Oswald Chambers on God's Ownership

Know ye not that … ye are not your own? 1 Cor. 6:19.

There is no such thing as a private life—‘a world within the world’—for a man or woman who is brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ’s sufferings. God breaks up the private life of His saints, and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves, we are called into the fellowship of the Gospel, and things happen which have nothing to do with us, God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have his way, if you do not, instead of being of the slightest use to God in His Redemptive work in the world, you will be a hindrance and a clog.

The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for the purpose of His Redemption. Why shouldn’t we go through heartbreaks? Through these doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God’s purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so-called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death-bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says—‘Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.’ If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart. (Oswald Chambers, from his devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, for November 1).

May God break us and remake us for His use!

-         Bro. Dave

Psalm 147 - English History Significance

This past Sunday we looked at Psalm 147 and learned about how God heals a broken heart. There is an important historical story that connects to this Psalm that is worth hearing.

Psalm 147:18 became of special interest to the English nation in the late sixteenth century after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The Spanish were planning an invasion of England, and the Armada was launched in the summer of 1588 to defeat the English navy and then transport the Spanish army to England from the Netherlands. The Armada consisted of 130 ships containing 7,000 sailors and 17,000 soldiers. The English had 90 ships under the command of Francis Drake. The battle was fought for days, the English maintaining their distance and relentlessly bombarding the opposing fleet with alternating broadsides. They fought wisely and well, but the decisive factor in the battle was a strong wind that churned the waters of the English Channel and eventually drove the Spanish galleons up the channel into the North Sea, where many were destroyed. Attempting to return south by rounding Scotland and Ireland, even more of these impressive vessels were sunk, and in the end only half of the Armada returned to Spain or Portugal.

‎     The English victory was complete. The Spanish defeat was total. The English celebrated their deliverance by minting a new issue of coins, which bore the Latin inscription Affavit Deus (“God blew”), taken from Psalm 147:18: “He stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.” In those days there was at least one nation that knew how to praise God for its safety.

     May we continue to praise God for His safety!

-      Bro. David Crowe

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

Logo Design Contest

Online Surveys & Market Research

A closer look at the images (click them for a larger view):

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