Let me tell you about my pastor.

My pastor has not been to seminary. He is a retired tree faller. Yet, he is a breath of fresh air. He has not been spoiled by the system. He actually believes that the Bible means what it says. He makes no claims to be an intellectual giant. But he cares for his flock and knows them by name. He does not speak over our heads. Nor does he try to skate around sensitive issues.

He actually spends hours in sermon preparation. It is obvious to anyone who sets under his teaching. And he takes the time to write down his sermons, a practice that gives him confidence and conviction. He did spend some time serving with our local community theater group. This was helpful as he adds a touch of drama to his sermons.

This last Sunday was a classic. I asked his permission to post his sermon on my PDAdisciple.info website. He graciously allowed me to do so. If you wish to know what a blessing it is to be a part of this small mountain church, you can read his sermon by clicking on this link:
http://www.pdadisciple.info/Jeff/PastorJeff.htm

Jack

I went out for pizza this evening and fortunately my Pocket PC was able to pick up a wireless signal. I went to http://www.pdadisciple.info/Psalms/index.htm

I spent the entire dinner time captured by the writings of Charles Hadden Spurgeon as he commented on just one 8 verse section of Psalm 118. I have never really discovered Spurgeon's writing before, even though I have attempted to read his Morning and Evening devotions. It may have been that the timing was just right in my life now to begin to drink in his writings. I find his comments much more devotional than other commentaries. He does not really dwell on doctrine so much as he does on our spiritual life. I was touched so much so that I purposely took my time to consume my pizza.

Every sentence from Spurgeon was nourishing to my soul. He challenged me and made me think. I was expecting to gain a new appreciation for the Word, as this is that Psalms' theme. But it was more than that. Instead, I gained a fresh look at my own spiritual immaturity, or should I say my own carnality or worldliness.

Spurgeon stepped all over my toes. It hurt but I came away feeling I had a clearer view of my self and a growing hunger to improve.

I would have never carried even one of the three volumes of Spurgeon's Treasury of David. But I had his commentary on Psalm 119 in my shirt pocket. I now plan to spend more time devouring this man's writing.

I am wondering which Psalm I should add to my website http://www.pdadisciple.info/Psalms/index.htm

If you have a preference, please leave a comment with your suggestion.

21 Days to a New Appreciation for the Word of God

Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It's theme is the Word of God. 174 verses of the 175 verses refer to God's Word or commands or statutes. You can't read Psalm 119 without gaining a new appreciation for the Word of God.

I have just finished a handheld friendly website that has 21 daily studies by Charles Hadden Spurgeon on this Psalm. Each daily study is rather lengthy but loaded with inspiration. If you complete 21 of these studies together in three weeks you will end up with a new reverence for the Bible.

You will find these studies at http://www.pdadisciple.info/Psalms/index.htm

You can view them on your desktop or laptop, but the website is formatted for the cell phone or PDA screen.

Jack

I have a Blackberry Curve that I use primarily for email. However, when I finish answering my messages and I still have time left before getting back to work, I go online to browse the web.

I have just discovered the Opera Mini web browser for cell phones and PDAs. I am impressed with its speed and clarity. You can download it directly from your Blackberry or your desktop from Opera Mini

Once you have it installed on your handheld devise you can view my handheld friendly website http://www.pdadisciple.info/

This links to several books of the Bible and Christian books that you can view on your handheld gadget.

Jack

If you have a Pocket PC you can download the eSword Bible. This is a free download, although it is well worth a donation. You can download it from:
http://www.e-sword.net/pocketpc/index.html

I love this Bible on my Pocket PC. It is easy to learn to use and you can even download several versions of the Bible as well as commentaries. You must install the Pocket PC program on your device but you can install the Bibles and commentaries on a memory card.

It is a simple download and easy to install.

Rick Meyers has provided an excellent resource for the PDA disciple. Thank you, thank you, Rick.

Why should I bother being a disciple of Jesus? Why struggle with the issues to obey His commands? If I am forgiven of my sins and headed to Heaven, why should I take the time to study His teachings and attempt to obey them?

To be a disciple and to make disciples is crucial to the survival of mankind on planet Earth. Disciples who are trying to obey the teachings of Jesus are salt to the earth. Disciples set the standard for morality and social adhesiveness. Societies with very few disciples are guilty of behaving like animals toward each other. That is why we hear of terrible crimes against one another.

On the other hand, those societies who are privileged to have a few disciples in their midst have a higher set of standards. They are salted with a sprinkling of disciples who are trying to love their neighbors. These disciples set the standards for others to reach. These standards are used to establish laws and demand justice.

The more disciples there are and the more closely they follow the teachings of Jesus, the pleasant will be the society.

It is a tremendous asset to any society to have its share of disciples. And it is a high calling and a privilege to be a disciple of Jesus.

My fantasy is to walk with Jesus. To follow along with Him as He walks from village to village. To watch him in action as He heals the sick and casts out demons. To listen to Him as He preaches on the hillsides and along the sea shore. To camp out with him under the stars. To ask Him questions and listen to Him as we set around a campfire.

I long for the warmth of His presence. I want to escape the hustle and bustle of life and spend time with Him alone. But I live in a crowded world. It is crowded with people and appointments. It is crowded with distractions; radio, TV, movies, magazines. I just don't have time for my fantasy.

Except, I have found that there is a way to get away from it all and spend time with Jesus. It requires some discipline on my part. I must say "no" to some of these things that want my time. And I must shut out the crowds around me. Then I pull my PDA out of my pocket and escape to the Gospel of Mark or Luke. "Here I am Lord. Show me Yourself," I pray as I begin to read a few verses.

Sometimes He speaks to me. Sometimes He doesn't. But at least I get to observe Him. And maybe I learn something more about Him. Usually I do.

It may not be for more than a few minutes. But it is like my spiritual batteries have been recharged. Then it is back to my world. I hope my face radiates the experience.

He went forward at a church camp to accept the Lord as his savior. He even started going to church for a while. But then he dropped out and started to run with a different crowd. He never did go back to church. In fact, his life took a turn to the worst as he was arrested twice for drunk driving. Then he was killed in an accident while drunk. At his funeral the pastor and his friends comforted themselves by recalling his conversion at the church camp. But was he really saved?

Jesus tells this story in Matthew 22:28-31

"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard'."

"I will not," he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.

"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"

"The first," they answered.

"Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:20

To suggest that Christians should obey the teachings of Jesus is bordering on a works based salvation. It goes against salvation by grace. So it makes it easy for us to ignore the difficult commands of Jesus like "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"  Matthew 6:44.

The problem stems from our misunderstood reason for obedience. We do not obey so as to obtain or secure our salvation. We obey Jesus because we know that He knows what is best for us and our society. We don't have to know why we should "Love our enemies". All we need to know is that Jesus said we should "Love our enemies."

We obey Jesus because He is the Lord. As Lord, He knows best.

We do not "Love our enemies" because they are loveable. If they were loveable they probably would not be our enemies. We love them because we choose to love them. Love is a matter of choice.

Love is not merely the absence of hate. We may not seek revenge but this does not mean that we Love. Jesus goes on to say that we should "pray for those who persecute you," Matthew 5:44.

I worked with an employee that was out to get me fired so that she could take over my job. She secretly made phone calls to my superiors and told them false stories. As a result my company put pressure on me to resign, which I did. And sure enough, this employee was promoted to my position. It was tempting to try to get revenge. My wife still thinks that I should have done something to get back at this employee. But this would have been against the command of Jesus. So I dropped it and moved on. The result was that I got out of a high pressure job and found myself self employed, which I wished that I had done sooner. The lady who inherited my job found herself out of a job soon after because my company choose to close down our business.

It pays to obey.

