Thank you for all your prayers and calls and encouragements and meals! Wow, we have been blessed and overwhelmed with love. Teresa is healing a little bit each day and starting to sleep more each night.

Your brother and sister,

brad & Teresa

Prayer. Few feel like their prayer life is sufficient. Put me in the larger group. The problem may be we know the word prayer, we just don’t know the fullness of the meaning. It’s like love. You can define love in a research paper, you can study love in a laboratory; but, you don’t begin to know love until you live it.

Prayer. I could call it solitude with God, time when it’s just me and God. I talk a bit, I’ve learned to listen more, I’m learning to forget all that stuff I’m “supposed” to do and just be with God.

Prayer. I could call it time with God and family. A group of believers joining together with God sitting right there in the group. I think we still talk too much, . . . but, maybe that’s just our way of reminding each other we share in their lives and encouraging each other to trust God. Have you discovered the joy of praying with your Live Oak small group family? That’s your mini-church, small enough to know how each person is doing in life while you do life together. When you have trouble, worry, sickness, crisis, great news, or joy, trust the brothers and sisters in your group and let them share with you in prayer.

While I’m thinking of it, our Live Oak elders meet and pray just about every Sunday morning at 8:00. We would be honored to serve you by lifting you and your family to God in prayer.

Prayer. I seem to do best when I just live with God. An on-line spiritual interaction that touches every moment of my day. Though, to be honest, it’s not always pretty. If I’m angry or even worse, I tell God. If I’m petty, I share that too. More and more, more and more of me is released to God. Oddly enough, I’m realizing it’s making it difficult at times to share with other’s in prayer. Even those closest to me. I still don’t like parts of me, I sure don’t like opening up those parts. I’m not sure how to work it out. But, I trust God will show me. If you have a moment, perhaps you would pray for your pastor about that, I’d appreciate it.

Prayer. It’s overwhelming to think about our Awesome Creator God loving to spend time with me and you.

Tim Phillips has been inviting Teresa and I for months to go to experience HimProv. HimProv is a Christian improv comedy group that performs at BentTree Fellowship once a month. We went and brought along Teresa’s mom last night. It was great! What a wonderful show. We definitely have to let folks know about these talented actors. Teresa and Faye and everybody were laughing so hard that many were folding over in their seats. At one point I was worried a fella in front of me would go into cardiac arrest. But hey, it’s not such a bad way to go.

I laughed a lot, but many times I noticed I was truly enjoying the show, but not laughing out loud. I figured out why. I spent 11 hour days this week in an Interview and Interrogation Class. Excellent training and a huge amount of information to process. The goal, to find the truth. That information ranged from why people tell the truth to why they lie, what happens consciously and subconsciously, behaviors, speech patterns, you name it. We also discussed and read and watched interviews of subjects. Many of the subjects had committed horrible crimes, killing their babies, abusing women, murdering an ex, and other really bad stuff. Yes, I do have an opinion on the OJ case now. These were subjects that seriously needed to be held accountable for the truth. I realized during the show how much emotional energy these cases had sucked out of me. So, here’s the miracle. I believe God led Tim to invite my family to HimProv to fill us up with the fun of life. This morning, the view from my front window was again full of vivid colors.

There’s probably a lesson in my note somewhere . . . but, we’re headed over to a friend’s home to play cards and eat snacks. Just want to make sure my emotional fuel tank is topped off.

Your brother,

brad

PS: 2 bowling balls walked into a restaurant and asked the waiter to call a cab. Their ride had split.

PPS: 2 bowling balls walked out of a restaurant and knew they were in trouble when they saw their mini-van had a flat tire. Yep, no spare.

Ask Teresa or Tim about my jokes.

There are some great English translations of the Bible out there and here’s a quick note about English translations of the Bible and recommended study Bibles.

I read from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible on Sundays. It’s accurate and readable. It’s the one I read in my devotional time.

I also recommend the New American Standard Version (NASV). Another great translation, just doesn’t flow quite as well due to the translating team’s desire to keep a bit more of the ancient languages word order. The NASV is the Bible I recommend lining up next to the NIV for study.

Another thought on study time, scholars have tended to use the Revised Standard Version for years, probably a slight step-up from the NASV for study. If you can find it, the New Revised Standard Version is the latest update. I just bought one.

Finally, the Message is a wonderful translation. Peterson’s a pastor who went straight for the meaning. If you add the Message to the mix, especially in your devotional time, you will be able to dig deep into God’s Word.

