5 Years at Providence

I am often amazed at how fast time seems to go by in life. This past Sunday made five years since I became the pastor at Providence, and I just don’t understand how that is the case. The anniversary of becoming pastor at the church is both a happy and sad occasion for me. It is sad for me because of the circumstances in which I became pastor. The week that I became the pastor, my dad who had previously served as the pastor of the church, passed away. So, in some ways, there is real grief that I experience each anniversary as I would give up being the pastor at Providence in order for dad to be alive pastoring there today. However, it is also a happy occasion because of the way that this anniversary reminds me so much of the kindness and faithfulness of the Lord. If I briefly consider the last five years, I can only say that the Lord has taken tremendous care of me and the church. A quick rundown of the challenges of the last five years would include leading a mourning church while mourning myself, dealing with Covid and the Covid shutdown, the loss of dear old saints, and even now a major building issue.  In many ways, this past year of ministry has been the most difficult of the five years, but despite all of this, the Lord has been faithful. I have enjoyed each year, each month, and each day the ever present kindness of God has been in every aspect of my life. In the depths of dealing with anxiety attacks right after my dad died to the worry of what happens next after the Covid shutdown, the Lord has completely poured out His love and care for my life. Through these challenges, He has kept His Word to me and my faith has grown. Despite the challenges that the last five years have held for our church, the Lord has graciously poured out His love on us. We have seen each of these challenges be overcome by the Lord who builds up and uses His church. The Lord has saved people, seen new people come into His church, seen the Gospel proclaimed and churches established in other nations and at home. We have just seen the Lord do tremendous and amazing things because of His desire to use the people of Providence for His glory and the good of His people. As I reflect on the past five years, I can wholly and completely say that God has been so good and so faithful to me and to our church. I look forward to seeing Him continue to accomplish His purpose in the years ahead, and I know that we can go forward with complete confidence that the same Lord who has been faithful the last five years to us, will not change who He is. One last note in reflection, I am thankful to the people of Providence Baptist that have loved, cared for, and trusted me as their pastor these last five years. I am blessed among pastors to pastor people like you, and I thank God for the privilege to do it. May He bless the time still ahead that we are able to work together for His glory and our Good. I love you all.

March 2023

One of the priorities of our church in 2023 is to prioritize the gatherings of God’s people. I know that may seem like a silly thing to prioritize because it seems like a given that Christians gather with other Christians. While it seems that should be a given for Christians, it doesn’t always work out that way. In fact, I often hear from other preachers that the Christians in their church are finding more and more reasons to miss church and are not coming as frequently as they once did. It seems that we have more options for our Sundays from kids sports, to errand running, and now we have the extremely convenient ability to watch our favorite worship services from the comfort of our couch. There are countless other reasons that people give for not gathering with God’s people for the worship of God. However, most of these reasons do not meet the threshold of being a good reason for not gathering with God’s people as those reasons are incredibly few. This is why talking about why the gathering is needed is so important and to talk about it often. One of my favorite pastors recently talked about how in his time in ministry over the last twenty years there has been a change in importance around the gathering. He spoke about how the most committed Christians twenty years ago would be at church 50-52 Sundays a year, and now he says that the most committed Christians would spend about 44-46 Sundays at church. He then spoke about how lesser committed Christians twenty years ago would still be at the gathering more than those Christians that have the same level of commitment today. There is a real urgent need for the church to understand that it is extremely important to recommit ourselves to the gathering. 

The first reason that the church should recommit ourselves to the gathering is because the Bible commands us to gather together. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not forsake the gathering especially as the day approaches. Therefore, the first reason that we gather is to be obedient to the Lord and gather together. I often consider the goodness of the Lord to us and how He acts towards us when I think about obedience. I know that the Bible teaches that God is good, wise, and loving to name a few of His attributes. Since He is these things, it is really wonderful to know that the command to gather is for our good. Therefore, we should obey because God is worthy and also because we know that God is caring for our good in His command to gather. 

The second reason that you should gather as a Christian in a local church is to fulfill the “one anothers” that are throughout the Bible. Look at the list below and realize that these things plus many more one anothers in the Bible  are important and can only be done in community. 

Furthermore, these things bring life to the Christian and make the Christian life vibrant. It is these things that help us to grow mature in our walk with the Lord and being with each other will help us finish our race.  There are other reasons to gather that I could and maybe should give for gathering,  but I want to encourage you starting this Sunday to make the gathering important. If you do, then I believe that this year your walk with the Lord will grow greatly.

January 2023

It is difficult to believe that 2022 has already come and gone, and we are now in 2023. 2022 was full of its highs and lows for all of us, and there is much for which we can thank God. I hope that you have taken some time to reflect on the past year and consider the way that the Lord has moved in your life. It is a good practice and one that I know from which you will greatly benefit. As it is the new year now, I know that it is the custom for many to make New Year’s resolutions or goals. A quick look at Facebook shows that people are making resolutions to lose weight, read books, and many other wonderful goals. I know that I have made some resolutions as well, and I think that it is genuinely a wonderful practice as long as you give yourself grace in these things. No one ever keeps their New Year's resolutions perfectly, so we do need to give ourselves grace. One resolution that many Christians make is that they will be more disciplined in their spiritual disciplines. This is a great thing to do and many in our church are doing this as well. Our church recently began a year long Bible reading plan and are doing this together as a church for accountability and to increase our joy in reading His word. Therefore, this resolution is praiseworthy, but I want to make sure that behind this resolution is the proper motivation. It is important with God honoring resolutions that we have God honoring motives. This is important because discipline without the proper motive is foolish and a waste of time. Our motivation to pursue the spiritual disciplines cannot be out of selfish desires. For example, we cannot read our Bible with the goal of earning favor from God or making an inroads to earn our salvation. We do not pray so that others can see us or memorize 52 scripture verses for the applause of others. The disciplines are not primarily about you nor are they about the abundant blessings that come with being disciplined. Matt Smethurst, a pastor from Virginia, recently tweeted a helpful bit of commentary on spiritual disciples, and he says this about them, “Spiritual disciplines are not about making you more precious to God. They’re about making God more precious to you.” He is right that the disciplines practiced with the proper motivation will have the effect of making God more precious and wonderful to you. Let me conclude by reminding you in your recommitment to be more dutiful in your discipline, to give yourself the needed grace, and to allow them to make God more precious to you in the new year. If you do this, then this resolution will have a tremendous impact on your life in the new year and will be worthwhile in keeping. May the Lord bless you and I am praying now that the Lord will use this resolution in your life greatly in the year ahead.

