Author: Richard Spann

Everybody can help Somebody

Jim Morris

     When our youngest daughter was in her third year of Medical School, an Internal Medicine Resident demonstrated how to put in a central line.  (A catheter threaded through a major vein in the upper chest area permitting access to veins close to the heart for measurement and infusion of medications)  A few weeks later, a teaching professor asked her class if anyone knew how to put in a central line.  After she raised her hand, she was instructed to put in a line for the next patient.  A few months later she was attending Radcliffe Infirmary, a hospital intensive care facility managed by Anesthesiologists in Oxford, England.  During hospital rounds the first week, the group of students were asked if anyone knew how to put in a central line.  When she answered yes, she was instructed to begin teaching the other students.  In some aspects of medical care, the statement “see one, do one, teach one,” is a common practice.  It is the same for many professions.  Why is it, then, so seldom seen in our Christian communities?  Many need help in learning how to study the Bible, how to pray, how to begin memorizing scripture, how to apply the scriptures to their lives, and how to share their faith.  Is our lack of instruction due to the fact that we (many of us) were never helped in these areas ourselves?  Do we assume that these things just naturally become a part of our lives if we simply attend church and sit in a pew once a week?  Or are we content to let the “professionals,” the “pastoral staff,” do these things while we simply observe them doing their work?  In the thinking of some isn’t that why they were hired?  I recall Howard Hendricks telling a story once about Bud Wilkinson, the legendary Oklahoma football coach.  He asked Bud what he thought the game of football had done to promote physical fitness.  His answer was “It has done a terrible job!”  He went on to say, “It is just like the church.  There are twenty two people down front desperately needing a little rest and forty thousand people in the stands desperately needing a little exercise!”

Paul says the following in Romans 15:14.  “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”  In the process of encouraging others to apply this verse to their lives I have discovered three common reasons why it is not being accomplished.  The first of these is lack of margin in our lives that permits time for others.  Individuals who have been instructed and who have these skills demonstrated in their lives find their schedules dominated by work, family, hobbies and other responsibilities.  It is sometimes hard to convince them that anyone should be able to spare at least one hour per week to meet with someone and help them grow spiritually.  Is it so difficult to simply get up an hour earlier once a week or to meet with someone over a lunch hour?

The second reason I encounter is that of not knowing what to do with another person.  In order to teach someone, however, you need to only be one step ahead.  Are you able to share what Christ has shown you in the Bible this last week?  Are we able to share how the Lord has answered prayer?  Can we share with others how we have learned to study the Bible?  Can we point them to a book, or a CD, or DVD that has been meaningful to us?  Can we take them with us to a conference, speaker, or church?  Paul said “Follow me, as I follow Christ.”  If we are following Christ, His life will be reflected in our walk with Him and they will learn from the exposure of simply spending time with us.

The third reason that some do not help others is that they feel inadequate.  The answer to this objection is simple.  Of course they are inadequate!  We are all inadequate.  I never start a new venture in which the Lord has directed but what I sense a feeling of inadequacy almost bordering at times on panic.  “How in the world am I supposed to do that?” is a recurring thought.  What I have learned, however, is that my inadequacy drives me to His adequacy.  II Corinthians 3:4-6 states “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God.  Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.  He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  Alistair Begg once made this comment “If dependence is the goal, then weakness is an advantage.”

We are all given seven days a week, twenty four hours a day.  Should we not bring this time to the Lord daily, asking Him how He wants to use it for His Kingdom?  He came to seek and to save the lost.  As His disciples, He desires that we be involved with the lives of others, bringing them to Him that they may know Him as their Lord and Savior, establishing them in the faith and equipping them for their ministry .  He asked Peter in the garden “Could you not watch for an hour?”  He might well be questioning us about our availability for this hour as well.  II Corinthians 5:10 states “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”  It is His desire to reward us for our availability to His Spirit so that his work through our lives in the lives of others will be evident on that Day.  It is my prayer that He will see and be pleased with the choices that you have made, knowing that, indeed, everybody can help somebody.

In Christ, Richard Spann

 

 If not me, then who?

 If not now, then when?

 Lorne Sanny

     When Lorne retired as President of The Navigators, he continued the Lord’s work by developing what was to be later known as the Business and Professional ministry.  After turning the leadership of that ministry over to a colleague, he and his wife, Lucy, began traveling across the country to establish and develop contacts with all their relatives, some of whom they had not seen or heard from in years.  Lorne recounted that on one occasion, after visiting with a relative for some time, he returned to his car and realized that the relative did not know the Lord.  As he sat in the car for a moment, he related that two questions came to his mind.  “If not me, then who?” and “If not now, then when?”  Lorne states that these two questions prompted him to return to the man’s house and lead him to a knowledge of the Lord.  It has been more than twenty five years since I heard Lorne tell this story.  Of all the comments that I have heard from Lorne, this “goad” stands out as one of the most significant.  It has brought conviction to me on more than one occasion over the years.

This particular patient had been admitted to the hospital for a surgical procedure called a bronchoscopy.  We had visited on several occasions in the office about the abnormalities on his chest Xray and he and his family were aware of the seriousness of his situation.  Although I knew from our discussions that he was not a follower of Christ, I had not taken the time to talk to him about the Lord.  The day before the bronchoscopy his niece came to me with a request.  She said that she had spiritual concerns about her uncle because he had never been baptized and asked me to baptize him while I was doing the bronchoscopy!  I told her that I was not sure that worked so well if you were under general anesthesia at the time!   After finishing the conversation with his niece the Lord immediately brought to my mind these two questions.  “If not me, then who?” and “If not now, then when?”   If his niece, who had no understanding of how a person is made right with God was so desirous to see that happen in his life, surely I, who had that understanding, should be as equally desirous to see that take place.  Thankfully I was able to share the gospel with him later during the hospitalization and see him receive Christ as his Lord and Savior.

On one of our travels, my wife and I were in Switzerland with another couple who had been friends for years.  We had taken a cable car to the top of a mountain range and then walked along a mountain trail.  The fog was heavy that day and as we rounded a curve we heard the tinkling of cowbells and could see a farm house off in the distance.  After knocking at the door, we were invited in and told by the housekeeper that she could fix lunch for us if we wished.  I ordered some cheese sandwiches and sat down to wait for our lunch in what was a small cottage with a combined kitchen, living room, and dining room.  While I was busy eating my sandwich, the others engaged the young lady in a conversation, finding out her background, where she worked during the winter and began exploring her interest in things of a spiritual nature.  Although her grandfather had been a pastor in Switzerland, her life was devoid of spiritual interest and she had no spiritual contacts of any type.  Upon discovering this, the couple we were with began sharing some spiritual truths from their own lives.  We concluded our time there by asking what we could pray for her in her life.  I was an observer to most of this, sitting quietly, munching on my sandwich.  After taking the cable car back down the mountain and processing that event since, I have concluded that those around me in that farm house were being responsive to these questions.  “If not me, then who?” and “If not now, then when?”

I have known these four men socially for only a few years.  We engage in sports activities occasionally and will sometimes meet for lunch.  Listening to their conversation, I am not certain that they have come to faith in Christ.  As I continue to pray for them, these two questions continually come to mind.  “If not me, then who?” and “If not now, then when?”  The Lord has impressed upon me that I am part of the who, along with others.  As to the when, we are thinking about a investigative Bible study in the near future.

C. S. Lewis once stated that there are no ordinary human beings.  We are all to become objects of splendor (those who have received His Grace) or objects of horror. (those who have rejected His Grace)  We need to remember this as we go about our daily lives with our family members, our neighbors, our fellow workers and other contacts in our lives.  As we do, let us ask ourselves “If not me, then who?” and “If not now, then when?”

In Christ, Richard Spann

Be Shepherds of God’s Flock

I Peter 5:2

     As Peter wrote these words to his fellow elders, there is no doubt that his mind went back to an earlier time when he stood together on the shore of Galilee with the Lord.  There, in his threefold answer to the Lord’s question “Do you love me?”, he was challenged to “feed my lambs,” “take care of my sheep” and “feed my sheep.”  As Peter summarizes his ensuing ministry and provides direction for those in a similar ministry of shepherding, he focuses on three critical needs for the shepherd which he describes for us in I Peter 5:2-3.  “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

The first of the requirements for those who would shepherd God’s flock is a willing spirit.  Peter illustrates this with his words “not because you must, but because you are willing.”  Have you ever been asked to participate in a ministry and were unwilling to do so?  When I was in medical school, I was often asked to teach a junior high Sunday school class when I returned to my home church in Wichita on weekends.  The students were unruly and uninterested and I soon became unwilling to teach them anymore.  When I returned from Minnesota some years later to set up a medical practice in Wichita, I was again asked about my willingness to teach a Sunday school class.  I immediately remembered my prior experience and promptly came up with an excuse for my lack of availability.  The Lord had not yet worked in my life to produce what Peter describes as the first requirement for being a shepherd of God’s flock which is a willing spirit.

For those with a willing spirit, Peter outlines for them the further development of a shepherd by calling their attention to their motive.  Is it “greedy for money, or eager to serve?”  The New Testament relates to us examples of those who were willing, but with the wrong motive.  “Unlike so many we do not peddle the word of God for profit.” (II Corinthians 2:17)  “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry…the former preach Christ out of selfish ambition.” (Philippians 2:15,17)  In our day, willingness may come from a desire for personal recognition and notoriety rather than from an attitude of serving others.  To serve others we must put their needs above our own.  I once heard someone remark that the best way to tell if you are a servant is by the attitude you have when you are treated like a servant!

For those who are willing to shepherd others and to do so with a servant’s heart, there is yet one more lesson to learn.  This was brought home to me in a dramatic way some years ago as we were traveling in the Lake District in the northwest part of England.  We had paused in our journey and watched a shepherd work with his sheep on a nearby hillside.  All the sheep followed the shepherd with the exception of one that refused to budge from the middle of a deep hole covered with boulders.  The sheep refused to come out despite all the shepherd and his dog were able to do.  Finally the shepherd climbed down into the hole, carried the sheep out and put it safely on the grassy slope.  The moment he turned his back, the sheep promptly jumped back in among the rocks!  After pleading with the sheep for a few minutes to no avail, the shepherd then kicked the sheep in the hind end with all the force he could muster!  I still chuckle to myself as I recall that scene.  God calls us sheep for a good reason.  We often climb back into the same holes from which He has just delivered us.

A shepherd of God’s flock, having a willing spirit and desiring to serve, usually knows what is best for the flock.  He has the wisdom and experience and knows what the sheep ought to do in most of the situations in which they find themselves.  Peter tells us that such a shepherd must guard himself from “lording it over those entrusted to you.”  A shepherd is not to compel, to demand or to force behavior.  (Such as kicking them in the hind end!)  Peter says this should be replaced by “being examples to the flock.”

In his second letter to Timothy , Paul repeatedly characterizes the importance of shepherding by example as follows:

“Join with me.” (Verse 1:8)

“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching.” (Verse 1:13)

“And the things you heard me say.” (Verse 2:2)

“ You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose,

faith, patience, love, endurance, persecution, sufferings.”  (Verse 3:10)

We are all given opportunities to shepherd God’s flock.  It may be in our family, our church, our neighborhoods or in our workplaces.  May the Lord so work in us that we shepherd others with a willing spirit, manifesting a motive to serve them rather than ourselves and leading them by our example.

In Christ, Richard Spann

Aim for the Ripple, not the Splash.

Tom Yeakley

     It was a featured article in the church’s newsletter.  For the past year there had been a large number of men attending their presentations, more so than in any other men’s ministry in that state.  The men who attended were always eager to come hear the next scheduled speaker.  The news coverage mentioned the organizers by name and the awards and recognition given to them.   When I visited with one of the leaders of that ministry a few years later, I asked him about the current state of that outreach.  He said, “They are not meeting anymore.  It all fell apart after a few years.  I don’t think anyone of that group is involved anymore in a ministry to my knowledge.”  I wondered the following to myself.  Were they focused on the program rather than the people?  Did they major in the dissemination of information and neglect the importance of transformation?  Could they have been more occupied with the splash than with the ripple?

Fortunately, there are endeavors that are planned on a large scale which lead to a significant ripple.  I recently heard of one planned by international personalities, entrepreneurs and others who could provide significant financial support.  The outreach into many businesses was well described and was obviously going to be prominent visibly.  As I compared our ministry with their outreach, I thought that we would never be able to offer anything on a scale similar to theirs.  What the Lord had called us to do seemed so common and mundane compared to the enterprise defined in the brochure.  Later that evening as I was considering this further, I was reminded of Tom Yeakley’s words earlier that day, “Aim for the ripple, not the splash.”

Fifty years ago, a ripple began with five couples here in Wichita.  They met weekly, shared their lives, studied the scriptures regularly and prayed together.  They were encouraged to share the gospel and their lives with others and within the next ten years four teams of disciple makers had been formed.  Some were transferred to other locations as their jobs changed and began to make an impact in the new locations.  Others were added to the growth of the ministry and thousands of lives have been impacted for Christ since that time.  The ripple has continued to extend to over thirty cities in Kansas and northeast Oklahoma since that time.  Its effect is seen in at least ten different states.  It did not begin with a splash.  It began with person to person and  couple to couple interaction with the addition of small group meetings.  Large groups also began to be a part of that ministry as it grew, but the foundations were always centered around personal involvement in prayer and in God’s word.  The Lord is still continuing to expand that ripple into regions that are unknown to us.

This ripple, I think, is what Paul had in mind when he told Timothy in II Timothy 2:2  “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”   This is the ripple seen in Acts that extended from Paul to Priscilla and Aquila, and then to Apollos.  This was described as being important for our families in Deuteronomy 6:6-7.  “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  This ripple was intended to impact generation after generation so that its fulfillment would be realized as seen in Psalm 78:5-6.  “He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.”

Not many of us are going to make that big of a splash, but we can all make a ripple.  The Holy Spirit has given each of us the tools by which He creates ripples:  our lives, the word of God, and prayer.  As we invest in other lives using these tools, ripples will be created that will reach into eternity.  May God so work in your life that you aim for the ripple, not the splash.

In Christ, Richard Spann

Preach the Gospel to yourself every day.

 — Jerry Bridges

     As I consider Jerry’s statement as mentioned above, I first of all must ask myself this question.  What is there about the Gospel that I need to be reminded of every day?  It is obvious that my need is not partial. It is total. I need what will cleanse the guilt and paralysis of the past, provide power for the present and hope for the future.  I am completely dependent upon the workings of His Grace in the Gospel to deal with the sins of the past, the sin nature that results in sins, and the law that condemns me the sinner.

In the Gospel I see that Christ “appeared so that he might take away our sins.” (I John 3:5)  As Jerry once stated, Christ has “exhausted the wrath of God.”  My sins are buried in the deepest sea, removed as far as the east is from the west, and in the Old Testament picture, carried by the scapegoat into the wilderness, never to be remembered again.

In the Gospel Christ has dealt with my sin nature.  He has removed the source of sin, sin’s factory, in his death on the cross.  “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6)

In the Gospel I am removed from the curse of the law and its condemnation.  In Romans 7:2 we read “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ.“  And in Romans 10:4 it says “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”

In the Gospel the past is gone.  II Corinthians 5:17 states “the old has gone.”  We have been set free, redeemed from our past by the “Last Adam,” Christ, who has taken all of the first creation down into His death, erasing forever its power to condemn, to control and to paralyze.

The power of the Gospel does not end with freedom from the past, it expands into freedom for the future.  It does not just save us from, it save us for.  When Christ was resurrected as the  “Second Man,” a new creation, a new power, a new dynamic was placed at our disposal.  It meets the need of the present and the future.  This power, this virtue, this “Second Man” is now given to us as our life.  He Himself enters into us to be our Righteousness, our Holiness, our Redemption, our Resurrection, our Living Bread, and our Living Water that supplies infinitely above and beyond every need we may experience throughout our day.  He is the One who gives us His thoughts, His words, His deeds to express throughout the day.  It is in His Righteousness that the demands of each day are met.  It is in His Holiness that I am kept moment by moment.  His resurrected life is now my life and He expresses it through me by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel we are removed from the necessity of defeat and are given the power necessary for victory in our daily life.  The conditions of victory are those summarized by G. Campbell Morgan as follows.

1. Complete surrender to Christ.
2. Patient and persistent training under the control of Christ in order to carry on the conflict.
3. Determined conflict.

“Submission to Christ means that there must be no choice made anywhere or anywhen save after consultation with Him, that all knowledge must be submitted to the mastery of His mind, that emotion, whether it expresses itself as hate or love must be purified in the hot fire of His infinite love.  Patient and persistent training under the control of Christ is the readjustment of all relationships because He is consulted in the choice.  All this means that there must be determined conflict, the perpetual battle of surrender, the refusal to act apart from Christ.”

This Gospel delivers us from “the dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13 and delivers us to Him.  “That you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” (Romans 7:2)  This Gospel is Christ Himself, living in us, that we might say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21. “For to me, to live is Christ.”

May Christ so manifest His life in you so that He Himself is seen in and through your life as you preach this Gospel to yourself daily.

In Christ,
Richard Spann

 

 

Freely accept them and seek their good.

Lorne Sanny

     The above words were used by Lorne to summarize in a practical way the teaching found in I John 3:18.  “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”  Very often we are left with a fuzzy concept of what it means not to just talk about loving others, but to demonstrate love with actions and in truth.  I have discovered that the statements “freely accept them,” and “seek their good” get us started on the right path in our relationship with others.

It was a day similar to all the others in my medical practice.  I had left one hospital and arrived at the second one that morning.  As I entered the doctor’s lounge I saw a group of about twenty physicians, residents and medical students gathered around a television set, all watching in silence.  As I walked toward the group watching a tall building burn, a plane veered toward a second building and struck it near the top in a fiery crash of smoke and fire.  We all watched the scene in horror that morning as we were all introduced to what has been come to be known as 9/11.  One young man separated himself from the others and came to me.  He was the resident assigned to me for September and October of that year, a Muslim.  For the next seven weeks we met, discussed the patients in depth and he watched as I would pray for the patients and at times would talk to them about Christ.  We developed a friendship which led to lunches together, tennis games, and dinners with our wives.  This relationship developed into a request on his part that I write a letter to the State Department on his behalf for the purpose of allowing him to stay in the United States after he completed his residency training.  Although unable to stay in our country we heard from a mutual friend that they were desirous of looking into the Gospel with Beverly and me, but were reluctant to do so because of fear of the Muslim community here in Wichita.  It is our hope that these seeds of interest have been nurtured by the Lord since that time.  The Lord, in His Grace, had allowed us an opportunity to freely accept them and to seek their good.

As I consider Lorne’s words further, I am reminded of a man who befriended and mentored a teenager who came from a family without hope or resources.  This relationship continued throughout his schooling and many hours were spent encouraging, modeling and providing resources for his physical and spiritual development.  Upon graduation from high school, after he reached an employable age, he was given a job in my friend’s company.  Despite being given every advantage, he not only proved to be an inadequate employee but he also brought groundless legal actions against his mentor’s company.  Despite the rejection of the young man who was cared for, loved, and supported, the employer continued to deal with him gently, eventually leading to his repentance and acceptance of Christ as his Lord and Savior.  For many years, he demonstrated that he had accepted him and sought his good.

If you had enemies who persistently sought to find fault and to discredit and slander you to others and in your presence, what would they find in your life to point out to others?  Jesus‘ enemies found two things in his life.  They are mentioned in a sermon given by G. Campbell Morgan entitled “The Gospel According to Jesus‘ Enemies.”  Earlier in his ministry they derisively pointed out that he was “a friend of sinners.”  As He hung on the cross, they gathered around Him as related in Mark 15:31.  “In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves.  ‘He saved others,‘ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself!’” What they did not understand was that in order to save us, He could not save Himself.

How then, do we understand these two things that characterized the Gospel according to Jesus‘ enemies?  “He is a friend of sinners,” (freely accept them) and “He saved others…..but he can’t save himself.” (seek their good)  The life of our Lord was continually committed to freely accepting others and seeking their good.  May His Spirit so manifest the life of Christ in us so that His acceptance of others and His seeking their good is made evident in and through our lives.

In Christ, Richard Spann

Live your life based on God’s promises to you,

not your promises to God.

Mike Treneer

     A number of those involved in our Kansas ministry were at Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs, CO where we heard Mike make this statement.  He illustrated the necessity for this in his own life and called our attention to the importance of living our life based on His promises to us.  All of us are able to remember a time in our lives when our spiritual walk seemed to be dependent on fulfilling our promises to Him.  It may have been the promise that we would cease from a certain activity only to find ourselves repeating that activity in a few weeks.  Perhaps it was a recurring attitude of resentment, jealousy, or an impure thought life about which we made promises to God that we would overcome.  On the other hand, our promises to Him may have been that we would finally become consistent in our devotional life.  Whatever the promises were, our experience eventually would be failure which led to guilt and the accusations of our enemy the devil.  His voice, though not audible, would impress us with the thought that we had tried the Christian life and failed.  Not only were we not able to do it, but the possibility of anyone living that life seemed so remote that we may have been tempted to deny its reality.

In the Old Testament, it is recorded in a number of instances that the people of Israel made promises to God, promises that they could not keep.  One of these is recorded in Exodus 19:8.  “The people all responded together, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said.’”  Their history after this statement revealed many centuries of broken promises.  Under the old covenant everything came from man and man was not able to keep his promises.  In the new covenant, or as Ray Stedman related, the “new arrangement for living,” everything comes from God.  This new covenant is the basis for His promises to us, promises that we may live by.  Let me choose three of these for the purposes of illustration.

Galatians 5:16  “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  God’s promise is that His Spirit is given to lead us moment by moment.  We are not told to stop gratifying the desires of the sinful nature in order to live by the Spirit.  That is the old covenant.  The new covenant, based on His promise to us, is that in living by His Spirit, we are freed from the sinful nature.

II Corinthians 3:18  “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect (contemplate) the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”  His promise to us is that he is transforming us into the likeness of Christ.  This is not our promise to Him, but His to us.  The Holy Spirit leads us (Galatians 5:16) to contemplate-to behold-to spend time with Christ resulting in His likeness becoming more and more evident in our lives.  As we make our lives available to Him He makes His life available to us.

I Corinthians 1:30  “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”  This is the most amazing promise of all.  Being led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) to contemplate Christ (II Corinthians 3:18) we are led to the understanding that Christ Himself is our righteousness, He himself is our holiness, and He is our redemption.  We have nothing apart from Him.  God does not give us righteousness.  He gives us Christ, who is our righteousness.  He does not give us holiness.  He gives us Christ who is our holiness.  God does not give us redemption.  He gives us Christ who is our redemption.  He who lives in us as our very life (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:3-4) daily expresses Himself through our lives as righteousness, holiness and redemption.

