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

When my daughter was young we often flew back from Texas to visit her grandparents in Tennessee and Kentucky.  On one flight, when the flight attendant gave her mandatory instructions, my daughter became upset. You see, the attendant told us that if we had need for oxygen masks, to put ours on first and then help our children.  In my daughter’s mind, she should be taken care of first.  In reality, if the adults take care of themselves first, they are more capable of taking care of their children.

That principle holds true in many situations.  Elders; Deacons; Teachers; HOME Group Leaders (etc.) need to take this to heart. As they lead groups, teach lessons, shepherd, and serve, they must not neglect themselves.  One of the best things church leaders can do for the church is to maintain a strong relationship with God.  The stronger they are, the more able they will be to lead and help others, especially in times of need.

Church Leaders, regardless of your capacity, let me encourage you to take the time to study God’s word - just for you.  Take the time to pray, not only for your others’ needs, but for yours as well.  Take time to practice spiritual disciplines.  Take the time to worship in spirit and truth.  You will be glad you did and so will your Church Family!

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

This thought came to me early this morning. Here is a challenge with the help of my good friend, David Gross’ editing.

The Bible calls us to be like Jesus, and the most remarkable thing about Jesus is that he is so often serving (Matthew 20:28).  So, like Jesus, I need to give (Acts 20:35); I need to be humble (1 Peter 5:5-6); I need to wash feet (John 13), and serve in all of the other ways that we see Jesus serve.

However, serving is not the whole story about Jesus — the Bible also shows him receiving.  Jesus accepted the anointing and foot washing of a sinful woman (Luke 7).  In John 12 he received a meal service from Martha and the anointing of the pure nard by Mary.

Oddly, many Christians find it easier to serve than to receive. If we are to be like Jesus, we must be both a humble giver and a gracious receiver.

How did Jesus do this?  First, he kept his ego in check.  It did not offend or thrill him to serve or be served.  We are subject to the temptation to think we are more than what we are, but Jesus knew exactly who he was.

Second, he knew something we often forget:  that to receive another’s gift gives opportunity for their faith, hope, and love to grow as they exercise their spiritual gifts.  To reject another’s gift is to stunt their growth.  If giving is to be a blessing, it requires a gracious receiver.

God both gives and receives. He expects the same from us.  If we keep our egos in check and our hearts focused on benefiting others through the receiving, we become more like him.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

God’s intent in giving his word to us is to aid in the transformation of our lives (see Romans 12:1-2). If we are not changed by it, we are probably not practicing it. I came across a story that reminds us of the power of God’s word.

In 1787, William Bligh led the H.M.S. Bounty to the South Pacific. He appointed Christian Fletcher to his second in command. The crew spent six months in Tahiti, living life to the fullest in the newly discovered paradise.

On April 28, 1789, Mr. Christian staged the famous mutiny. He and his fellow mutineers set Captain Bligh and loyal crew members adrift in a small lifeboat. The mutineers immediately began quarreling among themselves.

Christian led the crew back to Tahiti. There they left some of the mutineers and kidnapped women and slaves. They sailed a thousand miles to the uninhabited Pitcairn Island. There the group imploded. They learned to make alcohol from a local plant and lived lives of debauchery. Drunkenness, disease, and murder took the lives of all of the men but one — John Adams (AKA, Alexander Smith).

An amazing thing happened. Smith discovered the ship’s Bible. He began reading it and then began teaching its principles to the women, children, and slaves. The message of Christ transformed their lives. Twenty years later, when the crew of the Topaz disembarked on the island, they found a small, happy, Christian society which was free from crime, disease, murder, and even mutiny.

The power to change did not come through a self-help seminar. It came by the word of God. Maybe we make things too complicated. My dad used to say, “When all else fails, read the instructions.” Maybe we just need to read and follow the instruction manual.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

 How we Americans love our independence! It is independence that makes us who we are. We have even named some of our cities after it, i.e., Independence Missouri. When we think back on our history, we realize what a great price our “Founding Fathers” (and “Founding Mothers”) paid for our freedom and independence from tyranny. Americans hate being controlled by someone else (I think we fought a Civil War over that issue).

That attitude of independence also spills over into our spiritual lives. We tend to be independent and self-directing. We resist direction from leaders and often resent our preachers and teachers when they tell us what to do. After all, they are just people like me, what do they think they are doing?

