I normally don't do this, but seeing as I posted yesterday about our Parenting Seminar I have had parenting on the mind. Just a few hours ago Pastor Paul Chappell posted a great article on his blog about parenting; it was a real blessing to me. There are very few parents whose lives I would want to emulate, Pastor Chappell is one of those few. All of his kids are now serving the Lord, but more importantly, all of his kids love the Lord. As I said yesterday, my goal as a parent is for my daughter to love the Lord more than anything else; Pastor Chappell has raised his children in that way. So here it is; I hope it is an encouragement to you.
http://www.paulchappell.com/2013/07/31/5-ways-dads-can-redeem-the-time/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThePastorsPerspective+%28The+Pastor%27s+Perspective%29
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Parenting Seminar and Loving Jesus
We will soon be having our Parenting Seminar at Ballenger Creek Baptist Church. Pastor Curtis King (my dad) from Emmanuel Baptist Temple will be joining us to teach a session called "Raising 'G' Rated Children in an 'R' Rated World". I cannot possibly describe how excited I am about this event. By the way, if you are interested in coming, it will be on Friday, August 16th, at 6:30 pm at Arcadia. The address is: 4720 Buckeystown Pike, Frederick, MD 21704. Pastor Sharff and I planned this evening a little before my first daughter was born on May 27th. Before my daughter was born, I thought that this series would be helpful in getting young families interested in the church. The day my daughter was born I suddenly realized something; I realized that God had me, Curtis King, on this planet for several important reasons. Obviously, the most important reason is to glorify Him, seeing that this is the sole duty of man and that every action that I do should ultimately bring Him glory (1st Cor. 10:31) but as I stood there with my baby daughter in my arms I realized that God had me here so that I could raise my daughter to LOVE JESUS with all of her heart. In a few years, I will be so proud to hear people tell me that my daughter has a great singing voice, or my daughter is a sweet person, or my daughter is the most well behaved; but all of those things will pale in comparison to her loving Jesus. That is what I want more than anything else in the world! She doesn't have to be a pastor's wife someday, she doesn't have to be a church secretary or a sunday school teacher someday, she doesn't have to go to the mission field; what will bring me more joy than anything else in the world will be for her to love Jesus more than anything else in the world. I hope the theme song of her life is "I'd Rather Have Jesus": I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I'd rather be his than have riches untold, I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands, I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hands, Than to be a king of a vast domain, or be held in sins dread sway; I'd rather have Jesus than ANYTHING this world affords today!
Now, there are some reading this and saying to themselves, "Wow, talk about digressing, he started this by talking about his church's parenting seminar and now he is going off about his daughter." For those who take joy in critiquing amateur writers (which I think is a pretty weird pastime); I'd like you to know that I did that on purpose. See, I am so thankful for my upbringing. I understand that there are not a whole lot of people in the world that can say that, but I can. I believe that I had two incredible parents, maybe even the best. My parents made sure that my relationship with God was more important than anything else. Now, on August 16th, my dad will be coming to my church, and he will be teaching on parenting. You'd better believe that I will be front and center taking the best notes that I can! Why? because I am on a mission to raise my daughter in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
If you live in Frederick, MD and you want to raise your child to love the Lord, you absolutely must come to Ballenger Creek Baptist Church's Parenting Seminar. It will be an encouragement to you and I believe you will walk away from it with a great help in how to be a great, godly parent. I hope you come; our children are depending on it.
Now, there are some reading this and saying to themselves, "Wow, talk about digressing, he started this by talking about his church's parenting seminar and now he is going off about his daughter." For those who take joy in critiquing amateur writers (which I think is a pretty weird pastime); I'd like you to know that I did that on purpose. See, I am so thankful for my upbringing. I understand that there are not a whole lot of people in the world that can say that, but I can. I believe that I had two incredible parents, maybe even the best. My parents made sure that my relationship with God was more important than anything else. Now, on August 16th, my dad will be coming to my church, and he will be teaching on parenting. You'd better believe that I will be front and center taking the best notes that I can! Why? because I am on a mission to raise my daughter in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
If you live in Frederick, MD and you want to raise your child to love the Lord, you absolutely must come to Ballenger Creek Baptist Church's Parenting Seminar. It will be an encouragement to you and I believe you will walk away from it with a great help in how to be a great, godly parent. I hope you come; our children are depending on it.
Monday, July 22, 2013
3 Things That Still Work
Yesterday was our annual Chuck Wagon Sunday at Ballenger Creek Baptist Church. We had such a great time! The music, provided by the Marshall family from Littlestown, PA, was a great blessing. Pastor Sharff preached a great message from 1st John 1, and the food was absolutely delicious. We had several visitors, some from relationships with our church members, one from door-knocking. Most importantly of all, two people got saved yesterday! When all the festivities were over I brought everyone into the meeting room and gave a short devotional before everyone went home, I called it 3 Things That Still Work. Let me give you those three things:
1. Soul-winning Still Works
In the past 3 weeks over 1,000 doors in our community received door hangers with information about our church and an invitation to Chuck Wagon Sunday. As a church plant, we are still trying to get the word out about our church, nobody knows where we are! I was beside myself with joy yesterday when a man came up to me and said that he was invited through a door hanger! He also said, "My community was curious about the church because all of them received door hangers too, so they sent me as a guinea pig!" He really enjoyed himself and said that he will absolutely come back. To those who say that reaching people door-to-door no longer works, I will say to you, "Yes, it does!"
2. Bible Preaching Still Works
Yesterday we did have a lot of food and we did have great music, but when it was all said and done, the preaching of God's Word was the central part of the day. Those two people that got saved yesterday were not saved through the music or through the fried chicken, they were saved through God's Word, and God's Word was presented yesterday through preaching! I am so thankful that I am in a church that has not set aside Bible preaching for the rock music, or for "discussion time", or for any of these other silly ideas that take the place of Bible preaching. I understand that some preachers have used the pulpit to preach their opinions, badger and belittle people, or be just plain mean; ket me say that those things do not work. God will not bless the church or the preacher that uses the pulpit to his own advantage. But when the man of God gets into the pulpit and preaches "Thus saith the Lord," You'd better believe that God is going to bless!
3. Prayer Still Works
The other day as I was driving to the area that I was going to put up door hangers, the thought came to my mind that I was wasting my time. You might think this contradicts my first point, but it doesn't. You see, I can invite people door-to-door until my feet have blisters, we can prepare and have everything on the property and in the program perfect, we can have the best food and music, and we can be the most excited, but none of that will matter, it is all in vain, if the hand of God isn't in it. A church can't be built without God's working, and God will not work unless you ask for it. Prayer is so key in God's blessing, but it is often so overlooked! We practically kill ourselves doing the work of the ministry, but when we don't see any fruit for our labor we wonder why and very often the reason is, is that we didn't ask God to bless. I have heard my dad say very often, "Work like it all depends on you; but pray like it all depends on God." I cannot think of a truer statement for this topic. We cannot ever overlook the power of prayer.
So these are the three things that still work. I hope it is a blessing to somebody; and I hope it encourages someone to continue to serve God.
1. Soul-winning Still Works
In the past 3 weeks over 1,000 doors in our community received door hangers with information about our church and an invitation to Chuck Wagon Sunday. As a church plant, we are still trying to get the word out about our church, nobody knows where we are! I was beside myself with joy yesterday when a man came up to me and said that he was invited through a door hanger! He also said, "My community was curious about the church because all of them received door hangers too, so they sent me as a guinea pig!" He really enjoyed himself and said that he will absolutely come back. To those who say that reaching people door-to-door no longer works, I will say to you, "Yes, it does!"
2. Bible Preaching Still Works
Yesterday we did have a lot of food and we did have great music, but when it was all said and done, the preaching of God's Word was the central part of the day. Those two people that got saved yesterday were not saved through the music or through the fried chicken, they were saved through God's Word, and God's Word was presented yesterday through preaching! I am so thankful that I am in a church that has not set aside Bible preaching for the rock music, or for "discussion time", or for any of these other silly ideas that take the place of Bible preaching. I understand that some preachers have used the pulpit to preach their opinions, badger and belittle people, or be just plain mean; ket me say that those things do not work. God will not bless the church or the preacher that uses the pulpit to his own advantage. But when the man of God gets into the pulpit and preaches "Thus saith the Lord," You'd better believe that God is going to bless!
3. Prayer Still Works
The other day as I was driving to the area that I was going to put up door hangers, the thought came to my mind that I was wasting my time. You might think this contradicts my first point, but it doesn't. You see, I can invite people door-to-door until my feet have blisters, we can prepare and have everything on the property and in the program perfect, we can have the best food and music, and we can be the most excited, but none of that will matter, it is all in vain, if the hand of God isn't in it. A church can't be built without God's working, and God will not work unless you ask for it. Prayer is so key in God's blessing, but it is often so overlooked! We practically kill ourselves doing the work of the ministry, but when we don't see any fruit for our labor we wonder why and very often the reason is, is that we didn't ask God to bless. I have heard my dad say very often, "Work like it all depends on you; but pray like it all depends on God." I cannot think of a truer statement for this topic. We cannot ever overlook the power of prayer.
So these are the three things that still work. I hope it is a blessing to somebody; and I hope it encourages someone to continue to serve God.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
What Will Be Said of Your Life
Tonight I will be preaching from Genesis chapter 5 in Wednesday night Bible study at Ballenger Creek Baptist Church. Can I be honest about something? Genesis chapter 5 is a very boring chapter, it is all genealogies and the only great truths that you can find in it are concerning Methuselah's name (http://curtking.blogspot.com/2013/07/methuselah-and-what-he-teaches-us-about.html) and about Enoch. Aw, Enoch! The man, Enoch, is the exact opposite of boring; he takes this dry, kind of dull passage and turns it into something amazing. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now, I could easily talk about the miraculous events around the idea that Enoch "was not, for God took him," but I don't see how that would be as helpful to anyone as what I am about to say:
Let me ask you a very personal question. What do you want to be know for? What do you want people to say about you? While we are living on this planet, we do have ways of controlling people's perception of us; I understand that doing so does produce consequences at times, but we have all tried to direct people's thoughts in a certain way when it comes to their perception of us. Some of us try to come off as funny, some of us try to come off as serious, some of us try to come off as wise, some people even try to come off as idiotic! There will come a point in time where you can no longer control people's perception of you. The point that I am speaking of is death. You see, the moment you die, people will remember you for who you were and that memory will forever be locked into their minds. How does this apply to Enoch? In Genesis chapter 5, Enoch is mentioned in 6 verses, five of which are genealogies. He is also mentioned in Luke 3, which is a genealogy, in Hebrews 11:5, recounting the events of that one verse in Genesis, and lastly in Jude 14 speaking of Enoch's prophetic ministry. Ultimately, there are only three verses in the entire Bible that say anything about Enoch other than who his father was or who his son was. That isn't very much! But with only three verses completely dedicated to him, we still know one huge thing about Enoch: Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him. Enoch will forever go down in history as the man who walked with God.
Here is my challenge: Someday you will die. What will be said about your life? Will people say, "Boy, he sure was a jokester!" or "She was so good with children," or any thing similar to that? My hope is that when I die people will say, "He sure did love Jesus," or "His walk with the Lord challenged me to live for Jesus". Do you see the difference? We should all strive to walk with our Saviour so much that it just rubs off onto other people and they can't help but see it! If your friends and family can't tell that you've been walking with Jesus, then you may not have been walking with Jesus! Let's all make it our goal: Jesus will be all the world to me and my greatest goal in life is to walk with him. When we do this, I believe we will leave behind a godly legacy, just as Enoch did. I want to make it so that when my time on earth is done, people will say "Curtis walked with God."
Let me ask you a very personal question. What do you want to be know for? What do you want people to say about you? While we are living on this planet, we do have ways of controlling people's perception of us; I understand that doing so does produce consequences at times, but we have all tried to direct people's thoughts in a certain way when it comes to their perception of us. Some of us try to come off as funny, some of us try to come off as serious, some of us try to come off as wise, some people even try to come off as idiotic! There will come a point in time where you can no longer control people's perception of you. The point that I am speaking of is death. You see, the moment you die, people will remember you for who you were and that memory will forever be locked into their minds. How does this apply to Enoch? In Genesis chapter 5, Enoch is mentioned in 6 verses, five of which are genealogies. He is also mentioned in Luke 3, which is a genealogy, in Hebrews 11:5, recounting the events of that one verse in Genesis, and lastly in Jude 14 speaking of Enoch's prophetic ministry. Ultimately, there are only three verses in the entire Bible that say anything about Enoch other than who his father was or who his son was. That isn't very much! But with only three verses completely dedicated to him, we still know one huge thing about Enoch: Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him. Enoch will forever go down in history as the man who walked with God.
