Preacher Caleb's Blog

The Equip Network

2010-09-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

My absence from blogging has a good reason (at least as far as I'm concerned). This blog post is to give you a big reason why. Time is hard to come by in my life these days and blogging gets lowered on the priority list. Hopefully as everything kicks into gear I'll be able to spend some of my morning meditation time to blog about what I'm thinking on that day. We shall see :). Until then here is a brief explanation of my latest adventure.

Things have been a bit crazy around so I have not really been able to tell you much about an exciting project with which I have been involved. The project is a quality Christian podcast network called The Equip Network. Let me tell you a little bit about how it all came to be.

On December 11^th of last year I was invited to be on a podcast called iPreach and talk about using Facebook to advertise to your community. Shortly after that I was invited to be a co-host on iPreach for one episode. All of this got me thinking about starting my own podcast so I contacted Joe Wells and Wesley Walker and around March of this year we launched a podcast called Engage! – Where Christ & Culture Meet. Our listenership quickly shot up. It wasn’t long and I got together with Dale Jenkins of iPreach to talk to Michael Hite about starting a podcast about using technology better in ministry. That was the birth of MinistryGeek This Week which has been a huge success. Our minds kept moving and we said, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a whole network of podcasts to help Christians in every aspect of their Christian walk.” That idea gave birth to The Equip Network which we launched on August 30^th at Polishing the Pulpit.

The Equip Network is a family podcasts that is rapidly expanding. We launched with six active podcasts: iPreach, Engage, MinistryGeek This Week, Equipped Today, LiveNOW.teen, and The Hey Joe Show. On October 1^st our newest podcast, Behind the Pulpit, will launch with Wayne Roberts and Bob Turner hosting. And that is just the beginning. We have about five more shows starting production in the near future. It’s an exciting adventure because instead of being on the backside of the wave we are getting in on the front. We are able to use technology to get the ancient gospel into the hands of the multitudes.

So make your way over to TheEquipNetwork.com and take a listen to all our podcasts. You can even subscribe to Equipped Today which is a daily 2-5 minute spiritual thought podcast that will help you get your day started out in the right direction! Next week Glenn Colley is going to be hosting Equipped Today. You won’t want to miss it!

Sow The Seed,

Caleb O’Hara

Don't Go Anywhere!

2010-04-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

It ought to be no surprise that I haven't blogged for about a month. The only reason being this time is that I've "engaged" in some new adventures. With the launch of Engage! - Where Christ and Culture Meet last month we have been busy as bees dealing with all that starting a new show entails.

It only took a month and I "engaged" a new adventure of being a side-kick on another new podcast MinistryGeek This Week with Michael Hite. On MinistryGeek This Week Michael and I talk about issues that relate to ministry and technology along with our fellow geek Dale Jenkins. I'm not just saying this because I am part of the show, but I truly believe that this show will be a major help to anyone involved in the Lord's work at any level. The world around us is changing faster than ever before. What are we going to do to take the never-changing Gospel to an ever-changing world? That's exactly the question we are seeking to answer on MinistryGeek This Week.

Another reason my blog has been bare is because I'm working on a total make-over of the blog. It's in the works and almost finish. Once the change goes into affect I will (hopefully) be able to keep up with the blog more often.

There is also one more piece of information, but I can't share it with you right now! There is one more big project that I'm in the process of "engaging" and it's going to really, really, really exciting. It's too early to break the news though! Hold on tight though because it's going to be BIG! REALLY BIG!

Sow the Seed,

Caleb O'Hara

Study...

2010-03-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

Today I sent in my article for Kaio magazine - The Christian magazine for teens. The entire issue is on Bible Study for teens, young adults, and everybody really. I have a regular column aptly named "Bible Study" that I write for in just about every issue. Sometimes I enthusiastically send my article off. Other times I hesitantly send them off, and even then only because the editor threatens my life if I don't send it NOW! When I sent my article off today I was more excited than I have ever been. It wouldn't be right for me to publish the whole thing here (why would anyone buy the magazine if they could get all the articles online for free), but I'm going to give you a little sneak peak... shhhhhhh! Don't tell the editor!

Why does any of that really matter? Well if you care about the destiny of your soul it matters. Peter speaking of Paul’s writings says that in them there “are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). Did you catch that? Destruction! Failure on your part to properly study and apply Scripture can lead to your own destruction. That is exactly what happened to the people of Israel. God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you…” (Hosea 4:6). Are you still sure you want to leave study up to your parents, your preacher, and your Bible class teacher? Now stop reading this and start studying the Scriptures!

If you want to read the rest of it you have to get a subscription. Better yet, get a subscription for you and some teens and young adults too!

Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet Podcast Feed

2010-03-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Last night was our first live broadcast of Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet. If you missed the live recording you can still listen by subscribing to our podcast feed. Just click the link below and it will guide you through the process. Please send us your feedback to EngagePodcast@Gmail.com. We would love to hear what you think.

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Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet

2010-03-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

This evening at 5:00 pm Pacific Time is the pilot live podcast of Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet. The show is co-hosted by Joe Wells, Wesley Walker, and your's truly. We will be engaging real issues that culture presents to Christians today. So get engaged!

You can participate in a number of ways. First, you can join us live through Talkshoe http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/76639. If you log in with a microphone, or call in with your landline or mobile phone, we just might take your call and talk with you live. You can also just listen live and type in our chat room. If you are unable to join us live you can listen to the show through the Talkshoe page. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed and start downloading the episodes through a podcatcher like iTunes.

We hope you get engaged!

The Church

2010-02-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

A lesson I gave a month or so ago on the church. Thought I'd share with everyone.

Random Thought on Deconstruction

2010-02-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I caught a documentary on Jacques Derrida. I was already familiar with his pervasive influence on the world through his philosophy of deconstruction. Deconstruction is the result of trying to make a case against the philosophy of structuralism. Structuralism taught that there was a system of knowledge and understanding that brought about clear cut, definable, basic concepts. Poststructuralism, to which deconstruction belongs, is a rebellion against the idea that we really know anything. The task of the deconstructionist is to simply take something and deconstruct it to show that there is a contradiction in there somewhere. And if contradiction exists you cannot claim it to be true. The methods the deconstructionist gets to use are at his whim and do not even have to be rational. He claims rationalism is not true and therefore he does not have to be rational (convenient eh?). Well how does he know rationalism is not true? Because he deconstructed it of course!

Poststructuralism would eventually give birth to postmodernism. Many of the ideas and concepts of the two cannot be separated. Understanding this helps one to understand what we are facing with the prolific indoctrination of postmodernism in our society and in theology. Our postmodern “theologians” that run in the church of Christ circles have one basic objective; to deconstruct our established belief system. How do they do this? By trying to create contradictions in the system of thinking (remember their arguments do not have to be rational or logical because ration and logic are flawed). They believe that if they can deconstruct and show a flaw or contradiction that they have proved their case that our entire belief system is no good (more accurately the system we use to arrive at our beliefs). This old system, therefore, must be tossed out and replaced with a new one.

Now back to Derrida. After watching the irrational Derrida for an hour and a half (Derrida would not be insulted by calling him irrational; He would probably wear it as a badge of honor) I’ve arrived at a few conclusions. One of them I will share here. Derrida claims he now knows that we cannot know anything about anything unless we know everything about it. The irony is that he is certain he knows this. That leads me to one of three conclusions: Deridda knows everything, Deridda doesn't really believe what he says, or Deridda is unconsciously showing that reality and his philosophy are in two totally different realms.

Excel Still More: The Visitor

2010-02-17T18:06:00.000-08:00

Our worship assembly is a special time. It is a time when we gather together as the church at one time and in one place, all with the same purpose. The worship assembly is first and foremost about God’s children coming together to worship Him and to build one another up (i.e. Ephesians 5:19ff, etc…).

There is another element to our assembly that the Bible speaks of, and that is the element of the visitor to the assembly. James mentions the visitor to the assembly:

“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ”(James 2:1–5, NASB95)

James is showing that the attention you give (or do not give) to individuals in your assembly is an expression of your “religion” (James 1:27). If you fail to greet and treat your visitor with the love that you have for yourself you are failing to keep the Law of the King (James 2:8). This makes you a hearer and not a doer (James 1:22). This places us in a position of judging our neighbor (James 2:4) and James asks, “but who are you judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12).

Failure to greet and treat the visitor in our assembly is a serious matter. How we treat them is an honest reflection of our true nature and condition. If we fail to show the visitor in our assembly the love that we would want shown to us, we find ourselves in a place of judgment.
Based upon this truth here are several suggestions of ways that will aid us in carrying out the royal law towards our visitors in our assemblies. First have visitor eyes. Visitor eyes are the basis upon which the rest of the suggestions are built. As an individual, and as a whole church, it is necessary to develop and commit to an attitude of always thinking about the visitor in your midst. It’s easy to watch the visitor walk in and out. It’s even easy to say a word or two to them. But visitor eyes are a heart and attitude that wants to see that the visitor is treated the way you would want to be treated if you were visiting.

Second you can ask a visitor to sit with you. A big group of people they have never met before can be very intimidating. When a friendly smile asks a visitor to sit with them it can go a very long ways. This allows the visitor to feel at ease as you are helping them through the motions so they aren’t asking themselves constantly, “Am I doing what I’m supposed to do? I don’t want to stand out!”

Third you can have assigned greeters at the doors of your assembly location. This is a good way to make sure that visitors are quickly greeted upon arrival. The greeters make sure that the visitors’ information is taken so you can follow up with the visitor. The greeter also will explain to the visitor what classes are going on and where their children’s classes are. The greeters can also hand out any material you have specifically designed for the visitor. It’s a good idea to have a visitor’s packet with information for the visitor to take home. There is one word of caution on assembly greeters. It’s very easy for the entire assembly to thing that since we have greeters I don’t need to do anything personally with the visitors. This could not be further from the truth. The greeter does not replace the individual responsibility of each and every member to show his true religion towards each and every visitor.

Fourth you need to follow up with your visitors. A follow up contact expresses to the visitor that you thought about them. Try to make your follow up contact as personal as you can. In other words, don’t just send say generic things in generic ways. If you send them an email, or a letter, try to include something personal about their visit. Maybe mention something they said to you when they visited. Maybe mention something from the assembly that day. You can also get a group together that takes turns delivering cookies and a thank you for visiting card to all your visitors a day or two after their visit. The best way to be sure your visitor will only be a one-time visitor is to not follow up.

Fifth you can ask your visitor out to eat. It just so happens that our assemblies usually end right before meal time. What a great opportunity to ask your visitors out to lunch. You can spend that time getting to know them better as well as talking to them about the church. By doing this you are already connecting the visitor to the church and beginning the process of relationship building.

Sixth, and finally, is to be devoted to F-3-4-V. F-3-4-V stands for first three for visitors, and means that every single member should spend the first three minutes IMMEDIATELY after the assembly to SEEK out ALL the visitors that day. Once you find them you personally introduce yourself and tell them how much you appreciated their presence, and how you are looking forward to them coming back. Just imagine an entire room full of people lining up to greet the visitors. Imagine how you would feel if that’s how you were treated. You would feel special! So will our visitors if we do the same. This is easy to implement. All it takes is educating the members on what F34V stands for. Then whoever dismisses the assembly simply has to say “Members, always remember, F34V.” This way the visitors don’t know that you are reminding the members to greet them, and at the same time it’s reminding your members to greet them.

You may think, “We do a good job at greeting our visitors.” That very well may be true. But the question should be, “can we do better?” Can we excel still more? Sure we can! What will you do to excel still more in showing the visitor to the assembly that you love them as yourself?

It's All Greek To Me

2010-01-21T23:26:00.000-08:00

On Thursdays I speak in chapel at the Hughson Christian School. It’s my old education institution of the fourth grade. It was just me and Joanne Dee in the fourth grade. Mrs. Gillaspie was our teacher. She also had second and third graders. Mr. Gillaspie, her husband, taught us Bible about one day a week. It was almost twenty years ago that I was in fourth grade there, and Mrs. Gillaspie is still teaching! Mr Gillaspie, however, was taken from this world after being hit by a drunk driver while on his postal route.

Mr. Gillaspie was a very special person. When I think about him today I think of a person that cared about me. It wasn’t a job… it was him being who he was. One memory I have that I will never forget is when he took me and a couple other guys backpacking for a few days.

Now I fill Mr. Gillaspie’s shoes once a week, to the best of my ability, by teaching thirteen third through eight graders Bible. I feel like I owe it to him. What better way to honor the life of someone than to try to pick up where he left off and keep his work moving forward. So Mr. Gillaspie, if you have internet up there, I hope you’re proud of me.

That was just the introduction! This segment is something I’d like to call, “It’s All Greek To Me.” I’ve only had these kids for about four sessions including today. The first fifteen minutes of class we’ve been learning the Greek alphabet. Yes, the Greek alphabet. We have a club called the “It’s All Greek To Me” club. Entrance into the club is simple. You must be able to recite the entire Greek alphabet from memory. Today almost half the class entered the club after only four weeks!

What about you? Can you join the club? You better get started now or these kids are going to be giving you a run for your money. They are quickly putting the tools in their belt to be able to do excellent Bible study by looking up words in original language sources. If third through eighth graders can do it don’t you think you can? Come on and join the club!

Excel Still More

2010-01-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

Jesus is perfect, man is not. There is no room for improvement with Jesus, there is for man. No matter how good we are right now, we can be better. In a passage that is often neglected, or quickly read past, for fear of addressing false ideas on individual predestination, there is a great lesson we must learn, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren ” (Romans 8:29, NASB95). God predetermined before he created anything in this world that it was going to be those who were becoming “conformed to the image of His son” that would be His saved people. What that means is we are in a constant process of pressing the clay of our lives into the perfect mold of Jesus. We are constantly pushing the clay into the mold and never completely getting there. It’s when we keep pushing though that Jesus fills in the gaps with regard to our justification before God. This is a process that is unending until the day we die!

No matter where you are at spiritually in your relationship and work for the Lord - You can do better! You can excel still more! Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica praising them every chance he gets about the great things they are doing. Even in all of that he says, “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more ” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). He also says, “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more ” (1 Thessalonians 4:9–10). Did you catch that? He says you are doing a fantastic job at walking in the instruction of the Lord, but excel still more! You are doing a fantastic job in love towards the brethren, but excel still more! You can do better!

You might be the best song leader that this church has ever seen, but you can excel still more! You might be the best encourager this church has ever seen, but you can excel still more! You might be the biggest giver this church has ever seen, but you can excel still more! You may attend assemblies more that 25% of the congregation, but you can excel still more. You may be the best person at studying in the congregation, but you can excel still more. You may be the best Bible class teacher the church has ever had, but you can excel still more. Are you getting the picture here? No matter what work you are doing, no matter where you are spiritually, you are not perfect (because God alone is perfect) and you have room to excel still more!

T.F. Hanson, a creative engineer, says “progress infers change, since things cannot get better if they remain the same” (Engineering Creativity, pg. 13). Excelling still the more infers that even if what you are doing now “works” you have to take risks to do better. We don’t like taking risks most of the time, we just like staying with the old tradition. We know it works, we’ve been doing it that way for X number of years. Yes it may “work” but it may not be the best! We can excel still more if we are willing to change! Einstein said after the first atomic explosion, “Everything has changed, except the way we think."

Thomas Edison said, “Human inertia is the problem, not the invention. Something in man makes him resist change.” This quality is good when we are talking about people trying to change the things of which God has given to us, because if He gave them they are perfect; the design of the church, worship, salvation, etc…! But when it comes to matters of expedience this mindset is one of the biggest enemies of the church. A lack of desire to excel still the more, an unwillingness to change, an unwillingness to push beyond our comfort zones in the way we think about something “working.” God expects better of us. He demands us to “excel still more!”

What are you going to do to excel still more in your walk and work with the Lord? Take an inventory of where you are. Write down these questions and then answer them (be specific i.e. “I worship whenever I can” is not specific):

1. How often do I worship with the brethren?

2. How many people do I talk to at worship? Are they the same people every time?

3. Do I participate in the worship?

4. Do I participate in the teaching program?

5. Do I participate in the church work through programs like Monday Night for the Mast?

6. How many people have I tried to have a spiritual discussion with in the world?

7. How many people have I invited to worship?

8. What do I do to grow my relationship with my spouse?

9. What do I do to build up my family?

10. What do I do to be an influence for Christ on my job?

11. What do I do to see that the churches work is done?

Now look over the list and your answers. Set a goal that is an excelling of where you are now. For instance, “How often do I worship with the brethren?” You may answer once a week. Set a goal to worship two or three times. Go through the entire list this way. Now when you are finished you need to make a commitment that you are going to excel still more so you can meet those goals. As you analyze the list you may find that you don’t know how to excel. You need information, you need instruction, and you need to be equipped to meet those goals. That is where your church leadership steps in! The function of the leadership is to equip you for service (Ephesians 4:11ff). Simply go to one of the elders, deacons, or minister and tell them you need help. If they can’t provide the help individually they will all be sure that you get what you need; that you are equipped to excel still more. Now GO do it!

Excel Still More,

Caleb O’Hara

The Changing Culture

2010-01-18T13:45:00.001-08:00

Times are different from what they once were. It used to be that everyone pretty much assumed everyone had good intentions. It used to be the case that you could leave you home and not lock the door, expecting fully that everything would be just the way you left it when you returned. It used to be assumed that when you got married you stayed married. It also used to be the case that everyone believe the Bible was from God, even if they didn't follow it and accept it. These days are passed, and it's time for us to realize it.

The largest group inside of Christendom that has realized this is a movement called the Emerging Church Movement. This movement has some major flaws and as a whole is entirely heretical (many more details forthcoming). The problem is that when they are the only people addressing this situation (the change in culture) they get to dictate the response to it. It is time for the Lord's people to step up, acknowledge the change in culture, and figure out how to keep on sounding the unchanging message to the changing culture. If we fail to do this the others who teach a Gospel of full embrace of the culture, which is not really another Gospel, will continue to set the pace for those looking towards Christianity.

What are some ways we can better understand our culture and address it? First of all, our culture is media saturated. Don't believe me? Internet, Sattalite HDTVs, IPhones, IPods, Laptops, Desktops, TV's in the car, TV's on airplanes, everywhere you turn you are hit hard with media. Our culture suffers from media overload. There is so much information thrown out that people cannot possibly take it all in. That being the case, they surely aren't going to give material a second glance if it is not presented in such a way as to catch their attention. We must find ways to utilize media and communicate God's message through it, instead of having an attitude that media is just bad. When you get down to it, words are media. The printed page of the Bible is media. If media is inherently bad then the Bible is inherently bad – none of us are going to say that are we?

Second, we have to start addressing the questions people are asking. People today question whether or not truth exists. They question whether Jesus was a real person. They question whether or not the Bible is really God's word, or just a bunch of man's stories. They question the very concept of exclusion. All of these fundamental questions must be addressed. We have to start putting more effort into confronting these questions so that we can lead people to the One person they desperately need – Christ.

Your challenge is to start thinking about the culture you live in. Instead of merely being upset about it, start thinking about how to reach it. What can you do to better communicate God's message to the culture where you live? How can you cut through the media fog with the crystal clear message of Christ?

Sow the Seed,

Caleb O'Hara

Using Facebook Ads to Reach the Lost

2009-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

This morning I was interviewed on a podcast called iPreach. It's a podcast co-hosted by Dale Jenkins of the Spring Meadows church of Christ and Adam Faughn of the Lebanon Road church of Christ. You can listen to the podcast below and it will help add some context to everything else in this posting.

This post is designed to help you go step by step through the process of setting up Facebook Ads for outreach. The first thing you need to do is login to your facebook page (If you don't know how to do this then learn it and come back). Once you have logged into your facebook page I recommend you create a “fan page” for your congregation if you don't already have one. After I show you how to create a fan page I will give you instructions on how to create a Facebook Ad.

To create a fan page:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of your page and lick on "advertising"

2. On the left side click on "pages"

3. Click "Create Page"

4. Select category, enter a name, and click create

5. Now that your page is created you can click "edit page" to make it all fancy.

6. Once you are done with that click "suggest to friends" and select all the members of your congregation

7. Drink a Dr Pepper and celebrate you have made it this far!

To Create an Ad:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of your page and click on "advertising"

2. click on "create ad"

3. Now you have to design your ad.

- Decide where you want the people to end up at when they click your ad. If it's your website or something on your website enter the address in the "destination URL." If you want people to end up on your Facebook Fan Page or Event Page click on "I want to advertise something I have on Facebook."

- Give your Ad a Title that will stand out, get peoples attention, and gives an idea of what your ad is all about

- Give a brief, interesting, informative description of whatever it is you are advertising

- Choose an image. Image size is limited to 110v80 pixels. Make sure your image stands out and is related to what you are advertising!

4. Select your target audience for this Ad (Listen to Podcast for details on these factors)

5. Select the Method of Advertising

- By naming the campaign you can group your ads together. Maybe you want to run three different ads for one event. They would all go in the same campaign.

- Set your daily budget. How much is the most you are willing to spend PER DAY on this entire set of ads in your ad campaign

- If this is for an event, or you know when you want the ad to stop, click "run my ad only during specified dates" and specify the dates. Otherwise leave it how it is.

- Now you have to decide if you want to pay on a cost per click basis or a cost per 1,000 impressions basis. There are benefits to both... again... listen to the podcast and I will explain some of that.

- Now select your bid. The suggested bid amount gives you an idea of what ads are going for to your same target audience. Remember, the higher you bid the more likely your ad will be displayed. The amount you enter is the most you are willing to spend on a click or per 1,000 impressions (it may be lower than this amount).

6. Click Create

7. Drink another Dr Pepper and pray that the Lord blesses your efforts to reach the lost. You can always get back to your advertising by clicking on the "advertising" button on the bottom of the Facebook screen. This will allow you to track all the details of how your ads are performing, as well as edit, add, and remove your ads.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful to you. If you have used Facebook Ads before, or you are going to be using them, PLEASE contact me and let me know what you have done that has worked and what hasn't worked. Hopefully we can use this as just another one of many tools to reach the lost.

Sow the Seed,

Caleb O'Hara

The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands

2009-10-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

On a fairly regular basis I pick up books to add to my counseling collection. A couple weeks ago I added another, The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The first thing I did when I got home was get on Facebook and ask if any women had read the book and if they did what they thought about it. Here are some of the comments I received:

“I think every woman should read it before the wedding and on every anniversary there after! Excellent!”
“As a woman, it says some stuff that is hard to hear and hard to do. As a guy, [my husband] said that it was dead on in what women need to do for their men. [He] loves the book and I do to. It really showed me how to better care for my man!”
“[I] never read it but always disliked the title--like you're taking care of a dog or houseplant or something.”
“It definitely gets to the heart of the matter, thinking beyond ourself. Like most books, If you can go away with one good thing to implement to make your marriage better.....I think it is worth the cost of the book. I think you can go away with several things from this book.”

The book is written in a very easy to read, and very easy to follow style. The dialogue of the book is largely based on calls Dr. Laura has received on her syndicated radio show, as well as comments and stories people sent to her specifically for this book. I'm not a fast reader and I digested the book in one evening and one morning.

The main idea behind the book as that in a marriage relationship women need to look out for and provide for the needs of their husbands, in a way that only a wife can. This is an entirely biblical idea, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:21). Dr. Laura accurately explains how various cultural influences have led many women to aquire false ideas about what their role is in a marriage relationship. As a result, there are many marriages that are suffering because of wives not fulfilling their role in the marriage. Want details? Read the book.

She deals with topics that we often don't want to talk about in the church. Subjects like Men's feelings, nagging, guy time, and even sex. I've never really understood why we don't want to discuss these subjects (the Bible talks about them), but would rather learn what's appropriate on these matters from TV, magazines, and movies – secular ungodly sources.

There are few negatives I came away with from the book. First of all Dr. Laura occasionally uses language I would not approve of using. Second is the fact that it may be easy to come away from this book thinking that the only problems in relationships are the result of women. It would be easy to think that if only the woman would change her act all marriages would be perfect. This of course is not true. Sometimes the man is the problem and will refuse to change. It does, however, show that even in those situations if you do your part you will be fulfilling the words of God in 1 Peter 3:1. You are creating the optimal atmosphere to persuade him to change without speaking a word of it to him.

All in all I would highly recommend this book to all married women or those who will potentially get married. It's well worth the time, and I believe it could help make more marriages Godly. The result would be a better homes and better churches serving God. If you read it I would love to hear your thoughts.

Evil Doesn't Advertise As Evil

2009-10-16T12:01:00.001-07:00

I haven't yet figured out why we still don't get that evil always tries to look good. If you were presented with a juicy T-Bone or a plate full of maggots the choice for dinner would be easy. But Satan doesn't operate that way—he never has! The ruler of this earth knows what people on this earth like, and he tries to use whatever we like against us. Are we really surprised at this?

It's when you like a person you let down your guard of good judgment; you stop thinking critically. Actions that if committed by a person with a ski mask on and gun in his hand would obviously be taken as evil, are now considered by us to be actions with a good intent all because the guy looks like... you know... something we like. He says what I like to hear. He dresses the way I like him to dress. He smells the way I like him to smell. He makes me comfortable. Now is the time to watch out! Used car salesmen don't wear shirts that say, “I'm here to sell you what you don't need, can't afford, and makes me a big commission.” They don't dress in slouchy shorts, ripped t-shirts, worn out shoes, and forget to do their hair or brush their teeth. They dress like... a person you would like! Beware!

Paul had to warn the Ephesian elders “[S]avage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29). Oh they surely were obvious. They stood up on the hill and we could see them coming from miles. All the sheep knew they were being attacked by evil, right? Nope! Well, where did they come from? “From among your own selves” (vs. 30). Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). They look like what we like to see. They look like a harmless sheep. They look just like me!?!? At no time can the Christian lay down his discerning eye; never ever! Especially when it looks good, sounds good, taste good. That's precisely when we know it's time to do a deeper examination.

One of the best paragraphs I've ever read on this theme, I read in a book this last month. It said, “Perhaps the greater disservice of Hollywood movies is their cartoonish villains. In real life, I promise you, the devil will look more like Julia Roberts than Snidely Whiplash. Evil does not arrive with a flashing neon sign: MEPHISTOPHELES! LUCIFER! SATAN! FOR ETERNAL DAMNATION, APPLY HERE. Evil arrives packaged as a winsome movie about a long-legged brunette who manages to marry a rich, handsome bachelor and live happily ever after—all by turning tricks on Hollywood Boulevard! There's a reason Beelzebub is known as the prince of lies.” I'm going to violate a major rule and not reveal the source of this quote because I don't want the source to taint your view of what it says. All I can say is that it's right on.

What does this all mean? I think you are all smart enough to figure it out. If you like something or someone (or anything or anyone), put your guard on high alert because Satan knows you like it. And if you like it he is going to try to use it to destroy you. That sounds... well.. EVIL doesn't it? Now you get it!

He's Baaaaaaaack

2009-10-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

This morning my friend Ron tells me that it's time to start blogging again. He also told me to get a haircut so what does he know? Well I think he is right about the blogging (and probably the haircut too). So Ron... this blogs for you!

It was a long weekend. Wednesday night after class the whole family headed down to Visalia. We stayed at my wife's grandparents house. It was great getting to spend Thursday and Friday with my friend Cliff. While I was down there I also got to train with a great group of guys at Elite Jiu Jitsu in Visalia. Tom Knox is a great instructor and one of the nicest guys I've met in the Jiu Jitsu community. I'm looking forward to trying out some new sweeps he taught me.

Friday night I did the lesson at the Youth Rally. My title was, "Committing to God with Your Worship." The opening part of the presentation was given in five minutes. I had twenty slides that automatically advanced every fifteen seconds; it left very little room from error. It's a new teaching technique that I'm experimenting with. I think it went pretty well. Right after the lesson we had to head home. We rolled into town at 12:30. The problem was that I got a grande caramel frappuccino at Starbucks to keep me awake while driving. It successfully kept me awake until 3:30 in the morning. The alarm went off at 8:00 and we headed out to soccer. I'm coaching Caleb Jr's soccer team (16 crazy 5 year olds). The first drive Caleb took the ball, dribbled around the defenders, and kicked it right into the goal! Dad couldn't have been more proud.

This morning I continued my current sermon series, "Back 2 School." This morning's lesson was, "What is faith and belief?" Tonight's lesson was an introduction to the book of Acts. Every Sunday night before worship we have a fifteen minute bible exercise that one of our elders leads. It's a great program for teaching our little ones (and us adults too) where information is in the Bible. The card he is going over right now is "Events in Acts." The sermons will go hand in hand with our exercise.

Now I'm home, exhausted, and about to start a crazy diet and exercise program with my wife in the morning. Target closes in fifteen minutes so I have to jam over there and get some stuff for our diet. That means I'm finished!

Good Night & Sow the Seed!
Caleb O'Hara

I'm Back

2009-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

OK... So I've been a little behind on blogging (OK... A LOT!). Let's see if I can change that a bit.

Next week I will be speaking at the West Visalia Lectures. I'm addressing two topics: Evangelism in a Postmodern World, and Church Growth God's Way. These are two subjects I've spent a lot of time in so I'm excited, and scared, to be asked to present them. So much to say in so little time. The art of preaching is figuring out what not to say.

Here is the live feed to the lectures below.

Sow the Seed,
Caleb

Day 3 Open Forum Live Blog

2009-02-04T13:42:00.001-08:00

******* Most Recent Posts First *******

- Open Forum has ended.

- Sabroe asks if it's ok to be entertained by people who are offering up false worship. Ralph completely dodges the question. He says that it's not about what they intend from it, but what you do with it. He diverts by making it a question about being entertained by sinful behavior to something else, thus never answering the question. One thing is for sure, Ralph can dance, I guess that tells us his position on dancing :)

- Sabroe is making his way to the mic. I'm scared.

- Elkins is making his way to the mic.... He talks about MDR. He says that Wallace assumed that in 1 Cor 7:15 that if she departed it was for fornication. He says that sometimes there is background to situations that we don't know about. Ralph says that is true.

- More people at the mic about Christian Contemporary Music. Nothing really of note.

- First guy to the mic has questions about “Christian Music.” He has a lot of questions. Ralph basically says we used to not have a problem with it when they had it on the radio when he was a kid. Now they have a problem with it. The whole problem with Ralph's argument is that he is arguing it's validity based on our inconsistency. When did inconsistency ever prove something was right or wrong?

- Is Jesus the Angel of the Lord of the Old Testament. He says that some instances probably.

- Someone wants to know if the flood was global or local and if it is a matter of fellowship. He says that it was a global flood and he is sorta vague about the fellowship question.

- How can we help the brethren study the Bible better and not just study topically. He talks about how when he was a kid they really studied the Bible; his mom made sure. Then he talked about our current culture and wanting everything flashy. He then says we shouldn't dumb things down because our kids today are smart enough.

- The next question has to do with Textual Criticism. He gives a crash course on textual criticism. He then goes into the Textus Receptus and the KJV. He talks about the MSS available were limited when the KJV was put together. He talks about translations some more and he says that he is happy that most people today don't make translations a matter of fellowship.

- Next question has to do with the ESV: Good or Bad? Ralph says he likes it and the Holman Christian Standard. He says he lets his students use it.

- Is it wrong to listen to contemporary Christian worship. Ralph says nope.

Steven's Truck

2009-02-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

We were just informed that Steven Anchondo wrecked his truck. The good news is everyone is ok.

Caleb

Freed Hardeman Lectures - Day 3

2009-02-04T08:11:00.001-08:00

Today we started out with a breakfast sandwich and a soda from a generic grocery store (The food quality is exactly what you are thinking). We got up early today just to make it to hear Jack P. Lewis lecture on Psalm 44. What a man. If only I knew everything he has forgotten I would be well ahead in life. After Jack P. is chapel. No telling what today will bring!

FHU Lectures Day 2 Open Forum Live Blog

2009-02-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

********* Most Recent Posts Listed First ***********

- The forum is over. Ralph did a good job for the day. Time for dinner.

- Ralph goes into a rant on how we are not relevant because we are perceived to be anti-women. He says we are not growing like we are supposed to. What does that have to do with anything? Who gets to declare what makes us relevant or not? Are we really going to use numbers to justify our faithfulness or relevance? If we are merely going to use numbers then we have never been relevant or faithful. Maybe we need to look to a new standard????

- We had the daily Elkins appearance.

- Some guy gets up and makes a statement about women take the authority behind the scenes. It was.... ummmm.... Interesting. Ralph moves on.

- Question about worshiping Jesus and the HS. Ralph says the HS and Jesus are God, therefore they are worthy of worship. I appreciate Ralph mentioning this. This is the core of the question and is often overlooked.

- Next guy gets up and gives a mini-sermon. Doesn't really contribute anything new.

- Someone comes up to the mic and asks about a woman signing to the deaf. Ralph basically says that it's OK because women are better translators. Ralph says she doesn't have a pulpit she just has a place to stand.

- There are more questions about when a woman can speak, address the congregation, etc.... One of the questions has to do with reading the Bible out loud. He mentions that it is all a matter of authority. He is very vague... which seems to be a theme.

- Now a serious of questions on womens role and prayer. Ralph mentions women praying in the home is different than any other setting. The reason being that he learns more about what his family is thinking. The problem is what biblical basis does he get this idea from? You know I feel better when I worship with an instrument, therefore it's ok??? When you get down to it Paul still says “In every place.” This common argument for women leading in the home is funny to me because where is the first place that male spiritual leadership should be upheld? Is it not the home?

- Next question has to do with disfellowshipping a congregation. Ralph says that in scripture disfellowship is done to individuals. Then he mentions that in times of change like we are in we sometimes have to withhold our fellowship from congregations and schools.

- Next question has to do with singing to Jesus etc.... And baptizing in the name of Jesus. Ralph points out that Jesus was worshipped all through his life. He mentions that Jesus was worshipped in the Revelation. Ralph points out Acts 7:59 and Stephen addressing Jesus in prayer.

- The first question has to do with answering the accusation that the Bible just copied from the Epic of Gilgamesh. Ralph gives some of the similarities and differences between the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Ralph says nobody has been able to prove they are dependent. And the Bible is true.

- Ralph opens with the old how much how long joke. When will they end?

- Lipe gives the standard intro and says no more discussion on MDR.

- E. Claude Gardner opens with a prayer.

FHU Open Forum Live Blog

2009-02-02T13:37:00.001-08:00

***************Most Recent Posts First******************

- Open Forum is over. A mainly uneventful event. Not too bad.

- Cliff and I are sick of all the personal stories at the mic. People are not contributing anything to the discussion. Tomorrow's open forum will be Cliff and Caleb hour. We will tell our life stories for one hour. Ralph is being too nice to people. He needs to just cut them off and say this isn't Oprah hour, this is Open Forum.

- Earl Edwards take the mic. HE mentions that some promises that are made should never have been made in the first place and should not be fulfilled. He cites Harod telling his wife's daughter that she could have whatever she wanted and she asked for John the Baptists head. This was in response to a question about divorcing someone you should not have been married to in the first place. The question was arguing that you can't tell someone to leave an adulterous relationship because they would be breaking an oath they made to the new mate.

- There he is! Elkins rides in on the white horse.

- Waiting for Elkins to make his appearance.

- Some more random comments. Nothing to blog about.

- Someone came up to the microphone to respond to Ralph's point about Acts 2. Ralph says he agrees. He is explaining that his point is how much do you have to have demonstrated before you baptize them. He says if someone says he is in sin and won't do anything about it then you don't baptize him.

- Next question is about Daniel 9:27. He is basically saying that it's a tricky passage. I'm not sure I followed him.

- The next question is on team teaching. When can a woman teach etc. The example of Priscilla and Aquila is mentioned. Ralph says Apollos was a private environment. He says that the Scriptures teach that men are spiritual leaders and are to be the teachers.