I recently read a statement that has given me pause. “God does not create us for INDEPENDENCE, he creates us for INTERDEPENDENCE.” What a powerful reminder of God’s intentions and our needs!

Think of the various Bible scenarios where “people need people.” In the creation God gave Adam a helpmeet named “Eve.” He needed the interaction and encouragement of a person as well as God.

Roll the tape forward to the book of Acts after the church was formed. Even the great Apostle Paul would feel the need for interdependence. He encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, was struck blind, and was told to go into the city. There he encountered Ananias and received his sight as well as his baptism. Later, he would need Barnabas to help and direct him. Even later he would need some of the other disciples’ help to survive and continue his preaching ministry all the way to Rome.

Paul certainly needed help from other disciples. Yet, there is something that God puts in us that also shows our need to be helpers. Paul was trained under the Jewish Rabbi, Gamaliel. He becomes a rabbi himself. As a follower of Jesus, Paul takes his rabbinical training and applies it to the church. He trains disciples like the other rabbis did - just like Rabbi Jesus did. One of those disciples was the outcast, Timothy. Paul took him in and trained him to follow Jesus. He later becomes the lead Minister at Ephesus. He learned his lessons well.

We could go on and on with examples. Jesus had his twelve who had one another and then later their own disciples to train. All through the New Testament we read the “one another” passages and are reminded of how interwoven we must be. We are not independent, we are interdependent.

Somewhere I heard or read that the average person will know fifty people by sight and name. If our church is about fifty, we can know everyone and feel connected. The average church in America is somewhere around 100, twice the number we are able to know on average. Bible classes and small groups then become a crucial part of the interdependence we need. Large church services foster the “independent spirit” where we stand alone, unrecognized and uninvolved in the lives of others.

In the smaller settings we become aware of others. We recognize their needs and serve them. They recognize our needs and serve us. In all of this, we continually point one another to Jesus. We are interdependent, not independent!

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

Teaching the Bible is an integral part of Sunday School Classes and HOME Groups. However, the work of these programs does not end with teaching. People need instruction and relationships. God never intended for us to live the Christian life - alone.The Jerusalem church modeled community for us in Acts 2. They met together publicly and in homes. They continued in fellowship. If they needed it, we do, too.

As a class leader; teacher; or small group leader you know that your task is bigger than the Book. Your task involves the encouragement of your class or group members as well as Bible knowledge. People primarily attend a groups or a class because of who is in it. We either have friends in the group or think we can make friends there. So, how can we create a sense of community within our group or class?

• Communicate the Need for Community. Tell your members that in addition to Bible study, your Class/Group is going to help in building Christian relationships. Isn’t it exciting to know that the relationships we build in our church will last forever?
• Change up your Style of Teaching. The worst teaching style is the one we use all of the time. Lecture has its place and so does discussion. In developing relationships, open-ended questions help us express ourselves.
• Use Effective Ice-Breakers. I like to have groups answer one or two questions at the beginning of each lesson which help the group to get to know one another as well as set the stage for the lesson. As people reveal themselves to the group, we are more able to understand “where we are coming from.”
• Pray Together. Be sure to take prayer requests in your Group/Class. A good way to end the formal time together is prayer. Again, our prayer requests show our needs.
• Have a Party. Josh Hunt (joshhunt.com) encourages Groups to have monthly fellowship activities. In fact, he says to “invite every member and every prospect to every fellowship every month.” Fellowship builds relationships and becomes a tool for outreach at the same time.
• Be Open. As a leader, find opportunities to tell your story and encourage others to tell theirs. There is something very powerful about sharing the innermost parts of our lives.
• Minister. A huge way of building community is to serve together. Service can take any form and much good can be done for the served. The servers, however, always benefit more. One of the benefits is the unique tie that comes as a result of serving together.

These are a few ways to build community within adult groups. As community is built, people become more and more aware of one another. They learn to trust and be trustworthy. The unity that Jesus describes (John 17) is formed.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

A. W. Tozer, in The Pursuit of God, made a significant point. If 100 pianos are all tuned to the same tuning fork, they are automatically tuned to one another. They are tuned — not to each other — but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.

The same is true of 100 worshipers. When each worshiper is in tune with Jesus the group is closer to one another than they would be if they took their eyes off of Jesus and looked for ways to develop unity through fellowship. Taking our eyes off of Jesus is never a beneficial thing.

Each Christian has a place in the body. Each Christian has been given spiritual gifts to unite and build up the body. All of this comes through Jesus. When we keep our focus on him we function as a harmonious body.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

I love stories about Sam Walton. I appreciate his humility in the sight of his enormous wealth. In the mid-90’s he was named one of the richest men in America. However, you would never have realized that he was wealthy unless you knew who he was. He drove an old pickup truck — just like “real people.”

Once someone asked him why he did not drive a Rolls Royce. He replied, “Where would I put my dogs?” His success came in part because he connected to the common man.

Think about Jesus coming to the world. Unless people knew him, they would not have been able to tell who he was just by looking. However, his goal was to connect with the common man.

This is why the Lord of the Universe came as a baby in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. This is why the King of Kings lived a no frills life as a carpenter and a rabbi.

He did not do it for fame. He did not do it for money. He did it to regain what was lost - a wonder-filled relationship with us.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

Here is an interesting observation about volunteers.

People serve:

1. Because they were asked;

2. Because it fits with their sense of mission; 

3. Because they like a challenge;

4. Because it helps them feel connected to God’s work;

5. NOT because of material rewards;

6. NOT to meet people!

The above list was compiled by Marilyn Nelson, Baptist Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA.

Isn’t it interesting that people serve out of high aspirations? It is also interesting that many people wait to be asked before volunteering their time. Maybe, when we are struggling to find volunteers for our ministries, it is a simple as what James said — “You have not because you ask not.” That applies to prayer AND finding servants for ministry.

Perry Greene

A penthouse sits on the very top of a building. It rests on all the stories below it. The point of so many sermons and bible class lessons rests on the stories that support them.

When I first began preaching, I rarely used stories. Most of my sermons were packed with scriptures. Everything I said was supported by a biblical text. Over time I began to hear more “successful” speakers than I and noticed a common characteristic of story-telling.

I started using stories, illustrations, quotes, etc. in my lessons. In my opinion, it improved my impact. I read that stories were like the raisins in the oatmeal. People may not always remember my sermon or class, but they tend to remember the point - based on the stories along with the text.

It occurs to me that we really want to imitate Jesus in our teaching. His primary method of teaching was the story. We generally call his stories “parables.” When Jesus spoke these parables, they were not scripture.  They did not become scripture until the Bible was canonized. Jesus could have just quoted scripture to people (and some times he did) or given sermons like we would present. He chose to emphasize story to his hearers.

I understand that the rabbis of Jesus’ day intentionally taught their disciples in order to make changes in their lives. They were not giving them information, they were making transformation. We think that if we just fill people with enough information it will be sufficient.

Jesus used his stories to illustrate biblical truth. For instance, the parable of the sower illustrates the power of God’s word. He could have quoted Psalm 119 and declared its power, but he chose a story. He could have quoted Zechariah and the fact that we do not despise the day of small beginnings. Ins tead, he chose to tell us about a mustard seed. On and on we could go.

There are many resources available for good stories. Take the time to read the newspaper, watch the news, read contemporary books, subscribe to on-line sites that are filled with stories and illustrations. Take the time to appropriately add these to your lessons. You will make a bigger impact and your hearers will remember.

Perry Greene

Our life journey diverges into three streams. We are either CONFORMED-REFORMED-OR-TRANSFORMED. From time to time we live in the Conform level. This is status quo. This is “don’t rock the boat.” 

We can move up a notch into the REFORM level and experience changes. Israel lived through new direction during the exodus from Egypt. It was no longer status quo, the nation was experiencing change from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the wilderness and eventually the land of promise. 

They became a people of new identity. They were no longer slaves but free by the power of Yahweh! They became a people with new ambition. Their lives were to honor the God of heaven and draw all nations of the world to him. In his name they were to conquer the sinful inhabitants of Canaan. 

We have a similar experience in Christ. We leave the level of conformity to the world and march into a new world in Christ. We are no longer enslaved to sin and its destructive power. We are free by his power! 

The commands, “Repent and be baptized,” are reminders of our new direction. We have new things in mind. We are no longer satisfied with status quo we move to bigger and better. 

Our new direction also involves conquest. We engage in a spiritual warfare with eternal consequences. WE can make a difference in the lives of people in this world. All nations can know God because of a committed group of his followers. Imagine what can be!

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene