Three Notes to our Readers

Posted on by

1) If you enjoy Bible study or will be teaching Romans anytime this year, we’d like to encourage you to stop by www.joemckeever.com and look at the three offerings inside the “Features” box: the cartoons on Romans, “10 Things to Know about Romans,” and a chapter-by-chapter analysis called “Getting a Handle on Romans.” You might find some help there.

Today, Wednesday, we put a few more cartoons in the mail to Marty who will be posting these with the Romans group. We plan to add some more in the next week or ten days, so stop by later to see if there’s anything you can use.

Also, as I learn more about Romans from continuing to study it and from teaching it, I’ll be coming back into these articles and tweaking them, adding insights, changing anything I’ve learned more about, and refining the English. (Not too much on that last point. Hey, I’m from off the farm in Alabama and you should expect only so much.)

So, where will I be teaching Romans? Here’s the schedule. You’re welcome to drop in for any that are near you.

Thursday, January 10 – We’ll do a two-hour preview of Romans twice at our Baptist Center, 2222 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans. In the morning from 9 to 11 am and that evening at 6:30 pm. This is primarily for pastors, but anyone is welcome. (My cell phone is 504/615-0149. Call if you need directions.)

January 14-16, Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday mornings from 10 to noon at Oak Park Baptist Church, 1110 Kabel Drive, in the Algiers section of New Orleans. Pastor Bobby Stults says this is primarily for the senior adults who don’t like to get out at night, but you’ll surely be welcome.

January 18-19, Friday night (6:30 to 9 pm) and Saturday (8 am to noon), also at Oak Park Baptist Church. This is for everyone else.

January 20, Sunday, through Wednesday night, January 23, at Rocky Creek Baptist Church, Lucedale, Mississippi. Contact that church for the exact schedule. Note: We’ll not have a Tuesday night session; I’ll be speaking at the annual associational men’s banquet at the same church. Jimmy Holcomb is the Associational Director of Missions. He can give you directions or information: jimmy@ggbaptist.com.

2) We had gridlock in New Orleans today.

Continue reading →

My Dad Keeps Sending Me These Notes

Posted on by

Two or three years ago, having heard that my Dad needed a new large-print Bible, I drove across town to the Lifeway Christian Store and purchased him one. Of course, it was the King James Version, the only kind he had ever known.

I wrote his name in the front and added this: “In appreciation for the Bible you bought me for Christmas, 1948.”

In presenting it to him, I said, “Dad, I want you to do me a favor. Mark it up. When you read something you particularly like, underline it or write in the margin.” That was a new thought to him.

Dad grew up in the generation that was taught not to mark in Bibles. That’s why the Bible which belonged to his mother, my Grandma Bessie, who died in 1982, and which Bible I own, has very few notes in the margin. She was such a godly woman with excellent insights; I would have loved for her to have marked that Bible up.

On November 3, 2007, at the age of 95 years and 7 months, my dad went to Heaven. The next day, when I arrived, one of my sisters handed me the Bible. “Pop wanted you to have this back,” she said.

There on the presentation page where I had lettered his name and written my appreciation, he had added, “At death, give back to Joe.”

A word about his handwriting. For a man with only a 7th grade education, and a lifelong coal miner at that, Pop’s writing style was impressive. He used to tell us how the schools in his childhood taught classical penmanship to the students. He would hold the pen in a certain way and move his hand around in circles. “We practiced these exercises until we learned to write well,” he would say.

The other morning, two months after Dad’s death, when I remarked to Mom about his notes in this Bible, she said, “Even at the last, he still had this beautiful handwriting.”

Continue reading →

LEADERSHIP LESSON NO. 40 — “Pray, pray, pray. I apologize for making it number 40.”

Posted on by

I stood in the Christian bookstore thumbing through a volume on a subject I’d been researching. This looked like exactly what I wanted. “How to Help Your Child to Faith” contained 35 chapters, each directed toward parents on counseling and preparing their child for understanding the Christian faith and making his own commitment. What got me, however, was chapter 35.

The topic for that chapter was “Finally, all you can do is pray.” I laid the book down in disgust and walked away.

“Finally” implies that prayer is the last thing to do. “All you can do is pray” clearly says that prayer is the least thing you can do. The last, the least. What’s wrong with this picture?

What kind of philosophy of prayer is that? Think of it! As though to call on the Lord of Heaven and Earth to become involved in a situation involving a child you love dearly is some small thing to be lightly regarded.

If you need evidence of the fallen nature and sinful heart of man–even the best among us–consider the low regard we hold for prayer.

Confession time. I consider myself a person of prayer. Prayer is never far from my mind throughout the day, and after reading several chapters in the Bible each morning, I try to spend a good deal of time in prayer. And yet, I did the same thing I was criticizing that book’s author for doing.

I forgot to emphasize the pre-eminence of prayer. Over the past six months, as I have added the occasional “leadership lesson” to this collection, only this week did it occur to me that prayer should have been featured more prominently and much sooner.

I deeply apologize. Since my son has taught me how to edit these blogs, I know how to go into the website and insert this article earlier, giving it a much higher number. The problem is that no one would see it way down there, since those were written and dispatched into cyberspace months ago. So, number 40 it will have to remain, at least for the time being.

A leader is a decision-maker and a people-influencer. A leader sets the direction, then stands out front and blazes the trail. His mantra is “follow me.”

Continue reading →

Four Questions Raised from Saturday’s News

Posted on by

1) Why do any Saints fans attend ball games in Chicago?

The last several times the Saints and Bears have played in Chicago in the dead of winter, the Saints fans have been harassed and cursed, snowballed and even abused. Furthermore, many who attended those games have indicated the stadium security people were unresponsive when they complained.

We’re not saying all Saints fans are “saints.” And competitive spirit is even fun. But there is such a thing as carrying it too far, and from all we hear, the Bears fans have exceeded that line.

The best seat in the house is the couch in your own living room. The temperature in New Orleans is in the 50s this weekend, and my fireplace will be getting a nice workout.

2) Why do African-American churches celebrate Kwanzaa in their services?

This question was raised on the religion page of Saturday’s Times-Picayune. The writer for the Religion News Service told how many black churches in America wrestle with that issue. I don’t want to push my own opinion too hard here, because I’m mixed race myself–mostly Irish, I expect, but mainly “Heinz 57”–and have no clue what it’s like being a minority in this country. That said, I do know something about the Christian faith and I know a good deal about churches.

My opinion is this: if African-American churches want to celebrate Kwanzaa and do not mind alienating non-blacks in their congregation, have at it. More and more, particularly in the part of the world where I live, ethnic churches are drawing people from mixed backgrounds. The Chinese Baptist church here, for instance, is thinking of putting an associate pastor on staff who would be Anglo, in order to minister to their members who do not speak Chinese. In the Vietnamese Baptist church, you’ll see bi-racial families in the congregation, indicating that the son or daughter of first-generation American-Vietnamese has married an Anglo. To a lesser extent, the same thing is happening in African-American congregations. More likely, it’s non-black families or singles who have been attracted to the congregation because of their music, preaching, or ministries.

Celebrate your cultural and racial heritage if you want to, but recognize the effect may be to build a barrier between people.

3) Why would a spokesmen for Baptists run down Baptists?

Continue reading →

Getting a Handle on Romans

Posted on by

Think of the Epistle to the Romans as a long conversation Paul is having with believers in Rome. (Bloggers know the feeling of having conversations with unseen-but-hope-for readers.)

Paul is apparently in Corinth on the last of his three missionary journeys and soon to head to Jerusalem where he will be arrested. He will end up in Rome for trial before Caesar. In this letter, he keeps talking about wanting to come to Rome. If he only knew!

