Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 93

Mondarda (Bee Balm)

Win a Copy of "God Made All Of Me" by Justin & Lindsey Holcomb

I'm excited about this new book, #GodMadeAllOfMe to help children be safe from abuse. It's from the authors of Rid of My Disgrace and related resources.  I wish it had been available when my kids were little.
On Tuesday, I'm going to publish an interview I did with the Holcombs about this book.
Starting today, I'm offering a contest to win a free copy.
Entering this contest is very simple:
1. Leave a comment on this post (either here or on Facebook) with your name on it.
2. Wait to see if you win. I'll be drawing the names out of a hat. It's that easy! (Don't forget to check back or subscribe to updates to find out if you win--I'll need your mailing address if you do.)
You can also increase your chances of winning by posting about this contest on your social media page (FB, Twitter, Blog, Pinterest, etc.). Just send me an email or leave a comment with the link so that I know that you've expanded the reach of the contest. For each time you link to the contest, you get your name added to the hat one more time (limit of 7 chances, the contest ends at 12am EST on Tuesday night, August 25th).
I'll announce the winner on Wednesday.
By the way, if you can't wait for my contest to end to order your book, New Growth Press is offering about $100 worth of free resources for those who pre-order their copy before it comes out on September 8th. Check out the website for details.

Pictured below is an infographic from the Holcombs about this important topic:

#21. How much faith is required to receive answers in prayer?

Christian Prayer Catechism: Question #21

Q. How much faith is required to receive answers in prayer?

A. A little bit of faith in a very big God is required to receive answers in prayer.

It is the object of our faith, not the subjective amount, that counts (Matt. 17:20). We are to have faith in God, not faith in our faith. Our confidence must be in God and not in getting "answers." A lot of faith in an inch of ice will get us cold and wet. But a little bit of faith in three feet of ice will support an SUV crossing a lake.

"Pass the Salt." Corrie ten Boom on Gossip

In her excellent little devotional, Not Good If Detached, Corrie ten Boom has a chapter dedicated to resisting gossip.

It starts with this epigraph:

"It is just as bad to be drunk with gossiping as with liquor. Gossip is the most insidious of all the compensations for an inferiority complex. It is not only a sin—it is paranoid."
Then as the chapter progresses, ten Boom tells the story of how a group of students at a Summer camp learned together how dangerous and destructive gossip could be and strategized on practical ways how they could resist it:

I tell them how years ago in a girls’ summer camp the atmosphere was almost spoiled by the campers because of their negative talking about
each other. So we made a camp rule that before saying something
negative we had to mention ten virtues of the person concerned. Sometimes it was impossible to find ten virtues, and so the negative thing could not be told. In the event of being able to find ten virtues, we would be so impressed at having done so that it seemed a pity to mention the negative at all!

One student tells us that in her campus, if anyone gossiped during meals, someone would say, “Pass the salt.” That was the code words to warn people that gossip was abroad. This idea is very simple and practical.

I like that--"pass the salt." Not to exclude people but to have a community-level agreement to lead conversations into loving territory.

***

Note: Not Good If Detached is published by CLC Publications, the publisher of Resisting Gossip .

Gladiator Katydid

#20. What does it mean to pray "in faith?"

Christian Prayer Catechism: Question #20

Q. What does it mean to pray "in faith?"

A. Praying in faith is resting on God’s ability to do what He promises and anything else that He wants to do.

We are called to unconditionally trust in God’s promises. Faith is believing that God is trustworthy. We are also called to trust that God knows what is best and to submit our requests to Him for His consideration. We don’t presume upon God in areas where He has not revealed His will, but we do trust Him with them (Mark 11:24, James 1:6, Matt. 21:22). We need to believe that God has omnipotent power and is willing to use it for our benefit and His glory (Heb 11:6). Our faith must be absolute that God will act if He has specifically and unconditionally promised to do so (ex. James 1:5, 1 John 1:9), but it must also be confident that God will act in wisdom when a request seems consistent with God’s will but is not specifically promised in Scripture.

Resisting Gossip Adult VBS Class at the Federated Church

Earlier this Summer, my friend Ed Huntley, a pastor at The Federated Church sent me this note about Resisting Gossip:

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Hey Matt,

Ed Huntley here, to tell you that the book that Connie and I bought when we saw you in April is going to be used, along with your videos and the group workbook (both of which I just ordered), when I lead our Adult Vacation Bible School here in August.

Connie has devoured the book, and I'm going to be reading it this coming week on vacation, and I suspect that it's going to bear some good fruit in our lives and in the lives of the people we're serving.

Just wanted to encourage you with this news, and I'll be giving you a report after the AVBS, assuming the folks don't run me out of town for ruining their fun!

Bless you, brother!

Ed.

***
And just yesterday, he sent along his full report with permission to share it with you. How encouraging! What a joy it is to see God using this material in ministry to His church.

***
Hey Matt, here's my report. In a word, it was GREAT! As I wrote the other day, the people were VERY interested in your material and greatly challenged by it. They also enjoyed the way that you delivered the message, with a different setting each lesson.

I've attached the note-taking sheets that I prepared for each lesson. You might want to take a couple of minutes to review what I did, because it will show you how a fellow pastor used your material. I showed your lesson, and they took notes, and then we discussed what we heard, to make sure everybody "got it" and to apply the lesson.

The positive critiques are many: your teaching is solid, your delivery is so creative, your focus on the sin is strong and your application of the gospel is equally strong. You make people squirm but you also give them hope; you're an excellent pastor/teacher!

One small "negative" critique: the audio on lesson 10 was very different from every other lesson, too much bass, difficult to understand at certain points. Perhaps it was a problem on only my DVD?

Here's the ultimate compliment: One of our students is teaching a ladies' Sunday School class, and she asked if she could show the material to her class. I passed it on to her on the last day, and they will be studying it starting this coming Sunday! So your teaching is going to continue to ruin people's fun, for the glory of God!

Blessings,

Ed

***
Note for those new to these resources: The videos Ed is talking about are free, downloadable, and shareable on this website. The group workbooks he's mentioning are Resisting Gossip Together (linked to extra material here) and correspond lesson by lesson with each video and each chapter in Resisting Gossip .

Father and Son (Unusual Blossoms)

Not Heather's Normal Blossoms to Photgraph

#19. What does it mean to pray "in Jesus’ name?"

Christian Prayer Catechism: Question #19

Q. What does it mean to pray "in Jesus’ name?"

A. Praying in Jesus’ name is praying in Jesus’ authority through Jesus’ sacrifice for Jesus’ will.

Jesus has asked us to pray in His own name (John 14:13-14, 15:16, 16:23-24). This is not a "magic formula" for us to be certain to say at the end of each of our prayers, but it is important. A name in Scripture stands for a person and their authority (Acts 3:6, 4:7, 16:18, 1 Cor 5:4, Prov. 22:1). Therefore, to pray "in Jesus’ name" means to pray with the authorization of our Lord. This authorization comes because of the death and resurrection of Christ. He has authorized us through His Crosswork. Wayne Grudem adds, "[It is] also praying in a way that is consistent with his character, that truly represents him and reflects his manner of life and his own holy will" (Systematic Theology, pg. 379). What a privilege and what a responsibility!

Zinnias