Random Thoughts – Page 3

On the Idolatry of Blogging

2011-08-28T15:43:48+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others, Random Thoughts|

This blog is a great example of irony, so bear with me. It's been some time since I blogged last. I'm not sure exactly why, well, that's not entirely true. I know exactly why but it feels better to refrain from self-deprecation for at least one more sentence. The truth is I stopped blogging because I could feel myself becoming idolatrous about it. Mind you, this is not because there are fifteen thousand (or even 15) of people waiting on and worshiping every word I write (Sadly, takes far fewer for my dark heart). No, it has little to do with anyone else but me. The more I wrote blogs, the more I began to feel myself overwhelmed with concern about what others thought. I'd check the blog, Facebook, or twitter wasting hour upon hour counting views, waiting for comments, and reveling in my own personal cleverness. Perhaps I am the only "blogger" [...]

We’re All Wieners, Addicts, and Idolaters

2011-06-15T10:38:05+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Note to Self...and Others, Random Thoughts|

Sin is so irrational. If someone had written a fictitious short story about a man with the last name "Bottom" who sent pictures of his "bottom" across cyberspace, no one would laugh. The ironic humor would be lost in obviousness of foolishness. On the other hand, laughter and shock abound at such irony in real life. Truth is always stranger, weirder, funnier, and sadder than fiction. That is probably why Reality TV is much more popular than today's Soaps and Sitcoms. I am still trying to grasp the incredible irony found in the sinfully stupid decisions of Representative Anthony Wiener. No one could have written a story to equal both the humor and the tragedy. The story teaches us much about the dangers of position, the power of technology, and the absurdity of the press. If nothing else, a happily married and successful man's decision to blast pictures of his [...]

Our Love for the Brothers – 2John

2011-05-19T16:16:21+00:00By Sam Ford|Random Thoughts, Re:Sermon|

I preached on one of the shortest books in the Bible last week, 2John. For this sermon, I followed up the somewhat innocuous titles of Our Doctrine, Our Sinfulness with the ever-so-creative "Our Love." From the very first verses, we see that John is going emphasize this connection between truth and love. He is writing to the church because he LOVES them IN TRUTH. He says ALL who know the truth LOVE this them also, because of the TRUTH is in their hearts forever. He says grace, mercy, and peace will come from God to us, IN TRUTH and LOVE. We see then that truth and love are inseparable. In many ways, truth and love balance and qualify one another. Love and truth are both essential to any gospel-centered community. Truth without love ends up building community that is theologically strong but relationally cold, hard, and unloving toward anyone who [...]

More confession, more ___________

2011-05-13T14:51:31+00:00By Sam Ford|Random Thoughts, Re:Sermon|

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1.9 The Bible doesn’t actually speak about confession of sin as often as one might think. The New Testament speaks regularly about “confessing the gospel” or making the “good confession” of faith. Confession of sin may be indirectly implied in the direct call to repent from sin, but such calls seem to come through faith invitations to non-believers, not necessarily calls to believers to confess their sins regularly. In the N.T., James 5.16 and John 1John 1.9 appear to be among a select number of passages where the practice of confessing sin is encouraged. I am not sure if Scripture’s relative silence concerning confession is the reason I never developed a personal practice of confession. The reformer in me wants to blame my aversion for the practice [...]

Why you’re not in a small group

2011-05-11T23:01:01+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Note to Self...and Others, Random Thoughts|

Not in, never in, and no such thing as darkness (1John 1.5-2.2)

2011-05-09T11:34:59+00:00By Sam Ford|Random Thoughts, Re:Sermon|

Today's sermon text was 1John 1.5-2.2. An hour long-tirade on confession and sin isn’t the most uplifting of Mother’s Day sermons but, alas, honoring Mom’s is biblical and mother’s day is not. What is biblical and the purpose of gathering as a church is to worship Jesus by preaching the gospel. And if we don’t leave Sunday morning offended by God’s truth, the gospel probably wasn’t preached. The more I study John, the more I am coming face to face with my sin. His words are simple to understand and difficult to misunderstand. As he writes to condemn false teachers and refute false doctrine, I can’t help but feel like he is challenging me. No matter how hard I try to distance myself from the text, to point the finger that “those other people”, I can feel the finger of the Holy Spirit making a dent on my chest. In [...]

Encouraged to Encourage

2011-04-04T13:31:31+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others, Random Thoughts|

I love our church. When I say that, I don't mean that I simply love our name, building, music, or whatever parts you might consider make up the "church" and its "steeple." What I love are the hearts of our people, and the love they have for one another. Though I have been a part of many churches, this is the first time that I have experienced the church as a genuine family of families (this new experience is more about my own sanctification than it is about any church's past failure). This has not resulted from some master leadership plan I had when planting the church. It is a gift from the Spirit of God. Last week, after what is often coined as another "Sunday hangover", I lamented about all of the things that I should have said, shouldn't have said, or would say given another chance in the [...]

A Paradoxical Tension

2011-03-27T16:02:14+00:00By Sam Ford|Random Thoughts, Re:Sermon|

I have found that whenever I preach a sermon that calls people to actively "repent", or "obey", I am expected by many to explain exactly what I "don't mean", namely, self-righteousness. My hope is that we live and preach the gospel so regularly that it can be assumed that we always fight FROM our righteousness and not FOR it. The truth is that we will always fall short in our obedience. We we never fully stop "hating" as we ought not, but we certainly never "love" as we ought. That is why our salvation is secured through the perfect life of Jesus by his sacrifice on the cross. Our obedience will never serve as an effective means to obtain approval; it is, at best, response to the love of Jesus who, by grace, makes us more loving every day. Praise to the Lord that our rightness before God does [...]

Church Planting Lesson #29: Train Wreck Sermons

2011-03-15T11:28:33+00:00By Sam Ford|Random Thoughts|

Church Planting Lesson #29: Train Wrecks are sometimes unavoidable. There is a lot of pressure preaching every week. It feels like everyone is waiting for the preacher to either "feed" them something they consider good enough to come back for another meal, or give something to will justify their reasons for leaving. It's rather disturbing to watch and hear the "feeding" of the flock play out on a given Sunday. I have seen it all, the rolling eyes at the mispronunciation of a Greek Word, the feverish flipping of pages (sure sign of a brewing debate over context), or my personal favorite, the you're" putting me to sleep-teary-eyed-try to hold my yawn in-grimace. Of course, we won't even mention the people whose bladder-control is completely lost as they go to the restroom 25 times, not to be confused with the "bad back bandit" who has to get up and [...]

Weak Excuses Reveal the Heart

2011-02-28T16:24:49+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others, Random Thoughts|

By Pastor Jim F This week at Damascus Road Church we tackled two chapters, Joshua 16 and 17. These two chapters lay out the portion of land given to the people of Joseph, the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh. They are not content with their portion. As a matter of fact, their discontentment leads them to voicing a complaint with Joshua, and ultimately with God. The root of their complaint is being more comfortable with their own limited perspective than that of God. Joshua is not swayed by their justification of their unhappiness, and tasks them with using their many blessings to act toward the possession of the land. Joshua calls them to do what God has commanded them to do (and promised that He will show them success in): purify and subdue their inheritance. He is calling them to be stewards, but specifically to steward as God has commanded. [...]