Owner: Says Simpleton URL:http://www.sayssimpleton.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:21:42 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: The commentary of a seminary student on Scripture, life, culture, and of course, Jack bauer. Site statistics:Click here
Urban Ministry and the Incarnation: 2007-02-02 14:45:00 Charles Lyons, from Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago, recently spoke about urban ministry in chapel.He began his message by asking, "How did first century saints, bereft of all we deem necessary for effective ministry shake the Roman Empire for God? "His basic thesis statement for his sermon was that the Incarnation
al theology of John 1:14-18 is the strategy that is played out in the book of Acts (Good theology is always good strategy). This type of ministry, he said, should be the model for the NT church. He then argued that urban ministry is paramount because of the way that what happens in the cities spreads throughout the countryside.Before the sermon in a Q & A session, he shared in his opinion what the three most important things a pastor needs to do if he is going to serve in the inner city (in addition of course to boldly proclaiming the full counsel of God, I think):1. Study the Community: Exegete your community, and find out where you are and what's going on; Who are the p Read more:Ministry
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24 versus Lost: The final showdown 2007-01-31 14:00:00 With the start of Lost right around the corner, I felt it curiously necessary to give a quick reminder of my humbly informed, undeniably unbiased, and surprisingly irrefutable evaluation of the aesthetic and cinematic qualities of each show.24 vs. Lost: I think we can all see that this settles it.
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Eavesdropped Academic Jaberwocky 2007-01-26 15:30:00 Shouted across 7 rows of seats in an auditorium,"Dr. _____, Hey, I read all the readings for class, but they were really difficult, I hope you're going to ex-communicate all those meanings in class..."Apparently, a mystical approach to educationFrom the Pulpit at the height of a stream of building rhetoric, "Otherwise, you'll be as confused as a termite in a Yo-Yo." I'm not entirely certain, but I think that's a fair description of utter befuddlement.
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Praying with Mental Purity 2007-01-25 16:25:00 Recently in a corporate setting, we bowed our heads to pray and to my shame, I found it difficult to concentrate. There were too many images, thoughts and voices swirling around in my head to focus on actual prayer. A few things crossed my mind that made me recoil with disgust. To me, this was a problem. Prayer is precious. I should not be thinking of these things right now. I'm praying. Although I violently attempted to clear my mind of these disreputable thoughts, I was simply incapable of doing so. They were there, and there was nothing I could do about it. I immediately began to wonder why it was so exceedingly difficult to focus.As I examined what these thoughts were, I realized that they were the images I had seen, the thoughts I had thought and the voices that I had listened to that morning and the previous day.All of a sudden, and with the sober clarity of one regaining consciousness after being knocked out from behind, I felt the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4:8
24 and Moral Ambiguity 2007-01-23 21:59:00 One of the things that has intrigued me in this season of 24 is the blurring of the lines between good and evil (or the good guys and the bad guys). 24 is notorious for stretching these boundaries, but this season is particularly poignant. Assad is a disreputable terrorist responsible for inhumane atrocities. The whole show is about stopping guys like this from carrying out there brutality against civilians. However, as he said, "Today" he is working for "peace." Now, the bad guy (Assad) is apparently the good guy who helps stop the attacks. Far from refusing to negotiate with terrorists, CTU has now aligned and collaborated with them. Conversely, Curtis, an idealistic, by-the-book, upstanding agent becomes the "bad guy" that must be forcefully eliminated because he wants to ensure that justice is duly meted out. This reversal of expected moral norms is one of the threads that provides thematic continuity between the seasons of the show (i.e., Nina, Logan, and the endless stream of Mo Read more:Moral
Evangelism on George Street 2007-01-22 14:39:00 This story has done more to excite and compel me to partake in personal evangelism than many a book on the same subject.Listen: (There should be a blue 'play' button to the left for instant playback)--------Evangelism
on GeorgeStreet
