Held to a Higher Standard

I had a wonderful time this week.

It was my privilege to teach an adult class on the life of a man of God who lived in the 1600’s.

This man devoted his life to improving education for children.

This man felt that education would help lift mankind out of the cycle of cruelty and war.

His methods were nothing short of revolutionary.

In his view, education should not be limited to boys born to elite families.

Rather, education should be for everyone including girls.

He reasoned that a child’s first teacher would be his mother.

Therefore, it was important that the mother be educated as well.

People resist change.

As a result, people would resist the changes he recommended.

Education in his day consisted of rote memorization.

Boys who could not recite the lesson verbatim were often punished and humiliated.

At this point one of my students reminded me of this verse from James.

James 3:1 (NET) - Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly.

I agreed that a teacher who uses punishment and humiliation to motivate students should not teach.

I also shared with my class that this same verse made me consider teaching very carefully.

This applies to this class I teach one per year and the one I teach every Sunday morning.

After all, who in their right mind would be willing to teach knowing they would be held to a higher standard?

For me, the beginning of comfort was found in Romans 12 where Paul discusses gifts.

Romans 12:7 (NET) - If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach;

Paul reminds us that those of us given the gift of teaching must teach.

He does not say we should.

He said we must.

We must however do so with care.

We must give God the glory and we must present scripture as God has given it to us.

We must never take it out of context or pick out the parts we like while disregarding the rest.

If you are called to teach, then teach; even if it means being held to a higher standard.

Simply trust God and give Him the glory.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, June 14, 2019.

I’ll be back here on Friday, June 21, 2019

The Money Box

One thing that can be said about teaching Sunday school is that you never know what questions will arise.

Last Sunday we were discussing the Beatitudes and how in particular they applied to the disciples.

A question arose as to what Jesus and His followers did for money.

Scripture tells us that Jesus and his followers possessed a money box to help the poor.

It also tells us that Judas was the keeper of the box and that he helped himself to that money.

John 12:6 (NET) - Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.

Jesus knew that Judas stole from the money box and yet He allowed him to remain in charge of it… but more on that later.

What about money for their own use?

Scripture never tells us that Jesus or His disciples had money of their own.

Rather, it implies that they did not.

When Jesus sent his followers out in pairs, he instructed them not to take any money.

Luke 9:3 (NET) - He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not take an extra tunic.

Jesus empowered them to do great things.

Yet they were to be totally dependent on God for even their most basic needs.

Just before Jesus entered Jerusalem he sent his disciples ahead to get a colt for his entry into the city.

Matthew 21:2-3 (NET) - telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

When the Passover came, his followers asked Jesus where He wished the meal prepared.

Jesus gave them these instructions…

Matthew 26:18 (NET) - He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near. I will observe the Passover with my disciples at your house.”’

No money changed hands for either the use of the room or the colt.

The one time that the need for money arose, Jesus instructed Peter how to obtain it.

In Matthew 17, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and asked if Jesus paid the tax,

Peter told them yes and returned to Jesus.

Jesus knew what had transpired.

Although Jesus did not really need to pay the tax, He instructed Peter how to obtain the money.

Matthew 17:27 (NET) – But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.

Then, there is the matter of His burial.

Luke 23:52-53 (NET) - He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock, where no one had yet been buried.

Jesus was laid to rest in a borrowed tomb.

Scripture says practically nothing about Jesus and his followers using money.

That seems to be a message in and of itself.

So, why would Jesus allow Judas, a known thief, to keep the money box for the poor?

Let’s look at Paul’s first letter to Timothy.

1 Timothy 6:10 (NET) - For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.

Notice that Paul did not say that “money is the root of all evils”.

Paul stated that “the love of money is the root of all evils”.

Jesus commands us to love God and love our neighbor.

The love of money does not allow us to love either God or our neighbor.

The love of money is all consuming.

It is nothing short of idolatry.

Perhaps that is why Jesus allowed Judas to keep the money box.

Perhaps He simply allowed Judas to decide which master he would serve.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, June 23, 2017.

I’ll be back here on Friday, July 7, 2017

What to Do

Many people suffer from stress around Christmas.

Speaking from personal experience, I can see why.

It seems like everyone gets busier around Christmas.

Being a Christian certainly helps us cope. 

As we continue our journey through the season of Advent, I thought I might share a few things that some might be helpful in coping with holiday stress.

Above all, keep the focus where it belongs.

Christmas is about Jesus.

It is not about us.

Tasks and activities that bring Him glory should be given top priority.

Christmas is also an excellent time to love others.

Helping those less fortunate is important.

Christmas is also an excellent time to bring others to Him.

Just about everything else comes next.

Before embarking on a task, check your motivation.

Ask yourself why you are doing it.

Answering this question honestly will be very helpful.

Scripture is also an excellent guide.

It reminds us that the more we are blessed, the more is expected of us.

It also reminds us that whatever we do, we do not do alone.

Philippians 4:13 (NET) - I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.

Another thing I have learned is that sometimes we must say “No” to the requests of others.

It doesn’t mean we don’t love them; it simply means “no”.

Finally, a truly amazing thing happens when we put the Lord first.

He helps us prioritize everything else.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, December 9, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, December 16, 2016

In Charge of More

This week, our church hosted another successful Vacation Bible School.

I am so grateful to God for my church family.

A great deal of effort goes into this ministry. I do not use the word work here because many do not consider what they do as work.

Preparations begin months in advance but the end result is a very successful ministry and community outreach.

Although children and their walk with God is the focal point of Bible School, we also provide an adult class every evening,

I felt both happy and privileged to teach two of those adult classes.

My second class posed a particularly interesting challenge as I had to discuss the first six chapters of Nehemiah in about one hour.

The point we were stressing that particular night was that "Prayer helps us stand strong!"

Thinking back on the number of times I have read Nehemiah, I was always impressed with Nehemiah’s personal growth and the number of skills that God bestowed upon him as he rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.

From my professional life, I often thought that Nehemiah would have had an incredible resume.

When it came time to teach this class, I set up an easel with a large pad and wrote on the top line "Resume of Nehemiah."

I told my class that as we went through the first six chapters we would look for the specific skill sets God gave Nehemiah and we would build his resume as we went along.

I began with the last verse of Nehemiah chapter one which stated that he was "wine steward for the emperor". As we are to do our jobs as if we were doing them for God, we made that our first item.

We then went back to the beginning of Nehemiah and began to read.

We read that Nehemiah mourned, fasted and prayed so we added these three items next.

I asked the class to notice how specific Nehemiah’s prayer was.

Nehemiah requested letters from the emperor granting him safe passage and building materials, so we added "administration".

Upon arrival, Nehemiah surveyed the damage to the wall so we next added "damage assessment".

Next he rallied the people for the work at hand, so we added "management and motivation".

The third chapter detailed the various groups that worked on the wall and the sections each was responsible for rebuilding. So we added "project management" and "human resources".

Enemies then threatened to attack those working on the wall, and Nehemiah responded by having the people prepared for battle even while work on the wall continued. So, we added "military general" to the list.

Many had to borrow from the few that could lend just to buy grain and pay taxes.

Nehemiah grew angry at the interest the lenders were imposing on their own people.

He told them that what they were doing was enslaving their brothers and sisters and he strongly reminded them that this was wrong. They immediately agreed to stop this practice, so we added "spiritual advisor" to the list.

Nehemiah was then made "governor" so we added that to the list and learned that he did not demand from the people that which former governors still expected out of his respect for God.

Nehemiah’s enemies continued to conspire against him and even some of his own prophets were influenced by those enemies.

Throughout this monumental task, Nehemiah remained faithful and he prayed often.

In fifty two days, the wall was completed.

I reminded my students that Nehemiah’s prayers helped him stand strong and we should always be mindful that "Prayer helps us stand strong!"

Before I dismissed the class, I read the parable of the talents.


In it a man went on a journey and entrusted his slaves to his property.

Matthew 25:15 (NET) - To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

The first two put their master’s money to work and earned him more but the third buried his one talent in the ground .

The third was rebuked by his master and had his talent given to the first slave who had earned him the most.

The other two were each praised by their master.

Matthew 25:21 (NET) - His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’

I pointed to the resume we created and reminded my students that as Nehemiah continued to be faithful, God had indeed put him in charge of many things!

He does the same with us today.

I also cannot help but notice that parable used ‘talent’ for the currency.

God gives each of us ‘talents’ of a different nature.

He gives these to us in order that we bring glory to Him.

If we are faithful with what He gives us, He will give us even more with which to bring him even more glory!



Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com

When God Calls

Sesquicentennial.

It’s a fancy word that means 150th anniversary.

I begin this way because about three years ago I felt God leading me to write and share a weekly devotional and this makes devotional number 150.

What’s so remarkable about that?

Not much unless  you consider the fact that I never considered writing on my own.

In fact, by profession, I deal far more with numbers than words.

I followed His lead and I am glad that I did because some exciting and completely unexpected things happened as a result of it.

When I first began  writing, it was a challenge for me.

I knew this was going to take me out of my comfort zone.

I also knew that if it made a difference in only one life, all the effort will have been completely worth it.

Mark 16:15 (NET) - He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

Eventually I learned that this happened when I was contacted by someone who was reading them.

We began communicating and I will never forget the question he posed to me.

"Do you think there is hope for me?"

I replied that there was indeed hope for all of us because of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:3 (NET) - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,..."

That individual, with God’s help, turned his life around in an amazing way and we still stay in touch.

Of course the credit and the glory both belong to God.

I am delighted simply to be the instrument that He used.

As a result of this, I came to another conclusion.

