by Walt Henrichsen | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
“And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.” Joshua 9:14 The sins of the Hebrews are almost too numerous to number. To catalogue them would force us to look closely at our own lives. Most of the sins and problems in the OT have their genesis in the words, they “asked not counsel of the Lord.” God either repeatedly reminds them of this failure, or the situation obviously reveals it. In this example, Joshua makes a treaty with the Gibeonites without asking the Lord. Counsel was readily available to God’s Old Testament people, through the prophets, using the Urim and Thummim, or simply inquiring of the Lord. Rarely did they ask, and often, when the prophets told them what God wanted, they refused to listen. When the prophet Micah warned Ahab king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah against going to war, they ignored him and went to battle anyway. Most decisions people make and later regret involve not seeking counsel. A businessman once remarked, “The best bargain in the marketplace is the counsel of experts.” People do not want to be opposed; they wish to be affirmed. Fearful that they may be opposed rather than affirmed, they do not ask. The issue is not determining the will of God, but rather seeking His will. To properly seek the will of God you must, in a spirit of neutrality, come before God with an open hand, broken spirit, and contrite heart. After seeking the Face of God, ask the counsel of proven men who love you and watch for...
by Walt Henrichsen | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
“Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man knows it. But they went forth, and spread abroad His fame in all that land.” Matthew 9:29-31 After Jesus healed these two blind men He told them specifically not to tell others what He did. Evidently these two men believed that Jesus had the ability to heal them, but not the authority to tell them what they could and could not do. The Savior’s request appeared irrational. Surely people needed to know the power of this great Man. So they accepted His help and ignored His specific instructions. Most of Jesus’ followers do the same thing. They believe He is able to forgive their sins and save their souls, granting them by His free grace access to an eternity with God, while ignoring the clear commandments of the New Testament. We ignore them because they appear irrational, when in reality it is we who are irrational in thinking that we can ignore the will of the Sovereign of the universe. There are many ways that God forces people to admit who He is and their need of Him. For example, in Romans 2 the Apostle Paul notes that when you judge as wrong what another person does, you admit you believe in an absolute standard that applies to all people. A cursory evaluation of your own life reveals that you violate your own standard and are therefore in need of God’s forgiveness. More articles by this...
by Gayle Jackson | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect, but I am pressing on, if I may lay hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Php 3:13 My brothers, I do not count myself to have taken possession, but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment, It is God’s plan that we should all die. We have a turn on earth and what we do with it will determine how we live in eternity. This is taught by Jesus and the Apostles. From the Bible we can conclude that our life objective is not the cleaning up of our society. Historically, that pursuit or objective seems to always get off course and with our proposed “reforms”, society will dislike us more. Just think of Ecclesiastes and Solomon’s conclusion of all his efforts in the world. Do you think you are really smarter than the wisest man? Ecc 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. Ecc 12:13-14 This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. (14) For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or...
by Micah Olson | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Treasures In Heaven Part 4—How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure? Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure? Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure? Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Question: How do you form an accurate filter system? In Matthew 6:19-23, Jesus connects storing up treasures in heaven with having a clear eye. The eye is the lamp of the body, and if our eye is clear we will be full of light. It is only if our eye is clear that we will understand the reality that treasures in heaven are more important than treasures on earth, and only if our eye is clear will we understand how to live our life in such a way that is pleasing to God and leads to treasures in heaven. So let’s take a step backwards and ask, “How do we make our eye clear?” How do we ensure that our view of reality is accurate? Jesus addresses this question a number of ways in the gospels, and the answer always comes back to obedience. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. John...
by Micah Olson | Sep 5, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Treasures In Heaven Part 1- What Is Your Treasure? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure? Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure? Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure? Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Question: What does Christ mean by treasure? In order to think about Matthew 6:19-21 clearly, it is helpful to make a distinction between possessions and treasures. The Greek word translated “treasure” is thesauros which means “the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up.” I think the best definition for treasure, in the context of Matthew 6:19-21, is: “something that is very special, important, or valuable.” See Note 1 In the context of this article, I define the word “possession” to mean any form of worldly belongings or assets. All men, in some form or another, have worldly possessions. Whether it is your savings account, your 401K, your house, the clothes on your back, or a little food that you have saved for your next meal, no man is completely without worldly possessions. To review…a treasure is something that is very important to you, and a possession is just something that belongs to you. You have many possessions, but not all of your possessions are treasures. My sock...
by Skip Tschantz | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Responding to Society Keeping the Mission in Focus Being mindful of our mission Titus 3:8: This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. What is Paul referring to that is good and profitable for all men? Lets look at 2 Corinthians 5 where we see an outline of our mission. 2 Cor 5:18-21 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Our mission is not to impact our culture by changing their moral values, or by legislative or judicial process. Our mission is to be an ambassador through whom God can reconcile men and women to Himself. The Bible doesn’t mandate that we are to impact our culture so that it becomes Christianized. To embrace this view will blur our priorities and weaken our allegiance. Our priority is the gospel and our allegiance is to Jesus Christ and to Him alone. Our calling is not to change society...
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