Recently, after a Cowboys loss to the Redskins, I saw a video of a guy completely destroying his whole house in anger over the outcome of the game. It was nuts! Dude was crazy. Broke his big giant TV, dining room table, and a bunch of other stuff!! Clearly, he felt like his whole world had crashed around him when America’s Team (Yes, I still call them America’s Team) lost. 

Last night I met with our elders, 7pm, on a Monday night.  We typically meet every other Friday at 5:45am to avoid conflicting with evenings and time away from our families. But from time to time we have scheduling conflicts, so Monday night (or whatever time) it is! You might think that our elders might be at least a little bit put out by having to come up to the church office in the middle of an evening for a meeting, but they weren’t. They never are. Not only do I get to lead, feed, and protect God’s flock with these men, we actually ENJOY our time together. In addition to discussing the stewardship of the Lord’s work, I nearly always belly laugh at least once or twice during our meetings. These men love the Lord. They love the church. And while we don’t say it for fear someone might lose their “man card” because of the bond we share in Christ Jesus, we love each other.

So I exhort the elders among you….shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 1Peter5:1-3

Grace Bible, our current serving elders, other than myself, are Theron Whitley, Jeff Crelia, and Brent Wilkens. I thank God for these men. I hope y’all do too!

Parents of teens/those who work with youth, please read! This article: ‘The Most Exhausted Generation’

From 10 years of working with teenagers to now having teenagers of my own, I’ve watched teens get more and more busy with each passing year. I remember when the desire to keep teens active was phrased, “we just need to keep kids off the streets”. The heart behind that notion is GREAT. Teens left with too much idle time, with no responsibility, no organization, and no guidance can lead to all sorts of negative consequences. But over-programming teens, taking away all of their down time, and stressing them out is not good either. I talk to lots of parents who see it. Adults get together and compare notes on how BUSY we are, but nothing seems to change. In fact it seems to get worse. I’m not sure what the whole of the problem is, but I think at least some of it may stem from us as parents feeling pressured to have our kids pursuing LOTS of OPPORTUNITIES or we may be deemed, or at least feel like, a bad parent.

I don’t know what the full solution to teen busyness/stress is, but as a Christian, parent, pastor here’s what I believe…what teens need most is a REAL relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and they need parents to be an example of what it looks like to follow Jesus, and to teach them the Word. (See Deut 6:4-9). They also, in my option, need to know the value of, being committed to and blessed by a community of believers in Christ, a local church. Not just while they’re teens, but for their entire life, until Jesus returns.

Parents teaching kids and making church a priority do take something we are all very short on, TIME…My concern is that as we begin to see our need to cut back on the activity and stress level of our teens that the first thing to be cut out is their spiritual formation. After all, there’s no trophy, scholarship, accolade, or worldly recognition for our grip of the gospel and subsequent pursuit of holiness. So as we recognize our peril of exhausted stressed out “sick” teens, and say “WE’RE TOO BUSY SOMETHING’S GOT TO GO!” We shouldn’t let that “something” be their/our relationship with God. See Matt 11:28-29, as the article pointed out, Jesus is the only TRUE REST.

***I DO think there is something to be said for not over-programming at the church as well. The solution is NOT to carry our busyness to the church building for a sanctified version of our busyness. May be a post for another time****

Grace Bible Lifeline (small group) leaders had a VERY encouraging (1 1/2 hr) meeting yesterday morning (Sunday 12/7/14) before church. The meeting was led by Jarod Martin. Jarod called us back to the material that he had gone over with us back at the beginning of the semester. One high compliment of the small group training material provided last semester was “a person who has never led a small group before could take that, follow it, and lead one”.

Also, group leaders shared how God was working in the lives of people in their group, some of the challenges that they’ve been facing, and what they are looking forward to in the coming semester. Lifeline groups continue to be a place of authentic community and spiritual growth. For me as a pastor I see LL groups as a place where we can fulfill the command given to us in Heb 10:24 “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” Lifeline groups — meeting in homes, sharing life, learning the Word, having the gospel laid bare on our souls. Good stuff.

BIG SHOUT OUT to all our LL group leaders and Jarod Martin for stepping up lead us in this way.

Lifeline leaders in attendance were Jarod & Lara Martin, Jason & Nikki Waligura, Jana Whitley, Jason Carney, Rick & Nancy Nevil, Justin Ferguson, Devon & Nikki  Mize, Kris Roberts, Brian Ross, Jon & LeiAnn Stovall, Tinna Hood, Brent Wilkens, and myself.

