Ps 19: Message from Sunday

I had the opportunity to speak at the Poznan International Church (their site is under construction) this past Sunday. I really enjoy preaching there as I always feel like they're very easy to connect with. You know what I mean? In some places where I've spoken it just feels like the people are sitting there, thinking about every other thing possible EXCEPT for what I'm saying. And don't get me wrong...I don't think that I'm some super-preacher worthy of everyone's 100% attention. It's just nice to feel like you're engaging people when you speak to/with them (be that one-on-one or in a group setting).

Anyway, I spoke about our perspective on God's Word relating to the passage I blogged here about a few posts back. One of the big things I tried to convey is how we really need, as Christians, to learn how to dig into God's Word...not just relying on pastors to reveal everything to us one morning a week. There's so much to be seen, tasted...but we have to look for it.

I'm attaching a quicktime version of the presentation I used Sunday morning if anyone's interested in taking a look. I'll even give you a couple of options based on your internet connection speed. Honestly, I'm just amazed at God's Word sometimes. The beauty and depth, complexity while at the same time simplicity, the power, the love. I just say "sometimes" though because there are those times when I neglect the Word, lose focus, and do my own thing. I hate those times and wish they never happened. I wish I could just hit the mark...you know, be perfect...remaining in Christ constantly. No, I'm not slamming myself or anything. I guess I'm just looking forward to "that day". It will come one day.

Here are the files (quicktime is required):
High Res (47.2 mb)
Med Res (3.5 mb)

Fun in the snow

Last weekend Paulina and Maciek went outside to begin construction on their first snowman of the season. If you'd like to watch their antics for a couple of minutes, feel free to click here.

Evangelistic Survey

We've been developing a survey that we're going to be doing in Poznan (by "we" I think that will mostly be Vicki and me but will hopefully include a lot of support from folks at the church we're working with right now -- Genesis). The idea is that we'd like to have "reason" to meet more people, talk to them about spiritual things, and present them with the Gospel. But, especially as foreigners, that is a difficult task to do. So, the idea of a survey came up.

We're going to hit the streets asking for a few minutes of peoples' time to answer a few question. I'm going to make the survey available for download so that if you're interested you can take a look at it (this is the English version) and make any comments you'd like...as long as they're nice. The focal point of the survey are questions 4-7. They are taken pretty much verbatim from Ray Comfort's materials (I've blogged about him before..remember wayofthemaster.com?). They get to the heart of the Gospel quickly and without any pressure.

People will be able to answer all of the questions pretty quickly. At question 8 they will be offered the chance to hear more about how they can know they will go to heaven. At this point we have a great tract ready to explain what it means to give your life to Christ...to follow Him. So, if they are willing we will walk them through that tract. If they'd rather now we will still give them one of the tracts and go on to complete the survey.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this. I'm appreciative of a friend that pointed me toward the Way of the Master site (thanks Dalton!). That's given us and several of the people we're working with a big boost, refreshing us and giving us some great perspective. We are prayerful that God will bless us as we get out there and have contact with the people around us. After all it is HIM that changes peoples' hearts. We are simply called to share the Message as best we can.

Really, if you have any comments, questions, ideas, or whatever about this let me know. If you'd rather not leave those comments on the blog then just email me.

Click here to download a copy of the survey.

Got snow?

Don't know if you can tell from this webcam shot out of my office window but winter has hit Poznan. We have been enjoying some incredible weather for the past few months...a lot of days in the 50s and upper 40s. But a couple of days ago things changed. No more jacket weather...no more taking the dogs out in my short-sleeved shirt (ok..no more short-sleeved shirts).

The kids are pretty excited to see the snow finally arrive. They have been chomping at the bit for weeks (maybe months) waiting for the chance to hit the sled hills. I think they're heading out to the park this morning to see if they can get any good sledding in before lunch. They're on winter break right now. In Poland the kids really seem to spend much more time out of class than in. They had a week off for Christmas, went back for two weeks, and then got another two weeks off. It's pretty wild. Their parents aren't too thrilled about it (as we'd prefer them learn something) but the kids love it!

I've been working on a sermon for this coming Sunday and decided to preach on Psalm 19:7-10...the passage that I blogged about a few posts ago. I'm going to focus on our perspective of Scripture...basically bringing all of us to think about and evaluate our view of God's Word in light of King David's view. I even went high tech this time and fired up Apple's Keynote software to have some eye candy for the folks (in case they get bored just listening). There's just a lot of info to take in when you consider the deeper meanings of many of the words found in that passage...so I thought it would help to get another input source (visual).

Well, just wanted to say hey and give you a little pic to show you what our world looks like today.

Cut-throats

A few months ago I was shaving and once again ran out of blades. And man, they're expensive over here. You've got to pay something like $15 for four Gillette Mach 3 Turbo blades. It's ridiculous. And it never ends...unless you go all Grizzly Adams and throw the thing away completely.

I started checking into whether or not there exists such a thing as a razor that never needs sharpening. After all, I figured, there are Ginsu knives that cut through cans, bottles, and engine blocks and then go on to make those picture perfect tomato slices. Surely there should be an answer to my no-sharpen blade mystery!

Well, no such luck. But my eyes were opened to the glory of "wet-shaving"...specifically old school shaving using straight razors (aka cut-throat razors) and shaving soaps (yes, applied in that old-timey way with a shaving brush).

This new world is crazy. You would just think that you could pickup a shiny new cut-throat somewhere...a brush...some special shaving soap and be done with it. And how nice would that be? No more replacement blades...better shave...less razor burn...less negative impact on the environment (not throwing away those blades or using aerosol creams/gels). But it's not that simple.

You see, this is really an art form. It's an art form that has the potential to turn a guy into a straight-razor swingin' man (or something like that). When you really get into this art you begin to learn that your three-piece combo set (razor, brush, soap) is the itty bitty tip of the iceberg. The real real men are out there using 3-4-5-7 different razors (you know, they have to rest at least 24 hours after you shave), 6 different shaving soaps (all in their very own shaving soap mugs), expensive badger hair shaving brushes (I have the badger hair part...just not the expensive part), different kinds of strops (yes strop, those strap thingees that barbers move the blade back and forth on to keep the blade flat), and different kinds of hones to get the razors "cut on".

I was just laughing at myself about all of this and thought I'd share. For any of you guys out there looking to make the transition to chest-thumpin' manhood, this is for you. It really is fun, seriously. How much do we men have that actually feels like we're doing something interesting that in a way pampers us (ok...that just downgraded the whole manly part...but you follow me)?

Psalm 19 - Love and passion for God's Word

I was re-reading Ps. 19 this morning. I know I already posted something about this Psalm recently. This morning, though, my attention was fixed the verses from 7 to 11. I went to my trusty blueletterbible.org to do some looking into the Hebrew text, curious to see if there were any "hidden" gems to be found in the text.

The following is a copy from the notes I took. I'm not going to comment on them (much) but, if you're interested, you will see the major thoughts of each verse in bold type accompanied at times by the original Hebrew word (and possible translation-s in parentheses).

7 law (torah) is perfect (tamiym - complete, whole, complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact)
revives (shuwb - restore, refresh, repair, cause to return, draw back) the soul

decrees (eduwth - testimony) are trustworthy
make the simple wise

8 commandments (piqqud - precepts, statutes) are right (yashar - straight, upright, correct, righteous)
bring joy to the heart

commands (mitsvah - commandment to be strictly observed) are clear (bar - pure, clear, sincere)
give insight (owr - be or become light, shine, be illuminated, give light, shine, kindle) to life (ayin - physical eye, eye as representing mental qualities, eye as representing mental and spiritual faculties)


9 Reverence for the Lord is pure (tahor - physically pure, unpolluted)
Lasts forever

Judgments (mishpat - legal sense) are true (emeth - reliable, stable, faithful)
Each one is fair (tsadaq - righteous, just)

10 Desired more than any earthly treasure
Sweeter tasting than the sweetest honey

11 A warning to those who hear them
Great reward to those who obey them

There's something for me about seeing that original text and trying to get to the heart of what was being communicated. For instance in verse 8, even though I am a big fan (can you say that about a Bible translation?) of the New Living Translation, the imagery of God's commandments being so pure that they cause light to shine (and one translation of that word refers to the light of the heavens...the sun, moon, stars) into the eyes of man is lost. The NLT simply, and blandly in comparison to what we can read in the Hebrew text, reads "giving insight to life."

