Ted Kennedy passing last week has drawn a lot of attention in our national media and rightfully so, he was a political leader in our country for over 45+ years. One of the most interesting things to come out of the coverage on his death and his funeral has been the revealing of a letter he wrote Pope Benedict earlier this summer. In the letter, Kennedy seems to be stating his case for why God should accept him. I find it fascinating because Kennedy's claim for acceptance/blessing from God mirror many people's claims. Below I include some of the letter along with some of my comments on what he wrote:
In the letter Kennedy writes,
"Most Holy Father, I asked President Obama to personally hand deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Roman Catholic faith is to me, and I am deeply grateful to him.
"I hope this letter finds you in good health. I pray that you have all of God's blessings as you lead our Church and inspire our world during these challenging times.
"I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago, and, although I continue treatment, the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old and preparing for the next passage of life.
"I have been blessed to be a part of a wonderful family, and both of my parents, particularly my mother, kept our Catholic faith at the center of our lives. That gift of faith has sustained, nurtured and provided solace to me in the darkest hours. I know that I have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith, I have tried to right my path."
My Comment: I am impressed by Kennedy's tone of humility in the opening of this letter to the Pope. I am also impressed by Kennedy's admittance that he has been "an imperfect human being." The Bible would agree when it says in Romans 3, "all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." Like Kennedy, we can all say that we have been "imperfect human beings."
However, I think it is sad in what he writes next, "with the help of my faith, I have tried to right my path." First, our faith doesn't just "help" us right our path, our faith in Jesus Christ is the only solution to finding the right path. Our efforts add nothing to what Jesus can only do. It sounds like Kennedy, like many people sees faith as a catalyst to the right path but not the only true source of change. The Bible says, " I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Kennedy goes on to write,
"I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I've worked to welcome the immigrant, fight discrimination and expand access to health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and been the focus of my work as a United States Senator.
My Comment: I applaud Kennedy for these efforts, efforts that he has paid a huge personal price for. But how can he say he has done his best to champion the rights of the poor, the marginalized when he did absolutely nothing to oppose abortion, defending the rights of the unborn, who are the poorest and most marginalized of anyone in society?
I believe, our generation will be held accoutable by God for our inability to protect the right of the unborn to life.
Kennedy then writes,
"I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health care field and will continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.
"I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings. I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and our Church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me."
My Comment: Again, I really respect Kennedy's tone of humility in the close of this letter. But he seems to be asking for favor from God (and the Pope) based on what he has done. The Bible tells us that as we look to seek favor from God, it will not be based on our works, or efforts but simply and wonderfully based on what we did with Jesus. Did we believe in Jesus? Did we allow Jesus to be the Lord and Leader of our lives? Isaiah 53 says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him (Jesus!)
the iniquity of us all."
Salvation will be based on this fact:
Did we allow our sins to be forgiven by a Holy God through the work of Jesus. I pray Kennedy did this before his death.
Bashing Ted Kennedy?
Please understand...My intention in this post is not to bash Ted Kennedy or cause additional grief to a family grieving the loss of their loved one, or make his death a political issue or take a shot at the Catholic Church. My intention is to point out that Kennedy's beliefs mirror the common belief held by much of America. The belief is this: My salvation will be earned on my merits. It will be based on the fact that I did more "right" than "wrong." The Bible seems to something completely different. The Bible says that our merits, our rights, will do nothing to earn us salvation. When we come face to face with God and He asks us, "Why Should I let you into my Kingdom?" The only answer that will make sense, the only answer that will be accepted is: Jesus. I placed my faith in Jesus, to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Snakes in the Bathtub
Perry Noble is one of my favorite pastors to listen to/blog stalk.
Here is a video he created for last Sunday's message:
Here is a video he created for last Sunday's message:
5 Lies of the devil message video, the snake from NewSpring Production on Vimeo.
What is the Opposite of Twitter?
Woofer.
A new social media outlet that requires a MINIMUM of 1,400 characters.
It's called Macro-blogging!
Go check it out for yourself: Woofertime.com
*My good friend Peter Pizzuto showed me this*
A new social media outlet that requires a MINIMUM of 1,400 characters.
It's called Macro-blogging!
Go check it out for yourself: Woofertime.com
*My good friend Peter Pizzuto showed me this*
Anatomy of Sunday Sermon
I had the honor to teach at both services at my Church, Calvary Church this past Sunday morning. It was my first time teaching solo for two services at Calvary in what we lovingly refer to as the "Big House." Go here to listen to the message.
Here is a behind the scenes look at my thoughts and prep for the sermon.
June - Asked by our Senior Pastor (Dave Mitchell) and Executive Pastor (Eric Wakeling) to speak on August 23rd. I excitedly say "yes" and then find out my passage is the narrative of Noah, Drunk and Naked in a Tent from Genesis 9! Why did I say yes?!!
June to August 1st - Read through Genesis 9:18-29 every couple of days. Pray the Lord will give me something to say and some kind of insight into this difficult passage!
August 1st - Listen to a GREAT message on-line on Genesis 9, from a Pastor up in San Luis Obispo area, named Tim Thule. Gives me hope this passage can be preached on!
August 8th - Begin working through 3 different commentaries on the passage. All 3 have vastly different takes on the theme of the passage, Lord help me!
August 12th - Listen to two more GREAT messages on Genesis 9 from Tim Keller and Andrew Field, Pastors at Reedemer Pres in New York. Could I just "press play" and let one of their messages take the place of my sermon?
August 16th - Do a Hebrew key word search on some of the key words in the passage. I look up words the old fashion way using my Thompson Chain Reference Bible! This is a major breakthrough. The word for "Nakedness" in this passage in Hebrew is translated, "shameful nakedness." Gives me better insight into the passage.
August 18th, 2:30am - Spent much of Monday evening and into Tuesday morning "wrestling with the text" trying to understand why God has this passage in the Bible and how we can see the Gospel through it. At 2:30am, the veil lifts (powered by the Holy Spirit and Code Red Mountain Dew!). My outline begins to make sense and takes on a flow in my head. I come up with a breakdown of the passage I finally feel comfortable with:
From this I write my outline which will be included as a handout in Sunday's bulletin, a brief preview of the passage for the weekly Pastor's e-mail and back of the bulletin and a "Digging Deeper" section for further study during the following week. Thank you Lord, you met me at 2:30am!
Thursday, August 20th - finish the powerpoint to go along with my message. We have a great team that creates the powerpoint, I just had to get the content of the slides to them.
Friday, August 21st - Write out the message word for word at a Coffee Bean in Santa Ana. Some guy really struggling with his Tourette Syndrome sits 2 tables away from me as I write. Interesting motif as I think through my words for Sunday.
Saturday, August 22nd,
Sunday, August 23rd
I have mentioned this before, but preaching is such sweet agony. It is sweet because teaching God's word has to be one of the humbling yet incredible and fun things a Christian could ever do. It is agony because the process of preparing and getting right before the Lord is a tough difficult process!
My prayer after the Sunday Morning:
Here is a behind the scenes look at my thoughts and prep for the sermon.
June - Asked by our Senior Pastor (Dave Mitchell) and Executive Pastor (Eric Wakeling) to speak on August 23rd. I excitedly say "yes" and then find out my passage is the narrative of Noah, Drunk and Naked in a Tent from Genesis 9! Why did I say yes?!!
June to August 1st - Read through Genesis 9:18-29 every couple of days. Pray the Lord will give me something to say and some kind of insight into this difficult passage!
August 1st - Listen to a GREAT message on-line on Genesis 9, from a Pastor up in San Luis Obispo area, named Tim Thule. Gives me hope this passage can be preached on!
August 8th - Begin working through 3 different commentaries on the passage. All 3 have vastly different takes on the theme of the passage, Lord help me!
August 12th - Listen to two more GREAT messages on Genesis 9 from Tim Keller and Andrew Field, Pastors at Reedemer Pres in New York. Could I just "press play" and let one of their messages take the place of my sermon?
August 16th - Do a Hebrew key word search on some of the key words in the passage. I look up words the old fashion way using my Thompson Chain Reference Bible! This is a major breakthrough. The word for "Nakedness" in this passage in Hebrew is translated, "shameful nakedness." Gives me better insight into the passage.
August 18th, 2:30am - Spent much of Monday evening and into Tuesday morning "wrestling with the text" trying to understand why God has this passage in the Bible and how we can see the Gospel through it. At 2:30am, the veil lifts (powered by the Holy Spirit and Code Red Mountain Dew!). My outline begins to make sense and takes on a flow in my head. I come up with a breakdown of the passage I finally feel comfortable with:
I. Noah's Indecency (Genesis 9:18-23)
II. Noah's Prophecy (Genesis 9:24-27)
III. Noah's Legacy (Genesis 9:28-29)
From this I write my outline which will be included as a handout in Sunday's bulletin, a brief preview of the passage for the weekly Pastor's e-mail and back of the bulletin and a "Digging Deeper" section for further study during the following week. Thank you Lord, you met me at 2:30am!
Thursday, August 20th - finish the powerpoint to go along with my message. We have a great team that creates the powerpoint, I just had to get the content of the slides to them.
Friday, August 21st - Write out the message word for word at a Coffee Bean in Santa Ana. Some guy really struggling with his Tourette Syndrome sits 2 tables away from me as I write. Interesting motif as I think through my words for Sunday.
