1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
The bible teaches us to be intentional with our lives, not to walk through life aimlessly. We can simply let life come at us and deal with it as it comes. Or we can go on the offensive. The devil can come up with plenty of distractions to keep you from serving the Lord. What I have found is that serving the Lord faithfully requires a resolute spirit that says, "I am going to serve Him, no matter what!" Then when some distraction, difficulty, or drama comes along we are not swayed.
I know people who are always intending to get started serving God. But any little distraction that comes into their lives keeps them from serving. Then I know others who have decided that they are going to serve God no matter what. I knew of a man that used to attend our church (he is at home with the Lord now) who had major health issues. He had to get up at 4:30 am to start getting ready to come to church, and he came every Sunday on an electric wheel chair / scooter. He had every reason to stay in, but he had already decided nothing was going to stop him from worshiping. He had adopted a "whatever it takes" mentality. We need more people like that.....people that have said, "I am going to serve and worship God and I am willing to do whatever it takes."
That type of attitude produces conduct that is aimed at something. Aim at nothing and you will hit it. What is your conduct aimed at?
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
I am a proud Pastor
I am so proud of Bethel Baptist. I can't help it. Wow!!! 144 professions of faith at Judgment House...Stories abound of those who are Bethel members that invited family and friends who were saved. Glory to God.
One man stopped me who is a key lay leader in a sister church across town. He said to me something that really blessed my heart, "Please tell your people thank you. I cannot even begin to imagine the time, effort, and energy that it takes to pull something like this off. And you guys are making such a significant contribution to the body of Christ and the effort to bring in the harvest in this area through Judgment House. I am not aware of too many churches that are willing to pay the price that you have been willing to pay to do this. Thanks from the bottom of my heart."
Several others expressed similar sentiments. I just wanted those who participated to know that the entire community takes notice of the sacrifices you made to be part of Judgment House. Now I know that you did not do it for the approval of man.....I get that....but I hope it does encourage your heart to know that others in the community, particularly the other area churches were blessed by it. I talked to one staff member of a local church who brought about 30 people from his church who said, "Wow, we are going to have a lot of baptisms at our church. We brought 8 teens and 2 adults that got saved tonight!" That is the way it is when you serve God faithfully, even those around you get blessed.
The vast majority of the 144 people who were saved will never attend Bethel. A lot of them were brought by other church groups and will attend those churches. But that is okay. We are not here to build our kingdom......we are here to build His Kingdom!!! And as long as we make that our focus, God will send the people to us we need to get it done. He always has, and he always will as long as we make HIS goals our goals. Amen?!
Thank you Bethel for letting God use you to build the Kingdom. You are truly remarkable people.
One man stopped me who is a key lay leader in a sister church across town. He said to me something that really blessed my heart, "Please tell your people thank you. I cannot even begin to imagine the time, effort, and energy that it takes to pull something like this off. And you guys are making such a significant contribution to the body of Christ and the effort to bring in the harvest in this area through Judgment House. I am not aware of too many churches that are willing to pay the price that you have been willing to pay to do this. Thanks from the bottom of my heart."
Several others expressed similar sentiments. I just wanted those who participated to know that the entire community takes notice of the sacrifices you made to be part of Judgment House. Now I know that you did not do it for the approval of man.....I get that....but I hope it does encourage your heart to know that others in the community, particularly the other area churches were blessed by it. I talked to one staff member of a local church who brought about 30 people from his church who said, "Wow, we are going to have a lot of baptisms at our church. We brought 8 teens and 2 adults that got saved tonight!" That is the way it is when you serve God faithfully, even those around you get blessed.
The vast majority of the 144 people who were saved will never attend Bethel. A lot of them were brought by other church groups and will attend those churches. But that is okay. We are not here to build our kingdom......we are here to build His Kingdom!!! And as long as we make that our focus, God will send the people to us we need to get it done. He always has, and he always will as long as we make HIS goals our goals. Amen?!
Thank you Bethel for letting God use you to build the Kingdom. You are truly remarkable people.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Judgment House
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers
I want to say a word to all my fellow workers participating in Judgment House. AMAZING!!! Best word I can think of to describe Judgment House at Bethel Baptist. One of the things that excites me about it is how the church pulls together and works together to accomplish the goal of pointing people to Christ.
There are some characteristics of the Judgment House participants that stand out to me.
MUTUAL RESPECT - Everyone values every other member and honors all roles. There are no insignificant roles. We need every single person who serves in every single role. We need the registration people, the tour guides, the set builders, the scene directors, the technical folks, the actors and actresses, the counselors......there are no unimportant roles.
COOPERATION - There is a willingness to pitch in and help wherever there is a need. I rarely hear anyone during Judgment House say, "That is not my job, I'm not doing that." There seems to be such a keen awareness of the importance of the mission, that people adopt a "whatever it takes" attitude. The "me" mentality disappears, and it becomes a "we" mentality.
SACRIFICE - People are willing to sacrifice time and sleep. It is exhausting. The hours are long. I hear no complaining or whining during Judgment House. The participants seem so focused on the mission that their own personal needs seem unimportant to them.
LOVE - There is a genuine love for the people who come through Judgment House, and there is a special connectedness that all the participants share with one another that is hard to describe unless you have experienced it. No matter what your role you feel a special connection to everyone else who is participating.
SYNERGY - One of my favorite spiritual concepts is the concept of synergy. The law of synergy states that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That means that instead of 1+1+1 equaling 3, it starts to equal 4 or 5. The idea is that the combined efforts of people working together produces a greater result than those same people working equally as hard but as individuals, not as a team.
To all of you who are serving in any capacity let me say to you.....WELL DONE!! And hang in there. The long hours and exhaustion are worth it. God is bringing in a harvest of souls and you are part of it. Remember that when you are so tired on Sunday night that you feel like you are about to drop.
I want to say a word to all my fellow workers participating in Judgment House. AMAZING!!! Best word I can think of to describe Judgment House at Bethel Baptist. One of the things that excites me about it is how the church pulls together and works together to accomplish the goal of pointing people to Christ.
There are some characteristics of the Judgment House participants that stand out to me.
MUTUAL RESPECT - Everyone values every other member and honors all roles. There are no insignificant roles. We need every single person who serves in every single role. We need the registration people, the tour guides, the set builders, the scene directors, the technical folks, the actors and actresses, the counselors......there are no unimportant roles.
COOPERATION - There is a willingness to pitch in and help wherever there is a need. I rarely hear anyone during Judgment House say, "That is not my job, I'm not doing that." There seems to be such a keen awareness of the importance of the mission, that people adopt a "whatever it takes" attitude. The "me" mentality disappears, and it becomes a "we" mentality.
SACRIFICE - People are willing to sacrifice time and sleep. It is exhausting. The hours are long. I hear no complaining or whining during Judgment House. The participants seem so focused on the mission that their own personal needs seem unimportant to them.
LOVE - There is a genuine love for the people who come through Judgment House, and there is a special connectedness that all the participants share with one another that is hard to describe unless you have experienced it. No matter what your role you feel a special connection to everyone else who is participating.
SYNERGY - One of my favorite spiritual concepts is the concept of synergy. The law of synergy states that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That means that instead of 1+1+1 equaling 3, it starts to equal 4 or 5. The idea is that the combined efforts of people working together produces a greater result than those same people working equally as hard but as individuals, not as a team.
To all of you who are serving in any capacity let me say to you.....WELL DONE!! And hang in there. The long hours and exhaustion are worth it. God is bringing in a harvest of souls and you are part of it. Remember that when you are so tired on Sunday night that you feel like you are about to drop.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Gird your loins
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober,
When Peter says to "gird up the loins" it is the picture of the Roman soldier preparing for combat. He is saying, get ready to fight. Where is the battle ground? It is in the mind. That is where the battle for living the Christian life is. It is in your thoughts. The bible says to "be sober". What does it mean to be sober? It means to be controlled. A drunk has no control of his thoughts. He therefore has no control of his actions. Out of control thoughts = out of control actions. It works that way every time. That is why the bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."
