HARMLESS THOUGHTS

(and yes... At least as much went into the house when he dropped the gallon of milk.)

it is her birthday, celebrating her life with butter cream icing.

Musician Andrew Case is offering three books on prayer for free.  There is one for husbands, one for wives, and one for children.  You can download them in kindle format or pdf.  He also offers the books in print, but as cheap as possible.  There is a pay-what-you-can policy in place on his site. He also offers his music for free.  I'm going to be downloading some in a bit, I've heard of him before, and heard good things.  Plus, I like free music. I wanted to share these free resources with you.  I know that I have been motivated to spend more time, and more meaningful time in prayer.  I'm hoping to get continued good advice/thoughts on this topic. Here is a link to the free books .

In John Piper's book, Jesus: The Only Way to God , he shares a short story of missionary William Carey, who served in India for forty years. Once [Carey] was talking with a Brahman in 1797.  The Brahman was defending idol worship, and Carey cited Acts 14:16 and 17:30.  God formerly "suffered all nations to walk in their own ways," said Carey, "but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent."  "Indeed," said the native, "I think God ought to repent for not sending the gospel sooner to us." Carey was not without an answer.    He said, "Suppose a kingdom had been long overrun by the enemies of its true king, and he though possessed of sufficient power to conquer them, should yet suffer them to prevail, and establish themselves as much as they could desire, would not the valour and wisdom of that king be far more conspicuous in exterminating them, than it would have been if he had opposed them at first, and prevented their entering...

I've started typing this post four times, but it just isn't working.  When I have a thought on my mind that I want to post on the blog, I usually like to build up to it a bit before I really get to what I want to talk about.  I like to think that I am taking the reader (if there are any) through the process that led me up to that thought.  Today, I just can't seem to get the words to flow correctly.  So, if you would permit me, I would like to jump directly to the thought on my mind instead of building up to it. Here it is: What is going on with people who leave the church? I don't know about where you live, but Danville is full of people who've gone to church at some point in their life, most likely when they were young, but now they don't.  In fact, I've met many who have attended the small church where I am currently the pastor at some point in their past. What is alarming is how many who will leave the church, but they don't believe that has an...

Corporate day is what it should be called. Well no, not really, but maybe should be, As items are bought so wife is enthralled, And companies dance in Valentine’s glee. Their corporate engines blazed to the full, With radio, TV and ads galore. All this talk of love has made me to mull, Grazing over cards at the local store. But then I see one that stirs the heart strings, Purchase is made, in the envelope shoved, Moved by the words and the thoughts that they bring, Of those sweet years with the one that I’ve loved. Rushing home with these thoughts, I really must say, That every single day should be Valentine’s day.

A few years ago I read the book Jōb, by John Piper.  I also had the audio version which was read by the author.  I loved that book.  A year or so ago I got the updated version with the new artwork.  Challies.com has some of that artwork as their monthly background art give-away.  I noticed when I was looking at that art that there was a link to jobthefilm.com .  I clicked on through to have a peak and found this trailer: Jōb the Film from Chris Koelle on Vimeo . I have requested this film for our church.  I believe that they offer free scheduling for churches.  If it comes through, I will be posting here for updates on the showing of this movie. If you are interested in seeing this, let me know.

I've been reading Finally Alive  by John Piper.  Basically, I want to quote the entire book to you.  Nearly every page has been a bit of reading joy.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone, even though I haven't completed it yet.  I've owned it since last Christmas, and just now started it after a year.  I would like to share a tidbit with you, here is a portion of chapter eight that has to do with relevance in preaching: Just before writing this book, I read the autobiography of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir .  He had been raised a Roman Catholic and attended Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts.  But while there, he parted ways with the church, though not forever.  Here is what he said:  "During my second week on campus, I went to Mass for the first and last time at Holy Cross. I don't know why I bothered -- probably habit, or guilt -- but whatever the reasons, I got up and ...

Click to View I finally picked the book for the men's study at Edgewood! Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur is a book that I have owned since it first came out.  I have had it in the back of my truck for almost 6 years.  I started reading it, but got bogged down with other books.  The former pastor of Edgewood even bought me the study guide a few years ago. Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to decide what study to do at the church.  A friend of mine had donated several weeks to coming to our church and teaching the adult Sunday School class, but his time is up and he really needs to return to serving at his own church.  Instead of looking for another teacher, my wife and I decided to split the group between the men and the women.  I would take the teen boys and the men and my wife would take the teen girls and the women.  This seemed like a reasonable solution, and my wife was able to pick a topic and a book fairly quickly, ...

New Title Slide for Current Sermon Series At Edgewood, we have been studying the book of Ephesians.  I think we started last September.  There was a short break in the study over the holidays, but January 1st we jumped back in.  The theme for the book has been, "How big is your view of God?"  I left it at that through the course of the first 14 verses as Paul discussed all that God has done in Christ.  In verses 15 to 23 the theme was, "How big is your view of God's Church?"  because of the building emphasis on the church in the final two verses.  Paul built up through this prayer for the recipients of the letter, ending in this amazing pronouncement about the church, which, quite frankly, hardly fits what most people would think of the church.  If you would like to listen through either one of those first two mini-series portions of the Book of Ephesians, just visit our church's sermon audio blog .   We are now in chapter t...

If you know me, then you know that I love books.  This little story really hit home.  It is the story of Morris Lessmore and the Fantastic Flying Books.  The video's creator gave it this description: “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. I believe it won an award or two.  Watch it and see if you can read anything into this story.

Christian Audio's free book of the month is Jerry Bridge's book, Trusting God. If you have never listened to an audio book, picking one up while it is free is the way to go.  I just went to Christian Audio and downloaded my copy.  This book has been on my "to read" list for quite awhile.  This will be a good opportunity to finally read it. You can go to Christian Audio's page for this book by clicking here . Or, you can go to Amazon to get the actual book or the Kindle version by clicking on this link: Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts