Wednesday, November 30, 2005

 

HOOK EM HORNS!
BEAT COLORADO!
ON TO THE ROSE BOWL!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

 
WORSHIP

Most of us associate worship with what happens on Sunday morning when we "go to church" and sing and pray together. And of course that is worship in a corporate setting. But there is more to worship than that.

The apostle Paul said that when a Christian consecrates himself to the Lord, that too is worship (Romans 12:1). In fact, when a Christian serves others in the name of the Lord, that is also a form of worship. We see this in Philippians 2:29, where the apostle Paul referred to a man named Epaphroditus: "Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me."

The Greek word for "help," says D.A. Carson in his commentary on Philippians, is a word "that might more commonly be rendered 'religious service' or the like, a word that would used in discussing worship."

The Bible commentator William Barclay put it this way: "Real worship is the offering of everyday life to God." Thus, we should not only say, "I'm going to church to worship God," but "I'm going to the office--or school, or the park, or wherever--to worship God." For the Christian, worship is to embrace all of life. It is both personal and corporate. In other words, worship God with your heart and hands ... on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and throughout the week!


Thursday, November 17, 2005

 
THANKSGIVING
I will be out of town for a few days next week and may not be able to do much blogging. In the meantime, it would be great to hear from you folks about some of the things for which you are thankful. Simply click on the "comments" envelope below and share some of your thanksgivings. Or you can e-mail me at DeuteroQ@aol.com


Monday, November 14, 2005

 
KNOWING GOD
In his classic work Knowing God, J.I. Packer says that people who know God in Christ (rather than merely know about Him) are characterized by the following:
1. They have great energy for God.
2. They have great thoughts of God.
3. They show great boldness for God.
4. They have great contentment in God.


Friday, November 11, 2005

 
CESSATIONISM REVISITED
Phil Johnson over at Pyromaniac has generated a lot of feedback on cessationism (the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit--such as prophecy and tongues--have ceased). As a non-cessationist, I have been in settings where charisms of the Holy Spirit have been exercised in a biblical manner--God was indeed glorified and His people were edified.
I hasten to add, however, that I decry much of the fleshly flakiness and spiritual silliness I see in too many charismatic settings. No more purported leg lengthenings and "shammalammabowtie" parrotted utterances, please! Moreover, I am very concerned that personal visions and revelations come dangerously close to trumping Holy Scripture in some charismatic settings.
Okay, enough of my pet peeves. I acknowledge that earlier in my Christian experience I allowed my presuppositions to affect the way I interpreted the Bible's teaching on spiritual gifts. I was a cessationist, believing that way not because of an honest engagement with Scripture, but because I listened to Christian tapes and read books from a cessationist perspective. Although I would not have admitted it at the time, I filtered biblical teachings through what I read and heard from Christian leaders who denied the present-day miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Because of my theological bias and negative reaction to what I perceived to be flakiness in some charismatic settings, I concluded that certain spiritual gifts were not really being given today. In all honesty, I did not come to my conclusions on the basis of an unbiased reading of Scripture. I can now look back and see the power of my earlier presuppositions and how they kept me from correctly interpreting the Bible's teaching on spiritual gifts.
Eventually, I came to see that Scripture nowhere teaches cessationism; indeed, I have yet to encounter one biblically valid reason for the belief that miraculous gifts of the Spirit ceased with the close of the biblical canon.

In any event, check out the numerous cessationist comments (both for and against) that follow Phil Johnson's November 11 blog entry titled Whole lotta shakin' (http://phillipjohnson.blogspot.com/).

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

 
THE CENTRALITY OF PREACHING
Here is a link to an excellent article on the centrality of preaching. This is a must read!
http://www.wrs.edu/Materials_for_Web_Site/Journals/12-2_Aug-2005/Lyon-Centrality_of_Preaching.pdf

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

 
"Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength"
--Nehemiah 8:10

Monday, November 07, 2005

 

"But Jesus called the little children to him and said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'"
Luke 18:16

Sunday, November 06, 2005

 
SOLA SCRIPTURA VS. SOLA CULTURA
I recently came across these words of Os Guinness, the internationally known Christian speaker. The passage below is excerpted from Parker Williamson's excellent article in the October issue of The Layman.
"...Guinness even chided 'a growing number of recent evangelicals,' faulting them for cheapening the gospel by surrendering to 'modern insights, techniques, and fashions--as if we could become more relevant by doing the Lord's work in the world's latest way.'"
"But Guinness' harshest barb targeted the American Episcopal Church for 'one of the worst and most extreme capitulations to the spirit of the age ... its abject surrender to the sexual mores of the modern world.'"
"Guinness labeled the current ecclesiastical state as an 'Alice in Wonderland Church in which Christian leaders now openly deny what all Christians have believed and many have died to defend; Christian leaders who celebrate what their faith once castigated; Christian leaders who advance views closer to their foes than to their founder; and Christian leaders who deny the faith, but stay on shamelessly as leaders of the faith they deny.'"
Guinness also perceptively pointed out that sola scriptura has been replaced by sola cultura in much of Protestantism. His observation is right on target--much of the evangelical church now looks to secular culture rather than to Scripture as its guide for church life.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

 
THE PERFECT PASTOR
The Perfect Pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone's feelings. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight, and is also the church janitor.
The Perfect Pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the parish. He is 29 years old and has 40 years' worth of experience. Above all, he is handsome.
The Perfect Pastor has a burning desire to work with teen-agers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his parish. He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.
The Perfect Pastor always has time for parish council and all of its committees. He never misses the meeting of any parish organization, and is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.
The Perfect Pastor is always in the next parish over!
If your pastor does not measure up, simply send this notice to six other parishes that are tired of their pastor too. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the parish at the top of your list. If everyone cooperates, in one week you will receive 1, 643 pastors. One of them should be perfect.
Have faith in this letter. One parish broke the chain and got its old pastor back in less than three months.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

 
NICE RIDE (Yep, I'm partial to Mustangs!)

 
REFORMATION
This past Sunday was Reformation Sunday and Monday was Reformation Day. The term "Reformation" describes the series of changes in Western Christendom between the 14th and 17th centuries. Protestant denominations celebrate the last Sunday in October as Reformation Sunday to commemorate a significant date: on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
During this season of "Reformation remembrance," it occurs to me that this should also be a time of personal re-formation. In this regard, I am reminded of the following prayer: "Merciful God, as we remember those who have gone before us, may we imitate their virtues, avoid their vices, and in all things give glory to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Those are powerful words. Would that they became a reality in each of our lives!
May this season of Reformation be a time of personal re-formation for Christ's people, as we commit ourselves anew to a life of holiness unto the Lord.

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