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.

Hindrances and Hope

Galatians 5:7 says, “You did run well; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?”  Could I ask who, what kept us, from being a difference maker in 2011 for God?  Tough question.  One that needed a little contemplating.  One that led me to ask myself some questions.  Questions that I think would be good for all of us to ask ourselves from time to time.

Question one was this, “Are there any unhealthy relationships in my life that are hindering my walk with God”.  Was there a person or thing that drew me away from my single-minded devotion to Christ?  Something that really became an idol that was more important to me that walking with the Lord?  Things and people are to be a blessing to us, but when we begin to look for them for our joy and not Jesus it short-circuits our fellowship and true joy in Him.  Jesus said, “no man can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).  Now I know that He uses the example of money, but it sure applies to anything in our lives that try and take His place in our hearts.

Question two was this, “Am I allowing an unbiblical worldview to hinder my walk with God?”  Do I see things through the lens of scripture or through the window of my own human reasoning?  Romans 12:2 says, ‘And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’  Our natural minds don’t understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14) so we need to have our minds transformed.  That’s why it is so important to read God’s Word and let it teach us His ways.  Do I allow the leadership of the Holy Spirit to guide me in my life?  Jesus said in John 16:13,  ‘But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:’  When I try to see the world through my own wisdom and seek the world’s leadership on what to do and how to do it I am really going to be hindering God’s will in my life.

Question three was this, “Am I permitting an unbelieving heart to hinder my walk with God?”  Did you know that an unbelieving heart will cloud your vision of what God wants to do in your life?  Israel couldn’t see the promised land and the victory that awaited them simply because they didn’t believe God.  There is a difference in believing in God and believing God.  Oh, they believed in Him, but they couldn’t trust Him to deliver on what He had promised.  Are we going to allow unbelief to cloud our vision of Him and what He wants to do?  Unbelief will also cripple our desire to serve Him.  When we don’t believe He will do what He has said we become afraid.  Fear will cripple our walk with God and paralyze our desire to make a difference for Him.  Unbelief too will chain God’s Plan for us to the wall of mediocrity.  Did you know that you and I can limit God?  Don’t believe that?  Well, listen to this scripture, Psalms 78:40-41 ‘How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tested God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.’  Wow, how painful would it, will it be, to look back one day on our lives and see all that He had planned for us that we missed out on because of our own unbelief?  I don’t know about you, but I want to be everything that God has designed me to be.

How about this prayer for each of us for 2012, “Lord, help me to fulfill your calling on my life.  Please show me the things that are hindering my relationship and walk with you that I might serve you with my whole heart.  Thank you Jesus.”

Now that might just remove some shackles in this coming year!

Looking To The Future

January always brings reflections and resolutions.  Looking at our past can be painful and it also can be encouraging.  To see what God has done in and through our lives sometimes leaves us at a loss for words.  To relive the hard and difficult times can bring back pain that is difficult to manage.  And to cast a personal vision for the new year that is unreasonable just leaves us in despair when reality hits that we aren’t going to be able to pull it off!

While thinking along those lines a couple of weeks ago I really began to ask myself what is reasonable and attainable for me and you.  Here’s what I came up with and I hope that this will help us all to be more for Christ in the coming year.  Ready?  Here goes….

One, realize we don’t have to have it all together for God to use us.  Remember a guy names Moses?  He led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through forty years of trials in the wilderness.  Yet this man was a murderer, couldn’t talk very well, and was prone to losing his temper (Exodus 32:19-20).  Don’t forget David, a man after God’s own heart, who committed adultery, had a man killed (2 Samuel 12:9), and is still listed in Hebrews 11 as one of the great heroes of the faith.  He also wrote many of the Psalms which bring so much comfort to hurting hearts.  Remember the 23^rd Psalm?  David wrote it.  So don’t think you’ve got to have your life perfect before God will bless you!

Two, understand that God has uniquely gifted all of us for His special purposes.  He has gifted some physically to be able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.  Well, not literally, but you get the idea.  Some folks are just blessed from a physical standpoint.  It might be with physical strength or abilities, with special talents musically, intellectually, or just with a great knack to get things done.  And He has given everyone who has trusted in His Son one or more spiritual gifts to use for His Kingdom.  If you don’t know what your gifts are find out and use them this year for His service.  You will be blessed!

Thirdly, know God may have to do something in you before He can do something through you.  Moses had to spend forty years on the backside of the desert before he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  David had to contend with something like thirteen years of being hounded and threatened by Saul before he became the King of Israel.  Even God’s own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to endure the Cross before He could set us free.

What does He want to do through you and me in the coming year?  I don’t know the answer to that one, but I can tell you this, 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’.  All I can tell you is that in the long run it’s going to be good!

Having a Missions Mindset

When I first began talking with the Search Committee at our church back in August I asked them early on for a copy of the Church’s Budget.  I was not asking so that I could see what the Pastor was paid, but where you spent your money.  You can know a lot about a church or an individual by looking at their checkbook.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how much was geared towards outreach.  I was especially pleased to see that Second Baptist gave 14% of undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program.  Obviously this church has a heart for outreach!

I was also interested in learning more about the Kentucky Baptist Convention and its priorities.  Just last week I had the opportunity to attend the KBC Meeting in Florence, Kentucky.  There I learned how the KBC spends its Cooperative Program receipts with 49.8% going to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Missions causes (funding for over 5,000 IMB Missionaries world-wide, 5,500 North American Missionaries, and the support of our six seminaries around the country training tomorrow’s Christian Leaders).  I saw where we had allocated 50.2% to instate missions programs (Sunrise Children’s Services, Baptist Healthcare System, Oneida Baptist Institute, and various missions around the state including new church starts).  When I see numbers and commitment along these lines it excites this preacher!  Even the theme for this year’s meeting was ‘More for Christ – He must increase, I must decrease, John 3:30’

I found the entire meeting from the Pastor’s Conference on Monday to the Convention Meeting on Tuesday to be spirited filled and refreshing to all those who labor for our Lord.  I met a host of Pastors who sincerely have a heart for missions in our Jerusalems, Judeas, Samarias, and the World.  What a blessing it was for all.  I thanked God again for allowing me to be a part of such a group of  laborers for Christ!

Floyd Paris, this year’s President of the KBC, challenged all of us to give three dollars more per week this year than last.  Only three dollars more per person would have a tremendous impact on the amount we have to reach our world.  He shared an experience he had this year with a group of students who went with him to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip.  They were in Mucha Agua and as they were preparing to leave they discovered that the church needed a new roof.  When they inquired as to the cost they discovered it was going to run around $3,000.  The young people told Brother Floyd that they could not leave without doing something to provide a new roof for the church.  He asked what they wanted to do.  To make the story short they collected all the monies their parents had given them to buy souvenirs and gave the money for the roof.  The total they collected?  $3,200!  Brother Floyd then challenged us to give and people began to bring money and deposit it on the altar at the front of the church.  The total given?  $7,430!  You will see pictures of the pile of money in the upcoming Western Recorder Newspaper.  There were few dry eyes in the place as God burdened the hearts of His people to give.  After all, being mission minded is having a heart after God’s own heart!