Survivor

I'm watching the new Survivor program. It's probably not the most spiritual thing for a pastor to do, but it is an amazing study of human behavior. On one hand, each player is playing for himself/herself, trying to win the million dollar prize. On the other hand, no one can make it through the game alone. They have to work together and that requires a certain level of trust. But how do trust someone when you know that in the end, they want to be the last player standing?

I think the show is a microcosm of the world at large. At some level, everyone lives for themselves. We are born with a mechanism for self preservation. But we also realize that we cannot make it through this life without the aid of others. From the beginning we had to depend on others (parent's to feed us and clothe us, teachers to educate us, etc). Without the help of others, we would not have made it past day one. Yet as we grow, we become more self-sufficient and independent. Some people reach a point of believing they don't need anyone else, and they may isolate themselves or withdraw from others.

I was reminded of that this week. I was asked to speak at a funeral for a person who had withdrawn from the community at large. He had never married. His parent's were deceased and his siblings had nothing to do with him. He spent the last days of his life in a nursing home with only 1-2 friends who occasionally visited him. In the end, only 10 people attended his funeral. He had no church family or circle of family and friends to mourn his passing or celebrate his life. He did things his way, but in the end, did he win the game of life? I don't know his spiritual condition. From what I could gather he didn't show any evidence of a relationship with God. But even from a secular standpoint, I don't think I could say he succeeded at the game of life. You can't win by living only for yourself.

I discovered today that my blog is being posted on a local business man's website. I was a little embarrassed that I hadn't posted since Thanksgiving. I'll try to do better. You can check out the website at www.jeffersoncountytoday.org.

No church services at Magna View tonight. This has been an unusual winter for snow here in East Tennessee. I love it; I like the cold weather and of course the snow. I heard Mike Huckaby's "The Huckaby Report" yesterday, and he said that when Washington, DC digs out from the blizzard, Pres. Obama plans to develop a cabinet level bureaucracy to deal with issues related to Global Warming. I love it.

I'm not too keen on the global warming theory. God is in control of the climate, just like everything else!

With Thanksgiving

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Psalms 100:4-5 (NKJV)

Praise the Lord for His blessings. He is good and His mercy is eternal! Praise the Lord for the blessings we received over the weekend. We collected 150 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, more than we have ever collected before. Those boxes will go into all the world and be used of God to bless children whom He loves. Thank you for your generosity.

There was a sweet Spirit in our worship service yesterday. The singing was wonderful. A special thanks to the East TN Dance Academy and our own Hannah Jackson for their presentation yesterday morning. And we welcome the Rice family into our family of faith: Ryan, Karen, Amaris and Elise.

There was plenty of delicious food at our Thanksgiving meal last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much turkey in my life. We had to pull out some extra tables and chairs for our crowd as well. Thank you for sharing your Thanksgiving thoughts with your church family.

As you can see, my “cup runneth over” this morning. I’m thankful for a great God, a wonderful family of faith, and a hopeful future (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Remember that our schedule has changed this week because of the holiday. There is a community Thanksgiving service tomorrow night at Pleasant View Baptist Church on Lakeshore Rd in Talbott. This is a great opportunity to worship with brothers and sisters from other churches and denominations.

There are no activities at the church this coming Wednesday, and the church office will be closed Thursday and Friday.

Please remember to bring 5 lb bags of flour for Christmas in Jefferson County. So far we have collected about 35 bags toward our goal of 100. The deadline is Dec. 6th.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

‘May the LORD bless you and protect you.25 May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.26 May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’ Num 6:24-26 (NLT)

APPLES OF GOLD

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
Prov 25:11 (NKJV)

Last Friday I attended the inauguration service for Dr. J. Randall O’Brien, the twenty-second president of Carson-Newman College. U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander was the keynote speaker for the service. He shared some of his experiences with famed author Alex Haley. Haley had taught him something very important, as he was always saying, “Find the good and praise it.” It was Haley’s philosophy of life. What a great way to live.

There is a lot of good at Magna View Baptist Church that we can praise. It was wonderful to be home and in the pulpit yesterday. There was a sweet spirit in our worship service. And our hayride/cook-out last night was a blessing; our thanks to Richard and Barbara Byrd for the hay wagon, and everyone who helped set up and clean up. Last night was fun.

Saturday night was fun as well… a little damp, but fun. Our hand counter registered 1700 people coming through our Trunk or Treat. So many people who came through thanked us for providing a safe place for their kids to come and celebrate the Halloween holiday.

In the vein of “finding the good and praising it” let me challenge you to do the same. Each day this week, find something good in another person and praise them for it. Words are valuable; like the above Scripture says, good words are like “apples of gold in settings of silver.” Share some gold apples with someone else this week.