Study Bibles? There was a time when I would buy one and read through the notes during a year or two. It’s like being in a Bible class in college. The one I use is the NIV Study Bible. The NIV Study Bible is kinda the swiss army knife of Study Bibles, it’s all there in one package. I have also recommended the Life Application Study Bible over the years. When you go shopping, pay attention to the writers and publishers of Study Bibles to know where their thoughts are coming from.

I just bought the new English Standard Version Study Bible. The new English Standard Version and Study Bible are being pushed by some well know conservatives and I thought I’d take a look. Give me a few months and I’ll let you know.

Keep digging in!

Your brother,

brad

Here’s a follow up to my teaching time this morning:

We each live out a personal mission. One way or another, our decisions and actions follow the core desires of our hearts. The way we operate our lives range from a conscious decision arrived at though guidance from God with prayer and study and insight from wise-ones in our lives to the other end of the spectrum being a hodgepodge collection of spontaneous choices that will not bring a full, satisfied existence. Harry would call the later “willy-nilly”. Most of us are some where in the middle, experiencing true joy only occasionally with most of life lived in the gray clouds of mediocrity.

God calls us to follow him higher, into the shinning brightness of his joy and his mission for our lives. The mission of Live Oak Church is based on Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 28:18-20. Go ahead and study Mark 12:28-34 for additional insights. I’ll cover Matthew 28 and how God’s gifts us for our mission next week. The working statement of these verses is,

“To reach our communities for Jesus Christ through our ministries and lives and to equip believers to be devoted followers of Him.”

Here’s my challenge to you, study and pray about these scriptures and this statement. Re-write it into the words God gives you personally to help you hang on to it. It will make an eternal difference in your life.

Your brother,

brad

P.S.  I forgot to reference my three miracle stories this morning. The accounts come from the book “God in the Foxhole” by Charles W. Sasser.

Here’s the prayer I read during the sermon this morning that my Teresa gave me from Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa adapted the prayer for her ministry from “The Prayer of Saint Francis.” It is on page 74 of the book “Mother Teresa,” edited by Benenate and Durepos, New World Library.

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Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them, through our hands, this day their daily bread, and by our understanding Love, give Peace and Joy.

Lord, make me a channel of Thy Peace, that where there is hatred, I may bring Love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the Spirit of Forgiveness; that where there is discord, I may bring Harmony; that where there is error, I may bring Truth; that where there is doubt, I may bring Faith; that where there is despair, I may bring Hope; that where there are shadows, I may bring Light; that where there is sadness, I may bring Joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted, to understand, that to be understood, to love, than to be loved, for it is by forgetting self that one finds, it is by forgiving that one is forgiven, it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

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We could all benefit from praying this prayer daily.

Your brother,

brad

Wow, I had a great time talking about how extraordinary Jesus was and is this morning. I truly believe all of history past and to come is split at Jesus final week.

Then, I was one of the participants with my wife in the Glover small group this evening. We forged ahead in the Bible and looked at the second part of Jesus’ “Grand Entry,” his time in the Temple courts. The discussion and insights from our group was fantastic. We ended with the question, “how receptive have you (or have I) been to God?” and talked about ways to increase our receptivity (I may have just made up a word) to God. Hmmmm, encouragement and accountability are good things.

I hope you participate in a Small Group Bible Study this week. Give one a try, or two, three, whatever until you find one that fits.

Let me know what you learn.

May God bless you this week.

brad

“The Week that Changed Everything”

Mark Ashton wrote, “There is a final week of one man’s life that stands out in all of world history. A single week that has caused people to change life direction, leave jobs, give up habits, reconcile relationships, and fall on their faces in worship. A week that has caused the rising and falling of empires. A week that has breathed new life into weary souls. A week about which more songs have been sung, more celebrations have been thrown, more poems have been read, and more books have been written that any other single week.”

The last week of Jesus’ life will be our study for the next 6 weeks. I’ll start us off with a time of teaching on Sunday mornings and then our groups will dig deeper into the Scriptures during the week. We’ll start with the huge celebration that kicked off the week, then follow up with the pain of being betrayed by a friend and set-up by the power-brokers. We’ll look at the reasons for his death and the amazing impact of his resurrection.

Oh, one more point, you don’t have to be a believer in Jesus to join us in this discussion. Just a willingness to take a look at Jesus’ final week of life.

See you Sunday,

Your brother,

brad