MAY 2006
REFLECTION
P erhaps we don’t often think of it this
way, but the entire New Testament of
the Bible is a reflection of the beliefs and life
of the very early Christian Church. To be
sure, the New Testament is the inspired
Revelation of God, just as the Old Testament
is, and the teachings are therefore timeless
and come from the very mind and heart of
God. But the inspired writers of the Bible
were writing to specific people; in the case of
the New Testament, the writers were
teaching the first Christians, the Church of
the first century A.D. So, when we read the
Books of the New Testament
we are gaining
valuable insights into
the beliefs and
growth and spiritual
needs of our brothers
and sisters, the Body
of Christ as it was
developing after the Ascension of Jesus. For
example, the Letter of James was most
probably written by the apostle James to
Jewish converts living outside the Holy
Land. We find in this Letter some very
strong words to the new Christians,
emphasizing that it is not enough for the
Christian life to believe in Jesus but that it is
critical to truly follow Jesus, by a life of
dedication and service. This teaching in no
way contradicts the teaching of Paul on
justification by faith, as entrance into God’s
family by grace is always a gift to be
received. But Paul, James, and Jesus
Himself also emphasize the importance of
actually living the faith received. So, James
1
writes passionately to the Christian converts,
urging them to live lives worthy of the grace
of justification they have received. Let’s
focus on one passage for this Reflection and
apply it to the goal of spiritual
transformation in our area, our nation and
the world. James 4: 4-10 reads as follows:
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that
friendship with the world is hatred toward
God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of
the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do
you think Scripture says without reason that
the spirit he caused to live in us tends toward
envy, but he gives us more grace? That is
why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you. Come near to God and
he will come near to you. Wash your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail.
Change your laughter to mourning and your
joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the
Lord, and he will lift you up.” Strong words,
these, from the apostle James to the early
Church, and from the Holy Spirit to us –
since this is a living Word. It may seem
strange to talk about
mourning and gloom in
these days in the
Church year when we
celebrate Easter,
the Ascension and
Pentecost. But James is not
talking about us going
around sad-faced. No, the joy of the
Resurrection is real and for all time. But the
hard fact is that we live in the midst of
countless people who do not believe in Jesus,
who scoff at the Resurrection and who place
all of their hope and faith in the things of
this world. God grieves for them; and so
should we. But James is teaching something
critically important here: The only way we
can be used by God for the salvation of
souls, for the transformation of regions and
nations, is to genuinely humble ourselves
before Him. We can only boast about our
sins; everything
good we may
accomplish is by
God’s grace. The
Holy Spirit can
only work within
people who have
repentant hearts,
who seek God’s
glory rather than
their own, who
recognize their utter dependence upon Him.
So, to paraphrase James’ message and apply
it to us: The call is for us to submit, without
reservation, to God and His perfect will. It
is when we do that (and, again, we can only
do it by responding to His grace) that we will
see with spiritual eyes the presence and work
of Satan in our midst and will be able to
resist him. The wonderful news here is that
when we stand up by God’s grace and resist
Satan, he doesn’t’ just slink away: He flees
from us!! God’s invitation is for us to come
near to Him, meaning seeking Him, praying
continually, passionately desiring an ever
more perfect union with Him. When we
respond to His grace that way, He will come
near to us, will fill us with His glory and
grace – for He can never be outdone in
generosity. The call of the Spirit is to
consistently repent, for we are
all sinners, and to wash
ourselves, especially our
hearts, for our tendency is to
be double-minded, to have
ulterior motives, even in
doing good. Then God
will give us the sensitivity to grieve for sin,
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for the lost, to cry out for God’s grace to
touch every person. And then note how this
Scripture ends: If we thus humble ourselves
before God, He will lift us up. So the
paradox of the Christian life is that even
while we grieve for our sins and for the lost,
God is holding us up, and we know that we
know that we know that we belong to Him,
that He is with us, that Jesus is Risen and
will die no more and lives within us along
with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And
Jesus is coming back! Like the early
Church, brothers and sisters, we are people
with a mission, we are the Body of Christ in
the midst of the world – and God wants to
transform through the Body -- through our
prayer and our service – Southwest
Missouri, Northwest Arkansas, Central
Missouri, Manitou Springs in Colorado and
through us all of our nation. This is a real
mission, a real battle, a glorious calling.
TRUE STORY
D r. Scott Hahn is a theologian, a
professor and an author. In his most
recent newsletter, he tells the story of an
encounter with a British
soccer team. He
was in Europe,
doing some
teaching of
resident American
students. He thought it
a bit odd, but one of
the places he was asked to do some informal
teaching was in a local pub to a group of
students. Since the pub had agreed to let Dr.
Hahn do some teaching, when he began the
owners muted the TV. Well, it was turned to
ESPN, and the soccer players were not
pleased! Some of them began heckling him
as he began. One man in particular mocked
the very mention of God and called out
loudly that God was “history’s greatest
monster.” Well, that could certainly have
been a cue for Dr. Hahn and his group to
leave; and it probably reinforced his
wondering why they were in a pub in the
first place! But the Holy Spirit prompted
him to stay and to modify his teaching. Dr.
Hahn decided to “play it like a soccer
match” and across the room he and the
heckler took turns making
comments. To quote him:
“I took up his challenge:
If earthly life were all we
had, then it would be
fair to call God a
monster. But it’s not.
God sent His only Son to
suffer on earth, and to turn suffering into a
school of self-giving, to prepare us for the
love that never ends. We continued, back
and forth. I never got around to the talk I
had originally planned. But I
hope I gave the talk that
God wanted.
Afterward, I
sought out that
soccer player. He
looked at me and
said, ‘I wish I could believe
what you believe.’ I spent some time with
him, and I assured him of my prayers. And
I know that you, the readers of this
Newsletter, will be praying for him as well.”
What a great example of being where the
Holy Spirit draws us and being obedient to
His guidance! There are millions of people
who echo the words of that soccer player: “I
wish I could believe what you believe.”
There are without doubt many in our own
areas, communities, perhaps families. Belief
is only possible by God’s grace; and that
grace is always present. But this, again, is
where prayer comes in. The prayer of a
Christian is powerful and a conduit for
God’s grace to flow into the hearts of
unbelievers.
FOR FURTHER
REFLECTION
3
I experienced two brief spiritual insights,
very close together, which I would like to
share with you: I was listening to the end of
one of Pastor David Patrick’s sermons on
KLFC (Tri-Lakes Christian Church); he
was sharing what he himself had heard from
a pastor in another part of the country. It
was the story of a father whose little son
went to a Christian camp. When he came
home, he was afraid, because around the
campfire the counselor had told a story
about spiritual warfare, about demonic
activity. Well, Dad thought it was a very
inappropriate way for his child to hear
about Satan; but neither could he tell his son
that Satan is not real. So he told his child
that they would pray together, not so that he
would be unafraid, but so that he would be
dangerous to Satan, so dangerous that Satan
would flee. This is so true! When we seek
God and His will, when we are people of
prayer with servants’ hearts, we become
very, very dangerous people in the eyes of
demonic spirits – and they flee from us. The
second thought I had was shortly after we
had a flurry of activity of people joining the
UP Team (I was on Good
Morning Ozarks not long ago,
talking about prayer and the
UP Team. One couple
signed up for five hours, and
three others took
individual hours.)
What the Holy Spirit
showed me is why we should keep trying to
seek people to join the UP Team: Every
added person, every added hour of prayer,
becomes another powerful weapon in the
overall arsenal. Each is so vitally important;
we must never stop trying to encourage
people to pray. Again, Satan flees!
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
H
ere is some “fractured English:” Advertisement:
“Try our cough syrup. You will never get any
better.”…”We both had crew cuts, which made
our ears stick out like sore thumbs.”…”The
‘Over 60s Choir’ will be disbanded for the
summer with the thanks of the entire church.”..
”On the second day the knee was better and on
the third day it had completely
disappeared.”…”The ball
struck him on the right
temple and knocked him
cold. He was taken to the
hospital, where X-rays of
his head showed
nothing.”…”I would not
have gone in there over my dead
body.”…”Home. Great location. 4 bedrooms, 2-
bath, brick Cape. Built the way they used to.
Won’t last.”…(An ad by a Hong Kong dentist)
“Teeth extracted by the latest methodists.”…(In
a Pennsylvania cemetery) “Persons are
prohibited from picking flowers from any but
their own graves.”…”I was thrown from my car
as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by
some stray cows.”…”Remember, you get what
you pay for. And at Hub Furniture Store, you
pay less.”…”We will oil your sewing machine
and adjust tension in your home for
$1.00.”…”Squad helps dog bite
victim.”…”Lawyers give poor free legal
advice.”…”My car was legally parked as I
backed into the other vehicle.”…”An antique
mirror was stolen from the home. Police are
looking into it.”…(On a church sign) “This
morning’s sermon: “Jesus walks on the water.’
Tonight’s sermon: ‘Searching for Jesus.’”…
MORE ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
F she slipped on some ice and
ollowing is a “Top 10” list of signs that you
might not be reading your Bible enough: 10)
The minister announces the sermon is from
Galatians, and you check the table of contents;
9) You think Abraham, Isaac and Jacob may
have had a few hit songs during the 60s; 8) You
open to the Gospel of Luke and a WWII Savings
Bond falls out; 7) Your favorite Old Testament
patriarch is Hercules; 6) Your favorite Bible
verse is “Cleanliness is next to godliness;” 5) You
become frustrated because Charleton Heston
isn’t listed in either the
concordance or the
table of contents; 4)
Catching the kids
reading the Song of
Solomon, you
demand: “Who gave
4
you this stuff?” 3) You think the Minor
Prophets worked in the quarry; 2) You keep
falling for it every time the pastor enough tells
you to turn to First Condominiums; 1) And the
number one reason you may not be reading your
Bible enough: The kids keep asking too many
questions about your usual bedtime story:
“Jonah the Shepherd Boy and His Ark of Many
Colors.”
STORY
I f at times we wonder about God’s
intervention in daily life, this story can
serve as a good reminder of the truth of
Psalm 55: 22 (“Cast your cares upon the
Lord, and He will sustain you.” ) The
following was written by a Hospice of Metro
Denver female physician: “I was driving
home from a meeting this evening about 5
p.m., stuck in traffic on Colorado Boulevard,
and the car started to choke and sputter and
die. I barely managed to coast, frustrated,
into a gas station, glad only that I would not
be blocking traffic and would have a
somewhat warm spot to wait
for the tow truck. The engine
wouldn’t even turn over. But
before I could make the call, I
saw a woman walking out of
the convenience store
building. It looked as though
fell into a gas pump, so I got
out to see if she was okay. When I got there,
it looked more like she had been overcome
by sobs than she had fallen. She was a
young woman who looked really haggard,
with dark circles under her eyes. She
dropped something as I helped her up, and I
picked it up and gave it to her. It was a
nickel. At that moment, everything came
into focus for me: The crying woman, the
ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff and
three kids in the back, one in a car seat, and
the gas pump reading $4.95. I asked her if
she was okay and if she needed help, and she
just kept saying, ‘I don’t want my kids to see
me crying.’ So we stood on the other side of
the pump from her car. She said she was
driving to California and things were pretty
hard for her right then. So I asked, ‘And
you were praying?’ That made her back
away from me a little, but I assured her I
was not a crazy person and said, ‘He heard
you, and He sent me.’ I took out my card
and swiped it through the card reader on the
pump so she could fill her car up completely.
While it was filling, I walked to the
McDonald’s next door and bought two big
bags of food, some gift certificates for more,
and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to
the kids in the car, who attacked it like
wolves, and we stood by the pump eating
fries and talking a little. She told me her
name, and that she lived in Kansas City.
Her boyfriend left two months ago and she
had not been able to make ends meet.
She knew she would not
have enough money to
pay her next month’s
rent, and finally, in
desperation, she
called her parents,
with whom she had not
spoken in about five years. They
lived in California and said that she could
come and live with them and try to get on
her feet there. So she had packed up
everything she owned and set out. I gave her
my gloves, a little hug, and said a quick
prayer with her for safety on the road. As I
was walking over to my car she said, ‘So, are
you like an angel or something?’ This
definitely made me cry. I said, ‘Sweetie,
angels are really busy, so sometimes God
uses regular people.’ It was so incredible to
be a part of someone else’s miracle. And, of
course, you guessed it: When I got into my
car it started right away and got me home
with no problem. I will put it in the shop
tomorrow, but I suspect that the mechanic
will not find anything wrong.”
