Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing you all a blessed and happy 2009!

We plan on ushering in the new year by relaxing at home, watching some DVD's, and eating a variety of snacks (shrimp and cocktail sauce, cheese in a can with crackers, Ruffles potato chips, french onion dip, and Newman-O's).

Bible Reading Plans

Tomorrow being the first of the year, I would highly encourage you to consider committing yourself to reading through the Bible in 2009.  Crossway, the publishers of the English Standard Version, have a page on their website listing 10 different Bible reading plans.  You can find it here.  Since I just picked up my copy of the ESV Study Bible a few weeks ago, I plan on using the one listed in the back of the Bible.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

This Sunday (January 4th)

Morning Service

Songs
#4 (Red hymnal)
#94 (Blue hymnal)
#282 (Blue hymnal)
#381 (Blue hymnal)
#306 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
1 Peter 5:1-11:  "Shepherds & Sheep"

Evening Service

Songs
#165 (Red hymnal)
#251 (Blue hymnal)
#373 (Blue hymnal)
#231 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 16:1-6:  "Ministry in the Church"

Monday, December 22, 2008

This Sunday (December 28th)

Lord willing, the weather will clear this weekend and we'll be able to worship twice on the Lord's Day.  We will be privileged to witness the baptism of one of the new covenant children in our church.  Here are the songs and sermon texts for this Sunday:

Morning Service

Songs
#304 (Blue hymnal)
#257 (Red hymnal)
#366 (Red hymnal)
#176 (Blue hymnal)...familiar tune
#204 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Psalm 37:  "Trust in the Lord"

Evening Service

Songs
#119 (Red hymnal)
#120 (Blue hymnal)
#229 (Blue hymnal)
#310 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 15:22-33:  "Pray for Me"

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

This Sunday (December 14th)

Morning Service

Songs
#337 (Blue hymnal)
#129 (Blue hymnal)
#42 (Blue hymnal)
#338 (Blue hymnal)
#488 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Scripture:  Luke 2:1-20:  "Gloria in Excelsis Deo"

Evening Service

Songs
#324 (Blue hymnal)
#120 (Blue hymnal)
#229 (Blue hymnal)
#310 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Scripture:  Romans 15:22-33:  "Pray for Me"

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Reformed Piety

What I have often found is that those coming out of non-Reformed churches have a poor or deficient ecclesiology (or doctrine of the church).  I know that this was certainly the case for myself.  I had spent many years in contexts that emphasized the importance of "personal devotions" and very little time on the public "means of grace" (preaching and the sacraments).  Here is a great little post by Scott Clark on this very subject.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Twice on Sundays

Excellent article here by Iain Campbell, pastor in Scotland, on why we worship twice on the Lord's Day.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

This Sunday (December 7th)

Morning Service

Songs
#85 (Blue hymnal)
"In Christ Alone"
#682 (Red hymnal)...to the tune of "Amazing Grace"
#339 (Blue hymnal)
#299 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Luke 1:56-80:  "Benedictus"

Evening Service

Songs
#218 (Red hymnal)
#122 (Blue hymnal)
#121 (Blue hymnal)
#204 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 15:14-21:  "The Heartbeat of Paul"

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Porpoise-Driven Life

This Sunday (November 30th)

Morning Service

Songs
#211 (Red hymnal)
#485 (Red hymnal)
#284 (Blue hymnal)
#331 (Blue hymnal)
#231 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Luke 1:39-56:  "Mary's Magnificat"

Evening Service

Songs
#217 (Red hymnal)
#187 (Blue hymnal)
#135 (Blue hymnal)
#307 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 15:8-13:  "The Basis of Our Fellowship"

Public Prayer Booth


This article raises the question as to whether our tax dollars should help fund National Public Radio's report on a "Public Prayer Booth" in New York City.  But another question that should be asked is, "Should our tax dollars go toward such a thing as a 'Public Prayer Booth'?"

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Thanksgiving Day Liturgy

Here is the liturgy for our Thanksgiving Day service--Thursday, November 27th, at 10:00 a.m.

We Come With Thanksgiving in Our Hearts

Welcome
Call to Worship
Invocation (concluded with corporate Lord's Prayer)
God's Greeting
Hymn of Praise:  "For the Beauty of the Earth" (#116, Red hymnal)

We Give Thanks for God's Creation and Gifts to Us

Prayer
Scripture Reading:  Psalm 19:1-6
Psalm of Praise:  "The Heavens Declare Thy Glory" (#31, Blue hymnal)

We Give Thanks for Family and Society

Prayer
Responsive Reading:  Psalm 127 (Red hymnal, p. 832)
Hymn of Praise:  "A Christian Home" (#719, Red hymnal)

We Give Thanks for the Church

Prayer
Scripture Reading:  Psalm 48
Psalm of Praise:  "Within Thy Temple, Lord" (#89, Blue hymnal)
Offering:  Benevolence Fund

We Receive God's Word with Thankful Hearts

Scripture Reading:  Habakkuk 3:17-18
Sermon:  "My Chief Delight"
Psalm of Response:  "Be Thou My Vision" (#642, Red hymnal)
Benediction
Doxology:  "O Come, My Soul, Bless Thou the Lord" (#6, Red hymnal) v. 5

Special Services in the Reformed Tradition

In light of the fact that Thanksgiving Day and Advent season are almost here, here's a link to a helpful article on the subject of the church calendar by my colleague Danny Hyde, pastor of the Oceanside United Reformed Church in Oceanside, California.

"Terror Texts"


Interesting story here about Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.  Seems that they are putting on a musical, "Terror Texts," based on 6 "shocking" stories from the Old Testament.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Future Books




Here are some books I have my eye on purchasing down the road:


"Concise Reformed Dogmatics" by van Genderen Velema.

ESV Study Bible


My new ESV Study Bible arrived in the mail today.  Just a few thoughts after looking through it for the last half-hour...

1.  It's much bigger than I had anticipated.  It's not so much the length or the width, but the thickness.  It is a little over 2 inches thick, probably a good half-inch thicker than the Reformation Study Bible.

2.  The quality of the Bible appears to be excellent--solid bindings, good quality pages, etc.

3.  There seems to be a wealth of good articles and resources at the back of the Bible:  There's an overview of Biblical Doctrine, an overview of Biblical Ethics, an article on Bible manuscripts, as well as a section on cults and world religions.

4.  The online version of the ESV Study Bible (everyone who purchases a ESV Study Bible has access to this) looks to be really good!

If you are looking to buy one (or, for that matter, if you are looking to buy some books for Christmas gifts), I would recommend Monergism Books.  This is the place that I buy most of my books from.  Turn-around time is incredible (I ordered some stuff on Monday afternoon and it came today) and you can't beat the shipping ($3.99 no matter how much you order).

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Catechism for Our Day

First, a little background.  And then, a brief quiz...

Background

I have not always been a Reformed Christian.  Up until the age of 11 I never once set foot in a church building.  However, by the grace of God, my family and I were converted to Christ in the late 1970's and began attending a Baptist church.  Now one thing that I think many of us Reformed Christians take for granted is our historical heritage, particularly our creeds and confessions.  We often don't appreciate the treasure and blessing that these are...not that they are on the same level of Scripture, but that the faithfully and accurately reflect the teaching of Scripture.  

Although I graduated with a B.A. in Biblical Studies and Theology and a Master of Divinity, up to the time I was 26 years old, I thought that creeds and confessions were something from the Roman Catholic Church.  It was only when I began to read authors such as Michael Horton, R.C. Sproul, Louis Berkhof, and others that I began to see how rich the creeds and confessions are.  As a minister now in the United Reformed Churches in North America, I subscribe what are known as "The 3 Forms of Unity" (Belgic Confession of Faith, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort).  In other words, I confess that these documents are faithful summaries of the Bible and that I will teach what they teach and will strenuously oppose what they oppose.  Picture it like this:  The 3 Forms of Unity serve as a fence--they keep out what should be kept out (false teaching) and they keep in what should be kept in (sound doctrine).

In a day when many supposedly Reformed churches are trying to distance themselves from their doctrinal heritage, we must recommit ourselves to faithfully teaching and catechizing our people.  We must not be ashamed of our history or our confessions.  Instead, we should thank God for the gifts that these are and remain steadfast in promoting sound doctrine as summarized in these documents.

Quiz Time

Now in our own day, if some people were given the task of writing a new catechism, what would it look like.  Well, I fear that these would be some of the questions.  I have not doctored any of this (either the questions or the answers).  This is a real interview with a real person.  Your job is to tell me who said this.  No googling!

Question:  Who is Jesus?
Answer:  Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he's also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher.  He's also a wonderful teacher.  I think it's important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.

Question:  You don't believe that? (that God will send some to hell)
Answer:  I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.  I can't imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity.  That's just not part of my religious makeup.

Question:  Do you believe in heaven?
Answer:  What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded.  I don't presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die.  But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning of myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.

Question:  What is sin?
Answer:  Being out of alignment with my values.

Question:  What happens if you have sin in your life?
Answer:  I think it's the same thing as the question about heaven.  In the same way that if I'm true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward; when I'm not true to it, it's its own punishment.

OK...two things:  (1) Who said that?  (2) You should now get on Monergism Books website immediately (click here) and order Michael Horton's book "Christless Christianity."

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

This Sunday (November 23rd)

Morning Service

Songs
#274 (Red hymnal)
#387 (Blue hymnal)
#140 (Blue hymnal)
#288 (Blue hymnal)
#280 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Numbers 21:10-35:  "The God of His People"

Evening Service

Songs
#172 (Red hymnal)
#635 (Red hymnal)
#303 (Blue hymnal)
#488 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 15:1-7:  "Following Christ's Example"

I Once Was Blind But Now I See

According to a recent study, Dutch Calvinists have better visual perception than atheists.  You can read more here.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Grandpa Goes to the Hospital

Kinda sounds like the title of a children's book, right?  Well, let me explain:

One of the blessings in our church is the large number of children that the Lord has blessed our congregation with.  In fact, we currently have 5 ladies who are expecting:  Two in January, one in April, one in May, and one in June.  Last week at this time it was 6 ladies, but one of them just gave birth yesterday morning.  And one of the privileges that I have as the pastor is that I get to go visit the families in the hospital after the birth of their children.  And so this morning, I headed to one of the hospitals in the area to visit the newest member of our congregation, a little girl named Gretchen.  As I'm sitting there visiting with the family, an older lady walks in from some organization (I can't remember the name now) that gives free reading material to families and encourages moms and dads to read with their children (which, of course, is a good thing).  Anyway, the lady walks in and congratulates the mom and dad and then she looks at me and says, "You must be the grandpa."  Now I know that I'm not 25 anymore, but I'm only 10 years older than the father of this little girl and yet, this lady thinks that I'm the grandpa.  After finding out that I was a pastor, she later tried to cover herself by saying, "Well, all pastors are kind of like grandpas."  Nice try, lady.

Well, that's all for now:  "Grandpa" has to go outside and rake some leaves before it's time for his afternoon nap.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Book Review


As I stated in a previous post before we went on vacation, one of the books that I planned to read on vacation was a book entitled "Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do About It."  Although I haven't yet finished the book in its entirety, I thought I'd give a brief review of that I have read.

First of all, Miss Duin gives some very interesting statistics, statistics that highlight that people are very burned-out on this whole "seeker-sensitive" approach to church.  People are fleeing these kinds of churches in droves.  At the same time, the percentage of Americans who say that they never go to church is higher now than it has been at any time in recent history.  Twenty-two percent of Americans today say that they never attend church.

However, while I appreciated the statistical facts and figures that the book presents, I think that Miss Duin misses the mark when it comes to the cure for this problem of people "quitting church."  The solution that she offers seems very much like the solution that George Barna offers in his book "Revolution," which is basically to say "The day of the institutional church has come and gone.  It's time to move on to something else."  Miss Duin (and Mr. Barna for that matter) place a great deal of emphasis on "house churches."  But this is where the book really misses the point.  The fact that people are leaving these seeker-sensitive, program-oriented mega-churches should not cause us to throw up our hands and say, "We need to find an alternative to the church."  Instead, it should cause us to return to what the church is called to be and to do.  It should cause us to emphasize the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments.  It should cause us to emphasize the importance of catechization, in the church and in the home.  It should cause us to emphasize worship that is centered on God (and not on me) and preaching that is centered on Christ (and once again, not on me).

All in all, the book has been an interesting read (so far).  But if you do read this book, make sure to read it with discernment.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

John Owen Giveaway


Here at "Feeding on Christ."

This Sunday (November 16th)

Morning Service

Songs
#301 (Blue hymnal)
#442 (Red hymnal)
#59 (Red hymnal)
#350 (Blue hymnal)
#231 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Numbers 21:1-9:  "Look and Live"

Evening Service

Songs
#4 (Red hymnal)
#114 (Blue hymnal)
#302 (Blue hymnal)
#310 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 14:13-23:  "Don't Be a Stumbling Block"

Friday, November 7, 2008

This Sunday (November 9th)

Morning Service

Songs
#125 (Red hymnal)
#455 (Red hymnal)
#237 (Blue hymnal)
#190 (Blue hymnal)
#280 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Numbers 20:  "The Danger of Anger"

Evening Service

#471 (Blue hymnal)
#469 (Red hymnal)
#278 (Blue hymnal)
#296 (Blue hymnal)

Sermon
Romans 14:1-12:  "A Warning Against Passing Judgment"

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Remember the Alamo

The last few days have been pretty uneventful...more boogie boarding, more swimming in the pool, more beautiful sights.  Today, however, something happened that I've never had to deal with before...a broken-down rental car.  Shortly after lunch, we went down to Poipu Beach to do some boogie boarding.  After about an hour, we headed back to the minivan to return to our condo.  We threw our boogie boards in the back, got in, but when I turned the key in the ignition, the horn started honking and nothing more.  I tried it a few more times, but it was the same thing.  Unfortunately, I had left my cell phone at our condo.  Thankfully, just down the road was a pay phone, and so I went there to call Alamo Rental Car.  I was told that I just needed to reset the security system by looking the van from the outside with the remote, waiting a few seconds, and then unlocking it with the remote.  I did that...but it was the same thing:  Honking horn and nothing more.  There was a local guy there who was observing our blaring horn fun and he offered to let me use his cell phone.  So I called Alamo again and this time I was told that the whole system had probably frozen up and that they would need to send a tow truck out with a new rental car on it and make the exchange.  The only problem is that it would take 2-3 hours.  Mem found a couple there who were willing to take her back to our condo, where she could get my cell phone and call one of the families in the church who would then pick our daughters up while I waited behind with the van.  Finally, at about 5:00 p.m., after waiting for about 90 minutes, the new rental van showed up.

Monday, October 27, 2008

A Delicious Dinner

Before my parents return home on Thursday, we wanted to find a nice restaurant that we could all go to.  We ended up at Plantation Gardens Restaurant, the restaurant at the condo complex where my parents are staying.  Mem had "Seafood Lau Lau," which is fresh local fish, large prawns, jumbo scallops, and vegetables, all wrapped in a Ti Leaf.  It's served with steamed white rice and wasabi aioli.  Here's a picture:


I ordered the Curry-Coconut Seafood Stew, which is fresh local fish, prawns, scallops, mussels, and roasted potatoes in a curry-coconut broth.  It was absolutely delicious!!  Here's a picture:

More Golf Pictures

The last 4 holes of Poipu Bay Golf Course all run along the Pacific.  Here are some pictures from those holes.




Golf Day on Kauai

When I knew that we would be vacationing on Kauai again this year, one of the things that I wanted to do when I was here was play golf.  There are some beautiful golf courses here on Kauai..2 of the most well-known being Princeville and Poipu Bay.  The Princeville golf course, though, is about a 75 minute drive from where we're staying.  But Poipu Bay is about 2 minutes away.  So today my dad and I played Poipu Bay and had a wonderful time.  For those of you familiar with golf, this is where the Grand Slam of Golf was held from 1994-2006.  The Grand Slam of Golf is an end of the year tournament only for those who have won "majors" that year, which means that there are only 4 entrants into the tournament each year (since there are only 4 "majors").  Needless to say, the PGA doesn't hold golf tournaments at "average" golf courses.  Poipu Bay is a beautiful golf course.  Here are some of the pictures from today.





A Restful Lord's Day





Kauai Reformation Church has both of their Lord's Day worship services in the morning.  The first service is at 9:30 a.m., followed by a time of refreshments, and then the second service is at 11:00 a.m.  They do this for 2 primary reasons:  (1) Some of the people in the church drive quite a distance (approximately 1 hour to get to church); (2) The facility that they rent gives them that block of time.  It feels a little funny to have both services over by noon, but it does allow for a lot of afternoon and evening rest time.  Today after church we came back to the condo for some lunch and then went to the pool for awhile.  And then we went to the home of one of the families in the church for a nice dinner.  Pictured here is the sunset from tonight.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

A Quiet Day




Today was a fairly uneventful day.  We went to Wal-Mart and then to Costco.  After that, we tried to go boogie boarding, but it was too crowded (extremely busy at the beach here on the weekends).  Then we went back to the pool for a bit.  I then went to Starbucks (not much changes, does it?) to go over my sermons for tomorrow.  I'm preaching on Romans 13:11-14 in the first service and the work of the Holy Spirit from Romans 8 in the 2nd service.  Before dinner we went down to Shipwreck Beach at sunset and I took the pictures that you see here.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Dinner and Sunset





We ended the day by enjoying some BBQ marlin (done by my dad), Yakisoba noodles, rice, and pineapple.  Then we walked down to the beach (which runs right in front of their condo complex) and took some pictures.  What a beautiful place!

Lydgate


After Hanalei, we were all hot and so we drove back toward Lihue and went to Lydgate Beach.  Lydgate has an area that is enclosed by large boulders, allowing swimmers to relax in the ocean without any major waves or current issues.  We spent over an hour there, cooling off and relaxing in the water.  It's amazing how much better you feel after spending an hour in the ocean.

Hanalei


After the lighthouse, we drove to Hanalei, which is at the northern end of the island.  Last year, we came here with one of the families in the church on our first full day on Kauai.  Although it was nice last year, the weather was not that great (gray and overcast most of the time).  Today, however, was entirely different.  It was a beautiful 85 degree day.  I didn't get a picture of it, but there was a guy surfing there with his dog.  It was a little terrier-looking dog...but apparently, it had some good sea legs.

Kilauea Lighthouse






Today was another breathtakingly beautiful day here on Kauai.  Our first stop was the Kilauea Lighthouse.  We stopped here last year on our trip, but didn't make the trek down to the lighthouse itself.  This time, after taking some pictures at the top, we drove down and then walked the rest of the way to the lighthouse.  This was well worth it.  Not only were we able to get some more great pictures, but they also allow you to check out complementary binoculars, with which we were able to watch dolphins swimming and jumping out in the Pacific.

Vacation, Day 7






It's hard to believe that we've been here for 7 days now...the time has gone incredibly fast! We are very blessed to be able to take this trip.  If it were not for the generosity of the Kauai Reformation Church and the sponsoring churches (Oceanside URC and Torrance URC), this trip would not be possible.  They are providing us a wonderful 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo, round-trip airfare for myself, and a car rental.  And because Alamo was out of 4-door sedans when we went to pick up our rental car, they bumped us up to a minivan for no extra charge.  What would normally be a very expensive vacation for a family of 4 is only costing us airfare for my wife and daughters and our food.  When hotel rooms at the Grand Hyatt Kauai are going for a minimum of $480/night and when 2 bedroom, 2 bath condos on the beach are going for $5,995/week (who could possibly afford those prices), we are very thankful to be able to take a vacation like this.

Today was a gorgeous day here on Kauai.  We began by going to Waimea Canyon (the largest canyon in the Pacific).  Last year when we went to Waimea the weather wasn't all that great (overcast, misty rain).  But this time, it was a whole different story (as you can see in the pictures).  After that, we traveled another 7 miles to the Kalalau Lookout, which provides a great view of the Kalalau Valley (the largest valley on the Na Pali coast).  We returned home in the mid-afternoon, and then my dad and I played golf at Poipu Bay Golf Course with one of the members of the Kauai Reformation Church and his son.  His son is a junior golfer, and because of that, he can play for free after 4:00 p.m.  In addition, anyone who comes with him gets to play for only $10.  This is a great deal when you consider that it normally costs $200 to play that course.  After golf, we went to their home for BBQ chicken and steak.  Pictured are some of the sights from Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau Lookout.