New Blog for CLBC

This blog is my personal blog. It may or may not reflect things about my church. With that being said, I have started a new blog for Cypress Lake Baptist Church. You can find it here.

A Book Recommendation

A while back I posted about a good friend of mine, Wil Owens. I have known Wil for many years now and can say with confidence that he's a man who pursues Christ and wants to see Christ's name exalted among the nations. You can check his blog out here. Also, I am very glad to point you to a book of his that has just been published. Wil is a great expositor of the Word, and this book is a collection of his sermons through Philippians. I haven't read it, but I've read a couple of other books by him, I've heard him preach many times (we've been overseas together and served together for 18 months with a church plant), so I can have confidence in recommending this book to you.

Minister of Mercy: The New Testament Deacon

This Sunday I plan to preach on the office of deacon in both my morning and evening sermons. The morning sermon will be out of Acts 6:1-7 while the evening sermon will actually be a call for all of us to follow Christ's example of serving others by laying down HIs life in Mark 10:42-45. We are coming up on recommending new deacons for the church, and I have this opportunity to look at this office from a Biblical perspective.

Having just arrived at Cypress Lake, I must say I already have enjoyed getting to know my deacons and spending time with them. I look forward to growing together with them for many years to come. I alos want to make sure I am helping to prepare our deacons to honor Christ with this office. I just ordered all of us the book, Minister of Mercy: The New Testament Deacon by Alexander Strauch. I've heard good things about this book, but I've never read it. I hope to learn much, and to be challenged with the deacons to serve our church well.

Grieving the Loss; Rejoicing in Christ

As I type this, we have just recently received good news, and then bad news. The good news came last Thursday night. My wife took a test at home that told us we were having our third child. This was a complete surprise to us. We hadn't planned on having a child at this time. However, we were overjoyed that the Lord had seen fit to grant us this blessing. However, on Monday morning that good news turned bad as I took my wife to the ER. We were soon told what we already knew, which was that the baby was gone. There were many emotions going on through that time, but I want to get to that in just a moment.

In the meantime, between the good and the bad news, I began preaching through the book of James with my church. The first sermon was James 1:1-4. In that text James says something that sounds good, but is very difficult to do. In verse two he writes, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds." I would love to say that when I meet trials of various kinds (some simple, everyday trials, others extremely difficult trials) that I do so joyfully. That is simply not the case often times. As I preached this sermon, however, I stated that trials were coming and we ought to prepare now for how we will face those trials. Little did I know that we were going to face a very difficult trial in less than 24 hours.

As I preached this text, I found myself thinking deeply about how I reacted through a tough trial a few years ago. It wasn't the loss of a baby, but it was still difficult. When I look back I do not think I counted it as joy. I do not think I was able to see the hand of God working through that trial at the time. I had friends who tried to point me to Christ through that time, but I do not think I listened well at all. This time I wanted it to be different. Based on my evening sermon from James 1:5-8 I prayed that the Lord would grant me wisdom through the trials that were to come. I believe He answered that prayer. However, back to the morning text, I stated in my sermon that the way in which we may face trials with joy is based on verses 3-4, "for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Perhaps my main emphasis from this was that God is not unaware of your trials. He is very aware and is still true to His promise that He will never leave nor forsake those who are His. And not only is He aware, and with those who are His, but He means to accomplish something through each and every trial. He means to complete something in our lives that will enable us to be more like Christ. He means to draw us to Him through the trials. So I stated that the only way we can face trials of various kinds joyfully is to know and truly believe that He is accomplishing something for our good and for His glory through every trial.

When 3:00 Monday morning came around, I was about to take my wife to the ER. I was afraid for my wife. I was afraid for my baby. But at the same time the Holy Spirit was gracious and brought to my mind what I had just preached the day before. I began immediately meditating on this text and the truth of what was said. When the news came that we had lost the baby, I began to grieve. I never knew what thousands of women/couples had gone through with a miscarriage. It's not easy. It's heart breaking. It's devastating. However, God is faithful.

Through the trial of that morning, and the few days that have come since, I have found myself at times crying in grief over the loss of my child. I have found myself extremely concerned for the health of my wife. But I've also been overjoyed in the midst of grief that the Lord has been with us. He is accomplishing something great through this trial. He is drawing my wife and I ever closer to Him. He is truly good and turns all things for good for those who belong to Him. I think, perhaps, I've finally felt what Paul did when he wrote that he was sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. We grieve the loss, but we rejoice in Christ.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. The Lord is faithful and good.

Update Overdue

It has been a long time since I last updated this blog. I thought it would be appropriate to let you know that it's not because I do not desire to blog, but because I have been unbelievably busy over the past several weeks. Let me give you a quick snap shot at what I mean:

Tuesday Evening, Aug. 31 - Loaded up the U-Haul (after the 'professional' moving company failed to show up for the second day!), with help from several friends in Pulaski, VA. Left our house around 9:30 PM and drove to Matthews, NC to stay one night with my family.

Wednesday, Sept. 1 - Drove the U-Haul 700 miles, pulling my car behind on a dolly, having a tire blow out on the dolly, and finally arriving in Fort Myers, FL around 11:15 PM.

Thursday-Friday, Sept. 2-3 - Drove around with my chairman of deacons looking for a house all over Cape Coral and Fort Myers.

Saturday, Sept. 4 - With the help of new friends we unloaded the U-Haul and put everything in storage.

Sunday, Sept. 5 - I had the great honor of preaching at my new church, Cypress Lake Baptist Church.

Monday, Sept. 6 - Went to the airport to fly to NC to see/pick-up my family. We had a great day visiting my grandmother and my mom's side of the family. However, my 5 year old daughter fell off a foot stool on the front porch at my grandmother's house and broke both bones in her arm just above her wrist.

Tuesday, Sept. 7 - A nice, relaxing day! That evening Abigail and I went to one of my closest friend's house for a cookout.

Wednesday, Sept. 8 - We had a great time in Pageland, SC visiting my father's side of the family.

Thursday, Sept. 9 - Had family time with Shannon's side of the family, and again with my mom's side of our family.

Friday, Sept. 10 - Loaded up the van and drove to Rocky Mount, NC where we spent the weekend seeing several friends.

Sunday, Sept. 12 - I had the opportunity to preach for my good friend Justin Nale at Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, NC. Afterwards we had a cookout on the church grounds with many of the local pastors and their families. These men are dear friends of mine. It was a great blessing. Then we left, and began driving south to FL.

Monday, Sept. 13 - Drove the final 450 miles to Fort Myers. EXHAUSTED!

From that point until today we have been busy looking at houses, setting up my office, trying to settle in, and getting to know the people of Cypress Lake. When (If?) I get caught up, I will blog again. Thanks for your faithfulness in reading my blog.

Discipleship Materials?

As I am about to shift to a new church, I want to make sure I take seriously the call to disciple God's people. There are a couple of books/curriculims that I am looking over and reading through. One book I'm presently reading is The Walk. This has already been a great read and one I plan to implement as I work to disciple others. Another resource I plan to look over is Design for Discipleship.

What other resources have you used or would you recommend?

Your Best Life Now?

I don't think Jesus would agree with this easy-believism that leads to having an easy (best) life today:

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Matthew 16:24-28 - I plan to preach this text this coming Sunday.

My Hectic Schedule

Over the next several weeks I have a crazy schedule. I would greatly appreciate your prayers.

This is my final week as the pastor of FBC. So this week I'm packing and trying to be faithful in shepherding our people here.

On Monday, August 30, the moving company will load our things (God-willing) and I'll drive down to Fort Myers, FL to unload and look for a house. While there I will also begin setting up my office and will preach both AM and PM on Sunday, September 5, at my new church, Cypress Lake Baptist Church.

On Monday, September 6 I will fly from Fort Myers to Charlotte, NC to be with my family. For several days I'll hang with my side and my wife's side of the family. We are greatly looking forward to this time!

On Friday, September 10, we plan to leave the Matthews area and drive to Rocky Mount, NC where we hope to see some friends. I am also going to preach the AM service at Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church for my friend, Justin Nale.

After the service on Sunday, September 12, my family and I will drive back down to Ft. Myers where we hope to settle in and start building relationships with our brothers and sisters there.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

The Pursuit of Holiness

As I am packing up my books in my office, I started to thumb through The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. This is a fantastic book. I highly recommend this book for every believer. As I was thumbing through it, I came across this quote on pages 97-98:

Discipline toward holiness begins then with the Scriptures--with a disciplined plan for regular intake of the Scriptures and a disciplined plan for applying them to our daily lives....So we see that we must discipline our lives for a regular healthy diet of the Word of God. We need a planned time each day for reading or studying the Bible. Every Christian who makes progress in holiness is a person who has disciplined his life so that he spends regular time in the Bible. There simply is no other way.

Wouldn't this simple plan help us be better disciples? Wouldn't it help us to make better disciples?

Making Disciples takes Time

Many people are familiar with the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28. Many are also aware that the main verb in that text is to make disciples. However, where should we look to see this actually take place? I think we could say it's best to look at the model of Jesus. This again is nothing new, but I think it's often times talked about more than it's actually put into practice. Jesus spent time, lots of time, with his disciples. He was teaching them, leading them, loving them, and training them. After spending three years with His disciples He then commissioned them to go and make disciples of all nations.

What does this mean for us today? I know in my own life I have not been very diligent at making disciples. I have not put the time into people as I ought. However, while I've been the pastor of FBC I did something different than I had at any other church. In the Spring of this year I began meeting with a group of 4 others every Thursday morning. We read a book together and talked about what it meant to follow Christ as we shared life together. I didn't think much about 'making disciples' as we had our breakfast, but I can honestly look back and see a couple of positive outcomes to our meetings.

The first thing I noticed is the fact that I had bonded with those 4 (sometimes up to 6) far more than others. It's not that I didn't love the others in my church, I did (do!), but these few began to grow in grace together with me. As I am preparing to leave the church for a new ministry, I can see more fruit in them than I can in others. It seems that our learning together about the implications of the gospel actually helped create a community of faith!

The second thing I noticed is how easy it was to spend the time with them. This was not difficult. I enjoyed our time together. I looked forward to getting up on Thursday mornings and meeting with them. I couldn't wait to hear their thoughts and interact with them through this book. By the end of the meetings I rejoiced to hear some of the suggestions that they were making about putting into practice the things we were learning. They were truly beginning to follow after Christ.

The bottom line of this is the fact that I had only just started. There is much more work to be accomplished. We are called to make disciples. We are called to invest our lives in the lives of others that they may become devoted followers of Christ (and that they will be able to lead others as well). We are called to do exactly what Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, "what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

Making disciples doesn't come over night. Making disciples takes time.