My Online Faith Journal

  I struggled with this question a lot more when I was a pastor and had a say in the planning of a service of worship.  I went to church this Sunday, Memorial Day and the question of how much should we recognize holiday in our services came up again in my mind.   We call it a "worship service" yet the service I went to this morning, I would say that at least 80% of the service was in reference to our country, how our country is going down the toilet or prayers for our veterans.  I don't want to sound ungrateful for our soliders.  I really do appreciate the sacrifice they make for us.  I know I wouldn't like going to Iraq or Afghanistan and appreciate that they do, in intense situations to stop terrorist and hateful people from doing things like 9/11/01.  Yet, is a worship service really the place to focus on veterans?    I struggled as a pastor about how much the service should be altered to mention those holidays such as Veterans or Memorial Day, Father's Day

   I mentioned in my earlier post that I went to a bible study last Wednesday.  The topic was regarding the churches in Revelations, particularly the church in Smyrna.  There are several different thoughts about these churches and what they mean and why they were singled out. 1. These were literal churches that John had particular messages to at the time.  These churches may have been churches that John had a relationship with.  Historically, it is thought that John had a strong connect to the church in Ephesus, which is mentioned first here. 2. These churches represent 7 church ages in the history of the church.  Often when you hear this view the speaker will say that we are in the Laodicean period, which is the lukewarm church that Jesus had nothing good to say to. 3. These churches are symbolic of many of the problems the church would face.  The number 7 is thought to be a significant number and a divine and perfect number, signifying completion.   I would say that there is a go

  For those of you who know me and know a little about my past, you know that I have issues about the church.  I pastored two churches between 2001-2006 and saw first hand some of the pettiness and mean spiritedness of the church.  I am still licking my wounds from this.  So, for the last year or so I have not been in church.  I think the experience that I have had has forever changed my feelings about the church.  So, this was a big experience that I went to a prayer service and bible study last night.   I will say that I picked that church last night because I have met the pastor previously and he does seem to care about his congregation.  His comments during prayer service indicate to me that he realizes who is sick and in need of extra care.  That does seem to be missing in many congregations these days when the bottom line is money and power.  But, I will also say that I felt very anxious being back in church, even though I was not asked to do a thing.  It brings back some painf

I was reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon at this web site http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/spurgeon/web/ss-0028.html It talks about the prayer of Daniel in Daniel 9 and was preached by Spurgeon on September 25, 1870.  He brings up many good points of this prayer that are a good example to us.  He mentions Daniels persistence, his humility and intensity.  So many times people do not pray with any intensity.  Daniel prayed after he studied the book of Jeremiah and realized that the time for the Jews to go back to the holy land was approaching.  He realized that God was preparing to do something great and wanted to prepare for it. I think God often uses delays at times in prayer to prepare us for what he wants to give us.  If you have ever had a prayer list for things you have prayed for, you may notice that at times some things you pray for are answered almost immediately.  There will also be things that will take months or years or even decades to see answers for. 

   If you were in need of a new church home, I wonder what would be the qualities of the church that you would want for your home church?  Or do you just walk into a church and feel at home and decide to join it?  Do you even think that going down the isle and putting your name on a church roll is important?  Or do you think it is enough that we are members of the church if we are believers?  I have heard that several times in some denominations.    I was Methodist growing up and then switched to Baptist when I was around 17 years old.  I don't remember putting a lot of thought into it when I switched.  Nor did I think it would necessarily be a life time decision.  I was working at a clothing store called J.Branum, which at the time was going out of business.  A friend of mine went to Champion Forest Baptist down the road from the church.  So, after work I would drive down FM 1960 to where the church was and go to the evening service.  I really didn't think it was that big of

  "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back  and take you with me that  you also may be where I am." John 14:1-4   Some translate the words of Jesus here in verse 2 as "dwelling places" instead of rooms and some may say "mansion", but basically it seems to mean that Jesus was telling his disciples that they would one day once again dwell with him.  This place that Jesus would create for them was especially made for them.  Jesus was telling them after telling Peter that he could not follow him at this time (John 13:36).  In fact, he told Peter that he would deny he even knew him (John 13:38).   A commentary from Dr.Lightfoot, suggests that Numbers 10:33 was symbolic of this period of time when the ark of God went before the people for three days to s

"Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished more severely." Mark 12:38-40  NIV     Jesus seemed to save his most condemning words not for the harlots or tax collectors, but for a group of people collectively called the "teachers of the law" this included the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the Jewish people.  In looking at what he condemned them for, I have broken this down into three main areas   The first issue is pride- it seemed they really wanted to be first.  They wanted to have a place of honor at the ceremonies of their day.  From what I have seen, many religious leaders are still like this.  They want to be acknowledged at conferences or in their associations or parishes as being important.  The Bib

  I was reading a passage the other day about how Jesus fell asleep in the boat as the disciples rowed to the other side of the Lake of Galilee.  Apparently a storm came up and the disciples were worried that they would perish in this storm.  As fishermen, they knew that storms did kill people from time to time.  They woke Jesus up and asked if he was not concerned about this.  Jesus wakes up, looks around and hushes the storm and it grows still.  It says the disciples said, "Who is this that the waves and the wind obey him?"   I was thinking about this passage because I think how like we are to the disciples.  We find ourselves in real situations that are dangerous and we wonder why God does not act.  We may even say in our prayers, "God, Why are you so quiet?" or "Why don't you act?"  It appears that God does not care about our situation or concerns.  Our faith is tested and tried.  Fortunately, for the disciples, they were able to see that Jesus w

Jesus said, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take up your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"  Mark 2:10-12     I am using my imagination a little when I looked at verses like this and try and think about what it was like to see Jesus heal a man who was a paralytic like this.  I imagine Jesus got tired, thirsty, weakened by the relentless pursuit of the Pharisees and judgment of others on his ministry.  There was the constant demand of those sick and those who thought they were well.      I imagine Jesus, looking at the crowd.  The Pharisees, the one who should believe him that don't.  The hostile glare of their self-righteousness.  The bite of their jealous feelings about his success and the attention he got from t

I was listening to Michael W.Smith's CD called "Worship" this morning.  It really has some beautiful songs on it.  The second song on the cd is called "The Heart of Worship".  But, the whole cd basically is about worship, prayer and experiencing the presence of God.  The more I read the Bible and particularly the gospel, the more I wish I had lived during the times of Jesus and saw him for myself.  I would have loved to have heard him and heard what the disciples did not write down about what He said.  I would have loved to have seen Lazarus come out of the tomb.  I would have loved to have seen how Jesus related to people in everyday life.  Or to have taken a stroll with him around the Sea of Galilee.  So many people want to make things complicated about religion and faith.  But, what it really comes down to is your personal relationship with Jesus.  We add things on to the gospel sometimes in sermons and books that aren't truly there.  Even pictures of