The Lost Penny

November 19, 2002 @ 3:12 pm by Pressed

As of recently I have been training for a marathon. Just to clear up confusion, all marathons are 26.2 miles. I know some people think any running race is a marathon, but that’s not the case. Anyway, I am up to 15 miles on my training. I typically run on a high school track. It sometimes becomes difficult to remember which mile or even lap I am on. In order to keep track (no pun intended), I carry pennies that equal the number of miles I will run for that day. Today there was a table next to the track, so I put my pennies on the table as I completed a mile. As I went farther and farther I began to get tired tired (as most overweight bodies do). Around mile eleven I was ready to quit. At mile 13, I thought I was going to throw up. This was a reasonably difficult run for me (I am 20 lbs. overweight of pure tubbiness and I am not just saying that even though I am in great shape. I am not in great shape, I am the captain of the U.S.S. Fat). Finally, I get to mile 15 and I am ready to be done. I victoriously pass the table and put the final penny onto it as I pass by with excitement. Finally, I am finished with my 15 miler.

I walked around to catch my breath and to loosen up my weary legs. After doing so, I started making my way back to the table grab my stuff. As I picked up the pennies I counted them with pride. Then I noticed something horrible. I only counted 14 pennies. I started looking around to find the 15th penny, but to no avail. I searched the ground, the table, the track, everything. I could not find this penny. I thought to myself “what if I only ran 14 miles? That would mean I am not done and still have another mile to go. I don’t think I can do another mile now”Frantically, I began to search even harder. I desperately wanted to find that penny. I didn’t want to find it because it was worth a lot and I needed it. I wanted it because it represented a lot of time and effort. It had value because I worked hard so I could put that penny on the table (I know it sounds dumb, but stay with me). The crazy part is that when I found the penny, I was so excited. I was happy to find that one measly penny.

Then I began to think of the parable of the lost penny (Luke 15:8-10). In that parable, the woman goes to great lengths to find the penny she had lost. Once she found it she threw a party. She was excited that she found that penny. The woman is representative of God. He desperately seeks us just like me and the old lady had sought our penny. Once we repent or He has found us, He rejoices. He does so, not because we are valuable in and of ourselves or because He needs us. He sought us because of the value He has placed in us. We represent His hard work. We are merely made of dust and worth nothing as we are without God. However, because God places value in us, we are worth a more than we know. We represent His work on the cross and a relationship that He wants to have with humanity. He did not start His work in us in vain. “For you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do” 1 Corinthians 2:10. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ” Philippians 1:6.

Posted by Jim Shultz at November 19, 2002 10:58 PM

Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology

Murdering Minister

November 17, 2002 @ 3:09 pm by Pressed

Believe it or not there are many ministers in this world who are murderers of God’s people. Those people who have gone into the ministry and then either starve, poison, or infect souls are guilty of murder.

They Starve Souls: ‘Feed the flock of God which is among you.’ 1 Peter 5:2 These are men who claim to be ministers of God and feed only themselves and starve the flock. These people do not preach or simply don’t have the skill to do so, thus they do not feed God’s sheep. A minister who is more concerned with his own pleasure than with the well being of the flock that God has entrusted to him is guilty of starving that flock and is ultimately guilty of murder. I wonder how many people are guilty of murder of the soul.

They Poison Souls: These ministers poison people with error. A heretical minister who is either ignorant of the gospel or denies the truth of it teaches others his heretical teachings, thus poisoning the souls of the people whom God has entrusted to him. Some will teach only what makes people feel good, leaving out all of the things that would convict. Others make the Bible say what they want it to say in order to get away with the most grotesque sins. And others simply preach in a way to draw attention to themselves making their sermons as emotional as possible trying to draw a response from the crowd regardless of whether the teaching is correct or not, since that isn’t the point of their sermon. However they accomplish their heretical teaching differs from person to person, but ultimately they still poison the souls of those listening and are guilty of murder.

They infect souls by their scandalous lives: Wow a scandalous minister, doesn’t sound right does it? Well welcome to the real world baby! There are ministers who claim to be one thing and live a repulsive immoral life outside the eyes of the public, defiling the very ground they walk on and spreading their sickness to every thing they touch. They infect their people with the bad lives they choose to live, preaching one thing and doing another. Qui Curios simulant et bacchanalia vivunt which means [they make a show of goodness, but live a life of riot.] “…such ministers have a golden office, but are dirty and polluted in their lives. They are murderers, and the blood of souls will cry against them at the last day.” - Thomas Watson. It is a sad truth that there is no pastoral position, youth position or any other ministerial position that is sacred. In fact, many times these positions can be a hiding place for the most debase and sick people.

They destroy others by getting them into bad company, and so make them proselytes to the devil: Vitia in proximum quamque transiliunt [Our vices leap on to the man next to us.] Hmmm… that means your neighbor can’t sin without getting a little bit on you. It’s kind of like your buddy with the flu virus sneezing in your face… “thanks dude.” We don’t live in a controlled climate where we can do anything we want without effecting other people. All of our mistakes and sins will infect others both directly and indirectly. How many people are guilty of murder for taking others with them down their own sinful path? “How sad will it be with those who have not only their own sins, but the blood of others to answer for!” - Watson

I heard one of the greatest bits of wisdom in the latest Harry Potter movie, “It is not your gifts and abilities that define who you are, it’s the choices you make.” Many have gifts that enable them to study, preach, teach, and even lead worship, but those gifts don’t define them, the choices they make do.

Pressed

Reasearch and information taken from the works of Thomas Watson. For more information go to www.fivesolas.com/watson/

Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  Filed under: Life Of A Youth Pastor

The Word of God

November 16, 2002 @ 3:06 pm by Pressed

I believe that the bible is inerrant. I believe that all the words are true, and that God has given man his word in order for man to recognize their sin, recognize their need for a savior, and meet Jesus Christ. The Bible gives us a moral code to live by that is by design pleasing to God.

Since the Bible is truly the words of God then it will condemn. God’s word glorifies those who trust in him and judges those who do not. “They who cast God’s law behind their backs, God will cast their prayer behind his back. They who will not have the law to rule them, shall have the law to judge them.” - Thomas Watson. The Bible makes our sin aware to us in order that we may know our sickness.

Since the Bible is truly the words of God then we must hear them all. The precious words that God himself speaks should not be lost nor ignored.

Since the Bible is truly the words of God then we must come to them in reverence. If every word of God’s moral law is given from heaven then we must respect it as such. Moses took off his shoes in reverence to God when he was about to speak. How should we act in reverence to God when we hear or read his words?

Since the Bible is truly the words of God then we must remember them. Isn’t everything the creator says worthy of being remembered by us His creation? We don’t forget how to drive, and we don’t forget how to watch TV, but how often do we forget the words of the Lord?

Since the Bible is truly the words of God then we must believe it. God is worthy of our trust since he is the almighty God. Who are we to not believe in what God has spoken to His people, and yet people reject it or forget it everyday.

Since the Bible is truly the words of God then we must obey it. The moral law that God has provided for his people is a “copy of God’s will, our spiritual directory; it shows us what sins to avoid and what duties to pursue.” (Watson). Through God’s word we should know good from bad and right from wrong.

How influencial is God’s moral law in your life?

Pressed

Permalink  |  Comments (3)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology

A fairly bloody ending to a very good day.

November 15, 2002 @ 3:01 pm by Pressed

I took my youth group to play paintball today. We had the most people that has ever gone before which was 26 kids and adults with semi-automatic guns shooting at each other. What a blast. It is defiantly an expensive sport, but well worth the fun and excitement. I really enjoyed it, even though I was plummeted with paintballs several times. I managed to make it through the entire 5 hours without any cuts or bruises, until I got back to the church.

We had a few leftover hot dogs, after roasting them over a big ole fire out at the paintball fields, so I decided to cook me a couple before I went home. I came upstairs to check my e-mail and eat my hot dogs. Here is a word of advice, don’t eat your hot dog filled with mustard, ketchup, and relish over the top of your cordless keyboard. Needless to say a big ole blop of ketchup and relish flopped out of my hot dog bun and covered the letters g and h on my keyboard. I sat in disbelief for a good five minutes before it hit me that I should clean it up. I took a pair of scissors and began popping off keys one at a time trying to clean up this nasty mess with a Kleenex cause I didn’t bring any napkins upstairs. In the middle of popping off keys the scissors slipped and sliced my finger wide open and blood came pouring out. I make it all the way through paintball uninjured and end up slicing my finger half off when I get back to the Church. *sigh* So my second word of advice is don’t use scissors to pop your keys off when you do not take my first word of advice and plop food in your keyboard.

Pressed
(more…)

Permalink  |  Comments (1)  |  Filed under: Life Of A Youth Pastor

What God requires…

November 10, 2002 @ 2:57 pm by Pressed

There is a lost art among Christians in today’s society and culture. It is unfortunate that people have lost the passion for reading. I am not talking about the Left Behind Series or the newspaper, but what I am talking about is old classics. There is a wealth of knowledge in books written in the 16th and 17th centuries that you can never find in today’s book series or current magazine articles.

I am currently reading segments from a book written by the puritan Thomas Watson. He has several tremendous works including the one I am reading on the 10 commandments. I admit it is a struggle to read this because it was written in 1692, but the payoff of knowledge is far greater than the struggle of reading.

I have outlined the first section on “obedience” below just to give you an idea of the powerful message presented in his writings, which is commonly found in the writings of other great puritans and reformers as well.

