This Is Bible College

April 29th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Naps are always needed, but usually dorm life keeps you up. Play some beach volleyball. Stay up till 6:00 AM working. Go to class from 6:30 AM till 9:00 AM. Sleep till 2:45ish. Go to meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Pick on the freshmen as much as possible.

Learn some Greek – talk some end times. Learn some evangelism – talk some church education. Hangout at your friend’s house – watch a movie. Watch your school’s baseball team play at the nearby stadium. Lead worship after curfew. Go work in the office for a little bit. Spend time in prayer.

Miss out on the cafeteria food you already paid for and eat Chinese buffet food that costs a lot just because you want to. A date here, a date there. Homework everywhere. Agendas, meetings, good conversations, dumb conversations, social overload… accomplishments, failures, lessons learned, friendships made, money lost, life goes on and life is good.

THIS IS BIBLE COLLEGE.

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Loving God

April 27th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

In his book Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan claims, “When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is.” He goes on to say, “In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.” 

I find myself falling short of this charge from Pastor Chan – over and over again. Loving God is not something we chase after only out of obligation. We love God because He first loved us – yes, but that is not the only reason we love God. We should love God with mind, soul, body, spirit, heart, will, emotion, intellect… you name it. All of it – dedicated to loving God. Completely.

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Seeker Sensitive vs. Seeker Sensible

April 26th, 2010 by Dan Nichols
Parker Hill Community Church has been my local church for almost four years now, and I’ve been a member for almost two years. When I walked onto BBC’s campus as a freshman, Parker Hill was called by many different labels. “Emergent.” “Catholic.” “Park-and-Chill.” Those labels haven’t stuck as well as the “seeker-sensitive” label has over the years. I recently heard Pastor Mark Driscoll define the term “seeker-sensitive” by bringing another term to the table: “seeker-sensible.” Here are his basic definitions:

Seeker-Sensitive = bowing to the whims of American culture, giving people what they want, and avoiding the hard truths of God’s Word.

Seeker-Sensible = refusing to bow to the whims of culture but communicating the hard truths of God’s Word in a way that connects with a 2010 culture.

Parker Hill Community Church is seeker-sensible rather than seeker-sensitive, and Saturday’s message is the perfect illustration. We are in the middle of a sermon series called “Welcome to my Dysfunctional Family.” The Clarks Summit area is a suburban culture with typical family units – so the sermon series connects with the sub-culture of Clarks Sumimt. We are studying the stories of Jacob, Lot, Samson, Eli, and Timothy.

Tonight’s message was on Samson – we studied passages like Judges 14:1-3 which says, ”Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, ‘I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ His father and mother replied, ‘Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.’”

I would imagine that a seeker-sensitive church would just stop at these three verses – give a point – and move on – because verse 4 of Judges 14 is a very hard verse. It says, “(His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)”

Parker Hill refuses to be seeker-sensitive in our teaching because we deal with hard passages like this verse. Pastor Mark Stuenzi’s point on verse 4 was this: “God’s sovereignty is greater than any mistake in our (kids) lives.” Seeker-sensitive churches would probably skip verse four. Seeker-sensible churches teach the truth of verse four, but they communicate it with wisdom knowing that we are called to be wise communicators in the middle of a 2010 culture. And the conclusion of the message was a review of the fact that Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross and rose from the dead to reconcile men and women to God. Jesus Christ is the only hope that any dysfunctional family has in this life.

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How He Loves Us

April 8th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

David Crowder*Band is my favorite “Christian” group in the music industry. They’ve popularized this song, and I hope it’s an encouragement to you:

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so…

So we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way…

That he loves us,
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves

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Lukewarm Materialism

April 7th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Most of us who grew up in church heard many sermons on Revelation 3:15-16 where God tells the church of Laodicea, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth!”

What most of us didn’t grow up hearing in many sermons is verse 17 where God continues to tell the Laodiceans, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have aquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” This well-known lukewarm warning passage is not specifically addressing the casual nature of teens or the tension of not “being on fire for God.”

This passage is about MATERIALISM.

Our American materialism penetrates our hearts and presuppositions more than we could ever imagine or care to discover. In light of the true context for this familiar passage of the Bible, we need to examine just how far materialism penetrates our hearts and just how deeply we trust in possessions rather than God. A lukewarm spiritual life is one characterized by a love of money and possessions. A lukewarm spiritual life is not characterized by ownership of many possessions – but instead a love for them that trumps our devotion and relationship with God.

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Women at Risk International

April 6th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Social justice comes from the very heart of God.

Psalm 82:3-4 says, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

This isn’t a simple proof-text. Just read the Bible from beginning to end and you will see a loving God who cares for the needy, rescues those in suffering, and will eventually restore all injustices that transpired on earth. One of the most humanitarian-minded individuals of our modern world put it this way:

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.

Last week, BBC was very grateful to host the president of Women At Risk International, Becky McDonald. According to their mission statement, Women At Risk International “unites and educates women to create circles of protection and hope around women at risk through culturally sensitive, value-added intervention projects.”

Women at Risk International is on the front-lines of social justice. They are rescuing women from sexual trafficking. They are giving these women a trade so they can eventually support themselves. They are challenging us who are not on the front-lines to play a part in what God is doing through their efforts.

Learn more at http://www.warinternational.com.

