Lately I was thinking of how I prepare my mind and body for attending worship . Now I admit I have given this some thought before but thinking about it and doing something about are two different things . In the past I recall reading articles about how many would get their Sunday cloths out , pre plan what they would eat for breakfast if they had children , going to bed early enough to get rest and numerous other things .
These are all good things to do . Gathering together with other saints to worship our Lord is a beautiful and wonderful thing. We are called to worship God , so it really is something we shouldn't just approach without some real purpose and intent. It should be an act of love and adoration but its hard to so if one is over tired , rushed and the mind has been filled with worldly pursuits.
So going forward my plan for Saturday is to make it more of a preparation for worship , which includes for me , getting to bed earlier . A tired mind and fatigued body cannot serve the Lord very well . Also to spend some quiet time before resting in God's word to focus my heart and mind on the things of God . The world can distract very easily so to step back and refocus is a most .
So may all who are gathering to worship this Sunday , do so in grace and truth . Are you ready to encounter God as He is proclaimed by the preaching of His word ? I hope I'am .
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Some Week Wrap Up Thoughts
I love hockey . More importantly I'm a Boston Bruin fan . Last year I had the fun and excitement watching the Bruins run the gamut and win the Stanley Cup . It was a truly thrilling run and anyone who is a sports fan and has a fav team understands the joy it is in seeing your team win it all . However on the flip side , when your team loses and is taken out of the play-off hunt , its like a kick in the gut. Well they lost , in a 7th game , in over time and it did suck . I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't move mountains but as a fan it is not that simple to detach. However , you cannot win them all and in sports that is so true . In general all players and teams lose more than they win . That is the nature of any game . So you recall the wins with a even sweeter feeling and just appreciate them more in hindsight . So thanks to my Bruins for a great run . Now here is to next season . Bring back the cup.
Why are so many scare to call a spade a spade? I'm a Calvinist , I hold to a the 5 sola's , I hold to the truths of the reformation but many it seems today don't like to label themselves . They like slogans like , lets just love Jesus etc... but here is the thing to say you just want to love and follow Jesus , well in order to do that you have to at least have a basic understanding of doctrine. So have the guts , the honesty to grasp what you believe and why you believe and stand by it . Wishy washy believers leave most people shaking there heads.
I need a time machine . I loved and still love comics . Old comics that is . Mostly ones from the 60',70's and some of the 80's. But if I had a time machine , I would go back and tell my younger self to collect doubles and triples of as many issues as I could get and keep them all in a safe place . For who knew that today many of them are worth thousands and thousands of dollars . It is fascinating to read of Spider-man , Thor , Hulk ,Iron Man etc... sell for over 5000 dollars or more . I personally could not justify spending that much on a single comic but if you had have told someone 40 or 50 years ago , they would be selling for amounts over a million dollars , you probably would have been declared nuts .
Lastly , I hope to start next month working through Michael Horton's Systematic Theology . I have read sections but plan I on committing reading this amazing magnum opus from Horton and posting some insights from it .
Why are so many scare to call a spade a spade? I'm a Calvinist , I hold to a the 5 sola's , I hold to the truths of the reformation but many it seems today don't like to label themselves . They like slogans like , lets just love Jesus etc... but here is the thing to say you just want to love and follow Jesus , well in order to do that you have to at least have a basic understanding of doctrine. So have the guts , the honesty to grasp what you believe and why you believe and stand by it . Wishy washy believers leave most people shaking there heads.
I need a time machine . I loved and still love comics . Old comics that is . Mostly ones from the 60',70's and some of the 80's. But if I had a time machine , I would go back and tell my younger self to collect doubles and triples of as many issues as I could get and keep them all in a safe place . For who knew that today many of them are worth thousands and thousands of dollars . It is fascinating to read of Spider-man , Thor , Hulk ,Iron Man etc... sell for over 5000 dollars or more . I personally could not justify spending that much on a single comic but if you had have told someone 40 or 50 years ago , they would be selling for amounts over a million dollars , you probably would have been declared nuts .
Lastly , I hope to start next month working through Michael Horton's Systematic Theology . I have read sections but plan I on committing reading this amazing magnum opus from Horton and posting some insights from it .
