Perry’s Scope: Christian sermons, lessons, and resources for teachers

 Over the years I have found it interesting that men feel called by God to lead churches. I don’t mean preachers, I mean the men who typically serve churches as elders or deacons or in other volunteer capacities. They do not receive a paycheck for their efforts, yet they serve. They often do not receive praise for their efforts but criticisms when things don’t go “my way.”

Let me ask, do you pray regularly for our leaders? Do you ask God to:

• Strengthen their hearts?
• Give them wisdom?
• Give them courage?
• Bless their families?
• Help them grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ?

If you pray regularly, no doubt you have prayed these and other prayers.

Now, let me ask you a harder question. Do you ever pray to be a better follower? The writer of Hebrews gives us this admonition: “Obey your leaders and act under their authority. They are watching over you, because they are responsible for your souls. Obey them so that they will do this work with joy, not sadness. It will not help you to make their work hard.” (13:17, NCV).

Examine yourself for a moment today. Are you making our leaders’ jobs easier or harder? Are you trying to keep your life free from sin? Are you willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in matters of judgment? OR, are you demanding, complaining, and spiteful?

Remember Abraham Lincoln’s words? “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

 Her name was Irena Sendler. She died recently at age 98. Never heard of her? Most of us had not until the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize nominees were announced. She lost.

During WWII she worked in the Warsaw Ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist. She knew of the Nazis’ plans for the Jews so she worked to smuggle infants out in the large tool box she carried. She smuggled older children out in burlap sacks.

She trained a dog to sit in her truck and bark when the soldiers let her in or out of the ghetto. They wanted nothing to do with the dog. The barking covered the children’s noises. She smuggled about 2500 out. In time she was captured and beaten severely.

She kept a record of their names in a jar buried in her yard. After the war she tried to locate surviving parents to reunite families. Most had been executed. The children were placed in foster care or adopted by other families.

She lost the Nobel Prize to Al Gore’s slide show on Global Warming. Does that sound like injustice? God is just (Psalm 9:16). Do you think this is a misguided priority? God sets the proper order (Matthew 22:37-40). Does it sound like we forgot the danger of the Nazi Party, the terror of WWII, and our real heroes? The Lord remembers (Psalm 115:12).

Irena risked life and limb to save the helpless. Jesus gave His all to rescue us (Romans 5:8). Satan would like nothing more than for us to forget. We will not, we will tell THE story.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

 Someone has said that the church is the only (or at least one of the few) organizations that exists for the benefit of others. There is a great truth to that statement. When the church is doing its jobs, others benefit.

When we get the right perspective on discipleship, we become like Jesus – our rabbi, teacher, and leader. He came to benefit others (see Matthew 20:28). This is our ultimate goal, too. We give up ourselves for others.

Hear Jesus:

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39).

For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matthew 25:35,36).

Paul, the apostle, learned this lesson, too. He once pursued the power position in the Jewish Sanhedrin and the prestige of the Pharisees. When he encountered Jesus, his life changed. Read his words in Philippians 2:3-4.

This is not an easy thing to do. Ego often interferes. One man complained, “I want to be considered as a servant, just don’t treat me as one.”

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

 Open

Please share your response to one of the following:

• As a kid, what did you find difficult to confess to your parents?

• I can explain my life as an animal and that animal is a ___________

Study

Please read Nehemiah 8:18 – 9:5 and share your response to the following:

• Why do you think it is important to confess God’s greatness? What may happen if we don’t?
• Why do you think it is important to confess our own shortcomings? What may happen if we don’t?
• What is the significance of the 3 parts of their worship in this instance? (i.e., Instruction from the Word; Confession of God’s greatness; and confession of sin)
• What is significant to the setting of this account (return from Babylon)?

Apply

• Why do you think confession is so difficult for us?
• Why do we hesitate to praise God for victories in our lives?
• What things can we as a church do to make confessing sin (or praise) easier? How can this group help?
• How does it help you to recount “God’s story” with Israel in regard to confessing His greatness and your weakness?

 In his accusation of Job, the Adversary makes an important point. He asked, “Does Job fear God for no reason?” (Job 1:9, ESV). We often operate under the assumption that if we serve God, we receive. When difficulties come, we tend to stop serving and start complaining. Job ultimately comes out of his trial realizing that God deserves our worship regardless of what we “get” from him.

Jesus was the ultimate example of the correct attitude. He came to serve God – period. Note his teaching on serving in Matthew 20:25-29. A key to following God is not to seek reward but God.

The night of his betrayal and arrest was action-packed. He met with his disciples and ate their final Passover meal. As the meal unfolded, Jesus demonstrated the power of God in the emblems that he would use regarding his death, burial, and resurrection.

During the supper, Jesus also took off his outer robe, put on the towel and washed the FEET of the disciples to demonstrate the right thing in serving one another. He washed the feet of his betrayer. He washed the feet of the one who would vocally deny him. He also washed the feet of the “disciple whom he loved.”

Jesus did not pick and choose. He did not decide to wash John’s feet and then omit Peter and Judas – or the others who fled for their lives. He served them all with no strings attached – either to them or to God. It is always right to do right things. We may not always receive a reward for it, but it is right to do right.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

  I recently had a rare privilege. I met Charles Cox, a 97 year old man who is the SON of a Union soldier from the Civil War! We in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War are descended from such soldiers but most of us fall into a 3^rd – 5^th generation of such men. However, this man was ONE generation from the conflict!

When the men from the SUVCW met Mr. Cox, we eagerly listened to the stories he told of his father’s exploits. He had marched with Sherman. He had been captured and survived Andersonville!. After the War he brought his family to Oklahoma.

As I reflect on the encounter I think of the term, “Real Son.” Then I think of the privilege we have, not in being a real son or daughter of a Civil War soldier, but of the God of Heaven! Paul says that God treats us as sons (children). When you have time, read some of these key passages: Romans 8:12-17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 6:23-29; Galatians 4:1-7; Ephesians 1:3-10; and 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11.

God has given us such a privilege to be his “REAL Sons and Daughters!” How does that impact us? The SUVCW heard Mr. Cox recount tales of his father and the Union Army with pride. Do we Christians tell with pride of our Father? Do we tell of the exploits of His Army?

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene