Effective Communication With Others

One of the ways I minister locally is to serve as an as on call hospital chaplain. I take part on an as needed basis.

Today I attended a “Patient Safety Education” class at the hospital. As part of the presentation effective communication was discussed.

I learned doctors and nurses communicate by using the SBAR technique. SBAR stands for situation, background, assessment, and recommendation.

Situation:  What is the situation?

Background: What is the important related information?

Assessment: What is your assessment of the situation?

Recommendation: What is your recommendation?

This system helps people understand how to communicate during acute situations. I think the SBAR system could help people communicate important information even when the information is not urgent.

An Inexpensive And Effective Way To Learn Hebrew

I received an interesting e-mail from my Canadian friend Izzy. We met last year at a conference, and it appears he has been very busy since then. Izzy has developed a curriculum to help language novices learn to read the Hebrew Bible in just 40 lessons. Check his work out over at www.holylanguage.com.

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Hi Michael,

You may remember meeting me last year at Beth Immanuel; my name is Izzy Avraham. I’m a Messianic Jewish congregational leader in Western Canada, and a Hayesod Facilitator.

As a fellow HaYesod facilitator, I thought you’d be interested in a 40 lesson Biblical Hebrew video series called ‘Hebrew Quest’ that I just finished filming. It’s designed to take people from zero Hebrew knowledge, to being able to read the Bible in Hebrew! Along the way, we discuss topics like how Hebrew study can aid us in better understanding the Jewishness of Jesus, and how Hebrew can help us more effectively communicate the gospel to Jewish people. I make a point of keeping each lesson focused on Yeshua and discipleship to him, and on keeping the lesson content highly practical in areas such as Bible study, prayer, and sharing the gospel.

Hebrew Quest is available for free to watch on our website, and can also be ordered in DVD format. It’s especially designed for group study, and would be perfect if you have some people in your study group or congregation who would like to go through it together.

If you’d like to know more, feel free to check out our website: www.holylanguage.com  And if you’d like to shoot me an email back, I’d love to hear what you think.

Thank you so much. I can’t wait to hear from you! By the way, will you be at Beth Immanuel this year?

Izzy Avraham

Founder and Director

Holy Language Institute

Church Outreach

I have been thinking about church outreach recently. Outreach means different things to different people. What is considered standard outreach for a mega-church will be very different from what outreach looks like in a smaller congregation. Some things considered “outreach” make me uncomfortable. And, I am sure the things I consider acceptable might not be acceptable to others.

Here is my opinion: outreach is (or should I say should be) nothing more than letting people know who Jesus is and that the church is present. We shouldn’t make letting people know about the work of the church be too complicated. After all, the best outreach should be perfectly natural for believes anyway. We are call called to share. Sharing is outreach, essentially.

Learning Comes Through Relationship

I am writing a series of devotions about the knowledge of God this week.

The Hebrew words for the knowledge of God – da’at Elohim – communicate that knowledge comes through relationship. You can know fact “about God,” yet still now know God unless you are in relationship with Him. This is a very Hebraic thought, and somewhat foreign to our Western ears. However, we know the truth of the Hebrew concept of knowledge, which comes from the Hebrew word yadah. We value our spouses and children better than our other relationships precisely because we “know” them better — at least this is a big part of the reason we value them.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our devotions at http://marionbible.org/. The devotions I reference started on Sunday, May 8 and will continue throughout the week.

Another Reason For Family Devotions

This week I have been blogging about Family Devotions @ marionbible.org, which is a new ministry of Marion Bible Fellowship. This project is designed to help families connect our families to the Scriptures. We believe the disciplining role is our most important task as parents.

I sent a private letter to our families this week, which referenced the article found at the link below. As I read the following article I was reminded anew how important it is for us to help our children connect to faith rather than just giving them a list of things to do or things to avoid.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/05/03/katy-perry-strict-christian-upbringing-kept-having-childhood/?test=faces

Do you want to have a resource for your own family devotions? Check out http://marionbible.org/.

Another Thought About Family Devotions @ Marionbible.org

Marion Bible Fellowship launched a new ministry called Family Devotions @ marionbible.org this week. Several weeks ago I felt compelled to offer a resource to help families maintain regular times of devotion together.

I thought a lot about how to present this ministry as available for everyone, yet written specifically for families with children at home. This is the third is a series of articles I wrote to introduce our new ministry.

http://marionbible.org/

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Is This For Me? I’m Single

Most families do not have a husband, wife, and 2.5 children (ok, no family has 2.5 kids!).

Some families don’t have children in the home. And, other households are made up of single adults. We understand this.

We designed this website to help families with children. We feel strongly about the responsibility of parents to raise their children in the ways of the Lord. Families with children need more spiritual support, not less.

However, if you are a single adult or a family without children in the home, don’t let our intention be a “turn off.” We haven’t forgotten you.

As you read the daily lessons on this website, remember that you are studying the same material as your other MBF church family members. You will find little trouble applying these lessons to your life, because the truths of God’s Word are universal!