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Falling From Grace in the Public Eye
Recently I was reading a magazine that had its annual most trusted professions list . As I was reading the top 10 one that was absent once again was that of the clergy. Yes it seems that Pastors have fallen to new lows to be heaped in with CEO's , Car Salesmen and the like . It has been a long time when the Clergy would have been in the the top 5 and now they have slid out of even the top 20 according to many polls . The decline has been steady and fast over the last 10 years.
I still recall back in the late 60's and 70's , Pastors would have been always in the top 10 of professions people trusted and looked to in times of crisis . They were often the very well known within their communities and over all respected. So why in less then 40 years have they completely fallen in with those professions people think of as shady and open to scorn?
Lets be brutally honest , the scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church with sex scandal after sex scandal has not helped . It has been repugnant to read of the cover up , silence and lack of concern for the victims that this institution shown . Granted many have spoken out and where rightly angered but the stigma bruised the Pastorate .
Another spot of trouble has been the lack of accountability within many denominations in holding Pastors to account when it has come to light of affairs and re-marriage . Those outside the Church do understand that a Pastor should be at the very least different and if one does fall , when discipline is not served and the Pastor not removed , it damages the vocation.
Then add in the sickening , money grabbing , false healing con artist that have infiltrated the late night TV shows and why would the general public trust the clergy . All it seems these false teachers do is beg for money and manipulate those who are desperate .
Plus many wonder what does a Pastor really do . Most who sit outside the Church basically believe they get paid for speaking once a week for about 30 minutes . Many are not well known within the areas they minister and most move on within 3-7 years so how can even the community get to know them . Mix that in with the growing secular culture we are living in , who have no respect for matters about God , Jesus , the Church and well your on the bottom rung looking up . Now I know there are many faithful servants who have and are laboring within this world daily and it is simply not fair for them to be painted with the same brush. But it is where we are at .
So how can the Clergy regain at least the respect among people . Its one thing to be reviled because of the gospel , and I would venture some of the disdain does come from this but much comes from the moral failures and perceived greed of the few projected on others. Here is my few suggestions , not exhaustive but things I think they must attend to .
First make sure you are serious about your calling . Do not enter the ministry unless you are deeply and profoundly conscious that this is a call of God to be a under Shepherd to group of sheep God has given you to care for . To preach , to love and mirror the great Shepherd Jesus Christ to them first . Second , stay and work the field you have been placed . I just do not believe that one is "called"to leave every 3-5 years . How can one get to know anyone in such a short time . Plus the general public view this as salary chasing. Oh he moved on for more money , I have heard this . Stay , work , get to be known and know your flock and be about the community . Third , and this is more to the powers above , the denomination heads , discipline Pastors that not only morally fail but doctrinally as well . This shows the public you hold those who take this call serious and demand a high standard. Last , Pastors need to be more open in calling out those who are in the wrong . Many look at the pastorate like , you protect your own mind set . This in large part to the sex scandals . This must not be . Paul called those out needed to be and so did Jesus . This openness show you have nothing to hide .
As I said there is nothing wrong when the world hates and mocks because of the gospel of Christ but much of the fall has been due to moral and doctrinal lapses . One last thing that those who sit in the pew need to do for their Pastor is pray . Pray for your Pastor , encourage him to be courageous , bold and to stand firm . The world , the devil and his own sinful nature desires to tear him down , so may we help them stand strong against these attacks .
I still recall back in the late 60's and 70's , Pastors would have been always in the top 10 of professions people trusted and looked to in times of crisis . They were often the very well known within their communities and over all respected. So why in less then 40 years have they completely fallen in with those professions people think of as shady and open to scorn?
Lets be brutally honest , the scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church with sex scandal after sex scandal has not helped . It has been repugnant to read of the cover up , silence and lack of concern for the victims that this institution shown . Granted many have spoken out and where rightly angered but the stigma bruised the Pastorate .
Another spot of trouble has been the lack of accountability within many denominations in holding Pastors to account when it has come to light of affairs and re-marriage . Those outside the Church do understand that a Pastor should be at the very least different and if one does fall , when discipline is not served and the Pastor not removed , it damages the vocation.
Then add in the sickening , money grabbing , false healing con artist that have infiltrated the late night TV shows and why would the general public trust the clergy . All it seems these false teachers do is beg for money and manipulate those who are desperate .
