South Africa

Greetings,
It is I the fearless leader of the South Africa trip updating you. I have finally got some extra time so here we go.
We have seen God work in some amazing ways, we have seen his hand in our travels as well as in the eyes of the orphans we served. The orphanage was an amazing experience those children were so grateful for everything that they had and they loved to sing and play with us. From the moment we arrived they ran and jumped in our arms and pulled us all over the place.
We are now back at Glenn and Amie's church in Durbin. We have been working with them helping with their VBS, College Group and Youth Group. It has been fun but exhausing. Please continue to pray for the team and the remaining time we have. Thank You all so much for your genersity it was money well spent.

Informing or Inviting? 1:1:1

This Morning Pastor Mark sent me the article below. I think it has profound implications for fulfilling our 1:1:1 vision. On an average week 5-7 guests come to our church, usually invited by a friend for relative. We would like to see this increase to 15 per week. The key is not more information about church or its programs but rather personal invitations. What has been your experience when inviting friends to worship with you? What could the church do to make it easier for you to invite your friends. Perhaps you have something to share that could encourage others in to extend an invitation. If you do not feel comfortable inviting others to worship please share the reason(s) for your reluctance. Maybe we can "stimulate one another to love and good deeds."

What did you think about my challenge last Sunday (May 7, 2004) that we become "Spiritual EMT's?" I'd be interested in your comments about our responsibility to bring our friends into the presence of Jesus.

"Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus." Luke 5:18

Let me know if you find this article helpful. Are you praying that God will enable each of us to reach one new person with the gospel, each year for the next ten years? Do you think its possible or do you think this is unreasonable.

May 8, 2007

Are You Informing or Inviting?
Wendi Hammond

Denise, equipping director at First Church, was planning to beef up their summer recruitment efforts. Pastor Smith planned a four-week series touching on spiritual gifts, servanthood, and the priesthood of all believers. They upgraded their Web site to include direct links to specific volunteer roles and to an online gift assessment. A beautiful glossy catalog was produced with a list of literally hundreds of opportunities to serve. A letter went to the entire congregation, challenging those who were not yet involved in ministry to find a role that matched their gifts, passions, and abilities. The letter included the Web links, a copy of the ministry booklet, and a ministry application people could fill out and return to church any time during the month. In addition, each week the bulletin included an insert with a heart-touching testimony from one of First Church's loyal servants. To wrap up the month, a giant ministry fair was planned that included a free barbecue lunch for everyone in the congregation.

Unfortunately, at the end of the month, only 10 new people from the congregation of over 2,000 had signed up to join a ministry team.

Nothing that Denise and First Church did was inherently wrong. In fact, some of the ideas were very good. I'd suggest, however, that First Church went wrong by informing instead of inviting. Let's look at some characteristics of an invitation.

1. Invitations are Personal. An invitation makes someone feel special. It comes because of an existing relationship. On the other hand, informing is generally impersonal and no relationship is needed.

2. Invitations assume the invitee is qualified to attend. When I'm invited to a party, the host has already decided she wants me to attend. I have nothing to do but decide yes or no, and show up. Too often in ministry we invite everyone, then set about qualifying (or disqualifying) those who respond.

3. Invitations are specific. When I read the movie section of the local paper, I find many options for movies and show times playing at multiple locations. Nothing about reading this causes me to feel invited to the movies. However, when my husband suggests a movie, I know I've been invited out on a date.

4. Invitations are about relationships. How do you feel about the prospect of going alone to the office Christmas party when you've only been on the job for two weeks and everyone else has worked there for at least two years?

Let's "stimulate one another to love and good deeds" as we use this blog to interact about how we can extend more effective invitations.

Pastor Randy

Pastor Randy's Favorite Web Sites

I thought it might be fun to share with you some of the websites I enjoy. Pay close attention to the heading, these are some of my favorites – it doesn’t say “recommended” sites. I also held back on some of my favorite sports sites – Browns, Buckeyes, Big Red Machine. It would be more fascinating to discover which websites are your favorites! Please leave a comment letting us know your favorite websites. We may all learn new sites from your comments. See below my links for “comments” information. Thanks for participating; I look forward to your contributions.

Here are a few I use:

Cbclodi.org My favorite Church website of all times! I strongly recommend this site to all my friends.

Refdesk.com “The Single Best Source for Facts” this site is one stop reference desk. "Since 1995, refdesk indexes quality, credible and timely resources that are free and family-friendly."

Wikipedia.org The biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. Over two million articles and still growing.

Bible.org Home of the New English Translation (NET Bible). Includes translator notes to make clear interpretive decisions inherent in the process of translation.

Biblegateway.org An online searchable Bible in over 50 versions. Search the Bible in English, German, Swedish, Latin, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Norwegian.

ProFootballTalk.com The Best Pro Football Scoop on the Internet. Some say the #1 Online Resource for NFL and football breaking news, scoops, rumors, inside information and more, including the Super Bowl.

MondayMorningInsight.com A good way for me to start my week. Daily innovation, ministry insights, and thoughts from Todd Rhoades for Pastors and Church Leaders.

WorldNetDaily.com A reliable conservative source for daily news stories and commentary. Find the news here that may not make it to mainstream media.

Blogspot is an independent site operated by Google. It is actually not part of our church website. You can link to the blog from our church website however. To leave comments, you will find that Google asks for a password. There are several ways to obtain a password, you may already have one. If you use Gmail, that login works, if you are independently signed up with your own blog on blogspot, that log in works, or you can obtain a Google password. It is easy. Just click on “Comments” following my blog, and it will prompt you to sign up for a password. Google’s site says it is hoping to eliminate the need for passwords to leave comments at some point in the future. At the top right of our Blog page also has a place to sign in.

I hope you have enjoyed my links, and I look forward to seeing yours!

Mexico Missions

AND OFF WE GO!
That is how it seems in the final moments before we leave. We spend large amounts of time in prayer, we train six weeks physically and spiritually. Then we are off and we do not know what God has planned for us.
Last year this became very clear!
We left like normal "goodbye Lodi," "see you all later." I remember getting the call from Dennis, "the camp is flooded go back home." In those moments the joy of the trip was ripped away as we turned around. The seniors depressed because their last year on the trip was in danger and freshman hurt because their first year was slowly fading away.
We did not know what God had in store for us!
We tried to stay positive as we went back home and did not leave again until Monday morning. Missing precious work time and one clinic but we got there in one piece.

Then it happened!!! God showed himself in a big way!!! We finished a huge construction project. We saw more people in the medical clinics than ever before and I saw students make life long decisions. It was a huge blessing. God many time reminds us that he is in control.

This is my last year leading this trip. The team is smaller than last year. Training has been hard this year. Students have dropped out of the trip. I am excited!!! It is times like this that God shows himself to us. Let's not worry about this trip because God cares more about the people that we serve than we do. Blessings.

-PJ

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

Randy previously posted that the Discovery Channel will present the documentary the Lost Tomb of Jesus on March 4Th. I do not want to make a bigger issue of this situation but I will be answering the claims in this documentary on Sunday Night @ Flux. Flux actually takes place before the program but much of the content was made available on the Discovery Channel website. Because of the subject this Sunday, Flux will be open to all ages that wish to learn more!

Why answer these claims? The reason is very simple. The college students that attend Flux must go to class on Monday morning with professors that will say " ah ha look there is the proof that your faith is foolish." To surrender our students to pseudo intellectuals who will propagate this message would be irresponsible of me as a Pastor. The goal of the message on Sunday night will not be to attack the director or producers of this show but to give and answer to the questions raised.

1 Peter 3:15
But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.

The Lost tomb of Jesus

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

9pm March 4, Discovery Channel

It must be Easter, the most sacred day on the Christian calendar. I know it's Easter because another so called documentary attacking the historical accuracy of the Bible or the historicity of Jesus is being widely publicized. There is no better time to sell air conditioners than August and there is no better time to trot out the old re-hashed arguments against orthodox Christianity than right around Easter. If my memory serves me right, and it doesn’t very often, last year there was a similar program attacking the historicity of the Bible that aired on Easter Sunday. Only those who already have a bias against Christianity or the most gullible and misinformed swallow these shallow arguments based upon a faulty premise and faulty reasoning.

If you are interested in digging a little deeper, try Dr. Darrell Bock’s blog. Dr. Bock is Professor of NT at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas Texas; I highly recommend his blog.

http://dev.bible.org/bock/node/106

There is also an interesting discussion of this so called documentary in USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-02-26-jesus-documentary_x.htm

Although widely criticized at the time, “The Passion of the Christ”, came out at Easter too. Once it proved to be wildly successful financially there have been many films sympathetic to Christianity following in its wake. Just this week Walden Films released Amazing Grace, the story about William Wilberforce the Christian social activist who overturned the institution of slavery. The story of John Newton and William Wilberforce is one the greatest stories of how the grace of God not only changed the lives of these two men but changed the course of a nation and resulted in the abolition of slavery within the British Empire. The movie is worth seeing although it tends to focus the viewers attention on Wilberforce’s social action rather than his conversion to Christianity which was at the root of his activism. The reason for this omission is an attempt to reach a wider audience. If the truth were really told about Wilberforce’s profound conversion to Christianity and his deep faith the movie would probably flop financially. Tone down his Christianity, this way we get the evangelical Christian to go to the movies and his un-churched neighbor too. I don’t want to be too harsh, after all I think these are the kind of movies we want Hollywood to make and it’s encouraging to me that they are box office hits. However, as is usually the case the book is much better than the movie. The movie is based on Eric Metaxas book Amazing Grace (Harper Collins, 2007). In an interview for World Magazine, February 24, 2007, (www.worldmag.com) Metaxas was asked why anyone should be interested in Wilberforce. His answer gets to the heart of Wilberforce’s activism, “(Wilberforce) is one of the greatest Christian heroes of all time. He dedicated himself to doing what was utterly unthinkable in his day, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire. He also knew how to be thoroughly in the Word while being utterly not of the world. He could serve as a new model of what it is to be devoutly Christian while powerfully and effectively engaging the culture around us.” Look for more similar fare, some portraying Christianity in a positive light and some denigrating it. Jesus sells.

blogging

There are three types of bloggers:
1. The blogger who feels the need share his opinion.
2. The blogger who uses blogs as a dear diary for the entire world.
3. The blogger who feels the need to be humorous in all occasions.

Pastors tend to fit into the first and third category.

Things that you can expect from this blog site are insightful thoughts or humorous diatribes. Things that you cannot expect from this blog are entries that demonstrate that we are in any way in touch with our feelings.

That being said I want you to know that I love you all.

Remember to check back on a regular basis for more to come!

Predestination

Recently we have been studying Ephesians 1:3-7 in Sunday morning worship. It is a passage of Scripture that emphasizes god's role in our salvation - God's sovereignty. Below are a couple of quotes that I had in my notes but did not use in my sermon - I thought for those of you struggling to balance the sovereignty of god with human responsibility these quotes from two reformed theologians might help. also I highly recommend reading a brief booklet on this subject, which is a classic, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer.

Divine side of the equation

Exelexato

Ephesians 1:4 “He chose us” Usage determines meaning!

Three things may be noted about how this word is used in the LXX.

1. All the options are known before the choice is made.

Lot surveyed the land before he made his choice. His choice was base don knowledge.

David was chosen by Samuel after he had seen all of Jesse’s sons.

The choice was not made in a vacuum.

2. The object or person not chosen is not spurned or regarded with dislike. David’s brothers were rejected but not despised. Israel was chosen but the other nations were not despised.

3. The choice is based on the subject’s preference not any legal claim on the part of the person chosen. The subject has a personal interest in his choice, it is not random or impulsive or because he is indebted in some way.

Sons of God chose wives who were beautiful. Lot chose land that was favorable to him.

NT – The choice is made with all the options fully known, it is made without any dislike towards those not chosen, the choice is intensely personal not random and impersonal, finally it displays the grace for God and his initiative.

Proorizw

Ephesians 1:4 “He predestined us to adoption as sons”

“to set a boundary, to determine” from which we derive the idea and the word “horizon”

John 1:11-13

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

2 Timothy 1:9

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…

Human side of the equation

1 Timothy 1:1-4

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men…This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Romans 10:13

Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Isaiah 55:9

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Antinomy – (Webster)
“a contradiction between two equally valid principles or between inferences correctly drawn from such principles.” Two apparently mutually exclusive truths which must be held simultaneously. The sovereignty of God and human responsibility are an example of an antinomy.

This has been the orthodox or reformed view of this problem throughout church history.

John MacArthur, The Believer’s Life in Christ

“I believe in the doctrine of election because it is taught in the Bible Scripture teaches that God chooses people to be saved before they’re born and places their names ins the book of life. That doesn’t mean He violates man’s will. The mystery of salvation is that although God elects people, they are at the same time responsible for their decisions. Jesus said, “Him tht cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37). He also said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

The paradox of divine election and human decision can be reconciled only in the mind of God. It’s not our responsibility to resolve it. We must allow God to be sovereign."

J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, p 16-17

“People see that the Bible teaches man’s responsibility for his actions; they do not see…how this is consistent with the sovereign Lordship of God over those actions. They are not content to let the two truths live side by side, as they do in the Scriptures, but jump to the conclusion that, in order to uphold the biblical truth of human responsibility, they are bound to reject the equally biblical and equally true doctrine of divine sovereignty, and to explain away the great number of texts that teach it. The desire to over-simplify the Bible by cutting out the mysteries is natural to our perverse minds, and it is not surprising that even good men should fall victim to it. Hence the persistent and troublesome dispute. The irony of the situation, however, is that when we ask how the two sides pray, it becomes apparent that those who profess to deny God’s sovereignty really believe in it just as strongly as those who affirm it.”

I'd be interested in answering any questions you might have about this topic or interacting with your comments.

Spelling

Ok! Here we go, please do not hold the church responsible for any of my comments, thoughts or spelling. Actually I am a very good speller but a very poor typist. I took typing in the 9th grade but back then no one ever thought that they would need to type unless you were going to become a secretary - then along came computers, email, blogging stuff like that. Since I am brand new to blogging I have no idea what useful purpose it might serve. My thinking is that it might give me (staff) the opportunity to comment on current events. It might also be a forum for discussing what is going on in the church at any given moment and it may also be a place for us to answer theological questions. I just noticed that our blog comes with a spell checker - I must warn you that I fly beneath spell checkers and although i will make every effort to use it it will not catch all of my typing errors.

I hope this catches on it could be fun.
PR (Pastor Randy)

Hey people of Lodi

We have entered the world of blogging. Stay Tuned!