Wednesday Word of the Week

Kenegdov (adj.) -- Suitable, corresponding to. From the Hebrew root "neged," meaning "opposite," and the prefix "ke," meaning "like" or "as."

Key verse -- Genesis 2:18. "I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Thoughts on kenegdov -- Isaac Newton had it right. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." In the original, unfallen state, Eve was not Adam's gofer or appointment secretary or personal maidservant. Nor was she his toady or lackey or mere conspirator. Eve was to be Adam's counterpart, his colleague.

What Eve provided to the created order was something none of the animals could -- balance.

God gives us two legs so that one can hold us up while the other moves. God also gives us two arms to both aid in propulsion and provide a counterweight when we walk. Also notice that when we walk, the limbs on opposite sides of our bodies move together. That's called counterbalance. That's what Newton was talking about in his third law of motion.

And that's what Eve was to be for Adam.

Ideally, this is what marriage should be, too. Partnership. Collaboration. A balance of equal and opposite persons simultaneously providing both support and propulsion.

Tangent #1 -- Notice that in the New Testament, neither Jesus nor the apostles nor the Holy Spirit ever asked anybody to do anything mission-related by themselves. Every Paul had his Barnabas or Silas or Timothy or whomever. Every Peter had his John or Thomas. We do what we do together, or not at all. All of us -- even the most fervent missionaries -- need balance.

Tangent #2 -- When you think about the design of marriage from an "equal and opposite" perspective, you begin to see just how ridiculous the very idea of "gay marriage" really is. Marriage is a partnership with someone who is fundamentally different from you. Homosexuality, be definition, seeks sameness. "Gay marriage," then, is propulsion without balance.

The fall, of course, changed the relationship between Adam and Eve. When she led the way into sin, the consequence was that from now on Adam was "in charge." But as any person in any position of authority knows, the fewer times you have to "pull rank" the more successful your endeavor.

If we will acknowledge the basic laws of relational physics -- wives realizing the authority their husbands have been given and the responsibility that comes along with it, husbands allowing their wives to be the equal-and-opposite kenegdo they were designed to be -- there's no limit to how high we can fly.

Thoughts on Apollo

A friend asked me today what I was doing 41 years ago tonight, when the whole world watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon.

Nothing, as it turns out. My parents didn't even know each other yet; their first date came in February of 1970. I wouldn't come along until four days after Hank Aaron hit home run #715, 16 months after the last manned trip to the moon.

I was born into a world where men had been to the moon enough times that we had moved on to the "next thing." I was born into a world where a black man could get a standing ovation from a largely-white audience in Atlanta. I was born into a world where even Babe Ruth's home run record could be broken.

The atmosphere in which I took my first breath was one where anything was possible.

Unfortunately, this was the 70's. So "anything is possible" quickly devolved into "hey, why not?" See disco, the pet rock, and the filmography of John Travolta.

The world learned a important lesson during the first five years of my life: Just because you can, doesn't necessarily mean you should.

Friday Link Around

Blog of the Week:

Warren Baldwin's Family Fountain

Warren is an author, preacher, and all-around decent human being. He works with a slightly-larger-than-average congregation on the Kansas prairie, and writes about the book of Proverbs.

Video Clip of the Week:



This talks about publishing, but the principles apply to church as well, I think.

Podcast of the Week:

IPreach.

Dale Jenkins and Adam Faughn cover all sorts of topics preachers face. The website has links to ITunes and RSS subscriptions.

If you want to keep in touch with Pleasant Grove by e-mail, send a message to pleasantgrove.ky@gmail.com. We'll send you Wednesday night announcements, Sunday sermon titles, and news about area events.

See you Sunday,
-Ben

Gospel Meeting Closing Credits

We have a long list of thank-yous to those who made this year's Gospel Meeting the huge success it was:

Preaching -- Lamar Russell

Song Leading --- Barry Cohoon

Technical Assistance -- Julia Corder, Bryce Penick
Hand-outs -- Dylan Penick, Spencer Corder, Erica Wiles, Katie Wiles
Children's Bible Hour -- Laura Wiles, Phyllis West, Kathy Conyea, Kelli Penick, Denna Chastain, Mindy Corder

Area Sister Congregations Who Came to Support Our Meeting:

• Allensville
• Westside
• Guthrie
• Keysburg
• Sharon Grove
• Clifty
• Adairville
• Orlinda
• Madison Street
• There are at least two (or maybe 3) more whose names I missed. Post in the comments and we'll add them in.
  

Out of Town Visitors

• Adams Boulevard (Bartlesville, OK)
• West End (Nashville, TN)
• St. Mary's (St Mary's GA)
• Shady Acres (Sikeston, MO)
• Carthage, TN

And then there's the ice cream. The ice cream makers, cookie bakers, lemonade makers, table-and-chair-setter-uppers, all came out in full force.

Well done, everybody.

Ice Cream Night

It's Ice Cream Night.

You have been warned.

Podcast Update

The first two mp3's of Lamar's Gospel Meeting lessons are posted near the top right of the page.

Two things you should know:

1. To listen to the files, you have to download them to your machine. We are using a different file hosting site for the gospel meeting to accommodate the larger file sizes that doesn't include a player. You also have to enter a capcha code at the bottom to prove that you're human and not some malicious gospel-meeting-attending robot bent on planetary domination, or something.

2. The file lengths are not the actual sermon length. The tail end of the worship service files include the invitation song, closing announcements, closing prayer, and a few other things that happened before we could get to the machine and turn it off. The actual sermon is about 5 minutes shorter that the posted time.

The files we have up are mp3's, but if you prefer wma file formats, e-mail me and I'll put them up.

Also, Lamar has provided printed outlines of his lessons. If you want those, drop us an e-mail and I'll get one out to you.

Off to assemble Goliath.

-ben

Trying Something New

We are experimenting with a new way to make sermons available. To the right you'll see a menu of recorded sermons. The newest one is from this past Sunday morning. What we need now is feedback.

1. Would you subscribe to an ITunes and/or RSS feed if one were available?

2. The audio quality is, well, less than nifty. We're working with a PC laptop and the built-in microphone. Can you hear the lessons well enough as it is now, or do we need to upgrade?

3. Should we be recording everything, or just sermons and special events?

4. Do you prefer MP3's, or the WMA file format, or do you get the same results either way?

Thanks and God bless.