A Pastor's Thoughts

Tradition holds that Psalm 16 is called The Golden Psalm of David .  This Psalm is a Psalm of praise.  Psalm 16 is a parallel poem.  David writes about his “Confidence in the Lord” and then he writes of his “Experience of Faith.”  This couplet is repeated once. David acknowledges that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is his God.  David speaks of his confidence in God by calling God his refuge.  David explains that those who follow other gods will not be supported by David. David then tells of his experience in choosing God.  He uses imagery from the time of Jacob taking the promised land.  When the land was taken, Jacob cast lots to give each tribe their portion.  David says that God is his portion and his cup.  God is his provider and sustainer.  He then says that God holds his lot.  God hold’s David’s dice.  In other words, God is in charge of all the random events in David’s life.  For Christians, there are ...

Every service, store and product has a Terms of Service .  Terms of Services tell the customer what to expect from the seller.  In many ways, Terms of Service is the explanation of the contract.  Terms of Service came into being when people figured out they could sue companies when they did not like a product or a service.  Companies wrote out all the rules of engagement and posted them somewhere and that, they believed, protected them from law suits.  When a person goes to a hardware store and buys a ladder, the ladder is covered with all sorts of stickers which are the ladder’s terms of service.  So when a person misuses a ladder they cannot sue the store or the manufacturer. Recently Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook was called before Congress.  He was summoned because over the past many years, Facebook has been taking the data of their users and selling it, manipulating it, categorizing it and making all sorts of money offering it to advertisers. ...

The modern view of fellowship for Christians is, simply put, recreation where Christians are present.  In the Bible, fellowship usually took place with a shared meal at someone’s home.  Fellowship is different than focused worship because there are other activities, usually recreational activities that the Christians are involved in together.  During this recreation, the fruit of the Spirit are being expressed, spiritual gifts can be exercised, love for one another, honoring one another and the rest of the one another commands are active. Back in the day I attended a church that obtained group tickets for the Oakland A’s baseball games.  Usually twenty members of the church would all carpool up to Oakland and spend the day, together, watching a baseball game.  Because baseball tends to be slower than other sporting events, there would be opportunity to catch up and talk about all sorts of things.  The idea here is that Christians watching a baseball game...

Romans 12:15-20 gives a very strong command to get along with one another.  This command was written to the churches in Rome, so it was written to Christians.  When people get saved, many things happen in the spiritual realm.  Our sins are atoned, we are forgiven, we are adopted, we are redeemed and we have moved from death to life.  Our spirit is actually regenerated.  Some people who come to Christ while on the rock bottom may have a miraculous deliverance and change.  Our church has Teen Challenge, a Christian recovery program, come and share every year.  The testimonies of those people are passionate and dramatic.  Other people are saved while growing up in a Christian home and there is no visible miraculous change. After a person is saved, they must continue to live their life.  If they are obedient, these new Christians will join a church and will find that there are people just like them and people very different.  Everyone in ...

I was recently slandered by a fellow pastor.  I am not sure what set him off, but he came at me with a scathing set of accusations.  Because he is a brother in Christ and a pastor, I confronted him with my observations asking if I missed something or misunderstood.  His response was to slander me again.  Therefore I chose to sever fellowship with him.  Breaking fellowship is a difficult thing to do and I do not do it lightly.  Psalm 15:3 states who does not slander with his tongue For those who read Psalm 15, this command needs to be taken personally, but it can also be seen that slander is a sin that God commands Christians to avoid.  So when I am slandered by a fellow Christian, I need to look into it and if the offender does not repent, it is still my responsibility under Christ to forgive. When I broke fellowship with this pastor I told him that I would not speak of these events again, that I would delete all communications between us and that...

Psalm 15:4 states in whose eyes a vile person is despised,     but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; I knew someone who seemed like a nice person and I offered to let him preach during an upcoming vacation.  After that offer was given, we had a falling out.  So what do I do? According to this Scripture, I made a promise.  That promise was made without duress.  Then the situation changed and if I continue with my promise, it will "hurt".  Not physically, but I will let someone who seems to not like me very much, into my pulpit. The point of Psalm 15 is that godly people, people who want to have a close relationship with God will be people who keep their word.  Even if the  situation changes.  If I withdraw the invitation, then I am being disobedient to this Scripture.  The issue is not theological, but personal.  That is why the "hurt" will be emotional, my pride will be...