Systematic theology has been something I’ve had a love/hate relationship with since seminary.  I love all theology because it is about eternal truth.  There are three types of theology which I love in this order:  Biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology. 

             Biblical theology asks the question, “What does the Bible say?” As straightforwardly as possible it lists what the Scripture says.  It does its best not to impose logic, tradition, preference, or the personal into the expression of theology.  It prefers Biblical words to non-Biblical words.  Historical theology is simply a study of the record of what the church and churches have said about God, church, man, etc., down through the ages.  Systematic theology is an attempt to create a structure for theology that does not exist in Scripture and is too much the product of human organization of thought.

 I’ve heard people say the Bible is a systematic book, but it is evident that if it were, they wouldn’t have to make that defense.  The Bible is a relational book and has some of the loose ends all relationships do, even being an infallible, inerrant book.  It demonstrates God’s love for the world through story, law, poetry, gospel, letters, etc., but in no part does it resemble a systematic theology for long.  Therefore, it is by design not systematic. 

 You may be a person who isn’t interested in this and may see it as a preacher argument, but I assure you most of the wrong turns the church has taken have been done in the name of systematic theology.  Most of the corrections have been through a return to Biblical theology.  This is a caution and an interesting point (I hope) for those of you who are students of our faith.

We’ve invited our church to get in the game with pledging this year.  It has been such an odd year financially for the nation and for the Columbia area that I wasn’t sure what to expect.  At the end of Sunday, we had pledged $150,000 more than we had pledged at the same time last year, and last year we had a great pledge campaign.

             This can only happen when God’s people dig down deep and get into the faith dimension before they ever start thinking about what they’re going to pledge in the financial dimension.  I’m grateful for the dollars you will give.  Make no mistake, we can’t run this church on air.  However, if it only becomes a matter of affordability or financial wisdom, then we lose touch with the great lessons stewardship has to offer us – that primary lesson being faith. 

             I see a lot of faith in what all of you did.  It demonstrates you love the Lord.  It demonstrates you have a commitment to reaching out to the world in season and out.  I look forward to us finishing the year strong, our giving being great, and our bringing honor to God in demonstrating to the world that we love God more than we love ourselves.  Thank you for being a great church and thank you for sharing the rewards of faith with each other and with the world.

I was very impressed and blessed by the outpouring of sympathy and kind concern shown me at the time of the death of my roommate.  His funeral was very moving and meant a great deal to me, and I enjoyed being with his family at that difficult time. 

             While I was in his home the week before, I recorded a 15-minute interview with Bob in which I talked with him about his worldview and about the faith that enabled him to live for four years with someone whose values were completely different from his.  On November 29^th I’m going to preach a very unusual sermon.  I will be sharing my personal testimony and interspersing the testimony with Bob’s testimony now preserved on DVD.  Many of you have expressed the feeling that you knew him and yet don’t know what he looked like.  That will be handled on Sunday morning at both services on November 29^th. 

If you have a college or high school student in your home, I would strongly urge you to bring them and let them hear from this man who had the maturity of faith at 18 to be a major influence in my life.

             God’s grace is astounding to me, and the further along I move in live, the more astounding it becomes.  His arrangement of our being roommates was one of the many acts of grace He did in my life prior to my becoming a Christian.  I am grateful to God for all He did for so many years and look forward to expressing it on Sunday morning, November 29^th.

Rule 5:  THE PROCESS SHOULD VARY.  This is a hard rule for me to write about because I have ruined more great periods of walking with God by trying to make my walk perfect than by any other way.  Sometimes the perfect really is the enemy of the good.  I have, at times, been so interested in getting my walk exactly right that I did not enjoy the rightness, imperfect though it might have been, that I had already achieved.  While overt rebellion in the sense that I am just unwilling to have a devotional life has never been my problem, wanting it to be perfect has.  This caused me to change things when I read about how other people did it instead of being satisfied with what God had led my time with Him to be. 

 That being said, if your walk with God becomes stale, don’t be afraid to vary it.  You may be surprised what a small change will make such as reading a different version of the Bible, throwing away your old prayer list no matter how guilty you feel about doing so and then starting over with a fresh prayer list, sitting in a different room, getting up a little earlier, staying up a little later, listening to music, or having your walk with God at lunch.

 Getting to know people who have a quality walk with God can also help give you guidance in the development of your time with Him.  Don’t be ashamed to admit any frustrations or failures to them or to ask them for advice.  They’ll need some from you before it’s all over.

I hope these rules have helped you.  I would love to hear from you about whether you’ve installed some of them or whether you’ve discovered some of your own.  What really works for you in your time with God?  Let me hear from you.