The Berean Fellowship – come and join us!

Posted on September 6, 2020 by PastorDave
These lesson notes were written and prepared for our church’s Sunday School class, so they will contain references that will be personal and specific for our group – but I pray and hope they are general enough to be helpful to others also … maybe even you!
Spiritual Exercises / Lesson #1

 

 

THE BEREAN FELLOWSHIP – come and join us!

Acts 17.10-17 | Paul and Silas in Berea

10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

WHAT IS “THE BEREAN FELLOWSHIP”?

I am inviting you to come and join us in this joint challenge and Bible-reading venture we are calling “THE BEREAN FELLOWSHIP.” I’m naming it that after the Jews whom Paul found in the synagogue in Berea, who were “more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

The Jews in the synagogue in Thessalonica had rejected Paul’s teaching them from the Scriptures [the Old Testament Scriptures] that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and Savior that God had been promising in all the OT Scriptures. [see verses 2-3 … we’ll come back to this later…]

The Bereans, however, DID NOT REJECT the Word of God and Paul’s teachings concerning Christ from them. To the contrary, they responded with a four-fold response:

1.      “They RECEIVED the Word with all eagerness” Or, another way to put it would be: “they were all in – all for it!” “they were eating it up!” “They couldn’t get enough!” “They couldn’t wait for the next Sabbath service!” [and that’s precisely where this is going… because they couldn’t wait for the next service – they had to be looking for themselves, on their own, like, every day…]

2.      They examined the Scriptures [KJV, ‘searched’]. They were poring over it. They were reading, pondering, meditating, studying, looking into the meaning of what they were reading. They were comparing what they were reading with other Scriptures [see verse 3 – like Paul did when he preached]. They would talk about it among themselves. They would ask each other questions – and share the insights and input that each of them had to contribute. And, then, the next time they had a synagogue service with Paul, they would compare their notes and ask him to talk about what the Scriptures meant. [And, we need to keep in mind, that “the Scriptures” they had was the Old Testament – the New Testament books had not been written yet…]

3.      They were loving, looking for, and learning more and more about Jesus Christ. When Luke writes ‘to see if these things were so,’ he is referring to what Paul had been talking about in their synagogue services. So, what had Paul been pointing out and talking about? Well, go back a few verses to see what it was that those in Thessalonica had rejected and that the Bereans had received, looked into, and learned with such eagerness and enthusiasm. You’ll find it in verses 2-3:

2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

That’s what they were searching for and finding – and so happy about! They were discovering Jesus Christ and His Gospel in all the OT Scriptures!

4.      THEY DID THIS EVERY DAY! It was not just a ‘Sabbath Day’ thing. They were not like so many – just occasional ‘auditors’ of the Word of God. It became their daily practice … “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so!”

So, there you have it – that is ‘The Berean Fellowship’!

THE CHALLENGE

So, my challenge to you is this: Will you join us, and let’s do this together:

  • to receive God’s Word [Old Testament and New Testament alike] with a voracious love, eager excitement and anticipation…
  • to read it, examining, seeking, searching, looking for, and finding Jesus Christ in all the writings, on all the pages…
  • and to do it every day!?

DO YOU READ THE SCRIPTURES DAILY?

  • Do you read the Scriptures daily?
  • Have you developed the practice, the discipline, the daily ‘habit’ [if you will] of reading God’s Word, the Scriptures every day?
  • Do you read the Word of God regularly – not as just a rote, mindless repetition – but as a regular, consistent spiritual exercise and practice?
  • Do you have an orderly plan or systematic schedule of reading portions to help you keep yourself on task and on target?

If you DO NOT, now is the perfect time and a perfect way to start developing the exercise and discipline of daily reading the Word of God!

If you DO, I’m asking you for the sake of group unity, comradery, and encouragement to do what I plan to do myself – and that is, suspend and interrupt your already-scheduled reading plan and let’s all join together for this 100-day Essential 100 Bible Reading Plan.

THE ESSENTIAL 100 BIBLE READING PLAN

http://store.scriptureunionresources.com/e100/

This is a simple, easy to follow, plan for reading 100 carefully selected passages from the Bible that will highlight many of the key events and teachings that make up the Bible timeline.

Obviously, this plan is not a complete and comprehensive reading of the Bible. Much of the Bible will be left out. But it will give us a panoramic scan of the Bible … the big picture and the brightest highlights of the Bible’s storyline.

50 of these readings are from the Old Testament; the other 50 are from the New Testament. So, in the reading of these 100 passages, you will have completed a scan of the whole Bible – from Genesis to Revelation!

Plus, in doing so, you will also have begun [if you aren’t already], to cultivate and develop the practice of daily reading of the Scriptures – which we all ought to be doing.

I have given you three formats to help you follow this Essential 100 Bible Reading Plan:

  1. I have prepared for you the 4-page paper schedule of the Bible readings
  2. I have also sent you who are here at BRBC the printed card of the Bible reading schedule
  3. And, to those of you who use your electronic devices [computer, tablet, phone], you can either just go to the YouVersion Bible website, and you will find this same The Essential 100 Bible Reading Plan in their “Plans” page [do a search for Essential 100], or you can download the YouVersion app to your device and set up the plan for yourself.

https://my.bible.com/reading-plans/25-the-essential-100

We are looking forward to sharing these next 100 days together in The Word of God!

  • “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day!” ~Psalm 119.97
  • “…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.” ~Psalm 1.2
  • “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” ~Luke 24.27“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness of Me…!” ~John 5.39

Posted in Bible Reading, Daily Time With God, Discipleship, I've been thinking, Spiritual Exercises, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

How to Establish and Practice A Daily Time With God

Posted on September 5, 2020 by PastorDave

These lesson notes were prepared and presented to our church’s Sunday School class, so they may contain personal references to our group – but I pray and hope they are general enough to prove helpful and beneficial to others also … maybe even you!

Spiritual Exercises / Lesson #2

HOW TO ESTABLISH AND PRACTICE A DAILY TIME WITH GOD

Deuteronomy 6.4-9

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

From the beginning, when God first began to speak His words to Moses to be written down, God was insistent that His people passionately love Him and His words. He commanded them to not just expose themselves to His words, but they were to be intentional to make every effort to keep His words in their hearts to love them, and in every aspect of their lives to do them.

They were to highly value and treasure His words in their hearts: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart…”

They were to make every effort and take every measure to keep His words in their hearts and in their physical surroundings: “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” In other words, they were to surround and saturate themselves with written reminders of His words.

They were to conduct every single activity of their lives and relationships according to and in agreement with His words: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

This is what I’m encouraging every one of us to do … daily, regularly, consistently … with the Word of God.  

Whatever you choose to call it: ‘Daily Devotions,’ ‘Quiet Time,’ ‘Bible-Reading,’ – you need to be intentional about establishing it and practicing it. For myself, I prefer to call it “My Daily Time With God,” and I have called it that for years now.

Because, that is what it is: it is your time in the very Presence of God. This is not some mindless rote repetition; it is not an empty religious routine you need to fulfill; it is not just an obligation to be checked off. It is a personal spiritual encounter with the Living God. So, we should give it the attention and priority that God deserves to receive from us.

Hebrews 10.19-22 ~ 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let me share with you some guidelines to help us establish and maintain this Daily Time With God.

1 – Want to do it

Don’t let this be just something you feel like you have to do, or that you are expected to do this to be a good Christian. Don’t have even an inkling of a thought that you are under any kind of coercion to have this Daily Time With God … other than the compulsion of your love for God and your desire to be with Him in His Presence through His Word.

