Monthly Archive for August, 2007

Interview with Tullian Tchividjian

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 31, 2007
in Children and Christian Living
. 3 Comments

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Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds has a nice interview with Tullian Tchividjian today. Tullian is the pastor of New City Church in Coconut Creek, Florida, not far from Plantation Community Church where I used to serve. He is the author of a new book on assurance called Do I Know God? and the grandson of Ruth and Billy Graham.

Tullian went through a season of rebellion in his teen years, and Justin asked him if Billy had said anything in particular to him during his time away from the Lord. I appreciated Tullian’s answer and the wisdom and love demonstrated by his family during those difficult years.

Interestingly, because my grandparents knew that my parents had laid such a solid foundation, teaching me the Gospel from the time I was born, they never preached to me during my wilderness wanderings; they never sat me down and gave me a lecture. They always told me they were praying for me, that they believed God had his hand on me, and that if I ever needed anything, not to hesitate to let them know. Their unconditional love for me during that time was stunning. In fact, from a human perspective, one of the tools God used to bring me to himself was the attractiveness of my grandparents (and parents) unconditional love. Because of my upbringing, I had always known the content of the Gospel but it was the “preaching of the Gospel without words” through my parents and grandparents which helped me to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Be sure to visit Justin’s blog for the rest of the interview.

Update: Tullian’s mother shares about the prodigal years from a mother’s perspective. Click here for the article by Gigi Graham Tchividjian.

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News and Notes 8/29/2007

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 29, 2007
in News and Notes and Space
. 0 Comments

A whole lot of nothing. “University of Minnesota astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies and gas, as well as the mysterious, unseen ‘dark matter.’ While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all.”

Red on the way out? National Geographic magazine reports that redheads are becoming rarer and could be extinct in 100 years. Best chance to preserve redheadedness? Move to Scotland where an estimated 40 per cent of Scots carry the red gene and 13 per cent actually have red hair.

Rumor police. Police in east China have arrested or warned 60 people for spreading rumors or threats through text messages and the Internet since the beginning of the year. “Rumors spread by modern means of communication can be a greater menace to society than those spread by word of mouth,” said Xia Cunxi, spokesman of the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Department. If they arrested people in the United States for spreading internet rumors, half of us would be in jail.

A Little Poem on Learning Greek

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 29, 2007
in Education and Poems
. 9 Comments

Any Greek students out there? You should appreciate this little poem written by a first-year student of Scot McKnight [cited in McKnight’s New Testament Greek Grammatical Analysis, 76, n. 6.]

Greek is a language,
At least it used to be.
It killed off all the Greeks
And now it’s killing me.

All have died who ever spoke it.
All have died who ever wrote it.
All will die who ever learn it.
Blessed death, they surely earn it!

Aaaaah, the good old days of learning Greek. I remember working as a night watchman in seminary from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., racing home, showering and eating breakfast, and then getting to Greek class by 8 a.m. Only by the grace of God I got through!

HT: Illumination

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Eight Kinds of Suffering

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 28, 2007
in Suffering
. 2 Comments

I am going through the book of Job with my boys during our evening Bible time, so I found Walter Kaiser’s article on “where Job’s friends went wrong about suffering” very interesting. In the article, Kaiser identifies eight types of suffering mentioned in the Bible.

  1. retributive suffering (caused by sin and disobedience to God)
  2. educational or disciplinary suffering (as in Proverbs 3:11 or Hebrews 12:5-6)
  3. vicarious suffering (as in the case of our Lord’s death on the cross)
  4. empathetic suffering (where one person’s grief affects many others, as Isaiah 63:9 illustrates)
  5. evidential or testimonial suffering (as in the first two chapters of Job)
  6. doxological suffering for the glory of God (as in the man born blind in John 9)
  7. revelational suffering (as in the case of the prophet Hosea’s wife abandoning him)
  8. apocalyptic or eschatological suffering (that will come at the end of this age)

“The epilogue of Job 42:8 indicts Job’s three friends (but not Elihu, who argued that Job’s suffering was instructive) for wrongly applying to Job the doctrine of retributive suffering. ‘You have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has,’ concluded the Lord. Where then did Job’s three friends go wrong? They reduced all evil to ‘retributive suffering,’ which is caused by sin and disobedience to God.”

HT: Between Two Worlds

News and Notes 8/28/2007

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 28, 2007
in News and Notes and Religion
. 2 Comments

You can’t do that. China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. The Bible does not teach reincarnation, but pretending reincarnation was real, how exactly would they enforce this ruling?

Long shot. A bullet fired from a police gun range hit a military veteran as he stood outside a car dealership almost a mile away. “It felt like someone hit me with a ball bat or like a bird struck me in the side,” said Bill Bolechala, who had served 24 years in the military including a stint in Vietnam without being wounded.

Sour grapes. A Michigan woman was fined $250 after throwing grapes at school board members following a contoversial vote. Apparently the vote didn’t go her way.

Michael Vick Apologizes, Confesses Faith

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 27, 2007
in People and Sports
. 2 Comments

Here is an excerpt from NFL player Michael Vick’s apology following his guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Richmond, VA, to a dogfighting conspiracy charge:

I want to apologize … for all the things that I’ve done and that I have allowed to happen. I want to personally apologize to commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, coach Bobby Petrino, my Atlanta Falcons teammates … I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts … I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward to bettering Michael Vick the person, not the football player. I take full responsibility for my actions …

I’m upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now.

I noticed that the ESPN article on this did not quote the part about Jesus in Vick’s apology but simply stated: “Vick said he now has renounced dogfighting and has found religion as a result of the federal charges.”

I pray that Vick’s repentance and new-found faith in Christ are sincere. Time will tell. (Has anyone heard anything more about Paris Hilton in this regard?)

HT: CROSS-eyed

Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 27, 2007
in Current Events and Evangelism
. 3 Comments

Dr. D. James Kennedy has retired as senior pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Dr. Kennedy, 76, preached his last sermon from the pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve 2006. He suffered a cardiac arrest four days later and has since been unable to return to the pulpit. A tribute worship service honoring the extensive ministry of Dr. Kennedy will be held in the main sanctuary of the church at 11:00 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 23.

I took Evangelism Explosion training at Coral Ridge back when I lived in South Florida. Dr. Kennedy taught some of the sessions, and I was impressed to learn that he still went out on visitation every week with the evangelism teams from his church.

Update: Rick Phillips shares a nice tribute to Dr. Kennedy over at Reformation 21.

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Speed Reading Not Always Best

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 27, 2007
in Books
. 0 Comments

Lifehack has an interesting article on the importance of reading more slowly for some types of material. Reading fast is not always best. I liked this quote from novelist Zadie Smith comparing the reader of literature to a musician learning a piece of music:

An amateur musician who sits at the piano has a piece of music which is the work made by somebody they don’t know, who they probably couldn’t comprehend entirely, and they have to use their skills to play this piece of music. The greater the skill, the greater the gift that you give the artist and that the artist gives you. That’s the incredibly unfashionable idea of reading. And yet when you practice reading, and you work at a text, it can only give you what you put into it. It’s an old moral, but it’s completely true.

I am reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Silmarrillion” right now, and it is some of the slowest reading I have ever done. I have to work at this text, and it really does feel like I am trying to master a piece of music. But I am enjoying it!

Sunday Morning Soundbytes – 8/26/2007

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 27, 2007
in Sunday Morning SoundBytes
. 0 Comments

Yesterday’s message was called Set Free from Sin by the Spirit of God, taken from Romans 8:1-4.

Romans 8:1-4 – 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (NIV)

The main idea of the message was that if you are in Christ, then God has set you free from sin by his Spirit. Here is a brief recap of the message:

1) There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

“Whoever believes in Christ is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18)

2) Why is there no condemnation? Because the law of the Spirit set us free from the law of sin.

There are three different types of law that we find in Romans 8:1-4: the Law of Moses, the law of sin, and the law of the Spirit. The Law of Moses is an example of written law. These were God’s commands given to us to obey, especially in the Ten Commandments. But the law of sin and the law of the Spirit are both laws of principle or force. The law of sin is the principle of my sinful nature which rebels against God and desires sin over righteousness. The law of the Spirit is the principle of the Holy Spirit living inside me who desires righteousness and holiness rather than sin.

Note three important distinctions about these laws:
    1) the Law of Moses has righteousness, but no power;
    2) the law of sin has power, but no righteousness;
    3) the law of the Spirit has both righteousness and power.

3) Why do we need the law of the Spirit? Because the law of Moses was powerless to set us free from sin, so God sent his Son.

The law is like a mirror. A mirror can show you that your face is dirty, but it cannot clean your face for you. In the same way, the law can show you that you’re sinful, but it cannot take away your sin. The best mirror in the whole world will not help me if I have no desire to wash my face. God’s law was holy, righteous and good, but I did not desire to follow God’s law. The law of Moses was powerless to help me, because it was weakened by my sinful nature.

But what was impossible for the law to do, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. I like what John Stott says about this phrase: “not ‘as a sinful person,’ for Jesus was sinless; not ‘in the likeness of humanity,’ for Jesus was fully human; but ‘in the likeness of sinful humanity’ for Jesus was both completely sinless and fully human.”

4) What was God’s purpose in condemning sin? So that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who live by the Spirit.

The law of the Spirit does it all! It fulfills the righteous requirement of Moses’ law, and it sets us free from the power of sin’s law. Through Christ we have been set free from sin by the Spirit of God.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Shadow Puppets – What a Wonderful World

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 25, 2007
in Fun and Video
. 4 Comments

Here is a video showcasing some great shadow puppetry set to the music of Louis Armstrong crooning “What a Wonderful World.” It’s amazing what you can produce with just two hands and an overhead projector.

(Video length: 2:17)

Note: Shadow puppetry performed by Australian magician Raymond Crowe.

HT: Challies

Remembering Hurricane Andrew

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 24, 2007
in Personal
. 8 Comments

Special guest blogger today: my wife, Rose!

Fifteen years ago today, Rose and I went through Hurricane Andrew together in Homestead, Florida. We had just recently moved from Massachusetts. I like to tell people we moved to Florida, and Andrew unpacked our bags for us. Rose wrote the following account of our experience for our Christmas letter that year. She is a much better writer than I am, so enjoy the change of pace! Here is our Christmas letter from 1992.

Continue reading ‘Remembering Hurricane Andrew’

Top Ten Criticisms from a Church

Published
by
Ray Fowler
on August 23, 2007
in Church
. 0 Comments

Church Growth posts a humorous list of the Top Ten Criticisms from a Church, with a response from the deacon board (since everyone ran the pastor off).

We, the deacons of the church, have listed the top ten criticisms of our church and have decided upon the following solutions for these complaints:

  1. “I want more depth in the sermons”: For all sermons we will read the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, therefore everyone in the congregation will be required to take Hebrew and Greek classes. Since these languages require constant study and usage, each member will be required to take these classes until they die.
  2. “Nobody noticed when I was gone for three weeks”: From now on, each member of the congregation will be required to have placed on their ankle a tracking device so that we will know where they are at all times, including when they are at the lake, at the golf course, hunting, etc. Also, each member will be required to bring a doctor’s note stating that the member was actually sick and had an excuse for being out of church. The church will also start to use the phone tree system to give everyone a wake-up call on Sunday mornings so that they can get to church on time.
  3. “Nobody cares about how I feel”: From now on, we will have a psychiatrist/psychologist/Christian counselor (the member will choose) available on Sunday mornings to help each member understand more about their feeling that no one cares about them. In addition, each member will be required to start caring for others in the congregation.
  4. “I don’t know everybody anymore”: From now on each member of the congregation will be required to memorize the names and faces of each member of the congregation, including each new member that joins hereafter. Also, each member will be required to wear a photo i.d. for identification purposes.
  5. “The choir doesn’t sing my kind of music”: From now on, there will be no more choir or congregational singing but each seat in the sanctuary will be equipped with an IPOD and headphones to listen to your favorite type of Christian music during the worship service.

You can visit Church Growth for the rest of the list. (I especially like the wave pool in the baptistery idea on number 9.) As with all effective humor there is a lot of truth mixed into this list. Do you ever get criticisms about your church? How do you handle it?

HT: