The True Meaning of Christmas.

Sometimes with all the hustle and bustle we forget what Christmas is really all about.  This is a story that I came across a few years ago that reminds me of what the true meaning of Christmas is.  I hope you enjoy it.

Author - Dr. Scott Brooksby.

When I was a child of about twelve years old, we had a Christmas that I have never forgotten. We grew up in humble means to say the least, but we generally always had one or two gifts under the tree even if they were only socks and underwear.

During this particular Christmas, by good fortune we had many gifts. For the first time in a long time, we received a lot of the things we actually wanted. I was one of seven children, so this was a very big deal. We were all so excited and could hardly wait until Christmas morning.
However, on that Christmas Eve, after careful reflection and much heated discussion, my father decided that it was much too much, and that in this frenzy that we had lost the true meaning of Christmas.
With much trepidation, we were instructed to hand over all but one of our unopened gifts. There was some crying, some anger, some shock and disbelief. What happened next truly astounded us. My father loaded all those gifts into his truck and we all piled in. We went from house to house in our community and handed out our things. Some of the families we knew, some we didn't. All were as poor as we were. Some had no gifts except for ours. As that truck rounded corner after corner, slowly, very slowly, the anger left. The shock and disbelief vanished and were replaced with a different sort of emotion. We all started to feel an overwhelming sense of joy in this service. The mark that this experience left on our lives has changed the way we look at Christmas forever.
Never before had I grasped what Christmas was truly about. It is about unselfish giving. Not of toys or gifts, but giving of ourselves. It was of Christ who would gave the ultimate gift of eternal life.
That experience taught us that at the celebration of his birth, our "giving" should reflect his ultimate sacrifice. He gave the whole of his life in our service and for our sake showing us His love. Hence the best gift we can give to others at Christmas is our time, sharing our talents, and genuine love, as acts of kindness.

My First Logan-Todd Associational Meeting

I had the privilege of attending my first Associational Meeting a couple of weeks ago at Walnut Grove Baptist.  It was a blessing in spirit and in body (Baptists always know how to feed a fellowship)!  I heard some great reports, wonderful testimonies of God’s working in our state and around the world, not to mention a great sermon from our Executive Director of the KBC, Dr. Paul Chitwood.

One of the written reports was a summary of the ACPs, (Annual Church Profile Letters) from the churches.  My eye quickly went to the Second Baptist line and started comparing numbers.  Here is what I saw.  SBC was second in baptisms (19), first in total additions (32), third in Sunday School Attendance (203), first in worship attendance (330), second in VBS attendance (275), third in total monies given ($571,375), and fourth in missions giving ($76,771).

Now before you begin to scold me for comparing our church to others, I am well aware that we are not in competition with our sister churches.  We are all on the same team, serving the same Lord, and have the same goal.  That is, to win others to Christ.  “We are Second, Where He is First”!  It’s not about us, but all about Him, but numbers do give us a good picture of the health of a church.  Check the Book of Acts on God’s reporting of numbers in His church and you’ll see that numbers are very important to Jesus because each number represents a person.

With that in mind, let me give you some thoughts we need to dwell on as we go forward this year.

1.  God is blessing, so we must be doing some things right.

     Let’s keep witnessing, working, praying, and inviting others to know Christ who died
     for them. God always blesses that and I love His blessings!

2.  Seeing God’s church grow should encourage us to stay faithful.

     God does reward our work (1 Corinthians 15:58)!

3.  Knowing the potential for even greater fruit for Him should create in us a desire to be even 

     more dedicated to His kingdom work.

We are having our Fall Revival Nov. 4-7.  Be here, bring someone, pray that we might all be moved to do even greater things for Jesus (Ephesians 3:20).

Will we be an Average Church?

I used some numbers and a quote from Dr. Frank Page (former president of the SBC) in a sermon a couple of weeks ago.  This is the jest of it.
Average is defined as typical; common; ordinary.  One pastor defined it this way: “a step above the worst and a step below the best”. The average SBC church (62%) has 1-99 in Sunday School and another 21% 100-199. It takes 49 Southern Baptists to reach and baptize 1 person each year.  The average age of the worshippers is 49 and 23% of Southern Baptists are retired.  Frank Page states that if these trends continue by 2030 50% of our churches will have closed their doors.
That begs the question, “How do we avoid this”?  I don’t want us to look at it from a defensive posture, guarding against this outcome, but from an offensive  mindset.  Can I tell you that if we do what the Lord has called us to do that will not occur (Matthew 16:18).  So we ask not what we need to do to guard against this prediction, but what we need to focus on to continue to grow and be relevant.
One, we need to love the Lord with all our hearts and being (Matthew 22:37).  If we love Him we need to be faithful to Him in our church attendance.  Not just from the standpoint of our personal walk with God, but the community is watching to see if we are faithful.  Obedience is another sure sign of our love for God.  If we don’t love Him enough to obey Him and keep His word, then do we really love Him at all (John 14:21, 1 John 5:2-3)?  Are we willing to tell others that we love Him and that He loves us?
Secondly we need to love others.  I don’t think a church that loves others will ever find itself irrelevant in today’s world.  How can SBC love others in our world today?  I think it’s more than having community outreaches, giving to needy causes, and mission efforts; even though those are important.  I think the grassroots of it is, “are we willing to sacrifice and serve others in our church and community”?  It’s being willing to serve in the nursery one week a month so that young mom and dad can worship the Lord unhindered by a little one clinging and crying throughout the whole service.  We need a Nursery Coordinator to schedule folks so that we have every Sunday covered.  We need some able bodied souls who will work (yes, I said work) in Children’s church to not only accommodate young parents, but to teach those little ones God’s love and design for them.  Do we love others enough to do that (Mark 10:13-14)?  Can we sacrifice that others can come to know Him?
What will Second Baptist be in twenty years if the Lord tarries?  What we do today will determine what we are then.  Let’s love our Lord with all our heart and others as ourselves and watch what He does.
It’s a joy to be your Pastor!

It's a New Year!

We typically think of January as the start of a new year and in many ways it is. But if you think about it September is really a month of new beginnings in a lot of ways.  It’s the new school year, maybe a new school, or school for the very first time, a new church year, new ministries begin.  It’s an opportunity for growth, to meet new friends, to start afresh.

With our new church year come many opportunities for a fresh start and to change our world for Christ.  We have graduation day on September 2 for those moving into a new class.  We have those assuming new positions to serve as an officer, teacher, or on a committee.  I hope too that we have some classes who are looking to birth new classes in the near future.

With that in mind we are going to be having a Sunday School Revival November 3-7.  One of the major things we will be looking at is the grading of our classes.  I have asked our teachers to determine what age group they want their class to be, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, etc.  Grading is so important to put adults in a class together that are in a common position in life, with common interests, challenges, and needs.  We send our children to school to get an education by grades and then we forget this principle when it comes to churches.  You wouldn’t put a six year old in a class with teenagers nor would you put a teenager in a class of eight year olds, so why do we have someone in their forties with two teenage children in a class with newlyweds?  We will be asking, not forcing, everyone to put themselves in the proper class for their age group and stage of life.  This will also help us to see where we need new classes and where to put guests as they attend our church.

Here are just a few other things on the horizon.  One, we are going to start a New Members Class during the Sunday School hour beginning September 16 and lasting four weeks.  We will be inviting and urging all those who have joined our church in the past year to attend.  We will be asking those contemplating membership to attend.  And for anyone interested in just learning more about out church we would love to see you.  Two, we are going to start a ‘Men of Russellville’ Breakfast every Tuesday morning at the Colonial Inn beginning September 11 at 6:45 am.  We will have a buffet breakfast for $5.99 and then we will have a thirty minute Bible Study.  We will be finished by no later than 7:45.  This is not going to be a Second Baptist outreach, but a ministry for all the men of our community.  What better way to start each Tuesday than for men to gather to fellowship and study His Word.

God wants to do some great things at Second Baptist and in our community this year.  It’s a new year, our question is will we let Him?

What’s Really Important?

What’s really important to you and I?  Our possessions?  We certainly don’t want to lose them.  Our health?  We’ve got to have that too if you want to have any quality of life.  How about our family and friends?  It sure would be a lonely world without friends and family and I’m not talking about our cell phone circles either.  So where does our relationship with our Creator fit into our lives?  Did He create us to wind us up like a top and see how we spin, or did He fashion each one of us in His own mind before we ever became a living creature with a plan and purpose for our existence?  So many live their lives discouraged and disillusioned with no hope of things ever changing.  What’s the answer?  Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” 

This is why Bible Study is so important.  God’s Word has the answers!  God gave us His Word to study and prepare ourselves and our children, for the spiritual battles and conflicts that we face each day.  We need the knowledge, strength, and purpose for our lives that we find when we study His Word.  We need the grace and mercy that Jesus provides to sustain us in our daily duties.  We need His help to love and forgive one another, and to be loved and forgiven. 

