Duggar Haters

Dear Reader,
I came across this article dealing with some of the Duggar hate. This is one of the things that I do not understand. I completely understand that you may feel that you are not cut out to have 20 children and that is completely fine but why do so many have to say such things about people who have a sincere heart. Unlike most of the Dugger haters out there I have personally met the Duggars and spent significant time with them. I have in all my dealing with them found them extremely honest and sincere in their love for life. Certainly that is what they are, in a culture that is moving faster and faster down the road towards a hate for human life, the Duggars are a shinning tower of Christian love and hope. Those that are the followers of Satan will naturally be trained to like him hate life but for those of us that claim to be followers of Christ we should always love life. Because Christ loved life and gave His life for our broken, blind and filthy life. Because He didn't see you and me in our broken form but what He could recreate us to be.



"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you." — John 15:18

Read more: http://getalonghome.com/2011/12/world-hate-duggars/#ixzz2XFYpVfI3

Sermons Online

Dear Reader,
I just wanted to let you know that we will be posting my messages preached at Stonyford Community Church online here. I hope you enjoy these. God bless you and thank you so much for your interest.

The O'Keeffes in Ireland

Dear Reader,
While we have been so excited to have the opportunity to serve here in Stonyford CA our prayers and thoughts are still with those serving on the front lines in the nation of Ireland. The O'Keeffe family are one of many nationals and missionaries serving over there and they need your prayers. Ireland is facing a lot of pivotal issues right now and there is no time like the present to preach the gospel like never before. The O'Keeffes are doing just that. They have started a bible study with the help of their sending church Bible Baptist Church of Ballincollig, and they are have taken that to they next step and started a church. It is amazing to watch the Lord's blessing as they toil hard in His fields. They very much need your prayer and financial support. Please go to their awesome website and see what an amazing work they are doing. Here is their website. Check it out and get involved. Please contact them for further information about what they are doing and how you can get involved.

Preach [Theology Meets Practice]

I am currently reading a good book that was given to me by my mentor. The title is, "Preach [Theology Meets Practice]," by Mark Dever and Gregg Gilbert. So far, it has been a great and easy read, it also makes some great points. In a day and time where preaching is often sidelined, this book is a tall glass of water on a hot day. Preaching is not only an effective way of communicating the truth of God's word, it is one of the main ways that God wants His truth communicated. From the very foundations of the church, preaching has been there right at the heart of the matter. In the book of Acts you see the Apostles preaching over and over again. Often true preaching is accompanied by revival, and that is what makes it especially relevant today.

One of the things that we, as preachers, can get caught up in is preaching to reinforce the culture. While there may be many positive things in our culture, it, like any other culture, has things in direct opposition to the word of God. Some times we can get caught up in the business of tickling ears instead of pricking hearts. In the book the author mentions an interesting quote from an article by Bill McKibbens:

"The pastors focus relentlessly on you and your individual needs. Their goal is to service consumers - not communities but individuals: 'seekers' is the term of art, people who feel the need for some spirituality in their (or children's) lives but who aren't tightly bound to any particular denomination or school of thought. The result is often a kind of soft-focus, comfortable suburban faith. A New York Times reporter visiting one booming mega church outside of Phoenix recently found the typical scene: a drive through latte stand, Krispy Kreme doughnuts at every service, and sermons about 'How to discipline your children, how to reach your professional goals, how to invest your money, how to reduce your dept'. On Sundays children played with church-distributed Xboxes, and many congregants had signed up for a twice-weekly aerobics class called Firm Believers."

Maybe your church is not quite in touch with the culture as this previously mentioned church (and I mean that in a positive way), but you still get caught up in preaching the popcorn of your own subculture. Truth be told, most of us pastors, whether we would like to admit it or not, are not really in touch with the direction that our mainstream culture is going. Our culture is moving farther and faster away from Biblical truth, and being in touch with it is really being in touch with evil. Unfortunately; though, we do get caught up in preaching what is popular in our circles. It is all too easy to get stuck on some hobby horse or talk about some other church out there and the terrible things that they are doing. We are preaching everything except what our church desperately needs: how this passage should change their lives forever. Admit it, it is much easier to deal with the sins of the big mega church down the road than to deal with the struggles of your congregation. Most likely the reason is because it is always easier to deal with someone else's problem than my own. Jesus said it well when He said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye" (Matt 7:1-5).

