Giving "Thoughts"

It all starts with us just giving a thought. Thinking. Thanks is just a thought away, but how often do we truly stop and think about how blessed and how rich we truly are?

(1 Thessalonians 5:18) In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

(Psalms 147:1) Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.


May the days ahead bring moments of pause. May we realize the time is right for us to give thanks and to offer praise unto our God. I am grateful for the family that God has so richly blessed me with, and the opportunities I have to see life with them daily. I am thankful for the friends that God brings into my life to challenge me, build me, and encourage me. I am so blessed to have a purpose in my life and to be in this vocation to which God has called me. I am thankful for those in my church that I get the great opportunity to share my worship with and God's precious Word. I am a blessed man!

My prayer is that we might not be that generation that is thankless and ungrateful. I pray that we would truly give a thought to our thanks. Think about what you have to be thankful for and praise the One from whom all blessings flow.

(Ephesians 3:20, 21) Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

He does more than we can even imagine. He is more than we can imagine. So, in those things of life that we actually do observe let us then not be remiss to thank Him, and as well, for the things beyond our comprehension. Give thanks! Think about it. Give thought to a thankful heart and a thankful word.

An Interjection for the Global Trends Report

I wanted to inject this as I came across this today. Apparently the NIC has put out an intelligence report and they just finished their predictions for our status as America in the international community through to the year 2025. You really need to read some of the bullet points, especially pages iv,92, and 105. I tell you, we are getting closer to the Lord's return by the minute! Keep looking up, Amen! Click on the hyperlink above or go to the following if your computer has trouble:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/21_11_08_2025_Global_Trends_Final_Report.pdf

See it through the eyes of one who knows that Christ is returning and that the book of revelation reveals a weakening of countries and a unifying of nations. Notice how Russia and China are gaining power and that the US is weakening in the realm of international dominance. So much is happening and the time is drawing near. I just wonder if we as Christians will be ready and willing to count the cost as our "intolerant" approach to international policies will be questioned and brought to bear in political, judicial, and civil settings? We are truly seeing the Global Trends fulfill a God given revelation.

This thing called "Ministry" (Part 2)

Last week I began a thought that came to my mind one day while sitting here in my office and thinking, "What is this thing called Ministry?" I know what I think it is and after being involved with ministry for nearly all of my life, I guess I can imagine it, but what do we find in Scripture? So, as I was reading through 1 Corinthians I came across some things that stuck out to me regarding "This thing called Ministry."

In 1 Corinthians 4:1, 2 Paul makes this statement:
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. (NASB)

The King James translates the word "servants" here as "ministers" in verse one. The word "faithful" in verse 2 of the KJV is here translated "trustworthy." As servants/ministers, we have been given some great responsibilities. Paul notes a few of these.

First he speaks of the mysteries of God. The things that God has revealed and disclosed to the world. The means of this disclosure in now understood primarily as through His Word. We have been given stewardship, guardianship, or custody for safe keeping and proliferation of these mysteries.

Then Paul goes further to announce a characteristic of these stewards, trustworthy/faithful. So, what is this thing called ministry? It is stewardship of the mysteries of God as faithful and trustworthy in character.

How are we doing today? As I see it many are sacrificing the integrity and richness of God's revelation on the alter of self preservation or self proliferation. They are blinding their people to the fullness of God's Word in order to embellish their program models and marketing tactics. Many pastors have become enamored more with building the castle walls than establishing truth as its foundation. They are doing away with honest exploration in exchange for the pragmatic and modernistic approach to the mysteries of God.

I have a duty that Paul later explains more fully to another minster of the Gospel, Timothy.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
(2 Timothy 3:14-4:4)

This thing called ministry is me guarding against the temptation of my humanity to be liked and applauded rather than being honest and truthful. It is to be a steward of that truth, to proclaim it as truth, and not to mingle it with acceptable rhetoric. It is my duty as a minister of the truth to stand for it and uphold it. I don't necessarily have to defend it, but I do need to proclaim it and stand upon it. I am its steward! I am the one responsible to teach it and commit it to other faithful men. It is part of my calling, part of my duty, and part of my responsibility as a Minister in this thing called Ministry.

Don't get caught in the trap of excusing the Bible or placating it to a realm of anemic potency. Faithfully proclaim it from your pulpit and live it before your audience. Don't make up justification for your lack of study or preparation to tackle the tough questions or deal with the difficult issues. It is your job to minister the mysteries. Take it serious and own up to your vocation. Be the proclaimer, the preacher, the mouthpiece God has called you to be.

This thing called "Ministry"

Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Recently I was again going through the book of 1 Corinthians in my personal time with God. As I came to this book I was somehow struck by the idea of what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:12, where Paul writes, "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;".

Could Paul actually be glad that He was in the ministry and having to write the kind of book he wrote to such a church as he found in Corinth? So I began to go back through the book and take note of how Paul "ministered." What areas Paul used "ministry." Asking myself, "What is this thing called 'ministry?'" Now, there are many things I have probably missed and I am not intending this to become a novel or exercise in some great spiritual study, but it is a bit interesting to pick out some things and I hope you will continue to see what Scripture alludes to as the "ministry" to which Christ has called us.

The first passage of note to me was found in 1 Corinthians 3:9-10, "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. (10) According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it."

Paul points out that our ministry is one of co-laboring and establishment of the foundation of Christ. Remember Paul is dealing with a schism that is threatening the church. The issue revolved around clicks.

"I am of Apollos!"
"Well, I am of Paul."
"Humph, I am of Cephas!"
"You are just not as spiritual as I for I am of Christ!"

Paul reminds his readers that each of these men that they are looking to, even Christ Himself, is co-laboring for the cause. The challenge I received from this as a "co-laborer" is that my competition is not with those men who are working in God's field, but with the one who wants to destroy the souls of man, the devil.

The church is God's building, the field where He wishes to establish His church and the tower of truth for the world to see Christ. We are working together in this "ministry" that God has so graciously called us to so that construction and not destruction can take place. Ministry is not competition but participation.

One disclaimer here that I guess needs to be added is that I do not believe in an ecumenical approach however. For the foundation must be sure and if our Gospel is hid it is hid to those that are lost. I will not align with those who wish to change or distort the foundation, Christ. I will work, however, with any man who wishes to hold to the integrity of truth and the validity of God's inerrant Word.

Let's not forget that this thing called ministry is one of cooperation. In my first ministry I felt the strain of competition. With "good" churches all around you the sense of being a sheep stealer or a member grabber was always pervasive. You knew that if one of your members had an issue they could just show up at "Brother So-n-So's" church next Sunday and you were none the wiser. Churches merely rotated members and pastors neither sought nor encouraged restoration or resolution before accepting those strays. We are co-laborers. Since coming to Madison, I have had the great opportunity to meet some men who are striving to start and build churches in and around this city. It has been great to hear how they are seeking ways to promote all the churches that preach the Gospel in this town. God will increase our fold as we demonstrate a working love for the body of Christ. When we realize that God has each one of us with strengths and abilities that will reach some while another church across town perhaps will be better equipped to reach others. One sows, another waters, and perhaps we will have opportunity to even see the reaping, but ultimately it is God that brings the increase.

This thing called ministry is the body of Christ working as a body to accomplish locally and collectively what God has left us here to do. May God teach us to stand together and accomplish more together by praying for one another, encouraging one another, and promoting one another. Let's quit being on the defensive or offensive amongst our own, but let's stand against the one who truly wants to hinder and destroy our ministries, satan!

The Majority Wins!

Today we awake to the strange awareness that our country was not the same as it was last night. News has filled the air waves that our country has elected, chosen, and empowered its next Executive, Commander-in-Chief, and Leader of the "Free World." But somehow, in a corner of my mind and heart, I wonder if somehow we are getting a glimpse of the beginning of ends.

I am not a doomsday specialist, nor am I a poor looser. I am aware, however, that Christ is going to be returning. He is going to come back to a world that Scripture alerts us to. The Bible makes us aware that these end times will see sin as overwhelming and acceptable. Nations will be at war, pestilence and famines will be heard of from places where it apparently was not accustomed. We know that a man, an individual will arise to capture the hearts, minds, and ideals of the world.

Now, I am not, again...I am not....saying that Barack Obama is the ONE, but it is amazing that he is being described as a child of the world, a person whose identity has excited Africa and Jakarta. Muslim nations and now our pantheistic, pluralistic, post-modernistic society have found him acceptable. If this man can do that, imagine what it will be like to see "that one" do the same.

My only concern right now is what will the next four years reveal? We are facing strong currents against morality, or as some of the talk show hosts call it, ideological stands. Homosexuality, Abortion, and even the definition of marriage have taken back seats because our greed, materialism and self-promotion caused us to face the consequences with depressing magnitudes.

So, we have spoken. As a nation, one that is ever evolving, we have spoken. We have declared our wishes. We want "change." But what is that change and what will it look like in four years?

As a pastor, husband, father, and mostly, as a Christian man, I know we are in for some dire straights. For the first time that I can remember, a group of people who have adopted a debauched lifestyle were singled out in an acceptance speech by the next president of our country. What group is next?

We have our work cut out for us. As a pastor in one of the most liberal cities in our union, I have my work cut out for me. I live in the belly of Babylon, Rome, and Corinth. But I also know that God did a work even in those cities. May we as His people, the ones HE chose, redeemed, and saved, may we stand firm upon the integrity and solidarity of the Truth... The Word of God! May we pray for our president. May we pray for these newly elected officials and "leaders." May we honor those in authority and not get caught up in blasting the men, but instead let us expose the corruption of sin and lead people to see that God does still have an opinion. May we uphold the truth not as daggers, but as light. May the Light of His glorious Gospel shine forth through our churches and homes even brighter today.