Thanks for the call

I don't call people. Not without some realy good reason.  I have a few friends who call me once in a while and I am always glad to hear from them.  But for some reason I don't like calling people. 

So thanks Mrs Becky for the message on my answering machine. 

I am reluctantly on Facebook, and though I will post occasionally, for the church or for our soapberryproject, the idea of sharing all the details of my life with people seems very strange indeed.

Part of it is that my life is a series of mundane things, to me at least the fact that one if my boys is finally hiding when he poops is not news, it is just another day in the life of a small family. 

We took prayer requests tonight and I didn't mention that we have one who is poping six teeth, with a small ear infection, and a bottomless pit for a stomach. Not surprising, nothing unusual, so I mentioned it in passing later.

We also have a loose tooth in the house, our first. It has caused great discomfort at meal times, and some comments from the younger brothers that they have decided not to have loose teeth.

The reality is that I have a lot of small things going on. And nothing that rates a phone call. But someone might be interested.

Holiday Blues

As most of you know, I grew up in a different culture than where I currently reside. One unintended side effect of such an upbringing is that I often found myself observing holidays or celebrating holidays that were not mutual. 

People there have several holidays that we don't and we have a few they don't. We don't have a while month full of different independance days and flag day, while they don't have Thanksgiving.

We celebrate birthdays differently, we celebrate Christmas differently.  And I can remember the first year we had a Halloween contingent, when a crowd of kids showed up at our door one night chanting "triky, triky, Haloeen" we didn't plant for it but we learned to have popcorn on hand October 31st, so we could make a quick treat if people came by to celebrate one of "our" holidays.

Now I live in rural Ohio, in a majority Catholic community. Here Christmas is literally sacred for many, and Haloween is questionable, but the biggest festival of the year, the unquestioned event on every calendar is The Great Darke County Fair. Businesses close their doors, and school is delayed till after the fair.  We start school here almost three weeks later than the rest of the state, because of the fair.

Holidays are now a war zone in our culture.  Should I say "Merry Christmas" I would be in trouble at school for trying to force my religion down someone's throat.  Question the premise of Haloween, and you are liable to hear people call you a kill joy. 

I find myself asking questions of our understanding and practice of holidays in general. I grew up that way. Why do we do this? What does it mean? Is it contrary to the Gospel? Can it be used as a bridge to the Gospel? Where does it come from.

We just got through Haloween, or in modern English The day before All Saints Day. The holiday is in my opinion a classic syncretism of pagan, ancestor and spirit worship with Catholic tradition. All saints day is when they remember all the saints who have died. There is a special mass and lots of visiting of graves. And interestingly it is in the same season as many pagan religions celebrations of the spirits and the dead. That is true all around the world, the dates vary, but the day of the dead, or the day when spirits wander loose looking for the living, is a fairly common theme. In the fall of the year. Whether it is candles, candy sculls, disguises, or carved turnips or pumpkins the spirits are loose, and people must take precautions.

And such practices do not point to the gospel. I would say it might present an opportunity to present the gospel, but I am not sure most people have any idea what it means.  Candy? Greed and gluttony?

This is followed by the very American celebration of Thanksgiving, which while it sounds like a Biblical concept, has degenerated into Glutony, violent games in the coliseum, and a day of intemperate expenditures.  Whatever we may be thankfull for, and to whom is secondary what actually happens is overheating football, and Black Friday.

We might be able to bring this one back to the Gospel, but we would have to awaken from our turkey coma, and step away from the screen. And I'm not sure how likely that is.

And then there is Christmass, the mythical most wonderful day of the year. Named for the Catholic mass that is celebrated that day, it also coincides with several ancient "birth of the gods" celebrations. And ironically most serious Bible scholars would scoff as anyone who actually beloved it is even remotely related to the day Christ was born. And while the giving if gifts is supposed to emulate God's gift of his son, right now public displays of mangers and babies are virtually illegal in some places and the main face on the holiday is the patron saint of hypocracy, Nicolas of the North Pole who comforts thousands of children and adults in the lie that they were actually good enough this year, because no one ever deserves an empty tree at Christmas.