Here is my challenge: Someday you will die. What will be said about your life? Will people say, "Boy, he sure was a jokester!" or "She was so good with children," or any thing similar to that? My hope is that when I die people will say, "He sure did love Jesus," or "His walk with the Lord challenged me to live for Jesus". Do you see the difference? We should all strive to walk with our Saviour so much that it just rubs off onto other people and they can't help but see it! If your friends and family can't tell that you've been walking with Jesus, then you may not have been walking with Jesus! Let's all make it our goal: Jesus will be all the world to me and my greatest goal in life is to walk with him. When we do this, I believe we will leave behind a godly legacy, just as Enoch did. I want to make it so that when my time on earth is done, people will say "Curtis walked with God."
Monday, July 15, 2013
When God Is Trying to Make a Point
In these past few weeks we have had several guest preachers come to Ballenger Creek Baptist Church. Dr. Mark Rasmussen came with the West Coast Baptist College tour group this past Tuesday night and yesterday we had Dr. Mark Campbell from the National Center of Life and Liberty. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit moves! You see, God has directed the sermons in a very specific way in these past weeks. Pastor Sharff and I have already preached several messages on the subject of serving the Lord. Honestly, at one point we thought maybe we should preach on this subject a little less, because we thought we were hammering it too much, maybe the congregation was getting tired of hearing about serving. I can testify ,though, with all certainty, as I'm sure Pastor Sharff can as well, that we have preached what God has laid on our hearts and that the Holy Spirit has been in the messages. But then Tuesday came, Dr. Mark Rasmussen got into the pulpit and said, "I was going to preach about prayer, but what I feel like this church needs is a message on serving." He then gave a convicting message about being a disciple. Last night was the climax of these past few weeks, Dr. Campbell preached a message from John 2, entitled "But the Servants Knew", it was a wonderful message about being a servant for the Master, Jesus Christ. I sincerely believe that God is trying to speak to hearts, or at least one person.
I have a great fear when God works in this way. Unfortunately, it shouldn't take the same thing being preached many times for someone to "get" the message. This reminds me of the time I preached for Student Revival at West Coast Baptist College. I preached on how we are the bride of Christ and that since we are in that position we need to keep from sin, be consistent in our walk, and be set apart. When my message was over and I was on my way back to my dorm, a classmate came to me with tears in his eyes. He said to me, "That message was exactly what I needed, Thank you!" I don't know that classmates heart, but I do know that he had a great testimony and that he was seen as one of the more godly people at school. The thought crossed my mind, "My sermon wasn't to him; my sermon was for the rebel who needs to get his heart right." This is the struggle of being a preacher: We prepare sermons that are intended to bring people back to God, but the ones with the tender hearts are the ones that always respond. The only thing that I can do as a pastor is to pray that God will break hearts.
All this being said, let me show you three things that I plan on talking to the church about on Wednesday night. So many times we sit through a sermon and we don't get out of it what we should. It is never the Bible's fault, it is rarely the preacher's fault, but it is often the fault of the person sitting in the pew. Let's look at three things that we should do when sitting under Bible preaching:
1. Do not shift blame- If you are sitting in the sermon thinking "Boy, my wife needs to hear this sermon!" or "Man, I sure hope George is listening, he needs to get his heart right with God!", then you have the wrong attitude. Come to church expecting to get something for yourself.
2. Examine your heart- Ask God, "Lord, am I obeying you in this area as I should? How can I do better?" If we are sincere in our asking, I believe that God will honor it and show you how you can apply the sermon to your life.
3. Take notes- there are several reasons to take notes in church. First, it helps you to concentrate. Second, you can look at the message during the week and meditate on what you learned on Sunday, Third, and I believe the most important, so that you can look back on past messages and remember decisions that you made for God. I have a wide-margin Bible that my wife gave me for my birthday, I have taken many, many sermon notes in it. Every so often, I will look back at some of those messages and remember how they had touched my heart. Doing so renews my zeal to keep the decisions that I had made, it reminds me of commitments that I made to God.
I believe that we so often do not listen or even hear God when he is trying to make a point to us. I know that he is definitely trying to make a point at Ballenger Creek Baptist Church; to who? I really don't know; but through these past few weeks it has been made abundantly clear. I hope, I pray that if you are reading this you will take these three ideas to heart so that God doesn't have to keep trying to get a point across to you, but that your heart will be tender for whenever he wants to tell you something. Last thing, I promise, I once heard it said that whenever you sit through a sermon you either are drawn closer to God or you backslide further. I agree with this statement. Let me ask you as I close this post: Did you draw closer to God last time you were in church, or did you backslide and reject the preaching of God's Word? convicting thought.
I have a great fear when God works in this way. Unfortunately, it shouldn't take the same thing being preached many times for someone to "get" the message. This reminds me of the time I preached for Student Revival at West Coast Baptist College. I preached on how we are the bride of Christ and that since we are in that position we need to keep from sin, be consistent in our walk, and be set apart. When my message was over and I was on my way back to my dorm, a classmate came to me with tears in his eyes. He said to me, "That message was exactly what I needed, Thank you!" I don't know that classmates heart, but I do know that he had a great testimony and that he was seen as one of the more godly people at school. The thought crossed my mind, "My sermon wasn't to him; my sermon was for the rebel who needs to get his heart right." This is the struggle of being a preacher: We prepare sermons that are intended to bring people back to God, but the ones with the tender hearts are the ones that always respond. The only thing that I can do as a pastor is to pray that God will break hearts.
All this being said, let me show you three things that I plan on talking to the church about on Wednesday night. So many times we sit through a sermon and we don't get out of it what we should. It is never the Bible's fault, it is rarely the preacher's fault, but it is often the fault of the person sitting in the pew. Let's look at three things that we should do when sitting under Bible preaching:
1. Do not shift blame- If you are sitting in the sermon thinking "Boy, my wife needs to hear this sermon!" or "Man, I sure hope George is listening, he needs to get his heart right with God!", then you have the wrong attitude. Come to church expecting to get something for yourself.
2. Examine your heart- Ask God, "Lord, am I obeying you in this area as I should? How can I do better?" If we are sincere in our asking, I believe that God will honor it and show you how you can apply the sermon to your life.
3. Take notes- there are several reasons to take notes in church. First, it helps you to concentrate. Second, you can look at the message during the week and meditate on what you learned on Sunday, Third, and I believe the most important, so that you can look back on past messages and remember decisions that you made for God. I have a wide-margin Bible that my wife gave me for my birthday, I have taken many, many sermon notes in it. Every so often, I will look back at some of those messages and remember how they had touched my heart. Doing so renews my zeal to keep the decisions that I had made, it reminds me of commitments that I made to God.
I believe that we so often do not listen or even hear God when he is trying to make a point to us. I know that he is definitely trying to make a point at Ballenger Creek Baptist Church; to who? I really don't know; but through these past few weeks it has been made abundantly clear. I hope, I pray that if you are reading this you will take these three ideas to heart so that God doesn't have to keep trying to get a point across to you, but that your heart will be tender for whenever he wants to tell you something. Last thing, I promise, I once heard it said that whenever you sit through a sermon you either are drawn closer to God or you backslide further. I agree with this statement. Let me ask you as I close this post: Did you draw closer to God last time you were in church, or did you backslide and reject the preaching of God's Word? convicting thought.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Methuselah, and What He Teaches Us About God
You know who Methuselah is, right? He is the man to live the longest in all of recorded history. He lived to be 969 years old!
Wow, that was a short post, to bad there is nothing else interesting about Methuselah who only appears in 5 verses of the Bible...
