Sunday, May 3, 2015

April 20, 2015


It is great to be back home.  We enjoyed the days we were gone.  I want you to know that I prayed for each of you individually and by name while we were in Israel.  I know the location of our prayers does not matter, but I wanted you to know you were on my heart while I was away.


This coming Sunday, May 3, I would like to take the class time to show you pictures from our trip and answer any questions you may have about the places we visited or what we did.  If I could I would take each of you with me on one of these trips.  It can make such a big difference in your understanding of the Bible.  I hear people talk about how the trip will change you. That is true only if you desire to be changed--to gain understanding and apply what you find to your living.


My prayer is that your faith will be more real to you each day and that what we learn from our study of God's Word will be more than print on a page, but truths which you can and will apply to your everyday living.  Our time together is so much more than just visiting occasionally. 


I hope to see you this coming Sunday.


Bro. Tommy

IT TAKES ALL THREE: Intellect, Heart, and Will

The great command is that we love God and others with the totality of our being.  It is not enough to merely love with the intellect or the heart, or with intellect and heart.  We must love with the WILL.  It is one thing to know what to do, it is another thing to do it.  We are not what we feel, or think, or wish, but what we WILL.  Galatians 3:3 asks the question, "Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?"  While we admit that the unbeliever has self at the ceneter of his/her life, we must understand that the regenerate man, the church member, also struggles with the flesh.  This is the curse of sin and is straight from Satan.  He made self his pivot when he attempted to take heaven from its center in God and tried to center it in self.  There is only one solution to our dilemma, we must crucify self (die to self) daily and allow Christ to live through us.  We must constantly put to death the flesh and WILLFULLY allow the Holy Spirit to love through us.  It is not difficult to know whether it is our flesh or God's Spirit who is in control.... just examine what is said, what is done, and the spirit of each.  Does gentleness, forgiveness, and agape love pervade, or do we respond as an unregenerate person would?   It is more than just knowing what to do, or emotionally feeling the proper way---- we must act.  We must do as Jesus would do.

That's the way it is Jack!

The Critical Nature of Love in the Church Family

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The Apostle Paul wrote these words in a letter to the church located in the ancient Greek city of Corinth.  The Corinthian church needed to hear this inspired lesson on love, because they were really having a hard time loving one another.

In the first three chapters of this same letter, Paul accuses them of acting like immature little children because they are divided into political factions and personality cults. (Read 1 Cor 1:10-12 NKJ)

Later in chapter six, Paul scolds them because some of them were going to court to settle their disputes.  They were actually suing each other rather than seeking biblical remedy for their disagree-ments. This was a church that had very little love going on.

Within the Body of Christ, this extreme love for God and for one another is more important to God than anything else, because, God said this is the one thing that trumps all others in priority.  Remember 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us that love is the supreme value of body of Christ.

A breach in love and community is a more serious crisis in the church, than even a breach in faith or hope.  Because love is the greatest of these three virtues.  If love is indeed the supreme value in the family of God (as the scriptures clearly teach), THEN, what would be among the most serious offenses in the Kingdom? 

ANSWER: Crimes against love! Threats to community!          Breaches in fellowship!  In many churches today, crimes against love are ignored and treated like minor misdemeanors.

- You can get away with slandering other believers.

- You can be a conduit for cruel gossip.

- You can be abrasive and judgmental.

- You can be outspoken and divisive.

- You can harbor grudges for decades.

And chances are, no one is ever going to confront you on it.  These are treated as though they are just minor traffic violations in Body life.

In some churches, you can come away with the idea that crimes against community are mere misdemeanors, felonies, the ones that can get you thrown out of church, are lifestyle misteps.  I fear that many churches in that day, and many today, seem to be looking "in a mirror dimly" (1Cor.13:12) and not seeing Kingdom values very clearly.

Agape Love is the supreme value in the Kingdom, therefore, it only stands to reason that crimes and threats against Authentic Love are the most severe violations of Kingdom law.  Could it be, that in our own way, we are sometimes guilty of "straining out legalistic gnats while swallowing relational camels?" (Matthew 23:24)

If Agape Love is the supreme value in the Kingdom of God, then how big of a deal is it when love breaks down?  How upset does God get?  How upset should we be when relationships are broken?  Where should "fixing" that relationship fall on our scale of priorities?

The scriptures teach us that loving relationships in the Body of Christ are absolutely critical.  And community and fellowship between believers is of highest value in the Kingdom.

Love between Brothers and Sisters in Christ is essential on our scale of priorities, without it all else fails—all else is a zero. Authentic love between believers verifies the legitimacy of our discipleship.  John 13:35, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Contagious, supernatural love for one another is our greatest platform for evangelism. It is our proof that Christ has indeed changed us.  Conversely, when there is a breakdown in relationship within the community of the redeemed, it hamstrings our witness, and communicates to the world that there really is nothing different about us after all!!

FIRST-PERSON: When people

By blog, for some reason, seems to really get to some people. I hope they like this one from Thom Rainer

NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (BP)--For years I assumed that criticisms of pastors and other church
staff was just part of leadership. Indeed, no leader to my knowledge has ever
been spared the verbal or written jabs of the critic.

So my advice
has been for the leader simply to move on -- to focus more on the vast majority
who are supportive of him than the relatively few not-so-well-intentioned
dragons. Now I'm not so sure my former advice is sound. The level and frequency
of criticisms toward pastors and other leaders has increased significantly in
the past several years.

I call this
resurgence in criticisms "the Great Distraction" because it often
causes leaders to lose focus on leading their churches in the Great Commission.
And though any rationale used to explain the increased negativity is
subjective, my observations of working with churches for over 25 years lead me
to a couple of conclusions.

First, the
standards of church membership have been low in many churches for many years.
As a consequence our churches have more and more unregenerate members. Frankly,
I would be not be surprised if some of the most vitriolic criticisms come from
those who are not Christians.

Second,
church members have been unwilling to take a stand when they see and hear
unwarranted criticism toward the pastor and other leaders. This silence is
shameful and sinful. Belligerent critics remain critics often because other
church members are fearful of rebuking them. In some ways, the silent majority
is just as wrong as the constant critics.

SOME LESSONS FROM ACTS 6

The first
seven verses of Acts 6
tell the story of complaining by a group in the early church. In this case, the
concern was warranted because a group of widows was being neglected. The Twelve
appointed seven men to take care of the widows and thus, stopped the
criticisms.

Though it may
not be the central thrust of the text, we see clearly that a divided and
critical congregation was a serious concern for early church leaders. The
ministry had to continue, and the divisiveness had to stop. We also see that
the entire congregation had a stake in this issue (verse 5, "The proposal
pleased the whole company"). There was no sinful and silent majority
unwilling to tackle this issue.

A CALL TO ACTION

At least in
principle, the solutions are simple. The standards of church membership must be
held high, and the benefits are numerous beyond just dealing with critics. We
can't expect unregenerate church members to act like Christians.

Second,
church members must be willing to confront the sinful behavior of the perpetual
and ill-intentioned critics. While no church leader should be above legitimate
criticisms, the tide has turned too far in the other direction. Criticisms are
paralyzing too many good leaders.

I am aware
of some churches that actually have a formal system in place to deal with
illegitimate critics. Some of these churches utilize an existing organization
with the church, such as the diaconate, to deal with these critics. Other
churches have an informal system because they have members with theological and
moral backbones who are willing to confront the nagging naysayers.

The Great
Distraction is a real and serious problem in our churches. It can no longer be
denied or ignored. Satan undoubtedly loves the division and loss of focus it
causes. The time has come for church members to speak up. Too much is at stake.
It is truly a sin to remain silent when it is our God-given responsibility to
confront those who ultimately would hinder the spread of the Gospel with the
poison of their words.
--30--
Thom S.
Rainer is president of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist
Convention. This column first appeared at his website, ThomRainer.com.

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(c) 2011 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press
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Lou Holtz September Sermon

September 30, 2011

Lou Holtz shared a great piece on conference realignment this past week. I thought how his statements related to the local church and rewrote it to fit. Here it is.

When you bring a group of people together that is a start,
When they stay together that is progress;
When they work together that is success.
This axiom proves true whether you are talking about a business, a team, or a church.

I went to school basically to eat my lunch, but even I can understand that there are certain people who are not working with other members of the church to make it better. They are looking out for their own interest. Now, I don’t dispute that they have the right to do this, but that does not make it right. Doesn’t anybody stop and look at the devastation that it brings on the other members of the church who are left to pick up the pieces?

People ask me, “what is the difference between church members today and 40 years ago?” I say the same difference as in society. Today everybody wants to talk about their rights and their privileges. Forty years ago people talked about their obligations and their responsibilities.

Harry Truman said, “the freedom to swing your fist ends where the other guy’s nose begins.” Your freedom to do what you want to do ends with your commitment and responsibility to other people.

Now the church’s primary responsibility is to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ to all people. We are His body and are to carry on His work with His attitude.

We would be so much better off if everyone would stop and say, “What is the right thing to do?” and then do it. The “right thing to do” is not determined by what “I think” or “I feel,” but on what God says in His Bible.

There is never a right time to do the wrong thing, and there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Losing Members Out the Back Door

A few years ago, James Merrit sent out a couple of letters dealing with retaining members. It has new meaning to me.

Dear Friends,
Recently, I was discussing the issue of membership retention with a good friend from the North American Mission Board. Realizing that churches across the nation seem to be struggling with the same issue, I decided to include an article with many of his insights in this Month's newsletter.
Every church since the very beginning has struggled with retaining members. (Remember 1 John 2:19, where we read about they that "went out from us?") But today it seems that the problem is greater than it has ever been. I know one pastor who described his membership as a "parade in motion" rather than a body of believers celebrating healthy growth.
While our pastors and churches cannot escape blame, I don't think they are the only culprits. Several cultural factors are also at play. In Part 1 of this 2 part newsletter, I want to discuss the "Why?" of the back door problem. Then in part 2 we will discuss how to stop the back door bleeding.
First, we should keep in mind that post-modern believers aren't as loyal. They are consumeristic, and choose a church like a Saturday night restaurant. Rather than joining a body to be integrated and utilized, they go where they can get fed the best for the least amount of money. So don't be surprised when some members migrate after a new, cool church opens up down the street.
We have to accept that some of our consumerist members will expect more from our church than we can deliver. Don't let yourself become so obsessed with gaining and keeping new members that you forget the simple things we must do to help mature and equip those who "remain with us" and "are of us."
Another reason we are experiencing this phenomenon is that Americans' view of leadership has shifted. When I was a kid, leaders like presidents and pastors were appreciated, honored, and respected. But times have changed. Today people believe they should hold their leadership accountable, and so we get viewed through a microscope. When you or your staff get ripped apart at home, in meetings, and over the water-cooler, your church will suffer.
Finally, we have to remember that regardless what society does, the buck stops elsewhere ... namely at the feet of the pastor. Like it or not, today's church leaders have done their part to contribute to the problem. . For example, the average tenure of a Southern Baptist pastor is estimated to be less than two years.! In other words, the leadership is joining in the migration of the membership. When the membership knows that their pastor isn't leaving they are much more likely to stay.
This picture may seem dark, but there are several ways that you can shine a bright light on the situation in your own church that we will discuss in my next letter to you. Until then, think on these things and how you can begin closing your church's back door.
Laborers together,
James Merritt

F. B. Meyer

F. B. Meyer spoke of his “anointing with the Holy Spirit” (what he called it) in his collection of messages, A Castaway and Other Addresses published in 1897. I thought you might benefit from reading it.

I had been for a long time a minister in Leicester, with a large church and of considerable influence in the city, but very unhappy. Conscious that I had not received the power of the Holy Ghost, I went up to that little village, the name of which you hear so often, Keswicki. A great number of God’s people gathered there to seek and to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and they elected to have a prayer-meeting from nine o’clock to eleven and onwards, to pray for the Holy Ghost. A great many people were there agonizing. I was too tired to agonize, and I somehow felt that God did not want me to agonize hour after hour, but I had to learn to take; that God wanted to give, and I had only to take.

Tomorrow your little girl will come down to breakfast. She is very hungry, and the bread and milk or oatmeal is on the table. You do not say: “Little girlie, run upstairs, and agonize, roll on the floor for an hour, and then come down.”

You say to her: “Little one, I am so glad you have got a good appetite. Now there is your chair, in you get, say your prayer, and start away.”

That is what God says to the soul. Those all-nights of prayer for the Holy Ghost are principally necessary to get the people who pray into a fit condition to receive the Holy Ghost; for when the people are ready the Holy Ghost will come without agonizing.

So I left that prayer-meeting at Keswick. It was eleven o’clock or half past eleven, and I crept out in to the lane, and away from the little village. The lights died away in the distance, and I stood on the hill, or walked to and fro, the stars shining upon me, and now and again a little cloud dropping a baptism of rain upon my face, as though symbolic of the refreshing my soul was to receive. As I walked I said: “O, my God, if there is a man in this village who needs the power of the Holy Ghost to rest upon him, it is I; but I do not know how to receive Him. I am too tired, too worn, too nervously down to agonize.”

A voice said to me: “As you took forgiveness from the hand of the dying Christ, take the Holy Ghost from the hand of the living Christ.”

I turned to Christ and said: “Lord, as I breathe in this whiff of warm night air, so I breathe into every part of me Thy blessed Spirit.”

I felt no hand laid upon my head, there was no lambent flame, there was no rushing sound from heaven; but by faith, whithout emotion, without excitement I took, and took for the first time, and I have kept on taking ever since.

I turned to leave the mountain side, and as I went down, the tempter said:
“You have got nothing. It is moonshine.”

I said: “I have.”

“I do not.”

“Then if you do not feel it you have not got it.”

I said:”I do not feel it, but I rekon that God is faithful, and He could not have brought a hungry soul to claim by faith, and then give a stone for bread, and a scorpion for a fish. I know I have got it because God led me to claim.”

I met a number of young clergymen, and they fought it with me. They said: “No, no, we feel, we feel to have it, and we know we have got it.”

But said I to them: “How will you do tomorrow morning when yo do not feel it? Now I, who take by faith, and independent of feeling tomorrow or any future time.”

Whilst we were talking, a young merchant who was listening, said: “I want to say a word. You parsons have been talking a great deal about the Holy Spirit. Now I know I have received the Holy Spirit when I have most of Jesus, and in my place at Glasgow, if I miss the presence of Jesus for half an hour, I go into my counting-house, and kneel down and say: ‘Holy Spirit, what have I done to Thee that Thou hast taken from me the sense of the presence of Christ?’”

“O,” we said, “when we know we have most of Christ, when we love Him most, live for Him most, we know that the Holy Ghost is within us in power.”

So, brothers, sisters, may I ask you to let this day be the time of transaction with God. Wallk to and fro, and say if you like: “I sadly need a Pentecost. As far as I know, I fulfill the conditions, in my will at least.”

Then put your hand upon your heart, and say: “I do now receive.”

Let the devil say what he likes. Keep reckoning that the Spirit of Christ rests upon you, and when you come to your Jordan, and the students are there to look on, and you might draw back,--that Jordan representing your temptation, yoiur mission, some bit of work to do, --say: “Holy Spirit, I now trust Thee to do through me Thy Pentecostal work in glorifying Christ.”

God's Rest Part 2

God’s Rest (Part 2)
Last blog I placed a good deal of Meyer’s sermon “God’s Rest” in the blog. Some have not heard of F. B. Meyer. He was born in 1847, and died in 1929. I would encourage you to read about this remarkable man of God. He was a man of “strong gentleness.” He was graduated from Regent’s Park College in 1869 and moved to New York in 1872, where he became pastor of the Priory Street Baptist Chapel. Two years later D. L. Moody and Ira Sankey ministered there. The meetings did not begin too successfully. But at one of the prayer meetings Meyer heard Moody preach on the Holy Spirit. He was so convicted that he spent the next two days wrestling with God. When he returned to the prayer meeting, he testified that God had met him and given him victory; that for two years he had preached without any special blessing. He said, “I was just beating the air.” This marked the change in Meyer’s life. In a future blog, I will share Meyer’s record of the experience.

For this week, I continue Meyer’s message “God’s Rest.”

“I will not speak now about the rest He gives—rest from the guilt of sin, rest from its penalty, rest from conviction, rest from an accusing conscience, rest from the dread and the wrath of God. That rest He gave you, beloved, when you knelt years ago at the cross-foot, and from those parched lips the dying Christ, your priest and intercessor, gave rest unto your soul, and being justified by faith you had peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will not speak of this, but of something deeper, because I find that there are tens of thousands of Christians who have got the first rest, but have not got the second. They could look death in the face without wavering, but they cannot look panic, disaster, bereavement, pain or trial in the face without disquiet.

“You shall find rest,” but you must look for it. I want to show you were to find it, and how; in three ways, which are one, for they converge in one.

First, You must take His yoke.“Now, at first sight it appears ridiculous that those who labor and are heavy laden should find rest by having the imposition of a new yoke or burden, however light. He says, “My yoke is easy, My burden is light.” But then, even an easy yoke with a light burden imposed on laboring and weary souls would surely not give them rest. How can it be? Ah, listen! It is not a yoke that Jesus imposes, but it is the yoke that He Himself carried, and a yoke by the very nature of it includes two. He says then—standing beneath a yoke—to you, weary soul: “Come hither and share My yoke with me, and we will pull the plow together through the long furrow of life.”

I have been told that there are farms in the West so large that you may start a furrow in the morning and pursue it all day, and only finish it at night, returning the next day. Whether that be true of not I am not here to say, but it will serve my purpose. One day I was at Northfield, Mr. Moody took me to Mount Hermon school. He had a yoke of beautiful white oxen, and he told me that when one of these oxen was being yoked in, if the other happened to be on the far side of the farmstead it would come trotting up and stand beside the other until it was yoked in also. Jesus stands today with the yoke upon His shoulder, and He calls to each one, and says:
“Come and share My yoke, and let us plow together the long furrow of your life. I will be a true yokefellow to you. The burden shall be on Me. Only keep step with Me, and you shall find rest to your soul.”

It was reading this part of the message that caused me to stop and weep. For I had been attempting to plow alone. It had seemed that no one was yoked with me pulling the same direction.

First we must be yoked with Christ and allow him to bear the burden. But beyond that, we must be sure that staff, deacons, and leaders are yoked together plowing the same direction. Do we share the yoke?
More of Meyer’s sermon, “God’s Rest,” later.

SBC Conservatives voice concerns

For some time now I have been concerned that Southern Baptist are in danger of losing their distinctives. While I understand the broadening the tent, some leaders are embracing things never embraced before. There was a reason. I was glad to read this article that seems to identify some of the same concerns I have.

Posted on Jun 14, 2011 | by Norm Miller
PHOENIX (BP)--A meeting of "SBC Conservatives" June 13 in Phoenix drew about 20 pastors and laymen who lamented the current direction of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Kent Cochran, a Missouri messenger from Calvary Baptist Church in Republic who organized the meeting at the Hyatt Hotel, announced at the outset that the session was on background rules, for attendees to be assured their comments would not be attributed to them.

Such rules disallow attribution of all comments. Cochran, however, agreed to be quoted on the record.

The meeting's agenda centered on Cochran's plans to make a motion at the SBC's annual meeting in Phoenix, June 14-15. The motion -- ruled out order -- called for a "Unity Committee" to study the "perceptions and realities about impact and implementation of the GCR Task Force Report," which set forth a number of recommendations that were adopted by the SBC during its 2010 annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Cochran announced the launch of a website, www.sbcr2.com, "to be a resource center for pastors and laymen who share his concerns about where the SBC is now headed."

Attendees' concerns included the Acts 29 church planting network and relationships that SBC employees at the North American Mission Board, LifeWay Christian Resources and Southern and Southeastern Baptist Theological seminaries have had with Acts 29 leaders.

According to Cochran et al, Acts 29 holds views regarding alcohol consumption diametrically opposed to numerous Southern Baptist resolutions and also requires its church planters to embrace Reformed, or Calvinist, theology.
--30--
Norm Miller is a freelance writer based in Richmond, Va.

God's Rest

God’s Rest
On a recent day of retreat I took along F. B. Meyer’s, A Castaway and Other Addresses published in 1897. The pages in the old book would crumble and break as I turned each one. The binding would crack and break, yet I had to turn another page as I devoured the book at the expense of losing the integrity and possibly enjoyment of future readings.

How God used Meyer to speak to my heart. In the last sermon recorded in the book, he spoke of God’s Rest. After several months of turmoil and unrest in my life, it was as if God were audibly speaking to ME! How refreshing, how encouraging it was for me to find sermons spoken to preachers over 110 years ago by this man of God, still breathing fresh life into me.

Just a sample,

“The voice that breathed o’er Eden spoke of rest. In Gen. 2:3 we are told of the rest of God, and upon that day there fell no night, because the rest of God has no shadow in it, and never terminates. God has left open the door. It stands wide open, and every heart which He has made may share in it. A rest which is full of work; but like the cyclone, all the atoms of which revolve in turbulent motion around the central cavity of rest, so do all the activities of God revolve around His deepest heart which is tranquil and serene. And it is possible, if you and I learn the lesson amid anxiety and sorrow and trial and pressure of work always to carry a heart so peaceful, so still, so serene as to be like the depth of the Atlantic which is not disturbed by the turbulent winds that sweep the surface.

“Now this rest of God spoken of in Genesis was not exhausted by the Sabbath, or by Canaan; for after each of these had existed for many a century God still spoke of His reset as being unoccupied. And at last in Matt. 11:28, 29, a simple peasant (so He seemed,) stood up amid a number of peasants and fisher-folk and others, and said:
“On this breast of Mine is a pillow for ever heavy heart. My breast is broad enough, My heart is deep enough I offer Myself to all weary ones in every clime and age as Shiloh, the rest-giver”; for Shiloh in Him had come.

One feels that here is the accent of Deity. He says: “I am meek and lowly in heart.”
And yet He assumes to Himself the prerogative of giving rest to all that labor and are heavy-laden. How can you possibly account for the meeting of humility so great with pretentions so enormous in this meekest of men unless He be more than man, the Son of God incarnate? You will notice that as He stands there upon some mountain slope, with Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum on the land-locked lake of Galilee at His feet, He speaks of two kinds of rest which He shows us how to find. “I will give you rest,” He says, and then in a softer undertone He whispers: “Take My yoke and you shall find rest.”

More later on God’s Rest