A Short Reflection on 1 Samuel 3

My wife says I’m too critical when it comes to preaching.  Perhaps I am…but it’s mostly because I take preaching extremely seriously and consider it one of the most important duties of a minister.  More people hear a minister preach than who experience any other interaction with that person.  It’s in preaching that the Word of God is delivered to the masses.

So I recently heard a message on 1 Sam. 3 and in this particular sermon, the preacher made what I would consider a pretty common error with this text.

As long as I can remember this story of Samuel being awoken in the middle of the night by God calling to him has always been presented to me as a lesson on obediently responding to God’s call, no matter how old you are or what time of day it may be.  While this may be true for some Bible personalities (such as Isaiah), I’m not cnvinced of this with Samuel.

The reason being is that Hannah, Samuel’s mother, had dedicated Samuel to the LORD even before he was born.  In other words, as I read 1 Sam. 3 in its larger context, I’m not convinced Samuel had the option to ignore God’s call.  Samuel belonged to God, for His purposes, long before the events of chapter 3.  So when God comes on the scene and wakes Samuel up from a good dream, he’s not calling/inviting Samuel to be His servant, He’s coming to claim what already belonged to Him.

Therefore, 1 Sam. 3 cannot be used as an example of faithful obedience (unless your talking about Samuel’s obedience to Eli’s instructions after waking the old man up three times).  Perhaps a better interpretation and application would be God’s providencial working and predestination in the life of His people…

Filed under: Bible Study

“Pressing On” (Philippians 3:12-4:1)

Sermon on Phil. 3:12-4:1 slated to be preached on July 27.  Enjoy…

Paul’s letter to the Philippians stands out as a letter that spends a lot of time talking about setting an example.  In many ways, Philippians has the feel of a missionary thank-you letter; Paul is thanking the Philippian church for their gifs and reporting on his progress as he travels throughout Asia Minor preaching the Gospel and starting new churches.  But unlike many of the letters our own church has received from the missionaries we support, Paul actually encourages the Philippian Christians to follow his example to live life the way he lives life.  Ordinarily, our missionary reports are saturated with praise and thanksgiving; Paul says thank-you, and then goes on to dispel pastoral advice.

Our text contains the second of four such tidbits of advice.  Let’s take a look at Philippians 3:12…

READ PHIL. 3:12-4:1

Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Ministry, Preaching, Sermon, Theology

The Apostle’s Wordle

A wordle is sort of like a collage of words with the most important (i.e. frequently occurring) words being the biggest and boldest.  I came across a website that lets you type in whatever you want and it spits back a wordle out of what you gave.  I typed in the Apostle’s Creed and this was one of the results.  Who knows, there might be something about this worth using in ministry in some way…

Filed under: Faith

“The kingdom of heaven is like…”

It’s stuck me the past few days of reading through Luke that many of Jesus’ parables are about the kingdom of heaven.  My latest attempt at reading through the Bible has opened my eyes to a number of things that I hadn’t really noticed before and this is one of them.  And so, I’m going to try to run a series here in which I go through the “Kingdom Parables” in an effort to better understand what the “kingdom of heaven” is all about.

As I’ve seen, there are basically three common understandings of the kingdom of heaven: 1) the kingdom is something to look forward to but not yet arrived; 2) the kingdom is currently being built within the hearts of believers; 3) the kingdom is here and now and exists within the hearts of believers.  I haven’t taken all my theology yet, but if I understand right, the official Reformed position is #3 – and it’s certainly the one I gravitate toward, not because it’s Reformed, but simply because my inclinations line up with the Reformed concept of kingdom.

In any case, I recognize that my concept/understanding of kingdom has the potential to greatly affect the manner in which I minister and lead a church.  I invite to follow along and study this with me.  And of course, leave comments when and where ever you want…

Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Leadership, Ministry, Theology

Just a Friendly Public Service Announcement

In an attempt to generate traffic and make everyone aware of what else is out there, I want to once again point out that I do have a second blog.  The Nooma Adventures is a blog a set-up a while back focused exclusively on my journey to becoming a church planter.  Nooma is the greek word for “spirit,” as in the Holy Spirit.  Establishing yourself in any ministry must be the working and movement of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life.  So the name is a bit appropriate.

The Nooma Adventures contains postings of articles I find the bear significance to planting in Portland and insights into the cultural mindset of the area.  I also blog about my thoughts concerning church planting (struggles, benefits, theology, etc.) and often say something about my vision and passion for Portland.

Sometimes I use the site to bounce ideas around such as church names and logos and the rationale behind those options.  When I do that, you’re ideas, opinions, and insights are greatly welcome (I welcome comments of any sort at any time, but sometimes I specifically ask for them).

Most of all, my desire for The Nooma Adventures is to garner support for what I feel God has prepared me for and am trying to do.  For other potential church planters out there, I hope this blog is encouraging by letting them know they aren’t the only ones struggling with questions, doubts, and emotional rollercoaters.  For pastors, consider this a little bit of insight into how you and your congregation may want to support a church plant and show you just how much it’s needed.  For laity (the joe-shmoes not in paid ministry) this is a chance for you to see what goes on behind the scenes in ministry.

It would be great if you would share the link to both of these blogs to your friends and anyone who you think would care about the work I’m trying to do.

One disclaimer: I do not update The Nooma Adventures as often as I do “Under Construction.”  But I imagine that as I get closer to graduation and an official CRC call to plant in Portland I will post more frequently.  So if I go for a long time without posting, it’s only because there’s no new news; don’t forget about this blog and keep checking back for updates.

God bless…

Filed under: Church, Church Planting, Ministry