Keith Burnett Ministries

Equipping for Evangelism

Connections: Love and Leadership

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I love connecting thoughts and ideas that don’t seem to have any obvious connections. My teaching style runs along that line and I have always referred to it as connecting the dots. I was teaching a group last night and got to help them make some connections. Leadership and love make connections in Philippians 2.

Paul says, Therefore… Because of all that is written in chapter 1 we are to give attention to what is about to be said. That includes the comments he made about being granted the opportunity to suffer for Christ.

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose, 2:1-2.

connectionsHe is imploring his flock to loving conduct. That conduct will make his joy complete. His encouragement to them is instructional to us. We will make the joy of our leaders complete when we conduct ourselves in the manner he describes. Does our day-to-day conduct match what Paul describes? We are to be of one mind. We are to be in agreement. Unity in mind and purpose can exist without uniformity in thought and action. We can understand with singleness of thought what we are to do but we may express that understanding in myriad ways.

Christians have forgiveness and salvation in common. That is grounds for unity in the body. God loves each of us in more ways than we can know. While it’s good and necessary to know His love and study the depths of it, we are sometimes in need of something tangible. We are like the child who was told how much God loved her. She said she didn’t feel loved. Her mom explained that God loved her through the Holy Spirit. Her response was, I want to be loved by somebody with skin on! (Out of the mouths of babes…)

Connections And Commitment

Paul’s next words describe how we are to be loved:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Its-Not-About-MeNow, turn on your imagination and view a church in which everyone regarded YOU as more important than themselves. WOW! Everyone there loves you, everyone there looks out for you, everyone there wants to hear what you have to say, and everyone there wants to know if there is anything they can do to help you. How often would you want to be around people like that? It isn’t likely you would ever want to leave. So what does it take to turn our world into one that looks like that? Paul’s next verse holds the answer:

Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  

It takes commitment and determination to be the one, for the Father’s sake, who treats everyone like that. It requires a commitment to embody our Father’s love. In other words, commit to being love with skin on. We can easily imagine and eagerly desire a church that ministers and exhibits love in the way Paul describes. But there’s a problem. Realizing that vision requires doing what is necessary to give that vision to everyone else. When each of us does that, all our needs are met and God has loved each of us with skin on.

Have you ever really contemplated the fact that the marvelous love God has to bestow on those around you may have to be dispensed through you? And can you imagine the joy in the hearts of God’s called-out leaders if the flock lived like this? These things don’t have to be wistful desires; they can be reality.

And just one more of these connections: Lord, let it begin in me. Asking the Lord to love through you is definitely going to challenge you as well as make you a better servant of Jesus Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

How to Survive Going to Church

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“Going to church” is something of a metaphor. The phrase describes someone’s religious, devotional life. Should we be part of a church? Yes. Jesus died to establish the Church. Scripture has many instructions and admonitions for its mission and our involvement. That said, far too many church goers have ‘scars’ to prove they went! I talked to one of these people today. It was a conversation, in essence, I have had many times with many people. The problem is frustrating, real, and it can be avoided.

Mission: My Agenda

First, our culture seems to have bought into the idea that ‘going to church’ satisfies all the Lord requires of us. The demand on our lives is to be the Church. Going takes a couple of hours, maybe three, in a week. Being is a 24/7 proposition. The difference is too much to discuss here.

missionSecond, there is no perfect church full of perfect people. It should surprise no one that things won’t always go as the Lord intended. And imperfect people have agendas and opinions.

The most common ‘agenda’ is control. Who gets to be in charge? It doesn’t matter if the item to be ‘controlled’ is the calendar, meeting spaces, the budget, or the entire church. Squabbles arise due to forgetfulness. Yes! Folks forget, “Submit yourselves one to another,” and, “Let each of you consider the other as more important than yourself.”

How are agendas achieved? Through opinion. Mr. “Somebody’s” mission is for you to know he’s somebody. When you take part, you are supposed to pay attention to what he says because he is somebody. Your attention helps his agenda/mission. Then there are the folks who wear their feelings on their sleeve and just dare anyone to upset them. Their mission is to get attention and drive their agenda. These people also suffer from forgetfulness: “Don’t think more highly of yourself than you should.”

