The other day I in church I heard the word preached and found one small part of the message to be very suitable to a specific individual or two in the congregation. So I offered up a quick prayer to the Holy Spirit. I really desired for the parties to be convicted and return to the stream of living water instead of fetching water from broken and empty wells. Was this a wrong thing to do?

You may have heard it said before, “Don’t think THEY need to hear this message, because YOU need to hear it.”And that is true, but it is only partly true. It is true because I need to hear the gospel and its applications every week. But again, this is far too simplistic.

For instance, if a pastor is preaching on the importance of being regular in corporate worship (which we’ll always preach b/c to be among God, His Word, His people is absolutely necessary-you won’t grow if all three aren’t in place), and someone who doesn’t value coming to church hasn’t heard this, then we ought to wish, pray for, and follow up with them. Or there could be someone involved in adultery, stealing, lying, and we should pray briefly for them.

Now here’s the danger.

The danger in thinking that someone else needs to hear a message is that you can tend to think ONLY someone else needs to hear it, but that YOU don’t need to. Even if I’m not literally unfaithful to my wife, I still commit adultery in my heart with lust, and all sin is described in general as spiritual adultery (Ezek 16:2, Matt 12:39, James 4:4). I should pray for myself when I pray for others.

One way to avoid what Jesus called “plank-eye”-at least I think he probably would have been cool with that terminology-is to see our own sin as of equal or greater value (sounds like a coupon doesn’t it?). You may not be living in an adulterous relationship, but you do lust-you need prayer as well. You might be regular in worship, but that very often has nothing to do with Jesus-you need prayer as well.

So I think I was right in briefly praying for a specific conviction for a specific party while the word was being preached, because I also prayed for my own heart at the same time. If I had prayed for conviction for that party and NOT my own sin, then I would be guilty of Plank-eye.

So in summary, I believe it is OK to pray for conviction and for the Word to pierce the heart of those in the congregation, provided you also pray for conviction for yourself in that or another area.

I would love to blog about a FSU victory over Miami today, but poor time management and a last second drop precludes me from doing so. Nothing redeeming to speak of about that game, nor the Rays who have dropped 6 straight games.

But I did hear a redeeming interview from the Rays Triple A Durham Bulls (minor league) manager Charlie Montoyo on Saturday. Managing a Triple A franchise involves a special kind of touch, since everyone who is playing for you, doesn’t really want to be there. Their goal is to play in the big leagues, not one step below it.

Yet you could tell that the manager really wanted these guys to succeed. Success means advancement for one party, and loss for the other. What I mean is that to success means they no longer play for him and help his team go the Triple A play-offs 3 years in a row. Success means his players getting called up to a more glorious situation than being stuck in Durham.

Still, he found joy in their successes, even though their successes would cost him. That’s love. He would be losing not only their relationships, but their skills, and they would receive joy and all of the benefits of playing in the big leagues.

That’s the kind of love the gospel can produce in us: instead of jealousy, we begin to rejoice with others in their successes, even when it means loss to us. If ultimately one has already showed us love by taking on great cost in order to see our paramount “success/promotion,” we can rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15).

This minor league manager can teach us a lot about love.

Recently Barna did a study on small churches vs big churches in regards to how orthodox each side really is. His results revealed mega-church members had more orthodox professions of the faith. However, here’s an interesting blog post responding to the Barna study (from the pastor of a healthy small town church which has had huge affects on its community). In my opinion, Barna clearly has biases (house church), and I’ve heard him say he’s really not a huge fan of the church in general. I think they really come out to play here, and this small town Baptist church pastor Chuck Warnock definitely agrees. Of course he posted first about this study, so I guess I’m the one agreeing with him.

We just finished up a video debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox in our community group. I asked everyone to think of at least one positive thing about both the atheist and the Christian. Fortunately we were able to generate a lot of positive things about Dawkins instead of just blowing him off because ultimately we weren’t “pulling” for him (though he did have better arguments). It was a helpful exercise for our group to affirm what we could, before critiquing what we couldn’t. We all concluded that Lennox probably would have been more affective if he adopted this approach.

Anyhow, click here to see a short video interview of another atheist who seriously critiques Dawkins and the new atheists.

Last week Amy and Connar spent a week in Virginia with her family. Here’s a little snippet of what I missed while staying in Bradenton. Watching this makes me feel, just a little bit, like I was there. Connar dares to take on his cousin Ryan in an age appropriate U.F.C., 2 minute match for the ages. Check it out.

Due to the fact that the Buc’s offensive line did not protect my preferred QB Luke McCown at all on Thursday night, we’ll be seeing Byron “the Statue” Leftwich as the starter on week 1. If we’re going to lose all but 4 games-which is generous-I’d rather see this guy behind the line of scrimmage. Check out this snippet from his interview on dealing with the disappointment of losing out on the starting job:

“It is not easy, but again you guys know me. My faith and my opportunity lie in a sovereign God. That he has a plan for me specifically, and I’ll lean on that. That makes it easy for me to go out and have fun, and have a great practice, a good practice, and be at peace with the decision. Because I feel like it is God’s decision for my life. It is not really, not necessarily, me not winning the starting job it is just what God has for me right now. That makes it is easy for me to go out with peace.”

My prediction (not something I’d prefer happen) is that “the Statue” will be hurt by game 4, and McCown will get a chance. No Buccaneer QB has started all 16 games in the last 7 years, so I believe he’ll get his shot to start soon. I’m not a fan of his poise on “the pocket,” but I sure am a fan of his faith.

I was reading in Acts this morning and came across yet another passage in scripture which included the paradox of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility. Even though this dynamic doesn’t fit neatly into our little logical grid-neither do the Trinity and love for that matter-we see these two truths affirmed throughout the bible.

When Paul sailed to Rome they hit some rough patches on the sea, and many thought they would die. So Paul affirmed them of God’s Sovereign plan to save them:

“… For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told…..(Acts 27:24-26)

So while they were affirmed of God’s Sovereign plan to save them, Paul still gave them instructions which needed to be followed.

“Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’ Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. It will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you (vs. 31-34).

While God affirmed them of their ultimate safety, they still had to play by His rules. Since they hadn’t eaten in 14 days, and would be soon swimming to shore after a shipwreck, they would likely not have had the strength to get to shore. I can’t imagine doing any exercise after not eating for 14 hours, much less 14 days.

Yet another mix of Sovereignty and Responsibility that moves us to gratitude and rest as opposed to arrogance and fear, to action and inclusion as opposed to laziness and fatalism.

I’ve already blogged on the seeming unfairness of Plaxico Burress’s punishment of 2 years in prison for carrying a loaded unlicensed weapon. Most people who feel this punishment doesn’t fit the crime tend to view this crime as only hurting himself, especially since Donte Stallworth got 24 days for actually killing a pedestrian while under the influence. However, Burress’ crime was not shooting himself but carrying the weapon without permit, and one could argue that he truly did put others in danger-especially because the gun just “went off” (why the safety wasn’t on, I don’t know). Others could just as easily been shot.

Regardless where you end up on this issue-if you even care about the issue-it does remind me of the way many view sin. If sin does hurt someone, it just hurts yourself. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But sin always has communal effects, even those which never “leave” your mouth or body. When I harbor anger, I demonize my enemy and ignore a litany of his/her strengths. I also can’t love my wife well and listen to her because of my anger.

When we lie to each other, we deceive and push our family and friends away. When we lust or engage in pornography, we are one step further in the direction of alienation to our spouse and brothers/sisters in Christ. We value our spouse’s and community’s bodies and intimacy less because of our sin.

Isolation from community and the church, (the sin of “my religion is private” and I don’t need to be a part of a church) sins against others by depriving them of your spiritual gifts, encouragement, and challenge. And you are depriving others of their opportunity to serve you with their gifts.

Ultimately, sin is far more than shooting ourselves in the foot, it’s shooting others as well. It’s more like Stallworth than Burress.

I’m fascinated with bumper stickers. I wonder how much they really do say about someone. I don’t know if I’d go with a bumper sticker again (I did have a cool Christian one in college) and a big redfish sticker-though the Christian bumper sticker included fish as well-that supported F.C.A. (formerly Florida Conservation Association). Fellowship of Christian Athletes people didn’t really like that one.

However I digress, as usual. I saw a “Would Jesus discriminate” bumper sticker the other day and it did what I think bumper stickers are supposed to do: it made me think. Does Jesus never discriminate? If he does discriminate, on what basis?

Well certainly Jesus wouldn’t discriminate today and show favoritism between rich/poor, Jews/Gentiles, men/woman, sick/healthy, self-righteous/”sinners.” He didn’t do it then. What a great reminder to all of us.

In fact, folks (I put myself in this category) who are often drawn to the fact that Jesus condemned self-righteous thinking and behavior often forget that Jesus still mingled and ate with such folks. He did not in some ways discriminate or separate or consider them not worth his time; instead he went to their houses for dinner (Luke 7). Yet we who disdain self-righteous thinking/behavior can quickly become self-righteous about not acting self-righteously, which results in discriminating against and withdrawing from those we consider as such. That’s self-righteousness.

However on an ultimate level, Jesus does discriminate in some ways. He said that anyone who has the Son has life and anyone who doesn’t have the Son receives God’s wrath (John 3). And near the end of his ministry we see him pointing to the end of the age, where He will separate the sheep on his right and goats on his left. The sheep will inherit life, for they by faith have concerned themselves with those in need, and the goats on the left will receive judgment for they by lack of faith have ignored those in need. That’s definitely discriminating.

Judging by other colorful bumper stickers on this person’s car, I would dare say the latter discrimination may not have been considered. However, it is mandatory to see how
Jesus goes farther in not discriminating than we think, and farther in ultimately discriminating then we often think as well.

If you’re like me at all, you want to see justice and punishment that fits appropriately with the crime. And you want to see lengthier prison time for worse crimes. Lately there have been several instances with NFL players, where punishments seem to me a bit flip-flopped at best.

Plaxico Burress shoots himself in the leg with an unlicensed handgun at a night club, and goes to jail for 2 years. Donte Stallworth kills a pedestrian while drunk driving and goes to jail for 24 days. Now different states, different lawyers, different judges lead to different conclusions. It just makes you long for a justice system with A fair judge, and A good lawyer, in a A good world with A good conclusion.