The Bartie Blog

The Bartie Blog is dead - long live the Bartie Blog

2010-01-14T20:17:00.001Z

I've not been happy with the Bartie Blog for some time, it's lost it's way a bit.

When I first started the blog, I hoped that it would be an encouragement to any readers. I figured that if I could find stuff that was encouraging to Christians, then it was worth sharing, and that's what I have been doing.

However, over time I have become aware of just how negative many of my postings have become - positively jaundiced in some cases, and that's not good.

So I have recast the Bartie Blog template, and deleted loads of the old entries to help in relaunching the beast.

The strap line has also changed.

"What Bartie did next" refers to my rather changed circumstances.

After nearly 30 years with my old employer, I was offered and have taken a redundancy package. As a result, I am newly unemployed, something I have never experienced before. It's proving interesting.

I'm going to blog what ever I feel like blogging.

Some will be Christian based, some not. Some will be passing on stuff I have found and seen elsewhere, some will be purely personal observation. My hope is that overall, the content will be positive.....if I can manage it.

I hope you find it interesting.

Simes

Proverbs 30: 7-9

2009-06-22T08:24:00.003+01:00

It seems to me that someone is always rewriting the Bible, as I am forever coming across passages I have not seen before.

This one came from our home group studies last week, and I think it a corker. It says so much about the world we live in, and the attitude we have to our lives, simply by the writer seeking to stay close to God.

Just so good....SB

Proverbs 30: 7-9

⁷ "Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:

⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Wisdom

2009-06-01T21:55:00.000+01:00

“In answer to your inquiry, I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”

General William Booth, Salvation Army

What if His people prayed?

2009-05-10T21:36:00.001+01:00

So what if God's people took prayer seriously?

What if... from theAlley Church on Vimeo.

The Casting Crowns get the Alley Church treatment.

Christians as they should be

2009-01-20T12:13:00.002Z

I like Tony Campolo.

I like him a lot.

He does things, then talks about them, not the other way round.

Churches could learn from that model.

Have a look at this You Tube extract.

This is direct action - it's what Christ called us to do.

I like Tony Campolo!

So what would Jesus do?

2008-03-26T20:01:00.005Z

Taken from the excellent Porpoise Diving Life site. An entry by Carmen C. DeCello.

So what do you think Jesus would do? SB

For a number of years, it’s been common to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Actually, it is an important question and one we would all do well to consider. Of course it is proper to think through these matters, for he is the one we are supposed to be following. But, if he were here in the flesh, where would we be following him?

All this is good and fine, but I’m not entirely sure that some evangelicals would be happy with the answer.

If Jesus were walking our streets . . .

He would be more critical of those who are theologically on target than those who are not.

He would attend celebrations and drinking parties.

He would possibly provide the beer.

He would drink with the rest of us.

He would spent a good chunk of time with those whom the religiously “pure” had no time for.

He would interrupt some of our religious services by making unplanned announcements and controversial statements.

He would tell stories that were relevant and attractive but not always immediately clear.

He would spend a lot more time encouraging others to follow him than he would simply providing religious facts about himself.

He would live courageously yet humbling.

He would serve those who crossed his path.

He would rub shoulders with the outcasts of society.

He would demonstrate that theology is intended to be done in public and on the streets.

He would go places deemed objectionable by the moral standard-bearers of society.

He would make people feel both comfortable and uneasy.

He would violate some of the rules of the religious establishment.

He would desire to heal and not to hurt.

He would be compassionate every day.

He would be challenged (and in some cases hated) by the experts of our day.

He would probably cause a lot of us to wonder if he is truly the one he claimed to be.

He would keep his promises.

He would most likely be criticized by a good percentage of the media.

He would . . .

Carmen C. DiCello has served as an associate and senior pastor, and he is currently both a public school teacher and an adjunct professor at Columbia Evangelical Seminary. He is the author of Why? Reflections on the Problem of Evil (2007) and Dangerous Blessing: The Emergence of a Postmodern Faith (2005). You can catch some of Carmen’s more recent thoughts at Notions (http://ollecid.blogspot.com/).

Time

2008-03-05T19:55:00.005Z

Once again, an entry from the pen of the excellent Craig Groeschel

Many people say, “I don’t have time for ______________.”

This statement isn’t true. The truth is, we have time for what we
choose to have time for.

Too many people today allow the expectations of society to consume most
of our time margin.

When God sends us an opportunity to make a difference, we often think
we don’t have time.

This is a huge problem for churches. In my opinion, most churches do
WAY TOO MUCH! We get busy managing ministries of the past and miss divine
opportunities in the present.

The way we create margin in our schedules is simply by doing
less.
What do you need to stop doing to create margin for God to use?

At my own church we have discussed this issue. We have agreed that we should be stopping things, particularly those that are not fully alighned to our values. However, we have not stopped anything. Not one thing. We simply have not had the courage.

Strikes me that we could well be preventing the Lord doing what He wants to do with us, by not stopping the things He no longer wants.

Time to heal healing

2008-02-04T07:10:00.001Z

Several times of late, I have had conversations with folk where they have ended up telling me "Oh, you can't do that......."

They obviously don't know me, as for me that is like a red rag to a bull. "Can't..." is not a word I have time for.

My concern however is that they have used this in relation to the healing that God can bring to us, and that's scary.

You see, to me, it's simple.

God loves us like a father loves his children. He would not want to see any of us hurt in any way, and He wants us to be well.

So, very simply, we get told to pray for healing.

There are no conditions to that. You don't have to be a member of the church, you don't have to be on your knees. You don't have to use a special prayer, you don't have to stick your arm up, you don't need to make a special indication that you realy realy want to be healed. You don't have to wear a speacial colour, you don't have to sing certain songs, you don't have to be specialy penetent, you don't have to have your hair cut in a special way. You don't have to wash, shave, blow your nose to be healed. You don't even have to be the person seeking healing, you can pray for others to be healed, and they don't even need to be a Christain!

God loves us, so he heals us.

Yep, I know, some are healed, and some are not, and no, I have no twee reason why this is the case, and I'm not going to even hint at going there just now. No, my beef is the way we seem to handle healing in church.

Here's the sceanario. You're ill, and you feel you want prayer for healing. Ah - the local church is having a 'Healing service'. Come along....
You can stand and sit through an unfamiliar service.
You can sing unfamiliar songs.
You can listen to a preacher tell you that God wants to heal you but you might or might not get healed.
You can listen to and offer prayers.
Then you can at last be offered prayer for healing, but only if you are willing to make some physical indication that you want it. So infront of a church of people you don't know go to the front for some folk who are appparently special prayers, as they are part of a special team for ministry, to ask you personal questions before finaly.....finaly praying.

Why can't we just pray? Why the pre-conditions, the rules, the big deal?

In services, lets just pray for healing. In day to day life, just pray. Just pray.

If we believe that God is the supernatural God he is, then this is not an issue for Him. Let's not make it an issue for us!

One reason I have Hope in God is that he has made it so simple to know and love him.
Why do we complicate that so?

The guilt free Thessalonians

2008-01-16T17:08:00.001Z

I had a look at the 1 Thessalonians today. I got grabbed by verse 3.

"3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

What grabbed me was simple. The question 'why?'

Why were the Thessalonians working for the Lord?
Why did they labour to help those around them?
Why did they keep at it when other might fall?

Was it because they felt obliged to work through guilt over the death of Christ?
Was it because they were obeying a set of rules that said they had to labour?
Was it because they felt they had to beat themselves up to ensure that they stayed on the straight and narrow, and endured all that came their way?

NO!

Everything they did - and Paul was so complimentary about them, everything they did was as a result of faith, love and hope. Everything.

They did what they did not out of obligation, but out of faith!
They did what they did not to obey a set of rules, but out of love!
They did what they did not because they felt they had to beat themselves up to ensure that they stayed on the straight and narrow, but because of hope!

How cool is that?

Rules don't change the world.
Obligation doesn't change the world.
Self criticism doesn't change the world.

Faith, Love and Hope do!

Pot luck..........no thanks

2007-03-29T13:11:00.001+01:00

An item on the excellent Church Marketing Sucks web site caught my eye the other day. It simply made the point that the potluck dinner is a staple of many churches social calendars, but that doesn't mean it's good. The point being that if food is relational, then what are we saying to our friends and neighbors when we invite them to church and offer them overdone lasagne, with a bland side order of Salisbury's pre-cut salad and what ever was on special offer in the cold cabinets. Are there no cooks in the House, are we without culinary prowess? To make things worse, I'll bet that it's served on paper plates, on a plastic table cloth, with soft drink (no wine of course) from plastic or polystyrine mugs to 'save on the washing up'.

If we are meant to do our best for the Lord, then we are setting a pretty low standard. We can't even be bothered to serve food on china plates. It's like saying to a visitor that they do mean a lot to us, just not that much.

Imagine the last supper as a pot luck do. Paper plates, no wine, and everyone brought salad. Would communion still be the same if Christ had taken the Tesco's mixed leaf salad lettuce leaves and Morrison's special offer orange drink as His body and blood?

What we are talking about here is getting our values sorted. Do we value those arround us who don't know God. Do we want to show them the value that He has for them. If it's yes, then we should value those folk as the Lord does, and give them the very best we can manage. If we don't - well, I think a rethink is in order, don't you?