Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Journal,

Suppose its catching up time.

To begin with we’ve added some more grey(ing) heads to the Christian Challenge Board of Directors. This brings our board to seven members. The picture to the right is not a true depiction of our newer members. Just having a bit of fun. 

All humor to the side, our new members are all faithful and well-respected men of Christian Challenge. Here is a brief introduction:

(1) Gary Fisher - Gary Fisher and his wife Nora have been active members of Christian Challenge since the mid 1980’s. Gary is a long time volunteer in our sound and recording booth. He is Commander of our AWANA program. 

(2) David Stellwagon - David and Kathy are also long-standing members of Christian Challenge. They were our missionaries to Japan for nearly 12 years. Both are active workers in the ministry. David is a CCI Ordained Minister.

(3) Lane Fletcher - Lane is a CCI Licensed Minister and Assistant Director for our School for Christian Workers. He works directly with Brother Buddy in overseeing the School and in extending the School to other areas. He regularly teaches the Disciple’s Heart class.  

(4) Alan Stroud - Alan is one of our earliest disciples. He served as a right hand man to Brother Buddy for many years. Alan launched out from Christian Challenge to pastor a Congregational Methodist Church. He is now in San Antonio, Texas, helping to raise up a mission work there.

As for the grey hair, it is true that they all have some of that but they aren’t really that ancient; 40ish to 6oish. Actually Nathan is the youngest member of the board. He is knocking on 43.

OK - Its time for our 39th School for Christian Workers…

Classes begin the weekend of February 10, 2008.

Here are the classes offered:

(1) The Disciple’s Heart Training Program© -

The Disciple’s Heart Training Program is the graduate course of the CCI School for Christian Workers. This course is designed to open up the world of the disciple for believers.

If you desire a study program that is deeply spiritual but also has an emphasis on  personal evangelism this is the class to enroll in. - Instructor Lane Fletcher

(2) The Bible Survey - Old Testament -

This course provides the student with a better understanding of the Scriptures by bringing history, places, peoples, and festivals in the Old Testament together in a way that the students can see God’s plan of redemption working through the ages.

The Bible Survey will make Bible study more meaningful. You soon find that every verse of Scripture and every book fills a proper slot in God’s program. - Instructor Nathan Martin

(3) The Shepherd’s Heart Minister’s Training Program©

The emphasis of the Shepherd’s Heart Minister’s Training Program is upon the preaching and teaching ministry. It will prove beneficial to any believer who desires training in teaching skills and in Bible interpretation.

This course covers the gospel ministry from sermon preparation to Bible interpretation. It includes lessons such as Pulpit Wisdom, Lessons In Life and Holiness. The student learns forms of speaking including extemporaneous. Those seeking leadership skills would be advised to take this course. Instructor Buddy Martin

(4) Conversational Spanish

The focus of the Conversational Spanish class is to give the student a working knowledge of spoken Spanish. This class is a perfect introduction to the world of Spanish and is great for those planning short-term missions trips. Emphasis is placed on phrases dealing with day-to-day issues and building a vocabulary of useable words. - Spanish I: Jonathan Martinez. Instructor-Spanish II: Nathan Martin

OK, lets take time for a devotional. So what’s this about…

Hearts being knit together in love…

In this devotional study we want to consider two interrelated ideas. One has to do with the knitting of souls and hearts together. The other has to do with the weaving work of the Lord, in how the Lord arranges events in our lives to keep us on the course He has designed for us. These two ideas flow together.

Theologians often refer to Christ as God’s other self, and to the Holy Spirit as Christ’s other self. Such a mystery. In this we can call attention to the prayer of Jesus;

“That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may know that You sent Me.” (John 17:21)

Isn’t this interesting. The world will know about Jesus when the hearts of believers are seen to be knitted with love. (I’m using the word ‘knit’ freely.)

Of course the Lord is speaking of an other-worldly love. The love that Jesus calls attention to is a love given to us by the Holy Spirit. It is a love that belongs to the new creation people of God. Paul said, “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Rom5:5)

Addressing the Colossian believers, Paul calls attention to how a church is given oneness in the Spirit. He says,

“That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love,  and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding…” (Col2:2.)

Can it be that God actually knits believers as a church unit, that is, as a flocking of believers? I believe this is exactly the case. The Lord joins hearts to hearts. Of course this knitting can only come from God Himself.

