VBS Update

This week has been such a special week with our VBS running full speed.  I can sense the presence of God here as I move among the classes and watch the children learning about the love of Jesus. I am so proud of all of our hard workers who give up time to come and love on these kids.

I am meeting more and more children each year who do not regularly attend a church. While we usually get a group of kids from other churches who will come to our VBS, this year, there appears to be more unchurched kids than ever.  My parents had me in church every Sunday, and I cannot imagine what it must be like to grow up without the influence of the church.

Sitting in on one of the classes, I overheard prayer requests that broke my heart. One child asked for prayer for her mom and her boyfriend who always fight. Another asked for prayer for her brother who was in jail. Another asked for prayer for her father who struggles with drinking and drugs. All the while – our workers are sharing the gospel message with these kids! One worker told the kids, “it does not matter what circumstances you have, Jesus wants a personal relationship with you and he will save you and help you to live a life that honors God!”

This is tiring work. I know that our workers will be worn out when the weekend gets here. Some may wonder if any impact was made at all in the hearts of these kids. From what I have seen, the impact has been priceless. Hungry kids who do not have enough to eat at home are getting all they can eat. Kids from broken homes with fighting are having fun and laughing through the games and songs. Kids without any spiritual background are on the edges of their seats listening to the stories from the Bible. Kids who do not receive any love at home are experiencing the unconditional love of God.

Thank you all who have given of your time and talents this week to make an eternal impact on hearts!

May God bless the outreach of our Vacation Bible School and may he grow our hearts for greater outreach,

-       Bro. Dave

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Vacation Bible School is here!

Vacation Bible School is here! My favorite week of the year is upon us! This is the largest outreach of the year for our church as it brings more non-churched people onto our grounds better than any other event. Are you ready for it? Are you playing a role?  

If you have not yet signed up to help us out - here are ten reasons why you need to help out at Vacation Bible School:

1.    Because you will be a part of helping the children of Mercer County know the love of Jesus Christ.

2.    Because someone you love will benefit from your involvement.

3.    Because children need a good role model.

4.    To meet people.

5.    To have fun.

6.    To exercise your spiritual gifts or God given skills.

7.    To escape boredom.

8.    To get out of the house.

9.    To make new friends.

10. To make an eternal impact on lives.

If you would like to help us out, you can show up on any evening that you are available and we will find a place for you. Just see Amy Riley and she will put you where the needs are.

I would ask that you make our VBS a matter of prayer. Pray for God to bless the outreach with many kids coming to faith in Christ. Pray for families to be touched by the love of God to the point that they see their need to be involved in church. Pray for the health and energy of our workers who will be working hard to show the love of Jesus to the kids. Pray for the follow-up to yield fruit.  Pray that those who come to faith in Christ might plug into our fellowship.

May God bless our Vacation Bible School with a harvest of salvations!

-       Bro. Dave

Bearing Spiritual Fruit

This past Sunday morning I preached from 1 Corinthians 4 about the Judgment seat of Christ. It is there that we will be judged for our obedience to Jesus and for the fruit that was developed in our Christian lives. The topic of bearing fruit always brings up questions and one question that I get asked occasionally is, “can someone be a Christian and never bear fruit?” Charles Ryrie, in his book, So Great Salvation, provides the following careful answer to this question:

Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit. Somewhere, sometime, somehow. Otherwise that person is not a believer. Every born-again individual will be fruitful. Not to be fruitful is to be faithless, without faith, and therefore without salvation.

Having said that, some caveats are in order.

1. This does not mean that a believer will always be fruitful. Certainly we can admit that if there can be hours and days when a believer can be unfruitful, then why may there not also be months and even years when he can be in that same condition? Paul exhorted believers to engage in good works so they would not be unfruitful (Titus 3:14). Peter also exhorted believers to add the qualities of Christian character to their faith lest they be unfruitful (2 Peter 1:8). Obviously, both of those passages indicate that a true believer might be unfruitful. And the simple fact that both Paul and Peter exhort believers to be fruitful shows that believers are not always fruitful.

2. This does not mean that a certain person’s fruit will necessarily be outwardly evident. Even if I know the person and have some regular contact with him, I still may not see his fruit. Indeed, I might even have legitimate grounds for wondering if he is a believer because I have not seen fruit. His fruit may be very private or erratic, but the fact that I do not see it does not mean it is not there.

3. My understanding of what fruit is and therefore what I expect others to bear may be faulty and/or incomplete. It is all too easy to have a mental list of spiritual fruits and to conclude if someone does not produce what is on my list that he or she is not a believer. But the reality is that most lists that we humans devise are too short, too selective, too prejudiced, and often extrabiblical. God likely has a much more accurate and longer list than most of us do. Nevertheless, every Christian will bear fruit; otherwise he or she is not a true believer. In speaking about the Judgment Seat of Christ, Paul says unequivocally that every believer will have praise come to him from God (1 Corinthians 4:5).

May God bless us to become more fruitful for Jesus!

-          Bro. Dave

What Belongs to us in Christ?

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (ESV)  21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

In Christ, everything that is needed belongs to the believer: 

a. Preachers. no matter who they are, belong to the believers. All preachers exist to serve and minister and meet the needs of God's people. If a church or a believer takes advantage of only a few preachers or of only one or two types of preachers, the church and the believer are limiting their chances to be enriched and blessed. They are limiting their growth.

b. The world, the physical universe, belongs to believers. God is going to remake the universe, that is, the heavens and the earth; and believers are to inherit it all, ruling and administering the functions of it all with Christ Jesus. 

c. Life belongs to the believers. This means real life, abundant life—a life with purpose, meaning, and significance—a life that triumphs and gains the victory over the trials and sufferings of this life.

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

d. Death belongs to the believers. That is, death has no sway or hold over the believers, but instead, the believer holds death in his grip through the Lord Jesus Christ. Death has been conquered by Christ.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25-26).

e. Present and future things belong to the believers. The believer is the heir of the world, the heir of God Himself.

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:16-17).

Let us live for the One through whom we have been given all things!

- Bro. Dave

Beef Festival and Thanks...

I want to thank all of the men from our Brotherhood who worked hard on the Beef Festival this past weekend. The “Fattened Calf” BBQ team is Mike Riley, Darryl Peavler, Dwain Hahn, Varney Reed, Rudy Burgess, and Terry Honnaker. They won 1^st Place in the Hamburger competition, 2^nd Place in the sauce competition, 3^rd place in the People’s Choice award, and they received the Grand Champion Award for best overall performance. Lauren Hahn received 2^nd place in the youth competition. Our team beat out 22 teams for the top award, which included 6 professional teams! In the process of competing, hundreds of people were invited to our church, and all of the kids received an invite to our VBS. I praise God that while our men love to cook and eat meat, they love Jesus Christ more! Our men’s Brotherhood meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 7PM. 

I want to thank everyone for all of the cards, notes, visits, pranks, gifts, hugs, cookies, and calls that I have received from members of the church as congratulations for finishing my doctorate. I do not know of any pastor who has had more support and encouragement than I have received as I journeyed through this stressful process. I could not have pursued the degree without the backing and support of the deacons and the church, and I am grateful for the opportunities for which you have enabled me.  I want to thank those who worked hard in the kitchen on Sunday night and all who brought some cookies for the fellowship. I especially want to thank Donald Logue and Linda Devine who helped to plan the event. I am completely overwhelmed by your generosity and encouragement, and I give all the glory to Jesus Christ for His faithful work in my life.

This upcoming Sunday we will be hosting two teams for the Kentucky Changers ministry that is coming to Mercer County. These students have given up a week of their summer and paid money to go and work hard in the hot sun to show the love of Jesus. Be sure to shake their hand and keep them in your prayers this week as they minister. 

Praise God for all of the gifts and promises that are ours in Christ Jesus!

-       Bro. Dave

William Wilberforce and 1 Corinthians 2:14

1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) 
¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The truth of 1 Corinthians 2:14 has sometimes been illustrated by a story about two British statesmen, William Wilberforce, leader in the movement for the abolition of slavery, and William Pitt, the Prime Minister. Both were brilliant men, both politicians, and they were very great friends. But Wilberforce was a Christian while Pitt, though a churchgoer, was not truly converted.

This bothered Wilberforce, and at length he persuaded Pitt to go with him to hear popular evangelist Richard Cecil, who was preaching in London. Wilberforce was thrilled, and that evening Cecil was at his best. The great preacher flung out the gospel with eloquent power, his message crystal clear, his voice reaching every corner of the hall. Wilberforce, lifted to the heavens, could hardly contain himself; but he wondered how his friend Pitt was responding.

He soon found out. As they left the building, Pitt turned and said, “You know, Wilberforce, I have not the slightest idea what that man has been talking about.”

William Wilberforce realized afresh that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. The message that bore him to the skies had only bored his unsaved friend. It was meaningless to him, for Pitt was tone deaf to the spiritual. Richard Cecil had might as well preached to a dead man.

We need to pray for God to work on the hearts of our unsaved friends so that they may respond to the Gospel message and understand it when it is presented. My pastor, Jerry Vines, used to preach that “you cannot touch a lost person to God until you have first touched God for that lost person.” May our prayers be filled with the names of the unconverted! 

This week, may God bless you with “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. …” (Ephesians 1:17–19).

- Bro. Dave