Let me say a few words at the beginning of this post to establish context.  First, to know me at all is to know that I am passionate about the significance of Sunday as the Lord’s Day.  I believe that God gave us this day by design as a good and sufficient test of who we really are in relationship to Him.  I believe that the Lord’s Day includes the entire day and that the worship of God is to begin and to end the day with the public worship of God leading into and followed by the private worship of God.  I am a Puritan in this regard.  I believe that the onus of responsibility for not observing the Lord’s Day in this way falls on those who don’t do it this way who must somehow justify choices and actions biblically.  I am so strongly attached to the Lord’s Day as a reliable test of faithfulness that I do not want elders and deacons who are not devoted to the active involvement in worship and study on the Lord’s Day.  So that is first.  Second, I love sports of all kinds.  I am an avid football and golf fan.  Love me some basketball and would love to understand soccer and hockey.  Baseball, well; much too slow for me and too boring.  But I will watch it in a pinch.  So, I am not aganist sports.  I love to see athletes showing their gifts in the sports in which they are trained.  Third, I believe that everything that happens must be understood from the perspective of the active expression of the presence or absence of the glory of God.  I am alwasy asking about every event and activity both inside and outside the church, “how does this event honor God and advance the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ?’  Some secular events do that more than some so-called sacred events.  So with these three contexts established let me talk about two things that have been on my mind recently.

First, the ironman competition in Augusta.  I read with interest the long list of names posted in the paper on Monday.  No, I did not read every name but it was a long list and I read about all the positive things that were said about it but nobody answered my question, “why did it have to be on the Lord’s Day?  Why couldn’t it have been held on Saturday?”  I think I know the answer to that question because Saturday is a day of worship across the South and nobody would try to take people from the sacred spaces from Columbia to Clemson or from Athens to Atlanta.  So that left only Sunday.  But who protested?  Who raised issues about it being on Sunday?  I didn’t hear any and Ididn’t raise any.  Why?  Because we have been lulled to sleep by a culture that is captured by the allure of the athletic.  The worship of the human body on the Lord’s Day seems a bit pagan to me but nobody seems to mind any more.  It is just the way things are.  But it bothered me.  Still does. 

Second, EBA and Burke County Football.  I am so proud of these young men and there untarnished records but I have two huge concerns.  Who among them is telling them that this is just a game and at the end of the day it is not an issue of ultimate importance?  Who among the coaching staffs is communicating that love for Jesus and His church is far more important than a game?  Who among them is saying to the student-athletes on Wednesday afternoon, “what we are doing here pales in importance in relationship to your being in church tonight; so we are going to cut practice short on Wednesday so that you can learn what is really important.”  We would consider a coach like that a fool; Jesus would call him wise.  Many professing Christian men would be the first at the coach’s door to complain, “how do you think we are going to win if you keep cutting practice short on Wednesday night?”  It bothers me when we just give Wednesday night to the world and say nothing.  We even play football games now on Wednesday and nobody says a word.  Not one single word.  We justify it, “well, at least it is not Sunday.”  But that is coming sooner than we know.  And what will we say then?  The same thing we are saying now, absolutely nothing.  Why?  Because our Christianity is so cultural that we would rather conform to the crowd than to risk the boos from others if we stand against them.

I would feel better about the whole thing if I knew that those who teach our athletes in all of our schools were unequivocal in communicating that what happnes on Friday night is a wonderful game but has no ultimate significance.  Fun to play and fun to win but at the end of the day it has no real significance in the matter of things eternal.  Oh, the day will come sooner than we think when many will show up at church on Sunday morning and dash out as soon as possible to make it in time for the Sunday afternoon sports event at the local school.  It is bad now. Pray that this day described above does not come.

 

 Jesus in the Jewish Festivals [36:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Leviticus 23 [+/-]Leviticus 23 [23:1]The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [2]"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. [3]"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places. [4]"These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. [5]In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover. [6]And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. [7]On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. [8]But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work." [9]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [10]"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, [11]and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. [12]And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. [13]And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. [14]And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. [15]"You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. [16]You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD. [17]You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD. [18]And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [19]And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. [20]And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. [21]And you shall make proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. [22]"And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God." [23]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [24]"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. [25]You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD." [26]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [27]"Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD. [28]And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. [29]For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. [30]And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. [31]You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. [32]It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath." [33]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [34]"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD. [35]On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. [36]For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. [37]"These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, [38]besides the LORD's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD. [39]"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. [40]And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. [41]You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. [42]You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, [43]that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." [44]Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD. (ESV)

Murray Tilles of Light of Messiah Ministries in metro Atlanta visited us on this eve of Yom Kappur, to share with us more about the holidays that Jesus celebrated, being a Jew. This message really brings light the picture of Christ seen in the 9 Jewish Festivals, and also with an encouraging message to remember to continue reaching out to God’s chosen people.

form Light of Messiah’s website

“Why did God command the children of Israel to blow the shofar (the ram’s horn)? What is the scapegoat all about in Yom Kippur? Why did God command the Israelites to live in booths for seven days at the Feast of Tabernacles? What does it all mean to us as believers in Jesus? Learn how God was revealing the message of salvation through these beautiful holidays from the book of Leviticus. Yes, Leviticus can be interesting if you understand it.

The “Jesus in the Jewish Festivals” service will reveal God’s purpose in commanding Israel to celebrate the Feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. You will see not only the history of these beautiful festivals and how Jesus celebrated each of these festivals. You will also see how God’s plan for the world to be saved through Jesus is foreshadowed in each of these holidays.”

 

 Cecil McCollum's Memorial Service [55:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Cecil McCollum was a friend and brother to so many people, and even in the midst of pain and suffering, he continued to lift high the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He also continued to encourage others, without complaining.

This is the memorial service for Cecil, please listen, and enjoy, and be encouraged!

There is an obituary and place to leave condolences, or perhaps encouraging message’s about brother Cecil

http://www.chanceandhydrick.com/2009/09/cecil-e-mccollum-sr/

Perhaps no preacher or writer of the seventeenth century left a larger legacy than John Owen.  No subject upon which any preacher can preach has not been addressed in some way by Owen, and I would argue that sermon preparation and sermon delivery always leaves something out if we come to the pulpit not having consulted Owen.  I feel that way, of course, about Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin as well.  But John Owen is special in every way  Now make no mistake about it:  unless you read and abridged version of his writings, you are going to find yourself in for some tough texts.  Owen has never seen a paragraph that he cannot put into a sentence or a page of writing that he cannot set in a couple of sentences. So sometimes the reader (me) gets to the end of a sentence and has to go back and start over, never without great profit I might add.  One of the most striking things to me about the writings of John Owen is what he says that he knows is truth and assumes taht others know it as well that is so much disputed in our day.  And given that reality, it should not surprise us that so much of what he says is clearly heresy is held by so many in our day as truth to be defended and declared.

Let me give you just one example of this in this blog.  I was reading Owen this morning as he is writing about our salvation by the grace of God alone rooted in the eternal election of God.  He argues that only those who do not know Scripture at all would argue that salvation is rooted in human choice and that God awaits our decision and delights in it when we finally make it!  Owen unashamedly calls such teaching heresy.  We in our day call it biblical.  The Modern American Version (MAV) of the Bible puts us in control of our lives and God exists to service our needs and interests.  We can put him off as long as we want, most often awaiting an announcement of a serious sickness before we get serious about religion.  And we consider it a horrible notion even to consider that God may have handed us over to His judgment before we got to the day of the diagnosis of whatever the illness could be.  What is simply sound biblical teaching in that regard is conidered by readers of the MAV to be an absolute horrible view of God.  Why is that such a horrible view of God?  Because it violates our control of our situation.  It puts us in submission and in subservience to God; whoever heard such a thing?

In this same section of Owen that I was reading this morning he writes very candidly that those who hold to human choice as the chief determining factor in salvation are decieved by the devil.  He doesn’t defend his statement because for him it is simply basic biblical truth.  No writer holds more soundly to the absolute sovereignty of God in all things than John Owen.  He spent so much time pondering Calvary and what it means that he cannot fathom that God would do that to His one and only Son and chance the salvation of sinners.  Owen writes convincingly of what the Bible communicates clearly:  God purchased the salvation of sinners upon the cross, sinners whom God knows by name and for whom Jesus died so that their death died in His death on the cross.  That is so hard for us in our day.  It is hard for me.  As a freedom loving, control centered American who lived too long off the MAV, it is an insult to my intelligence.  But that is as it should be because God has chosen the way that seems foolish to us to make known His wonderful way and work of wisdom.  Get you some Owen and read it.  Stay with it.  It will bless your life.

I believe that Reformed Theology is Biblical Theology.  What the Reformers gave us in the sixteenth century is nothing less than the purity of the Word of God in Theological language in the beautiful doctrines of grace.  Taking a stand, however, on a theological position and calling it biblically right requires caution.  First, we must be clear that it is not the theological position that takes precedent over biblical teaching.  Every theologial system has its flaws and failures even when we cannot see them.  They are the creations of human beings and they are not inerrant.  Only the Bible is inerrant and thus absolute in its Truth statments.  So when I say that Reformed Theology is biblically right I am simply saying that it is a theological system that most accruartely reflects the core communication of Scripture about who God is and how God works in the world.  Second, we must be careful not to communicte that those who do not embrace this system are thus not believers.  That is not true.  I was on my way to Reformed Theology long before I arrived.  I have been all over the lot as a Christian in terms of theological understanding beginning as a dispensationalist fundamentalist travelling through liberalism into a period of simply seeking to listen to Scripture and now content with the basic foundations of Reformed Theology as found in the doctrines of grace.  But I have brothers and sisters who are not where I am but they are my brothers and sisters.  This is so important in the body of Christ so that where we are theologically does not breed arrogance and animosity.

