March 10, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Palm Sunday is next week. Last year for Palm Sunday I preached a narrative sermon re-telling the events of Palm Sunday from the donkey’s perspective. Click here to read the sermon: Straight from the Donkey’s Mouth.
Categories: Easter
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3 Comments
March 10, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Yesterday’s message in the The Road to Jerusalem series was called Jerusalem: The End of the Road or Just the Beginning? The message was taken from the Parable of the Ten Minas found in Luke 19:11-27.
This parable is the last recorded teaching of Jesus before he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus told it “because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.” (Luke 19:11) The disciples thought that Jerusalem was the end of the road for them. Jesus now tells them it is just the beginning. He has work for them to do. We looked at the main characters in the parable and who they represent, and then drew the following five lessons from the parable:
1. Christ will return as King over all
Christ himself will return. He will not send some representative in his place. He will not come just as a spiritual presence in the world. His return is different from his resurrection, and it is different from the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches the visible, personal return of Jesus Christ.
2. When Christ returns there will be an accounting
God shares his resources with us; he gives us gifts, and he expects us to use them for his glory. He gives you your life and tells you: “Put this to work until I come back.” The disciples thought that Jerusalem was the end of the road, but it was really just the beginning. When we walk with Christ to the cross, and die to ourselves there, it is only the beginning, for then we are finally set free to live a life of service for him. Then we are finally able to produce good works through his Spirit that will have lasting value.
3. The greater your faithfulness to Christ, the greater your reward
There are many passages in Scripture which teach that there will be rewards in heaven. So what will these rewards be? The greatest reward will just be the satisfaction of seeing Christ glorified through our lives, seeing people who have come to salvation, people who were helped along the way, a life lived to the glory of God.
God’s rewards far exceed any service we can possibly give to him, especially when you consider that even the little we have to begin with is a gift from him! God’s rich rewards are just another example of God’s incredible grace. This should be a great encouragement to us. Be faithful to God in even the smallest of things, and he will reward you greatly.
4. A true believer will yield spiritual fruit in his or her life
The third servant produced no fruit. He tucked the mina away in a cloth and did nothing with it. It’s not that he used the mina wrongly or for wrong ends. He just didn’t use it at all! The master took his mina away from him and gave it to the one who had ten minas. Applying this spiritually, we could say: “Everyone who bears fruit for Christ will be given more, but the one who bears no fruit, even what he has will be taken away.” It’s a sobering thought. If you are not living for Christ, if you are not producing for him in this life, then all that you have, all that God has given you, all that you have worked for will be taken away. Nothing will last. Nothing will be saved.
5. Those who do not submit to Christ will be condemned
The subjects in the parable hated the king. There are many who do not follow Christ today who would claim that they do not hate him. But Jesus said there is no middle ground. You cannot serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Man’s rebellion against God is summed up in the subjects’ words: “We don’t want this man to be our king.” You cannot rebel against God without consequences. The parable ends on a somber note. After dealing with the three servants, the master speaks, “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and kill them in front of me.” (Luke 19:27) Those who do not submit to Christ will be condemned on the last day. There will be no excuses, no defense, no escape.
CONCLUSION: Jesus and his disciples were at long last approaching Jerusalem. The disciples thought it would all end there. The kingdom of God was going to come with power, and they would enter into rest. Jesus told this parable to correct their thinking. Yes the Kingdom will come fully when Christ returns. In the meantime we are to work and to serve, to use the lives God has given us for gain, to allow Him to work through us to His glory. Jerusalem is not the end of the road — it is just the beginning.
Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.
Categories: Sunday Morning SoundBytes
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March 8, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Mark D. Roberts shares some public prayer “bloopers” in his post: When Your Prayer Doesn’t Come Out Quite Right.
The Encyclopedia of Life. “The Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about all life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.”
Jason Robertson shares the greatest question ever asked by the devil. “The great question of the Book of Job is not ‘Why do the righteous suffer?’ but ‘Why do people serve God?’ Would you serve God if there were no blessings attached? What if God were to show you no mercy? What if there were no heaven? What if there were no hell? Would you still serve God? Why or why not? The Devil asked a legitimate question.”
Tim Challies interviews Tampa Bay Rays shortstop, Ben Zobrist. “I do sense an increased responsibility as a Christian athlete in our culture, because our culture exalts performance so much. There are many kids and adults alike who dream of being in our shoes. I believe as a Christian athlete, we are called to use that highly respected platform to deflect any praise to Whom it really belongs and to help people see beyond the glory of a man-made game or ballpark.”
Tia lists 15 ways churches can serve third culture kids. “Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are children who grow up in a culture other than their parents’. Their ‘home’ culture is the first culture; their ‘host’ culture, the second. And they live in the middle, the ‘third’ culture. TCKs include children of missionaries or other international workers. They face unique struggles in their lives of transition. It’s our privilege as the body of Christ to provide care for them as they join with their parents in God’s call on their lives to be overseas.”
Gene Edward Veith discusses the neglected doctrine of vocation. “The doctrine of vocation is the theology of the Christian life. It solves the much-vexed problems of the relationship between faith and works, Christ and culture, how Christians are to live in the world. Less theoretically, vocation is the key to strong marriages and successful parenting. It contains the Christian perspective on politics and government. It shows the value, as well as the limits, of the secular world. And it shows Christians the meaning of their lives.” (HT: On Earth as it is in Heaven)
Jim Elliff encourages the church towards a more spontaneous and genuine evangelism. “Nothing is more discouraging than evangelism. The mere mention of the word strikes fear in most people. If it is my goal when speaking in a church to make all my listeners uncomfortable and convicted, all I have to do is say, ‘evangelize!,’ and the guilt quotient rises as fast as the heads drop. Beads of sweat appear on the pastor’s brow. It is the great undone command, and none of us like to be reminded of it. In my view, much of our fear comes because we’ve made evangelism too difficult and confusing.” (HT: ekklesia)
Categories: Quick Takes
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March 8, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour tonight for Daylight Saving Time. I forgot one year and arrived late to church the next day – and I was one of the pastors! (Click here to read about it: “The Thief”)
Categories: General
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2 Comments
March 7, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
The Blogiversary Bash continues! Click here to sign the guest list.
One of the nice things about blogging is that it really is a cooperative effort. Bloggers regularly share information with their readers by linking to other blogs. So, in keeping with the whole “Let’s celebrate the first year of the blog” theme, here are some of the sites that have been kind enough to link to me over the year. I invite you to look over the list and visit some of these sites. (I hope I got everyone. If you linked to me and I left you out, please let me know, and I will be glad to add you to the list.)
More Blogiversary-related posts:
Categories: Blog
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4 Comments
March 7, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
The Blogiversary Bash continues! Click here to sign the guest list.
As part of the celebration, this seems as good a time as any to share the stats for my blog. I don’t refer to them much, but I do make them available on the Stats tab for those who are interested. I only update them at the end of each month, so here are the stats for March 2007 – February 2008.
In this first year of blogging, I have welcomed visitors from 157 countries around the world. Here are the number of page views, visitors, comments and posts for the year:
And here is a chart showing the monthly growth over the course of the year. There was a nice jump in the month of June, and then again in October, and then a much bigger jump in December. I am not sure why. You can click on the chart for a larger image.
(Click on the chart for a larger image.)
Thanks everyone once again for visiting!
More Blogiversary-related posts:
Categories: Blog
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2 Comments
March 6, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
The Blogiversary Bash continues. Click here to sign the guest list.
As part of the first year Blogiversary Celebration, just for fun here are the first seven posts that appeared on the blog last year at this time – and which no one has probably ever read!
More Blogiversary-related posts:
Categories: Blog
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March 6, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
(Please sign the guest list below!)
Today is the one-year anniversary of my blog, so I thought I would celebrate with some blog-related posts over the next couple days. It has been a fun year, and I have enjoyed writing and sharing my thoughts with you. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by to visit. You make it all worthwhile. As someone once said, “If you don’t have visitors, you don’t have a blog. You have a journal!”
One of the reasons I started blogging was to meet new people, and I have enjoyed getting to know many of you through your comments and emails. But there are a lot of you I have yet to meet, so I would like to open up the comments today for people to introduce themselves. I believe other readers of the blog would like to meet you too!
Even if you have never commented here before, please consider leaving a comment today. You may share as much or as little about yourself as you wish. Your name (or nickname), general location, and what you do are always good for starters. If you have a blog or website, feel free to post a link. This is a great opportunity for us all to get to know each other a little better.
So, who will be first? 🙂
More Blogiversary-related posts:
Categories: Blog
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20 Comments
March 5, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
“For Sale” – Price reduced to actual value
Categories: Cartoons, Current Events, Finances, Home
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4 Comments
March 4, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
To those of you in the Northern Hemisphere: Take heart, my winter weary friends. Spring is almost here. It’s true. I saw it on the calendar.
Click here for more Random Thoughts.
Categories: Random Thoughts
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March 4, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'” (Luke 13:31-32)
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Jesus calling Herod a fox catches us a little off guard here. Did Jesus really call people names? Yes, when appropriate. He did not do it to hurt people’s feelings or out of childish anger or to be unkind. But Jesus called a spade a spade.
What did he mean by calling Herod a fox? A fox is a small, weak, wily animal that lives by cunning rather than strength. Jesus was drawing attention to Herod’s crafty, treacherous side. Herod was not a man worthy of trust or respect. He divorced his wife to marry his own niece, who happened to be his own brother’s wife. He beheaded John the Baptist because of a foolish promise made at a birthday party. He was a man of weak character who used his political power for selfish ends.
Now, we need to be careful here. As Christians we are called to love, forgive, forbear and be courteous to others. We should not go around calling people names as a general rule. Jesus rarely did. But there are times when we also must call a spade a spade. Sometimes a thief needs to be called a thief; the unfaithful spouse must be called an adulterer; the pornographer needs to be called perverted. There are times when evil must be confronted and named. There are times when Herod must be called a fox.
(from the message: Traffic and Tears on the Road to Jerusalem)
Categories: Christian Living
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2 Comments
March 3, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Okay, this is pretty sad. I have been playing Mr. Mom while my wife, Rose, is away visiting family in Texas. We have a family tradition of eating subs on Sunday afternoons. The local Subway is just a half mile down the road. Rose has all our favorite orders memorized. She calls the Subway store after church, places the order, and we pick up the subs for lunch.
Well, Rose is away, and yesterday I was trying to get the boys’ orders just right, and it was all just so confusing, when suddenly I had this brilliant idea. That’s right. I called Rose in Texas, gave her the number of the Subway down the street and had her call in the order for us. Fifteen minutes later we were all sitting around the table enjoying our favorite subs. “See boys?” I said. “Just like Mom.” “Dad,” they replied, “that was Mom!”
I know. I am a pathetic Mr. Mom. But Mrs. Mom comes home tomorrow. Good things come to those who wait.
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Categories: Family, Mothers, Personal
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12 Comments
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