Good news about the Good News – I find myself a little bit surprised, but in a good way, about the results of this published study. Not only do 74% of pastors report regularly presenting the Gospel, another 11% report doing so two or three times each month and another 3% once a month. There are some other categories of response but the bottom line is that only 1% of SBC pastors say they never offer a gospel presentation. Read the full article here via Christian Index.
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Do you know about the little Jesus figures? I think I first saw them back in the summer when we had a Gideon speaker. He just kept pulling them out of different pockets and lining them up on the table. Below left is one I discovered at a Marathon station in Rome, GA. Below right is a sampling of the box of 100 I ordered from Amazon. I have handed them out at church, our city council meeting and to everyone I work with. And, just like the one I picked up that goes with me everywhere, I sometimes leave one here and there for others to find. Because everybody needs a little Jesus.
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Let’s start the day with a little baseball history. In other MLB news, Game 7 tonight between the Dodgers and Blue Jays will decide the 2025 World Series.
UPDATE: They played all seven games but in the end the L.A. Dodgers took the best of seven series.
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If I had that cup I would probably put it somewhere on display. The odd shape and contours would make it hard to wash. I have a Darth Vader mug, shaped like his helmet, that’s the same way. It was a Father’s Day gift and it will last forever, but I’ve only had coffee from it like once, twice at the most.
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When the Special Edition films were released in 1997, 20 years after A New Hope was released, I remember thinking that 20 years seemed like a long time. They were interviewing people standing in line who remembered seeing the films the first time back in the 70’s and showing clips of reactions from the summer of ’77. The nostalgia featured disco music, roller skates and Star Wars characters out in public places like video arcades. I was born in the 70’s, I don’t really remember the 70’s. But now as they prepare for the 50th anniversary, the Special Edition versions are 30 years old; and somehow that doesn’t strike me as being that long ago. My first date with Teresa was to see The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition.
Just remember, when you tell your kids about things that happened in the 1980’s, that is just like your grandparents back in the 80’s talking about the 1940’s.
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Let’s talk about the flat earth. When I was in high school, there were probably a few thousand people left in the whole world that believed the earth was flat. I had one grandmother that did not believe the earth rotates and another that did not believe in the moon landing because she had been through the western states, seen craters, and was pretty sure she knew where the moon pictures were taken. But these were older ladies, well up into their 70’s, with no formal education. One of them I know was married at age 14 and only finished the 8th grade. Unless you were going to college or planned to become to a school teacher, that’s as far as farmers’ kids went back then; at least in the rural South. The idea of a flat earth was vanishing as older generations that you could not tell anything were dying out.
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We missed a deja vu post but these celebrity deaths are just in the past week. Chuck Mangione passed this week as well, someone will mention it if I don’t. So far in the first half of 2025 we have also lost Bob Uecker, Gene Hackman, Roberta Flack, George Foreman, Val Kilmer, Ruth Buzzi, George Wendt, Phil Robertson, Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Connie Francis and Pope Francis (no relation on those last two). There have been others but those are the names I would expect most people to recognize. You may not recognize the name Martha Knighton but chances are you have seen her before in something.
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Schrodinger’s Bible – According to Google’s Search A.I. chapter 12 is both the shortest and longest chapter in Leviticus at the same time. If you guessed “the shortest chapter” you would be correct. Leviticus 12 is the subject of the latest Read the Bible podcast episode which clocks in at under 5 minutes. Tomorrow morning we will read chapter 13, which is actually the longest chapter in Leviticus at 59 verses. Yeah I know, right?
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100 Days Streak – There was a time I lived in envy of the guys that posted every day. For years it was something I did not think I could ever do. There was also a time I could not preach a series of sermons but now those are my favorites. I spent nine months preaching through Romans. Maybe it’s the difference between being 35 and 50. Of course it’s all because of the Read the Bible series and some days it’s not easy. You can hear fireworks in the background as I recorded Leviticus 5 last night. I was able to edit out most of it out. What got cut sounds like I’m embedded with a sniper team somewhere taking fire.
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Whoa – In Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the Greek philosopher Plato says “The only wisdom is knowing that you know nothing,” to which they reply “That’s us, dude!” That’s how I feel about this Bible verse. Modern translations say “Many will fall away” but the KJV says “Many will be offended.” I don’t like to compare current events and news headlines with prophecy, but between everyone being offended, and the hatred and deception, It’s like Jesus was talking about social media in this verse.
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The Master's Table 