- The next question is on team teaching. When can a woman teach etc. The example of Priscilla and Aquila is mentioned. Ralph says Apollos was a private environment. He says that the Scriptures teach that men are spiritual leaders and are to be the teachers.

- The next question has to do with if the example of selling the property and giving it all to the church binding. Ralph says no. It was voluntary.

- Second question is regarding weather or not baptism washes away adultery. Ralph says adultery is continuous action. Ralph mentions Acts 2 and the 300. He then asks if the apostles asked them all specific questions about all the sins they were committing. Ralph says there wasn't time to do that in Acts 2. He said what's important is to have an attitude of repentance. He says that they need to do need to repent though.

- Ralph opens up with a question regarding what a woman should do with a husband that is verbally abusive. Basically Ralph says go see a good Christian counselor.

- And Ralph delivers as predicted.

- The Open Forum is about to begin. David Lipe is going to give the standard info about how FHU doesn't necessarily endorse what Ralph says; yadda yadda. Ralph is about to get to the mic. I'm betting he will open with a joke.

Back at the FHU Lectures...

2009-02-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

I'm at the Freed Hardeman University Lectures again in 2009. This year my friend Cliff Sabroe came with me. Today we attended the morning chapel lecture by Jesse Robertson. His text was Psalm 23. At the beginning of the lesson he had the whole audience quote the 23rd Psalm. That was the last time it was mentioned.

After chapel we took a quick stroll through Bader Gym to check out the booths. We didn't spend a whole lot of time in there; too many people. Someone came up with the idea of eating Mexican food so we took off to eat with Alex, David, Ben, Kyle, and Steven. It only confirmed what I have been telling Cliff since we got here, they don't have Mexican food in Tennessee.

After Mexican (or whatever you want to call it) we headed back to catch the 1:30 lecture by Glen Henton. He is speaking on “Preaching Repentance to the World” (Psalm 51). There is much more to come until today is over.

Caleb

Daily Sightings...
- Tom Holland
- Garland Elkins
- Mac Lyon
- Earl Edwards
- Allen Webster
- James Meadows

We are off and blogging...

2008-11-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

I have lots of blog posts back logged… so here we go.

November 4th, 2008 was an important day. It’s the day Michael Crichton died after a private fight with cancer. Most people probably remember him for his famous book turned movie Jurrasic Park. Next on the list would probably be his creation of the TV show ER. He was a well studied individual in many respects. He was even a medical doctor who went to Harvard Medical School. To be honest, I didn’t really know anything about him until recently.

The one aspect I want to talk about is his political science views. In 2004 he wrote a techno-thriller called State of Fear. Having not read the book, only articles about it, I can’t give you a good review. What I can do is point out that everyone agrees the book was about how public opinion, policy, and social order are controlled by a belief in global warming that cannot be backed up by science – even though sceintist claim it is.

In 2003 he gave a speech at the California Institute of technology were he said he was concered about the, “emerging crisis in the whole enterprise of science-namely the increasingly uneasy relationship between hard science and public policy” (http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-alienscauseglobalwarming.html). He set out to argue for the seperation of politics and science. His thesis was that scientist were creating something and stating it as fact in order to control the general publics behavior. And he had lots of facts to back it up.

Now I don’t know of, and I highly doubt, that Crichton ever carried his ideas over to invistage evolution. The reality is that the same arguments that are used to state man made global warming as fact are the same that are used to teach evolution (i.e. scientific conesis, in other words a lot of scientists say so, is that it is true, therfore it is true). I believe that when Americans, and others, wake up and realize they were being lead off by Honest John and Gideon (e.g. scientists) to Pleasure Island (a Pinocchio referrence for those of you who don’t have kids watching Disney movies all the time) they will have to logically reject both ideologies. The question is will America wake up before they all become donkeys? The election of our most recent leaders does not give me a whole lot of hope at the moment.

Caleb O’Hara

I'm Back!

2008-10-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

OK… so I’ve taken a blogging break for the last few days (ok… months). There has been a lot going on that I won’t bore you with. The good news in we are homeowners now! Moved in, but not quite settled. The blog will be updated on a semi-regular basis again. So keep your eyes open!

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara

10 Years Today

2008-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been preaching a series of sermons on the gospel message. The lessons the last two weeks were on the response to the Gospel and the necessity of the Gospel to make a Christian. A couple weeks ago I decided I would preach the very first sermon I ever preached, today. It was a sermon on Romans 1:14-17 – The Responsibility of the Gospel.

There is one really interesting piece to me preaching this sermon today. As I was going back through my brain last night I realized that it was exactly ten years ago today that I preached my first sermon – this sermon! I was sixteen years old and a babe in Christ by only a couple months. The only reason I remember the date is because it was the last week in July when Merced went to Yosemite Bible Camp. That Sunday night I preached in Merced because their preacher was already up at camp (my cousin Jake took my up after evening worship in my grandpa’s Chevy S10). It was a special day for me and the sermon was special to me too.

Wow… TEN YEARS! I really am starting to feel old. It’s hard to believe that God has enabled me to preach the gospel for ten years now. If the Lord wills, I’m looking forward to the next ten. There is no greater responsibility then to be faithful with the faithful message.

Preach the Word,
Caleb

Are You Seeking to Become a Disciple?

2008-07-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

For some time now I have been slowly following the Emerging Church Movement. Time and space are not sufficient here to give a thorough evaluation of what it is, and the whole movement is based on being “vague” so they hate being defined. A man by the name of Brian McLaren really is the top spokesman for this movement (whether he or anyone else would admit it).

McLaren has created lots of disciples from people who have grown up around and/or been associated with the churches of Christ. McLaren has become a keynote speaker at many of our universities and lectureships that are ran by men saying the church has to “change.” How fitting that McLaren wrote a book called, “Everything Must Change.”

I don’t believe I could do justice in explaining the wide impact that McLaren and the Emerging Church Movement have had on the Lord’s church. But there is one area that I want to address. Notice this quote from a blogger who was commenting on a lecture he heard by Brian McLaren:

“Now, notice that [McLaren’s] not calling for isolation from the ‘denominations,’ but engagement. Rather than pull up our tents, we go out into the wider Christian world and call not for a restoration of the forms of the first century church, but for a restoration of a community of people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” (http://jphilwilson.blogspot.com/2007/10/brian-mclaren-churches-of-christ-and.html)

The area I really want to emphasis is this, “people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” Phrases like we are just “seeking to become disciples of Christ,” or “we are seeking to understand the Kingdom of God” are commonly heard by the emerging church folks.

The question is where in Scripture does it ever speak of “seeking to become a disciple?” You either become a disciple of Christ or you don’t. Jesus told His disciples (were they disciples or just seeking to become them?) to go and “make disciples.” Where did he ever go and tell His disciples (were they disciples?) to go and make people to be seekers of becoming disciples of Christ? Jesus says: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Did Jesus say to try and carry your own cross? Did Jesus say to seek to come after me? Did Jesus say to seek to become a disciple? What nonsense. You either are a self-denying, cross carrying, disciple of Jesus Christ or you are not.

Add to that Matthew 13:52, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven.’” Did Jesus say every scribe who is seeking to become a disciple, or every scribe who HAS become a disciple of the kingdom! This rhetoric about seeking to understand the kingdom and seeking to become a disciple just shows the shallow depths of this movement. How much further away from the teaching of Christ can you get? All this movement is is another excuse to be your own Lord and be a disciple of self!

Let me summarize it for you like this. This is the gospel according to McLaren, “Go therefore until all the world and tell the Buddhist, Muslim, and devote Pagan, to seek to become a disciple of Jesus while truly just being devout in whatever else you believe.” McLaren says, “If any Buddhist, Muslim, or Devout Pagan wishes to come after me let me seek to deny himself when we wants, take up the cross he thinks he wants to bear, when he wants to bear it, and come after me if you feel like it and to the degree you want to understand it.”

I have more respect for the Buddhist who flat out denies the deity and Lordship of Christ, than I do for these men who claim Jesus and then say that they are just “seeking to become His disciple.” It’s time to get real about this and address it. It’s time for people to stop being disciples of McLaren while trying to become disciples of Jesus, and just make the commitment and be a disciple of Jesus!

Sow the Seed,
Caleb

Homeless

2008-07-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

Well I’m homeless! It’s a long story but we are trying to buy a house and we are facing the nightmare of trying to buy a foreclosure. It’s too complicated to explain here but the main idea is that it is a big mess. Just a couple quick updates:

(1) Go to http://www.focuspress.org/ignite/index.html and subscribe to the new magazine for teens published by Focus Press.
(2) My friend Luis Camacho and I came up with an idea for a new commercial. There is a guy standing behind a pulpit and he says he is going to preach an expository sermon. A member says “Wow, are you an exegete. The man replies, “No but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!”

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara

They Want to Run Your Life!

2008-06-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

We have exactly one week to be moved out of our rental. Life is crazy. One thing I had to do was give a copy of my social security card to the lender in order to get our loan. Just one small problem... apparently we already packed it! Last night I got on the Social Security Administrations website and you will not believe what I saw. First look at this screen shot of the website and no I did not make this up!

Look closely at the center of the page near the bottom. Yes, you are reading that correctly "Special Instructions for Users Who Are Blind."

So I needed to locate the closest office to me. So I entered my zip cope and clicked that little locate button and this is what popped up:

Yes you are reading that correctly! The web service that tells you where the closest office takes time off too!
So after finally getting the web server to come back to work I found my local office in Manteca, California. I made my way down there. When I got there I got my number and sat down in a crowded room. There were three windows and only two of them had people working at them. My number was A119 and they were currently servicing A116. The wait can't be too long - I thought. While sitting there I listened to one guy scream to another about high gas prices. I also watch a lady slap a girl across the face, a boy spill a milk shake, middle age ladies without teeth complain about the government not taking care of them, and a lady let her kid play with the log in computer which messed up the entire system. It was exciting let me tell you. After an hour and half I finally made my way to the counter. In an hour and a half I watched them only help six people. Six people in an hour and a half!
Yes, this is what happens when you allow a government agency to take over your retirement system. In fact, this is what happens when government takes over anything. As Ronald Reagan said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" How true is that?
This little exercise was a shaking reminder of the devastation that is sure to take place if members of congress get their way. They want to take over the oil refinaries (which they have blocked from allowing companies to build for thirty years). As the congressman from California says in this clip below, they want to socialize oil.

If you think $4.50 a gallon for gas is expensive it will look like a liquidation close out deal when the governement takes over the oil industry. Back to packing.

Caleb

My Roots, My State, My Sadness

2008-06-18T22:20:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of ushers at the European Parliament trying to stop the Irish voice. One thing is for sure, we Irish don't like to be told that we can't be heard. OK enough of that.

So I'm way behind on my blog. Life is CRAZY! I will spare the details and just say that we are leaving for Yosemite Bible Camp next weekend and we have to be moved out of our rental before we leave for camp. And, the closing on our house has been delayed until possibly August 4th. What that means is we have to be moved out next week at which time we will be homeless until possibly August 4th.

On Tuesday nights I have begun a "Digging Deeper" course. It's been going well and I'm really excited about it. We lost a few students after they saw the workload :), but all in all not bad.

The last couple days I have been thinking a lot about all of the homosexual marriage in California issue. As of yesterday California began issuing marriage licenses to people who by the very definition of the word marriage cannot marry. The cultural decay is going downhill rapidly. I really don't know how much more God will tolerate. It saddens me greatly that our society is accepting this. I heard a DJ talking about how “cute” this story was of a homosexual couple in their eighties getting married after 50+ years.

It ought to be no surprise as a biblical view of marriage has been under attack for a long time. God's institution of marriage has been neglected for a long time and the church has even accepted it to a large degree. God's institution that binds a man and a woman together for life, to which Jesus went back to in Matthew 19, is the same one that makes a marriage between two men or two women ungodly. The church has set herself up for this fall by accepting men and women who have been divorced and remarried for a reason other than adultery (God's standard). If we take the position that it's ok because they weren't Christians when they did it what moral standing does the church have to stand against homosexual marriages of nonchristians? They aren't Christians right? So God doesn't hold them accountable. Not only that, all they have to do is be baptized and they can remain in a homosexual relationship because their sin was washed away. I'm reminded of the words of a preacher who means a lot to me, Dan Owen, who once said something like, "The church is in open rebellion against God's laws of marriage." Sad, but true.

OK that's all for now. When I get settled I will blog more regularly.

Caleb

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less!

2008-06-13T14:23:00.001-07:00

For those of you who are interested....

Half a Million Americans Petition Congress to Drill for Oil Now By: June 11, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – American Solutions for Winning the Future announced today that more than half a million Americans have now signed a petition urging Congress to immediately start drilling for oil domestically to lower gas prices. The petition is part of the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign American Solutions launched a few weeks ago.

The petition reads:
“We, therefore, the undersigned citizens of the United States, petition the U.S. Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices (and diesel and other fuel prices) by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries.”

According to American Solutions’ new research data, 81% of the American people support the U.S. using more of its own domestic energy resources, including the oil and coal already here, to combat the rising cost of energy and reduce dependence on foreign energy sources. This belief is so widespread it is supported by a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
“Hard-working American families are struggling to pay the soaring prices for gas, diesel, food, electricity, and everything else affected by the high price of oil,” said Dave Ryan, American Solutions Executive Director. “The voices of more than half a million Americans are united in demanding that Congress offer real solutions to our energy challenges, starting with taking immediate action to drill here and drill now.”

As the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition drive continues to gain more momentum, American Solutions plans to deliver 3 million signatures to both parties at their national conventions.

For more information about the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign, visit www.AmericanSolutions.com/DrillNow.

I'm Still Here

2008-06-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Lots of exciting things are happening in the O'Hara family. We have an accepted offer and will be moving into our first house by the end of this month. It's going to be a very rushed move as we are moving, cleaning up the rental, and going to Yosemite Bible Camp for a week two days later.

There are many things about which I need to blog as I have taken an extended blog break. Today, however, I need to post this video clip. Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the end of WWII. There are two speeches by Ronald Reagan given on the 40th anniversary that need to be listened to by every single American. So for you all, I post the clip of one and the transcript of another.

Mr. President, distinguished guests, we stand today at a place of battle, one that 40 years ago saw and felt the worst of war. Men bled and died here for a few feet of--or inches of sand, as bullets and shellfire cut through their ranks. About them, General Omar Bradley later said, "Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero."

No speech can adequately portray their suffering, their sacrifice, their heroism. President Lincoln once reminded us that through their deeds, the dead of battle have spoken more eloquently for themselves than any of the living ever could. But we can only honor them by rededicating ourselves to the cause for which they gave a last full measure of devotion.
Today we do rededicate ourselves to that cause. And at this place of honor, we're humbled by the realization of how much so many gave to the cause of freedom and to their fellow man.
Some who survived the battle of June 6, 1944, are here today. Others who hoped to return never did.

"Someday, Lis, I'll go back," said Private First Class Peter Robert Zanatta, of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion, and first assault wave to hit Omaha Beach. "I'll go back, and I'll see it all again. I'll see the beach, the barricades, and the graves."

Those words of Private Zanatta come to us from his daughter, Lisa Zanatta Henn, in a heartrending story about the event her father spoke of so often. "In his words, the Normandy invasion would change his life forever," she said. She tells some of his stories of World War II but says of her father, "the story to end all stories was D-Day."

"He made me feel the fear of being on that boat waiting to land. I can smell the ocean and feel the seasickness. I can see the looks on his fellow soldiers' faces--the fear, the anguish, the uncertainty of what lay ahead. And when they landed, I can feel the strength and courage of the men who took those first steps through the tide to what must have surely looked like instant death."

Private Zanatta's daughter wrote to me: "I don't know how or why I can feel this emptiness, this fear, or this determination, but I do. Maybe it's the bond I had with my father. All I know is that it brings tears to my eyes to think about my father as a 20-year-old boy having to face that beach."

The anniversary of D-Day was always special for her family. And like all the families of those who went to war, she describes how she came to realize her own father's survival was a miracle: "So many men died. I know that my father watched many of his friends be killed. I know that he must have died inside a little each time. But his explanation to me was, 'You did what you had to do, and you kept on going.'"

When men like Private Zanatta and all our Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy 40 years ago they came not as conquerors, but as liberators. When these troops swept across the French countryside and into the forests of Belgium and Luxembourg they came not to take, but to return what had been wrongly seized. When our forces marched into Germany they came not to prey on a brave and defeated people, but to nurture the seeds of democracy among those who yearned to be free again.

We salute them today. But, Mr. President, we also salute those who, like yourself, were already engaging the enemy inside your beloved country--the French Resistance. Your valiant struggle for France did so much to cripple the enemy and spur the advance of the armies of liberation. The French Forces of the Interior will forever personify courage and national spirit. They will be a timeless inspiration to all who are free and to all who would be free.

Today, in their memory, and for all who fought here, we celebrate the triumph of democracy. We reaffirm the unity of democratic peoples who fought a war and then joined with the vanquished in a firm resolve to keep the peace.

From a terrible war we learned that unity made us invincible; now, in peace, that same unity makes us secure. We sought to bring all freedom-loving nations together in a community dedicated to the defense and preservation of our sacred values. Our alliance, forged in the crucible of war, tempered and shaped by the realities of the postwar world, has succeeded. In Europe, the threat has been contained, the peace has been kept.

Today the living here assembled--officials, veterans, citizens--are a tribute to what was achieved here 40 years ago. This land is secure. We are free. These things are worth fighting and dying for.

Lisa Zanatta Henn began her story by quoting her father, who promised that he would return to Normandy. She ended with a promise to her father, who died eight years ago of cancer: "I'm going there, Dad, and I'll see the beaches and the barricades and the monuments. I'll see the graves, and I'll put flowers there just like you wanted to do. I'll feel all the things you made me feel through your stories and your eyes. I'll never forget what you went through, Dad, nor will I let anyone else forget. And, Dad, I'll always be proud."

