The Plodding Preacher

This quotation is taken from an article by Jim Elliff.  In the article he addresses the tactics used by relevant new churches to seek members. I know what this church is intending to say. But when you add it up,   their message does not promote the growth of the kingdom of God   as a whole . It demeans even good people and good churches made up of true believers who don’t measure up to their idea of what church life should be. And it designs to create distaste for even true churches if they differ from their style. It is arrogant. It may be about that church’s growth, but it isn’t about kingdom growth. They project an “openness” that is really very narrow; a relevance that is not relevant at all; and a concern that is grossly self-serving. To get the full context, read the article HERE .

The other night riding home in the car, I turned on the local Christian radio station.  The song playing had the following chorus:  J ust to know You and To make You known We lift Your name on High Shine like the sun make darkness run and hide We know we were made for so much more Than ordinary lives It's time for us to more than just survive We were made to thrive Now I don't want to throw stones at the group that sings the song because, the whole, they are more theologically sound than most.  However, the one line really bothers me.  Why do we know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives?   What about all of our brothers and sisters who are suffering persecution around the world?  For them surviving is a daily miracle in the hostile environment in which they live.  I am afraid that the line reflects the narcissistic North American mindset that makes Christianity about how great we are rather than how great Jesus is.  "We are ...

Yesterday I posted an article that encouraged hospitality even when the house was messy.  Today, I want to follow that with another article on hospitality.  This one is more Biblically thorough but also intensely practical.  We don't often think of hospitality as part of our discipleship program, but this article provides strong support for that idea. Prescribing Hospitality for Growth in the Christian Life Jason Hsieh January 27, 2016 As biblical counselors, we’re always looking to suggest practical ways of living out what we believe. How often do we hear from friends and counselees (herein just “friends”) that they know what the Bible says, but are unsure what to do or how to connect doctrine with their struggles? In response, we typically remind them to remember God’s purposes for trials, to trust, to pray, and to fill themselves with God’s Word. All of which should be done. But most of us forget about Peter’s prescription of hospitality to a suffering peopl...

Many times we think about having people from church into our homes for a meal or for a visit.  Then we mentally take a quick tour of our home's present condition.  The dining room table is covered with papers.  There is a laundry basket full of clothes that need to be folded.  The piano hasn't been dusted in a month of Sundays.  And very quickly we decide that our desire to be hospitable is not as strong as our desire to pretend that we are perfect people with all our ducks in a row.  This excellent article reminds us that hospitality is more important than our desire to appear perfect. Why Scruffy Hospitality Creates Space for Friendship Jack King After seven years of marriage, my wife and I have welcomed numerous friends into our home. Once we decide to host friends for an evening, we usually kick into get ready mode, a fast and furious sprint in the days and hours before our friends arrive. We divide and conquer the to-do list: select a me...

When I arrived in the office this morning, there was an email waiting for me.  The writer of the email informed me that they had been listening to my sermons online and would like me to be the guest speaker at a special conference they were holding at their church.  They would be glad to cover my travel expenses and would pay me for the services I would preach.  To top it all off, the church was located in London, England.  Who wouldn't jump at a chance for an all-expenses paid trip to London England? Well, I am not going to England any time soon.  What appears at face value to be a gracious offer is, in fact, the latest Nigerian scam.  You remember those scams from the first days of email.  They were usually directed at Christians who would stand to make a lot of money if only they would help a dear brother/sister in Christ who lived in Nigeria.  Of course, in order to help, the North American would be required to either divulge bank account ...

Why Daughters Need Their Dads By: Dr. Meg Meeker Men, we need you. We—mothers, daughters, and sisters—need your help to raise healthy young women. We need every ounce of masculine courage and wit you own because fathers, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughter’s life. After more than twenty years of listening to daughters—and doling out antibiotics, anti-depressants, and stimulants to girls who have gone without a father’s love—I know just how important fathers are. I have listened hour after hour to young girls describe how they vomit in junior high bathrooms to keep their weight down. I have listened to fourteen-year-old girls tell me they have to provide sex acts that disgust them in order to keep their boyfriends. I’ve watched girls drop off varsity tennis teams, flunk out of school, and carve initials or tattoo cult figures onto their bodies—all to see if their dads will notice. Fathers, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughter’s life. And I have...

A “well-loved and respected” American missionary was among the 29 people killed in the attack by al-Qaida fighters on a hotel and cafe in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou. Michael Riddering, 45, from Florida, died in the Cappuccino cafe   in Friday’s attack , his mother-in-law Carol Boyle told Associated Press. He was meeting a group that was going to volunteer at the orphanage and women’s crisis center he ran with his wife, Ann Boyle-Riddering Riddering arrived early and was in the cafe with a pastor. When the attack started they ran in different directions, Boyle said from her home in Weston,   Florida . The pastor had Riddering’s phone, and called Boyle-Riddering to say that they were at the cafe and there was gunfire, but then the line went dead. The pastor hid in the cafe and survived. It was not until a fellow Christian missionary found Riddering in the morgue on Saturday that they knew he was dead. He leaves behind four children, two of whom were adopte...

North Korea Gets Competition: The Top 50 Countries Where It's Now Hardest To Be a Christian Read the story HERE

I needed the quiet so he drew me aside Into the shadows where we could confide, Away from the bustle where all the day long I hurried and worried when active and strong. I needed the quiet tho at first I rebelled, But gently, so gently my cross he upheld, And whispered so sweetly of spiritual things, Tho weakened in body, my spirit took wings To heights never heard of when active and gay, He loved me so greatly he drew me away. I needed the quiet, no prison my bed, But a beautiful valley of blessings instead – A place to grow richer in Jesus to hide I needed the quiet so he drew me aside.                                 – Alice H. Mortenson

Our afflictions fertilize the soil wherein faith may grow. C. H. Spurgeon

At Tim Challies' blog today, he observed that today is the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming.  These five young men were attempting to reach the Auca natives in order to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  The wives of Elliot and Saint would return to the jungle and complete the work that their husbands began.  A friend of mine has stood on the beach where these men were murdered.  The most startling thing about his story was that he stood there with one of the natives who helped commit those murders.  The murderer was now an elder in the local church, and my friend, a missionary, was there to help in a Bible Institute program that was being held among Aucas.  It makes me wonder.  Would I be willing to lay down my life that others might come to know Jesus?  Would I be willing to be murdered so that my killer would come to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords...

Thought-provoking article: The heresy of worshiptainment By Mike Livingstone The great heresy of the church today is that we think we’re in the entertainment business. A.W. Tozer believed this to be true back in the 1950s and 60s. Church members “want to be entertained while they are edified.” He said that in 1962. Tozer grieved, even then, that it was “scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction was God.”* More recently, David Platt has asked: “What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would His Word still be enough for his people to come together?”   (Radical) Would it be enough? Tozer got it right: “Heresy of method may be as deadly as heresy of message.” HALLOWEDNESS, NOT SHALLOWNESS Like Tozer, we should be concerned that so many people in our churches...

We live in an age where the uniqueness of the individual appears to be almost glorified. "Be yourself. Be true to yourself.  Find yourself. Don't be afraid to be different." Unfortunately, the reality is the exact opposite.  We live in a culture that punishes those who are different.  It is o.k. to be different as long as you dress like everyone else, watch the same programs as everyone else and, most importantly, think like everyone else. In a recent work published by a Harvard educator analysing the way students are vetted for post-graduate studies, it was discovered that these liberal educators discriminated against those whose religious beliefs differed from their own. When Posselt probed on diversity, she found that many professors said they felt an obligation to diversify their graduate student bodies and thus — eventually — the collective faculty of their fields. Diversity, of course, is only about race, gender, and sexuality, never about diversity of thou...

Ken Copeland and Jesse Duplantis, on the December 29th, 2015 broadcast of the Believers Voice of Victory claimed that God gave them their private jets because you can't talk to God in commercial airliners. In other words, they claim that they have important conversations with God which would otherwise be impossible if they were flying coach. The God who spoke through a burning bush, a donkey, and a still small voice, if He chooses can't speak to someone because they are sitting in coach?  Does the ridiculousness of such an assertion not make it obvious that if they are really talking to someone that it isn't God?

I would say 90 percent of Christians do not have a worldview, in other words a view of the world, based on the Scripture and a relationship with God. Josh McDowell

As we begin a New Year, let us remember that this world is not our final destination. 1. The sands of time are sinking, The dawn of heaven breaks, The summer morn I've sighed for, The fair, sweet morn awakes: Dark, dark hath been the midnight, But dayspring is at hand, And glory—glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land. 16. I shall sleep sound in Jesus, Fill'd with His likeness rise, To live and to adore Him, To see Him with these eyes: 'Tween me and resurrection But Paradise doth stand; Then—then for glory dwelling In Immanuel's land!   17. The bride eyes not her garment, But her dear Bridegroom's face; I will not gaze at glory, But on my King of Grace— Not at the crown He giveth, But on His pierced hand: The Lamb is all the glory Of Immanuel's land.   18. I have borne scorn and hatre...