What's going on...again...

Well, again, I wish to express my thanks to all who have been petitioning the Lord on my father's behalf. He was steadily going downhill. He was even hallucinating. But we didn't know he was dehydrating badly. His kidneys are fine but he couldn't eliminate. He's back in the hospital (as of 4am yesterday), but this time he's in a different one, and is getting much better care. After leaving church this morning (that's another story), my wife and I went to see him Frankly, I haven't seen him looking so good in a very long time! Hopefully this trend will continue and he'll get some major strength back. Nice to have him in a hospital that is not understaffed...the other place had been purchased and went from non-profit to profit based operation. You can guess what happened. Not good.

It's been a rough past week. Had a sleep study done last Thursday night (checking for apnea). On my wife's way home that night, the transmission failed in her car. We're just going to replace the car. Then my left eye is going "lazy" on me -- it turns inward so now I see double till it gets better (this tends to happen every year at least once).

Oh well. It never rains unless it pours. But at least dad is doing much better.

Then there's church, as I mentioned earlier. Our associate pastor preached. He tends to be easier for me to relate to than our head pastor. And his messages tend to have less polish and more substance, which I appreciate. Not expositional, unfortunately, but....

What I'll do is post a link to his message when it becomes available. I agree with him that we need to relate to people, such as our neighbors but after a while you just gotta wonder "when are you going to give the guy the gospel?" It's like all we're trying to do is get people to come to church. After all, they are "unchurched"! Well, going to church doesn't convert anyone. And they shouldn't have to go to church to hear the Gospel. And if I had brought someone to church that wasn't saved, my visitor friend wouldn't have heard the gospel anyway, just a message about relating to your neighbor and getting them in the building!

We keep trying to play the equivalent of 2 or 3 bumper shots (think pool). I guess this is in the name of "not offending". But how long does anyone have to live? I remember how D.L. Moody, after preaching, used to tell people to go home and consider their state before God. Then so many people died (in the Chicago fire, I think). Later he said "never again" would he tell them to "wait till later". It broke him!

But the game goes on: "Well, let's go out and do this, which might cause that, and if that happens they might come to church. Then maybe they'll hear the gospel!". What drivel! Why not just hit the cue ball directly to the 3 and knock it in? Give them the Gospel straight up! It takes less time and contrivance to do it God's way! Just give them the law to help them become aware of the knowlege of sin and guilt, then give them the message of grace through the finished work of Christ!

Nah, that's too easy.

Of course we want to be friends to our neighbors and help them. Of course if we see someone in need we help them. But if we can paint their homes and give them food, why can't we give them what will cleanse them and feed them forever?

Oh well. This is supposed to be an update, not a sermon on evangelism.

Maybe I'll post on this tomorrow.

Blessings and thanks to you for your ongoing prayer support.