Ranking What Matters

Ranking What Matters

“God’s mission requires the determination that telling people about Jesus outranks everything else in your life.” - Philip Nation, philipnation.net

by Mark on February 22, 2016

This letter is about a week later than I have been sending, but we have so much to share of God’s goodness with you that I wanted to be sure I was accurate in the most recent acts of His providence. First, I must tell you that through your generous giving we have fully met the goal (and more) for our training and assessment. Second, I need to tell you that we completed our church planting training a few weeks ago. Lisa and I received a lot of wonderful information and much to ponder and pray about as we begin to set the vision and mission that we have discussed for over 15 years to paper for a new church. The speakers at the conference included Ted Powers, Tim Rice, Parakaleo Ministry team for the CP wives, among others. Thank you for your prayers for safe travels and open hearts for God to speak to us while we were gone. Finally, we want to tell you that several prayers were answered just in the last few weeks. One major one was that our house sold. We haven’t signed the dotted line yet, but everything from inspections to appraisals has gone good. The closing date is supposed to be in the next few days, which some of you may not have gotten this letter until after the deal is done. Due to this we have to move quickly. Since the offer/acceptance was made on the house, we looked diligently for a place to rent while we are in transition. I never thought this task would be so hard. To say that decent rental property in Abbeville is not available is an understatement. However, God was steadfast in answering prayer at just the right time and in a testimony of His most sovereign way. We were able to obtain a rental property that more than meets our need. It will be a great “headquarters” as we pray for the Lord’s leading to the specific location of His church plant and begin raising the funds needed for the new work. I know a lot of you ask: Where are you going? When will you actually start? Those are great questions that we don’t know the answer to yet. All we know is that we are to do assessment next which will be in April. Also, we know that when God is ready to reveal  the time and place it will be in His perfect sovereignty. Our ministry verse continues to be Hebrews 11:8. However, this month we are focusing on 2 Timothy 2:1-2, As for you, my son, be strong through the grace that is ours in union with Christ Jesus. Take the teachings that you heard me proclaim in the presence of many witnesses, and entrust them to reliable people, who will be able to teach others also. Our prayer is that wherever the Lord sends us, we will be a witness and be able to teach others, who will be able to teach others, who will be able to teach others, on and on. Thank you for your love and prayers as we look forward to the mission of our Lord!

Worship, Wait and Work

Worship, Waiting & Work!

“There are three parts of our spiritual lives that should always go together: worship, waiting and work.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, Jan. 6th

by Mark on January 21, 2016

One thing I have learned in my lifetime is that God works in such mysterious ways. Where one minute life seems to be pretty good, and then the next trials and hardships seem to be upon us. Where there was a bright sunny outlook turns into the darkest clouds of our life; a time, maybe, that our biggest fear has come true and stares us right in the face.  In these hardships and trials God prepares us to go farther in our walk with Him. The course that He has set for us is total reliance upon Him and not on ourselves; where we are established upon the foundation of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The difficulty for us is that our plans are often out of accord with His plans and He moves us, sometimes pushes us, back into the will He so desires. Sometimes the mission of ministry changes and God asks us to do something different for Him that may be out of our comfort zone. Yet Proverbs 16:3 says, commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. That is our goal as we embark on this new adventure in our family’s life. We are committing our way unto Him. We are fully relying on the grace and goodness of our Lord to establish in us what He has planned. We have seen many changes in our ministry this past year, some very unexpected changes. However, we have had the opportunity during this time of waiting to reflect on what God is doing in our life. Our waiting has allowed us to rest in Him and seek Him. Our waiting has been a means of preparation for the new work, the new calling that is before us. There is excitement in our hearts. There is a freshness to the work to come. The worship of Him has grown. Although we are not sure where the new work is to be done, at this point in time we know what it is. We have adopted for our family verse for 2016 Hebrews 11:8, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going (emphasis mine). Continue to pray with us as we worship, wait and work. Thank You for the love and support you already give.

Click the link for a great read on true worship.

https://josephfranks.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/whatever-it-is-it-is-not-worship/

Great Article: "11 Reasons to Stop Offering Different Worship Styles" by Jonathan Aigner

If you haven't read this article on worship, it is a must. I've included the link here for convienience.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2014/10/28/reasons-to-stop-offering-different-worship-styles/

Am I Truly Ashamed of My SIn?

It has been well over two years since I last blogged. I don't know why I don't blog more. Well yes I do. I find in my spare time that I enjoy reading other's blogs more than actually doing the blogging myself. However, last night during our family devotions using Dr. Gordon K. Reed's daily devotional, Westminster Daily Devotional, we read a passage from Scripture that was Ezekiel 36:22-32 and I have been meditating on it since.

The verses that particularly struck a chord with me were verses 25-32: "25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give youa new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel." (English Standard Version)

"You will remember your evil ways." What a statement! It has been intriguing to me; a small, insignificant country preacher who's battles are fought on a smaller scale, but still grip the souls of my people; to view the the workings of the church on a larger scale and wonder what God is doing with us. When I say "us," I mean the whole of us as the Bride of Christ. It seems to many that we are living in dark times, that evil is prevailing, that God must do SOMETHING or our precious denominations and conceived notions of what Christianity is is going to hell in a hand basket. There is the outcry that if things don't change politically, racially and even sexually that "they...the secular world...those no good NON-Christians" will win. We point to the world and the devil and say, "It's your fault we are in this state." We tell the world, "Can't you just be more biblically moral?" 

And then the Ashley Madison scandal is publicized, heroes of the biblical moral standard like Josh Duggar is outed, and our pastors such as Tullian Tchividjian fall from grace and we realize that we aren't being biblically moral ourselves. What we tout and those whom we point to as examples are really no better than anyone else. "You will remember your evil ways." Yes Lord, we will. We remember that it is not just the world and the devil that has gotten "us" in the mess we are in, but it is our own carnal desires. Paul reminds us, "8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God," (Romans 8:8) and "16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). It seems to me that we, the "us" of the church, have forgotten that vital aspect of being "Spirit Filled" to such a degree that we have "hearts of flesh" instead of "hearts of stone." No, we are not walking with the Spirit as a whole and God is making us "remember" that we aren't.

However, I think another crucial statement the prophet says hits home even more, "You will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations." Ugh...knife, or arrow right in the heart. Oh we get so excited about God's grace. We go to our "worship" and sing and jump and cry, thankful that such a loving God would love us so much; would "give us a new heart;" would "put a new spirit within you." But do we love HIM for such grace? Sure we are thankful; but what about the "removal of idols." Are they really gone? Are the idols of homosexuality, pornography, cheating on spouses, untruthfulness, wealth, etc. really out of our lives? Are there really new hearts? My goodness, I see so many Christians claim to be in the faith, but are loving their sins and not "loathing themselves." That's what the Holy Spirit-filled heart does. We can be thankful that "Calvary covers it all," yet still remember that we are at war spiritually. Why? Why are we to loathe ourselves? Why? Why are we to "be ashamed and confounded for [our] ways?" For ourselves? No!! Because God desires that we feel worthy about ourselves. Again, no!! 

We are special because God made us. We are special because we are created in His image. Our souls are so important to Him that He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross and to rise again to cleanse these wretched hearts and make us "new creatures in Him." God's acts to bring sin to light is not about "us," "it is not for your sake...declares the LORD GOD." It is about restoration and redemption so that all who "are left all around you ["us"] shall know that I am the Lord."

Do I hate my sin enough? Personally, I have to say no. Do I still love the idols of my heart more than God? Personally, I have to say that at times I do. Yet God in His grace loves me enough to make me remember my evil ways and deeds that were not good. God in His love for me causes me to loathe myself for my iniquities and my abominations. Why? Because in His holy light my sins are exposed and I see that God loves me enough not to keep me that way; to give me a new heart, to put His Spirit in me, to make me clean, to make me His child and cause me to walk in His statutes. 

I live for God because Christ died for me. CH Spurgeon said, "Justification without sanctification would not be salvation. It would call the leper clean and leave him to die of the disease." I am fearful for the souls who think they are clean. That's the rub in the church. It is not the immorality of the immoral. It is the immorality of those who should be moral. It is the licentiousness of the liar. It is the hypocrisy. It is the inconsistency.

"Am I truly ashamed of my sin?" That is a crucial question we should be asking ourselves in today's culture. We are too busy wanting God to desire us, that we forget that our chief end is to desire Him. If you are truly His child, He will "effectuate salvation through His Word, prayer and the sacraments" (WSC#88). Make no mistake about it. God will not leave you to "Chase after your raisin cakes" (Hosea 3:1). Repent and put your trust in Christ. He is the only way.

 The Bontrager Family Singers performed at our church on February 9, 2013. Click on the link below to see this wonderful family and their testimony of what God has done in their life.

The Bontrager Family Singers, Norris Hill Church, Anderson, SC 2-9-2013

Light and Truth

"Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God." Psalm 43:3-4

I love these two verses. Jesus is your light and your truth. Jesus teaching in the temple said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) And then He told Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

In today's world, at least in my corner of America, people are so engrossed in themselves. It doesn't matter whether they are rich, or poor; the only concern is themselves. Their thoughts and their motives is what they could gain not in what they can give. All of this is due to an "in-look" and not an "up-look."
The Psalmist, in Psalm 43, gives us a clear picture that our world is bent on evil. Because of the Fall, mankind lives in darkness. Everything we do and see makes us gravitate toward godlessness. Yet, if we are to overcome the darkness, we have to seek what is truth and what is light.

Jesus is the only way we can come to the Father God. We should constantly pray for that light and truth in our life. We should be on our knees asking God to lead us by His light and His truth, which is Jesus Christ.
If we are in a darkened room, what do we search for in order to see? A light switch. I am a hunter, and one of the worst things that has happened to me is that I left my flashlight at home. Can you imagine trouncing around the woods trying to find a deer stand without a flashlight? Needless to say, I had to wait for daylight to see where I needed to go.

Scripture tells us that this world is ruled by darkness. (John 3:19, Romans 1:21, Ephesians 4:18, 5:8, 2 Corinthians 6:14, Jude 6...just to name a few passages). Those who don't have Christ in their lives are wandering around in this world without a "flashlight." They live their lives with respect to lies told to them by the world, Satan and their own fleshly desires. What is unfortunate is that a lot of people think they are OK because they go to church or had some kind of religious experience. They don't realize they are in darkness because they are "feeling" their way through life instead of being guided by Christ.

God is light, in Him their is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). If Jesus is truly Lord and Savior of our life then His light leads us to God. We seek Him. We love Him. We desire to be in His presence, at His altar; and joy and praise overflows from within and goes outward. It is ONLY because of Christ that we can praise God.
Through Christ we turn from the darkness of our sin, the darkness of the world and we run to God. Our lives are changed and we live in such a way that we are different from everyone else. Unfortunately, many people who call themselves Christians do not live like this. They say that they believe, they say they know Christ; but their lives are still worldly dark lives. Their thinking goes like this, "I want all I can get, live in sin...and oh Christ you can come along, too."

I want to encourage you not to be one of these pseudo-Christians. Heed the Psalmist's direction. Live a life worthy of the One who has saved you. Don't be a person who lives for the world and then just tacks on Christ to make yourself feel better. And always keep looking up!