This week I attended the ‘Together for the Gospel Conference’. It is a pastors’ conference. There were 7,000 pastors there this year.

It was great. I enjoyed it. God grew me through it.

Here are a few reflections from what God taught me/ showed me at the conference:

1)     I have a lot to learn. That was/is obvious. I pray for continuing grace to help me become a better shepherd. I love the people of Fairdale with such a passionate commitment. I am eager to be back spending time with them.

2)     Justification by Faith Alone is so so so so so sweet and precious. I knew that before T4G. I know it better now.

3)     I need to read more. Books were everywhere.

4)     7,000 men of God singing worship songs together is so awesome and humbling.

5)     I love for God to use me to help others love Jesus more and love themselves less. I pray God will continue to give me people who want to hang out with me a lot and that God will cause that to cause them to love Jesus more.

6)     Some people need to love studying less and pray to love investing in others more.

7)     I am very humbled at the way God has used John Piper to teach and mold me into Christ-likeness. This conference was an extension of that.

8)     Jesus is all I have. Jesus is my life.

9)     The 4 point gospel is so helpful.

10)     I love my wife Valeria so deeply. ( i missed her a lot while at the conference.)

11)     I love my sons so very much. ( i missed them so much.)

12)    As much as I truly love discipling young guys, I want to disciple my sons JJ & Eli the most. I want God to use me to make them into faithul sincere men who love Jesus.

There are more I am sure. But these stick out so clearly. God’s grace to shape me this week was mighty.

I am not sure if you have seen this picture or not.

But I absolutely love it. This is my second son, Eli.

Grace is often described as “getting something that you do not deserve.”

There is so much in me and Valeria’s lives that fits that category. Right now, we have two awesome little boys. JJ & ELi are so cool and fun to be raising. It seems too good to be true that I am the dad of two little happy boys. They look up to me. Its amazing!

But we really do not deserve them. We thank God for giving us them.

With that said, Valeria is pregnant again. We are so humbled and happy. God is giving us another child. Valeria is almost 13 weeks and her due date is October 18. I am hoping for a third boy and that way we will only be two short of a basketball team.  Thats partly a joke, we would be thrilled to have a girl or a boy.

God’s grace continues to abound in our lives. We do not deserve it. Please pray for us and this pregnancy.

While preparing for this series on Ecclesiastes, I came across this great quote in John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life.

“the world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ’s sake and count it gain.”

AFV (America’s Funniest Videos) continues to be the most hilarious show on TV in my opinion. I am thankful that it comes on so often because that means I can find it on TV most anytime. I will never get tired of seeing people crash on bikes, faint during weddings, or get hit by baseballs.

Last night while watching, the host said “it seems that many people are getting involved with this ‘Save the Planet’ movement. After these next videos, I think we need to concentrate more on saving the people.”

I could not agree more. Its not our planet that needs to be saved. It is us… the people. We need to be saved. Our hearts are far from God and we need God to save us.

I want to work hard to see people saved, not the planet.

God is always working. Everywhere, all the time. God is always up to something. He is always working… even in the small things. Are you aware of that? Are you mindful of that? Are you asking Him to use you through it all?

This past Easter Sunday we had a large amount of visitors. At least, a lot more visitors on one day than we are used to having. That is a good thing. That is one of the specific things we have been praying for. That is one of the signs that we know God is working in and around FBCF.

Let me tell you this story that I hope will impact you.

One of the visitors Sunday was a single adult man who is in his mid 40s.  He is a nice guy. He is very friendly and also was dressed nice. He came because a local teenager invited him. He said that he has lived in Louisville for 13 months and this kid was the first person to invite him to church since he has lived here. No friendly Christians in a year and a month. Nobody asking him to come to church in over a year. Thats a shame. What have all of us Christians been doing? Thats a shame to our church and every other church around here. We need to be inviting and hoping that all people would come to church with us.

While I preached, he listened so intently. He sat on the edge of his seat, Bible in hand, eyes focused on me. He seemed to be clinging to every word I spoke.  (I now pray & understand Ecclesiastes 12:10 better) After the service, he made a point to come see me, shake my hand, thank me for allowing him to be a part of our easter morning service (wasn’t necessary, but kind).

The next day (monday) he told the teen that invited him that he would really like to talk with me and that the message from Sunday’s sermon is still ringing in his ears.

Who would have thought? A teenager invites a middle-aged man and God is all over it working and moving and changing lives.

Lets believe Jesus’ words from John 3 when speaking to Nicodemus (3:8) “the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

God is working absolutely everywhere….. Get involved!

