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'?"

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.

Future Books

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

"The Practice of Confessional Subscription" by David Hall.

"Concise Reformed Dogmatics" by van Genderen Velema.

"Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries" by James Dennison.

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).

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."

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.

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.

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.

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"

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"

Our New President

A good article on President-elect Obama can be found here by Kim Riddlebarger, pastor of the URC in Anaheim, California.

Sunset

Snapped the following pictures at sunset tonight...

Winding Down

I haven't posted much in the last few days, not because we haven't done anything, but mainly because it's been more of the same--beach, pool, beautiful sights, etc.  Sunday, after worship, we went to the homes of one of the families in the church for a BBQ.  Then, we went to another family's home for roast, potatoes, and rice in the evening.  The hospitality that we have been shown here has been wonderful.  Last night, another one of the families in the church had us over for Enchilada casserole, rice, beans, and chips & salsa.  In addition, their next-door neighbors brought over some typical appetizers that people here in Hawaii eat (Korean shrimp, raw crab, smoked meats, etc.).  But before we ate, we walked down to the beach (they live on the west side of the island) and we watched the sunset.  Here's what we saw...

You might be able to see an island in the distance.  That's the island of Niihau, the smallest of the Hawaiian Islands.  It lies about 17 miles west of Kauai and since 1864 has been privately owned by the Robinson family.  It only has about 150 residents.