January - late

The Pastor's Pen— Let's Do It Again in 2010

The second chapter of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians warns the believers in that town to not get discouraged because of the different and sometimes undisciplined people who were being added to the fellowship. And he makes a special point in verse twelve to challenge the church: Don't give up, Don't get burned out! The NASB translation renders God's instruction this way: "¹³ But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good." If you've been around the First Family for the last seven years you might have good reason to think Paul is speaking to you. There was so much to do during the 3 plus years without a pastor and over the last 3 plus years we've moved through all the normal and some abnormal adjustments. I still remember pulling in to our new address on Orrick Trail and seeing so many people putting an "extra shine" on our home. It seemed that we just got everything put away when suddenly I faced medical procedures that caused me to be anesthetized 3 times in 6 months. I'd never even been overnight in a hospital until we moved to Kirksville! And how you all stood beside us during my recovery—what a blessing!!

We've been through significant changes in the office and administrative staff during this time as well and we pray that this team that is assembled now can remain and improve as we serve together.

As I read over the calendar for 2009 I smiled. So many wonderful things happened. We came out of 2 semesters of "Operation Kirksville" door to door visits along with our three sister SBC churches in K'ville. Tim Sadler preached our spring revival and we had 2 nearly full "Experiencing God" classes. This reached a pinnacle on Easter Sunday. I had planned to preach a short sermon as we were going to baptize 19 people on a single Sunday. Good thing too, as my voice was almost gone.

Three years ago we were fortunate to have 4 or 5 college students pass through our doors on Sunday. By May of `09 we'd gotten used to feeding more than 100 students per week with our college meals ministry. Thanks to Robbie and the many people who have helped in that ministry we are no longer letting the job of reaching students totally fall on the BSU. That work set the stage for Joe & Erin to begin teaching the college Sunday School class and now a dozen or more students actually wake up for Bible study at 9:30 each week!

AngelFood Ministry of which we've been a site for over 2 years was rocked by scandal at their corporate level. For a number of reasons we decided to "not grow weary of doing good." Instead we researched a good alternative and in January 2010 we are officially a "Food Share America" site. This enable the Family at First help people maximize their grocery dollars in an increasingly troubled economy. We're helping meet real needs and earning the right to minister to people and bring the Gospel to lost right here in our town.

By Fall & Winter we enjoyed 1) a single Sunday with evangelist Clyde Chiles which brought 20% of our congregation to the altar, 2) have up to 2 visitation teams going out every Tuesday night, and 3) took our whole Christmas program down the road to the Baptist Student Union. So what can we look forward to in 2010? Expanding youth ministry? Another mission trip? It depends on our determination to not grow weary. These acts of service are your love-gifts to the Savior.

In total the New Testament warns us 4 times to not grow weary. Rev. 2:3-4 says, " ³and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love." So one serious danger is continuing the same work, but with the wrong passion. Hebrews 12:2 tells us how to keep the right mind-set—"Fix your eyes on Jesus (not people) when the writer says "²fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." And finally Paul warned the Galatians (6:9) "⁹Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." Don't stop before you finish your race!

 

More later,

Pastor Marty

The Pastor’s Pen— Consider the Gift

The Pastor’s Pen— Consider the Gift
Andy Williams is famous for singing the line “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” and in many ways it is. Even though the time of year is set more by tradition than the actual date of Jesus’ birth, we reflect more of our creator at this time of year than any other because of one word: generosity. I’d like to take this time to think about our Lord’s generosity toward us.
Think about the lavishness of that gift the first Christmas morning; the extravagance of love that came in the form of a tiny, helpless newborn baby. Consider the GIFT for a minute or two, what Jesus really did. He traded a spotless castle for a grungy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers.

If you were God, would you sleep on straw, live in poverty and become subject to the authorities that you created? Jesus did। If you knew that only a few would care that you came, would you still come? If you knew that those you loved would laugh in your face would you still care? He humbled Himself. He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw. From holding stars to clutching Mary’s finger. The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier.
Why? Because that’s what love does. It puts the object of love (me and you) before itself. Your soul was more important to Him than His blood. Your eternal life was more important than His earthly life. Your place in heaven was more important to Him than His place in heaven. He gave up his so that you could have yours.
That’s what extravagant giving is all about— love, God’s love, a love that knows no bounds, limits, nor ends. The Christmas kind of love. The type of love we are commanded to give others: (John 13:34, NLT)

“34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” (NLT)

There’s one catch. You cannot give something away that you have not first received. Make sure this Christmas that you have received your gift from God of eternal life. It’s not a matter of whether you’ve been naughty or nice—we’ve all been naughty according to Rom. 3:23 and Rom 5:8.

Our objective is to pass the gift along. So many of you are sacrificially committed to sending the Gospel around the world via Operation Christmas Child, and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. So many of you are compassionate to those in our community with our Angel Tree ministry and other ministry opportunities, too. I would just like to thank you for generously sharing the Gift that God has given you.

Until He comes,
Pastor Marty

Kudos to the Kirksville High School Arts Dept. performance of the Wizard of Oz. They nailed it!

Count those blessings—It’s good for you!

I enjoy doing the spiritual exercise of counting my blessings. It honors God and it builds my faith to remember the good things he has done. So let’s reflect on some of the many blessings God has showered on His people here in the Family at First.
· Bina Morgan, Kenny Miller and many others who have been steadfast in their service to the Lord for many years. What an example they set for others! Like them so many of you who have been relentlessly serving your Savior. Like Paul in his letter to the Philippians (Phil. 1:3) “3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all,” We can easily point new Christians and new members toward your example.
· I’m also thankful for the new souls God is bringing our way. Do you realize that the 2009 Family Fall Festival was organized & mostly carried out by people who have been part of the Family at First for less than three years? Amen for the rookies! So far in 2009 we’ve baptized 24 people and have at least six more waiting their turn. The six souls represent 3 young couples, some with children and some without, but all with a need to have lives centered on Jesus Christ. The “new activity” that we’re seeing in the Family at First demonstrates a couple of important things: a) God is at work among us (we’ve joined Him in His work), and b) Folks at First don’t have to wait in a long line to start doing something substantial with their faith.
· The blessing of family coming together to enjoy each other and strengthen each other. Isn’t that a great priority of the holiday season???? We reorganize and prioritize for the regular family gathering। We clean up, prepare the most delicious stuff and then anxiously await their arrival. I hope that all of you will (allow Jesus to) clean up (your lives), prepare your sweetest service (to the Savior) , and anticipate meeting with Jesus in your homes and as you gather together with your Spiritual Family here at First.
I’m praying that the most exciting thing you experience this holiday season will be a praise offering for the wonderful things God has done in years past, and the new things the Lord wants to do both in your private walk with Him and in your service through your Church family. Psalm 104:1-4 “1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2 Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. 3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; 4 He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers। ” Until He comes, Pastor Marty

WHAT WILL BECOME OF ME SOMEDAY?

An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men his age, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it.
One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects:
1. A Bible
2. A silver dollar
3. A bottle of whiskey
4. A Playboy magazine.

I'll just hide behind the door," the old preacher said to himself. "When he comes home from school today, I'll see which object he picks up. If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, & what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a business man, & that would be okay, too. But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunken bum, and Lord, what a shame that would be. And worst of all if he picks up that magazine he's going to be a skirt-chasing womanizer."
The preacher waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's foot-steps as he entered the house whistling and heading for his room। The boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them.
Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink, while he admired the magazine's centerfold. "Lord have mercy," the old preacher disgustedly whispered, "He's gonna run for Congress."
While we laugh at that, it illustrates the point that we’ve reached a very sad place in our society; a place where politics is synonymous with corruption and hypocrisy. I was reading in my daily devotional time today from 2 Chron. 16. Verse 9 really jumped off of the page and hit me. One of the reasons our society is so divided and possibly even why our country is at war is because we don’t have leaders who “heart(s) are completely His.” And in America the reason we don’t have those kinds of leaders is because we, the voters, do not insist on it.
Philipp Spener। (1635-1705), was someone who was ready to let God reorganize his way of thinking and God used him to shake up the Lutheran church and help fan the flames of pietism that burned in hearts of Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists. During a stay in Tübingen, Spener read Grossgebauer's Alarm Cry, and in 1666 he entered upon his first pastorate at Frankfurt with the opinion that the Christian life within Evangelical Lutheranism was being exchanged for rigid Lutheran orthodoxy. Pietism, as a distinct movement in the German Church, was then originated by Spener by religious meetings at his house (collegia pietatis) at which he repeated his sermons, expounded passages of the New Testament, and induced those present to join in conversation on religious questions that arose। In 1675 Spener published his Pia desideria or Earnest Desire for a Reform of the True Evangelical Church, the title giving rise to the term "Pietists". In this publication he made 6 proposals as the best means of restoring the life of the Church:

• The earnest and thorough study of the Bible in private meetings (Sunday School / Small groups??)
• The Christian priesthood being universal, the laity should share in the spiritual government of the Church, (Using Spiritual Giftedness??)
• A knowledge of Christianity must be attended by the practice of it as its indispensable sign and supplement (Bear fruit of the Spirit – Go on Mission as a Christian)
• Instead of merely didactic, and often bitter, attacks on the heterodox and unbelievers, a sympathetic and kindly treatment of them (Preach the Power of God to Transform instead of denominational or methodological arguments)
• A reorganization of the theological training of the universities, giving more prominence to the devotional life (I’d rather have a minister with a high school diploma who walks with God daily and knows how to share the Word rather than someone with degrees who speaks of God like He is a stranger)
• A different style of preaching, namely, in the place of pleasing rhetoric, the implanting of Christianity in the inner or new man – (Again – the impact of God’s Word not returning void, but helping the sinner find Christ and helping the redeemed become conformed to the image of Christ)

I wonder of there are anymore Philipp Speners out there maybe just now starting to emerge? Not the cheap “junk-food” worship stylists who get really passionate about worshipping a God whom they obviously barely know, and not just those who like to bring the rebellion against the status quo (traditional church) for the joy of being a rebel, but those who will be led by God to go His way even when they must do it alone?!?

Just things I pondered today in my quiet time with God.

THE FOUR GREATEST TESTS: Part four of four

Test of Stewardship – The quest for great treasure.

The greatest tests: 1) Self, 2) Priorities, and 3) Time। Now the final test. The perfect treasure--where can it be found? All your life you’ve been on a treasure hunt. You’ve been searching for a perfect person and a perfect place. Jesus is that person, and heaven is that place. If you are a Christian you have already met that person, and you are already headed to that place.

But the primary problem is that you are not living with that person nor are you living in that place। Even your church involvement might seem more duty-bound than glory-energized। You might be one of those people who find the subjects of stewardship and generous giving to bring more feelings of guilt than anything else। God’s plan is for you to get such joy from your giving that you become giddy। Paul gave us God’s standard on our attitudes in giving (2 Cor. 9:7) “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” A survey of the Bible shows that the Bible has more to say about stewardship, property/wealth management and giving than it has to say about heaven or hell. The Bible gives us 500 verses on prayer, and even less on faith, but more than 2,350 verses on money and possessions. The Lord knew (Matt. 6:21) “…where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” and He knew that the battle is not for our stuff but for our hearts।
Unfortunately many preachers try to challenge us to live up to this great test by asking us to give। But perhaps their motivation is to have greater offerings so that bills can be paid and church business can be done। The truth is God doesn’t need our money। Our stuff already is His; he’s just allowing us to manage it. So how are you doing? He doesn’t invite you to give for His benefit-- it is for yours!

