There is a good article on serving as an example to others recently posted on Practical-Discipleship.com. Modeling and setting the pace are important in evangelical Christianity. Read more about it here:
Setting the Pace
January 28, 200911 Questions for the worker
January 20, 2009Based on the previous three posts, I have been asking myself the following 11 questions.
1. Am I feeling courageous? If not, am I going to God asking for courage?
2. Am I an expert at working in the harvest field? On a scale of 1-10, 10 being master expert, 1 being a novice, how would I rate my expertise?
3. What have I taken a stand on lately? With anyone, non-believers, believers, peers?
4. Do I work “a lot” or “a little” in the harvest field?
5. What promises from God am I basing my actions on?
6. What “big things” am I asking God for? Am I praying big?
7. What skills do I have that I use in the harvest field? What skills am I lacking?
8. Am I always ready for whatever God and Satan bring my way?
9. Am I continuing to develop my expertise? How?
10. Who is the enemy I am fighting? How is Satan showing himself in my life?
11. Do I realize how big the stakes are in the spiritual battle taking place in the harvest field? Am I urgent about what I do? On a scale of 1-10, how urgent?
Do you have any more questions you would suggest?
How workers are not warriors
January 14, 2009While I was meditating on 1 Chronicles 11 & 12, I noticed some ways that warriors are much different than workers in the harvest field.
1. Developing expertise. Both warriors and workers are experts. Warriors develop their expertise through practice and training before the battle. They practice swordcraft and archery. They practice hand-to-hand movements until they become second nature. Practical experience comes during the battle, but you have to stay alive long enough to experience it.
Workers in the harvest field develop their expertise through OJT — On The Job Training. They learn a quick technique and they go out and try it. Then they evaluate. They make some modification and they go out and try it again. Evaluate and repeat. If you do that in a physical battle you die while you are evaluating because enemy soldiers keep coming. Speaking of the enemy . . .
2. The enemy is different. Warriors battle other human beings. The quality of the weapons may be different on each side, but the operators are humans.
Workers work with humans. Satan is the enemy. His tactics are much different. He mount psychological warfare. He gets “in the head” of the worker. His purpose is to get the worker to give up. To quit trying. He wants people to quit working in the harvest field. Ignore the people going to hell. Those are Satan’s prize and he wants to keep. They are prisoners of war. He doesn’t want workers trying to free them.
3. The stakes. Warriors compete for physical life and death. Everyone dies sometime. Warriors know that there is the potential they will die in the next battle. It’s a risk. Any one could die at any time. Warriors just think about it more because it is a very real possibility when they go to battle.
Workers compete for spiritual life and death. The kind that lasts for eternity. Ecclesiastes says that God has set eternity in men’s hearts. Everyone knows their is an eternal destiny in the depths of their heart.
Spiritual death is not as tangible to most people as physical death is. Which is unfortunate, because the stakes are so very much higher.
Do you recognize the importance of working in the harvest field?
More on Workers as Warriors
January 13, 2009I have been thinking more about the similarities between warriors and workers in the harvest field. David’s best warriors were called Mighty Men. Information about these Mighty Men can be found in 1 Chronicles 11 & 12.
5. Both take action based on a promise. Warriors take action based on the promise of God. The Mighty Men supported the kingship of David so it could extend over all of Israel “as the LORD had promised.” (v. 11:10) They helped David accomplish his goals and objectives because they believed God was going to establish his kingdom.
Workers take action based on the promise of God that they will reap a harvest. They plant, water, and cultivate the crops believing that there will be fruits to harvest. They go out into the field to pick the fruit because they believe that God has prepared it.
6. They both do great things. The Mighty Men warriors killed lions and giant Egyptians and hundreds of enemy soldiers at one time. They risked their lives to get David a cup of water. (v. 11:19)
Workers harvest much fruit (John 15:8). There aren’t very many of them, so they are overworked. They can see that the fruit is ripe. They hate to see it go to waste. They stay out later and work harder than they might normally because they don’t want the harvest to rot.
