Author: Alan

Alan is an ordinary guy, living in a small, high plains Colorado town...and humbled to be a minister of God...
Dad, Mom, & Daughter Signing

Psalms == Praise?

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Dad, Mom, & Daughter SigningDuring this morning’s “wing-it” Bible study (please note I didn’t say “wing nut” Bible study :-)) the last minute leader, Stan, spoke about the various parts of worship…and signing came into scope. These two verses came up as I did a search in Crossway’s English Standard Version Study Bible on my iPhone:

addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 5:19-20)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16)

What I hadn’t noticed before is how both times Paul encourages us to sing psalms he connects it to thanking the Lord. Although I think a lot of the hymns we sing are inherently thankful, I wonder if we should sign more that are outwardly so…

And I thank God if He gave me that insight. 🙂 Continue reading “Psalms == Praise?”

Forgiveness

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I’ll be writing next week’s bulletin article on forgiveness…it was inspired by a passing thought I had during my (work) trip to Hawaii.

As a Christian it would almost seem “easy” to say, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do” if someone is torturing and then killing you. I’m sure “easy” isn’t the right word…but I think you know what I mean.

However, would you be able to say the same about (and to) people who is torturing and killing your spouse?

Your children?

More to follow when I draft the article…

UPDATE: I actually preached a sermon instead of writing an article…although I didn’t end up touching on this…so, I suppose, there is still time for one…

Is free will an illusion?

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Interesting video about free will (hat tip to Hot Air):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q40PfsLxMzY&w=420&rel=0]

During college I watched a debate between a Calvinist and a…well…I guess you would say a “non-Calvinist.” In it the Calvinist spent a little time waxing philosophical about free will, and whether it actually exists. Ultimately, he was arguing, you cannot do anything outside your nature…so thus, you do not have free will.

Oddly enough, with that perspective God does not have free will either…since He will never do anything outside His nature.

And that’s what makes Him so great. 🙂

A liberal telling a conservative...

“Two rival religions? … The real struggle is between Christianity and Post-Christianity.”

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A liberal telling a conservative...There is a very interesting article by Albert Mohler that is worth your time titled, “Two Rival Religions? Christianity and Post-Christianity.” Not only does it explain why it is near impossible to convince a liberal Christian of something outside their worldview, but it (in great respect) puts into words how secularism is itself a religion with holy writings, priests, and so on.  For instance:

Secular liberalism also identifies certain sins such as “homophobia” and sexism. As Kainz sees it, the secular scriptures fall into two broad categories: “Darwinist and scientistic writings championing materialist and naturalistic explanations for everything, including morals; and feminist writings exposing the ‘evil’ of patriarchy and tracing male exploitation of females throughout history up to the present.”

The priests and priestesses of secular liberalism constitute its “sacerdotal elite” and tend to be intellectuals who can present liberal values in the public square. Congregations where secular liberals gather include organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the National Organization of Women, and similar bodies. These groups “help supply a sense of affiliation and commonality for the religiously liberal.”

In some ways I’d like to copy the whole article for you :-), but instead of plagiarizing…please take time to read Dr. Mohler’s piece.

Righteous Children of God

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Okay…at this point I will allow any of you who consider the subject of proper biblical hermeneutics boring to stop reading this article…

Still there? 🙂

Well, for those of you who are braving what could be a really dusty, boring dialogue…get a good shot of coffee and let’s dive in!

Of course, you may not even know what the word “hermeneutic” means. My Mac’s dictionary is short and sweet, stating it’s “a method or theory of interpretation.” Giving that topic it’s proper attention would take far more than a single bulletin article, but let’s go with a couple simple rules that perhaps we can immediately agree upon: Continue reading “Righteous Children of God”

Teach Your Children Well

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Bill Nye the Science Guy and a child with a verboten name…

This was a sermon I planned to preach last week…but postponed it when a difficult verse in Hebrews came up during the previous Wednesday’s Bible study…a verse that warranted a little more attention.

Although I do realize that some still disagree with me about how to apply Hebrews 6:4-6. 🙂

A boy named Hunter…

Either way, when it comes to social media, I probably follow Twitter most…and two tweets came through the same day that concerned me. One linked to an article about a deaf boy with a name that was problematic:

Hunter Spanjer says his name with a certain special hand gesture, but at just three and a half years old, he may have to change it.

“He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy,” explained Hunter’s father, Brian Spanjer.

Grand Island’s “Weapons in Schools” Board Policy 8470 forbids “any instrument…that looks like a weapon,” But a three year-old’s hands?1

Although the school district ultimately relented…it wasn’t the foolishness of the policy (or its overly-strict application) that bothered me most. Instead…well, let me tell you why it disturbed me after we talk about what the second tweet pointed to.

Continue reading “Teach Your Children Well”

Passing the Point of No Return

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Betrayal

How many here have experienced a devastating betrayal from a friend, a spouse, or a family member?

I suspect if you have spent more than a couple decades on this earth it has happened to you…and that by me causing you to think about it you immediately recalled a taste of the same pain you felt when it originally happened.

Betrayal from someone close is traumatizing. Not only can it permanently destroy your relationship with that person; it can impact your relationships with everyone else. To quote the title of a song by Ian Hunter (that I probably most know due to a version by Great White)…

Once bitten twice shy…

Continue reading “Passing the Point of No Return”

Calvin and Hobbes

Advice from a Stuffed Tiger

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At this point I know I am probably famous (or infamous) for using secular songs as jump-off points for my sermons. However, today’s inspiration came from a comic instead of a tune.

Any Calvin and Hobbes fans here?

Although I wish Bill Watterson was still producing more of that strip, there is something to be said for stopping at the top of your game…and staying “stopped.” Michelle and I have plenty Calvin and Hobbes books, and Friday I randomly opened one of them in the middle and found an interesting four box conversation between Calvin and his loyal friend, Hobbes:

Calvin and Hobbes

Box 1: Calvin: “‘Live for the moment’ is my motto.

Box 2: Calvin: “You never know how long you’ve got! You could step into the road tomorrow and — wham — you get hit by a cement truck! Then you’d be sorry you put off your pleasures!”

Box 3: Calvin: “That’s why I say ‘live for the moment.’ What’s your motto?”

Box 4: Hobbes: “Look down the road.”1

🙂

Well, between Calvin and Hobbes we’ve been given a clear choice between pretty disparate advice, haven’t we?

Continue reading “Advice from a Stuffed Tiger”

Augie and Sunny

The Patience of Sunny

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Augie and SunnyThe English language owes much to the Bible, especially the King James translation. Even the most non-religious often use expressions directly from its phrasings or stories—for instance, "the patience of Job."

And Job did seem a pretty patient man. Even though he "was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil"1 (Job 1:1), things went terribly south for him. First he lost his vast riches and all his children, but even in the midst of his grieving we learn that "in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong" (Job 1:22). Then, with no knowledge of why the former or latter happened to him, he was "struck…with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head: (Job 2:7). His wife then encouraged him to give up his integrity and "Curse God and die" (Job 2:9)… Continue reading “The Patience of Sunny”

Hoobastank 'The Reason'

The Reason

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Hoobastank 'The Reason'

It's Jesus

I'm going to turn this sermon, "The Reason," upside down and tell you the punch line right from the start.

The reason is Jesus.

There you go…now we can quickly finish the rest of the service and go grab some coffee and cookies in fellowship hall about 30 minutes early. 🙂

One could argue even more for that approach given that the vast majority of you wouldn't be sitting there if you didn't believe that the reason is Jesus. For you, this sermon truly should be "preaching to the choir."

Now, if any of you listening are atheists and believe there is nothing beyond the laws of physics…then I'm not sure that you can argue there is a reason for any thing. You may think you have purpose, but in reality your ever thought is just a domino falling into place after the original, yet to be explained, domino fell. I don't think you can even suggest your fate is controlled by chance—from the beginning everything has been the result of one physical law interacting with another—natural cause laid upon natural cause. You did not even choose to sit there before me…DNA formed your brain and chemistry controls your thoughts within it. Nature and nurture are your gods and you have no free will. Independent thought and purpose are an illusion.

Continue reading “The Reason”

5 Solas Tattoo

5 Solas

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5 Solas TattooNot sure what your feelings toward tattoos are, but…

  • Sola Scriptura — By Scripture Alone
  • Solus Christus — By Christ Alone
  • Sola Gratia — By Grace Alone
  • Sola Fide — By Faith Alone
  • Soli Deo Gloria — Glory to God Alone

If you click on the thumbnail, you will see a larger image…

(Credit for the tattoo goes to Alana from Main St. Tattoo and Body Piercing in Merced, California.)

Divorce

Only for Adultery?

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DivorceOne of the least flexible rules in many Christian churches is about divorce. The only reason for it is adultery:

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?" He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery" (Matthew 19:3-9, English Standard Version, emphasis mine).

Seems pretty cut-and-dry, eh? Who knows how many Christian men and women have lived through loveless and/or abusive marriages because they&#39ve been told leaving their heartless spouse is a sin.

Well, in his Christianity Today article from 2007, David Instone-Brewer suggests that instead of giving a simple, cold hard rule Jesus was choosing a side in a much larger debate in Judaism at that time. As such, perhaps it isn’t just adultery that warrants divorce. Please give it a read with an open mind…things may not be as black-and-white as they have seemed:

"What God Has Joined"

Black Label Society

SDMF and Hell’s Angels

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Black Label SocietyAlthough I can appreciate almost any style of music that includes a melody, I am especially drawn to tunes with heavy guitars. Over the years, Ozzy Osborne has had a knack for not only putting out songs with great guitars—he also attracts especially talented guitarists. (For those not familiar with Ozzy, he first became famous as the lead singer of Black Sabbath—another guitar-laden band.)

Perhaps Ozzy's most famous guitarist is Rhandy Rhoads, who is considered one of rock's best even though he died at the age of 25 in an airplane accident. Rhandy's death was hard on Ozzy…but life does go on, and Rhandy was ultimately replaced by Jake E. Lee, who was later succeeded by Zakk Wylde.

Which almost gets us to the acronym in this article's title. 🙂 Continue reading “SDMF and Hell’s Angels”

Hurt's The Crux (image from Amazon.com)

Lord, Why Have You Forsaken Us?

Posted on by Alan

Hurt's The Crux (image from Amazon.com)

Questions

After last week's sermon I got two bits of implicit advice, one right after service, one late in the work week. First, get into the meat of the talk more quickly. Second, keep it shorter.

So, let's jump right in with some questions:

  • Did God create the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them?
  • Is God sovereign over all His creation?
  • Is God omnipresent—that is, everywhere?
  • Is God love?
  • Is God in control?
  • Is God omnipotent—that is, all powerful?
  • Does God hear prayer?
  • Does God answer prayer?

If you are a true Christian you are likely to answer yes to all those questions. As such, please try to answer one additional question in these words spoken during Hurt's song, "Adonai":

If God is here
And God is love
Was he there when I got touched?
While I was calling out his name?

The answer to his query, "Was God there?" is another simple yes. However, that's not really the question being asked, is it?

Continue reading “Lord, Why Have You Forsaken Us?”