I was thinking this morning on how many people tell me that even though the believe God has forgiven them of their sin, they just can’t seem to forgive themselves. Does the Bible talk anywhere about forgiving ourselves? Not at all that I know of. It only speaks of God forgiving us, us forgiving others, others forgiving us, and us asking for forgiveness from both God and others. Feeling the need to forgive yourself is a lot like feeling the need to give yourself money. If you don’t have money, you can’t give it to yourself. If you’ve got the money, then you already have it and you don’t need to give it to yourself. So in the same way, God is the one who gives us full forgiveness only through the bloody death of Jesus on the cross. If we don’t have His full forgiveness through our confession and repentance, then we couldn’t even forgive ourselves. But if we already have his forgiveness, then we don’t need to give it to ourselves. Read Psalm 32 and 51 for two of the most powerful chapters in all the Bible on confession and forgiveness!
Archive for the 'Theological Thoughts' Category
I’m so thankful for the opportunity from ELHS to speak their Graduate Baccalaureate service this year. I was so impressed with the attention these graduates, their friends, their families, and their fans gave the Word of God being preached. Here’s what I believe God gave me to preach to a huge class of 2010 graduates. As they were going into the military, into college, and into the workforce…I wanted to make sure they knew their God (and Gospel through Jesus), their Gift (how God has gifted them to serve Him), and their Group (the kind of church God is calling them to be a part of).
ELHS Baccalaureate Service 2010 sermon (mp3)
Avatar. One of the most epic movies of all time. Some Christians absolutely love it. Others despise it. There are theological and entertainment reasons on both sides. The plot, the graphics, the colors, the dimensions, the fantasy, the storyline…it all just flat-out epic…and controversial. So, how should a Christian think through these movies? Enjoy them? Criticize them? Fast-forward at the “bad” parts?
One thing is for sure, we don’t have to worry about the world ever completely becoming atheistic. A great missionary friend of mine showed me how America is becoming more like Asian animistic cultures and less than European atheistic cultures. ”Just look at the movies the media is producing because its what the audiences wants to see.” So with box office blockbusters like Avatar and Twilight, our culture is becoming far more spiritual, far less atheistic, as well as far less Christ-centered.
I’ve heard many Christians get caught up in the rawr over Avatar because of its absolute, complete paganism…which I totally agree it is. Its panentheistic with the fact that the “God” is simply everything. It equates the animal kingdom with the human race. It promotes creation worship, and it doesn’t even conceive of monotheism whatsoever. So all of this paganism is absolutely terrible enough for all Christians to stay away from it….right?
Well, there is a completely other side to Avatar. My pastor and I had a conversation that enlightened me greatly. In Avatar you have a storyline of a man in one “superior” world going to an “inferior” world as a mediator and actually “taking on the flesh” of the creatures of that world. This man’s mission is to save the planet’s population by coming in with a warning and good news. The people of Pandora see their life connected to a tree which is central in their world. This mediator ends up dying and returning to life. Continue reading ‘Released: Avatar and this culture’s cry for Christ’
One true evidence of a church growing the right way (numerically, biblically, and spiritually) is the growth of the counseling load. I probably counsel anywhere from 1 – 5 students a week. I love to see people come in for counseling because it means the gospel preached is revealing sin, God’s holiness, our need for repentance, and the necessity for Christ to be glorified.
As our last KTL preacher spoke on Job 2 – 37 “Oprah and Other Christless Counselors”, I taught our college Sunday school class the next Sunday on Biblical vs. Psychological Counseling. Here are a few points I made sure to get a cross.
Biblical and psychological counseling are completely different. Biblical counseling starts with a set of presuppositions, such as: there is a God, all humanity struggles with sin, the Bible is the only true source for solutions to sin, salvation in Christ is necessary for life change, Christ died for sin and rose from the dead for our salvation, eternity with Christ is the ultimate goal for humanity. Biblical counseling continues with identifying the true problem with every situation: sin and personal evil (James 1). Biblical counseling identifies its method: mind transformation through God’s authoritative Scriptures (Rom 12:2). The tool in which biblical counseling exercises its method is through the Scriptures and the church. And the goal for every counseling scenario is that Christ would ultimately get the glory from every situation. Continue reading ‘The Load on Counseling: Biblical vs. Psychological’
I had a past professor/friend who asked me what we did to train leaders within our student ministry. I thought I’d share with you my most honest answer:
“First of all, we define leadership here at CBSM as: following Christ and bringing others along with you. So, our first focus is to center all of students onto Christ, and then we offer leadership training for those who want to both follow Christ and lead others toward Him. We do this in several different ways of course. First, we do this through preaching. I am convinced that I am called to primarily preach to my 12 grade guys even though there are students present in the room all the way down to 7th grade. I’ve learned that if I focus on my 12th grade guys, then I will reach them and all other students under them. But if I focus on younger students, I will get the younger students back…but I won’t get any of the older students for the most part. So training for leadership first starts through our preaching because preaching is what cultivates a heart for Christ most. We have a very specific system of preaching at CBSM… In 6 years (from 7th – 12th grade) we are preaching through the entire Bible (in order from Genesis – Revelation) and also through all 13 major Christian doctrines (from Doctrine of Christ – Doctrine of End Times). Our preaching is usually 45 minutes long, always Christ-centered, always expository, always grounded in the gospel, and always in your face challenging. That is what we’ve found produces and identifies leaders best. Continue reading ‘Student Leadership Training at CBSM’
Over our church’s mission conference called “GIC: Global Impact Celebration”, CBSM had in guest speaker, Chuck Rheam, who is an awesome church planter in San Diego, CA. As our students are challenged to be involved in missions, we don’t want them to forget the incredible missions opportunities going on all over our nation: church planting. Listen to Pastor Chuck for a strong challenge to be involved in church planting in some way, shape, form, or fashion. And for an extra added bonus, something we never get to do, our CBSM praise band plays too songs at the end of the mp3…acoustic style.
1. Attraction: Be attracted to godly opposite sex only. The best way to be more attracted to a godly person of the opposite sex is to love Jesus more. The more you grow in your love for Christ, the more you will want to worship, serve, and obey Him. The more you want to worship, serve, and obey Christ…the more you will want to be with someone who shares your love for Him. Don’t waste your time with those who don’t love Christ, who don’t love the church, and who don’t love His Word.
2. Ask Out: Guys, ask the girl out. Ladies, don’t be the one who asks the guys out. You can make yourself available to him by simply saying, “If you asked me out, I’d say YES!” If the guy you like doesn’t ask you out, then he either doesn’t like you enough to ask you out, or he isn’t man enough to have you. Guys, ask the girls out from the beginning to establish your spiritual leadership from the get go.
3. Move Slow: It is straight up scary to watch how fast teenagers today get into exclusive relationships. It can be as easy as…I like you. I like you too. Want to be my girlfriend? Sure, thought you’d never ask! Yeah, that’s totally ridiculous. Relationships aren’t about dating, but relationships are about marriage. Start thinking through if you really want to be with this person. Pray through it a lot. Ask God what He wants you to do. Trust Him that He’ll work it out in His time. Get into relationships slowly, prayerfully, and thoughtfully! Continue reading ’10 steps for students from godly attraction, to a godly relationship, to a godly marriage’
Sports Journalism and Jesus
I just gotta brag on one of our college students, Jason Galloway. Jason has been at our church longer than I have I believe. He’s now a student at the University of Alabama in the journalism department. I sin with jealousy because of Jason since he gets in free to every University of Alabama (ROLL TIDE) game to write reviews, summaries, columns, etc. From what I understand, Jason was just awarded with the top journalism award in the SEC in the genre of sports journalism. I need to get this kid to write some sermons for me! Anyways, I’m most proud of him because of his faith in Christ. He loves Christ. He just went with us a conference in Louisville, KY on the doctrine of divine revelation. He writes a bi-weekly column in the “Crimson and White” distributed at the Univ of Alabama…and he uses this opportunity to share Christ. Here’s his latest (and first) column of the series.
You can also check it out online at (http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/02/11/remaining-faithful-through-hardship/)
Remaining faithful through hardship
As a journalism major, I’ve always been told that hardship makes for the best story. And although a newspaper article does benefit from emotion, those affected by it do not.
I have always known this, but recently have found more truth in it than ever, so I felt this was as good a topic as any to write my first column on.
As a Christian, how does one deal with things like the death of someone close or the divorce of one’s parents, when it feels like God is out to get you or that he has forgotten all about you? Continue reading ‘Sports Journalism and Jesus’
It has been a day filled with emotion, hurt, fear, drama, anxiety, worry, and chaos. The world of safety and security has been toppled upside-down for so many middle schoolers in the Madison, AL area. I heard from our secretary around 2pm today that the shooting had occurred at Discovery Middle. My phone started blowin-up with calls and text messages from concerned parents and students. Another youth pastor in the area called me and said he could get us into the schools (which were on lockdown) to minister to the kids. We went out there, got on campus, past the perimeter police, but then they wouldn’t let us in the doors.
We had several students from our church in the school during the time of the shooting. A student was in the same hallway as the shooting, a student had just left the hallway right before the shooting, and several others were still in the building. Some of our students knew the victim. Some of our students knew the shooter. One had lunch with him. One had a class with him. To say the least from this huge tragedy, our students are dealing with fear, anxiety, hurt, sadness, worry, vulnerability, doubt, and confusion. A youth pastor’s question is always, “How do we counsel them?”
1. Whenever I counsel a student, I always make sure to listen. Continue reading ‘CRISIS COUNSELING: School Shooting in Madison’
Free resource for youth pastors:
KTL SPRING 2010 App and Schedule (doc)
Our KTL Ministry continues to be a huge hit at CBSM. KTL simply stands for kayruxon ton logon…which is Greek for “preach the Word.” That’s exactly what Paul kept repeating to Timothy over and over again. For whatever gracious reason, God continually is blessing us with many students who are called into the ministry. We want to be faithful to prepare these students not only for college, but also for immediate ministry opportunities that may come their way. We’ll have around 15-20 guys in our KTL ministry this spring, and possibly around 10 girls. The train the guys to teach and preach the Word, and we train the girls to teach the Word to other females and kiddies. So I just wanted to post for you our KTL Spring 2010 ministry application, expectations, and schedule. I pray this helps your mininstry somehow and in some way.
