Who Moved My Pulpit – A book review

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New book from Dr. Thom Rainer

Who Moved My Pulpit is the latest offering from Thom Rainer, President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources.  This book follows the same practical and easily read format as Dr. Rainer’s last four books to churches – Autopsy of a Deceased Church, I Am a Church Member, and I Will.

Motivated by an email he received from a frustrated pastor asking for help in learning how to lead his church through some much-needed change, Dr. Rainer tackles the issue by offering church leaders a pathway of hope through the necessary changes needed in most churches.

Dr. Rainer’s approach, as he readily admits, is not a “plug-and-play” program that a church leader can use that will guarantee results, but rather a Biblically based process that is at once theological, ecclesiological, and foremost practical.  The title emerges from an event in the ministry of a midwestern pastor who, in trying to make the church more relevant to a growing millennial presence, replaced the pulpit which had stood on the platform of his church for decades and replaced it with a smaller, more modern version.  The move, thought insignificant by the pastor, turned out to be more than the church was prepared to handle.

In consultation with the pastor, Dr. Rainer and his team developed an eight-step “roadmap” that will enable a church leader to better navigate through the dangerous journey of necessary church change.  Read More

New is Not a 4 Letter Word

Nineteenth Century French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr famously wrote (as popularly translated), “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  Without a doubt, life is changing all around us, and many people fear the new realities change brings and fail to make adjustments and embrace the wonderful opportunities those changes offer.

Change or Stay the Same

An amazing truth about God, is that although HE never changes, everything He touches changes for the better. God is all about bringing newness into the lives of His people.  His Word says much about things that being fresh: Read More

Updates to the Blog Format Next Week

Continual updates are the big story on the blog.  Earlier this week, I transferred the blog to a new host that will allow me more flexibility to give you more information and inspiration to help you in your walk with the Lord.

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The blog design is still a bit of a work in progress with each day bringing slight updates that make navigation easier.  Here are a few of the updates that you will see beginning next week.

        • The posting schedule will change from 5 days to 3 – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 
        • Sermons will no longer post on the main page on Monday, but will have their own page with a link to the sermon page in the menu at the top of the main page.  Sermons will now post a little later in the week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday on most weeks.
        • Wednesday will still future the “How to Study Your Bible” series at least for the next several weeks.  Monday and Friday posts will be various devotional thoughts and ideas like Tuesday and Thursday blogs were in the previous format.

I always welcome your comments for ideas about the way this blog can serve you and help you grow in faith, knowledge, and life, so feel free to share comments on the various pages. Your comments will influence future updates and your ideas will help make the site more useful for all.

I would also like to ask you to subscribe to the blog by using the Subscribe box in the upper right hand of the main page.  As a free gift for your subscription, I will send you a link to a resource that I believe will help you as you study God’s Word, my short e-book Top Ten Resources for Bible Study. 

I look forward to continuing serving you and helping you along in your journey with the Lord.

You Are Already Equipped For Bible Study

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In Bible study as in life, there is always “more than meets the eye.”  Many people make poor judgements by following their first impressions and instincts without taking the necessary time and effort to fully observe what is happening around them.  Likewise, lack of careful Biblical observation has led to much false teaching and poor understanding of Biblical truth.

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“Never trust general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

Biblical observation is not difficult, it just takes a little time and attention. The average Christian may feel under-prepared for the task, but the simple truth is you already possess the two most important tools in Biblical observation and other helps are not difficult to obtain and use.

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Help When Bruised and Burned Out

If you are like me, you encounter a lot of hurting people – people ready to give up, give in, or give out. Life has a way of sucking the wind right out of the sails that navigate us through the sea of life.

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In Matthew 12:15-20, Matthew – under Holy Spirit inspiration – applies prophecies from Isaiah to Jesus. In once such prophecy from Isaiah 42:3, Matthew (12:20) says if Jesus,

“A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench.”
– Matthew 12:20

He will not finished off the bruised and He will not extinguished the burned out. Bruised and burned out. Every felt that way? I have.

The good news is that if you feel bruised and burned out, Jesus has not forsaken you. He will not trim you away or douse the last ounce of flickering flame left in your soul. He will set things right again. His work may not be completed until the Last Day, but rest assured, weary pilgrim, that work WILL be complete. (Philippians 1:6) So what can you do in the meantime?

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4 Things Everybody Needs to Know about God

People know a lot of information about a lot of things – some knowledge is trivial, other is vital for life.  The most important knowledge you need however is not necessarily limited to “head knowledge;” it’s not just knowing about, but experiential knowledge – know of something, or more precisely someone.  God.  Of all the things you can know, knowing God is of utmost eternal value, and WHAT you know about God will determine how you approach HIM and what you think about HIM.

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We like to talk a lot about what we know, and that knowledge often makes us feel pretty good about ourselves.  Through the prophet Jeremiah, however, God reminded us what knowledge is most important. Read More

Why We Fail to Listen to God

While not everyone suffers with hearing loss, we all suffer from time to time with “listening loss.”  We fail to pay attention, we miss an important announcement, we disregard a warning siren and all of a sudden we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an otherwise avoidable mess.  We need to make sure we are listening…ESPECIALLY to God.

listening-dogThe good news is that God speaks to us and personally interacts with us; the bad news is sometimes, we fail to heed His voice. The Bible includes many accounts of persons who either disregarded or ignored God’s instructions and subsequently suffered the consequences.

In His landmark book and Bible study, Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby shares four ways that God speaks to us. Read More

How to Begin Investigating the Bible for Yourself

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The Bible is a literary masterpiece, written in fine literary fashion, and worthy to be studied by students of literature.  It serves a much higher purpose, however, in the life of a believer.  When a believer reads the Bible, he or she reads an message from God applicable to that particular believer in his or her current life circumstances.  The Bible is God’s living specific truth that speaks into people’s lives today as much as ever.

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I cannot tell you the number of times a specific passage of Scripture has come to life when I read it and that God used it to instruct, challenge, encourage, inform, or convict me as I read it.  Sometimes I feel “ambushed” by God because I read a passage of Scripture only to have the Holy Spirit speak – silently yet loudly – right to a current situation in my life.  That can happen to you as well if you approach the Bible to hear what God wants to say to you!

Last week I encouraged you to develop an intentional plan for reading both larger and smaller portions of Scripture on a regular basis, and for probing a smaller passage on a daily basis.  I believe that best way to study the Bible is through what is called the Inductive Study Method, which consists of three parts: Read More

How Your Ears Can Speak Volumes

One of baseball great Yogi Berra’s famous quotes was “you can observe a lot just by watching.”  I like to paraphrase his quote by saying, “you can hear a lot just by listening.”  Listening is a lost art.  We all want to be heard, but no one wants to take the time to genuinely listen.  Yet, listening can make our speaking so much more effective.

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I have a friend who will ask you a question, but before you have the time to answer it completely he asks another – sometimes totally unrelated – question.  Really, a conversation with him can be quite exhausting and usually seems unproductive. Because of this scenario, our conversations are mostly superficial and we never discuss deeper topics and issues.

I believe that God created us with design and intention, and as a result He purposefully gave us 2 ears and one mouth.  How would our conversations be different if we listened TWICE as much as we spoke?  Consider James’ admonition to us: Read More