Since I was able to help this one individual, perhaps I will be able to help others along the way,

Another benefit I have personally received as a result of following His lead are the connections I have made with other Christians along the way.

Connections with the other contributors to this blog site are a great example.

Although I have never met them (and others like them) face to face,  I feel as if I know them because of their willingness to both encourage and edify.

That is what Christians are supposed to do for each other.

I always look forward to seeing what God has written upon their hearts to share with others.

I have also made connections with others.

Therein lies opportunity.

Most surprisingly, I have come to know myself better as well.

I have also had to make some choices and some changes along the way.

The biggest among these is how I choose to make use of what I consider a very precious commodity.

Time.

When people think about stewardship, thoughts automatically turn to money.

Also important is how we choose to invest our time.

We all have a finite amount of time and not one of us knows how much of it we have.

How we choose to invest that time is of tremendous importance.

So, when you feel His leading, I strongly urge you to follow it.

God indeed works in strange and mysterious ways.

If someone had told me a decade ago what my life would be like today, I simply would not have believed them.

I once heard someone say that God does not always call the equipped, but he does equip those He calls.

There is a tremendous amount of truth in that.

When God calls, follow the example of Samuel.

1 Samuel 3:10  (NET) - Then the LORD came and stood nearby, calling as He previously had done, "Samuel! Samuel!" Samuel replied, "Speak, for Your servant is listening!"


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com

Saving to Serve

The Thanksgiving holiday in the USA is behind us (except for its crass commercialization, unfortunately). One thing I found myself being thankful for this year was being able to share with others the bounty God has showered upon me. I haven't always taken that opportunity as I should have. When my wife and I were younger and had several children living at home, our income was less and day-to-day expenses greater, and we were carrying too much debt. So, I I felt anxious about every dollar and was too reluctant to part with even a few to help the needy and other good causes. I shouldn't have been that way; my faith in God's providence was lacking.

In any event, I'm blessed to still be here today, with my health and a good job, and my children are all on their own. We CAN and now DO more to help those less fortunate, though of course there's so much more we could and should be doing--personally, and not just by sending dollars someplace. With the Lord's help we've learned over the years to be reasonably frugal and to live within our means, so we now have an excess beyond minimum sustenance that can be used to do things like support children and families in Asia, supply our local homeless relief mission, and fund missionary efforts, as well as to help our children and a few friends through rough economic stretches. We've also managed to stockpile supplies of non-perishable food and water to help ourselves and our neighbors through an emergency.

It's so important not to get distracted by the dazzling images of opulence that modern society dangles before people's eyes, to entice us into a life of careless spending and debt that only makes a few others rich and ourselves helpless and dependent on assistance for our very survival. Not only does that open us to a corrupting level of control by those upon whom we're dependent, it prevents us from obtaining the blessings, to ourselves and others, that flow from helping the less fortunate. How can we properly care for our families and help the poor, as God expects us to do (1 John 3:17–19), if all our means have been frittered away on unnecessaries? Remember this admonition: "[L]et him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." (Ephesians 4:28)

Get into the habit of pausing before you buy anything, or subscribe to any service, that isn't indisputably essential to daily existence. Do I really NEED that big-screen TV or that new mobile device? Can our family have a nice vacation somewhere besides Disney World? Carefully consider--and pray--whether other, more important things might be done with the money you'd be spending, including saving it away for harder times, or to assist someone else. If you condition yourself to put your family and others in mind first, and the future before the present, you'll develop habits of prudent living that will enable you, your loved ones, and your neighbors, with God's help, to weather any storm and remain strong in God's service.

Tom Fleming
Songs of Praises

Top 7 Online Bible Resources for Teaching Children

Children are so precious to God. As parents and teachers we have a wonderful opportunity to instill transforming truths in our kids' hearts. These values will be an anchor for them when they grow up and encounter the waves of life. As we see in the following Scriptures:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6

We can make learning fun by incorporating games and art into the lessons.
In this post I'm going to list 7 of my favorite free online resources to teach the Bible to children.


1- Christian Answers - has a wide range of lessons and printables and even some movies and online activities.


2- Abc Bible Verses - This page features a free bible alphabet poems with accompanying coloring pages for you to print out. Even if your children are older they will learn from each letter.


3- Virtual Church - has some Bible stories and coloring pages that go with each one.


4- E Bible Teacher - has a whole range of lessons to help Sunday School teachers, but can also be used by parents and homeschoolers.


5- Christian children story online free - This story about the arrival of Johnny's baby brother teaches the attributes of God while presenting a heart warming story about the new baby.


6- Sermons for Kids - provides short object lessons that transmit the truth in an easy to digest way.


7- DLTK Bible- has a variety of resources, crafts, worksheets and even songs to help you prepare your lesson.

I'm sure that these free resources will enhance your Bible lessons and make them lots of fun!
Blessings always,
Eren