New Video Devotional

I began reading Our Daily Bread in print many years ago. Maybe not before the internet but before blogging caught on and social media became a thing. We’ve been linking the Our Daily Bread daily devotional (in the left-hand sidebar) for a few years now and occasionally share images and recommend special products and promotions.

ODB recently rolled out a daily video devotional. Click here to watch today’s video and enroll via email. It’s just another way to add a little dose of God’s Word into one’s daily routine.

SpeakEasy Book Reviews

Every now and then I post a book review (expect one during the next few days) that has a disclaimer at the bottom. That disclaimer explains that I received the book free of charge in exchange for publishing a fair and honest review. It doesn’t have to be a positive review but I choose to receive books based on title and description that I expect to enjoy or learn something from. I’m not trying to brag; I’m here to extend you the same offer.

Happy 25th Bible Gateway!

The Master’s Table will soon celebrate 10 years. How many websites from 25 years ago are still around today? That was 1993, there was barely in internet 25 years ago. Browsers like Netscape Navigator have come and gone since then and some early web successes, like Napster and MySpace, soared in popularity and faded away slowly. Whatever happened to AOL?

Bible Gateway is celebrating 25 years and inviting all of us to celebrate with them. Click here to read more at the Bible Gateway blog. The Master’s Table is pleased to partner with Bible Gateway as we share Good News. I personally use Bible Gateway to study and prepare sermons, not just for blog posts. You will find them listed in “Useful Resources” on the right-hand sidebar and a link for the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid.

Coffee with Jesus: Top Ten Lists

I don’t usually created a new post to share a single cartoon. But today is New Year’s Eve and this is the kind of stuff people think about as they reflect on another year past. Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday, but when the calendar turns over people tend to think in larger terms. Coffee with Jesus reminds us that important depends on your point of view. One might even interpret that ours is skewed and should be more like his, but now I’ve quit preachin’ and gone to meddlin’.

Click the image to view full size.

 

Coffee with Jesus is a product of Radio Free Babylon. Join the Resistance.

Two Sermons and an Editorial

For those of you looking at the website, you know that lots of stuff hangs out in the sidebars. Some of that content is updated daily. I don’t post as often to the blog as I used to because much of what I write is on my church website. The Unity Baptist RSS feed shows links to recent posts at the top of the left-hand sidebar. You see those links if you visit The Master’s Table. I also realize many followers subscribe using feed readers or through email. Those folks will never see any content that is not posted.

So this is kind of like a Read & Share File for my own stuff. These links are to the two most recent Sunday sermons and a newspaper editorial from about a week and a half ago. If you have read them already or follow both blogs, great. If not, just FYI.

The Heart of Man, Feb. 7th sermon 

The Heart of God, Feb. 14th sermon

God’s Great Love, newspaper article, Feb. 6th 

The Read and Share File

Not as many links for this post as I’d like but think these are certainly worth sharing. Click any image to read the related article at its source.

The first is a list of reasons Thom Rainer thinks we should reconsider keeping the old fashion church bulletin. It’s all about making guests feel welcome which may bring them back.

1. Worship times. Many bulletins are retained for future use. It is thus imperative for the worship times to be prominent in them.
2. Physical address of church. You want to encourage the guest to return, so include the physical address of the church for their GPS.
3. Website and social media links. This is a primary means of communication for our culture. Your church must be speaking that language, and guests need to know where to find you online.

Do You Have the Right NOT to Wed a Gay Couple?

Legal opinions vary widely on what the U.S. Supreme Court’s mandate of nationwide same-sex marriage will mean for pastors and government officials authorized to perform weddings.

Some legal experts say government officials charged with performing weddings could lose their jobs for refusing to marry gay couples. But others believe both ministers and government officials likely will have freedom not to perform same-sex marriages that violate their religious convictions.

Silent Wisdom

The verse of the day from Bible Gateway is Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

The Our Daily Bread devotional for this day is also focused on being still, quiet, and waiting for the Lord to act.

From deep in The Master’s Table archives: Jesus, often known for saying exactly the right thing at the right time, also knew when to keep silent. Click here for more.

Read James 3. Perhaps we would all be wiser to say less.

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
    when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
-Proverbs 17:28

Age of Disinformation

We live in the Information Age. Pretty much the whole of recorded knowledge from all time is available in a few clicks. Most of us use the technology that makes this feat possible to look at funny cat pictures and argue with total strangers. The proliferation of social media and instant publish platforms means that any one of us can have a global audience, but you need a sensational event to document if you want your Facebook post or Instagram pic to go viral. Case in point: How many have seen this image in the last week which supposedly shows Houston under water?

How to Read the Pew Research Center’s Published Findings

The actual title of the article published by the Pew Research Center is America’s Changing Religious Landscape. You can read that article here, at their own website, rather than second or third hand if you wish. The story was reported by media outlets, such as CNN, with attention grabbing headlines like “Millennials Are Leaving the Church in Droves.”

Russell Moore takes a different perspective, suggesting that actual faith is not in decline but rather the false pretense of it. People without true faith have quit going to church to make a show. He suggests people are no longer attracted to “almost Christianity” but that real faith is alive and well. There are not more atheists than there used to be, there are more honest atheists. Please do read his article here. 

Ed Stetzer posted a similar story in USA Today, arguing that while Evangelicals make up a smaller percentage of the population than they did a few years ago their overall numbers have actually grown. While I think Moore’s article is better written, both make the point that raw data doesn’t tell the whole story. How we interpret that data is equally if not more important.