Category Archives: Christianity

Hindsight is Still 20/20

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Screenshot 2015-11-18 at 2.54.57 PMHave you ever thought of a witty comeback long after it’s too late? We’ve all missed our chance at a laugh out loud one liner or zinger that could have an ended an argument at one time or another. Preachers also have to deal with continuing to critique a sermon long after it’s been preached.

A couple of weeks ago I preached this sermon at Unity Baptist. In summary, Jesus was the light of the world in John 1 but in Matthew 5 said to his followers “You are the light of the world.” The sermon was about being salt and light and how Jesus empowers us to be those things in his absence. There’s nothing wrong with the sermon the way it is. But then just a couple of days ago I came across this verse:

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 9:5 

John 1 describes Jesus as the light of the world. Jesus says himself a few chapters later that as long as he is in the world he is the light of the world. Then he tells his followers, that will be conformed to his image and become his hands and feet, they are the light of the world. It would have been perfect. What makes matters worse is that we have been studying John’s Gospel on Sunday nights and read this passage only a few weeks ago.

Hey, you live and learn. By posting this I am sure to remember next time.

The Rest of the Story

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Screenshot 2015-11-13 at 2.15.36 PMThe Internet Monk has a post up today about jumping to conclusions based on an Internet meme or a quote on Facebook without having all the facts. Shortly after reading Chaplain Mike’s post I heard a story on the radio that very much relates, which I will try to paraphrase.

“I grew up in a small town that never had any big Christmas events but there was this one guy that put up all the lights. Every year he kept adding more and more and eventually traffic backed up as people drove from all around just to see this one guy’s house. One year we could see him up ahead holding a bucket and my friend’s dad just went off. ‘He’s taking up donations. I can’t believe after all this time he’s out here trying to make a profit.’ He just went on and on about money and commercialism and how this guy was destroying Christmas. When we finally got up to where they guy was with the bucket it was full of candy canes. He wasn’t collecting anything, he was giving stuff away! We were laughing our heads off in the back seat but all the way home my friend’s dad didn’t say another word. He wouldn’t talk.”

The point of this story was about we can never admit being wrong. If we admit to being wrong, even in an apology, it’s an acknowledgement of imperfection. But the Pastor Saeed post on iMonk was fresh in my mind and the story above certainly applies to rushing to judgement without having all the pertinent details.

Why is Nobody Talking About the Starbucks Advent Calendar?

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I can’t believe plain red cups are the biggest trending story in social media this week but like I’ve said before no news is good news. So let me put on my Christian blogger hat and do the dance.

Screenshot 2015-11-10 at 10.59.11 AMUnless you’ve been hiding in a cave, you probably recognize former pastor Joshua Feuerstein from his viral video. He infamously pranked Starbucks into selling him a $4 cup of coffee. The evangelist is outraged over Starbucks “war on Christmas” that produced this year’s plain red holiday cup. The lack of snowflakes, doves and trees led Feuerstein to declare that Starbucks hates Jesus. The video describing the prank – that’s a screenshot on the left, no I’m not linking to it – has been viewed 14.5 million times since last Thursday. He told the barista his name was Merry Christmas so they would have to write that on his cup. He’s been drinking the Charlie Sheen Kool-Aid and considers this “winning.” Like I say, he tricked them into selling him coffee. They never saw it coming. Continue reading →

From the Archives: I Preached on Baby Diapers

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This is reposted from October 31, 2010 

Father’s Day, June 2010

I know what you’re thinking: the stress of working in full time ministry with a 14 month old at home has finally caused me to crack.  I reached a breaking point if my sermon is on changing diapers.  It’s not as bad as all that.  Let me explain.

Last week I preached this sermon on Galatians 4.  It’s about God adopting us into his family.  I had three well-defined points, as a good Baptist preacher should.  Today I preached that same sermon for our students in their Sunday a.m. chapel service.  I can’t take for granted that 6-12 graders know their Bible stories that way my church congregation does.  I cut some of the scripture citations and needed a more colorful analogy or two.  The first point in the sermon is that we are naturally the enemies of God.  He says “Do this” and instead we do that.  Adam and Eve are the first example, and not much has changed since.  I talked about how cute Johannah is; all our students know this to be true.  But when we’re changing a diaper, sometimes she quits being so cute.  If she sits up, rolls over, or otherwise tries to escape then everything takes longer.  We have to do things twice; or three times.  The students all smiled, nodded and laughed.  Then I pointed out that in my history class some of them are the same way.  I have to repeat myself and/or do things twice.  Sometimes three times.  That’s our nature.

