Sunday, May 25, 2008

Let Jesus Use Your Boat

Little Wooden Boat

I taught a lesson in my adult Bible class this morning from Luke 5 on the call to be fishers of men.  I brought out an encouraging thought that I wanted to share with you:

Luke 5:3 says, "And (Jesus) entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land."

This chapter tells the story of the day Peter met Jesus Christ.  This event took place early on in the public ministry of Christ, but he had already garnered quite a following.  Vs. 1 tells us that the crowd of people "pressed upon him to hear the word of God."  He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to teach these people, but he couldn't address the whole crowd standing in the middle of them.  He needed to get to a place where he could face the people and speak to all of them at once.  Jesus looked over to the water and saw Peter's boat.  He got in and asked if Peter would push away from the shore, giving Jesus a speakers position.

I'll ask you the same question I asked my class: Did Jesus need Peter's boat?

A familiar story can be found in Matthew 14.  Vs. 25 says, "And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea."

You see, that day that Jesus wanted to preach to the crowd, He could have just stepped out onto the water and had the same result.  Rather then stepping on the water He stepped in the boat.  Jesus made a choice to use what Peter had.  He didn't have to, but He did.  Peter could have thought that he didn't have much to offer Jesus, but he let Him use what he had.

Even if you believe you have very little to offer to God, let Him use it anyway.  He doesn't need it, but He wants it.

Let Jesus use your boat.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Incomprehensible Lack of Intelligence Coming from the Left

Obama 1

Will Dudding put a very thought provoking post on his blog.  You can read it here.  We are in the middle of the political cycle so the fodder is readily available.

The thing that never ceases to amaze me is the continual stupidity that flows from any source that leans to the Left.  There seems to be no thought process involved in what they are saying.  They never think through their positions or statements and consider the end of their thought.  They simply spew things that sound good and make a partisan crowd cheer.  Their views and statements are vapid at best and moronic at worst.  Here is a recent example from Presidential hope-not, Barack Obama.

In response to statements made by President Bush (which weren't necessarily directed at Obama), Barack said that "tough talk" on the part of the Republicans isn't working in dealing with terrorists and their state sponsors.  That statement begs the question: "Will weak talk work, Mr. Obama?"  Obama also stated that Bush hasn't made America safer.  This one really gets me!  Since 9/11, America has not been attacked one time.  How much safer could President Bush make our country in the last 7 years?  He has a perfect record!  100% effectiveness in making us safe!  Does Barack think about that before making statements like this?  No.  Why?  Because he doesn't think very much.  That much is clear.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Discipleship

Bible 11

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you..." - Matthew 28:20

Becoming a disciple of Christ is a lifelong process.  The word sounds like "discipline" because it comes from the same root word.  Being a disciple of Christ means you are disciplined to follow His commandments.  That's why He tells us to teach baptized believers to "observe" the things He has commanded us.  Discipleship is doing what Christ wants you to do.

When is the process of discipleship complete?  Not in this life.  I believe it is complete when we see Him (1 John 3:2).

Building disciples should be the goal of everything a church does with believers.  Worship and preaching services, classes, fellowship times...all of it should make a child of God a stronger disciple.

One of the ways our church disciples people is through a class that takes place during our mid-week service on Thursday nights.  I am taking two couples through a book called 7 Steps to Joy.  (It actually takes about 10 weeks to go through the course.)  It is a simple book that covers eternal security, baptism and several practical aspects of the Christian life.  One of the greatest feelings in ministry comes when you are teaching someone the Bible and "the light comes on."  I love seeing the look in someone's eyes when they grasp a truth from God's Word.  It's harder to see it when you're preaching because of the size of the crowd.  In a small group, it's much easier to catch.  I'm having a blast on Thursday nights.  The 7 Steps book is pretty basic, but it's amazing the stuff we talk about based on questions the students ask.  Tonight's topic was "the Church" and we ended up hitting on things like the Passover and communism in the book of Acts!

If you know anything about the Bible, make the effort to pass that knowledge on to someone else.  It's the pinnacle of ministry and the culmination of the Great Commission.

What does your church do to build disciples?

Monday, May 12, 2008

God's First Work

Earth

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness." - Genesis 1:1-4

Here are a few things to think about from the awesome story of Creation:

1. When God created the heaven and the earth, He did NOT say it was good.  He said the light was good.

2. When God created something apart from Himself, it was dark by default.

3. God's first work after letting light shine into His creation was dividing the light from the darkness.

Ponder these thoughts and you should be reminded of some foundational characteristics of God's character and work.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Knee Jerk?

Knee Hammer

Let me start this post with a few disclaimers:

1. I haven't been saved very long (almost 12 years), let alone around fundamentalism very long.

2. I don't know all the "circles" within fundamentalism nor the individual men that make them up.

3. I may not be reading the right blogs.

What I'm trying to say is: I don't have an omnipresent, omniscient perspective when it comes to the subject I'm about to address. I'm only presenting my humble view and theory. So, here goes...

I've come across several blogs that are authored by people who have come out of "hyper-fundamentalism," "IFBxdom," "psuedo-fundamentalism" or any of the other little nicknames they create. To a degree, I understand what they're talking about. On the other hand, it seems a little over the top.

Dennis Prager (yes, I listen to him quite a bit) was talking about how people raise their kids and he brought up a great, but obviously not universal, point. He said that children who are brought up strict tend to raise their children more loosely, whereas children who are raised loosely tend to raise their children more strict. My first thought was: there will be a consistency if generations raised their children according to the Bible. But that's beside the point.

Anyway, it kind of made me think about the "fundamentalist" movement. As I read, it seems there has been an ebb and flow to the emphasis placed on certain aspects of Christian faith and practice. It's kind of like the parent who was raised in a strict home that raises their child loosely or vice versa. The parent wants to give their child something they feel they missed out on. If they missed out on liberty, they go over the top with giving their child liberty. If they missed out on direction and standards, they go over the top with rules.

To me, that's how fundamental Christianity has gone for the past few centuries.

People in certain generations look back at the generation that raised them and say, "My parents (figuratively speaking) didn't give me...fill in the blank." As a result, they go over the top with whatever they feel they missed.  I see a lot of bloggers who seem to have this attitude. I see blog titles and sub-titles like "Ichabod" and "encouragement for those longing to break free."  I read of the terror of KJV-onlyism and ruthless, overbearing pastors.  Our church only uses the KJV.  Our pastor leads our church.  I love it that my church would just be lumped in with the "IFBxers."  Don't bother asking why we use the KJV or how my pastor leads.  It must be tyranny.  (By the way, I've been serving at my church for almost a year and I've never heard my preacher rant about or even mention the KJV in a message.  Also, I know that he loves our people more than anything but God.  And...he graduated from Hyles Anderson.)

I really don't know what these people have experienced, but I don't feel like I'm in prison! If it wasn't for a "fill in the nickname" church, I wouldn't be saved today! It just bothers me that I see very little gratitude for the heritage people have been given. Are those that gave the heritage perfect? No. But neither are you.

Here's my prediction: those that are "reforming" and moving away from some of the emphasis of their fathers are going to raise a generation that sees weaknesses in them and that will "reform" back to be like the original generation. For example: one generation emphasizes passion, another emphasizes doctrine. The doctrine generation produces the passion generation. The passion generation produces the doctrine generation.

Is there anything wrong with that? Not necessarily. Would it be better if there wasn't so much criticism and more gratitude for heritage handed down? I think so. Would it be great if we could find a balance and stop the "swings?" Absolutely.

As long as sinners are handing down the heritage, there will always be weaknesses in the heritage. Just don't have a knee jerk reaction.