About Us Points from the Pastor's Pen
Carlos Zambrano And The Wisdom Of Solomon
[Daily Thoughts]
08/16/2011 9:20 am
By Dayton, Richard
The Event
Reflection
A person who does not make the choices to control his emotions is in a similar vulnerable condition. He lets the situations around him be in control, rather than trusting the grace of God to guide and enable him. We see examples of this lack of control in road rage, domestic violence, and spontaneous fights. When people’s emotions control them, the outcome is not good.
Practical Application
We are all people with emotions, because God made us that way. However, we do not have to be controlled by our emotions. In fact, one indication that God the Holy Spirit is ruling and controlling our lives is a fruit of the Spirit called “self-control.” When we let God rule in our hearts, we will be more peaceable and gentle.
Let us learn some lessons of life from this incident, and determine that, by the grace and enablement of God, we will become people whose spirits are ruled by the Lord, not by circumstances or emotion.
A Song Of Victory
[Daily Thoughts]
05/09/2011 3:52 pm
By Dayton, Richard
In the Old Testament book of Judges, there is a tragic cycle of disobedience, degeneration, and discipline, followed by a brief time of restoration. In one of those cycles, the Lord raised up a judge named Deborah. The enemies of Israel had overwhelming superiority of armaments, but God gave His people a great victory.
Rejoicing In The Victory
Deborah began by reviewing the great work God had done, and giving Him honor and praise. She also led the nation to rejoice in the victory over their oppressors. As a nation and a world, we can be thankful that there is one less person out there to coordinate the slaughter of innocents. When the Lord established human government, He gave government the authority and the responsibility to “praise good and punish evil.”
Recognition Of Grief
The destruction of Israel’s enemy did not change the fact that the nation had endured many years of oppression, violence, and destruction. It did signal the end from that particular oppressor. As Deborah’s song ended, she said, “The mother of Sisera looked through the window and cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming ?’ “ Even as we rejoice that earthly justice has been done, let us realize that it was accomplished at the cost of human lives, and we should never take that cost lightly.
Concluding Admonition
In his letter to young pastor Timothy, the Apostle Paul encouraged us to pray for those in authority over us, because they bear a heavy load of responsibility. Let us resolve to pray for our political leaders, and our military personnel, that God would intervene in the decisions of our leaders, and would grant grace and protection to our soldiers.
Developing Discipleship
[Daily Thoughts]
01/19/2011 2:58 pm
By Dayton, Richard
The Biblical Mandate
At a recent meeting with the deacons and the pastors, Pastor Zeb helped us come up with the following definition :
Discipleship is becoming involved in an intentional relationship with another person, focused on the Word and Christ, with the goal of helping them change to be more like Christ.
In our Sunday morning service, we combine worship and expository preaching. This exposes us to a systematic treatment of the Word of God, and gives us opportunity to respond in adoration and worship. In our Sunday night services, we are creating some opportunities to build discipling relationships within our church family.
1. In Deuteronomy 6, God challenged His people that the Word of God become a systematic part of their daily conversation. On a couple of Sunday nights per month, we will have some “directed discussion” based upon the theme of the morning message.
2. We will meet in our deacon care groups, to help build those systematic relationships with one another, so that we might admonish and strengthen one another from the Word.
3. In our groups, we will be praying with and for one another.
As we have begun this process, we are already seeing the Lord build us as a church family, and we look forward to increased blessing from being part of our church family.
Scripture And Salmonella
[Daily Thoughts]
09/23/2010 9:56 am
By Dayton, Richard
Scripture And Salmonella
Nationwide Egg Recall
In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of publicity about the Wright County Egg Farms and the salmonella contamination of eggs raised there. Subsequent investigations have shown some serious cleanliness and safety problems in the plants, with contaminated feeds, animal feces, and sick laying hens. The Congress has now become involved, with an investigating committee looking into the causes and possible solutions to the problem. We can expect a lengthy report, with multiple recommendations, but we may not see substantive change.
Biblical Health Standards
About 3400 years ago, as the people Israel were on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land, God gave them many instructions. It was in this time that the Ten Commandments were given, commandments we recognize as a foundation for spiritual and moral standards.
In addition to these essential moral standards, God gave the Jewish people a fairly lengthy set of guidelines for everyday life. Those guidelines included many practices we now recognize as good health and hygiene standards. In Leviticus 11, as God gave His people a listing of what animals were “clean” and which were “unclean,” He also gave them some standards for food safety.
In particular, God said that any seed or grain that was contaminated must be thrown out and not used. Long before Louis Pasteur discovered some of the mechanisms for disease transmission, God had given His people guidelines that protected them from disease. If the Iowa egg farms had been following this ancient but relevant Biblical cleanliness standard, we would not have had a salmonella outbreak.
Biblical Relevance
These standards show that God is concerned for our physical health, and that His counsel is accurate. However, God is far more concerned about our spiritual health. The Bible does speak to our earthly existence, but is far more focused upon our eternal existence. The essence of the Biblical message is “This is the record : that God has given us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Honor To Whom Honor Is Due
[Daily Thoughts]
08/24/2010 3:45 pm
By Dayton, Richard
Honor To Whom Honor Is Due
Earthly Honor
On August 17th and 19th, I had the privilege of assisting veterans on the Honor Flights as they arrived back in Des Moines. In his book, The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw reminds us that World War II was a pivotal event in the life of the world, and that the sacrifices of that “greatest generation” had a profound effect upon democracy in the world. There are still places of oppression and dictatorship in our world, but it is nearly unthinkable to imagine what would have happened if Hitler had won. Our veterans and their families deserve recognition for the great task they helped accomplish.
Eternal Honor
Those veterans gave much, and many gave their all to purchase earthly freedom for us, and we rightly give them recognition. Even as we treasure earthly freedom, we must realize that it is limited by the narrow span of our earthly existence.
There is another freedom that is offered to us, and, like our political freedom, it came at a great price, in fact, at the greatest of prices. In the pages of Scripture, we learn that our ancestors were offered a choice, and that they made a poor choice. Not content with what God had provided, they decided they would be better off if they were the ones in charge of their lives, and they rebelled against their Maker. We who are their descendants have inherited that bent toward self-will. In our self will, we imagine that we are “free,” but Solomon, considered to be the wisest man who lived, wrote that people are “held by the ropes of their sin,” even though they may imagine that they are “expressing themselves” and enjoying freedom.
Freedom from this bondage to sin and self was provided at an infinite cost. Let me share two phrases from the Gospel of John. “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” The crucifixion paid the full price for the redemption of mankind, and God offers that redemption to us. “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Once we respond to God’s offer of forgiveness, we enter into a delightful freedom to be the kind of people we were always designed to be.
We honor our veterans, who paid a high price that we might enjoy prosperity and freedom. Even more, we should honor the Savior, Who paid the price of redemption.
Inconvenience
[Daily Thoughts]
08/12/2010 7:12 pm
By Dayton, Richard
Inconvenience
In the past week, our area of
I am reminded of an old statement that goes something like this : “I felt sorry for myself that I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet.” A number of us have experienced some property damage and inconvenience, but we are not one of the 650,000 families in Pakistan who lost their houses to flooding, one of the thousands of families in China affected by mudslides, one of the hundreds of families in central Iowa who had to evacuate their homes, or the family in Altoona that will be burying a teenage daughter.
What can we do in this overwhelming situation ? 1. Pray for the grace of God in the lives of those affected. 2. Pray that believers in those areas will be sustained by God’s grace, and will be able to minister to those in need. 3. As the Lord provides opportunity, use these experiences to share with people those eternal truths that no flood can take away – that he who has the Son has eternal life, and will never come into condemnation.
In the helplessness some of us have felt in these weeks, I have been reminded that God is sovereign, that He is powerful, and that I can trust Him with my eternal soul.
9(0x0*Off)11(2*2)&utmwv=1&utmn=6468598175&utmsr=-&utmsc=-&utmul=-&utmje=0&utmfl=-&utmdt=-&utmhn=urbandalebaptistchurch.org&utmr=&utmp=/noscript&utmac=UA-27114567-1&utmcc=__utma%3D66780204.1227470980.1337476802.1337476802.1337476802.2%3B%2B__utmb%3D66780204%3B%2B__utmc%3D66780204%3B%2B__utmz%3D66780204.1337476802.2.2.utmccn%3D(direct)%7Cutmcsr%3D(direct)%7Cutmcmd%3D(none)%3B%2B__utmv%3D66780204%3B)