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“God gave me a message to preach and a horse to ride.  But, alas, I have killed the horse and cannot deliver the message.” — Robert Murray M’Cheyne, as he lay dying at age 29

I thought of this famous quote when I received a letter from a missionary friend in east Asia. He wrote:

Please pray for me as I have contracted another bacterial infection that has made me very weak.  Per doctor’s orders I have stayed inside all week long, and although I am a little better it is so slow.  It has taken most of my strength to prepare this newsletter and email.  I am supposed to travel on Monday for two days of meetings and coaching next week and I hope to be strong enough to do it.

The reason I thought of M’Cheyne is that when I received the note from my friend, I was laid up myself! I had completed an 11-day road trip, coming home with a cold. But I laid low for several days and was feeling better so that I was able to take the 4-day road trip to Key Men’s Invitational that I’ve been writing about. I returned home Sunday night, woke up sick Tuesday, and as I write this, I’m still sick.

I’m sure my friend is sicker than I am, but he really wants to make that trip, just as I did. I hope he will practice appropriate indifference and trust the Lord’s leading. In the meantime, let’s all pace ourselves!

“I’d rather burn out than rust out! –a pastor

“Either way, you’re out! –Howard Hendricks, Internationally known Bible teacher and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary until his death in 2013.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. (Psalm 23.2, 3)

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Recently a pastor of a large church that is committed to two different worship styles on Sunday said something like, “The Contemporary Service is not an experiment and the Traditional Service does not have an expiration date.” Sounds good, but, in fact, worship styles change. There will be a time when the world-class choir that supports the traditional service won’t be there any more.

But here’s a ministry that truly doesn’t have an expiration date: investing in people, bringing them to spiritual maturity and sending them out to do the same. Paul told Timothy:

The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2)

I know the ministry has no expiration date because I’ve seen people in action. At his 100th birthday party, Jim Downing introduced us to Diane Derby, a local news anchorperson. He had invited her to do Bible study with him when he was 99, and she said, “I’ve always believed, but I became a true believer on March 30, 2013.” Jim met with people regularly until his death at age 104 1/2. Someone told me recently that he has a recent picture of Jim sitting at a table with a guy–not surprising–but what is surprising is that the picture was made at 1:00 a.m.!

At the Key Men’s Invitational, that I’ve written about the past three days, Len, the man that I brought with me, said one of the highlights for him was seeing Max Barnett, age 82, meeting one-on-one with a young man.

I was at a memorial service a few years ago at a large church, and my Navigator hero, Skip Gray, was there. I connected him with one of the young staffers, a musician who is transitioning over to pastoral ministry. Skip was giving him some counsel on how to preach. A friend of mine observed that here is Skip Gray, in his late 80s, still pouring into people at every opportunity.

I’m “only” 72, but I’m still asking God for opportunities to meet with men, and June is actively investing in women, some local, some elsewhere, across the U.S. and in Africa! This is the ministry with no expiration date! And, it’s open to anyone. See Max Barnett’s comment in Wednesday’s blog, first bullet point!

We’ll close with a promise:

¹²  The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
¹³ planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
¹⁵ proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92.12 – 15, NIV, emphasis mine)

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One distinctive of an old-fashioned Navigator conference such as the one I attended last week, Key Men’s Invitational (see the previous two blogs), is that you hear challenges you don’t often hear.

Steve Presswood, Nav Rep at Oklahoma State, delivered the last sermon Sunday morning on the topic “Why don’t we have more laborers?” Jesus defined a laborer in Matthew 9.35 – 10.5 as someone who is actively shepherding people:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”…These twelve Jesus sent out. (Matthew 9.36 – 38, 10.5)

Here was my key takeaway from Steve: We have tolerated mediocrity instead of training for maturity. 

I was just starting to work with a man and had introduced him to the daily quiet time. He said, “Bob, I want to hit my marks; how many days per week are we shooting for?” My response was, “How many days in the week are there?” Of course, I believe in grace (and practice it!), and I am well aware that we are not saved by having seven quiet times per week. That said, why we would set the expectation for less? 

Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, in his classic sermon, “Born to Reproduce,” listed immaturity as a cause for not reproducing (physically and spiritually). Leroy Eims, a Navigator patriarch, in a sermon entitled “How to make an Impact,” told how his ministry teams had standards, and you couldn’t be on the team unless you met them. (Both these sermons are worth your time (48 minutes for Born to Reproduce and  74 minutes for Leroy’s How to make an Impact). 

In the meantime, let’s press on to maturity and help others do the same!

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, NIV, emphasis mine)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NIV)

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As I wrote yesterday, a highlight of the Key Men’s Invitational (KMI) men’s conference that I just attended was listening to Max Barnett, 82 years old, talking about quiet time and scripture memory. He said, “I wish I could convince all Christians to practice these two disciplines.” Yesterday I captured a bit of what he said about quiet time. Today I’d like to say a word about scripture memory.

Whenever I’m around the old Navigators, like Max, they all say the same thing when asked something like, “Why are you still following Jesus and making disciples in your old age?” They always say, “Quiet time and scripture memory.” In my book Live the Adventure, I tell about Navigators Skip and Buzzie Gray, now in their late 80s, and Jerry White, now in his late 70s saying that very thing. Well-known author Dallas Willard wrote that if he were limited to one discipline, it would be scripture memory.

I encourage you to add scripture memory to your spiritual disciplines, and Max has a plan that makes it doable! He recommends memorizing one verse per week. You could choose it from your week’s quiet times, or from a sermon you want to remember, or any of a number of inspirations. You repeat it often the first day (Max says 35 times) so that you can say it perfectly, then you review it every day for 60 days. Then you’ll have it!

And here’s the good news. If you memorize a verse a week and review it daily for 60 days, the number of verses you’ll be reviewing daily is only eight! Again, that’s doable.

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! (Psalm 119.11, NKJV)

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A highlight of the Key Men’s Invitational (KMI) men’s conference that I just attended was listening to Max Barnett, 82 years old, talking about quiet time and scripture memory. He said, “I wish I could convince all Christians to practice these two disciplines.” Here are some highlights about the daily quiet time:

• When you believed, Jesus came in. That’s a fact. You are qualified to make disciples because Jesus is in you. You should feel inadequate. But Jesus is adequate (John 15.5). If you took a branch off a peach tree because you wanted peaches every year, the next year all you would have is a stick! 
• God lives in me. The disciplines are tools. Even if there are periods that I can’t do the disciplines (e.g., Marine boot camp!), I still have Jesus. I don’t trust my quiet time. I don’t earn favor with God by the quiet time. I already have favor with God.
• God is the power. Every one of us can be fruitful if we will learn to trust him (2 Corinthians 12.9).
• I want time with God every day. I need God. 
• The principle is to have fellowship with God. Quiet time is a method.
• God desires our fellowship before service: (Mark 3.14, Acts 4.13 (“with Jesus”))
• Sometimes we don’t have much hunger for God. Some are always on their phone! Feed what little hunger you have with the Word.
• Don’t expect an outstanding experience every day. But “keep your head in the trough.” Find the time every day. First thing in the morning is best, but if not, find another time.

These are good words, and Max encouraged me to renew my commitment to spend quality, intentional time with God. You can download my quiet time template here–it’s similar to what Max taught when he came to sharing his method. Max also recommended following a daily reading plan similar to these: The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan gets you through the whole Bible in a year and 5x5x5, just the New Testament.

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, NKJV)

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I’m writing this from the Key Men’s Invitational KMI) men’s conference, put on by the Oklahoma City Navigators. It’s an unusual conference in that everyone there is either discipling someone or being discipled by someone–hence, key men’s invitational.

One of the highlights is the singing. It’s one of the few times I’m in a crowd where nearly all are singing AND you can hear them! (Click here for a sample.)

I’m a strong proponent of John Piper’s view that the predominant musical sound in a congregation should be the people singing, and that matters more than whether we have a praise band or pipe organ.

It’s one thing to decide we want to hear the congregation singing and make the necessary sound board adjustments. In today’s culture, it’s another thing for the congregation to actually sing. I believe KMI illustrates a fundamental principle: people that are close to God in their everyday life are more apt to sing when they come together.

⁵  For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
⁶  And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. (Psalm 27.5, 6, ESV)

¹  Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
²  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100.1, 2)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3.16, ESV)

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Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM

We sometimes spend a lot of time talking about glorifying God, but do we know, practically, how to do that? A common belief appears to be that we glorify God when we gather in corporate worship. But Jesus had a different view:

By this is my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15.8, ESV)

What is this “fruit” that the Father desires? Christian character is certainly part of it: 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5.22, 23, ESV)

But if Christian character is all he meant by fruit-bearing, we wouldn’t have to go anywhere to do it…

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15.16, ESV, emphasis mine)

If our chief end is truly to glorify God, ought we not to spend more time bearing fruit? More time abiding in Christ, the topic of John 15, and more time investing in people. Both of which may require pruning, removing clutter, as I wrote yesterday.

By this is my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15.8, ESV)

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I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15.1, 2, ESV, emphasis mine)

I recently heard a sermon on abiding in Christ from John 15, and the quick, common explanation for “pruning” was that God frequently uses hardship or suffering to prune us. While he was talking, God seemed to remind me of other means for pruning that I’ve written about before: decluttering and digital minimalism.

The more stuff we have, the more time it takes to maintain it, and the less time there is for abiding in Christ. The more time we spend with our technology, the less time there is for abiding in Christ. God wants us to bear fruit, and he prunes for more fruit. We can cooperate with God’s pruning by being more intentional about what we buy and how we spend our time.

Skip Gray of The Navigators used to paraphrase Philippians 3.13 this way:

Paul said, “This one thing I do.” Not, “These 14 things I dabble in.”

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I was just chatting with a ministry colleague in a rural area with not many evangelical churches. He was observing that whenever someone left a church, they did so in a way that left everyone angry! The pastor is angry because he lost a person who might have been helping him in ministry and who was unhappy with the pastor’s way of doing things. The person who left is angry. The people left behind are angry. My friend observed that the net quality of relationships among believers seems to go down every time this happened. What’s the solution?

It might be helpful to revisit some of our “lessons from locusts”!

• They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths.Does each of us know our job and do it? Can each of us operate within our own calling?
• They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path. Are we content to let others pursue their calling?

An application of “they do not jostle one another,” content to let others pursue their calling, is to understand that God often moves his people around. A pastor explaining to his congregation of five years why he was accepting a call to a church in another area explained, “A pastor is not married to the church. It’s not a lifetime arrangement; it’s a ministry assignment.”

When I first heard that, I immediately thought, why is that fact limited to pastors? Why aren’t others free to accept different ministry assignments? Then maybe we can stay friends and advance the Kingdom together even from different churches!

When James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. (Galatians 2.9, NIV)

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, …and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade… After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. (Acts 18.1 – 3, 18)  (A new ministry assignment for Priscilla and Aquila!)

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I was dismayed when a pastor, writing in an article on an unrelated subject, reported, in an effort to increase his credibility, “Our church is the third fastest growing large [denomination] church in the country.”

My first thoughts were, “How does he know?” and “Why does he care?”

I just wrote on the importance of being effective (February 18, February 19), so why did I react negatively to this claim? We hear boasts like this all the time: “Our church has the largest Sunday School in our denomination!” is a claim I used to hear often from a particular church. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being large or growing:

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (Acts 9.31, NIV)

There is a problem, however, with measuring our effectiveness by comparison. The Apostle Paul was clear:

We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. (2 Corinthians 10.12, NIV)