7. They are both skilled. These warriors were armed with bows. They could shoot arrows and sling stones with both the right hand and the left hand (v. 12:1-2). They were able to handle the shield and spear (v. 12:8).
Workers in the harvest field need skill. It takes skill to pick the fruit without bruising it. Skill is required to harvest the crops with the least amount of effort so that more fruit can be picked during the time available. Workers need skill to know which fruits are perfectly ripe and which fruit still needs to spend a little more time on the vine.
8. Both are ready at all times. Warriors are ready for battle (v. 12:8). And they were armed (v. 12:1-2). They were so determined that their faces were set like the face of a lion (v. 12:8). And they were as fast as gazelles in the mountains (v. 12:8).
Workers need to be ready. Sometimes they know when they are going how to work in the fields. Sometimes in the course of their regular, daily activities opportunities arise to harvest. When those opportunities come up, they need to be ready.
Are you ready? 
Workers as Warriors
January 10, 2009Yesterday I was pondering the mighty men of David described in 1 Chronicles 11 & 12. These men were warriors, men of war. That was their specialty. They were not known as butchers or bakers or candlestick makers or farmers or politicians or speakers or anything else. They were known as warriors.
And I was thinking about the similarities between warriors and workers in the harvest field. Here are some of my observations:
1. Both need courage. Warriors face the fear of death every time they go into battle. Workers face the fear of wasting their lives. Does their labor really matter? They don’t often experience the immediate sense of victory a warrior gets when a foe is defeated.
Sometimes a person is quickly reaped into the kingdom of God from the harvest field, but often much work is invested planting, sowing, watering, and cultivating before reaping.
2. Both are experts. Warriors are experts at war. If they weren’t, they would already be dead because of their mistakes.
Workers are experts at farming for souls. If they weren’t, they would have already given up or never started, because the work is too hard.
3. Both “take a stand”. 1 Chronicles 11:14 says that Eleazar (one of the mighty men) and David “took a stand.” They quit running, stopped, and took a stand against the Philistines. If they died, they died, but they were going to stop in the middle of a barley field and defend it against all comers.
Workers have to “take a stand” as well. They have to enter the harvest field and stay until the work is done. If they don’t do it, some people will not get harvested. No one else is going to do it. The harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few.
4. Both do “a lot”. The mighty men in 1 Chronicles were known to kill a lot. 300 men was a common number for a mighty man to have dispatched in order to become famous. You did not become a famous warrior by killing a man or two. Unless he was a giant!
Workers have to do a lot of work. You don’t work in the field on day and call yourself a laborer. That person is known as a “tourist.” They came out to the farm and rode on the tractor or the combine for a day or a half-day to see what it was like. They are more of a “spectator” than a laborer. Even if they steered the combine or got dirty helping to unload the harvest.
Over the years, I have seen many spiritual tourists and spectators. Laboring in the harvest sounds fun or glamorous. But its not. Its rewarding, but it can also be as difficult as going to war.
What observations have you made about the similarities between workers and warriors?
Consider these 14 characteristics of a godly man
January 8, 2009I have continued to read “The Making of A Dangerous Man” by Al Larson. I am still looking for characteristics of a truly godly man. I came across this list of 14 characteristics on page 71.
1. Confident and secure because of who he is in Christ
2. Risks whatever it takes to follow Christ wherever He leads
3. Does the right thing, regardless of personal cost
4. Courageous
5. Passionate
6. Follows Christ out of his comfort zone
7. Has a spirit of adventure
8. Faces life issues head-on
9. Rejects passivity
10. Is a partner with God
11. Treasures Christ in his heart above all else
12. Vulnerable
13. Excited at what he sees God doing
14. Depending on God to come through
Next, I will be looking for verses to support or further elaborate on each of these. If I can find support, I will consider an item for my final list. If can’t find support, I will probably reject it.
