Homiletics Homework about Jesus
I just added a link on our
frontpage to a sermon outline I prepared for my Homiletics 1 class at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary this past fall. The sermon outline (
click here to download) takes a lot of inspiration from a short sermon from Mark Driscoll (link also on the frontpage,
click here). I didn't edit that clip. If you notice the link, it comes from the source.
I corrected some minor errors in his reading of Revelation 19 in my outline, if anyone had problems with those, and expanded on it.
When I saved it to a .doc format from openoffice, the roman numerals got messed up. The format and things at the top like "purpose" "theme" etc were for the sake of the class, though it's not a bad preparation method.
No, I don't plan on posting the other parts of the sermon homework assignment.
I would like to post up preparation notes from the 17 sermons I preached from the book of Jude over the past few months... but over the course of those I experimented a lot with the notes and preparation methods and most of them really need to be cleaned up. Plus, some are just badly aimed :) We'll see.
Prayer
We request prayer for two men. These two are struggling with their Christian walk. You know, some people seem to do okay without ever going too deep into doctrine. But these guys need to go deeper. The request for these two guys is that God would take them to the level they need to go to fulfill the calling, any calling, that is placed on their lives. First is the call to be happy, and more satisfied in Jesus than anything else, and then we'll see what else... please pray.
What I Want to Know About Ted Haggard
There's a lot being said about Ted Haggard. Two of the best articles of comments relating it to pastor's issues in general are here:
http://theresurgence.com/md_blog_2006-11-06_ted_haggard_scandal_2.0 and here:
http://theresurgence.com/md_blog_2006-11-03_evangelical_leader_quitsBut what I want to know from the pastor himself and others near him is:
How did living with that kind of immorality, sin, and deceit affect his ministry?
Were there any outward signs that Ted was not right with the Lord for (at least) those three years?
What effects did Ted see and experience in his attempt to teach, minister, and be an example and a light for the gospel?
Did anyone around him see any clues that now make sense?
I want to ask these questions because nothing I've found has commented on his ministry performance. The absence of comments on that area of his life is strange to me. I assume that of course there should be some negative effect on his ministry. I know that sin affects my ability to minister and I have seen the effects in others. And I know that we are no better than Ted, and certainly as capable of committing sin like him in and of ourselves and even capable of committing more heinous sins. But all I've read is that he pastored a large congregation and was the president of the NAE. Nothing about his performance, effectiveness, or presence of the Holy Spirit.
And if I could get real theological on him:
Did he think that it was possible he would never be disciplined by the Lord? (ie. caught or worse)
If he did, was it the result of a low view of God's sovereignty?
From his letter it sounded like he was mostly just relieved to have it out and be able to deal with it head on. If he's truly a believer, and by his repentance it appears that he is, even though he has lost all of his work and privilege of being an overseer and teacher, he still has the greatest treasure. In fact, this hard road is the road back to the savior. Therefore it's a good road.
And here's a stunning conclusion that can be drawn out of all of this: God cares far more about one prodigal son coming home for eternity than He cares about how He'll look in the media for a few months.
A lot of people are lamenting the bad press. They need to be encouraged by this: The sovereign God of discipline did it how He willed. He's a public God and going to be exalted and glorified on a public stage, and this kind of press just isn't that significant to him. Of course it doesn't provide any sense of excuse, but in the end we'll see this too was worked for good.
One way I am already seeing this happen is in the way evangelicals will get to display the right gospel-centered view of homosexuality and those who struggle with it.
Surely another good effect that may be unseen is the serious self-examination many men in ministry are undergoing.
USA - Don't Really Want to be Here
We're back. I continued the theme of our "Namibia -" posts by calling this one "USA -". It's hard to say which one is home right now. We love the people and we're glad to be visiting but honestly we don't really want to be here. It's good and necessary for a lot of other reasons. It's just the place. I don't mean any offense to any people that we love or anyone who loves this place. Of course you do, and you probably should. If your home is in heaven, you should have a love for where you are called on earth. There are some things we've missed, but not many. We're doing better here as a couple just because life is so much easier here. But that's not the best thing.
For those we have missed, we're still looking forward to getting together. Just taking some time to get adjusted. We thank you very much for that. God bless you all. In Jesus -