Filed under: Liberalism, Moral Relativism, faith, homosexual agenda, leadership, marriage, observations, opinion, sermon ideas, sermon starter
Crazy in Gath
11 But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances:
Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands?”
12 David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,
13 so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
14 “Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me?
15 Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?” ( HCSB)
This account in David’s life reflects our actions many times before a lost world. He walks into enemy territory, Goliath’s Hometown, with Goliath’s sword, where he had made many widows seeking refuge from Saul. This no doubt caused a stir. Achish was obviously afraid of him or he would have attacked him immediately. What did the people of Gath think about him?
- They regarded him as a king
- They remembered his victory over them
David did not consider both of these truths that were readily conceded by the enemy. He saw himself as a hunted man and he was in survival mode. Instead of walking by faith and victory, he chose to seek his own solution to the problem. He pretended to be insane.
When we walk into enemy territory each day, how do we choose to live? They will concede that we have something they do not. They see the victory we have that they cannot have without Christ. They know the work of God in our lives. Will we choose to express our faith and victory through Christ or stare blankly through them as if our brain and our faith is dead? Will we stand for the truth when we are called upon to do so? Will we choose to participate in the Insanity of the world? Like Achish said, the world is full of insanity. The world does not need one more person who will pretend something is true that is not. The world does not need the drool of political correctness; the world needs a Savior and His Word. This brings to mind the recent firing of a Christian in Mass. After being provoked by a lesbian co-worker to share his opinion about her gay marriage, the man stated that he believed she was wrong. He was promptly fired. Will you stand for the truth like this man did even if it cost your job? The alternative is to face the wall and look crazy in Gath.
Filed under: Al Mohler, Baptist Courier, Christian response to Islam, Christianity VS. Islam, Moral Relativism, SCBC, calvinism, church planting, contemperary worship styles, emergent church, faith, observations, opinion, traditional churches
The president of Southern Baptist Seminary says Christians should not observe Muslim “holy days,” no matter how well-intentioned they may be.
Brian McLaren is known as the godfather of the “emergent church,” which seeks to recover ancient Christian worship practices. The emergent church movement has, at times, questioned the theology of traditional evangelicalism. McLaren made headlines recently when he announced he would be fasting during Ramadan to better understand Muslims.
Muslims find new Ramadan fast partners: Christians
On a recent radio broadcast, Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr. tackled the issue, saying it is dangerous and confusing when Christians adopt the practices of other religious beliefs which do not acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord. Instead, Mohler said Christians must focus on Christ and sharing the gospel with Muslims.
“It is the love of Christ that leads us to love our neighbor enough to share the gospel with them, which takes on the very tangible expression of seeking to have them, by means of the gospel, come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That is love, in that God loved us so also we love our neighbor – and love of neighbor is not just in terms of living peaceably among our neighbors,” he contends.
“From a Christian perspective, from a New Testament perspective, loving our neighbor is not just not putting our grass clippings on his lawn; it’s loving our neighbor enough to share the gospel with him, to be motivated to share the gospel.”
Mohler said many Muslims do not understand the true nature of Islam.
From the pastorinthewoods blog spot I want to say that I thank God for men like Mohler who understand the age that we live in and can speak prophetically to it.
Nothing surprises me anymore about the emergent church. They have traded sound theology for pragmatic relevance. Everything is about understanding the journey of others. Instead of focusing on the Creator and Savior of the universe, they have decided to focus on created human beings needs and desires. They have done this to their own peril. In the end it is a shadow church where people demand to be served and stirred by feel good messages about a God who thinks they are the “coolest and most awesomest ever.” These preachers put far more time into their stage props than in their sermon preparation. Worship leaders stand up to lead music and say during the praise time, “ now we worship”, disregarding the read and preached Word when they take time to actually read it and preach it. While I have no issue with a fresh approach to missions and church planting. I do have issues with the direction of church planting when it values pragmatic relevance over the preaching and teaching of God’s Word and the sound fundamentals of the faith. The Gospel has the power to save the Jew and the Gentile not “understanding.” Therefore,we should not be ashamed of it as some seem to be. (Romans 1:16)
Filed under: firefighting, leadership, observations, pastoral leadership and problem solving, sermon ideas, sermon starter
Servant Leadership vs. Fearful Leadership
I will be preaching this Sunday night from 1 Samuel 18 on the subject of “The Anatomy of Envy.” We will be examining the destructive forces of envy in the life of Saul. Along those lines, it is also worth noting the difference between Saul and his son Jonathan in regards to their leadership styles. Saul chose to rule his kingdom based upon fear. His whole agenda was set to defend his own image. He used people and sought to control people continually. After the defeat of Goliath and the subsequent friendship between Jonathan and David, verse 2 tells us that, ”Saul took him(David) that day and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore.” On the surface, it seems that Saul is doing this to recruit David to be a part of the effort to defeat the Philistines. However, based on the remainder of the passage we find that Saul was fearful of David and really wanted to keep him close in order to try to control him. Saul did many things to intimidate and control David in the days to come. Throwing spears at him, sending him to the front lines, and even making him a part of the royal family. This only caused David to be more successful and popular. The women would sing, “ Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. The Bible says that this galled Saul. Chapter 18 says in verse 14 and 15, “ and David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved wisely, he was afraid of him.”
The contrast to this is Jonathan’s response to David’s victory. The scriptures say that he loved him, made a covenant with him, he gave him his own royal robe, and his armor and weaponry. Jonathan saw no threat in David and actually expresses gracious love to a lowly shepherd boy. Both leaders pulled David in close to them. Saul did this out of a need to control and a terrible sense of suspicion. Jonathan did this out of love and a desire to empower David. One leader was afraid of the success of David and another celebrated it. This brings me to the point of the post, what type of leader are you? Here are some questions for us to answer:
How do you respond to the success of peers or those under your care?
Do you find yourself pulling people in to control them or empower them?
Do you give things to people in order to control them more or empower them to succeed?
Are you willing to give away your power to others to see them succeed in what God has called them to do?
There are many pastors and leaders who dwell in the land of fear. They have chosen to be leaders consumed by fear. They fear the deacons becoming to powerful, the church down the road getting too big, the associate pastor being liked to much, or something happening that they cannot get credit for. This is not only common in the pastorate but is all areas of leadership. There is a saying among firefighters, “all good fire chiefs are control freaks.” I have found in large measure that is true. Good fire scene commanders are always worried about what they do not know. This often follows them to the board rooms and the day rooms. They cannot escape their fear of what is going on they do not know about.
The way we order our lives as leaders will determine if we are a Saul or a Jonathan. Did we live our lives in fear and suspicion of others, always trying to keep them under our thumb and within sight? Will we live our lives serving and empowering others? Will we release them to do what God has called them to or will we wait for our moment to pin them to the wall with our spear of discouragement?
The choice is ours.
