"The Cost of Following Christ"

Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
Being a follower of Jesus Christ has some serious expense to it. The verse I have just quoted reminds one of the seriousness of being a follower of Christ. Luke gives a glimpse of what Christ and His disciples discussed as He discipled them.
In chapter 9 of Luke's gospel, Luke gives the narrative of Jesus sending out the disciples to preach the gospel and heal the lame. He tells the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand, then Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ. Jesus then foretells He must suffer many things, be rejected, killed, and rise the third day. Luke also writes the account that Jesus gives His disciples, if they are truly going to follow Him they will have to die as well.
The cost of following Christ is a cost many do not consider. In modern Christianity, the message is, "follow Jesus He will give you a better life now." When in fact, coming to Jesus may cause you much suffering and pain. Luke writes of three necessities in following Christ:
-1- You will have to "deny yourself." This is not the message of the majority of modern day preachers we hear on television.We hear, "Jesus loves you" (and He does), Jesus wants us to be wealthy, He wants to bless you, He wants to have a good life now." The only problem is a person can be healthy, wealthy, and be happy; die and go to hell. This is the opposite of what God's word teaches. When a person is saved by the grace of God, He has been chosen to die to himself. I remind our congregation all the time, this is not about us, it is all about Him! Therefore, we must "deny ourselves."
-2- Notice secondly, Jesus tells His disciples to, "take up their cross." This would be equally known to us, if Jesus said, "take up your electric chair." The cross in Luke's day was an instrument of torture, shame, suffering, and death. Another words Jesus says, "if you want to follow me you are going to have to die to yourself." Again, we hear little of this type of Jesus today.
-3- Thirdly, Luke tells us of how often one must deny himself and die. He says "daily." In order to walk with the Savior one must die to himself daily. One must put the bridle on his fleshly desires and lusts. This is not easy seeing we still carry this sinful flesh around as believers. But it can be achieved as the Holy Spirit lives and dwells in all His children. "...For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
As you study the deaths of the disciples who followed Jesus it begins to make sense what Jesus was teaching in Luke 9. For all the Apostles died a martyrs death, for being a follower of Christ. What about Jesus Himself? He died a shameful death for sinners. So the next time you here a preacher say, "if you want a better life come to Jesus." Be for certain he say does not understand "the cost of following Jesus." Following Christ requires an awful
more than most would presume! To God Be the Glory!

"Brothers Who Dwell In Unity"

Psalm 132:1, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity."
For many of you who know me and my family, God has gifted us with three beautiful boys. (I know they would not like to be known as beautiful)! Of course, brothers as they grow bigger and stronger they become more competitive against one another. It begins to be personal and they start to become argumentative and physical toward one another. Thus, revealing their sinfulness and their need of forgiveness from their sin toward God and their brother.
My wife and I have been reading together in our devotion time together, the new book by Dr. Stuart Scott and Martha Peace "The Faithful Parent."As we were reading the book the other day I told her I wished we would have known before we became parents of how biblical discipline worked. Their book is a great read and deals with the subject of disciplining your children from the time of birth all the way to adulthood. I truly believe for a parent to love their children there MUST be discipline.

Proverbs 13:24 "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him."

We have been disciplining our children in the word of God. So when they leave the nest they would make a difference in the world for Christ's sake. But our first desire is for them to come to know Christ. I believe as we plant the gospel seeds in their hearts day after day through family devotions and worship, God is honored and glorified.

I am praying and teaching them as a father, to love your brothers and to treat each other with respect for they are your brothers and the bible says, "Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity." I teach them not just because it is the right thing to do, but it brings great glory to the One who created them. Ultimately this is what life is all about, To Bring Glory to God!

"The Collapse of the Crystal Cathederal"

A good article from Dr. Al Mohler.
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/10/22/banruptcy-in-the-cathedral/

"Glad To See The Revival In the SBC"

There seems to be a shift taking place in the SBC, at least with the younger generation that is coming up. I am excited to see what God is doing in the youth of the SBC. I see young men and women who are being trained in God's Word and before too long will be in our churches and on our mission fields. I believe one reason for such a great awakening is first, God is revealing Himself to their hearts. Second, these young men and women are tired of Pharisaical religion. A religion that has no commitment to Christ nor passion to go with it. Just a dead cold legalistic, religion.
This generation that is coming up in our SBC churches are studying God's Word. They are praying for God to reveal Himself to them. God's Word is changing the worldviews of these youths and they will ultimately change the church for the future.
I am grateful as well, for the leadership God has placed in the SBC as well. God is using men such as, Dr. Al Mohler (President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), Dr. Danny Akin (President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary), Kevin Ezell (President, North American Mission Board), and my favorite preacher David Miller (President, Line Upon Line Ministries). God has used these men in my life to shape me theologically but God is using them to shape a new generation of preachers and missionaries as well.
I know revival has not fully come but I do see some positives steps in a right direction. We still have those who feel God's Word is not "totally" sufficient for all areas of life. We are still having issues in the SBC whether God saves man or if man has to help God out a little. Nonetheless, I am thankful God is raising up a generation who believes God is Sovereign and has a heart to share Christ with a lost and dying world.I am also posting a link to a dear brother and fellow pastor whose blog I follow.
http://jaredmoore.exaltchrist.com/2010/10/21/9-reasons-why-the-sbc-is-in-trouble-if-calvinism-is-a-threat/

"Why A Bible Conference?" pt.2

Acts 20:32 "And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified."
I started a blog post last week prior to our first annual bible conference at Pleasant Hill Baptist church. I wanted to answer a question many had asked me prior to our bible conference. The question was, "why are you having a bible conference" or "is a bible conference like revival?" I tried by the grace of God to answer these questions as humbly as I knew how.

3. The third reason for having a bible conference was to:
"...build you up..." The Apostle Paul was commending these elders at Ephesus with some great instructions as they were to lead their sheep at this church is Ephesus. He tells them the "word of his grace" (the gospel), is "able to build" them (elders and members of the church) up.
My intentions of having a bible conference was really four fold.
-i- First, it was to bring glory to God. 1 Corinthians 10:31) So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Our prayer at PHBC was that God would be greatly glorified through the conference. The scriptures teach we were created to worship the God of the universe and bring Him great glory. Because of our fallen nature and sin we worship everything else and bring glory to these idols as well. This conference was to be God-centered and not man-centered.The bible conference was very simple, we had one song before each message, therefore we were able to focus our attention on the Word of God and not some person singing a special (although God centered specials are o.k. in the right place).

-ii- That God's people at PHBC would be "built up" in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our modern day evangelism teaches us that special meetings "revivals" should only be for the salvation of lost people. This is contrary to the word of God. The church is for God's redeemed and we are "to go out into the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 15:16)." When we gather as the church it is to "build the saints of God up" in the word. As the pastor/elder of PHBC my desire is for God's people would be built up in the "word of his grace."

-iii- Not only was the bible conference to build our people up but it was to be an outreach opportunity. An opportunity for us to reach out to the community to hear the "gospel of God's free grace." We were able to send out over four hundred invitations to people in several states and people within our local community. We had advertisement in two of our local papers as well. God blessed and we had several from all over to visit. We even had some who stayed after services to be counseled. Which this leads me to my fourth reason of why we held a bible conference.
-iv- Fellowship with like minded brothers and sisters. We were blessed to have people from all over who believes in the great doctrines of God's grace. People from Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. We had a great time fellowshipping in the Word of God, meeting new brothers and sister in Christ, and great food as well.
In closing, I am overwhelmed at the goodness of God in allowing us to host such a conference. I am very thankful for God's people at PHBC and how they supported their pastor even though they "never done this before." It says alot about PHBC. I know alot of churches who would have rebelled but our people surely expressed a heart of grace through the entire conference. They cooked, greeted, and attended all the sessions with joy and gladness, this causes a pastor to truly be thankful for God's work in their hearts. To God Be the Glory!

"Why A Bible Conference?" pt.1

In the last three months I have been asked the question, "why are you hosting a bible conference?" Another question is also, "is it like a revival?" It has taken me aback a little that people actually believe we should only hold special meetings for lost people. So I want to give a couple of thoughts for why Pleasant Hill Baptist church is hosting a bible conference. I want to use a verse of scripture from the book of Acts 20:32, "and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

1. "...commend you to God..." The Apostle Paul was telling the elders from the church at Ephesus he was: (allege, commend, commit (the keeping of), put forth, set before, God almighty. In other words he was telling them they were before God almighty in the work of the ministry as elders to the church at Ephesus. My job as an elder is to feed the sheep of God with sheep food (the word of God). One reason why we are hosting a bible conference is to feed the sheep that God has entrusted, commended to, and put forth before me with (regardless of how many or how few). Gods word in Hebrews 13:17 says, "I will give an account of the souls of men who sits under the word of God."

2. "...to the word of his grace..." The Word of his grace is all we have in this world that will bring hope to a sinner and joy to the saint. If it were not for the word of grace all men everywhere would be condemned. This word of grace is how God graciously deals with man in salvation, namely the gospel. As an elder/pastor my job is to encourage God's people with the "word of his grace." They need not some man to play on peoples emotions and to manipulate them in a so-called "revival meeting." They need their souls comforted and to be strengthened in their walk with Christ by His Word. This is only by "the word of his grace."

More Advice for Theological Students and Young Pastors

More Advice for Theological Students and Young Pastors
Pastor Kevin DeYoung gives some great practical advice to pastors (whether young or old). Great advice to be considered and meditated upon.
Enjoy and be blessed!

Pastor Chad