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

At one point during the early days of the American Restoration Movement, the whole effort almost came to an end. Momentum for the concept of the unity of believers virtually stopped. Had it not been for Walter Scott, the Movement would have died.

Scott, as other preachers of the day, held “protracted meetings” (or Gospel Meetings). He would go to schoolyards and tell the children about the “Five Steps of Salvation” using the fingers on his hand. Then he sent them home to tell their parents. As a result of this simple memory technique, many people changed from their previous denominational allegiances to unite as “Christians only.”

Scott’s five steps were:

• Faith
• Repentance
• Baptism
• Remission of Sins
• Holy Spirit & Eternal Life

Over Time, these steps have changed to:

• Hear (Rom. 10:14-17)
• Believe (Mark 16:16)
• Repent (Acts 2:38)
• Confess (Matt. 10:32-33)
• Be Baptized (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:21)
  And some like to add…
• Live faithfully until death

One way to look at the steps is to see them as our efforts to earn or gain salvation and appease an angry God. Another way is to see the steps as the process by which God saves us and creates a loving relationship with us through Jesus. One puts the emphasis on US, the other on God.

Remember - The “Steps” are not an end in themselves. They are the beginning of our relationship with God. He does not plan for us to go through the “steps” and just endure life until we get to heaven. He intends that we have abundant life now as well as forever.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

  When I was in elementary school my teachers taught me some very basic grammar. I was taught to be polite when we talk about other people and ourselves. We are to put the other person ahead of us in the sentence. For example, “Jim and I went to the store.” Typically today we say, “Me and Jim went to the store.” Not only is that terrible grammar, it demonstrates the sentiment of the day  - “ME first; it is all about ME.”

The current generation has been called the “Me Generation.” Some have criticized this age group for acting like everything revolves around them. They have been perceived as being very self-serving.

As I read the Bible, that description fits EVERY generation. From ancient times until today it seems that we have been obsessed with ourselves. Our actions have shown that we are all about gratifying the “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.”

How often we resist our place in our relationship to God. We seem to easily forget that we are the servants and he is the King (Matthew 25:31-46). We forget our place with others. Remember Paul’s words in Philippians 2?

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

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

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

Light has always been of importance to man. Light takes away darkness. The sun’s light provides us with nutritional and energy needs. Light is also a type of security and safety for us.

Children often feel the need to sleep with a light on. They fear the darkness — which is our natural tendency. So, the nightlight takes away the fear.

In the scriptures above, Jesus tells us of our value as light to the world. Our usefulness as light helps with the direction of people’s lives. We help people see the difference between the light and the darkness.

There is another thing I have discovered about “letting our lights shine.” In Jesus time, people normally  burned oil in s small lamp all night. One of the reasons for this is to indicate that someone was home. If thieves came to break in, they were less likely to break into a lighted house. If travelers came, they would know if they might be able to enjoy hospitality.

When our lights are burning in the night, we show people that “someone’s home.” The Spirit of God is alive and well within his people. It is only when the light goes out that we lose our influence and indirectly hurt His.

So, this week — Keep The Light Burning! Let people know you are home. Give the gentle, useful direction that separates the light from the darkness. You will make a difference.

Perry Greene

William Wilberforce is the central character to the movie, Amazing Grace. The movie depicts Wilberforce’s ambition to end the British involvement in the slave trade. It took many years to accomplish this task. It culminated with some ingenious political maneuvering. The end result was that Wilberforce achieved his dream.

Wilberforce’s impact does not actually end with the removal of England’s slave trade. It had a much broader impact. It affected the American Civil War as well as other international events.

While the Confederacy was blockaded by the North in our Civil War, the South looked for an ally. Diplomats from the CSA approached England. By 1861, thanks to William Wilberforce, England opposed slavery. The American South embraced slavery so England could not assist the Southern states.

Let’s speculate for just a moment. Suppose Wilberforce had failed and the slave trade continued in England. Suppose that England had entered our Civil War. Suppose the addition of England tipped the scales and the South seceded and formed the CSA. If we had been two countries instead of one, imagine how difficult World War II might have been. It might have been impossible to defeat the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.

It is speculative, but we can see what might have been — had it not been for one man working tirelessly on his quest. One man affected the British Empire. One man impacted the American Civil War and possibly modern history.

What is your dream? What are you willing to make your life’s quest? How will you impact future generations?

Perry

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

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

American churches are enamored with numbers. More is always better. As long as our count equals or exceeds the previous one, we are “successful.”

It is true that Luke records some numbers in the book of Acts. That seems to be something that a Physician/Historian would do. Certain numbers, like weight and temperature, can tell us things about the health of a patient (or a church body).

Think about the flipside. David took a census in Israel after he was told not to. He was punished for his disobedience. A danger was that the nation could have looked at their own strength in numbers instead of looking to God. It was not the best thing.

What if (I always like to think in terms of what could be) we stopped counting attendance? Would we stop feeling so secure in our numbers? Would we shift our attention to people? Would we check on absentees? Would we be better motivated to fill empty seats with new people? Would our source of security be our God?

How large was the church in Corinth? Ephesus? Philippi? Jesus gave some criticisms regarding the “Seven Churches of Asia” (which, by the way are no longer with us). Not once did he criticize them for low numbers — there are bigger issues.

My challenge is for us to see past the numbers. See the people. Look to our God. This is not just about, “How many?” it is about, “Who?”

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene (greene.perry@gmail.com)

We began “Perry’s Scope” several months ago and had a number of articles on-line. However, due to some of the mysteries of technology, some gremlins shut us down. My good friend, Mike Shell, has been able to rework the system and get us up and running again.

Let me introduce myself. I have had many years of Ministry experience. I preached for a number of years and have been in Education/Small Group Ministry for the last 13 (lucky, huh?). I will begin working as the Associate Minister at the Church of Christ at South Yukon in Yukon, OK beginning November 1. I will work with the Involvement; Outreach; as well as Educational aspects of the church.

We are excited about this new challenge. Yukon is located west of Oklahoma City and is rapidly becoming a suburb. It is not far from Oklahoma Christian University. The church seems to be extremely warm and welcoming. There is a great opportunity to reach out and serve a growing community.

In addition, I want to reiterate the purpose of our site. My intention is to help readers primarily with Adult Discipleship issues. This includes: Sermon materials; Bible Class Matters (Sunday School; Adult Bible Fellowships; etc.) and Small Group Ministry. These are the basic ways we help adults with their spiritual formation issues, however, I also intend to get into some non-traditional methods in future articles.

We are looking to add archived sermons and podcasts to the site. I hope that we can really develop a “cutting edge” in these matters.

Please be patient with me as we are in a period of transition. I will do my best to put some articles up in the next few days. I will be more consistent once we get settled in OK. I certainly would appreciate your comments and suggestions for areas of need that you may have.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene (greene.perry@gmail.com)