Are You Faithful or Deceitful?

Reading this article tonight and thought of the message we shared during the opening session of the R.M.S. gathering on the topic of Covenant Friendship.
This is awesome! The last paragraph is especially powerful.

May the Exalted Christ grace each of us to be "faithful rather than deceitful" friends. The writer in Proverbs 27:6 certainly reveals the stark contrast.

[rgh]


Faithful are the wounds of a friend...deceitful are the kisses of an enemy

"A simple reading of this verse reveals that true friendship is not void of confrontation. Too many people assume that if confrontation or disagreement enter a relationship, that relationship cannot be or remain a true friendship. This view of friendship is based on the expectation that a beneficial relationship is never supposed to have difficult moments, or a beneficial relationship is one in which both parties do as they please and never interfere in one another’s lives. But the Bible teaches just the opposite. In fact, as this verse implies, a truly beneficial relationship is one in which one party “wounds” the other.

Solomon says: “faithful are the wounds of a friend.” Right away, we see that a friend, a true friend, will sometimes “wound” you. We have to ask: What kind of wounds is Solomon referring to?”

These “wounds” are of a particular kind. Solomon calls them “faithful.” This word (aman) means such things as “that which gives support, that which upholds, that which nourishes.” This term is used in a literal manner to describe the pillars of a building; figuratively, it refers to what is reliable or trustworthy.

The word translated “wound” (petsa) means just that, a wounding or a bruising caused by a blow. Solomon is speaking of words spoken by one to another which, while emotionally painful and perhaps hard to endure, are, in the end, of significant benefit. They are words or challenges spoken by one to another that are designed to reveal faults, but not for the simple purpose of condemnation; they are words or challenges spoken by one to another for the purpose of edification.

Here is the fundamental distinction between the Bible’s view of friendship and the world’s view of friendship: A true friend is the one who will speak to you about your sin—not to embarrass you or make himself look better by comparison, but in order to make you a better person and a person living a more honorable life before God.

We should note that the teaching of Solomon has two sides to it. There is the side of the one giving the rebuke and the side of the one receiving the rebuke. A true friend will give the rebuke and a true friend will receive the rebuke. Humility, therefore, is mandatory for both parties.

Contrasted to this kind of beneficial relationship, Solomon presents what amounts to a false friendship: “but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”

A true friend wounds for our benefit, but the one who kisses us, as it were, or speaks flattery or seems to find nothing to criticize in us is, in reality, an enemy. An enemy, not a friend, praises us when he should rebuke us; an enemy, not a friend, ignores our faults when he should identify them."

http://bordwine.org/?p=203

LifeWay Survey: Most Influential Ministers

LifeWay Survey reveals Billy Graham and Chuck Swindoll lead the list of Protestants top ten most influential living ministers...followed by:

- Charles Stanley, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Atlanta, and founder of In Touch Ministries.

- Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the best-selling book, "The Purpose-Driven Life."

- John MacArthur, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., and president and featured teacher of the Grace to You ministry.

- Barbara Brown Taylor, religion teacher at Piedmont College in northeast Georgia and author of 12 books including "An Altar in the World."

- David Jeremiah, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in San Diego County, Calif.

- Max Lucado, minister of writing and preaching at the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, and the recipient of three Christian Book of the Year awards.

- John Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and author of more than 30 books, including "Desiring God."

- Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church – all in the Atlanta area – and founder of North Point Ministries.

http://www.lifeway.com/article/?id=170048&cid=LifeWayResearchUpdateFebruary2010204

Integrity Is King!

"As a leader, you have to not only do the right thing, but be perceived to be doing the right thing. A consequence of seeking a leadership position is being put under intense public scrutiny, being held to high standards, and enhancing a reputation that is constantly under threat."

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward
Firing Back


Charisma Magazine:

"Only those who are honest and sincere in their character can stand the heat of a thorough examination of their lives. As the Bible tells us, " He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known" (Prov. 10:9, NKJV).

People of integrity don't abandon their values and principles under pressure. They know that times of adversity and temptation are precisely when values and principles matter most. They keep promises. They fulfill obligations. They maintain their honor even when it is costly to do so.

