You in Review

At First Free, we are in the process of our end of year reviews. Our fiscal calendar ends on Aug. 31, so I'm in the process of reviewing my direct reports and just went through my own review recently. Such times can be very helpful. If done honestly, a review can be a great encouragement for a job well-done as well as a time to reflect on areas that need improvement. When carried out correctly, a job review can be a great aid to increased excellence for an employee.
As I have reflected on the process at my job, the thought hit me that it could be helpful to have a tool to evaluate myself spiritually from time to time. The following is a tool I found helpful. It's borrowed and modified from the Ignite Worship blog.

FELLOWSHIP: CONNECTING Your Heart to Others'
•Grab a piece of paper and Rate 1 to 5 (1 being poor, 5 being outstanding)
1.I meet consistently with a smaller group of Christians.
2.I'm connected to other Christians who hold me accountable.
3.I can talk with spiritual mentors when I need help, advice, or support.
4.My Christian friends are a significant source of strength and stabilitiy in my life.
5.I regularly pray for others.
6.I have resolved all conflicts I have had with others.
7.I've done all I possibly can to be a good member of my family.

Take time to answer the following questions to further evaluate your spiritual health.
8. List the three most significant relationships you have right now. Why are these people important to you?
9. How would you describe the benefit you receive from being in fellowship with other Christians?
10. Do you have an accountability partner? If so, what have you been doing to hold each other accountable? If not, how can you get one?

DISCIPLESHIP: GROWING to Be Like Jesus
Rate 1 to 5 (1 being poor, 5 being outstanding)
1.I have regular times of conversation with God.
2.I'm closer to God this year than I was last year at this time.
3.I'm making better decisions this month when compared to last month.
4.I regularly attend church services and grow spiritually as a result.
5.I consistently honor God with my finances through giving.
6.I regularly study the Bible on my own.
7.I regularly memorize Bible verses or passages.

Take time to answer the following questions to further evaluate your spiritual health.
8. What books or chapters from the Bible have you read during the last month?
9. What has God been teaching you from Scripture lately?
10. What was the last verse you memorized? When did you memorize it? Describe the last time a memorized Bible verse helped you?

MINISTRY: SERVING Others in Love
1.I am currently serving in some ministry capacity.
2.I'm effectively ministering where I'm serving.
3.Generally I have a humble attitude when I serve others.
4.I understand God has created me a s a unique individual and he has a special plan for my life.
5.When I help others, I typically don't look for anything in return.
6.My family and friends consider me to be generally unselfish.
7.I'm usually sensitive to the hurts of others and respond in a caring way.

Take time to answer the following questions to further evaluate your spiritual health.
8. If you're currently serving in a ministry, why are you serving? If not, what's kept you from getting involved?
9. What spiritual lessons have you learned while serving?
10. What frustrations have you experienced as a result of serving?

EVANGELISM: SHARING Your Story and God's Story
Rate 1 to 5 (1 being poor, 5 being outstanding)

1.I regularly pray for my unbelieving friends.
2.I invite friends to church.
3.I talk about my faith with others.
4.I pray for opportunities to share about what Jesus has done in my life.
5.People know I'm a Christian by more than my words.
6.I feel a strong compassion for the lost.
7.I have written out my testimony (God-story) and am ready to share it.

Take time to answer the following questions to further evaluate your spiritual health.
8. Describe any significant spiritual conversations you've had with unbelievers in the past month.
9. Has your faith been challenged by any non-Christians? If yes, how?
10. What have been some difficulties you've faced with sharing you faith?
11. What success have you experienced recently in personal evangelism? (Success isn't limited to bringing people to salvation directly. Helping someone take a step closer at any point on his or her spiritual journey is success.)

