Wednesday, March 23, 2011

MIDWEEK Tonight!

The Call to Grow in Christ
2 Peter 3:18

Are you growing in Christ? 

Do you have a plan?  Feel lethargic?  In a spiritual rut?  Don't seem to be making spiritual progress?

It doesn't have to be this way.  It shouldn't be this way.

Christian growth...it's everyone's responsibility. 


See you tonight.

Pastor Todd

Friday, March 18, 2011

A Vision for the Verbal Life of the FBC Faith Family

Sunday morning, we continue our sermon series "Real Faith Really Shows" and will be looking at James 3:1-12--Real Faith Really Shows in our Words.  Don't miss out as we look at God's Word and as we seek to be a people whose words really do reflect the truth of Christian faith.


A Vision for the Verbal Life of the FBC Faith Family

May we be a people whose vertical words of praise to God are matched by our horizontal words of blessings to one another. (James 3:10-12)

May we be a people whose spoken and thought words are acceptable to our God. (Psalm 19:14)

May we be a people whose bridled tongues manifest the vibrancy of our relationship with God. (James 1:26)

May we be a people who understand that “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,” and may we cultivate God’s work in our hearts—realizing all the while that God does his work from the inside out and that the words of our mouth reflect the character of our heart. (Matthew 15:10-20)

May we be a people who understand the life-giving and death-blowing power of our words—that with our tongue we give life to others, and we deceivingly scheme, plot destruction, devour one another, backbite, flatter, and poison (Psalm 18:21; 50:19; 52:2, 4; Proverbs 25:15; 28:23; Roman 3:13)

May we be a people whose words are righteous, wise and just. (Psalm 37:30)

May we be a people whose words to one another and about one another are truthful, non-corrupting, kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, and may our words serve only to build one another up. (Ephesians 4:25,29, 32; James 4:11)

May we be a people whose words are gracious, seasoned with salt, so that we might speak properly to one another. (Proverbs 16:24; Colossians 4:6)

May we be a people whose “yes” means “yes” and whose “no” means “no,” and may we have complete confidence in one another’s words. (Matthew 5:37)

May we be a people, like the two on the Emmaus Road, whose conversations are spiritual and Christ-focused. (Luke 24)

May we be a people whose words reflect our unity and focus on God’s glory. (Romans 15:6)

May our earthly words continuously anticipate our eternal gathering around the throne of God where we will join other nations, tribes, peoples and languages and cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 9-10)

Pastor Todd

Monday, March 14, 2011

Lamenting and Being Most Used by God


Think about this.  In Jesus' life, the moment Jesus is most being used by God--what is He doing?  He's lamenting on the cross, 'Why have you forsaken me?' The question I ask people is, 'Could it be the point where we are being most used by God is not when we're writing commentaries or producing records or doing the things we think of as being productive?  Could it be that the moments in our lives when we experience the most intense suffering and the most intense struggles are when God is using us the most?'
Get your taxes done, get on the bus, and go with the group from FBC who are attending the Read the Bible for Life conference, April 15-16 at Union University.  We'll get to be with Michael Card and others who will help us be about the business of reading the Bible for life!

For more information, check out http://www.uu.edu/events/readthebibleforlife/.  You'll be hearing more information soon!

Pastor Todd

Thursday, March 10, 2011

A Vision for Tough and Tender Pastors



Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/ has written excerpts from John Piper's recent talk on John Newton http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/john-newton-the-tough-roots-of-his-habitual-tenderness)  May Piper's words be on the hearts of God's people as they continuously intercede for their pastors. 
 
Speaking to pastors, Piper said...


It seems to me that we are always falling off the horse on one side or the other in this matter of being tough and tender—wimping out on truth when we ought to be lion-hearted, or wrangling with anger when we ought to be weeping. . . .
Oh how rare are the pastors who speak with a tender heart and have a theological backbone of steel.
I dream of such pastors. I would like to be one someday.
A pastor whose might in the truth is matched by his meekness.
Whose theological acumen is matched by his manifest contrition.
Whose heights of intellect are matched by his depths of humility.
Yes, and the other way around!
A pastor whose relational warmth is matched by his rigor of study, whose bent toward mercy is matched by the vigilance of his biblical discernment, and whose sense of humor is exceeded by the seriousness of his calling.
I dream of great defenders of true doctrine who are mainly known for the delight they have in God and the joy in God that they bring to the people of God—who enter controversy, when necessary, not because they love ideas and arguments, but because they love Christ and the church. . . .
[Acts 15:1-3] is my vision: The great debaters on their way to a life-and-death show down of doctrinal controversy, so thrilled by the mercy and power of God in the gospel, that they are spreading joy everywhere they go.
Oh how many there are today who tell us that controversy only kills joy and ruins the church; and oh how many others there are who, on their way to the controversy, feel no joy and spread no joy in the preciousness of Christ and his salvation.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Dangerous Christianity

MIDWEEK

The Subtle Danger of Christian Living
Luke 10:38-42


There is a real danger that evangelicals will be so busy doing things for God that they will crowd him out by their very activity!  Our desire to do things for God can easily get in the way of God's desire to do something for us.  To be active in the world we must be receptive towards God--and that means making space to listen to God, to read the Bible, and to come before him, expecting to receive guidance, encouragement, and nourishment.

                Alister McGrath, Beyond the Quiet Time


Pastor Todd

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Loving God...OR...Loving the World

This week, we have worked on memorizing 1 John 2:15-17:
Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
It’s that second sentence that has stuck in my mind all week long.  I’ve been marinating in it for the last 7 days.  I understand the command to not love the world or the things in the world at the beginning of the passage.  But then comes the sweeping, overwhelming, all encompassing reality that if I love the world, the love of the Father is not in me. 

John not saying that when I love the world, I am crowding the love of the Father into the corner.  He is saying that when I love the world, the love of the Father is not even present!
In these few verses, John talks about the love of the world and the love of the Father.  And he doesn’t do so in a “both/and” kind of way, but an “either/or” way.
It’s impossible to love the world and have the love of God in us.
The world is passing away.  Don’t love the world.  Love God.

Pastor Todd


P.S.  Check out Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney.  It’s a good, quick, helpful, and timely read for the today's follower of Christ in America.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Spurgeon on Faith and Works



Faith and obedience
are bound up in the same bundle;
he that obeys God trusts God;
and he that trusts God obeys God.
He that is without faith is without works,
and he that is without works is without faith.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon
19th century British preacher


Pastor Todd

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I Will Follow You?

Following Jesus
Luke 9:57-62

     Has the church turned "following Jesus" into something which Jesus never intended?  Could it be that we have made "following Jesus" too easy?  If Jesus were physically present with us today, do you think he would make following him as easy as we often want following him to be?

     Tomorrow night at MIDWEEK, we'll look at an instance where Jesus actually challenged a would be follower.  As I read this story, I can hear Jesus saying "Not so quick, big boy!"
     
Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow...

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You're the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there's joy, unending joy
and I will follow

                                                          Chris Tomlin

     Of course, we'll sing "I Will Follow You" as we have been doing every Wednesday night but as we sing, let us consider the implications of what "Following Jesus" might bring.

See you tomorrow night!

Pastor Todd