“The universe,is queerer than we can suppose.”

First off, chill out with the title of the post. ….Well this is what I am up against, the logic of “great” thinkers of the day 🙂  a remarkable quote , the jacēre of the argument is, if we can rethink our past, then events in the past are not real, we can just rethink them and have a whole new reality…. so, my pet dog Bobbie that died in 1980, well, she is not really dead, I just need to change my thinking …. if I did not get that raise last year because I was a dope of an employee, well…let me rethink my boss dead, rethink the new boss …me…give myself a raise…. rethink the old boss alive…spend the raise….start all over again…simply marvelous….Groundhog day the movie all over again. well in the words of the great philosopher Punxsutawney Phil, “Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today.”

I know I am not near as smart as the good Dr Lanza but where do they come up with this stuff.

We must re-think all that we have ever learned about the past, human evolution and the nature of reality, if we are ever to find our true place in the cosmos,” says Constance Hilliard, a historian of science at UNT. Choices you haven’t made yet might determine which of your childhood friends are still alive, or whether your dog got hit by a car yesterday. In fact, you might even collapse realities that determine whether Noah’s Ark sank. “The universe,” said John Haldane, “is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”

I think I will hang my reality on this

Hebrews 3:13 But f exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by g the deceitfulness of sin.

It is a queer world indeed, Seek Him and the reality of His offer of salvation

Tone

Heresy has no friends,just evil bed fellows

One of the hardest things for me as a pastor is to deal with the clean up of broken hearted people that were lead astray by evil heretical teaching. My personality is such that I try to lead with the Crook not the Staff. I try to lead with gentleness and compassion but sometimes my blood boils with what I see.

I had this email tonight from a guy that I have care over for teaching sound doctrine, and the [ real ] Gospel of Christ. I know many of you reading this are fans of the heretic Joel Osteen and I take no pleasure in calling him a heretic but it is , what it is. The gospel he preaches is a social gospel, it masks the  need for a Saviour and points people down a damnable path of which he will be held accountable.

I have seen in the business world so many problems with guys failing, almost every time the problem, path or lie can be ferreted out if you follow the money, sad to say it is the same in ministry. Each and EVERY one of these false teachers is leading a life of opulence and greed, yes every one of them. Begging and stealing from those that do not have in order to stuff their pockets with filthy lucre [ 1 Tim 3:3 ]

I know those of you reading this that follow the likes of Osteen , think I am nuts and off base, mean spirited etc…I can only say that I see this in real life affecting real people, I will not tone it down any longer, I will call what I see what it is and use ONLY scripture as my guide. not opinion or feelings, just let scripture land where it may.

Here is the email…… ” Mike, This is one of the things it’s hard to understand , Especially when your “Not Doing Well Financially”!! I think this is one of the things we were discussing before. See you tomorrow”

Here is what prompted the email

“Today’s Scripture “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (Luke 6:38). Today’s Word from Joel and Victoria God is a god of abundance! He wants to pour out His abundance on you until you are so full that you are running over with His goodness. And notice how this verse starts. It says, “Give, and it will be given to you.” Your giving sets the blessing of God into motion in your life. Giving is like a seed. When you plant an apple seed, it doesn’t just grow a single fruit. That one seed grows into a tree that produces an abundance of apples! That’s what happens when you obey God in your giving. You receive an abundant harvest in return. It’s overflowing, literally “running over”! And when the blessing is running over, it means you have so much that you want to give more. The cycle just keeps repeating itself! Is there something the Lord is telling you to give today? It could be financial, material, or even your talents and service to others. What do you have in your hand that you can use to bless someone else? Take a step today and set the blessing of God into motion in your life. Open the door for His blessing to be running over in every area of your life today! A Prayer for Today Father in heaven, I choose to obey Your Word. I choose to be a tither and a giver. I choose to give to others knowing that You will use me in a greater capacity in return. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

If these guys feel so strongly that giving is so darn good…..why the heck don’t they give until it hurts, after all, they will receive , pressed down , shaken together….POOO I hate hirelings using scripture out of context to further their self serving κοπρία { google it }

I hope the dear Hireling Dr.Joel and Pastorette Osteen sort this out before they run many more people down the road to hell……

Vent over…. for now

Dang……

Why preach a Christless sermon

The very idea of a “Christless sermon” appalled Charles Spurgeon. It was a plague he confronted repeatedly (and vividly) in his own sermons. Although sometimes overstated to make his point, his words are a healthy challenge today over 100 years after his death. Here’s a small collection of colorful quips:

“The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and him crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.” [7/9/1876; sermon #2899]

“Leave Christ out? O my brethren, better leave the pulpit out altogether. If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning Christ’s name in it, it ought to be his last, certainly the last that any Christian ought to go to hear him preach.”[undated; sermon #768]

“Leave Christ out of the preaching and you shall do nothing. Only advertise it all over London, Mr. Baker, that you are making bread without flour; put it in every paper, ‘Bread without flour’ and you may soon shut up your shop, for your customers will hurry off to other tradesmen. … A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. However grand the language it will be merely much-ado-about-nothing if Christ be not there. And I mean by Christ not merely his example and the ethical precepts of his teaching, but his atoning blood, his wondrous satisfaction made for human sin, and the grand doctrine of ‘believe and live.’” [10/23/1881; sermon #1625]

“I know one who said I was always on the old string, and he would come and hear me no more; but if I preached a sermon without Christ in it, he would come. Ah, he will never come while this tongue moves, for a sermon without Christ in it—a Christless sermon! A brook without water; a cloud without rain; a well which mocks the traveler; a tree twice dead, plucked up by the root; a sky without a sun; a night without a star. It were a realm of death—a place of mourning for angels and laughter for devils. O Christian, we must have Christ! Do see to it that every day when you wake you give a fresh savor of Christ upon you by contemplating his person. Live all the day, trying as much as lieth in you, to season your hearts with him, and then at night, lie down with him upon your tongue.” [3/6/1864; sermon #558]

“Sooner by far would I go to a bare table, and eat from a wooden porringer something that would appease my appetite, than I would go to a well-spread table on which there was nothing to eat. Yes, it is Christ, Christ, Christ whom we have to preach; and if we leave him out, we leave out the very soul of the gospel. Christless sermons make merriment for hell. Christless preachers, Christless Sunday school teachers, Christless class leaders, Christless tract distributors—what are all these doing? They are simply setting the mill to grind without putting any grist into the hopper. All their labor is in vain. If you leave Jesus Christ out, you are simply beating the air, or going to war without any weapon with which you can smite the foe.” [2/11/1866; sermon #3288]

“The Spirit of God bears no witness to Christless sermons. Leave Jesus out of your preaching, and the Holy Spirit will never come upon you. Why should he? Has he not come on purpose that he may testify of Christ? Did not Jesus say, ‘He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you’? Yes, the subject was Christ, and nothing but Christ, and such is the teaching which the Spirit of God will own. Be it ours never to wander from this central point: may we determine to know nothing among men but Christ and his cross.” [5/30/1880; sermon #1540]

“Where there is nothing of Christ, brethren, there is nothing of unction, nothing of savor, and a man is quite right not to attend such a ministry as that. Leave Christ out of your preaching, and you have taken the milk from the children, you have taken the strong meat from the men; but if your object as a teacher or preacher is to glorify Christ, and to lead men to love him and trust him, why, that is the very work upon which the heart of God himself is set. The Lord and you are pulling together.” [4/17/1887; sermon #2409]

“Christ not only supplies the necessities of his people, but he gives them abundant and superabundant joy in the luxuries of his grace. You do not really preach the gospel if you leave Christ out; if he be omitted, it is not the gospel. You may invite men to listen to your message, but you are only inviting them to gaze upon an empty table unless Christ is the very center and substance of all that you set before them.” [6/16/1878; sermon #2787]

Why evangelize or become a missionary

I have been pondering this all week and it is just eating at me, not sure why..

I think it might be due to the last fourteen months in the study from the book of Acts and reflecting on Paul, one of the greatest of all missionaries.
As a young man he was a religious fanatic, Born in exile in Tarsus and he went by the name Saul, he was a Pharisee full of zeal and knowledge of the scripture, studied in Jerusalem under one of the leading rabbis of his day, Gamaliel.

Saul was convinced that what the early Christians believed,that Jesus of Nazareth was Messiah was blasphemous, so he persecuted them. He approved of the stoning of the first martyr, Stephen.

Then, on his way to Damascus to imprison those who believed in Christ, Acts 9:3-5 records “3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him,“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

His conversion was started and soon to be completed and Jesus  the Lord, Messiah and redeemer of all mankind chose  Saul  to become the apostle to the Gentiles  Eph. 1:11 – “having been predestined according to His purpose” and  as Acts 9:15; 22:21), to all  the nations of the world, and not just to the Jewish Nation,

After this encounter, Paul enabled the early Church understand the full implications of the mystery of God’s becoming man, namely to redeem all human beings through faith in the Son of God. The Gentiles did not first have to become Jews. Faith alone saves.

Paul taught  that embracing every nation and transcending every culture was at the core of the Gospel message  because Christ died for each and every person, so that each of us might share in the fullness of eternal life.Transformed by his personal encounter with the Risen Lord and his theological training under Gamaliel helped him to lay  out the full implications of the Christian faith for the early Church. On one occasion, he even challenged Peter, whose walk  was not in conformity with the Gospel  Peter himself preached (cf. Gal. 2:11)

At the core of Paul’s preaching was the Crucified Christ,he was acutely aware that Christ had died for him personally, and for each human being, equally personally. This was the message he preached from Jerusalem to Rome and to the ends of the earth.The agony of the Cross reveals the power of God’s love, That the Father loves us enough that ” God so loved the world,  that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The triumph of God’s love over sin and evil was manifested in the Resurrection and is now present in his Body, the Church. By persecuting the Church, Saul was persecuting Christ himself. The Risen Christ’s presence in the Church is real. Therefore The core mission of the Church is to preach the message of faith in season and out of season, so that people might know what God has done for them, how much God in Christ loves them, how they might find hope and joy in their lives. The urgent mission of the Church should be to do as Paul would have done I guess that is what is gnawing at me over the last few weeks, sometimes I do not understand our complacency in the face of the present lack of concern for the lost.

The culture of “me” has become so prevalent because we have lost our zeal for Christ, lost our zeal for souls. My prayer is that we renew our zeal.
We cannot limit our reach to our own local Church. We cannot ignore the fact that the greater part of the world’s population does not know Christ. Countless people do not know about Christs love for them. They have not encountered him so as to allow him to transform their lives

Because we who believe no longer consider it our urgent responsibility to be missionaries to a lost world what then is our calling ?  Paul would say: to preach Christ Our Saviour, in season and out of season so that others will be converted to the Risen Lord and encounter Him in His Church.

1 Corinthians 9:14-27 really lays out where my head has been and the battle within,
“15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. 19 For  though I am free from all,  I have made myself a servant to all, that I might  win more of them. [ emphasis mine]

OK, I feel better , Good night all
Tone

Friend looking looking for translators

We are looking for translators for nine of the top ten languages spoken in the
world…
1)      Mandarin (1 billion+)
2)      English (508 million)—We have English covered.
3)      Hindustani (497 million)
4)      Spanish (392 million)
5)      Russian (277 million)
6)      Arabic (246 million)
7)      Bengali (211 million)
8)      Portuguese (191 million)
9)      Malay Indonesian (159 million)
10)     French (129 million)

Between today and August 15, we need to translate the “Kids’ Retreat Director’s
Notebook,” a 101-page, copyright-free resource, into the above languages.  (We
also welcome translations into other languages, as well.)

Can you or someone you know help us this summer?  We are recruiting bilingual
Christians, who will volunteer their time and talents to help us spread the
gospel to children worldwide.

Each translation will be available for FREE on our web site, www.cmikids.com and
www.Max7.org, the largest online provider of free resources to children’s
ministry leaders.

A FREE RESOURCE DVD is currently being created and ONE MILLION copies will
distributed worldwide over the next three years to children’s ministry leaders
who are under-resourced or who have no resources at all. (There are 2.2 billion
children on earth under the age of 15. Two-thirds of these kids do not know
Christ.)

Our goal is to include as many versions of the Kids’ Retreat Director’s Notebook
as possible on the FREE RESOURCE DVD. The first discs will be distributed at the
Global Children’s Ministry Conference in Lebanon in September and the Lausanne
Congress in South Africa in October. Children’s Ministries International, Inc.
is partnering with the Global Children’s Forum on this project.

If you can help, please contact me immediately at steve@cmikids.com or
sjskkarges@comcast.net. I will reply and send you the English version of Kids’
Retreat Director’s Notebook so you can start translating it right away. (Note:
Please indicate the language you can translate.)

Thank you,
Steve Karges
President

—
Children’s Ministries International, Inc.
Post Office Box 28262
San Diego, California 92198-0262 USA

Telephone: (760) 746-1882
E-mail: Steve@cmikids.com
Web site: www.cmikids.com

The mission of Children’s Ministries International, Inc. is to glorify God by training leaders and partnering with His global church to evangelize and disciple boys and girls around the world.

Sometimes it needs to be said

“The church, if it is to be anything, it is to be absolutely distinct from the culture, absolutely distinct from the world, absolutely distinct from unbelievers,” said prominent author and evangelical pastor John MacArthur.

Speaking from the pulpit to thousands of fellow pastors at the Shepherds’ Conference, MacArthur underscored the biblical command not to be yoked with nonbelievers and to be a separated people.

“Paul demands a total break,” he said Wednesday at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., citing the apostle in the New Testament.

MacArthur, author of Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World‎, grew up in a fundamentalist environment. At that time, the word “separation” was a big word on the evangelical word list. Fundamentalists built high walls in terms of church conduct and relationships, he explained. If those walls or lines were crossed, the violator was vilified.

Even MacArthur was a victim of the highly separatistic fundamentalism. He recalled being stripped off of about 55 radio stations in one day when they felt he was behaving outside their parameters.

The fundamentalism back then was cruel and unbiblical, he said. And it was so cannibalistic that it consumed itself and disappeared.

But MacArthur feels there needs to be a “biblical (not traditional) understanding of separation” among Christians today.

“I think we are very much aware of the fact that there is a distinction between being a Christian and being a non-Christian,” he said. “I don’t think much of evangelicalism understands that. I think the line between a true Christian and a false Christian is significantly blurred.”

As Apostle Paul made clear to the Corinthians, MacArthur noted, Christians cannot live in both worlds – the world of righteousness and the world of unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Satan.

Two millennia ago there were believers who blended Christianity and paganism with the intent of trying to make Christians more palatable and popular and less narrow, offensive and exclusive. It’s the same picture today as churches “import all the styles of the culture into the holy life of the church,” MacArthur lamented.

Such blending simply validates the culture and confuses the church, he pointed out.

Finished up book 2

What a great little book, I think the best parts are the last few chapters written by Jay Wegter, they are the nuts and bolts of how to put the information in the first half of the book into action.

I went through an interview a few years back and was asked about my views about the ‘Emergent” church, although the interviewer was pretty disingenuous in his questioning and couching his questions cloaked in “code” he never used the term “Emergent” anyway, I am not a fan of the whole “new way ” of doing church and let it be know in the answers I gave.  Well since I am still at ALCC and NOT at another church I guess you can tell they did not like my answers.

This book really lays out “my” case as to whay the whole emergent thing is whack, but much better in verbalizing it.

I guess it should be considered that whenever the “supposed” things of god and the people of god ( lowercase on purpose ) become popular with the inhabitants of the fallen world, we would be wise to be cautious . Remember the Jews persecuted and or killed most of their own prophets      ( not an anti-Semitic statement, just historical )  Acts 7:52 The apostles/disciples were despised by the world, and Jesus was murdered by those He came to save. Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness Matt 5:11 and He warned us if they persecuted Him, they will also persecute you John 15:20 Why do you think that is….Paul tells us in 1 Cor 1:18 it is the message of the cross. So , if we find a message or ministry or “emergent” church being praised by unbelievers or Larry King or….you can rest assured that the message being proclaimed in more in line with the worldview of  then non-regenerated unbeliever or a message that  is being proclaimed is so neutered as to not glorify Christ and the finished work of the cross, that is is not the good news at all, it is a different gospel Galatians 1:6 and when you have a different gospel, you are just lost, you may as well join a glee club or local knitting team .

If we do not proclaim Christ and Him crucified in order to soften the gospel, if we would rather not offend people coming into the church in order to fill the pews, we have changed the good new into a psychology or a pep-talk but pep-talks and a changed gospel can be lined up from here to eternity  , but those alternate gospels are not the basis of truth, or of life only the pure Word of God is.

Well all this made sense when I started out but I may be rambling….. It might be the Doc Watson in my ears

Tone

Foreign Service Institute’s Extensive Language Courses Are Available Free Online

The U.S. Foreign Service Institute teaches foreign languages to government diplomats and personnel for duties abroad—and its courses are available online, for free. Which means you can access audio, texts, and tests in 41 different languages.

The FSI Language Courses web site isn’t actually maintained by the U.S. government itself, but the materials developed before 1989 are within the public domain (whether all of these materials came before then is not clear). Some languages contain more materials—for instance, the three texts on Sinhala isn’t going to beat the giant course on French anytime soon. For the most part, most major languages have student texts in PDF format, and audio in MP3 format which you can later put onto your music player. The courses also feature tests to see how well you’ve covered the material. In some cases, “headstart” courses for certain regions in the world are also available.

The only major language not covered is English, which makes sense. The site is a little reminiscent of old-school language learning, but the resources are ridiculously extensive.  Adios, Rosetta Stone.

Vintage Life lives on !

Well, about a year and a half ago I ran into guy that I have come to enjoy as a friend and confidant. We met at a church planters meeting in Riverside and we just clicked. We have prayed for their church all this time and Pastor Jeff has filled in for me at ALCC twice. They are at a major crossroad in their ministry and re-looking at where and how they reach the community  they serve.

Currently they meet at a school in Fontana, well currently until tonight. We at ALCC are teaming up with Pastor Jeff for a season, we do not know how long that season will be or what form it will take, but we are thrilled that we can work side by side with them.

I know ( from personal experience ) when a plan for what you feel in your heart is ordained by God, lead with prayer and full of the Holy Spirit’s guidance, Christ focused , changes direction it can be a time of heartache, you start to doubt so many things, you wonder why, how, what….well Vintage Life is NOT going away, they are regrouping and doing it with friends in a safe loving environment. All of us at ALCC are looking forward to hearing Dustin join Rick in the worship of Christ, we look forward to hearing Pastor Jeff  teach, we all look forward to seeing the smiling faces of our friends from Vintage Life.

I do not know how all this will play out, I know Jeff wants to minister to people in our community, I know he is going to be starting a mid week service ( plans still in the works ) but most of all, we all want to glorify Jesus and make Him know to people that do not know Him.

So , as this all unfolds, please keep ALCC-Vintage Life in your prayers, my great prayer is when we come together we see us as a united church, focused on Jesus. I know that this will be a great partnership and I can not wait to see God’s soverign plan unfold right in front of our eyes.

Please, pray for direction,grace,mercy. May this partnership be one of unity, so ALCC, lets welcome Vintage Life, and Vintage Life, do not feel like this is not home, you are not visitors, please call it home and let Vintage Life live on in your new home.

Welcome, we so look forward to this, your friend,Pastor and partner

Mike

shepherds conference

I am trying the WordPress app for blackberry to keep you updated. So far we have had two great sessions,MacArthur opened with a powerfull message, then great lunch they were able to feed 3000 men in 45 min without a hitch. Every where I turn there is food,drink,helpful staff. Then a great session on coming to the prep of your sermon..now another session.