Day 2 Day Living

“Live, laugh, love” - that’s not only the slogan of the anniversary card Angie gave me today as we celebrate our tenth year, but it truly describes our life as we strive to be one in this first decade of our marriage. We live abundant lives because Christ is alive. We laugh because we can. We love because God first loved us. Looking forward to the next ten!

By the way, two of our favorite books on marriage, include: Gary Thomas’, Sacred Marriage and Stormie O’Martian’s, Power of a Praying Husband/Wife.

If you don’t know much about who or why we are Southern Baptist, hopefully this blog will excite you and compel you.  I just returned from the annual Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville with a renewed optimism for our denomination. What many said would be the lowest attended convention in decades due to a mass exodus of young pastors and leaders turned out to be quite the opposite. With overwhelming support, the Great Commission Resurgence          is on its way to becoming the impetus for unifying our age-diverse denomination. http://www.greatcommissionresurgence.com/  If you haven’t read this document or watched Dr. Danny Akin’s sermons on this site, please do so now! I recently finished reading Jimmy Long’s Leadership Jump and apparently many of our SBC pastors have as well. There seems to be a healthy interchange between young and old leadership. It’s almost as if the baton is graciously being handed to Generation X but even that there is a willingness for Reverse Mentoring (cf. Earl Creps book). Please pray for SBC president Dr. Johnny Hunt, Pastor FBC Woodstock, and this resurgence which is being studied and led by an 18 member task force under Dr. Ronnie Floyd, Pastor FBC Springdale, Arkansas.

For other great resolutions from the SBC like the one for President Obama and the one on adoption of orphans, see http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/AMResSearchYear.asp?SearchBy=Year&frmData=2009&Search2=Search  They will make you proud to be a Southern Baptist.

However, an ostensible downfall this year was the lack of substantial growth of salvations through our 43,000+ local churches as well as the lack of money to place willing and ready missionaries on the field through the International Mission Board. God has planted a vision in my heart that in 2010, Mobberly will be a church that significantly invests and impacts Longview and surrounding areas of East Texas community for Christ. Each year we are seeing good growth, but our entire surrounding “Jerusalem” needs Jesus! And while Mobberly’s own mission offering is consistent and generous (about $100,000 each year), I am more passionate than ever to know that we are giving almost $600,000 through the Cooperative Program this current year. God has given us much, and we are giving it for Him. The Cooperative Program supports our 5,500 missionaries overseas, 5,000 plus in America, as well as our six seminaries training the next generation of Christian leaders, provides representation in Washington, as well as other ministries of our convention. For more terrific info, see http://www.sbc.net/

With the increased pressure from people of justice around the world requiring the truth about kidnapped Christian attorney Gao Zhisheng, the Chinese government has been forced to respond. Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong recently issued the first official letter about Gao, in reply to a letter from Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman of Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

According to the Ambassador, Gao is “currently serving probation” and “the public security authority has not taken any mandatory action against him.” Obviously, this is a misdirect of information as Gao was last seen being hauled away by Chinese security officials.

We are very concerned about Gao’s whereabouts and his condition. In the past, Gao has been repeatedly kidnapped and tortured by Chinese officials for his work defending house church Christians and others persecuted for their beliefs. There is no reason to believe that this has stopped now.

Prior to his first kidnapping, Gao told his wife that if he should be persecuted for speaking the truth, he believed that people of justice throughout the world would stand with him.

Our friends in Washington, DC, have strongly encouraged us to increase the pressure on the Chinese government, and we need your help. Please help us by flooding Chinese embassies around the world with phone calls on behalf of Gao Zhisheng’s wife and children to urge that the Chinese government immediately reveal Gao’s whereabouts and condition.

For additional information go to Voice of the Martyrs website at www.persecution.com and in the search box type “Gao.”

