Knowing and Doing

So assuming the church is passionate about teaching on the Savior, his death, burial, and resurrection....so what's next DIMENSION #2: The church’s teaching ministry also should teach about Christian spirituality and disciplines from God's Word. Once the new believer has learned of our Savior, it is the church’s responsibility to guide believers in "how to" in their prayers, quiet time, and spiritual reflection, fasting, giving, serving and ministry, and so on. We should teach how to fear the Lord and constantly reproof our flesh in order to stay away from sin. I believe that as a church we are weak in this area. Sure preachers and teachers may be teaching this, but are we being effective? I say in some cases yes, but for the church body as a whole....."no". Why? We dont teach application very well. Look how the desires of the world have infiltrated the Church of Jesus Christ today. Look at the churches that are knee deep in selfishness and pride, t...

Matt 28:19 and 20 says "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. The Great Commission gives us the command to “make disciples” and to “teach to all nations” and we should take this command seriously. What kind of commitment do you think it takes to be able to teach like this? It takes a constant effort and deep commitment to be the teacher God has commanded us to be . The church of Jesus Christ is a teacher, instructing men and women in Christian faith and discipleship. The faith which the church proclaims must be strengthened by the teaching of the gospel. Paul reminded the early Christians that one of the offices of the church was the pastor/teacher who worked “to equip God’s people for work in his service, for the building up of the body of Christ” ( Eph. ...

Any teacher whether it be a public school educator, a college professor, or a Sunday school teacher has many roles to take on as they use the classroom as their environment of learning. When we look at the example of Jesus, he took on twelve disciples to teach. He trained and taught these students what he wanted them to know, and he expected them to use that knowledge to go and teach the masses as they start the church. Teachers also need to look at the role of the learning leader, one that teaches who should be a student as well. Not only can teachers expand their knowledge by attending conferences, seminars, and other means; they can even learn from their own students. All teachers should be good communicators . The way the lesson is presented is of the utmost importance. The learner should be able to easily understand what is being presented. The classroom can be provided with chalkboards, bulletin boards, dry erase board, and a video projector to be able to assist the teache...

Someone recently belittled "anniversaries" in the church and jokingly asked why we celebrate them. (this person is not a member of Telephone Baptist, but lives in our small community in NE Fannin County) I really feel interestingly and curiously challenged by this question and wanted to write something about it. Some folks may wonder that this is another plot to please people or have another "big" event in the church to just waste money on. We did buy the pencils and pens, refrigerator magnets, bumper stickers, and a history book (which was incredibly done). We had a sweet woman that was very passionate about TBC church history and set up displays about the past. Of course we have to eat.......a huge brisket lunch on Sunday with yummy desserts. Testimonies were given, prayers were voiced, former pastors preached, lots of singing and even a concert by a quartet, Lord's Supper celebrated, and deacons served. In the Old Testament we see that the Israelites ga...

Okay, some of you that know me well may get mad, confused, or you may just "Amen" as I write about this interesting subject of church growth. There is so much pressure on the pastor today to grow the church. As a matter of fact, most search committees want to know how a pastor plans to grow the church. There are tons of books written by pastors who have been successful in growing the mega church. Unfortunately we see pastors who use churches as stepping stones to reach the next "better and bigger" church where he will make more money and end up retiring in a mega church at a ripe old age. That is success!! (I hope you know I am being sarcastic in that last line) In this grand land where we live, we are measured by success and why shouldnt it be the same in the church. Church Growth now means physical growth. We are very unconcerned with the spiritual growth of churches. I mentioned Sunday in my sermon on Romans 1:16-17 that someone sent me a forwarded email ...

House church leader Hua Huiqi hoped to attend service with President Bush. DUBLIN, August 11 (Compass Direct News) – Security agents yesterday seized Christian activist and house church pastor Hua Huiqi on his way to a service at the government-approved Kuanjie Protestant Church in Beijing, where U.S. President George Bush was scheduled to appear. Bush later attended the service before meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao to discuss human rights concerns, including religious freedom. “I told him not to go because it’s during the Olympic Games, and this period is sensitive,” Hua’s brother Hua Huilin told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. AP reporters said the line was disconnected three times during the conversation, suggesting that authorities were monitoring the phone call. When Hua insisted on going, however, his brother agreed to travel with him. As the men cycled towards the church, two black cars approached them. Police seized both men and took them away in sepa...

I was minding my own business trimming a massive tree in the front lawn of FBC Del Rio, when all of the sudden a man in his car stopped and called me over to the car. He didnt ask the other two guys that were there or the two students, Trev or Olive, he specifically asked me. I was dripping wet with sweat, a had my nasty work trucker hat on with nasty tshirt and shorts and holding a pole saw. (a chain saw on a long stick) After asking if I was a minister or not, here was the $20,000 question of the day was: What would you do if a woman in your car was kicking in your dashboard? (there was a woman in the passenger seat and two boys in the back seat ages 8 and 14 maybe? and a hole in the dashboard where someone had kicked it in) "What would you do sir?" I really had to think about this for a minute...I mean I dont get asked this question every day. He followed with this statement: "I am about to call the police!!" I asked him what relation this woman was to h...

I have been recently convicted by the Holy Spirit about missions and the lack of international missions emphasis in the local church and the local association. After my seminary experience, I researched a people group in Indonesia and it really opened my eyes to what is happening outside the United States. People would die if you asked them to go to Germany, Russia, or Africa on a mission trip. Some would say they are too old, or that they are not interested in this sort of thing. I have led many US mission trips and it is about time to light the church afire of groups of people who need the gospel around the world. Here is the big announcement: I feel as if God is leading our church towards the great country of.............................PERU!! That's right, South America. We need to spend our resources and our time to help missionary efforts there and to really immerse ourselves in the people groups there that need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isnt this commanded o...

Boy, was this Easter a busy one!! Sunrise Service (or should I say overcast service) at Lake Coffee Mill at 7 AM. I am not a morning person and I needed to get excited about telling the resurrection story out of the Gospel of John at approx. 7:10 AM in 45 degree weather with a slight wind. There were about 20 people there and that was their Easter morning service. I also noticed that during the morning service in the sanctuary there were alot of sleepy eyes. This frustrates me to see this. Everywhere I look people are heavy eyed, bobbing their heads, drooling on thier neighbor, getting elbowed by their wives, and even snoring. When Jesus tells the women in Matthew to go and tell the disciples about His resurrection, they consider the women's testimonies as nonsense, they refused to believe. I wonder at times when I am preaching God's Word if the disciples I am preaching to are treating it the same. The Gospel of Mark says that Jesus reproached them for disbelief and hard...

There were several things accomplished of great value at the Business Conference Sunday night. One, a Long Range Planning Committee will be formed to come up with a 3 to 5 year plan for Telephone Baptist. Two, the video projection system and location of the sound booth will be given to the Worship Planning Team to oversee and collect plans, bids, and ideas for. Three, the church okayed the expansion of the deacon body to begin the process for deacon nominations in April. We stayed a grueling two hours but accomplished lots. Now we must continually pray for God's work through these things as Nehemiah did in Chapter 2. I hope that we do NOT focus on growing physically so much, but on the spiritual growth of people. That is God's desire for His church..."to make disciples". I will pray that we will focus on this in 2008 as we face new challenges together for the Lord and ask for His wisdom how to move forward!! Blessings...Bro. B