Thoughts of J. Dan Barnes

I Am a Follower, by Leonard Sweet. A Review

2012-01-31T09:13:00.000-08:00

I just read the book "I Am a Follower" by Leonard Sweet. This is a concept that I already embraced after hearing Chris Tomlian talk about the concept of being a "Lead Worshiper" instead of a worship leader. This idea that we are leaders is redundant, because we have a leader. Jesus is our Leader, we need to be the first follower! The book shares a video that I have watched online about the First Follower, which is a powerful idea.

Often in the church, we get too many leaders and not enough followers. We need to follow, be willing to be the first follower and follow Jesus. This is a great book, and I would recommend it to everyone. There was some things in the book, theologically, that I didn't completely agree with. None of it was substantial enough for me to miss or lose the main focus of the book. All in all, I really enjoyed this one, check it out.

Review of Healing is a Choice

2012-01-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

Seems like I review a lot of books lately. I will get back into regular blogging very soon, but I want to talk about a book by Stephen Artuburn. This is the second time I've read this book, my first copy I loaned out. I think almost everyone needs this book. How many of us carry around baggage that we are not even aware of? So often we are hurt, scarred, bruised and broken and most people don't know what to do about it. This is a good plan for starting to work through the process of healing. I have used many of these tips before, Stephen Arterburn puts them together in a solid and useful manual to help heal. Get a copy for you and another to loan out. It's worth it. If you are involved in ministry, this is a great, and essential resource.

Review of "Why Men Hate Going to Church"

2011-12-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

There are days that I hate going to church, may be days you hate going to church. Reading though this book, as I thought about a lot of these issues, it made great sense to me. We have alienated men, feminized the church and pushed men to the sides and they have gone out the door. It seems just about every church is experiencing some gender gap, some of them much larger than others. This book points out the issues and then covers many of the steps that we need to fix the issue. This was a great book. Read it! Seriously, read it.

Has God Spoken by Hank Hanegraff, a review.

2011-10-10T09:33:00.001-07:00

I have to be honest, I am not the world's biggest fan of Hank Hanegraff. I agree with some of the things he says, but the way he says them sometimes on the radio leaves me frustrated. I was hesitant to read one of his books, but I have to say I enjoyed this book a great deal.

This book focuses on the historical, archaeological and scientific evidence of the validity of Biblical manuscripts. Hanegraff hits on some of the most important aspects of scriptural accountability when it comes to the validity of the scripture. It's a great book that offers counterpoints to those who would try to discredit the Bible.

I enjoy apologetics for supporting and encouraging those who are young in their faith, and I think that is a great piece of material for that reason.

I've Had It!

2011-08-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Why exactly are we beating one another over theology? Let me explain where I am coming from before I fly off the handle. I have seen blogs and posts and ideas about how these different systems are destroying church and people and don't read the Bible. Most of the blame seems to be directed towards "Calvinists" (which is the system I hold too the closest). It seems that the other camp, the Armenian camp is in control of the SBC, at least for the most part. They want to blame the Calvinists for the decline and destruction of the SBC. Seems to me that maybe the infighting is destroying the SBC.

I don't like the Armenian position, I don't agree with it, but Calvinism has become such a diverse category that is no longer means anything. There are positions within the camp that are as extreme as the differences between Armenians and Calvinists. It's a system, it's not the gospel, but we fight and fight about it.

My number one issue is that people debate without thinking. Someone says something you don't like, you either call them a heretic or a liberal, tell them they are eisogeting a passage and not exogeting it. It has come into vogue to just say "where did you get that interpretation". We are fighting over passages and their meanings and no one is really doing real study. We are just saying "well I think it's means. . . ". I've had it.

The true study of theology is dead. Theology has become note taking to win an argument. It's become the Christian version of High School Debate. Theology has been buried under the loads of garbage spewed by those who wish to do nothing more than argue. No one thinks anymore, they just "know". No one wrestles with the issues anymore, they are much too busy being right.

I have proposed a new idea I called 'Woven Theology'. I was told "it will never catch on, the lingo isn't right". Very few wanted to actually deal with the ideas that I presented, they just wanted to argue the existing structures. I was told that it was just an existing theology in a new package. The reality is I went back to the scripture to create all my theological treatise. I am no Luther or Calvin, but I view myself as a theologian, but it seems like very few are actually interested in theology, most people are involved in system, and the argument for that system. I've had it, and I don't want to play anymore.

God's Love Letters to You by Dr. Larry Crabb

2011-08-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

I am always looking for things that help overview the Books of the Bible, and this 40 Day devotional does that, for at least most of the bible, and is greatly encouraging. The scripture is God's message to us, and Dr. Crabb take a great look at it, and present it as it should be, God's message of love to us. Each of the 40 days is easy to read, has some questions to help you think and process and it really worth picking up. I have never been disappointed with anything by Dr. Crabb. Check the book out, read it and share your thoughts with me.

My Dream

2011-07-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

I have a dream, and I am praying that God blesses it and helps me. I feel passionate about helping people who have been called to make a difference. I want them to have training, support and resources to do what they feel called to do. I have created "The Revolution Inversion" an organization dedicated to helping people create an environment which brings Glory to God and creates opportunity for sharing the gospel, bible study, worship, fellowship and prayer. You can see more at the Revolution Inversion blog, the entry called The RI Manifesto.

It began with wanting to help High School students have Christian Organizations on their campuses. I have encouraged High School students to pray and have Bible Study on campuses. It has grown to a desire to help College Students and I spent time as a Campus Ministry Director. I have now seen the need goes beyond school, but many want to start a Bible Study at work, at home, in their community, with friends and neighbors.

The Purpose to the Revolution Inversion is help Believers to establish an environment for ministry, outreach, discipleship and prayer in any and every aspect of their lives, where ever God has called them. To create Bible Studies, prayer times and ministry opportunities to live out their faith in real ways in their communities and in their daily lives.

My dream starts with materials, publications and resources for people to use and ignite their passions. To help them identify their ministry and mission field and to begin the hard work. My dream includes having leaders who work with me to do training and support for those who want to do amazing work. My dream includes a resort and retreat area for camps, conferences and trainings to mobilize the army of Revolutionaries to go out and change the world. It's a big dream, it's going to take time, work and money.

The idea of a Revolution Inversion is to push back the other way, against the cultural movement toward destruction. To Revolt against the flesh and against the power of Satan's forces. We will take light into the darkness and light up the darkness with the truth. My dream is students sharing with students, praying and reading the Bible in public school and creating a push back, an inversion against the deterioration of morals and ethics. My dream is young couples who are living in apartment buildings starting Bible Study and prayer meeting. My dream is labors and professionals alike starting Bible Studies and prayer groups at work. I dream of a movement that the atheists, humanists and communists can't stop.

For my dream to happen, God must work. This is totally a work of God. It will require money, time, resources, help and God's power to bring out men and women, students and leaders to make my dream a reality. I am praying that God will bless this dream, that He will open doors for people to take the mantle of Revolutionaries, to work to start Christian Organizations, who will be trained, who will offer training and will work with me to make this dream a reality. I am praying for God's power, for His provision and for His mighty hand at work. You can pray with me and for me. If you are interested in becoming a Revolutionary, let me know. Thanks everyone!

-Blessings.

Why you should do VBS

2011-06-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

So there seems to be a trend of churches not participating in Vacation Bible School. The single biggest evangelistic program in the SBC, the one that brings so many kids to Christ, but we have stopped doing it. Here are my top reasons I don't think churches do VBS, and why they are wrong.

1. We can't get anyone to do it. Well congrats, we now have churches full of people who care about themselves and don't want to do anything for anyone else. We have become lazy and uncaring. Sounds like we would be better off with a huge stone around our necks and flung into the sea. Let's challenge our people to stop being lazy and complacent and actually DO something.

2. It costs too much. Well, children's ministry is pricey. Deal with it. Cut the budget somewhere. Stop getting things that are nice and pleasant and invest that money into ministry. Maybe the decorations will be slimmed down and you have to buy cheaper coffee. DO VBS.

3.Kids don't come. Know why the kids don't wanna come? Cause your attitude stinks, they know you don't like them, you don't have any teachers and the ones you have grumble all the time. You don't do the VBS the way it's programmed, your outreach and promotion stink. Actually go out and engage kids and their parents, they'll show up.

4. Kids don't bring in any money. Sadly, our motivation is often $$$$. Well, if you want to reach young adults, reach kids. They will add to your church, build your church and may contribute some money along the way. Don't let that be your motivation, but it can be a perk.

5. We don't want kids in our building. Yes, kids are loud and messy, smelly and can be a nuisance. They require teachers, leaders, helpers and space. They take time and money. They require resources, but if you don't want to reach kids, you won't reach young families. If you don't reach young families, your median age will be 67. Just the way it's gonna work.

Most people come to Christ between 4 and 14. If you want to have water in your Baptistry and new life in your church, start with VBS. It's the greatest week of work you'll have all year.

What's in a Name?

2011-06-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

I want to tackle the “B” word with you today. It's often a stumbling block for people, some have a hard time defining it, some just want to ignore it, but it has significance. If you haven't guessed, It's the word “Baptist”. What does it mean? Why is it there? Why not just call ourselves Christians, why do we have to have the title attached? I want to answer some of those questions briefly so you know why I choose to be Baptist.

The movement we are affiliated can be traced back to the Reformation. During the Protestant Reformation, a group emerged in England called the Separatists. They wanted purity of doctrine and wanted to separate from the Anglican church. Those associated with this movement were generally known as the Puritans, many of who came to America in search of religious freedom. One of these Separatists was a man named John Smyth. Smyth believed that infants should not be Baptized and that only those who believe and have accepted Christ as Savior should be Baptized, and done so my full immersion. A layman named Thomas Helwys continued the leadership from Smyth and the Baptist movement began.

In the United States it was Roger Williams and John Clarke who worked to establish the Baptist Movement. These men worked for religious freedom in the United States, which was largely Congregational. The First Great Awakening in the United States established the movement firmly and grew the churches in the colonies very rapidly. It was the Baptist leaders in early America that fought for religious freedom and the ability for churches to meet in this country without government influence or control.

In many countries today, the term “Baptist” is a general term, not referring to a denomination or affiliation. It is a term used to identify those Protestant Evangelicals who baptize believers by full immersion. In many countries in Eastern Europe and in Asia, the term “Baptist” is often how we would use the term “Evangelicals”. During the Iron Curtain, the Communists identified those who were willing and eager to share their faith and be tortured for the work of Christ as either Orthodox or Baptist.

In the United States, the term “Baptist” has come to refer to a group of denominational traditions that all hold a common belief. They are all Evangelical in nature, hold to believer's baptism by full immersion and have an inerrant view of Scripture. In the United States, there is a variety of Baptist groups, such as the American Baptists, The Baptist General Conference, Landmark Baptists, and of course The Southern Baptist Convention.

So this leads me back to the original question. What difference does it make, it won't change our church any if we are not “SBC”, why do we have all this Baptist stuff? Denominations are in the Bible, so why do we do it? I have 4 reasons that I am, have chosen to be and will continue to be associated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Doctrinal purity. The Southern Baptists believe in the inerrant Word of God. In an age where many denominations seem to be straying from the truth of God's Word, this convention, this state and local association and this church will stand firm on the authority of the Bible.
Accountability. If a leader in this church begins to stray from our mission and purpose, we can show them the covenants and we can show them our mission and purpose. As a Church, we agree with the Baptist Faith and Message and if we stray, we have other churches who will hold us accountable. Each member is part of the body, each body is part of a community, and the community provides us with accountability.
Impact. It's hard for one church to reach a community because of the number of people. Multiply that by how many communities are in one city, how many cities are in one state, the states in a nation, the nations in a continent. You get the idea. As part of a cooperation of churches, we do our part in reaching the whole world. We give, we share resources and man power. We come together to do Disaster Relief, World Changers, Baptist Builders. We support together through the Cooperative Program to fund North American and International Missionaries.
Opportunity to be involved. There is no reason that a member of a Southern Baptist Church couldn't be involved in mission work. You can help with World Changers, Disaster Relief, Baptist Builders, Gods Plan for Sharing. You can give to the Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong and Bill Hyde Mission Offerings. You can go on short term trips in the United States, Canada and all over the world. You can travel to different places to serve with Campers on Mission. The opportunities to get involved starts young, kids can be involved in work we do around the church and here at Heartland. Youth can work on short term trips, get involved in World Changers and other mission projects. College kids can begin international trips, as well as Summer and Semester Missions. After graduation, there are opportunities such as Mission Service Corps, USC2 missionaries, International Missionaries and so on. There area also the other missions I have mentioned, the list is long, much more than we can do just as an independent church.

I hope that helps you see “Baptist” in a little better light. Our devotion and our allegiance is to Jesus Christ, His Word is our source of truth and The Holy Spirit is our guide. Baptists follows Jesus as head, and chooses to work with other churches we know have that same conviction. Together, we form a group that is known as the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Sacred Journey - a review.

2011-06-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

Recently I read The Sacred Journey from the Ancient Practices series by Charles Foster.

I enjoyed reading The Sacred Journey, but is many aspect, it read more like a spiritual diatribe that often led in circles and then back on itself. The material has compelled me to think differently about how I see a pilgrimage, but often seems to try to make a point at expense of other points. Foster tells us that we need to get out on the road, to take an actual physical journey and leave everything else behind. He seems to switch gears and the tell us that anywhere we are or go is a pilgrimage and we don't really need to go far. He goes back to the thesis that we need to leave everything and be on the road, and then seems to double back over himself again. He does use scripture, but also seems to make a lot of assumptions. His assumes that Cain was sedentary and Abel was a nomad because he was a Shepherd. That seems to be a bold assumption, combined with the idea that God preferred Abel for that reason.

I would recommend this book if you want to challenge your ideas and thinking, but I am not convinced I need to travel to Canterbury or Rome or Jerusalem. I do agree that we need to travel each place with a sense or wonder and expectation for God to move. Some of the material seemed very un-spiritual and some seemed hyper-spiritual and some seemed to be more balanced. Overall, it was worth reading, can become redundant in some places, but once you get through it, you feel like you have taken quite the journey yourself.

Shut Up and Work

2011-06-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

There are times in my life that I am reminded that all the stuff I say, all the stuff I know, unless there are hands and feet behind it doesn’t mean anything. Here in the part of Iowa I live in, there is a surge of water being released from an overfilled and overstressed dam. This surge in an already bloated river will flood many basements and destroy some homes. Our church has organized to send people to help our family who is in the path of the water. We have been packing and moving quickly before the date of the release.

As I was packing, I was joking with some guys. We were talking about how if you plan how to pack, it never works but sometimes you just have to shut up and work. One of the guys made a joke about how that seems to be what Pastors tell people, to shut up and work. We laughed and continued to haul boxes.

I love to teach, and I enjoy preaching some (which is why I’m an associate, not a lead). To put it simply, I enjoy talking. I like to talk about God’s word, about how we apply it, how it changes us and the world we live in. I like to work with leaders, talk about how we make disciples, how we teach them. I like to discuss theology, history and society. I like talking, but weeks like this are a good reminder to me. Sometimes we need to shut up and work.

You all have heard it from St. Francis. “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.” I believe it’s always necessary to use words, because faith comes from hearing, but doing sometimes needs to happen before speaking. Sometimes we need to share the gospel in deed and then in words. It has been a great opportunity to show what the Church is about by getting to work. Let me encourage you, when the opportunity comes to shut up and work.

Christian Education

2011-05-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

So I want to jump on the band wagon and talk Christian Education. I don’t want to talk venue (home school, Christian School, Military School, Boarding School, Public School), I want to talk some principles. The nuts and bolts of Christian Education that parents and teachers can use. Let me give you a little background, I’m an education guy. I studied education in my undergrad, have a Masters in Ed. leadership and most of my work, passion and heart revolves around the area of Education. I plan to pursue my EdD or PhD in this area, and have already worked through some of my ideas of a thesis. Against my better judgment, I have decided to post them here. No stealing my idea. . . but you can use it!

In Education, there is a principle called scaffolding. It’s pretty simple, just like the scaffolding you use to paint a house. You start with the base, then build up one level at a time until you make it to the top, where you want to be. We see this principle applied in math. You first learn to count, then add, then subtract, next multiply and then division. Until you learn those, you can’t do algebra and geometry. We teach all sorts of things this way, we teach science, reading and spelling, even most sports are taught by teaching the foundational principle and building upon it.

In Christian Education, we have a sloppy version of this. We teach kids Bible Stories and from there, we teach them some principles and repeat the pattern. I am suggesting we take a new approach. Now I know this is difficult, because kids come into the church at all different ages and grade levels. We have to work to make this work, and it’s not easy, but it seems to be the most effective.

In many missions oversees, they use a strategy of telling the Bible Stories beginning with creation, and work their way through the history of the nation of Israel. Do your students by the time they are youth know the history of the nation of Israel? Most of our adults don’t know the history of Israel. It’s important, or it wouldn’t be scripture. We learn from Israel about sin, about God’s holiness and His standard for his people. We need to teach kids about God’s character that we learn from the OT. So often, people who don’t know the Old Testament become either too liberal and reject God’s holiness, or too legalistic, and try to do everything they can to earn salvation, and try to apply the Jewish laws to American Christians, which is hard with no temple.

We need to teach the foundations of faith, the Holiness of God, the sinfulness of man and the need for Salvation. Those are the foundational principles of the Old Testament. There are some great tools for this, missionaries have been doing it for years. Once we lay all this information out, we have taught through the Old Testament history, we begin with the life of Jesus. The life of Christ fits right into the OT because Jesus lived with Old Testament Jews. They lived the sacrificial system and Jesus interacted with the law and introduced grace and a new standard. Jesus provides the perfect sacrifice, which we have built a context on from the OT sacrificial system. Things continue to build into Acts and the beginning of the Church, and onto the epistles. By the time we get to Revelation, the students have a complete Biblical context.

I know that this is idea, and it’s harder to do, but I am working hard to do it in our church and with my family. It’s so important to get a complete Biblical picture. We can’t expect our kids to have a Biblical Worldview without a knowledge of the Bible itself. Those are my thoughts on educating our kids, what do you think?

Why the Brick and Mortar church is doomed!

2011-05-10T11:27:00.001-07:00

I spent a week at the Exponential Conference, a church planting conference in Orlando FL. It pushed me and challenged me in ways I had never considered. One of the things I came away with is a quote from Alan Hirsch, he said “the church doesn’t innovate”. The more I think about that, the more i think it’s true.

Think about it, we have only had one part of the service change much, that’s the music and it’s caused huge divisions. We call it the “worship wars” over organs vs guitars. One change and we take sides, arm ourselves and begin the warfare. While the rest of the world speeds to destruction, we still fight over hymns and power point.

We spend time arguing about the building, I don’t know how we have time to invite anyone in the building. We design spaces that we like and we enjoy and then unlock the doors and wait for the people to stream in. Then we act shocked when they don’t.

We still put all of our eggs in one basket, the Sunday morning Worship Service. We haven’t changed, we haven’t innovated. I can see why, you change one part of it and it almost divides the denomination. Makes you stop and wonder what is wrong with us.

Until we figure out that the priority is making disciples, and not growing our Sunday Morning service in our brick and mortar building, we are doomed.

Why the Brick and Mortar church is doomed!

2011-05-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Until we figure out that the priority is making disciples, and not growing our Sunday Morning service in our brick and mortar building, we are doomed.

The Mercy of Hell

2011-03-28T14:42:00.001-07:00

If it's ok with everyone (hope so, cause I didn't ask), I want to jump on the bandwagon of talking about Hell. Now I know Rob Bell ruined it for us, but I want to take a different spin if I could. You see, aside from theology, I have some things in common with Rob. We are both from the same generation, we are both Gen Xers, he is slightly older than I am. We both ask many questions, and we both question the established system. That is where we depart, I headed more towards Driscoll, he went towards McLaren.

That being said, I see the meta-narrative approach, and I understand where Bell misses it. You see, the scripture can't be cut and parcelled into chunks, so the question comes up, how can a loving and merciful God send people to hell? Bell says He doesn't. I say, there is mercy with Hell. Are you scratching your head a little? Think maybe I am as crazy as Rob Bell? Let me unpack it just a bit.

If you remember Isaiah chapter 6, the prophet is suddenly in the presence of God, and his reaction was overwhelming guilt and shame. He exclaimed "woe is me". It was then when an angel came with a coal and cleansed his lips and only then was Isaiah able to hear the words of the Lord.

Once judgement comes to pass, there is no more cleansing of sin. It was done once and for all through the blood of Christ. Jesus made the atonement and we are saved through that power. Those who are not covered in the blood of Christ still carry their own sin. There is no atonement, there is no cleansing power.

I submit to you, for your discussion and input that the only thing worse that being separated from God for eternity in hell would be eternity before God bearing the weight of your sin with no hope of forgiveness. The reality of hell is knowing you are being punished and eternally atoning for your sin. Heaven with sin would be guilt and shame heaped upon remorse and unworthiness for all of eternity. Being in the presence of the Glory of God, but never able to look upon it. To look upon the face of God with sin is to bring death, so in a sense, it would be eternal death worse than the eternal punishment in hell.

If this is true, then casting the sinner into the flames of hell where they face punishment is loving and merciful, and having them suffer the crushing weight of sin for eternity in God's presence would show no mercy. This is where I believe Rob Bell missed it, Universalism for the unsaved would be worse than hell. What do you think?

The Sacred Meal by Nora Gallagher

2011-03-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

I read "The Sacred Meal" by Nora Gallagher, and I really enjoyed it. I am from an Evangelical background, and Nora Gallagher writes from her view point of the Episcopal Church, and it was really great to get her view point. I agree with so much of what she wrote, and it helped give me a deeper and greater appreciation of Communion. I really recommend this book to those who want a view of communion that is more powerful and well rounded. I really appreciate her view of community based communion that brings people together and levels the playing field. This is something that I have been thinking about myself, that communion requires community. It was very thought provoking to read the point of view from someone who celebrates a more formal view of communion through consubstantiation. It was a really powerful and influential message for me. Great book, quick read and I recommend it highly.

The Importance of an Appretice

2011-03-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

If you have spent any amount of time with me, you know that I am a Star Wars fan. I grew up with the Star Wars movies – I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in the theaters for the first time. I had lot of Star Wars toys and, to be honest, I still have a few.

There are a few lessons we can learn from Star Wars. In the movies, the Jedi and the Sith hold to two sides of the same ideology, and they both teach that ideology to others. When a Jedi becomes a Master, they acquire an apprentice. They teach what they have learned to the next generation; taking them along on assignments, mentoring them, answering questions. All Jedi Masters were once apprentices and it's the hope that each apprentice will someday be a Master.

Unfortunately we have lost the master/apprentice relationship in this country. Many of the trades are no longer handed down from a master tradesman to an apprentice. Carpenters, electricians, masons, and many building trades are now learned in tech schools instead of being taught one-to-one by a Master Builders. The church is beginning to follow suit . . . many young men and women who go to Bible schools and seminaries are not being mentored. There is nothing wrong with Bible schools or seminaries, or with technical schools. There are some really great teaching institutions, but we learn practical application most easily and effectively when we have the opportunity and allow ourselves to be mentored by a master in whatever the field of study may be.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in seminary, but I learned much more from four men that God put in my life. They mentored me. As a young man, both the Pastor and the Director of Missions at our church were very influential in my life. They gave me opportunities to serve and to work alongside them in a variety of ministries; I was only 15 when I preached in a Sunday morning service, and God used that experience to change me forever. In college, the Pastor at my church really took me under his wing; he gave me opportunities to be active in that ministry, even while I was ‘interim pastor’ at another church. He helped me in so many ways; I will always be grateful to him. Finally, a pastor I served with in Arizona walked with me during a very difficult part of my life. I am not sure I would have survived those years in ministry if not for his guidance.

In addition to these four men, there have been countless others who have taught me, helped me, encouraged me, supported me. School was great, and I enjoyed Seminary; but there is no substitute for being mentored. I have tried to ‘pay it forward’ as much as I can, giving helps and opportunities to others to fulfill their calling. Much of my goals and work here at Heartland isn't to do ministry as much as it is to aid and equip you to be involved in ministry – thereby expanding effective ministry hundreds of times beyond what one person can do. It’s the law of multiplication – If I do ministry alone, I can only do as much as one person can do. If I help you do it, we’ll get more done. If I help you and you help someone else, then even more gets done. It goes on and on, until the whole world is impacted.

Today I want to encourage you to find a mentor and to find a student; find someone who is teaching you, and find someone to teach. It will make a lasting impact for the Kingdom.

Book Review- The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible

2011-02-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

I recently received the Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible. I really enjoy Max Lucado, and I have read many of his books and writings. I was excited to pick up this Bible, and I like that it's NKJV, which I enjoy. It's a good looking Bible, both inside and out, the print is a good size and it's easy to read. The review is mostly of the notes, the text is just the NKJV which is a great translation.

The note section is broken into 5 pieces, situation, which is a brief explination of the text exegetically. Then is the observation, inspiration which is a writing from Max Lucado from one of his works. Next is the application and finally exploration, which is cross references. The notes are not real theological, and if you have ever read any of Max Lucado's books, you know they are practical, applicable and usually uplifting, but not real deep.

This is not a scholarly study bible, and just as the name implies, it's real life stuff. It's a little fluffy but sometimes we need fluffy. It's inspirational and uplifting, the notes are good and are helpful. There are also numerous inserts called "Christ Through The Bible" which ties the text back to Jesus. This is a great feature and very helpful for many people as they read through the Old Testament. Over all, I would recommend this Bible for people to have in their library and to read it during their quiet and devotional time. It's a great devotional Bible, and will help people enjoy their Bible reading time.

Update on my status

2011-02-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for praying for me over this winter season. I think most of you know that my doctor has diagnosed me with dystemic disorder, an emotional disorder that induces chronic depression. Apparently it doesn't take a whole lot of stress to cause a laps of endorphines and neurotransmitters to cause me depression. I have had some stress, being an Associate Pastor with three small children in this economy and the condition of our nation is stressful.

This winter has been hard on me. I find myself in the cycle of depression, anger and incapacity. I find myself unable to do something, and I get so angry at myself for not being able to do it. I tell myself I need to just get over it, to just push through it. The more pressure I put on myself, the more incapacitated I become and I get more and more angry. I push myself harder just to feel more and more defeated.

My doctor has recently upped my anti-depressant to help me kick this cycle. I am thinking about asking him to change me from the one I am on to the one I was on in Arizona that helped me recover from the depression that hit me so hard there. I am not sure why God has chosen to give me this burdon, I pray often that He will take it from me, but it doesn't seem to be going away. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement during this time in my life. I love my family, my church and my friends, and I want you to know that my desire is to be more supportive and active. I know many of you have had to deal with my meloncholy. I have been reading some works of Charles Spurgeon that he wrote about his struggles. This season won't last forever, thank you all for your love and compassion.

What I Learned from Microsoft

2011-02-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

I'm a Linux guy. I run Ubuntu on my home computer and I dual boot my work computer with XP and Ubuntu. I like Linux much better, but I have learned some important things from Windows. Let me share with you what I have learned.

Sometimes, doing things the hard way is the only way, because the easy was doesn't get you anywhere.

Just because something says it does something, doesn't mean it does.

There is always a back door, and it's usually unlocked.

Computer windows and old house windows, sometimes you can't get them open, and once you do, sometimes you can't get them closed.

You never know who is looking through your Windows.

Death comes when you least expect it, and it's not a bright light, it's a blue screen.

Just because it's called Works doesn't mean it does.

In life and Spider Solitaire, sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try, there is no way to win.

I am sure there are lots of other little things that Microsoft has taught me, but that is the list that comes to mind. Hope you enjoyed it.

Does the GCR stand a ghost of a chance?

2011-01-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, let me say I am in support of the Great Commission Resurgence, I think it’s a great thing, and we need to focus our ideas, resources and tool on reaching out. I have already posted on the things I think will hinder the SBC from really seeing a movement of God from the GCR, and I don’t want to hash that out again. What I want to look at is simple. Does the Great Commission Resurgence has a chance to really move the SBC forward in outreach, or is it just great propaganda? Here are some things I would like to discuss and toss around.

If the SBC is a bottom up entity (everything goes through the local church), then why are we moving programs from the top down. Now I realize that it’s necessary, we have to restructure the CP from the top down, we need to change NAMB and the IMB from the top down, we have to change the way we use dollars from the top down. Don’t miss my point, shouldn’t this movement have come up from the church, from the people in the pews? I love and respect Dr. Akin, but he really started this movement by an address in chapel at a seminary campus. It didn’t come from the local churches, and my number 1 concern is that it won’t impact the people sitting every Sunday in many of our churches. In the end, my concern will be the GCR is a big nebulous idea, but won’t touch the people. The people in the pew are where our missionary force begins. It’s where the CP dollars start, it’s where those who attend our seminaries come from. We can do lots of great things at the National and even state level, but are we touching people in the churches?

Now before you say “yes, of course we are” I want to ask something. If the GCR is touching churches, my question is, which churches? What does the average SBC church look like in this country? I don’t want to get into statistics and charts and graphs, numbers can be skewed and research is biased. The issue is, I have been to lots of churches in many states and seen what they look like. If you never get out of Florida, Georgia and Alabama, I’ll help you out. Most of the churches outside the south are small, less that 200 people. Many are less that 100 people. These are faithful churches, doing their best, reaching out to a community that is less and less interested. Even in the south, there are many small, faithful churches. You can argue with me on this point, but I am going to say the majority of Southern Baptist Churches are smaller, less that 500 people, with modest budgets, modest buildings, and hardworking pastors. How will the GCR affect them and their congregations? Many of the churches I have been involved with are teaching Biblical truth, are committed to missions, outreach and evangelism. How is this going to help them?

Further more, and what I have heard others saying, why in this middle of this resurgence are we looking to mega-churches for leadership? If the majority of the SBC is made of small churches, why are the churches that are composed of an entirely different structure leading off? I believe that the pastors work hard to keep a church alive and vibrant in a stagnant community, devastated economy and apathetic society are overlooked so we can celebrate the victory of the mega church. Have we gone insane? At what point did we decide that our measure of success was how big your church grows? I know a pastor serving faithfully in a small town in Iowa, the town and surrounding farming communities don’t have enough people to even make a mega-church. These guys fight every day, they know how to make use of the resources to the best of their abilities, why are we not taking the wisdom of years in the trenches? Let’s be honest, if the “mega church” strategy is fool proof, every church would use it. We have all read the books, gone to the courses, have the charts, graphs and diagrams. I am concerned that the GCR, the Convention, NAMB and our other agencies have bought the American lie that if it’s bigger, it’s better and if someone can build a mega-church, he is the right guy. Its American idolatry, and I think it’s a huge mistake.

If the GCR wants to reach America, it better start focusing on America, not Georgia. Where is NAMB, the IMB, Lifeway, where are they located? You want to be the North American Mission Board, close the office in Georgia and open 4 regional offices. Stick one in New York, one in Chicago, one in LA, one in Dallas. You want to reach Americans, go to America. I have served in the Midwest, in the Rocky Mountains and in the Southwest, and in many of those places Southern Baptist is a bad word. More than that, there is a feeling in many of those places that the leaders at our agencies don’t care. You want to reach these people go to where they are. Stick some offices there, make your presence known, show American that we may have Southern in our name, but the people are in our hearts.

Hear my heart for a second, I love the SBC, I think we do great things, I believe we have a great corporate heart and sense of community. I don’t want to leave the SBC, I want to see it reach out to the lost and to grow. Along with that, I have fears for our Convention. I’ll be honest, I have fears of corruption, favors, backroom deals and decisions and selfish ambitions. As a young minister, it concerns me how many are convinced that we exist in a denotation controlled by the “good ol boys”. What are we willing to do at the National level to change that image? It’s easy to write a GCR Declaration, but what are you going DO about it? Are we going to be a Convention that is willing to take radical steps to see resurgence or are we just going to talk a good game? What do you think?

How does this all work?

2011-01-06T07:40:00.003-08:00

Have you ever noticed how many ideas in the Christian faith seem more hypothetical than concrete? Things like “fall into the arms of grace” or “just give it to God”. What do those look like really, are they things that have meat too them, or are they just things we say and have no idea what they really mean? How do you fall into grace, or give something in-material to a spiritual being? There are lots of things that we say that are hard to define and pin down, but I think it’s symptomatic of a larger issue. We have tried for two thousand years to define Salvation, but I am not sure we are any closer. Something so foundational to the Christian doctrine, but we can’t agree on what it looks like, how we get it and how we know we have it.

I want to pose some questions today, things to think about. I am sure for every question there are hundreds of opinions, so here is a chance to share yours. What is Salvation? Pin it down, are we talking substitution atonement, penal substitution, ransom theory. Is the nature of salvation illumination, restoration, satisfaction, victory, justification, something else entirely or a combination?

What happens when we are saved? Does it happen in a split second, or does it happen over time? Is it a one time thing, or does it reoccur? Are we saved once and for all time, or does it happen daily? I have heard, seen or read theories off all and more, different ideas. I have seen verses thrown at verses and arguments made for every side, when and how does it happen?

How do you know you are saved? Do you do something to get saved? Is there a work involved, do you just go “get” it, do you “accept” it and if so, how is that not a work. Is not the action of reaching out and taking something an action that constitutes a work, albeit a small work, is it still not something I can boast it? How much “accepting” do I have to do, if it’s like accepting a gift, is it a heavy gift? Do I have to unwrap it, take it out of the box, does it require assembly? I am a father of 3, and I know how much work accepting a present can be, kids toys have more moving parts than the space shuttle. Are we saved with works, through works, do we have works because we are saved, can we be saved without works, and if we have no works, are we saved? If we believe in works theology, can we still be saved? If we can’t be saved because of works theology, but accepting is a work, where does that leave most SBC churches?

How do we know we are saved? Can we have faith apart from works, and can we have works apart from faith? If we prophecy in His name and cast out demons in His name, if we preach and teach in His name, does that mean we are saved? Can we think we are saved and not really be saved? Can we be saved and not really know it? Who decides who is to be saved, do I make the choice or was it made for me? When was it made, when I made it, or before the foundations of the world? Does God know who is going to be saved? If He does, when does He know? How limited is God’s view of human action? Can we surprise God? If God knows what I am going to do before I do it, can I make the choice to do something else?

I asked a whole lot more questions that I am going to attempt to answer. I know what I think and what I believe, but to be honest, I have no idea what we as a denomination believe. We seem to be divided over the foundational issue more than any other issue, from both extremes to some place in the middle, to those who don’t even want to discuss it. This is the most important doctrine in the life of a Christian, it is what makes us a Christian, yet we can’t even come together in agreement on what it means, what it looks like or how it happens. Come, let’s reason together and see if maybe we can come to an understanding. Let’s try to be civil and disagree like Christian adults, even if there is a possibility that none of us are either.

Has Blogging Ruined the Church?

2011-01-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

I know it’s interesting to have a topic like this on a blog, but I wonder about our online relationships and how the impact the Universal Body of Christ. I have developed some great relationships online with people I would have never met otherwise. I have learned a great deal from blogging, reading, writing and sharing online idea. I think blogging has a lot of validity, but what I want to ask about is community. Is online community authentic? Can we have true fellowship online? Has the invention of the internet created a whole is community?

The most popular social network out there of course is Facebook. I have and use a Facebook page, I have great friends on Facebook, we use it to interact and communicate, keep updated and share pictures. The biggest destroyer of community, in my opinion, is the Facebook status line. We have created the equivalent of the drive by shooting online with the Facebook status. You have seen them, things like “some people need to act like Christians” or “I can’t believe they just did that, they are so bad”. These posts don’t name anyone specifically, they just through out ideas and create suspicion. It’s on-line gossip at its best. On Facebook, we can create superficial relationships and then destroy them with the click of the mouse. If we are not slandering people in our status, we can write notes about them, we can even click the dreaded “unfriend” button.

Facebook also gives us the chance to address problems without addressing the problem. We have done this for years, but Facebook has make is faster and easier. If someone does something you don’t like, simply post a verse on Facebook addressing the issue, then you are done. Write a note, post a blog, we tweet or update our status to address the problem. If it’s really serious, we might post to someone’s wall or send a message too them and take care of the problem. Some how when Jesus said to “go to the person”, He wasn’t referring to their Facebook page.

All of these online forum has also created an atmosphere in which it’s easy to speak without thinking. We can post things in a safe situation, not face to face interaction. Many of the posts and comments I have seen at SBC Impact I am pretty sure wouldn’t happen in face to face conversation. We have become crass and careless with our words, not focusing on words that build up and edify, but taking cuts, slinging mud and being cruel.

The online relationships we have build are so fragile that it doesn’t take much to break them. If the Facebook and blogging community can really been seen as the Church, we have taken the body of Christ and made it so fragile that it will never be able to stand up in the world. We have created fragile connections, and so often we are not encouraging or supporting each other. We are not iron sharpening iron, we are simply stone chipping away at stone. This should not be so.

So what is the solution? I think much of the issue when we are on blogs, Facebook or other online communities, we begin to address the person as the problem and not the issue. Instead of saying “I don’t agree with this statement, because”, we just reply with “you’re an idiot”. This is a less than helpful statement when working to build community. We should also take time to get to know our fellow bloggers, after all, aren’t we all here for the same reason? Is not the goal to expand the Kingdom, to Glorify God and to grow in our faith? If we all have that common goal, if we are working together towards the same end, why do we continue to devour each other? I believe because it’s easy to do online, and we have such a fragile structure, that we break it because we can. Never do people become so carnal as they do online. Perhaps the internet has created an outlet for the flesh, can we reform it to be used as a place to bring glory to God? I sure hope so, because I would hate to see the blogs destroy the church.

Validation

2010-12-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Validation is a funny thing. We validate parking, so we can show that we have a legit reason for parking someplace. We have valid or invalid coupons and tickets. We have valid and invalid filenames on computers. Rarely, however, do we think about how valid we are.

Do you feel validated?

Do you feel invalid?

What is your validity based on? Your performance? Your past mistakes? Your present circumstances? Who you are with, what you are doing, what's in your bank account, what you drive, where you attend church, what position you hold there, how much you know, how mature you are, how much influence you have, how many people love you?

Are you valid?

What makes you feel worthwhile? Getting things done? Others telling you that you are valid? Being needed or being desired?

Are you worthwhile?

What makes a person invalid? Are they worthless, too much trouble, too much hassle? Do they talk too much, know too little, not look right, not act right? Not in the right place at the right time with the right things to say?

What is valid?

Just stop for a minute. If your brain is going a million miles a minute, slow it down, take a deep breath. What is a minute worth? What is the worth of a breath? What is the worth of a quiet moment without productivity, without effort or labor. With achieving or accomplishing? Is that minute, that breath, that moment of your existence wasted? A deep breath, a moment in time, is it valid? Is a heartbeat valid?

Is it worthwhile?

If you can answer that question, then none of the rest of it will matter.

Pain

2010-11-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Do you like pain? Probably not, most of us don't. I know I have a cabinet full of things to help get rid of pain. Tylenol, Advil, and some prescription medications. Physical pain is horrible, but I think there are many cases in which we enjoy and saver emotional pain. People say things, and we take it the most negative way possible, we start conflict and drama and issues because we become addicted to it. It makes us feel important, alive and powerful when we have anger and rage and we become defensive. It gives us things to talk about, something to focus on and it keeps our lives from being empty. It keeps us from being alone, empty and vulnerable. If we stay on the offensive, or if we stay offended then no one can sneek up and hurt us. We are already hurt, and that gives us control. When things calm down, we find drama or create drama or find the people who fill our lives with emotional trauma.

I believe it's an addiction. Physical pain becomes an addiction, everything from cutting to weight lifting becomes addicting because it releases endorphines. Emotional pain because addicting because of the power we feel like it gives us. It gives us purpose, makes us feel stronger and more powerful. Pain gives us focus, gives us something to concentrate on and leave the rest of the world behind. We can get into conflict and use it to excuse other parts of our lives, to ignore and block them out. Maybe that is why so many of our conflicts are self-induced and so many are very trivial. We avoid the serious things, and get caught up in petty and in-consequential things. I think we need a recovery program for the emotional trauma addict.

The Butterfly is still in God's Hands.

2010-11-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

The Butterfly Effect How Your Life Matters by Andy Andres. This is a short e-book that I looked at. It's a small book, quick read only took me 10 to 15 minutes to read the entire book. The Butterfly Effect comes from chaos theory, saying that the increased air movement from a butterfly flapping it's wings, over time and distance changes the global climate. The book reviews the lives of some individuals who's actions through time made a huge impact. There isn't much for theological content, it seem almost secular. Our actions have an impact, but there is no talk of God's plan, or how God orchestrates history. I believe that God uses people to make a great impact, but I believe that it's God that is in control and He deserves the glory. This book seems pretty humanistic, elevating the accomplishments of men apart from the work of God. I guess if a book carries the label of "Christian" it should have a little more Christian content in it. At least it's short.

Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah

2010-11-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is a book about end times, which is not my favorite read, but I enjoy Dr. Jeremiah. His theology has solid backing when it comes to the end times (even though I don’t agree with him, he has some good point). This book was a little less academic than I am use too, it's great for the average church member and the maturing Christian. Not much theological content, great for the concrete type learner and reader. Good advice by Dr. Jeremiah about how to keep faith strong when everything else falls apart. How to survive the turmoil we see in today’s world, and lays out 10 way we can stay strong and have confidence. He doesn’t get too deep into theological issues, doesn’t talk about eschatology much, which made it a much more enjoyable read. Dr. Jeremiah gives good real world examples, and writes much like he preaches. This is a great “every Christian” book, but don’t expect to get a lot of depth from it, but some good content.

Walking the Talk

2010-11-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

There have been a few times in my life where God has made me walk my talk. There have been times when I have given hard advice and then had to live it myself. Things like forgive, or help or support or pray for or serve. It never seemed to be long before I found myself having to forgive or help or pray or serve. It's always easier to know what to do from the cheap seats. When you sit back and see a situation from the outside. When you are not emotionally invested and when you don't have to go through the process, it's easier to see what to do. The arm chair quarterback, the backseat driver.

Have you found yourself in a situation where you need to take your own advice, or should take your own advice? When it comes to certain things, are you doing the same things you are telling others to do? If someone needed spiritual growth, what would you tell them? Attend a small group Bible study, pray and read the Bible, attend worship and be connected. Are you doing those things? If someone is in conflict or angry, what would you tell them? To forgive and to love and to show grace? Are you doing those things?

How about gossip, what would you tell someone if you heard them gossip? What advice would you give to a younger person? What about if someone was gossiping about you, how would you react? We need to keep those thoughts close when we are tempted to gossip about a situation, or to make a negative or disparaging comment about someone. Its easy to know when someone should keep silent and not say anything negative. It's not so easy when we are upset and are tempted to gossip.

I want you to encourage you today to take your own advice. In your life, your job, your marriage, your church life, do what you would tell your kids or grandkids to do. Do what you would want to see others do. Be the person you expect others to be. Do the things you are waiting for other people to do. Be the one who steps up and steps out instead of waiting for someone else. The person who God is waiting to use just might be you.

In Him,

Pastor Dan

The dry season

2010-10-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

In life there are seasons that come and go. In my life, I have been in the rainy season where things just flow. I can be creative, I can write freely, my thoughts and theories seem to be in abundance. Right now I seem to be in a dry season. While I have outlines and ideas written down, the ability to develop them and really write them down seems to have left me. My blogs are becoming dry, short and virtually non-existent. My thoughts seem to be much more shallow, the pools of ideas have dried up into mud puddles. What was once deep enough for me to spend hours plumbing is now not enough to even get me wet. It's frustrating for me, but has allowed me to turn to some more physical pursuits. I have been working with my hands more, working on my shop, on my truck, and working with some wood. I don't know how long this dry spell will last, hopefully the ideas will flood back soon, and the rains will return. In the mean time, try to keep the dust out of your eyes.

KJV Only

2010-10-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

So I have been looking at the KJV only thing for a while, and wondering why are people so set on this version. If you are KJV only be prepared, you may get upset. The KJV is not the best anything. It's not the first English translation, it's 1611, the Geneva Bible is 1560. It's not the most literal translation is the ASV. It's not the most accurate, it's not the most readable, and in my opinion, the ESV is a much better translation from the original text. So why focus so hard on the King James? I have a theory.

All false assumptions (like the KJV is the only Bible) start from a faulty root. For example, Evolution begins with the false assumption there is no God. Until you fix that assumption, you cannot tackle evolution. People will hold to things that make no sense because they have to deal with their foundational error. The KJV error is that the Catholic church has always been evil or corrupt. As a result, everything from the Catholic church is rejected, and there must be a way to legitimize the Protestant church before 1517. Thus enters the Trail of Blood. To further legitimize the Reformation, the KJV is seen as the move to give the Bible to the common man, and it's in contrast to the Latin Vulgate used in Rome, therefore it becomes the Bible of the Reformation. As the Protestant Bible, it's now seen as sacred.

Here is the deal. The Catholic church has always had a faithful remnant, the Protestant church started in 1517, not with John the Baptist (sorry Landmarkests). The Baptist church came from the Puritan movement and was started by a Separatist from the Anglican Church. Ana-Baptists and Baptists are very different. There is nothing more "holy" about tracing lineage back to the Apostles, if a new church starts in China or Romania or Africa because they picked up a NIV and read it and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they started a church without any missionaries, it would be a valid New Testament church, it doesn't have to "go back" to anyone. Just have to be focused on The Lord Jesus Christ. The Church is defined by who we are and who we serve, not by where we came from. Once we dispel that false assumption, I think the KJV controversy loses it's luster.

rainy day

2010-09-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

I sit here this morning and drink my coffee and look out the window at the rain and think about all the stuff I have to do today. I have a couple articles to write, a sermon to finish, lots of misc odds and ends to do here and there. In the middle of that will the the question, phone call, visit or whatever else happens in on my office. I get so caught up in the stuff that I think I often miss the time. Outside my office window, I can see the trees and many of them are changing, the rain isn't horrific and it's cloudy and misty. It's that calm rain, it's peaceful and quiet, the type you want to sit on the porch with coffee and just relax. I'm not relaxed. I seldom relax. My back is often tense and knotted up, sometimes I have some heartburn and I seldom feel at ease. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's because I am high strung, maybe I am really stressed, maybe I lack faith or perhaps a sin issue has me all tied in knots.

So this is the part where I am suppose to write something inspiring or some lesson or something like that. Don't have one. We read and write and look for the 30 minute tv-show answers so we can get our life all wrapped up and solved nice and easy. It's not like that. Life is hard and messy and sometimes issues drag on until they break us. Sometimes we don't learn the moral, sometimes we don't win the day, sometimes we just suffer through until it kills us. What I have gained from all this is that God is and must be sufficient, my family should be cherished, my friends should be celebrated and enjoyed and I must find the grace in the moment.

my suitcase of sin

2010-09-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like as I climb the ladder of sanctification, I find a suitcase and it's filled with something. Pride, anger, resentment, all sorts of different things. I grab the suitcase with one hand, but I can no longer climb the ladder. I am hanging on the ladder with one hand and the suitcase with the other and I am stuck. I think Paul experienced this, because I echo his words "what a wretched man I am". You know what I'm saying? One day I'll figure out who to toss the suitcase.

Fearless by Max Lucado

2010-08-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

Fear seems to be a major issue for many Christians, and Max Lucado tackles the issue head on. Fearless is a great read, and like most of Lucado's books it flows quickly. What I enjoyed about this book that I haven't like so much in his others is that it's more practical. There is more application, more opportunity to apply and live out the principles. We all have issues with fear, and we can all grow in the area of living out of trust and faith. It's a quick read, I think you should pick up a copy, give it a quick read, it's worth the time. I have always been a Lucado fan, and this book I think it one of his better ones.

2010-08-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Do you want to be happy? I have been realizing how much I worship happiness. We all want to be happy, after all the American dream is the pursuit of happiness. Happiness has become an idol and we work so hard for it. We do all we can to be happy. We get married because the person makes us happy. We find a job that makes us happy, we find activities that make us happy. What happens when we become unhappy? What are you willing to give up for happiness? What do you keep because you think it will make you happy? Are you willing to break God's laws for happiness? If so, then I would say you worship happiness. I do, and I'll admit it. I struggle when I am not happy, work hard to be happy. It can destroy us, this strong desire to be happy and fulfilled.

What we need instead is hope. Hope when we are happy that we will have a time in eternity when it's always like that. Hope when we are unhappy that Jesus still holds us and it will all be set right one day. Hope when we are doing well, hope when we are down. Hope is stable, we can hold to it all the time, and it's grounded in Christ. Happiness is un-stable, it comes and goes like the wind. Hope is a solid rock.

More than that, Jesus never said to have happiness, He said to have hope. Hope is better, hope is more fulfilling. We need to pursue hope, hold to hope, cling to hope and thank God that we have hope. We have hope in our faith, in our salvation, and in the return of our Lord and Savior. We hope for Heaven, we hope for the salvation of our friends and family, and we hope for real, lasting and loving relationships. We hope in the body of Christ and we hope in the work and power of the Holy Spirit.

I am trying not to sell myself to happiness. It's a fleeting feeling, it's a cruel master and it's a controlling dictator. Just when I think I have it, it slips away and I can't hold it. Happiness is a tease, it's unfaithful, and it's never dependable. Happiness is selfish and self serving, and the pursuit of happiness destroy people, homes and families. How many people have walked away from things because they weren't happy? What would have happened if they would have looked for hope, hope that it can be better, that God can work and bring joy.

Joy. Joy is a tricky subject cause we don't really know what it is. We often equate joy with happiness or we make joy something so nebulous that it's hard to pin down. I think when we have hope we have joy. I think hope and joy come together, and I am not sure you can have one without the other. Joy may come as peace, fulfillment, finding your place and purpose. Finding your place in the Body of Christ. We find joy in community and we find hope in that same community. We come together, broken, flawed and hurting. We take turns treating one another's wounds. We encourage one another, teach one another and support one another. We hope in one another and learn to trust one another. Happiness is selfish and doesn't trust, joy and hope brings community. I need community, I need other people. I admit I am weak and I need help and I have hope. I hold to hope and it's so much better than holding to happiness. Don't get me wrong, I love to be happy and I'll take it when it comes, but it can be my focus. I can't worship it, I can't chase, I can't give my life to it. I have to trust Christ and have hope in the words that He tells me in His word. To trust Him, that He will come back and get me and I can have hope.

I have hope in the promises and hope in the faith. I can't see God, and I have never seen a angel or a pillar of fire, but I have my life. I have my heart, my walk, the ability to do things I can't do on my own. The ability to love and trust and have hope. That doesn't come from me, I am selfish and angry inside, but I have peace. It only comes from the Holy Spirit, and I have hope that He will continue to work in me and through me to change me. I have hope that His love will become my love and fill and over take the anger and bitterness that comes from losing the happiness I feel like I deserve.

Hope. Do you have hope? I sure hope so.

Too much brain

2010-08-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

So I like thinking, analysis and rationalizing stuff. I enjoy talking through and thinking through some issues, but I have found a big hole recently. Sometimes we use too much brain and not enough faith. Let me unpack that a little. There are things that the scriptures say that we don't fully want to agree with, so we gloss over them to just superimpose what we want to believe. Most of what we want to think is secular, humanistic and usually pretty prideful and pride filled. I hear too many people say "well I just don't believe that" and when faced with a scripture, they just blow it off. It seems to me that more and more we are ok with minimizing scripture in favor of what we want to think and what we want to believe. As long as it makes sense to us, even if it's different from our own experience, we tend to hold too it. We humanize God, we secularize the processes of God and make God more like us, instead of becoming more like God.

Sometimes we need to trust that what the Bible says is true, even if we don't understand it. We need to trust that God is doing things which are outside of the confines of our knowledge and understanding. The ways and purposes of God are eternal, and how can we as finite people understand. There is a time for intellect and understanding, but there is a time to trust that what the Bible teaches is true, regardless to our feelings about it.

Writing

2010-07-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

I sit down every day with the intent to write a blog. Then I decide to get a cup of coffee and things come up. Phone calls, visitors, things that need to be taken care of, questions to answer and before long, my day is over and I haven't blogged at all. I feel like there are thousands of things I want to write about, but never get it done. I have 2 books in my head waiting to be put down on paper, but they never seem to make it. I have some Bible Studies for The Revolution Inversion that I need to write, but things always seem to come up in front of them. There are lots and lots of things I want to discuss and discover, but it seems life gets in the way.

You ever feel like that? You ever feel like life is in the way of really living? Books to be read, things to get done, quality time to spend, things to do or say that never seem to get done? I wonder if it's our ego that makes the list, or just the reality of the world that keeps us from them. Seems like for every thing we get done, there are 3 more waiting in the wings. Are you there with me? Having things to do that never seem to get done? Well, hang in there, you are not alone. Hopefully, we will get there together. . . someday.

Know Thyself

2010-07-21T07:39:00.001-07:00

This is an issue that I tend to harp on quite a bit. The reason is because I don't think very many people actually know who they really are. I think there are several reasons for that, first, because we live in darkness. I'm not talking about the lack of light type of darkness, but spiritual darkness. Even Christians I believe often come out of the darkness but stay in the shadows. We view ourselves under false pretenses, either what we do, who we are, how much we make, how we dress, how much we attend church, the list goes on and on. We may accept that we are saved by grace, but often we live by our own works, and in our own power. We don't see ourselves in light of who we really are, who we were created to be, how God made us, loves us.

The second part is I think we are ignorant. We have ideas, thoughts and theories about God, life, the past and the future and we have no interest in letting go of our false ideals. We hold to our ideologies that are often like a carnival mirror. These false ideals of how we view the world distort the world and distort how we see ourselves. Sometimes we flatter ourselves, but I think more often than that, we condemn ourselves. We compare ourselves to the ideal, people who don't really exist. Often time to escape, we begin to idealize ourselves, and begin to think more of ourselves. In either case, we think too little or too much of ourselves, we don't really know ourselves.

I think all of this culminates in society where we are expected to be like other people. I have noticed in the trend of the giant sunglasses that girls wear, I have a theory about why they are so popular (cause they are so ugly). They cover up so much of your face, that you look like everyone else when you wear them. It doesn't matter that they are hideous, it matters that you look like you are suppose to look in society. We are expected to conform, to blend, to dress the same, talk the same and act the same as the group we are with, and often we are not even truthful enough with ourselves to admit to it.

It happens most of all in the church. Simple things like what version of the Bible we use can be influenced by where we go to church. What we sing, and how we worship. Do you stand, sit, raise your hands, fall down, roll around, vibrate, laugh, cry or handle snakes? It depends on what sort of church (or strange cult group) you are in. If affects the way we do lots of things, but when we understand who we are, we can begin to act in and through the way God made us. In the next few weeks, months, years (sometimes I am slow on the blog) I want to talk about some avenues where we need to learn who we are. This, as well as some more woven theology and the rest of my big deal. Hope you keep reading and commenting with me.

Christian Hackers?

2010-07-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

So I wanted a documentary last night (yes on purpose) about Linux. It was called Revolution OS and if you are into nerdy stuff like that, you would enjoy it. You see, Linux is an operating system, like Microsoft Windows, but with a major difference. It's part of 2 movements that have sprung off each other. The first is called the Free Software Movement, started by a guy who worked on some software called gnu. The goal of the Free Software Movement was to be able to share, to give the needed tools away along with the source code so that others can improve upon it and then share it with others. When Linux hit the scene, it helped spawn the Open Source Movement. Open Source is similar to Free Software, only if I take the source code of a Linux OS, like Ubuntu and I change the source code and rewrite some of it, I can then rename it to like jdanlinux and distribute it, I just need to give credit to Ubuntu for their work. Some of the linux systems are for purchase, most are free.

So, what you are asking yourself is, what does that have to do with Christianity? You see, the individuals who are anti-open source are companies like Microsoft who have a corner on the market, have closed source and proprietary software (Microsoft stuff only works in Windows). You have to play by Window's rules, and the code is closed, so if you want to change the software to meet certain needs, you are out of luck. You just have to hope Microsoft will. On the other hand, in the Open Source and Free Software camps, you are free to change and adapt. For example, there was a program called Bison that ran in C. A guy needed it to run in C++, so he re-wrote some code and created Bison++. They gain advantage by sharing ideas, by helping, supporting and sharing, while Microsoft lacks this advantage.

For the better part of the last century, the Church has been Microsoft. It has been run from the inside, many have a very top down structure and it's closed. The end users (people in the pews) had very little ability to make changes, only to choose to attend or not attend a church. This has hit a climax now in the 21st century when we have created a generation of church hoppers, shoppers and many who would rather just stay home and watch church on tv. They have been fed up with the closed system, coming to a room with a bunch of people they never connect with.

The church is beginning to see it, they are moving closer. The Small Group/cell group movement is pushing closer to the community aspect, but what I have noticed is that these hackers have the idea of community down better than the church. The software community works better than the Christian community. This community truly wants to connect, share, interact and help and support one another. It's based on giving and sharing and helping others. That is what Jesus taught for us to do, to give and share and help, but so often we are shamed by these other communities.

Perhaps it's because the tech industry in better at change than the church. Maybe it's because the tech movement is moving so much faster than the church. I think when it really comes down to it, Free Software and Open Source work so much better because they are less paranoid than the church, they are not as concerned with control, with manipulation and who the "leader" is. As we see the small church/organic church model begin to take off, we will see the church and the tech market begin to look more and more alike. The focus will be on the community, on the body and not so much on the individual.

1 A.M.

2010-07-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have the greatest thoughts at like 1 am and then lose it by the time you are ready to blog? That is totally my life. I sat around last night and thought about all the stuff I wanted to blog about, and I almost came down to blog it, but I didn't. Now I am sitting here in the couch and I can't remember for the life of me what it was I was going to say.

I am trying to adjust to my life with a neurological disorder. For those of you who read my blog and don't know (which I know is many of you), I have dystemic disorder. Dystemic disorder is related to bi-polar, but it only goes one direction. It's also called mono-polor, people who are dystemic either go manic or depressive. I get depressed. I have struggled with depression my whole life. I remember being depressed at 17 and 18 and not even understanding that I was depressed. I was depressed at 24 but in total denial. I was depressed at 28 and 29, but by that time I admitted it.

I struggle with the diagnoses and the idea of being flawed, of having nothing I can do about it is not the problem. It's the stigma of depression. It's like the Christian community believes that if you have Jesus, you should never be depressed. Anti-depressants are seen as little pills of no-faith, and I struggle with that. I guess it comes down that I worry too much what people think of me.

So the issue became pride and self centered-ness. I care too much what people thing, want to please people and do all the things that get me kudos. If God gave me this burden to carry, I should share it with the community, but I don't. It makes me wonder how large my Christian community really is. Perhaps it's not as big as I would like to think it is. As you read this, I hope it grows a little (knowing the community of folks who reads my blog is pretty small). I hope this confession helps you and inspires you a little in your own struggle with whatever your burden is.

My Big Idea part 1

2010-06-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

So I have been looking at Biblical education through the eyes of a professional educator (even though I am not a professional educator per say). In this experiment, I have used a technique that I totally believe in, called scaffolding. If you are not up on ed lingo, you probably think of scaffolding as that thing you use to paint a house. Well, the technique is similar to that thing used to paint a house. You build a base level and stand on it. Then you build a level on that and stand on that. Then you build a level up and stand on that. So on and so forth as you move upward. It works in a similar fashion in education. Let's use math for example. First you learn to count. From there you learn simple addition, then more complex addition. Then you learn subtraction, then more complex subtraction. Without learning addition and subtraction, you can't learn to multiply or divide by hand. Without knowing those functions, you can't do algebra, which you need to do trig, which builds to calculus.

What if we apply this same concept to Christian Discipleship? What would we build on? Naturally we start with the revelation of who God is, and I believe we best learn about the person of God the Father in the Old Testament. We also learn about the law, and who we are as humans, sinners. We don't grasp the full weight of sin apart from the Law. We are so far from the standard God has set for us, we can never come to God on our terms. God is powerful, above all and preeminent. I think one of the short comings of the modern church teachings is that we haven't communicated how from God all of humanity is. We have projected an image that we in the church are perfect, that we have the answers, we are right and everyone else is wrong. The Old Testament shows us how wrong we ALL are. The Nation of Israel, God's chosen people, continually break the covenant and are punished for it. They go into exile because of their sin, why should we think we are any different. Many of us, in church or out of church live a life as pagan as they did before the exile. We worship anything that causes distance between us and God. Usually, we worship happiness, we worship what we think we want, or what we think will make us complete (happy).

We find grace in the Old Testament, but more than that, we find grace personified in the New Testament in the man Jesus Christ. He is 100% God who came to earth as 100% man. He lived the sinless life, a life that measures up to God's standard, and died in my place. Because He died in my place, He takes my punishment and I take His standing before God. We call this Substitutionary Atonement, He paid the debt in my place. We see this clearly through the whole cannon of scripture. Creation, fall, the law, futility and failure, Christ, His sacrifice, His resurrection, the gift of Salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Great Commission, the Church. The process as a whole is important, so this is where my big idea comes in.

Perhaps we need to build a frame work in order to build upon the major concepts. Perhaps the way we teach too often focuses on just one aspect in great detail, but we miss the overall message of the scripture. Once we build the framework, we can begin to build on the levels as they develop. How you ask? Let's talk about that in part 2.

How do these two things reconcile

2010-06-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

I have been wondering if anyone can scripturally reconcile this statement:

"To be saved, we must accept Jesus"

and this verse:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Eph 2:4-10 (ESV)

How is "we must accept" not a work? Is it not an action done by our own power in order to gain salvation? Is that not something we can take credit for? Is that not something we can boast in? Do you really "accept" salvation, or are you just saved? Discuss:

Too many things becomes nothing

2010-05-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had so much to do that nothing gets done? Maybe you feel overwhelmed or confused. I have so much to blog about that I don't seem to blog anymore. I have lots to write on Woven Theology, I have some thoughts on worship, some on communion, a few on community and the nature of the church. It's like the list of the blogs I need to write gets longer and longer, but none of it seems to get down in ink (or type or pixels or whatever). I have some things to write off this site also, so admittedly, I haven't had time to make this my first priority. I realize, however, I need to make time. Many of the thoughts will grow stale if I am not careful. So, here is my plan.

