TECHNO-DISASTER!!!

Oh man, am I bummed out ... (he said, once again proving his age through his choice of language)

As you may know, if you've been following the saga of our digital recording problems, this week we purchased a new stand-alone CD burner. It works wonderfully well --- that is, as long as eveything attached to it is also working wonderfully well.

This morning was a busy morning. I went through my usual routine, flipped on the power switches, inserted a disk and assumed (wrongly) that everything was in working order. We played music, we sang, we greeted guests, all in all it was a very enjoyable morning. I clipped on the mic, picked up my new remote control (because I'm spoiled) and started the recording. I preached for just over an hour and brought the newly printed disk home with me. I had recorded 64 minutes of absolute silence. For reasons that defy explanation, someone had turned off the sound board so my microphone wasn't reaching the recording machine.

All that to say: there is no recording of this morning's message.

Now, at times in the past when this has happened I have recited the message a second time in order not to lose the information. The problem is, I don't really think I could recount all the material we reviewed this morning. It was indeed one of those "you had to be there" kind of mornings.

Nevetheless, I can supply a quick overview. In essence, I recounted the events that took place during the three days that Jesus was in the tomb. We started the morning by reading from Leviticus 23 and created a chart on the board of the Spring feasts, or "set times" of the Lord. Then we moved forward into the gospel accounts to show how Christ fulfilled the feasts exactly and precisely in order. He died on Passover, He was put in the tomb just as the Feast of Unleavened Bread began (a high day, according to John), He arose at the moment that the Feast of Firstfruits began, and 50 days later the Spirit of God appeared exactly on the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. Christ was the Passover Lamb, He was the Unleavened Bread, He was the Firstfruit of the Resurrection, and His Spirit ushered in the establishment of the Church on Pentecost.

We also talked about the differences between lunar and solar calenders and how a day began at sundown in Jewish reckoning. So, Jesus was able to keep the Passover meal on Tuesday night and still die on Passover the next afternoon. He was in the grave for 72 actual hours, three days and three nights, starting from Wednesday night (just as the first "high day" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread began). The following evening began the weekly "day of preparation," when the women were free to buy their spices to annoint Jesus after three days and the High Priest was able to visit with Pilate to ask for a guard on the tomb. Then, Israel kept their weekly Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening. And, Saturday evening, just as the Feast of Firstfruits began, Jesus rose from the grave, leaving the tomb empty when the women arrived before the sun came up.

The traditional Friday-to-Sunday scenario simply does leave ample space for all the things to occur that the Bible says actually happened. The three-day-three-night, 72-hour scenario not only allows for everything the Bible recounts, but it also establishes Christ as the substance of the shadows cast by the Old Covenant feasts and observances. And, that's the central theme. In the end, all the glory goes back to Christ, to whom all the types and shadows point.

For the most part, the details of the information that we recited this morning can be found in the following chart (also available in our Q&A section).

View the chart here: Passion Week of Christ

But, needlesss to say, I'm terribly disappointed whenever our machinery lets us down. It was a very enjoyable morning (not to make you feel bad), and I am frustrated that the message was not recorded. But, God knows what He's doing. He's even sovereign over sound boards and the people who inadvertantly turn them off.

But, man .... I am really bummed out ..... :-)

Homecoming Update

Well, it's official. My good friend, buddy, pal, and preachin' compadre, Elder Barney Johnson has agreed to be here on Saturday April 15 to preach to the GCA homecoming gathering. We're finalizing plans, but there will be an afternnon/evening meeting that day, complete with a meal. Then, everyone will have time to visit and get to bed at a reasonable hour so we can get up Sunday morning and gather for the morning worship and communion service.

All-in-all, it's looking like a great time. If you have not received an invitation and would like one, just drop me a line at Jim@salvationbygrace.org.

We're looking forward to seeing you!

Notes from Wednesday night

At this point in our Wednesday night studies, we've been reading articles from leading amillennial writers and comparing their arguments with the Biblical text. A couple of folk have asked for links to those articles, and I'm happy to provide them. The article from Kim Riddlebarger, which we reviewed during the previous two weeks, can be found here:

riddlebarger

And the article we began reading last night from Anthony Hoekema can be read here:

hoekema 1

And then we'll continue to this article:

hoekema 2

If you've been keeping up with the trials of digital recording we've been going through, then you know that we've finally purchased a new machine that allows me to record directly to CD, which I can quickly upload to my computer, tack on the musical intro/outro, and send to the website. Well, in playing with the new machine last night (which worked wonderfully well, by the way --- it's the TASCAM CDRW 750 --- very cool), we ate up enough time that we ran out of space on the CD just as I was making my closing comments. So, the message from last night does end rather abruptly. I'll try to be more time-conscious in the future. :-)

GCA Homecoming Weekend

Friends of GCA,

You are invited to a special event this Resurrection Sunday: the first-ever GCA Homecoming! That's April 16, 2006. This weekend-long event will consist of special sessions, plenty of food and fun, and a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with other GCA supporters from across the country. Put faces with those names and voices at last!

Come celebrate God's sovereignty, take communion with the local congregation, and show your support for the worldwide ministry of Grace Christian Assembly as we unite together for this special weekend.

Please RSVP so we can finalize our plans. Just email Jim and let us know you're planning to attend. Several families from across the country are already planning to join us.

Details will be posted here as they develop.

We look forward to seeing you!

Wednesday night glitch

Well, last night it snowed in Nashville. It wasn't a heavy snow, but it sloppy and sufficient to send all my neighbors running to the grocery store to stock up ... just in case. Nashville residents panic at the slightest hint of snow. Schools close, people stay in, and there's a run on eggs, bread, and milk. :-)

As a result, we were extremely thin-on-the-ground for our mid-week meeting. While I found that a bit frustrating, it was understandable. It was also providential, as it turns out. Tom reminded me that when I clip on my microphone I'm speaking to the ever-growing Internet audience as well. So, I hit "record" and off we went. I finished replying to Kim Riddlebarger's article on Amillennialism and the two-age model. It took an hour and a half to do. But, we did get all the way through it. After we finished, I grabbed my books and minidisks and headed home.

This morning I attempted to upload the message to my computer, as I do twice a week. But, nothin' doin'. I initially thought that the first disk was corrupted, but the second disk was similarly unplayable. Drat. That means it's the machine at the church that isn't functioning. So, I will have to go over to GCA this afternoon and experiment with our minidisk recorder to see it that's the problem. And if it is, we'll have to acquire a replacement.

The reason I said this was all providential is this: The night that our machine went haywire was the night of our lowest Wednesday attendance in a year. So, only a handful of people heard the message. We discovered the problem before Sunday, so our weekly morning message won't be lost. And, since the majority of our listeners haven't heard the balance of my reply to Riddlebarger's article, I'll just do it again next Wednesday. At least when the electronics failed, they did it on a night when the damage was slight.

So, those of you who were at GCA last night will look really smart next week. You'll already know what the biblical responses are and where to find the proper texts! And the rest of you won't be left out.

From what I'm reading, this current series we've been doing onWednesday nights, examining the history and development of the various eschatological views has been very enlightening and helpful to our listeners. So, I don't want to skip this critical portion. And I won't be discouraged by the digital glitches. We'll just pick up next week and do it all again.

Oh, and that does not mean that those of you who were there last night have next week off. :-)

"Et tu, Brute?"

Bear with me here. I don't usually write overly personal stuff on this blog. It is normally dedicated to theological matters and GCA's ongoing endeavors. But, at this moment I have to write about a cat.

The young feline fellow pictured here, sitting on my daughter's lap, is Brutus. I referred to him as Einstein because of his white mustache, making him look much smarter than he really was. Although he frequently looked as though he was pondering the mysteries of life, or the complexities of quantum physics, I'm certain the foremost thought in his head was normally "more food."

My kids raised Brutus from a kitten and he was barely two years old when we lost him. He was never particularly streetwise, unlike his brother. Yesterday morning, as we were dressing and preparing for church, Megan went out on the front porch to feed "the boys." She came running back into the house screaming that there was a vulture on our lawn. I went out and chased the large, carrion-consuming fowl off the carcass of our little friend.

Over the last couple of weeks Brutus and I had bonded. Although the kids have always been able to approach him, pick him up, and tussle with him, he's always been shy around me. I'd been plying him with turkey bits and scrambled eggs and just a week ago he climbed into my lap for the first time while I sat on my porch watching the sunset. He was a good fellow.

So, I had to keep my kids from seeing his emaciated body. I wanted them to remember him the way he looked when he jumped up in the kitchen window and watched us as though he were watching TV. I covered him with a plastic bag and dug a grave in my back yard.

Sometimes in life you have to do what needs to be done. You have to control your emotions and concentrate on the task at hand. I dug through the cold, muddy earth, overturning the shovel repeatedly, putting an extra strain on my aching back. But, there were no choices. I had to bury my new friend.

I cannot count the number of pets I've buried through the years. Some were taken to the vet to be put to sleep. Some were dead when I found them. But, it never really gets easier.

Oh, I know ... someone will say, "Oh, come on. It's just a cat." And I know that. I realize that animals, like all living things, are fragile creatures. And everything living will eventually die. If you live long enough, you're bound to lose people and animals you love. I get it.

But, some animals have that extra spark -- that little extra bit of personality that makes them more than pets. They genuinely become part of the family. And, Brutus was a regular part of our day. He was always in the window or laying in the sun, waiting for his humans to come feed and pet him. It's an odd thing about animals. We feel good about ourselves when we work to make them feel good. Brutus was one of those little furry folk who made you happy when you looked at him. Just last week the girl who delivered pizza to our house stopped and looked at "the boys" -- Brutus and his nearly identical brother, Mystery. She burst out, "I love those cats!" He was just that sort of guy.

Well, good-bye, pal. Thanks for the good days. Thanks for all the times you made my children smile. Thanks for creeping up onto my lap and sneaking into my heart.

We'll miss you.