The Plodding Preacher

Appreciate Your Spouse Melissa Edgington My dear friend lost her husband today. They have been married for over sixty years. Today she begins the task of learning to live a new life, one that she has never before encountered. She will miss so many things. She tells a hilarious story of the day when they were fairly newly married, and she went to grab a gun and shot it in his direction just to get his attention. It’s hard for anyone who knows her sweet spirit now to imagine her doing such a thing. Together they grew up, they grew in God’s love and grace, they learned who He is. And, sixty years later, she begins a new chapter without her lifetime love. She will be okay. She isn’t alone. She has a Savior who will carry her and friends and family who adore her. But, she will miss him. She will long to hear the door open as he comes in from coffee with his buddies. She will wish that his shoes were in the floor of her bedroom. An artist, she will think about calling him in to look...

At Prayer Meeting last night we looked at Mark 1:40-42. And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him,  "If you will, you can make me clean."  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. (Mar 1:40-42 ESV) Three amazing things take place in this miracle.  The faith of the leper is theologically remarkable.  So many today talk about the need for faith in order to receive a miracle.  However, this leper turns that lie on its head.  He had remarkable faith.  He had complete confidence that Jesus was able to make him clean.  The leper recognizes that the issue is not the amount of his faith, but the willingness of Jesus to perform the miracle.  "If you are willing, you can make me clean."  This is the issue of every miracle - is it God's will.  Jesus, in his pity for the man, reaches out and touches h...

SEVEN AREAS WHERE PASTORS HAVE FAILED AT READING MINDS Thom. S Rainer On rare occasions, I wish I could read minds. Granted, most of the time I have no desire to know what’s on the minds of others. But there have been times when I wish I knew exactly what my wife would like for her birthday or our anniversary. When I was a pastor, however, it would have really come in handy. Today, hardly a week goes by where pastors do not share a story with me about their failure at mind reading. Here are seven common examples. When a church member is sick or in the hospital.   “I got chewed out by a church member a month ago,” a pastor shared with me. “I failed to visit her while she was in the hospital. When I told her I didn’t know she was in the hospital, she responded that I should have.” Read On

Andy Stanley has caused an uproar in Christian circles recently by releasing a sermon questioning a Christian faith that is based upon the Bible.  He argues that it is not enough to believe because "the Bible tells me so."  There have been a number of articles that have been written to rebut Stanley's position.  However, I here give you links to some of the best. Is the Bible Foundational to Christianity? Engaging with Andy Stanley by Michael J. Kruger For the Bible Tells Me So: Biblical Authority Denied … Again By Al Mohler

Clicking on the “Ministries” tab of many church websites reveals that we often have a similar bias when it comes to our corporate life. We highlight our discipleship groups, crisis counseling, community outreach, student ministries, Bible studies, and congregational care. Our photos show people singing and playing instruments, people holding coffee cups and open Bibles, people maneuvering wheelbarrows and chainsaws. As a church, we like what’s   visible . Perhaps for that reason, praying together rarely headlines our calendar of events. Corporate prayer—whether in a worship service or a week-day gathering—isn’t much to look at. We show up. We bow our heads. We ask God for daily needs and for gospel success. Then, we do it again. Week after week, year after year, the same people bring the same concerns in the same way to the same God. It doesn’t always produce obvious results. But it’s one of the most important things the church does. Megan Hill in the article Praying Together...

Bill and Jeff Keane's Family Circus is always a wholesome celebration of family.  That doesn't stop it from asking some good questions. Here are a couple of thoughts on the subject: Focus on the Family A Tween phone contract Dangerous Apps for Kids

There are a lot of people who claim to have the power of Jesus.  Faith healers and charismatic leaders often speak of the gifts they have from the Holy Spirit.  Last night in prayer meeting we examined Mark 1:29-34 and we saw the true nature of the power of Jesus over illness and demon possession.  And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. (Mar 1:29-34 ESV) Three observations about the Power of Jesus: He didn't have to rent a b...

The Christian Post has an article detailing the story of World Vision's Gaza office being closed after one of its employees was indicted for redirecting aid funding to Hamas, the terrorist organization.  You can read the article HERE . The sad part of this story relates to how far World Vision has fallen.  When this ministry began, its goal was to feed the hungry both physically and spiritually.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ was always presented along with the food to fill the bellies of the hungry.  However, somewhere along the way, the organization began to believe that it was more important to meet the physical needs of people than the spiritual. The Gospel gradually disappeared from their material and they began to appeal to the secular public for support.  Then very quietly, about two decades ago, the organization made the decision to use Muslim proxies to bring relief to the suffering in Muslim lands.  So what began as a distinctively Christian r...

Open transgression of God’s law slays its thousands, but wordliness its tens of thousands.   — J.C.  Ryle 

Resources!  We are all busy people and time is of the essence.  Here is a link to the top 50 family ministry blogs on the internet. 50 ministry blogs

It’s sexy among young people—my generation—to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul. What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church—a multitude of faithful, risk taking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnotice...

Enough! When will we stop? We’ve minimized the congregation’s role. We’ve changed our focus from disciplined, intentional music-making to creating emotional responses. We’ve stopped training musicians. We’ve chosen songs written for solo performance. We’ve stopped giving the musicians among us the resources they need to apply their abilities. We’ve chosen instrumentation that doesn’t support a congregation. We’ve stopped leading and started performing. So let’s stop asking why people aren’t singing anymore. It really shouldn’t be a surprise, since we’ve done nearly everything we can to kill congregational singing. Maybe it’s time to rethink our strategies. Read the whole article HERE

I have been following this story closely because it is taking place just a couple of hours drive from where I now sit.  For fifteen years a female minister in the United Church of Canada has been an open and avowed atheist.  I could say much about this situation but I will just make two observations and allow my church family to just read the article.  First - it took fifteen years for the denomination to respond to this person. Second - the vote was 19 to 4 - not unanimous. Atheist Clergywoman 'Not Suitable' to Be Ordained Minister, Says United Church of Canada Committee By   Michael Gryboski   ,   Christian Post Reporter A committee of the United Church of   Canada   has decided that a clergywoman who came out as an atheist over   15 years   ago is "not suitable" to remain an ordained minister of the denomination. The Rev. Gretta Vosper of West Hill United Church of Toronto,   Ontario , was declared "not suitable" to...

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”      - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

From Focus on the Family 10 helpful tips for single parents Imagine this: you’re the sole parent for your children. You get them up, get them fed and send them to school. You do the housework, maybe you go to work yourself, you get home and you’re still the only adult there. There’s no one to relieve you. No one to pass the baton to while you take a shower or take a few minutes for yourself. You make dinner and gather the family around the table to eat. You play with them, read to them, give them baths, get them to bed and there’s no one there to sit with and process your day. There’s no one there to laugh with you or pray with you. Instead you keep working. You clean up the house again. You pack lunches for the next day. And you eventually crash into bed, knowing you’ll be doing the same thing tomorrow. For many, this is not an imagined scenario. When you parent alone – whether due to divorce, the loss of your spouse or having a spouse who works away from home for long periods of...

Many of us grew up watching this man on Canadian TV. REV. DR.   JOHN   WESLEY   WHITE Obituary Guest Book Be the first to share your memories or express your condolences in the Guest Book for REV. DR. JOHN WESLEY WHITE. View   Sign REV. DR. JOHN WESLEY WHITE Christian evangelist, broadcaster, author, and educator, Dr. White passed away on September 4, 2016 in his 88th year in Toronto. He was a 2013 Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient for his service to Canada. The burning conviction from boyhood to preach the gospel led him on an extraordinary life journey, beginning in depression-era Saskatchewan where he enjoyed hockey, music, and motorcycling while, from age 15, preaching on weekends and vacations. After studying at Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College (BA 1952) in Chicago, he travelled to Belfast, N. Ireland where he fell in love with and soon married Kathleen Calderwood, who became his lifelong partner in evangelism and mother o...

Although Mother Teresa did many kind and gentle things for the dying it's unfortunate that it appears she never invited anyone to believe in Jesus Christ for the forgivingness of sins and salvation. She desired them to be the best of whatever they already were--Hindu or Buddhist--but it seems she never offered them the only name by which one may be saved (Acts 4:12). She 'ministered to Jesus' in the poor and dying but the Bible never says that Christ is present in anyone except those who believe (John 1:12). She loved and cared for her neighbor except in the one thing that mattered for eternity. As the world celebrates her saint hood this weekend may we remember that all who believe in Jesus Christ are saints--saints and priests--and may we in all humility lift up the name above all names in Jesus Christ as Lord. H. Schroeder

In light of the Roman Catholic Church's canonization of two former popes and Mother Teresa: So, believer, if you are united to Jesus by faith, you not only have the   right —you also have the   res ponsibility   to take the title  saint  and apply it to yourself. After all, the living and true God has already done so. Nicholas T. Batzig, From the article "When the Saints Go Marching In."

A Back to School Prayer by Melissa Kruger Lord, I pray that my children would understand their need for Jesus and rejoice in the good news of the Gospel . Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death   ( Psalms 68:19-20 ). Lord, I pray that my children will love learning; that their hearts would seek to understand the world you have created.     The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly   ( Proverbs 15:14 ). I pray that as they learn about your world, they would behold the majesty of your glory .   The heavens declare the glory of God,   and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge . ( Psalm 19:1 ) Click on the Link above to read the rest.

I always appreciate Tim Challies' thoughtful blog.  Today's article is an absolute out-of-the-park homerun. Read the whole article HERE September 01, 2016 Stranger Things is a smash hit, the talk of Twitter and the toast of the town. Its story is captivating, its characters well-formed, its acting first rate, its tributes to the 80’s priceless. With so much buzz and so many friends celebrating it, I figured I’d give it a go. But this isn’t an article about Stranger Things. Not really. It’s an article about being a prude. I’ve been told I’m a prude when it comes to movies and television. Here’s what that means according to the Cambridge Dictionary: A prude is “a person who is easily shocked by rude things, especially those of a sexual type.” If that’s a prude then I guess the shoe fits because I have a very low tolerance for sex and nudity in movies and television. For that reason I carefully screen them against PluggedIn , Common Sense Media , or IMDB’s parents guides. When I...