Preaching shouldn't be culturally relevant but relevant to your congregation. You dealing with the sins of pop culture is like leading you congregation to water but not letting them drink. There is a desperate need in our day to show people how the Word of God should change the everyday lives of the people. God wants to use His word to invade every area of the lives of your congregants. Don't stand in the way of that.

Some Thoughts on John 1:1-2

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."

                                                                                              John 1:1-2

In these first two verses we have the introduction of the gospel of John. Wow, what powerful verses we have here as well. On these thoughts hang the truth of Christianity. John is normally a rather flowery guy when it comes to written language, but here he is blatantly clear. John usually is very poetical, expressing things in a very educated Greek. Here though he does not want you to miss his point because the rest of gospel he is going to be demonstrating what he is saying in these first two verses over and over again. John's gospel is very different from the others, because like the others he chooses stories and words of Christ that demonstrate that Christ is who He says He is, the Son of God. This verse is so clear that you might as well rip it out if you do not agree with it. Because John has no intention of letting you miss the point of what he is saying. 

I am currently preparing to preach through the gospel of John and I am excited about this passage because it is the perfect introduction for the book. Other gospels start out with Christ's human genealogies but John starts out with showing that Christ is not a created being. He is God and He was with God in the beginning. While there are those that flatly deny the deity of Christ, of which I sincerely doubt I will change their minds, there are many of us who would confess the deity of Jesus but not live like we do. Some times in our day and times we over emphasize the humanness of Christ. We want to make Him some sort of genie/buddy that should always deliver happiness to us in whatever form we desire. I like C.S. Lewis' example of the fact that He is not a tame lion. While Christ does love us and want to give us what is best for us He does not fit into the bottle of personal desires. So often we what to shrink the God Jesus down to a more manageable size. Christ is bigger than our logic and our thoughts and that is why He says:

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." 

                                                                                            Is 55:9

Some Thoughts on Preparing for a Mother's Day Sermon

On thing for sure is that you are not going to get a how to from me as I am doing this for the first time. I am always excited about my sermon for Sunday and the preparation for it but I have to admit that I am pretty green at this thing. While there are a lot of nice things to say about mothers both past and present one thing for sure is that God loves the heart of a mother. He created and instilled in a woman that deep desire and instinct to mother. In this instinct He has left images of his character. As a mother holds her baby for the first time there is absolute love in her eyes. She has spent the last nine month giving of her body to grow this little life. She has also, though the little bumps and taps in her womb, began to develop a relationship with this budding human being. As she loves the little child she loves him without any expectancy of return on investment. There is nothing that this little baby can do for her. He cannot give her money or things he can hardly express his feelings, but none the less she is eager and willing to pour our her life for the being she holds in her arms. Such it is with the heart of Christ. We are barely able to respond in our relationship with Him. Our love is purely a response to the love he pours out on us. We are only able to reciprocate His feelings toward us, and certainly He has no need for us. Yet he says things like this about us.

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

                                                                                                                  Jer 31:3

The reality is that the love of a mother is truly overwhelming. Yet at the same time the love of our Lord is that much more overwhelming. This Sunday take some time to thank some mothers for their example and love. Especially yours because after all you would not be here if it was not for her. From me to all your mothers out there, God bless you. May you keep doing what you do best. Thank you so much for teaching us a little bit about what it means to lay down your life for another.

Political Views

Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for your support and interest lately and I am aware that there are probably some of you that are just starting to follow my blog now that I am now the pastor of  Stonyford Community Church. You may have noticed that I have been rather liberal in expressing my conservative views on this blog. I hope that you do not find any of this offensive as I have thought long and hard about my views and do not take them lightly. Although I do understand that there are those of you out there that hold differing opinions that you hold just as dear. Let me say here and now that it is perfectly fine with me (although I might hope that you might change over to my viewpoint :) ). I am always happy to discuss with any one concerned about what I have posted on these pages and I am fully aware of the fact that I may have easily missed something that could clarify my views. I would also be happy if you express that to me through the internet or in person. What I hope to do here is have a form of my learning. A place to express tough ideas and concepts that I believe no one on earth has the complete answer to. You may notice that I come across strong in my presentation but my intention is not to offend but simply to dialog. I firmly believe that we cannot strengthen our beliefs until we can discuss them with friends and sometimes enemies to round out the finer points. All of us have something to learn and I put my name at the top of that list but learning is not possible until we get out there and study and discuss the questions of life. The stagnant society is the one that does not allow discussion, prohibits books and learning and bans the congregation of people. In the words of Heinrich Hein a German Jewish poet "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Evil is not interested in hearing the viewpoint of the opposing side, and truth does not fear scrutiny.