Sky Links, 12-7-13

Photo: Spacebridge by longobord CC 2.0
In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching.
-1 Cor. 1:21


I love what Paul Pastor wrote about preaching is his article, Have We Forgotten the "Foolishness of Preaching"  Paul asked if preachers today are raising up a church of gnostics, who take pride in hidden knowledge while avoiding transformation and Jesus' mission.

Paul wrote:
"I am weekly in danger of forgetting the “folly of preaching”, not through rejecting a deeper understanding of scripture, but by allowing that Teaching to usurp the place of my Teacher. The lines that determine where that process sours are beyond me right now, but somehow I set my mind on wisdom, and miss the Wise One.

As I think back, some of the worst sermons I’ve ever heard in my life ended up changing my heart, because in some nearly intangible way, they connected me to Jesus."
That picture above is actually from another great article on preaching: Is It preaching? Or Sermonizing?   That post makes the point that preaching is for unbelievers.   

Jeff Mc Q, wrote about time, God's timing, waiting on God, and God waiting on us; in regards to fulfilling our destiny's:
"What I didn’t understand as a counterbalance to waiting on the Lord was that God had given me a mind, a strength of will, and a sense of ambition–and a dream. He hadn’t given me those things just so I could sit passively on them. Sometimes He doesn’t just solve our problems or break through our resistance because He’s already equipped us with the tools we need in order to break through it ourselves, if we would just put forth the effort. He doesn’t always have to work a miracle. Sometimes we wait on God, but sometimes God is waiting on us....

... I began to question how many boats I had missed–how many times my so-called breakthrough might have passed me by because I didn’t even see the opportunity–because I had faulty theology about the timing of God, and my role within it. I began to understand that the dreams I’d carried in my heart all those years should not have been passed off as sinful, selfish ambition; God had actually put those dreams there in order to help chart my course through life. It had been my responsibility before God to pursue those dreams..."
The whole piece, The Elusive Variable of Time (part 2)–Faulty Theology, is here.

Alvin Reid, gave a thumb-nail sketch of Jonathan Edwards, in his When The Fire Falls series, that I Jonathan Edwards: A Life.  Doctor Reid wrote:
have been enjoying.  Much of George M. Marsden's biography of Edwards, in on-line:
"Oliver Wendell Holmes called Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin the two most significant minds of early America. Edwards, as a pastor, theologian, philosopher, and revival leader, wrote some of the most remarkable works on revival in history. His precocious intellect did not limit him from a fervent piety. We should never see intellectual acumen and the desire to learn on the one hand, and the hungry heart of a humble saint on the other, to be seen as mutually exclusive. The following video offers a brief overview of the life, ministry, and writings on revival of Edwards."
The video is here.

I heard Bono interviewed on Focus On The Family, by host Jim Daly.  I could hear him light up when he talked about David being a musician and writing "Blues",  but the quote that stuck with me was when he said that Jesus was "punk rock" in his response to the man who said, "I'll follow you after I bury my father".
Bono: And politeness is, you know, is a wonderful thing. Manners are, in fact, a really important thing. But remember, Jesus didn't have many manners as we now know. And He didn't have to.

Jim: He said it like it was.

Bono: Yeah. He just spoke directly to the situation. I always think of that dude who came up to Him, you know, saying [whispering], "Listen, I think You're incredible. You are amazing. You may even be God incarnate, and all of that. But I've just gotta go and bury my father, you know, 'cause I've had a trauma. You understand." And Christ says, "Let the dead bury the dead."

Jim: Seems cold-hearted.

Bono: No, seems punk rock to me. It's like, He knew. He could see right into that fellow's heart. He knew he wasn't coming and he was just -- it was pretense. And so, we've gotta be a bit more cutting edge. Not look to the obvious signs of righteousness. Jesus was very suspicious of them. And I think, look deeper. Look to the actions.
The whole transcript is here.

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