WORSHIP: SURRENDERING Your Life to Honor God
Rate 1 to 5 (1 being poor, 5 being outstanding)
1.I consistently participate in worship experiences at church.
2.My heart breaks over the things that break God's heart.
3.I regularly give thanks to God.
4.I'm living a life that, overall, honors God.
5.I have an attitude of wonder and awe toward God.
6.I use the free access I have into God's presence often.

Take time to answer the following questions to further evaluate your spiritual health.
7. Make a list of your top five priorities. You can get a good idea of your priorities by evaluating how you spend your time. Be realistic and honest . Are your priorities in the right order? Do you need to get rid of some or add new priorities?
8. List ten things you're thankful for.
9. What influences, directs, guides, or controls you the most?

Harmonica in Carnegie

This has nothing to do with anything serious, but I liked it. It's not often that you hear of a harmonica concert in Carnegie Hall. While this music style is a little dated, I was blessed by it. I have a vivid memory of my father taking us to a Gaither concert in Lake Charles LA when I was a boy. This brought back some of that good time. Enjoy!

http://www.wimp.com/harmonicacarnegie/

Gay Marriage

To be honest, I hate addressing this issue. Judi and I have family members that we dearly love who are gay. We also have dear friends who are wonderful, loving, precious people . . .who are also gay. Years ago, several gay couples started attending my church. They sat in the front and faithfully attended every service, taking notes and learning the Word. But one year, I preached a series entitled "Things We Don't Talk About." The idea was to hit head-on topics churches typically avoid because of the fear of people. The titles included politics, other religions, and, you guessed it, homosexuality. A speaker and friend of mine who is an expert in the field of homosexuality asked if he could preach that week. Since he had done much ministry among homosexuals, I agreed. But his sermon was not well received. The gay couples were outraged by the message. This prompted me to invite them all over to our home. My wife, mother, and children served these friends homemade gumbo and we enjoyed a great meal together. We later retired to the living room and discussed their feelings. The evening was loving, civil, and very helpful to us all. They shared with me their stories and the pain they had received at the hands of Evangelicals. I was deeply grieved, to the point of tears. And I shared with them my firm belief that the Bible is a gift from God that teaches us how to live an optimal life. The restriction of sex within the covenant of biblical marriage between a man and a woman is not designed to hurt us but to bless us. And I affirmed that I will teach this principle to both gays and straights out of my belief that it leads to the best life. In addition, I shared my conviction to live up to to the vows I'd taken as a Minister of the Gospel. I simply will not break my vows to the Bible for political correctness. But, I also affirmed that I loved them all and considered it an honor to be their Pastor. And, because they knew me and had sat under my ministry for some time, they believed me. They knew that I really loved them. All but one stayed at our church and continued to enjoy it immensely.
So, before I give my thoughts on gay marriage, let's get something straight. I'm not a bigot and I don't hate homosexuals. I'm also not an isolationist who has refused to befriend gay people. My guess is that I have more homosexual friends and have done more ministry to homosexuals than the average person. These opinions are not forged from a fear of gays or a desire to assault freedom. On the contrary, my views come from a deep conviction that following the Bible helps everyone, gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal.
Now, on to a quick statement of why I'm against gay marriage.
1. Gay marriage is not biblical. The Bible does not recognize the concept. Marriage is always between a man and a woman in the Bible. Since I have vowed to uphold the Bible in all of its teachings and believe it outlines God's principles for life, I will never perform or endorse a gay marriage. God has spoken and I will revere His Word.
2. Sex outside of the marriage covenant is not ideal. Since the Bible defines marriage as between a man and woman, and gives married couples the gift of sex exclusively, I also affirm that the purest form of sex is reserved for marriage. If a man or woman is engaged in sex outside of this covenant, it is not blessed of God and is not, therefore, ideal. I, therefore, do not encourage sex outside of marriage for anyone, regardless of sexual orientation.
3. The marriage covenant is crucial for children. Since marriage is the foundation of the family and society, there are repercussions for what we as a society endorse. For example, it is an established fact that children do better when they have both a father and a mother. This is beyond dispute from both a scientific and, more importantly, a biblical standpoint. Therefore, to endorse same sex marriage in any way as an ideal will undoubtedly promote family units where either a father or a mother is absent in the lives of children. Some will say, "well, isn't it better to have two loving mothers or two loving fathers than to have a traditional family that's dysfunctional?" But such an argument is irrelevant to the point. The ideals we endorse become our realities. The existence of poor traditional families does not mean that a healthy traditional family is impossible or should not be emphasized as THE goal.
4. To not promote THE ideal is to lower the bar and, therefore, hurt society. Since President Obama and other prominent leaders have now promoted redefining marriage to include gay couples (even celebrating this as an alternative ideal), he has added to the demise of the actual ideal scenario for children and, therefore, contributed to a further weakening of our society. As much as I admire about our President, I believe he made a terrible mistake in his recent "evolution."

