For the past two years, I have had the privilege of being involved in SCORE International's Baseball Outreach in the Dominican Republic. It is an awesome time of missions, ministry, and encouragement. I would recommend any man, whether you like baseball or not, to consider going. I am trying to get another team to go in the fall. If you would like to go, let me know. Watch this video to see what SCORE is doing in the DR.
May 31, 2012
May 29, 2012
Women and Clothes - Jeff Allen
This is a great bit by Jeff Allen on women and "closet vision". This is all too familiar.
May 25, 2012
When Did I Get So Old?
I have been spending a lot of time this past week asking myself where time has gone and how did I get so old so quickly. Now I know that some of you will chuckle and tell me that "43 is not old", and I would agree. However, my good friend Jason Seales likes to remind me all the time that I am no longer a "young pastor". God has blessed me with many reminders lately of my age and my blessings and fruit in ministry.
Recently, our church hired a new Worship Pastor who is 21 years old. Allen is extremely talented and mature for his age. However, he is also so young. Now with him, I have a 21 year old worship leader, a 31 year old youth pastor, and 24 year old children's minister. I recently joked with my staff that I was going to get them all "sippee cups" with the church logo on them. I find myself often having to be the "old sage" who gives advice. It's a fun and honored place to be, but it is also a reminder of how well I need to lead them as they lead others.
Also, I have recently had some milestones in several of my former students from my youth ministry days. One of my former students got married last weekend. His brother is getting married in August. I have two other weddings from former students that I am performing this fall. I do about 2-3 weddings of former students each year. I am seeing baby pictures on Facebook from former students on a weekly basis. I have four former students that are currently in seminary studying for ministry and one that is starting in the fall. I have a former student that is serving in South America as a missionary right now. Another former student is spending two weeks this summer in Niger. All of this is a gracious reminder to me from my Lord that not only am I getting older, but that God's grace will eventually provide for all ministers the ability to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
In my family, I look at my oldest son and am humbled. He's 12 years old and is 5'7" and weighs over 200 pounds. He's already wearing a bigger shoe than me! He starts middle school in the fall. That is surreal. All four of my boys are growing so fast.
I find myself now going to bed hoping that I only wake up one time to go to the bathroom. I hear popping in joints I didn't know I had. I tried shagging outfield balls for my sons baseball team this year and bruised my heel and couldn't walk for three days. Last week I even found myself watching a documentary on PBS.
When did I get so old?
P.S. Anyone have any Metamucil?
Recently, our church hired a new Worship Pastor who is 21 years old. Allen is extremely talented and mature for his age. However, he is also so young. Now with him, I have a 21 year old worship leader, a 31 year old youth pastor, and 24 year old children's minister. I recently joked with my staff that I was going to get them all "sippee cups" with the church logo on them. I find myself often having to be the "old sage" who gives advice. It's a fun and honored place to be, but it is also a reminder of how well I need to lead them as they lead others.
Also, I have recently had some milestones in several of my former students from my youth ministry days. One of my former students got married last weekend. His brother is getting married in August. I have two other weddings from former students that I am performing this fall. I do about 2-3 weddings of former students each year. I am seeing baby pictures on Facebook from former students on a weekly basis. I have four former students that are currently in seminary studying for ministry and one that is starting in the fall. I have a former student that is serving in South America as a missionary right now. Another former student is spending two weeks this summer in Niger. All of this is a gracious reminder to me from my Lord that not only am I getting older, but that God's grace will eventually provide for all ministers the ability to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
In my family, I look at my oldest son and am humbled. He's 12 years old and is 5'7" and weighs over 200 pounds. He's already wearing a bigger shoe than me! He starts middle school in the fall. That is surreal. All four of my boys are growing so fast.
I find myself now going to bed hoping that I only wake up one time to go to the bathroom. I hear popping in joints I didn't know I had. I tried shagging outfield balls for my sons baseball team this year and bruised my heel and couldn't walk for three days. Last week I even found myself watching a documentary on PBS.
When did I get so old?
P.S. Anyone have any Metamucil?
May 15, 2012
Don't Stop Relievin' - Song for Mariano
If you read this blog, you know that I am a big Red Sox fan and an even bigger Yankee hater. I have hated the Yankees since I started watching baseball almost 40 years ago. However, while I don't like the Yankees, I have tremendous respect for Mariano Rivera and what he has accomplished. I had the privilege of meeting him two years ago in the Dominican Republic. He's the real deal and a strong follower of Jesus.
This is a song for Mo set to the tune of Journey's Don't Stop Believing. It's pretty funny. This is for my Yankee friends out there.
This is a song for Mo set to the tune of Journey's Don't Stop Believing. It's pretty funny. This is for my Yankee friends out there.
May 9, 2012
Bravo Josh, Bravo...
Josh Hamilton has become my favorite baseball player for the past few years because of both his incredible talent and his unique story. He is a flawed hero who unashamedly uses his brokenness as a vehicle to tell others about Jesus Christ. He had a record night last night. Enjoy the video below.
