Monday, December 02, 2013

JAC is BACk

Check out the latest issue at: http://armybarmy.com/jac.html

December 2013 - January 2014
Issue # 88

Editorial Introduction
Editor, Major Stephen Court

Margins
Major Danielle Strickland

Everlasting Covenant
Captain Scott Strissel


Have You Ever Seen A Lassie?
Major JoAnn Shade



8 Reasons Churches Don't Grow
Lieutenant Peter Brookshaw

Major Robert Evans


The Salvo Way
Major Stephen Court

Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38: De Vine Final Quiz

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 Nov. 2013 
by Captain Michael Ramsay

This morning is our final morning of our teaching on the lineage of Jesus as laid out in Matthew and Luke. One thing that always comes with a teaching unit is a final exam: so let’s see how we do.

 Matching Test[1]

  1. Adam and Eve     
  2. Noah                                       
  3. Abraham
  4. Judah and Tamar
  5. Rahab
  6. Ruth
  7. David and Bathsheba
  8. Josiah
  9. Zerubbabel
     
  A.  He built an ark
  1. He built a temple
  2. He died in battle
  3. She was a Moabite
  4. He was from Ur of the Chaldeans (Iraq)
  5. She was a Canaanite prostitute
  6. They were the first people
  7. He may have been their child’s legal father and grandfather
  8. He was a king; she may have been a Hittite

2 Kings 22:1-23:30 (2 Chronicles 34-35): Josiah’s Preparation for Israel’s Life after Death

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 November 2013
By Captain Michael Ramsay

...Today on Remembrance Sunday, quite by providence, certainly not through any intent or design on my part, we are looking at a good man, who like Stanley Richard Shore, and like so many other good men throughout history, was killed in battle when he was still young.
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Today, in part, we are going to eulogize King Josiah. Josiah was the last great King of Judah and Israel. He was a good man, who was used by God to do many good things and he really was the last significant ruler of Judah or Israel. Not long after Josiah was killed, his country was wiped off the face of the earth forever. It would never stand as an independent nation again.
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So who is this King Josiah that we have added to our branch of the lineage of Christ that we are growing above the altar in the sanctuary here? Who is this King Josiah whom we are going to commemorate what the Lord has done through him today?
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Josiah had an interesting home life growing up to say the least...

Ruth 1: Footprints in the Snow

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 27 October 2013 
by Captain Michael Ramsay.

Moving can be an interesting time. New places can be very different from old places. I remember when we moved from Victoria to the prairies. We moved in the summer and we noticed how nice and warm Winnipeg was – much warmer than summers in Victoria. I also remember seeing all of these man-made lakes around the city. These really perplexed me. We would look at them: they would be beautiful but there were signs all over them that said ‘no swimming’, ‘no boating’, ‘don’t go in the water’, etc. I wondered why do they have all of these man-made lakes if you can’t swim in them or you can’t boat on them?  Do you know what the lakes are for? When Winter struck we found out what they are for: they were outdoor ice rinks. I come from a city where we only get snow once every four years or so and it usually only lasts for at the very most a week. Who of us from there had ever heard of, let alone experienced, an outdoor ice rink?

Also we brought our children into pre-school in Winnipeg in their boots and coats from the wet coast and were rewarded with a note home explaining to us that those are nice but they aren’t real coats and boots: these might be good for rain but in Winnipeg they need to be good for temperatures down to –40c. I remember then calling home and explaining to someone how cold it was in Winnipeg and the Vancouver or Vancouver Island native thought of the coldest temperature that they could think of and they actually asked me: how cold is it there… -5c? At –5c in Winnipeg, I explain, people are wearing shorts. This was a little bit different from Victoria.

Another thing that was different and that is really quite a blessing is the sunlight. On the prairies here you can experience weeks straight with great sunlight and without any real clouds. That is really a welcome change from the Pacific North Wet where you can seemingly have cloud cover for a month or more straight. Every part of our country has such unique beauty and when and wherever you move there are a number of things to get used to, no matter where you go.

In our story today we read about a lady who emigrates from Judah to Moab with her husband and her sons and then her husband and sons unexpectedly pass away and she returns to Judah with her daughter – a new immigrant to a new country. The book of Ruth relays some of their experiences upon coming to Judah. We know in this day and age that immigrating to Canada can come with it’s own challenges, especially for some people. Immigrating to Bethlehem in Judah at the time Ruth did bring some serious perils with it but that was not the full extent of Ruth and Naomi’s difficulties.

Women did not have all the rights and responsibilities in those societies then as they do in our country today...

Rahab the Redeemed (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25)

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 25 September 2011, the Weekend of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking and 20 October 2013. By Captain Michael Ramsay

We have just been speaking about human trafficking in Canada and I am going to lighten the mood a little bit here before we briefly examine the story of Rahab today. Here is something that I ran across the other day when researching another topic.

A distinguished, prominent big city pastor cruised through a small town. As he did his eyes fell upon a child not more than two feet tall at the door of one of the houses. The boy was on tiptoes valiantly attempting to reach the doorbell. Amused and wanting to help, the pastor parked his car and went over to assist the boy. He reached up and pushed his finger onto the button and the chimes rang inside. Satisfied that he had done his good deed for the day, the pastor turned to the child, “Okay, what happens next­?”
With a smile the child replied, “Now we run!”

Another story: This lady goes to the doctor. She has been in serious pain for quite a while. The doctor asks her where it hurts and what is the matter. To which she replies, “It hurts when I touch my temple; it hurts when I touch my side; it hurts when I touch my arm; it even hurts when I touch my nose.”
“I think I know what the problem is”, the doctor says, “your finger is broken.”