Next blog: God at eternal and temporal in woven theology.

2nd: Communion and community.

3rd: tbd.

Stay tuned!

Self-Sufficiency

2010-03-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

I have realized how much our society and culture in this country prizes self-sufficiency. We have to do it ourselves. We earn whatever we get, we get what we deserve, we put in the effort, do the work and pull ourselves up by our boot straps. I have found that biblically, that mind set is pretty close to heresy. Instead of recognizing it, we have just adapted it into the church, and it's not new.

When Martin Luther was a young man in the monastery, he had the duty to serve communion. He was terrified because he knew he wasn't good enough. He learned to hate God until he found true grace. Luther worked so hard to please God, but always aware of his own short comings. He was more self aware than you or I. If we were as keenly aware of our sin as Luther, we would probably end up in the same place Luther did. He spend time incapacitated by his guilt, struggle and hatred. As I look at Luther, I see that there are stages or groups. It appears to me, there are basically three groups or stages.

The first group are the pharisees, the Roman Catholics, the legalists, who believe they are good enough. These are arrogant, prideful people who exist in the church who believe they have kept the law, done the work, are good enough and God owes them. Most of them would never say that, they would never admit it, but deep down that is how they feel. I'll admit that sometimes I struggle not to be there, after all, I'm a seminary trained pastor. I read, write, study, teach, preach, live and learn, always focused on God. Right? Did you see what the first letter of that horribly arrogant sentence was? "I". I am the subject, God is the object. Look at what "I" do. I made the decision, I have free will, I walked the aisle, I said the prayer, I found Jesus, I read my Bible, I go to church. God is auxiliary to my "religious" activities. This is where Martin Luther found himself, working to be good enough.

The second group is where I end up after spending time in this mode. It's where Martin Luther ended up. Disenfranchised, bitter and grieved. Martin Luther came to hate God. As John Lynch said in his message "True Faced", "pleasing God turns into how much I do to keep Him pleased". There is always more to do, more to read and study and work at. I can always be better, always be busier, more productive, sin less, care more and try harder. Eventually, I become so tired, my soul weary, my flesh exhausted. We blame God, the church, the Bible, we say things like "I don't like institutionalize religion", but the reality is we despise ourselves. We hate our faults, our short comings, and we feel inadequate, but we don't want to admit that, so we blame everything outside of ourselves. We are mad and angry at God because we are working so hard to do something He never asked us to do. We work so hard to be perfect when all along, He only asked us to trust Him. Sometimes we get a glimpse of that, and we become more angry. "How dare you ask me to give up my effort of self-sufficiency, after all, don't you want me to be better?" Does it resonate in your soul? Can you feel it? Your pride, your desire to pull yourself up by your boot straps, your desire to be in control. You want to do it, you want to fix it, you want to do it yourself. It began as soon as you became self-aware, at the age of two, you began. You wanted to do it yourself, be self-sufficient. We grow and learn to be more independent, it's part of our human nature. No one has to teach us how to be selfish or stubborn, self reliant or arrogant. So here you are. You are mad at God because you can't do it yourself, and you are mad at God because He wants you to trust Him and not try to do it yourself. You want to, yet you can't and the more you try the more bitter you become. This is why Christianity is dying in America. We are learning we can't do it. We are finding that our flesh, our temptations and our short comings easily master us. We are controlled by our fear and by our inadequacies. The only thing worse than being inadequate is being inadequate and unable to do anything about it yourself.

The third option is the place I desire to be, but I can't get there. Here is the problem, I struggle to get there on my own, and in my struggle I become self-sufficient for a short time. I quickly burn out, and I can't find the way to trust without striving on my own power. I am working to learn grace, which becomes a contradiction. I know it can be done, I believe Martin Luther did it. I believe that John Calvin did it, and gave us some keys in reformed theology. We kick and struggle against reformed theology because it takes the power away from us. We hate it, because we lose control. Somehow I must find a way to relinquish control. I can't find a way to live inside the paradox. I must find a way to live out my faith as a response, instead of living out my response to find grace. The Christian world as a whole is not helping me. I read books and articles and listen to messages and songs that tell me how to do the things I need to do in order to get a "spiritual life". If I just pray more, read more, go to church more, give more, then I'll get there. I can't find a method that's not a method. My entire life falls back into me trying to please God, which then becomes on what must I do to keep Him pleased. My Heavenly Father slowly degrades into the Heavenly School Master, ready to punish or reward me based on my merit. After all, shouldn't we get what we deserve?

So here I sit, coming back full circle. Striving to live in grace, but finding myself neck deep in works. Wanting happiness and fulfillment, not grace and relationship. All the time focused on me, what I did, what I do and what I want. I feel trapped and suffocated by my inability to escape the prison I have constructed for myself. The ironic part is I know God wants to free me, and for whatever reason, I can't or I won't allow Him to do so. I feel the inner struggle of Paul as he writes "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"Romans 7:24 (ESV). So I trust in words of Christ to Paul. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9 (ESV). Even as I am trapped in this prison of my own making, even as I can't escape and I can't figure out how to get it right, I am still being saved from myself. Maybe I can't see it. It seems to me that Paul couldn't see it, feel it or grasp it either, but grace. Amazing Grace. It's sufficient for even me, the wretch that I am.

Limited Atonement

2010-01-27T07:52:00.001-08:00

I have often struggled with the teaching of limited atonement. I understood it in concept, but thought it was a purposeless doctrine. That was true until I read an article that was against the Doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement.

Substitutionary Atonement states that Jesus died in my place. When He was on the cross, He bore my sins. By dying, He took the punishment for my sin. He died in my place. He was my substitute, because the punishment He suffered should have been mine.

If Substitutionary Atonement is true, that means my sins were atoned for when Jesus died on the cross. He bore then 2,000 years ago. That leads us to two places. The first is the Armenian viewpoint, of unlimited atonement, which states that everyone has the potential for salvation, which means that Christ bore the sins of everyone at Calvary. While it sounds to good and pleasing to stay that Christ bore the sins of every person on the cross, it makes salvation a work. Let's elaborate.

If Christ bore the sins of everyone, and died as a substitute for everyone, then everyone is atoned for, yet not everyone is saved. What is left in the salvation process? Acceptance. That means that we earn salvation though accepting it. That is a gnostic teaching. Either the work is acceptance, understanding, belief or surrender, all those things are dependent upon me. I am therefore responsible for my own salvation, and I am not saved by grace through faith, but rather I am saved by knowledge though faith. I am saved by receiving the atonement. Is that scriptural, or is that humanism?

The alternative is Limited Atonement. It's the reality that God prepared some for salvation since before the foundation of the world, elected them, their sins were paid for on Calvary and they receive grace. We find this in Romans 9.

19 You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?” 20 But who are you—anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the potter no right over His clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? 22 And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction? 23 And [what if] He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory— 24 on us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Romans 9:19-24 (HCSB)

So I assume some of you reading this point don't agree with me. After all, why would we be commanded to seek and knock, and what is the value of preaching? What about Romans 10:9 and 10:13?

But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! 16 But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Romans 10:14-17 (HCSB)

Perhaps you are asking about those verses, about evangelism and what is the point if people are already redeemed. It's a tricky subject I'll admit. So let's go deeper, let's get woven.

In my theological offering of Woven Theology, I have stated that Gods unconditional call and election works in concert with God's foreknowledge, our response and responsibility. That means we are elected and called by God without any work or merit of our own. We know that we are chosen, we are saved and redeemed by grace. It's God who gives grace, we cannot and do no earn it, it's for the glory of God. We also know that our belief has an impact that we believe and we trust God and we are saved. So, we can't be saved without belief, we don't believe without Grace, we don't get grace unless we are chosen, we don't get chosen unless we believe. How?

I think the key comes for a verse in Joel.

I will repay you for the years

that the swarming locust ate,

the young locust, the destroying locust,

and the devouring locust—

My great army that I sent against you.

Joel 2:25 (HCSB)

There is a spiritual reality that sometimes things flow backwards, work in recompense. In Joel, Israel was disobedient, and they were punished. They repented and God re payed the punishment, and it became like the punishment never happened. God can work backwards, can buy back, pay back and restore things to how they were before.

Woven theology stays that you believe because God gives you the ability and the grace to believe, and you have the ability and grace from God because you believe. The reality is that you were called and predestined to believe if you are a believer, and God gave His son for you, and your sins are atoned for because of Grace. We share and we pray for others, because prayer, obedience and response are the mechanisms in which God operates as He predestines those from the foundation of the world. Overwhelmed? We are just getting warmed up.

Losing sight

2010-01-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have discovered about myself that I so often lose sight of some of the most important things in my spiritual development. The first is living by grace, and not by self effort. I am so hard on myself, trying to do all the things I am suppose to do. The second is part of the same issue, which is having a simple faith. I sometimes over think, over analyse and forget to just trust and believe. Simple faith and living by grace. In my line of work, my spirituality becomes work, and I begin to look at everything as work. Bible study for the sake of me growing closer to Jesus gives way to me studying for my job. Prayer becomes something I do in my job, and this new year I am trying to live my grace and have a simple faith. That doesn't mean I will stop my work on Woven Theology, or I will stop thinking about eccelsiology and church structure, but in doing so, I am resolved to not let my relationship with Christ suffer.

Worship

2009-12-17T11:36:00.002-08:00

As I considered worship lately, I have changed my perspective slightly. What is worship? To find the answer, I started looking in the most honest of places. Kids. Do you ever watch kids worship? Step back, outside of your religious mindset and look at unchurched kids. Look at 3rd-5th grade boys who love sports. They have the purest form of worship, it comes straight from the heart. They worship sports figures. When I was that age, it was Michael Jordan. Everyone had Air Jordans when I was 6th and 7th grade. Kids wore Bulls hats and shirts, and the real die hard fans, they had a jersey. Kids on playgrounds everywhere stuck their tongues out when they shot baskets.

True worship, the most pure form of worship is emulation. It's identification, it's concentrated attention given. Why have we turned it into a form that most people can't identify with? Sure, some will worship in song, but if we are honest with ourselves, if worship is emulation, aren't we worshipping the Worship leader more than God? Who are we mimicking on a Sunday Morning? Just food for thought. I welcome your comments.

Disciple or Convert?

2009-12-17T11:36:00.001-08:00

When it comes to your faith, are you a disciple or a convert? You may wonder, “what’s the difference?” There is a difference of night and day. A convert is happy just coming to a Sunday Morning service. A convert may pray before a meal. A convert owns a Bible or two. A convert is someone who has found “religion”. Every religion has converts. You can be converted to and from anything, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, Baptist, even Atheists. It simply means you have been converted to an affiliation. You now identify yourself as part of the group.

This is so different from being a disciple. Jesus never called ‘converts’. He never said to go and make converts. He never told anyone to come be His convert. He told them to be His disciples. A disciple is someone who studies under the Master, who learns His trade, His style, learns to be like Him. A convert follows rules and traditions, but a disciple follows the Master.

In your walk, in your life, how are you behaving? Are you following the rules, the traditions, going through the motions? Are you doing the same things you’ve always done, because you have always done it? That is how the Pharisees lived, they valued the tradition and the ritual. They were converted to the Jewish religion, but missed the most important relationship. The promised Messiah came and stood in front of them, but they were so clouded by their tradition, their religion, the missed Him. We see it happen today, in the modern church. Folks come in, sit though a worship service, get in their cars and go home, ever meeting the Master, never becoming a disciple.

So which are you? Who do you follow? Are you following someone who talks about Jesus, or do you follow Jesus? Do you follow tradition, or the teachings of men, or the words of our Lord and Savior? In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus told us: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The keys to becoming a disciple are all about the Master. Reading the word, spending time in Bible study. Going to Him and seeking Him in prayer and meditation of the Word. It’s being about the business of the Master, sharing the Gospel, helping the hurting, supporting your brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s about Worship, which in its purest form is emulation of your Master. So, when it comes to your faith, are you a convert, or a disciple?

Not blogging, thinking

2009-12-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

So I have a lot to blog about, but none of the thoughts complete enough to put down. I want to blog about Woven theology, I am working on the first few weaves, but I don't have then done enough to put down. I have some church-related stuff, organic based ministry thoughts- to put down, but they are not complete enough to write. I have some thoughts on Spirituality to put down, but I am not far enough or convinced enough to put anything down. Basically what I am saying is, I haven't forgotten about my blog, just haven't had a complete thought to blog yet. I'll work on it.

Dawson's Creek Syndrome

2009-11-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

I have had a theory for a number of years, but I don't think I have ever written it down. Today, I am going to explain the phenomenon I call Dawson's Creek Syndrome.

First, I have to admit I have never seen Dawson's Creek, but it sounded like a fitting name, because the show is a teenage drama. There have been plenty of teenage drama shows, and many, many more for adults. Each of these shows (and almost any show, movie or book) have the same basic plot progression. We all learned it in 8th grade, you remember. First, we have a protagonist that meets with some sort of antagonist. There ensues some sort of crisis which hits a climax, and then comes a resolution.

So the question of the ages, does art imitate life or does life imitate art has a limited answer with Dawson's Creek Syndrome, we imitate art. We (as a society) have become so enamoured with these dramas, that we begin to feel like this is what our life needs to reflect to have value. So we begin to mimic this cycle in our lives.

The issue comes in when there is no drama. The only option is to create drama. We get bossy, we become nosey, we get gossipy, we get angry, we become involved in something that isn't any of our buisness, the entire purpose is to create drama. Most of the time (almost all of the time) we are totally unaware that we are doing it. It's just natural, it's a natural response to this need to feel valid. We want to feel important, the people on TV, they are important, so if we can imitate them, we feel important.

I originally came up with this theory when I worked with High School and College students, but adults are just as guilty. It happens most often in relationship with friends, significant others, people you work with, or attend church with. The creation of drama, conflict and things of the like, which create the cycle in order to feel important. Do you have DCS?

Why be Woven

2009-11-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

As I continue to work on Woven Theology, that is, the process is which Salvation happens though space time and paradoxical reality, the question exists "why does it matter". I hear this question a lot when it comes to understanding God, or understanding the nature of Salvation, or sanctification. After all, if it happens, does it matter how it happens?

There are multiple driving forces, let me start with the weakest. The first force, which provides me with a little motivation is the drive to know where I came from in a spiritual sense. It's the same motivation that causes secular scientists to study evolution, and Christian scientists to study creation. We want to know where it came from, how it started.

My next motivation is trying to bring come unity. I believe that Woven Theology moves beyond the limiting factors of most theological systems. The interpretation of most systems today have created and either-or dichotomy. You either accept this premise, or that premise. Somehow, we have to reconcile what we find in scripture, even though they seem to be conflicting ideas. My analogy is that most present systems exist like Newtonian Physics, they are progressive, straight line, action to reaction type systems. Woven theology is more Astrophysics, where time moving backwards and forwards at the same time, contradictory things being true until an event or observation interacts with them. Things are put together, superimposed to create the reality of Salvation.

My last motivation is to help make ministry practical. A good friend of mine was talking about self-help books. If a self-help booked really worked, why are there so many of them. If one really made you a better person, everyone would buy it. They don't work, which is why there are so many. I fear our process of evangelism is similar. We have so many different tools, outlines, strategies and formulas, but they so often fall short. There is no magic bullet, no one size fits all. I wrote a book in an attempt to pull all these strategies together in an attempt to be able to use multiple outlines and resources for the common purpose of Evangelism.

I think if we better understand Salvation, we are better equipped to be involved in it. We have been too far on extremes, either sitting on the side, waiting for the predestined to just get there, or trying to argue people into the Kingdom, with little success. We need a system to understand how Salvation operates so we see our part in the structure. I really believe we pray too little, stress too much, make things overly complicated and have low expectations. We either give up or become overly confrontational, and in the end, it's been more about our duty and less about presenting the Good News. We need to learn to be the kind of Evangelists that we see in the New Testament (that is another blog).

Those are my reasoning for the creation of Woven Theology. My desire to be more in God's will, to be a good steward with the time and opportunity I have to share my faith with others. During this process, I have been able to witness individuals coming to the Lord in ways that I would not have predicted. Praying for people, and seeing them get saved in ways I wouldn't have imagined, because it's the work of the Lord, and not the effort I put into it. It's been amazing, and my prayer is that as we examine the mystery that is how the Lord moves in the work of Salvation, you will see Him work in mighty ways too.

The intersection of God's plan and our duty

2009-10-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

As I thought about how this works, how God's plan intersects man's responsibility, and I thought of a more tangible example.

No one exists apart from the knowledge and will of God. God ordains, knits together, creates and orders the life of each person. Men like Moses and Abraham, John the Baptist, Paul, each of these men where called and used by God. Men like Pharaoh who were created for a purpose. We are each lumps of clay, and God is the potter. See Romans 9:19-24.

God has set aside and uses each person according to Romans 9, but with the exception of one person, every person has been conceived by the coming together or a man and a woman in the act of procreation. Aside from Jesus, Adam and Eve, everyone that God used in the scripture was born as a result as human action. . . and interaction.

Each child that is born is an combination of God's will and man's action. God works with the activity and duty of a man and a woman. The result is a miracle, but also a result of a biological action.

2009-10-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Heb 4:11 (ESV)

Not going to comment, just throwing the verse out there. You really should read it in context, but I find it interesting.

Thinking Woven

2009-10-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

So I have been reading about astrophysics lately. Why you ask? I think much of our view of God comes from Newtonian Physics. Namely, we think of God as linear. We think that God exists in our dimension, on our plane and in our time line. In thinking about the way that Salvation happens, and putting scripture together, it is clear to me that He does not. What we must do it change our thinking about God.

In regards to salvation, we assume that Salvation happens at the point we accept Christ. This is a man-centered idea, and I believe is in error. The process of Salvation begins after we are saved. We respond to salvation, but we respond because God calls us. God calls us before the beginning of time. God called us before the beginning of time for His purpose and His glory. His glory is most seen in our obedience. Our obedience brings Him glory. We are obedient and glorify Him, which is why he predestined us since the foundation of the world, for His own purpose, without our need to respond. We respond to salvation because we cannot hold ourselves back from grace, but we can't hold ourselves back from grace because we have already accepted it because it was offered.

We must weave together this reality, that two things that must occur happen, which seem to contradict. We must seek after and accept God to be saved. We must repent, confess and believe. We have responsibility. The ability to seek, to confess, repent and believe is not something we are even capable of, so God must cause it to happen before it happens, yet we know it does not happen until we respond, but has been set since time began? How? Simple, God exists out of time.

Let's add one more string to weave in. Let's weave in prayer. Prayer is that area in which we can affect the entire process from the 3rd party. We pray for the salvation of others, because our prayers affect their response, and God's call.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim 2:1-4 (ESV)

God wants all people to be saved, so we are commanded to pray for all people. We pray for them to be saved, because God desires for them to be saved. The catalyst that effects the foundation of time is prayer, in addition to faith and belief. As the different parts come together, God's unconditional call, the response, the prayers, belief and faith, grace and mercy, they all come together to create a tapestry that we call Salvation. None of the parts on their own can create it. Each part is vital and need the other, yet there is no time line they can be placed in. They happen before, during and after, over and under, weaving together.

Not sure we look like Christ.

2009-10-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Gandhi once said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I have witnessed some conversation, mostly online at one particular location, about the difference in some SBC polity, relating to some of our traditions, and different views. There is a movement called Baptist Identity, (or BI) that has caused some division. Of course, the Calvinist debate continues to rage, as does the worship wars. Seems like Christinas will find anything to fight about.

Gandhi also said "If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today". Wow, this last week, I have seen this lived out (mostly online) with Christians, leaders and people who profess to be mature believers constantly. So often, we (yes, I am including myself) use the Bible to justify our cruelty. Most of the time, it's proof texting, out of context and used as a weapon. The fights are suppose to be for "the good of the SBC", but never seem to be helping anyone.

I wonder if we are more concerned with being right than we are with truth. We are more concerned with the law and the tradition than we are with grace and mercy. We are more concerned with quoting the New Testament, and not concerned enough with living the New Testament. Maybe we should listen to Ghandhi a little more, and work to look a little more like Christ.

Quotes you never thought would come from John Calvin

2009-10-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

I found these at Calvin500.com

“No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief.”

“Augustine does not disagree with this when he teaches that it is a faculty of the reason and the will to choose good with the assistance of grace; evil, when grace is absent.”

“It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results.”

“God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us – as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.”

breaking from the UnElect.

2009-10-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

I found this from a friend of mine who had a question about it. The church of the Non-Elect, those who have no ability to seek after God and be saved. This is what has caused me to create Woven Theology. The church's doctrine is below, and can be found at calvinistchurch.com

Welcome to the First Calvinist Church U.S.A.
of the Non-Elect

Our Doctrine & Teaching:

What the Calvinist Church of the Non-Elect in America Teaches:

The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible source of truth and practice.
There is only one God, eternal and self-existing in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who are to be equally loved, honored, and adored.
All mankind participated in Adam's fall from his original sinless state and is thus lost in sin and totally helpless.
The Sovereign God, for no other reason than His own unfathomable love and mercy, has chosen lost sinners from every nation to be redeemed by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit and through the atoning death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Those sinners whom the Spirit quickens, come to believe in Christ as Savior by the Word of God, are born again, becomes sons of God, and will persevere to the end.
Those sinners whom the Spirit does not quicken, may recognize that Christ is truly the Lord but that knowledge in and of itself does not alter the Sovereignty of God.
God Almighty is "the potter" and has the absolute right to leave some vessels of His creation as objects of His just wrath while demonstrating His amazing and matchless grace and mercy to others of His choosing.
Justification for the Elect is by His choice and through it the undeserving Elected sinner is clothed with the righteousness of God.
The goal of God's salvation in the life of the Christian is holiness, good works, and service for the glory of God.
The goal of God's Non-election of others is to provide a testimony to His Sovereignty, Justice, and to the praise of His glory. Those of us that are Non-Elect seek also to live and die in such a way that God is still glorified.
At death the Christian's soul passes immediately into the presence of God and the unelected soul is eternally separated from God unto condemnation.
At death the Non-Elect soul passes immediately into concious torment away from the presence of God and His holiness demonstrating the just wrath of our Sovereign Righteous God.
Jesus Christ will return to earth, visibly and boldly, at a time when He is not expected, to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
The Gospel of God's salvation in Jesus Christ must be published to all the world as a witness before Jesus Christ returns.
The publication of this Good News (Gospel) is being accomplished by both the Elect and the Non-Elect as determined and allowed by the absolute sovereign will of our God, Jehovah, the great eternal "I AM".

While those of us who are Non-Elect have little to no hope or confidence of ever entering into the sinless, holy presence of Jehovah God Almighty, that does not prevent us from worshipping Him, glorifying Him, and acknowledging His Infinite Worth and Supreme Sovereignty over all His creation including us.

In conformity, therefore,to Calvin's clear teachings, we assert, that by an eternal and immutable counsel, God has once for all determined, both whom He would admit to salvation [the Elect], and whom He would condemn to destruction [those of us who are Non-Elect].

We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns the Elect, is founded on His gratuitous mercy, totally irrespective of human merit; and...

We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns those of us that are the Non-Elect, is founded on His Divine Sovereignty and justice, to those of us whom He devotes to condemnation, the gate of life is forever closed by our just and irreprehensible, but incomprehensible, Sovereign God.

In the Elect, we consider His calling as an evidence of election, and justification as another token of its manifestation, till they arrive in glory, which constitutes its completion.

As God seals His Elect by vocation and justification, so by excluding those of us that are Non-Elect from the redemptive value of our Lord's limited sacrifice and the sanctification of His Spirit, He affords us as Non-Elect an indication of the judgement that awaits us, as vessels of wrath, yet even this is to His Glory, for which we are thankful.

Wow, I read this and I was stunned. This is contrary to the heart of God, to reject those who seek after Him. "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jer 29:12-13 (ESV). I realize this verse is written for the Jewish people after they were sentenced to exile, but there is a general promise and timeless principle in here, that God can be found when we seek Him.

This idea may be seen as contrary to unconditional election. Some would say that if God elects based on man's response, then man is still chosing God. The dicotimy comes because man's cannot respond on his own, and must be elected by God to respond. It's a contradiction, and inpossibility, and I forsee Woven Theology becoming as complex as String Theory or Quantum Mechanics because of the paradoxical reality that man must respond to God, but is incapable of responding to God without God interveining. Something happens before we make a choice, but the choice has an effect on the action that prompted us to make a choice. Make sense? We will talk more later.

Woven Theology

2009-10-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

So I am proposing a new theological system, which really isn't a new theological system, but something must be done to curb the argument. I am not saying I am going to solve the "Calvinist, Non-Calvinist" debate, but for some reason, in the SBC, someone says "Calvinist" the assumption is "that person doesn't believe in Evangelism." I am a Calvinist who wrote a book on Evangelism. Woven theology is an intersection between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Notice I didn't say free will, free will is a fallacy. Woven theology simply states that man's response and responsibility has impact on God's ordaining call. Man's response is a requirement, even though the will and call of God are absolute and set since the foundation of the world.

God has predestined, See Romans 8, Romans 9, and 2 Peter 1. God, however, does not hide himself, and He can be found if we seek Him. We see this most powerfully in the act of prayer. Prayer changes things, otherwise we would have no reason to pray.

I have not completed my work on this topic, I have lots of work to do, so don't sit down and try to punch holes in it yet. You'll get your chance. The one thing you can do, if you are going to bash a theological system, like Calvinism, remember that there are as many types of Calvinist as their are Baptists.

Why I Need Jesus

2009-09-09T13:46:00.001-07:00

As I think about my life, and the things I have do and have done, I am left with one conclusion. I know I NEED JESUS! Left to my own, I know what kind of person I am. I wish I could say I am a good person, after all, I try to do good things. In a conversation recently, I realized how many good things I do for wrong reasons. Let me make some examples before I share about me.

If a man knows his neighbor has gone oversees with the military, if he goes out of his way to be nice to the wife left at home, we would say that's a good thing. If he helped her with repairs around the house, carried her groceries for her, and was there to listen when she was sad, we would say "what a good guy". How would it change if we knew his motivation was to have an affair with this woman, and he was trying to manipulate her for sex. Is he still a good guy?

A young girl goes over every day to spend time with an elderly lady who is a shut in. They talk and visit, they look at pictures and enjoy tea together. The young girl asks for advice and listens to the wisdom of the older lady. Sounds like a good thing, doesn't it. What if you found out that every time the girl comes over, she is stealing the jewelry from this old woman. Is she still a good person?

I am more subtle than that. I haven't tried to take a man's wife or a woman's belongings, but I have my own selfish reasons. Things like approval, recognition, my own pride and the desire to be better than you. The deeper you go, the more selfish the reasons. I end up being a Pharisee.

The Pharisees were the religious leaders and teachers of the law in Jesus' day. They thought they were good people. They thought they were the best. They didn't think they needed to be forgiven, because they did everything right. The problem was their motivation. They didn't do it because they loved God, they did it to make themselves happy. In the end, they took advantage of people, they hurt people and they killed Jesus.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the example of a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee looks toward Heaven and said "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get". The tax collector simply prays for mercy because he is a sinner.

I need Jesus because I'm a sinner. I have moments where I feel like I should be able to stand proud and say "I am not like all the common sinners to drink, smoke, chew and go with those who do." Then I remember what the book of James says. "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." James 2:10

Why? Simple, God's standard is to be perfect, and I'm not. I am so far from perfect that I can't even imagine what perfection would be like, expect for one thing. I know that Jesus was perfect. I know that He lived a perfect live, he took the test and passed with the perfect score. I get to claim his test result, I get to live by His score. That is why I need Jesus.

I need Jesus because on my own, I am selfish, cruel, self-seeking and have little to no compassion for anyone unless that compassion would directly benefit me. I would take advantage of people, manipulate people and seek my own agenda, all the while claiming to be a good person.

Here is my admission. I am not a good person, but I trust in Jesus. I trust in Jesus to do in me what I can't do in myself. I trust Jesus to bring life to my dead spirit, to grant me forgiveness of my sins, to restore my relationship to a Holy God. I trust Jesus to do in me what I have failed to do on my own. I trust Jesus to make me into the person He wants me to be. I know that it will only be complete after I leave this life and begin my life in Heaven. I know I fail and I know I am lacking, but I trust Jesus.

I wish I could just end there, but even in trust I struggle. I so bad what to take it back, do it myself, fix it on my own. I can be a better person, a better man, a better husband and father. I can study more, believe and teach the right things, have all the answers and be a better person. If I can just get my sin problem under control, if I can stop being selfish, stop being greedy, some being envious and prideful. The problem is, the more I do, the harder I work, the more pride I take and the farther behind I get. The more I work, the less I trust and the more like the Pharisee I become. I need Jesus, he is the only answer for this cycle of self-destruction I find myself in. So I am learning to trust, and together, He can make me the man I want to be.

Lack of Blogging

2009-07-01T12:17:00.001-07:00

So I haven't been blogging a lot lately. I have wondered why, and I have come to an epiphany. I am stressed out. Now, being stressed may seem obvious to most of you, but I don't notice. It's not because I'm a well adjusted individual, it's because I am always stressed out. I am a performance type guy, I DO. I do all the time, I try to make people happy and do enough to get things done. I am very task oriented.

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)

There I am. I'm Martha. I believe that Martha learned from this example, but again, Jesus comes to Bethany towards the end of His earthly ministry.

they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. John 12:2-3 (ESV)

Here we find Mary involved in worship, consumed with the Master. Martha is serving, this time with no complaints. That's me. I am serving, no complaints. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but that I let myself get to the point where I am stressed without knowing it. I am tired and run down, my glands are swollen, my back is hashed. It's not just one thing, it's the business of life, all the issues that one needs to deal with.

So there it is. I am not sure what the incite from this post is. If you are tempted to post a fix for me, I appreciate the thought, but you will be giving a work-a-holic one more task to do. Will be less than helpful. You can pray for me, and I am going to try to take the "trust God" road instead of the "please God" road. I'll explain later.

Loaded question

2009-05-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

The loaded question of the day "Is it possible for a Christian to go the rest of their lives without sinning". It's a loaded question, not an application question. I am going to attempt to lay out my theology and thought process as systematically as I can. There has been some spirited discussion happening that I believe is less that fruitful. If you disagree with me, that is fine, I won't call you a heretic, that is between you and God.

The foundational issue comes down to the difference between possible and probable. Let's start with possible. Is it possible to never sin again. If we think about my life, assuming I am going to live to 82, that is 50 years from now. The idea of going 50 years without committing a sin seems overwhelming. Seems impossible, but is it? A lifetime of sin or holiness is made up of hundreds of thousands of individual decisions. In each decision, I have a choice to do what is bad or what is good. Let's talk scripture.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Cor 10:13 (ESV).

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2 (ESV)

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:17-18 (ESV)

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18 (ESV)

After we have accepted Christ and are set free from sin, we have the ability through God to say no to each sin. There is no sin that we are forced to commit. That brings me to the nature of what a sin is. Let's start with original sin. Some believe that we have guilt from original sin, and we are condemned because of that sin. In that theology, a baby who dies is guilty of sin, and the wage of sin is death, which means an infant who dies goes to hell. I reject this theory, I believe that we are responsible for our sins and not the sins of others, even our fathers. Here is my scriptural references.

“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin. Deut 24:16 (ESV). This verse is speaking of Mosaic law, but I believe the principle is the same. God is more just than man.

Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. Ezek 18:19-20 (ESV)

Now, you ask what about Psalms 51:5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me

So doesn't that verse say that we are guilty of sin from birth? In this Psalms, David is lamenting after his sin with Bathseba, and he is reflecting on the sin that he has committed, as well as the reality of sin. We live in a sinful world, we are born into a world full of sin, our parents are sinful, our families are sinners, we are surrounded by sin.

So what about original sin? I believe we are born with the taint of sin, but not born guilty. Let me explain. The first sin committed by Adam and Eve was eating the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We are born with the capacity of knowing good and evil, but it's a capacity that is developed. Developmentally, small children are not capable of understanding evil. Kids know they are punished for bad behavior, but are not cognitively developed enough to understand that what they did is evil or sinful. I believe that God did this intentionally, making children innocent by not having the ability to understand good and evil, and a still born baby does not spend eternity in hell. I believe that is why Jesus says:

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3 (ESV)

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 19:14 (ESV)

This is the reason behind many Jewish traditions, the Bar-Mitzvah, the coming of age, when children are old enough to understand the difference between good and evil. Once we understand evil, we commit evil. Once something is said to be wrong, our flesh craves to do that which we shouldn't, bringing sin. Paul explains all this.

Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:7-12 (ESV)

Paul states in verse 9 that he was once alive, before his age of accountability, but as he grew and developed to cognitive ability to understand the difference between good and evil, his flesh, which is tainted by the nature of sin, brings him to the point of sin. Paul is going to sin. All those who are capable of sin will sin.

So what do I mean by "capable of sin". As I stated, I don't believe that babies can sin, because they are don't know evil and can't choose to defy the law. They are apart from the law. Some individuals have a developmental disability and never mentally age beyond a very young age. These individuals are apart from the law, and sin lies dead, according to Romans 7. These individuals are unable to comprehend the words of the Gospel, cannot accept Christ and do not understand good or evil. Like the little children Jesus spoke of, the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as they.

They are the exception, if you are reading this, you are capable of knowing Good and Evil, and you have sinned. All of us have sinned. Romans 3:23 says we all have sinned.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10 (ESV)

We have sinned, each one of us, which makes us in need of a Savior. This brings us back to the question at hand. Once we have been convicted of our sin, confessed and repented, Christ has declared us righteous and we are set free from the law, is it possible to live the rest of our lives and never sin again. As we stated at the beginning, it’s possible because there is no sin that we are forced to commit. If we had to sin, then would it be just to punish us for it? So if there is no sin that we MUST commit, then it is POSSIBLE, but is it PROBABLE? This is where the question is loaded.

NO. It’s not gonna happen. There is a doctrine called “sinless perfection” that is attributed to John Wesley, saying that someone can have the taint of original sin removed after salvation, making one free from sin. The doctrine was taken farther than I believe Wesley intended, and has been taken by some in the 70s and 80s to say that if we declare ourselves sinless, then we are through the power of the spirit. The Seventh Day Adventist Church also teaches of The Last Generation, which they believe will be sinless.

Paul teaches us in Romans that while we are set free from bondage to sin, we still have sinful flesh, live in a sinful world and experience temptation. Even Paul stated:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25 (ESV)

We still have flesh that is fallen and sinful, and even though we been released from bondage to sin, we still struggle, and we will fail. We don’t have too, so it’s not impossible to stop sinning, but it’s so improbable that you can just bank on that fact you will. So why have the conversation? We will sin, but we must continue to work towards being perfect.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:48 (ESV)

We never stop trying to be free from sin, and even when we fail, daily, sometimes by the hour or by the minute, we get back up and through the power of the spirit try to do our best to live a righteous life.

Missing the point to make a point

2009-05-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

So you have noticed I had a theological throwdown. My facebook page was ripe with conversation, no one commented on my blog, and that's ok. As I was looking at the 'free will' pillar text, I noticed something. Let's put the text up before we examine it.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
1 Tim 2:1-7 (ESV)

I have heard one piece of this quoted a lot. "God desires all people to be saved". Let's step back and look at this in context, I think it is a mind blowing statement. First of all, I'll state I believe that Salvation is God's work (and if you have read anything on my blog, you know that). If that is the case, then that verse alone makes little sense. If God wants everyone to be saved, why doesn't He just save everyone?

I believe the key lies in the beginning of the verse. These verses command us to pray for all people. So what does prayer and salvation have to do with one another. Simple, we pray for salvation and God brings them to Salvation. Out prayer affects God in a profound way that it cuts through time and space. We know from scripture that God's will has been predestined since the foundaiton of the world, yet our prayers affect it, so our prayers can actually affect those things being set at the foundation of the world. God exists apart from time, so our prayers reaching Him can have ramificaitons for today, yesterday and tomrrow.

I also don't want you to hear what I'm not saying. I am not saying not to evangelise. In fact, that is the last part of this passage, Paul preaches. He (Paul) wants people to pray, he is going to preach the Gospel. Your job is to 1. pray and 2. preach the gospel.

I am also not saying that everyone you pray for will be saved. There is some responsibiliy, confessing, repenting are both put on us. Believe is a key to salvation. Praying for someone can soften their hearts, open their eyes and release the power of God, but we have no guarentees how it will work out. What I do know is that we have a responsibility to pray, to preach and to trust God.

Theological Throwdown

2009-05-10T20:30:00.001-07:00

I am offering you a challenge, a Theological throwdown. Our pastor, Pastor Gene preached a message about Romans 8:28, which sparked some discussion. So here is my throwdown.

There are verses in scripture that SAY we have been predestined.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Romans 8:29-30 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us [2] for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Eph 1:3-6 (ESV)

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:11-12 (ESV)

There are also verses that speak about the elect

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior
Titus 1:1-3 (ESV)

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
1 Peter 1:1-2 (ESV)

and election

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
2 Peter 1:10 (ESV)

These are stated emphatically in scripture, no inference needed. It says we are predestined. Find me the verse that STATES we have free will. No inference. What I mean is:

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Tim 2:3-4 (ESV)

From this verse, you can make an assumption there is free will, but this verse does not say there is free will. You can argue from this verse that God is letting humans had free will and has a desire that man choose Him. You can also say that from the context, this verse is talking about the responsibility of the believer to be involved in the work of the Gospel, and the focus is not on the lost, but that's another blog.

So, all my theological minds, find me the verses that speak DIRECTLY of free will. No inference. Find a verse that supports free will with the same sort of logic that support predestination. Ready? GO!

Moderation

2009-04-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, confession time. I have to admit something to you all that I have gone a little extreme. I don't think I have said anything that is heresy, but I think I have pushed a little hard against the modern church. I don't really take back anything, but if I had to do over, I would perhaps soften it a little. There are many good things in the Church. That's not to say that every local expression of the church is doing good things or the right things, many of them are in shambles, but many are doing good things. I can't deny that people in America are getting saved. I realize that some of my stronger posts and language have been more reactionary and less simply speaking what I beleive is true. For those times when I used too strong of language or pushed too hard simply out of rebellion, I am sorry. God is still working on me. I need to wear an orange cone on my head I think.

Evangelism

2009-04-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

I want to try to put down my thoughts systematically on what I believe about Evangelism. I know that there is some confusion by some of you about where I stand on outreach, and I want to try to put everything down. Many of you know I take the title Calvinist, and therefore don't think I believe in Evangelism. That is not the case, I do believe in Evangelism, and I believe all Biblical Calvinists believe in Evangelism. I think that if you really wrestle with what seems to be a paradox, you come to come conclusion. It's a paradox. The Bible is full of paradoxical statements. Christ is 100% man and 100% God. One person can't be 100% of two things, yet Christ is. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are 3 people, yet one person. That can't work, yet it does, because it's God. I believe that man cannot come to God on his own, he must be drawn by God, yet is completely and 100% responsible for his actions, including what he does with Jesus.

There you go, it's a paradox. You cannot seek God on your own, yet you are required to place your faith in Christ. Your will, you placing your trust in Jesus is your responsibility, 100%, that is Biblical. Confess, repent, turn from your sins and embrace salvation. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of your life and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

At the same time, you will not seek God on your own. The Bible is clear, no one seeks God, we are totally depraved and incapable of seeking God on our own. Our only hope is that God will have mercy on us and reach down and call us, bring us to Him and send His Holy Spirit to work in our heart. Somehow, our will and the sovereign glory of God work together, in a paradoxical relationship to bring man and God together as work of God and a duty of man.

Are you confused? It's confusing. I think part of the issue is that we put God in our time frame. We view time from past to present and future. God doesn't not exist inside our time frame, and He works out salvation throughout time at the same time. I believe that predestination works partially through foreknowledge. God knows you, know what you will do, what you won't do, and what you need. Some people have been created by God, and God understands that person will spend eternity in Hell, and that person is 100% responsible for their actions, their choice and their decisions. Man is 100% responsible for rejection of Christ. It would make logical sense that man is 100% responsible for accepting Christ, and I would agree . . . sort of.

I don't believe in free-will. Free will would mean that you can use your will to choose God or choose to reject God. The book of Romans is clear that you are slaves to sin, and you are incapable of choosing God, so your will is not free. Once you are saved, you are a slave to Christ, you are then again still not free, you are not your own, you are purchased by the blood of Christ. If this is the case, the will is first in bondage to sin, and then in submission to Christ. The scripture is clear, the will is not free.

When we accept Christ, it is not through a process of will. The acceptance of Christ is not an intellectual decision. When you hear the Gospel preached, then God comes into your heart and convicts you of sin and reveals Grace. This is the part it gets tricky. Can man reject this salvation, this act of God in your heart. I am torn, because I believe that you can, but you won't. God has all knowledge present and future, I don't believe that God calls someone who is going to reject the call. I totally believe that when God opens your eyes and your heart, you accept the gift of salvation with joy and excitement.

Now, what that being said, I believe Salvation is God's work. This works into some of my previous blogs about comments by others about pleading souls into the kingdom. I don't think that is Biblical, I think it's a man-centered approach. I believe we pray people to the kingdom, and we pray that God opens their hearts and then we preach the word. I believe that we are responsible to tell the truth, I believe that God works with us and through us. God moves through His people preaching and teaching the word, Romans 10:14. We partner with God for lack of a better term, and God moves and speaks through His word as it is preached.

I hope it doesn't seem as confusing and convoluted as it feels. I believe that Salvation is God's work alone, but as humans, we are responsible for our actions. My convictions as of late are two fold. First, we have taken God out of the equation too far and put man into the glory too much. I think we have minimized the role of God as Savior and maximized the role of man. I believe in the work of the preacher, but not without the power of God. Preaching and Divine convection brings salvation. Divine conviction can bring salvation. Preaching alone can not. We need to make sure we give God the glory for the work of Salvation. It is His moving, doing His work for His glory for our benefit. Make sense?

Struggle with self

2009-04-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

I prayed a few months ago, and pray close to daily that God would change me and make me more life Him. To bring me in line with Him, my thoughts inline with His, my beliefs and theology more in line with His. I don't say that to convince you I am right theologically, because I, in all intellectually honest, have to admit that I am not now nor ever will be God. I do not possess divine intellect and the ability to think of the level of God. I tell you about this prayer because I'm changing.

Change stinks. It was much easier before. I'll admit it, I have struggled a lot with what God is doing. First and foremost is my recognition of the idol of self. I have it bad. The things I do for God, the way I am working, my life, my ministry, me me me, mine mine mine, I I I. It goes on and on. I have realized how much time I spend in my Christian life keeping God at arm's length. I think we all do in our American society. We celebrate the self-made man. There is no room for the God-made man. We work hard, work from sun up to sun down, and no one gives us anything, we work for it. Those are our values and they are all contrary to Christian doctrine.

I am having a hard time de-programing myself. I read and study and write and teach and work and achieve and I naturally want to take the credit. It's not mine, it's not about me. I work hard to find joy in Christ. I study to find joy in Christ. I bring glory to Christ. The only thing that matters in me is Christ. If I do something great, it's not me, it's Christ. Paul said "for I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I love by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me". Galations 2:20. I am dead, and dead men do nothing. Christ lives in me, and He does all things.

So here I am, struggling with my own idol of self, my flesh rejoicing in itself, and Christ being paticent with me. He deserves all the credit, all the glory, all the praise and honor. " Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-25. Pray for me on this journey, as I pray for you upon yours!

Praying for Revival

2009-04-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to comment on a posting by Dr. Alvin Reid, but I am going to post it here.

http://alvinreid.com/archives/503

I admire Dr. Reid greatly, but I have a foundational disagreement with the way we think about revival and even salvation. You see, Dr Reid stated that revival happens when we do something. Whitefield preached in fields and they reached out to miners and blue collar people and there was a revival. There is lots of talk about what they did and what we did and what we will need to go and what will happen. God is completely outside of all of this.

The problem is we can't control God. We have no authority, no responsibility and no control. God will do what God will do. That is why we don't like Calvinism. We lack control. We have no ability to shape it, influence and control it, outside of simply prayer and trust. Prayer we like. Trust (or faith) we need to work on. Makes me realize that Jesus meant when He said that if we had the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. Instead of having faith the size of a seed in Jesus, we try to have faith that we have the faith to be able to do it ourselves. We don't trust Jesus to move the mountain, we in essence try to earn the mountain moving through our own efforts.

So you ask "what's wrong with doing good, what's wrong with putting your faith into action". Nothing, that's not the issue. The issue is not who does the work, the issue is who gets the glory. We, probably without thinking, begin to take the glory for God's work. Salvation is God's work, but we give honor to Whitefield, Spurgeon, Edwards, Luther, Graham, Warren and on and on. We say "I" or "we" or "our church" did this or that. We don't do it intentionally, but we end up as prideful and sinful as Satan when he said 'I will ascend above the Most High'. We are prideful and arrogant because we take credit and glory for God's work.

We don't do it on purpose. We have grown up in this American culture, the self made man, and we have learned this behavior. For hundreds of year, we have learned that we need to "do" this or that. The problem is, we still take God's glory for ourselves. We use our programs, our outlines, our strategies, and in the end, we take the credit. It's a subtle thing that has come into our Christian culture. We celebrate those who we see preaching and people coming to Christ. We slowly turn and begin to give them the glory, and God becomes and outsider.

Think about it, in many churches, we give an alter call. The pastor says "if you want to accept Jesus as your savior, come forward". A person comes forward, they say "I want to give my heart to Jesus" so the pastor has them recite a form prayer and then we celebrate the decision this person made, what they did, their decision, their faith. Does God even need to be present for this experience? Where is God? Where is His work? Where is His call?

Here is what I see in Acts. Someone preaches that Christ was crucified for sin. That is all they do. The people respond, asking what to do to be saved. The person preaching says "repent and be baptized". In Acts, chapter 10:44, is seems to be the people were saved without giving an alter call. Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on these Gentiles. They were saved, the Jews were amazed, they were Baptized. That is God at work. These people that we convince to come forward and say a form prayer, how many of them fall away? That is not true salvation. Those people I know who have been radically changed, it was God moving in their hearts and they were saved. These people were radically saved by God, not by Paul.

Think about it, the 3,000 were moved by God to salvation. The Ethiopian, the Gentiles, the Roman Guard. No one can take credit for any of it. God moved, God did the work. So, in response to Dr Reid, to see revival, we need to give up control and stop relying in ourselves. We need to fall on our face before God, realizing that nothing we can do will bring revival. Nothing. The prayer won't do it, the preaching won't do it, the alter call, the seminary classes, the books and charts and plans and outlines. We can schedule revival, we can will it into existence. We must be dependent and humble before God, and if it give Him glory, then, if He wills, He will bring revival.

thoughts

2009-04-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

So I am blogging to say that I should be blogging, but I am not writing much. Brain is over loaded and on critical info only mode. I don't want to write a bit about revival in response to a blog article by Dr Alvin Reid, but it's going to have to wait. Hope everyone is doing well and reading other interesting things while I recuperate.

Your not alone

2009-03-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have been tossing around ideas with lots of my friends and partners. Friends here in Iowa and friends back in Arizona, friends around the country and people who I have only known via blog and the internet. I have found that I am very not alone in my newest convictions. It's prevalent among many of my friends and colleague. If you are struggling in the same area I am, namely not letting your cultural identity shape your theological perspective.

If you are on this journey with us, welcome. If you are not, you probably think we are all crazy. You may be right, but it's been enjoyable so far.

Considering the Early Church Fathers.

2009-03-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

What was clear to Athanasius was that propositions about Christ carried convictions that could send you to heaven or to hell. There were propositions like: “There was a time when the Son of God was not,” and, “He was not before he was made,” and, “the Son of God is created.” These propositions were strictly damnable. If they were spread and believed they would damn the souls which embraced them. And therefore Athanasius labored with all his might to formulate propositions that would conform to reality and lead the soul to faith and worship and heaven.

I believe Athanasius would have abominated, with tears, the contemporary call for “depropositionalizing” that you hear among many of the so-called “reformists” and “the emerging church,”younger evangelicals,”postfundamentalists,” "postfoundationalists,” postpropositionalists,” and “postevangelicals.” I think he would have said, “Our young people in Alexandria die for the truth of propositions about Christ. What do your young people die for?” And if the answer came back, “We die for Christ, not propositions about Christ,” I think he would have said, “That’s what Arius says. So which Christ will you die for?”

Athanasius would have grieved over sentences like “It is Christ who unites us; it is doctrines that divides.” And sentences like: “We should ask, Whom do you trust? rather than what do you believe?” He would have grieved because he knew this is the very tactic used by the Arian bishops to cover the councils with fog so that the word “Christ” could mean anything. Those who talk like this—“Christ unites, doctrine divides”—have simply replaced propositions with a word. They think they have done something profound and fresh, when in fact they have done something very old and stale and very deadly.

This leads to a related lesson . . .

4. The truth of biblical language must be vigorously protected with non-biblical language.

Athanasius’ experience was critically illuminating to something I have come to see over the years, especially in liberally minded baptistic and pietistic traditions, namely, that the slogan, “the Bible is our only creed” is often used as a cloak to conceal the fact that Bible language is used to affirm falsehood. This is what Athanasius encountered so insidiously at the Council of Nicaea. The Arians affirmed biblical sentences. Listen to this description of the proceedings:

The Alexandrians . . . confronted the Arians with the traditional Scriptural phrases which appeared to leave no doubt as to the eternal Godhead of the Son. But to their surprise they were met with perfect acquiescence. Only as each test was propounded, it was observed that the suspected party whispered and gesticulated to one another, evidently hinting that each could be safely accepted, since it admitted of evasion. If their assent was asked to the formula “like to the Father in all things,” it was given with the reservation that man as such is “the image and glory of God.” The “power of God” elicited the whispered explanation that the host of Israel was spoken of as dunamis kuriou, and that even the locust and caterpillar are called the “power of God.” The “eternity” of the Son was countered by the text, “We that live are alway (2 Corinthians 4:11)!” The fathers were baffled, and the test of homoosion, with which the minority had been ready from the first, was being forced (p. 172) upon the majority by the evasions of the Arians.

R. P. C. Hanson explained the process like this: “Theologians of the Christian Church were slowly driven to a realization that the deepest questions which face Christianity cannot be answered in purely biblical language, because the questions are about the meaning of biblical language itself.” The Arians railed against the unbiblical language being forced on them. They tried to seize the biblical high ground and claim to be the truly biblical people—the pietists, the simple Bible-believers—because they wanted to stay with biblical language only—and by it smuggle in their non-biblical meanings.
But Athanasius saw through this “post-modern,”post-conservative,” “post-propositional” strategy and saved for us not just Bible words, but Bible truth. May God grant us the discernment of Athanasius for our day. Very precious things are at stake.
Contending for Our All: The Life and Ministry of Athanasius
By John Piper February 1, 2005
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1532_Contending_for_Our_All/

Yes. I want to call one thing to your attention in this whole thing (and I know it's long). We have traded in the Sovereignty of God, God honoring Theology and understanding for three things.

1. Laziness. It is easier to read the Bible through the lens of our own understanding, our preconceived notions and our cultural comforts. It is easier to let scripture fit our ideas than to make our ideas match scripture, because we think in a self-focused way. We are selfish by nature, and we have read the scripture for us and by us and for us. We think that by us and for us and through us all things are created, yet it's clear that scripture teaches:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Col 1:16-17 (ESV)
It's easier to read it from our nature.

2. Fear. We are afraid that our beliefs and our way of thinking will be wrong. We are afraid to be wrong. When someone asks you a spiritual question, are you afraid to say "I don't know?" We read the scripture that says "be ready to give an answer" and so we are afraid if we can't give an answer. So we simplify the scripture so we can have an answer. We fit scripture into our world view because we are afraid if we read it for what is really is, we won't be able to justify the syncratism and contextualization of our modern religious idealism. We are terrified to be wrong, and even more terrified that others will think we are wrong.

3. Ignorance. We don't know any better. Someone once told us "it's just about Christ, it's only about the Bible". What we didn't know is what Christ are they talking about? Mormons talk about Christ, Jehovah Witnesses talk about Christ, Emergent Church people talk about Christ. Go back in history, Gnostics, Arians, Modalism. Some spoke of Christ as a spirit possessing the man Jesus, and leaving his body as Crucifixion. Some speak of Christ as God in the mode of man. Arianism speaks of Christ being created. So, modern Christian, which Christ is it about? If we just focus on Christ, but never a theology of who Christ is, we fall into Heresy. We assume we live Orthodoxy, but never take time to examine the presupisitions that exist in the modern Church. We have become a self-worshing idolotrist mass of people, and the church is dying and we wonder why. We don't see greater things (which I believe is tied to the harvest) and we don't see a great harvest? Why? Because we have thrown theology under the bus, and we just want to focus on our culturally understood and modern evangelical representation of Christ.

So here is my point. Stop being lazy, afraid and ignorant. Challenge your ideals. Piper put some things in his message about categories of thought that will mess with your current modern American sensibilities. Like:
God rules the world of bliss and suffering and sin, right down to the roll of the dice and the fall of a bird and the driving of the nail into the hand of his Son, yet, though he will that such sin and suffering be, he does not sin, but is perfectly holy.

God governs all the steps of all people, both good and bad, at all times and in all places, yet such that all are accountable before him and will bear the just consequences of his wrath if they do not believe in Christ.

All are dead in their trespasses and sin and are not morally able to come to Christ because of their rebellion, yet, they are responsible to come and will be justly punished if they don’t.

Jesus Christ is one person with two natures, divine and human, such that he upheld the world by the word of his power while living in his mother’s womb.

sin, though committed by a finite person and in the confines of finite time is nevertheless deserving of an infinitely long punishment because it is a sin against an infinitely worthy God.

The death of the one God-Man, Jesus Christ, so displayed and glorified the righteousness of God that God is not unrighteous to declare righteous ungodly people who simply believe in Christ.
ibid

Do those mess with you? I assume that most of you are bothered by the first one, that God will sin and yet is not sinful. We speak so often in our modern sensibilities about knowing and doing God's will, like somehow God's will can be thwarted. Can God's will be thwarted, or does He create, maintain and sustain all things? I know the argument that by His choosing He has stayed His hand, and He allows free will, I understand that, but do you really assume that God had no knowledge that sin would prevail on earth? Do you believe that when God planted the tree of knowledge, He didn't know the outcome? By it's very nature, sin was brought into the world by the will of God, who created mankind with the potential for sin and the opportunity for sin. Why He did it isn't in question, the reality is that God, if the creator, willed sin it existance, yet He Himself did not sin by doing so.

If you have read to this point in the blog, I commend you for sticking with it. This is weighty and probably convoluted diction, I know. It's difficult to begin to think outside of the society norms you have known your entire life. I am currently struggling with the fact that my entire life, Christianity has been foundationally about me, and God has been external to that. I must decrease and He must increase. More over, I am finding that most Christians in our society are at the exact same place, and only by God bringing in a few select few I have even come to the realization myself. I didn't get here on my own, and my blogging is sharing part of this journey. Perhaps you think the entire thing is errornus, then just pray for me. My own prayer is that God will change me in whatever way necessary for me to grow closer and understand more about Him than I have previously. Something is happening.

Changing

2009-03-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

There is a point that came in my life that I talked with one of my mentor's about. A fundamental shift in the way we perceive, experience and think about God. When I was younger, it was much more formulaic. Like knowing about a character in a book or a movie. Living out what I assumed were the traditional roles and going through the proper motions. Living for the idea and less for the person. My mentor said basically everyone is in this place for much of their Christian walk. It's the reality of serving an unseen God.

Something began to happen to me in 1999 when my parents died. Heaven seemed more tangible. It was less of a nebulous idea. As I began in Seminary, it became evident that I needed to have a different sort of relationship with God. After all, can I really give my life to a nebulous idea, and not to the Living God? What I discovered is that most people do. Pharisees did. They began to live out the principles the best they knew how until it corrupted them.

I think we have done something very similar. My issue is that I feel God moving me out of it, and I see in the lives of others were God moved them out. A very influential, wise woman who is quickly becoming a mom figure in my life has experienced this shift, and I see it in her life, I hear it in the way she talks about God. My mentor and seminary professor experienced this shift. I have some great friends who I see are walking with me, experiencing this transition from Americanized Christian Religion to something else.

Do you experience it? Do you feel weighed down by all the legalism, culteralism, syncratism and idealism that seems to have missed the point? Does anyone else have that itch that doesn't seem to be scratched by our modern religious sensibilites? Do you struggle with the feeling that there is more, deeper in places, less complex or sometimes more complex? Are you concerned by all the modern evangelicals who seem to be able to explain everything in scripture? Nothing comforts me more than when I hear men like John Piper read a passage and exclaim that he doesn't fully grasp it. Many times I have heard him say "I wanna get that". It goes so much deeper than being able to rationally explain it away. Isn't that what we have done so often? We have naturally explained the Glory of God away in our promotion of self? Do you feel like I do?

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think God is going to move a great number of people beyond where we are. I want to be part of it. I pray that by God's glory, I can go deeper, move closer and become more Holy. Pray for me that God will change me, move me, break me and do whatever He wants to do to put me in line.

Change

2009-03-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am reading a book called Deep Change. I have read most of it in the last year, but haven't finished the last few chapters, so I am bringing closure to it. It's a business book, it's not a Christian book, but was given to me by a very Godly man. The basic truth of the book is solid, and like my Seminary professor always said, "all truth is God's truth". The truth of the book is that for a larger organization to change, we as the members or parts of that organization must change also.

As an Associate Pastor, I find myself in a strange position. I am part of the leadership of this church, yet I don't set the tone. What God has been showing me is that it's not my place to change everything, but just to change me. I need to change the way I see things, the way I operate. I need to focus on giving Him the glory, on doing what I have been convicted is right. He will take care of the rest of it.

I have seen many problems in the Westernized American Church, but God still uses it. I believe that this obsession we have with free will stems mainly from our idolatry of self and the humanization that came forth from the enlightenment. I think we have missed and marginalized the miracle of Salvation due to our formulaic tendencies, and began to take the credit ourselves for "leading people to Christ", instead of giving the glory to God. In spite of all the things we get wrong, God still uses us. In spite of my flaws, God still uses me. I need to change my way of thinking, my way of praying, my way of worship. God will do in others what He wills, just like He is doing in me. I can trust Him in that.

Self

2009-03-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

In an article about Lesslie Newbigin by Tim Safford in Christianity Today, where Newbigin is quoted saying:

"I also saw that quite a lot of evangelical Christianity can easily slip, can become centered in me and my need of salvation, and not . . . in the glory of God".

This self-focus is, in my view, the modern American idol. We look at idolotry as money or power or title, or position, but it ultimatly comes down to self. Safford write about Newbigin:

"As a young missionary, Newbigin regularly visited a Hindu monastery, its great hall "lined with pictures of the great religious figures of history, among them Jesus. Each year, on Christmas Day, worship was offered before the picture of Jesus. It was obvious to me as an English Christian," says Newbigin, "that this was an example of syncretism. Jesus had simply been co-opted into the Hindu world-view; that view was in no way challenged. It was only slowly that I began to see that my own Christianity had this syncretistic character, that I too had to some degree co-opted Jesus into the world-view of my culture." He saw this particularly when he studied the gospel accounts of evil spirits and realized that simple villagers understood them more readily than he."

We in this country have focused so much on self, that we have missed the Glory of God. This idolotry of self has focused on our need, or lacking, our sin, our choice and our free will. We have marginalized God in his glory, focusing on our need, our choice, our work in salvation. Newbigin stays:

"I suddenly saw that . . . someone could use all the language of evangelical Christianity, and yet the center was fundamentally the self, my need of salvation. And God is auxiliary to that."

Does that sound familiar? Newbigin goes on to say that in his missionary work, he stopped talking about sin and need for salvation, but focused primarily on God. I am not sure I am comfortable going to that level, but I do acknowledge that we are focused and concerned primarily about self. Our focus of salvation is for the individual being saved, and not for the Glory of God. Is it any wonder we are not seeing the power of the Spirit poured out? We so often give credit for a program, church, or individual who leads that person to faith. We congratulate the person on making a good choice, but ultimately are worshiping the pagan god of self, and not giving Glory to God.

Cultural interpretations

2009-03-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

So I was reading a book which stated that we read the scripture through our lens of our cultural identity. I find that an ironic truth. I wonder why there are parts of the scripture we interpret as is, word for word, and some parts we don't. A divorced man can't be a deacon, but we don't require women to cover their heads when they pray. Both of those in context can have cultural ideologies, so why are we so silent about one? When have you heard a message on 1 Corinthians 14:34? Not sure I ever have. I am not saying we need to live by 1 Corinthians 14:34, but maybe if we need to examine one passage and examine cultural context, maybe we should do it with it all. Make sure we don't bias our reading of the scripture. Just a thought.

My rights to be right.

2009-03-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

So I have been thinking lately about rights. My rights and your rights. The right to be angry or annoyed or productive. The right to peace or freedom. Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. As Christians, should we seek the same set of rights as the rest of the country? I found something called "The Christian Bill or Rights" at www.worldviewtimes.com

The Christian's Bill of Rights
1. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we have only one right: and that is to give up all rights to ourselves (2 Cor. 5:14-16; Romans 14:7-9).
2. We have the right to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Mt. 16:24-26).
3. We have the right to esteem others more highly than ourselves; and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt. 22:39;
Phil. 2:1-5).
4. We have the right to fulfill the law of Christ in bearing one another's burdens of sin (Gal. 6:1-3).
5. We have the right to be wronged and to maintain a faithful testimony (1 Cor. 6:1-8).
6. We have the right to live in unreciprocated self-sacrificial love (Eph. 5:1-2).
7. We have the right to forgive others the smaller debt, as God in Christ has forgiven us the larger debt (Eph. 4:31-32; Matthew 18:12-35).
8. We have the right to suffer for the gospel and to take the blows for the One who took the blows for us (1 Peter 2:21-24)
9. We have the right to be "subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men" (Titus 3:1-2).
10. We have the right to not be political agitators trading the truth of His Word to play politics with men's souls; thinking that true spiritual change occurs through legislation rather than the transforming power of the gospel of grace. (1 Peter 4:10-16).
11. We have the right to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).
12. We have the right to be stripped of all earthly things (Matthew 5:40-42).
13. We have the right to not repay evil for evil and to be at peace with all men as much as it depends on you (Romans 12:17-18).
14. We have the right to love our enemies, do good to them that hate us, bless those who curse us and pray for those that despitefully use us (Matthew 5:44-45).
15. We have the right to pursue holiness-not personal happiness (1 Peter 1:13-16).
16. We have the right not to be ashamed of the gospel (2 Tim. 1:6-18).
17. We have the right not to harbor revenge, anger, bitterness, clamoring, wrath, malice and slander (Ephesians 4:31).
18. We have the right not to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19).
19. We have the right to repent of and not cherish our sins (Psalm 66:18).
20. We have the right to guard the trust; and to contend for the once for all delivered to the saints faith (1 Timothy 6:20; Jude 1:3).
21. We have the right to train our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-3).
22. We have the right to reflect God's covenantal relationship with us by honoring our vows in the covenant of marriage with our spouse Mt. 19:6).
23. We have the right to worship Christ Jesus as God of very God; Creator; Redeemer; Sovereign Lord and Ruler of all (Col. 1:15-19; Hebrews 1:8; Phil. 2:5-11).
24. We have the right to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable pleasing unto God (Roms. 12:1-2).
25. We have the right to live in the expectancy and hope of the Lord's return by which we purify ourselves (Roms. 12:1-2).
26. We have the right to march daily on our knees in prayer; praying for our leaders in government; our church leaders; our fellow believers; our families; and the lost (1 Timothy 2:1-3; Ephesians 6:18-21).
27. We have the right to praise and glorify God according to how He has revealed Himself through the pages of His Word (Col. 3:16-17).
28. We have the right to the accountability of the local church; to obey our leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over our souls, as those who will give an account (Hebrews 13:17).
29. We have the right to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20).
30. We have the right to have no rights apart from Christ Himself; "for whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:25: John 15:5).
http://www.worldviewtimes.com/article.php/articleid-1587

Think of how differently the world would be if we lived out this bill or rights, and not living for our rights.

Troubled

2009-02-28T21:51:00.000-08:00

So I'm awake at midnight, I have to get up for church in the morning, yet I'm awake blogging. I will admit it's because I am troubled and even grieved over what I see, especially in the last new months. There is a reaction and backlash, at least around me, against theological thought or study. Here is what is disturbing to me. Every Protestant denomination in the US uses approximately the same bible, slight variations due to translations, but everyone accepts the KJV. Catholics use it with the apocrypha. Everyone reads the same Bible. Every Christian denomination prays in the name of Jesus. Most Christian denominations pray for help from the Holy Spirit. Most pastors I know believe they are inspired by the Holy Spirit, yet many of them are preaching contradictory messages.

I think about John Piper, Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Benny Hinn, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Erwin McMannis, Bill Hybels, John McArther. All of these men pray, and feel they are inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit. These men have all had success, which could be interpreted blessing, but they cover the spectrum of theology, beliefs, practices and ideals. They read the same passages out of the same bibles. Many of them are educated and study the scriptures regularly.

So back to my troubles. Admits all this turmoil, we need anchors. I believe we need 2 things. First is a strong and solid theology. I say that because this idea of "well let's just read the Bible and let the spirit guide us" has led to the aforementioned situation. Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Reformed, Emergent, Calvary Chapel, 4 Square all just read the Bible and have completely different ideas on many of the foundational tenets like salvation, baptism, communion, ecclesiology, eschatology and the like. It doesn't work, chances are you will read with your sinful nature and ignore the spirit (or are you a more spiritual person than all of these men?)

We need heroes of the faith to cling too, we need to study and read and do hermetical studies. God gave us a brain and the ability to learn and understand, and He expects us to put some effort into it. If you don't like the argument, at some point you will have to get over it, or begin a life of Monasticism, because the argument is all around us. We are battling for the souls of the lost, and if you don't believe me, turn on TBN for a while. Makes you wonder how many will miss Heaven because Joel told them that God just wants them to be empowered, and they believe it. McClaren told them there is no hell, and they believe it. Someone told them they don't need to do anything, God will predestine them to heaven, and they believed it. Someone told them if they make an intellectual and verbal assertion of Christ as real, they will go to Heaven, and they believed it. All of these people will taste Hell because they never submitted to the Lordship of Christ, because they just read the Bible, and they didn't get it. They didn't understand, and WE DIDN'T HELP THEM. Why? Because we didn't know. We told them some passages, led them in a spirited rendition of the "sinners prayer" and assumed it would stick. When they walked away, we questioned eternal security.

So I'm awake at 12:18 a.m. blogging. I don't know how to solve it. When I bring it up, I am shot down. Labeled because I wrestled with and found a theology that was embarrassed by strong and spiritual men, that brought the cannon together and made sense of my trials and sufferings. Somehow it became that I am a monster who doesn't care about people's souls. I have been called a trouble maker and divisive. I have been told that having a theological viewpoint will cause me to read scripture only so I have ammunition for my next onslaught. No one has really stopped to ask me why. Only once, and I was told to stop talking, my post was too long. Is this how we will treat the lost and unsaved when they come with spiritual questions? Will we tell them "just read your Bible"? Have we turned the Great Commission into "go into all the world and make them say the prayer". God save us, because we have tried so long and hard to save ourselves, and it doesn't seem to be working.

Greater Things.

2009-02-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

Around our church, we have been talking about the great things that Jesus did,and the promise of greater things.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
John 14:12-14 (ESV)

I heard something that someone said that I am not sure they meant to say, but it got me thinking. I think we often think of these greater things as miracles. We want to see healing and the dead rise and the mountains moved into the sea. Those are great works, but even greater I believe is Salvation. You see, a man being healed of a disease is a great thing, but that man will still someday die. A man being set right with God, being cleansed of sin and being made right with God, that is a greater thing. His body will one day die, but that fellowship with God will never be broken. That person won't spend an eternity separated from God, they will be healed and made whole for eternity. When Jesus spoke of greater works, I believe we see them every time a person accepts Christ as Savior.

New Blog

2009-02-26T11:14:00.001-08:00

Greg and I started a new join venture blog.

http://uniformlyecclectic.wordpress.com/

Check it out.

Purpose of Theological study

2009-02-24T07:02:00.000-08:00

So I was reading some blogs, looking at some things from my immediate elders (those in the 45 to 60 age range) and some from my contemporaries (25-45) I noticed a sharp contrast. Those who are the older men, in ministry pre-retired look at theology as a weapon. They study to sharpen their swords, to grind the axe to sharp, to fill their quiver with arrows in order to defeat the onslaught. Theology for that generation is public, to be shared and debated. You fall into one of the camps, you are here or there. Many of this group (most of them are Trailing Edge Baby Boomers, or TREBS, born between 56 and 64) have become frustrated and turned off to theological thought or study.

Those of us who are Busters, 1965-1981 (65-76 is the X-ers, which I am a part) have a more individual mindset than the Boomers (for the most part, I know these are broad generalization). This has changed the way we see the world, and why Trebs and X-ers have so much conflict. Theology is very different for me, it's not a weapon, it's a shield. While those in the older generations wield theology to vanquish a foe, I use theology to extinguish arrows from those who would hold a view that is not compatible. There are many in my convention who would to beliefs that I don't agree with. There are many Landmarkests in my denomination. There are many non-Calvinists in my denomination. There are those who do not champion the Sovereignty of God like I believe the Bible does.

For those of you who have turned from Theology because you are tired of the attacks, I apologize to you for the part I played. Let me urge you to learn and study and wrestle. Biblical truth requires us to study and to learn. To understand God is outside the confines of the sinful mind to comprehend. We have to learn to think different, to see different, and that takes struggle. Wrestle with your own flesh to try to reconcile all the truths in the scripture, not just those verses you are comfortable with. Reconcile Romans, Hebrews, James and 1 Peter together in one view of God, salvation, Christ and eternity. It won't be as simple as you'd like, but your faith will emerge so much deeper.

To be, or not to be: that is the question

2009-02-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

I am pretty sure that Shakespeare was talking about being a Calvinist. I have suffered no greater attack than I have since moving to Iowa and having the audacity to call myself a Calvinist. In the SBC, I have discovered there are Calvinists and Non-Calvinists in the SBC. The alternative is Arminianism, which is Semi-Pelagianism which has already been condemned as a heresy. So we have the advent of the 2, 3 and 4 point Calvinist.

I agree with Piper. In one of his messages he makes the statement that Calvinism is a system and goes on to say "I give a hoot about systems". I don't care if you call in Calvinism, Augustinianism, Paulinism, whatever. I need a doctrinal system of Theology that can reconcile the full cannon of scripture, Peter, Paul, John, James and the writers of Hebrews, and both extremes of High Calvinism and Arminiamism (low Calvinism?) don't cover it. I need a system that can answer the questions about God's love, His sovereignty, how sin and grace and suffering all happen.

I struggle with those who would say that evangelism is based upon my ability to talk someone into heaven. Dr Reid said something about pleading for people to get saved. If I am responsible for pleading people into Heaven and I fail, what does that mean? How do I carry around the weight of my own deficiency? How do I rectify the fact that I am responsible for doing something that I can't seem to do. I have tried to plead, argue, fight, coerce, and manipulate people into the kingdom, and it is an unsuccessful venture. So, my non-Calvinist friends, what does that mean? Is God responsible for salvation? If so, at what point did He decide when you bring someone to faith? How does this happen? Do we make a choice that God is unaware of, and then they are brought to Salvation?

So, after these years, I am no longer going to call myself a Calvinist. I am tried of the attacking. I'll just settle on Christian. Most people don't have the desire to really try to understand anything past that level anyway.

Slowing Down

2009-02-07T08:47:00.001-08:00

Have you ever met someone who would work themselves into the ground? I know someone like that. Ok, I am someone like that. Here is something that I was told by a very wise person today. That sometimes God gives us problems to make us rest. My back has been hashed all weekend. I've had to be in best for a big part of it. The times I did get out of bed to do stuff, it make things worse. So now, much to my dismay, I am back in bed. I have things I would like to do, but I can't really do them. Here I will stay, learning that being still often has greater value than being in motion. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

The poisenous human tounge

2009-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

I have been insulted by lots of people in lots of places. Mostly in High School, some in college. Occasionally by those who hold a political belief that is in opposition to what I think. I think the most disturbing or helpful is when I am criticized, teased or mocked by those who claim to be Christians. When you try to share with them a life lesson, open your life and you get met with ridicule.

I have been known to be rude myself, and I am doing to do my best to stop this process. Ephesians 4:29 tell us to speak in a way to build up one another. Why do we spend so much time tearing each other down? Lack of self-esteem maybe, which so often we get from the world. Insecurities perhaps. Whatever the reason is, I am going to work at being a Barnabas, to be an encourager and not a stumbling block.

Opening the Soul

2009-01-28T13:21:00.000-08:00

Are you a fixer? When someone comes to you with a problem, do you fix it? Just tell them what to do, how to live, what expectations God has? I've been a fixer, and I know a lot of fixers. At this point in my life, I don't talk to those people anymore. Here is what I have found.

1. Most issues (probably all) are beyond your fixing. If the person can be fixed by you just telling them something surface, they wouldn't need your help. Think about it, if you can just say "well love God", what would they need you for? Would they really be struggling deep down with an issue you can solve with a few verses?

2. You have baggage, and often we speak from our own baggage. Without talking to the person, investing in the person and working to get into the issues, you have no idea what the real issue is. You hear a few buzz words, and then relate them to your own experiences. Your experience and the person's experiences are not the same. Don't make the assumption that what fixed you will fix them.

3. What are you trying to do. Are you trying to fix the person? There is a messiah available, and you are not Him. You can't fix a person, people need a divine healer.

So why do people come to us with issues? What do they want? Do they want fixed? No. They want someone to come along side of them. I think most people know the answers already and just need someone to talk to, to help them work through it. They want to answer questions, they want to evaluate, to look at and to examine their own soul. I think this is part of the reason we don't commune with our soul. Every time we begin to reach down in our own soul, someone gives us a surface fix. The person never reaches down into the soul, we never reach down into our soul. The soul remains unopened and the garbage never comes out.

Check out christancourses.com and watch Dr. Larry Crabb on Soul Care, he talks about this in great, great detail.

A bird in the hand and a burning bush.

2009-01-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

So I had lunch at Carlos O'Kelly. I had the corned beef chimi and potato burrito. Just kidding. It did give me some smokin heartburn. At lunch I heard one of the other pastors at the other end of the table talking about how young people in the church don't want pad answers anymore. That is exactly how I have been feeling lately. I don't want to hear the cliches we use in the American church anymore. No one really knows what half of them mean. "Give it to God". I've never met anyone who can actually do that. What does that really mean? You can pray and ask God to help, you can try to relax and meditate on the fact that God can, has and will take care of you. How do you take a situation and give it away? It's a cliche. It's not helpful.

Have you ever heard this one "just climb up in God's lap"? What does that even mean? Does God have a lap? If so, where is it? How do we live that out? I think we tell people these things cause it's safe and easy and we don't really have to invest. Well I'm not gonna say em anymore. It's no wonder that the number one complaint of people outside the church is that the church is irrelevant to their lives. That is horrible, instead of teaching the foundational truths from the word of God, we've given our cliches and made it seem irrelevant. That's worse than Irish/Mexican salsa. Peppers, onion and cabbage?

Sermon

2009-01-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

Below is the sermon I am going to preach in about 2 hours. This is more written out that most of my messages, I originally preached it in a seminary class, and felt led to revisit it. It is laid out like it is for Seminary, but edited for Heartland. If you were at Heartland on Jan 25th, you hear it, or at least close to it. I never stay exactly with my notes.

Introduction:

I want to begin this morning with one of my hero’s of the faith. Martin Luther entered a monastery as a young man, fulfilling a promise. During a storm one night, a lighting bolt knocked Martin Luther from his horse. Terrified he cried out to St Ann, the patron saint of mining, which was his father’s profession. He cried “help me St Ann, and I will become a monk”. True to his word, Martin Luther entered the monastery. During him time there, he became crippled by a fear of God. In his attempts to atone for his own sin, he spent hours upon hours in confession, he worked day and night in attempts to make himself right before God. Finally, he was given the duty of teaching over the book of Romans, and found the truth of God’s word that we are justified by our faith. It was then that Martin Luther put his faith in God for salvation, and started the journey that led to the reformation.

This morning I want to look at another example of this realization of sin. Like Martin Luther, this passage shows us an example of a man confronted with his own sin. It’s a passage you are all familiar with, many of you can quote it too me, let me read it too you.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:1-8 (ESV)

Body:

Point 1

I. The Problem in today’s churches in our view of God.

We love these verses, don’t we? We enjoy thinking about the magnificence of the God we serve. His flowing robe, His glory, the smoke and the shaking door posts. The God we serve is bigger than any other God, and it gives us hope and peace to think about how big and mighty our God is. We contrast it to when Elijah called fire down from Heaven to burn up the offering, and alter and all the water. It’s a powerful image. It’s an experience with God that is real and tangible. To see God, to be in His presence, to see the Seraphim and to feel the whole place shake. We long to have that kind of experience with God. I have heard people talk about feeling like they were in the throne room, dancing before the Lord.

I am hesitant to attempt to paint a picture of what Isaiah experienced outside of what the scripture says. I don’t think we can verbally express what he experienced. There are some things that we can’t describe. For example, I can say that “I love my wife”, but that does not come close to doing justice to the way I feel. I don’t have the words to explain how I feel. I think this is true for the depictions we get of the Glory of God. The descriptions seem vague and confusing because we lack the words to really describe the glory of God.

The Seraphim for example, we don’t have a clear picture. The word means flaming beings, but there are multiple interpretations about what that looks like, so I will just let you imagine. We know that the Seraphim were calling to one another. I am sure just the sight of flaming beings calling back and forth to one another “Holy Holy Holy” is an awe inspiring image. These flaming beings flying near the throne call Holy, Holy, Holy back and forth to one another would be enough to drop the jaw of any man. What I am sure of is that this would have better than any Hollywood special effect.

Seeing God in all His glory seated on His throne. We often wish we could be part of this picture. We have tried to recreate it as much as we can here on earth, we have written at least one song that I know of that uses these verses. We want to hang out in the throne room of God and watch the flaming ones cry holy. We have a desire to be part of it.

Unfortunately, I think we have become to comfortable with this event, that we desire to celebrate, to dance in the presence of God. Isaiah didn’t seem to be dancing, however. Isaiah was surrounded by Heavenly beings that were praising God. Isaiah didn’t join in the crying of Holy, but he did begin to cry.

In the presence of Almighty God, standing before His Throne, I can’t find anywhere in scripture where people are dancing, or raising hands. The Seraphim cover themselves with their wings in a sign of reverence and submission. We are not told Isaiah’s posture, but his reaction is clear, he exclaimed “woe is me”. Isaiah was a priest, and he knew what God had told Moses, that no one can look on the face of God and live. From that passage we can assume that Isaiah is shielded from seeing God’s face, but the presence of His Glory was more than overwhelming.

Isaiah had unclean lips. His worship was tainted by his sin, and he knew it. As he stood in the throne room, looking at the Lord, he first thought was “I’m dead meat”. Every sin he had committed I am sure came rushing into his mind. He understood that there was sin in his life, and it has polluted his worship. I am not sure if he was prostrate, but I assume he was. In Revelations 4, we find the 24 Elders falling down before the throne in worship. These elders are in Heaven, they not only are cleansed of sin by salvation, but they are in heaven, they have been separated from their sinful flesh, yet they still fall down.

Where Isaiah was in the temple, he had a clear view into the Holy of Holies. I am not sure if the veil was pulled back, or if for the sake of the vision, the veil was opened, but God would be seated above the Ark of the Covenant, this is where God told the nation of Israel He would be. Isaiah knew that is where God would be, but he never expected to see God in His Glory as he did his priestly duties in the temple.

Illustration:

Does this happen to us? We know where God is, He lives in the heart of the Believer, He inhabits our prayers, He is omnipresent, He is with us all the time. Just like Isaiah, we sometimes get comfortable with God being with us. We know where God is, and we can talk about Him and praise Him easily. Do we expect Him to enter our lives in a real and tangible way?

What would change if we could? If one day during our worship service, God appeared and we could see His glory? Would we continue to sing praises, or would our response be the same as Isaiah’s? Would we celebrate or lament? How do you handle the reality of God’s glory? How would we respond to how we have used the gifts he has given us? How would we respond with the responsibility he’s given us?

Martin Luther struggled with God’s holiness and His power. He struggled with his sin until it was almost debilitating. It was more than he could handle. The Apostle Paul struggled with his sin when he said:

For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. Romans 7:15 (HCSB)

We often learn to tolerate our sin. It does not cause us distress, we do not lay on the floor of a small room as Martin Luther did. Do we gloss over our sin, even as we assemble together to worship, assuming it brings us into the very throne room of God?

Explanation:

My point is not that we shouldn’t worship, or that somehow being mortified or paralyzed by our sin will make us holy. The danger we have found ourselves is not the sin that is atoned for in Christ, but the casual attitude that can overcome the church. We have limited worship to singing, we often limit our singing to a type of music. We have defined our “worship time” and have dictated to God how we worship. We come to church with our own agenda, making our opinions known about the programs we use, the way we sing, the messages we preach. Often times, we are agenda driven and not spirit driven. The image of God we are giving to the masses is not an exalted God seated on His throne. What is the view of God that we live out?

As Isaiah sees God in His glory, he is aware of the uncleanness of his lips and the lips of the people he dwells with. He is a member of his society, not a democratic nation that some people are atheist, some are agnostic, some Mormon, some Catholic, some Baptist and some Satanic. The people he dwells with are Jews, worshipers of the God is Israel. It is unfortunate if we read this a condemnation of society outside the church. Isaiah is speaking of believers.

Illustration:

Do we have unclean lips? Have we praised God with our mouth and used the same mouth to curse man who is made in God’s likeness? Do we have divisions and factions? Jesus tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks? What is coming from our heart? Does it make our lips unclean?

The danger comes when we are unrepentant and we expect God to honor our worship. We continue to have the agenda drive church, and pretend like there is holy and acceptable worship being offered. If God is not in your business meeting, He is not in your worship service.

Point II

Explanation: There is a solution to the problem of not being able to worship because of our sin and uncleanness.

What is to be done? What lessons can we learn from this example? Lets look at the example Isaiah gives us.

1. First, Isaiah acknowledges his shortcoming. He has seen true worship, and he comes short and he acknowledges that he is incapable. He knows that his worship is tainted by his sin. He understands who he is and who God is, and where he, as a man, stand before God, and it is not a comfortable place for him to be. Praise be to God that we have the atonement power of Christ Jesus to offer us freedom.

2. Second, we understand where people are, where our church is. We don’t attend a perfect church. The people we are sitting next too aren’t perfect, and we need to have understanding and love for one another. We need to pray for one another. We need to keep one another accountable. We must acknowledge that we are all a people of unclean lips and we need to be cleansed.

Illustration
The buzzword we use that I am going to use is Revival.

As Christians, we need revival. You don’t need me to tell you that. Most of you know how revival comes. A few begin to take their sin seriously and turn and pray and seek God’s face. Being involved in church doesn’t bring revival or make us holy. Knowing history or theology, does not make us holy. Knowledge is good, but apart from holiness, it is worthless. No amount of knowledge can substitute for personal holiness. Personal holiness comes for us, just like it did for Isaiah. First, the angel took a coal from the altar where atonement has been made. The coal covered his sin, the blood of Jesus covers our sins. We are atoned for through no work of our own, just as God took the initiative with Isaiah, Christ took the initiative with us. I think we can all agree that apart from this atonement, we cannot please God, follow God or honor God.

Once we understand who we are, not worthy, just redeemed. We should respond to the invitation. When the false idea of worship left Isaiah in the full view of who God is, His majesty and His glory, he was ready to be changed. Once changed, he was ready to respond. It was not until Isaiah recognized his sin and it was taken and atoned for that Isaiah could hear the voice of God and he was ready to respond.

In our lives, once Christ has atoned for our sin, we must be ready to respond. Where is God leading you? What are you doing with the gifts He has given you? If God were to show up in His glory, how would you feel about what you have been doing? If this morning, if this place was suddenly filled with the glory and majesty of God, what would change in our service?

Conclusion:

We will find revival when we seek God with our whole hearts.

When will this happen? What will it take? It takes me and it take you. It takes us looking for God, not through the lenses of contemporary Christian culture, but clearly in His work and by prayer. Understanding there is nothing of value that we ourselves can offer, but God has made a way. God made a way for Isaiah to come into a deeper and more meaningful relationship. There is a way for us to move beyond American Christian culture. I am challenged by these verses. I don’t have all the answers, but this passage challenges me to question my motives and my preconceived notions. I have to ask myself, do I care about God more than my own happiness or desires? I am constantly asking myself, am I working for the Lord, or just in proximity too Him?
Invitation:

Simple invitation. Cry out for revival. Look to the God of Heaven for who He really is. He is the one who is so Holy and Powerful that we have nothing of value to offer Him. To find personal holiness, He requires our obedience. Be spirit led, and not agenda led. Then, we can begin to see revival take place in our lives, our homes, our churches and our communities. Let’s pray.

More thoughts on Soul Love

2009-01-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

So occassionally my blog gets a little random, I think I posted that I was thinking about soul love some time ago. I have read scripture and talked to some people about it and prayed, and this is my current conclussion. I think in the 1st century they understood it. I think prior to the first century they understood it. I think there was a disconnect at some point.

If you read Plato, if you read Dante, if you read many of the 13th century writings, if you read Augustine, you get a sense that these writers understood what it means to love with all your soul. Somewhere between the 16th and 18th century, we became "enlightened". During the enlightenment, spirituality was marginalized and intellectuality became king. This shift in western thought permiated the church. This western modality of intellectualism of course moved to America. The university became standard, education became king. We ceised to speak to one anther spiritually, and communicated intellectually.

In the late part of the 18th Century, we had the Romantic movement, which stemmed from the artists and poets of the time. They rebelled against the intellectualism of the enlightenment and turned to passions and felt emotions. The Romantics championed Surrealism and focused on experience.

The Englightenment, according to Nitche, killed God. Nitche gets sort of a bad rap for this, his implications is that people no longer turn to God, but instead to their own intellect. Medicine, psychiarty, technology all began to emerge, along with scientific theories like evolution. These all moved mankind away from a depenance or often a belief in God. The Romantics then taught us to do what feels good. The combination brought self fulfillement apart from boundries and restrain. We see where that has led us.

In the modern Church, we have tried to redeem intellectualism, we call it Apologetics. We have moved to redeem emotionalism, we call it lots of names. We are learning to love with all our minds and all our hearts.

Soul-love has seemed to drop away. It's like a dead language that no one speaks anymore. What does it mean to love with your soul? How do you do it? I know emotions, and I know thought, but I don't have that sort of soul language. I have felt my soul stirred and quickened, but it always seems to be an invounletary. I am commanded to love God with my soul, which is a voluntary action.

Now I have heard all the modern American ideals of soul love. Most of them are forms of intellectual based emotion. I really don't think that combinding heart and mind = soul. I'll continue to look and pray and seek, and I hope you do the same. Don't settle for some second rate definition that requires heart and mind. If God gives us three parts in which to love Him, they must be distint, right?

I struggle

2009-01-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I struggle. I struggle with control issues. I struggle with motivation sometimes. I struggle with frustration. I struggle with the idea that I'm not good enough, I'm not productive enough. Every day on my drive home, I think about the things I accomplished that day, and if my list is too short, I struggle with being upset with myself. If I don't get things done, if I haven't done what I know I should. I have been upset with myself for a week or two because I can't sleep at night and have a hard time getting up in the morning to get things done and help my wife. I'm stuck in a self-imposed performance trap.

I have tried so hard to be the perfect husband, the perfect father, the perfect associate pastor, the perfect friend, and for some reason I can't seem to stop mentally torturing myself when I fail to hit the mark. So I am admitting it cause admitting it is half the battle, and so you can pray for me. I guess there are worse struggles, I'm not a sociopath or anything. Well, not yet. You can pray that I can learn how to relax a little.

holistic community

2009-01-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

So I have been thinking a lot about the organic, holistic community of faith. Do we really experience a holistic community of faith in the modern American church? I have, at some point and on some levels. There have been times that I haven't experienced it. I have gathered with other believers on a regular basis to talk about faith and pray for one another.

Can this type of holistic and organic group happen in our churches? Can we have authentic relationships in our churches? I believe we can. My struggle these days is, can this type of authentic relationship, this holistic expression of faith happen outside of the "local church"?

For so long we have been indoctrinated with the idea of the local church being key. We all need to be involved in a constituted church, led by a pastor, meeting in a centralized location. The American church is built upon the foundation of the building, the pastor and the worship service. I like it that way, I work in a local church. I am an Associate Pastor, my career, lifestyle and calling are related to the local church. To say that the local church may not exist anymore causes me to have a harsh reaction. I have a strong desire to believe that the way we do church is correct, but where does it come from?

Much of what we do is Landmarkism. It's a belief that the church, particularly the Baptist church has always existed from the time of John the Baptist. One of the teachings is that the church only exists in it's visible, local expression or congregation. Is that true? We may say no, but we often live yes. Can a home church or a network of home churches be viable? Can a church meet in a coffee shop during regular hours, or in a resturant? Do we superimpose when and where a church must meet in order for it to be a church?

Now don't hear what I'm not saying. Sitting in front of the TV on Sunday morning and hearing a sermon is not church. Church is an authentic community, a hoslistic group that takes care of every need, touches every part of our lives and connects us in a deep and penetrating way. The issue is less about if a church meeting in a coffee shop is a church. The issue has seem to become, is a group of people meeting in a building on Sunday morning, is that really a church?

Thanks Rick

2009-01-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

Well today Rick Warren gave the prayer before our new President was sworn into office. Rick gave us a new mantra in the church. Be purpose drive. We have purpose driven churches and lives and connections and youth. We are driven by a purpose, so I am thinking a little.

What is the purpose of this blog. Part of it is to write. I enjoy the process of writing, but I need to improve, so I write some stuff down. A blog made pretty good sense. I have taken this blog in a thousand directions, I have been theological, I have been historical, I have complained and ranted, I have asked questions. Has it benefited me any? Has it benefited you as the reader any? Now if it sounds like this is a nail in the coffin sort of blog, don't be alarmed, I'm not deleting my blog.

I have found myself becoming lazy with my blog. I don't put time or thought into it. I think what I enjoyed initially about the blog is it challenged me to think. I read some blogs today, I caught up on SBC Impact, I've read some other blogs I have feeds for. I have realized I haven't thought very critically in a while. I have become mentally lazy.

My goal is to think more critically and write more thoughtfully. I have goals and dreams for writings and projects, but I am mentally turning into the Pilllsberry Doughboy. I'll work on it.

What is Soul Love

2009-01-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

So there is something I have been thinking about, Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. Heart and mind I can get a handle on, but what does it mean to love God with your soul? I am not sure we understand how to feel with our soul, how to love with our soul, have to speak to or from or with. This has been a journey in learning and reading, and I'll continue with the journey, I'll keep posted on what I find and where God leads me.

Trials and Blessings part 3

2009-01-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Well we are home again. It was a long trip, but a good one. We are so blessed by the people that God has brought into our lives. When our transmission quit, we had some good friends drive all the way from Cheyenne to pick us up in North Platte Nebraska. Then they let us use their van, it was a huge blessing. When we got to Arizona, our friends there gave us a car. Not an old clunker, but a 2006 Malibu, a very nice car. Then I got a call from the shop that had the van. It seems there was a bolt that was missing, which put pressure on the front axles. The movement caused the seals to leak, which caused the initial issue. Then the thing came loose, causing the next issue. Then the axle bent and jammed up, causing it to stop cold. Transmission was fine, needed a new axle, the whole thing was going to be about $280. I wasn't happy about spending $280, but I was a whole lot happier than if it would have been $2,500. We called our friends who gave us the car and told them the deal, and they told us to keep the car and sell the van. So we drove back to Cheyenne, dropped off the borrowed van, drove to North Platte, picked up our van and drove home.

It has been a crazy trip, but I feel so blessed. God has always taken care of us, looked out for us and done more than we deserve. We came home to a warm house, thanks to some friends who turned the heat up for us. We did have a broken pipe, but thanks to another friend from church, it was capped and we had water the same day. Praise be to God for His care and provision in our lives, and thank you to everyone who prayed for us and who helped us along the way. We are so blessed to know so many wonderful people.

Trials and Blessings part 2

2008-12-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

So we made it to Phoenix. I have been sick for the last 2 days, fever over 103. I was so sick I thought I was going to die. It's Christmas eve, and I am starting to recover. I am excited about the gift of the Chevy Malibu, we have awesome friends. I need to figure out what to do with our van, which is stuck in North Platte Nebraska. We are so thankful for God's protection.

I was thinking about it last night how lucky we really were. We started to break down about 10 to 15 miles outside of Paxton Nebraska. It was dark and cold, and we limped into a Days Inn and parked. We stayed the night, got up to try to get to North Platte and didn't even get off the on ramp when the tranny went out. I can't imagine what we would have done if it went out that night in the dark and the cold somewhere between towns in Nebraska. God was looking out for us and taking care of us the entire time. His grace and mercy is so amazing.

Thank you all for your prayers. I am feeling better today, and the weather is awesome. I am excited to see all my Sioux City friends again soon, but I am enjoying Arizona for the time being.

Trials and blessings

2008-12-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

So Elaine and I left Sioux City Friday morning to head to Arizona for Christmas. Everything was going fine until mid Nebraska. Long story short, we lost the tranny around Paxton Nebraska. We got towed to North Platte Nebraska, and our friend Dan came to pick us up. He drove us back to his house in Cheyenne Wyoming. It's been an adventure so far, but it seems like God is going to take care of us. Our friends are letting us use a van, and another friend is giving us a car. Wild, eh. God takes care of us, and we are so blessed and so thankful that God is taking care of us. Thanks for your prayers.

Merry X-Mas

2008-12-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, I said it, X-Mas. Before you write me a dirty comment, I want to unpack this a little. As Christians, we have to stop yelling at the rooftops about stuff like this. Here is why. Pagans and Atheist didn't come up with X-Mas. It wasn't a result of the Anti-Christ, in fact it's a Christian invention. X is the Greek letter for Christ. X = Christ. So X-Mas is Christ Mas. We as Christians came up with it, then it became widely used, and we forgot the origins and then got mad and yelled at anyone who used it.

On top of that, stop yelling about Happy Holidays. If you are a Christian, that’s great, I am so happy you are in the family. Don’t assume everyone else is a Christian. Some people are Jewish, and they celebrate Hanukah. You don’t hear the Jews getting mad because of the Happy Holidays, they don’t demand we all say Happy Hanukah. I don’t know what Kwanzaa is all about, but I know it’s during the same time. And we all celebrate New Years, unless you are using the Chinese calendar.

Here is the point. We have become so culturally Christian that we forgot what is means to be a Christian. We tell people about Christ, not demand they use his name as part of a holiday celebration. If you say Merry Christmas, but don’t know Jesus, you’ll still go to hell. Sorry, but it’s the truth. If you make someone say Merry Christmas, and they don’t know Jesus, you haven’t helped. If you boycott Hallmark because they don’t have cards with Nativity Scenes on them, you have doomed a secular company by removing the witness they so desperately need. Protest people to hurt children, abuse students and kill babies. Leave poor Hallmark alone.

Salt and Light. Now you can say Merry Christmas, but don’t get mad at everyone else who doesn’t. I saw Petco has a sign on the door that had every holiday that is around the month of December. These poor people, they probably pray every night that God will keep us at home and not in their faces about their choice of holiday greetings! Think about it.

Talking to yourself is not praying

2008-11-27T18:39:00.001-08:00

So there is this book called Conversations with God. In the conversations, the guy writes that God is in humans. So he is having a conversation with himself? How is this on the New York Times Best Seller list? What happened to our culture where people read this dribble? I can wax elequent for 200 pages about the way I think the world it, but I don't have the gall to title it "conversations with God". We have that book already, it's over 3,000 years old. It's actually a bunch of books, making up two volumes, Old and New Testament. Anyway, I was shocked and I wanted to share my annoyance. I never realized that you could make the best sellers list by writing a book about talking to yourself.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for a lot. First and foremost I am thankful for my salvation. I am thankful that God loves and cares for me. I am thankful because He has blessed me far beyond what I deserve, with a beautiful wife, 3 kids and my dream job. I haven't had a perfect life, I have experienced some loss, but I have gained far more than I have ever lost. Each one of you who is reading my blog has blessed me. My friends from Golden Gate, my friends from ministry in Arizona, my friends from Heartland, my friends from Wyoming, my friends scattered. Each person that God has brought into my life has touched me, blessed me and helped me to grow. I am thankful for the chance to know you all, and to learn from you. What a great and mighty thing God does when He blesses us.

Too late at night to be blogging.

2008-11-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Ever been grumpy for some seemingly unknow reason? Sort of grumpy tonight. Not sure why, had a good day. It was my day off, so I didn’t work much. I did a few e-mails and that was about it. Took the boys to a movie, hung out, made homemade pizza. So what’s my problem.

Maybe it’s the cold. Maybe it’s all the things I wanted to should have done today and didn’t. Maybe it’s that I’m a sinful man, trying to live redeemed but doing so poorly. After all, this blog is completely and totally self-absorbed, it’s all about how I feel and what I did and what I think.

I was going somewhere with all this. Stopped to talk to Elaine, and completely lost my train of thought. Anyway, I shouldn’t be grumpy, I should be content. Things are going well, life is good. Even when life is hard, those trials are the very thing that make me look more like Christ. Maybe I’m grumpy cause things are going well and I’ve gotten complacent. Maybe it’s cause I need to go to bed and I’m not. Who knows. I'll be happier tomorrow!

modality

2008-11-18T09:02:00.001-08:00

Now if you started reading my blog thinking I was going to talk about the heresy of modalism, you will be disappointed. What I am talking about is the way we “do church”. I have been reading a book called Pagan Christianity. I have read Simple Church, Kingdom Focused Church, Purpose Driven Church, and a bunch of books that aren’t about the church, but they way we should behave in church. Small groups, Sunday School, Corporate worship, House Churches, who should lead, what they should lead and when and where they should lead it. Who started what and when and why.

Here is my conclusion. No one is happy with anything in the church. Big churches should be smaller, small churches should be larger. Some want praise songs, some want hymns. Most of the time, there is minimal scriptural evidence to support this stuff. Book after book after book of half-cocked arguments. Now with Pagan Christianity, the book says we shouldn’t even have a church service. We shouldn’t have paid clergy (unemployment here I come), or church buildings or music or any of that stuff.

Here is what else annoys me. 99% of the stuff that is being argued is details. We have done a church service the same way for 200 years. We have prayer, singing, sermon, passing the plate and invitation, not always in that order. It hasn’t changed, but we argue about what sort of plates to pass, how fast the music should be, and if we should pray in old, middle and modern English.

Here is my answer. DO WHAT GOD TELLS YOU. Just as equally important. DON’T ASSUME GOD TOLD EVERYONE ELSE WHAT HE TOLD YOU. God told Joshua to kill a whole lot of people. Doesn’t mean you should. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. You shouldn’t, God may not intervene for you. God told Noah to build a big boat. He didn’t tell you to build a big boat. Listen and then obey. A pastor named Don Pierson told a prayer conference I was in that God expects the time from His command to your obedience to be very short. If you have to stop and tell everyone else how to do what God told you, it makes your obedience be longer. If God tells you to go to a house church, then go. If God tells you to go to a big church, a small church, a growing church, even a dying church, because He wants you to breath life.

Be obedient is first. Be scriptural is second. I can’t list all the things that we want to do in church because it’s cultural, not scriptural. Guess what, there are things that make sense that are wrong. Rule of thumb, if you have to create an elaborate theology, filled with logic and reason to justify your position, it’s probably off. If your position cannot be justified by scripture, then maybe it’s time to rethink. Even if your idea is not popular, God is not real concerned with you being popular.

Last thing. Quit complaining. Too many whiners out there. In football, they call those armchair quarterbacks. If you are unhappy, either do something about it, or be happy. Either trust God that He put that leader or leadership team in place, or reality is that you are at a church where you feel that God didn’t put the leadership in place. If that’s the case, why are you still there? Then we can have less books to tell us what’s right or what’s wrong or what’s good or what’s bad. I closed a blog with the statement about being a church and being The Church. Be part of the worldwide body of Christ. Minister to others, witness, evangelize, help, reach out. All the time we spend talking and fighting and backbiting, and causing divisions and factions takes away from the time we need to spend being The Church, the Catholic (which means universal, I’m not referring to the denomination) Church.

BCI

2008-11-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

So what is BCI you are asking. It's the Baptist Convention of Iowa. This was my first outing to the BCI, and I had a good time. It was very similar to Wyoming, much different from Arizona. It made me miss the ASBC, I miss seeing the state guys, I miss Dr. Bass. The State Missionary, Jimmy Barantine is a really nice guy, but a little less personable than Steve Bass. Things are much more spread out here, so there is less contact.

There is an ideology here about being Christians and not Southern Baptists, which I agree with. I think we are followers of Christ first, but I am always nervous about when being a SB is minimized and marginalized. I have been a Southern Baptist my whole life, and these years as I have aged, it's been by choice. I have looked at CMA, and E-Free churches. As a young minister, no one gave me opportunity to serve like the SBC. At the age of 32, I have been a NAMB appointed missionary twice over, served as Associate Pastor in 3 churches, graduated with a Masters from a Seminary without huge debts. I have a chance to pursue my doctorate in a few years. The SBC has given me some great opportunity.

The Southern Baptists do great mission work, we reach throughout the world to share the gospel. They do missions at home, around the world. They have the cooperative program which funds missions and church planting and outreach projects. I picked up a huge stack of items at the BCI annual meeting for no cost. I get trainings, downloads, helps and studies from our SBC partners.

All that being said, theology is solid, the methods are solid for the most part. The SBC makes mistakes, it’s not infallible, but it’s good and solid. They do a lot to reach the world, to reach your town and help your church (assuming you are a member of a Southern Baptist church). Lets not be so down on the SBC people, let’s support and partner and do what we can do to be The Church, and not just a church.

A boy and his dog, the end of an era.

2008-11-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

I had to take my dog to the vet to be put down this morning. He was 14, completely blind, becoming cripple, developing sores, he was no longer housebroke, he got sick frequently. He wasn't doing well, and I have my doubts he was a happy dog. I had Lazarus when my parents died, when I got married, when I had all three kids. He was there for my High School, College and Seminary graduation. He was a dog, but I really loved that dog.

So now he's gone. The world wont notice much, he wasn't much of a contributor. We will miss him, even though he was a pain sometimes, he was my dog. There is no real way to say goodbye to a faithful friend and companion. He was a good dog. Goodbye old friend.

Concerned over California

2008-11-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

So I heard on the radio today that the new constitutional amendment in the state of California is in court. So here is the deal, they passed a law to define marriage as one man and one woman. The courts over turned it, said it was unconstitutional. So they made an amendment. If the courts throw this amendment out, then they have in effect thrown off the restrains and balances, and the courts will be able to rule, legislate and dictate our country regardless of the will of the people. Out democracy will be a farse, the will of the people will not matter and the courts will rule. It's a very scary situation.