Getting Fed

One of the things that I really enjoy about being a pastor is the opportunity to preach.  I never cease to learn new things through my own preparation.  But the one thing that I really miss is getting fed spiritually by other preachers.  I sometimes download sermons but it is not the same as being there.  When I am off on a Sunday, we do not always get a chance to visit another church as most churches are not prepared for our childcare needs.  That is why this past Sunday was a treat.  At First Baptist Church we had Henry Grift, pastor at Sheffield Baptist Church in Halifax, preach.  Henry grew up at our church and he did a great job of reminding us of the comfort of God from 2 Corinthians.  In the evening, Woodford Baptist Church had their 154th anniversary service.  Our guest speaker was Keith Sweeting from First Baptist Church, Owen Sound.  Keith reminded us of the now of anniversaries from Philippians.  It was great to listen to both of these preachers and to sit under their teaching.  Next weekend I start two weeks of holidays and we will have two more talented preachers taking our pulpit.  Thank God for pastors who are willing to share the Word! 

How Do I Get Right With God?

On Sunday we concluded our Back to the Basics series.  In many ways this was the most important message in the series.  It is like writing a test in school and getting all the answers right but putting down the wrong name.  If you get everything else right but this, you have gotten everything wrong.  The question is: how to get right with God?  There are only three options:

1) What You Know.  Proper doctrine is important but it is not enough to be right with God.  The demons understand God better than we do and yet they are not right with God.

2) What You Do.  People today are more interested in what you do than what you know.  The problem with good works is that you can go through the motions without putting your heart into it.  Also, God's standards are so high that we will never be able to meet them.  You do not want to try and earn God's love.

3) Who You Know.  It is all about who you know.  Putting your faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross puts you in relationship with Jesus.  That makes you an adopted child in the Father's family.  Knowledge and action are good when they flow out of our relationship with God but they are no substitute.

Tender Words of God

It always a challenge to find good devotional material.  A few months ago, one of the deacons at First Baptist Church, Jean Gillespie, gave each of us a copy of Ann Spangler's The Tender Words of God.  I had not heard of it and so had no expectations.  I was pleasantly surprised with the simple power of this devotional book.  It does not take a lot of time as each morning and evening just has a couple of short Bible passages with a short prayer.  The power of the book is that it focuses on the tender words of God, the good news you need to hear when life is tough.  Ann concludes each week with a summary and she sets up the following week on Sunday with a reflection on that week's theme.  I highly recommend this book as a powerful devotional, especially for those who are busy.

Putting No into Innovation

This is very funny but I can see some churches agreeing with this.

Is Jesus Coming Back Again?

Last Sunday we looked at the subject of the second coming of Jesus Christ.  I am always nervous preaching on this because in every room there are those who deny the second coming and those who are obsessed with the second coming.  There are two facts we must wrestle with: 1) there are crazy ideas out there about the end of the world and 2) Jesus truly believed that He would return.  We dealt with a number of issues on this subject.

1) Jesus did believe He would return (see Matthew 24).  Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about an inner work in believers but He still must bring about the final end of evil.  When Jesus spoke of Himself as the 'Son of Man,' He was speaking of Himself as the end-time judge found in Daniel's vision.  Jesus did not know when He was returning and we should not claim to know either.

2) Many people believe in a specific seven year period of time known as the tribulation that will precede Jesus' return.  However literal the seven is, the clear biblical picture is that things will get worse before Jesus returns.

3) The word 'rapture' does not appear in the Bible but the concept is there.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 speaks of the meeting of believers with Jesus in the clouds.  The image is that of a liberated city going beyond the walls to meet their returning king.

4) The heart of the return of Jesus is in the general resurrection.  Believers will not spend eternity as floating spirits but will receive resurrection bodies like the one Jesus emerged from the tomb with.  This will take place at the second coming.

This is not science fiction or fantasy.  This is our assurance that Jesus has not abandoned us to evil or to death.  For the next couple of weeks you can get the audio of this sermon at www.meafordbaptist.ca.

 

A New Chapter

This morning was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.  I received my pre-official official acceptance into the doctor of theology program at the University of South Africa.  This is something that I have wanted for a long time and finally the pieces have fallen into place so that it can become reality.  As I have mentioned this to people, I have been asked a number of questions.  I thought this would be a good place to address those questions.

1) Let's get the big one out of the way first: How am I going to do doctoral studies with two churches and five children and a service dog on the way?  Please realize that I have done two Masters degrees (both with a thesis) and have written a book with a similar life situation.  Amanda and I have worked hard to make the most of our time, to share housework, to give the kids their time, to get outside help where needed, and to find time for each other to study.  In addition, the tuition for University of South Africa (UNISA) is cheap enough that if I need to stretch out my studies if the work load gets too much that I can do that.

