December 8, 2012
“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
The Apostle Paul invested himself in a one on one relationship with a young man named Timothy. In the verse above he challenged Timothy to have that same kind of relationship with other men, who would then have that kind of relationship with other faithful men.
I had about seven years of classroom education for the ministry. I also had a handful of older men who mentored me personally in a relationship like Paul had with Timothy. A great pastor named Ray Stedman invested four hours every Thursday afternoon for a year with me in the Word of God. He challenged me to do the same with others.
As I have considered the impact of Doctor Stedman’s investment in me and my investment in others, I have come to the conclusion that this is the greatest teaching method in the world.
This method actually started for me when I was a small boy. I watched my father spend hours sitting in a rocking chair preparing his Sunday school lesson. Every now and then he would exclaim, “Oh this is wonderful!”
I realized there is wonderful truth in the Bible. When I was a late teenager I adopted that declared value of my father and have passed that value on to my son who is a pastor. I am greatly blessed to have had a father and a mother who taught me the Scriptures in a one on one relationship like Paul had with Timothy.
If you are a Timothy, do you have a Paul? If you are a Paul, do you have a Timothy?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
December 4, 2012
“… who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this.” (1Timothy 6:5-11)
In this passage of Scripture Paul gives a profound prescription for contentment. It comes in the form of a warning about the wrong attitude toward riches.
He issues a strong warning to those who seek contentment through wealth accumulation. He is often misquoted when people say “Money is the root of all evil.” Paul actually wrote that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” He also warns that those who have a strong desire to be rich can fall into a trap that can ruin them and cause them to experience great grief and sorrow. Have you experienced grief and sorrow in your family because of money?
On the positive side Paul writes that godliness with contentment is great gain. He therefore challenges Timothy to pursue Godliness. If we attain godliness we can be content with as little as food and clothing. Are you a contented person? Work on your pursuit of godliness and your attitude toward riches.
I have a small plaque by the side of my bed that reads: “He who lives content with little possesses everything.”
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 16, 2012
“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: surely God has appointed the one as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes7:14)
Many devout people are confused about prosperity. Some preach and teach a prosperity theology that is pure heresy. It could only receive a hearing in a place like America. It will not receive a hearing in places where devout people suffer poverty and persecution because they believe. Others believe we should feel guilty when we experience prosperity.
Solomon writes that in the day of prosperity we should rejoice and know that our God has given us all things richly to enjoy. And he informs us that in the day of adversity we should consider the profound reality that God has made the one as well as the other. A truth that means much to me is that God is our personal Mentor and He does His most effective mentoring when things are difficult for us.
Now that I am old I spend time looking back over a long life. As I reflect on my relationship with God over more than eight decades I realize that my times of spiritual growth have been times of adversity and my times of spiritual regression and stagnation have been times of prosperity.
Paul wrote that he knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound. He presented a challenge to us. That challenge is that it takes more grace and wisdom to know how to abound than it takes to know how to be abased.
If you are enjoying prosperity I hope you do not feel guilty but rejoice. If you are experiencing adversity let it be a time of effective mentoring from God and a time of growth for you.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 9, 2012
“Where there is no vision the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
When God wants to do a great work there must be a person with a vision. They must also have a plan because where there is no vision the people perish and where there is no plan the vision perishes. Since the vision and plan must be shared, that means there must be a vision caster. In response to the vision caster there must be keepers of the vision who will preserve and propagate that vision.
The greatest example of this in the Bible is Jesus Christ. He was the greatest vision caster this world has ever seen. He had a vision and a plan. In one of many places, He shared His vision and His plan when He gave His Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). His disciples were, and are, the keepers of His vision. They have preserved and proclaimed His vision for two thousand years. If you are an authentic disciple of His today you are commissioned to be a keeper of His vision.
The man who led me to Christ and mentored me in Christ and the ministry for thirty years had a tremendous vision for foreign missions. For most of the time he was mentoring me I had missions in my head but not in my heart. He once told me with tears that if he could take his heart out of his chest cavity and place it in mine if it would give me a heart for missions he would do it. I’m so grateful that before he went to be with the Lord in answer to his prayers he saw me become a keeper of that vision of Jesus Christ.
If you are His disciple are you a keeper of His vision?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 6, 2012
“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in meekness correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” (2Timothy2:24-26)
We might label these words Paul wrote to Timothy: “How to relate to a difficult person.” We all need this teaching because we must all deal with difficult people.
According to Paul the difficult person to whom we are relating has been taken captive by the evil one and we cannot free them. We can maintain three fruits of the Spirit (gentleness, meekness and patience), which keeps the door open for God. We then earn our hearing and place before them the Word of truth they need to hear. We must not quarrel because that opens the door for the evil one and closes the door for God.
When they acknowledge the truth of God’s Word they experience repentance, and escape from the captivity of the evil one. This is not a matter of teaching or preaching. It is not having the last word or winning the argument. This is becoming a conduit through which almighty God sets people free who were not free.
To repent means to think again or to have a change of mind, heart, will and direction. It is a work of God you cannot perform. Only God can use His Word and you His servant to make this happen. In an attitude of prayer and in dependence upon God and His Spirit are you willing to be a conduit of this miracle?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 28, 2012
“By faith Moses… esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt… looked to the reward.” (Hebrews 11: 23, 26)
No man has ever made a greater contribution to the work of God than Moses. He gave the people of God their freedom when they were not free. He gave them the one thing newly emancipated people need more than anything else: law and government. Spiritually, he gave them the Word of God and worship.
A famous spiritual heavyweight named Dwight L. Moody summarized the life of Moses this way: “He lived 120 years in three periods of 40 years. In the first 40 years he learned that he was nobody. In the second 40 years he learned that he was somebody. In the last 40 years of his life Moses and the whole world learned what God can do with somebody who has learned that he is nobody!”
Moses faced his greatest challenge when God called him to deliver God’s people from their awful slavery in Egypt. Moses had tried to do this on his own and failed, but God told him as He appeared in the burning bush: “You are not the deliverer. I am. You can’t deliver them but I can.” When the greatest miracle in the Old Testament happened God did not need to tell Moses: ”You didn’t do that. I did!”
Have you ever tried to be the conduit of God’s deliverance from the slavery of addiction or sin in the life of another person? When you do you simply must learn this definition of humility: you are not the deliverer. God is. You can’t deliver them but God can. And if deliverance happens God is the Deliverer.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: christianity, definition of humility, faith, God's Deliverence, hebrews 11, intercessory prayer, life of moses, Moses, spirituality | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 24, 2012
“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:15)
This verse is taken from a very familiar parable of Jesus called “The Parable of the Sower, “ but I call it – “Four Men in a pew, which one are you?”
Jesus is claiming that when the Word of God is taught, seventy-five percent of the time nothing happens. The first man who hears is wearing a hard hat – the Word does not penetrate his mind. When the word is not understood, nothing happens.
The second takes his Word on the rocks. The seed of the Word does not penetrate his heart, or his will. If the Word of God does not penetrate the will, nothing happens.
The third man understands and fully intends to obey the Word but he loses the Word in the weeds of riches, pleasures and worries. Again, nothing happens.
The fourth man understands, obeys and overcomes all the weeds above the soil and the rocks under the soil. He perseveres through all this and produces a crop that is more than one hundred percent what was planted.
Jesus is giving us a formula for hearing when the Word of God is being taught or preached. We must understand, obey and overcome all the obstacles that are trying to defeat us as we hear the Word of God.
Jesus is also challenging His disciples to realize that as they teach the Word of God unless they penetrate the understanding, the will, and the opposition of the evil one nothing happens.
He concluded this teaching with the challenge to be careful how we hear His Word and how others hear when we teach.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: cultivating faith, faith, Jesus, Luke 8:15, parable of jesus, Parable of the Sower, religion, teaching God's Word, teachings of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, the Word of God, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 21, 2012
When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!” (Job 42:10)
What may be the oldest book in the Bible answers the question: “Why do God’s people suffer?” Many people are familiar with the book of Job but have a shallow understanding of its message. They think it is just the story of a wealthy, godly man who lost everything and still worshiped God.
This is actually the story of a suffering, godly man who learned three perspectives we must ‘get together’ if we are going to be the kind of person God wants us all to be. Job looks in with his friends to find the answer to the why of his suffering. This led him and them nowhere. He is told to look up. He does and dialogs with God in a whirlwind. This profoundly changes him forever.
When God rebukes his friends because everything they told Job about himself and God was wrong, Job prays for his friends. When he looks around and prays for his friends, God richly blessed him and doubles all he lost.
This old saga of suffering tells us that if we want to be a together person we must first look up and get our vertical perspective and relationship with God together. Then we must look in and confess what God wants us to know about those internal issues that make us tick right.
Only those who have looked up and looked in as directed by God are qualified to look around and be part of God’s solution in the horizontal dimension of relationships.
Is God using the circumstances of your life to teach you to look up, in, and around as you should?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: christianity, faith, faith perspectives, prayer, Relationship with God, spirituality, suffering of Job, The Bible, Trusting God, why do good people suffer? | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 16, 2012
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
Who was the greatest prophet who ever lived? Who was the greatest man who ever lived? According to Jesus the answer is John the Baptist (Luke 7:28; Matthew 11:11). Having studied the Scripture for six decades I find that answer to be intriguing because very little space is given in the Bible to record this man’s life and ministry.
As I meditate on the Scriptures that describe him I have come to a conclusion about his greatness. At least one key to his greatness was that he accepted the limits of his limitations and the responsibility for his ability.
As we attempt to discover who we are and what God wants to do through our life it is a good rule of thumb to accept the limits of our limitations and the responsibility for our ability. When a degenerative disease of the spinal cord took away my physical abilities, it was critical for me to accept my increasing limitations and continue to be responsible for my abilities.
After about two years of illness when the acceptance came, it was so profound I decided it was a form of inner healing. Using speech recognition software on my computer I received the grace to write about ten thousand pages of what I call a Mini Bible College. These 782 studies of the Bible have been translated into twenty eight languages in sixty countries.
It fills me with grateful worship to realize that the formula for greatness I have learned from John the Baptist has guided me to the most important work I have done for God and Christ.
Are you willing to accept the limits of your limitations and the responsibility for your ability?
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, God's will, healing, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, letting go & letting God, limitations & abilities, speech recognition software, spirituality, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 6, 2012
“… the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” . (Acts 5:32)
The purpose of a compass is not just to give us knowledge about where we are when we are lost but to also guide us into the way we need to go. If you think about it – a compass is worthless if we do not comply with what our compass shows us.
In the Gospels Jesus introduces the apostles to the Holy Spirit. He tells them the Holy Spirit will guide them into all truth. He calls the Holy Spirit the “Paraclete.” This word means: “One who comes along side us and attaches Himself to us for the purpose of assisting us.”
Jesus tells them that if they will love Him and keep His commandments He will ask the Father to give them the Holy Spirit (John 14: 15, 16). So many believers miss this. The operative word when it comes to implementing salvation is “believe.” But the operative word when it comes to knowing God through the Holy Spirit is “obey.”
In profound simplicity the hymn writer expressed it this way: “But we never can prove the delights of His love until all on the altar we lay. For the favor He shows and the joy He bestows are for them who will trust and obey. Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”
Jesus said it even more simply and profoundly when He offered this invitation: “Follow Me and I will make you.” (Matthew 4:19) That’s why the last point on this compass is the most critical of all.
Are you willing to comply with what your compass shows you?
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, Faith Compass, following Jesus, gospels jesus, Jesus Christ, John 14, Obeying God, Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