-------- This all started a number of years ago in a Baptist church in Crystal Palace in South London. The Sunday morning service was closing and a man stood up at the back and raised his hand and said: "Excuse me pastor can I share a short testimony?" The pastor looked at his watch and said "You have three minutes". The man proceeded with his story: "I've just moved into this area. I used to live in Sydney Australia. Just a few months back I was visiting some relatives and I was walking down George Street. You know where George Street is in Sydney going from the Business Area out to the Rock - the colonial area. A strange little white haired man stepped out from a shop doorway, put a pamphlet in my hand and said: "Excuse me sir, are you saved, if you d
URL WeatherTracking Tip 2007-01-19 15:15:00 I recently stumbled accross a way to get a weather forecast in a flash. Simply type "weather.gov/" followed by your zip-code into your URL bar, and you can get an instant real-time forecast from the national weather service for your area.For example, "weather.gov/76134" gives a forecast for Fort Worth, and "weather.gov/77995" gives a forecast for Yoakum, etc.A very good trick if you want a forecast without having to actualy navigate through a weather service website.After all, this is most likely how Jack Bauer checks the weather.Ht: LifeHacker
Vacation Ends, A New Semester Begins: 2007-01-18 14:00:00 1. Elementary Hebrew II2. Theological Interpretation3. New Testament Survey II4. Exegesis of RomansI hope to keep the Hebrew Monster at bay as long as possible, though, a bloody confrontation ending in a semantic conflagration is perhaps inevitable. If this does indeed come to pass, I plan on using my previous totalitarian tactics. At any rate, it looks to be a good semester.
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, Vacation
Tragic Irony 2007-01-17 14:04:00 Tragic Irony
:1. My wife being more excited about the American Idle Idol premiere than she was about the 24 Premiere.2. Afterwards, turning on the Houston /Dallas basketball game and finding her pulling for the Mavs rather than the Rockets.There has been a disturbance in the force.
The "Explosive" Season Premiere of 24 2007-01-16 14:00:00 Well, the season premiere of the best show on television has come and gone once again and a new day has begun. Although coming in second to the NFL playoff game, the show got a 6.1 on the Nielson scale (I admit, I have no idea what that means). This season promises to be as good as ever. Basically this year's plot is pretty much the same as every other season shocking, innovative and surprisingly well-written.A few of things I've thought way too much and seriously about interesting developments:1. Jack realizing he's lost some of his edge. This to me will be the most interesting aspect of this season. Jack is a broken man, after being tortured by the Chinese for 20 months for a "crime" he did not commit (the suffering of the innocent, well kinda). I'm assuming that Jack's reorientation into a terror-fighting machine will be much of what this "day" is about. After failing to extract information from a terrorist, and watching another get the info. within seconds, Jack exasperates, " Read more:Explosive
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, Season
, Season Premiere
The Day Draws Nearer 2007-01-12 20:34:00 Only 2 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 27 seconds left until television is watchable again.1. There are many yea-sayers around the blogosphere that are highly anticipating this momentous occasion. However, there are plenty of "others" who are somehow irretrievably "Lost" in the realm of inferior entertainment.2. Keifer Sutherland Jack Bauer said in an interview that in Season six, "You'll learn there was a wider scope to what happened last season." Aside from being painfully obvious, I hope this means that the Blue-Tooth Bandits will get Jack-Attacked within the first 34 minutes of the season and be forced to use rotary phones to communicate.3. Is Tony Really Dead? He died in Jack's arms, right? Yes, but why didn't he get a silent clock? Edgar and Mason get silent clocks but not Tony? Carlos Bernard humorously weighs in here. If he is still alive, then it better be a really good story behind it. However, this is highly dubious.4. Stephen King has seen the first four episodes of the se
The Play Things of Superheroes 2007-01-09 23:37:00 Have you ever wondered what Batman and Superman played with when they were just wee little super-hero critters?In addition to wearing Jack Bauer Pajamas at night, both these superheroes entertained themselves with the pliable yet extremely volatile Jack Bauer action figure (Super Weapon-cache satchel sold separately). In fact, it is rumored that they learned their superhero ninja moves from 8:00pm to 9:00pm every monday night. Don't fret. You too can own one of these semblences of tainted justice for just $189.99, while supplies last. And, as always, time is running out. If you order now, it will arrive just in time for the Season premire, which, according to the official 24-Countdown Clock is just 5 days, 3 hours, 5 minutes and 9 seconds away.
