My Hopes/Plans for New Believers

Since I came to Cypress Lake Baptist Church last September we've been working hard to determine the most important areas that needed to be adjusted, changed, shut down, or started up in order to fulfill our mission statement: Cypress Lake Baptist Church exists, by the grace of God, to make disciples of all nations, through treasuring Christ above all things, for the glory of God at all times. We have made some small changes, and I've written up a lot that will hopefully help us as we continue to move forward.

With that being said, there have been two areas I have hit extremely hard since I arrived. If we are going to make disciples of all nations then we are going to have to learn what it means to live as children of God who've been called to be faithful witnesses where we live and, as He allows, to the ends of the earth. I want to see our church devoted to evangelism and missions. With that being said, I do not simply want to be a church who just leads people to pray a prayer or something else like that. Rather, the other area I've pushed is the need to spend time discipling others. After all, the Bibles seems to be pretty clear on the need to make disciples (I constantly say we want to see people become devoted followers of Jesus).

I have recently thought of a way to offer some beneficial ways for new believers (as we commit to evangelism I truly hope we see many from Fort Myers and SWFL repent of their sins and trust in Christ) to grow in some basic disciplines and knowledge of what it means to follow Christ and how the church is vital in that walk. I've broken this down into two parts or phases. Here are my initial thoughts. If you have any suggestions, I warmly welcome them.

Phase 1: A 4 Week New Believer's Class

Week 1: Focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to make sure our people know what they believe and why they believe it.

Weeks 2-3: Focus on some basic disciplines to help them grow in Christ. Examples would be Scripture reading, prayer, church involvement, and evangelism.

Week 4: Focus on the church ordinances (Baptism and the Lord's Supper)


Phase 2: Follow Up with a More Mature Believer

My hope is that I would not be the one always working with new believers. It's not that I don't want to, but it seems better and healthier to have more of our people discipling others. Therefore, once the class is complete I would encourage all who are truly pursuing Christ to get with a present member and walk through a time together where they meet regularly. Right now I'm thinking it would be best to have them work through The Walk: Steps for New and Renewed Followers of Christ by Stephen Smallman.

Sunday Sermon

This past Sunday morning's sermon is available. I didn't record the evening sermon because it was more of a heart to heart with my church family. Hope you'll be drawn to Christ through this:

Hearing, Responding, and Bearing Fruit - Part 3

I'm Home from Haiti

I came home from Haiti today. I will say a couple of quick things, but plan to take some time to process it all and give a more detailed update soon.

First of all, I was amazed at the number of churches in Haiti. I pray the gospel will shine bright in the midst of darkness.

Secondly, I don't think the pictures on TV or the Internet do justice to the damage. Maybe being in the atmosphere itself brings it out, but I was shocked at how many buildings were destroyed. It seemed like we drove for miles and miles and saw building after building after building destroyed. The work needed to repair Haiti (even though many of us do not understand how the living there was before) will go for a long time. It will take many hours, days, weeks, months, and probably years to complete the task. I pray we will not forget Haiti as the months go by.

Again, I will update more later. I'm exhausted. I'm drained spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally tonight. However, God was quite gracious through our time there. I was amazed at how He used us to offer hope in the midst of tragedy. Lord, may your gospel prevail!

It IS Goodnews!

When I was preparing my sermon for this past Sunday it dawned on me that we often treat the gospel as if it were bad news. Let me explain. It may just be me (though I doubt that), but often times when I have a chance to share the gospel with someone I have fear start to rise up within me. I wonder if it's because I'm not convinced that it's GOOD news. Maybe I'm convinced that it's good news, but I feel they may not agree. To put it another way, it really doesn't seem like good news when people do not realize the depth of their own depravity and the fact that Hell is a real place. If people really knew they were lost, without Christ, and facing the just judgment of God, then maybe they would see it as good news. But many people do not believe that and, I'm convinced, many of us who belong to Christ haven't really thought it through either. After all, if we are really not all that bad, and we have nothing to worry about for eternity, and we can enjoy our lives while on this earth indulging in the things of this world, then how can we say it's good news? Christian, we must realize it is good news. We must be bold in its proclamation because without this news no one will ever be saved. Christ dying in place of sinners and purchasing a people for Himself is very, very good news. I pray that we (definitely including myself) will not treat the gospel of grace found in Christ alone as bad news that we're afraid to share with others, but rather we'll see it as the greatest news one will ever hear. May we proclaim it boldly and humbly that Christ may be exalted as He draws people unto Himself.

The Harvest is Plentiful...

God-willing, this Sunday I will conclude our series entitled "Do We Care?" at First Baptist. My first sermon was about ministry to one another. My second sermon was about ministry to our community. This final sermon is about ministry to our world. It will have an international emphasis, but it's not limited to that. I want FBC to consider the numerous ways we can minister to those local and abroad. The several commissioning passages from Jesus make it abundantly clear that it is not an either/or mentality about who we minister to. We do not minister to those either where we are or across the nations. It is a both/and commission.

This coming Sunday (the following if we get as much snow as they're calling for) I plan to preach from Matthew 9:35-38. This is a very familiar passage for many people, especially verses 37-38, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." There are several things to pull out from this text. For instance, we see the need to pray earnestly. It is a reliance upon God to move and to raise up people to go into His harvest. You can also see that God intends to use people to accomplish this. Those are both fantastic truths from this text. And there are others.

As I am wrapping up my preparation for this sermon, however, I thought about a precious truth of encouragement for this. I asked myself the question, "Why is the harvest plentiful?" Here is the answer I believe the Scriptures give in Revelation 5:9, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." The reason the harvest is plentiful is because Jesus, through His death on the cross, through His shed blood, through His wrath bearing sacrifice, purchased a people for God. He has guaranteed through His death that people from every tribe and language and people and nation will respond in faith.

I hope to say far more than this on Sunday, but this is a precious truth. The mission is guaranteed to succeed because Christ has accomplished the success through His own blood.

Encouraged to Share the Gospel

A few weeks ago Justin Childers pointed out that a friend of his started a new blog talking about his gospel encounters. Thus far I have been very encouraged with this blog. It's one that has challenged me and even, I think, given me more awareness and boldness to share the gospel. I encourage you to check out the blog as well.