Trusting that each of you are doing well...enjoying the break in temperatures...and considering "Character" matters throughout your day. I will be including 3 devotionals in this email so save them and keep up with our Thursday Source class, even if you study from home or work. I will be ministering with the mission team in India and Nepal from Sept. 10-25. Pray for us as we take medical help and the good news of Jesus Christ to needy people there. Our Source class will continue on without a hitch both weeks that I am away. REMEMBER NEW TIME: 6:00 - 7:15PM IN FOYER OF MINOR LANE SANCTUARY SOURCE CLASS
7:30 - 8:30PM FALL FIRE REVIVAL WITH REVA KASEY IN SANCTUARY
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Thurs. Sept. 9 SOURCE GROUP MEET AND EAT AT MCALISTERS ON OUTER LOOP....6:00PM
The Disloyalty of Criticism
read pages 39-43 Character Matters by Dr. Mark Rutland
In Criticizing the wisdom and ability of a superior, a subordinate lowers himself. When you lift up your boss, you are lifted up. How about lifting up a friend, parent, etc....Does the same apply?
Vertical Loyalty: A Two-Way Street
Loyalty must function both upwardly and downwardly.
Ex: "I have sometimes had the unfortunate experience of calling someone's office only to have a secretary say, 'I don't know where he is. Many times he doesn't even come in until 10 or 11 o'clock. I guess he's playing golf somewhere." That is a blatant disloyalty.
Any institution must operate on only one vision....that of the leader. When a U.S. ambassador presents himself to a foreign government, no one there cares much about the ambassador's ideas. They only want to know what the president thinks. True?
Downward Loyalty
Downward loyalty happens as people at the top say, "I couldn't get this done without my employees." Bosses should constantly be saying, "Our success is largely due to my great team of associates." They should be praising their employees, not just to their faces, but to other people.
The Supernatural Power of Loyalty:
The redemptive grace of loyalty is so powerful it can literally infuse any situation with healing and miraculous blessings. There are also serious consequences when loyalty is violated. There are few virtues in the kingdom more honored by God than loyalty. Absalom's doom was sealed by his disloyalty to David, but David's loyalty to an unworthy Saul confirmed his destiny for the throne.
Consider the story of Naaman, the Syrian general, and his Jewish slave girl along with Elisha and Gehazi. 2 Kings 5
The miracle that Naaman received by the ministry of Elisha never would have happened without the Jewish slave girl's unlikely loyalty.
The greed of Gehazi is obvious. However, the underlying issue of disloyalty is easily overlooked in the story.For personal gain he misrepresented his employer's motives. Acting out of self-interest, he denied his superior's nobility, goals, purpose and will. HUGE MISTAKE! A slave girl's character and loyalty brought miraculous healing and blessing, while the disloyalty of a prophet in training brought scandal, disease and death.
"LOYALTY IS A GEMSTONE VIRTUE WHOSE LUSTER, IN A GOLDEN SETTING OF FAITHFULNESS, BRINGS GLORY TO GOD AND HEALTH TO ALL IT TOUCHES". M. Rutland
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Sept. 16 6:00pm Source class Minor Lane Foyer
Diligence: Character in Action
read pages 45-50 Character Matters by Dr. Mark Rutland
read aloud story of Geroge Washington Carver page45-46
What hope could there be for George Washington Carver, an African American baby born in the days surrounding the Civil War and orphaned when his father died and his mother was kidnapped by slave-stealers? ...DILIGENCE
How strange that our society so honors the gifted, who are what they are without effort or sacrifice. What honor is due them?
Discuss: Genius/gifted vs. Diligent
The hard working and the disciplined often go unrewarded while temperamental and characterless "geniuses" are elevated.
Do you agree with the author?: "American industry is rapidly gaining a reputation for creative ideas that will not work and a lazy, undisciplined work force that cannot produce. We are disillusioned at vehicles that will not run, savings and loans that fail, ministries that do not last and companies that go bankrupt."
Diligence is the virtue that leads on to balanced, successful living. Creativity without character will quickly corrupt.
Consider the Genius minds of Edgar Allen Poe, Mozart, and Van Gogh. How much more could they have achieved if they had been diligent in their character, spirits, and lifestyles?
Diligence as Steady Application:
The diligent man is a steady performer, and the steady performer is a finsher. One of the most frequent weaknesses among the immature is a lighthearted attitude about obligations. Don't blame irresponsibility on God!!! The author gives this example:
"Well-meaning zealots may say, 'I am called to missions. I know I'm supposed to give 2 weeks' notice, I also owe some money, and my dad co-signed on my car, but God is telling me to go into the mission field--right now!"
what are your thoughts on this? Does this sound like God's nature or is He calling all of us to be diligent, faithful finishers. If we cannot be trusted to pay our debts, how can He trust us to save a foreign country?....(just a thought)
Diligence As Immediate Obedience:
2 Tim. 4:2..."being instant". Diligence not only finishes the job, but it does so without unnecessary delay.
Procrastination is not merely an inborn personality weakness. The author proposes the idea that it is a sin and a sign of spiritual backsliding. Pretty tough thought! The diligent have disciplined themselves to hear from authority and obey now. So, when God speaks, the diligent are the very ones who hear from God and obey now.
Children must be taught that if they cannot obey parents whom they can see, they will never learn to obey God, whom they cannot see.
In society, because authority is not diligent to punish, lack of diligence is learned. A generation with no fear of authority becomes less diligent. Idleness breeds sin and rebellion....plus..... authority lacks the steel to be diligent in punishment. The result is a Society out of control!
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Sept.23 6:00pm Minor Lane foyer Source class
Diligence as Exactitude
read pages 50-54 Character Matters by Dr. Mark Rutland
Read Ezra 7:23
Do it now...do it exactly as instructed and do it until it is finished. However, in America today, creative individualism is celebrated while the obedient and diligent are mocked.
Read example of young man on mission trip to Peru. pages 50(bottom)-52
One concept that the immature have difficulty grasping is that doing a secular job well, exactly as instructed, has enduring spiritual impact on character. Mark Rutland says: "There is a connection between the way I do my job or clean my room and my relationship with God. If I do the things required of me in a resentful and rebellious manner, diligence is not being carved into my character. The task may get completed, but my character remains untouched. When anybody believes that diligence in worldy matters is of no spiritual value, his own spirit suffers." Do you agree?
Partial obedience is disobedience!!!!! Delayed obedience is disobedience!!!!!
Character does it promptly!!!!! Character does it exactly as told!!!!!!
Character finishes it!!!!!
Diligence as Carefulness:
To be diligent also means to use care. We must do every job as unto the Lord. I must make my job as important to me as it is to my employer, or I sin against him.
Can you think of an example of a diligent worker who made an impression on you as a young employee in one of your first jobs?
On page 54 Mark Rutland remembers a mentally handicapped grocery bagger who worked alongside him. He learned a character lesson in that grocery store. Just be the best you can be. Just put the groceries in the bag one can at a time. Just finish. Just do it right. Just do it with care.
Diligence is also important in relationships. We must be sensitive to others, aware of what is going on around us....forgetting a family member's birthday is not being diligent.
Why do so many American teens feel so little spontaneous impulse to help out in the home?
REMEMBER: The diligent who learn to be observant of others seldom have to apologize later for being thoughtless.
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I'll see ya at Macalisters this Thursday. Then, I'll be back for services on Sunday September 26....See ya soon....I'll be praying for you!
We are looking at possible dates for our October Hayride/Bonfire....will let you know by the end of September.
Desiring to be Diligent in all things,
Becky
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