The Joshua Moran Blog

Well, it’s July 4th and I dare to go where every man goes all at once… the grocery store. I headed over to Walmart and saw the crowds and decided to go to HEB. Now I have been to HEB for a quick gallon of milk or a couple of items at a time, but have yet to go full grocery shopping.

I will never go back to Walmart for groceries again considering HEB has that classic grocery store aura and the following pros over Walmart:

• Produce – fresher, better selection, and competitive in pricing to Walmart
• Baked Goods – A much better bakery section hands down
• Fresh Foods – HEB smokes Walmart in fresh prepared foods to go
• Deli – better meats and cheeses
• In-House Coupons and Deals – You walk in and there are yellow coupons and posters stating what meal deals or combos on sale
• Customer Service – one of the demostration ladies literally ran around the store with me to find artichoke hearts, and the baggers are packing while the checkout lady is checking me out for a much faster exit.

Anyway, my opinion is HEB is a much better overall grocery store than Walmart!

(I was not paid or even asked to write this blog article by any representative of HEB)

So my sister is needing to sell her $15,000 engagement ring and finds this website called empiregoldbuyers.com. The site lets you know they pay top dollar for gold, diamonds, etc. This guy sends her a free overnight insured shipping container and offers her $2,500 so my sister has to decline.

The ring is then shipped back but somehow gets returned back to them and so they tell my sister that they can offer her $5,500 so she accepts. The guy says, "I sent the check today Fed-Ex" and then calls two days later to say they cannot give her money for it. These guys are shrewd rip-off artists and we will be sure to get the diamond re-evaluated to make sure he did not do the NYC swap for a cubic zirconia.

STAY AWAY!

I will be posting the name of the "guy" in a day or two.

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and swich my business email to Google Apps, and I am pleased that I did. I was able to do the swich with little issue and used IMAP to backup all my emails from Apple Mail to GMail first before deleting the account from Apple Mail.

WARNING: Be sure to set up your Google IMAP or POP on Apple Mail and drag and drop your Apple Mail emails to the Google IMAP Server or to the new GMail Pop account folders first, then you can delete the old pop accounts in Apple Mail. Otherwise you will lose everything FOREVER!

Some key links for setting up Apple Mail with your new GMail or Google Apps Account (opens up new windows)

Apple Mail 3.0 (Leopard) IMAP Setup

Apple Mail 2.0 IMAP Setup

Now you can either add the Gmail or Google Apps email to your Blackberry Messenger or do what I do which is much less tasking on your phone and more browser based so the phone does not get bogged down.

USE GMail Mobile! or go to m.google.com/mail on your Blackberry

GMail Mobile is incredibly fast, notifies you with a blinking light on your blackberry, but when you open the application it has the friendly GMail interface we come to love. Great thing is you can add multiple accounts too!

Now the best part is working with Google Calendar and it being totally compatible with iCal and your Blackberry Curve. Google Calendar has now upgraded their program to include tasks so take advantage of that. I personally use the following add-on to sync my Blackberry Curve’s contacts. calendars, and email.

Google Sync for Blackberry

or you can go to http://m.google.com/sync on your Blackberry browser to download it right to your phone. Once you download, install, and open it. It will ask for your account info so you would put in your email address and password and go from there.

ATTENTION: Your contacts will sync perfectly, but you may have a problem syncing your blackberry calendar and this is why I write this post. Below I explain the method for getting your calendar sync to succeed.

Having a problem syncing your google calendars to the blackberry from a fresh install of google sync. All you Blackberry users would get frustrated without this info so here we go with the solution!

1. Quickly add your Gmail or Google Apps Mail to your Blackberry Messenger through your providers outlet. If you are not going to use Messenger to retreive your emails, no worries just simply select in the settings to not download emails from this account just add it as a dummy account of sorts.
2. Once your phone gets the acknowledgement that your Blackberry is now setup with yourname@gmail.com, you can take out the battery, wait 30 seconds then reinsert battery.
3. Once the Blackberry loads up, go to Options
4. Go to Advanced Options
5. Go to Default Services
6. Click under Calendar (CICAL): and slect your GMail address
7. Keep messaging the same
8. Get out of there completely!
9. Open Google Sync on your Blackberry
10. Click the menu button
11. Set Sync to Automatic or whatever option you prefer
12. Scroll to Sync these Calendars and Click
13. Here you will select which Google Calendars you would like to sync
14. Back out twice and save
15. Click yes on Sync Now and Voila!

I personally used Apple Mail to backup my old emails then I stopped using it and downloaded Google Notifier for Mac which puts two small icons at the top bar giving you nice lightbox notifications of your new emails and events coming up.

Download Google Notifier for Mac

To take John 6:53 as Jesus telling the disciples to literally eat of His flesh and blood is a grave mistake. The interpreter should assume that a passage uses non-figurative language unless this assumption creates an absurdity or the general context indicates otherwise (Gibbs 2004, 261). The belief that Jesus was condoning cannibalism is quite an absurdity, and in effect violates the general context of what Jesus was teaching his disciples. God’s laws from the Old Testament state that we should not murder in Deuteronomy 5:17, and the prophecies of the Messiah’s death are clearly in the Scriptures and cannibalism does not fit into the gospel plan. There is nowhere in the Bible where we here of cannibalism being acceptable to God, or even a necessary evil to survive. This all stands to support that this belief would be an obvious absurdity

Jesus teaches it plainly in John 6:63 when He says that the words He spoke of are spirit not of flesh. The disciples up to that point were much more numerous, but these words seemed to confuse the majority of them, so many disciples left, all except the chosen twelve. Jesus states that He specifically chose them, and most likely made the teaching hard to imagine or understand, to fulfill the purpose of filtering down His followers. If only the doubters stayed to hear an explanation rather than leaving His presence, which is similar to an interpreter who would look at verse 53 in total isolation and not continue reading on. The easiest way to clear up this belief would be to study the immediate context, and continue reading the complete thought of the author.

The author is writing a narrative and what we should remember is that Scripture interprets Scripture. The Bible cannot contradict itself, nor should a single passage somehow bring a new teaching all by itself, but rather a belief or doctrine should include multiple passages. The proper interpretation would be that Jesus is saying you must be willing to follow even to the death, and possibly a foreshadowing of the believers partaking in communion in the early church to come.
 

The Christian is to obey God, and the New Testament has clear commands for every believer to obey. The interpreter who believes that they can ignore New Testament commands as long as they feel led by the Holy Spirit is probably taking Romans 8 and Galatians 5 out of its context and isolating pieces of scripture to suit them. There is no scripture to support the belief of strictly being led by the Holy Spirit, and somehow being able to ignore New Testament commands.

The interpreter must know that the meaning of a phrase must be consistent with the sense of it’s immediate context, and must be consistent with the book’s general flow of thought. In order for a believer to interpret passages about living in the spirit and having freedom in Christ as being permission to disobey direct New Testament commands would have had to ignore this rule. Take Galatians 5:18 for instance, this verse does not imply that we are somehow free to ignore New Testament commands. The actual immediate context would ask the opposite of its readers. The book of Galatians itself is a decree of spiritual freedom from the Old Testament laws and rituals of the Jews whereby the Apostle Paul states clearly to walk in the Holy Spirit and not the flesh or law. To regard this command of the Apostle Paul and disregard the rest of the New Testament would be an apparent oxymoron in itself, and it would suppose that somehow the Holy Spirit is now taking a new direction from the original plan He set in place.

The proper way to interpret scriptures like Galatians 5:18 or Romans 8:12-17 would be to look not only at the passage itself, but rather the complete thought itself, and realize that we must study the entire book of Galatians or Romans to get an understanding of the passage in it’s immediate context. The author intends to tell Jews that believe on Christ are now free from rabbinical law, and the laws of Moses. Paul is stressing that we must bridle our freedom in regards to foods or any other stumbling block for weaker believers, and that we should be concerned about others more than ourselves.
 

