Arthur's Talk
Arthur was kind enough to share with me his notes for the talk he gave at Fellowship Meetings on Friday evening. Under the general theme of "Running the Race Without Being a Rat," he spoke on "The Starting Line."
Arthur divided the talk into three main sections: 1) Differences Between a Foot Race and the Christian Life 2) Similarities Between a Foot Race and the Christian Life 3) A Prayer of Blessing.
In the first section he talked about the corruptible crown and the incorruptible crown (1 Cor. 9:25, 1 Cor. 2:9), only one person winning versus all Christians winning (1 Cor. 9:24, 2 Tim. 4:6-8), optional versus non-optional participation, and competing against others versus competing only with yourself.
Sprinkled throughout were the following quotes:
"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."
"Everyone is in the race by virtue of the fact that they were born. . . .You do get to choose how you will face life and what you will do with it."
"If we aren't afraid to die, threats have little impact on us."
The second section on Similarites dealt with rules that, if broken, disqualify the runner (2 Tim. 2:5), how others can affect the outcome of the race by helping or hindering (Heb. 10:24-25), the fact that winning calls for self-discipline (1 Cor. 9:24-27, Heb. 12:1,2, Heb. 12:15-17, 2 Tim. 2:3-7), a prize for those who finish well (Heb. 11:6, ! Cor. 15:58, along with warnings for those who do not finish well in Jude, 2 Peter 2, and 1 Cor. 9:27), and the start of the race being the culmination of much previous hard work behind the scenes (Luke 16:10, Matt. 25:28, 29).
Quotes from section 2:
"Church is not a spectator sport--not like fans in the grandstands looking on with binoculars and shouting down angry insults about how [others] should have done differently. . . . I plead with you not to be a dead-end critic, but a builder. . . . Make it easier to live the Christian life for those those follow you. . . . I hold up for you Daniel and Ezra"s perspective (Daniel 9 and Ezra 9). They who were godly men, they who had not sinned, included themselves in the problem and asked God to forgive them. Both of these spiritual giants made themselves a part of the solution."
"Life is NOT a frog race where any move in any direction counts and eventually you accidentally get outside the circle which is the winning line. NOT [just] any motion, any activity will do."
"The Christian life is not a 100-yard dash. It is a marathon."
". . .the reward is worth the effort." Now, the reward is a sense of well-being. In the future, as the cumulative result of thousands of right choices, the reward is heaven (paraphrased.)
"Some people look forward to a foot race because they are ready. Others dread the race because it exposes them and the wrong choices that they have made."
"Don't wait to prepare until the opportunity of your lifetime comes! If you do, then it is too late to make the most of the opportunity!"
Section three was a visualization of who we can become by God's grace (2 Peter 1:3,4). In six sections, with multiple prayers in each section, Arthur "prayed" a lengthy prayer of blessing for each person in the audience. Here is the prayer:
"1) A meaningful relationship with God
I bless you with being able to know God.
I bless you with being able to receive strength and vitality in your relationship with God.
I bless you with a deep, inner longing, that spiritual thirst that can only be satisfied in HIM.
I bless you with the ability to look to the Father and receive instructions from Him.
I bless you with knowing and becoming who God envisioned when he made you. (Who you can become is God’s gift to you; who you become is your gift to God.)
I bless you with being able to discover why God placed you here and now……
I bless you with discovering the gifts that God gave you for the assignment that he gave you.
I bless you with the ability, courage, and inner strength to develop the inner resources God has given you… That is who you can become by God’s grace.
2) Wisdom, Clear Focus and Right Values
I bless you with insightfulness and clarity.
I bless you with wisdom that enables you to see past the ‘fluff’ of the empty words of those that would seek to sidetrack you.
I bless you with objectivity that does not give into cynicism and despair because of your current situation.
I bless you with the ability to keep from getting sidetracked.
I bless you with being able to use resources that God has given you for the kingdom, but not being so enamored by things, money or training that you get sidetracked.
I bless you with being able to embrace solid values and principles that will last, and that when you are dying you will feel good about having invested your life this way.
I bless you with finding and relating to caring, compassionate leaders who will walk with you and help you to make wise decisions.
I bless you with healthy relationships with your parents, with your church leaders, and with the church as a whole.
I bless you with the ability to listen carefully and ask good questions in order to learn from others' life experience.
I bless you with being able to stand on our shoulders and grow beyond the older leaders and become better men and women of God than we are. That is who you can become by God’s grace…
4) Being a Faithful and Persistent You
I bless you with strength to not give up.
I bless you with the determination to keep on. I bless you with faithful obedience. I bless you with being able to keep on even when it doesn’t feel like anything is happening and when you feel like God is wasting your time.
I bless you with being able to rise above the bad things that have happened to you and not let them define or limit who you can become.
Instead of becoming bitter, I bless you with being able to see that what the enemy designed for evil, God can turn around and make it something good. Like Joseph of old you will be able to say, “You had bad intentions, but God turned it around and made it into something good – I’m going to be able to help other people now…”
I bless you with knowing that God allowed it because he sees that it can enhance and broaden your ministry. 2 Peter 1:3,4
I bless you with being able to honestly facing issues in your own life that reflect less than God’s best without giving up and saying that is just the way I am. I bless you with being able to change… That is who you can become by God’s grace.
5) Ability to Stand Alone
I bless you with the inner strength and courage to walk alone if necessary.
I bless you with being able to identify negative peer pressure and finding strength to be different than the rest if you need to.
I bless you with not being swayed by the pervasive spirit that stays on the sidelines until it sees that church meets my expectations and is life-giving enough to me so that it merits my attention and participation.
I bless you with the self-discipline that you need to have in order to not focus on what the rest of the group is doing or to compare yourself with those around you.
I bless you with the power and courage to make decisive and right choices now.
I bless you with humility that avoids all appearance of a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.
I bless you with the ability to walk humbly while God does the inner work to prepare you to step into your calling. That is who you can become by God’s grace.
6) Being a Builder in your local church
I bless you with seeing beyond some of the inconsistencies of us older people and striving to be more godly, more balanced, more committed, more pure – more in every way, without becoming proud and arrogant.
If there are things that are not right about your current church setting, I bless you with being able to rise above these circumstances and even modeling for us older people what a godly Christian looks like.
I bless you with joyfully and cheerfully rising to the challenge of being leaders where you are right now and then before long being the leaders of the church and in outreach.
I bless you with having Daniel’s perspective (it is our problem, “God forgive us…” instead of pointing an ‘it’s your fault’ finger from a safe distance)
I bless you with a clear knowing when God opens the door to ministry and to his call for your life. I bless you with being ready when God presents the opportunity. That is who you can become by God’s grace."
Do you wonder that I felt very blessed as the evening ended?
*I have used only Arthur's first name to preserve some measure of online privacy. He expressed a preference for this way of being identified. However, he is not in hiding, and further contact information is available for those who have a need for it.
Arthur divided the talk into three main sections: 1) Differences Between a Foot Race and the Christian Life 2) Similarities Between a Foot Race and the Christian Life 3) A Prayer of Blessing.
In the first section he talked about the corruptible crown and the incorruptible crown (1 Cor. 9:25, 1 Cor. 2:9), only one person winning versus all Christians winning (1 Cor. 9:24, 2 Tim. 4:6-8), optional versus non-optional participation, and competing against others versus competing only with yourself.
Sprinkled throughout were the following quotes:
"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."
"Everyone is in the race by virtue of the fact that they were born. . . .You do get to choose how you will face life and what you will do with it."
"If we aren't afraid to die, threats have little impact on us."
The second section on Similarites dealt with rules that, if broken, disqualify the runner (2 Tim. 2:5), how others can affect the outcome of the race by helping or hindering (Heb. 10:24-25), the fact that winning calls for self-discipline (1 Cor. 9:24-27, Heb. 12:1,2, Heb. 12:15-17, 2 Tim. 2:3-7), a prize for those who finish well (Heb. 11:6, ! Cor. 15:58, along with warnings for those who do not finish well in Jude, 2 Peter 2, and 1 Cor. 9:27), and the start of the race being the culmination of much previous hard work behind the scenes (Luke 16:10, Matt. 25:28, 29).
Quotes from section 2:
"Church is not a spectator sport--not like fans in the grandstands looking on with binoculars and shouting down angry insults about how [others] should have done differently. . . . I plead with you not to be a dead-end critic, but a builder. . . . Make it easier to live the Christian life for those those follow you. . . . I hold up for you Daniel and Ezra"s perspective (Daniel 9 and Ezra 9). They who were godly men, they who had not sinned, included themselves in the problem and asked God to forgive them. Both of these spiritual giants made themselves a part of the solution."
"Life is NOT a frog race where any move in any direction counts and eventually you accidentally get outside the circle which is the winning line. NOT [just] any motion, any activity will do."
"The Christian life is not a 100-yard dash. It is a marathon."
". . .the reward is worth the effort." Now, the reward is a sense of well-being. In the future, as the cumulative result of thousands of right choices, the reward is heaven (paraphrased.)