Saturday, August 22nd,
5:30pm - I go into the empty worship center and practice the talk out loud to an empty room. Discover that I can't read half my notes, font is too small! Run back to my Church office and make a new copy. Talk timed at 29 minutes, needs to be about 34-35 minutes. This is good, because when I do it live, it also seems to go longer than what I practice.
9:30pm - Practice the sermon on my wife. She is my best cheerleader.
Sunday, August 23rd
6:00am - Practice the sermon again to an empty Worship Center. Next time I take that stage it will be for real!
7:00am to 8:00am - Sit in my office and pray, go over notes. Receive a great encouraging phone call from my great friend and Calvary College Pastor, Brent Dedmon.
9:09am - Walk up to the stage and Teach, Lord be with me. The 3 month culmination is here!
11:09am - Walk up to the stage and teach again for second service, our Elevation service.
12:03pm - Give final Benediction and walk off stage, it is over!
I have mentioned this before, but preaching is such sweet agony. It is sweet because teaching God's word has to be one of the humbling yet incredible and fun things a Christian could ever do. It is agony because the process of preparing and getting right before the Lord is a tough difficult process!
My prayer after the Sunday Morning:
Lord, thank you for giving me the honor to teach your word this morning.
Thank you for how you have grown me through this preparation.
I pray that anything this morning that was man-centered or me-centered would
quickly fade from the memories of those who heard it.
I pray that by your Holy Spirit would use today's messages for your good, true and life-changing purposes. May any compliment or criticism I receive this week from the sermon pale in comparison with the desire I have to please you through today's message.
Amen.
One Thing You Would Tell The Church Leader/Pastor World
Anne Jackson asked this question recently on her blog, flowerdust.net
and received some really interesting responses.
Here was my favorite:
"Be truthful. Be genuine. Be real. Be honest. Don’t exaggerate your care, heart or your humility. Be the same on stage and to your staff and to your people. Don’t let your life surprise me if I saw you in another setting."
Let me ask you this question too.
If you could tell the Church Leader/Pastor World one thing what would it be?
and received some really interesting responses.
Here was my favorite:
"Be truthful. Be genuine. Be real. Be honest. Don’t exaggerate your care, heart or your humility. Be the same on stage and to your staff and to your people. Don’t let your life surprise me if I saw you in another setting."
Let me ask you this question too.
If you could tell the Church Leader/Pastor World one thing what would it be?
The Story of Grace
Growing up we had this picture hanging in our home. This picture stirs such emotions in me everytime I see it, it is so simple yet brillant.Not until today did I know any of the history of the photo. It is an actual real life photo taken by a man named Eric Enstrom in 1918 in the mining town of Bovey, Minnesota.
A elderly man selling shoe fittings came to Enstrom's studio trying to sell his product. Enstrom asked him to pose for the photo and simply called it "Grace." Today it is the state photo of Minnesota and a beloved photo in many homes. To read the rest of the story of "Grace", go here.
Prayer Begins Now in City of Santa Ana
This
Plus (+) This
Within This
Plus (+) This
Within This= God at Work
Last Saturday, August 8th, over 150 Churches in Orange County came together at Santa Ana High School to pray for the city of Santa Ana. This prayer rally is part of a larger effort of James Dobson's para-Church organization, "Focus on the Family" and their Community Outreach arm which has adopted our great city as a place it will work in over the next few years.
It was so exciting to pray together with other Christians specifically for our city. My group had the opportunity to pray for Birth Choice, the crisis pregnancy center in downtown Santa Ana where my wife works and the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse building also in downtown. God is actively working in our city!
Interesting Tweet From NFL Player Terrell Owens
"God never changes. He is the God of grace. He is the God of hope. He is the God of love who offers us a life free of regrets."
"T.O." seems to be a fairly complex man. He is known for his amazing football skills and his ability to say things that seems selfish and controversial. He seems to be serious about following the God of the Bible, yet seems to have a taste for nightclubs and partying.
It is hard to say where he is at without knowing him, but I really liked this Tweet he posted.
"T.O." seems to be a fairly complex man. He is known for his amazing football skills and his ability to say things that seems selfish and controversial. He seems to be serious about following the God of the Bible, yet seems to have a taste for nightclubs and partying.
It is hard to say where he is at without knowing him, but I really liked this Tweet he posted.
My 1 Year Old Son Passes Survival Swim Test!
We have a backyard pool, which is such a fun and great thing for hot Orange County Summers.Yet with kids, there is a tension for me and my wife of always being worried they could fall in. So this summer, we put our kids through "Survival Swim School Lessons."
Here is a quick video of our 1 year old Samuel surviving!
Here is a quick video of our 1 year old Samuel surviving!
U2 Bluegrass Edition
My friend Tim Gold recently showed me an incredible collection of U2 cover songs of called, "Pickin' on U2: A Bluegrass Tribute" 
Find the album here.
It is so good!!
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