Ironically many Protestants are trying to keep the Christ in Christmas having never been to a mass in their lives, and having no clue that it has no historic or biblical connection to the birth if Christ.

I'll skip over to the one that strikes me as the most odd, Easter.  Named for the pagan goddess of fertility Ishtar, or more familiar to our ears Ashtoreth. It's main sybolism is eggs and Bunny rabbits, even though it is supposedly based in the celebration of Christ's resurrection, which  although it happened on a Sunday was conected to a set of Jewish holidays, which we conviniently ignore, instead fixing the date arbitrarily, also according to Catholic tradition.

Easter may seem like the quintessential Christian holiday, but even it's name is pagan, one we are not supposed it even mention: 

"Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. - Exodus 23:13

Where do these questions lead to? I am not sure. I think we need to learn to question everything and retain the good. We need to be on a constant lookout for ways to share the gospel, and we need to be very carefull to distinguish between tradition, and biblical truth.

How much of our theology, is based in passed traditions, inherited through syncretism of pagan and Catholic traditions, which may or may not have a useful way to get to the Gospel? 

And how much time do we spend defending traditions and holidays that are not in the Bible, and are shaped more by various cultural histories than sound theology?

My grass and my devotions have the same basic problems

I had not mowed my grass in about a month. There had been minimal rain so it wasn't quite a jungle, but it was tall and gone to seed. 

Part of the reason is that the past month was crammed full of events, extra days with chaplaincy, extra events with church, an advisory meeting at Cedarville, and the regular litany of Sunday events, church books and bible studies. Plus a couple of sick days. 

I haven't had a good focused Biblestudy in about a month. My life hasn't fallen apart in a jungle of temptation, but things are starting to get a little unkempt, and the clarity of focus I starting to get a lot of competing ideas.

The reasons are about the same.

Today it took about three passes to get the grass under control, and obviously that took an extra long time. Even once done it looked a bit rough, the reason for that has to do with one blade on the mower being dull.

Coming back to scripture and focused prayer after a hiatus the results are a bit rough around the edges. The reason being that the mind stays sharp and the spirit keen, through regular use.

All that said, I mowed the grass today with the single biggest reason that both the grass, and my personal studies are a bit rough. My boys took turns riding on the mower with me today, all day long. That means extra stops and instructions on safety. And once or twice a stick got in the way of the steeringwheel making a sharp turn. But you know, it will do.

I read the Bible every night with my boys. It certainly isn't quite as "deep" when Silas is rolling on the floor, and you can't make it very far when they are tired, sleepy and wanting a drink. But it will do.

One day the boys will mow the lawn on their own, and if I do it right now, they will know a thing or two about gasoline, oil, batteries and safety, and then maybe I will have an extra two hours to study deeply, maybe. 

 One day I also hope that my boys will be studying the Bible on their own, and if I do my job right now, they will have the basic framework of the gospel, and the history of the Bible. While I check on how sharp the mower blade is, maybe.

It is realy tempting to wish for advantages  that belong to another stage in life. Covetousness spring eternal. 

But for now, my boys and I have matching sunburns, and They know Psalm 19:1 from memory. Who cares if the grass looks great, or what the Greek participle looks like?

Plethoricational

People ask me some times if I am bi-vocational and I have to laugh. There are oportunities all around, let me tell you about a few of them in my world

School started again, and they are badly short of good substitutes- lots if opportunity. 

We have started a parent training program. There are hundreds if parents at a loss for how to help their kids survive, -potentially life changing opportunity.

My parents have discovered several untapped resources in Honduras and are helping the people there to develop and export those resources- multi level impact in several countries. 

There is an openness to talk about the ultimate things in life during a crisis -I am surrounded by people in crisis.

The thing about opportunity is that they take effort and attention to respond to, and that can be difficult. The parenting program has caused us to totally rework the schedule for our Sunday evenings.

Subbing requires a lot if time and the flexibility to always be picking up the pieces of someone else's plan.

Responding to life crisis requires a kind if availability that interrupts family activities and sleep habits.

And the natural resources from Honduras? They have me planing on investing some of our savings and spending time in an attorney's office. Setting up a corporation so I can sell soapberries.  (Checkout soapberryharvest.com for more on that)

All of it is change, requires sacrifice and effort.  At the same time I still preach Sundays, commute to chaplaincy work several days a month, hold regular discipleship meetings and have regular devotions with my kids at home.

