Basically, I am a selfish, self-centered person. I have received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and He lives in me. Yet, every day of my life, in all the decisions of life, I have to choose whom will I focus my life upon-me or Him.
Even in something as spiritual as my prayer life, I have to intentionally choose to set my gaze upon Him, and my glance upon my requests. Because of my sinful nature which still resides in this redeemed body, I have to conscientiously focus my motives, my actions, and my thoughts upon the Lord rather than upon me. I have to watch myself or I will spend 95% of the time talking about me and my needs, and only 5% on Him and His will.
I have discovered this about prayer- effectual prayer is not me getting what I want from God; but it is God getting what He wants from me. It is not Him doing what I want Him to do; but it is me doing what He wants me to do. It is not me getting Him to see things from my point of view; but Him causing me to see things from His perspective.
James warns us about what I call "sanctified selfishness."
You want something you don't have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won't get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it. Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons. James 4:2-3
I want to be more like my Savior who focused His life, His motives, His prayer, and His actions on the Father. Not my will; but Yours be done.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Jesus Saves
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. Matt. 1:21
God has blessed our church family with reaching arms that extend around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our mission efforts are built upon our vital relationships with the missionaries, native pastors, and sending organizations.
Many of them are with us for these next four days and nights because they partner with us in allowing Englewood Baptist Church to be not only a sending church and a giving church, but a doing church in global missions. We believe the whole world is the arena of God's love and concern - that every person is in need of His forgiveness and grace.
When we experience people of other cultures - individuals who differ from us in color, culture, and language-we affirm that God loves them as He does us. We increasingly broaden our vision of God's compassion beyond Rocky Mount, or North Carolina, or even the United States.
Priscilla Owens taught Sunday School for half a century at the Union Square Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Often she would write a hymn and use it to teach a Biblical truth to her students. In 1882, she wrote the words that are the theme of our Global Impact Celebration for this year- Jesus Saves. Every line emphasizes the global impact of the gospel:
We have heard the joyful sound:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land,
Climb the mountains, cross the waves;
Onward! ’tis our Lord’s command;
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Waft it on the rolling tide:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Tell to sinners far and wide:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing, you islands of the sea;
Echo back, you ocean caves;
Earth shall keep her jubilee:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Give the winds a mighty voice:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Let the nations now rejoice:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Shout salvation full and free;
Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
God has blessed our church family with reaching arms that extend around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our mission efforts are built upon our vital relationships with the missionaries, native pastors, and sending organizations.
Many of them are with us for these next four days and nights because they partner with us in allowing Englewood Baptist Church to be not only a sending church and a giving church, but a doing church in global missions. We believe the whole world is the arena of God's love and concern - that every person is in need of His forgiveness and grace.
When we experience people of other cultures - individuals who differ from us in color, culture, and language-we affirm that God loves them as He does us. We increasingly broaden our vision of God's compassion beyond Rocky Mount, or North Carolina, or even the United States.
Priscilla Owens taught Sunday School for half a century at the Union Square Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Often she would write a hymn and use it to teach a Biblical truth to her students. In 1882, she wrote the words that are the theme of our Global Impact Celebration for this year- Jesus Saves. Every line emphasizes the global impact of the gospel:
We have heard the joyful sound:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land,
Climb the mountains, cross the waves;
Onward! ’tis our Lord’s command;
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Waft it on the rolling tide:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Tell to sinners far and wide:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing, you islands of the sea;
Echo back, you ocean caves;
Earth shall keep her jubilee:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Give the winds a mighty voice:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Let the nations now rejoice:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Shout salvation full and free;
Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
What About Those Who Have Never Heard?
I personally know some very nice Muslims; some wonderful Jews; and some very friendly Hindus. The questions I hear often is, What about these people? Are you telling me just because they have never become a Christian they aren't going to heaven? Is God fair; is He good and is He just if He would allow a person to be eternally separated from Him if they have never even heard about Him?
Our sense of fairness and justice is so different from God's. To begin with, we usually approach these ideas these from man's perspective, as if man is the center. That is humanism; the belief that everything exist for the happiness and good of man. Biblical Christianity teaches that the goal of life and everything that exists is the glory of God. Therefore, fairness and justice is determined not by what we think or feel, but what the Righteous Creator says in relation to His glory.
