John 1:1-14
My absolute favorite Christmas show is A Charlie Brown Christmas. And my absolute favorite part of that show is when Charlie Brown gets frustrated with how the kids are treating Christmas and in an almost primal scream asks “Doesn’t anyone here know what Christmas is all about?” Then Linus goes into his recitation of the Christmas story from Luke, complete with dramatic lighting, music, and a children’s choir.
When he’s finished, everything about the way the kids celebrate Christmas changes.
I’m expecting similar results here today. (GRIN)
The text I chose was given to John by the Holy Spirit and is quite different than Matthew or Luke’s versions of what Christmas is all about. You remember John, right? He likes things simple. He’s the one that gave us our favorite Bible verse – or at least our favorite when it comes to memorization. John 6:35 “Jesus wept.” I like it when they keep it short and to the point, don’t you?
I was emailed a while back a condensed version of the entire Bible – the Bible in 50 words.
God made, Adam bit, Noah arked, Abraham split, Joseph ruled, Jacob fooled, bush talked, Moses balked, Pharaoh plagued, people walked, sea divided, tablets guided, promise landed, Saul freaked, David peeked, prophets warned, Jesus born, God walked, love talked, anger crucified, hope died, Love rose, Spirit flamed, Word spread, God
remained.
I know, I know – the Pharoah plagued is a bit lame, but I especially like the Saul freaked and David peeked part.
We’re always trying to take what God does and try and fit it into a package we can handle. Trying to reduce His greatness, to slim down His omnipotence, to limit His foreknowledge and make it into something we have down cold.
We like it simple.
Okay, so here we are at John 1.
God has once again met us at the very point of our need. He’s not only going to make it simple for us, he’s going to retrace His steps so we can see how we got to Christmas. Somewhere along the way this week I realized what he had done was the equivalent of someone speaking very slowly to a person who didn’t speak our language.
That doesn’t ever seem to work on TV.
But here God is using visual aids – things we know and can get a grip on. They come a little bit later in the text, so hang with me here.
In the beginning the Word already existed.
How does the Bible begin? “In the beginning, God…
Here John is back at ABC, square one, version 1, God 1.0. When this occurs we have no idea. The idea John is trying to help us with is that the Word is before time. You can put any sort of handle you want on that thought as long as it ends up being pre-existent to wherever you thought was the beginning.
But I thought we were here today learning about Jesus? We are. The word John uses there translated “Word” for us, is the Greek word logos. Oh, that clears it all up.
Think with me here. No, I just wanted a break. Wow, that’s great. I’ll make a mental note to use that again when I get stuck. Okay, now really, think with me. I’m thinking of a word. Any ideas? No, actually I was thinking of bacteria – not sure why. See if I’m going to ask you to think about a word with me, I need to give you not just that word, but an explanation of what it means. In a sense, that’s what the rest of this passage does.
John has already told us that the “Word” existed before the beginning. The next thing he tells us is that the “Word” was with God. And then he adds to that “the Word was God”. And speaking slowly to us, because we don’t have the spiritual language skills of angels, he says “He existed in the beginning with God.”
This “Word” or logos was a concept to the Greeks. They were fixated on what made the universe tick. They had their gods, but when they really wanted to consider the meaning of life and the reason everything existed, they called it the “logos”.
Sounds like God to me. But if John wanted to explain God to Greeks, he couldn’t begin with that word. So the Holy Spirit led him to use “Word”. Everyone would understand that on some level, but the real deep thinkers would be taken real deep.
And that same Holy Spirit knew that you and I would be here today reading this. For us, he led us to the first thing we know about Jesus – about who this baby is - He is God.
I guess in a lot of ways, that’s where the fusses we get into over Christmas today really have their root. In many ways “Christmas” or “that “C” word as I heard one commentator refer to it, divides people simply because of Jesus’ claim, backed up by this Scripture and many many others – that he is God.
I read earlier in the week that certain department store chains were not calling Christmas trees, Christmas trees – instead referring to them as Holiday trees. Is there another Holiday we use those for that I don’t know about? Sounds silly, but at the root is a refusal to allow any reminder that Jesus is God.
The next simple fact that John clues us in on is that Jesus, the Word, God, is also the Creator of the Universe.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a]
and his life brought light to everyone.
So Jesus is God the Creator, who brings everything to be. Once again John repeats Himself for emphasis. “created everything through him, and nothing was created except through Him.” And he goes farther. Not content to limit Jesus to the creation of stars, nebula, galaxies and planets, he points to Jesus as the giver of all life.
I’m a science geek. I love to read about the latest advances in medicine, chemistry, physics and the like. And I’m a wee bit amused at those who seem to think that there’s a disconnect between being a follower of Jesus Christ and having a brain. Ok, maybe I exaggerate. Some think we have a brain, but as followers of Jesus, we are insane. No, that wasn’t better either. Well, anyway, some of them seem to want to talk to us reeeeeaaaalll slooooooowww.
But here’s the thing. In this are, it really boils down to two choices. You can believe that the universe happened by accident, a series of cosmic coincidences almost to infinity, or you can at least admit the possibility of a designer – a creator if you will.
Friends, that job is filled in Jesus. He is the bringer of life, and light.
See I told you that John was going to use some visual aids we could all understand. We all understand life. When we have it there are possibilities galore. Even on our worst days we still have… a day. Without life, we aren’t.
But light – light is a revealer. Light gives you the ability to see, to perceive, to know. And here in John 1, John says that Jesus is the light who brings the true revelation of what God is, to us.
And, oh I love this – that even when things get tough, even when it seems like things are dark, that there’s no hope or even a possibility of hope – Jesus wins.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
It’s a cold and cruel world we live in. But it will never be without hope.
So John’s told us that this baby is God, He is Creator, He is the Purest Revelation – the Light. But the best is yet to come.
Jesus is the Savior
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist,[c] 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
Jesus had an advance party on his earth adventure. John the Baptist. I like to think of him as Jesus’ “away team” like on the old Star Trek tv show, where the crew would send some people down to a planet to check it out. You could almost always count on a couple of the security team guys, the ones wearing red, to kick the bucket while they were there. I always wondered why they wore red, because those were always the ones who died. Personally, I would have still gone, but I would have changed shirts to something less obvious. But then again John the Baptist didn’t. His away team outfit was a bit unusual as was his job.
John was to tell people that God had sent Messiah – the revelation of God. Jesus was that revelation – that light. And Jesus was coming to His own people, the Jews.
I have always wondered what it was like to have created the world and then come down and live on it. How Jesus must have felt knowing that His creation of the trees – that one would be used as His cross. But when he came to His creations – the people of Israel, they didn’t see Him as God at all. They rejected Him and His message and eventually were so angry at what He and that message said that they killed Him to shut Him up.
But there were some who believed then. The disciples, some women, some others. And to them, and to all of us who have followed them, He gave the right no one but God could give – the right to inherit eternal life – to be made right with God. John says that those people have been reborn.
And again, John slows down and tells us what that means. It’s not a physical act. Old Nicodemas, as smart as he was went there a little later on, so puzzled he wanted Jesus to explain how someone could go back into the womb. It’s not physical, it’s spiritual.
And it’s not our idea – we never would have thought of it.. We never could make it happen. There’s nothing we can do to earn forgiveness from God – nothing. I’m not going to have to wait for someone to pray me out of purgatory so I can leave that bus stop on the way to heaven when I die. Salvation isn’t a human act – it’s a God act.
Someone told me one time that we had to do our part. That’s true of course. We have to be sinners without any hope of forgiveness. Ok, check. Got that done. John gives us in one very clear sentence, what we need to do to be saved, to become children of God.
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
So two words – believed, and accepted and one object – Him (Jesus)
John uses the word “believe” or “believed” over 100 times in his gospel. It never in any single instance means dry dusty knowledge like “I believe red bricks are good.” Nor does it mean something frivolous like “I believe Dairy Queen Blizzards are the twelfth wonder of the world.” When he uses the word it means to stake your life upon it – to give it your all – everything you have – and never look back.
So a person that wants to follow Jesus, who wants to be made right with God and follow God’s plan and pattern for their life must believe in the Word that Jesus left us and in Him as explained in that Word. There’s no expression of Jesus no true expression of Him that isn’t contained in or explained by this book – the Bible. So a Buddhist Jesus, or a Mormon Jesus, or a Karmic Jesus won’t work – can’t be, because they are outside the light of God’s revelation in and through His Word.
Jesus – God of very God. Jesus – Creator of everything that was made. Jesus giver of Life, revealer of Light. And yes, Jesus, born of a virgin.
Can you accept that? In this context the word translated accept doesn’t just mean nod your head. It means pledge your allegiance to. To receive as who he says he is and act accordingly. You receive Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit living within you. You receive Jesus, you place yourself under His authority and pledge yourself to do whatever he calls for you to do. You receive Jesus and he becomes your master and you become his bondservant.
John says that people who do that receive the right or the authority to change their family name. They become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Once they were enemies of God, but now they have become part of God’s family.
I love the way Eugene Peterson translates the last verse we’ll look at today.
14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
Jesus came into this world the same way we all did. He grew up as any other little boy in his era would have. But he was different in two very important ways. First, he never sinned. That’s important because if he had the second way couldn’t have been true. “He was God.”
When Jesus moved into our hood, or pitched his tent among us, he was just doing what any other short term visitor would do. The people who used tents back then were transients – soldiers, sojourners, and shepherds. Tents were useful because they could be moved quickly, but they weren’t very sturdy. Jesus was fully God, but took on human flesh and blood like any other man. He was fully God and fully man. He gave 200%
John says that everyone who saw Jesus said that he reminded them of someone. I know when I go back to Macon, at times I will run into someone and they’ll tell me that I resemble my father. I generally thank them and then walk away thinking, “man I’m getting old”. But I genuinely appreciate what they mean.
John has that sense in what he writes when he says
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[e] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Don’t you wonder what it must have been like to know Jesus as the apostles did? To see Him as He performed His miracles, to listen to Him speak, to see His great power as He raised Lazarus or even after the resurrection?
Well, John gives us a snapshot here when he says that Jesus was full of unfailing love and faithfulness – grace and truth. Who wouldn’t want a friend like that? Someone who knows you intimately – as you really are – but who loves you anyway – even loves you for exactly who you are!
That would be glorious! That would be like knowing and loving God Himself. John says, we have seen that in the flesh – seen Him! He is unique – one of a kind – and everything the Word said He would be. And the word he uses doesn’t mean he glanced at Jesus, it carries the idea that John and the disciples couldn’t stop looking at Him and seeing God.
He is Jesus, come to save His people from their sins.
I wonder, do you know Him today?
Do you need someone to love you just as you are? Jesus’ love is unfailing.
Do you need someone who will never leave you, never forsake you, never pretend you aren’t there, never fail to answer your cries?
Jesus is full of faithfulness.
You will never truly understand Christmas until you look God the Father in His face and tell Him thank you for sending your Son for me, a sinner lost and burdened with a sin debt that could never be repaid. Have you received Jesus? Have you believed he is everything the Bible says He is and has done everything the Bible said He must do to give you new life and new hope with God?
What Child Is this? He is our Hope. He is our Life. He is our Light. He is Jesus.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
On Christmas
The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.
- Stuart Briscoe in Meet Him at the Manger
If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: "God with us." We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth! - John F. MacArthur, Jr.
For those nations of the earth which have known the story of Jesus, Christmas is undoubtedly the most beautiful time of the year.
Though the celebration of the Savior’s birth occurs in the dead of winter, when in many parts of the world the streams are frozen and the landscapes cold and cheerless, still there is beauty at the Christmas season–not the tender beauty of spring flowers or the quiet loveliness of the full-blown summer, or yet the sad sweet graces of autumn colors. It is beauty of another kind, richer, deeper and more elevating, that beauty which considerations of love and mercy bring before the mind.
Though we are keenly aware of the abuses that have grown up around the holiday season, we are still not willing to surrender this ancient and loved Christmas Day to the enemy. Though those purer emotions which everyone feels at Christmas are in most hearts all too fleeting, yet it is something that a lost and fallen race should pay tribute, if only for a day, to those higher qualities of the mind–love and mercy and sacrifice and a life laid down for its enemies.
While men are able to rise even temporarily to such heights, there is hope that they have not yet sinned away their day of grace. A heart capable of admiring and being touched by the story of the manger birth is not yet abandoned, however sinful it may be. There is yet hope in repentance.
- A.W. Tozer
“The picture of a nervous, ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one; yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see. Twentieth-century Christianity has put God on charity.”
–A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), p. 34.
"Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Saviour of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficent souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show."
- A.W. Tozer
God grant you the light of Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; the radiance of Christmas, which is purity; the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
- Wilda English
Friday, December 14, 2007
On "Holiday Trees"
It just gets silly after a while. Word came today that Sears and K Mart were refusing to call their Christmas Trees... err Christmas Trees. Instead, they chose to call them Holiday Trees, even though as far as I know, Christmas is the only holiday they are used for.
Are people really that insane?
I like looking at Menorahs. They don't offend me. There's a Hindu temple on the road I grew up on. It looks pretty cool. I know they don't know the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but I'll trust in the Holy Spirit to continue to witness to them. And I'll hope my fellow Christ followers will take every opportunity to tell them of the hope we have in Jesus with gentleness and respect.
Reciprocity would be appreciated.
"The Visited Planet" by J.B. Phillips
Once upon a time a very young angel was being shown round the splendours and glories of the universes by a senior and experienced angel. To tell the truth, the little angel was beginning to be tired and a little bored. He had been shown whirling galaxies and blazing suns, infinite distances in the deathly cold of inter-stellar space, and to his mind there seemed to be an awful lot of it all. Finally he was shown the galaxy of which our planetary system is but a small part. As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis-ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
"I want you to watch that one particularly," said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
"Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me," said the little angel. "What's special about that one?"
"That," replied his senior solemnly, "is the Visited Planet."
"Visited?" said the little one. "you don't mean visited by --------?
"Indeed I do. That ball, which I have no doubt looks to you small and insignificant and not perhaps overclean, has been visited by our young Prince of Glory." And at these words he bowed his head reverently.
"But how?" queried the younger one. "Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince, with all these wonders and splendours of His Creation, and millions more that I'm sure I haven't seen yet, went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?"
"It isn't for us," said his senior a little stiffly, "to question His 'why's', except that I must point out to you that He is not impressed by size and numbers, as you seem to be. But that He really went I know, and all of us in Heaven who know anything know that. As to why He became one of them - how else do you suppose could He visit them?"
The little angels face wrinkled in disgust.
"Do you mean to tell me," he said, "that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?"
"I do, and I don't think He would like you to call them 'creeping, crawling creatures' in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him."
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
"Close your eyes for a moment," said the senior angel, "and we will go back in what they call Time."
While the little angels eyes were closed and the two of them moved nearer to the spinning ball, it stopped its spinning, spun backwards quite fast for a while, and then slowly resumed its usual rotation.
"Now look!" And as the little angel did as he was told, there appeared here and there on the dull surface of the globe little flashes of light, some merely momentary and some persisting for quite a time.
"Well, what am I seeing now?" queried the little angel.
"You are watching this little world as it was some thousands of years ago," returned his companion. "Every flash and glow of light that you see is something of the Father's knowledge and wisdom breaking into the minds and hearts of people who live upon the earth. Not many people, you see, can hear His Voice or understand what He says, even though He is speaking gently and quietly to them all the time."
"Why are they so blind and deaf and stupid?" asked the junior angel rather crossly.
"It is not for us to judge them. We who live in the Splendour have no idea what it is like to live in the dark. We hear the music and the Voice like the sound of many waters every day of over lives, but to them - well, there is much darkness and much noise and much distraction upon the earth. Only a few who are quiet and humble and wise hear His Voice. But watch, for in a moment you will see something truly wonderful."
The Earth went on turning and circling round the sun, and then quite suddenly, in the upper half of the globe, there appeared a light, tiny but so bright in its intensity that both the angels hid their eyes.
"I think I can guess," said the little angel in a low voice. "That was the Visit, wasn't it?"
"Yes, that was the Visit. The Light Himself went down there and lived among them; but in a moment, and you will be able to tell that even with your eyes closed, the light will go out."
"But why? Could He not bear their darkness and stupidity? Did He have to return here?"
"No, it wasn't that" returned the senior angel. His voice was stern and sad. "They failed to recognise Him for Who He was - or at least only a handful knew Him. For the most part they preferred their darkness to His Light, and in the end they killed Him."
"The fools, the crazy fools! They don't deserve ----"
"Neither you nor I, nor any other angel, knows why they were so foolish and so wicked. Nor can we say what they deserve or don't deserve. But the fact remains, they killed our Prince of Glory while He was Man amongst them."
"And that I suppose was the end? I see the whole Earth has gone black and dark. All right, I won't judge them, but surely that is all they could expect?"
"Wait, we are still far from the end of the story of the Visited Planet. Watch now, but be ready to cover your eyes again."
In utter blackness the earth turned round three times, and then there blazed with unbearable radiance a point of light.
"What now?" asked the little angel, shielding his eyes.
"They killed Him all right, but He conquered death. The thing most of them dread and fear all their lives He broke and conquered. He rose again, and a few of them saw Him and from then on became His utterly devoted slaves."
"Thank God for that," said the little angel.
"Amen. Open your eyes now, the dazzling light has gone. The Prince has returned to His Home of Light. But watch the Earth now."
As they looked, in place of the dazzling light there was a bright glow which throbbed and pulsated. And then as the Earth turned many times little points of light spread out. A few flickered and died; but for the most part the lights burned steadily, and as they continued to watch, in many parts of the globe there was a glow over many areas.
"You see what is happening?" asked the senior angel. "The bright glow is the company of loyal men and women He left behind, and with His help they spread the glow and now lights begin to shine all over the Earth."
"Yes, yes," said the little angel impatiently, "but how does it end? Will the little lights join up with each other? Will it all be light, as it is in Heaven?"
His senior shook his head. "We simply do not know," he replied. "It is in the Father's hands. Sometimes it is agony to watch and sometimes it is joy unspeakable. The end is not yet. But now I am sure you can see why this little ball is so important. He has visited it; He is working out His Plan upon it."
"Yes, I see, though I don't understand. I shall never forget that this is the Visited Planet." - by J.B. Phillips
Some times we get so wrapped up in the "why" we forget the focus is on the Who.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
John 1:14 (MSG)
Jesus. God's gift to us.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
Once upon a time a very young angel was being shown round the splendours and glories of the universes by a senior and experienced angel. To tell the truth, the little angel was beginning to be tired and a little bored. He had been shown whirling galaxies and blazing suns, infinite distances in the deathly cold of inter-stellar space, and to his mind there seemed to be an awful lot of it all. Finally he was shown the galaxy of which our planetary system is but a small part. As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis-ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
"I want you to watch that one particularly," said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
"Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me," said the little angel. "What's special about that one?"
"That," replied his senior solemnly, "is the Visited Planet."
"Visited?" said the little one. "you don't mean visited by --------?
"Indeed I do. That ball, which I have no doubt looks to you small and insignificant and not perhaps overclean, has been visited by our young Prince of Glory." And at these words he bowed his head reverently.
"But how?" queried the younger one. "Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince, with all these wonders and splendours of His Creation, and millions more that I'm sure I haven't seen yet, went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?"
"It isn't for us," said his senior a little stiffly, "to question His 'why's', except that I must point out to you that He is not impressed by size and numbers, as you seem to be. But that He really went I know, and all of us in Heaven who know anything know that. As to why He became one of them - how else do you suppose could He visit them?"
The little angels face wrinkled in disgust.
"Do you mean to tell me," he said, "that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?"
"I do, and I don't think He would like you to call them 'creeping, crawling creatures' in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him."
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
"Close your eyes for a moment," said the senior angel, "and we will go back in what they call Time."
While the little angels eyes were closed and the two of them moved nearer to the spinning ball, it stopped its spinning, spun backwards quite fast for a while, and then slowly resumed its usual rotation.
"Now look!" And as the little angel did as he was told, there appeared here and there on the dull surface of the globe little flashes of light, some merely momentary and some persisting for quite a time.
"Well, what am I seeing now?" queried the little angel.
"You are watching this little world as it was some thousands of years ago," returned his companion. "Every flash and glow of light that you see is something of the Father's knowledge and wisdom breaking into the minds and hearts of people who live upon the earth. Not many people, you see, can hear His Voice or understand what He says, even though He is speaking gently and quietly to them all the time."
"Why are they so blind and deaf and stupid?" asked the junior angel rather crossly.
"It is not for us to judge them. We who live in the Splendour have no idea what it is like to live in the dark. We hear the music and the Voice like the sound of many waters every day of over lives, but to them - well, there is much darkness and much noise and much distraction upon the earth. Only a few who are quiet and humble and wise hear His Voice. But watch, for in a moment you will see something truly wonderful."
The Earth went on turning and circling round the sun, and then quite suddenly, in the upper half of the globe, there appeared a light, tiny but so bright in its intensity that both the angels hid their eyes.
"I think I can guess," said the little angel in a low voice. "That was the Visit, wasn't it?"
"Yes, that was the Visit. The Light Himself went down there and lived among them; but in a moment, and you will be able to tell that even with your eyes closed, the light will go out."
"But why? Could He not bear their darkness and stupidity? Did He have to return here?"
"No, it wasn't that" returned the senior angel. His voice was stern and sad. "They failed to recognise Him for Who He was - or at least only a handful knew Him. For the most part they preferred their darkness to His Light, and in the end they killed Him."
"The fools, the crazy fools! They don't deserve ----"
"Neither you nor I, nor any other angel, knows why they were so foolish and so wicked. Nor can we say what they deserve or don't deserve. But the fact remains, they killed our Prince of Glory while He was Man amongst them."
"And that I suppose was the end? I see the whole Earth has gone black and dark. All right, I won't judge them, but surely that is all they could expect?"
"Wait, we are still far from the end of the story of the Visited Planet. Watch now, but be ready to cover your eyes again."
In utter blackness the earth turned round three times, and then there blazed with unbearable radiance a point of light.
"What now?" asked the little angel, shielding his eyes.
"They killed Him all right, but He conquered death. The thing most of them dread and fear all their lives He broke and conquered. He rose again, and a few of them saw Him and from then on became His utterly devoted slaves."
"Thank God for that," said the little angel.
"Amen. Open your eyes now, the dazzling light has gone. The Prince has returned to His Home of Light. But watch the Earth now."
As they looked, in place of the dazzling light there was a bright glow which throbbed and pulsated. And then as the Earth turned many times little points of light spread out. A few flickered and died; but for the most part the lights burned steadily, and as they continued to watch, in many parts of the globe there was a glow over many areas.
"You see what is happening?" asked the senior angel. "The bright glow is the company of loyal men and women He left behind, and with His help they spread the glow and now lights begin to shine all over the Earth."
"Yes, yes," said the little angel impatiently, "but how does it end? Will the little lights join up with each other? Will it all be light, as it is in Heaven?"
His senior shook his head. "We simply do not know," he replied. "It is in the Father's hands. Sometimes it is agony to watch and sometimes it is joy unspeakable. The end is not yet. But now I am sure you can see why this little ball is so important. He has visited it; He is working out His Plan upon it."
"Yes, I see, though I don't understand. I shall never forget that this is the Visited Planet." - by J.B. Phillips
Some times we get so wrapped up in the "why" we forget the focus is on the Who.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
John 1:14 (MSG)
Jesus. God's gift to us.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
It's NOT About Us
Luke 1 is not ultimately about marriage stress. We need to be on guard against inserting ourselves and our needs into the center of every passage. Luke 1 is ultimately about one of the most significant events ever - the announcement of the arrival of the Messiah. It’s a pivotal moment in all of history. We risk trivializing the passage when we make it a how-to sermon on dealing with marriage stress.HT Theocentric Preaching
I struggle with this all the time as a pastor.
You know that people need to listen to the Word and apply its precepts and principles to their lives. You are intimately connected with them, especially as a small church pastor. You know what they are going through more than most.
And at times the tendency is to take Biblical texts with transcendent meaning, and hang "practical application" on them. For example, I could turn John 1:1-14, which I'm taking up this week, as a sermon on relationships based on Jesus' relationship with the Father, and his move to earth to be in our neighborhood and how he didn't let that distance affect their relationship. So (the application goes) we must do everything we can to maintain our relationships.
Barf.
Don't do that.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Way of Jesus
We can't say Jesus is the way—"I'm going to follow Jesus"—and then use all the devil's ways. All the "I like to do" or "have a talent for" or "have an aptitude for" or "have a spiritual gift" language is popular in our churches, but we have to do it Jesus's way. The way Jesus did it is as important as the way Jesus is. I'm just trying to connect ways and means. The means by which we do something can destroy what we're doing if they're not appropriate. And I think the American Church is very conspicuous for destroying the way of Jesus in the ways we do church.
- Eugene Peterson from his book "The Jesus Way"
No they didn't...
Actual search committee cover letter verbatim:
"Appropriate resolution of conflict has been an issue for years. There are a few in the church who can fuel conflict and division among church members, with some leaving the church as a result. That they have not often been confronted about this permits this behavior to continue unabated. Because this should not be a matter left unresolved for a new pastor to manage, the Pastor Search Committee, in the absence of a pastor, has made it a point to address the Deacon Fellowship regarding this issue in particular. After considerable "pressing" of the issue, the Deacon Fellowship has taken some responsibility to confront those involved."
I'm thinking this may not be a selling point to prospective pastors.
"Appropriate resolution of conflict has been an issue for years. There are a few in the church who can fuel conflict and division among church members, with some leaving the church as a result. That they have not often been confronted about this permits this behavior to continue unabated. Because this should not be a matter left unresolved for a new pastor to manage, the Pastor Search Committee, in the absence of a pastor, has made it a point to address the Deacon Fellowship regarding this issue in particular. After considerable "pressing" of the issue, the Deacon Fellowship has taken some responsibility to confront those involved."
I'm thinking this may not be a selling point to prospective pastors.
Monday, December 10, 2007
On Suffering
"The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not." C.S. Lewis
Sunday, December 09, 2007
New Hope - Sunday 9 December 2007
Continuing in the "Nights Before Christmas" series with our focus on Joseph, the man chosen by God to be an earthly father to the Son of God. That's some job description. The RA's lit the Advent candles again with Nathan Fannon reading the Scripture from Isaiah 9.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Holy Is the Lord
All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises
As a birthday gift to Craig Bryan, one of our members, Bunny had a girls trio sing "When We All Get To Heaven". Not a song that fit the message, or one we sing normally, but it was our gift to Craig. He was speechless.
Made Me Glad
A Shield About Me
Jesus Paid It All
Great atmosphere of warmth and love today.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Holy Is the Lord
All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises
As a birthday gift to Craig Bryan, one of our members, Bunny had a girls trio sing "When We All Get To Heaven". Not a song that fit the message, or one we sing normally, but it was our gift to Craig. He was speechless.
Made Me Glad
A Shield About Me
Jesus Paid It All
Great atmosphere of warmth and love today.
On the Laity
Friday when I got to church, one deacon and his grandson were filling the baptistry (portable in our case). Another deacon and his wife were just finishing some work in our sanctuary. They draped the back wall to emphasize the cross and communion table. Looks awesome.
Last night as we drove by the church, the lights were on and so we made a mental note to stop by and check when we came back by. Just as we drove up, another member did too and said he had been up there replacing lights and forgot to turn them off.
This morning when I went up, another deacon and his wife were there unplugging the Christmas nativity they put up.
Today,we'll have the RA's reading the Advent scriptures and lighting the candles. Their leader will do the Children's sermon. About a dozen young people and kids will form a praise team. Three or four more will form a praise band. Four or so others will fold bulletins and then greet people. We'll have a couple of people in the nursery, a couple of others do children's church. And a young woman will play the offertory.
When I read people's blogs where they wonder why church has become so professional so polished, and how the average church goer just comes, consumes, and leaves, I have to stifle a laugh.
I am so grateful for the people who serve God along with me here at New Hope.
Last night as we drove by the church, the lights were on and so we made a mental note to stop by and check when we came back by. Just as we drove up, another member did too and said he had been up there replacing lights and forgot to turn them off.
This morning when I went up, another deacon and his wife were there unplugging the Christmas nativity they put up.
Today,we'll have the RA's reading the Advent scriptures and lighting the candles. Their leader will do the Children's sermon. About a dozen young people and kids will form a praise team. Three or four more will form a praise band. Four or so others will fold bulletins and then greet people. We'll have a couple of people in the nursery, a couple of others do children's church. And a young woman will play the offertory.
When I read people's blogs where they wonder why church has become so professional so polished, and how the average church goer just comes, consumes, and leaves, I have to stifle a laugh.
I am so grateful for the people who serve God along with me here at New Hope.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
The Man Behind the Camera
Tomorrow morning, I'm continuing in the series called "The Nights Before Christmas" which is a look at the time, culture, and people that are all wrapped up in God's planned supernatural event - the Incarnation of Jesus.
We're a couple weeks away from Christmas, and I'll try my best to help everyone get enough of an idea about Joseph of Nazareth to understand who he was, why he did what he did, and how we all should emulate him.
He's been a difficult guy to get to know. Not much there in Scripture. I can describe what a typical Galilean Jewish man of that period would have been like. We can pretty confidently predict what his thoughts and actions would have been when faced with the earthshaking news he got from Mary.
But his time on the "stage" is so brief. And he has no recorded words.
This is the man God trusted with His Son.
This is the man who walked behind a little Jewish boy as that child took his first steps.
This is the man who showed his son how to work. How to pray. How to love. How to live.
And sometime between the trip to the temple when Jesus was 12 and when he began his ministry at age 30, Joseph, the man who first heard Jesus say "abba" - died.
He, like a lot of men I've known, don't make it into the family pictures. They are behind the camera making sure everyone else gets what they need.
But God knows.
Advent
“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes… and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Friday, December 07, 2007
Nazareth's Gone Country
Hi friends, just sitting here rereading everything I've collected in the past few weeks about Joseph of Nazareth in preparation for Sunday's sermon. It's pretty clear to me that Joseph lived a life that only a country music lover could appreciate.
Think about it.
He's a tradesman/builder. If he were alive today, he'd be driving a pickup with a toolbox in the bed. He'd probably be wearing jeans and work boots with a T shirt advertising something that he got for free. Oh and the T shirt and jeans would be holy - well, hole-ly. He'd have one of those cellphones that let's you beep the other job sites, and wouldn't have shaved today.
Yeah, he'd probably have a friend or two he called Bubba.
He'd have a reputation too. "Measure twice, cut once", would be his stock in trade, along with "a man's word is his bond." Yeah, he might be a poor ordinary working man, but he would do an honest days work for an honest day's pay. Nobody would beat him to the job site, or catch him sneaking off fishing when he should be working. There was plenty of time for that after the job was done.
And crazy as it seems, he'd be a guy looking to settle down with one woman for life. Not that he hadn't had chances for a fling here and there - he was a young, strong guy in a culture that valued all that. Oh and I expect he knew how to laugh at life - even laugh at himself. Most carpenters I've ever known can do that. They understand that a piece of wood, like a life, has to be shaped and shaved into something on purpose - that it's pretty rare to get that perfect piece of wood, and that you have to learn to work around and through the rough spots. Laughter really helps with that.
He found a girl he loved, made the proposal and came away a winner. Got started on a house and was prepping his mind around the whole husband and yeah, father deal. But then his fiancee told him she was pregnant - and Joseph knew it wasn't by him.
I wonder if George Jones ever wrote a song about Joseph?
So what would Joseph do?
Well, here's the thing. Carpenter's and brick layers - really anybody that works to build things, know that there are times when you can just "eyeball" the job and know what to do next, and then there are times when you have to go back to the architect and ask him "what the heck were you thinking?"
The Bible says that Joseph was a "just" or "righteous" man.
Those kind of guys know who to ask when the plans don't square with reality on the ground, or when it just isn't going to work. So when Joseph went to sleep that night after Mary dropped her bombshell. I have no doubt that Joseph had looked at what happened from every angle he could think of. He would have done his best to make it all go away without costing anyone more than it had to. He'd try to do the right thing. But what was the right thing?
He went to sleep tossing and turning, and then God showed up.
And God showed Joseph a new set of plans.
20 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 21 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus— 'God saves'— because he will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:20-21 (MSG)
Armed with that change in plans from the Master Builder...
24 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. 25 But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus. Matt 1:24-25 (MSG)
The working man done good. Nazareth's gone country, folks.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
Think about it.
He's a tradesman/builder. If he were alive today, he'd be driving a pickup with a toolbox in the bed. He'd probably be wearing jeans and work boots with a T shirt advertising something that he got for free. Oh and the T shirt and jeans would be holy - well, hole-ly. He'd have one of those cellphones that let's you beep the other job sites, and wouldn't have shaved today.
Yeah, he'd probably have a friend or two he called Bubba.
He'd have a reputation too. "Measure twice, cut once", would be his stock in trade, along with "a man's word is his bond." Yeah, he might be a poor ordinary working man, but he would do an honest days work for an honest day's pay. Nobody would beat him to the job site, or catch him sneaking off fishing when he should be working. There was plenty of time for that after the job was done.
And crazy as it seems, he'd be a guy looking to settle down with one woman for life. Not that he hadn't had chances for a fling here and there - he was a young, strong guy in a culture that valued all that. Oh and I expect he knew how to laugh at life - even laugh at himself. Most carpenters I've ever known can do that. They understand that a piece of wood, like a life, has to be shaped and shaved into something on purpose - that it's pretty rare to get that perfect piece of wood, and that you have to learn to work around and through the rough spots. Laughter really helps with that.
He found a girl he loved, made the proposal and came away a winner. Got started on a house and was prepping his mind around the whole husband and yeah, father deal. But then his fiancee told him she was pregnant - and Joseph knew it wasn't by him.
I wonder if George Jones ever wrote a song about Joseph?
So what would Joseph do?
Well, here's the thing. Carpenter's and brick layers - really anybody that works to build things, know that there are times when you can just "eyeball" the job and know what to do next, and then there are times when you have to go back to the architect and ask him "what the heck were you thinking?"
The Bible says that Joseph was a "just" or "righteous" man.
Those kind of guys know who to ask when the plans don't square with reality on the ground, or when it just isn't going to work. So when Joseph went to sleep that night after Mary dropped her bombshell. I have no doubt that Joseph had looked at what happened from every angle he could think of. He would have done his best to make it all go away without costing anyone more than it had to. He'd try to do the right thing. But what was the right thing?
He went to sleep tossing and turning, and then God showed up.
And God showed Joseph a new set of plans.
20 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 21 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus— 'God saves'— because he will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:20-21 (MSG)
Armed with that change in plans from the Master Builder...
24 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. 25 But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus. Matt 1:24-25 (MSG)
The working man done good. Nazareth's gone country, folks.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
Nazareth's Gone Country
Hi friends, just sitting here rereading everything I've collected in the past few weeks about Joseph of Nazareth in preparation for Sunday's sermon. It's pretty clear to me that Joseph lived a life that only a country music lover could appreciate.
Think about it.
He's a tradesman/builder. If he were alive today, he'd be driving a pickup with a toolbox in the bed. He'd probably be wearing jeans and work boots with a T shirt advertising something that he got for free. Oh and the T shirt and jeans would be holy - well, hole-ly. He'd have one of those cellphones that let's you beep the other job sites, and wouldn't have shaved today.
Yeah, he'd probably have a friend or two he called Bubba.
He'd have a reputation too. "Measure twice, cut once", would be his stock in trade, along with "a man's word is his bond." Yeah, he might be a poor ordinary working man, but he would do an honest days work for an honest day's pay. Nobody would beat him to the job site, or catch him sneaking off fishing when he should be working. There was plenty of time for that after the job was done.
And crazy as it seems, he'd be a guy looking to settle down with one woman for life. Not that he hadn't had chances for a fling here and there - he was a young, strong guy in a culture that valued all that. Oh and I expect he knew how to laugh at life - even laugh at himself. Most carpenters I've ever known can do that. They understand that a piece of wood, like a life, has to be shaped and shaved into something on purpose - that it's pretty rare to get that perfect piece of wood, and that you have to learn to work around and through the rough spots. Laughter really helps with that.
He found a girl he loved, made the proposal and came away a winner. Got started on a house and was prepping his mind around the whole husband and yeah, father deal. But then his fiancee told him she was pregnant - and Joseph knew it wasn't by him.
I wonder if George Jones ever wrote a song about Joseph?
So what would Joseph do?
Well, here's the thing. Carpenter's and brick layers - really anybody that works to build things, know that there are times when you can just "eyeball" the job and know what to do next, and then there are times when you have to go back to the architect and ask him "what the heck were you thinking?"
The Bible says that Joseph was a "just" or "righteous" man.
Those kind of guys know who to ask when the plans don't square with reality on the ground, or when it just isn't going to work. So when Joseph went to sleep that night after Mary dropped her bombshell. I have no doubt that Joseph had looked at what happened from every angle he could think of. He would have done his best to make it all go away without costing anyone more than it had to. He'd try to do the right thing. But what was the right thing?
He went to sleep tossing and turning, and then God showed up.
And God showed Joseph a new set of plans.
20 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 21 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus— 'God saves'— because he will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:20-21 (MSG)
Armed with that change in plans from the Master Builder...
24 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. 25 But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus. Matt 1:24-25 (MSG)
The working man done good. Nazareth's gone country, folks.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org
Hi friends, just sitting here rereading everything I've collected in the past few weeks about Joseph of Nazareth in preparation for Sunday's sermon. It's pretty clear to me that Joseph lived a life that only a country music lover could appreciate.
Think about it.
He's a tradesman/builder. If he were alive today, he'd be driving a pickup with a toolbox in the bed. He'd probably be wearing jeans and work boots with a T shirt advertising something that he got for free. Oh and the T shirt and jeans would be holy - well, hole-ly. He'd have one of those cellphones that let's you beep the other job sites, and wouldn't have shaved today.
Yeah, he'd probably have a friend or two he called Bubba.
He'd have a reputation too. "Measure twice, cut once", would be his stock in trade, along with "a man's word is his bond." Yeah, he might be a poor ordinary working man, but he would do an honest days work for an honest day's pay. Nobody would beat him to the job site, or catch him sneaking off fishing when he should be working. There was plenty of time for that after the job was done.
And crazy as it seems, he'd be a guy looking to settle down with one woman for life. Not that he hadn't had chances for a fling here and there - he was a young, strong guy in a culture that valued all that. Oh and I expect he knew how to laugh at life - even laugh at himself. Most carpenters I've ever known can do that. They understand that a piece of wood, like a life, has to be shaped and shaved into something on purpose - that it's pretty rare to get that perfect piece of wood, and that you have to learn to work around and through the rough spots. Laughter really helps with that.
He found a girl he loved, made the proposal and came away a winner. Got started on a house and was prepping his mind around the whole husband and yeah, father deal. But then his fiancee told him she was pregnant - and Joseph knew it wasn't by him.
I wonder if George Jones ever wrote a song about Joseph?
So what would Joseph do?
Well, here's the thing. Carpenter's and brick layers - really anybody that works to build things, know that there are times when you can just "eyeball" the job and know what to do next, and then there are times when you have to go back to the architect and ask him "what the heck were you thinking?"
The Bible says that Joseph was a "just" or "righteous" man.
Those kind of guys know who to ask when the plans don't square with reality on the ground, or when it just isn't going to work. So when Joseph went to sleep that night after Mary dropped her bombshell. I have no doubt that Joseph had looked at what happened from every angle he could think of. He would have done his best to make it all go away without costing anyone more than it had to. He'd try to do the right thing. But what was the right thing?
He went to sleep tossing and turning, and then God showed up.
And God showed Joseph a new set of plans.
20 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 21 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus— 'God saves'— because he will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:20-21 (MSG)
Armed with that change in plans from the Master Builder...
24 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. 25 But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus. Matt 1:24-25 (MSG)
The working man done good. Nazareth's gone country, folks.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Transforming Sermons: Much more than breaking a rule
The essence of the Gospel is not rules but a person. A person who is the same in His humanity as our spouse. And once we are united in faith to Jesus, we are engaged in an intimate (non-sexual-but still intimate) relationship with Him. And to violate that relationship by placing other gods, other desires, other motives ahead of that relationship is to play the part of a whore once more. It puts our sin in a whole new light. You're not just breaking a rule. You're cheating on Jesus. And that's imagery, especially in the book of Hosea, that the Bible uses repeatedly. It's funny, I would never do anything to hurt my wife, not because I feel bound to obey her rules, but because I couldn't take doing something to wound her heart. I love her. I care for her. However, I don't think twice about wounding the heart of Jesus. Mainly because, too many times, I reduce the Savior to a set of rules to follow.
Transforming Sermons: Much more than breaking a rule
Milton Stanley consistently brings to light great materials that can make you a better preacher and follower of Jesus. His blog is worth a read every time it's published.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Sweet Tea and Fried Chicken, Oh, and Jesus
Tonight I played a video provided by the International Mission Board as an aid to pastors like me when we are trying to inform and encourage our congregations to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for missions.
This year's focus is on Eastern Europe. One of the people whose lives are spotlighted this year is a Russian named Genady who lives in Moscow. This is his story.
When I previewed it in my office I wasn't prepared for the effect it would have on me. Seeing the man unashamedly cry while admitting that he had no way to verbalize what God had done in his heart, really moved me. In so many cases here in America, we don't see the emotional response to the taking away of sin as a repentant heart meets a loving Savior.
What we get is a reaction like being asked to join the Rotary or the loyal Order of Elks.
Makes me wonder if we are preaching the same gospel. I believe I am. But maybe our culture has been on such an "I'm okay, you're okay" run that people have come to the opinion that God would do well to have them join His organization.
But when I watched Genady, I remembered what I felt that night when I surrendered to Christ and how great it has been to see people since then come to Him too. I read the last part of John to the folks tonight. You know, the part right after the woman at the well?
Jesus is sitting there talking to the woman and the disciples come back and can't figure out what's going on. I mean what's the rabbi doing sitting there with a woman - a Samaritan woman? "Do you want something to eat Jesus?" they ask. "No, I'm good" he replies. "What? Did you pick something up while we were gone?"
"Yeah, I got filled up."
They didn't get it. Most of us don't.
But see to Jesus, talking about the father's love for lost people is better than fried chicken and sweet tea. He'd rather miss a meal than ever miss a person. Cause He knew what really matters in this life is how many people you are going to bring with you into the next.
I'd forgotten just how good that kind of food tastes.
Thank you Lord for letting me see Genady's testimony.
We're going to baptize Sunday. I can't wait!
This year's focus is on Eastern Europe. One of the people whose lives are spotlighted this year is a Russian named Genady who lives in Moscow. This is his story.
When I previewed it in my office I wasn't prepared for the effect it would have on me. Seeing the man unashamedly cry while admitting that he had no way to verbalize what God had done in his heart, really moved me. In so many cases here in America, we don't see the emotional response to the taking away of sin as a repentant heart meets a loving Savior.
What we get is a reaction like being asked to join the Rotary or the loyal Order of Elks.
Makes me wonder if we are preaching the same gospel. I believe I am. But maybe our culture has been on such an "I'm okay, you're okay" run that people have come to the opinion that God would do well to have them join His organization.
But when I watched Genady, I remembered what I felt that night when I surrendered to Christ and how great it has been to see people since then come to Him too. I read the last part of John to the folks tonight. You know, the part right after the woman at the well?
Jesus is sitting there talking to the woman and the disciples come back and can't figure out what's going on. I mean what's the rabbi doing sitting there with a woman - a Samaritan woman? "Do you want something to eat Jesus?" they ask. "No, I'm good" he replies. "What? Did you pick something up while we were gone?"
"Yeah, I got filled up."
They didn't get it. Most of us don't.
But see to Jesus, talking about the father's love for lost people is better than fried chicken and sweet tea. He'd rather miss a meal than ever miss a person. Cause He knew what really matters in this life is how many people you are going to bring with you into the next.
I'd forgotten just how good that kind of food tastes.
Thank you Lord for letting me see Genady's testimony.
We're going to baptize Sunday. I can't wait!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
No socks, no shoes, no problems
I was reading an obit today from a guy I never knew who lived and died in South Carolina. When he found out he was dying of cancer, he decided to take care of the arrangements for his funeral personally. He did it to spare his family the trouble, and to share his love for them - his wife and daughters, and for Jesus.
Marcus McDonald described himself as a "simple man that did not like change (or socks) very much."
