Author Archives: Jim
Monday Mornings with The Early Church Fathers: Their Thoughts on Baptism, Communion and Prayer
Do you ever grow weary of all the new fads and techniques the modern church creates? I do! What is important to us, may not have been important to those who were personally discipled by Jesus Christ and those whom they disicpled.
I am continually challenged when I read the history and the writings of the early church. I am drawn to them over and over again because of how close they were in time to the Apostles. There writings are not scripture, but neither are the writings of Luther, Calvin or John Stott. These writings shed tremendous light on how the Apostles and the early church viewed the Christ event and the implications of it. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus Christ faithfully owes it to themselves to read the writings of these Godly men.
Today, I am posting chapters 7-9 of the “Didache”, also known as “The Teaching of The Twelve Apostles.” It is one of the most fascinating documents to emerge from the early church. It was probably in circulation somewhere close to the end of the first century Read the rest of this entry
What Does God Want From the Human Race?
What Does God Want From the Human Race?
Does He want us to believe the right things or act the right way? Is His primary concern that we believe the right doctrine or that we behave the right way? Does He want us to hold to and defend until death the “correct” teaching about Him? Or is God more concerned with how we choose to live our lives?
Does it please God more when we give ourselves to study every facet of his character, diving into the deep end of the pool to contemplate God in all his glorious ways or when we devote our lives to living according to those ways? Put another way, do you think that God was more pleased with John Calvin Read the rest of this entry
Are YOU a Heretic? Take the Quiz and find Out!
You may have been labeled a heretic in the past. Now you can take the quiz and find out if you really are one! Take the “Are You A Heretic Quiz.”
Monday Mornings with The Early Church Fathers: The Didache
Do you ever grow weary of all the new fads and techniques the modern church creates? I do! What is important to us, may not have been important to those who were personally discipled by Jesus Christ and those whom they disicpled.
I am continually challenged when I read the history and the writings of the early church. I am drawn to them over and over again because of how close they were in time to the Apostles. There writings are not scripture, but neither are the writings of Luther, Calvin or John Stott. These writings shed tremendous light on how the Apostles and the early church viewed the Christ event and the implications of it. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus Christ faithfully owes it to themselves to read the writings of these Godly men.
Today, I am posting chapters 5 and 6 of the “Didache”, also known as “The Teaching of The Twelve Apostles.” It is one of the most fascinating documents to emerge from the early church. It was probably in circulation somewhere close to the end of the first century Read the rest of this entry
Sunday Morning Funnies: Can You Come up with A Great Caption for This Photo?
I drove by a church in my town today and saw this sign. After rear-ending the guy in front of me, exchanging insurance information, and calling the tow truck, I had time to take the photo. I tried and tried to come up with a caption for this one that was funny. Here are a few examples: “Pastor Steve Boldly Implements His New Church Growth Plan” or “Church Animal Outreach Produces Unwanted Offerings” or “Could This Be the Next Great Awakening?” In the end, I couldn’t come up with anything I liked.
So, we are asking our readers to give it their best shot. Can you come up with a good caption/title for this photo? Submit your best idea in the comment section below.
Cross-Centered Worship Songs: “You Are the Way”
This column, “Cross-Centered Worship Songs”, was started as a way to serve the church at large. I wanted to introduce some of the lesser known songs out there so that the corporate singing of the church might be enriched. I have been posting songs from different genres: hymns, a capella, contemporary rock, etc. I try to post a chord chart when possible. I hope you find it helpful. If you do, please let us know! Today’s song is called “You Are the Way” written by Pat Sczebel. It is a simple, easy to sing, gospel proclamation. Read the rest of this entry
This is THE ONE Bible Every Christian Should Own…!
“SELL YOUR BED AND BUY BOOKS!”
