Sunday Update on Reagan

I spoke with Allen a few minutes ago and Reagan's condition has been officially upgraded to "Stable."  Praise the Lord.

She is still in a chemically induced coma and paralyzed, but has had a "good" day, as Allen reported.

Pray for Allen and Jeri Ann tonight as they have a room at the Ronald McDonald house - this will be the first time since Wednesday they have left the hospital to rest.  Pray they will get some much needed rest.

Saturday afternoon update on Reagan

Sorry for the delay in updating.  It's been quite a long 36 hours.

After I posted Friday, her condition keep getting worse through out the day.  Nothing was working so at 6:30 last night the doctors with Allen and Jeri Ann made the decision to do emergency surgery.  They did not want to do it because they did not know if she could endure it. 

So with much praying and many tears, she went off to surgery.  WELL PRAISE THE LORD she came through.  She had a twisted colon and a tear which he repaired.  GLORY!

She came out of surgery with "the bag," but the doctor said in about 6-8 weeks they would go back in and reverse it.  Again, PRAISE THE LORD.

Friday night and Saturday is still an hour-by-hour thing.  She has alot of infection that they are continuing to battle.  They had to insert two chest tubes this morning, but she tolerated that better than they were expecting.

She is in chemical coma for a few days.  

Keep praying.  She is in the PICU at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.

Friday Morning Update on Reagan McBride

Please pray for little Reagan McBride.  As our church family knows, she has been in-and-out of the Emergency Room at Keller on Tuesday and Wednesday until they decided she needed to be sent on to Children's.  Last evening, she was transferred from the floor to PICU.  Her doctor says that she is critical.

Pray for her, Allen and JeniAnn.  I will keep you updated.

Obedience

Obedience is doing exactly what I'm told to do, when I'm told to do it, with a right heart attitude. Obedience brings blessing; disobedience brings conflict. The first time God prompts your heart and you refuse to obey, your revived life begins to dry up and shrivel away. To delay is to disobey. To maintain the fire of revival in your heart, you must be committed to absolute obedience to the holy God. The closer you are to God, the faster you will obey.

Insight from the Word Deuteronomy 28:1 "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth." 1 Samuel 15:22 "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams." Psalm 40:6-8 "In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart." John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Making It Personal Is there any known command of Scripture that I am not obeying? Is there any God-ordained authority in my life (boss, parent, etc.) toward whom I do not have a submissive attitude? Has God prompted my heart to some act of obedience which I have not gotten around to doing yet? © Life Action Ministries: Revival Review--Keys to Continued Revival

God's Positioning System - Sermon May 24, 2009

Here are the sermon notes from Sunday, May 24 on "God's Positioning System" on Romans 8:14

Nancy Leigh DeMoss speaks out on Miss California

The story of Miss California and her remarks about gay marriage has been in the news, but frankly I've not seen anyone commenting on it that was worthy repeating or reading at lenght. But then I saw this response from Nancy Leigh DeMoss and knew it was worth reading. As always, she is not for the "cultured" Christian to read for she will flat blow you out of the water. But you have to read long and hard to find reasons to disagree with her Biblically. The clear fact of the matter is that far too many Christians are in step with the world and out of step with Christ. Take time to read this editorial here.

NOBTS Graduate Recognition Service this Sunday night

As most of you know, I am the Director of the North Alabama Center for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary that meets at First Baptist Church, Athens.  We offer two certificates in Christian Education and Pastoral Ministries. We will be adding the Bible Teaching Certificate beginning in the fall.

This coming Sunday night we are recognizing our first graduates from this Center with these certificates.  In a special service at 6:00 pm (May 24) at FBC, we will honor (pictured left-to-right) Shane Reyer, Donald Turbyfill, Charles Miller, Steve Slaton, Andy Elliott, Billy Hayes and Mike Johnson.  This was a picture taken of this group at our last night of class last week.  Congratulations guys!!  It is a joy to see your hard work and perservance pay off.

You can now email posts to friends

I have included a "gadget" where you can email a post that you like to family and friends. The email box at the end of each post is that "gadget." Just click on that email box and it will take you to a screen where you can email that post (not the whole blog) to family and friends.

The Cross in the Marketplace

“I simply argue that the cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the Church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town’s garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek…at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died, and that is what He died for, and that is what He died about…that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about.” - George MacLeod

You are not wronged by another, but yourself

Chrysostom (pronounced Chris es tom) lived and preached in the 300-400's as the pastor of Antioch and then archbishop of Constantinople. His life was recently featured in Preaching magazine and this was written of him:

"No one who is wronged is wronged by another, but experiences this injury at his or her own hands."

Douglas Webster (Professor of Pastoral Theology and Preaching at Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham) then wrote:

"Nothing can ruin our virtue or destroy our soul that is not self-inflicted. John (Chrysostom) argued that poverty cannot impoverish the soul. Malignancy cannot malign the character. The lack of health care cannot destroy a healthy soul. Famine cannot famish one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. No! Not even the devil and death can destroy those who live sober and vigilant lives. The devil robbed Job of everything but could not rob Job of his virtue. Cain took Abel's life but could not take away his greater gain. Only those who injury themselves are injured.

Self-betrayal is the danger, littleness of soul the problem. 'Those who do not injury themselves become stronger,' wrote John, 'even if they receive innumerable blows; but they who betray themselves, even if there is no one to harass them, fall of themselves, and collapse and perish.'"

Henry Blackaby speaks out concerning Southern Baptists

ATLANTA (BP)--If Southern Baptists want to see a "Great Commission Resurgence," Henry Blackaby believes they need to focus on the relationship between disciples and the living Lord Jesus, not launch a new emphasis on evangelism.

"I have felt for a long time that Southern Baptists have focused on evangelism and missed discipleship," Blackaby told Baptist Press May 11. "The most important part of the Great Commission is 'teach them to practice everything I have commanded you.' That's discipleship and that's the heart of the Great Commission. If we want to have a resurgence in the Great Commission, there's got to be a refocusing on the priorities of Christ for discipleship."

Blackaby, a longtime pastor, college president and coauthor of the "Experiencing God" series of Bible study materials, said declining baptism and membership statistics in the Southern Baptist Convention reflect not so much a lack of passion for Christ's command to make disciples as a lack of relationship with Jesus Christ.

"When you hear the Southern Baptist leadership being concerned about baptisms and all that, those are a byproduct of discipleship," Blackaby said. "When you lead a person ... into a relationship where Christ is Lord, everything else follows. You don't have to convince them they need to spend time in God's Word or prayer or in the fellowship or on mission. That's a spontaneous response to a relationship to the living Lord."

Issuing a call for a resurgence of commitment to the Great Commission triggers the wrong response in Christians who are focused on religious activity, rather than a relationship with Christ, Blackaby added.

"Southern Baptists are program-oriented. We are missing the relationship," Blackaby said. "When you make a statement like [that], the first thing most pastors look for is, 'What program's going to come down the pike to help me do that?' You don't need a program to help you do that. You just need the relationship to the living Lord. The reason we are not effective is because we have moved from the relationship to a program activity."

THE REASON FOR DECLINE

Substituting activities for relationship also is why many churches are in decline or on a plateau, Blackaby said.

"We are not leading people into that immediate relationship with the living Lord. If you listen to most sermons, that intimate personal relationship is missing," Blackaby said. "If you talk to many church members, they feel they are in the right relationship to God when they attend all the worship services, they tithe, they go on a mission trip. And many a pastor would evaluate a member, not from the intimate relationship with the Lord, but for how faithful he is in all the activities of the church. And does he tithe?

"It's activity. Many of God's people have moved from the relationship to religious activity," Blackaby added. "We are content to live without the manifest presence, power and activity of God."

The place many churches need to begin is not with a call to commitment and activity, but with a call to repentance, Blackaby explained.

"We don't talk about repentance," Blackaby said. "Repentance is the essence of what God says throughout the Bible: 'You have lost the relationship. Return to Me and then you will experience Me returning to you.' When that happens, the manifest presence and power and activity of God is very real."

Attempts at evangelism without relationship are artificial and yield artificial fruit, Blackaby noted.

"If you try to bypass [relationship] and give them a program, the Roman Road or another pattern for evangelism, you are creating an artificial approach to evangelism. And of course it has that same kind of fruit," Blackaby explained. "Those who have been led to the Lord on a program are very reluctant to respond to the lordship of Christ."

Witnessing to the lost is supposed to be a spontaneous response to a relationship with Christ, not an activity, Blackaby added.

"[The Bible] doesn't say, 'You are to do witnessing.' It says, 'You are witnesses unto Me,'" Blackaby said. "'Out of the relationship with Me, you will have an enormous witness unto Me.' If you're not doing it now just out of relationship to the Lord, don't look for a program that would help you do what you ought to be doing spontaneously."

'THE GREATEST SINGLE NEED'

What would most help Southern Baptists experience renewed passion for the Great Commission is solid biblical teaching about Christ as head of the church, Blackaby contended.

"The reaching of the lost is a spontaneous response to the lordship of Christ. If you bypass the lordship of Christ and you get God's people in a mode to take the Gospel to a lost world ... you're going to have a tough time," he said. "I have talked to many, many people in the churches. They have never had one message on the nature of the church. Not one. So they are practicing religious activity and looking for a program, but the headship of Christ, what that means and what it will look like and how we respond when Christ exercises His headship, that's just not being taught.

"I would say the greatest single need is to return to the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ and all of the implications that come from that," Blackaby said. "If a church is in a spiritual mess, the only thing that can get them out of that is a good, solid biblical exposition that leads them into the deepest and most profound relationship with the living Lord."

Ironically, calling on pastors to focus on evangelism ultimately results in less evangelism if it causes a loss in focus on the lordship of Christ, Blackaby noted.

"There's a huge gap in the teaching ministry of pastors. We have put on them a huge sense of the priority of evangelism. We had an evangelist in our church not long ago. He said the thing I thought he would say: that the No. 1 priority above everything else is to reach out to the lost," Blackaby said. "I would say that's not true. The priority of every congregation is the lordship of Christ and everything else will come out of that. Many a pastor would not know how in the world to guide their church under the lordship of Christ ... because His life doesn't function out of that mindset."

When church members begin living in a vital relationship with Christ under His lordship, baptisms and membership growth will take care of themselves, Blackaby said.

"Anybody coming under the lordship of Christ automatically has a God-given DNA to be on mission with their Lord to touch a lost world," Blackaby said. "It's not a matter of trying to get our churches back on the program of the Great Commission, but rather into the relationship with the living Lord who is on mission in our world.
--30--
Mark Kelly is an assistant editor with Baptist Press. Henry Blackaby is located on the Internet at blackaby.org.

Preaching is Worship

For those of who you know me know that I don't use the word "worship" to describe the music portion like it is commonly said, "Praise and worship," meaning the music portion of the service. Instead, all of the service is to be worship.

R. J. Coates and J.I. Packer said this, "Preaching, if not sacramental, is profane.  By this we mean that a true sermon is an act of God, and not a mere performance by man.  In real preaching the speaker is the servant of the word and God speaks and works by the word through his servant's lips."

I have always believed that the message is a vital part of worship.  The elements of true worship are there:  the reading of the Word of God (which directs our worship), the revelation of God (which dictates our sense of worship), and the response to God (which determines the level of our true worship).  

Dedication of My Great Niece, Caroline Cofield

Sunday, May 10, I had the privilege of dedicating my newest great-niece, Caroline Cofield, the daughter of Chad and Randi Cofield, of Boaz.  She was born February 10.

Couple heading to honeymoon

Kevin and Tammy headed Sunday morning to Houston for their seven-day cruise.  Roxanne and I got to take them to the airport.  Here is the happy couple at the airport.

Wedding of Kevin and Tammy

Roxanne and I have a new daughter as of this past Saturday, May 9 as Kevin and Tammy were married at Crosspoint Community Church, Gadsden.  I don't have actual pictures of the wedding (guess why?), but I will share a few here of what I have.

Groomsmen's Breakfast Saturday, May 9

National Day of Prayer is Thursday

The National Day of Prayer is this Thursday, May 7. The 58th Annual National Day of Prayer will be lead by Beth Moore and Shirley Dobson. Millions will unite in prayer as thousands of events will take place from coast to coast. The theme for this year is "Prayer... America's Hope" and is based on the verse from Psalm 33:22 which states: "May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."

The National Day of Prayer Task Force's mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

In accordance with Biblical truth, the National Day of Prayer Task Force seeks to:
* Foster unity within the Christian Church
* Protect America's Constitutional Freedoms to gather, worship, pray and speak freely
* Publicize and preserve America's Christian heritage
* Encourage and emphasize prayer, regardless of current issues and positions
* Respect all people, regardless of denomination or creed
* Be wise stewards of God's resources and provision
* Glorify the Lord in word and deed

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Our Task Force is a privately funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families. The Task Force represents a Judeo Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.

The National Observance will take place, Thursday, May 7th, in Washington D.C. from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and will be broadcast LIVE via webcast and through GOD TV, channel 365 on Direct TV and channel 138 on Sky Angel. Also, through the NDP site.

We know that He does hear us when we call to Him! As it says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

I'll never forget the impact when I heard that prayed (through an interpreter) by a house-pastor in Russia for his own land. It works in Russia, Mexico, the U.S. - we all need our land healed.

Take some time to pray and seek the Lord on this special day.

If God is Sovereign, Why Pray

I have appreciated the ministry of Life Action for many years.  I regularly get their emails and last week (4-28), Brian Hedges wrote "If God is Sovereign, Why Pray?"  It is an excellent read.  Click here to read.

Sermon Notes May 3, 2009

Here are the sermon notes from the message Sunday, May 3 "Don't Be in Debt to Dying Flesh" Click here.

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

"How do I love you?  Let me count the ways?"

My Child…

1. You may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1

2. I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2

3. I am familiar with all your ways. Psalm 139:3

4. Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew 10:29-31

5. For you were made in my image. Genesis 1:27

6. In Me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28

7. For you are my offspring. Acts 17:28

8. I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5

9. I chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians 1:11-12

10. You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in My book. Psalm 139:15-16

11. I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26

12. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 19:14

13. I knit you together in your mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13

14. I brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6

15. I have been misrepresented by those who don’t know me. John 8:41-44

16. I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16

17. And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. 1 John 3:1

18. Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1

19. I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11

20. For I am the perfect Father. Matthew 5:48

21. Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. James 1:17

22. For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33

23. My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11

24. Because I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3

25. My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalm 139:17-18

26. And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

27. I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40

28. For you are my treasured possession. Exodus 19:5

29. I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. Jeremiah 32:41

30. And I want to show you great and marvelous things. Jeremiah 33:3

31. If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. Deuteronomy 4:29

32. Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

33. For it is I who gave you those desires. Philippians 2:13

34. I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. Ephesians 3:20

35. For I am your greatest encourager. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

36. I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

37. When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. Psalm 34:18

38. As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. Isaiah 40:11

39. One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Revelation 21:3-4

40. And I’ll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. Revelation 21:3-4

41. I am your Father, and I love even as I love My Son, Jesus. John 17:23

42. For in Jesus, My love for you revealed. John 17:26

43. He is the exact representation of My being. Hebrews 1:3

44. He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. Romans 8:31

45. And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

46. Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

47. His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. 1 John 4:10

48. I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. Romans 8:31-32

49. If you receive the gift of my Son, Jesus, you receive me. 1 John 2:23

50. And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. Romans 8:38-39

51. Come home and I’ll throw the biggest part heaven has ever seen. Luke 15:7

52. I have always been Father, and will always be Father. Ephesians 3:14-15

53. I am waiting for you. Luke 15:11-32

Written in Freedom Tools by Andy Reese

Kay Arthur on Hebrews 11

Nancy Leigh DeMoss recently had Kay Arthur talking about "Grounded in God's Word."  Click here to read the entire manuscript and discover why Romans is the first book she ever studied and taught. Also, she says that at the age of 73 she is going through the deepest trial of her life.  It's worth reading the entire manuscript. But this is what Kay Arthur said about Hebrews 11 and faith:

I have written at the top of Hebrews 11, “Faith is not faith until it’s tested.” It’s in the trial that I see:

• Do I really believe God?
• Do I really believe He’s sovereign?
• Do I really believe that He’s omniscient?
• Do I really believe that all things work together for good?
• Do I really believe I’m accounted as a sheep for the slaughter?
• Do I really believe that I am to be put to death all day long?
• Do I really believe that neither nakedness, peril, or sword can separate me from the love of God?” (See Romans 8:28-37).
• Do I really believe all that?
• Do I really believe my sins are forgiven?
• Do I really believe I can’t change the past, so therefore I’m going to move to the future and allow God to take the past and mold me and make me into what I’m supposed to be?