Prepared to Worship

I feel like starting every post with "It's been a while...", but I do not apologize for my span between posts anymore.  I love the ministry; and quite frankly, I will do ministry over blogging any day.  As some may argue that "blogging is ministry", I would agree that by sharing a Christ-centered, Gospel-focused voice - by any means, anytime - can be a ministry.  However, when needs arise or opportunities to meet with someone personally are given, I will choose a personal interaction every time.

But with that said, as a minister the Sunday morning worship hour does not allow enough time to paint a Gospel picture for all of life.  Although God is not confined to time, we are.  One way a minister is able to convey more information when time does not allow is to blog.  But then, who has time to regularly blog?  Hopefully time will allow me the opportunity to blog more in the near future - since I have now graduated seminary :-) - and share a Christ-centered, Gospel-focused view on current events.

So, now that I have your attention, what would I like to share with you.  Worship has been a big topic for many years in our church.  We previously looked at worship during a fourteen week sermon series, and in this blog I would like to share some reminders of the importance and the ways to prepare ourselves for worship before arriving at corporate worship.

I recently read a blog post that reminded me of our need to prepare for worship.  And during the sermon series we looked at preparing ourselves for worship by saying, "We need to spend a personal time with God on Sunday, just like any other day.  It's not that the worship service can't lead you into worship, but the point of personal time with God is that you get alone time with God.  That should excite the soul every day!"

One of the other things that was discussed during our previous sermon series was how the the family - before leaving the house for worship - should pray together, and ask God to speak to them through Sunday school, fellowship, song, and worship.

If you know me at all, you know that there was much more to be said on the subject, but the point is that we need to prepare ourselves for worship prior to gathering corporately.  I recommend the blog post (the highlighted "blog post" above) I had mentioned, while encouraging everyone to wake up a few minutes earlier and begin preparing themselves to gather with other believers in worshiping before the throne of God.

Vision, 2017 and Beyond

Well, it's officially 2017 now.  While thinking over this past Sunday's "vision" sermon and reflecting on the things I wished to have said, please know; as with all sermons, time does not allow for everything to be conveyed.  I'm sure that those in attendance appreciate my being conscious of time, so I will share with you in this blog a little more of what God had pressed upon me from last week.

During this Sunday's "vision" sermon, we mentioned that the mission, vision, and purpose for Campbellsburg Baptist Church has not changed.  The Mission and Ministry handbook that was published and distributed last year requires no updates or revisions for our continued ministry.  But this Sunday we did take a close look at the individual Christian that makes up CBC.  In Ephesians, we noticed Paul giving the church a hope in their "oneness" with the Father and how we are called to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.  This manner demands that we first consider our relationship with God.

In addition to last week’s sermon, let me say that we must take serious our opportunity and our calling to make much of God in our daily lives.  But for the believer, it all starts with our desire to know God better and to accomplish this, it requires that we study and spend personal time with Him on a regular basis.  With life being so full of distractions, it is totally understandable how one can put-off squeezing out more time for anything.  But if someone has been called into a relationship with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, I can't imagine anything replacing the love, forgiveness, and promise that was received during the conversion.

I am not perfect, and yes, there are times that I to put-off spending time alone with God because of my own personal desires; however, when I do put-off that time with God, I miss it.  I miss spending time with God and listening to Him speak to me through His Word.  I miss praying to God and then later seeing Him answer my prayers.

Let me challenge each of you to make the commitment this year to sacrifice your personal desires in order to make sure you spend time with God on a daily basis.  If you desire to study in groups, I will connect you with others that share your desires.  I also commit to meeting with you to study together until you feel more comfortable studying on your own.

Having already stated that there is more to be said than time will allow each Sunday; well, so does God have so much to say that an entire lifetime will allow.  Let me ask you to reflect on this; there is so much to know about God, that He gives us an eternity to learn it.  Will you put forth the time to learn what God is teaching us right now?

Outward, Missional, or Gone Fishing...It's all the same

The link below is a fabulous blog that really speaks of my heart as well.  Having asked numerous times, "Are we fishers of men or keeper's of the aquarium", I encourage you to follow the below link and prayerfully consider the possible way that God is calling you into the ministry at Campbellsburg Baptist Church.

http://www.kyandbeyond.org/is-yours-an-innie-or-an-outie/

Transgender Today

In light of the latest news regarding the Obama administrations transgender policy, there is a clear confusion regarding this issue by many that I have spoken to.  Many concerns and confusions are centered around the legality of this policy and the magnitude in which this moral shift will eventually invade every home.  Out of love and grace, let me say that the purpose of this post is not to speak Biblically to the issue; but rather, to provide information to the reader by clarifying the many terms of the transgender movement, while identifying the legal rights that are being infringed upon by our government.

For now, I am going to direct you to a post that accomplishes the above for us.  Please click here to read the post by the ERLC of the SBC.  This post provides clear definition of what is happening.  Although this post contains occasional legal jargon that can be a bit confusing at times, all in all, the ERLC provides a simplistic understanding regarding the policy that many seem to be concerned with.

In future posts we will decipher what the churches responsibility is concerning the issue of transgender, while continuing to be salt and light within our home, church, community, and schools.

Hospitality

Hospitality has become a lost art.  There are many reasons for which we could lay blame for this, but fellowshipping with our neighbors has become almost non-existent.  A big reason for no longer opening our homes to our neighbor is that society rarely views the world as God would have us to.  As this paragraph may sting a little, I urge you to continue reading.

The Bible has much to say regarding hospitality; in fact, God goes so far as to write entire books within the Bible on the subject.  Hospitality is one way in which the believer lives out the Gospel, as well as being on mission in our community.

As I could spend the time - and by not doing so is not belittling the importance – in showing how Scripture instructs hospitality, I feel led to discuss a few ways that we can be more hospitable.  And this fits into the mission of our church for 2016.

At the beginning of 2016, we discussed the mission and ministry of Campbellsburg Baptist Church.  In doing so, through the means of our newsletter, we have challenged each member to be on mission in various ways; such as prayer walks throughout our community, and actively inviting people to church.  While continuing to challenge our church with this mission, it is necessary to stress the importance of engaging our community.  And in order to invest in people’s lives with the Gospel, there are a few things to consider.

First, we must have a love and concern for our neighbor.  Without the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ being the fuel of our souls, it is difficult to see the world as God desires.

Second, we must be intentional, an intentionality that is driven by the passion of Jesus Christ.  A passion that manifests itself through sacrificing time and plans in order to be available to our community.  Intentionality is a necessity in developing a routine of being hospitable, because there is always going to be something else that we could be doing.

Thirdly, a sincere prayer life.  Prayers that petition God to send the right people into our lives in which we can invest the Gospel through hospitality.

As there will be more to come about being hospitable in future blogs, let me conclude by urging everyone to view this podcast.  It is about 15 minutes and very powerful.  Testimonies like this podcast should motivate us in being intentional and prayerful about what the Gospel means to us and how we can be Christ-centered, Gospel-driven believers in our communities.

F.L.E.E

I do a lot of reading on a daily basis and a portion of this reading contains selected blogs.  Each blog has a lot of helpful information that I internalize and later partially reproduce through a sermon, a teaching moment, or program/event.  With only the inerrant Word of God being infallible, when reading extra-biblical information we use the parts that pertain to our lives and ministries.  Enjoying most things I read, I rarely find an  article that is complete.  Well this morning I found one that I would like to share.  The below link leads you to a blog that I would encourage everyone to check out regularly.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/f-l-e-e-a-strategy-for-pursuing-sexual-purity

Adoration

In my last post I shared how God had guided me into preparing a vision and purpose for the ministry of Campbellsburg Baptist Church.  Early one morning in June God awakened me by flooding my soul with vision, and the result is captured in a sixteen page document entitled Mission and Ministry Handbook.

Also in the last post, I stated how I would provide updates that show the results from sharing this document.  On Sunday January 10th, we shared our heart of ministry with the church and made the Mission and Ministry Handbook available.  As a result, there have been several people to provide positive feedback, along with many questions.  The many questions were expected because of the content, but they are a huge blessing because it means that people are actually reading it.

But the first result that I would like to share from this experience is what God has accomplished in me.  Having prayed over this document and the presentation of it, this type of prayer has depend my adoration of God.  As I would like to use the word reminded instead of deepened, I feel that reminded would be boasting of my spirituality.

God has appeared more beautiful, glorious, and majestic to me.  When thinking of God; His character, His patience, His love, His Immanence, His Transcendence, and on we could go, I am reminded that He alone is worthy of worship.

If nothing else results from this effort of revitalizing ministry at Campbellsburg Baptist Church, then I feel that my deeper appreciation, gratitude and worship of God is sufficient.