Sweetly Broken - The Passion of the Christ

Devotional Reading Today

I am currently reading through the OT this year as part of my devotional life, and I read some amazing passages this morning of which I would like to share some with you.

Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!   Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!   Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!  (ESV)

Thanks Otter Box

I have a blackberry phone and I purchased an otterbox defender case for it. I am very pleased with the case and with the company. I have had two problems with the case in the last month or so and they have helped me very quickly and without difficulty. I just wanted to say thanks Otterbox. I highly recommend them to you.

I'm leavin on a jet plane...

Well it's official. I have my visa for Vietnam. We just returned from our family vacation and it was waiting for me in the mail. I am pumped! Scared to death but pumped about this opportunity. Pray with me.

Good morning Vietnam!

I just did something very exciting and scary all at the same time; I just sent my passport to the Embassy of Vietnam in Washington DC in application for a visa to Vietnam. I will be flying out on November 12, 2010 and will be back on the 22nd or 23rd depending on flights. I am so excited to have this opportunity. I don't want to say to much about our trip, but I can't wait to see what comes out of it. More than anything I would appreciate your prayers leading up to and during the trip and throughout the remainder of my schooling. I will be going back to Vietnam in the Fall of 2011 to do some teaching in a school there. If anyone would like to help with the financial expenses of the trip I would appreciate it. All of the expenses are out of pocket for me so if you felt led it would be a great help to me and my family. I can say that the total cost of the two trips will be about $5000.00. I believe that this will be a life changing trip for me and those I will be there with, so pray at every opportunity. God bless.

In Christ Alone

Newsletter Article

Summer time is here. There is no doubt about it. One of the things I love about summer is VBS. VBS is still one of the greatest outreach and evangelistic ministries in the Southern Baptist Convention. It has been amazing to look at our campus these last few days and see the kids running around here. It’s a great week to be involved in. Each child present represents a home, they represent a family who may or may not know of the salvation Christ offers through his blood. Tonight (Wednesday night) the gospel will be shared with 100+ kids, and I’m praying that many of them will open their hearts and lives to Christ and be eternally changed. I am praying that we will take advantage of the opportunities Christ Jesus is giving us, HIS church, to Be the Church to our neighbors. I am praying that many of these homes will be answers to our prayer of seeing 50 new families come into our family this year. I pray that we have to keep our baptistery full because we begin to see a great harvest from the seeds being sown in VBS and as you take the opportunity to Be the Church to your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. I pray that God gives you an overwhelming passion for those around you who are lost without Christ. May you be the vehicle by which they hear, believe and accept the good news (the gospel) of Jesus Christ. A friend of mine, David Burton, says, “Remember, It’s only good news if they hear it in time.”

I find myself praying more for you and your families these days. I was overwhelmed by your response a few Sundays ago during my message. I believe every person in the auditorium raised your hand that you have family members and friends who are lost or don’t attend church. I find myself praying that you will have the courage to do whatever it takes to make sure that they hear how Christ has changed you. They need to hear how Christ has given you life, and that you now are able to truly live. They need to hear your story. Don’t assume they know, make sure they know. Leave no doubt. My desire is that HGBC becomes a place they want to be. But it is very obvious that they will not want to be here unless their lives are changed through a personal relationship with Christ. If this is true, I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt it is, then it is your responsibility to take the gospel to them (Mark 16:15, John 20:21). I pray you experience the joy of seeing those you love turn to Christ and experience the salvation he has extended to us through his finished work on Calvary. I love you and am praying for you as you determine to Be the Church for the glory of God.

Serving Him,

Pastor Mike

John 8:36

Band of Brothers

I like stories about WWII. It is my favorite time period in history, maybe other than the old West. A TV series caught my attention last year or maybe the year before called "Band of Brothers." I believe it was originally done on HBO or something like that, but you can watch it now on other networks from time to time, especially on Memorial Day weekend and other times like that. So, yesterday I watched a few minutes of the marathon here and there. One of the things that caught my attention was the bond they shared because of their experiences together. War tends to do that.

I just got back from 8 days with my "Band of Brothers." There are six original members of my doctoral cohort at SEBTS, and we added four others. We are bound together significantly in several areas of life: our Savior, our family (the body of Christ), our ministry calling, and our educational calling. I am glad to call them brothers and I am glad to call them friends. They are a great encouragement and accountability to me. Thank you my friends. We are a "Band of Brothers." I solute you!

Poem from "Daws'

Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle, face it, 'tis God's gift.
Be strong!
It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day, how long,
Faint not; fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.

Taken from Betty Lee Skinner's book Daws, page 145.

Why Attend the Southern Baptist Convention?

Although I am not sure at this point how I will vote concerning the GCR, read this article by Dr. Alvin Reid to see ten good reasons to attend the SBC in Orlando next month.

Why Attend the Southern Baptist Convention?

The Missional Church... simple

Steps

Steps are something we take every day. We walk, we talk, we make decisions, we dream dreams, we make plans, we set goal.

God has a step he wants you to take today. He wants to walk with you and talk with you. He wants to be considered as you make decisions. He wants you to dream the dreams that he has dreamed for you. He wants you to live out the plans he has made for you. He has a goal he has for you to reach.

Take your steps with him.

Reading Deuteronomy

I have been reading the OT Book of Deuteronomy during my quiet time this month and I must admit I never saw how "loaded" it is. God used Moses to say some amazing things to His people that day. Chapter 26 talks about how God rescued them and saved them. Chapter 28 talks about how God will bless them if they obey Him and how He will curse them if they disobey Him. My favorite from yesterday was verse 15 in chapter 30. It says that God have given them a choice between life and good or death and evil. It's up to them to choose which they will pursue and receive. As I look at life and ministry on a daily basis I can affirm without reservation that those words are as true today as they were the day Moses spoke them. Choose wisely!

Just a thought...

I had a short but interesting conversation with a guy today, and I was talking to him about one of our Be the Church events at HGBC. He was absolutely blown away that our church would do something like that for the community (I'm not telling which event in the future I talked to him about.). He was amazed that a church would even think of helping people in that way. I bet our conversation gave him a whole new perspective on Jesus and HGBC. How have you impacted the world for Christ today? It's not to late. Talk to someone.

Awesome God!

We serve an awesome and amazing God. His hand is mighty and is still moving in our midst today. His desire to glorify himself through his people is unchanging, and I love to see him accomplish his purposes through us.

God honored himself, even in this difficult economic times, yesterday at HGBC. In February 2007 we launched phase one of our "Rebuilding the Walls" campaign. We launched this campaign because we believed then, and still do, that God wants to do something amazing in and through HGBC. Phase one was to eliminate the debt still remaining on our family life center. At that time we still owed about $254,000.00. We took pledges and began the journey to eliminate the debt as quickly as possible. I challenged the church to pay it off in 52 weeks (it took Nehemiah 52 days to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem). Although we didn't accomplish that goal we did pay it off this past week. I praise the Lord that he has blessed us so much in this area.

HGBC, I am so proud of you for keeping to the task and not stopping until we reached the goal. WAY TO GO!

Now it is time to move forward with phases 2 and 3 of our "Rebuilding the Wall" campaign. Phase 2 will be to continue giving so that we can set aside about $30,000.00 for maintenance purposes. We must be good stewards of the facilities God has blessed us with. This money will be used only for the purpose of upkeep and repairs that need to be taken care of. The building and grounds committee along with the Steward committee are preparing a list and schedule to follow.

Phase 3 in the campaign will be to raise about $300,000.00 to renovate the old sanctuary so that we can move our worship service back over there. This will allow us to use the family life center on a more consistent basis for what it was built for. I am so excited that God has done what he has done for HGBC. I am even more excited about what God is doing and the things on the horizon. Let's commit to keeping our eyes on Jesus and following to the end.

Ministry Fair

I am declaring our ministry fair at HGBC last Sunday morning a success. I believe that the members left with a better understanding of all that we do to minister within and outside the "walls" of our church. I heard a lot of positive comments about it. I pray that we will serve with greater diligence and determination because of it. I heard someone once say, "Information is power." We have good/great information, so if that is true, we are very powerful. Let's us our "power" in obedience to the Lord Jesus by serving others. Let's make sure that everything we do has an "outward" focus and vision. Let's reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As David Burton often says, "It's only good news if they hear it in time."

Buckets of Hope for Haiti

I want to encourage you to participate in the "Buckets of Hope" for Haiti. You can find all the information you need at the Florida Baptist Convention website. For less than $40 you can provide a bucket of hope for a family in Haiti. We have 50 buckets with lids at HGBC, first come first serve. Fill with ONLY the content listed, and tape $10 bucks in an envelope on the lid. They will pick them up on March 15 at the church.

www.flbaptist.org.

Funny stuff from David Platt

This is hilarious from the Church at Brookhills.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbzkU7npWDg

Be The Church

Well I have been preaching a series of messages entitled "Be the Church" from Acts 2:42-47. We have been looking at the five purposes of the church found there. "What is church?" Church is a place you go or something you do would be the normal response, but I believe Scripture teaches us that that is wrong. Church is who we, Christians, are. We are to "BE THE CHURCH."

We accomplish this through discipling others, evangelizing others, worshiping God with others, fellowshipping with others, and doing ministry or serving others. Did you pick up on anything right there? Fulfilling the purpose of the church, fulfilling the mission of the church means that we must have a "vision" which allows us too. God wants us to have to people captivate our vision and focus. 1) The Lord Jesus Christ must captivate our vision, if we see anyone or anything else before Him we will have missed it completely. 2) We must be captured by "others." Our vision will always be upside down and blurry if we look inwardly (look at a spoon), but if our vision has an outward focus we will see everything right-side-up and crystal clear.

HGBC BE THE CHURCH 2010

Thank God for Florida and Arkansas Baptists

Haiti Update, January 19, 2010 - From Dr. John Sullivan

Subject: The Miracle of Multiplication

The Biblical miracle of the fishes and loaves had a modern day twist for the Florida Baptist Convention when it made an initial purchase of 21 tons of rice for use in Haiti relief efforts. An Arkansas Baptist church's matching gift of rice has multiplied the initial commitment into a total 84 tons of rice being earmarked for Haiti.

This miracle of multiplication started on Friday, January 15, when Executive Director John Sullivan negotiated to purchase 42,000 pounds of rice from a grain distributor in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Sullivan negotiated for a low price of $20 per hundred pound bag. With the deal confirmed, the Convention arranged to send one of its disaster relief semi-trailer units to Stuttgart to take delivery of the rice. On Monday, January 18, a second order was placed for another 21 tons of rice for delivery at the end of February.

On Tuesday, January 19, Sullivan received a call from Pastor Sam Roberts of the First Baptist Church, Stuttgart, Arkansas, who had learned of the Convention's purchase and planned use of the rice. He told of the church's mission committee authorization to purchase 42 tons of rice to supplement the Convention's commitment to feed Haitians. The combined purchase and donation brings the total commitment to 84 tons or 168,000 pounds of rice which will be distributed in Haiti as soon as possible.

Sullivan noted that the average Haitian subsists on a quarter cup of rice each day. He went on to observe that every Baptist can be a part of the Haiti relief effort by sending $20 to buy a one hundred pound bag of rice. "That one bag of rice will feed a family of four for a long time in Haiti," he explained.

Once the grain is delivered in Haiti, distribution of the rice will occur from the many Haitian Baptist churches in and around Port au Prince. Florida Baptists' 15 years of partnership and assistance provided to Haitian Baptists has resulted in a model effort to distribute food and clothing without the chaos experienced at government-controlled food distribution points.

On another developing front in the effort to aid Haitians, the U. S. government is preparing to airlift orphans and other Haitian refugees from Port au Prince to Miami. According to the Miami Herald, federal agencies are gearing up under an existing crisis plan called "Operation Vigilant Sentry," drawn up in 2003 to help prepare for any mass migration from the Caribbean. Miami-Dade officials are looking at housing the refugees in the currently closed Krome Detention Center in West Miami-Dade and the old Baptist hospital facility in Kendall.
The influx of refugees will present a unique ministry opportunity for Florida Baptists in South Florida. As a result, the Convention has directed its Church and Community Ministries personnel, led by Marc Johnston, to begin developing action plans to assist in receiving, processing and re-settlement of these Haitian refugees.

Details are few given that the situation is very fluid. However, additional information on the Convention's response will be posted on the Convention's website http://www.flbaptist.org/.