The first 17 verses of chapter one are introductory. Paul has never been to Rome and never met most of the people who will be reading this letter. He’s heard plenty about them, however, all good. Nevertheless, he is well aware of the challenge facing them living in the citadel of corruption and depravity. Some are Jewish and facing issues Paul knew from personal experience, namely, what role the promises of God now plays in their destiny and that of their people.

Whether Gentile or Jew, they all need grounding in the faith and a proper understanding of the gospel. Thus he writes this letter.

Pau speaks of

–the gospel of God (the source of this good news) 1:1. See John 3:16.

–the gospel of His Son (the subject of this good news) 1:9. See I Cor. 15:1ff.

–the gospel of salvation (the object of this good news) 1:16. See I Tim 1:15.

–the gospel this is his own (the message of Christ filtered through Paul’s own experience and testimony) 2:16. This is the ultimate aim, for each of us to pass along the gospel message in the manner the Holy Spirit has taught us. That’s why a dozen preacher/teachers could do expositions of Romans and no two would sound alike. It’s not a problem, it’s the genius of God’s plan.

Then, after the introduction, Paul moves into a fuller presentation of the gospel and various issues surrounding it.

———————————————————————————————————–

Romans 1:18-32 – MAN HAS NO ONE TO BLAME FOR HIS TROUBLES BUT HIMSELF

Theme: Humanity’s troubles stem from his rejecting God. (That’s the root cause.)

Before presenting the “good news” (the gospel), the bad news has to be dealt with.

1) Mankind has rejected the knowledge of God. 1:18-21

2) Mankind has rejected the worship of God. 1:22-25

3) Mankind has rejected the plan of God. 1:26-32

As a result of rejecting the Lord, man has made some very bad choices, which in turn have brought the wrath of God upon him.

1) He exchanged God for idols. 1:23

2) He exchanged Truth for a lie. 1:25

3) He exchanged the Natural for the unnatural. 1:26

What a shame. Mankind could have had God, Truth, and the natural order of Creation. By rejecting God, he has chosen the absurdity of idols, the illusion of lies, and the illness of the unnatural.

Look around the community where you live and see if this doesn’t describe much of what you see.

Hundreds of years earlier, God said: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and they have hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

What an exchange! Whatever were we thinking! Stay with the Jeremiah 2:13 analysis for a moment. Remember that a cistern was an underground tank, dug out and lined with clay in order to store rainwater. At best, the water would be stagnant; at worst, it could become polluted. But God says His people have not swapped Him–the fountain of living, running, fresh water–for stagnant water. It’s worse than that. They have turned their backs on Him and chosen dry holes in the ground!

The choice is never between God and other gods. There are no other gods. The choice is between the living God and a dry hole in the ground.

———————————————————————————————————–

Romans chapter 2 – DON’T GET SELF-RIGHTEOUS HERE, RELIGIOUS CROWD!

It’s so easy to criticize and condemn those who blatantly reject God and plunge headlong into lifestyles of debauchery. But hold on–we who are “God’s frozen chosen” are not off the hook.

Continue reading →

LEADERSHIP LESSON NO. 39–“Keep Good Records, a Journal Even.”

Posted on by

“Pastor,” the caller said, “I have a question, and I’m embarrassed to ask it.”

Thinking I was about to do some telephone counseling, I donned my best pastoral manner and said, “Don’t be. Tell me about it.”

She said, “Well…sir…could you tell me when I got married?”

It turned out that I had performed the wedding for this woman and her estranged husband several years earlier and she was now needing to benefit from his insurance with the Veterans Administration.

And if that wasn’t enough, she said, “It was either June 1, 1969, or July 8, 1970.”

I said, “You don’t even know the date?”

She had an excuse which I have long since forgotten.

After digging through the calendars of my pastoral ministry for previous years, I called her back. “You and Sam McFranklin were married on March 3, 1971.” She thanked me and hung up.

I hope everything worked out for her, but have my doubts. Anyone who doesn’t even remember her wedding date probably has a lot of other loose strings dangling in her life.

Let’s hear it for keeping good records.

I sat in a meeting in which the pastoral team was divided, one man saying one thing, another contradicting him. As a result of the divided leadership, the entire church was split down the middle and serious consequences were looming.

On the surface it seemed to be a “one said/the other said” controversy with no obvious clear-cut resolution. Then one of the men volunteered something that settled the issue.

“Here are the minutes of the meetings,” he said, as he opened a file and produced a stack of papers. “Furthermore,” he said to the man across the table, “your wife is the clerk and took these minutes.”

According to the minutes of the church business meetings, the first man was correct in his position and the man whose wife had taken the minutes was clearly mistaken. The matter was settled, or would have been if the plaintiff had been interested in the truth. Unfortunately, his primary interest involved getting his way, which moved the controversy to another plane altogether.

I was not then and am not now a judge, but had I been, the notes of the church business meetings would have been the smoking gun and would have ended the “trial.”

Continue reading →

What I Learned in 2007

Posted on by

My Birmingham friends Philip and Shellyn Poole started this with their Christmas letter. According to that document, last year they learned such lessons as home warranty companies consider water lines to the fridge to be “plumbing” and not “refrigerator repair,” tires for small cars are costlier than for trucks, and the ever-popular “Poorly lit stop signs are still stop signs.” We may assume someone got a ticket and is having trouble getting over it!

Here are my top ten lessons of 2007. (A disclaimer: I’m doing this at one sitting and no doubt will think of a dozen more later.)

10. If you are in Gardendale, Alabama, don’t even think about driving past that white line at the intersection. Doing so cost me $133, and yes, I am still having a little trouble getting over that!

9. Southern Baptists are still the greatest people in the world. Two years after Katrina, they’re still flowing into New Orleans in record numbers to help us rebuild. We’re so grateful this country has not been hit with another hurricane of any size to draw away the attention and resources. For those interested in coming to help, go to www.joemckeever.com and click on the house at the top of the page.

8. Rebuilding New Orleans is not going to be a ten-year job as I previously thought. We’re now talking about 25 years. I’ll be in Heaven when it’s finished, but I’ll be cheering you guys on!

7. Had I brushed my teeth regularly as a child when Mom told me to do so, I could have saved myself over $12,000 this year alone. How does that line go from the mechanic–“Pay me now or pay me later!”

6. Bill Taylor’s innovative plan for helping our struggling churches–the program is called Unlimited Partnerships–is a wonderfully creative way for pumping new life into our congregations and encouragement into our pastors. He started it March 1, 2007, and already it has made a lasting difference in a hundred ways.

5. Friendship is the best thing going. This year, as we continue to deal with the rebuilding of this city, and as my family has dealt with the homegoing of our Dad, we have drawn such incredible strength from friends. I’ve frequently (and teasingly) quoted a Canadian pastor friend who says, “A friend is God’s apology for your relatives,” but I’ve got some wonderful kin also, so no apology needed. Just basking in the glow and love of friends.

Continue reading →

My Christmas Message

Posted on by

The text is Luke 2:8-18, the message of the angels to the shepherds.

Theme: Every element in the angels’ message is a welcome surprise to us.

FEAR NOT.

There is so much fear in this world.

When earth is invaded by Heaven, we naturally cringe. To our delight, God’s messenger tells us not to be afraid. He does not bring us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind (II Tim 1:7). You don’t have to be afraid ever again.

GOOD NEWS.

There is so much bad news in this world.

We would have thought that when God came to earth, it would be just long enough to plant an explosive device that would put an end to the human experiment. And yet, to our overwhelming surprise, His message to mankind is good news, which is the meaning of the word “gospel.” The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

GREAT JOY.

There is so much unhappiness in this world.

Continue reading →

Only in New Orleans, A to Z

Posted on by

Angus Lind, columnist for the Times-Picayune, has filled the alphabet with aspects of the culture that makes this city unique. Sunday’s paper ran the Living section crossways so that by opening the entire page out, you have this giant poster depicting Lind’s compilation of New Orleans blessings, complete with pictures.

So many expatriate New Orleanians read this blog, we thought you would enjoy his list. It’s shortened somewhat for brevity’s sake. See if any of these bring back memories. Or make you homesick.

A is for Audubon Park, Azaleas, the Absinthe House, Antoine’s, Arnaud’s, Algiers, Arabi, architecture, and ain’t dere no more. B is for the big easy, bless you boys, Buddy D, Tom Benson, Bienville, beignets, bananas foster, brake tag stations and Barq’s.

C is for Crescent City, Canal and Claiborne, Cajuns, Carondelet, Creoles, cafe au lait, Cafe du Monde, calliopes on steamboats, Chalmette, Commander’s, City Park, Charity Hospital, Camellia Grill, and the Crescent City Connection. D is for Deuce and Drew, Dawlin’, Dis n’ Dat, downtown, Delgado, dey all axed f’you, and D. H. Holmes.

E is for Emeril’s, ersters, Endymion, Essence. F is for the French Quarter, fleur-de-lis, French Market, de ferry, Faubourg Marigny, first you make a roux, and Frostop. G is for gumbo, gris-gris, Galatoire’s, Gentilly, Garden District, Green Wave, go by yo mamma’s house, and Gretna.

H is for Hubig pies, Hornets, hurricanes, Harry Connick Jr., the Huey P., half shell, Hap Glaudi, and how y’all are? I is for Irma the sweet soul queen, Iberville, Irish Channel, I done tol’ you a hunnert times, and izzat so? J is for Jazzfest, jazz funerals, jambalaya, Jackson Square. K is for K-Paul’s, K-Doe, Krewes, Krystal burgers, K-Ville, and “another K we won’t mention because it doesn’t exactly feel like a blessing yet.”

L is for lucky dogs, lagniappe, Landrieu, Lee Circle, Lower Nint’ Ward, Louis Prima, Liver n’ Onions, Lenfants, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. M is for Mardi Gras, the Mannings, Morgus, Mandina’s, makin’ groceries, Magazine Street, Marie Leveau, muffulettas, mirlitons, McKenzie’s, Monkey Hill, and Maison Blance. N is for N’Awlins, nutrias, neutral ground, nectar sodas, and no left turn signs. O is for “only in New Orleans,” Olympia Brass Band, and Orpheus.

Continue reading →

How God Fooled Satan At Christmas

Posted on by

“….the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” –I Corinthians 2:8

Understand, Satan is a created being. He shares none of the attributes of Almighty God—not omniscience, omnipresence, nor omnipotence, meaning that he is limited in knowledge and space and power. When it comes to predicting what God is going to do next, he has to rely on what he can figure out, what he remembers from the timeless past when he resided in Heaven as a favorite angel, and what he reads in Holy Scripture. Since the Holy Spirit does not enlighten his understanding, he sees as the world sees, not with the mind of Christ. Once we understand this, a hundred puzzles fall into place.

The Apostle Paul pointed out that had Satan known what God was up to, he would never have crucified Jesus. One might say that God pulled the wool over the devil’s eyes and fooled him. On that first Easter Sunday morning, an imp rushed into the presence of his satanic majesty, interrupting the two-day celebration over the death of Jesus. The demon breathlessly announced that the tomb was empty, the body gone, and the soldiers looked like they had seen a ghost. Satan spewed out his champagne and cursed. He had been had and he knew it. He had played right into God’s hands and was defeated.

Sometimes in biblical history, we see that the Lord manipulated Satan, as in the cases of Job and Joseph. Sometimes, God gave him a good comeuppance as at Mount Carmel when Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal in a fire-calling contest. At other times, the Lord used subterfuge to fool His enemy. Christmas is one of those times.

Continue reading →