Two final points: 1. The gay couples of our church mentioned above agreed with me on much of this. They did not support gay marriage. Many gays do not agree with this agenda. 2. Many in the black community are offended by the argument that marriage is a civil rights issue. Marriage is a gift, not a right. If a man asks a woman to marry him and she says no, he does not have a right to marry her. If a six year old asks a thirty year old to marry him, he does not have a right to that marriage. Marriage is a blessing not a right. The following debate between two African American pastors on this issue may be of interest. While I didn't like some of its volatility, I found it to be a fascinating discussion.

http://www.dennyburk.com/dwight-mckissic-debates-gay-marriage-on-the-laura-ingraham-show/

Is Jesus Misquoted?

A very popular book today about the Bible is Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus. I saw it recently prominently displayed at Barnes and Noble. Dr. Ehrman is a former Evangelical who claims the Bible that we have today is significantly not the original Bible of the Apostles. After studying his arguments, from my perspective, his greatest point is that there are variant readings in the manuscripts behind our translations that suggest some doctoring has happened. Here's the problem: even he suggests that the cardinal truths of our faith are not affected by these variants (most of them are spelling errors and the like). Another issue that is worth mentioning is that our current New Testament has more corroborating manuscript evidence than any other form of ancient Greco Roman literature by far. In other words, we have more evidence supporting our New Testament's reliability than any scholar on the planet has for the writings of Plato, Homer, or the Caesars.The following link is a 10 minute discussion of Ehrman's claims given by Dr. Dan Wallace (my former Greek Prof.-Go Dallas Seminary!) and Dr. Darrell Bock. It is moderated by John Ankerberg. I found it fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftHecLxquCg&feature=related

NIV 2011

After all the hoopla that's going around over the NIV 2011, I thought I'd comment. This week, I've reviewed scholar after scholar regarding their views on the latest NIV. Several quick conclusions. I believe the NIV is still very solid as a translation and I'm in very good company. Dr. D.A. Carson, Dr. John MacArther, and other very prominant Bible teachers endorse it. I've also had the honor of sitting at the feet of one of its translators, Dr. Douglas Moo, at Trinity and one day in class, he walked us through a typical day of translation for this version. I was extremely impressed with his mastery of the language and the seriousness with which he approached the Text. But what put me over the top in my endorsement of this work was the scholarly review of Dr. Daniel Wallace, Bible translator extraordinaire and arguably America's greatest living Greek scholar. I refer you to his brilliant four-part piece at the following link. http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/07/a-review-of-the-niv-2011-part-1-of-4/.

Finally, an appeal to civility. For some reason, in the church, we like to snipe at each other. I continue to be amazed at the almost instinctive reactionary tendencies of some church folk to assume the worst of other brothers and sisters in Christ. So many live in constant fear, hyper-suspicious of any change. Whether it's a change in their church's color of carpet or an update in the language of their favorite translation, church people are quick to throw precious children of God under the bus, run over them, and back up to do it again. This is not what God had in mind when He said, "4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Cor. 13:4-7 (NIV 2011-Oh yes I did quote from it!). The world and Satan himself laughs at such nonsense. Let's be better than this! Remember, God is love and He expects us to be loving even when we don't agree. 

