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.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Freed Hardeman University Lectures
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:
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...
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...
Friday, January 18, 2008
Politics and/or Religion
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.
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.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Souls are at stake in 2008
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
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
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