"When people say we don't want to
reinvent the wheel, I tend to stop listening;
I want to reinvent the wheel!"
(D. Ed. Hoggatt)
reinvent the wheel, I tend to stop listening;
I want to reinvent the wheel!"
(D. Ed. Hoggatt)
 It’s amazing how much pleasure can be derived from taking a shortcut. Connecticut Avenue has been closed for a long, long time, and many of our families have been forced to take alternative routes. For a while, we even had to stop at every light on Main Street before finally reaching our destination at the building. It sure makes one appreciate this very real shortcut even more. One of the biggest problems that exist in today’s society is that too many people want to take too many perceived shortcuts on their route to Heaven. We hear it all the time: “We just need to agree to disagree; we’re all going to the same Heaven anyway.” “It’s not a choice; I was born this way.” “She has her whole life ahead of her; delivering a baby would change things too much.” “Why don’t we just live together to see if it will work out; there’s no need to make a lifelong commitment.” “Just say this prayer [the sinner’s prayer], and you will be saved.” “I’m a good man – whether I go to church or not.” “A loving God would not punish his creation in the fires of Hell.” The list goes on and on. The shortcut is appealing and convenient, but the taking the shortcut in matters of faith are also character revealing; it reflects a distorted sense of priorities; and the shortcut becomes a detour and a dead end. In the August Awake! publication from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a lawyer examines their beliefs. Coming from a Jewish background, the attorney was admittedly not faithful to his religion. Then he married an Anglican woman, who eventually felt the couple should “do something to give him some form of religion”. The lawyer-author was resistant when the “Witnesses” came to the door. He, like many, “always cut them short”, but soon, his wife convinced him to join her in studying with them. Here, essentially, is a quick list of what appealed to him about this new religion:
That’s it! That was enough to convert this Jewish attorney to a completely new belief system. Strangely enough, he cites in the article an exact date mentioned in prophecy, relating these dates to the exact date Jesus began his ministry. This type of meticulous attention to Scripture appealed to this man who studies legal and logical laws and regulations. Yet, he has taken a shortcut. Why does he not apply the same logical mind to the many false tenets of the Jehovah’s Witnesses? Where are the questions about their belief that the soul is not immortal? Where is his scrutiny of their idea that the wicked will not suffer in Hell? Shouldn’t he investigate the claim that there is no Trinity? Why is he not reluctant to believe the earth “will be made into a paradise and populated forever by righteous humans”?* To be fair, the “Witnesses” get some things right, as do most religions, but why not study further? For one who claims to be logical and meticulous, it is illogical to stop short of hearing the full testimony of the Bible. For one who is supposedly ground in facts and evidence, it is unreasonable to pass judgment before all the evidence has been weighed. It is a shortcut that our neighbors and peers take everyday, yielding to personal preferences and entertaining presentations rather than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You and I must never be satisfied with such, and may we be ever-vigilant to grow in rich knowledge of the Bible! I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4, NASB) * Information taken from “Exposed: Six Myths about Christianity”, a series of articles on the Watchtower website
"A dream is a journey for your mind.
Travel safely." (D. Ed. Hoggatt)
The Bible teaches we can’t be disciples of Christ if we don’t have regular intake of Word of God. When you know Word of God well, you’re going to know will of God (John 8:31f; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; Matt. 22:29). Think about This: Bible study is like a piece of art. The foreground is the New Testament. The background is the Old Testament. The frame is our study and worship. If you knew nothing about the Bible, had never seen one, and were handed a Bible, where would you begin? Would you understand? We sit in pews or in Bible class, and we easily conclude that to get closer to God, we must study and pray, but that’s where our instruction stops. We mustn’t be satisfied with such a simplistic conclusion. The apostles asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Philip asked the eunuch if he understood what he read in Isaiah. Study and prayer are difficult if no connections are made, and it’s difficult to make connections by just reading. That being said, what are some study hints?
We make connections:
From How We Got the Bible, “The Birth of the Bible”, by Neil Lightfoot: The Bible was written in three languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Almost all are in Hebrew. Hebrew is strange to us, written right to left, with sounds that are foreign to ears accustomed to English forms and vocabulary unrelated to English words (See Ps. 119 for sample of Hebrew alphabet.). Aramaic is kin to Hebrew. After exile, Aramaic became common tongue in Palestine. Some of Old Testament is Aramaic instead of Hebrew. Sections include 2 words as a place name in Gen. 31:47; one verse in Jeremiah 10:11; about six chapters in Daniel 2:4-7:28; and several chapters in Ezra (4:8-6:18; 7:12-26).  Think about This: Maybe this is why Bible study is hard for some. There is a language barrier – not just Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, but also:
When was the beginning? What was before? Who is God? From where did He come? The title, Genesis, comes from the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Hebrew title is Bereshit (“in the beginning,” literally, “head”), derived from first word of the Hebrew text. More than half of all human history covered in 50 chapters. Our success in life will depend on how closely we build on God’s foundation. Genesis is the foundation of foundations. Genesis is the most foundational book in Scriptures and is rightly described as the “Book of Beginnings”. Genesis is first book of Law - the first of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible that Moses wrote. This is stated at end of his life: Deut. 31:24-26. Lord (2:4) is a translation of YHWH, the name of God - sometimes Jehovah. We say Lord to avoid confusion with the New Testament where Lord is the word used. Who is referred to as Us (1:26)? Hebrew word for God is elohim. It is a plural noun.   They are raw, untrained, and fraught with emotion and preconceived notions about where their lives are going, how they are affected by the culture around them, and the ultimate goals of life. Jesus plucks these 12 men from their ordinary lives, and then must help them unlearn a few things. They must be molded into something greater than who they are when He finds them.
In the previous lesson, we considered the idea that these apostles have some work to do when they meet Jesus. We figured out that they lacked certain personal traits that, perhaps, we can relate to: they lacked spiritual understanding, humility, and commitment. But that’s not all. Tonight, we’ll see that they also lacked faith and power. How many times do we recall that Jesus said something like, Oh ye of little FAITH, to His closest followers? In Matthew 8:26, He says to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” In Matthew 17:20, He tells them “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” Similarly, in Luke 17:6, He tells them, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” They are constantly amazed by His teachings and His miracles. Just when they think they've seen it all, Jesus does something else they couldn’t have imagined he could do. He heals a leper: they are amazed. He heals a paralytic: they are amazed. He calms the waves and the wind: they are amazed. He casts out demons: they are amazed. One might think that they could have at some point seen enough to start figuring things out. After all, the very purpose of miracles was to convince people of His authority - to prove that Jesus was the Son of God walking the earth and to increase faith because of that fact. John 20:30f confirms: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” So why do they need so much convincing? Read in Hebrews 11, and I’ll restate the question. Verse 6 lets us know that, “[W]ithout faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” The question becomes, Why do I need so much convincing? They lacked spiritual understanding. They lacked humility. They lacked commitment and faith. Then, finally, we have to note that the apostles lacked POWER. They craved power, as we’ve noted before, and they would be less effective without power. Only when the time was right did Jesus gather them, in Matthew 10:1: “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” That power - that authority - comes upon them on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. They no longer argued about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. Now, the power of the Holy Spirit would work through them to accomplish God’s Plan for the new church. Why should Jesus bother with such a crowd? Our easy answer is because He loves us. He has always loved us since before the creation of our tangible world. Jesus claims, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16f). John reveals in 1 John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” We see such a transition in the 12 men that Jesus chose for His apostles to build on the foundation of the church. They are ordinary men made extraordinary due to their direct proximity to the Savior of the world and due to the Spirit that compelled them forward. The question is asked: can the same be accomplished through us, today? We don’t have the power to heal the sick, cast out demons, calm the weather, or forgive sins, but can we finally realize that if we allow God to work through us, with the confidence that we have studied and understand His Plan, we can accomplish remarkable things for God. We, obedient, faithful servants, can do His will and bring glory to Him. We go from this place tonight with 2 Peter 3:17f in our hearts: “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.” "When in the presence of a wiser person,
one should listen more and talk less." (D. Ed. Hoggatt) We understand that the apostles are ordinary men. They come with their own:
 When they meet Jesus, they are raw and, to a certain extent, undisciplined. They were open to what Jesus offered, but they were not ready to be sent out. Just like us, they needed to learn.
