The Plodding Preacher

Oh be careful little blogger what you blog.  Yesterday I blogged about my petty problems in light of the will of God.  Less than twelve hours later, my words are being put to the ultimate test.  My dear brother-in-law is with Jesus.  He passed away from pneumonia complications Tuesday night.  Oh the shock.  Oh the heart break watching my sister-in-law and wife come to the awful realization that death had snatched husband and brother at just 57 years of age.  But we do not sorrow as those who have no hope. 

It has been a long weekend.  Besides the usual responsibilities of preaching on Sunday, I had the wedding of a couple from my former church to perform.  In the midst of all that, we were in negotiations for the sale of our house.  After bartering back and forth over the price, on Saturday we came to a verbal agreement.  Late in the morning Monday, my wife phoned the buyers to ask them if they had talked to their lawyer yet.  At that point they informed her that they had bought another house.  They hadn't even bothered to phone us and let us know.  Then last night, at 2:30 a.m. my brother-in-law went in to emergency with pneumonia. Now I am not telling you all this so you can pour pity on our family.  I am rehearsing this because I want to state without a shadow of reservation that I believe I am still where God wants me to be.  Often when we are faced with adversity in life, we begin to question whether God is displeased with us or whether we have somehow misread the will of God

“The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.”   John Piper

If you could lose your salvation, you would. John MacArthur, Jr.

Over the history of the church of Jesus Christ there have been long periods of time where we have forgotten the task of missions.  Unfortunately, I believe that we may well be entering into another such period of forgetfulness - at least here in the North American church.  We are too concerned with our little empires and the cost of putting on a good show is spiralling out of control.  So the first thing to be cut from our budgets is missions.  As well, we have lost our way concerning what missions is.  Yes, it is wonderful to give cups of cold water in the name of Jesus, but if that is all we are doing, we are not doing missions. Having just come through Easter, it boggles my mind as to how these anti-missions trends find validity.  Easter is the greatest missionary endeavour of all time.  Christ left His home country of heaven to cross-cultural ministry on earth among mere human beings.  He showed us the Father (John 1:18).  He then went to the cross and died for us that we might b

By   Jonathan Leeman   | 4.16.2014  Original article found here.   http://www.9marks.org/blog Spend some time with members of a Khosa church in South Africa, and you will quickly discover how wonderfully they sing. No instruments. No microphones. One individual leading, the rest following. Many hands clapping. And how they join their voices in full-throated praise! This article is not written for them. It’s written for a traditional Western church. Westerners are accustomed to professional-quality and performance-oriented music. And for better or worse, this affects what Christians expect musically when we walk into the church gathering. Unless a church deliberately pushes in an alternative direction, we expect the music to demonstrate the same quality of performance as what we hear on the car radio or through our Mp3 ear buds. Anything less can sound clunky, tacky, even embarrassing. What’s more, there are few places in contemporary Western culture where people learn to sing

Christ the Lord is risen today, Sons of men and angels say. Raise your joys and triumphs high; Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply.       Author:   Charles Wesley   The truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of gospel truth. The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns and without which none of the other truths would much matter. Without the resurrection, Christianity would be so much wishful thinking, taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation.         Author:   John MacArthur

One day they left Him alone in the garden,   One day He rested, from suffering free; Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil;   Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He. Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;   Buried, He carried my sins far away; Rising, He justified freely forever:     One day He’s coming—O glorious day! Source:   http://www.hymnal.net

One of the sermons we often hear on Palm Sunday concerns the fickleness of the crowd.  We hear "the same people who cried 'Hosanna' on Sunday were crying 'Crucify him' on Friday.  While it is certainly possible that some were in both crowds, it is by no means certain.  Luke's Gospel contains a detail of the journey to the cross that none of the other narrators include. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' (Luke 23:27-30 ESV) Mark's Gospel tells us that Jesus was already on the cross by 9 a.m. The trial

I was reading the account in Mark's Gospel of Christ's crucifixion.  In this account Mark emphasizes the rejection of Jesus by those who encounter the cross.  Those who pass by wag their heads and rebuke Jesus for his statement about destroying the temple.  The Chief Priests and the scribes joke among themselves that he could save others but not himself.  When he cries out in agony that the Father has forsaken him, the religious leaders have no sympathy.  Even the thieves are mocking Jesus. The one exception in Mark's account comes immediately after Christ dies.  The centurion in charge of the execution squad watches Jesus die and then proclaims, "Surely this was the Son of God."  How odd.  The religious Jews who should have recognized the Messiah from the Old Testament Scriptures can only mock.  It is only a trained Gentile killer who understands what has just happened on that cross. Yet, when I really think it through, it really isn't that odd.  God'

Yesterday in church we continued preparing for Easter by focusing on the cross.  We discussed the importance of the incarnation - Christ becoming one of us - with regards to the cross. We concluded that the incarnation and the sinless life that Christ lived amongst us was important for two reasons. 1.  His sinless life was necessary so that He might be the acceptable sacrifice for sin.  All sacrifices required in Scripture had to be animals "without blemish."  Jesus, our sinless Saviour, was the ultimate Lamb of God without blemish.  As a consequence, He could take upon himself the penalty for our sins. 2.  His perfect righteousness was necessary so that it might be imputed to us.  Not only did his sinless nature qualify him to pay the penalty, it also could be exchanged for our guilt.  Instead of sin being found in our account, the righteousness of Jesus was credited to us.  Now when God looks at a sinner saved by grace, he sees the righteousness of Jesus. I really lik

Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, "Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not." --Martin Luther

As we prepare for the commemoration of our Saviour's great sacrifice listen to this song by Steve Camp.  It may not be your musical style but the words are profound.  For some reason my youtube utility won't find the link to post so I have posted the link that will take you to the piece on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7hwdYigxZw

Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting with three representatives of SIM and to chat candidly about the issue of missions and the local church.  We talked about the reasons for the decline in missions in the North American church.  We talked about the usual suspects: things are too comfortable here, we don't pray enough, we don't talk about missions enough, etc.  I then suggested that one reason was there was too much competition between churches.  Churches feel that they have to put on a better show than the church down the street in order to keep their people.  Shows cost money - hence less money for missions.  Those around the table then discussed the latest mega-church plant coming to Brantford.  It was then that one of SIM's people described this type of church plant.  He called it a "non-evangelistic church plant."  Missionaries say the darnedest things.

This morning we hosted a missions discussion with SIM.  In addressing the need for missions and the apathy in Canada towards missions, the following statistic was revealed. Number of Evangelical churches in Canada       10000 Number of Canadians in full-time missions         5200

In the church today, it is a greater sin to call someone a false teacher, than to actually be a false teacher. Author Unknown

It is only two weeks till Good Friday. 

We are working through the Gospel of John right now in our Sunday morning sermons.  As a result, the subject of miracles has been much in my thoughts.  John only records seven of the miracles of Jesus and he doesn't even call them miracles.  Instead he calls them signs.  They are signs to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  They are signs to point to the truth that believing in Jesus is the way to everlasting life.  I contrast John's attitude with that of the signs and wonders movemnet of today.  John believed seven miracles were sufficient signs to the truth of Jesus' identity.  By contrast, the movement constantly chases after bigger and better miraculous wonders.  But what miracle would be sufficient?  Which sign is big enough to accomplish God's purpose? Can we multiply loaves and fish to feed thousands?  Can we walk on water?  Can we speak to the wind and the waves and tell them to "Be quiet?"  Can we raise the dead to life?  No, we cannot

There are many people who put great store in the horoscopes they read in the newspaper.  They look high and low for someone to tell their future or give their fortune.  Of course such belief is misplaced biblically.  There is only one who knows the future and our purpose is to trust him alone.  As anecdotal evidence that such beliefs are foolish, I submit this for your laugh of the day.  For those who don't know me, I am an overweight man of 51 years who looks at least that old in every way.  Yet in two separate visits to two different Chinese restaurants in the last few months, I received the exact same fortune in my cookie.  Beyond a shadow of a doubt I believe it proves that all such fortunes are bunk.  My Fortune? "You are especially attractive this month." I rest my case.

When the Bible speaks of the fool it is not a pleasant thing.  The fool is the opposite of the wise - unwilling to learn from anyone or anything.  He is boastful, arrogant, and confidant in his own wisdom.  He does not submit to God and, therefore, God has only punishment for the fool's future.  One does not want to be a fool. There is, however, one exception.  In 1 Corinthians 1, the apostle Paul tells us that the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world.  He says that God has deliberately chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise (1:27).  I gladly count myself as one of those fools whom God has chosen to shame the wise.  You see the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are wise according to the standard of the world - but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God.  I'll gladly be that kind of fool any day.