Dawson Bailey http://dawsonbailey.com A few guys discussing a lot of nothing. en-us Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:28:58 +0000 Bloo v 1.35 http://dawsonbailey.com/images/bloo_logo_200.png Dawson Bailey http://dawsonbailey.com Newer isn't always better. I was listening to some praise music earlier tonight. In the midst of it I was struck by how different [...] Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:27:33 +0000 Chris http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=10 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=10
I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
a sinner condemned, unclean.
How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be!
How marvelous, how wonderful,
is my Savior's love for me!
]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=10 I'm sorry, Allen Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of [...] Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:39:08 +0000 Chris http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=9 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=9 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
--Matthew 25:40

About a month or more ago, I volunteered to co-head the privilege of cooking some food for a gentleman in our church who is suffering from late-stage pancreatic cancer. I am, as is the other guy that volunteered to help out, a bit of a foodie, so to speak, and the chance to use my talents to help out a good friend was something I jumped at.

And then life got in the way.

Sadly, I managed to completely forget about it throughout the next week. When next we met on the following Monday, I was ashamed to admit that I hadn't signed up to prepare a meal for him or anything. I had the money set aside, so my intentions were good. That was what I told myself so I wouldn't feel like such a heel.

Work kept me late the following Monday. I didn't even get home - much less to the Monday night group meeting - until close to 7:30. The Monday after that was my father's 73rd birthday. I went straight from work to Applebee's and finally arrived home at about 9 PM.

Fast forward to Tuesday night - last night, to be specific. I get a text message from Dic talking about how we are all meeting at a central location to deliver a meal to Allen and his family on Thursday afternoon at 5. "Send me a text and let me know what you can bring!" was his [paraphrased] comment. This is what I should have done a month ago and didn't. Given that I can't even leave work until 6 PM, I obviously can't be there at the scheduled time, but I agreed to make a dish to supplement the other food offerings just the same. I sent a FaceBook message to one of the other guys to see if my dish can be picked up en route.

Throughout all that time, my friend Allen has been at home dealing with his issues. He certainly has more on his plate than I do, but for some ridiculous reason I couldn't manage to pin down enough time to follow through on a commitment that I made to a man who has, over the course of the past 5 years, become a very good friend to me.

To put a sharp point on it, I feel like an unmitigated ass.

God has called me to be so much more than I have proven to be in the face of this situation, and I have failed to heed that call.

Lord Jesus, please forgive my ignorant, selfish heart.]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=9 Problem solved . . . Thanks to the tremendous help of the creator of Bloo, some of the minor little things I noticed here [...] Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:44:02 +0000 Chris http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=8 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=8

Customer service at its finest!

Now grab a bottle of lemon-lime Gatorade and go check out his other creative work over at the Thinklings!]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=8 Hard to Believe The true Gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment. And that puts it in [...] Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000 Chris http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=4 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=4 The true Gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment. And that puts it in opposition to the contemporary evangelical Gospel, where ministers view Jesus as a utilitarian genie. You rub the lamp and He jumps out and says you have whatever you want; you give Him your list and He delivers.
I started reading John MacArthur's book Hard to Believe today. Although I admit to never having read any of his work before, I have heard (and read) a fair deal about him. By all accounts I have taken him to be a very straightforward, no-nonsense person.

Well, that he most certainly is.

MacArthur cuts to the core of what is wrong with so much of modern theology and the watered-down gospel message that many churches want to put forth in this day and age. He is very unabashedly straightforward and critical of anything but the message of the pure gospel - that God loved us so much that he elected to humble Himself and die a death reserved for the most wretched of the most wretched so that I could see the glory of Heaven.

He attacks this "Madison Avenue Jesus" concept because, as he says . . .

[I]f the message is too confrontational, or too judgmental, or too exclusive, scary, unbelievable, hard to understand, or too much anything else for your taste, churches everywhere are eager to adjust that message to make you more comfortable.

