Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Lord's Day (March 17, 2024) at Rainsville First Baptist Church


Max Grizzard, our Student Pastor, will be preaching in the 10:15 Worship Service at Rainsville First Baptist Church.  Also, Chase Johnson will be baptizing his son, Israel.  

The final service of the weekend FCA Youth Led revival will be Sunday night at 6:30.  This revival has been hosted at Rainsville First.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Role of the Pastor to Elders

The last two Wednesdays I have set the table for these coming weeks in writing about the Pastor/Teacher in the local church.  It seems in the New Testament there was always a "point man" in the church whether it was Paul, Timothy, or another who was seen to be the one who was leading, protecting, feeding, and caring for the local believers in that local church.  

Yet, anyone who knows me knows I also believe in plural leaders in the local church called Elders.  I will not write of why I believe that today (for I have dealt with that sufficiently in previous blogs), but God told them to "appoint elders in every city as I have commanded you -" (Titus 1:5) and Paul greeted "all the saints who are in Philippi, with the bishops (Pastors, elders, overseers) and deacons." (Philippians 1:1).

A leader who does not have accountability is a dictator.  God has never called a pastor to be so full of himself and His God-given authority in his own flesh to rule without accountability.  I am too much of a sinner to trust my decisions totally without the wisdom of other spiritual men.  These men are Biblically called Elders - those who share the responsibility of leading, protecting, feeding, and caring for the flock with the Pastor.

I Peter 5:3 warned about "being lords over those entrusted to you,..."  A person who has a sense of authority can always think more highly of himself than he should, but add that authority comes from God, and without proper boundaries, it can really be dangerous.

It is the Pastor God has called uniquely to a local place to lead that flock but with the guidance of other spiritual men affirming the ways of God.  Two heads are a monster, and so it is in the church.  Elders respect the role of the Pastor, but the Pastor also respects the role of the Elders.

This is why Alexander Strauch uses this term to describe the relation of the Pastor and Elders.  The Pastor is among equals with the Elders, but as unique to his call must also be the one who is more out-front leading.  And the Elders should expect that leadership from him.

I believe there should ultimately always be complete unity among the Elders (and I'm including the Pastor in this term).  If Jesus is the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23), then the Head is never divided.  If the Elders will believe that principle, die to their own personal thoughts, plans, and wishes, and pray earnestly - then eventually they should be able to come to unity as revealed by the Spirit and the Word.  

Read this carefully....NO CHURCH will ever split if the leadership is in unity.  

What if a church does not have Elders?  Then they most likely are looking to Deacons to fulfill that role.  For every church has those who provide spiritual leadership.  But here are the problems with Deacons serving in the role of providing spiritual leadership to the church:  1. They are not called to do; 2.  They are called to serve the people;  3. There may be (and most likely will be) men serving as Deacons who are qualified to provide that leadership, but not all Deacons will;  4. If Deacons are doing the role of the Elder then the church is not getting the benefit of the office of a Deacon or deacons are so divided in their roles the church is not benefitting completely from either role; and lastly, 5. The Deacons who are not called to be Elders are frustrated and scared about being asked to do something they are not called and equipped to be.

So, if you are a member of a church with the Biblical structure of Elders, then thank God and earnestly pray for your Elders.  And then obey them (Hebrews 13:17) unless you can show Biblical reasons why their leadership is out of the standard of the Word of God.  If you can, then go to them privately to share your insights with them.  Do not take them on publically until you have met privately and even after a longer time of seeking God's will.  

If you are in a church without Elders and are being led by Deacons, then pray for God to lead them to this.  I believe it would be permissible for you to share with the Deacons your understanding of Elders, but you will never be the person who can force the men to see something.  God alone must show them the Biblical understanding of Elders and church structure.  Trying to force Elders on a church without God leading them will only lead to confusion in the church and frustration in you. 

May the Lord grant wisdom in all His churches and may we wait patiently for Him to carry out His full plans and purposes perfectly in His church.  I am still a work in progress, and so is every church I know.

Blessings;

David

Monday, March 11, 2024

Jesus in the Midst of His Church - The Church at Smyrna

Revelation 2: 8-11 speaks to the church at Smyrna revealing a unique part of the revelation of Jesus from chapter one.   He is "the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life:..."

Jesus is the Faithful One, the overcoming One.  He perseves. He will always be faithful because He is at the beginning of your trial and at the end of your trial.  He will not leave you in the midst of your trial, no matter how hard it may get.

Why? He experienced the worst end of a trial anyone could experience - death.  He became dead but came to life.   He once was alive, but experienced death, and came back to where he was...alive.  

So to the dear church in Smyrna who is going through great tribulation (pressure like a heavy rock sitting on your chest), poverty (extreme poverty having been cut off by the Jews), and persecution (from within as a Jew and without in the Roman Empire).  

But Jesus says "I know..." (2:9).  Jesus knows our tribulation, poverty, and persecution.  He knows about our trials because He has been through them.  So he can say in verse 10 - "Do not fear any of these things."

So how do you get through these tough times?  Look to Him who overcame (verse 11) and you will be able to overcome.  He promises (verse 10) that these trials will not last long - maybe just ten days.  He doesn't mean a literal ten days, but He is saying no long. And even if you experience death but are faithful (preserving), like our Lord, you will have eternal life, and "the second death" will not hurt you.


Friday, March 8, 2024

This Lord's Day (March 10, 2024) at Rainsville First Baptist Church

Isaiah Craig will be preaching this Sunday at Rainsville First Baptist Church in the 10:15 service.  We are so delighted to have Isaiah and his family serving here and to join him in his vision of reaching the nations. Max Grizzard will be baptizing this Sunday, as well.  Plus, the great music leadership of our praise band.

Don't forget to "Spring Forward" this weekend as we lose an hour.  Don't be late for Sunday School and worship.  

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

The Four Gifts of Persons God Gave the Church - Ephesians 4: 7-16

Last Wednesday I wrote about the triumphant entry Jesus made into Heaven with the spoils of victory and the gifts God gave to men in return.  In Ephesians 4: 11, Paul uniquely shares four of the gifts God gave were different in quality than the other gifts given.  These four were not just abilities and talents embedded into a believer in order to carry out the work of God, but these were actual persons given to the church.

Let's recap these four briefly:

Apostle -  the foundation of the church was built on the person of the Apostles and their doctrine (Acts 2:42) and the fourteen (including Matthias in Acts 1:26 and Paul who was "born out of due time" but was an apostle according to I Corinthians 15:8-9).

An apostle is a "sent one on mission."  Some believe there are no more apostles, and I will agree there are no more like the original who actually saw the resurrected Lord Jesus.  But there are those who are "sent on a mission" to carry the Gospel and plant churches. 

A prophet is one who speaks revelation from God and for God.  These were people (men and women) who were filled with boldness and often pointly to issues within the church.  Most in the Old Testament were so inspired that their messages became Scripture, but not as much in the New Testament.  Their messages were still authentic and to the point.  That is why I believe this person still exists - one who can address issues within the church and/or culture and bring God's revelation on the issue.  They speak with boldness and passion because they have seen an abuse in the church or culture that must be addressed and they go for it.  Due to their very nature, most in the church do not like them and cannot tolerate them for long periods of time.  But their message is needed to "stir up" the church, and that is exactly what they will do in God's time.

An evangelist is one who preaches and explains the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved and unconverted so they might come to the knowledge of Christ.  There is a special anointing on this person in order to do this with ease and understanding, often resulting in many coming to saving knowledge.

The Pastor/Teacher I believe is one person and one gift.  The Pastor here is the word for a shepherd.  He is the one who leads, protects, feeds, and cares for the flock as the man of God.  The Teacher is his primary function as a Pastor.

As I have shared in previous blogs, I believe the Pastor (Shepherd), Bishop (Overseer), and Elder (Presbuteros) are all the same person.  All three are used interchangeably in Acts 20 and he is not speaking of three different persons, but one in three roles.  And all of these are linked to the local church, not a denomination or collection of churches.

It is my purpose to share more about the Pastor in the coming weeks.

Blessings;

David

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

3 Principles of Family Discipleship by Michael Kelley

 As parents, we are the greatest influences in the lives of our children. We are the ones responsible for forming their views on God, humanity, society, culture, and a host of other things. Now while that is true, there are a couple of caveats we should also embrace as parents.


Caveat number one is that we are influential regardless of whether we are intentional about it or not. It’s a frightening thing to recognize that our children’s minds and hearts are being formed – by us – whether we know it or not. Our kids will learn about how to handle money by watching us. They will learn how to treat their peers by watching us. They will learn about how to relate to the opposite sex by watching us. And they will learn and be formed by all those things whether we want them to or not.

The second caveat is that our influence, while profound, decreases the older our children grow. That’s not rocket science because we know from experience that the older our children get the more influences come into their lives. They spend less and less of their time with us, their parents, and more and more time with other people.

Combining those things together help us see that discipleship in our families should be both intentional and urgent. Having said that, we turn to a particular passage in the Old Testament that gives us some helpful principles when considering discipleship in our families:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deut. 6:4-9)


These words were spoken first by Moses to the people of Israel as he was trying to prepare them for their new lives in the land God had promised to them. In that land, there would be all kinds of competing influences, and the Lord knew the importance of reinforcement of His ways in the midst of those influences. From these verses, we can still glean today – in a culture of competing influences – at least three principles for discipleship in the home:

1. The Principle of Responsibility

Though obvious, it still needs to be said that the first principle is that of responsibility. Moses was addressing parents and future parents, telling them what to do. To put it simply, the spiritual education and formation of our kids is our job as parents.

It’s our job. Not someone else’s. We cannot, as parents, outsource the discipleship of our kids, even to the church. That’s not to say the church doesn’t play a role here, and it’s not to say that the role of the church is important. Imperative even. It does mean, however, that we must first accept the spiritual responsibility of parenting before we do anything else.

2. The Principle of Repetition

There is a regularity to this passage. Everything that happens in this passage – sitting at home, walking on the road, laying down, getting up – these are all things that happen with regularity. So should it be with the way we approach discipleship in the home. There needs to be steady repetition and regularity with that discipleship.

That means we should establish, reinforce, and embrace spiritual routines in the home, and these can and should take a variety of forms. Reading the Bible and praying at breakfast, praying together before bedtime, a consistent conversation after worship on Sundays – these are all routines that we need to establish and then commit ourselves to, to the degree that when the rare occasion happens when we break the routine, our kids notice and call us out for it.

3. The Principle of Normalization

While there is a regularity to the passage that presses the need for consistent routines, there is also a normality to the passage. All of the activities mentioned are things that happen in the course of every day life. The vision, therefore, is one of normalization – that discipleship becomes the norm for how we do life in our homes.

It means there don’t have to be special, isolated occasions when we pray or talk about the Bible. These things should be part of our every day conversations – on the way to school, sitting around in the evenings, going on a walk – we talk about real things. And we apply the Bible to the real stuff of life. When we do that, we are helping normalize spiritual conversations and also building a way of thinking about all parts of life from the biblical standpoint.

These three principles – responsibility, repetition, and normalization – are the foundation for family discipleship. Once we choose to align ourselves with these, we can, as parents, steward the time and influence we have with our children for the sake of Jesus and His gospel.

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By Michael Kelley, Rooted Network Executive Director

Monday, March 4, 2024

Jesus in the Midst of the Church - The Church at Ephesus

The last two Mondays I have written about the book of Revelation.  I'm going to continue as I want to reveal some wonderful truths about the seven churches of Revelation as written about in chapters 2-3.

I want to take seven Mondays to share a truth about Jesus in each of the seven churches.  I want to give credit to Jack Hayford for planting the seed of this in 2001.  I will attempt to show you there is a unique part of the revelation of Jesus as seen in chapter one the angel takes to highlight to each church. And I believe what the angel is saying is had you known Jesus (the head of the church) in this way, your problem would not have existed.  And the answer to your problem is to know Jesus in this way.

Look at Revelation 2: 1-7 and the church at Ephesus.

Jesus is seen as holding and walking in the midst of the church.  This is a present activity.  Jesus is not dead or distant.  He holds meaning to have power over, to grasp, not with a partial grasp, but he has the whole in His hand.  He has complete control over the church.

He walks in the midst of the church.  Wherever the church is, there is Jesus.  He moves freely among His church without barriers or obstacles.  

The church was commended for some great things, but one thing was missing.  In verse 4, they had walked away from their first love.  Unthinkable.  Tragic.

They were still active as a church, just without love.  They were still serving, going, and doing, but in their own energy.  

So what are we to do?  Remember by going back to the place of departure, take personal responsibility for walking away, and start doing again what you once did.  Don't treat Jesus as an absent dignity that you have to please, but rather know Him intimately and closely - He is as close as the grip of your hand.  He walks among us, He knows us, He loves us....

If we don't, He says in verse 5 "He will remove the lampstand."  He will remove His presence from us.  He is the lamp, not us.  And the only reason we have a light to share with a dark world is Him burning through us.  Return to the intimacy with Christ.  That closeness with Him.  If so, He promises (verse 7) that there will be a day when we will be together forever enjoying His presence with no possibility of any distance between us.