Another one bites the dust....

When I opened the latest edition of the Lincoln County News newspaper, right on the front page is an article about the Damariscotta Baptist Church voting in a woman as their pastor. This marks the first woman pastor in their long history. The news hit me right in the gut. I knew that the DBC has been sliding in a liberal direction for many years, as they long-ago dumped the KJB and yoked up with the liberal American Baptist Churches of America organization. But still, the news...really affected me. This once great church(which claims Adoniram Judson, Sr. as the very first pastor) somewhere down the line had a pastor who dropped the ball. Bible doctrine took a back seat to something else. It could have been a program of some kind, perhaps even a good program. Now...imagine your own church. If the pastor fails to instill absolute confidence in the KJB as the very Word of God, infallible and inerrant, eventually the congregation will drift. If a pastor is not feeding the sheep, the sheep will starve, and when the pastor leaves, the sheep may just bring in the wrong man (or woman) to replace him. The wrong pastor, with a congregation that has been Biblically starved, is free to drift further and further from true Bible doctrine. I say all of that to say that I am truly convicted that I must do my very best to feed the sheep with solid Bible preaching and teaching. The pulpit should never be a "doctrine free" zone. When a church body is properly fed, even if the pastor was suddenly gone, they would be equipped to stay on the right track. By the way, what does the Bible say about the qualifications for a preacher? 1Timothy_3:2 "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach" (The terms Bishop and Elder both refer to the pastor of a church) 1 Timothy 3:4-5 "One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)" Furthermore, Titus 1:6-9 also makes it very clear that a pastor is a "he". Also, consider that all of the apostles were men. There were no female pastors in the Bible.... Notice that in the article, she never referenced the above facts: This patriarchy, still strong in some churches and denominations, does not have a basis in the Bible, which is full of strong, female leaders, Harris said. The sisters Martha and Mary were followers of Jesus Christ and active in his ministry. The merchant Lydia was an early convert to Christianity, "a woman of power and money who had a church in her house," Harris said. Priscilla was another important figure in early Christianity, a brave church leader and companion of Paul the Apostle. "When the first church was established, there were lots of women," Harris said. Christians who oppose female leadership interpret some of Paul's writings to mean women should "stay quiet and not teach or be in leadership over men," Harris said, "but that's not what Jesus did." Thus, if Jesus Christ "had women involved and leading in his ministry, then why wouldn't we do it here and now?" Harris said. "Personally, I think the spirit can move anybody," she said. "God is greater than our genders." Harris believes the trend toward acceptance of female pastors and leaders stems as much from logistics as theology. By the way, Paul's writings are actually God's writings, as it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." So, God's Word tells us in 1 Timothy 2:12 "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." Also, 1 Corinthians 11:3 tells us "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." The Bible is crystal clear, you must be a man to be a pastor. It is sad that such clear Bible teaching is tossed out the window with thoughts like "God is greater than our genders". God certainly is greater that our genders, but God will NEVER go against His Word. Thoughts that women can be pastors or preachers only come when one does not know or does not care what the Bible truly has to say. We have a perfect Bible and it is our sole authority. Think Biblically. Live Biblically. Men, preach Biblically.

Hidden blessings part 2

Here are some more blessings that I forgot to mention: We have a young lady who is recently saved who brings her baby with her to church. She has been very faithful to come on the Sunday mornings that she does not work. She came back on Sunday night and it truly blessed my soul. After the service she went to Brother Tignor and thanked the family for what they do. That was a blessing to me. It is an absolute joy to watch her grow in the Lord. We have a teen who has been saved for just about three weeks now and it is a blessing to hear her ask good questions about the Bible and faith. She has been very faithful and has even began singing with our choir. God has truly been good!

Hidden blessings!

Sunday February 23, 2014 at Bryant Pond Baptist Church, we did not set any kind of attendance records. In fact, we were below our 2013 average attendance. We did not have record offerings.on Sunday. We did not have to take out the van and the bus like we do most Sundays. We didn't have enough children that we were picking up. So...I'm complaining....right? Actually, Sunday was a powerful day for me and I wanted to share some of these blessings with everybody! In Sunday School we announced our next youth service (March 9 at 6pm). Already we have music acts and two young men preaching! This is a huge blessing! They are picking a verse or verses and speaking on them, what they mean. This is exciting! We have children that play the clarinet, the trumpet, the flute (two of them), the piano.... In the morning service we had a visit from a member who has been "on the books" since 1942! Wow! (by the way, her health does not allow her regular attendance) In the morning service we had a couple of ladies visit...they came in after the music had started so I didn't have a chance to introduce myself before the service. I noticed one of the ladies was paying close attention but the other was not....after the service I worked my way to them and found out they are Bulgarian. One lady did not speak a word of English. Her daughter did, and is a member of a Baptist church in Mass. She complemented us on our website and having our sermons online. In the evening service we had special guests the Tignor family, missionaries to Equador. It was great to finally meet this family, and they are a great bunch! Brother Chris preached a great message and the service was wonderful! I was very pleased at how generous our church was with them. It warms my heart to serve with such missions-minded folks! The best part of the day was a girl named Lexi. She has been attending semi-regularly for a number of weeks now. She has had some questions about salvation for a time, but every time we were going to sit down, something else got in the way. Yesterday before the am service I walked up to her and asked her if she had gotten saved yet. She hadn't. We talked and she was ready to ask God to save her soul. She bowed her head and prayed. When she said amen she had a smile from ear to ear! She was so excited! It was so awesome to see! Our experience this Sunday goes to show, it is not always about the numbers, nor about the offerings, but it is about God moving and watching Him change lives! Are you down about numbers? Maybe you just need to look a little deeper. God is good and He will never let us down!

