The Monday Memo from John Stanko

443: Easter Implications

Next Sunday is Easter Sunday the world over.  I thought I would go into my archives and copy a past Memo that focused on Easter and resurrection, and I was surprised to find that I did not have anything in the archives!  I write every year about purpose lessons from Christmas, but had nothing on Easter.  Well, I am going to correct that this week, so let's get Holy Week started with this Memo.

A PACKED HOUSE

My church has six weekend services and we are getting ready for overflow crowds next weekend.  People who don't darken the door of a church throughout the year will come to church on Easter Sunday, which will make for a packed house. They sit with the regular attenders, family and friends, and pay homage to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. It is probably the same in your church.

We will assemble next week and say by our presence, "Yes, we believe Jesus was dead.  Yes, we believe that He was in the tomb for three days.  Yes, we believe that God raised Jesus, who was both fully God and fully man, back to life. Yes, we further attest to the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven, and that our flesh, Mary's boy, intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father."  I hope you agree that those affirmations summarize truths of Easter.  But is that all the truth?

It always intrigues me that many will come and attest to these truths yet all too often those truths have no meaning or application in their daily lives.  Stop for a minute and ask, "So what if Jesus was raised from the dead?  What difference should that make in my life?"  Those are good questions; let's try to come up with some answers.

IMPLICATIONS

If you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, then you can believe God for anything!  If God raises the dead, which He does, then He can cure cancer.  He can provide for your business or ministry.  He can transform you into the person He intended you to be, that person you want to be. If God can take a dead body and give it life, then nothing is beyond His miracle-working power.  What's more, you have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living in you!  It is not a replica of that Spirit, it is not a portion of that Spirit.  You have the Spirit that raises the dead living in you.  Here is what Paul had to say about the implications of this Spirit-resident:

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you (Romans 8:9-11).

I trust you plan on being at your local church fellowship next weekend.  Don't go as someone merely giving assent to a historical fact, go celebrating the truth that God is alive in You  Then find how you can release that resurrection power into your life, relationships, work and purpose.  If you can believe that God raises the dead - and you should - then you can believe God for anything.  Have a great resurrection-power-filled week!  Happy Resurrection Day!

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OPERATION PETTICOAT:  I announced plans last week to continue raising money for The Sophia Fund, the Deborah Foundation and a new program, Operation: Petticoat.  The latter is an effort to raise money for underwear for the young ladies in Kenya, who don't have any and consequently miss school because of it.  I know it may sound simple, but this is an important issue as evidenced by two emails I received this past week:

Just read about Operation: Petticoat.  It is so true about the underwear issue.  Most of the girls here don't wear bras and the panties are tattered.  It may seem strange to you but it is a big issue and the silly things are not cheap!  So little material but the price can be restrictive to kids who have little - J.M.

John, I think Operation: Petticoat is brilliant. Lack of underwear is a huge problem for girls and women in Africa and they are very grateful for any that can be sent. It doesn't matter if it is second hand as long as it is clean. Bras are particularly appreciated because they are harder to find and much more expensive. They are also necessary for older girls to be able to play sport. Women in developed countries don't know what to do with their older bras other than throw them away, and they could make such a difference. Children's clothes are also needed. Zimbabwe winter temperatures regularly go below zero at night.  Another vital necessity, which is out of reach for all but the best paid, is sanitary towels and tampons - S.F.

I am going back to Kenya in May, so we set April 30 as our deadline to raise money to purchase underwear here and take it over there.  You may not be passionate about underwear, but the two emails above speak to the urgency of the matter. 

You can give through my website or send a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Just let me know if your contribution is to be used for food or underwear and I promise to apply it where you direct. $70 came in last week for Operation: Petticoat and $500 yesterday for The Sophia Fund, and I am trusting the Risen Christ for a lot more!  Thank you for your help. 

KENYA TRAINING:  Next week, I will give you the specifics of The Pacific Institute (TPI) seminar I will conduct in Nairobi from May 17-19.  Frankly speaking, TPI is the best training I have ever experienced and I love to share it with my friends. Be watching next week for the specifics and then meet with me in Nairobi for a life-changing experience.

Monday Memo 327: Christmas Creative Collaboration

It's Christmas Eve 2007 and I am wondering where this year has gone. As I get older, it seems that the days just fly by, which is why I am determined to enjoy every one of them. I don't know how many I have left.

I've been Stateside for a few weeks, which has given me ample opportunity to listen to Christmas music. The men who wrote the carols of old were theologians who had a deep grasp on the significance of Jesus' birth. If you go past the first verse of some carols, you hear some magnificent truths about Jesus and the implications for mankind of His coming. Once hymn that caught my attention this year is Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

WHO WROTE IT?

All credit for Hark the Herald Angels Sing is usually attributed to Charles Wesley, the brother of Methodism's founder, John Wesley. Charles was a prolific song writer, with almost 9,000 hymns to his credit. Charles only employed sombre, slow and solemn music for his lyrics, however, so this particular carol was sung to a tune other than we know for at least 100 years after it was written in 1739.

In 1840, a man named Felix Mendelssohn wrote a commemorative cantata to honor Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. What does that have to do with this carol? Nothing except that a man named William Cummings heard the cantata and felt that one of the melodies could better serve the magnificent lyrics that Wesley had penned for Hark the Herald. Cummings adapted Mendelssohn's melody to Wesley's lyrics and the result was the version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing! that we know and sing today. So Hark the Herald is the result of a century-long creative collaboration by three men who never met.

CHRISTMAS CREATIVITY

This strikes me as a classic example of the simplicity and interconnection of the creative process. Your creativity doesn't have to involve something completely new or original. Cummings took two existing things--Mendelssohn's music and Wesley's words--to create something new again. He improved something that already existed to create something fresh that has impacted the world for more than a century.

As we end 2007, I want to begin a new discussion of the creative process to encourage you to take your own creativity more seriously in 2008. You are a creative person! The ideas you have can change the world, if you will stop discounting them as meaningless or insignificant. You don't have to invent something totally new to qualify as creative; you just have to act on your ideas and release them to the world. With God as your agent, the world will then act to endorse the very creativity that you may be dismissing or taking for granted.

Do you have any good ideas, even if they are only to improve something that already exists? If you do, take heart and remember Wesley, Mendelssohn, and Cummings. Those three men who never met collaborated to create something memorable. There is no reason why you can't do the same.

From my house to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a creative and purposeful New Year!

Feel free to post your comment to this Memo on the site where it is located.

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We have launched a new site called A Better Zimbabwe at www.abetterzim.com. Its purpose is to include only positive material about Zimbabwe, what it once was and what it can be again! I have posted several articles there and I invite you to check it out. Then read the "rules" and write your own story about that great nation. I'll give you a heads up on the rules -- no negatives and no politics! Let's tell the world about the good things happening in Zimbabwe in these turbulent times. You can subscribe to receive the posts on the site itself.

I also posted two articles on my blog about Zim entitled Buddy, Can You Spare $175,000? and Turbulence. Check them out and let me know what you think by adding your comments. You can also subscribe there to receive my regular blog updates.

As we end the year, please consider a contribution to my purpose work around the world. I offer much of what I write and do at no cost and will continue to do so. It would be most helpful if you would consider a year-end gift if you have found benefit in my work as you walk out your own PurposeQuest. You can make a donation using a credit card by going to my website and using PayPal, or you can send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221 USA. Thank you for helping me do the work that I was created to do.

In January, I will begin a new Bible study from Matthew's gospel. You can subscribe to receive those weekly studies by going to the site where they are posted.