All to Him I Owe

Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Colossians 3:21 “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.”

_______

1. Discipline your child with (or out of) anger.

2. Scold your children publicly with sarcasm and mockery.

3. Compare our children with other children.

4. Deliberately embarrass our children in public.

5. Creat double standards that make it hard for children to know what to follow or do.

6. Inspect what you haven’t given an expectation for.

7. Never admit your wrong  or ask their forgiveness for wrong doing.

8. Promise things but not fulfill them.

9. Require things that are beyond their physical or mental abilities.

10. Give them regular critique and seldom share praise.

 Curiosity may have killed cats, but it has also harmed many teenagers. Curiosity has been defined by an “eagerness to learn” or a “willingness to pry to find information.” Both of these phrases aptly describe many teenagers around us and in our homes. We have teens that are eager to learn, and are willing to pry to find out information. As parents and individuals who interact with teens we must consider the following thoughts about “curious teens.”

1. We must assume they are curious. Teens are not as apathetic as we think they are. They are curious and they are searching.

2. Their curiosity is the evidence of questions that exist in their life. Any time we see teens searching or experimenting we must remember that there is a natural curiosity within them driving them to find answers.

3. The world is giving our teens answers (sadly many of them are the wrong answers).

4. Some teens are learning the answers to their curiosity questions the hard way (through experimentation). They may learn the answers but there is a baggage that often comes from those answers they recieved the hard way. There are memories, images, experiences, and emotional scars that often accompany curiosity questions that were learned the hard way.

5. Answers from a parent can help save teens from finding wrong answers to their curiosity questions. Most teens will not initiate certain questions to their parents because of the awkwardness that accompanies some questions. However, please remember…the value of right answers to their questions should outweigh any awkwardness we experience. I hope that both parents and teen workers would be willing to initiate the conversations and teach our teens regardless of the awkwardness we may experience.  

At the heart of this thought is the idea that we shouldn’t want our teens to always learn everything the hard way! There are scars, and baggage that come with many of our teens curiosity. May we take the message of Ephesians 4;14-15 to heart and present the truth in love to the teens around us.

For the sake of our teens,

P.Ron

 Here at FBC there are seven principles that we use to determine what goes on our church calendar.

1. Giving people a telescopic view of events (a yearly calendar) helps them with the microscopic decisions during the week.

2. We must plan events with family units in mind – not just individuals.

3. Tradition is a form of communication. (the easiest things to communicate are the events we have done before)

4. Simple titles for events require less clarification in communication.

5. Every activity must support the mission statement of the church.

6. Blank spaces on the calendar do not mean the congregation isn’t doing anything.

7. Special activities have the potential to distract from the regular activities.

___

4 Words that should identify our calendar: RELAXED, TRADITIONAL, D0-ABLE, PURPOSEFUL

___

Before a event can go on the calendar we must know the answer to the following questions:

1. When is it happening?

2. Who is responsible for this event?

3. What is happening at this event?

4. How will we organize and do this event?

5. Why are we doing this?

To our FBC family…rest assured that we are not randomly throwing things on the calendar. There is a method to the madness.

All to Him I owe,

P.Ron

 A number of individuals here at FBC of Folsom are joining together to read through the whole Bible in a year. It has been a joy to see the enthusiasm in the conversations as people are talking about what God is teaching them. As we finish up the month of January and we keep up with the schedule keep these simple thoughts in mind about our devotional Bible reading.

1. If at first you don’t understand…read it again!

2. Focus on the quality not the quantity! – in other words, don’t feel bad if you don’t finish an assigned reading for the day because you dug just a little deeper on a passage.

3. Don’t feel bad if the lesson you walk away with is simple – some of the best things God teaches us are very simple and concise. Simple can be just as life changing as complex.

4. Don’t feel bad if you have honestly read the passage, studied it, and still don’t understand – the lesson you walk away with when that happens is that God knows something you don’t know. 🙂

5. Look for a Person in Scripture not just the precepts.

6. Try to read out of the same Bible – mark it up, underline, highlight. Let your Bible develop the sense of a journal recording your walk with the Lord.

7. Don’t forget to meditate! – take one thought and give it thought. Use a 3×5 card or a post it to help you capture that thought and let it affect your thinking.

8. Think about Psalm 119:15 – respect what God says! Let “yes sir” be at the tip of your tongue as you read. If God said do it, say yes sir and do it.

Sunday Night I shared the following list of ministries that do not require a title, or position. They are ministries that anyone can do but are often overlooked. Here they are:

1. The Ministry of Attendance – The greatest way to thank a teacher who has prepared a lesson is to be in attendance to hear that lesson. This is more than just being present, it is being an attentive listener who is engaged to the message being taught.

2. The Ministry of Early Arrival – This simply means coming ahead of time for the purpose of looking for people to visit with or physical needs to attend to.

3. The Ministry of Interception – this is intercepting the possible physical or spiritual distraction a pastor may recieve on a Sunday that can easily distract him.

4. The Ministry of Greeting

5. The Ministry of Children – There are two primary things a pastor can’t compete with in preaching – cute kids, and crying kids! Anyone who is working in the nursery is helping eliminate a distraction to the Word of God. When a mom places her child in the nursery and is comfortable that the baby is safe, cared for and loved, then she is able to rest comfortably in the service.

6. Amber Alert Ministry – this is the ministry of looking for people that are missing and giving them a call or a note the next week to find them.

7. The Ministry of Encouragement – every church has critics. Critique is always possible because everything we do in church could always be done better. What about the ministry of encouragement? Notice the things that are good, and going well!

8. Life-line ministry – this is the ministry a person has who notices people who are starting to drift away. They catch them and attempt to bring them back.

9. The Ministry of Friendship – As a church we are family, but a church becomes stronger when family members decide to be friends.

10. The Ministry of Generosity – It is hard to get people to sign up for something. It is even harder to get them to do what they signed up for. When a person does what they signed up for they often do the bare minimum. Every church would benefit from someone who goes beyond the minimum to do something above and beyond. That is to be generous.

This blog went silent for the last year for many reasons. With the revamp of our website I have a new desire to keep this blog more current. In the weeks and months ahead there will be a variety of different posts. You will see small articles of instruction, encouragement, and tid-bits about life in the ministry. Simply think of them as small glimpses into the mind of Pastor Ron.

 “They are qualified servants, recognized by the congregation as men who will address the ever changing needs within a church in an effort to facilitate unity and protect priorities.”

So what is our church looking for in Deacon nominations?

1.) Men who meet the qualifications in I Timothy 3:8-13.

 2.) Men who demonstrate a love for God that is demonstrated in their love for the  good of His church.

 3.) Men who have a God-given discernment for the needs of our church and an ability to provide Biblical solutions to those needs.

 4.) Men who are currently demonstrating a servant-minded spirit within our church  (They serve regardless of a position or title).

 5.) Men whom you can trust to do God’s will rather than their own.

Exciting days in our church!!

P.Ron

Church Government

 Church polity is the term used to describe the method with which a church is governed. A quick survey of churches reveals multiple forms and methods of church polity being used. Some of those methods have proven to be successful while others have caused great harm. Surprisingly the Bible is relatively quiet on the exact details of polity. However we must not confuse the silence of details with an absence of principles that can help us establish a proper polity.

 General Principles of Polity

 1.) The New Testament church operated with a “plurality of leadership.” The responsibilities of the church did not fall to just one individual. The church grows both spiritually and numerically when it is producing new leaders and giving new leaders responsibility. (Acts 6, 20; II Timothy 2:2)

 2.) The New Testament does support the concept of a “pastor-lead leadership team.” (Acts 20:28; Hebrews 13:7, 17)

3.) The New Testament does support the concept of a “congregationally-approved leadership team.” (Acts 6:3)

4.) The New Testament emphasizes the character of individuals more than their abilities. (I Timothy 3; Titus  2)

5.) The job description of leaders within the church differs from church to church based upon the church’s needs and the leader’s gifts and talents.

 As I close this post I want to highlight this last principle. Every deacon elected in our church will come to the table of leadership with a different set of gifts and abilities. He will probably come with a very unique burden for areas within our church that he has a passion for. With these things in mind, I believe we will find the details of what are deacons do changing from person to person every time our selection of men changes.

Though they will have a general description of what they do, specifically they will have individual areas that they alone are doing.

These are exciting days.

P.Ron

The Tools of a Spiritual Leader in the Home—Prayer

Nothing of any eternal significance occurs apart from God.  John 15:5 says, “Without me ye can do nothing.” Most of us are doers. We solve problems by seeing the need and addressing it through whatever means accomplishes success. At the same time, many Christians seem to think that prayer is passive or too simplistic to be of any real significance. Taking time to pray can sometimes seem like a waste of time or something we only do if we have extra time. But spiritual leaders in the home must use the tool of prayer. They must be convinced that it is not a waste of their time but rather the greatest use of their time.

I Peter 5:7 – The stressed-out parent’s lifeline

Parents daily carry the cares of their children. Even parents whose children are out of the home give testimony to the fact that they still carry a weight of concern for them. So what should parents do with all of that concern?      I Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.” The word casting means the act of heaving, or of thrusting a heavy load that is about to slip through your grasp. It is the final exertion of energy that you give before something falls from your hands. Are you there in parenting? Are the concerns and weights of leading in your home wearing you out? The lifeline of prayer is available to all of us parents to be used in the raising of our families.

Jeremiah 33:3 – The clueless parent’s instructor

“Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew [tell or teach] thee great and mighty things thou knowest not [clueless].” God has a way of giving instruction to the praying parent. He teaches them His ways through prayer and in turn enables them to parent in a way consistent with His character.

May each of us parents equip ourselves with the tool of prayer!

Learning,

Pastor Ron

The Tools of a Spiritual Leader in the Home

A family without problems doesn’t exist. In fact, the moment you think you have solved one problem, you immediately realize you have another one. After having our first daughter, I thought that we had parenting figured out. With our only having one child at the time, we could place all of our attention on figuring out how to deal with her problems.  But shortly after the birth of our second daughter, I realized that there were some things that worked for our first child that wouldn’t work for our second. God was intent on keeping us learning and not coasting. Parenting children keeps us learning and regularly picking up tools that enable us to do the job better within our homes.

So, what is in your toolbox?

Many parents begin the process of parenting with a small collection of tools in their toolbox. For example, many have the tool of observation—they have seen things in other parent’s lives that they have noted and desire to use in their parenting. Many parents also have the tool of experience—they parent in certain ways because that is the way they were raised. Some use the tool of manipulation, bribing their children into certain forms of behavior, while others use the tool of fear, forcing certain types of behavior. The point is that all parents have a toolbox, but do they have the right tools in the toolbox?

“The man whose only tool is a hammer finds that most of his problems look a lot like nails.”

Parents’ tools are revealed by how they view their problems. Likewise, their view of their problems is revealed by what tools they use. In the weeks ahead, we will be examining the toolbox of a parent who desires to be a spiritual leader. For now, let’s just ask ourselves if there is a tool we’re currently using that we know we shouldn’t be using.

Learning,

Pastor Ron