One more thought I'd like to bring up is from verse ten. David is trying to communicate as passionately, and beautifully, as possible what God's Word, His Law, means to him. I continue to sit here thinking about the depth of his words...more desirable than the finest gold and sweeter than the sweetest honey. And isn't it interesting to think about what David is referring to here? He's not talking about the portions of Scripture that we all love to hang on...Paul's letters, the Gospel accounts, the intriguing and mysterious Revelation...none of that had been written yet. David is referring to the books that are so often passed over by us today. And still...more desirable than the greatest riches and sweeter than the sweetest delicacy.

Oh to be in love with Scripture as the Psalmists were...to linger in it every second of every day, allowing God's divine Word to become our heart beat, our breathe...to desire it more than any single thing our imaginations could fathom.

Living or attending worship

I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. (Ps. 7:17)

I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. (Ps. 57:9-10)

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. (Ps. 111:1-3)

Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness...Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Ps. 150:1-2,6)

I said to the LORD, "You are my Master! All the good things I have are from you." The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them! Those who chase after other gods will be filled with sorrow. (Ps. 16:2-4)

I read through Ps. 16 this morning and began thinking about verses 2-4...you just read them above. I imagined the Psalmist, David, shouting those words "You are my Master!" [It does have an exclamation point after all.] My mind then began scrolling through my own personal worship history to all of those "big worship events" I've been blessed enough to be a part of...two specific worship events at Prestonwood always stick out in my mind.

For me, there isn't anything much better than that feeling you get when you are singing...sometimes shouting...praises to the Lord with hundreds or thousands of other believers and you feel as if you are standing before the throne itself. It's almost impossible to even describe with words because of the power involved. I guess, for me, in those moments I have felt the closest to what I think it will be like in heaven that I have experienced on earth.

My question (maybe just for myself) this morning is, "Why can't I live my life in that kind of passionate worship?". To jump straight to the heart of the matter, I believe it's because of a lack of thankfulness.

After thinking about this for a few moments, I plugged the phrase "thank the Lord" into biblegateway.com's search engine to see what might pop up. Of the 16 results, 8 were Psalms. Reading through those results I began thinking about how little I tend to give God credit for. Of course I thank Him for my family...for salvation...for Jesus...you know, all the biggies. But if you read those verses I pasted above then you can see how much I'm missing when I don't thank Him for those things...when I don't acknowledge that He is the source of compassion, power, justice, faithfulness, righteousness...everything.

Going further, I believe that I give myself way too much credit for...hmm, how do I say this...for who I am. It's almost as if I thank God for the things that I can't control (giving me salvation, for sending Jesus, for joy and purpose in life, my family) but I in a way give myself credit for who I have become...my work, my possessions, my charater (although I thank Him for the guidance in developing that character...I know, a fine line), etc. Don't know if that makes sense.

The problem with all of that stuff is that God is really the author of my life. Let's face it...without breath I'm done...end of story. Without that little electrical impulse coarsing through my AV node in my heart...again, finito. But that's just the physiological stuff. Without His hand guiding my heart...without His compassion...without His grace...without His blessing...without His love...without His mercy...without Him I am nothing and my existence is futile.

Wow! When I began to shift my perspective from myself to Him it becomes so amazingly obvious how much I have to thank Him for...and in turn, how much I have for which to worship Him and shout out "You are my Master! All the good things I have are from you." It becomes easier to actually live worship instead of attend it because I become filled with fantastic desire to continually thank Him, placing Him at the very center of who I am...knowing that if it weren't for Him I would be absolutely nothing.