Bible Translations

I often get asked which translation is the best. The question is more complicated than it appears because different translations are attempting different goals. The following chart created by C. Michael Patton is very helpful when evaluating translations.

A Friend's Tough Decision

The following is an answer to a question from an old friend who just discovered he has a tumor in his ear. He has three choices: 1. Wait and eventually lose hearing. 2. Operate and immediately lose hearing with a very long recovery. 3. Radiate and lose hearing, and possibly cause more cancer. He asked for my opinion. The following is what I wrote him. If you have a difficult decision to make, perhaps this will help.

______, so sorry you and your family are going through this. When I have to make difficult decisions, I follow a grid to guide me composed of five filters: 1. Biblical. What does the Bible give me in terms of direction? Scripture tells us in Romans 12:1-2, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." The text links worshipful devotion to clarity. If I were you, I'd go away for a period of time alone with God and meditate on Scripture in a spirit of prayer. Ask Him what He wants you to do with the situation and how He wants to redeem it. There is a testimony that He is forming through this. Give every part of your heart to Him in this time. Ask Him to reveal anything you may be holding back from Him. There may be nothing, but the process will help you to discern His perfect will more clearly. This discipline has always helped me with huge decisions. 2. Prayer. Obviously, prayer is important. But prayer isn't just one-way communication. God often prompts us in times of prayer. I suggest fasting for a period of time in order to "fasten" yourself to Him more than usual. Fasting has a long history of helping to discern God's will (see Acts 14:23). 3. Counsel. Seek wise counsel from godly people (which is what you are doing in this blog). I listen intently to my wife and to a number of mature mentors in my life when it comes to big decisions. I tell them everything and ask for their honest opinions. God will often confirm His direction through His people (see Prov. 1:5). I've used the question, "If you were in my situation, what would you do?" (which, again, you do in this blog). Very helpful, especially if you get the same answer over and over again from different sources. 4. Circumstances. Sometimes, God tells you His will through open or closed doors. For example, if a treatment that has a highter rate of success statistically opens up to you, that may be God opening a door. If a world renowned specialist suddenly becomes available to treat you, God may be talking. While I don't recommend this very often, with time sensitive issues, there is biblical warrant to assign a date for an obvious "open or closed door." That is to say, you could say to God, after much prayer and devotion, "Lord, I have until this date to make a decision. If I don't hear something to the contrary from You that is so obvious I can't ignore it, I'm going to go with this decision." Gideon did something similar and God blessed him for it (see Gideon's fleece, Judges 6). 5. Passion. Sometimes, the Lord through His Spirit gives us a strong, impossible-to-ignore passion for a certain direction. This prompt can be pleasant and joyful or painful and difficult. Jeremiah didn't want to preach, but his burning heart compelled him to do so (Jer. 20). Paul, however, passionately enjoyed preaching the gospel (1 Cor.9:15-23). Passion towards a certain course may be the Lord's prompting. 6. This is not one of the decision filters, but I think it's very important. Have the elders of your church pray over you and anoint you with oil. I've seen God miraculously heal in this way in my ministry at churches I've pastored (James 5:13-16). Let me close with my opinion of your situation. I'm not claiming this is from God, but it's how your decision hits me initially. If it helps you, great. If not, discard it. If I were in your position, I'd wait a little while to deeply seek God through the above steps. I'd also get a second opinion just to be comprehensive. But, I'd set a date to make a decision. Once that date arrived, barring any new information, I think I'd go with the radiation. From what I understand, it would kill the tumor and possibly shrink it. If that doesn't work, you can always do surgery later. Surgery seems like a radical last step to me. I hope this helps brother. Know that you are in my prayers. Grace, Rusty Hayes