Mr Day is with the Lord

This morning, Mr Day went home. Please be in prayer for the Day family. We'll pray for them Sunday in the services.
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2012-2013 Apprentice-Pastor Search

The search is underway for the single, 18-26 year old, man, called by God to be a Senior Pastor, whom the Lord wants to be with us from July 2012 - June 2013.

Here is the info on the program: www.nehbc.com/apprentice

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Mr Day Update

A couple of Sundays ago I informed our congregation of one of our members who had entered the final stage of his battle with cancer. It appears his death will happen very soon.

This afternoon, I joined his family around his bed. We read the Scriptures and prayed. I marvel at the strength and spiritual resolve of this family. They have a patient steadfastness in their belief in the sovereignty of God.

Our congregation is doing so well ministering to them. We are getting great coverage.

Glory to God.
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13 Years

Today, is our wedding anniversary. I am still amazed that I have Nicole as my wife and the mother of my children. I am so grateful to the Lord for this amazing woman in my life.

Here is something kind of funny: she has been telling me for weeks that whatever we do today for our anniversary, she wants to watch the college football national championship. Well, usually for big football games we have folks over for a "watch party". Last night, for some reason I had these two events isolated in my mind: wedding anniversary and big football game. I was mentally in the football game box. So, I just did what I do when a big game is coming up: I started texting friends and inviting them over. In minutes I'd invited almost 40 people over for the game. This morning, I happened to say to Nicole, "________ said they are in for tonight's game". At which point she said, "wait...what?" At which point I realized I never discussed the invites with her and we had all these people coming over to watch the game with us on our anniversary. I had some explaining to do! But my "up for anything wife" jumped into the mode and tonight we are celebrating 13 years with a "watch party".

Good times.
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The Viewing

It is amazing how much gospel ministry can be done at a viewing. Last night, I went to one for the mother of an NEHBCer. I took our four year old, Cassidy. I got to do minister the gospel in at least three different ways:

1. I listened to the deceased's son share with me his pain and sorrow and then we were able to find comfort discussing a key aspect of the gospel--that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in Him, though they die, yet shall they live. The faith of the deceased and her son provided the ointment on the pain of death. She is with the Lord and her son is at peace knowing that truth.

2. I used the viewing to teach Cassidy about life and death and the need for Christ. She saw the corpse in the open casket, touched her, touched the casket, and we went outside to the cemetery to see where people are buried. It was very good for her to come face to face with the reality of death. Her turn is coming and she must be prepared.

3. Standing by the casket looking at the deceased was a man I didn't recognize. I went and stood next to him. Turns out he is a long time neighbor of the deceased. He is struggling with her death. I shared how death is so hard to process because the Lord never designed us for such a thing because it was never meant to be. That allowed me to segue right into the gospel and so right there, standing over the open casket, staring death in the face, this man in his 50s listened to the gospel from start to finish. He didn't make a decision, but did take a tract before we parted ways.

The gospel is an amazing thing. It never gets old. May we never tire of it.
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Doctrine in the Church

There is a mind set in our American churches that is most commonly expressed by some form of, "I'm not interested in theology, I just want a warm relationship with Jesus."

It is good to be reminded why doctrine matters. Let me do it this way:

Is your relationship with your spouse warm if he or she cheats on you? Is it warm if your spouse spends money yall don't have? Do you desire intimacy with your spouse when they yell and scream at you? Do you feel warm if your spouse doesn't meet your expectations when it comes to celebrating your birthday?

These are silly questions. Of course things are not warm if there is unfaithfulness, financial chaos, or harsh reprisals in your marriage. For there to be warmth, there are certain boundaries that must be established that guide the marriage relationship. Without these guiding buoys that define the relationship there cannot be a lasting relationship, never mind warmth.

There are countless guiding truths that keep your marriage relationship healthy and warm: we do not sleep with other people, we do not kiss other people, we don't snuggle with other people, we don't go to dinner alone with a member of the opposite sex, we don't have ongoing personal discussions with members of the opposite sex. And those are just a few of the guiding truths in just the physical arena of your marriage that keep things healthy and warm. I didn't even mention the guiding truths in the financial arena, handling of conflict arena, raising kids arena, gender roles in the home arena, commitments outside the home arena, etc.

Your marriage relationship cannot thrive on feelings alone. There have to be understood boundaries, truths, and guiding principles that mark out the playing field on which the relationship plays out. And as you know from the conflict in marriage, you and your spouse need regular reminders of what these things are and why you have them until they are ingrained in both of you.

This is the role of doctrine and theology in the life of the Christian. Your relationship with God cannot thrive on feelings or enthusiasm alone. Doctrines are the understood boundaries, truths, and guiding principles that mark out the playing field on which your relationship with God plays out. Without doctrine and theology, we cannot properly understand God and thus we cannot have a lasting relationship with him. These doctrines need to be taught and re taught to us--what we believe and why--until they are ingrained in us.

The challenge of doctrine and theology is that it requires thinking at a bit of a deeper level. One cannot grow in the knowledge of doctrine without studying God's Word. It requires effort and years of learning that builds upon itself. A mind set of Christianity that favors quick results and feeling good does not produce a student of the bible. It produces shallow spiritual waters and petty thinking.

Doctrine matters. It is worth learning because it is very, very important to walking with the Lord over a long period of time. It is not just for those who went to seminary. Those who went to seminary and are now pastors are simply those called by God to devote themselves full time to learning these things in order to pass them along to the other believers in the congregation.

Imagine if your spouse said to you they were no longer interested in the guiding principles and truths of your marriage relationship and just wanted intimacy. Imagine if the next time your spouse makes a financial move you disagree with or don't understand and you say you want to discuss it, that they say, "no, I'm not interested in discussing our principles of money management, I just want warmth and intimacy with you." Talk about dysfunctional.

Don't succumb to the prevalent mind set today that we need a focus on relationship and not doctrine. Doctrine taught properly is what produces a sustainable relationship. Decide you are not going to believe you already know enough. Commit to being a student of the bible. Join a church where the pastor systematically teaches the Scriptures and not merely different presentations of John 3:16 and life improvement tips. Commit to learning the Word of God over a long period of time. Be patient and settle into a lifetime of learning. Get a good bible. Get a notebook. Take notes. Ask questions. Study.

And as you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will have an intimacy with Him that those who don't want to go deeper won't ever experience.
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January NEHBC Trustee Meet

This morning we had a very productive meeting. One of the things I love about our trustee system is the lively and thorough discussions and debates as we handle issues and yet almost always it is done in a Godly way with the fruit of the Spirit. Strong personalities disagreeing over issues always has the potential for fleshly manifestations, but when people truly love the Lord and live under His Lordship all matters can be dealt in an orderly fashion among brothers. When intelligent, decisive, Christian men in leadership are marked by meekness instead of ego, they can do something great things for the Lord. NEHBC's focus on men when planning worship services, decor, music, calendars, and ministries is producing a large pool of Godly men in our body. Three of them serve as trustees. I'm grateful for them and the role they play in my life and NEHBC.
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NEHBC Widows Gathering

Today, I had my monthly time with the NEHBC widows. I genuinely love my time
with these ladies on the first Tuesday of each month. We had a very good
gathering today. We prayed together 3-4 times, read and discussed the
Scriptures, wrote letters of encouragement to some NEHBCers in need of such,
concocted a plan and made assignments to reach out to an NEHBCer about to
become a widow, dialogued about some big upcoming things at NEHBC, and
discussed some of the challenges they face as widows. There was crying,
laughing, and sharing about some very personal things. Lunch at a local
Chinese restaurant was a hoot--the kitchen workers came out to see the scene
when we sang "Happy Birthday" to one of the widows. These ladies love each
other and their church and are very important to the life of NEHBC. May the
Lord bless our widows.

How Is Your Ammo Supply?

I have found that one helpful thing I can do to live on mission is keep a handful of gospel tracts in my truck. A wide variety are always available for pick up at the info booth in our lobby. As the Hell Fighters motorcycle ministry likes to say, gospel tracts are like ammo and they regularly remind each other to "ammo up".

Today, I was walking out of a church member's home when I noticed their neighbor raking his frontyard. I never even broke stride on my way to my truck as I took in this data. Yet before I even got to my truck it clearly hit my mind out of seemingly nowhere: take that man a tract. Now, I've walked with the Lord long enough to know when the Holy Spirit is telling me to take someone the gospel. To be sure, I immediately got the "are You sure, Lord?" feeling. The man was busy raking his yard.

But, I got a tract out of my truck, walked over to his frontyard, announced myself to him, and led with: "hi, my name is Nathan, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, and I want to give you this pamphlet that will tell you how you can know Him personally."

The Holy Spirit knows what He is doing! The man was thrilled I came over to chat with him. We talked for 10 minutes. I shared the gospel with him, he brought up his strained marriage situation, and though he didn't repent and believe, he did say he would be at NEHBC this coming Sunday.

If I hadn't had the tracts in my truck, I'm not sure how I would have initiated the encounter. I have always found keeping tracts in my truck to be helpful. It is like a sack of seed ready to be scattered as the Holy Spirit leads. I'd urge you to get some tracts and keep them in your purse or vehicle or workbag. It is just another way to make yourself available to the Spirit of God and to live on mission. Ammo up!
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Goodbye to the Wheeless Family

With a surreal mixture of joy and sadness, 1.1.12 is upon us. Tomorrow is Pastor Tim's last day as a pastor at NEHBC. Our church family has known this for 3-4 months so there has been plenty of time to say goodbye and process the impending change, but that has not made it any easier for me. The Lord brought me/us an associate pastor to give all his attention to our teens and in the process trained and called him to pastor an entire church. I'm humbled that the Lord would use NEHBC to prepare another pastor, but I sad to see Pastor Tim go.

Tomorrow in the services we'll pray for Pastor Tim and Sharon, Dash, and Evey, and then they'll be gone. I can't help but think of the church at Ephesus experiencing the same thing when Pastor Apollos went to the church at Corinth in the book of Acts.

May Christ's will be done.
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