Goodmanson.com – 500th Post

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Nov 3, 2006 in Church, Church Planting, Church Technology, Culture, Ekklesia, General Technology, Leadership, Monk Dev, Sermon, Sheep&Goats, Teaching | 3 comments

Welcome to Goodmanson.com .  If you are new(er) here, I began this blog in July of 2004 and today I've posted for the 500th time.  I got out my calculator and discovered that over these 825 days, I've made a post every 1.65 days.  Over the years I've posted a lot on church planting, technology, churches, leadership and culture.  Here are some posts I'd recommend if you haven't been here the whole time.

CHURCH PLANTING 

Five Trends for the Future of Church Planting 26Aug06

The State of the American Church – Why Church Planting is Critical to the Future of American Christianity 16May06

CHURCH

A Partnership of Externally Focused Churches 11Aug06

Emerging From Church De-Construction to Church Kingdom Building 19Sep05

Fun with Angry, Yelling, Legalistic Christians who Know Everything 03Apr05

Is the Twelve Tribes a Cult? 02Nov05 (From my year-plus stint as a weekly Sheep & Goat column for the San Diego Reader)

LEADERSHIP

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself 26Oct06

Deacon Training & Development 02Jun06

Triperspectival Ministry Assessment 12Oct06

The Dangers of Confession while in the Pulpit 20Oct06

TECHNOLOGY

Why God is more glorified by Web 2.0 09Oct06

Technology and the Mission: Conference Session 25Sep06

List of Church Technology & Website Blogs & Resources 27Sep06

CULTURE

My own ‘Sin City’ 18Apr05

The role of the Christian artist in the secular world 20Aug04

FAMILY

New Son Roman! 30Jan06

Gideon Turns 2 Years Old 26Mar05

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Oct 26, 2006 in Church, Sermon, Teaching | 17 comments

At Kaleo Church we teach that the Gospel isn't just a means of salvation, but it is the very way we grow as Christians.  When Paul writes his letters to the Galatians or Corinthians, he addresses each problem in the Christian community with the gospel.  (eg., Peter, who eats stops eating with the Gentiles isn't told to 'stop' which would be legalism, but is told that his actions aren't walking in line with the gospel.  His motivation for change is a reminder of who Christ is and what he has done for us and how that sets us free by grace.)

From this a term used is, 'I need to preach the gospel to myself'.  It refers to the need to go through the same process Paul does when he addresses sin.  But how do we preach the gospel to ourselves, what exactly is the process?  I decided to create a diagram to illustrate it (click on thumbnail for larger Preaching the Gospel diagram)

UPDATE: David Fairchild preached an excellent sermon based on this, you can see the sermon at Sermon Cloud: How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself.  It includes (1) a Word document handout that outlines the process, a (2) PowerPoint slide (click on image to the right), (3) the sermon notes and (4) the mp3 for you to download.

How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself

The two critical events are repentance and faith.  Errors people commonly fall in are (1) only dealing with the surface sin instead of the root sin and (2) preaching moralism to ourself instead of the gospel.   

PART I  DOWN THE SLOPE OF REPENTANCE – Objective: To see and confess that I am a bigger sinner than I thought. 

1. See and Own Your Sin:  Examine yourself in the mirror of God's Word, your negative emotions and attitudes, and the responses of others to you.  Guard yourself against sin's deceitfulness: the tendency to water down God's standard, compare yourself to others, shift the blame or commit ourselves to trying harder.

2. See the Sin Beneath the Sin: Don't move too quickly to confess and receive forgiveness for the surface sin (cheap grace, "I'm just a sinner" attitude.  If you are anxious, yes go to Phil. 4, but what is causing your anxiousness?)  Push the 'Why?' question until you find what you are looking to other than Jesus (your functional messiah) for meaning and value in life.

3. Expose the Idols of your Heart: Idols always disappoint 

They are weak: They can't deliver when you succeed; they can only raise the bar. They can't forgive you when you fail; they can only lower the boom.
They are harmful: They hurt you spiritually, emotionally and physically.  They hurt others by undermining your ability to love.
They are Grievous: Most importantly, by going after these idols/other lovers you are saying to God: "Jesus is not enough.  I also need _________ in order to be happy.

