From the Mind of a Worshipping Theologian

Are You Ready to Forgive?

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

*This is my article for the February 2012 President's Page in the Sabbath Recorder.

Butyou are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to angerand abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.(Nehemiah 9:17b, ESV)

When Iread this verse, I think of a parent watching a child and knowingthey are going to make a mistake but letting them make it anyway.Then I see the parent use that mistake not as an opportunity topunish their child but as a teaching moment to correct them in loveand to show them that there is no expectation of perfection on theparent's part but rather a transmission of grace and mercy.

God isready to forgive us when we disobey Him and fall short of His callingfor us and our churches. He is gracious and merciful in the way Hecorrects us and places us back into His community. He is aware thatsinners sin and is slow to get angry with them but abounding in love,which bides the anger.

Unfortunately,as imperfect people, we sometimes do not model the readiness of ourGod to forgive. We are not READY to go forward with our calling fromGod because we are trapped with the grudges of the past.

Have youthought about what grudges you are not ready to forgive (the onesthat come burning to mind when you are reminded of a particular eventor person)? As a follower of our Lord Jesus, have you modeled thegrace and mercy He has displayed to those who have sinned againstyou? (If you haven't forgiven, then it will be hard.) Are you slow toanger when mistakes are made? Is your love steadfast for His peopleor is it conditional and held hostage by what you want to havehappen?

Thankfully,God does not forsake us when we make mistakes. He lovingly correctsus and brings us back into a right relationship through the work ofGod the Holy Spirit and His holy people, the church. Because He usesus to build His Kingdom, from the inside out, this is why it isimportant for the church to model the forgiveness, grace, mercy, andlove of our Savior.

ARE YOUREADY to ask for forgiveness from God and from those you have sinnedagainst? (Confess and Repent) ARE YOU READY to forgive those who areindebted or have transgressed against you? If you have done these twothings, ARE YOU READY to show His holy people (the church) grace,mercy, and love? In modeling this forgiveness, ARE YOU READY to bethe church to each other inside the body and the world outside thebody?

It isgetting close to that time to start thinking about your plans for thesummer. Our annual Conference program this year is lining up to bevery exciting. We will have seven messages from some great speakersin the evening flowing from our Conference theme, ARE YOU READY?, andchallenging our churches to get ready for what God will do throughthem. There will be five Bible study sessions taking us through thebook of 1 Thessalonians. Of course, there will also be some mealmeetings, fellowship times, a few banquets, singing, prayer, and icecream.

Thereis still time to offer any input into our yearly meeting. Please feelfree to contact me through phone (304-629-9823), email,Twitter, or Facebook.

On behalfof myself, our denominational executives, our boards and agencies,and our Conference host committee, we want to invite you to join theARE YOU READY? conversation at West Virginia Wesleyan College inBuckhannon, WV from July 29-August 4, 2012.

I am NOT a Resolutions Guy!

2012-01-03T17:05:00.002-05:00

I used to be that guy. You know...the one who used to make a bunch of resolutions and then just as quickly as they were made toss them aside. (However, resolutions aren't necessarily bad-as Joe Thorn explains)

It was a few years ago that I got sick of that. I always started my year out feeling like a failure. This is a bad way to set the tone for a year. It often wasn't until March or April that I got out of my failure funk and felt like I could have a productive year. What a waste of three month!

I refuse to wallow in self-pity any longer. Instead, I take advantage of my "new" year and realize where I fell short in the previous year (and what lessons were learned) and what goals I want to make for the coming year.

In 2011, I learned the following lessons:

Having the title of pastor does not help you pastor your people well
Be careful what you pray for. God may actually give it to you.
It is better to be accused of being something than to sin trying to defend yourself.
I am not as wonderful as I think I am; but I am loved far more than I believe I am

In 2012, I will make the following goals:

To strive to be empathetic to those whom I serve
To lose 50-80 pounds (mostly because I realize my obesity is because of lack of self control)
To regularly spend time with just my family (including the goal of pastoring them well)
To spend my time with God well, doing more listening than talking. (in order to discern His will)

What did you learn in 2011? What goals are you making for 2012?

How REAL is too REAL when it comes to marriage?

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

I applaud most things Mark Driscoll does since I had been introduced to him about two years ago (although I don't agree with his emphasis on everything). However, with the release of his new book, Real Marriage: The Truth about Sex, Friendship, & Life Together, there appears to be some controversy stirring.

Tim Chailles, uber blogger and lover of Jesus and His church, writes a very biting review of this much publicized new release. His conclusion is:

Having read the book through two times, I’ve found myself wondering how to best measure or evaluate it, but perhaps these criteria are useful: Would I want to read it with my wife or would I encourage her to read it on her own? Would I recommend it to the people in my church? In both cases the answer is no. This is not to say that the book is entirely without merit; Real Marriage does have things to commend it. But in my assessment the negatives far outweigh the positives. Its disjointed nature, the way it is unhinged from the gospel, the way it evaluates sexual acts through an improper grid—in all these ways and more it inadvertently lowers marriage rather than elevates it. With so many good books on marriage available to us, I see no reason to recommend this one.

Driscoll's take on the Song of Solomon has been controversial for years but I have been refreshed, encouraged, and helped by many of his messages regarding the role of men and women in the church which is founded from their roles in the home. If Chailles' review is accurate, this will be a terrible disappointment for me and others I assume.

Read the whole review here. But make sure to read the book for yourself, be challenged, and decide!

Engaging in Scripture 2012

2011-12-30T01:30:00.000-05:00

What I would like to do here is to try to persuade you to set aside time each week in the coming year to plan—and specifically to plan your life of prayer and devotion and ministry. The bulldozer of God's Spirit often arrives at the scene of our heart ready to begin some great work of building, and he finds that due to poor planning there are piles of disordered things in his way. We're not ready for him.

In order to make sure that we are ready for the great work that God is ready to do in our church, we will be using the ESV Study Bible reading plan for those who wish to engage in Scripture reading in 2012. We will not be posting the daily readings on our website this year but there will be multiple ways to follow along (RSS, Twitter, print copy).

The ESV Study Bible reading plan offers four sections of reading everyday:

Psalms and Wisdom Literature

Some of the greatest poetry of all time, these books are full of Spirit-inspired wisdom, Godly principles, praise and exultation toward our faithful Creator.

Pentateuch and History of Israel
As we read about God's covenant with Israel and their constant failure to obey it, we gain perspective on our need for a savior. We also see the origin of salvation through faith in Abraham, and countless records of our Lord's miraculous power.

Chronicles and Prophets
Amidst the turmoil of Israel's disobedience, the Prophets emerge as God's chosen instruments to point us toward our Messiah and the hope of a new and better covenant.

Gospels and Epistles
Jesus. Our Savior destroys the power of sin forever. The early Church is filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul of Tarsus is transformed into Paul the Apostle and chosen by God to embolden us to an obedient life in Christ under the freedom of our faith.*

So my plea to you is that you set aside time each week to plan, especially to plan your life of prayer and Bible study. Give some thought how God might want to use you that week in a special way. Plan the letters you need to write, the Bible verses you want to teach your children, the visit you want to make, the book you want to read, the neighbor you want to talk to, etc.

*From the Journey St. Louis Engage Scripture page.

You're Making Me Two Tents? (Sermon from 12/24/11)

2011-12-26T00:58:00.000-05:00

Sermon from Metro Atlanta SDB Church on 12/24/11

This message takes a brief look at the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles from Nehemiah 8:13-18 (with additional background from John 7:1-52; 8:12and Leviticus 23:33-44) and helps us see that the conflict between the temporary and the eternal does not just make us too tense but stems from God making for us two tents. Jesus shows us, helps us, and leads us through the journey of two tents from His birth to His return.

Affection Moves Us to Share (Extended Version)

2011-12-22T05:30:00.000-05:00

This article is found in the January 2012 edition of the Sabbath Recorder:

So,being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with younot only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you hadbecome very dear to us.1 Thessalonians 2:8 (ESV)

Thebook, Real Hope in Chicago, is about a high school coach named Wayne Gordon. He was doing a Biblestudy after school with some inner city kids in the Lawndale area,which was the second poorest community in the country and havingissues with drugs and gangs. God gave him such a desirous heart forthat community that he moved to Lawndale.
Thekids urged him not to move there because it would be very dangerousfor him but Wayne moved there anyway. He got attacked by one of thegangs and had his house broken into again and again.
Hepersevered not for himself or a sense of duty but a desire to lovethese kids, share the gospel, and share his life with them. Thosekids asked him to start a church and to be their pastor. I don’thow he did it but his love for the community of Lawndale was sostrong that he had the opportunity to witness to the guy that keptbreaking into his house. Today, that church has 600 members and hasministered to Lawndale by sharing the lives that the gospel haschanged with the brokenness found in the community. In other words,the gospel didn’t just transform the people; it transformed theentire community. Wayne Gordon had lived out the truth of 1Thessalonians 2:8.

BeingAffectionately Desirous

I love being affectionate withmy wife and kids. It indicates my desire to continue my relationshipwith them. Affection is not always physical. It can be demonstratedin a myriad of ways. One of the best ways to show affection isthrough clear and true communication. This happens in spoken languagebut also in body language.

How do you communicate affectionand desire to your community and to people who visit your church?What message do your words convey to visitors and the community? Whatdoes your body language convey to visitors and the community? (Thinkabout what your church communicates with others when you don't answerthe phone, your website is out of date, or your property sits emptymost of the week.)

I love that I get to see myfriends and other church members at church every Saturday. However, Iwant to make more friends and have more people join the body ofChrist. My desire is for others to know the same Jesus that changedmy life almost twenty years ago. My affection lets others know that Iwant them to not just have a relationship with Jesus but with me aswell.

Readyto Share the Gospel

According to this passage, itseems as if the gospel is not just words but also how believing thosewords can impact your life. It concerns me that many folks cannotarticulate the gospel of Jesus Christ well. This does not bode wellfor being ready to share it.

If we know Christ, we all have atestimony to share concerning how the gospel saves. If He has beenworking in our lives, we all have a testimony to live concerning howthe gospel transforms. Can you give your testimony to what Jesus hassaved you from, saved you for, and saved you to? If you can, then youcan speak to the infinite love and grace and mercy of God and live itamong those who don't know Him. If you can't, then will you practice?Ask for help from another church member or a pastor if necessary.

ButAlso Our Own Selves

The sacrifice of animals for theatonement of sins is no longer necessary for our reconciliation withGod with the death of Jesus providing the ultimate and once for allscapegoat for the trespasses of those who abide in Him.

However,there still is a sacrifice to occur by Christians. Romans 12:1appeals to us “topresent your bodies as a living sacrifice”. While martyrdom and a physical death in defense of our faithqualifies here, I do not believe that Paul is calling us all to dieas martyrs. This passage is referring to living your life in such away that God is ordering the steps and not your self.

Partof our desire for others to know Christ is to provide them with notjust testimony of how the gospel transforms our lives but an exampleof how that life is lived. Part of sharing our own selves for thesake of the gospel is not necessarily moving to the ghetto butallowing others to see how the gospel impacts your workplace, yourmarriage, your finances, and your priorities.

Thistransparency does not come easily and can open our lives up toattack. This is where we learn to lean upon God and His promises tous. Jesus' ministry would not have been nearly as effective had Henever involved Himself in the lives of others but shared the gospelone day in seven.

ARE YOU READY as churches to beaffectionately desirous of your communities, to share the Gospel inword and deeds, and sacrifice your preferences in service of Him? AREYOU READY for God to use your church to bring people to Himself? AREYOU READY to sacrifice your comfort, your preferences, your desires,and even your own self to the glory of God? ARE YOU READY for thegospel of Jesus Christ to take its preeminent place in our pulpitsand our lives? ARE YOU READY to not just be Seventh Day Baptist butseven day Christians?

Missional Living Resources

2011-11-24T09:52:00.000-05:00

The listing of these items does not in any way imply endorsement personally or by Seventh Day Baptists. These links are merely meant for reference or for provoking discussion.

Here are a list of links referred to from the December 2011 Sabbath Recorder:
Being Missional May Kill Your Church
Missional Pneumatology
Missional Christianity
Missional Christology
Missional Ecclesiology
Meals with a Mission
10 Things that Keep us from Mission
What Does it Mean to be Missional?
How NOT to be a Missional Church!
Missional Manifesto
30 Ways to be Missional at Work
Leading a Missional Life
Tim Keller on Missional
Friend of Missional

Don't Put It Off (Extended Version)

2011-10-12T12:11:00.000-04:00

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 24:44 (ESV)

I have had a few bad days in my life (this is an understatement). A lot of these bad days involve vehicles and problems with the operations of these vehicles. These operational problems are often magnified by my laziness to prevent them from happening. The story of a few of these days goes something like this:

I was driving my car and I realized that I was driving on a flat tire. These things happen. I jack up the car, put on the spare, and continue about my day's business. A week later, the spare tire was still on my car. One of my other tires went flat. I already had the spare on my car. I ended up pushing the car close to a mile to a service station. There I was told that due to riding on the spare for such a length and moving the car so far on its rim. That I would also need an alignment and a new rim in addition to two new tires.

Here is where the bad days could have been prevented: 1. These two tires were 35,000 mile tires. I had put twice that many miles on them when they went flat. 2. Instead of addressing the problem directly, I caused more problems by driving on the spare for longer than was wise. 3. This all ended up costing me much more in the long run in terms of time and money than if I would have addressed them up front.

In the September 2011 edition of the Sabbath Recorder, it announced the Conference theme that God has chosen for us, “Are You Ready?” This has confirmed in me and many of you (thank you for your Spirit led encouragement) that God is ready to mightily move amongst Seventh Day Baptists and is even now preparing us for the work that He would have us do as agents of His Kingdom. This theme is God's challenge to us that we should get ready to be a SOLD OUT, NO EXCUSES, WILLING TO DO ANYTHING SHORT OF SIN people in order that we might save some of the people God has in our cities (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

We have such little time on this planet (that is NOT our home). We don't know how many days our lives will number (but God has them numbered.) Most certainly we will not know the fixed day for holy judgment (although many have and continue to try to fix a date). What we do know, from the parables of Jesus found in Matthew 25, is that those who are prepared for our Lord's glorious coming will be happy that it has arrived. Those who are not ready will dread His return. So Are You Ready?

The key to being ready is being prepared. Is our preparedness for the coming of Jesus a priority? Or, like in my story above, are we being lazy and selfish with the stewardship of our resources so that our lack of preparation has an eternal cost?

Faithful men have been showing us how mankind and God work hand in hand in the preparation of a spiritual harvest. While God was preparing judgment for the world in Genesis 6, Noah was preparing to save some of God's creation. While God, through the prophets, were preparing people for their Messiah, Jesus was preparing to become a missionary to our culture to accomplish God's rescue plan. While Jesus, the God-man, was preparing His disciples for His death and the coming of the Comforter, the disciples were preparing to lead His bride, the church. God is preparing Seventh Day Baptists and the people in their communities for spiritual harvest. Are You Ready? to be prepared for your church to participate in the growth that God will bring?

The problem with our preparedness for Christ's return is that our timing is off. We are either too anxious for it and expect it soon or we become too complacent as if it will happen much further in future. The true way to get ready for His return is to look forward to it and live as if this life is an investment for Him (taking risks; see Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25). Stewardship of earthly resources is great but stewardship is not hoarding or petty decision making. A building, a building fund, what kind of music is played, and your committees won't matter when Jesus returns. These things are important but not eternal.

Before our Lord and Savior returns, we need to get ready for revival and growth. There are some lessons to take away from my mistakes mentioned in the story that can help us as we answer our challenge, Are You Ready?:

1. The tires were twice past their regular life span. If there was some regular inspection of the tires, I would have seen that these tires had no tread and needed replaced before a bad day begins. A lot of our churches are having bad days because they will not do an inspection to see what is outdated and no longer works or what can be done to be ready for where God is taking them next.

2. The problem I had needed immediate attention. It was not taken care of immediately. More problems followed. Part of being prepared is not putting off problems to another day. Those problems will still be there. Address any problems immediately and stop blaming time or money or put your excuse here. Visitors to your church, and more importantly Jesus, are not interested in your excuses as to why we are not ready for them.

3. Lack of preparedness costs more in the long run than being ready. It generally ends up costing more money, time, and emotion to address issues later than sooner. The costs could really add up as well because when we are dealing with the bride of Christ the costs are eternal.

Are You Ready? for God to bring His Kingdom growth into Seventh Day Baptist churches. If yes, share what God is doing in your churches to facilitate and prepare for this growth. If not, are you spiritually, relationally, financially, and actively ready for your church to grow?

Please continue this conversation with me this year. Join me as we continue to pray for the revitalization of existing churches and the planting of new ones. Contact me with your questions, comments, concerns, and prayer requests. Let's get ready for what God is doing and partner with Him as faithful servants.

Email me at: john.j.pethtel@gmail.com

Call or text me at: 304-629-9823

Follow me on Twitter: @jjpethtel

Friend me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jjpethtel

Visit my blog: blogspot.jjpethtel.com

Pondering Freedom

2011-07-03T16:58:00.001-04:00

As I sit with my daughter on my lap (dressed up as Snow White) about to enjoy Cars 2, eat a dinner at a restaurant, and enjoy fireworks, I wonder what folks in other countries do to celebrate their country.
I am grateful to live in America but even more grateful to God for my freedom in Christ.
Remember during this holiday to celebrate America and worship God. Don't confuse the two

Expository Preaching and John MacArthur

2011-06-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

"Last Sunday night, to the sound of thunderous ovation, Dr. MacArthur completed the expository preacher’s equivalent of landing on the moon."

I don't always agree with everything that John MacArthur says or believes (i.e. dispensationalism) or how he attacks some issues (i.e. Mark Driscoll) but this week after 43 years of pulpit ministry, Dr. MacArthur has preached through the whole New Testament verse-by-verse.

Expository (verse by verse) preaching has become something of a dying art as most churches and preachers prefer topical sermons (jumping from Scripture to Scripture to support points). I do believe that topical preaching has it's place in speaking from the word of God but for regular systematic preaching I believe expository preaching denies you opportunities to proof text, gives people the whole counsel of God, and disallows skipping the "hard" verses.

To this feat, I say Bravo! And should God give Him another 43 more years I pray he completes the Old Testament.

To view or sample some of Dr. MacArthurs work on the New Testament, pick up one of his commentaries or visit http://www.gty.org/.

HE IS RISEN!

2011-04-24T14:13:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching the live stream of the Mars Hill Easter Service. Jesus was made much of and many crossed over from death to life in baptism. It is a joyous occasion to witness what God has done and continues to do for us.

I have to admit that while watching the baptisms (people who were 80 and people who were 7, about 500 of them) that I got emotional. I started bawling like a baby. Thankful that God saved me and excited that He still continues to save.

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. - Matthew 28:6a

A Good Friday Indeed (For Me)!

2011-04-22T08:02:00.001-04:00

I am completely overwhelmed with things to do at the moment. It seems as the nexus of all of my responsibilities have met together this week (Christian, husband, father, pastor, Sears employee, leader, friend) to create an instable wormhole of "how do I get anything done". It is in times like these that I am reminded to rely on my Savior's strength instead of my own. My getting things done compares nothing to how my Savior "got it done" in these three days. Thankful for His obedience and completion of work so that I can be obedient and complete mine.

Please Be Generous!

2011-03-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

          As we consider the events occurring in different parts of the world and the knowledge that calamity and suffering will not end until our Lord and Savior returns, the SDB Christian Social Action and Disaster Relief (CSADR) Committee works diligently on your behalf to help provide compassion and relief to those who have need, both in our SDB family and to the rest of humanity, all of whom are created in the image of God.
          It is to that end that we encourage you to join with us in contributing monetarily to the needs of the many people in Japan who have suffered recently due to massive earthquakes and a tsunami. Over one thousand people have lost their lives. Many more are homeless and in need of basic supplies. It appears as though with continued aftershocks and damage to some of the country’s infrastructure that the damage may worsen.
          There are many fine relief agencies that have mobilized to help the people of Japan. We have chosen to donate through Baptist World Aid. This is an organization that we are affiliated with through the Baptist World Alliance and that we have used in the past to help us administer assistance in other regions of the world, even as recently as the earthquakes in Haiti. We encourage you to send your donations to be added to ours to help Japan. Your giving will help provide some comfort in the midst of this tragedy and provides a tangible way to show Christ's love to others.
          May God help us realize in this suffering and in our giving that our creation groans to be reunited with its Creator!
Please send checks with a note that they are for Japan to:
SDB Center
PO Box 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
Or e-gift to with a note for Christian Social Action for Japan here.

A Plane Landed Right on Top of My Car

2011-03-06T16:46:00.000-05:00

One of the neat things about living in the ATL is driving around I-285 near the airport and going through the tunnel that is the runway. Yesterday, on my way back from preaching at the SE ATL SDB Church, I was driving under this runway and a plane landed over top of me. It shook my whole car, but a neat experience.

You can see more about the construction about that here. Can't do that any other place but here!

I HATE DIVORCE!

2011-03-02T08:56:00.004-05:00

One of the things that occurs on a regular basis is the constant and clockwork like child swapping that goes on in the parking lot in front of my Sears store. (ex)Husbands and wives gather there to exchange custody of their children like they are a book that was borrowed from the library. Sometimes there is an interaction that goes on that is quite pleasant between the adults, as if they split rather amicably. However, this is rare. The normal occurrence is that the parent returning the child opens the other parents car door and places that child in the car, closes it, gets back into their car and leaves. No speaking, no interaction, but almost always the child bawling because of the discord and abandonment felt because of divorce. It has become even more odd recently when I have started to notice a former couple who is swapping their dog back and forth.

This story to explain about how much I hate divorce. I HATE IT! I have lost a close friend who killed himself over the complications of divorce. I have friends who have been emotionally crushed by the devastation of divorce. I see children of divorced parents ending their marriages in divorce. I HATE DIVORCE! Guess who else hates it? That is right God. (Malachi 2:16)

I don't want to have a debate on whether it is permissible or not. Culturally it is permissible and religiously it is permissible under certain circumstances. I just want to know how to make it end. Maybe not until Jesus comes to take His bride. If so, come Lord Jesus! Selah.

The Pelagian Drinking Song

2011-02-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

The Pelagian Drinking Song

Pelagius lived at Kardanoel
And taught a doctrine there
How, whether you went to heaven or to hell
It was your own affair.
It had nothing to do with the Church, my boy,
But was your own affair.

No, he didn't believe
In Adam and Eve
He put no faith therein!
His doubts began
With the Fall of Man
And he laughed at Original Sin.
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow
He laughed at original sin.

Then came the bishop of old Auxerre
Germanus was his name
He tore great handfuls out of his hair
And he called Pelagius shame.
And with his stout Episcopal staff
So thoroughly whacked and banged
The heretics all, both short and tall --
They rather had been hanged.

Oh he whacked them hard, and he banged them long
Upon each and all occasions
Till they bellowed in chorus, loud and strong
Their orthodox persuasions.
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow
Their orthodox persuasions.

Now the faith is old and the Devil bold
Exceedingly bold indeed.
And the masses of doubt that are floating about
Would smother a mortal creed.
But we that sit in a sturdy youth
And still can drink strong ale
Let us put it away to infallible truth
That always shall prevail.

And thank the Lord
For the temporal sword
And howling heretics too.
And all good things
Our Christendom brings
But especially barley brew!
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow
Especially barley brew!

Intelligence: How Much You Know or Who You Know?

2011-02-23T20:45:00.001-05:00

For those of you who have been introduced to my son, Xavier, you know how sponge-like and capable his intellect is. He very much reminds me of myself at his age: reading and watching anything, learning from it, memorizing details, encyclopedic like in knowledge. This growing intellect led us to believe that he may very well be advanced for his age. So my wife and I pushed for him to be included in the local school board's gifted student program. After much hoop jumping through and a lot of poor communication from the school, he was “tested” and found not to meet the requirements for this program.

We were disappointed. We know he is smart and gifted and were now concerned that his ever growing boredom in school was going to cause behavior issues. Should we find another school? Should we homeschool?

As I suffered through that disappointment, I thought of how important being recognized for your intelligence was. It is almost certainly at the heart of my pride problems. I spent years thinking and being told about how smart I was and how my good grades and intelligence would make me a well respected and rich man. Oh, how I was disappointed! Intelligence is no measure of a man. My measure of “manhood” is found in how well and how closely I identify with the transforming nature and person of Christ. I pray and hope that I can now teach my son the importance of this knowledge and not all knowledge is what truly makes the difference. I love you son! May you learn to grow and love His Son!

Killer Marriage Tips

2011-02-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

               About two months ago, I went to see the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. While I was waiting for the movie to start, there was a gentleman in front of me there with his wife and his grade school aged son. The wife went to go use the restroom and as soon as she did, the man (who had not looked up from his phone once) immediately went to match.com (a dating website) and was browsing through pictures of women. I almost threw up at the thought of him ignoring his child and cheating on his wife while waiting to watch this movie.
              My killer marriage tip for this guy: Be a man! Love your wife! Pay attention to your children! You are going to regret every single moment of what you are doing now and you won't be able to change it.
              These guys have some other killer marriage tips that you may be doing but probably should think about it twice.

The "Unmentionable" Sin

2011-02-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Gluttony.

I love food. I said it. I love it a lot. My physique currently shows that.

If there is one thing that I have been convicted of in the last few months more than any other, it is that food is my comfort idol.

When I get upset, sad, depressed, anxious, joyful, or any other (insert your) emotion, I run to food to help.

NO MORE!

I have too often run to my false Savior of Ice Cream, or Cheese Fries, or McDonalds instead of the One I know who does provide comfort and joy. I will now from this day forth, with the power of the Spirit, work to remove this idol from my life.

Will you help me?

This! Yes!

2011-01-19T07:42:00.003-05:00

Pastor Mark hits the nail on the head (except for the day of Sabbath thing). I need to listen to the gospel like this everyday. It gets me going.

Election

2011-01-16T20:02:00.001-05:00

Taken from the Coram Deo Blog:

Philip Ryken offers this helpful analogy to understand God’s sovereignty in salvation and how it interfaces with our responsibility:
The famous American Bible teacher Donald Grey Barnhouse often used an illustration to help people make sense of election. He asked them to imagine a cross like the one on which Jesus died, only so large that it had a door in it. Over the door were these words from Revelation: ‘Whosoever will may come.’ These words represent the free and universal offer of the gospel. By God’s grace, the message of salvation is for everyone. Every man, woman and child who will come to the cross is invited to believe in Jesus Christ and enter eternal life. One the other side of the door a happy surprise awaits the one who believes and enters. For from the inside, anyone glancing back can see these words from Ephesians written above the door: ‘Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.’ Election is best understood in hindsight, for it is only after coming to Christ that one can know whether one has been chosen in Christ. Those who make a decision for Christ find that God made a decision for them in eternity past.

I find this to be an understandable view of election. Some folks may argue who chose who. I think Scripture is pretty clear on how man can do nothing deserving of salvation and by God's grace we can enter into His Kingdom. It seems to me like salvation belongs to God not man. (Rev. 7:10)

#itsthe011son

2011-01-07T17:49:00.001-05:00

If you are not using Twitter, you should give it a try. You are limited to 140 characters to speak your peace. This leads to a lot of bad grammar but some amusing statements. It is a much more pithy method of conversation and I find it to be useful when trying to solicit social commentary on specific topics. When you join, follow me @jjpethtel.

One of the things used on Twitter to search for trending topics is hashtags (This symbol: #). You place a hashtag in your conversation such as #snowpacalypse11 (remember you don't use spaces) and then if you do a search your "tweet" will show up along with everyone else who is using the hashtag.

This is useful to me for two primary reasons: Humor (look at some hashtags when you join they are funny, such as the one that is the title of this post courtesy of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) and conferences (every one attending the same conference will be using the same hashtag and you can make new friends or find out about seminars or breakouts you could not attend).

In the church world, Twitter is good for posting short announcement and for connecting with folks you don't know who might have the same or similar interests as you in the same geographical area.

I have learned that if I only spend time with people who know Christ that I fail in the Great Commission arena so this has been an invaluable tool in making virtual connections that precede face to face ones.

When Yes Means No

2011-01-07T10:13:00.006-05:00

Sitting here pondering the events in the lives of ones whom I love dearly and my schedule for the upcoming year and realizing that I need to be very consitent and orderly with the right priorities to make sure that I accomplish everything that I have responsibility for.

One of the most influential things I read last year was a series of blogs titled Biblical Productivity by C.J. Mahaney. Something that truly stuck out to me in these series of posts was the truth that when I say yes to doing something I am saying no to doing something else.

Those who know me best know that I have a hard time saying no. There are many reasons for this:
I want to be helpful.

Sometimes I feel like I have to be helpful because I am a pastor.

I am skilled and competent in lots of different areas of service so it is easy to help in lots of things.

So when someone asks for help I used to say most certainly yes.

But I have become convicted that saying yes isn't always the best choice of my time. I can only play so many roles so I have (upon the advice of Mahaney) limited my roles to 5. Here they are in order of importance:

1. Christian (this includes devoting time to spiritual disciplines and growth because I fully believe that if I am not growing that I cannot help others grow)

2. Husband

3. Father

4. Pastor/Church Leader

5. Friend

I encourage you to read these blog posts from Mahaney during the upcoming months and to change your life accordingly. You will not be disappointed.

2011: Best Sequel Ever?

2011-01-02T08:09:00.003-05:00

If this year were a movie title for my life it would be John J. Pethtel XXXIII: How Will He Do It?.

Spoiler Alert: I can't. There is nothing that I can do of any value without Christ.

It only took me thirty years and some change to realize this basic Christian truth but it has dawned on me that in every thing I do I need to show where my real treasures lie.

So today, as I set out to preach the gospel at the Journey ATL for some friends or as I work my shift this afternoon at Sears selling appliances or as I come home and eat dinner and send my kids to bed, I need to show what my true treasure is and where my true dependence is.

May God help me be faithful to building His Kingdom and not mine through my works! SDG!

Updates coming soon!

2010-12-17T10:20:00.002-05:00

I am wanting to make this blog more formidable in 2011. I am currently working on a schedule to distribute and re-distribute content. I will be examining some of the going's on in the theological world as well as some personal experiences to share with everyone. I hope to be faithful in using this as an outlet to share some of my studies and personal spiritual growth. I find it very helpful spiritually and socially to be connected to others in blogland and I hope to join this world regularly.

In the mean time, please pray for me and my family. This next two years are gearing up to be some of the most busy and challenging yet. May God get the glory from our family's pursuit of Him.

Don't be one of These!

2010-06-30T13:23:00.003-04:00

EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF FALSE TEACHERS

[from Coram Deo's (Omaha, NE) eldership training class]

They turn secondary issues into primary ones (1 Tim 1:1-7, 2 Tim 2:23)
They cause division & dissension (1 Tim 6:3-5, Romans 16:17-18)
They prey on the weak (Rom 16:17-18, 2 Tim 3:1-9)
They talk a lot but say little (2 Tim 2:16, Titus 1:10)
They have un-Christlike character (Titus 1:16, 1 Tim 4:1-2)
They don’t call people to repentance (2 Tim 4:1-5, Jer 23:14)
They despise authority (Jude 8, Col 2:18-19)
They are ultimately tools of Satan himself (1 Tim 4:1, 2 Tim 3:24-26)

False teachers tend to distort the truth along one of two trajectories: legalism (1 Tim 4:1-5) or liberalism (Jude 4, 2 Pet 2:18-19)

Summer Institute: SDB Polity, Week Two

2010-06-26T16:43:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, June 20, we started our 2nd week of Summer Institute with a test reflecting upon discussions from the first week. Then in the afternoon, we started with the topics for the rest of the course:

-Women in Ministry (or actually Women in Pastoral Leadership)

-Meaning, Forms, and Methods of Worship in SDB churches

-Baptism

-The Lord's Supper (including transubstantiation, consubstantiation, real presence, and memorial views)

-Origins of SDB General Conference (including original purpose and the "associational principle")

-Present polity and structure of the SDB General Conference (with focus on the roles of General Council, CLT, and the Executive Director)

-How General Conference functions in session (one week a year) and out of session (51 weeks a year)

-The current Ad Hoc Committee proposal on reorganization (found here)

It was a great two weeks with a great bunch of guys who love Jesus. I want to thank Pastor Gordon Lawton and Nick Kersten for teaching our class and for the students in the class for helping me learn a lot of lessons (both in the syllabus and not.!)

I would love to write or share more of my thoughts or our discussions on any interested topic. Leave a comment here, ask me on facebook, or send me an email.

Summer Institute: SDB Polity, Week One

2010-06-20T00:24:00.003-04:00

On Monday morning, June 14 at 8:30am, 10 students, including me, started the journey toward learning "how" SDBs handle church issues. Rev. Gordon Lawton, Dean of the Center on Ministry, is our instructor.

We have tackled the following issues thus far:

Who are the People of God? (viewed from dispensational, covenantal, and antinomian perspectives)

Local Church Covenants

The Kinship System (including the tension between the Great Commandment and Great Commission)

Internal/External Balance in relation to the purpose of the church

3 Major Types of Church Polity: congregational, episcopal, presbyterian

9 Conference tests for congregational polity

process of church membership

the importance of conducting orderly business

Authority/Leadership in the church

Call to Ministry/Licensure/Ordination/Accreditation

I am looking forward to next week and what discussions wait in store for us based upon God's word. I would love to write or share more of my thoughts or our discussions on any interested topic. Leave a comment here, ask me on facebook, or send me an email.

Wisconsin Bound

2010-06-09T15:56:00.003-04:00

I am getting ready for my last Summer Institute session in Janesville, Wisconsin. I love going to Janesville to see great friends and catch up with what they have been doing.

This visit (assuming I pass the course) and a vote on the floor of General Conference (in the affirmative) will make me an accredited SDB minister.

I am excited about this prospect. Fifteen years ago I started my quest towards ministry with a calling by God and an affirmation from my local church (Salem SDB). This summer I will have served ten different churches in some sort of ministry capacity, preached countless sermons, worked multiple camps, delivered numerous children's messages, sung in many special music presentations, started a campus ministry, gone through three Summer Institutes, graduated from four years of seminary, and made so many good friends that I cannot mention them all.

Here is the lesson in all of this doing and the one thing I am sure I have learned. I am not capable of changing one heart, even mine, with all of the learning and activity I have done. I am still fully, totally, and forever reliant upon the power of God.

I pray that what people have invested in me (time, money, patience, etc.) will bear fruit through my faithfulness and reliance upon God. Thank you so much to so many for so long!

Soli Deo Gloria

The State of the Church in the South

2010-04-13T23:12:00.003-04:00

This is a preview video for the Advance '10 Conference that I really want to go to at the end of the month. I am not able to but in this teaser video, David Platt, a pastor in Birmingham, AL, briefly details the state of the church in the U.S. South.

Thoughts from Plant and Replant 09

2010-03-31T18:13:00.002-04:00

It was a great time of fellowship and encouragement at Plant and Replant 09. There were many old friends there. Also, new friends and acquaintances were made. I look forward to my next opportunity of fellowship with these gentlemen seeking next steps for ministry.

Most of the folks here were pastors or church planters (or aspiring to be). This was an encouragement, especially on the replanting side of things. Replanting churches, especially in the religious South, is the next big thing. There are many churches who want to revive themselves and make better use of their resources and just don't know how or where to get started. This was a great time of learning some of the struggles, pains, and blessings of church planting and replanting.

You can click on the title above to go to the Plant and Replant 09 website to download audio from the sessions but I am going to share some quips and quotes that I heard from many during the sessions (I attended the RePlanting track.)

"It is easier to give birth than to resurrect the dead." (concerning planting vs. replanting)

Church Members = Missionaries

People aren't scaffolding to get to the church that I want.

4 Things to Keep in Mind when RePlanting:

1. The Gospel - the gospel brings life after death; you must be a pastor before you are an executioner.

2. An organism is dying not an organization - memories are involved; personal interactions are involved; SHE is a church and SHE is dying.

3. Discern what God has let die - Is it obvious that it is dead? Is there no hope?

4. What is old needs to be buried - new life with new things; celebrate the past and then move on; an old ship is sunk a new boat is built (not resurrecting the Titanic)

3 Things to Help Resolve Conflict in RePlanting:

1. The Gospel causes conflict - don't give up on people; you must pastor everyone, even those who disagree with you but use the Gospel

2. Conflict cannot be ignored - if you do it will cause critical mass; address every ripple of conflict; be wary because dealing with conflict is exhausting

3. Prayer is the center - if you have a shallow prayer life your time will be tougher in RePlanting; Proverbs 16:3, Let the Lord establish your plans

5 Most Important Things for Planters and RePlanters in order:

1. Take care of you and your family - the church will only go as far as its leader; your wife must thrive as well; your health must be important to you and the church

2. Vision - you are responsible for the vision; you must continually fight for better clarity

3. Communication - you are the lead communicator; you must continually strive to get better; you must use all avenues of communication for the sake of the gospel

4. Leadership - the most important use of your time is teaching, training, and coaching leaders who will teach, train, and coach others.

5. Finances - not giving is a pastoral issue that must be addressed

Align every thing to the vision; All ministries and activities; All communication.

Stop Going to Church

2010-01-14T14:38:00.002-05:00

This blog post from A29 pastor Jonathan Dodson of Austin City Life explains why we need to stop "GOING" to church and we need to start "DOING" something else.

Stop Going to Church

by Jonathan Dodson

For years I went to church. Religiously. I actually went to church for about 25 years. Then I stopped. I'm so glad I did. Instead of going to church, I startedbeing the church. It's radically changed me. They have changed me. My family has gotten bigger.

Bono's Church

The church is supposed to be a family. But there's a problem. The church in America is too often very un-church. As a result, a lot of people say that they like Jesus, but they just don't like the church ... and they're in pretty good company ... with Bono. In U2's song "Acrobat", from the album Achtung Baby, Bono articulates a fairly common perception of the church:

No, nothing makes sense, nothing seems to fit. I know you'd hit out if you only knew who to hit. And I'd join the movement If there was one I could believe in Yeah, I'd break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in.

This is a common view of the church. What's the view? Conflicted: "And I'd join the movement If there was one I could believe in. Yeah, I'd break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in."

Like many of us, Bono wants the church, but there are too many ifs. He wants to be part of the movement of the church. Unfortunately, many churches aren't concerned with movement. Too many of them are inwardly focused, not outwardly focused. They aren't the world-changing communities of the New Testament. They are static, inert and inward.

Bono wants the communion of church, but says there's no church he canbelieve or receive in. I'm guessing that what Bono is referring to is not merely the eucharist, but the one-body community that is symbolized in the act of communion (1 Cor 10:16-17). Like Bono, many of us long for church as movement and communion, a church that is missional and communal.

Unbelievable Churches

Some churches are fortresses. Groups of combative soldiers that enforce their doctrine, hide behind their high and holy walls, and launch grenades of judgment into the culture. The mission is doctrinal conformity, not grace. The community is in-grown not inviting.

Other churches have more in common with shopping malls. They are filled with salesmen and consumers. The salesman market the church to the world. They dress her up like the culture, dress down the message of Jesus, and sell the consumers short on the gospel, community and mission. Unlike fortress churches, the shopping mall mission is not to keep people out but to get people in. At quite a high cost, people pile into the building and out of the building wondering if this is all there is to church.

Then there are the cemeteries — lifeless, irrelevant, stodgy churches. These churches are trapped in time, disconnected from contemporary issues. Somehow they've lost the joy of the Lord. Calcified by religion, they offer virtually no community or mission.

When our churches have more in common with fortresses, shopping malls and cemeteries, who can blame America for not liking the church, for not receiving in her, for not joining the movement?

Acrobats or Brothers?

How should we respond? Opt for Jesus but opt out of the church? Believe inJesus, just not the church?

It's easy to become cynical when we're confronted with fortresses, shopping malls and cemeteries. But deep down, if we are honest with ourselves, something is wrong with accepting Jesus and rejecting the church. After all, "the church" was Jesus' idea. Speaking to Peter, Jesus said: "Upon this rock I will build my church." "My church" — not Peter or Paul's church. The church belongs to Jesus. He created a new family. Pointing away from His blood family and to His disciples he said: "These are my mother and brothers" (Matt. 12:49). The church is supposed to be family, brothers and sisters, but we act more like acrobats. Bono sings:

'Cause I need it now. To take the cup To fill it up, to drink it slow. I can't let you go. And I must be an acrobat To talk like this and act like that.

Confessing his need for church, but failing to act on it, Bono calls himself an acrobat. He can offer the critique but refuses to endure the sacrifice of being the church. Maybe we're the acrobats. Talking up the church but stripping it down into an event. Going to church instead of being the church. Keeping people at arms length, acquaintances, refusing to embrace them as brothers.

We say we want community, but are unwilling to make the sacrifices for it to happen. It's too inconvenient and messy. We want the benefit of church without her demands. Something has to change.

Why not start with you? What if you started having people join you for meals, Christians and non-Christians. What if you started having family meals together? What if you began to serve your neighborhood in some way and invited some church friends to join you? What if you began to put others needs before your own? I wonder what would happen. Fewer acrobats and more brothers? Church would slowly become more of a family than an event.

Family Church

Church is not an event, a place or a plant. It is a family of brothers and sisters united in the Spirit and the Son. The church is a community, people in relationships under grace. So the church is supposed to be a family, but we act more like acquaintances.

Instead of sharing life and truth, joy and pain, meals and mission, we share one, maybe two events a week. Church has been reduced to a spiritual event that happens for an hour or two on weekends, and if you are spiritual, occurs another couple hours during the week in a small group meeting. We spend just enough time "at church" to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family.

The dominant metaphor of the church in the New Testament is the metaphor of family. Every one of Paul's letters opens by addressing the church in familial terms — sisters, brothers, son, and our Father. The use of "brother" is, by far, the most frequent. This sibling emphasis reflects the familial nature of the church. What would happen if we started acting like family?

Believable Church

I am happy to say that the landscape of church in America is changing. I can point to numerous churches in our city that are not fortresses, shopping malls or cemeteries. Instead, they are communities of imperfect people clinging to a perfect Christ, who accept one another as they are accepted, in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In my church, we are seeing signs of this family-style community. People are sharing meals, opening their homes, helping each other move. (Who doesn't love a good move?) People are helping one another find jobs, babysitting, offering comfort, and providing meaning. It's increasingly a steady state of community — shared laughs, truths, meals, sorrows, and mission. We support one another. We share a steady state of social, gospel, recreational, and missional connections.

One family recently invited all their neighbors over for a pizza party. Two of the neighbors had lived there five years and never met. Two other neighbors had a long-standing disagreement that was resolved that night. That same family then invited all the staff of a local coffee shop over for another pizza party. They came and continue to hang out. Why? Because they have encountered the church — not a church, the church — a community of brothers and sisters in the gospel for the good of the city.

Recently a group of men met in their Fight Club to help one another beat up sin and believe the gospel. One of the men had recently been through some difficult financial times. Because of the financial crisis, this husband and father had been laid off from his job, losing not only his income, but the company car.

He shared this with the guys in his Fight Club. One of them had a pretty good job, and a pretty nice SUV. He decided to give the vehicle to his friend, to the brother who had lost his job and his car.

Sometimes the church looks like a pizza party, and sometimes it looks like a sports utility vehicle. These kinds of churches will have momentum and communion, mission and community that attract others: not to an event, but to a family. Christians and non-Christians are joining the family. Why? Because they have found a believable church, one with community and one with mission.

Don't give up on the church. Instead, start giving things away, sharing your life, and see what happens. Stop going to church, and start being the church. You'll be glad you did.

Creation Groans

2010-01-14T14:21:00.002-05:00

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:18-23 ESV)

In the past few months, we have seen the “groaning” of creation in the examples of volcanic activity in the Philipines and earthquakes in Malawi and Haiti. This “groaning” is the desire of the creation longing to be reunited with the Creator just as those who believe that He is returning long to be reunited with our Lord and Savior.
To this end, we groan together in anticipation that one day soon we will be set free from the bondage of sin and slavery. To this end, we believe in the gospel and the transformational power that it has in our lives will manifest itself in a New Heavens and a New Earth. To this end, we groan and we abide in Him to live our day to day lives.
With the needs in Haiti and around the world, there are others who can use our help. The gospel in us has created a generosity that tries to mirror the generosity of grace provided by our God. Share generously with those in need. There are many reputable agencies with which to give through. One such group is the SDB United Relief Fund.

SDB United Relief Fund

PO Box 1678

Janesville WI 53547

May our prayers continue unceasingly to convict us of the part we need to play in this natural disaster.

Religion vs. Gospel

2009-11-24T15:19:00.001-05:00

Tim Keller compared Religion and the Gospel this way:
Religion: “I obey-therefore I’m accepted.”
Gospel: “I’m accepted-therefore I obey.”

R: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
G: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

R: I obey God in order to get things from God
G: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

R: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
G: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

R: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
G: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism. That’s how I became a Christian.

R: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
G: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

R: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel humble, but not confident- I feel like a failure.
G: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am simultaneously sinful and lost yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling
R: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’
G: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

R: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
G: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me wh

en they are threatened and lost.

4 Important Things about the Gospel

2009-11-24T14:38:00.001-05:00

From JD Greear:

1. Gospel is spelled "d-o-n-e," not "d-o". The word "Gospel" implies an event that has already been done, not something we must go and do. The Gospel is not, then, primarily about what we are to go and do for God, but about what God has done for us. The Gospel is good news, not good advice.
2. The core message of that good news is that God saves sinners. From start to finish, it is all God's work, not ours.
3. Christ saved us by substituting for us. He lived the life we were supposed to have lived, and died the death we were condemned to die. Whatever "metaphor" you choose for salvation--justification, redemption, cleansing, defeat of the evil powers--substitution is the core of it. For example, Christ's blood cleanses us... but how? Because He substituted for us and absorbed the curse, corruption and condemnation for sin.
4. "The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time."

Lessons on Leadership from Chuck Swindoll

2009-11-24T14:12:00.001-05:00

1) It’s lonely to lead. Leadership involves tough decisions. The tougher the decision, the lonelier it is.
2) It’s dangerous to succeed. I’m most concerned for those who aren’t even 30 and are very gifted and successful. Sometimes God uses someone right out of youth, but usually he uses leaders who have been crushed
3) It’s hardest at home. No one ever told me this in Seminary.
4) It’s essential to be real. If there’s one realm where phoniness is common, it’s among leaders. Stay real.
5) It’s painful to obey. The Lord will direct you to do some things that won’t be your choice. Invariably you will give up what you want to do for the cross.
6) Brokenness and failure are necessary.
7) Attititude is more important than actions. Your family may not have told you: some of you are hard to be around. A bad attitude overshadows good actions.
8) Integrity eclipse image. Today we highlight image. But it’s what you’re doing behind the scenes.
9) God's way is better than my way.
10) Christlikeness begins and ends with humility.

How Do You Know a Reliable Preacher

2009-11-24T13:47:00.001-05:00

Tullian Tchividjian tells us based on the 5 Solas how you can identify a reliable (and good) preacher.

I want to provide you with a brief list of five questions (based on the five sola’s of the Reformation) that can help you discern the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.
Question 1 (Sola Scriptura): Does the preacher ground everything he says in the Bible? Does he, in other words, begin with the authority and sufficiency of Scripture? A reliable carrier of God’s truth seeks to revel in, wrestle with, and expound from, the Bible. He starts with the Bible. All of his comments flow from what a particular passage in the Bible says. He doesn’t simply use the Bible to support what he wants to say. That is, he submits to what the Bible says, he does not seek to submit the Bible to what he says. He cares about both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He refuses to take verses out of context. He recognizes the unity of the Bible. He acknowledges that both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell one story and point to one figure, namely that God saves sinners through the accomplished work of his son Jesus Christ.
Question 2 (Sola Gratia): Does the preacher freely emphasize that because of sin, a right relationship with God can only be established by God’s grace alone? Beware of any teaching that emphasizes man’s ability over God’s ability; man’s freedom over God’s freedom; man’s power over God’s power; man’s initiative over God’s initiative. Beware of any teaching which subtlety communicates that a right relationship with God depends ultimately on human response over Divine sovereignty.
Question 3 (Sola Fide): Does the preacher stress that salvation is not achieved by what we can do, rather salvation is received by faith in what Christ has already done? It has been rightly stated that there really are only two religions: the religion of human accomplishment and the religion of Divine accomplishment. Does the preacher emphasize the former or the latter? A reliable carrier of God’s truth always highlights the fact that God saves sinners; sinners don’t save themselves.
Question 4 (Sola Christus): Does the preacher underline that Christ is the exclusive mediator between God and man? Does the explainer both affirm and proclaim that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that nobody comes to the Father but by Christ? Does he talk about sin and the necessity of Christ? Preachers must learn how to unveil and unpack the truth of the Gospel from every Biblical text they preach in such a way that it results in the exposure of both the idols of our culture and the idols of our hearts. The faithful exposition of our true Savior from every passage in the Bible painfully reveals all of the pseudo-saviors that we trust in culturally and personally. Every sermon ought to disclose the subtle ways in which we as individuals and we as a culture depend on lesser things than Jesus to provide the security, acceptance, protection, affection, meaning, and satisfaction that only Christ can supply. In this way, good preachers must constantly show just how relevant and necessary Jesus is; they must work hard to show that we are great sinners but Christ is a great Savior.
Question 5 (Sola Deo Gloria): Does the preacher exalt God above all? A reliable explainer will always lead you to marvel at God. A true carrier of God’s truth will always lead you to encounter the glory of God. A God-centered teacher is just that: God-centered. He will preach and teach in such a way that you find yourself hungering and thirsting for God. You will listen to sermon after sermon and walk away with grand impressions of Divine personality, not grand impressions of human personality.
This is just a start, but I hope it serves as a resource to help you determine the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.

Baptist Days of Obligation

2009-11-24T13:44:00.001-05:00

The Internet Monk lists these, in jest, Baptist Days of Obligation:

* Opening night/day of high school/college football season. (Depends on proximity of school, relationships to players, etc. Should include tailgating if possible.)
* Mother’s Day. Obligated to go to church with mom and then take her out to a restaurant, which means standing in line at Cracker Barrel for about 2 hours.
* Any church potluck or meal.
* Any Sunday that starts a revival (or any Sunday that begins a 40 Days of Purpose if your church dumped revivals.)
* Any wedding of anyone in your family within 250 miles.
* Any funeral of anyone in your family within 70 miles.
* The opening of any “Christian Film” in a theater, especially if the movie is produced by a church using their actors and cameras, or stars Kirk Cameron.
* The opening and any 5 subsequent showings of “The Passion of the Christ II.”
* Any school board meeting where creationism will be discussed.
* Homecomings at any church you’ve ever attended, even once, within 300 miles.
* Opening week of any buffet or Barbecue restaurant.
* Any Christian music festival held in an open field in August when the temperature is over 105 degrees.
* You must go vote if any conservative is running for anything.
* You must vote if your town is having a “wet/dry” election.
* Ladies: Any Christian Women’s Conference within 500 miles.
* Men: Any Promise Keeper’s Meeting within 500 miles.
* Christmas and Easter.
* Any church sponsored Super Bowl event.
* Any meeting related to voting on a building.
* Any Vacation Bible School “Family Night.”
* Any event involving Bill Gaither Homecomings.
* Any event involving Rick Warren.
* Any Upward Championship game involving your kids.
* Any Olin Mills Church Directory photoshoot.
* Any church softball game against another Baptist church.
* Any youth group fundraisers for the mission trip.
* Any open question/answer with prospective pastors.
* Any church business meeting where there’s a chance of a big fight or someone getting fired.
* Any Billy Graham Crusade within 1000 miles.

Missional Living

2009-11-24T11:26:00.000-05:00

This is from the Coram Deo blog by Bob Thune.

When we first set out to plant a missional church, we had some lively debates over what exactly it meant to live missionally. Does it mean moving into a disadvantaged neighborhood and working for renewal? Does it mean living in the same zip code so we can truly be a missional community? Does it mean deepening already-existing relationships with co-workers? Does it mean deliberately changing my patterns of life to bring me into contact with non-Christians “on their turf” (bars, music shows, nightclubs, etc)? Our conversations about these matters seemed easily to slide toward people moralizing their preferences and looking down on others who didn’t think like them. (Which is one reason why we consistently need to be reminded of the gospel!)
Tim Keller helps to answer this question by observing that the standard pattern of evangelism in the New Testament centered around the oikos (Greek for household). But the word household in NT times was much broader than we tend to think of it. “In the Bible, evangelism does not happen primarily through programs… it happens naturally through one’s oikos, or household… A household was not just your family, but… a fairly tight-knit, close set of colleagues, kin, friends, neighbors. It was understood that when you became a Christian, you had been called to be a steward, evangelistically speaking, of your oikos.”*
In our day, Keller suggests that the biblical term oikos applies to at least five networks: your kinship network (family and relatives), your neighborhood (those who live near you geographically), your colleagues (co-workers or co-students), your affinity network (people with a shared special interest), and your friends (those from the other 4 networks whom you develop a close relationship with). The relative strength or weakness of these five networks varies based on your context.
What it means to live missionally, then, is to have authentic friendship with people in these networks. That’s it. If Jesus is truly important to you, and if you have real friendships with people, then Jesus is going to come up sooner or later in the natural course of sharing life. You shouldn’t have to artificially shoehorn Jesus into every conversation, nor should you feel the need to hide or downplay your affection for him. Those in your oikos will get to know Jesus as they get to know you.
So – is missional living primarily about your neighborhood, your co-workers, your hunting buddies, or your non-Christian family members? The answer is: yes.
[*Quoted from "Evangelism and the Steward Leader," mp3 audio from Redeemer Presbyterian Church.]

9 Ways to Know that the Gospel is True

2009-11-24T11:09:00.000-05:00

This article was written by John Piper in 1999.

1. Jesus Christ, as he is presented to us in the New Testament, and as he stands forth from all its writings, is too single and too great to have been invented so uniformly by all these writers.
The force of Jesus Christ unleashed these writings; the writings did not create the force. Jesus is far bigger and more compelling than any of his witnesses. His reality stands behind these writings as a great, global event stands behind a thousand newscasters. Something stupendous unleashed these diverse witnesses to tell these stunning and varied, yet unified, stories of Jesus Christ.
2. Nobody has ever explained the empty tomb of Jesus in the hostile environment of Jerusalem where the enemies of Jesus would have given anything to produce the corpse, but could not.
The earliest attempts to cover the scandal of resurrection were manifestly contradictory to all human experience—disciples do not steal a body (Matthew 28:13) and then sacrifice their lives to preach a glorious gospel of grace on the basis of the deception. Modern theories that Jesus didn't die but swooned, and then awoke in the tomb and moved the stone and tricked his skeptical disciples into believing he was risen as the Lord of the universe don't persuade.
3. Cynical opponents of Christianity abounded where claims were made that many eyewitnesses were available to consult concerning the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
"After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:6). Such claims would be exposed as immediate falsehood if they could. But we know of no exposure. Eyewitnesses of the risen Lord abounded when the crucial claims were being made.
4. The early church was an indomitable force of faith and love and sacrifice on the basis of the reality of Jesus Christ.
The character of this church, and the nature of the gospel of grace and forgiveness, and the undaunted courage of men and women—even unto death—do not fit the hypothesis of mass hysteria. They simply were not like that. Something utterly real and magnificent had happened in the world and they were close enough to know it, and be assured of it, and be gripped by its power. That something was Jesus Christ, as all of them testified, even as they died singing.
5. The prophesies of the Old Testament find stunning fulfillment in the history of Jesus Christ.
The witness to these fulfillments are too many, too diverse, too subtle and too interwoven into the history of the New Testament church and its many writings to be fabricated by some great conspiracy. Down to the details, Jesus Christ fulfilled dozens of Old Testament prophecies that vindicate his truth.
6. The witnesses to Jesus Christ who wrote the New Testament gospels and letters are not gullible or deceitful or demented.
This is manifest from the writings themselves. The books bear the marks of intelligence and clear-headedness and maturity and a moral vision that is compelling. They win our trust as witnesses, especially when all taken together with one great unifying, but distinctively told, message about Jesus Christ.
7. The worldview that emerges from the writings of the New Testament makes more sense out of more reality than any other worldview.
It not only fits the human heart, but also the cosmos and history and God as he reveals himself in nature and conscience. Some may come to this conclusion after much reflection, others may arrive at this conviction by a pre-reflective, intuitive sense of the deep suitability of Christ and his message to the world that they know.
8. When one sees Christ as he is portrayed truly in the gospel, there shines forth a spiritual light that is a self-authenticating.
This is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and it is as immediately perceived by the Spirit-awakened heart as light is perceived by the open eye. The eye does not argue that there is light. It sees light.
9. When we see and believe the glory of God in the gospel, the Holy Spirit is given to us so that the love of God might be "poured out in our hearts" (Romans 5:5).
This experience of the love of God known in the heart through the gospel of Him who died for us while we were yet ungodly assures us that the hope awakened by all the evidences we have seen will not disappoint us.

Brent Walker Speaks about Religious Liberty

2009-11-24T11:07:00.000-05:00

Article by Marv Knox
Baptists must hold in tension three sets of paradoxical ideas if they are to remain faithful to their heritage and champion freedom, Brent Walker told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Award Dinner Oct. 30 in Dallas.
The awards dinner is sponsored every-other year by the T.B. Maston Foundation, named for a pioneering Baptist ethicist who taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth much of the 20th century. Maston shaped the ethical thinking of generations of ministers and gained a reputation for leading Baptists to support civil rights and racial reconciliation.
The foundation presented its 2009 Maston Award to Leon McBeth, a leading historian of the Baptist movement who taught at Southwestern Seminary for 43 years.
The history McBeth chronicled showed Baptists to be people who “fought for religious liberty -- for others as much as for ourselves,” stressed Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington.
If Baptists intend to preserve religious liberty, they must maintain balance within three sets of ideas, he added. They are:
• The two religion clauses in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The nation’s founders gave religious liberty “double protection” by including two religion clauses -- No Establishment and Free Exercise, he noted.
“Both ensure religious liberty; both require an institutional separation of church and state as a means to that end,” he said. “As soon as government starts to meddle in religion or takes sides in religious disputes, someone’s religious liberty is denied and everyone’s is threatened.”
Walker proposed a common-sense exercise for maintaining the tension between the religion clauses: “Every time we say ‘no’ to government’s attempt to promote religion to uphold the Establishment Clause, we should find a way to say ‘yes’ to its Free Exercise counterpart. This allows us always to seek to find a ‘win-win’ solution and keep these two clauses in proper balance.”
• Religious freedom and responsibility.
“Our freedom in Christ can never be separated from -- and must always be limited by -- the responsibility that we have to one another,” Walker stressed. “Freedom and responsibility, liberty and accountability -- these dyads must always be held in tension.”
Freedom and religious liberty are not ends in themselves, he added.
“We are free, in the words of the Great Commandment, to love God and love one another,” he said. “… And our freedom in Christ must always be exercised in the context of the responsibility we have to one another. This also involves the ethical imperative of ensuring everyone’s religious liberty. An attitude of ‘religious liberty for me but not for thee’ is self-centered, irresponsible and sinful.”
• Civic withdrawal and engagement.
“Historically, for most Baptists, the separation of church and state has never meant a segregation of religion from politics or to strip religious talk from the public square. It does not relieve Baptists of their duties of citizenship,” Walker insisted.
Citing examples of Baptists who engaged government across the past four centuries, Walker observed, “We have always been committed to doing -- rolling up our sleeves, going to work and speaking out in the public square.”
Tensions are part of life -- including public life, he concluded. “It is my prayer, in our so-called post-modern, post-denominational time and throughout the next 400 years, we Baptists carry forward a proper understanding of these three issues and deal with them responsibly and constructively.”

Matt Chandler using Eugene Peterson to tell us "Don't Be This Pastor?"

2009-11-24T10:29:00.001-05:00

Matt Chandler, in his chapel address, (and at the A29 Louisville Bootcamp) quoted the following from Eugene Peterson’s Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (pp. 7-8):

For a long time, I have been convinced that I could take a person with a high school education, give him or her a six-month trade school training, and provide a pastor who would be satisfactory to any discriminating American congregation. The curriculum would consist of four courses.
Course I: Creative Plagiarism. I would put you in touch with a wide range of excellent and inspirational talks, show you how to alter them just enough to obscure their origins, and get you a reputation for wit and wisdom.
Course II: Voice Control for Prayer and Counseling. We would develop your own distinct style of Holy Joe intonation, acquiring the skill in resonance and modulation that conveys and unmistakable aura of sanctity.
Course III: Efficient Office Management. There is nothing that parishioners admire more in their pastors than the capacity to run a tight ship administratively. If we return all phone calls within twenty-four hours, answer all the letters within a week, distributing enough carbons to key people so that they know we are on top of things, and have just the right amount of clutter on our desk—not too much, or we appear inefficient, not too little or we appear underemployed—we quickly get the reputation for efficiency that is far more important than anything that we actually do.
Course IV: Image Projection. Here we would master the half-dozen well-known and easily implemented devices that that create the impression that we are terrifically busy and widely sought after for counsel by influential people in the community. A one-week refresher course each year would introduce new phrases that would convince our parishioners that we are bold innovators on the cutting edge of the megatrends and at the same time solidly rooted in all the traditional values of our sainted ancestors.
(I have been laughing for several years over this trade school training with which I plan to make my fortune. Recently, though, the joke has backfired on me. I keep seeing advertisements for institutes and workshops all over the country that invite pastors to sign up for this exact curriculum. The advertised course offerings are not quite as honestly labeled as mine, but the content appears to be identical—a curriculum that trains pastors to satisfy the current consumer tastes in religion. I’m not laughing anymore.)

3 Hard Truths for Me and other Pastors

2009-11-24T10:26:00.002-05:00

This post came from the Resurgence and is written by Dustin Neeley, pastor of the Crossing Church in Louisville, KY. It hits me hard where I need to be hit.

3 Challenging Truths
Here are a few truths that I hope will challenge you to lead your family strongly while being a church planter or pastor:
  1. The church can get another pastor, but your kids can't get another dad. 
Like it or not, we only get one shot to raise our children. I talk to fathers all the time who lament their absence during their childrens' formative years because of working too much. Even though this is often true for pastors, it shouldn't be. Our biblical credentials for ministry deal mostly with how we lead our families and our own character, rather than how effective we are in ministry. And remember, no one reaches the end of their life saying "I wish I had spent more time working on my blog." Be the exception, not the rule.  
2. The church can get another pastor, but your wife only has one husband—and she needs a good one. 
Oftentimes our wives take the brunt of the beating of our ministries: they hold us together, they hear us complain, and they hear others complain about us and experience the angst of how to handle it in a gospel way. Take it from someone who has greatly failed before in this area: do as much as you can to set clear boundaries between the church and home, and frequently check up on whether or not she enjoys being a part of the church. If she doesn't want to attend the church where you are the pastor, then it is a problem you need to deal with.
3. A day off is not just a good idea. It is essential.
"Monday Funday" is as special as a 1910 Honus Wagner baseball card at our house. It is the day we play outside, eat Chinese food at a mall, and don't talk about the church. Our church knows about “Monday Funday” because I mention it in sermons, schedule around it, and unless someone is bleeding out in their kitchen, I do not violate it. My ministry and family are too important. Pick a Sabbath, keep it, and fight for it. Your soul and your family will thank you.
Never forget: The first flock you lead is not the one that gathers on Sunday, but the one that lives at your house.
Are you leading them well?

The Stress of Preaching

2009-10-31T10:04:00.002-04:00

It is no longer stressful for me. A fruitful realization for me after being called to vocational ministry almost 15 years ago. I preached at a Diaconate ordination with no prior preparation and felt great. Now, I forgot my sermon at home to preach to a church out of town but I feel confident in God working through me.

I love serving Him! Thank God for taking away my anxieties and giving me a spirit of boldness and courage instead of timidity.

Dr. Blomberg always makes me Think

2009-07-07T16:56:00.001-04:00

I respect but don't always agree with Dr. Blomberg on issues. Here is a blog he wrote about his time with the TNIV committee. It has me thinking about the importance of translations.

Having spent my annual week last week with my fellow members of the NIV-TNIV Committee on Bible Translation, sifting through large stacks of proposals for minor tweaking of how we translate this or that word or phrase in anything from Genesis to Revelation, I’m in the mood for writing a blog on translating Scripture. A series of conversations in recent months, linked only by the theme of Bible translation, has made me dramatically more aware than ever before of the following observations:

1) Many people, unchurched and churched alike, have never actually looked in any detail at multiple Bible translations and therefore don’t have a good feel for just how different and similar they are. As a result, they tend to think they are actually far more different than they really are, leading to strange questions like, “With so many different English translations, how do we know which one or ones, if any, we can trust.” The short and most basic answer is, except for those produced by unorthodox sects like the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation or Joseph Smith’s personal Joseph Smith Translation, or those deliberately designed to be a paraphrase and not a bona fide translation at all (like The Message or the old Living Bible Paraphrased), you can trust ALL of them. Not one will ever flawlessly come up with the very best rendering in every passage, but not one will ever lead you astray on any important matter of faith and practice. Do yourself the favor of getting the software that allows you to compare a couple dozen major English translations for a representative cross-section of Bible verses or passages of your choice and prove it to yourself!

2) Because of the passion with which some scholars and church leaders have advocated one of the bona fide translations above others or criticized one or more of those translations, way too many people both inside and outside of the church have the misimpression that you can’t trust all of them the way point 1) above phrases it. It’s time for those scholars and church leaders to come clean and correct these misimpressions. With the wealth and luxury of so many options in the English-speaking world, it’s time to put a lot less money and effort into internecine argumentation and a lot more into letting the world know the magnificent wonders of this collection of books we call the Bible, regardless of what translation one prefers!

3) We must help our people, and others, understand the difference between formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence, and mediating approaches. To oversimplify but to make the point, the more literal the translation is, the harder it will be for the general population at large to understand it. The more readable for one particular subculture the translation, the less literal it will be. It is simply inaccurate and thus irresponsible to say that the more literal a translation, the better, for all situations. The most literal translation of all is an interlinear, which is indecipherable to most people. The most readable, understandable and accurate, all in one package, will always be those translations that do not consistently aim for either formal equivalence (word-for-word renderings) or dynamic equivalence (thought-for-thought), but aim at a middle ground between the two—as literal as possible while still being as fluent and understandable by the greatest number of people as possible.

4) In light of this last point, and completely apart from debates about inclusive language, the tradition of translating represented by the NIV-TNIV continues to achieve this balance most consistently. The next best options aren’t even close.

Why? or Why not?

2009-07-07T16:51:00.001-04:00

I try to keep telling myself that it doesn't matter that we remain affiliated with these groups but there is just a whole bunch of stuff that I don't like that goes on in them. Praying.

Retired BWA leader Lotz receives freedom award from Adventists

By ABP staff

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

BWA General Secretary Emeritus Denton Lotz (R) receives the ward from John Graz, secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association. (BWA photo)

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Retired Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz has been honored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and affiliated religious-liberty organizations for his contributions to furthering global religious freedom.

He received the International Award for Religious Liberty June 18 at a dinner in Washington. The dinner and award are co-sponsored by the Adventists in conjunction with their religious-freedom publication, Liberty magazine, and the International Religious Liberty Association. Lotz is currently president of the association, which was founded by Adventists in 1893 but is non-sectarian and open to all supporters of church-state separation and religious freedom.

Lotz, who was named BWA’s general secretary emeritus upon his retirement in 2007, was awarded for making “religious freedom a major focus of his ministry as church leader and church statesman," according to a BWA press release.

In his response, Lotz said the award was recognition of the role that Baptists have played in the defense of religious liberty since the founding of the Baptist movement 400 years ago, in 1609. Baptists, he said, were often persecuted because of their anti-establishment stance and their defense of the liberty of conscience.

“Baptists were a persecuted group,” he told the roughly 300 guests gathered in the ballroom of the Capital Hilton hotel. “We believe that where religious freedom is denied, all other freedoms are denied.”

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) delivers the keynote address at the 7th Annual Religious Liberty Dinner in Washington. (Megan Brauner/Adventist News Network)
Keynote speaker for the dinner was Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), an ordained United Methodist minister who, prior to being elected to Congress, served as the first African-American mayor of Kansas City, Mo. “Everyone has the right to

freedom of thought, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, yet persecutions and atrocities are still taking place,” he said, according to the Adventist News Network.

Cleaver underscored the fact that, more than 60 years after the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hundreds of millions of people around the world continue to be mistreated because of their faith.

“The choice to privately or publicly practice a religious belief or the choice to abstain from a religious belief or the choice to change one's own religious beliefs is unmistakably fundamental to human rights,” he said.

The Bentz Family to Lesotho

2009-07-07T16:49:00.001-04:00

Mark and Linda Bentz and family from Milton, Wisconsin, are preparing to serve as missionaries in Lesotho, Africa. They were mentioned in the April 2009 Sabbath Recorder, and will again be featured in the upcoming July-August issue.

These are precious Seventh Day Baptists who are leaving the comfort of home and extended family to serve the Lord with African Inland Missions. They plan to spend the next two-and-a-half years teaching, assisting in childbirth, leading Bible Studies, witnessing and caring for the people of Lesotho which lies wholly within the larger Republic of South Africa. They still need support.

You may send your checks to Africa Inland Mission, PO Box 178, Pearl River NY 10965. If you’d like to contact and encourage the Bentz family, write to mbentz@aimint.net.

Also, you can check out the following blurb about the Bentzes at the Africa Inland Mission website.

Here is a Funny (If you are a Republican)

2009-06-10T18:04:00.000-04:00

I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day.

Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?' She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'

Her parents beamed.

'Wow! What a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'

I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

I Think John Piper Might Know Something About This

2009-06-10T18:02:00.001-04:00

And here is the transcript:

Some of you may have little or no experience with what I mean by preaching. I think it will help you listen to my messages if I say a word about it.

What I mean by preaching is expository exultation.
Preaching Is Expository

Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God's word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all 66 books of it.

The preacher's job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people's lives.

The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can't see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God's word.

The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will

* make your spiritual bones more like steel,
* double the capacity of your spiritual lungs,
* make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God,
* and awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn't even know existed.

Preaching Is Exultation

Preaching is also exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what's in the Bible, and the people do not simply try understand what he explains. Rather, the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied.

Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. The preacher worships—exults—over the word, trying his best to draw you into a worshipful response by the power of the Holy Spirit.

My job is not simply to see truth and show it to you. (The devil could do that for his own devious reasons.) My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That's one of the differences between a sermon and a lecture.
Preaching Isn't Church, but It Serves the Church

Preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don't have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other.

One of the purposes of preaching is to equip us for that and inspire us to love each other better.

But God has created the church so that she flourishes through preaching. That's why Paul gave young pastor Timothy one of the most serious, exalted charges in all the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:1-2:

I 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.

What to Expect from My Preaching and Why

If you're used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, you won't find that from what I've just described.

* I preach twice that long;
* I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful;
* and I am not relaxed.

I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there.

That's what I mean by preaching.

Do You Preach a Good Sermon?

2009-06-10T17:58:00.001-04:00

This was found on the Acts29 Blog.

8 Qualities of a Good Sermon
I asked people on Twitter to share the characteristics of what they thought comprised a good sermon. I compiled their helpful thoughts and came up with 8 qualities.

1. Gospel-centered
Leads to the cross and trust/surrender in Jesus. Uses the Scriptures to unearth the heart not behavior. Bringing people to repentance Did Christ need to die for this to be true? Having the main thrust of the passage explained & applied in a way that grips and changes me Missional/Evangelistic
2. Bible-based, exegetically-sound (Intelligent but not academically arrogant)

3. Empowered by the Holy Spirit

4. Preached through a passionately changed man

5. Relationally-connected
Displaying honesty and authenticity Inspirational (not just informational) Challenging and encouraging Humbly and compassionately Engaging (not boring) Contextualized Winsome
6. Simple, memorable and concise with clarity of thought

7. Bible-generated points of application
Answers the question, "So, now what?"
8. Leads to the worship of Jesus

Preaching with Smoke, Fire, Blood and Water

Kevin Bruursema, Location and Teaching Pastor at New Life Community Church in Chicago offered these nuggets on preaching in an email to me.

Smoke
Good preaching sets an aroma/atmosphere/environment that opens the way for the voice of God.
Fire
Good preaching has the fire of living passion and illumination. Fire is an element that can be harnessed for good use; can be used to destroy evil things; Fire can also hurt good people if used improperly. Fire illumines and gives insight
Blood
Good preaching only really happens if the preacher is bleeding his own blood with his message. He's suffering the truth in his own life and it lives through him. Good preaching has to flow from a preacher who is being cleansed with Christ's blood through repentance and obedience.
Water
Good preaching brings refreshing, restoration and life. It brings renewal and resurrection.

Is Your Church a Dealership?

2009-06-10T17:54:00.001-04:00

This is from Chuck Warnock and the Small Church Pastors Blog. I think there are some points to be made here.

Both General Motors and Chrysler have announced that up to 25% of their dealerships will not have their franchises renewed. Reasons cited were:

Some dealers did not carry the full brand lineup. Chrysler wants dealers who carry their entire line from trucks to cars to Jeeps.
Some dealers also carried competitors’ brands. That’s pretty common in smaller communities where one dealership might carry brands and models most suited to their market.
Most of these dealers under-performed. Chrysler said that 25% accounted for only 15% of its total sales.
Some brands are being discontinued. Wouldn’t want to be a Pontiac dealer right now, would you? Also, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab are on the chopping block one way or another at GM.

But what if we applied that same criteria to churches? Would your church be in business next week?

Some churches don’t carry the full lineup. Many prefer to emphasize only the spiritual side of the faith, while leaving off any attempt at physical ministry. Others are just the opposite, with lots of social programs, but little in the way of evangelism and discipleship. You get the picture. Should these churches keep their doors open?

Some churches carry the competitor’s brands, too. Okay, we’ve got to tread carefully here, but I’m thinking particularly about Fred Phelps’ church, Westboro Baptist. They spew hate and venom towards any and everyone at any opportunity they can get. They would be the extreme example, but other churches also help the “competition” by either not living the difference Christ makes or by taking a stand in an unloving manner.

Some churches under-perform. GM and Chrysler use an objective criteria to weed out the under-performing dealers — sales numbers. But, some churches also under-perform in attendance, missions, programs, and outreach. What should happen to these churches? I have often contended here that we need to measure more than attendance, especially in small churches; but, even when measuring other factors some churches aren’t cutting it. What should they do?

Some brands are being discontinued. Denominational identity is fading, as are a host of other emphases that once were very popular. Remember the 1970s charismatic movement, or spiritual gifts surveys? Lots of “brands” come and go, and if a church is heavily invested in one narrow perspective, it may find itself out of business in a changing culture.

Fortunately, God is not GM or Chrsyler and churches aren’t dealerships. Churches tend to rise and decline in an organizational life cycle which can be accelerated by forces outside the church. But even if we aren’t automotive dealership managers, it might help us to take an inventory of effectiveness periodically. We might be either surprised or horrified at the result. What do you think?

Dwelling in the Gospel

2009-06-10T17:35:00.001-04:00

This is from Aaron Youngren, an Acts 29 planter in Chicago.

Four principles guide our calling in Chicago: Longevity, Movement, Dwelling, and Thriving. Last night we discussed Dwelling. Below are some notes from that session.

SYNOPSIS
God’s people dwell.

Followers of Jesus Christ imitate Him by leaving their places of comfort and security, and dwelling among those who don’t know Him.

PRINCIPLES
1. We dwell in the world to imitate and glorify Jesus (John 1:14; Matthew 5:13-16).
2. Effective dwelling in the world is predicated on dwelling first in Jesus (John 15:4-16; 2 John 1:9).
3. Dwelling often requires relinquishing of personal preference (Acts 16:3; Romans 14:20-21).
4. Dwelling and tribalism cannot co-exist (Matthew 9:11-13).
5. Dwelling precedes Thriving and Longevity (Jeremiah 29:1-14).

PRINCIPLES FOR GOSPEL COMMUNITY
1. A Gospel Community is not a time and a place, it is a group of people.
2. A Gospel Community is not a series of events, it is life together.
3. A Gospel Community is not a closed circle of friends, but an inviting, open community.
4. A Gospel Community shares the gospel not religion.

Timmis Tweets

2009-06-10T17:34:00.001-04:00

Here is a list of tweets from Steve Timmis on Gospel Intentionality:

Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … buying from local shops.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … frequenting a local coffee shop or pub.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … playing for a local sports team.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … always tipping generously in local restaurants.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … being the kind of neighbour everyone wants to have as a neighbour.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … volunteering at a local charity shop along with a couple of others from church.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … doing ordinary things in community.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … opening your home to, and sharing your food with others.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … walking the same route to work at the same time or catching the same train each day.
Living ordinary life with gospel intentionality means … we do EVERYTHING for the sake of the gospel!

High Fidelity Christianity has Dual Fidelities

2009-06-10T17:32:00.001-04:00

Steve Timmis shares this idea of Gospel Community through the Resurgence blog.

Dual Fidelity

Evangelicals are called to a dual fidelity: faithfulness to the gospel word and faithfulness to the gospel community. The gospel word creates the gospel community; the gospel community displays and declares the gospel word.

In the contemporary scene, people and movements tend towards polarization on this issue. It's often those who are solid on the gospel word who are flabby on gospel community. Likewise, those who elevate community tend to downplay the word.

But there are dangers facing those of us who want to be true to that dual fidelity. As we move towards the nurture and development of vibrant and attractive gospel communities, we must avoid certain pitfalls to prevent us from damaging a truly good thing.

In a series of short blogs, I'll highlight some of these pitfalls. The aim is not to scare us away from gospel community, but to make it even sweeter when we get into it.

Pitfall #1

The Gospel Saves... Not Community

In the first chapter of Romans, Paul gives a summary of the gospel (Rom. 1:3-4), which he then later (Rom. 1:16) describes as the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. The gospel that saves is the proclamation that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the risen Lord of the world. It is a summons to the whole world to submit to him.

Every time Paul preached Christ crucified and risen, he did so confidently and expectantly because he knew that was the means by which God saved his people.

If the gospel saves because it is God's ordained method of rescuing the lost, then:

You and I don't
Methods and personalities don't
Structures and systems don't

Inquiring Minds...

Our danger comes not through actively rejecting the gospel, but in terms of our assumptions being demonstrated by our practice. What we can't do is let our focus on community (as important as that is) lull us into thinking that all we need to do is expose people to it, and hey presto, they're with us.

That might happen of course, but it won't mean they're Christians. According to Peter, it is our corporate life that invites people to ask for the reason for the hope that we have (1 Pe.3:15). There has to be something inexplicable about our gospel community that causes people to inquire. We then have the opportunity to speak the gospel word, for it is through that, and that alone, that God saves.

Repent of Your Religion

2009-06-10T17:23:00.002-04:00

This article comes from the Christian Post reported by Lillian Kwon. There is a difference between Christianity and Religion. I don't want Religion.

Religion may be choking the growth of Christianity in America.

It's not so much postmodernism that many Christians lament of, or the "harder hearts" of the younger generation, or a less interested God that's causing more and more pews to be empty. Rather, the culprit seems to be religion, as one Durham, N.C., pastor pointed out.

"Religion seems to choke out the Gospel among God's people," J.D. Greear, lead pastor of The Summit Church, told hundreds of pastors at Advance, a conference on the resurgence of the local church.

And until Christians repent of religion, no program, energy, or strategy will help them to grow, Greear said Friday.

Greear, 36, helped grow The Summit (originally Homestead Heights Baptist Church) from 400 people to some 3,000 and is continually reaching people from throughout the Triangle area. He doesn't claim to be an expert at church "revitalization" but he says he knows there are some things that have to happen in order for a church to revitalize around the Gospel.

And looking around the churches in his community and across the Bible Belt where churchgoers are getting fewer and older, he sees people asking "why?"

Why is God not moving? What is it about us? Greear posed.

Citing what Jesus reprimanded over 2,000 years ago, Greear said religion is keeping Christians from effectively carrying out God's will.

"In religion, there's no passion for God, there's no hunger to know Him," the Summit pastor said.

For "religious people," Christianity becomes more of a checklist of duties and behaviors – such as small group involvement, volunteering, taking a mission trip, and reading the Bible.

"That's what religion does. It reduces God to a set of duties," Greear noted.

In addition to substituting love for God for religious ritual, religious people often elevate secondary matters – such as dress code, alcohol, politics, taking care of the earth – above a love for God.

"We got churches that are filled with people who think they're going to heaven because they don't cuss, or drink bear, or because they vote Republican," he said.

"The tragedy is is our emphasis on those things has kept us from calling them to real repentance."

The secondary traditions are important, but Greear noted that they've often replaced "the real thing."

"Anytime we preach a Gospel that leaves people thinking about what they're supposed to do for God and not what God has done for them, we have preached a false Gospel," he said to some applause.

Other characteristics of religious people, the young pastor listed, include seeking recognition and praise from people and elevating religious ritual over love for others.

"Religious people have a lot of rules but they don't have love," Greear said, adding that they are usually angry, judgmental and more concerned with winning an argument.

While religion makes one selfish and self-focused, the Gospel is about overwhelming love, he pointed out.

"One of the reasons we're so ineffective to people outside of Christianity [is] it appears we're trying to show them that we're better than they are," he said. "They know we're not."

Urging the pastors to return to a love for the Gospel, Greear called them to repentance – not of sin but of religion.

My Preaching Could Kill

2009-06-10T17:14:00.002-04:00

This came from the Resurgence blog by Bob Thune and really is speaking to me.

It's possible that your preaching is killing your church plant.
Don't freak out. This is the Resurgence, after all. We are absolutely committed to the powerful, masculine, authoritative preaching of God's Word. I'm not going to ask you to trade preaching for sharing, prayer labyrinths, or finger painting, but I am going to argue that your teaching style must fit the size dynamics of your church in order to be effective.
You're Not Preaching to Thousands

Preachers like Piper, Keller, Driscoll, and Chandler speak to thousands each week, and it's great to learn from those guys. But if you're trying to preach like those guys, you're probably making a mistake. Because let's be honest: you're not preaching to thousands.

I spoke with a church planter recently who couldn't understand why his core group of 30 wasn't bringing anyone to church. Answer? Because it's awkward to sit in a room with a few dozen people and get yelled at through a big sound system! It just doesn't fit the environment. I met another guy a few years ago (a Baptist brother, stereotypically) who was setting up a big wooden pulpit in his living room every week so he could preach to his core team of seven people.
Confusing the Practice with the Mode of Preaching

These well-meaning men have confused the practice of preaching with a particular mode of preaching. To preach is to authoritatively communicate the word of God. The normal mode of preaching in larger churches is to stand before the people, Bible open, with a microphone and a message.

But you can also preach sitting on a stool among 20 or 30 people. You can even preach from the couch in your living room if you have a core team of seven. You shouldn't ignore God's call to "preach the word" (2 Tim 4:2), but you should contextualize your preaching for the size dynamics of your church, especially if you ever want your church to grow.
Tailor Preaching to the Size of Your Church

People have an innate sense of what "fits" in a certain setting. You don't expect arena rock at a coffeehouse. Similarly, you don't expect a pulpit and lots of yelling in a small church plant. What will grow your church in the early stages is not the formality or power of your preaching, but rather how accessible and engaging it is.

Tailor your preaching for the size dynamics of your church. Think of venues where 25 to 75 people gather—coffee shops, college classes, house-show concerts—and then aim for that sort of feel.

Engage the audience in dialogue by asking questions, inviting feedback, and answering objections. Build your sermons around missional conversations you're having during the week. Three things will happen: non-Christians will feel honored and welcomed; Christians will learn how to have authentic gospel dialogue with outsiders; and your church will grow.
Preach Like Spurgeon When Your Church Gets Bigger

Here's a good rule of thumb (don't make it a law, but take it for what it's worth): if you have less than 80 people in your church, you shouldn't be preaching in the same way as the guys you podcast. I know Spurgeon is your hero, but don't worry, you can preach like him when your church gets bigger. For now, restrain your inner Whitefield and preach in a way that fits your context.

And hey, Baptist dude: if you wonder why your church hasn't outgrown your living room yet, I might have an answer.

1 Day in 7

2009-06-10T17:11:00.001-04:00

I don't know what to make of this. I found this as Jim Skaggs posted in One Eternal Day.

Some Tips for Hiring at Your Church

2009-06-10T17:07:00.001-04:00

I pulled this from Nelson Searcy's Updates from the Journey Church in New York. I think it has a lot to say about the topic. He gives credit to his friend Dan Reiland.

“Never Hire Your Mama”
by Dan Reiland

King Asa fired his grandmother. That’s a rough day in the palace I don’t care you are! Read the story in I Kings 15:9-15.

9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.

Yup, he “deposed” (to remove from office or position, esp. high office) Grammy Maacah! The best way to prevent a nightmare like this is to hire well. 80% of all difficult staffing issues are covered if you hire well.

I’ve made my mistakes over the years, and a few were costly. But I’ve learned and developed the art of hiring. No one bats 100% but the following hiring maxims will make your life easier and your staff more enjoyable and productive.

1. Never hire anyone you would avoid on your day off.
Chemistry is a big deal. Life is short, you need to enjoy the people you spend significant amounts of time with. Give yourself permission to hire and fire with that in mind. Hiring based heavily on chemistry can feel counter-intuitive when you are considering a person of high character and high competence. In other words, not hiring because you don’t connect well may seem dumb. It’s not. Let me be blunt. If you don’t like someone, eventually, over the long haul, both of you will become less effective, (competence.) If you then continue to take a paycheck that’s about character! I’m not suggesting that you refrain from hiring someone because of a little personality quirk, that’s what makes us all human and frankly interesting. I’m talking about basic chemistry… do you like being around the person or not?

2. Hire slow.
Take your time. It’s far better to have an open position and endure that pressure than it is to hire the wrong person. I have waited months for many hires, and nearly two years for one senior level position. In all cases it was the right thing. Always call references. Ask the references for more references and call them. Testing slows the process down, but is a good idea. While you don’t want to put someone in a box, many tests provide helpful insights. One of my favorites is the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, but I recommend that you contact a couple of the best therapists / psychologists in your area to get their advice. And speaking of tests, I strongly recommend running a criminal background check on all hires. You’d be surprised! (Check with your attorney on this first. Different states have different rulings.)

3. Never lower your standards.
Don’t let desperation push you. When your desperation becomes high, your standards become low. I know how it goes. The position is open for seemingly too long. God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers - when in fact He may be protecting you from a bad hire. And, you just want to get it done! I know. In almost all these cases, you begin to gradually drop your standards. You think to yourself, “This person isn’t exactly the right person, but then again, no one is perfect.” And so you begin down the road to mediocrity. Stick to your original hiring criteria. That person is out there. Find them.

4. Invest in growth over administration.
This is a tough one. We are all tempted to beef up our systems by increasing our administrative and support staff. That’s one way to help keep the organization crisp and efficient. Over-hiring administrative staff is also one of the best ways to kill an organization. A comfortable and smooth-running bureaucracy never grows an organization. OK, the word bureaucracy is a little over-the-top. But I want to paint a clear picture for you. If you attempt to remove normal ministry tension by making all systems smooth and easy, you are headed down a dangerous road. Creativity and innovation will be limited. All growing organizations experience tension. That’s normal. The key is to understand the difference between a tension to be managed and a problem to be solved. It is always wiser and a far better investment to put your first staffing dollars into new staff members who contribute to the literal growth of the church. (I’m not talking about financial raises for existing administrative staff, I’m referring to hiring new staff members.)

5. Figure out who they are under pressure.
A good percentage of church leadership is neither difficult nor complicated. It’s exhausting because of the relational elements, but not rocket-science. You keep good relationships, and make the right decisions at the right time for the right reasons. But the moment pressure shows up, everything changes. Under pressure (all growing churches are under pressure, and large growing churches experience lots of pressure) what was relatively routine becomes difficult and what was simple enough becomes complicated. It’s critical to assess and have a thorough knowledge of each new hire’s ability to thrive under pressure. From reference calls to asking a question in an interview like: “What would you think if I told you this interview was not going well?” Give them a tough case study to solve or visit their church and ask them to let you in on one of the problems they currently are attempting to solve to let you take a look and talk with them about it. Do whatever it takes to know their ability and capacity under pressure.

6. Ask brilliant questions.
The education system tells you there is no such thing as a stupid question. Yes there is. There are lots of stupid questions and its part of your job to not waste time by asking them. Here’s the secret, it’s not the question itself that is stupid or brilliant. It’s who you ask it to, at the moment you ask, in that certain context and for what reason. That’s what makes a question brilliant or not. We all have lists of questions. I have a long list too. I have books full of interview questions. That’s just busy work. The art of brilliant question-asking includes timing, context, purpose, assessment and what new question the answer cultivates.

7. Pay well, but don’t buy the employee.
This is another tough one. One strategy says don’t talk about the salary until the very end of the process. Find their heart and know their calling first. Another strategy says put the salary on the table up front and make it clear from the beginning. Both have merit. You don’t want to get so emotionally deep into the process that you end up paying too much for the position, and yet you do want to pay well with a generous spirit. I think the bottom line is that no one is so good that you should feel obligated to offer a salary that makes you uneasy. We all want to hire eagles, but there are guidelines to follow. Not rules to bow to, but guidelines to keep wise structures in balance. Bottom line… be willing to walk away!

8. Interview outside the office when you can
Especially when it comes to more senior level staff, don’t do all your interviewing in the office. Even if you just get out to a restaurant or a Starbucks, it’s important to spend time in normal and lifestyle environments. Then pay attention to how the person responds. I’ve interviewed in environments from baseball games to racing boats on a lake. One interview was in the middle of the jungle in Sri Lanka! You will always learn more about the person in those settings. You don’t have to get weird about it, but you get the idea. One of my favorite things is to toss them the keys and let them drive the car. That’s always revealing.

9. Don’t hire competency when insecurity comes with it.
No amount of competency overcomes insecurity. I can usually smell insecurity from a mile away. In a young staff member, that’s not always bad. Everyone has a little insecurity, but it’s an unbelievably dangerous combination to have a highly gifted and talented person who is also insecure. They can’t help themselves, they will implode in time. Insecure people are easily offended, they make it all about them, and they usually want the spotlight thought they will say they don’t. My sincere caution to you is if you suspect you are talking with an insecure leader, thank them, pick up the check, and call it a day.

10. Don’t hire for today.
When I first started as an XP (Executive Pastor) I made this mistake several times. I assessed and chose a person who could handle the job as it currently was. Big mistake. They may do a good job for the first few months, but as soon as the job grows to a size and scope in which they are over their head - you’re in trouble. Always hire for the job at the next level. Picture the position at the next click up and hire someone with at least that much capacity.

Bible Study: Matthew 21:33-46

2009-05-16T07:49:00.002-04:00

I kind of wished this was videotaped so that I could save it because I think it went very well but here are some notes taken by Nick Kersten from the Bible Study I presented at the 2009 SDB Pastor's Conference.

"Renting...it sucks." - Dave Taylor
There is a tenuous relationship between renters and landlords.

renters and landlords view the property differently
renters don't take care of the property the same as the landlord would
renters are not always what they appear to be in their interview or on their application

Qualities of Good Tenants (as shared by group): income, stability, good credit, clean, background check, well behaved, responsible, someone like the landlord, conscientious, dependable, good references, communicates and listens well

The Characters in the Parable (as shared by group):
Owner: God
Vineyard: the Kingdom, Israel, people of God, the world, religious leaders
Tenants: religious leaders, Pharisees, temple beaurocracy
Servants: prophets
Son: Jesus

According to any law, would tenants who kill the heir to the property be able to inherit that property? Probably not-they would be evicted and jailed.

Jesus seems to indicate that the vineyard will be taken away from wicked tenants and given to someone who will produce fruit.

What kind of tenants are we? We will be held accountable to what we have been entrusted with. This is certain.

The owner has provided everything necessary for the tenants to render good service-There is no excuse for poor or insufficient work.

We have have an opportunity to have a relationship with the owner.

Jesus Christ is the "senior pastor" of every church. We are the "under shepherds". We cannot do anything by ourselves in our churches. We must work under the authority of the "senior pastor".

How did the tenants arrive at the place where they were killing the heir? Likely, they forgot. They started working and likely forgot. Eventually they assumed that they owned the land and the fruit. Two mistakes were made: they disrespected the Son and they didn't yield any fruit.

The redemptive aspect: God WILL take care of His vineyard-though He has demonstrated amazing restraint. There is hope that we also will be shown the patience that He has shown the tenants and redeem us from our situations.

Jesus was a threat to the agenda of the religious leaders. Is He a threat to us in our ministries?

How has your church received the Son? What can be done to give Jesus a better reception in our churches?

Bigger than You

2009-05-08T23:15:00.002-04:00

This is from Matt Adair's blog concerning the book, A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger than You by Paul Tripp.

Below are both the 17 big ideas and the 17 final questions of the 18 chapter book (above is the table of contents). It's worth your time to work through this list. It's worth your time to work through the whole book.
You were created to be part of something big. What is the big thing that you are living for right now?
Sin causes us to talk about more, but to settle for less. What is the "less" that tends to capture your attention?
Since sin has damaged everything, God calls us to be concerned about everything. Have you treated the size of God's grace as if it were no longer than the size of your personal concerns?
Each of our lives is shaped by the war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self. What earth-bound treasures and anxiety-bound needs tend to control you and your responses to life?
You and I are always being civilized and civilizing others into the culture of some kind of kingdom. In what ways do you try to get the people around you to follow the rules of your kingdom of self?
The most dangerous thing about the kingdom of self is how easily it masquerades as the kingdom of God. In your everyday life right now, where are you telling yourself that you are living for God when you are really living for yourself?
Sin causes all of us to shrink the size of our lives to the size of our lives. Has the energy of your life been expended in the narrow world of personal wants, needs, and concerns?
Big kingdom living mean living with Christ at the center of everything I think, desire, say, and do. What tend to compete with Christ for the center of your world?
In calling us to die, Christ is actually rescuing us from death and giving us real life. In your everyday situations and relationships, where are you finding it hard to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ?
At street level, big kingdom living is Jesus-focused living. What is the focus of your life's energies and intentions?
This side of eternity, there should be a dissatisfaction in all of us with the way things are. What are the things that make you groan?
God calls us to the vertically interactive lifestyle of living in moment-by-moment harmony with him. Where in your life are you tempted to write your own music rather than making harmonious music with the king?
Big kingdom living is all about the humility of seeking forgiveness and the grace of granting it. Do you find joy in the liberating lifestyle of seeking forgiveness?
Life in the kingdom of God is like waiting for the love of your life to return. Where in your life are the "other lovers" that compete with your love for Christ?
Jesus calls us to offer him everything so that we can be free from the things that have a hold on us. Whose kingdom are you making sacrifices for right now?
Life in the big kingdom is all about being good and angry. Right now, where do you live every day, whose kingdom does your anger serve?
True hope, the kind that will never disappoint, is never hope in a thing, but hope in a person. Where do you tend to look for daily hope?

Getting Medieval

2009-05-08T23:13:00.001-04:00

This is from Chris Armstrong, Professor of History at Bethel University in Minnesota.

Surely evangelicals who are sampling these medieval wares would benefit by moving beyond a piecemeal, “consumer” approach to medieval Christianity into a more systematic, in-depth study. Beneath the surface of now-trendy medieval practices, and amidst that era's wrong turnings and corruptions, lies a rich vein of spiritual, intellectual, and practical resources. I can think of at least nine facets of medieval faith and life that we can stand to learn from today:

1. their willingness to engage in spiritual disciplines,
2. their theologically grounded devotional and even "mystical" practices,
3. their high valuation of tradition handed down in texts,
4. their passionate search for theological knowledge (fides quaerens intellectum—"faith seeking understanding"),
5. their moral seriousness, expressed for example in the lists of "deadly sins" and "cardinal virtues,"
6. their adaptation of classical learning to Christian theology (which paved the way for the birth of modern science and continues to provide a model for Christ-culture engagement today),
7. their deep affection for the doctrines of creation and incarnation, issuing (for example) in many profoundly spiritual treasures of Western art and literature,
8. their high valuation on eternity over temporal life, and the "art of dying well" (ars moriendi) that developed from this commitment, and
9. their insistence on works of charity (fides caritate formata—"faith formed by love").

Humble Pastors

2009-05-08T23:11:00.001-04:00

I encourage all of my brothers in the ministry to view this video as a reminder of the calling God has placed in your lives. Share with others you know.

Uncommon Prayer Requests To Make Common

2009-05-06T23:52:00.001-04:00

Matt Lamprecht shares these (via SBC Voices):

Advancement of God’s Kingdom (Matt. 6:9)
Explicitly that God’s will be done (Matt. 6:9)
Thank God for each other being together for the Gospel (Phil. 1:3-5; 1, Thess. 1:2)
God would open the door for us to share the Gospel (Col. 4:2-4)
We would share the Gospel boldly (Acts 4:29, Eph. 6:19)
We would not be tempted (Matt. 26:41)
Our faith would not fail as we live in the world (Luke 22:32)
Forgive each other if there are grudges or offenses (Mark 11:25, Col. 3:13)
For enemies and those persecuting you in any way (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28)
We would grow in wisdom and knowledge of Jesus for God’s glory (Philemon 6, Eph. 1:17)

Humble Pastor

2009-05-06T23:43:00.001-04:00

Here are some sermon notes from Driscoll for pastors (I love this message):

Notes: Humble Pastors

from The Mars Hill Blog by Mars Hill Church

TEXT: 1 Peter 5:1–5
PREACHER: Pastor Mark Driscoll
DATE: May 3, 2009

Introduction

Key roles related to church leadership, as described in 1 Peter 5:1–5 and elsewhere in Scripture:

Chief Shepherd: Jesus is the Senior Pastor of every Bible-believing church.
First among equals: Elders/pastors should work within teams of peers, but a first among equals must take leadership responsibility for each team. Peter was a primary leader in the early church, but also a “fellow elder.”
Shepherds: Overseers (pastors/elders) of the flock that is the church.
Sheep: The congregation (including the pastors).
Wolves: False teachers and divisive members of the congregation.

More on church leadership roles and structure: Acts 20:28–35; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9. Pastor Mark’s books Church Leadership and Vintage Church are a helpful resource.

What Does a Pastor Do?

Pastors are called to lead like Jesus, the Senior Pastor, as prophets, priests, and kings. Different pastors are better suited for each of these roles:

Prophets are gifted communicators (preaching and writing) and “shepherd the flock” as a large group.
Priests are gifted counselors and “shepherd the flock” on a more personal basis, working with individuals and small groups.
Kings are gifted administrators who “exercise oversight” over the flock by ensuring good stewardship and sound leadership overall.

Threats to Pastoral Leadership

Peter identifies the most significant threats to pastoral leadership and, consequentially, the church.

Pastoral Duty (1 Peter 5:2)

The office of pastor should be a calling of the Holy Spirit, not a duty imposed by man (1 Tim. 3:1).
Ministry is a lifestyle, not an occupation.

Pastoral Greed (1 Peter 5:2)

Ministry should not serve as a side business or an excuse to get a tax break.
A church should compensate their pastor (1 Tim. 5:17–18), but the pastor must work for Jesus–not money.

Pastoral Power (1 Pet. 5:3)

Pastors are to be under not just in authority.
Pastors are to exercise influence (out of love) not control (out of fear).
Pastors are to acknowledge that they are not in charge; Jesus is in charge.
Pastors are to lead like Jesus: by selfless serving.

Pastoral Applause (1 Pet. 5:4)
If a Pastor desires to be popular with all people and have peace at all costs then he is fearing man and ultimately will not be fearing God. Glory, reward, and satisfaction come from Jesus–not from men.

Pastoral Pride (1 Pet. 5:5)

All sin originates from pride.
Pride is satanic (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28).
Pride is repackaged as self-esteem, self-improvement, self-actualization, etc.
God hates the proud, opposes the proud, and punishes the proud (Proverbs 8:13; 16:5, 18).

Humble Pastors

No one is humble except for God (Mark 10:45; Phil. 2:5–11). All we can say is, “I am a proud person pursuing humility by the grace of God.” Pastors pursuing humility…

Turn their critics into coaches.
Preach and practice repentance.
Submit to godly authority.
Learn as well as teach.
Accept their place in the church, especially when it changes.
Earnestly desire the growth and good of all churches.
Rejoice in (rather than covet) evidences of God’s grace in other churches and pastors.
Care more about Jesus’ name than their own name or their church’s name.

2009 Gospel Coalition Conference

2009-05-06T23:41:00.001-04:00

There is nothing but goodness that came from this conference. Go and check out all the good gospel cooperation promoted in the gospel.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/conferences/2009#t=schedule

Sabbath View

2009-05-06T23:36:00.002-04:00

Here is a Sabbath view from R.C. Sproul, who gets it until ... Anyway I will continue to follow Jesus' example until he tells me to do otherwise.

Some Christians believe that the Sabbath was an Old Testament ordinance and has no application to the New Testament church. No less a giant than Saint Augustine took the position that the Sabbath was not carried over into the New Testament community and therefore has been fulfilled and was done away with through the work of Christ. There are Christians who feel that there is no particular significance to Sabbath keeping today, although they make up a very small minority.

For the most part, Christian people, while they may disagree as to what day is the Sabbath--the sixth or the seventh day and all that--and how we observe it, still maintain that the Sabbath is to be observed somehow in the Christian community. God ordained the Sabbath, not at Mt. Sinai with Moses and the people of Israel, but at Creation. The later books of the Law certainly filled out the concept of the Sabbath in terms of its specifics and how it was to be observed in Israel, but the Sabbath existed long before the Ten Commandments and other laws were given. This would indicate that as long as Creation is in effect, Sabbath is in effect. In the covenant God made with Israel he says, "This is my Sabbath unto all generations." The fact that it's a Creation ordinance is strong evidence that there is still a Sabbath observation requirement for Christians--in fact, not only for Christians, because the Sabbath was part of God's design for humanity from the beginning. That's one of the reasons states have had blue laws. Sabbath keeping was not even seen as a violation of the separation of church and state; everybody was required to have a Sabbath whether they were Christian, Jew, Muslim, or whatever.

In the New Testament the church comes together on the Lord's Day, which is the first day of the week, for corporate worship. We have a clear mandate in the New Testament not to forsake the assembling of the saints (Heb. 10:25). In other words, the New Testament's simple language says that Christians are supposed to be in corporate worship on the Lord's Day. That means we're supposed to go to church. That is usually seen as one of the ways in which the Sabbath is to be observed. All Christians I know of who believe that the Sabbath is still in effect agree that on the Sabbath we should be worshiping, and also that on one day in seven there should be rest from unnecessary commerce and labor. There are still provisions for commerce that must go on--hospital work, pharmacies, and such. But commerce just for the sake of merchandising ought to cease on the Sabbath.

This group of Christians who believe the Sabbath should be observed actually splits into two groups. One holds what we call the Continental view: Recreation is permitted on the Sabbath. The other holds the Puritan view: Recreation is forbidden on the Sabbath. I take the position that recreation is a legitimate form of rest on the Sabbath.

*****

Taken from Now, That's a Good Question!
©1996 by R.C. Sproul. Used by permission of Tyndale.

Don't Be a Cretan!

2009-05-06T23:35:00.001-04:00

A little Bible Survey on the book of Titus by Dr. Craig Blomberg, with some assistance from his daughter.

Don't Be a Cretan!
from Craig Blomberg's Blog: New Testament Musings

"One of Crete's own prophets has said it: 'Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.' He has surely told the truth!" (Titus 1:12)

Four years ago, my then 14-year-old daughter Rachel was watching me put together some power-point slides for class and asked if she could make one. I told her to make me something for Titus, since I didn't have much of anything creative for that often neglected of Pauline epistles. The result was a slide with several bullet-point entries like, "I like Titus." "Titus is short," "You should read it, too." She insisted I include it in my class presentation which I did every year since. Students always laughed.

Last summer she asked to revise the slide. She took out the bullet points and substituted one large all-capitals, stylized, red-letter slogan: "Don't be a Cretan!" The more I thought about it, the more it struck me that such a summary could well hold its own in competition for the "big idea" of the letter. Titus is pastoring one or more churches on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean sea, beset by problems related to a Judaizing heresy, perhaps with other local syncretistic elements mixed in. The Christians are quite young, many probably from rough and rustic backgrounds, so godly and mature leaders are hard to come by. In this context it is not surprising that the first two main topics Paul addresses after a rich, theologically detailed greeting (1:1-4) are the criteria for choosing elders/overseers (vv. 5-9) and rebuking the false teachers (vv. 10-16). Into this last section, he inserts the verse quoted above on the evils of being a Cretan.

Already in pre-Christian Greek philosophy the "liar's paradox" was well-known. If I truthfully declare that Andreas always lies, and then Andreas pipes up by saying, "I am lying," is he telling the truth or lying? If he is telling the truth, then his statement that he is lying is true, which means he has to be lying rather than telling the truth. If Andreas' statement is false, which it should be if he always lies, then it is false that he is lying which means he is telling the truth, which is what he can't be doing. So there is no way to answer the question as to whether Andreas is lying or telling the truth! Everybody still with me? :) (This is why I don't teach philosophy for a living!)

So now substitute Paul for me and the Cretans for Andreas. (Since Andreas is a Greek name and one I picked at random for the purposes of illustration, it's easy to make him be a Cretan). The reason Cretans got the reputation that they did was because they boasted that they housed the tomb of Zeus. But as head of the Olympic pantheon of Greek gods, Zeus could not die. So the Cretans' claim must be a lie. The Cretan philosopher Epimenides then coined the slogan that Paul quotes and endorses here.

Most commentators have simply assumed that Paul, like Epimenides, was employing hyperbole. He knows it is logically impossible for all of them to lie all the time. But as a broad generalization, he was able to use this well-known quotation to reinforce for Titus the seriousness of sorting out the problems in the Cretan churches. And the Cretans can't get too mad at Paul because all he is doing is citing their own writer back to them. Besides Epimenides' slogan had become somewhat humorous in the Hellenistic world; it wasn't necessarily even meant to cause offense, so much as poke fun at the silly claim about Zeus. Perhaps it wasn't too much worse, culturally speaking, than someone who might remind lifelong Cubs fans like me at the start of a new baseball season, "Cubs are always losers, always letting their fans down, lovable and laughable though they might be." Especially if a Cubs fan was being quoted, and since there is a core truth behind the quotation, it's hard to get too upset.

But English scholar Anthony Thiselton suggests that Paul is actually trying to point out how self-defeating it is to live in ways that do not match one's ideology or, in this case, religious commitments. This would certainly make the passage much more widely relevant and applicable, not only to situations that resemble Crete's but to all of us.

We've just finished celebrating Good Friday and Easter Sunday, powerful annual reminders of the need for cruciform, selfless, servant lifestyles buttressed by the spiritual power already ours now to live above our circumstances and one day to triumph over death with resurrection bodies for life everlasting, wonderful beyond imagination. Are we demonstrating to the world around us that these spiritual truths are indeed realities in our lives, or are we creating our own liars' paradoxes, leading some to think, "Christians are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons"? Telling the truth, doing good, avoiding boorishness and violence, working hard and not overindulging our appetites for anything we are tempted to covet are crucial priorities for one who would bear Jesus' name before today's mockers and skeptics.

Don't Waste Your Life

2009-05-06T23:32:00.000-04:00

Update: DWYL Song Lyrics

Hook (Cam)

Don't wanna waste my life

Verse 1 (LeCrae)

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die/
couple of em thinking they'll be livin' in the sky/
but while I'm here livin' man I gotta ask why,
what am here fo I gotta figure out/
waste my life?/ no I gotta make it count/
if Christ is real then what am I gone do about/
everything in Luke 12:15 down to 21/
you really oughta go and check it out/

Paul said if Christ ain't resurrect then we wasted our lives/
well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive/
everyday I'm living tryin' show the world why/
Christ is more than everything you'll ever try/
better than pretty women and sinning and living
to get a minute of any women and men that you admire/

ain't no lie/ We created for Him/
outta the dust he made us for Him/
Elects us and he saves us for Him/
Jesus comes and raises for Him/
Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser/
he made us so we could bless Him
and to the world we confess him/
resurrects him/

so I know I got life/
matter fact better man I know I got Christ/
if you don't' see His ways in my days and nights/
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights/
man I lost my rights/
I lost my life/
forget the money cars and toss that ice/
the cost is Christ/
and they could never offer me anything on the planet that'll cost that price.

Verse 2 (Dwayne Tryumph)
(Note: verse 2 is not part of the music video)

Armed and dangerous
So the devil jus can't handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin' n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission he handed us

London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us
"I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac"
So are you ready to jam with us

So lets go, gimme the word an lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
Across the nation lets go
Procrastination bes go

Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can't say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em

Verse 3 (LeCrae)

Suffer/ Yeah do it for Christ
if you trying to figure what to do with your life/
if you making a lot money hope you doing it right
because the money is Gods you better steward it right/

stay focused
if you ain't got no ride/
your life ain't wrapped up in what you drive/
the clothes you wear
the job you work/
the color your skin naw you Christian first/

people living life for a job/
make a lil money start living for a car/
get em a house a wife kids and a dog/
when they retire they living high on the hog/
but guess what they didn't ever really live at all/
to live is Christ yeah that's Paul I recall/ to die is gain
so for Christ we give it all/
he's the treasure you'll never find in a mall/

Your money your singleness, marriage, talents, your time/
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine/
that's why it's Christ in my rhymes/
That's why it's Christ all the time/
see my whole world is built around him He's the life in my lines/

I refuse to waste my life/
he's too true ta chase that ice/
here's my gifts and time cause I'm constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ/
If he's truly raised to life/
then this news should change your life/
and by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.

Jesus Wants the Rose

2009-05-06T23:27:00.001-04:00

Quite simply Matt Chandler explains exactly who the gospel of Jesus Christ is for:

Is it time to separate Ecclesiastical and Civil Marriage?

2009-05-06T22:05:00.002-04:00

I understand that it is a traditional Baptist principle to have the separation of church and state but I don't know how strongly I believe in it. Mr. Lindsey makes his case for separation (Roger Williams style) in the arena of marriage.

Opinion: On marriage, time to separate civil from ecclesiastical

By Jonathan Lindsey

Monday, April 06, 2009

(ABP) -- In this 400th-anniversary year of Baptist history it’s time for Baptists to take the lead -- and invite other ecclesiastical bodies to join them -- in removing one of the final vestiges of theocracy in the United States. From the earliest days of the settlement of this country by Europeans, the theocratic practice of clergy functioning as civil officials has been practiced notably in the performance of marriage ceremonies.

Baptists who truly believe in separating the functions of church and state should have long ago protested this unholy alliance. But, becoming acculturated and benefiting from certain forms of cultural dominance regionally, we along with our Protestant colleagues have continued to practice this joining of a religious act with a civil act.

When a clergyperson performs a wedding ceremony, he or she often announces -- as is sometimes required -- that he or she is acting by the authority granted by the state or other jurisdiction in which the wedding is being performed. Even if the minister does not explicitly cite the civil authority they’ve been given, the act of signing the marriage license (a civil document) makes the pastor, priest or rabbi an agent of the civil authority. Thus, you have a mixture of civil and religious authority in the act.

In this country, marriage is a civil relationship, governed by the laws of the state or federal territory in which the marriage occurs, and recognized by the mutual consent by other states. Domestic affairs have been the purview of the states, normally regulated at the state and local levels. But, as a civil relationship, there are federal rights, responsibilities and benefits that accrue to persons who are married. And there are clear legal and civil procedures to engage in order to dissolve the civil relationships and responsibilities of marriage.

If we treat marriage as a civil relationship in all instances, the civil nature of the relationship would function under the authority of civil servants duly elected and/or appointed to exercise the function of declaring two persons married. Removing the civil authority from clergy would clarify the ecclesiastical authority under which clergy perform marriage. Thus, persons seeking a civil relationship only would choose a civil ceremony. Couples who desire both a civil union and the recognition or blessing of a religious relationship by an ecclesiastical authority or community would have that option. However, to choose only an ecclesiastically recognized relationship would mean to forego the protections and benefits accorded in a civil relationship.

It may be necessary that one of these relationships be declared as primary on an official basis. This is already the case to some extent, since only the civil nature of the relationship can be dissolved by civil authorities and the religious nature of the relationship can be dissolved by ecclesiastical authorities where annulment is an option.

So, it’s time to change. Where states specifically require clergy to register, that should no longer be required. In states where clergy have been accorded de facto authority, that practice should be discontinued. Marriage would then be clearly understood as a relationship defined and governed by civil laws. Where ecclesiastical blessing is sought, whether for social or religious reasons, that too would be clear.

I think Roger Williams would approve this change based on his articulation of the limits of political and ecclesiastical powers in The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution. Now, more than 350 years later, it’s time for Baptists who truly believe in the separation of church and state to help put an end to this holdover from 17th century theocratic behavior.

Jonathan Lindsey is a retired administrator and faculty member at Baylor University.

Is Easter Pagan?

2009-05-06T22:03:00.001-04:00

Jim Skaggs once again makes a statement (with some help) at One Eternal Day in this eternal argument over the cultural parts of religious celebrations. The jury is still out for me on this stuff but my prevailing opinion is that anything that can be used to share the gospel short of sin is probably acceptable.

In an article at Christian History, Anthony McRoy systematically refutes the idea that "Easter" has any connection to possible pagan antecedents, and concludes:

...The Christian title "Easter" ... reflects its general date in the calendar, rather than the Paschal festival having been re-named in honor of a supposed pagan deity.

Of course, the Christian commemoration of the Paschal festival rests not on the title of the celebration but on its content—namely, the remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection. It is Christ's conquest of sin, death, and Satan that gives us the right to wish everyone "Happy Easter!"

He notes that:

The argument largely rests on the supposed pagan associations of the English and German names for the celebration (Easter in English and Ostern in German). It is important to note, however, that in most other European languages, the name for the Christian celebration is derived from the Greek word Pascha, which comes from pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Easter is the Christian Passover festival.

Even if there were some preceding pagan holiday or practice, that wouldn't prove anything — any more than it does for Christmas, or Halloween for that matter. As McRoy points out:

Of course, even if Christians did engage in contextualization—expressing their message and worship in the language or forms of the local people—that in no way implies doctrinal compromise. Christians around the world have sought to redeem the local culture for Christ while purging it of practices antithetical to biblical norms. After all, Christians speak of "Good Friday," but they are in no way honoring the worship of the Norse/Germanic queen of the gods Freya by doing so.

But, in fact, in the case of Easter the evidence suggests otherwise: that neither the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection nor its name are derived from paganism.

Good history and good sense.

Even the bunny and the egg — like Santa Claus and the Christmas tree — are , at worst, relatively harmless distractions.

Replanting

2009-05-06T21:59:00.002-04:00

This article is from Scott Thomas, director of the Acts 29 church planting network. I am sharing because I wonder if some SDB churches would even consider replanting and redeeming a dying church for the sake of the gospel. It also gathers my interest because of my work with an Acts 29 replant.

Replanting
Dictionary.com defines replanting: "To plant (something) again or in a new place..." In a church replant, a church avoids permanent death by recognizing it will no longer flourish unless conditions are drastically changed to facilitate growth. A "transition church" on the other hand, starts with a healthy organism and applies biblical principles to foster new growth.

We can actually glorify Jesus by intentionally bringing death to a comatose body so that it could become the seed planted in nutrient-rich soil that gives life to a new body-not a stuffed carcass. Jesus said that unless a seed dies, it cannot give life (John 12:23-25). Jesus Himself was the first fruits sacrificially planted in the ground (tomb) as an offering to His Father and by doing so, made life possible for others.

"Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel" (2 Timothy 2:8).

Instead of holding on with inordinate pride to the past, a replanted church dies to its former glory, its methods, its structure, and its practices and strategically plants its resources (body, budget, board and buildings) into the spiritual ground. The result is a virile replanted church with a God-renewed mission to give life to the spiritually dead community in which it ministers.

I believe Jesus is glorified significantly when this happens. It can be a corporate example of the spiritual renewal many individuals need. Is your church ready to live by dying?

A Biblical Solution
Jesus said that we live by dying (John 12:23-26). This is true in the natural, agronomic world, in the spiritual world, for our own spiritual lives and is true for churches.

If we are to glorify Jesus (John 12:23), we have to die daily to see a bountiful harvest (John 12:24). Jesus said that a grain of wheat can fall on the ground and still be alone or the Greek word monos-single. It infers that it is non-reproductive. Many people who come to church and look like Christians can actually just be monos-non-reproductive. Many people who claim they are spiritual may only be a non-reproductive seed on the ground.

It is only when we die that we release life. A kernel of corn has a hard shell that is protecting the life-giving germ inside of it. When it is put into the ground, the outer shell decomposes in the earth and releases the germ to draw its nutrients from the ground where it is buried. As the embryo grows, it eventually produces a plant that will reproduce that one seed thousands of times. Jesus said we would produce much grain; Gr., polus; abundant fruit.

Jesus had to die to give life. He couldn't just be beaten (fall to the ground). He had to die so that He could live and produce much fruit. We are the fruit of that firstfruit in Jesus if we have accepted the call of God.

If we try to hold on to what we have, we will lose everything. If we hand it over to Jesus to use, we reap an eternal multiplicity of rewards for God's glory (John 12:25). If we have affection for our lives here-our temporal life-we bring destruction to our life. We don't just lose it as we do something valuable. We destroy it. John Calvin said if we love our own life we actually devote it to destruction. This passage has a strange play on words, meanings and nuances. It is essentially saying that if we try to live our life here, we will destroy our lives. However, if we destroy our lives, we will live.

We either serve ourselves by following our own dreams, dollars and desires or we serve God by following His plan to save the lost world-no matter what it costs, including our own lives (John 12:26). We serve Jesus by His words and by His works. We learn diligently about Him and we fulfill His work to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10).

Here's the plan from Jesus: die to self, hate your lives here, follow me to Calvary where you will experience death and become My servant. However, in exchange for all of this, He offers to bear much fruit through our lives, to give us an eternal life, to join Jesus in glory and to be honored by God.

A Redemptive Decision
Every church and every believer needs to decide what they are going to do with the seed of life God has given them: keep it for their own purposes or allow it to die in the hands of God, trusting that He will produce much fruit. Redeeming people, property and plans for a brand new church gives glory to God.

Ten Deadly Sins of a Dying Church

2009-05-06T21:55:00.002-04:00

This article hits close to home because I can see Seventh Day Baptist churches (some not all) fitting into most of these "sins", in particular 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. This list was compiled by Thom and Sam Rainier from their book, Essential Church, and edited by Stephen Gray.

1. Doctrinal Drift
In a desire to reach more people, churches have often watered-down doctrinal truths believing that they are creating a more inviting environment for seekers. I dislike the term “Seeker Sensitive” the scripture isn’t very sensitive in many ways. Rather, we should think in terms of “seeker intelligibility”. The Word of God may not be very sensitive to an unbeliever, but it should be intelligible. Make o mistake, the younger generation likes straight-talk. They are tired of the mush.

2. Evangelism Atrophy
Most churches in America aspire to have evangelism as a driving force but they have lost their passion. Ask every one of them, however, and they will proclaim it as a core value. Yet, a quick look at their checkbook, annual budget and programs will tell the truth. For most churches in America evangelism is a great thought and desire, but in all actuality very little in the way of evangelism is done.

3. Failure To Be Relevant
I know, many in the church hate this word. But don’t forget, the Gospel was not written in a cultural vacuum. The words we read today were written thousands of years ago. They still apply today, but we must learn to understand them in their cultural context and then find ways to help 21st century people understand.
Church is no different. We have to do church in a way that connects with this culture otherwise the church simply becomes a huddled mass of cloistered believers hiding from a sin-sick world.

4. Inwardly Focused
The new2, unspoken mantra of the modern American church is; “It’s all about me.” While no one will readily admit it, all one has to do is look at the ministries and programs. What can be quickly discovered is that most churches build ministries to satisfy the already fed. These programs are good to keep the flock happy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but too much of a good thing ends up being a bad thing.

5. Personal Conflict
Not sure I need to explain this too much. Church people have found a way to make an argument out of almost anything. Political power struggles rule the day.

6. A Priority Of Comfort
Dying churches refuse to reach out beyond their own comfort-zones. When any real ministry does happen and dirty, sinful people walk in among the righteous, it upsets the apple cart. It simply isn’t comfortable.

7. Biblical Illiteracy
The latest research by Gallup and other pollsters reveal that most long time members of churches don’t really know what they Bible says. Phrases like; “God helps those who help themselves” are regularly quoted as scripture.

8. Hording
It amazes me the amount of money many dying churches have in their saving accounts. The thought is that they are saving it for a rainy day, but I wonder what God thinks about this? Will he be happy if we, like the man with one talent, have not invested his Kingdom resources in the Great co-mission work when returns. Which would be best; Die rich, having saved our resources and done as little as we can get by with, or Die broke with the knowledge that we have done all we can.

9. Failure to Follow
Too many cooks in the kitchen. Too often pastors are treated like hirelings and not called, anointed people of God. The pastor is forced to walk on eggshells to avoid losing their job.

10. Idolatry
You may think this is absent from today’s Church, but it is very alive. Beloved programs, versions of the Bible, furniture, paintings on the wall and the placement of objects have caused more quarrels than I care to mention. We have taken these items to god-like levels in the church and forgotten the main thing.

De-Baptism?

2009-05-06T21:50:00.002-04:00

Jim Skaggs writes this from the One Eternal Day Blog and I too am surprised and have to ask the question 1.) what does de-baptism signify other than rebellion and 2.) what is the real meaning of Christian baptism.

Baptized atheists in England are seeking to be "de-baptized" and someone has figured out a way to make money out of it:

More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.

The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming "There's probably no God."

"We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.

John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be "de-baptised," held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name. "They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette," said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.

So that's what he did — his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.

Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as "a form of child abuse" — and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.

The Church of England said its official position was not to amend its records. "Renouncing baptism is a matter between the individual and God," a Church spokesman told AFP. [more]

Those of us who believe in "believer's baptism" have a certain advantage since an atheist who decided personally to be baptized would have some difficulty blaming anyone but himself for the act.

"De-baptism" appears to be another instance of atheists believing that a religious sacrament has actual power. Why go to this trouble if they think the act was meaningless?

Nightline Debate on the Existence of Satan

2009-05-06T21:42:00.001-04:00

Jamie Munson, Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, posted these observations from the Nightline Debate on the existence of Satan. You can view the whole debate here.

8 Things to Know About Nightline’s Satan Debate

from The Mars Hill Blog by Pastor Jamie Munson

If you’ve been paying any attention to Mars Hill Church online, you know that the big Satan Debate will air tomorrow night on ABC Nightline (the unedited version should be online tomorrow too).

Last Friday, I was able to enjoy the live taping of the debate as a normal observer with no additional responsibilities to help run the event. With the kids away for the weekend, Crystal (my wife) and I had plenty of time to hang out and discuss the “Faceoff.” Our top eight observations:

1. The debate was more about Jesus than Satan.

Both are important, but Jesus is the main character. He got the first word, thanks to Pastor Mark’s courageous, compassionate, and clear presentation of the gospel.

2. The hospitality of the Mars Hill volunteers.

They were everywhere, creating a warm and welcoming environment for all the guests and ready to help out in anyway necessary. The crew from ABC was floored by the warmth and competence of our volunteers. Thanks to those who served.

3. There were lots of laughs.

Moderator Dan Harris did a good job and made the potentially awkward “tape breaks” not so awkward. The whole experience offered a fun and educational peak into the world of TV production.

4. Mars Hill folks engaging non-Christians in conversation.

I saw and heard many conversations about Jesus between those on both sides of the issue. It was really cool to see Christians sharing Jesus in word and deed, and to hear so much open discussion. In fact, the whole experience was a lot like what used to occur at the original Mars Hill.

5. Annie Lobert demonstrated a heartfelt love for Jesus.

Her story was effective and moving; she has clearly been changed by Jesus and is using her life to help others experience the same grace and redemption.

6. Deepak Chopra admitted he cannot trust his own mind.

Unfortunately, he does trust his own spirit and not The Holy Spirit. I was grieved by the amount of faith that he puts in himself and the ambiguous way in which he spoke.

7. Bishop Carlton Pearson quoted a lot of verses, but…

Though he knows a lot about the Bible, Pearson picks and chooses which parts he likes and wants to believe. In doing so, he ultimately places himself in authority over Scripture as the one who gets to decide which parts are true and which are not.

8. God’s Word was the closing argument.

As his final statement, Pastor Mark read from 1 John 5:19–20, giving Jesus the last word. Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life. I hope and pray that some who were in attendance and others who will tune in on TV or watch online will come to know Jesus in this way.

Notes for the Marriage and Men sermon from Driscoll

2009-05-06T21:41:00.001-04:00

Notes: Marriage and Men

from The Mars Hill Blog by Mars Hill Church

TEXT: 1 Peter 3:7
PREACHER: Pastor Mark Driscoll
DATE: March 22, 2009

After addressing women last week, this week Pastor Mark preached specifically to men.

1. Your father: Adam (Genesis 1–3)

Marriage is a covenant (Prov. 2:16; Mal. 2:14).
Men are the covenant head, responsible for their wife and family (Gen. 2:18; 5:2; 1 Cor. 11:2–16, 14:33–34; Eph. 5:21–33; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:3–5; 1 Pet. 3:1).
Adam and Eve both sinned, both are at fault, and both are cursed, but God held Adam responsible (Gen. 3:9).
Marriage is cursed (Gen. 3:16). Work is cursed (Gen. 3:17–19). Jesus is the only hope (Gen. 3:15).

2. Your Manhood

Like Adam, the sins of men fall into two general categories: sins of comission (doing what you’re not supposed to do) and sins of omission (not doing what you’re supposed to do). This leads chauvinistic or cowardly tendencies:

Chauvinism

No Sissy Stuff Sam:

Success and Status Stewart:

Give’em Hell Hank:

I’m the Boss Bob:

under

Cowardice

Little Boy Larry:

Sturdy Oak Owen:

Hyper-Spiritual Henry:

Good Time Gary:

3. Your Savior: Jesus Christ (the Last Adam, 1 Cor. 15:45)

Ephesians 5:25 calls men to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. Men are not ready to be good husbands until they are a part of the Church and understand how Christ loves the Church by taking responsibility for her and sacrificing himself for her.

The essence of true masculinity is taking responsibility.

4. Your Wife

Understand that a wife’s fears (1 Pet. 3:6) are legitimate; men dominate the lives of women and children, for good or for evil. Honor your wife:

Honor her maritally.

Honor her physically.

for

against

Honor her emotionally.

Honor her verbally.

Honor her financially.

Honor her practically.

Honor her parentally.

Honor her spiritually.

You

What happens when you fail to honor your wife? God ignores you (1 Pet. 3:7). Repent.

Further Study:

Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, by Wayne Grudem and John Piper
God, Marriage, and the Family, by Andreas Kostenberger
New Men, Soft Patriarchs: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands, by W. Bradford Wilcox

Short Argument against Abortion

2009-04-05T11:09:00.002-04:00

This is Dr. Groothuis again giving a short but effective and non-sectarian argument against abortion. This is where I don't understand how people throw personal responsibility aside when it comes to making sexual decisions.

Abortion is the intentional killing of a human fetus by chemical or surgical means. It should not be confused with miscarriage (which involves no human intention) or contraception (which uses various technologies to prohibit sperm and egg from meeting after sexual intercourse). Miscarriages are natural (if sad) occurrences, which raise no deep moral issues regarding human conduct-unless the woman was careless in her pregnancy. Contraception is officially opposed by Roman Catholics and some other Christians, but I take it to be in moral category entirely separate from abortion (since it does not involve the killing of a human fetus), so it will not be addressed here.

Rather than taking up the legal reasoning and history of abortion in America (especially concerning Roe vs. Wade), this essay makes a simple, straightforward moral argument against abortion. Sadly, real arguments (reasoned defenses of a thesis or claim) are too rarely made on this issue. Instead, propaganda is exchanged. Given that the Obama administration is the most pro-abortion administration in the history of the United States, some clear moral reasoning is called for at this time.

The first premise of the argument is that human beings have unique and incomparable value in the world. Christians and Jews believe this is the case because we are made in God's image and likeness. But anyone who holds that humans are special and worthy of unique moral consideration can grant this thesis (even if their worldview does not ultimately support it). Of course, those like Peter Singer who do not grant humans any special status will not be moved by this. We cannot help that. Many true and justified beliefs (concerning human beings and other matters) are denied by otherwise intelligent people.

Second, the burden of proof should always be on the one taking a human life and the benefit of doubt should always be given to the human life. This is not to say that human life should never be taken. In a fallen, cruel, and unfair world, sometimes life-taking is necessary, as most people will grant. Cases include self-defense, the prosecution of a just war, and capital punishment. Yet all unnecessary and intentional life-taking is murder, a deeply evil and repugnant offense against human beings. (This would also be acknowledged by those who believe it is never justifiable to take a human life.)

Third, abortion nearly always takes a human life intentionally and gratuitously and is, therefore, morally unjustified, deeply evil, and repugnant-given what we have said about human beings. No real argument can be brought against the claim that what creates a human pregnancy (a fetus) is a human being. Biologically, an entity joins its parents' species at conception. Like produces like: apes procreate apes, rabbits procreate rabbits, and humans procreate humans. If the fetus is not human, what else could it possibly be? Could it be an ape or a rabbit? Of course not.

Some philosophers, such as Mary Anne Warren, have tried to drive a wedge between personhood and humanity. That is, all persons are not human (such as God, angels, ETs-if they exist), and not all humans are persons (fetuses or those who lose certain functions after having possessed them). While it is true that there may be persons who are not humans, it does not therefore follow that not all humans are persons. The fetus as a person in progress, not a potential person or nonperson.

When we separate personhood from humanity, we make personhood an achievement based on the possession of certain qualities. But what are these person-constituting qualities? Some say a basic level of consciousness; some assert viability outside the womb; some say a sense of self interest. All of these criteria would take away humanity from those in comas or other physically compromised situations. Humans can lose levels of consciousness through injuries, and even infants are not viable without intense human support. Moreover, who are we to say just what qualities make for membership in the moral community of persons? The stakes are very high in this question. If we are wrong in our identification of what qualities are sufficient for personhood and we allow a person to be killed, we have allowed the wrongful killing of nothing less than a person. Therefore, I argue that the best ontology is to regard personhood as a substance or essence that is given at conception. Even if one is not sure when personhood kicks in, one should err on the side of being conservative simply because so much is at stake.

Many argue that outside considerations experienced by the mother should overrule the value of the human embryo. But these considerations always involve issues of lesser moral weight than the conservation and protection of a human life. An unwanted pregnancy is difficult, but the answer is not to kill a human being. Moreover, a baby can be put up for adoption. There are many others who do want the child and would give him or her great love and support.

The only exemption to giving priority to the life of the fetus would be if there were a real threat to the life of the mother were the pregnancy to continue. In this case, the fetus functions as a kind of intruder that threatens the woman's life. To abort the pregnancy would be tragic but allowable in this fallen and disoriented world awaiting its final redemption. Some mothers will nonetheless choose to continue the pregnancy to their own risk, but this is not morally required. It should be noted that these life-threatening situations are extremely rare.

This argument does not rely on any uniquely religious assumptions, although some religious people will find it compelling. I take it to be an item of natural law (what can be known about morality by virtue of being a human being) that human life has unique value. A case can be made against abortion by using the Bible (only the Old Testament or both the Old and New Testament combined) as the main moral source, but I have not given that argument here. Rather, this essay has given an argument on the basis of generally agreed upon moral principles. If it is to be refuted, one or more of those principles, or the reasoning used, needs to be refuted.

Although at the beginning of this essay, I claimed I would not take up the legal reasoning related to abortion, one simple point follows from my argument. In nearly every case, abortion should be illegal simply because the Constitution requires that innocent human life be protected from killing. Anti-abortion laws are not an intrusion of the state into the family any more than laws against murdering one's parents are intrusions into the family.

In Lust We Trust or In Lust We Bust

2009-04-05T11:04:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately this image displayed above says a lot about our society today both within and outside the church. Lust is a stronghold that sees its way into most relationships as a normal course of action. Our cultures policy is everything is alright as long as I have permission from my significant other, or it doesn’t hurt someone, or it is just looking not touching. But just as our covetousness can get us into trouble when given an opportunity with material possessions so lust can get us into trouble with our physical and emotional relationships.

I have been married to my wife for almost seven years now and I have been getting progressively better about the way I deal with my affections for her and how my love for her and my marriage stems out of my affections for Christ and His bride. It is only through the redemptive matrix of the gospel that this stronghold can be overcome. God had changed my heart to only have “bedroom eyes” with one woman through transformation of the body, heart, and soul. I used to be an adulterer…now I am just an adult.

As I have been talking with people about this topic in the last few weeks, I have noticed that there’s been some interesting dialogue in our conversation about lust, and the discussion keeps returning to a common theme: what do we need to do to actually experience change? Let me share with you the real life example of a friend Bob.

Bob is happily married to a godly wife, he loves her, they have great sex, etc. The only problem is, Bob also finds himself attracted to another woman - a common friend they both know. He takes Matthew 5 seriously, he wants to stop feeling this way, he prays, he tries to overcome his desires, etc…but it just gets worse - to the point where he’s gone all the way in his mind.

I’m not making this up - this is real, this is the reality of sexual desire. And it’s strong. Now you tell me: what does Bob need to know or do to experience change in his heart? Where does the rubber really meet the road?

This may sound like a familiar problem to many of us. Most of us will not gouge out our eyes to prevent sinning. But this is serious business between a man and woman, a husband and a wife. What would you do? How would you handle your feelings? And now I get to tell you the rest of the story.

In the face of this pressure, my friend Bob did something crazy. He decided he loved his wife too much to keep deceiving her about what was going on inside. So he confessed - he told her about his desires for this other woman. He told her everything. He held nothing back. And her response was amazing.

She didn’t get angry. She didn’t lash out. She didn’t tell him never to speak to this woman again. She didn’t say ‘try harder’. She didn’t say that he better ‘fix it or else’…

Instead, she said, “Bob, I love you, I forgive you, and I am with you - you have to learn how to overcome these desires, and I am going to stand beside you and help you do that, because you are my husband, and I am committed to you.”

In other words, she didn’t say “I will love you because you are faithful, because you are sensitive, because you a good provider, a good leader, a good lover.” She didn’t say “I will love you because you get it right” (performance). Instead she said “I will love you because you are my husband (relationship). I will love you because of who you are.”

Wow. How would you like a wife like that? Can you imagine being a wife like that?

Listen, this is precisely how God deals with us in the gospel - he loves us, and is with us, because of who we are in Christ: sons, not slaves. If God’s favor is based on what Christ has already done, then nothing you can do - not your greatest triumph, not your worst defeat - nothing can change the way he feels about you.

He loves you because of who you are in Christ.

And recognizing that reality is tremendously liberating. It frees us from our bondage.

Bob told me, “You have no idea how this affected me! When my wife responded to me this way, my heart melted! I was guilty, and instead of the judgment and condemnation which I deserved, she loved me in spite of myself, she gave me grace!”

Real grace rightly seen decimates our desires for sin. When Bob saw clearly the nature and extent of his wife’s love for him (because of her commitment to him, not his own fidelity to her), it changed his heart, it tamed his lust. On a scale of 1-10, his desire for this other woman plummeted from an 8 or 9 down to a 1 or a 2.

Why? Because seeing his wife’s love for him rejuvenated his own love for her; recognizing why she loved him (relationship, not performance) changed the affections of his heart.

What I’m saying in all this is that we don’t conquer our lust merely by trying harder (although a heart set free by love most certainly will try hard) - rather, we conquer our lust by learning to love something better, by realizing how it is that Christ loves us. We conquer our lust by seeing the grace of the gospel.

On a side note, here are some other thoughts I wanted to share from my marriage and life/ministry experience:

Making love is neither what society constantly portrays it as nor what the enemy entices us to imagine that it is. We are made to think that sex, even with a spouse, is mostly about seeing someone nude, getting physical sensations, and fulfilling animalistic needs. But God made sex to be the deepest consummation of true love that there is. The marriage bed is where they can physically and spiritually consume each other in love, not lust.
When Satan tries to entice you with lust, he is attacking your marriage, either current or future. Many Christians who used to be into pornography or pre-marital sex will tell how on their wedding night, when they saw their wife or husband nude for the first time, they couldn’t get the mental images of all the naked people they had seen before out of their minds. It was like there was a harem that was pressing in on them while they wanted to be with just each other. For the unmarried person, exposure to lust and especially blatant pornography makes the wait for intimacy with that special someone much harder, since he has been exposed to sexual images. Trust me; marriage is not like a pornographic film. When the pizza man comes, you pay the bill. There is no corny music playing in the background and ninety eight percent of the women you encounter will never be doing the Cirque du Soleil acts that you see on the screen. This stuff messes up true intimacy in a marriage (and marriage is about intimacy and not sex).
Remember the example of Joseph from Genesis 39. When Potiphar’s wife presses in on him and starts to strip him of his clothes, he flees. He does not try to explain why this isn’t right. He doesn’t fall madly and deeply in love with her. He doesn’t use the grace of God as a license to sin and make up for it later. He runs away leaving the coat that he was wearing in her hands. When lust starts peaking its head around the corner at us and grabs us by the coattails, we should be looking more like an Olympic track star than trying to look like a Greek god who wants worship for himself/herself.
Modesty is an important measure for men and women. While there is nothing wrong with grooming ourselves and making ourselves presentable to the public (good hygiene is missional), there is a problem when it comes to the “flaunt it if you got it” mentality. You “got it” from your genes and I can’t recall one biblical example of “flaunting it” for the Kingdom. We all have a personal responsibility in keeping ourselves accountable to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ in the area of modesty.

Little Pharoahs

2009-04-05T11:02:00.002-04:00

This is a blog post on The Journey Atlanta website from my friend Matt Burlew. I like it.

“Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good” (p 171, The Magicians Nephew, by C.S. Lewis)

“and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” Revelation 1:5

Everybody has a little Pharaoh inside them, a hard little corner of the heart, that says I will not let my sin go. Everyone has a little Israelite that wants to go back to the slavery of sin even after God has rescued them from it.

In the Old Testament book of Exodus, we read how God allowed his people to be enslaved to the Egyptians so that he could rescue them and demonstrate his power. Pharaoh was worshiped as a god in Egypt and when Moses the Israelite showed up saying “the God of the slaves is bigger than you and all your Gods, and he says let the slaves go,” Pharaoh sneered and made them work harder. So God buried Egypt with plagues. He blanketed their cities with frogs, lice, flies, turned their drinking water to blood, blistered their skin, ruined their crops with hail, killed their livestock- each plague worse than the last. Between each one God sends Moses to Pharaoh to ask: “Had Enough?” And each time, little Pharaoh says, “I will not let the slaves go.” Finally God told Moses that He was going to send one final plague that would get Pharaoh’s attention and free His people forever: Death. The story of the final plague goes like this:

Exodus 12 - 21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.

So God struck down the first born son in each Egyptian family and death passed over each house marked with the blood of the spotless lamb. Sound familiar? The holiday that Jesus was celebrating with his disciples that we know as The Last Supper was Passover. Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God, (1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Peter 1:19) his blood is the blood that saves us from slavery to sin, eternal death in hell which is the furious and righteous wrath of God on stubborn sinners who like Pharaoh, refuse Him. John the Baptist sees Jesus walking towards him, and says “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) Jesus blood on the cross takes away the wrath of God. Just as God struck down the first born of Egypt to free his people, so God struck down His own son to free his people once and for all. Christ said “It is Finished” and died. At that moment his blood was splashed onto the doorways of everyone who would believe in him and death in hell passed over us, and we were freed from slavery to sin.

So are we free?

A few miles out of Egypt, the Israelites, free after 400 years of being free labor and dying under the stones that built the pyramids of Egypt, wanted to go back. The Israelites, God’s people, after watching God wreck the most powerful nation on earth, and shove Pharaoh to his knees, stood around in the desert and said, “We miss exotic food. We want to go back.” They had freedom, but would rather have Ruth’s Chris steak. They were so mad they didn’t have good food out there in the desert that they wanted to go back and be slaves for it. Thats how cheap God’s people were willing to sell him out. That’s how blind we are to the power of sin in our lives.

Jesus gets betrayed by one of the guys in his church, sold out to the cops who beat him like they’re tenderizing a raw steak, drag him into two trials and finally get him convicted on a technicality because the judge is up for reelection. Sentenced to death, Jesus has to carry what amounts to a telephone pole down main street and up a hill, he nearly passing out from the blood loss of being whipped, while the locals trash talk and spit on him. When he gets to the top of the hill outside town, they drill him with lag bolts to literally attach what’s left of his body to the pole and stand it up, leaving him to sweat himself dry, bleed out, and suffocate slowly to death in the sun. And he looks down from that cross at each one of us and says “You are free. I do this for you.”

But here’s the problem: each of us in our hearts has a little Pharaoh who says “I won’t let go of my sin.” Each of us has a little Israelite who says, I want to go back and be a slave to sin because it’s so much fun. The Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt and be slaves for pizza and beer. We want to go back to our porn, our drugs, our laziness, our wasted time, our gossip, our secrets, our greed, our mountains of fast food and our intellect that says we’re smarter than God and we know what’s good for us. We won’t be told what to do. We will argue, whine, disagree, and tell God firmly on our terms that we like being slaves, that we would rather destroy our lives. Thanks. We don’t care if he butchered and crushed his own son so we didn’t have to be slaves to the sinful stupidity that degrades and destroys us, Sin that wrecks families, marriages, communities, relationships and cultures. We’d rather kill ourselves, and kill each other than ever obey the crucified creator of everything around us. And every sin we run to commit, is a sin Christ had to die for. We pile it up on him. On the cross, Christ became a drug addict, a molester, a murderer, a pickpocket, a stalker, a porn addict, a pervert, a tax evader, lazy, a glutton, a racist, a liar. He became a pimp, a prostitute, a serial killer, a traitor, a coward, and a religious guy.

The beating to death that God took was so sin would not beat us to death. Because if you sin, you die. Thats what Romans 6:23 says “The wages of sin is death.” In Adam, all die. Our first father, Adam, sinned, and so everyone who sins, dies. Christ, the second Adam, lived a sinless life, passed the temptation test that Adam failed, yet took the punishment for sin. In this exchange, he overcame the curse of death for sin. He took our sin and gives us, who believe, his perfect life. Putting it simply, Christ is the only thing that stands between every one of us and the eternal, furious, and righteous wrath of God. For those who believe, when we die, we will stand before God and Jesus will say “He’s with me. She is with me.”

Obama is now Telebama

2009-04-05T10:55:00.002-04:00

In this post from one of my seminary professors, Dr. Groothuis, on his blog, The Constructive Curmudgeon, he comments on this article from the Washington Times. I find it funny as well that this man who has been praised as being blessed with being such a great communicator can't string a sentence together without electronic help. This does not make him a bad president. It is just funny.

Obama's unheard of reliance on teleprompters is noted in this editorial from The Washington Times. While it is no laughing matter, no TV comedians are spoofing it, which they should. It is passing strange: a law professor who cannot think on his feet--and who is the most powerful man in the world. Using a teleprompter during a press conference is akin to me using one while I am engaged in a live debate or while answering questions in a class I'm teaching.

Contend or Contextualize

2009-04-05T10:49:00.002-04:00

This article by Hunter Beaumont really captures what I believe is one of the important dichotomies facing the church today when we examine the excuses for why churches do things the way the do (we have always done it that way). Here is the truth however, we don't do church just for us, we do church for those who need to hear the gospel (that is if we are wanting to follow the Great Commission).

When we watch the New Testament church at work, we see that there were two impulses. One was to preserve, maintain, and protect the gospel message. "Guard the good deposit entrusted to you," Paul urged Timothy (2 Tim. 1:14). "I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints," pled Jude (Jude 1:3).
The Two Impulses

But preserving the faith was not the mission itself; advancing it was. The same Paul who wrote of maintaining traditions and guarding the deposit was, on other points, extremely flexible. When the essence of the gospel was at stake, he argued fiercely against circumcision (Gal. 2:3-5). But when gaining a hearing for the gospel was at stake, he quickly circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:1-3). "I have become all things to all things to all people that by all means I might save some," wrote Paul at his amenable best (1 Cor. 9:22).

We call these two impulses contending and contextualizing. One is conservative—contend, fight, preserve! The other is progressive—adapt, create, advance! Good missionaries keep both hands on the wheel and always know where the ditches are.
Under-contending/Over-contextualizing

In modernity, the chief cultural sin was to insist on anything supernatural. Eager for acceptance, many preachers whittled away Christianity's sharp edges, giving ground on the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and the historical resurrection. This was necessary, they insisted, to win over our "cultured despisers.

But in postmodernity, the cultural scorn has shifted. The supernatural is plausible again, but exclusivity and assertiveness are now taboo. The quickest way to ruffle skirts in our pluralist world is to come off rigid or narrow. So the new breed of preachers is tempted to lop off anything that sounds too exclusive—the Bible as universal truth, Jesus as the one mediator between God and man, and God's judgment, along with its remedy, penal substitutionary atonement. This is where our generation must contend or perish.

Advance 09

2009-04-02T11:08:00.001-04:00

I am so stoked about this conference and I hope I am going to be able to go but if not I hope that many others are and take the fire back to their churches.

New Baptist Covenant in Birmingham, AL

2009-04-01T23:26:00.002-04:00

Here is an excerpt of some of the events that occurred at the New Baptist Covenant meeting in Birmingham, AL from January 31st:

On January 31, 2009 more than a thousand people crowded the sanctuary of the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham for a New Baptist Covenant regional meeting.

Highlights of the event included work sessions on the Luke 4 mandate, as well as messages from President Jimmy Carter, Marian Wright Edelman, and Wayne Snodgrass.

The meeting was co-chaired by Gary Furr, pastor of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church and Arthur Price, pastor at 16th Street Baptist Church. Brent McDougal of the Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship served as the event's coordinator.

These meetings were held at the 16th Street Baptist Church which is right across the street from the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham. I got an opportunity to look around both and their legacies in helping to promote the cause of racial justice in the South.

As for the meetings, they were focused primarily on social justice issues: poverty, universal health care, racism, etc. There was very little theological interaction. There was also very little conservative participation (which has been one of the criticisms from the beginning).

Some logistical issues that ensued were getting people in and out of the 16th Street Baptist church to listen to President Carter and the other guests. The seating was limited as was the parking. I think they may have misunderstood the number of people who wanted to participate in these events.

Modesty Today

2009-03-27T21:18:00.002-04:00

Here is an article from the USA Today paper:

"Modest" Young Women's Clothing Back in Style

Modesty in young women's clothing is getting a boost from the dismal economy. When consumer spending was in overdrive, retailers could sell to the masses and ignore the more muted voices asking for a decent supply of sleeved shirts or prom dresses that show more fabric than skin. Now, however, it's the rare retailer who's willing to take the chance of turning off any possible customer. Whether it's more of a fiscal or moral shift, understated girls' clothing may indeed be making a comeback.

USA Today 3/8/09

My question is should modesty have ever gone out of style. Why do we as parents give in to such pressure from our children? If we learned about our style from the ultimate "style guide", I think modesty (humility) may be at its core.

Cubs to retire Number 31 of Jenkins and Maddux

2009-03-23T23:46:00.002-04:00

Greg Maddux is my favorite pitcher of all time and the person whom I tried to and believe was successful at pitching like (not powerful, but smart...hitting the locations with lots of movement). He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame (hopefully as a Cubbie!). Way to go Mad Dog!'

The Chicago Cubs will retire the No. 31 worn by both Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux.

The two star right-handed pitchers will be honored at a ceremony May 3 before a game against Florida at Wrigley Field.

It will be the fifth number retired by the Cubs, joining No. 14 (Ernie Banks), No. 26 (Billy Williams), No. 10 (Ron Santo) and No. 23 (Ryne Sandberg).

Jenkins, elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991, and Maddux, who won 355 games before retiring in December, are the first pitchers in Cubs history to have their numbers retired.

Jenkins retired before the 1984 season. When Maddux broke in with the Cubs two years later, he was given No. 31.

"I remember walking down the stairs there at the clubhouse. I got called up in September from Des Moines and it was just right there in my locker," Maddux said of the No. 31. "Being 20 years old at the time the last thing I was going to do was complain about my number. I was just happy to be there."

A few weeks later Maddux learned he had been given the same number that Jenkins wore with the Cubs.

"I thought that was pretty cool. They gave me Fergie's number. I knew he was one of the best pitchers to ever play for the Cubs and for baseball period."

Turns out Maddux became one of the greatest, too.

"Both of us had I think brilliant careers," Jenkins said. "He won a Cy Young as a Cub and I did it, also. I think it was a productive number."

Maddux said he didn't give much thought to having his number retired during his first stint with Chicago from 1986-1992 but acknowledged he did during his second stretch.

"I thought it was pretty cool. I always liked seeing Ryno's number up there because I had played with him," Maddux said.

Jenkins went 167-132 with a 3.20 ERA in 401 appearances during two stints with the Cubs. He was a three-time NL All-Star (1967, 1971 and 1972) and won the 1971 NL. Cy Young Award after going 24-13. During his 19-year career that also included stops with the Phillies, Rangers and Red Sox, he had a 284-226 record with a 3.34 ERA. He pitched 267 complete games.

Maddux won 133 games for the Cubs and earned the first of four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards with the Cubs in 1992, when he went 20-11 with a 2.18 ERA. He then signed with Atlanta.

Chaplain at Florida Hospice Resigns Over 'God' Restriction

2009-03-23T23:43:00.002-04:00

This article came from Fox News. I do not know what disturbs me more the hospice who refuses to let their chaplains talk about God or the other chaplains who have no problem with that.

A chaplain at a Florida hospice says she has resigned due to a ban on use of the words "God" or "Lord" in certain public settings.

The Rev. Mirta Signorelli said that Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton told her and other chaplains on Feb. 23 to "cease and desist from using God in prayers," the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

That ban on religious references, she said, rendered her incapable of doing her job.

"I can't do chaplain's work if I can't say 'God' — if I'm scripted," Signorelli told the Sentinel.

Hospice by the Sea CEO Paula Alderson said the restriction applies only to staff meetings. Ministers, priests and rabbis still are free to speak about God when counseling patients or families in private.

"I was sensitive to the fact that we don't impose religion on our staff, and that it is not appropriate in the context of a staff meeting to use certain phrases or 'God' or 'Holy Father,' because some of our staff don't believe at all," she told the Sentinel.

But Signorelli said the policy also forced her to watch her language when leading prayer in the hospice chapel, and when meeting patients in public settings like nursing homes or weekly patient conferences with doctors, nurses and social workers, the Sentinel reported.

"If you take God away from me, it's like taking a medical tool away from a nurse,” she told the paper.

None of the six other chaplains have objected to the new policy, she said.

Mark Driscoll on Marriage and Men

2009-03-23T23:34:00.003-04:00

I haven't even listened to this video yet and I know it is going to be good. I have been very convicted of the fact that in order to lead and run a church an elder must be able to lead and run his own family.

SBC Farewell?

2009-03-23T23:26:00.002-04:00

This is link to a story from a Southern Baptist which I agree with. Many within the rank and file of the SBC are challenging the superiority of Scripture versus tradition within SBC churches. Sola Deo Gloria in all church decisions. Sola Scriptura in all church decisions.

Avoiding Death by Nostalgia

Community is a Biblical Theme

2009-03-23T09:49:00.002-04:00

I wrote this post the The Journey, Atlanta's blog. I am helping the pastors there and my friends to start "Life" groups at their church in the next 6 weeks.

"Community" is a theme that runs throughout scripture. God has always been calling out a people for Himself, beginning with Israel and continuing with the church. Even when the Jews were dispersed among enemy nations during times of captivity, they organized themselves into groups and ultimately formed synagogues (Jewish communities of worship and teaching) where they could serve one another and carry out their beliefs. It was natural, therefore, for Jesus to develop a community of followers and for Paul, Peter and other church planters to start "new communities" wherever they went as they proclaimed the gospel. These new communities began as small groups just as Jesus modeled with the 12 disciples (Mark 3:14; Luke 6:12-19).

Over fifty times in the New Testament the phrase "one another" is used to describe our relationship to other believers. We are instructed to love one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, accept one another, bear one another’s burdens, and build up one another. One of the ways we can obey these commands is in a Life Group! We really do need each other. God never meant for us to go it alone in the Christian life.

Life Groups were an integral part of the early church structure. They were small enough to allow individual members to minister to one another, use their spiritual gifts, and be discipled in the teachings of Christ. In addition, they were vibrant and life-giving communities where evangelism could take place as unchurched people watched a loving and compassionate community in action. Life Groups not only built up the church, but were vehicles for reaching a lost world for Christ.

In the coming weeks, we will be talking about Life Groups at the Journey. We will be experiencing a second “launch” with our Life Groups into our communities. These communities within communities will be one of the primary ways that we push against our culture and help our friends and family wrestle with their issues of faith. I encourage each of you to get as excited as I am about the mission that God is sending us on in the West Metro Atlanta area.

Cell Phones versus Bibles

2009-03-23T09:36:00.001-04:00

I saw this from Haywood Floyd on my Facebook and thought it was an interesting thought provoker. However, what if you have your Bible on your cell phone?

Ever wondered what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?
What if we carried it around in our purse or pocket?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we travelled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
Where is your Bible?

Rev. Don A. Sanford R.I.P.

2009-03-22T22:33:00.002-04:00

God bless the work of Don Sanford and his legacy in capturing the histories of Seventh Day Baptists.

Rev. Don A. Sanford, former pastor and long-time Historian for the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society passed from this life late Friday after a brief illness. He was 83.

Rev. Sanford studied at Milton College, Alfred School of Theology and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, earning degrees from each. He served Seventh Day Baptist churches at Independence and Andover, NY (1950-1954), at New Auburn, WI (1954-1959), and at White Cloud, MI (1959-1967) along with serving as interim pastor in several Baptist, Methodist and Congregational churches throughout his life.

After leaving White Cloud, Rev. Sanford had a second career in education, working at public and private schools in Southern Wisconsin for nearly 20 years, including a time as A/V librarian at Milton College. After retiring from teaching in 1987, Rev. Sanford became Historian of the SDB Historical Society, a post he held until the end of 2004, when he was honored as Historian emeritus.

During his life, Rev. Sanford had a prolific writing ministry, including 15 years of editing The Helping Hand, a Bible study and devotional book published quarterly for SDB’s; a monthly column in the Sabbath Recorder called “Pearls from the Past”; and several books including: A Choosing People, Conscience Taken Captive, A Free People In Search of a Free Land, Greater Than Its Parts, and the Newport Seventh Day Baptist Trilogy. In addition to this substantial body of work, Rev. Sanford also contributed to several Baptist anthologies and presented research frequently in the larger Baptist history community.

After a long and fruitful life, Pastor Don has joined the “great cloud of witnesses” he spent so many years teaching us about. Services in honor of his life are planned for this coming week in his home church in Milton, WI.

John Piper says it all

2009-03-22T22:31:00.001-04:00

I love this saying from the Desiring God blog of John Piper:

Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family:

Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.

Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

* grace gets bigger;
* Christ gets greater;
* his death gets more wonderful;
* his resurrection gets more astonishing;
* the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
* the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
* its global extent gets wider;
* your own sin gets uglier;
* the devil gets more evil;
* the gospel's roots in eternity go deeper;
* its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
* and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.

Pray that it won't. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel.... For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

2009-03-22T22:25:00.002-04:00

Obama Proposes Limits on Charitable Contribution Deductions

This article spells some of the beginnings of the end of capitalism here in the Americas. It is always a great idea when government starts deciding how much you can make and what you can spend your money on. We are becoming too eerily similar to our socialist neighbor in Canada or our South American socialist friends.

Church should not be like an Older Youth Group

2009-03-22T22:17:00.002-04:00

Steve Timmis had this to say about youth ministry on the Resurgence blog:

One of the most frequently asked questions we get about household church is, “What about children and young people?” People seem to think that small church is incapable of dealing with this peculiar breed of non-adults. I have to admit to being rather unimpressed with the question, because it assumes that larger churches have got ministry to children and young people nailed.

The evidence suggests otherwise. When it comes to young people, churches are hemorrhaging faster than a hemophiliac in a tattoo parlour. One of the benefits of a model of church as extended family is that it sees children as integral, and keeps them that way throughout adolescence. There is no “bells, whistles, and bright lights” show to entertain them. There is just an ordinary, not very sexy, diverse gospel community of people loving one another and relating to one another. The kids are loved and the young people are discipled. They have people around them who care for them, take an interest in them, bear with them, face up to them, pick them up, and welcome them back when they’ve screwed up.

Of course, you can add to this anything you want in terms of peer groups and big gatherings, but if this isn’t the core of what you do with kids and young people, then don’t be surprised when they lose interest because no matter how sexy your meetings, you can’t begin to compete with the sizzle in the world outside.

I believe that we are starting to live in a world of churches that are trying to conform their churches into a larger youth group in order to draw in the generations that have been lost. This is not a winning strategy. Youth groups for too long have been "fun" but if they had been "real" (and in real I mean sharing and learning about the transforming power of the gospel) we would possibly have not experienced the hemorrhaging of a generation. May the Lord lead them back to churches that can reconcile them to His word and will!

Pastor Houses Child Killer Amidst Protests

2009-03-22T22:08:00.002-04:00

I can't even begin to imagine the internal struggle that this fellow pastor is going through with his decision to house a convicted child killer with his family in a town that he is trying to minister to against their wishes. Please be praying for Pastor David Pinckney and Raymond Guay.

Here is the link to the NY Times story on this:

Outrage Greets Child Killer’s Arrival in New Hampshire Town

Here is Pastor David's side of the story from the Acts 29 blog:

Love Casts Out Fear?

David has been pastoring in Concord, New Hampshire for years, as his father did before him. He and River of Grace have a good reputation in the city and many supporters in the community, Christian and non-Christian. But understandably citizens are scared. One man bought a $4,000 security system. Another neighbor is filled with fear. Standing on the porch, David asked his neighbor and friend: “We are going to get through this, right?” To which is neighbor replied: “How can I abandon the man [Pastor Pinckney] who gave me the car that sits in my driveway?” The love that courses through David’s family is the love of Christ, a love that he reminded me—”casts out fear.”

The Gospel Changes Criminals

This is a complicated issue. Fear is understandable. Protection of families is commendable. But we have to face the fact that even with responsible protection, we can never insulate ourselves or our families from all danger. Unfortunately, criminals will come and go, thieves will break in and steal, and the world will continue to spin as though it is somehow off its axis. We need more than security systems. Beneath all our fear hides the longing for true and lasting security, security only found in the one who made us.

Before we too quickly look for stones to cast at Ray or David, we do well to consider our own crimes against neighbor and God. It was, after all, our God-belittling obsessions with self, success, power, money, sex, and acceptance that have sent our world wobbling. It is our criminal acts that led to the murder of Jesus. Before a holy God, we all stand convicted and are in desperate need of someone to pay our penalty, to change our hearts, and to reconcile us before the just Judge and Creator. The Gospel changes criminals, all of us. The love that David continues to point to is not cheap, naive love; it is robust, self-sacrificing, life-changing love. More than mere emotion, the love of God in Christ actually changes the hearts of men. Prison doesn’t change people; Jesus does.

Making Society Safer

What the media seems to be missing is the fact that the ministry of people like David, and the power of the gospel, actually make society safer not safe-less. The commitment to pastor x-cons into productive, society-contributing, redemptive citizens is precisely what we need. With a recidivism rate of over 66%, it is clear that cells and stripped freedoms aren’t actually making society safer.

What is remarkable that in the midst of so much fear, the Pinckney family has not become the target. Their constant love and service have earned them a good reputation in the eyes of their fellow citizens. Could that be said of you, of me? Do we know and love our neighbors well enough to have them stand with us, albeit fearfully, in the midst of trial and controversy? Oh for more men like David, that love with the love of Jesus, so much that society actually becomes safer.

A Pastor with a Good Reputation

In the midst of an decade of fear and pastoral scandal, it is refreshing to hear of a story that demonstrates a steady flow of love and faithfulness, of which Ray’s acceptance into the Pinckney household, and into the community of Christ, is a sign of hope. Apparently, Ray has a 17 year track record of transformation, to which his prison chaplain is glad to testify to. I trust David’s wisdom in this situation, but that is easier said from the confines of Austin, Texas than from the rural roads of Chicester. But more than that, I trust in the God who redeems x-cons, criminals of all kinds. Oh for more men, more pastors like David who carefully, lovingly, and faithfully lead other to a life-changing encounter with Christ, who contribute to the safety of society, and enrich thier cities and towns with a good reputation.

Here We Go Again

2009-01-23T20:26:00.002-05:00

I have to admit it is hard to sit back and not be critical of all the things that are going on around the ascension of our new president to office. I have and will continue to pray for him to do what is not only right for our country but right in God's eyes.

Here is the link to a story that leads to the President's agenda on the unborn.

This is a sad thing to see coming from a man whom so many people admire. I can only hope that God's plan will achieve His purposes. God bless the souls of the unborn children.

Fasting

2009-01-09T19:53:00.002-05:00

I am currently doing a 24 hour fast along with some members of my church. This is my first fast in quite a while. It is not a spiritual discipline in which a fat man excels but I believe it is biblical to help clarify vision from God and answers to prayer. I am praying for God to help solidify His vision for my ministry here in the Atlanta area. He is mighty to answer and powerful to act on my requests. The question is: Am I ready to act on His responses?

That being said I am currently feeling my hunger pains. These will pass soon and we are only fasting for a day. I look forward to seeing what experiences others are having with their fast.

SDB General Conference

2008-08-06T21:49:00.002-04:00

It is the "hump" day of Conference week. This is generally the day that I start wanting to go home and I am finished with everything left to do. It's slightly different this year. I am still looking forward to the business that has yet to be completed and in playing in the Pastors vs. Youth Basketball game tomorrow. I however am looking forward to seeing my wife and children whom I miss dearly.

I have started to think and pray a lot about priorities (i.e. what needs to come first, and what priority being a pastor has above providing for my family). Interesting thoughts! Anyone who ever reads this and wants to be a sounding board I appreciate it.

I have great friends here that I realize how I dearly miss them on our 51 week sabbatical from each other most years. That's all for now.

From the Mind of a Worshipping Theologian

Are You Ready to Forgive?

I am NOT a Resolutions Guy!

How REAL is too REAL when it comes to marriage?

Engaging in Scripture 2012

You're Making Me Two Tents? (Sermon from 12/24/11)

Affection Moves Us to Share (Extended Version)

Missional Living Resources

Don't Put It Off (Extended Version)

Pondering Freedom

Expository Preaching and John MacArthur

HE IS RISEN!

A Good Friday Indeed (For Me)!

Please Be Generous!

A Plane Landed Right on Top of My Car

I HATE DIVORCE!

The Pelagian Drinking Song

Intelligence: How Much You Know or Who You Know?

Killer Marriage Tips

The "Unmentionable" Sin

This! Yes!

Election

#itsthe011son

When Yes Means No

2011: Best Sequel Ever?

Updates coming soon!

Don't be one of These!

Summer Institute: SDB Polity, Week Two

Summer Institute: SDB Polity, Week One

Wisconsin Bound

The State of the Church in the South

Thoughts from Plant and Replant 09

Stop Going to Church

Creation Groans

Religion vs. Gospel

4 Important Things about the Gospel

Lessons on Leadership from Chuck Swindoll

How Do You Know a Reliable Preacher

Baptist Days of Obligation

Missional Living

9 Ways to Know that the Gospel is True

Brent Walker Speaks about Religious Liberty

Matt Chandler using Eugene Peterson to tell us "Don't Be This Pastor?"

3 Hard Truths for Me and other Pastors

3 Challenging Truths

The Stress of Preaching

Dr. Blomberg always makes me Think

Why? or Why not?

The Bentz Family to Lesotho

Here is a Funny (If you are a Republican)

I Think John Piper Might Know Something About This

Do You Preach a Good Sermon?

Is Your Church a Dealership?

Dwelling in the Gospel

Timmis Tweets

High Fidelity Christianity has Dual Fidelities

Dual Fidelity

Pitfall #1

The Gospel Saves... Not Community

Inquiring Minds...

Repent of Your Religion

My Preaching Could Kill

1 Day in 7

Some Tips for Hiring at Your Church

Bible Study: Matthew 21:33-46

Bigger than You

Getting Medieval

Humble Pastors

Uncommon Prayer Requests To Make Common

Humble Pastor

Notes: Humble Pastors

Introduction

What Does a Pastor Do?

Threats to Pastoral Leadership

Humble Pastors

Recommended Reading: Humility, by C.J. Mahaney

2009 Gospel Coalition Conference

Sabbath View

Don't Be a Cretan!

Don't Waste Your Life