It gets worse.  God sent his Son.  Like the father of the prodigal, God waits and watches down the road for us to come home.  The prodigal son (Luke 15) spent a fortune on good food, good wine and loose women.  Eventually he hit rock bottom, and desired the same slop that he fed pigs.  He had to learn that lesson the hard way.  You couldn’t have told him any different, and if the father had come looking for him any sooner, he would have ran as fast as he could in the other direction.  We were all wallowing (or are still wallowing) in our own filth.  We are slaves to sin, whatever sin you want to fill in the blank with.  If my daughter Johannah has filled her diaper, then she is basically sitting there in her own mess.  She stinks.  Yet when I reach for her she runs away.  She ducks and dodges.  Her natural impulse is to escape the diaper change.  Are we any different?  We wallow in our filthy sin, in our own mess, and push God away even as he wants to clean us.

God loved us when we were unlovable.  That’s the Gospel.  And if you have kids, had kids, or know parents with new kids, fell free to preach the Gospel according to dirty diapers.

Academic Discussion: Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh

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It’s been almost two years since we had a series of academic discussions. You can see all of those titles by clicking here. What do I mean by academic discussion? We can present evidence, share our logic and reasoning, but the position we take can be neither proven nor disproven. Such an exercise can hone our analytic or linguistic skills, but at a practical level there is little value if that’s the only type of discussion we are having. I will continue to spend most of my time and energy sharing the Gospel, offering apologetics and encouraging others, but occasionally…

Screenshot 2015-10-30 at 9.36.29 AMThe Apostle Paul refers to a thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that he credits with keeping him humble. There has been much debate and discussion as to what this particular thorn was, and even if we are capable of knowing. In the Tyndale New Testament Commentary on Galatians, R. Alan Cole states that there is “no real evidence” that Paul’s trouble had anything to do with his eyes. While there may be no real evidence I think that clues left by Paul combined with modern medical understanding point very convincingly to just such a conclusion. Continue reading →

Ron Archer

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The Gideons are going into several different churches in our area tomorrow and this morning they hosted a breakfast for pastors and wives. Our speaker was from Catersville, just 30 minutes down the road, and he talked about his recent trip to Africa. He had the obligatory slideshow (but thankfully PowerPoint and ProPresenter have replaced the slide carousels of years gone by).

I’ve been listening to Gideon stories my entire life, but the longer I live the more I realize I will never hear everything. Before we dismissed, we watched this 8 minute testimony of Ron Archer. It’s not G-rated. It’s violent and contains language some may find offensive. But so does the Bible. Listen to this man’s story and give glory and honor to God.

Microblogging: McChurch

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Screenshot 2015-10-13 at 9.48.12 AMDiscuss amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic:

“A Christian church-design company has proposed that building McDonald’s restaurants in churches would attract more worshippers.” –The Week, Dec. 12, 2014

I’m thinking you will attract something, I’m not sure they’ll be “worshippers.”

Hero

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This is a fan-made video for the song Hero as recorded by Abandon. I don’t know why it took so long for me to discover this song, but I particularly like this presentation.

Josh Duggar: Biggest Hypocrite Ever?

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Screenshot 2015-08-21 at 10.44.16 AMJosh Duggar has confessed to being “the biggest hypocrite ever.” Is he really the biggest hypocrite ever, or is this just his first honest assessment in a long time and admission that he, like all of us, will always fall short?

David was a man after God’s own heart that committed lust, adultery, murder and conspiracy. The Apostle Paul lamented that he did the thing he wanted not to do but left undone those things he should. When they brought Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery in John 8, he suggested the one without sin should cast the first stone. One at a time they each walked away. A hypocrite in the Greek language of the New Testament was an actor. Is that not what we all do every day? From drinking coffee before work so we can act like we are not tired to smiling at others when we are not truly happy, we put on a public show every day. As Christians we should be the first to admit; confess; proclaim that we are not better than anybody else. We need to be honest with ourselves, before God and before others.

Perhaps admitting that we fall short – and we all all short compared to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the perfection which God requires – perhaps admitting that we are not perfect and do not have to be will allow us to deal with issues instead of covering them up and keep us from getting to the point that Duggar and others sometimes come to. None is righteous, no not one. Acting like we are or can be leads lies, secrets and cover ups.

Michael Spencer: Timeless Words of Wisdom

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michael spencerAs a new school year began in August of 2009, all of us were feeling the effects of the “Great Recession” after the bottom fell out of the economy in 2008. If you lived and worked at a small private boarding school, which relied on a combination of donations, volunteers and tuition payments to survive, then you had good cause for legitimate concern.

Facebook has a feature (inspired by Time Hop) that reminds users of posts and pictures from previous years on a particular date. On this date in 2009, Michael Spencer sent a note of encouragement to his friends and coworkers. Continue reading →