What, then, should our response be to these promises?  How do we live life based on His promises to us?  Paul answers these questions in II Corinthians 7:1.  “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”  Paul describes two steps in our response to these promises.  The first is to purify ourselves, which is confession.  I John 1:9 states “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  The second is to perfect holiness, which is always by faith.  Romans 1:17 relates, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written:  ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”  It is by faith that we claim these promises and live by them.

What are the promises that the Lord has given you to live by?  I would encourage you to write them down, memorize them and daily affirm His promises to you that you may live on the basis of His promises to you, not your promises to Him.

In Christ,

Richard Spann

How to Keep the Elephants off your Air Hose

Howard Hendricks

     The alarm clock has awakened you early in the morning.  After getting dressed and starting the coffeemaker, getting ready for your quiet time with the Lord, you remember a meeting that was scheduled early that morning.  Without having time to really talk much with the family you are out of the door and your day is well underway.  Your schedule is a little tighter than you realized and the calls you were going to make to others in the morning never get done.  Lunch is hurried and as you start your afternoon tasks you seem more behind than usual.  You would like to find time to read your Bible, or pray during the day, but other demands crowd in until you find yourself more pressured as the day goes on.  You have a feeling that you are running on fumes spiritually, having really accomplished very little of significance during the day.  You fall asleep frustrated by yet another day that was out of your control with little hope that tomorrow will be any different.  This is the type of day which Howard Hendricks described as “having elephants on your air hose.”  These elephants are often caused by incorrect priorities, insufficient prayer, and inadequate planning.

Unless our priorities are correct, we have no hope of having a day that is pleasing to the Lord and satisfying to ourselves.  Matthew 6:33 declares His priority for us daily.    “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Unless we firmly establish and set apart our best time each day to meet with the Lord, and to seek His direction as to what activities will promote His Kingdom each day, our days are not under His control and are subsequently out of control.   A friend of mine whose life was out of control with too many activities had seen his own time with the Lord disappear to only a few minutes daily.  After our discussion and prayer about his schedule, both he and his wife soon started their day together, spending one hour with the Lord before any other commitment.  He related this decision had affected every other part of his day at work and at home, enabling other aspects of his day to fall into place.  By “seeking first His kingdom,” he had experienced the Lord’s grace in seeing that “all these things will be given to you as well.”

Insufficient prayer is often another reason that we experience elephants on our air hose.  Our Lord says the following to us in Luke 18:1.  “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” (KJV)  G. Campbell Morgan describes in this way the meaning of “men ought always to pray.”

“So that in prayer there is included, first, always first, the thought of worship and adoration, that content of the heart with the perfection and acceptability and goodness of the will of God which bows the soul in worship.  That is the first attitude of prayer.  To pray is forevermore to set the life in its inspiration and in all its endeavor toward that ultimate good of the glory of God.  The supreme attitude of the life becomes that of submission, and the supreme effort of the life is that of co–operation with God toward the ultimate upon which His heart is set.  It is to have a new vision of God and of the ways of God, to be overwhelmingly convinced of the perfection of God, of the perfection of all He does, of the certainty of His ultimate victory, and then to respond to the profound and tremendous conviction by petition, by praise, and by endeavor; and to “pray without ceasing.”

To the measure that our days are characterized by these attitudes of mind and heart we are always in prayer.  The alternative to “always to pray” is summarized as “to faint.”  G. Campbell Morgan describes fainting as follows.  “Quite simply, to be paralyzed, to be weak, to be worthless, to feel the force dying and the vigor passing, to be beaten, to be broken down and helpless.”  Howard Hendricks would characterize this as having “elephants on our air hose!”  If we would keep them off, we must be in the prayerful attitude of mind and heart as described by G. Campbell Morgan throughout our day.

The third reason we experience elephants on our air hose is inadequate planning.  Our culture places a high value on being productive, always being busy, sought after, being in demand and often resulting in a life with more commitments than we can handle.  Interruptions to our day are often met with frustration and anxiety.  Our Lord’s life, however, was characterized by interruptions.  Many of the miracles and conversations recorded were interruptions to His day.  He never was in a hurry.  He knew that His day was under the control of His Father and He could meet each need that was presented to Him.  Terry Taylor mentioned years ago that we should ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our schedule.  In order to do this, and to be available for the “interruptions” the Lord would bring each day, I established a margin years ago in the morning and also in the afternoon.  This was unscheduled time consisting of thirty minutes each morning and one hour every afternoon.  This removed hurry and anxiety about my schedule and provided me opportunity to spend time with those whom the Lord brought during that time.  Not everyone has the choice to schedule their day in such a fashion, but the principle is the same for all of us.  Learning to build in some free time, or margin if you will, gives us time for the important rather than just the urgent.  As we consider our plans, the scripture advises us to “Make plans by seeking advice.” Proverbs 20:18.  Others may have ideas that have helped them in similar situations in which we find ourselves.

