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

Click here for the rest of Becca’s blog post

Summer of Service

It has been the usual and exciting summer of missions and ministry happening through Marshfield First Baptist. We have had mission teams in El Salvador and Colorado, Charleston, MO, a week of Vacation Bible School, students at Super Summer, middle school camp, and children’s camp. We have another mission team heading to Puerto Rico this fall to serve in the continuing hurricane recovery efforts. I love seeing our church family involved in hands-on missions! Each mission trip changes lives, not only of the people who live on that particular mission field, but those who go are changed just as profoundly. Our VBS and summer camps are a critical part of our missions and ministry strategy, because those weeks are laying the foundation for children and teens to make a commitment to be Jesus-followers and to serve the people around them.

This is what the church is called to do – to go and make disciples – wherever we go. As God’s children, as God’s church, as the family of Marshfield First Baptist, we exist to glorify God and to see lives changed. Mission trips change lives. And even if we aren’t on a mission team that travels some distance to serve and share the gospel, our mission is to serve right here at home, in our “Jerusalem.” How has God changed your life? And how will you serve someone else and open a door for God to change their life?

This past Sunday we had the great privilege of meeting and Cristi and Michelle Harlea. They and their four children are serving in Romania. Our church has the opportunity to become a mission partner with them, supporting them, encouraging them, going to help them. They shared with us how lives have been changed on their mission field. I am excited at the prospect of joining in on that work and to do what we can to bless them.

It has been – and still is – an exciting summer of service. Pray that God will use you to glorify Him and that we will see lives changed through the faithfulness of God’s people and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Durwin