 “…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night” ~Psalm 1.2

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your Name, O LORD, God of hosts” ~Jeremiah 15.16

“I have not departed from the commandments of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food” ~Job 23.12

I am assuming that everyone of us eats every day – several times a day, in fact. I also doubt that any one of us approaches the table or responds when we are called to a meal or moans before going out to your favorite restaurant with, “Oh, man – not again! Do I have to? I just ate a few hours ago.” NO! We’re glad to eat again! Why? Because we have an appetite for it. It pleases our tastes and satisfies our desires.

Look forward to your Daily Time With God with that same appetite, desire, and expectation.

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word, that by it you may grow up into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good!” ~1 Peter 2-3.

“But [Jesus] answered, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”’” ~Matthew 4.4

Listen to how Jesus draws the inseparable connection between loving Him and loving the words He brought us from the Father.

John 14.21-24 ~ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

The next time you sit down to open your Bible to read it, think about the sweet and personal promises Jesus is making here to those who love Him and love His words.

OK – so now you have sharpened and whetted your appetite for God’s Word… next…

2 – Commit to do it

I mean, make an intentional decision on purpose that you are going to seek the Lord and spend time with Him every day in His Word and prayer.

One of the most prominent lessons we learn from studying the Book of Proverbs is that we must give every ounce of our resolve to seeking God in His Word. Listen again to Proverbs 2.1-7 [emphases added]:

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding; He stores up wisdom for the upright…”

Listen to all those strong verbs that describe the laser-like focus of our intentions and the passion of our will that won’t be deterred. This is what true commitment acts like!

We need to make that kind of commitment … and tell the LORD whom you are seeking that you are making this commitment. Yes! Go ahead and talk to Him … out loud! He is speaking personally to you with these words. Answer Him! According to what we just read, He will respect, honor, and reward your commitment by showing Himself to you and speaking with you in His Word!

OK – so you have whetted your desire and made your intentional commitment … next, you need to…

3 – Choose a Bible-reading plan

You need to know ahead of time what you plan to be reading. You can’t just pick up your Bible and then start looking for something that you can read. That kind of experience may happen a few times in a lifetime with helpful results, but it’s no way to conduct a beneficial Bible-reading practice.

So, you’re going to try to find a random ‘verse of the day’? Do you know how many verses there are in the Bible? 23,214 verses! Do you want to read your random ‘chapter of the day’? There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. Do you hope to find your ‘word for the day’? There are approximately 622,700 words.

So, if you don’t have a plan, you’re just going to be immediately swamped, intimidated, and defeated from engaging in any meaningful interaction with the Word of God if you don’t have a plan you are following. If you don’t have a plan, you’ll give up in frustration.

Some of you are old enough to remember driving somewhere or taking a trip before GPS. How did we get to where we were going? We had an old-fashioned map. We would draw a circle around where we were starting from and draw another circle around where we were going. In between here and there, there is a maze of tangled roads and highways you can choose from. So, you survey your options, and then highlight the specific one route that you want to follow from here to there.

And then, that entire route would be broken up by the stops we planned to make along the way.

And even then, sometimes we’d get lost in spite of ourselves. But, we never would have arrived anywhere if we had just pulled out of our driveway and taken the first road or highway we came to and then made random turns as we continued to drive.

Your Bible-reading plan is like your map to guide you through your reading of God’s Word. It’s like the proverbial “how do you eat a whole elephant?” – the answer is: one bite at a time. So, your goal is to read the Bible. “Man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” You choose a plan, you get started with it, and you keep with it until you do the whole thing. And, as they say, “The joy is in the journey, the struggle is part of the joy and the final destination is not an end but another beginning of another journey.” ~ Kathy Boyd Fellure

4 – Schedule the best time of your day to do it – and strive to keep it

Again, what you will want to do is schedule a time and portion of your day and designate it, consecrate it, and keep it as best you can as that portion of your day when you have your Daily Time With God. Try to keep it like an appointment. You don’t have to be legalistic about it – you don’t have to beat yourself up with guilt when it doesn’t work out every now and then … and it will be unavoidably interrupted from time to time. None of our lives have neat, clean, predictable schedules. And, this is especially true for those who are parents with young children or those of us who are caregivers to our seniors. You are ‘on call’ literally every moment of your day.  

But, do your best to set apart a portion of your day when you can be at your freshest, at your sharpest in your attention.

Everybody is not the same on the time of day that is best for them. Some of us are morning people. Some of us are more attentive and alert in the evening, or maybe late at night. But, regardless of when you can give God a significant few minutes of your best undivided attention, I don’t think anyone would argue with or disagree that at least you need to have some time in the morning to fix your mind and attention on God – and to give Him back the day He has given you.

There is an old poem that speaks to this:

I met God in the morning, When my day was at its best;

And His Presence came like sunrise, Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered; All day long He stayed with me;

And we sailed in perfect calmness O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered, Other ships were sore distressed,

But the winds that seemed to drive them Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings With a keen remorse of mind,

When I too had loosed the moorings With the Presence left behind.

So, I think I know the secret Learned from many a troubled way;

You must seek Him in the morning If you want Him through the day.

~Ralph Spaulding Cushman

5 – Remember that you are in the Presence of God

Here’s a prayer to pray to God even as you reach for your Bible … before you open it to read it … you’re already praying to God to speak to you through His words. Psalm 119.18, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

Be attentive to His Presence. Be sensitive to His voice in His own words. Deliberately, intentionally, even verbally pray to God, and open up your heart and soul to enjoy being with Him and in His Presence. How many times are we commanded in His Word to ‘seek the LORD’ … and if we seek Him, He will be found by us.

And, another thing: I know that we have all said and heard that “reading the Bible is God talking to us; and praying is us talking to God” – and I’m not going to argue with the truth that is in that statement. But, neither exercise is one-sided. Neither reading the Bible nor praying is a monologue. Because when God is talking to us through His Word by the witness of the Holy Spirit, we need to be talking back to Him in response … while we are reading!

Learn to pray to God, converse with God, talk with God – even as you are reading His Word. Learn to pray back to God in the words you are reading from Him. Donald Whitney, in his book Praying the Bible, says “So basically what you are doing is taking words that originated in the heart and mind of God and circulating them through your heart and mind back to God. By this means His words become the wings of your prayers.” Pray for yourself, pray for others, and worship God according to what you are reading about Him. Delight in Him, confess your sins, believe and trust His promises, resolve and decide to obey what He is commanding us in His Word.

In other words, read God’s Word in His own Presence. Justin Peters has famously said, “If you want to hear God speak to you, read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak audibly to you, then read the Bible out loud.” We ought to read the Bible out loud more anyway … even when you’re by yourself. If you’ll read the Bible out loud, you will not only be reading it with your eyes, but you’ll be hearing it with your ears … and, hopefully, with your heart also.  

6 – Prepare for war

What I mean by this is that when you sit down to read and meditate in the Word of God, it is not just you and your Bible there. It isn’t even just you, your Bible, and God there. There are other spiritual beings in the spirit world who will be there, too. When you commit yourself to be serious with God and “live by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” then you can be sure that all the available forces of the kingdom of darkness will be marshalled and dispatched to war against you.

We would like to think that if we will commit ourselves to God and His Word, then our Bible-reading experiences will be times of peace, tranquility, and stillness. And, to be sure, oftentimes they are. But, getting serious about knowing God, and spending time with Him, and surrendering to Him to be in sync with His will puts a huge target on you for the Evil One to shoot at.

Just think about Jesus and His temptations from the Devil. What did Jesus use to victoriously defeat and triumph over his own temptations? It was the Word of God. Jesus Himself had grown up reading and meditating in the Scriptures … He had discipled and disciplined His own life by living by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Every time He was tempted by Satan, He responded by quoting words from “It has been written…” Satan knows that the Word of God will equip and arm you the same way. So, he will assault you, harass you, distract you, deter and hinder you, and tempt you with every weapon available to him. And, he will do this, more often than not, while you are in the very exercise of reading the Word of God!

That’s why Paul warned and exhorted us to fully arm and equip ourselves against Satan’s attacks by putting on the whole armor of God [Ephesians 6.10-20]. And, it shouldn’t be lost on us that all the other pieces of armor are defensive weapons against Satan’s frontal attacks: belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet. The only offensive weapon is the sword that the Holy Spirit wields to engage our own personal offensive assault against the Evil One … and that sword of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God. [Along with prayer also … verses 18 and following]

And so, prepare for war against your mind, soul, and spirit even as you are in the act and exercise of reading the Word and spending time with God. And, the Devil will get up with you, and follow you, and attack you as you get on with your day’s activities after you have spent time with God. You will be tempted and spiritually assaulted in the very vein of what you had just been thinking about and meditating on and learning from God in your Daily Time With God. He will test you most fiercely with what you have just learned and received from the Word of God.

So, be prepared to face those attacks and keep the sword of the Word ready to arm and strengthen yourself in the power of the Holy Spirit.

7 – Continue to persevere and follow through consistently even during the dry seasons

Just a needed word about this … because there will be dry seasons. There will be times when God will thrill your soul with unexpected joys. God will flash His Glory to your spiritual vision with epiphanies of His Majesty, Greatness, and Grace. Other times, He may crush you with revelations of His Holiness and your own sinfulness. Sometimes, you will laugh out loud – sometimes, you will break down in tears and weeping – hey, sometimes, you might even lift your hands and shout when you are sure no one is looking!

But there will be also seasons of time and experience when you don’t feel anything. Your emotions are unstirred – your sensitivities are numb – your feelings are flat. There will be times when you feel so aware and full of your own sinfulness that you can doubt whether a person can even be saved and feel as carnal as you think you are.

But that just means that you have to keep reading His Word. Keep seeking the LORD. Even those times of spiritual dryness and famine should minister to us by stoking our desire to personally encounter God in His Word all the more.

I quit a long time ago trying to figure out what God is up to in the ways He deals with me, either through His providences in my circumstances or in my spiritual emotions and affections. But I am pretty sure that sometimes He may just choose to step around the corner and hide Himself for a brief season just to give me an opportunity to discover just how needy I am of His Presence.  

You know that Scripture from Jeremiah 29.11 that we’re always quoting about God’s knowing the plans He has for us – to give us a future and a hope? Well, God gave this word to Judah through Jeremiah even while they were still in Babylon in exile from their homeland. Their temple had been desecrated and desolated. Their worship had been disrupted. Their city had been burned to the ground. And on and on … I would say that the place they were in would qualify to be called a ‘dry season’ – wouldn’t you?

And yet, even in those times, what was God’s word to them? He told them to keep on seeking Him – with all their heart.

Jeremiah 29.10-14 ~ For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfareand not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

So, yes – continue to follow through consistently in your Daily Time With God … even through the dry seasons.

8 – Don’t hold yourself to unreasonable expectations

The main reason I’m saying this is because if you are super-conscientious, and if you are really serious about your Daily Time With God as your time of encounter and communion with God in His Word – then, if you default on it or if you don’t maintain it perfectly, then you’ll be the kind who will beat up on yourself, and be wracked with guilt, and be ready to declare yourself disqualified (adokimos). So, don’t do that! You will default from time to time!

Sometimes, we say about the life we live: “You know, the main problem with life is that it is so daily! ” Meaning, that some days are going to start falling apart early on. Your daily routines will be interrupted. Your agenda for that day will be derailed. You’ll hear the blaring in-your-face bulletin: “We now interrupt your regularly-scheduled day to bring you this meltdown – deal with it!” And, you’ll have to deal with it.

Or, you’ll get physically sick – maybe for days at a time. Or, you’ll have appointments and errands that will tie you up all day long – or whatever. Many of your days will take on a haywire life of their own.

There will be times when you feel like you are ‘behind’ in your commitments. And, let’s be honest, there may be times when you just feel spiritually raunchy and you have lost interest and the passion of your desire.

Just be sure you don’t give it up. Don’t require yourself to be perfect … because, if you haven’t learned this by now – you’re not perfect!

And, if the default is your fault, or if you’ve been negligent, or if you’ve backslidden, or if you’ve taken your own hike into a far country, or if you’ve been wandering or disobedient – you just need to repent, and come back, and pick up again where you left off. God’s Word will heal you. God will restore you. God will receive you back.

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all oursins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. ~Micah 7.18-20

You have His Word on that!

9 – Write it down

Get yourself some kind of system for writing notes as you read God’s Word. It may be a pretty notebook, but it doesn’t have to be. It may be one of these contemporary journaling notebooks that a lot of people are carrying around these days, but it doesn’t have to be. I like to use a cheap little spiral-bound 8×5 inches notebook with 80 lined pages. I buy them in bulk and keep them on hand to take all kinds of notes on different things. I keep one of them with me as I read through the Bible in my Daily Time With God. Nobody but you will ever see it anyway.

Write the date. Write the Scripture you’re reading. Then, just jot down notes to yourself as the Holy Spirit makes impressions on you.

You may want to make a note of

  • some word or some phrase that interests you, and you want to remember where it is…
  • a cross-reference, connection, and comparison with another Scripture…
  • some attribute, characteristic, or description of God for you to know and delight in…
  • an example that you must follow (or not follow)…
  • an error that you must avoid…
  • a sin that you must confess, repent from, and forsake…
  • a command you must obey…
  • a promise you must claim or act on…

Whatever it is that impresses you – whatever jumps out at you – just write it down! Remember, it’s not just words on a page. It’s not just our ancient history, or writings, or documents.

It is the Word of God that lives and abides forever!

It is God speaking to you with His own Voice and in His own words!

Make a note of it, and keep your notes to refer back to, refresh your memory later on, or just keep a journaling record of where you and God spent time together in His Word on that day!

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success!” ~Joshua 1.8

Posted in Bible Reading, Daily Time With God, Discipleship, I've been thinking, Spiritual Exercises, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I am just a plain man seeking God!

Posted on September 1, 2020 by PastorDave

I AM JUST A PLAIN MAN SEEKING GOD … Have you ever wondered what it would be like to read the Bible for the first time? Without knowing what you already know about God and the Bible? Just to open it up and begin reading to discover for the first time what the Bible reveals about God, about human history, about you?

I have. I wouldn’t trade what I have learned, gathered, and accrued over the years of continuously and consistently reading the Word of God – but I have also yearned at times to return to the sheer delight of making that first fresh discovery of God and His glory from reading something that comes to life in such a powerful way that it’s like I’m seeing this for the very first time!

I remember one season in my life in particular when this thought and desire first possessed me – or at least in this way I’m going to describe to you. I would like to share it with you in the hopes that it might inspire you to read the Word of God with this same fresh perspective and insight.

“I am just a plain man seeking God!”

I just know that I was deeply depressed during this particular season. I was questioning everything about the significance and effectiveness of my life for any good that I had contributed to the Kingdom of God or to other people. I was doubting the worth of everything about me: my meaning, my purpose, the direction I was heading in, the wake I had left behind me, the prospects of whatever was in front of me … everything!

I can’t pinpoint the year exactly, but I remember well where we were living, so it was sometime around 1984-85. I’ll run across the notes that I wrote to myself some day and pin down the precise time, but that’s not the important thing for here.

I know that I just needed to hear from God – from the Living God. I was beginning a new reading-through of the Word of God like I have done repeatedly for over 50 years. I was in a pastoral role, again just like I had been for the past 12 years previous to that time. I had been a Christian, a believer for 20 years at that time. I had been reared in the pastor’s home and in church all my life.

But, none of that background, experience, or familiarity with God and the Bible was feeding my soul. I needed something fresh from God! I wanted to know God and to hear from God in a personal way, in a soul-quickening and reviving correspondence with the Living God!

None of my background or past experience qualified me for any sort of special effects or encouragement to my soul. In other words, none of those long-practiced activities could speak life into my depressed and downcast spirit.

It’s not that reading the Bible ever becomes “old hat,” or that we become jaded to it – but sometimes we go through seasons when we have lost the passion, the verve, the thrill of life that we long to enjoy when we commune with God in His Word.

I am, after all, in my core being, just a plain man who is seeking God!

I want to know God! I want to hear from God! I must hear from God Himself! And, I knew that God speaks through His Word by the life and power of the Holy Spirit. And, I knew that God has given us His Word for the specific purpose of “outing” Himself to us – revealing Himself to us, telling us who He is, who we are, and what His will and purpose is to have a loving relationship with us.

So, the thought hit my mind one day: what if I didn’t have all this background and familiarity with God and the Bible? What if I didn’t already know everything I know about God and the Bible? What if I was opening up the Bible for the first time – with the desperate desire and hunger to discover who this God is and know Him? What if I didn’t know what to expect, didn’t already know what was going to come next – but just had the confidence that if I read this Book, the Bible, I would find God, meet God, and discover who God is? And, perchance have a personal encounter with Him?

What would I discover about God just from reading the Bible from this perspective and with this intention: I am just a plain man/woman who is seeking God!

So, I remember beginning to read where the Bible begins … in Genesis 1 and following. Here are the kinds of thought I began having as I started reading … and as I kept saying to myself: “I am just a plain man who is seeking God!”

God is a creating God! God makes matter and stuff out of nothing! “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There was nothing there before God made it, but God created everything there is! So, He is an eternally-existing God, and He is a powerful God! Powerful enough to create everything that exists out of stuff that did not exist before! And, He is the Creator of everything that is in the world. I mean, that’s what that sentence says about God!

God’s Spirit and Presence in in His created world! “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” I suppose His Spirit and His Presence is still ever-present everywhere in His physical creation. Like, right here with and around me!

God is a talking, speaking God! “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light…” and there was everything else that God just spoke and said “Let it be!” This God is not only a talking, speaking God, but He is doing His talking and speaking from His superior intelligence and intellect. He is talking and speaking as a Person – He is a Person-God and a personal God! And, I am convinced that just as this Bible that I am reading is telling me about this God talking and speaking like this … is also God speaking and talking with me! This is becoming more and more awesome – the more I read and the more I find out about this God!

God is a God who performs other activities of personal intelligence – and He also makes value judgments according to His own Personal values! “And God saw that the light was good…” So, this God is good, and He determines when other things are good, and He values good. “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.” God calls things what He wants them to be – and what He is pleased for them to be. God is a God of superior and ultimate authority. This God “makes the call” about everything. God assigns the definition, the purpose, and the evaluation of all things. Things are distinguished and differentiated according to His desires and pleasure – they serve His good purposes.

God creates all life – and all life comes from Him! “And God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures … God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves…” He continues creating all living creatures on the land, in the air, in the waters. All life is created by God! This God is not only alive and living Himself, but He is the One who makes everything live that is alive!

God created human beings! God blessed human beings to live in loving relationship with Himself! God created us … God created me … to know Him, to live in communion with Him, to enjoy sharing a loving relationship with Him! “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’” And then, after creating this first man and woman, God continued to converse with them, to bless them with His company and Presence, and allow them to serve Him under His direction and pleasure! He continued to explain and demonstrate how He and they would have this loving and gracious relationship together under His sovereignty, Lordship, and provision!

Are you getting the idea? Bear down, bore down on the words to read them with as fresh a mind as you can muster – and open up your understanding to the Holy Spirit to reveal God to you in all His holiness, majesty, greatness, and glory!

And, then, you just keep reading on through the rest of the Bible with this thirst and quest in mind: “I am just a plain man/woman seeking God!”

If one of the first and primary reasons we read the Word of God to begin with is to know God and find our joy and delight in Him, then make that your goal and quest – and He promises to “out” Himself to you and say, “Here I am!” [Isaiah 58.9]

“When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you” [Proverbs 6.22] … because it is, after all, the Word. of. God!

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“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory” (James 2.1)

Posted on August 9, 2020 by PastorDave

Like you, I have thought about these same issues for years now – and even more so within the last year, especially … and even more, more so since the events of the past few months have exploded these crucial and sensitive matters into our national and social conscience, conversations, and relationships.

We must confront these issues and engage the other persons involved in them. We must talk about it. And, we must do something about it. We must seek to establish equity, fairness, and justice in all our institutions [governmental, corporate, churches, and social] and relationships. We must strive for love, unity, forgiveness, and reconciliation where they have been lacking, ruptured, or violated.

But, we can’t allow ourselves to be swept up and along by the impassioned emotional responses that are expressed in the tidal waves of group-think and impulsive actions.

I will say for my own part, that from the beginning of these very public and passionate discussions, one of the guiding Scriptures that has convicted me, pointed me to my attitudes and courses of action, and clarified for me how I must follow Jesus in living out the Gospel is James 2.1-13.

  • James’s immediate context is one of rich/poor, socio-economic disparities and the prejudices that arise from them – and, keep in mind that all of this is going down in the churches [“…comes into your assembly…” verse 2]  
  • These prejudices [James calls it ‘partiality’, verse 1] result in personal disdain toward and ultimate rejection of certain persons because of differences you see that cause you to evaluate them to be inferior to you in some way. James calls it what it is: “…have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” [verse 4].  
  • But the same principle applies to every other difference among us.
  • In verse 1, James declares that the Gospel, and my “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory,” forbids me to devalue or disdain any person, any bearer of the image of God because of the melanin content of their skin, their country of origin, their customs or culture, ethnicity, or any other superficial difference.
  • Jesus Christ and His Gospel requires me to treat every person with the very same equal respect, justice, and fairness as Jesus Himself does in His Gospel. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well” [verse 8]
  • And, all of that is true, first, because of our common creation by God and the common oneness of race all human beings share [Malachi 2.10; Acts 17.26]…
  • …and how much more so because the Gospel of Jesus Christ forbids us to treat any other human being with partiality or difference [Romans 1.14-16; Romans 3.22-24; Galatians 3.26-29; Ephesians 2.11-22; Philippians 2.1-11; Revelation 7.9-12, et. al.].
  • If I violate this Gospel law either in attitude or conduct, then I have sinned. “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” [verses 9-10]. So commands Jesus Christ and His Gospel.   

