The one meal a week plan...

Early in our marriage, I used to frustrate Cheryl when she would ask me if I was hungry. I would invariably say “I don’t know, what time is it?” I seemed to have this thought in my head that if it was around 9, noon or 5 I’d be hungry. If it wasn’t in those time slots, I wasn’t hungry. Her response was always along the lines of this had nothing to do with time, you’re either hungry or not. I had what a scientist named Pavlov called a conditioned reflex – I’d conditioned myself to be hungry at those times of the day. Not much has changed after nearly 26 years of marriage as I’m still hungry at those times! Now suppose that Cheryl told me she was putting me on diet to help me lose some weight (please, no comments) but the diet she had in mind was one big meal on Sunday at noon. I could eat all I wanted at noon on Sunday but that would have to last me the rest of the week. No snacks, no junk food, nothing till the following Sunday. Everyone knows that would be a preposterous plan that is doomed to failure. I couldn’t possibly keep that up because my body needs physical food in moderation on a regular basis.

I’m amazed at how many Christians think that such a plan works spiritually so they are on the “one meal a week plan”. In other words they come to worship on Sunday mornings and gorge themselves on the spiritual food, offered in corporate worship. The really faithful ones show up on Sunday week in and week out, they probably snack throughout the week by reading a devotional, they might even get a sandwich by reading their Bibles, or the really zealous might get a microwaved left-over meal by listening to some preaching on CD or a podcast. (I won’t even talk about those really hearty souls who are on the once or twice a month Sunday meal plan…)

As the under-shepherd here at Calvary I take very seriously my responsibility before the Lord to feed God’s people a hot fresh meal from the Word of God when we gather for corporate worship. Here at Calvary, that is twice on Sunday mornings and in mid-week worship on Wednesday evenings. I know that 30-40 minutes of preaching on Sunday morning is not enough to “make disciples.” About 22 months ago, our church family voted to rearrange our church schedule to remove all the committee meetings happing during the week nights in the evenings and move them to a different Sunday night of the month. At that time, we had a Sunday evening worship service with no activities for children and we had AWANA ministry on Wednesday nights with nothing for adults not involved in AWANA. We moved our Sunday night worship to Wednesday because we had child care and activities in place. We said when we adopted this schedule change we’d give it 18-24 months to evaluate it. We’re in the time line of needing to evaluate this. Part of the plan with our schedule change has worked well freeing up weeknights for families without committee meetings. But quite honestly, I’m in a quandary because our Wednesday worship attendance started out around 40 and I had hoped that this would grow and flourish. That has not happened as we’re down to just a faithful few who make Wednesday worship a priority. We tried offering a fellowship meal before church to help families with dinner needs but that didn’t seem to help people come and participate in worship.  We’ve been consistently doing well with our AWANA involvement which is good;  but I wonder why we don’t have people eager to participate in Wednesday worship? I realize our worship time slot is a huge challenge because we start at 6:15 and go to 7:10 which makes it hard for commuters coming from work and to help families with school aged children we need to conclude everything by 8:15.

I bring this all up because corporate worship is critical for our spiritual well being. Mid-week worship is designed to encourage, strengthen, edify and build up the body of Christ in the midst of your personal daily Bible Study you should be doing. I know it’s hard to get to worship by 6:15, but I suspect that it boils down to a simple matter of priorities as people tend to do what they want to do and they afford what they want to afford. I’m as wiped out as the next person by Wednesday, but I prioritize to be in my place with the table set and ready to serve you. I know you think “well you have to be there, you’re the pastor!” Long before I became a pastor, Wednesday worship has been a priority for me and my family and with 5 kids, we had to work at getting there. Satan doesn’t want us worshipping God on Sunday, but Wednesdays too? He’ll make sure you don’t feel like going on Wednesday or something will come up. Worship whether on Sunday or Wednesday is not about what is convenient for me or based on how I feel. When the people of God gather to meet the Lord and engage Him in worship, God begins to do amazing things in our personal lives and our corporate church life. Quite frankly, I’m not willing to just roll over and play dead and give in to the evil one’s idea that it’s hopeless trying to have Wednesday worship. I’ll be talking to our leadership team about options because I know the time slot is hard, but will you evaluate your commitment to Wednesday worship? If you are hindered by God from being able to attend, that’s one thing, but if there are some changes that could take place, I encourage you to prioritize accordingly. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for unchurched people to see Calvary gathered mid-week in corporate worship and God would use our commitment to be salt in light in such a way it would make people hungry to know God? For nurses, doctors, emergency service workers who can’t gather on Sunday, how will they have a chance to come if we just quit offering an alternative worship service opportunity?

