You are here: Home / 2008 / Archives for July 2008

Archives for July 2008

by on 7.17.08

thanks, mom

My wife is in Alberta visiting my parents while two of our kids are at camp.

The other day, my wife shared with my parents the video of our oldest son’s wedding (just over a year ago). My parents didn’t feel up to travelling all the way to Greenville, so this was their first look at the DVD.

My mom’s comment after the video (I conducted the ceremony, so catch this admiring mom comment!):

“He could have told them a lot of that in private counselling and made it shorter.”

Moi? Long? Perish the thought!

Thanks, mom!

don_sig2

Filed Under: Family, Personal
by on 7.14.08

still no middle ground

Some ongoing reflections on a discussion about “Conservative Evangelicals and Fundamentalists” held in Calgary, AB, June 27, 2008.

See earlier notes here.

Perhaps the most interesting question on our minds for this discussion is just what Pastor Minnick thinks can be done in cooperation with conservative evangelicals. The question was raised by Mark Dever in his recently published interview of Pastor Minnick this way:

“What would we have to do to change for you to be free to preach here?”

The same question has been discussed here and here with the majority of commenters seemingly unsatisfied with the specificity of Pastor Minnick’s answer at that time. You will see a commenter raising the question again in my last post on the subject and the question was raised both in the public discussion in Calgary and in personal conversation. The question is being framed in different ways, but essentially it is the same question. Dever’s articulation of it is as good as any.

Apparently, some are of the mind that very little prevents someone like Pastor Minnick from being free to preach at a Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Some have said that it is merely the connections with fundamentalist institutions that prevent such cooperation.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Dever, Fundamentalism, Issues, Minnick, New Evangelicalism, Separation
by on 7.13.08

7.13.08 gbcvic sermons

The latest from our pulpit…

Given over to Degrading Passions (Rm 1.26-27)

We come to a difficult passage in the revelation of God’s wrath against ungodliness … not difficult to understand, but difficult to preach in our current antagonistic culture. The manifestation of God’s wrath in this case takes the form of degrading passions. The prevalence of these passions flaunted in public today are evidence of God’s wrath pouring out upon Western civilization. We must not trivialize God’s antagonism towards our culture, nor may we ignore its lessons. For us to have access to God, we must acknowledge our need as sinners first – there is no grace for those who think they have no need.

The Activities of Satan (2)

In which we conclude our look at what Satan does, this time in relation to the Nations, to the Unbeliever, and to the Believer. Satan is active in deception, no matter who is his target. He attempts to lead men into cooperation with his agenda (at least) or even into adoption of his goals and priorities.

A Saving Prayer (Lk 18.9-14)

To me, this is one of the most convicting passages of Scripture, the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. We are very familiar with this story, and we tend to think of ourselves as this publican. After all, we aren’t like the Pharisee: proud, arrogant, self-sufficient… No we are much more like the Publican, and we are grateful to God that we are. “God, I thank you that I am like the Publican, and not like other men, like those Pharisees, and my neighbours who won’t darken the door of a church, and my co-workers who blaspheme God, and …”

Yes, we are like the Publican, aren’t we?

~~~

May the Lord use these for a blessing to all who hear.

don_sig2

Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 7.11.08

some sympathy for the sheep

… from an under-shepherd.

The last two weeks have been overtime weeks for me. Our men and I decided to renovate our fellowship room – to improve insulation and keep our heating costs somewhat in control next winter.

Of necessity, I became the designated painter for the project. [Note: this is not due to skill but due to availability.] Two days of painting last week, and two days of painting this week added hours to my responsibilities.

This is not a complaint, but an observation. In the midst of all this, I managed to listen to a Minnick message from his Whetstone Conference last summer on the value of personal devotional time for ministers. Yes! It is valuable. But…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Devotions, Pastoral Theology, Prayer, Revival, Spiritual Life, Worship
by on 7.9.08

a special mid-week service at gbcvic

We had a special service this Wednesday evening in our church, so I thought I would share it with you. I first met Roberto Coelho when he was thirteen and his father and I were new missionary appointees with Baptist World Mission. Now Roberto is grown up, seminary trained, and serving the Lord alongside his father. We have many mutual friends, including our not too distant missionary co-laborer, Darren Hammermeister. The Coelho’s were visiting the Hammermeister’s so we were delighted to be able to have them in our service tonight.

Below is a link to the message and a summary of the service.

Building Churches Around the World – Roberto Coelho (Ac 16)

A special service for our mid-week this week: a missionary presentation from bro. Roberto Coelho, missionary to Brazil. Roberto works with his missionary father in a church planting effort in Sao Paolo, one of the largest cities in the world.

Our message tonight includes the audio from the Coelho’s slide presentation. The message addresses the means the Lord uses in building his church.

don_sig2

Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 7.6.08

and now, a word from a fundamentalist

My friend, Matt Recker, offers a powerful sermon entitled “The Dangerous Direction of Rick Warren“

Here are a few words from the concluding paragraph:

Warren mocks Fundamentalism and has said, “There aren’t that many Fundamentalists left in America.” May I remind Rick Warren that “might does not make right?”  Although Warren may interpret God’s blessing in terms of numbers, God never does. There were not many who got into Noah’s Ark.  There were not many who accepted the prophetic statements of Isaiah or Jeremiah.  There were not many following Jesus when He went to the cross!  Nevertheless, there are still some very godly, balanced, loving, and doctrinally sound Biblical fundamentalists and churches throughout our nation, and there is still this one, and as long as God allows, I will contend for the holiness of God and the purity of the Gospel.

Not much ‘nuancing’ going on here!

don_sig2

HT: Lighthouse Trails

Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, Personalities, Separation, Warren
by on 7.6.08

7.6.08 gbcvic sermons

Our weekly sermons can be found below:

Given over to Impurity (Rm 1.24-25)

Working our way through Romans 1, we are discerning Paul’s anatomy of sin. The first category of sin is impurity or uncleanness – a word which describes the filthiness of especially sexual sin. It was associated with pagan idolatry in ancient times, and not so far removed from paganism of modern times. It affects us all from such subtle ways as slightly ‘off-colour’ language to the exploitation of sexuality in every possible way in our culture. May God help us keep our walk clean in the midst of a world of uncleanness.

The Activities of Satan (1)

In which be begin a discussion of what Satan is up to. We covered Satan’s activities in antagonism to Christ and to God. More to come next week.

Just as the Lord Commanded (1) (Lev 8)

For communion today, we begin looking at the ordination of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. These passages form the context for Lev 1-7, giving us a clearer understanding of the meaning of the sacrificial system by its application to living events. In this message I had intended to look at aspects of Aaron’s activities and Moses’ activities that foreshadow the work of our blessed Lord in redeeming us. Well, I found as I prepared that there was much to say just on Aaron so we left Moses for next month. We see in Aaron many aspects of our Lord’s high priestly work for us.

~~~

Attendance was up today, though still a few regulars away. The young couple who visited a few weeks ago returned for a second time, praise the Lord! Another young couple also visited for the first time. A pastor friend in Edmonton had mentioned to me that they were moving our way, so we were glad to see them today. The young lady surprised me when she reminded me of her maiden name – I knew her when she was a little girl and sold a house to her parents about 20 years ago. What a blessing to meet her again along with her husband and their young children. They are earnest young believers whom we hope will become a great asset to our church. With these couples, we suddenly seem to have a growing Sunday school, much to the delight of our teachers.

don_sig2

Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 7.2.08

a little thanksgiving

Five years ago, my wife was diagnosed with Chronic Mylogenous Leukemia. As we began to understand what was happening, we had many tears, but put our trust in the Lord. This summer marks a milestone. Left untreated, CML life expectancy is about five years. But we thank God for the work of many scientists (surely some of them – most? – unregenerated). Two years prior to our diagnosis, they had successfully brought to approval the new wonder drug, Gleevec.

Gleevec turned a death sentence into a chronic condition, with next to no side effects for my dear wife. (Except she complains about gaining back the weight she lost with active leukemia!)

Newsweek has an article called “A Step Past Chemotherapy” that describes some of the new approaches being taken in treating cancers of all kinds, following the path blazed largely by Gleevec.

In the article, these are the lines that got me thinking about our milestone:

Such glitches take place within a complex network of genes and proteins, all of them performing specific duties to keep cancer alive. Targeted drugs interrupt various pathways in this network. One significant advance in this new approach is Gleevec, approved in 2001 to treat chronic myeloid leukemia. Gleevec clamps down on the cell’s accelerator, a protein called tyrosine kinase, which drives cancer to reproduce.

Essentially, Gleevec zeros in on the mutated white blood cells that show up in my wife’s blood stream and kills them, allowing the normal cells to function properly and proliferate. Which apparently makes her life expectancy about the same as anyone else. I have given her these comforting words: “You’ll live long enough to die of something else.”

We don’t dwell on it. Our tears and fears are long past. My wife takes a couple of pills every morning and life goes on. We are very thankful to be able to serve the Lord together still. But as I realized this summer is a milestone of sorts, I am full of thankfulness to our Lord who does all things well.

don_sig2

Filed Under: Family, Health, Medicine
« Previous Page