Sunday, February 28, 2010

Transitions

Today is the official last day serving with the great people of Juniper Springs Baptist Church--at least in a formal capacity. We will all be serving together for the kingdom--just in different places.

We will be making the transition to Thomasville, NC this afternoon and tomorrow.

God has been so good to us over the last almost 6 years. It has truly been a blessing to serve with JSBC. I believe we have all grown in our walks with Jesus. What a joy and delight!

We will surely miss our friends (I count all of the members & regular attenders my friends)--yeah, I know, not too many pastors can say that, but I truly believe I can. God is so good.

It is time for a new assignment. May God grant us all grace to walk by faith into the future he has planned for us.

JSBC family, as you read this, I am praying for you.

Ephesians 1:15-23

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Sovereign Grace

Just read the following by Spurgeon:

"You must be born again."

Do not think Christians are made by education; they are made by creation. You may wash a corpse as long as you please, and that corpse could be clean, but you cannot wash life into it!

You may deck it in flowers, and robe it in scarlet and fine linen, but you cannot make it live! The vital spark must come from above! Regeneration is not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but by the power and energy of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God alone!

See then, the ruin of nature and the freeness of grace! Void and dark, a chaos given up to be covered withnblackness and darkness forever, and, while as yet it is unseeking God, the light arises, and the promise is fulfilled, "I am found of them that sought me not; I said, behold me! behold me! to a people that were not a people."

While we were lying in our blood, filthily polluted, defiled, he passed by, and he said in the sovereignty of his love, "Live!" and we do live. The whole must be traced to sovereign grace! From this sacred well of discriminating distinguishing grace we must draw water this morning, and we must pour it out, saying, "Oh Lord, I will praise your name, for the first origin of my light was your sovereign purpose, and nothing in me."

Excerpt from Spurgeon’s sermon,"Light, Natural and Spiritual" No. 660.

On the blogs for 2/24/10

Here are some good reads:








Wednesday, February 17, 2010

"It's Not the Church's Job"

This was interesting:

It’s Not the Church’s Job

I love the church. I have given my life to the church. I believe, as is often said, that the church truly is the hope of the world.

But that’s not the church’s job.

Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here you go:

Make me close to Jesus!

It’s not the church’s job.

Save my marriage!

It’s not the church’s job.

Raise my kids!

It’s not the church’s job.

Give me friends!

It’s not the church’s job.

Feed me!

It’s not the church’s job.

It is not the church’s job to give you the life you want, or hope for, much less the one that you are expected to forge through a relationship with God through Christ under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The church cannot ensure that all goes well with you. Most of life is your responsibility.

Why do I say this?

To defend the church.

Why do people often come to a church? To get fixed, find friends, renew faith, or strengthen family. All well and good, and the church can obviously be of enormous assistance in all four areas. But the church can’t be held responsible for these four areas of life, nor should you expect it to.

Let’s try and drive this one home:

The parents of a middle-school student drop their child off at a middle-school ministry. The child does not change into a model Christian student. The parents immediately search for a new church with a more effective middle-school ministry.

What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong is the complete absence of any sense that spiritual life is the responsibility of that middle-school student, not to mention that spiritual leadership within the family is the responsibility of her parents.

Instead, we have a mentality of “drop-off parenting,” which is just part of the mentality of a “drop-off church.” We drop our wives off at a women’s ministry to get them to be the wives or mother’s we want; we drop our husband’s off at a men’s Bible study to get them to be spiritual leaders; we drop ourselves off at a service or recovery group to fix our problems, or a Bible study to renew our lukewarm faith.

It reminds me of the sixties and Timothy Leary’s famous line regarding not only the benefits of LSD, but the spirit of the age:

“Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.”

That is not the way to approach the church.

There comes a time when personal responsibility kicks in.

The church exists to coalesce and enrich; to coordinate and inspire; to provide order and leadership. It exists to pull together the collective force and will of those who follow Christ in order to fulfill the Great Commission given it by Jesus Himself. Yes, it serves the family trying to raise a child; it seeks to heal those who are broken; it provides the richest of communities for relationships; it offers the necessary resources for a vibrant relationship with Christ.

But it cannot circumvent the choices and responsibilities of the human will.

It cannot do life for you.

That’s your job.

James Emery White

Heart Check

Just read this little "joke"...

“Hey, Dad,” the young boy asked. “When you were a kid, did you have to go to Sunday School every week?”

“Sure,” the father said. “We never missed.”

The boy sighed, “Well, it probably won’t do me any good either.”

Ouch!!!!!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Coming Back to Hold Fast

Because of transitions taking place in my family's life and in attempt to simplify some things in my schedule, I will be blogging from this address from now on.

Thanks to all those that read it.

Be writing soon.