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
Showing posts with label Preaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Preaching. Show all posts
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Words - How do you define them?
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.
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.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
This Old House
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….
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….
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