Jesus was stripped naked of his robe and dignity so that we could be clothed with a dignity and standing we don’t deserve. On the cross Jesus was treated as an outcast so that we could be brought into God’s family freely by grace. There Jesus drank the cup of eternal justice so that we might have the cup of the Father’s joy. There was no other way for the heavenly Father to bring us in, except at the expense of our true elder brother.
-Tim Keller The Prodigal God
Posted by mikethestrand on August 7, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/08/07/jesus-the-true-elder-brother/
“During the 1880s a group of American ministers visited England, prompted especially by a desire to hear some of the celebrated preachers of that land.
On a Sunday morning they attended the City temple where Dr. Joseph Parker was the pastor. Some two thousand people filled the building, and Parker’s forceful personality dominated the service. His voice was commanding, his language descriptive, his imagination lively, and his manner animated. The sermon was scriptural, the congregation hung upon his words, and the Americans came away saying, “What a wonderful preacher is Joseph Parker!”
That evening they went to hear Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The building was much larger than the City Temple, and the congregation was more than twice the size. Spurgeon’s voice was much more expressive and moving and his oratory noticeably superior. But they soon forgot all about the great building, the immense congregation, and the magnificent voice. They even overlooked their intention to compare the various features of the two preachers, and when the service was over they found themselves saying, “What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ.””
-Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore, page 216
Posted by mikethestrand on June 27, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/06/27/spurgeons-preaching/
For those of you interested, my dad has posted a conversation we recently had about what pastors need to learn from youth. You can check it out here.
Posted by mikethestrand on June 14, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/06/14/talking-to-my-dad-2/
For those of you interested, my dad has posted a conversation we recently had about what pastors need to learn from youth. You can check it out here.
Posted by mikethestrand on June 14, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/06/14/talking-to-my-dad/
I wrote recently about life after graduation, and some of the difficulties it presents. This week, I found a great blog titled ‘Idle of the Heart.‘ In this article he encourages people, specifically young men, to get up and work hard at whatever job they can get at the time. The blog goes through three biblical reasons about work:
Again, I recommend reading Kevin DeYoung’s book ‘Just Do Something.’ It’s not enough to sit around and wait until your dream job lands in your lap. Get up, go work hard and continue to pursue your dream job while you’re involved in a local church and getting to know and be open and real with people in the church. God will continue to lead and guide you even in a job you don’t like very much.
Posted by mikethestrand on May 16, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/05/16/working-hard-or-hardly-working-2/
Read this incredibly helpful article this morning on how one should go about prayer meetings. It begins with you deciding to pray for your church. How often do you do that? You can read the article here.
Posted by mikethestrand on April 13, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/04/13/prayer-meetings/
This is a very good article praising a mother for the way she shaped a young man’s theology. This is very similar to how I feel about my mom, who instilled a love for prayer and Scripture into my life from a very young age!
On a whim last week I stopped to try and think about who, out of the various books, pastors, and theologians I’ve been shaped by, has most shaped me theologically. I started rifling through the names–Calvin, Vanhoozer, Horton, Wright, Barth, Newbigin, Kreeft, Lewis, Kierkegaard–and came up with a surprising answer: my mother, Arliett. This is no joke, or even my attempt at a heart-warming post about dear old mom (who really isn’t old anyways), it’s just a practical point. For all the Calvin or Vanhoozer or Horton I quote, the deepest roots of my theological instincts can probably be traced back to my mom’s early instruction in the faith.
I’ll be straight with you and say Mom doesn’t have what most would consider formal theological training. She was raised in a Catholic school and got saved in a Calvary Chapel Bible study a couple of years before I was born. There was no…
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 28, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/03/28/363/
One topic I’ve touched on before is the concept of the church as a family. Today I’m going to expand that thinking just a little bit as we explore what the church says about the family.
In 1 Timothy 5, Paul expands upon this idea, starting in verse 1, “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.” Plenty of things have been written about that last part, “in all purity,” but not as much has been written about the rest of those two verses. My Bible (ESV) describes this section as “Instructions for the Church.” We can already see the family ties beginning to connect in the church as we are to treat everyone in the church as our family. I would even extend this thinking into treating those who are considerably older as grandparents, and those who are considerably younger as grandchildren. I have some people like that in the church I serve now. Godly men and women who have taken me under their wing and give me a hug every time they see me. I’m so grateful for their influence in the church and my life.
So then if the church is to be one big family, what is the purpose of your immediate family? Paul has some very strong words to say about your immediate family in verse 8, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Wow! Worse than an unbeliever! Paul clearly expects people to provide for their families. I’ve heard stories of pastors who have had the children of older people in the church come to them and expect the church to help their parents out. I’m sorry, but that’s NOT what the church is called to do! The church is called to help those who have no other family to help them out, as Paul says in verse 4, “if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.” Again, we see immediate family is called to provide for their immediate family. So now, how does the church fit in to that?
Acts 2:42 provides a picture for us of what this should look like, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of break and the prayers.” When your blood family is provided for, then out of the overflow of God’s blessing in your life, use it as an opportunity to help those in the family of the church. Just a few verses later in Acts 2 it says, “They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” How can you be helping those in your church family as they have needs? This isn’t always physical! I wrote last week about the importance of prayer, and just yesterday had the opportunity to pray with a dear friend at church who is today having surgery. How can we spiritually, physically and emotionally care for both our family through blood and our family through water.
“It’s been said that blood is thicker than water,
But in the church, the opposite is true
Water is thicker than blood.”
My Dad
Posted by mikethestrand on March 26, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/03/26/who-is-my-family/
This is a very helpful article-yes, ALL Christians are hypocrites! It doesn’t make God any less good or true, but it does show how much everyone, even believers need Gods forgiveness on a minute by minute basis. Praise God for his forgiveness and grace!
One of the unexpected results of my “Top 10” post going viral is that it’s given me the opportunity to interact (via email and comments) with hundreds of people who are either atheists, anti-theists, agnostics, or skeptics.
I listened and I’ve attempted to answer as accurately, honestly, and transparently as possible. To that end, I took inventory of the basic comments, complaints, and objections of Christianity. I’ll address them over the next several articles, but it didn’t take long to identify the one major problem non-christians had with christianity…
Christians!
Here are a few of many, many responses and comments I got:
“The subject isn’t why people leave Christianity, it’s why young people leave the church. Many young people leave because the people they are surrounded by are unpleasant, egotistical, and judgmental at best and hateful, criminal and hypocritical at worst.” – Tim
“Many “religious” people are hypocritical, they…
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 24, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/03/24/347/
Just so those who are reading are aware, I’m simply posting the notes I’ve taken from the various sessions. I’ll do my best to keep it succinct and edited, but I’m sure there will be typos and errors. I’m doing my best to keep up with the speakers and track the main content. I hope you find it helpful!
Posted by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013
https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/01/30/efca-theology-conference-2013-2/
Pastor Mike's Musings 