I have done a short little post inviting you and challenging you to be intentional about being in Worship to hear the Word preached.

This week we will look at Luke 9:51-56 in which we see Jesus determined to go to Jerusalem and die.

You can read the whole thing here.

I am just beginning to read some Martin Lloyd-Jones. And already I am being so impacted by his great preaching.

Check out this quote from a sermon of his from May 15, 1927:

“Do you wish to find an account of what the gospel has done? Well, you must not turn to books for it. Look rather to the reformed sinners–see the lame walking, and the blind seeing and the deaf hearing. The true history of the church is to be found in the lives of the converts that it has produced. You can never really write an account of the conversion of a sinner, the only true account is the man himself. That is why the church has always relied more upon preaching and public testimony than upon documents and the written word.”

Lottie Moon was a great missionary to China in the 19th century.

Southern Baptist churches take up a special offering every Christmas season in which all of the money goes to support International Missions. This special Christmas Offering is named after Lottie Moon.

Our church is doing the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering throughout all of December and January. For the remaining Sundays, we will designate a small part of our Worship Service to helping our people become more familiar with Lottie Moon and her great zeal for Christ and His work.

Let me share a few excerpts from tomorrow morning’s segment:

“The needs of these people press upon my soul, and I cannot be silent.  It is grievous to think of these human souls going down to death without even one opportunity of hearing the name of Jesus.” 

“It fills one with sorrow to see these people so earnest in their worship of false gods, seeking to work out their salvation by supposed works of merit, with no one to tell them of a better way.”

Why does money fail to be forthcoming when approved men and women are asking to be sent to proclaim the “unsearchable riches of Christ” to the heathen? 

My, my, my, oh how I wish I could have known Lottie. Her fire for God is contagious even now!

You can read the entire piece here.

Genesis 16:13 “So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”

This morning while reading through Genesis I was blessed by these words spoken by Hagar. Hagar is the Egyptian servant to Sarai, Abram’s wife. After Abram and Sarai’s plan to have a child went wrong, pregnant Hagar ran away into the wilderness. It was there that God “found” her, spoke with her, listened to her affliction and blessed her.

Hagar found great strength and comfort in the bright truth that God sees and cares for his people. When we are full of doubt, worry, insecurity, stress, confusion, may we be strengthened by what we know about who God is. He sees and cares for his people.

He is a God to his people. He is a Father to his children. He is a Shepherd to his sheep. He is a teacher to his students. He is a guide to his followers.

May you feel the joy and strength that comes from knowing God sees you and looks after you! Here are some more thoughts on this idea.

The ancients used to express it this way = “God is all eye.”

“In Scripture, when God sees he cares.” –Gordon Wenham

Psalm 139:1 “O LORD, you have searched me and known me”

Psalm 44:21 “For he knows the secrets of the heart.”

Psalm 33:13 “The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man”

Hebrews 4:13 “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Charles Spurgeon– “It is one of our choicest privileges to be always under our Father’s eye, to be never out of sight of our best friend.”

Matthew Henry– “This thought should always restrain us from sin and excite us to duty: Thou God seest me.“

Earlier I posted about the various Bible Reading Plans that there are out there.

Many of you have expressed interest in doing this along with me. I am excited to be beginning it. Well I have chosen one that I really like and will be doing this year. I began on January 1, and I am already really liking it. It allows for 6 readings a week, which means every week you have a free day to catch up if you are behind.

It is called the Read the Bible for Life Chronological Plan.

You can see a 2-page plan of it here. Or you can see a nice detailed booklet plan of it here.

E-mail me at jgreene@fbcfairdale.org if you will be doing this Reading Plan too.

 

 

Drew Dillman is a Senior at PRP High School. He is a very focused and gifted bike rider.

He is also a member of our church, First Baptist Fairdale.

Over the last few years, Drew has grown a lot in his relationship with Jesus Christ. He has become very involved in the life of our church. He and our Youth Pastor, Nate Martin, have become great friends. Drew was a Youth Summer Intern this past summer. It is a pure joy to see Drew growing into a godly man.

That is why this article is so cool. Drew is a big time cyclist. He rides various types of bikes, but his favorite is Cyclocross. He recently returned from another trip to Europe to compete in some worldwide competitions. While there Drew was asked to write a journal entry about his life, cycling, and the trip. You can click the link above to read Drew’s perspective on his life with Christ in cycling.

You can also click this link about Drew on the EuroCross website.

Drew is a fine young man. God is working in his life, and I am thrilled and humbled to be his pastor. You can pray for Drew as he is praying about what college to attend in the fall.

 

Each year we talk about a New Year resolution to read the Bible more, better, and consistently.

 

This year, I would like for some folks to join me in choosing a Reading Plan and then sticking with it throughout the year. I am going to make a list or group of folks who are all doing this with me. I will keep you encouraged and updated in the process.

Justin Taylor (his blog post on the The Gospel Coalition) has done us all a favor and compiled many of them together making it much easier for people to choose. You can click here to check it out.

I plan to choose a plan that will take me through the entire Bible in one year.

If you would like to join with me in this goal and be held accountable to sticking with this, then e-mail me at jgreene@fbcfairdale.org

I am eager to see who wants to join me in this. May 2012 be the year that you and I grow in God’s Word more than any other year before!

 

This year our family advent season devotional time has more fullness to it. JJ is almost four years old and Eli is two and a half. So now we have two little men who are listening attentively and taking in this great story. Noah just turned one, and so he is often already in bed by the time we do the Advent.

This is a picture of  our Advent Calendar that we use every night. Our boys get so excited and focused when we pull the Advent Calendar out.

There are basically four elements to what we do in our advent devotional time: Bible-story-telling; Prayer; Singing; and Surprise treat.

• Bible-story-telling. During this time, we point out which day we are on and how close we are getting to Christmas. I then tell about 5-7 minutes worth of the Christmas story using one of their Children’s Bibles. Each night we will emphasize one main point that we are expecting them to remember. (Last night was Immanuel which means “God with us.”) Also during this time, I will ask questions to make sure they are remembering what we have taught from night to night. It is incredible how engaged they can be on the details of the Christmas story. They love the little things like baby Jesus was in a manger with cows and sheep instead of in a house with a bed.
• Prayer. After the Bible, we all pray. During this time, we ask JJ and Eli each to pray. They can pray whatever they feel like praying. But during this time, we do instruct them on how to pray about the things we have just learned. It is overwhelming to hear a 2 or 3 year old pray on his own and thank God for sending Jesus to be with us. I pray last so they can see how I pray.
• Singing. During this time, we sing the same two songs every night. (We do this so they can learn the songs and the words. We also do the same songs throughout the year whatever the theme is.) The boys love this. They both sing so loudly and proudly. This Christmas season we are singing “O Come Let Us Adore Him” and “Away in a Manger.”
• Surprise Treat. The last thing we do is give the boys a surprise. They are then allowed to get up and look behind the number corresponding to the day’s date. Valeria has a wrapped treat there each night (usually some M&Ms or Skittles). This is really exciting to our boys.  And then we are finished until the next night.

It is such a small simple thing to do this Advent Devotional each night. I built the Wooden Calendar House thing for very minimal cost. But yet our boys enjoy it so much. They are happy and that makes us happy. Not to mention, that they are really learning a lot about the Christmas story.

I also want to point out that during the Christmas season there are many nights when we have guests over at the boys bed-time. We do not let that stop us from doing it. We welcome others to join in. The boys get such a thrill to do the Advent Devotional including all the singing and praying while many of their “friends” observe and participate.

Valeria and I feel so undeserving to have the opportunity to raise the boys to know Jesus.

I recently wrote a little article for our church newsletter. I wanted to draw out the truth that while Christmas is a very special holiday for most people, it should be even more special for those who are believers in Jesus Christ.

“Jesus Christ the Lord is the Savior! That truth being understood, trusted in, depended on, and treasured by faith is what takes this Christmas holiday to the next level and makes it so special.”

“While parties and presents and food and family are a very rich blessing, they are small and insignificant in comparison to the gift and joy that forgiveness, love and new life bring from God.”

You can read the entire short little article here.

 

Once again this year, our church has put together an Advent Devotional Guide written by different men and women in our church. The 2011 version is very nice and such a blessing to those who want to love Jesus well this Christmas.

Please click this link to be sent to the Online version.  Feel free to go the webpage regularly or to print it out to have your own hard copy.