If you’re reading this, it means that it is midnight where I live. I am currently at Midnight Mass, so I’ll leave you with a Christmas Greeting until I get back. (Since I am too cheap to send you cards.)
Merry Christmas my friends, and have a peaceful and Christ filled day.
Hoo Ha Ha!!!
By now you may have seen this, it seems to be floating around the internet.
It’s not a very original concept, but the music is awesome. (IMHO)
Do you take notes during the sermon?
I have to admit I never have. I am of the school of “If you write something down, you give yourself permission to forget it.” and “It’s easier to pay attention when you’re listening and looking.”
Also it probably helps that I have a pretty good memory, so if you ask me questions about sermons I have heard in the past, I can probably tell you the bones of it anyway.
Unless of course it’s really bad, but in that case you know I would only be drawing pictures of Bat-Man in the margins anyway, so sermon notes won’t help.
But I digress. (Frequently)
I have never really been a fan of taking notes during sermons, and I especially get a little freaked out when people write down what I’m saying when I preach. Maybe it’s a lawyer thing, I want to be able to deny the heresies later.
Recently however, Cyndi over at Atypical Pastor’s Wife ran a series of posts about sermon notes. She called them….
Sermon Notes
Sermon Notes pt 2
Sermon Notes – the finale.
And after reading them, especially part 2, I have been taking notes at all the sermons I hear for the last three weeks. So, pop over and read the posts. If they can change the mind of a stubborn fish (for a while at least) then there might be something there for you.
The book is focused on the question of whether God uses simple, ordinary people to advance his Kingdom. Of course we know this is true, but sometimes it helps to be reminded. One of my favourite lines is “We do not hear ‘I was sick and you healed me’ or ‘I was in prison and you liberated me.’ The works of Mercy are simple deeds. And yet in these simple deeds, we serve Jesus.”
The book has 16 short chapter, of about 5 or 6 pages each. Each chapter focuses on a simple aspect of service to others, and out own attitudes towards Christ and his call to change the world. As always, Max Lucado makes it all seem to straightforward.
I like the structure, which I think, lends itself to use in a Bible Study group, or for a teaching series. I read the book in one sitting, so it is quite light, but I think it should probably be savoured, and I will definitely be re-reading it chapter by chapter to re-examine some of the lessons.
What didn’t I like about it? Nothing much springs to mind. He fictionalises a number of biblical stories, and adds certain elements which might jar with certain readers. But nothing that bothered me, or detracted from the message, so it’s all good.
I received this book for free as part of Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze programme.
Learn more about the book here.
On this day, in 1898, Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland. He was more popularly known as C.S. Lewis, but his friends all called him Jack. During his life, he was an extremely influential theologian, and his radio broadcasts during the Second World War brought him fame as a profound thinker, with a manner of ease in explaining profound concepts.
It is impossible to over-estimate how much I have been influenced by his style of writing, and Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters are two of my all-time favourite works theological books.
“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”
“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
Less than a month ago, I started writing NaNoWriMo with the insane idea of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.
It was insane.
It was impossible.
It was fun!
Of course, because I am never one to do things by half measures, I also decided to sign-up again as a Municipal Liaison. Which means that I was responsible for the Port Elizabeth region. Well, let me just say that that has been a blast.
Writing with some of the most awesome people I ever met, these guys have done me proud at every turn.
And what happened?
Does that answer your question?
I hit 50,000 words today, but my novel is nowhere near finished. I am planning to try and fit in about another 2000 – 3000 words before Tuesday night. As always, it has been a real learning experience.
So thank you to my loyal reader(s?) for following me on this journey, and normal blogging will resume shortly, once I figure out what normal means.
This video is pretty hard-core!
We used it today in the confirmation preparation course I am co-leading, to talk about how Satan works.
It is by a local (South African) band called The Arrows Band. It literally scared me a little bit when I first saw it. Some of the images are a little visceral, but it totally rocks.
