Thursday Thoughts

Thabiti Anyabwile asks an important question, "Which provokes more awe: An Evangelical Church Service of the U.S. Marines"  I have to say that in my experience many Evangelical worship services do not provoke much awe at all.  This was a good reminder to me of how important it is to strive to exalt God and His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ in worship.  Sadly, I am sure I have failed at that many times.

Over at Beauty and Depravity, there is an excellent post on Pastoral Health that points out that working as a pastor is now considered "one of the most dangerous or unhealthiest professions."  I wish I could say I did not see that in pastoral ministry, but in my own experience and in my interaction with other pastors, I see it all around me. 

Related to this Mark Driscoll post on how his health is being affected by ministry.  I have been there, and over the past month or so have been there.

Finally, Jim over at Old Truth posted a brief observation on Evangelism, Then and Now.

I haven't been posting a lot

I have not been posting a lot lately. If you check here regularly, you know that. It is not that I have been especially busy all that time, although this week with Good Friday and Easter certainly is busy. However, the bigger challenge is that I have been finding that my spirit is heavy within me, and that means doing what I normally do is very difficult.

If one has a job that is physical labor or something similar, you can keep going when your heart is feeling heavy. You can even be pretty much as productive as you are when that is not the case. However, I find when ministering as a pastor, having a spirit that is in one of those times like Elijah faced in 1 Kings 19, it makes ministry very difficult. It takes all I have to get two sermons a week done. One visit will leave me exhausted. I become short with my wife and son. All of which makes getting through the day to day work of pastoral ministry very difficult.

As you may have surmised from the preceding, that last several weeks have been like that for me. I can't put a finger on anything specific, but it seems that no matter what I do, I have been feeling that it is of little or no use. I feel drained spiritually, and although it is slightly better this week, I know it is still there.

On the positive side, usually when this sort of thing happens God is doing something that either surprises me or that I need. That has happened more than once in the past, but knowing that does not remove the struggle of the current time.

Instead of posting, I will be spending my time in prayer and the Word, waiting upon God to bring times of refreshing.

Thursday Thoughts

Over at Grey in Black and White, Shawn links to this article in the Ottawa Citizen that points out that Christianity builds democracy. Sadly, most people in North America seem to have forgotten this completely, and started to see Christianity as a threat to democracy.

Al Mohler has been putting up some wonderful posts this past week. I have linked over in an other post, but thought this one was worth adding to Thursday Thoughts. It deals with the growing tendency to put aside church activities for "Family" time. It also speaks a little of something that I believe is very important, that is, that the church should avoid "segregating families once they arrive." I believe the church is meant to break down the divisions between believers, not re-enforce what the world does.

That is all for this week.

My Irish Name

Your Irish Name Is...

Aidan Gallagher

What's your Irish Name?

A Rabbi Gets It, Why Don't Christians

Al Mohler posted on an article by a Jewish Rabbi who understands that if the documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus is correct in their assertion that they have found the body of Jesus and his family, that Christianity is false. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinithians 15, "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."

What amazes me is that there are a whole host of people out there who hold the name of Christian up high as what describes them, but think that is makes no difference if Christ was really bodily raised from death. They claim it Christianity is all about loving one another, and that won't stop even if Jesus body is found.

Such belief shows just how deceived their minds have become. As the Rabbi pointed out loving one another is not something uniquely Christian, rather what is uniquely Christian is that the basis for both that command and the power to fulfill it rest in a historical event of the death AND resurrection of Jesus Christ that sets those who believe free from the sin in their hearts so that they can now live as obedient children of God. Without that event, our faith is in vain, we have misrepresented God, and instead of being admired we should be pitied because we have bought into a lie.

But, Christ has been raised not just spiritually, but physically. He is has won the victory, and if you believe he will set you free from sin so it domination over you will be broken.

Claiming to be a Christian while at the same time saying the resurrection is not important is lying to others and to yourself. If you are one who does that, do everyone a favor, including yourself, and stop calling yourself a Christian because you are not one at all.

Thursday Thoughts

Dan over at Pyromaniacs posts on how to be a pathetic leader. I figure this comes pretty easily to all of us, so we need the warning about it.

Denny Burk posts on how even the secular archaeologists think that the Jesus Tomb that is being produced and plugged by James Cameron is a bunch of hog-wash.

If you know a little Biblical Greek, or are considering learning it, check out Dan Phillips new blog.

That is it for this week. It is cold, snowy, icy, freezing rainy outside, and I have more work to do.

Good day

Although there were things that I wished I could have finished today, over all it was a good day.

It didn't start well. I was sound asleep when I was woken up by a barking dog, and worse yet, it was one of ours. Riley had to go outside and when he went out, Sassy had to follow. When she is outside, she feels this need to protect us, and barks at passing dogs, people, and other things she thinks should not be there. So I woke up before I should have, and was very grumpy (sorry hun, I know I was a grumpy bear this Morning). Thankfully, that is not where things ended.

We took Justin in to the hospital to have the tubes checked and see how his hearing is now that they are in. His hearing went from about 50% to completely normal. God is good :) It is amazing how fluid in the middle ear can so hinder hearing.

While we spent all that time waiting, I spent my time working. I got a lot done of my sermon preparation, and that allowed me to get the first draft of my Sunday morning sermon finished when we got back. I also got some other work done as well while we were at the hospital, so it was far from wasted time sitting in the waiting rooms.

After I was done my work, I went back to working on our Sunrunner and our Mazda Protege. The Sunrunner needs new brake lines and the Protege needs a new belt put on. I worked on the Protege for a while, and then got frustrated because things were not working. I then went to work in the Sunrunner.

I have been working at it for a while because the brake line fittings are so rusted they are difficult to get off. I got one end off earlier in the week, and got one line out completely fairly soon after, but the other end of the second line I need to replace just did not want to come loose. I tried the propane torch on it, and even that didn't work. Eventually even the flare nut wrench rounded off the fitting, so I had to go to vice grips. I tried the torch on it one more time then using the vice grips at last I got it off. So all that is left is bending the new brake lines, installing them, refilling the brake fluid and bleeding the system. Probably the hardest part of all of that is the bending of the new lines. I hope I can get it all done by next week Monday.

To top the day off, we had our prayer meeting. We have few who come out, but the time together in prayer is still very good.

So, it was a good, productive day of work even though it didn't start that well.

Just Tried Out Skype

I had heard about Skype for a long time, but I had never thought of trying it. Today, however, was different. I decided at last to try it out. I have to say, I like it.

If you don't know what Skype is let me tell you. It is a free voice over ip (voip for short) phone service. If you have high speed internet access, you can use it to make phone calls. It is completely free if the people you are calling also have Skype. Even better, you can also call normal phone numbers for a small fee. I have not paid out for this feature yet, but I probably will in the very near future. As with the other voip providers, you can even get phones that will work with it so you can have that comfortable handset that you are so used to.

At the moment I don't know anyone with Skype, but I am going to encourage some of my friends to get it. The sound quality while doing the test call to set up my microphone was excellent. Now I just need to get some people I know onto this so I can call them for free.

I encourage those of you with high speed access to the internet to try it out if you haven't already. Oh, you will need a microphone that can be used with your computer as well.

No Thursday Thought This Week

For some reason this week has been very busy for me. There isn't any one thing that I can place my finger on that has made it busy, but I am behind in the vital things like sermon preparation and writing. That means, no Thursday Thoughts this week.

I also ask that people pray that God will give me what I need to get the two sermons I need to write this week done. Right now my mind doesn't seem to be able to really grasp the scriptures as it should, and I find there is a great sense of something there but not accessible to me. That is also why I have not posted much else on the blog this week either.

Inexpressible Joy - 1 Peter 1:6-9

In this continuation of our evening series on 1 Peter we look at the fact that Christians can have joy even in the midst of their troubles and afflictions.

Inexpressible Joy -- 1 Peter 1:6-9

Standing In Troubled Times

Standing In Troubled Times -- 1 Timothy 4:1-16
Morning Service February 18, 2007

Reasons To Praise God -- 1 Peter 1:3-5

I am a little late in posting this sermon. It was preached last Sunday at our evening service.

Reasons To Praise God -- 1 Peter 1:3-5

Surgery All Done

It is all done. Surgery is past, and Justin now has tubes in his ears. Sure enough he had another ear infection, so he is on antibiotics, but this time they are drops that are put in his ear, not oral ones. Thanks be to God all went well, and while all of us are VERY tired (this pretty much wrote off today as a day I would get work done), Justin his happy and seems to be feeling pretty good.

I knew everything had went well and Justin was feeling good when I asked if he was out of recovery yet. Only one parent is allowed in, so Annette went. The receptionist said that he was about to leave, and just then I hear Annette back in the pre-op area saying, "Justin get back here." Right then and there I knew he was feeling good and alert.

Justin's Surgery

Justin is scheduled to have his surgery to put tubes in this ears tomorrow at 8am. While I know this is a minor surgery, this is one of those firsts as a parent that I would much rather not have to go through. I ask for the prayers of those who read my blog, that God may be honored and his hands direct the surgeons that they may be effective and that this procedure may go well.

