Olivet Nazarene University Digital Commons @ Olivet Preacher's Magazine Church of the Nazarene 3-1-1983 Preacher's Magazine Volume 58 Number 03 Wesley Tracy (Editor) Olivet Nazarene University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_pm Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, and the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Tracy, Wesley (Editor), "Preacher's Magazine Volume 58 Number 03" (1983). Preacher's Magazine. 578. https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_pm/578 This Journal Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Church of the Nazarene at Digital Commons @ Olivet. It has been accepted for inclusion in Preacher's Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Olivet. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MARCH, APRIL, MAY, 1983 m a g a z i n e Preaching from the Book of Judges CHRIST THE LORD 4 HOW TO PREACH ON BIBLE CHARACTERS 10 ABIMELECH— THE BRAMBLE KING 16 GRACE IN THE BOOK 0F JOBSES THE MINISTER S VANITY FAIR 44 THE SERMON WORKSHOP 47 oiitable Framing by G il Fox det nir peyR bission. perm ©0 79y1 ,bAEN.cnI “I don’t care how low it gets, dear, you’re M Y Billy Graham!” THE PREACHER’S MAGAZINE Proclaiming Christian Holiness Volume 58, Number 3 March/April/May, 1983 IN THIS ISSUE Wesley Tracy EDITORIAL Editor 2 Did Jesus Really Eat Y o g u rt?................................................ .............. Wesley Tracy Nina Beegle EASTER Assistant Editor 4 Christ the Lord........................................................................... Robert A. Raines Consulting Editors PREACHING FROM JUDGES Bill Sullivan 7 Preaching from the Book of Judges ........................................................ Joseph Coteson 10 Biographical Exposition: How to Preach on Bible Characters................ Oscar F. Reed Director of the Division of 12 Deborah and Barak: For Times like T h e se ....................................................C. E. Baldwin Church Growth 15 Gideon— Commissioned by G o d ...................................................................Albert J. Lown Church of the Nazarene 16 Abimelech—The Bramble King.............................................................. T. Crichton Mitchell 20 Sermon Starters on Samson...............................................................David L. Martinez, Jr.; Wilbur Brannon Michael E. Grimshaw; Jeffrey Sparks; C. L. Newbert; Director of Pastoral John E. Beegle 23 Jephthah................................................................................................................ ft T. Kendall Ministries 25 Grace in the Book of J u d g e s ...................................................................Alvin S. Lawhead Church of the Nazarene George E. Failing PASTORAL CARE 28 The Pastor's Aptitude for A ttitu d e s...................................... .......... Rendel Cosand General Editor The Wesleyan Church EVANGELISM 30 Church Planting: New Testament Style ............................... Herbert McGonigle MINISTERIAL GROWTH Contributing Editors 32 The Minister’s Study Habits— or Lack T h e re o f................. .....................Don Budd 33 How to Ruin Your Life with “How To” Books ..................... V. H. Lewis .................Steve Perry Eugene L. Stowe PASTORAL CLINIC Orville W. Jenkins 34 Case Studies for Discussion and Reflection....................... ........ James D. Glasse Jerald D. Johnson Charles H. Strickland THE MINISTER'S MATE William M. Greathouse 35 For Gracious' Sake! ................................................................. Catherine Lawton General Superintendents Church of the Nazarene WESLEYANA 37 The World Is God's Parish...................................................... George E. Failing J. D. Abbott Robert W. McIntyre STAFF MINISTRIES Virgil A. Mitchell 38 Bring the Staff with You?........................................................ .............. Kenneth Vogt 0. D. Emery CHAPLAINCY General Superintendents 40 From the Pulpit to the Pew .................................................... .......... Name Withheld The Wesleyan Church Jack C. Rea FINANCE Norval Hadley 41 Tax-free Furnishings Allowance.............................................. .......... Paul Fitzgerald Russell Myers CHURCH ADMINISTRATION John L. Robinson 42 The Church and Copyright E th ic s ........................................ Thomas J. Purchase Superintendents Evangelical THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY Friends Church 44 The Pastor's Call to Vanity Fair.............................................. ...................ft. J. Gould 46 Idle Time: What to Do with I t ................................................ ........ A. Tired Brother Robert Kline 47 The Sermon Workshop General Superintendent Churches of Christ in THESE TOO Christian Union Suitable for Framing— inside front cover; Sermon Illustrations— 48: Sermon Outlines— 50: Sermon Craft— 52; Seen and Noted— 55; The Idea Mart— 56; New Testament Word Studies— 58; Old Testament Word Studies— 59; The Preacher s Exchange— 62; Today's Authors should address all articles Books for Today’s Preacher— 63; The Ark Rocker— 64 and correspondence to Editor, Preacher’s Magazine, 6401 The Pa- seo, Kansas City, MO 64131. Cover photo: Douglas Corkern PREACHER'S MAGAZINE (ISSN 0162-3982) is published quarterly by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2923 Troost Ave., Kansas City, MO 64109. Editorial Office at 6401 The Paseo, Kansas City, MO 64131. Address all correspondence concerning subscriptions to your denominational publishing house. Copyright 1983 by the Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. Subscription Price: $3.50 per year Second-class postage paid at Kansas City, Mo. Litho in U.S.A. r O E lit* li il J k by Wesley Tracy Did Jesus Really Eat Yogurt? eading a Bible study published in an evangelical peri­ work for hire in the fields, earning 12 cruzeiros a day R odical, I discovered that Jesus was a health food (about $1.15). That fieldwork does not provide person. No record of His wolfing alfalfa sprouts— but at enough to live, but only to vegetate. This is why many least we now know, the lesson writer explains in bold­ experience hunger. face print, that Jesus was a yogurt eater. After all, re­ We each eat about 100 lbs. of sugar per year. Sugar search shows that when Isaiah in chapter 7, verse 15 of causes all sorts of ailments including “rotten teeth” his prophecy wrote “butter and honey” (KJV), he really and “obesity.” Let us all substitute fresh fruit for sug­ meant “yogurt and honey.” Since this is a Messianic ary snacks. passage, the lamp of logic sheds its wise gleam upon us and the truth dawns— Jesus (being the Messiah) had to The people (in our Christian community) thank God be a yogurt eater. This discovery leads us to the truth of when they have beans, corn, and manioc root meal. the title of the 21/2-page article “Jesus Was No Junk Such “food” does not provide enough to live. They live Food Junkie.” by moral force; they live because they withstand it Talk about getting right down to where we live! somehow. The lofty purpose of the article was to prove that “nutritious snacks taste good.” What more important Junk food, especially soft drinks, causes “difficulty topic could young adults study? Dried figs, almonds, in sleeping, bellyaches, and elimination problems.” raisins, grapes, dates, and the like were recommended “All the children have swollen bellies, and are vom­ (who can afford such stuff?) in the place of pizza and iting with dysentery, which is endless.” Pepsi. These are, we are reminded, more like “those foods eaten by Christ.” (Do you realize that Jesus never Americans are “fish deficient.” We should eat more tasted Dr. Pepper or Twinkies?) fish instead of so much ham and beef. The same day I read this Bible study activity, I read a report from a community of Christians in Brazil. I kept There is meat for one day, but for eight days there mentally interchanging the ideas in the two articles. is none. Health is very poor. Sometimes a father has Junk food such as sugar and coffee causes health five or six children, and four die. They die of need, disregarded, because they cannot be treated. Hence, and personality problems. Many minor crimes are caused by the way junk food makes a person feel and most of the diseases occur among the children. Many think. Junk food hurts the body. But it also causes adults are also sick and cannot buy medicine. There personality problems. are sick people in almost all the houses. * The vast majority of the people lead lives of doing Then the evangelical Bible study for young adults without. The poor majority have no fixed work; they really zeroes in on the tough, hard-to-face question: 2 “How does your snack life compare to the foods Jesus ate?” Should we call for the rocks and the mountains to fall on us as we examine our “snack life”? Instead, I think of the conversation I had last month with my Asian friend, Dak. His hometown was bombed almost out of existence. There was no food. Starving people were everywhere. Dak and his family lived for weeks on grass. They would gather what grass they could find and boil it for grass soup. “The worst thing AN D N O W — about starvation,” Dak said, “is not the hunger itself. It is the subhuman, self-centeredness that you are reduced HERE'S NINA to. If I saw anything to eat, I would grab it— even if I had to knock down my starving little sister