New Blog Address

This will be the last post for the “Connect First” Blog, located at this web address. Because our church has upgraded to a new website, we’ve moved the blog there. All previous posts have been relocated.

If you use a feed reader / blog reader, you’ll need to delete this address and subscribe to the new blog address: http://fbcmb.org/resources/blog/.

Be sure to check out the new FBCMB Online! A big thanks to our brother Tommy Brents for his great help in this endeavor. We couldn’t have done it without him.

To God be the glory,
Pastor Jake

Summer L.I.F.E. Institute

This summer we will be doing a little something different for our Sunday evening L.I.F.E. Institute class. Rather than work through a structured class curriculum, I’m going to invite all who are interested to join me in an informal study of the book of Romans. By informal, I mean that there will be very little preparation — even by me! — ahead of time. The point would be to allow you to walk with me through a passage as I study it.

My purpose would be to help those who attend learn to study passages of scripture on their own. We’ll address questions such as:

• How do you find the natural, contextual breaks in a passage of Scripture? (In other words, how do you know when a chunk begins and ends?)
• How do you figure out which words are significant?
• What is a word study, and when should you do one?
• What makes a commentary good?
• How do you go from the text to a teaching outline?

Among the tools I hope to share is something called “tracing the argument,” also known as “arcing.” I learned how to do this in seminary and have found it to be the single most helpful tool in studying the Bible that know. I’ve taught this to others over the last few years and the feedback is always the same — this changes the ease with which you read and understand the Bible! While learning to trace can be a bit frustrating at first, it is well worth the effort.

Lord willing, our class will meet at 5:30 PM on the following Sundays: July 3, 10, 17, 24, and August 7, 14, and 21. You’ll want to bring a Bible, notebook, and pen, and you can bring any commentaries on Romans you might have. Please let me know (pastorjake@fbcmb.org) if you plan on attending so that we can make sure we have enough space for everyone.

Update on the Faulkner Family

Many of you may remember our visit from the Faulkners last summer, nearly a year ago now. Last summer the Faulkners visited just a month before they moved to Papua New Guinea to be missionaries. At that time the family consisted of Mark, Belinda, Erin, Bradley, and one on the way. Since then the family has grown to include a new baby girl named Piper. They are currently living in PNG and working with people in the area they live to share Christ with them. Belinda has reported that the girls have adjusted very well and are enjoying their new life overseas. The two older girls are young enough that they have not had trouble adapting at all and the youngest has never lived in the US. Many church members met the Faulkners and spent time with them during Vacation Bible School last summer, and I think we all found the Faulkners a precious family and true workers in the gospel.

I have had the opportunity to interact with Belinda via email. They have been in my thoughts since the time that I met them. I grew to love this family in just a short time and wanted to continue helping them in their mission in PNG. This is the family for whom the youth held the spaghetti dinner last Sunday. Before the spaghetti dinner was planned, I asked Belinda to send a list of needs their family has that we could fill. In coordination with several other church members, we sent off a care package for the Faulkners which they received last Thursday. We were able to send simple things like seasoning for cooking and Scotch tape as well as some special treats like M&Ms and bubble gum. We also sent marshmallows because the marshmallows available in PNG do not melt and some activity books and craft supplies for the girls. Belinda also requested some tools for teaching that will be used in their work with people in the village.

Belinda was so kind to send the two pictures of the girls that she did. I want to share with you a little of what Belinda wrote me before as she was telling me of how their family and the Sissons, who also traveled to PNG to be missionaries, are doing now.

We still miss our family and friends and Chick-fil-A and Texas Roadhouse, but we have Skype that we can use on occasion to see our loved ones and we do our best to recreate good American meals with the ingredients that are available here. The other night we did our best to recreate Chick-fil-A at the Sissons’ house and it was pretty good! The kids were excited (and so were the adults!), so it was worth the trouble.

If you want to stay updated on the Faulkner family, you can read their blog, ‘Til All Have Heard. If anyone would be interested in helping to put together another package for the Faulkner family, feel free to contact them or me to get things started. I’d love for us to stay in contact with them and use our relationship with them to be more active in missions.

Easter Sunday 2011: Two Service Plan of Action

Rationale:

• Last time our church did a large Easter outreach (2005), we had approximately 400 people in attendance.
• Easter Sunday has been our best attended worship service for the last several years.
• Experience with other large services, such as our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, has taught us that while huge crowds are exciting to regular attenders, they can be distracting and uncomfortable for visitors.
• We want to be good stewards of all those the Lord brings to our worship services on Easter Sunday, by providing an environment in which they can clearly hear to Gospel.

Outreach Efforts:

• The Good News of Easter gift bags with personal invitations and commitment to prayer.
• Doorhanging area neighborhoods on Wednesday, April 13 and Saturday, April 16, 2011.

Logistics

The Basics:

• We will have two worship services, one at 9:00 AM and one at 10:45 AM.
• Services will have identical music and message.
• Regulars attendees who are able to attend the 9:00 AM service and stay to help serve during the 10:45 AM service are encouraged to do so.