As I prepare for an exciting summer sermon series on this most familiar and endearing psalm, Angie and I are having our boys memorize Psalm 23 as well.  After 3 nights in a row of rehearsing Psalm 23:1a “The Lord is my Shepherd”, we quizzed them on the forth night. “Boys, what is our memory verse?” Without hesitation, Luke responds with “God loves ME!” Well, that’s true, and that is confidence, but that’s not the verse. Or is it? After we had a good family laugh, Angie and I rejoiced that in effect, Luke was right. “The Lord is my shepherd” means the “God loves me.” Isn’t it good to know that you do not have to worry about choosing the right shepherd because THE Shepherd has chosen you!

I had the privilege of serving as a teacher in our preschool ministry on Sunday morning, an opportunity not many people knew I was taking. Our youth pastor, Paul Coleman was prepared and so ably stepped up and preached the 9:30 AM service for me to allow me this joy. Hopefully, many of our people will hear and now “see” the priority this ministry, and serving in ministry, is for me and for every Christian. I’ll say, “We have no idea of the significance of small acts of service.”  From preparing all the crafts and Bible lesson materials, to room assignments, to sterilizing toys, to scheduling workers, to sharing the love of Jesus, our ministry to these precious little lives is having an awesome impact for eternity. My prayer is that service becomes a part of our Mobberly culture. Never belittle the little because it’s all important.  Real servants do every task with equal dedication because they know it all matters.  It’s all important. Don’t mistake anonymous with insignificant. Just because it’s not known doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary.  How will God use you this week? I appreciate how Rick Warren states it, “You Were Shaped For Serving God.” God brought you to Mobberly where you could find serving possibilities. The fact is, God wants to use you. He really does!

I have always appreciated how Charles Stanley describes stress, “the tangible partner of progress.” The more demanding life becomes, the more stressed we become in our attempt to keep up the pace. Personally, that is why I value the treasure of days like Memorial Day.  As wonderfully patriotic and encouraging as our worship and celebration of the Lord’s Supper was at church yesterday, I am soaking up the warmth and comfort of a day for our family to rest and play together.

Our contemporary age over-stimulates us, and we pay a price physically. The major systems of the body - the heart, brain, nervous system, and immune system – are on constant alert to adapt to ever-increasing change. God’s Word teaches us that He will work all things out in due time. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). To humble ourselves positions us to trust God with life’s unavoidable pressures. Peter reveals the concept of stress management in the next verse, “Cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). He knew that there is no rest living outside of God’s moral and ethical boundaries. The farther we go outside of God’s protective guidelines, the closer we edge toward a life of frustration, anxiety, fear, and stress. Obedience, then, is the key to reducing stress.

God does not intend for you to lead a stress-filled life. Jesus knew and practiced the discipline of getting away and praying (Luke 5:15-16). To cast, or literally “throw”, your cares to God is to give Him the responsibility for things you already have no control over anyway. God gives us this privilege because He cares for us. Stress can be managed as you grasp God’s intimate care for the details of your life. Believing and resting in that truth will protect your mind, heart, and spirit from the overload of stress.

We had a blessed day at Mobberly! With almost 2200 people in worship, we saw the Lord accomplish many things in our midst. The worship was Spirit-led as always! God blessed in the sermon each time, despite me being personally very tired. (“His strength is Perfect”). We rejoiced with 13 new people being added to the Mobberly family and we celebrated with the 3 who were baptized and 10 more who expressed the desire to be baptized soon. In fact, we have seen 30 baptized in May so far! Praise the Lord for the daily growth! In our middle service we were able to honor Ms. Honey who is celebrating her 90^th birthday and her 62^nd year of teaching children in our preschool ministry. There are literally thousands of lives that she has touched over the years and continues to impact for God’s glory! We also applauded over 200 children and preteens in their weekly Scripture memory accomplishments. Four children from Mobberly advanced to the State level competition of Bible Drills! In our 11:00 AM service we recognized 58 graduating High School seniors and gave them each a Bible. What incredible potential for God’s kingdom as these young people hit the streets with His sword and His Spirit. They do have beautiful feet! Teaching this generation the unsearchable riches of Christ is not only an honor and duty but an incredible joy awaiting us and them as it is lived out in their lives for years to come! What a fantastic youth and children’s staff and hundreds of faithful volunteers who are framing this pivotal generation! What a great blessing to serve with so many great men and women of God!  In addition to all this, our financial giving was again a strong testimony of God’s faithfulness in these challenging times. We continue to exceed our annual budget MAP.

Last night, our children’s music ministry did an outstanding job of sharing the Gospel in “Splash Kingdom.” They will be taking this musical drama to the Splash Kingdom Water Park in Canton on June. I’m praying the Lord will really use their boldness and excellent presentation to spread the joy of knowing Jesus. I’m so thankful for God’s blessings in our worship and children’s ministries.

I can hardly wait for this coming Sunday when we celebrate our patriotic freedoms and spiritual freedoms and share in the Lord’s supper together. With so many people, the logistics of sharing in Communion during the morning worship services is a challenge, but at least once a year, we find a way to make it happen. This Sunday is that day and what a day it’s going to be! See you then!

The first time I visited a house of mirrors in a haunted house, my view of what I saw, was quite disturbing. While some mirrors made me look taller than I really am, others made me look much wider and much shorter. The mirrors were bowed and skewed in various ways to present a sometimes humorous, but always distorted view. Once we’ve stood before a distorted mirror, the image stays ingrained in the hidden recesses of the mind.

A post-sermon topic of my recent message “Why am I unique?” is discovering your uniqueness in Christ. I believe this requires a sober evaluation because a proclivity inherent in spiritual gifts is PRIDE. When we see our gift or unique SHAPE as a sign of our spiritual maturity or importance it can lead to destructive behavior and destroy the church.

If your motive is anything other than service oriented, then gifts will provide for you only a distorted image of your own spirituality. Your importance is not determined by the visibility or the spectacular impact of your SHAPE. It is determined by the very fact that you have been uniquely SHAPED for serving God and His church, and the community.

If thinking too much of yourself is the first problem with self-assessment, then the second devastating problem is under-evaluation. Paul bases his whole teaching on spiritual gifts on this crucial principle, no person in God’s kingdom is useless and no gift is too small (Romans 12:3-6). In the Winnie the Pooh books, flop-eared donkey Eeyore slumped around with his head between his legs thinking that he was of no particular value. Individuals who claim they have no gifts, abilities, or talents may sound piously humble, but they are behaving in a way that is unbiblical and hurts the body of Christ. Take God’s Word for it – You are gifted! You are exactly who God designed you to be, your function is vital to the body because God made you just as He desired.

Ok, most people think that statement is mixed up, but I think it’s right in one respect. As a pastor, I’d like to think I’m still learning a lot from other pastors, but what about my ancient predecessors - the Levites? Their job description is just as applicable for us today. Deuteronomy 10:8 says, “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve Him…” One of my duties and delights is to stand before Him and minister to Him. How strange and difficult, to simply stand, having no agenda, no ambitions, no anxiety about rushing on to the next appointment!  There are plenty of times in my life when my pastoring, my personality, and my pressures pump adrenalin into my system, but could it be that for every ounce of adrenalin, there’s a mirrored ounce of spiritual infilling only received when I learn to stand.

We could all learn something from the angels on this one. When the angel Gabriel came to tell Zechariah that he would be a daddy to John the Baptist, it was his second mission in 600 years — and that was a lot! When Zechariah didn’t believe Gabriel’s message, Gabriel said, “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19). I can see Zechariah saying, “Yeah, but what do you do?” “I stand in the presence of God!” “Ok, I get that, but what do you do?” “You don’t get it - I stand there…beholding His glory, His splendor, and His holy fire…until He speaks. If He doesn’t say anything, I just stand there. When He does say something, then I move out to fulfill it. But pretty much, what I do is stand there. Waiting on Him.” Think about this, between Gabriel’s last mission (when he was sent to Daniel 600 years earlier), He just stood there! If you are between assignments, then just stand before Him, enjoy Him, and let Him enjoy you!