Then, when I listened to these podcasts by Pastor Robert Cunningham – who pastors Tates Creek Presbyterian Church, just down the road a bit from where I live here – I heard him articulating many of the same thoughts I had been praying over and coming to.

Except that, he is so much more articulate, cogent, precise, simple, thorough, and comprehensive than I could ever hope to be.

So, I commend him and these podcasts to your attention and consideration. You will find him to be calm, compassionate, reasonable, and fair. He is Scripturally-convictional and historically-documented. Most of all, he challenges us from start to finish to follow Jesus, be sure it is actually Jesus we are following, and commit to living out the ‘works’ that our ‘faith’ really requires. As he states in his third podcast, he is speaking from his own Presbyterian (PCA) context, but you and I can apply these same principles to our own.

The summaries of each of these episodes are his own summaries:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/racism-in-america-part-1/id1477389913?i=1000478629828

Episode 31 / Racism in America / part 1 / In the first episode of a three-part series on the historical cultural moment emerging from the killing of George Floyd, Robert speaks to those who are passionate for racial justice. While affirming their zeal to fight racism, he cautions that they may be unknowingly embracing a destructive ideology that harms the very world they are seeking to heal. In his analysis, he takes a look at the history and meaning behind many terms that have entered our mainstream discourse which are crucial to understand.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/racism-in-america-part-2/id1477389913?i=1000480368498

Episode 32 / Racism in America / part 2 / In episode two of our “Racism in America” series, Robert now speaks to Christians who have a harder time accepting proof that racism is still a problem in today’s society, and challenges us to examine our history through a more critical lens.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/every-square-inch-podcast/id1477389913?i=1000483415395

Episode 33 / Racism in America / part 3 / In the final episode of our series on racism in America, Robert looks specifically at how our Protestant, Presbyterian tradition has handled the issues of slavery and racism in our country’s history, before ending the series with theological and practical applications for our church.

In the end, like in all matters of faith and culture, we must always follow Jesus – wherever He leads. And through the testimony of Scripture as illuminated by the Holy Spirit, we must always make sure that it is actually Jesus we are really following.

“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything”  

~2 Timothy 2.7

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The Way of the Dragon or The Way of the Lamb

Posted on July 8, 2020 by PastorDave

BOOK REVIEW

The Way of the Dragon or The Way of the Lamb | (Searching for Jesus’ path of power in a church that has abandoned it)

Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel | Nelson Books, 2017

Actually, I heard this book recommended by a brother and fellow church member, Seth York, on one of Hershael York’s PastorWell podcasts, and so I got and read it.

I thought I was reading my own life’s story written by someone else … complete with constant references to the same Scriptures that have taught me, guided me, encouraged me, strengthened me, and kept me from despair and giving up on myself for the past 50 years. I found myself profusely highlighting, marking, writing notes and comments in the margins of the pages, as well as making copious notes in a reading side-journal I keep as I read.

So, here’s the crux of the issue – this issue of “power”: every one of us wants to be a person of influence with others for God. We want our lives to matter, to count. We want to “make a difference.” We want to be effective as a positive, edifying influence in God’s Kingdom. We want to be useful to God as an instrument of His grace in the lives of others. And, that’s a good thing. That’s what God gives every one of us our gifts to do.

The only problem is: far too often we seek to exercise that influence through channels of human wisdom and power. It is so easy for us to revert back to our default fleshly confidence in our own skills, abilities, strengths, or even our very gifts from God. It’s a common axiom among us to “play to your strengths.”

That is what Goggin and Strobel are calling “the way of the Dragon.” These carnal exercises of human wisdom and power are “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3.15) and are implemented with “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts” (verse 14). It leads, not to humble service and giving of ourselves to others, but rather to wanting to use others to promote ourselves or advance a personal agenda. It produces a desire for position, prestige, and even a celebrity of some degree or another. I’ve even heard talk of “leveraging” certain people, or positions, or events to advance one’s own personal ministry ambitions. The common methods employed in this “way of the Dragon” are coercion, intimidation (bullying), and manipulation.    

However, Jesus has mandated, “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20.20-28). What we will have to discover is that Jesus’ way of wisdom and power (“the way of the Lamb”) is by His grace working His own wisdom and power through our weakness and brokenness (1 Corinthians 15.10; 2 Corinthians 4.7-12; chapter 12.1-10 et. al.).

There is also the constant reminder throughout these chapters that everything we are doing in the Kingdom of God – all the activities that go on in our churches and in our ministries – it all is in the arena, context, and environment of constant spiritual warfare. Here is just one of many summary paragraphs I highlighted – this one from chapter 4, “Standing Against the Powers,” page 75:

“The church, the place where kingdom values should reign is the place where we come to know and participate in the way of God – where ‘we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’ (Eph. 6:12). The church is the place where the powers are to be exposed for what they are and are continually put to shame as they were upon the cross. Sunday morning worship in this sense is a spiritual battle, but the battle isn’t limited to Sundays. This is why we need to discern the fruit of the church to see where it is rooted. Is the church walking in the way from below – a way that is unspiritual, earthly, and demonic, driven by selfishness and jealousy – or is it walking in the way from above, made manifest on the cross in love? This question should be at the heart of our small groups, conferences, seminars, and publishing; it should be woven into our parenting, friendships, and service. This question should drive us and deeply unsettle us.”  

One aspect of this book’s writing that I most appreciate is how the authors gathered their content: both Goggin and Strobel are writing from their own personal experiences of personal brokenness and what others may even call vocational ‘failure,’ or at least certainly disappointments. But, what these two “young influencers” have done is sought out the counsel of a number of older, long-experienced servants of the Lord. They listened to them tell their stories, and then wrote about the lessons they learned (or were affirmed and reinforced to them) from these older servants’ lives of living, ministering, and serving in “the way of the Lamb.” I admire their humility and willingness to learn from others who had walked in “the way of the Lamb” before them, instead of strutting into the Kingdom arena with the self-aggrandizing announcement, “We’re here! We’ve got this now!”

Just a personal note here at the end: God has led me on this way of brokenness and weakness all of my ministry. I began my public Gospel ministry with an attitude of pride, but God effectively broke me of any confidence in and reliance upon my self-contained ability or power through a series of experiences which not only marked me at that time, but which have also followed me ever since. He knows how lay His hand on me at any time, pull me up short, and remind me that without Him I can do nothing; and that “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4.7). This verse became my signature reference through those experiences and remains to this day.  

So, to anyone who struggles with a deep, discouraging, and maybe even debilitating sense of your own weakness and inadequacy, get this book and read it. You are actually stronger than you know – through Christ in you!

Just in case you are still reading – and interested: here is another excerpt from chapter 2, “Power in Weakness,” which is written, by the way, in conjunction with their conversations with J. I. Packer (pages 29-31):

“The problem confronting Paul was that he did not embody any of the marks of power the Corinthians valued. In many ways, he was the exact opposite of what they desired: He did not have an impressive physical presence, he lacked bravado and confidence, and he was meek and gentle in his leadership (2 Cor. 10:10). He did not speak with eloquence (2 Cor. 11:6), and he did not boast in money, intentionally refusing to take money for his ‘services,’ choosing to work a menial job that would have been socially dishonorable (2 Cor. 11:7). On top of all this, Paul experienced continual suffering and hardship (2 Cor. 11.21-30). Each of these things was a sign of weakness in the eyes of the Corinthians. The totality of Paul’s weaknesses had become unpalatable to them. The Corinthians wanted a super-apostle, not an apostle of weakness … Rather than meeting the Corinthians’ expectations, however, Paul shone a light on the very weaknesses that caused him criticism, putting his weakness front and center (2 Cor. 1:3-7; 6:2-10; 11:16-12:10). Radically, Paul embraced the very things that the Corinthians rejected, identifying these weaknesses as signs of his true apostleship. He argued that his weakness was actually verification of the power of God working through him, and he rejected the Corinthian view of power as worldly success, bravado, and status. For Paul, the power to dominate and win was antithetical to the nature of the Gospel. This is not merely a question of what leadership ‘style’ you like, but a question of whether you embrace the way of Jesus. The high point of Paul’s defiant response to the Corinthians’ lust for power is found in the passage we began with: “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor.12.9-10).

For a culture so fixated on power, it is hard to imagine how paradigm-shifting these words were, and how difficult they would have been to hear. But, of course, our own cultural context mirrors the Corinthian context in nearly every way. In a culture boasting of personal accomplishment and success, Paul’s response was to boast in his weakness. Why did he do so? So that the power of Christ may rest upon him. Paul viewed an embrace of weakness as an embrace of strength, because in weakness he could depend upon the might of God. His weakness was the source of his power. Paul did not anchor his life as a follower of Jesus in his ability, talent, gifting, resume´, or strength, but in the grace of God alone. To marshal these skills or achievements in his flesh would have been to embrace power from below and thus reject the Gospel. Paul wrote, ‘For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power’ (1 Cor. 1:17). Incredibly, Paul argued that to embrace the Corinthian way – to put ourselves forward, emphasizing our strengths and seeking our own power – was to empty the cross of its power.”

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“BLESS YOU, MOM!”

Posted on June 26, 2020 by PastorDave

Today is my Mom’s birthday.

So, as a partial expression of my love for her, I want to excerpt a portion from a message I preached on Mother’s Day, 13 May 2001.

The message is from Proverbs 31.28, “Her children rise up and call her ‘blessed’; her husband also, and praises her…” I titled that message, “Bless You, MOM!”

“Motherhood is a bond created by God between a mother and the children born to her. God created and made us to love, to think, to feel this way toward our mother. It is a bond forged by our literal physical connection to each other.

Let me tell you just a little of what my Mom did for me…

MOM carried me in her own body for almost a whole year and suffered all the inconveniences of pregnancy…

MOM delivered me into the world through her own pain and discomfort…

MOM nursed me and fed me…

MOM cared for me when I couldn’t take care of myself…

MOM, especially, re-arranged her whole life for the whole rest of her life around her love, care, and concern for her children…

MOM taught us to know and love God and to love each other…

MOM instructed us in respect, manners, and right ways of living…

MOM praised us when we did right (which was every now and then) – and disciplined us and corrected us when we disobeyed and did wrong (which was more often than not)…

MOM counseled, comforted, and consoled us in our injuries and hurts…

MOM worried, even when I didn’t think she had to – but she always told me: “I am your Mother … it is my prerogative to worry!”

When I was only 20 years old, I travelled to West Virginia from North Carolina every weekend to preach in a church in Charleston WV. I would leave work on Saturday afternoon and drive 4 ½ hours to Charleston to preach on Sunday. I would arrive Saturday night, stay overnight, preach Sunday morning and then again Sunday afternoon; then drive home again and get home usually around midnight. And my drive home at night was along winding state roads through WV and VA and finally into NC. And Mom would stay awake and sometimes worry until I got home.

Mother never retires from Motherhood.

Mother will always be Mother.

MOM can console, sympathize, and comfort like no one can … and she did – through the fevers, coughs, upset stomachs, vomiting, diarrhea, earaches, mumps, chicken pox, measles, and anything and everything else that afflicts her children. I still have vivid memories of Mom smearing three children at one time with a paste made out of corn starch, covering our itchy measles sores to try to give us some relief – staying up all night to do so.

Dad loved us – but he couldn’t touch our feelings like MOM could … and did.

When I was probably 12 years old or so, I was walking after school down to a bookstore that Dad had opened up down in the small town East Rainelle where we lived. The school bus passed and Robert Caudill who was one of the school bullies leaned out the window of the bus and spit snuff spit all over the hand-me-down jacket I was wearing. I liked that jacket – it was my favorite jacket – and Robert Caudill just spit all over it. He didn’t injure me physically, but, he sure did terribly hurt my feelings!

I walked into the little bookstore and Dad was there, working on a print job in the back of the store – another sideline he had. I was fighting back the tears. I told Dad that Robert Caudill had spit on me. Dad was the realist – the pragmatist. (Just a few years previous to this, Dad had spent five years of his young life fighting Nazis in Europe, so he knew all about mean people.) He said, “Son, I’m sorry. Things like that happen. There are all kinds of people in the world and some of them … well, we just have to put up with them.” (That’s probably what I would tell my son, also.)

But, that’s not what I wanted to hear. I WANTED SOME SYMPATHY!

So, Mom was there also. She wasn’t always there, but she was that day. I blubbered out, “MOM, ROBERT CAUDILL SPIT SNUFF SPIT ON MY FAVORITE JACKET!” Mom gave me what I wanted … and maybe needed. She just hugged me to herself in her arms, and said, “Well, David, Robert probably doesn’t have a good home. That may be one of the reasons he’s so mean. But, WE LOVE YOU … AND I’LL WASH YOUR JACKET, AND IT WILL BE ALL RIGHT!”

You know what? it was! And, you know what else? it still is.

My MOM is worth more than all the world to me.

‘BLESS YOU, MOM!’”

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“My Father! My Father!” – a testimony to Grace

Posted on June 21, 2020 by PastorDave

…an excerpt from my portion of a personal tribute delivered at our Dad’s Memorial Worship Service…

15 February 2013

Reading from the Word of God…

Psalm 103.1-5

Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy Name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 16.5-11

O LORD, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices! My flesh also shall rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.

You will show me the path of life;

in your presence is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

And, as much as our human hearts are breaking right now with our temporary separation from here, we wouldn’t begrudge him the fullness of joy and the pleasures of the Presence of his Lord Jesus Christ for anything in earth or Heaven.

LET’S PRAY AND COMMIT THIS SERVICE TO THE GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST…

On behalf of our Mom and our family, we want to thank you for gathering here with us today for what we are calling a MEMORIAL WORSHIP SERVICE.

We welcome you to the Presence of God – and to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because God is here – and we are in His Holy Presence.

And, this is a Worship Service.

Our Dad charged us and gave us instructions years ago for how this service was to be conducted … and then reminded us again of those instructions repeatedly over the past few months.

Everything we will do here today – and the ways we will do it – will be not only according to his instructions, but HE CHARGED US TO GLORIFY GOD … MAGNIFY THE GRACE OF GOD … AND PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST  IN EVERYTHING WE DO.

-______________________________-

He did, though, have some HUGE debts of personal gratitude that he wanted to express.

He told me to be sure to ‘make special mention’ of some of his personal friends whom he wants to know how much he loves you: Tommy and Becky Tincher & Gary and Louise Mabe … and his personal physicians who ministered to him physically: Dr Mitchell & Dr Abbott & Dr Duck … and we want to express our profound personal appreciation to: DAVIDSON COUNTY HOSPICE

 -______________________________-

OUR DAD’S LIFE WAS A TESTIMONY TO THE GRACE OF GOD GIVEN TO HIM…AND LIVED THROUGH HIM.

1 Corinthians 15.10 ~ BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD…I AM WHAT I AM! AND HIS GRACE TOWARD ME WAS NOT IN VAIN; BUT I LABORED MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL – YET NOT I, BUT THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS WITH ME!

-______________________________-

So, as His personal testimony to the Grace of God, please take your copy of our Service Program and stand with us as we worship God by singing “AMAZING GRACE”

-______________________________-

2 Kings 2.12

“MY FATHER, MY FATHER,

THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL AND THE HORSEMEN THEREOF!”

That was Elisha’s personal tribute to his father in the faith, Elijah, as he stood by the Jordan and watched him taken to Heaven by the fiery chariot and horses that God has sent to transport Elijah alive…to Heaven.

Elisha was acknowledging that the old prophet had been the real strength and might of the nation: ‘the true chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”

Chariots were the fastest means of transportation in that day, and were also the strongest measures of a nation’s military strength, prowess, and protection.

Israel had scorned the old prophet – and had turned away from their True God.

So, Elisha was acknowledging that the old prophet had been the true measure of the nation’s strength – and now he had just witnessed him going away to Heaven.

Our Dad was an old prophet of God’s Grace and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

‘My father!  My father!’

Our Dad was not only our biological father, but he was also our spiritual father in the faith of Jesus Christ. 

He and Mom not only brought us, their children, into the physical world of human life – but they also led us into personal faith in Jesus Christ and into the eternal life of the Kingdom of God.

Our Dad was also a spiritual father in the faith to some of you, and a brother and companion in service to Jesus Christ to many of you.

And – to all of us – our Dad was a model…example…and pattern for us to follow and by whom to shape and live our lives.

Our Dad was not a man of impressive gifts and abilities, but he was a faithful servant of the gifts and abilities God did give him.  He may not have cut a wide swath during his life and ministry, but he did cut a good swath – and a clearly-marked swath.

Anywhere Dad was, and lived, and served, he impressed, impacted, and inspired everyone who knew him with his simplicity of faith and love for Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

Dad may not have been known for his outstanding talents – but he was known for his deep spiritual convictions, his Christ-like character, and his godly conduct and integrity.

-______________________________-

His life was a testimony to the Grace of God!

And from the time that God claimed him by His Grace…and called him to come and follow Him…and serve Him with the rest of his life – Dad faithfully answered and fulfilled that call.

The Holy Spirit convicted our Dad of his sins and brought him to faith in Jesus Christ in February of 1949 … exactly 64 years ago this very month.

Shortly thereafter…God called him by His Grace to preach Christ and his Gospel!

Dad founded and pastored the Goldfloss Baptist Church here in Winston-Salem from 1954 through 1957.

He answered God’s call to move us to Rainelle WV in 1957 and pastored the Little Sewell Baptist Church there for the next 9½ years – from ’57 until we returned to W-S in ’66.

Then he pastored the Hillcrest Baptist Church here in W-S for the next 42 years … until he transitioned from active pastoral ministry in 2008 – and Pastor Day succeeded him & assumed that ministry responsibility.

And – even after he transitioned from active pastoral ministry, he continued serving the Lord in the Gospel by ministering the Gospel in various churches over the next few years – until his physical health began to fail him.

For all of those 64 years – our Dad faithfully served Jesus Christ as “the chariot of Israel and its horsemen”!

-______________________________-

In the book of Galatians, chapter 1, the apostle Paul describes how the Gospel of Jesus Christ claimed his love and the rest of his life.

He relates his former life in sin – even though he was actively pursuing and excelling in empty religion – …then it pleased God [in Paul’s words] to ‘call me through His grace’ –and ‘to reveal His Son in me…that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.’

But when the word began getting around among the churches that ‘he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy,’ Paul relates this testimony: “and they glorified God in me!”

We glorify the Grace of God in our Dad!

Dad had only one goal in life: ‘glorify God and enjoy Him forever!’

Or as Paul expressed it again in Philippians 1.20:

‘according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’

Our Dad glorified God in his life … he glorified God in his death … and, I assure you, he is glorifying God right now in the presence of Jesus Christ…in the fullness of joy and eternal life!

And he will glorify God forever!

And by the same Grace of God which he and Mom led us to confess and embrace – we shall join him shortly, and we will together …

‘sing and shout and dance about – and the Lamb will dry our tears!’

 Oh, yes, we will … sing and shout and dance about! 

And oh, yes, the Lamb will … dry our tears!

Our Dad would have one continuing prayer and hope for each one of you – and that is that you, too, will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ … and be there with us!

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Come Spring! (a little fun-love-song)

Posted on June 18, 2020 by PastorDave

O! those mountains stand so tall and dark that lie across the way

and they seem to hold their hands up to the sky

just to keep me from my True Love who is on the other side!

but I ain’t one to despair – and here’s why…

‘cause come Spring, My Love, come Spring

I’m a-gonna cross those mountains high

and bring you back across here to live with me

and I’ll share with you my love ‘till the day that I die

on this you can depend

I’ll love you without end

– come Spring!

O! those mountains even now don’t separate you from my love

‘cause you’re with me in my heart and in my prayers

and come Spring those tall, forbidding peaks won’t be so tall at all!

‘cause I’m a-comin’ o’er the top

this bird they cannot stop

if I must I’ll tunnel through

any way just to get to you

– come Spring!

‘cause come Spring, My Love, come Spring

I’m a-gonna cross those mountains high

and bring you back across here to live with me

and I’ll share with you my love ‘till the day that I die

and I can’t wait to begin

on this you can depend

I’ll love you without end

– come Spring!

~dsp [1975]

BACKSTORY: I wrote this little fun-love-song for Debbie back during the loooong winter of 1975. Over the course of 1975, we had discovered and declared our love for each other and were engaged in August of that year. We planned our marriage for Spring of 1976 [June 18].

We were living 400 miles apart. I was pastoring in Alexander County, western North Carolina, and she was in Lexington KY. It was exactly 404 miles of ‘a long and winding road’ from my back door to her front door.

I would get on I-40 at Statesville NC, go west to Asheville and then to Knoxville – at Knoxville, I would turn north on I-75 to Lexington. And, it was mountains and hills all the way.

When I would step out of my house and longingly look west in the direction of where she was [which I often did], all I could see was hills and mountains – and I knew there were more and more beyond these.

In fact, this picture is the first range of hills that I would encounter after leaving my driveway. This picture was taken just outside the back door of the parsonage I was living in at the time [and where I would bring her back across to live with me]. These are the Brushy Mountains. Then, as I headed west through Hickory, I would come to Asheville and Black Mountain. More … and bigger … mountains. Then, on to Tennessee and drive for miles through what I call “Tennessee mountain passes” where I-40 actually snakes and spirals up and down around the sides of the mountains – and a couple tunnels thrown in to add to the fun. Get to Knoxville and head north to Lexington, and you’ll go up and down the mountains and hills of Eastern Kentucky all the way to Lexington.

So, you get the picture – that’s why I imagined that all these mountains and hills were just trying to hold their hands up to the sky to block me and keep me from my True Love who was on the other side. But, they couldn’t, and they didn’t. ‘Cause I did cross all those tall peaks, and I did bring her back across to live with me … come Spring!  

So, I wrote her this little fun-love-song over that winter, and I would sing it to her with the accompaniment of my autoharp. I composed the tune I sang it to – it’s never been written down because I can’t write music. So, nobody else knows the tune except for us. Maybe that’s a good thing. On some of those end-words to some of the lines [like, for example, “who is on the other siiiiiide,” “till the day that I diiiiiiie,” “won’t be so tall at aaaaallllll,”] I would stretch those words out and kind of wail them with inflections of notes, kind of like a slow yodel.

