Mental Musings

Since I am never one to shy away from controversial topics, I have decided to wade into the depths of church congregationalism vs. biblical leadership models. I seriously doubt that this will do much to change the hundreds of years of tradition in our churches. I myself am fully ensconced in the Southern Baptist lifestyle as a pastor in local SBC churches for more than 30 years. I even serve on a committee for our state convention that plans for the annual Convention and business meeting. I understand that I will most likely never escape congregationalism as long as I am part of a local church, association, or convention. But that does not negate my responsibility to continue in my efforts to educate our people about what God's Word has to say about the church. Over the years I have heard many people say something along these lines, "I give my tithe to this church, so I should have a say in how we do things." There is so much wrong with that statement that I could ...

After 100 episodes a television program can go into syndication, meaning that the show can be rebroadcast in markets other than those reached by the original station. That is why many shows use their 100th episode as a celebrating and often "look back" at previous episodes showing scenes through the memories of the cast. I am not a syndicated writer, but I have posted 390 blog posts and this is my third "looking back" post. This time I am sharing series that I have posted in the past year. Most of these have 4-6 posts per theme. Many of the regular readers have seen these, but some who have recently started reading this blog may have missed them. Shepherds and Sheep - Scripture is full of analogies depicting church members and sheep and pastors as shepherds. Any pastor will tell you that we sheep are not easy to care for in the best situations. How should pastors shepherd their flock? This series takes a serious look at what scripture says regardless of current...

Victory in Christ A Study in Ephesians Ephesians Chapter 6 – Our Obedience Leads to Victory Most of this information came from the NIV Study Bible and the Holman Commentary on Ephesians In a Nutshell Prepare yourself for a victorious life by learning obedience. “Look both ways before you cross the street.” “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” “Look before you leap.” These are all sayings that we have probably heard before. They are in the imperative case, meaning that they are commands. When our parents said things like these to us, what did they expect from us? [That we would obey so we do not have to learn a horrible lesson] Verses 1-4: Paul starts off this chapter by using an imperative sentence, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord.” He tells us that this is one of the ten commandments, but he also tell us that God provided an incentive for this commandment. What was that? I am someone who needed to know about the incentive. I was the typ...

“All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Matthew 25:32 (NIV) Pastors are not hired hands. Because the local churches use voting as a method to determine whether or not a particular pastor is right for their church body, many church members believe that the pastor is hired by them and they are therefore his boss. The reality is that God calls pastors to serve in local churches. “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” Acts 20:28 (NIV) As shepherds called by God, pastors are given the task of keeping watch over themselves and the flock. In Acts 20 Paul warned the elders of the church in Ephesus that savage wolves would come into their midst and try to destroy the flock. The shepherds were therefore tasked with protecting the flock. But Paul also warn...

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (NIV) Well do I remember those carefree days as a child growing up in the 70s. It was a far different era than our current one. We did not have VCRs, DVRs, PS3s, MP3s, iPads, laptops, or most other indoor forms of entertainment. We did have TV, but there really wasn’t much choice for children on those three stations we could pick-up with our rabbit ears or aerial mounted antennas. Saturday morning TV was pure joy for children as we watched Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Popeye, Underdog and more, but afternoons were meant for baseball, football, or just exploration. We were not tethered to our own yards by fear induced from 24-hour barrage of negative news. Our parents had no idea of the danger that was lurking out just beyond the shadows for they had grown up in an era that was even more innocent and carefree. Yes, there was the occasional story about a kidnapping or attack or even killing, but for the most...

All we, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 What exactly is the purpose of the church? This one question has caused almost as much dissension in the church as the discussion on worship styles. And just as with worship styles, I believe that God is honored more with an “all of the above” answer than a divide and conquer mentality. But there are specific purposes for the individual church bodies and the shepherds who lead them. Many would say that we are called to seek lost sheep, but the bible mentions several different types of lost sheep. There are those who do not yet belong to the flock. They are described as lost sheep because sin separated them from God. Jesus said that He came to seek the lost sheep ( Luke 19:10 ). There are those who have strayed, perhaps seeking an easier path or greener pastures, and they must be found and returned to the flock ( Psalm 119:176 ). And then ...