Default programs

You can feel it in the air... New television programs are coming.

So, what awaits our not-to-distant future?

Re-runs of Scrubs, old episodes of Two and a Half Men and repeats of the Simpsons.

Why?

Cancellations.

Some "brand new-exciting-newest thing to hit our screens-hilarious-moving-fresh-revolutionary show" will flop.

Then... cue the default programs. The TV equivalent of junk food. Shows that won't rate well, but no-one will openly complain. Shows that you could almost quote verbatim. Shows that will never inspire nor challenge. Shows that offer no nourishment and will be forgotten quickly.

Actually, we did the same thing when i was a college.

How?

The default chapel service: Sing Shout to the Lord/Blessed be Your Name and then break up into triplets and share/pray.

Too often, we probably serve up the equivalent of ministry/church junk food.

Square one

Over the weekend i put up signs in the youth room saying that the church i work for will give any kid a bible who asks for one.

Sure... I didn't tell anyone from the church... nor do i know how we will afford to buy any requested bibles... but these are just details.

Anyway... I wondered what part of the bible i would point a teen to when they got their new bible (or if i was just asked in general).

All to often, Christians just jump aimlessly around the Bible. They leap from random passage to random passage, without reason, or just stick to the favourites.

But, as a starting point, i would recommend...

The gospel of Mark - the shortest, the book of Acts - the birth and spread of the early church, the book of James - a short actions based letter and Ecclesiastes - a book about the meaning of life.

Temptation - part II

Yesterday i said that i would share the four strategies that the Bible gives to avoid temptation. Here they are... The second half of yesterdays scripture lesson...

Do a Jesus - Matthew 4:1-11... KNOW YOUR BIBLE. There is a reason why it was one only weapon of offence in Paul's spiritual armour.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil… "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down.
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Do a Solomon - Proverbs 22:3... See the temptation coming and AVOID IT. Be smart, if you know what activities will occur in your future (and you don't/shouldn't be a part of it), then take action to NOT BE THERE!

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

Do a Joseph - Genesis 39:12... RUN! There's no shame in being a coward in respect to our interaction with temptation.

One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

Do a Paul - Philippians 4:8... Check your THOUGHT life. The hardest strategy. If you fill your head up with violence, sex, swearing and gossip by being exposed to it constantly, then don't be surprised when you gravitate towards these things. It's the Garbage In, Garbage Out principal.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Street walking dilemma

No, I'm not considering becoming a prostitute.

But at yesterdays Code of Ethics training, i was walking to the pub for lunch and my group was faced with a dilemma. The same dilemma that faces me every time i leave church.

Do you use the traffic lights when they are 50 meters away and you need to cross the road?

My church is situated between two sets of lights, opposite the car park where my car is usually situated.

I'm torn. Really, i shouldn't be.

Under my "is it a sin" checklist, I'm stuffed. To not use the lights is illegal. I am told to obey the laws of the land in the Bible. Secondly, it bothers me enough to write a blog about it...

Especially if I'm going to cross a busy four lane road... Especially directly in front of the church i work for...

I should use the lights.

Yesterday, on the way to the Pymble Pub, we walked the few hundred meters to the lights.

Wise decision.

Temptation - part I

For scripture this morning i was going to do a lesson on the problem of suffering, but since i was backed into doing a party for the end of term, i figured it would be poor form to chat about poverty as you were eating chocolate.

Instead we looked at temptation.

The reason i asked is because my initial list of questions had a lot of... Is it wrong to... statements.

I ripped off the start of a really good sermon that my old youth minister did which began with a number of common tempting situations (a good teacher is a good thief... right?).

I then asked them... What exactly is SIN?

To help you get the answer i suggested three things from the Fall...

• Does God clearly say not to do it? Or... What does the bible say? At worst, is there a principal in the scriptures that may apply?

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:17

• Does it draw you out of the presence of God? Or... Could you sing your favourite Christian song and do it?

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" Genesis 3:7-8

• If you did it would you feel guilt or shame afterwards? Or... Would you still do it if your Mother was watching?

He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Genesis 3:10

If you honestly ask most teens these three questions about the action in question (masturbation, porn, drinking, smoking, sex, gossipping, swearing, stealing music... whatever!), they usually have a fair idea, what's on the not-to-do list...

Tomorrow, The four examples of avoiding temptation from the Bible...

So many tries

Some guys have too much time on their hands... http://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/6093763/worlds-longest-basketball-shot

It reminds me of the weeks when you would bet a kid $5 that they couldn't place-kick a plastic bottle into the basketball hoop and they would then spend all arvo kicking a bottle.

It never cost me five bucks.

I don't know how many times these guys try their shots.

Really... I don't care.

It doesn't make it any less cool... You can check out more of their stuff at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W77uk1ejcpY&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=BE1F684C83AF8786 or http://www.dudeperfect.com/

I have the POWER!!!

