Fred

August 8, 2021

We are using this space to explain why it’s so important for you to become involved in a small group this coming school year. They will restart the week of September 12.

Last week we saw how small groups promote fellowship. They also stimulate spiritual growth. 1 Pet 3:18, But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Attending church, praying and reading our Bibles are essential disciplines but we need more. Sunday morning is a great time for God’s Word to be taught, but where and how will it be applied? Our small groups are a vehicle to apply God’s truths in personal and practical ways.

Discussion questions from the sermon we hear Sunday mornings provide a format for application. Col 3:16a, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. Paul’s instruction was to the entire assembly, not just to the pastors or elders. We must admonish each other. We must be seriously committed to change. Truth without practice is sterile.

Small groups help us apply what we hear – and help others in that process too as they listen to how God’s Word spoke directly to you. That’s the purpose of mirrors – and the Bible is a mirror. Have you ever looked at your watch and someone asked what time it was?  You had to look again? Why? because the first look had no lasting impact. We cannot be guilty of this when it comes to the Word of God.  Ja 1:25 … the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  

What a joy to hear Matt Moore preach today. This is Matt’s first time doing such!  I’m so glad he can do so with family and friends.  Matt and Katherine have been part of our congregation for just over a year now. They serve faithfully on our praise team. She is looking now for a medical residency;  he is a paramedic. Matt is also taking Bible classes online at Liberty University as he is open to what God might be calling him to do in the future. When his sensitivity to ministry was made known, we wanted to encourage him by giving him this opportunity. 

We as a church are given the task of promoting each other to use the gifts God has given.  It is churches that nurture preachers – not Bible colleges or seminaries. We have had this occasion before – young men like Scott Allison (who now pastors in PA); Amos Peck (who just received his Th.M at Southern Seminary and is pursing a church ministry); Josh Bell (our missionary to Senegal); and David Froman (who serves as a worship pastor).  And let’s not forget Flo Hicks who served Christ in Alaska for 40 years – sent out from HBC. No doubt Matt will be a little nervous.  Pray for him. He has studied hard.

I will forever be indebted to youth pastors and my home church who provided me such opportunities to practice on people as we are giving to Matt today.  Only eternity will reveal how we at HBC contributed to a worldwide ministry of developing and maturing young men and women for gospel ministry.  May their tribe increase.

Of all the questions one can ask – none delves to the depths of an issue faster than why. Little children go through a why 

stage. Everything is punctuated with – but why? And the child is right – why is key to our understanding. For the next few weeks, we will answer why small groups are important here at Holt Baptist Church. 

First, small groups promote fellowship. Sunday mornings are wonderful for corporate worship, but it’s hard to practice true fellowship in a crowd of people. We need to move beyond the superficial “Hi, how are you today?” to genuinely caring for each other as the Bible commands. The NT contains 30 ‘one another’ commands. These are not options. Love one              another, Jn 13:34; honor one another; Rom 12:10; be kind one to another, Eph 4:32; submit to one another, Eph 5:21;

encourage one another,1 Thess 5:11 – and so on. NT fellowship isn’t socializing. I’m not against socializing. It’s wonderful but tragically many have substituted it for authentic fellowship. 

We were never made to live the Christian life on our own. To say that we can do it alone without the benefit of fellowship is as inaccurate as saying a body is fully functional without ears or eyes. It takes a church to raise a Christian. Authentic fellowship is communication for the purpose of growing in Christ and helping others grow in him. The Apostle Paul wrote, I am convinced that you are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another, Rom 15:14.

Stay tuned as to how to get involved in a small group.

Over a century ago, the famous London pastor Charles     Haddon Spurgeon said, “I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.” Yes, even the godly can suffer from depression. We often hear of medical solutions. Sometimes depression can be physically caused, and medicine does help. See your doctor – and never stop taking medication without his/her involvement. 

Let us not however dismiss the spiritual. I recently read Good Mood, Bad Mood, by medical doctor and biblical counselor, Charles Hodge. Also helpful is Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness, by Ed Welch. Make no mistake – depression is        always and profoundly spiritual. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not denying the physical, but there are numerous questions one must answer: Who is God? Who do I trust? How am I responding to my depression?

These questions must be worked through. We must always consider our relationship with God whatever our circumstances. Spurgeon again. “I spring to my legs again and fight with my depressions of spirit and get the victory through it … for there is no other way of escaping it.” 

Our biblical counseling ministry offers hope to the depressed. Talk to me or call the church office. We must talk truth to ourselves rather than listen to ourselves. God is good, whether depression leaves or returns. We can trust him. “It was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn your decrees,” Ps 119:71.

Donald Grey Barnhouse was a pastor in Philadelphia in the mid-20th century. He tells of speaking to a young lady at the airline desk in Tokyo. She spoke Chinese, Japanese and English, obviously a very educated individual. Pastor Barnhouse asked her if she was a Christian. “No,” she said, she was a Buddhist. He asked more questions. She told him she had heard of Jesus – and a sacred book called the Bible but really knew nothing of the Christian faith. Then Pastor Barnhouse asked, “Do you love Buddha?” The very idea astounded her. “Love?!” She never had thought of that in connection with religion. Barnhouse went on with a brief explanation why Christians love the Lord Jesus.

1 Pet 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him,” The apostle had seen the Lord Jesus, but his audience had not, neither have we. And yet they like us love Jesus. You simply can’t love Jesus too much. You can’t think about him too much, or thank him too much, or depend upon him too much. All our forgiveness, all our justification, all our righteousness, all of our blessings come from him.

Naturally people don’t love God, Oh, many folks love “a god,” but not the God of the Bible. The Apostle Paul states the sinful mind is hostile to God. In order for us to love Jesus a radical change inside us has to occur. “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” Rom 5:5 NIV. One of the proofs of our conversion is that we love God. Our love for        Jesus is simply our response for his love to us. We love him because he first loved us. 

It was Christmas 1979. I opened my present from my mom. I was greatly disappointed. Instead of cool things she had gotten me in the past – it was a toolbox. It was a reminder now as a married man with a house of my own I would need a screwdriver and a hammer.

That wasn’t my last disappointment in life. Sometimes disappointments are devastating. Dreams don’t materialize. We are left disillusioned, angry, hurt. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” Prov 13:12.  Such was the case of Naomi. Life had dealt her a hard blow. And she was bitter. Job however responded in a godly way to disappointment. “The Lord gave and has taken away – may his name be praised.” Job worshiped. Naomi finally saw God fill her empty life. And though Job wrestled with God’s silence he experienced vindication at the end. 

You and I will face disappointments. Some will be quickly forgotten; others will have life-altering consequences. We need to trust God in such times. We won’t have all the answers and even if we did it wouldn’t make the pain go away. But God can be trusted. He is faithful. No matter what happens in life, we are to love and worship him. In the words of Job, “though he slay me I will still trust him.” Don’t let life’s disappointments derail your faith. God’s grace will prove sufficient in your weakness. When you are weak, Christ will prove himself strong.

And that toolbox? It no longer is a disappointment but a cherished reminder of my mom’s love and thoughtfulness to me even when I didn’t understand or appreciate it.

Happy Birthday America!  What a wonderful history we have as Americans. No one is saying our history is perfect. We must face the sins of our past honestly. We must confess current transgressions humbly. However today is about celebration. We observe our nation’s birthday as our founding father’s envisioned – with picnics, parades, and fireworks. We are humbled by the privileges we have as citizens of this land.

In our service several of our men have been asked to lead in appropriate prayers: prayers of thanksgiving, confession and intercession. While we recognize our holiday, our worship will center on Christ and his kingdom. Patriotic songs have their place at parades, but not in worship. While we love and pray for our nation, may we remember that Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world.”

Scripture admonishes us as NT believers to consider ourselves as immigrants – strangers and exiles. The face of evangelicalism is sadly characterized by angry venting – or sinful panicking, rather than prayerful, humble and calm belief in a sovereign God who rules and reigns. Our culture might ridicule us. We may feel little, but the church of Jesus Christ is eternal. Holt Baptist is one of many embassies of Jesus. That is the reality – everything else is shadow.  All that we see will pass away. But for today let us celebrate – thankful for God’s blessings, humbled by our freedoms, grateful for our liberties as US citizens. 

Marriage is a gift. This past week Sue and I celebrated our 42^nd wedding anniversary. Committed to biblical counseling as we are, we have been the beneficiaries of it ourselves. Most of the time in our marriage and in helping others, the problem is often unmet or unrealistic expectations. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it, Ja 4:1-2a NIV.

We all have desires. We call them expectations. And they aren’t all bad. But what happens when a desire doesn’t get met? Will I sin to get it, or will I sin if I don’t get it?  I confess, my love for me gets in the way of my love for Sue – and God at times. I am a work in progress. Marriage is a call for greater sanctification.

usan and I try to give ourselves to regular confession and forgiveness. Sure, there are times when a mistake is made, and we apologize. But there are other times when sin is committed, and it needs to be confessed. Ruth Bell Graham said, “The secret to a happy marriage is having two good forgivers.” We must work at our love for each other. There are Christian marriages devoid of love. There might be appreciation and respect, but that is not enough. We are to incarnate Christ’s love for each other. 

Yes, we are different.  But we must embrace those differences with grace. Our marriage hasn’t arrived. We can’t coast or grow lazy. If you too are married, we all must work at a marriage that honors Christ. 

I recently read an old story of how an emperor returned to Rome in triumph. He was marching his troops through the streets along with prisoners of war. The streets were lined with cheering crowds. Legionaries were stationed at the street’s edge to keep people in place. 

At one spot along the route was a platform where the empress and family were watching the parade. On that platform was the emperor’s youngest son. As the emperor’s chariot came near, the little fellow jumped off the platform, wriggled through the crowd and tried to dart in between the legs of a soldier standing guard. The soldier scooped up the lad in his arms. “You can’t do that son,” he said. “Don’t you know who that is in the chariot?  The boy said, “Yes, he may be your emperor, but that’s my father!”

O dear Christian friend, on this Father’s Day may we remember Almighty God is our heavenly Father. As Christians we should never recover from that truth. No Jew living under the old covenant would have called God Father directly. The Old Testament refers to God as being the Father of Israel, but Jesus introduced a radically new approach to God. He called Him Father. Because of Christ God is our Abba Father, our dearest Papa. 

Happy Father’s Day.

Mark the date – Sunday, July 4. As our tradition in the past, we are going to conduct our service outside followed by a picnic. Please bring a lawn chair if you have one. We will have some metal chairs available. I plan to break from Hebrews to preach on how we can pray for our leaders in government. We might not always agree with them, but we can always pray for them. But how?  Come.

The church will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, plates, utensils and drinks. If you could sign up to bring a dish to share that would be helpful. We don’t want to end up with 20 different potato salads! Due to safety protocols, we will have servers assisting at the potluck table. 

One of the things I have missed during this past year is the fellowship we once enjoyed as a church family at such potlucks. It will be wonderful to meet again this way. I know some will be gone on vacation since it’s a holiday weekend, but I hope if you are home, you will stay. Sue and I plan on being gone the rest of the month on vacation ourselves. I leave the pulpit in capable hands. Thurm Payton, former assistant pastor here will preach. His wife, Lisa will assist in the music. Please pray for us as we travel (driving) and for a time of rest. We all need times of getting away. Thanks for giving us this time.,