Huh? ? ? ? ? ? ?

I need to confess something.  Yes, I have fallen prey to the enticing drama of the Google Search (gasp!).  How do you…?  Why is…?  What is…?  They’re all legitimate questions.  But what I’ve been surprised to learn, though, is how many goofy questions people submit on search engines.  Just type the word why in Google and you’ll see what I mean.  It got me thinking how we sure do ask a lot of questions.  Ever wondered why? 

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they sought the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.  Have you ever thought about it, that we’ve been asking questions ever since?  As Ecclesiastes 12:12 says, “Of the making of many books there is no end.”  When we finally get answers or start to understand some amazing thing, we then pat ourselves on the back as if we’ve really accomplished something.  Our thirst for knowledge is unending.

But I would be wrong to suggest that asking  questions is somehow wrong.  In fact, I think it is a sacred duty to study and pursue answers, but we should always temper knowledge with wisdom and quality relationships.  Just as Jacob wrestled with the angel, we too must wrestle with Truth to apprehend it, even if we never fully comprehend it. 

I think we should always be careful what we ask of God.  Sometimes it ends up meaning that He asks something of us.  Just like when I pray, “Lord, please help that person.”  Some still small voice says, “Why don’t you?”  It is very easy to pray that God meet our desires, which is why we were instructed to pray, “your will be done…”

We should also be careful what we ask of people.  I could revise Kennedy’s famous quote like this: “Ask not what others can do for you, but what you can do for others.”  Yet when it comes to some things, there is a time and place even to ask of others.  For example, some missionary friends recently wrote, “Never be afraid to ask God’s people to use God’s money to do God’s work.”  Now that’s a question I hate to ask!

I wonder what our record would look like if we wrote down every question or request to God or man made in a week’s time.  I’m willing to bet that it would be alot.  Just considering how many “Answer” websites have popped up we can see that man is looking for answers.

Over the years I’ve received lots of Bible-related questions via email from all over.  I’ve begun putting them in article form and there is now a Bible Q&A in the articles section of my website.  So, if you’re itching to know something about Scripture that’s been bothering you, feel free to ask away.  Even if I don’t know the answer, I love to investigate, and your question might end up as one of those articles.

Stepping Out

Faith is a bit like standing in front of an automated door.  I can talk about how great the door is.  I can talk about how great it is on the other side.  But until I take a step forward and engage the sensor so that the door opens, this knowledge does me no good.
Nobody can drive a parked car.  Faith has to be put into action to see results.  Without works, our faith is dead. 
As Dr. Opal Reddin used to say, “Faith is not a leap in the dark.  It’s a step in the Light.”

Winter Newsletter

Hey folks, you can click on the following link to read our latest newsletter:

http://www.hadavar.net/Verbum10a.pdf

Looking for the answer to your prayers

Late last year I joined an online group called the Luke 10 Community (http://www.lk10.com/), which is an online group of church planters implementing Simple Church values.  Part of our commitment is to regularly pray Luke 10:2b, "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  This is one of those prayers that, quite honestly, I've ignored over the years.  After all, isn't it kinda like praying, "God, please fix everything"?  Real generic.

But I made this decision to join, probably in a naive manner, not realizing just how important this prayer is.  First of all, praying for God to send workers makes you very harvest minded.  Second, it leads you to start looking for these workers.  It changes your perspective, and increases the burden of responsibility you feel for finding these workers.

That's where the man of peace comes in.  When you enter a town, that's who you seek out after praying for workers.  This person of peace then becomes your point man for connecting into the town through his/her circle of influence.  After realizing that praying for progress isn't enough, that we should put feet to those prayers by actively seeking out such people, I now find myself in a new position of seeker.  We as church leaders are typically trained to think of ourselves as providers and the laity as seekers.  Yet Jesus would have us all be seekers for every vehicle of kingdom expansion we may find.