EXAMPLE: Athletics
Sin: I get frustrated when I don't win at sports.
Sin beneath the sin: I need the approval of others to feel better about myself.
IDOL: ACCEPTANCE of others/Self Worship

Weak: The approval is always based on your performance.  If you fail, you get angry/rejected.  When you succeed you need more/to continue to perform and receive value.

These idols will lead you into slavery James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

CONCLUSION: I am a much bigger sinner than I thought.  I am a worthy recipient of God's judgment.  Trying harder won't cut it.  I am helpless and hopeless in myself.  BUT there is One… 

PART II UP THE SLOPE OF FAITH – Objective: To thank God that Jesus is a much bigger Savior than I thought.  

1. Repentance is a gift: Pray for the gift of repentance.  Do not 'try' to stop sinning, but ask God to change your heart.  If the Holy Spirit does not address your heart, your repentance is only 'horizontal' and true gospel change will not happen.  You may change for a season by your own 'will-power' but eventually you will become resentful or fall back into worshiping your false idols, which are your true 'functional messiahs'.

2. See Jesus as the only true Savior

Jesus lived for me.  Think about and give thanks for specific ways Jesus has lived obediently where I have failed.

Jesus died for me. Think about Jesus' death on the cross for my specific sins and idolatry.  Thank God that my sin has been punished once and for all.

God sees me in Jesus. Think about how God sees me in Jesus, clothed with His perfect righteousness.  Thank Him specifically for how He provides for me in Christ that all my idols promised but could not deliver.

Jesus lives in me.  Thank God that He does not leave me to live the Christian life on my own, but the Spirit of Christ now dwells in me.  Ask Him to live His righteous life through me, specifically in the areas where I have confessed sin.

3. Gospel-motivated living: Embrace and know that the gospel is how you change (2 Cor. 3:18b), it is the gospel that empowers you to serve (2 Cor 3:5) and it is through the gospel that you meet God (2 Cor 3:18a; 4:6)

CREDITS: The pastors of Harbor, Tim Keller @ Redeemer and David Fairchild at Kaleo. 

The Dangers of Confession while in the Pulpit

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Oct 20, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 2 comments

Should a pastor confess their sin behind the pulpit?  I have heard people tell pastors that they should not confess their sin while preaching.  These (often a-little-too Reformed) pastors believe it diminishes the office.  This conversation took place when a friend (Tim Berroth) was discussing  Confessions of a Pastor: Adventures in Dropping the Pose and Getting Real with God by pastor Craig Groeschel.  Groeschel states in his book that often the most impactful sermons he has are the ones where he offers real personal confessions of sin. In the book, Groeschel candidly describes the struggles and sins that he fights daily as a pastor–not surprisingly, the sins that beset him are the same ones that beset us all: lust, fear, worry, a judgmental spirit, selfishness and self-centerdness to name a few. In his effort to "drop the pose and get real," Groeschel paints a vivid picture of a reality that many in the church may not readily accept or choose to ignore altogether.

Should a pastor confess their sin behind the pulpit?  How should this be done?  I recall a pastors meeting here in San Diego with Dick Kaufmann who stated something to the effect:

A pastor who confesses sin without illustrating how the gospel dealt with the sin is doing a very harmful thing.   To say, "I struggle with lust" as a confession alone is mean.  Sin should be confessed behind the pulpit, only when the pastor has gone through the process and is able to communicate how they've been changed by the gospel. 

Richard Foster in The Celebration of the Disciplines writes:

Without the cross the discipline of confession would be only psychologically therapeutic.  But it is so much more.  It involves an objective change in our relationship with God and a subjective change in us.  It is a means of healing and transforming the inner spirit.

Tim Keller vs. John Piper Deathmatch

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 21, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 6 comments

It's gotten to this. djchuang posts on Why I like Keller more than Piper.  A new wave of preacher Deathmatches are sweeping the internet, where will it go?

• Mark Driscoll vs. Joshua Harris
• John MacArthur vs. Andy Stanley
• Rick McKinely vs. Chris Seay
• Bill Hybels vs. Rick Warren
• Ed Young vs. Joel Osteen
• Mark Moore vs. David Fairchild

Oh the insanity… (HT: Reformissionary)

The Problem With Preaching

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 18, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 5 comments

Any time a person 'attacks' preaching, it's bound to cause a stir.  Next Wave publishes an article, The Problem with Preaching that begins:

Preaching is a big problem. After many years of preaching, listening to sermons, studying the scriptures, participating in 'church' leadership & studying the western church (in New Zealand), I'm becoming convinced that preaching often does more harm than good. Preaching, as it is practiced in modern churches, is extra-biblical, a poor form of communication, and creates dependency.

