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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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Volume 1, Number 1 -- November 1991 A Meditation by Bill Cooper Where are my shoes? We know the burning bush story so well that we tend to skip it or not take it seriously. Therefore, it is easy to miss what God is saying about Himself and His people. Open your Bible and read Exodus 3, 4 and then we can share together. When did this experience happen? Several Biblical experiences are precisely pinpointed, but not this one. In the midst of the dreariness of everyday life, God spoke to Moses. Accustomed to the busyness of big city life; the noisy palace activity; the sumptuous royal surroundings; the best of everything: this former prince was now all alone with animals for company; the craggy mountains for a vista and silence for entertainment. The heir-apparent to the throne had become a sheepherder for a priestly family. Did these sudden changes have an effect on Moses? Does the sun rise every morning? It was in these surroundings that God spoke to a forgotten man. Moses did not go crying to God; God came to him in the midst of his nightmare of meaninglessness. The burning bush was just to get Moses' attention. The real issue was not unconsumed burning bushes, but the fact that God spoke to a forgotten man. It was a very personal encounter. God called Moses by name. In two ways God emphasized His royal, revered presence: God told Moses not to come closer (Even in intimacy, God is still awesome). God also told Moses to take off his shoes. This was an expression of awe and reverence. God was helping Moses to realize that wherever he was, in God's presence, it was holy ground. Using the name "elohae", which stresses his justice, God identified Himself in four different ways. God said, I am the God of your father who was able to keep you alive against the Pharoah's command; the God of Abraham promising to take him to a land, and did; the God of Isaac, who promised to make his seed like the sand of the seashore, and it was; the God of Jacob who forgave him of all his "heelgrabbing" ways. In God's speaking we glimpse something of His glory. God demonstrated His awareness saying, "I have seen the affliction of my people." God divulged His great concern saying, " I am come down to deliver..." God revealed His divine generosity when He promised them "a land of milk and honey." God came to Moses with a task for him to perform. God sent Moses to deliver Israel in an impossible situation. God often sends very common people to do uncommon tasks. Moses was certain there was a mistake. God couldn't want him to do that: people wouldn't listen; he wasn't a speaker; the Pharoah wouldn't listen to him; besides he was a wanted man in Egypt. His "reasons" were endless. Gideon and Isaiah both had lists like that. Somehow, these are the people God can use best. Moses suffered, not from lack of ability, but because he could not act upon what he already knew about God. God has always spoken to common people, calling them to do uncommon tasks. God never changes. All that God was and did in the Old Testament, He still is and does. In the "every-dayness" of your life, God torches a bush in your kitchen, office or work-bench and reaches out for your reverent attention. God has an impossible task that He wants you to make look easy. Remember, God accepted none of Moses' "reasons." God revealed Himself to Moses, to get him to lead Israel home. God revealed Himself to Isaiah to get him to take a message to people who would not listen. God reveals Himself to us, if we listen, but always to show His great power and to make the impossible look simple. What is it that "you couldn't possibly do" to serve God and show His great power? What is Logos Ministries? While you may not have heard of LOGOS MINISTRIES, you do know and recognize the name of the Founding President, Dr. O. William Cooper. Logos Ministries was founded about two years ago with a strong purpose of being a helping arm to the local church. The seven board members, all active in a local church, believe that the Local Church remains the place where Christians are nurtured. That nurturing must include Bible study. Logos Ministries exists to help provide the laity with tools to study the Scriptures personally and in turn to teach the Bible in the local church.. To that end, Dr. Cooper has two excellent seminars that he teaches. Local churches are invited to contact Dr. Cooper about these Friday evening-all day Saturday Seminars. One seminar is INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY and the other is USING THE GREEK TEXT WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW GREEK. Both of these seminars are available at a reasonable cost. Dr. Cooper has prepared some excellent study books as announced on the last page of this newsletter. The books are presented in a loose-leaf notebook that the student may easily add his/her own study notes at the precise place where they will be most useful. All monies received from these sales beyond production costs are used by the Ministry to provide free copies to pastors and scholars in mission field situations and to provide free copies to prisoners who request them. Dr. Cooper and one other Board member are involved in the Kairos program of ministry in Colorado prisons. We are seeking translators who will make it possible to provide these books in the language of the mission church. In another article, you will read of an exciting opportunity that Dr. Cooper has been offered. The church in the Ukraine houses all such instructors in individual homes, but the instructor must finance his own expenses in getting there. It has been the hope of the Board that Logos Ministries could fulfill part of its mission statement by providing those travel costs. If you would like to be a part of such a Mission your tax-deductible gift to Logos Ministries designated for this single purpose would be welcomed. logos Ministries is a non-profit religious organization. As such it is incorporated in the state of Colorado and registered with the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service has indicated it will audit our books to see that our mission statement is being fulfilled with the use of all funds received. Currently all of the work of this ministry is done on a volunteer basis including Dr. Cooper's teaching and writings. What can you do to further this mission? The most important thing you can do is to pray for this ministry. Prayer is the key ingredient to all effective ministry. You can learn to do Inductive Bible Study for yourself and then to share it with others. Watch for announcements of such seminars in your area or better yet, help your church to make arrangements to offer such a seminar. As God places it on your heart, you can help make the study books available for pastors and scholars in mission situations and for Christian inmates in prisons throughout our nation by your financial support of this ministry. You can help support Dr. Cooper's teaching trip to the Ukraine. This Volume One, Number One is a statement of faith and a commitment. logos ministries is committed to serving the Lord through the study of the Word and helping others to study. You can be a part of it by using the materials available and by making funds available to provide the materials for those who can not afford them. But even more than that you can help us pray that this Ministry will honor God in all that we do. An Exciting Opportunity! In 1992, Dr. Cooper will be sent to the Ukraine to teach Inductive Bible study and a course in the Gospel of Mark at a seminary located in the city of Donetsk (pronounced Donyetzk) in the Ukraine near the Russian provincial boarder. This city of 1.3 million people in the steppeland, is the largest iron producing area in the former U.S.S.R. The Russian Baptist church has been without trained clergy for nearly seven generations because of legal prohibitions. Now it is permissible to train clergy. Under the leadership of Professor Ray Prigodich, from Denver Seminary (Conservative Baptist), a faculty is being trained who will in turn train young pastors to serve in the church in Russia and the Ukraine. Dr. Cooper will teach, via translation, for four hours each morning for a month. In that time he hopes to complete the seminar on Inductive Bible Study and then practice the process with a study in the Gospel of Mark. If time allows, perhaps evenings, he will also teach a course in Hebrews. We do not know how long the doors to these eastern block nations will remain open. If we can train the leaders in Inductive Bible Study, they can teach their people to study for themselves. Then it will not matter whether or not we are able to go there to teach. We are working on a program to have Dr. Cooper's latest book, dealing with little known biblical phrases, translated into Russian so that this can be shared with the pastors in training in that land. This is the purpose of Logos Ministries. We want to share this work with Christians in America who want to learn to study the Bible for themselves. This will enable us to provide the same materials, free of charge, to pastors in other parts of the world where they have not had the opportunity to have trained leadership. THE WORD IS 'LOGOS' |
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