THE ARROWS - In The Words (of Satan) lyrics
I've been here since the beginning
Know exactly how you work
I know all of your cravings
Know what makes you go berserk
Been lying from the start just to make you play a part
in my infinite rebellion against the Father God
Hate
Everything he is
And I make you hate him too
Make you hate him with your actions it's so easy for me to do
'Cause you like it...
Sin feels good for the ego...
You love it...
Oh, come on baby
And all the time, I'm winding you up
Like my perfect little puppet, you're my favourite robot,
welcome to the show but I'm watching you and all of hell is with
me too, helping me make my lies look true
Oh and there is a lie that works for everyone,
everyone
A lie that opens your hearts so I can get me some
more of your free will
I'm winding you
Winding you
Give me the control that's why I'm telling you
Selling you
Anything
Everything
Appealing to your human way of being and I use it all against you to just keep your eyes from seeing past the life you're living
Past the moment you're in
Past the pleasure of your sin
Or the cigarette you're smoking
Choking on your lust
I'll make you drunk with pride
So deeply spun into my system that you won't see the light
Never mind that I'm drowning you
I keep deceiving you...
'Cuz I don't tell you
That God in heaven
Who loves you
Who yearns for you
I don't tell you
That the freedom of forgiveness and truth
Why would I tell you?
Why would I tell you the truth?
But I'll say that millions of years ago an accident exploded
And you're the result of this cosmic unknown with no real purpose
Created for no real intent
The reason for your living is just coincidence
So all the remains is what you can gain
Whatever meaning you attach to your days you decide
Mmm, but I help you recognize important things in life
Introducing money, it's the root of all, evil they say so
I attach yourself worth to the salary you're paid, be a slave to your property
Your jewellery
Your cars and things
Advertise that lie up on the TV so you'll want that bling
Selling bit by bit the little pieces of your soul
Climbing up the ladder of economic control
Oh, the greed of man makes it so easy to pervert the Father's plan
Or I'll tell you...
There is a heaven but there's many ways to get in
Keep you so confused that you stay bound to your sin
Tell you there are many ways to the same God
Keep you distracted with your methods so your heart stays hard,
I'll make you think you've got spirituality, but it's really just emotional alchemy
Oh, the vanity of self-idolatry I never let you see that it breeds
Hedonism! Whoo!
And it's the answer of this generation
Come on, drink it, snort it, smoke it, swallow it
Chew on my illusion of freedom till you vomit it
And still I don't tell you
That God in heaven
Who loves you
Who yearns for you
I don't tell you
That the freedom of forgiveness and truth
Why would I tell you?
One of my favourite blogging buddies is Michelle over at ~Psalm 104:24~. She doesn’t blog nearly enough to satisfy my tastes, but I enjoy each and every post. If you’re looking to read about a “treehuggin' homeschoolin' free spirit peacemaker dreamer tattoo lovin' nature freak” then you really shouldn’t be bothering to look elsewhere.
Well, among her other accomplishments and job-titles, Michelle is a goat farmer. And so when I recently won an impromptu contest on her blog, (impromptu, because I was the only one who knew it was a contest) she agreed to send me a prize.
And in the post today, all the way from the United States of America, my first bar of Goat’s Milk Soap. (Oatmeal flavour, for the manly fish.)
Thank you Michelle.
For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know that I recently completed an insane project called Biblios Hokku.
To put it simply, I wrote 66 Haikus, one for each book of the Bible.
Which took me a while, but it was pretty awesome. It was amazing, and challenging, and caused me to really study each book in depth. But now it is over.
And I don’t know what to do next.
Suggestions? What would you like to see?
Song of Songs in limericks?
I need a new project.
(For after November of course, because November is National Novel Writing Month.)
I apologise if I have been a little scarce of late. I have been frantically preparing myself for my insane NaNoWriMo project. For those of you who don’t know, I take part in National Novel Writing Month every year. During November, I try to write 50,000 words in 30 days.
Is it insane?
Of course.
This year we have an estimated 200,000 writers worldwide taking part. Why don’t you join us, and make it 200,001?
I will probably be quite scarce for the next few weeks, I may pop in and look around, but I doubt I will have time to comment on your blogs. I will try and do a few blog posts as well, but probably not going to be too many happening.
To learn more about my madness, go visit my page or my writing blog. I write under the name of David Seven.
As you may have gathered by now, I consider myself something of a writer. I maintain a separate blog for my writing persona, David Seven.
In fact, one of the regular series on this blog, and the other is one called Faith and Writing, wherein I explore the connection between my faith, and my writing. For a more complete explanation of why I consider my faith to be tied-up with my writing, might I suggest this post.
Well, about a year ago I was attending a quite day, and doing some meditation on Psalm 45, when I came across verse 1.
My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
And that verse kind of stopped me. Am I being a ready writer? I know in the context it is referring to reciting verses of praise, but it got me thinking about how I use my pen.
Am I a ready writer? Am I ready to use my pen to praise my King?
So I decided to register a new blog, called Ready Writer. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it yet, but I decided to register it anyway.
Except that I couldn’t. The name was already taken. (By someone who isn’t even using it!!) Then, while fiddling with other names, I found that Ready Writers was not taken yet. So I registered that as a blog.
And then I realised why I was supposed to set up a different blog; because it wasn’t going to be just mine. I see it as a blog of some sort with many ready writers using their pens to glorify their King.
But I don’t know exactly how it is going to work.
Am I going to use it like a Christian writing journal and ask for submissions?
Am I going to do (daily/weekly) writing prompts and encourage writers to post on the blog?
Am I going to do a combination of both?
Enquiring minds want to know.
What do you think? Drop me a line, and tell me how you think I should do this thing.
Thank you.
Oh, yes. The blog is on WordPress, and can be found here.
I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who is studying to enter the ministry. He mentioned a question that they had had posed to them in their course. For their assignment they had to try and convert someone without using the Bible. The idea was that you can never convince someone to accept the Bible by using the Bible.
Which makes sense I suppose.
But how do you do that? How do you convince someone of the truth of Christ’s saving grace, and his God-ship, without using scripture.
Well, you have to sell him something else.
You have to sell yourself.
Think of it this way. I can tell you that cheese tastes good, but you will never know what it tastes like until you try it. So you have to be convinced of it’s taste.
So I tell you it tastes good, that it will meet all your needs, and you will be refreshed eating it. But if you don’t believe me; If you think it is poison, or that it is terrible, you will never eat it.
So I have to sell you myself first. I have to convince you that I know what tastes good, and that I am not insane, and enjoy eating poison. I have to sell you the idea that I care enough about you to want you to have something that is good for you.
Then - once you buy me, you might be prepared to try what I am selling.
The same I think with evangelism. We can not sell Christ, unless we are also selling ourselves. We need to be seen to be caring, because otherwise why should they believe us. We need to be trustworthy, we need to be loving, we need to be stable. Then, when we say “I know a way that works, let me tell you why it worked for me,” they can rely on our tastes and trustworthiness. They can trust that we know what we are talking about.
If we aren’t building relationships, and living the word we preach, we are selling a product no one will trust.
And that is just wrong.
Some people find their answers in Jesus.
Some people find their answers in chocolate.
Some people find their Jesus in their chocolate.
I have nothing further.
The final chapter, in more ways than one. I don’t imagine any book of the Bible is more talked about, or discussed than Revelation.
Revelation, also called Apocalypse in some older texts, is the story of the end of times.
There are probably more interpretations of the book than there are verses in it. Many people claim to understand it, and to be able to interpret the day-by-day calendar of the end of the world.
For me, the images of “end-times” and “raptures” and “tribulations” are no where near as exciting as the images of “A New Jerusalem” and “The Lamb on the Throne” and God “wiping away all tears”
REVELATION
Apocalypse now!
Through strife and judgment,
we win in the end!
Need I say more?
I think not.
AMEN!
We are designed to make connections to God through prayer in more ways than we can imagine.
Prayer can be so much more than a simple conversation. It can be a wordless connection with God, a step beyond the boundary of the separated self. It can be a way to listen to the silence. And it can be learned.
Click here to learn more.
I was looking for a book to help me deepen my prayer life, so when I was given an opportunity to review this one, I jumped at it. It says “Mystically Wired is a practical guide to cooperating with your brain’s innate capacities in order to experience a richer, fuller prayer life. Your brain is wired and waiting to pray in new ways, enabled by a fresh understanding of some ancient prayer disciplines.”
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
I have to admit the book didn’t do a great deal for me. The second half had some useful prayer techniques; and they are summarised nicely in the annexure, which is very useful. However the first half was focused on convincing us that our brains are scientifically wired to respond to activities such as prayer in a certain way. It felt at time as if the writer was trying to convince me that prayer was “scientific” and that our religious response is in fact a physiological response to the meditative aspect.
This is not what the writer was getting at, as he has some very real spiritual insights. But it felt a little apologetic at times, as if prayer needed to be explained.
I received this book free as part of the Booksneeze programme at Thomas Nelson. I was not required to give a favourable review.
Visit Thomas Nelson.
Ah, November. 11th month of the year; a sign of the approach of December.
And also the setting for National Novel Writing Month.
As I mentioned last year, I am one of the insane writers who spend November trying to beat out a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. (We have to be finished by midnight on 31 Nov.)
And, since I am a Municipal Liaison for South Africa, and also for my hometown, I will be spending a lot of time looking after other writers, and hanging around in the forums.
So just a bit of advanced notice. I will still be blogging here, but probably not as regularly. Unless I can save up enough posts by the end of the month to pre-load them for November.
Madness? This is NANO!!!
The book of Jude is another letter written to try and combat heresy. Jude, possibly Jesus’ half-brother, urges his readers to “…contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) He warns that Godless men have crept into the church “…who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 1:4b)
To put it simply, they were teaching that being saved by Grace, meant you could keep sinning and it would not held against you.
Jude reminds them that this is not how it works, and that they must not be so easily taken in.
JUDE
Contend for the faith.
Your freedom is not to sin,
but to live in Grace.
I am particularly proud of the double meaning in line two. :-)
I’m not feeling so hot right now. I’ve had a bit of a sore throat since Friday morning, and it’s not going away.
Thanks.
If 1 John and 2 John were works of doctrine, then 3 John is a pastoral care letter.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. – 3 John 1: 4
John is concerned that some church leaders had lost their humility and charity. He praises some, but has harsh words for others.
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. – 3 John 1:11
Again, a short book (only one verse longer than 2 John), but a powerful one.
3 JOHN
Walk in truth, children.
Imitate good, not evil.
For this is of God.
Read the rest of the Bible in Haiku by going here.
We saw recently how 1 John was written in an effort to combat the Gnostic doctrines that Jesus only appeared to suffer and die. Well, it was so much a problem, that John had to write a second letter on the issue.
2 John is the shortest book in the New Testament, only 13 verses. But what verses they are!
Before addressing the heresy – again, John sends a message of love to the readers.
It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 2 John 4-6
That’s four “commands”, and three “loves”, in three verses.
2 JOHN
The secret of love?
Walk after His commandments,
and you shall know Him!
More Biblios Hokku here.
In the later part of the First Century, around 90-100AD, a strange heresy was creeping into the Christian Church. The Gnostics, believing that the material world ( and consequently all flesh ) was inherently evil, decided that Jesus was not a real man – that he had been on Earth in spirit only, and not in the flesh. This belief, called Docetism, had it that his earthly appearance was only an illusion, as was his crucifixion.
The disciple John was not amused.
“…but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, …” 1 John 4:3
He wrote this letter in an effort to try and convince the readers of the truth of who Jesus was, one who “..we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched…” 1 John 1:1
As the last living disciple, he was in a unique position to testify to the reality of the earthly Christ.
Two famous, and oft quoted passages are :
Beloved let us love, for love comes from God – 1 John 4:7
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
For John, these two verses would be meaningless, unless you accepted that the Earthly Jesus was also the Heavenly Christ.
1 JOHN
The real Word of life,
gives us a command of love,
and frees us from sin.
To see more Biblios Hokku, follow the link.
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