His daughter described him this way, "He was the greatest man in the world. To know him was to love him. Period." His good friend Heather Hill, who had known him for 30 years, explained that he was vivacious, bold and matter-of-fact. He enjoyed skiing, water-skiing, playing horseshoes and family vacations to the beach. His family members and friends used to enjoy watching him walk up to people he never met at stores and restaurants and leave them laughing hysterically. "There was no stranger to him, period," Mandy McDonald said.
Central to his life was Christianity, Hill said. "Bottom line is he wants the world to know who Jesus is," Hill said. So he prepared Bibles for each of his daughters with notes jotted throughout specifically written for each of them. Toward the end of his obituary he wrote: "For those of you that read this and come to my funeral, I thank you on behalf of my family because that's who you are doing it for; I ain't gone be there ... I'm in heaven, thank God!
"If you can't make the funeral, visitation will be at Caughman-Harman Funeral Home on Bush River Road from 5-7 p.m. (today) ... so drop by but don't dress up for me. See, my invitation is like Jesus' invitation to salvation to you. ... Come as you are (and a smiley face goes right there)!"
Marcus Macdonald's gifts reflected what he treasured. He loved His Savior. He loved his family. And he loved the opportunity God had given him to live life to the full.
Now he's in heaven, and from Marcus Macdonald's corner I expect you'd hear the sound of laughter underneath a big sign that says "No socks, no shoes, no problems!"
While you're out searching for the perfect gift to give your loved ones, think about this.
What can you give them that will last... forever?
17 The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out— but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 John 2:17 (MSG)
Grace and peace,
David
Lead Pastor - New Hope!
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
I was reading an obit today from a guy I never knew who lived and died in South Carolina. When he found out he was dying of cancer, he decided to take care of the arrangements for his funeral personally. He did it to spare his family the trouble, and to share his love for them - his wife and daughters, and for Jesus.
Marcus McDonald described himself as a "simple man that did not like change (or socks) very much."
His daughter described him this way, "He was the greatest man in the world. To know him was to love him. Period." His good friend Heather Hill, who had known him for 30 years, explained that he was vivacious, bold and matter-of-fact. He enjoyed skiing, water-skiing, playing horseshoes and family vacations to the beach. His family members and friends used to enjoy watching him walk up to people he never met at stores and restaurants and leave them laughing hysterically. "There was no stranger to him, period," Mandy McDonald said.
Central to his life was Christianity, Hill said. "Bottom line is he wants the world to know who Jesus is," Hill said. So he prepared Bibles for each of his daughters with notes jotted throughout specifically written for each of them. Toward the end of his obituary he wrote: "For those of you that read this and come to my funeral, I thank you on behalf of my family because that's who you are doing it for; I ain't gone be there ... I'm in heaven, thank God!
"If you can't make the funeral, visitation will be at Caughman-Harman Funeral Home on Bush River Road from 5-7 p.m. (today) ... so drop by but don't dress up for me. See, my invitation is like Jesus' invitation to salvation to you. ... Come as you are (and a smiley face goes right there)!"
Marcus Macdonald's gifts reflected what he treasured. He loved His Savior. He loved his family. And he loved the opportunity God had given him to live life to the full.
Now he's in heaven, and from Marcus Macdonald's corner I expect you'd hear the sound of laughter underneath a big sign that says "No socks, no shoes, no problems!"
While you're out searching for the perfect gift to give your loved ones, think about this.
What can you give them that will last... forever?
17 The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out— but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 John 2:17 (MSG)
Grace and peace,
David
Lead Pastor - New Hope!
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
Monday, December 03, 2007
Monday, Monday
"...can't trust that day."
Sometimes when you roll over into Monday, it's a real blessing. Maybe you had a tough time the day before and knowing you have a day to reorient helps a great deal. Just having the space to reflect can soften the previous day's experience if it's bad, or you can continue to bask in the glow if it was a great day.
As a pastor, you are so tied into the events and people of the church you serve that if you aren't careful, you tend to kick yourself around quite a bit. You know and give assent to the fact that God is sovereign, and His will is being done, but if you didn't feel as though you did your best the day before, then you spend Monday thinking, if only I had worked harder, prayed more, not used that illustration, used more Scripture, used less Scripture... well, you get the idea.
But most Mondays serve as waves on the shoreline, and whatever you scribbled the day before in the sand gets blurred and erased.
Not today.
That sermon stunk. Just plain stunk. It never cleared the "so what?" bar, much less the "now what?" one.
But I can deal.
So then I open an email from Ray Pritchard and find that he's done what I wasn't able to, in the way I was hoping to do it. Thanks a lot God. :)
It's personal, it's Biblical, it's really good. Everything I was trying to do.
Sometimes when you roll over into Monday, it's a real blessing. Maybe you had a tough time the day before and knowing you have a day to reorient helps a great deal. Just having the space to reflect can soften the previous day's experience if it's bad, or you can continue to bask in the glow if it was a great day.
As a pastor, you are so tied into the events and people of the church you serve that if you aren't careful, you tend to kick yourself around quite a bit. You know and give assent to the fact that God is sovereign, and His will is being done, but if you didn't feel as though you did your best the day before, then you spend Monday thinking, if only I had worked harder, prayed more, not used that illustration, used more Scripture, used less Scripture... well, you get the idea.
But most Mondays serve as waves on the shoreline, and whatever you scribbled the day before in the sand gets blurred and erased.
Not today.
That sermon stunk. Just plain stunk. It never cleared the "so what?" bar, much less the "now what?" one.
But I can deal.
So then I open an email from Ray Pritchard and find that he's done what I wasn't able to, in the way I was hoping to do it. Thanks a lot God. :)
A decree from Caesar Augustus.
An angel appearing to Mary.
A virgin becoming pregnant.
An angel coming to Joseph in a dream.
A baby who will be called Immanuel.
A mysterious star in the east.
A group of magi showing up in Jerusalem.
Angels appearing to shepherds.
A trip to Bethlehem.
An inn that was full.
A stable that was available.
A babe wrapped in rags and placed in a feeding trough.
A star that led the magi to the right house in Bethlehem.
Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
A dying king who tried to kill the baby.
A desperate journey to Egypt.
Another journey to Nazareth.
And think of what the Bible says about this baby:
"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32).
"You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
" For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
Pretty amazing stuff, if you stop to think about it. What are the chances that all of those things that had to happen in exactly the right way would have happened? That a pagan emperor would issue a decree at just the right moment in history, when the Pax Romana was in full force, when the world was yearning restlessly for deliverance, that angels would show up to a young man and a young woman, that they would believe the angels, that the virgin would become pregnant, that Joseph would decide not to divorce her, that the star would shine in the east, that the magi would travel hundreds of miles seeking the baby, and all of it would finally focus on a stable outside an inn in the "little town of Bethlehem," where the most incredible event in history took place.
C. S. Lewis says it this way:
The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this.
He is entirely right about that. Sometimes we focus on peripheral questions (how did Jesus turn water into wine?) that distract us from the central truth of our faith. We believe God became a man. That the Creator became part of the creation. That the infinite became finite. That Almighty God took on the form of a man and was born as a tiny baby. This is the central truth of our faith.
I think Shawn is on to something when he uses the phrase "an accident from God." That's what Christmas is. It's an "accident from God," which means of course that it's no accident at all but it sure seems that way from the outside looking in.
It's personal, it's Biblical, it's really good. Everything I was trying to do.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Just Not There Today
"...a man’s reach should exceed his grasp..."
Words from a poem by Robert Browning, suggesting that, to achieve anything worthwhile, a person should attempt even those things that may turn out to be impossible.
Well, today's sermon might have been my attempt to do the impossible.
It started with the idea of walking through the Scriptures that lead to the incarnation by using the genealogy in Matthew 1. What I thought I would do is go back to the fall of Adam and Eve and walk forward through the list of people, showcasing their flaws and failures and God's faithfulness to His people and constant sense of purpose and timing. each of those people had only a portion of an understanding of what God was up to. They lived their lives and were part of God's plan. Some were remembered as heroes, some as villains, but they are all included.
"In the fullness of time, God sent His son, born of a woman..." was to bring the journey to a close with Mary.
I was hoping to go from wide angle to sharp focus as we saw how Mary - ordinary, common peasant teenager that she was, completely unremarkable in so many ways, that her life was prepared for the coming of Messiah just as were bigger events in the world. Nations were prepared. Languages were prepared. God even enlisted a tax program that enrolled 60 million people just so two of them would be in Bethlehem at just the right time.
Wide focus >>>>>> sharp focus
Big picture>>>>>> personal
So if God was at work then, if God was preparing people, places and things now, could He be at work right now through otherwise unremarkable people... like us.
The congregation probably went out knowing a bit more about the overall plan of the Incarnation. Maybe they even thought, "huh, I never realized that."
But the sermon never really got to "so what?" and "now what?" in any satisfactory way.
I bit off way more than I could chew.
hate that. my bad.
Words from a poem by Robert Browning, suggesting that, to achieve anything worthwhile, a person should attempt even those things that may turn out to be impossible.
Well, today's sermon might have been my attempt to do the impossible.
It started with the idea of walking through the Scriptures that lead to the incarnation by using the genealogy in Matthew 1. What I thought I would do is go back to the fall of Adam and Eve and walk forward through the list of people, showcasing their flaws and failures and God's faithfulness to His people and constant sense of purpose and timing. each of those people had only a portion of an understanding of what God was up to. They lived their lives and were part of God's plan. Some were remembered as heroes, some as villains, but they are all included.
"In the fullness of time, God sent His son, born of a woman..." was to bring the journey to a close with Mary.
I was hoping to go from wide angle to sharp focus as we saw how Mary - ordinary, common peasant teenager that she was, completely unremarkable in so many ways, that her life was prepared for the coming of Messiah just as were bigger events in the world. Nations were prepared. Languages were prepared. God even enlisted a tax program that enrolled 60 million people just so two of them would be in Bethlehem at just the right time.
Wide focus >>>>>> sharp focus
Big picture>>>>>> personal
So if God was at work then, if God was preparing people, places and things now, could He be at work right now through otherwise unremarkable people... like us.
The congregation probably went out knowing a bit more about the overall plan of the Incarnation. Maybe they even thought, "huh, I never realized that."
But the sermon never really got to "so what?" and "now what?" in any satisfactory way.
I bit off way more than I could chew.
hate that. my bad.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Seeing the End From the Beginning
They are called "spoilers" - when someone tells you how a movie or book is going to turn out before you see it or read it for yourself. Last year, when I found that the last few pages and explanations of the Harry Potter series' last book were available, of course I read them.
Then I tried to tell some of my friends at church that I knew loved Harry Potter. That didn't go very well - Jessica covered her ears, Emily and EJ said "nooooooooooooooooooo don't tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".
But boy I sure wanted to.
That's the fun of knowing, don't you know.
When I think about Christmas, maybe the story told most often of all time, sometimes I wonder - because we know the ending already, do we forget how AWESOME it really was?
In that story, there were so many people involved that lived and died and never knew how it was going to completely turn out. And yet they longed to see Messiah come.
Take Isaiah for example.
Every Christmas season, we take a peek into the book that bears his name, picking and choosing those scriptures that fit our Christmas story. He delivers some powerful glimpses into the character Messiah will have, but do we rush by this?
14 All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel—`God is with us.' Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)
In the passage that comes from, God asks Isaiah to tell Israel's King Ahaz to test Him. That's right. God says through the prophet Isaiah, "ask me for proof I'll come through and make it as hard as you can - ridiculous if you want to."
The King, in a rare burst of humility, declines to test God, even after being told to.
So God Himself chooses the most ridiculous example He can think of.
A virgin will conceive - God. And that God-man will live among men.
Think about it.
Maybe it's time to slow down, maybe even back up, and take another look at just what Christmas IS.
Amazing love. AWESOME GOD. With us. WOW! TELL SOMEBODY!!!!!!!!!!!
Grace and peace,
David
lead pastor, New Hope
They are called "spoilers" - when someone tells you how a movie or book is going to turn out before you see it or read it for yourself. Last year, when I found that the last few pages and explanations of the Harry Potter series' last book were available, of course I read them.
Then I tried to tell some of my friends at church that I knew loved Harry Potter. That didn't go very well - Jessica covered her ears, Emily and EJ said "nooooooooooooooooooo don't tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".
But boy I sure wanted to.
That's the fun of knowing, don't you know.
When I think about Christmas, maybe the story told most often of all time, sometimes I wonder - because we know the ending already, do we forget how AWESOME it really was?
In that story, there were so many people involved that lived and died and never knew how it was going to completely turn out. And yet they longed to see Messiah come.
Take Isaiah for example.
Every Christmas season, we take a peek into the book that bears his name, picking and choosing those scriptures that fit our Christmas story. He delivers some powerful glimpses into the character Messiah will have, but do we rush by this?
14 All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel—`God is with us.' Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)
In the passage that comes from, God asks Isaiah to tell Israel's King Ahaz to test Him. That's right. God says through the prophet Isaiah, "ask me for proof I'll come through and make it as hard as you can - ridiculous if you want to."
The King, in a rare burst of humility, declines to test God, even after being told to.
So God Himself chooses the most ridiculous example He can think of.
A virgin will conceive - God. And that God-man will live among men.
Think about it.
Maybe it's time to slow down, maybe even back up, and take another look at just what Christmas IS.
Amazing love. AWESOME GOD. With us. WOW! TELL SOMEBODY!!!!!!!!!!!
Grace and peace,
David
lead pastor, New Hope
Shameless Plug
You guys know by now that I'm not prone to toss out praise when it's not warranted. I hope my reluctance to do so isn't seen as cynicism, but a sincere desire to look for the best rather than honor the okay.
Just for background, I have a total now of 87 post graduate hours, spread over three institutions. Mercer University in Macon,(my alma Mater for undergrad) where I began an M.Ed. (and was forced by family emergency to stop), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and now Rockbridge Seminary. I have loved them all in their own way.
Mercer had some amazing professors and an awesome campus. New Orleans, especially at the extension centers (where I did the vast majority of my work so far) draws from a great pool of local teachers who really helped me learn what being a pastor/theologian is all about. But the online fledgling, Rockbridge, may prove to be the best of them all for me.
I have taken several online courses at NOBTS, but none had the interaction and vitality that the Rockbridge environment has. My Hermeneutics class this session uses the same text as NOBTS does, and I think is doing the work at least at a NOBTS level, but adds to that a professor that's really engaged in helping us online, and students who come into the class expecting to interact in a challenging way.
If you are like me, a small church pastor with time and money issues, but know you need a good theological education and (this is important) want one that will deliver to you not only the academic acuteness but the practical as well, I heartily recommend Rockbridge.
Just for background, I have a total now of 87 post graduate hours, spread over three institutions. Mercer University in Macon,(my alma Mater for undergrad) where I began an M.Ed. (and was forced by family emergency to stop), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and now Rockbridge Seminary. I have loved them all in their own way.
Mercer had some amazing professors and an awesome campus. New Orleans, especially at the extension centers (where I did the vast majority of my work so far) draws from a great pool of local teachers who really helped me learn what being a pastor/theologian is all about. But the online fledgling, Rockbridge, may prove to be the best of them all for me.
I have taken several online courses at NOBTS, but none had the interaction and vitality that the Rockbridge environment has. My Hermeneutics class this session uses the same text as NOBTS does, and I think is doing the work at least at a NOBTS level, but adds to that a professor that's really engaged in helping us online, and students who come into the class expecting to interact in a challenging way.
If you are like me, a small church pastor with time and money issues, but know you need a good theological education and (this is important) want one that will deliver to you not only the academic acuteness but the practical as well, I heartily recommend Rockbridge.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
And so...
"These days, people can get good teaching, wonderful music, and excellent writing, whether through iPods, TV, or online. They learn to shop around and pick and choose. Then they expect the same high quality in their local church. A generation ago, the average person learned to accept his home pastor and was faithful to his local church. But now, people's appetites for excellence have been heightened."
-Bryan Wilkerson is the senior pastor of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. Taken from "5 Kinds of Christians" in the Fall 2007 issue of Leadership journal.
So what does that say about our task in smaller churches and the reality we face every week in "satisfying" that sort of consumer? Should we try? Or is church counter-cultural at its core.
I'm going to have to chew on that one for a while.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
How Long?
I've got one eye on the calendar already. Just dragging the paper in last Thursday took a lot out of me. Then the collective energy used on Black Friday shopping, even though I did not participate, made me weary for those who did. I can feel the pressure building to get the lights on outside the house and the tree up inside, even though my adorable bride hasn't said a word.
But every now and then, I get a feeling like that lady did in the opening credits of Jaws.
Da -dum
Da-dum
da da da dum....
Christmas IS COMING!
When Allan, our friend from one street over, made his visit to our house today, after getting the usual small talk out of the way, (Gators won, Niceville lost, Georgia Tech lost, how's your dog, where's Bunny, tell Sean he's out...) he asked the dreaded question.
"How long until Christmas, David? How many days?"
"Well Allan, it isn't even December yet," I replied.
"But how long, David?"
"28 days"
Allan hasn't yet learned what most adults have about Christmas. Silly him, he still is amazed and in awe.
You know what? I'm going to do everything I can to find that sense of wonder again too.
How long until Christmas... for you?
Grace and peace,
David Wilson
I've got one eye on the calendar already. Just dragging the paper in last Thursday took a lot out of me. Then the collective energy used on Black Friday shopping, even though I did not participate, made me weary for those who did. I can feel the pressure building to get the lights on outside the house and the tree up inside, even though my adorable bride hasn't said a word.
But every now and then, I get a feeling like that lady did in the opening credits of Jaws.
Da -dum
Da-dum
da da da dum....
Christmas IS COMING!
When Allan, our friend from one street over, made his visit to our house today, after getting the usual small talk out of the way, (Gators won, Niceville lost, Georgia Tech lost, how's your dog, where's Bunny, tell Sean he's out...) he asked the dreaded question.
"How long until Christmas, David? How many days?"
"Well Allan, it isn't even December yet," I replied.
"But how long, David?"
"28 days"
Allan hasn't yet learned what most adults have about Christmas. Silly him, he still is amazed and in awe.
You know what? I'm going to do everything I can to find that sense of wonder again too.
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased."
Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Lk 2:8
How long until Christmas... for you?
Grace and peace,
David Wilson
6 Reasons Not to Quit
Weblog » Emergent Village » 6 Reasons Not to Quit
Brother, you ain't the lone ranger.
Good article and it its strange way, encouraging.
Pax
We have now been in the same place for nearly 4 years and are yet to see one person sign up to follow Jesus. This was not at all what I hoped for or expected when we set out to begin our missionary venture in the northern suburbs of Perth. Even though I told people it would be a long term project and we would need to be patient I (secretly) still expected amazing results and in double quick time. As a youth pastor I had seen the youth ministry I was leading grow dramatically from 30 people to 250 in less than 2 years with many of those new Christians. For some reason I concluded that a) this was normal and could be replicated b) I was the key element in catalyzing this dramatic period of growth. I figured that if I could make it happen in one setting then surely I could do it again somewhere else…
I have since come to see how arrogant and foolish that is.
Brother, you ain't the lone ranger.
Good article and it its strange way, encouraging.
Pax
I Have Met the Enemy And He Is Me
George Whitefield said:HT Darryl Dash
I cannot pray but I sin. I cannot preach to you or any others but I sin. I can do nothing without sin; and, as one expresses it, my repentance wants to be repented of, and my tears to be washed in the precious blood of my dear Redeemer. Our best duties are as so many splendid sins.
Uh, if George Whitfield was a sinner, and that sin tainted everything he did, is it just possible that I am too, and that my efforts with God are limited not by His power or willingness to see them succeed, but by my sinfulness?
Eh?
Monday, November 26, 2007
Les Puryear, man on a mission :)
Joining God in His Work: CHAPTER 2 - THE SMALL CHURCH IS NOT BROKEN
Les Puryear is bullish on smaller churches. His post today reminds me of the guy in the movie Network who gets fed up and goes off.
He's coming out swinging for the fences today, go and take a look.
Les Puryear is bullish on smaller churches. His post today reminds me of the guy in the movie Network who gets fed up and goes off.
He's coming out swinging for the fences today, go and take a look.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Learning To Grow
It was Thanksgiving weekend after all, and I knew we'd have people scattered all over. In a community where almost everyone is from somewhere else, I wondered just what a weekend we would have.
Saturday's church sanctuary decoration certainly didn't bode well for a great weekend at New Hope. Despite two emails and two separate times to help offered, only 6 people total came to help. Where was everybody?
Well it turns out that more was going on than just decorating the church. Two of our church members were at the emergency room! I knew nothing about it until this morning because our deacons handled it all.
Part of me was concerned that I was being shut out of congregational care, and that I was missing opportunities to minister to people I care for. But I know that if we are to grow from an extended family sized church to a church beyond that, I must decrease and they (others who care and are equipped to serve) must increase. But I will ask to be notified next time.
Deacons doing caring ministry... what is up at New Hope? BIG GRIN
Saturday's church sanctuary decoration certainly didn't bode well for a great weekend at New Hope. Despite two emails and two separate times to help offered, only 6 people total came to help. Where was everybody?
Well it turns out that more was going on than just decorating the church. Two of our church members were at the emergency room! I knew nothing about it until this morning because our deacons handled it all.
Part of me was concerned that I was being shut out of congregational care, and that I was missing opportunities to minister to people I care for. But I know that if we are to grow from an extended family sized church to a church beyond that, I must decrease and they (others who care and are equipped to serve) must increase. But I will ask to be notified next time.
Deacons doing caring ministry... what is up at New Hope? BIG GRIN
New Hope - Sunday 25 November 2007
Weekend after Thanksgiving and I wasn't expecting much, but we had a really good turnout. The vibe was really good, like a group of people who had been apart for a while and were really glad to be back together again.
Worship set:
(Guitars, keyboard, flute)
Here I Am To Worship
Hosanna
Call Upon His Name
Hosanna
Just As I Am
I continued the Mythbusters series with a message attacking common myths about the church with the biggest being "Church is about us". I played the "meChurch" clip and it was well received, and I spent a lot of time with the concept of the "ekklesia" and how it went from an assembly of people with faith in God to the Body of Christ living out His purposes in the world.
Worship set:
(Guitars, keyboard, flute)
Here I Am To Worship
Hosanna
Call Upon His Name
Hosanna
Just As I Am
I continued the Mythbusters series with a message attacking common myths about the church with the biggest being "Church is about us". I played the "meChurch" clip and it was well received, and I spent a lot of time with the concept of the "ekklesia" and how it went from an assembly of people with faith in God to the Body of Christ living out His purposes in the world.
On the Church
I'm preaching today hoping to dispel the myth that the church isn't necessary. In these days that's not a slam dunk like it used to be. And maybe it shouldn't be. Those vital places that made such a difference in the lives of pagans like me seem few and far between now. Many seem content to just repeat what they did last year, or in the case of the FBC down the street, go back to what worked in 1973.
Well, I was saved in 1973. My wife drove a Vega and I drove a 300 horsepower 10 mpg Duster 340. It had an 8 track tape player.
The earth has turned and life has moved on.
Well, I was saved in 1973. My wife drove a Vega and I drove a 300 horsepower 10 mpg Duster 340. It had an 8 track tape player.
The earth has turned and life has moved on.
"Unstirred waters lead to stagnation, and stagnation can't support life. Churches looking for lack of change and preservation of 'what has always been' are on course with slow, creeping death. Injection of new life, ideas, freshly surrendered lives, spiritual fervor, hunger to penetrate culture, and better ways to connect people in community all lead to disequilibrium. Disequilibrium is uncomfortable, unpredictable, and chaotic--the dominant reasons people don't like it...without fresh injections, organizations will be lulled into a false sense of complacency and end up 'the frog in the kettle slowly brought to boil.'" Ron Martoia, Morph!, 173
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Evangelicals shift toward acceptance on divorce - USATODAY.com
Evangelicals shift toward acceptance on divorce - USATODAY.com
Interesting article on divorce and its shifting status among evangelicals. So many divorces today, and yes the church was horrible to divorced people for a long time. But doesn't the pendulum feel as though it's nearing the absolute end of the opposite throw?
Piper's reaction to Instone-Brewer's article may very well herald that reverse.
Interesting article on divorce and its shifting status among evangelicals. So many divorces today, and yes the church was horrible to divorced people for a long time. But doesn't the pendulum feel as though it's nearing the absolute end of the opposite throw?
Piper's reaction to Instone-Brewer's article may very well herald that reverse.
bunnywilson: Psalms: On Single-Mindedness
bunnywilson: Psalms: On Single-Mindedness
My wife had posted a "Psalm On Single-Mindedness" that speaks to the "Pastor/Cheerleader" vs authenticity.
Go read it. She's a blessing.
My wife had posted a "Psalm On Single-Mindedness" that speaks to the "Pastor/Cheerleader" vs authenticity.
Go read it. She's a blessing.
Pastor/Cheerleader?
When I think about what I'm hoping to project as a pastor, authenticity is at the top of the chart. "Follow me as I follow Christ" Paul wrote, and what I hope to do is to model a follower of Christ.
That means that there will be days in my life that I am happy, days when I am sad, and days in between. I'll react to events and to people in various ways depending on what's happening in my life - always with grace (I hope) - but in a realistic fashion - not fake.
However in the smaller church, I'm not sure that authenticity is valued very highly at times. It seems that people would rather have a pastor/cheerleader.
When something goes wrong, I can deal with it and do. The analytical in me looks to see how it happened, what the effects were, and how we can keep it from happening again. But we don't pretend it didn't happen.
In small church, things are magnified. People leave, even one person leaves, and people react like the entire church is dying. I find myself having to stop and explain who we are again, how God is in control, and that we exist for His glory. not for man's preferences. I find myself doing this again, and again, and again.
I remember reading an article a while back on "Smiling Pastors", focusing on Joel Osteen's appeal. The writer seemed to thing that one of the major appeals Osteen has is his ever smiling face. I must be the most cynical pastor alive, but I'm calling that a made for TV effect. But CEO's apparently suffer from the same expectations. In an article Wired magazine quotes a CEO:
So what about it pastors?
Do you feel that sort of pressure? And if you do, how do you handle it?
Is this limited to the smaller church?
I'd love to hear some answers.
That means that there will be days in my life that I am happy, days when I am sad, and days in between. I'll react to events and to people in various ways depending on what's happening in my life - always with grace (I hope) - but in a realistic fashion - not fake.
However in the smaller church, I'm not sure that authenticity is valued very highly at times. It seems that people would rather have a pastor/cheerleader.
When something goes wrong, I can deal with it and do. The analytical in me looks to see how it happened, what the effects were, and how we can keep it from happening again. But we don't pretend it didn't happen.
In small church, things are magnified. People leave, even one person leaves, and people react like the entire church is dying. I find myself having to stop and explain who we are again, how God is in control, and that we exist for His glory. not for man's preferences. I find myself doing this again, and again, and again.
I remember reading an article a while back on "Smiling Pastors", focusing on Joel Osteen's appeal. The writer seemed to thing that one of the major appeals Osteen has is his ever smiling face. I must be the most cynical pastor alive, but I'm calling that a made for TV effect. But CEO's apparently suffer from the same expectations. In an article Wired magazine quotes a CEO:
When you're the CEO, you've got to get off the elevator each morning with a big smile on your face. No matter what's going on in the company. Everyone looks to you for a temperature reading.
So what about it pastors?
Do you feel that sort of pressure? And if you do, how do you handle it?
Is this limited to the smaller church?
I'd love to hear some answers.
Friday, November 23, 2007
On Preaching
John R.W. Stott,on preaching
Far from being an alien intrusion into worship, the reading and preaching of the Word are actually indispensable to it. The two cannot be divorced. Indeed, it is their unnatural divorce which accounts for the low levels of so much contemporary worship. Our worship is poor because our knowledge of God is poor. And our knowledge of God is poor because our preaching is poor. But when the word of God is expounded in its fullness and the congregation begins to glimpse the glory of the living God, they bow down in solemn awe and joyful wonder before his throne. And it is preaching which accomplishes this. The proclamation of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God -- that is why preaching is unique and irreplaceable.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thankful
When I get to Thanksgiving, I always think of those years as a little kid in Macon Georgia. We'd all pile in the car and head over to my Aunt Geneva's house, just up from the cotton mill on Roff Avenue. All of my cousins would be there too, and so we'd get every opportunity to get into trouble.
There was Uncle Ben's bomb shelter, conveniently located under the house, to explore. There were the train tracks to put a penny on, and the post office a block away to visit and see the scary faces of the most wanted. And just down the street was my Uncle Will's store, where barefoot little boys could convince their uncle that his cookies needed to be tested for freshness.
Good times.
Oh there were amazing meals. Collard Greens, pecan pies (no one cooks pecan pies like people with pecan trees in their backyard), my Aunt Geneva's best in the world corn bread, turkey and dressing, and every cake known to mankind. For a kid whose parents both worked, and our normal meal would be a 30 minute wonder - it was a staggeringly impressive feast - every year.
And yes, there was football - inside and outside. We'd play outside until lunch, then take some time to properly recover from said lunch by watching the Bears and the Lions or later the Cowboys and whoever they were beating on TV.
I was amazed when I sat down to write this, just how much of the little details of events that happened 40 years ago I did remember. The cars they drove, the year my cousin came home from the Army in uniform, the colors and fall chill - all come leaping back to my memory.
But you know, what I remember most is the laughter. When my Mother's family got together, there was always laughter. That didn't mean that life for them was wonderful - this was the mill village, and like most families, they had troubles. Money troubles, alcohol troubles, kid troubles, and health troubles.
When they were together, something incredible happened - none of those seemed so large. When I think about it now, I'm convinced that happened because when they came together, they were conscious of just how much they loved each other, and just how powerful that love could be, and was.
And when they prayed, it wasn't the 20 second version of grace, it was the recitation of what God had done in the past year for them, how grateful they were for His grace, and how thankful they were that God put them together as a family.
Grace was tangible - abundant - real. And people didn't take it for granted - they built their lives on that foundational truth. It wasn't "lucky" that they were together, it was God's grace. And in that grace they dealt with adversity and with blessings - in their fierce love for one another.
I always came away impressed that if I was a part of that family, I would never lack for love. No matter what I grew up to be, no matter what I was to make of my life, I could always come back home and run right into the arms of love. Several pairs of them. :)
In a way, it's what I believe church should be.
We love, because He first loved us. And out of that love, we live lives that testify to the grace we have received. We grow our "family" by opening our arms to those outside and setting another place at the table. Just as no one ever was a stranger on Thanksgiving at the Bowden family's meal, no one should ever be turned away.
And come blessings or trials, you have a home filled with love.
Lots of those people who fill my memories have passed away now. But they helped make me who I am. And last night when I read this passage again, I could smell collard greens cooking and hear the laughter.
18 I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, "Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19 I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand." ' 20 He got right up and went home to his father.
"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22 "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 24 My son is here— given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'
Luke 15:18-24 (MSG)
I'm very thankful to be a part of the family called New Hope, and wherever you are I pray that you are a part of such a loving group of people. May all who read this know that God loves you with a love fiercer than any family could ever muster. And He's eagerly waiting for the reunion to come.
Happy Thanksgiving and may God's richest blessings be yours.
Grace and peace,
David
Lead Pastor, New Hope
When I get to Thanksgiving, I always think of those years as a little kid in Macon Georgia. We'd all pile in the car and head over to my Aunt Geneva's house, just up from the cotton mill on Roff Avenue. All of my cousins would be there too, and so we'd get every opportunity to get into trouble.
There was Uncle Ben's bomb shelter, conveniently located under the house, to explore. There were the train tracks to put a penny on, and the post office a block away to visit and see the scary faces of the most wanted. And just down the street was my Uncle Will's store, where barefoot little boys could convince their uncle that his cookies needed to be tested for freshness.
Good times.
Oh there were amazing meals. Collard Greens, pecan pies (no one cooks pecan pies like people with pecan trees in their backyard), my Aunt Geneva's best in the world corn bread, turkey and dressing, and every cake known to mankind. For a kid whose parents both worked, and our normal meal would be a 30 minute wonder - it was a staggeringly impressive feast - every year.
And yes, there was football - inside and outside. We'd play outside until lunch, then take some time to properly recover from said lunch by watching the Bears and the Lions or later the Cowboys and whoever they were beating on TV.
I was amazed when I sat down to write this, just how much of the little details of events that happened 40 years ago I did remember. The cars they drove, the year my cousin came home from the Army in uniform, the colors and fall chill - all come leaping back to my memory.
But you know, what I remember most is the laughter. When my Mother's family got together, there was always laughter. That didn't mean that life for them was wonderful - this was the mill village, and like most families, they had troubles. Money troubles, alcohol troubles, kid troubles, and health troubles.
When they were together, something incredible happened - none of those seemed so large. When I think about it now, I'm convinced that happened because when they came together, they were conscious of just how much they loved each other, and just how powerful that love could be, and was.
And when they prayed, it wasn't the 20 second version of grace, it was the recitation of what God had done in the past year for them, how grateful they were for His grace, and how thankful they were that God put them together as a family.
Grace was tangible - abundant - real. And people didn't take it for granted - they built their lives on that foundational truth. It wasn't "lucky" that they were together, it was God's grace. And in that grace they dealt with adversity and with blessings - in their fierce love for one another.
I always came away impressed that if I was a part of that family, I would never lack for love. No matter what I grew up to be, no matter what I was to make of my life, I could always come back home and run right into the arms of love. Several pairs of them. :)
In a way, it's what I believe church should be.
We love, because He first loved us. And out of that love, we live lives that testify to the grace we have received. We grow our "family" by opening our arms to those outside and setting another place at the table. Just as no one ever was a stranger on Thanksgiving at the Bowden family's meal, no one should ever be turned away.
And come blessings or trials, you have a home filled with love.
Lots of those people who fill my memories have passed away now. But they helped make me who I am. And last night when I read this passage again, I could smell collard greens cooking and hear the laughter.
18 I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, "Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19 I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand." ' 20 He got right up and went home to his father.
"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22 "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 24 My son is here— given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'
Luke 15:18-24 (MSG)
I'm very thankful to be a part of the family called New Hope, and wherever you are I pray that you are a part of such a loving group of people. May all who read this know that God loves you with a love fiercer than any family could ever muster. And He's eagerly waiting for the reunion to come.
Happy Thanksgiving and may God's richest blessings be yours.
Grace and peace,
David
Lead Pastor, New Hope
Thankful
When I get to Thanksgiving, I always think of those years as a little kid in Macon Georgia. We'd all pile in the car and head over to my Aunt Geneva's house, just up from the cotton mill on Roff Avenue. All of my cousins would be there too, and so we'd get every opportunity to get into trouble.
There was Uncle Ben's bomb shelter, conveniently located under the house, to explore. There were the train tracks to put a penny on, and the post office a block away to visit and see the scary faces of the most wanted. And just down the street was my Uncle Will's store, where barefoot little boys could convince their uncle that his cookies needed to be tested for freshness.
Good times.
Oh there were amazing meals. Collard Greens, pecan pies (no one cooks pecan pies like people with pecan trees in their backyard), my Aunt Geneva's best in the world corn bread, turkey and dressing, and every cake known to mankind. For a kid whose parents both worked, and our normal meal would be a 30 minute wonder - it was a staggeringly impressive feast - every year.
And yes, there was football - inside and outside. We'd play outside until lunch, then take some time to properly recover from said lunch by watching the Bears and the Lions or later the Cowboys and whoever they were beating on TV.
I was amazed when I sat down to write this, just how much of the little details of events that happened 40 years ago I did remember. The cars they drove, the year my cousin came home from the Army in uniform, the colors and fall chill - all come leaping back to my memory.
But you know, what I remember most is the laughter. When my Mother's family got together, there was always laughter. That didn't mean that life for them was wonderful - this was the mill village, and like most families, they had troubles. Money troubles, alcohol troubles, kid troubles, and health troubles.
When they were together, something incredible happened - none of those seemed so large. When I think about it now, I'm convinced that happened because when they came together, they were conscious of just how much they loved each other, and just how powerful that love could be, and was.
And when they prayed, it wasn't the 20 second version of grace, it was the recitation of what God had done in the past year for them, how grateful they were for His grace, and how thankful they were that God put them together as a family.
Grace was tangible - abundant - real. And people didn't take it for granted - they built their lives on that foundational truth. It wasn't "lucky" that they were together, it was God's grace. And in that grace they dealt with adversity and with blessings - in their fierce love for one another.
I always came away impressed that if I was a part of that family, I would never lack for love. No matter what I grew up to be, no matter what I was to make of my life, I could always come back home and run right into the arms of love. Several pairs of them. :)
In a way, it's what I believe church should be.
We love, because He first loved us. And out of that love, we live lives that testify to the grace we have received. We grow our "family" by opening our arms to those outside and setting another place at the table. Just as no one ever was a stranger on Thanksgiving at the Bowden family's meal, no one should ever be turned away.
And come blessings or trials, you have a home filled with love.
Lots of those people who fill my memories have passed away now. But they helped make me who I am. And last night when I read this passage again, I could smell collard greens cooking and hear the laughter.
18 I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, "Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19 I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand." ' 20 He got right up and went home to his father.
"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22 "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 24 My son is here— given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'
Luke 15:18-24 (MSG)
I'm very thankful to be a part of the family called New Hope, and wherever you are I pray that you are a part of such a loving group of people. May all who read this know that God loves you with a love fiercer than any family could ever muster. And He's eagerly waiting for the reunion to come.
Happy Thanksgiving and may God's richest blessings be yours.
Grace and peace,
David
Lead Pastor, New Hope
There was Uncle Ben's bomb shelter, conveniently located under the house, to explore. There were the train tracks to put a penny on, and the post office a block away to visit and see the scary faces of the most wanted. And just down the street was my Uncle Will's store, where barefoot little boys could convince their uncle that his cookies needed to be tested for freshness.
Good times.
Oh there were amazing meals. Collard Greens, pecan pies (no one cooks pecan pies like people with pecan trees in their backyard), my Aunt Geneva's best in the world corn bread, turkey and dressing, and every cake known to mankind. For a kid whose parents both worked, and our normal meal would be a 30 minute wonder - it was a staggeringly impressive feast - every year.
And yes, there was football - inside and outside. We'd play outside until lunch, then take some time to properly recover from said lunch by watching the Bears and the Lions or later the Cowboys and whoever they were beating on TV.
I was amazed when I sat down to write this, just how much of the little details of events that happened 40 years ago I did remember. The cars they drove, the year my cousin came home from the Army in uniform, the colors and fall chill - all come leaping back to my memory.
But you know, what I remember most is the laughter. When my Mother's family got together, there was always laughter. That didn't mean that life for them was wonderful - this was the mill village, and like most families, they had troubles. Money troubles, alcohol troubles, kid troubles, and health troubles.
When they were together, something incredible happened - none of those seemed so large. When I think about it now, I'm convinced that happened because when they came together, they were conscious of just how much they loved each other, and just how powerful that love could be, and was.
And when they prayed, it wasn't the 20 second version of grace, it was the recitation of what God had done in the past year for them, how grateful they were for His grace, and how thankful they were that God put them together as a family.
Grace was tangible - abundant - real. And people didn't take it for granted - they built their lives on that foundational truth. It wasn't "lucky" that they were together, it was God's grace. And in that grace they dealt with adversity and with blessings - in their fierce love for one another.
I always came away impressed that if I was a part of that family, I would never lack for love. No matter what I grew up to be, no matter what I was to make of my life, I could always come back home and run right into the arms of love. Several pairs of them. :)
In a way, it's what I believe church should be.
We love, because He first loved us. And out of that love, we live lives that testify to the grace we have received. We grow our "family" by opening our arms to those outside and setting another place at the table. Just as no one ever was a stranger on Thanksgiving at the Bowden family's meal, no one should ever be turned away.
And come blessings or trials, you have a home filled with love.
Lots of those people who fill my memories have passed away now. But they helped make me who I am. And last night when I read this passage again, I could smell collard greens cooking and hear the laughter.
18 I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, "Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19 I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand." ' 20 He got right up and went home to his father.
"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22 "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 24 My son is here— given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'
Luke 15:18-24 (MSG)
I'm very thankful to be a part of the family called New Hope, and wherever you are I pray that you are a part of such a loving group of people. May all who read this know that God loves you with a love fiercer than any family could ever muster. And He's eagerly waiting for the reunion to come.
Happy Thanksgiving and may God's richest blessings be yours.
Grace and peace,
David
Lead Pastor, New Hope
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
"He drew a circle..."
"He drew a circle..."
He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!
"Outwitted" by Edwin Markham (complete poem)
Smaller Churches
Les Puryear is really doing good work in raising the profile of small churches and pastors, and especially among the churches of the SBC. Todays post is only one of many Les has authored that will encourage you if you are one of the majority of pastors whose churches are smaller than 200 in worship.
A snippet:
Go read the whole thing
A snippet:
In my own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), I asked the good folks at Lifeway to run a report for me to count the churches based on Primary Worship Service(s) Attendance in 2006. They very graciously attended to my request and sent me the following report:
1-99 attendees = 25,217 churches (62.7%)
100-199 attendees = 8,305 churches (20.7%)
200-299 attendees = 2,850 churches (7.1%)
300-499 attendees = 2,126 churches (5.3%)
500-749 attendees = 788 churches (2.0%)
750-999 attendees = 336 churches (0.8%)
1,000-1,999 attendees = 425 churches (1.1%)
2,000+ attendees = 139 churches (0.3%)
Total Churches = 40,186
You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw these numbers. This data, which I believe to be more representative of actual people in the pews, reveals that the SBC is overwhelmingly a denomination of small churches with 83.4% (33,522) of our churches having an average worship attendance of less than 200 people. At the other end of the spectrum, only 1.4% (564) of our churches have 1,000 or more in attendance each Sunday. More than ever, it appears that we are a convention of an overwhelming majority of small churches.
Go read the whole thing
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
New Hope - Sunday 18 Nov 2007
New Hope - Sunday 18 Nov 2007
Beginning with Psalm 100
Our worship set
* Amazed
* Forever
* Change My Heart O God
* It Is Well With My Soul
Emily Shermer sang "All Creatures Of Our God and King" before the message.
We used "Have Thine Own Way" as our hymn of commitment.
The idea was to put songs out there that would help people focus on God's faithfulness - even in times of pain and devastation. I took a minute to introduce "It Is Well With My Soul" to the congregation, making the point again that songs are set to music, but the words are the conduit to the heart. Each generation has songs that speak their heart language, and we have 4 generations in worship.
We continued the "Mythbusters" series with a message on the myth that "God Owes Me".
I asked the congregation to live like the 10th leper.
Beginning with Psalm 100
A psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth!
2 Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Psalms 100:1-5 (NLT)
Our worship set
* Amazed
* Forever
* Change My Heart O God
* It Is Well With My Soul
Emily Shermer sang "All Creatures Of Our God and King" before the message.
We used "Have Thine Own Way" as our hymn of commitment.
The idea was to put songs out there that would help people focus on God's faithfulness - even in times of pain and devastation. I took a minute to introduce "It Is Well With My Soul" to the congregation, making the point again that songs are set to music, but the words are the conduit to the heart. Each generation has songs that speak their heart language, and we have 4 generations in worship.
We continued the "Mythbusters" series with a message on the myth that "God Owes Me".
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
14 He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, "Praise God, I'm healed!" 16 He fell face down on the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?" 19 And Jesus said to the man, "Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well."
Luke 17:11-19 (NLT)
I asked the congregation to live like the 10th leper.
Monday, November 19, 2007
"Let's breathe"
What does it mean to be a believer?
Ann Lamont: I have a very pathetic and innocent relationship with Jesus. [The things] I’m sure about are the things the kids in church sing: that I’m loved and never alone. I am a complicated and worried person. To know that I can just say “hi” and “I am so lost,” and He says, “Hi, hon. No, you’re not. Let’s breathe. Get a glass of water. Do you want to call a friend?” Simple works for me. I love to read profound, theological, brilliant, stunning stuff that throws the lights on for me, and then I write about it so I can disseminate it. But I don’t have brilliant, theological thoughts. The difference my church makes is that I still get lost, but I find my way back sooner.
Relevant Magazine Article
Wearing Out A Pastor
I never understood it.
Years and years ago I knew a guy who pastored a small church in rural Bibb County GA. The church I attended to play softball played his church in the Lizella league. Seemed like a nice enough guy. Looked like the team liked each other.
Couple of years later, I saw him again. He was working at Sears, selling washing machines.
At the time, I had no frame of reference for that. Pastors were in it for life, I thought. Unless they disqualified themselves because of a moral failure, or they checked out of this life for the next, they were always pastors. Frankly, I thought anyone who didn't pastor after being called, must not have been called to begin with. Wouldn't say I questioned their salvation, but let's just say I was grateful for God's mercy when it came to people like that.
My epiphany has come. In fact there are times when I wonder how anyone can pastor a church and remain there for any period of time.
A friend of mine has feared for his life and that of his family. Another pastor I know has bodyguards. Those are extremes, I know. Most pastors just wear out.
How do you wear out a pastor?
Constantly carp about "being fed."
Remind him who "pays the bills."
Take every opportunity to blunt any good news - for example if you see the Holy Spirit move and someone come to Christ, complain about the music and remind him of those people who left.
If you have a lot of young people coming, complain that all the old people have been run off.
If you have a predominately older congregation, complain that the church isn't reaching any young people.
Find a way, any way to remind him who he isn't. (This could be the pastor before him, the guy down the street, or some TV preacher who'll never be there when they call at 3AM)
Never, ever recognize either his or his family's sacrifices for the work of Christ there. (I have one friend who left a law career to enter the ministry. I left a marketing and sales career. I don't know about him, but I haven't caught up to what I made in 1990 yet)
Never acknowledge their anniversaries in service.
Never insist they take vacation - in fact complain if they ever do.
Don't ever think about their health (or make sure they have insurance), and put as little as you can into a retirement fund, just so you can say that you did your part.
Carp about any efforts they make to improve via education or in purchasing books or going to conferences - after all, you know they are just using your church as a stepping stone.
Make sure their wife is miserable - this may be the single most effective thing you can do.
Agree with them on subjects like worship music in public, but talk a completely different tune among other people inside the church.
Find some way to postpone or if possible derail any new idea they bring to the table. You can use the "we've never done that before" card, the "I'm not sure we can pay for it card" or anything you think will cool anything that might cause the church to see greater impact for Christ.
Right before worship, as they are preparing their heart and mind to deliver the message God has given them, ask them to make an announcement, or question them about something. Anything you can do to make them less effective helps.
Oh and never, ever stop pushing them to do things your way. It may take years, but constant pressure pays huge dividends - ever see the Grand Canyon?
In time, you will wear them out.
They may continue doing what they are doing, but the joy of serving God and seeing Him glorified will diminish. You'll have converted them to the functional equivalent of the Japanese "salaryman" who expects nothing from his work except a paycheck, and has to wonder in many cases if that will come.
Each year, thousands of men and women turn away from the call God gave them and enter life after the ministry. Not because they have lost their calling, or their gifts, but because over time, like water on rock, they wear away.
Shame.
Years and years ago I knew a guy who pastored a small church in rural Bibb County GA. The church I attended to play softball played his church in the Lizella league. Seemed like a nice enough guy. Looked like the team liked each other.
Couple of years later, I saw him again. He was working at Sears, selling washing machines.
At the time, I had no frame of reference for that. Pastors were in it for life, I thought. Unless they disqualified themselves because of a moral failure, or they checked out of this life for the next, they were always pastors. Frankly, I thought anyone who didn't pastor after being called, must not have been called to begin with. Wouldn't say I questioned their salvation, but let's just say I was grateful for God's mercy when it came to people like that.
My epiphany has come. In fact there are times when I wonder how anyone can pastor a church and remain there for any period of time.
A friend of mine has feared for his life and that of his family. Another pastor I know has bodyguards. Those are extremes, I know. Most pastors just wear out.
How do you wear out a pastor?
Constantly carp about "being fed."
Remind him who "pays the bills."
Take every opportunity to blunt any good news - for example if you see the Holy Spirit move and someone come to Christ, complain about the music and remind him of those people who left.
If you have a lot of young people coming, complain that all the old people have been run off.
If you have a predominately older congregation, complain that the church isn't reaching any young people.
Find a way, any way to remind him who he isn't. (This could be the pastor before him, the guy down the street, or some TV preacher who'll never be there when they call at 3AM)
Never, ever recognize either his or his family's sacrifices for the work of Christ there. (I have one friend who left a law career to enter the ministry. I left a marketing and sales career. I don't know about him, but I haven't caught up to what I made in 1990 yet)
Never acknowledge their anniversaries in service.
Never insist they take vacation - in fact complain if they ever do.
Don't ever think about their health (or make sure they have insurance), and put as little as you can into a retirement fund, just so you can say that you did your part.
Carp about any efforts they make to improve via education or in purchasing books or going to conferences - after all, you know they are just using your church as a stepping stone.
Make sure their wife is miserable - this may be the single most effective thing you can do.
Agree with them on subjects like worship music in public, but talk a completely different tune among other people inside the church.
Find some way to postpone or if possible derail any new idea they bring to the table. You can use the "we've never done that before" card, the "I'm not sure we can pay for it card" or anything you think will cool anything that might cause the church to see greater impact for Christ.
Right before worship, as they are preparing their heart and mind to deliver the message God has given them, ask them to make an announcement, or question them about something. Anything you can do to make them less effective helps.
Oh and never, ever stop pushing them to do things your way. It may take years, but constant pressure pays huge dividends - ever see the Grand Canyon?
In time, you will wear them out.
They may continue doing what they are doing, but the joy of serving God and seeing Him glorified will diminish. You'll have converted them to the functional equivalent of the Japanese "salaryman" who expects nothing from his work except a paycheck, and has to wonder in many cases if that will come.
Each year, thousands of men and women turn away from the call God gave them and enter life after the ministry. Not because they have lost their calling, or their gifts, but because over time, like water on rock, they wear away.
Shame.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Well, This Clinches It For Me
I was already impressed with Mike Huckabee, but now he's Chuck Norris approved. :)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Just Throw Strikes
It's Saturday night, the weekend before Thanksgiving. I've worked all week on the
My task is to draw them into the story, and deliver the Word as it was and as it is. Might not be unique. But it will be real.
next "Mythbuster", attacking the myth of "God owes me". Most preachers I talk to say that the holiday sermons are the hardest. I tend to agree. The "land" has been plowed so many times that you and your congregation can write the sermon without you saying anything.
"be more thankful" - now let's eat.
The temptation is to try to get fancy. To come up with something no one has ever seen before. Ray Pritchard gave me a word on that tonight I wanted to share.
The following story comes from my friend Dave Burchett. It seems that a young pitcher for the Texas Rangers had just been called up from the minors. He got his big chance because he had shown a fearless ability to throw strikes no matter who was at the plate. Finally the night came when he was going to pitch in the major leagues for the first time. Like many players getting their first start, the young hurler was nervous and it showed on the mound. Thinking he needed to make a good impression, he tried this pitch and that pitch. Slider, fastball, curve, forkball, you name it, he tried it. He pitched high, low, inside, outside, in the dirt, he was all over the place. He walked batters left and right, and the ones he didn’t walk hit the ball hard. At length, having seen enough, the manager decided to talk to the young man. When he got to the mound, the manager put his hand on the pitcher’s shoulder and said, “Son, Babe Ruth is dead. Throw strikes.”
That’s good advice for budding pitchers. Babe Ruth is dead so don’t try to be cute. Just throw strikes. Put the ball over the plate. If they hit it, they hit it, but don’t try to throw some kind of fancy pitch you haven’t mastered yet. Throw strikes. That’s the heart of good pitching.
My task is to draw them into the story, and deliver the Word as it was and as it is. Might not be unique. But it will be real.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Churchless Christians
In The Present Future, Reggie McNeal writes this about churchless Christians:
Based on experience, I have no doubt that there are people who once were in church who are not now. And I suppose in some cases, they could be Christians seeking to leave toxic situations that could damage their faith.
But what I have seen more often than not hasn't been that at all.
They left to preserve their preferences, to protest the direction the church was going (or any changes that might be made), and rather than immediately find a place of service and worship, decide to sit on the sidelines and sour.
A friend told me he heard Ed Stetzer say recently that "each church must make a decision - either for their traditions or for the children." He added that Stetzer said most would chose tradition.
As the number of churches, even First Baptist churches - change, those places where tradition is as Faulkner famously remarked "the past isn't dead, it isn't even past" holds true dwindles, where will these people go? They won't. They'll stay home, watch Joel Osteen and enjoy their best life now. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Didn't Jesus say something about being connected to the vine?
“A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith. They contend that the church no longer contributes to their spiritual development. In fact, they say, quite the opposite is true.”
Based on experience, I have no doubt that there are people who once were in church who are not now. And I suppose in some cases, they could be Christians seeking to leave toxic situations that could damage their faith.
But what I have seen more often than not hasn't been that at all.
They left to preserve their preferences, to protest the direction the church was going (or any changes that might be made), and rather than immediately find a place of service and worship, decide to sit on the sidelines and sour.
A friend told me he heard Ed Stetzer say recently that "each church must make a decision - either for their traditions or for the children." He added that Stetzer said most would chose tradition.
As the number of churches, even First Baptist churches - change, those places where tradition is as Faulkner famously remarked "the past isn't dead, it isn't even past" holds true dwindles, where will these people go? They won't. They'll stay home, watch Joel Osteen and enjoy their best life now. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Didn't Jesus say something about being connected to the vine?
Friday, November 09, 2007
The Wheels On the Bus Go Round and Round Is A Worship Song
It's 12:40 Thursday afternoon, and the kids are ready to go to music. Each person grabs a wheelchair's arms and begin pushing one of the children down the ramp on the way to music. When we get there, the kids will all be in a semicircle, and we'll kneel down to get to eye level.
The goal is to get a reaction - any reaction. For these kids are profoundly disabled and confined to their wheelchairs. To get them to react, the music teacher uses simple songs, percussion instruments, bells, and other objects like scarves and cardboard bees on Popsicle sticks.
New Hope has an amazing group of people who have adopted these kids and spend some time two days a week reading to the kids and doing the music time with them. We do it in order to live out Christ's love in our neighborhood. We do it out of a love for Jesus and what He's done for us. I don't know about the rest of our team from New Hope, but Bunny and I come away happy but drained. We give it everything we have for those minutes with the kids, and if we get a reaction, our hearts leap for joy.
So we laugh when we sing about fat turkeys, we ring the bells, tap the tambourines and rap the percussion tubes. And every time we go, we sing "The Wheels On the Bus Go Round and Round."
And Alli rings her bell and grins. And Logan scratches the tambourine's top. And Brendan shouts with joy.
And I thank God.
I'm very aware that people are funny about their worship music. Some prefer the hymns they grew up with. Others want the contemporary sound. The division over musical preference can drive people away from each other, from Christ's church, and from as close a relationship with God as they could have. That's a shame.
If only they could see Alex smile when we ring the bus's bell, and feel the joy we feel from being used to God to tell these kids just how much he loves them.
Then maybe there'd be room on the power point or in the hymnal for just one song more.
Yes, The Wheels On the Bus Go Round and Round Is A Worship song. To me. Because through it, I draw closer to God.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
16 Make sure you don't take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship— a different kind of "sacrifice"— that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets. Heb 13:16 (MSG)
It's 12:40 Thursday afternoon, and the kids are ready to go to music. Each person grabs a wheelchair's arms and begin pushing one of the children down the ramp on the way to music. When we get there, the kids will all be in a semicircle, and we'll kneel down to get to eye level.
The goal is to get a reaction - any reaction. For these kids are profoundly disabled and confined to their wheelchairs. To get them to react, the music teacher uses simple songs, percussion instruments, bells, and other objects like scarves and cardboard bees on Popsicle sticks.
New Hope has an amazing group of people who have adopted these kids and spend some time two days a week reading to the kids and doing the music time with them. We do it in order to live out Christ's love in our neighborhood. We do it out of a love for Jesus and what He's done for us. I don't know about the rest of our team from New Hope, but Bunny and I come away happy but drained. We give it everything we have for those minutes with the kids, and if we get a reaction, our hearts leap for joy.
So we laugh when we sing about fat turkeys, we ring the bells, tap the tambourines and rap the percussion tubes. And every time we go, we sing "The Wheels On the Bus Go Round and Round."
And Alli rings her bell and grins. And Logan scratches the tambourine's top. And Brendan shouts with joy.
And I thank God.
I'm very aware that people are funny about their worship music. Some prefer the hymns they grew up with. Others want the contemporary sound. The division over musical preference can drive people away from each other, from Christ's church, and from as close a relationship with God as they could have. That's a shame.
If only they could see Alex smile when we ring the bus's bell, and feel the joy we feel from being used to God to tell these kids just how much he loves them.
Then maybe there'd be room on the power point or in the hymnal for just one song more.
Yes, The Wheels On the Bus Go Round and Round Is A Worship song. To me. Because through it, I draw closer to God.
Grace and peace,
David
--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
On Poverty
We are the first generation that really can do something about the kind of “stupid” poverty that sees children dying of hunger in a world of plenty or mothers dying for lack of a 20-cent drug that we take for granted. We have the science, we have the resources, what we don’t seem to have is the will. This is an opportunity to show what America stands for.
Bono in Tom Davis’ Red Letters
I think there's hope rising in churches all over America. We are beginning to realize that we have been selfish and self centered and are rich and increased with goods. I pray that this Christmas season brings new opportunities to carry the Life into a dark world.
Your Kingdom Come, Lord!
Between Two Worlds: Driscoll's Confession on Pride
You need to read this. One of the most authentic and transparent confessions of the need for God's grace I have ever read.
Between Two Worlds: Driscoll's Confession on Pride
Between Two Worlds: Driscoll's Confession on Pride
Inverson Therapy
"The key to understanding the laws that govern God’s Kingdom is to realize that the processes of the kingdom are inverted; they are exactly the opposite of what the world teaches, and at first glance, they seem to be counter-intuitive. To obtain what we desire, we have to do the opposite of what we would normally do. When the world says stop, Jesus says go. When the world says go for it, Jesus says no. The laws of inversion are actually the fruits of a Christ-centered life, and this, as Christians know, is diametrically opposed to the world’s views."
- J.D. Hatfield
HT to Transforming Sermons - just too good to not post
- J.D. Hatfield
HT to Transforming Sermons - just too good to not post
Thursday, November 08, 2007
That Old Time Religion
You could call it the long war.
Every now and then, just when I think we might be about to break a long run of growth, it flares up again. The words are always from the same playbook. "Not enough hymns. We don't use the hymnal anymore. The communion table, I miss it. You don't want any old people here. You know we are the ones that support this church."
Friends, it gets old.
You can answer with facts. In our case we do about 25% hymns. ("But they aren't the right ones and you don't do them the right way.")
You can answer with vision. In our case it's to be multi-generational and grow our youth into leaders. (See 'you don't want any old people' above).
You can answer that you are trying to follow what God has called you to do. (They'll remind you that you need your salary. I then remind them my salary comes from God.)
It really doesn't matter what you answer.
Friends, if you are reading this and you aren't a pastor, I want you to know how hard it is for a person who's really trying to help people grow and reach other people, who's sacrificed numerous times to be here and stay here, to want to continue to hear it.
It makes me want to quit.
So stop it.
Every now and then, just when I think we might be about to break a long run of growth, it flares up again. The words are always from the same playbook. "Not enough hymns. We don't use the hymnal anymore. The communion table, I miss it. You don't want any old people here. You know we are the ones that support this church."
Friends, it gets old.
You can answer with facts. In our case we do about 25% hymns. ("But they aren't the right ones and you don't do them the right way.")
You can answer with vision. In our case it's to be multi-generational and grow our youth into leaders. (See 'you don't want any old people' above).
You can answer that you are trying to follow what God has called you to do. (They'll remind you that you need your salary. I then remind them my salary comes from God.)
It really doesn't matter what you answer.
Friends, if you are reading this and you aren't a pastor, I want you to know how hard it is for a person who's really trying to help people grow and reach other people, who's sacrificed numerous times to be here and stay here, to want to continue to hear it.
It makes me want to quit.
So stop it.
The Sound of Crickets
On two occasions in the last week, I've found myself feeling as if I overran the base while teaching. Sunday night in men's group we somehow wandered into predestination and election, and the result was I got a phone call at home later from a deacon who was completely turned around and staggering to comprehend what seemed so clear to me.
Those of you who are SBC are probably laughing right now, because our beliefs (the traditional ones anyway) are sort of a hash. The Calvinist has the advantage of having a cool acronym and we don't. But I tried to help the guys get through it and felt like I had, until the call.
Then last night as I was finishing last Sunday's teaching on the myth that you can't trust the Bible, I went after some of the normal attacks on its veracity. I pulled up the Joshua 10 passage where the writer describes the sun standing still to help Israel win the battle and went from there into examples of figurative language.
"I watched a beautiful sunrise." A misstatement but it sounds better than "did you see the way the earth rotated this morning?"
"I have a friend down under." Down under what? The earth is round.
"They searched the four corners of the earth but couldn't find him." Uh, the earth, she have no four corners.
So I suggested that it was possible here that the writer was using figurative language to describe the event.
*crickets*
My goal is to help people in their ability to read the Bible and understand the ways of God. Sometimes in going to those places that might be more obscure, I wonder if I overrun. Thing is, that's exactly where the critics of the Bible live, so I'm trying to preemptively attack their arguments before they lead someone I love astray.
Anyone else hear crickets on occasion?
Those of you who are SBC are probably laughing right now, because our beliefs (the traditional ones anyway) are sort of a hash. The Calvinist has the advantage of having a cool acronym and we don't. But I tried to help the guys get through it and felt like I had, until the call.
Then last night as I was finishing last Sunday's teaching on the myth that you can't trust the Bible, I went after some of the normal attacks on its veracity. I pulled up the Joshua 10 passage where the writer describes the sun standing still to help Israel win the battle and went from there into examples of figurative language.
"I watched a beautiful sunrise." A misstatement but it sounds better than "did you see the way the earth rotated this morning?"
"I have a friend down under." Down under what? The earth is round.
"They searched the four corners of the earth but couldn't find him." Uh, the earth, she have no four corners.
So I suggested that it was possible here that the writer was using figurative language to describe the event.
*crickets*
My goal is to help people in their ability to read the Bible and understand the ways of God. Sometimes in going to those places that might be more obscure, I wonder if I overrun. Thing is, that's exactly where the critics of the Bible live, so I'm trying to preemptively attack their arguments before they lead someone I love astray.
Anyone else hear crickets on occasion?
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
And So, Here I Am...
Like Paul, I know I am in way over my head. But I also know that God loves me and has chosen me to do this work of telling His story. So I watch and listen.
I was rearranging my office today and picked up a wooden plaque dated 1981. On it rested a hand print of one Adam Wilson, my first born son. It was so small. The writing on the plaque was some of that sentimental stuff about looking back at kids when they grow up.
Uh yeah. Wouldn't want to do that. I'd be one of those saps, huh.
When Adam came into this world, I had no clue what being his daddy would mean. I wasn't just in over my head, I was clueless. All I could do is look at him and wonder what in the world am I supposed to do now?
I thought back to a baby lying in a yellow inflatable "tub" so we could bathe him. To a little boy who followed his daddy around. To a young man who I played basketball with. And today I thought about the man who closed on his first home yesterday and is moving in tonight.
Then I thought about times when we worried over him - when he was sick, when those first days of school came, when we left to come down here and he didn't come with us. There were times of great joy - he was an awesome boy, and there have been times of sadness.
Yet looking at that hand print today made me think of God's grace - His love, and His mercy.
For through it all, even before Adam was born, God knew him, and He knew Bunny and me. We'll never know the extent of how God blessed us with His providential care. A lot of things could have gone wrong. An awful lot of things went right. In that boy, now a man, I got to watch God's work and have a part in it.
"And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ."
Well, sometimes they aren't over your head. I've got a hand print on a plaque to prove it.
Grace and peace,
David
And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ.
9 My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Gal 3:8-9 (MSG)
Like Paul, I know I am in way over my head. But I also know that God loves me and has chosen me to do this work of telling His story. So I watch and listen.
I was rearranging my office today and picked up a wooden plaque dated 1981. On it rested a hand print of one Adam Wilson, my first born son. It was so small. The writing on the plaque was some of that sentimental stuff about looking back at kids when they grow up.
Uh yeah. Wouldn't want to do that. I'd be one of those saps, huh.
When Adam came into this world, I had no clue what being his daddy would mean. I wasn't just in over my head, I was clueless. All I could do is look at him and wonder what in the world am I supposed to do now?
I thought back to a baby lying in a yellow inflatable "tub" so we could bathe him. To a little boy who followed his daddy around. To a young man who I played basketball with. And today I thought about the man who closed on his first home yesterday and is moving in tonight.
Then I thought about times when we worried over him - when he was sick, when those first days of school came, when we left to come down here and he didn't come with us. There were times of great joy - he was an awesome boy, and there have been times of sadness.
Yet looking at that hand print today made me think of God's grace - His love, and His mercy.
For through it all, even before Adam was born, God knew him, and He knew Bunny and me. We'll never know the extent of how God blessed us with His providential care. A lot of things could have gone wrong. An awful lot of things went right. In that boy, now a man, I got to watch God's work and have a part in it.
"And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ."
Well, sometimes they aren't over your head. I've got a hand print on a plaque to prove it.
Grace and peace,
David
Seasonal Preaching
We're there already.
It's the holiday season - saw the first Christmas ad yesterday on TV, Bunny got her first "Black Friday" spoiler emails. Yep, the blur that is the American holiday season is here. I don't know about you, but I feel a little bit like the guy in the Capital One commercial - you know the one - where he's looking out across his deck and into his backyard and all of a sudden a Claymore sword thunks into the wood - followed by spears, more swords, and arrows.
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving
Advent
Christmas Eve
Christmas
New Years
They are all there, looming over my preaching preparation for the next few weeks. Here in America's Philippi, Veterans Day is a big deal. I'll definitely have to address it in pre-sermon time, perhaps show a video. In years long past, I'd have devoted a whole sermon loosely tied to some topic about courage, devotion, or faithfulness. People loved them, but they weren't anywhere near what I need to be doing - sparking transformational change in Jesus.
I never do Thanksgiving any more, even though I used to explain America's Pilgrim roots, talk about the miracle of their survival, even lay out Squanto's travels and how he was providentially placed.
There have been years I rigidly followed Advent and the Lectionary portions, years in which I did character studies of the parties involved in the Incarnation story, years where I traced the names of Messiah - well, I've done Christmas a lot of different ways.
Still praying about how to approach this year. For some reason I am feeling a kind of awe I haven't felt before - not about what Jesus found here, but what He left there. There's a "shock and awe" quality about the Incarnation as reflected in the accounts and the reaction of Herod, the shepherds, Joseph and yes even Mary that might be fertile ground.
We know the story - backwards and forwards. But how would someone outside our preconceived notions receive it - if they knew the Holiness and Majesty of God?
Stay tuned.
It's the holiday season - saw the first Christmas ad yesterday on TV, Bunny got her first "Black Friday" spoiler emails. Yep, the blur that is the American holiday season is here. I don't know about you, but I feel a little bit like the guy in the Capital One commercial - you know the one - where he's looking out across his deck and into his backyard and all of a sudden a Claymore sword thunks into the wood - followed by spears, more swords, and arrows.
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving
Advent
Christmas Eve
Christmas
New Years
They are all there, looming over my preaching preparation for the next few weeks. Here in America's Philippi, Veterans Day is a big deal. I'll definitely have to address it in pre-sermon time, perhaps show a video. In years long past, I'd have devoted a whole sermon loosely tied to some topic about courage, devotion, or faithfulness. People loved them, but they weren't anywhere near what I need to be doing - sparking transformational change in Jesus.
I never do Thanksgiving any more, even though I used to explain America's Pilgrim roots, talk about the miracle of their survival, even lay out Squanto's travels and how he was providentially placed.
There have been years I rigidly followed Advent and the Lectionary portions, years in which I did character studies of the parties involved in the Incarnation story, years where I traced the names of Messiah - well, I've done Christmas a lot of different ways.
Still praying about how to approach this year. For some reason I am feeling a kind of awe I haven't felt before - not about what Jesus found here, but what He left there. There's a "shock and awe" quality about the Incarnation as reflected in the accounts and the reaction of Herod, the shepherds, Joseph and yes even Mary that might be fertile ground.
We know the story - backwards and forwards. But how would someone outside our preconceived notions receive it - if they knew the Holiness and Majesty of God?
Stay tuned.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Monday Musings
-I want my Google Phone. Why in the world Palm doesn't go over to Mouuntain View and plant a big wet kiss on the front door of Google I have no idea. My Treo 650 is great but come on, it's an F-16 and the iPhone is an F-22.
- Tried something new today, a followup on yesterday's "MythBusters" - an email that gave some additional support, and hopefully extended the application of the message. Never done that before. Toyed with the idea of having a Wednesday night small group where we continued to drill deeper into what I touched on Sunday, but never have. Anybody else do anything like that?
- Hermeneutics is proving to be an interesting class at Rockbridge. Not so much for the material, I've BTDT before, but because of the interaction with the other students. The professor is really engaged with us as we work through it in a way I've NEVER seen before at NOBTS or Rockbridge. Dr. John Neesley, you rock.
- I guess I'll tackle the reassembly of my Thinkpad tonight. New used motherboard to put in and then putting everything back where it show go after a couple of weeks... well, should be interesting. Maybe I won't wind up with parts left over.
- Never realized how sensitive an issue for some people in our church Calvinism is. Guess it's good I don't have a TULIP affinity. Not sure whether to tackle that and give them some reasonable and biblical understanding of what real reformed faith is or leave them with the caricature.
- Tried something new today, a followup on yesterday's "MythBusters" - an email that gave some additional support, and hopefully extended the application of the message. Never done that before. Toyed with the idea of having a Wednesday night small group where we continued to drill deeper into what I touched on Sunday, but never have. Anybody else do anything like that?
- Hermeneutics is proving to be an interesting class at Rockbridge. Not so much for the material, I've BTDT before, but because of the interaction with the other students. The professor is really engaged with us as we work through it in a way I've NEVER seen before at NOBTS or Rockbridge. Dr. John Neesley, you rock.
- I guess I'll tackle the reassembly of my Thinkpad tonight. New used motherboard to put in and then putting everything back where it show go after a couple of weeks... well, should be interesting. Maybe I won't wind up with parts left over.
- Never realized how sensitive an issue for some people in our church Calvinism is. Guess it's good I don't have a TULIP affinity. Not sure whether to tackle that and give them some reasonable and biblical understanding of what real reformed faith is or leave them with the caricature.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
And There's More
This morning I was trying to find the right quote from Abraham Lincoln to use in a paper I'm writing for a seminary class. So I googled. Through the richness of the materials available on the Internet, I found the quote I was looking for in an electronic version of a child's biography of Lincoln. As I was scanning the pages looking for the quote I knew was there, I got caught up in the amazing life of Lincoln. Ten minutes later, I had finished the book and was amazed at what I had learned.
Stories have always drawn me in.
Sunday one of our kids at church, the irrepressible and painfully cute Madeline, tugged at my sleeve and, when she had my attention, proceeded to tell me about halloween and what she was going to do and how she had done it last year and when she was little and how she couldn't wait until Wednesday night and all the fun she was going to have as she came to New Hope and had more fun and she could hardly wait....
Yes, that's the way she delivered it. Past, present, and future all wrapped up in exceeding joy. She'd tell me something, take a breath, I'd think she was through... but there was more. :)
There's no way I can think about it today as I type this and not grin, knowing what Madeline will experience tomorrow night.
Just a few minutes ago, I was reading a story that left me feeling the same way. When I think about it now, I am filled with hope, with peace, and yes, with joy. See I was digging in the Bible trying to help our small group understand some pretty hefty theology. Words like propitiation (say what?), justification (huh?), and sanctification (aw come on now David) have their place friends, and we need to understand them and their underpinnings in Bible Truth.
But while I was in there looking for that Truth, I found this one.
Gal 5:1-2 (MSG)
God loves us! Not grudgingly, not sparingly but extravagantly! He's not worried about loving us too much, so why are we so prone to try to write another ending to His story?
In God - we WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love that.
And I love you all in Christ Jesus.
Grace!
David
This morning I was trying to find the right quote from Abraham Lincoln to use in a paper I'm writing for a seminary class. So I googled. Through the richness of the materials available on the Internet, I found the quote I was looking for in an electronic version of a child's biography of Lincoln. As I was scanning the pages looking for the quote I knew was there, I got caught up in the amazing life of Lincoln. Ten minutes later, I had finished the book and was amazed at what I had learned.
Stories have always drawn me in.
Sunday one of our kids at church, the irrepressible and painfully cute Madeline, tugged at my sleeve and, when she had my attention, proceeded to tell me about halloween and what she was going to do and how she had done it last year and when she was little and how she couldn't wait until Wednesday night and all the fun she was going to have as she came to New Hope and had more fun and she could hardly wait....
Yes, that's the way she delivered it. Past, present, and future all wrapped up in exceeding joy. She'd tell me something, take a breath, I'd think she was through... but there was more. :)
There's no way I can think about it today as I type this and not grin, knowing what Madeline will experience tomorrow night.
Just a few minutes ago, I was reading a story that left me feeling the same way. When I think about it now, I am filled with hope, with peace, and yes, with joy. See I was digging in the Bible trying to help our small group understand some pretty hefty theology. Words like propitiation (say what?), justification (huh?), and sanctification (aw come on now David) have their place friends, and we need to understand them and their underpinnings in Bible Truth.
But while I was in there looking for that Truth, I found this one.
1 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. 2 Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Gal 5:1-2 (MSG)
God loves us! Not grudgingly, not sparingly but extravagantly! He's not worried about loving us too much, so why are we so prone to try to write another ending to His story?
In God - we WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love that.
And I love you all in Christ Jesus.
Grace!
David
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