But when is it that you know that you have crossed the line into Reformed Theology?  I would suggest that there are at least three indicators that are connected with anthropology, theology proper and soteriology.  So long as you think that there is in humans a basic goodness that comes from God that is a part of the imago Dei so that we have from birth by God’s design the ability to choose right or wrong, or the ability by nature to choose without any assistance from God to walk in His ways, then you have not crossed the line.  As soon as you acknowlege that there is no goodnessi n us and that we are born depraved before God and can only choose that which is consistent with our nature so that as those who are born into sin, we choose to walk in the way of sin, then you have crossed over toward Reformed Theology.  Secondly, when you argue that our relationship to God is initiated by us and that primarily either out of our intellect or our emotions; you have not crossed over.  But when you begin to argue that our relationship with God begins with His initiative, then you have come into Calvinism whether you use the name or not.  You are affriming the sovereignty of God and His absolute inititative in your salvation.  Thirdly, when you argue that your salvation was by your will alone, that you just one day made a conscious, rational choice to obey God; you have not crossed over.  But when you begin to argue that your choice to commit your life to Christ was due to God doing something in your life that you could not explain so that there came a moment when you committed your life to Christ becuase of the work of His grace in your life, you have crossed over.  You have begun to creep toward Calvinism while not knowing that you are doing so.

I am convinced that there are far more Calvinists than admit that there are Calvinists.  Can I give you a little test here?  Ready.  Answer these three questions:  Are you a sinner by nautre who has no desire for God or are you a basically good person who from childhood has known taht you needed to choose God?  Number two:  were you saved by God’s grace through faith by the Gospel or did you simply choose one Sunday for no reason except it was as good a day as any to give your life to Jesus?  Number three:  Is there evidence in your life that God is at work both in callling you and consecrating you or are you just working hard every day hoping that you are going to make it to heaven in the end, knowing that you could be saved today and lost tomorrow because just as getting saved was your choice, it is logically necessary that staying saved is the same?  How did you do?  If you answered yes to the first part of each question above, sit down now and take a deep breath:  you are a Calvinist but if you answered yes to the second part of each question, well you are not.  And if you answered yes on the first part on some but not on all, well you are just confused.  Come to think of it, that may be the most common theological perspective that I encounter.

Most of you who know me know that I came to the teachings of reformed theology through the back door.  I am so glad that it happened that way.  Whenever I hear people demeaning or dismissing reformed theology more commonly known as Calvinism, I am both puzzled and perturbed.  I arrived at this position through a very simple process.  I began to read and study the Bible as the inerrant, infallible and fully sufficient Word of God.  I did not over fifteen years ago now take those words lightly and I do not now.  I staked my life and ministry on the truth of those words.  Such a stance for me required that I have super solid ground underneath each of those terms.  I had spent many years as a liberal who loved the Bible enough to learn it in Greek and to read it in Greek every day.  I still do that.  And it was that reading of the Greek text that eventually showed me how ludicrous liberalism is.  The Bible kept showing itself to me over and over again that it is inerrant, infallible, and fully sufficient.  The words kept making plain that there are no mistakes.  I kept looking for those textual variants that would blow up the Bible but I could not find them.  The texts of Scritpure kept showing me that they do not mislead but that they teach us truth that is absolute.  I kept searching for those contradictions and could come up with none that were not made clear by a full-fledged, canonical reading  of the Bible.  And I surely wanted the Bible to fail in being the only source of help that I needed but in my own dark nights of the soul it was not prozac that pulled me through it was the Paslmist walking with me through the valley of the shadow of death.  So, I made what was for me a clear and conscious choice that the Bible is inerrant, infallible and fully sufficient; and I staked my whole ministry on that.  I began to read it and study it that way.  I began to teach and preach it that way.  Some truths began to emerge with crystal clear clarity.

I saw above all that the Bible is the book that comes from God and was given by Him to us as a testimony to His greatness and glory.  What is our salvation except a monumental tribute to the glory and greatness of God.  I began to see from the shadows of the Old Testament and from the fuller light of the New Testament that this God for whom the Bible exists and from whom it came is a God who creates and controls.  He is the sovereign God.  I began to see alongside this that two of the greatest myths made up by mankind and manifest as “truth” among most of us are the myths of absolute human freedom and total human control.  The simple version of this sinister way of seeing life is that we are free to choose whatever we want and we are in complete control of our lives.  Tell that to Cyrus of Persia or go ask Saul of  Tarsus, our just dip anywhere in the Bible and see if the Bible leads you to that conclusion.  I can challenge you to do that because I know that it won’t.  You may come to that conclusion because what you beleive about what the Bible says is more powerful in your life than the plain truth of the Bible, but you will not get that from Scripture.  I began to see that my evangelistic methods came from the culture of the church that I had adopted and not from what the Bible teaches.  Invitations to the altar with long and emotionally charged songs to enhance the response are represent a testimony to human pride and against God’s power to save.  I began to see that the Bible teaches that I was born dead in my sins and that the Holy Spirit brought me to life through the preaching of the Gospel and granted me the gifts of repentance and faith in order to turn from my sin to Jesus.  I began to see that I could trust God to work by His Spirit and through His Word to save sinners.  I did not have to play mind or heart games with people.  I just needed to be true to the Word of God and preach the Word of God.  I began to see that God not only calls and chooses for Himself those for whom He sent Jesus to die on the cross so that when Jesus died on the cross He died to purchase the salvation of sinners, but those for whom Jesus paid the price of His blood and saves by His grace He will keep by His Spirit as He gives them all that is needed to perservere in faithfulness to Him during the entirety of their pilgrimage in this life.  I began to see and to speak what the Reformers of the sixteenth century called “the doctrines of grace.”  They are simply the theological truths that are the heart of the canon.  That’s all.  It was only after reading and studying and preaching this way for over a year that somebody gave me a title.  I am ok with wearing the title because I know what it means:  it simply means that by the grace of God and for His glory I am seeking to be faithful to the Word of God.  That was all I was doing before I got the title or the label.

