I Remember When...

1. Ohio State vs. Michigan mattered

2. Dallas Cowboys won playoff games

3. Indiana was a College Basketball power

4. College BB teams ranked number three in the country played in front of large crowds

5. You worried about too much sex in movies...not commercials!

6. Women - and I mean all women and 'lil girls too - wore hats to church on Sunday.

7. NO ONE wore jeans to church - except for the annual guys flag football game at the autumn church picnic.

8. The World Series ended in October. Is Hideki Matsui "Mr. November"?

9. Nashville and Phoenix having an NHL team would be the first line of a strange joke.

10. Los Angeles had TWO teams in the NFL instead of NONE.

11. Only the CIA and James Bond had cell phones - or something like that.

12. There was supposed to be a computer in Brussels big enough to keep an eye on us all and was in fact the antichrist. This computer had all the power that...I now have in my Blackberry. Scarry, huh.

13. Phobias were fears not prejudices.

14. The Stock Market was at 800....and the President wasn't worried about the stock market because, as he rightly noted, "I don't own any stocks."

15. There were three channels on TV - besides UHF - and that was it.

16. 10 second 100 meter dashes were considered fast.

17. If you wanted a cup of coffee the choices were not made in terms of French and Italian designations, but simply by "black", "cream", and "cream and sugar".

18. Public School choirs sang sacred music for Christmas programs.

19. The NCAA BB tournament had 16 teams in it (and the NIT was a BIG deal!)

20. Professional Athletes made less moola than their coaches. Quaint, huh.

Ireland Should be In the World Cup

The truth is that Ireland was robbed by French cheating which went unnoticed by the Referee. FIFA should suspend the referee and demand that the game be replayed. The World Cup is too big an event to see deserving squads sent packing by the incompetence of officials and the nefarious antics of players.

soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=700344&sec=worldcup2010&cc=5901

Sermon Notes for November 22, 2009

Breaking into God’s Larger World

Acts 10

November 22, 2009

Sunday before Advent

“I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church...” - Nicene Creed

The DNA of the Church is Apostolic Commission: John 20:21

A Church Born by, Confessing, and Carrying the Gospel cannot but go forward into the world. In fact, should it resist this God will interrupt its peace and carry it in unexpected ways to unanticipated people in unprecedented power. God’s great mission to save the world will not be thwarted - even by the Church!

Acts 5-7: Trouble in Paradise

• The Church Cannot be Preserved by Preserving the Church
• This is a Mission not a Museum
• The Church

Acts 8-10: Paradise Breaks Out

• Crazy Cousins
• African Emissaries and Out of Work Deacons
• A Convert Pharisee
• Cajun Diet Visions and Disagreeable People

1. God’s Demographic Market

• Outsiders where He is moving way ahead of us
• People who don’t know the protocols

1. God’s Surprised Servants

• I’m not supposed to be HERE with people like YOU.
• You sent me for what?

1. God’s Prodigious Power

• Rudely, God doesn’t even wait for the sermon to be finished.
• Ruefully, Peter suggests baptism

What do we learn?

• God is moving before we get there
• God calls us into his labors
• God’s world is layered and our approach must be as well

The National Parks

The Ken Burns PBS film on The National Parks offers not only an incredible story but lavish cinematography. If you haven't seen it yet, put that on your to do list - or your Christmas gift wish list.

www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

Movies I'd Like to See

Here's the summary for "Blind Side", one of the films I'll definitely see over Thanksgiving.

Big Mike is homeless, family-less, discarded by society as just another poor, black kid going nowhere. When he is given a seat at the Wingate Christian School, almost everyone expects him to fail. But no one counted on the Tuohy's. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy take an interest in Big Mike. A Christian family committed to doing the right thing, they bring Mike into their home, give him a bed, a meal, and a family. The transformation that follows is breathtaking. The Blind Side shows how acts of love change both the giver and the receiver. It is the true story of how Big Mike became Michael Oher -- first round draft pick at left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens.

Liberal, Conservative, and All That

I have long been fascinated by phrases like ‘left-wing’ and ‘right wing’, ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’. The roots of the former in the French revolution should give Christians pause when tempted to employ them as labels - both represent revolutionary rather than Christian ideals; Christians should not be held captive to either left or right wing ‘revolutionary’ ideals, but rather be moved by a conscience held captive to the word of God. Dealing in stereotypes typically reflects poor reflection on issues and can dismiss the significance of individuals in God’s sight.

‘Conservative’ and ‘Liberal’ have themselves undergone tremendous change in meaning and their application needs to be carefully nuanced. I can remember in the days of the Soviet Empire that ‘conservative’ Americans were in favor of ‘liberal’ Soviets - a ‘conservative’ Russian leader was anti-western, pro KGB, and a threat to democracy; liberal Russians wanted democratic freedoms. The conservatives in Russian liked the Liberals in America but put Russian ‘liberals’ in the Gulag.

Location. Location. Location.

Economics in general has also witnessed a migration of meaning on terms. For Hayek, Von Mises and others, ‘liberalism’ is a classical term referring the personal freedom over against statist intervention and command economies. We would tend to employ the term ‘libertarian’ to more approximate this older meaning of ‘liberalism’. One can imagine the confusion that would register if CNN began an interview by welcoming a Senator who is ‘a noted liberal politician famous for his antagonism to high taxes and government directed programs, while championing the elimination of the income tax and all forms of government spending not specified by the Constitution.’

In modern usage, both conservative and liberal have lost their older denotation (preservation of power elites vs freedom of the individual) and in fact switched places in many ways. However, ‘liberal’ has added an interesting twist in many ways since the 1960s. Seeking to advocate for the individual and civil rights, ‘liberals’ realized that the success of that venture could be most quickly and powerfully achieved by the intervention of the power elites themselves - and they were right. Proven successful, ‘liberal’ came to represent the use of government power to achieve social change; conservatives on the other hand tended to resist the intervention of the powers (especially in regard to the Courts and the Federal Government), speaking up for the individual and the ‘traditional’ family unit.

Lost in the shuffle are a host of related words like ‘conserve’ and ‘liberality’, words all Christians might easily embrace. God is a ‘liberal’ in the sense of ‘liberality’ and definitely not a liberal when it comes to the abuse of power. God is a conservative when it comes to freedom for mankind and the creation of wealth that actually creates and spreads blessing to many, but definitely not a conservative if one means preserving power elites that despise individuals.

The point of course is that God transcends all such labels and we have to resist the temptation to fit him into such human categories. That includes my own tongue in cheek remarks - but make sure that you look closely at the twinkle in my eye as I am usually chuckling quietly anyway.

Fr Jim Weisner

I was saddened to learn today of the death early this morning of Fr. James Weisner, the Pastor of St. Austin's Catholic Church here. St. Austin's conducts a vibrant ministry in our city, not least in the University community, and Fr. Weisner was a very gifted leader who inspired many. Join me in praying for St Austin's and for all who mourn the unexpected death of Fr. Weisner.

Morning Prayer

O Sun of Righteousness rise with healing in Your wings upon all who seek your mercy. Rise upon my sight and blind me with true vision; rise upon my wisdom and grant me your foolishness; rise upon my strength and grant me your weakness; rise upon my idolatry and grant that I might worship you in spirit and truth. O Son of David, have mercy on me and heal me; make all my faculties the prisoners of your grace, turning my feet to your paths, my hands to your service, my mouth to prayer, and my mind to truth, and my eyes to your beauty which alone can satisfy the soul, through Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Evening Prayer

Almighty and Beloved, You have brought us to your banqueting table and your banner over us is love. We rejoice in you O Savior, offering to you grateful thanks for the bountiful gifts which this day has supplied: joy rising in our hearts as we revel in the presence of family and friends, the renewal of fellowship with covenant brothers and sisters, wonder in the beauty of your creation, and supremely in the banquet you prepare in your house. As we approach now the work to which you call us, grant us strength for the journey, faith in the face of every obstacle, boldness and love to make your Gospel known, favor with those with whom we work, excellence in our labors, peace in our homes, and the wisdom to discern rightly how to redeem the time each day offers. For the sake of Your Great Name. Amen.

Horns Hoops

Nice start to the college hoops season for the Horns - smashing UC Irvine. Dexter Pittman was amazing and this is exactly the kind of effort the Horns will have to consistently make to challenge for the Big 12 Title and National Title against the likes of Kansas. In fact, a Final Four match up between the two would hardly be surprising.

Wealth Creation and Liberality

I had some good laughs after the services today about my assertion that "God is a liberal". "No way", said one calm conservative, "Liberals take your money and God gives and gives." All good fun.

My use of 'liberal' of course refers to 'liberality', a word Paul employs in 2 Corinthians 9 to describe the purpose of wealth creation - "You will be enriched for all liberality...". The verse continues to note that liberality leads to human needs being met and God being praised. Yet it has to be noted that liberality in every way is preceded by people being enriched in every way - including being rich in the grace of giving (something the poor Macedonians had in spades: 2 Corinthians 8:1ff). So the telos of wealth creation is liberality, and the telos of liberality is the spread of the Gospel and the Glory of God. We don't worship mammon, a god which demands our death; on the contrary, we worship God with our money - killing it in a sacrifice to him. He alone resurrects what is given and makes it fruitful. He alone can take what is given - five loaves and two fish for instance - and apply to this what is applied to himself: he takes is, he blesses it, he breaks it, he gives it. Thus at the heart of who we are and what we do is Eucharist, and this is true for wealth creation too.

We are called to take hold of the creation and do two things - cultivate and keep it (Genesis 2:15). This means both glorification and protection. To 'glorify' something is lay hold of it with transformative power and bring it into God's service, recovering it for God's purposes. That's our calling as human beings when it comes to our work. Thus we have no 'Christian life' that is distinct from the rest of our life, but rather a life which is utterly Christian from head to toe, Sunday to Saturday, worship to work, from study to leisure.

Those called by God and gifted with the capacity to create wealth will have the opportunity to boast in their poverty and bestow on thousands the joys of secure family dwellings and growing civilizations.

This sufficiency leads to liberality and liberality to thanksgiving. The Good Samaritan could function as a true neighbor only because he had the wisdom to produce and preserve the extra needed to heal the wounds of his fellow traveler on the road to Jericho. Produce wealth; preserve wealth; provide wealth - that God may be glorified and the broken healed. This is the mind set that builds everything from churches to schools to hospitals to new ventures that secure future jobs for generations, publish books in a literate society, and mend the lawless political infrastructures of corruption that impoverish millions of people.

Wealth Creation is not anti-Christian; theft, greed, folly, and envy - those are the enemies.

Notes and Asides

1. Construction of the New Church and Moving Dates - We've been delayed as much as four weeks. After fourteen years we should not grow distressed over this, but be thankful that the job will be finished in a superb yet cost-effective manner. Lets continue to pray, pack (most of my books are now in boxes, thanks to the Murrah's diligent labors), and prepare our hearts. Hey, maybe the first official gathering will be the Feast of Epiphany rather than a Sunday service - water to wine anyone?

2. Great to see Doug and Cathy Collier back - and thanks to all who assisted with their unloading.

3. My admiration for our Staff, Deacons, and Session deepens with every passing day. We are being well served and for this labor that so reflects the life of Jesus I am truly grateful.

4. I often put prayers up on Face Book, but I am giving FB a rest. Prayers will appear at IHS in the coming weeks.

5. Its a small thing I know, but I am looking forward to hanging up my robe in the new place instead of carrying it back and forth - always afraid I'll leave it at home!

6. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday and it disappoints me that our culture blows past it a bit too quickly, jumping from Halloween straight to Christmas. I love Christmas as well as anyone and have spotted my first Christmas lights already. Still, I wish we could slow the train down at the Turkey crossing.

7. Looking forward to reading 'The Next One Hundred Years" by Stratfor founder - and Austin native - George Friedman. I like the way the man exposes popular myths and will make us reconsider the conventional wisdom.

8. I think TCU and SMU are an amazing story this year in College Football. I think TCU might give FL, Bama, and even UT all they want. I also think UT will beat anyone and everyone they face for the National Title - I have never seen a defense like this. Just astonishing. I don't even think it will be close.

9. Had a terrific visit with Taylor Marshall and Dr. Chris Malloy at the University of Dallas on Saturday - both proved to be extremely helpful for my preparation of a lecture of Vatican II. Thanks gentlemen - for the fellowship, counsel, and for the Grand Marnier! If you are a little confused about the new Anglican Ordinariate recently created by Benedict XVI? Taylor's lecture on the subject is clear and, with the Q&A which followed, helps clear up what is happening with that initiative. Check it out over at Canterbury Tales (This is a strongly Roman Catholic site by the way).

10. The Cincinnati Bengals? THE CINCINNATI BENGALS????

11. UT will beat North Carolina in the Jerry World game in December.

12. Preaching next week from Acts 10 on "Launching into a Larger World" from Acts 10 - further spiritual formation for our upcoming move. Then on to Advent - which of course is all about, what else, preparation!

Quotable

Where humility blossoms, there God's glory bursts forth.

Isaac the Syrian

Sermon Notes for November 15, 2009

The Generosity of God and the Gratitude of Men

2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:1-15

November 15, 2009

We believe in that the old division between the material and spiritual, between God and man, life and liturgy, was bridged by God the Word made flesh

Bringing Life into the Sanctuary just as the Sanctuary flows into Life

Here is our Thematic Verse for the Coming Year

Three years ago this Sunday we began a journey together, dedicating ourselves to give joyously and generously to construct a new church home. As this year reaches its conclusion, we can celebrate together so many wonderful gifts of grace we have experienced in this season of above and beyond giving. All of this – and so much more! – is cause for rejoicing.

New Missionaries Going from Us

New Staff Coming to Serve the Congregation

New Members Joining us, even when we lost so many to moves

New Church Construction Just About Completed

YOUR GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT HAS OVERWHLMED AND AMAZED AND ASTONISHED ME. I HAVE BOASTED OF THIS GRACE IN YOU EVERY PLACE I GO.

Now we come to the borderlands of our next steps in grace. Does this mark the end of our generosity or the beginning of a new gratitude?

The Heart of God is Ever-Giving – 2 Corinthians 9:6-10

For God is Love; Love always goes out from itself to ‘the other’.

We can give without loving, but we can never love without giving

God is the Ultimate Good Samaritan – Our Greatest Neighbor.

Mercy from Us is Rooted in Mercy towards us.

We Ninevites have received great mercy!

“Freely you have received, freely give,”

“Charge that to my account”

The Heart of Man is Ever-Needy – 2 Corinthians 9:12-13

We are assaulted and left for dead

We are those who must be carried and cured by long-term care

Ministries in Education – from Kindergarten to Seminary

Ministries of Life

Ministries to the Dying

Ministries to the Struggling

But our GREATEST NEED IS THE NEED TO BE GENEROUS

Our Giving Contributes to the Needs of Others

Our Giving God (“What is the Chief end of man?”)

Our Giving Confesses the Gospel (Moved by the Grace of the Gospel and not simply the never-ending need of man)

Our Giving Conforms us to Christ who gave himself for us

The Heart of God and the Heart of Man Meet in the Offering –

2 Corinthians 9:11

The Purpose of Sufficiency – Liberality

God gives ‘seed to sow and bread to eat’

Don’t confuse your seed with your bread!

The Purpose of Liberality –

The Worship of God - 2 Corinthians 9:11-13

The Unity of the Church – 2 Corinthians 9:14

Tozer: The Transformation of Money Given to God\

The god Mammon will never die for you, but it will demand you die for it. By contrast with such envy and terror, the Generous Heart of God is seen supremely in the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ – the One who is the Rich Young Ruler who forsook all for a greater Love, the Pearl Merchant who sold all that he had to Buy us, our God who embraced our poverty to give to us the riches of his grace, dying for us that we might live. Our Savior continues to give to us – take eat, this is my body; take drink, this is my blood. This is our Glorious and Generous Savior; we are his Body, and the Heart of our Head beats in this Body supplying the flow of life to all.

Given the ‘Knowns’ and the ‘Unknowns’, let us together –

Honor God with our Tithes

Continue to Give as Able and Directed to AHFMN fund (Those finished and those with commitments still outstanding)

Pray for Our Businesses and Our City

Grow Wise in our Personal Stewardship

As we present to Christ our tithes and gifts, the fruit of our life before him, he brings out to us the supremely magnificent gifts of bread and wine, giving to us his very life.

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Recent Lectures

Its been a particular joy to be recently afforded the opportunity to offer some lectures/presentations on two subjects I have studied for some years now, but which could not be treated as subjects for in depth Sunday sermons. This past week, Mike Hayden and Steve Ottolini welcomed me in St Louis to New Covenant Church where I taught five sessions on Christology, followed by a Sunday sermon on the same subject, emphasizing the Return of 'our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ'. These are available from New Covenant Church in St Louis. In addition, the good people at City School asked me to present two talks on a Biblical View of Wealth Creation and I enjoyed giving these at the UT Club over the past couple of weeks. Those talks will shortly be available from City School, and should be of interest to entrepreneurs and others in interested in a Biblical view of Economics.

Bringing in the Sheaves

Bringing in the Sheaves

Most of the time we ponder the relationship between ‘liturgy and life’ we are thinking about separation - viewing worship as an exit from life for a few moments, though perhaps there are some who might wish to hastily add that this exit is to get enough provisions to head back out to the mission - we are carrying supplies out of worship into the world. Of course it is true that we need to take the blessings of the sanctuary into the world and that’s why the service ends with the benediction - sending us in God’s name in the power of God’s grace to live and proclaim the truth and love of God’s Gospel. Yet I profess to being bothered at our apparent lack of awareness of what we are brining from the world into worship, and I mean by this the very good things we bring.

• We bring musical composition and hymnody to offer praise and thanks
• We bring words for prayers, confession of sin, and profession of faith
• We bring study and thought for sermons (well, we hope that’s the case!)
• We bring water for baptisms
• We bring bread and wine for communion
• We bring artistry that designs worship folder covers and banners
• We bring engineering that creates comfortable environments and decent sound so we can hear God’s word.
• We bring years of lessons on instruments and vocal song to offer to God
• We bring money for offerings

I could go on. We bring all of this and more from the world into the sanctuary so that we might meet with God and hear his voice and receive his grace. God still ordains the transformation of Egyptian Gold into furnishings for his Dwelling Place.

Transformation is the perfect word to describe what happens to what is brought into worship - whether bread or ourselves. God lays hold of what is offered and makes of it something which by his hand is ‘glorified’: as we ‘with unveiled faces behold the glory of the Lord... we are transformed from glory to glory into the same image...’ (2 Corinthians 3:16ff). This bringing of creation and human gifting into worship is a precursor of the restoration of the whole creation which as yet ‘stands on tip toe’ waiting to be released from its captivity to sin (Romans 8). The world God made good is recovered from sin and for the service of the Almighty.

That’s what consecration is all about. To ‘consecrate’ a person or thing is to return it to God, sometimes as a representative of the whole. We are baptized in a moment and the water is on our heads alone, but the baptism embraces the whole of existence, transcending time, and makes the whole person God’s, body and soul. We give a tenth of our increase, yet this offering represents all we possess; in other words, the partial sanctifies the whole.

Not only does the ‘one’ consecrated to God in worship represent the ‘many’ we employ beyond worship, the one in God’s hand becomes an instrument of remarkable grace. One kid, five rolls and two sardines? In the right hands such small gifts become the sustenance of thousands. This is why AW Tozer wrote, "As base a thing as money often is, yet it can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. "

I was asked once if Christians worship money. “Yes”, I replied, “We sadly and sinfully do this at times. Our hearts are idol factories and we’d worship cookies given half a chance.” Then I asked my interlocutor why he asked the question. “Oh, I just wondered why you brought money to the front during worship.”

“Oh!” I said. “That’s exactly when we’re NOT worshipping money. That’s when we are worshipping God with our money, giving it to him and waiting to see what amazing thing he will do with it. We do the same thing with babies. We bring them up, pour water over them in the name of the Trinity, pray for them, and then wait to see what God will make of their lives. We aren’t worshipping the babies when we do that; we’re worshipping the God who gives us children to begin with.”

“So when you bring the money to the front you’re saying the money is God’s and he can use it however he wants?” he continued.

“Actually”, I replied, “when we bring the money to the front we are saying everything we have and are and will ever be is from him and he can do with US whatever he wants. He bought us with his blood and that includes not only our souls but every gift and ability he gave us, the days and years he gives us, everything from our toes to our dreams.”

He seemed a little shocked. Look, we don’t have a little box in the back into which we secretly put our tithes. We bring in the sheaves, publicly rejoicing in God’s good gifts to us. We bring music and song and words and air conditioning and wine and everything we can get our hands on, sanctifying it all to God who first called everything ‘Good’. The Word was made flesh, making the creation a permanent part of the Godhead. That is why we say ‘From thy hand we offer to thy hand” - everything came from God, exists through him, and returns to him.

We’re not paying our dues, we’re worshipping in Spirit and Truth, joyously bringing back to God the first fruits of all creation - and watching to see what his hand can make of that. One things for sure - its going to be Good!

Quotable

“Listening to a pastor talk about business is like listening to a eunuch talk about sex: he may have studied the topic, but he doesn’t know anything about the mechanics.”

- Rich Karlgaard, Forbes

The Transfiguration of Finances Through Giving to God

As base a thing as money often is, yet it can be transmuted into
everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and
clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost
men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly
values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth.
Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. "
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Exodus Reversed - 2 Kings 24

Following the death of Josiah, his son Jehoahaz comes to the throne of Judah, a kingdom that has run out of time. Pharaoh captured him and enslaved him in Egypt, where he shortly died. Pharaoh also imposed a burdensome taxation on Judah's people, carrying off their silver and gold. He then named Jehoahaz' son Eliakim the king of Judah, giving him a new name - Jehoiakim - to demonstrate his authority over him; Jehoiakim became the slave/son to Pharaoh.

The end of Judah is the reversal of the Exodus and forms the other end of Israel's historical chiasm from slavery in Egypt to freedom under God to license under idols and a return to slavery under Egypt.

Ft Hood and the Religion of Peace

Could we get past all of the politically correct nonsense? Islam is a religion of violence and hatred. Period. Not all Muslims are violent - thanks be to God. Yet it is precisely here that the difference between Islam and Christian Faith is clearly seen: when Christians behave in violent ways in the name of their faith they are acting in ways inconsistent with that faith; when Muslims act violently towards non-Muslims they are acting in ways perfectly consistent with their religion. If you doubt that, you haven’t read the Quaran and you must be getting your talking points from a TV talking head who possesses all the religious and historical sophistication of an fifth grade term paper. This country - and the Church - better wake up and smell the coffee. Turn off the TV and read a book.