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Posts Tagged with Paul Thompson

News Feed Algorithms

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I’m no mathematician.

The smart thinking of Tim Challies explains the matter of social media algorithms.

Every time I learn how to get a blog post to get more traffic I learn that new algorithms are being unleashed and everything I thought I knew is now outdated. That’s the way a user of a product works and the smart guys producing the products are more than just a step or two ahead of me.

Challies, who writes with a much wider scope than I do, makes a strong argument about the old fashioned way we used to get things off of the internet from the guys and sites we want and not what the algorithm building guys want their customers to see.

As one who produces content to read (I’ve been blogging for nearly 15 years, that’s ancient in internet years) and one who archives sermons to listen to (over 370, and counting) and occasional podcasting series, it is valuable to learn as much as one can about how to share what I’m producing to as many people as possible in how to get content dispersed.

I don’t have any aspirations to cash in on any content I produce related to my ministry of the word and so I also realize I have to rely on word of mouth and people who intentionally come looking for things I post here and on Sermon Audio (and YouTube).

I don’t fault anyone producing platforms that many people use such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. They do what they do for the reasons they do it. I try to take advantage of all platforms to disperse content and I understand that’s the way it is.

Tim Challies, in his post this morning, makes a strong case for the consumer of information to stay in control of the content we read by actually subscribing to those sources we want to read. If you use social media to be the primary source of your news you should expect them to give you what they want you to read. If you want to decide what you read, then you need to act the part of curator, as Challies puts it.

So, today, I’m inviting you to consider a few things to help me.

  • Subscribe to this news feed to get a new email when I produce a new post (click on that “Follow” button on the lower right of the screen.)
  • Subscribe to SermonAudio feed https://www.sermonaudio.com/thebridge
  • Follow my Public Figure Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/PastorPaulThompson/
  • Follow my Twitter Feed: https://twitter.com/TwinFallsPaul
  • Follow my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAhExzbgiDz3A99ci0S6WyA?view_as=subscriber
  • Share any posts or sermons on your social media outlets.
  • I write a regular column in the Twin Falls Times News (magicvalley.com). My ability to continue is largely on feedback the Times News gets on the column I write. The best way to communicate this to them is to share links directly to the Times News. Sharing and liking those columns goes a long way in telling them that people read them. (I don’t write for pay for the Times News, it is at their request and I’ve been pleased to do so for the past 7 years.)

Thank you for reading and helping spread the “news”.

 

To the Law and To the Testimony

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“To the law and to the testimony!” Isaiah 8:20

There are many influences competing for our attention. All the more for why we must look eagerly for Christ.

The many influences are swaying us to consult them. They sometimes whisper, they may sing, they may shout, they may laugh their way in, but one thing is consistent, regardless of how they attempt to get our attention, they mumble and mutter so we don’t fully understand what they are attempting to do. The child of God will not knowingly turn a deaf ear to God for good.

The influence we give permission to is the one who will eventually begin to drive our life. If there is no light in the influence, then it is sure that it will drive us with an unsatisfied hunger for more darkness. This is what the Apostle Paul means in Romans chapter 1.

No! follower of Christ, to the law (instructions) and to the testimony.

If you notice a growing dislike of godliness and an interest in not loving God, then there is reason to examine who you are letting influence you today.

Rather, consult the oracles of God and resist consulting the wizards of foolishness. Lear to make good use of your bible.

Here are a few things I shared in my sermon on January 21, 2018 from Isaiah 8:16-22.

What use do we make of our Bibles?

  • Speak according to the Bible
  • Do according to the Bible
  • Make this Bible our standard
  • Conform to the precepts of the Bible
  • Take counsel from the Bible
  • Let the Bible illuminate our paths
  • Let the Bible examine our hearts
  • Be nourished by the Bible
  • Be healed by the Bible
  • Define holiness by the Bible
  • Define joy by the Bible

Listen to the entire sermon HERE:

In Times Like This

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It was nearly eight years ago.

I would have to preach Psalm 46 to myself again and again and again. Today? I preach it to myself still.

Scripture is more than just words on a page. They’re not magical words on a page that come true when you say them in the correct order or read them by moon light. They are more than mere words on a page because they tell of who God is.

In Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found.

Because He is this, “we will not be afraid”. This does not read, “we don’t have to be afraid”, it is “we will not be afraid”.

I would, and still do, have to preach that to myself often. Because you are God, I will not be afraid. Even if the earth shakes and the mountain tops melt into the depths of the sea, even if the water rages and foams, even if turmoil is in my inner man, I will not be afraid.

~rest~ (Selah)

While all around me was and can still be in confusion, there is a river that “delights in the city of God.” Where God is, all things are subject to Him. Though the earth shakes, mountains melt, nations rage, kingdoms foam, the earth becomes mush… The LORD of Host is with us, “the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

~rest~ (Selah)

Come.

Come, see the works of the LORD. He holds all things by the power of His word. He is the LORD of angel armies. He provides for the needs of His people and even for the needs of those who curse His name. He causes wars to cease. He shatters the works of man.

I will not be afraid.

I will preach this again! For the sake of my soul, I will preach this today!

Burning in the Soul

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Burning in the Soul

Beginning January 7, 2018 on the first Lord’s Day evening of each month I have invited 12 pastors in the region to gather with us and preach what is burning in their soul.

If at all possible, I want you to attend all of these gatherings. You will meet pastors from as far south as St. George, UT to as far north as Cottonwood, ID. You will meet local pastors from Southern Baptist Churches and local pastors from other faithful bible preaching churches.

As fast as the nation has moved away from God, God has fortified a faithful post of biblical preachers in our day. These are only 12 of them. There are many others like them. I’ve said it many times, and I still say it today; “It is a good day to be the church.”

Here is the list of names and dates for the first half of the year.

We are in a day where the general population of the nation no longer looks at the preacher as a man of God.

When the man of God in our day mentions God in the marketplace he faces a dilemma. If he speaks, the listener may increase in his abuse of him, but if he doesn’t speak he has no inner peace.

The preachers in our day who obey the Lord are learning, like the prophet Jeremiah discovered; that God’s word is burning in his inner-man like a burning fire shut up in his bones.

In 2018, I have asked these preachers to not hold back from what is burning in their souls. Where the atmosphere of the spiritual landscape in our day and nation is different than Jeremiah’s, I want this church to hear what is Burning in the Soul of these men.

May God bless his preachers and may God bless His hungry people.

Sunday Nights at Eastside

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Through the remainder of 2017 I will be address biblical marriage on Sunday nights. It is my hope that you would consider attending the Sunday night gatherings of Eastside Baptist Church. This is not just a “how to improve your marriage” series, this is as much a series of messages for the youth and young adults who are not married yet to consider biblical teachings about what marriage is and why it is an important subject for all of us to give attention to it.

Join me on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m at Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho.

For Church and Family (005) Listening to the Preaching

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In this post I explain the reasons behind parents teaching their children to listen to the preaching. The hardest thing to teach a child in church is to listen to the preaching.

Tips for Church and Family

  • Parents:
    • Be consistent
    • Talk about this at home before you arrive.
    • As the grow older help them desire to listen to the preaching.
    • If a child needs to go to the bathroom every week, make a trip to the bathroom before you enter the auditorium.
  • Church:
    • Do your best to not get up and leave during the preaching.
    • Be sure to turn your phone off.
    • Display a discipline of not using your phone for messaging or games.

For Church and Family (004) Teach them to Listen

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In this post I encourage parents to read ahead in the scripture text at home and teach the children to listen for key words, listen to what songs we sang, ask them later what they heard.

Tips for Church and Family

  • Parents:
    • Read the text that your church is preaching through at home several times before the coming Lord’s Day. Make this a habit even if the children don’t understand what’s going on.
    • Note key words for the children to listen for.
    • Teach about those key words.
    • Only bring quiet items into the church house
    • Follow up with questions after.
    • Ask; “What songs did we sing at the church house today?”
    • Have an expectation
  • Church:
    • Give the children something honorable to imitate

For Church and Family (001)

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Today, I begin a series on church and family. I will lay out several short clips over the next few weeks from my Sunday evening teaching entitled “For Church and Family.”

These should be considered for consideration only. This is not a prescription or a requirement. I believe it will be helpful in all of our homes.

In this introduction I lay out a case for parents, children and the church as a whole to begin a needed conversation about what is helpful for family and church when we gather together. These posts will include a video clip from the October 15, evening teaching with ideas, cautions, encouragements and considerations.

A primary Scripture text over the past several weeks in the series of messages on parenting has been the benefit of Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go…” The key in this text is that we should consider the way the child should go not the way the child’s will wants to go. This is in relationship to behavior primarily. It can apply to the path of life but for the use in this series it is primarily used in behavior.

It has been my prayer that this be a blessing. I respect that a family who attends Eastside Baptist Church has a hard work to do. I think it is a good work. Yes, sometimes, a good work is hard work, but in the end it is a reward.

My encouragement to all parents in this God ordained work is to not grow weary in doing good (Galations 6:9).

On any given Lord’s Day at Eastside Baptist Church we will have from 20 to 30 children under the age of 12 in our morning gathering. That is a blessing from God. Treat it as such and bless the Lord for it.

Tips for Church and Family:

  • Parents:
    • Consider using the term “Lord’s Day” when you speak about Sunday’s.
    • Take time this week when you gather your children together and communicate what it looks like for your family when you gather at the church house with the church family.
    • Age appropriately, include your children in the discussion by asking them what they think you expect from them on the Lord’s Day.
    • Discuss why you expect them to behave as you instruct.
    • Protect yourself from being frustrated with your children.
    • Don’t grow weary in doing good.
  • Church:
    • Be patient with the children and their parents. It is a blessing to have them with us.
    • Pray for parents as they give helpful instructions to their children.
    • Pray for the children to want to heed their parents instructions.
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