2) Why UNISA and not another seminary like McMaster Divinity College?  I love Mac and I even am on the board.  I have three degrees from Mac and I think they have a great Ph.D. program, which I would highly recommend.  The fact is that I can not quit my job as a pastor to study full-time.  I have to work full-time to provide for my family.  In addition, there are no seminaries or universities less than two hours away that I could study part-time.  The UNISA D.Th. program is a distance education degree that requires only a dissertation.  UNISA is an accredited school and there are some high profile scholars with doctorates from UNISA.  In addition, because of the currency differences, UNISA is much more affordable than any accredited schools in North America or Europe.  

3) What am I studying?  My general area will be New Testament.  I am still working out the focus with my supervisor but it will concern Christian origins in its Greco-Roman context and will likely also deal with gnosticism.  

4) What am I going to be when (if) I grow up?  Are my plans to be a pastor or a professor?  I am not sure what the future looks like but I do know that I am interested in some mix of local church ministry and teaching.  I believe that there is an artificial separation between the church and the academic world.  I would like to somehow bridge that gap.

5) Will I ever stop studying?  I already have four university degrees, when is it going to stop?  I will never stop studying in some form but this is likely the last actual degree.  Life is about learning and I look forward to new opportunities to learn in different contexts.

6) Will I be going to South Africa at all?  I like to joke that I am not moving there, I am just commuting.  This degree does not require that I go to South Africa at all.  We will see about graduation.  Amanda is taking a B.Th. at the same school, so we will have to take that into consideration as well.

I hope this answers people's questions.  I would appreciate people's prayers during this process and I am thankful to God for the opportunity.  

Happy Birthday Amanda

Today is Amanda's birthday!  Amanda is an incredible wife and mother and I am so thankful she is in my life.  She is a wonderful support to me and she does an awesome job with the kids.  Most of all, Amanda is my best friend.  Amanda, my beautiful wife, may God bless you with a joy filled birthday.  I look forward to getting old with you (unfortunately I will get there before you).  I love you lots and happy birthday!

Last Couple of Sundays

We have been continuing our series at church on Back to the Basics.  Just a couple more to go.  Two weeks ago we looked at the humanity of Jesus.  Believe it or not this is actually an issue.  Although some of the Jews had trouble with the early Christian claim that Jesus was divine, the Greeks readily accepted it.  The problem is that they swung too far.  They reasoned that if Jesus was divine, He could not have had a real human body and could not have suffered.  The New Testament has a different picture.  Jesus had a normal birth (His birth was normal, it was His conception that was supernatural), He grew and developed, got hungry, tired, thirsty, angry, Jesus wrestled with the idea of going to the cross and seemed to have some kind of fear (not cowardly fear but healthy fear) and on the cross Jesus felt God-forsaken.  That sounds pretty human to me.  It is in the humanity of Jesus that we see someone that we can identify with and who understands our struggles from experience.

Last week we looked at the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We explored three myths about the death and resurrection:

1) Jesus was too good to go to the cross - Muslims believe that God made a switch and put someone else on the cross because Jesus was too good to be crucified.  The Christian message is that Jesus was good enough to go to the cross and pay the penalty for our sins.

2) Jesus did not really die on the cross - this is commonly called the swoon theory where Jesus only passes out and then gets better while resting in the tomb.  There are many problems with this including: the Romans pierced Jesus with a spear (they were too experienced to make a mistake), even passing out would lead to death as Jesus would be unable to raise Himself up on the cross to continue to breathe, Jesus would have died in the tomb from His injuries, He would have been too weak to move the stone and the disciples interpreted the appearance of Jesus not as a resuscitated wounded man but as the first example of the resurrection.

3) There is no evidence for the resurrection - People who claim this should read 1 Corinthians 15.  Paul lists witnesses and challenges people to investigate, there were too many witnesses for it to be grief-induced hallucinations, James and Paul experienced radical transformations as a result of their belief that they met the risen Jesus and many people gave their lives over this belief.

What Matters to Me

I thought this was very thought provoking video.

Hooker for Jesus Gets Married

I'm not kidding.  You can read about it here.  It's actually a nice story.

What If God Text Messaged the Ten Commandments?

This is very good.  Check it out here.

New Strong Willed Child

I finally finished James Dobson's New Strong Willed Child.  This is the first book that I have read by Dobson, although I have a couple of others in my library.  I have sometimes been put off by Dobson's political agenda.  Dobson is a controversial figure, particularly for his view on spanking.  We have chosen not to spank our children, but reading this book makes me more likely to respect other parents' decisions.  I did not necessarily agree with everything that Dobson says in detail, but the principles are sound.  Although written to deal with "difficult" children and including a chapter on ADHD, this book is really helpful for all parents.  I appreciated this book and learned a lot.  I recommend this book for parents of children from birth to teenager. 

Real Super Heroes

In my younger days I spent a lot of time and money reading comic books about super heroes.  I am enjoying the current trend of making super hero movies.  But I was quite shocked to find out that some people are taking this so seriously that they are actually becoming super heroes who patrol the streets!  You can read about it here.  What's next?  Visitors from other planets?