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  - Ken Guenther on 2007-10-25

• Therefore the supreme challenge of every scholar and teacher who would prepare these pastors and missionaries is:
• how shall I study and teach and write and live, so as to help pastors and missionaries know God better than they know anything, and delight in God more than they delight in anything? That is the supreme challenge of your life.
• God is not just our foundation. He is the food we eat.
• He does not mean to be taken for granted as the ground of our being while we enjoy other things. He means to be pervasive in every room and every course and every syllabus and every book and lecture and sermon and seminar and workshop and conference.
• The purpose of God in all pastoral labor and all missionary service is to be glorified publicly.
• why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing.
• knowing God and being satisfied in him above all earthly pleasures frees us for the kind of love that will suffer the loss of all things for the sake of every good deed and for the sake of finishing the great commission.
• The problem we face in theological education is not technique, it's not curriculum, it's not time, it's not the busy-ness of our students; it's not pragmatic administrators; it's not lack of funds for research. The problem is that we don't have an all-consuming passion to know God in the fullness of his perfections and to enjoy him more than we enjoy anything in the world.
• First, in all your studies seek to know God, the Creator of the universe, the Ruler of all things, the Savior of the world, the Sustainer of all being, the Guide of all history. Seek to know him as a Person with a character
• Second, saturate your studies with the prayer of Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."
• Finally, "take your share of sufferings as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:3).

9 more annotations...

• Often, a person who feels shame will try to lessen the pain by shaming others.
• Hiding weaknesses.

  • Common in Russia, even among Christians and pastors.
• Beyond the mere copying of the customs of the Catholic Church, however, is the control that pastors exercise to maintain their position of respect in their churches. Many of them suffer deeply from shame, and use the strong, controlling method of dealing with their suffering. Exposing that shame is unthinkable
• Jesus gave us an example of how to deal with a shamed person in John 4 when he asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. He did not immediately show his superiority to her, but became dependent on her for what she could do for him. Offering to help someone can be essentially a declaration of superiority, since it implies that the receiver is poor and needy. This can be perceived as shaming.
• The above remarks are about Spain, but the discussion may well apply to other countries.

  • I wonder whether this does not also apply to Russians. I should talk to Roma Alexceev about this article.

3 more annotations...

• Shame in Spain Carolyn E. Kerr - Ken Guenther on 2007-10-25

• On the other hand, since God reveals his will through the giftedness of those he has called to serve, we can understand a great deal about how God intends to work among a people group at a given time by looking at the giftedness of those he has called. Rather than formulating a plan and then asking missionaries if it fits (or does not fit, as is so often the case), we can line ourselves up with God’s will by formulating a strategy based on the giftedness of those God has called to serve. As a result, the strategy for every people group will look different, not only because the culture is different but also because God has called a specific group of people with specific gifts at a specific time to make disciples.