Posted on 11th June 2010 by jwhite in Devotional | Sermons
compromise, seeker friendly, statistics, worldliness
This post is the third part of a message given in June 2010 by Jim Overholt, President of Strongtower Financial* to a staff chapel service at the California Southern Baptist Convention. Currently we are working through the 4 objections Pharaoh gave to releasing the Israelites.
The Second Objection
The second objection is even more subtle. Verse 28 says, “I will let you go, but you may not go very far away.” If he can’t keep us here, he will try to keep us close.
Christians on Sunday – Egyptians on Monday
It is perhaps one of Satan’s greatest masterpieces that he has convinced so many professing Christians to rest satisfied with looking to the cross for salvation while remaining—for all practical purposes—in the world. As we saw earlier, there is a big difference between giving up certain worldly things, and giving up the world, and there is probably more damage to our collective testimony caused by an apparent half-hearted giving up of the world than by remaining in it altogether. One foot on hallowed ground, and one foot in Egypt. Christians on Sunday, Egyptians on Monday.
God doesn’t like the border position, either in us individually or in us collectively, so I tend to worry when I hear surveys and statistics that indicate that there is no difference between the behavior, social ethics (e.g., marriage and divorce), business ethics, and even the politics, of Christians versus the rest of society. Or that some of the so-called seeker-friendly churches have increasingly adapted the customs, language, and in many ways the moral values of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I like “contemporary” churches. And I like “seeker friendly” as it relates to informality, contemporary music, less liturgical, and so forth. What worries me is the compromising of the message in a misguided effort to make it more attractive, perhaps less challenging.
Part 4 to follow
Mr. Overholt joined Strongtower Financial in 2006, bringing with him more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. During his career, he has served as the chief executive for some of the largest and most successful companies in the financial industry. In addition to his extensive investment, insurance and capital management experience, he has always been active in ministry including most recently serving as the Executive Director of Mission America Coalition.
*Disclosure – Strongtower Financial is the fund manager for our current sponsor.
Posted on 4th June 2010 by jwhite in Resources | time
book review, priorities, pursuing excellence, statistics, time
There is an old cliche that says, “Have a look at how someone spends their money and you’ll get a sense of their real priorities.” This statement has some truth, but in our opinion it is dwarfed in significance when you consider how much more a person’s priorities are revealed by their use of time.
We came across an interesting article by a Dr. Rob Vande Steeg at Pathos Christ Centered Counseling in which he referenced the Parable of The Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) while commenting on the book “Outliers : The Story Of Success
” by Malcom Gladwell.
One of the things suggested in the book is the notion that it takes about 10,000 hours to truly become an “expert” in something.
Vande Steeg focuses on a number of aspects of the parable, the book, and individual Christians, but the the paragraph that really caught our eye was:
Giftedness appears to be individual specific and each of the parables definitely seems to suggest the need to cultivate (i.e. practice) our giftedness in a way that develops expertise. Therefore, let’s look to see how we can apply the “10,000 rule” to both you and me. Scripture clearly calls each of us into Christ-like excellence. Obtaining this excellence is multi-faceted, but at its core I believe we can all agree that God calls us to the pursuit of studying scripture and making it applicable to our lives. Therefore, if we do some quick math applied to the study of God’s word and we utilize the “10,000 rule” we would need the following time commitment:
- One hour a day for seven days a week than we need approximately 27 years to obtain true expertise.
- If we reduce our study time to a mere three hours a week, we need a little more than 64 years!
Time is one of our most precious commodities and it is the ultimate NON-RENEWABLE resource. Whether or not 10,000 hours is the magic number is immaterial, the challenge is to consider whether we are being good stewards of our time.
Now an hour a day may seem like a lot but consider this:
Based on stats supplied via CSU Northridge (click here for stats and commentary) the average person watches !!4 hours!! of TV per day.
Here are some other stats we found ……… and some we wonder about.
- 3.5 minutes spent in meaningful conversation with their children……. per week! (quoted in the CSU Northridge article)
- 15 minutes per week - 47% of Americans read their Bible outside of church or Sunday School time for more than this time. We could find an overall average time – anyone know? (Barna Group)
- 2.5 hours per day in a car (US Census Office)
- ?? time spent in prayer?
It doesn’t matter whether our goal is to become more familiar with God’s word, hone and develop the gifts and talents given us, spend more time in fellowship with our families, neighbors and others. Only let us become more aware of how we spend our time and be good stewards of the opportunities given us.
If you were to submit a journal of what you have done with your time in the past month, what would it say about your priorities?
This post is the third part of a message given in June 2010 by Jim Overholt, President of Strongtower Financial* to a staff chapel service at the California Southern Baptist Convention. Currently we are working through the 4 objections Pharaoh gave to releasing the Israelites.
Mr. Overholt joined Strongtower Financial in 2006, bringing with him more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. During his career, he has served as the chief executive for some of the largest and most successful companies in the financial industry. In addition to his extensive investment, insurance and capital management experience, he has always been active in ministry including most recently serving as the Executive Director of Mission America Coalition.