August 19, we are going to have a ‘Back to School Day’ for Sunday School.  Our kids and families will be finished with vacations and summer activities.  Many have drifted away from Bible Study due to all the summer outings that we love and enjoy.  It’s time to ‘round up’ everyone and get all of us back to School!  Sunday School that is!  Make the calls, send the cards, take time to visit, text, email, skype, facetime, make contact in whatever way you chose!  Let them know they are important to God’s Kingdom and make sure you are there yourself!

We have adopted a new motto for our church that you have probably already seen.  It’s this, “We are Second, where He is First!”  Is He first in our lives, our families, our church?  God has a plan for this world and you’re a part of it!  His plan is revealed in His Word.  You’re important to Him, so don’t miss out on what He has for you!  He is First!

When It Doesn’t Make Sense

Most of the things I write are to encourage, challenge, or just to uplift the name of Jesus, but sometimes you just want to share what’s on your heart.  This has been a sad time for many of my dear friends in East Tennessee and I’m sure I don’t know the half of it.  Let me explain.

On the evening of the fourth we saw a post from some of our Facebook friends in Morristown that there had been a tragedy at Cherokee Lake right outside of Morristown.  As the news began to hit the internet we learned that two little boys, ages 10 and 11, had been electrocuted while swimming around their houseboat at German Creek Boat Dock (see the story http://www.citizentribune.com/?p=15872).   Noah Winstead was dead at the scene and Nate Lynam died Thursday evening from his injuries.  As I read the accounts my heart went out to the families, their church, and the community as they were faced with one of those unexplainable heartrending tragedies that hit us sometimes. 

A picture of the boys together at school with arms around each other and smiles that could light up a Christmas tree began to be posted on Facebook Walls Friday morning.  I sent an email to my dear Pastor friend Dr. Dean Haun to let him know I was praying for the families, him, and the church as one of the moms was on staff at First Baptist and both families were members there.  Both boys were baptized there too.  I asked him to not worry about responding since I knew what the church was going through, but he sent this back to me, “Thanks buddy, it’s been tough….”.

‘It’s been tough…’.  What words of depth and heartache.  The families asked that this statement be published in response to the outpouring of love by the Community.  “The family of Nate Lynam is overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from family, friends and the community. It is the family’s wish that the tragedy that claimed his life, not be what defines it. Nate was a loving son, a loyal brother and a kind and respectful young man.

“If there is anything newsworthy in this tragedy it is this: Nate and his friend Noah loved Jesus and trusted in Him. The families find great comfort in knowing that they will be reunited one day in Heaven.”

When it doesn’t make sense we do have a hope, a bedrock hope, and faith that Jesus does know our heartache and pain, and that He is working a far more eternal weight of glory for those who trust in Him.

His Word says, in 2 Corinthians 4:18 “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Pray for the families, their church, Brother Dean and the staff at First Baptist as they minister to them.

Until He comes we walk by faith……

What If?

I’ve just finished reading the first installment of a three part trilogy by Bryan Litfin called ‘The Sword’.  I am now reading through his second book entitled ‘The Gift’.  It’s a Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings type of thing.  Bryan is a professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute and was featured in an article in our ‘Stand Firm’ Men’s Devotional a couple of months back.  That’s what spurred me to look into his book.

To give you a brief synopsis of the storyline the year is 2042.  A deadly virus outbreak mushrooms into a world-wide epidemic and takes millions of lives.  In the resulting chaos and loss of life nuclear weapons fall into the control of those who would destroy anyone and everything.  The sum of this is that our world as we know it ceases to exist.  The Earth is plunged once again into a ‘dark ages’ with all communication, technology, and financial structure gone and as the centuries roll by the ‘ancient’ world of the present is gone and along with it the scriptures and the knowledge of the one True God.  The story evolves as the one True God begins to real Himself to the Hero and Heroine and they begin their quest to find His truth.

Maybe you’re not intrigued with that sort of story, but for me it really stirs my thinking.  What if we didn’t have the scriptures anymore?  That they were gone and lost forever?  What if we had lost our knowledge of the one True God and His Son?  And from that we had no hope for the future.  That we just lived and died and that was it.  Makes we want to give thanks anew for God’s mercy and grace to give us His Word.  It causes me to realize afresh that the light and knowledge of the one True God should not be taken for granted.

But I am also reminded that for many in our world the setting for ‘The Sword’ is true in their countries today.  They don’t have the Scriptures in their language or otherwise.  They don’t have a knowledge of the one True God.  They haven’t heard of a Savior who died for them.  They have no hope beyond this life.

Let us not take our blessings or our mission for granted.  Let us remember His calling on our lives to those around the world and across the street who don’t know His love and salvation.  (Matthew 28:18-20)

How To Kill Your Sunday School Class

These are not my own, they come from a blog by Bob Mayfield who is the Sunday School and Discipleship Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, but I deemed them too good to not pass along to you.

1.     Inactivity. Groups that don’t do anything will eventually die. No fellowships, no phone calls… nothing ever happens in the group. Don’t get involved in anything the church is doing either!

2.     Don’t teach the Bible. Basically, this is lack of preparation by the teacher or group leader. If meeting after meeting, the Bible is never read, studied, and applied to everyday life; then the group will eventually come apart at the seams. A corollary to this is “blame it on the curriculum”. Great curriculum will not replace solid preparation by the leader.

3.     Refuse to minister to your group. Go ahead and let a group member spend time in the hospital without ever hearing from the group. Once it happens to one member, other people in the group will realize that it can and probably will happen to them when they face a crisis too. The result: a gradual exodus from the group.

4.     Keep all of the group’s ministry to yourself. Don’t inconvenience other people by asking them to help. Refuse to allow other people in the group to use their spiritual gifts. Instead, keep all of the group’s ministry in your hands.

5.     Don’t follow up on guests. When someone visits your group or the church, be sure to leave them alone. If they need you, they’ll find you!

6.     Blame others. If your group is slowly dying, be sure to cast blame on the pastor, the staff, the deacons, and that harsh ungodly world out there that hates you.

7.     Have a dour attitude. People love to attend a depressing group where everything in the world is wrong and beyond hope.

8.     Never start a new group. Never, never, never. I mean, how will you replace all those people that leave!

9.     BONUS – Assert your independence. Your group doesn’t need to cooperate with the church, or do anything with the church or other group leaders. Be sure to resist any effort by the church leadership that might somehow cause change. Use your own curriculum; claim your own room; and be as uncooperative as possible.

Here’s the suggestions he has for growing your Sunday School Group.

a)     Plan fellowships and activity.

b)    Study and teach God’s Word for application and lifechange.

c)     Show people that we care by being there when they need us.

d)    Organize our group so that we are helping group members develop their gifts and grow as a disciple.

e)     Follow up with people to let them know that we care and that our group is a place where they can belong.

f)      Accept responsibility and attend training so that we lead our group in a godly manner.

g)     Realize that messages of repentance, hope, and mercy are powerful and positive attributes of the Gospel.

h)    Support new groups because they bring vitality and change into the church.

i)   Cooperate and participate with other groups under the direction of the church leadership.

These are simple yet profound things for us to do and be if we want to reach others for Christ!  Don’t use them as a yardstick for everyone else’s group, but as a gauge for your Class.

Is VBS Really Important?

Why do we take the time, spend the money, wear ourselves completely out, for a week of wild and beautiful kids to have a great time at church?  Is it just about them having a ‘good’ time or is there something more important going on. 

So many parents today have the idea that we should let our children make up their own minds when it comes to religious instruction.  I realize that each person has to come to Jesus personally of their own free will, (John 3:3) but we never use that idea with any other training in their lives.  We don’t let them decide for themselves on whether they should attend school or not.  We know they need an education.  We don’t let them decide whether they will take a bath this week or not do we?  We want our kids to know the value of cleanliness.  And we certainly don’t let them choose on whether they will brush their teeth before bedtime or going to school?  We have learned that if you don’t take care of our teeth you won’t have them long.  If we ignored these simple things we would raise a generation of illiterate, smelly, green toothed kids.  Bubba wouldn’t be too welcome at most places and certainly would have trouble finding a job!

But there are better reasons than that for teaching our children God’s Word and Ways.  Let me give a few to think on as we get ready for VBS this month.

1. It’s Obedient to the Commands of God.  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 tells us to teach our children God’s Word, to live God’s Word before them, and thereby to instill God’s Ways in their hearts.  Ephesians 6:4 says basically the same thing.  We’re not born with a proclivity towards God, on the contrary we are born in sin, with a rebellious nature.  We need to teach our Children His Word, His Will, His Ways.  VBS is a great way to come alongside parents and reinforce His truth.

2. It’s shows Responsibility as an Adult.  We are responsible as adults for the physical and mental wellbeing of our children.  To be faithful in those areas and not to be concerned for their spiritual upbringing is irresponsible.  The future of our nation depends on it (see Judges 2:10-11).

3. It’s Demonstrates God’s Love to our Children.  When you love someone you want God’s very best for them.  God has called us to love those around us, especially our children.  To neglect that which is most needful in their lives is unloving and uncaring. 

VBS is coming.  Let’s remember as we give, share, serve, and love what it’s all about.  I can’t wait to see the look in their eyes!

Is Our Revival Over?

Well, depends on what we do with what God said.  Which brings me to that question, what did He say to you and me?  But before we answer that, let’s do a quick review.

First off, the services were truly amazing!  God’s Spirit was manifest in our worshipful spirit, in our smiling faces, and most of all in our heart for Christ this week.  What a joyous fellowship we enjoyed from Sunday morning until Wednesday night.  I hope you were blessed as I was in everything that occurred.  We didn’t have any record of anyone being saved or joining the church, but I’m sure there will be fruit born in the coming weeks.  God was surely working in our lives.

Having Dripping Spring Church’s Choir on Monday and then New Friendship’s Choir and Praise Team really encouraged not only our hearts, but theirs as well.  The lower level was full on Tuesday night and Monday’s attendance was almost as great.  Each church brought several of their members and then Tuesday night Eastwood (Bro. Tom’s church) brought a couple of buses of Eastwood members to encourage Bro. Tom.  He was pleasantly surprised and caught off guard as he didn’t know they were coming.  Wednesday’s attendance was outstanding and our Children and our Choir blessed us in worship!

Brother Tom’s messages really confronted us with the question, “What is the Vision that God has given Second Baptist?”  He challenged us to go, grow, to follow, to be fishers of men, and to use our Sunday School to reach our community for Christ.  Many folks spent time in prayer at the altar seeking to follow His will for their lives.  I know God confronted me about being totally sold out to Him and doing whatever it takes to lead our church to win our Jerusalem and to honor Him.

I guess the overall thought from our Revival was, “What is our Vision?”  What does He wants us to do?  How and what do we need to change to reach more people for His Kingdom?  Which leads me back to my original question, “What did He say to you and me?”  I can’t answer that personally for you, but for me it is this, “Am I ready to continue to teach, train, challenge, and personally as a Christian do to reach that vision?”  I feel I’m willing.  I just need to allow Him to give me the strength and wisdom to do what He’s called me to do.

So, what’s He called you to do?  Are you willing?  He is.  Let’s go get them.  They’re out there.  They need to know Jesus.  Will you go with me?

Is There Hope?

In the Book of Ezra we find the children of Israel returning to the land after seventy years of exile.  They had fallen away from God and given themselves over to idolatrous worship and pagan practices.  But God, in His mercy had decreed through Cyrus King of Persia to release the Jews with his blessing to return to the land and rebuild the temple.  Ezra was spearheading the restoration of worship when he discovers that the people haven’t separated themselves from the evil practices of the pagan peoples.  Not only that, they have begun to intermarry with the people of the land (Ezra 9:1-2).  Ezra is broken in heart over it, rips his clothes, weeps, and finally just crumples down astonished at what has happened.  After all, this was what had gotten them into trouble with God in the first place.

Continuing in chapter 9 on over into chapter 10 we find Ezra weeping, praying, confessing, and totally broken over the sin of God’s people.  Reading in verse 15 of chapter 9 he states, “O LORD God of Israel, you are righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before you in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before you because of this.”  He feels hopeless and condemned because of what has occurred.  And I think he probably felt personally responsible since he was a scribe, which was a teacher of the law to God’s people.

Ezra is a defeated, demoralized, discouraged man.  He has no hope and in the midst of we read ‘Ezra 10:2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.’  Notice a few words in his statement of faith.

1  He says, “yet”.  He’s saying, “Ezra, it’s not over, it’s not finished.  The final nail has not been driven in our coffin.”  Sometimes we think we are past restoring or maybe ‘fixing’, but God isn’t finished with us yet!

2.  He says too, “in spite of this”.  In other words, as Paul said in Romans 5:20 ‘But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:’

3.  Shecaniah said ‘there is hope’.  Where would we be without hope?  Where would we be without a light at the end of the tunnel?  Where would we be without a future?

Let me share a story I read a few years back.  I think it illustrates the hope we have in Christ.

The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city’s hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child’s name and room number and talked briefly with the child’s regular class teacher. “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.” When she left she felt she hadn’t accomplished much. But the next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” said the nurse. “You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”

The bottom line for us is that God would not have sent His Son to die for us if there were no hope.  Think on that….

What Does The Resurrection Mean?

In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn't profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have been influenced by Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here's what he wrote: The Body of B. Franklin, Printer Like the Cover of an old Book Its contents torn out, And script of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms, But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believed, Appear once more In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended by the Author.

Ah, the Resurrection.  What does it really mean?  Oh, we know that it means that Jesus rose from the grave having conquered death.  That He is greater and stronger than death itself and that He has power over death.  We have been taught the ramifications of that being that we who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior are going to have a resurrected body one day.  That we will be caught up together to meet Him at His return or if we go by the way of the grave ourselves we will return with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). 

So tell me dear Preacher, what does it mean for me today?  Why does it give me hope?  Well, let me list some things that it does mean to us:

1.   We will one day have a New Body.  An immortal, glorified body.  One that doesn’t age, isn’t susceptible to sickness, knows no pain, one that death can’t touch, one that will be like our Lord’s body.

2.  We will one day have a New Home.  Because Jesus is alive He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3).  Think of it, a home in Heaven!  We see so many beautiful homes today, but the one Jesus is building is beyond compare.  Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”

3.  We have a Better Inheritance.  Sometimes those who have gone on before leave us something of value to remind us of their love.  1 Peter 1:3-4 states, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,”.  When my Mother died she left each of her children a small amount of money.  It was all she had left, but our Lord has an inheritance set aside for each of His Children, and He rose from the grave to guarantee we would not be left out of His Will.

It reminds me of that old hymn we used to sing:

It will be worth it all

When we see Jesus

Life’s trials seem so small

When we see Christ

One glimse at His dear face

All sorrow will erase

So bravely run the race

Till we see Christ

Think about that this Easter as we worship the one who rose from the grave!

Having a Growing and Vibrant Sunday School

We all envision and desire a great Sunday School in our church.  We want to see people saved, lives changed, and our Lord to be given His rightful due in our lives.  But desire and realization don’t always meet up when it comes to our dreams.  So how do we ‘make it happen’ as we say in today’s lingo?  We tend to analyze and complicate the process when in fact Jesus made it very simple for His Church.  The first Sunday School wasn’t started until the 1700’s in England, but the principles are dominate in God’s Word.  Let me give you four basics for having a growing and vibrant Sunday School in the 21^st century.

1.     We understand that the Mission is to Make Disciples.

Do we remember the Great Commission of Christ to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8)?  Do we remember that He called us to go and compel them to come in that His house would be full (Luke 14:23)?  When we get a mindset of ‘us four and no more’ we miss His calling on our lives.  More than that, others are deprived of an opportunity to know Christ.  To use a quote from the Lorax movie, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not.”

2.     We need to develop a Ministry Mindset

In the wording of today it’s called building community.  Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “a three fold cord is not easily broken”.  Sometimes we say it as “there’s strength in numbers”.  However we phrase it, we all know that we need each other in this world.  Let’s make sure our classes are open and inviting to each and every guest we have.  Let’s keep our eyes open for opportunities to minister to those within the class and those without.

3.     We share the Message of Christ

I remember a survey done a couple of years ago in preparation for the GPS emphasis of the North American Mission Board.  People were questioned as to what they were looking for in life and the top four answers were these:  Hope, Purpose, Peace, and Life.  Our Bible Study should always seek to uplift Christ and His message, because His message is one of Hope, Purpose, Peace, and Life.

4.     We understand we are to Multiply Ourselves

We are not just to teach His truth, but to teach and train others to teach His truth (2 Timothy 2:2).  Our classes should always be striving to apprentice new teachers, to create new classes, and to multiply ourselves by mentoring and discipling others.  If our Classes don’t have a kingdom vision they will become inward focused and self-centered.

Jesus took twelve men and changed the world.  What can He do with us if we let Him? 

Prayers That Get Answered

Reading this morning in His Word I came across something that caught my eye.  2 Samuel 7:27 says “For you, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, I will build you a house: therefore has your servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto you.”  Did  you notice that what David said how he had found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you, that is God?  What led David to pray in the manner that he did?  Looking back he uses the term ‘therefore’.  So what was it there for?  Continuing to look back he mentions how God has ‘revealed’ to His servant what He is going to do, therefore David wanted to prayer according to what God had revealed to him.  That is that God, instead of answering David’s desire to build a house for God, would establish David’s kingdom forever.  2 Samuel 7:25 says, “And now, O LORD God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as you have said.”  David heart became one with God and desired to pray not according the David’s desire (a house for God), but that God’s desire be accomplished.  Maybe that is why he’s called ‘a man after God’s own heart’.

All this made me really stop and think.  It caused to me chew on my prayers a bit, if you will.  Was I praying according to what He has revealed to me?  What has He revealed to me in His Word and through His Spirit that I should be praying for?

With those thoughts in mind, I sat down this morning and wrote down six things that I need to remember to pray for.  And the joyful thing is, that I know they will be answered because He has revealed them to me in His Word!  I am sharing them so that you too might see His/Your prayers answered.  So here they are:

1. I pray not that I should be wealthy, but that I should have His riches.
2. I pray not that I should have perfect health, but that I should be one with Him.
3. I pray not that I should be delivered from trouble and tribulation, but that I should trust Him in my trials.
4. I pray not that I should know every step of my future, but that I should follow Him daily.
5. I pray not that I should seek to be successful, but that I should honor Him with my life.
6. I pray not that I should work to better myself, but that I should work to build His kingdom.

That’s my list.  Maybe you can use these, or make your own list.  Just remember 1 John 5:14-15 says “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us: ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we desired of him.”

I love knowing that my prayers are going to be answered, don’t you?

A New Home!

Let me first tell you what a joy and honor it is to be your Pastor!  God has truly blessed my family with a loving church.  God is good!  And by the time you read this we will have moved into our new home here in Russellville.  If you didn’t get a chance to view it during our recent open house you sure missed a great opportunity to see what a wonderful home Second Baptist has provided for my family and me.  Thank you!

It has been remodeled, refurbished, renovated, renewed, and restored (am I missing any words to describe it that begin with ‘R’).  It is beautiful, clean, smells new, with no clutter or dirt anywhere!  The contractors moved some walls, stripped the floors, refinished some of the beautiful wood floors, and recovered some rooms with brand new carpet.  If you didn’t or haven’t had a chance to see it yet come knock on our door, we would love to show it off.

All of this reminds me that we personally need to be refurbished, remodeled, and renovated sometimes.  We call it being revived in the church.  Corporately we hold revival services from time to time in our church so that everyone can experience a renewal with God.  We will be having a spring revival from April 15^th through the 18^th.  Would you and I start now preparing our hearts for the Lord to do a ‘new’ work in us?  Let me give you some things to pray about as we approach this time together.
Ask Jesus to expose and remove the clutter in our lives that keep us from allowing Him to reside freely in our hearts.  Are there some rooms that you have closed off to Him because there are things that you don’t want Him to see.  Trust me, He already knows about them.
Ask Jesus to strip us of all the old habits and sins that dirty our hearts and hide the true beauty He created us to have.  Let’s ask Him to strip us of all that doesn’t glorify Him.
 Ask Jesus to renew our minds to His truth (Romans 12:2).  How easily we are lulled into believing what the world tells us.  Our Lord will have a Word for each of us.  Let’s not let the evil one blind us to God’s truth.

The Parsonage may look pretty much the same on the outside, but believe me, it’s all brand new inside and that reminds me too that Jesus does His best work on the inside.  We just have to be willing to let Him.  Let’s pray for all that to happen.

A Hurting Heart

Does your heart ever hurt?  I’m not talking of indigestion, angina, or the onset of a heart attack.  I’m asking if it hurts from loneliness, tragedy, suffering, being broken over a relationship, or just being brokenhearted?  It’s kind of a rhetorical question isn’t it?  Maybe a better question is what does your heart break over?  What causes your heart and mine to literally ache? 

Some days I need to look into my heart and ask that question.  Sometimes God’s Word asks it for me.  We really don’t like to dwell on painful things so consequently we skirt the tough questions.  Questions like, can I really make a difference in my world when we see so much pain all around us.  If I really, really sold out to Jesus what would my life look like?  If I gave myself to meet and reach a hurting world what would God do to me, through me?

Now, I don’t consider myself an ‘old’ person, but yet I am, I guess, considered a ‘Senior’ citizen.  Just don’t want to admit that, you know?  In retrospect, I am getting older, and I seem to be getting more broken over things around me and this world around us whether across the street or in another nation.  It’s easy to blame it on my age, but is it really?  Or is it Jesus opening my eyes a little more each day like a newborn puppy.

So I see it more and more each day, a child who doesn’t have a home to grow up in as I did when I was young, with a Mom and Dad, and siblings to fight and play with.  A Mom who is trying to raise her children in a Christ honoring way without the support of a husband or a widow or widower who goes home to an empty house without ever hearing the phone ring.  That person in another country who has not been given all the ‘stuff’ that we enjoy each day and never will have those ‘things’?  Is my ‘stuff’ really that precious?  Does my schedule have to be kept to a tee?  Am I on my time or God’s time?  Is it His ‘stuff’ or mine?

I know I’ve been rambling a bit, but these are the thoughts swirling in my head right now.  Will I give up myself that I can be His servant?  I have to remember I didn’t write and choose my job description, He did.  I just have to be willing to fill it.

Spring is Coming

I love snow!  I know, you’re probably saying “What!!”  Sure it brings a lot of trouble with it, but it is one of the most beautiful things that God has given us.  But by the time February arrives I am getting ready for spring.  I’m tired of wet, cold, gloomy days.  My mind is turning to warmer sunny days, being outside, going fishing, maybe even hitting a golf ball, trees putting forth leaves, and seeing some beautiful flowers.  It’s a great time of the year. 

I’m also looking forward to my first spring in Kentucky.  Just as spring confronts us with new life it reminds us too of the resurrection.  Everything that was once dead (or so it seemed) is now alive with color and growth.  My spirit is already stirring thinking of our Revival Services that we will be having this April and the Easter services when we reflect on our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection.  So much opportunity for renewal and growth await us in our lives and in our church.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Do we look forward in faith to what God has for us this spring?  Do we have the vision to see what He has on the horizon for us?  Do we stand ready to be obedient to whatever He calls us to do?  Can we see lives changed, families restored, Sunday School growing, our church revived, and most of all our Savior glorified?  I believe so.  I know so.

Let me give you some things to be praying about.  Pray for our first ever ‘March to the Cross’ which will be our Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions.  America is more lost than ever and there are so many areas of our country that need the gospel.  Pray for our Revival in April.  Brother Tom James from Eastwood Baptist in Bowling Green will be preaching for us.  Begin now praying for those in our community that need Christ.  Pray for our Mission Emphasis in March and most of all pray that this Easter will bring salvation to many hearts and lives!  I’m looking forward with faith to it, aren’t you?

I think it’s time for a good snow and then spring!

Moving Month

With the renovation of the Parsonage coming along very nicely it will not be long until my family will be moving into our new home.  Sometimes we think of it as a one-time event to move from one home to another, but oh no, this has been a several months long process.  I remember last fall starting with a garage sale for all our items that we either felt like we didn’t need or just wouldn’t have the luxury of keeping.  Tools, mowers, a grill, odd and end furniture, books, just all kinds of stuff.  Then there was and is an ongoing list of things such as, changing our addresses (email and physical), getting new driver’s licenses (don’t ask Carolyn how I lost her first one – LOL), new insurance policies, registering our cars in Kentucky with the ‘blue’ license tags, and all the things that Tim had to do!  And we haven’t even started to think about filing our taxes in this state.

Moving can be exciting, adventurous, eye-opening, while at the same time frustrating, aggravating, and painful.  So many things we have and are leaving behind that would have been nice to keep (I did make sure that we kept my fishing gear – can’t leave home without that!), but at the same time not really all that important in the grand scope of things.  A lot of decisions have already been made and are still being made that effect our day to day lives.

Which brings me to my point of all this, which is, one day we will be leaving this world, and with that move we will leave a lot of ‘stuff’ behind.  After all, the Bible says that we are just strangers and pilgrims in this world (1 Peter 2:11).  So are there some things that I (we) need to go ahead and get rid of before the grand move?  Things we don’t need?  And they may be ‘good’ things, but are they things we really need?  Maybe things that are cluttering our lives and keeping us from seeing Jesus clearly?  Shouldn’t we be evaluating our walk daily looking for the things that are not going to be needed in our heavenly home?

I read this some time back.  It seems to say what I have to remind myself of daily. 
The story goes that there was an American tourist visiting the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim:  Astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?"

"Where is yours?" replied the rabbi.

"Mine?" asked the puzzled American. "But I'm a visitor here. I'm only passing through."

"So am I," said Hofetz Chaim.

 It would do us all well to remember that.