Trip Reports

One of my "hobbies" is to scour the internet reading trip reports and seeing photos of places that I would like to go someday. This allows me, in a way, to see the options available to me and to get a sense of where to go or where not to go. I know, I know, a lot of people say that being spontaneous is half the fun, and I would agree, however, when there are other people depending on me for the planning of the trip, I like to have my ducks in a row so that I can have some idea of what lies ahead so that things run smoothly.

To that end, I like to provide my own trip reports so that others can use my experiences to maybe plan their own trips. Last Memorial Day Michelle and I went on a camping trip up near Idyllwild, CA with some friends of ours. I just now got some photos of that trip up! I also went on a hiking trip up Mt. San Antonio (Mt. Baldy) in the San Gabriel Mountains at the end of last year that I just now posted a "trip report" of that as well.

So if you have a need to at least vicariously visit some of the SoCal mountains through these photos then let me tell you that I had fun for you! Next time come and joing me!

Memorial Day Camping - Trip 05/27-29/06

Mt. San Antonio - Trip 12/30/06.

Finally, I still need to do something similar with some of the photos from our summer vacation with Michelle's family up in Santa Cruz, CA. Some of my nature photos from that trip are on my website if you want to at least see those.

Well. It is up.

As I mentioned the other day, I had my first opportunity to exhort on Sunday night. Well, for all of you who are just dying to listen to that first sermon it has been posted on my church's website. The link is below. Don't everybody flock to the site at once, the Internet might just crash!! :-)

Overall, my sermon sounded better than what I initially thought. I did say "um" a lot however! I think some of that might have come from me trying to find my place in my notes since the lighting isn't all that good up in our pulpit and my notes were kind of far down (I can't help it that I am tall!!). I know for next time to make my notes a little bigger!

Finally I was pleasantly surprised that my sermon clocked in at 29:58 (including the reading of the text and the prayer of application). Subtract those two other items out and it was just over 27 minutes long. A lot better than the 20 minutes I thought it would be!

Text: Galatians 1:1-10
Title: "God's Approval of His Message and His Messenger"

http://www.christurc.org/audio_sermons/2007-04-22-vanderpol-pm.mp3
This link opens the actual audio file. Right click and choose "Save Target As..." to download it to your computer. (The file size is about 8.8 MB)

Here is an image of the bulletin:

At least I felt loved

**Be forewarned. This story is kind of gross, so only read at your own risk! **

Last night shortly after I came home from work, my land-lady came to the door and asked if I wanted to make some money. But she quickly kept going and said that I should know what she wanted me to do. "How are you with dead animals?" she asked.

Lovely! Well, I really haven't dealt too much with dead animals, but if the price is right I will!

So I responded, "Weeellll, what is up?"

On our land-lord's property there is another house that they own and the lady renting that house found a dead animal underneath her bathroom cabinets. She was going to call a "dead animal specialist" to deal with it, but wanted to ask if I wanted to give it a try. So I decided to at least take a look, but I wanted to eat my dinner first!

So after dinner I went down to the house to take a look. After entering the house you could smell that something definitely had died. Great! Mary Jane (the lady who lives in the house), said that it had taken her a long time to figure out where the smell had come from and that she wasn't sure what it was - she thought either a rat or a gopher.

Underneath her bathroom sink/counter there was an opening in the wood which then opened up into the cavity inbetween the cabinets. Sure enough there was a dead rat about a 18 inches back, and it had been dead for quite some time (at least a week or two, but I am not a student of decomposing rodents). Yes, exactly what I wanted to do after dinner! Well, it looked as if I would be able to get this thing out. Mary Jane gave me a garbage bag and a couple of grocery bags, and promptly made sure she left the house!

I reached into a grocery bag with my hand and then reached into the cavity and grabbed all that I could. As I was pulling out my hand the wood surrounding the space folded the bag back over and I was able to then place the rat into the garbage bag without really seeing anything. It took me a couple of times to get all that I could out of the cavity, but overall I was able to remediate almost all of the remains.

