Sunday, June 25, 2006

No whining (part 3)

As we have thought about whining or complaining, we noticed that our problems are never unique to "only me"--there are others who have the same problems, often times worse than we do. We have also seen that God classifies complaining as a sin and repeatedly punished Israel for it.

In these final thoughts we also should remember that no matter what is happening to us or around us, God is always with us and He will give us the strength to either overcome or endure. Paul the apostle asks the Lord 3 times to take away his thorn in the flesh, but the Lord only told him, "My grace is sufficient for you." In other words, don't worry about it, I'll take care of you. Brethren, do we really believe that, or will we turn to God only when "my" way has miserably failed?

Tol

Saturday, June 24, 2006

No whining! (part 2)

Contrary to what we think, our problems are not unique--others not only have the same problems but often to a greater degree than we do. This fact alone should help us control our whining, but there is more. The Bible condemns whining in no uncertain terms.

The word whine may not occur in the Bible, but its equivalents do--complain, murmur, grudgingly. Do you remember how many times the Israelites were punished for murmuring? Off hand I seem to recall that the fiery serpents were sent after one of their bursts of murmuring (Num. 21:5-6). In chapter 16, in the incidents surrounding Korah, there are 3 separate mentions of murmuring. God's response on this occasion was to threaten to destroy Israel for their complaining. In fact, the reason all the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness was this constant complaining and murmuring--would YOU have died in the wilderness too?

The New Testament even says murmuring is wrong, "Do all things without murmurings and disputes" (Phil. 2:14). "Neither murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed." (1 Cor. 10:10). Murmuring is one of the obvious characteristics of a false teacher according to Jude 16.

Brethren, not only do we have no real reason to whine or murmur, but such is sinful and will be punished by God. Stop whining!

Tol Burk

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

No Whining!

I'm sure you've seen a bumper sticker or sign somewhere that shouts "no whining". Call it whining, murmuring, complaining--it's all the same message, "poor me". In our own mind we have been badly treated or at least haven't gotten "what's fair", so we begin to feel sorry for ourselves. I'm not sure the word whining even appears in the Bible, but the sentiment certainly is.

When we have problems or tragedy strikes us, we tend to think we are the only ones who have ever had such problems, or such a problem, or our particular tragedy, but that is seldom the case. The first part of 1 Cor. 10:13 says that no temptation that is not common to man will come our way--in other words, others have had the same problems we're having and some of them even worse.

Dana and I have lost two homes--one in St. Croix to hurricane Marilyn in 1995 and the one we still live in, in Columbia to a fire. In both of them we lost almost everything we had, but no one was even injured and God provided all we needed to rebuild and begin again. When I've been tempted to think "poor me" I remember another couple we know who have lost 3 homes--2 to floods and one to a fire. Even more tragic was the loss of 3 children in the fire. Thank you Lord that we were all safe during Marilyn and were not in the house when it caught on fire--the firemen told us our fire was the kind that killed people.

"But my husband left me to raise my children all alone." I have not personally experienced that, but I think I can imagine many of the trials and the hard work this brings--working one or two jobs to pay the bills, while still making time to talk to, teach, etc. your kids. The not knowing where the next meal is coming from and having to seek help with practically every aspect of life, from child care, to finances, to home repairs, car repairs, etc. But I know, not 1, but 2, sisters who got married and left their homes to seek work in a far off place. While still in their early 30's their husband died, leaving them with kids. Both of them later remarried and had more children, only to have that husband leave them for a younger woman. Neither one of them had much education so one worked as a cashier at K-mart while the other worked as a waitress. Oh did I mention that one of them had a son killed at school (high school) and the next son turned up with mental illness at around 20. The other sister has a son who left home and the family at about 16 to live in the drug culture.

I trust you get the picture. Not only are our problems not unique to us but most of the time there are other people just like us who have even worse problems. Let us rest on the promise God has given to not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to bear and forgetting the things which are behind, let us press on toward the high calling of God without whining.

Tol

Are you worthy?

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special- Don't EVER forget it."

borrowed

Tol Burk

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Fighting alone

We studied about David and Goliath last night in VBS. There are a number of lessons that are obvious from this encounter--the power of God and the importance of faith in God, that should be applied to daily life.

Another lesson is that we don't have to fight our Goliaths alone. Yes, we all have at least one Goliath, a giant problem we face, oftentimes over the long term. Oftentimes, we try to deal with our problems by ourselves, at least until it becomes obvious that we can't. The apostle Paul asked the Lord 3 times to take away his thorn in the flesh, but was told that "My grace is sufficient for you". Paul's conclusion from that was, "When I am weak, then am I strong", because when God is on our side, the victory is assured.