Through the words of his loving daughter, who is here with us today, a D-Day veteran has shown us the meaning of this day far better than any President can. It is enough for us to say about Private Zanatta and all the men of honor and courage who fought beside him four decades ago: We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

Thank you.

President Ronald Reagan spoke at 4:33 p.m. at the Omaha Beach Memorial at Omaho Beach, France. In his opening remarks, he referred to President Francois Mitterrand of France.

(http://www.reaganlibrary.com/reagan/speeches/dday_omaha.asp)

Governor are you for or against homosexual marriage? Yes!

2008-05-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Most people who live in California, or who watch news on a regular basis (if you do I’m sorry for you), know that the California State Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the California State Constitution demands homosexuals be allowed to marry.

Homosexual marriage is an oxymoron. At our preachers’ luncheon this week Garry Green, the preacher in Brentwood, was correctly arguing that marriage as ALWAYS been defined as being between a man and a woman to start a family. The state supreme court redefined the word marriage after thousands of years to fit their own agenda.

Now I will be the first to say this does not surprise me in California. California is famous for our left-wing humanist, Marxist, liberal, social evolution policy leadership. What I want to focus on for a minute is our great (it hurts to even write that jokingly) governor. Arnold says his personal view is that marriage is, “marriage is between a man and a woman.” Then he goes on to say that he is going to fight the constitutional amendment that is going to be on the ballot this fall to define marriage as between a man and a woman – figure that one out. Apparently he is going to be fighting against what he believes in. At the end of one of the articles I read the author quotes Arnold and says: “Schwarzenegger said he doesn't think same-sex marriages in the coming months will stir up Californians much. ‘I think life will go on as usual,’ he said.”

Let’s hope Arnold is wrong – way wrong! Now is the time for people who believe in family values to stand up and take a stand. Are we going to let four judges on a bench in San Francisco redefine a word that has had the same definition for thousands of years? Are we going to let the minority of our society participate in an institution that God setup to be between a man and a woman? I hope life will not go on as usual these next few months leading up to the election. I pray the people of California will send a resounding voice to the world that we still stand on the foundations of marriage. Time will tell. It’s time for people to start praying and start voting.

And one last thing… just to let everyone know I did NOT vote for Arnold so I take no responsibility for his actions :)

Caleb

*Information source is http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/16/BASD10NVAI.DTL&tsp=1

Fred Thompson, Postmodernism, and Change

2008-05-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Today I found out that Fred Thompson was going to be writing for Townhall.com. As I read through his first blog post I found his words to be profoundly parallel with the church. Notice what he says in the context of thoughts that have been confirmed to him in the process of the presidential race: “Second, change – whether it “real change,” “bold change” or the “change we can believe in” variety others are selling – isn’t itself an innovative policy or a particularly strong leadership stance…. The challenge for conservatives is calibrating whether the change being proposed is consistent with our principles and our philosophy, and whether that change is appropriate.”

Today people are looking at numbers. They are looking at truth from a pragmatic perspective. They have been sold a faulty premise which has been reinforced blatantly, and many times unknowingly, from the pulpit, eldership, our Christian colleges, and our papers (many of whom would proudly ware the label of conservative). There are others who have bought into an unbiblical worldview of what truth is or isn’t, if it exist, and if it does can I so claim to know it? There is lots of talk about postmodernism amongst the churches of Christ. I hear people chiming in about knowing lots about it or not knowing much of it. I read of people claiming to be for or against it. Recently I read a blog where the author said he had a teacher who said he was against postmodernism. I’m not sure what the teacher meant, I was not there, but there is a way in which the teacher would be correct in what he said.

The fact is we live in a country filled with people who are evaluating truth through the lenses of postmodernism. Is it helpful to understand this mindset? No doubt! But here is the rub. What is one to do when he is faced with a country filled with people who have a particular worldview that is not allowing for the results you want (i.e. the church to be increasing in numbers through the roof in a matter of years)? The following is a synopsis of the progression amongst the Lord's church.

Let's start with when a problem was set on the table. Many of the “big dogs” amongst the churches of Christ began giving blistering lectures at our “big shows” about how many are not “growing” (what that means is increasing in numbers) like we once were so we must “change” something. So how are we going to fix the problem of not growing numerically by leaps and bounds?

First, these men began advocating that we must “change” our methods of evangelism. This went on for some time amongst us. We had programs from the Jule Miller Films, to We Care, to Friendship Evangelism, to Fisher’s of Men, to Small Groups, and this list could get really long, but if you have been involved you can make your own long list here. Then the experts went back to the tables to see what the “results” were of their endeavors. The numbers came in and they did not improve. In some cases they got worse. The change the method idea didn’t seem to work.

Second, we were faced with a major fork in the road. We began to question our message. Is it really true that we have the truth on these matters of faith if nobody else is accepting them? The next natural avenue to “change” was doctrine. If the method being “changed” didn’t bring the results then the only thing left to “change” is the message. It was/is rather slow at first. A little change here or a little change there and then it quickly blasts forward into wholesale change of the message.

Let’s bring Fred Thompson back into the picture for just a moment. Pay attention to these words, “change – whether it “real change,” “bold change” or the “change we can believe in” variety others are selling – isn’t itself an innovative policy or a particularly strong leadership stance.” What Mr. Thompson is saying is that careful scrutiny needs to be applied to the source of the conflict because “change” is not in and of itself a virtue. Is there a problem? What is the problem? Is the problem real? If so how do we change to fix this problem? To use some words of Mr. Thompson, the challenge for the Lord’s church is calibrating whether or not the change being called for is founded, and if it is consistent with God’s word and His principals. Here are a couple thoughts.

First, in all the bantering amongst the churches of Christ I scarcely hear the voice that challenges the validity of the “problem.” All of this “change” is based upon the need to bring dramatic increase in numbers. But what if the problem is not really a problem? What if God never obligated His church to be the manufactures of numbers? What if God never said nor implied he was going to judge His people based upon the numbers they produced? What if we CHANGED our understanding and realized that the problem is not a problem?

Second, how do we address the postmodern culture? When the old methods didn’t work we tried lots of new ones. So when that didn’t work we changed the message. But why is it that the postmodern mind is never challenged to change? We are told we must just embrace the postmodern mind – bologna! All have conceded, from Earl Edwards to Rubel Shelly, the reality that the majority of people living in our culture have that mind, but that by no means dictates the necessity to change the MESSAGE to fit the mind. No, rather it means our job is ever before us to challenge the minds of the majority of people in our culture to change!

The task is heavy to take a message to a world that does not want to hear it, but for crying out loud have we read the Gospels? Have we read the New Testament? And have we read the Old Testament prophets and the task they bore on their backs!!! Noah, Elijah, Jermiah, Isaiah, Amos, Jonah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Paul, and every other spokesman of God in the Bible were prophets of change! Change the message? Never! Change the method? Sometimes. Change the thinking of the culture they lived in? Every single one of them! Was the soil different in different places at different times? For sure. Was their success and pleasing-ness to God based upon their number of converts? Not a single one of them. They were all pleasing to God, without exception, when they held fast and proclaimed His word regardless of the culture they found themselves, and their receptivity to the message.

Is change needed? Yes. Do we need to change the methods? Sometimes. Do we need to change the message? NEVER! Do we need to change our faulty premises? No doubt. Must we proclaim a message to the people in a postmodern culture to change their entire way of thinking? That is the task at hand – to preach the foolishness of the cross to our culture and let God handle the rest.

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara

Thanks for Showing UP!

2008-05-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the lack of updates!!! Life has been busy. Here is what’s on the plate (1) trying to buy a house (2) training for a 5k on May 24th in Modesto (3) possibly training for the Worlds Jiu Jitsu tournament in Long Beach on June 5th (4) studying to take CLEP tests for 36 units so I can be done with my B.A. from Regions University, formerly known as Southern Christian University, now known as I don’t even know what! Oh yeah (5) and family, God, church, and work – all of which are interrelated for me.

This week was packed with the West Visalia Church of Christ Lectureship which I attended Monday through Wednesday morning. Monday morning I spoke at the lectures. On Friday I attended a funeral in Hughson for the mother and grandmother of some of our members in Ripon. Today was my nephew’s birthday and we headed up to Stockton to celebrate that. After the party we all ate dinner in Ripon and the family went to the park. When we got to the park I ran home (exactly three miles!). WOW – What I week.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day in America. I’m preaching on “Thanks for Showing Up.” I got the idea after reading over some Mother’s Day stuff on the internet. NO, I am not using someone else’s sermon outline even though I got the idea from an illustration in someone else’s sermon outline. His sermon, in my opinion, would have been much better had he framed it all around the “thanks for showing up” illustration. Tomorrow we will see how it turns out :)

To all the Mothers out there, THANK YOU! Especially to my mother who has put up with me for over twenty-six years – now that’s a mother!

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara

West Visaila Lectureship

2008-05-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm still in Visalia at the lectureship. Videos of the lectures are up on the web at http://wvcoc.blogspot.com/. Just be sure not to watch mine. When I get a chance I will update.

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O'Hara

Mi Vida Loca

2008-05-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today is just an update in the life of Caleb BLOG. It’s been an absolutely crazy day. This morning I went to my computer to finish up lots of work and my computer was not working. At 2:10 I FINALLY got it fixed – what a nightmare!

Tomorrow I am continuing a sermon series called “Square ONE: Back to the Beginning.” If you can’t tell by the title they are all lessons out of Genesis. Tomorrow we look at the great gift of freedom God gave man. The beginning reveals the freedom to chose, and yes the freedom to sin. Sin puts its ugly mark on this planet and mankind and God has been in the redemption business ever since. Well that’s the gist of the message.

Immediately following Sunday evening worship we are heading to Visalia, California. First thing Monday morning I’m speaking at the West Visalia Lectureship on “More Like Jesus in Tolerance (Romans 14).” Romans 14 is probably one of the most hotly debated passages in our brotherhood these days and they picked ME to speak on it. What’s the deal? I guess my friend Cliff Sabroe doesn’t like me too much. Yesterday I finished translating the entire passage and now it’s a matter of tweaking and reworking so that my exegesis can become proper exposition. My whole first part of the week will be spent there in Visalia. I’m looking forward to seeing some of my mentors: Denny Petrillo, Hi Jones, and Byron Benitez while I am there as well.

This week I have been grieving the loss of my American Idol Brooke White. Her moral character is something to be applauded. So Brooke, we will miss you. My wife is happy though. Now I can’t talk about her anymore :).

On a final note, last night we went and heard Frank Chesser preach at the East Main church of Christ in Stockton. It was good to see family and friends and Frank’s message on sin was very appropriate. Wayne was looking good and I pray the Lord gives him many more years of service in the Kingdom.

That’s all for now!!!

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara

Is Jesus the Way or Not?

2008-05-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

The modern "Church Growth Movement" naturally leads itself to this end. Must one come through Jesus to get to the Father? It's a simple yes or no question that Jesus Himself answers (John 14:1ff). Apparently even if the Scriptures say it it's not good enough for those in the Church Growth Movement. It might turn people away, and if people are turned away the numbers go down, and if the numbers go down we must be doing something wrong!!!

UPDATE:

Think About It...

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O'Hara

What Your Child Learned in School Today

2008-04-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

For those of you who wonder what your children are being taught at school here is a bit of an insight...

The goal of Planned Parenthood [a group that teaches on public school campuses every school day in America] according to one staffer is to help “young people obtain sex satisfaction before marriage. By sanctioning sex before marriage, we will prevent fear and guilt” - Lena Levine (Planned Parenthood News. Summer 1953, pg. 10).

You might also be happy to note that you are paying the salaries of Secular Humanists and Marxist professors with your tax dollars and tuition.

According to David Richardson there were 10,000 Marxist professors on America's campuses as of 1982 ("Marxism in U.S. Classrooms" U.S. News and World Report. January 25, 1982, pp. 42-5).

Georgie Anne Geyer states that "the percentage of Marxist faculty numbers can range from an estimated 90 percent in some midwestern universities" ("Marxism Thrives on Campus" The Denver Post. August 29, 1989, pg. 7).

On a brighter note (not really), Humanists out number the Marxists as a whole and they have goals too: "We aim to have students make explicit their own and others' implicit ideas about the way the world is or should be. Like artisans creating a mold out of the earth's supplies, we learn that our minds put the infinite mass of what is going on into an order; we relate parts to each other and create a whole structure. Thereafter, we use this structure like a template that forever determines what we perceive and how we evaluate, decide, and act upon it. By focusing educational content upon our ordering, relating, and structuring processes, we can expose the template, making them available for restructuring as we evolve into better artisans" (R.M. Lauer and M. Hussay, "A New Way to Become Educated" The Humanist. Jan./Feb/ 1986, pg 5 – emph. added).

Ohhhhhh you thought you sent your children off to school to learn to read, write, and do math and all the while the majority of the teachers "expose the template" of humanism on them so they are "available for restructuring" into the humanist worldview. When are we going to stop being in denial and wake up?

Philanswers: My moderating policy

2008-04-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Amen Phil...

Philanswers: My moderating policy

A LONG Response to a Comment

2008-04-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

This is a response to an anonymous commenter or this post http://www.calebohara.com/2008/04/jw-mcgarveys-advice-on-fellowship.html. Move over there for the full comment.

Mr(s). Anonymous who uses Charter internet and lives somewhere near Riverbank, California has just been itching for a response. In fact, he/she is our most frequent visitor since he/she posted this comment. Please just bookmark the site instead of searching for "preacher caleb" on Google everytime. Or just remember CALEB OHARA and then don't put the space. So here goes…

First of all I’m not sure if I should debate this non-debate debate? You said, “I am not here to debate you, because I feel that debating is wrong because it is never done in love. But, here I go...” I’m slightly confused on this one, “I’m not here to debate… here I go” - ???? You state that “I feel debating is wrong because it IS NEVER DONE IN LOVE” (Emph. Added). Never? Ever? Not once? Question – how do you know that it’s not done in love? I’m content to allow the judging of men’s hearts to God alone. Perhaps you have been given a privilege to see into men’s hearts that I’m not aware of. Apparently Paul, Barnabas, and the entire church in Jerusalem didn’t “love” because they “debated” (Acts 15:2, 7). Enough of this… you and I both know that the exchange of thoughts is not wrong and never will be wrong. The only way it could be wrong is if a man has a bad heart and you and I both know only God can judge the heart. And even men with bad hearts can proclaim the correct message! (cf. Jonah, Philippians 1:12-18). This whole Postmodernism jargon of not “debating” and then engaging in the most heated debate is designed to present oneself in a better light then the one who is being debated. To do this is to do the very thing that you are condemning (cf. Romans 2:17-24). So let’s put a nail in this one from the start. Had Paul not debated with the Jews they never would have come to know Christ. How terrible he was for not loving!!! Know this that just because I’m debating back the points you are debating from my blog doesn’t mean it’s not in love – I guarantee you that it is (unless you have some kind of window into my heart that I don’t know about and you can tell me otherwise????).

Secondly you said, “I, too, was raised in the Churches of Christ and am very familiar with all of your reasoning in scripture.” Wow that’s pretty amazing. Because you were raised in what you call “the Churches of Christ” you are “very familiar” will “all” of my “reasoning in Scripture.” This tries to assert that it is impossible to have genuine original thoughts and reasoning outside of circumstances. Just because two individuals are engage in the same circumstances does not mean that the same outcome is determined. This type of postmodern thinking (determinism) is seriously flawed. Your response is a witness to this fact. If it were the case that because someone is raised in an environment he MUST HAVE a certain type of reasoning you and I must think exactly alike, and from your message it is apparent that we do not. So toss that idea off the ship. It’s unfounded and quite frankly arrogant. I will also note that I do not accept your premise of “Churches of Christ,” but that is a discussion for later.

Thirdly you said, “But, if I could, in love as God tells us to, just tell you about my journey with instruments.” Ummmmmmmmmm did I miss the Scripture that says we are supposed to tell everyone about “my journey with instruments.” I’m assuming you must mean that we are supposed to speak to people in love. Very true, and sometimes the truth hurts like when Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler, out of love (Mark 10:21), that he had to go and sell all he had and give it to the poor to follow Christ. I guess it’s possible for people to say hard things that demand massive changes in life because of sin and still do it in love – very good to know! We agree on this because the Bible says it!

Fourthly you said: “I know that the use of instruments is a big deal in the Churches of Christ. And, I also know exactly what scriptures you would give me if I disagree with you. I am a third generation, maybe more, on both sides of my family, a Church of Christ member, or should I say, was.” Christ is very concerned for His church - He loves her (Ephesians 5:25)! If Christ speaks on worship it’s a big deal to me (John 4:1ff). So for you to say that worship is a big deal to Christ’s church I would agree with you that it’s a big deal to Christ. It would be a huge help to me if you explain where you get this power to “know exactly” what I’m going to say. That truly is remarkable. What about my friend Kenny. He is the only one in his family that is a member of Christ’s church. If he debates it with you does that mean he won’t have prejudices that he can’t avoid because his upbringing was different from mine? If that’s what it will take I will by all means ask him to respond to your questions. Oh wait wait... how about John Price. He is a graduate of Trinity Ministerial Academy and he is currently the minister at Grace Baptist Chruch in Rochester, New York. He says (now he has no "Church of Christ" upbringing and he is not even a minister of one), "If the Word of God alone is our guide in this matter, we cannot escape the conclusion that musical instruments in Christian worship are a violation of the regulative principle. To bring them into the church is to transgress the authority of Christ in His worship" (Old Light on New Worship Avinger, TX: Simpson Publishing Company, 2005). Let’s cut with the story telling of our lineage and get down to what the Text says. Please understand I really am saying this out of love but in all honestly I don’t care about your upbringing or mine; I care what the text SAYS! It truly saddens me that you have left Christ and His church that He died for (Ephesians 5:25). Please understand I know what your implying with “Church of Christ” but that implication is unfounded and I refuse to accept man’s terms… just sticking with what the Word says.

