A Slumbering Noble Heart

As our church prepares to embark and engage in an Awana ministry geared to teaching children to know, love and serve Christ, I wanted to remind those who will be on the front lines of this outreach that they are participating in the sovereign plan of God to raise up those who will be the next generation of faith-defenders.  What an awesome privilege and responsibility.  

I love the following quote by Charles Spurgeon who wrote:

“You may speak but a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian Church in years to come.”

p.s. Awana training is this Saturday, August 24, 9 am to 4 pm at the 2300 S. 13th Street building (lunch to be provided).  Our Awana program begins on Sunday Evening, September 8, 6 pm.

The Schemes of Satan

As our congregation has been working through the book of Acts and the life of the early church, I am amazed at just how much opposition and struggle the church faced.  Whether it was outside persecution from either Jewish or Gentile leaders; or internal strife due to pride, ego, or unrealistic expectations, our enemy, the Devil, used anything and everything to distract, discourage, and derail the church from her mission.  Praise God for the work (the "acts") of the Holy Spirit to keep the church motivated, encouraged, steadfast and growing.

Some 2,000 years later, nothing has changed.  Our enemy, the Devil, is still on the prowl, still using inward and outward pressures to distract, discourage, and derail the church from her mission.  As the pastor of a church that has just stepped out in faith to be more effective in reaching our community for Christ, I can tell you that both the church and I have been met with an increase in such schemes designed to knock the proverbial "winds out of our sails."  

Scripture reminds us, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7); and "8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith...(1 Peter 5:8-9a). 

The church is called to "resist" - that is "to stand our ground"; not to give an inch to the schemes, tactics or wiles of the devil (see Ephesians 6:10ff).  The implication is that the devil is constantly at work trying to get us to "give an inch" (or two, or three) so that we might give in or give up.

I am asking for our congregation to be in fervent prayer for our church, our mission and our new venue.  I am calling on the congregation to be aware of the schemes of the devil; not just corporately, but individually, schemes designed to distract, discourage and derail us.  Not one of us is exempt and so we all must prove to be vigilant in this matter.  Be careful of entertaining unbecoming or diminishing thoughts about one another but learn to love one another as Christ has loved us.  Let us practice patience, forbearance, forgiveness and compassion for one another.  Let us beware of anger that gives our enemy a foothold among us (Ephesians 4:26-27).  Let us practice the exhortation of Ephesians 4:31-5:2 which says,

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Be Imitators of God 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

This past week in my theology class I was working through the tactics of Satan against the church.  I close this entry with some statements given regarding the goals of Satan in diminishing the church.  These four goals of our enemy were articulated by Richard Mayhue, in his book Unmasking Satan.  May we recognize these schemes and resist them to the glory of God and to the growth of God's Church.

The Schemes of Satan

Four goals of the Adversary

1.       Distort or Deny the truth of God’s Word

2.       Discredit the testimony of God’s people

3.       Destroy the believer’s enthusiasm for God’s Word

4.       Dilute the effectiveness of God’s Church

Declining Evil

It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. ~Spurgeon

The Three-fold Task of the Preacher

The simple, straight-forward, three-fold task of the preacher...

1 Timothy 4:13

Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

Thus, the preacher is to...

• READ the Word ("public reading of the Scripture" - communication of  the Gospel) 

• DECLARE the Word ("exhortation" - call to godliness effected and produced by the Gospel)

• EXPLAIN the Word ("teaching/doctrine" - clear exposition and explanation of the Gospel)

 This is what is meant by "Expository Preaching"

Why Go To Church?

A church goer wrote to the editor of a newspaper and stated that it did not make sense to go to church every Sunday. He said, 

“I have gone to church for 30 years and during this time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for my life, except for one or the other, I can not remember the most of them … So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are also wasting their time.” 

To the delight of the editor in chief of the newspaper, this started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” -  during which time he received several letters, the following being one which he decided to publish in response:

“I have been married for over 30 years. During this time my wife has cooked some 3,000 meals. But for my life, except for one or the other, I can not remember most of them, but one thing I know, they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my job. If my wife had not given me these meals, I and our children would be malnourished or dead. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for the feeding of my soul and my family, we would be in terrible spiritual condition.“

In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"

Appreciate and Esteem Your Spiritual Leaders? What Does That Look Like?

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

What does it mean to “appreciate” and “esteem” those who have charge over us in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13)?  A number of things, the very least of which is the regular, punctual and serious attendance of the preaching ministry.

Regular. There are persons whose attendance at services is as impossible to depend as upon the blowing of the wind. How disheartening this is to both preacher and congregation!

Punctual. Late attendance is a great annoyance to orderly worshippers, disrespectful to the minister, and an insult to God.

Serious. Come from the closet to the sanctuary. The fire of devotion should be kindled at home. Remember where you are, whose Presence is with you, and what is your business in the house of God.

Will you prepare yourself to worship God and bring Him glory by appreciating and esteeming your spiritual leaders in this  way?

- adapted from a sermon by John Angel James (1785—1859)

Are You Dependable to the Body of Christ?

In last week's sermon (Acts 14:21-28), I closed with some practical ways in which a Christian can demonstrate dependability to the Body of Christ.  There are just a few here and I would love to have you add to the list! Hopefully these will stimulate more ways in your own thinking.

1. Be there; be present (at church services); show up and be involved in everything you can; not simply as a spectator; ask to be a part of service, event or meeting. What was the last thing you specifically did for the local gathering of the saints? (and do not say, “I showed up!”)

2. Read your Bible with the intention of sharing what you read with other believers for the purpose of encouragement and refinement.

3.   Pray daily for your fellow church goers; asking often what you might pray for them.

4. Offer your help, services, time or resources to help another believer in a project.  Offer to watch another couples’ children so they can go out; purpose to take another believer out for coffee or meet for breakfast.

5. Encourage believers who are faithfully serving the church body in their efforts.  Express and attitude of gratitude for your church leaders, for the specific ministry and undertakings of people in the church.  When was the last time you thanked the church treasurer for treasuring; the church greeting for greeting; the church nursery coordinator for coordinating?

I dare you (okay…exhort you in the Lord) to come up with five more and do them!

What is Love to Christ?

What is Love to Christ?

by Thomas Doolitle (Puritan Preacher – 1630-1707)

Love shows the true character of a man, according to the object which he loves more than anything else: for as is the love, so is the man. According to his love, so might you confidently designate the man. If he is a lover of honor, he is an ambitious man; a lover of pleasure, a sensual man; and if he chiefly love the world, he is a covetous man. If a man loves righteousness, he is a religious man; if the things above, a heavenly-minded man; and if he love Christ with a pre-eminent love, he is a sincere man: "Rightly do they love you.," Song of Songs 1:4.

If Christ has our love, he has our all; and Christ never has what he deserves from us, till he has our love. True love withholds nothing from Christ, when it is sincerely set upon him. If we actually love him, he will have our time, and he will have our service, and he will have the use of all our resources, and gifts, and graces; indeed, then he shall have our possessions, freedom, and our very lives, whenever he calls for them. In the same way, when God loves any of us, he will withhold nothing from us that is good for us. He does not hold back his own only begotten Son, Romans 8:32. When Christ loves us, he gives us everything we need-- his merits to justify us, his Spirit to sanctify us, his grace to adorn us, and his glory to crown us. Therefore, when any of us love Christ sincerely, we lay everything down at his feet, and give up all to be at his command and service: "And they loved not their lives unto the death," Revelation 12:11.