Saturday, December 26, 2009

Tonight's Sermon

I know that Matt Chandler has been in the hospital and in the fight for his life. I have seen videos of him preaching a couple of times and went searching for another sermon tonight. The first one I came across was from June of this year. It was about the church at Ephesus and what happened to them over a span of 40-45 years. Within this sermon there are many applicable topics for us including the reliance of many churches on pragmatism rather than knowledge of and complete trust in God to make ministry work.

I remember sitting in a Board of Directors meeting many years ago at Mt. Calvary. We had brought in another outside "expert" who was schooled in church building. He used the illustration of a barrel which had 8 slats - each slat supposedly represented one of the key tenets of a healthy growing church. I don't remember what they were off the top of my head but I knew, courtesy of the Holy Spirit, that we were on the wrong path. You can't plan your way to growth...and if you do happen to grow because of your plans rather than the draw of the Holy Spirit to the magnificence of Christ...you are in BIG trouble. I was just too young to really be able to verbalize my reservations intelligently. Now my sense is that Mt. Calvary has gotten away from this approach and is more about Gospel and God's glory and following His call. I certainly pray that is the case.

So, here is a brief excerpt from the sermon.



The entire sermon video can be found here:

http://theresurgence.com/matt-chandler-preaching-gospel-de-churched

The audio only version is at Desiring God here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByConference/45/3956_Preaching_the_Gospel_to_the_Dechurched/

I'll tell ya what. If I was a pastor...this is how I would want to preach. I have great respect for the way Matt allows God to use him and I pray for his recovery.

Putting on Holiday Weight?

This will make you feel smaller.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Encouraging

http://ow.ly/OnMY

"I tried a thousand times and I failed a thousand times." It's good for me to hear how others have overcome their addictions...and have struggled in doing so. There is no substitute for prayer and perseverance.

"Frightening and calming at the same time." It is unfortunate that God must often allow us to reach a point of perceived self-destruction before we ultimately relent and find our desire completely in Him. It is frightening to give up the desires of this world that offer us momentary peace and joy but incredibly calming to find all our desire in Christ which offers us eternal peace and joy.

Just don't stop fighting.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

More on the Climate...

Did everyone enjoy Climategate? (By the way, thanks Mr. Nixon for starting the whole "gate" thing...kinda annoying) Over 1000 emails between scientists at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the UK's University of East Anglia were stolen and made public by an unnamed hacker. The initial take on these emails was that it showed scientists who privately were having disputes on the validity of the data as well as concerns that the data were not completely proving their public line of human-made global warming. Now it seems that everyone is dismissing the initial reaction as overdone and off base and that the emails don't show anything more than scientists being rude or dismissive and any data discrepancies are minor and do not change the larger thesis.

Truth is tough to get at sometimes when everyone has an agenda. We do know a couple things. Temperatures were much higher during the Medieval Warm Period (roughly AD 800-1300). We are still recovering from the Little Ice Age which ended around 1850. So, temperatures were higher when the carbon footprint of mankind was probably close to nothing. The question of whether human activity is accelerating atmospheric warming seems largely unanswered, and perhaps, unanswerable. Some scientists even say that carbon dioxide levels actually follow, rather than preceded, changes in temperature.

One other thing is very clear in all of this. The Obama administration, and many socialists around the world, do not care about the facts at this point. Shortly after Climategate hit, and just before the Climate Conference in Copenhagen (don't ya just love alliteration?), the EPA released a report that stated the effects of climate change are a danger to the public health. Guess what that means? The EPA can implement whatever rules it deems necessary without going through Congress. This administration will not let "cap and trade" die. It's a power and money grab that is too tasty not to enjoy. Manipulation and half-truths are necessary evils in getting it done. I have no doubt that behind closed doors there are a lot of "the means justify the ends" rationales being spouted.

Obama's transformation of America continues. He told you this is what he was planning. All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do nothing...or in our case...actually elect evil to office.