I have upgraded my Treo SmartPhone to the BlackBerry Curve. It was primarily a business decision as my online business requires a quick email response. The BlackBerry is almost always within a cell phone signal and it pushes email to me within minutes of the pushing of the "send" button from any email client in the world.

I have an unlimited data account with ATT&T which enables me to also get on the Internet wherever I am and whenever I want. My only problem is that many web pages do not view well on the small screen of the BlackBerry Curve. Fortunately, many websites have a handheld friendly version of their website.

One such website is Pocket-Internet

Another website is PDA Disciple

Check them out.

What Is Sex?

I have just finished reading an e-Book on my Palm by Ray Stedman titled What Is Sex?

It is one of Ray Stedman's sermons formatted for the Palm Handheld computer. I read it while eating lunch at Taco Bell. Ray Stedman was one of the Pastors of Penninsula Bible Chapel in Palo Alto, California. He was a very popular author.

Ray C. Stedman was one of the great Bible teachers of the twentieth century.

Ray's primary teaching method was expository preaching, systematically teaching through entire books of the Bible. This style enabled the Christian to build up a broad base of biblical knowledge from which the Holy Spirit could draw upon in daily life. It was very important to Ray that Christians become personally well grounded in the whole breadth of the Bible.

Ray was very conscious of the need for individual Christians to grow and flourish and some of his chief themes (the new covenant, body life and the ministry of the saints) reflect practical aspects of vibrant Christian life. He was also a strong proponent of a plurality of pastors and a non-hierarchical style of church government since all believers have spiritual gifts.

From 1948 to 1990, Ray was one of the key leaders at Peninsula Bible Church and the explosive growth of that church during that time was largely due to the power of Ray's teaching.

Although Ray went home to the Lord in 1992, his messages continue to have world wide impact as thousands of people use the resources of this web site daily. At this site, you can find a large collection of Ray's messages in both audio and written format as well as more biographical information. Many of Ray Stedman's books and all of his messages are available in HTML format from Discovery Publishing.

Many of his books and sermons are available for the Palm handheld computer from Free Christian e-Books

I love my Palm TX.

I took my wife to Walmart yesterday. She loves to shop in Walmart. And she is a wise shopper. I also love Walmart but I am not a wise shopper. I am too much of an impulse shopper. So to shield myself from the temptation to buy every little thing that I see that I want, I usually set in the Subway Sandwich shop which is located in Walmart.

I pull out my Palm TX and spend the time reading the Bible which I have installed on my Palm or reading one of the good Christian e-Books that I read on eReader, a free program that I downloaded from eReader.com

eReader is available for the Palm OS, Pocket PC, as well as Windows and Macintosh.

I have put together a rather large collection of Christian e-Books for the eReader that you can download from PDAdisciple.com

I love my handheld computer because I can carry a whole library of e-Books around in my shirt pocket. I am currently reading a book by Ray Stedman called Mark

You can download Mark by clicking on the above link. However, you will then need to install it on your handheld during your next sync.

"Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." (Matthew 5:39-42)

Jesus warned His followers, "Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:14) We are now entering the narrow road. Many will drop out of class here with these commands. These commands are tough.  It would be far easier to obey commands forbidding us to eat certain foods, drink certain liquids, or ingest certain chemicals.

But Jesus is commanding us to take it in stride when we are cheated, oppressed and abused. He is not asking us to be wimps. Instead, He commands that we be strong. It takes strength to resist fighting back or getting even. And it takes faith that our God is just. He will avenge.

I would much rather be the abused than the abuser. "For we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."  (Hebrews 10:30,31) "Our God is a consuming fire."  (Hebrews 12:29)

Our pursuit is discipleship, following the life and teachings of Jesus. It is commands like this that make us salt to the earth. The closer we come to obeying these commands, the more unique we become from the rest of the world. It is things like this that make us stand out. The more we conform to the world's behavior, the more we lose our saltiness and become worthless.

Getting our priorities straight.

Today's Command from Jesus