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Orphans

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My wife sent me an email last week on the needs of orphans in Haiti. As she read certain posts online, her heart was moved with compassion for the needs of these. As we are urged by James, caring for orphans is the essence of Christianity working itself out in love (James 1:27).

Here are some interesting sites to consider for this need…

Together for Adoption
Look After Orphans (an article in the recent World Magazine)
Noel Piper has had some amazing articles and challenges.

Here’s the questions my wife asked me in email (taken from the T4A site)…
• What can we do over the next several weeks so that we don’t forget about the people of Haiti?
• What will our church be able to do if/when Humanitarian Parole is granted for Haiti’s orphans?
• Where in Haiti can we send our people to serve on short-term trips come summer?
• How many people can our church send?

Oh Phil, will God call us to sacrifice greatly is the midst of this devastation?

I hope you can sense the compassion in her pleading. Let’s pray for God’s mercy and pray for wisdom in our actions.

Weekend Recap – Perseverance

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Today’s sermon, Gospel Perseverance, from Colossians 1:23 is now online. The outline was pretty simple, getting at motivations for perseverance…

I. We persevere continuing in our faith.
II. We persevere recognizing the scope of the Gospel.
III. We persevere remembering the change the Gospel produces.

I loved the way the passage unfolded to our corporate practice of the Lord’s Supper. We need the encouragement to persevere because we are so prone to think that because we believed at one point in our lives, we are no longer responsible for living out those truths with more and more belief. We need to heed this passage and “not shift from the hope of the Gospel that we heard.”

Stand Fast (or Gospel Perseverance)

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This Sunday, we will be looking at Colossians 1:23. I thought of entitling the sermon “the Big IF” but ended up entitling it Gospel Perseverance. Here’s the issue, from Spurgeon’s sermon Stand Fast on the same text…

But, Brothers and Sisters, the battle does not end when, by a desperate rush, a man has come to Christ. In many it assumes a new form—the enemy now attempts to drag the trembler from his refuge and eject him from his stronghold! It is difficult to get at the hope of the Gospel, but quite as difficult to keep it so as not to be moved away from it. If Satan spends great power in keeping us from the hope, he uses equal force in endeavoring to drag us away from it—and equal cunning in endeavoring to allure us from it. Hence the Apostle tells us not to be moved away from the hope of the Gospel. The exhortation is necessary in presence of an imminent danger. Do not think that in the moment when you believe in Christ the conflict is over, or you will be bitterly disappointed! It is then that the battle renews itself and every inch of the road swarms with enemies.

Between here and Heaven you will always have to fight, more or less, and frequently the severest struggle will be at a time when you are least prepared for it. There may be smooth passages in your career and you may, for a while, be like your Savior in the wilderness, of whom it is said, “Then the devil departed from Him, and angels came and ministered unto Him.” But you may not, therefore, cry, “My mountain stands firm, I shall never be moved,” for fair weather may not outlast a single day! Do not grow secure, or carnally presumptuous. There is but a short space between one battle and another in this world. It is a series of skirmishes even when it does not assume the form of a pitched battle. He that would win Heaven must fight for it! He that would take the new Jerusalem must scale it and if he has the wits to take Jacob’s ladder and set it against the wall and climb up that way, he will win the City. “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.”

The Christian life isn’t for the faint of heart. It involves a struggle to continually lay hold of the Gospel. I hope you are encouraged to that end this Lord’s day.

Upcoming Conference on Shepherding

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Back in August an interview on shepherding online prompted my good friend Joe Braden to organize a conference related to the topic. I’m happy to announce the conference will be held February 23-24 at FBC St. Peters.

Here’s the rundown from Ray Van Neste’s blog…
Tuesday, February 23
12 noon- Registration
1:30 p.m. Joseph Braden -“Our Shepherd God”
3:30 p.m. John Thornbury- “The World’s Greatest Job”
5:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Tom Ascol- “Gospel Saturated Preaching”

Wednesday, February 24
9:00 a.m. Ray Van Neste- “Oversight of Souls: The Heart of Pastoral Ministry”
10:30 a.m. John Thornbury- “Pastoral Pitfalls”
12 noon- Lunch
1:30 p.m. Tom Ascol- “Gospel Shaped Ministry”
3:30 p.m. Ray Van Neste- “Shepherding a Rebellious People”
5:00 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. John Thornbury- “Jesus Christ, the Pastor’s Message”

This should be great content for your leadership teams as you seek to pastor your people to the glory of God. Here’s the brochure and at $50, how big of a bargain is this? (I would recommend you add the meal plan from the church so that you don’t have to leave. The church does an AMAZING job at hosting this conference.)

I plan on going and hope to see you there.