James Earl Jones is fine. He’s not dead, he’s not even sick, the article is about his role in the Disney+ series Obi Wan Kenobi. For everyone that saw the most recent episode on Wednesday, this information was hardly news on Thursday. He has been the voice of Darth Vader since 1977, most recently on the big screen in Rogue One and in the animated Rebels series. But when the link above appeared in people’s Facebook news feed, people stopped scrolling because they thought it was going to say Jones had died. The vast majority of the comments were from people complaining about a few seconds of panic before reading the headline.
Robert Alter’s translation of Psalms; sermon by Fleming Rutledge; getting people in the door but shrinking the Gospel; Michael reflects on pastoring in this post and expounds on the value of mentorship in this episode.
Many of you are on a long weekend if you haven’t left for a week’s vacation. But for the truck drivers, ER nurses, gas station attendants and others that make the world go round even when we are “off” this post is especially for you. Here’s a few Bible verses, quotations, memes and a cute doggo pic that hopefully bring some comfort and maybe a smile or two. This is Happy Monday #481.
This article is not new and I’m not exactly sure why I came across it this week. It’s a reminder that the world’s idea of success and failure, winning and losing, are often not the same as God’s. Jesus provided us with many examples of how things should look when done correctly. Read more here.
Scott Cairns and Charles Wright poetry; the passing of Larry Norman; LarryNorman.com is still selling merchandise, check out the blog section for a live performance from Cornerstone in 1985. Sometimes ministry comes full circle. Keep in mind the Ravi Zacharias mention is years before his disgrace. Remembering that the Gospel can reach anyone.
That’s one of my favorite Alistair Begg quotes. I’ve repeated it many times, it may have spent a week or two on our church sign a few years back. Recently I saw a nearly identical quote (Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian) attributed to A.W. Tozer. So who said it? Very possibly both pastors did. Tozer was an American pastor, magazine editor and spiritual mentor to many. He was given honorary degrees by multiple institutions. He passed away in 1963. Begg was born in 1952 and continues to pastor the same church he has been at since 1983. You can find the quote attributed to either man probably because Alistair Begg was quoting A.W. Tozer when he said it. Lots of people quote Tozer to this day. Imagine I were speaking on the political and social divide in our country right now and said “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” That’s a direct quote from Abraham Lincoln. It is also very similar to Matthew 12:25, not the whole verse but an obvious reference to it. We are a lot more conscious about citing material than in times past. The Apostle Paul would string together three sentence fragments from three different Old Testament books and simply cite “the Prophets” or “the Fathers” as reference.
After citing Begg all this time I may attribute those words to Tozer in the future. The truth is worth repeating. Maybe someday someone will quote something I said. I’m still waiting for “God is near” to catch on.
Technical aspects of Michael’s sabbatical; endorsement of Common Sense Media; discussion of comments left on The White Horse Inn, Law/Gospel, and Why I Want My Sermon on the Mount Back which you can read here.
If I say middle school band concert you may envision proud mothers that hear with their hearts and not with their ears and other friends and relatives that find creative ways to say nice things. We are fortunate that our 6th grade first year band student chose to learn flute and not carry around a tuba or take up the drums. We are also fortunate that she is a quick study. Last week she spent the day at an Honors Band Clinic which is like one day band camp. 254 students from 34 schools divided into two groups, 1st year and 2nd year, and spent the day together mostly in rehearsal. The concert we attended at the end of that day was not too shabby.
The Master's Table 