We recommend interaction as a way of reinforcing the daily lessons. For families with children, this mean discussing these lessons together. However, as a single adult, you will need to interact differently. Consider purchasing a journal. Writing thoughts in a journal is an excellent way to interact with the lessons found here. Posting a comment is another excellent way to interact with these lessons. You can post a comment by clicking the the words “leave a comment” under the title of each lesson.

We are all important participants in God’s Kingdom. Don’t let the fact these devotional are designed to help families with kids keep you from enjoying the truths of God’s Word found here.

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http://marionbible.org/

How to do Family Devotions

This is the second introductory article found at marionbible.org, which is a website dedicated to helping families maintain regular and thoughtful devotions. What is the most effective way to do family devotions together? This article attempts to give some practical guidance.

Check out Family Devotions @ marionbible.org: http://marionbible.org/.

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No two families do devotions exactly the same way. However families that practice devotional life keep up aregular routine. It may be easier for your family to do Bible study and prayer at the beginning of the day. Other families discover evenings are easier for them. The key is developing a regular routine that works for you.

Once you select a time for your daily family devotional time, you must make your practice a priority. It seems like “life” does a good job of encroaching on regular routines, especially routines that are important, such as our daily family devotional times. This is why parents need to make family devotional life an essential priority for all family members. (Do you need a reminder about the importance of maintaining family devotions? Click here for more information.)

Each family member needs to come to family devotional time prepared to participate. This does not mean that each family member must study ahead of time, but each should come with his or her Bible and an eagerness to listen and learn. Young children must understand that devotional time is not play time. Older children must learn to listen carefully to be ready to answer questions about the Bible passage of the day.

We believe a study guide is essential to help families walk together through the Scriptures. Most of us are too busy to consistently develop meaningful Bible studies from scratch. This is one reason why we have developed this website. However, no study guide can make a family devotional time “come alive.” For family devotions to be meaningful, family members need to talk about the Bible passage. They need to pray about how it relates to their own home and church family. Finally, families need to act on the Bible’s message to them. You will discover talk, pray, and act activities built into each devotion found here.

Answering the “how to” question about family devotions comes down to lifestyle. Placing all of your desires and activities under the direction of Jesus Christ will allow devotions to be “who you are” as a family.

Finally, make sure your family devotional time is fun. This doesn’t mean your devotional time is “comedy hour.” But, family devotions should never be a drag, either. It’s the parent’s responsibility to make family time energizing for every family member.

It’s interesting to see how God reminds us about what we recently studied as families, or gives us prompts for what we will learn from Him in the near future. This often happens when we least expect it! Enjoy the experience as you recognize God as the head of your home and “Master teacher” of your family devotional time.

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Why Family Devotions?

This is the first in a series of introductory articles I wrote for our new website, which is dedicated to helping families develop the practice of meaningful times of devotion together.

The site is http://marionbible.org/.

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As good parents, we equip our children. We make sure they finish their homework. We encourage them to take part in activities such as sports and the arts so they can develop positive character traits. We insist they look toward college or trade school so they can prepare for their careers.

These are all important things, but the Scriptures tell us there is an even greater equipping task for parents.

Consider the words of the Shema, which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

Here, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the LORD is one! And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (NASB)

The joy-filled home is a home devoted to the Lord. How many of our Christian homes lack joy and peace simply because family devotions are absent. Consider the truths of Psalm 128:

How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His way. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD. the LORD bless you from Zion, and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Indeed, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel! — Psalm 128:1-6 (NASB)

We believe the importance of incorporating Bible study, prayer, and song into the daily family routine is foundational. We should miss a meal or an entire night’s sleep before we miss an opportunity to teach our children God’s Word.

This website is your resource for daily family devotions. As each of our homes learn from these pages, we will grow together in the ways of the Lord.

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http://marionbible.org/

Family Devotions @marionbible.org

For the past two weeks I have taken time away from writing here at Writing in the Dirt. Part of this was due to a busy season of ministry including a Passover celebration, the observance of Unleavened Bread, hosting a missionary speaker, and preaching two services for two churches on Resurrection Sunday. Last week I just needed some time to rest. Ahhhh. I feel better now.

I have a new project I would like to announce.

I have developed a new blog, which is designed to help families with their home devotions. Over the past six weeks I have been talking with families at Marion Bible about what they would find helpful. I also spent three weeks experimenting with my own family’s home devotions to incorporate some of the features now found at http://www.marionbible.org/. I am excited about this devotional project as I sense it will be a great benefit to the families at Marion Bible and others who want to incorporate family Bible study into their normal routine.

So please check out marionbible.org, and either bookmark the site or sign up for posts to arrive to you by e-mail. It promises to be a great place of daily encouragement and learning.

A Sabbath Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sanctifying Your Sabbath for us.

We enter into it with You for Your good pleasure, and as a witness of our calling.

You who called us from slavery to a place of honor in Your Kingdom, should never search for those who honor Your commands.

So we rest in You. Through Your Own example, we rest with You.

May Your Kingdom come, may Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Amen