Wednesday Afternoon

I am looking forward to praying with the saints tonight. We will be looking at several penitential Psalms: 6, 38, 51, 130. We will also attempt to give thanks for His mercies in Christ.

I am studying in Exodus 4-5 in anticipation of tomorrow's Bible study. I am beginning to look at Ephesians 1:15-23 for the men's study Saturday morning.

I double-dipped on exercise instead of lunch today. I am hungry and sore. I need results!

Our children are working very hard in school. I am proud of their diligence. Learning how to "grind" is an important life skill. Sometimes, you have to hike up your britches and just get it done. All hard work yields a profit...

Tuesday morning

We had a profitable elder's meeting this morning. It is good to serve with men who strive to be biblical.

I am hoping the Lord is positioning us for numerical and spiritual growth.

I feel so blessed to be serving this church. I hope the Lord will give me many years of fruitful service here. I pray the Lord will allow our church to be a beacon of light here and around the world.

I am planning to work on Wednesday's prayer meeting and my initial grammatical work for Sunday's sermon. On Thursday, we continue our study in Exodus 4. We also have men's Bible study this Saturday morning in Ephesians 1.

On a personal note, I hope to get back on my eating and exercising plan tonight with a big run before supper. After eating like a fat southerner last week, it is time for discipline.

Saturday Sunshine

Good morning, it is great to be alive. I am so looking forward to Lord's Day worship with the saints. It was good to have fellowship with like-minded believers this week. The Lord is building His Church.

My children are still in need of a lot of training. I guess parenting is a marathon after all. I need a lot of work too.

I am hoping to have a good day of study coupled with some play time with the kids. I hope your Saturday is blessed. Please take some time to prepare your hearts and order your lives in order to worship unencumbered tomorrow.

The Church

We must have a high view of the local church. The trend is to diminish the importance of the church in favor of other personal priorities. Membership in the church is a necessary organizational component of body life that is clearly implied in the Scripture.

I am already looking forward to Sunday. The fellowship of the saints is sweet.

Pray that our churches will Preach the Word!

Friday Afternoon

We are looking forward to having some fellowship with friends tonight. Tomorrow, we will have home group in Windermere at 2pm followed by more great evening fellowship.

I am working on my message for Sunday. I have been looking forward to studying this section (end of Acts 13). We have been really blessed by the Wednesday night prayer meetings. I can see how God could be using this time to aid our growth as a church.

I am thankful for the new friends God is bringing into our lives. The future looks bright.

This morning, Dana Sue, Elijah (age 3) and I took "Rebel" for a long walk through the tree lined streets of Windermere. There are ways in which the town looks unchanged from 25-30 years ago. This is quite an accomplishment for one of the most transplanted/transient metropolitan areas in America. Our roots run deep here and it feels like home. We hope the Lord will provide a way for us to buy a home here in the next year or two.

Prayer meeting and Bible study

It was good to spend time praying with the brethren last evening. We considered how God is eternal and unchangeable using Psalm 90 as our starting point. The fellowship of the saints in prayer is wonderful. This morning, we studied Exodus 4:31-Ex. 5:7 in "Senior" Bible study. It was good to be reminded about the circumstances surrounding the exodus and that God's promises will certainly come to pass.

Today, I am hoping to get my sermon together. Lord willing, I will be focusing on the end of Acts 13, the Gentiles will be coming to Christ as some of Jews harden. Paul's mission will come into sharper focus. I hope the folks will appreciate their blessed state in Christ.

Tonight, I am hoping to spend a couple of hours with my wife drinking coffee and talking. We will stay at home and just spend time together. She is a treasure and better than I deserve. She makes our home an oasis of Christian joy.

I hope the remainder of your week is blessed.

Confessional Christianity

Every church claims to be biblical. Herein lies the need to articulate what you believe. The reason the Church has relied on confessions of faith historically, is because private interpretation of The Scripture leads to error and heresy. Our church is a Reformed Baptist Church and we hold to the London Baptist Confession-1689. In this document, is a call to unity on doctrinal essentials with our Westminster and Savoy Declaration brethren. We differ on baptism and elements of church polity but we agree on the most essential elements of faith in Christ. While it sounds pious to say, 'you have no creed but Christ' and 'it is just you and your Bible,' confessionalism is a key aid in keeping the church on a sound footing doctrinally across generations. Can you imagine what Baptist churches in America would look like if they predominantly held to the London Confession ? Or if all of the Presbyterians held to the Westminster and actually were governed by it (PCUSA comes to mind)? and If the Congregationalists held to the Savoy Declaration? The truths of the Gospel would not be so easily diluted by the winds of change and relevance.

In this era of ever-increasing novelty, I grow more and more appreciative of the old paths. We will stick with the London Baptist Confession-1689...

Tuesday Evening

I am looking forward to tomorrow evening's prayer time. If you would like to visit, please contact me. This month's home group studies are on Col. 3.

Last night we had a choking scare with Ellie (age 1). She found a broken piece of tortilla chip that was very hard and it got stuck in her windpipe. It was very scary. She went from screaming to silence. Finally, she gagged and threw up a number of times and it finally propelled out. God is so good to us.

I have one thing in common with D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the late pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. I long to see reformation and revival. I want to see the power of God manifested in the lives of His people and in the conversion of the lost. Maybe the winds of reformation and revival will blow in this land again! We need to be a people wholly devoted to His Word. This means something more than an intellectual assent to the facts of orthodoxy but also to a vibrant, living holiness.

Monday Dinner Time

My most excellent wife is preparing chicken pot pie for supper. It is down home and real good.

Margaret here is yet another post you haven't read. You should check before you make snide remarks about my lack of blogging!

SuSu (age 2) loves Pilgrim's Progress. She daily asks me, "Daddy will you read Christian?"

I am getting a little discouraged. My two a day workouts aren't yielding much tangible results yet. All I have to show for it is a sore left elbow and achy knees.

I want you to know that I will be laboring vigorously in the Word that I might preach Christ accurately. I covet your prayers. Would you consider praying for me on a daily or regular basis?

Lord's Day Evening

I had a humbling preaching experience today. Though I prepared well and prayed over the message, my delivery was weak and the message lacked clarity. I am hoping for growth and unction in preaching. Who is sufficient for these things? It is good that God uses His Word for His Glory and is not "helped" by men.

We are planning to attend the ARBCA General Assembly which starts a week from Tuesday. It will be good to be with some like-minded brethren who have a high regard for Christ. Some dear friends from our days in Kansas City will be there. It will be great to rekindle our friendship with them.

I am hoping to have an extensive Bible reading week. I find my personal worship and teaching are greatly helped when I am consuming large quantities of the Word. This study has to be independent of my preparations for Bible studies, discipleship and sermons.

Praying the Scripture

Tonight at our prayer meeting we will be attempting to pray through selected Psalms. Our prayers often seem cold and ineffectual. If we pray the Scripture, we will have greater assurance our prayers will be effectual. The revealed will of God read and meditated upon will calibrate our prayers on the True North of Christ and His Word.

Like the regulative principle of worship, maybe we should also practice the regulative principle of prayer. God's Word, the only certain rule of faith and obedience, should regulate our cries to God. There are times of groaning and pleading that arise from are circumstances. We should allow the Truth to be the response to our circumstances. Too often, our circumstances govern our thinking instead of the Truth as revealed in His Word.

May the Lord be pleased to visit us in prayer as we affirm His Truth.

Tuesday

We are rejoicing in the amazing story of S.S.'s kidney transplant. God is so merciful and kind to His children!

I am reading Preaching Pure and Simple by Stuart Olyott again. He is such a godly man and offers rich insight into the importance of preaching. I need to daily grow as a herald of Christ. I have been going through a sweet time with the Lord the last few days; His grace seems sweeter, His Word seems more alive and His Spirit seems more active.

I have a bit of a preparation challenge for my sermon this week. The last 2 Acts 13 messages have been on the grand themes of the section. Now I have to go back and make sure none of the truth God inspired is left unexplored. It is a privilege and enormous responsibility to devote my life to the study, proclamation and application of the Scriptures.

I will be attending the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches in America General Assembly this month. I was able to attend the GA in Bremen, IN in 2002. These churches represent some very fine servants of Christ.

We are looking forward to our prayer meeting tomorrow night. I hope to see you there.

Fellowship Missed

My family was supposed to go over to the coast for a visit with a pastor friend and his family today. We couldn't make it. My sweet wife was feeling poorly and we were all tired.

I enjoyed reading a number of Psalms in addition to my Acts 13 sermon preparation today.

Abigail, my 7 year old daughter, and I went to the bookstore for a date. We read the original Fancy Nancy book and If You Give A Cat A Cupcake. She also had a very fancy Grapefruit/Sparkling water beverage(it was pink) and a pink sugar cookie. It is good to devote individual attention to each of our 8 children. My wife and I are intentional about it and always feel extra blessed by the experience. The children always speak volumes and seem to bask in the spotlight. On another kid note, we have just learned something new about Jameson. He is a very capable and fanatical/obsessive organizer. He is a complete nut so we will have to watch and see how this goes.

I really savor Resurrection Sunday. We assemble on the Lord's Day and rejoice in the finished work of Christ every week because of His atoning work. Take time to reflect on the essentials of the Christian faith. Nothing is more vital to us than the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord. We were in desperate need of a Mediator. God supplied all that we need in Christ!

I have to confess my gluttony and poor stewardship today. My favorite fast food sandwich is the Blackened Chicken Sandwich at Backyard Burger. It has been quite some time since I have had the privilege of consuming one. We happened to be in the South OBT area after visiting Dana's uncle, who turned 85 today, at a nursing home. Then it hit me like a lightning bolt, "There is a Backyard Burger near here!" For the first time in my illustrious eating history, I ate 2 blackened chicken sandwiches in one sitting(driving). It was phenomenal. Jameson has requested some indoor football before going to bed...I really must go.