Fifthly you said: “So, i took my Greek/Hebrew dictionary and looked up every word in the two verses that we use to support the view of "instrumental sin." Every word except hymn has the word instrument in it. At first, that scared me because that is what i was taught all of my life: fear. So, i prayed like crazy and asked that God would open up my heart and not allow me to cling to prejudices that I was taught, but what He wanted me to see.” Great! We agree that words matter. Not only that you are appealing to Greek sources as proof as to why God is pleased with instrumental music in worship to Him. Could you give me the verses you are speaking of and the words along with documentation of the sources that prove this point? You can email them to me if you wish I will look them up. When you say “instrumental sin” I’m not sure what you mean. How do you define sin? And how do you define “instrumental sin.”

I’m glad you were taught fear. Fear of God is imperative to being a follower of God (Gen 20:11, 2 Sam 23:3; Neh 5:15; Job 4:5; 2 Cor 7:1), and the lack of fear of God is a great sin (Psa 36:1; Rom 3:18). The wise man Solomon summed up all of life when he said, “the conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and keep his commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Perhaps Nadab and Abihu would have been much better off if they had more fear for the Lord (Lev 10:1ff). I guess God messed up when he took Ananias and Sapphira’s life because it brought fear upon all the church (Acts 5:11) – nahhhhh I don’t think so. The list goes on and on – 2 Cor 5:11; 7:11, 15; Eph 5:21; 6:5; Phil 2:12; Heb 4:1; 1 Pet 1:17; 2:17; Jude 1:23. Please note that the Scriptures make a clear tie between obedience and fear. Without Godly fear disobedience is sure to follow. So hopefully I can help put the fear of God back in you!

You were taught prejudices? Terrible thing! Christ has the same problem. He was taught the prejudice of Judaism when he was a child. He was even so prejudice as to say He was the only way to the Father! You know Timothy had the same problem too. Paul suffered the same problem because he wrote that there was only one church (Eph 4:4; 1:22-23). Oh yeah, and Moses, man that guy was so prejudice he ended up killing a man! Just because you are taught something does not imply that you do not have the truth. Yes it’s true you can be taught a lie and be prejudiced towards the lie. But it is likewise true that you can be told the truth and be prejudiced towards it. Usually when people use the word “prejudice” they think that it is a very negative thing. Prejudice is neither right nor wrong in and of itself. It’s what has shaped it and sustains it that matters. All deeply held beliefs become prejudices, in the sense you are using the word, so are we not supposed to have deeply held beliefs? Ahhhh another problem that postmodernism is trying to assert into our thinking.

Sixthly you said: “This thought kept coming up in my mind. If instruments are a sin in worship, then they are a sin ALL of the time. Our lives should be a worship to God, not just on Sunday mornings, nights and Wednesday nights. If I believe that God doesnt like instruments in worship then He wouldn't like them at all; at any time in our lives.” First I would like to point out that your thinking began with your thoughts “This thought kept coming up in my mind.” This is a serious problem. This is one of the first steps towards exchanging the truth of God for a lie (Rom 1:20-25). Naaman had this problem too he said, “Behold I thought” (2 Kings 5:11). The problem is what Naaman thought wasn’t what God was saying.

You state “If instruments are a sin in worship, then they are sin ALL of the time.” Is it ok to be naked at any time in front of a person? I would hope you will say yes to this. Is it a sin to show up in the worship assembly naked? I would hope you will say yes to this. Your syllogistic argument has some major problems. There are things you can do in the privacy of your bedroom that would be sin to do in public, or worship for that matter. Just as there are things you can do when you are not worshiping that you can’t do when you worship. Your thought that kept coming up is not based upon Scripture. You took the wrong fork in the road on this one and I hope your prejudice of mind can be changed.

This whole concept of everything in life is worship has no biblical basis. Jesus made Clear in John 4 that there is a right way and wrong way to worship God (John 4:23-24). He also said that worship is not constrained by location. If you are worshiping God in your car and you are not doing it according to truth then it’s not acceptable to God. So the Scriptures agree that it does not just pertain to certain times in the worship assembly, but anytime you worship. The problem is not everything you do in life is worship. Worship involves intent. The word worship (proskuneo) literally means to kiss towards. Worship is intentional and directed. Last time I mowed the lawn it wasn’t directed to God. Last time I ate my dinner it wasn’t directed towards God. In everything I do I want my life to be acceptable to God, but it’s not all worship. Abram understand this when he said, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you” (Gen 22:5). In a sense our lives are to be in service to God like worship is a service to God, however, just because all worship is service to God does not make all service worship. If everything is worship then worship is nothing at all. A word that means everything means nothing. In fact, if everything in life was worship Jesus’ whole conversation with the woman at the well is pointless.

You also said, “If I believe that God doesnt like instruments in worship then He wouldn't like them at all; at any time in our lives.” If I believe that God doesn’t like sex outside of marriage then He wouldn’t like it at all; at any time in our lives. This creates a problem. A big problem… the good thing it is humanly created and therefore can be changed.

Seventhly you said, “If instruments are a sin, then why are "harpists playing their harps" in Heaven in Revelation 14:2?” Revelation 14:2 says that “the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.” The text clearly says that it was THE VOICE! It is a fundamental mistake to try and go to a book that is apocalyptic (figurative in nature) and try to pull something out and make it literal. Is there really a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his heads seven diadems (Rev 12:3)? Besides, if heaven is material in nature and it literally has harps, God has every right to tell us He wants to be worshiped that way when we get there! At different times in human history God has accepted and then rejected different types of worship. God accepted animal sacrifices in worship from patriarchs. Then in history God demanded that only priests could offer animal sacrifices. Today He won’t accept any animal sacrifices as worship. God demanded worship come from a certain place but now the location doesn’t matter (John 4:20ff). So if God changes what He wants as worship in Heaven I am all for it, but that by no means justifies me doing it now here on earth.

Eighthly you said, “And, why is Jesus going to come with the "sound of a trumpet"? 1 Cor. 15:52.” The text does not directly say but it seems pretty evident that it is to announce His coming. And I’m failing to see what this has to do with worship. Are we supposed to raise the dead in worship too? If you want to use a trumpet to get peoples attention, then by all means do it!

Ninthly you said, “I dont think that you HAVE to use instruments, but I would be careful to condemn people who do.” What does God think? And if all those words you said mean to use instruments how could God command them and then not care if you use them? It’s good for you not to condemn people. Only God condemns. It would be good, however, to make good judgments over right and wrong and when someone is doing something that is right or wrong.

Tenthly you said, “I would urge you to just study it again.” DONE… your turn!

There is a good chance that I know who wrote this anonymous comment. So let me give you an open invitation to sit down and look at the text together anytime you want. Please note my use of satire and humor at times to illustrate a point. If there is a sincere desire in your heart to know what the Text says then you and I are in the same boat! Perhaps we can help each other come to know Him better!

I would also like to conclude by noting that I didn't say anything about Instumental Music in my post.

Sow the Seed,
Caleb

Words - How do you define them?

2008-04-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

It is a constant fascination of mine how every human being uses words and yet we so often do not understand them. Our very understanding of God comes through the revelation of words. If it were not for words we would never know the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-13). Granted that the Creation tells us something about God (Romans 1:20); a relationship with Him is utterly impossible without words! It is by words that we can see and understand what comes out of the inside of God [theoneustos] (1 Timothy 3:16). God did His work by speaking words directly to men, through prophets of old with words, sent messages to men by way of angels in the form of words, and when it came time to establish His church he sent men about preaching words to do it! The turning around of the heart was based upon the words of Peter given by the Spirit (Acts 2:13ff). And how amazing is it that the very essence of God in the flesh is the logos – the Word (John 1:1ff)!

Should we take words seriously in our relationship with God? Absolutely! Our entire relationship is built upon words – that is how God designed it! If we really want a deep relationship with God we have to care about words. We have to care about His words. We have to spend time digging in deeply to His words. It’s imperative that we understand words, sentences, paragraphs, and books because words bring us to God.

In all of this it’s imperative that we keep words in context, for usage ultimately determines meaning- Not a dictionary! We must cease preaching sermons, and teaching classes, where we get up and define a word in the Bible from Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. This practice is ultimately harmful to good Bible study which ultimately hurts peoples relationship with God. The words of the New Testament and Old Testament are not to be ascribed ideas we came up with thousands of years later; reading meaning back into the text for which the text never intended. Nor are words to be defined by Greek Scholars hundreds to thousands of years later. Ultimately we must allow the original writers, by inspiration of the Spirit, to define their words. What right does Webster, Thayer, Calvin, or Luther have to tell Paul how he can use the word faith? What right do they have to tell Paul that baptism is a work of law and not an act of faith?

The words of John Adams are appropriate here: “We are no more bound by [Samuel] Johnson’s Dictionary than by the Cannon [sic] Law of England…. I have as good a right to make a word as that Pedant Bigot Cynic and Monk” February 23rd,1815.

Let the Text Speak!

Sow the Seed,
Caleb

p.s. Adams also said, “Britain will never be our friends till we are her Master” – We can never enter a relationship with Christ until He is our Master.

GO SEE EXPELLED!!!!!

2008-04-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

Go See Expelled! This afternoon I finally got a chance to watch it. WOW! It far surpassed my expectations (and I had high ones). Ben Stein did a phenomenal job. He deserves an award for getting Richard Dawkins to say what he said. You have to go see the movie to see what I’m talking about. It really was amazing. Ben you are my hero for the week with this one. Outstanding job!

Now Everyone Go See It!
Caleb
p.s. I haven’t had a chance to look over the comments closely and respond to them. Maybe later in the week I will get around to them. Until then – Sow the Seed!

J.W. McGarvey's Advice on Fellowship

2008-04-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

I’m going to do something that is a big no no. I’m going to second source a quote from Jesse P. Sewell that was delivered at the Harding Lectures in 1950 according to The Spiritual Sword (Vol. 39, No. 3, April 2008, pg. 43). It’s not Bible just advice from a sage. Take it for what it’s worth.

In January, 1902 or 1903, I was preaching for the Pearl and Bryan Streets Church
in Dallas. Brother McGarvey, an old man at the time, was invited to speak at the
Central Christian Church in Dallas. We had three men in the Pearl and Bryan
Streets church who had graduated from the College of the Bible in Lexington,
under Brother McGarvey, and they were great admirers of him. They suggested that
we invite Brother McGarvey to preach at Pearl and Bryan that night. We did
so.

I was just a boy 24 or 25 then. I was sitting by the side of
this great old man on the front seat, waiting for the service to begin. As we
sat there talking, Brother McGarvey said to me: “Brother Sewell, I want to say
something to you, if you’ll accept it in the spirit in which I mean it.” I told
him Id appreciate anything he had to say to me. He said about these words: “You
are on the right road, and whatever you do, don’t ever let anybody persuade you
that you can successfully combat error by fellowshipping it and going along with
it. I have tried. I believed at the start that was the only way to do it. I’ve
never held membership in a congregation that uses instrumental music. I have,
however, accepted invitations to preach without distinction between churches
that used it and churches that didn’t. I’ve gone along with their papers and
magazine and things of that sort. During all these years I have taught the truth
as the New Testament teaches it to every young preacher who has passed through
the College of the Bible. Yet, I do not know of more than six of those men who
are preaching the truth today.” He said, “It won’t work.”

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb

House to House / Heart to Heart

2008-04-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today when I checked the mail it was not an ordinary day. As I reached into the box I pulled out the first issue of House to House / Heart to Heart that we (the Ripon church of Christ) are sending out to our entire city! We are hoping that this can be a great way to make contacts in our community so we can reach out to them with the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow is All-In-One Sunday in Ripon. I’m currently working through Genesis in a series I am calling “Square One: Back to the Beginning.” This week we are going to look at the various attempts to water down the creation account and try to make the Bible conform to man’s ideas as opposed to letting the text speak for itself. It’s my goal that with this lesson I can communicate God’s great hand in every aspect of a marvelous, miraculous, supernaturally designed universe.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb

UPDATE: When I said tomorrow is All-In-One I meant two days from now :)

No Intelligence Allowed

2008-04-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple weeks since I have blogged. Things have been really busy around here. We are trying to buy a house and I was preparing for a Gospel Meeting in the Bay Area. In fact, I'm just about to leave the hotel to go and finish up the meeting for the weekend. Once I get a little more settled I will blog somemore. In the mean time you need to check out this clip by Ben Stein. It's a movie called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The movie is a documentary style movie about how the sceintific community refuses to allow scientist to go where the evidence leads them. If they come up with any explanation for life that is outside of the Darwinian Evolution box they are quickly silenced. I have not seen the movie so I can't speak for all it's strengths or weaknesses, but check out this trailor and make plans to go and check it out on April 18th. Goto this website to find out where it's going to be playing.

Enjoy,
Caleb

UPDATE:

Wayne Jackson says: "Stein’s movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, will debut in theaters on Friday, April the 18th. I highly encourage parents with children in public schools (and any others who are interested) to see this documentary that is being so rabidly opposed by the evolutionists" (Read his article in its entirety here http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/expelled_no_intelligence_allowed)

Also Answers in Genesis has written a favorable review (a Conservative Evangelical Creationist group) http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/expelled-review

There is also an excellent interview with the film producer, Logan Craft, in the January 2008 edition of Think Magazine pp. 20-21.

The Top 20 Hardcovers: More Telling Than You May Think

2008-03-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today I was flipping through my inbox and found my latest CBD catalog. John MacArthur’s new book A Tale of Two Sons caught my eye. MacArthur usually writes something worth the time it takes to read (more than I can say for most). I was turning the pages and about three pages in was the Top 20 Hardcovers. It wasn’t long after glossing over the top 20 must haves that I was quickly sickened. Now most of you out there are going to think I am crazy, and I know some of the intellectuals will propose some logical explanation that makes the situation sound better than I am about to make it sound – so be it. But at least hear me out!

The top 20 hardcovers is a sad indicator of the state of “Christianity” in America today. The list included titles like Lucado’s 3:16-The Numbers of Hope, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life is still number 4, and believe it not good old smiley health and wealth gospel Osteen’s Become a Better You is still number 5. The entire list was like this. And by this I mean topical, feel good, surface Bible study, be a better this or that, lots of stories, none confrontational, lack of Bible exegesis, lack of deep digging into Scripture, books! Nowhere in the top 20 is there even a book on Christian Evidences! MacArthur’s book on the truth war going on in “Christianity” wasn’t in the list, but his book on Twelve Extraordinary Women was!

Where are the books on being a better Bible student? In my opinion books like Walter Kaiser’s book Towards an Exegetical Theology should be a perpetual top 20 book. Where are all the Bible dictionary books? Where are all the Greek for dummy books? Where are all the digging deeper into Romans, or 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians, or Galatians, or Ephesians, ok I think you get it. And what about the Old Testament? Have we completely lost any desire to even study it? Every single book in the top 20 began with a topic and sought to find a few Scriptures to scatter in here or there to back up the author's point.

How in the world did we ever get to the point where Christianity is shaped by man’s ideas instead of man’s ideas being shaped by Christianity? And that’s the problem with the list. It illustrates that this is where we are. We want Christianity to be what we want it to be. We want Christianity to be all about feel good stories. We want Christianity to be non-confrontational. We want Christianity to consist of someone else telling me what the Bible says instead of spending the time to dig out the truths from the text myself. We want Christianity to give lip service to Scripture about topics like grace, and prayer and then shut-up about things like homosexuality, worship, gender roles, or confronting culture.

Now tell me why I’m crazy….

Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara

Endings Mean New Beginnings

2008-03-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

This last Sunday I ended the sermon series “This Old House: Taking Another Look at the Church that Jesus Built.” It was a rewarding series for me at least, and I hope it was for the whole congregation. The problem with ending a series is that it’s time for a new beginning. For some time now I have been thinking about what I was going to preach on next. It’s Tuesday morning and it’s time to make the big decision so I can get my sermons done early this week. Decisions, decisions, decisions….

I’ve decided I will make the decision when I get back from Jiu Jitsu. Wish me luck I don’t get choked out!

Caleb

This Old House

2008-03-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

Can I take a break for a minute and vent on here? Oh wait, it’s my blog! I can do whatever I want on here!!!

We are in the process of trying to buy a house – UGH! When you think of buying a home you think of taking a step in the right direction towards fulfilling the American dream. Before you engage in the process you picture it as a fun time. You think of big houses, cool colors and carpet, all those things you have always wanted in a house. You think of it as fun, exciting, and everything you have been looking forward to for years. Then reality strikes when you go see a lender. It strikes harder when you go see houses. The rose colored glasses quickly come off.

Buying a home in California has not even been an option for us up until now. Real estate prices in this part of the country have been through the roof. In fact, they still are in my opinion. The median sale price on a home in Ripon, California is still $413,500. Thanks hundreds of thousands of people buying houses they could not afford the market is being flooded with foreclosures that fall into our price range. Some of them have been absolutely disgusting: spray painted every wall, garbage in all the appliances, ripped out crown molding and baseboards, peed in the carpet, ripped out toilets… I think you get the picture. Others have not been as bad.

What has been so frustrating is the bump after bump after bump. We got certain finance numbers one day and completely different ones the next. Without knowing what you are going to get in financing you can’t even make an offer on a house! I AM GOING HOUSE CRAZY!!!!!!

OK, I feel better now that I have vented. In the mean time everyone who reads this blog needs to pray for us. If it’s the Lord’s will we will find a home soon. Noah Hackworth used to always tell me that it was imperative that a preacher buy a house as soon as possible. He served the Lord his whole life through preaching the gospel and was only able to get a home late in life. I can still see him gazing right into my eyes and adamitly stating the necessity of buying a house. It was completely out of love though; he didn’t want my family to have to go through the struggles his did – and I love him for that. So Noah, thanks so much for all this stress and heartache we are going through trying to buy a home. I owe you one pal :)

Sow the Seed,
Caleb

p.s. Speaking of houses, tomorrow I end my sermon series “This Old House: Taking Another Look at the Church that Jesus Built.” The text is 1 Tim 3:14-15 – WOW how do you do this text justice? Just preach it I guess….

It's All Just Tradition - Right?

2008-03-06T23:54:00.000-08:00

The constant drumbeat of those claiming to want progress for the church is that everything doctrinal is just “tradition.” Things like a capella music in worship are just the “tradition” of the American Restoration Movement is the mantra. Tradition is "our" curse.

The next component to all of this is that tradition is just tradition and everyone knows you can’t bind tradition. The “C”hurches of Christ (as they would say it) have been evil and terrible sexist racist the last 400 years, and we built a tradition that we won’t abandon for the sake of unity (if you think my sexist racist comment is over the top I challenge you to underline every time Shelly and York mention it in their book the Jesus Proposal). The only thing standing in the way of unity amongst all “Christians” is that nasty word – Tradition. The greatest sin of the “C”hurches of Christ is their obstinate clinging to tradition. If only we would abandon tradition we could all get together and smoke the peace pipe. Sounds good – but is it possible someone has been smoking some other kind of pipe to get here.

First of all, what is tradition? Everyone knows what tradition is right? An important lesson still unlearned by many is the need to pay close attention to the way people are defining the words they use. If we want a biblical answer to the question “what is tradition” I think a logical place to start would be the Bible right? For the sake of not making this blog a noval, the word tradition used in the New Testament means the thing “handed down.” Take a peak at Bauer, Danker, A & G and verify.

The next question that must be asked is this… are all handed down things equal? Is tradition good, bad, or neutral? The biblical answer is yes. Listen closely; tradition is neither a curse nor a virtue in and of itself! The origin of the handed down thing makes all the difference in the world. Whether or not something is received depends entirely on WHO is handing it down.

The Bible speaks of the traditions handed down by God. Traditions whose origins are with God must be followed. Notice what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (NASB). This is called “belief in the truth” (2:13). Those who were accepting anything else besides this tradition believed a lie and were unrighteous (2:11-12).

A little later on in 2 Thessalonians Paul talks about tradition “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us” (2 Th 3:6). This tradition is called “the word of the Lord” (3:1). It is commanded and must be done (3:4) It’s allowing the Lord to direct the heart (3:5). Anybody want to step up to the plate and tell God that tradition is what is preventing the world from getting closer to him?

Part 2 soon to come if anyone is interested…?

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb

Is John 4 Missing From Some Bibles?

2008-02-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

Worship is a point of departure. It is with worship that the great majority of battles take place. Some will try to point to this as inconsistency and "the blight of our heritage," but in all truth it only makes sense. When the instrument was introduced into the churches of Christ by L.L. Pinkerton, and others, it was a visual display of a profound difference that was taking place with regard to the approach to Scripture.

In John 4 the Samaritan woman changes a discussion of her messed up (I would say screwed up here but some people have said that they think screwed up has sexual connotations - I tend to think it just conveys the idea that you personally got yourself in a huge mess) life to that of worship. Isn’t it interesting that her perception of Jesus as a prophet propels her to ask a question regarding worship? It’s really quite natural when you think of it. What was one thing that was a very visual, real, personal, interactive difference between the Jews and the Samaritans? The way they worshiped. There was no mistaking the difference. One worshiped up on a mountain in one place the other in a temple in a completely different place. Worship was a very visual and very real display of the theological differences with which the two groups approached and understood God and His will.

Some people who identify themselves with the church of Christ today scoff at the Lord’s church for making such a fuss over differences of worship. They want to hang their heads in shame because when they say they are members of the church of Christ people quickly reply, “Oh yeah, your those people that don’t have music!” Besides the fact that they have a skewed view of music by thinking that the none-use of instruments in singing doesn’t make it music, I’ve failed in all my years to understand why “us” being identified by this is such a horrible thing. Don’t get me wrong here – there are much more significant reasons why we are so different from the denominational and sectarian religious world, but it is in our worship they we are visually SEEN as different. And may I be so bold as to say that the reason why the Lord’s church is known for her a capella music is because it is a very visual, very audible, very tangible difference. The key is there IS a difference. Those amongst us who are trying to say that we are just like them don’t want to talk about difference. All they want to talk about is what we have in common. Did you know that the human being has DNA that is nearly identical to that of sharks!?!? I guess humans and sharks are just alike and should unite behind their commonalities - right??? I wonder if anyone will hear this... difference is not a virtue or a curse in and of itself and we would all do well to let that one sink into our noggins. Jesus was certainly different from Satan - that's a good thing for those of you who may be wondering. Sometimes difference is good, right, and moral.

In Jesus’ effort with the woman at the well he did not point to their commonality of worshiping and say, “Hey, we are all the same let’s embrace our differences and sing Kum By Yah together (with or without an instrument).” The difference was very real and visual and ultimately the underpinning problem was their source of authority. Jesus affirms that the Scriptures taught that salvation was coming through the Jews and they were worshipping in the right place. He then tells the woman that a time for change is coming and is here and that the way for her and Him and everyone else to worship correctly is to worship in spirit and in truth. Jesus was not ashamed of difference – he saw some difference being the difference between truth that sets a person free and a lie that traps them up forever. You know… sometimes I wonder if John 4 is just missing from some people’s Bible.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb O’Hara

Same Ol' Music?

2008-02-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Jones has posted a very good piece on our songs in worship. He is on to something. It has been my experience that there are a lot of people who think it's terrible that so many are starting to sing "devo" songs in worship. "We don't need new songs the old ones are good enough," is the refrain of many. Thank goodness people didn't say that when His Graces Reaches Me first was written. If so we wouldn't have it today. Every song was a "new song" at some point. New is not always bad. People need to step back and realize that they can hinder spiritual growth and maturity by sticking to the old "tradition." The main problem is people understanding the difference between God given tradition (things handed down by God that we cannot change) and areas of expediency that can, and sometimes should, change.

Enjoy Jonathan's piece:

"He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God" (Psalm 40:3). The Bible often speaks of us singing a "new song" in praise to our God (Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Rev. 5:9; 14:3). I often tire of singing the same old songs over and over. Certainly there are some older songs that I treasure and will always love. Songs like "Abide with Me," "Nearer, Still Nearer," "Night with Ebon Pinion," and "I am a Wayfairing Stranger" will always be some of my favorites. But there is definitely something to be said about praising God with new words and new melodies. New words stimulate our minds to really sing with the "spirit and
understanding" (1 Cor. 14:15) instead of simply reciting words with little thought as to their meaning. New melodies stimulate our emotions as our hearts give way to the greatness of God and his relevance in our lives today.
Many of the older songs that we sing (let's really be honest), few of us know what we are singing. For example really listen to the words of a song we often sing in worship, "Drop thy still dews of quiteness, till all our strivings cease, take from our souls the stain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess, the beauty of thy peace." What?! We might as well sing in Latin. I'm not sure I can sing these words in good conscience, not knowing what I'm saying. Well, no wonder the song was written in 1872. When our worship services are filled with songs like this, most Christians between the ages of 18-45 become very discouraged. I can't blame them. We all desire to praise our God and let a meaningful message flow from our hearts up to God in worship. But in order to do this, we must know what we are singing, and be emotionally moved by it.
There are two great a capella CDs out called "praise and harmony" that are designed to teach new songs to congregations. You can listen to some of these songs for free from their website and purchase the CDs. I bought both of these recently at the Freed-Hardeman Lectureship and they are fantastic!

I Can't Believe It!

2008-02-14T00:03:00.001-08:00

I'm Finally Home! Flying on planes all day is all I wanted for my birthday! 26 - I'm really feeling old.

What About the Numbers?

2008-02-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today was our last full day in Tennessee. It has been a lot of fun but I simply cannot wait to be back in my own house and with my church family in Ripon. We are still at Ed and Penny’s house. It’s been so nice getting to spend time with them. They have been more than generous in letting us stay with them. They have taken care of me since they first met me and I believe with all my heart that the Lord knew I needed them.

Today we went to the Gospel Advocate bookstore. I had a good time visiting with the book dude there. His name has left me at one in the morning – go figure. While I was there I picked up a few books which you will probably be hearing more about in the future. The deal with my knew project I’m going to work on and possible use as my Master’s Thesis at Bear Valley.

I was reading Phil Sanders blog and posted below was my comment to his post on “For a More Balance Approach” which you can read by clicking on the title. Remember to sow the seed faithfully!

Although it be true that the "progressive" churches are losing just as many if
not more than they are gaining (I read on Mike Cope's blog a while back him
trying to justify why so many were leaving his church), a large area of concern
to me is anytime we try to justify our existence based upon numbers. Where did
we ever get the idea that increase or decrease in numbers meant the blessings or
cursings of God? At some point the Lord's church born on Pentecost began losing
numbers. Was it at that point that the Lord's church was no longer following
Christ or blessed by God? If my understanding of church history is at all
correct the majority of the church went with Augustine. Did the numbers justify
the doctrine?

Did hear me to be argumentative of the stats - they
are encouraging. My question deals more primarily with the whole idea of trying
to rationalize right or wrong based upon numbers. What if the numbers did show
we were dying? Does that mean it's time to give up the tripartite hermy and
embrace the ever enigmatic "new hermeneutic?" What if the numbers showed that
Instrumental Music churches were increasing in number and A Cappella churches
were loosing numbers? Does that mean it's not time to depart from the
understanding that silence can be prohibitive and God really does want to be
worshiped with mechanical instruments? Am I making any sense at
all?

Let me give you a real life example. The congregation where I
am at we have experienced an increase in numbers sense I got here 2 years ago.
Am I supposed to take from that we are doing everything right, if anything? How
about this... I know a man who has been preaching the gospel since Noah built
the ark and the congregation where he is at has dropped at that same time frame
(and he is one of the most evangelistic men I know). Does that mean his message
is not valid and "my" ministry is approved of by God more than "his" ministry?
Does that mean I'm successful and he is not?

I fear greatly that we
have put trust and faith in numbers instead of putting trust and faith in God's
word. It says what it says and I will follow regardless of the numbers – as I am
confident you will too. I think the great lesson to learn from all of this is
that their (progressives or whatever you want to call them) rational for
existence is entirely built upon numbers. They can stand on their numbers and I
will take God’s word.

Just my thoughts,
Caleb

Sunday in Tennessee

2008-02-10T22:09:00.001-08:00

This morning we worshiped with the brethren at Highland in Columbia. It was so wonderful to see old faces and reacquainted. After worship we went to lunch at Legends with the Jetts, Curtis and Fay, and the White's. L.G. and Curtis were so wonderful to me while we were here. They are great godly men. They are also down to earth and easy to talk to - the conversation is never boring. L.G. told us today about catching himself on fire for a few seconds burning stumps. This came on the heels of me asking what he is doing as a retired guy. The answer? Burning stumps! I told him that's better than smoking weeds. Such great people - did I mention that yet?

It was so nice spending time with the Jetts. They are such sweet and loving people. We think of them like another set of parents and the kids love them. Today Travis and I went for a quick drive in his BMW Z3 - it's a cool car. Travis really likes the loud horn he bought for it. Ahhhh - I'm really going to miss them. I think of the people at Highland often.

This evening we went to services at Spring Meadows in Spring Hill again. After services we had a nice potluck dinner. We are staying with our good friends Ed and Penny McCormick in Spring Hill. My sisters family is all sick so the McCormick's are bailing us out. It's so nice getting to spend time with them too. It's comfortable being with them - just like at home.

Although Freed's lectures were a bit disappointing to me I still enjoyed myself and learned. One thing is for sure, I have a renewed desire to study John. Bad thing is because I disagreed with most peoples exegesis of John! :) Question of the day - What is the purpose of John's gospel?

Worship in Music

2008-02-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

I ran into this post by a accident looking at tornado damage in Jackson. It’s priceless for some of us to see the shifting in thinking going on in the denominational world. It’s also an opening for the Lord’s church. Here are a couple quotes with emphasis added.

I think the entire evangelical world ought to put a moratorium on any kind of
instrumental music, and just chant psalms in their worship services—for the next
ten years.

I wonder if the whole “excellence in praise and worship music” phenomenon we’ve
seen over the past few years—for all the good it’s done—hasn’t also had some
less-than-desirable effects on young Christians. I wonder if it hasn’t created a
generation of functional mystics who gauge their relationship with God by
emotional experience rather than the objective reality of
redemption.

I am really afraid that we’ve managed to create a
generation of anemic Christians who are spiritually dependent on excellent
music.

My sense is that "excellent music" has become something of
an idol.

The next post on his blog is by a Bob Kauflin who was asked to respond to his blog post. You can read the whole thing here. The most important one, and where we need to jump in, is this one, “Lack of teaching on worship in the church.” I don’t agree with the way he develops this point but the statement is absolutely 100% true. The problem is they are not going back to the Scriptures to find what the Lord has said on matters of worship.

Your thoughts? Leave comments.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb

Tornado Pictures

2008-02-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

You need to check this out. Before we left Jackson we took a bunch of pictures, and a couple videos, from the road near the tornado damage (I will post those when I get the time). It's so very hard for me to grasp how close this was and nobody was acting like anything was wrong. Everyone was acting like it was no big deal. When we arrive in Henderson we went straight to the basement. Everyone there thought we were crazy - I think everyone here is crazy! They all talk about us and earthquakes and how they are used to tornados like we are earthquakes. Well forgive me for pointing this out, but if we had a warning that the earthquake was coming we would be taking shelter immediately. These crazy people just went on like nothing was coming! This is crazy to be saying, but I need to get back to California so I can have some sanity back in my life.

Today I was thinking about what a great man Earl Edwards is. I was not able to hear him speak at the lectureship this year but I did take a Master's level course on 1 and 2 Thessalonians by him. I was so blown away by his genuine attention that he paid to everything you said, along with his obvious personal love for God. He is a great man.

Today we visited the Nashville Zoo and the Opryland Mills Mall. There were times when I was not sure which was which. We have to stop going into that Mall because I keep getting poorer and this crazy Tennesseans are getting richer. I still haven't spent a dime at Bass Pro Shop. That is sure to change before we leave.

Tomorrow we are going to worship with the Highland church of Christ in Columbia. They became our semi-home when we were looking for work in Tennessee. Such great people. Too bad things did not work out and we did not end up working with them. Their preacher had said he was leaving but had not left yet when we were here. I preached for him once when he was out of town. There were absolutely no guarantees they would have hired me (probably not), but it's neither here nor there as we had to move back to California before the preacher left. We are looking forward to worshiping with them, and getting caught up. Our time with the Jett's has been fabulous. They are like another set of grandparents to the boys. Reagan and Caleb have done very well on this trip with all things considered. It is going to be nice to be back in a normal routine at home though!

We have been gone a little over a week now and I'm really missing my brethren back home in Ripon. I love them, and the work there, so much it's hard to vacation. I needed the break though. When I return home I'm making a commitment to reenergize and concentrate more on my study, preaching, and evangelism. It's easy to get into "routine" and not stay on the edge and giving it your all. On top of that I need to CLEP 32 hours before June so I can be done with my B.A. from Regions University. Oh man, I have lots of Master's work to do for Bear Valley too. I'm getting depressed just thinking about going home now! Now I want to go home and I don't!

One final thing... I have not been staying in shape while I have been gone. Not once have a I ran. And I'm missing Jiu Jitsu a lot! When I get home I'm going to get whooped up on bad because my cardio won't be there and it always takes a few times to get back to where sweeping from the guard is instinct and not going through a move by move check list as if I'm putting together a plastic model.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb

p.s. For those of you who know I was a big Fred Thompson supperter, I formally renounce my prior support for him now that he has endorsed McCain.
p.p.s. R.I.P. The Republican Party

Ministry and Technology

2008-02-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

Dale Jenkins has a good post from a few weeks back on technology resources for ministers right here. It's a good collection of resources. If you are looking for the primo-supremo Bible study software go to http://www.logos.com/. It cost a healthy amount of $$$$ but it's features are priceless, especially if you are a college student. It's become somewhat of a right hand for me.

We are leaving Jackson, TN today and heading to Columbia to spend some time with our friends the Jetts (where we got Reagan Jett's middle name from). I probably will not have internet access for a couple days.

So Long For Now,
Caleb

UPDATE:
I forgot to mention that Mike Hite has a Technolog and Ministry blog http://ministrytech.blogspot.com/ check it out sometime!

FHU Thursday Lectures

2008-02-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

I am sorry there have been no updates today. My wireless signal would not work at Freed. It would connect to their network but would not give me an outside line. There were other people there who were able to get out. I have a pretty good feeling my computer was specifically blocked on their network. Maybe someone at FHU did not like my reviews.

Today's update is going to be short and to the point. The chapel speaker created a huge stir to which Earl Edwards had to get up and mildly rebuke him. I'm listening to the lesson again as we speak so I can give greater detail. Right after lunch I caught Alex Bayes in Loyd Auditorium. I totally disagreed with the entire background of the speaker and thus his entire lesson was based on a bad foundation. His main point was that Peter, in John 21, was just making a choice between better and best when he went back to fishing. The entire context of John 21 is the wavering faith of Peter. Jesus is driving to make Peter commit to "follow me." Peter went back to his old way of life before Jesus had called him, he went back to fishing. This was not a choice between better and best this was a returning to the old way of life! The good side was that he was animated and passionate about what he spoke. The zeal was wonderful. The foundation needed some work though.

After that I listened to James Gardner on the variation of language on John 21. Again he made the same mistakes as the previous speaker. He was doing a word study on agapao and phileo and his conclusion is that the variance in the language is insignificant. He stands on ground with good language scholars like D.A. Carson who believes there is no significance. To make this short, again the context is ignored. Context always overrules words. The context of Peter's wavering faith is obvious. John's usage of the two words and the various nuances can be clearly seen when they are studied out. Can the differences in words be taken too far - absolutely! However, in this text the context seems clear. Oh yes, I almost forget, he said that Peter and Jesus had this discussion in Aramaic so therefore they didn't use any of these words. That is a big stretch. Where does he get that this conversation was in Aramaic and not Koine Greek?

