Strength for Today

Isaiah 40:28-30 says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

The Blitz is Only the Beginning

On August 5th, 6th, and 7th, Parkway Baptist is going to put faith into action through a Community Service Blitz.  On Friday night we are gathering at the church for Prayer and Worship as we ask God to help us serve Him as we work show His love to the lost and hurting in our community.  On Saturday morning we are sending several Work Teams out into our community to demonstrate God’s love in a practical way and on in the evening we are putting on a Neighborhood Block Party to help people to get know one another and invite them to attend worship.  On Sunday morning we are looking forward to having people from our community visit our Morning Worship Service.  Please pray that barriers will come down, love will be shared, and that we will have a chance to share Good News of Jesus Christ with our community!

Very Big Sound?

Some people might think that VBS stands for Very Big Sound instead of Vacation Bible School.  That may be true but it is some of the best sounds that I have ever heard around our church.  Kids and leaders are having a good time.  They are listening to Bible stories, making crafts, eating snack, playing games, and sing praise to God.  What a loud, fun, exhausting, good week.

Be Patient With Romantic Love

As I read through the Bible this year I can’t help but think the Song of Solomon has a message for today’s upcoming generation.  In 2:7, 3:5, and 8:4 Solomon’s bride encourages young people to be patient with romantic love.  She says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”

Devoted and Dangerous

One of the goals of the book of Proverbs is to help people distinguish between wise and foolish living.  The wise person and the fool are compared and contrasted many times throughout the book.  One description of the fool reads, ”Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly” (Proverbs 17:12).  Thankfully, I have never met such a bear, but I can describe her in two words: devoted and dangerous.  Mothers tend to be fantastically loyal to their children, no matter how many legs they walk on.  Bears have the strength and the equipment to weak major havoc on anything or anyone that crosses their path.  Adding these two factors together could have devastating consequences at that is the point of the proverb.

A fool that is wrapped up in his or her folly can be devastating to themselves and to those around them.  Worse than an isolated she-bear is someone who has foolishly latched on to a foolish plan.  They become blinded to the people around them and tragically focused on their goals.  The lesson is clear – don’t be the fool and stay clear of any fools that you meet, especially if they are roaming around in the woods.

The Oil of Unity

Today we read Psalm 133 which talks about how unity is like the precious oil that dripped down from Aaron’s head onto his beard and robes after he was anointed.  I think the idea is that unity is good and pleasant because it spreads all over like anointing oil.  unfortunately, the reverse is also true.  Disunity, or conflict, spreads everywhere too, only faster.

Invisible Church

Last night I went to the Marlboro/Radcliff association’s monthly meeting.  I was invited to the meeting by the association’s president to introduce myself and PBC and talk about our Community Service Blitz. As I spoke  to the half-dozen residents that were seated in the Marlboro park shelter I found myself apologizing for being an invisible church.  You know how after you look at something for so long and it doesn’t change it seems to become invisible.  It is like that gigantic chicken that sits in the back of a truck at the car dealer around the corner from the church building on New Circle Road.  When I first drove by, it stood out to me, it is not everyday that you see a gigantic chicken in the back of a truck.  Now, I hardly ever notice it.  In fact, I don’t even know if it is still there.

For far to long we have been invisible to our community because we have not been involved in our community.  Buildings with “ski-sloped” roofs can catch the eye, but it is real-life relationships and humble hard work that catches the heart.  It is not enough just to go to church, we need to be the church beginning right here in our own backyard.  I hope our Community Service Blitz is just one of many future ministries that helps PBC become visible again.

Giving up and giving away

Yesterday we considered Mark 8:22-9:1 in morning worship.  We saw how Jesus healed a blind man and how that healing became a pardigm for understanding Mark 8 and the rest of the book.  We hopefully challenged by need to understand Jesus’ mission as well as his identity.  This means that those who want to follow Christ must live lives of sacrifice (giving up) and self-denial (giving away).  I am interested to hear how some of you were able to find ways to do this this week.  Please post responses with how you were able to give up and give away in Jesus name this week.

We have aleady made it to Deuteronomy.

Wow, we have aleady made it to Deuteronomy.  There is a lot here, in this “second giving of the law,” but I really like the first three chapters.  It is kind of like a fastforward review of all of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.  These first chapters take us with the Israelites from their exodus from Eypt to the doorstep of the Promised Land.  In order to encourage the people to listen to God’s word, Moses takes the time to remind them of God’s leadership and provision and how far they have come. 

I think this is a helpful strategy.  From time to time we need to stop and remember all that God has done for us.  In my case, He saved my mom out of an unbelieving home and led her to raise me as a believer in Jesus Christ.  He graciously overlooked my selfishness and nearsightedness and called me into the ministry.  He blessed me with a beautiful and loving wife and four (almost) wonderful kids.  He has provided for me and led me through many twists and turns in life and He has always been faithtful to His promises.  What a wonderful reminder and motivation to be faithful to Him in the days ahead.

What about you?  Do you have a story of God’s faithfulness?

Bible reading through the book of Genesis

If you are following along in our reading plan than you read the first four chapters of Exodus yesterday.  I have to admit that I am ready for a change.  The book of Genesis is exciting and important, but has a  lot of depressing and graphic stories; it is definitly PG13, if you know what I mean.  I think one of the reasons why God has chosen to give us so much vivid and honest detail about people in the Old Testament is so that we will remember that they were real people like us.  It is so easy to put people like Abraham or Moses up on a pedastal, but they had their problems and issues just like we do.  I think that is comforting.  God chose to use real people to bring salvation into the world so that he could save real people, warts and all.