Some more thoughts from Philippians

Tonight, at our Wednesday night Bible study, I will be sharing some of these thoughts, but I wanted to put a preview of them on the blog.

Over the last month, I have spent a lot of time in the book of Philippians. I have seen my time spent there as being God's grace beyond measure to me. However, as I have taken a closer look at Paul's words to a church written 2000 years ago, I have been reminded of how Paul uses ordinary language to point people to grace that is found in Jesus. Let me give some examples.

• Hello - Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  
  
• I appreciate you - I thank my God in all my remembrance of you
  
  
• I want to be with you - For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
  
  
• I will be okay - I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
  
  
• I want to keep ministering to you - Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
  
  
• Be united - So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
  
  
• Don’t complain - Do all things without grumbling or questioning,that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

There are so many others, but it is just a good reminder to me that grace should be a part of my regular conversation!

NewsFlash: Pastor is victorious at Wii Night

Not that anyone is counting, but I think I posted a 2-0 record for Wii Night. I solidly beat my 4 year old son at bowling. Furthermore, I teamed up with another kid to win a match of doubles tennis.

Seriously, I know those who were able to come where we were had a great time. Maybe we'll have to do it again sometime.

P.S. My next sermon series will be on DanceDanceRevolution. Just kidding!

Defending your faith

In technical terms, the study of defending your faith in Christ is called apologetics. I know that some Christians are more inclined to think and read in that realm more than others. If you are one of those people, I think you will be very interested in The Reason for God. It is written by Tim Keller, a pastor in New York City. I am several chapters into it, and have already been greatly encouraged and enlightened. It is somewhat in the genre of C.S. Lewis, but much easier to read.

One more thing, Keller has a website concerning the book that you might want to check out.

So, happy reading!

P.S. I was at Borders tonight and took this picture!

Fact or Fiction

To clarify from this morning's message...

• FACT - We are going to have Wii Night next Sunday night
  
  
• FICTION - I am ready to admit that my sister is a superior Connect Four player
  
  
• FACT - People disagree about things (even at church)
  
  
• FICTION - The pastor gets to sing whatever songs he wants to sing (you had to be in the 11:00am service to appreciate this)
  
  
• FACT - My Wii skills are pretty lame, but they will be on full display at Wii night
  
  
• FICTION - It is acceptable to angrily storm off after losing a game of Connect Four to your older sibling
  
  
• FACT - Today was a great day at Ogletown!
  

Hopefully, that will preempt any potential misunderstanding. :-)

Wii Night - You read it here first

We have been talking about the Wii in the last several messages on Sunday morning. The time has come to play the Wii. What am I talking about? On Sunday night, March 2, there will be several church members throughout the greater Newark area (i.e. Pike Creek, Bear, Glasgow, Middletown, etc.) who will open their homes for Wii-playing. Anyone and everyone connected to the OBC family is invited to take part. Even if you have never played before, the Wii is something you can pick up on pretty easily. No excuses. I promise, you won't embarrass yourself greatly by trying it out (emphasis on the word greatly, haha).

What's the point? Have you heard the saying, "The church that plays together, stays together?" Actually, I just made that up. But seriously, I think it would be great for people of all ages to meet each other, have fun together, and quite possibly make some new friends within the Ogletown family. What could be better?

You will get more details on Sunday, but mark that night on your calendar, sharpen your bowling skills, golfing skills, boxing skills, etc. and get ready for Wii Night at Ogletown. Aren't you glad you read the blog?

Am I a good example?

In preparing for Sunday's look at Philippians 4, my mind and heart were drawn to verse 9.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

So Paul gives four different things for people to emulate in his life. It made me ask some questions about my own life in Christ, and whether I am having an impact on people. So, here are the questions...

1. Are people learning from me? Am I teaching them? Not just publicly from the platform, but also in regular conversation and interaction.
   
   
2. Are people receiving things from me? Am I giving anything to be received?
   
   
3. Are people hearing me? Am I in a position in their life to be heard, and am I speaking?
   
   
4. Are people seeing me? Am I allowing people close enough to me to be seen.

I don't measure up to that word to the Philippians, Paul. But, thank you, God, for the reminder that I should be giving my life in tangible ways for the gospel!

What if you are studying a book of the Bible

I definitely have no shortage of book recommendations in my repertoire. Truth be told, I don't think all books are created equal. That definitely is the case for commentaries on certain books of the Bible. Often, I get asked for a recommendation for commentary on a particular book of the Bible.

So, I thought I would walk through my process of recommending a commentary for a particular book...

If someone wanted a 1 volume commentary on the Bible, I would point them to the New Bible Commentary. That is something every Christian could benefit by having.

If someone were looking for a commentary on a certain book of the Bible, I would have several recommendations...

1. Many of the best commentaries on certain books of the Bible are part of a series. You can buy an individual book without purchasing the entire series.
   
2. Some of these series' are more detailed and harder to understand than others. The more detailed often means more expensive.
   
3. I think the most easily understood and helpful commentary sets would be MacArthur's New Testament Commentaries, the Bible Speaks Today series, the Tyndale Commentaries.
   
4. If you wanted a little bit deeper level commentary, you might check out the New American Commentaries or the NIV Application Commentary set (with both of these sets, some volumes in the set are better than others, in my humble opinion).
5. Some of the best commentary sets that deal a lot with Greek and Hebrew are the Pillar New Testament Commentaries, and the Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament.

Just some thoughts. What a privilege to be living at a time and in a place where so many good resources are available.

Yet another rite of passage

Today, I had the privilege of eating at one of Delaware's finest places. Good nutritional value was the priority of the day, so I decided to stop by Jake's in Newark. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the outdoor seating, due to it snowing and being 28 degrees, but the grease, the hamburger, and the fries were well worth it even minus the outdoor experience.

I decided to hold off on getting a shake. That great discipline on my part will afford me a valid reason to return.

Black and blue day

Okay, just so you know, today was a black and blue day. What do I mean? I was sitting in staff meeting this morning. I looked down at my shoes (which are black). And then I noticed my socks either had really faded or....they were blue. It was the latter.

When I picked them out this morning, it was dark in my room. Oh well, the kind staff at OBC was nice enough NOT to call attention to it, but what a way to start the week.

Sermon suggestions

When someone offers a suggestion as to what you should preach on, you never know what you might get. However, this was one worth sharing! It was a note I got today from one of the sweet elementary students at our church.

Dear Mr. Hill,
You are very good at your sermons. I learn from them. I have a friend that doesn't follow God. She is very good, but I want her to come to V.B.S. I'm not forcing her. Her mom has a problem too, she doesn't like to leave her daughter anywhere by herself. I do not know what to do. Can you write me back by mail? My home is _________. You could do a sermon about this subject if you want to. God bless you.
Love,
________

Do you want to guess what I will keep in my desk for many years to come? And guess what! I may just do a sermon on that subject.

Thank God for a girl who is desiring to see her friends 'follow God.' God give our entire church that kind of heart.