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pastordan
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Name: Pastor Dan
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Interests: Studying the Bible, helping people discover their spiritual gifts, sharing about Jesus Christ, writing and playing music, charcoal drawing, cooking
Expertise: Apologetics, Praise and Worship, Missions, Youth Group, Asian-American ministries, Multicultural ministries
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  pastordan626
Member Since:
6/19/2003
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| TV, Tebow and Talking Sense How would you respond if someone were to ask you the question: “Does God choose sides in football games?”
For those of you interested in football (and even for those of you who aren't), I came across this interesting article on a current football topic that’s actually favorable to Christianity from USA Today, of all places. Sometimes we can be somewhat removed from current events and popular culture as church leaders, but we must still be able to speak to the world’s issues while being “in it” and not “of it.” I share this article to you to help us with our practical apologetics in engaging with real questions that people have and encouraging us to bring clarity to much of the confused noise about Christ and our faith in society.
I’m sure many of you are aware of the recent and intense media attention on Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Denver Broncos, and their loss to the Patriots this past Saturday. Because Tim Tebow is so open with his faith and lives a pretty upstanding public life, he’s been the target of a lot of attacks from liberals, cynics and anti-Christian media. People have been attacking Tebow ruthlessly out of gut reaction in opposition to all things faith and specifically Christ. The news loves controversy and it loves creating sides to battle things out in the public eye. For example, watching the news after returning home from a meeting last Thursday night, they had a story about a group of present-day witches in Salem, Massachusetts (since the game was being played in New England) casting spells to make Tim Tebow mess up and the Broncos lose. Somehow they found this group of wiccans (who were entirely serious about their witchcraft) and highlighted them just because Tebow is a Christian. I guess they thought that made a good story. I took offense at it, but I could see why a secular media would think that would be amusing If the “intellectual elite” considers both a ridiculous superstition. It doesn’t help that there are some ill-taught or fanatical Christians who go overboard the other way by practically equating Tebow as a holy warrior and the Broncos as God’s chosen team. This article does a well-balanced job addressing these things and I was impressed. It’s a good read. I’ve been following Tim Tebow, and he certainly is a fine sportsman and more importantly, a young man of outstanding character. And though the media and overenthusiastic fans may do all sorts of crazy things, from what I can see, he does live a great testimony as a follower of Christ -- win or lose, and in and out of the public eye. I certainly keep him in my prayers for protection, wisdom, and continued integrity. Here's the article entitled: "When Tim Tebow Loses, Does God, Too?" http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/story/2012-01-14/tebow-lost-broncos-patriots-god-religion/52566104/1 It's just nice to see something sensible in the newspaper one in a rare while. :) All the best to everyone in 2012! Joy and blessings! | | |
| Success and Common Grace It's been a very long while, but I'm going to write again and post links to noteworthy news articles I find. I came across this article and I think it’s an example of God’s common grace to see these “seven rules of success” (as the writer calls it) of Steve Jobs and how similar they are to the principles we can see in Scripture for success in Godly leadership as well. Surely, not wanting to put the cart in front of the horse, but I think we can certainly be reminded of certain Biblical principles by looking at the positive things in the world. The definition of common grace is as follows: Common grace is seen in God's continuing care for his creation, his restraining human society from becoming altogether intolerable and ungovernable, his making it possible for mankind to live together in a generally orderly and cooperative manner, and maintaining man's conscious sense of basic right and wrong behavior. To be thorough, a biography of Steve Jobs came out Monday and it’s becoming more known that Steve Jobs had quite a number of personality quirks and flaws and was not always the charming person that we see during Apple product launches. But good things are still good things that come from the Lord, and these seven things are something I think we can learn very well from – I especially like #4, #6 and #7. It's a good study for us to go back to Scripture and see how each of these seven can be drawn from Biblical wisdom. Even so, Job's worldly success meaning nothing to him now. People may want to praise Jobs and almost deify him (if you look at the magazine covers and TV programs) as his followers hold up their iPhones, iPads and laptop computers in memoriam, but it’s only the praise of our Heavenly Father that ultimately means anything at all in eternity. There are shadows of the truth in many of the efforts of man as he tries to reach for God or find meaning in and for himself outside of Christ. Let us be well versed in presenting the full light of truth to those who still reside in the darkness. Joy and blessings! | | |
| Celebrating Easter: Thoughts on LentToday begins the observance of Lent so I’d like to take a few moments to share and explain the significance of this event and how we ought best observe this Easter season. Beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday of Easter weekend, Lent marks a period of 40 days before Easter (Sundays aren’t counted in the 40 days, in case you were wondering, as each Sunday is supposed to represent a “mini-Easter,” celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin death).Roman Catholics and some high church Protestants (Lutheran, Anglican, for example) follow the observance of Ash Wednesday where on the first day of the Lenten season, practitioners attend mass (what Roman Catholics call their worship service) primarily in the morning, but also can occur throughout the day, and a paste of ash and oil is applied to the forehead in the form of a cross as a sign of repentance. The 40 days of Lent has some reference to the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry. In the same way, the Lenten season is to prepare the believer – through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial – for the coming of the Easter observance, reflecting upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In practice, many observers commit to refrain or deny themselves a certain vice – a particular bad habit (watching TV, using internet, going on Facebook, cursing, etc.) or “addiction” (oftentimes food like chocolate, sweets, or fried foods, or smoking or alcohol) and for the more motivated, to do something good instead, like being sure to pray or read the bible every day during Lent, committing to helping someone, volunteering, etc. For many, this is all it means to “observe” Lent. The practice of Lent is not commanded in the Bible but is a Christian tradition that developed in the Early Church. As such, many Protestant traditions do not observe Ash Wednesday or Lent. Trinity Church, for example, does not practice these observances except for holding services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Is it good for the believer to observe Lent? For the Christian, we believe that we should remember our Lord Jesus Christ and his accomplishments daily: “If anyone would come after me [Jesus], he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). This is the ideal for the believer in Christ – so to have a separate period of time to “prepare” for Easter can create a false separation between “real life” and “spiritual life.” In other words, in my “real life” I can do pretty much anything I want, but when it’s Lent, the beginning of a “spiritual” time, then I do something for God, and God’s happy with me again, and I’m all forgiven and good with God once more. Once it's over, I go back to doing what I usually do. It’s as if 40 days can counterbalance 325 days of lackluster Christian living. We see this attitude often with those who are “culturally” or "socially" Catholic or Christian and focus more on the practice and form of religiosity than on what God really looks out for, the state of one’s heart before Him. “We observe Lent because that’s what Catholics do.” “If I don’t give something up for Lent, my parents are going to be upset at me.” “God’s going to punish me if I don’t observe Lent.” But even faithful believers can fall into a trap of works righteousness (i.e. believing we earn God’s favor through our actions) and actually causing greater inconsistency in our daily Christian living. At the very worst with this kind of thinking is a person who keeps on doing God-dishonoring things but thinks he or she is righteous just because he or she has given up candy bars for 6 weeks. (“Sure, I still curse, but I’ve given up going to McDonald’s so that’s got to count for something. God can’t expect me to be perfect, right?”) With this kind of thinking, usually what happens is that a person very soon goes back to indulging in their vices or bad habits the day or days after Easter, once they become “freed” again. Back to eating ice cream, fatty foods, and cursing like a storm once more. Not much has changed in a person except they’ve spent less on sweets and upset less people for a short period of time. That being said, it’s not bad to take this time to refocus and to do some self-accountability as to how our relationship with God is at this present time. The goal of self-reflection is deepening our relationship with our Savior, and longing for lasting change when we encounter him in a meaningful way. It’s a contemplation of the grace of God and how undeserving we are of his mercy, and in response, grow in appreciation and thankfulness of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. So, can a healthy believer observe Lent? Yes, but being careful to avoid the errors I’ve mentioned regarding works righteousness and taking this time rather to further your appreciation of the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Like any holiday or observance in our lives (New Year’s, our own birthdays), it brings to the forefront of our life’s routine an important truth since the day draws attention to this particular issue. As people who exist in space and time, we are helped by these kinds of starting points in our lives to break out of the monotony. If in our busyness we haven’t had enough time to spend with God, now that Lent is here, now is time for us to get our lives straight with God again. Now would be the time to break the hold of those bad habits in your life – are you spending too much time on the internet, definitely stop making that the “god” of your life. If we were to consider our time as an “offering,” do you give more "time offering" towards your worship of cyberspace or television or the internet than you ever give to God during an average week? Then now is the time to put a stop to that. Is our yelling at our spouse or children or parents more habit now than for any fruitful reason? Now is the time to correct that. It’s time to break those mindless habits we do that act as blind spots where our sin nature hides. We don’t “do Lent” in order to make God happy or to earn any points; we get our lives in order so that we may be right before God. That’s it. And in doing so, we’ll ultimately be the ones being happy. We need to have the kind of attitude as Paul says to the Philippians in Chapter 3 verses 8 and 9: “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” If you do choose to observe Lent, keep your “sacrifices” between the Lord and yourself. Does everyone need to know you’re “being holy” because you’ve sworn off cheesecake for Lent? Like the tax collector who beat on his own chest in private asking, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” (Luke 18:13) so we also approach our Lenten observance with humility. If anyone offers you something you’ve committed to refrain from in the Lord, simply smile and politely refuse. I’ve had a friend say, I think appropriately, in situations like this in a very gentle way, “Thanks, but not right now. God and I are working out some things.” At the same time, don’t too quickly respond with a throwaway line out of fear of how someone would think about you, “Oh, I gave it up for Lent. Everyone’s giving up something.” God is still the main focus, not your pride or your actions. I hope these are some helpful thoughts as we enter into this Easter season. It is certainly a time of joy and celebration, and of reflection and thanksgiving. May the joy of the Lord and the appreciation of his grace be with you in the weeks ahead. blessings,
Pastor Dan | | |
| Why not?Just saw this on a twitter and felt that the message was extremely powerful. Mark Batterson, author of Wild Goose Chase, blogged this recently:
George Bernard Shaw once said: "Some men see things as they are and ask, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and ask, ‘Why not’?”
I think we're called, as Christ Followers, to ask the why not question. We're called to take the why not approach to life. Faith demands it.
Any other parents have children that ask "why" when you ask them to do something? It can drive you crazy can't it? I wonder if that is how God feels sometimes. We're always asking why. It's like we need an excuse to do something. What if we asked why not instead.
I love the story in Acts 8 about the Ethiopian Eunuch who has a divine appointment with Philip. He puts his faith in Christ and immediately says: "Why shouldn't I be baptized?" That one question reveals a why not mindset. And it changes the course of history. He becomes the first missionary to Ethiopia.
I can only imagine what we'd accomplish for the kingdom if we had a why not mindset.
Why not.
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| The Summer Begins...As the daylight hours grow longer, and our youth in the church look forward to the closing weeks of school, there's no denying the fact that summer is finally with us.
A blessed Memorial Day to all, as we not only enjoy a day off from our work, but remember the fallen heroes of our country who have paved the way for the freedoms enjoyed in our country and in defense of those freedoms around the world. As the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., reminds us, "Freedom is not Free." We ought to reflect soberly, what are we doing with the freedoms afforded to us? Let us never take these things for granted, as we serve as stewards of God's blessings entrusted to us.
The annual Faith In Art Show held at church will be on June 14! Get your artwork ready to show God’s creativeness and giftedness in your life. It’s another format to share your testimony of faith, especially for those who are not as at ease in using the spoken word. Many types of creative expression (paintings, drawings, sculpture, computer art, crafts, songs, poetry, etc.) are welcome. Sign up forms will be coming out soon. Group projects also encouraged.
Our church retreat at Messiah College is coming up in June, from June 19-21. Save that date on your calendars.
Lastly, this year's Guatemala Short Term Missions trip is scheduled for August 2-19. Keep track of the preparations of the team members as we train and get donations ready for our church's sixth trip down to Guatemala with Fe Viva World Missions. The G-Team 2009 blog is here.
Enjoy time with your families this summer and continue to keep our church, our members and our ministries in your prayers! | | |
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