First of all... I am not transformed into He-Man (get it!?!).

Today at the Code of Ethics training, we spoke a bit about power that you yield as a leader, particularly over young people.

As a leader in your +20's, you are more powerful (in no particular order)...

Title - If you are the youth minister, you have the official recognition from the church.

Consequences - You have the ability to dish out punishments and rewards.

Education – You are smarter than you kids because you have been educated at a higher level.

Physical Size – You are just BIGGER.

Life Experience – You will have seen, smelt, touched, been through many things they will not have.

Financial – You have more money then your kids and a better job.

Spiritual – You will have been a Christian longer then them. You should know the Bible better than them. They will come to you for answers.

Romance – You will know more people who have been in relationships or been in them yourself.

Age – You are older.

Emotional – You will have gone through the rigors of growing up and the emotions that it causes.

Transport – You will have your own car (well… maybe).

Waking up feeling dusty

This morning Sydney was engulfed in a dust storm. When you woke up, you woke up to a eerie, Martian red glow.

I was thankful.

Not in a Jesus, all about life campaign (shout out to Jesus for the dust storm!), but a grateful for an event which previously greatly annoyed me.

The only people making the shout out will be owners of car washes.

Last Saturday i was angered when, after waiting more than half an hour for my car to be washed, the automatic car wash broke down a car in front of me. Thankfully, i didn't get my car cleaned. It's now covered with a thick film of dust...

At least everyone will be sneezing red soot for days.

Attention Mr Baldock

Last night, since i got home at midnight, I was watching the Brownlow medal presentation (I figured an hour of hearing names and numbers called out would put me to sleep).

On the telecast they mentioned St Kilda legend Darrel Baldock. If St Kilda win the flag, he will present the trophy to the St Kilda captain.

Occasionally my Dad will be asked if he is related to him, since they look kinda similar, but i don't think they are (or at least not closely).

But if i was living in St Kilda, i would name drop all the time.

Meeting chuckle notes

I'm a snide comment maker.

I'm a note writer.

I'm a trouble maker.

I'm the guy who makes you laugh when you shouldn't.

For your own good, don't sit next to me during a meeting.

But I've toned it down. I'm trying to reform. Before i worked at a church i used to be much worse. I would deliberately sit next to a fun person and trade humorous barbs, creating awkward cackles and spurts of giggles.

The favourites...

Are we still talking about this?

Ugh!

Un-bel-iev-able...

Audible groan!

Kill me now.

Come Lord Jesus, save me!

Check out (insert name here)... I think their soul is trying to escape the meeting, but leave their corpse behind.

Actually, i love the last one. There are few meetings that go by where someone (usually a guy in their +60's) doesn't look like they are intolerably suffering through the meeting. Either they will try to hide their boredom by stroking their head, scrunching up their face or try to minimise the inevitable head bob from almost falling asleep.

The ultimate? Snoring.

Nothing beats the sound of quiet snoring to cause the meeting to grind to a halt and everyone look around awkwardly... Awesome.

Most Important > Important

Last night i had a church council meeting which went until 11pm. Yep... a three and a half hour meeting... that got through half the agenda...

Ironically, i was invited to lead the start-of-the-meeting devotion and did a quick spiel on the first chapter of Haggai. My gist was that God tells the returning exiles to focus on the most important thing (rebuilding the temple) over the important (building nice houses for themselves).

Unfortunately, during the meeting i think we lost the point. Upon reading a piece of heart-breaking correspondence (when i suggested we should stop and pray), we waited until we finished the final few pieces of mail.

As important it was to hear about the various organisations that were plugging their events or asking for support, i think we delayed doing the most important.

I fear the same thing happens all to often in churches. We focus on the "pressing issues" and neglect or delay the vital things that the church is called to do.

Encouragingly annoying numbers

On Friday night we had the most kids so far this term with seven (including two new guys).

Before i rant, i should say that this is exciting.

But... Trying to lead a Bible study with seven teenage guys is as frustrating as herding wild cats.

The Lord says... Yargh

With today being "Talk Like a Pirate Day" it would only be appropriate to mention this... A pirate themed service.

You'd think we would have better things to do with our time... Obviously not.

Jackass

Lately this sight has been getting visited my more and more Americans.

May i just say that i think you leader rocks!

Why?

He called Kanye a jackass*. He was right, he was a jackass.

* I particularly like the word jackass. It's such an American word. I wonder... if the same thing happened in Australia, would Big Kev have called him a dickhead? I hope so.

Do you have any...

I was just asked if I posses two air-horns, marbles or yellow shoes.

In theory, that should be odd.

Unless you happen to be a Christian. Especially one in ministry.

Why?

Because over years of camps and various church activities... you accumulate crap. Or know people who have access to crap.

Need a large ball, two meters in diameter? No problems.

Need 150 bicycle inner-tubes? I know where they are.

Desperate for 100 pairs of cheap men's thongs? I know a bloke.

Need 100 calico sacks? Let me make a few phone calls.

Are you required to dress as a superhero, pirate, solider, ninja, policeman, monster, construction worker or space man? I can pull something together for you.

I don't imagine that these requests occur all that often when you work in an office cubical.

Never been kissed = Loser?

Lately I've been wondering how many Christians have had regrettable snogs in the past... Pash-and-dashes that they would take back... Periods of purple (boys being blue/girls being red) that they would reverse.

To clarify, I'm only talking about kissing, not more...

So... My question?

Would you look down on someone who hasn't made those silly spit-swapping mistakes? Would you snicker at someone who has virgin lips?

If so, why?

I know I've had people who i would want to "un-suck face" with.

If we could all collectively jump into our time machines and undo our unfortunate encounters... How many people would you have left on your kiss list?

If you've followed my blog, you know i may be a Christian whore. I get reduced down from 8 to 3 or 4.

Reliable #7

Finally i conclude my series on why i think the Bible is reliable.

The last reason? Life change.

For generations, the Bible has changed the way people have lived and transformed their lives. As God reveals His nature through the Bible, people have had genuine encounters with God and the way He calls them to live for their (and others) benefit.

Actually, this reason should be the one that needs to go unstated.

When people look at believers and the way that they live, there should be little room for doubt in the Bible. Unfortunately that not always the case.

So...

If nothing else....

Read the Bible. Especially if you haven't before, but say that the Bible is unreliable or a lie.

Open the gospel of Mark (the shortest gospel) and see what it says about who Jesus was, how he lived, what he taught, how he died and how he was raised to life.

See if it has the ring of truth. Be open to the idea that God could communicate with you through these pages. See what changes in your life occur if you follow what it says.

You could just become evidence that the Bible is the Word of God after all...

Freeze... CCP

I'm thinking of starting a secret organisation. We will go undercover... deep undercover... to find offenders red-handed.

The name? The Church Cringe Police.

We will swoop in on any unaware services that have meandering, long winded, church notices.

We will pounce on any church whose PA has a low, intermittent, buzzing sound.

We will infiltrate any church that has a news letter that contains 80's Clip-art.

We will creep into any church whose PowerPoint is inadequate. No mercy on those who have mismatching colours, typos or 65-words-in-10-point-New-Times-Roman on each slide.

We will be show little sympathy to any congregation that welcomes church guests in a cringe-worthy manner. No stand-and-introduce-yourself. No church-applaud-for-the-visitor.

Finally, we will bring sophisticated equipment that can detect any music which is off tune, off beat or more than two decades out of date.

So beware... the CCP will be on the prowl.

Reliable #6

We get to the second last post on why i think the bible is reliable. In this case, beyond merely an accurate historical transmission of what was originally recorded, but that what was written actually occurred.

Accusation – It’s a big lie... and the biblical authors knew it.

First of all, you don't die for a lie that you know is a fabrication. Of all the post resurrection disciples, only John died a death outside of martyrdom. You don't keep hold of a fairy tale when you're being boiled in oil. Or fed to lions. Or impaled on stakes. Or stoned to death. Or executed upside down.

Surely someone would have cracked under such torture. Or spilt the beans at the threat.

Furthermore... What did they expect to immediately gain from their lie? Exclusion from there culture and religion. Persecution from authorities. Not exactly worth it...

Also, why would they record this lie in the manner they did? They include details that were majorly embarrassing.

Jesus was killed... brutally... after being rejected by his people. He was deserted by his strongest followers, who themselves, were generally shown as being slow to believe and understand many of the teachings of Christ.

Importantly, why would you include women as witnesses to the resurrection? In first century Palestine, their word was inadmissible in court and initially disbelieved by the disciples.

Finally, as i have said earlier, witnesses recorded the words of the New Testament and others were still around who could verify the events recorded in the gospels.

2 Peter 1:16 - When we told you about the power and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling clever stories that someone had made up. But with our own eyes we saw his true greatness.

1 John 1:1-2 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

Luke 1:4 - Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Just say thank you...

A few nights ago a staff member approached me after a meeting which i opened and closed in prayer. They said they liked how i prayed.

Insert awkwardness here.

I consequently stood around and spluttered out odd "humms and urrs."

My floundering must have been hidden poorly, since she (thankfully) said plainly... "Just say thank you."

So i did.

I don't know why i took the praise so poorly. A significant part of my job currently is leading church services and leading public prayer is definitely a segment of that. So really, i should have been stoked to get such feedback.

Oh well, i must have some deep trauma that means that i shun well-meaning praise from others and instead squirm like a gasping fish that's on dry land.