But, I will spare you that…

Posted in Debbie, dsp poems/songs, For Debbie, Love songs, Poems | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

FOLLOWING JESUS – the sequel

Posted on May 24, 2020 by PastorDave

24 May 2020

I am smack in the middle of the third anniversary of probably the most transitional week of my life, and especially of my ministry (and I’m including my wife in this also since we are in and do everything together – she is always ‘the other part of me’).

Transitional, in that it changed pretty much everything I had known and done for the previous 45 years leading up to that week – three years ago.

Today is a Lord’s Day, and I am probably thinking about it more today because three years ago in 2017, that most transitional week was book-ended by two Lord’s Days: 21 May and 28 May. On 21 May, I announced and gave the church I was pastoring a one-week notice that I would be resigning the next Lord’s Day, 28 May … to be effective immediately.

And that’s how the transition turned.

It was such a momentous transition because when I got up on Monday morning, 29 May 2017, for the first time in 45 years, I was not a church pastor in some capacity or another. I assumed my first church pastorate on Wednesday night, 4 July 1973. I had pastored ever since. I was used to preaching and teaching multiple times every week. Then, on that Monday morning after resigning my last pastorate, I was like, “OK, what do I (we) do now? Where do we go from here?”

We had not made any advance plans for this transition. But, we had already made some commitments:

[1] We were going to follow Jesus wherever He chose to lead us and place us

[2] We were going to continue serving Jesus in whatever tasks and responsibilities He would be pleased to assign to us  

[3] and – it would be in the context and fellowship of a local church body … yet, at that moment, unknown to us

Everything I did was done in the context of “following Jesus.”

I had adopted as “My One Word”1 for 2017 the word “follow” because I sensed going into 2017 that life-turning changes and transitions of some order would likely be coming our way over the course of the year.

They did.

So, when I made my announcement that I would be resigning the next Lord’s Day, I preached my message that morning from John 12.26:

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Of course, verse 26 is in the larger context of especially verses 20-26:

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

So, I developed my message in these three steps:

  1. verse 24 – A Parable to learn (a parable about following) – the seed falling into the ground and dying to grow fruit – of course, if you follow Jesus, that’s where you must go because that’s where He is going (see verses 27-33)
  2. verse 25 – A Priority to apply – about being willing to ‘lose’ your life to yourself by living to follow Christ
  3. verse 26 – A Life-Plan to follow [1] follow Jesus [2] serve where Jesus wants to work through you [3] you will please the Father when you follow Jesus

Here is the message I preached to announce our intention to follow Jesus wherever the next step would lead us … with Him!

https://daveparksblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/following-jesus/

So, as I say, here three years later, I’m thinking about it a lot.

However, I’m thinking about it all in a contented and thankful way. Following Jesus is always the rewarding and joyful step to take.

“All the way, my Savior leads me; what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy who through life has been my Guide?” ~Fanny J. Crosby

“He leadeth me, O blessed thought! O word with heavenly comfort fraught!” ~Joseph H. Gilmore

I must say that neither of us (my wife, Debbie, and me) had any fore-intention of taking any of the further steps to follow Jesus that He has led us into. We didn’t know – had no idea whatever – what our next step(s) would be. But, we trusted Jesus and followed Him. Where we are now and what we are doing now was not at all in our line of sight and vision.

It was not our foresight … it was Jesus’! “For He Himself knew what He would do!” (John 6.6) We had not even looked in the direction of the compass where Jesus has led us.

But, it has been – and is – a happy trail to walk in. Jesus promised it would be when He said, “and where I am, there will My servant be also.”

The road we have taken over the past three years was not only a road we had previously not taken, and not only was it a road that we had no idea of taking, but we followed Jesus when He pointed us to it and led us in it.

“And that has made all the difference!”2

1 If you don’t know what “My One Word” is, you can learn about it here: https://www.amazon.com/My-One-Word-Change-Your-ebook/dp/B008EGUFF2

2 “The Road Not Taken” – poem by Robert Frost

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Jesus Christ, The Gospel, and Reconciliation

Posted on September 19, 2019 by PastorDave

Jesus Christ, The Gospel, and Reconciliation

The following quotation is from Darrell L. Bock [Tyndale New Testament Commentaries] on Ephesians 2.14-16. While this textual commentary speaks of the conflict, divide, tensions, and even hatred [one of the meanings of the word Paul uses translated here ‘hostility’] that was then-current between Jews and Gentiles, the same truth applies to any and every other conceivable root of bitterness and division that may exist among us. In fact, we might argue, that we don’t know and have any prejudices among us that would even come close to rivaling the Jew vs. Gentile racial/ethnic/religious/cultural hostilities they held toward one another.

Yet, Jesus Christ and The Gospel of His Cross creates a brand new ‘man’ or humanity or ‘race’ or community or ‘new creation’ people group – unique and distinct all to itself, unified, and made to be without distinction “in Christ.”

For my own understanding, I call this the New Covenant Race Theory [see Bock’s sentence below: “It is a new race in which the weaving together of that which had been separate is clear.”]

Read here what Bock says about their reconciliation by way of one-ness in Jesus Christ – and ‘go and do likewise’ in all our diverse relationships with one another. Not to do so is to reject and disobey this work Christ died to work in us [Ephesians 2.10].

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 

Here is Bock:

“The results of Jesus’ death on the cross changed the world and the potential relationships between people: that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.

This is the first of two purposes Paul notes for Jesus’ work. Jesus has formed a new community. Just as if one is in Christ, one is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), so with Jesus’ work there is a new community in the world.

The new man is humanity reformed, no longer tied to Adam but now in Christ, incorporated into the new people God is forming from Him.

Colossians 3.10 also uses this image, and in that context we are told that in the ‘new man’ there are no distinguished groups of people but all share an identity focused on Christ.

This is part of the workmanship God created us to be (Ephesians 2:10; the Greek verb ktizo, to create, is used in both verses).

Both Jews and Gentiles who believe and benefit from what Christ has done are moved into this new entity. The picture is not of Gentiles becoming Jews or simply moving into their space. Those who were near and those who were far are both now brought into something new, which is why Paul calls it the one new man…

It is a new race in which the weaving together of that which had been separate is clear.

This has been called the ‘third’ race, neither Jew nor Gentile, though we are to retain the understanding that God has woven these two together in a way that allows us to see the two made one.

There is no segregation in Christ, even in the midst of recognizing a distinction in where each group came from before being united, for reconciliation is only clear when the former estrangement is appreciated.

“Gentiles are not made into Jews or vice versa. They are who they are and yet they now function side by side and together, with Christ uniting them rather than the law dividing them.”

In practice, this will allow each group some measure of distinction, as opposed to homogeneity (Romans 14-15). Gentiles are not made into Jews or vice versa. They are who they are and yet they now function side by side and together, with Christ uniting them rather than the law dividing them.

“Their bond of oneness transcends the distinctions they also might have in some everyday practices.”

Their bond of oneness transcends the distinctions they also might have in some everyday practices. This reconciliation is available only to those who embrace what God has offered, for this deliverance into reconciliation comes by faith (vv. 8-10).

There is no idea in Paul of a dual covenant whereby Jews and Gentiles are saved by distinct paths to God. All roads come in and through Christ.”

Let it be!

Posted in Ephesians 2.14-16, I've been thinking, Reconciliation, The Gospel | Leave a comment