Desert Highway

MY OATH TO YOU…

I received this poem from a friend:

MY OATH TO YOU…

When you are sad…………….I will dry your tears
When you are scared………..I will comfort your fears

When you are worried……….I will give you hope
When you are confused…….I will help you cope

And when you are lost………And can’t see the light
I shall be your beacon………Shining ever so bright

This is my oath………………..I pledge till the end
Why you may ask?…………..Because you’re my friend.

……………………………………..Signed: GOD

     I do not know who wrote this poem, but I am glad that it stirred up my thoughts.  When I read this, I thought, “How beautiful and how real this is of our God.” But then I thought about how God actually does these things.You and I both have heard so many times that you and I as Christians are the hands and feet of God on this earth. While you and I are not literally His hands and feet, we all realize that God uses people to accomplish His work on this earth in so many ways. Yes, I know he uses miracles, but isn’t the fact that His people do such wonderful things a miracle in itself?

MY OATH TO YOU…

When you are sad…………….I will dry your tears

     I will not turn my back on you during your time of sorrow. I will not depend on my ability to understand why you are crying. I will not make you justify your tears to me. I myself have cried and I will just be there for you because you are hurting.

When you are scared………..I will comfort your fears

     I will not judge you because of your fear, nor will I say that your fears are unfounded. God understands that man fears and his Word gives comfort to us in our fear over and over again. He does not condemn us of sudden fear, but rather says “Do not be afraid of…” what ever has caused our fear. He does not deny that the fear is real and neither will I. I, too, have been scared and I will just be there for you because you are afraid.

When you are worried……….I will give you hope

     I will not just say, “Don’t worry, be happy.” I will help you find hope in the situation you are in. I will help you look past the obstacles that stand before you and to see what is beyond the difficulties of today. I will help you see how God can use even these problems for your good in the future. I have fretted over things, also, and I will just be there for you because you are worried.


When you are confused…….I will help you cope

     If I know the answer to your confusion, I will give it to you freely. If I can not answer your questions, then I will help you find the answer you need. I have no doubt that Jesus has the answer to every problem that you or I could ever face. Too many times I have been confused and had to find the answer in Him and I will just be there for you because you are confused.

And when you are lost………And can’t see the light
I shall be your beacon………Shining ever so bright

     Nothing ever seems so bad as being lost in the dark and not being able to find your way. All of these other things find their way into our emotions. We find ourselves sad, scared, worried, and confused. The only way out of darkness is light and whatever light I have in Him to share; I will shine to light your path. I know what it is like to be lost and not know which way to go and I will just be there for you to help you find your way in the dark.

This is my oath………………..I pledge till the end

     This is not an empty promise, but a life long commitment. I am joined with you in this walk and will not abandon you when things get tough. I will not leave you for others who seem to have it all together. I will not hop from friend to friend looking for something better. I will just be there for you because we need each other.

Why you may ask?…………..Because you’re my friend.

     This passage rings true when Jesus tells us that WE should lay down our lives for our friends.

     John 15:12-14 NKJV This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

     I love the way this is paraphrased in “The Message”: “This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you.”

     NOW BACK UP ONE VERSE and realize what this does for us…
Jesus has just spoken of us being part of Him. He is the vine and we are the branches. We are not to be separate in purpose, but rather part of the same plant. Life for us depends on us staying connected to the vine. And He says. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

     My joy being full is dependent on my being God’s functioning parts in this oath to you. The vine provides what is necessary for the branch to produce the fruit, but the vine does not produce fruit, the branches do. God makes this promise to you and then he gives the rest of us the ability to carry it out.

How Do You Differ Your Sermons, Illustrations, Examples, Style?

A minister friend of mine whose husband is a prison chaplain emailed me and asked me this question…

“Duane, when you preach in prison, how do you differ your sermons, illustrations, examples, style?”

This is how I answered.

The only way I can speak about how I “differ” in ministry is to look at the ways I minister.  

