Years ago, Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015) popularized an old poem—the commonsense simplicity and clarity of which have encouraged many anxious and weary saints.
From an old English parsonage down by the sea There came in the twilight a message to me; Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven, Hath, it seems to me, teaching from Heaven. And on through the doors the quiet words ring Like a low inspiration: “DO THE NEXT THING.”
Many a questioning, many a fear, Many a doubt, hath its quieting here. Moment by moment, let down from Heaven, Time, opportunity, and guidance are given. Fear not tomorrows, child of the King, Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing
Do it immediately, do it with prayer; Do it reliantly, casting all care; Do it with reverence, tracing His hand Who placed it before thee with earnest command. Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing, Leave all results, do the next thing.
Looking for Jesus, ever serener, Working or suffering, be thy demeanor; In His dear presence, the rest of His calm, The light of His countenance be thy psalm, Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing. Then, as He beckons thee, do the next thing.
This is my favorite time of the year. I love Thanksgiving because I love its food, fall colors, and it's family focus.
As I reflect on this Thanksgiving, I am always reminded of what Paul said in Ephesians 5: 20 "..always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
So, let me give a short-list of my Thanksgiving blessings:
* I am grateful God the Father sought me, Jesus brought me and the Holy Spirit birthed me as a child of God and I will forever be His child;
* I am grateful for my precious wife, Roxanne, with whom we have been married 37 years;
* I am grateful for my two sons, Keith and Kevin, for their love for me and desire to still include me in their lives and for the good relationship we have.
* I am grateful for Kevin's wife, Brooke, and their precious daughter, Mary Ellis, that was just born November 9 and my five other grandchildren - Cayden, Brooklyn, Mason, Abby and Baylor. What a joy to have six grandchildren at the age of 57!!!
* I am grateful for a Godly heritage my parents left me and for the family God permitted me to be raised in, the community of Boaz and my home church, Second Baptist Church of Boaz.
* I am grateful for Godly men who influenced me early in life (beyond my dad): W.H. Hayes, Dwight Teal, and Clinton Garmon.
* I am grateful for friends who "stick closer than a brother" and most of them for over 30 years.
* I am grateful God called me to preach and pastor; no greater honor of which I do not deserve.
* I am grateful for each church God has privileged me to pastor and the many, many friends we have on this side of Heaven who enrich our life.
* I am grateful for Rainsville First Baptist's continual love and support of me as their preacher, pastor and friend; for the wonderful team of fellow ministers and deacons God has given us to serve with and for the larger community in which is our field.
* I am grateful in the toughest year of my family life there is so much to be thankful and God is "the lifter of the head." Psalm 3:3
If this has been a tough year for you, then just begin to "count your blessings, name them one-by-one, and it will surprise what the Lord has done."
I never thought I would be where I am today. But our God is faithful and His grace is sufficient and He is more sweeter today than ever.
So, if you still have breathe in your lungs, then "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord." Psalm 150: 6
So, happy Thanksgiving from my heart to yours.
Some closing quotes:
"The more grateful you are the more likely you are to exhibit patience and self-control. College students who instituted methods for increasing gratitude such as keeping a gratitude journal slept longer and better. And couples who exhibit thankfulness tend to be more committed to each other and are more likely to remain in their relationships." - Jim Denison
"Studies have shown that gratitude can indirectly influence physical health, as well. Those who have 'dispositional gratitude' - defined by one study as 'part of a wider life orientation towards noticing and appreciating the positive in the world' - are more likely to report good physical health, a propensity for healthy activities and willingness to seek help for health concerns." - David G. Allan
"Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and were are his, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations." Psalm 100: 3-5
won’t ever forget the day I married Aileen. I won’t ever forget the moment she appeared at the end of the aisle and began her slow walk toward me. Our eyes met, and in an instant I was overwhelmed with awe, overcome with the joy of being joined together for life. It was a holy, intense, unforgettable moment. My love was fierce and strong, and I was convinced there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her, no trial I wouldn’t endure on her behalf. By the time her father put her hand in mind, I was little more than a messy puddle of tears and snot (which rather dampened the sweetness of the moment, I think; I should have thought to put a handkerchief in my pocket.).
But sadly, it didn’t take long for that kind of adoration to be replaced by impatience and immature squabbling. We hadn’t been married for long when apathy began to replace fervor, when the highs began to give way to the inevitable mids and lows. The drama of the wedding day turned to normal life with all its stresses and trials and mundane moments. I soon learned that marriage is tougher than it seems. I soon learned that I’m more sinful than I had imagined.
For all that, our marriage has been good. Neither of us has ever been tempted to stray or to walk away. We’ve never fallen out of love or grown tired of spending time together. We were best friends before we were married and have remained that way ever since. There’s no one I’d rather spend time with and no one with whom I share so many interests. Yet my great challenge from then until now has been treasuring my marriage. And I suspect this is your challenge as well. As we continue this series on being a godly man, we need to consider this: If you are going to run to win, you must treasure your marriage.
The Meaning of Marriage
We are selfish people who are experts at identifying and doing those things that benefit ourselves. We can even misuse something as good as marriage, to see it as an institution that exists ultimately for our comfort, for our happiness, for our pleasure. And while marriage does bring all of those benefits and many more, it ultimately exists for something far better. Marriage exists to glorify God. Marriage exists to demonstrate the gospel.
Paul makes this link clear in Ephesians 5:32, where he calls marriage a “mystery” that refers to Christ and the church. What he tells us is that even before Christ lived and died for his people, the union of a husband and wife was a picture of what he would accomplish, a metaphor of the way he would love his people. We might even say God created marriage so we would have words and images through which we could learn about him. The sacrificial love of a husband for his wife would be a demonstration of Christ’s love for his people. The wife’s joyful response to her husband’s pursuit would be a demonstration of the church’s love of her Savior. The universal human institution of marriage was ultimately created by God for the purposes of God.
This cuts hard against the cultural ethos, which sees marriage as optional and perhaps even oppressive. It cuts hard against our inward selfishness, which would take all the benefits of marriage without the commitment. It elevates marriage to something far beyond itself. It makes marriage something holy, something to treasure.
Treasuring Your Marriage
If God has given you a wife, he has given you a precious gift. He calls you to treasure your marriage, and to treasure marriage, you must treasure your bride. If you are to treasure your wife, you must learn from Jesus Christ how to love her well. Here are four marks of a husband’s love.*
A sacrificial love. A husband’s love is sacrificial. It sacrifices safety, comfort, desires, preferences or anything else if only it will serve her. Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” As a husband, you are to imitate Christ who gave everything he had for the sake of his bride. I’m sure you know that you are called to love your wife to such a degree that you would be willing to die for her. Perhaps you have fantasized about going out in a blaze of glory as you save her from a fiery building or throwing her out of the way of a runaway train. But God calls for far more than this. God calls you to live for your wife, and this is a much greater challenge. This is a day-to-day, moment-to-moment calling to love and serve her. It is a call to study and know her so you can provide for her needs and submit to her desires. It is a call to put to death whatever sin you are clinging to that keeps you from loving her better and serving her deeper. Do you love your wife in a sacrificial way?
A purposeful love. Christ’s love for his people accomplished something on their behalf—it accomplished their salvation. He “gave himself up for [the church], that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Christ died to both save and sanctify his people. As a husband, you are God’s special means to help your wife grow in holiness. You are to imitate Jesus by helping your wife grow in holiness, to take upon yourself the solemn responsibility of applying God’s Word to her life. Her spiritual maturity is your husbandly responsibility. You are responsible to know God’s Word to such an extent that you can carefully and faithfully apply it to her. Do you love your wife in a purposeful way?
A nurturing love. The love of Christ is a gentle and nurturing love, and it serves as the example of the kind of love a husband is to extend toward his wife. “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.” To nourish your wife, you must consider how a gardener nourishes his plants, how he carefully draws out the beauty of each one. Richard Phillips says of the husband, “This requires him to pay attention to her, to talk with her in order to know what her hopes and fears are, what dreams she has for the future, where she feels vulnerable or ugly, and what makes her anxious or gives her joy.” To cherish your wife, you must treat her in ways that prove her value, that cause her to thrive. Do you love your wife in a nurturing way?
A steadfast love. The love of a husband is a steadfast, enduring kind of love. It expresses the highest commitment. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Just as Jesus Christ will never forsake his church, you as a husband must never forsake your wife. The permanence of the one-flesh union of marriage is sealed, signified, and repeatedly celebrated through sex. The permanence of the one-flesh union of marriage is mocked, undermined, and dishonored through adultery, pornography, and any other form of sexual sin. As a godly husband you vow to “forsake all others” not merely in deed, but also in thought, desire, and fantasy. Your wife thrives when she can count on the rock-solid assurance of your commitment to her; she withers in distrust and broken vows. Do you love your wife in a steadfast way?
