Archive for October 2006
"The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (Exodus 14:14, ESV)
Posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 10:21 AM by David Zavadil
I logged onto my blog this morning to make some tweaks to the page. As the page loaded I was struck by the verse on the right. I have an applet that generates a random passage from the ESV every day. Today's passage caused me to stop and think. Read it again. "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (Exodus 14:14, ESV).
The people of Israel were leaving Egypt. It has become clear that Pharaoh was not going to let them go as easily as first thought. In a near panic, they reach the edge of the Red Sea only to find the Egyptian Army quickly closing in upon them. Verse 10 tell us that the people cried out to God but does not record the prayer. Instead, verses 11,12 presents us with the people's complaint to Moses about his leadership. To paraphrase they whine, "We would have been better off making bricks than being here!"
How often do we reach a place in our lives where we too are crying out, "Things were bad where I was, but not half as bad as they are here. I wish I were back in Egypt." We cry out to God but only in the form of whining or complaining. Though Paul tells us to "be anxious for nothing...," anxiety overwhelms and wins out. We look at our "Red Sea" and see no way out. Panic sets in.
Beloved, God is not about panic. He has not abandoned His people. He is the Mighty Warrior and is ready to work powerfully in our lives. "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (Exodus 14:14, ESV) Moses is not telling the people to stop praying. He is telling them to stop whining and complaining and trust God. We are to be silent before the Lord. The Psalmist tells us to wait, see Psalm 27:14;31:24; 37:7,9,34; Psalm 130:5. The battle we fight is a spiritual battle, who better to fight on our behalf than the one who created the spiritual. Instead of complaining and trying to take things into our own hands, we are to wait on God and let Him do the work. I need to learn the lesson of Israel and be quiet and let God do His work. In my prayer closet I need to pray that God's mighty power will go forth for His glory. May God's kingdom be expanded today.
Edited on: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 10:26 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS)
My answer to your post is:
a. take a shower
b. take a nap
c. mow the lawn
d. read something else
e. take a drive, walk, bicycle ride, etc.
My best ideas come when I'm away from my desk, after having been at my desk for hours.
Usually if I'm dealing with the text earlier enough in the week, I can think hard about it as I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a new clarity.
Blessings,
Steve
Carpe Blogdom
Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 7:52 AM by David Zavadil
Here are a few interesting links from around the blogging universe.
The men at reformation21 have written some fantastic articles. Check out this one on Hateful Calvinism
This is not a blog but it is good music. Check out Matthew Smith
I will brazenly plug a friend of mine. Check out this online book store Doxoblogy Books
Posted in Just For Fun (RSS)
My answer to your post is:
a. take a shower
b. take a nap
c. mow the lawn
d. read something else
e. take a drive, walk, bicycle ride, etc.
My best ideas come when I'm away from my desk, after having been at my desk for hours.
Usually if I'm dealing with the text earlier enough in the week, I can think hard about it as I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a new clarity.
Blessings,
Steve
A question for my fellow pastors
Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 5:41 PM by David Zavadil
I would appreciate some comments and help. Preparing a sermon is often like writing a book or paper. What do you do when you get a block? How do you handles those times when you know what the passage is speaking about but just can't come up with the words to express what you see in Scripture?
Posted in Ministry (RSS)
My answer to your post is:
a. take a shower
b. take a nap
c. mow the lawn
d. read something else
e. take a drive, walk, bicycle ride, etc.
My best ideas come when I'm away from my desk, after having been at my desk for hours.
Usually if I'm dealing with the text earlier enough in the week, I can think hard about it as I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a new clarity.
Blessings,
Steve
Carpe Blogdom
Posted on Thursday, October 05, 2006 at 7:39 AM by David Zavadil
A few choice morsels from around the world of the web.
1. An email dialogue between Mark Driscoll and John Piper. Go to Mark's Blog
2. Walter Kaiser paper on the Top 15 finds from Biblical Archaeology
3. From the Christian Vison Project, read Experiencing Life at the Margins
4. Found this site on preaching and the Puritans. The Shepherd's Scrapbook
Posted in Just For Fun (RSS)
My answer to your post is:
a. take a shower
b. take a nap
c. mow the lawn
d. read something else
e. take a drive, walk, bicycle ride, etc.
My best ideas come when I'm away from my desk, after having been at my desk for hours.
Usually if I'm dealing with the text earlier enough in the week, I can think hard about it as I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a new clarity.
Blessings,
Steve
How do we Approach Worship?
Posted on Wednesday, October 04, 2006 at 2:41 PM by David Zavadil
How do we know what we can do in worship? Isn't this an interesting question? There are so many ways you could go about answering it and yet it still may not feel fully answered. D.A. Carson in his book Worship by the Book writes, “Constructing a theology of worship is challenging because of the different kinds of answers that are provided, in this case, by biblical theology and systematic theology.” How we arrive at our theological positions colors how we approach worship.
I want to look at a few of the differing views of worship. In particular, I would like to look at these models of worship: 1. the Anything goes model 2. the Doesn't contradict Scripture model 3. the Word model. This look is by no means meant to be exhaustive, but simply to give us an over view as we move forward in our study on worship.
The “anything goes” model, or maybe better called, “the ends justify the means” model, approaches worship from the perspective of worship is for God's people and can take a variety of forms. This approach to worship would argue that true worship is different for every believer. What might be worship for one person may not be worshipful for another. To remedy this probability, you seek to include something for everyone. This model will argue that there is nothing taboo for worship as long as it leads people closer to Christ. Often times someone will quote, Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (ESV). Our freedom enables and allows us to worship “in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) While this sounds good, especially to our individualistic culture, there are some problems inherent in the view point.
The “anything goes” model provides the possibility and opportunity to stray into acts and forms of worship that are simply not glorifying to God. It denies the directives that are clearly given in Scripture not to worship as the pagans do and moves the church toward an earthly looking organization as opposed to a kingdom outpost for our Lord. All too easily, in our desire to attract new people, we become more and more like the world, incorporating the latest entertainment fad in order to “keep everyone's attention.” The “anything goes” model turns worship from a God driven and focused lifestyle to a man driven and focused event. Everything become, “how can we keep the attenders happy.” I just do not see how this can be glorifying to God.
The second model is close to the first, but, to its credit, has its eye on Scripture. The desire is again to glorify God and yet be attractive. Worship is approached from the perspective of, anything is allowed in worship as long as it does not contradict Scripture. Most of our modern evangelical churches operate from this perspective. It is a pragmatic approach that appears to promote a Biblical view of worship. The problem I have with this view is that it is not driven by Scripture to glorify God but is driven my man and tempered a bit by Scripture. As long as you do not contradict Scripture anything goes. In fact you could call this “anything goes the holy version.”
The final view I will touch on is that of the Word model, also called the regulative principle. The regulative principle, in simple terms, states that everything we do must be prescribed in the Scriptures. Simply put, we worship as God tells us we are to worship. Westminster Confession of Faith 21:1 summarizes this view of worship like this:
But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.
Scripture is to be our guide in determining how we are to worship. The problem found in this view of worship, yes there are problems with every view, deals with how narrowly to broadly to interpret the Scriptures. Take music as an example. Most would agree that Scripture guides us to include music in our worship. The questions that arise, at this point, are many. Should said music be with instruments or acapella? What is meant by “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16)? Do modern chorus' or praise songs fall into the category of “spiritual songs?” Were the hymns referred to in this passage found in Scripture or could hymns written later be used? These are just a few questions that arise from this one issue. For those who have read about worship lately, you know that there are just as many answers as there are questions.
The issue of how we are to worship is not just as easy as, “give me a piano a hymnal and the Bible.” Depending on how you use these items and how you approach that time of worship you could either glorify God or stray from God. As I said earlier, this talk was not intended to be exhaustive, but to begin a discussion. We will look more indepth at the Word model of worship in the future. For now, think for a moment about your worship. What view point predominates in your worship life?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)
My answer to your post is:
a. take a shower
b. take a nap
c. mow the lawn
d. read something else
e. take a drive, walk, bicycle ride, etc.
My best ideas come when I'm away from my desk, after having been at my desk for hours.
Usually if I'm dealing with the text earlier enough in the week, I can think hard about it as I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a new clarity.
Blessings,
Steve
Question to ponder
Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 at 7:48 PM by David Zavadil
This past Sunday we had only 17 males, including myself and my two sons, who were between 13 and 50 years of age. The question is this. Why are churches having such a difficult time reaching out to young males?
Posted in Ministry (RSS)
My answer to your post is:
a. take a shower
b. take a nap
c. mow the lawn
d. read something else
e. take a drive, walk, bicycle ride, etc.
My best ideas come when I'm away from my desk, after having been at my desk for hours.
Usually if I'm dealing with the text earlier enough in the week, I can think hard about it as I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a new clarity.
Blessings,
Steve