Are you a healthy member or a guilty party?

I am reading through a small book called "What is a Healthy Church Member?" by Thabiti Anyabwile and got my highlighter warmed up. Here are a few things that I highlighted:
- "Just as the pastor's preaching agenda should be determined by the meaning of Scripture, so too should the Christian's listening agenda be driven by the meaning of Scripture." p 19
- "When we listen to the preaching of the Word, we should not listen primarily for "practical how-to advice, " though Scripture teaches us about everyday matters. Nor should we listen for messages that bolster our self-esteem or that rouse us to political and social causes. Rather, as members of Christian churches we should listen primarily for the voice and message of God as revealed in his word." p 19-20

I highly recommend this book for every pastor and member of a Christian church. The reason is that I have found there to be a troubling number of people who have become spiritually emaciated at their church. Many people are quick to blame the pastor and leadership for "not feeding" the people of the church. Just as the leaders are to blame, the members are to blame even more-so. The reason I believe this is because too many people willingly trade in Biblical doctrine and truth for feelings of goodwill and warm fuzzies. And before they know it, the Christian sitting in the audience on Sunday morning has become the epitome of 2 Timothy 4:3-4. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires (warm fuzzies), they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (Parenthesis was added by me).
So who's the guilty party? The teacher? Perhaps- especially if the teacher is willingly doing his job to bolster his ego or his checking account. The listener? Absolutely. Paul tells us that those who are at fault are the ones who gather around those who may make them feel good, give them warm fuzzies, or "say what their itching ears want to hear."

This is absolutely commonplace in our church culture in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Example- a recent text exchange between a teenager and a student pastor (true story): "Hey man, where were you at church this morning?" "I was at so-and-so church." "What did he preach about?" "I'm not sure but it was really good." "Okay, well what passage of Scripture did he preach from?" "I don't remember that. I think he read from Matthew and Corinthians and stuff but he mainly speaks from his heart and not the word."

The tragedy is that speaking from the heart and not the Word has become admirable among Christians today. God help us and God help those who have itching ears! And hide me from the temptation to entertain people with itching ears instead of faithfully loving my God and His people through the intentional, Gospel-saturated, proclamation of the Word of God.

So, Christian, are you a healthy member of a congregation who listens for God's voice in the midst of everything that happens on Sunday morning, or are you a member of a guilty party who has itching ears? Think long and hard about your answer. It's really important.

The Power of God

Do you believe that the Gospel is the power of God? This video shows us what that means. This video footage was taken during a missionary's first time to explain the Gospel in the native language of this tribe.



The Gospel is Good News and it is the power of God. Do you believe this?
Romans 1:16-17

My name is Wade Phillips and I like to have a good time

This is good stuff. This is the head football coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

My Boy! Little Warrior!

Yeah, I know. He's cute.

Who do I give to?

Here is a link to a safe organization to send your money if you are looking to help with the situation in Haiti (and I hope you are): http://churcheshelpingchurches.com/
Check them out and pray about how you can help.

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:10

What I didn't mention last Sunday... The Great Flood

Since I forgot to address the issue of archaeology, geology and the historicity of the Great Flood event, I'd like to do that now. The Scriptures were never intended to give scientists a leg to stand on (though in many cases it does!). The original intended audience of Genesis would not have been looking for the same answers that too many of us look for today. So without getting too bogged down in peripheral issues, I will simply say- the Flood is a historical event. It’s simply a fact that this truly happened. It’s interesting that there is Mesopotamian and Babylonian literature that include a story of a great flood. The Mesopotamian story is called the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has many similarities to the story recorded here in Genesis. No doubt oral tradition played its part in the passing down of the different accounts of the Great Flood. The account in Genesis was written by Moses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That makes the book in our hands not just reliable, but also essential to understanding God's purposes for us here on earth. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, a man (named Utnapishtim) built an ark, loaded it with animals, and survived a torrential flood. The story says that he loaded animals in pairs onto the ark (much like the story of Noah).

What is key to recognize is not so much the similarities of the stories, but rather, the differences:

Epic of Gilgamesh:
- Warring gods created the earth.
- Mankind was pretty much an afterthought to the gods.
- The sun and moon and stars are depicted as gods to be worshipped.
- Mankind becomes noisy and rambunctious.
- The gods are annoyed and have a headache so they send a flood to wipe out the noise along with all of mankind.
- The flood got out of control.
- One man escaped their view and survived (much to their dismay). They overlooked a man named Utnapishtim.

The Bible
- A loving God created the heavens and the earth by opening His mouth and speaking them into existence. All that He created was good.
- Mankind becomes God's masterpiece, and it's clear that He loves mankind.
- The sun, moon, and stars, were spoken into existence by a powerful Creator. They are not even mentioned by name, perhaps to point to the fact that they are duds without the power of God to give them light. See Genesis 1:14-19.
- God is not annoyed by the noise of man, but he is grieved by man’s sin.
- God sees that His creation has been ruined by sin and recognizes the need to deal with sin.
- God, in His great wisdom and mercy, watches and sees with his own eyes, a man named Noah. Genesis 6:8.
- God intentionally wipes out all living creatures, except for Noah and his family and a select portion of the animals.
- God's salvation was made known to Noah's family and all flesh through His Word (specific directions given to Noah) and through the wise provision of the ark. Noah's faith was rewarded by deliverance from annihilation.

It's fascinating to think through this story- with all the dynamics at play. How would a righteous and blameless man feel about all that was happening? What about his friends that he must have loved dearly (blameless and righteous people are, by definition, loving)? How many conversations must he have had with God through all this time? What about the conversations he must have had with his wife and his friends? Or conversations with the rhino!

And then you must consider the sheer horror of the event. God essentially drowns all that "had the breath of life in its nostrils." We learn that God cannot simply sweep sin under the rug and avoid dealing with it. The Flood is a picture of humanity gone wrong and God's grieving over the sin of mankind. He is the only one who can save us from what we deserve. Here's video footage taken on December 24, 2004 from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. It gives a slight hint as to how horrific the Great Flood would have been (though clearly the Great Flood would have packed a much greater punch than this Tsunami).

WARNING: This is a very intense video and contains images that some may find disturbing.

I am selfish.

This holiday season has reminded me of many things. Like- a family that loves God is the greatest blessing, traveling non-stop from one place to another is not a blessing, my wife and son are AWESOME, and I am selfish.
CS Lewis wrote about this sickness. He addresses his own selfishness (some call it depravity) with bravery:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love- a scholar's parrot may talk Greek-
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

I was blessed with great food, friends, family, and great memories, but as embarrassing as it is to say, all I keep thinking about is how much money I received for Christmas, how much money I have left to spend, and how much I want stuff.

Anytime I replace God with something else, then I am guilty of idolatry. God save me from myself and open my eyes to see the emptiness of loving the riches of this world.