Facincating ND Facts

To give those of you who've never been to North Dakota a better sense of what life looks like in ND, here's a top ten list of interesting facts (North Dakota Agricultural Facts 2008):

1. 1 in 4 workers are employed in farming/ranching
2. ND grows enough corn to produce almost 750 million gallons of ethanol a year
3. 90% of the state's land is made up of farms/ranches
4. ND annually produces enough beef for 100 million burgers
5. There are over 30,000 farms/ranches
6. ND produces over 90% of America's flaxseed and canola
7. In under 10 seconds, enough wheat can be harvested for 70 loaves of bread
8. The state's farmland could cover 12 million city blocks
9. Enough wheat is grown yearly to produce nearly 15 billion loaves of bread
10. The soybean production annually is enough for over 200 billion crayons

I hope this gives you a better understanding of our landscape.

By God's Grace, Jeff

A North Dakota Luau

My in-laws have been in town this week and so we've been doing a lot of touristy stuff. Actually apparently there's not much touristy stuff in ND since it ranks dead last in vacation destinations among the fifty states. Anyway, we took them to the Lewis and Clark interpretive center in Washburn (built near where they wintered in 1804), the heritage center in Bismarck, the International Peace Garden (on the border with Canada) and the Knife River indian village.

But maybe the most fun we had was taking them to Medora. If ever there was a tourist trap in North Dakota, this is it. Medora is located by the Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TR spent quite a bit of time in ND before his years in the oval office), features a bunch of shops and restaurants, an outstanding golf course, the Chateau De Mores (a house built by a French aristocrat who owned started up a meat packing plant in the town), and most importantly the nationally renown "Medora Musical" (a country/western production that changes every year). Before attending the musical we ate at the "Pitchfork Fondue" (steaks are cooked in large vats of oil with the help of some pitchforks). As a couple people joked before we went, "Make sure you know what they used the pitchfork for before!" The location of the dinner and musical is in a beautiful setting on one of the numerous buffs in and around the national park. The best way I could describe this event is the North Dakota version of a Hawaiin luau.

This past Sunday we had our "Worship in the Park" service and it went exceptionally well. We had some families from the community join us as well as a number of relatives who happened to be in town. The weather was great and of course we had plenty of food at the BBQ. Thanks for all of your prayers regarding this event. From the feeback I've heard even from those in town who didn't attend, everyone was appreciative that a church would seek to serve the community that way. You can pray for two other outreaches we have scheduled for this summer: a booth at the county fair (July 10-12) and one at Undewood's harvest fest (Aug. 9).

By God's Grace, Jeff

The Choice We All Must Face

Here's the link to my sermon from this past Sunday on Matthew 7:13-29 entitled "The Choice We All must Face."

57% Don't Understand Why Jesus Had to Die

According to the findings of a recent study, 57% of evangelical church attenders believe other religions can lead adherents to spend eternity in heaven. Now, I'm not sure about the methodology of this survey but the results are striking and despressing. This means nearly six out of ten congregants sitting in the pews of the average evangelical, bible-believing, gospel preaching church in America do not believe Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

This leads me to believe that it also means 57% of evangelicals do not understand the seriousness of their own sin before a holy God and why Jesus had to die. In no other religion does the one worshipped sacrifice himself for those His worshipers. Why Jesus? If there are many ways to heaven why did Jesus have to die? What did His death accomplish if we didn't need a subtitutionary sacrifice for our sin but could be made right with God in other ways?

As troubling as the result of this survey are, they are also a call for the continual need for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached in our churches...even among those who consider themsevles Christians. The truth is, we never move on from the gospel but only to a deeper understanding and applictaion of it in our lives.

I at least am thankful that Jesus died because I know there is no other way I could be saved.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Sermon on Matthew 7:1-12

This past Sunday I preached on Matthew 7:1-12 and the sermon was entitled "You Just Need to Ask." The gist is, if you try to live out Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount by your own strength, not only will you be unsuccessful but you will likely end up judging others or becoming spiritually undiscerning. But by God's grace there is a way to receive the power necessary to live the way Jesus calls us to without falling into either of these pitfalls. If you'd like to hear more you can listen to the whole sermon by clicking here.

This Sunday our church is hosting a "Worship-in-the-Park" event followed by a community BBQ. Please pray for good weather, all of the details to come together and for this outreach.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Paul Washer

Check out this video sermon by Paul Washer on YouTube and let me know what you think. It's a sermon on Matthew 7:13-27 that he gave to a large gathering of youth at a baptist camp. This was brought to my attention during a meeting I had yesterday with some local EFCA pastors that I meet with regularly. He's speaking to youth but it is certainly not the typical youth message if you've been to as many youth camps as I have. Apparently his name and messages (this one in particular) are sweeping through some churches in my area (and so I'm guessing just about everywhere else too). Some concern was expressed over whether his message is tending toward legalism. I watched his sermon last night and it seems pretty solidly evangelical (even if his style is not what I would prefer). However there are a few questions I had that I'd appreciate any thoughts on as you watch it:

• Is it significant that he doesn't mention "grace" once in the sermon?
• Do you believe he's earnestly seeking humility given statements about how much preaching this sermon will cost him personally?
• Do you find his "altar call" at the end interesting given his take on "praying a prayer"?
• What do you make of his reference to "God's law" from Matthew 7:23 ("evildoers")?
• Does his story of the boy who died for his faith (near the end) seem out-of-place given his stated intention of not using such stories to ellicit an emotional response?
• Most importantly: Does he present a Christ-centered gospel or a form of legalism?
  
  By God's Grace, Jeff

Revelation...like you've never seen it before!

The editors of the English Standard Version Study Bible just release a pdf of the intro to the Book of Revelation...and what an introduction it is! It contains ten pages chaulked full of notes (and this is in addition to the study notes in the book itself). Included are discussions of author, date, genre and a outline of the entire book. Also, there is a great section on views of the end times that lays it out both in writing and diagrams. If you've ever been curious about how exactly the Historic post-trib Premillennial view differs from the Dispensational pre-trib Premillennial view, this material will provide you with the answers you seek. But don't take my word for it, check the intro out for yourself.

Altough the ESV Study Bible doesn't arrive in bookstores until October, they're offering a special 33% off the cover price if you pre-order it by Sunday June 15th (two days!). I already took advantage of an earlier offer and the great thing is, they won't bill you until they ship. It's a no-brainer!

By God's Grace, Jeff

Going Green

No I haven't been sick and no I'm not planning on leaving pastoral ministry to join an environmental protection group but western North Dakota is becoming more green lately thanks to the rain we've had over the past couple weeks. We had very little snow this winter and almost no rain early in the spring but we're starting to make up for it in June. We've had rain at least every other day recently and it's starting to bring out the flowers and grass. I mentioned to my wife that we've had so much rain that it doesn't even look like I cut the grass a week and a half ago (or maybe it does and I just need to cut it more frequently). Either way I know it's the farmers and ranchers around here appreciate it.

This weekend we watched the movie "Bella" which is about a young waitress who becomes pregnant and a young chef who comes along side her during this difficult time in her life. I won't ruin anymore of it for you because it certainly is a movie worth seeing. We've also been getting hooked on the tv series "Lost." We never watched while it was on the air but have started renting the dvds of season one this summer and now see why it was such a big hit. One aspect of the show I really appreciate is how you see people's humanity and also God's common grace at work. All of the characters have their flaws and their redeeming qualities.

The sermon this past Sunday was on Matthew 6:19-34 and was entitled "Wholehearted Dependence." This is the section of the "Sermon on the Mount" in which Jesus talks about earthly treasure and anxiety being barriers to complete devotion to God. If you'd like to listen to the sermon click here.

Please pray for our "Worship in the park" service on Sunday June 22nd as we hope to reach the community with the love of Christ through an outdoor worship service, community BBQ and free swimming for kids. I have started to recommit myself to regular visitation to those in our church as part of my desire to grow in love for this congregation but you can pray that this would increase and God would give me wisdom in ministering during these visits. Finally, pray that I would not be seeking after both comfort and God but would be willing to forgo comfort in order to faithfully serve God in my marriage, ministry and life.

By God's Grace, Jeff

An Odd Place for Seafood

My wife has remarked more than once since we've been in North Dakota that for some reason people around here seem to really like seafood. Now I'm not sure if people in western North Dakota enjoy shrimp and calamari on the whole more than those in other parts of the country (my parents go out for seafood about once a week) but it does seem like fishing is a popular hobby (along with other outside sports) and so maybe there's something to it. What I do know for sure though is that apparently at least people around Bismarck don't mind getting their seafood in an unusual way. I believe its once a week (and maybe only certain times of the year) but a semi-truck packed with seafood parks at one of the gas stations in Bismarck and people line up with their igloo coolers to purchase seafood! A while ago I had read about this in the paper but had not witnessed it in person until this past Sunday while we were in Bismarck. There was the semi and there was a sizeable line of people with their ice-chests waiting for the opportunity to buy up crab legs and salmon fillets...suffice it to say we didn't join them!

Also while we were in Bismarck we saw the new Narnia movie "Prince Caspian." I thought the movie stayed true to most of the storyline of the book (including important aspects like doubting Aslan and the pride of the mice). However, they also added in quite a bit that (as I remember) was not in the book (like the unecessary smooch). All-in-all we enjoyed it and would recommend it to families (though there's a bit of war violence). Definitely read the book or do what we did recently and get ahold of the CDs and listen to it during a road trip.

Lately I have rediscovered the wonders of ebay. As a pastor with a limited book budget (but a much longer book list), I have found some very good deals on this popular auction site that has enabled me to stretch my book budget. But I have also found that it can be a big waste of time. I was convicted both by the wisdom of my wife as well as the words of D.A. Carson's mom in his book "Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor." She said "Work hard and play hard but don't confuse the two." Some struggle with workaholism, I don't. I tend to procrastinate knowing that I can get things done at the last minute (although not nearly as well as if I planned ahead). This includes being easily distracted when I should be concentrating on the work God's called me to. Please pray for me to strive to work hard, not procrastinate or succomb to distraction.

The sermon this week was on Matthew 6:1-18 and was entitled "An audience of One." The main point was that not only are we to pursue perfection in our lives (i.e. avoiding sin) but also in our service to God are we to pursue praising Him and not seeking to receive praise from man for ourselves. The audio is posted here. Please pray for an upcoming church outreach "Worship in the Park" service we're hosting on Sunday 6/22 and wisdom for me in leading a non-Christian couple through pre-marital counseling and then marrying them in October.

By God's Grace, Jeff