Trusting in God's Future Grace for my daughter

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV



Last night we were reviewing Olivia’s catechism questions before dinner. The question was “Does God have a body like ours?” The answer to the question is “No. God is a Spirit, infinite and eternal.” Now, for a second I was tempted to think, well are we going “overboard” with this because she doesn’t even understand these words and therefore cannot grasp their true meaning?



Isn’t this true of all of us? We teach children the ABCs and the same question could be asked regarding the reason behind this. Should we trouble our children with the learning of these items that cannot fully and completely be grasped? Of course we should because even though children do not understand fully the reason why we have letters, the significance of them, and the reason for learning the sounds of the alphabet, it serves as those building blocks upon which further development will base itself upon.



In a sense, our training our own minds with the discipline of reading through the Scripture, even though passages that we don’t fully understand, serves us in the long run by piercing our minds with that which the Lord will use in the future to bless us. Yet another example of “future grace” I would say. Sowing generously will reap a harvest of blessings upon you and your family.



It troubles me to write this post because I sense a real danger is doing this because it could cause an opportunity for pride, and could cause others to despair. Please take this as one pitiful, needy husband and father to others struggling along the way. You will not waste your life (or the lives of your children) in devoting yourself to the study of God, His Character, His attributes, His ways, and His law. By God’s grace, His eternal Word will be a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path. Though you may not see this immediately and you may not “feel” any different at the time, put your hope in Christ, not your feelings.

Missions Moment 09/05/2010

Information from the Missions Moment 09/05/2010

If you were present for this morning's service at Rockport, you received the following information. However, if you were not with us, or would like to follow up in praying for the nations, here are some ways that you can be praying for the mission "Iglesia Bautista de la Gracia."

• Pray for Brother Marco Sanchez as he preaches not only at IBG, but also leads Iglesia Bautista Maranata in Granite City, Illinois. Pray that he would be faithful in teaching the Word of Truth. Currently pray concerning his transportation as his only vehicle is broken down and is dependent on others to assist him.
• Pray for the believers that currently attend and for those who have returned to their home country. (We have multiple families that have returned and that are currently attending Bible-beveling congregations!
• We praise the Lord for the generous giving that has taken place by many. The giving has provided what we believe to be Christ-honoring biblical resources such as "The Religious Affections" by Johnathon Edwards, "The Supremacy of God in Preaching" by John Piper, and many other items. In addition to this we were able to provide Pastor Marco with a copy of a set of Puritan Commentaries.
• We praise the Lord for brother Juanito Cantu who is preparing to be baptized soon! We are going to invite the rest of Rockport to attend this special service and celebrate "La Cena del Se ñor or "The Lord's Supper" with us very soon!

In the "Missions Moment" today I mentioned a resource for how we might pray for nations. That resource is "Operation World" by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk. This resource will serve well in times of personal devotion as well as family worship as a guide to remind us how we can be praying for the work of Christ throughout the world.

Some of the highlights brought about in today's "missions moment" include:

• Most of those who attend "Iglesia Bautista de la Gracia" come from the country of Mexico.
• According to Operation World, in the year 2000, there were 298 known languages spoken in Mexico. Of those languages only 5 had the entire scriptures translated. Forty-four had the New Testament and 98 had portions of the scriptures translated. (438) Please pray for this nation that the Lord might speed the many works in progress in this area.
• One of the areas for potential opportunities for evangelism for the country of Mexico is the area of migrant workers.

Thank you again for praying, giving, and going. May the Word of Christ dwell richly in the hearts of people in the Spanish speaking communities both local and global.

Aaron

More exhortations for Worship from Bro Bob Schembre

Ecclesiastes 5:2-3

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.

So many have not been taught well concerning spiritual etiquette when gathering for worship. Please consider God's word concerning this.

My first thoughts are on the word "rash". This Hebrew word "bahal" is translated "trouble" 17 times and "haste" 4 times. Think here of Jesus words to Martha. "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary." In the context of this passage our thoughts here would be concerned with reverent consideration rather than a hasty rushing in accompanied by babbling about much of nothing. Seeking the Lord quietly would do so much for our hearts preparation for worship.

So often we appear so concerned to tell all our troubles, yet we have spent little time telling the Lord about our troubles and preparing our hearts for exactly the divine encounter in His Word that may be the answer we are seeking.

This passage also spoke to me about the reasonableness of well prepared worship. Shooting from the hip is not more spiritual than well thought out, prepared and contemplative worship. It was actually Aaron hastily making the golden calf, Nadab and Abihus' hasty and irreverent offering and King Saul's brazen worship that brought the judgment of God. We are approaching GOD! We especially, as people of grace, ought to be so filled with gratitude that all we can think about is, "I am coming before the King." "I am coming to worship my King." "He is the One who has set me free." "We have an audience with the KING!"

