Spurgeon's The Man!!

I want to be more like Spurgeon. If only the church would have listened to this. Things would be much different today. Take 6 minutes and let this hit you where you are.

All About Jesus

In recent weeks a revelation has hit me. All of Scripture is about Christ. Now before you say "amen" take a moment and think. What is the first thing you look for or ask when reading scripture? For most the answer is self. We look for the application or the meaning for us. What it teaches about God is usually a distant 2nd. Not only do we look for how the scripture is for us but we look specifically for the positive application not he negative.

As a minister I can definitely say much repenting has been taking place in my life. For years the first thing I looked for in sermon prep was the application for me and my audience; always looking to make me and the congregation "feel" better about our plight. What a load of garbage!!!

Scripture...from Genesis to Revelation...is all about Jesus Christ! It is all about His glory, nature and character. It is not about me and my preaching, praying and teaching should reflect that.

Now don't misunderstand me. I believe there is much to be applied from scripture but I thinkt he application will change when we start looking at it from the standpoint that its all about Jesus.

Just a thought for today.

The Bible and Parenting

I am preparing to speak at a church this Friday night to the men's ministry group and their wives. I wasn't given a topic so that means I am going to hit them with the truth that men and women in our churches are not living up to the expectations that the Bible places upon them. I will discuss multi-generational faithfulness. I will hit them with the idea that it is the parents job; not the youth pastors or Sunday school teachers; to disciple their children.

Basically I will speak about all the stuff that has caused some people and pastors to look at me funny or even label me as a man "on the other side of the spectrum."

But today I was looking at the most recent copy of the Christian Index. On page 18 there is an interesting article about the role of faith in parenting. What gets revealed is that men and women who claim to be Christian have no idea what the bible says about the role of the parent. When the 1200 people where asked what mattered most; being godly or having faith was only mentioned by 9% of the people. However, 77% of those interviewed identify themselves as Christians.

Why oh why are we so focused on the world? Revival and awakening will never happen in our churches until it first happens in our homes!!! Until we understand that the fall-away rate of our youth and the abscense of the 20-somethings is directly related to the lack of good biblical parenting things will never change.

Coffee House or Church

I am amazed by the ironic sometimes. Some might find it to be a surprise but I have some friends in ministry that I completely disagree with on certain things. One of the major differences is the methodology of church. Now don't get me wrong I don't care what building a church meets in because its just a building. I don't care what type of music is used during worship. I don't care how long we sing or pray or preach because the Spirit will lead in different ways. I don't care if you have "Baptist" in the church name or if you want to be non-denominational.

But here is some irony I have come across in recent months that just blows my mind. In this new church movement statements like "authentic", "genuine", and "real" keep getting thrown around in mission, vision, and value statements. The leadership in these churches (many lead by friends of mine)are directly or at least indirectly saying that their church is different and like no other. As a matter of fact some friends of mine are assuming that within their methods they are capturing the bare essentials of the true church found in Acts. But again we must notice the ironic.

Isn't if funny that these "new" churches are all using the same catch phrases (real, authentic, genuine)? How come everyone of them has to incorporate coffee in their plans? One friend of mine in Tennessee has a church that bought a building (an old Movie Gallery) that is right next to their church and they are putting in a coffee house. How come true or real worship in these "new" churches has to be played with a guitar? Let me point this out just in case you missed it. All these churches that claim to be different from all the rest are just like each other. Irony at its finest.

Just a thought I had today.