The Phil Files

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message that God gave to the world at the proper time (2 Timothy 2:5-6 NLT).

One God.

One mediator.

His life. 

For everyone.

This is God’s message.

Uncomplicated. Profound. For me.

Sorry if this is not what you were looking for today, just go down one in the article list for something with more meat in it. I’m helping speak in a MIS Business class at a local university about good and evil on the web. I wanted to have a place to send folks for some quick links to some resources that could be a blessing to them. Here are some quick takes that you might find helpful — I could make this post 10 pages long with resources, so this is just my list, but if you have more, pile them on to the list in the comments section!

Surprise, Porn isn’t number 1! Or is it?

When evaluating internet traffic, Porn is not the #1 place for traffic for adults 18-24; in fact, the decline in percentage of web traffic is significant. It is still a major focus area, but these results have caught “experts” by surprise. So what’s #1 and where does porn fit? (Depends on your sources where blogs fall, 3rd, 4th or 5th, but blogs are gaining in strength, “stickiness” — in other words, advertisers like them big time.) For more info, start your search with this article: Facebook More Popular than Porn and the counter-analysis that questions the results (which maintains that “porn, pills, and poker” are the three most seductive and profitable sites on the web).

1. Social Networking Sites — Facebook and the pack
2. Search Engines
3. Email
4. Blogs
5. Porn

Whatever the analysis, the bottom line is that God didn’t make us to be alone and we were built with an inborn craving for genuine, human, intimate, and loving community). This community was to give us help in our work, to keep us warm during the chill of physical and emotional life, and to help us when we crash in burn in the struggles of every day life. It is based on our recognition that others around us, and we ourselves, are someone precious, made with part of the divine built into us. The key here for all of us is to not settle for less than what God wired us to experience in authentic community.

Three resources to get you started on this discussion are the following:

1. Triple X Church and the resources they offer for free and also upgraded surf monitoring and site blocking. All of our church leadership, Elders and Ministers, are using site monitoring software with each other for accountability. We believe it is this important.
2. A frank discussion on one woman’s battle with pornography that opens up the door and let’s us see the other side of porn
3. A reminder about slavery involved in pornography/sextrading that literally enslaves millions of women and children worldwide and is involved in a significant amount of abductions world-wide. The movie Amazing Grace was launched with an information effort about the more than 27 million enslaved today, most women and children.

If you have other resources you have found helpful, please let us know!

Years ago, when I was a university student — yes, they actually had universities back in those days — a fellow by the name of Charles Hodge came and spoke to folks looking at ministry in churches as their calling. Charles was known as a voracious reader, reading at least one new book a day. He always had books and a dictionary in his briefcase no matter where he traveled.

He was invited to speak at a week long revival — many folks called these “Gospel Meetings.” Since Charles didn’t know these people and they didn’t know him, he was hoping for a bit of an introduction to kinda break the ice before he spoke each night. Each evening, however, the guy introducing him was very succinct and said something like, “Our speaker tonight is Charles Hodge, a minister of the Gospel.”

Now Hodge told us clearly that this introduction should have been enough and that being entrusted with sharing the Gospel was a privilege indeed. However, on the last night of the revival, Charles knew that many who were lost would be there. He was hoping for a bit more of an introduction to help these folks know that he hadn’t fallen off the turnip truck and ended up in their town by some quirk of fate. So he asked the fellow introducing him to help him out a little bit more in his introduction for the sake of his credibility with these folks who needed to hear the Gospel message.

Sure enough, on the last night of the Gospel Meeting, the man introduced him this way: “Our speaker tonight is Charles Hodge, a minister of the Gospel and model preacher.”

It wasn’t much different than the previous nights’ introductions, but he felt good about it. “A model preacher! Hmm, that’s a nice description,” he thought to himself. Yes, he felt good about that description … until he started heading home and decided to pull off to the side of the road and look up the word “model.” One of the definitions for the word “model” he found in the dictionary was this: “a small imitation of the real thing.”

Ouch! A small imitation of anything seems more like a bunch of nothing. We laughed, and many times since then, I’ve found this definition of myself to be so convicting and accurate — I fear at times that I am a model minister, “a small imitation of the real thing.”

In addition to Hodge’s story, I also remember one strong challenge Brother Charles gave to all of us who listened to him: “Read through the pastoral epistles (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus — links bring up Bible verses in a pop out window) once a week for the first ten years of your ministry.” I thought of that again last night as I began reading 1 Timothy 1 in the Easy to Read Version, which is so clear as it accurately translates Paul’s words to his beloved sons in the faith.

Now that I am older, some of the things said here are even more important than they were when I had to heed the call to “Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12 RSV). I look forward the next couple of days to hearing afresh these words of guidance to young ministers … and older, balding gray headed ones, as well.