    I “preach” the same for the most part wherever I am in a preaching setting, ie. church, church services in prison, a chapel service at Teen Challenge, church service in Africa or Mexico, etc.  I may at times use different illustrations and examples depending on what will relate to the people I am speaking to.  The same could be said for teaching in a class room setting.  I am who I am and my “style” is my style.  I do not try to be someone different.  I believe people see right through when you are not yourself or you try to “do” a particular style.  In fact, in prison I think they are even more aware of anyone who is trying to be something they are not.  They can recognize a con job a mile away.  

    When I preach it is predominately lecture, but even then I generally will find a way to interact and get responses from the crowd or single out individuals for a response.  When I teach I prefer to use a discussion style teaching environment.  I ask and answer questions.  Groups of four to forty are better for this than a large congregational setting.  In the prison this has worked very well once you have earned the respect of the men you are teaching and have made them feel comfortable sharing and asking questions in front of others. The biggest difference in prison is that you usually have more time to preach or teach than you do in a typical church setting.  That and the fact that no one can get up and leave if the clock strikes twelve. 

    I might add that I do my best to communicate in vocabulary that a twelve year old can understand no matter who i am speaking to.  If I do that then those with a college education understand as well as those who are young in either age or education.  Too many people think using more advanced vocabulary makes them sound smart.  My assertion is: What good does that do if I have not taught everyone?  Two events made me re-think my ways and adapt to this way of teaching.  One was in a church where a deacon came up to me after the service in a small community and said to me, “That was a great message, but only half of the people here understood what you said.”   The other event was in a prison when I used the KJV during a teachings session.  One of the more educated inmates asked me afterward why I would use the KJV when the majority of the men in the room did not understand the language used.  From then on I have concentrated on using simpler vocabulary as best I can.  It has become my habit even when I write.   Sure.  I do not write or sound as smart as some of my peers, but I do communicate and that is my goal.  I will let my peers be admired as the super intellectuals.  That does not matter to me as much as communicating to the masses.

    All of that said, there are times when I preach and teach in settings that are not typical or traditional settings.  Those are settings that are more similar to what Dr. Brad was talking about that he has in the cafe.  In those settings I do not usually have a prepared message, notes, or even a bible.  You do not preach at, but rather answer questions.  It is risky in some ways, because you are on the spot and must spend as much time listening to both the person and the Holy Spirit at the same time.  The Holy Spirit will use their background and ways of understanding to guide you in how to communicate to them.  What is most essential here is having the respect as a spiritual leader from the people you are speaking to.  This is done either by spending time with them and earning their respect or by having someone they respect vouch for you.  The later is the way I do ministry in the tattoo parlor in El Paso.  I might add that I do not know how the Holy Spirit gave George, the owner, the respect for my ministry that he as.  He contacted me and not the other way around.  I think it was just a pairing that God did for both he and myself.  God does that part.   George hand picks people who are showing they are susceptible to the gospel but do not trust traditional ministers.  He brings them in to meet me and may say something like, “You have a lot of questions and this is the guy with the answers.”  (Talk about being put on the spot)  Then there is a time of them checking you out to see if they can trust you and a bonding time.

In His Service,
R. Duane Gryder
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    R. Duane & Janet Gryder              Motorcycle Chaplain
    Assembly of God U.S. Missions           Acct. # 2605988
    PO Box 13383          Odessa, Texas          79768-3383
    telephone: 432-366-0909          mobile: 432-557-8417
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    ebenezerstone@hotmail.com   www.deserthighway.org     Join our email newsletter list - Send a blank email to:
              deserthighway-join@associate.com
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    A voice is calling,
              “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
          make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”  
          ……………………………………………………..Isaiah 40:3
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Book Review:  Off Road Disciplines by Earl Creps
 
     The full title of the book is “OFF ROAD DISCIPLINES - SPIRITUAL Adventures of Missional LEADERS.  Since I am someone who likes to keep the rubber on the pavement and the shiny side up, I found the title of this book quite intriguing. “Off Road Disciplines” is written much in the same style as Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” or Peter Greig and Dave Roberts’ “Red Moon Rising.”  His message is something that many of us in the same age bracket as the author can relate to, but way to many are afraid to step out and follow.

