Psalm 1 Reading NASB

Sermongate 2021

Ed Litton and JD Geear take a selfie with the Instrument of Great Power

It can be so irritating to be Southern Baptist sometimes.  Mercifully, I'm 2 months late to this information.

I became aware this week of the sermon gate controversy. (#sermongate) Apparently our previous SBC president JD "Cool Dude" Greear preached sermons that were copied almost word for word and delivered by our new SBC president Ed "Mr. Ed" Litton. Sermongate reveals things that I suspected but had hoped were not true. I had known since seminary that people would copy each other and take credit for things as their own, "but only losers do that." Predictably most of the row centers on the word "plagiarism." 

But to me the controversy is less about plagiarism and much more about spirituality and relationship with God. What are our methods for preparing sermons? And hence what is the quality of the message we are delivering?  

If you're an entertainer or an actor then you can deliver an entertainment or actor's quality message. But if you are supposed to be a pastor, supposed to be a minister, supposedly with a calling then you must be very intentional and serious disciplined and careful about what you do during your sermon on Sunday mornings in something that you refer to as worship. 

To me one of the main things has to do with how much of your message is first hand experience with God or second hand third hand or purchased experience with God. Do we actually believe that our congregations want to have something that we have purchased? Or that we have received second hand or third hand? a vicarious Christian experience? 

I firmly believe that most of my sermons and messages and Bible studies need to be first hand delivery of my first hand experience with God and his Word. I hope you will agree that this is a most important and vital consideration!  How could we do anything less and show our faces in the pulpit?  

So to be clear, my method is a very very very key thing, no matter what the Lord may use as a starting point for inspiration.  For example, if I choose to use a sermon outline published in a sermon outline book, or use a past Sunday School lesson, these would only be the "germ" or starting point of the work.  In fact, very very often whatever was the starting point of one of these sermons would be so irritating to me or so irrelevant to the Biblical text that it totally disappears in the later steps of my preparation!  In every case, I do not end up with what I began, unless I have begun, as is most frequent, with a Biblical passage!  

In other words, I almost always do "Expository Preaching" that includes as a very most important step "first hand careful study of the Biblical passage."  And guess what happens?  The sermon's main points are (hopefully and usually) the main points of the Biblical passage!  Even in topical sermons (which center on some specific topic, where many passages of Scripture are read) the text will be carefully allowed to make its points, and not intentionally abused to "proof-text" whatever my clever point is or was.  

All this is to say that the method, learned, practiced and repeated through the years, is the absolute key.  I firmly believe this cannot be done by a team, a committee, or by cutting and pasting, let alone by purchasing it with money from some anonymous person working at a "professional research service." 

After all these years of preaching I (and I hope the vast majority of pastors!) have file drawers full of sermons and studies that I have written, all of which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, for me, for my congregation, for the purpose of glorifying God in their lives and mine.  This collection is an ever churning resource of further information, for further inspiration and celebration of God's Word.  

I am discouraged that those who are the biggest and the most visible, with their multi-campus hologram sermons, are the ones who buy speeches from George Soros and assemble them in committees of major players in their mega church mega nerve centers of mega ministry.  While those in the country with a congregation of 35 are doing the hard work of Bible Study and preaching with no evidence of worldly success at all.  And the cheaters are the winners on this side of Judgement Day, even in the "church."

Don't people care?  Forget what the hodabies think, what on earth do the Christians in the churches think?  Or want?  Apparently for many what they want is something even less than a T.E.D. talk after all, they want a low quality actor running through a prepared script for the first time.  That's entertainment?

Not for me.  No wonder I almost never listen to them.  

Pro tip: hold your pastor accountable for the method they use to prepare sermons.  The method is the key.  Asking questions is the key to understanding.

Billy Graham Gets Me a Seminary Degree!

I appreciate the help that Billy Graham gave to those seeking evangelical theological education.  Growing up I was aware of the crusades on TV and how people felt about Billy Graham.  But when I learned about his involvement in Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I saw a huge part of his work that some may not know about even today, during the week of his funeral.  I recommend reading about the founding Gordon-Conwell as part of learning the larger history of post WWII evangelicalism in America.  It is truly fascinating stuff, and I thoroughly enjoyed studying under and seeing in person some of those leaders who were involved in it way back then.  I found it to be very helpful in finding theological identity in the postmodern world in which there seems no place for truth.  I believe that all this began for me during those busy years in South Hamilton.  Here are photos I took back then from the 1992 Convocation, and of his printed signature on our degrees. Dr. Graham also spoke at Commencement in 1994, when I received my M.Div.  There are links to the videos of these occasions via Gordon-Conwell.  I hope all this expands your appreciation for Billy Graham, and other leaders like him, who where (and are!) a great help to those seeking the truth through theological education.

Billy Graham 1994 Commencement Gordon College Chapel

Convocation 1992 GCTS Chapel

Happy because of Jesus,
Pastor James

On the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, I say...

“God is not trying to drive us to despair by his demands, in order to take us from the 'Law' to the 'Gospel,' as if they were two different messages.” The God of Promise and the Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart of the Gospel, Scott Hafemann, p.216

 

Truth about Las Vegas Massacre

Dear Reader, after pondering the event of last weekend for a while, I've come to a conclusion.  While many Americans are trying to figure out what an AR-15 is, or what a "bump stock" is, or why someone would commit such atrocities, I offer the only truth that can be had about such an event.  It is similar to the truth I offered in my prayers for mercy after the Sandy Hook Massacre years ago, which I still haven't gotten over.  But I know the "answer" to it, or the "explanation" for it, and indeed the "cause" of such things, even before they might happen.  So here it is:

If this isn't enough for us, then there will never be enough.
Lord, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner!  AMEN

Happy because of Jesus,
Pastor James

O'er the Land of the Free, And the Home of the Brave!

In the eyes of many Americans, those inheriting institutions may not be worthy of it.  Hence the hashtag: #notmysteelers.  My Steelers (of the past) may not have shared my political, religious, or social views, but I wasn't made subject to their airing of opinions, and really wouldn't have been interested. The current team has ceased to be mine, because they have thoughtlessly insulted me and have disparaged things I believe are important.  This may not have been intentional, but the result is the same. As a Steelers fan for most of my life, this past Sunday's display was disappointing and offensive in so many ways.  And the attitude and comments of the head coach and the quarterback afterwards made the situation worse.  I heard several people across Steeler nation calling in to broadcasts in a shaken state, some breaking down into tears at their sense of loss.  Reading social media and seeing videos of burning Steelers items gives a sense of the seriousness of the painful outrage people are feeling.
It has been hard to stomach the protests (if you call them that) in which our NFL stars engage during our national anthem in recent years.  It is hard even when many feel they are provoked by President Trump.  I think this is because the singing of the national anthem during public events has become a kind of national sacred space over the decades, a time made more sweet by its juxtaposition with the simple escapism of immediately following events. Honor then fun, a frivolous celebration made possible (earned) by the seriousness of national shared sacrifice which preceded it.
We have grown up with this tradition, and many take offense that it is being used for default anti-American political purposes, often in an incorrigible spirit arising from misunderstanding, or even worse,  ignorance in fact. This is very sad for the fans, and for the institution of football as it was known to many of us. 
It is a very glaring example of a growing trend in our society.  I firmly believe that many who are inheriting institutions must grow worthy of the inheritance.  This applies to beloved sports franchises, schools, churches, and families. Rather than appreciating and understanding the importance and function of the institutions of which they are a part, many seem to default to immature and selfish behaviors.  Such behaviors do no favors for the public or the institution, and end up decaying and perhaps destroying the social contract and the institution itself.  There is a time, a place, a way of protesting or sharing one's opinion.  Maturity and wisdom helps a person gain a sense of appropriateness, a social sense and commitment that transcends what the individual may demand or want for himself.  Rather than name-calling and anger, it's time to set grown up examples, and to show young people what it means to be an adult in a free society.  Putting ourselves in their shoes, we need to bring people along. Perhaps then, afterwards, they can be transformative in a more meaningful way to the institutions of which they are a part.
One thing is clear, the young people will inherit the institutions, no matter what we think.