Tried With Fire

In February, I  wrote about a ten-year anniversary - the day my husband moved out of the house on Valentine's Day and out of our marriage. But at the end of 2007, another event took place. The last Sunday of 2007 was the first day I walked through the door of Grace Baptist Chapel and found a church home. I'm sharing that story at Out of the Ordinary today. You can read the post here . Photo credit: By LudwigSebastianMicheler (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

There is so much wrong with the world that it is easy to get discouraged and forget that God is bigger, greater, more powerful, and more loving than I can even imagine. But even with my forgetfulness, God is faithful to remind me what is true. So here are few things that encouraged me from being with the saints yesterday. My pastor has been leading a theological fellowship with 5 students from Christopher Newport University. These 5 young men shared with the adult Sunday school class what they have been learning. Each took turns briefly speaking about the doctrine of God including the Trinity and Simplicity, the doctrine of Creation, and the need for an historical Adam. It was encouraging to see them make the connection between good doctrine, the gospel, and discipleship, a connection which many of us don't get until we are much older. In the morning sermon from the 1 Cor. 2, Pastor Ryan spoke on how much we owe the Holy Spirit in our salvation. We were bumbling around in the d...

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Thus saith the familiar proverb. Tonight the ladies in our church will begin a series of "fishing" lessons. Not casting or tying lures but lessons in biblical hermeneutics. The teaching pastor recently taught this course at a seminary in Uganda, and now it's our turn to be the students. We will still need to hear the preaching of the Word. We will still need the fellowship of the local church. We will still read books. But teach a woman how to properly interpret the Bible and you've opened the treasure house of the only authoritative means whereby God speaks to His people. Some might think this is an impractical academic exercise. I would respectively disagree. If we want to be godly women, we need to know who God is.  If we want to obey and please Him, we need to know His commands Where else will learn this but in the Word? Granted there are plenty...

Yesterday, the congregation approved the three elder candidates. We've now moved from one pastor/elder and deacon board to four pastor/elders with deacons for specific areas of service. I praise God for what He has done and will do. I'm praying that the transition will go well and that these brothers will serve well together. I'm praying for grace for their families as this will undoubtedly require sacrifice on their part . I also pray for any members who may be wary of this change and pray they would become "aligned to the text" rather than tradition, however dear it may be.

Do you know any broken records? People who can't seem to stop talking about a certain subject? Here are a few I know: My pastor can't seem to stop talking about the gospel. Every Sunday, the same truths are declared yet again. Yesterday in the sermon on Mark 8:1-21, Pastor Ryan spoke on how quickly we forget what God has done just like the disciples with their one loaf of bread after the feeding of the 4000 and the 5000. Don't we do the same thing? As soon as something happens our first reaction is "Oh no, what am I going to do?" rather than "To Whom am I going to go?" We forget who we are; we forget who God is. So how do we combat this? We take the gospel and "warm it up" every day by reminding ourselves of His past benefits (Ps. 103). At the women's retreat, we didn't discuss 10 ways to have well-behaved children in a week or 7 steps for a happy marriage. Christie, the pastor's wife, walked us through the gospel. She discu...

We had a meeting of our church's mercy ministry team last night to discuss ideas and plans for the future. We've been trying to reach out to our community in a way that doesn't water down the gospel or ignore the tangible needs that exist.  We also want to minister in a way that doesn't create and perpetuate dependency but teaches responsibility. Plus there's a very real need to learn how to connect with folks who may be ethnically different in a place where many churches still divide along racial lines. To help us get a better understanding of this subject, these books were suggested: Toxic Charity   by Robert Lupton Ministries of Mercy by Timothy Keller Generous Justice by Timothy Keller When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert These won't be easy reads, but I'm looking forward to learning more as we seek to extend the mercy that we've received.

One of the things that I find frustrating (probably because I used to believed it) is the false dichotomy between truth and love. We've been indoctrinated by an anti-intellectual, anti-doctrinal mindset so pervasive in evangelicalism that we believe it's an "either or" situation not a "both and". In Sunday school, we are learning about the 12 disciples. In yesterday's class, our teacher shared these great observations about John: - God knew the greatest source of truth in the New Testament about love, as far as a human author is concerned, would have to be a man who was also strong and uncompromising or his love would take him down the road of sentimentalism. And if he was to speak the truth in love, he had to be as much committed to the truth as he was to love . - So, he became a lover, but a lover whose love was controlled by the truth . And that control was born out of that tremendous zeal he had in his personality, that passion,that strength, t...

We were privileged to have Dr. M. David Sills of SBTS and Reaching and Teaching International and Brother Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society at our annual theology conference. The audio is available here (scroll to the bottom of the page) and worth every minute of your time. I had only seen clips of Brother Washer on YouTube and listened to sermons online. Some would mislabel him only a fire and brimstone preacher, but his passion is the glory of Christ. He gave the unvarnished, ugly truth of our condition apart from God so that the glories of Christ in the gospel would shine like diamonds in comparison. When he spoke, I think he made eye contact with almost everyone who was there - as though he was speaking to each one of us personally.  His intent was not to guilt us into action but show the beauty of Jesus Christ so our love for Him would propel us to go across the world,  across the street, or even across the room. Dr. Sills is an excellent and engaging teac...

Our annual theology conference on  The Theology of Missions is this coming week-end, Feb. 17-19.  In addition to Dr. M. David Sills  from SBTS, Paul Washer will be speaking on"The Gospel We Proclaim and an Introduction to HeartCry Missionary Society" at a 2nd session Friday evening.  If you're interested in attending, the conference starts at 7 PM (dinner at 6 PM). There are two sessions on Saturday morning starting at 9 AM, and two sessions on Sunday beginning at 10 AM.  More info here.