Mary Jane and my land-lady were very grateful that I was willing to do this, but all I could think was that it was a fairly easy $50!

It wasn't more than a couple of minutes when there was more knocking at my door. It was Mary Jane and in coincidentally similar fashion to the words my land-landy said at the beginning of this episode she said, "How are you with live animals?"

I had to laugh. She looked really frazzled, she was freaked out by the fact that there was a dead rat in her house, now there was something living in there as well! So we found something to trap whatever it was and we would then decide what to do with it after we caught it. By the time I got down there with my "trap" we could not find "the living creature" anywhere. So I left and didn't hear from Mary Jane for the rest of the night so I am assuming that she didn't see it again either. How much sleep she got last night I am not sure!

They were going to call an exterminator to set some traps so hopefully my services won't be called on again in the near future. But for the time being it was nice to feel appreciated and to fulfill my "manly duties".

Now enjoy your breakfast, lunch or dinner!

There is only one first time

Well, it was a long time coming, but I was finally able to exhort for the first time at my church last night! Why was it a long time coming? That is a long story, but it is just how the time-frames worked out. The important thing is that I was in the pulpit and brought God Word's to his people for the first time.

Was I nervous? You bet! But it was more a nervousness of humility and reverence that God would choose to use this weak and broken vessel to proclaim his Word. I was also very humbled that many of my friends made it a point to come down to watch and encourage me. That meant a lot, more than I can express. It was also great to have my wife and my mother sitting in the congregation, and yes, I actually did look at them and they at me!

If you would have told me five years ago that I would be exhorting in a pulpit I would have looked at you funny! It is amazing how God works. In a way it was bitter-sweet that I was not able to share this moment with my father. He would be having so much fun with me going to Westminster and would have been a great encouragement to me as I train for the ministry. But the Lord in his great wisdom called him home, but I am still left with an unbelievable mother who has also been such a great encouragement to me the past two years of seminary.

Just some other comments you might be wondering - what is exhorting? In order to protect the office of Minister of the Word and the high calling of preaching, the Reformed normally call an unordained man bringing the Word of God as an exhortation. I have been "licensed" to lead worship and exhort by my Consistory, which means I had to submit some sermons, and undergo an oral examination (45 minutes). Therefore, I can lead worship and exhort at all URC churches, but also at any church where their Consistory recognizes my "credentials".

What was my text? I exhorted on Galatians 1:1-10 and talked about how there is one approved message, there are approved messengers, and finally an ultimate approval from God alone.

I guess that is about it. If you are really interested the audio should be available from our church's website soon and I will post that link here when that happens.

Soli Deo Gloria

I Just Needed to Get Out!

Michelle and I love to go camping. We try to go as often as possible, but that usually doesn't happen as often as we would like. Because neither of us really had a Spring Break we really thought it was necessary for us to go camping at least one weekend. Both of us really needed to go camping! So with my sister-in-law Beth and some good friends of ours (Joel and Sarah Schreuder) we went out to Joshua Tree National Park last weekend.

We had been trying to get back to Joshua Tree ever since we went there for the first time with Joel and Sarah last October. We had a blast scrambling around the rocks and seeing the beautiful scenery. This last trip was no exception!

To see some photos and read a brief "report" of our trip click here.

What did your sermons say?

You can tell a lot about a pastor/church by their Good Friday and Easter Sermons. Do they focus objectively on what God actually did in history to redeem for himself a people or do they focus subjectively on what those two possible historical events (it really doesn't matter if they actually happened) mean for our present experience? It is sad how much the latter is given today - who said liberalism has died and gone away? If I have time I might try and find some examples so that you can see what I am talking about.

This past weekend, however, I was blessed to hear three excellent sermons surrounding the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in history. Listed below are links to those sermons.

Good Friday - John 19, "Behold Your King!"

Easter Morning - 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, "Christ's Victory Over Death"

Easter Evening - John 20, "Seen By Many Witnesses"

For more information concerning my church, Christ United Reformed Church, click here.

Soli Deo Gloria

Padres Season Opener!!

