Urgent Prayer Request: 4/2/09

Please be in persistent prayer with my church family as we pray for one of our own. A little 15 month old boy named Sam has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The doctors have identified it as a neuroblastoma. He has a tumor that has wrapped itself around his aorta and his left one of his kidneys unusable, and has cut off circulation to his legs. They said that his bone marrow had 5% cancer in it. At this point he cannot eat much because of the size of the tumor. They started giving Sam chemo treatments Monday to shrink the cancerous mass so that they can remove it. As you can imagine, the situation is dire. Please also be praying for his faithful parents, Matt and Jen. Matt and Jen both have evidenced an inordinate amount of faith and trust in the Lord through this situation. However, they are overwhelmed (as would be expected) and are in need of much prayer. Please be praying for this family.

I will update more when I hear more.

Introducing... Bible Creed!

About a month ago, my good friend and fellow elder, Moe Bergeron, helped me set up a website for the purpose of making the fruits of my ministry available to the larger public. The name of the site is Bible Creed, and the web address is www.biblecreed.com

Although I will continue to post here at Context is King, Bible Creed will be my primary website. Please do not stop visiting Context is King because I will continue to post pictures of James, provide updates, share with you what I have been learning about God through his word, and speak my mind on all sorts of topics (primarily tennis and politics). Please, go to Bible Creed and rummage around a bit. Let me know what you think!

Chillin Out Max!

I know... it has been way too long since I have posted. At this point, I have every intention on continuing this blog. However, I am in still in the process of adapting to the responsibilities of pastoral ministry. Please stay tuned... I will be writing much more in very near future.

As for a little update: I have really grown to love the people God has blessed me to serve, James is doing excellent, and Kristal and I are loving our life together more and more with each passing day.

Overshopped... Overtired!!

He's just like his father... malls have the same effect as sleeping pills. I look forward to the days when we can complain to Kristal together. I feel your pain, buddy.

Are You Plugged-In? John 15:1-6

One of my fellow elders, Kevin, has been teaching through Jesus' upper room discourse (John 14-16) over the last few months for our Wednesday night service (and it has been superb by the way). He has been in John 15 now for over a month. As he was teaching through the first few verses of John 15 the Lord impressed upon my mind a helpful way of looking at John 15.

First of all, if you have read John 15 you know that it is an image-laden passage. Jesus was communicating to his disciples their ultra-need of remaining/abiding in him. In essence, Jesus was teaching his disciples that he is the very source of their life. He communicated this rich truth by using imagery from the agricultural world. After all, he likens himself to a "vine," the disciples to "branches" and the Father to a "vine dresser." Jesus' principle point is that the disciples are quite a lot like branches in that they need the life-giving sap from the vine (Jesus) to help them produce fruit (produce love).

Because we in America do not have a massive amount of experience working in vineyards, we can often times be confused about what Jesus is talking about. In so doing we can miss his most principle point.

As I was sitting there listening to Kevin teach I began to think of a better, more accessible illustration than a vine and branches (Not that Jesus blew it by giving a horrid illustration, but rather because we do not live in the same context as the disciples). After the study I drove home, sat down with my Bible opened to John 15 and began to rework it with different imagery--imagery that connects with the everyday lives of Americans.

Anyway, here is my reworking of John 15:1-6 with up-to-date, Americanized imagery (by the way, this is adapted from the NIV):

"1 I am the true generator and the Father is the electrician. 2 He unplugs and throws away every extension cord which does not channel electricity, while every extension cord that does channel electricity he cuts, splices the wires, and then tapes back up so that it might channel electricity more efficiently in order that it might light more light bulbs (bear fruit). 3 You are already clean because of the word I preached to you. 4. Remain plugged into me and my energy or life will remain in you. No extension cord can generate electricity on its own, it must remain plugged in to the generator. Neither can you bear fruit (light light bulbs) unless you remain plugged in to me. 5 I am the generator you are the extension cords. If a man remains in me and I remain in him, he will light many light bulbs; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain plugged in to me, he like an extension cord which is thrown away and looses its electricity-channeling capabilities; such extension cords are picked up and thrown away and taken to the dump and melted in the incinerator."

How useful is an unplugged extension cord when it comes to channeling energy? Extension cords cannot generate electricity on their own. They are dependent upon a generator for the electricity. In fact, just like us, extension cords exist simply for the sake of channeling--channeling life which flows from another source. In the same way, how useful is a believer in bearing fruit to the glory of God if he is not plugged into Christ. The point is that Christ is the source of our life. We are useless if we are not plugged into him--"apart from him we can do nothing."

For those of you who are serious students of Scripture, you may not like the changing of the imagery because it cannot account for the serious historical significance of Jesus calling himself the "true vine" or his people "the branches." In other words, no... this changed imagery is not perfect. After all, one cannot truly understand John 15 without at least a cursory understanding of Isaiah 5. I suggest you to stick with Jesus' imagery and only provide this for you in order to deepen your understanding of his principle point. The imagery is helpful in establishing the main point of Jesus discourse: namely, that the disciples cannot do anything which brings glory to God (John 15:8) if they are not getting their life from Christ, remaining plugged into him. This change of imagery also helps communicate the worthlessness (at least when it comes to bearing fruit to the glory of God) of those who are not actively seeking life in him--everyone knows how useless an extension cord is when it comes to lighting light bulbs if it is not plugged in to a power source.

Now go and read John 15 in your own Bible and see if the changed imagery sheds some light on Jesus' words. Also, notice that the fruit that Jesus wants his disciples to bear is love (see John 15:11-17). In other words, you cannot fulfill the Greatest Commandment if you are not plugged into Christ. Christ is the life-giving sap which flows through you--he is the life-giving energy which flows through you, enabling you to love others as he has loved you.

An Unthinkable Confession

I hate to say it... I can't believe I am going to splatter this confession on the all-access, all-the-time internet! My moral life and value has hit an all-time low. That's right, I payed $1.19 for a double cheeseburger at McDonald's this afternoon without even at least attempting to question the change in the menu. What have I become? What sort of a low-life victim have I become? As I saw the extra 19¢ leave my hand I tried to make myself spell out the world-wide consequences of raising the price of the burger. It reminded me of a middle schooler getting up the nerve to ask one of the school's cheerleaders out on a date--he walks around and around and around her locker, but can only belch forth air when he makes his stellar approach. It is not even as if the cashier beat me up and took the 19¢. Nope, I just gave it over like a goober.

I want to make an official apology to all of those college students out there that will go broke and hungry because of my lack of nerve.

I hate to say it, but the double cheeseburger, although making a much larger dent in my pocket (19¢ a pop to be exact), is still as greasy, cheesy, and scrumptous as ever.

Before I start sounding optimistic, however, I want to direct your attention to this slippery article put out by McDonald's regarding the change in the Dollar Menu. Click here to read it.

And I quote:

"When you visit us in December, also look for our latest addition to the Dollar Menu – the new McDouble® Burger. It’s pretty much the same as the Double Cheeseburger, just with one less slice of cheese."

What?! "Pretty much the same... just with one less slice of cheese." How can "pretty much the same" and "one less slice of cheese" be used in the same sentence? That's like saying, "Your car is pretty much the same as before you let me borrow it... umm... it just doesn't have an engine anymore."

They make it sound like a wedding as opposed to a funeral: "look for our latest addition to the Dollar Menu." They are actually optimistically telling you to gleefully look for the increase in price! 'Oh, next time you go to McDonald's you will be happy to know that you will have to pay more money to get less cheese.' Thanks for the promise! I will have to bring the whole gang along to maximize on the newness. I love price increases!

Ok, time to stop--I'm starting to drip with sarcasm.

Its Official!

Well, it is official, I am now the full-time preaching pastor at Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Boscawen, New Hampshire. I am excited about this new task that the Lord has laid on my shoulders. Please be praying for me as I seek to be faithful to God and his word. I thank the Lord that I am not the only elder at the church. The Lord has blessed me by placing 3 older, more experienced, more godly men to partner with me in the ministry here in Boscawen. Click here to check out the church's website.

An Election Day Charge to Christians

Well, the day of decision has finally come. I just want to list a few things to remember as the votes are being recorded and counted.

-No matter the outcome of the election God is the true ruler of the universe . Because this is the case we need not despair no matter who wins the election.

Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. (Psalms 96:10)

-Christians are to be an example to the world when it comes to respecting and obeying their leaders.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:1-2)

and

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. (Mark 12:17)

-Christians are to be known for their love. This means that we need to be careful how we speak about our new president. The world watches Christians closely and if they hear us speaking against our new president in the same way that they speak against the president we will have completely destroyed what makes us distinct in the world. Often times Christians have the tendency to think that what makes us different from the world is how we dress, what music we listen to, or what TV shows we watch. Although this may be the case in some circumstances, it misses the point. Christians are not to be different from the world simply for the sake of being different. Rather Christians are to be different from the world in regard to biblical righteousness, which in most cases, at least for those who are actively seeking the Lord, righteousness different from the world has far more to do with how we speak about or to one another than what we wear, listen to, or watch on TV. No matter how badly you want to air the new president's dirty laundry, silence your mouth and be an example. This is so critical to our task as lights in the world. Sometimes it is necessary to speak up--in the face of injustice, outright nation-debilitating rebellion, or nation-debilitating misjudgment--however we must never let our speech against the man that God himself establishes to be the same as the world's. Respect ought to characterize our speech in regard to the man that God elects for the job.

Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

-If you feel that your life is going to fall apart if the wrong candidate gets in office your problem may be that you need to get right with God by setting your affections on the things above.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one, therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:16)

Post Surgery Update

Thanks for praying for Luke (my brother). His surgery on Friday morning went well. There were no complications with the surgery. Luke is still quite uncomfortable, however the doctors say that he should be feeling better in just a few days.

Thanks for praying. Continue to pray for a complete and quick recovery.

Prayer Request

Be praying for Luke. He has to have surgery on his stomach tomorrow. The surgery is not complicated. In fact, it will be an outpatient surgery. However, it is a surgery. Pray that the Lord would give the doctors skill and wisdom as they seek to operate on him. Also be praying for a quick, painless recovery for Luke. The exact time of the Surgery is 10:00 am eastern time.