Have the elephants been on your air hose lately?  If so, the truths of Matthew 6:33 and Luke 18:1 will be of help as you consider their application to your life.  As we follow the Lord’s direction from these scriptures, He will also give wisdom into obtaining the margin we need each day, so that by His Grace, our lives will be satisfying to us and bring glory to Him.

In Christ, Richard Spann

If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done.

Ecclesiastes 11:4

A. Cast your bread upon the waters for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.	Be Diligent (Faithful) In Ministry
B.If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.	We are unable To Control The Work of God
C. If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done. (LB)	Diligence In the Face of Uncertainty
B. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God the maker of all things.	We are Unable To Understand The Work of God
A. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.	Be Diligent (Faithful) In Ministry

(Ecclesiastes 11:1-6)

In his book “The Idea of Biblical Poetry:  Parallelism and Its History,” James L. Kugel relates that Hebrew parallelism was widely used in ancient Hebrew literature.  Ken Bailey has studied these widely not only in Hebrew texts, but also in his book “Paul through Mediterranean Eyes,” which is a cultural study of I Corinthians.  In this book, as well as his studies in Isaiah and the parables of our Lord, he refers to parallelism as a method of teaching commonly used in the scriptures.  In this passage in Ecclesiastes, there is an example of “inverted parallelism,” or “chiasm,” which has also been labeled “ring composition.”   In this method of literary composition the climax is in the center, furnishing what we would call “the bottom line,” or the “take home message.”  The surrounding verses “A” and “B” are used to “ring” and deepen the instruction offered at the center of the parallelism.  In this passage the outer ring (A) instructs us to be diligent (faithful) in ministry.  The inner ring relates that there are conditions with which we are familiar but over which we have no control or understanding.  The center, then, focuses on the message that we cannot let lack of control or knowledge of what is happening around us to alter our determination to fulfill the tasks given to us by the Lord.  We must not become sidetracked by conditions that we think are unfavorable to our task.   The NIV translation likens these to wind, interfering with planting; and rain clouds, interfering with our reaping.  The Living Bible captures the thought more clearly than other translations and simply states “If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done.”

I doubt that we ever experience perfect conditions for any type of ministry.  Not only are they less than perfect; at times they seem to be barely adequate.  I recall leading a Bible Study for Physicians at a local hospital in the early 1970’s.  One man who joined the study was a Surgeon who showed an avid interest in pursuing discipleship.  Due to his schedule, the only time available was for thirty to forty five minutes prior to the weekly study at seven in the morning.  We would meet at six fifteen just prior to our group study and explore some Scriptures together followed by a brief time in prayer.  The hour was early and our time was crammed in before another study, but we met despite the limited conditions.  As I think back over the last forty years, it is with gratitude to the Lord for the time we spent together.  I have known of many people who have been discipled through his life since that time.

A patient of mine had, at long last, after giving him several opportunities to look at the Scriptures together, agreed to meet to read the Gospel of John together.  Finding a place to meet, however, proved to be a problem.  He didn’t want to meet at his office nor at mine.  He did not want a public place such as a restaurant and it had to be a private indoor setting where he could bring his lunch.  After some searching, I finally suggested the waiting room of a small inner city medical clinic that I had helped start some years  before.  The staff at the clinic were agreeable to our use of the facility over the noon hour and so we began our study as the morning patients left, had lunch, and finished as the afternoon patients arrived.  There was many an interruption during the two years we met.  I still remember, however, the time when the Grace of God became evident in his life as we were looking at the fourteenth chapter of John.  The conditions under which we read the Bible together were no deterrent to the Holy Spirit’s work in his life!

I also recall an incident several years ago in which we were trying to help an inner city church establish a medical ministry in its neighborhood.  Due to lack of funding, the van we used; supplied with medical equipment, the exam facilities, lab and pharmacy were not available for several months over the summer.  Rather than halt a ministry that had just started, we decided to keep it going for the summer and use the church kitchen as the Doctor’s office and exam room.  I discovered that you can diagnose and treat most things with the use of a flashlight, a stethoscope and a kitchen table!  We not only kept the clinic in operation; it is today one of the most frequently attended in our city.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 exhorts us not to wait for perfect conditions.  If we do, we will never get anything done.  Is the location of your ministry unfavorable?  Start anyway.  Is the time you have to give to the ministry not as much as you like?  Give the time you have anyway.  Do you lack resources that would enable you to be more effective in ministry?  Do what you can without those resources.  Do you not feel up to the tasks you are called to do because you are tired or don’t feel well?  Lorne Sanny once remarked that most things accomplished in this world are done by those who are tired and don’t feel entirely well!

As followers of Christ, our task is to be continually vigilant in the work Christ has called us to do.  Let us, then, not wait for perfect conditions to be involved in His work, for if we wait for perfect conditions we will never get anything done.

In Christ, Richard Spann

PRIORITIZE YOUR LIFE

Essential

Necessary

Good

Delegate

Eliminate

 —  Lorne Sanny

     I was challenged by Mike Treneer eight years ago to begin tabulating “goads and nails” from Navigators who had influenced our Kansas Ministry.  The above comments by Lorne were the first to come to my mind.  Of all his comments those of us in Kansas have been privileged to hear, the above words chosen to help in the priorities of life have influenced my life most deeply.  Over the years I have seen how these five words have impacted the lives of many.  Our lives become quickly filled with activities, events, hobbies, and work to the extent that we hardly have time to evaluate what we are doing and why we are doing it.  Evaluation of these words as they apply to our lives helps develop investment in the eternal rather than the temporary, moving our focus from the urgent to the important, enabling us to have margin in our lives for the Lord and for people.

As we consider what these words mean to us we first have to reflect on the word “essential.”  How do we determine what is “essential?”  I have heard this described as “things that last for eternity,” or to answer the question “Will it make a difference in one hundred years?”  Another way to approach our consideration is to view our lives forty years from now and think about what we would wish we would have done.  As an Intensive  Care Physician at the bedside of many a dying patient I have never heard anyone say that they wished they had spent more time at the office!  Perhaps the clearest way to obtain direction is to look at the life of our Lord and determine what was essential to Him in His life here on earth.   As we do this we discover that His priorities were clearly time with the Father and with people.

A number of things in life are necessary.  Working at our profession or job is necessary.  How much work, though, is really needed?  Is it possible to limit to some extent the necessary to make room for the essential?  Maintenance of our home and other property is necessary.  How much property, though, is necessary?  Someone once remarked that everything you have also has you.  It has your time to clean, repair, paint, and otherwise maintain its existence.  Physical fitness is, for example, necessary but how much time needs to be devoted to this pursuit?

There are many good things to do in life.  The list is endless.  It contains a great variety of local and national societies and organizations, hobbies, travel, and even church activities.  Few of these are necessary, however, and rarely are they essential.  The “good” in our lives is often the enemy of the “essential.”  Last year a young man showed me a list of ten things that he was trying to accomplish each day.  If he were to have done them all, it would have taken twenty hours to complete!   I asked him to identify the essential, and then the necessary.  There were seven things left on the list which were all good.  In the hour that was left of each day, I recommended that he should choose which of these seven he would like to do.  They were all good but squeezing out the essential in his life.  It is by labeling many things we do as “good” that we are able to understand that they are not “essential.”

I have discovered that I do not need to be responsible for everything.  Is someone else able to do what I do in a specific area of my work or other responsibilities?  If so, then I need to consider relinquishing that function to them.  Years ago I knew a medical colleague who was unable to delegate certain aspects of his practice.  He would write out directions and draw maps for his patients who needed to go to the hospital for their appointment.  In addition to taking over the office receptionist job, he also did activities that a nurse was hired to do!  After trying unsuccessfully to meet the demands of an office practice, he left town for another position, unable to delegate to others.

Now we come to the word “eliminate.”  I suspect if most of us were honest, a significant amount of our time is spent here.  Dare I begin with the entertainment industry?  Much of it is a waste of time at best, and demoralizing and degrading at its worst.  Leroy Eims once remarked that our movie selection should be governed by comparing the description of the feature with Philippians 4:8.  Is it true?  Is it honest?  Is it just?  Is it pure?  Is it lovely?  Is it of good report?  Is there virtue?  Is it worthy of praise?  If so, then we should think on (go see or spend time with) these things.  Such a practice would help eliminate some areas that might need to be eliminated!

One of the most significant failures in the lives of followers of Christ is that of having no margin for the essential.  Whether it is simply having the time to read the Bible thoroughly, to pray steadfastly, to develop relationships with non-believers or to help others in their discipleship, the essential is crowded out by the necessary, the good, and that which we should either delegate or eliminate.  We would do well to take Lorne’s advice to heart and examine our weekly agenda, labeling items as he suggested, and then asking the Lord to lead us to redirect our days into the “essential.”

In Christ, Richard Spann