Rumblings and Ramblings

Check it out ……  www.keyheightsperryton.com

I must admit it,  love to go to camp.  I hate the heat, but I love being around the kids.  I only took 1 kid from
my church but she got a lot out of it.  We were able to stay with a new church from Burnet, TX called Epicenter.
They had a group of around 30 kids and they were a great group.  My one girl got a glimpse of what a youth
group can look like.  They took her in as their own and she made some amazing friends from Burnet.

Esse quam Videri (to be rather than to seem) was the theme of the camp.  It was a geat theme that challenged
us all.  It is the message that we have heard a lot, but as some African-American preachers do, keep preaching
it until the church lives it out.  There were only 140 kids at the camp with at least 14 making first time decisions
for Jesus.  I believe there were 42 recommitments and at least a couple of students surrendering to Ministry.

Frontline Ministries put on the camp.  They needed 230 campers to break even.  We may have had 160 there.
They are taking a financial hit doing 4 camps this summer in Brownwood and Iowa Park, however, they do a
great camp.  I hope that God rewards their efforts with a continued harvest of souls.

I’m hearing that camp numbers are down all around this year.  I know our associational camp is down a little
as well.  Whether it is the enconomy, busy schedules, or indifference, our camps may be suffering this year.
However, their service is immesurable.  Jon Randles has it right with what summer camps do.  If you haven’t
read it yet, check it out on the BGCT website.

Youth Camp was good.  Might post about it later.  Sunday night at camp after worship I went to check my
phone and had a message from Mom saying she thought she was hit by a tornado and had windows
blown out of her house.  Needless to say I left youth camp and spent all day Sunday boarding up windows
and hauling off tree limbs.  On Monday, June 16, Childress looked like a war zone.  The Friday paper said
at least 15 million dollars of damage for a town of roughly 7,000.  Over 1500 homes had damage, 6 of
them were destroyed.

FBC Childress, the church I served as youth minister, is looking at $750,000 damage from what I’m told. 
The sanctuary is totaled and they will be in the fellowship hall for months.  Calvary Baptist Church, my
home church, lost the north wall of the church and about 1/4 of the roof.  Their sanctuary was also totaled. 
If you have been there the only thing left standing of the wall behind the pulpit was the cross and the 2×4
it hung on.  From then on you see the northern sky.

Lots of work has been done in cleaning up the two churches.  Calvary had a host of men working on the
church Saturday and I believe they almost got the church back in the dry.  At least the framing for the wall
is back up and there is plywood being applied.  There new pastor will be there this Sunday.  Keep them
and First in your prayers.

They said the hail/wind lasted at least 30 minutes Sunday night.  Reports are anywhere from 6 inches to
2 feet of hail were on the ground.  You drive into Childress and looks like winter based upon the look of
the trees.  Very few green leaves.  The homcoming bonfire should be good this fall with all the tree limbs
that are being piled up in behind the football field.  The good news, only minor injuries.  It could have been
a lot worse!

Here is the picture of the storm over Childress taken about 20 miles east of town.

Leaving after church tomorrow morning for youth camp.  Right now at best I will be taking 1 girl and 1 boy to camp.  Kinda disheartening but God has a plan.

Is it me or is it harder to get kids to go to camp these days?  Their summers are just as busy as the school year.  Part of me wants to put a guilt trip on them but I won’t do it, at least intentionaly.

Anyway, I’m sure God will having something instore for the the two students and us two sponsors.  Haven’t been to this type of youth camp before so I don’t know how much down time I will or will not have.

Hope everyone has a great Father’s Day.

I will try to post my Father’s Day Sermon once I get it off the legal pad and onto the computer.

Blessings,
Terry

Just had to share.  He should be finished cooking
on October 23.

“There’s room under the umbrella of Southern Baptists for all that still have those types of passions to see Christ and the Gospel really proclaimed.”   (Johnny Hunt, president-elect of SBC).

How big is that umbrella?  During that past few years that umbrella has been shrinking.  There has been a mindset within the SBC that unless you agree with everything that the SBC agrees with then you can’t come under the unbrella of the SBC.