The belief that Christians are required to obey the Old Testament laws regarding sacrifice, clothing, and diet would be a direct result from poor hermeneutics. This can easily be refuted if the interpreter used scripture to interpret scripture, and understood that there are three types of laws in the Old Testament. There are moral laws like that of the Ten Commandments, ceremonial laws which gave structure to a specific culture bringing clarity to the identity of Israel as a nation, and finally civil laws which would obviously not pertain to modern Christians and existing governments.

First, considering the rule of allowing scripture to interpret scripture, we must pay close attention to what the New Testament includes and excludes from its text. Hebrews 7:18, 19 states, “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” If we choose to wear only one blend of fabric per outfit (Lev 19:19) because we believe it to be mandatory, then we open the door to rules of slavery that apply in Leviticus 19:20 which most Christians would agree to be absurd, especially in our culture. The ceremonial and civil laws of the Old Testament were in place to provide the nation of Israel a temporary method of keeping the peace, health, and overall well-being of the nation in an orderly fashion. The interpreter that believes sacrifices are still mandatory is rejecting the sacrifice of Christ, whom appeared once for all sins as the only true and acceptable atonement. (Heb. 9:26)

In order to have a full understanding of the Old Testament scriptures that entail rules regarding clothing, sacrifices, and diet we must first realize they are obsolete in direct application to the modern believer. The reading of these passages are no less important to the believer than any other portion of the scriptures as these ceremonial and civil laws are part of the bigger picture of God’s plan of salvation and redemption starting with Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
 

The unselfishness of the early church cannot be misconstrued as a form of communism solely because of this isolated scripture and what one may think it teaches. The rule of interpretation being broken here, no verse or phrase can mean something in isolation that it does not mean within its wider context, is probably the key to interpreting this scripture accurately.

This glimpse into the beginnings of the early church does not imply that the apostles required the believers to sell all they had acquired like that of a communistic government. This passage of scripture simply states that the believers were of the same heart and mind, meaning that they were spiritually unified by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the early church sold their own possessions to help others in need. If this were a model of communism being displayed by the early church we would have not seen a full voluntary surge of generosity and unselfishness, but rather a requirement being imposed upon the believers by the apostles. In verse 36 we see that Joseph (called Barnabas), simply sold a field he owned, he did not sell everything he had. While in verse 35 we are told that the distributions of the goods were needs based, and not based on a pay scale set forth by the church.

Examining the scripture in its widening context, we can easily say that the book of Acts was not written to set a structure for church governance since most of the book is narrative in nature and most of the book covers some limited history of the Apostle Paul and an even more limited history of the Apostle Peter. Luke was not referring to this portion of church history to give an idea of how churches should choose membership, but the passage gives a much larger principle of a Christian is to be generous and see to the needs of his brothers and sisters in Christ.

When reading a historical narrative, whether it is directly about God or certain individuals, cannot be a basis for doctrine on its own. We must consider what the scriptures as a whole have to say about the topic at large. This passage is to be considered descriptive to the modern church not prescriptive.

by Joshua Moran
 

As I write this I have just come from a powerful time of praise and prayer in my own home. In recent weeks I have started to preach a series to our youth that covers 57 of Jesus’ parables, and today I will preach the third parable, the bread of life from John 6:31-38. I have been pleading with God to give me fresh revelation and messages for these young people to see the God I serve is bigger than they had ever imagined. Do you notice when you pray that the answer or the given path is often not quite what you expect or thought could result in an answer.

My wife and i are expecting our fourth, and had great plans and were being good stewards financially with the knowledge we had of the costs of having our first and only son. We prayed so hard for a baby boy for years, and thought it could never happen but here we are at the closing of week 35. My wife is contracting and on moderate bed rest at this point and comes off bed rest next week. We had already paid the doctor $4,000 because our insurance does not cover maternity in Texas, and we were planning on paying $5,600 to MCA in Arlington for the C-Section and couple nights stay at the hospital according to their admitting department.

Yesterday I received a phone call from someone in our body who is expecting their first child, and were using the same medical staff and facilities because of the pricing. They went to go and be induced and the hospital turned them away becuase they did not have full cash for the hospital bill. Immediately I called the hospital only to find out that our bill will be $15,400 if we do not have $5,600 in cash the day of the surgery. Oh man, was I in distress! My plans, they were falling apart before my very eyes, and I had no control over my finances, or the medical care my wife would receive.

Today as I was finalizing the sermon I was weeping over the points I am about to teach to young people. I came home form the coffee shop and turned on Tommy Walker’s Breakthrough album, and just began to call out to God. God is so good. We would not have made the decision to have a baby had we known that the real price is triple the quoted price, and God knows that. He blessed us with an answer to prayer, and the God I serve will bless us with a solution to this issue as well. I am not ignorant to proper planning and being responsible, but I also know that God is bigger than my circumstances. It seems that my desperation has produced a stronger reliance on Jesus.

It Takes Too Much Time To Study!

To properly write out an expository sermon it takes careful study, but almost every pastor who preaches expository sermons can tell you most of their time is spent in reading the passages immediate context and larger context, and filtering out all the research to actually become relevant. The preparation is especially taxing at the start of a teaching due to you having to map out the entire book properly and trying to create a path of messages that do not consist of heresies but rather the real meaning of the passage with relevance for your ministry.

My Answer: Yes, it takes time at first, but once you are in the teaching you will benefit off of last weeks study. Secondly, the benefit of the pastor who does the study is immeasureable towards personal growth.

Youth Don’t Care About Your Message

While I agree with the experts’ opinions on the attention span of a young person, I do not agree that it is simply impossible to package a book of the Bible as a relevant series to young people. Statistics have proven that over 90% of so-called Christian youth so not see the Bible as the God-Inspired, inerrant Word of God. What are we doing with the 20 minutes we have to reach these youth with the TRUTH. An XBOX 360 may get them in, but what are we doing with the youth we are stewards over.

My Answer: We have sold ourselves short on the ability for young people to go deeper with God, and allowed MTV to dictate what is attractive. Are we trying to sell our youth ministries or see the young people of this generation submit their loves to Christ? Parents are the primary relationship in regards to beliefs and convictions, but the world is tugging at them so hard that to get a youth to listen for fifteen minutes or more is a blessing and we should reach them with the little time we have.

I personally am starting a series on the Parables of Christ that is somewhat expository but not verse to verse of a book. I will chart some of the teachings and challenges I face here.

I have been a youth pastor for about 9 years and counting, and one of the greatest causes of youth pastor burnout I have experienced has come from a lack of original preaching material. Youth pastors from all over could not only sympathize, but also empathize with me on this issue. I have been to tons of seminars, conferences, training days, and taught at some of these as well, and the one thing I have not heard addressed at these events is expository preaching.

What is expository preaching? It is taking a scripture, a block of scripture, or even an entire book of the Bible and preaching from the text answering at least two things… what did it mean then, and what does it mean now? Why are youth ministries so afraid of this preaching style? I want to open the door to this topic somehow and get the ideas flowing in this direction. I was reading the Berean Wife Blog today and read this expository preaching post which had quotes from R. Albert Mohler’s book He Is Not Silent. I personally want to get this book just to be encouraged to continue preaching expository sermons to young people.

It seems almost taboo in modern youth ministry circles to say, "I preach expository sermons to youth", yet I have had more fruit in ministry from this than any other style. By fruit I do not simply mean large numbers of youth attending services, rather the spiritual maturity of young people within the ministry. I am by no means a perfect practitioner of the expository sermon, and have mostly preached topically, but I am challenging myself to preach expository sermons for the next year starting in March 2009. I currently am teaching a series for the last six months called SRY (Solid Rock Youth) Basics which entails the 16 Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of  God and I am completing #11 tonight.

Next post I will write on:

SOME EXCUSES FOR NOT PREACHING EXPOSITORY SERMONS TO YOUTH