PRAYER, PRAISE AND PRACTICAL WISDOM

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THE APPLICATION OF PRACTICAL WISDOM

Practical Wisdom

By Ken Blue

“And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.” Genesis 24:12.

A young man prayed, “Dear Lord, I need money now, so please send it soon.” A few days later he was offered a good job. He went back to the Lord in prayer and said, “Lord, I didn’t want a job, I wanted money!” This little illustration describes many of God’s people. They think prayer without the application of practical wisdom is all that is needed, or they error the other direction by neglecting prayer and manifesting the attitude, “I can do it all by myself.” Both approaches are wrong, as we will see from the above story about Abraham’s faithful servant.

The first thing we notice in the story is the wise application of practical wisdom. This man was no fool, and if we are going to accomplish anything for God, we must be wise and know how to apply the practical to our life and ministry. Notice that this servant was instructed where to go, what to do and not to do. He followed the advice of his master. He knew the young women would come to the well to draw water; that is where he stationed himself. He took with him precious gems and fine gold to convince her father of his master’s wealth and to influence him to allow her and to go with him. You will notice that there is nothing spiritual or mystical about that part of the story. He followed the practical approach that aided in the overall plan.

Secondly, he prayed. You will notice again that he is wise and focused on his mission. His prayer is direct, clear, and to the point. Unlike so many, he did not use fillers or repetition. He wanted God to give some evidence to assure him of a right choice. His prayer was intelligent, simple, unselfish and unambiguous.

After he had prayed, he resorted to practical wisdom in order to confirm that God was indeed answering his request. He did this by explaining his prayer and how Rebekah had responded to him. He restated his purpose and his prayer, and then he presented the dowry to her family. Permission was granted, and Rebekah returned with him to be Isaacs’s wife.

In verse forty-eight the servant was confident that God was prospering his journey; he bowed his head and worshipped the Lord. None of the three elements should be ignored is our quest to do God’s will. The practical wisdom given by God must be applied to the situation at hand. In addition, we must ask God to assist our efforts and show us His confirmation. Finally, God must be worshipped and praised for who He is and for His goodness to us.

IT’S YOUR MOVE, MYSTERY MAN

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IT’S YOUR MOVE, MYSTERY MAN

chess checkmateMy son sent me the link to Amazon, where a reader commented on two of my books. After reading the coments I am confident the reader had no comprehension of the book’s purpose, or he simply needed a platform to impress you with what he thinks he knows, that no others understand.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/review/RUB8TMFNAJG2Z?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl

Below is a comment on my book, Alien Immersion.

“A rating of 2.5 will probably be more like it. This guy packs doctor status, but I know more about right division with no status or money coming in as a professional bible teacher. He fails to know he is a Gentile throughout the whole bible. But if you are in those “Brider” churches this book is highly recommended, as to the cult mentality in them.”

This guy has smoked too much happy smoke to comment. How in the world did he come up with the idea that I’m unaware that I am a Gentile? That comment is insane. It too bad he didn’t give his name. I would love for him to demonstrate how much he knows about right divisions. Since he did not give a name or way to respond, we have no way of knowing of his expertise.

On the second book, Dispensationalism Misunderstood, he accuses me of “trying to proselyte” others to “one church.”

The only problem with this guy is he believes in one church, but there are clearly two. Acts 7:38 says one was started in Exodus; you got into by being a Jew, or Gentiles could get into like Ruth by becoming a Jew (called proselyte=former Gentile become Jew). This church was led by Scribes and Pharisees in the gospels. Jesus said to these Jewish leaders in MATT. 21:43, “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (KJV). In Acts 10:45 we see the 1st Gentile saved outside the Synagogue/Temple Proselyte program. Even toward the end of Acts we clearly see two churches in ACT 21:20 “And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: (This verse represents the Jewish church.): 21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.” It doesn’t take a genius to know which church this is. There is one spiritual body of course but two physical churches in my New Testament. The Jewish church when the nation is the focus are predominate, but as the nation reject Jesus God diminishes them until the Great Tribulation. It is a Gentile age until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, the Acts 21:21 church is this age.

At least, he said, “the only problem with this guy is he believes there is one church.” I have no idea where he came up with this conclusion from the book. However, there is only one church today. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism,  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6.

The rest of his comment is just more rambling. One must judge a book by its content and purpose, not by what is not said. I hope the one who made the above comments will contact me, and we will let him test his biblical brilliance. Until then, he remains in hiding. It’s your move.

ARE WE HYPER?

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ARE WE HYPER?

hyperAn Assistant Pastor asked me, “Pastor, are we hyper dispensationalist?” I was sure he had heard that term from someone who disagreed with where we make the dispensational divisions. I explained to him that the word “hyper” simply means that you go further to the right on a subject than the other guy. That is, everyone to the right of them is hyper and everyone to your left is liberal. That leaves them on dead center.

That’s were every pastor thinks he is located, including myself. We are confident that we are neither hyper nor liberal, and because we are balanced and on center with Scripture, we are qualified to identify all who differ as being in error.  “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 .

The King James Bible is the infallible Word of God. However, your interpretation is not infallible, that is evident; unless we assume we are incapable of error. So, are we hyper? To some, we have gone too far; to others, we have not gone far enough. I guess that leaves us right on dead center!

THINGS YOU WON’T FIND IN OUR CHURCH

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THINGS YOU WON’T FIND IN OUR CHURCH

Spoof on Standards
you won't find

By Ken Blue

 

 

You won’t find a screen with a bouncing ball
Our nose is in the hymnal like the Apostle Paul.
You won’t find drums or a base guitar
Or a piano — like those in honky-tonk bars.

We shun the organ; Luther called it, “The ensign of Baal”
We don’t use sound systems, we scream and yell.
Women don’t wear pants nor do they speak
We like them inferior, feeble and meek.

Power Point and Laptops are taboo and banned
We reject background music it’s carnally canned.
We don’t have air-conditioning or a patted pew
Our people love Jesus and sweat it through.

We don’t use gimmicks to reach God’s elect
Their predestined already, so what the heck.
We don’t serve coffee to the privileged guest
We’re after the chosen and ignore the rest.

We don’t preach sermons on liberty and grace
A good dose of guilt keeps people in place.
Our only ambition is to grow and thrive
All sermons are on soul winning and giving the tithe.

We don’t have television or Bibles on CD
We maintain the standards of A.D. 103.
We don’t have Internet; we reject this modern age
But we hope you do and will access our church’s web page.

MOTIVATION OF A TIMEX

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“TIMEX; IT TAKES A LICKING AND KEEPS ON TICKING”

MotIvationTwo things can be expected in the ministry; you will “take a licking,” and you must “keep on ticking.” Since we have no way of knowing on which front the enemy will attack, we must put on the armor of God and be vigilant. We have little control over when or where Satan will attack. However, we do have a responsibility to “keep on ticking.”

I have found that the number one cause of “burnout” in the ministry is discouragement. How can we deal with this deadly enemy of our souls? Let me say up front that we all get discouraged at times. What is the answer?

Internal motivation is not an acceptable source of motivation. It is rooted in self and pride. This dynamic does not honor God nor does it have His interest at heart.

External motivation is temporal and short lived. Therefore, the pastor who is motivated by it will live on an emotional rollercoaster and turn into a cheerleader in order to keep the hype going for his own motivation.

Eternal motivation is the only acceptable motivation for the Pastor. This motivation keeps him going because it sees outside self and beyond the temporal. We must keep in mind that the value of our service will be determined by the Lord and will be rewarded by Him. If our purpose is to glorify Him and fulfill the purpose for which we were created, we will be motivated with eternity’s values in view. We can then, “take a licking and keep on ticking.”