The IMB (International Mission Board) has been trying for over a year to narrow guidelines for missionaries.  Missionaries cooperating with other non-SBC  missionaries on the field are frowned upon.  If you confess to using a private-prayer language, it is looked down upon.  If you are not baptized through immersion in the right way, you are disqualified from becoming a missionary.  In becoming more biblical, the conservative resurgance is losing people who are conservative, Bible-believing, Southern Baptist.

During the past few years, it seems to me that the priesthood of the believer has taken a back chair in our Baptist life.  This doctrine was one held up high for a long time, or so I am told.  Now, it seems the priesthood of the believer is held in high esteem only if your interpretation agrees with the leaders of the SBC.  If not, you are wrong, and not welcomed under the umbrella.

If you dare share an opposing view point, then you need to step outside the umbrella.  Never mind that your doctrine, and your walk with the Lord (isn’t that more important?) are where they need to be.  If you dare question the authority of the SBC leadership you are branded as radical and are censored or asked to resign if you hold a position of leadership in the convention.

I could go on and on.  Our president-elect says the umbrella is big enough for all who want to share the love of Jesus with a dying, lost world.  I’ll take him at his word.  SBC agency heads should follow these words as well.  Dissent is good, make no mistake about it.  It is a part of the checks and balances of any organization.  If there is not healthy questioning of practices, positive growth cannot occur.   Far too long we have been fighting small battles that do not mean a thing when it comes to the Great Commission.  In these battles we have alienated many loyal Southern Baptists who have done a world of good for the Kingdom of Christ.  The leadership seems to be saying in this convention that the fighting needs to stop and Great Commission work needs to begin.  Guys, your actions speak louder than your words.

Is there a need to prepare for revival services?  If so what is the preparation process?  I ask these questions because in 103 days we will have revival services at KHBC.  With this being my first pastorate, I’m trying to understand what I need to do as pastor to get us ready.

I’ve started reading a book entitled “Downpour” by James McDonald, I believe.  I’m hoping that will direct me with some sermon ideas as we get closer.  I’ve asked one of my members to be a prayer coordinator for the revival with the hopes of having a couple of 24-hour prayer vigils and so additional prayer times before the revival times get here.

My hopes are that revival already be in full force before the actual meetings begin.  I’m probably reaching for the stars here, but that is my goal.  I’m just hoping I can get the right action plan in place for that to happen.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

The Seeking Savior

John 5:1-14

 

Introduction

This is Jesus’ 3^rd Miracle in John

It is feast time in Jerusalem which brings Jesus back

Jesus seeks out those in need instead of socializing

The Pool of Bethesda

It was a healing pool in that custom

Whenever the waters were moved the first one in would be healed.

One man had been ill for 38 years

No one helped him

No one cared for him

Even after his healing no one cared for him vss. 9-10

This man did have someone who cared …. Jesus

He benefited from a Seeking Savior

All other religions it is people seeking for God or something greater than themselves.

In Christianity it is a loving God and a loving Savior that seeks us out.

We do not find Jesus, we recognize that He is right beside us.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

not as a result of works, so that no one may boast Ephesians 2:8-9

 

Evidences that Jesus is the Seeking Savior

1. It was Jesus who sought out the man (vss. 5-6)

This man did not call out to Jesus.

He probably had no idea who Jesus was (vss. 12-13)

Out of everyone who was there who was sick, Jesus sought him

out.

We don’t know why Jesus chose him

Just as Jesus sought out this man, he seeks after you.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was

Lost Luke 19:10

You may be seeking something greater than yourselves, but

know this before you began seeking, Jesus was seeking you.

You may not even be seeking something, but Jesus is still

seeking for you.

 

2. Jesus not only sought the man, but He initiated the healing

process (vs. 6)

Jesus simply asks, “Do you wish to get well”

83% of Americans believe in heaven and want to go there

43% believe you get to heaven through Jesus alone

32% believe you get there by doing good things.

Barna Oct. 21, 2003

You do nothing to get yourself salvation and a place in heaven

Remember Nicodemus in ch. 3?

A religious leader

Obeyed the law of God

Confessed when he messed up

He would be in heaven, wouldn’t he?

Jesus told him that he must be born again (3:3)

John 3:16

God initiated the process He made the plan

 

3. It was Jesus who healed the man (vss. 8-9)

He was able to do this because He was God

Why did He do this

To reveal His power and who He was

To give hope to the hopeless

The pool was not going to heal this man

There is nothing out there that will help you other than Jesus

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under

heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

There is nothing that can heal you emotionally, physically, or spiritually other than Jesus

Your meaning in life is found in Jesus

Conclusion

Jesus is seeking you out. He is right beside you. Will you recognize him this morning?

    Note: Here is my sermon notes from last Sunday. Feel free to read and critique as you wish. Celebrated my first anniversary in the pulpit last week.

    

Where is Your Focus?

John 4: 31-38

Introduction

Read the passage

Definition of Focus: a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity.

Jesus had just visited with the Samaritan woman at the well (vss. 7-26)

The disciples were in town getting food (vs.

Why was Jesus and the disciples in Sychar of Samaria?

No Jew went through Samaria, they went around.

They were there because a spiritual need needed to be met.

It was unusual that they were there.

Disciples had probably never been there

They went after food.

Jesus stayed at the well and waited.

How many of you want God to do something awesome through you for His glory?

How many of you want God to do something awesome through Key Heights Baptist Church?

We pray the prayer, God puts us in circumstances to answer that prayer, but we are too busy focusing on the wrong things to be used by God.

The disciples go after food while Jesus sits and waits for his

opportunity to transform someone’s life.

The disciples missed it and so do we because we are not focused

on the right things.

In this context Jesus teaches His disciples how to be focused on the right things.

There are 4 things that Jesus taught His disciples

1. The #1 priority of any believer is to accomplish God’s will for

their life.

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to

accomplish His work (v. 34)

Our focus is to be on the Kingdom and its expansion

Matthew 6:25-34

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right

now…… Matthew 6:34 (The Message)

When is the last time you have gone to work thinking how you

could expand God’s kingdom that day?

So what is that we are suppose to be doing?

2. God’s will for every believer is to be involved in the harvest.

This is what Jesus is trying to teach His disciples.

God may have a different will for each of us, but there are some

things that are the same for all of us.

His will is for us to worship Him.

His will is for us to grow in our relationship with Him.

His will is for us to minister to those around us.

His will is for us to have fellowship with each other.

His will is for us to be involved in the harvest.

The Great Commission commands us all to make disciples as

we go through our life.

Being involved in the Harvest involves several steps and we are

to be involved in each step.

Sometimes we are the ones who plant the seeds in someone’s

life.

Sometimes we are the ones who care for the seeds.

Sometimes we are the ones who actually get to harvest the

seeds that have been planted and cared for.

We are to be involved in each area, not just one.

3. Every season is harvest season (vss. 35-36)

Jesus tells his disciples that the harvest is ready to take hold.

He is saying the same thing to us…. The harvest is ready get a

pickin.

We are unable to get the harvest done because we are not

looking, or we simply don’t care.

4. There is reward for being the harvest (vs. 36).

Going out into the harvest has rich wages… It is a spiritual

wage.

Everyone involved in that soul rejoices when he/she comes into

salvation.

Conclusion

As Jesus taught his disciples about the harvest, they then got to experience the harvest. (vss. 39-42)

One was saved and she brought others to salvation because of the change in her life.

Jesus has saved us, he has changed us, and it is up to us, to go out and share what Jesus has done for us.

Are you ready to be focused on the real priorities of a believers life? Start today.

Our last business meeting we decided to opt out of the 1% club (chuches who gave only 1% to the BGCT throught the Cooperative Program).  The other 99% of the BGCT money we would have given went into a money market account.  We voted to do this in September 2007, so for 8 months, we only gave 1% of our normal money to the BGCT.  We did this because we were upset that the money we gave in good faith was used in an improper manner, especially with the Church Starting Scandal. 

Last week we wrote out a check for all the monies going toward the BGCT and I sent a letter explaining what we had done and what we were now doing.  We are putting our faith back into the BGCT with the new administration.  However, I also warned that if we heard of any other misappropriation of funds, we would resort to withholding our funds again.

I recieved a call from the BGCT yesterday, acknowledging the letter and what we had said.  Their was appreication for the funds and also an apology for past actions.  Their was a request for prayer as the BGCT moved forward.

The words from the BGCT were appreciated by me and they will be appreciated by the KHBC congregation.  We will trust that our messaged not only has been received but has been heard as well.