Author Archives: Clark Bunch

Preaching Easter

Posted on by

Jesus, resurrectionEaster is coming up. The last Sunday in March (there are five this year) is Palm Sunday and the first Sunday in April is Easter. The dates are March 29th and April 5th. Those of you that observed Ash Wednesday and/or the season of Lent are aware of these dates already, as well as anyone planning church activities and worship services. And it is those individuals – pastors, preachers, minsters and directors of music, all worship leaders – that I wish to address.

I spent several years in a ministry that included a daily chapel service. Not only did we observe Palm Sunday and Easter but we had the opportunity to celebrate each day of Holy Week. We could talk about the Triumphal Entry on Sunday and focus on the different aspects of Jesus’ final teachings with the Apostles each day that week. We could give a full day to the Last Supper, another to the arrest and false trial, and spend Good Friday detailing the events of the crucifixion. With all of that said and done the focus of Easter Sunday was entirely on celebrating the resurrection. Continue reading →

Please Do Not Feed the People

Posted on by

Screenshot 2015-03-09 at 2.28.28 PMIt made news last November when a 90 year old man was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, FL for feeding the homeless. 33 cities have either banned or are considering a ban on giving food to homeless people. It is not illegal to be homeless and the thinking, which is flawed, is that by cutting off support homeless people will go away. I used to wonder as a child why starving children shown on television didn’t just go somewhere else, where there was food and water. The world is a little more complicated than that, but city leaders are apparently susceptible to that line of thinking.

Loving people, providing for the needy, feeding the hungry, giving to anyone that asks – just one more thing Jesus would be arrested for today.  Continue reading →

Seven Years: Time Flies When You’re Blogging Fun

Posted on by

7 candle I’m better at writing copy than coming up with clever headlines. At any rate, it has been seven years to the day since the first blog post. Here’s an excerpt from 3/4/2008:

I’m looking to seriously devote some time and energy to sharing my ideas on apologetics, theology, the Bible and the Gospel message…  There is a lot of junk out there, particularly on the internet, and if I can add some truth, share a word of hope, spread the gospel online to places I will never visit in person, then this becomes another opportunity to be a witness.

That was post #1. For the record this is post #927. Back then we still had dial-up internet at our house; anything as big as a jpeg file I had to upload from the campus ministry office. I left MySpace to join Facebook and latter Twitter. While I often fail in my attempt to post new material at least 2 or 3 times per week hopefully the the goals listed above have been achieved. Our daughter Johannah was born in 2009 and we “came home” to Georgia in 2012. In 2014 I published my first book and answered the call to pastor a small SBC church. I often say that whatever we are doing right now is preparation for what God will call us to next. Most things change but there are a few things that never do. And hopefully for many years to come The Master’s Table will go on being God honoring and Christ centered.

 

The Master’s Table Tutorial

Posted on by

Screenshot 2015-02-19 at 11.39.36 AMThe Master’s Table is designed to have lots of stuff going on, even on days with no new content being posted. The RSS feed from Unity Baptist Church will usually contain one or more of the latest sermons I have written; they are not posted on both websites. The details from Bible Gateway and Our Daily Bread are updated daily This tutorial is designed to “walk you through” some of those features.
Continue reading →

The Read and Share File: Ronnie Floyd on the SBC

Posted on by

SBC I read a lot of stuff. Each week I check out most of the links on Paul Wilkinson’s Wednesday Link List and Daniel Jepsen’s Saturday Ramblings. I visit Church Leaders .com several times frequently as well as subscribe to several WordPress blogs via their built-in reader. Baptist Press is the newsletter of the Southern Baptist Convention and it comes to my email inbox daily. I share relatively few of the many news articles and blog posts I read each day. Most of what I publish is my own stuff, the Master’s Table is more than an aggregator. My readers know how to find the Internet, duh. But every now and then I find something particular enjoyable, very informative or rather important and pass those things along in a bit I like to call The Read & Share File.

Ronnie Floyd has been the president of the Southern Baptist Convention for less than one year but has observed a few things. He also has a few concerns:

Lesson #1: Change is in the air

While many imagine that our convention never changes, this is just not the case. Churches, associations, state conventions and Southern Baptist entities are changing. Are they all changing? Probably not, but I would say many are changing because they know they must change to stay or become relevant. Some are changing rapidly, but most change is incremental.

Whatever level or pace, there is definitely a spirit of change in our convention. This is tremendous and highly commendable. Just a couple of years ago, resistance to change was probably more embraced than friendliness to change.

Let’s pray for one another to be so open to God’s leadership that we will change as He wills and directs.

Read the full article via Baptist Press. Floyd’s concern for the growth of healthy churches and the priority of evangelism are not unique to Southern Baptists.

 

Book Review: A Christian Survival Guide

Posted on by

A Christian Survival GuideThere’s an old saying that goes something like this: People don’t plan to fail, they just fail to plan. The goal of A Christian Survival Guide: A Lifeline to Faith and Growth by Ed Cyzewski is to help Christian believers make a plan.

Cyzewski points out in the introduction that former Christians that have left the faith are often most aware of the serious issues Christianity presents. The last book I reviewed by Mike Hamel asks serious questions that the author doesn’t have good answers for; while he hasn’t left the faith he is no longer as certain as he used to be about the tenets of the Christian faith. A Christian Survival Guide wants readers to anticipates issues that will arise and be prepared ahead of time. From the introduction: This book aims to help the saints persevere, and so we’ll focus on answering that last question—what will help you survive as a follower of Jesus? Surviving as a Christian depends on having the right beliefs, putting them into practice in community with other Christians, and most importantly, meeting with God regularly. If we fail to address basic survival matters such as understanding God’s story from Scripture, defeating sin, or living in step with the Holy Spirit, we run the risk of missing out on the abundant life Jesus promised us, if not losing our intimacy with Jesus and leaving the faith altogether. Continue reading →

Aaron’s Golden Calf

Posted on by

golden calf“Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 

Begin by reading Exodus 32:1-6. The Hebrews demanded that Aaron make gods for them to worship and remarkably Aaron did so. Up until this point of the Exodus narrative Aaron had been as the spoken voice of God to the people of Israel. God would instruct Moses, Moses would share the commands with Aaron, and Aaron would in turn relay all that God had said to the people. They had all witnessed the plagues in Egypt, miraculously crossed the Red Sea, and trembled in fear as smoke and fire descended onto Mount Sinai. They had not yet received the written tablets but the words of the Ten Commandments had been spoken by God in Exodus 20. Before and after the commandments were listed all the congregation of Israel said together “All that you say we will do.” So why after all that would they risk provoking the anger of God by making an idol to worship? Continue reading →

Please Pray for Ergun Caner

Posted on by

A very vocal critic of Ergun Caner once wrote to me via social media “If you are Caner’s friend you must be a liar too.” He further suggested I re-examine whether or not I am truly a born-again believer. Such is the foolishness that Ergun Caner has dealt with for many years.

I am going to politely suggest reading two pieces and strongly suggest, rather implore, that my Christian brothers and sisters pray for Caner and his family. The first is an article appearing yesterday in Baptist Press. This story not only provides background of the particular issues in an objective manner but attempts to set the record straight concerning conspiracies and cover ups. The second is a highly emotional plea from Bucky Kennedy to please put the issue to rest. Kennedy currently pastors First Baptist Church of Vidalia, GA and has previously served as President of the Georgia Baptist Convention and Chairman of the Board at Brewton-Parker.

Please read the linked articles. Please thoughtfully and prayfully consider how you will respond when you hear gossip and criticism. Please pray for Ergun Caner and his family. Thank you.

In Jesus’ Name

Posted on by

Jesus nameLast week I tried to answer the question Why Do We Pray in Jesus’ Name? Paul Wilkinson combined that post with another from the All About Prayer blog for this 2-for-1 special at Christianity 201. When I preached this sermon on Sunday morning I expounded on the name of Jesus by including two other scripture references: Acts 4:12 (And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved) and Philippians 2:9-11 (Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father). emphasis added  Continue reading →