tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140550382024-03-07T21:34:24.211-05:00Under the Sycamore Tree"In that day," declares the LORD of hosts, "every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree” (Zechariah 3:10).Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-17487367146146208162011-01-26T15:35:00.002-05:002011-01-26T15:45:20.526-05:00Gentle Reformation<span style="font-style: italic;">Dear Blog Readers,<br /><br />Recently I joined with others to form a new blog we are calling "<a href="http://www.GentleReformation.com">Gentle Reformation</a>." Rather than keep posting the same material</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> to both sites</span><span style="font-style: italic;">, I will now be blogging exclusively there. Please go there to see my most recent posts (<a href="http://genref.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/plasticity/">Plasticity </a>and <a href="http://genref.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/vignetting/">Vignetting</a>), and read the excellent thoughts of my fellow friends and bloggers. <br /><br />If you want to tell others about it, just remember to tell them to go to Gentle Reformation.com. To keep up with the latest posting or to send a post to a friend via e-mail or Facebook, you can simply go to the bottom of an article where you will find a simple push of the appropriate button will do the trick.<br /><br />Thank you for your interest!<br /><br />Barry York<br /></span>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-83056436950768178302011-01-13T11:20:00.002-05:002011-01-13T11:23:15.595-05:00A Pastoral Letter to Ted Williams<p>Dear Ted,</p> <p>Though you do not know me, I hope you do not mind me addressing you by name. Besides, I feel like I do know you as I join the millions of others in congratulating you on your recent good fortune. In a matter of days your rocket ride from begging on the streets of Columbus, Ohio, to being <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMjX-dMOCO0">an internet and TV sensation</a> has captivated us. It has made us glad to hear some good news amidst all the bad. What has happened to you is incredible. You do have an amazing voice! It is good that you recognize it as a gift from God.<img src="http://genref.wordpress.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" _mce_src="http://genref.wordpress.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" class="mceWPmore mceItemNoResize" title="More..." /></p> <p>I know you already have many people trying to give you advice, and the likelihood of you reading this letter is small. Yet hearing agents, psychologists, and TV personalities all giving you counsel, I thought perhaps you could use a word from a pastor. Having ministered to a number of homeless men with our church through the years, there are some lessons we have learned along the way that I thought could be helpful to you. And, if I might be so bold, there are some concerns as I observe you that cause me to venture to speak to you. Warning people about dangers is just part of my job.</p> <p>So here are three important next steps to consider, Ted. I am keeping this short and simple for the sake of focus.</p> <p><em>1) Enjoy the attention but do not become addicted to it. </em>You obviously are having a great time, appearing on NBC's Today Show, becoming the spokesman for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (my kids' favorite - they had it for lunch today!), and being reunited with your 90 year-old mother. That's great, and you seem genuinely thankful. Enjoy this season of good fortune.</p> <p>Yet please be careful, Ted. Fame can be every bit as addictive and destructive as crack cocaine. After all, according to what you are saying, was it not the media success you had <em>before </em>you were on the streets that led you into drugs in the first place? Around here we warn some of the homeless men we minister to about the "newsletter curse." You see, the local mission often puts the picture and story of a man that has responded to their program on the front page of their newsletter. Sadly, far too often the men who have gotten this attention have just in a few short months returned to their former lifestyle. So we now warn any man who gets on the newsletter to beware! Jesus warned about the seed falling on shallow soil, quickly springing up, then withering when the sun - representing the adversity that inevitably follows the attention - shone upon it. With your background, Ted, I think you need to move quickly to the next step to avoid becoming addicted to all this hoopla.</p> <p><em>2) Withdraw and take more time to mourn the sins that have ruined your soul and your family. </em>Ted, now that you have enjoyed the moment and even secured some work (more about that in the final step), you need to withdraw, spend some time in isolation, and think about what you have done and where you are going. James 4:8-10 says:</p> <blockquote><p>"<em>Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you</em>."</p></blockquote> <p>I am not trying to be a killjoy. Neither do I expect you to be perfect with your tongue - it's a beast we all struggle to tame. But in listening to some of the things you are saying, I fear. I keep hearing you make the same mistakes men who fail here make. Want some examples? Far too often you use God's name in vain ways. Should not the phrase "O my God!" be reserved for crying out for mercy from the Almighty (see Psalm 13:3) rather than for meeting Matt Lauer? When you are with your aged mother, should you not just quietly hug and weep on her neck for what you have done to her rather than still trying to prove yourself to her? Several times you have touted how many children and grandchildren you have by your ex-wives, but I did not see you weeping over the lost years you were not there for them. I know some will think me judgmental by saying these things. But, again, I have seen too many men losing their lives and souls with similar responses.</p> <p>Now I know I have not observed what you do off-camera. But that's my point. That's where you need to go - off-camera. Too many men treat their sins superficially, being fooled that a bit of good fortune and lots of positive attention somehow erases the sin. Then, because they have not truly been set free, they go back to their old ways or exchange one ruinous addiction for another. Ted, you need to go alone before God where you can be sincere. You need to mourn what your sins have done to you, your family, and especially God. Then, Ted, if you don't mind me saying so, you need to become a beggar again. But this time, beg as your life depends on it for His mercy, like James encourages above or as the psalmist said, "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me" (Psalm 57:1). You see, the only way to escape your addictions to crack or fame, which is just sin's way of perverting our hearts to worship things instead of God, is to become utterly addicted - dependent, obsessed - with Jesus. If you write or contact me, I'd love to tell you more about how to do that.</p> <p><em>3) Finally, beware of quick money; instead, do honest work and take care of your family. </em>You have already indicated lucrative offers have come pouring in. You have quickly risen to star status, and it would be easy to accept many of these proposals to have all the earthly things you have lacked over the years. But Proverbs 23:4-5 says, "Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens." Beware of those who want to indulge you and make themselves feel and look good by treating you like a king. "The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil," and lesser forms than what you are facing have ensnared homeless men's souls here. Please don't let that happen to your own.</p> <p>Instead, when you are alone before God, ask Him how He wants you now to serve Christ. I have to believe that He would lead you to quiet, steady work that will enable you to begin providing in some ways for your children, grandchildren, and mother. If possible, it should be work that also allows you time to be with them, as you have been absent for far too many years. I would think returning to Columbus to tell your family and friends on the street the great things God has done for you would factor into your plans (see Mark 5:1-20). Serving faithfully the missions where you stayed and were provided for would be another indication of the genuineness of your changes.</p> <p>Again, congratulations. I'd love to talk with you about these things, Ted, or help you find a pastor in Columbus who could. I pray that the Lord will preserve you for His glory.</p> <p>Sincerely,</p> <p>Pastor Barry York</p>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-78655565207801897072011-01-05T12:27:00.003-05:002011-01-06T14:56:57.606-05:00Depressing Research<p><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536540,00.html" _mce_href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536540,00.html">10% of Americans (27 million people) are on antidepressants</a>, a number that doubled in the decade from 1996-2005. Before I comment further, please take the following quiz, answering the statements TRUE or FALSE:</p> <p>1) Those who took Flintstone Vitamins as a child are more likely to get a divorce than those who did not.<img src="http://genref.wordpress.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" _mce_src="http://genref.wordpress.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" class="mceWPmore mceItemNoResize" title="More..." /><br />2) Foot size is directly correlated to knowledge, i.e., the bigger the foot you have, the smarter you are.<br />3) Those who ate oatmeal growing up are more likely to develop cancer this year than those who grew up on Frosted Flakes.</p> <p>If you are like me, at first glance you say "False, because vitamins, foot size, and Frosted Flakes have nothing to do with divorce, knowledge, or cancer avoidance." Yet the fact of the matter is they are all "True" - in a certain sense. How?</p> <p>1) Since Flintstone Vitamins were first marketed in 1960, anyone taking them as a child would be 50 years or younger. Since that age group is more likely to divorce than older people - you get the idea.<br />2) This one's easy. Adults generally have bigger feet, and also more knowledge, than babies and children. So if the population for this study was all ages, then this statement holds.<br />3) This is similar to the first one. Frosted Flakes did not come out until 1952, meaning if you ate them as a child you are under 60. People who are over 60, and probably ate oatmeal growing up, are also more likely to get cancer than younger people than under 60.</p> <p>This little quiz would be funny if it were not being used to demonstrate a matter of urgent and eternal importance. It was drawn from a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/America-Fooled-Antidepressants-Antipsychotics-Deceived/dp/0977307506" _mce_href="http://www.amazon.com/America-Fooled-Antidepressants-Antipsychotics-Deceived/dp/0977307506"><em>America Fooled: The Truth about Antidepressants</em></a>. This quiz, a bit longer than the three statements I gave you, is used in the book to illustrate how correlation studies can be used to create faulty conclusions. The book then demonstrates how pharmaceutical companies are funding research on antidepressant and anti-psychotic medication that, at its heart, has all the integrity of the above quiz. Dr. Scott, who authored the book, is not alone in warning us about the dangers of these drugs - <a href="http://www.antidepressantadversereactions.com/resources.php" _mce_href="http://www.antidepressantadversereactions.com/resources.php">at least thirty other books</a> are documenting similar concerns.</p> <p>What is urgent and eternal about this? I have seen these medications destroy the mind and increasingly the body of my own mother. Two blocks from my study at the church I weekly see the people - their numb, mask-like faces revealing their empty hearts - going into the psychiatric clinic to sit in a waiting room, like the crowds by the Pool of Siloam hoping to be cured by the angel stirring the water. Indeed, I've observed godless doctors acting like angels and even gods, proclaiming they will cure or have cured people with their treatments when souls remain trapped in sin. I hear young men and women in times of counseling, the life issue causing their discouragement as easy to spot as the nose on their face, tell me how effortless it was for them to get a prescription for an antidepressant. Far too many of our fellow countrymen are being fooled, putting their faith in a pill rather than a Person to bring the comfort they need to what ails their minds and souls.</p> <p>As we are encouraged to pray from Psalm 42 in <a href="http://www.crownandcovenant.com/Prayers_on_the_Psalms_From_the_Scottish_Psalter_p/bs245.htm" _mce_href="http://www.crownandcovenant.com/Prayers_on_the_Psalms_From_the_Scottish_Psalter_p/bs245.htm"><em>Prayers on the Psalms</em></a>:</p> <blockquote><p>"<em>Heavenly Father, who at all times exercisest thy poor flock with diverse afflictions, assist us and deliver us from the troubles that are falling on us, that the wicked and proud contemners may have no cause to think in vain we depend on thee, but that they may be compelled to understand that thou art the strength and fortress of all them that love and honour thee in thy son, Jesus Christ. Amen."</em></p></blockquote> <p>May our faith, seeing both affliction and deliverance coming from our Father's hand, and resting on the sure word of God, cause others to be compelled to see our strength is in nothing else except Christ.</p>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-52577711194976483882010-12-28T08:58:00.004-05:002010-12-28T09:14:48.363-05:00Dogged PrayingThe Lord knows that my faith weakens often in offering a particular ongoing prayer request. So recently He sent me help to get on my knees and beg anew. Perhaps it may help you.<br /><br />It came from reading <a href="http://www.reformation21.org/shelf-life/robert-lewis-dabney-a-southern-presbyterian-life.php">Sean Michael Lucas' biography</a> on Robert Dabney. From a sermon Dabney preached in February 1849 on prevalent prayer, he had a section for parents whose children were "grievously vexed with sensual and devilish lusts." Note how Dabney strings together encounters of the desperate with the Savior to give this urging in praying:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Go to him. Say, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. Does he answer you not a word? "Cry after him." Does he seem to neglect you? Fall at his feet and worship him and cry, "Lord help me." Does he tell you, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs?" Does he say you are unworthy? "Truth, Lord." You have set this child so bad an example that you have no right to expect anything but its ruin? "Truth, Lord." Your prayers are unworthy in motive and kind? "Truth, Lord." Admit all, and tell that such is the glory of the Savior's righteousness, the vilest are so suitable objects of the mercy it purchases as any. "I am a dog, but it was just for dogs, that the crumbs of pardoning mercy are made." Therefore, I ask as a dog.</span><br /><br />Yes, I do.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-78467571525995790912010-10-15T09:56:00.005-04:002010-10-15T10:37:22.162-04:00Ramblings<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GWRg7PzlSXqa5kpsxFNWpKCUxDsur09oxDnsHl9KQDelrddEGMiPg6d4E1D1R1dOWhseNu-zgmtQBX1yHeHtZdQ4UyWRcolRNJKtaHacT0Qm-_iEe6r8rF99QulYZ5Kl9maC/s1600/breath.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 177px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GWRg7PzlSXqa5kpsxFNWpKCUxDsur09oxDnsHl9KQDelrddEGMiPg6d4E1D1R1dOWhseNu-zgmtQBX1yHeHtZdQ4UyWRcolRNJKtaHacT0Qm-_iEe6r8rF99QulYZ5Kl9maC/s200/breath.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528274132552735026" border="0" /></a><br />Reading a book called <span style="font-style: italic;">Breath</span>, which tells the incredible tale of Martha Mason. Martha, a fellow Tarheel, spent over sixty years in an iron lung. She had an incredible spirit, seen in such things as her graduating from Wake Forest or managing her own mother's health when senility struck Martha's lifelong caregiver. She went through all this without losing her sense of humor. Commenting on the game show <span style="font-style: italic;">The Price is Right</span>, Martha said the announcer had to have been a former Southern Baptist preacher. Why? His constant "C'mon down!" refrains must have been learned in giving altar calls.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~<br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Mailman-Austin-Brown/dp/1452893063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287151556&sr=1-1"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 169px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyRejBWMz7KB-pBjmhUmhnidguoTF7CGmoUNATQYrAsHWVwDzi8SUNwSw-QN0xS2gPIMnCuBrZi_kn0YqfcD401eovlJ618WLSuh8pxUOApXjsgOPq8Q6hEAaWLeYEPp3o_C4/s200/mailman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528274508698766450" border="0" /></a>Speaking of books, after a long time of writing and persevering, my friend and fellow congregant Austin Brown has recently published a book called <span style="font-style: italic;">Walking with the Mailman. </span><span>As I wrote a review on Amazon, I won't say too much here. But I would encourage you to <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">click the picture </span>to read the review and, while you are at it, purchase the book. It's a fun and funny read. And just to demonstrate the unity of the body, I also should note that both the picture on the cover and the dog's leg were contributed by members of the church (of course, I mean by this that the dog is owned by a member, not a member itself).</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~<br /></div><br />At a retreat last week where we reflected on the state of theological education in light of cultural changes, I was interested to hear that 60% of churchgoing Americans attend 10% of the churches. In other words, the majority are going to very large churches. The same trend that is seeing large chain retailers push "mom & pop" local stores out of business is putting pressure on small congregations. So what's a little church to do? Avoid the "little man" syndrome of trying to be like the big guys - you know, trying to compete with their programs, or buying a bigger building, or imitating the famous pulpiteer. Instead, concentrate on what any church should always be doing. Praying, preaching, and providing to the poor in spirit. Though the world's eyes may not be, the Lord's eyes are upon such as these. If He sees even the little sparrow fall from the sky, He certainly sees His little flocks of sheep faithfully gathering before Him.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">As election season approaches, beware. I read recently that a politician is a person who's got what it takes to take what you got.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Regarding those rescued Chilean miners, this event is such a gospel illustration that even the news commentators cannot help but see it. Repeatedly they use words such as "back from the dead," "resurrection," and "miraculous deliverance from hell" to describe it. If only they can now see their own need for the same.<br /></div></div>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-27866482374254077472010-09-23T08:48:00.003-04:002010-09-23T12:33:15.927-04:00Hiding OurselvesIs it not easier to hide who we are than who we are not?<br /><ul><li>To disguise our selfishness is but the work of a moment, whereas the lack of a generous spirit is too big a void to conceal.</li><li>To covet a neighbor's position can be mostly contained within, but a failure to rejoice spontaneously in a friend's success creates a loud silence.</li><li>To talk big about prayer and pray big in public can, like a rug over swept-up dirt, mostly hide the fact that we do not pray quietly in private, but it is not a very good cover up for a long distance relationship with God.<br /></li></ul>Is this not the way of the Pharisee Jesus exposed so devastatingly? Honoring with lips may hide arrogance for a time, but having a heart devoid of God is the dead's giveaway. Tithing mint and dill and cummin may seem like a proper display of righteousness, but a failure to exercise justice, mercy and faith for the poor screams out that you are not compassionate. Cleaning the outside of the cup (shining up our reputation, our interests, our promotions) looks pretty good at the right angle, but life has a way of tipping the cup and showing that the inside (our heart, our soul, our mind) is caked over with self-indulgence and evil desires. Have you not experienced times when you thought you were doing well because you were avoiding the "nots" of the Ten Commandments, only to realize you forgot they are fulfilled with the "doings" of love? Call that getting in touch with your "inner" Pharisee.<br /><br />Our lifetime of practice makes us great actors on stage at hiding what we are. The unexpected intrusion of uninvited company into our dressing rooms reveals what we are not.<br /><br />Thankfully the Lord not only exposes but offers. That offering is what the psalmist found after he stopped trying in a wrong-headed way to cover or hide his sin. "You are my hiding place," he said to the Lord in Psalm 32. O the paradox that is the gospel! When we lose self, He saves. When we say we are blind, we see. What we are not, Jesus is. When we stop hiding with fig leaves, He hides us with blood. <br /><br />We are most hidden when we are exposed for what we are not.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-10325326245316422732010-09-10T10:13:00.005-04:002010-09-10T12:26:35.161-04:00On Qu'ran BurningsBecause of what the Bible teaches, I do not think the <a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100910/D9I515880.html">pastor in Florida</a>, who appears to be vacillating on whether to burn Qu'rans or not, should do so. Why?<br /><br />Well, it is not because I believe that the Qu'ran is a holy book. To be as direct as possible, in its denunciations of Christ as the Son of God and crucified Redeemer; its upholding of a polygamous charlatan as the prophet of God; and its teaching that men are justified by works (i.e. keeping the Five Pillars of Islam), I believe the Qu'ran is a book that contains Satanic lies and is leading millions to the eternal doom of the burning flames of hell. Yet I still do not think he should burn them or Christians should participate in this type of demonstration. Again, why?<br /><br />First, it is not consistent with the Scriptures on book burning. The Biblical proof-text Pastor Jones might offer for holding book burnings would come from Acts 19:19, where we are told this about the people of Ephesus who had responded to the gospel:<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"And many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver."</span></blockquote>Note that this book burning was done by people who had been under the influence of witchcraft and then, when converted to Christianity, burned their own books as a demonstration of their repentance. Paul did not burn copies, but preached the gospel by the power of the Spirit in such a way that they <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">voluntarily </span>offered this sacrifice to the Lord. The proper application of this passage would be to pray and live in such a way that Muslim communities and nations would be so powerfully converted to the freedom of Christ they would voluntarily throw off this yoke of blindness they are under and recognize it for the deception it is.<br /><br />Second, it does not follow the example of Moses, Gideon or Elijah. There are "showdown times" when God calls His people to expose the false gods of the day. The Lord used Moses to expose the falsity of the Egyptian deities through the plagues. Gideon tore down his father's idols. Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel to call their god to light the altar with fire from heaven, then showed God's power to consume not only the sacrifice but the altar itself. The missionary Boniface in the eighth century did something similar, as he chopped down the oak of Thor and made a chapel out of it for the numerous converts from the Germanic tribes. Perhaps Pastor Jones thinks he is standing in the line of these men. However, I do not think so for one important reason.<br /><br />Each of these men had given their lives in service to minister to the people they were seeking to deliver. How has Mr. Jones actually ministered to the Muslims? How has the pastor of the "Dove World Outreach Center" actually reached out with dove-like love to Islamic people? Rather than a "showdown time," this has more the appearance of "showtime." I find myself agreeing with the president on this one, who referred to it as a "stunt."<br /><br />Thirdly and finally, it does not have the aroma of Christ in it. To the same church at Ephesus who did the book burning, Paul said, "<span style="font-style: italic;">Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma</span>" (Ephesians 5:2). This planned event does not have Christ's love. I know those who have given years of their lives in humble sacrifice to minister to Muslims who, I am sure, would say this act will do nothing but offend and raise barriers. Muslims will see this as an act of Christian hatred, not love. As it is stirring up frenzy and hostility worldwide, it also does not have His wisdom. Jesus carefully avoided inciting crowds in His ministry, knowing that crowd frenzy does not spread the kingdom of God. And as the media circus proves, it does not have the sobriety of Christ needed in true gospel ministry. Whenever Jesus was speaking to an individual or multitudes, the seriousness of what was at stake always was preserved. Though He spoke directly against it, He did not burn the Talmud that was misleading the Jews. He knew He was dealing with the souls of people destined for an eternal existence, so He went after their hearts.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Son-Hamas-Gripping-Political-Unthinkable/dp/1414333072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284132363&sr=1-1"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPoYf3qciE1-VOBsXTm7R-QZEXxXoxcPuCpmQj6NuZvX_9zC5gHSa_ifLcJ4Ku-dUewFm1JXW1jegN4UpHB9ADvXCMZ5UcISrhR0rtTYka70JVOiElvLr__uAg_8n38VsdZtu/s200/sonofhamas.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515309183825618130" border="0" /></a>As it looks like all of us will be having to engage the Muslim world more and more, why not <a href="http://www.bible-quran.com/buy/"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQI36fuok0lEqT6a_92hyphenhyphen5FH8a5Qfe3lWBR-ybg_A_1FprERrnX91MMqMfUPxtk-dHopD-OFAv7-iHlf_81vswZGjWg-XeDPAiDrQSgPVDbYkXojpBQtuYD_XTbmd9pvStV9b4/s200/quran.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515305398424173778" border="0" /></a>learn how to do so? For starters, read how one Muslim in Hamas was converted by the fundamental difference he saw between Islam and Christianity - the love of Jesus for His enemies - in the book <span style="font-style: italic;">Son of Hamas. </span>Then order a copy of my friend's book, Pastor Aaron Goerner's <span style="font-style: italic;">Is the Qu'ran the Word of God?, </span>as he as an American has made the effort to engage hundreds of Muslims worldwide in serious, confrontational, but loving dialogue to show them the truth.</div>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-7328878786970923042010-07-14T15:52:00.004-04:002010-07-14T16:53:44.054-04:00Impurity of WorshipInteresting what you come across where you least expect it.<br /><br />I have been reading the first volume of a trilogy on the 26th President's life, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt</span> by Edmund Morris. My purpose in reading it has been simply to enjoy learning more about this larger-than-life man. Never did I expect to have to examine my own heart regarding worship the way I did when I came across this excerpt from a letter of Roosevelt. Listen to what then Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt said about President Benjamin Harrison following a meeting they had just had:<br /><blockquote>"<span style="font-style: italic;">Damn the President!</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> He is a cold-blooded, narrow-minded, prejudiced, obstinate, <span style="font-weight: bold;">timid old psalm-singing Indianapolis politician</span>."</span></blockquote>Though Roosevelt's rant is typical of him when he did not get his way, it is interesting how he related the President's action with his worship practices - in Indiana, no less!<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>This reminded me of a similar line I had read long ago but not forgotten in Gene Stratton-Porter's (born in Indiana) classic book <span style="font-style: italic;">Freckles. </span>At this point in the story the main character Freckles, a one-handed orphan learning to work the once-great lumber lines of northern<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span>Indiana, is recounting his experience of how people used to treat him in the orphanage:<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><blockquote>"<span style="font-style: italic;">There had been people at the Home, who exchanged a stilted, perfunctory kindness for their salaries. The visitors who called on receiving days he had divided into three classes: <span style="font-weight: bold;">the </span></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" class="gstxt_hlt">psalm-singing </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">kind, who came with a tear in the eye and hypocrisy in every feature of their faces</span>; the kind who dressed</span><span class="gtxt_body"><span style="font-style: italic;"> in silks and jewels, and handed to those poor, little mother-hungry souls worn toys that their children no longer cared for, in exactly the same spirit in which they pitched biscuits to the monkeys at the 'zoo,' and for the same reason —to see how they would take them and be amused by what they would do; and the third class, whom he considered real people</span>." </span></blockquote>Ouch! Yet another line relating Indiana, hypocrisy and psalm singing. Enough to make this pastor, who lives in the first, practices the third, and is vulnerable to the second, give pause.<br /><br />On the one hand, this should not surprise me. I have often told the congregation here to make sure they practice not only purity in the form of worship but purity in the heart of worship as well. After all, the Pharisees were psalm singers. Yet on the other hand, if anything should come from singing God's Word, it is purity of practice. When so much of the material of the psalms speaks of a holy, just, loving God who cares for the orphans and widows, then so much of that should be the material of the singers' lives as well.<br /><br />How do I know if I am practicing purity in worship? I must look not only at what I am holding in my hands in the sanctuary, but at how I am using those hands during the week. <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-44948711355884554222010-07-06T11:49:00.005-04:002010-07-09T10:48:58.923-04:00Summer Sparks<div style="text-align: left;">Setting sun, in its finale,<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> Drenching clouds with changing hues;<br /></div><br />Glowing bits like shooting stars,<br /> Fly up then fade from the backyard fire;<br /><br />Rising fireflies o'er darkening fields,<br /> Myriads of tiny angels, signaling the news:<br /><br />Soon gone are summer sparks,<br /> Brief joys of which we never tire.<br /><br /><br />Slapping thighs, along with a few mosquitoes,<br /> As stories meander in the dimming light;<br /><br />Water's magnet still attracting<br /> Splashing children too soon grown;<br /><br />Even quieting voices sharing crosses<br />Make hearts glow in the peace of the stilling night;<br /><br />Summer sparks become dying embers<br />Unless remembrance be over them blown.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-57840134261441091542010-06-30T09:51:00.002-04:002010-06-30T10:13:21.766-04:00Funny HowFunny how -<br /> What I see now:<br />On her back the ladybug<br /> Struggling against little thugs,<br />Ants, not gentlemen, <br /> with a goal,<br /> "Drag her down into the hole."<br /><br />Funny how - <br /> What I see now:<br />This micro tragedy<br /> Reminder of my own trajectory,<br />Sin and death, no gentlemen, <br /> with a goal,<br /> "Drag him down into the hole."<br /><br />Funny how -<br /> What I see now:<br />Tiniest red and black providence<br /> Reminder of my own recompense,<br />Christ, the Gentle God-Man, <br /> with a goal,<br /> "Take Me instead into the hole."<br /><br />Funny how -<br /> What I see now.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-25728099639402894442010-05-17T23:44:00.001-04:002010-05-17T23:48:21.617-04:00Fatherly GriefIn a mountain garden at time’s birth,<br /> Lions with lambs played, as in a dream,<br />A river flowed forth watering the earth.<br /> Then one awful act poisoned the stream.<br /><br />A perfect son in that perfect lea<br /> Raised his hand against the Perfect One,<br />And with one taste from the illicit tree<br /> Man’s heart - and Heaven’s - came undone. <br /><br />In ancient days on a mount called Moriah,<br /> This grief of heaven was expressed.<br />For a trembling knife, raised, fell for ire;<br /> Its target a bound and beating chest.<br /><br />Yet with a call from heaven above<br /> The deadly blade was not plied;<br />A father left learning of divine love,<br /> Seeing in a ram “The Lord Will Provide.”<br /><br />On the mount the prophets call Zion<br /> In these last days a child, raised as His own,<br />All his days told of the Lamb now Lion,<br /> Ruling upon His eternal throne.<br /><br />Alas, the world’s dark waters beckoning,<br /> Allured yet still another prodigal son.<br /> A father left grieving, weeping, reckoning,<br /> “Will horizon gazing ever be done?”<br /><br />Yet to the top of Calvary’s knoll<br /> The eye of faith must always return,<br />And know that pain is not a toll<br /> Borne forever by those who yearn.<br /><br />For on that day of darkness and quake<br /> Earth itself spoke of the Father’s grief.<br />A veil ripped in two. O! The ache!<br /> A twain message also promising relief.<br /><br />So when the heavenly Jerusalem’s mount<br /> Shall descend, then fill the earth,<br />No more tears! For there the fount<br /> Will flow unpolluted with the new birth.<br /><br />So for now, question’s verdict still unknown,<br /> With hope in his own Father’s love he clings,<br />Each new dawn, he arises, but not alone,<br /> Waiting to see what this day brings.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-44104180846596719812009-12-08T11:58:00.004-05:002009-12-08T13:05:18.351-05:00Unlikely Glory<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >On November 18th, our congregation gathered for the funeral of Bill Scott. </span></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link style="font-family: verdana;" rel="File-List" 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mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://www.ktonline.com/obituaries/local_story_320215219.html">Bill’s obituary</a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" > can be read here. The following is the message I gave at the funeral based on John 12:20-28.</span></span>
<br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >
<br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span>
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<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”</span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >So said Jesus in John 12:23. What hour brought Christ’s glory?</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">H</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpn9FbpcnZLSj_iNKq5M_uUWOk6rLu6q0FF0fEBjcUfsS8ysZUMBw5hi8yOgDeT5I10cW21AcEowbgsBlJQ5I8W3igmxhRH86xtrI5WLgiopWWu-VpxxrKVC9CRgPaLZhimA2/s1600-h/IMG_0826.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpn9FbpcnZLSj_iNKq5M_uUWOk6rLu6q0FF0fEBjcUfsS8ysZUMBw5hi8yOgDeT5I10cW21AcEowbgsBlJQ5I8W3igmxhRH86xtrI5WLgiopWWu-VpxxrKVC9CRgPaLZhimA2/s200/IMG_0826.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412912374028627474" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ow was he glorified?</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When we think of glory or of someone be glorified, we think of splendor and awe and a display of beauty. A fabulous fireworks display is glorious. A brilliant sunset or standing over the edge of the Grand Canyon is glorious. For some, Peyton Manning throwing a last-second, game-winning touchdown over the Patriots is glorious.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >Yet these more or less earthly glories pale next to the final glory we know will be revealed one day. We know that Christ will come again when the heavens open up with the voice of archangel and the trumpet of God, accompanied by His mighty angels, and he will descend to the earth to judge the living and the dead.</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >How glorious that will be!</span><span style="font-size:85%;">
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<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >Yet that is not the hour that Jesus said had come, and His final manifestation is not the glory of which He speaks.</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >There is another glory of which Jesus speaks.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >One that preceded and indeed made possible the consummate glory that is to come.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >It is what we will call "an unlikely glory." Jesus makes it clear in the context here and throughout the gospel of John what that glory is:</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;">·<span style=""> In John 12:24 </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">in connection with this statement, He uses a metaphor of a grain of wheat being planted, dying in the soil, and from it bearing more fruit.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;">·<span style=""> He then t</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">alks about losing your life for others.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;">·<span style=""> He states that his s</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">oul is troubled over this hour of glory that has come.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;">·<span style=""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:85%;">In John 17:1-2, the night before he died, in like manner he prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.”</span></p><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >The hour, the glory, the trouble of which Jesus spoke is the cross.</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > What a pl</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >ace of unlikely glory!</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >For it raises the question, “How can the brutal beating and crucifying and death of a man be in any way described as glorious?”</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > To be t</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >reated as a criminal is inglorious, ignoble, dishonorable. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >As Isaiah said about Jesus, “H</span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >e has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><a name="4"></a>He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > In other words, n</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >o glory.</span><span style=""> </span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >
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<br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >But wait a minute.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > R</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >ecall when we think of something as glorious, we are to think of splendor and awe and a display of beauty.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >For those with eyes to see it, that is what they do see at the cross in that mangled, naked body.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >He went through that hideous event to remove the sins of those who believe in Him - a most glorious sight! He was dying so that the rest of His prayer might be fulfilled, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span> <p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">What a paradox! Christ should appear to us most glorious at the point when He seemed the most inglorious.<span style=""> </span>Unlikely glory!<span style=""> </span>John Wesley captures this paradox in his hymn “</span><span style="font-size:85%;">Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin?"</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >For you the purple current flowed
<br />In pardons from His wounded side,
<br />Languished for you the eternal God,
<br />For you the Prince of glory died:
<br />Believe, and all your sin’s forgiven;
<br />Only believe, and yours is Heaven!</span><o:p></o:p></i>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;">This gospel paradox teaches us a key truth – it is the lowly, the inglorious of this world, that God takes and makes vessels of unlikely glory.<span style=""> </span>Wesley captured this as well when earlier in this same hymn he wrote:</span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >Outcasts of men, to you I call,
<br />Harlots, and publicans, and thieves!
<br />He spreads His arms to embrace you all;
<br />Sinners alone His grace receives;
<br />No need of Him the righteous have;
<br />He came the lost to seek and save.</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;">
<br /></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;">How this was seen in the life of Bill Scott.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Some could not see the glory in Bill.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">After all, he was a hobo by his own admission.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">He was addicted at one time to volumes of drink and clouds of cigarette smoke.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">He was gruff at first appearance.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">He was missing both legs.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">But we have seen the unlikely glory of God in Bill. I have no interest in preaching a dead sinner into heaven, as some appear to want to do at funerals. No, I am here proclaiming that I have seen the unlikely glory in the life of Bill. Let me offer three evidences.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="font-size:85%;">1)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style="">Faithfulness - </i></b>Bill was faithful to the Lord and the church.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Back in the old Mission building some 13-14 years ago, I helped Ron Visser by leading a </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Bible study down there. We began with twelve, but pretty soon o</span><span style="font-size:85%;">nly a few were left, one of whom was Bill.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Sometimes I came there and it was only Bill.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> When I learned he was not attending church anywhere, I invited him and at first he </span><span style="font-size:85%;">resisted coming.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">But as he professed faith, he came faithfully. He began attending more events, such as a m</span><span style="font-size:85%;">en’s group at my home early every Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">When he lost one leg, still he came though four men had to lift him up the front stairs. When he lost both legs and could not get into the building, he still loved to go out to eat on his birthday or come to the Memorial Day Picnic. In these last days, he prayed for the church. Even recently, he said he wanted to come back. In honor of him, that is why we are having his funeral here. Though we know he is in a far more glorious place of worship now, we wanted to say goodbye to him here.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >2)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><b style=""><i style="">Forgiveness - </i></b>Bill sought forgiveness - a lot! He would get in f</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >ights at the Mission, often responding wrongly to some kid ridiculing him.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >At our men's study, he would at times use the Lord’s name in vain.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >At times through all these years in hospitals and nursing homes, he would give the nurses fits.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >Yet there was somehting unique about Bill that I do not find with many. Every time I or someone else would correct him, he would seek forgiveness. He go to those young punks and apologize. He would grow sheepish when I told him he should be more careful about how he uses Jesus' name, and say it was a bad habit and he would work at not doing it again. He would admit he had not been praying for the nurses, but then the next time tell you sincerely that he had started. As others have testified, beneath the gruffness was a tender heart.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">3)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style="">Fortitude - </i></b>Bill persevered.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> He al</span><span style="font-size:85%;">most died twice last year. I was in one of his doctor's appointments when the doctor </span><span style="font-size:85%;">said what Bill had gone through, and even his current medical condition, would have killed most men.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">He was tough as ox.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Yet last year during the times he was in the valley, it became clear to us that spiritually speaking, he was not ready to die nor ready yet for heaven. He was struggling and confused, unclear about his spiritual status. Yet </span><span style="font-size:85%;">during that time, as various people ministered to him such as Jason testified to doing, he was r</span><span style="font-size:85%;">evived in his soul.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Last fall, he and I were sitting outside the nursing home on a beautiful, sunny day, and I was reading from I John 1 to him.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Just at that time, a lady who knew Bill walked by and asked him based on what I was reading, </span><span style="font-size:85%;">“Bill, are you walking in the light?”</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Looking down at his wheelchair, Bill responded, “Naw, I'm rolling in the light!"</span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">In John 12:26, Jesus said, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Bill is rolling in the light in a whole new way now, basking and rejoicing in the light of his Father and Savior. And o</span><span style="font-size:85%;">n the day of the resurrection he will be fully restored, and with the rest of us who have believed in the unlikely glory of Jesus Christ he will be walking and leaping and praising the great God of glory.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Jesus prayer will be realized: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The portrait of Bill</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> you see here</span><span style="font-style: italic;">, which captures him so well and is now displayed in my study, was painted by Natalie Thoman in the space of two days before his funeral. As several years ago he had served as a model of Matthew Cuthbert when Natalie was painting </span><span style="font-style: italic;">scenes from </span>Anne of Green Gables<span style="font-style: italic;">, she was all too willing to paint him one final time from a picture taken when he used to work as the rag cutter at the Rescue Mission. If you would like to view her work or even order a portrait yourself, see </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://thomanart.blogspot.com/">Natalie's artwork</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span>
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<br /></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-37131786716333001742009-11-04T11:37:00.006-05:002009-11-20T13:45:11.962-05:00Pastor Eggebeen, You Missed One<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvkE3JkiM2nay3swiHCdz0e6LUnSpbjrUha7vtNNYvsi1pU9WSn-OCAR7uid5V3nYRRe2I7QPbP8eG2bvjEj142hGpU-XCIUcbzfqsYQbMEyETJdhfb_mWZdNAN10oaJePeCdt/s1600-h/DogObedienceTraining.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvkE3JkiM2nay3swiHCdz0e6LUnSpbjrUha7vtNNYvsi1pU9WSn-OCAR7uid5V3nYRRe2I7QPbP8eG2bvjEj142hGpU-XCIUcbzfqsYQbMEyETJdhfb_mWZdNAN10oaJePeCdt/s200/DogObedienceTraining.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400292445842162306" border="0" /></a>Having commented previously on <a href="http://sycamorerpc.blogspot.com/2007/05/surefire-attendance-booster.html">worship services involving pets in our community</a>, I could not help but notice this article on <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/pets/2009/11/04/2009-11-04_god_gone_to_the_dogs_la_.html">doggie services</a>. The church featured, Covenant Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, is at least honest about its original purpose for having services where dogs are welcomed, prayers are offered for them, and the coffee and donuts are replaced with water bowls and doggie treats. The church was dying, and they needed to figure out a way to get more people to come.<br /><br />But Pastor Tom Eggebeen (that's his real name) is a little less than honest when he pretends to give Biblical justification for the practice, and shows he has much in common with former President Bill Clinton in that they both have a problem understanding the simple word "is." For he states, "The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': That God is light and God is love." To make this untruth (see below) even more than a doggone lie but a blasphemy, he then tries this application: "And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion. And when we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that. So we honor that."<br /><br />The problem with Pastor Eggebeen's eggegesis is that there is another "is" he overlooked. Sure, one could say it is from the Old Testament, but the problem is that it is also quoted in the New. "Our God is a consuming fire" (see Hebrews 10:29; also Deuteronomy 4:24 and 9:3). This statement is made in the context of God detesting the false worship practices of the world, which certainly would include services saying a dog's love is a part of God.<br /><br />Certainly there are good dogs whose proper place is by their master's side and, save perhaps for the occasional seeing eye dog, would not include worship. But there are also evil dogs who, according to Jesus, have no place in the worship of the Lord. Their lying behavior means they belong where all bad dogs go - "outside" (see Revelation 22:15).Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-18167995810666183042009-10-15T12:55:00.002-04:002009-10-15T13:15:05.403-04:00In Memory of Dr. J. Renwick Wright<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >On Monday I participated in the funeral of a beloved seminary professor and pastor, Dr. Renwick Wright. The eulogies of the men who served at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary with Dr. Wright, his sons and his grandsons captured so well this man's love for God, His Word, his wife, his family and others. Read this <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-26135-Pittsburgh-Evangelical-Examiner%7Ey2009m10d10-J-Renwick-Wright-1918--2009-in-the-arms-of-his-Savior">well-written obituary</a> by Pastor Doug Comin to learn more of Dr. Wright's life and ministry. Below is the message I gave based on II Corinthians 5:8 as requested by his family.
<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><span style="font-size:85%;">
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<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >II Corinthians 5:1-10<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >At Home with the Lord<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >The Funeral of Dr. J. Renwick Wright<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >October 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" > Dear Mrs. Wright, Jonathan & Christopher and your families, our heartfelt condolences go out to you as feel acutely this day the separation from your beloved husband, father, and pastor.<span style=""> </span>When Dr. Wright entered the pulpit, or when the Spirit of the Lord in him turned a classroom lectern into a pulpit, he would look at a congregation or his students with a penetrating gaze, speak in a pleading voice, often with his arms outstretched, and he would decrease and Christ would increase.<span style=""> </span>I know that especially on this occasion he would want nothing more than that, for the focus to be on his beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.<span style=""> </span>So we turn to the Word of God.<span style=""> </span>Yet even so it is not wrong for us to reflect further on the life of Dr. Wright as we do, for there was so much of Christ in him.<span style=""> </span>With that in mind, let us go to II Corinthians 5:1-10.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >II Corinthians 5:1-10<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" >For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. <a name="3"></a>For indeed in this <span style="">house</span> we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, <a name="4"></a>inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. <a name="5"></a>For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. <a name="6"></a>Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.</span></i><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a name="7"></a><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" >Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— <a name="8"></a>for we walk by faith, not by sight— <a name="9"></a>we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. <a name="10"></a>Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. <a name="11"></a>For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.</span></i><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span>
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" > “At home with the Lord.”<span style=""> </span>For the family and friends of Dr. Wright, we have great confidence that these words at the end of verse 8 accurately describe his current state.<span style=""> </span>He is at home with the Lord.<span style=""> </span>Yet what is it in this text that, exemplified in the testimony of Dr. Wright, gives us that confidence?<span style=""> </span>Paul says “we are of good courage, I say, and <b style=""><i style="">prefer</i></b> rather to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.” <span style=""> </span>The word translated “prefer” is rather a strong word.<span style=""> </span>Paul is saying to be absent from the body and be at home with the Lord <span style="color:black;">seemed good to him, that it was pleasurable, something he was eager, ready and willing to do.<span style=""> </span>How does one achieve that state of heart, where you can honestly say, “I would prefer to leave this earth now and be in heaven with the Lord?”<span style=""> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" > The answer begins with realizing, on the one hand, that life in this present world is temporary at best.<span style=""> </span>To emphasize this, Paul compares our earthly existence to living in a tent.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >In verse 1, he states that we are like an earthly tent which will soon be torn down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >While we live in this tent, we groan for a more permanent, heavenly dwelling as he says in verse 2.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Then he goes on to explain in verses 3-4 that we groan because we are burdened with this body, for it suffers the pains and the tears of this world.<span style=""> </span>Indeed, we carry our own mortality around in this body.<o:p></o:p>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >In his New Testament class, Dr. Wright commented on this passage.<span style=""> </span>In my visits with Dr. Wright in these last years, he clearly echoed these same thoughts about his own life: “Paul can read his own situation: he is getting older and his body is beginning to fail.<span style=""> </span>The body is a temporary structure, adequate to shelter us during our earthly pilgrimage, but as vulnerable to the winds of circumstance and the wear and tear of everyday life as a tent.<span style=""> </span>This earthly house will certainly be dissolved.<span style=""> </span>But this fact does not trouble Paul; he is even looking forward to the dissolution of this body.”<span style=""> </span>(<i style="">New Testament History and Theology: The Pauline Epistles, </i>p.27)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
<br /><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >As we saw a beloved man growing ever so weaker, as we know that later this afternoon we will be returning the body in the casket to the dust from which it came, these are reminders to us all that we are living in a tent.<span style=""> </span>We are not in a permanent structure.<span style=""> </span>The outer man <b style=""><i style="">is</i></b> decaying.<span style=""> </span>This present world is not our home.<span style=""> </span>As Dr. Wright said, it is but the place of our earthly pilgrimage.<span style=""> </span>We are traveling through it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
<br /><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span>At the end of his life, the apostle Paul, knowing this, could then say these words in II Timothy 4:6, “I <span style="color:black;">am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.” <span style=""> </span>He not only wrote of this life being transient in nature but saw his own life as one of journeying toward eternity. Again, in his New Testament class, in his typical way of unpacking truth after truth from a Greek word or phrase, Dr. Wright said this about the word</span> </span><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" >analusis </span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >(analusis) translated here “departure:”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >He said this word describes “the unyoking of an animal from the shafts of the cart or plow; death to Paul was a rest from toil.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >But it was “also the word for loosing fetters; death to Paul was a release and liberation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Then (listen to how it relates to the II Corinthians 5 passage) “it was also the word for loosening the ropes of a tent, symbolizing the time for striking camp once again.”<span style=""> </span>(Now this next sentence is so like Dr. Wright, as he connects the author’s life with the words he wrote.) “Many a journey this tentmaker (Paul) had made across the roads of Asia Minor and Europe; he would be setting out on his last and greatest journey.”<span style=""> </span>That’s what Dr. Wright has done.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:Symbol;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Finally, he goes on to comment “it was also the word for loosening the mooring ropes of a ship setting sail.<span style=""> </span>Paul was ready to cross the waters of death in order to arrive at the heaven of heavens.<span style=""> </span>In all cases, Paul gives the church here a beautiful view of Christian death.” (<i style="">New Testament History and Theology: The Pauline Epistles, </i>p.79)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >So how is one <b style=""><i style="">made ready</i></b> to cross?<span style=""> </span>Please note that is a different question than “<b style=""><i style="">how to cross.</i></b>”<span style=""> </span>I know Dr. Wright would not want anyone of you here today to leave without being sure you know how to cross and, indeed, knowing that you will cross.<span style=""> </span>You must know that regarding this journey there is One that has made it first for us, and blazed the trail we are to follow.<span style=""> </span>For God sent His Son into this world, and as His divine glory took on human form He <b style=""><i style="">tabernacled </i></b>among us – He shared this tent-like, temporary existence!<span style=""> </span>Then He died on our behalf, was raised three days later, and ascended into heaven.<span style=""> </span>Jesus entered heaven as a forerunner.<span style=""> </span>He went there to prepare a place for us.<span style=""> </span>Do not leave this funeral without believing in Christ.<span style=""> </span>How Dr. Wright would be pleading for you to trust Christ to take you home!<span style=""> </span>Believe upon Christ as your Savior and Lord.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
<br /><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Yet are you living ready to cross?<span style=""> </span>Is it your desire to depart from this world?<span style=""> </span>Do you have good courage in this?<span style=""> </span>If we are honest with ourselves, too many of us have too great a fondness for this world and even a fear of being in the immediate presence of the Lord.<span style=""> </span>We are intimidated by the thought of appearing at His judgment seat (5:10).<span style=""> </span>How can we ready ourselves?<span style=""> </span>The answer to this dilemma is found in verse 9. “We make it our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”<span style=""> </span>“To be pleasing to Him” is the answer.<span style=""> </span>Reflect with me on three chief ways He has given us in His Word to be pleasing to Him, how Dr. Wright used those so wonderfully in his life, and how they prepare us to be at home with the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >
<br /></span></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >It is our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord when we turn our hearts heavenward in sincere prayer.<span style=""> </span></span></i></b></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >When I came to the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in 1988, I had only been in the RP church for 3 years.<span style=""> </span>I did not know anyone, my father had just died that summer, I was a new father myself, and [though I had had a good start in the summer with another Irish Greek professor -Ted Donnelly] I was still scared to death of studying languages.<span style=""> </span>I also just did not like the big city of Pittsburgh.<span style=""> </span>So I was intimidated by the whole prospect.<span style=""> </span>Yet that fall Dr. Wright was my teacher, and what a comfort that was.<span style=""> </span>I could go on for hours about my experience in the classroom with him as he moved us on in our studies with patience and a spirit that encouraged success.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >But what I want to relate, though, is how the seminary wisely put us students in groups under a faculty advisor, which for me was Dr. Wright.<span style=""> </span>Every Friday he would gather us in what is now the computer lab but back then it was known as the “porch classroom.” <span style=""> </span>For me, it became a sanctuary.<span style=""> </span>I had prayed with other groups of men before, but when I first heard Dr. Wright pray I felt like I was beginning all over again.<span style=""> </span>There were no ostentatious words, just the tender closeness of Dr. Wright to Christ that made each Amen seem like such a sure promise of answers to come.<span style=""> </span>God’s throne had always been holy to me, and became even more so during this time, but it was being led by Dr. Wright there week after week those three years that Christ’s throne became the seat of mercy and love it is to me today.<span style=""> </span>Hearing his unashamed expressions of love for God, for me, and for others; listening to his passionate pleas for more grace and more love for us all; how I saw in him where his heart’s true home was!<span style=""> </span>That this could be the experience of every seminarian!<span style=""> </span>His heart was at home before the Lord’s throne here on earth. So what must it be like for him at this very moment as he sees that throne?<span style=""> </span>He is at home with Lord now because his heart rested in Christ here.<span style=""> </span>Pleasing God with sincere prayer is a good way to prepare for an eternity of praising Him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >
<br /></span></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >It is our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord when we shepherd others with tender care.<span style=""> </span></span></i></b></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Our Good Shepherd, who is tenderly guiding us to green pastures and still waters, delights when He sees us caring in a like manner for others.<span style=""> </span>When we make it our goal to help others travel to their home in the Lord, certainly it concentrates our minds wonderfully on the same goal.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Several years after I graduated from seminary, Miriam and I were struggling in church planting.<span style=""> </span>But Dr. and Mrs. Wright came to our home to visit us as part of his new job with a title that only a very few men could carry with truth and honor – the “Pastor’s Pastor,” given to him by the leaders in our denomination.<span style=""> </span>In those two days in our home, Dr. and Mrs. Wright took two discouraged and beaten up people and buoyed us with their prayers and tender care.<span style=""> </span>Afterwards, even years later and still today, we commented on how a precious aroma of Christ remained in our home for days after they left.<span style=""> </span>We experienced the love of God through them. They brought our true heavenly home into our home.<span style=""> </span>I know this room today is filled with others who have had this same experience.<span style=""> </span>He lived with his heart at home with the Lord seen in his care for people.<span style=""> </span>This example ties into the third way we can live in a manner pleasing to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >
<br /></span></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >It is our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord when we die even while we live.<span style=""> </span></span></i></b></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >That’s the gospel.<span style=""> </span>Die to live.<span style=""> </span>In Philippians 1:21 we hear Paul again saying, “For to me, to live is Christ (to crucify my desires, to die for the sake of others), and to die is gain.”<span style=""> </span>Again Dr. Wright said, “To live is Christ: Paul’s first thought when he woke in the morning, and his last when he went to sleep at night.<span style=""> </span>Christ, Paul’s Lord and Master whom he served from dawn to dusk, his friend with whom his fellowship was indescribably blessed.”<span style=""> </span>(<i style="">New Testament History and Theology: The Pauline Epistles, </i>p.47)<span style=""> </span>Fellowship with Christ gave Paul the desire to live in this world in service to Him and others, and count all else as rubbish (Philippians 3:8).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >It is in that capacity that I heard from Dr. Wright only one godly hesitation to his desire to leave this present world for heaven.<span style=""> </span>At the 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary remembrance for Dr. and Mrs. Wright in 2004 at the RP International Conference at Calvin College, his family and some friends gathered and reflected on the goodness we had witnessed in their marriage.<span style=""> </span>After several had shared, Dr. Wright was given the opportunity to respond.<span style=""> </span>He spoke and had only one request.<span style=""> </span>He told us that it was clear that their days were drawing to a close, and that most likely one would leave for home before the other.<span style=""> </span>So because they have always been so inseparable, he pled for us to pray for the one left when the other died.<span style=""> </span>It was so like him, always looking ahead but at the same time also looking out for others, especially for the one clearly most dear to him. We are and will keep praying for you, Mrs. Wright.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" >Again Dr. Wright said, “To die is gain: how good it must be to die, because it is so good to be alive in Christ.”<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>The one he was named for, Covenanter Pastor James Renwick, said in his prison cell as he looked at the prospect of dying soon, “O Lord, thou hast brought me within two hours of eternity, and this is no matter of terror to me, more than if I were to lay down in a bed of roses…O! How can I contain this, to be within two hours of eternity?”<span style=""> </span>Then later, as he was led to the scaffold, he cried out, “Yonder is the welcome warning to my marriage; the Bridegroom is coming; I am ready, I am ready.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> </span>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" > He was ready to go home.<span style=""> </span>Dr. Wright was ready.<span style=""> </span>Are you?<span style=""> </span>Christ expects us to be and, praise be to His name, He has given us examples showing us both how to live and die ready to be at home with the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p><span style=";font-family:";font-size:85%;" ><span style=""></span></span>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-63945427837959753562009-08-24T15:43:00.004-04:002009-08-25T10:26:12.224-04:00The Beauty of Holiness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPMYFqZtEROKXUMVTB8fOACrH4VCkK5n4gnOGOSLSmDruHGLqyHrx3QDmfSNZfhlua29wvMlOPJsN03hyphenhyphenOumHS2NA5OjW2T7wPtL6fmfX-tQjXJOG4B9qw47OHo0uW2TvptTJ0/s1600-h/yssp_9512a_blog.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPMYFqZtEROKXUMVTB8fOACrH4VCkK5n4gnOGOSLSmDruHGLqyHrx3QDmfSNZfhlua29wvMlOPJsN03hyphenhyphenOumHS2NA5OjW2T7wPtL6fmfX-tQjXJOG4B9qw47OHo0uW2TvptTJ0/s200/yssp_9512a_blog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373618594375680834" border="0" /></a>Interesting how a theme of Scripture, running like a thread of gold through Holy Writ, can also run through your life. At first glance the painting of a sanctuary, sitting by the shore of Lake Michigan, the placing of new psalters in our pew racks, a trip to Atlanta, and a three-day youth service project (most participants pictured to the left - I'll leave it to you to distinguish the youth from the non-youth) could seem to be all unconnected. Yet these experiences of mine over the past month have reminded me of the beauty of holiness.<br /><br />God's holiness is certainly a Scriptural theme. It's as basic as ABC and 1-2-3, featured prominently in the first three books of the Bible, from His casting the fallen couple out of Eden and guarding it with the angels' flaming sword, to His declaration of holiness at Sinai, to His levitical call to Israel to be holy. This thread runs unbroken through the Bible and alongside though always far above man's sinfulness, until the two ultimately converge violently at the cross. Our sinfulness Christ bears; His holiness becomes our garments. From the moment the sinner receives this divine exchange, he is then forever called by a name emphasizing his new identity - a saint, or a holy one. If the saint but follows the Lord, then whereas before everything he touched he polluted, he now begins to see the beauty of the Creator's work wherever he travels.<br /><br />Such has been my experience this month. Our sanctuary's peeling plaster and dirty green-tinted paint have given away to beige and hues that highlight its architecture and creates a warm and lighter environment for worship. Yet the true transforming holiness was seeing an ex-prisoner, redeemed by Christ, wanting his painting work to "glorify God in this sanctuary." Watching waves pound the shore of the lake brought to mind Psalm 93:4-5 and the power of His holiness, "More than the mighty breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty....Holiness befits Your house." Singing from the new psalters and seeing more of God's Word come alive in His people is an experience of His sanctifying holiness. Being in Atlanta and watching a church planter lead an inner city Bible study to the downtrodden reminded me of how His holiness, as proclaimed in the gospel, separates His people from the world. Seeing nearly two dozen youth work both hard and cheerfully for three days serving our congregation and others brought to life Psalm 110, "our youth arrayed in holiness like morning dew shall be."<br /><br />In the midst of Jericho's destruction, nothing good may have looked possible. Yet to those who knew to look, a scarlet cord tied to a window meant a prostitute and her family were being saved and cleansed from the rubble of sin. His holy hand is always at work, weaving beauty in the midst of this troubled world, if only we have eyes to see the thread.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-89678909982361524582009-07-20T13:35:00.008-04:002009-07-21T11:23:33.824-04:00Calvin and the Awful Doctrine of Presdestination<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHchk3OkXIXz3WrI5o4eMlDj2aVvOLasdsrJ38ZxFx7-FOuEvsoBtv9nF6Abp7iHJce0LlklMTuFp30b8UMtbrOJ7SpI2CmR-1_JQht6Sa6cWBXVUdsCQZgR3i_s17myitjKm/s1600-h/handhrt.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 185px;" 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mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">The following article was presented at a seminar we hosted called "Hearts Aflame" on July 17th in honor of Bill VanDoodewaard. Bill has completed his PhD in church history and, after being with us for three years, is headed with his family to Virginia where he will begin teaching at Patrick Henry College in the fall. Bill, pastor-elect Jason Camery</span>, a<span style="font-style: italic;">nd I each gave presentations on John Calvin as explained <a href="http://www.sycamorerpc.org/images/newsletter/newsletter4.pdf">here</a>.</span>
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<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span>If there is one teaching that the name of John Calvin invokes, it is that of predestination.<span style=""> </span>When even Wikipedia, certainly no theological publication, begins its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination">definition of predestination</a> by mentioning only one name right at the beginning, saying, “Those who believe in predestination, such as John Calvin,” then the association of his name with the teaching is sealed.<span style=""> </span>You hear predestination, and you think John Calvin.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span>In this short time, I cannot begin to develop fully his teaching on it.<span style=""> </span>There are books that do that with more pages than Bill’s PhD (about 325 pages, which I’m still working on).<span style=""> </span>But I would like you to focus with me on the following three clarifications regarding it.<o:p></o:p><b style=""><i style=""><span style="">
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<br /></span></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="">1) His definition - What Calvin said predestination is.<span style=""> </span></span></i></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;">In Book 3 of <i style="">The Institutes of the Christian Religion </i>in chapter 21, <span style="color:black;">he says, “</span><span style="color:black;">By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.” (21:5)*</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >To give you a summary of Calvin’s Scriptural support for this definition, in this chapter of <i style="">The Institutes </i>note that Calvin traced the development of this doctrine through the increasing revelation of the Bible.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >He began with Abraham, showing how the Lord chose this man to be His special representative out of all the people of the world. Most Christians do not struggle with accepting the truth that Abraham was chosen by God.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >Consequently, Israel, descended from Abraham, was also then chosen by God.<span style=""> </span>He quoted verses such as Deuteronomy 7:7-8 which says, “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people: for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you.”</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >Calvin then goes on to speak of a deeper dimension of predestination, that in the Old Testament we see a more special election still of God saving certain ones from the nation of Israel.<span style=""> </span>Calvin says that we must see how “the grace of God was displayed in a more special form, when of the same family of Abraham God rejected some,” and then he refers to Malachi 1:2-3 which explicitly states, “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.” (21:6)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >Finally, Calvin brings us into the New Testament, and show how the Apostle Paul in Romans quotes this very text from Malachi to substantiate predestination.<span style=""> </span>He then quotes from Romans 9:15, itself another quote from the Old Testament: “For he (the Lord) saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”<span style=""> </span>Calvin then later asks, “And what pray, does this mean? It is just a clear declaration by the Lord that he finds nothing in men themselves to induce him to show kindness, that it is owing entirely to his own mercy, and, accordingly, that their salvation is his own work. Since God places your salvation in himself alone, why should you descend to yourself?” (22:6)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style=""> </span>So important was it to believe this doctrine he said,“We shall never feel persuaded as we ought that our salvation flows from the free mercy of God as its fountain, until we are made acquainted with his eternal election.” (21:1)<span style=""> </span>Yet eventhough he saw eternal election this way, he also stressed a need for caution.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="">His caution<span style=""> </span>- How Calvin was far more careful with this doctrine than his critics were and are.<span style=""> </span></span></i></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Calvin understood men would react strongly against this doctrine.<b style=""><span style=""> </span>“</b><span style="color:black;">The human mind, when it hears this doctrine, cannot restrain its petulance (i.e. tantrums), but boils and rages as if aroused by the sound of a trumpet” (23:1).<span style=""> </span>Hearts do war against this teaching.<span style=""> </span>As I said in the article I wrote for the newsletter, “</span>people who hear his teachings rarely remain unaffected by them. Their hearts too become enflamed –either <b><i>with</i></b> these teachings or <b><i>against</i></b> them.”<span style=""> </span>This is especially true with predestination.<span style=""> </span>So Calvin offers many c<span style="color:black;">autions, of which I will mention three.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >1) Calvin cautions those who would make anything else but God’s will their ultimate trust.<span style=""> </span>“The will of God is the supreme rule of righteousness, so that everything which he wills must be held to be righteous by the mere fact of his willing it. Therefore, when it is asked why the Lord did so, we must answer, ‘Because he pleased.’ But if you proceed farther to ask why he pleased, you ask for something greater and more sublime than the will of God, and nothing such can be found.” (23:2)<span style=""> </span>His will is to be our resting place.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">2) He cautions those trying to go beyond the limit of their understanding.<span style=""> </span>When men hear of election, they immediately want to ask, “Why would God choose some, and not others?”<span style=""> </span>To this Calvin replied: <span style="color:black;">“When they inquire into predestination, let then remember that they are penetrating into the recesses of the divine wisdom, where he who rushes forward securely and confidently, instead of satisfying his curiosity will enter in (an) inextricable labyrinth.”<span style=""> </span>God’s thoughts are higher than ours, and we will be trapped in a mental maze if we try to understand things that are beyond our human comprehansion.<span style=""> </span><b style=""><i style="">Especially remember this when you hear the ending story I want to share.</i></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >Calvin goes on to say, “Let it, therefore, be our first principle that to desire any other knowledge of predestination than that which is expounded by the word of God, is to be no less infatuated (or crazed) than to walk where there is no path, or to seek light in darkness.”<span style=""> </span>(21:2).<span style=""> </span>For Biblical support, he quoted Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever.”</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (21:3)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">3) A third caution I would mention Calvin gives is the mistaken notion that election removes human responsibility.<span style=""> </span>Many today associate John Calvin with an aberration of his teaching called Hyper-Calvism, which is a doctrine that emphasizes divine sovereignty to the exclusion of human responsibility. Among other things, Hyper-Calvinism would deny:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:85%;">that gospel invitations are to be delivered to all people without exception;<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:85%;">that men can be urged to come to Christ;<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:85%;">that God has a universal love.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" >
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mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">To Calvin these teachings were monstrous distortions of truth!<span style=""> </span>“Another argument which they employ to overthrow predestination is that if it stand, <b style=""><i style="">all care and study of well doing must cease</i></b>. For what man can hear (say they) that life and death are fixed by an eternal and immutable decree of God, without immediately concluding that it is of no consequence how he acts, since no work of his can either hinder or further the predestination of God?” (23:12)<span style=""> </span>What was his answer?<span style=""> </span>He reminds us what the predestinated are predestined to do!<span style=""> </span>He points out what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 1:4, where he reminds us that the end for which we are elected is “that we should be holy, and without blame before him.”<span style=""> </span>“If the end of election is holiness of life, it ought to arouse and stimulate us strenuously to aspire to it, instead of serving as a pretext for sloth.” (23:12)<span style=""> </span>Predestination should lead us to fear God all the more, and consequently should both comfort us and spurs us on even in the worst of times.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This is how we see Calvin applying this doctrine.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="">
<br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="">His application – Calvin’s pastoral use of this doctrine, patterned after Christ and the apostles</span></i></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;">.<span style=""> </span>Christ and the apostles used this doctrine in two chief ways - to humble the proud, and to comfort the humble.<span style=""> </span>It is this latter use or application by Calvin I want to show you in conclusion.**<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">In Volume 4 <span style=""> </span>of <i style="">John Calvin’s Tracts and Letters, </i>a letter written by Calvin in April 1541 can be found.<span style=""> </span>It is a fairly lengthy letter written to Monsieur de Richebourg because his son Louis, a young man, had died.<span style=""> </span>Louis had been a student of Calvin at the Academy in Geneva, and the impact of his young friend’s death can be heard at the beginning of this letter to the deceased’s father:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“<i style="">When I first received the intelligence of the death…of your son Louis, I was so utterly overpowered that for many days I was fit for nothing but to grieve…I was somehow upheld before the Lord by those aids wherewith he sustains our souls in affliction, …however, I was almost a nonentity</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span>
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Then listen to how Calvin uses the doctrine of predestination to minister to this grieving father:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“<i style="">There is nothing which is more dispiriting to us than while we vex and annoy ourselves with this sort of question – <b style="">Why is it not otherwise with us?<span style=""> </span>Why has it so happened that we came to this place?</b></i> [In other words, why has God allowed this to happen to us?] ...<i style="">It is God, therefore, who has sought back from you your son, whom he committed to you to be educated, on the condition, that he might always be his own.<span style=""> </span>And therefore, he took him away, because it was both of an advantage to him to leave this world, and by this bereavement to humble you, or to make trial of your patience.<span style=""> </span>If you do not understand the advantage of this, without delay, first of all, set aside every other object of consideration, and ask of God that he may show you.<span style=""> </span>Should it be his will to exercise you still further, by concealing it from you, submit to that will, that you may become the wiser than the weakness of your own understanding can ever attain to.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Did you hear that last sentence?<span style=""> </span>“<i style="">Should it be his will to exercise you still further, by concealing it from you, submit to that will, that you may become the wiser than the weakness of your own understanding can ever attain to.”<span style=""> </span></i>How much wisdom and comfort can be found in submitting to His divine will, trusting Him regardless of how much of that will He reveals unto us.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></div> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">*These references are found in Book 3 of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Institutes of the Christian Religion</span>.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">**I am indebted to Robert Godfrey’s article “The Counselor to the Afflicted” in the book <i style="">John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine & Doxology </i>for this section.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-48737322633489013612009-07-14T14:35:00.005-04:002009-07-16T11:38:44.127-04:00Do Not Get a Few<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOcSvkUpMd1iSCqhr6_s6juCrtz3r5Y8RPqZ5-b6CQ8N6bWPcAh6Z5sRZP94jb3RpBnYcmNAnBJP99ph3zc2eCaR7Y_cIjO1lkvvNmNqllxzdCBaie42jjUmgk8644wIBZgSu/s1600-h/balljar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOcSvkUpMd1iSCqhr6_s6juCrtz3r5Y8RPqZ5-b6CQ8N6bWPcAh6Z5sRZP94jb3RpBnYcmNAnBJP99ph3zc2eCaR7Y_cIjO1lkvvNmNqllxzdCBaie42jjUmgk8644wIBZgSu/s200/balljar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358387622558999650" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >As a widow, she had grown so destitute in caring for herself and her two sons she had nothing but a jar of oil left. Yet it was enough for the Lord. His prophet Elisha</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > said, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><i>even</i></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > empty vessels; do not get a few. </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><a name="5"></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full.” Every vessel they borrowed was filled, and she used the proceeds from its sale to support her family. </span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br />This Biblical account came to mind during the report on our church's global missions </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >a few weeks ago at our Synod meeting</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >. We were informed of a tremendous shortfall in support and warned that missionaries could be pulled off the field. At that time Pastor Don Piper told of being in Pastor David Hanson's home recently. He observed his young children doing odd jobs and placing their money in a jar marked with the name of an African country where we have people serving. These young children were working and saving so those missionaries would not have to come back and the people there could keep hearing about Jesus! <br /><br />That brought to mind a memory. One of these missionaries used to be in our congregation as a child. Later on, at the time when we were seeking to buy our church building in Kokomo, he and his siblings asked that instead of Christmas gifts that year the money would be given to us. Their sacrificial gifts, along with many others, have us now in the tenth year of enjoying our facility.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">So with </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">all </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">these things in mind, now you know why this past Lord's Day, as we began a summer class on missions, we handed out to each family a mason jar with the name of that African nation on it. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">How even more desirous we are to do this after recently hearing of 44 professing Christ and being baptized! </span></span> We are asking the saints, both young and old, to fill their jars and then bring them to put into a large container at the church. We are praying that it will be filled to overflowing by the end of the class in September.<br /><br />The Lord willing, I will tell you then what our congregation brought in. And the Lord willing, I hope perhaps some of you might go hunting for some jars of your own.<br /></span></span>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-33513498102618872302009-07-07T11:32:00.004-04:002009-07-09T13:03:19.051-04:00Hearts Aflame<span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYnTihb3lpzwF5etiSThNlJFDsM2jJhoGX04YoTV-f91NCx3ckbUVHUlyWT2-oCUKAOc7NE9BXBZ920KQFUOlqQrA2OFUpEr8lPPTLVK72_gkl9LxqhFbuwbWZwqSalVDMi7h/s1600-h/john-calvin-27-150x150.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYnTihb3lpzwF5etiSThNlJFDsM2jJhoGX04YoTV-f91NCx3ckbUVHUlyWT2-oCUKAOc7NE9BXBZ920KQFUOlqQrA2OFUpEr8lPPTLVK72_gkl9LxqhFbuwbWZwqSalVDMi7h/s200/john-calvin-27-150x150.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355745278222787746" border="0" /></a>
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mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He was born on July 10, 1509, meaning this month marks the 500<sup>th</sup> anniversary of his birth. His life’s prayer, symbolized by a heart on fire being held out by an open hand, was “I offer my heart to you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely.” The impact of his life centuries later bears a strange witness to this prayer. For people who hear his teachings rarely remain unaffected by them. Their hearts too become enflamed –either <b style=""><i style="">with</i></b> these teachings or <b style=""><i style="">against</i></b> them.
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<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I speak of John Calvin, and the response to his name or teachings (known as Calvinism) invokes the same reaction five centuries later as it did in his age.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Many loved Calvin in his day.<span style=""> </span>One called his academy at Geneva, Switzerland, as being “the most perfect school of Christ since the days of the apostles.”<span style=""> </span>One of his successors, writing a biography of Calvin, compared him and other godly men to stars, “since they by their brightness show the way of happiness to others.”<span style=""> </span>Yet many in Geneva scorned Calvin, believing that their happiness was the last thing Calvin desired.<span style=""> </span>So despised was he that the most popular name for dogs in Geneva became “Calvin” in order to ridicule him!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">If nothing else can be agreed upon about Calvin, most anyone will acknowledge his influence.<span style=""> </span>He wrote thousands of tracts, letters, commentaries and books that are still widely translated and read today.<span style=""> </span>One of his books, <i style="">The Institutes of the Christian Religion, </i>is still considered to be one of the <em><span style="font-style: normal;">clearest defenses of Protestant theology ever written.<span style=""> </span>His teachings helped spread the Reformation throughout Europe like wildfire, and were brought to colonial America by its founders.<span style=""> </span>He is credited for such things as bringing a healthy separation between civil and church authority that were influential on the democratic view of government; transforming care for the poor from almsgiving to vocational training; returning congregational singing, study of the Bible and access to the sacraments to the lay people (which had been forbidden to them in the medieval period).</span></em></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;">Indeed, pastors and rulers from many European nations sought Calvin out; yet through it all he lived modestly to the point that, when he died, he even insisted his grave remain unmarked lest it be venerated wrongly.<span style=""> </span>One of his chief denouncers, </span></em>Pope Pius, said: "The strength of that heretic, consisted in this, that money never had the slightest charm for him. </span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft 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4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1593833729 1073750107 16 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">If I had had such servants my dominion would extend from sea to sea."</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">On Friday, July 17<sup>th</sup>, our congregation invites you to come and learn more about this incredible man.<span style=""> </span>We will have three short presentations of John Calvin, done not only in honor of his birthday, but also in celebration of Bill VanDoodewaard’s recent accomplishment.<span style=""> </span>Bill is a pastoral intern at Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church who has just completed his PhD in Church History from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.<span style=""> </span>After being with us for three years, Bill and his precious family are moving away later this month as he takes up a teaching assignment at Patrick Henry College in Virginia.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">As you hear of Calvin’s life, ministry and teaching, we can promise one thing. Your heart, one way or another, will start burning!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
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<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><i style="">Hearts Aflame:<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><i style="">A Seminar on John Calvin<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="">In Honor of His 500<sup>th</sup> Birthday<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="">and in Celebration of Bill VanDoodewaard’s PhD<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">Friday, July 17<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">7:00 P.M.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">7:00-7:30<span style=""> </span><i style="">Calvin and His Fascinating History</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Bill VanDoodwaard<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">7:45-8:00<span style=""> </span><i style="">Calvin and His Tireless Ministry to the Poor <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Jason Camery<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">8:15-8:30<span style=""> </span><i style="">Calvin and the Awful Doctrine of Predestination<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style=""> </span></i>Barry York<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="">Refreshments & Nursery Provided! Questions Invited!</i></span></p><p face="verdana" style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p face="verdana" style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">See more at <a href="http://www.sycamorerpc.org/images/newsletter/newsletter4.pdf">Sycamore RPC Newsletter</a>.
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-81628682229707315952009-06-16T16:19:00.007-04:002009-06-17T11:35:10.383-04:00A Work of Art<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgP1PvyFdtik58bM1xzT1AI6_7Zt2dyjIrDGIRW_kRYfHiyWGcNqq1grBdEhJxQOeEQYTf5P_kD_ncFtIOVaVNRyiYEmG3FkHgg0-LOCcZjg64mUmQz_k4O226HEu6lFMtkCXQ/s1600-h/268352_fpx.tif.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgP1PvyFdtik58bM1xzT1AI6_7Zt2dyjIrDGIRW_kRYfHiyWGcNqq1grBdEhJxQOeEQYTf5P_kD_ncFtIOVaVNRyiYEmG3FkHgg0-LOCcZjg64mUmQz_k4O226HEu6lFMtkCXQ/s200/268352_fpx.tif.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348302231810254514" border="0" /></a>The Song of Solomon is getting a great deal of attention as of late. It's meaning, once shrouded in the mystery of allegorical interpretations preferred by many of the Puritans, had many of God's people simply not knowing how to read and understand it. Yet this poetic book, containing a running, romantic, Romeo-&-Juliet-style dialogue between a groom and his bride (punctuated by a chorus urging them on to wedded bliss), has had an unveiling of sorts in recent times. Many contemporary interpreters have seen it to be what it appears to be - a highly charged, sexual interplay between a man and his wife. Perhaps none have done more so than Mark Driscoll, the charisma-filled, Calvinistic pastor of the megachurch known as <a href="http://www.marshillchurch.org/">Mars Hill Church</a> in Seattle.<br /><br />Indeed, Mr. Driscoll has been so explicit in his teaching about sexuality, particularly from the Song of Solomon, that he even has warnings about the mature content on his website; a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6746393">Nightline</a> report on him said two words are associated with his name - "sex and Jesus;" Pastor John McArthur has responded with a <a href="http://beforefoundation.com/2009/04/macarthur-addresses-driscolls-handling-of-song-of-solomon/">series of articles</a> whose main title let's us know what he thinks of Driscoll's interpretation <span style="font-style: italic;">- </span>"The Raping of the Song of Solomon;" <a href="http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15476">an article in <span style="font-style: italic;">WORLD </span>magazine</a> similarly questions the wisdom of Pastor Driscoll being so specific in his instructions on sexuality. Others defend him, citing the open sexuality of our culture demands that we need pastors like Driscoll giving specific instructions on these issues. With his boldness in testifying to Christ and his giftedness in teaching and reaching thousands for Him, we certainly should be thankful in many ways for how the Lord is using Driscoll's ministry.<br /><br />In God's providence, having read again through this book in my daily reading program recently, I wanted to add this thought or two to this discussion based on a verse I meditated on that day. It is from Song of Solomon 7:1, where Solomon says to his bride:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The curves of your hips are like jewels,<br />The work of the hands of an artist.<br /></span></div><br />Just as the Lord <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">fashioned </span></span>Eve for Adam (Genesis 2:22), so the Lord shapes each man's wife for his enjoyment. When one thinks of how a master craftsman pays close attention to every detail of his creation, we would do well to recognize that a display of the Lord's master handiwork, attentive care, and gracious nature is the designing of a wife as a gift to her husband. And remembering that the Song of Solomon is poetry describing a work of art might guide us in <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">how </span>we are to teach it, as well as how we are to practice its teachings.<br /><br />For have you ever noticed in art museums how quiet it is? Why does loud noise always seem out of place? Does not a reverent hush fall over the admirers when they encounter a glorious piece of work because they are quietly, appropriately appreciating the genius of the sculptor or painter? And are not the best works of art, poetry, music and stories those that reveal - but not too much? That create suspense and mystery? That encourage a maturing wait for the unveiling?<br /><br />Like the work of art it is, pastors and teachers should treat the Song of Solomon and its teaching with awe, not coarseness; with quiet appreciation, not raucous description; with careful handling, not crude references. Hearing things from the pulpit that would make us blush in a men's locker room is not manly boldness with the Scriptures, but a teenage handling of them. A pastor should recognize there are quiet places to counsel on necessary specifics, whereas in more public venues he can speak in such a way as to leave things to people's imagination. He needs to handle his messages like a work of art if he wants the men to do the same with their wives.<br /><br />As an example to the flock, he also should treat his wife like the work of art she is. Those who think they can talk or write openly about sex with their wives because of what is contained in the Song of Solomon miss a basic, important aspect of its interpretation. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">It is a dialogue between the groom and bride</span>. Keep it there! I said <a href="http://secondrpc.rpcast.org/category/special-events">recently to a group of men</a> that many books and talks on this subject need to be labelled "TMI" for "Too Much Information." Men are unnecessarily revealing intimate details about being with their wives. Just because the culture is crass does not mean we need to be. Perhaps they are afraid of being viewed as puritannical.<br /><br />Why not just tell men to go home and, without telling another soul, run their hand gently over God-designed curves and whisper what great works God has done? I think their people are "hip" enough to figure out the rest.Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-86648438759961505442009-06-09T08:41:00.004-04:002009-06-09T11:32:32.274-04:00Summer Fun<span style="font-style: italic;">Nothing like the warming days and sticky nights of summer to encourage us to slow down a bit and see all the </span><span style="font-style: italic;">blessing and chuckles</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> the Lord has bestowed upon us.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">My summer started with our church's annual Memorial Day Picnic, which despite the showers did not keep us from enjoying a cookout, remembering those in our armed services, and playing a vigorous and slippery soccer game. The next day I took off with Dave, Jack and Jared to the Banner of Truth Minister's Conference in PA. Three days of great discussions, fellowship, and buying books! Yet the highlight was the searching and masterful preaching. Alistair Begg's messages on "Persuasive Preaching" had us at times laughing uproariously (Can Reformed folk do that?) over his insights into Biblical characters even as he fired our hearts to be clear, authoritative and bold in our own preaching; Sinclair Ferguson had me in tears as the Holy Spirit applied his teaching on our union with Christ to sensitive areas in my own life. Thank you, Lord, for starting my summer this way.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br /></div><br />A baby robin fell from a neighbor's tree and was adopted by my daughter. Emory researched on the internet how to care for it, learning to feed it sugar water with a syringe and, of all things, moistened cat food. He began chirping and opening his mouth when she came near, and we laughed because Emory's nickname has always been "Birdy." Over a period of a few weeks it went from being barely alive to being able to fly, of living in a cardboard box to having its own birdcage (donated by Emory's violin teacher).<br /><br />However, this robin apparently was born with one deformed leg (perhaps the reason it was pushed out of its nest) and broke the other in its fall. So it had to flutter around quite a bit just to gets its balance. Various names were given to it, such as Squirt (don't ask) or Winchester, but it was eventually dubbed Mephibosheth for obvious reasons. Spiritual lessons were gained from Mephibosheth. He served as an object for a children's sermon: <span style="font-style: italic;">"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? </span>A<span style="font-style: italic;">nd yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father...So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.</span>" Twice while caring for him outside he flew away and escaped, and was thought to be lost. Yet within an hour or so he was relocated and returned to his cage, begging for more cat food. <span style="font-style: italic;">The sparrow has her place of rest...Thine altars as my rest I sing, O Lord of hosts, My God, My King.</span><br /><br />Rightly knowing Mephibosheth would be neglected by me when she went to Michigan with the children last week, Miriam took him with her. A wildlife enthusiast neighbor of her parents was going deep into the woods to release some box turtles he had raised, and offered to release Mephibosheth there as well. Despite a tearful protest or two, we concluded this would be in Mephibosheth's and our best interest. Just as his name sake enjoyed, what better place to sit at the King's table than the swamps of northern Michigan?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br /></div><br />Ran across this this short poem from Robert Frost called <span style="font-style: italic;">Fragmentary Blue. </span>Reminded me of Colossians 3:2, which encourages us to set our minds on heavenly things, not earthly ones.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><pre style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Why make so much of fragmentary blue<br />In here and there a bird, or butterfly,<br />Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,<br />When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?<br /><br />Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)--<br />Though some savants make earth include the sky;<br />And blue so far above us comes so high,<br />It only gives our wish for blue a whet.</span></pre></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br /></div><br />Lizards have returned to our household. Hopefully Scooty and Sneaky will last longer than Spiffy, Squishy, Speedy and their other predecessors. But it will take some doing. Besides trying to keep them off exercise bikes and trees, sometimes they have to be saved from attempts of too much care. Yesterday Scooty was shedding his skin, and I had to admit he did look rather silly with it flopping about. Celia, abhorred by its looks, asked - no begged! - to please let her peel it off. Foreseeing that perhaps a leg or tail might come off with her attempts to peel the lizard, only telling her that it would be more fun to watch Scooty eat its skin convinced her to leave things well enough alone.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br /></div><br />One of the things I dislike most is for people to ask me to smell something. Nine times out of ten it is to sniff something disgusting, such as whether the milk is spoiled or food has rotted in the frig. Usually it is Miriam that asks me, and I would much rather walk by faith than by smell in these situations. "<span style="font-style: italic;">Honey, I love you and utterly trust you that it stinks.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Consider the length of my nose and how much bad smells especially pain me.</span>" So when Miriam called me to one of the closets and asked me to smell it, I knew it was not the odor of perfume or roses that would greet me. And was I correct! The sharp, acidic aroma brought to mind P.G. Wodehouse's description of the smell of Lord Emsworth's prized pig: "Emperess' rich bouquet." We concluded this rich bouquet must have been from the cat secretly urinating in the closet, and so we quickly ripped out the small piece of carpet that covered the floor and I took it out to the trash.<br /><br />However, upon returning to the room Miriam asked me, to my utter dismay, to employ my nose once again. Seems that the aroma was wrongly labeled "Cat on the Closet Carpet." Instead, it should have born the tag "A Certain Son's Soccer Shoes." A shoe bin we had taken out of the closet to rip out the carpet had a pair of soccer shoes in it that were rain-soaked, sweaty, and smellariffic. But with every cloud of odor comes forth a rainbow. The floor underneath the carpet proved to be hardwood, so a certain son is helping us refinish it today.<br /></div></div>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-52504369435653129692009-06-02T09:24:00.002-04:002009-06-02T09:58:11.322-04:00Dr. William Provine<span style="font-style: italic;">Earlier this year, our apologetics class watched parts of the movie Expelled in order to discern the presuppositions people use in explaining their worldview and to discuss how we might respond. During one clip, producer Ben Stein interviewed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Provine">Professor William Provine</a> of Cornell University. Dr. Provine explained his evolutionary views, but it was the personal conclusions he drew from them that shocked our class. We were grieved to hear him say that if a brain tumor he had successfully fought off a decade earlier returned and was inoperable (which the movie said had returned), he would take a gun to his head and blow his brains out. Since there is no afterlife, he stated, it made little sense to him to prolong his suffering.
<br />
<br />As my class of high school students discussed this, we decided we ought to write Dr. Provine, express our concern, and ask him to reconsider his worldview. To our further surprise, he ended up calling the church, getting my e-mail address, and responding to me and the students. What follows is first his letter, which despite his atheistic worldview reveals through his "gracious inconsistencies" he is made in the image of God. Then I have posted a letter my daughter Emory wrote in return (reviewed but unedited by me) after I assigned my students to read and review the chapter of the book Dr. Provine sent.
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<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span>
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2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dear Pastor York,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I have received 10 lovely letters from the following students: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Gabrielle Schwartz, Andrew Swinehart, Rachel Visser, Orlena Faris, Emory York, Trevor York, Moriah Fisher, Grace Harmon, Melanie Marcisz, and Abbie Marcisz. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I wish to thank you, and each of these wonderful students, for caring about me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I gather that you showed the movie, <i>Expelled</i>, to these students. The folks who made this movie did so under false pretenses. They promised a movie with no bias. But the ID view dominates the movie. Had I known this, I would have refused to participate. The moviemakers cut the video shot to place all the evolutionists as mean and nasty people. I had to call them, and threaten a lawsuit, before they put in, near the end of the movie, that I never discriminate against any student, including the most religious. I adore my students, one and all. I work with Cornell United Religious Work to be a part of a secular group devoted to sane and equal society. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I hold atheism the same way I hold biological theories: as the best hypotheses we can see right now. I do not know that all gods are impossible. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">My brain tumor, at the end of the editing of the movie, seemed to be growing fast to a neurosurgeon in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Rochester</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">NY</st1:state></st1:place>, and he recommended immediate chemotherapy in May, 2008. I did not trust him very much, because he said the tumor had been growing since 2004, and many neurosurgeons had told me that was untrue. My usual neurosurgeon in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Syracuse</st1:place></st1:city> retired, and I found another one there who actually was part of my operation in 1998. He asked for an MRI in October, 2008, on the same machine and gadolinium dye used from 2002 to 2006. The result was that he could not tell the difference between this scan and the one in 2006. There was no evidence of growth. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I still plan to teach my last semester before retirement in the fall of 2009 (retirement scheduled for June 30, 2010, when I will be 68 years old. I never expected to live to 65. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So your students can understand why I believe as I do (no gods that count, no life after death, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no human free will, same as Charles Darwin), I attach an article I wrote for the Handbook of Religion and Science, published by Oxford University Press in 2006. I wrote this for high school students who can read it easily. If any of your students wish to answer that document, I would be delighted to reply. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Thank you again,
<br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
<br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Will Provine
<br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
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font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear Professor Provine,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>Greetings!<span style=""> </span>I must first say how delighted and overjoyed I was to hear that you had responded to our letters!<span style=""> </span>Your schedule must be full and it was very thoughtful of you to take time to reply.<span style=""> </span>Rest assured that your kindness did not go unappreciated.<span style=""> </span>Thank God that He has spared you from the possible growth of your brain tumor!<span style=""> </span>I pray that His provision of your life will give you time to rethink your beliefs</span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><!--[endif]--><span style=""></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">.<span style=""> </span>You most graciously invited us to respond to your article and my fellow classmates and I are going to happily take up this offer.<span style=""> </span>Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to practice our apologetics!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>As I stated in my previous letter, you must realize that my commitment to Christ and His saving grace is at the core of my being and argument.<span style=""> </span>You were quite correct in saying that my belief in an intelligent designer, namely God Almighty, stems from my religious beliefs.<span style=""> </span>I in turn can say that your evolutionist/atheist beliefs come directly from your refusal of God.<span style=""> </span>In your considerate letter, you wrote that we were wonderful students, a very true statement.<span style=""> </span>But sir, later you state that you believe in no ultimate foundation for ethics.<span style=""> </span>Was not this previous statement concerning us rather ethical?<span style=""> </span>What basis/foundation did you have for saying this?<span style=""> </span>Also, I would like to ask, if there is no foundation for ethics what exactly is your idea of a sane and equal society?<span style=""> </span>Towards the middle of your letter, you make this statement, “I do not know that all gods are impossible.”<span style=""> </span>Yet, all your arguments are based on the fact that you believe or rather state there is no God.<span style=""> </span>Excuse me for asking so boldly, but are you not grasping after straws?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>In your article, you use the argument that the loss of species and bacterial attacks point against Intelligent Design.<span style=""> </span>But how in the world can this be pointing to evolution?<span style=""> </span>My understanding of evolution was that through natural selection, the species on this earth would be perfected.<span style=""> </span>The strongest and fittest would survive, leaving us with a ‘super’ society. This idea is embodied in Darwin’s <i>On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life</i>.<span style=""> </span>(Few people know this full, racist title.)<span style=""> </span>Your argument claims the exact opposite, that there is a decline.<span style=""> </span>In fact, this seems to fit better with the picture of Christianity than anything.<span style=""> </span>All of creation groans under the affects of the Fall and sin.<span style=""> </span>The whole earth longs for the second coming of Christ and His salvation. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>Sir, with all due respect in mind, why are you so adamant in your arguments when there is no “Ultimate meaning in life”?<span style=""> </span>If you did not know deep in your heart that there is a God who judges and rules his people, you would not be trying to defend your position.<span style=""> </span>It is completely futile.<span style=""> </span>There is nothing after this life in your empty beliefs.<span style=""> </span>Though I am just a child before you, I have to say you are being arrogant, wanting to be in control of your life, but not wanting to be held responsible by an awesome Being.<span style=""> </span>You cannot escape His righteous judgment no matter how much you reject Him.<span style=""> </span>Professor, say you witnessed your one and only beloved son suffer an agonizing death to save the life of someone else.<span style=""> </span>Then this rescued person turned around and despised the life that had been offered freely for him.<span style=""> </span>He was thankless for what your son had done.<span style=""> </span>Can you honestly tell me you would not have any feelings, any ethical pains?<span style=""> </span>Well, this is a small-scale example of what you are doing to God and His Son, Christ Jesus. <span style=""> </span>He is longing to bring you to Himself, yet you revile this offering. Please, repent from this denial and turn to Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>Well, I have bothered you long enough.<span style=""> </span>Thank you once again for your cordial response.<span style=""> </span>I hope that none of the contents in this letter have seemed too forward or brash.<span style=""> </span>I mean no disrespect, but merely seek to share God’s wonderful gift with you. You are ever in my prayers.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In His Incomprehensible Love, <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Emory York</span></p> <div style=""><hr class="msocomoff" align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <!--[endif]--> <div style=""><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--> <div id="_com_1" class="msocomtxt" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="msoCommentShow('_anchor_1','_com_1')" onmouseout="msoCommentHide('_com_1')"><!--[endif]--><span style=""><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a name="_msocom_1"></a><!--[endif]--></span><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--></div> <!--[endif]--></div> </div> <span style="font-style: italic;"></span></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<br />Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-76399428228184745912009-05-13T09:37:00.002-04:002009-05-13T10:01:04.969-04:00Apologetics ProjectsThis year at <a href="http://www.sycamorerpc.org/sca/index.html">Sycamore Covenant Academy</a> I have had a great time teaching presuppositional apologetics. In response to a year end assignment that required the student to engage 50 people or more with the apologetics we had learned this year, two of my students, Andrew Swinehart and Trevor York, put the following video together. The amount of time, boldness they demonstrated in meeting with even pastors, and the response to be creative and make their presentations high quality surprised and encouraged me. Though I had hoped to be in this video only by virtue of an "Alfred Hitchcock-like" appearance (the bald-headed guy way in the back in the scene with the pro-choice gal is yours truly), alas, I'm in a full-face clip or two also. I guess their boldness also meant they did not take my threat to lower their grade to heart!<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4450700&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4450700&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/4450700">SCA Apologetics Project</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user518361">SycamoreRP Church</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-49400611752678876412009-04-29T09:41:00.004-04:002009-04-29T12:17:05.589-04:00The Exhaustion of Mushgod<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVlXNP7b103KHj0oteeLFo6bEasbxT2oukpn8upaOyw2yX0mr2hfPJMlc-6krP_PB0OeLGUEiBSkUdKVxaPSD8_2V8ipJ79M4rFDMZntPCY_dOL3tir9WSn3kqT4zcMx1I58Vw/s1600-h/TheBlob.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVlXNP7b103KHj0oteeLFo6bEasbxT2oukpn8upaOyw2yX0mr2hfPJMlc-6krP_PB0OeLGUEiBSkUdKVxaPSD8_2V8ipJ79M4rFDMZntPCY_dOL3tir9WSn3kqT4zcMx1I58Vw/s200/TheBlob.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330111703661654066" border="0" /></a>Years ago I heard a pastor in Pittsburgh preach about Mushgod. Mushgod is the civic god of our nation, the uniting god of our culture. She/he is the god referenced at the end of every politician's speech though, as they dutifully quote on cue their statement of faith at the very end, they always use the cute nickname they have for him/her: "god bless America." Likewise, every service organization from the Rotary Club to Little League Baseball prays to her/him and justifies their existence by him/her. Mushgod thinks nothing of her/his own glory, but rather is here just for you. Like a can of child's <span style="font-style: italic;">Play-Doh, </span>Mushgod takes the shape of his/her worshiper's wishes. A while ago, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=l2pPznYMqHYC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=mushgod&source=bl&ots=_TWA-fKTq0&sig=gF1uQwG-EBgGh7W1ozYJ4sa-EWY&hl=en&ei=IV_4SZqsApS8M5Sq5bEP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA12,M1">one</a> described the knowledge of her/him in a way we can all understand (or at least I can, seeing that I had this for breakfast this morning): "Cream of Wheat" divinity. For Mushgod is beyond definition, preferring an amorphous, rounded existence to the edges and corners that most theologians employ. If on occasion he/she gets mistaken for Santa Claus or Mother Nature, that does not bother her/him. And according to many of his/her followers, like the significant gods of other cultures now long dead, such as the Greeks and Romans, Mushgod also has a son. His name is Myjesus.<br /><br />Myjesus is the god of personalized salvation of the Mushgodites. Legend has it he did great wonders but then died on a cross, which in itself sounds like a wretched end. But Myjesus followers have made this a beautiful symbol of their faith. They do so by using it as an example of how we should live, wearing gold crosses, singing love ballads about it, and pointing out that the legend also says Myjesus rose from the dead so we too can rise above all our difficulties. Rather than demanding any change of lifestyle from his followers such as found in legalistic religions like Christianity, Myjesus accomodates whatever lifestyle the believer chooses or was helplessly born to follow. His followers are allowed to use any of Myjesus' favorite quotes, such as "God so loves the world," "Love one another," and "Do not judge" as support for any of their actions. The only word they are not allowed to use is "sin," unless used for civic purposes that would, in their opinion, serve the public good such as in the "sin of intolerance." Myjesus followers usually worship in big places like <a href="http://www.crystalcathedral.org/">crystal cathedrals</a> and even <a href="http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/56161/">New York Stadium</a>.<br /><br />Though this religion of Mushgod and Myjesus continues to grow in numbers, there are signs that they may be running out of resources, perhaps even getting a bit tired. Afterall, no one ever claimed they were infinite. Why do I say this?<br /><br />For a long time the Mushgod devotees promised that because Mushgod would always bless America, our nation would always be able to provide a growing economy, plenty of jobs, affordable education, ready healthcare, inexpensive housing, free childcare...I do not have times to list all the blessings. These blessings, so they told us, would come as long as Mushgod was satisfied with three things: 1) "Mush-tithes" collected by the government and given willingly by the people, which are usually in the neighborhood of 40% or more of your income (it's just a little hard to figure out how much to give sometimes); 2) "Mush-shifts" which is the peaceful distribution of this money by the priests in Washington to whomever Mushgod deems worthy of his/her beneficence, be it single mothers or banks needing a little extra; and 3) "Mush-money" which is the one miracle Mushgod does as she/he creates money <span style="font-style: italic;">ex nihilo </span>by causing printing presses magically to turn on and start printing more bills when they are needed.<br /><br />Though these conditions are all still in place, Mushgod seems a bit exhausted in keeping up with all of the blessings that were promised. Or I wonder if it just that he/she is displeased because 1) people are starting to protest giving their Mush-tithes, 2) they seem to be having more difficulty in doing the Mush-shifts, and 3) some of the other unenlightened countries who have yet to come to believe in Mushgod do not like using our Mush-money as <style>t Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1593833729 1073750107 16 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--><s><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >mush<o:p></o:p></span></s> much anymore? Usually when Mushgod is unhappy (note: she/he never gets angry), there are signs indicating it. Start listening for words such as "sacrifice," "redistribution," or "universal." They'll be in those speeeches that end with the mushy "god bless America."Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-74629020805463958262009-04-22T10:00:00.005-04:002009-04-22T15:04:06.964-04:00Of Pigs and Pearls<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjB2GGDRQwx-CHsf4wdrG2EbcZq3ijSe3r69LA97FkMGTbzVmSV9GxktL5G-jnZEKyEIhLcgcEHacjjz_keIBJnOeLh4NVpE8loy9TvTENzeU5PvFuUhQFAYVQsKG0uTubQI7i/s1600-h/PearlNecklace.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjB2GGDRQwx-CHsf4wdrG2EbcZq3ijSe3r69LA97FkMGTbzVmSV9GxktL5G-jnZEKyEIhLcgcEHacjjz_keIBJnOeLh4NVpE8loy9TvTENzeU5PvFuUhQFAYVQsKG0uTubQI7i/s200/PearlNecklace.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327523086504497410" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">A growing number of debates featuring atheist Christopher "Note-the-Irony-that-My-Name-Means-Christ-Bearer" Hitchens have been popping up all over the internet. Hitchens, a journalist, TV pundit, and author of the book <span style="font-style: italic;">God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, </span>has been<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>debating men such as <a href="http://www.wts.edu/flash/media_popup/media_player.php?id=462&paramType=video">Douglas Wilson</a>, <a href="http://www.tkc.edu/debate/">Dinesh D'Souza</a>, <a href="http://www.crossexamined.org/turek-hitchens-debate.asp">Frank Turek</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=891776135764757633">Al Sharpton</a> (Oh help us!) and even <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5325064402847701526">his own brother</a>. Hitchens is professorial, extremely intelligent, humorous, and, I am beginning to believe, more cunning than believers. How so?<br /><br />When his <span style="font-style: italic;">God is not Great </span>book was published, according to his own words Hitchens told the publishers that he did not want his book tour to take him to the typical liberal bastions on the East Coast or college campuses. Instead, he wanted to go to the Bible Belt, to churches, Bible colleges and seminaries. Consequently, that is where many of these debates have been held. At least to this pastor's way of thinking, I believe this welcoming of Hitchens is at best an act of incredible naivete and at worse one of gross unfaithfulness to Christ.<br /><br />For did not our Lord instruct us not to cast our pearls before pigs, unless they trample both the pearls and those who cast them underfoot (see Matthew 7:6)? A pearl in Biblical parlance is the teaching of truth, and in the context in which Jesus spoke these words He is referring to the corrective teaching of the gospel. In the words of <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Geneva Study Bible's </span>comment on this passage, "believers should not continue to preach to people who have rejected the gospel with contempt and scorn," which is exactly what Hitchens is doing. By inviting Hitchens to a church or seminary, knowing that he is going to blaspheme our Lord and Savior - laughing and getting others to laugh as he does so </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(albeit a bit nervously as you see on some of these videos) </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">- seems to be a gross violation of this injunction of Christ. It is one thing for a believer to write against him or go head-to-head with him on some talk show. I applaud those believers that have done so for their courage. Yet it is an entirely different matter to be chummy with him in a church sanctuary or seminary before young believers and seminarians. <br /><br />Jesus told us that the sons of this age are more cunning than the children of light. That Hitchens <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">wanted </span>to debate with Christians (people that he believes are poisoning the world) in their devoted places, and Christians are receiving him warmly, only proves it. For make no mistake about it, he is preaching his atheistic gospel to win converts. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hitchens is casting those stumbling blocks that the mature in Christ are supposed to be clearing out of other's path, rather than giving him an invitation to do so. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Has the church really begun to yearn for relevance so much that we will accommodate him, and spend money given by saints for gospel ministry to pay his honorarium for his blasphemies? Rather than desiring the great show that Hitchens promises to put on and yearning for the praise of the world about the church's "open-mindedness" in inviting him, the bride of Christ better look to the Lord of the church.<br /><br />For another verse about pigs and jewelry is found in the Bible. Proverbs 11:22 says, "As a ring of gold in a swine's snout so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion." The bride of Christ, made beautiful by His blood, is showing this lack of discretion in this matter. So rather than holding up Hitchens for the pig that he is showing himself to be in defaming our Lord Jesus, the church is wallowing in the sty with him. That's no place for Christ's bride to be (II Peter 2:22).<br /></span>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14055038.post-46295538363671384722009-03-23T12:37:00.002-04:002009-03-23T13:02:33.039-04:00Church Discipline<span style="font-style: italic;">As I am planning soon to begin a preaching series on the marks of the church, one of which is church discipline, I have reflected over our experiences here. Over the lifetime of the Sycamore congregation, we sadly have had many cases of church discipline. Below is the body of a letter written by our elders some time ago to a particular individual (the fifth one we had given him), with his name and a few of the details having been changed for this display. I offer this to serve as a reminder of the church's duty to apply Biblical discipline to wandering sheep, a testimony to the lengths we took to recover this person, and, as you read at the bottom of this post what ultimately resulted, a warning to heed the Word of God and the shepherds He has placed over the church.
<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span>
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mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:638076446; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:283411006 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Dear Esau,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style=""> </span>The Session<span style=""> </span>of Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church has made repeated efforts to restore you to our fellowship, as listed below:</p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Last summer in July we rebuked you for your failure to participate in worship and observe the sacraments.<span style=""> </span>We also warned you about your relationship with the widow in whose home you were staying and called you out of that situation.<span style=""> </span>You made an initial confession in August and returned for two weeks to the church.<span style=""> </span><b style=""><i style="">However, since <st1:date year="2003" day="31" month="8" st="on">August 31<sup>st</sup> </st1:date>you have not attended a worship service at Sycamore.</i></b></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Even after seeking counsel from the Session on September 3<sup>rd</sup> and being warned not to go, you purposefully chose to move out of town and live with the widow there.<span style=""> </span>On October 1<sup>st</sup> we again rebuked you for “showing contempt for the counsel of the court and the appearance of immorality,” as was communicated to you in a letter dated October 26<sup>th</sup>.<span style=""> </span>This letter was hand-delivered to you by the pastor.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">On December 14<sup>th</sup> we sent another letter to you when you were in the Howard County Jail.<span style=""> </span>The pastor visited you and explained that this letter indicated our numerous attempts to restore you and informed you that you had been suspended from the privileges of church membership. </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Last month you received a certified letter dated February 2<sup>nd</sup> that called you to respond to our letter of suspension as you had promised you would do.<span style=""> </span>This letter was signed by the widow.<span style=""> </span>We gave you a deadline to respond of February 10<sup>th</sup>, which you ignored, despite the fact that this letter threatened that we would proceed officially as the court of the church towards conducting a trial of excommunicating you from this congregation if you did not.<span style=""> </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Last Sunday, February 29<sup>th</sup>, Elder Bob McKissick and Pastor Barry York appeared at the address listed above as your official residency.<span style=""> </span>When we asked the widow if you were there, she indicated you were.<span style=""> </span>She returned after talking with you and claimed that because of allergies you did not want to see us that day.<span style=""> </span>She assured us you had received our certified letter and that she would tell you that we wanted to hear from you before or during our Session meeting on March 3<sup>rd</sup>.<span style=""> </span>Once again this date came and went, and we never heard from you.</li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style=""> </span><span style=""></span>Esau, how we have pursued you and sought to love you in Christ!<span style=""> </span>Recall all that we did to counsel with you, to provide work opportunities for you, to bring you into our homes and into our hearts when you were still with us.<span style=""> </span>We wept and welcomed you as our brother as we listened to your testimony the day you stood in the sanctuary and told of God’s grace.<span style=""> </span>We have instructed you in the word of God and prayed earnestly for you.<span style=""> </span>But you have spurned both God’s love and ours.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style=""> </span>You may still claim to love God, but honestly, Esau, by the most basic measure can you say that you are demonstrating that by your actions?<span style=""> </span>Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John <st1:time minute="15" hour="14" st="on">14:15</st1:time>).<span style=""> </span>Yet you made vows to attend the worship of God and have missed them for months on end.<span style=""> </span>You promised you would heed the counsel and discipline of the church when you joined, but within a few months you disdained it by putting personal pleasure and aspirations above the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>Even now the widow claimed you were attending church together elsewhere, but your broken relationships with us coupled with your living with this woman outside marital bonds makes your church attendance abhorrent to God.<span style=""> </span>Your stubbornness and refusal to listen to godly counsel has caused you to wander into grave spiritual danger, where you no longer are even able to discern the deceitfulness of your actions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style=""> </span>Therefore, in a final attempt to restore you, we took the following action at our Session meeting of March 3<sup>rd</sup>:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><b style=""><i style="">Because of your contempt for the established order and worship of the church, and your dwelling with a woman outside marriage bonds against the Session’s particular counsel, the Session has set the date of March 17, at 5:00 p.m. at the pastor’s office of Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church to hold a trial to excommunicate Esau unless he presents to the Session a valid objection or repents of his actions.<o:p></o:p></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Esau, please understand that if you do not leave this situation and return to us, we will have to conclude that by your own deeds you no longer are walking in a manner worthy of the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>If you continue to ignore us and do not contact us by this date, we will be forced to excommunicate you.<span style=""> </span>By that action we will be declaring that you are no longer to be considered a Christian and that your soul is in danger of the eternal flames.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Yet our heart’s desire is not your condemnation, Esau, but your restoration.<span style=""> </span>Please heed the word of God, Esau, who said to <st1:place st="on">Lot</st1:place> through the angels sent to rescue him, “Escape for your life!<span style=""> </span>Do not look behind you!”<span style=""> </span>Leave this situation immediately, and seek refuge in Christ and the church.<span style=""> </span></p> <p></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sadly, Esau did not come to the meeting to which he was summoned and was excommunicated. Tragically, soon after this action he was stricken with a massive heart attack and died in the home of the aforementioned woman.</span></span>
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></div></div>Barry Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04735703368766711796noreply@blogger.com2