May 7, 2012
Judging Rightly
My sermon yesterday was from Luke 6:37-45 on Jesus' teaching about judging other people's sin. This is often one of the most mis-quoted and misunderstood verses in the Bible. Almost everyone quotes this at one time or another. People who don't know any other verses of Scripture except "Jesus wept" are fond of pulling this one out whenever they need some sort of vindication or justification for their personal sin. However, is that what Jesus meant when he said "Judge not, and you will not be judged"? Was Jesus advocating an attitude towards others that never calls into question unwise decisions, misguided living, or blatant sin? Was Jesus advocating that each person's life is completely a personal matter and that nobody ever has a right to question another's lifestyle choices?
Certainly not. This is another classic example of not understanding Scripture in context and only taking one verse and building a theology off it. Jesus also taught in the verses following in Luke 6 about fruit and judging the health of a tree by the quality of its fruit. Our society and law requires an accurate system of investigation and judgment in order to maintain law. How do we justify that the pedophile who destroys many lives by his actions is guilty and deserving of punishment while the guy who unwisely drinks more alcohol than he should and destroys his personal life and relationships around him does not deserve some sort of correction? How do we say that the corporate head who leads his company in millions of dollars of unwise investments that cost taxpayers billions to bail out is worthy of condemnation while we should turn our eyes from the average Joe who cheats on his taxes? The reality of life is that because we are all humans, we are accountable to one another for our choices and actions because we do not live in a vacuum. All of our choices have consequences to ourselves and others.
Jesus does not condemn judging when it consists of accurately assessing a situation and then seeking to help someone who is making choices that are harmful to himself or others physically or spiritually. Its basic and inherent to the Christian heart that has been transformed by the gospel to want to be a conduit of grace and forgiveness to others. As a matter of fact, I believe if you are cold and indifferent to other people's sinful choices then you probably don't understand the gospel. What Jesus condemns is a cold, judgmentalism that seeks to justify yourself by constantly putting down other people, standing in a condemnation over them. This was the righteousness of the Pharisees. They were religious without grace. They wore their religious badges proudly, but missed out on the sessions about mercy and justice. Sadly, this is also what many in the unchurched culture see from those who attend church. They see us as piously looking down our noses in condemnation while we forget that at one time "we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another." (Titus 3:3). We forget the truth and power of Ephesians 2:3-4 which says:
How about you? How easy do you find it to judge without being judgmental? Do you lean too much to the judgmental Pharisee side or too much to the tolerant, non-confrontational side? Have you learned the tender art of speaking the truth in love?
Certainly not. This is another classic example of not understanding Scripture in context and only taking one verse and building a theology off it. Jesus also taught in the verses following in Luke 6 about fruit and judging the health of a tree by the quality of its fruit. Our society and law requires an accurate system of investigation and judgment in order to maintain law. How do we justify that the pedophile who destroys many lives by his actions is guilty and deserving of punishment while the guy who unwisely drinks more alcohol than he should and destroys his personal life and relationships around him does not deserve some sort of correction? How do we say that the corporate head who leads his company in millions of dollars of unwise investments that cost taxpayers billions to bail out is worthy of condemnation while we should turn our eyes from the average Joe who cheats on his taxes? The reality of life is that because we are all humans, we are accountable to one another for our choices and actions because we do not live in a vacuum. All of our choices have consequences to ourselves and others.
Jesus does not condemn judging when it consists of accurately assessing a situation and then seeking to help someone who is making choices that are harmful to himself or others physically or spiritually. Its basic and inherent to the Christian heart that has been transformed by the gospel to want to be a conduit of grace and forgiveness to others. As a matter of fact, I believe if you are cold and indifferent to other people's sinful choices then you probably don't understand the gospel. What Jesus condemns is a cold, judgmentalism that seeks to justify yourself by constantly putting down other people, standing in a condemnation over them. This was the righteousness of the Pharisees. They were religious without grace. They wore their religious badges proudly, but missed out on the sessions about mercy and justice. Sadly, this is also what many in the unchurched culture see from those who attend church. They see us as piously looking down our noses in condemnation while we forget that at one time "we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another." (Titus 3:3). We forget the truth and power of Ephesians 2:3-4 which says:
"among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."Jesus illustrated the kind of judgment we should exercise with the familiar illustration of the speck and the log. He said for us not to try and help remove the debris in other's lives until we are actively aware and removing the obvious debris in our own. This is why we all need an constant understanding of our personal depravity and the excessive goodness of God's grace. While God doesn't want us to dwell in self-pity because of the sinful choices we've made, he wants us to keep the reminder of what we have been forgiven of to motivate us to engage in aggressive and violent war against the sin in our members so we can have leverage by which to help others in their sin. This is the essence of judging rightly. People will be much more open to the reality of their sin and to the truth of the gospel when they see God's people come from a position of graciously forgiven sinners instead of pious, condescending Pharisees. This isn't easy though. The longer we move from our justification experience, the easier it is to forget the terror of standing before the righteous Judge. The more we craft an image of God as a gentle, benevolent grandfather, the harder it is to remember that our continuing sins are still a terrible affront to his holiness.
How about you? How easy do you find it to judge without being judgmental? Do you lean too much to the judgmental Pharisee side or too much to the tolerant, non-confrontational side? Have you learned the tender art of speaking the truth in love?
May 4, 2012
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