's doing and knows who should be there. We continued our series on "The Importance of Supporting the Local Church":
Topic: Support the Local Church With Your Prayers
Text: Colossians 4:2-4
Thesis Statement: I am under no illusions that a strong church is a praying church and a praying church has praying people. The best support a person can give to the church is to pray for their church and the people of their church.
Let’s look into this letter from Paul to the Colossian church to help increase the level of prayer support in our local church assembly.
I. The Consistency of Your Prayers - v. 2a
- Never Stop Praying
- Prayer is hard work
- Prayer is Powerful
II. The Conduct of Your Prayers - v. 2b
- Be Ready to Pray at all times - "continuing earnestly" (I need to clarfiy, this is not speaking of the act of praying. The point I was driving home is that praying earnestly requires that we guard our prayer life. Some translations say "Devote yourself to prayer".)
- Be Grateful in your in prayers - "with thanksgiving"
III. The Content of Your Prayers - v. 3-4
- Pray for Opportunity to share the gospel – “as for me, that God would open to us a door for the word”.
- Pray for direction in sharing the gospel – “that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
I know this request is from Paul, the Apostle, but it has universal appeal. We all should be praying for opportunity and direction in sharing the gospel with a dying world.
________________________________________________________________
After service Tracy and I went to "Full G" (Pastor Payne) to hear Pastor John Reed from Fairview Baptist Church in OKC. I caught the tail end of his message but he was vintage Reed as usaual. After that I went home to eat leftover BBQ I cooked on Saturday and took a nap before my softball game. I had been since 2 am getting ready to preach so I was tired.
Later that evening Tracy and I slipped away from the kids and went to the movies to see "The Secret Lives of Bees". Excellent movie. Queen should get an Oscar for that performance and Jennifer Hudson was stellar as well as Alicia Keys.
_________________________________________________________________
Yesterday, I ran errands for most of the day with Tracy. Got back home at about 2 pm and went to sleep. Please be in prayer for my son, Myles, he's a freshman in high school and struggling with some of his classes. I took him off the football team so he can focus on his education. I explained to him that the older we get the more responsible we must become. Education is more important than sports. He's capable of doing good work but can't focus on more than one thing at a time. I'm committing to spending more time with him to help him through this transition.
__________________________________________________________________
This week is going to be pretty busy for me but with God's help I will survive.
Bottom, yesterday was a good day!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thoughts of This Weekend
How can I explain this weekend? Busy, tiring, stressful, frustrating, flunkserville, happy its over!
Man, this weekend was crazy. I worked Saturday for 5 hours and then left went to the church to start moving more stuff. I wasn't sure what we were going to do with all the junk we had in the building because the trash company did not empty our bin last week. So, I started putting stuff in the parking lot and a gentlemen asked if he could have it? Of course my answer was yes please take it! That helped out a lot. After we closed up shop, I went home laid on the couch and could not move because I was so exhausted. Later that evening, I got my laptop computer to get ready for Sunday and could not pull it together so I got mad and went to bed.
Sunday morning arrived and I still could not pull it together. So I preached a sermon from 2000 entitled: "On The Right Path Towards Blessedness" from Psalms 1. Heres the sermon outline:
Thesis: Blessed people are people who follow God's course for their lives.
1. The Requirements for Blessedness - v. 1
- Don't take worldly advice - Blessed is the man who walks not in counsel of the ungodly
- Don't act like people in the world - nor stands in the way sinners
- Don't get comfortable - nor sits in the seat of the scornful
2. The Results of Blessedness - v. 2-3
- A Strong Life - But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.
- A Secured Life - And he shall be life a tree planted by the rivers of water
- A Fruitful Life - That brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither
- A Prosperous Life - And whatever he does shall prosper
3. The Reassurance in Blessedness - v. 4-6
- The ways of the ungodly will perish - v. 4-5
- God knows the ways of the righteous - v. 6
God pulled me through but if I had to grade my sermon effort from yesterday, I got an "F". Only God knows the fruit that shall come to pass.
The architect brought the plans on Saturday for us to review. All looks well but I'm a little disappointed in the design of the stage area. Due to ADA requirements for disability, I need a 15ft ramp. I can't place ramp in the back of stage because there's not enough space so designed for in front of the stage which in my opinion takes away from the Octagon stage appearance. I still have a little time before they start building the stage and during that time the architect and I will work something out.
An old member who left the before I got there came to worship with us on yesterday. I laid the plans out to the church to review and explain what we're doing with bathrooms, electrical, etc after church. He stayed to hear and got excited about the direction we're going in. Who knows what will come of it. He doesn't attend any church currently and his heart is still at First Goodwill.
We did not have our "Praising in the Sun" service yesterday, we will have it this coming Sunday instead. And the weekend of the 20th, we're going to my home church Mt. Sinai to spend the whole day with them as that will be Pastor Charles last Sunday and church anniversary.
Still a lot to do this week but I have to find some time to commit to my study. I don't want another preaching moment like this past weekend.
Please pray my strength in the Lord.
Man, this weekend was crazy. I worked Saturday for 5 hours and then left went to the church to start moving more stuff. I wasn't sure what we were going to do with all the junk we had in the building because the trash company did not empty our bin last week. So, I started putting stuff in the parking lot and a gentlemen asked if he could have it? Of course my answer was yes please take it! That helped out a lot. After we closed up shop, I went home laid on the couch and could not move because I was so exhausted. Later that evening, I got my laptop computer to get ready for Sunday and could not pull it together so I got mad and went to bed.
Sunday morning arrived and I still could not pull it together. So I preached a sermon from 2000 entitled: "On The Right Path Towards Blessedness" from Psalms 1. Heres the sermon outline:
Thesis: Blessed people are people who follow God's course for their lives.
1. The Requirements for Blessedness - v. 1
- Don't take worldly advice - Blessed is the man who walks not in counsel of the ungodly
- Don't act like people in the world - nor stands in the way sinners
- Don't get comfortable - nor sits in the seat of the scornful
2. The Results of Blessedness - v. 2-3
- A Strong Life - But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.
- A Secured Life - And he shall be life a tree planted by the rivers of water
- A Fruitful Life - That brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither
- A Prosperous Life - And whatever he does shall prosper
3. The Reassurance in Blessedness - v. 4-6
- The ways of the ungodly will perish - v. 4-5
- God knows the ways of the righteous - v. 6
God pulled me through but if I had to grade my sermon effort from yesterday, I got an "F". Only God knows the fruit that shall come to pass.
The architect brought the plans on Saturday for us to review. All looks well but I'm a little disappointed in the design of the stage area. Due to ADA requirements for disability, I need a 15ft ramp. I can't place ramp in the back of stage because there's not enough space so designed for in front of the stage which in my opinion takes away from the Octagon stage appearance. I still have a little time before they start building the stage and during that time the architect and I will work something out.
An old member who left the before I got there came to worship with us on yesterday. I laid the plans out to the church to review and explain what we're doing with bathrooms, electrical, etc after church. He stayed to hear and got excited about the direction we're going in. Who knows what will come of it. He doesn't attend any church currently and his heart is still at First Goodwill.
We did not have our "Praising in the Sun" service yesterday, we will have it this coming Sunday instead. And the weekend of the 20th, we're going to my home church Mt. Sinai to spend the whole day with them as that will be Pastor Charles last Sunday and church anniversary.
Still a lot to do this week but I have to find some time to commit to my study. I don't want another preaching moment like this past weekend.
Please pray my strength in the Lord.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Many Thoughts!
Thoughts About Me:
Over the past 2 weeks, I've taking some time to reflect on my growth development has a husband, father, pastor, and Christian. The final analysis reveals that I have a lot of growing to do. Recent conversations with my wife, Tracy who love dearly has shown me that I cannot allow my work in the secular and church cause me to neglect my family. My work in both areas, as a pastor and buyer, is very demanding of my energy capacity. Therefore, I've neglected to mention and recognize my wife's accomplishment of finishing college in June of this year in which she received an Liberal Arts AA Degree and is a certified sign graphics maker. It is and was a huge accomplishment for her of which I am very proud. I could have done a much better job at recognizing her accomplishment. Great job, T-Baby.
Thoughts About Church:
Yesterday was a good day! Attendance was decent but it can always be better. My auntie and uncle is visiting from Dallas, Texas for the week and made it a point to come worship with us on yesterday. It was refreshing to see some visitation in our service and they brought their worship with them which made it easy to preach. I finally preached 1 Peter 3:15: "But sanctify the Lord God in you hearts and always be ready give a defense for the hope that is within with meekness and fear". I struggled for the last 3 weeks putting this message together but it finally came to me on Saturday. I pray God was pleased with the outline.
Sermon Series: Our F-I-R-S-T Essentials (5 Functions of the church: worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship)
Sermon Topic: Our Commitment to Evangelism
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 3:15
Thesis: No matter the persecution we face in life, we must stand up and be a witness to God's saving power:
Tranisitional Sentence: How we respond during times of trouble can affect the effectiveness of our witness.
The text provides three (3) principles for effective evangelism:
1. The Measure of our Witness
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.."
Point: The effectiveness of our witness is based on the life that we live. In evangelism, your life matters.
2. The Message of Our Witness
"...and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you of the hope the lies within."
Point: The effectiveness of witness is based on the message that we speak in word and action. So the exhortation is this; let's get the gospel message right.
3. The Manner of Our Witness
"...with meekness and fear."
Point: The effectiveness of our witness is based on the attitude we display in evangelism.
I tried to keep it simple without being too technical and the church was very receptive. Now, I pray they be doers of the Word and not just hearers only.