That, he says, is the problem. The message that Jesus gives us is not one of comfort. It is one, instead, of discomfort. It is painful. It is disconcerting. Back then, it might well have cost you your life. Jesus is not some sort of theological, cosmic Burger King. You don't get to have it your way. There is only His way, and His way is the way of the cross.

I have to admit that I'm struggling to read this book because it is really striking me with conviction. I can't think of how many times I've sat in my chair during a service at church and thought to myself that the band sounds really good. Or that the skit was funny. Or that I liked that illustration that Ken used to drive home his point.

On the other hand, though, I think I can count on one hand the number of times that I walked out of the service really feeling the weight of concern for the lost hanging on me like a stone. That isn't so much an indictment of my church as it is about me. At the same time, however, much of the descriptors MacArthur uses when he talks about this superficial, gotta-make-Jesus-palatable culture made me think of my very own church home. I'm not so sure I want to be that quick to lump them in with the ideas that he is describing, though. Ken doesn't have much use for smarmy, feel-good sermons that do nothing but give you a good feeling in the pit of your stomach. His messages always point to Christ and our inherent need of Him. I feel safe in saying that our church is heavily involved in outreach ministry to the lost in an attempt to bring the word of God to them.

Then again . . . it is exactly this sort of thing that MacArthur rails against from the word go. Referencing my point above, the message of Christ is not one of comfort but one of pain and suffering. I can't think of the last time I heard Ken preach what would commonly be called a 'hellfire and brimstone' sermon. To be sure, he has had quite a few sermons that have, figuratively speaking, slapped me in the face in regards to my apathetic behavior when it comes to the lost and hurting that I interact with every day. At the same time, though, as a general rule they don't always tend to be exceptionally hard-hitting - and I don't think it is necessarily fair to expect that out of the same person week after week after week. MacArthur's whole point, though, is that the focus on the unpleasantries of Christ's message seems to have gotten lost in the rushed attempt to make everyone comfortable with coming to church. His illustrations, rife with scriptural backup, include the story of the rich young ruler: He came to Jesus in the book of Mark and asked what he had to do to gain eternal life. I don't know what exactly he was expecting, but Jesus' response was likely not it. "Go your way, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow Me."

I agree with MacArthur that we - way too often - substitute the reality of what Christ has called us to because we want to, instead, be relevant or missional or whatever other buzzwords are in vogue nowadays. The message that Christ places before us doesn't need a great praise band, topical sermons or anything else. All it needs is this:

God loves you. He wants you to experience the love He has for you. That will prove to be a difficult thing to cling to on this earth. If you embrace it, you will likely deal with hardships in this life. You may find strife in your work or your family life where none existed prior. You will almost certainly face ridicule. But I promise you it will be worth it in the end. Without that grace extended to you by Christ you are in danger of an insufferable eternity in hell, permanently separated from God through sin, and you have to suffer unspeakable torment. Forever. And I don't want you to have to endure that.
]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=4 Sidebar stuff . . . I got to thinking about something . . . The "about me" link on the side bar was there by default - it [...] Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000 Chris http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=3 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=3
The "about me" link on the side bar was there by default - it came with the installation. I could probably duplicate it and make a link for anyone else that would like one. I can just change the text to reflect our individual names instead of just saying "about me."

Also, if you guys have any specific websites you want to add to the blogroll, let me know and I can put them in there.]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=3 Hello Monday Night Life! I miss you all, but basketball is going great. We are covering the 10 Commandments each week in depth, [...] Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000 Issam http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=2 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=2
Issam.]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=2 OK. First post time Yeah. "Hello, world!" and all that. I have some free webspace, and I wanted to put it to some good [...] Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:42:00 +0000 Chris http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=1 http://dawsonbailey.com?post_id=1
I have some free webspace, and I wanted to put it to some good use.

I thought a good idea would be to set up a blog for use by the guys in my Monday night life group. We'll see where it goes. I'd love for this to be an opportunity for us to connect with one another throughout the week. We don't necessarily have to connect on a theological point. Just having a virtual den to hang out in and bat stuff back and forth would be nice, I think.]]> http://dawsonbailey.com/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=1