Plus many wonder what does a Pastor really do . Most who sit outside the Church basically believe they get paid for speaking once a week for about 30 minutes . Many are not well known within the areas they minister and most move on within 3-7 years so how can even the community get to know them . Mix that in with the growing secular culture we are living in , who have no respect for matters about God , Jesus , the Church and well your on the bottom rung looking up . Now I know there are many faithful servants who have and are laboring within this world daily and it is simply not fair for them to be painted with the same brush. But it is where we are at .
So how can the Clergy regain at least the respect among people . Its one thing to be reviled because of the gospel , and I would venture some of the disdain does come from this but much comes from the moral failures and perceived greed of the few projected on others. Here is my few suggestions , not exhaustive but things I think they must attend to .
First make sure you are serious about your calling . Do not enter the ministry unless you are deeply and profoundly conscious that this is a call of God to be a under Shepherd to group of sheep God has given you to care for . To preach , to love and mirror the great Shepherd Jesus Christ to them first . Second , stay and work the field you have been placed . I just do not believe that one is "called"to leave every 3-5 years . How can one get to know anyone in such a short time . Plus the general public view this as salary chasing. Oh he moved on for more money , I have heard this . Stay , work , get to be known and know your flock and be about the community . Third , and this is more to the powers above , the denomination heads , discipline Pastors that not only morally fail but doctrinally as well . This shows the public you hold those who take this call serious and demand a high standard. Last , Pastors need to be more open in calling out those who are in the wrong . Many look at the pastorate like , you protect your own mind set . This in large part to the sex scandals . This must not be . Paul called those out needed to be and so did Jesus . This openness show you have nothing to hide .
As I said there is nothing wrong when the world hates and mocks because of the gospel of Christ but much of the fall has been due to moral and doctrinal lapses . One last thing that those who sit in the pew need to do for their Pastor is pray . Pray for your Pastor , encourage him to be courageous , bold and to stand firm . The world , the devil and his own sinful nature desires to tear him down , so may we help them stand strong against these attacks .
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A Little Break , Now I'm Back
Over the last week I decided to take a week away from blogging about anything. It was to more or less re charge my mind and get the writing juices going. Needless to say there is much to write about over the next couple of days and I truly feel ready for a long streak in daily blogging.
So in between cheering my Boston Bruins on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs , I will try to write with both purpose and passion , with a little fun thrown in for good measure . So look out , I'm back with vengeance . Well I hope anyway.
So in between cheering my Boston Bruins on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs , I will try to write with both purpose and passion , with a little fun thrown in for good measure . So look out , I'm back with vengeance . Well I hope anyway.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Emptiness of Atheism
Doubting Dawkins from Nicholas Ryan on Vimeo.
Came across this video that poignantly lays the barrenness of a "God less " view of death and life . Its brutally honest and truthful to all who say they hold to a atheistic world view. Many times they borrow on capital from other world views to give life and death meaning. However strip it down , and this is all they have to say to pain,suffering , too bad , it is what it is , just roll the bones.
“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”
― Richard Dawkins
Monday, April 9, 2012
Monday Musings
Just a quick thought concerning the truth of the Resurrection . What I have found very interesting over all that when skeptics try to attack this central truth of the Christian faith , their arguments are fairly mute. They don't really engage the historicity of the claims as much they try to generally point to things like miracles can't happen , the disciples where deluded , that it was a mere myth concocted to create a movement etc... However the fact remains something happened that Sunday morning that caused a monumental change in the the cowardly fleeing ,trembling group just a few nights before .
You can chalk it up to delusion , to myth if you is wish . But to do so is to ignore all the other ways we investigate other historical data seriously. But then again when looking at the truth of Jesus rising from the dead , confronts all of us with a reality we do not want . That God has revealed Himself in Jesus , the Son . That we are caught in sin and trespasses and He is Lord of all . He is king and therefore he has claim on our lives .
The resurrection leaves us no wiggle room . No place for any person to hide. We must shout this truth from the mountain tops because by proclaiming the crucifixion and the resurrection , we deliver the only hope the sinner has . We most not soften it , mold it or downplay it . It is the gospel and it is the power unto salvation.
Jesus is risen . Indeed .
You can chalk it up to delusion , to myth if you is wish . But to do so is to ignore all the other ways we investigate other historical data seriously. But then again when looking at the truth of Jesus rising from the dead , confronts all of us with a reality we do not want . That God has revealed Himself in Jesus , the Son . That we are caught in sin and trespasses and He is Lord of all . He is king and therefore he has claim on our lives .
The resurrection leaves us no wiggle room . No place for any person to hide. We must shout this truth from the mountain tops because by proclaiming the crucifixion and the resurrection , we deliver the only hope the sinner has . We most not soften it , mold it or downplay it . It is the gospel and it is the power unto salvation.
Jesus is risen . Indeed .
Friday, April 6, 2012
Good Friday
As I write this Jesus would have already been laid in the tomb. Quickly placed there by Joesph of Arimathea and Nicodemus because of the Sabbath. They came and collected Jesus body , having endured the cross . There He redeemed us from the curse by becoming cursed for us . Does this not make one tremble in awe and amazement .
Galatians 3:13—”Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’.”
Galatians 3:13—”Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’.”
Thursday, April 5, 2012
A Tale of Two Gardens
When Jesus celebrated the last supper with His disciples,he then went to the garden of Gethsemane . There before the betrayal , his fleeing friends , Jesus was in great testing and anguish . Crying out to the Father that if this cup could be pasted away , let it be . However after 3 times , Jesus prayed not my will but the Father's will be done. He rose , prepared to complete the call to the cross.
In this garden , Jesus , the second Adam was fully obedient to God's will . In this garden of testing He did not fail like the first Adam did . Adam sinned , he turned his back on God who had given Him everything but he willing allowed Eve to be tempted and sin , then in his temptation took from Eve the forbidden fruit , and plunged all of creation into chaos , death and sin .
But in Jesus garden , He saw the glory of His Father , willing submitted Himself to walk the path to the cross to atone for our sin , and thereby breaking the curse of Adam , which we are under. I cannot fathom or grasp what Jesus went through as He prayed and prepared to take the full wrath of God on our behalf , His sheep whom He knows . But what a Savior , as He is about to be made sin , whom knew no sin , there He is making intersession to the Father .
Yes this day is a tale of two gardens . One that left a darkness , evil and wretched sinful stain on this world but this garden marked the cleansing , a new birth for all those the Father delighted in giving to the Son to show his great mercy,love and grace. As Jesus rose to face His day that had been planned before the foundations of the world , that would undue Adams fall , the Devils scheme and deaths sting. God clothed Adam and Eve after their sin , and He does it completely when we are clothed in the wonderful , beautiful , majestic righteousness of His son .
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
(1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV)
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
(1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV)
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Cross Reveals The Depth of our Sin
As we look at Jesus , walking towards the hill of the skull , were he will be stripped , his bloody body already beaten,whipped and in deep distress , nailed to two beams of wood to make a cross , do you see your depravity. When he is raised for all to see and mock , do you see your evil living within you . When you see the holy,sinless Son of God being made sin on your behalf , do you see how utterly sinful you are.
The cross stands before all who think they are good enough to stand before a holy God . It reveals the incomprehensibly depth of our sinfulness. It should truly humble us and leave us with a thankful and a heart full of worship and adoration for the Lord . So as we gather this coming Good Friday , reflect and let the gravity of what had to be done for you to brought into a right relationship to God .
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
The cross stands before all who think they are good enough to stand before a holy God . It reveals the incomprehensibly depth of our sinfulness. It should truly humble us and leave us with a thankful and a heart full of worship and adoration for the Lord . So as we gather this coming Good Friday , reflect and let the gravity of what had to be done for you to brought into a right relationship to God .
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Tuesday Quick Quotes
Only fitting that the quote this week will help us consider and stay focused on the journey of our Lord Jesus to Calvary.
"The whole of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this , that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble" Martin Luther
"The whole of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this , that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble" Martin Luther
Monday, April 2, 2012
This is the Week That Changed Everything
This is the high holy week for Christians all around the world . As I left Church yesterday , after a sermon from our guest preacher concerning the king is coming , I realized even in the west , even with so many Churches , how many will even know or understand the depth of this coming week . For many it is nothing more than a long weekend . It is very possible many will spend the entire day of Good Friday and Easter Sunday , without a hint of Jesus. Unlike Christmas with the carols , Easter seems oddly removed from faith .
May we this week , pray for opportunities to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised . This is indeed the week that profoundly changes everything form how we live to how we die .
"We carry about in our pockets His very nails." Martin Luther
May we this week , pray for opportunities to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised . This is indeed the week that profoundly changes everything form how we live to how we die .
"We carry about in our pockets His very nails." Martin Luther
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