The following is of course my modern english translation of the writings of Thomas Watson.

Obedience to God’s revealed will is the duty which God has required of Man. “It is not enough to hear God’s voice, but we must obey.” Obedience is a part of the honor we owe to God.

The reason that God has given us his commands and laws is obedience. The reason God created the 10 Commandments for His people was so that they would practice obedience. A king publishes laws, not simply to look pretty, but to be obeyed.

What makes our obedience acceptable to God?

1. Our obedience must be (cum animi prolubio), free and cheerful. Isa 1:19 “If you are willing and obedient…” It must be something that is free on our part, something that we are willing and happy to do. We shouldn’t obey God grudgingly, and against our will for that is hypocrisy. This was Cain’s problem when he brought his sacrifice, but not his heart. Being cheerful in our obedience to God reveals our love for God’s work.

2. Our obedience must be devout and fervent. Rom 12:11 “be fervent in spirit,” Fervent means to be hot, burning, or glowing or showing great warmth or feeling. “Obedience without fervency, is like a sacrifice without fire.” We must be devoted to God’s work with a burning passion, is that not what God deserves from us? Our obedience shouldn’t lead to our grumbling and complaining, but instead to our thanksgiving and praise of the most high God whom we so passionately serve.

3. Our obedience must be extensive, it must reach to all God’s commands. God does not call us to be obedient in only half of his purpose. We are not to be obedient in some things but not others, instead our obedience should spread to all things. “God likes not such partial servants, who will do some part of the work he sets them about, and leave the other undone.”

4. Our obedience must be sincere. 1 Cor 10:31 “Do all to the glory of God” Do we do it because we have to or because we want to? Do we obey God to bring glory to Him, or do we obey him so that we don’t feel guilty or so that we gain praise and applause for ourselves? “The end of our obedience must not be to stop the mouth of conscience, or to gain applause or preferment; but that we may grow more like God, and bring more glory to him.”

5. Our obedience must be in and through Christ. It is not our own actions that makes us obedient but it is the actions of Christ through us. We must serve God in the hope and confidence of Christ’s works otherwise we do not please God, but provoke him. King Uzziah offered incense without a priest and God became angry with him and struck him with leprosy (2 Chron 26:20). Should we try to offer up our own attempts at obedience without the merit of Christ in us? “So, when we do not come to God in and through Christ, we offer up incense to him without a priest, and what can we expect but severe rebukes?”

6. Our obedience must be constant. Psalm 106:3 “Blessed is he that does righteousness at all times.” Obedience is not something we simply do for a season and then quit, but true obedience is constant. Christ was obedient unto death, and we must imitate him. For him who persevere in obedience to God to the end, there awaits a crown to be put upon his head. “The crown is set upon the head of perseverance.” Rev:2:26,28

Why is it that men do not Obey God?

1. Many do not obey God due to lack of faith! Many don’t really believe what they claim to believe, which keeps them from action. “Satan’s master-piece, his drawnet by which he drags millions to hell, is to keep them in infidelity; he knows, if he can but keep them from believing the truth, he is sure to keep them from obeying it.”

2. Many do not obey God because they do not deny themselves! There are so many things in life that demand our attention and draw at our selfish desires that we fulfill our own sinful needs and in turn cannot obey God. We cannot both fill our sinful nature and obey God at the same time. “God commands one thing, and men’s lusts command another; and they will rather die than deny their lusts. If lust cannot be denied, God cannot be obeyed.”

Disobedience to God is a sin!

1. And what a sin it is! Sin is irrational. Are we stronger than God that we can disobey him with no consequence? God is the Father Almighty, who can command legions and all things belong to Him. It is irrational to think that we can simply disobey him. God gives us daily subsistence, we live and move because he allows it and yet we arrogantly seek to fill our own desires biting the hand that feeds us. As He gives us our allowance, should we not give Him our allegiance?

2. It is a destructive sin. 2 Thess 1:7 “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel.” Who are we to disobey God? “He who refuses to obey God’s will in commanding, shall be sure to obey his will in punishing.” Our blood is upon our own heads because we know how to do good, and yet we choose not to do it.

God commands only that which is beneficial. There is nothing that God has commanded for his people that is not beneficial to them, even when we can’t see it at the time. God asks us to repent, why? That our sins may be blotted out. (Acts 3:19). God commands us to believe, why? That we may be saved. (Acts 16:31). In every command God gives he reveals his love for us in that he only commands us to do that which is beneficial to us.

Wow, what a mighty God we serve, who are we to question God? It would be only to our benefit that we obey God, for in obedience we cannot go wrong, but in disobedience we are always wrong and how great are reward will we reap for our own disobedience?

Pressed

Permalink  |  Comments (1)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology