4 Things a Church MUST Do

These are not original to me. The inimitable Gregg Greenway, pastor of Southside Baptist Church in Stuttgart, Arkansas, shared these Monday night at the annual meeting of our Baptist Association. He spoke about four things that a church must do if they're going to survive as a church. There were several Scripture references under each one, and I didn't write them all down. I'll give you what I remember. Here they are:

1. Preach the Word: that church which does not grow spiritually in discipleship on a steady stream of the Word of God will cease to be a church that is a force for the Kingdom of God. The Word of God must be preached/taught/shared/learned/use-whatever-verb-fits-for-explaining-and-understanding or the individual local church is done for. No matter the denomination.

2. Pray. Why in the world do we have to say this? But we do: too many Western Christians just don't pray. Too many Western Churches just don't pray. If you are not pouring out before God for Him to work, then you're not doing anything worth doing, because it's all trivial. If you're not praying, it's because you think God is unnecessary to your plan. Is that a church of the Living God?

3. Evangelize: there are people within rock-throwin' distance of most Christians that do not know Jesus. If church people aren't telling others about Jesus, who will? TV preachers? Honestly, folks, find someone to tell about Jesus, and do it now. Then find someone else and do it again.

4. Get Along: If you're fighting in church, are you accomplishing anything useful? Not likely. You're too busy fighting. Stop it. If it's not about immorality or heresy, why are you stressed about it? We fail on this because we're not doing the first 3 things. We need to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and learn to get along with each other. After all, that other guy in church? He's likely to be in heaven with you. What are you going to do if his room in the many mansions (John 14:1-6) is next to yours? Practice now.

This is just a summary, but I think you get the idea. Bro. Gregg Greenway preached this October 10, 2011, at Southside Baptist in Stuttgart. If you're in Stuttgart, go hear him on a Sunday. It won't hurt you one bit.

BookTuesday: Pershing

In my ever-running effort to post later and later each day, this afternoon I've got a book review for you. It is one of the latest in Thomas Nelson's The Generals Series, and the General in this case General Pershing. The full title is Pershing: Commander of the Great War. I received a free copy from BookSneeze, and you can buy it from Amazon here:

Pershing: Commander of the Great War (The Generals)

Notes on The Generals series: these books are written to provide short biographies of some of the great military leaders of American History. One of the intentions is to include a look at the personal and religious life of the generals in question as well as their military success. I've reviewed MacArthur from this series and Ann has reviewed Washington and Lee. At present, the only other title in the series is Sherman.

John Perry has tackled several biographies, including the aforementioned biography of Lee in this series. Here, he crafts a compelling tale of General "Black Jack" Pershing who commanded the American Expeditionary Force during the Great War, World War I. Pershing is perhaps the least known of the few Generals of the Army that the United States has had.

The book covers the span of Pershing's life, beginning with his first memories of a border battle in the Civil War. Further details about the early life of Pershing include his teaching of children of former slaves and the impact of the end of the Franco-Prussian War on his family. The first chapter moves at a great clip from the childhood of Pershing to his graduation from West Point.

The following chapters summarize Pershing's life in the military. His personal life is mentioned but not heavily dwelt on until his marriage, and his religious beliefs are vaguely alluded to at one point. Perry gives the reader a look at where Pershing served, what his life was like, and where he went next.

Details are served in highlighting short incidents, with an eye toward illuminating the man through vignettes. Those details flesh out his family life, including the tragedy of losing his wife and daughters to a house fire. Further information shows Pershing as a man willing to not only fight but also negotiate, and one more tolerant than many others of his day.

Perry gives a great deal more detail of Pershing's war years in 1917-1918. This is, arguably, the time more people are interested in, so more detail is helpful. The reader is presented with a picture of a man who saw the need for war but wept over the first American casualties in combat. One who demanded perfection on seemingly trivial details, but did so in hopes of making better soldiers of his men.

The book then moves rapidly through the waning years of Pershing's life, including his warnings about the rise of Germany in the 1930s and his heartbrokenness at the outbreak of World War II. This was a man who fought the War to End All Wars, and yet it did not last. Here was a soldier who longed for a life away from the battlefield: in law or in teaching for himself, in whatever peaceful pursuits for everyone else, yet did not flinch to handle his duty when the time came.

In all, I feel like I know a little more about General Pershing at the end of this. I saw some of his faults, some of his personality quirks, and some traits not worth emulating. I also saw his greatness, his compassion, and his genius. Perry has provided a sweeping portrait of the man, and it's one worth having.

Recommended for history buffs, students, and military folks. And for those who think that the military are always the ones that want war: you see in Pershing as in others that it's often the politicians that want war. Soldiers know what happens in war and would avoid it if possible.

Doug

Free book from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for the review. A hardcover, at that, but still---no influence, no demands. Just honest reviews for a free book.

Sunday Recap Oct 10

Sunday morning we heard from David Horton of the Gideons International about the work of the Gideons to spread the Word of God. I’d encourage you to check out their information. As I said Sunday, while I’m a firm believer and strong supporter of most everything Southern Baptists do through the Cooperative Program and all the missions and ministry involved, I don’t think you would go wrong supporting the Gideons and Wycliffe Bible Translators either.

Sunday night we started into 1 John. We’re going to be there for the next few weeks looking at what the Apostle John has to say in this book. Here’s the link to last night’s sermon audio post. You can pull the feed here, but if that doesn’t make sense for you, just skip it.

A little background on 1 John: if you want to grab a good debate about authorship, I’ll point you to Pate’s

The Writings of John: A Survey of the Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse

I’ll side with the majority of tradition here: the Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation. There are some other suggestions, namely that an early church leader named “John” wrote some of these or that John’s disciples may have written portions. The evidence is there and worth examining, but I’d stick with the traditional interpretation for now.

John begins with the reminder that he, and those with him, are not merely making up what they are teaching and preaching. Rather, that it is a matter of eyewitness record---not only John but others have seen and heard.

So, there will be more on 1 John in the weeks to come!

Presidential Campaign Announcement

While no one has asked for this information:

Due to the Hibbard for President 2012 Exploratory Committee receiving precisely $0 in donations, I feel that the time is not right for me to enter the Presidential Campaign. At the present time, I make no endorsement of a specific current candidate. I remain available for any position in the upcoming administration, including Vice President and Cabinet positions.

So, I join Chris Christie, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee as a person who would have lost either the nomination or the general election choosing not to run. I do look forward to my interview coming up on Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or, at the very least, The Cooking Channel.

Thank you to all who helped me make this decision by not giving me a dime. Your clarity of purpose for the upcoming election is something you can always be proud of: you made my non-election happen.

And really, folks, that's a good thing. For all of us.

(If you can't at least chuckle at this, please just go on about your business. There's some good blogs elsewhere to read. My brain is toast).

Does it matter? The Introduction

For some time now, I've been a little spotty with the blog writing. I'm supposed to be writing for my own dear readers here and for the occasional post at a team blogging project that I'm one of the low-end contributors.

Part of my difficulty has been knowing what to write to you dear folks who take the time to read my writings. I was using the leftover material from sermons, but I felt like that was just beating those passages to death. I may bring that back if I can find a way to focus it better.

Considering that, on top of being the least famous blogger in Almyra, I'm also trying to keep up with real work and school work, I was looking for some method to keep fresh ideas without spending hours every day on the ole' blog.

So, I'm going to work my way into a couple of different series of blog posts. Here's the one I'm going to start with: Does it matter?

Why?

I spend a lot of time in research and learning, reading and writing. Right now, I'm working on a school project for Systematic Theology about the authority of the Bible, and the big issue isn't filling 10 pages, it's reducing to it. Last year I wrote more than 20 on an old British monk who is known as The Venerable Bede, and had to reduce it for school. I'm reading on the history of churches east of the Roman Empire in the first millennium after Christ as well as a few other, lesser tasks.

That's all in what time isn't spent on preaching and teaching (which need a lot of preparation work) or refreshing my memory for Greek.

And I began to wonder "Why do I do this stuff?" There's days I don't enjoy it, times this is no fun. Why do it? Ultimately, I reduced that question to this: "Does it matter?"

That's an important question. Partly because if it doesn't, then I should do other things. Also, though, because if the stuff I spend my time on doesn't matter, do I? Really and truly?

I can't really answer the second question without taking apart the first one. So, if you, my beloved audience, will take a read in from time to time, you can be the hands involved answering both questions: "Does it matter?" and the bigger question, "Do I matter?"

What I intend to do is find various items and activities, habits and decisions, to fill in for "it" in the question. Does Theology Matter? Does my vote matter? Do politics matter? Does education, prayer, exercise, reading, writing, family----well, you get the point.

I won't guarantee the results: I will make the case for whatever subject I find and we'll see about them all. Some things might not matter: if so, let's look at how to cut them out.

Look for the first installment in "Does it matter" soon. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow—but someday.

Genesis 1-25 Recap Part I

So, last week I gave you Part II and said that Part I would come. I may have suggested Friday, but it didn't happen. Sorry about that.

However, better late than never, so here it is:

Genesis 1-11 are the chapters that address more than the origin of Israel in the Biblical narrative. These chapters address the origin of everything. This is the contextual foundation for the rest of the Bible: if Genesis 12 begins the story of God's work to redeem mankind back to Himself, why do we need redeemed?

Abraham is called out from amidst a group of people---where did they come from? When you get to the Cross of Christ and the substitution of the Son of God in death for us, the question becomes: Was there not another way?

Genesis 1 through 11 helps us see the truth about these answers:

We need redeemed because we're broken. Dead, really, but broken works if you think of us as broken like a plate glass window: uselessly broken, hopelessly broken.We see that in the first 4 chapters. God creates a very good world, and Adam and Eve sin and bring death into the world. To reinforce that it wasn't an isolated incident, we see that  Cain and Abel still had trouble. It's not a few people that are dead in their trespasses, it's all of humanity.

Abraham is called out from the people who stayed fairly near to the Tower of Babel after God scattered the world and confounded their language. When you look in Genesis 11, God scatters the people by moving from one language to a polyglot of all sorts of tongues and speeches. God does this in judgment and most people scatter. A few stay nearby---and this is the culture from which Abraham is called. The ones so stubborn that they didn't leave the scene of the crime. You might think it was because they had a cleaner conscience. I think it's because they were stubborn.

As to the final question: was there not another way? When we read Genesis 1-11 we see that, no, there wasn't. We see that all of Creation is corrupt: man was the final point, and man wrecked himself. That trickles down, like a virus spreads. We see in the time of Noah that God removed all the people except for one faithful family, and still that led to a continuation of sinfulness.

The first 11 chapters of the Scriptures give us this fact: mankind's problems are not on the outside. It's not the environment or the temptations or even the other people. It's in the heart. Even without the other sinners, even with seeing God's judgment, man still slides away from God.

Man is defective on the inside: we've inherited that ever since Adam and Eve brought it in. And it takes the work of the Holy God of the universe to fix it. It takes redemption that pays the penalty for sin alongside regeneration to start us afresh with a heart to know God and follow Him.

The first 11 chapters of Genesis show me one thing above all the other truths that are revealed there:

We had to have the Cross. The sinless Son of God had to die for us, be raised, and ascend. Without this, we have no hope. The Almighty God knew it from Creation: it was His plan all along.

Surrender to it, and become a part of the redemption and regeneration. It is more than part of what you need. It's all of it.

BookTuesday: The World-Tilting Gospel #twtg

Back on Tuesdays with BookTuesday! This is good. Of course, not being up earlier in the day is a slip, but, these things happen.

Today, I want to point you to a book that I count as well-worth your time. It's The World-Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips. The subtitle of "Embracing a Biblical Worldview & Hanging on Tight" sums the book up well, but I'd like to look through a few things in it. First of all, here's the cover:

The World-Tilting Gospel: Embracing a Biblical Worldview and Hanging on Tight

Now, to the book:

Purpose: the author, in his introduction, makes the claim that modern Evangelicalism has lost something the early church had. He points to Acts 17:6-7 where the Christians are accused of "turning the world upside-down" and questions: why do modern Evangelical Christians not get accused of the same thing?  In other words, what did that group of under-trained social outcasts of the 1st Century have that we don't have?

His purpose, plainly stated, is to diagnose what's missing and provide sound, Biblical recourse to correct it. This book is intended to help the reader find where and how the Bible corrects our problem.

How does the author work towards this goal? He breaks the book down into four major sections. The first addresses the state of mankind: Phillips' theological assumption is that of totally hopeless, spiritually dead humanity. The first chapters of the book make the case for this assumption. The case is well-made: given that it's the truth, that's no surprise.

The next section addresses God's work to save, heal, and perfect fallen humanity. Phillips makes the case that God worked to save us not because He needed us, but rather that it was simply His will and plan from the beginning. The next section addresses the basic idea of what happens in people when God saves them: we are justified, or counted righteous, and regenerated, or born again. Phillips explains in detail---and those two chapters are worth the price of the book (note: as of today, the book is free on Kindle, but that's not the price I mean. Some things are priceless, some are worthless. If this book's free, it's being priceless).

The final section is the real strength of the book: practical application, with a few rebuttals of current fluffy-thinking built into it. Phillips addresses just how he sees the Christian should be living and acting in response to the sections that have gone before. He also dismantles a few of the arguments that speak against personal responsibility on the part of Christians for their own holiness. Some of the movements he addresses were probably not as guilty of the crimes of excess he mentions, but their successors are. (Much like the Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice would probably be angry with the state of Baptist missionary endeavor.

Does it come together? After all, if the last 120 pages are the practical, application section, what good are the preceding 180 pages? I'll answer your question with a question: Do you trust your doctor because he knows to stop the bleeding or because he knows how important the blood is to your body?

In a pinch, someone that knows to stop the bleeding is fine, but in the long run, you put your trust in those who know not just "what" but also "how" and furthermore, "why." You could take the "how" section of the book, but you'll find yourself asking "why do what?" Instead, by taking the time to establish the underlying principle of God's work of salvation, Phillips provides more than another how-to book. He provides the foundation for why one should keep going even when the feelings or results don't seem to be there: the Gospel is the reason.

The only fault I would find with this book is a bit picky, but here it is: I understand that all Bible translations make choices and sometimes mask original forms, especially in poetry. For my part, though, in this kind of book I prefer to see authors use established translations rather than do their own. At the very least, I'd rather see an available translation shown alongside points of the author's own translation when the author uses his own. Phillips utilizes his own translation where he feels it better shows the original intent. However, the reader is left to wonder: why change it? Is it to better reflect the original or to reinforce his own point?

On that, in a scholarly work or a reference work, I'm more than happy to see an author's own translation. Typically I use those alongside a printed Bible and compare, and usually the author justifies his differences in those.

However: that's no reason not to buy, read, re-read, and distribute this book. In fact, I doubt that the author would object to you grabbing a Bible and comparing his translation to what you have. I'm sure he'd recommend you use an ESV and not The Message, but so would I. (Though I really, really prefer NASB. That's another discussion.)

Grab a copy of this book. Looking for a study group book? Don't go fluffy. Grab this one for everybody in the class.

Because, really, we're supposed to be turning the world upside-down. We have no excuse not to—only our own choices hold us back. So let's get to it.

Doug

[Update: forgot the disclosure: yes it was a free book. No, Kregel didn't ask me to be positive, just to be honest. And I would have bought this one anyway---although getting it free on Kindle right now would have worked to.]