It goes on to layout a number of reasons why their are problems with preaching:

1. Preaching is Extra-Biblical

2. Preaching is an Ineffective Form of Communication

3. Preaching Limits Learning, Discussion & Debate

4. Preaching Doesn't Usually Change Lives

5. Preaching Can Foster Biblical Illiteracy

6. Preaching Disempowers People 

(and the list goes on…)

I'm sure this will divide right down the 'pomo-emergent' vs. 'evangelical' lines as to how people respond to the post.   There are so many ways we could slice this.  (I don't know if the assumption is preaching is the magic bullet to solve all problems, but there seems there is a lot of straw man arguments. Eg.  'Preaching doesn't change lives' of course, the Holy Spirit does and it uses His Word.)

Preaching as the function of church is under attack and will continue to be under great scrutiny.  A post at Church Marketing Sucks about Making the Most of Your Sermon illicted responses such as, "To me the sermon is a pretty small percentage of the ministry of the church." Yet, I would venture that this is the majority of where preaching pastors spend their time.

At Faithworks, Tom Allen writes an article entitled, Is Our Preaching Out of Touch where he states, "In an emerging church culture that values authenticity above all else, such an approach to preaching creates an artificial distance with the congregation."  He goes on to quote Paggit:

For Pagitt, (preaching) is unhealthy — even abusive — to suggest that only a few, privileged individuals can speak for God. "Why do I get to speak for 30 minutes and you don't?"“A sermon is often a violent act,” says Pagitt, a key figure among emerging leaders. “It’s a violence toward the will of the people who have to sit there and take it.” To treat the sermon as an oratorical performance delivered by a paid and trained professional who claims to speak for God sets up an artificial power imbalance within the congregation, Pagitt says.

The Problem With Preaching article ends with this suggestion:

I believe that a better & more scriptural alternative (to preaching) is personal and corporate Bible study, listening to God, discussion, and working together in mutually-accountable community to help each other apply biblical truths in our lives, community and world.

Promise and Deliverance

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 14, 2006 in Church, Sermon, Teaching | 7 comments

Are you interested in a good Redemptive Historical work?  Promises and Deliverance is an English translation of the 19th century work by Reverend S. G. De Graaf in a 4 volume set that outlines and summaries of Bible stories. (You can also pick up the Drama of Scripture.)  Throughout De Graaf's work he focuses on the Kingdom of God being established and working out its means in human history. De Graaf does a great job moving beyond the 'moral lesson' or 'typical point' used in the stories of the Bible to seeing OT stories as foreshadows of Jesus and all part of the redemptive plan of God.  The New Testament work points out the Kingdom of God being established on earth.  For an OT example, volume 1, chapter 3 begins:

I have deliberately entitled this chapter "The Covenant of Grace" instead of "The Fall".  The fall certainly merits our attention, but if we put too much emphasis on it, the revelation of God's grace might become a mere afterthought.  When we read through Genesis 3, we see that the fall is described in just seven verses, while the rest of the chapter is devoted to God's grace.  Even more important for our purposes is the fact that the Scripture is not a book of the acts of men but the book of revelation of God.  Here in Genesis 3, God shows us how He opposed sin and conquered it by His grace when it entered His creation.

Or here, we see a sermon by Michael Horton on the Exodus where he quotes De Graaf's work:

According to S. F. De Graaf: "We should guard against overemphasizing the deliverance of the people from Egypt. This deliverance was only a means of reaching the goal–establishing the covenant. In a spiritual sense, the covenant comes first; the deliverance from Egypt must be seen as following from the covenant. Here too the Word of God holds: 'Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.'" 

Here is another article on preaching by Michael S. Horton (at Modern Reformation) based on De Graaf's work: What Are We Looking for in the Bible?

Volume 1: From Creation to the Conquest of Canaan

Volume 2: The Failure of Israel's Theocracy

Volume 3: Christ's Ministry and Death

Volume 4: Christ and the Nations

They are not always easy to find (we have a great bookstore in San Diego that has them, Evangelical Bookstore ).  I also saw them at Covenant Seminary Online Bookstore and Westminster Bookstore .