I remember when I was in college a friend of mine remarked that I had more things going in at once than anyone else they had ever met. I guess not much has changed. 

The thing I need you prayers on is that at some point you reach the limit of effectiveness. I am flirting with that edge. I need wisdom to know how many subing jobs to take, and how to structure a buisness plan, complete the continuing education requirements for the chaplaincy, build a strong discipleship emphasis in a small local church, develop a relationship with my kids and find time to talk with my wife.

So in this time I appreciate very much your prayers. For wisdom endurance and focus. It is more than I can do, but it is not merely my ability that counts. 

"Put it out there"

"Put it out there." 

That was Tabitha's advice last night. 

So I am going to ask for your prayers, and input on an oportunity.  As many of you know my parents have worked for years in developing a healthy work ethic, and a vision for the opportunities around  people in Honduras.

As a part of that effort they have for the past few years been working with soapberries. For those who do not know they are basically a natural soap that grows on trees. Soap berries have four known major applications: they are used for personal hygiene and cosmetics, household cleaning, commercially they are used as natural surfactants and they have several uses as insect inhibitors. For more information head over to www.soapberryharvest.com.

Or Wikipedia for a brief overview  ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus )

My parents are now in a position to export a large quantity and need somone to be a U.S. distributor. 

We are seriously considering the possibility. We would need to find money for startup costs, and get a small buisness organized, licensed and operating. There are a number of good things that could come of this, but at the same time there are a large number of hurdles. 

I'm curious as to what input you would have? Or investment capital? Or experience in sales? Or wisdom about how to go about this?

I would especially appreciate your prayers as we work through some of these details, and figure out what our options are.

Please remember that the reply function in the email is not working properly so if you have a comment please send it directly to: disciplemaker.28.1920@gmail.com

Big day

Monday the 17th will be a big day as we attempt to bring together a large number of people from all across the county, for a special training event. We have representatives of a number of diferent institutions, some of whom are often at odds with one another, all gathered together for a common purpose. 

I would greatly appreciate your prayers for us as we host this event which will be a first first for us, and an opportunity to build bridges and develop relationships which may develop into opportunities for many many good things in the future.

-just a quick note, I have a link that is broken, so if you reply to this with the regular links it will not get to me. Please reply to: disciplemaker.28.1920@gmail.com

Rest.

I have been thinking about rest. Rest is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do in our modern, connected, wireless, cell phone, portable, computer, tablet, tv, 24 hr news, and entertainment world.

And yet rest -that is what Sabbath means- is a biblical imperative. It is part of the Ten Commandments. It is practiced by Jesus. "Entering God's rest" is referred to as the fulfillment of God's promises, and a fundamental expression of faith. And it is for our benefit.

Leave aside the argument about the day of the week for a moment, and just think about how hard it is to rest. Rest you mind, rest your burdens, rest your body,cease from working, stop trying, quit thinking about it, and trust God. That is what rest implies. 

Think about food on a day of real rest.

In the ancient world without microwaves and without refrigerators, the people of Israel were commanded to enter into a rest so complete that they only ate cold leftovers on Saturday.  For all if you who have looked at old food through a microscope that would indeed be an act of faith. 

But that way Mom didn't have to cook, she got to rest.

Imagine for a moment a farmer with all the modern conveniences: air conditioned, gps guided, computer grid-mapped tractor, that can plow and plant more in one day than an ancient farmer could do in a year. Quiting at 5 on Friday, and not going back to harvest or plant, till Sunday morning. I know it does happen, but it is an act if faith. Planting and harvesting don't wait, just for a down day. But that is how you actually rest.

If you practice the principle of rest on Sunday - no more Sunday dinners, no more eating out, rest was required of the foreigners, servants and slaves too, just cold leftovers.  No more checking your email on the weekend, no more mowing the lawn on Sunday, no more trips to the fair, theater, air show, concert or sporting event or hunting on the day of rest because the pattern was to stay home,  and rest. No getting caught up on laundry, just resting one day a week.

Rest would require planning ahead. ("Let's see, what tastes good cold, that I can get ready for my day of rest?") Rest would require self-control, not checking your phone, not answering that email. And rest would require being mindfull of your thoughts, to focus on trusting God for the projects at work.

God rested, Jesus rested, the apostles rested. Even in his travels, Paul only went to find the synagogue or prayer meeting on the Sabbath.

For the past two years, I have tried to not do any work related to the church on a day of rest. This is not a hard rule, just a pattern, if there is an emergency, or an exceptional event ok, the rest is for my benefit any way.

As a pastor, I am tempted, to go talk to someone, make a phone call, study for a sermon, or prepare for an event. It is really hard to rest! But a failure to have a pattern of rest says more about my faith in God, than my need for rest.

To not rest- is to admit that God may not get the job done without my help. To not rest, is to put my comfort or pleasure, or manicured lawn above God's instructions. To not rest- is to say that Gods commandments are optional for me, making me the judge.

I am not very successful in my work of striving to rest. Sometimes because I don't plan for it, sometimes because I don't want it. Sometimes because I simply choose to ignore it.

Again, I am not bent out of shape by the details. I am simply interested in the basic pattern of rest. Suprises, emergencies, extra ordinary opportunities, or extended orders, are fine- once in a while. The day is for my benefit after all, not my detailed critical hairsplitting. 

But even that is hard. Even with that generously flexible understanding, my heart is hard, and full of doubt rather than faith in the God of the universe.

Most Christians are tired, most pastors missionaries and church planters are struggling, life is hard, ministry is draining. Most Americans play as hard or harder than they work. And we wonder that depression Stress and fatigue are common. 

God gave us a pattern. Even an imperfect following of that pattern would rest our weary souls, not to mention our weary bodies. After all, it is for our benefit.

Roots must be watered

This week I had an opportunity to visit with family. That is a rare occurrence in my world. We got to talking about the subject of being TCK  (third culture kids). Apparently the fact that I grew up in a tossed salad of cultures, languages and geographies gives me a particular set of likely issues. 

One common area is that of dealing early and often with saying goodbye.  We all do that in our own unique ways, and for me the easiest way to deal with it has been to make the effort to not live in the past, or another location or relationship, but to attempt to be fully present in the moment  and with the people where I am.

This has been a gift, but as I reflected on it, I also realized that it has had the unintended effect of cutting me off unnecessarily from the people in my past. Most people loose track of classmates, neighbors and coworkers after a few years and a few moves. But in today's world that doesn't need to be the case.

Ironically, people in prior generations were often better connected that I seem to be. We have the records of letters sent by mule team, covered wagon, and ships, often taking months to reach their destination. And in them people took the time to share the deep things, along with the mundane. I live in a world where I can write this blog post on my phone and it will automatically be another random update cluttering the inboxes of a few dozen people I have not physically seen, some of them in years.  All of you people who have influence, and have shaped

my life in one way or another.

We have a whole set of letters in the New Testament. Some of them replies to letters from others. Peter, John, James and  Paul took the time to connect deeply with people not just in the abstract of prayer, but in letters and thought, even though they were not physically  present.  They valued the people from the past as well as the present, those distant as well as those present.

Part if the reason I don't write often is that I'm an very present in my location. Be that the church the community or the chaplaincy.  That is good.  But it is no excuse for not keeping you close as well. Don't expect a pony express delivery, but I do appreciate your role in my life, and am going to try to be more consistent in communicating.

What is a marriage?

I am no expert in the social and cultural in's and out's of marriage in history and cultures, but I did just take a tour of Deuteronomy and it's development of the theme of marriage. 

And what stood out to me amid the rules for brides taken in war, and who  can marry in large extended families, was the practical and legitimate role of the physical relationship in defining marriage. Bluntly if you had sex you were married. If one or the other was already married to another it is adultery if neither was married the man was then forced to pay a very high bride price and was married to that woman without ever being allowed to divorce her.

The second thing that stood out to me was that marriage always involved the family. It was a socially recognized situation. A failure to work through the family could also result in huge problems for a man under the law.

Thus marriage can be defined as a man and a woman in a socially recognized relationship, which is binding on both parties, intended to be lasting, and officially sealed upon intercourse.

We live in a day and age when the idea of marriage is under assault. We are arguing about whether of not marriage is designed or just socially convinient arangement, to share property rights with close sexual partners. 

Here is the thing I have had a number of Christians in my acquaintance challenging the idea of marriage. They ask why the government has a role in it in the first place. They want to know why we let the civil authorities define a religious ritual. I have secular acquaintances asking much the same question for very non-religious reasons, but more than that I have the opportunity to counsel with a number of younger couples who are in commited monogamous relationships with the intent to stay together for a lifetime, but no marriage. They are not believes and they actually want to make their already consummated relationship lasting, binding and socially recognized.

The order is backwards but the elements are all there.

Even though our culture and laws have moved away from the idea of a common law spouse that is functionally what I am encountering. And ironically they want the relationship to be defined as a marriage.

The challenge of course is to stay true to Scripture, without going beyond it. And as I counsel with these couples it has become more and more obvious that these young adults who grew up in church and made professions if faith, have no clue about marriage, let alone a Christian one where, submission and sacrificial love become the embodyment of a Gospel which they do not understand. 

One trend that parallels this is the tendency is to have outdoor weddings, not even remotely connected to a church. The ceremony is a joyous formality. They are functionally married already, and they don't see the wedding as a religious but sociall event. So having it in a building they don't go to otherwise makes no sense.  (Not that a church make a wedding more or less valid, there were no weddings in church buildings untill well after the book of Acts, for the simple reason that there were no church buildings but there were still lots of marriages.)

Now the reason for this rambling post: 

Twice in as many months I have found  myself looking across the counseling room at a young woman in tears because she has heared a Biblical definition of marriage not as the mechanics of what order sex and social recognition come in, but how the Gospel fits in. And seen the serious look in the eyes of a yong man who has been asked to embody sacrificial love with a biblical standard that is foreign to him.

I'm not sure where we should stand in regard to state licencing if marriage. So long as I am not forced to affirm or perform a marriage that defies Biblical norms, I am not sure my protest will be very useful,  But I do know that I must be concerned for the Gospel. And that is why marriage maters, because the young people who are comming to me, don't know the gospel, and thus they cannot know a Christian marriage. They are left, as Jesus put it, in the hardness of their hearts, leading all too often to divorce, abuse and bitterness, because no matter when a relationship becomes a marriage, lost people cannot have a Christian marriage.

Which is why we need to speak and clearly live out the gospel in our conversations about marriage- nothing else will truely change the culture or morals of the nation, and nothing else will save these souls from hell.

Wisdom, grace and oportunities

I have an appointment tomorrow to speak to a senior member of local law enforcement. 

Pray that the opportunity would be well used to promote mutual understanding and find ways of mutual encouragement. There are many needs and they have a very tough job.

What is the gospel?

An individual I spoke with recently, told me:

"When you believe in Jesus, and accept him into your life, and do what he says, then you can call yourself a Christian."

While that sounds about as thorough as most gospel presentations I have heared recently, it was the following statement that caught my ear.

"So long as you are sincere and do the right thing, you will be ok.  My wife is Bhudist, and my kids are whatever they want to be when they decide, but I believe in Jesus, I guess." 

I pushed back a bit, I asked at what point  you move from believing in Jesus to belonging to Jesus? Jesus himself said that there would be a lot of people who did a lot of good things, and followed his teachings so to speak, but that at the end he will say he never knew them. So how does a person move from just believing in Jesus, to belonging to Jesus?

He didn't have a good answer right away.

This man grew up in a Southern Baptist church, has made a "profession of faith" and been baptized. 

But does he understand the Gospel?

I had another conversation a while back and an individual told me they were saved becase they had followed the A B C's of the gospel. Admit that you are a sinner, Belive that Jesus is God's Son, and Confes Jesus as Savior and Lord. Again it sounds good, but I have realized that, by that definition Satan is a Christian. He knows he is a sinner, he knows Jesus is God's son and he has already on several occasions been forced to recognized the lordship and authority and salvation made possible by the cross. 

But I know he is not saved.

Another version of the gospel I have heared many times of late is the Mother Theresa argument. Commonly expressed as "I know my Grandma ( or my neighbor, or the lady I ran into in the grocery store)was saved because they are so good, they loved Jesus, they prayed a lot, they helped people, they countered the evil in the world, they made the world a better place." The problem is that moral behavior is required of us in the first place. Some if the most powerful, good and spiritual things, like driving out demons, and  prophesying in Jesus name,  merit people an "I never knew you" and "Be gone you workers of lawlessness."

And try as you might, there is no sinners prayer in the Bible which, as if by magical incantation, automatically makes whoever recites it "saved." The same goes for dunking an unconverted sinner and calling it baptism.

So what is the Gospel?

Jesus summarizes it as "Repentance unto faith for the forgiveness of sins."

Repentance is a richly loaded biblical term, with many layers of Biblical background, but fundamentally it means a change of mind resulting in a change of life. It involves confession, abandoning sin, contrition, and a genuine recognition of sin and unworthiness. 

It is not about becoming good, it is about learning to see and recognize and hate our sin and the rightfully deserved damnation that results from our willing participation in it.

Faith again has a tremendous amount of Biblical background, and only a very careful  study will begin to reveal how much there is packed into this word. But essentially it boils down to absolute dependent obedience. It is the kind of trust in somone that does what they say, with complete confidence merely on the strength of who they are. Faith is both the fierce grasping of a drowning man, and the simple face value acceptance of a child. And at the same time a thing that can be measured objectively by seeing how a person's life matches up with the instructions of the one they claim to trust. 

Faith involves both submission, and utter loyalty, because faith recognizes that in our own strength, we can be moral (to a point) but not righteous, that our best and most generous acts are totally offensive and disgusting, and that even a total domination by sheer force of will such that we never consciously break another law of God would only serve to condemn us for our current and previous sins, as an acnowledgent that we were wrong to do them.

Jesus says that his work on the cross, when combined with genuine repentance, and sincere faith leads by entrance into a covenant relationship of creature to creator, slave to rightful master, child to firm but loving father with God to the forgiveness of Sins, reconciliation of the relationship, redemption from our sin, sanctification of life and purpose, through granting us HIS righteousness.

It isn't so much that the gospel is complicated, but that it is rich. Not so much that it is difficult as that it is deep. And while almost any sinner, can be taught to mimic the actions and words of the Gospel, only God can transform the heart of stone to make the Gospel truths ring true in the human heart.

And that of course is where we  come back to the pivot point where you don't just know about Jesus, but belong to him. When our repentance is not just formal or technical but richly personal, then we can see the work of the Spirit in our hearts leading us to genuine conviction. When our faith moves beyond moralism, and academics to Spirit induced obedience and genuine trust. When we understand that we are forgiven and not merely reformed, and brought back to a dynamic relationship not merely given a clean slate and told to be carefull. It is then, when the work of God is evident in the choices and attitudes and life of a human being that we can be confident that we don't merely know of Jesus, but that we belong to him.

God provides, and the needs are great.

The last few months have been quite a challenge, on several levels. 

One obvious level is that last year we approved a budget at the church that requires us to not spend money we don't have. And the giving was very low. The only place in the budget lage enough to flex with wide income gaps is the salary for the pastor.  

(The church also approved a housing allowance which is fixed, so we can keep paying the mortgage without a hiccup) the result was that we ended up with a huge budget reduction on the home front. Not a crisis so far, but certainly a challenge.  This past Sunday, we had an extra large offering, one which brought us back into a normal budget range for at least one month, God provides.

We also got our one deacon back from an extended ministry absence. And while we may call him a deacon, he actually functions as the primary trusted spiritual caretaker for many of the more mature members of the congregation. It is a huge blessing to have him back among us. But it pointed out the crying need for leaders in our midst. 

Leadership development is not an overnight event, so as we start to work toward developing the innate potential in some of our members, my prayer is that we can hold on long enough to begin to see fruit.

A third challenge is about to kick off in earnest. We have been given a grant to provide parenting training for families in our community, it is a great program, but it will require a lot of effort from members who are in many ways not able to do much anymore, or not able to do much because of how life is working right now. The thing is this program has reached out to the community, and in the last few weeks I have had everyone from child services and county parole officers to pastors and school principles I my building to talk about serving our community. A huge opportunity which I can only trust God to help develop.

Related to huge opportunities I got a call today from a local food distribution team, looking for a place to hold their weekly food distribution program.  They see about 400 people every week, so I am not sure they would even fit, but I am also not sure that it would be wise to get into the handout business at this stage In the game.

Pray for wisdom in knowing when to say "No" and when to leap on opportunity. For exceptional insight into how to mold leaders and  For Gods continued providential supply.

Thanks for your prayers.

A nuclear blast in the modesty of the world.

Modesty is in short supply, as the following video explains -from a viewpoint that hopefully is safer than my own- https://realimprints.org/the-evolution-of-the-bikini/

But the trouble is that the fallout from a Loss of moral equilibrium plays out not just on the level of lust, lust for physical pleasure, or the power over men to reduce them to a lustful idiocy (see proverbs six).

But that a loss of modesty in our world contributes both to the abuse of women, The degradation of men, and ultimately the debauching of the marriage bed in the eyes of all.

Notice not just the defensively sensualized tone of this article (warning some frank discussion including the naming of genetaila). https://www.yahoo.com/style/im-a-submissive-christian-wife-and-my-marriage-114131609033.html?soc_src=unv-sh&soc_trk=fb

But even more the utter bewilderment of the comentary in which so many reject outright the possibility of a mutually beneficial set of role relationships. Let alone that they be exclusive in any way.

As this article outlines to some degree our understanding of this issue, may be one of the defining theological battles of our age. But it is worth fighting.

http://9marks.org/article/complementarianism-as-a-worldview/

There has been unleashed on our landscape a devastation of nuclear proportions - of which swimwear is only an example- an assault on the essence of what it means to be human, and bear our sexuality as before the face of a glorious, good and loving God. Let us faithfully and lovingly point people back to the reality that God has designed. 

The false gospel of the lawless Jesus

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Titus 2:11-15

The grace of God isolated from the law of God is meaningless.  The Law defines what Grace exists to teach us. Self-control, righteousness and godly living and good works are defined by the Law. 

Our need for God's unmerited favor, only makes sense if there is a law which defines righteousness and makes us guilty of sin. 

There is a significant voice in the broader "christian" community that insists that since Jesus brought "grace and truth." (John 1:17) this somehow makes it wrong to proclaim the law. The catch is that the "loving" Jesus, when he proclaims God's grace does so in terms defined by the law: repentance (Matthew 3:2) and "sin no more" (John 8:11). Are terms that only make sense in the context of the law.

Jesus himself said very plainly that rejecting the law, "lawlessness", is grounds for being condemned, even when doing great things under the pretense of Jesus' name (Matthew 7:22-23).

In other words, failure to understand the law will lead people to believe in a false Christ, and a false Gospel. One who expects little and only serves to promote human flourishing.

Jesus himself said that he did not come to abolish the law but to bring it to it's fullness (Matthew 5:17-19). 

Therefore any time there is a perceived conflict between the Law and Grace, what is at stake is the Gospel itself.  God's Grace is the means by which God writes the Law on our hearts,(Jeremiah 31:33).

To teach the Law without grace, as if righteousness were by works (Romans 9:31-32) is a failure to understand faith, where a person is believed to attain to the standards of the law by merit not grace, and the failure to understand that the law points us to the righteousness that Grace equips us for, misconstrues both the law and grace.

A god with no expectations, a god with no demands of righteous living, and a god who does not expect even demand holiness- is a god of lawlessness.  A God who labours in us and through us to fulfill the law by his strength equipping us to obey, (Philippians 2:13) now that is  God of grace!

A God we can only understand, by letting his word (the law) dwell richly in us, (Colossians 3:16) so that we may be blessed as we do it (James 1 and Psalm 1).

Hang on!!!!

"Cough, Cough, Cough, . . .  Daddy!"  "Cough, Cough, Cough . . . Mommy!"

"Pink eye."

"Pastor, can you attend a meeting to help a family in town?"  "Pastor, can you arrange a meeting to work on helping parents and families?" "Pastor, what is the plan for the ESL class? . . . VBS? . . . youth retreat?

