Places of 2008

Here is a list of all the places I spent at least one night during 2008. My friend Jared Bridges has been doing this for years and I think it is really cool. You can see his lists here.

• Chattanooga, TN
• Orlando, FL
• Oviedo, FL
• Chantilly, VA
• Daytona Beach, FL
• St. Petersburg, FL
• Brandon, FL
• Lexington, KY
• Signal Mountain, TN
  

The Angels Rejoice at Christmas

This is an excerpt from a sermon Martin Luther gave for Christmas. It is included in my church’s Advent Guide. It really struck me because I find my heart very cold at Christmas. It is far too easy for me to just go through the motions of Christmas and not worship the eternal Son who condescended into our time and space as fully God and fully man.

“See what God did in heaven about this birth which the world despised and did not even see and know. The joy was so great that the angels could not stay in heaven, but had to break out and tell man on earth. The angels proclaimed to the shepherds ‘tidings of great joy.’ This is a mighty comfort to us. What the world despised the angels honored. They would have had a much bigger celebration if God had allowed them, but he wished to teach us through his Son to despise the pomp of the world.
All the angels in heaven, not one excepted, sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ What a shame that all men should not preach this word when all the angels in heaven play it on organs and pipes in eternity! The angels had no bigger congregation than two shepherds in a field. They were filled with too great joy for words. And we who hear this message, ‘Behold, I bring you good tidings,’ never feel one spark of joy. I hate myself because when I see him laid in the manger, in the lap of his mother, and hear the angels sing, my heart does not leap into flame. With what good reason should we all despise ourselves that we remain so cold when this word is spoken to us over which all men should dance and leap and burn for joy! We act as though it were a frigid, historical fact that does not smite our hearts, as if someone were merely relating that the sultan had a crown of gold.”

The Good News After the Bad News

The issue of sin is a gloomy one. It is even more so when it becomes apparent that sin is not only an out there issue, but an in here issue. There is Good News, though. God is not unaware of our tremendous need. He knows that are dead, lost, and helpless in our sin, and he has provided the solution in person of Jesus Christ.
God is just. He must punish the sin that seeks to rob him of that which can only be his. God is also merciful. He loves to show mercy. Our sin deserves God’s punishment, but God in his mercy has provided another way. This is through Jesus Christ. It is through what Jesus Christ did and what Jesus Christ promises.
Jesus is God. He is God who took on humanity and lived the sinless life. Jesus was faced with every temptation that we face. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Every issue that you face, Jesus faced. There is no pressure, issue or temptation that you deal with that Jesus has not met head on and been victorious. This is the Good News, because we all struggle with issues that constantly seem to drag us down. We all feel the weight of failure before God. We have all felt unworthy. God knows those issues, and he has overcome them. And that victory can be given to you. Instead of the defeat and weight of failure, we can be credited with Jesus’ victory and freedom.
How? Jesus lived the life we could not live and then died the death we deserved to die. Death on the cross was one of the most horrible manners of death. The pain would be excruciating, slow, and brutal. But the physical pain of the cross was not the worst suffering that Jesus faced. He also faced the full wrath of God, paying the full penalty for sin. The punishment that God demanded for sin was fully paid by Jesus. God’s justice had been satisfied, and those who have faith in Christ stand before God as righteous. But that isn’t all, Jesus did not remain in the grave. In a demonstration of the satisfaction of God’s justice and of Jesus’ victory of his enemies, he rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is the proof of his victory for us. Because of what Jesus did, we can believe in what Jesus promises us. The apostle Paul wrote, “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus’ record of withstanding temptation is given to you through his death and resurrection.
Jesus not only promises us a new record before God, but a new heart. Our heart before Jesus was enslaved to sin. That enslavement has been broken through Christ and he has given us a new heart with new desires. Through Christ our passions are turned so that we long to honor God and enjoy him. We are given the Holy Spirit who empowers and guides our lives. We still live in a world that is dominated by sin and we will continue to feel the affects of sin in our own lives until heaven, but we begin to know the freedom from the bondage of sin.
And the benefit of a new record before God and a new heart for God is added with a new creation. God will completely redeem his world. We will be completely delivered from the power and presence of sin in this world. There will be no more death or pain. Our bodies and souls will be made new and whole. The world will be as it was intended.

Pray for Reform in The Russian Orthodox Church

Alexy II, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church died today. I have spent quite a bit of time in Russia over the years. While I can't say that I "have a heart for Russia," it has been the focus of nearly all my overseas ministry. In my experience I have found Russians to be very spiritual, but very skeptical of the Gospel. Their spirituality stems from 1100 years of Christian influence from the Orthodox Church. Their skepticism of the Gospel is not helped by the bad doctrine of the Orthodox Church. I believe that a Reformation in the Russian Orthodox Church will be key to that great land being reached with the Truth of Jesus Christ. Please pray with me for the Russian Orthodox Church. Pray that a new Patriarch who will turn the church to faith in Christ alone will be installed.

The Bad News Before the Good News

Few people would ever deny the presence of sin in the world. We can all pick up a newspaper and see evil and suffering. In this regard, it is easy to see sin. Sin becomes a little trickier, however, when we turn our gaze from 'out there' to 'in here'. It is much easier to ignore personal sin. It often becomes an issue of comparison. “I never killed anyone.” Sin is easier to see or acknowledge in someone else, usually Hitler.
While we’d like to think that sin is a problem out there, it is in reality a problem in here. We all know the thoughts that we have. We all know the how we often do or say that thing that we don’t really want to do or say. We all know that we have made mistakes. We all know that things are not as they are supposed to be. We have felt sin’s corruption and guilt, even if we would like to dismiss it and think of it only in terms of someone else’s problem.
The basic issue of sin is one of idolatry. It is usually the sin beneath the sin. When God laid out his Ten Commandments, they were done in the pattern of an Ancient Near Eastern treaty. The treaty was a promise by God to man that He would be their God and they would be His people. In the pattern of this treaty, the first command is a general overarching command and the following specific commands expand and explain the general. The first command of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” This first command is that we would love God first. All the other commandments detail the manner in which we are to love God. This is the same way with sin. Our first sin is that we have not loved God. The manner in which we have broken that command is secondary to the fact that we have put something else in the place of God. This is idolatry. We have crafted little idols into which we place our hope, trust and security. We all have turned to idols. The brokenness of the world drives us to idols. The corruption of our heart looks for peace in idols. Our guilt chronicles the pattern of choosing idols throughout our lives. Idolatry is present in all our lives, and it is the underlying issue in each of our hearts.
Now that we’ve come to terms with sin being an 'in here' problem, it is crucial to look at the effects of sin. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus that people are dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1-5). He also wrote to the church in Rome that the result of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We are spiritually dead before God. We stand before him with a guilty record and a corrupt heart in the midst of a broken world. And being dead, there is nothing that you can do about it.
What is your issue? What is your idol? What are you worshipping? The basic message of the Gospel is to turn from your idols and worship the one true God.

A Message about God

There is a God. It is a pretty simple statement with which most people agree. Increasingly, though, people have questioned this most basic of statements. There are many avenues we could look at to try and prove there is a God. But it ultimately boils down to this, there either is or there isn’t a God.
If there is no God, then none of this matters. Really, nothing matters beyond yourself…so if you can get away with something, do it…and enjoy. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die. And that’s it. You live, you die, nothing of consequence happens in between. It may seem consequential to you, but after you’re dead, it is completely inconsequential to you. That, however, probably doesn’t sit with you. You have a sense that there must be something more. But if there is no God, there is nothing more.
But what if there is a God? If there is a God, what is he/she/it like? If there is a God, has he told us anything about himself? The Bible speaks of a God who is there and who has spoken. There is a God. He is a God who is both infinite and personal. He created all things and knows all things.
There are many attributes of God but two speak with great import to our situation. The first is that God is just and requires punishment for sin. The second is that God is merciful and loves to show grace.
God’s justice is tied to the fact that he is holy. Holiness is being set apart, separate, pure, and undefiled. For God to remain holy, he must eradicate anything which would defile him. God’s justice sees sin as a gross offense and seeks to punish and eliminate it. Our sin is a rebellion against God. God will not tolerate a stain on his perfection. His justice demands that sin be punished. “Yet, he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation,” (Exodus 34:7b) and “…for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:8, 9).
The situation is dire for all humans. There is not a one who has not done evil. None of us can escape the wrath of God based on our own goodness. God will justly mete out punishment.
But God is also merciful. God loves to show grace and mercy. God created all people in his image. He loves us. We are made to reflect his goodness and this pleases him. “As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” Ezekiel 33:11. God desires to show us mercy.
These two attributes are not in opposition to each other. It is not that one of these attributes takes a back seat to other. Both are fully realized. God’s justice has been fully realized and his mercy has been and will be fully realized. They do not oppose each other; rather they meet in one specific point. They meet at the Cross.

From the Shoulders of Giants

My friend Eric Parker just released his most recent music project, From the Shoulders of Giants. He has taken some old forgotten hymns from the Trinity Hymnal and updated them. I am constantly amazed at Eric's talent. I'm not sure how he does it all, but I'm pretty sure he's got a flux capacitor that gives him 32 hours to every 24 for of my own. I hope you enjoy.

A Method for Prayer

In my Sanctification class we have been reading Matthew Henry's A Method for Prayer: Freedom in the Face of God. Matthew Henry (1662-1714) wrote a commentary on the whole bible that is easily found online. If you're looking for a free online commentary that is trustworthy, you can google Matthew Henry Commentary.
He wrote a book that lays out a biblical method for prayer. I have described it as type of resource for prayer. Henry outlines a biblical model for prayer and then fills the bulk of the book with prayer. It isn't a long treatise on what prayer is, or how to pray more effectively or fervently. It doesn't promise you that God will answer your prayers for health and wealth. Instead, it lays out a model of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Petition, Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Conclusion) and Henry uses Scripture as the content of the prayer.
Henry's prayers are full of Scripture. It isn't that Henry quotes some Scripture. The prayers are full of Scripture, meaning that there is room for nothing other than Scripture. Henry only adds his own words to connect on verse to another.
Here is a little sample that I think is very appropriate given the current political events:
Chapter 5 12.3.7.4 For the magistrates, the judges, and justices of the peace in the several counties and corporations
Make those that rule over us just, ruling in the fear of God; and let those that judge remember that they judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with them in judgment, that therefore the fear of the Lord may be upon them. Make them able men, and men of truth, fearing God, and hating covetousness, that judgment may run down like a river, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Enable our magistrates to defend the poor and fatherless, to do justice for the afflicted and needy, to deliver the poor and needy, and to rid them out of the hand of the wicked, and let rulers never be a terror to good works, but to the evil.

David Before Saul

This is a journal entry for my Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies class. I am commenting on chapter 3 "David" of Reggie Kidd's book, With One Voice (see post below).

When I lived in Minsk after college, I had the opportunity to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia. It is easily one of my favorite cities. No night in the summer and no day in the winter. It is called the Russian Window to the West. One of my best experiences in St. Petersburg was spending a day at the Hermitage. It has one of the greatest collections of Rembrandt paintings in the world.
I had visited once before and been struck by the size and use of light in The Prodigal Son Returns. To prepare for this second trip I read Henri Nouwen’s work on the Prodigal Son and planned to spend some time in front of this piece. It was time well spent. Needless to say, I have been a Rembrandt fan since. I have enjoyed the honesty and candor that Rembrandt brings into his paintings. His other work on the Prodigal Son shows the younger son’s excessive lifestyle. Rembrandt painted this as a self-portrait, as if he were identifying himself as son who ran from the Father.

In reading this chapter on David, I was quick to want to look at Rembrandt’s Saul and David. As with any Rembrandt, the lighting tells the story. My eyes were drawn immediately to the crown upon Saul’s head. Saul is wiping away tears. He has a thousand yard stare, his shoulders slumped under the weight of royal garb, scepter or spear dropped. He is a broken man. The weight of the crown is too much.
Following the lines of the Saul’s body, his right arm, the angle of the harp and the secondary lighting source, my eyes are moved to David. He too is appears to be gazing somewhere else. But his fingers are active and his mind engaged. His head is slightly cocked as if his mental state is of deep concentration…or to borrow a sport cliché, he is in the zone. Interestingly, my lines around David do not guide me to his face, but to his chest, or more specifically, to his heart.
The movement of the painting is from the crushing weight of Saul’s crown through his complete dejection to David’s heart and his soulful playing of the harp. It is the transfer of Kingly authority.
The beauty of this painting is how Rembrandt has captured the ethos of the I Samuel passage. In chapter 15 Saul has not fulfilled the Lord’s specific command to destroy the Amalekites. He has tried to reason and rationalize his choices, but it was a blatant disregard of God’s command. Samuel is called to break the news to Saul that it is over for him as King…and in the process to “hack Agag (the Amalekite king) to pieces” I Sam. 15:33 (I only wish I knew the Hebrew phrase…I guess I’ll have to wait until Hebrew I this January). The Spirit of the Lord leaves Saul in chapter 16 and an evil spirit comes upon him. This spirit is only soothed by the playing of a skilled musician. Enter David. David’s skillful playing gives Saul relief of the evil spirit. It must weigh on Saul’s heart heavily, however, that the days of his reign are numbered and God will raise up another King. This will be a king who understands Samuel’s words in I Samuel 15:22-23:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt
Offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
And presumption is as iniquity and
Idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of The Lord,
He has rejected you from being king.”

I think Rembrandt captures that the weight of the crown of Israel is going to be transferred to one whose heart is attuned to God. David was a man after God’s own heart. He is playing as one who is not thinking about music, but as one who is allowing the music to flow from his heart. Immediately preceding the Spirit of the Lord leaving Saul, David is anointed by Samuel and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. In an artist’s way, this is what Rembrandt is capturing. It is breath-taking.

The weight of being King was transferred from Saul to David, but David was not the ultimate King for which God's people longed. There would be another greater King. Rembrandt's work is breath-taking, but what is more breath-taking to me is that David was only a shadow of the King to come. The one to come would not just be a "man after God's own heart" but he would share God's heart.

The Financial Crisis

I am in no way an economist. I studied History and Religion in college. I avoided business classes. I am, however, learning to become a good steward of the resources God has given. I believe in order to do this best, I need to understand my human nature and learn to make wise decisions, not emotional decisions. This, incidentally, is one of the keys to Warren Buffett's financial decision making process (and I think he's doing just fine).
In thinking about the current financial crisis I have come up with two words that summarize the whole mess: Fear and Greed.
Our nation's current emotional gauge is pegged on "Scared Spitless." We watch the news daily cry out that the sky is falling. The talking heads tell us that soon we'll all be living in caves and foraging for nuts and berries just to survive. The vision in my head resembles Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome. This stokes our fear. The important thing to remember is that the media is a business. Their job is to titillate or stoke fear. If the media tells you that everything is fine, nobody worry, it's going to be okay...you'll stop watching. If they can, however, stoke your fear, then you will watch more. If you watch more, they can sell more advertising. If they can sell more advertising, then THEIR financial crisis is averted. Ironically, that advertising also plays into the other key word of this Financial Crisis, Greed.
Yes, corporate America is greedy. Banks and financial institutions really screwed up. Their greed is putting the financial solvency of our country at risk. Many people will loose fortunes and jobs. But the real problem is much closer to home than Wall Street. Their greed was only possible because of our greed. Main Street is far more responsible for this than Wall Street.
As you're watching the coming of the Apocolypse on TV, you see an ad for that new thing. You know that thing, the one that is new and better than the old thing. It has been completely redesigned and improved. This thing will do what no other thing has ever done...and it's cooler than the other things. The people at your office will be envious of your new thing. The ladies at your Bible study will want one, too. You'll be a happier person with this new thing. Life will be better with this thing. Skies will be bluer. Grass will be greener. Your wife will be prettier. Your hair will be fuller. You can run faster and jump higher. You'll look 10 years younger. You will be a better person. You MUST have this thing.
The truth is, this thing is crap. You don't need it. You don't even really want it, but some genius twenty eight year old ad wizard has learned how to manipulate your basest instincts so that you think this new thing is salvation in a bottle. So you buy the new thing. It could be dinner out, a new flat screen tv, an iPhone, a hybrid SUV, that bigger house or the perfect vacation. You don't have to money to buy it, so you charge it, mortgage it or refinance it. Then Wall Street has offered to fulfill desires with a Faustian pledge. You can have whatever you want, TODAY! We all want to think we're smarter than this, but the truth is, we've all succumbed to it. We're all part of the problem because we all look for someTHING to fill the need in our life that only someONE could fill.
So what do we do? How do we respond sensibly and wisely to this situation? I propose that there are four responses that the average Christian can make.
First, we need to pray for our leaders and for whoever is going to be our leaders in the coming years. They will need to make difficult decisions about this situation. God is not worried, surprised, or afraid of this situation. He is the one who ones a thousand cattle on the hills (Ps 50:10). A thousand cattle may not sound impressive, but contextually it meant God owns everything.
Secondly, get your own house in order. Eliminate debt. Use a budget. Spend responsibly. Get rid of the stuff that is choking your life.
Thirdly, care for your neighbors. How is the family next door dealing with this issue? How can you offer them hope that extends beyond the current crisis? What can you do to help them today? Pray for them and let them know you are doing so. Be involved in their lives.
Fourthly, work for a solution to the current situation. Your vote will speak powerfully. There are lots of people in Congress nervous about November. They don't want to lose their job over this issue. There is a presidential battle that will be decided by a slim margin. Let it be known that you will vote for the candidate seeks to wisely solve this problem. What works for your house will work for the government. Avoid debt. Spend wisely. Get rid of things that choke the life out of our econonmy.
Again, I re-emphasize that I am not an economist, but in looking over alternatives to the $700 Billion bailout plan, I came across one proposed by Dave Ramsey. It makes sense at a basic level (another key to Warren Buffett's investment strategy). You can read it here.

Great Quote From Reggie Kidd's Book

Reggie Kidd teaches my Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies class. He wrote a book about worship and its connection to our heart and our theology...at least that's what I've gotten out of it so far. If you enjoy music and theology, then go to his website and pick up a copy...and send him an email telling him that I told you to...you never know what will help that grade go from a B to an A...

The quote is from Bono (of U2). In addition to being the authority on all things hip and cool, he's a pretty deep thinker. Bono said, "Music is Worship; whether it's worship of women or their designer, the world or its destroyer,...whether the prayers are on fire with a dumb rage or dove-like desire...the smoke goes upwards...to God or something you replace God with...usually yourself." -Bono, Introduction to Selections, x, xi.

Intro to My Fake Sermon

One of the classes I am taking is Communications I. It is essentially a Preaching class. Part of the class is working through the process of crafting a good Christ-centered sermon. I was assigned to preach on Philippians 2:1-11 (click on the passage to read it). Basically, I'm preparing a fake sermon. The only guys who hear it are the four other guys in my small group...and sometimes my Comm. professor, Larry Kirk (but that's only because my voice tends to carry in small rooms).

So, I thought it might be interesting to share with anyone who might be reading the intro to my fake sermon.

My family and I decided to do something that I vowed never to do. We decided to go to Disneyworld. Now, it wasn’t that I was opposed to going to Disneyworld. I love Disneyworld, it’s the happiest place on earth, or so they say. The issue was that we decided to go to Disneyworld on one of those hot, muggy, humid, I live in a Florida swamp summer days. It was also a Saturday, which meant that every tourist from St. Louis to Shanghai was going to be there. It was blazing hot and incredibly crowded. It was not what I would describe as joyful. Now, the novelty of Disneyworld usually trumps the heat and crowds, but this particular year we had been given annual passes to Disney. We had already been dozens of times that year. The novelty of a six foot talking mouse had worn off on me.
I was pounding the pavement pushing our double stroller with our two kids and working through the bitterness in my heart about swimming upstream through the masses of humanity to get to all rides so that I could spend a majority of my day waiting to ride on a ride that lasts a minute and half. We got to the “Small World” ride. It is an absolute Disney classic, complete with animatronic dolls from every continent singing in their native language, “It’s a small world…” It’s cute the first time the song plays, but then it repeats, again and again. Around the seventh time I’m struggling with really violent thoughts about baseball bats and the German doll in lederhosen. I believe I have painted a completely joyless picture of my time at Disneyworld.
Then I look at my kids. They are wide-eyed and amazed. They are singing along. They are pointing and laughing. At that moment, there is nothing greater than what they experiencing. I was so set on my own experience, my own feelings, my own rights, my own self that I was missing the reward of being at the Happiest Place on Earth with my kids. My lack of humility robbed me of the joy I could have had by joining with my children in their wonder at this ride.
We all struggle with a lack of joy at times because selfishness robs us of the unity with others. Often our humility is pushed aside so that we can exercise our own rights. We miss the reward of the joy of unity with other believers because we find it difficult to consider them above ourselves.
The apostle Paul addresses a similar issue, though under drastically different circumstances. The church at Philippi was struggling with selfishness and dissention internally and externally and this was robbing it of the joy of living in Christ. In the 2nd chapter of Philippians, verses 1 through 11, Paul shows that humility is a key to the joyful life because humility was Christ’s path to the Father.

Chapel 9.17.08

Who is God? There are all sorts of answers to this question. We all live for God (or more specifically a god), even atheists. The question is not whether one lives for God, but who or what that God is. I really appreciated Dr. Swain's three questions to help define who I viewed as God. He developed his chapel message from II Cor. 5:14-15

14For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

In verse 15 he explained how the love of Christ allows those who live to no longer live for themselves, but for Christ. What does it mean that they lived for themselves? Dr. Swain's three questions brought this question to light:
1. In whose strength do I rely on?
2. Whose rules do I follow?
3. Whose glory do I seek?
When I ran my life through the grid of those questions, I saw that in so many ways my god is me. In so many ways I live for myself.
This is a humbling thought.
It was really brought home later in the day during my Evangelism class. Dr. Childers had us look at three motives for evangelism. The first motive is that God commands us. It pretty simple, the Bible is very clear that we are to share Christ. The second motive is that we have a compassion for the lost. We need to have a broken heart for the lost and see them as God sees them. These first two motives are legitimate, but insufficient. The third motive is the most important. The third motive is zeal for God and His glory. That's when it clicked for me. I have zeal for a god and his glory.
In whose strength do I rely on - Me
Whose rules do I follow - Me
Whose glory do I seek - Me
My evangelism is weak because my motive is not a zeal for God and His glory, but a zeal for me and my glory. May I be controlled by Christ, that I may live no longer for myself but for him.
What about you? Who is your God? What motivates you to share your faith?

Life in Seminary

I've felt like I should do this for a couple of weeks now. It isn't that I feel like I have anything especially profound to say (luckily, it doesn't seem that profundity is a requirement for blogging), but I felt this would be a good way to record my progress through seminary. This has been and will continue to be a pivotal time in my life. I hope to be able to share how God is at work reforming my heart and applying His grace to my life. I won't, however, keep my it strictly to seminary stuff. Hopefully, I'll occasionally post about current events or life in general.
If you enjoy this or are encouraged in any way, please let me know. That would be very encouraging to me.