The people seemed to disappear after these sessions. Open forum was sparse and uneventful today. Sorry there was no live blog, but I could not get a connection. If I get time I may blog a few comments about it. At least last year it was more exciting with the whole hand clapping debate. All in all I felt pretty down today. I've been looking for that passionate textually based thunder sermon and have been left wanting. I keep thinking, "Is this the best we can do?" Disappointed is the best word I can come up with at the moment.

Wednesday Night FHU Madness

2008-02-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

OK... probably not madness. After a great meal at Corky's we made our way back to FHU for the evening lecture. We were going to eat at Corky's last night but changed our minds since Logan's had a two complete steak dinners for 14 bucks deal. Glad we did as Corky's was even closer to the tornado that ripped through Jackson (more on this later).

When we got to Freed I found out that Harold Redd was going to be preaching. Up to this point I have never heard of him. He was preaching on the humility of Christ from John 19.

The long and short of it is I’m not sure where he was going or how he got there. The main thing I got was that Jesus was a rejected king. Tonight I was able to pay fairly good attention and I still was unable to really discern where he was going. He never really got with it. He never really showed why what he was saying was relevant. He did not show how it affects me (speaking in the plural application sense).

At this point I have to admit that the keynotes have been sadly disappointing to me. Sure there are good things to grab from each of them like this jewel from tonight, “The Jews wanted the Scriptures without Jesus; Today men want Jesus but they don’t want the Scriptures.” But OVERALL there is no clear purpose, no exposition of the text, no illustration of the text, and no real practical application of that text. One speaker this year boasts on his blog about making “the all-star game” by speaking at Freed this year. Is this how our All-Star preachers perform? If so where do I sign up to bet on the other team (and no I don’t endorse gambling).

After the evening service we stuck around for a few minutes to listen to Pickin’ and a Singin’ because CJ wanted to see the show. That last about one song and he and Reagan Jett changed their minds. On the way back to the hotel we decided to drive up and see where the Tornado hit. It is amazing how close it was to us. I would say an eigth of a mile or less and you see the destruction. Valerie (my wife) pointed out a metal poll that was snapped in half. The entire area was flattened. One crazy thing is that a building on one side of the street had windows blown out of it while a car dealership on the other side looked like nothing had happened. Scientist still can’t tell us how, when, and where a Tornado will hit for sure nor can the stop them, but they know Global warming is real and WE HAVE TO STOP IT. Righttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.

Good Night and God Bless,
Caleb

Wednesday Open Forum Live Blog

2008-02-06T13:33:00.001-08:00

*More Recent Comments Appear First*

- Forum is over for the day. It's amazing to me the amount of questions about the LS on Sunday nights and our brotherhoods constant attempts to not address the subject. I will blog about the LS on Sunday nights when I get back to Ripon. I would give today a 5 out of 10.

- Mac Lyon makes a showing at the MIC. He tells a story about when he was preaching and he and the elders wanted to address the low attendance. So they elders told Mac they would take out a full page article in the newspaper to advertise a series of lessons on Sunday nights by him. Mac asked what they wanted him to speak on. They said they wanted him to speak on what the Bible says about the death penalty. Long story short Sunday night the audience was packed with lawyers from all around. He said they knew more about the law than he did. What they wanted to know is what the Bible says. He said millions of people in this world want to hear what the Bible says and they are going to Sunday evening services and leaving with their buckets empty. Go Mac Go!

-Had to make an unexpected bathroom run for Caleb Jr. Alex filled in for me while I was gone.

-Question/statement about giving unexpected tax returns to the Lord. Ralph says it's a wonderful point.

- Question then goes to the LS on Sunday evening. Ralph says we need to be careful not to make an expedience into a command. What if a guy can’t make it for both because of shift work? Another asks is it necessary to offer the LS (Lord’s Supper) on Sunday nights. Ralph says some do it all together. He says it’s a matter of expediency. Ralph has completely dodge the question.

- A guy gets to the mic and says some of the reasons their members give is they don’t want to “rassel” (that’s wrestling to those of us in the West) with their kids again. He then asks if on Sunday evenings we can do something different and Ralph quickly says NO.

I think Ralph’s response was too quick. I don’t believe the brother was saying we need to change worship. Why can’t be have Bible class? Why can’t we do a Bible chart together? We have already met for the assembly on the first day of the week question. I will try to add more thoughts on this later

- One MIC comment is that we need to give them something worth coming back for. Not treat it like it’s a not that important.

- BTW… Alex Aguirre is wearing a black T-Shirt, Hurley pants and black Pumas. I think he is going to audition for the next spot as Johnny Cash.

- How can we get people back on Sunday night? Ralph calls it the “half-back” position; you get half the members back. He asks for help from the mics. Not really getting any apropos feedback.

- Ralph is wearing a shiny jacket. I think it’s a leather jacket or one of those flashy suits. I’m hoping it’s one of those out of date flashy suits. If so he is a courageous dude.

- Why do good things happen to bad people? Ralph is talking fast going through Scriptures. He mentions the usual providence stuff etc…. He says that we don’t know why things happen today because we don’t have the reason revealed to us. We don’t know why things happen. It could be the hand of God or it could just be the natural result of a fallen world.

My comments - Where people get into trouble is when they try to attribute something to God when they don’t know. We are in trouble when we say God doesn’t work – He does! We get in trouble when we try to label what is and what is not a work of God – We don’t know. He works, He is alive, but we don’t know exactly what He is doing and what are the natural consequences of a fallen world. God taught this to Job. When Job wanted to know God told Job that as soon as he can explain how nature works in detail then I will tell you. He shut the mouth of job and that’s where our mouths should be on these matters.

- Question is about how much we can help the Baptist at Union (the place hit by the tornado yesterday). Ralph says the school has already offered housing assistance to Union. He says we need to show the love of Christ to them. I don’t think he really answered the question. I told my brother-in-law Joe Wells last night that it was the wrath of God on the Baptists (it's a joke people).

- Ralph delivers on the cheesy joke

- Listening to Lipe’s canned introduction of “Ralph”

- Opening announcements. My prediction is a cheesy Gilmore joke to start it off.

- Now they are passing the baskets. They want $$$$$. Audience seems more sparse today than previous days. They must have got a memo that there was going to be a call for money that I missed.

FHU Wednesday Lectures

2008-02-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

We got up late this morning after not getting to bed until after 2:00 due to the tornados. This morning I caught the first few minutes of the chapel service. To make an evalution of the lesson would be unreasonable since I did not hear it. From the start he seemed captivating. The last thing I heard as I was turning off my computer to get ready to leave the hotel was the speaker quoting, you guessed it, good ol' Will Barclay.

ANNOUNCEMENT - Next year all FHU Chapel talks will feature the reading of William Barclay's commentaries. Please be sure to attend. This is a joke for those of you who may be wondering.

I made it to FHU and I'm sitting down for Jack P's lecture on whether or not John wrote the pericope fo the woman caught in adultery. He opens up by saying he will let us all in on the ending from the beginning, "I don't know." I'm upset because I just realized that Chuck Webster is speaking next door. That's where I should be.

UPDATE:
Jack P was Jack P. Not having much sleep I will be the first to admit that I didn't follow him. You have to be paying attention the whole time and I was not able to. The result being I'm not exactly sure what he said but what I did hear was great.

UPDATE:
After Jack P I stayed in the same room to hear Dan Winkler. What passion. You can tell he really feels what he is speaking. If only we could hand out prescriptions of it to the rest of the speakers around here! He talked about the personal side of Jesus from John 13ff. My only complaint is that he moved outside of John to express the human side of Jesus and his emotions. This was not necessary as John has plenty of it, and if he would have stayed in John it would have been more exegetically sound. The only other thing is he had four sections to his lesson and he spent so much time on the first that he literally flew through the last three sections. One of the best sessions I've attended this year. BTW - it was packed. No open seats and people sitting and standing in the back and down the aiseles as well as the sides entering the lecture hall. I'm sure the fire department would have shut us down.

Tornados Bring Excitement

2008-02-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

I’m in the lower level of an FHU building. What building and where it is in relation to the rest of the school I do not know, but I’m there! We were eating dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse in Jackson when the weather warnings starting going crazy. Tonight we took a friend from California who is in school at FHU to dinner. As we got in the car headed home the tornado sirens started going off. The radio station was saying there was a tornado in our area. So I hit the gas and we took off south on the 45 bypass. As we are going along it gets eerily dead on the road, then lightening hits, the power all around us goes out, and to top it all off the radio station goes dead. Andrea (the friend we took to dinner) gets a text message from a friend saying there is a tornado about 15 miles south of Henderson. So we gun it trying to beat the storm to Henderson. Long story short Henderson never got hit. They never even ended any of the lectureship programs. The bad news is that there is another line of storms coming and we are waiting it. We are waiting it out because the highway is closed and our hotel is not answering their phone. Oh an exciting night in the basement of an FHU building. Hopefully we can get back to our hotel soon. In the mean time I will try to update my open forum blog.

Caleb

UPDATE:

We are still in the basement. The tornado warning is supposed to expire in 15 minutes. The kids are doing surprisingly well considering. They are watching cartoons on the internet. This is definitely a unique experience. OK... that's all for now!

UPDATE:

The warning expired late last night and we made it back to our hotel safely. The only damage we could see was teh door had been ripped off it's hinges at the hotel. All are safe. Union University that is all over the news is about one mile from where we are staying. All is well for now.

Open Forum Live Blog

2008-02-05T13:37:00.001-08:00

*More Recent Comments Appear First*

- Updates will be coming but I'm stuck in a basement. More to come as soon as I can.

- I have tos top live blogging. Battery is dying! Sorry. I was waiting for Elkins and he is not about to dissapoint. He is making his way there now!

- Another guy gets up and appears to be reading from a card… maybe? And talks about working in jails. He then talks about stuff from discussions yesterday. He then rambles on for a while. He says let’s live within the boundaries and do the things that are lawful. He is talking about clapping.

- Earl speaks about the veils from the perspective of working in foreign countries. Nothing too important here just talks about cultural differences

- Another guy gets up… speaks of educated missionaries. Same stuff.

- A bunch of questions about Veils. He says it’s a matter of culture. If you live in a culture where there is a sign of authority you need to do it otherwise it is violating the meaning of the passage. He says people have a right to do it if they want but it’s a matter of choice like Romans 14. He also says that you cannot practice this passage in 1 Corinthians unless it wraps around and hangs down. The things you see on most heads of people in “covering churches” do not meet the definition of these words. I would tend to agree. I will also say we blow this discussion off way to easy instead of discussing it in more detail.

- Question is about questioning Christ’s doctrine. Ralph defines doctrine as teaching and says some think the word is a bad thing.

- Question about the necessity of needing a Bible degree to be a missionary. He says of course not. But you need to think about the world we live in and being professionally trained and you need to put yourself in a situation where you can minister to your fullest. It’s an expediency (matter of opinion) matter though. Sounds good. It’s still interesting to me that all of the great missionaries I can think of off the top of my head were not known as the most educated. Not to downplay education as I am someone who is continuing to pursue it. In my opinion I think we need to rethink how we educate not if we need to do it. The new covenant is an education one (Jer 31:31ff).

- The standard yadda yadda before the forum begins

- Waiting for the Ralph joke

- And he delivered

- How can so many people see the Bible differently? Ralph answers that some want to twist the Scriptures. He also notes that some is ignorance; some is willful, etc…. He then states that anytime the body of Christ is fragmented Christ is not happy. I don’t agree with this at all. It seems to me he is trying to play for pity on his hand clapping deal. Was Christ not happy when they had to fragment away the man from the church in Corinth in 1 Cor 5? Sometimes removing and division is good. Christ makes the division between good and evil.

FHU Tuesday Lectures

2008-02-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Once again the first lecture I caught was chapel. I’m going to have to get the others on DVD or watch the podcast of the Loyd Auditorium lectures. It started off with the never ending announcements. One guy got up and introduced the speaker and mentioned that it is normally Billy Smith’s job. He is out because he had a stint put in a week or so ago. I should mention that this is the day when one of the seniors in the Bible Department speaks in chapel. They have all the Bible faculty and majors up on stage. It seemed really sparse. Just an eyeball estimate but it looks like their Bible department is way low on students compared to past years. The announcement was that this was done “to brag” about their Bible department and students. It was done in good taste to show how proud they are of their Bible program. He said that the speaker they choose is hard but it displays “The best and the brightest.”

The speakers name was Nathan Wolf. They had him and his family all stand up. I was sitting way up in the nose bleeds so I couldn’t really make him out well but he looked “older” for a college student. His text was John 5:36: “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me" (Jn 5:36). He was speaking on “Believe the works.”

I have to admit up front that I have to juggle two kids while I listen and try to take notes and remember what is said. I place that caveat in case some of my criticism is unwarranted as the speaker said something and I missed it. However, my overall feeling is that this was a completely blow opportunity to exegete John 5:36. Very little time was spent in John 5:36. The trust of this passage is that there is another “witness” (marturia) that Jesus is the Christ who should be believed so that the individual reader can have life (John 20:30-31). From my recollection this passage was never even mentioned and it’s the whole point of the book. No time was spent establishing the “marturia” of John (1:7, 19; 3:11, 32, 33; 5:31, 32, 34, 36; 8:13, 14, 17; 19:35; 21:24) and the word is used twice in this verse. Jesus mentions in this text that the Father “sent” (apostello) me. Apostello is very important in the theology of John to establish Jesus as the Christ that brings life, and yet no reference or development of Jesus being “sent.”

The last exegetical criticism I would like to address is the definition of “works” (ergon) in John 5:36. I was waiting for a quote from Bauer, and then maybe Thayer, or maybe even Vine. Better yet I was looking for a definition of works from John’s usage. Instead “works” was defined by quoting Adam Clark’s Commentary. You all know how I feel about commentaries already, but put on top of this ergon is defined by quoting a commentary. What’s really the tragedy is that Clark defines works as “miracles.” The rest of the lesson is developed around the miracles of Jesus. There is a big problem with this. Ergon is used a lot in John (3:19, 20, 21; 4:34; 5:20, 36; 6:28, 29; 7:3, 7, 21; 8:39, 41; 9:3, 4; 10:25, 32, 33, 37, 38; 14:10, 11, 12; 15:24; 17:4). What makes this so significant is that ergon is applied to non-miraculous events. John 3:19, for instance, mentions the works (ergon) of men are evil. He is not talking about miracles. In John 6:29 the text says, “This is the work of God, that you believe.” Is belief a miracle? I could say more but I think you get the point.

The whole presentation was pretty lifeless – no apparent passion for the message. There was a lack of emphasis, if any, upon “belief” which is the center of the Gospel. Put on top of this YET ANOTHER QUOTE from Will Barclay’s commentary! I’m being sarcastic here, but maybe we should just invite him to come speak (if he were alive). He stated a good question, albeit on a bad definition of works, “Why did Jesus come performing miracles?” This was going in the right direction. John says it was so we would believe and have life (John 20:30-31). Is this Freed Hardeman’s “best and brightest?” If so I’m worried about my generation of preachers.

UPDATE: I just got done listening to a lecture on the Muslim view of Jesus by Mark Hooper. Up to this point I do not believe I have ever heard or heard of him. If I heard correctly he has done mission work in India. His lecture was good. He talked about the positive aspects of the Muslim view of Jesus and then talked about how they deny the deity of Christ. It was very interesting hearing about his encounters with various Muslims. Good for what he was trying to do – introduce their views of Jesus. I found it interesting that Jesus is the only sinless prophet and that they believe in Christ return (the outcome is very different as you can imagine). At the end he took questions. One thing he said raise my eyebrows about Muslims not having to be called Christians. I’m not sure I followed so I won’t say much except I need to listen to it again.

UPDATE:
The next lecture I caught was by Jack P. Lewis on "does the wind blow or the spirit move." Like usual it was a very technical discussion as the topic calls for. When I sit down and listen to him speak I wonder what our brotherhood would look like without him. His deep appreciation for the text and that influence on his work is remarkable. He is a great scholar. To be able to say that I was able to hear Jack P. Lewis is going to mean something very special to me someday. In fact it means a lot now. As to the lecture he seemed really peppy for Jack P and even told some funny jokes. You have to love him.

Today's Sightings

2008-02-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

My list of Sightings for Today…

- Hardeman Nichols
- Mac Lyon
- Garland Elkins

Open Forum Live Blog

2008-02-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

*More Recent Comments Appear First*

- That was pretty much the end of the open forum. I give it a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Ralph needs to slow do and articulare better. And I'm longing for good comments from the mics. Maybe tomorrow eh?

- A fellow who was a missionary in I believe it was India, got up and talked for a long time. Not really sure what his point was. He then moved on to talk about how people had come in to try and destroy their work by teaching anti-cooperation doctrine and then he moved to the liberals who came in teaching that false doctrine of the instrument of hand clapping. He then said the brethren there rejected that unbiblical practice.

Ralph mentions he addressed this all last year and you can get it on CD along with everyone else’s comments on it. He says that he did hear it on CD and couldn’t be here last year because he was doing mission work overseas. He then says he just wants to know of Ralph has repented yet. You can then hear a pin drop for a couple seconds and this is then followed by a few scattered hand claps.

Lipe makes his move to the microphone to do his usual squash of the discussion. This is followed by… you guessed it, Elkins! I knew he was coming and here he is. He says that he won’t talk about the clapping thing since they don’t want to, just listen to the CD and hear his comments from last year. He then just backs up what Ralph said about how not revealing all information is not lying.

My thoughts…. It was funny to see this guy bring it up like this. Before the open forum I said, “I wonder how long it will take for someone to bring up hand clapping.” Not long apparently! I still think there is confusion on the issue and Freed just wants to not address it. Can you imagine if Ralph said that you can use a trumpet in singing? They would not tolerate it. Yet there are those who believe that clapping IS always an instrument and is therefore sinful to use in singing. That really is where the debate should be, however, it seems to be that this has been forgotten in the whole heat of the discussion. I think it’s a bit disingenuous for them to not talk about this when they would readily pick up a discussion on instrumental music. My final thought is that most comments made on this subject are opinions. Very few are digging into the text. It’s an epidemic.

