Carry the Conversation

2 07 2009

So, sorry that this is so late… My wife and I have been moving and setting up house and getting all things ready to go for the big day… (which happens to be today)  But we are really excited… stressed, tired, and excited….  Ever been there?  Sure you have… So because I know you have, and because I know you all are such great people, I know you will be gracious and leniant to a young buck like myself who is a wee bit late on the response to the question….

On to the question….  It’s a great one by the way…. Pastor Chris Sutton was our speaker this past week.  Below is his reply to this question…

“Pastor Chris showed us a clip with nicodemus and Jesus and it made me think, what happened to the people who died before Jesus came for us and our sins?”

That is an excellent question!  Thank you for sending it!  The people who
lived before the time of Christ were saved by faith just as we are saved by
faith.  Abram lived centuries before Jesus.  The Bible says that, “Abram
believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis
15:6; Romans 4:3).  So, one way to look at it is to say that the people
before the time of Christ were saved by looking forward to Calvary; whereas,
we are saved by looking back on Calvary.  They were saved by looking forward
to God keeping His promises (which He did in His Son); whereas, we are saved
by looking to Christ who fulfilled (completed) all of God’s law and was
without sin.  The cross/resurrection event is the focal point of all
history.  The ancients looked forward to it.  We look back on it.  Both
actions are a matter of faith (belief).

Keep thinking and asking questions…  Let’s do this together!

~Peter


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Carry The Conversation

22 06 2009

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Last night was another great evening at the Five.  I’m glad that you were there.  It really has been great getting together each week… You can keep on praying for the ministry of the Five here at FBC.

Last night I gave a challenge for Dad’s to step up there game in watching out and protecting their children from sin.  However it doesn’t just apply to us as Dad’s.  There is a universal call to every man woman, teen and child to guard their heart and mind from sin!  We were in 1 Samuel and the story found there reminds us about how serious sin is to God.  It is not something to mess around with and take lightly.

On to the questions…

1.  Why do you think that God needed to punish the whole house of Eli and not just Eli and his sons?

I think that God needed to punish the whole house of Eli because it seems to me that the whole house of Eli was living in sin.  It wasn’t just the boys… It was everyone.  Each one of us is responsible for our own actions.  Eli was responsible to judge the nation of Israel and lead the nation in the direction that the Lord would have them go.  He unfortunately was accused of putting his sons in front of God.  The punishment that God chose we cannot explain.  God’s ways are higher than our ways.  The Bible says who can understand the mind of the Lord.  What I can tell you is that God is a just and fair God.  He would not have done something out of anger or high tempered emotions.  This was necessary.

2.  You mentioned a period when God killed those that mixed with the Moabites.  I get that they were sinners, but can’t racists use that as an example to justify their actions?

First off, there is never any kind of justification for racism.  The passage that I referenced last night was Numbers chapter 25 verses 1-5.  This passage recognizes the fact that those that were killed from Israel were going to a neighboring nation and joining themselves to that nations gods and idols.  They were worshiping false gods and that is unacceptable according to the Lord.  This is yet again another example from remaining pure, staying away from sin.

This would be a very difficult passage to argue racism from.  God does not require the life of those who do not declare Him God, it is the lives of those who know better and run and worship at the feet of false idols.  God deals very seriously with our sin.  Therefore so should we!

3.  What constitutes a man?

This is a difficult question to answer.  Each culture defines manhood in a different way.  I am reminded of something very simple and insanely ridiculous to even be drawing a spiritual truth from, “Madagascar 2″.  In that movie Alex the lion reunites with his family and has to go through a rite of passage ritual in order to be allowed into the pack.  I know, that was just outlandish.  However, all that to say each culture has an age that it is recognized when a boy enters into “manhood”.  I don’t know that I can answer this question.  I think however the real question that you should be asking is, “What types of things should I be doing as a man after God’s heart?”

4.  The enemies of Israel often said to Israel “May your children be fatherless.”  This was a statement not only of “I wish you were dead” but also recognizes the leadership role the dad has in the family and the community.  It was like saying “May your family and community lose its rudder.”

What about single dads?  Sometimes hearing about the role of fathers just heaps guilt onto single dads, especially if they sinned and caused the family to break and realized it later (often too late).  What about the role of moms in supporting the dads – letting him take appropriate leadership, supporting him, etc.

Clearly each one of us makes mistakes.  There is no doubt.  Some of us will make mistakes that leave deafening marks in the lives of those around us.  God has something called Grace and Forgiveness for that.  From that point forward there is an incredible opportunity for each of us to do the best that we can with the time that we have to help make amends and build the bridges back in the lives of those that we’ve hurt.  My point last night was not to inflict guilt or heap on regrets of should haves or would haves but to help each one of us as dads reflect on the responsibility that we have in the lives of our children.

I didn’t have an opportunity to speak to the moms supporting the dads…  Yes this is a very touchy and time consuming issue of men being the leaders in their household.

My prayer is for dads both married and single to turn to God and seek God’s heart as they raise their children.

Whew!  Well, you guys have some great thoughts… Let’s keep this conversation going!  I love it!

~Peter


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Sweet Spot

3 06 2009

The other night I watched bits and pieces of Dave Matthews playing live at the Beacon Theater in New York.  I have to admit that I am a Dave Matthews fan.  I never had the DMB sticker on my car, I did sport the hemp necklace for a while, I  never went to a show, but all the while still loving what the band was pumping out musically.  This concert was what I always expected a DMB show to be like… Except there was a lot less smoke than I expected!  Anyhow…  

I can give you one really good reason why I like Dave Matthews Band.  Because he has some of the most stinkin talented musicians I have ever seen.  I can appreciate every single one of them as musicians.  Carter on the drums is absolutely redic… Boyd on the Violin tears it up, Lassard on the bass has an amazing funk and groove, The Big man on the trumpet is a phenom, and the new guy on the sax just played as if he has always been with the band.  They are incredibly gifted and talented musicians…

One thing which I never could have predicted, since I’ve never seen them playing together, was how well they played together.  Yeah, I know that seems like duh, they should definitely play well together if they are that gifted, but I mean these guys just play extraordinarily well together.  Not only are they playing well, they are doing so with smiles on their faces, just looking at each other like, “Yeah, that was awesome, and we know it!”  

One song I watched, I think that when Matthews wasn’t singing in the mic, he was looking at Carter the whole time, even having a conversation, all the while doing amazing things!  They were in the zone.  The crowd was loving it.  To be honest, I was getting in to it.  It started off with me saying, I just want to watch one song, and then it was half an hour later I realized that Jon and Kate plus 3 million was on next, so you know how it went from there…

Here’s the deal… They are phenomenal musicians yes, but as I was watching them jam I wondered how many of us get to that sweet spot in our relationship with God?  Have you been in a situation lately where you can just sit there and enjoy who God is and totally be in tune with what He is doing in your life?  

What types of things do you do in your life to get to that sweet spot with God?  

~Peter


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Carry the Conversation

1 06 2009

It was really good to be with everyone last night at the Five.  There is just something about getting together and praising God!  It was a great night.  I was really excited to see all you guys there.  As you know one of the things we value at the Five is conversation, and relationships.  The church does not exist to only meet together for one hour a week only to return again the next week for another hour.  The church exists to be more than that!  We should be encouraging each other, praying for one another and meeting the needs of those we find ourselves surrounded with…  

So, one of the things we like to practice is an open line of communication during our teaching times at the Five.  Each week I encourage you to text any questions or comments that you may have so that we can interact with them here on the blog.  

Last night we continued in our series Raw Worship.  We picked up in Psalm 51 and looked at what true repentance really means.    If you weren’t able to be at the Five, head over here and listen, then join the conversation below…

Here was the question we received last night….

If everyone is born in sin what happens to the babies that die in birth?  Are they going to hell?  Or how does that work?

I need to start off by saying this is a very difficult question which the finest and brightest of theologians still do not agree on.  So for me to think that I am going to solve this question, that is going to be a tough one…  However, I can try to give you some insight into what I think is going on here.  

Psalm 51 is written by David after he is confronted by the prophet Nathan for committing adultery with Bathsheba…(read about that here in 2 Samuel 11 & 12)  One of the consequences for David’s sin is that the child was to die.  ”The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and he became ill.” -2 Samuel 12:15  While the child is sick and dying, David is beside himself and fasting and just a real mess, as you can imagine.  Once he hears news of the child dying, David gets up washes up, cleans up and eats.  His servants are a little perplexed by these actions and they ask him what’s up?  He says, “Now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?  I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  This seems to imply that David has an eternal perspective, or eternal hope that he will see his son in heaven one day even though he died.  

Many people also believe that there is an age of accountability.  Meaning that there is a point in time when children just do not know that they are sinning.  This is a difficult thing to nail down, because then you have to ask yourself, well what is that age?  Is it four or five?  Could it be three?  However, this makes a lot of sense to me.  

Personally, I do believe that when babies die they go to heaven.  Above all else I rest assured in the fact that God is a good God.  He is not shy in lovingkindness.  He has great concern for children (See Matthew 19:13).  God cares more for our children than we could possibly ever!  So, I know that this doesn’t answer/solve the problem, but I hope it helps… 

~Peter


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Pretty Handy

27 05 2009

Photo 69

All in all I am a fairly handy guy.  I know my way around most tools… Well, I’ve officially determined that I don’t know my way around one specific tool…  THE IRON.  Today while Tiffany was at work, I thought I would be a good husband and iron a few of my shirts… Well, let me tell you what, this is one of my least favorite household chores!  I would say this is the second or maybe third time to ever IRON!  So, Here I give you my final product.

Photo 70

What is your least favorite household chore?  What is the hardest one for you to accomplish?

Still Wrinkly…

~Peter


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Carry the conversation

26 05 2009

As usual, here is the rundown from last night’s service.  Honestly, Sunday night was kinda funky, huh?  There were just so many crazy things happening.  Sound issues, technical issues, and all kinds of strange things… I know that I was feeling like there was something going on under the radar…  With that in mind, can I challenge you to keep praying for the Five?  We would really appreciate your prayer…  

So, we were picking up in the series Raw Worship, where we take a look at what happens when worship and life collide.  We were in Psalm 130 last night and we were taking a look at what does it mean to worship God in and through the waiting?  As always we look forward to and encourage questions/comments, here are this weeks…

You mentioned that you are tired of all the “smallness”, referring to what we wait for God to do.  What encouragement and assurance do we give to those God calls to do the boring, unpopular, uncool, and truly small tasks?

This specific comment was made by me while we were discussing the concept of hoping in the Lord.  What I was referring to was how I feel that we as the Church for the most part do not expect God to do incredible things.  I think that instead what we expect from God is for Him to show up and do small things (as I mentioned); pay the mortgage, make sure that the budget is met… etc… See here’s what I mean… Why are we shocked when we hear stories about how God provides miraculously… As if this was like an unbelievable feat for God to provide?  I mean honestly, this is the God of the universe that we are talking about!  Why is the box that we think/allow God to operate in so stinkin small?  When we read verses like 1 Cor. 2:7-9, or Eph. 3:20. do we go, Man God is huge, or do we say, eh, God is pretty powerful I guess.   I realize that we can’t comprehend how HUGE God is… so, why then do we make Him so small?  Whew, I better stop here and actually answer the question before I turn this into a book…

The seemingly “small” tasks that we have the privilege to be responsible for are not just that: small and insignificant.  Those types of tasks may be uncool, unpopular, and even monotonously boring.  We would be sorely mistaken if we viewed God’s calling on our lives to be small and insignificant.  The gifts and talents that God uniquely gives each one of us are given to us in order that we can bring honor to God, and cause others to see God for who He is…  I don’t care if you are filling communion cups, or cutting the church lawn… Your role in this huge organization that God has established; The Church, is not insignificant.  You are vitally needed.  Paul was a hero for this cause… watch what he does here in Ephesians 4;

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. 

To the one who feels marginalized, underused, unimportant, small, insignificant, negligible, frivolous, and peripheral: You are incredibly important.  Your work may not be cutting edge, it may not be flashy and all that attention getting…  In fact you may not be thanked or praised much, if at all.  However, we work not for the approval of man.  We work diligently, unswervingly, whole-heartedly dedicated to the cause of Christ!  We sacrifice our time, efforts, talents, money, and everything else we have in order that we may see the Gospel go forward to just one more person.  The part you play is vital in the ministry of the Gospel.  Don’t you for one minute think that you are unimportant, expendable, or peripheral.  Just because your task may be borin, unpopular, or uncool, I don’t believe for one minute that it is small.  As a pastor I praise God for people like you. You are the types of people that allow me to do what I do.  (Go do a study on Acts 6:1:7)

To the one who submitted this question: thank you!  It is conversations like these that get me charged up to keep doing what I do, and to help equip others to keep doing what they do!  It really is all about Jesus.  It is about introducing more people to Him.  We are all charged with that mission… 

To those who have a public ministry, a flashy ministry, a lot of responsibility, get a lot of thanks because of the publicity of your position: Find three people today who are behind the scenes people; i.e. The counters, the janitors, the lawn maintenance guy, the one who changes the sign out front, the one who folds and stuffs the worship guide… THANK THEM FOR WHAT THEY DO!  CHANCES ARE YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO WHAT YOU DO IF IT WASN’T FOR WHAT THEY DO!  

Who do you see in your church that is a great example of an unnoticed servant?  Share their story!  Click on the comment button below and let it rip…  Let’s encourage one another…  

Thankful for those behind the scenes people…

~Peter


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Sleeping at the Airport

23 05 2009

So, hopefully my good friend Matt won’t forget about picking me up tonight at PHL… Not that I haven’t slept at the airport before… I dug this up from several months ago… 

~Peter


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Interlude

23 05 2009

I remember as a child wanting a dog.  I always wanted a dog.  But we lived in New York City, and I don’t blame my parents, I wouldn’t have gotten me a dog either if I was them!  Seriously, walking it in the city, and all that stuff… Come on… that’s a no brainer.  But when we moved, I knew that there was a dog coming our way.  See, we moved to the burbs, of Philly.  With a fenced in back yard and a pool and all, we were set for a dog.  

My parents loved me.  They loved me a lot.  But they still didn’t get me a dog until I was 12.  I waited.  12 whole, long years.  That was not fun.  But I waited.

What was the hardest thing that you have ever had to wait for?  What do you think about while you are waiting?                  

Let me give you a hint, the hardest thing that I’ve had to wait for has not been the dog…  What about you?   

~peter


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Thoughts on Life

22 05 2009

As I am writing, I am in Waxahachie Texas at my parents house.  I took a day off, and headed down south to spend some time with my mom and my sisters.  It has been eight months since we said goodbye to my Dad.  These have been some of the most difficult months that we as a family have gone through.  God has been good, and He has lovingly shown us His peace, His mercy, His grace, and His amazing care for us.  I have been so blessed to have a dad like my dad.  

I was reading on the plane ride here to Texas, all while trying to keep my arms from touching either of the “elmo-esque” furry arms that awaited me on either side.  I was finishing up the book, “Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley.  There are several amazing lines in this book, but one stood out to me.  It feels right to share it with you…

“The question is: Have you determined what you want to become?  Your doing will flow from who you are.  The outer man will reflect the inner man.  The inner man determines the legacy of the outer man.”  

Many of you who read this blog did not have an opportunity to meet my dad.  There are a few things that I have learned about my dad since he has gone to be with the Lord.  I knew that my dad was a man of God, but I didn’t know just how much!  His legacy has left an incredible mark on my life, and the lives of so many.  There was a time when he determined… when he set before himself, his wife, and his family that he was going to follow and serve God no matter what the cost.  His inner man was set.  He was sure.  His outward actions reflected his inward convictions.  He knew he was to be a man following God’s leading.

Have you determined what you want to become?  It’s not to late.  It’s never to late.  What is the condition of your inner man?  Is your outer man truly reflecting your inner convictions?

 

As I look ahead, I know that the single most important thing that I can do is to set before myself convictions that I believe that God himself has placed on my life, and follow them with all that I have.  

What about you?

hmmm….

~Peter


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Travel

20 05 2009

Today I am headed down to Texas for a quick jaunt to spend a few days with my mom and sisters and their families.  I am looking forward to that.  We will have a great time.  I will enjoy seeing them and my nieces and nephews..  It made me wonder, what was the farthest that you have ever traveled to see a family member?

 

 

 

~Peter


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