Forgetfulness in the Church is a problem. It’s a harmful problem because people are hurt by it. But forgetfulness has its place in genuine worship. And God has preserved examples from which we can learn!

Worship Mission: An Example

Bypassing these problems is beautifully illustrated by a woman of questionable character. She went to worship Jesus (went to church?) at the home of Simon. Many of the people around Jesus were Somebody’s. They didn’t like this woman crying on Jesus’ feet and pouring expensive perfume on Him. She came to worship in the same way Jesus came to be worshiped. She held nothing back. He was worth the investment.

The snide comments and derisive looks of the religion relationshipcrowd did not deter her devotion. What they said had no effect on her because they were not the focus of her attention. Seeking their approval would have diminished her focus on Jesus. That would have been wrong. Her mission was worship and she was determined to accomplish it with total abandon. She knew Who she was trying to please. That, too, was a case of forgetfulness: she forgot about herself. I can’t say she ‘remembered’ the words of Paul because Romans wasn’t yet written. But she illustrates the truth of Romans 14:4: Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 

Remember Whose you are and Who you serve.  Loving and serving Him with abandon won’t keep the Somebodys from talking. But like this woman, you can know the blessing of the Master’s approval. And that’s not something to survive for, it something to strive for!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

 

 

 

Prayer: Taught by the Wish Book

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Our boys have summer birthdays that are just a couple of weeks apart. We celebrated those birthdays recently. But in a previous celebration,  the conversation turned to the good ol’ days. The twenty-somethings asked how Mom and Dad did birthdays way back when. Before I knew it I was trying to explain things they had little chance to understand. prayerHow does one explain the old Christmas Wish Book to young people who never looked through one? They don’t know a world without the Internet! And what does prayer have to do with all that?

I remember the Christmas catalogs arriving in our mailbox. Everything I wanted was marked, dog-eared, and/or initialed. There was no way Mom or Dad could miss what I wanted for Christmas. Did I know what everything I marked would cost? Of course not. Did I care? No. I just knew what I wanted and believed my parents could/should get it. And about Halloween I had to answer the question, If you could only have two or three of those things…?

prayer elijahLife teaches us about limits. We learn to lower our goals, dreams, and expectations. Those lessons become so ingrained we forget how to dream big dreams. This is just one reason Romans tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. A transformed, renewed mind helps free us from small, self-centered prayers. Is your prayer life small and limited or is it marked by big dreams and big prayers? It might help to know what big prayer sounds like.

Elijah’s Big Prayer

Elijah Prayer 2A web search for the subject God-sized prayers will turn up many things from the name-it-claim-it group. Fortunately there are much better examples of a God-sized prayer. Elijah prayed such a prayer. He wanted God to do the impossible for God’s glory and God’s purpose. The answer Elijah sought didn’t have anything to do with Elijah.

There are some God-sized things in this ministry that need our prayer. Mission teams, mission trips, mission funding, and evangelism projects are just some of them. Jesus says we must come to Him like a child. Remember, it was a child that used to believe his parents could get everything in the Wish Book. To pray like that, we need to realize;

  • Our Heavenly Father is truly is limitless
  • Nothing is beyond His power
  • He wants to answer God-sized prayer.

He can and will do exactly that if we just offer that kind of prayer! Will you do it?

Soli Deo Gloria! 

 

3 Mission Essentials for Every Leader

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leadershipThink this post isn’t for you? The mission of leadership touches almost every life. Don’t think so? If you are a parent, husband, wife, work group leader, pastor, minister, teacher, or business owner, you have a leadership mission. And leadership, like any other mission, requires listening, learning, and labor in order to be as effective as possible.

leadership quoteThere are at least three essential leadership essentials found in Psalm 20. This is a psalm of David and it’s safe to say his mission was leadership! But this little psalm (9 verses) shows  us what followers need from leaders.

People want a leader that is devout and/or dedicated. David’s people knew him to be person of devotion and prayer. Their prayer (vss. 1-3) is for him to continue to be what he has been. In other words, they are looking for consistency and integrity. David wasn’t perfect, but he had a continual striving in his life to be a consistent, devout follower of God.

Leadership FeaturedPeople also want a want to follow a discerning leader. Discernment in David’s life was based on hearing from God. Verses 4-5 speak of David’s victory and his counsel. David and his people knew the battle belonged to the Lord. If David was going to have victory he had to discern the voice and leadership of God. David didn’t act on the latest fads or trends. He knew of something much more sure and reliable: the Word of God. Your leadership mission requires the same discernment.

learn leadPeople want a leader who is dependent. Verses 6-9 embody this thought. Some trust in chariots and horses means our own strength or systems.  That is famously followed by but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Ultimately, a good leader is a faithful follower. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, but it’s true.

Part of that concept is learning and improving. People don’t usually follow know-it-alls for too long. The business community would say a good leader is dependent on good feedback and input from others. That’s true. But the first One that needs to be speaking into the life and work of any leader is the Lord!

Enjoy the psalm and embrace your leadership mission!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Encouragement: You Have the Very Best

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When was the last time the heavens seemed to be as brass? Did you need encouragement? You prayed, you cried out, and it all seemed to fall flat. Worse, you begged God to speak a fresh word to you and all you heard was the crickets chirping. I have some encouragement for you. The Father has not stopped speaking. But you may have been tempted to believe otherwise.

In Hebrews 1:1-3, we find:encouragement

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, v. 2) in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. v. 3) And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

If there were no other Scriptures to put to rest the idea that God has ceased to communicate, these verses are more than enough. We have the clearest communication of God’s love in the Person of Jesus Christ. In past times, God spoke by ones such as me. The prophets were people like us. The Apostles were people like us. The message was not clear enough.

The Encouragement of Invitation

Now, our Father communicates through One like Him; the Son. His message says we can exchange our sin for His righteousness. If we do, we can join the royal family. We get to be joint-heirs with Him! Remembering that is a great encouragement. And added to that is a Divine invitation. We see one version of it in Hebrews 4:16.

The Encouragement of His Excellency

God’s Son is not merely a prophet. The people who thought He was just a prophet (John 9:17) were wrong. Their error was not seeing that the goodness of every prophet of any age is met and exceeded by Him. And proof is provided in Philippians 2:9-11.

The Encouragement of His Word and Power

In His speaking, He is without mistake. His Word divides between soul and spirit. In power, He is unmatched. Moses directed the wind that divided the Red Sea, but the power was not His. In fact, His direction took place because he was instructed to give it!  Jesus holds the power. The power to make fire fall from the sky did not reside in Elijah. Jesus has that power and He is without peer.

The Encouragement of His Life

encouragementEvery prophet was laid to rest. Jesus has power to lay down His life and take it up again. No matter the features or appearance of the prophets and Apostles, His beauty excels them all. They commanded respect, but His majesty is without equal. In every aspect of life, Jesus surpasses and excels them all. The degree to which He does so cannot be described in human vocabulary!

The Father could not have sent us anyone better. And this is the One He sends to say to you,

Love Me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  

In verse 2: “… whom He appointed heir of all things.” Why do you suppose this phrase is included? The Father is telling us Jesus, His Son, can deliver on any and all promises that have been made to us. How can He do this? He is the heir of all things. Nothing that is, or ever will be, can exist outside His possession and control! EVERYTHING is subject to Him.  Consider:

  • His hand holds all stars, planets, galaxies
  • He controls the continents, oceans, mountains, rivers, and winds
  • He owns all the natural resources of every nation
  • All kingdoms, countries, and military powers move at His command for His purposes
  • All life is His because He is Life
  • He can do for you, and through you, all He has said He will do
  • You can trust Him because He is able. (He Who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it! see Philippians 1:6)

This is the One from Whom we receive so great an invitation to love. If we do not hear what He has to say, we will not hear.

Encouragement in Growing

In Eat This Book, Peterson cites Psalm 40:6. Depending upon the translation, the words will convvey that God is opening our hearing or our ears. The Hebrew word we translate as opening literally means dug. Think of chiseling a hole into cement. That cement is my head (not flattering, I know). God has to cut away what is me in order to open my understanding of Him. The awesome part is, He is willing enough, able enough, and loving enough to do it.

I’ll leave you with these great words of David from Psalm 40:

How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.  Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

Here is my prayer,

Lord, keep digging; I want to hear You better and know You more!

Surely I am not alone in needing to pray that prayer. Think about it!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

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Keith Burnett Ministries
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Scottsboro, AL 35768
(256) 244-5453
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