- OK... live blogging is going to stop for now. I will sumarize at the end. Caleb Junior needs the computer to distract him so he sits still for the rest. Check back!

- I'm waiting for Garland Elkins to make his appearence. I know it's coming... waiting....

- Question: Is it ok for a Christian to lie if it’s a matter of life and death?

Ralph talks about Abram’s lies about his wife. He also mentions Isaac’s similar lie. He then mentions Rahab the harlot. He says 1 Sam 16:1-3 is one of the stickiest passages. It appears that God is telling him to deceive the people. Ralph says that this leads him to believe that you don’t have to tell every thought you know in order to be truthful.

God is a God of truth and doesn’t lie. We are to be people like God. Our Yes be yes and no be no. We are honest.

Conclusion is that it’s not wrong to not reveal all information but if asked you can’t lie. Ralph points out that some benefited form lying (in this life). He said that’s not the question.

Good point. People prosper in the world all the time even though they are evil. We don’t base good and evil, right and wrong, and integrity upon worldly standards of results. We look to the end. Job teaches a great lesson on this.

- Question about giving. I really didn’t follow. Gilmore talks too fast. I think the conclusion was giving on the first day of the week is the Apostolic pattern to be followed.

- Question: In general the question is about what happened to the gentiles in the OT. They weren’t under the old law so how did they receive forgiveness.

Ralph’s general response was that the gentiles where not under law and Paul says (somewhere in Romans) that without law there can be no sin. His conclusion is that God had a way that he dealt with them and it’s fuzzy.

This is true. It’s obvious God extended grace to gentiles as the entire book of Jonah shows, as well as other passages. Exactly how he did it is not always made clear, nor does it need to be. God’s seed promise was through Israel and Israel is the line through which Christ came. God’s dealings with Israel teach us enough to learn how God sees people. I think the key is to understand that Romans 1:16-17 shows that God has justified by those who come to Him through faith – believing He can do something for them that they cannot do for themselves.

- First Question: Is it meaningful to have the open forum because it seems like this generation doesn’t like to deal with controversial things.

Ralph believes the time is coming when discussion about biblical subjects is going to happen more. We are in a swing and right now people don’t want to talk about these matters but they will want to more in the future. Maybe he is right.

I think he blew a chance to examine the mindset of people in this generation and why they would think the way they do.

- Guess what, the cheesy joke is now coming. Everyone pay up!

- Ralph Gilmore is being introduced. My prediction he will start out with some cheesy joke. I'm taking bets.

- David Lipe is giving the standard spill he gives every year. What is open forum. Disagree but don’t be disagreeable. Oh yes, and FHU and the answers are not official answers from God. Good to know!

FHU Monday Lectures

2008-02-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Monday update –

Today the first lecture we made it to was in the chapel (It’s hard to make the earlier lectures with two kids that are under the age of four). David Sargent spoke on “Believe John” form John 5:33. The theme this year is all on the Gospel of John.

David spoke about who John the Baptist was not. It seemed to me his main point was that John was trying to point away from himself and to Jesus as the Christ. Even though his assigned text was John 5:33 he preached out of John 1:19ff. He talked about how John said he was not the Christ, or Elijah, neither was he the Prophet. He said that they were looking for Elijah based upon Malachi 4:5. He then says that John the Baptist was saying this was not him. What’s interested to me is that he did not attempt to rectify the apparent contradiction with Matthew 11:14, “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”

It was a shame that John 20:30-31 was not pointed to as the purpose behind John’s gospel – “that you may believe that Jesus the Christ the Son of God.” It is faith in Jesus as the Christ that John is striving to develop from start to finish in his Gospel. In John 1:34 John the Baptist says, “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” John the Baptist is a witness to who is seeking to instill belief in the reader that Jesus is the Son of God who can give them life! There were many exegetical ties that are really exciting all through the John the Baptist sections in the Gospel of John, and in my opinion these were neglected.

There was a lengthy quote from William Barclay’s commentary about John the Baptist being the one to introduce Jesus as the Bridegroom. It rubbed me the wrong way and maybe unnecessarily. It helps to understand that I don’t place commentaries on the altars that most do and read them infrequently let alone do I quote them in a sermon. From an illustration point of view it fits its purpose – I guess.

The thrust of the lesson was quite accurate – that Jesus is the Christ. The delivery lacked passion. The content seemed lacking. The nonuse of the wonderful exegetical ties with the John the Baptist passages and the rest of John was a crime. Of course… it’s my opinion.

Caleb

UPDATE:
I just got done listening to Stan Michell preach on "Practicing Love in a Multi-ethnic Society" from John 4:7-14. His accent was great (why is it that one someone preaches with an accent they automatically receive 2 more style points?). He talked about doing mission work in Zimbabwe and did a good job of relating the biblical subject to the world we live in.

There is a lot I could say but I will just address one of them. His last point was that the blood of Christ is the only solution to racial prejudices. He said the answer is not the government, social programs, the help section of book stores, or government school education – it’s the cross that eliminates all ungodly prejudices and allows all men to see each other as equals. Great message.

UPDATE:
Doc Woods (Clyde M. Woods) just spoke on John 1:1 and the Watchtower Societies erroneous translation which denies the deity of Christ. The first part of the lecture was entirely too complex for anyone who has not had at least two years of Greek. This could have been aided with some PowerPoint slides illustration what a predicate nominative was in the Greek and how it functioned. Most people were probably lost. Then he transitioned into a much broader discussion of JW’s and their way of translating. He showed, by quoting one of their translators, that they had no business translating the Greek. He was a bit “unsmooth” in his presentation which somewhat surprised me.

Freed Hardeman University Lectures

2008-02-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

This week I flew out to Nashville, Tennessee with my wife and two sons. We made the voyage to attend the annual Freed Hardeman University Lectureship. Since we arrived in Nashville we have been staying at my sister and brother-in-law's house in Nashville. It's already been an exciting on the go trip. Since we have been here we have visited friends of ours in Columbia, Spring Hill (former members at the West Visalia congregation where I used to serve), Nashville (former members from the congregation in Ripon where I am now), as well as meet lots of new people.

Tonight we made it to our hotel in Jackson, Tennessee and tomorrow the lectures begin for us. One of our elders, Jack Hawes, and his wife Pinky, also made the trip out for the lectureship. I'm excited to get the chance to spend this time with them at the lectureship. This morning when I was sitting in Bible class my cell phone started ringing (I had it on vibrate). After the first call was immediately followed up with a second I knew it wasn't good news. We have an elderly member who was in a nursing home and got an infection. Just before we left for Nashville she went into the emergency room. She passed away Saturday night at around 10:00 p.m. . It's never easy taking those phones calls. What's really not easy is that David Lee (our other elder) is the only one there to do all the comforting with the family. The good news is he is more than capable. I’m reminded of the Holy Spirit inspired words from Solomon:

"A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is
better than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the
living takes it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad
a heart may be happy. The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While
the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure." (Eccl 7:1-4)

Death always brings a time of introspection – at least it should!

I almost forgot but I didn't preach today - weird... but nice. Sometimes you get tired of hearing yourself and need to hear others. This morning we attending the Crieve Hall congregation in Nashville and this evening we attended the Spring Meadows congregation in Spring Hill where Dale Jenkins preaches. Both congregations used the paperless hymnals (songs with the notes projected on the screen) and I really liked it. Everyone is looking up and singing out instead of into a book.

My dad preached for me in Ripon this week. The hope is I don't have too much destruction to go and clean up when I get home :). I needed this break from preaching (it's not good when even you don't like to hear yourself preach). The great news is that I know I will be energized and ready to hit the road running again when I get back to my family in Ripon. I really do miss them already.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb O'Hara

UPDATE: I will try and blog daily about the lectureships and tomorrow I'm going to see if I can liveblog the open forum. Stay tuned...

Politics and/or Religion

2008-01-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

It’s that time again – elections! It is confession time… I am a politics junky. Don’t blame me; I inherited it from my dad. Two things I’m passionate about and they are the things you are never supposed to talk about, and to add insult to injury you are never supposed to mix the two. So where does that leave me - lonely?

This little article is not going to be what you think it might be (about taking into consideration social issues we hold dear such as abortion and marriage between a man and a woman). There is actually a strong movement within the “Evangelical” and conservative “Christian” movements to have their members vote in such a way as to empower the government to be more involved in rectifying “social injustices” (i.e. poverty, curing diseases, et. al.).

The case is made that Jesus commanded “love thy neighbor as thyself” just as much as he did “thou shall not murder.” Therefore, we should vote for people that will empower the government to take money from the people and spend it on curing diseases and ending poverty. That sounds biblical; the only problem is that it is not.

The error in this whole equation is that the fundamental basis has not been examined. The primary question should be this, “From a biblical perspective, what is the role of government?” You know the Bible is not as silent on this as you may think. The book of Daniel teaches that God alone is Sovereign and that authorities on earth are ultimately going to be held accountable to Him. Paul speaks of the role of Government in Romans 13 and expounds about its role. Space does not allow for a full explanation here, however the outcome is that Governments role is bear the sword and bring the evil to justice. No place does the Bible speak of the role of Government being the taking care of the sick and helping those in poverty. The Bible, does however, place that responsibility on you and I as a church, and as individuals.

So much more could be said about these matters but I just remembered I’m not supposed to talk about religion and/or politics, and I’m especially not supposed to mix them. My parting thought to you is this: do you really want to empower the government to force a religion on the nation? A government with enough power to force a religion has enough power to take it away. Or do you want a government that properly understands it's role and freely allows you to worship God? The profound nature of this wonderful country we live in is that our rights come from the Creator and not government, that it begins with “we the people,” not “the government.” We are in a unique position in that “we the people” hold the key to our destiny as a nation. But I digress… speaking of politics and/or religion.

Souls are at stake in 2008

2008-01-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

It's a new year! This year I'm going to do my best to blog about once a week. I'm also going to try and do a lot of audio blogging on here. I enjoy speaking... I can't really say I "enjoy" writing. Why? I don't know.

This Sunday will be the start of my third year with the Ripon church of Christ. Wow - what a great family to be a part of. In my humble opinion, one of our greatest assets here is that the leadership stands strongly together. We are in constant communication and always working on projects together.

It's a new year. I've been here over 2 years now. I made it! The statistics are shattered! It's amazing that most preachers don't make it past 2 years. I think I know many of the reasons why. Maybe someday I will share those thoughts with you all. But today what I want to talk about is my new theme for the year in Ripon: "Souls are at stake in 2008." This Sunday I will kick the year off with a message that is designed to inspire the congregation to start thinking evangelistically. Last year we spent a lot of time talking about what biblical church growth is, and this year we are going to start implementing some of those things we talked about. To summarize, the main idea of church growth is to become more like Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). Christ came to preach so as to seek and save the lost (Mark 1:38; Luke 19:10). Therefore, if I am becoming more like Christ I will be preaching to seek and save the lost.

Many times we make "evangelism" way too complicated. We think of it as a program. We think of it as a marketing plan. We look at it from an ungodly perspective of numbers in the water. So we design an "evangelism" program that gets as many people in the water as quickly as possible. It's time for an exegetical theology towards evangelism.

In brief, Jesus described evangelism as showing people who Jesus was, making people disciples (that means they start to become like Christ - Matthew 10:25), baptizing them, and teaching them to endure all things Christ has commanded (Matthew 28-28-20). Evangelism is "good newsing." We take the good news and we preach it, and then we live it, and continue to teach it. Much more is in store as the year moves on! This is just a teaser. I'm looking forward to preaching this message on Sunday.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb O'Hara

I Can Do It!

2007-11-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

My blog has been completely dormant. My goal when I started this blog was to add weekly insights in to biblical texts that I have been studying. As you can see that has not happened.

Last week I told everyone about running in my first race. Well we did it! Valerie I made our way down to Visalia and ran in the Thanksgiving 5K. It was a great experience. Our “race team” consisted of: Valerie (my wife), David Boggs (my brother in law), Cliff Sabroe (Good friend who is the preacher in Visalia), Andrea Robinson (a young lady who used to be in my youth group) and Jim Robinson (an Elder in Visalia).

The race broke out like this. Cliff who used to run track took off near the front of the pack and finished with a 22 minute time. Jim ran the 5K in just under 30 minutes. David ran the entire race with Valerie and they finished in around 38 minutes. It was a major accomplishment for Valerie because she ran the entire way without walking. When the horn blew (unexpectedly) Andrea took off. I tailed her the entire race until the last part of the race as she was paced in at an 8:15 mile. When we got to the last part of the race I kicked it up a notch and passed Andrea. I finished with a 25:36 time which was well over 2 minutes faster then I have ever ran this distance. I’m excited because this was a huge accomplishment for me.

The big lesson here is that I can do things I did not think I could. That means that I can blog regularly too! That will be my goal next year. I have purchased the domain http://www.calebohara.com/ and I will begin using that to post more regularly. As I noted in my first blog post this is more of a help for me than it is for anyone else.

I must be going now. I’m taking 3 classes through Regions University this semester so that I can get my accredited bachelors degree in Bible. At the same time I am taking classes through the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver as I work towards my Master’s Degree. When this semester ends I will be able to breathe more! I’m looking forward to it!

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb O’Hara

Running...

2007-11-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

Until eight weeks ago I was a couch potato. My day consisted of waking up and going into my office and sitting there studying. It was easy not to find time to engage in any sort of physical exercise. My wife changed my life by getting me into running.

Well this is it. Thanksgiving morning I'm running in my first race. The race is a 5K (3.11 miles). It's going to be exciting because I will be running it with my wife and some other friends. Part of me wants to be concerned about making a certain time during the race. The fact of the matter is that if I cross the finish line I have done it. To think that I went from never having run over a mile in my life to running 3.11 miles is a major accomplishment.

One of the most frustrating things to hear as a preacher is "I can't do it." The lesson I have learned from all of this is that I can do things I never thought I could. God has built us with the capacity to do so much more than we allow ourselves to do. All of the material and ability is there the only thing that is lacking is our dedication to do it.

Sow the Seed,
Caleb

Exegesis of Romans 10:1-13

2007-05-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Romans 10:1-13

Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down), 7 or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." 8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART "-- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." (NASU)

Since last June I have been taking classes through the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver to get my Masters of Biblical Studies. Last March I took a blitz week Romans class. After the class I have but one assignment left - an exegesis of Romans 10:1-13. The problem is it is due by June 1st and it is now May 24th. Every time I have sat down to write this paper someone calls or something comes up. My plan was to hammer out a good portion of it this Friday and guess what - Jury Duty!!!!

Why is it that Jury Duty always comes up at inconvenient times? Why can't you get jury duty when...

You are supposed to go on a vacation with in-laws?
Your wife has scheduled for you to watch the kids so she can go shopping for a day or two
You have an appointment to talk with Mr. pain-in-the-side?
The list could go on

It seems like my luck is terrible with these sorts of things. All it means though is later nights and early mornings so I can get this paper done. Hey - at least the class was really good. It could be worse - I could be writing a paper I hate!

What am I doing typing a blog? I need to get back to my paper!

This blog is like 9 out of 10 or 90%

2007-04-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Up until right now this blog looked just like, I would guess, 90% of all blogs in existence – it only had one post. Well I am here to change that right now!

Life is oh so busy sometimes that it’s easy to forget which way is up. Last week Warren and Carolyn Wilcox arrived here in Ripon to do a Teacher’s Workshop for us. It was a great program that has helped us to jump start our education program. After the program Warren and Carolyn stayed here for a couple extra days and we took them over to the most beautiful place in the world - Monterey, California!

This week is moving week. We have had a terrible landlord and it finally came to a head. The elders here in Ripon take good care of us and they are moving us into a rental place that is newer and in much better shape. As fate would have it, we found out when we turned in our application that our new Landlord who lives in San Ramon is a member of the Lord’s church in Hayward! Think of the odds!

Well I must end this blog now. We are in the middle of moving and I have a manuscript due to Sean Hochdorf in Visalia, California for a lectureship book. After writing these two articles I am arriving at the conclusion that I don’t like writing manuscripts much. But I can’t complain too much because I have toooo much to do and I am speaking at the lectureship in just a couple weeks, AHHHHHHHHH! I better run.

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Caleb O’Hara

A Tree Falling In the Forest

2007-03-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

There is the old adage, "If a tree falls in the forest when no one is around, does it make a sound?" When I decided to create a blog, and started typing my first entry, the old adage popped in my head. There is a good possibility that the tree falling of my fingers hitting the keys will go unread and heard. Thus I ask myself, "Does a blog do any good if nobody reads it?" Well does it? Yes it does!

First, a blog is good if nobody reads it because it helps the writer to think out loud. As a preacher there are many days where I spend hours in a small compartment, in a chair, under florescent lights, reading and thinking and reading and thinking. Sometimes you need to just expresses with words what you are reading and thinking. This is where the blog fits in. Now, when I need to just express some words I am thinking about I will blog them. It does me good even if nobody reads them.

Second, a blog is good if nobody reads it because it helps the writer become a better writer. There any many times when I have been absolutely frustrated with the fact that I have something important I want to communicate and can't think of the right words! Or, how to use those words effectively. By writing in a blog like this it gives me experience with writing and expressing what's on my mind. Hopefully, in the end, I will be a better writer (communicator) because of it.

Third, a blog is good if nobody reads it because it gives you the hope that maybe someone is reading it. There have been countless hours spent by this author to better himself so as to be of service to people. To be of service by relaying effectively the Message that has been entrusted. It is a message that has profound impact. A message that has changed this author’s life! A message that has the power to change the world! There is a constant effort on the prophets part to get the message out. When that day comes I don't want to have to give an answer to the question, "I gave you how much training, ability, and time and you didn't do anything with it?!?!" Maybe, just maybe, through this blog the Message might fall on good soil.

So, if a blog is typed and nobody reads it, does it do any good? Yes! It does lots of good. And hopefully someday someone just might be walking through that forest to hear that tree fall! If not, I am satisfied with just sowing the seed!

Sow the Seed Faithfully,
Preacher Caleb