Financial disagreement is the primary subject of all household arguments. Yet the Word of God has powerful solutions. I would recommend writings by authors such as Howard Dayton, Andy Stanley, Dave Ramsey, and Randy Alcorn. Our local Bott radio station (KLTE-FM 107.9) carries a nationally syndicated call-in radio show called “Money Matters” weekdays at 2:30 p.m. which is a great source of help. Their website is ।">http://www.crown.org/।

Several churches in this area have groups that are associates with Crown Ministries or Financial Peace University। The truths that they teach can turn your guilt into joy, and turn your family arguments into victorious testimonies of blessings and deliverance। The average giver in most churches today doesn’t tithe (give 10% of their gross income)। In fact it’s more like about 1।5%। Our parents and grandparents’ generation was giving 3।6%। We are failing this test. Yet this is the one area in all of life where we actually get to put God to the test. Imagine what could happen in our community if we began to improve our grades on this fourth test!

What?!?! You thought we were to never (Luke 4:12) “…PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST”?? That is true except in this one subject. And we are part of the test. When God challenged us to bring (Mal. 3:10 ) “…the whole tithe into the storehouse” He continued by challenging us to “test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows” Does God actually make you wealthy and trouble-free because of your “faith” gifts like many of the television preachers like to say?? No, and it angers me when they spin lies like that which make promises God never intended to honor.
What God does say about this kind of faithful giving is 1) there will be blessings that you cannot seem to contain, and 2) you are likely to be entrusted with greater responsibilities (see Matt. 25:20-23; and Luke 16:10-12)। What we have seen in the Crown Ministries ten week course is that after following the principles learned there for three years, families had 1) erased more than $25,000 in consumer debt, 2) managed to add $10,000 to their savings, and 3) experienced dramatically changed stress levels in discussions about money. Why? The Bible really is the perfect blueprint for daily living. So why not put the Lord your God to the one solitary test that you are allowed to administer to Him? He laid down the challenge। As Jeremiah describes faithful living under the Lord’s great plans, (Jer. 31:12-14) “He will turn your sorrows into joy!”
May the generosity of God overwhelm your hearts until you all become generous givers. Not because your church or God needs your money, but because you need to know God’s power and blessings unleashed in this way. I hope that you are greatly relieved as you now have the solutions to the four greatest tests of your life.

THE FOUR GREATEST TESTS: Part three of four
Test of Time
Peter F. Drucker wrote “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else।” The first test was the test of self and the second test was priorities. This week we examine the test of time. Time is a great analysis for the value of your efforts. Everyone would like to believe that he or she will leave a legacy. But the truth is that few really achieve the greatness that people remember for generations. So how can we be sure that we make a difference that stands the test of time

Remember that time is the one commodity that cannot be replaced। Money can be replaced। Fortune magazine noted that a retirement account invested in the top 500 companies' shares would have dropped 37 percent during the last 12 months। However, many people are already beginning to slowly recover those losses। Your days, on the other hand, were numbered from the moment the Lord decided to create you. Psalm 139:16 says “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” So you were time-date stamped from the first day you took a breath.

Avoid the mistake of thinking that you have plenty of time. Remember the slogan, “I don’t want to grow up; I’m a Toys-R-Us kid?” There is the fallacy of wasting time on selfish-oriented goals as if that will bring a satisfying return. As we mature, those goals are often replaced with the drive to succeed. Some think the one who dies with the most toys wins. The truth is the one who dies with the most toys simply dies.
Jesus warned about leading a greed-driven life with a parable in Luke 12:16-23. A rich man was having such a good year that he decided to launch in an enormous warehousing project. His project was interrupted by an announcement that his earthly life was about to abruptly end. Then Jesus posed a question, “. . . and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Stephen R. Covey said “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” Ordinary people think merely of spending time. Great people think of using it.
Ephesians 5:15-17 commands us to “Be very careful, then, how you live—, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Redeeming the time implies that you will be giving away your time in a nonrefundable fashion. So make it a wise investment by “understand(ing) what the will of the Lord is.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” To give you a good perspective on this subject I can tell you some things that I have never heard anyone who is on their deathbed or confined to a nursing home ever say, “I wish I had spent more time at work.” I have often heard them say, “I wish I had spent more time with my family.” Way too many times I hear them say, “I wish I’d prepared my children to live for the Lord.” The advice they would universally give you is: 1) Get to know God well enough that you really understand “His will” for your life and begin to live it; 2) invest in the spiritual lives of your spouse and children; 3) Make your local church a priority. An investment in God’s Kingdom is an investment with eternal rewards. Lee Iacocca said “If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.”
Next week: You thought we were commanded to NOT put the Lord to a test? Here is the one test that you are allowed to administer to the Lord.

THE FOUR GREATEST TESTS: Part two of four.

Test of Priorities
During the first year of our marriage, my wonderful wife delivered a one sentence sermon to me that has caused me to re-evaluate my priorities on a regular basis। After being late or missing several appointments that I had made with her, she said, “Marty, you will always find time to do what is most important to you।” Ouch!
Since then I have taken it one step further। You will always find the time AND MONEY to do what is most important to you। The real test of your priorities is not what you SAY is important, but rather where you spend your time and money। The priorities of the average person should be different from the main concerns of a serious follower of Jesus Christ। The driving forces within the humanist mentality are 1) self-preservation and 2) self-enjoyment। Even much of what they do to help others can be attributed to the sense of worth and esteem it gives them।
For the follower of Jesus Christ we are constantly challenged to demonstrate to God that our priorities are as follows: God first, others second, self last.
God First - In Genesis 22, Abraham is in the midst of treasuring the son God gave him in his old age. The Lord challenges him by commanding him to take his only son up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. God did not ant Isaac’s life; He wanted Abraham’s loyalties to be tested. In v. 22 God said “2 Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Abraham passed the test and God spared his son. As we’re drawn into the emotions of what he must have felt, we see a couple of things that I believe helped him drive his commitment to God past all his emotional anchors.
First, he obeyed right away. The next verse tells us that he left the very next morning, “3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey…” Second, he didn’t know what God as going to do, but He trusted in God’s loving nature and desire to provide. By verse 4, we see that “4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.” What does that tell you? He had walked for three days looking at the ground. This task seemed to be destroying him, but He trusted God and his obedience was rewarded.
In the same way Jesus challenged the rich young ruler in Luke 18 to demonstrate the most important thing. When he asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus put him to the test. First he tested the young man’s honesty by saying, “20 You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.' ” Now you and I know that he had not perfectly kept these commandments, this as a chance for him to confess his sinfulness and his need of a Savior. He failed. Verse 21 says 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” Jesus knew his heart and test his priorities in v. 22 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Jesus didn’t want his poverty, Jesus wanted him to recognize that there was something that didn’t align between his words and his actions – God was not first. So he put him to the test and as of today the rich young ruler is no longer a ruler, he is no longer wealthy, and he is definitely not young.
Others Second – Mother Teresa said “A day lived without doing something good for others is a day not worth living.” Your local church is a great place to start to carry out the giftedness God has given you. That is our Lord’s design. He does not save us to sit on a shelf and wait for heaven. He saves us that we might be a blessing to others.
You have heard people say, “I don’t need to go to church to be a good Christian।” I like to tell them, “Yes, and you don’t need to exhale in order to breathe either, do you?” Of course exhaling is vital to breathing and so is using the giftedness God has given you to be a blessing to others। Is your involvement in the ministries of others a priority? If it is you will commit your time and resources there। If not you are just giving lip service।
Self Last – Some would say that this lesson is encouraging low self-esteem. Let me assure you there is nothing as self-satisfying as a life given to God first and others second. It is the purpose for which God has given our lives direction and clarity.
I pray that you pass the test of priorities, because one day we will all stand before the throne of God and give an account for our lives (Matt. 12:35-37; Matt. 25:18-20) and most importantly I pray that you have found the forgiveness of your sins through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, so that you will stand forgiven before is throne on that day because according to Romans 4:8 8 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.” Next week: the test of Time!