New Year's Resolutions?

The following is from Don Whitney's website Biblical Spirituality.  I so appreciated the questions and thought they would do us all well to consider.  Have a happy New Year's Day!

- - - - - - -

Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year

By Don Whitney

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

11. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?

12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?

13. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?

14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?

15. Who is the person you most want to encourage this year?

16. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?

17. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?

18. What's one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?

19. What's one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?

20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?

21. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?

22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?

23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?

24. What's the most important trip you want to take this year?

25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?

26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?

27. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?

28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?

29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?

30. What's the most important new item you want to buy this year?

31. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?


The value of many of these questions is not in their profundity, but in the simple fact that they bring an issue or commitment into focus. For example, just by articulating which person you most want to encourage this year is more likely to help you remember to encourage that person than if you hadn't considered the question.
If you've found these questions helpful, you might want to put them someplace—in a day planner, PDA, calendar, bulletin board, etc.—where you can review them more frequently than once a year. 

So let's evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering that, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage" (Proverbs 21:5). But in all things let's also remember our dependence on our King who said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Copyright © 2003 Donald S. Whitney.
Copyright Disclaimer: All the information contained on the Center for Biblical Spirituality website is copyrighted by Donald S. Whitney. Permission granted to copy this material in its complete text only for not-for-profit use (sharing with a friend, church, school, Bible study, etc.) and including all copyright information. No portion of this website may be sold, distributed, published, edited, altered, changed, broadcast, or commercially exploited without the prior written permission from Donald S. Whitney.

Great is the Lord!

Great is the LORD, and highly to be praise, and His greatness is unsearchable (Psalm 145:3).

As David records reasons for which he will extol, bless and praise the Lord (145:1-2), he begins by simply stating “Great is the Lord!” The Lord is “great” - that is exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all we can think and imagine. The word “great” speaks of that which is intense, superlative, utterly above and beyond anyone or anything else. This is ample reason for praising the Lord. What makes the Lord so great? Matthew Henry said it well:

We must declare, Great is the Lord, his presence infinite, his power irresistible, his brightness insupportable, his majesty awful, his dominion boundless, and his sovereignty incontestable; and therefore there is no dispute, but great is the Lord, and, if great, then greatly to be praised, with all that is within us, to the utmost of our power, and with all the circumstances of solemnity imaginable.

Because the Lord is so great, it is to be our daily endeavor to praise Him in the same manner...greatly or “highly”. It is to be our effort to go exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond every other effort to declare the greatness of of the Lord. We are called to employ every faculty of our being to find words and ways by which to give thanks to God. Our praise is never be shallow, but deep. It is never to be low, but high. The Lord is to be highly or greatly praised. We should be going out of our way to make this declaration, “Great is the Lord!” And if we should be inconvenienced in this effort, so be it, for to this purpose we have been called.

The rest of verse three tells us just one of the attributes that make the Lord great. We read, “...and His greatness is unsearchable” The word unsearchable means “past examination or deliberation.” Some may take this as an excuse not to examine or deliberate the things of God that make Him great This is not what this means. The point is that we can examine, discuss, talk about, explore, probe, investigate, survey, assess, study and analyze the person and work of God for hour upon hour, day upon day, month upon month and year upon year and we will never come to the end of our examination. Upon our consideration of the things of God, we will never, if truly seeking, come to the end of God and therefore run out of things for which to praise and thank God. He will always be great to those who rightly ponder Him. May David's resolve be ours as well...I will tell of Your greatness (Psalm 145:5b).

For His Glory,

Ed

If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels. CHS

Glory to God in the Highest - a praise of salvation!

As a Christmas present, my mother-in-law gave me a book of Spurgeon Sermons. The first series of sermons were, in fact, Christmas messages and the first message, which set the tone for the book, was based on Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

What I find so wonderfully amazing about Spurgeon's preaching is how easily he understands and links the glory of God and the gospel in his messages. Spurgeon's concern is always that God be recognized as Almighty Sovereign, particularly in salvation, and that man recognize his own need of all-grace, all-mercy, and all-effort on the part of this benevolent God to even have the hope of eternal life. In other words, if God did not act on His own for His own, His "own" would never have believed, would never have repented, and would never experience the bliss of salvation in Jesus Christ. All glory to God who first loved us and first opened our eyes to behold the beauty of Christ as Savior and who first instilled in us the very faith to come to Christ (John 6:44).