Perhaps it even goes beyond the knitting of a particular flock. I meet with a group of ministers each Wednesday morning. We are all from varied church backgrounds, including Methodist, Assembly of God, Baptist, Nondenominational, Wesleyan, Nazarene, and so forth. Yet there is this ‘knitting’ of brotherly love that has lasted for a great many years. Is God in this? Yes — God can do what we cannot do.

Let’s continue on.

It has been my experience as a long-time pastor, that when the Lord places a believer into a particular body of believers, the knitting of hearts becomes part of this placement. There are other Scriptures that allude to this knitting being a work of Christ Himself. Consider these:

“…upon this Rock [the revealing of Christ and the person of Christ] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Mt16:18 - Christ is the builder of the church, not man.)

“…and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” (Act16:14 - Only the Lord can open hearts in this sense.)

“But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.”(1Co12:18. While this may speak of giftings, can it not also apply to God placing us where we need to be?)

“… not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge.” (1Pe5:3)

“… when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many has had been appointed to eternal life believed.”   (Act13:48)

All these are partial quotes. But each says something about how it is God Himself who brings lives together for His kingdom purposes.

Now let’s move on and include the idea of God weaving circumstances and situations and peoples and events together at various points in our lives in order to accomplish His purpose for us. (Quite a long sentence, but the point is made.)

First we need to understand that the Lord is always at work in our lives, even when we are not conscious of it. He said that He would be with us always. But was He at work in our lives before we came to know Him personally? There are Scriptures that indicate such. Consider the following:

“Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” (Ps139:16 - A good Psalm to read in its entirety.)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer1:5 - Jeremiah still speaks as a prophet to the nations through his book.)

“But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…” (Gal1:15,16)

Stop and think about it — Paul was set apart from his mother’s womb to be a preacher of the gospel. How about all those years before he came to know Jesus personally. Was the Lord in the background of his life during those years? This had to be the case if Paul was set apart from his mother’s womb. 

One might say, ‘Well this only applied to certain great men, that is, men like David, Jeremiah, and Paul, and other selected great men.’ But is that truly the case? Consider this Scripture:

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” “ (Eph1:4,5)

Now this brings us to another question. Is God involved in every detail of our life? No, not in the sense that He causes us to sin. Yet the Lord is always present in the scenes of our life to continue His work for His purpose. Did not the apostle say,

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Cf. Rom8:28-31)

Paul did not say that God is the cause of all things. That would make Him the author of our sins, of our misdeeds, of our failures, of even the evil motives of our hearts. What Paul said was that God causes the whole of our lives to work together according to His purpose. (This is where the free-will of man and the oversight of God can be seen together.)

And it all took place at the cross. Yes, the cross was God’s plan from all eternity. Listen:

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13,14)

And again:

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

‘For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Pet 1:18-21)

Yes, God has a purpose for each and every one of His children. It says,

“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers…” (Ac13:26)

And with regard to all believers, it says,

“We have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” (Eph1:11)

And again,

“[God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” (2Ti1:9)

Look back on your life. Can you see the rock from which you were hewn?

When the Lord told Israel to look to Abraham, that is, the rock from which they were hewn, He was telling them to look at Abraham’s life, and how the Lord worked in his life. Was not the Lord in every step that Abraham made? Was He not in the background even in Abraham’s failings? Yes, and Abraham serves as the prototype of the believer’s walk.

I can look back over my almost 68 years, by way to my childhood, and say, ‘Yes, God was there then.’ And, ‘Yes, He has woven my life to bring me to where I am.’ And, ‘Yes, even in my stumblings in life, the weaver was there.’

How can I say that? Did not David say,

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” (Ps37:23,24)

May I make a suggestion that you take time to read the whole of Psalm 37. David wrote this as an old man. Read it and then read it again, and again, until its message sinks into the deep of your understanding.

So, what about peoples and events? Yes, the Lord brings people into our lives according to His plan. Yes, there are circumstances that are arranged by God for our lives, by which we will find ourselves moving further along the journey of His will.

How about right now — How can I know that the Lord is knitting my life together? I am glad you asked that question. You can know. You are designed to know. But it is not a knowing in your emotions or necessarily in your mind. It is a knowing of the Spirit and in your spirit.

My point is that we can know the working of God in our own lives, if we will stop long enough to pay attention. The apostle said,

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Phil2:13)

And again it says,

“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb13:20,21)

There is much more to be said about the knitting and the weaving of the Lord. I’ll leave off for now. Please feel free to share your thoughts, your experiences, and your questions. This is an excellent devotional study to cause a further understanding of the life we are called to live. 

Much love coming your way,

Buddy