RonParrs.com: Notes from My Desk...

Christmas: Those Who Know Their God

The older I get, the more I fall in love with and appreciate the Christmas story as found in the pages of Holy Scripture.

For some time I thought it was a bit of seasonal depression; lack of sunlight, overall dreary weather, cold, you know. But the more I think about it, my malaise or melancholy is more of introspective thoughts, especially as another year draws to a close.

Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating Christmas. I enjoy putting up the tree and household decorations. We don't go crazy, but it's Christmas. My favorite part of decorating is putting up the children's ornaments that we have saved over the years. Each ornament has a story to tell; whether directly or because it recalls a particular time of life. Now some in my family might disagree with this jolly sentiment, and I'll leave that there. That's not part of this thought.

This year is especially introspective for me. The events of the past twelve to eighteen months have been life-changing to say the least, and as difficult as this period of time has been, I can honestly say that I'm glad God has allowed me to traverse this time. I'm also very thankful that God has also surrounded me with a multitude of people - family, friends, customers, business acquaintances - to prevent my being alone in these times.

Commitment and Ownership

It is said that the United States has become a nation of consumers.

When our economy was doing well in the 1980's, 1990's and even into the middle 2000's before the "great recession", we Americans consumed. Depending on the item, we consumed like locusts devouring almost anything we wanted almost to the point of becoming gorged.

The problem with that kind of consuming is that you eventually run out of stuff to consume and or you are paying too high a price to get what you want to consume. At some point the consuming must stop or you will burst. How many times have we gone to a one-price buffet only to find out on trip number five to the bar that our eyes have been much larger than our stomachs. That's probably why the ancient Romans came up with the (in my opinion) twisted idea of "vomitoriums" where you could "relieve" yourself and continue gorging. That's far from healthy either. Like it or not we may come back to this aspect later.

But I'm not here to discuss food. I want to discuss life and how we are supposed to live it. When we consume, we're not necessarily committed to the product or service that we are consuming. I'll explain in a little bit.

Ferguson, Missouri & the Gospel

When you're making comments or sharing news or other's comments on Facebook, good discussions can often begin.

Last night (November 29, 2014) I reposted a story from Ferguson, MO, USA, that highlighted a protestor who while out looting and pillaging, accidentally set fire to and burned down his own home. This man who got wrapped up in the emotion rather than separating himself from the mob and is now homeless as a consequence to his actions.

Some of us may gloat at this poor guy's actions, misfortunes, whatever you want to call it, but in reality it's a tragic reminder of what can happen when we don't engage our minds and follow only with the heart.

5 Ways You Can Bomb a Sermon to Young People

Whether you're a preacher or teacher of God's Word, we need to understand a couple of things.

Over the past several years I've been blessed with the opportunity to teach adult Sunday school classes in our church. Teaching God's Word is not only fulfilling and rewarding, it is also challenging and life-changing as God often needs to work in the teachers life to fully bring out the lesson.

In 2013, I was given the opportunity to co-teach the senior high school Sunday school with our Youth Pastor Mike Kraft. This young man (almost half my age) is a real blessing to me, the kids and so many others in our church. This young man has a passion for souls in general and young souls in particular. Pastor Mike has helped me come to understand that there is a difference teaching young people (although slight, it is significant) as opposed to adults. To start with, you have to be really real. Teens can smell phoniness or insincerity a mile away. Take heed teacher, God has called you to not only a high calling, but an interesting challenge.

What follows is a great article from the website "The Resurgence", a ministry of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA, USA:

 

Finding your own voice, style, and rhythm as a communicator of God’s Word is a journey that takes a lifetime. However, you can get a head start by learning to avoid these common mistakes preachers make.

 

When I sat down after preaching my first sermon, I felt like I had done a pretty decent job. In reality it was about as smooth as a circle of white guys on the dance floor during happy hour.

Fail #1: Give good advice instead of Good News

By far the most common mistake I see early on in preachers is telling your students what they ought to do, without showing them again and again what Jesus has done. Any sermon that does not connect the commands of God to the cross of Christ is a damnable moralism that is devoid of the power of the gospel. Your good advice might temporarily change your students’ behavior and raise the moral standard in your church, but it comes with the side-effects of moral superiority or despair.

continue reading here via theresurgence.com

5 Ways To Get the Most Out of a Sermon

How many of us sit in church week after week and ask themselves these questions?

"What I am I doing here?" Or better yet, "Why do I waste my time listening to this stuff?" Or how about this one comment/question: "Why can't the pastor be more "relevant" (interesting, exciting, you fill in the word as you see it...)?"

Christianity and the Bible are far from boring... together, both are life-changing and absolutely fulfilling.

From the website "The Resurgence" sponsored by Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA, USA:

The Art of Listening might well be the most the important skill a Christian must develop, because Christianity is at its essence all about the Word of God. In fact, God himself is the Word (John 1:1) and the Word became flesh (John 1:2)—safe to say that if God is the Word then how we use our ears is pretty important. Furthermore, you can only come to faith through hearing (Rom. 10:14) and then you grow mature through hearing (Matt. 13:23).