Instead of trying to face your problems alone, lean on God for help. He may work things out in ways you never thought of or it may be simply that His people jump in and help resolve the problem. Either way, you win.

Tol Burk

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Liberalism's "progress"



To the right you see part of a recent liberal scheme in the Dominican Republic. There are over 110 liberal churches in the country and not all of them have their own building, particularly the newer congregations and those in the resort areas, where land is at a premium.

In order to help, the national association of churches of Christ voted or somehow decided that each church should make a contribution to a "building fund", which would be given to a different church each year to help with their building. As it happens, this year it is Puerto Plata. The list on the right is the list of the churches that have pledged to this fund and the amount. The one on the extreme right is a list of the members of this church and what they have pledged.

It is quite commendable that churches in the Dominican Republic don't want to depend on American money to buy their church buildings--most of them in the Caribbean have been built with American dollars. But doing something that is right in the wrong way makes even the "right" wrong--there is no authority for one church to help another build a church building.

But an even more important point to me is how one wrong leads to another. The national association of churches of Christ has caused even many of those who had been associated with the liberals to back up and question things, which has opened many doors for us. After a few years, the national association has led to a national building fund. The national association already has its own oversight and will likely soon have its own treasury--funds with which to do its own work. When this happens (and history shows it almost always does) you will have the individual church doing its work while supporting the "national" church which is doing a different work. Where in the New Testament do we find churches banding together to form a larger organization to do a work? We don't.

A "mission team" has also recently been sent to Santiago, a city of 1.3 million people to "plant" a church downtown, even though there are already 3 there. They were "given" a church as a base and have already published their propaganda kit--the mission statement, the accomplishments of the various team members (both men and women), and a flow chart of all the various ministries and which of the team members is in charge. Those in the liberal churches there have already been to one meeting and it shocked most of them, as they could easily see where many of the "members" of this church would likely be coming from--themselves.

We have preached for more than 20 years in the Caribbean that liberalism will progress farther and farther. Many brethren refused to believe, just like many brethren in the States did in the 50's. And just as brethren have left liberal churches in the States as they got "too liberal" so they are beginning to distance themselves from liberalism in the Caribbean.

Tol Burk

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

It doesn't have to be that way

I spent some time today with an older person in poor health who is all alone. Not surprisingly all their siblings are already passed on, as is their spouse. One of their 3 children is in a nursing home with alzheimers and the other 2 have nothing to do with them. In this time of failing health, when they really need the help of others, there is no one.

As Dana and I reflected on this person's situation we discussed that it shouldn't be that way and when we follow God's plan, it isn't that way. In 1 Tim. 5 the Holy Spirit gave guidance concerning widows indeed--those who have no family to care for them. God gave this responsibility to the church. And not only does the church have the responsibility to "pay" for things for them, but to be the family they don't have. In fact, we have a sister in the congregation here who has been blind for a number of years and is over 90 years old, but still lives at home. How does she do it? Her "family"--not her blood family, her husband and only child have been dead for years, but her spiritual family. One sister eats lunch with her 6 days a week, while another couple take care of buying groceries, paying bills, etc. She also receives calls, visits, and cards from many others. This is God's plan in action.

Are you part of God's family? If you need help, who can YOU turn to? Will you only have help as long as you are able to pay for it? Following God's plan will not only lead us to eternal life after death, but will give us a better life before we die.

Tol

Monday, June 12, 2006

Our mediator

Paul identifies "the man Christ Jesus" as our Mediator. What is the meaning of this wording? Is the point that Jesus was just a man, not God in the flesh--no because Paul also identifies Him as God. I understand the point to be just as the Hebrew writer says, He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.

We do not have some angel to mediate between us and God. An angel has never lived on this earth and at least does not appear to "understand our side". No, we have God who came in the flesh as our mediator--He not only "understands" God, but because of His life lived on earth He understands us.

But not only is Christ Jesus our Mediator, He will also be our judge. Are you ready to stand before Him today?

Tol

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Indulgences and so on


To the right is the papal decree announcing double indulgences in this, the year of the Jubilee. By going to mass, confessing to the priest and certain other good deeds you can receive indulgences that will remit the spiritual consequences of your sins, or at least that's what they say.

When you look at what the Bible says about the forgiveness of sins you read nothing about indulgences. The soul that sins is worthy of death, but not physical death, but rather spiritual death, which Rev. 20 calls the second death--the lake of fire. Christ died so that we could have forgiveness of sins and He has told us what we need to do for the remission of her sins--believe so strongly on Him that we repent, confess Him as the Son of God, and allow ourselves to be baptized.

It doesn't matter what men may say about how forgiveness is received--they can't forgive sin, so it doesn't matter what they say.

Tol

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Advertising the church


One of the brethren in San Juan de la Maguana sells bread, fruits, vegetables, etc. from this little trailer on his motorcycle--you could call it a mini-convenience store. The trailer and motorcycle are his but he has chosen to paint the trailer so as to advertise the church

I don't know how well it works, but suspect it does get the church in front of people and isn't that what advertising is all about??

Wonder how that would work here in the States?

Tol

Our trip to the Dominican Republic


From our homebase in Santo Domingo we went out to preach most days. Sunday we stayed in Santo Domingo, but went to services at 3 different churches--most churches only meet once on Sunday then twice during the week. Because of frequent power outages most have chosen not to meet on Sunday night. The later it gets on Sunday the noisier it gets outside--music from every little store and half the houses plus motorcycles, cars, etc.

Mon. & Tues. we traveled about an hour east of Santo Domingo to San Isidro. Wed. we were back in Santo Domingo then Thursday we drove 4 hours west to San Juan de la Maguana. On Friday we drove north 3 1/2 hours to Santiago, the second city of the country, home to 1.5 million people.

We normally had at least 8 people with us--we had a minivan and it was loaded. We met with churches that had 14 or so to 50 + to one church that has around 160 on Sunday. We would have liked to make contact with some others, but time and distance prevented it.

Tol

Monday, June 05, 2006

I'm baack

We all reached home late Saturday night. I'm still recovering and glad to be home in my bed where the power doesn't go off and it's nice and cool. I appreciate the many prayers that were offered on our behalf.

Our trip to the Dominican Republic allowed me to renew contact with brethren I had known before as well as make contact with new ones. Liberalism continues in its march farther and farther away from Bible authority, which continues to open the eyes of many brethren. One sister told us, "I'd rather meet with 4 or 5 people that have the truth than with a large group that aren't following the Bible." This comment was sparked by what she had seen and heard at the "inaguaral" meeting of a "missionary team" in "planting" a new church in a town where there are already 3 churches meeting.

The churches we met with ranged from 14 in attendance to over 160. We were not able to meet with as many as we had hoped but different meeting times and travel limited us. Please pray for the brethren in the Dominican Republic.

Tol Burk

Thursday, June 01, 2006

San Juan


We drove 4 hours to get to this church building in San Juan today. The road was better than many and we enjoyed getting to know the preacher and his wife.

The church here normally has between 160 and 170 on Sunday morning. They also have a baptistry that is deeper, about 5 feet deep.

There are 3 churches in this town with 7 more in the surrounding countryside. We received another invitation to stay there as they have 4 empty bedrooms (their 10 children have all left the house now)

Nino is calling us to go out again, so I have to close.

Tol

New building


We were privileged to worship with the church that used to meet in the preacher's porch but has since built this building. They've been meeting here for about 3 months now. It even has a baptistry that's about 3 feet deep, so obviously the candidate sits down and leans back.

There were 21 in attendance last night, including 2 visitors. The sermon was on humility and began from Dan. 4 and the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar.

It was good to see the progress the church has made here. Their preacher is in his 70's and not in the best of health so it is good they now have their old building--his wife would not put them out but when she died their son very well might. But that problem is solved now.

It was good to see these brethren again, even though I had to keep explaining why I had not been there in 8 years. I was offerred a third place to stay, so housing is never a problem in Santo Domingo.

Tol

Children's classes



In many places outside the US children's classes are not given much emphasis. Certainly when the parents are still learning the basics it is hard to think about classes for kids. In Mexico frequently the children play outside during worship and one of the adults has to go out periodically to quiet them down.

The photo just above shows a church we visited that has seen the need for a chldren's class and we are all sitting in it before services started because the breeze outside is better than inside. It may not look like much, but they were proud to show us what they had done for the children's class--never mind the barbed wire fence behind the chairs on the left or the lack of sides.

The top photo shows the classroom upstairs that the church in a nearby town is working on. They haven't got the lights in yet and so there is no furniture etc, but they're working on it.

Brethren, we are blessed to have good material readily available, all kinds of technical support--computers, copiers, etc., and what importance do we give to children's classes? Are they just something to keep the kids busy while the adults are studying? Or is it a sincere effort to teach children about the Lord? Is it something you as a teacher prepare for that morning (or night) or something that you take seriously and prayerfully prepare over the week? When the kids grow up and look back at their classes what will they remember?

Tol Burk