I was at a conerence last year when during a Q and A someone asked, “how does one get to be Reformed or how does one become a Calvinist?”  Alistair Begg responded, “well, you get you a Bible and you read and study it and you become Reformed.”  Everybody laughed.  I thought at first that it was too simplistic and a little bombastic but upon reflection, he is right.  Reformed Theology is right not because of Martin Luther or John Calvin or even Augustine.  It is right because of Paul and Jesus.  It is simply the theology that seeks to express with clarity what they were seeking to show us about the glory of God and the grace of God manifest in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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I. The Identity of Darius, 5:30 and 6:1-2

A. A lot of ambiguity surrounds the exact identity of this king. Most have believed and still do that Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian are the same person. The Babylonian empire gave way to the Medo-Persian empire and it was not uncommon for people to have differing names based upon the culture in which they were involved, e.g. the Hebrew and Babylonian names for Daniel. Thus, it is most likely that Darius and Cyrus are the same person. Read more here! »

I flew back into Atlanta from Moscow on a plane with a significant number of Americans who had been in various parts of the former USSR on mision trips.  We were by no means the majority on the plane but there were a significant number.  There was a team from Alabama and Florida and a good group from Upwards that had been conducting camps in Russia.  I began to ponder on the plane between cat naps and reading what it is that motivates people from the United States to go on these kinds of trips.  Most who go are paying their own way.  Most who go are living in circumstances while on the field that are far removed from our comfort zones from home and most who go are eating foods that they would not dare eat in their home state.  So, what it is that motivates people to go?  There were both young and also old among those who had been on the misson field, and there were those who had been gone a week and others had been away for several weeks.

I concluded that there are at least three motivations that drive us to this kind of work.  Beginning with the least positive and the most unconscious and moving toward the most positive and fully conscious I would offer these three.  First, I think that there is in most believers in America some level of guilt about our lavish lifestyles.  The most poor among us live far better than would be found among two-thirds of the world, and most of us who go on these trips would be considered enormously rich by world monetary standards.  So I think that we go in part out of guilt-appeasement.  My reason for thinking this way emerges simply out of what I hear from people about how much personal benefit is received from these trips and about how lifestyle changes are going to be made upon returning home.  The former is usually captured in pictures and kept in memory and the latter usually fades after a month and is gone altogether after two months.  But it is at least real for a time and makes us think about the way we live.

The second motivation is more positive.  We want to be used of God to make a difference in the lives of  other people.  We have been richly blessed and we want to be a blessing to others.  We go because we want to give.  This motivation is real and rich, and it is increasing in our churches.  In fact, one of the realities that is being increasingly recognized by the IMB of the SBC is that asking people to give and not go is no longer working among people who are under fifty.  It makes no sense to them.  They do not see missions as giving so that others can go.  They see missions as going and doing, sending and sharing.  And the third motivation that is the most positive and powerful of all is that we go as an act of obedience to God.  We go because God has called us to go.

I am so glad that He has called so many out of our church to go.  Is he calling you?

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I. The Identity of Darius, 5:30 and 6:1-2

A. A lot of ambiguity surrounds the exact identity of this king. Most have believed and still do that Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian are the same person. The Babylonian empire gave way to the Medo-Persian empire and it was not uncommon for people to have differing names based upon the culture in which they were involved, e.g. the Hebrew and Babylonian names for Daniel. Thus, it is most likely that Darius and Cyrus are the same person. Read more here! »

 

 The New Day [36:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jeremiah 31:26-­‐40

