-
The Great Name of God
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. — Ex. 20:7 Do not misuse the name of the Lord. Do not treat his name lightly. When we come to him we address the most powerful name. He is the One who spoke this world into existence. We come before the Holy. God’s name is not…
-
We Don’t Need Apostasy
We just need boredom. Our enemy is not interested in our utter rejection of the gospel if we are simply bored with our Christianity. I ran across this great C.S. Lewis quote from The Screwtape Letters: If you can once get him to the point of thinking that “all religion is all very well up to a point,” you can…
-
Follow up on Mixed Martial Arts…
The other day I linked to a crazy article about MMA and our bloodlust. Here are some reactions to that same NY Times article.
-
Hurting the Poor
Usually it’s the Republicans who are bashed for hurting the poor. It turns out the Democrats are equal opportunity cutthroats as well. Note this: Once again, politics prevails; the poor and downtrodden are forced to bow before the vested interests. No wonder there’s a surging populist revolt in America. No wonder the ordinary, hard-working American taxpayer is offended by the…
-
The Truth Just Hardly Matters at Times
This video from ABC shows what has been suspected for 9 years. The Peruvian air force shot down missionaries in cold blood with the CIA watching. The U.S. has known about this all along and did nothing back in 2001. It just gives the rotten feeling that missionaries don’t matter.
-
Whose Report?
I am preparing for my Sunday message in 1 Thessalonians. I will be preaching on the devil. Fun stuff. One of the tactics the enemy uses is deception. We will often believe the lies of the enemy over the truth of God. It’s often because we spend more time listening to the deception instead of the truth. We are more…
-
Marketing and the Church
I get into debates with myself over what is “marketing” for the church. What “counts” vs. what “doesn’t count,” etc. But then I read articles like this one and just get sick. The article begins like this: In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in…
-
Monday Thoughts
Some great thought-provoking posts and articles are surfacing this Monday. Bill Mounce over at Koinonia has some thoughts on the Ted Haggard situation. His big question is: “Why was Haggard removed from his church? Why were they not allowed to at least attend?” He readily admits he doesn’t know the entire situation, but he asks the question anyway. I find…
-
Thoughts on Character
One of my greatest challenges, personally, is doing what I know to do at the best of my ability… when it’s not noticed. As a pastor, I must do ministry well, though I receive no award because I don’t have huge numbers, big buildings, or large budgets. Just pastor people well. As a teacher, I must teach well. I have…
-
Age Segregated Worship
For years I have preached against becoming some niche church. I don’t want to pastor a “40-something” church, or a “30-something” church… I want to pastor THE CHURCH. The Church reflects a family, not just people my exact age with my exact income level, education level, and life circumstance. Yet, that is what we are starting these days, and have…
