What's Wrong With This Picture?

Something just seems wrong with this headline and story. I just can't figure out what it is. Now, what could it be? Hmm.....

Alicia Keys expecting baby, plans to marry

The R&B singer is pregnant with her first child and is engaged to be married later this year.

Da-Da, Dih-Dah-Duh, Da-Da

For many years the opening bars of "Insight For Living" rang in my memory.

"Insight For Living" is the radio ministry of pastor/preacher/author Chuck Swindoll. I've often thought that he more of a "Chuck" than "Charles."

For years, I have listened to his sermons, read his books, and gleaned many thoughts from him. And, well, I may have used a few of his thoughts and outlines in my own sermons and teachings. Of course, I was always careful to give him credit for being the originator of the material. (Yeah, right!)

Anyway, not long ago, he shared some lessons he has learned over 50 years of ministry. They are worth rebroadcasting on this blog:

“Fifty years ago, I was a first year student at Dallas Theological Seminary. I was scared, unsure of myself, and fresh out of the Marine Corps. I did not know much about seminary.

“I remember sitting in chapel, and a minister told me, “When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible person and crushes him.” I am so proud of everything you are dreaming of and doing that I hope that you remember to leave room for the crushing.

“10 Things Chuck Swindoll Learned in 50ish Years of Ministry:

It’s lonely to lead. Leadership involves tough decisions. The tougher the decisions, the lonelier it is.

It’s dangerous to succeed. It is dangerous to succeed while being young. Rarely, does God give leadership that young because it takes crushing and failure first.

It’s hardest at home. Nobody at home is applauding you. They say, “Dad! Your fly is open.”

It is essential to be real. If there is one realm where phoniness is personified it is leadership. What I care about is that you stay real.

It is painful to obey. There are rewards, yes, but it is painful nevertheless.

Brokenness and failure are necessary.

My attitude is more important than my actions. Some of you are getting hard to be around. And your attitude covers all those great actions you pull off.

Integrity eclipses image. What you are doing is not a show. And the best things you are doing are not up front but what you do behind the scenes.

God’s way is better than my way. God is going to have His way.

Christ-likeness begins and ends with humility.

I really like the second thought. I recall learning that lesson with clenched fists. But that's all for this time.

Stay tuned to this blog 'till next time.

"Da-Da, Dih-Dah-Duh, Da-Da"

Advice To New Graduates

I recently took an (informal) Facebook poll asking for advice for this year's new graduates. Several people- mostly women- responded. Yesterday in my sermon, "A Graduation Gift I'd Gladly Give,"which you can find here, I promised to post the entire results.

Here's some good advice:

"Look for a good mentor in anything you do. Most of the time they can help you avoid a lot of pitfalls."

"Realize that for every choice in life their are consequences and be wise by learning from others experiences. A wise man is one who having the power of discerning and judging properly as what is right and true."

"Get a job! Lol! Just kidding! "

"Listen to your mother. She is always right!"

"If you want it..GO FOR IT NOW! If you wait...you may never do it..if you never do it..you will regret it the rest of your life!”

"Dream big, even if it looks out of reach. Hold on to that dream and do whatever it takes to make it a reality!

"No matter where life takes you, don't forget what is important: God and family."

"Don't wait to get a job in the field in which one studied. I graduated in 07 " and have done nothing with it . Hopefully when I job hunt I will remember what I learned ..Keep moving ! Just keep moving !"

"Be kind, caring and compassionate. "It is not how much you love but how much you are loved by others.....""

"There are plenty of lemons out there but there is also sugar. Have fun!"

"God made you wondrously beautiful...find your talents embrace them and be all that He allows you to be. "

"Don't get discouraged, work hard, trust in the Lord, and keep a close watch over your finances and everything will be great

"1. You can be anything you want to be in this world if you work hard enough for it. 2. School isn't finished 'til you graduate college!"

"Learn from your mistakes and don't repeat them!”

"Keep your eyes on Jesus"

Good advice worth heeding. Any more?

Coming Soon: To A Church Near You

Formula driven contemporary church:

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Isn't it interesting that what is considered "relevant," "contemporary," and "fresh" can itself become routine driven and formulamatic?

It's nice to know we can poke fun at ourselves.

This One Made Me Smile...

Seven thousand copies of a cookbook called the Pasta Bible have had to be destroyed because one of its recipes recommended adding 'salt and freshly ground black people.'

The Atheist Preacher Should Get Out

It was recently reported that a Dutch church assembly decided that a pastor, Klaas Hendrikse, had views that were "not fundamentally differ from those of other liberal theologians in the Protestant Church.”

Hendrikse claims to believe that God does not exist and stated those claims in a recent book.

He explains, “To me God is not a being, but a word for what can occur between people.” He has since been loosely referred to as “the atheist preacher,” although he has not declared himself a total non-believer. His theological gobblety-gook sounds much like that of former Beatle John Lennon who once wrote a song which included the line, “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.” What does it all mean?

Outside of an "atheist preacher" being an oxymoron, how can a man serve a church and minister in the name of a Being he claims does not exist? What does this "preacher" even have to preach? Unbelief?

Then he should get out of the church.

More disturbing than the existence of an "atheist preacher" is the fact that his governing body decided that it was perfectly acceptable for this man to remain as a preacher in his denomination. The fact that an unbeliever remains a minister in the church and church leaders see nothing wrong with this says volumes about the state of the church in the Netherlands.

Could such things happen in the American church?

No, surely not!

Don’t be so sure!

John Henry Jowett came to America from England and became pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1911. It was said that church attendance there had dropped to 600 and rose to 1,500 after he came as pastor. Lines up to half a block long formed, waiting for unclaimed seats.

Once, a student came to Jowett one morning and told him that he was troubled with religious doubt. " In fact," said the student, " I regret to confess that I don’t believe in God!"

"You don't believe in God!" said Jowett.

"No sir," said the student, hoping that the great man would clear away his difficulties.

Jowett’s reply was crushing. " Believe in God, sir, said Jowett, " by to-morrow morning, or leave the college!"

Mr. Hendrikse, believe or leave!

Principal James Denney

I love biographies, especially those about preachers.

I also love the fact that many out of print books can be found on internet libraries, downloaded and read for free, being in the public domain.

One such work I found was a biographical reflection of the New Testament scholar, Dr. James Denney, who died in 1917. It is a very brief work which didn't take long to read. For posterity, I post a few savory quotes for preachers. (And those who love them)

On being a "popular preacher:"

Denney was ever a true preacher of the Word. He had no ambition to be known as the "popular " preacher. Ah, that blessed word " popular," how potent it becomes in certain quarters.

"It is recalled how even the distinguished Principal John Caird, when first settled in the quiet rural parish of Errol, where he laid the foundations of his fame, could not be said to be a favourite with some at least of his parishioners. The church building was much too large for the people who attended, and the young divine suggested the boarding up of a portion of the premises. This, however,was opposed by an irate elder who sought to impress his views on the minister by saying, "We’ll maybe get a mair (more) popular preacher when ye are awa(y)." No more than Caird at first, did Denney draw crowds to hear him like Chalmers or Spurgeon, of both of whom he was a profound admirer; and he would say at times that he had no desire to be a great but only a useful preacher.

On simplicity in preaching:

He (Denney) wrote once to a friend: "In the course of my Bible studies I have come to have a great faith in the obvious, and to feel that what we have got to do in preaching is not to be original, but to make the obvious arresting.

"These men, Spurgeon and Denney, were ...each (a) master of a pure Saxon style of speech. Each also had learned to write with a majestic sense of simplicity, precision, and directness, and with a resolute limitation of ordinary statement by the severity of facts."

On preaching methodology:

His colleague, Professor Clow, writes: "For this Chair of New Testament Exegesis he was uniquely prepared. Wide as was the range of his reading in all literature, as his apt quotations from many languages gave evidence, and thorough as was his mastery of the whole round of theological scholarship, he was essentially a man of one book. That book- was the New Testament. Its history, its sources, its authors, and especially the Gospel writers, and Paul as their interpreter, called forth from him all his powers, with a deep joy in their exercise. To state the problem of a great passage, to trace and lay bare the writer's thought, to expound the doctrines and apply the message to the lives of men, was a visible delight to him, as it was a devout fascination to his students.

On the cross of Christ:

The Rev. Robert McKinlay, M.A., writes: "One thinks of him pre-eminently as the great exponent of the Cross. Many of his comments on the subject are simply unforgettable. He was speaking once of the tendency of some Protestants to minimize the Cross. "If I had the choice/ said he, between being such an one and a Roman Catholic priest, I had rather be the priest lifting up the Cross to a dying man, and saying, “God loved like that!”

On evangelism:

"Nature and grace had joined hands to make of Dr. Denney an almost ideal teacher of the religious teachers of this generation. He had, to begin with, the and passion of the true evangelist. He held that the first, if often forgotten, duty of the Church is to evangelize, and that to that end all its best energies must be bent. I shall never forget how he emptied all the vials of his scorn on the head of some unlucky minister who had excused himself for giving what he called a simple evangelical address because he had not had time to prepare a proper sermon. As if, said Denney, there was any task that could so tax the strength of the Christian preacher as to preach the love of God, and so to preach it that men should commit themselves to it. . . ."

Denney was a leading exponent of the Temperance Movement of his day. His speech is as telling about big government as it is of Temperance, and is relevant to our day when government is daily expanding its role in American life:

He gave a wonderfully telling speech at the joint Temperance meeting of the Churches in the Assembly Hall, Edinburgh...

"...State Purchase, which he defines as necessarily involving State management, would, he argues, tend to the steady multiplication of Government departments and civil servants, and thus be an undoubted menace to the independence of Parliament and to purity of administration."

Again, he declares:

"The need of the country is urgent and immediate, and any scheme of purchase would be elaborated with difficulty, fiercely contested at every step, and carried if it were carried at all after prolonged delay, during which the present fatal evils would continue unchecked.

It would put an enormous additional responsibility on the shoulders of a Government which is already weighted far beyond its strength, and needs nothing less than a new field for the display of administrative incapacity."

(Adapted from "Principal James Denney, D.D, A Memoir and a tribute," by T. H. Walker.)