PRAYER MOBILIZATION
5
P ray for Larry Wilhite and
Backstage Ministries. He shared
with me recently that revival is breaking
out among the cast members of The Promise
and Celebrate America at Mansion America.
This is clearly a sign of God moving in the
Entertainment sector!…Many people who
were at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast on the
National Day of Prayer filled out prayer
request cards. Let’s pray for all of them...
Congratulations to John Baltes, the
President of the Silver Dollar Foundation!
At the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast he was the
recipient of the 2006 Don Gabriel Kingdom
Builders Award, given to a person who as a
committed Christian makes significant
contributions to the area. He also just
announced a new Foundation program,
“Care for Kids,” which is a unique and
creative way to reach out to help the schools
and the students of Stone and Taney
Counties. Please pray for the Holy Spirit’s
guidance and that God’s perfect will be
done, and for our schools…Also pray for
John’s successful recuperation from
surgery… Pray for The Caring People and
single Moms, for Lives Under Construction
Boys’ Ranch, for Teen Challenge, for Love
INC, for Prayer-Works and for all ministries
and social service agencies serving the
individuals and families…for Kimily’s son
Justin, and for Kimily…for International
Renewal Ministries as it continues to bring
the Body of Christ together through Pastors’
Prayer Summits…for The Ozarks Christian
News as it continues to spread God’s Word
in the Ozarks…for Asleep kNOw More and
its ministry to schools and to rebuilding
awareness of the Christian foundation of our
nation…for The Spirit of America Gospel
Hour, for KLFC and for all ministries
spreading the love of Jesus through radio
and TV…for Pastor Austin Sutton of
Taneyville who is recovering from surgery…
for all the needs that UP Team members and
other members of the community request
prayers for.
FINAL THOUGHT
W e are in a spiritual battle, folks. But
God is with us and assures us that He
will never forsake us or abandon us. The
following is entitled “Perfect Peace” and was
written by Berit Kjos:
“There once was a king who offered a prize
to the artist who would paint the best picture
of peace. Many artists tried. The king
looked at all the pictures, but there were
only two he really liked and he had to choose
between them. One picture was of a calm
lake. The lake
was a perfect
mirror,
displaying in
its waters the
peaceful and
towering mountains that were all around it.
Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white
clouds. All who saw this picture thought
that it was close to a perfect picture of peace.
The other picture had mountains, too. But
these were rugged and bare. Above was an
angry sky from which rain fell and in which
lightning played. Down the side of a
mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This
scene did not look peaceful at all. But when
the king looked more closely, he saw behind
the waterfall a tiny
bush growing in
a crack in the
rock. In the bush a
mother bird had
built her nest.
There, in the midst of the rush of angry
waters, sat the mother bird on her nest. The
king chose the second picture. When he was
asked why, he explained: ‘Because, peace
does not mean that we are in a place where
there is no noise, no trouble, no hard work.
Peace means to be in the midst of all those
things and still be calm in your heart. That
is the real meaning of peace.” The e-mail
that this was in ends with a prayer of St.
6
Ignatius of Loyola:
“Teach us, good Lord, to
serve You as You
deserve, to give and not to
count the cost, to fight and
not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to
seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any
reward, save that of knowing that we do
your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER
Sunday, June 4, is the Feast of Pentecost and
the Global Day of Prayer. About 6 years ago
two Christians in South Africa began
praying for Africa on this day, and that has
now spread world-wide with 220 million
people praying for the world last year.
About 20 churches in the Branson area are
coming together to pray that evening at 6
p.m. at Branson Hills Ministry Center.
Everyone is invited. Also, 6-10 churches will
be coming together for a worship service
that morning at Mansion America. Call
Kimily at 331-6021 for more info. This is an
exciting outreach of the Body of Christ!
I would like to hear from you. Keep on
encouraging others to join the UP Team;
and thank your for your faithfulness. Call
me at 331-1028 or e-mail me:
bburton@silverdollarcity.com or
bburt98@aol.com
Peace and love,
Bob Burton
(By the way, if you are interested: On Friday,
May 19, I will be on Good Morning Ozarks,
KLFC radio, 88.1 FM – from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m –
for a question and answer time on “What is
Catholicism?” Hopefully this will be another
help in encouraging Christians to reach out to
one another and build up the Body of Christ. If
you have ideas about what should be covered or
questions you would like answered, please let me
know.)