Sunday, January 28, 2007

I laid the egg

This was the week before the business meeting and I gave an over view of where I see the Lord taking us. Easter. This will be a big Sunday for us as we will be doing things that we have not done in 35 years and things we have never done before.

Taught from II Kings 6 and Luke 5. It went great. They seemed to be okay wit hit all. No one died, no tears were shed and not even one person fainted. One even said "lead and we will follow." I explained that what we really need to do is have a re-launch and that since we are over 135 years old that I might take some time to turn this big old boat around. So we are praying and planning and plotting. I laid the egg or the ground work (your choice) for the future.


Additionally the church was a buzz this morning because we have a new family visiting and they were nothing like us. They were Afro-American our congregation is generically Anglo. We were dressed country casual they were dressed to the nines in their Sunday best. It was kind of neat to see the people get up and greet them. Electricity was in the air and the places was a buzz. Worship went well. Music was good the preach was said to have been great, but I was preaching so I know it was okay at best :^) This was a couple that I had met the wife on Friday and had talked with her at the Post Office. So many times we talk to people and never see them so this was a definite encouragement.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

who is in your pulpit?

I have this weird hang up. As pastor I feel that the Pulpit of the Church that Christ had entrusted me to lead and equip should not be treated like a woman of ill repute. This is not to say that I bar anyone else from preaching or that people that might have different views are not allowed to herald the Word of God from behind it. I do feel that there is a matter of spiritual stewardship and oversight in which that I should not foolhardily let those who would espouse doctrines contrary to Scripture or allow heterodoxy be professed as truth. At times I have presented doctrines and given the various view points of different group and explained each view from Scripture, explained my beliefs and left the final decisions to be made in the heart of the individual. In truth I have asked a friend to come and preach for me sometime that strongly holds a different view than I do but the point is not a major one to me. Additionally I will share with congregation before that there are different views, that I do not hold this one and that we will have further teaching on the subject. We use our Sunday evening services for training and teaching. We are hoping to build up and equip believer to carry the Gospel out in the world on a day in, day out basis.

So does my pulpit protection make me a good pastor or an evil person? Well I would have thought the fore before the latter but I keep getting verbally and intellectually assaulted by people by their view of what I have always felt was the proper act of a Shepherd.

Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
(Act 20:28-29)

I guess I should stop reading some people blogs. They are are depressing me as I never know I was such a vile heretic preaching a false gospel.

In closing I put forward as query, if one brother believed that Jesus was a rock cutter and not a carpenter would that end your fellowship with him. Note – I don’t know anyone who holds this view so I felt it was a safe example.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

ding dong the king is dead

This post is made with great sadness.

Last week I was taking a masters in motion class (take a whole semester and cram it into one week) when we began talking aobut Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I brought up in the converstaion that I had never heard anything but a social or liberation gospel message from him. I added that if this was all he preached than he was failing as a Pastor and as a Christain. The Professor Dr. Thom South commented that when he was completing his doctoral work he had a classmate who's PhD. work was on MLK. His friend told him that in all of his research that he only found one account of a possible salvation experience. the account he found was a testimony of Dr. King relating that when his sister and her friend went to the alter when he was about 9 years old that he went to because he did not want her to get something that he was not. this of course is not a true testimony. Hopefully he did fully retrust Christ. Please no flaming hot emails of anger and hatered. The reason I write this is because of a recent article about Dr. King that is not very flattering.

So I leave you with two quotes from the article to bait you into reading it and the link to find it.



"Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and not
concerned about the city government that damns the soul, the economic conditions
that corrupt the soul, the slum conditions, the social evils that cripple the
soul, is a dry, dead, do-nothing religion in need of new blood," King preached
in 1962 to his congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

King didn't believe the story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale was true, for
example, or that John the Baptist actually met Jesus, according to texts
detailed in the King papers book. King once referred to the Bible as
"mythological" and also doubted whether Jesus was born to a virgin, Carson said.

Writings show King as liberal Christian, rejecting literalism

It was founded by Jesus

There are two main ideologies of when the church was started. The first is that its origin is at Pentecost. The second is that it was founded by Jesus. The third is that it began with the ministry of John the Baptist. I go with the Second camp. Yes I know that many will vehemently argue against this point as they look down their noses at me, but this is what I feel Scripture teaches. While to some this means nothing, I think that it is of importance because it affects other areas of theology.

With this in mind, this is what we talked about last Sunday night when only a handful could make it to church when the surrounding creeks and river were over flowing.




Our Lord established his church during his personal ministry and not on the day of Pentecost.

1. The church had a commission to preach before Pentecost (Matthew 28:19, 20).
2. The church baptized people before Pentecost (John 4:1, 2).
3. The church had the Lord's Supper before Pentecost (Luke 22:15-20).
4. The church held an election before Pentecost (Acts 1:15-26).
5. There was a church roll before Pentecost (Acts 1:15).
6. The words of Jesus, "Tell it unto the church," were spoken before Pentecost (Matthew 18:17). How could one tell anything to a church that did not exist!
7. There were about 3000 additions to the church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41). A church must be established before it can have additions.
8. Our Lord left his house (Mark 13 :34). By inspiration the Apostle Paul identifies "the house of God" as "The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).
9. The first spiritual gift set in the church was the gift of the apostles (1 Cor. 12:28). The church had to be in existence before the apostles could be set in it.

The Scriptures are clear in their testimony that Jesus established his church personally and left it in the world when He went back to the Father.

gone in sixty seconds

no not the movie. acutally this is in refrence to how long it was talking to upload my blog. too long. not acceptable. so i went with one of the blogger pre-made templates so speed up the process. but i know that this is not enough for me so a few things will be added in the future to spruce it up.

Bonhoeffer for Friday (Or Early Saturday)

BONHOEFFER for FRIDAY


The Name of Church


The space of the church is the place where witness is given to the foundation of all reality in Jesus Christ. The church is the place where it is proclaimed and taken seriously that God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ, that God so loved the world that God gave his Son for it. The space of the church is not there in order to fight with the world for a piece of its territory, but precisely to testify to the world that it is still the world, namely, the world that is loved and reconciled by God. It is not true that the church intends to or must spread its space out over the space of the world. It desires no more space than it needs to serve the world with its witness to Jesus Christ and to the world's reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ. The church can only defend its own space by fighting not for space, but for the salvation of the world. Otherwise the church becomes a "religious society" that fights in its own interest and thus has ceased to be the church of God in the world. So the first task given to those who belong to the church of God is not to be something for themselves, for example, by creating a religious organization or leading a pious life, but to be witnesses of Jesus Christ to the world.


- Dietrich Bonhoeffer -


from Ethics 63-64
from A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer Carla Barnhill, Ed., HarperSan Francisco, 2005

WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE SAY ABOUT ITSELF?

Gleaned (read cut and pasted) from Pastoral Reflections on Bible Translations: Why We Preach From the English Standard Version


WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE SAY ABOUT ITSELF?

Some statements from Scripture about Scripture:

Given by inspiration of God — 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19–21
The very words of God — 1 Thessalonians 2:13
All we need to know God — Luke 16:29, 31
A perfect guide for life — Proverbs 6:23
Pure — Psalm 12:6; 119:140
True — Psalm 119:160; John 17:17
Trustworthy — Proverbs 30:5–6
Perfect — Psalm 19:7
Effective — Isaiah 55:11
Powerful — Hebrews 4:12
Nothing to be taken from or added to — Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32
For everyone — Romans 16:25–27
To be obeyed — James 1:22


Some poetic images from Scripture about Scripture:

Sweet like honey — Psalm19:10
A lamp to guide our life — Psalm 119:105
Food for our soul — Jeremiah 15:16
A fire that purifies and a hammer that breaks us — Jeremiah 23:29
A sword — Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12
A seed for salvation planted in us — James 1:21
Milk that nourishes us — 1 Peter 2:2

Monday, January 08, 2007

The truth and nothing but the truth

My position may differ from many Americans but I feel that I have better understanding of the issue at hand. You may not have heard about Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in Thursday.
While at face value this might not seem to be a problem it think this is a problem being over looked. Most people that I have heard or read that have an issue with this argue about the fact that it has more to due with his faith not being Christianity. I do not feel this is not the issue. I feel that the matter at hand to be dealt with is the truth. First, our nation was created for the freedom to worship the One True Living God, not for the freedom of worship in general. We can find this easily by looking at what the first colonist believed and worshiped as well as what they were trying to escape. It we look at what they consider faith and what their considered witchcraft and cultic we can see they were not open to all faiths. While this is a problem and the afore link article give a notion of this, it is not the overwhelming issue for me.

I problem that I have is more to do about the standard of truth. When all other government representatives are sworn in, they use the Bible. This is the accepted standard of truth. All representatives are sweating to do up hold the their duties with the help of God.


I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.


If we begin swapping out gods for the Yahweh. The oath is not the same because the teaching promises, and principals are not the same. The truth is not the same. If the oaths are personalized then the truth is subjection. It is a personal truth. Only food for a specific person (or persons).

On additionally issue I find with the article more that the situation is that they mention that the use of the Quran that was previously owned by Pres. Jefferson is a justification of acceptance of all religions. Actually the call it toleracne but I feel their definition is different than mine. An allowance is different than a wage. I we allow just anything now, then I believe that we will be give a wage or payment to the falsehood of a universal, all inclusive religion mind set that will future erode the truth and harm our faith's future in America.

feed back as usual is appreciated

Thursday, January 04, 2007

don't rss feed the animals

The masses have spoken and I have found it in my humble graciousness to grant them their request. We now have RSS Feed. I think. Let me know it if works for you.