The following article was written for our congregation, to be placed in our bulletin this coming Sunday. If you are not a mamber of PRBC, maybe it will help you pray for your pastor and family next time they are away. And if you are the pastor yourself...pray these things for yourself...and make your own list for your people! And if you are reading this blog, then by all means, pray for Tobey and I. Here's the article, to be published this Sunday at our church...
As you know, Tobey, the kids, and I are halfway through our fall vacation. As you read this (Lord willing), we are preparing to attend church in Memphis. We are praying for you today…and trust that you are praying for us, too. I thought it might be helpful for you to have a few ideas of specific ways you can pray for us while we’re down south…
1. Pray that we will get real rest—physical and spiritual. We need both. Tobey and the kids have been battling colds this month…and I have been looking forward to going out of the harness for a while—getting the chance to hear others preach; and to reading the Bible simply for my own soul’s sake. So, pray that we’ll come back refreshed and re-energized in every way.
2. Pray that we will have good devotional times while away. This is a bit of a sub-point to #1. But I let it stand alone because it is such a need. For Tobey and I, vacation times often seem to be the times when we let our own personal devotions—and our family worship times—slip a bit. When visiting people and staying in their homes, you’re never really alone. So we need to be extra careful to make sure we make time alone for God.
3. Pray that we would have good church experiences on Sunday. Some of you have heard me bemoan the fact that, when we go on vacation, we never can seem to end up in a church service where the Bible is preached and we are edified. I know the churches are out there…we just keep missing them! So pray that this trip will be different. Pray that some pastor (who doesn’t even know us) will have a word from the Lord for us this morning.
4. Pray for our times of Christian fellowship. One of the reasons we are making this trip is to spend time with some dear Christian friends. Pray that our times with these different families would be mutually encouraging; that the conversation would be about Christ; and that we would grow as we observe the example of these godly people.
5. Pray for our testimony. Another reason we are making this trip is to spend some time with friends and family who do not yet know Jesus. Please, please pray that we would let our light so shine before men that they would see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven. Pray that we might have opportunities to speak much and well about Jesus. Pray that the seeds we plant this week might someday spring up to eternal life in some of these loved ones.
6. Pray that we would earnestly pray for you. Pastors go on vacation, but they do not stop being pastors. The flock at Pleasant Ridge is still my responsibility before the Lord whether I’m off duty or on. And the main way I need to defend and shepherd you while I am away is to keep up my normal routine of praying for you all by name. As we drive around, I should have plenty of free time to do just that. Pray that I would redeem that time by wrestling with God on your behalf in prayer.
Finally, thank you, thank you, thank you for giving us this time away…and for praying for us.
PS - For those 2 or 3 of you who actually read this blog...note that, since I am away, the blog will be dark for a few days. I'll be back at it in early December.
November 20, 2006
November 16, 2006
Stealing from the Sheep
A recent Wall Street Journal Article as written on the subject of pastors preaching other pastor's sermons. Stealing...from those pastors and, more importantly, from starving sheep who need a word from the Lord delivered from their own shepherd's study and walk with the Lord.
Read Jeremiah 23, especially verse 30.
Read Jeremiah 23, especially verse 30.
November 14, 2006
Holy Ambition
I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, “They who had no news of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.” Romans 15.20-21
Isn’t this a great sentence? Paul, if he were living in 21st century America might say it something like this: ‘Get me out of the Bible belt. Get me out of the Christian suburbs. Get me out of the United States. Get me somewhere where there isn’t a church on every corner. Get me into an office where everyone around me is pagan. Get me into a neighborhood—not where all my friends live, or where the living is comfy—but where the vast majority of people are lost. God, send me somewhere where I am surrounded by lostness—and therefore where my light might shine most brightly!’ That was the heartbeat of Paul. He had plenty of churches that would have bent over backwards to keep him around. But his heartbeat was: ‘God, get me to Spain! Get me to the ends of the earth. Get me somewhere where Christ is not already named!’ And if you read on in Romans 15, you begin to see how this passion affected Paul’s lifestyle—and how having his passion might affect yours. A few notes…
1. A passion for the unreached means sometimes sacrificing the fellowship of the other believers. In verse 22, Paul says “For this reason (his commitment to the unreached) I have often been prevented from coming to you.” Paul genuinely wanted to fellowship with the believers in Rome. But there was something more important. It was more important for Paul to get to those places where Christ was not already named than it was for Paul to enjoy the fellowship of Rome. Such is the sacrifice of the missionary—leaving the fellowship of home and church family to go to the unreached. Are you up for that kind of sacrifice? Are you willing to leave your comfort zone and go? Are you willing, even within the confines of your home town, to give up some of the fun times with other Christians in order to spend concentrated time with some lost family who needs Jesus? Do you have the priorities of Paul?
2. A passion for the unreached means a financial commitment. Paul was writing to the church at Rome largely because he hoped that they would give to the Lottie Moon Offering (or whatever the 1st century equivalent was)! Listen to verse 24: “Whenever I go to Spain…I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you.” Paul wasn’t afraid to ask for money. And he didn’t need to be. He assumed that these Christians in Rome would have the same passion for the unreached as God had given him. And therefore he assumed that they would be ready to give of their means to make sure the gospel could reach the ends of the earth. Could he assume that of you? Are you willing to help modern-day Pauls on their way so that Christ may be preached where He is not yet named?
3. A passion for the unreached starts with compassion at home. Paul’s greatest desire was to get away from the places where Jesus had been named. But it didn’t mean that he had forgotten about the Christians back home. In verses 25 and following, we find him collecting and distributing an offering to relieve the suffering of the poor saints in Jerusalem. This wasn’t a hiccup in his otherwise relentless passion. Rather, it was an outgrowth of it. Anyone who is passionate about the nations will also be compassionate toward hurting people at home. We will not be one without the other. So the person who gives a mint to Lottie Moon, yet ignores or even sneers the homeless person huddled over the sewer grating is hypocritical. Underlying Paul’s passion was a commitment to help whoever had the greatest needs—whether spiritual or physical.
So, this holiday season, let’s learn from the example of Paul. Let’s go for broke when it comes to giving and going to the nations. Let’s also find practical ways to get ourselves among the lost right in our own neighborhoods. And let’s make sure that we not forget the struggling in our city—or the hurting, diseased, and lonely in our own church families.
Isn’t this a great sentence? Paul, if he were living in 21st century America might say it something like this: ‘Get me out of the Bible belt. Get me out of the Christian suburbs. Get me out of the United States. Get me somewhere where there isn’t a church on every corner. Get me into an office where everyone around me is pagan. Get me into a neighborhood—not where all my friends live, or where the living is comfy—but where the vast majority of people are lost. God, send me somewhere where I am surrounded by lostness—and therefore where my light might shine most brightly!’ That was the heartbeat of Paul. He had plenty of churches that would have bent over backwards to keep him around. But his heartbeat was: ‘God, get me to Spain! Get me to the ends of the earth. Get me somewhere where Christ is not already named!’ And if you read on in Romans 15, you begin to see how this passion affected Paul’s lifestyle—and how having his passion might affect yours. A few notes…
1. A passion for the unreached means sometimes sacrificing the fellowship of the other believers. In verse 22, Paul says “For this reason (his commitment to the unreached) I have often been prevented from coming to you.” Paul genuinely wanted to fellowship with the believers in Rome. But there was something more important. It was more important for Paul to get to those places where Christ was not already named than it was for Paul to enjoy the fellowship of Rome. Such is the sacrifice of the missionary—leaving the fellowship of home and church family to go to the unreached. Are you up for that kind of sacrifice? Are you willing to leave your comfort zone and go? Are you willing, even within the confines of your home town, to give up some of the fun times with other Christians in order to spend concentrated time with some lost family who needs Jesus? Do you have the priorities of Paul?
2. A passion for the unreached means a financial commitment. Paul was writing to the church at Rome largely because he hoped that they would give to the Lottie Moon Offering (or whatever the 1st century equivalent was)! Listen to verse 24: “Whenever I go to Spain…I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you.” Paul wasn’t afraid to ask for money. And he didn’t need to be. He assumed that these Christians in Rome would have the same passion for the unreached as God had given him. And therefore he assumed that they would be ready to give of their means to make sure the gospel could reach the ends of the earth. Could he assume that of you? Are you willing to help modern-day Pauls on their way so that Christ may be preached where He is not yet named?
3. A passion for the unreached starts with compassion at home. Paul’s greatest desire was to get away from the places where Jesus had been named. But it didn’t mean that he had forgotten about the Christians back home. In verses 25 and following, we find him collecting and distributing an offering to relieve the suffering of the poor saints in Jerusalem. This wasn’t a hiccup in his otherwise relentless passion. Rather, it was an outgrowth of it. Anyone who is passionate about the nations will also be compassionate toward hurting people at home. We will not be one without the other. So the person who gives a mint to Lottie Moon, yet ignores or even sneers the homeless person huddled over the sewer grating is hypocritical. Underlying Paul’s passion was a commitment to help whoever had the greatest needs—whether spiritual or physical.
So, this holiday season, let’s learn from the example of Paul. Let’s go for broke when it comes to giving and going to the nations. Let’s also find practical ways to get ourselves among the lost right in our own neighborhoods. And let’s make sure that we not forget the struggling in our city—or the hurting, diseased, and lonely in our own church families.
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