Jan
3
Time to Rally!
Filed Under Men | Leave a Comment
The Annual Mid-South Men’s Rally in Jackson is fast approaching. It will be the evening of January 26 at First Presbyterian Church, Jackson. I’m including the text below of Brad Mercer’s blog post concerning the conference. Mark you calendars men! I’d love to see a good number of FPC, Kosciusko men attend. Information with be forthcoming on when our group will depart for Jackson that evening.
Authentic Biblical Leadership, as Illustrated in the Lives of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Joshua ChamberlainMen, mark your calendars and plan to join us on Friday, January 26, 2007 for our annual Mid-South Men’s Rally. This year, we are privileged to have Dr. Harry Reeder, senior minister of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, as our speaker.Dr. Reeder is the creator and speaker of an audio series on “Christian Manhood.” In this series, he gives biographical illustrations of Christian leadership using the lives of Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. The Men’s Rally evening messages will be based on this series.In 1999, Harry recieved the call to become the Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, where he continues with a vibrant preaching ministry. He receieved his Doctor of Ministry Degree from Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte in 2002. Since then, his first book has been published, entitled, From Embers to a Flame, in which yearly conferences are hosted at various churches around the country and world with the purpose of teaching a biblical paradigm for church growth. Dr. Reeder also brought into existence a growing radio ministry called, “In Perspective,” which is heard across the Southeast each week.
Schedule
5:15 - 6:30 p.m. Dinner served in Miller Hall, bookstore open6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Session I7:30 - 8:00 p.m. Break: Refreshments in Miller Hall, bookstore open8:00 - 9:00 p.m. Session II
Advanced registration is not required and there is no charge for the rally or the dinner. A freewill offering will be taken during the service. If you have any questions, please contact Ashley Hall in the Discipleship Office: 601-973-9118.
Jan
2
OK, then…
Here’s an article from WorldNet Daily about recent ‘Angry Arab Street’ incidents in Nazareth, where Jesus was raised. The Muslim propensity for bluster, anger and outrage is remarkable. It brings to mind a quote from last February from my favorite columnist, Mark Steyn, commenting on the crazy protests over the Danish cartoons satirizing Mohammed:
Say what you like about the Islamic world but they show tremendous initiative and energy and inventiveness, at least when it comes to threatening death to the infidels every 48 hours for one perceived offence or another. If only it could be channeled into, say, a small software company, what an economy they’d have.
The threat of Islamic advance from southern Europe and Turkey was a concern to the German princes of the 16th century. Prince Joachim of Brandenburg, about to lead a Saxon military expedition against the Muslim Turks, sought spiritual advice from Martin Luther before setting out. Luther’s letter of August 3, 1532, to Prince Joachim contains counsel that is extraordinarily relevant to us in the present crisis.
…I beg that those on our side may not place their reliance on the Turk’s being altogether wrong and God’s enemy while we are innocent and righteous in comparison with the Turk, for such presumption is also vain. Rather is it necessary to fight with fear of God and reliance on his grace alone. We too are unrighteous in God’s sight. Some on our side have shed much innocent blood, have despised and persecuted God’s Word, and have been disobedient, and so we cannot take our stand on our merits, no matter how righteous or unrighteous the Turks and we may be. For the cursed devil is also God’s enemy and does us great injustice and wrong. In comparison with the devil we are innocent, and yet we must not boast of our innocence and the superiority of our right, but must fight against him in fear and humility and with God’s help alone. This is what David did in his fight against Goliath. He did not boast of his rights, but with God’s help he fought and said, “Thou hast blasphemed against God, in whom I put my trust.” In like manner we must pray to God, not that he may avenge our innocence against the Turk, but rather that he may glorify his holy name against those great blasphemers and meanwhile graciously forget our sins.…I wish and pray that in such a war those on our side may not seek honor, glory, land, booty, etc., but only the glory of God and his name, together with the defense of poor Christians and subjects. For the glory should and will be God’s alone. As unworthy sinners we deserve nothing but shame, dishonor, and even death, and this Your Highness knows better than I can write. But since Your Highness has so earnestly requested spiritual counsel, I have wished to set down this brief opinion in Your Highness’s service. I have no doubt that if Your Highness inculcates such sentiments in others, with the result that the war is conducted on such a high plane, the devil and all his angels will be too weak for our soldiers, and the Turks will encounter men who are different from those whom they have fought before, when both sides were insolent and fought without God, which has always harmed God’s people more than their enemies…Our prayers shall go with you and follow after you.
Jan
2
4 big ideas: #1-Truth
Filed Under Christian Living, Four big ideas, Justification, The Church | Leave a Comment
In preaching through Galatians last year I identified four big ideas that run through Paul’s letter. Those four big ideas should form and shape how ministry is carried out in the day-to-day life of the Church. I am trying to embody them in my own ministry and to impart them to our leaders at First, Kosciusko. In this and the next three blog posts I’ll share some thoughts on each of them. The four big ideas are: truth, authority, integrity and love. (Editorial note: Yes, I realize that the form the acronym TAIL, but I am not fond of the use of acronyms, nor am I about to go around reminding people, ‘Hey, remember now, it’s all about TAIL.’)
TRUTH: This is simple: God always gets the last word. His agenda trumps all others. We must embrace tightly the truth of the gospel, especially at those points where the truth is most under assault. Paul does this in Galatians through his defense of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. I trust I don’t need to spend a lot of time writing about the importance of the truth of Scripture. We live in a time when the claims of materialism, naturalism, relativism, Islam and other religions ring loudly in the ears of many. Thus, the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ is an affront to many people. Ours is a time when we must contend for the truth once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
Moreover, on a personal level we all need to hear, speak and embrace the truth. The deceitfulness of sin, our tendency to let our emotions rage and rule over us, and our patterns of unbiblical thinking need to be confronted by biblical truth. And, as I noted in a recent post, that truth is not simply a theological system or philosophy, nor is it a set of principles and purposes. It is a person named Jesus. In Christ we hear the call to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness along with the comfort of free grace that paid for all our sins. Hear the truth, know the truth, speak the truth. Without the truth that God has revealed, I have nothing to offer, nothing to say.
Peace and mercy be upon all those who walk by this rule…