Category: Newsletter

Years ago my grandfather told me. “Davey, politics is a dirty business.” As I have gotten older, I have come to understand what he meant.

From time to time, I have quoted to our church something Steve Brown said about politics. When he was a pastor, he would tell his church, “I have political opinions, and they’re better than yours. But that not why we’re here.” And once or twice over the years I’ve had to exhort some of the brothers and sisters to leave politics outside the church. Not very often, but it has happened. I really want there to be places in my life that are free from political rancor. Like church. Or playing music.

I think one of the things that grieves me the most is the black-and-white characterizations of people who vote differently than someone’s own perspective. I really don’t know anyone who thinks that a particular political candidate “walks on water.” I know lots of people who will readily admit that a candidate is flawed, even very flawed, but who still generally works to accomplish what they consider to be good things.

And I long ago realized that there is only one Messiah per universe, and He isn’t running for office in either political party.

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My family and I once visited a church of another denomination. The service was fairly traditional, the music was reasonably good, and when the pastor started his sermon I was hopeful. But at one point he seemed to be building to a climax, and I was anticipating his next words. And with great conviction he said, “And that just goes to show why we all should read our bulletins!” That is not what I thought he was going to say.

Church bulletins date back to the middle of the 19 th century. The first regular church publication was started in January 1859 by Rev. John Erskine Clarke, Vicar of St. Michael’s Church in Derby, England. Then in 1884, Albert Dick Blake invented stencil duplicating, brought printing to the local church, and so was born the Sunday morning bulletin. It was modeled after theater programs. It contained an order of service, news of the local church, and various other items of interest (hopefully).

On occasion, I’d like to have traveled back in time and slapped John Erskine Clarke and Albert Dick Blake upside the head, because sometimes church bulletins can be a real pain. One church secretary told me their pastor would often have her redo the bulletin two or three times, until it was all to his satisfaction. That seems a little obsessive. I mean, let’s give it our best shot and all, but I think it’s important for us to remember that Jesus and the apostles never passed out church bulletins.

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I recently finished reading in the Name of God, a book by O.S. Hawkins about two early twentieth- century pastors, J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett. Norris pastored the First Baptist Church of Fort Wayne, Texas, and Truett pastored First Baptist Church of Dallas. Their ministries were more-or- les simultaneous, and the two men were often at odds with each other. There is a lot to admire – and to censure- in both Norris and Truett. Together, these men represent the best and worst of Baptist fundamentalism and Baptist denominationalism.

Dr. Hawkins wrote a sequel to In the Name of God called Criswell: His Life and Times. After the 47- year ministry of George Truett, young preacher named W.A. Criswell was called to be the pastor of First Baptist, Dallas. Criswell’s ministry there lasted over 50 years. It’s been said that Criswell combined the best characteristics of both J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett: a fervent commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture and passionate preaching of the Gospel, blended with a winsome spirit and a statesmanlike demeanor.

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(I hope you’ll forgive me. It is now 6 days since I had surgery on my right hand. Everything went well, but I still have a huge splint and bandage on my right hand, and it’ll be another week before it comes off. It is nearly impossible for me to write, and incredibly difficult to type. So, I have opted to repeat an article from 2019 and update it a little for our present needs. Dealing with the frustration of having my dominant hand in a cast makes me understand that I need to focus on the many things I have to be thankful for. I bet you can relate to that. – DT)

I don’t remember where I first heard or read that phrase. I suspect it was in a book called Life Is Tremendous! by Charles “Tremendous” Jones. He talked about seeing something positive in everything, saying something positive about everything, and seeing it big and keeping it simple. He warned against “hardening of the attitudes”. And he admonished us to cultivate an “attitude of gratitude.”

This is Biblical. In Philippians 2:14 the Apostle Paul says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” And in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 he tells us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I’m not very good at doing these things, but I know the Bible teaches them.

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The ever-quotable evangelist Vance Havner once said this: “Come ye yourselves part… and rest a while is a must for every Christian. If you don’t come apart, you will come apart!” Havner was commenting about what Jesus told His apostles after they’d come back from an extended mission. When they had completed their assignments, Mark’s Gospel says,

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. (Mark 6:30-31)

Jesus knew that His disciples could not sustain a never-ending schedule of work and dealing with people without times of rest. So, after a particularly busy time, in effect He said to them, “Let’s get away for a while!”

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In 1985 the Coca Cola Company introduced a reformulation of their flagship soft drink. It became unofficially known as “New Coke.” The reaction from the buying public was overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula was brought back three months later as “ Coca Cola Classic.” New Coke was renamed Coke 2 in 1990, and finally discontinued in 2002. Apparently what people really wanted was Classic Coke.

I recently returned from the Basic Conference held for pastors held every year at Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio. About 1500 pastors gather there from all over the United States and several foreign countries for the immense privilege of hearing Pastor Alistair Begg and one or two invited guests, usually from the British Isles. The content is Biblical and encouraging, and it is delivered in either a Scottish, English, or Irish brogue, which gives the speakers such an unfair advantage. They could read random passages from a cookbook, and we would all listen, enthralled.

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When I was in college the King James Bible was pretty much the predominant translation used in most churches. Sometimes I miss the days when nearly everyone was reading from the same translation. We are wealthy in God’s Word today, with many good English translations of the Scriptures available. (There are some stinkers, too.) But in those days, it was King James Version.

The college I went to emphasized what is called “The Great Commission” given to us by Jesus after His resurrection and before He ascended into Heaven. It appears five times in the New Testament, in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20 and Acts 1. But the first time the Great Commission appears is in the Gospel of Matthew. In the King James Version it reads like this:

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I love Easter. We’ve just come through what for pastors is the most wonderful and exhausting time of the year (along with Christmas). But I love it. I love sunrise services, shared breakfast, and the increased crowds on Easter Sunday. But most of all I love the Truth that Easter celebrates.

I don’t love the view of Easter that equates it with springtime, the yearly cycle of birth-death-and rebirth, and some vague sentiment of “what Easter means to us all.” I especially don’t love the claim that Jesus’ resurrection was a myth.

I’m with the Apostle Paul: if Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, “we are of all people most to be pitted.” (1 Cor. 15:19) If I didn’t really believe that Jesus rose from the dead, I’d quit the ministry and go get an honest job.

There are what are called “minimal facts” about the death of Jesus and what happened next. That means that even disbelieving, skeptical scholars admit the following:

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