Listen Up!!

Amber Twigger, our Children's Associate here at Second, has a precious spirit when it comes to caring for others. We are blessed by her kind personality. She wrote the following. She lives it. I felt you would enjoy reading it.

A Guest Blog Written by Amber Twigger

Listening is not just about hearing what the other person is saying.  Yes, God gave us ears to hear things, but listening is more than just hearing sound. When we truly listen and "walk a mile" in someone else's shoes, (even for just a moment) oh how our perspective changes. Perspective is meant to change and move us.  Perspective is meant to ignite passion and add fuel to our flame for Jesus. "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak" (James 1:19).

Sometimes we have to turn the world's chatter of "It's all about you" down so we can realize it's not about us and all about others.  Jesus first, others second, self—dead last.  When you make people your ministry, your heart overflows.

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Revere All Bible Laws

Every law in the Old Testament is to be obeyed outright or observed as a principle. As interpreted through the filter of the New Testament, all Bible laws can be learned from.

For instance, do we believe Old Testament laws about killing people due to sex sins are to be enforced today? No, Jesus took care of this with the woman taken in adultery (John 8:1ff). But do these verses serve as a lesson to teach us sexual purity is very serious in God's eyes? Yes.

What about our handling of the creation? Are there laws we have to obey? No, but the same God who gave us dominion (GN 1:26-28) talked about birds on nests (DT 22:6), and said the righteous care about an animal's health (PR 12:10a). He forbade killing fruit trees when besieging a city (DT 20:19), ordered a delay in harming trees (RV 7:3), and ordained harmony will return to the creation (RM 8:21). No hard and fast rules are given for us to obey, but these words prove God cares about His creation, and we should too.

Many Old Testament laws provide helpful guidelines for how to best handle everyday situations. Even much of our Western World's courts and legal systems can be traced to the standards set forth in the Old Testament.

 

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1492 + and - 1

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallI once read what makes a book great is; when you come to the end of the page, you feel compelled to turn it and read on. This is precisely how I felt when reading Charles C. Manning's books 1491 and 1493. At the end of both books, I was saddened to know there were no more pages to turn.

Forget everything you were taught about pre-Columbus America. There were few Indians here--wrong! The Indians were not hard on the environment--wrong! Most Indians hate the title Indian--wrong! On and on it goes.

Manning's writing style is excellent. He makes even the most mundane details exciting. Do yourself a favor. Buy these books, and start turning pages.

God Can Be Trusted

Randy and Leslie Riley, home folks from Second, recently had to be away from their field of service temporarily for an important meeting. Their thoughts about leaving things in God's hands blessed me. Enjoy.

Guest blog post from Randy and Leslie Riley.

It is quite important that we realize the work does not stop because we are gone. In 1937, all twenty-six missionaries were forced to leave Ethiopia after the Italian army advanced in to tribal areas.  With promises of persistent prayer, they left behind their work of eleven years - forty-eight believers.  The Italians were merciless and many of the believers were beaten and killed for their faith.  Six years later the M's were able to return to the tribes in Ethiopia, uncertain of what they would find.  Amazingly, the forty-eight had become eighteen thousand.

I am reminded that we do not 'do' this thing. Father is in complete control, "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (PH 2:13).

This may be applied to your local church as well.  You can strategize all you want and work as hard as you are able, but the most important part- a healthy, dependent relationship with the Father that is nurtured through prayer and Bible reading. This is what gives us strength, focus and unity. And this unity is one proof of our faith to a world seeking the truth.

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A Wise 32-Year-Old

Andy Castro is one of the up and coming young men in our church. I'm 62; he's 32 today. His birthday reflections are profound. Enjoy.

Everything the sitcom FRIENDS taught me about life was wrong.

College did not prepare me for the "Real World."

High School did not prepare me for college......except Mary Frances Wagner. I will forever be in debt to her teaching. I hated it at the time, but it was the best preparation for both College and Life. I would have never found the articulate person within me.

Marriage is better than they tell you it will be. Having kids is actually not annoying. Parenting is all about time.

I am not special.....now the world makes sense. I am special....now I can take over the world.

(the last two statements should come in that order, too many people reverse them and get depressed)

There is no such thing as supernatural. All acts of God are natural. Natural means natural, not the absence of understanding.

Most organizational problems boil down to bad leadership. Most people cannot communicate effectively.

Manhood is misunderstood by most men.

There are 2 types of women in this world, my wife and everyone else.

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Teach Youth About Suffering?

My blog about how suffering shook The Beatles' faith received more feedback than the other blogs about the Fab Four combined. My son John 2 was very articulate in his feedback. I asked him to compile his thoughts for a guest blog post. Here it is. Enjoy.

Blog title:  4twelve or 3two?  

Which stance do we take when discussing difficult topics like suffering with students in the church today?  Is our position that of 1 Timothy 4:12 which challenges our students to be the leaders of the church they ought already to be?  Or have we adopted a 1 Corinthians 3:2 stance that withholds spiritual meat assuming the bottle is all they can handle?

Do we work from the assumption that hard topics like suffering must be dumbed down for our students to understand and/or accept?  The faith of today's students is so bombarded by the media, peers, social networks and educators that, perhaps, they're looking for a faith that stands boldly and unapologetically against the cultural tidal wave in which they find themselves.

We spend most of our time discussing how to sail clear of pain or how to row our way out of suffering.  Perhaps we need to spend more time teaching our students how to drop anchor in the middle of it.  Face head-on the difficult realities of pain, suffering and death discussing with clarity and sensitivity what God has to say about these topics.  Use our own personal sufferings as a playbook to coach them on how to weather the storms of life.

Dive deep teaching them there is a Rock that holds in the worst of storms.  Then when the storms come--and they most certainly will come--our students will know how to stand firm not only for themselves but as buoys to those nearby tossed about by the waves.

Such faith requires meat, not milk.  As they are transitioning into adulthood our students feel they are ready to take on the world.  Perhaps it's time we unbuckle the straps on their highchairs and replace their bottles with forks and knives.  Who knows, they might actually take the world... by storm.

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God Is Just Not Fair

So says the title of Jennifer Rothschild's excellent new book. I will not tackle the apostrophe debate in this post.

Jennifer is the most famous member of Second Baptist Church in Springfield. She hates when I say this, but it's true nonetheless. It is a high honor to be her Pastor.

I loved this book because it fights head-on against depression, a burden I battled till I was 35 years old. This is not an academic work; it is in-the-trenches reporting from the front line.

I ached all over when she wrote that being delivered from blindness may not be as hard as being delivered from despair. You can feel her agony coming off the page.

The book also makes you laugh out loud. Her husband Phil, in his underwear, once chased down a criminal. Yet this hero also drops his dirty clothes on the floor. One of my favorite stories is when Jennifer in public reached out to pat Phil you know where, but. . . Oh well, I will let you read the book.

By the way, the story of the blind lady on the bus and her Air Force husband will make you bawl. Great stuff.

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The Beatles And Suffering

What caused the Beatles to descend so deeply into immorality? I've already discussed no male Christian role models, and finding the wrong crowd. The next factor was; they were affected by suffering in their younger years which left them disappointed in the Christian understanding of God.

While young, John lost his mother and closest friend. When Paul, at age 14, lost his mother, he said he had prayed hard for her to be healed, but she died anyway. That was the end of his interest in God.

The fact that suffering affected their faith should not surprise us. Of people who consider Christianity as an option, the biggest and last hurdle they have to overcome is suffering. It's even a bigger stumbling-block than hypocritical Christians.

I have seen this firsthand in working with college students. Some refuse to believe, and some walk away from organized religion, because they decide a good God would not let bad things happen to people.

I do not know how we should try to stop this danger. My first thought is; we should do more teaching to our youth about suffering. But who wants to do this? It seems a subject too heavy for them. I will have to think on this one.

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The Beatles Found a Wrong Crowd

The Beatles' descent into immorality was hastened by their adopting the wrong crowd to be their peers. In their earliest days, they played small gigs in Liverpool, England, a city that at least had some semblance of morality and cultural expectations.

When they began making regular trips to Hamburg, Germany, they became immersed in a godless culture so wicked and vile that I will not even mention some of the vices, though 55 years have passed. The night life sins of Hamburg then would make the worst night life sins of the USA look tame now (maybe an exaggeration, but not by much).

Parents, pay attention. The crowd your children hang out with will profoundly affect them spiritually. Become your older teen's #1 best friend. Try to make it attractive for them to bring their friends to your house. Pray earnestly for God to send Godly friends into your children's lives.

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The Beatles: What Went Wrong

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallTo explain the moral collapse of The Beatles is a multi-varied story. It began with a crushing blow.

None of the Fab Four ever had a male Christian role model in their younger years--NONE. John Lennon attended church four times a week for years. His Pastor was sold out to Liberalism. His church choir director was an atheist who poked fun at Christianity. No one gave them vital spiritual modeling and training.

Men, listen up. Your children need for you to step up to the plate and be the spiritual leader in their lives. Research indicates children usually follow the religious habits of their fathers more often than of their mothers.

Why Read About The Beatles?

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallIt is a great and profound question. I myself wonder why a 62-yr-old Baptist preacher would care about a group that spearheaded much of our nation's spiritual decline.

I've decided it's not really about them. I think I want to understand me and my generation better.

Why did we change so radically? Why was "I Want to Hold Your a Hand" a dividing line in our lives? Why did an immoral group have so much impact on a church-raised generation? Can we learn from our mistakes of 50 years ago?

This book is extremely helpful this far. Stay tuned, Baby Boomer Beatles fans. I'll keep you posted.

Social Media Muddling

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallI can honestly say I tried my best to master this book. I did tolerably well in the first third of the book. That section dealt with blogging, Twitter, and Facebook.

After this, the book took off on tangents--I mean other social media outlets--I had never heard of. I gave up at page 114.

I'm glad I tried. I will never be a social media mogul, but maybe I can be relatively effective in a limited range of options.

I am grateful for Ruthie, Sam Arthur, and Katie Havelka. They have the patience of Job, and have never given up on me.

3000 Pages

Last night I finished reading Foote's 3000-page-book on the Civil War. It took me longer to read the book than it took to fight the war.

As far as I know, only two guys in the whole world really cared about this accomplishment in my life. Doug Munton, Pastor at FBC O'Fallon, insisted I do it. When I faltered after 2000 pages, Kenny Qualls, Pastor at FBC Arnold MO, shamed me into finishing the task.

Once I read the last page, I sent a text message to both. They each wrote a congratulatory note in response. Them came the gut wrenching questioning of myself . Why did I do this? 3000 pages!! What was I thinking?

Oh well, it was a good read. I think I will henceforth limit myself to books of 200 pages or less, maybe even 100 or less.

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Lilly Ruth is 7

I can't believe it. Lilly Ruth turned 7 today. I'm not old enough to have a grandchild that is 7 years old.

Wait a minute! What am I saying?! I have a grandchild that is 17 years old. Oh well, time flies when you are having fun.

Lilly Ruth has brought us much joy. She is a delight--smart, funny, bubbly, winsome--you get the picture. We are all waiting expectantly to see what she does in life. The sky's the limit.

I always like to include her middle name when I reference her. She is named after her mom Rebekah Ruth and her grandmother Ruth the First.

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