     The book is broken down into two self declared sections, one about personal disciplines and the other about organizational disciplines.  Both written from the perspective of the author based on his own self discovery of the need for these disciplines.  I would lean toward application of all of these principles to both personal and organizational disciplines. The principles of death, truth, perspective, learning, witness, and humility should be equally applied to our organizations as well as to each of us personally.  The principles of assessment, harmony, reflection, opportunity, sacrifice, and legacy should also be practiced on an individual level if they are to ever be real on the organizational level

     In going “off road”, the author has much bigger goals than just returning the church to being missional, but also being unified in mission across cultural and generational barriers.  I particularly, found his emphasis on assessment in chapter seven to be a critical portion of this text.  His question of “If we worked for a missions agency, would we still have jobs?” is one that many ministry leaders need to be asking.  “Missional” is the key to Earl’s writing like “purpose” is to the PDL folks.  In seizing opportunity he sees the need to not only love, but to like others to be effective in the mission when he says, “Like catalyzes love, and love grows the capacity for mission in every form.”  He speaks again of the importance of focusing on the mission when he speaks of sacrificing personal preferences for the sake of the mission. “Grace is free, mission is not.”

     I would recommend this book to any and all.  Both young and old should read this book, especially since it offers good solutions to reconciling the differences between the two.  I would however note that some of the more traditional practitioners among us may need an interpreter for some of the sections of this book.  The legacy of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ must be passed on, along with the traditions of the Word of God, but it may not include all of the traditions of men.  It never has before and it will most likely not happen this time.  As Earl, himself, responded about passing the baton to the next generation, “…no one else is coming.”  So I am not asking any to abandon their spiritual disciplines for a new set, but rather to add these off road disciplines to those that they already practice.

About the author: Earl Creps is the director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS) in Springfield, Missouri.  He has been a pastor, ministries consultant, and university professor.  He earned a PhD from Northwestern University and a doctor of ministry degree in leadership at AGTS.

R. Duane Gryder
Motorcycle Chaplain
AG US Missions
www.deserthighway.org 

I had a friend that suffered loss a while back that left him in a bit of a bind.  I prayed for him, but when I did the Lord had me give him a gift instead of just praying.  I was thinking about this today and this scripture came to mind.  I wonder how many times we are made aware of needs and pray a prayer of “faith” which we intend to meet that need but do not pray a prayer of “faith” that asks the Lord if we are to do something.  I particularly like the wording from the Message paraphrase.

James 2:14-26 The Message
¹⁴ Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? ¹⁵ For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved ¹⁶ and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? ¹⁷ Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? ¹⁸ I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. ¹⁹ Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? ²⁰ Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? ²¹ Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? ²² Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? ²³ The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” ²⁴ Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? ²⁵ The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape - that seamless unity of believing and doing - what counted with God? ²⁶ The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.  

I especially like this last phrase:

“Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.” 

In His Service,
R. Duane Gryder
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R. Duane & Janet Gryder           Motorcycle Chaplain
Assembly of God U.S. Missions           Acct. # 2605988
PO Box 13383          Odessa, Texas          79768-3383
telephone: 432-366-0909          mobile: 432-557-8417
————————————————————————————-
ebenezerstone@hotmail.com   www.deserthighway.org Join our email newsletter list - Send a blank email to:
          deserthighway-join@associate.com
————————————————————————————
A voice is calling,
          ”Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
      make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” 
      ……………………………………………………..Isaiah 40:3
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There are not a lot of churches that have biker preachers do services this time of year so I have been going back to prison the last three weeks now. I had not been back in this unit for a year and I realized how much I really do love these guys. The neat thing is that although my memory is horrible for names I have been able to call many of them by name. When I do call them by name or mention something I remember about them personally they light up and say “I cant believe you remembered.” I don’t tell them that I cant believe it either. I figure that is just a way the Lord blesses them. I had been invited to a Christmas party tonight, but like I told my wife, I cant give them presents but I can be there for them. We gave them free hallmark cards again this year to send their families and on the 23rd we will take a tree into the unit and each of the guys will get to hang an ornament on in. It will remain in the gym for services until after Christmas.

One of the guys that went in with us for the first time was heard saying, “These guys are just like you and me.” Folks, this is the truth. Sure there are the bad seeds, but for the most part just guys like you and I that made bad choices and got caught. Even some of the bad seeds have been transformed by the Word of God. One of the prison people was telling me about one of the guys I visited with the other day. He was constantly in trouble until 2000. The chaplain reached out to him and got him to come to our ministry. Since then he has only gotten in trouble twice. Both of which were minor.