When you know you are having thoughts that are not obedient thoughts, that is when the battle is really on. Now the fight is full blown. Who will win? Will God be victorious in our lives or will we give in to the world, the flesh, and the devil? It all depends on whether or not we are able to take the thoughts captive.
Child of God, you have a choice what you think about. You have a choice as to what kind of attitude you adopt. You have a choice as to whether or not you choose to frame everything in your thinking in a positive way or whether or you can choose to be negative. Make no mistake....it is your choice.
May God grant you the grace to take your thoughts captive today.
When Peter says to "gird up the loins" it is the picture of the Roman soldier preparing for combat. He is saying, get ready to fight. Where is the battle ground? It is in the mind. That is where the battle for living the Christian life is. It is in your thoughts. The bible says to "be sober". What does it mean to be sober? It means to be controlled. A drunk has no control of his thoughts. He therefore has no control of his actions. Out of control thoughts = out of control actions. It works that way every time. That is why the bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."
When you know you are having thoughts that are not obedient thoughts, that is when the battle is really on. Now the fight is full blown. Who will win? Will God be victorious in our lives or will we give in to the world, the flesh, and the devil? It all depends on whether or not we are able to take the thoughts captive.
Child of God, you have a choice what you think about. You have a choice as to what kind of attitude you adopt. You have a choice as to whether or not you choose to frame everything in your thinking in a positive way or whether or you can choose to be negative. Make no mistake....it is your choice.
May God grant you the grace to take your thoughts captive today.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Inquiry of the angels
1 Peter 1:12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven -- things which angels desire to look into.
Peter makes a most interesting comment about angels in this passage of scripture. He offers the notion that angels do not completely understand grace. How could they? They have not been saved. You and I have, so we have a perspective on the grace of God that comes from experience. We know what it is like to be the recipients of "so great a salvation", translated from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of God, cleansed by the blood of the lamb, and guaranteed a place in heaven when what we really deserve is hell!!!! HALLELUJAH WHAT A SAVIOR!!!!! Pardon me. Just had a spell. I'm better now.
This gives us insight into a very important aspect of grace. It is on some levels incomprehensible to angels. We must also say, on some level, it is incomprehensible to us. We have experienced it, yes.....but do we really understand it? I would say that as we mature as Christians, we continually grow in our understanding of it. I would also flip that statement around and say, we mature as we grow in our understanding of it.
Some have said, "I am saved now, let me move on beyond the gospel to the deeper things of the Christian life." I would submit to you the idea that such an understanding of things is misguided. My friend, there is nothing deeper than the gospel. There is nothing deeper than the amazing grace of God. When we all get to heaven all our eschatology will be correct. But we can go on for an eternity of eternities meditating upon the glorious gospel and never get to the bottom of that deep well.
So meditate today on the glorious gospel, what it means to be saved, and how much God loves you. And walk in the peace that passes all understanding, and walk in joy inexpressible.
Peter makes a most interesting comment about angels in this passage of scripture. He offers the notion that angels do not completely understand grace. How could they? They have not been saved. You and I have, so we have a perspective on the grace of God that comes from experience. We know what it is like to be the recipients of "so great a salvation", translated from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of God, cleansed by the blood of the lamb, and guaranteed a place in heaven when what we really deserve is hell!!!! HALLELUJAH WHAT A SAVIOR!!!!! Pardon me. Just had a spell. I'm better now.
This gives us insight into a very important aspect of grace. It is on some levels incomprehensible to angels. We must also say, on some level, it is incomprehensible to us. We have experienced it, yes.....but do we really understand it? I would say that as we mature as Christians, we continually grow in our understanding of it. I would also flip that statement around and say, we mature as we grow in our understanding of it.
Some have said, "I am saved now, let me move on beyond the gospel to the deeper things of the Christian life." I would submit to you the idea that such an understanding of things is misguided. My friend, there is nothing deeper than the gospel. There is nothing deeper than the amazing grace of God. When we all get to heaven all our eschatology will be correct. But we can go on for an eternity of eternities meditating upon the glorious gospel and never get to the bottom of that deep well.
So meditate today on the glorious gospel, what it means to be saved, and how much God loves you. And walk in the peace that passes all understanding, and walk in joy inexpressible.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Trials
1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
How do you tell if faith is genuine? How does it hold up to trials? That is the test that Peter puts forth in this passage of scripture. If your faith holds up during the trials of life it is genuine.
It is easy to praise God and serve Him when everything is going well. It is quite another thing to praise God and serve Him when you are in the middle of a fiery trial. When you go through trials but your faith is not shipwrecked by them, it brings glory to Jesus. Many believers suffer silent pain. There are circumstances that occur that produce fear. Many live with anxiety over the future. There are private struggles that we as believers go through that we just do not want to burden other people with. We think to ourselves, "They have their own problems, they don't want to hear about mine." So we pour our hearts out to God. And when we do it legitimizes our faith. When you depend on the Lord to help you deal with your pain, He notices whether or not any one else does. One day when we get to heaven, all that private pain that we experienced that we allowed God to see us through, it will be proclaimed openly in heaven that we suffered well, and made it through with our faith in tact. That testimony will be the testimony that the Savior glories in!!!
Pour your heart out to God today. Give Him your pain. It is when you take your pain to Him, and rely on Him to get you through that your faith is shown to be most genuine.
How do you tell if faith is genuine? How does it hold up to trials? That is the test that Peter puts forth in this passage of scripture. If your faith holds up during the trials of life it is genuine.
It is easy to praise God and serve Him when everything is going well. It is quite another thing to praise God and serve Him when you are in the middle of a fiery trial. When you go through trials but your faith is not shipwrecked by them, it brings glory to Jesus. Many believers suffer silent pain. There are circumstances that occur that produce fear. Many live with anxiety over the future. There are private struggles that we as believers go through that we just do not want to burden other people with. We think to ourselves, "They have their own problems, they don't want to hear about mine." So we pour our hearts out to God. And when we do it legitimizes our faith. When you depend on the Lord to help you deal with your pain, He notices whether or not any one else does. One day when we get to heaven, all that private pain that we experienced that we allowed God to see us through, it will be proclaimed openly in heaven that we suffered well, and made it through with our faith in tact. That testimony will be the testimony that the Savior glories in!!!
Pour your heart out to God today. Give Him your pain. It is when you take your pain to Him, and rely on Him to get you through that your faith is shown to be most genuine.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Kept
1 Peter 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Is it not wonderful to know that if you are truly a born again child of God, you are kept by His power? As the writer of Hebrews communicates to us toward the end of the 6th chapter, this assurance becomes an "anchor" for the soul. Since it is HIS power that keeps us, we know that it is a sure thing.
I know that there are well intentioned folks out there who believe that you can loose your salvation. I get to talk to some of them every time I preach a message on the doctrine of eternal security (smile). I want to lovingly and gently say, they are wrong. I will not go into a defense of my position here. If you would like a detailed defense, let me encourage you to go the church website www.bbcva.org and listen to the sermon from this past Sunday night in which I give a detailed defense of the security of the believer.
I feel sorry for people who do not have assurance. I know in my own life, I have found the writer of Hebrews to be so correct.....assurance of my salvation is an anchor for my soul.
The anchor holds, in spite of the storm. Hold on to your anchor today.
Is it not wonderful to know that if you are truly a born again child of God, you are kept by His power? As the writer of Hebrews communicates to us toward the end of the 6th chapter, this assurance becomes an "anchor" for the soul. Since it is HIS power that keeps us, we know that it is a sure thing.
I know that there are well intentioned folks out there who believe that you can loose your salvation. I get to talk to some of them every time I preach a message on the doctrine of eternal security (smile). I want to lovingly and gently say, they are wrong. I will not go into a defense of my position here. If you would like a detailed defense, let me encourage you to go the church website www.bbcva.org and listen to the sermon from this past Sunday night in which I give a detailed defense of the security of the believer.
I feel sorry for people who do not have assurance. I know in my own life, I have found the writer of Hebrews to be so correct.....assurance of my salvation is an anchor for my soul.
The anchor holds, in spite of the storm. Hold on to your anchor today.
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