This Sunday morning we will look at the book of Romans and see what the Scriptures teach about those who have never heard. I am calling it, Without Excuse. Humanists and liberals would hate it. I am praying that God would speak to all of us to motivate the saved to make the gospel known to all peoples, and He would convict the lost and bring them to salvation.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20
Our sense of fairness and justice is so different from God's. To begin with, we usually approach these ideas these from man's perspective, as if man is the center. That is humanism; the belief that everything exist for the happiness and good of man. Biblical Christianity teaches that the goal of life and everything that exists is the glory of God. Therefore, fairness and justice is determined not by what we think or feel, but what the Righteous Creator says in relation to His glory.
This Sunday morning we will look at the book of Romans and see what the Scriptures teach about those who have never heard. I am calling it, Without Excuse. Humanists and liberals would hate it. I am praying that God would speak to all of us to motivate the saved to make the gospel known to all peoples, and He would convict the lost and bring them to salvation.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20
Saturday, August 7, 2010
To the Jew First
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Rom. 1:16
They are mentioned in the Bible more than any other people. They are the only people called God's chosen people. All the prophets were Jews; so were , all the priests, and the kings of Israel and Judah, and all the apostles. Our Bible was written by them, copied by them, and preserved by them.
Our Lord was a Jew. He came to His own, and His own received Him not (John 1:11). When He gave us our mission He told us to go into all the nations making disciples, beginning in Jerusalem. there is no misunderstanding here-our Lord has a special concern and plan for the Jewish people.
As we prepare for our Global Impact Celebration, we are setting aside this Sunday, August 8, as a day to honor Israel and the Jewish people. We are calling it, To the Jew First.
Our special speaker in the morning and evening is Erez Soref, President of Israel College of the Bible. One of our members, Anna Watkins, completed her one-year international studies at this college.I have known Erez for several years and he is a renown Bible scholar and leader in Israel.
Here is a principle for studying Scripture and for studying history, sociology, or anthropology- As the Jew Goes, So Goes the World. The Jews are God's blueprint, God's measuring stick for what He does with nations. This is why America is at the most critical and dangerous time in our nation's history. Evey nation's history is directly linked to one nation-Israel.
But don't just take it from me, hear what a completed Messianic Jewish believer has to say this Sunday.
They are mentioned in the Bible more than any other people. They are the only people called God's chosen people. All the prophets were Jews; so were , all the priests, and the kings of Israel and Judah, and all the apostles. Our Bible was written by them, copied by them, and preserved by them.
Our Lord was a Jew. He came to His own, and His own received Him not (John 1:11). When He gave us our mission He told us to go into all the nations making disciples, beginning in Jerusalem. there is no misunderstanding here-our Lord has a special concern and plan for the Jewish people.
As we prepare for our Global Impact Celebration, we are setting aside this Sunday, August 8, as a day to honor Israel and the Jewish people. We are calling it, To the Jew First.
Our special speaker in the morning and evening is Erez Soref, President of Israel College of the Bible. One of our members, Anna Watkins, completed her one-year international studies at this college.I have known Erez for several years and he is a renown Bible scholar and leader in Israel.
Here is a principle for studying Scripture and for studying history, sociology, or anthropology- As the Jew Goes, So Goes the World. The Jews are God's blueprint, God's measuring stick for what He does with nations. This is why America is at the most critical and dangerous time in our nation's history. Evey nation's history is directly linked to one nation-Israel.
But don't just take it from me, hear what a completed Messianic Jewish believer has to say this Sunday.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
We're in This Together
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ....Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Cor. 12: 12,27
God has blessed Englewood Baptist Church.
After 45 years since this congregation was chartered, God continues to grow this Body of believers. Sunday night I was reminded again of all He has done through this church in working towards fulfilling the great commission.
How did it happen? It wasn't the pastor. It wasn't just the deacons. It was the Spirit of God working through many members of the Body of Christ, using their gifts and abilities to edify the Body.
We need to recognize the fact that God has blessed us with a wonderful, gifted staff. We have seven pastors, elders, bishops who love this church and allow God to use them to serve this Body. We also have a multi-talented, efficient support staff who go far beyond their job descriptions, because they not only serve this Body, but they all are a part of this Body.
And we are blessed in this Body to have hundreds of Bible Fellowship leaders, Deacons, servants, members who use their gifts to build up the Body.
So when we think about all God has done through these years to cause this Body of believers called Englewood to grow and reproduce, remember it took many members functioning as God designed. As I say often when we hold hands, we're in this thing together.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 1 Cor. 3:5-9
God has blessed Englewood Baptist Church.
After 45 years since this congregation was chartered, God continues to grow this Body of believers. Sunday night I was reminded again of all He has done through this church in working towards fulfilling the great commission.
How did it happen? It wasn't the pastor. It wasn't just the deacons. It was the Spirit of God working through many members of the Body of Christ, using their gifts and abilities to edify the Body.
We need to recognize the fact that God has blessed us with a wonderful, gifted staff. We have seven pastors, elders, bishops who love this church and allow God to use them to serve this Body. We also have a multi-talented, efficient support staff who go far beyond their job descriptions, because they not only serve this Body, but they all are a part of this Body.
And we are blessed in this Body to have hundreds of Bible Fellowship leaders, Deacons, servants, members who use their gifts to build up the Body.
So when we think about all God has done through these years to cause this Body of believers called Englewood to grow and reproduce, remember it took many members functioning as God designed. As I say often when we hold hands, we're in this thing together.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 1 Cor. 3:5-9
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Thank You for 10 Years!
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Cor. 2:1-5
Yes, when I look back over these past 10 years since I came to Englewood as your pastor, I have mixed emotions. I remember the victories, the souls saved, the lives changed, the global lostness penetrated, the blessed relationships formed, the gospel declared, and the many Christ glorified times with a heart full of gratitude and thanksgiving. Everything that has happened that has had an eternal significance- God has done it! Give Him the glory.
This tenth anniversary also reminds me that I do not have a lot of time left. There are 6,424 unreached, unengaged people groups around the world that have never heard once what Rocky Mount has heard hundreds of times. There are over 81,000 within thirty minutes of our doors who are lost, without Christ and facing a horrible future. So much to do; so little time to do it. Yes, mixed emotions.
From the depths of my heart I want Englewood Baptist Church to know how humbly grateful Tebra and I are for you allowing us to have these past ten years with you. You have stood with us when we laughed, and when we cried. You have watched others walk away, and you remained on mission. You have blessed us and treated us much better than we deserve, or than we expected. God our Father will bless you for the ways you have blessed us.
Thank you!
Words are inadequate to fully describe our surprise and gratitude for the sacrificial gifts of love you showered us with. I will drive the new truck with humble appreciation for the many people God allows me the privilege of serving. From our hearts-Thank you.
I commit to you that I will continue to be passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and about being your servant. In ten years I have grown to love and appreciate you and it is my heart's desire to see you become all He wants you to be. I hear the clock ticking, and I want every day of my life to be totally abandoned to Him, being who He wants me to be, and doing what He wants me to do.
Your servant,
Pastor Michael
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 2 Cor. 4:5
Yes, when I look back over these past 10 years since I came to Englewood as your pastor, I have mixed emotions. I remember the victories, the souls saved, the lives changed, the global lostness penetrated, the blessed relationships formed, the gospel declared, and the many Christ glorified times with a heart full of gratitude and thanksgiving. Everything that has happened that has had an eternal significance- God has done it! Give Him the glory.
This tenth anniversary also reminds me that I do not have a lot of time left. There are 6,424 unreached, unengaged people groups around the world that have never heard once what Rocky Mount has heard hundreds of times. There are over 81,000 within thirty minutes of our doors who are lost, without Christ and facing a horrible future. So much to do; so little time to do it. Yes, mixed emotions.
From the depths of my heart I want Englewood Baptist Church to know how humbly grateful Tebra and I are for you allowing us to have these past ten years with you. You have stood with us when we laughed, and when we cried. You have watched others walk away, and you remained on mission. You have blessed us and treated us much better than we deserve, or than we expected. God our Father will bless you for the ways you have blessed us.
Thank you!
Words are inadequate to fully describe our surprise and gratitude for the sacrificial gifts of love you showered us with. I will drive the new truck with humble appreciation for the many people God allows me the privilege of serving. From our hearts-Thank you.
I commit to you that I will continue to be passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and about being your servant. In ten years I have grown to love and appreciate you and it is my heart's desire to see you become all He wants you to be. I hear the clock ticking, and I want every day of my life to be totally abandoned to Him, being who He wants me to be, and doing what He wants me to do.
Your servant,
Pastor Michael
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 2 Cor. 4:5
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