The first four words of Romans 12:9 in the NIV are so true:

SINCERE!  It has to be real.  Real love is nothing something you can just have.  It is not something you can work up.  It is God given!  The love that we can have for a prisoner, or a homeless person, or some tattooed up old biker is not something we can take credit for ourselves.  It comes from God Himself.  Isn’t it odd how all the things that He commands us to do and be, He provides for us in the first place?  He is not trying to make us “do” something.  He is just trying to get us to “be” what He made us and use what He gave us.

In His service,
Duane

I read this article written by Roger Olson from the Truett Seminary at Baylor.  His suggestion to have pastor’s teach a series on whether what their church teaches is true is something I whole heartedly agree with.  In fact, when I pastored, I taught a series called “Truth Teachings.”

I thought it was good and needed to be posted here, so I asked for and received his permission.  See what you think…

Roger Olson: Truth matters in religion

Saturday, October 28, 2006

I saw a large banner on the facade of a church. It proclaimed “Truth Matters.” I wondered how many people understood that sentiment.

I agree with whoever put up the banner: Truth matters — even and perhaps especially in religion. And yet many people in our post-modern culture don’t think about religion that way. For them, what really matters is how religion functions to help them cope with the stresses of daily life.
As a child, I heard an old hymn titled “If I Am Dreaming, Let Me Dream On.” It was written by 19th-century evangelist Gypsy Smith in response to a skeptic who said Christianity was a fantasy. He told the evangelist he was dreaming if he thought Christianity was true. Smith expressed his response is song.

Even as a child, I wondered if that might be a too cavalier attitude toward truth. Do we really not care if what we believe is true? Unfortunately, that seems to be the case for many people.

I saw a book in the religion section of a bookstore by pop psychologist Ashleigh Brilliant. The title is I Have Abandoned My Search for Truth and Am Now Looking for a Good Fantasy. Unfortunately, that expresses many people’s approach to religion.

American Christianity is profoundly influenced, even shaped, by an 18th century movement called Pietism. Pietism, which eventually led to revivalism, attempted to inject feelings and emotions into the dead orthodoxy of European and later American Christianity. The pietists were “heart Christians” who believed that religious affections mattered more than right doctrine. Some of them said “Better a live heresy than a dead orthodoxy.”

That kind of Pietism (a distortion of the original movement) shaped the Christianity of my childhood, and I see its affects everywhere in American religion.

We tend to care more about warm, fuzzy feelings than truth. After all, how many American church members can express, let alone explain, their doctrinal beliefs? And yet most can tell a story or two about having profound spiritual experiences.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an especially astute observer of religion in 19th-century Britain. He said: “He who loves Christianity more than truth will go on to love his own church more than Christianity and end by loving himself more than anything.”

Are many American Christians in danger of loving Christianity more than truth itself? Do some love their denomination or church more than Christianity? I wonder about that when I hear some good folks talking about their own church or denomination more than about Jesus.
The only good reason for believing something is that it is true. A religious affiliation not based on conviction that it is true is a fantasy; it’s immature and irresponsible. People need to examine the truth status of their beliefs from time to time. 

If I am dreaming, I hope I wake up pretty soon. The reason I don’t think so is that I’ve given serious thought to the matter and am convinced that what my church teaches is true.
So what am I recommend-ing? Not that religious folks expunge feelings or emotions from their faith experience. Dead orthodoxy is not the prescription here! Rather, I suggest that religious people occasionally ask: “Is what my church professes really true?” and “Is what I’m confessing real?”

They should ask their pastor or other religious leader to teach a series on that and give them the very best reasons possible for believing what the church teaches.

Roger Olson, Ph.D.

Professor of Theology (1999)

Dr. Olson holds degrees from Rice University, North American Baptist Seminary and Open Bible College. He has written numerous articles for such publications as Christian Century and Christianity Today. His recent books include The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform and Who Needs Theology? with Stanley J. Grenz. Olson recieved two awards for The Story of Christian Theology including a Gold Medallion from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for 1999. In 1993 he and co-author Mr. Grenz received Christianity Today’s award for best book in theology/biblical studies for 20th Century Theology: God and the World in a Transitional Age. Dr. Olson was the editor of Christian Scholar’s Review.

A past president of the American Theological Society (Midwest Division), Olson has been the co-chair of the Evangelical Theology Group of the American Academy of Religion for two years. An expert in historical theology, he is a frequent preacher, teacher and speaker for local churches and organizations.
 

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I prayed a “sinners prayer” when I was saved.  I was eleven years old and it was in the living room of our home.  But I only prayed the prayer after it was explained to me what I was actually doing.  I had walked the aisle at church that morning and the pastor came to our home that afternoon.  He gave me a little new testament in which he had marked “turn to page” in.  It led me through scriptures he had underlined which make up the “Romans Road”.  He then sat there and made it very clear to me what I was doing.  He said I was confessing Jesus as Lord and wanted me to understand that not only was I recognizing that I was a sinner and in need of a savior, but I was also making a commitment to him to be the boss (Lord) of my life.  He explained that although salvation was free according to Ephesians 2:8-9, but verse 10 meant I would become a new person that was created to work for God.  THEN I prayed a sinners prayer, but it did not just acknowledge my sin and my need… it also confessed my commitment to Him as Lord of my life. 

Because that kind of commitment is so critical to being a Christian there must be some kind of event that we can look back on and pinpoint when we made that commitment.  It may be a sinners prayer or some other way of making that commitment to Him.  No one becomes a Christian by osmosis.  For me it seemed to really take place completely in that one day, but I have known many that the sinners prayer was actually just a starting point towards being saved.  In fact I have known more that way than I have who were brought to that point of commitment that quickly. 

For many, we lead them in a sinners prayer when really the courtship between them and the Lord has only just begun.  They have come to a place where they believe He is who He says He is, but have yet to come to a place to make a commitment to Him as Lord. We see this in scripture with the rich young ruler.  Only Jesus did not pronounce him saved for acknowledging Him.  Instead we see him walk away when he refuses to do as he is told by the master.  Today he would have been led him in a sinners prayer and pronounced him saved and sent on his merry way.  In some ways, this compares to conception and birth.  A life begins at conception, but it is not ready to be birthed.  Premature birth will cause death or at best a weak baby that must be carefully nursed to prevent death or life long illness. It is the same way in the spirit.  The tragedy is that many times these are not premature spiritual births, but rather spiritual abortion.

It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.  For this to happen they have to realize it is God who is good.  This may require walking with Him a ways first.  It is kind of like the man who became a bond servant under the old law.  He would realize his need to pay a debt he could not pay, he would allow himself to be sold, but at the end of seven years he could either go free or belong to his master for the rest of his life.  The decision was his to make.  If he chose to remain, it was a lifetime commitment.  It was made by going before the elders of the city and plainly saying “I love my master…”.  After this they would mark the man by driving an awl through his ear and placing a big ring in his ear.  Then all who saw him would know that he belonged to someone else. 

The man was not a bond servant when the price was paid.  That was just the beginning of an awareness of the one who would pay the price.  It began a period of time when he could begin to know the goodness of the master.  He only became a bond servant when he made the decision to yield himself to the master, made a public confession, and agreed to be noticeably a bond servant to all who saw him. 

One of my friends says that we don’t allow this because it takes too much commitment from us.  It we set the goal at getting them to say that prayer then we can move on to the next as soon as we get them to pray the prayer.  Our work is done.  Plus, we can get many more at a time.  Maybe this is why Jesus spent three years with intense discipleship of only twelve and even more intensive discipleship
of four. 

“I LOVE MY MASTER…” and I mean it from my heart. 
 

Jesus is not only my Savior; He is my Lord and Master. 

In His Service,
R. Duane Gryder

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R. Duane & Janet Gryder           Motorcycle Chaplain
Assembly of God U.S. Missions           Acct. # 2605988
PO Box 13383          Odessa, Texas          79768-3383
telephone: 432-366-0909          mobile: 432-557-8417
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ebenezerstone@hotmail.com