Thursday, February 26, 2015

The Great Commission and Discipleship

By: Barry G. Allen

Early in Matthew’s Gospel (4:18-20), Jesus called the first two of his disciples, namely, the fishermen brothers, Peter and Andrew. He called them to leave their nets and to follow him to become fishers of men. Matthew’s Gospel closes dramatically and forcefully with the resurrected Jesus giving his eleven disciples the Great Commission.

As critical as the concern for man’s salvation is in the Great Commission, we in the church have been so preoccupied with the lost world we have failed to focus on that aspect of the Great Commission that is the call to be brought under Christ’s discipline and to be taught to obey all that has been commanded by the one to whom all authority had been given. The call to discipleship is the call to submit to the kingly rule of God in our lives (6:33).

Therefore, we in the church must realize a lot of spiritual maturing had to take place between Jesus’ call to Peter and Andrew to become fishers of men and his commission to them and the others to go and make disciples of all nations. The same is true for us today. There’s a huge amount of teaching from Jesus between Matthew 4 and Matthew 28. Before we can effectively go and teach others to be obedient to Jesus and all he commanded, we ourselves must become obedient, and we have not.

I agree with Henry Blackaby’s assessment of where we are as Southern Baptists and where we ought to go from here. He has said, “If Southern Baptists want to see a Great Commission Resurgence, we need to focus on the relationship between disciples and the living Lord Jesus, not launch a new emphasis on evangelism. Southern Baptists have focused on evangelism and missed discipleship. The heart of the Great Commission and discipleship is to teach them to practice everything I have commanded you.”

Finally, at the heart of discipleship is financial stewardship for Kingdom advancement about which Jesus had more to say than any other discipline (6:19-21, 24).

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

Barry Allen is the retired President and CEO of the KBF and currently serves as a consultant to the interim management team. This article published in this week's Western Recorder also appeared in a previous edition of the paper. The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Estate Stewardship Through Kentucky Baptist Foundation

By: Laurie Valentine - Interim President, Trust Counsel and COO
Using the Kentucky Baptist Foundation to accomplish your estate stewardship objectives can benefit both you and the Baptist causes you wish to support.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation is the trust agency of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. It can receive lifetime gifts and/or gifts at death for the support of all Kentucky Baptist and Southern Baptist causes. The Foundation, as a “member of the family”, has a special appreciation and affection for the mission and ministry of the causes that will be supported through your gifts. This connection assures you, as the giver, the Foundation has each cause’s best interests in mind as it manages the gifts made for that cause’s benefit.

Many givers want to benefit more than one cause and realize that dividing their gift may result in lower total support. A single fund can be set up with the Kentucky Baptist Foundation to provide support to more than one Baptist cause. This can result in more consistent levels of support for all----each cause will have the benefit of the same level of competent investment management oversight services and the economies of centralized fund management.

Making the Kentucky Baptist Foundation the manager of your gift assures the causes you want to support are left to do what they were called to do---missions, Christian education, child care, evangelism, disaster relief, etc. You relieve their board, trustees and/or staff from day-to-day investment research, analysis, decision-making, transacting and reporting, and place those responsibilities with the organization whose mission is to provide competent, prudent financial management for the causes designated by its donors.

Let us help you discover how you can practice your financial stewardship at a deeper level.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Wise Foolishness

 By: Barry G. Allen-

            In 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 the Apostle Paul contrasts human and divine wisdom.  To understand his argument one must pay attention to the shifts in the meaning of the word “wisdom.”  When he uses it for human reason apart from God it has a negative connotation, which is “wisdom of the world.”  When he uses it of God it has a positive force, which is something like “God’s wise plan of salvation.”  Since God’s plan of salvation is ultimately revealed in the cross of Christ, the word is personified.  In other words, Christ on the cross is the ultimate wisdom of God.
            Thus, the contrast is between wisdom as human intellectual striving to attain the ultimate and wisdom as revelation, God’s gift.  The cross is the divider which separates those who are on their way toward salvation and those who are perishing.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (v 18).
            In verses 19 -20 Paul establishes the premise that God has rendered worthless all human-centered attempts at salvation: “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”  Not only did God reject the fruitless striving of human wisdom, but also He chose a means of revelation actually contradictory to that wisdom, namely, the foolish proclamation of a crucified Savior: “but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (v 23).  But those whom God has called are able in faith to understand Christ is the ultimate wisdom and power of God (v24).

            “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (v 25).  Therefore, let us demonstrate in our lives this wise foolishness about which Paul wrote, which is the true wisdom of the cross that reduces to foolishness everything the world values, and let us be faithful in living sacrificial lives as we share the Gospel to a culture to which the Gospel seems foolish.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

Barry Allen is the retired President and CEO of the KBF and currently serves as a consultant to the interim management team. This article published in this week's Western Recorder also appeared in a previous edition of the paper. The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.