Thursday, March 18, 2010

When hope is lost...

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is the adventure of Paul and Luke in Acts 27 where Paul is a prisoner being transported to Rome on a ship for trial and they get caught in the middle of a Nor’easter. I love this chapter because I’m fascinated by Paul’s ability to be a leader and a man of profound influence even though he’s a prisoner. The other morning in my quiet time, I was on a roll pulling out leadership principles from Paul’s example in this chapter that I’ll develop into a sermon or seminar series someday. But what struck me was Luke’s statement in 27:20 where they had not seen sun nor stars for many days, he makes an unbelievably sad statement: “all hope that we would be saved was finally lost.” As I meditated on that statement, I thought about the myriad of struggles I know of in our church family with people being deathly ill, major surgeries, and catastrophic injuries with long roads to recovery. I also thought of families who are walking through serious crisis with their children, members who have some serious challenges in their businesses and jobs, the possibilities of being laid off or having to lay people off as a boss. Meeting this week with some elderly prospects who’ve visited Calvary and the heartache  they carry in their current church situation and the profound sadness they have at the thought of having to find a new church at this stage of their lives. As I thought of all the difficulties my sheep the Lord has entrusted me with are experiencing, I could feel the stress, pressure and burdens building as I read again “all hope that we would be saved was finally lost.” After my quiet time, I began to get dressed to head to the office and turned on the news to catch up on the bad news out in the world. I don’t know why I bother, it would be more depressing to listen to all the garbage going on, but I subjected myself to it anyway. I was still thinking about Luke’s statement: “all hope that we would be saved was finally lost.” As I stood there shaving, staring at myself in the mirror, I was talking to God about all this stuff going on, praying for many of you by name, asking God to take these burdens, for His grace and peace to be upon our church family in the midst of trials, I could feel the stress and weight of the world being lifted off my shoulders. The blessed Holy Spirit reminded me of recent studies through Revelation and that we’ve already won, He reminded me of Jesus’ promise: “I will not leave you nor forsake you.” Reminding me also of Jesus’ promise to His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Looking outside the window next to me, I saw the sun already ablaze, the sky was clear blue, seeing buds forming on trees in the woods behind my house, I gazed up into the expanse of space and thanked the Lord for who He is, knowing that my Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father and at that moment, He was making intercession, praying to the Father for me and for all of you! The Lord knows all of the hurts, trials, pressures and struggles you and I are experiencing. The need for hope in our church and society is profound, but I would remind you that Jehovah God is bigger than all that stuff and He’s inviting you to talk to Him about it. Paul was one of 276 people in a desperate situation & he encouraged the other 275 people on this ship that He had a word from the Lord that they would be saved. I got a word from the Lord that morning too, and I walked out into the day walking in confidence that my God is in charge and He’s walking with me and “hopelessness” just becomes incredible “hope”! This is not a dream, a fantasy, not naivety, but the calm assurance that I’m securely in God’s care and that I can count on His provision. Oh what a blessing to walk with God through the good bad and the downright ugly. The people around your circle of influence desperately need hope and you have the keys to share it with them if you walk with God daily through prayer and consistent Bible Study. Paul’s hope and confidence in God was contagious and mine and yours can be also in a world that desperately needs it. So take courage, be strengthened and know that all hope is not lost that we can be and will be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, not just for eternal salvation, but through the storms and trials of life.  “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1st Peter 5:7). I thought I’d spread a little hope, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Where Great Things Are Happening...

I’m a product in many ways of Dr. Bill Sutton, my pastor at First Baptist Church in McAllen Texas because it was under his ministry I heard God’s call upon my life to the Gospel Ministry as a pastor. I learned so much from Brother Bill as we call him and he is a tremendous leader I love dearly. One of the things Brother Bill would say on Sunday mornings as he welcomed people to FBC McAllen was “Welcome to First Baptist Church where great things are happening.” It was true. God was moving and working and great things were happening. In my Quiet Time, I’ve been reading through the Book of Acts and you’d have to be nearly in a coma to not see the great things happening in the early church because God’s Holy Spirit was at work in and through the people. The Jerusalem Church was exploding with growth as they went from about 120 people to 3000 by Acts 2:41 and the Bible says that “the Lord added daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). By the time Acts 4 begins, the Bible makes a point to tell us there were about 5000 men who were part of the church (4:4) and some commentators estimate the real attendance to be close to 25,000 people when women and children are factored into the mix! Honestly, that makes my chest hurt just thinking about the stress of a church that size. But because it was the Lord’s doing, His grace was sufficient for the humans involved and it’s His Church to grow as He sees fit.

l say all this to highlight for us that wherever the Lord is working “great things are happening.” It is evident to your leadership team here at Calvary that the Lord is working and great things are indeed happening. We continue to see guests and visitors checking us out nearly every week. Many are new visitors and many are coming back for a second look. Our Deacon Chairman brother Ernie Owens pointed out to the deacon body in our last meeting we need to be thinking and praying about the growth the church is experiencing and the logistics of space as we have more people come. In another meeting with the Church Council Brother Ernie said our motto needs to be “Semper Gumby” – which he translated as “Always Flexible”.  I love that!  I’ve said for many years in the places I’ve ministered we have 3 rules, be flexible, be flexible and in case we forget the first two, the third is “be flexible.” Just to give you an example, Our worship attendance average on Sunday for January was 317 and in February was 349. What’s amazing is this includes the Sunday we had to cancel  February 7th for the blizzard. Last week in Bible Study, we had 285 people and our worship attendance was 375! Many people define success simply by the numbers of people in attendance and if the church is meeting the budget. That’s not how I see success in the Book of Acts as I’ve highlighted above, the Lord adding to the church daily those who were being saved is part of the success, but as the rest of the book demonstrates, the success is in the disciples that were being made and how they carried the gospel around the known world. When disciples are being made, the Lord is working to transform lives.

I need your help as we grow larger in a couple of areas which will help us as the Lord adds to His Church. Remember to always be flexible. Each “number” represents a person that Christ died for and wants to make a disciple. This means we need to be willing to include new people we don’t know. I was so proud this past Sunday as I saw several of our members speaking to guests at length after church. We need to be sensitive to this especially as the weather improves and Easter is just around the corner.  I know it is not comfortable to be the one to initiate the greeting but let me encourage you to reach out quickly to guests you don’t know to welcome them. I also need you to be flexible if your class needs to be rearranged to add more chairs. An 8 foot table may be nice to hold your Bible and coffee but it takes up a huge amount of space and keeps guests from getting plugged in to Bible Study because there aren’t enough seats. Those tables may have to go to help us make disciples by freeing up space. I also need you to fill out our screening paperwork to protect our kids and volunteer to work in our children’s ministry. Last Sunday for extended session, we had nearly 30 preschoolers! I know you may have raised your kids, but that’s precisely why we need your wisdom and help to minister down there during worship.  Our Preschool Director Mandi Yocum has a goal to have enough volunteers so you would only need to work 1 time every 8 weeks. Many hands make light work. From my little corner of the world to yours where great things are happening, “Semper Gumby”!

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

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Posted via email from Pastor Ralph