Beautiful Death

For, alive though I am, I am always given over to death for the sake of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may shine forth in my dying flesh. 2 Cor 4:11 (MontgomeryNT)

I love this time of year. I’m a cool weather guy (probably because of all the natural insulation I have). I get energized by the nip in the air and I go crazy when the leaves start changing their colors. Seriously, you can ask my kids. All the way home from South Carolina I was pointing out the windows going, “Look at that tree…look at the red one… isn’t that beautiful?” I’m like a kid on Christmas morning this time of year. I wish it could last longer than a couple of months, but I know it is only temporary.

I also know that when the leaves change colors it is a sign that they are in the process of dying. The tree is shutting down to “rest” through the winter, the chlorophyll that gives leaves their green color in Summer is drying up and the brilliant reds and yellows that “shine forth” in the Fall are the indicators that the life of the leaf is fading.

Isn’t it interesting that the leaf is most brilliant and beautiful when it is in the process of dying? I love Paul’s words in the above verse: “Although I am alive, I’m ready to die for the sake of (or the cause) of Christ Jesus, the His life my shine forth even in my dying flesh.” (my paraphrase). Paul knew he was living on borrowed time, his days were numbered. But he wasn’t about to give up and shrivel up and die, he was going to go out shining forth the life of Christ. Paul reflected the life of Christ most beautifully when he was in the process of dying for the cause of Christ.

I woke up this past Sunday morning at around 2:45 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. This doesn’t happen often, but I’ve learned that when it does happen, God usually has something important to say to me. He knows I hear more clearly when I don’t have the distractions of the day. I went to the living room and sat in my “prayer chair” and said, “Ok Lord, what do you want me to hear?” Very clearly He said, “You’re dying.” Not the most comforting words to hear at 3 am, but there was no fear in my heart. Of course, a thousand thoughts jumped into my head: “When?… Soon?... You mean, right now?... How?” Then the Spirit began to bring to mind verses that I had read time and again… “Teach us to number our days…” (Ps 90:12), “What is your life? It is but a vapor…” (James 4:14), “Redeeming the time…”(Eph. 5:16).

God was reminding me that life in this world is temporary. Like the colorful leaves, life is but for a season. I’m in the process of dying – have been since the day I was born – and so are you. We can do one of two things with this truth: we can give up, shrivel up and wait for it to happen. Or, like the leaves that are most beautiful when they are dying, we can live for the cause of Christ so that “the life also of Jesus may shine forth in (our) dying flesh.” What will you do with the rest of your life?

Faithfulness

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10 (NKJV)

In one of his works, professor Michael Green offers the following illustration on faithfulness:

“Do you apply the same standards of faithfulness to your Christian activities that you expect from other areas of your life?

If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable?
If your paperboy skips delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he reliable?
If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a loyal employee?
If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, ‘Oh, well, it works most of the time’?
If your water heater provides an icy-cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?
If you miss a couple of loan payments every year, does the bank say, ‘Ten out of twelve isn’t bad’?
If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?

“We expect faithfulness and reliability from things and other people. Does God not expect the same from us? The problem is that in our religious activities we see ourselves as volunteers rather than as duty bound (I Cor. 9). For a volunteer, almost anything seems acceptable. For a bondservant… faithfulness is expected (Matt. 25:21).”

Magna View Ministries…

Aerobics is back Tuesdays and Thursday @ 7 pm

The Ushers will meet Sunday after the morning worship service. We will be training our ushers for security duty. If you have signed up to be an usher, or are interested in serving as an usher, please plan to stay for about 15 minutes after the service Sunday morning.

Homecoming 2009 – Sunday, October 11th. Rev. C.H. Christopher will be our guest preacher for the homecoming service. We will have a covered-dish meal after the service, and then we will have a dedication service for our new addition. Our children will be doing a “ribbon cutting” for the service. There will be no evening service.

Church vs. Gang

“So then you are no longer as those who have no part or place in the kingdom of God, but you are numbered among the saints, and of the family of God.” Eph 2:19 (BBE)

I’ve been reading an excellent book that was loaned to me by one of our church members; “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan. I want to share a brief passage from the book about the Church:

“A while back a former gang member came to our church. He was heavily tattooed and rough around the edges, but he was curious to see what church was like. He had a relationship with Jesus and seemed to get fairly involved with the church.

“After a few months, I found out the guy was no longer coming to the church. When asked why he didn’t come anymore, he gave the following explanation: ‘I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in gangs we weren’t just nice to each other once a week – we were family.’ … It saddened me to think that a gang could paint a better picture of commitment, loyalty and family than the local church body.”

Chan goes on to say, “Without the Spirit of God in our midst, working in us, guiding us, and living and loving through us, we will never be the kind of people who make up this kind of community.” (p.152)

I think Francis Chan has hit the nail on the head. People are looking for community; they are looking for family. They can and will find it in the world, if they don’t find it in the church.

Monday Morose

Not sure why Monday's are tough. It seems like every problem is magnified. Enough said.

Church Discussion

Tonight we set aside our evening service to discuss some changes to our churches Constitution and Bylaws. Some of the changes were mere formalities, but one in particular generated quite a bit of discussion. Our Constitution and Bylaws Team presented a change to the section on voting rights for members. I thought the discussion on this issue was wonderful. I feel like people expressed their feelings freely, and though we disagreed on the issue, we disagreed "agreeably." I think everyone left as friends, which hasn't always been the case in our church.

Regardless of the outcome of this issue, I think the discussion, and the way we've discussed the issues is healthy for our church. I think it is evidence of spiritual growth and development in our church. We'll probably never reach a point where every member sees "eye-to-eye" on every issue, but as long as we continue to love and encourage one another in spite of our different point of views, I think we will be pleasing to the Lord.

Again

Well, here we go again.

I've been preaching through the letter of 1 Thessalonians, (and may make it through chapter 1 tonight). I'm learning a lot about the church through this study as well as a number of books I've been reading. I've been in church all my life and have been in pastoral ministry for 17 years. I've taken for granted that the way we do things, is the way they should always be done. But God's been challenging my thinking of late; revisiting the structure of the NT church and our interpretation of it. It's kind of the process I went through in my theological journey - examining my long-held beliefs to make them my own. Don't know what the result will be, but the journey has begun.

The Big IF

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34 (NLT)

Someone once said that the biggest word in the English language is the the word "if". The word "if" implies possibilities, it implies chance and it implies choice. In the context of the above verse, there is the possibility of following Christ; the offer is made. There is the chance that a person will follow Christ; but in order for that to happen, a choice must be made.

It is incredible to me, that in spite of His great love for me, despite what He has done to show that love by dying on the cross for my sins, Jesus still gives me the choice of whether I will follow Him or not. He still leaves it up to me to choose my way or His way. I decide who and what I will live my life for, and my ultimate choice is made by the small daily choices I make.

It is not a one time choice to follow Christ, but a daily choice. John of the Cross, a 16th Century Spanish spiritualist, put it this way:

"Determine in your heart that you want to reach the highest place in God... And once you have set your heart on this upward path, you will have to choose it every day, and many times during each day. For indeed your desire to rise to higher places in spirit will face many obstacles." (Living Flame of Love:Stanza I, quoted in You Set My Spirit Free)

Who do you choose to live for? Your choice will be reflected in the choices you make each day.

Ramblings About Living

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Mark 8:34-36 (NKJV)

God has been speaking to me a lot through this verse. "Whoever desires to come after me..." This verse really questions my purpose in living. Do I really desire to "come after" Jesus? Is He the pursuit of my life? What am I living for?

The truth be told, we live for a lot of different things, even those who proclaim to be Christians. I find myself living for a lot of different things - success in work, the praise of others, the love of my children, material gain, the blessings of God, etc. And I'm disappointed when I don't get those "things." And often I take it out on Jesus ("why, Lord...?")

More often than not, I'm seeking the Lord's blessings rather than the Lord Himself. I'm learning there is a difference.

God, through His prophet Jeremiah said, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jer 29:13 (NKJV) Am I searching with "all my heart"? I'm not sure I have the answer for that question, that I really want to have... yet.

Another Thing

Blogging just doesn't seem to be for me. I've intended to keep my posts fresh and my page update, but it always seems like about three weeks between postings. Part of me wants to give it up, but there's that little voice that says God could use this in some way. So, I'll keep trying.

I'm thankful for the things God has been teaching me the past few months. One of the things God has been using to grow me is His church at Magna View. Each week it seems I learn something new about God, about the way God works, or about His people. I'm excited to see the hand of the Lord on His church. I look forward each day to see what God is going to do next in and through His Body.

Another tool that God has been using the book, Visioneering, by Andy Stanley. It has been around a while, but continuing my tradition of being at least a couple of years behind the times, I'm just now reading it. Stanley does a study of the book of Nehemiah, and brought out many subtle principles and truths from the book that I had never noticed before. It's been very helpful.

A third tool tool that God has used is a conference that I attended at Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, NC last week. It was called "Simply Missional" and Eric Geiger, co-author of Simple Church (with Thom Rainer), was the keynote speaker. Several things "stuck to me" and I'm in the "process"(key word) of figuring out what God wants to do with them in my life. More on this later. I did go and buy the book Simple Church and look forward to getting into it.