One  part  has  thirty-­‐nine  books  and  the  other  part  has  twenty-­‐seven.  The  first   part  is  known  as  the  Old  Testament  not  because  it  is  antiquated  and  out  of  date   but  because  it  unfolds  for  us  life  as  it  was  lived  out  under  the  old  covenant.  The   second  part  is  known  as  the  New  Testament  because  it  lays  out  for  us  what  life   looks  like  under  the  new  covenant.  Both  parts  are  necessary.  If  we  have  the  New   Testament  without  the  Old  Testament  we  will  inevitably  make  much  of  ourselves   and  little  of  God  and  reduce  the  cross  of  Jesus  to  a  doctrine  to  be  believed  rather   than  a  reality  that  revolutionizes  all  of  life  for  those  who  do  believe.  If  we  have   the  Old  Testament  apart  from  the  New  Testament  we  will  inevitably  reduce  life  to   a  set  of  rules  and  regulations  to  be  obeyed  rather  than  seeing  that  the  law  of  God   laid  out  in  the  Old  Testament  is  given  to  show  us  the  great  grandeur  of  God  and   the  dreadful  depravity  of  humans  so  as  to  point  us  to  the  only  one  who  can  bring   God  to  us  and  us  to  God  and  that  one  is  the  center  of  all  the  Bible  the  Lord  Jesus   Christ.  Who  He  is  and  what  He  does  is  not  only  proclaimed  in  the  New  Testament   but  also  prophesied  in  the  Old  Testament.  Jesus  said  that  Abraham  saw  His  day   and  was  glad.  Ezekiel  was  shown  what  that  day  would  be  and  was  dominated  by   delight.  Joel  saw  it  and  was  glad.  But  no  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament  saw  it  as   plainly  or  proclaimed  it  as  powerfully  as  Jeremiah. You  hold  in  your  hand  or  have  upon  your  laps  a  Bible  that  has  two  parts.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Well, my two weeks of teaching here in Kiev have come to an end.  I was riding back tonight from Joel in Mary Ellens and in the midst of the fastest taxi ride I have ever had, I thought about what a blessing it is to be here. I do not expect those of you who have never been here to understand or comprehend that. Some of you who  have been here will not be able to comprehend.  But I rode back to the seminary tonight praying for people walking along the sidewalks and living in the buildings that we passed.  I thanked God for giving me this opportunity.  I am always mindful of the church that He has given me that blesses this kind of work.  And I could not do it al all without a wife who loves me and supports me and a church staff that is the absolute best.  Don being who he is, knowing what he knows and doing what he does gives me absolute confidence in how things are being handled back home.  He is the best.  I love him and Mike and all the rest of the gang that God h as allowed me to work with as a part of our staff.

It is hard to leave here.  I mean that.  Getting on the plane in the morning will not take place with a lot of relief and great joy.  Sure I want to come home to a wife whom I love with every fiber of my being and a church that is the best, but this country has captured my heart. These people have become my people and this seminary has become for me a second home. I love being here.  I can’t explain all of that and have no idea what it means but it is as real to me as my fingers typing the keystrokes on this computer keypad.  I have already counted.  It will be a full eight months before I get to come back.  And then I will have the privilege of teaching a new course for the Church Planting Program.  I can hardly wait.

I do come home with the good news that we have been invited by Open Heart Church to do the ESL Camp again and during the exact same week.  So, start praying and planning.  And pray for me that I will have as the Lord wills safe flights and good connections and alertness as I drive from Atlanta to Waynesboro.  I will arrive in Atlanta Lord willing at 4:30 which will be 11:30 at night in the Ukraine.  So I will need a good dose of prayer and caffeine to stay awake on my drive home.  

I have enjoyed blogging each night to the two of you who read the blog.  Thanks for reading.  You have kept me encouraged along the way.  Good night.

It is so amazing me to be able to keep up with people so close to me while I am so far away.  I can email them. I can write this blog and read their responses.  I can facebook them.  And just a few blocks from here I can pick up a phone and call without dialing “1.”  It is incredible.  I suppose that that must be one of the reasons that I can be here for eleven days and feel in many ways as if I have not left home.  I know that feeling very much at home here helps that, but it is still delightful to stay in daily contact with people from this far away.  But there are limitations.  And the limitations are related to the context.

For example, I was just reading some facebook stuff tonight and figured out that somewhere in the last day or two there must have been some big deal in Washington with Obama and that former President Jimmy Carter must figure into this mix.  When I first read it, I thought, “I wander what all that is about . . .” and then I thought about how wonderful it is to be away from all of that and not have to be involved.  Do you know that since leaving America last Monday morning I have not seen a television program, heard a radio broadcast or read an American Newspaper.  One week for some of us without The Truthful Citizen would cause apoplexy and a day with the old Augusta Chronicle would cause us to shake.  But it has been so nice. It has given me yet another thought about another thing I can let go of so as to have more time and energy for things worthy.  But I do not want to waver because I want to stay for a moment on the subject of context.  It makes all the difference.  I had no context for these facebook posts on Carter and Obama so they did not mean a lot to me.

Context is so important when interpreting Scripture.  Someone said some time ago and I cannot remember who it was that a text without a context is a pretext.  Yet, so many believers base what they believe on texts without contexts.  I just taught 1 Corinthians 11-14 [+/-]1 Corinthians 11-14 [11:1]Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. [2]Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. [3]But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. [4]Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, [5]but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. [6]For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. [7]For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. [8]For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. [9]Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. [10]That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. [11]Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; [12]for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. [13]Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? [14]Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, [15]but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. [16]If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. [17]But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. [18]For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, [19]for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. [20]When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. [21]For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. [22]What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. [23]For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24]and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [25]In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26]For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. [27]Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28]Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29]For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. [30]That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. [31]But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. [32]But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. [33]So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another-- [34]if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home--so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. [12:1]Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. [2]You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. [3]Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. [4]Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5]and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6]and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. [7]To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [8]For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [9]to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10]to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11]All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. [12]For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13]For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [14]For the body does not consist of one member but of many. [15]If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [16]And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [17]If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18]But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19]If all were a single member, where would the body be? [20]As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. [21]The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." [22]On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23]and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, [24]which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, [25]that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. [26]If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. [27]Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28]And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. [29]Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30]Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31]But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. [13:1]If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2]And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3]If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. [4]Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5]or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6]it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7]Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [8]Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9]For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10]but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. [11]When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12]For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. [13]So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. [14:1]Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. [2]For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. [3]On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. [4]The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. [5]Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. [6]Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? [7]If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? [8]And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? [9]So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. [10]There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, [11]but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. [12]So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. [13]Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. [14]For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. [15]What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. [16]Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say "Amen" to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? [17]For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. [18]I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. [19]Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. [20]Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. [21]In the Law it is written, "By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord." [22]Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. [23]If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? [24]But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, [25]the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. [26]What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. [27]If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. [28]But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. [29]Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. [30]If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. [31]For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, [32]and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. [33]For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, [34]the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. [35]If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. [36]Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? [37]If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. [38]If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. [39]So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. [40]But all things should be done decently and in order. (ESV)
today where Paul deals with the issue of the women keeping silent in the churches.  What he says in these passages makes perfect sense in context but none at all outside of it.  Paul is establishing biblical order for  the church.  He establishes that the men are to lead the church and they are the ones who are to be the elders and the pastors.  Women have wonderful roles to fill in the church but pastors and elders are not those roles.  Thus, they are not to hold the teaching office or the prophetic office for the church.  And they were apparently in Corinth so Paul has to speak to it not in order to stifle women but to silence them in those places where they are not permitted by the Word of God to serve.  

Context is important in ministry as well.  I am learning more every day that ministry in a Ukrainian context is far different than ministry in an American context.  So much of what is written in our country about what causes growth in a church should be rewritten so that it makes plain that the issues that cause growth in an American context are of no concern in other cultural contexts and then we could ask the real question,”why do American churches need all this physical space for preschoolers and children?  Why do we have to have bathrooms around every bend in the hallways?  Why do we have to have a certain kind of sound and lighting system?”  It may say more about us and our wants and desires than what it takes to grow a church.  Context is critical.

I see them here.  I see them everywhere I go.  We are in the midst of a massive generational shift in the church.  It is rocking every denomination I know and those who refuse to see it and address it will find themselves thrown up by the force of the change upon the rocks where after they recover, all they will have is memories to cherish of how it used to be. I see it here in Kiev where a new generation with a deep passion for Truth is leading the church in a new direction.  But many in the established church do not want to go where they are being taken by this new generation.  They want tradition rather than truth because they believe the truth is the tradition. They want convenience over change because they believe that the way things have been is the way that things ought to be.  They want to hold on to the past while living in the present because they find the focus on the future too uncertain if not too scarry.  But change is coming, let me tell you; and it will leave some denominations bereft of leadership in a few years and let me tell you why?  One of the characteristics of this younger generation is that they care nothing in a good kind of way about what has been and they have little or no attachment to denominational agencies and institutions.  I see it here and I surely see it in our country.

I pray often for Johnny Hunt and Ronnie Floyd and their leadership of the team that is looking at the restructuring of the SBC.  I pray that God would give them great wisdom to move us in the direction that is right no matter what it costs in the turbulence that we must endure over the next few years.  And for me, it means that we have to look at some issues very carefully and very closely. It means that we have to ask about the continued viability of the Baptist Associations and State Conventions. We need one or other or some combination of both that services the needs of the churches, but we do not need both.  One of these needs to go.  The culture out of which these entities came has been long gone, but these fossilized forms have hung on.  In some cases there are Associations that do a great job and justify their existence.  In other cases, they are useless and the support that comes from the churches to support them represents very poor stewardship of the resources that God has given to the church.  Southern Baptists must find a way to connect more closely with the churches so as to recapture the purpose of the convention which is found in the convention serving the church and not the other way around.  I pray for these men who are leading us. They have a tough assignment.  They have to see the storm that we are in and find a way to quell it while not rocking the boat.  Well. this storm will not be quelled that easily and a lot of boats will be rocked in the process. But if the outcome is  a more clear direction and a more efficient entity for getting there then facing the storms and rocking the boats will be worth getting bruised over.

Oh the good news of modern technology. I received via facebook the special music from the Praise Team at FBC Waynesboro that was sung yesterday.  It is so wonderful and such a blessing.  I had this evening my own private time of worship with the Praise Team.  What gifted musicians we are blessed to have. Thanks for sharing the blessing with me.

I taught today for four hours again and today we addressed Paul’s theology of the church.  How did Paul see the church and what did he see as the role of the church?  Try squeezing all of that into four hours. I almost did it.  The students were tired at the end of the day and so was I.  Put in a simple sentence Paul’s perspective on the church is:  the church is the people of God bought with the blood of Jesus called out of the world to gather in worship and for growth in holiness and to scatter for witness to the Gospel and the work of God in the world. I spent four hours today unpacking biblically from Colossians, Ephesians, and Timothy what this text teaches.  Tomorrow we will examine leadership in the church and the role of women in the church. It should be a fun day.

The time is passing fast here.  I miss Anne and my church family but I must tell you that I love this place and her people.  I have never felt quite the way about a place and a people while I am here and even while I am away.  I love Kenya and Liberia; I loved the time that God gave me in Tunisia and the Republic of Georgia but none of them can come close to what I feel when I am here and when I am away.  It is almost like feeling at home when I am here and feeling like I am leaving home when I leave here.  Isn’t that odd?  I took a long walk on Saturday up and down the streets, visiting the markets, buying bananas and a fanta (oh my, the fanta drinks are so much richer here than in the states); and I felt so much at home during the entire walk.  Oh, usually at this point in a trip; I am counting the days until departure, beginning to pack a little luggage, and making sure my passport is in its proper place; but not here.  I can’t and I won’t until Thursday night and I have ti begin the process.  And to be brutally honest, I don’t know what I would do if I did not know sitting here even now that I will be back in May to teach and in the summer with a team and if by God’s grace I get to teach this course again, it meets next September during the same time frame.  

Well, that is all for tonight.  I am preaching in chapel tomorrow.  Time to pray and to study.

Let me take you through a wonderful Lord’s Day in Kiev.  I am back “home” now after being gone all day involved in various activities.  Walk with me through them.  The day began with preparation time for preaching this morning and a wonderful time of prayer. Then it was off to Open Hearts Church.  Now think with me about your attending church today where you are.  How much time did it take you to arrive at the spot and to get parked so as to get inside?  And what was waiting for you inside?  Well, let me tell you what that looks like from this side of the world.  Church begins here at 12:00 noon and runs until near 2 p.m.  BUT arrival at church for most means a ride on the metro after walking to get to a metro stop and then a walk to the church.  I talked to one man earlier this morning who was leaving at 10:30 to arrive in time for church and then had the same routine for his return trip.  So, a 12:00 church service actually begins at 10:30 or so with arrival back home for most an hour or so after the service ends.  But they come and they come with great joy and delight.

Open Hearts Church for those of you who were here this summer has moved locations again.  This is now the third time I have met with the church and each time in a different location.  All of our friends from the camp were present for the most part and it was so much fun for me because there were only three people in the whole congregation whom I did not know. I knew the congregation to which I was preaching:  Sveta, Olga, Alex, Dennis, Rostic, Tonya and Julias all however many there are and Neva and Dave and Toleg and well, you get the picture.  We had  a sweet fellowship after the service and then it was off to lunch to eat ribs (you heard me right) with Joel.  It was Mobley’s in Kiev.  Then we made our way to a nice little coffee shop to meet one of the newer missionaries with IMB and had a long, leisurely conversation about all things Ukrainian.  This all ended around late afternoon and then it was back to Joel and Mary Ellen’s for some more delicious food (I am stuffed as I type, in fact my fingers are so fate that I mighnt make some major miisteaks along the way, oh well), and back to the seminary for the evening.

Another delightful day in Kiev. For you are into all things mundane the weather here is turning Fallish with early darkness and cool mornings, nice; and the first thing I heard when I arrived at church this morning (no joke) was a guy talking about how Georgia beat South Carolina in football.  I was amused because some of you may know that God called me several years ago to a fast in the Fall from football.  I went an entire season without going to a game or turning on the television or radio.  It was more difficult than going without food.  Yet, God showed me an addiction that I had that robbed Him and Anne of precious time.  I am not sure that He is calling me to that this Fall but I have at least determined to stay away from the TV on Saturdays because I am not a guy who can watch a part of a game and leave it; I watch a couple and once and all during the day and evening.  Anyway, here I am in the Ukraine assured that this would not even be a subject of discussion and it is the first thing that I heard when I entered church this morning.  I was all ears.  Go Dawgs.

performed this morning by our Praise Team. Incredible lyrics, enjoy!

This was a great morning of worship with our full praise team, the song you may recognize by Jennie Lee Riddle, and the sermon was preached by Mike Godfrey, our esteemed youth Pastor!

 

 the Blazing Center of the Glory of God [35:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hebrews 1:3 [+/-]Hebrews 1:3 [3]He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (ESV)
& Hebrews 2:8 [+/-]Hebrews 2:8 [8]putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. (ESV)

Youth Pastor Mike Godfrey preached a great sermon this morning on the Glory of God. When you ask, how do I glorify God, Mike turned us back to the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 6:1-5 [+/-]Isaiah 6:1-5 [6:1]In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. [2]Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. [3]And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" [4]And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [5]And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (ESV)
where the Glory of God is spoken of, then pulls us back to Hebrews to see how the author of Hebrews took Psalms 8 [+/-]Psalm 8 [8:1]O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. [2]Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. [3]When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, [4]what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? [5]Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. [6]You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, [7]all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, [8]the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. [9]O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
, and applied it to Christ. Listen in on this exciting and relevant message!

I don’t tweet. I don’t intend to tweet. I have two reasons for not tweeting.  The first is that I do not want people knowing what I am doing every fifteen minutes of the day. What if I decide to take a nap in the middle of the day. Am I bound by tweeter ethics to report that to the public, and what if I don’t; have I entered into sin?  The second is that tweeting tends to be at least to me highly narcissistic behavior.  And that one is important to me because I may be on the border of that with these daily blogs from the Ukraine.  I don’t want to overload the two of you who read these blogs, but I do think it important that you have access to some of what I am doing and it surely feels good to sit in front of the screen and least think that I am talking to people at home.  So, with that said; here goes another one.

One of the treats for me in being here teaching is that I live like a seminary professor for two weeks. I actually have daily contact with other professors who are teaching theology, church history, pastoral care and the one dude who is teaching Hebrew and Greek. Now that is a load.  We eat lunch together every day with some great conversation around the table.  By the way, my meals for today at lunch and dinner have been buckwheat.  I don’t know what it is, but it is good.  I’m glad I like it because I had it twice today with tomatoes and bread.  Anyway before and after class each day, I am in the “office” doing what professors do, and I can assure you that it isn’t taking a nap.  So, I thought I would let you know something about my reading list for these two weeks.

I have just completed a book by Mark Noll, The New Shape of World Christianity. Noll brings brilliant insight to help us toward an understanding of American religious culture and how that culture is having an impact for both good and bad in the larger world.  It is a recent publication that is well worth the reading. I have also just finished a book by one of my heroes from the seventeenth century, John Owen; The Spirit and the Church. Nobody had more keen insight into the Scriptures than the Puritans and none among them more than Owen.  This book has been very helpful to me in learning and growing in my understanding of what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit.  Among other things Owen makes very plain that any understanding of speaking in tongues other than speaking in other languages is simply false to Scripture and from some other source than the Spirit of God.

I am also reading a very good book that was recommended tome some time back by Timothy Kellor, The Reason for God. I will put this book from now on the hands of any and all who want to argue with me from a scientific perspective against the reality of God.  Kellor is a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and does a masterful job in this book.  A brilliantly written book by Deborah Howard called Where is God in all of This? may be the very best book I have ever read on helping believers understand suffering from the perspective of the Word of God.  Howard argues that the biggest mistake we make in America that emerges out of all of live revolving around our self-centered concerns is that we try to understand God through our circumstances rather than understanding our circumstances through what the Bible says about God. She argues that if we knew anything about the spiritual state of things in our country we would look at our suffering and we would never ask, “why me?” We would always ask, “why not me?”  A book by T. David Gordon on preaching called Why Johnny Can’t Preach is one that I will now have as required reading for the class on preaching that I teach.  Gordon comes down hard on seeker sensitive, emergent churches where the sermon is set in the context of audiovisualizeddramatized delivery that leaves little room for the written and spoken word.  He says that we have in America today the very worst preaching that we have ever had.  And he concludes that because it is mostly needs driven topical preaching.  I agree with him.  I want preachers to read this book and to do what it says.  And then I am rereading while here the mammoth book on Paul by Tom Schreiner.  It is such a great book.  But I may have to leave it behind.  I had lunch today with a professor who is teaching a course on Paul and just needs some more books.  I am sensing that God is directing me leave him my Schreiner book.  So pray for me because letting go of books for me, well; let’s just say that leaving my clothes would be no problem, but books.  Tweet, tweet.  I’ll talk atcha later.

The Friday night of the first week of class for the students is pizza consumption and grill the prof night. Joel and Mary Ellen have been doing this from the beginning of the church planting program.  It is always so much fun.  We ride the Maschruka to the apartment, eat homemade pizza and brownies, boy are they good; and then the students just ask me questions that range all the way from family life to how I go about preparing a sermon.  Tonight was very special for me as we spent most of our time talking about the Greek New Testament and how it came to be and how important it is that pastors that are serious about being effective learn the language. It does not take much for me to get passionate about these topics.  One of my sources of frustration in Baptist life is how we let anybody preach without any preparation at all.  It makes a mockery of the ministry and of the minister.  It produces people in pews who have no solid biblical or theological foundation because they are getting nothing but the same sermon in new clothes week after week.  It is a travesty of the Truth of the Word of God and an insult to every pastor who does it the way it should be done.  That is another reason that I love to see what God is doing here because these guys are serious about their calling and their training.

We came back on the wonderful maschruka and then it got really good.  The guys invited me to their room for a watermelon feast.  We bought a watermelon and busted it open.  We ate it and talked theology and biblical texts for another hour.  We were joined by friends from Kahzikstan and the Republic of Georgia.  One guy who joined us has just graduated the seminary and is looking for a church. He is for now working on a construction crew at the seminary.  It was a very good night.  Must get to bed because I get to teach three hours on Saturday morning and then spend the afternoon getting ready to preach on Sunday.  It will be fun to be back in Open Hearts Church on Sunday morning.