Focus - Psalm 119:1-3

When I was a kid, I used to love to watch wild like shows like Lorene Green’s Wild Kingdom and Marty Stouffer’s Wilds America. I was hooked on that stuff way before there was ever a Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. They would film all of the wild animals in God’s creation. African lions, Mountain Lions, River Otters, Big Horn Sheep, little birds, you name it. They would get you as close as possible and when the wild life went crazy, you were right there with them.

One of the hardest things I think for the camera operator to do is to keep their subject in view when all the craziness was taking place. Think about it. You trying to focus in on a lion as he is victorious over his prey, but you have to be wary of the lion’s pride or some other creature sneaking up on you. But life is a lot like that too. In our fast paced lives if can be easy to get distracted and lose sight. We try to keep everything sighted in but then something moves, we hear a noise and we lose what was in our view.

This happens in the spiritual aspect of our life just like it does in any a part. We have God in center view of our lives and something comes into out lives and we lose contact with God. He was there but now He is out of our eyesight. And often we don’t notice right away that we are losing sight of God. That He is not in the middle of our view finder.

It is so easy for this to happen. King David was a man who truly loved God and found himself in difficult positions because he lost sight of God. He got involved in an affair. He had a man murdered. He was lax as a leader. . He was prevented by God from building the temple because he messed up. He was rebuked by Nathan, God prophet for wanting to do things David’s way. He spent time on the run, as he found himself on the wrong side of the law as a fugitive. Yet he was always trying to pursue God. Time and time again he found Jehovah was in the review mirror and not out in front of him.



Listen to David as he talks to us about this about what he has learned from his mistakes - Psa 119:1-3 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! (2) Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! (3) They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.

David certainly knows what it is means to be obedient and blessed as he has walked on both sides of that street. David understands that if we are faithful to God there is a rich life store for us. He begins the first two verses begin with the word “Blessed.” David tells us to be blessed, to be made happy, we need to do this. Our happiness as well as our joy is dependant up this our focus upon God and His ways.
• So, our goal David tells us is to be undefiled in our ways. To have integrity to our actions, the ways of our daily life.
• In the next verse he adds to it by saying if we live our lives so the not only are full of integrity but they honor the Testimony of who God is.
• Simply enough. Right? Well it might sound simple but if we have a life that is cluttered and you are distracted then you might have a hard time seeing God and seeing what David is talking about.
• But the back halves of these verses are what we need to look at if we find our lives are not where they should be.
• The “Blessed, David says, are those who keep who walk in the law of the Lord. Those that live in the truth of His teachings. Those who not only know but carry out his, but are immersed in it. Those who are not just swimming in God’s words, but they are deep sea diving in. David is referencing those who live in the word.
o You might not see it this way but this has a lot to do with the car you road or drove in today. Cars are better engineered to day. They are stronger and impact resistant. Several years ago Denise was parked in a mini-van and another car backed into her. When she got out of the car and looked to see the damage, but none could be found. But the other car had a huge dent in their chrome bumper. The car maker had manufactured our car in such a way that there was not any damage. The plastic had bounced back and the car was still road worthy
o The same goes with God. If we seek Him and let Him engineer us thought His Word, when Satan backs into us, their will be no impact in our lives. No damage will take place. We will bounce back like the bumper and we will keep on trucking.

• Furthermore David declares that if we keep God’s testimonies – keep His statues, follow His directions in this Life Guide, or as we know it the Bible and completely pursue Him with our heart … Then you will be blessed.
• with the whole heart, that is passionately pursue him like a boxer after the Belt and the Title, like the hunter trailing after a trophy buck, go all out, spare no expense, and all or nothing, go for broke in your Chase for God and His blessing on your life. Don’t stop, Don’t give up, Don’t give in, don’t quit, chase Him, Hunt, stalk, hound, shadow
• So what are you chasing instead of God that is so important? Listen to Solomon, David’s son, a guy who has seen it all, had it all, done it all and left hollow because of it.
• Ecc 1:1-9 - These are the words of the Teacher, [1] King David's son, who ruled in Jerusalem. (2) "Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "utterly meaningless!" (3) What do people get for all their hard work? (4) Generations come and go, but nothing really changes. (5) The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again. (6) The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere. (7) The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea. (8) Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. (9) History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

• Solomon is a guy who got caught up in all the trappings of the world and had completely lost sight of God. He was so deep in sin and was so out of focus that he had to get a periscope just to peek up a Jehovah. And when He tried to do it his way, and tried every luxury and tasted every sin. He found that it was all a waste of time and it meant nothing.

They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.
• You can’t two-time God. You can’t be dating evil and try to kiss God good night. I’ just can’t work out.
• Look at it this way. You are crossing over an icy lake. With every step you take you can hear the ice grown and creek. The ice underneath you is cracking. Suddenly right a long crack separates the ice into two halves. But you don’t know which side to go jump over to. You just stand there with one foot on each half as they began to separate. You could go to the left, where the ice not as strong looking, but your not sure. You could step to the right, but it might not be a strong as it looks. And while you wait inch by inch the toe pieces of ice float apart. If you don’t make a decision you will go into the freezing water and possible die.
• That is our dilemma. Trust God and what seems too good to be true. Or keep on doing what we always have and that has never worked. But you can’t both.
• Matthew says is this way - Mat 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
• You can’t serve both God and this world; you can’t split time with God and yourself. You can’t be the person that says I don’t believe in abortion, but work at the abortion clinic. If you believe in God then pursue him, chase him, run after Him. Get Him in you sights and scurry after Him. Get Close to him, Get him in your view, adjust the focus of your life on him and find the blessings you desire and he has planned for your life.

So where are you? Are you trying to straddle the fence. Are you pushing you luck hoping you can keep standing on both pieces of ice. If continue like you are you will end up falling in, getting all wet, getting hurt, embarrassed, and in difficult and compromising situations.

Let us Pray ...

Father, let today be a great day for you as you claim victory in the lives of your people. Let us shine not so people will be pleased by and attracted to us, but that you will be pleases and others attached to you. Let the ice in our hearts melt and our voices praise you. Remind us of your glory and let it be heralded across the nations. Shake us to our core and fill us with your fire. Let us sins be forgive by your mercy and our trespasses erased for ever. Grace us will the fullness of you and break us before you. Be blessed by our worship as we praise you alone. Hear our prayers for those who are physically ill and those who are spiritually sick too. Supply our needs Lord and grow our faith. We ask this because of our living relationship with Jesus the eternal, Amen.

God ...

God never get beat in overtime, He is never on the Disabled List. He never pulls a hamstring or is late to training camp. He never holds out for a better contract and is not seeking a shoe deal. He never steps out of bounds or drops the ball. Jesus never trades you or wants to restructure your contract. He never wants you to bunt and always wants you to swing for the fences. He provides the equipment and the training so you know how to play. He cheers you on as you run and is waiting at the finish line for you. God is all of these things

back to life

it has been a while since my last post. first, i became really busy. It is amazing how much work a wife can add to your life. "^) Second, the old laptop died. no computer, no post. enough said. And finally, i am lazy. oh well ....

Citizen Bezner: The Problems with Prayer

This is a super hot great post. any time you place spinal tap and a spiritual matter togather you have a winner!! please do check this one out. if not for the insight, the the humor or creativity of such.

Citizen Bezner: The Problems with Prayer

pastoral theology

a pastor will do well to live this....

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

Last Weekend

Last Saturday I graduated from The Baptist Missionary Assocation Theological Seminary with a Master Of Arts in Religion. Whew! Am I glad it is over with, yet i wil miss it. One of my professors told me I will be overwelmed with depression in a few weeks because I will not be around anyone who will beable to discuss theology with me at the level I am used to. I pray not.

I will post a photo or two soon.

So much has happened since and I have been worn out by all the stuff since. Boy, am I tired.

WHERE DID THEY COME FROM???

When and where did Baptists originate. Where did they come from and are the so gosh-golly-gee great anyway. Well the last part will not be answered but I would like to turn your attention to part of Dr. Phillip R. Bryan’s thesis from 1966. He later did his Ph.D. work at Baylor under. Dr. Ray Summers.

Dr. Bryan is currently the President Emeritus at BMA Theological Seminary and teaches Theology. He will was part of the planning committee for Baptist History Celebration that will take place in Charleston, S.C. and was invited to lecture at this meeting

Successionist Theories

The oldest and most generally accepted theory of Baptist origins has been the successionist theory. Essentially the view is that Baptists have had a continuity of existence since the days of Jesus' ministry. William Wright Barnes has differentiated four variations of tho theory: (1) church succession, (2) apostolic succession, (3) baptismal succession, and (4) spiritual succession. He has maintained that one extreme form of church succession is the same as the Roman Catholic theory of church succession. Although four types are delineated, "the first three theories or emphases are logically related and historically associated." All three maintain that "a valid church must validly authorize a minister in order that a baptism may be valid." Representative Baptist historians who have advocated succession are:(1)Thomas Crosby, (2) G. H, Orchard, (3) J. M. Cramp, (4) William Cathcart, and (5) John T. Christian.
Professor William Morgan Patterson of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was apparently the author of the only extensive critique and analysis of the successionist theories, although other less extensive studies have been made. He has concluded that successionist writers wrote from an apologetical and polemical approach and that their conclusions were based upon a priori reasoning and not scientific methodology.

Anabaptist Spiritual Kinship Theory

A theory "held by those who trace a spiritual relationship of Baptists through the long line of Anabaptist sects, such as German, Dutch and Swiss Anabaptists, the Waldensians and Petrobrusians, the Henricians, the Novatians, and the Donatists," is the Anabaptist spiritual kinship theory. While no direct organic continuity between these various sects is verifiable, the adherents of this interpretation have asserted that throughout history such minority groups have practiced believer's baptism and therefore, have a "spiritual kinship." As related to Baptist practice, such a view precludes the necessity of organic continuity in either baptisms or ordinations for baptism to be valid. Representative historians maintaining the Anabaptist spiritual kinship view have been: (1) David Benedict, (2) Richard B. Cook, (3) Thomas Armitage, (4) Albert H. Newman, and (5) Walter Rauschenbusch. Apparently no critical analysis has been devoted per se to the spiritual kinship theory except for the points questioned by the historians who have advocated the English Separatist descent theory.

English Separatist Descent Theory

Briefly, the chief affirmation of the English Separatist descent theory is that only those to whom the name Baptist was actually applied should be so considered and that "the Baptists originated with certain English Separatists who were congregational in polity and who had come to consider believers' baptism alone as valid according to the Scriptures." This interpretation is compatible with the view that only the proper candidate (professed believer) and proper purpose (public testimony) are necessary for valid baptism. Although numerous articles covering various aspects of this theory have appeared in scholarly journals, apparently no single monograph has been devoted exclusively to a critical analysis of the theory. The present investigation, therefore, is an effort to provide such an analysis. Several variations of the Separatist descent theory have emerged since the 1880's.

hand it to them

We have been talking about bulletins at Church recently. Some would like to have custom printed ones, but the price is just to much for our small Church. I personaly think we should go with one design for a quarter and then switch to another. Or go with a dynamic looking monthly service. below I have listed a couple of links for advertising and better bulletins.


Branding through the church bulletin

A Better Bulletin

How to Create Buzz

Church Bulletins That Don't Suck

Bringing sexy back to the Church

The week @ Church, we talked about sex. You should have seen the faces. Some people decided to not come even because of the topic. Thisis the overview of what I said. I know I said more, but I don't have those notes.

• We removed the kids this morning for a children’s worship experience, not because we are going to be graphic, but so they don’t ask you questions when you look so nervous and so you can give full attention to Scripture.


• There will be very little application or how to, we will not be giving you a put tab “A” into slot “B” kind of sermon.


• I will not be sharing personal testimony or giving cute illustrations. We look at the Scripture and let it guide us now matter who scary it is.


• Take a trip down to the local grocery store and you will see magazine after magazine with articles about sex. Women’s magazines, Men’s magazines, automobile and even music magazines are filled with sex.


• Turn on the television and you will be bombarded with inappropriate ideas of sex.
  Flip the TV off and the radio on and you hear songs like Salt b’ Pepa singing “let’s talk about sex baby, lets talk about you and me” Or how about Color me Badd with their song about song called I want to sex you Up. Those are some older ones an I understand that David Allen Coe had some that the Cowfolk like that are very raunchy in there lyrics. And Justin Timberlake had is song where say he is bring Sexy Back.


• They world is educating us and our young people on sex, but this is not right. This is not the way it should be.


• God created it but for the most part His Church is quit on it. It is time that the Church let God bring sexy back so we approach sex the right way, because if all the Church does is point their collective finger and tell you how not to have sex, then who will teach them what it the right way to have sex.


• So here is the deal - Singles people are having sex while Married couples are not. We pray teens are not having sex, but their grandparents are since the invention of the little blue pill. Viagra had changed the age range of sex lives


• In truth sexual transmitted disease statistic are rising the fastest in the senior population because they are having sex. So this message is for all of us.

Gen 2:21-5 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

• Gen 2:21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. We see the Work of Creation being continued in God’s creation of a wife for Adam in from of Eve.


• Gen 2:22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. As Jehovah has removed the rib, He has created the most beautiful woman that Adam had ever seen. Then he brought this stunning creature to Adam. We see God playing suitor here.


• Gen 2:23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." This is now bone of my bones – Eve was something that Adam had longed for and God had provided.

• John Calvin put it this way, He said “Adam indicates that something had been wanting to him; as if he had said, now at length I have obtained a suitable companion, who is part of the substance of my flesh, and in whom I behold, as it were, another self.”


• Adam is in complete understanding that Eve is not only part of his body, but she is a part of his life.

Gen 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Leave and cleave is how we have traditionally talked about this.

• Be leaving they are making a public commitment of loyalty of their love.


• By leaving they are making a commitment to intimacy.


• For Real intimacy to happen there needs to be alone time if you know what I mean.


• Real Sex needs real privacy –away from family and work and kids and what have you.


• Become one flesh –they joining of two, the tender, God glorifying love between husband and wife.


• This is the union of two souls being knit together


• The Hebrew word behind this means to intertwine or to mingle together.


• This is intimacy, closeness and understanding


• Intimacy needs communication. When there is poor communication there is poor physical relations.


• Even the world know that sex is communication- they use the euphemism – that they “knew them Biblically”


• To know some one you have to have communicated with them


• Communication is talking and it being in contact, being in touch


• 1Co 7:3-5 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. (4) The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. (5) Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.


• We need to be wary of not having intimate relations between husband and wife because not only do you belong to your spouse, but we are warned that Satan will use it marital celibacy as a weapon of evil.


• Paul says this because, if natural lustful man is left alone he will defile the marriage bed some how some way.


• Pro 5:18-19 - Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.


• 1Co 6:18 - Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.


• When you flee, you need to run right it the arms of your spouse.


• Paul encourages sex between husband and wife because of the intimacy, because of the communication, because of the please and because of procreation.


• Gen 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.


• Read S.O.S. 7:1-10


• This is a wisdom book in the Bible, the guy who wrote proverbs, Solomon, wrote this to.


• Hebrew teenage boys were not allowed to read this. Some people wanted to remove it from the Bible, other people try to say that it is about Jesus and the Church


• Son 7:7-8 make this hard to believe, yet we always say we believe the Bible is literal
  
  Don’t forget the closeness and intimacy of our marriages is a representative of the deeply personal relationship we are to have with the Lord spiritually.
  
  Go and honeymoon again and return to an intimacy between husband and wife that honors Christ and His death.

10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants

10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants

The Center for Missional Research conducted a study led by Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor to research what characteristics were shared by growing churches plants. They discovered 10 factors associated high attendance. Ps. thanks Kent Shaffer for pointing this out.

Location

>> Church plants that begin in school facilities have some obvious benefits, such as visibility, access, parking, classroom/worship space, and usually low costs.

>> Longer-term—after the first year—church plants meeting in both schools and movie theaters exhibit higher attendance. They find these locations conducive to reaching people and accommodating continued growth.

Ministry

>> High attendance church plants know that reaching children is one effective way to reach families. Special children’s events such as a fall festival or Easter egg hunt help church plants gain and sustain attendance.

>> High attendance church plants also conduct block parties as an evangelistic outreach.

>> High attendance church plants use holidays or other opportunities to attract people and to be attractive to those who are already attending.

Promotion

>> High attendance church plants mail invitations to services, programs, and events. They keep community awareness high, which keeps their visitors, attendees, and members involved and informed.

Training

>> High attendance church plants provide training for new members and communicate clearly the expectation that they participate.
Expectations

>> High attendance church plants require new members to sign a church covenant. They know that it’s imperative for new members to take their commitment to the church seriously as soon as they’ve committed their lives to Christ.

Financial

>> High attendance church plants are very intentional about financial stewardship.

>> High attendance church planters receive financial compensation and health insurance, allowing them to focus on the church’s growth, not their own basic needs.

Staff

>> High attendance church planters are assessed for their suitability and are full-time, not part- or half-time.

>> High attendance church plants have multiple staff from the beginning, facilitating steady and more sustainable growth.

Missions

>> High attendance church plants look for missional opportunities and start at least one church within three years of their own plant.

Leadership

>> High attendance church plants conduct leadership training, build their leadership base, and delegate leadership roles to church members.

Achievement

>> High attendance church planters have a vision of what God wants to do, and they don’t get distracted from the accomplishment of that vision.

OH, BTW

Today is my birthday and I am now officaly 31.

Jesus in a Pink Dress

Anthony Bradley has a serious of posts that speads of where America is in the Gospel converstaion and where we really need to be. He goes under cover so to speak and I love that he is where the heathen is and not expecting he heathen to show up at Church.

Read these in order.

Jesus In A Pink Dress Overlooking The Grateful Dead, Part 1

Jesus in a Pink Dress, Part 2

Rain, Rain go away

it is raining hard and all i wished is that it looked like this

Ten fold ministry

A preacher's work is never done and often misunderstood. Take a look at this Brit's blog about Ten propositions on being a minister by Kim Fabricius. You will cheer, you will cry.

The Preacher's Coffee or Scriptural Baptism

The Preacher's Coffee by Ben M. Bogard

I have a pleasant story, which I wish to tell in rhyme, About a circuit preacher who lived in recent time. He was a circuit rider for good John Wesley's brand; And rode the finest circuit in all the blessed land.

At one of his good charges, some members, not a few, Became quite sorely troubled about the word "into". The Good Book says quite plainly, in Acts in chapter eight," They went down into water," as Baptist people state.


The preacher preached a sermon of extra zeal and might; And to his satisfaction, he set the passage right." 'Into' does not mean 'into,' but only 'at' or 'nearby'. They went down to the water and got a small supply.

"But near the place of worship, there lived a sister Brown. And for her splendid cooking, she'd gained a great renown. Her yellow-legged chickens, her lucious cakes and pies, Had often made that preacher roll up his weeping eyes.

And her delicious coffee! In all the circuit round, The preacher oft admitted, its like could not be found. So when he preached his sermon with extra power and length, He loved at the Brown's table to revive his ebbing strength.

But sister Brown was a Baptist, the strongest in the land; She oft reproved the Methodists for changing God's command. She heard the preacher's sermon, and thought the subject o'er. Then asked him home for dinner, as she oft had done before.

She ground her good brown coffee, her kettle steaming hot, And put it "at" or "nearby" the famous coffee pot.S he poured her guest a cupful (I think it was no sin),"But you forgot, dear sister, to put the coffee in."

"No, no, dear sir, that's coffee; I ground a good supply, And put it "at" the kettle ('into' is 'at' or 'nearby'). By the logic of your sermon (I thought it rather thin), If 'at' or 'nearby' is 'into' I put the coffee IN.

"So if you will truly promise, no more such stuff to teach, I'll go and make some coffee, in line with Bible speech. And this time I will follow instructions to the dot, And put the coffee INTO, not 'at' or 'near' the pot


Ben Bogard pastor, semiarian, writer,founder of the American Baptist Assocation, preeminent assocaitional baptist and was one of the greatest debaters in the Baptist Church during the first part of the 20th Century. Bogard debated men from several denominations and a woman (Aimee Semple McPherson)

Grudem on Seminary

Thinking about going to seminary? Well maybe Wayne Grudem could help you in your descision process.

Letter to a Prospective Seminarian

Getting My Praise On

This weeked was a great one. This is what happened

• Saturday
• I say my daughter play soccer and do an awesome reverse kick at just the right time to make a big play.
• I asked a local man that had surrendered to preach but has not been allowed to preach to fill the pulit next weekend
  
• Sunday
• Baptized a young man by the name of Zane with the heater in the baptistry out. invigorating.
• Preached on parents and children in the morn and church re-emergring in culture in the eve
• Had members stay at Church for hour and talk. They are excited and so am I. There is a great sprirt of fellowship.
• Had a lady, all but surrender to teach a Sunday school class. I think she will, it seems that the Lord is working on her. Besided she is too cool not to teach and he has the Bible brains to do it. I look forward to seeing her grow by leading. Btw, we have five Sunday school classes and we have never had more than two that anyone can remeber.
• Taught Sunday school to youth. Dealt with stuff in thier lives and showed the Bible really does apply to what is going on. Everthing from Prom to dealing with Grandmothers.
• We also had a lady return to worship that has been in the hospital. God care for us is amazing.
• Monday
• Had a member do some work at the Church with our being harrassed and he served with a sense of delight - worked on septic system, fixed the light in the baptistry, tried to fix the hating element and he even mowed the church lawn. Awesome guy. He and his wife are too cool and they really dig Jesus and His Word.

I know I am leaving something out, but it might be because of praise overload. You know, when you are just too blessed.

Getting My Praise On

This weeked was a great one. This is what happened

• Saturday
• I say my daughter play soccer and do an awesome reverse kick at just the right time to make a big play.
• I asked a local man that had surrendered to preach but has not been allowed to preach to fill the pulit next weekend
  
• Sunday
• Baptized a young man by the name of Zane with the heater in the baptistry out. invigorating.
• Preached on parents and children in the morn and church re-emergring in culture in the eve
• Had members stay at Church for hour and talk. They are excited and so am I. There is a great sprirt of fellowship.
• Had a lady, all but surrender to teach a Sunday school class. I think she will, it seems that the Lord is working on her. Besided she is too cool not to teach and he has the Bible brains to do it. I look forward to seeing her grow by leading. Btw, we have five Sunday school classes and we have never had more than two that anyone can remeber.
• Taught Sunday school to youth. Dealt with stuff in thier lives and showed the Bible really does apply to what is going on. Everthing from Prom to dealing with Grandmothers.
• We also had a lady return to worship that has been in the hospital. God care for us is amazing.
• Monday
• Had a member do some work at the Church with our being harrassed and he served with a sense of delight - worked on septic system, fixed the light in the baptistry, tried to fix the hating element and he even mowed the church lawn. Awesome guy. He and his wife are too cool and they really dig Jesus and His Word.

I know I am leaving something out, but it might be because of praise overload. You know, when you are just too blessed.

Decoding Culture - Acts 17:16-21

Act 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

• His spirit was provoked within – I pray that this will happen to us.
• We will be aggravated, annoyed, irritated, goaded, forced to deal with the issues at hand, or that we see through believing eyes
• given over to idols -

Act 17:17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the

• He reasoned with them. He got in the mix. He rubbed elbows and traded words, he conversed, and like race fans put it- he traded paint.
• He discussed, disputed and preached to them
• At times it was logical reasoning and at moments it was hot debate
• marketplace daily – real ministry is not done behind white clapboards or with red bricks and white columns.
• Agorah is the Greek term- in the middle of the people
• Agoraphobia, literally translated as "a fear of the marketplace
• An agoraphobic does not fear people: he or she rather fears an embarrassing/dangerous situation with no escape.
• Some people with agoraphobia are comfortable seeing visitors, but only in a defined space they feel in control of.
• Such people may live for years without leaving their homes, while happily seeing visitors and working, as long as they can stay within their safety zones.
• We Are Stuck In Our Safety Zones

Act 17:18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

• Paul was in a place of many philosophies and ideas, not one truth, real truth was lost and what ever was good got you was your personal truth.
• They found our God foreign, alien, new, & strange.
• This was a different teaching and the concept of this God was far and distant.
  It is our Goal to be the salt and the light -Mat 5:13-16 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. (14) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (16) In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
• How can we do this is we are not around the people
• If we are not in the marketplace then how can we affect the people that Jesus loves, because Jesus loves the reprobate too?

Act 17:19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?

• They wanted to know the who and the what about what Paul have being talking to them about
• They were hungry to know what he was talking about, Jesus and His Grace have become such a foreign concept that it is becoming new all over again.

Act 17:20-1 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” (21) For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

• There was a time, just a few centuries ago, when nautical maps of Europe had legends that included the location of churches on land and church steeples doubled as navigational tools for ship captains. Churches were typically built on choice real estate in the center of town or atop the highest hill. And in some places, there were ordinances against building anything taller than the church steeple so it would occupy the place closest to heaven. Nothing was more visible on the pre-modern skyline than church steeples. And in a sense, church steeples symbolized the place of the church in culture. There was a day, in the not too distant past, when church was the center of culture. Church was the place to go. Church was the thing to do. Nothing was more visible than the church steeple. Nothing was more audible than the church bells. And it might be a slight exaggeration, but all the pre-modern church had to do was raise a steeple and ring a bell. Is it safe to say that things have changed?
• The church no longer enjoys a cultural monopoly.
• We know Scripture, but we're out of touch with the times. We are well studied in Sunday school we don’t know our neighbor
• The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. Things that are ill relevant are insignificant, unimportant, worthless, inconsequential, trival – the Church was not called to be this
• Eph 5:35 says that he gave his life for it.
• We're out of touch with the very people we're trying to reach--the unchurched and dechurched. We've got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap. That's what incarnation is all about.
• The post-Christian church needs a revelation: irrelevance is irreverence!
• The church has four options when it comes to engaging culture: 1) ignore it, 2) imitate it, 3) condemn it, or 4) create it. And each option leads in polar opposite directions.
  
  
  • We can ignore culture, but the byproduct of ignorance is irrelevance. The more we ignore culture the more irrelevant we'll become. And if the church ignores the culture, the culture will ignore the church.
    
  • We can imitate culture, but imitation is a form of suicide. Originality is sacrificed on the altar of cultural conformity. If we don't shape the culture, the culture will shape us.
    
  • We can condemn culture, but condemnation is a cop out. Let me just call it what it is: condemnation is spiritual laziness. We've got to stop pointing the finger and start offering better alternatives. If the church condemns the culture, the culture will condemn the church.
  
  
• Those three options will lead the church down a dead-end road to irrelevance, but there is another option--the only option if we're serious about fulfilling the Great Commission and incarnating the gospel. We can compete for culture by creating culture.
• In the immortal words of the Italian artist and poet, Michelangelo: criticize by creating.
• At the end of the day, the culture will treat the church the way the church treats the culture. And we're not called to condemn. We're called to redeem.

i woudl liketo say thanks to Mark at Evotional as he was able to put my thoughts on culture into for andhe didn't even know it. drop by his blog and be amazed

Real Kids - Luke 2:39-52

Luke 2:39-40 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. (40) And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

• We find the “Parental Commission”
• All adults have this maxim to live out
• not just Parents,but Grandparents, Aunt, Uncles, adopted aunts and uncles anyone who have a relationship with a child
• We have a Mimi – you saw her last week she is an adopted aunt. If Denise or I ever die, this is who will inherit our little bundle of joy. She was there when she was born, she care for her, spoils her, weeps for her, disciplines her, and is family as far as I am concerned.


• We are to help our Children grow and became strong in spirit, be filled with wisdom and the grace of God.
• This is our thesis -
• To help our Children grow and became strong in spirit, be filled with wisdom and the grace of God
• Why are we talking about this … simple … we tend to be focused on the non-eternal goals for our children
• Academics
• Sports
• Dating even
• These items do have a level of importance, but secondary if not tertiary to what Scripture has listed. They come in a distant second.
• If our children win every spelling bee, ball game, decathlon, competition, U.I.L. Event, and tournament what does it mean in eternity?
  
  • There are no trophy cases in Heaven
  • No rewards for ribbons and medallions
• We concentrate on the here and now and forsake the eternal and ever after. We teach our 2nd graders curveballs and skip the commandments. This has to stop and it must happen today.

Luke 2:41-2 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. (42) And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.

• We are to raise our children in the ways of the faith just as Jesus’ parents did.
  
  • Eph 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
  • We must follow the tracing of Christ and show them the way.
  • The Shema – Deut. 6:1-9 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, (2) that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. (3) Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ (4) “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (6) “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
  • If we are not living the faith, the how are they going to see it, and hear it and learn it?
  • I repeat - If we are not living the faith, the how are they going to see it, and hear it and learn it?

  Luke 2:43- 45 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; (44) but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. (45) So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him.

• Jesus did not have a perfect set of parents and he turned out just fine. So you do not have to be perfect
• But try to not lose your kids at the mall. I have lost a niece or two in my days.
• I try hard to keep an eye on Remington at the store or out in public.
• If I care some much about her temporary, physical outer body that will decay in the ground, how much more should I can about her eternal soul that Jesus lost his life and shed his blood for?

Luke 2:46-9 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. (47) And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. (48) So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought You anxiously.” (49) And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

• Help our children be about the their Heavenly Father’s work
• 3Jn 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
• No greater joy than children walking in the truth
• We should delight when our children are walking in the Lord
• We should pleasure when the kids we are entrusted with live in the truth
• When they don’t we need to be miserable and on our knees and beg God, grovel if you will, and petition God for your Children
• Pray for the Kids
• Mat 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
• As a church are we doing this?
• Are we hindering the children from coming to God?

Luke 2:50-2 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them (51) Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.(52) And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

• Psa 127:3-4 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.(4) Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.
• What heritage do we have if our children are like bruised fruit? Our children become rotten with sin, they are spoiled with transgressions. Are they a reward to you or glorifying to God?
• Can we say are children fly true like a well made arrow.
• Are we handing these Children that God has entrusted us with, with the same accuracy of a warrior does an arrow. Or our we helping them to fly straight, to hit the target and become a bull’s eye with their lives

thoughts and comments for L.A.

The Gideon members had been taken into custody because they were within 500 feet of a public school.

If 300 feet is a foot ball field is how far some one would have to be from a school, then man more people would have to be arrested. This is not the law. The police we enforcing what then?

“Under the First Amendment, the Gideons have every right to distribute Bibles on a public sidewalk to those who wish to accept them.

When the Gideons do this, the simply stand on the side walk and hold a small New Testament. They make no attempts to evangelize or convert or open discussion. Additionally the sidewalk is a public area. Not privatized land.

There is no legal justification for the continued harassment of peaceful members of the community

This would go against the teachings of Christ as well as Gandhi. This might be acceptable in militant states, but not the United States.

Gray asked one of the police, Office John Perez, why the two were being arrested. He then responded that Gray would know in 48 hours after he received the report.

You have to know what you are charging them for if you are going to arrest them. This is illegal and inappropriate and possibly and abuse of power. He has poised himslef for internal discipline by his supervisors.

He also added that the Gideons had “no right” to be within 500 feet of school property as well as telling his two detainees that they “can pray to Jesus all the way to jail,” according to ADF.

The officer was legally incorrect. Additionally he was acted inappropriately as an officer and was definitely unprofessionally in his comment afterward. It is odd that he came closer to a crime by being religiously intolerant. Some how I feel that if these men had been a Rabbis with copies of the Torah or Imams with copies of the Koran this would have been considered outrageous.

Look what happened at 'Virginia Tech' because no one was protecting the "students"!!!!

I can not fathom where you were going with this. To say that preventing the Gideons from giving out Bibles would have helped is a queer idea. How were they supposed to be protected in this way?

Lucky these guys didn't get accused of stalking little grade-school kids!

It is deeply apparent that you have never worked in law enforcement not understand the law.
There is no possible way that these men met any of the requirements that would allow them for be charged with stalking.

I have no problem with spreading God's word,. but these are minors at this school!

On this subject I’ll let Jesus speak - Matthew 19:14 - But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."


There is a time and place for everything under the sun, and you can find that in the Bible too!!

This does not appear in the Bible. Everything is not permissible, so there is not a t time fore everything.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecc 3:1-8)

Redeeming Time Eph 5:15-16

· Eph 5:15-16 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, (16) redeeming
the time, because the days are evil.

o Circumspectly - Diligently, carefully, perfectly, conscientiously, meticulously, Diligently

§ NASB Therefore be careful how you walk

§ ESV Look carefully then how you walk

§ NIV Be very careful, then, how you live

§ NLT So be careful how you live

§ Lamsa Watch therefore, that you live a glorious life

§ MSG So watch your step. Use your head

o Fools –foolishly, stupidly, idiotically, thoughtlessly, unwise, reckless

· 16 - Redeeming the time, because the days are evil

o The only thing we have before we enter into eternity is redeem time

o The song that says “Time is on our sides” is incorrect. Time is against us in this world.

o Making the most of your time – this is almost a four lettered word – Organization,
have a method, have order, the opposite of organization is chaos, we need to stream
line our life for the efficiency of the Gospel. Better techniques. Better methods. Same Message.

o Making the best use of the time – what are we doing with our time.

o If we have 24 hours in a day … and lets say we use 8 for sleep and are awake for 16, of which we spend 8 at work, multiply that by 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year we get 8,736 hours …

o If we take the 1/3^rd that we are not working or sleeping we get 2,192 hours or about 121 and 1.2 days. Now tell me what you can not accomplish in 121 days. Now I know that all that time does not have to be devoted to the Lord, but how much are you sing for Him.

o Are we using the time wisely? Are we investing it in anything, or any relationships? Or are we wasting a way in our personal Margaritaville – that is our person pleasures, in this we like, in having fun and worrying only about self.

o Making the most of every opportunity – what opportunities do we have? What is being presented before us? What windows is God opening and what doors are we supposed to bust down. Are we able to honestly say that we are making the most of the opportunities that are being opened up to us? Are we mining all we can out of our prospects? Are we will be crossing the Gateway to Greatness that God has prepared for us and Giving Him the Glory He deserves.
· What is the consequence that we face if we are not making the best use of the time, making the most of our time, making the most of every opportunity? If we fail to invest in our relationships and our community, what is the end result?

Jdg 2:10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Gal 6:9-10 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. (10) Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Real Men - Acts 10:1-2

Real Men Acts 10:1-2

• Act 10:1
  There was a certain man in Caesarea
  called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
• Centurion - 100, then 300 and then 600 men in his charge. Low pay, not often paid, made fortune by ill-gotten gains, plundering and looting. Tough. They were the backbone of the professional army and were the career soldiers who ran the day to day life of the soldiers as well as issuing commands in the field.
• The Roman centurion was distinguished by his uniform: his armor was silvered, he wore his sword on his left side rather than his right, and the crest of his helmet was turned so that it went sideways across his helmet like a halo. His armor was silvered, he wore greaves on his legs, and the crest of his helmet was distinctively turned perpendicular to the front and they wore chain mail armor. It is believed that he also wore his decorations and awards prominently on his torso in battle, to show his bravery to friend and foe alike. He also carried a short staff (stick) - usually a vine stave, called vītis - as a symbol of his authority.
• Centurions were nicknamed "Give me another" because of their habit of breaking there staff across the backs of their men.
• A man in Roman army who wanted to become a Centurion had to meet many qualifications.
• First, the man had to have several letters of recommendation from important people. Therefore, it would help if one trying for the position was befriended to several important senators, or even the consuls/emperor themselves/himself (depending on the time period).
• A man who desired to be a Centurion would have had to have been at least thirty years of age. Therefore, if he had entered the army at age 16, he would have spent almost half his life in the military, giving him the experience he needed so that he would know how to sufficiently command his cohort.
• As stated above, the aspiring centurion needed good connections to be recommended for the post. These connections might have been easier to achieve if the centurion was of a higher class.
• One of the tasks of the centurion was to relate his superior officers' written commands to the men in his cohort. Therefore, he had to be able to read and write. In order to do this, he needed at least enough education to be literate. Also, the more educated one was, the better chance he had of becoming centurion.
• Centurions had the privilege of riding on horseback during marches and, if they had been given permission to marry, to live with their family while in garrison.
• Hazards - These officers were responsible for their men during battle, and led from the front, fighting alongside their soldiers. Their increased prominence put them at higher risk, and casualty levels for centurions were correspondingly high.
• Italian Regiment - had to be able to be around the higher class and be well educated. He would have to have be the rough and ready to battle type, yet, Corny would have also have be able to work with in the circles of high society.
• Act 10:2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.
• Devout man – a dedicated spiritual man, one who would have been a man of scripture and holing to Godly disciplines, careful to fulfill his Christian duties. The only other time this phrase is used it the Bible is it followed by the with idea of the person having a good testimony.
• Feared God – loved and revered God, he understood the power and majesty of
  God, held respect to the ultimate degree for his Creator.
• Exo 18:21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to
  be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
• Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.
• All his household – Godly father/husband, family leader, even inspiring to his family, a role model of faith,He brought up his family in a religious way, as every good man should; and which was very remarkable in a Gentile, a soldier, and an officer: He took care to instruct his family in the knowledge which he himself had received; and to establish the worship of God in his house.
• Gave alms generously to the people – was faithfully practicing Judaism. He was a Jewish proselyte. But a good Jew was a Christian. Additionally, he was not self motivated, cared about others, charitable and compassionate, caring for those who are less fortunate and sharing the blessing they have been giving, this was an uncommon characteristic of a pillaging, merciless solider.
• Prayed to God always – constantly communicating with God, intense personal relationship, seeking God for strength, wisdom, and help
• Felt himself a dependent creature; knew he had no good but what he had received; and considered God to be the fountain whence he was to derive all his blessings.
• He craved contact with his Creator.
• 1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
• He prayed to God always and he was ever in the spirit of prayer, and frequently in the act. What an excellent character is this!

Bible Distributors File Lawsuit After Arrests, Police Bullying

Bible Distributors File Lawsuit After Arrest, Police Bullyings
By Doug Huntington
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Apr. 24 2007 01:03 PM ET

Gideons International, an evangelical Christian organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible, filed a lawsuit on Friday after members of the organization were arrested for their activities in Florida.
Defending the group is the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) – a legal alliance that defends the right to speak the “Truth” – which is arguing against the unlawful arrests. The Gideon members had been taken into custody because they were within 500 feet of a public school.
“Free speech in America exists even within 500 feet of public school property,” explained ADF senior legal counsel David Cortman in a statement. “Under the First Amendment, the Gideons have every right to distribute Bibles on a public sidewalk to those who wish to accept them. There is no legal justification for the continued harassment of peaceful members of the community who wish to hand out Christian literature.”
The incident took place on Jan. 19 while Thomas Gray, who filed the lawsuit, and other members of the Gideons Key Largo Camp were handing out Bibles outside Key Largo School, located on the southern tip of Florida. The group was on a public sidewalk when two of the Gideons, Mirto and Ernest Simpson, were approached and taken into custody by Monroe County sheriff’s officers.
Gray asked one of the police, Office John Perez, why the two were being arrested. He then responded that Gray would know in 48 hours after he received the report.
He also added that the Gideons had “no right” to be within 500 feet of school property as well as telling his two detainees that they “can pray to Jesus all the way to jail,” according to ADF.
“Officers cannot be permitted to bully law-abiding Christians, or use fear of arrest as a means of silencing them,” added Cortman. “Their actions were fully protected under the First Amendment.”
According to the Gideons Key Largo Camp, they did not step on to school grounds, and they had contacted the Monroe Country Sheriff’s Office beforehand. They also notified school officials on the day of distribution.
According to the group, both parties had said the activity was allowed.
Gray has not returned to the area to distribute Bibles since the arrests, because he is anxious about being taken into custody himself.
“The distribution of Bibles on a public sidewalk is not a criminal offense,” said Cortman in a separate statement. “The attempts by Florida officials to continue pressing for the prosecution of Mr. Mirto and Mr. Simpson is not only blatantly unconstitutional, it borders on religious persecution.”

diversity, confomity, unity and division

I recently ducked out of going to the national meeting for the national work that my Church works with. With health, vehicle and school concerns, not to mention I thought the Church could use the money better toward local outreach, I did not go. Boy howdy, did I miss some interesting things.

At some point during the business sessions, a gentleman from southern state (not Texas) asked for a motion to be entertained. The motion he presented was that "for the sake of unity, all speakers use the Authorized Version only!" "for the sake of unity" is the part that drives me crazy. In his mind, if everyone that uses his preferred translation, we can be unified. in his mind, conformity is unity. It seems to me that in his "unifying" motion he actually was causing division as he making a translation preference a test of fellowship.

For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. (Php 3:18-19 NASB)

Later this same gentleman made an additional motion of the same spirit. This time he asked that only "Baptist" be allowed to present. He apparently had an issue that someone that was brought in to do special music was at Church that did not have "Baptist" in the name. The woman that sang was from a "Baptistic" community church and had been at a Baptist Church, and is Baptist at heart. The woman had only come to celebrate the Sovereignty of Christ and His Glory in Song. I wonder if at any point in her preparing to minister in song did she realize that she would be possible banned for not being “Baptist.”

Not only would this limit those who sing to being Baptist, but also the preaching, leadership conference and breakout sessions. In truth, even the great Charles Spurgeon would not be able to preach at our convention/association because he was never ordained by a Baptist Church (by his choice he was never ordained) nor did he ever pastor a Church with Baptist in the name.


The out come of this all was that wise people saw that these motions were tabled. And we will have to wait till next year when they meet in Waco, Tx to see what will happen.
A few more thoughts ...
Who authorized this Bible? The best reason to use the King James Bible is the precedent that it has be widely and predominately used for 400 years. Yet the KJVO crowd that presses that we must used the Bible that was used back at the 1611 time mark fail to realize that they would be dragging the Apocrypha back into the Church. Additionally, if we must use this Authorized Bible, then should not use the same Hymnody and play the same style of music. Why do we not dress the same, maybe we should bring back the wigs and robes!

One last thought …
When the man who proposed these motions began, he made sure to mention that he knew nothing of the Biblical languages, that he was ignorant of such. Why would you ever begin a charge with telling those you want to persuade to your view point with a statement that basically says “I have no clue what I am talking about?”

More from Dr. Bart or Praisegod Barebones

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Andrew Fuller on Baptist Antiquity
The great preponderance of Baptists living between 1609 and 1950 believed that Baptist history began in the first century and was uninterrupted from then to now. The mechanism of that succession was a matter of debate—whether it was something akin to J. R. Graves's theory of church succession or a looser theory of the succession of Baptist thought. But the prevalent modern idea that Baptists sprang from the Reformation either as a brand-new concept in Christian history or as a resumption after a 1500-year hiatus...a miniscule number in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s believed such a thing.What I find interesting is the way that Baptist status as a small sect fostered their approach to history. In the following quote you'll read how Andrew Fuller easily imagined Baptists enduring the Middle Ages without leaving behind any historical record. Perhaps our denominational size enables our present view of history?
Yours I received & therewith Mosheim’s 2nd vol. For wh. I thank you. I have found strange feelings in reading the 1st. I have been used to read in the Old Testament numerous Promises & Prophecies of the Glory of the New Testament state. When I took Mosheim in hand I expected to find the history answer the Prophesy—But alas, I found after the first century little else but cartloads of vain traditions, Persecuting Heretics to death, Broils & Contests about Ch. Preferments, in short comprising every evil work! I sat down quite dismayed till one thought relieved me. It was this. Suppose an historian was to write a History of the state of the Church here in England in the 18th Cent. What would he write? Why, if he was popular and in high place (without wh. his history would not reach many centuries forward) he would tell us who filled the Archbishoprics of York & Canterbury, & who the Bishoprics of . . . . . . . The various veerings about for Ch. Power, the sects of the age &c &c. However we could say Blessed be God pure & undefiled, Religion has been upheld tho’ by an obscure people independent of these Church crawlers. So thought I, doubtless Pure Religion in every period has been carried tho’ perhaps by a people so obscure as seemed unworthy the notice of Ancient Historians, from whom we know the Moderns must derive all their materials.-To John Sutcliffe, Olney, England, from Andrew Fuller, Soham, England, 28 January 1781.

From Dr. Bart not me

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

J. R. Graves: Radical Ecumenist?

a must read, though provoking - Chris <><

preach brother preach

sometimes people say things that are awesomne, and some live them out..

“Church has become a football game that's never played. Imagine the
frustration fans would feel if their favorite football team suits up for the
game, goes into the huddle, gives the pre-game interview but never steps on the
field to actually play,” said the Rev. Senator James T. Meeks in a statement.
"Well that's the current routine of today's church. Members pack the pews, sing
worship songs but never go into the streets to help the people God called on us
to take care of such as the homeless, the sick, the hungry and the
lonely."

Shaking off the routine of "church," Salem Baptist has kicked off
Vision 2007 – a 26-week community outreach initiative will get churchgoers not
just talking the Christian talk, but walking the walk. Instead of Saturday choir
rehearsals, Salem congregants will head out for a 10 a.m. to noon day of service
– outreach activities that range from feeding the hungry and conducting worship
services in prisons to building houses and tutoring young students. Instead of
Sunday school, church members will engage in "Service School," applying the
Bible's command to serve in their local community.

read the rest here

i think they might have the right ideas

indexed

so i came across the blog that put really great ans sometimes more wry than dry humor on index cards you have to see it!

what it is my ace boon coon

"Bodily resurrection is what you get at the intersection point between the lines of God as the good and wise creator and God as the judge who will set everything right at last. Give up either, or both, and what you're left with isn't Christianity."

- Nicholas T. Wright, Jesus Lives or Christianity Dies Washingtonpost.com, (April 4, 2007)

Baptist History Celebration

It is not official yet, but quiet possibly, I will be at the Baptist History Celebration in Charleston, S.C. at the beginning of August. I’ll keep you up to date as this was my wife’s idea and not mine. I truly have the best wife in the world!

howard stern wants to have prayer

I came across this article in while reading the Christian Post. It seems that Stern and crew wants this pastor to come on and take on all caller with thier most challenging question and are willing to give him a hour of programming to do it. While I think that the idea is great it would seem the the motive might not be as honorable. ck it out and see what you think

carson by the ton

if you happen to be a lover of D.A. Carson more than N.T. Wright then you must drop by Andy Naselli's Blog for for his pleathora of Carson Mp3 links. that's all pure carson by the truck load.

rosie siad it is enron's fault

Rosie: Was 9/11 inside job to protect Enron?Blog suggests destruction of federal investigations factor in terror attacks

i could tell you more but it would just blow your mind. Ck it out here.

seeing the bible in modern maps

Baylor is #1

Baylor ranks highest of peers
[3/23/2007]

Relevant magazine ranked Baylor the No. 1 Christian college in the United States in its current issue. The magazine, whose tagline is "God. Life. Progressive Culture." rated colleges on academics, student life and spiritual life. The grades in each category were averaged and the magazine then listed the top five. Read the full story here.

Other winners included, in descending order, Calvin College, Pepperdine University, Wheaton College and Biola University - not so bad neighbors.

fight the good fight, not hit and run

I love pedagogary, especially when it is Christian higher education. This stuff butters my toast for some reason. As of late in the baptist circles it seems there is a fight to be a good school of real scholarship and Baptist. I don't see the problems myself with the mass exodus of colleges and university running from their Baptist breathern there must be some that feel a bit stiffled. In the Christian Post today there is an article about five N.C. colleges that want to seperate thier schools from their supporting brothers of faith. It seems in all cases of this type of sepertation, the problem stated is they feel that they need to be able to choose and appoint thier own trustees so they can be successul school of academia.

As you would have guessed i see it a bit diffrent. First if you can not intergrate you faith with scholarhsip you must not be the right leadership. Sorry if it hurts your feelings, but the Cross was public and so is our faith. faith and education must be fused or it will "Harvard" on us in a heart beat. Second, if you feel a man or woman is the proper trustee after countless hours of prayer and that this is the person that you feel God is calling to be a servant to the school as a trustee and they feel the same call, then it is your job to sell them. Just like the President has to market his appointees you will need to do the work to show your constituents that this is the right person. If the fact that you are not willing to do the work because it was be too time consuming and to diffcult comes into play you must not think that is truely the right person. It if is just to hard, then once again I would suggest that the problem might be that you are not postioned in the right place rather than everyone else is wrong because they have not been swayed by your lackadaisical attempt to persuade minds that hold diffrent views. This would be like giving up on the lost becuase they don't see it our way. oh, wait! We have done this too. It seems to me that administrators should fight the good fight and not resort to a childish

guerilla hit and run tatic.

Strong words yes, but I think they they have merit and are worthy of critital thinking.

Warning: more thoughs on such subjest are likely to be posted in the future.

banned for all the right reasons

Sometimes in life things puzzle me. Others leave me completely flabbergasted

Case in points is the the article featuring Brown University reinstating a suspened Christian group.

The thing the boggle the mind first is the lack of a known reason for being suspened. It almost seems that if the is no reason for the dismissal then it should have never have happened. maybe they jsut for got. maybe Brown actually violated someone's rights. who knows.

The second boggler is the lack of Christian love and compassion shown by "Allen Callahan, associate Brown chaplain, wrote in an e-mail to students that the group's leaders were 'contemptuous and dishonest'." wow, talk about grace and forgiveness.

the third and final mind blower(also the probably reason they were booted) is this, "The fellowship is aligned with a denomination that embraces Calvinism, opposes ordaining women and gays, and considers the Bible the inerrant Word of God." How evil they must be for seeing God as supreme and soveriegn, holding to a conservative and historically correct view of the pastorate, and to top it all of the really believe the Bible. how what were they thinking.

better or worse

For all though who have been waiting ...

I have finally been to the doctor now and have found out only minimal information about what caused me to black out while driving home from Seminary last week. The good doctor is now ordering many more tests and procedures, but she don't feel that they will reveal much of anything. Acutally, the doctor suspects the test will come back looking fine. She suggested that the problems is a virus. Now this sounded crazy to me but as I talked with more and more hospital staff I heard more stories of a virus that people have that are also fainting with. Crazy I say. The doc thinks that I had the samething that they had, only I was driving.

Well you may have notices the blog has changed once agin. Now it is truely cool as it has an artic feel with the polar bears theme working to keep things from getting to hot. That is the good news.


Now for the bumper car issue. Last Tuesday, after talking the Dr. Charlie Homles, President of BMA Theological Seminary about setting up annuities for Scholarships and a Dept. Chair. I then proceeded to drive home, but beforei could make my way there I blacked out and regained conciousness about a 1/4 to a 1/2 mile aways. In the process of the I ran two stop lights, crossed four lanes of trafic, and hit one guard rail and almost went over the railing, crossed a nother four lanes of traffic and hit another railing before stopping. Or at least that is wat they tell me. We still do not know why i blacked out, but will be spending a fortune trying to figure out.

oddities

Are oddities and fun facts and odd knowledge you kind of thing. This this might be the site for you....

Factropolis