For the minister, those who want to be minister and for those who are curious

That rascal Rev. Doug Wilson has put up on his blog 21 maxims for discouraged pastors and you can find that link here https://dougwils.com/s8-expository/21-maxims-for-discouraged-pastors.html

I would like to interact with a few of them with the recognition that much of a pastor's discouragement comes because he does not heed good wisdom and thus is a cause to his own discouragement.

The first ten I am in agreement with with no reservations that matter.  Number 11 is what drives me personally.  I "feel" personally responsible and yet I also have experienced my limitations.  I can tell a family to not go a certain route such as take a new job without a sound church in the area or I can tell a family not to send their children to a particular school, but in the end it is their choice and I am to love them even when the fallout occurs.

Number 12 is so very important to establish and practice.  I have been convicted too often of trying to be a pastor to a flock of people that don't want me to pastor them.  Loyalty to those who do want you to pastor them is very important.

Number 13 I am not in full agreement with and I will not post a particular verse that is a counter argument.  I will council instead that because perception is reality to those who have been confused or emotionally hurt, it is wise to confess an unawareness of how your actions as a minister have unintentionally hurt someone.  No harm in doing so as we all are "looking through the glass dimly."

Number 14 is quite necessary to be fruitful for the sake of the Kingdom of God and is related to number 15.  No one warned me about betrayal for if they had I might have been better at keeping bitterness away as number 16 warns.  Of course I was actually warned for if it could happen to Jesus it can happen to any minister who follows him.  But be warned because the betrayal hurts.

Numbers 17 thru 21 are great and I would underline number 21 because keeping your eyes on the prize gets you through much of what is difficult about the call.

Thanks Doug!

The Problem of Envy

In our study of Genesis the sin of envy has stuck out.  The devil tempts Eve to envy that God has knowledge that she does not.  This got me wondering what comes first, pride or envy.  Perhaps pride comes first because we would have to believe we deserve something that we don't have and therefore we envy others who do have.  But is envy different than coveting?  Why not just point to the 10th commandment and stop thinking about it?  The root of coveting is lusting.  You want something that is not yours and you desire it more than God.  It also includes being dissatisfied with what you already have.  The etymology of envy includes hate and ill-will.  Envy then is the sin of hatred that not only wants what someone else has be wants said persons who have to suffer loss, to suffer pain.  When you get there, when you get to envy it is the devil who has your ear. 

Conceited as it relates to envy

"Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."  Galatians 5:26

The first thing we should note about the verse above is that it is possible for Christians to provoke one another and also to envy one another.  Those two sins we might think should not be a part of a Christian life but if Paul warned against them it is to be understood as likely to happen unless we are wary of it.

The warning comes after Paul lists fruits of the Spirit and those are listed after he lists sins of the flesh.  It is remarkable to me that while walking in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit that we could become conceited.  Walking by and in the Spirit would seem to exclude conceit.  But the warning is clear.

We must be humbled by these possibilities of conceit, being guilty of provoking one another and envying one another, even while we walk in the Spirit.  "Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up"!

A Brief History of Anglicanism

The link is to a blog by a pastor in Myrtle Beach.  He does a very good job of explaining movements, defining terminology and identifying the ebbs and flows of Anglican history all in a concise manner.  It will help all my parishioners to understand who we are.  https://trinitypastor.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/will-the-real-anglicanism-please-stand-up/

A Good Word on Idealism and the Church

I needed to understand this a long time ago.http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2015/09/the-un-ideal-community

Giving Thanks

Thanks be to God for David Daleiden the leader behind the Planned Parenthood exposure videos. 

Thanks be to God for waking many Christians up to the horror of abortion.

Thanks be to God for keep the heinous sin of abortion before us.

Thanks be to God for the lesson that when God let a people go their own way the results are horrifying.

Thanks be to God for hackers who exposed adulterers. 

Thanks be to God that sin is uncovered. 

Thanks be to God for delivering men to satan for the destruction of the flesh, that their spirits may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Thanks be to God for choosing us to live in a time when the battle lines are being drawn.

Thanks be to God!

Abortion: George Will at his best!

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http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2015/08/01/george-will-abortion-shows-barbarity-nation/30978987/