Thursday Thoughts

Over at johnrmccraken.com, John posts a helpful tip on Evangelism and small groups.

Another blog that I have started to read, and find very encouraging, interesting, and helpful, is Sharing Jesus. This blog has both helpful hints on sharing the gospel every day, and the person doing it practices what he teaches. He is out there doing it. Some may question the value of some of the things he does, but he is out there doing it. Are they? Two helpful posts of those I have read are The Gospel of John as as Tract (which has a useful link to a source for free Gospels of John) and Starbucks Coffee Shop (which reminded me that places like coffee shops can be a place to meet with unbelievers and talk to them about the gospel)

With all the talk about Global Warming, it is interesting that unlike those in the spotlight want to claim, actual scientists who are not sponsored by big oil companies are questioning the truth of human caused warming. Here is an article in the National Post. Also check out these radio interviews of men with actual credentials who point out some of the shortcomings of the IPCC. Finally, yet another article. When other types of pollution are much more harmful to people right now (think of the horrible smog found in many large cities around this world that not only contains carcinogenic compounds and causes severe asthma attacks in those susceptible to them not to mention the wastes from industry that kill wildlife) focusing on warming that probably has more to do with Solar cycles than Carbon released into the atmosphere seems to be far from the most Christian response to good stewardship.

Over at Ebenezer Reformed Church blog, there is a good post on the problem of pursuing morality as an end in itself.

All I can say is 'Yuck!'

Over are Reformation21, Rich Phillips continued his posts on Biblical Masculinity with Biblical Masculinity #4: Integrity and Biblical Masculinity #5: Self-Control. I missed both of them last time, but happily noticed them before they disappeared from my RSS reader.

Above All Earthly Powers

I finished reading through David Wells Above All Earthly Power last night. I don't really know what to say about it. I find that I am amazed, in a negative way, at the prevailing world-view around us right now. In fact, I find that even reading something like this book, that seeks to clearly explain how people think, I still have a hard time grasping it. On the other hand, there are places where I find that I am affected by it as well. There is a part of my that throws my hands up in the air wondering how the gospel will ever spread in such a climate. Then another part of me reminds me that the world has always been opposed to the gospel. The modern world-view was just as opposed to the Christians world-view as the post-modern one is. The only reason to not despair is the same one that forms the title of this book, we follow one who is above all earthly powers. To quote Him, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

How to Put Audio Files Online

I was asked how I put my sermons online. There are few ways to do this, but there are some basic steps that are part of this.

1. Getting your sermon onto your computer.
If you want to get your sermon onto the Internet, you need to get it into a digital format. How I do this is by using the audio from the digital video tapes we make of our services. We make these tapes because we also broadcast our services twice a month on the local cable access channel. This is a very easy way to do this as all one has to do it have a digital video camera, a firewire interface card, and a video editing program. When I capture video this way I can save it out with my video editing software as an mp3 file.

However, realizing that many people will not have this sort of equipment, another option is to hook a computer up to the sound system using an adapter cable that will allow you to plug it into the audio input that most computer sound cards have. If you already do audio tapes of the services, then a simple y-connector that will split off the signal that is going to the tape-deck will work with the correct cable to switch to the plug that will go into your computer. Then you will only need some software to capture the audio. Windows comes with software that does that, but I don't believe it is very good. Perhaps checking over at TUCOWS for audio software would be the place to start looking. There is probably something there that is free. The program I often hear mentioned in connection with Pod-casting is Audacity, which is a free audio editor and recorder program. The advantage to Audacity is it not only will allow you to record the audio, but to edit it and save it as an mp3 file.

2. Getting Your Sermon Online.
Again there are many ways to do this. What I do, since I have a broadband connection and Linux, is use the Edna mp3 streaming webserver. That allows me to simply save the sermon audio to the directory the mp3 files are included in, and they are online right away. However, many people will not have this option. It also has its drawbacks such as if I want to podcast, I would have to write up the podcast xml file myself every time I add a new sermon. For me that would two a week. More work than I want to do.

That leads to the other option. Free hosting on the web. I use this as well, but it also has its limitation. Usually there are limits on the number of files they will host free, and the quality of the audio is based on how they compress it. Having said that, the advantages are that they do the xml file for podcasting for you, so you can add it to the various pod-casting aggregators so more people may come to know about it.

The free service I use is Sermon Cloud. This is a free hosting site for sermons. Basically they provide space for one year (52) sermons, and then the oldest ones will be replaced by every one that is added after you reach that limit. When you upload the audio to their site they re-compress it to meet their standards, but the sound quality is still good.

As you can see, this is fairly simple to do, and only requires a little bit of computer knowledge. If there are additional questions, feel free to ask as I was putting this together quickly and may not have been as clear or complete as I would have liked.

Of First Importance--Part III

The final of three sermons dealing with beliefs found at the centre of Christianity.

Of First Importance--Part III 1 Corinithians 15:1-11

Building a New People For God -- Part 1

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:11-22

Over at Voice of Vison I was reading this post about how we as Christians are not to think we can do it on our own. As I considered that post, and looked at the various comments that have been made, it reminded me of a pastor friend of mine who often struggles with the fact that some families in the congregation he serves have left for a church that is larger and has more youth programs. Particularly they have need activities such as, if I remember correctly, a rock climbing wall.

As I considered that in the Meta, I asked the following:

I wonder, in the long run, will that rock climbing wall keep those young people in the church? Does it do anything to nurture and build up a child in the faith. Is it an example of a way the body builds itself up, or is it only a way to keep the kids occupied?

As I considered this more and more, it brought to mind this section of Ephesians. It brought it to mind because is says so much about Christ building a new people. I don't think in one post I can deal with the whole passage, so I will try to work through it in several posts.

As this section starts, it starts with a reminder about what things are like in a world dominated by sin. It is a reminder because those Paul is writing to are already believers, but in that reminder it also points to what things are like for those who do not believe in Christ. We read, "Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Here Paul looks at those Gentile believers, and says in essence, remember what you were. Remember that before you believed you were separated from Christ. You were alienated from the people of God and that promises that they have from God. You were without hope. You were without God. You were in the world with all its emptiness, alienation, and all that means.

That was what they were, and that is what any person who is outside of Christ is now. If you do not trust in Christ and what he has done, you are living in a world where you are alienated not just from the people of God, but from one another. You are living in a world where you cannot get to God, and where ultimately there is no hope. That is true for all those who are outside of what Christ has done, and the only way to receive that is through faith.

Many people don't realize this, at least not in a way they can put their finger on it. Others, do realize it. They look at their life and the world around them, and they see no purpose, no hope, nothing bigger than the futility of one life in a world of billions. A life that when it ends will have no lasting meaning. So they start to look for that meaning in the various spiritualities around them as if they can find it that way. Yet, the real problem cannot be solved that way, because no matter how much you look in yourself for answers, it is your very self that will keep you from finding them. Others, who may or may not realize they are without God and without hope in this world, may seek to deal with this through entertainment, work, or a whole host of other distractions; but as soon as they are alone with themselves, back it comes. It comes back, because that sense of aloneness, alienation, separation, etc. is part of what it means to be separated from Christ and from God.

This is why it disturbs me that we somehow think that rock climbing walls, sports programs, movie nights, and all the rest are what will keep young people, or not so young people, in the church. It disturbs me because not one of these things will move a person from being separated from Christ to being joined to him. Not one.

Now again, don't get me wrong. I am not against fun or enjoyment. I don't think any of these things are wrong in themselves, but when a parent or congregation thinks that without them there is no hope for their children, then I say you are missing the point, because these things may keep your kids in church for a while, but when they grow up, if they have not received Christ in faith by the grace of God, then they will find that the world does a much better job at entertaining them than the church ever did. If they do not love Christ, trust Christ, want to worship Christ for Christ, then they probably don't believe, and no rock climbing walls, cool gymnasium, or any other entertainment will change that. They are separated from Christ, alienated from God's people, without God and without hope. It is in realizing that, that you can start to see that the only solution is to point them to Christ.

It is only there that this situation be changed, and that will only happen in a congregation where the Word of God is preached. Where the Bible is proclaimed and lived out as the very word of God written. Where people strive to learn and understand what God is revealing in the written word which all points to the living Word Jesus Christ.

None of that requires all those other things that so many are thinking are important today. It does, however, require that you as a believing parent realize the importance of being part of a church where the things that really matter happen, even if it doesn't have a lot of children, or rock climbing walls, or a gymnasium, or all that stuff. It also requires that you realize how you treat church will have a lasting effect on how your children treat church. If you act as if it is optional, or you constantly complain about it then don't expect them to value it or what it stands for.

If you find a church where the Bible is preached as it should be, don't look and decide based on the excessive number of gray or bald heads, don't decide based on the lack of various 'fun' activities for children, decide based on whether they will be taught of Christ and challenged to put their life in his hands. Anything else will never deal with the real problem.

Ever Heard of Lock Bumping

It is a way to open a lock without having the proper key for it. Apparently it does not work on all locks, but it does work on many of them. Check it out.