John 3:30

He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

Righteous

Malarkey! Raising kids, MLK Jr Day and Sufficiency

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1. I know it’s funny that Alex Malarkey’s last name has a coincidental meaning in English of “nonsense.” And the book previously drafted by him is nonsense.

But can we stop with the plays on words with the person’s name? Just take for example the fact that both Alex and his mother have repented and are working to amend for the error as enough to say, hey, let’s stop making fun of the kid’s name?

Seriously, he inherited that name from his earthly father, and Alex has a new Father now anyway. I can’t tell you how hurt I’d be if someone with my last name did something stupid and then my last name became a great punchline.

2. If you are going to talk about Martin Luther King Jr., and you don’t allow people to refer to details about the man’s life or teachings which directly relate to his character, well, remember the words of … um … Martin Luther King Jr.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I would say allegations of adultery go directly to the “content of his character” regardless of the “color of his skin.” And if the content of a man’s character directly relates to his qualifications as a preacher, then so be it. And if a man isn’t qualified to preach, I have no reason to listen to his preaching on that basis. Now that doesn’t mean MLK never said anything right or true, but it was incidental, for the wrong reason and thus, possibly misdirected.

If me writing what I just wrote makes me a racist in your estimation, then you are part of the problem.

3. Back to the Malarkey or Burpo kid with the Heavenly Tourism stuff. What should be striking is NOT so much that there are ravenous wolves trying to deceive the Church, but rather, that the Church is either so non-Christian or so lacking in discernment that these books are even popular. Seriously, I don’t know the demographics, but my guess is the predominant statistics would tell us it isn’t atheists and Muslims who are buying these books!

Whose fault is it? A number of people, to be sure, but for one thing: pastors and teachers who are afraid to speak ill of these books and name them to their congregation as well as men who do not hold to and consistently teach the sufficiency of Scripture.

4. My baby boy is turning 1 Sunday. After 2 miscarriages, for God to give my wife and me a child is so sweet. This is the first child we are raising together (we had 3 others already when we met). It is really fun to watch the process and to see how we each interact with him. I’ve noticed in the area of discipline something neat.

It seems to me that my wife tries to appeal to him to love her and have a desire to obey her. So when she tells him what to do or what not to do, it is very kind and gentle, almost enticing him to goodness. It’s like subconsciously, she wants him to choose good things for good reasons and love and trust for her.

I am nearly opposite. I am completely happy that he fears me and the consequences of bad behavior. You can see the difference in how we interact with him. It made me think of our Perfect Triune God who really offers both those features to His children to provoke us to love and good works in the fear of the Lord.

Just a few random thoughts for a Wednesday.

How to be Good

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Be content with God’s goodness toward you and be thankful for the abundance as it is not owed to you.

1 Timothy 6:6–8 (NASB95)
6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

Goodness is that quality in us which the Holy Spirit produces whereby we desire moral purity and to give charity toward the brethren and the heathen; it is the heart attitude by which our outward behaviors must be judged.

Are you patient or kind or peaceful because you are Good? Or do you try to do those other things to make yourself Good? Your legitimate kindness toward others, your self-control, your gentleness and humility are to be tempered by your Goodness: your moral uprightness as defined by God’s statutes revealed in His Word.

Proverbs 3:27 implies that God, who is always good and knows our need before we do, may seemingly withhold some good thing from us, like a wife or a husband, a job, a position at work or the church. He may let you have a dead child or spouse. He may not save family members as quickly as you’d like, but He is always good and thus, does not withhold good things from them to whom they are due. Therefore, the goodness you expect is either not due to you or it is not what is good for you at that time in His infinite and perfect wisdom.

There’s a preview of today’s Sunday School lesson I’ll teach at Berean Baptist Church where my views may or may not reflect the views of the church :).

OSU vs Indiana Outreach Report

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Greetings! On Saturday, November 22, 2014, Fred Triplett and I rode down to Ohio Stadium together to meet newly ordained apostle evangelist, Joe Conkle.

Joe brought 3 men with him who were all eager to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Kelly, Johan and David.

We ministered for about 2 hours, from the end of the 3rd quarter to when the crowds died down at Lane and Olentangy River Road. I preached the gospel for about an hour, and thousands of people heard the Word.

While preaching, I read from 1 John 4, Colossians 1, Romans 1 and Psalm 34. As a point of conviction and rebuke to you, dear reader, did you spend that much time in God’s Word yesterday? There are days I have not, to my shame!

I don’t know how many tracts were distributed, probably a thousand or more. I had my share of hecklers and yellers. I did my best to come back to them with winsome, rational comments. Hopefully, someone saw the fault in the anti-God worldview. One guy yelled “Shutup” to me. I replied by asking “Why don’t you?” Afterward, I wondered if it came across as rude or “seventh-gradey,” but I meant it as a serious inquiry into his logic. He didn’t respond.

God protected us from inclement weather and evildoers. That corner is covered in Police directing traffic which makes me feel very safe. After preaching for half an hour, I caught a glimpse of one of Columbus’ finest who was on the corner closest to us. He is a man I have known for years as he is a Christian and the brother of one of my best friends.

We brought a box of 20 Bibles and only gave away 1 of them. This is one area where I want to do better. I ought to be more prepared and have a sign that says “FREE BIBLES.” I suppose if people don’t know we have them, they aren’t going to just ask for a Bible. What was interesting is that while preaching, I mentioned that we had Bibles to give away. Shortly after, a man who overheard me, named Chris, approached asking for a Bible. I shut down the microphone for a few minutes and listened to him tell me about his life, and I was able to share the gospel with him.

Dear Christian, will you please pray for Chris? He’s engaged and has 2 daughters. His appearance was humble, but only God sees the heart.

On a side note, for those of you who don’t think open air preaching “works,” I’ll answer a fool according to his folly and point out that a man heard the gospel one on one and received a copy of God’s Word because he heard a preacher with a microphone mention that he could receive a free Bible.

There was one other instance to note: A drunk man was seemingly mesmerized by the preaching, (once in a while you catch someone who is CLEARLY listening and engrossed in the preaching). His friend kept trying to get him to move on, but he remained focused on me. I asked him, “Do you want forgiveness?” And he nodded in the affirmative. His friend urged him on, but he heard the message. Maybe God will use it to convert him!

May you bless God for his graciousness to me. Five men showed up to minster the gospel with me and without any conflict deferred to me as the leader and authority in the group. It is a responsibility I accept as one which was foreordained by God. I only hope that I will humbly serve, even those who submit to me, as my Lord Jesus did. May God be glorified because He is worthy and His Word was exalted and the name of Jesus was magnified.

Special thanks to Sports Fan Outreach International who encourages us, inspires us and prays for us as we labor to the crowds in Ohio.

P.S. Midway through my preaching, a couple of young ladies stood about 20 feet in front of me and held up a camera phone. I assumed they were recording me (for what purpose, I have no idea). Am I vain that I sucked in my stomach? Maybe that’s a sign I need to be more disciplined! 🙂

The Eyes of God

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When the Bible says “God saw” or refers to “God’s eyes” what do you think that means? Is God like we are. I had an opportunity for a short devotion this Sunday at my church and decide to look into the “Eyes of God.”

Notably, I posted about Habakkuk 1:13 years ago here. That is one of the verses I teach about in the above audio.

If you enjoyed “The Eyes of God,” – check out “The Eyes of Man.”

Short (I promise) Santa Rant

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Annually in December, the war on Xmas, the defamation of Santa and the general degradation of Christian dialogue begins on the twitter and the facebook. Blog posts are published, young (new) believers are educated, and many people are challenged to think about the why of some of their traditions.

This is not a bad thing. New believers who are often weaker have a chance to grow as the result of the discourse. Mature believers are provided an opportunity to learn exercise patience and acquire exhibit rationality.

I want to clarify my stance re: Santa. Although I personally do not celebrate the Santa thing, I am not so blinded by my preference that I do not realize that a Christian family, can do the Santa thing, if they wish – edification value notwithstanding.

But, in order to get around the problem that it is nearly impossible to do Santa as he is commonly practiced without actually telling a lie, it seems to me that people would have to concede that Santa is similar to The Incredible Hulk or Spiderman in the sense that everyone knows he doesn’t really exist, but we still enjoy the story.

So if you read or hear an anti-Santa sentiment, and your response is “he’s no different from anything else in the world in which I can enjoy with thanksgiving in my Christian liberty,” I want to caution you that there are versions of the practice of Santa which I do, in fact, believe are evil.

Here is the litmus test, in my opinion. If you expect everyone else who comes into contact with your children to perpetuate the story that he really does the things the legend would say he does, then I think you are on shaky ground. So if your inquisitive child goes to church tonight (it is Wednesday), and s/he asks the teacher if Santa is REAL and you expect the teacher to say yes or even give some other answer which leaves the truth hidden, then I believe you are sinning. You are asking/expecting a brother or sister to lie, or at the very least violate their own conscience. This is not fair to your brother who is trying not to lie and to tell the truth at all times, including removing lies of omission from his new life in Christ.

If your child directly asks you about Santa, or hears the truth from someone else and you continue to maintain the story that Santa is real – then you’ve called the other person a liar.

Just as if your child asked me if Buddha was worth following or the god of Islam was real or if we really should pray to Mary – I would expect to tell the truth to them in each situation – I also would with Santa. If someone has a problem with me because I told the truth, I reckon I’ll be 100% OK with that – within obvious guidelines of what would be age appropriate. To ask me or another brother to simply “not answer” is illogical. Why should those of us who aren’t part of the deception have to be quiet? That would be as valid as me telling you, “Don’t tell your children about Santa.”

Look, I’m a good Calvinist and I understand that teaching kids about Santa will not make the final difference in whether or not God sovereignly saves them by His effectual grace. But the fact remains that if your child actually feels deceived by you about Santa, that can will have a lasting effect on your relationship. Not a risk I want to take.

I appreciate the wealth of information the internet offers and there are a lot of good people writing about the topic from different perspectives.

So decorate a tree and leave out milk and cookies and make it fun, if you want. Dress like a puritan and sit in a cold house and read Habakkuk if that’s your thing. Take pictures with men in red suits (*I did). I frankly don’t care if you pretend Aquaman brought gifts or Santa or if you simply give your kids gifts. I’d recommend reviewing the real story of St. Nick, if you could. But be careful the message that your child is getting, especially the Santa information which does not come from you.

Finally – here is a post I wrote several years ago concerning the topic. It was actually a letter I wrote to a specific brother who I didn’t know very well. Click Here. It will open in a new tab.

For the record, this particular friend of mine heeded my advice and wrote me back and was very grateful to me for writing him. It wasn’t a matter of conscience to him, he believed what he was doing was error and was glad to correct it!

Hot Dogs, Preaching & Football – A Winning Combo!

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Hot Diggity Dog – The Atomic Dog – A jalapeño stuffed, bacon wrapped, all beef hot dog.

One of the greatest benefits of being a part of different outreaches and evangelistic communities is the opportunity to meet really great brothers and sisters. So when I saw the Buffalo Bills were traveling to Cleveland for a TNF (Thursday Night Football) game on the NFL Network, I immediately thought of my brother Jon Speed, an avid Buffalo Bills fan. I was pleased when Jon told me he’d be happy to meet me in Cleveland for fellowship, evangelism and a chance to watch a pro football game together.

With the game set for October 3, Jon and I agreed to meet at a restaurant called ABC The Tavern. We are blessed to live in a country with very little persecution for the faith. While this remains true, I enjoy the gifts and blessings of God as he has provided through the opportunity to enjoy a variety of foods!

Note: Clicking the pictures will open larger versions of them in new tabs.

After a time of sweet fellowship, Jon, his wife Kim and I drove to downtown Cleveland for a couple of hours of ministry. We passed out a few hundred tracts, but eventually decided to move closer to the stadium to see if we could get more of a crowded area than the sparsely busy street corner where we started.

One man asked me what the tract was about. I told him it was a little card that explained how to go to Heaven with Jesus. His immediate reply was grave. I don’t recall what he said, just that he was clearly convicted. I asked him if he knew how to go to Heaven and he recited Romans 10:9 to me and followed that up with, “but I ain’t livin’ it.”

I explained to him that according to scripture a person who is born again will “live it.” This frightened him and he agreed to consider these things.

Soon enough, Jon began to preach from the book of Mark. I had never actually gotten to listen to Jon preach in person before. Out of tracts, I stood by and watched as Jon welcomed people to Cleveland!

You can see the way people were filtered to us in this picture as they walked to the stadium.

The night was filled with many stories. We had haters, encouragers, and folks who ignored us as well. I personally believed there was a large amount of Christians who spoke up to encourage us compared to usual. I preached after reading 1 John. I correctly assessed before I preached that my throat was not wet enough, and I had no water, so that only got worse.

I actually lost my voice BEFORE going into the Browns’ game!

We were encouraged by several Christians who thanked us. One man, named Michael asked for a handful of tracts that he could pass out himself! Praise Jesus. Our singular encounter with security was positive as we were asked to leave an are we didn’t realize was private property. Another group of Christians stopped and encouraged us with kind words, loving gestures and words from scritpure.

I can’t even explain how much this fueled me. If you are a Christian reading this and you ever see open air preachers, please stop and thank them. Don’t be miffed if an open air preacher doesn’t stop to talk to you or thank you, just offer your encouragement. Many times, people yell or say gracious things to me and it doesn’t immediately register. I also am not going to stop my open air sermon when I am interrupted – that happens far too often to pause each time, especially due to the frequency of mocking. But I hear every ‘Amen’ and every ‘thank you’ and every ‘good job’ and those words encourage me in Christ to press on.

Jon’s wife stayed with us the entire time. But she wasn’t idle. She spent her time praying! It was a great comfort to be in the presence of someone praying for our ministry. I wonder how much disaster was avoided thanks to her intercession?

You can see Jon on the right and Kim on the left.

Inside the game, I had a great conversation with the two men next to me, a couple of chemical process engineers from Canada! They each learned the gospel and remained friendly to me, although they enjoyed mocking me a bit. They actually promised to contact me and drive down to a Buckeyes game sometime, we’ll see if that happens.

The ride home was cut in half by a dear friend who offered me a place to sleep, including a snack and a wonderful breakfast to go with the fellowship. God is so kind and gentle to me in so many ways. I hope you will pray for me that I will be loving and faithful to Him if I should face much harder times than I had to face last Thursday.