A People of Prayer

Steve Camp shares some great thoughts on prayer this week, on his blog, CAMPONTHIS. Here is a couple of excerpts from it;

We have also seen in our day a plastination of the church. A series of techniques developed to “embalm” the church with artificial preservatives; rendering it only a colorful, lifeless cadaver—a church that had a name to be alive, but is now dead.

How do we guard against spiritual plastination? We must first begin by being a people of prayer. It is the most difficult and isolated of all spiritual disciplines; for we must go into the closet, shut the door, be alone with God, and on our knees in humility, be servants prostrate before the Lord. It is no small thing that the duty and calling of any pastor is “prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). It is a work of grace; it is heaven’s charge; it is the complete dependency upon God for all things. James was called after his death, because of the thick calluses that covered his knees due to the long hours he spent in prayer before the Lord Jesus. It is no coincidence that he penned these most familiar words, “the camel-kneed”“the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Read the entire article HERE

An Ancient Book, History and the Modern Age

It seems that more and more now I'm reading or hearing in the media a response to Christians or people of faith with a biblical worldview, when they speak out on moral and scientific issues, that "this is the 21st century" and that "their views and the Bible are not relevant". Of course this response is not exactly new, as many of us have heard this type of reasoning in school and from some friends and acquaintances for many years now.

It's obvious though, that we are in an anti-authoritarian age and that the greatest authority that must be defeated by the secular society today is the authority of the Bible as the Word of God. It seems to me that during this postmodern era that we are into, that there is an increasing onslaught of challenges to biblical authority, right from the new atheists like Christopher Hitchens, to liberal theologians like Bart Ehrman, to secular academia, right on down to the average Joe who writes letters in the local newspapers.

It's so important for the church to take a strong stand for biblical authority through preaching, teaching and education. There are some excellent books out there on this and one I came across recently is Ancient Word, Changing Worlds, The Doctrine of Scripture in the Modern Age by authors Stephen J. Nichols and Eric T. Brandt. It has been helping students and laypersons to get a grasp of what really is at stake in the challenges to biblical authority. Also, James MacDonald had an excellent series of messages on his Walk in the Word radio program late last year called, I Choose the Bible as God's Word. Some other great resources are available from Dr. Daniel B. Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary. He is an expert on textual criticism and has founded the Centre for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts.

The human condition and heart has not changed since the fall of man and indeed has not from when Moses gave the tablets of the Ten Commandments to ancient Israel from Mount Sinai, many think as early as1443 B.C. (Exodus 20 & 31). All through history, men of God have spoken words that are just as relevant for today as they were in their times and eras. (II Timothy 3:16 & II Peter 1:21) Some of the prophets and apostles were chosen by God to record it as the inspired Scriptures (The Canon) and many others spoke out profound words from Scripture that are still relevant and that we have from historical writings, especially from early Christianity and church history. All around us in the secular culture today, students are being bombarded with revisionist history which is causing misinformation and harm. In contrast to that, earlier this week Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds posted a great article from professor James Spiegel of Taylor University, entitled "Ten Lessons from Great Christian Minds".

From philosophy professor James Spiegel:

1. Augustine (5th century): Remember that you are a citizen of another kingdom.
   
2. Martin Luther (16th century): Expect politicians to be corrupt.
3. Thomas Aquinas (13th century): God has made himself known in nature.
4. John Calvin (16th century): God is sovereign over all, including our suffering.
5. Jonathan Edwards (18th century): God is beautiful, and all beauty is divine.
6. Thomas a’Kempis (15th century): Practice self-denial with a passion.
7. John Wesley (18th century): Be disciplined and make the best use of your time.
   
8. Fyodor Dostoevsky (19th century): God’s grace can reach anyone.
9. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (20th century): Beware of cheap grace.
10. Alvin Plantinga (21st century): Moral virtue is crucial for intellectual health.

Read THE WHOLE POST for his explanation of each point

Men on Purpose

Dan Edelen over at the Cerulean Sanctum blog posted an article last week entitiled "Purpose- And Why Christian Men Don't Always Live Theirs". What I found astounding about it was what he shared when he wrote - "I would say that at least 70 percent of the Christian men I know have this nagging feeling that they’re not doing what they are supposed to be doing. And this usually means in their careers, in their walk with the Lord, or in both". I never would have expected this number to be that high for men in their careers. For Christian men who have been laid off or have retired, it probably wouldn't be quite so surprising. Is a career and a man's walk with the Lord that inter-related? I definitely think so if we look at the matter of what "a calling" is. I'm not sure whether to label this under work or put it within the retirement posts? Here is more of what Dan wrote:

At a small group meeting this weekend, we watched a video on bettering one’s marriage. One of the comments the speaker made concerned finding one’s purpose in God, and that this purpose comes from no one else.

And this bothers me. Not because it’s not true, but because one of the most common discussions I have with other Christian men concerns their nearly universal sense of purposelessness. In fact, I would say that at least 70 percent of the Christian men I know have this nagging feeling that they’re not doing what they are supposed to be doing. And this usually means in their careers, in their walk with the Lord, or in both.

I brought this issue up in the discussion that followed the video, and the general response was that men who felt that way were not close enough to God or else they wouldn’t feel that way. God doesn’t leave people twisting in the wind, they say.

Sadly, I think that’s the common perception. But I think there’s a deeper issue here.

Many of the Christian men who struggle with their sense of purpose do so not because they haven’t already caught a vision from God, but because they have. The problem there is they have no sense of how to make that vision a reality, especially when confronted with a common set of dilemmas. Ask a Christian man who struggles with purpose what he suspects the problem might be, and I believe he’ll give you one of these five answers:

Read the entire article HERE

A re-introduction to Christ

Blair Wingo and her poetry and she's been well grounded in the Word.

Rethinking Retirement

I am going to begin my journey in blogging with a series of posts pertaining to retirement and specifically "Rethinking Retirement". I will probably digress somewhat from this subject a time or two, commenting on other pertinent and relevant topics related to the purpose of my blog as they arise, but I will endeavour to get through this as thoroughly as I can without losing too much of the flow of thought and ideas. It is my intention and purpose here to discuss mainly topics related to matters of family, community, the church, culture, missions and theology from a Christian worldview. I will have links to a variety of articles and resources.

Having taken an early retirement near the end of 2007, sooner than I had planned or would have preferred, due to the economic conditions plaguing the auto industry, I've tried to look at it as a new phase in my life and not as an anticipated time of constant leisure. Conforming to God's plan and will for our lives is always something that we should be striving for in gainful employment and in the "post employment stage" of life.

Last week as I listened to The Albert Mohler Radio Program and the specific program on this topic, "Rethinking Retirement", I was not only convicted by it but encouraged too. It's not that many of us don't love retirement because we do and it's not that there is something fundamentally wrong with the desire for leisure, but there needs to be more to retirement than many are finding. Two main thoughts just seemed to resonate with me and remind me that there is much to do.

The first point is living and finishing well for the glory of Christ. David prayed for this in Psalm 71:18

So even to old age and gray hairs,
Oh God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
to another generation,
your power to all those to come.

The second point is about giving an example to all those folks in the body of Christ who are approaching end of vocation for a variety of reasons, whether they be age, economic, health concerns, forced termination etc. It's about giving others someone that they want to follow and enjoin in kingdom work. We need to make this something that catches on where others will say " I want to do that too", as they go into what I would call the "post employment years".

So then, it is not about retirement but about persevering in the work of The Lord, having a passion to make the greatness of God known to generations we are leaving behind and making this new found kingdom work attractive to others soon to be reaching this point in their lives!

The Albert Mohler Radio Program
"Rethinking Retirement" Listen HERE

Read "Rethinking Retirement" -by John Piper Click HERE