Mainstay Ministries by Dr. David R. Mains

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 10

Monday, May 21, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 10

Dream Power (continued)

When we, like Jesus, empower our activities with prayer, God often sees to it that impossible dreams come true. And what great joy we experience just as the fictional Amanda felt when the King came to her aid.

He smiled at Amanda, the old, wonderful smile filled with kingslove, and for a moment it was as though they were in the Inner Circle surrounded by the dancing, leaping Sacred Flame ....

Relief flooded Amanda. She bowed her knee in a courtly curtsey and murmured, “My Liege Lord.” Then, sheltering the frightened girl in his arms, he said, “I think you had better come and be a princess in the company of my people.”

In short order, they piled into a waiting taxi. To Amanda’s surprise, Hero was sitting in the front seat. He reached over, gave her hand a squeeze and said, “Good work.” How wonderful to be fellow to a brigade that could arrange last-minute rescues!

Amanda glanced through the open doors of the empty courtyard as the taxi pulled away. She felt relief, but—but jauntiness, too. Some of the old spirit of field and stream and childhood returned. A girl had been rescued from a terrible fate and was now nestled in the embrace of the King. No one—not Hero, not the cabbie, nor His Majesty—had scolded her with a “What-in-the name-of Great-Park-possessed-you?”

She smiled back at Hero and was proud because she did not remind him that street wise, alley smart, he had said she could do nothing. It was true. She had done nothing. The Names and the King had done it all—but for a field child unused to city ways, she had done nothing very well indeed!

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(165C)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 9

Friday, May 18, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 9

Dream Power

When considering the dreams or aspirations we hold, prayer becomes an important topic to be knowledgeable about. You see, dreams of any magnitude will burn you out if you substitute busyness for spiritual empowerment.

Obviously no one would knowingly make that mistake. But what happens is that the workload takes on a life of its own. The demands of the schedule gradually increase. The pressures become more and more immediate. God sometimes seems far away, so we take matters into our own hands.

After a while, prayer, which appears to have a slow payoff, seems to fight with the “more urgent matters,” important things that just have to get done. We think there’s really nothing I can do to change that. Deadlines are deadlines. Repeated days and weeks and months of pressure set us up in a pattern of racing around, and we think there’s no longer enough time left for prayer. When that happens, the impossible dream becomes a monster, and must be pulled back on course.

That’s what Jesus did in Mark 1:33-34: “The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” Very early the next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He tried to get His schedule better organized.

That’s not the way the passage reads, is it? That's what I would have done. But what Jesus did was to pray.

When Peter and his companions finally located Jesus they, I said, “Everyone is looking for You!” (v. 37) (In other words: “Oh, You’ve been praying. How nice! Now let’s get back to the crowd waiting for You. You won’t believe how big it is!”)

Somewhere along the line the apostles started to imitate their Lord. Acts 6 begins, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing.” What the Twelve did was to give over some of their responsibilities, their busyness, in order to “give [their] attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Apparently the example of their Lord had had an impact on their thinking.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(165B)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 8

Thursday, May 17, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 8

Fit for a King (continued)

The outer door-a key! Too late. The gatekeeper had returned.

Amanda drew herself to full stature and shouted the last names. “To the Monarch of All! To the King! To the Restoration of his Kingdom!” She knew she uttered treason and death was the penalty for her actions. But she was a princess of Great Park. Her heritage was of royal lineage; she would not whine or cry out or beg for mercy. For the sake of the King, she would march proudly to Burning Place.

Amanda held high her head as a man entered through the swinging gates.

He said, “Thank you, my sister. You honor me well.” It was the King himself!

Amanda gasped. “But how? The locked latch—the key—” Through the open gates she could hear the death drums beating louder, faster.

“Did you forget that I can open all closed doors?” He looked very plain. There were no golden highlights in his hair, his clothes were common—but the voice! It sounded of clear waters falling over great boulders, of winds blowing across fragrant fields. And the eyes! They contained the hush of the deep far sky itself, vast and infinite.

“Let us hurry to finish this work you have begun,” he said, and he stepped beneath the balcony where the princess was weeping hysterically with her head hidden in her arms. “Beloved!” he called quietly. “My beloved!”

The girl raised her head, and her eyes grew wide and her weeping stopped. The voice of the One of the Names had spoken; she knew him instantly and reached out her hands in an appeal for rescue. Clambering up the vines to the balcony, the King quickly lowered the princess by her wrists to the courtyard stones.

“We are a little short of princesses right now where I come from,” he explains gently after he himself had vaulted down. “They’re all growing up and accomplishing great things in the world—”

When your impossible dream is obviously going to advance the kingdom, you have every reason to believe that the King will give your dream His full attention. This is true even if He doesn’t demonstrate His support until what appears to be the last possible moment.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(165A)

Jump-Start

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 by David Mains

Are you experiencing a mental block about what to preach next? Guess what? This is not an uncommon problem for ministers.

Do you have a retired pastor in your congregation? How about a better-than-average teacher? A Sunday School teacher? A writer maybe? A missionary home on furlough? Would you believe an unusually smart high-school student?

Call a person like this on the phone and admit you are having a mental block. See what suggestions he or she has regarding a sermon.

What I’m saying is that you can waste hours trying to come up with something on your own. Asking for the input of another individual, however, can either set you in a new direction that person brings up, or trigger your brain to think of a new idea even as you’re talking.

So go ahead, make that call. Discover the joy of being excited once again about having something relevant and timely to preach.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(#165)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 7

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 7

Fit for a King (continued)

Amanda’s impossible dream was to rescue the Forbidden Princess from the hold of the Enchanter. Her glass-breaking idea was to see this sad young woman come to know the real King, and Amanda prayed for the princess, using his names. Would the King be of any help? Would he answer her prayers? Would he get involved in the rescue?

The next night Amanda left her earphones and headset hanging neatly on their hook, finished her dispatcher’s notes, and crept without telling anyone into the little temple where she hid in the darkest corner. Finally, the gatekeeper turned the key in the outside lock. To her surprise she heard him say, “She’s locked inside.”

Which she? Amanda wondered. Her breath quickened. Eyes shut, looking inward, she was horrified to see the eye of the Enchanter looking straight at her! An evil smile lit up his face. Closing off sight, she hurriedly began the litany of names. This time, she spoke them aloud, urgently evoking the full sum of powers available to her.

“His Majesty the King!” The Forbidden Princess walked to the balcony. “My Sovereign Liege!” The girl leaned over the wrought iron, as Amanda herself walked boldly out of the shadows to the paving stones. “His Eminence!” The eyes of the Forbidden Princess filled with tears. “The Most Benevolent Potentate!” The tears splashed on the stones. “His Supreme Holiness!” The sky overhead began to shine slightly with a faint cast of dawn light. “The Lord Monseigneur!”

The girl broke the silence and spoke, rather wept aloud hysterically, “It is too late—too late! Oh-oh-oh-oh! The Enchanter comes today to take me to the bridal chamber.”

There was a pounding at the gate. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Amanda's heart failed. Too late! The distant echo of the death drums began to sound—oom-bha-pah, oom-bha-pah—calling sentries from the Dagoda to action.

What had she done? Awakened the princess out of her unfeeling numbness so she would be totally aware of , the torture ahead? placed her own valuable gifts of seeing and perfect aim as hostage to the enemy? These loves, these loves, these terrible loves! Would she never learn that love was dangerous? Why risk so much for one miserable girl among so many? Would she never learn about forbidden things?

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(164D)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 6

Monday, May 14, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 6

Fit for a King

If impossible dreams are to come true, they require all the help we can get. If a task doesn’t take much effort, it probably doesn’t qualify as an impossible dream. What seemingly impossible dreams are you daring to dream?

Are you comfortable being around people who dream impossible dreams? I am. I enjoy hearing about grand schemes for making the world better. That’s one reason Christ’s kingdom, or kingship, message is so attractive to me. This world needs a righteous monarch who has both the wisdom to rule and the power to enforce His decisions. But it also needs someone marked by great love for all people. I believe Christ fills both those roles.

I’m happy to identify myself as one of His subjects, more than pleased to be involved in a small part of His marvelous now-and-future kingdom, and thrilled to tap into this incredible plan of His that gives such dignity and meaning and purpose to life. I also find there’s enough room under His colossal umbrella to come up with challenging “impossible dreams” that are subpoints, or subdreams, of His.

When my dreams are consistent with Christ’s dreams, I can expect His support in helping pull them off. The more my dreams overlap His, the more I can expect His aid when I need and request it.

Examine your dreams to see if there’s a good reason to believe that the Lord will help you. Will God really benefit in any way if your dreams come true, or are the plans strictly of your own making and unrelated to what He’s about?

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(164C)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 5

Friday, May 11, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 5

Overlapping Desires (continued)

Continuing from Tales of the Resistance.

“Amanda?” Hero placed a hand on her shoulder, “Don't go to the temple courtyard so often. It’s dangerous. There's nothing you can do for the princess, and Big Operator says your work as a dispatcher is invaluable. Hundreds have been helped because of your quick gifts of seeing and aiming.”

Amanda watched him stride off into the night, confident, his back broad; Nothing she could do! Nothing she could do! Then who would help the forlorn girl? But wait—wait, she has promised nothing. Hero had forgotten too much; she had once slayed a dragon singlehandedly in mortal combat. Hero's job was chronicling Sightings, who was to say her job wasn't the rescuing of forbidden princesses?

Amanda went back to the courtyard every night. She went at different times between control board duty, taking different alleys and streets, but she told no one because she was afraid they would forbid her-and Amanda had had enough pain from forbidden loves.

What would Mercie do in the city, with her powers confined by enchantment? she asked herself.

Each night when Amanda sat in the courtyard, she silently spoke the names of the King. Whenever the Forbidden Princess came to the balcony, Amanda closed her eyes, took sure aim, and with her powerful gift of seeing, pointed the names right at the girl’s heart.

His Majesty ... my Sovereign Liege Lord ... His Eminence ... the Benevolent Potentate ... His Supreme Holiness ... the Lord Monsiegneur ... His Most Royal Highness ... the Monarch of All ... the true King ... to Him and to the Restoration of His Kingdom!

As Amanda did her lonely work, she watched for the slightest flicker of life in the eyes staring from the balcony, but there was nothing. Guilty memory taunted her—forbidden love, forbidden love. Crucial concentration came hard. Then one night as she sighted inwardly, she was sickened by seeing the evil eye of the Enchanter, searching, darting to and fro—and Amanda understood she was in peril. She knew she should end her vigils, but there—there! That very night, a tear dropped from the corner of the girl’s eye. A sign of life! Amanda knew she had come again to love a thing dangerous to love.

So Amanda returned, hiding in the shadows of the cloisters, scarcely breathing lest she draw the ominous attention of the evil eye in the nearby Dagoda but aiming the Names from her heart to the heart of the girl standing on the balcony. At last, at last, the Forbidden Princess lifted her eyes as though wakening from a trance, and then turned her head toward the shadows as though peering for the silent speaker of the Names.

The girl had been awakened. The Names had done their life-giving work. Now, how to get her out before horror overtook them both? A plan! Slip into the courtyard, hide; then help the princess escape in the daylight, when the city was sleeping.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(164B)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 4

Thursday, May 10, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 4

Overlapping Desires (continued)

Continuing from Tales of the Resistance.

Amanda felt an old indignation rise—she was not a child—but just as suddenly it slipped away. She had learned all too well the folly of arrogance. She had been cold. She was glad for the warmth of his shared rain cloth. He was right, the paths and forest trails were her native terrain; but the hard paving stones of this dark place were his. Now she must learn from him.

The courtyard doors to the street creaked open. A form crept in and Amanda felt Hero tense beside her and grasp the handle of the hatchet beneath his slicker. A Breaker had entered the courtyard. Amanda's own heart quickened; she had once seen the chalky white face, the piercing eyes, the chilling grin, the cudgel raised to bash her as she lay in pain. To the King, she mentally intoned. To the Restoration. The bell whispered; the girl came to the balcony; the Breaker gazed and withdrew to the streets.

Hero murmured again, “She’s so beautiful even the no-people come to look.”

“But her eyes, her eyes—they’re blank. There’s no life in them.”

“Of course,” explained Hero. “She’s the Forbidden Princess.”

“The Forbidden Princess?” Amanda asked. They were out on the street now, walking back to the Taxi Company.

City wise, the young man told her the story of the beautiful girls gathered together every year to serve as temple keepers for the Enchanter. Chosen for their courage as well as for their beauty, a terrible initiation separated those who were worthy from those who were only fair. The novitiates spent a night in a room with severed bulls heads. Those who didn’t weep or whine were chosen to become princesses who spent the rest of their young lives allowing the curious to gaze on their faces, but forbidden to speak to any admirers.

“How awful!” said Amanda.

“That's not all. Eventually they become wives to the Enchanter. The children they bear are the Enchanter’s elite guard, Burners and Breakers, the no-people. The Enchanter has had thousands of wives. Most of them shrivel and waste away—heartsickness. His embrace is so terrible that even beauty and courage are not protection enough.”

They stood talking before the overhead garage door of the City Taxi Company and waited for a cab to return rather than bother a mechanic. Sometimes, in the rain, the city was almost beautiful the way the lights danced on the wet stones. A taxi beeped its horn, the crank creaked inside, the door slid upwards.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(164A)

Why Did You Call?

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 by David Mains

Most of the time when someone calls, or you receive an e-mail or text, there’s a reason for the communication. Even when the purpose is “just missed you and wanted to touch base,” that’s still a bottom line that prompted the message.

In the New Testament there’s a reason why Paul or John or Peter or James wrote the letters (or epistles) they did. If a preacher hasn’t figured out the basic reason(s) that prompted the correspondence, he or she probably doesn’t understand what the letter is about.

Even so, lots of times I’ve heard supposed expository preaching that over a number of Sundays, as the speaker works through the book’s content, makes numerous points, but often misses the bottom line the writer intended to make. The speaker got excited about words and sentences but not the main reason(s) for the correspondence. As a result, when the series was finished, listeners had no concept of what the epistle was really about.

The point I’m making is that methodically working your way sentence-by-sentence through a text doesn’t mean that you are finished, people will understand the overall message attempted to be communicated.

I’m not opposed to verse-by-verse exposition, which can be incredibly effective. I’ve just heard too many sermons built on isolated words and sentences that prompted sermon ideas far from what the original writer actually had in mind when he penned his overall message.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(#164)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 3

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 3

Overlapping Desires

A second example of a woman who allowed her desires to overlap God’s dreams is the fictional character Amanda. This story comes from Tales of the Resistance.

At first, Amanda came to the courtyard simply because she needed a rest from the stress of traffic dispatching. Now she came because the plight of the girl drew her, a plight she didn't understand.

One night a damp fog stinking of sludge smoke and burning garbage settled on the city. Amanda walked the dark streets, restless for clean air and the sun and a romp on spongy moss. She was not afraid to roam at night. Amanda was not afraid of anything, except her own dangerous stubbornness—a lesson hard learned in a terrible incident which had brought shame to herself, pain to all she loved, and disaster to the only place she would ever call home.

She had loved a forbidden thing and had not been the same child since. A child with wild flowers in her hair, whose laughter constantly announced her presence, Amanda once had loved extravagantly, without question. Now she questioned all loves and was cautious about loving anything.

On this night Amanda slipped into the courtyard. The lanterns cast an eerie glimmer in the fog which oozed from the streets under the heavy outer doors. She stood beneath the balcony window, glad that the girl would not have to make many appearances on this frightful night. The bell whispered—oh, dear, she had gazed too long. The girl appeared; Amanda was sorry to have disturbed her. “She’s very beautiful,” said a voice from the shadows behind her.

Amanda whirled around! Who was hiding in the courtyard?

“Don’t be afraid—” the form moved away from the cloisters. Even in the damp fog, its motion was familiar. The voice was comforting, a well-known voice.

Her old impudence returned. “Have you nothing better to do than frighten unsuspecting maidens in dark streets? I thought you were supposed to be out chronicling Sightings.” But Amanda was glad to see her old friend. Though she had heard much about his exploits, their paths had not crossed since that first day’s encounter in the taxi terminal.

Hero spoke in a low voice. “The same old Amanda. Be careful what you say. Anyone (or anything) may be hiding in the shadows. This is a bastion of the Enchanter.” He lifted a lantern from its hook and carefully shone it in the comers. They were alone. The girl on the balcony had taken her bored silence inside.

He was taller than she remembered. By the light of the lantern she noticed that the planes and angles of his face had broadened, outgrowing the scar which had disfigured a boy’s cheek. Now the old wound gave him a rakish, elegant air. He had become handsome.

She wanted to protest, “I’m not the same old Amanda. I’m no longer just a play friend!” But she suspected he had grown so tall he would never notice that she had grown as well. •

He pulled her to a bench, where they sat together. “Big Operator told me that you come here often.” He spread his dark blue slicker around her shoulders to shelter her from the damp. Its color reminded her of the soft, rich homespun of Ranger cloaks, of flashing silver insignias, of courage and proud command and of the forest cry, “The Kingdom comes!”

“Amanda, you need to be careful roaming through Enchanted City. Great dangers lurk in every corner of every street.”

Amanda stiffened. Her answer was also low. “I can take care of myself.”

But Hero was in earnest. “In Great Park you are the amazing princess who used to outspit and outaim any contenders! But this is my territory. Innocence is dangerous in Enchanted City. Case in point: Don’t ever come out on rainy nights without a covering, some sort of macintosh. Even the air bodes ill; people die of the nightailment. The health you take for granted in Great Park, the healing powers of Mercie are not natural to this place.”

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(163D)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 2

Monday, May 7, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 2

Year of the Miracle

In God’s providence, however (this is a marvelous God Hunt sighting), the “year of the miracle” for Hannah took place when Eli, the wicked priests’ father, was serving. That meant someone with spiritual sensitivity would witness what was about to happen. First Samuel, chapter 1 reveals that Hannah was “in bitterness of soul.” Her rival wife had provoked her until she wept and couldn’t eat. This verbal abuse came because Hannah didn’t seem to be able to have children. Verses 10-11 read:

In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life.”

It’s precisely at this point that Hannah did something special. Whether it was conscious or unconscious, I can’t say, but she allowed her desires to overlap the desires of God. Frequently our praying is just for selfish ends. But, praise the Lord, Hannah had stumbled onto something when she made this vow.

At first Eli thought she was drunk. That’s because her agony was so great. But she sobbed, “Not so, my lord ... I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord ... I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief” (vv. 15-16).

To this, Eli prophetically responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him” (v. 17). Verse 20 is where we see that the impossible dream came true: “So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son.” The meaning of her son’s name was “because I asked the Lord for him.” Hannah hadn't forgotten her divine bargain. “Because I asked the Lord for him,” put into a word, is the name Samuel. And Samuel was to be a remarkable person from the time he was a young lad all the way through old age, always being faithful to his Heavenly Master.

Again, the secret revealed here is that Hannah had taken her impossible request to the Lord, and in doing so she had leveraged, if you will, how it would be to God’s advantage to grant her petition.

Often, I believe, the impossible dreams we dream would really be of little advantage to God were He to respond in the way we ask. Think about some of the prayer requests you’ve heard (or offered) recently. How well do they reflect God’s kingdom goals?

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(163C)

Daring to Dream Again: Empower Our... - Part 1

Friday, May 4, 2012 by David Mains

Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 1

Do impossible dreams ever come true? The answer to that question is, yes they do! Especially they do if we involve God in what's taking place and don't just rely on our own resources.

Let me illustrate with stories of two persistent women and what God did for each of them. The key to their success, I believe, is this: There’s always a better chance that an impossible dream will come true if the person involved shows why it’s to God’s advantage to help bring it about.

One of the stories comes from the Old Testament. This woman was in a bad home setting, in a bad religious setting, and she had a bad history of humiliation. Her name was Hannah. She was married to Elkanah, but unfortunately she wasn’t this gentleman’s only wife. The good news is that she was his favorite. Her bad news is that she was .barren. But it wasn’t too late for her to dream. '

The Scriptures report that year after year Elkanah went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. We know these two guys were bad news. Hophni and Phinehas were wicked. The religious scandals we’ve known in our day are nothing compared to the shenanigans of these brothers.

The Bible declares they had no regard for the Lord. They were having sex with the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and in strong-arm fashion they were stealing all the meat they wanted from those who brought animals for sacrifice. As priests, these men totally disregarded the prescribed religious ceremonial rules.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(163B)

Daring to Dream Again: Confront the... - Part 16

Thursday, May 3, 2012 by David Mains

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 16

READINGS - Part 5

The needs, potential, and qualifications of women have been shrouded in the mists of interminable squabbles about women’s roles in the church. Whatever your view about these matters, our fights have done nothing to erase the deeply ingrained prejudices of men toward women. We cannot continue our rather brutish behavior, thinking that our patient Christian wives, friends, and fellow workers don’t really care. We mistakenly assume that because they are not radical feminists they have no feelings.

Change begins with our language, because what we say and what we write reveals our unchallenged assumptions about women. Beyond that, however, we must change our missions commitment to include evangelizing and training the world’s women. Women leaders from Africa and Asia have correctly exposed the blind side of church and mission strategies in this regard. If we contemplate new. ministries, without taking into account the huge potential or significant leadership among Christian women, we enter the field with one arm cut off.

Too often we act as if missions history means nothing. How many times do we ring the changes on William Carey, Hudson Taylor, and Jim Elliot, without ever mentioning Mary Slessor, Gladys Aylward, and Helen Roseveare. What does such oversight say to women in our schools and churches? If mission work sounds like the private domain of an exclusive Men’s club, we aren’t going to attract capable women.

Perhaps the strongest signal we send women in the role we give, or do not give, to them in mission leadership. Some of our institutions would be better served if the wives of the men in charge were given the job. In these cases, the wife is gifted in management and administration, while her husband’s gifts are in teaching, preaching, and counseling. The point is to use people in their strengths, regardless of their sex. The work of God could be considerably expedited if we got serious about developing women for leadership in world missions.

Men, it’s long past the time to change.

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James Reapsome, "Men: It's Time to Change," Pulse, 9 October 1991.
Used by permission.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(163A)

Helpful Suggestion

Wednesday, May 2, 2012 by David Mains

Thinking about preaching through an epistle or one of the prophets in the near future? Over the years I have been thanked by many preachers for suggesting a simple exercise that helps you get your mind around the bottom line of a writer.

Early on in my study of that book, I use a red pen to underline every verse or part of a sentence that calls for a response of some kind.

For example, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians you can’t really underline a clear response until you get all the way to chapter 5. If you read into the text you can come up with an implied response, but that’s not what I’m suggesting. As an illustration, the well-known verse in chapter 2, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live...” is more a statement of testimony. It implies that we too should consider ourselves crucified with Christ, but that implication is not actually stated. So I would not underline that verse.

The first response I would actually underline in Galatians is in 5:1, “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” It’s a negative response, but even so, it’s a very clear one. Actually, in chapters 5 and 6 a number of verses or phrases need to be underlined.

Next I review all the underlined parts and attempt to settle on the one(s) that best represent what the writer was calling for. In the case of Galatians, in my mind, it would be to “live by the Spirit” (5:16 + 25), “be led by the Spirit” (5:18), “keep in step with the Spirit” (5:26), and “sow to please the Spirit” (6:7).

Paul tells us what this looks like as he writes about the fruit of the Spirit (5:22-25), as contrasted to the acts of the sinful nature (5:19-21). So his desired response could be summed up as saying that we are to live by the Spirit in a responsible manner, not in license (5:13).

Today’s Christians will probably need practical help regarding how to do this. Paul is not a help in that regard—at least in this passage. But that’s his bottom-line objective anyway. So that should be your bottom-line objective as well.

Chapters 1 through 4 of Galatians are mainly historical background that lead to this desired response. But they make little sense to talk about outside of the overall context of the book.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(#163)

Daring to Dream Again: Confront the... - Part 15

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 by David Mains

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 15

READINGS - Part 4

A good portion of my life has been given to a teaching ministry that has taken me all over the country and Canada. In a way, I come alive when I take my place before an audience. I work hard to be a conscientious communicator. I pray fervently, and I am often gratified by obvious effectiveness. However, there are many men who have made it a point not to be present when I speak.

Pastors introduce me for conferences in their buildings and then mysteriously absent themselves from the auditorium. In a missions-emphasis week in a church in the South, the entire male staff, after welcoming the audience and greeting me, slipped out the side doors. Friends of mine, finer speakers than me, have endured the indignity of rows of men demonstrating their disapproval by pointedly exiting as they spoke. Women editors often support me when I speak at publishing conventions, but the male executives of publishing enterprises rarely show, even when I’m sponsored by their houses. When I’m a plenary speaker at a major convention, other speakers (almost always all men) are too busy, schedule committee meetings, or catch late suppers. Sometimes I receive apologetic excuses, but most of the time significant men are conspicuous by their absence.

“How does this all make you feel?” asked a friend who is a clinical counselor. For years, I didn’t think anything about male support (or its lack), but after a while there began to be a cumulative negative impact. “Well,” I replied to my counselor friend, “it makes me feel as though I am not considered a ministering peer, that I am not important enough to give thirty or forty minutes to hear. It makes me feel as though I am not worthy of professional courtesy.”

I have been mute about the discourtesy, accepted it as my lot as a woman, been careful not to speak in situations where the spiritual leadership is uncomfortable with extending an invitation to a woman. (“What does your pastor think about my speaking?” I inquire. “Your church governing board?”) I have attempted not to become indignant.

The next day, another phone call from my rector—an additional thought. Then in the afternoon, a formal handwritten note of commendation arrives in the mail. These affirmations thrust me again into painful emotion. My soul is sliced open by kindness, and I cannot staunch the weeping.

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Lonely No More, Karen Burton Mains, Word, pages 82-83.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(162D)

Daring to Dream Again: Confront the... - Part 14

Monday, April 30, 2012 by David Mains

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 14

READINGS - Part 3

I am a graduate of four distinctly conservative institutions Bob Jones University, Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, and Concordia Theological Seminary. I am also a professor of theology at Wheaton College and Graduate School, an evangelical institution known for its conservative point of view.

As you might expect, I have been decidedly influenced by my experiences at these various institutions and the church groups they represent. And, as the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer would say, I carry around within me these influences as well as influences from home and from life in general. Gadamer calls these experiences “prejudices.” I have, you might say, a conditioning within me that I cannot completely overcome; I hold prejudices from such diverse sources as fundamentalism, Calvinism, Lutheranism, and evangelicalism. These points of view influence the way I think about the Christian faith and the way I worship.

All of us—and our churches—have dispositions of this sort. It’s not that we are intentionally prejudiced. Instead, the environments in which we were raised and in which we have worshiped build within us convictions that we may not even be able to identify.

For example, the nonliturgical background of my early years naturally made me skeptical about both the liturgical and charismatic traditions of worship. I was suspicious of anyone who did not believe or practice the Christian faith as I did. And I was dead certain that I was right and they were wrong.

These prejudices became ingrained during my years at home and my formative years in college. I can point to an incident when I was twelve years old that surely built prejudice within me. The story goes like this: A Reformed couple came to our Baptist parsonage to visit with my parents. As they were deeply engaged in conversation about some religious matter—the favorite topic in my home—the male visitor lighted a cigarette right there in our living room. I was shocked. How could someone talk about religion and smoke at the same time?

As soon as our guests left, I quickly made my way to my mother’s side. “Mother, I thought those people were Christians. How can somebody smoke and be a Christian?” My mother’s answer was classic: “Well, Robert, they are Reformed. And Reformed people, though they are Christian, have funny ideas and do worldly things. But we are Baptists, the best of the Christian groups. We don’t have funny ideas and aren’t worldly.” Right then and there, in that young and impressionable mind, a prejudice was set in place.

I had similar experiences in college. I can, for example, distinctly remember the founder of the college cupping his hands over his mouth in chapel and crying, “Do you want to know where a man stands with God?” Obviously anyone who is spiritually sensitive wants to know how to determine a person’s standing with God. I leaned forward, anxiously awaiting his answer. “You only have to ask that person one question,” he continued. Then, after a moment's pause, came the confident, dogmatic assertion, “Ask him, ‘What do you think of this university?’”

Now I was aware of how people felt about that university. Some thought the school was reactionary, racist,, legalistic, dogmatic, and arrogant. “What about those .people?” I thought. “Is God angry with them? Have they really fallen away from the truth?” As I recalled other assertions I’d heard proclaimed at the college, I found myself asking, “Is everybody in .the World Council of Churches an apostate renegade seeking to destroy the true church? Are all liturgical people really ritualists, servants of a dead orthodoxy given to vain repetition? Is the charismatic movement really of the devil?” With all of these questions, I was dealing with prejudices that had long ago been planted in my mind like seeds placed in the rich, dark soil of a spring garden.

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Signs of Wonder, Robert Webber, Abbott Martyn, pages 6-7.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(162C)

Daring to Dream Again: Confront the... - Part 13

Friday, April 27, 2012 by David Mains

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 13

READINGS - Part 2

The bottom line is that the church is still the most segregated community in America. We have not found each other, except on the annual rent-a-choir day. So a moratorium on church growth for the purpose of majoring in reconciliation might not be such a bad idea. The witness it would show to a confused society grappling for ways to mend broken fences could just result in the greatest growth the church has witnessed in quite a while.

The impression I get from my colleagues in psychology, pastoral care, and counseling is that reconciliation is hard work. It requires confrontation, getting beyond mere words to true feelings and attitudes, many of which we may not even be aware. Of course, this presumes we must be in the same room together. Beyond that, it requires setting up listening posts where we can speak with one another about the things that have kept us apart. The church ought to be such a listening post. This must become the preoccupation of the church's leadership. Unless it does, the church will be mute before the ravages of on-going racial and ethnic animosity.

I believe that the future of human relations in our cities is ultimately in the hands of churches. It is here where politicians, cops, citizen-victims of police brutality, .business leaders, moms and pops from those small stores-all sorts of people- could meet to talk, perchance to pray. Some fine ministry work is already being done among urban gangs, but gang members are regarded as the scum of the earth by too many people in too many churches. We need to view these wandering youths as “sheep ... scattered ... without a shepherd.” (Who will mediate between these gang members and the local police precinct?, Probably not the police chaplain—he is too much of a cop himself or he wouldn't be accepted by the establishment. The answer might emerge if community-based policing becomes fully operative. Then cops might get names, and gang members’ faces. But until that happens, and even after it does, the church has an important role to play.

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The Coming Race Wars? William Pannell, Zondervan, pages 138-39.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(162B)

Daring to Dream Again: Confront the... - Part 12

Thursday, April 26, 2012 by David Mains

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 12

READINGS - Part 1

Director Spike Lee's movie Malcolm X hit the theaters in 1992, spawning a revival of the Black Muslim leader’s controversial and powerful rhetoric of the sixties (not to mention X hats and tee shirts sprouting from coast to coast). In one scene in the movie, a white coed approaches Malcolm X as he arrives on the campus of Harvard University to give a speech. She assures him that even though she’s white, she’s sympathetic to his cause.

“What can someone like me do to help?” she asks earnestly.

“Nothing,” he answers coldly.

Part of Malcolm X’s great appeal to the black community was that he stood up for black self-determination. He challenged blacks to stay in school, get off drugs, get off welfare, get a job, and take responsibility for their families. But unlike Martin Luther King, Jr., who walked hand in hand with whites as he challenged the American conscience, Malcolm's message-at that time-was: “We don’t need whites to make it.” Many blacks still believe that. They desire independence and disdain whites as controllers.

In the realm of Christian fellowship and effective growth in the church, many still believe blacks and whites can go their independent ways and remain effective. In the mid-’80s, C. Peter Wagner of the Church Growth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, published two books discussing the factors that characterize growing churches. One of the more controversial principles growing out of the Institute’s research is the homogeneous factor-that is, people feel most comfortable with people like themselves; therefore, churches must take this human tendency into account if they wish to draw in new members.

Wagner is partially correct; the human tendency is to seek those like ourselves. “Birds of a feather do flock together,” and when it comes to church, Christians generally sort themselves out by race, class, and culture. It's not only black and white, either. Most Georgia farmers would feel quite out of place in a highbrow Episcopal service; Cambodian refugees are forming their own congregations under the umbrella of a sponsoring American church; Spanish-speaking and Korean congregations feel the need to preserve their distinctiveness.

Do we need each other? Those who believe in “homogeneous churches” and “niche marketing” or Afro-centrism and self-determination don’t necessarily think so. Other than trying to avoid race riots, why should we go through all the grief necessary to achieve racial reconciliation? Why fight human nature? Why not just let “them” have their church, and “we” will have our church?

The real question, however, is do we solidify the human tendency to flock together with our own kind into a “principle” for the body of Christ? Do we accept a “separate but equal” mind-set for Christian fellowship and relationship?

Our answer is no. We cannot get along without each other if the body of Christ is to be salt and light to a world tom apart by racial strife. The principle of interdependence recognizes our differences but realizes that we each bring something to the table that the other person needs, resulting in equality (key verses: 2 Corinthians 8:12-14). Interdependence demonstrates the transforming nature of the gospel and declares that we do need each other if we are to live out the ministry of reconciliation. (Where would the gospel be today if Christ’s disciples throughout the centuries had not accepted His challenge to be ambassadors of reconciliation across racial and cultural barriers?)

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Breaking Down Walls, Raleigh Washington and Glen Kehrein, Moody, pages 169-71.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(162A)

What we’re looking for is...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by David Mains

I feel for members of search committees who go to hear a possible candidate for their pulpit preach. Seldom are they briefed as to what they should be looking for.

Here are the key questions I would try to get the committee members to discuss after listening to someone.

#1: What would you say was the subject of this person’s sermon? That’s not the same as asking what was the chosen text, the sermon title, or outline. Instead, does everyone agree as to what his/her basic subject was?

If committee members, who supposedly were listening quite carefully, have widely differing opinions, I would question the wisdom of extending a call to such an individual to candidate. However, if there’s rapid agreement, that’s a great plus and you can move on to question two.

#2: What specifically was asked for in the sermon by way of response? I’m assuming that a good sermon will make very plain how hearers should respond.

If the committee is confused regarding the sermon subject or the response, they would be wise to start looking for another candidate. Why? Because you’re not dealing with a leader who can express clearly what is being preached, and the resultant expectation is regarding behavior. And believe me, this lack of clarity will show itself time and again and in countless ways.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(#162)

Daring to Dream Again: Confront the... - Part 11

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 by David Mains

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 11

FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION

1. Are there prejudices in the North American church that still grieve the heart of God? If so, what are they?

2. Sincere Christians sometimes reinforce their prejudices by appealing to Scripture. How is this possible?

3. In an effort to overcome prejudice and show love and understanding, Christians can sometimes compromise what Scripture teaches. Give an example of how this might happen.

4. Who are people or groups you have prejudged or were prejudiced toward in the past?

5. Has the Holy Spirit been revealing any new prejudices you need to correct? What has God been showing you?

6. When it comes to tearing down walls of prejudice, is the church in North America ahead of or behind the secular culture? Why?

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

(161D)

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