Continue in Truth

Man Walking-Path

During my message on Continue in the Truth, I read a statement by a young African pastor who was martyred for Jesus Christ. As we face adversity in these days for living our our faith in Jesus Christ, may we have the same commitment to continue in truth as this man did.

“I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. 
I don’t have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!”

Who Do You Follow?

Follow

Following notable individuals is nothing new to humanity. It is easy and natural to join the crowd and follow someone who is popular. Often times, personalities are pushed by the world as people you must follow and emulate if you are going to live a happy, successful and popular life. Their words are lifted up as wise and insightful in the midst of unrest. You are told that if you listen to their voice and follow their actions you will receive great benefits. However, they will only lead you to confusion, covetousness, social jealousy and thought of worthlessness.

Jesus told us that those who make the choice to receive Him as their Savior and follow Him would receive benefits that were eternal and truly out of this world. While the promises of men often fail, what Jesus promises will happen!

Luke 18:29-30 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

No matter what the various voices in the world tell you today on TV, social media, radio or podcasts, choose to follow Jesus. He will reward you both now and in Heaven to come.

Dayton Area Pastors Prayer Meeting

Dayton-Area-Pastors-Prayer-Meeting-Blog

I am very excited and anticipate God doing a work in the days ahead in the Dayton area. However, I firmly believe that prayer is what will make the difference. In a conversation with several independent, Baptist pastors at a recent preachers fellowship, the idea was put forward to start a pastors prayer meeting. We have named it the Dayton Area Pastors Prayer Meeting. On January 5th about thirteen pastors and full-time Christian workers gathered together to start this meeting. The focus of the time was to fellowship and then pray together for the furtherance of the Gospel in our area. We plan to continue these prayer meetings on the first Tuesday of each month at various churches around our city. I want to thank Pastor Jerry Siler of Cornerstone Baptist Church for his support and also hosting the first meeting as his church in January. I look forward to hosting our second meeting at Grace Baptist Church on February 2 at 11:00am. I hope to see you there!

 

 

Seeing Clearly

Untitled design

I mentioned a verse in the message on Sunday that I believe is very powerful and would be helpful for us to meditate on as we continue for Jesus this week. Proverbs 28:5 Evil men understand not judgment: But they that seek the Lord understand all things. We are surrounded by a world full of evildoers. In reality, there is nothing new about that. As we watch what happens in the news on political and cultural front, we can clearly see that evil men do not know how to make that righteous decisions. As Jesus followers we can get very discouraged if we focus on that.

Notice how the second part of this proverb gives us good direction for life and the key to seeing all things clearly—seek the Lord. Choose to seek Him in all that you do. David was troubled by evil men until he sought the Lord by going to the house of the Lord (Psalm 73:17). Do you want to understand all things? Do you want to have the right perspective of what is going on in the world around you? Do you desire to make righteous decisions in your daily life? The answer to all these questions is to fervently seek the Lord. Our theme this year is Continue. Let’s continue to seek the Lord in 2016. It is then that we will be able to see things clearly.

Continue in the Word

Vision Sunday Recap

I am extremely grateful for a wonderful response to Vision Sunday! The spirit in the church was tremendous. I am praying that together we will continue and take our relationships with Jesus to the next level. A major part of accomplishing that is our relationship with His Word. As I mentioned during the Vision Night service, there are several great options for Bible reading available on device apps. Here they are again with the links so that you can easily access them. (If you did not get the printed Bible Schedule, you can pick it up at our Welcome Center the on Wednesday night.)

  1. YouVersion
    This is the one that I am personally using this year. My wife and I are reading the Solid Life Reading Plan that will bring us through the whole Bible in a year. I would love to have you join us in this one. A nice feature found in YouVersion is the audio. You can listen to your Bible reading. Check it out!
  2. Logos
    I use this one in my sermon study. It is a comprehensive program and has been a tremendous help to me. Logos does have a free app with basic capabilities for Bible reading and searches. You can follow a limited amount of reading plans in it.
  3. Olive Tree
    I have not used this one in several years, but it is a very well designed app. Though much of it is free to use you can build a study library in it.

I hope these will be a help to you as you continue for Jesus this year. Let’s be in His Word together!

How to Prepare for Vision Sunday

Rock Climb

If you have not yet noticed, I feel that Vision Sunday is an extremely important Sunday for us in which to participate fully. In order to get the most out of the day, we must prepare ourselves and our families. So here are several suggestions.

  1. Pray—Take time today personally and with your family to pray for the Vision Sunday. I ask that you would pray for me as I present the burden God has given to me. Ask God to open your heart and prepare you. Ask God to help you be ready to receive His Word and His will for the coming year. Ask God to work in each member of our church so that together we will all take our relationships with Jesus to the next level.
  2. Rest—God says that He gives His beloved rest (Psalm 127:2). Rest is a gift from God. Plan to have your family and yourself in bed by a decent time on tonight so that you can be refreshed and ready to receive all that God has planned for you.
  3. Encourage—Encourage each other to participate in the day for every service. Make phone calls, send texts and share it on Facebook and Twitter to all of your friends in the church. Let me borrow and adapt the old statement, Friends don’t let friends miss Vision Sunday.

I cannot wait to share our new theme and envision together all that God can do in 2016. I ask you to prepare yourself for Vision Sunday.