A Spiritual Family Reunion

 The holidays are here, whether we are ready or feel like it’s time.  Holidays often make us think about family gatherings; and while Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t really family reunions, they seem to function as such as the years progress.  As we get ready for Thanksgiving, I’d like to get you thinking about being thankful for the people God has placed in your life and more specifically, who would attend your “spiritual family reunion” if you had one.

This is from an article I found in a Homelife issue of July 2008.  Author Linda Anderson wrote,

“Hmmm, a spiritual family reunion?  I love thinking about whom I would invite.  I’d start with my parents…I would include a wonderful man who taught children’s church when I was in first grade and prayed with me when I wanted to receive Jesus into my heart.  And then there would be a heroic assortment of Sunday School and Christian schoolteachers…who patiently listened to my doubts and questions as a teenager. Oh, yes, I’d want to include the devotional writers who have impacted my thoughts and life.  And even though I’ve never had a formal mentor, I’d include the women whose laughter and loving spirits inspired me to follow their lead. 

Thinking about this makes me realize how blessed I am to have so many people pour into my life the love of Jesus.  But how about you? Whom would you invite? Think about this, and give thanks to God for the people who nudge you toward Him. How about dropping a note to one of more of your spiritual fathers, mothers or mentors–just to let them know about the impact they had on your life?  

And who might invite YOU to their spiritual family reunion?  Is anyone walking closer to God because of You?  An invitation to someone else’s spiritual family reunion is one party I don’t want to miss. What about you?”

There’s some food for thought to go with the turkey and pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving, Church Family!

Becca Hungerford, Children’s Ministry Director

 

Church Family

We often refer to our church as a family. This is a great description of the relationships God intends for the church to have. God puts us on earth in a physical family, and through faith in Jesus, God puts us in a spiritual family. While we can say that all believers are our spiritual family, our church should be our immediate spiritual family. Our church should be the people with whom we are the closest as we worship and serve God together on a weekly and even a daily basis. In Acts 2:42 and the verses following, we learn about the devotion and togetherness of the believers in Jerusalem. They cared about one another, they prayed together, they cared for the needy, they cared about unbelievers, and they saw many, many people coming to faith in Jesus. All of this devotion and ministry and sharing of the Gospel came as a result of being family. They weren’t perfect. In Acts 6 we see dissention and complaints. In Acts 15 they had to have a church business meeting of sorts to decide on rules for new believers who weren’t Jewish. Paul and Barnabas had a falling out. Family is like that sometimes. But family should ultimately come together because we belong to each other. And church family should love one another, stick together, work together, lift up one another, serve one another, and pray for one another. In doing so we share a message with the world around us that points people to Jesus and invites people into the family of God.

Jesus teaches us about spiritual family. In Mark 3 Jesus was informed that his mother and brothers were calling for him outside the house where Jesus was teaching. As Jesus looked at those sitting around him, he responded to them, “Here are my mother and my brothers!” He wasn’t neglecting his physical family, but he was elevating the value of spiritual family. The people with whom we serve God are to become family to us.

In our church we have been talking about discipleship – a lot! I have been challenged with the thought that discipleship is born out of relationship. When a church is truly a family, all of the things of discipleship flow out of that relationship. I pray that as we love one and serve one another, as we learn God’s Word together and grow together, we can discover how to be the disciples Jesus calls us to be. I pray that through those relationships we will share Jesus and see many coming to faith in him! I am thankful that Marshfield First Baptist is my church family!

Pastor Durwin

 

I can feel that I’m getting older in a lot of new ways.  Example, I had two different people this week mention the gray hair that is becoming more and more prevalent on my head. Or when I wake up in the morning and my knees are sore. For some this may seem like no big deal, but for a 34-year-old they are sobering realities that life doesn’t stop and leave me in the dynamic years of my 20’s or even early 30’s. (Which I guess I can’t claim to be in my early 30s any more…Here’s to the mids…)

With those fairly trivial thoughts (also as I just enlarged the print on my computer) I have another that spends a lot of time in my mind.

Change… 

There was a time in my life when I was the one who was running for change and pushing for it in many different ways.  I would often think as my younger and arrogant self that the problem with those who resist change is that they are just stuck in the past and that they just couldn’t see all the good that can come from change.  While there are still elements of that in my heart, I’m beginning to understand the value of a great chapter in a good book.

I have been a fairly avid reader for the last 15 years of my life and in that time, I have been able to read some really great books. One thing that separates a good book from let’s say an OK blog post is the ability to put together not just one or two good thoughts but instead many chapters. The really good authors keep you wanting more and more chapter to chapter. How great the previous chapter was only adds to the dynamics and possibilities that lie in the coming chapters.

When it comes to life and the constant winds of change that we experience, it’s important to remember a few things.

The end of a great chapter doesn’t mean that the future chapters won’t have more and more of God’s grace and provision in ways that we would never even imagine. Remember God is a great author who crafts a work of art in our lives that will for sure be a best seller.

The end of a long chapter may feel harder than some of the shorter ones that we experience. That’s OK—long chapters have lots of good content and are often harder to turn the page on. But I want to remind us (that means me as well) again that we have a great Author who is crafting a literary masterpiece that will be unlike any book ever assembled. The end of a great chapter means just that. There is more to come.

Turning the page on a season or a chapter is hard especially because there’s no way that we can see all that’s next for our stories. How could the next chapter be better than the current? Or maybe it’s just I really liked this one and I don’t want to move on. What I find that I am telling myself more and more is to trust the Author. Be thankful for great seasons and be eager that the Writer has great pages ahead of us. We can’t stop reading this great novel—we have to keep going with expectation that there are really, really, really good pages ahead of us all.

So, let’s embrace a tremendous Author who has penned every page thus far and trust Him and look with excitement that the next chapter is going to be all that He wants it to be!

Happy reading!

Blessings,
Chris

 

We are at the end of summer. We know that fall is on its way. We know the seasons change. We expect it. When it happens, no one is shocked. We also talk about seasons of life: going to college, newlyweds, kids grow up, we get older, job change, health change, and the list goes on and on. We know these things happen – not with the clockwork of the seasons of the year, but they do happen. And when they do, sometimes we are shocked – or at least thrown off balance. We don’t expect it, even though we know change is inevitable. And very often, one change sets off a series of more changes or adjustments.

Change happens in church. We are adjusting to a nutty guy named Stephen moving back to Louisiana. We are grieving the loss of Donna Mackey, Director of First Kids for nearly 22 years. You may be dealing with other kinds of change in your life. Sometimes change happens and we adjust and continue on. Sometimes life is different permanently. Change is not easy. And the reality is, if you haven’t dealt with change lately, you will at some point in the future. 

In the midst of change, here’s the good news: God is constant. We read in the Scriptures about His power, His majesty, His love, His plan for us, and we realize that in a world where change happens so often, God faithful and consistent. When we want to sit down and lament, Jeremiah tells us God is faithful: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV). James tells us that God does not change: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17, NIV). 

So, are you struggling with adjustments to change in life? Are you grieving because something has changed? Spend some time with the God who does not change. You can trust Him. He is our constant in an ever-changing world. “’All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:24-25, ESV).

Pastor Durwin

2nd Timothy – Andrew Lewis, Worship Pastor

The book of 2nd Timothy was the last letter that Paul wrote. He was imprisoned in Rome awaiting trial, but he knew his execution was coming. Something that strikes me is Paul’s sense of urgency and desire to encourage and train others to share the gospel even in his last days as well as his great concern for Timothy’s discipleship progress. 

That burning haste that he had, we seem to have lost it in our time. 

As always, we establish the context of the apostle’s words. He’s not writing to an American church approximately 1,950 years in the future, but this text should very much instruct and inspire us while also moving us to a greater sense of urgency. 

2nd Timothy 1:2-5

“2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

If your impending execution was weighing heavily on your mind in a Roman jail cell, what letter would you choose to write and to whom? Paul was no stranger to prison nor to writing important letters, but these words in this context are extremely convicting to me. 

Here in verse 2 we have a detailed list of instructions for a faithful disciple-maker. Preaching the word is not meant only for a vocational preacher. Paul says to be ready. Reproving, rebuking, and exhorting may seem easy to some, but how good are we at calling things out with complete patience and teaching?

In verses three and four he indicates the increasing difficulty of sharing the gospel to a world that doesn’t want to hear it. What a great reason to spend our days urgently sharing the gospel! He seems to be promoting patience and urgency at the same time. He knows that “drive–by evangelism” won’t be the most effective approach. Paul was a church-planter who regularly revisited or checked in on his previous cities. He knew the importance of establishing consistent and intentional relationships while making disciples. Furthermore, he understood the requirements of continuing personal accountability, training, and encouragement to individuals he was shepherding. Doesn’t verse 3 sound particularly timely to us now concerning the world around us as well as our own tendencies? What do our ears itch for today? 

Verse 5 gives calls us all to fulfill our ministry. As pastor Durwin charged us a couple weeks ago to begin with the end in mind, so does Paul to Timothy here. 

With this passage and countless others in scripture instructing us of what is really important, we cannot cast the blame for our poor prioritizing on lack of clear instruction! Who is the one you are discipling now, and where is your urgency to help them get to the point of spiritual maturity and independence?  I often think about those who I would like to begin discipling, but I must do better at seeking those relationships beyond just thinking how I’d like to, and so must the Church. 

Take the standard of Paul and be inspired to share the gospel with the lost and mentor young believers. If you are a young believer, be urgent about finding a mature Christ follower to help you, and do so with the end in mind. 

When we are out of the scriptures and prayer we always become fooled into thinking that worldly affairs are more urgent than the lost and dying around us. Scripture will bring us back to the same conclusion every time.

“2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

I end with the same farewell of Paul’s last letter: 

22– “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.”

 Andrew