Monday, February 27, 2006
TRANSITIONAL TIMES, ETC.
Well, it's official: Deutero Q will soon be leaving the promised land of Texas to pastor a congregation in New Orleans, Louisiana. We will be living and ministering in the Westbank, the part of New Orleans least affected by Katrina. This will be a challenging time in a challenging place; I welcome your prayers!I have not been able to blog much, since most of my time lately has been devoted to packing and finalizing plans for the move in early March.
I do want to mention how special this past Sunday was. My congregation honored me and my family with a wonderful meal and a time of sharing. It was such an encouragement to hear people share how much their pastor has meant to them. Wow, the power of encouraging words! I shall miss my congregation dearly. It is hard to believe that nearly a fourth of my life has been spent ministering in Brownsville!
As I conclude this blog entry, I am reminded of some "timely" words from Charles Spurgeon. Though spoken more than a hundred years ago, they really resonate with me, underscoring how important it is to encourage our spiritual leaders. Here are Spurgeon's words:
Encourage Your Minister
If you do not encourage your minister, your minister will probably sink down in despair. Remember that the man himself needs encouragement, because he is weak. Who is sufficient for these things? To serve in any part of the spiritual army is dangerous, but to be a captain is to be doubly exposed. The most of the shots are aimed at the officers. If Satan can find a flaw in our character, then it will be, "Publish it, publish it, publish it!" If he can lead us to keep back a doctrine or go amiss in practice, or wander in experience, he is glad enough. How delighted is the devil to break the vessels of mercy. Pray for the poor man, whom you expose to perish if you do not preserve him by supplication. If there were a ship at sea stranded and broken on the rocks, and someone volunteered to carry a rope to the sinking crew, you, standing on the shore, could do no more, methinks you could not do less, than cry, "O God! help him to bear the rope to that wrecked ship." Pray for the minister and encourage him, for there are plenty to discourage him. There are always carping spirits abroad who will remind him of any fault; he will be afflicted by those dastards who will not dare to sign their names to a letter, but send it to him anonymously; and then there is the devil, who, the moment the man has got out of the pulpit, will say, "There is a poor sermon! You will never dare to preach again." After he has been preaching for weeks there will come a suggestion, "You are not in your proper sphere of labor." There are all sorts of discouragements to be met with. Professing Christians will backslide. Those who do remain will often be inconsistent, and he will be sighing and crying in his closet, while you, perhaps, are thanking God that your souls have been fed under him. Encourage your minister, I pray you, wherever you attend—encourage him for your own sake. A discouraged minister is a serious burden upon the congregation. When the fountain gets out of order, you cannot expect to find water at any of the taps; and if the minister be not right, it is something like a steam engine in a great manufactory—everybody's loom is idle when the motive-power is out of order. See that he is resting upon God and receiving his divine power, and you will all know, each Sabbath day, the benefit of it. This is the least thing you can do. There are many other things which may cause you expense, effort, time, but to encourage the minister is so easy, so simple a matter, that I may well press upon you to do it.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
A CALVINIST-ARMINIAN EXCHANGE
Dr. James White, over at Alpha and Omega Ministries, has an interesting link to his e-mail exchange with Liberty University professor Ergun Caner. To my mind, White's position (he is a Calvinistic Baptist) is clearly the more biblical and reasoned position. Caner's Arminian response is typical of those who deny the doctrines of grace--it is more emotionally driven than exegetically driven. For myself, I don't mind a healthy dose of Arminian fervor and emotion, but when it comes to biblical scholarship, I will take Calvinist exegesis any day! After all, old Spurgeon was right: Calvinism is but another name for the biblical gospel.Anyway, here is the link: http://www.aomin.org/ErgunCaner1.html
Monday, February 20, 2006
KNOWING GOD
In his classic work Knowing God, J.I. Packer makes an excellent point when he writes, "A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him." That really speaks to me. If you have been keeping up with my blog entries, you know that I am concerned about the spiritual health of the American church. Much of the church is fad-driven; sound doctrine is out and entertainment is in. Increasingly, I am hearing Christian leaders say that the contemporary church landscape is as bleak and barren as it was centuries ago on the eve of the Reformation. Worldliness and doctrinal chaos abound in much of church life today. However, sound doctrine is not the only pressing need. One can be as orthodox as the day is long, but what does it profit without a personal relationship with the living God? How crucial it is for Christians to be in a vital relationship with God in Christ--to be able to say with Paul of old, "I want to know Christ." God is the rewarder of those who earnestly (not casually!) seek Him. It is also imperative that we hold on to and proclaim sound biblical doctrine. God's people should be characterized by spiritual ardor and biblical order. May these dangerously exciting times find many of us seeking hard after God (Hebrews 11:6), even as we watch our life and doctrine carefully (1 Timothy 4:16).Saturday, February 18, 2006
DESPISED AND REJECTED
I was reading Isaiah 53 this morning and was drawn to this description of the Messiah in verse three: "He was despised and rejected by men...."How terrible: He who was love and goodness incarnate was despised and rejected. What an indictment against sinful humanity!
As I have been reflecting on the ministry lately, I can relate to the "despised and rejected" part. I suppose that every pastor can. One of the axioms of pastoral ministry is that there are some people for whom you can do no right and others for whom you can do no wrong.
In my case, I have been blessed to shepherd people in my two pastorates who, for the most part, have been very supportive and loving. At the same time, I am not unaware of those who have harbored strong feelings of criticism and resentment. Those of us who serve in the pastoral ministry as undershepherds of Jesus can relate, in some small measure, to the despisement and rejection that characterized the Lord's ministry. There will always be (until Christ returns) wounded and unhappy sheep who criticize, scorn, judge and resent. Such is the nature of the pastorate. I am thankful that the "despise and reject" crowd has been small. I am not sure I could handle hordes of such people!
In any event, I am recognizing more and more that despisement and rejection come with the territory. That is not in any way to excuse such ungodly attitudes and behavior ... rather, it is to acknowledge a pastoral reality that comes from following in the Master's footsteps.
Friday, February 17, 2006
A FUNNY STORY
I came across this humorous story today and thought I would include it on my blog. Here goes:The Pope is visiting DC and President Bush takes him out for an afternoon on the Potomac ... sailing on the presidential yacht, the Sequoia. They're admiring the sights when, all of a sudden, the Pope's hat (zucchetto) blows off his head and out into the water.
Secret service guys start to launch a boat, but Bush waves them off, saying,"Wait, wait. I'll take care of this. Don't worry."
Bush then steps off the yacht onto the surface of the water and walks out to the Holy Father's little hat, bends over and picks it up, then walks back across the water to the yacht and climbs aboard.
He hands the hat to the Pope amid stunned silence. The next morning the topic of conversation among Democrats on the Hill, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, the New York Times, Hollywood celebrities, and in France and Germany is "Bush Can't Swim."
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
WHO AM I?
"Gowned in black, the frightful form
Thunders from the howling storm."
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
A "VALENTINE VERSE"
"It [love] is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."--1 Corinthians 13:5
Friday, February 03, 2006
SATANIC CARTOONS
(This interesting piece was published by Steve Hays over at www.triablogue.blogspot.com)
SATANIC CARTOONS, by Steve Hays
The Danish cartoons of Muhammad have set off the usual round of riots, hostage-taking, and apocalyptic death-threats.
Is there ever a time when the Muslim world is not in a rage over something or another?
Speaking for myself, I actually think that we shouldn’t go out of our way to offend people and be needlessly provocative. I also don’t think that the legal right to do something automatically make it right.Those disclaimers aside, how should we respond to the latest fit of hysterical indignation from the Muslim world?At the risk of stating the obvious, political cartoons are a form of satire. The genre is inherently unfair and over-the-top. It scores its points by hyperbole. At its best, satire takes a principle to its logical extreme.It would actually be difficult to satirize Islam. For millions of Muslims are only too eager to embody the worst possible stereotype. They’re right out of central casting for Villains R Us.In Islam, it’s blasphemous to depict “the Prophet” at all, much less depict him in ever-so slightly less than hagiographic terms. Should the Western world allow the Muslim world to rule our lives from afar? To dictate what we say and do? Should we live in perpetual fear of a blood-curdling temper tantrum every time an “infidel” says or does something that rubs the hypersensitive ego of the Muslim world the wrong way?The Muslim world resembles a collective, overgrown brat. Indulgent parents have allowed it to become a schoolyard bully, like little Damien in The Omen.The best remedy is to give the screaming brat a sound thrashing with a cruise missile or two. Then send junior to bed without his supper. Let his throbbing red welts do the reasoning.
