Often we complain about certain marketing techniques. The reality is that we’ve asked for them. Seth Godin writes:
If you don’t want spam in your inbox, never respond, never buy anything. Not even if it’s a good deal.
If you don’t like TV commercials featuring loud aggressive announcers, don’t buy what they’re selling. Ever.
. . .
There’s a new asymmetry, with loud consumers able to connect and actually have an impact.
We’re all hypocrites, and we get what we pay for. The market is astonishingly quick at responding to what consumers do (and incredibly slow at reacting to what we say).
If you haven’t done so already, you are invited to participate in “The Forgiveness Quiz.” (Click here). The map to the right shows the location of different people who have participated. I was really excited to see pins in South Africa, Australia, and China.
Here’s the thing, the quiz is only 8 true/false question. You have a 50:50 chance on any given questions. Besides, you can always debate. I plan to begin blogging about the results on Friday, October 10.
I won’t give away the results yet . . . but, there is certainly a wide range of opinions.
If you know someone in South America, please send them a link to this. I would love see to see a few pins down there. And, I am thankful for all of you who have helped get the word out.
Can you believe we live in a world where a pastor in a small Midwestern town can gain immediate input from people all over the globe?
Pastor Joe Thorn (Redeemer Fellowship, St. Charles, IL) has posted questions for those who regularly listen to sermons. Pastors are not allowed to participate. This is a chance for those who listen to preaching to give feedback. As one who preaches, I’m very interested to read the responses.
Click here to read Joe’s post. It might seriously help preachers if you posted a response. Joe asks people in the pew to respond to these questions:
1. What would you like to hear more of from the pulpit?
2. When is a sermon too long?
3. Do you listen to “celebrity” preachers (Driscoll, Piper, etc.) via MP3’s, CDs? If so, who?
4. Do you critique your pastor’s preaching by comparing him to the celebrity preachers? Be honest.
5. In general, are you applying the sermon you hear on Sunday to your life throughout the week?
This is one of the most important words in the human vocabulary. The church Reformer Martin Luther said that in it are contained all the other doctrines of the Christian faith. Luther also said that this is the doctrine on which the church rises and falls. Think of that. According to Luther, if a church failed to truly understand and proclaim this one word, then it would no longer truly be church.
The word is “justification.” Justification is legal word. It is the idea that when we truly believe in Jesus for salvation, God the father legally pardons us for our sins and imputes to us the righteousness of Jesus. Picture a courtroom setting with yourself on trial and you know that you are guilty. But, Jesus approaches the court and says that you have truly believed in Him, that he has paid the penalty for your sin, and therefore the gavel of the Heavenly Father comes down declaring that you are no longer guilty of sin.
Not only does justification mean that the Father no longer holds the believer’s sin against him or her. But, God also imputes Jesus’s righteousness to the believer, or thinks of the righteousness of Christ as belonging to believers.
Paul says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” If you are a hurting person dreaming there is an answer, there is. And, the answer is found through truly believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”(Proverbs 26:13).”
Leaders kill it.
“And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.(1 Chronicles 11:22).”
“Self pity and boasting are flip sides of pride. Self pity is pride posing in the demeanor of weakness. Boasting is pride posing in the demeanor of strength.” John Piper
CAL THOMAS COMMENTARY AUGUST 25, 2008 GREETINGS FROM DENVER AND THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. THE INTRIGUE HERE IS AS THICK AS FOG. “WHAT WILL THE CLINTONS DO?” IS THE QUESTION ON NEARLY EVERYONE’S MIND. BILL AND HILLARY HAVE THEIR OWN NIGHT, COMPLETE WITH INTRODUCTORY VIDEOS. CHELSEA WILL MAKE AN APPEARANCE. HILLARY STILL HASN’T TURNED LOOSE OF HER DELEGATES. WILL SHE TRY TO PULL A COUP AND GET THE SUPERDELEGATES TO SWITCH TO HER? WILL SHE ARGUE THAT OBAMA’S DECLINE IN RECENT POLLS PROVE HE CAN’T WIN? OR WILL SHE BITE HER TONGUE AND WAIT UNTIL 2012 (IN CASE MCCAIN WINS) OR 2016, IN CASE OBAMA WINS AND SERVES TWO TERMS? IT’S HARD TO TELL WITH THE CLINTONS. BUT THEY WILL GET MORE FACE TIME THAN OBAMA, WHICH SHOULD FEED BILL’S NARCISSISM. I CONTINUE TO BE AMAZED AT HOW MUCH FAITH PEOPLE PUT IN POLITICIANS. THEY CAN’T IMPROVE YOUR LIFE. ONLY YOU CAN DO THAT. THIS IS A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, NOT GUATANTEED OUTCOME. THE ONLY GUARANTEED OUTCOME IS HEAVEN OR HELL, AND NO POLITICIAN CAN DETERMINE THAT DESTINATION. IT IS THE UNIQUE WORK OF GOD. AND POLITICIANS ARE NOT GOD, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY THINK THEY ARE. IN DENVER, I’M CAL THOMAS.
The late Randy Pausch’s book, The Last Lecture, continues to be on the bestseller list. The book is based on a lecture that Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon after discovering he had terminal cancer. In writing the book, Pausch said that he hoped to give “a message in a bottle” that would one day wash up on the shores of his children’s lives (who he knew would not remember him well given their young age).
What would you say in a message you hoped would one day wash up on shore for your children?
Pausch’s lecture is worth watching. He had a winsome personality and he knew how to organize a lecture and to engage an audience. You cannot help but admire a man who worked so hard to develop his intellectual gifts. He clearly loved his wife and children.
But, if the Last Lecture is worth watching, it’s also worth considering the adequancy of his central thought. In Pausch’s introduction, he stated both what he was lecturing about (achieving your childhood dreams) and what he would not be talking about (cancer or religion). Pausch stated:
I’m not in denial . . . We’re not going to talk about cancer . . . if you any herbal supplements or remedies please stay away from me . . .and we’re not going to talk about spirituality or religion although I will tell you I have experienced a deathbed conversion. I just bought a Macintosh . . .
Pausch goes on to describe how he dreamed of being in zero gravity, of being Captain Kirk, writing an article for Worldbook encyclopedia and so forth.
It’s no surprise that the book is selling well. Pausch is a handsome and winsome poster child for the values of our culture.
Yet, here is the question. Are childhood dreams enough? Are we content to concede that we have eternally lost to physical death (“don’t talk to me about herbal supplements”)? If one achieves his or her dreams in this life that we can die with a smile? Is this the message you would want to wash up on shore for your children?
Or, would you confess and proclaim:
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”(Jn 11:25-27).”
“. . . Chris Brauns has done a magnificent job in helping us understand the true nature of biblical forgiveness. Every Christian will profit from reading and applying this book.” Jerry Bridges.
“ . . . Unpacking Forgiveness is an engaging, convicting but emphatically encouraging treatment of this hugely important (and sometimes mindbogglingly challenging) part of life. Dr. Brauns writes from the standpoint of a faithful, wise, experienced and caring pastor . . .” Ligon Duncan, First Pres, Jackson, MS
