For a whole year

Marketing is a big business.  From 2000-2006, Coca-Cola spent 15.5 billion dollars to advertise their products to the global market.  In 2009, Apple Computers spent half a billion dollars on their advertising, which is a third of what Microsoft paid out in 2009 (1.4 Billion). These leading companies invest incredible capital into these self-promotion schemes for the purpose of cashing in on the customers they solicit.

But what about the church?  Will advertising help achieve Great Commission success?  What is God’s marketing strategy?  Surely as the Lord of all creation (Ps 24:1), he has ample resources to fund such a project; as Maker of the Milky Way, he has the creative intuition to impress audiences.  Yet, Jesus’ ministry is not marked by such promotion.  In the Gospels and Acts, we find something more personal, if not even more hidden.

In Acts 11, as the church spread into the world, Luke records how gospel converts were first called “Christians” in Antioch.  What’s interesting is that “Christian” is only used two others times in the Bible (Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:11).  In other words, this is not how the early church usually described themselves.  This moniker was not self-selected in a Public Relations meeting.  Rather, it was hung on the Christians, like a degrading nickname.  It was not a term of endearment but a designation of scorn.  In the first-century, calling someone a Christian was like running a political smear campaign.  It wasn’t good for the public image.

Yet, for churches wanting to “make waves” in the world, this was and is God’s marketing strategy. Eschewing P.R. strategies, He simply calls sinners to believe on Jesus for eternal life.  He doesn’t spend billions of dollars on infomercials, billboards, or celebrity endorsements. He redeems drug addicts, overpowers the unbelief of agnostics, and saves church-goers from self-reliant religion. He forgives any and all who will turn from their idols and make Christ their Lord and Savior.

What is the result?  Genuine churches, like the one in Antioch, being to fill with “little-Christs.” God’s marketing strategy is to recreate fallen image-bearers, one at a time.  Feeding the 5,000 was the exception to the rule of discipling the 12.

Churches who recognize this will spend less time on events, advertisements, and self-promotion.  Instead they will see the greatest way to tell the world about Jesus is to be like him, even as they look to him (1 John 3:1-2).  Notice what Acts 11:26 records.  It says that Paul and Barnabas regularly assembled with the disciples in Antioch to pray and worship (cf. Acts 13:1-3).  It focused on the teaching and application of God’s word.

As the people of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, gathered to hear the word of God, Christ manifested himself in the church of God.  And the result: Antioch took notice!   Even while labeling Christians, many in Antioch believed.  In fact, the entire Mediterranean would soon be impacted by this unassuming marketing strategy when the Antiochian Church sent Paul and Barnabas to plant churches in other cities (Acts 13:1ff).

May our church follow their lead.  May God’s marketing strategy be ours.  May we daily grow more like Christ as we study His Word and savor His Son. If we are going to have an impact on Seymour and beyond, our aim must not be content with making the name of Calvary great, it must be making the name of Christ great—first in our own hearts, then our homes, then our church, then the world.

For His Glory and Your Joy,
Pastor David

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Paul was passionate about the gospel!   He preached the gospel!  He prayed the gospel!  He suffered for the sake of the gospel!  And he labored to see others grow in the gospel!  Paul was passionate because he knew the power of the gospel!

Faddish ministries come and go, but faithful churches are cemented in the gospel.  Thus Paul, in his letters to Corinth, contested the super-apostles, the masters of rhetoric, who opposed his message.  Paul called out the sexually immoral church member, rather than win favor with the corridors of influence.  He refused to rely on Name Brand Christianity, and instead preached an offensive message of the cross—a stumbling block to some and repulsion to others.

Paul trusted not the methods of the world to build the church.  He trusted the power of God in the gospel, and so he urged the Corinthians to hold fast to the gospel they had received and the gospel in which they stood.  So, Paul challenged the Corinthian church to be more than a social center and a provider of religious services.  He called them to proclaim with bold regularity God’s message of forgiveness, and not to distort their message through theatrical performances or sophisticated teaching.

For Paul and for us, the gospel must come first!  As Calvary embarks on another fifty years, we must be more committed than ever to the pure and simple gospel.  Standing fifty years into the stream of our history, we cannot go back and redraw our foundations.

Rather, we can humbly thank God for the gospel heritage that has existed at Calvary since 1960, and then instead of stagnating, we must push deeper into living waters, taking greater hold of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

While some church marketing gurus would say that we should present a tangible good through a relevant medium; that we should ease people into the gospel.  According to statistics, people want humor, drama, and movie clips to help them  feel more comfortable.  But the Bible presents a more powerful wisdom.

Paul’s inspired strategy was to preach a message that the world could mock, but men born of God could not deny.  Whether in the marketplace, the synagogue, or in the company of philosophers, he simply proclaimed Christ—crucified and risen.  And God moved mightily!  Through his example and his words in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul exhorts us to remember that the strength and future of our church depends on the gospel of Jesus Christ alone.  Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

As your pastor, I am thankful to be a part of Calvary Baptist Church.  And I am wonderfully hopeful about the days ahead.  Prayerfully, God will continue to grow us in the gospel year-in and year-out, as we take Paul’s words to heart and believe that genuine gospel-living and gospel-sharing will result in eternal fruit, fruit that will last much longer than just another 50 years. It will last forever.

For His Glory and Your Joy,
Pastor David

“In all of eternity, there has been only one perfectly faithful parent, and he had the only perfectly faithful son.”

With that arresting statement about God the Father and God the Son, Martha Peace and Stuart Scott begin their book, The Faithful Parent: A Biblical Guide to Raising a Family. The book which was released this year is a biblically-grounded, hands-on, how-to book for Christian parents.  While there are other good books out there, the specific and comprehensive attention to each age (infant, toddler, pre-school, elementary, teenager), is particularly useful.

As authors, Martha Peace and Stuart Scott are themselves faithful guides on the family.  As family friends, both are now grand-parents, and each have written a book on marriage, respectively The Excellent Wife and The Exemplary Husband. Moreover, both are actively involved in family ministry, biblical counseling, and training biblical counselors.

In the opening pages, Peace and Scott, lay out the goal of parenting, “to be faithful to God’s Word by his grace and for his glory” (4). They define what biblical faithfulness is and articulate from Scripture that faithfulness has two primary responsibilities: “to bring [children] up: (1) in the discipline of the Lord, and (2) in the instruction of the Lord” (9). Their two-fold purpose statement makes the parental task simple, without being simplistic. As every parent knows, disciplining and instructing children in the fear and admonition of the Lord takes Spiritual wisdom, power, patience, and perseverance, but to have a memorable purpose is helpful for the cluttered lives of parents.

The rest of the book explains principles from the Bible on how to instruct your children in the gospel and to discipline in meaningful and practical ways.  For those struggling with instruction and/or discipline–as all parents do–this book will prove to be most helpful.

So, for all the families in our church with children, this book is a must read.

It is more than a quick how-to, to read and put down.  It is a book that you will want to keep handy throughout your time as a parent.  Or, if your children are grown and have children of their own, make this book an immediate birthday or father’s day gift.  If applied, the biblical wisdom distilled in The Faithful Parent will bear eternal fruit.

For a more detailed commendation of The Faithful Parent, see my book review at TGC Reviews.

For Christ’s Glory and Your Joy, Pastor David

The resolution adopted in Orlando’s Southern Baptist Convention includes 10 points explaining why we ought to adopt this resolution, and 7 points of commitment. Take time to read over these, and pray with me that our families would embrace family worship together.  The way our children will understand God and the gospel, will depend upon the way mothers and fathers live their lives before them. May we be like Mary and Joseph, and not like Eli and his wife.

WHEREAS, The Bible teaches the spiritual discipline of family worship for the glory of God, the strengthening of the church, and the spiritual nourishment of the family (Deuteronomy 6:1-18; Psalm 78:1-8; Ephesians 4-6); and

WHEREAS, Scripture pictures the Christian home as a place in which parents are instructed to teach and disciple their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:1-18; Ephesians 6:1-4); and

WHEREAS, Family worship has been a cherished Southern Baptist principle reflected in church covenants which have called believers “to maintain family and secret devotions” and “to religiously educate” their children; and

WHEREAS, In recent years, family worship has been emphasized in The Baptist Faith and Message, which states that “Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth”; and

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have launched major initiatives which have brought to the forefront the need for families to pray, read from the Bible, memorize scripture, and give praise to the Lord within their homes; and

WHEREAS, In 2009, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention included family worship as a key catalyst for a Great Commission resurgence calling on Southern Baptists “to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field”; and

WHEREAS, Family worship is integral to laying a foundation for multi-generational faithfulness to the gospel (Psalm 145:4) and a necessary complement for the strengthening of the local church to fulfill its commission (Matthew 28:18-20); and

WHEREAS, Family worship serves as an important preparation for the corporate worship of the local church on the Lord’s Day (Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 10:25); and

WHEREAS, In recent generations, the act of family worship has been neglected, evidenced by the breakdown of the family in our time; and

WHEREAS, The embracing of the spiritual discipline of family worship in the Christian home has the capacity to nurture stronger families, a stronger church, and a stronger nation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 15-16, 2010, encourage churches and families to rekindle the spiritual discipline of family worship; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we define family worship as the regular meeting together of a family for a time of prayer and Bible reading, which may include other activities such as scripture memorization, singing spiritual songs and hymns, and discussing biblical truth and Christian mission; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage families to cultivate not only structured times of worship together, but also ongoing intentional and informal conversations about the things of the Lord; and be it further

RESOLVED, That as we call families and churches to embrace family worship, we urge fathers particularly to fulfill their divinely mandated responsibility to lead their families toward spiritual maturity (Ephesians 5:22-6:4; Colossians 3:19-21); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage all parents to consider times of family worship to be an opportunity to introduce their children to the gospel, to train their children to seek the salvation of their friends and neighbors, and to pray for the nations; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage churches and families to make use of the many resources produced to aid in family worship; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and their pastors to promote family worship and encourage the families of their congregations to place the highest priority on embracing this foundational spiritual discipline for the well-being of families, the spread of the gospel, the making of disciples, and the glory of God.

Praying for God to make Calvary Baptist Church a family faith that worships God when we gather as the church and when we gather at home.

For Christ’s Glory and Your Joy,
Pastor David

Since those words were penned a century ago “machinery, methods, and organizations” have only multiplied exponentially.  Still, God’s “method” remains the same: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zech 4:6).  God’s ways outstrip man’s ways, and if God’s church is going to lay hold of God’s power, it must approach him with humble prayer and Spirit-filled work.

In truth, both prayer and work are needed for fruit to be born in your life and in the church.  And nowhere in Scripture is this more evident than in Book of Nehemiah.  In chapters 1-2, Nehemiah’s prayer life shines through as he leads the workers to rebuild the city walls around Jerusalem, and each reference to prayer teaches us something about how God works in our lives.

Nehemiah 1:4 recounts Nehemiah’s brokenness at the devastation of Zion.  Jerusalem was not simply his home, the place where his father’s were buried (2:3); it was the footstool of God, the place where God sealed his name and dwelt with his people.  So, when Nehemiah was told of its ruination, he was grieved beyond words.  So too, we should be broken by the sin and spiritual poverty in and around us.   Like Nehemiah before he heard of Jerusalem’s condition, we often stand unmoved by indwelling and encroaching sin.  Instead we should pray for spiritual sensitivity.

Nehemiah’s grief did not lead to apathy.  Rather it challenged him to return to the covenant promises of God (1:6, 11).  He prayed to God for YHWH’s powerful assistance, and he did so by recalling God’s promise to restore his people when they fell into sin and called on him in repentance (cf Deut 30:1-4; 1 Ki 8:46ff). Through Nehemiah, God teaches us that God honors penitent prayers that trust his Word.

Then Nehemiah waited.  For four months he anticipated God to answer his prayers and when the moment arrived, he acted but not without prayer.  He prayed because  recognized that the liberty to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city’s walls had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with God.  So as King Artaxerxes asked Nehemiah what was the matter and what he was requesting (2:2, 4), Nehemiah prayed to his covenant keeping God, and YHWH heard and granted him favor (2:8).

Finally, Nehemiah’s prayers sustained him as he began the project of rebuilding the walls.  Experiencing satanic opposition, Nehemiah prayed to God to protect God’s rebuilding project and to confirm the work of their hands.  Simultaneously, Nehemiah “set a guard as a protection against [the enemies] day and night” (4:9).  So, he teaches us that prayer and work are not opposites but the greatest partners.

Applying these lessons to our own church, we pray that God will make us a more needy people, a people who pray not because we should, but because we can do nothing but express our heart-felt need to God. May all our endeavors begin with confident prayer for God’s will to be done, continue with pleas for wisdom and power, and conclude with thanksgiving as God manifests his grace among us.

Wonderfully, God longs to answer prayer for his glory (John 14:13) and for our joy (16:24).  He tells us we can do nothing apart from him, but in him, he grants all our prayers (John 15:7).  Prayer is not peripheral; it is essential.  Until we become a people of true prayer, our fruits will enjoy limited success and misguided origins.

May we ask God to grip our hearts with a need for him and to grant us grace and please for mercy.  And may I be the first to feel that call.

For the Increase of Your Joy in His Glory,
Pastor David

Below is the outline of messages I will be giving to help us better understand the importance and use of our covenant.

June 13: Founded on God’s Grace, United in God’s Gospel, For God’s Glory
June 20: Loving Life Together
June 27: Corporate Assembly & Personal Encouragement
July 4: Proclaiming Liberty to Captives
July 11: Spiritual Stewardship
July 18: United By the Blood of Christ

If you are a member of Calvary Baptist Church, I encourage you to come and hear these messages and how they apply the covenant to our church life.  These messages will also be available in written form on our church website under the tab: Covenant Renewal.

Finally, I am encouraging every member, who is able, to join us at least one day a week (M, W, F) at 12 noon for 30 minutes of prayer for our church.  We will meet in the room right behind the coat room near the front office and there will be a weekly prayer outline to direct you.  I would love to see you there.

I am excited about how God is going to use this season of covenantal commitment to strengthen our church.  If you have questions during the process, please let me know. I would love to visit with you to see how these biblical truths apply to your life.

For Christ’s Glory and your joy,
Pastor David

There will have two weeks of Bible School. Calvary will be having their Bible School during the week of July 11-15 from 6:00-8:30 pm, and the following week, July 18-22 from 6:00-8:30 pm, El Calvario will be having their VBS.  We will need lots of help to reach twice as many kids! The theme for this year is Saddle Ridge Ranch where we will be “Roundin’ Up Questions and Drivin’ Home Answers.” So dust off your cowboy hats and get ready to ride!! If you are interested in attending Vacation Bible School or volunteering to help, you can email or call the church office (522-5894).

For Christ is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, it was his intention to build one new man out of two men (Eph 2:15).  Amazingly, the two men he had in mind—Jews and Gentiles—hated one another, and would never have pursued peace apart from Christ’s conciliatory work.

From the call of Abraham on, God was carving from humanity a people who were wholly his.  By the time Jesus Christ came as a son of Abraham, Jews and Gentiles were violently opposed to one another.  In fact, the temple court had a sign in it that forbid Gentiles to move any nearer to God’s dwelling place, without threat of execution.  Yet, when Jesus died on the cross, he abolished the law, tore down this wall of hostility, and provided peace.

What came after his death and resurrection was the outpouring of his Spirit and the consequent creation of a new human race.  Today, the church of Jesus Christ is this “one new man,” made up of Jews, Greeks, Somalis, Chinese, and thousands of ‘others.’  As Paul teaches us, the Cross of Christ has been preached and now all who have believed in him share in the same access to the Father by the same Spirit (2:16-17).  Thus, God’s people in their local churches are to be at peace with one another.

For the last three months, our church on Sunday nights has been studying the biblical idea of peace-making.   This month marks the end of that study.  But hopefully, it is more of a beginning than an end.  I pray that the seeds sown will bear fruit in a prayerful and intentional peace-making culture in our church family.

When we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that our hostile attitudes reflect the flesh more than the Spirit (Rom 8:6). Yet, what we have learned over the last few months is that the reality of Jesus’ death on the cross, the forgiveness of the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to put off the old man with his hostile mind, and to put on the mind of Christ to seek peace with others (Rom 12:18).  In doing this the gospel is not simply explained, it is experienced!

My prayer for our church as we anticipate our golden anniversary is a renewed commitment to reconciliation and reaching out to others in love for the purpose of peace.  Christ who bought his church with his blood also empowers his church to live at peace in the shadow of the cross as we await his return.  May we continue to strive towards that end.

Praying with you for Christ’s peace in our church,

Pastor David

“[The] things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done”

For those who have children or work with children, few things could be more important than helping those children to know and understand the good news of Jesus Christ. Therefore, finding faithful books and curriculum to help you “tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord” should be of the utmost importance.  Today, I want to mention one book worth of your consideration and investment.

The book is The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm.  Helm does a masterful job telling about God’s forever king who dies for his people and rises again in order to lead them into his eternal place under his perfect rule.  Helm depends on the sound biblical theology of Graeme Goldsworthy in According to Plan, and in short, simple statements and beautiful pictures, he retells the story of Jesus Christ in 26 moving lessons.  Instead of isolating stories in the Old Testament and teaching moral lessons, he shows how every major event in the Bible prepares the way for Jesus and his kingdom.

Over the last few months, I have read from this book to our Parents Day Out children (3-5 year olds), and have had a great response.  The book generated questions like “Why did Jesus die?” “Why did those men kill Jesus?”  And “How could Jesus be raised from the grave?”  This opened up a wonderful opportunity to share the message of Christ with interested children.

I highly recommend this resource for every family, grandparent, and teacher in our church.  It is a ‘faithful’ exposition of Bible’s “Big Picture,” and if read regularly with children, it will provide ample opportunities to share the gospel with the children God has entrusted to you.

For Your Encouragement and Edification, Pastor David

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.  It is composed of 22, 8 verse stanzas.  In the original Hebrew, the Psalm follows the Hebrew alphabet, so that verses 1-8 all begin with “A” (or aleph), verses 9-16 begin with “B” (bet), and so one.  All together, Psalm 119 contains 176 verses extolling the wisdom, wonder, and pleasure of knowing God’s word.  The Psalmist has drunk deeply from the well of God, and he resounds with praise for  God’s gracious revelation.

It is interesting, over twenty times, the Psalmist comments on the joy-producing character of God’s Law.  He is not simply reading “the Bible” because it is the thing to do.  He genuinely loves it and his heart overflows with a pleasing theme.  Hear a few of his jubilant words:

• In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches (v. 14).
• I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word (v. 16).
• Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors (v. 24).
• I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love (v. 47).
• I delight in your law.  It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.  The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces (v. 70-72).
• Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight (v. 77).
• How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (v. 103)
• Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart (v. 111).
• I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.  I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law (v. 162-63).
• I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight (v. 174).

Would you describe God’s as the Psalmist does?  In comparison to all created things, the Psalmist describes God’s word as more delightful than riches, more wise than learned counselors, sweeter than the finest delicacy, and more wonderful than the rarest treasure.  Such a description gives us a vision of what knowing God is like.

In fact, creation which overflows with wonder and delight was made for this very purpose–to lead us to God.   As Psalm 119:64 tells us, “the earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!” Creation is designed to stir within us a desire to know and delight in God through his word.  Sadly, we have taken this invitation and prostituted ourselves with the messenger, instead making preparation to see the King (see Rom. 1:18-32).  Creation is but a shadow of God’s substance; it cannot tell us who God is and how we can know him personally.  Thus creation can never ultimately satisfy us.

We must take up God’s book and read to know God and to enjoy him forever.  Augustine once said our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.  And rest, peace, and joy are available not in lavish vacations or accumulating created goods, but in knowing God through his word.  Then and only then, can we rightly delight in God’s creation.

Getting back to the original question: Why do we read the Bible?  It is not simply to be “good” people or even “good Christians,” it is not because the pastor said so, or because we simply like reading the world’s best seller.  We read our Bible’s to know God and to take pleasure in him.  It is true, that what we find in the Bible often makes us uncomfortable and uneasy–because the light of God’s word exposes our darkness.  Nevertheless, such conviction of sin is a genuine marker that you are on the right path to faith in God’s grace and everlasting Spiritual joy.

Why should I read my Bible?  Because in it we find God in the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ, which is the means to our greatest happiness.  One of Satan’s greatest ploys is to keep us out of the Bible.  Why?  Because Satan is a miserable person, and he hates God and all those who share his image.   He hates God’s word and the joy that it brings, and he wants to kill, steal, and destroy your eternal, abundant joy in God.  How does he do it?  By replacing joy in God with trifling, temporary pleasures in this world.  This is how the world, which is under his temporary rule, runs (1 John 2:15). Don’t be deceived!  Pick up your Bible and read, for in it is a world of joy!  Just read Psalm 119.

Feeding on the word with you,
Pastor David