NEW BLOG

As much as I've appreciated using blogger for Montreal last summer, I will be using Xanga now to communicate what is going on in life and in Montreal this summer. So, the new address is:

www.xanga.com/dwight_bernier

Please check out this site and leave me lots of love this summer, cause why not leave lots of love?

-dwight

New Year's Truth - being known by God!

Happy New Year!
I haven't blogged in such a long time. I believe it to be a reflection of prioritizing during a rather hectic time, not only for myself, but I imagine for most of you as well. But, reading J.I. Packer's book "Knowing God", I encountered a quote and truth that brought much joy to my heart. Here it is. Enjoy, and find complete and utter satisfaction in God.
"There is tremendous relief in knowing that His [God's] love for me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.
There is, certainly great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and am I glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. We cannot work these thoughts out here....He knows us."
Packer, p. 42.

Savor over these sweet words about our Creator, and beg Him to help us know Him, not merely about Him, this year.

Enabled.
Dwight

Speak with Authority

Here is a poem from the slam-poet genius, Taylor Mali, talking about how our generation sucks at saying what they want to say. We add so many things to our explanations, and ..... well, I think he says it well, and sarcastically, because that is a real 'virtue' of our generation as well.

TOTALLY LIKE WHATEVER, YOU KNOW?
- taylor Mali
"In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncoll
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declaritive sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally....
I mean absolutely.... You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just like....
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation...ness
is just a clever sort of...thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since....
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too."


What a challenge, to make each word count, especially in our sharing Christ with people. Be articulate and allow for Christ to speak through you. I really like the line "To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it." If you really trust Jesus, then speak with confidence about Him, no matter how hard it is - determine to trust Him and not your fears. Speak with boldness, power and discipline - because God has not given us a spirit of timidity!
It's hard to speak clearly, but let's work on it, for the conveying of the gospel. (and saving more of our breath maybe).....

Dwight

Crucified Madonna now a Jewish Jesus believer? (I can't quite figure it out either)

So, if anyone knows anything about Madonna's recent tour, you would know that she would end her shows with a mock crucifixion, where she was put in the place where Jesus was - kind of like the passion of Madonna. That caused a big stir, especially when she did it near Rome - which is a big no-no in sacramental, traditional, work-my-way-to-heaven candyland (and of course anywhere else either).
And recently, Madonna has nailed down some extra publicity in the adoption of her new child, which I'm not going to go into detail to describe.
But most recently, Madonna has called herself a follower of Jewish mysticism - but that she believes in Jesus too. Madonna has taken the name of Ester as part of her religion and she celebrates Jewish holidays. But she wants Jesus too!
She mentions her new son David, and says that when he is growing up, he can be a Christian and study Kabbalah (the form of Jewish mysticism) too. She sees no issue with that at all. Madonna is trying to make her own belief system out of one that does not recognize Jesus and one that does. So, she wants Jesus involved in her beliefs - but doesn't want to be involved in Jesus' beliefs.
It's amazing what Rick Ross, one of Kabbalah's followers said of Madonna and anyone else that wants to follow more than one "religion", "It's historically and practically impossible for a person to be two religions simultaneously." Weird, isn't that what Jesus said a long time ago.
"No man can serve two masters." - Jesus.
So, Madonna is once again trying to make her own rules on things. But she wants Jesus. May the grace of God be in her life, so that she rejects everything else, denies herself, and take up the cross - and follow Jesus.
Madonna's ideas are so in tune with what the world wants now - Jesus and something else. But it can't happen that way. The only way is Jesus. And He said it.
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." - Jesus.
It's only in Jesus that we can find hope, joy and eternal life. In Christ alone!

Dwight

5 Ways To Be Irrelevant

I recently received the magazine, OUTREACH, and there is a great article titled, "Got Street Smarts?", and it focuses being culturally relevant and standing for truth. Of course there is a ridiculous amount of information on this, but I think that it is such a struggle to, as the article says, "follow in the footsteps of jesus and walk the tightrope between biblical authenticity and cultural relevancy". But they had an insert in the article, and the insert was written by Heather Johnson (I have no idea who that is) - but I liked it a lot. So, I'm going to put it down here. These are the Five Ways to Be IRrelevant.

Five Ways to be Irrelevant
1. STAY CLOSE TO HOME!
Don't venture too far from your home and church. For fear of being influenced by the strange habits of non-Christians, stay within the safe, known company of those who think like you. By doing this, you're guaranteed to never set a Christian example among the estimated 175 million American unbelievers. Moreover, unbelievers will not be able to teach you anything about their struggles and challenges with their personal faith and beliefs - or lack thereof.
2. READ ONLY CHRISTIAN MATERIAL.
Because other books and magazines may address controversial, challenging topics, stick with only the Bible and Christian classics. This ensures a limited perspective on the world and culture. Steer clear of books like The New York Times Bestseller "THE LANGUAGE OF GOD" by Francis S. Collins, which argues that faith in God and faith in science can co-exist.
3. CONSIDER TECHNOLOGY AS SOMETHING ONLY FOR THE YOUNGSTERS.
Don't worry about new technology - blogging, podcasting, etc. After all, there are only 73 million Americans under the age of 18 who are more familiar with Web sites than books, and more accustomed to iPods than VCRs. By refusing to learn about new technology and how it can be used for more effective means of outreach, you can make sure that you or your church won't be of any interest to today's younger generations.
4. DON'T USE MODERN-DAY EXAMPLES
When you preach, open with corny jokes and use only dated stories to illustrate Bible lessons. Your unchurched or dechurched visitors will have a tough time understanding and relating. If you use the Bible, but then choose to also share secular examples from current movies or songs that many people are familiar with, they might better understand God's message and its applicability in their lives.
5. DON'T MAKE RELEVANCY A GOAL.
As you and your church leaders set goals, don't prioritize relevancy. By doing this, you'll be sure to follow steps 1 through 4.


This is not a rant against the church or anything like that. I love the Church, because it is the body of Christ. But, let's lose sleep over being relevant to the people that God brings into our lives, and contextualize it to our society. Take it as encouragement to move closer to what Jesus did - and not bend from the truth in doing it!

Dwight

Thomas a Kempis - Humble opinion of Self

So often, I find that men that have gone before me put things much better than I could scribble them down on paper. Their word choices bring out with more clarity and punch the very essence of what they want to get across, where sometimes I feel like I'm just rambling about the so-called important thoughts in my mind. But humbleness and humility is something that is not spoken enough about. As I was drifting through this treasure of a book by Thomas a Kempis, I came across this true, yet troubling paragraph. It brings forth the very meaning behind the warning of I Corinthians 10:12. In our fight for our rights, our names to be known, for us to mean something, for significance, for popularity, and just to be plain cool, look at these worldly virtues in the light of what Thomas had to say.
"If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself." - Imitation of Christ

If we take his words as truth, we must lean heavy on the Lord and not trust in our own understanding, but trust in the Lord with all our might, and love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength - begging Him to help us enjoy Him.

"He must increase, but I must decrease" - John the Baptist

Decreasing.
Dwight

Meditation from Edwards on "The Excellency of Christ"

Reading Jonathan Edwards is just plain hard and painful at times. But, he does an excellent discourse on "The Excellency of Christ", and I wanted to share a meditation and hopefully tantalize your appetite, and make you desire to read more of him. I suffer through reading this wonderful man of God, but it is so worth it. Enjoy, and enjoy God because of Him making much of Jesus through men like Jonathan Edwards. May we present Christ to the world as most excellent - and seek to know Him more deeply so that He will pour out of us as we live our lives.
"There meet in Jesus Christ, infinite justice and infinite grace. As Christ is a divine person, He is infinitely holy and just; hating sin, and disposed to execute condign punishment for sin. He is the Judge of the world, and the infinitely just Judge of it, and will not at all acquit the wicked, or by any means clear the guilty.
And yet He is infinitely gracious and merciful. Though His justice be so strict with respect to all sin, and every breach of the law, yet He has grace sufficient for every sinner, and even the chief of sinners. And it is not only sufficient for the most unworthy to show them mercy, and bestow some good upon them, but to bestow the greatest good; yea, it is sufficient to bestow all good upon them, and to do all things for them. There is no benefit or blessing that they can receive, so great but the grace of Christ is sufficient to bestow it on the greatest sinner that ever lived. And not only so, but so great is His grace, that nothing is too much as the means of this good. It is sufficient not only to do great things, but also to suffer in order to it; and not only to suffer, but to suffer most extremely even unto death, the most terrible of natural evils; and not only death, but the most ignominious and tormenting, and every way the most terrible that men could inflict; yea, and greater sufferings than men could inflict, who could only torment the body. He had sufferings in His soul, that were the more immediate fruits of the wrath of God against the sins of those He undertakes for." - Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume i. p. 681 (Hendrickson Edition).

May the words of Edwards lead us to love Jesus more and enjoy Him more. May we seek Him first and savor Him as the all-surpassing Value of our life. Read difficult theologians and struggle with me in this endeavor, but ENJOY God.

Savoring the Excellency of Christ.
Dwight