The love you are meant to show your wife is sacrificial, purposeful, nurturing, and steadfast, just like the love of Christ for his church. It is in loving your wife this way that you treasure her, and it is in treasuring your wife that you treasure your marriage.
Do It Now!
Treasuring your marriage requires action. Here are a few steps you can take right away.
Give your wife a voice. It is wise to invite your wife to speak into your life. For this to happen well, you must allow her to speak freely, you must listen carefully, and you must respond only after careful reflection. It may be best to promise that you will not reply defensively for one hour or 24 hours or however long it takes you to prayerfully consider what she says. Perhaps ask, “How can I better serve you as your husband?” or “What is one sin you would love to see me address in my life?” or “What are some things I do that make you feel unloved, and what could I do instead?” Carve out some time, ask the questions, listen carefully, avoid prideful defensiveness, pray fervently, respond graciously.
Exclude all others. When you married your wife, you committed yourself to her fully and completely. Yet many men allow room in their lives, their hearts, and their minds for other women. Allowing your mind to dwell on others will only ever cool your love and harm your relationship. There is no room in marriage for “what ifs” or “if onlys.” Exclude any thoughts, desires, or fantasies for any other woman and commit yourself entirely to your bride.
Continue to pursue her. It is tempting to see your wedding day as a kind of finish line. You pursued her, you wooed her, you won her, and now she’s yours. But your wedding is not the finish line; it is the starting line. Continue to pursue her, to learn about her, to know her, to display your joy in her, to grow in your love toward her.
Continue to do love. There will be times when your feelings of love will grow cool. But even though it may be difficult to feel love, there are always opportunities to dolove. After all, love is not first emotion, but action. Or as Sinclair Ferguson says it, “Love is not maximum emotion. Love is maximum commitment.” While you may at times lack romantic romantic feelings, you’ll never lack opportunities to do her good. Commit yourself to her good and always do those things that express love toward her, even and especially when you don’t feel love.
Run to Win!
I began this article with tears—the tears I experienced as my wife walked toward me on a sunny August morning in 1998. I write this article 19 years later and, as it comes to a close, there are tears in my eyes once again. I am reminded of how often I’ve failed her. Having pondered the depth of Christ’s love, I am aware of the shallowness of my own. Though I am the one who has written the article, I still have so much to learn, I still have so much room to grow. So this final charge goes to me, just as it does to you: If you are going to run to win, you must treasure your marriage.
The opening chapters of Genesis have been rich in preaching and teaching as we have examined the firsts or the "Beginnings" of topics and themes.
In chapter three we have looked at Satan, sin, and the Scriptures. This Sunday we will begin a two part series on "The Beginning Act of Redemption."
Redemption...salvation is the theme of the Bible and right here we see all the truths involved in God's revelation of salvation to Adam. I can't wait.
One of the unique opportunities we have had this fall is to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Due to the magnitude of this event, we are going one step further to watch a new documentary on the life of Martin Luther. This film "Luther" will be shown this Sunday night at 6:00. This one-hour-twenty-minute documentary will be our final part of the celebration.
Roxanne and I are delighted to announce the birth of Mary Ellis Cofield born at 1:04 AM on Thursday, November 9, 2017 to Kevin and Brooke. She weighted six-pounds and fourteen ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. Proud brothers are Cayden, Mason and Baylor.
This past Sunday night we observed "The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." I showed the video of the pastor in Syria. Due to the difficulty in understanding him, I promised to share that video here.
If you read this blog regularly, you know that my church consulting company, the Lawless Group, sends “spies” to churches to give us a report of their experience. They generally look for basic things – e.g., Is there adequate signage? Are the people friendly? Is the music well done? Is the preaching biblical? If I were to visit your church this weekend, though, here are some other things I’d watch for:
Does your church seem to be expecting guests? I can answer that question by whether your church has trained greeters in the parking lot, a manned welcome center, and friendly faces at the door. If your folks don’t know what to do with me when I get there, it will be clear they weren’t expecting me.
Does anyone ask me my name? Our experience is that “friendly” churches are friendly to people they already know – not necessarily to others. A wave, handshake, or “how are you?” cannot match a simple, “I don’t believe I know you. My name is _________. What’s yours?”