"Some people look forward to a foot race because they are ready. Others dread the race because it exposes them and the wrong choices that they have made."
"Don't wait to prepare until the opportunity of your lifetime comes! If you do, then it is too late to make the most of the opportunity!"
Section three was a visualization of who we can become by God's grace (2 Peter 1:3,4). In six sections, with multiple prayers in each section, Arthur "prayed" a lengthy prayer of blessing for each person in the audience. Here is the prayer:
"1) A meaningful relationship with God
I bless you with being able to know God.
I bless you with being able to receive strength and vitality in your relationship with God.
I bless you with a deep, inner longing, that spiritual thirst that can only be satisfied in HIM.
I bless you with the ability to look to the Father and receive instructions from Him.
I bless you with knowing and becoming who God envisioned when he made you. (Who you can become is God’s gift to you; who you become is your gift to God.)
I bless you with being able to discover why God placed you here and now……
I bless you with discovering the gifts that God gave you for the assignment that he gave you.
I bless you with the ability, courage, and inner strength to develop the inner resources God has given you… That is who you can become by God’s grace.
2) Wisdom, Clear Focus and Right Values
I bless you with insightfulness and clarity.
I bless you with wisdom that enables you to see past the ‘fluff’ of the empty words of those that would seek to sidetrack you.
I bless you with objectivity that does not give into cynicism and despair because of your current situation.
I bless you with the ability to keep from getting sidetracked.
I bless you with being able to use resources that God has given you for the kingdom, but not being so enamored by things, money or training that you get sidetracked.
I bless you with being able to embrace solid values and principles that will last, and that when you are dying you will feel good about having invested your life this way.
I bless you with finding and relating to caring, compassionate leaders who will walk with you and help you to make wise decisions.
I bless you with healthy relationships with your parents, with your church leaders, and with the church as a whole.
I bless you with the ability to listen carefully and ask good questions in order to learn from others' life experience.
I bless you with being able to stand on our shoulders and grow beyond the older leaders and become better men and women of God than we are. That is who you can become by God’s grace…
4) Being a Faithful and Persistent You
I bless you with strength to not give up.
I bless you with the determination to keep on. I bless you with faithful obedience. I bless you with being able to keep on even when it doesn’t feel like anything is happening and when you feel like God is wasting your time.
I bless you with being able to rise above the bad things that have happened to you and not let them define or limit who you can become.
Instead of becoming bitter, I bless you with being able to see that what the enemy designed for evil, God can turn around and make it something good. Like Joseph of old you will be able to say, “You had bad intentions, but God turned it around and made it into something good – I’m going to be able to help other people now…”
I bless you with knowing that God allowed it because he sees that it can enhance and broaden your ministry. 2 Peter 1:3,4
I bless you with being able to honestly facing issues in your own life that reflect less than God’s best without giving up and saying that is just the way I am. I bless you with being able to change… That is who you can become by God’s grace.
5) Ability to Stand Alone
I bless you with the inner strength and courage to walk alone if necessary.
I bless you with being able to identify negative peer pressure and finding strength to be different than the rest if you need to.
I bless you with not being swayed by the pervasive spirit that stays on the sidelines until it sees that church meets my expectations and is life-giving enough to me so that it merits my attention and participation.
I bless you with the self-discipline that you need to have in order to not focus on what the rest of the group is doing or to compare yourself with those around you.
I bless you with the power and courage to make decisive and right choices now.
I bless you with humility that avoids all appearance of a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.
I bless you with the ability to walk humbly while God does the inner work to prepare you to step into your calling. That is who you can become by God’s grace.
6) Being a Builder in your local church
I bless you with seeing beyond some of the inconsistencies of us older people and striving to be more godly, more balanced, more committed, more pure – more in every way, without becoming proud and arrogant.
If there are things that are not right about your current church setting, I bless you with being able to rise above these circumstances and even modeling for us older people what a godly Christian looks like.
I bless you with joyfully and cheerfully rising to the challenge of being leaders where you are right now and then before long being the leaders of the church and in outreach.
I bless you with having Daniel’s perspective (it is our problem, “God forgive us…” instead of pointing an ‘it’s your fault’ finger from a safe distance)
I bless you with a clear knowing when God opens the door to ministry and to his call for your life. I bless you with being ready when God presents the opportunity. That is who you can become by God’s grace."
Do you wonder that I felt very blessed as the evening ended?
*I have used only Arthur's first name to preserve some measure of online privacy. He expressed a preference for this way of being identified. However, he is not in hiding, and further contact information is available for those who have a need for it.
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