Thoughts on "Duck Dynasty" drama...

Social media is crammed with stories and posts about the Duck Dynasty controversy. Many of my brothers and sisters in the faith are very upset with the A & E network for their suspension of Phil Robertson. Robertson was suspended from the show (basically fired) for expressing his opinion of sodomy in GQ magazine. I fully agree that Robertson has the right to express his belief in the Word of God and what it says of the sin of sodomy. I also understand that is A&E's right to suspend Robertson. It is also every person's right to protest that suspension. In all of this I have seen many well-meaning Christians attempt to lay the ills of the country at the feet of the crowd that is calling for the suspension. There is no doubt that this "tolerance" crowd is completely intolerant of any disagreement with their beliefs. However, the fact that Robertson was suspended points to a bigger issue than liberal bias. The true issues of this country lay completely at the feet of the churches of America. All of the anger towards A&E should really be anger with ourselves. If we had invested the time we spent watching Duck Dynasty into walking down our streets and witnessing to our neighbors, there would be more "like minded" people all across the country. I am not saying that it is a sin to watch this show, but are we putting first things first? Are we getting angry and writing emails of protest? That is fine. Are you knocking on doors and preaching on the streets? If not why not? Unfortunately many are willing to speak up to protest the ill treatment of their favorite tv star, but not willing to speak up to tell a lost soul about the fact that Jesus Christ can save you from your sins. This message is so much more important than any tv show. We all understand the absolutely deplorable condition of this world. What are we going to do about it? Write letters of protest or go and tell some lost sinner about Jesus? One more note here....please understand that the Robertson family does not believe in salvation by grace through faith. They believe that baptism is a part of salvation. This doctrine (called baptismal regeneration) is heresy and it is a perversion of the grace of God. You must fully trust in the shed blood of Christ for your salvation, plus nothing, minus nothing. I am glad that they are using their platform to preach, but let's not direct people to a message that will damn them.

Awesome new piano book for beginners!

I love good, Godly hymns! I have long had a desire to be able to play some hymns on the piano, but lack the time and money for piano lessons. I heard of Pastor Steven L Anderson's new course and I am giving it a try. Within minutes of receiving the book I was playing "Nothing But The Blood" on the piano. I was also playing "Am I A Soldier of the Cross" in just a short time. By the way, did I mention that I do not know how to read music? If you are interested, here is the link for his blog.

God's Ways...

I am sitting here this beautiful evening thinking about the ways of our God. We serve an amazing God! I have recently watched as God has been stirring our little church and our little community for His glory. We have had powerful services and it is good to see more young people and visitors almost every Sunday service. I have seen God answer prayer after prayer in stunning ways. He is so good. Just today we had a tremendous need met in an unexpected way. Amen! God sure knows what we need and when we need it. This afternoon I heard of the passing of Jeff Sprague. Jeff and his wife Denise are old friends who I met in my Walmart days back in 1998. Over the last couple of years I have become reacquainted with them. Over the last 18 months, Jeff has been fighting cancer with the wonderful care and help of his wife. His battle ended today as he entered the gates of heaven. He leaves behind his wife and five children. My heart hurts for the family, though I have already seen such great resolve and inner strength exhibited by Denise and the children. (she has posted some of the reaction). How wonderful it is to know that all those that are saved will one day see each other again. Oh yeah, I was thinking about God's ways and God's thoughts.... Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Sometimes we just don't understand why certain things happen. We may even be crass enough to think that we know better than God, but the truth is, God has everything under control. Praise the Lord that He knows what is best. We can trust the Lord fully. Please pray for the Sprague family as they adjust adjust to life without Jeff. It is a blessing that they know that they will see him again one day. What a legacy that Jeff has left behind. A saved wife and five saved children. Amen.

Sorry for the long delay....

OK, so it has been quite some time since I have posted anything on my blog. I promise that I will be more faithful in the future. It has been really busy lately. Our big news is that we have recently purchased a bus. This was a move that the Lord had in our heart since I first came to Bryant Pond. Our van ministry would one day become a bus ministry. God has truly blessed us and we are truly grateful to Him! Yesterday was our first Sunday in our new bus and we had a total of 21 on the bus (including workers). God allowed us to exceed our van capacity in the very first week on the bus. What a blessing! In related news, I am getting nearer to having my bus license for myself. I am training to be a substitute bus driver in my local public school district. To have the chance to influence the children during the week (as limited as my time with them would be) is wonderful. (plus, having a couple of extra dollars around is always good....after all we have one that will be going to college in just three years). Church services have been going very well. The Lord is working in hearts and we give Him the glory! We recently hosted a Valentines banquet which the children served the parents. What a wonderful night was had by everybody. The next day we celebrated "Heritage Sunday" and had 50 out in the snow in our morning service. We broke out the old time outfits and had ourselves a time! We were celebrating 185 years of heritage from the founding of the Woodstock and Gore Baptist Church, and the Woodstock and Greenwood Baptist Church (Feb 14 and 15, 1828). These two churches joined together to form the Bryant's Pond Baptist Church on April 26, 1856. What a blessing! Please pray for us as we go forward. We are having to move more chairs and a bigger table in one of the Sunday School rooms to accommodate the extra students. That is a huge blessing. We need more laborers. We need one more Sunday School teacher (a man for the adult males). Please pray with us that God would provide us more laborers for the harvest up here in the foothills of Western Maine.