Hard Pressed but not Crushed, Part 1 (Message)

I wish my husband could listen to this, but he is too busy studying to be a theologian. I have one thing to write I try to work with the people that my husband misses and man sometimes I feel overwhelmed. I know I need to let go of his half of those people.

Anyways back to the plow, I hope to be like Elisha some day, wow! 12 oxen. I only have two girls and a husband, sometimes that even gets overwhelming to me.

Thanks for the message Alistair Begg.

Cally

Thank you Allister for your teaching
tom

Don't you just love the Book of Nehemiah? Don't you just love the inspirational and enlightening preaching of Alistar? I can't wait to hear tomorrow's lesson! As much as I despise technology, I do appreciate being able to listen online. He airs here at 5:30 A.M. and I end up falling asleep halfway through the message and beating myself up over that. No more! Anyway, there were so many things he said today that made perfect sense. I especially liked the Godly model of leadership vs. the Political model of leadership, i.e. in teh Godly model, leaders lead by God given conviction and a concnesus by the people. In the Political model they lead by a concensus of the lowest common denominator and then try to build conviction. Oh church wake up! Oh families wake up! Oh fathers wake up! We need Godly men to lead us. We need a common goal which we do not lose sight of. We as women don't necessarily want to lead. We are aware of the void and rather than see things circle the drain we try to dam it up. We don't always chose the method our male counterparts would. But I wrestle with the hands off approach and watching it all "go to hell in a handbasket". Don't you think the busyness is part of satan's scheme to keep us from doing God's will? I know there are seasons for everything and we are appointed to be here in this time. It's not easy. We've seen so much change in our lifetime, and I'm not just talking about the price of a pack of gum. God Bless Truth for Life and Alistair Begg!

Response to Allistair Begg’s broadcast on 2/4/10.

I was somewhat disappointed by his teaching. I don’t disagree with everything he said, but found it difficult to find anything that would bring someone to Christ or bring a believer like me closer to Him. Believers and most unbelievers know the fact that believers face opposition when doing God’s work. I expected him to even go further in talking about how Christians are not only ridiculed but also whipped, imprisoned or even killed. I know a Christian from Iran who was imprisoned for spreading the Gospel. His brother was killed for doing the same. As for the part about pastors being leaders in the church. Christ does not need any leaders in His Church. He is the Head of the Body and the only leader of His Church. The rest of the body consist of believers who are called and directed by the Holy Spirit to do whatever is needed to build and recover His Church. Every believer is called upon by the Holy Spirit to take the lead in doing things to build the Church but they are not leaders. My wife takes the lead in preparing food but she is not the leader of our family. My son takes the lead in taking out the trash but he is not the leader of our family. This leader thing is a worldly title. Every country or organization has a leader. Christians have tried to model that in Christianity. If the Lord wanted to have a leader in His Church He would have picked one of the disciples. But He didn’t, because He Himself wanted to be the Leader. And just like every country or organization is associated with a physical place Christians have built big fancy buildings and call it “church”. As you know well the true Church is not a place. The Church consists of all the believers in Christ. Today, if you ask most believers and unbelievers in the world what is the meaning of the word “church” they will tell you that it is a place where Christians gather to worship Christ. What a shame! Who is responsible for this? I think you probably know the answer. I belong to the one and only Church whose members are all the believers in the world. We gather at different localities. We have no name, no designated pastor, teacher or elder. We have believers that take the lead by the Holy Spirit’s Guidance to do tasks associated with pastors, teachers and elders depending on the time and the need. Aside from Christ we have no other leader.

Lord's Servant

Dear Brother Vrej,
I agree with much that you have said, but don't overinterpret and be alarmed by the word leader. I did not hear it used in a totalitarian sense, nor meaning exclusivity, but in the sense of taking responsibility for action. As you said, we are all to have the responsibility to act in some roles. Neverthess, we are to respond to the initiatives of others in their unique roles (thats what leaders are). Remember Ephesians 4:
"11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming ; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."
I heard the message as a call to action for the church, for each of us to do our part of the job for the purpose of Christ's mission, which is to Build His Church. I did not hear any hint of suggestion about titles and recognition or institutionalized leadership positions.
I am completely with you that we need to get outside of the brick and mortar church and live our lives in the world as members of Christ's body, but as the point was made in the first message of the three, we must not adopt the individualism of the world in our walk with Christ, since we are His Body, we are members of each other, and we need each other, exercising our gifts for the proper functioning of the Body. I much prefer to say I belong to The Body of Christ than to The XYZ Church. The former speaks of unity under the Head; the latter speaks of divisions. Overall, I appreciate your comments and I hope that all believers will care about this point as much as you do.
David

dear Vrej,
A simplistic explanation: Please don't forget the time period of Nehemiah, Old Testiment. For example: Moses had so many people to care for he had leaders of 1000's, 100's and 10's. Even though for a different reason the idea is the same. To be organized and in sync.You can not undertake the building of such magnitude without some kind of organization. Nehemiah went with the blessings of the king. Therefore there was no need for imprisionment, whipping or killing in this instance. That doesn't fit this book of the Bible. As far as preachers/pastors-we are all preachers. This is a command from our Lord Jesus! But we need to continue to learn so we can speak with knowledge and spread the word according to the Bible, not man. This is why we listen to those who have more knowledge than us. Then we are told to verify what we have heard in the Bible to be sure this is true before we absorb the information and spread the word of God.
I think this is why I like listening to Alistair. He doesn't jump around the Bible. Which makes it easier, for me, to put it into context. I do think that each person had a personal relationship with God. On that point I have to disagree with him. (Unless it was not meant the way I took it.) Perhaps he will expound on that in another sermon.
Dixie