I would still life to hear from you if you have any suggestions. This will be a work in progress for a while.
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3 characteristics of a godly man
January 6, 2009Frank recommended that I review a book called, “The Making of a Dangerous Man,” in my pursuit of finding the qualities of a real man of God. I started reading it.
Al Larson, the author, suggested 3 characteristics based on the life of Paul.
1. He was committed to following the leadership of Christ.
2. Paul had a rock-solid and God-rooted identity of who he was.
3. He was a “dangerous man” for good. Willing to incur danger and take captives from Satan’s rule.
12 actions to help a man become godly
January 6, 2009George at Practical-discipleship.com has encouraged me come up with a list of things I would help a man with if that man wanted to become godly. Here is my first draft of the list. I would work on these things for the first year.
Doing these things with someone would be a tremendous boost to my relationship with God!
1. Reading through the Bible in a year.
2. Consistently meeting with Jesus Christ for 30 minutes every day.
3. Memorizing 100 Bible verses.
4. Study the Gospel of John
5. Read “In His Steps”
6. Develop a prayer notebook
7. Attend a fellowship meeting every week
8. Hand out 100 Gospel pamphlets
9. Share his testimony 25 times
10. Make 5 new non-Christian friends
11. Learn one illustration for sharing the Gospel
12. Spend 8 hours TAWG at one time
Do you have any suggestions on what to add, remove, or modify?
I would love to hear them!
What is a real godly man?
January 4, 2009Lately, I have been thinking much about what it means to be a godly man. A real man of God based on the characteristics described in the Bible. I would like to develop a list to share with high school and college men when I am mentoring them.
Over the decades, I have watched as society has changed the definition of what it means to be a man. I have read books like Wild at Heart, etc. But I am not all that interested in running around in the woods naked beating my chest. Although in my younger days I was known to do partake of such activities. 
Anyway, I am looking for a list that can be backed up with Biblical references. For instance, “loves the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind.” would qualify as a Biblical description of a godly man from Matthew 22:37-38. Running around naked in the woods beating his chest might be an application of this (but I doubt it).
Here is a list I found on a secular humanist web site that started me thinking. Maybe it will trigger some ideas for you.
1. Makes real decisions
2. Puts his relationships second
3. Willing to fail
4. Confident
5. Expresses love actively
6. Re-channels sex energy
7. Faces his fears
8. Honors the masculinity of other men
9. Accepts responsibility for his relationships
10. Dies well
With a little work, I could turn many of these into characteristics of a godly man and support them with scripture (not all of them, but many).
I need your help.
Do you know any place I can find a list of godly man characteristics?
Which characteristics do you personally think are most important?
If you were me, what forums or communities would you visit to ask this question?
Thanks in advance for your help.
2009 Goals, got some?
January 3, 2009I have been busy reviewing 2008 and planning my goals for 2009. I follow George’s model discussed here: Practical-Discipleship.com Goal Setting.
I plan to read thru the Bible once in 2009. In addition, I plan to read thru the New Testament 3 times. I started reading the New Testament in The Message. I am not a big fan of paraphrased editions for study or memorizing, but The Message comes highly recommended so I decided to read thru it this year, at least the New Testament.
I plan to get up an hour earlier every day to pray. I also plan to keep better track of my time praying and what I pray for.
Last year I read an old book on using scripture memory in witnessing. I can’t find it right now, or I would tell you what it was. But I was struck by the habit one young man had of writing down the names and addresses of everyone he had shared the gospel with over the years. I plan to start a similar journal this year.
I also plan to start a new growth group for college students at the local university. I plan to help, encourage, and admonish them to complete a list of 25-50 things they should do before they graduate from college. I will try to remember to share the list with you once we get it completed.
My final spiritual goal is to focus on experiencing the presence of God in my life. My friend Frank is working on some projects related to this and I will be helping him. Right now, we are reading Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God. I have read thru this book before. I look forward to seeing what Frank is going to do with it.
What are your spiritual goals for 2009?