Do you get it? Seeing God happens through hearing. Our vision is through our ears. My friend, if you have either not yet come to Christ, or you have but are frustrated, confused, and not really growing, then I would bet big money that your problem revolves around not listening as you should. Here are some tips on listening well to a preacher, or to the Word of God in any context:

1. Get in range regularly

The reason Zacchaeus collided with Jesus was because he climbed the tree. If the soil is not in range of the sower then it isn't going to receive any seed.

Continue reading here: via theresurgence.com

God's Love, Part 4: Unfinished Business

A couple of things are still bothering me and I feel the need to try and wrap them up with this whole love discussion.

And so we have some unfinished business to attend to.

To say that love is "complicated" is an understatement whether in God's terms and economy or according to ours. Love may be "a many splendid thing" but as we have already talked about in the preceeding parts, love is composed of many parts or attributes or facets. Love is made up of ideas and emotions and perhaps most importantly, actions. Love just doesn't sit out there waiting for something to happen, it is a verb; love is active.

If you want to describe love, the best analogy I can think of is the wind. You can't see the wind itself, but you can feel it (whether it is warm or cold), it touches you. The wind also causes other things like leaves or sail boats to move. In other words, you can see and feel the effects of the wind. Love is similar in that you can't directly see it, but you can experience its effects on yourself and other people.

A Christian Response to Poverty - Introduction

Let's start with the presumption that we don't clearly know what "poverty" is...

Although some may balk at that notion, it's nonetheless true. We really don't know or understand the idea of poverty. Maybe it would be better to say that we in 21st century western culture actually have the term poverty too narrowly defined.

When we think of poverty, most of us think of the homeless person or American Appalachia or the slums of Rio de Janeiro or areas of war torn Africa. Earthquake stricken Haiti may also come to mind. These examples are just tips of the iceberg when we come to the subject of "poverty".

 Poverty is actually much more than that. The dictionary (any of them) defines poverty as: 1. the state of being poor (don't you hate a definition that uses the root of the word?) and 2. a lack of something.

One of the things that confounds so many non-Christians is that we Chrisians live a dichotomous life. What does that mean? Well, as an example the Bible tells us that in order to be strong, you must first become weak or even broken. To the unbeliever, that just doesn't make sense. But then again, we're speaking of God's way of doing things and God's economy so of course it's not going to make sense to those who believe that the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is just a silly book rather than God's Holy Word.

A Christian Response to Poverty

Like it or not, we live in a world of the haves and the have nots.

I hate to sound or come off callous or even pessimistic, but this has been the human condition since the beginning of human civilization. As much as we want to rid ourselves of this scourge, it lingers. Try as we may, poverty - and all of its aspects such as homelessness, disease, pestilence, are here to stay.

More than anything else, I'm trying to paint a realistic picture of what we're facing, why we're facing it and how we can fight it.

What I want to speak against is the idea from the "Christian left" that fighting poverty is best seen through the lens of "social justice".

Poverty is NOT just a financial problem - although that's what many progressives, liberals and those otherwise on the left will attempt to paint it as. Poverty - and its solutions - is a matter of the heart. And God has called the believer to this fight.

An Understanding of the "Christian Left"

Labels, labels, labels. Each one of us has a label attached to our foreheads!

Liberals, conservatives, believers, non-believers, Jews, gentiles, blacks, whites, Latinos, gay, straight - the list goes on and on. I don't quite understand why we label, but we do and for most of human civilization, we have. It's how we identify one another - whether we like it or not. Sometimes the labels are appropriate (and accurate), sometimes not.

Frankly, I don't care for labels. Not on my clothes (unless they display my company logo) and definitely not on people. My problem is that I do in fact label people. It's not right, and I apologize for labeling any of you.

The only One who should be labeling any of us is God. He's the only One who can label us fairly and accurately - and lovingly. And we remember that God's love is nothing like ours; it's not squishy but it is true and just.

Sorry for appearing a bit verbose or squirrely, but there is a reason for all of this set up. I better get to it!

Love One Another: Hand in Hand

Loving one another is demonstrated in many ways, but two of the most outward expressions that we see are Humility and Hospitality.

Humility and hospitality go hand in hand as we love one another as God wants us. And I'm talking about the true kind of humility and hospitality. Let me share with you an incident in my life that is a wonderful picture of of these two excellent qualities.

Back in the school year of 1976-77, as a junior in high school, I had the distinct privilege of participating as a foreign exchange student in a program sponsored by Rotary International. Those ten months abroad, living in Northern Mexico, made an indelible impression on my life that I believe forever changed me. God allowed this time to experience new people in new situations in a new cultural context. He opened my eyes to new challenges and different viewpoints, but He also guarded me from serious trouble and kept me in the palm of His hand during this time away from home as an impressionable (not to mention somewhat naive) white, middle class teenager from the great American suburbs.