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Issue #474
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September 25, 2017 |
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Dear Friends,
Thank you for your encouragement and support. We pray you will be blessed daily through the Word. Please freely share this email with others.
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| Catch Don!
www.bibleteachingresources.
org 
Philippines radio
(MPR 105.3 FM)
Contact
Bible Teaching Resources
Donald Anderson
PO Box 6611
Tyler, TX 75711-6611
903-939-1201 (office)
1.877.326.7729 (toll free)
903.939.1204 (fax)
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How to Spiritually Survive the Media Scripture And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. 1Chronicles 28:9 (NIV) For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:11 (NASB) May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14 (NIV) His eyes are on the ways of men; He sees their every step. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again. Job 34:21, 32 |
|  How to Spiritually Survive the Media |
| The media driven world encroaches mercilessly on our lives. We are overwhelmed by a print and electronic culture which saps our energy, stunts our creativity, and even threatens our spiritual well being. A.W. Tozer states in his book The Pursuit of God: The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and night for the whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent and self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is here, assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as real and final. But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we cannot see that other reality, the City of God, shining around us. The world of sense triumphs. The visible, the temporal, of the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam's tragic race. (p. 56) Below are the instructions for spiritually surviving the assault upon our senses that the media launches hourly. Just think of the last instruction manual you read, perhaps as you programmed the new remote for the DVD! Warning: Danger to your spiritual health! Media present. Filter needed.
Antidote: Lavish supply of Holy Spirit discernment power. Off button will power. Mute button for athletic events.
Symptoms: Yelling at television and radio. Throwing partially read books, newspapers and magazines in trash. Giving up on movies except one or two a year. Mute button tendonitis. Rushing to turn off TV after presidential speech to avoid commentators' interpretation. This leads to symptom number one.
Solution: A moment by moment daily cleansing by the word of God. "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. ...I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" Psalm 119:9, 11 (NIV). "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" 2 Corinthians 7:1 (NASB). "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things" Philippians 4:8 (NASB). "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB). |
Suppose a man comes upon a child being beaten by thugs. He dashes into the mob, rescues the boy, and carries him to a hospital. The youngster is nursed to health. The man pays for the child's treatment. He learns that the child is an orphan and adopts him as his own and gives the boy his name. And then, one night, months later, the father hears the son sobbing into his pillow. He goes to him and asks about the tears.
"I'm worried, Daddy. I'm worried about tomorrow. Where will I get food to eat? How am I going to buy clothes to stay warm? And where will I sleep?"
The father is rightfully troubled. "Haven't I shown you? Don't you understand? I risked my life to save you. I gave my money to treat you. You wear my name. I've called you my son. Would I do all that and then not meet your needs?"
This is Paul's question. Would he who gave his Son not meet our needs?
But still we worry. We worry about the IRS and the SAT and the FBI. We worry about education, recreation, and constipation. We worry that we don't have enough money, and when we have money we worry that we won't manage it well. We worry that the world will end before the parking meter expires. We worry what the dog thinks if he sees us step out of the shower. We worry that someday we'll learn that fat-free yogurt was fattening.
p. 175
In the Grip of Grace: You Can't Fall Beyond His Love
by Max Lucado
What Paul describes in Philippians is a secret of vastly greater significance-and a far more trustworthy one. It's the secret of inner peace; and it's ours when we learn to replace distracting anxiety with focused prayer, to concentrate our minds and thoughts on things consistent with God's character, and to trust Him for strength and provision for every need.
I hope you've been initiated into this secret.
p. 92
The Roots of Inner Peace: Finding Fresh Courage and Strength in the Face of Fear and Worry
by Don Hawkins
A LIFE OF SUBMISSION AND SACRIFICE
TO THE CROSS
One Sunday, just after our younger son, Jeremy, was born, Josh and I were driving across Bell Road in North Phoenix on our way to church. Josh was five at the time, and we all know how five-year-olds think-at least I thought I knew until that day. Josh and I were involved in the normal chitchat between father and son when he said, "Dad, have I told you about my system?"
I wasn't sure what he meant, so I answered, "No."
He began to point at different parts of his head as he recounted what he was thinking about. Pointing to his right temple, he said, "Right here I have Dukes of Hazard cars. On this other side," he said, pointing to his left temple, "I have Star Wars toys. Over here I have cartoons." Then putting his hand on the back of his head, he said, "Back here I have Jesus dying on the cross."
Before I could speak, he said, "But Dad, there is a secret to my system."
I wasn't sure whether to keep driving or to pull over and take notes.
He explained, "They're going around in a circle, spinning all the time. Sometimes I think about cartoons. Sometimes I think about my Star Wars people. At other times I like driving my cars. I also think about Jesus dying on that cross for me."
I will never forget what he said, especially his next line.
"Dad," he finished, "what I really need to do is get Jesus from back here (pointing at the back of his head) to up here (pointing at the front of his head)."
I almost drove off the road as tears filled my eyes. What profound thinking for one so young. He had just echoed the scriptural truth, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." And I had just been instructed by our five-year-old in the significance of the mind and the cross and the vital connection of reckoning with the cross.
The fourth and central characteristic of a committed disciple deals with just that truth-the need to reckon with the cross on a day-by-day, front-of-the-mind basis.
pp. 83-84
To Follow Him: The Seven Marks of a Disciple
by Mark Bailey
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Prayer Requests
& Praises
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1. Pray: How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep me from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:12 - 14 (NLT)
2. Praise: The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
3. Pray: ...to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. Titus 3:2 (NASB)
4. Praise: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.
5. Pray: Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. James 3:13 (NASB)
6. Pray:...with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2, 3 (NASB)
7. Pray: For those that are rebuilding their lives after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
8. Pray: Philippines radio & OnePlace.com broadcast.
Prayer: Lord, thank You that no one can snatch us from Your hand or separate us from Your love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Safe in His arms,
Pearl Anderson
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
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