The Picture

Today I was sitting in the church and looked up.  A picture caught my eye, a picture that I must have seen numerous times in the past.  The first thing that caught my eye was the smiling children walking along a spring path with what looked like cherry blossoms in the background.  I suppose it is okay for children to smile, but it looked like all the children had the same smile.  Their mouths were open, a bit of teeth were showing and they were all looking up.  The picture got stranger and stranger when I realized it made no difference whether a child looked from the right or the left.  It made no difference whether the child was a boy or a girl.  It really bothered me that these children could all be smiling - that just is not the life know for myself or for my children.  But then something happened ...

I looked up - not way up, just the three inches from where the children stood smiling to what they were smiling at.  There in the focal point of the picture was Jesus.  He was carrying another smiling child, holding the hand of another young girl, also smiling.

The minute I saw Jesus I relaxed and I felt a smile on my own face.  It was as if it was okay for children to smile in His presence.  I am not so naïve as to think that Jesus makes everything okay, but it was also a relief to know that the artist was not merely painting smiles to paint smiles.  Rather, he was reminding us all that Jesus did love the children.  It is also a reminder that Jesus loves us.  One day we each, as believers, will be at home with Jesus.  And I am reminded that is okay to smile when I think of Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor Patrick

Publishing Sermons

I have spent much of the last couple of years experimening with inexpensive tools that can be used to publish my sermons. Let me review three tools I have looked at during that time:

1. www.sermoncentral.com
   I started two or three years ago posting my sermons here - it took a great deal of work to post a new message and then each message has to be approved by the site administrator. If they choose to not approve a message, there is no indication what rule or policy has been violated so that the message can be edited, if appropriate.
   
   The biggest advantage of Sermon Central is the availability of a large database of sermons - free after contributing 40 sermons. Sermons posted on SermonCentral are also searchable from LOGOS Bible Software. I fear sermons published here are often used by those looking for sermons they may want to preach as their own.
   
2. www.blogger.com
   By using a blog to post my sermons, it is easy to allow my parishioners access to my public site. If I had to retype every sermon, this could be a tiresome task. But there is an easier way. http://docs.google.com can import MS Word, Oo.com, or StarOffice files. Once imported, the same program can also publish to www.blogger.com. Other programs can post to the Blogger and to other blogging sites as well. I like The Journal - http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/ for this purpose.
   
   This is my prefered method of posting my sermons.
   
3. www.Bible-Explorer.com
   Bible Explorer is a free Bible search tool. It also has an active set of community of offerings - which can be used for posting sermons. Sermons have to be cut and pasted into the internal word processor and made available to the entire Bible Explorer community.
   
   Bible Explorer is the least well known of the these three tools. But it has the potential of being made available to large number of people who are looking for Bible reference material - rather than just previously delivered sermons.

I expect that there are other useful tools for publishing sermons - I would be interested in finding other ways to distribute my sermons.

Blessings,

Pastor Patrick

On-Line Bible Study Tools

On-Line Bible Study Tools

1. Nave's Topical Bible

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Concordances/NavesTopicalBible/

2. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

http://bible.crosswalk.com/

3. Torrey's Topical Textbook

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Concordances/TorreysTopicalTextbook/

4. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown)

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/JamiesonFaussetBrown/

5. Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/MatthewHenryComplete/

6. Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/

7. Wesley's Explanatory Notes

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/WesleysExplanatoryNotes/

8. NET Bible (Study Bible)

http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm

9. e-Sword (Free Bible Study Software)

http://www.e-sword.net/bibles.html

10. On-Line Bible Atlas (By Bible Chapter)

http://www.openbible.info/geo/

11. On-Line Bible Atlas (By Historical Context)

http://www.studylight.org/se/maps/

Life is Short

This next week I will be preaching on "Judgment". Sometimes illustrations fall into my lap.

I was reminded this week that life is short. Though the Northeast was quite warm for the first third of the winter, over the past two weeks we are having our share of cold weather and snow. Monday was no different - or so we thought.

You see, Monday was the day that a college student died. I spend a great deal of time with a group of elderly believers and see there struggle with the difficulties associated with aging. But young people don't have those kinds of struggles. But yesterday a college student died.

The accident was not her fault. The other driver was cited for going through a red light, excessive speed, and driving without a license. The college student was not at fault, but she died yesterday.

Though I do not know, I would guess that the student was about 22 years of age. I am 56 years old. It could have been me - I could have died yesterday. The college student, to the best of everyones knowledge, was a believer. She was ready for whatever God expected of her. And she died yesterday. I am a believer and I am ready for whatever God may expect of me.

Where is your faith today? Is your faith in all the good you do or is your faith in Jesus who alone is good?

Yours because His,

Pastor Patrick

A New Light

A New Light?

With a big "thank you" to this month's Congress On Evangelism

It must have been too early in the morning. My wife and I got to the car this morning and found the dome light turned on. At that point we worried - would the car start? It did! Life was good. My wife decided that the light being on was okay - after all it was not the "main thing". We quickly remembered, she was right, since the dome light is not the "main thing", but the "Light of the World" is truely the "Main Thing".

I know that I too often let the little things get in the way of the Main Thing. May I never forget to keep the Main Thing the main thing.

Pastor Patrick

It Is Sunday - And I Am Tired

It has been three weeks since I preached my last sermon. I spent most of one week recouperating from Christmas; four days traveling to Myrtle Beach; four days attending the UM Congress on Evangelism; three days returning home; and one week teaching my first week of classes for the Spring semester. Finally, I prepared and preached my first sermon for the new year. And now I am exhausted.

I know some think preaching is an easy task - but I have discovered in my 9-1/2 years in the pulpit, that preaching is work, real work. It takes time to prepare and it takes time to deliver the message. But there is more - preaching is a spiritual activity and as such it is a perfect target for a spiritual attack.

Though I know it is not true, I sometimes fall under the illusion that preaching is all about me. But the truth is, it is not. Preaching is about Him - not somewhat, not partially, not incidently. Preaching is about Him. Each sermon I prepare, each sermon I preach, should lead my hearers to Him. And when I do that, I should expect to challenged. And when I am challenged, I should not be surprised to feel drained.

Tonight I feel drained.

Walking On Water

The pond is just about frozen (finally) - but it still looks like water. The ice would never support a fisherman, but you can still see ripples in the ice where the water froze before it could settle to a crystal smooth finish.

Given the rather longish fall weather, I think the thin ice also confused the migrating geese. Yesterday as I left campus I found three or four geese wandering around the frozen ice - all looking rather confused. They did not seem to understand why they were walking on the water rather than wading in it. It was a rather funny sight.

I wonder what it would have been like to see Jesus that night walking on the water. Or, better yet. to see Peter climb out of the boat and do the same, if even for a moment or two. I expect everyone, but Jesus, would have been confused. It too would have been a strange sight.

As I prepare to leave the safety of the boat for new waters, I am reminded that Jesus is there to catch me. It may feel confusing, it may feel frightening, it may feel uncertain. But like Peter, I can call out, "Jesus save me." I must never forget that Jesus is there to pull me in when I feel most alone.

Pastor Patrick