That’s what my Homiletic’s professor declared to the whole class. Another student had asked what we should do if we wanted to be good pastors. “Get books, big books, thick books, good books, lots of books and read them. Sell your bed if you have to, but get books and read!” Much to the chagrin of my young bride, I bought that one hook, line and sinker. His admonition helped to forever alter the course of my money. My freshmen year in college I bought over $700 worth of Biblical reference works (back in the mid 80’s!) that I was not required to have for class! I didn’t sell the bed (though I would have definitely traded it for Kittel), but I did eat a lot of popcorn for breakfast. So began my love affair with books.
It would be my Greek teacher who would have the most profound impact on me. It happened when he uttered this statment on the first day of class:
“Your challenge is not that the people in your congregation WON’T believe what you teach. Your challenge is that many people in the congregation will Read the rest of this entry
Iranian Pastor Faces Execution for Refusing to Recant Christian Faith
An Iranian pastor who has refused to renounce his Christian faith faces execution as early as Wednesday
after his sentence was upheld by an Iranian court.
Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who maintains he has never
been a Muslim as an adult, has Islamic ancestry and therefore must recant his
faith in Jesus Christ, the 11th branch of Iran’s Gilan Provincial Court ruled.
Iran’s Supreme Court had ordered the trial court to determine whether Nadarkhani had been a
Muslim prior to converting to Christianity. Read
more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09/28/iranian-pastor-faces-execution-for-refusing-to-recant-christian-faith/#ixzz1ZIJ2rjhk
Monday Mornings with The Early Church Fathers
Do you ever grow weary of all the new fads and techniques the modern church creates? I do! What is important to us, may not have been important to those who were personally discipled by Jesus Christ and those whom they disicpled.
I am continually challenged when I read the history and the writings of the early church. I am drawn to them over and over again because of how close they were in time to the Apostles. There writings are not scripture, but neither are the writings of Luther, Calvin or John Stott. These writings shed tremendous light on how the Apostles and the early church viewed the Christ event and the implications of it. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus Christ faithfully owes it to themselves to read the writings of these Godly men.
Today, I am posting chapters 1-4 of the “Didache”, also known as “The Teaching of The Twelve Apostles.” It is one of the most fascinating documents to emerge from the early church. It was probably in circulation somewhere close to the end of the first century Read the rest of this entry
Free Prayer: Urgent Prayer Request
This prayer request just came into the NotForItchingEars Free Prayer line. If you pray, please take a moment and pray for Roesans situation.Prayer Request: There is a file at work that it missing. We now have a subpoena from the police department to locate it. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will direct, lead and guide us to locate this file. If it is not found I will be fired because I do the filing. If I lose this job I will lose everything, the company will be sanctioned and the ramifications will be so severe I could land up in jail or worse. Please pray in earnest for me that the Lord will have mercy on me and that His wrath will not fall upon me and we locate that missing file. Thank you. Isaiah 54:17
“Father, we humbly ask that you would help Rosean find this missing file. Give her and her co-workers to wisdom to know where and where not to look. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!”
Cross-Centered Worship Songs: “Let Your Kingdom Come!”
I have been responsible for leading corporate singing in the church for years. 
I know how frustrating it can be to find songs that are worth singing. Many of the newer songs never mention or even allude to the most important aspect of Christianity: The message of The Cross! To be sure, there are songs out there, but it takes time to find them. I often sift through 40 songs, just to find one new song. (Worship team members have affectionately, and some times derogatorily, nick-named me “The Lyric Police”. Call me old school if you like, but If we are going to sing in church, I think the songs we sing to our Savior should be worthy of Him and His work on the cross!
This column, “Cross-Centered Worship Songs”, was started as a way to serve my many worship leading friends. I hope to introduce some of the lesser known songs out there that you may not have heard. Today’s song, “Let Your Kingdom Come”, is an Read the rest of this entry
What is The Most Important Part of Corporate Worship for YOU personally
Let’s face it, every church-goer has an opinion about this topic: What they like the most about attending a corporate church service. Over here at NotForItchingEars.com we are VERY interested in what you think. It is part of our ongoing study of worship and Christianity. We need your help here, so please take 45 seconds or less and answer the poll.
Now, about the poll: We understand that we are asking you to make a choice that Read the rest of this entry
Worship: Is it a Life Well-Lived or a Chorus Well-Sung?
We love to discuss those things we are passionate about, don’t we? Be it our favorite football team (THE Washington Redskins), politics, sports, movies, cultural issues. Heck we even argue about beer! Remember the Miller Lite commercials? For years, Miller Lite drinkers, including the likes of Rodney Dangerfield and John Madden, bickered back and forth on our TV sets. The argument? What made Miller Lite such a great beer. Some said the drink tasted great. Others said it was less filling. Though they were very entertaining commercials, it makes one wonder: Don’t we have anything better to discuss than beer?
Of course we do! Over here at Not For Itching Ears, we’ve been spending a lot of time talking about a topic that is higher up the food chain: Worshipping God. If you read these posts (millions of people do each hour) Read the rest of this entry
Why I Read the Early Church Fathers and You Should Too!
“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.”
Or so the saying goes. In essence it means that those who don’t consider the past, when making choices in the present, will likely arrive at similarly bad conclusions. This phrase strikes a chord with many. Perhaps it is because we tend to always look forward, seldom pausing to consider the past. Part of our DNA seems to include the belief that the next best thing is just up on the horizon. Who can blame us? Isn’t it often true? At least with technology it is. The next generation computer, or Iphone or IPad is going to be better than the previous one. Things we build seem to improve over time, as we discover new ways of making them faster, smaller, bigger, cheaper, and more reliable.
Many within the evangelical Christian community seem to adopt this same belief when it comes to understanding Christianity and how that applies to our corporate lives. We are often looking for the next thing, God’s next move, a “new and improved, better than the old” way of Read the rest of this entry
“Evangelical Christianity Can BEST be described as…………” Take our Poll and tell the World
How would you best describe Evangelical Christianity? We have assembled some of the most common descriptions of EC in our poll. Taking the poll is easy. You can choose more than one answer, so feel free to combine answers. You can not add your own description to the poll, but you can leave comments. We intend to Read the rest of this entry
Has The Church Become the Newest Contestant on “American Idolatry”
“If it feels good, do it!”
This catch phrase, introduced in the 1960’s, has become a well established creed in American culture. It now appears that the American church has adopted a similar slogan: “If it makes people feel good, we should use it.” And are we ever! Today church leaders of every persuasion are trying all kinds of new methods in order to fill the pews. If something we do succeeds in drawing more people into services then it “works” and is therefore good, right, and stamped with the very approval of God Himself. Because as we all know, God wants people in pews. Or so the story goes. But are these new methods approved by God himself?
One of the things we should be clear about… Read the rest of this entry
Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS Way – Part II
What does God consider worship and how can we offer it to Him? I think that is the best place to start a series on worship. Earlier we talked about this in “Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS Way – Part 1”. God is the one who is worshipped, so he gets to define how that looks. He does this for us in the Bible. A biblical definition of worship is where God tells us what worship means to Him. One of the places He does that is in Read the rest of this entry
Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS way
What is worship and how do we as christians go about doing it? Is it the 30-45 minutes we spend singing at church with others each week? Is it the 20-35 minutes we spend listening to a sermon at that same gathering? Is it the money we contribute to our congregations to keep the doors open? Is worship the time we give to volunteer in the parking ministry or Children’s church?
Let me state as clearly as I can, so that there is no misunderstanding: I think that all the things I just mentioned can unequivocally be considered acts by which people worship God. I just don’t think that doing them necessarily equals worship. I am not advocating that we stop singing, even though the title of this post might lead to that conclusion.
My friends, I have been giving this a lot of thought lately. In part, because I have become so disillusioned with the contemporary church model that claims to be all about worship. I’ve been to 30+ different congregations, all focused on “worship”. It seems that all we are doing is singing songs and calling that worship. Worship appears to have become an event that we grade or a product we consume. Does anyone else find that troubling?
People are always defining worship. Most start off their definition with Read the rest of this entry
Not For Itching Ears 