Your integrity is the most profound expression of who you are. Integrity is the ultimate expression of your relationship with yourself, of a vow that you make to yourself about the kind of person you choose to be. If you compromise your integrity, you may get away with it for a while, but no one gets away with it forever. People who lack integrity are eventually exposed.

To be a person of integrity, you must stand for truth and righteousness at all times—even when you are under fire, in extreme temptation, in times of loneliness and solitude, and great need, suffering and want. If your integrity is something you can put on and take off like a suit of clothes, it's not integrity at all. It's just a disguise to hide the person you really are."


Pat Williams is senior vice president of the NBA's Orlando Magic and one of America's best-known sports executives. He is the author of more than 50 books....

http://www.charismanow.com/index.php/charisma-channels/men/25493-integrity-is-king#ixzz0fNGvqMSU

Burned Out,Flamed Out Or Tired Out?

Some estimates reveal that a high percentage of those who enter vocational ministry will only last 5 years. Others sources document that a mere 1 out of 10 actually reach retirement.

In the following article, Rick Warren explains to conference attendees why he believes many he knew 10 yrs ago are no longer in ministry. You may be surprised by Warrens diagnosis and his prognosis.

[RGH]

"About 10 years ago, Pastor Rick Warren made a long list of the "up-and-coming" pastors in America he wanted to pray for.

Just as he had older mentors who prayed for him when he started Saddleback Church in southern California at 25 years of age, he felt compelled to do the same for the younger generation of pastors.

Unfortunately, about half the people he listed are no longer in ministry today.

"They burned out; they flamed out morally; they got tired; they got discouraged; they quit," Warren said Tuesday to thousands of pastors and ministry leaders.

"You don't get credit for starting the race. You get credit for ending it well," he stressed. "The only way you're going to finish well is if you build roots, not fads, not therapies, not management."


Warren, who has been training pastors for 30 years, believes most churches, pastors and Christian leaders are "spiritually rootless." While they chase the latest fad, methodology or technology, many are not rooting themselves deep in Christ, Scripture and love. And without deep roots, Christ followers give up ministry as soon as life gets hard. "


http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100210/rick-warren-calls-for-radicals-rooted-in-christ/index.html

The Temptation To Seperate Public and Private Life

Justin Taylor posted this insightful article by Paul Tripp. We should all ask,"Is This me?"
[rgh]

..." we are used to big borders between your public personal and your private life. By the time you are nine years old you learn that there are things you don’t talk about and must protect. We live in an incredibly individualized culture. We are very used to living in networks of terminally casual relationships. We are very used to living as fundamentally unknown. What that can promote is this disconnect between public ministry and the actual realities of my private life. Not only do those exist, but no one knows they exist because few people know me."

"How many people actually know you? How many people are aware of, concerned about, ministering to, not the public guy of leadership, but to the private man? How many people know what kind of relationship you have with your wife? How many people know what kind of dad you are, the condition of your finances, what you do with the rest of your evening when you leave your study, where you go on your computer? How many people in your life actually step over that boundary between public persona and private life?"

"Would you say that there is any way in your life that the public man is different than the private man? Is there consistency between public confession, public preaching, public calls to godliness and the way you approach your life, or is there incongruity? "

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/02/01/paul-tripp-the-dangerous-calling-of-pastoral-ministry-and-culture

J. Lee Grady Is Antagonizing!

Writing in Charisma Magazine, J.Lee Grady absolutely “speaks truth in love”. His words are biblically antagonizing! [rgh]

“We’ve mastered the art of hype. We know how to fake the anointing. We push people to the floor during our altar times. We know how to manipulate music and crowds so that we can create the atmosphere of the anointing. But in so many cases the real anointing isn’t there. In its place is a hollow imitation.”

“Some charismatic leaders today are even selling specially handcrafted oils that promise the Holy Spirit’s power. Others sell scented candles that claim to bring God’s presence. And last year one brother was traveling the country with feathers in a jar-claiming that these belonged to an angel with healing powers.

“Lord, forgive us for our charlatanism….”

http://charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/26080-recovering-the-axe-head-of-genuine-anointing