But there is more; and this info is very interesting! Let me give you some facts about Methuselah and then tie them all up for a lesson about God. The name Methuselah means "his death shall bring judgement". Methuselah was the father of Lamech who was the father of Noah, making Methuselah Noah's grandfather. Now, we do not know about the spiritual walk of Methuselah, we would assume that he walked with God based on his family history (Enoch, his father, walked with God; Noah, his grandson, found grace in the eyes of the Lord). Lastly, according to mathematically minded people and scholars of the Bible (who are all a lot smarter than I am!) Methuselah died in the same year as the Flood! Some extra-biblical accounts even hold that Methuselah passed away only 7 days before the Flood.
There is something great that we can learn about God in this. You see, Enoch, Methuselah's father, walked with God. I sincerely believe that when Enoch named Methuselah, he did so because he was so in touch with God, he knew what to name him. Methuselah's life was a warning, and every time someone heard his name people were struck with the looming prophesy that judgement for their wicked behavior was coming. Pretty depressing. Here is where it gets good, Methuselah was the oldest man to ever live; 969 years! God didn't have to allow Methuselah to live as long as he did. God could have said, "Ok Methuselah, you're 500 years old now; your time is up." But God didn't. Why? I believe that God, in His great mercy, was keeping Methuselah alive as a warning to the people around him. God wanted these people to know "Judgement is coming; repent while you still can!"; and he extended that offer, not for 100, not for 500, but for over 900 years.
I serve a God who is rich in mercy! He hates evil, and must punish evil, but is so merciful and loving that he is willing to extend out his hand to us and say, "Repent of your sins, and we can have fellowship once again." Wow! We serve an amazing God.
Wow, that was a short post, to bad there is nothing else interesting about Methuselah who only appears in 5 verses of the Bible...
But there is more; and this info is very interesting! Let me give you some facts about Methuselah and then tie them all up for a lesson about God. The name Methuselah means "his death shall bring judgement". Methuselah was the father of Lamech who was the father of Noah, making Methuselah Noah's grandfather. Now, we do not know about the spiritual walk of Methuselah, we would assume that he walked with God based on his family history (Enoch, his father, walked with God; Noah, his grandson, found grace in the eyes of the Lord). Lastly, according to mathematically minded people and scholars of the Bible (who are all a lot smarter than I am!) Methuselah died in the same year as the Flood! Some extra-biblical accounts even hold that Methuselah passed away only 7 days before the Flood.
There is something great that we can learn about God in this. You see, Enoch, Methuselah's father, walked with God. I sincerely believe that when Enoch named Methuselah, he did so because he was so in touch with God, he knew what to name him. Methuselah's life was a warning, and every time someone heard his name people were struck with the looming prophesy that judgement for their wicked behavior was coming. Pretty depressing. Here is where it gets good, Methuselah was the oldest man to ever live; 969 years! God didn't have to allow Methuselah to live as long as he did. God could have said, "Ok Methuselah, you're 500 years old now; your time is up." But God didn't. Why? I believe that God, in His great mercy, was keeping Methuselah alive as a warning to the people around him. God wanted these people to know "Judgement is coming; repent while you still can!"; and he extended that offer, not for 100, not for 500, but for over 900 years.
I serve a God who is rich in mercy! He hates evil, and must punish evil, but is so merciful and loving that he is willing to extend out his hand to us and say, "Repent of your sins, and we can have fellowship once again." Wow! We serve an amazing God.
Monday, July 8, 2013
"Humble" Cars
Just to start off, I am against the Catholic Church. I believe that it's doctrines are not founded on Scripture, I believe that they hold tradition above their respect for God's Word, I believe that the Catholic Church is evil. But I cannot say that there are some small things that I agree with Catholics about. For instance, the Catholic stance on abortion has always been very strong. This is an area where I agree with Catholics. The Catholics have a new pope, Pope Francis. I believe he is unsaved, I know he is the leader of the greatest false religion in the world, but I am very impressed by his sincerity. I truly wish that preachers in my circles had the same sincerity that Pope Francis has. Yesterday I saw an article that I would like to share with you: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/08/pope-francis-priests--nuns-should-drive-humble-cars_n_3560058.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
I applaud the Pope for saying this. I think so often those of us in the ministry lose our focus. We have all seen the preachers who drive a brand new Rolls Royce, wear the brand new, super expensive tux to church, and building themselves beautiful, ornate offices simply to stroke their ego's. These things ought not so to be. Ministry is all about people. My purpose in the ministry is to snatch as many people out of the fires of Hell as I possibly can. Unfortunately, when preachers lose their focus they isolate themselves from the people they are trying to reach. Here is a thought, a preacher's standard of living should never be much higher than the people in his congregation. He needs to be able to relate to his people in this way. I once heard of an evangelist who made fun of people who shop at Walmart; who doesn't shop at Walmart?!? This evangelist effectively isolated himself from his audience in one simple sentence that he probably said for a cheap laugh. On the flip side, I do not think a pastor's standard of living should be grossly lower than that of his congregation.