I’m not trying to goad or berate anyone with a big guilt trip. I’m genuinely wrestling with how to maintain midweek corporate worship opportunities in the middle of a culture that is maxed out in their schedules and lives. Will you pray with me on this? Let’s ask God for wisdom and a solution in our effort to make disciples and edify the body of Christ. I never have to be asked to feed my body through the week and I know the one meal a week plan won’t work. Oh that I would hunger and thirst for spiritual food as I do for physical food. Trying to encourage your spiritual appetite, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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

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National Day of Prayer...

In 1787 prayer helped determine the future of our country in a significant way. The Constitutional Convention was on the verge of total failure over the issue of whether small states should have the same representation as large states. In this hopeless situation, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin offered a suggestion. He was convinced Scripture is right when it states, they "labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1), so he said:
“Gentlemen, I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? I move that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven be held every morning before we proceed to business.”
The motion carried. From then on prayer was offered each morning. The change after prayer was introduced was so dramatic that in a short while a compromise was reached which is still in effect today.
On this the National Day of Prayer, let us obey they exhortation of Psalm 105:1-5
1 "Oh, agive thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! 2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! 3 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! 4 Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore! 5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,"
Praying for our nation today, from my little corner of the world to yours...

Pastor Ralph Green
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Exciting stuff...

I’ve often joked that with the Green family, there’s never a dull moment. I suppose with a family the size of ours, there is always going to be an adventure with someone. Your family is probably that way also. It should come as no surprise that there is never a dull moment it seems in our Calvary church family either. In the days and weeks leading up to Easter weekend, the church was the proverbial “beehive of activity.” We had large preparations that were needed for the annual pancake breakfast and Easter Egg hunt and an army of volunteers labored to make it all possible.  Our choir, orchestra, musicians, praise team vocalists have worked for months to make our musical and Easter Sunday music so special. Volunteers laboring to make our Good Friday service here a tremendous success and on top of it all, the normal ministry activities that happen because of dedicated servants. There’s no way I could recognize everyone involved in some way but I do want to say I appreciate all of you who served the Lord in getting ready for Resurrection Sunday and all the surrounding activities. I’ll resist the temptation to call specific names but I’m grateful to the Lord for your ministries.  We’re working on the prospects and decisions from all this but we know we had a number of un-churched people with us for the Pancake Breakfast & Easter Egg Hunt.  We had a large Sunday morning crowd as well with a number of guests. Thank you for parking in the parking garage to make room for our guests and inconveniencing yourself so that others could have easier access to the church. It was evident the Holy Spirit was speaking to hearts on Resurrection Sunday and we need to pray to the Lord to bring us a harvest. As we’re faithful to make our REACH contacts through our Sunday School, we’ll be laborers in the harvest of souls.

More exciting news is that we’re also going to have a new pictorial directory for our church membership which will be of great benefit to us to put names and faces together, especially with two different worship services.  We’re taking advantage of available technology to utilize on online directory which is easily updated. We’re producing this in house with volunteers who have invested in camera equipment and backgrounds as well as oversight of the appointment scheduling and making this available to the church. Our hope is to wrap this up before the end of May before everyone disappears on vacation. We’ll be able to print out a hard copy if desired for a small fee to cover the cost of printing. I believe there are plans in place to accommodate members who are shut in or have health issues so please call the office so we can make provision for you to be included in the directory.

Another bit of exciting news is that the trustees have approved and secured a contractor to install a much needed restroom in the Narthex. The funds for this restroom are already in place from our capital expenditures fund because of the faithfulness of God’s people with their tithes and offerings. The contractor tells us he expects two weeks from the time they start working here on site until it is complete and ready to use. Because of space needs and code related issues, it will be a small restroom that is handicapped accessible and we’ll have to use it “family style.” With that in mind, we’ll need to be diligent to keep it clean and ready for others. Steve Green had a song years ago that said “Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.” While I believe brother Steve had something else in mind, that should be the slogan stenciled above the mirror… I’m kidding of course – but this will be a practical need. Because of the location of this restroom, I have no doubt it will quickly be the most used water closet on campus. In light the heavy traffic we expect using this bathroom, I’m going to boldly go where few pastors dare tread, but I’m going to ask for a volunteer team of people with servant hearts to make that restroom their ministry on Sunday mornings. I envision a team of volunteers with a coordinator who sign up for a particular week to maintain the restroom appropriately throughout the Sunday morning activity; especially between services. It is not a glamorous ministry, but it is a chance to “wash one another’s feet” in a modern context, as Jesus set the example for His disciples.  I’m confident the souls who volunteer for such a ministry will have the warm smile of Jesus upon their labor of love for His sake. I’m not asking you to do something I’m not willing to do so I’ll take the lead and say to the coordinator God is calling now to oversee this ministry; sign me up for the first Sunday this restroom is in service, I’ll clean after the invitation at the end of the 8:30 service.

There’s exciting stuff happening all around us here at Calvary. I believe the Lord is going to show us some other exciting opportunities around here real soon. What a blessing to see the Lord at work in the lives of His saints as we gather each week to expand His kingdom and do His will. I love you and I am grateful to the Lord for allowing me to serve as your pastor. I look forward to more excitement, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

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Addison Lynn Deason

1 year ago today our 1st grand baby Addison Lynn Deason was born in distress. She was & will always be precious to us. I'm thankful for the grace of God & His comfort to us as promised in 2nd Cor. 1:1-11 has been amazing. Heaven is sweet & a better home for Addison than here. Happy birthday Addison. Pops loves you dearly & would you give The Lord Jesus a hug for me. You have some amazing parents & a wonderful new little brother. Your Pops could not be more proud of your family. We miss you but we choose to say today blessed be the name of the Lord.

Pastor Ralph Green
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What in the world is going on?

News reports of uprisings in Middle East and North African countries, the earthquake off the coast of Japan and the resulting tsunami and devastation of that Asian country, the ensuing nuclear disaster that as of this writing has yet to be contained; along with our own economic woes in the United States or for that matter, the global economy, cause me to ask routinely “What in the world is going on?” There is so much disaster, hardship, tension, difficulty, and this overwhelming uncertainty happening in our world today. Worldwide there seems to be a leadership vacuum and the world seems to be clamoring for someone to take charge. All of this chaos simply adds to the stress of life we experience in our work places, and in our families. If we’re not careful all of these events can bring about much anxiety and worry about tomorrow.

Well for believers, we need to remember that this world is not our home, we’re pilgrims on a journey of faith that will ultimately lead us home with Jesus. Jesus had something to say about the kind of world situation we live in. He wanted to prepare His disciples for the day when the foundations would be crumbling and the Holy Spirit inspired one of them, Matthew, to record what Jesus said in Matthew 24. Space will not permit me to explain this whole chapter here but I want to point out verse 6: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” He went on to explain that there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places and that all this is simply the beginning of sorrows before the tribulation time. As I look at current events around the globe, I believe we are living in the last days. This passage also warns us to not be deceived by false prophets. Earlier today while driving, I saw a guy driving a van that had written all over it that judgment day is coming May 21, 2011. I’m not sure where he got his information and while I’m no prophet, I doubt this is true because Jesus said in vs. 36 of the same chapter “But of the day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”  

Yes there is much to be concerned about and I agree that we need to be paying attention, but we need not live in fear and dread today, tomorrow or of any day in the future. We should see all this uncertainty as an opportunity God is handing to His bride the church to be diligent to be laboring for His kingdom. People are hungry for the truth and they are hungry for assurance that everything is “going to be alright.” That kind of assurance is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. We’re headed into the Easter Season and all the activities planned during Holy Week.  Let me encourage you to pick up several invite cards that are by all the exits, use that card to invite your lost friends and loved ones to the Easter Musical, Good Friday Service, Pancake Breakfast & Easter Egg hunt or to our Easter Worship services. People still respond to personal invitations and we can see God move in a great way in these days if we’ll do the work needed to prepare for a harvest. As we’re working through our Sunday morning study of Ezekiel, I’m certain God’s message about the need of repentance & His desire to save is as true for us today as it was 2500 years ago.  

I’d also remind you once again “we never get a second chance to make a first impression” so be conscious of guests and be intentional about reaching out to them to introduce yourself. Don’t worry if they tell you they’ve been attending, they’ll be glad someone took interest in them.  Include them with your Bible Study class of offer to take them to a class suitable for them. We need to remember we were all new to something along the journey and what a difference it made if people helped us. I look forward to seeing a mighty movement of God because He is ready willing and able to transform people’s lives. We’re aiming at “Encountering God, Experiencing Life Change.” We want to connect people to God and ourselves in genuine relationships, we want to help people grow in their faith, we want people to learn how to serve the Lord and finally we all need to renew our spirits in corporate worship. Let’s ask God in advance of Easter for a great harvest.

On a personal note, thanks for all the prayers and your encouragement for our daughters who’ve now both delivered their babies safely. John Thomas Miller was born to Rachel & Thomas Miller on February 28^th. On March 28^th, Landon Michael Deason was born to Ginny and Stephen Deason. We’re so grateful to God for His gracious provision for our family with these two boys and their births without complication. As I look at my two grandsons, I wonder what kind of world they will grow up in. As a human granddad, I’m prone to worry but I know that God is in control; that He has work for us to do and for sure, He knows “what in the world is going on” from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

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A little spring cleaning...

Spring is coming rapidly to us in Maryland and I am looking forward to this time of year as Resurrection Sunday is just around the corner. It is one of the two times each year where we have a wonderful opportunity to reach un-churched people who will come to church if they are invited. Knowing we have guests coming and we don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, our trustees have scheduled a work day here at Calvary on Saturday morning April 2 from 8:00 a.m. to noon. We need to do a lot of work on our grounds with mulching and picking up limbs and debris from the ravages of winter. They have a number of projects they’d like to complete but in order to do that, we need lots of help. Exodus 36:1 says “And Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the Lord has commanded.” God has gifted this church family and put into you wisdom and understanding to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, and we need you to put your “sweet skills” to work Saturday April 2^nd. I’m sure there will be coffee and donuts and probably some more food later in the day. It will be a great day to hang out with your brothers and sisters in Christ while working on God’s property. If the heavens open and the deluge comes, April 9^th is the rain date because much of our work is outside. Yard tools are helpful if you want to bring your own to share with other willing hands so let’s make it a great day to spiffy up our buildings and grounds.

Also, as you are cleaning out your house and you uncover items you were going to haul to Goodwill or sell in a garage sale, one of our young adult Bible Study classes wants to do a mission project with a “reverse garage sale” where they will collect your items that still have life and use left, and distribute them to places like Alpha’s Glory Crisis pregnancy center and others who have need. While we’re not interested in broken junk and trash, the landfill still is. Collection for this will be happening after we celebrate Easter so be watching for more information on that. Mark your calendars now for this important work day here at Calvary. Time for me to get to cleaning, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

A Pastor's Personal Devotions...

In church life we often hear about the need to read and study the Bible personally. We call it “walking with God”, or having our personal devotions, having a quiet time or something else. Maybe you’ve tried the “read through the Bible in a year” plan and here we are in March and “the plan” fell by the wayside because we got too far behind and we have no hope to catch up. What does all that mean and how does one go about having devotions? There is no shortage of devotional materials in Christian bookstores, or some collection of devotionals by famous pastors or based on some kind of theme. While I think these kinds of things can be good and I’m appreciative these are made available to help Christians wanting to grow; I often wonder if these things don’t stunt spiritual growth more than they do promote spiritual growth. I’ve said on several occasions that if all you read is someone’s devotional guide, you’re not having your devotions, your having someone else’s devotions. I think it would be like sitting down to a gourmet feast and having a host who enjoyed the 7 course meal in front of you, they chew on the delicacies for a while and put them on a plate and pass them around to their guests. They got all the flavor and the nutrients and you got the ground up food. You protest “that is so gross” as the teenagers would say. We’d never dream of doing that with physical food, but we do it with spiritual food all the time. As I look at the walk of many Christians today, I’m not at all surprised we have churches full of malnourished and anemic Christians. Now let me say, “left-over’s”  are not a bad thing and I haven’t become the size I have because I turned down warmed up leftover food! Sometimes though you get tired of the leftovers and you want a hot fresh meal. What I’m saying is if you use a devotional, make sure you focus on the Scriptures the devotional is written about.

I thought I’d share a few thoughts on how I have my personal devotions to help you see some of what I do to keep from getting stale in my spiritual nourishment. For years I used a tool called the “Word of Life Quiet Time Diary” which had a year long passage guide with a journal page for each day that asked two simple questions: (1) What is the writer saying? (2) How can I apply this to my life? There was a space to write a few short sentences about the passage. What was nice about this is it forced me to examine and meditate on a Bible passage on my own without someone else’s thoughts. It provided great accountability because that blank page from yesterday reminded me I missed it. Somewhere along my journey I added a 3^rd question: “What did I do about what God told me to do yesterday?” Honestly, I hate that question because it forces me to acknowledge whether I’ve been obedient to the Lord. This simple formula could be applied on your own to any passage of Scripture and you could get a journal and study a Bible book on your own systematically. I also have a Bible I don’t mind marking in and I’ve gained much from taking a “Precepts Inductive Bible Study” course through a Bible book on how to look for common and recurring themes and how to study the Scripture in historical and literary context.

I’ve also learned for me it’s best to set an appointment with God that I keep every day. We set appointments with our Doctor, Dentist, in tax season now with our tax preparer, and we keep those appointments because they are important to us. For me, I want to give God the best part of my time and I’m fresh and more alert early in the morning before the kids get up. It’s me, my Bible, journal, the Lord and a pot of coffee. Rarely do I miss that appointment because it has become a Godly discipline in my life. Some people are more creative and alert late at night when the kids have gone to bed. It matters not as there’s support in the Psalms for both morning & night time devotions. The main point is God has your undivided attention and you can focus on His Word without distractions. No TV, no radio or IPod, no email, Facebook, Twitter, or cell phones. God speaks in the still small voice (1^st Kings 19:12) and I think many times there’s too much noise in our lives to hear Him. I’ve read that if you will do something for 21 days straight, it will become a habit. Having a personal quiet time with the Lord is a critical habit to feed your spirit and I know for certain the message you get from me on Sunday is not enough to sustain you all week any more than breakfast on Monday would last all week, even if you ate at Cracker Barrel.

Picking what to study can be overwhelming. I do think somewhere along the way you should read through the Bible from beginning to end to get the big picture. The key I’ve found to success in that is being realistic about your time available. When I first started, I found a 7 day a week reading plan for me was not realistic; especially on Sunday with prayer, last minute sermon review and mad dash for church in full swing. I simply figured out how many pages in the Bible, how many week days I was able to read and divided it out. Voila – I found a way to read through the Bible in about 13 months. I have done this now several times and I’ve applied the same method to read only the New Testament as I did in 2010, I’ve done it with the Old Testament also. In 2011, I’m dissecting the Psalms.  I’ve found this particular method in the Psalms to be rich and rewarding for me. I will also read a chapter in Proverbs which is great because there are 31 chapters and do I ever need the wisdom each day of the month! For a steady diet, it’s better to read smaller portions of Scripture and meditate on it to fully digest it so to speak but be disciplined to cover all the Bible books along the journey. Face up to the fact there will be stuff you just don’t understand. That’s okay – focus on what you do understand and some time the Holy Spirit will open your heart and help you understand those hard passages.

A major part of my devotions is praying and this actually is something that takes place all through the day. I just have a running conversation with the Lord as though I’m talking to my best friend – (and I am) all day long till I pass out at night. We talk about everything, and often pick up a discussion we did not finish. Sometimes He’ll nudge me in the middle of the night and we’ll pick up again. I hope you’ll find some of these ideas helpful to you and you’ll find your personal devotions to be exactly that, personal. You and God, on an exciting journey of love & faith together. I can assure you God will reward your effort as you learn to dig out gold from God’s Word for yourself. Just a little insight on a Pastor’s personal devotions, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

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

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph