My new motto

So I have a new motto. I thought of it when looking at discipleship plans and reading some Lifeway material, along with some other stuff. I want to do things on purpose with purpose for purpose.

I don't want to just go through being random, doing things here or there with no intentionality. I want to do the things God calls me to do, by seeking and following and obeying.

I don't want to just do things just for the sake of doing them. I want to serve for God's Glory, with a purpose and calling attached. I don't want to serve God just to make myself feel good or pius, but because there is a purpose from God.

I don't want to serve for no reason. I want to serve in a way that honors the commandments of God. I want to serve to further the Kingdom and to add strenght to His church.

I want to serve on purpose, with purpose for purpose. Wanna join me?

Submission in a new light. . . at least for me.

Elaine and I were doing a bible study together the other night, it was one of those "married people" bible studies. The topic that night was submission and what it means for a wife to submit to her husband. The specific passage of scripture was from Ephesians 5. It began in verse 21, which is the verse that tells us to submit to one another. Later, it talks about wife's submitting to your husbands as to Christ, and men loving their wives as Christ loves the church. Love your wife as your own body. Like Christ, the head, loves the church, the body.

So I'm thinking about this word, submit. What does it mean? There are two kinds of submit, one means to place yourself under as to an authority. I submit to the Senior Pastor. I submit to the police. The other means to give something for the approval and often integration. You submit an article to be published, or a paper or test to become part of your grade. Let's put those things together.

In the church, we submit to one another out of reverence to Christ. We submit to the head, which is Christ. In marriage, we submit to one another, but the wife submits to the husband, who is the head. The connection of both of these is we submit ourselves to be part of the hole, and then submit under than whole. The marriage unit is a whole, it's one part, one flesh, one family. My wife and I, we are Mr and Mrs Barnes, together. God has joined us, and we live and love and plan and serve in a united front. God calls me to lead, and she comes with me, she submits to the leading of her husband. The alternative is a fracture. If you head goes one way and your body goes another, both end up in the morgue. Division and separation of the head and body always, without exception ends in death. The mind is separated from the heart, and the two cannot function without the other.

In the church, we are a bigger unit that a marriage. Pastors, deacons, teachers, leaders, helpers, workers, members. Different body parts, but one body. We go with the body, my hand or foot or eye doesn't go off on it's own. If it does, that part dies and the body suffers. For the body to stay healthy, it must stay together. It must yield to each other and it must ultimately follow the head, who is Christ.

We submit ourselves to one another, and then we submit ourselves under one another, ultimately, we submit ourselves for one another. In the church, in a marriage, it's no longer about just you, but about the whole. It may be a case of the sum of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Theology

I like theology. I like to talk about theology, to study theology and read theology. Maybe I'm weird, because lately I have heard some condemnation of the study of theology. Makes me a little nervous. I agree that arguing over the 5 points of Calvinism or Arminianism can be pretty fruitless. Never the less, I think there is a real danger when we don’t learn and study and know our theology. Your view of God, which really is what your theology is, shapes how you do everything else. Your theology will shape how you evangelize, how you minister, even how you pray. How you view God, how you perceive His Holiness, what you believe about His activity and His functions, even His abilities. It shapes how you view people, how you view eternity, and how you view the earth and times we are living in.

Like Charles Haden Spurgeon, I do not hesitate to take the name Calvinist, and I hold to the name Baptist, but if you ask me my creed, it is Jesus Christ. We lose much when we neglect theology, in my case, Calvinism. For me, it is a system which presents the weight of the glory of God. We have been so caught up on man, we have become so self-focused that we have forgotten it’s not about us. It’s about God and His glory. It’s about Holiness, and it’s always been about His Holiness, not about us or our salvation. We are saved because it brings Him Glory and because He is Holy, no other reason. There is nothing in us. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36 (ESV)

There was a time when theology was tossed aside, and we did not study it, we did not teach it, we did not love it. It was lost and when that happened, a period came where men were burned alive for reading the scripture, and the Holy Church became so corrupted that Holiness became grounds for execution. We cannot let go of theology or seeking the truth.

Study the word, seek Holiness in prayer, in Bible reading. Learn. Study and learn more. Read books and learn theology. Don’t stop ministry and teaching or preaching or praying, or whatever you do, but learn more. Read history, sit at the feet of great men. If you don’t like a theological system, find out why. Don’t logic chop, find out why in the Bible. Examine, don’t just believe what is easy to believe. Look, seek, study, talk, commune, wrestle, fight and struggle. Get down on your knees, open your Bible and pour yourself out to God and do what you can to grasp His Holiness, His Glory and your own inadequacy. Don’t be a infantile Christian, sitting in the pew and drinking the milk of whatever is preached that Sunday. Meat is tough sometimes, it’s hard to chew, you need a knife to get at it. We have been given one better, take the sword of God’s word and learn theology. The alternative is spiritual slavery.

Why we blog

Do you blog? You should. Wanna know why? Of course you do, or you wouldn't bother to read this. We blog because writing is the most permanent way to share, store and transfer ideas. We have books and writings as old as civilization. We have stone and pottery pieces with writing on them as far back as we can dig up. We write because we always have. We write because inside each of us there are divine sparks that God placed inside us. We have the desire to create, to share and to think. We write to improve our ability to write and thus communicate. Here are some interesting (at least I think they are interesting) things to think about.

As we become more advanced, we write more, not less. It began with e-mail, then text messages, now we have phones with full keyboards to write.

Blogs have become widely popular, and we write on our blogs, our myspace or facebook page.

We have internet books that have increased circulation of material and given more authors that chance to write and be publish.

I also think it's interesting that we still turn to books for wisdom. More importantly, when God chose to communicate to mankind, He chose the written word. He didn't give us the Holy Movie, or the Holy TV show. It's a cannon of 66 books, put together to form the scripture. Why? Well, John Piper talks about the word in his biography of Martin Luther, and says it for a few reasons. It's external, it's unchangeable and unimpressionable. I can explain away signs, I can skew statistics, and I can manipulate emotions. I can't change the Word. It's there, and whether or not I like what it says, I can't change it. There are things in there that I would rather not be in there some days. It won't change for me, so I have to change for it.

So here I write. I write to reflect on what the external word tells me about life and how to live it. I write to share with you my thoughts and my ideas. I write because something deep inside longs to have something more permanent that the last words spoken. I write because I desire to write, and I blog so you can read it. So that's why I blog. How about you?

The Barnes relocation

Well we've pulled it off, sort of. We have made the move, the truck has yet to come, and I thank God every minute for the two guys who are driving it for us. What a blessing. We are staying with some new friends who I think have become our Sioux City parents. It's very exciting.

I'll admit, I'm a little nervous. I think we are always nervous about change. I knew what was going on in Arizona, I knew who to call, who to talk to and where to go. I knew where to shop, where to eat, and where to get what I need. In church work, I knew pastors, DOMs, and State staff, as well as profs from Golden Gate. I knew how to get an evangelism grant, I knew when the ACE conference was, I knew who to call if I had an article for the state magazine. I knew where things were and I knew who to talk to.

This will be a new adventure in the city, church, association and state convention. I've never lived in the Midwest, in fact, Wyoming and Arizona are it for me. Iowa will be a new experience. I am excited about it and optimistic for it, and know that God will grow me here.

Pocket Watch

Happy Father's Day. This was a good father's day, my kids (my wife) gave me a pocket watch and a little remote control helicopter. Really cool stuff. The pocket watch I will carry for a time, then it may sit on my desk or in a hutch or display for a time, then one day I'll pass it on to my children. I think about the things I will give to my boys as they get older, and the things my dad passed to me. My dad was very affectionate and told me that he loved me a lot. It's something I try to do as a father. I tell them how they are all special, Kaylee is my only girl, Collin is my eldest son and Brayden is my baby boy.

It's day's like Father's day that make me want to try to be a better father. I want to be the father that God wants me to be. It's still strange to think about the fact that I am the adult, I'm the "dad", I am in the role my father had. It's overwhelming, but I love being a dad so much. I hope my kids know how much I love being their dad.

The end of good things

Well VBS is done, things have started to be cleaned up and put away. The kids (and most adults) have learned some great lessons. It's a sad thing to close a chapter. I think about all the chapters that we have closed. People who have gone home to be with Jesus who meant so much. I think about the traditions which have faded. I think about songs I don't hear sung anymore, or things that use to seem so customary. I think about the end of things, but also the beginning of things. Beginnings are often so wonderful. I use to be a bachelor, but that ended and I love to be married. There was a time that I wasn't a father, but that has ended, and I have three wonderful kids. (One is sitting next to me showing me his book). Without the ending of one thing, there can be no beginning of the next. I know that sound cliché, but it's so true. We are ending our ministry at Desert Sky. We are ending our time in Casa Grande. It's sad and we are sad to leave, but I am so excited about the new chapter in our lives. Don't be afraid of change, of the new and what God is bringing. I will be a great and exciting time.