What does it all come down to? Humility. God has not called me into the ministry to lord it over my congregation. The ministry is not a "get rich quick" scheme. The ministry isn't about how many Bibles I can sign in my lifetime or how many people can say that I'm there favorite preacher. The ministry is first about JESUS and secondly about OTHERS. Let us not forget that.
If you are in the ministry, please take a second, right now, to evaluate why you do what you do. So many of us have become so irrelevant to our people, and it's not because God's Word is irrelevant; it is because we have made ourselves irrelevant by our lifestyle.
I applaud the Pope for saying this. I think so often those of us in the ministry lose our focus. We have all seen the preachers who drive a brand new Rolls Royce, wear the brand new, super expensive tux to church, and building themselves beautiful, ornate offices simply to stroke their ego's. These things ought not so to be. Ministry is all about people. My purpose in the ministry is to snatch as many people out of the fires of Hell as I possibly can. Unfortunately, when preachers lose their focus they isolate themselves from the people they are trying to reach. Here is a thought, a preacher's standard of living should never be much higher than the people in his congregation. He needs to be able to relate to his people in this way. I once heard of an evangelist who made fun of people who shop at Walmart; who doesn't shop at Walmart?!? This evangelist effectively isolated himself from his audience in one simple sentence that he probably said for a cheap laugh. On the flip side, I do not think a pastor's standard of living should be grossly lower than that of his congregation.
What does it all come down to? Humility. God has not called me into the ministry to lord it over my congregation. The ministry is not a "get rich quick" scheme. The ministry isn't about how many Bibles I can sign in my lifetime or how many people can say that I'm there favorite preacher. The ministry is first about JESUS and secondly about OTHERS. Let us not forget that.
If you are in the ministry, please take a second, right now, to evaluate why you do what you do. So many of us have become so irrelevant to our people, and it's not because God's Word is irrelevant; it is because we have made ourselves irrelevant by our lifestyle.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Why Do We Expect the World To Act Like Christians When Christians Don't Act Like Christians?
We live in crazy times. It seems like with every passing day the world is getting worse and worse. Some Christians have started to cry foul. They have taken to Facebook to complain about the state of our nation or they will sit around their dinner table and discuss how terrible things have gotten. Some have turned to political activism and picket city hall or attend meetings. I am in no way criticizing political activism, but I have seen, especially lately, that some Christians have taken to political activism but have neglected their duty as a Christian. I hear complaints all the time about how our nation is going morally down the tubes, but the same people that complain are the ones that do not go to church. I said in my sermon yesterday, "If you do not take the time to go to church, then you have no business to complain about how our nation is becoming." Why? Because a strong nation is built by strong churches. Why does it seem like Christians are losing the battle in our country? Because we are not willing to act like Christians. In my independent Baptist circles there is so much infighting, so much hatred, so little reaching out that it is no wonder that the world doesn't take us seriously. What am I trying to say? As Christians, we need to take a good long look at ourselves and figure out what we are doing wrong. I believe that when we are honest with ourselves we will see that our biggest problem is that we are not as consecrated to God as we should be. We haven't given ourselves wholly to God, and now we are seeing the consequences of the world calling us out on it. Why is the United States failing morally? The Bible says that it is because of us, "If MY people, which are called by MY name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." This nation is not being ruined by the homosexual crowd, the abortion crowd, or the evolution crowd; it is being ruined by Christians who are not willing to humble themselves, pray, and turn from their wicked ways. How sobering! So let me ask you, are you being part of the problem or part of the solution? If we had churches and Christians who were completely given to God, I believe we can see a revival the likes of which we have never seen before. Pray for revival! Start by praying for yourself.
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