One problem they needed to conquer was their own lack of SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. They only knew what they knew - what they had learned in their own upbringing. They are among the followers when Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, and they hear repeatedly, “You have heard…but I say.” They still did not understand everything, even at the empty tomb, in John 20:9, where it says, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” Jesus has to continue teaching them after the resurrection all the way until He ascends. I guarantee that, if someone who walks with Jesus for three years, listens to His sermons and parables - someone who has direct access to the Teacher and can ask questions and get answers any time - if that person does not understand the whole Plan and has to keep learning to the end of life, then none of us, over 2000 years later, is going to understand without continual study in the Book either. We can learn the Truth. We have the teachings of Jesus. We even have further inspired clarification through the teachings of these apostles. Just like the first-century Christians, in Acts 2, we should continually devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Another need that some (probably all) of the apostles needed was HUMILITY. Some wanted the power to strike down people at will. Some wanted a special place in Heaven - right next to Jesus - meaning the others would not be as important as they were. Among other times, Jesus talks about the humility of a woman who washes His feet with her tears and her hair. He even takes the time to teach them humility by washing their feet Himself. His own humility is directly taught in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45: For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” And those are just two of the shortcomings of these 12 men. They have a lack of spiritual understanding. They have a lack of humility. Next week, we’ll talk about their lack of faith and their lack of power. For now, let’s just add one more item to the list - their lack of COMMITMENT. John 6:66 tells us that many of the disciples of Jesus “withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore”, to which Peter asks, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” and makes a strong statement, “You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” That’s all well and good, but these men, too, will leave Him for fear of their own lives. At Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, only Peter and John follow, but from a distance. Peter says he will personally follow Jesus even to death, but we know how that works out for him. Luke 22:54ff relates the account of Peter fulfilling Jesus’ foretelling that he would deny knowing Jesus three times before the morning is announced by a rooster. “Woman, I do not know Him,” Peter says. “Man, I am not [one of them]!” he says. And when accused a third time of being a close follower of Jesus, Peter finally and clearly proclaims, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” That’s when Jesus looks at him and he remembers…and he goes away and weeps “bitterly”. Jesus has to address all of these issues. He teaches them, He forgives them, and He prays for them. Read one of those prayers in John 17:6-19: Jesus says to the Father, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” And He keeps praying: “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” How many times have we also felt our commitment fading or wavering? How many times have we doubted our own belief and commitment to Christ? In many ways we are like the apostles when our humility gets away from us or when we don’t seek answers to the things we don’t understand. That’s how a study of these 12 can be extremely relevant to us today, at this point in our lives when we might question the chaos in the world and wonder at the disorder of the systems we once thought were controlled. This study promises to show us all kinds of applications to our lives moving forward, and hopefully, we will be strengthened and encouraged through it. It is the building in which I signed my first teaching contract: the Administration Building for Oklahoma City Public Schools. I received professional development there, I delivered professional development there, and it was there, in that old building, that my principal (the late Gary Blevins) was when the Murrah Federal Building was attacked by Timothy McVeigh on April 19, 1995.
Still, it is a piece of my own past - another piece of fading personal memories of past experiences that brought me to the place I am now.
"If your idea of educational progress
is to summarily dismiss traditional practices, you have the wrong approach." (D. Ed. Hoggatt)  “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea” (Acts 8:40).
This, oft-neglected final verse of Acts 8, follows the well-known account of Philip preaching to and baptizing the Ethiopian. It’s important to note that Philip kept on preaching. Perhaps here is a simple message to every Christian to do the same. Mack Lyon, in a an old edition of the In Search of the Lord’s Way TV program, provided three reasons why he keeps preaching the Gospel. The first reason, Lyon cited is “because, just as God raised up David to be king over Israel (Acts 13:22), He raised up you and me for a purpose.” Friends, if I am to believe that I am created in the image of the Almighty, I must also believe that my life has purpose. In Ecclesiastes 1:3-6, the preacher writes, “What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; and hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; and on its circular courses the wind returns.” Then, in the last two verses of Ecclesiastes, we read, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” My life may be “that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14), and everything may be “dust in the wind”, but all indications in the Bible point to a Christian’s mortal and temporary life having special purpose – obedience and the preaching of the everlasting Gospel. Lyon’s second reason to keep preaching is “because I can’t keep from it.” In Acts 4, when Peter and John were commanded to stop preaching, they answered, in verse 20, “…[W]e cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah discusses the power of God’s Word within him and just how hard it is to hold it back: “…[I]f I say, ‘I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,’ Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it” (Jeremiah 20:9; emphasis mine, DH). Aren’t there moments in each of our lives when we become frustrated that we haven’t spread more of the Gospel to our friends in the community? I wonder if it shouldn’t feel more like a burning fire, set to ravage the sins of the world. What must it feel like to be weary of holding our tongues when presented with the opportunity of preaching? What a powerful statement by the prophet! And thirdly, Lyon believes he must keep preaching the Gospel “because souls are lost without it.” In Romans 10:14f , the apostle Paul writes, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’” It makes one sick to think of the tens of millions of people who die every year and realize most of them were lost. Yet it is true! In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, the church is asked, “…[D]o you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” How will the living understand the severity of God’s condemnation and the amazing, lovely reward of His grace unless someone preaches it to them? The Ethiopian was convicted by Philip’s teaching Christ to him. He repented, confessed, and submitted to immersion to be forgiven. The same response is just as necessary for every individual that walks the earth with us today. May we keep preaching the Gospel!  I was invited back to Cecil Floyd Elementary, last week, where I was honored to be the spellmaster for the annual spelling bee. We eliminated several in the opening rounds, but it came down to a final showdown between a fourth grade boy and a fifth grade boy. The fifth grader took the bee and will represent the school at the regional spelling bee for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in the spring.
How nice to be allowed back into a building in which I feel such ownership. After all, I invested three decades of my life there. "If you are talking when everyone else is talking, you probably don't much to say."
(D. Ed. Hoggatt) It's hard to believe that my great uncle has been gone for 10 years. I was honored to see this man transform from a sinful and dirty man into the Godly man that he became. The following are my written thoughts just after his passing. My Great Uncle Donald was a man. That's all. Just a man. Donald was a man. That's true. But, like all men, there were events in his life that made him unique. Indeed, there were people in his life that made him special.
When I was a kid, this red-haired man was more of an encounter and less of a man. He was more of a dread and less of an uncle. I recall standing in my great grandmother's kitchen. Alone with my great uncle. Looking up at him as he recounted some dirty joke. It was inappropriate at any age, but especially so considering mine. To my credit, I did not understand and cannot remember what he said - only that he said it. Afterwards, he balled up his fist, stuck out his middle knuckle, and ground it into the top of my head, all the while trapping me within the crook of his opposite elbow. I suppose giving "noogies" a way of showing affection. Uncle Donald was the man who constantly "stole my nose" and wouldn't give it back! As silly as that seems, I took it personally, and I was clearly upset, but he was relentless. I guess to understand the man is to know his history. To a little boy those things - the wartime experience and the failing marriage - don't mean much, and they don't excuse any sort of abuse, but they do help a grown man to understand. Uncle Donald was a tough guy, and the whole of the thing is this: I didn't like him very much. A few years later, a new Christian wife, his own life transformed by an obedient relationship with Christ, and even a new responsibility of preaching in a small congregation in rural Oklahoma, another part of this ordinary man was made obvious. Not only was he tough, but he was also sensitive and gentle. The crusty exterior fell away to reveal a soft filling. In her battle with Alzheimer's, Donald's wife was never alone. He doted over her, perhaps too much, waiting on her hand and foot, long after she became bedridden and incoherent. It was both painful and endearing to witness. One of his last great acts was to preside over my parents' renewal of vows for their 50th anniversary. Uncle Donald was able to express his own love for my family in the midst of their enduring love for each other. Nearly completely blind for several years, he was still just a man. But he was a man made great through his reaching out to express love to me, almost embarrassingly at times, perhaps making up for those old days when he bullied me. I think he felt the guilt of mistreating me, though I easily forgave him and understood the tremendous changes he made to improve. He embraced my wife, and he made a special connection with my daughter, when she finally got to spend an extended time with him, this past summer. In his last days, in the throes of suffering, he would often call out to her with their catch phrase: "I'm OK." Before 5:30, Wednesday morning, my great uncle peacefully passed from this life. Donald Warren Ellis was just a man, but he became so much more as his time on earth matured. Bully no more. Inappropriate no more. Loved and missed forever. One thing I regret about retiring from teaching is that I don't receive notes like this one from five years ago. It's always heartwarming to receive notes like the one below. This one, written by a high school student, was passed on by one of the teachers at Joplin High. [Mr.] Hoggatt was the teacher that helped me become the person I am today, |
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