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

I Can Do It!

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...

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

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!