Please pray for the ministry of LL. Pray that our groups continue to be effective and for more folks to step up to lead groups and invest into group life.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matt 2:1-2

Jesus was nearly 2 yrs old by the time the wise men came to visit. Some of us may want to adjust our nativity scenes and put the wise men in a hallway or in the next room over from baby Jesus in the manger 🙂 We have a good idea of Jesus’ age because the text mentions Herod was the king at the time. Bethlehem is about 6 miles from Jerusalem and was just a little spot on the road to Jerusalem. Think Kentucky Town or White Mound or Fink up by Pottsboro…These “wise men” came from the east, probably from Persia. They would have been well read in Philosophy, science, charts, astrology. These guys were well read, well educated, respected and admired. The wise men would have been advisors to the king. Their insights would have been sought out by everyone. Also notable, they were Gentile, not Jewish. They would be the FIRST Gentile worshipers of Jesus.

Now why would a group of men, known to WISE travel to podunk middle of nowhere to worship a Jewish toddler. Why would someone so educated and admired do something so seemingly foolish??? Check this out: Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?….For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Cor 1:20-25 This text shows us that all the wisdom of the world is worthless without the wisdom of the divine. The wise men were highly esteemed and respected by people, but they knew themselves, they knew they were human. They felt the weight of their own sin. They knew that if they were all there was, there wasn’t much. Sooner or later we’re faced with the reality that they are finite. When that happens, we either look outside ourselves, toward the INFINITE, toward God, or we go on an egotistical feeding frenzy, building ourselves up in our mind, trying to suppress the fact that we need God. To the watching world, these wise men, going to worship a baby, born to a teenage girl in no name Bethlehem, said to be a king, born outside the house of Herod, with no political allies in Rome, would have seemed foolish. But the foolishness of God is better than the wisdom of man.

The wise men had seen a lot come and go in their time. They knew well their own limitations. But this Jesus was something different, something divine. 1 Cor 1:20 asks “where is the wise in this present age?” And the answer is, on his way out!! Every generation thinks they have moved beyond the need for God, the gospel, and a Savior. Every generation has those who think that have moved on from the antiquated things found in the Bible. They talk loud make a big splash, then like a crashing meteor, burn out burn before they make any lasting impact. But there will always be those who hold on with both hands to the Bible. They may be fewer at times than others, but they will always be there. Man doesn’t have to travel far to get to the end of himself.

We don’t function well apart from God, because we are made for him, to WORSHIP Him. God has a way of illuminating our need for Him and he had done so for these “wise men”. Wise men still seek Him 🙂 The wise men sought Jesus the same reason you and I do. Because we desperately need to be reconciled to God. “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him.” -Augustine

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.” -Chuck Swindoll

Hey church family! Some of you thought the day would never come, but yesterday, by the grace of God, we finished the book Romans! Romans proved to be a great body of truth, Amen?!?! I hope I speak for all of us when I say, as Paul said in Romans 1:16, I am not ashamed of the gospel!

Many of you have asked me, what’s next? I’m very excited to take few weeks for a sermon series, Healthy Church. This has been prayed over for some time now, as it is something that our elder team saw the necessity for last Spring. This series is timely for a few of reasons:

1. Our little church family has grown significantly in numbers over the last few years. And our church body is diverse! We have folks from all types of church backgrounds and some with no church background at all. We like it that way. Diversity is good thing in a church. But, unity amid diversity, is a necessity in a church. This series will bring unity in the form of clarity, to what it looks like for a church to be faithful, biblical — Healthy.

2. The culture continues to change at a rapid rate.  What is believed, accepted, even condoned in our culture is in direct opposition to biblical, historic Christian theology and living. But even as the culture shifts, the church is called to go and “make disciples” (Matt. 28.19) to be “salt and light” (Matt. 5.13-15), to follow the example of Paul in becoming “all things to all people” (1Cor. 9:22). At the same time we are called to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3), we’re instructed not to be “unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2Cor. 6.14) and not to be “conformed to the pattern of this world” (Rom. 12.2). As this faithful balance becomes seemingly more challenging the health of the church comes to the forefront. We are to be a hospital for the sick, not a hospital of the sick. For this, we must be faithful, biblical — Healthy.

3. Last, but certainly not least, the health of the church is always timely because it’s important to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…” (Matt. 16.18). Jesus viewed persecution of the church as persecution against Him (Acts 9.4)! Paul warned church leadership to “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock…to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20.28). Jesus paid a high price for the church, his own blood! It is of great interest to Jesus, and thus should be of great interest to us, that the church be — Healthy.

Church family, I hope you will join me over the next several weeks as we journey through a series simply titled, Healthy Church. By God’s grace I believe this series will prove to be a God-glorifying, church edifying season, with far-reaching, grande, implications for our church family. Y’all bring your Bibles, it’s gonna be great, because God is GREAT. See ya Sunday.

—Pastor Roy

Around the Fall of 2001, I was about a year into Jesus Christ awakening my soul to an appreciation of his greatness that overflowed into worship. One night I was spending time with a group of Christian friends. We spent the evening telling stories, laughing with that kind of deep belly laugh you only have among real friends, and of course, talking about our favorite subject, The Lord. We were talking about music that stirred our affections for God when one of the guys said, “you need to get Third Day’s Worship album, ‘Offerings'”. I had never heard of Third Day, didn’t really know what a worship album was. This stuff was all still pretty new to me. But on his strong recommendation, I picked up the CD (remember those) a few days later. I LOVED EVERY SONG. Naturally when they came out with a 2nd worship album, Offering II, in 2003, I loved it too! I still listen to both. One song that is especially meaningful to me, ‘Creed’, was originally recorded by Rich Mullins. Much of the lyrics are derived from ‘The Apostles Creed’.  I LOVE this song. It reminds me of who I am in Christ. Our testimony is HIS. I am not my my past. I am not what others think. I am…well check out an excerpt of the lyrics…

And I believe what I believe
Is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God
And not the invention of any man

Great stuff, right!? I still get chills when I hear it. There’s a part of the song that says “on the third day He rose again” and nearly EVERY TIME I hear it, my eyes fill with tears of joy and appreciation for what Jesus did. (then again I may be a little weak, I did cry in a recent episode of Undercover Boss) Vid of song is below. I hope you listen and enjoy!

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2Timothy 3:16-17

“The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.” -Augustine

Never in history has the Bible been more accessible. Yet it is highly underutilized by Christians who claim to live by it. Partly because people don’t know where to start. They don’t know who they can trust, and where to look for good tools and resources. Here are some tools on the web that I have found to be very helpful for Bible study.

God questions? Of course you do! We all do! This website is a GREAT way to search for Biblical answers. Make sure you look up all the verse references they give you for your questions. It’s well worth your time!  http://www.gotquestions.org

This site is like a hub for Bible study. Too many tools to list. Check it out for yourself. https://www.blueletterbible.org (app available)

This one has ton of great resources as well. You might start by clicking ‘Bible Study’ at the bottom of the home page. Look up a favorite passage or one that interests you, and read the notes to the right. Great stuff! https://bible.org

How about some great sermons? http://www.desiringgod.org (lots of great posts and articles here too) and http://dbcmedia.org (Tom Nelson — my personal favorite preacher)

Get trained! Seminary level training in all sorts of areas. From in-depth looks at books of the Bible to how to be a better small group leader, FREE. http://www.biblicaltraining.org (app available)

And finally, here are links to, in my opinion, two of the greatest daily devotionals ever written: http://utmost.org and http://www.spurgeon.org/daily.htm 

I’ve know I have just barely scratched the surface of the many GREAT tools available online. But hopefully some  of these are a help to you. Do you have an online tool you’d like to share with me? I’d love to hear about it! Email me at roy@thegbf.com

I love being a pastor. I love to study and teach God’s Word. I love God’s people. I love knowing I’m serving as a leader on the right team with the right cause, making disciples of Jesus Christ. Pastoring is great. But if I thought that being a pastor would somehow doom my children to grow up into a stereotype of selfish, unstable, rebellious, non-believers who wanted nothing to so with Jesus or his bride, the Church, I simply wouldn’t do it. I’m a dad first — scratch that — I’m a CHRISTIAN first, husband & dad second, pastor third. But the reality is, life as a PK doesn’t have to result in tragic rebellion. With the right priorities and the grace of God, the life of a pastor’s kids can bring glory to God and joy to his children as well as any other occupation.

My older sister, a mother of 9 children and wife of a pastor, sent the following article to my son from her “auntie”. My 15 year old son is the oldest of our 4 children. He read the post before I did and said “That was a good article. I agree!”

Check it out at the link below:

The Pastor’s Kid: My Happy Childhood

My son, Q and I on a recent mission trip. No, those are not real undies on my head.

Me and Q a little over a year ago on another mission trip.

Again, my son, Q leading worship with friends on a mission trip. He’s a gifted worship leader!