Proverbs Part 1

Over the next week or so I'm going to post some of my thoughts as I'm preparing 3 sermons on Proverbs. (They won't necessarily be in any particular order - just as they come)

Where does wisdom start?

With Dr Phil? Navel gazing, or graduating from the school of hard knocks?

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But you will also notice in Ch 2:5 that the fear of the Lord is the goal of wisdom too.

The fear of the Lord?

In Exodus 20:20 the Israelites are faced with God in the cloud and lightning on top of the Mt. Understandably they are freaked out. But check what Moses tells them:

Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

Don't be terrified of the Mt, this is God coming to you. Now that you are about to meet Him (i.e: you are about to recieve His words) you will be able to say no to sin if you fear Him. That is, if you respond to His word by faith in reverant awe.

We get the same picture in Mark 4 when the disciples are caught in the mother of all storms and fear that the waves will crush their boat into matchsticks. Jesus wakes up, instantly stops the storm (with a word) and now the disciples are afraid of Him. They ask, who is this man and what has he done?! How is this possible?! (I put it to you that you too would react in this way if you thought that God himself might be in your boat).

In order to unlock God's blueprint for life in his world, and to know how to live well in it, the starting point, the front door, is fear of the Lord. Responding to His word in faith with a healthy dose of reverant awe. (That's the bit that lets God be God and reminds you that you are not.)

This is the fence line within which we are able to graze freely in the pasture of wisdom.

More to come

Scott

Open Doors

Last night I made my way to Marike and Gordon's place - an older couple in our church who have decided they are sick of not knowing people at St James and so once a month have an afternoon tea and then a supper to get to know more people, and to help us get to know each other. Since they have begun, they have had over 100 people thru their house - well done guys.

But they also use the time to have a presentation for Open Doors - a Christian organisation that exists to help the persecuted church around the world by sending bibles, giving training as well as loving support. I know there are zillion of groups doing all sorts of good things for Christ, but these guys have got my attention.

To check out a bit more, click here

They try to serve 200 million Christians in the 66 closed countries who are persecuted in one way or another for their faith. If you go to the link, you can find out about 3 Indoensian women who spent almost 3 yrs in jail for running a sunday school club (evangelism is prohibited). Last night I also heard about Pastor Samuel Lamb in China who after spending 21 years in jail went straight back to his house church (he cramps 700 people into his place 4 times a week) and states quite forthrightly, 'Persecution good! More persecution, more growth!'

I was reminded last night that even if God has spared you persecution (for now) you still feel the affects of it. When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. It's abut time that we started to listen to the aches and pains of our global body.

Check it out.
Scott

If you could ask God one question . . .

Can you remember when you were in high school?

Did you ever ask a question about the Bible, God or what you should do when faced with a tough choice? Well, I could use your help.

I'm putting together a book of questions and answers on some of the classic questions youth group kids ask about Christian things. Here are some of the classics already assembled:

• Where do the dinosaurs fit in?
• Who made God?
• Do babies who die go to heaven?
• Can Christians get tatoos?
• How far is too far?
• What's with predestination?
• If God loves everyone, why all the suffering?

In fact so far I have about 80 questions, but I would love to hear the ones that baked your noodle back in the day (maybe they still haven't been sorted).

Can you help?

Scott

This is not what I had in mind for the first post on my born again blog,
but it did make me laugh very hard.

Scott

The Dude Abides

It's been a long time between posts but as a friend of mine has observed, life comes before blogging.

I'm sitting here listening to Bruce croon out some anthems from Human Touch, a new pair of ug boots on my frozen feet and a tastey beverage close at hand.

My time away has not been wasted, so drop by soon and we'll get this party started.

Scott

Wow

A friend of mine went for some an inservice training with work the other day, you guessed it, all about AIDS and STD's. He was quite forth coming with the fact he was a Christian and what that meant when it came to discussion time.

Afterwards a guy came up to him and said the following.

"Although I went to church as a kid, I'm not a Christian. I have a girl friend and we are sleeping together, but after I have sex with her, I feel so bad. I feel guilty."

Amazing, isn't it?

Here is a guy who has no restrictions, can do whatever he wants.
So he does, and afterwards, how does he feel?
Hopeless.

Reminds me ofthe passage I preached on Sunday night.

Colossians Ch 3.
Put to death therefore whatever belongs to the earthly nature . . . things like sexual immorality . . .becuase of these things the wrath of God is coming."

Scott

Job

I'm doing 5 talks through Job for my youth groups at the moment. I haven't visited Job for a while and (as usual) it's the surprise that grab you.

Job has had everything stripped from him in Ch 1 (although worse is yet to come in Ch 2). Money, status, security and kids, all gone in a heartbeat. So Job looses it, tears robes, shaves head and mourns. Check the next sentence;

Then he fell to the ground in worship . . ."
[OK, I didn't see that one coming]

"and said, Naked I come from my mothers womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised."

Thoughts.
Job seems to understand a lot better than we do that everything he had from the second he was born doesn't belong to him. It was a gift from God. Or a loan from God - becuase one day, when you die, God will take it back. So if God calls back some of his gifts a bit early, that's OK. Suffering in this way doesn't mean God hates you or that God has suddenly become untrustworthy.

It also seems that Job knew this before the suffering came, he didn't figure it out in the midst of the storm. His reaction was to fall down in worship. He was prepared for this. He knew this stuff already and had used this knoweldge to discipline and brace himself for such a day.

Last comment.

Job can see what is happening around him clear enough, but he is totally clueless as to the reason behind it. (The narrator gives us a glimpse into the conversation between God and Satan, but Job himself never hears about it). Job's response is a response to suffering which arrives with no explaination or interpretation. Which gives us a choice. Do we react to what we SEE around us, or, from what we KNOW to be true about God? It seems to me that while he is a full participant in the tragedy around him, Job chooses the later.

More to come (perhaps)

Scott

Nat and Ev

This is long overdue (they are somewhere in Namibia now) but better late than never.

Nat and Ev came for a visit or 2 while they spent a week in Cape Town recently. They are doing a round the world thing with a twist - not just pure hedonism ;) but with a mix of Christian service (2 months with an aid organisation in a former Soviet Republic / Christian orphanage in Uganda etc). I like their style.

Anyway, it was tops to catch up - i think I heard a click - and you would do well to check their travel site http://natandev.travellerspoint.com/

Explore away, my friends.

At Newlands watching the Stormers thrash the Lions.

Scott

Two Oceans 2007

The road home

The mighty Celtic's at UCT and behind, the mt

This guy fell apart with about 50 m to go.

The mission: To get under 1hour 50 min.

The hurdle: Enough training to feel good but not enough to probably make much difference.

The crisis: 20 seconds into the race - I get a killer stitch. My training partner disappears and I'm in a hurt locker.

The panic: Half way thru the race i check the time - 1hr 03 - if I stay on this target I'm running a 2hr 06! Nooooooooooo!!

The decisive moment: I pop one of Trevors blue pills. I don't know what's in them but it kicks on so that . . .

The finish: I run the second half in 45 min and finish with 1:48:42

The next mission: To take another 5 min off for next year.

Scott

Actually, it has me

I'll whack up some pics and a post of the Two Oceans tomorrow, but for now . . .

This mornings Cape Times told me about Lisa Perry, 45 year old from St Paul's Minnesota.

She wants a fresh start before she moves across the country so she is selling all her belongings (except her cat, dog, photos and some clothes) on ebay. The top bidder would get over 300 items inclusing snow shoes, a futon, a village people album and seashells.

Listen to what she said;

"This might be mid life, but it's not a crisis. It's mid life excitement. I don't need it all, I don't use it all. I just have it all. Actually, it has me."

Has a truer word ever been sopken? "Actually, it has me"

You can not serve 2 masters - it comes down to being owned by God or owned by your stuff. Remember, you don't own it.

Would anyone out there like to follow in Lisa's footsteps?
If so, what would you keep (let's just say you'r allowed to fit it into a big suitcase.)

Scott

Help

Here is my problem.

I have a home phone, a work phone, a cell phone and a fax number.

I have email at work and email at home.

I have skype I have this blog and another blog .

I have a door bell.

There is Dawn at the front desks who hands me little squares of paper telling me to call people.

And now, for some unknown reason I have begun Facebook. Face book is kind of like my space, but nicer (I think). All the kids are doing it and I didn't want to be left behind.

Come visit me here.

Or don't - because I have 50 million ways to communicatwe with people but no time to do it. I still have 3 people we have promised to have over for dinner from last year. I want to go tribal, stone age, maybe a carrier pigeon at best. Is anyone else stung by this too?

Scott

The Chad

Hey y'all!

Go check out Nathan and Cass' blog from down south in the US of A.

I miss these guys . . .

(It's true, I miss you guys!)

http://www.nathandcass.blogspot.com

300

I loved this movie. It was what I was hoping for.

It didn't pretend to be something it wasn't or couldn't deliver (don't you hate that?). In other words, it was honest to what it was.

It hit all the right buttons. It had father and son, sacrifice, the underdogs, a commitment to death. They fought like there was something greater at stake than just themselves.

And Kimg Leonadis was a king you wanted to follow, or the kind of man you wanted to be.

And yes, I get that it was 'just' a movie, and that it's based on a comic book (sorry, graphic novel) which was based on history and so that gives it more room to interpret the facts. But do you think I care?

I enoyed it. Period. But it made me think about ideas like honour, duty, fear, hope and glory. And what those things mean for me as a Christian. And how would my conversation with my son differ from Leonadis' conversation with his - if at all?

If you have seen it, care to comment?

Scott

PS: It is rated high for it's violence and a sex scene so view at your discression.

Testify!

A few weeks ago I was finding pictures of gospel preachers for a talk one of my leaders was giving. I found some pretty interesting characters (of course, I'm not sure if any of them were genuine gospel men, but it was all about perception anyway, so we were safe).

But I came across this guy. I think it is posed, but the 12 string makes me think. (If you were going to do a funny picture shoot, you would just grab any crappy 6 string lying around - why a 12 string, unless it is real!)

Now I gotta be honest, I've got no great thing to say here, I just thought it was a cool picture! Maybe you want to leave a comment, or a caption?

Scott

OK, so it's Thursday night last week. I'm running with the club and we have just conquered a particulary nasty hill. We get to the top and our wobbly legs force us to walk for a few moments. And as we do, the guy next to me (not a Christian) says to everyone and no one inparticular;

'Man, that was spiritual!'

I don't say anything, I am just trying to suck oxygen into my lungs.

Without wanting to be too harsh on the guy, my take on him is that he is a trendy coffee and book store kind of guy, opinionated and inner city-ish, but without the clout to back it up. He may be a bit of a poser.

So it is kind of a 'cool meets interllectual' thing to say, right?

I take it that he meant running up the hill was so bloody hard and painful that it took him to the transcedant (or at least that he was suggesting that it was the kind of experience that could do that sort of thing).

But as we ran down the other side I thought to myself that actually, he is spot on. It was spiritual, but not in the way he meant it.

"For everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is recieved with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." 2 Tim 4:4-5

Even big, sweaty hills (at twilight on a summers evening).

It occured to me however that a few sentences later appears a verse that he really needed to hear;

"For physical training is of some value but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

Scott

I'm feeling pretty tough

In 32 days I'm running the Two Oceans Marathon, 'The most beautiful marathon in the world'. It's only going to be half as beautiful for me cause I'm only doing the half (acute pain, permanant damage and expensive hospitalization are not where I'm at right now).

So I thought I'd pick up some longer runs to get some k's under my belt.

On Saturday morning I run with Denzil and Leights and they took me. Man, did they take me! Now remember, I'm training for the 21kms. We ran almost 30! I've never run that far before in one go.

The bad news was that there was pain.

The good news was that I made it, I recovered quickly, I have broken the mental barrier and I got inspired.

So right now, even though compared to the others I'm still a newbie, I feel pretty tough.

Scott

Colin

If you're a praying person, pray for Colin.

