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Faithful Pray-er

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by Steve Kearns

In June of 2009, 95 year old Emma Gray died. For over two decades, she had been the cleaning lady in a big house. Each night as she did her work, she prayed for blessings, wisdom, and safety for the man she worked for.

Although Emma worked in the same place for 24 years, the occupants changed every four years or so. Over the years, Emma offered her prayers for six US Presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter.

Emma had her personal favorites, but she prayed for them all. She followed the instruction we read in 1 Timothy 2 to pray for “all who are in authority” (v.2).

When I read this in the Daily Bread last month I was convicted of the fact that I was not praying for our President as I should be. It was easy for me to get and forward jokes, slams on his character, questions about his citizenship, and a ton of other e-mails of how bad a job he is doing. Was God pleased with my attitude towards Mr. Obama? No, I don’t believe He was! God’s word does not say we are to pray for our leaders only if we agree with their politics. It simply says we are to pray for “all who are in authority.”

As we just celebrated our independence I have to wonder what would have happened to this country years ago had God’s people not been involved in its founding? Is it not our responsibility to continue to pray for our leaders and God’s will for our Country?

Because God “hears the prayers of the righteous” (Proverbs 15:29), who knows how He used Emma’s faithful prayers? In Proverbs 21:1, we read “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

Like Emma, we are to pray for our leaders. Is there someone God is calling you to pray for today?

No leader is beyond God’s grace

When righteous people pray;

For when God’s children intercede,

The Lord will have His way.

To influence leaders for God, intercede with God for leaders.

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Does God respect us?

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By Larry Short

If you would have asked me that question a year ago, I think I would have had a much different reaction. “Respect us?” I would have asked, perhaps scratching my chin thoughtfully. “Wow, I don’t know. I guess He respects our right to make decisions for ourselves. But how could He REALLY respect us? After all, He is God, and we are not. We are utterly depraved, He is utterly holy. What’s to respect?”

I might have even secretly wondered if the question itself was a bit blasphemous!

But two things I have studied in the Word recently have caused me to drastically change my perspective on this question. And the implications of what I have learned have both frightened me and given me a new and profound respect for our Creator. I hope I can share these impacts with you here.

Job, God, and Satan

Several months ago, the Young Adults Ministry finished up a very interesting study in Job. I confessed to them that there was something about this story that had always bothered me … and that is the apparently unfettered access Satan has to the throne of God.

And more than that, the apparent respect with which God treats Satan in the story! In Job 1 He asks Satan two questions as if He really cares about the answer (and, by extension, cares about, respects, perhaps even loves Satan himself): “Where have you come from?” and “Have you considered My servant Job?” He listens patiently to Satan’s answers, then tells him: “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” He speaks with authority … and respect. To the devil!

This has always troubled me deeply. God abhors evil, right? And no single created being more fully represents evil than Satan himself. If I were God and saw Satan hanging with the angels in Heaven, I think I would throw a major thunderbolt and watch him plunge in smoking flames! I certainly wouldn’t ask respectful questions, listen patiently for the answer, and then give him (nearly) free reign to torment the man Scripture says was the most righteous person on the planet at the time! What on earth (and in heaven) is going on here, anyway?

Jesus and Judas

Recently I was reading the New Testament and was struck by this verse, right between the eyes. I realized quickly how similar the situation (or, at least my reaction to it) was to the God and Satan story in Job 1. This is from John 6, shortly after Jesus has given a difficult teaching about being the Bread of Life. Verse 66 says that “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” as a result, and He asked the 12, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” But Jesus replies, in verse 70: “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” And John offers this footnote: He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.

And that’s when it hit me: Long before Judas actually betrayed Jesus, Jesus knew he was going to betray Him! How long? I asked myself. And I realized there really only was one answer: For as long as Jesus knew Judas, even before the day He selected this scumbag to be one of the 12, He knew.

If you and I were in Jesus’ shoes, extending the honor of apostleship to 12 individuals who agreed to follow us, and knew that one of them would ultimately stab us in the back … would we do it? Not me, no way! How could I work shoulder to shoulder with that person, day after day, in my most intimate and troubled moments, and look him in the eye, knowing that? I have a hard enough time just tolerating the coworkers in the cubicles around me when they talk too loud on the phone!

The enormity of the chasm between me and God

It was at this very moment that I realized anew the terribly vast gulf that separates me from God. God truly loves even His most vicious enemies. That love is demonstrated in respect. The One who told us, “Love your enemies” treated Judas no differently than He treated all the other disciples, even though He knew of the pain and destruction that would come from Judas’ choices. And God created Satan, knowing full well that he would become the devil. Scripture teaches that Lucifer was the highest of God’s creations. It seems to be in God’s nature to give His creatures, whom He endowed with free choice, a wide latitude to make decisions even if those decisions are bad and harmful.

Why is the need to show such respect for people’s freedom of choice so difficult for me? I think the real reason is that it is much easier for me to hate people than it is for me to hate evil. For God, the very opposite is true. And with that realization, you see how enormous the chasm between me and God truly is.

The implications of profound respect

So, does God respect me? Absolutely He does, more than I ever realized before or probably ever could realize. I am His precious creation, just as Judas was. His love for me is infinite, and this infinite love manifests itself in respect.

So, what is the practical implication of this respect? When you truly respect someone, you give them complete freedom to live in accordance with their own choices. They are an independent entity. They can choose to accept you, to love you in return, or they can choose to reject you. You certainly don’t “weight” things by coercing or forcing them to do one or the other.

I’ve heard it said that God is ultimately pro-choice, and I realize now what that means. He respects our freedom to choose to such a great extent that He will even allow us to make life miserable for others (as Satan did for Job). In fact, one of the most heinous evils I can think of is a person who would hurt, or even kill, an innocent child (born or unborn). It’s hard not to wonder, Why does God allow that? Why doesn’t He stop the person who commits such terrible atrocities? Why did God create Adolf Hitler or Idi Amin or Osama Bin Laden? I think the answer relates to respect. Each of those has the freedom to choose, and that freedom entails the power to choose to hurt others.

So, ultimately, what will come of this freedom? I think the final story will be very sobering, but also very good news, depending on how you look at it: Ultimately, there is justice! As we choose an evil path, Scripture says we are hardened in that path, and that hardening ultimately results in separation from God. The evildoer will not always have the power to hurt others with his evil. In God’s good timing, in this life or the next, there will be justice. A lake of fire is coming for Satan and his angels. People ask: “How could a loving God create Hell?” The answer is, Hell is the only logical possibility when you couple our freedom to choose evil, with the fact of God’s ultimate love and respect for us and our choices.

That hardening and condemnation is bad news for the person who chooses it. But the one who will choose life, who will choose God, who will choose the good, God will also confirm on that path of choice. We will be softened to God and the journey will lead us away from injustice, away from the pain wrought by evil, toward willful submission and obedience, and ultimately to Heaven. To borrow C.S. Lewis’ terminology, that is the “great divorce” that is coming, the separation of evil from righteousness, Heaven from Hell. History is the process of God using His winnowing fork to work out the balance between absolute love and absolute freedom of choice.

On which side of His winnowing fork will you fall? God’s respect for you means that you alone, in all of Creation, can choose the answer to that question.

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Under The Rug

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by Gordy McCoy

With the construction work with the new carpeting, stage replacement, and the new wall being worked on, it reminded me of one of my favorite Christian musicians, Morgan Cryar. He sang and wrote songs in the early 80s. One of his songs is called “Under The Rug.” I thought it would be a perfect time to share the words to his song.

Lookin’ at the shortcuts
Takin’ the easy way out
Cleanin’ your heart house
You’ve got some sin hangin out
Then comes that knock at the door
A glance at the rug on the floor
There it goes
Under the rug
Under the rug
Hide your heart there
Think nobody knows
Under the rug
Gods gonna start there
Cleaning as He goes
Some guilt in the closet
A couple of pieces of pride
White wash the front door
So no one suspects whats inside
With one clean sweep
These shelves that you keep
Under the rug
Under the rug
Under the rug
Hide your heart there
Think nobody knows
Under the rug
Under the rug
Gods’ gonna start there
Cleaning as He goes

Under the rug and stage at Elim is a lot of dirt, grime, and cobwebs. The question we all need to ask ourselves is, “What are we hiding under the rug or in our heart’s closet?” Take time today to clean out under your rug and in your heart’s closet. Christ can clean any closet or under any rug. He did mine.

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How To Listen To A Sermon

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by Martin Schlomer

How should we listen to a sermon? Do we listen in the same way we listen to a college professor, some late night talk show host, or a motivational speaker?

In the late 1700s pastor and evangelist George Whitefield was used by God to fan the flames of The Great Awakening Revival. One of his sermons was called “How to Listen to a Sermon: Keys to getting the most out of what the preacher says.” As I read what this man had to say, it serves as a great reminder to all of us regarding how we should listen to a sermon so as to get the greatest benefit.

Enjoy!
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Keys to Getting the Most out of What the Preacher Says
By George Whitefield

Jesus said, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.

1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.

2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?

3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over you.

Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).

4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: ‘For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?’ (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).

Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?

5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, ‘Lord, is it I?’ (Matt. 26:22).

Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, ‘This was intended for such and such a one!’ instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, ‘Lord, is it I?’ How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!

6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.

No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: ‘Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel’ (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!

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It’s Going To Be A Busy Summer!

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by Dan Amos

I grew up with church on Sunday mornings and Sunday and Wednesday nights and Sunday School all year round. Even in Germany we had everything except Wednesday nights; we had something called AWANA then. So, when we came to Washington 16 years ago it was a bit of a shock to find pretty much everywhere that things seemed to shut down in the summer, even here at Elim. Appearances can be deceiving!

It’s true we don’t have those regular events that I grew up with, but I never said I actually liked them either. Wednesday nights were excruciating and, truthfully, soured me on corporate prayer. I think it is God’s sense of humor that he took one of the least in prayer to be part of The Gathering where we have a good time worshiping him in prayer. So if you feel like I did, come join us during The Gathering and see if God doesn’t change your mind (and heart), too.

It’s also true that many of our community groups take the summer off and Women’s Bible Study takes a break. Sure, there are lots of youth activities and families do a lot during the summer, but what about our church family? This was brought to me as a need and I took it to the Elder Board. Very shortly the building that Elim calls home is going to get torn up during construction and re-carpeting. We call Sunday morning “church” and we call the building “the church” but really collectively we are the church and church meets whenever we do.

Below you’ll find a list of the group activities when our church has plans to meet this summer. If I added Sunday mornings to it, it would be even longer. I also left out 5-day clubs, youth, and young adults. The women have coffees and Connecting Hearts events. The latter alternate between evening and morning meetings to allow more women to participate in at least some of them. The men even have a couple of events in there, too.

“Family Time” though is something the Elder Board added to get our whole body, the church, together four times during the summer. The idea is to come together, eat together, and play together. Pretty much everyone I know eats on Wednesdays, so instead of eating at home, bring your dinner to the place we call “church” and eat it together with the people we call “family” who are the church at Elim. We’ll have more details in the coming weeks and hopefully by the end of June we’ll have some dry weather.

The calendar is packed and our first Family Time will be while our youth and their leaders are at Challenge in Ohio. We’ll still have a good time, but if you have any ideas for pick-up activities, like volleyball, please let me know.

I know many are looking forward to our summer Sunday morning schedule with just the single service (starts at 9:30). We are excited because our whole family will worship together at the same time. We’ll get to see everybody together and get acquainted but only if you’re there. And if the sun finally shines on Sundays, we will start our mornings worshiping the Son indoors with our church family in the building Elim calls home.

Date – Target Group – Event

6/6 – All – Farewell to Champneys
6/12 – All- Workday
6/12 – Women – Coffee
6/13 – All – Picnic
6/19 – All – Yard Sale
6/19 – All – Gathering
6/30 – All – Family Time
7/7 – Men – Shooting Range
7/10 – Women – Coffee
7/10 – All – Gathering
7/14 6 pm – Women – Connecting Hearts
7/14 – Jr High/Parents – Family Fun Center
7/17 – Sr High/Parents – Hike
7/21 – All – Family Time
7/28 9 am – Women – Connecting Hearts
7/28 – All – Feed the Homeless
8/4 – Men – Batting Cages
8/6-8/8 – All – Family Camp/Gathering
8/9-8/13 – All – Soccer Camp
8/11 6 pm – Women – Connecting Hearts
8/14 – Women – Coffee
8/18 – All – Family Time
8/25 9 am – Women – Connecting Hearts

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The Carpet Conundrum

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by Martin Schlomer

Over my past 16 years at Elim, I have been privileged to be in the homes of many people. One thing I have noticed is everyone has their own sense of decorating style and taste. If you want a modern utilitarian style, check out the Wibowos’ home. It’s so incredible an article titled “Magic Mountain” was published about it in the architectural Dwell Magazine.

If you prefer a more exquisitely classical style, check out the McCulloughs’ home. Or if you want a down-to-earth home where you can kick back on the couch with your shoes on, check out the Wellers’ home.

We all have unique tastes. However, when you’re in another person’s home, what matters most is not their sense of style, but the relationship you have with them, the life you share in Christ.

Last September, we started on a journey to raise money to pay for some mundane but much-needed capital improvements at Elim. Our goal was to raise $30,000 by June. I am here to celebrate that as of last Sunday, May 23, the Lord has provided $27,866 toward this goal – through you! We are within $2,200 of our goal. Thank you for your sacrifice!

Two weeks ago we asked two individuals who have demonstrated a proficiency in interior decor to help us choose the color and pattern of our new carpet. With great fear and trepidation they took on the task and made their choice. Last Friday, I ordered the carpet. (At the same time I suggested that these two unnamed individuals should go into witness protection!)

In approximately 6 weeks, I predict you will walk into our meeting place and you will notice that something looks very different. As you gaze upon this new carpet, I know there will be those who will say, “I love it! These mystery people made a great choice!” Others may think, “Who chose this carpet? Why did they select these colors and this pattern?”

Many considerations went into selecting the quality of the carpet, along with the colors and pattern. Two big considerations were durability and the ability to hide stains. Other considerations included matching other assets, such as the chairs.

The bottom line: Some people will like it. Others may not. After all, we all have our own unique decorating styles and taste. As we travel this path together, I just wanted to remind everyone to please be gracious in their speech, as well as thankful in their heart for God’s provision through everyone’s sacrifice.

In addition to laying new carpet, in a few weeks we will also begin rebuilding the stage as well as the back wall. We will need your patience as we go into this dusty remodeling process. We will also need your help! Bob Hedge, the project manager, will make pleas for help on specific days as we tear out the stage and build a new, larger, single-level platform.

Under the leadership of Christ, you have been exceedingly generous! I look forward to celebrating with you this great accomplishment to the glory of our Lord.

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