FYI...periodic notes from Dr. Scott
Dr. Scott A. Lemenager
Special Assistant to the President & CEO
Evangelical Church Alliance
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7 Signs Someone May Be Suicidal
Death and Dying Summer 2020
Family Caregiver Alliance
Navigating the Grief Wheel
2020 Annual Conference
Putting Affairs in Order Before Death
Signs of Dying
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I hope you read this
Did you know the ECA reads all the annual reports. The office and Board of Directors pray regularly for our members. Although we may be limited with resources we seek to continually offer a quality credential to allow you to superintend your God-given ministry. Always remember that we want you to know "if you are in need of counsel, prayer, or information don't hesitate to reach us."
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For Judas it was greed, for many it is lust, for some it is laziness and others it is jealousy, anger, and pride. But the sin you refuse to depart from, is your 30 pieces of silver. The more you entertain that sin, the more you trade them for Jesus.
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A thought about evil
First we overlook evil, then we permit evil, then we legalize evil, then we promote evil, then we celebrate evil, then we persecute those who still call it evil.
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Special Thank you
Dear ECA family and friends
My wife and family are eternally grateful for the prayers and concern given with the accident of our son Andrew. On Monday July 15 we arrived at JAARS in Waxhaw NC. I was taking my wife and son to meet up with 2 of our daughters and their children for some rest and relaxation. I was planning on coming to Greenville on Tuesday but Monday early evening most of our extended family went to the pool for some fun in the onsite pool. Sadly our son is not able to swim, but he loves playing in the water. (He is a 25 year old, high function Cerebral palsy individual). Needless to say the pool had a deep end (8ft) and he slipped in as everyone was enjoying the pool. His oldest sister saw him go under and dove in to get him up. He had already taken in much water so his other sister and niece were able to pull him out and start CPR. The 911 call was placed, his color returned, he was breathing again, and then the EMT arrived. He was driven to the local hospital and his mother, sister, and I stayed with him while he was monitored . My wife remained Monday night, I stayed with him Tuesday night and he was released Wednesday afternoon. He rebounded quickly and we praise our Lord that he was able to completely recover. I am happy to say we have a beautiful life vest for him now should he go swimming again. Thank you everyone.
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Words of Wisdom
The links to the left of this column are handouts and a PowerPoint presentation that were made for the Annual ECA Conference in 2020. Please feel free to use them and let me know what you think about the subject of "Death and Dying" that we all face in life and ministry. You will also see the sermon and lyrics from our Annual Conference of 2021.
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Sobriety isn't just about being sober because someone said you need help...It's about making a decision to have a deeper more profound life. It's about not running away from fear, but looking it straight in the eye...knowing you will get through it. It's about knowing you don't have to walk this road alone and trusting a power and love greater than you. It's about service and helping people instead of hurting them...including yourself. You are a warrior because you chose to feel every fiber of your being and that takes courage. That is where freedom is! Unknown author
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A Father's gift to his children
- Give them ownership over their responsibilities.
- Let them experience failure.
- Explain WHY respecting people matters.
- Help them realize they can overcome their fears.
- Let them be who they are, not who you want them to be.
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From Echelon Front
5 Steps to Effective Ownership 1. Identify the problem, 2. Explain the consequences, 3. Take ownership of the problem, 4. Propose your solution, 5. Facilitate implementation of the solution. It's not enough to just say, "It's my fault." These are five steps that must be included in order to effectively take ownership.
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10 things that require zero talent 1. Being on time, 2. Work ethic, 3. Effort, 4. Energy, 5. Body Language, 6. Passion, 7. Doing Extra, 8. Being prepared, 9. Being Coachable, 10. Attitude
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John MacArthur said, "This is your best life if your next life is in hell. But on the other hand, if you are a child of God and your sins are forgiven and you've come to embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this is not even close to your best life."
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You can support the ECA through Amazon Smile if you shop for Amazon. Visit AmazonSmile and type in Evangelical Church Alliance and then you will help us.
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What is the "New Reality?"
Violence is in the news because most people feed on the ever-present evil around us. As someone has said, "We are not thinking with our eyes instead of our minds." If you are able to monitor your screen time, what would it say? Violence rules and reigns! I pray sincerely that many ECA ministers will covenant with God to keep their focus on the things of God.
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It's one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. The true test of a saint's life is not success but faithfulness. Oswald Chambers
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Martin Llyod-Jones said
The business of the gospel is to bring people to God. Not to fill churches! Not to have good statistics! But to reconcile men to God--to save them from the wrath to come.
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I read this recently.
"Pray like Nehemiah, Obey like Damiel, Lead like Moses, Build like Noah, Fight like David, Serve like Martha, Believe like Mary, Educate like Paul, Protect like Peter, and Love like Jesus!"
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"I will not violate the teaching of the text in order to somehow sound more appropriate for the culture." Voddie Baucham
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Steven Lawson is noted for saying, "The four Old Testament accounts that are most often scoffed at by unbelievers: 1) Real Adam and Eve, 2) Noah and the worldwide flood, 3) Sodom and Gomorrah, 4) Jonah and the fish...Jesus verbally affirmed all four."
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Last week I read from Owen Strachan the "Pulpits tomorrow will feature all sorts of messages: moralism, ritualism, communal betterism, prosperity, self-help. But only in sound pulpits will ring out the biblical doctrines of depravity, hell, blood atonement, regeneration, sovereign grace, eternal life. Let them ring!"
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Near the end of his life, Francis Shaeffer wrote "Here is the great evangelical disaster--the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. We must not allow the Bible to be weakened by any compromise in its authority. No matter how subtle the means. This is especially so when those doing this call themselves 'Evangelical.' When we stand before Jesus Christ, we will find that it has been the weakness and accommodation of the Evangelical group on the issues of the day that has been largely responsible for the loss of the Christian influence."
Brothers and sisters, hold fast to the truth!
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Pastor John MacArthur has said that the greatest act of terrorism perpetrated against this nation was committed by the Supreme Court. Roe v. Wade
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RC Sproul has said,
"The tentacle of theology invades every area of life. In fact, true Christians should think about everything theologically because everything has theological significance. God creates the universe, he is the sovereign ruler over all things, then all things find their meaning and significance as they are related to Him." "There are no brute facts, there are no mute facts because every fact is tied to its creator so that meaning and significance are in relationship to God. A Christian worldview is shaped by a Christian's God view."
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I have a number of great thoughts from C.H. Spurgeon
"Doctrines in the head, without holiness in the life, are of no service." "If your theology doesn't change your behavior, it will never change your destiny." "He who does not long to know more of Christ knows nothing of him yet." "I may know all the doctrines of the Bible, but unless I know Christ, there is not one of them that can save me." "There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty." "We shall grow in grace, but we shall never be more completely pardoned than when we first believed."
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Josh Buice has said
"Faithful preaching will be boring to unbelievers. Faithful singing will be unimpressive to unbelievers. Faithful praying will be pointless to unbelievers. Faithful giving will be illogical to unbelievers. Faithful worship will not entertain unbelievers. We need faithful churches."
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Church history has repeatedly and clearly proven one thing: once the highest view of scripture is abandoned by any theologian, group, denomination, or church; the downhill slide in both, theology and practice, is inevitable.
Dr. James White (Theologian)
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All people are biased
When you present the Gospel and defend it you might find that many people have an "inner Skeptic's dial." This dial is turned way up against biblical Christianity but turned way down when it comes to their views. Watch for the absurd, as the universe sprang into existence out of nothing (ex nihilo, nihil fit). Another is the application of mathematics to all phenomena is a coincidence rather than the result of divine planning.
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Faith is not an abstract hope about the future absent of reality, a subjective feeling divorced from truth, a leap in the dark, the power of positive thinking, nor a trick of the mind. True faith is only present when it leads to trust. All people everywhere have faith in the fundamental principles of life. Remember Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God.