Fact: The temperature dropped 20 degrees from Thursday to Friday, so we turned the heat on this week-end. Fact: I was feeling the beginnings of a cold Saturday afternoon. Here's a home remedy for colds that is not for the faint-hearted: swallow one small crushed clove of garlic 3x a day until the symptoms disappear or you can't bear the garlic fumes any longer. Don't take it on an empty stomach and drink plenty of liquid to wash it down. I've read that garlic has natural antibiotic and antiviral properties. More likely one's breath scares the germs away. Fact: I have 3 baby blankets and burp cloths to make this week. It's easier to find cute fabric for girls than boys. Fact: Thanks to all who were praying for me for the workshop on The Organized Heart .  God was good to use the time to encourage us in practical, grace-motivated living.  I was blessed that the sisters were willing to meet at 8:00 AM on a rainy and chilly Saturday morning. I'm also thank...

Don't injure the pastor or there will be no sermon tomorrow!

2011 Annual Theology Conference February 4-6, 2011 “Living Doxologically Through Doctrine; Turning the Ink of Doctrine into the Blood of Life” With Dr. Robert Smith, Jr. Associate Professor of Divinity/
Christian Preaching Beeson Divinity School--Birmingham, AL Robert Smith  joined the Beeson Divinity School faculty in 1997 and teaches Christian Preaching. He is the author of Doctrine that Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life; coeditor (with Timothy George) of A Mighty Long Journey, a collection of sermons on racial reconciliation.   His research interests include the place of passion in preaching and the literary history of African American preaching. An ordained Baptist minister, he served as pastor of New Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, for 20 years. He and his wife, Wanda, are the parents of four adult children.    He holds both the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from The Southern Baptis...

The only way to prevent the spirit of entitlement is to recognize where we came from, our own wickedness, our own depravity, and our own helplessness apart from the grace of God. From today's sermon by David Gouge on Jonah.  We were blessed to have our brother preach today since Pastor Ryan was en route to Uganda.

There should have been a box of tissues in every pew yesterday.   I'm not a very emotional or sentimental person. As a church, I would say that we're not very emotional either,  after all we're reformed.  But as Jonathan Edwards would say, we were moved in our religious affections for the Lord and for one another. For starters, we celebrated the Lord's supper.  It's always hard for me not to cry during this time.  I was especially struck with what a privilege it is to partake of this remembrance.  I am not an outsider who has no part in Christ's death but one who has been brought near at a great cost.  This is no formal ritual but a very real reminder of our Savior's death. Afterwards the pastor and his wife sang a song about Christ's love for His church.  Their voices blend beautifully together, and it's always a pleasure to hear them sing.  But as lovely as the music was, I got choked up at the words depicting Christ's determination to ...

Genuine biblical love is not holding a mirror in front of someone and saying, "How great you are." It is holding up the Word of God and saying how great He is. From today's sermon by Ryan Davidson ~ See How They Love One Another, Romans 12:9-21.

In our study of Philippians, our teacher asked us to consider the following verse: For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 If we are completely honest, how would we fill in the verse? For me to live is ______________, and to die is ________________. I know what the answer should be . I know what I want it to be , but it is not always the case. I pray that what should be will become reality in my life.

Today, the pastor, our deacon, and two couples from our small group helped us rearrange almost our entire house. They moved furniture, reorganized rooms, fixed chairs, re-plastered ceiling cracks, took down doors, put up a screen door, reorganized shelves, and then some. We are exhausted, but it is a good kind of exhaustion. There was absolutely no way we could have done it on our own. So many thanks to Ryan, Ron, Ryan, Becky, John, and Nicolette for their labor of love. We appreciate you so much and may the Lord bless you! Here are some of the results of the great furniture shuffle. I think they did a great job! (Warning: If your squeamish about mice, don't read on. When the piano was moved, we discovered a large quantity of split peas behind it. The peas were tucked in a comforter that was stuffed behind the piano to absorb some of the sound because of the plaster walls. There was no sign of a mouse nest, just the peas. Over a year ago we had a problem with mice in our pantry...

Topic: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Reformed History Speaker: Dr. Michael Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary When: March 26-28, 2010 Where: Grace Baptist Chapel Hampton, Virginia

The church is having a give-what-you-can yard sale on Saturday. This morning several folks sorted and organized the clothes, toys, and household goods that people donated. Several months ago, the church gave away boxes of food to families in need. These same families were contacted about the "sale". Our prayers is that practical needs will be met and the gospel can be shared. Today's post by Frank Turk was very thought provoking especially in light of this coming Satuday. Here's an excerpt: If you want an example of how to love, that's the example, folks: not filling a shoe box anonymously with some stuff for a kid who has a dad in prison (although, I admit, that's pretty good – it's a lot better than doing nothing), but finding that kid, or any of the people in your analogically-local trailer park, and doing something personally costly for them. Like being seen in public with them, and giving them a hug as if you mean it. You know: because you do it mor...

The pastor, his wife, and two brothers from our small group helped us with some yard work this afternoon. The bushes hadn't been trimmed for at least three years, volunteer trees had sprung up in the beds, and vines were climbing onto the roof. In the picture above, Pastor Ryan is on the roof freeing the gutter from one of the invaders. We accumulated quite a large pile of trimmings after a few hours. We are studying Acts in our small group. The early church helped one another in practical ways "as any had need." Today was a modern day example of that. This job was more than I could tackle on my own even with my daughter's help. I am grateful to the Lord and to my brothers and sister for their help today. Thank God for Christian community.