This! Yes!

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

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

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

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?

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!

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!

EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF FALSE TEACHERS

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

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

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

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

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