Thought about Restore the Land Project:
I met with our loan representative on Friday for a discussion I was not pleased with at all. Our loan company is also in the business of general contracting. I informed him last week of our contractor selection and he was not happy. They submitted a quote just like everyone else and their quote was much less than others. However, it was not comprehensive enough for me to want to consider his company for the job. I understand that many times contractors bid on jobs and then when construction begins pricing starts increasing with "C.O. (Change Order Notices)" because they didn't factor in the unknown. He pleaded his case and I listened very attentively. When he finished, I let him know that I'm not in the business of signing and/or agreeing to unwritten, unclear, cloudy contracts with anyone. If his construction company wanted the job, he and his crew needed to spec out every detail possible with pricing but until then he will not get the job. I also said to him; "That all good contractors know the condition of a place based on it's structure. We're not changing our structure we're upgrading which should make it easier to spec out". He thought I was a little harsh being that I'm a pastor. I explained to him that I'm also a businessman and to use my position as a pastor to get the work may mean I need to go somewhere else for the loan process. Of course, he didn't want that. So, we made an appoint for him to come in today with his crew and spec out the work with pricing. I gave him a deadline for his quote for Wednesday of this week and no later. There's always going to be some red tape for the church in these types of ventures but nothing we can't overcome. I have to protect every area of our church especially the business aspect of our church. Please be in prayer for us, our goal is to start construction the 1st week of Sept.
Over the past 2 weeks, I've taking some time to reflect on my growth development has a husband, father, pastor, and Christian. The final analysis reveals that I have a lot of growing to do. Recent conversations with my wife, Tracy who love dearly has shown me that I cannot allow my work in the secular and church cause me to neglect my family. My work in both areas, as a pastor and buyer, is very demanding of my energy capacity. Therefore, I've neglected to mention and recognize my wife's accomplishment of finishing college in June of this year in which she received an Liberal Arts AA Degree and is a certified sign graphics maker. It is and was a huge accomplishment for her of which I am very proud. I could have done a much better job at recognizing her accomplishment. Great job, T-Baby.
Thoughts About Church:
Yesterday was a good day! Attendance was decent but it can always be better. My auntie and uncle is visiting from Dallas, Texas for the week and made it a point to come worship with us on yesterday. It was refreshing to see some visitation in our service and they brought their worship with them which made it easy to preach. I finally preached 1 Peter 3:15: "But sanctify the Lord God in you hearts and always be ready give a defense for the hope that is within with meekness and fear". I struggled for the last 3 weeks putting this message together but it finally came to me on Saturday. I pray God was pleased with the outline.
Sermon Series: Our F-I-R-S-T Essentials (5 Functions of the church: worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship)
Sermon Topic: Our Commitment to Evangelism
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 3:15
Thesis: No matter the persecution we face in life, we must stand up and be a witness to God's saving power:
Tranisitional Sentence: How we respond during times of trouble can affect the effectiveness of our witness.
The text provides three (3) principles for effective evangelism:
1. The Measure of our Witness
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.."
Point: The effectiveness of our witness is based on the life that we live. In evangelism, your life matters.
2. The Message of Our Witness
"...and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you of the hope the lies within."
Point: The effectiveness of witness is based on the message that we speak in word and action. So the exhortation is this; let's get the gospel message right.
3. The Manner of Our Witness
"...with meekness and fear."
Point: The effectiveness of our witness is based on the attitude we display in evangelism.
I tried to keep it simple without being too technical and the church was very receptive. Now, I pray they be doers of the Word and not just hearers only.
Thought about Restore the Land Project:
I met with our loan representative on Friday for a discussion I was not pleased with at all. Our loan company is also in the business of general contracting. I informed him last week of our contractor selection and he was not happy. They submitted a quote just like everyone else and their quote was much less than others. However, it was not comprehensive enough for me to want to consider his company for the job. I understand that many times contractors bid on jobs and then when construction begins pricing starts increasing with "C.O. (Change Order Notices)" because they didn't factor in the unknown. He pleaded his case and I listened very attentively. When he finished, I let him know that I'm not in the business of signing and/or agreeing to unwritten, unclear, cloudy contracts with anyone. If his construction company wanted the job, he and his crew needed to spec out every detail possible with pricing but until then he will not get the job. I also said to him; "That all good contractors know the condition of a place based on it's structure. We're not changing our structure we're upgrading which should make it easier to spec out". He thought I was a little harsh being that I'm a pastor. I explained to him that I'm also a businessman and to use my position as a pastor to get the work may mean I need to go somewhere else for the loan process. Of course, he didn't want that. So, we made an appoint for him to come in today with his crew and spec out the work with pricing. I gave him a deadline for his quote for Wednesday of this week and no later. There's always going to be some red tape for the church in these types of ventures but nothing we can't overcome. I have to protect every area of our church especially the business aspect of our church. Please be in prayer for us, our goal is to start construction the 1st week of Sept.
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