It's time we stop looking like we are so concerned about what others think about us and focus on the reality of what is taking place as we gather to worship the LORD, the MASTER, the KING! (and that would of course necessitate arriving in a timely manner and being sensitive to distractions during worship that would draw attention away from Him and His WORD! This also requires grace and wisdom.)

There is a real difference between being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and being carelessly unprepared when gathering before the LORD. But preparation is not only the responsibility of the Elders. We ought to be both prepared and yet subjected to His Lordship. He can do whatever He wants, and if our hearts are prepared, then and only then will we be ready to yield to Him. Personal preparation is so important here.

"God is in heaven and you are on earth" speaks of the fact that He is the Creator and we are the creatures. Coming boldly into the throne room never implies irreverence.

Let your words be few.

Then, when we have ended the service with prayer, it is appropriate to leave. It is not appropriate to leave before the last Amen. Let us be considerate to all. And let us then love those who are visiting, new comers, new members and those who are hurting, with true care, concern and prayer.

All in the Love of Christ Jesus, our LORD

bob

An Exhortation from Bro Bob Schembre

I gave a brief exhortation regarding preparation for worship at our business meeting yesterday. I thought I would briefly encourage further. My mentor sent me a few thoughts, which I have expanded upon.

Ecclesiastes 5:1

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

The concept of preparing for Worship seems lost in our busy lives. As if because God is a God of grace, we should feel fine to simply rush into His presence, having taken no thought as to how prepared we were for the encounter. As if preparation for worship was not a "real-life" need and trivial conversation with people were so critical to our spiritual lives that we ought not to leave it out. On Sunday morning we rush into the church, talk all the way through until the time we attempt to calm people down before the call to Worship and get them "focused on God", and then wonder why we didn't "sense the presence of God" this morning.

For the Puritans, preparing for worship started the night before. The Puritans were people concerned with being prepared for Worship. It was common for there to be prayer meetings on Saturday evening, simply in preparation for Sunday Morning.

The Westminster Confession states: "When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having prepared beforehand their hearts thereunto) ought all to come…"

Certainly, some may give 10 or 20 seconds to prayer the morning of worship, but the question must be raised as to whether this is sufficient. We need for God to work in our hearts before the worship time ever begins.

It is God we are worshiping.

Perhaps we should consider the last few words in Ecclesiastes 5:1. "we don't know the evil we are doing".

Listen to the words of Stephen Charnock:

"Worship is an act of the understanding, applying itself to the knowledge of the excellency of God, and actual thoughts of his majesty….It is also an act of the will, whereby the soul adores and reverenceth his majesty, is ravished with his amiableness, embraceth His goodness, enters itself into an intimate communion with this most lovely object, and pitcheth all his affections upon Him" (Steven Charnock)

What is at the root of the matter is the condition of our heart. Do we even care? Our hearts need preparedness for worship. JI Packer said: "An aimless, careless, casual, routine habit of church-going is neither rational nor reverent."

Please hear this admonition. Beginning on Saturday evening, spend much time with God. Seeking His face, for His smile, crying out for the power of God on the preacher, exalting Jesus as Lord in your life, humbly submitting yourself to His supremacy, begging for His grace and for the display of His glorious majesty as we humbly and reverently gather to bow before His throne in worship, praise, prayer and preaching. We are not walking into Walmart, neither are we entering the house of God. The people of God, His house, are gathering together for Worship. When we gather, be preparing your heart for this awesome occasion. Be ready to stand trembling, yet joyfully lavishing praise on the One who has raised us from the dead and given us life.

Bob

Preaching at Countryside and Jefferson Heights

This Tuesday, August 24th, I'll be speaking at Countryside Family Church's, Family Conference. Each evening, there is a meal at 6:00. Family activities at 6:30. Worship at 6:45. Message at 7:00. As I say, I'll be speaking on Tuesday night, but the conference goes Monday through Friday with a different speaker each evening. (Contact Terry @ tdelaney017@yahoo.com for more information)
Countryside is less that 30 minutes from Rockport, in Millstadt, IL (310 Veterans Dr). Click here for directions.

Also, several of us from Rockport Baptist Church will be taking part in another conference this weekend at Jefferson Heights Baptist in Jefferson County MO. The conference will focus on "Lessons from the New Testament Church". Speakers include John Greever, Charles Lawson, Brian Butler and myself. It begins at 9:00 AM Saturday morning and will continue until about 2:30. Please call Jefferson Heights for more information (636) 942-3080. Or click here for directions.

“Counter-culture Christianity!” That’s what we're calling the series of sermons we're in right now at Rockport. We're calling it that because, as our culture moves away from biblical thought and biblical ways of looking at life, we as Christians are forced to become more and more counter-culture in what we do. In other words, in a culture like this, we can no longer afford to take our way of looking at things from the people around us. We must become decidedly and purposefully Christian in our thinking. That means standing against the cultural tides!

One of the many areas where we can see just how true this is, is when it comes to our thinking about death. Let’s face it. Death is something most people would just as soon forget about. Oh, sure, we’ll talk about other people’s deaths. We’ll watch movies where people die by the thousands. But that doesn’t really touch us! No, when it comes to my death, I’d rather keep hiding behind the fantasy that I will live forever!

And so we live in a culture that hides the reality of death from us. We hide dying people away in nursing homes and hospitals so we don’t have to think about them. And even when we do face death at the funeral of a friend or family member, we try hard to make the whole thing look like a dinner party. Everybody gets dressed up, and stands around talking about the dead person like they’ve just gone away on a short trip to Europe. We’re careful never to use the word “died.” Instead we say they’ve “passed on” or “gone to a better place.” We do everything we can to keep from thinking about the fact that just as they have died, so too we must die soon!

And yet, for the Christian, the fact that we must die is something we should think of often so that it becomes one of the things that motivate us to live well, as long as we do live, and to live for the glory of God in this present life.

With that thought in mind, I was struck by a letter written by Jonathan Edwards to one of his sons, after hearing of the death of a young man just about his son's age. Edwards writes:

Stockbridge, May 27, 1755

Dear Child:

Though you are a great way off from us, yet you are not out of our minds: I am full of concern for you, often think of you, and often pray for you. Though you are at so great a distance from us, and from your all your relations, yet this is a comfort to us, that the same God that is here as also at Onohoquaha and that though you are out of our sight, and out of our reach, you are always in God's hands, who is infinitely gracious; and we can go to Him, and commit you to His care and mercy. Take heed that you don't forget or neglect Him. Always set God before your eyes, and live in His fear, and seek Him every day with all diligence: for He, and He only can make you happy or miserable as He pleases; and your Life and Health, and the eternal salvation of your soul and your all in this life and that which is to come depends on His will and pleasure.

The week before last, on Thursday, David died; whom you knew and used to play with, and who used to live at our house. His soul is gone into the eternal world. Whether he was prepared for death, we don't know. This is a loud call of God to you to prepare for death. You see that they that are young die, as well as those that are old; David was not very much older than you. Remember what Christ said, that you must be born again, or you never can see the Kingdom of God. Never give yourself any rest unless you have good evidence that you are converted and become a new creature.

We hope that God will preserve your life and health, and return you to Stockbridge again in safety; but always remember that life is uncertain; you know not how soon you must die, and therefore had need to be always ready. We have very lately heard from your brothers and sisters at Northhampton and at Newark, that they are well. Your aged grandfather and grandmother, when I was at Windsor gave their love to you. We here all do the same.

I am, your tender and affectionate father,
Jonathan Edwards"

To which I can only add, "Amen"

Here's to Mother's Day . . . or not?

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels. (Prov 31:10)

It’s easy, sometimes, to overreact. In my zeal not to repeat the mistakes of others, I can end up making new ones of my own. I wonder at times if I’m ever in danger of doing that where Mother’s Day / Father’s Day are concerned.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love my mom– far more than I could ever say! And I think its good to set aside a day once a year to honor our moms and let them know that we think there really is no one like them in the whole world.

My problem comes in the tendency I see in churches to take a day like Mother’s Day and make it the focus of worship. It just seems to be a misappropriation of God’s honor to shift the focus of any worship service off of Him and put in onto anyone or anything else at all. Am I right?

And then there’s a practical concern, as well. When it gets down to it, I’m convinced that what you and I need is not another warm and fuzzy, feel-good experience, or another ‘sentimental journey’ sponsored by Hallmark. What we need is for the life-strengthening, soul-anchoring power of God’s Word to be opened up and applied to our lives.

So let’s take a moment this morning to say ‘Thank you’ to our Moms for what they mean to us. Let’s acknowledge that we can’t think of any job that could be more important than that of a godly parent. Let’s shout from the rooftops, “We love you, Mom! We’re grateful to God for you. We know our lives would be infinitely poorer without you and your Christ-like example of love.” But then for Mom’s sake, let’s shift our focus off of her and on to Him who created motherhood in the first place. And let’s offer our prayers to our Father in Heaven Who alone can give Mom the help she needs!