Children:

• Nursery through the sixth grade will have Sunday School and Kids’ Church, as usual, except that Sunday School will begin at 9:00 instead of 9:30 AM.
• Subs will be needed for those children’s workers who also serve on the worship team.
• Sunday School will be from 9:00-10:15 AM.
• Kids’ Church will be from 10:45 AM to noon.
• Extra help may be needed to check kids in and out, as well as extra help for teachers.

Youth and Adults Sunday School Classes:

• Instead of meeting for class on Easter Sunday, we ask that your class commit to serving during whichever worship service you do not attend.
• We will need many extra greeters, extra nursery workers, and extra children’s workers.
• See Byran to help greet; see Bruce to help usher; see Rusty to help with babies or children.

Greeters / Ushers:

• Station greeters / ushers in the parking lot, building entrance, front desk, sanctuary entrance.
• Designate “runners” who will escort parents back to children’s wing.
• Some will come in late; help them to find seating in the sanctuary.
• Set up chairs for overflow in the foyer area, if necessary.
• Reset sanctuary between services.

Hospitality Team:

• We will have a 30 minute break between the two worship services.
• Hopefully visitors to the first service will come a few minutes early or stay a few minutes later so that we can greet them and introduce ourselves.
• We would like to have coffee, tea, and water available for before and after the worship services.
• If the gym is utilized, coordination with this Sunday’s Kids’ Church workers, Barbara Stein and Linda Graham, will be necessary.

Missions / Evangelism Team:

• Organize doorhanging for 4/13 and 4/16.
• Determine which neighborhoods will be hung which days. We will have less time on 4/13, so smaller areas or only one larger area should be done that day.

Prayer Team:

• Those who are unable to serve as greeters, ushers, nursery or children’s workers, may serve by spending time in prayer for the worship service they do not attend.
• A prayer room will be set up in the adult education hallway.
• Contact Pastor Jake if you will serve in the prayer room.

Property and Space Team:

• Check for repair or maintenance needs in the two weeks before Easter Sunday, particularly anything that would be a safety concern in the children’s area or on the playground.
• Check for fire code issues (exit signs lit, etc.).

The Love of God: For Creation

The following is an outline of my sermon from this morning.

I.  God created the world good. He loves the beauty of the world because it reflects his own beauty.
A.  The universe was created by and for Jesus. – Colossians 1:16
B.  Creation reflects the glory of God. – Psalm 19:1-3; Romans 1:19-20
1.  Creation displays God’s might. – Psalm 8:3-4
2.  Creation displays God’s wisdom. – Isaiah 55:10-11; Hosea 13:7-8

II.  In love, God sustains and provides for all creation.
A.  God sustains the very existence of all he made. – Colossians 1:17
B.  God provides for all our needs. – Psalm 104
C.  Therefore, we should love all God’s creation, as well. – Matt. 5:44-45; Ex. 23:5; Pro. 12:10; Deut. 20:19.

III. God’s love for creation is shown in his promise to renewal the universe.
A.  God will recreate the world. – Rev. 21:1-5
B.  Therefore, we should live holy, peaceful live, and…
C.  We should count the patience of the Lord as salvation. – 2 Peter 3:13-15

Thinking Through 1 Corinthians 13: A More Excellent Way

Any reflection on Paul’s famous “Love Chapter” (1 Corinthians 13) must really begin in the last verse of the previous chapter. In chapter 12, Paul has begun his teaching on spiritual gifts, explaining God’s plan in giving diverse gifts to a unified body of believers. And after chapter 13, Paul will pick up this discussion of spiritual gifts. Truly, one could simply remove chapter 13 and the flow of Paul’s argument would run nearly seamless. The Love Chapter could be considered parenthetical, but that would be a great mistake. It is not parenthetical, but central (literally and thematically) to Paul’s discussion of the unity and diversity of the church.

This is evident in that last verse of chapter 12, when Paul begins to lead his readers up the mountain toward this shining treasure of love. He writes:

And I will show you a still more excellent way. (1 Corinthians 12:31)

Love is more excellent. More excellent than what? Love is more excellent than the gifts of prophecy, healing, helping, miracles, and tongues. As wonderful as divine utterance is, love is the more excellent way. As thrilling as healing can be, love exceeds this miracle. Though tongues are affirmed by Paul, he elevates love above all else.

Do we value love like Paul did? Do my priorities reflect those of God’s word, counting the way of love as a still more excellent way than the marvelous gifts of discernment, wisdom, knowledge and faith?

Paul will go on to make the argument that without love the exercise of these gifts is meaningless. Discernment without love is proud. Wisdom without love is harsh. Faith without love is dead. Love is the prerequisite fruit for all kingdom-impact. It is a more excellent way…

More excellent than the ways of the world.
More excellent than power.
More excellent than fame.
More excellent than blunt honesty.

Your love is more excellent than your leadership.
My love is more excellent than my judgment.
Our love is more excellent than our pity, our anger, our memory, our intelligence.

Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. That’s what I need to remind myself, if I am to stay on the still more excellent way.

The Love of God: Toward Himself

Here is an outline with scripture references for this morning’s sermon.
God’s Love for Himself

Introduction to the series:

I.  Distortions of love
A. Cultural distortions of love: overwhelming feeling; romance.
B. Christian distortions of God’s love: choice only; indiscriminate.

II. Importance of the doctrine of God’s love
A. Love as an attribute of God holds a special place.
1 John 4:8, 16; Ephesians 3:17-19
B. God’s love is the motivation behind our salvation.
Ephesians 2:4-5; 1 John 4:9-10; Romans 5:8; John 3:16
C. Love is the ultimate measure of our faith.
1 Corinthains 16:14; Galatians 5:6, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

III. God’s love for himself
A. God’s love for himself is the most important of all loves.
B. God’s love for himself is God’s greatest love.
Psalm 148; Ezekiel 36:21-23
C. God’s love for himself is not selfish vanity, for he is worthy!
D. God’s love for himself is expressed between the Person of the Trinity.
John 17:4-5; Matthew 17:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:28

“The love of God for himself, expressed between the divine Persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is the greatest, highest, purest, most perfect love that could exist because it is directed from a perfect Source to a perfect Object.”

IV. Application: Why the doctrine matters
A. God’s love for himself reveals the pathway to true joy.
1 Peter 1:8
B. God’s love for himself is the love on which our salvation is founded, giving us assurance.
John 17:26; Ephesians 1:4-6

This Thanksgiving, Be a Blessing to the Persecuted Church

Blessings abound in the U.S. of A.  We can so quickly get bogged down in our own political and economic struggles that we lose perspective.  We have so much.  There’s really no way around that.  We have more food, more shelter, more comforts – and more liberty.

This Thanksgiving, I am reflecting on God’s grace to me by reaching out to a Christian brother who does not enjoy the freedoms we do.  His name is Sayed Mossa, and he is a husband and father of six.  He’s currently imprisoned in Afghanistan for converting to Christianity from Islam.  In his own words, he is in jail “due to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, saviour of the world.”  Since he was arrested and put in jail earlier this past May, he has been beaten, spat upon, made to go hungry, kept from sleep, sexually assaulted, and more.

According to Justin Taylor, we can help Sayed by writing him letters.  These letter can raise awareness of his plight and mount pressure for his release.  However, we need to be careful in what we write.  Letters should be short and should have no explicit reference to Christianity or Jesus.  Instead, we should address his situation as an issue of human rights.

Here’s the text of the letter I am mailing to Sayed:

Dear Sayed Mossa,

I am so sorry to hear of your mistreatment and unjust imprisonment.  Your story is being told around the world.  Many people care about you and hope to see you freed and able to return to your family, including me.

You are in my thoughts,
Jake Porter

Letters can be mailed to:

Mr. Sayed Mossa
c/o International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Charrahi Haji Yaquob
Shar i Naw
Kabul,
AFGHANISTAN

I hope you will join me in writing to Sayed, not only to raise awareness of his situation but also to provide him some encouragement.  As you write, please pray for him, as well.  Pray for his health and safety, for perseverance of faith, for his wife and children, and for those government officials who need to step out and boldly call for his release.

We are commanded to act on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters:  “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).  Let’s prove our faith by obedience.

Looking Ahead to 2011′s Sermons

Some tell me I over-plan my sermons.  I nearly always have my sermon schedule mapped out months ahead.  In fact, before the first day of 2010, I already had the whole year scheduled.  Now, the reason for this is because we are going through the book of John.  Its length demands a year.  So it gets a year.

And now I am looking ahead to what might come next.  Typically, I like to put a short, doctrinal series between longer series of going through books (or, as in the case of longer books like Genesis, sections of books).  Here’s what I am thinking right now:

Lord willing, we will finish up John in January of 2011.  Then I think I am going to preach a short topical series on the doctrine of God’s love.  My best guess so far is that this will be 4-6 weeks long.  After that, we will pick up where we left off in Genesis.  We ended 2009 with the death of Abraham.  Our next chunk will be from chapters 25-36 and cover the lives of Isaac and Jacob; this will last around 4 months.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

I’m putting that out there for a couple of reason.  First, I ask you to go ahead and start praying for God’s guidance on these decisions.  I know they seem to be a long way off, but – believe it or not – in just another month or two I will start my research on our next series.  Second, I would welcome any input you have on the matter.  Feel free to email me at pastorjake@fbcmb.org.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: A Study of Ecclessiastes

I have really enjoyed teaching through Ecclesiastes thus far.  The first four chapters are uploaded and available from iTunes or our church’s sermon player.

• Chapter 1:  Seeking Satisfaction in the World and Wisdom
• Chapter 2:  The Pursuit of Pleasure and Man’s Universal End
• Chapter 3:  Stuck Between Time and Eternity
• Chapter 4:  Vanities: Oppression, Envy, Idleness, and Popularity