Blog »    Parenting
                                                Tuesday, May 14, 2013
                                                           Jeff Lampl

 

"Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord."        Ephesians 6:4 (AMPLIFIED VERSION)  

Having raised 5 children I see the wisdom of the above verse.    The Amplified Version I used is one which adds the implications or tone of the Greek words, the language in which the New Testament was written.  

Notice the implications:  “do not exasperate them to resentment, but rear them tenderly”  

The context of your training is to be one of encouragement, believing in your child (especially when you don’t see much to believe in), and seeking to evoke and awaken the best of God’s image within them.  

Parenting is hard, hard, hard work.   But there is no greater way to expend your energies.   I suspect that the two most important and difficult things you will do in your lifetime will be to do marriage and parenting well.   

“Lord, please give each parent reading this the gift of being able to see the image of God in each of their children regardless of how blurred that image may be.   Give them a heart that believes that you are up to something good in each child, young or old.  And Give them the ability to express their heart for their children to their children so that they know that their parents, like God, are for them and not against them.   Amen”

Blog » “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”

Monday, May 13, 2013 

Jeff Lampl

 

As we prepare for family Sunday, I wonder if there is any greater goal for a parent to pursue for his child than the goal of raising achild to respond to God as Samuel did below. 

“Lord, I pray for every parent reading this passage.   I ask You, Lord, to strengthen them in their walk with you and give them the hunger to see their children walk with You, attentive to you and wanting to know you.  Amen” 

One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God.  Suddenly the LORD called out,

“Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?”
 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.
 Then the LORD called out again, “Samuel!”

Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.”
 Samuel did not yet know the LORD because he had never had a message from the LORD before.
 So the LORD called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy.
 So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.
 And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”                      1 Samuel 3:2-10 (NLT)

Blog » “So that nothing will hinder your prayers”  

Friday, May 10, 2013
Jeff Lampl

  

"Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with
respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that
nothing will hinder your prayers."
1 Peter 3:7 (NIV)  

The movie, The Notebook, began with these lines from James Garner.  

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough..”  

I find these lines incredibly moving.  And challenging.  Maybe because I do this so poorly.    He says in essence, “this one thing I did. . .I loved a woman . . and that was enough”.      The movie then plays out how he measured up as  a man, not immediately, but eventually.  

Peter tells us that God won’t hear  the prayers of men who don’t  treat their wives with honor and respect.     Peter even uses the term, “the weaker sex” .   He does so for many reasons, but  his point is this.   In a world where might made right and men wrote the rules,  Peter is saying that men must leverage their strength (be it financial, physical, intellectual, moral, or emotional) on behalf of their wives.  

“so that nothing will hinder your prayers”

Blog » “She is Another Man’s Daughter”  

Thursday, May 9, 2013
Jeff Lampl

“treat younger women with all purity/ respect as you would your own sisters”
1 Timothy 5:2  

Are you a man with a beautiful daughter?   Have you ever noticed how easy it is to allow your eyes to wander toward  an attractive young woman who is not your daughter and find yourself in danger of slipping into ungodly thoughts?    Have you then noticed that you are disgusted, even angry, at the thought of another male viewing your daughter that way?      

Every woman is some man’s daughter.  

Every woman is God’s daughter.     

Perhaps the truest measure of a man is whether or not he treats all women as worthy of complete honor as a daughter of God, a woman with a father who values her more deeply than you could ever imagine, a woman whose infinite worth must be protected valued and defended.    

Any young man or old man who has not begun to learn to value all women in this way is neither ready for a relationship nor for marriage.   Any young woman or older woman who reduces herself to the object of any man’s needs has diminished herself to something far less than God’s cherished and beloved daughter.

Blog » “ . . . .I reasoned like a child . . ."

Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Jeff Lampl

 

 

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I put childish ways behind me."   I Corinthians 13:11  

I am personally amazed that the feminist movement has so little to say about the demeaning way that women are depicted on TV, commercials, in film, in music videos and especially in the lyrics of music popular in our youth culture,  most notably hip hop.   Women who fought so hard for women’s rights and respect now appear to be silent when women are called the “b” and “w” words in song lyrics.   It’s degrading.   Is our society regressing back to the first century when women were commodities to be used and disposed of?  

From high school “sexting”, to the group sexual experiences now prevalent among those have barely hit their teens, to the college hook-up culture, to the decline of marriage, to the women abandoned by their “lovers” (an improper usage of language if there ever was one) to raise a child on their own dependent on our welfare system . .  . . . . .  we are now witnessing the dramatic increase among American males of men who never get to 1 Corinthians 13:11b.  

In what ways might you and I (men and women) be unwitting participants in the denigration of women in our society?



Blog »The Measure of a Man
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Jeff Lampl

 

 

On Sunday I will begin a 5 week series on Love, Dating, Marriage and Family.   I believe that the things that I will be sharing from scripture are huge for you and everyone in this brand new world of the 21^st century.   I hope you invite your friends and neighbors.    

It will be Mother’s Day and I feel led to address the issue of how men treat women.    I think it will not only be a real encouragement to women of all ages, but I also think it will be a message of crucial importance.    In particular I hope you invite unmarried teens and adults.    

To modify Plato’s quote (above) I think it may well be true that the best measure of a man is how he treats a woman.   

It starts with what I sometimes think is the most important commandment, the 5^th one.   

 “Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God commanded you. Then you
will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you."
                                                     Deuteronomy 5:16 (NLT)  

Parents that raise their children to honor and respect them are also training their children to honor and respect God.   The former is the prerequisite to the latter.    Furthermore experience leads me to believe that how a young man treats his mother is how he will treat a future wife.    Respect precedes love.  



Blog » Where is the Power in the Lords Supper?

Thursday, May 2, 2013 

 

 

As you prepare for the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper this Sunday I encourage you read Psalm 51.   It was written by King David after Nathan had confronted him regarding his adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one his generals.    

The Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion or the Eucharist) is not magic.   It is through Jesus death and resurrection (re-enacted in the Lord’s Supper) that God accomplished your freedom from all sin, death, and whatever debilitating agent may have a grip on you.   Your freedom and healing has been accomplished.   Yet it is your task to receive that freedom.  

I recently read that  a Christian rescue team arranged for the escape of a young woman from the slavery of the sex trade.    The team did everything necessary to set her free including meeting her with a car at a set time.   She was arrived but when it came time to get into the car, she hesitated, looked freedom in eye, turned around, and walked back into her slavery and to a certain early death.  

In this Psalm, David is rescued from imprisonment in his sin and in his consequent own self justification.   When presented with the opportunity to be free or stay imprisoned, he chose freedom.   How so?   He came clean.    He died to his own pride.   He admitted the depth not only of his sinful behavior but also of his sinful heart.  He admitted he needed God.   In this action of contrition, humility, and utter dependence on God’s forgiveness and Grace David was set free.    It is for this reason that David,  adulterer and murderer,  is known today as “a man after Gods’ own heart”.    
 

Psalm 51:1-19(NLT)
“ Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
 For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.
 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.
 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.
 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God”