Praise the Lord!

Experiment in transformation

Have you ever experienced this: you sit down in the morning to spend some time in Scripture and prayer, you read something that seems powerful, you are determined to apply that principle to your life for the day, you go about the business of the rest of your day, you sit down in the evening and realize that the passage that was so powerful to you that same morning never entered your mind again the rest of the day.

That happens to me more often than not. Life is busy. We find ourselves playing hard...working hard...and from time to time even resting hard. And as Christians it almost as if we have this separate category for "spiritual time". That time comes in the morning from 6:30-7:00am and doesn't come up again until the next day...from 6:30-7:00am. What's wrong with this picture?

I am a follower of Christ...a contemporary disciple. That means that my life should be defined by my "followship" of him. Everything I do should illustrate that fact. There should be no separation in my life of the spiritual and the other stuff...no separate categories when I peruse my mental (or actual) schedule for the day.

I'm thinking about doing a little experiment to see if I can solve this problem. I need Scripture, a Biblical context, to be a much greater part of my entire day. So, I'm going to try to have whatever passage I'm looking at in the morning (or let's say, if I'm preparing to preach, etc) as the "theme passage" for my day. My plan is to re-visit that passage frequently throughout the day. I haven't decided what that frequency will be yet but I'm leaning toward every 3 hours. That means I'm going to try to read through that passage every 3 hours or so throughout the day.

What do I expect to gain from this experiment? Transformation. Through the de-compartmentalization of my life I expect to experience the power of God greater in all areas of my life. I expect the mind of Christ, in me, to flourish as I remain connected to Him throughout the day. Again, transformation.

One thing I will add, in case anyone else is interested in taking part in this "experiment" is that it is extremely easy to turn something like this into legalism. It's easy to begin thinking that we're better than someone else if we're reading the Bible more often throughout the day. Or conversely, that we're terrible people if we haven't kept up with our reading schedule and "failed" (in our own minds). God is interested in our hearts. When we get that right the other stuff works itself out.

Today's the first day...I'll try to blog again in a week or so and let you know how this goes. If you want you can drop me a note and ask how it's going...that would be some great accountability!

Cole Thompson Photography

I've had a couple of images burned in my mind over the past week or so and thought I'd share them with you...we'll see how they stick in your mind as well. I read an article about a photographer, Cole Thompson, last week and went to his site to check out his work. It was there that I came across "Jesus Loves You" and "The Angel Gabriel". The style of these photos is really cool...rather technical, involving the use of multiple filters to get the resulting shadow people around the main subjects.

Thinking about ordering a print of "Jesus Loves You" I wrote Cole to ask about international shipping and was pleasantly surprised that he responded personally. I've even written back and forth to him a couple of times to talk about him having some Polish ancestry and his son working with the Peace Corps in Ukraine. He seems like a really neat guy.

Thought you'd enjoy the look-see at Cole's images and the tip if you're interested in picking up a sharp B&W for one of your walls.

Wicked

I've never been a huge Dorothy fan...that is, the Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I liked the movie growing up, no doubt. But I was never the kind of kid that knew everything about the movie, characters, etc.

Enter the musical Wicked. Wow! To give you a very simple introduction, it's the background story to Wizard of Oz (although of course artistic liberty is taken and I don't think it's to be over-analyzed when thinking about the rest of the story as seen through Dorothy's dramatic experiences in Oz).

The music in Wicked is exceptional. We find ourselves listening to it constantly (which has been going on for several months now). The "plot line" is great. And so, in short, I recommend you pick it up today and give it a listen. You will probably need to just take some time to relax in front of your speakers and listen to what's going on so that you'll understand what you're hearing. And if you do get hooked, you might need to appeal to a loving family member to give you a present like the awesome one we received from my aunt and uncle. Check it out here.

Let me know if you pick it up and how you like it!