Now, of course, today we have been speaking about the real pain associated with Human Trafficking. 

Thanksgiving at Judah’s House

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 13 Oct. 2013
By Captain Michael Ramsay

... Now in that place and at that time there was probably not a more vulnerable person in society than a childless widow. A widow without a child has no one to care for her and Judah, while Tamar is in this state, Judah sends his daughter-in-law away. He says that his youngest son is too young for her and he sends Tamar away without providing for her the heir that is demanded. Judah puts himself before the commandment to provide an heir for his son and Judah puts himself before the commandment to look after the widow in his own household.

Judah sends her away. He doesn’t seem to concern himself with her again. His youngest child grows up and he never fulfils the opportunity to give him to Tamar and to invite Tamar back into his clan where she belongs.

Tamar, who is being the good widow at this point, even though she has been sent away by her in-laws, she has still been faithfully living in seclusion while wearing her widow’s clothing. She then hears that her father-in-law is coming to town so she puts on some nice clothes and goes to meet him. Judah sees her and mistakes her for a prostitute. Here is an opportunity that appears. Judah owes her a son and Judah thinks she’s a prostitute. Judah decides that he wants to use her services but he doesn’t have any money so Tamar – thinking on her feat here - asks for his signet and cord. A signet is like a signature in that it is unique to the individual so the reader at this point can see how Tamar is taking advantage of this God given opportunity.[4] Tamar does become pregnant. Some people find out about this and tell Judah that his daughter-in-law (who is supposed to be celibate) is pregnant. The law says that she should be put to death, especially as this happened, so the rumour has it, as a result of prostitution. It is at this point that she lets Judah know that he is the father. Judah then admits his sin, what he has done to her and to his family. She gives birth to twins. Judah takes responsibility for his children, one of whom is the direct ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Judah even admits that Tamar is more righteous than is he. Tamar is not a prostitute; she merely conceives the child promised to her.[5]

So why is this story in the Bible?...

Genesis 9:18-29: Idiomatic Noah

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 29 Sept 2013 
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today we are speaking about Noah so I found a few riddles about that to share here[1]:
  1. What did Noah say as he was loading the Ark?
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  1. Why did the people on the ark think the horses were pessimistic?
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  1. What animal could Noah not trust?
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  1. Why couldn't they play cards on the ark?
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  1. Who was the first canning factory run by?
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  1. Was Noah the first one out of the Ark?
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Matthew 10:34-39, 11:16-30: You Didn’t Dance

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 15 Sept. 2013
By Captain Michael Ramsay

I have a lot of respect for the church that I grew up in – of which Jake was the Head Pastor. From my old youth or young adult group, of the people that I know of personally, 6 or 7 of us now are clergy working for the Lord in anything from large Baptist churches to Alliance churches to Youth for Christ Ministries to hospital chaplaincies to The Salvation Army and that is not including our spouses - some of whom went to church with us - and that is also not including people of whom I no longer have any knowledge of their lives.

Now we could have up to 100 people at to a youth event when I was young. My Sunday school classes were often larger than our group gathered here today. I had great Sunday school teachers from the time that I was a teenager through university especially. We would discuss and debate everything.

Then as now I read my Bible a lot. We would often have theological debates about our lives. A common topic then was smoking as more than half of Canadians in those days smoked.  I was one of those smokers as a teenager. Whenever -in those days- someone would say that I was defiling my body as the Temple of God through my bad habit of having a cigarette, I would quickly respond from scripture that it is not what goes into a body that defiles it but what comes out of it (Mark 7:20-23) and I would often point to this part of today’s scripture. “Like you” I would say, Matthew 11:18, “…John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say ‘He has a demon.’ [Like me, Jesus], The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say he is a drunkard, a friend of …sinners”.

These days, I no longer smoke or drink, of course. Some of those there who didn’t drink then, now do but they still have very powerful ministries. I remember one person...

Matthew 8:1-9:34: You are Healed

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 01 Sept 2013 by Rebecca, Sarah-Grace, and Captain Michael Ramsay

“The Miracle stories in [Matthew] 8:1-9:34 should not be interpreted in isolation, but each should be interpreted in the context of the section as a whole, since it was constructed by Matthew as “Messiah in deed” (cf. 11:2), corresponding 5:7-29 as “Messiah in word”.[1] Today we will very quickly attempt to do just that while focusing on healings: the infirmity, the patient, who initiates the healing, what is the response, what is the directive, and then after we do all of this we will try to pull it together and ask ourselves how do all of Jesus’ healings here recorded apply to our lives today?

Matthew 8:1-4: When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Infirmity: Leprosy (any skin disease)
Patient: Leper (social outcast)
Initiation: “A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2)
Response: “I am willing”, “Be clean” – Immediately the man was healed (v.3)
Directive: 1) Tell no one 2) Show yourself to the priest and offer sacrifices as a testimony (v.4)

This healing miracle is initiated by a man suffering from a skin disease. It may or may not be Hansen’s Disease –which is what we think of when we think of leprosy. This man, however, is shunned by his community: people with skin diseases are not allowed to take part in many social activities. He is an outcast. He is seen as unclean. There are a couple of important things that I notice off the bat about this healing. 1) The way the leper approaches Jesus: he approaches Him with deference and respect. He doesn’t command Jesus as if Jesus is some genie in a bottle. Instead the man says, Verse 2, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” And, Verse 3, then “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’” And 2) as he is healed, Jesus tells the man to offer the appropriate sacrifices to God as a testimony to the priests. We need to thank God for what he does in our lives and we need to share that with our religious leaders so that they have the opportunity to offer Glory to God as well.