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A Bird in the Land... 2007-01-08 20:30:00 Making my way through the Pentateuch, I came across the section in Deuteronomy 14 regarding clean and unclean food. Included in the list of birds that the Israelites were not to consume was a little critter called a "hoopoe" (Deut 14:18). I was hanging with Moses when he was listing the "bearded vulture," "nighthawk," and "Sea Gull." But what in the hound-dog is a hoopoe, I gracefully thought. Well, this was enough to compel me to get out my detective's cap and click over to Wikipedia embark on a digitalized epic journey to discover what kind of creature this was. Result: Behold, the Hoopoe.Its very cool scientific name is Upupa epops, pronounced, OOO papa EE pops! It flies erratically, is fond of dust-baths, and appears to be sporting a sweet mohawk. It was probably considered unclean because it was a forager and rooted around in the dirt to find its main diet of insects and worms.Now you know more about the Hoopoe than most people in the world. Since it was an "unclean" bird, the Is
Luther updates his blog... 2007-01-05 17:06:00 John Tetzel kept IM-ing his friends to purchase indulgences through the pay-pal account he set up on his MySpace, and Luther
, who had just set up his Blogspot (the only choice for real blog-reformers), was compelled to respond. His Post was titled, "Mark Driscoll The Pope is wrong: 95 reasons why" 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "repent," he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.28. It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone. 43. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but God's wrath. 94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their head, through penalties, and death;95. And thus be confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).N Read more:updates
The Day Draws Near... 2007-01-02 23:02:00 According to the 24 Countdown Clock, there are only 12 days, 3 hours, 54 minutes, and 28 seconds left until there is good television again.
SaysSimpleton leaves infancy: a year in review 2007-01-01 18:02:00 Today, SaysSimpleton turns 1. I have now spent one year fritting my life away engaging in productive activity as a member of the burgeoning blogosphere. I would also like to thank the friend that got me into this mess introduced me to the blogging world.If SaysSimpleton is one year old, then why do the archives only start in August, you might ask. Well, that is because there are times that I have fallen prey to acute fickleness. This meant that I went from baptistmonk.blogspot to chedspellman.blogspot to chedspellman.wordpress back to chedspelllman.blogspot, and then to Beta and then finally to here at the final present destination.Blogger was somewhat upset when I tried to come back after the wordpress betrayal, but we have talked and after much bribing and candy coated coding, we have made amends.A Few of my favorites from the past year:Favorite Post Series: The Minimum wage Memoirs 1. Crazy Meatloafman/Crazy Ketchup Lady2. First in Line, Last to Leave!3. The Morning ShiftFavorite P Read more:leaves
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Minimum Wage Memoirs: The Morning Shift 2006-12-07 17:56:00 It was the first time in a long while that I had been scheduled to take the early morning shift. Usually if I work breakfast, I clock in at 8:00. However, someone went down sick, so the formidable 6:00 AM slot fell to me. As I walked into the restaurant, I felt good. It was a crisp, clear morning. I encountered no omens on my drive in. As we opened the doors and a few old-timers trickled in, I thought This won't be so bad. I'll probably just have a few guests. Nothing to strenuous. Then I'll sit back relax, sip some Hot tea and eat a few syrup sopped biscuits in the break room...Little did I know that this was to be the longest morning of my commercial culinary career. The following takes place between 6:21 and 7:43 AM.As I walked up to the table I realized that I had waited on them before, though I couldn't remember if it was a pleasant or a vexing visit. It was a couple in their mid-50s.In as genuinely a country fresh tone as I could muster at 6:21, Hello folks, ready for a R Read more:Memoirs
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Non-Contentious Christian Blogs I Sometimes Frequent 2006-07-06 15:00:00 Colossians Three SixteenDr. HamiltonChallies.comTogether for the GospelJosh HarrisEncyclopedia Kevinannica Confessions of a Recovering PhariseeThe Irish CalvinistMatthew HallProvocations & PantingsTimothy's Burden
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, Sometimes
Blogging Friends 2006-07-05 14:00:00 --Friends
from SFASU (Fellow Lumberjacks)--Shauna KatyFiveoclockFolliesShawnChrisKoreyFriends From SWBTS (Fellow Southwesterners):Mere ChristiansMatt's MiscellanyZachMadison's Agenda Friends from the Blogosphere (Fellow Bloggers):
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Literary Lucky-Dipping 2007-02-03 17:19:00 Here is how you partake in a round of Literary
Lucky-Dipping:1) Skillfully grab the book closest to you2) Quickly open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence3) Post the text of the following three sentences4) Name the author and book title5) Tag an indefinite number of people to do the same (so, it could be '0')After following the meandering links through a number of these posts, I decided that I too would partake in this tomfoolery a round of literary lucky-dipping. So, I wheeled to my bookshelf, grabbed the first book that caught my eye, and:She recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old house, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing. "There was a secret panel in this house," she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, "and the story went that all the family silver was hidde
Citizens Beware: 2007-02-05 14:00:00 Several gnome terrorist are on the run, after engaging in what appears to be a grim case of intellectual theft.
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, Citizens
Hugs, Not Drugs: The Softer Side of Jack... 2007-02-06 16:25:00 After years of trying interaction with hardened traitors and terrorists, Jack, having become completely jaded, has concluded that hugs, and not drugs are the best way to forcibly coerce information out of a Machiavellian villains. In the most recent manifestation of his new tactics, Jack gives his blue-tooth bandit brother 8 ccs of nerve-shattering serum in an attempt to extract vital information out of him. When this fails, he then ingeniously opts for a much more effective 12 ccs of extreme TLC.An Aside:Wayne to Sandra: "I know it's hard, but we've decided to axe your painfully slow-moving sub-plot."
Read more:Drugs
Cranfield on Faith in Romans 1:16 2007-02-08 18:50:00 C.E.B. Cranfield
commenting on Romans
1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...Faith
, in the sense in which the term is used here, can exist only as response to the gospel...For Paul, man's salvation is altogether--not almost altogether--God's work; and the faith spoken of here is the openness of the gospel which God Himself creates, the human response of surrender to the judgment and unmerited mercy of God which God himself brings about--God who not only directs the message to the hearer but also Himself lays open the hearer's heart to the message. And yet this faith, as God's work in man, is in a real sense more truly and fully the man's own personal decision than anything which he himself does of himself; for it is the expression of the freedom which God has restored to him--the freedom to obey God...The "all" emphasizes the fact that the gospel is God's power effective unto salvation for all those who thus a
Our Sovereign Lord, the One who Hears our Prayers 2007-02-12 19:13:00 O You who hear prayer, To You all men come. (Psalm 65:2)What an incomprehensible thought. The Lord hears our prayers. I'm constantly amazed at the nature of answered prayer. Needless to say, it is often not what I expect. Sometimes, I am convinced that this certain thing would be the best course of action; This is how God will get the most glory. If this happens, then I can say that God has answered my prayer.How little faith I have. As if only crisis averted safeguards God's "sovereign" reputation. I fail to see that oftentimes God answers prayer in the persevering and in the recovery. When the fateful news comes, the Christian trusts in his prayer-hearing God. When the operation begins, the Christian clings to the one who has heard his plea for mercy. When the believer makes his way through recovery, he leans upon his Lord, the one who listens to his supplications. Whether he lives or dies; whether he relapses or recovers; whether he is bed-ridden for weeks or walks the halls the d
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