Craig Biggio

I was listening to ESPN Sports radio today and the talk centered around Craig Biggio who got his 3000th hit last night. The talk soon came to his likelihood of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The experts talked about his career and the statistics he has complied in his long career. He has an impressive resume but the commentators pointed to these facts:

1) He has never won a MVP award.

2) He hasn’t hit 500 Home runs which is considered a “magic” number to get into the Hall of Fame.

3) He hasn’t won a World Series ring.

The consensus was that Biggio might have trouble getting into the Hall of Fame in spite of his brilliant career because he did not have what the sports commentators called “sexy” stats: Home runs, MVP awards, and World Series rings.

In Southern Baptists circles, we are guilty of the same tendency when we select our leadership. Instead of home runs, MVP awards, and rings, we have glamorized the statistics of baptisms and Cooperative giving. We think just because a man pastors a church with a lot of baptisms in one year or gives a lot to the Cooperative Program, we automatically think they are worthy of positions in the leadership. There might other factors involved. We should look at the overall career of the person to see if they are worthy of consideration. Are they honest? Do they take stands for what is right? Are they impacting their communities for the Kingdom of God? Do they mentor younger leaders? Are they people of character?

Do I believe that Craig Biggio belong in the Hall of Fame? Yes, he has been an excellent all around player who has contributed to the success of the Astros. May we select excellent all around leaders who will contribute to the success of our Convention carrying out God’s will.

Separation of Church and State?

I read this article in the Baptist Press and found it as interesting as it is disturbing.  Are Christians going to have a moral lobotomy in order to serve in our government?

I’ve Been Hit!

I’ve been Tagged!!

Posted June 25th, 2007 by chadwick ivester
Categories: BlogrollI’ve been tagged:

by Gene Bridges!

Rules:

1. Those Tagged will share 5 things they dig about Jesus.
2. Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers.
3. Those tagged will provide a link in the comments section here of their meme so that others can read them.

Well, Chadwick got me!

5 Things I dig about Jesus!

1. He’s coming back!

2. He sits on the right hand of the Father. I just think it’s cool He sits at the right hand of the Father.

3. He came as a baby born of a virgin!

4. That the feet that walked on streets of gold would be pierced for my sins.

5. It wasn’t the nails that held Him to the Cross but His love for me.

5 Bloggers that I tag:

1. Thundering Thoughts on Truth!

2. Hans Wunch of Ghosts of the Convention

3. Don Kirkland of the Baptist Courier

4. Debbie Kaufman

5. Tim Rogers

 

Who is God?

Is it possible to know who God is? That is the question which has been posed to me. Of course the easy answer would be “yes.” However, it is a million dollar question worthy of more than a two-bit answer. It seems to be a tendency for some Christians to give pat answers to these questions then move on to another subject. In some cases, we just don’t want to admit we don’t know the answer. There are those who are comfortable saying, “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.” That’s great but an unbelieving world wants to know why we believe it. Who is God?

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 says, “There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

Does this really describe God? We are like ants at a picnic beholding the big toe of a barefoot man and saying the toe describes the whole man. Please consider we are finite beings trying to comprehend the infinity of God. Who is God? Some describe Him as having six personality traits while others give the question a philosophical twist. Some take God and shape them into their own image. They create a caricature of God in which He appears as an eternal Santa Claus here to give us our wishes. Let me just say that Jesus did not drive a Cadillac up Cavalry nor did He ride in the back of a limosine. He did not die on the cross so you could get a condo at the beach. He died to save us from eternal damnation in Hell. Also, there is a trend to create God in the image of a elderly grandfather who needs our help. Rather, we are the ones who are helpless. We cannot save ourselves. Finally, there are those who worship the V-8 God. This is the God who establishes His will to be done then slaps His forehead and says, “Wow! I could of had a V-8!”

Now, I come back to the original question, “Who is God?” It takes more than hearing about someone to know them. It takes more than studying about someone to know them. It takes more than talking about someone to know them. It requires a relationship to know someone. To know God, we must seek to know Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

We must have a relationship with Him so we may truly know Him. I think Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it best when he said on January 7, 1855 in the opening remarks to his sermon:

It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

Are we going to let the Word of God speak? Let us seek to know God.

See You Monday!

I am going out of town tomorrow to do a wedding.  Be safe and I will post again Monday.

Some Blog News

Well, I was cruising by SBC Outpost and found this plus a link to the new Marty Duren blog.

Are We Missing Something?

I had an interesting visit yesterday from Jehovah Witnesses.  I think they are probably the ones leaving the Watchtower magazine in my front door the last few months.  What was interesting to me in this encounter was that it was a mother and young daughter.  The daughter seemed to be maybe 10-12 years old.  We had a nice exchange then they left.  I thought to myself how that woman was teaching her daughter.  Then this thought occurred to me.  Maybe the reason we are not seeing results in our personal evangelism is that we are not teaching our children by example.  Even Bandura pointed out in his research that children modeled the behavior of their parents.  The problem in our Convention was put this way by Roy Fish:

Fish cited a Methodist author, W.E. Sangster, who said that the easiest way to embarrass 20th-century Christians is to ask them two questions: When was the last time you personally led someone to Jesus Christ? And when was the last time you tried?

Lifeway has retooled F.A.I.T.H. to try to deal with the decline in baptisms this past year but the problem is the trend goes back farther then last year.  It is a generation of believers who were not told the importance of personal soul winning and personal obedience to the Great Commission.  I think Bobby Welch actually has it right when he says that we have become lap dogs rather than hunting dogs.  NAMB has many resources available to teach personal evangelism.  However, we must do more than that.  Our children must see us sharing the Gospel so they will learn and follow in our footsteps. As George Barna has pointed out in his research, if a person does not accept Jesus as their Savior by the age of 14 then the odds are slim that they ever will.  Who better to reach this group then Christian children taught by the example set by their parents in soul winning.

Is This Hate Speech?

As Baptist Christians, we believe that the foundation of a Christian sexual ethic is faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman and celibacy in singleness.

According to a recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, this statement of beliefs contained in a religious body’s policy guide is considered to be “hate speech”. That is not all, if bills before the House and Senate are made into law, it will be considered a “hate crime” to speak out against homosexuality in any form. These are House bill H.R. 1592 which currently has 171 co-sponsors and Senate bill S. 1105 has 43 sponsors. You can read the context of Senate bill S. 1105 here.

This is the Southern Baptist position on marriage, homosexuality, and the family:

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. more>

So, the Southern Baptist Faith and Message 2000 would be considered “hate speech” also. Just as the first quote would be considered “hate speech” under this court ruling and these bills in Congress right now. We must speak out to protect our freedom of speech and religion before we lose them.

In case you are wondering, I got the top quote off of the CBF website.

A Maxwell House mindset in a Starbucks World

Starbucks has come to Florence finally! My wife and I are very excited. Starbucks is amazing to me because when I was growing up there was only one coffee served in our home and that was Maxwell House. My mom would perk it so it would be fresh in every morning. When she went back to work, Dad and I learned the wonders of Maxwell House Instant coffee. I did not know about gourmet coffee until I went to SEBTS. One of the guys there had come from Seattle. He was such a Starbucks coffee lover, he called the Starbucks where he was a regular and had them ship him bags of Starbucks coffee.

Starbucks is wonderful. You can have any kind of coffee in the world served to you anyway you want it. Sweet, black, hot, or cold, it doesn’t matter. You can even have frozen coffee!

You now may be wondering where I am going with this post. Please consider the spiritual application. People now feel about religion like they feel about coffee. Have your coffee anyway you like it. Add sweeter and cream if you want to do it or leave it out. Order a nice hot cup or a cold selection. Even order it frozen if you like. It doesn’t really matter as long as it makes you feel good and gives you a kick. People now feel the same way about religion. Take a little Christianity, add some New Age mysticism, and stir in some Positive thinking. Go hug a tree and pray to a rock or run naked through the woods. It doesn’t matter to the secular worldview. As long as it makes you feel good and gives you a kick. The unbelieving world sees Jesus as a good teacher rather than savior, Christianity as a truth as opposed to the Truth, and all religions being a way to heaven rather than Jesus being the only way.

We must keep this in mind as we share the Gospel in this postmodern world we live in today. Maybe we should talk to people about Jesus over a cup of coffee. Make mine black with two Sweet and Lows, please.