Go & Tell

After Easter, I am always reminded of the good news of Jesus. Easter reminds us of Jesus’ atoning death for our sin and His victorious resurrection. The fact that Christ has saved us is a wonderful truth, and I am very thankful for it. This fresh reminder of the good news of Easter always reminds me of the job that the Lord has given to His followers. We are told in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples of all nations. The only way to make a disciple is to go and tell everyone the good news of Jesus. The Lord has His sheep, and we are told to go and tell others. There is no other way to do this and that is because God made it so faith only comes through hearing the word of God. This is why God's people must be missional and that is why His church should be missional. That is why we are going to highlight different ministries over the next few months that our church supports and partners with in accomplishing this mission. I hope that as you learn about these different ministries that you will make sure to pray for these great commission works. May the Lord bless your Tuesday.

The Significance of Easter

This past weekend was Easter, and it is the most significant event on the Christian’s calendar. It is the day that means the most to Christians because if there is no Easter, then nothing else matters. This is because Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, or in the plainest terms possible, Jesus beat death and came back to life. If Jesus stayed dead, then Christians should be pitied over all people, but he did not stay dead. Easter is the celebration of the fact that Jesus took the wrath of God for our sins on the cross; that Jesus, for our sake, was made to be sin even though He knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. It is an incredible truth that Jesus sealed His victory over sin, death, and Satan on that Resurrection Day. This is what we as Christians hope in, have faith in, and celebrate. If you are interested in learning more about this holiday that millions of Christians just celebrated, go read Luke chapter 22-24. May the Lord bless your Tuesday.

Luke 9:51

I have considered lately Luke 9:51 and what it means that Jesus set His face towards Jerusalem. Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem to die on the cross and then rise again three days later. Nothing was going to stop Him from going to accomplish His task. This verse struck me though because Jesus made the choice to go and do this. He was fully aware of what was to come, but He still made the choice to go there. He knew every thorn, every nail, every whip, every mocking jock, and the wrath that would come from the Father on the cross. Yet He still went on towards Jerusalem, and He did not turn back. He did this for His glory and for the love of His people. Think of this amazing love and let it move you to worship and love our Savior more this week. May the Lord bless you all this week and may you be amazed at the great love of our Savior.

Helpful Resources for You This Easter

Every few months, I like to use this short blurb that I write each week to point you to helpful resources that you may not know about yourself. As we are only a few weeks out of Easter, I wanted to share these resources that I have been very thankful for in preparing my heart for this wonderful occasion. 

  1. This short devotional from John Piper.  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/10-results-of-the-resurrection

  2. An article on the historical evidence for the resurrection https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection

  3. This article from my favorite theologian R.C. Sproul. https://www.ligonier.org/posts/hearts-set-aflame-certainty-resurrection

  4. Finally this sermon from Alistair Begg. https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/essence-easter/

Marriage for God's Glory

There are two truths that are important for those of us who are married to remember each day. The first truth is that we will give an account to the Lord for every aspect of our lives, and this includes our marriage. We are to live for the glory of the Lord in all that we do. (1 Corinthians 10:31) If we are to eat and drink for the glory of the Lord, then it is safe to say that we are to be married for the glory of the Lord. The second truth is that our life has a limited amount of days (Psalm 90:12, Psalm 139:16),  and our days being married are even shorter than that. These two truths should cause the married Christian to consider and value their marriage differently. First, you come to see your spouse as a good gift from God (James 1:17) to you that is meant to be a blessing. Second, you realize no one will prepare you more to see Jesus than your spouse will. I spend more time with my wife than anyone else in the world. She is the one that will sharpen me back into the image of God (Proverbs 27:17) more than anyone else. Finally, you come to see that your spouse has immense and immeasurable value. Your spouse's value is not based on love, looks, feelings, or anything else. It is based on the fact that God created them in His image and gave His life on the cross for them. Each of these things matter in our marriage and helps us to be married for His glory. If your spouse is a gift from God to you, then you will want to love and care for your spouse. If they have value from God, then your marriage will be able to make it through all the difficulties that are thrown at it. Lastly, if you sharpen one another, then you will look to live in a very purposeful way in your marriage. You will seek to prepare each other for the day that they meet Christ. Since all of this is true, I want to really challenge you to consider your marriage a blessing from God, to seek to sharpen one another in preparation for meeting Jesus, and to see your spouse as immensely valuable to God and to yourself. Below are some questions to consider that I hope will help you glorify God in your marriage.

  1. How often do you study God’s word as a couple? Is there a way that you can make this a daily part of your life?

  2. When your spouse comes to you with a problem in their life, how do you respond? Is it with the Word of God or something else? Remember it is by the Word of God that you are most sharpened.

  3. Finally read Ephesians 5:22-33 and meditate on this text as a couple. Talk about ways it can apply to your marriage.