Am I comfortable leaving my kids in your children’s area? Here are some things that would make me say, “no”: no adults in the room when we arrive; no check in process that asks about my child’s allergies, etc.; no security process that seeks to assure my child’s safety; easy access for any adult to get to where my child is; rooms that seem cluttered, unprepared, and unsafe.
Does your church seem to enjoy singing God’s praises together? Here, I’m not concerned about the style of music as much as I am the fervor of the singing. I want to know if your congregation loves singing together. In most of our experiences, a church that doesn’t sing with passion usually has some underlying conflicts.
Do your members have Bibles with them? The copy might be electronic or hard copy, but I still want to know that your members have their own Bible. That way, they make Bible study more personal and they model a walk with God for unchurched guests. I want inquirers and new believers to want to read the Bible, know it, and have their own copy.
Does the preaching clearly call me to respond to the Word in practical ways? Church leaders debate our role in applying the Scriptures, but I’d argue that a sermon without application is an incomplete exposition of the text. I want you to push me to think about how my life should change based on the Word.
Would I turn to your church for prayer support based on my day with you? Is prayer so real, so powerful, and so recurrent when your church gathers that I’d turn to your congregation if I had a need? For too many churches, prayer is only the expected start and end of a small group, followed by being a filler in the service so people can move on and off the stage without being seen. It’s not in their DNA – and it shows.
What kind of report do you think I’d give your church?
This Lord's Day we will continue our series through the beginning chapters of the Bible and Genesis as we are still in Genesis 3 looking at "The Beginning of Temptation on the Earth." Previously we have looked at Satan and sin, this Sunday we will look at the Scriptures.
Let me share some insight into the Bible we hold in our hand and the confidence we have of it being the "true Word of God."
1. Today, there are 5,686 ancient Greek New Testament manuscripts.
2. Only 7 ancient copies of Plato survive, 49 of Aristotle, 8 of Herodotus, 9 of Euripides, etc. All of these are copies which were translated at least 1,000 years after the original.
3. Portions of the gospels go back to the first century and a fragment of the Book of John was written about 29 years after the original. None of the secular books cam make such a claim.
4. Besides Greek copies, there are some 19,000 ancient New Testament transcripts in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic and Aramaic languages.
5. This support-base of 24, 000 historic New Testament manuscripts gives scholars opportunity to compare them for accuracy.
6. These books are about 99.5% textually pure. No other ancient writing has such a record. Not only so, but these copies are better preserved than any other document from the past.
Keep in mind that when the original documents were written there were numerous people still alive who had heard Jesus personally and would have protested loudly had the writing been inaccurate. No such complaints exist. None of Plato or Aristotle's hearers were present to edit the copies we now accept as valid.
And I shared this past Sunday, let us be reminded of those men who literally gave their lives for the sake of the Word of God being translated into the command man's language. One such was William Tyndale who translated the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into the English language. It was October 6, 1536 when this happened:
"Then he was bound to the beam, and both an iron chain and a rope were put around his neck. Gunpowder was added to the brush and logs. At the signal of a local official, the executioner, standing behind Tyndale, quickly tightened the noose, strangling him. Then an official took up a lighted torch and handed it to the executioner, who set the wood ablaze." "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." Matthew 24: 35 So, let's devote ourselves afresh to: * Our personal devotion to the Word of God (I Peter 2:2) * Our church's devotion to the Word of God (Acts 2:42) * The Pastor's devotion to the Word of God (II Timothy 4: 2)
Thank you church family for a wonderful week of puppets. So, so many of you served and worked so hard and long for the week. Thanks to each of you.
Tonight, we return to our normal and effective Wednesday night schedule that demands and provides opportunities for all the church family to be involved.
Wednesday night meal, Arrow Kids', Student service and Adult Bible study all is in full swing. Don't miss being in the Lord's House tonight with your family and to fellowship with your church family. I love Wednesdays!!!
Tonight, I continue our study through Philippians as tonight we deal with “The Joy of Dual Citizenship” based in Philippians 3: 17-4:1.
This Sunday night we will do our annual recognition of the "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." We, in America, do not have persecution like most of our brothers and sisters in the world do. We live in a different world. So, we need to be made aware at least annually of what their lives are like and to earnestly pray for them. We will do that Sunday night. And let me warn you, it is coming to America. What is on the distant shore now may be on our doorstep sooner than we think. And I'm afraid to say, too many American Christians don't even believe it is a possibility, let alone a probability. We will gather Sunday night to pray and prepare.