This past Friday, April 2nd, Valeria and I celebrated our 5th year of marriage.

We were married in 2005, and It is hard to believe that it has already been that long.  While we were out that evening celebrating, we came up with our Top 10 moments since we have been married.

Here they are (in no particular order):
Top 10 Moments in our First 5 Years:

1)     the birth of our first son Joshua Carl Greene Jr.  (we were in the hospital from Dec. 31, 2007 until Jan. 3, 2008. He was born Jan. 2 It was awesome!)

2)     the birth of our second son Eli Lucio Greene (he was born April 30, 2009)

3)     Jeremiah came to live with us  (the last 2 years of his high school career Jeremiah lived with us. he is still like our son and so much a part of our family)

4)     we went horse back riding together in the mountains on our honeymoon

5)     we went on our first mission trip together (st. thomas, we both had been on trips before, just never together)

6)     we had the amazing opportunity and experience to introduce our sons to the ocean. (one of the greatest moments of my entire life)

7)     we saw God really move in our church youth group (in 2006, we took 22 people to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week. 7 people on the trip saw the ocean for the very first time. several others got saved. it was such an awesome memorable week)

8)      we spent our first anniversary out at the farm owned by Russel & Linda McDaniel (it has no running water. I got terribly sick. We took a nap in the pasture and woke up surrounded by cows…scared.)

9)     JJ taking his first steps (he was 1 year and 4 days old when he walked for the first time. With all honesty, his first time walking was with basketball in hand, all the way across the room, to the fisher price goal to dunk it…i was thrilled)

10)     the both of us graduated from Southern Seminary with our Masters degrees (if this had not happened, we would not be in the great position we are now of pastoring our wonderful church, FBC Fairdale)

We know there are many other great moments, but these 10 really stand out to us.  With all this said, we echo Paul’s words that “we are what we are by the grace of God.” We do not deserve any of this goodness. We are humbled to be so blessed.

Drugs are destroying Fairdale.

Homes, streets, neighborhoods, schools, families, people, moms, dads, boys, girls, etc. are being ruined by drugs in the Fairdale community. Its bad… really bad.

In October while at the funeral home, I had a local sheriff tell me that drugs are so bad around here that I could throw a rock in any direction and it would undoubtedly hit a house with drugs in it.
The following month (2 days before Thanksgiving) while I was preparing to preach at the Fairdale Community-wide service the cops flooded my street to bust a Meth lab.  That is when I really began to see how bad drugs are around here.

Since then I have been involved with 4 different funerals involving young people who were dying in some connection to drug use or addiction. A 17 year old who died partying. A 32 year old who died suddenly from drug use. A 37 year old addict who died tragically. A 29 year old who died tragically. There is so much more. That is only what I have been involved with from recent weeks. I am connected to so many teens in this town who have been led down a miserable hopeless path. It breaks my heart.

Who is going to do something about it? Is there anyone?

We sit in prayer meeting week after week hearing heart-breaking stories of teens who are suicidal and moms & dads who cannot take care of their children because of drugs. What can be done? What will be done?

The schools aren’t making much impact. Boy Scouts, Rec. leagues, and clubs are making minimal impact around here in the area of difference-making.

First Baptist Fairdale can be the difference. God is working. He has a plan. As more and more people get involved and get the conviction and passion to make a difference for the name of Jesus it will come.  We have said it before “Greater things have yet to come. Greater things are still to be done in this city.”

The key though is not a big church, or even an active church. The key is Jesus. Only Jesus truly brings change and improvement. Jesus is the redeemer. We are praying for a redeemed community.

Several years ago I worked at a furniture company. Every week the same truck driver would come and deliver furniture to us. He was in his 60s. Week after week our relationship developed. I found out he was now a follower of Jesus but has had some troubles in his past. (like all followers of Jesus) He always, literally always, told me how bad drugs were. No matter what we were talking about, whether it be work, weather, sports, North Carolina, money, etc. he would say “Josh, remember Satan is using the drug dealer.”

Jesus said that Satan comes “to steal, kill, and destroy us”. He sure does. Every single person living in our town sees that Satan is doing a fine job stealing, killing, and destroying. I now realize more than ever that my truck driver buddy was so accurate. Satan is using the drug dealer.

It needs to stop. It needs to change. What is going to be done about it? Who is going to do it? Who cares enough?

Jesus does. FBC Fairdale will soon… By grace and through prayer.

“Jesus is able to save to the uttermost.” –Hebrews 7:25