Blogging Update

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3 Notes of Interest:

1) We’re back from vacation.  The break was welcome, but as always it is good to be back here.  Expect new posts to resume as usual this week.

2) My Other Blog was fun, but I think it’s run its course.  I do have something new planned, but it will take a few days.  More to come.

3) I started a project on the side called Bible Survey.  It’s just not going to happen.  Click this link to see how it was going.  If I delete the blog everything, including the title, will be gone forever.  I would rather give the URL (biblesurvey.wordpress.com) to another user.  If you might be interesting let me know in the comments or send e-mail to jbunch@hotmail.com.  You can pick up where I left off, or preferably wipe it clean and start from scratch.  I hate to see it go to waste, but I’m ready to wash my hands of it.

A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.

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 ~Earl Wilson

It’s actually not that bad, but it is time for our annual spring break.  We will have limited (more like intermittent) internet access, so I don’t expect to get a new post out during the next 7 days.  Pray for our family while we’re on the road.  I have high hopes for using all the time normally spent Facebooking and blogging on finishing a book.  Happy Trails.

…

The Read and Share File

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Let me begin Read and Share File #4 with a couple of site recommendations.  

I got a request a few months ago to write on the side for the Christian Post.  I’m busy enough doing my own stuff, and honestly did not feel well enough informed to offer a significant contribution.  I have been reading Christian Post on a regular basis, however, and find it an excellent source of current events relating to Christian culture.  You can always find them in the blog roll.

I begin each day listening to Our Daily Bread.  They are in the blog roll under “Useful Links” but I just wanted to say again how this short devotion, along with my first cup of coffee, help me get on the good foot.

Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

On Saturday (March 10) Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury will meet together for prayer.  Some are looking for the two leaders to find common ground and possibly resolve tensions between Anglicans and the RCC.  Read the full story at the Christian Post.

Sexual Sin in the Ministry, written by Harry Schaumburg at Desiring God.  Less about pornography and sexual sins than about the real problem, dealing with the mind and heart.

The 9Marks blog has a post on The Beauty of Conversion.

And finally in the news of the bizarre category: Lithuania may build the suicide roller coaster.  Several European countries have legal euthanasia, but this ride is designed to give one last thrill… before it kills you.

There’s More Than One Way to Not Share the Gospel

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What do Fred Phelps and Joel Osteen have in common?  There’s no punchline, I really am going somewhere with this.

Fred Phelps is the pastor of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church.  You’ve seen them in the news or online protesting military funerals and more recently posting statements of judgment on Twitter.  I’ve never heard him say “Hell is hot and sin ain’t right” but I imagine he would agree with that statement.  Phelps is completely occupied with God’s judgement.  God does hate sin, and the wages of sin is death.  That seems to be just about the only weapon in the Westboro arsenal.  The message is a call to repent.

At the polar opposite end of the spectrum is Joel Osteen.  He has never used the words wrath and God in the same sentence.  Sin, the cross, the blood of Jesus, he quit preaching on those things years ago.  He actually said in an interview that everybody has already heard those things.  Osteen has his, um, church members hold up their Bibles each week, repeat some little mantra, then put them back down while he tells funny stories for another half hour.  He is an excellent speaker – funny, polished, very encouraging – I just wouldn’t call him a preacher.  His message is to think positive thoughts, believe that God wants to bless you, will bless you, and that nothing would please God more than to bless you.  He has a million dollar smile, gorgeous wife, two books on the New York Times Bestseller List, and 50,000+ attendees every week at Lakewood “Church.”  He’s doing much better in that department than Phelps, whose congregation consists mainly of his own family members. Continue reading →

Tests of Faith

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It is an easy thing to say we have faith.  Some may believe they have faith, until a trial actually arises and that faith is put to the test.  Jesus, quoting Isiah, said that many people loved him with their lips but their hears were far from him.  Some of the things Jesus said or did was because he sees through our speech and knows the heart.  Consider these two examples:

When the Syrophenician woman came to Jesus his response seems pretty calloused.  Her daughter was possessed by a demon, and she was asking Jesus to cast it out.  His response is that it would not be right to cast the children’s bread to the dogs.  He was a Jewish teacher, she was basically Greek.  He literally and figuratively called her a dog.  This was a test of her faith, and she responded wisely. “Yes Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  Jesus tells her to go her way,  that her daughter has been healed.

Just a few chapters later is the story of the rich young man.  He is either lying to Jesus, or more likely has deceived himself, when he proclaims he has kept all the commandments since his youth.  Jesus tells him he lacks one thing: “Go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  The man left very sad for he had great possessions.  Regardless of what he said, his actions spoke louder than words.  His faith was not in Jesus but in all that he had.  He was depending on his wealth to see him through life, he could not let go and let God.  By the way, don’t miss the part were Jesus looked at him, loved him, and then told him he lacked one thing.  The testing of his faith forced him to be honest with himself and others about where his faith really was.

The Read and Share File

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Here’s what I’ve been reading:

First from Christian Post.  I hate to mention Westboro Baptist because that’s what they want.  Good press, bad press, they eat it up.  Westboro has announced they will protest funerals of tornado victims in Illinois, saying they got what they deserved.  Does God hate sin?  Yes.  Will he punish sin?  Yes.  What Westboro Baptist does not understand is the Gospel.  The Good News is that Christ received in himself the due penalty for our sin.  (more)

In his Friday Random Links, Noel Heikkinen shared this article from the Transformed blog.  I have been in churches that make fun of education, referring to seminary as cemetery, and know exactly what these guys are talking about.  The greatest commandment is to love the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Mind is in that list, just saying.

The Key to Knowledge (Obsecrations, by way of Resting In His Grace) is on a similar topic.

This is the second Sunday of Lent; Palm Sunday is April 1, Easter is April 8.  I looked up Easter on Wikipedia just for kicks.  I did not read the whole thing (looks like about 2,000 words) but the introduction looks very good.  Here’s a sample:

Easter marks the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many languages, the words for “Easter” and “Passover” are etymologically related or homonymous.[4]

*note: those are Wikipedia internal links, I did not go through and insert each one myself.  The main article on Easter is well informed, but I will not vouch for all the others.  

Blogversary

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The Master’s Table turns four!  Some call it a birthday, I like to think of it as an anniversary of blogging.  Blog + anniversary = blogversary.

There have been some good times and bad, so as we celebrate we need to remember some people as well.  I blog because of Michael Spencer.  The post linked explains how and why.  Before I ever read Internet Monk I worked with Michael every day in real life.

2010 was a rough year.  Michael passed in April, my father Lewis Bunch lost his short battle with melanoma in June.  If you read the post, make sure to follow the link there for pictures.

It hasn’t all been bad news.  Equal Time is about being blessed, and was written shortly after our daughter Johannah was born.  The picture of our family on the About page was taken last Easter.  She turned two in August.

The articles linked above are very personal.  Most of the posts at The Master’s Table have been about sharing the Gospel and following the examples left by Jesus.  We have also debated the value of science and argued with the occasional atheist.  I’ve made a few Christian blog friends over the years, even a couple in Israel and Australia.  I try not to obsess over stats, but here’s a few as we celebrate:

4 years, 457 posts, 1,249 comments.  Total views = 355,152. 

Here is the very first post, from March 4, 2008.

This blog started out as Clark Bunch’s Weblog.  Everything from March and April moved to The Master’s Table in May of 2008.  This post explains the creation of My Other Blog.  I never meant to have two, but there’s also 564 posts and another 330,000+ views over there.

Here’s to another year.  Long live the blog.

The Read and Share File

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The Read and Share File is a new feature here at The Master’s Table.  I’ve had nothing but positive feedback so far, let me know what you think.

John Piper asks Why Did God Let Paul Become a Murderer?  This is some heavy theology, give yourself time to take it all in.

Did you give up anything for Lent?  According to Stuff Christians Like the Internet is the most common thing to do without for 40 days.  It’s called a Digital Fast and obviously no one reading this is on one.

So you would think that police in New Orleans would pretty much have their hands full during Mardi Gras.  In addition to everything else going on (I decided not to print a list) Paul Wilkinson shares this story about Hope Church.  They got shut down for giving out coffee and water – for free – to parade goers without a permit.  Have you ever seen Mardi Gras?!?  Handing out bottled water, that’s gotta’ stop.

Tim Challies is giving stuff away free stuff every Friday, or at least finding it for us. Here you can download Christian themed March calendar wallpaper.

*For a guy that normally looks like a million dollars, that may be the worst picture of Joel Osteen I’ve ever seen.  Thanks Christian Post.

 

As Long as it’s Black

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That’s what folks used to say about the Ford Model T: it came in any color you wanted, as long as you wanted black.  Consumer sovereignty has come a long way since the 1920’s.  Not only can today’s car buyer select exterior and interior colors and features, but each make and model car comes in several different styles.  40 years ago you had two choices when buying a phone, desk or wall mount.  Maybe there were a very few colors to pick from.  Today dozens of companies produce hundreds of designs.  The epic failure of products like Ford’s Edsel, Beta players and New Coke are classic economic 101 lessons demonstrating that the consumer is indeed sovereign and gone are the days that companies can force a product onto the marketplace or tell us what we want.

Unless you’re Facebook.

Continue reading →

What is the Gospel?

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The goal of the Master’s Table is to be God honoring and Christ centered.  The importance of living Christ-centered Christian lives is stressed on the About page, explaining Christ should be at the center of everything Christians do.  Perhaps you’ve heard me say (and by heard I mean read) that the Bible is about Jesus.  The Bible tells one story, of how a holy God relates to a sinful, broken and fallen people.  At the center of the that story is Jesus.

I talk a lot about the Gospel.  I attempt to preach the Gospel in every single sermon, regardless of where in the Bible the sermon begins or what the “topic” is.  I have endeavored to not only share the Gospel but also explain what it is, what the word means, and why it is important for Christians to keep hearing it.  Of all the things the church has to offer, the Gospel is what the world needs to hear. Continue reading →