My appreciation for Thomas Jefferson has forever been altered. I recently complete the book by John Meacham titled Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Jefferson has long been my favorite “founding brother” (as Joseph Ellis would term it). This book served to solidify Jefferson’s lofty state in my mind, particularly as I discovered the following principles of servant leadership in his life.
Below you will find my sermon from this past Sunday, preached at Midpoint Baptist Fellowship in Marikina, Philippines.
The sermon is posted here for anyone to view or download and use it ministry as they see fit.
Verses Used: Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 8:17
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America is great, not because of her location, geography, military, or money. America is great because of her ideas.
On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence was set forth by a “band of brothers” – the founding fathers of the United States – in the face of the mighty British empire.
I started a blog to write, but I have become disenchanted with the amount of time to takes to “layout” a blog post. I did not set out to become a master-curator for pictures and headlines. I write because I love to express ideas, because I love ideas. Ideas change things.
Imagine there is a missionary who works for 30+ years. At the end of his ministry he has a team of people around him helping him. Everything from clerical to financial to ministry was taken care of – all led by competent, professional servants of God. Compare that to another missionary, who at the end of his 30+ years has only one person left on his team; only one person who has remained with him until the end. How would you compare the two?
source: hrfootprints.com
I’m all for providing clean water and food for the needy. Really, I am. Our team in the Philippines operates daily feeding centers and other humanitarian efforts. But that’s not our mission. Our mission is much more important than that.
We live in a world of amusement. Thinking is not a valuable proposition in our world. But Christians are to be a thinking people. The very nature of our doctrine demands that we think deeply about some things.
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Every year, churches wrestle with this question: “what is the right use of technology in the church?” Too much and you’ve gone overboard. Too little and you are left in the dust. A large number of pastors are now preaching from iPads and other tablets. Is this good or bad?
source: davidsantistevan.com
Our technology is outgrowing our ability to filter it, as I recently discovered on an international flight. It was during this flight that I realized a new enemy is present for parents who want to protect the innocence of their children: lack of control.
source: airfax.com
Imagine it’s the year 1999 (for some of you, that’s hard to do, I know). But just imagine. There is no social media, we only use the internet for a few things here and there, but we do have a wonder of modern technology: the cell phone. You love your cell phone. This wonder of modern technology keeps you connected to friends and family. No more pay phones for you. No matter where you are, all they need to do is call.
Now imagine that your friends and family – ALL of your friends and family – began to call and text you with updates every 15-30 minutes. Not important updates. Not things that were valuable or really useful to you. Updates like what they had for breakfast; what their 4-year old is wearing to school; that they just got their electric bill in the mail; things like that.
How long would it take you to ask them to stop calling and texting you with this random, useless information? Probably about a day. It would be annoying, distracting, tiring, and ultimately pointless.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is now the reality. It’s called facebook.
source: http://topnews.in/health/files/facebook-using.jpg