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God, Cars, and Thankfulness

April 1st, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Proof for the law of entropy can be found in many places, but our cars rise to the top of the list in many ways. My sister and I share our parents’ Toyota Corolla. It’s more like a go-cart than an actual vehicle, but the gas mileage is phenomenal. Though, as most used cars operate, our little Corolla has its fair share of trouble.

At the beginning of this semester, we lost the hub-cap of our right rear wheel – no clue where we lost it. A few weeks later, this terrible squealing noise erupted from a loose fan belt or something. (I’m not sure what the “something” is yet – still working on that). These are all normal occurrences, and every car owner either has or will eventually deal with these types of scenarios.

I spent the first 5 semesters of college without a car. It wasn’t difficult because I held almost all my jobs on campus. Once my parents let me borrow their car, the newness and thrill of actually having a vehicle was tremendous! But eventually, the thrill faded into routine. I’m so used to having a car now; it’s hard to think about life without one again.

God gives us blessing after blessing day-in and day-out. We tend to think of life in terms of routines and normalcy, and this leads to lifestyles full of ingratitude. I know I tend to live this way most of the time. Instead I need to be thankful for having a car, a cell-phone, a job…all these things are from God.

Remember to be thankful today – even if your car is falling apart!

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Summer 2010 @ BBC

March 31st, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Usually I stick to spiritual growth posts, but this is going to be simple and informative. I’ve worked at BBC for the past two summers. There are tons of awesome events during the summer at BBC! See which ones you might want to experience…

Men’s Conference (May 14-15): http://www.bbc.edu/mensconference/index.asp

LYFE Women’s Conference (May 20-22/June 3-5): http://www.bbc.edu/lyfe/default.asp

Golf Tournament (June 10-11): http://www.bbc.edu/summer/golf

Summer Volunteers Week (June 20-26): http://www.bbc.edu/summer/volunteers/index.asp

Big Blue Basketball Camp (June 21-25): http://www.bbc.edu/bigblue (Grades 5-8)

Defender Basketball Camp (June 27-July 2): http://www.bbc.edu/sportscamps (Grades 9-12)

Lady Defender Basketball Camp (July 4-9): http://www.bbc.edu/sportscamps (Grades 9-12)

Summer Volunteers Week (July 11-17): http://www.bbc.edu/summer/volunteers/index.asp

Jr. High Boot Camp (July 12-16): http://www.bbc.edu/bootcamp

Teen Leadership Conference (July 19-24 & July 26 – 31): http://www.bbc.edu/tlc2010

Defender Soccer (August 1-6): http://www.bbc.edu/sportscamps (Boys and Girls)

Lady Defender Volleyball Camp (August 8-13): http://www.bbc.edu/sportscamps

Big Blue Soccer Camp (August 9-13): http://www.bbc.edu/bigblue (Grades K-8)

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Common Religiosity

March 29th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Last week I was watching the cop show Southland. The LA policemen investigating the murder of a college athlete stopped a woman to ask her if she knew anything about the crime. The woman responded by saying…

No sir. You know how it says, “See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.” That’s the best thing I learned from the Bible!

The officer replied…

Ma’am, I believe that’s Buddhist.

As humorous as that scene was, it got me seriously considering the common religiosity that plagues our society. In America today we tend to be somewhat religious and tend to believe that’s a good thing. The truth is that religion kills. Common religiosity is NOT a good thing. Anything that is good comes from the good news or gospel of Jesus Christ. Below is material from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA:

“Religion says that if we obey God He will love us. The gospel says that it is because God has loved us through Jesus that we can obey.

Religion says that the world is filled with good people and bad people. The gospel says that the world is filled with bad people who are either repentant or unrepentant.

Religion says that you should trust in what you do as a good moral person. The gospel says that you should trust in the perfectly sinless life of Jesus because He alone is the only good and truly moral person who will ever live.

The goal of religion is to get from God such things as health, wealth, insight, power, and control. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.

Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do. Religion sees hardship in life as punishment from God. The gospel sees hardship in life as sanctifying affliction that reminds us of Jesus’ sufferings and is used by God in love to make us more like Jesus. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus.

Religion leads to an uncertainty about my standing before God because I never know if I have done enough to please God. The gospel leads to a certainty about my standing before God because of the finished work of Jesus on my behalf on the cross.

Religion ends in either pride (because I think I am better than other people) or despair (because I continually fall short of God’s commands). The gospel ends in humble and confident joy because of the power of Jesus at work for me, in me, through me, and sometimes in spite of me.”

Shows like Southland illustrate our need for rescue – but it doesn’t come through common religiosity. The truth is that a real relationship with Jesus Christ is our only rescue.

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Reaction vs. Interaction

March 24th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

In Romans 13:1-7, Paul writes:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

American Christians seem to lose sight of Scripture when events unravel that make them feel uncomfortable. I’m included in the American Christian category as well. We tend to REACT instead of INTERACT. The recent political trends have sparked outcries across the country from America’s politically conservative base – especially Christians.

As followers of Christ, we should be known as people who interact with wisdom, love and truth as opposed to people who react with stupidity, hatred and disrespect. The challenge from Romans 13:1-7 is to maintain a high respect for government. (And Paul was referring to the Roman government which was, believe it or not, far more corrupt than our present situation). The challenge from Paul still stands today – even for American politics in March 2010.

Christian, remember our call to be salt and light in a dark world.

Refuse to react with stupidity, hatred or disrespect.

Interact with wisdom, love and truth.

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