Colin is a homeless guy who has been visiting me at church over the last few weeks. After some over zealous church member showed him where I live, he is now visiting us at our house - all hours. This morning I took him to the church down the road who have a fully operation ministry to the homless (we don't) called UTurn. He is hooked up with the soup kitchen today and Friday and next Wednesday is their monthly intake and interviews. Colin said would like to start a program and stay in a shelter so we will see how he goes.

This next week will be tricky. Now that we have got a bit of a relationship going with him Sam (from UTurn) suggested that we continue to help him until the intake into their program. But at the same time we need to set boundries, as you do in any relationship. This will take much wisdom and love (both tender and tough) in deciding when to do what, and when to say no.

Please keep us in mind and prayers over the next week that we can do the right thing by Colin and be the face of Jesus to him without chucking wisdom out the door.

Scott

My sunday

Let me tell you about my Sunday.

Sunday moring, Junior Youth, was HARD.
Numbers were a bit down and the kids were like zomies. Or statues. It was like swimming through concrete. We have been doing a series 'People who met Jesus' (see last post). So I kick off the last talk in the series by asking,
"What is the series we have been looking at this term?"

No response.

So to prompt them I ask,

"Was it . . . people who met Elvis?!" (I'm a funny guy, right?)

No response.

So I try a different approach. I say,

"Last week we looked at a guy from the bible who met Jesus. Let me act it out for you so you can take a guess."

I proceed to act out the man of the tombs. It's violent, noisy and scary.

"I ask them - so who was it that Jesus met last week?"

A kid sticks up his hand . . . .

"A monkey?"

It was a HARD morning.

Sunday evening, Senior Youth, was EXCITING.
We had an evangelistic bring a friend type meeting.
We had 7 new faces.
We had 60 all up.
We had a great testimony from a grade 10 girl who was interviewed by her friend.
My brother provided a top evangelistic talk.
We had dinner together.
People responded.
It was a buzz to be there.

What to make of all this?
1. Gospel work is never so bad that it can't get better.
2. Gospel work is very real and gritty and (in one sense) vulnerable to being bruised by this world (bad number, bad attitudes, laziness)
3. But in the other sense, gospel work is thrilling because it is supernatural and beyond our ability to manage (that's largely what I attribute the success of Sunday night to).
4. Despite the sunday mornings, there will always be sunday nights.
5. And I love my work.

Scott

The little big guy

I am just finishing up a tried and tested series for my Junior Youth Kids - 'People who met Jesus' or 'Meeting Jesus makes a difference'.

This Sunday we are looking at Luke 19:1-10, the mini me of the series, Zacchaeus.

Meeting Jesus made a huge difference to this guy - check out verse 8;

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."

Two things struck me this time around.

1. That although there were many things that Zacchaeus probably needed to change, he straight up zooms in on his relationships.

'I’m a rip-off merchant' he says to himself. 'Greed at the expense of others has been my style.'

So he gives half my money to the poor, and repays 4 times the stolen amount.

For us our relationships don’t usually revolve around money. But they may be dominated by gossip. In which case we can 'do a Zacchaeus' by stop talking behind peoples backs and start being trustworthy.

Or perhaps we are ultra cynical and biting. We can 'do a Zacchaeus' by stop cutting people down and start showing kindness.

2. Change is more than just stopping a behaviour.

In the story you don' see Zacchaeus just stop being a rip off – he STARTS being generous. Change is not just about stopping the bad but starting the good.

Don’t just stop being a gossip – START being trustworthy

Don’t just stop being a bully – START being kind

The change that we should be looking for when 'salvation comes to our house' (v9) is surely something like this.

There's a lot more to these 10 verses to be sure, but stumbling across this was a blessing.

Scott

300

Here is my movie.

'300'

It is an adaptation of a comic book that recounts the heroic but tragic battle of King Leonadis and the 300 Spartans against the entire Persian army as they were set to invade Greece.

Let the trailer move you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0QJuu1n5Vk

Granted, I think this is a boys movie.

Also, it is only basically true to history (it is an adaption from a comic book after all) and it looks as though it has a mythological slant on it as well. But from what I can tell it still looks frick'n awesome!

"Give them nothing, take from them EVERYTHING!"

Scott