At 1:05pm PDST today (Tuesday, April 3) the Padres open their 2007 season and begine their defense of the NL West crown against the San Franciso Giants!

I created a Google Calendar for the Padres Schedule and that link is below.

GO PADRES!!!

Maybe I Should Try That

While doing research and writing for my Medieval Church and Reformation Church History Class, I was reading about the Reformer Martin Bucer and some of his "confrontations" with the Anabaptists of his day. Apparently in the region of Hesse in 1538 the Anabapists had "defied all previous measures of control" and Bucer was summoned by the ruler Philip to curb the Anabaptist expansion. Here is what happened:

Hundreds of dissenters rejoined the church of Hesse as a result of a series of debates conducted in a pleasingly calm atmosphere in which Bucer evinced a readiness to learn as well as teach.

Wow! A calm debate where the sides are willing to listen and learn, as well as teach? Who would have thunk that approach might actually work?

I know that as I enter into polemical debate I tend to be a little too reactionary and quick to the draw, as I am sure many of us are. I take this stuff personally and when I feel the gospel of Christ is being compromised I tend to spew forth everything I can think of to combat the wrongs that I see. However, even though Christ confronted the Pharisees and other religious leaders of his day pretty pointedly, I have to remember that my debates are usually not to "religious leaders" but laypeople who might not have thought about the issues or have a cogent argument for something their leaders have done. I need to be better at preserving a "calm atmosphere" as well be willing to listen as well as teach. I know I have not been good at that in the past so please forgive me.

So to those of us who have theological training or who are getting that training, let us remember who we are "fighting against" and to think about how best to bring our arguments across calmly and be willing not only to teach and explain but also to learn.

Soli Deo Gloria

The quote and information above came from: D.F. Wright, trans. ed., Common Places of Martin Bucer (The Courtenay Library of Reformation Classics; Appleford, England: The Sutton Courtenay Press, 1972), 31.

Faith comes by hearing...

I was surfing the web the other day and I ran across this on the homepage of a church's website:

We learn and teach through television, music, movies and other mediums of communiction; so, why not use the same popular and effective mediums to communicate the message of Jesus Christ in church?

If that sounds like a unique, exciting and creative alternative to traditional church, then ##### might just be the place for you.

The Apostle Paul implored early Christians to be all things to all people. To fulfill our mission: "To reach unchurched people and help them become fully devoted followers of Jesus and fully participating members of Christ's church," our approach at ##### is to make use of every available contemporary medium to teach God's eternal truths and apply them to our daily lives. Sometimes doing so means using live drama, video, or clips from popular movies that leave us laughing, crying, or deep in thought.

Ultimately, we are willing to do whatever it takes to communicate the message of Jesus Christ—even if that means laughing out loud, clapping to the music, or shedding a heartfelt tear or two. We hope to see you this Sunday.

My heart sank when I read this, and it has disturbed me ever since. I have been struggling over where to even begin discussing the problems with this statement.

I will begin by saying how much I have taken for granted growing up and attending confessional Reformed churches my whole life. My church is part of something larger than itself, not only with other churches in the present time (those of the URC federation or in my past CRC denomination, but also those in NAPARC), but more importantly with all Reformed churches of the past 500 years. The Reformation was not only about recovering the doctrine of Justification (a huge deal) and other Biblical truths, it was also a return to Biblical worship and exposing the errors both in doctrine and practice of the Roman Church.

When it comes to a statement such as is given above, my local church cannot do whatever it feels is right in the elements of worship (e.g. Prayers, Preaching, Confession, etc.). The circumstances of worship (e.g. starting time, carpet color, etc.) yes. Why can my church not mess with those things? Because of two things: 1) The Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW), which applies to all churches, and 2) our confessions.

I do not want to get into the whole discussion of the RPW, but essentially it says, "We are only to do in worship what God commands in his Word." Namely, then, the preaching of the Word (Law and Gospel), prayers, confession of sins, and the sacraments. These are the things that are to define the worship of a church. Ecclesiastical Confessions help hold us in check and guide us as well:

Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 96
Q. What is God's will for us in the second commandment?
A. That we in no way make any image of God nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his Word.

Q&A 98
Q. But may not images be permitted in the churches as teaching aids for the unlearned?
A. No, we shouldn't try to be wiser than God. He wants his people instructed by the living preaching of his Word -- not by idols that cannot even talk.

Did you notice the RPW stated in Q&A 96? One thing that I find interesting is that in Q&A 98 it says "idols that cannot even talk", but now we do have idols that can talk!

There are many things that I have a problem with concerning this church's statement, but I might have to make this a multipart blog entry and just tackle one issue at a time to keep the length down.

Word and Sacrament
Did you notice that the two things that Christ gave the church to edify and build up its members are totally absent from the statement above? The preached Word and the administration of the Sacraments. Granted, this is not an all-encompassing statement of this church's ecclesiology. There is such a statement on the website (although it doesn't even come close to the great language of The Belgic Confession articles 27-32), which does at least mention the sacraments, but "the preached Word" is still absent even from that statement. I guess why I am so worked up over this is because, even though this is just something on a church's homepage, it really does give a picture of how this church does not have confidence in the Preached Word of the Gospel of Christ. If it did then I might expect language such as:

We learn and teach through television, music, movies and other mediums of communiction; so, why not use the same popular and effective mediums to supplement or assist in the preaching of God's Word and to communicate the message of Jesus Christ in church?

Granted, that is still a wrong statement, but it would at least show some willingness to actually preach Christ. But there is absolutely no mention of the primary method of learning throughout all of human history, let alone still today, and that is by hearing ordinary speech! According to the first line of this statement, all these other means have totally usurped that method, therefore, the church must follow with no questions asked!

There is a reason why the Scriptures call the preached Word "foolishness" and why God chose those means to work faith in his people. Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16 and notice how much is said about how preaching is foolishness to the world, how the world's wisdom is viewed, and how the power of God is manifested in preaching.

Now read that church's statement again, do you notice how these things don't line up with Scripture's teaching? Honestly, does this statement show that the church is following God's wisdom or the wisdom of men to communicate the Gospel of Christ? Are they really trusting in the Holy Spirit to effect faith in the simple preaching of the Word?

The Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 65 explains where faith comes from, "The Holy Spirit produces it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it through our use of the holy sacraments". That is how the Spirit works, and how the Scriptures tell us he will work! Not by showing clips from movies, not by a drama, not by anything this world thinks is better than the preached word.

But I have heard it said, "Paul didn't have this technology and if he did he would certainly use it." Oh really? Remember "do not confrom to the patterns of this world?" The Greco-Roman culture was very visual as well. There were idols for everthing and Greek drama was definitely a means Paul or the Apostles could have used to communicate the Gospel. But they didn't. They preached the Word. You want something visual to communicate the gospel? We do have two things that are ordained by God to help us understand - baptism and the Lord's Supper. They are signs for us to see the things signified. That is why some have called the sacraments, the "visible Gospel." Why try to be wiser than God and do other crazy, idolatrous stuff to communicate the Gospel when we have the preached word and Sacraments?

Read this from Romans 10:

14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Faith comes from hearing the preached Word, so why not let the Holy Spirit work through that foolish means?

One last thing for now. The use of 1 Cor 9:22 above (become all things to all people) is taken totally out of context and improperly used. But I am not going to get into that right that now!

Finally, this church claims to be a "New Testament Church" and that is what they want to be. However, by "making use of every available contemporary medium" (their words) kind of contradicts that "church of the NT" statement doesn't it? It is humbling to think that my pastor will take the pulpit this morning and give to us the same thing that Paul would have - the preached Word and the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. Not something that this 21st century world thinks is better.

My usual disclaimer to these types of posts is that I have probably overreacted and read too much into this church's informal statement. But I have read everything else on their website and nothing really contradicts that simple statement of how they view the communication of God's Word. I might have used this statement to springboard into to other things, so disagree with me if you must, but be prepared to debate me! When it comes to the proper use of the means of grace, especially the communication of the Gospel, I can get pretty defensive when people try to screw with that!

Soli Deo Gloria