When can I get Baptized?

A few words to summarize the last few weeks.

Judging from the schedule, the last few weeks may be relatively tranquil.  I have Chaplaincy travels coming up, and a dozen or more projects that are developing in the community.

But the one thing that is constant at this point is change.

And change, no matter how good it is is hard.

Please pray for us in the coming months as we are going to have some hard conversations about what we can and cannot do with the people we currently have.

Pray for our newest believers that I would be able to get them grounded in solid discipleship principles, to keep them changing in positive growth.

Pray for us to make deep personal connections with our community.


Thanks!

God is still necessary

I have been thinking a bit on how to express the simple idea that we live in a world that hasn't changed much since Genesis.

We live in a country  where what is common to our culture is not overt paganism, idol worship on the literal sense but where humanism is the deaf to religion of the masses.

Two things I ran across recently got me thinking more about this.  The fundamental goal of most people around me today is some type of human flourishing. With the human experience and perspective as the main definition of success. God is unnecessary.

The theology of the unnecessary God, is rampant in most of the secular world and just under the surface in the church.

Consider this video about a brave young man who had the courage to do something about the bullying he faces by engaging in positive self - assertion an expression. It is a grate story! It will make you proud of this young man for his courage and commitment to help others, but notice also this God is not necessary to this narrative.

http://new.damn.com/bullies-picked-everyday-started-one-simple-thing-turn-around/

It is a great story. But it is empty.

Or consider this one about how the new atheist culture hasn't turned out to be a total mortal collapse. That in fact Killeen raised in non- religious homes are actually better people.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0115-zuckerman-secular-parenting-20150115-story.html

Again, God seems to be unnecessary. 

But here is the catch neither one of these stories gets to the heart of the human condition.  We are  possibly better people because we rise above our circumstances and have a positive influence n the world, but we are still lost.  And ironically being so people centered that we develop better empathy and the ability to genuinely care for others despite our differences distorts the actual problem that the Gospel addresses.

The Bible tells us plainly that the law of God, is written on our hearts, and that to the degree which we honor I we will have a clean conscience to defend us even before God (Rom 2:14-15). But that isn't our problem. Our problem is not how to reform sinners, repentance is necessary, but our problem isn't how to make people nice to one another, it is how to be reconciled to God.  A church goer who measures the success of their faith merely by their conformity to a moral code misses the point just as much as a pagan who points out that they don't need God to have a moral code.

We need to be carefull to define the fact that unless we are made God's people and set apart for him, by him, then we are lost and all our righteousness is a stench in God's nostrils precicely because we have found God to be unnecessary.

Too much of a good thing?

Those who know me well, will understand that I have rarely ever had a strict focus on one project at a time. The one exception has been military training where I was able to do just one thing (and got very good scores as a result). 

The difficulty of course is knowing where the limits of effectiveness are. Right now I am doing military duty, subbing in the school district, ministering to a number of needy families, raising a family and all I the multiple levels of duties for a small church. It is plenty to keep me moving from dawn till dusk.

This week I was confronted by an opportunity. There is a community partnership developing around helping the youth of this community, linking several programs to the public school and providing resources for at risk teens. Our school runs over 50% on the free or reduced lunch program. 40% is sort if the bench mark for at risk schools, we have an abismal graduation rate, and an even lower college graduation rate.  

So I have been asked if our church can be a part if this cooperative, partnership, with the community providing help to the most at risk members of the community.

Here is the catch, I don't have enough people. I can't run another program. And yet I have been hoping and praying for this kind of opportunity to get to know and be known in the community, not as a place for the occasional handout, but as a place where the gospel motivates us to help people to genuine deep transformation.

If the grant proposal comes through, there would even be start up money that we could use to supply the after-school programs we have been dreaming about and potentially the parent and ESL programs as well, but it all takes man power. 

The oportunities as everywhere and that is a good thing, if I take them all without a significant distribution of the load, that will be too much of a good thing.  I need a few more people who want to do things with me, not for me, or for them but together for the glory of God an the good of his people.

As Jesus said, what is missing is workers.   

Right now the fields around us are white with snow, but also abundantly ready for harvest.  

Please pray The Lord of the harvest would send us laborers.