I have been thinking a lot about the relationship of husband and wife lately.  I preached on this subject Sunday and have continued ruminating on the subject since. 

First of all marriage is a covenant, a promise made before God and to one another,  When we even think that we can break that promise we are on a path that will lead to the fall of a marriage.  We must not allow ourselves to make provision for a way out of the promise we have made.  We as Christians speak of the sanctity of marriage and preach loud and strong about what a family is but are very lax in our view of the bonds of marriage and the sanctity of that bond.  We need to remember that marriage is not about our happiness but like every other area of our life it is about obediance. 

I believe that we as modern Christians think that God is overly concerned with our happiness.  I believe God is interested in our happiness, but our happiness is found in our obedience to Him.  True happiness is tied to our following of God and lifting Him up in and through our lives.  Maybe happiness is the wrong word, maybe I should say that God is interested in our joy.

We get too interested in what we can get out of marriage but our Christian life is not supposed to be about us.  Paul says in Philippians 2:3,4, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."  We are supposed to be looking out for the interest of others, and in marriage that means the interest of our spouse. 

I am convinced that our joy and happiness in life is not dependant on others but on us.  We look too much to circumstances to make us joyful when we need to look upward and see what God has done for us and live in light of that.  It is entirely possible and probable that the reason most people are miserable is themselves.  They allow themselves to be miserable.  I tell my kids sometimes when they get to being bad that they cannot rob me of my joy.  Neither should we let marriage circumstances, children or other things rob us of the joy we have in Christ. Listen to Paul tell the church at Thessalonica that despite their suffering their joy came through the Holy Spirit. "And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 1:16

May we live obediently bringing praise to the Savior. Because of Him, Pastor.

It feels good to have my energy back and be ready to go at it again.  Friday was a busy day.  I had a meeting with a group of Chicago area regular Baptist pastors about the possibility of a church plant in the area.  It was good to see this group involved and helping a young man as he ventures into his first church plant. We now pray for God to lead him to the right area and provide for his support.

This young man has a passion for church planting and told us he wants to plant a church that is pregnant.  My prayer is that he will find be used of God to be successful in that endeavor. I belive that only the Word of God is going to change lives.  I know that sounds trite but something must change soon.

In a recent book I read a poll of the younger generation (21-35) shows a warped sense of right and wrong.  56% believe that it is okay to cohabitate, but only 43% said it was ok to have sex before marriage.  More startling though is only 7% said they felt it was ok to us the "f" word on TV.  By the way this survey was of born again Christians. 

How can 43% believe it is ok to have sex outside of marriage but only 7% believe it's ok to say a bad word?  I believe it is because the church has done a poor job of reaching this generation. We have become lazy in our efforts to stand up for right,  We have allowed the postmodern thinking that allows for situational thinking and no absolutes to become a nromal thing even inside the walls of the church.  So we must do a better job of teaching God's truth.

It starts in the homes.  We must have strong homes that teach the Truth.  We must encourage fathers to take their role seriously and be the spiritual leaders of our homes.  Churches must not be afraid to teach the truth of the Word.  Unfortunately most fundamental churches of the last 50 years became obsessed with man made rules of dress, hair and music styles that they forgot to teach the hard facts of the Bible against fornication, adultery and other very clear commands of God.  We must focus on what matters, convictions based in God's truth and not our personal preferences.

We have lost a generation because we have too many people who want to play church and not be the church.  They are too concerned about what the Pastor and others wear, or the announcements that are missed or about other church business to be concerned with the real church business, dispensing God's Truth and building up the church. The church of the USA has become a group of Christians that view church as a club rather than a hospital for souls. 

This has not been lost on the younger generation.  They have seen the game and they don't want to learn it, they have decided it is too trivial for their time and they are leaving the church in droves.  As an old preacher friend of mine once said, "we must keep the main thing, the main thing."  Reaching the lost,  building up the members of our churches, enabling families to be strong cornerstones of the body and communicating God's awesome Truth in a loving but uncompromising matter, this is what the church must be doing..

So I pray for this young church planter that he will plant a church that will produce other churches that will have a genuine impact on our world.  This will be far more effective than any political campaign.  Because of Him, Pastor

Sorry it has been a while since my last post.  I have been sick the last few days.  The doctor told me today it was a virus that has been going around and that I should be fine in a few days.  I have already started to feel better.  My fever seems to be breaking and I am feeling a bit more alive after three days of feeling very sluggish.

It is in times like these I become even more thankful for good health.  Over the past few days I have felt so bad I couldn't concentrate to read or study or do anything I would say is constructive.  A clear mind is so important to study of the Word.

I am looking forward to getting back into things.  Because of Him, Pastor.

Today we welcomed a new family into our church family.  We are so happy to have Regina and John as part of the FVBC family.

As we welcome new members I know how important it is to take the responsibility of church membership seriously.  Not only as a new member but as a church. 

As a family we must encourage one another, admonish one another (Romasn 15:14) , serve one another (Galatians 5:13), be kind to one another (Romans 12:10), receive one another (Romans 15:7), care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25), and support one another (Galatians 6:2).

These are not to be taken lightly.  We need each other.  We must be faithful in our attendance (Hebrews 10:25) because we are there for each other. To encourage and exhort each other. 

Stay faithful and be doing the work of the ministry as Paul says in Ephesians 4:12.  Because of Him, Pastor.

After AWANA last night I was standing downstairs looking around and God brought to my mind what a great group of High Schoolers we have.  I was impressed as I saw so many of them serving with real joy.  I am not just speaking of numbers, but as I looked at each one of the kids we had there I was struck by the thought of how sensitive they are to God's Word and how they really want to serve Him.

After the program three of them went rocket shopping with me (buying model rockets for a school project). Each of these young men are respectful, fun loving, spiritually minded young men.  That is just three of them.  We have a good size group going to Dare 2 Share this weekend.  We have some girls that love to serve and can't wait to serve full time for Christ.  I stand in awe of what God is doing.  In a world that is trying to pull our teens away into the hedonistic thought that pervades this world, it is good to see some young people who are enjoying the abundant life there is in Christ.

One last thought.  Our son Joe got good news/bad news Monday.  Joe had applied to Moody and really was hoping to be accepted at the Chicago campus. He was turned down for the Chicago campus but was accepted to either the correspondence school or the campus in Washington state.  He was bummed but he understands that God is in control.  He exploring a number of options, all of them good, so keep Joe in your prayers.

Continue to pray for the young people and encourage them as you see them.  Because of Him, Pastor. 

Today I was at the ILMO-ARBC Spring Conference in Silvis, IL.  It is always good to fellowship with other brothers in the state and enjoy their fellowship.

Bernie Augsburger, our state rep, spoke on how to hold Evangelistic Home Bible Studies.  I plan to invite him to come to our church and speak on evangelism.  As I listened today I was challenged and had to ask myself how evangelistic are we as a church?  Here are some thought provoking questions:

• When did you last share the gospel with someone?
• Is there anyone you are currently working with to see get saved?
• In what evangelistic efforts are you participating?
• Are you open to trying new ways to reach the lost?

A question we all need to ask ourselves is this: what have I done to help FVBC grow in the last year?  Are you willing to do what it takes to reach the lost?  D. L. Moody made it a gowl to share the gospel at least once a day.  Maybe start small, how about once a week?

Tomorrow I look forward to hearing more challenges, enjoying more fellowship and spending more time in the Word. Hope you have had a great day.  Because of Him, Pastor.

It was good to be with the Saints today and enjoy the company of God's people.  Today was very special as we met this evening to discuss our church and ministering to needs in our world.

I have developed the FVBC plan and am basing our goals from this plan.

This is the challenge for our church this coming year.  We must look to meet needs in our community, we must seek to reach our community like never before.  I am excited about our future.  Our best days are ahead of us!! Because of Him, Pastor.

F – Family Oriented

-          Building strong fathers

-          Working for Stronger marriages

-          Raising children who will in turn raise Godly children

-          Developing a strong family friendly atmosphere within FVBC

V – Vision Minded

-          Working toward reaching our community and world for Christ.

o   Creatively reaching out

o   Living” out loud.”

-          Developing for a strong future of FVBC

o   Teaching faithful stewardship

o   Living by faith, understanding the needs

o   Seeking creative funding for outreach oriented programs

-          Developing ministry minded leaders

o   Teach a servant minded approach to our leadership

o   Encouraging the taking of short term missions trips

o   Taking a Titus approach to leadership development

B – Biblically Centered

-          Biblical preaching and teaching

-          Demonstrating God’s truth by honest living

-          Having God’s commands at the center of all we do

-          Developing a biblical worldview within all in our church

C – Community Minded

-          Recognize needs in the community.

-          Developing the means to meet needs

-          Being an externally Centered church

What a great day!!  It started with a great Men's Ministry Meeting.  Lyndon gave a great challenge to our men. If you missed it see me for the notes. 

It was a beautiful day too. Warm weather and blue skies.  I think spring is finally breaking through.

I closed my day with a letter from one of my inmate brothers at Angola.  I finally had a chance to read it before bed.  I really feel for all my brothers there.  We think it is hard to live for Christ out here, it is harder behind bars.  I thank God for giving each of us the strength we need to live for Him.

See you tomorrow, live for Him.  Because of Him, Pastor.

• Do my kids see a consistent walk with Christ?
• Am I the same person on Sunday I am the rest of the week?  Or does the perfect Sunday dad appear and the everyday dad is someone completely different comes out?  (There is a name for that, "hypocrisy")
• Do my children know that I pray, read my Bible, and am anxious to serve God?
• Do I talk about spiritual things with my kids?
• Do I tell little "white lies" (i.e. calling into work sick and you're not really sick) that my children know about, but expect honesty from them?
• What are my goals for my kids?  How am I helping them achieve those goals?