I thought this would be appropriate to post this weekend. Ignore the glam rock hairdos ...

Why Should I Go to Church? by Philip Schroeder (Shrode)

Why should I go to church when I can worship on the golf course?

Every pastor has heard this one, with slight variations. ?I can worship on the lake, in a deer blind, at home etc?? Or another version we hear is ?I don?t like organized religion.? Well, you can worship on the golf course, on the lake, and at home. In fact, I hope that you do.
The word ?worship? means to ascribe worth or honor to God. Christians should be giving honor to God in everything that we do. ?So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God? (I Corinthians 10:31).

However, worshipping with fellow believers is an essential part of following Jesus. ?Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another ? and all the more as you see the day approaching.? (Hebrews 10:25) You and I need to worship with fellow believers. It helps us. It encourages us in our daily lives. It reminds us of what is really important. In a worship service, we hear from God?s word and God?s people. And we have a chance to respond to God in song, in prayer and in heart and mind. So what is a worship service? It is when God?s people come together to give him honor and glory with our lives, mouths, thoughts and actions.

Why go to church? Here is a story that explains why. One day the telephone rang in the Pastor?s office of the Washington church attended by the President. An eager voice said, "Tell me, do you expect the President to be there Sunday?" "That I cannot promise," the Pastor said patiently. "But we do expect God, and we think that will be incentive enough for a reasonably large attendance.?

Perhaps the best way to answer the question why is to answer the question who?
Lyman Beecher Stowe tells the following story in his book Saints, Sinners, and Beechers. Stowe told that on one occasion Thomas K. Beecher substituted for his famous brother Henry Ward Beecher at the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York. Many curiosity seekers had come to hear the renowned Henry Beecher speak. Therefore when Thomas Beecher appeared in the pulpit instead, some of the people got up and started for the doors. Sensing that they were disappointed because he was substituting for his brother, Thomas Beecher raised his hand for silence and announced, "All those who came here this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may withdraw from the church; all who came to worship God may remain."

We go to worship not for a man, or men, or music or a good performance. We go for God! And it is not God who misses out when we don?t attend church. When we skip church we are the ones who are missing something.

A Poem by Jared Wilson (Rod)

What is this love,
This higher love?
My heart could not perceive it.
Stilted so and inclined ?no?
My heart could not receive it.

What is this love,
This wondrous love,
That calls me from within?
Embattled sore and mind at war,
I spurned this love for sin.

But never ceasing, it persists,
Romancing and a?wooing.
Strength decreasing, will resists
The dogged one pursuing.

What is this faith,
This remote faith
That unto me is gifted?
My own eyes I now despise
The gauzy veil is lifted.

What is this faith,
This curious faith,
That proves the thing unseen?
For what I sought has earned me naught.
By another I am clean.

Stirring now and out the tomb,
Half-blind I?m almost falling.
But still I walk away from doom
To face the light that?s calling.

What is this grace,
This mystery grace,
That gently is assailing?
It rescues me while lost at sea
And against the waves am railing.

What is this grace ?
This amazing grace ?
This tremendous mystery,
Which takes the old and makes it gold
That absolves depravity?

With faith and hope and love I live,
Steeped in the cleansing stream.
The Lamb was slain, His blood to give.
By His will I am redeemed!

Agnus Dei : A Short Story by Bill Roberts (Jewel)

The boy and his father had spent the morning climbing up into the small, rocky hills surrounding their village. They were on a mission, olive wood was needed for a set of drinking cups that the father had been commissioned to make. There were some wild olive groves near the crest of the hill before them and they scrambled up the stony hillside in the morning sunlight.

Reaching the top, the boy?s father smiled as he surveyed the nearest grove.

?These should work.?

He began tapping his knuckles against some of the thicker branches of the nearest tree, listening. The boy went to a nearby tree and began tapping also, imitating his father?s motions. He loved his father and wanted to be just like him someday. The boy had just turned seven.

He saw other, larger trees to his left and trotted over to them.

?Father, there are some good ones over here!? he exclaimed, excitedly.

?Um hum. Good work son. Don?t go far.?

The boy continued from tree to tree, tapping on the trunks, smiling and nodding as he found larger and older trees. Good wood here, he thought to himself. He continued on for another ten minutes or so. Suddenly a clearing opened to his left. He noticed a small path leading up to the clearing, winding up the hill below him. He wondered why they hadn?t taken that path to get to the top of this hill.

The boy stepped out into the small, rocky area of the clearing. There was a smell here that he did not like, and yet he was curious. Standing nearby was a set of large dark poles, unevenly spaced. He realized that this was where the smell came from. He heard the buzzing of flies. He stood still for a moment, his arms hanging limp by his side. He felt that he knew this place.

The smell hung heavier in the air as he walked slowly up to the nearest pole. It was roughly-hewn. Could have used some smoothing, he thought to himself. Father and I could smooth this wood. He examined the pole, unconsciously mimicking the practiced carpenter?s eye of his father. He noticed that there were dark streaks running down the pock-marked wood of the pole. A fly was feeding on one of the streaks a few inches from his eye. He shooed the fly away as he noticed some large, rusty nails lying in the dusty ground near his feet.

He reached out to touch the pole. At its touch a tingle ran down his spine and a brightness appeared around the periphery of his vision. He could almost hear the wings rustling around him. He knew something big was about to happen, something he hadn?t seen before. He laid his palm flat on the pole and closed his eyes. And in that moment he was overwhelmed. He felt the presence of his unseen friends.

Dark images flashed before him. Things he had never before seen or even imagined. Hateful faces sneering and mocking. A cloudy sky overhead, flecked with lightning, shouts of anger, cursings. And blood, blood dripping everywhere. He saw terrible things that he did not yet have a name for. And a slowly growing burden - he felt it as he sunk to his knees, sliding his hand down the pole. The burden became very heavy. He bowed his head, fighting back tears, and remained kneeling for several minutes. The images continued to swirl: crying faces, loneliness, hunger, exhaustion, cruel laughter, murder, betrayal. The images thrust themselves up before him, rising in ramparts like a vast mountain. He gasped and shut his eyes more tightly. Blood, there was blood everywhere. The wind blew through his dark hair and he could almost hear the rustling of wings in it.

His hand hurt, and he opened his eyes to look at it. Two dark splinters were sticking out of the skin, and a small trickle of blood was running from one of them. He bit his lip as a single tear escaped. He carefully pulled the splinters out, and more fresh blood trickled from the two small wounds. It was not the first time he had felt the sting of a splinter, and he looked forward to the day when his hands would be as hard and calloused as his father?s. He sucked on his hand and tasted the blood as he continued to kneel quietly, almost hearing the wings. They were comforting him as peace washed over him, and he could feel the holiness of this moment, and the worship and honor flowing over him. He knew that they knelt too, all around him for leagues perhaps, bowed before him and ministering to him. He was at peace. He was on holy ground, and he was home.

Yeshua.

As he knelt he tilted his head back, eyes closed, and raised his hands, a trickle of blood running down his arm. He loved his Father and wanted to be just like Him some day

Yes Father.

My Yeshua.

His peace was complete. He slowly lowered his head, and became aware that he was being called.

?Yeshua!?

It was his father.

?Yeshua! Come here!?

The boy started. Joseph had been calling to him and he hadn?t heard. Joseph rushed up to him, eyes full of concern.

?Yeshua! No son, you are never to go near this place.? Joseph?s face was full of worry. The boy found himself being lifted and carried away from the poles and away from the clearing. He held tightly to Joseph?s robe.

?Son, that is a place you should never go,? Joseph said when they were out of sight of the clearing. ?You must never, ever go there.?

Yeshua looked into his father?s eyes and bowed his head.

?I didn?t know, father,? he replied, quietly.

Joseph looked at the dark head of his son and held back a smile as he lowered the boy to the ground.. He chuckled quietly and tousled his son?s hair. My Lord, he?s such a wonderful little boy. How You have blessed me!

?All is well, son. Please, come with me and we can look at the trees together. I need your help; I believe you can choose the best branch.?

?Yes father.? Yeshua said quietly. Then suddenly he embraced Joseph, pressing his cheek into the folds of his father?s robes. Joseph placed his hand on the boy?s head and found himself praying silently.

Please protect him. Please. I thank You.

Yeshua shyly pulled away from his father as they walked away from the clearing. He had something on his mind; Joseph could see that plainly.

?Yeshua, what is it??

?Father, what is that dark place for? What are those poles for?? Yeshua asked.

Joseph considered his words carefully. Yes, his son was old enough to know.

?That is where they punish evildoers, my son.?

A thrill ran up Yeshua?s spine as his heart leapt within him.

That is where they punish evildoers.

He quietly thanked his Father for teaching him today. For helping him learn more about who and why he was.

They punish evildoers there.

He did not understand it fully, but he began to glimpse the miracle, the miracle of rescue and love that had permeated his very being all his short life. He saw it more clearly now. The miracle of rescue and love. Who he was.

?Yeshua, come along.?

The boy trotted happily up to his father, and together they searched for a good load of olive wood until the ninth hour of the day.

Reflections on My First Year of My First Pastorate by Kenny Panduku (The Great Panduku)

For those of you who don?t know, I am the Pastor of the Trinity Church in Bridgeton, Missouri. This is my first pastorate having been a Youth Pastor in Oklahoma for the three years prior to this. As I write this, I am about to celebrate my first year anniversary at the church.

Overall, the experience has been great. I was in a difficult situation in Oklahoma and God really opened the doors for me to come here. It is an established church with a proud heritage and the prospect of hiring a ?27 year old kid? (now 28) wasn?t something that I think they were ready for. I knew from the first moment I heard about the church and their search for a pastor that it was the church for me. It took them a little while, and two other pastoral candidates, to come to that conclusion. That being said, the church has overwhelmed us with love. They are a true picture of a loving, compassionate member of the body of Christ. We have fit right in and have fallen in love with our church family here.

There have been many unique struggles that only a Pastor can experience and many things that I am still learning and getting comfortable with. For example, the O.W.L.S.(Older, Wiser, Loving Servants) our Senior Adult group, are going apple picking in the weeks to come. It never occurred to me that I should go. My wife, however, having lived with a minister -- her father -- her whole life, immediately suggested that I should go. ?Why?? I asked. ?They are your church members? was her response. The light clicked that I am responsible for the whole church. That is just one of the struggles. Getting comfortable with the idea of being the leader of the church and not just the guy who preaches on Sunday morning has been another.

I could share many ?interesting? things that have happened in my first year, but I thought I would share a couple that have relevance to the Thinklings website, which began as a discussion of Theology and still has at its core, I think, theology in the forefront.

We recently began a discussion of John MacArthur?s book, Why One Way? on Wednesday nights. It is a defense of exclusivism in an inclusive world. As an opening lesson, I presented the ideas of Modernism and Postmodernism and their effects on societal thinking. Ending the discussion, we read together John 14:6 and I stated that as Christians, we needed to stand strong on our conviction that John 14:6 was absolute truth. We then began to discuss the idea of what happens to those who have never heard an accurate portrayal of the Gospel. The context of this was our task of making sure that all hear about Christ because contrary to inclusive thinking, all roads do not lead to Heaven. As we discussed it, one of our former Elders, and current Trustees, said, ?I have a problem with believing that a child who has been brought up in a Mormon home and grows to be an adult without ever knowing anything different will be sent to Hell. How can we hold them responsible?? I was at a total lost and I am sure it showed on my face. His contention was, at its heart, inclusive thinking. ?Well, they didn?t know any better and they were good Mormons so?? For the first time, I found myself behind the lectern and not in a chair during a moment of extreme discomfort. Everyone was looking at him and then looking at me. One of the people in the group brought up the passage in Romans 1 where Paul speaks about the knowledge of God existing in creation and in us. Because of this, Paul says, in essence, there is no excuse for those who die without the benefit of special revelation. (In the interest of brevity, I will not develop that thought fully here.) The man however was unmoved and I was unnerved. He is considerably older than me and was one of the men who was uncomfortable with my being so young. I finally asked him what, in his opinion, would be the ?end? of those in such a situation, who died without knowing any better. His response was, ?I don?t know.? The line of thinking is the classic, ?How could a loving God send someone to hell?? My response was to call on the holiness of God and on the truth of John 14. In the end, he remained unconvinced and I am still unsure of how to bring this to an end. I am only concerned in that it is a major point and one surely worthy of debate.

The second interesting struggle has to do with the idea of same sex marriages in the church. On another Wednesday night, we took the opportunity to simply discuss current events. This happened to be around the time that Canada had legalized same sex unions and it was a major issue with our folks. I brought up the possibility that our church would have to deal with the issue in the very near future and I asked what our response should be. The responses were varied but the general impression that I got was that we would be very uncomfortable with someone struggling with that particular sin to come to our church. The thinking is I am afraid, very common. We treat homosexuality as if it is the unpardonable sin. A much graver sin than any of the others. I shared my feelings that I would welcome a person struggling with homosexuality into our church. That perhaps our church could become a place where homosexuals could come and find love and truth. Not acceptance mind you, but not condemnation either. (Again, in the interest of brevity, I will not elaborate on the difference in openly living in a sin and struggling to overcome it. We would not let anyone, I hope, openly living in any sin without interest in repentance find tolerance of said sin in our church.) When I asked for a response, one man said, ?Well perhaps we could have a home Bible study without actually having THEM in our church.? Again I was floored. The suggestion was that the church pass off her basic responsibility, allowing sinners a place to find Jesus Christ.

The problem is we like our sins to be nice and manageable. We can deal with greed and lying, but what about drug abuse and homosexuality, some of the ?nastier?, ?darker? sins? These make us feel uncomfortable and we would rather not think about it. I encouraged our church to look at the central problem rather than trying to ?troubleshoot? specific sins. The central problem is, a person either has a relationship with Jesus Christ or they do not. If they don?t, it is our job to help them come into a relationship with him and then watch as the Spirit cleans their life up. I am not sure at this point how my church will react if a person struggling with homosexuality were to come to church one day and continue to come while struggling. I like to be optimistic, that they will find love as any other person would. But, I am not so sure.

Being a Pastor is great and it is difficult. I love my people and sometimes I want to strangle them. The blessings far outweigh the struggles, to this point anyway, and I am looking forward to the future here.

On Cessationism and Spiritual Gifts by Bird

In regard to biblical theology, a cessationist is one who believes the gifts of the Spirit (e.g. prophecy, tongues, and words of knowledge) somehow ceased sometime during the early stages of church history. Miraculous gifts, a cessationist would say, were necessary in the infancy stages of Christianity, but they are not needed today.

In the footnotes of The Ryrie Study Bible, Charles Ryrie explains the rationale behind cessationist thinking: ?There are stages of growth within the present imperfect time before Christ?s return. After the church began, there was a period of immaturity, during which spectacular gifts were needed for growth and authentication.?

The cessationists? proof text is found in I Corinthians 13:9,10: ?For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.?

In the aforementioned passage, we have Paul clearly stating that things that are done, and known, ?in part? will be done away with. When will these things cease? When ?that which is perfect has come.? The context of I Corinthians 13:9,10 indicates that the things that are done in part are indeed miraculous, spiritual gifts. Therefore, it can be concluded that spiritual gifts will one day become obsolete and pass away, because something perfect has come. Cessationists have numerous explanations for ?that which is perfect.? Two of the more popular views hold that it is the death of the last apostle and the end of the apostolic age; others see it as the time in which the last book of Bible was written (perhaps Revelation, written around A.D. 95). Despite these theories, there is no compelling scriptural support for the cessation of spiritual gifts prior to Christ?s return. It is not unreasonable to assume that Jesus Christ is perfection personified, and only at His return will spiritual gifts be made truly ineffectual.

I am not a cessationist because I believe proper biblical exegesis points toward the Holy Spirit working in the Body of Christ through supernatural, spiritual endowments. The Word of God speaks plainly about such things:

?There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord? (I Corinthians 12:4,5).

?Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts?? (I Corinthians 14:1).

?Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues? (I Corinthians 14:39).

?God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? (Hebrews 2:4).

?Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; who shows mercy, with cheerfulness? (Romans 12:6-8).

Romans 12:6-8 shows that not all of God?s gifts are miraculous in nature, but they are nonetheless useful for edification within Christ?s church.

Paul?s teaching on spiritual gifts ? found in I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14 ? is the standard for New Testament believers. In those Pauline chapters, the apostle confronts abuse of such gifts, the efficacy of spiritual gifts, and their proper boundaries within corporate worship. All gifts ? whether miraculous in nature or not ? should be used in Christian love. Paul said, though he spoke with the tongues of angels, his speech was a ?clanging symbol? without love (I Corinthians 13:1).

?Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away? (I Corinthians 13:8).