Yours for His Sake...and grateful for moms everywhere....,

Pastor Scott

The Root of Injustice

Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent.
Mark 14:55-56

If you ever need proof that this is an unjust world, you need look no further than the trail of Jesus found in Mark 14:53-65. For here in this passage we find Christ – the perfect sinless Man, God incarnate in human flesh, the Innocent Lamb who’s done nothing but love and heal and given Himself freely for the good of others – accused and rejected by those who should have applauded and embraced Him (John 1:11). Somehow in the warped thinking of human reason, it seemed good to us, as soon as we got our hands on God, to mock and beat him, put him on trial and condemn him to death!

Like it or not, this is the nature of our fallen world. It is an unjust and barbaric place that only from time to time manages to put on a thin veneer of civility. But it is a thin veneer that covers over a monstrous evil: the sinful heart of man in rebellion against God! (Romans 3:9-18)

But the really striking thing in this passage, is to realize by whom this dark deed is done. For Mark tells us that the innocent Christ is condemned and executed, not in the wilds of some wilderness by an illiterate, savage and brutal people, but by those who would have considered themselves to be the most lofty, learned and civilized of all. It was a people who claimed to know and love God, who plotted the assassination of His Son. Such are the depths of depravity that lurk in the heart of every man, woman and child on this planet.

And such are the depths of His love, that He willingly submitted Himself to face these humiliations for us, who by His grace would turn in repentance and embrace, by faith, Him Who came to die in our place and bear away our sin!

Marveling at the Love of Him Who Died for Me
Pastor Scott Lee

PS - We are still getting great reports of God’s work during last week’s Grace Camp Meeting! You can find the sermons from this week of preaching, teaching, fellowshipping etc at SermonAudio

He is risen indeed!`

It's not religion or ritual we're celebrating this weekend. It's the earth-shaking reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything changes here!

Think about it.

Christ's stone cold body was dead.

His heart had stopped beating,

His blood had begun to separate,

the limbs had stiffened,

all color had drained from his skin.

He was dead!

But in an instant, at the command of His Father,

Life returned with an unimaginable power,

color flashed into his cheeks,

the heart bounded to life,

and He arose to the wonder and joy of all creation as Lord and Savior!

In that moment, everything changed for the Christian.

Death lost its power to terrify,

The grave lost it's sting

Hell gave up it's hold on those claimed by Christ

Satan lost His teeth.

"Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
- Romans 6:8-11

Among the Edlers (12/28/09)

As always, it remains a privilege for us to serve our congregation at Rockport Baptist Church. We humbly ask for your prayers and your patience with us. We are mere men, fallible, weak, prone to failure. And yet we have been called by God to serve Him by shepherding you, His people who gather as Rockport.

This week’s meeting included only three of us, Scott, Will, Bob. Kurt is visiting relatives for the holiday. We began our time by giving counsel to a brother in our church who is considering missions service. This is always a joy and we will be praying as he seeks the Lord in this regard. We then spent a considerable part of our time talking about the needs of our congregation, who needs special care at this time, who needs encouragement, etc. Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 always bear a special weight in our meetings:

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

As do Peter’s words in 1 Pet 5:2

Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God;

We are all too aware of our many shortcomings in this regard, and seek God for His faithful aid in making us faithful, Christlike shepherds for your good.

After considering the needs of our individual members, we then turned our attention to the needs of the body as a whole.


Prayer Week
The upcoming Prayer Week was discussed (1/3-1/10) during which time we hope to encourage our flock to set aside ample time to seek the Lord for the coming year. This year’s Prayer Week will begin on Sunday evening (1/3) with a special video presentation of a message by J Edwin Orr on The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening and will culminate on the following Saturday (1/9)and Sunday evenings (1/10) with special prayer gatherings at Rockport. In between, there will be our regular home prayer meetings (C-groups) and Saturday Men’s Breakfast. Members will also be encouraged to set aside special times of prayer daily in order to seek God. Lord willing, a prayer guide for the week will be made available on Sunday. Some of the many things needing to be placed before the Lord concern faithfulness in our finances, our regular support of missions, our building needs, the need to strengthen and support our families, and our need for more clear and direct outreach in our community with the Gospel of Christ. We are grateful for the efforts that are ongoing, like the Jail Ministry, but see a real need to expand our outreach efforts.

Sunday Mornings
Time was spent evaluating our weekly gathering for worship and how we can encourage regular participation from our membership, balancing this with our need to plan well. The need for regular Scripture reading in the public service was also discussed.


Miscellaneous
Since Kurt was not present, we were not able to do much concerning our building needs, except keep the matter as an object of prayer.

Also discussed were the upcoming deacon ordination (tentatively set for Jan 24th); this year’s Camp Meeting (4/15-18); Gospel Outreach; Women’s Ministry; etc.

All was followed by a season of prayer for our congregation and the ministry of Christ through this church.

Respectfully submitted

Scott Lee; Will Jackson; Bob Schembre