The following excerpt so firmly communicates what is at stake if we undermine the truth of Jonah 2:9, that salvation comes from the Lord. May I remind you again that this was found in a Christmas message entitled "The First Christmas Carol." This is no side issue for even in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ we find the sweet doctrines of grace, of God's goodwill toward man so evident. Please be in awe of the great truths communicated here as well as wary of any system of thinking or theology that undermines these biblical truths. May our longing be that God receives all the glory for salvation, for as the Scriptures say of God...

Revelation 4:6

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.

And of Jesus it says:

Revelation 5:9

"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Spurgeon spoke:

But, let me say one word here before I go away from this point. We must learn from this, that if salvation glorifies God, glorifies him in the highest degree, and makes the highest creatures praise him, this one reflection may be added—then, that doctrine, which glorifies man in salvation cannot be the gospel. For salvation glorifies God.

The angels were no Arminians, they sang, "Glory to God in the highest." They believe in no doctrine which uncrowns Christ, and puts the crown upon the head of mortals. They believe in no system of faith which makes salvation dependent upon the creature, and, which really gives the creature the praise, for what is it less than for a man to save himself, if the whole dependence of salvation rests upon his own free will?

No, my brethren; there may be some preachers, that delight to preach a doctrine that magnifies man; but in their gospel angels have no delight. The only glad tidings that made the angels sing, are those that put God first, God last, God midst, and God without end, in the salvation of his creatures, and put the crown wholly and alone upon the head of him that saves without a helper. "Glory to God in the highest," is the angels' song.

May we sing with the angels and give all glory to God for so great a salvation as found in Jesus Christ our Lord!

In the Company of God

"There are no dilemmas out of which you shall not be delivered if you live near to God and your heart be kept warm with holy love.  He goes not amiss who goes in the company of God." - Charles Spurgeon

"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love!"

"Jesus, keep me near the cross!"

Why is it that the very thing that brings healing to my spirit and joy to my heart can be the thing I avoid so readily? 

I love the exhortation of Deuteronomy 13:4 - "You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him." 

Oh to cling to Him, to hold on, get a firm grip and never let go.  Like a little child holding on to his daddy's leg when scared, Oh not to let go.  And the beauty of it is this, that as I cling to Him, while I feel in my soul as though if I lose my grasp I would be lost, the truth is that my Lord Himself eternally has hold of me.  Blessed thought!

John 10:26-29
26 But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

Thank You, Lord that I may cling to You and that You hold on to me!  Let me always be found in Your company!

God Sent His Son to be Human!

What makes "Christmas" so wonderfully unique is not that God sent His Son to the earth as a "baby" but rather as a "human" - the incarnation - God becomes man. To emphasize Jesus coming as a baby only confuses unbelievers, for all begin as babies. What makes Jesus so wonderfully awesome is that He came to be human, beginning as a baby. Coming as a human then begs the evangelistic question, "What was He before becoming human?" He was and continues to be Emmanuel - God with us. There the gospel begins to unfold.

Regarding the Church

Let he without sin cast the first stone if he will.
To say that my Bride isn't worth half the blood that I've spilled.
Point your finger and laugh if you choose
To say my Beloved is borrowed and used
She is strong enough to stand in My love.
I can hear her say:
I am weak. I am poor, I'm broken Lord but I'm yours.
Hold me Now. Hold me now.

by Jennifer Knapp

A Christless Christianity?

The church in the United States has willingly gone into captivity. The captors are not from a specific nation, but is rather the American culture and ideals. The church's captors are consumerism, pragmatism, self-sufficiency, individualism, positive thinking, personal prosperity, and nationalism. These are all antithetical to the gospel and yet the church too often has made these part and parcel in her midst.

The church is on her way to a Christless Christianity. The church speaks the name of Christ and yet is too often not Christ centered and negligent of the gospel. Michael Horton writes that the church's message and demonstration of “faith” is “trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant.” The church is embracing an alternative gospel, proclaiming a message of moralism, personal comfort, self help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. Such a message and faith minimizes God and seeks to make Him meet our own self ends.

Adapted from the cover of “Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel” by Michael Horton

How far has the church come?

In 1955 A. W. Tozer wrote these words in his book, The Root of the Righteous:

For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was - a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability. For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more than poor theaters where fifth-rate 'producers' peddle their shoddy wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a holy text in defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it.

A Synopsis on God's Sovereignty

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel and so, as I have been asked about this very issue by several people, I found it providential to have such a great synopsis concerning how God can be sovereign over all things and at the same time man held responsible for his sin. The following was posted on Grace Community Church's “Shepherds Fellowship” - This is the direct link, however I have posted the entire article here for both your own as well as for my convenience:

http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/posts.aspx?ID=4144

Our Sovereign God
(By John MacArthur)


No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for their salvation.

But that is, after all, precisely what Scripture teaches. Even faith is God’s gracious gift to His elect. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). “Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore no one who is saved has anything to boast about (cf Eph. 2:8, 9). “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

The doctrine of divine election is explicitly taught throughout Scripture. For example, in the New Testament epistles alone, we learn that all believers are “chosen of God” (Titus 1:1). We were “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11, emphasis added). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . . He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (vv. 4, 5). We “are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28–30).

When Peter wrote that we are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1, 2), he was not using the word “foreknowledge” to mean that God was aware beforehand who would believe and therefore chose them because of their foreseen faith. Rather, Peter meant that God determined before time began to know and love and save them; and He chose them without regard to anything good or bad they might do. We’ll return to this point again, but for now, note that those verses explicitly state that God’s sovereign choice is made “according to the kind intention of His will” and “according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will”—that is, not for any reason external to Himself. Certainly He did not choose certain sinners to be saved because of something praiseworthy in them, or because He foresaw that they would choose Him. He chose them solely because it pleased Him to do so. God declares “the end from the beginning . . . saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isa. 46:10). He is not subject to others’ decisions. His purposes for choosing some and rejecting others are hidden in the secret counsels of His own will.

Moreover, everything that exists in the universe exists because God allowed it, decreed it, and called it into existence. “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Ps. 115:3). “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps” (Ps. 135:6). He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36). “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6).

What about sin? God is not the author of sin, but He certainly allowed it; it is integral to His eternal decree. God has a purpose for allowing it. He cannot be blamed for evil or tainted by its existence (1 Sam. 2:2: “There is no one holy like the Lord”). But He certainly wasn’t caught off-guard or standing helpless to stop it when sin entered the universe. We do not know His purposes for allowing sin. If nothing else, He permitted it in order to destroy evil forever. And God sometimes uses evil to accomplish good (Gen. 45:7, 8; 50:20; Rom. 8:28). How can these things be? Scripture does not answer all the questions for us. But we know from His Word that God is utterly sovereign, He is perfectly holy, and He is absolutely just.

Admittedly, those truths are hard for the human mind to embrace, but Scripture is unequivocal. God controls all things, right down to choosing who will be saved. Paul states the doctrine in inescapable terms in the ninth chapter of Romans, by showing that God chose Jacob and rejected his twin brother Esau “though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls” (v. 11). A few verses later, Paul adds this: “He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (vv. 15, 16).

Paul anticipated the argument against divine sovereignty: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’” (v. 19). In other words, doesn’t God’s sovereignty cancel out human responsibility? But rather than offering a philosophical answer or a deep metaphysical argument, Paul simply reprimanded the skeptic: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?” (vv. 20, 21).

Scripture affirms both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. We must accept both sides of the truth, though we may not understand how they correspond to one another. People are responsible for what they do with the gospel—or with whatever light they have (Rom. 2:19, 20), so that punishment is just if they reject the light. And those who reject do so voluntarily. Jesus lamented, “You are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life” (John 5:40). He told unbelievers, “Unless you believe that I am [God], you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). In John chapter 6, our Lord combined both divine sovereignty and human responsibility when He said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (v. 37); “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life” (v. 40); “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (v. 44); “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (v. 47); and, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (v. 65). How both of those two realities can be true simultaneously cannot be understood by the human mind—only by God.

Above all, we must not conclude that God is unjust because He chooses to bestow grace on some but not to everyone. God is never to be measured by what seems fair to human judgment. Are we so foolish as to assume that we who are fallen, sinful creatures have a higher standard of what is right than an unfallen and infinitely, eternally holy God? What kind of pride is that? In Psalm 50:21 God says, “You thought that I was just like you.” But God is not like us, nor can He be held to human standards. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8, 9).

We step out of bounds when we conclude that anything God does isn’t fair. In Romans 11:33 the apostle writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” (Rom. 11:33, 34).

(Today’s post was adapted from John’s book Ashamed of the Gospel published by Crossway Books.)

Radical

"The gospel truly is radical. It makes radical sinners radical Christians."

Something I'm Working On

I am a blood-bought; born-again, radically-regenerated, determined disciple of the one and only true King of kings and Lord of Lord – Jesus Christ. I am unashamed of the Gospel and while I am always learning, I am not afraid to be one of those strange premillennial, calvinistic, leaky dispensationalists who craves a high view of God (perfectly holy), a right view of man (utterly sinful apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ), a deep love for the Word of God and a life that seeks to show just how AWESOME it is to have “Christ in you, the hope of glory” - which is called a mystery and yet it can be known!!!

Victory over the flesh

The best antidote against the poison of sin is to walk in the Spirit, to be much in conversing with spiritual things, to mind the things of the soul, which is the spiritual part of man, (more than those of the body, which is his carnal part) to commit ourselves to the guidance of the word, wherein the Holy Spirit makes known the will of God concerning us, and in the way of our duty to act in a dependence on His aids and influences.

Matthew Henry (1662-1714)

Integrity

I've often heard integrity defined as "doing the right thing even when no one is looking." However, I've been working on a definition for integrity as follows:

"Integrity is doing the right thing, all the time, with the right motives, all to the glory of God."

When David was presented with the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan, or of the murders of Abner and of Ish-Bosheth (2 Samuel), he publicly revealed his integrity, how he had not been involved with such deaths.

Integrity is not just about doing things right when no one is looking (for God is always watching), but rather seeking to do all things, publicly or privately, to the glory of God.

Psalm 7:8 (A Psalm of David)
The Lord judges the peoples; Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. (NASU)

New Church Schedule - A Personal Testimony

I would like to share my personal testimony regarding the “summer” schedule and the prospect of continuing it indefinitely. When the Elders first began to discuss the idea of having Worship Service, followed by a meal and then followed by a second time of teaching, I was most skeptical and reluctant. I liked the idea in theory, but really wondered about the practicality of such a schedule. Would people be inclined to stay and eat so early? Would people be inclined to stay at church until 1:15 pm? Would such a schedule interfere with people’s previous plans and expectations of church on Sunday? I realize that these are not necessarily spiritual questions, but they are questions I was concerned about. As far as the spiritual questions, I saw the schedule as wonderfully supplying our congregation with a means of practicing meaningful worship and fellowship in accords with Acts 2:42.

But even with all this and with personal prayer, I was hesitant. My two Elders were quite excited about the potential and after several weeks of discussion and prayer, I was inclined to get out of my traditional comfort zone and see what such a schedule might produce.

Remembering that in addition to seeking the fulfillment of congregational activities as outlined in Acts 2:42, I know that practically speaking the new schedule has been a tremendous blessing to those of our congregation that for either economic or time reasons (living some distance from the church) have appreciated being able to participate in the “whole” of the church’s activities on Sundays and not feeling as though they were missing out as an evening service was taking place.

One of the hopes of the Elders in pursuing this schedule was to encourage and stimulate (Hebrews 10:24) the congregation to participate “in” and “with” the type of teaching that was being done in the evening services. We have been blessed with a number of men who desire to communicate the word of God. Each of these men has brought their various styles and experiences to light during such teaching opportunities. Prior to the summer schedule, second hour participation was being decreasingly attended. Believing that any stagnant ministry is a dying ministry, the Elders had prayed that the new schedule might encourage those who had not stayed for the second hour previously to now consider staying. By and large, this has not proved to be the case, but when you put the pencil to the paper, the overall attendance of the second hour teaching time has been better attended than our evening services due to the fact that those who had previously been unable to return to Hope for evening services were able to “hear” and participate in the type of teaching time previously held in the evening.

With regard to our fellowship meal, I must say that one of my main concerns was how the women (and some of the men) would feel about making a meal every week. Would this be asking a lot of such meal preparers? I have been encouraged by so many of the reports. Many meal preparers have shared testimonies along the lines that the fellowship meal helps them out because rather than coming home and trying to figure out what to make for their families, they simply prepare one thing and know that their families’ meal is taken care of. Other testimonies have included how this fellowship time has been economically helpful for some were accustomed to eating out because they would have a meeting or be staying around until evening service. Some have conveyed how this practice has disciplined them to truly preparing for Sunday; both for worship and for fellowship, getting things ready the night before. These are things I was not anticipating hearing. Some have communicated how they thought it would be a burden, but as they have considered it and seen the blessings of it, they have now come to appreciate the time.

In addition to all this, I have heard, and have as my personal testimony as well, that many have come to learn of, be encouraged by, and very much blessed by the opportunity to eat with others from the congregation. This time has afforded a very real way by which to get to know people in the context of church. Some, including my wife, have told me that they prayerfully consider whom they might have lunch with on any given Sunday. Many of our newer families have expressed how such a time has given them a great opportunity to come to know people more easily in the church. During the course of our meals together, I have heard people sharing prayer requests, conveying their joys, expressing their sorrows, encouraging one another and being encouraged. While the timing of our fellowship hour may not be perfect and suit everyone, I have known no other time (except perhaps for our Family Unity Nights) in which the congregation can so actively engage in true Christian fellowship.

At the beginning of this new schedule I was also concerned about the many families with young children. How would we accommodate naps and such? Of course we have been working on getting areas ready for naps, but upon reflection of the issue the reality is that most of the children’s nap schedules have had to be altered only slightly. Previously they were not leaving until about 12:15-12:30 pm, getting home, having a meal and then putting the kids down by around 1:30 or so. With the new schedule, they may not get home until 1:45 or so, but the nap schedule has only been changed by about a half-hour. I hope this is an encouragement to other parents who have had this concern.

I like to think that Hope CBC seeks to be appropriately active. And in our efforts to reach the most people most conveniently, we do have various meetings, events and even outreaches on Sunday afternoons. For many in the church under the previous schedule (myself included), Sundays were a non-stop, whirlwind that began at 8 or 9 am and continued with very little time to pause until about 8:00pm. Then, because little of this time had been engaged in “fellowship” many would get together after that to visit with others. Believe me, this is not a complaint, but my typical Sunday under the old schedule began at 4:30 am and would not generally come to an end until between 10-11 pm. Under the new schedule, the congregation can participate in afternoon activities and events (i.e. Quiz meets, Missions Meetings, Nursing Home Ministry, Youth Staff meetings, etc) and still be done before or by dinner time, opening opportunities for more intimate fellowship and still allowing families to be home at a reasonable hour on Sunday evening before the start of the work week.

I know that children’s ministries have been a concern in this new schedule. Previously, apart from the summer, the children had “Jesus Club” on Sunday mornings and “LiFE Kids” on Sunday evenings. Believing that there is a need to come along side of parents and aid them (not replace them) in the conveying of Biblical truth, we have continued through the Summer with the Jesus Club format, that is a more “one room” type of teaching ministry for the younger children during the second hour as opposed to the more age-oriented style of LiFE kids. If the summer schedule is maintained, it would most likely mean that we would maintain a “Jesus Club” style of ministry for the children, having two or three teachers rotate through a series. This would not preclude the use of the LiFE Kids materials for such a teaching time as this. As I have given much thought and prayer about this, I believe that the “one-room” ministry (or if we were to grow significantly a “two room” – younger and older groups) is in keeping with one of the philosophies of ministry sought by the leadership of Hope CBC for the past decade, a focus on fellowship. I have always believed that Sunday worship ought to be as “congregational” as possible. Sunday is a time for God’s people to come together corporately and worship together, to fellowship together, and to learn together. There are some practical divisions in this. Jesus Club would be a “congregation” of young children. A nursery is needed for the babies and perhaps a toddler class as well. But there is no reason why those from Jr. High up through Senior Adults should not learn to worship together and then interact together. Both the “youth group” and the adults have times throughout the week to focus in on their “level” – so I have come to believe that we should strive to keep Sunday’s as congregational as possible. I know that the future may force us to consider other things, but for this time, such a schedule seems to meet the greatest amount of real needs for the congregation.

The long and the short of it is this; I was the skeptical one. I was the doubtful one. I was the one who looked for all the problems and shortcomings. And while I know that no schedule is perfect, and while I know that no schedule is necessarily permanent, I have come to appreciate and anticipate this schedule, believing it to be the most beneficial to the most people to the glory of God at this time in the life of Hope CBC. I am grateful to the many who, like me, have come to see not only how the schedule might benefit them personally, but how it also has come to benefit so many in the congregation. I know it will not be the most personally beneficial and pleasing to everyone anymore than our previous schedule was the most personally beneficial and pleasing to everyone.

I write this as my personal testimony concerning the new schedule for the church. These are my thoughts, the things I have had to work through asking myself questions like, “Why do we have an evening service?” or “Why do we do the things we do?” I do not believe that one way is more godly than another, but I have come to believe that our current “summer” schedule is the most beneficial to the congregation at this time.

A Not So New Schedule For HopeCBC

The Board of Elders has been carefully considering whether or not to maintain what was started as merely being a “summer” schedule, making it our regular schedule. The Elders have much appreciated the input of so many concerning both the pros and cons in keeping or not keeping such a schedule.

One of the great difficulties in changing the schedule is the realization that no schedule is perfect and no schedule will ultimately suit all the people. When taking this into account, it has been the belief of the Elders that the greatest amount of people would be best served in making the summer schedule permanent. To help the Elders confirm this conclusion, they solicited input from the congregation and this input has overwhelmingly confirmed that the summer schedule is not merely more convenient, but it is also more conducive in pushing forward the philosophy of ministry that puts an emphasis upon fellowship and interaction. In short, it is the belief of the Elders that at current Hope CBC can best fulfill the fundamentals of Acts 2:42 (devotion to the Apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread/communion, and to prayer) by means of this schedule.

The Elders will be having some meetings with various ministry leaders (i.e. Children, Youth, etc) to discuss how this impacts them and the directions the Elders would like to have them take. More information to that end will be forthcoming.

The Elders do wish to thank everyone for their involvement and would continue to ask everyone to participate as best as they are able in light of the schedule. We look forward to what the Lord will do among the congregation of Hope CBC as we labor together in unity for the gospel.

As a recap then, the Board of Elders, having had an overwhelming positive response by the congregation, has determined to make the current summer schedule the regular schedule for the Sunday services at Hope CBC. This schedule is as follows:

9:30am – 11:00am
Morning Worship Service – 1^st Hour

11:10am – 12:10pm
Fellowship Meal – 2^nd Hour

12:15pm – 1:15pm
Bible Fellowship (Jr. High – Adults) and Jesus Club (K-6^th grade) – 3^rd Hour

For His Glory,

The Board of Elders

Consideration of Church Schedule

Back before the summer, the Board of Elders was looking at a number of issues that faced the church. Among those issues were rising gas prices, making it more and more infeasible for those attendees of the church who had to drive any distance to make two trips to the church on Sundays; a decline in attendance for Sunday Evening services and therefore a lack of exposure for the various teaching series the men had been delivering on Sunday evenings; and a need to encourage and promote more casual times of fellowship for the congregation and therefore enhance the sense of unity and community. Certainly there are other factors as well, but these were some of the more pressing ones.

With all this in mind, the Elders prayerfully considered rearranging our Sunday schedule, a schedule we have now been enjoying for the past three months. That schedule is as follows:

9:30am - 11:00am: Morning Worship Service (focus on Scripture and Praise)

11:10am – 12:10 pm: Fellowship Hour (Sharing of a meal together)

12:15pm – 1:15pm: Second Hour Fellowship (A more casual teaching time for Jr. High – through Adult; Children’s Ministry – “Jesus Club”).

This schedule has afforded us great opportunities for fellowship and has greatly encouraged those who were previously unable to make the two trips to church. While we know that any Sunday schedule will not suit or please everyone, this one has seemed to work well for the summer.

As we come to the last month of the schedule, the Elders have been giving consideration as to whether or not to continue with this schedule or to revert back to our old schedule (which was as follows):

9:30am – 11:00am: Morning Worship Service (focus on Scripture and Praise)

11:00am – 11:15 am: Break

11:15am – 12:00 pm: Second Hour Fellowship (casual teaching time; Children’s Ministries)

6:00pm – 7:15 pm: Evening Service (Teaching time for Adults; LiFE Kids ministries)

It is truly understood that there are pros and cons associated with either schedule. With the current summer schedule, some parents of young children are concerned about nap times. Some people enjoy “going out” for lunch and find leaving at 1:15 pm not conducive for that (especially after eating at 11:15 am). Some feel that we have lost a “teaching” time by not having Evening service (this is technically true, but as the Elders have been trying to incorporate Acts 2:42 into our meeting times; fellowship is included with the list of Apostle’s teaching, breaking of bread and prayer). At current then, the Summer Schedule does afford us two teaching times as well as a fellowship time. We regularly “break bread” during the second hour on the first Sunday of the month and we have regularly scheduled prayer meetings for both the men and the women (this is not to suggest there is no room for improvement in these things).

In light of these things, the Elder Board has been increasingly inclined to maintain the “Summer Schedule” for an indefinite period of time. Some of the noted benefits were already mentioned above, but it might also be pointed out that soon the days will be getting shorter and we are aware that it becomes increasingly difficult for some to drive in the dark. The current schedule would ensure all would be home before dark.

With all this noted, the Elders have been casually speaking to some and have spoken to by others concerning the schedule. It would “seem” that the schedule, while needing some tweaks, has been a benefit and blessing to most from whom we have heard. The purpose of this email/blog entry is to solicit your input. If you have any thoughts, questions or concerns about the schedule in general, the Elders would like to know about it. We have placed this on our blog so that if you are inclined, you may post your thoughts, concerns, opinions here (we would ask all to be very respectful of one another). If you are concerned about “public” comments, you may talk to, call or email any of the Elders as we really want to have your input. We realize this is an important decision and therefore want to hear from you.

And please diligently pray for unity. We have been blessed with a congregation that is so gracious and has both sought and allowed for doing those things that would promote the greatest well-being for the church. To that end, realizing that no schedule will be optimal for everyone, once a decision is made, let us strive together in unity to participate with one another in light of the schedule, even if it may not be the most personally pleasing. It must be stressed that there has been no known tensions or animosities because of our schedule and we prayerfully would like to keep it that way.

One final note, if the current “summer” schedule is maintained, we will need to make some decisions concerning the start up of our Children’s ministries in October. Since there will be only one hour devoted to Children’s ministries in this scenario, we would need to decide whether to follow a “Jesus Club” format (larger classes) or the LiFE Kids format (more age oriented classes). To that end, anyone who has been or is interested in Children’s ministries (having served as a LiFE Kids or Jesus Club teacher or interested in do so), the Elders have scheduled a Children’s Ministries Teacher’s meeting on Sunday, September 7 at 3:00 pm at the church. This meeting will follow the 2008 Quizzing Meeting at 1:30 pm. At this meeting, it is believed that the Elders will have a good idea of which schedule we will be pursing and we will discuss how to organize the Children’s Teachers and materials.

Thank you for your prayerful attention to these matters. Again, we would appreciate your comments, either by means of the blog or by contacting one of your Elders. Their email address and phone numbers are below if you need them or you can of course share your thoughts with any one of them on Sunday. The email address and phone numbers of the Elders will not be posted on the blog for obvious reasons. Please refer to your email if you would want to contact your Elders in this way.

With much excitement and anticipation for the future,

The Board of Elders.

A Hymn Dilemma - Keep Thou My Way, O Lord

Any of you who knows me, knows how I enjoy my old hymnals. This afternoon I was asked by my lovely wife, Laura, about finding a hymn text to include in her mother's birthday card.

Oddly enough, the very first hymn I turned to in my 1890 Reformed Church Hymnal was wonderfully inspirational and very fitting for what my wife was looking for. However, because it was a bit long, too long to easily write out, I told her we should be able to find it at one of my favorite hymn sites on the web - www.cyberhymnal.org.

So, I jumped on the site and quickly found the first line of the text as in my hymnal only to find that the only thing in common between my hymnal hymn and the online hymn was the first line - everything else was different.

So, I thought, well, I will look for the text on the web at large. So I typed in the first line and exactly what I found at cyberhymnal was what came up in the search. I then started to type in various lines of my hymnal text only to find that there is not a trace of this text to be found. Very, very interesting.

So, (this is the third paragraph that begins with so) - I am going to make this a challenge. I know that I have very little following so it may not yield much by way of results, but I am going to post this hymn here and if anyone can find any information about it, it would be appreciated. I will say that my hymnal does state who wrote it, but even as I looked at a few lists of this person's hymn works, this hymn did not show up apart from the first line. Anyone who does look this hymn up by first line will quickly know who it is attributed to. But what I am looking for is the full text as noted below. The date of the variant (online) text is 1894, but my hymnal was published in 1890, which means my text is older. Let me know if you find anything. In the meantime, be blessed by the text:

Keep Thou my way, O Lord;
Myself I cannot guide;
Nor dare I trust my erring steps
One moment from Thy side:
I cannot think aright,
Unless imprisoned by Thee;
My heart would fail without Thy aid;
Choose Thou my thoughts for me.

For every act of faith,
And every pure design,
For all of good my soul can know,
The glory, Lord, be Thine;
Free grace my pardon seals,
Through Thy atoning blood;
Free grace the full assurance brings,
Of peace with Thee, my God.

Oh, speak and I will hear;
Command, and I obey;
My willing feet with joy shall haste
To run the heavenly way;
Keep Thou my wandering heart,
And bid it cease to roam;
Oh, bear me safe o'er death's cold wave
To heaven my blissful home.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Ed

Well I'm back - at least for now.

I know that it has been entirely too long since my last post. Some times I miss being regular with the blog and other times I have not missed it at all.

I will let you know that I make no promises here, but I do intend to be more regular at posting - at least posting something. By and large I simply intend to post things of interest to me and if by chance they interest you, so be it - - - and I would love to hear what you have to say about whatever it is that has interested you.

So, we will see how this goes - I'm back - at least for now.

Hope CBC and Acts 2:42

In and effort to promote meaningful and biblical fellowship, the Elders have used Acts 2:42 as a templete of sorts to guide our fellowship hour at church. After the main service (9:30 am to 11:00 am) and a breif recess, we have a fellowship hour (which is only about 45 minutes). For several years this time was used exclusively to have an open discussion and interaction with the sermon, asking questions, sharing insights, seeking a more thorough application of principles. But sometimes change is good, keeping us "on our toes" and causing us to stretch spiritually as well as creatively.

So, in an effort to promote this "change" for the spiritual good of the body at Hope CBC, the Elder have assigned an aspect of Acts 2:42 to the fellowship hour each week. Here is the text itself:

Acts 2:42
"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

There are obviouly four key elements here and for a standard four week month this is how we determined to promote each of these ideas:

On the first Sunday of the month we have appropriated the fellowship hour to the "breaking of bread" or the Lord's Table (communion). Here we have asked the men to be prepared to bring an exhortation from the Word, a Scripture reading, a prayer, or the requesting of a particular hymn that would focus the congregation on the sacrifice and blessing of our Lord's death and resurrection. We have done this a couple of time now and it is "different" for us, having a 45 minute communion service, but it has also been a blessing.

On the second Sunday of the month we devote ourselves to corporate prayer, praying for one another and for the needs of the ministry both at Hope CBC as well as abroad.

On the third Sunday of the month we enjoy a time of interactive teaching (apostles' teaching). The "teaching" is done by one of the Elders or Pastoral staff (including interns) and is not meant to be another sermon, but a time to work through a particular subject biblically. We have had two of these interactive times thus far looking in June and July at biblical fatherhood. In August and September we will be considering together evangelism and outreach.

The fourth Sunday is more "traditional" (if you can say there is anything traditional at Hope CBC) focusing our time on sermon interaction. On this Sunday, we consider the morning message (and the previous weeks' messages) seeking corporate insights as well as practical applications.

And what do we do if there are five Sundays in a month? On five Sunday months we have an extended main service, utilizing the last 20-25 minutes (11:00 am - 11:25 am) for a "hymn sing" - offering up praise to our Lord in song. This is followed by a church-wide "pot-providence" (not a pot-luck as God is in control).

The desire in all of this is to promote godly interaction and fellowship among the congregation to such an extend that it will continue beyond the walls of the church facility.

May God be glorified and Jesus Christ exalted through it all!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Ed