My favorite time of year has arrived! It is Fall and I love the cool weather and the clean crisp air. Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is coming up soon. I think it is my favorite because nobody is expecting a gift from me. While these things add to my personal enjoyment of the season, they are not what I look forward to the most. The event that I anticipate most is our church's World Missions Conference which is coming up this Friday-Sunday. The WMC provides us with some exciting opportunities. It provides time for us to praise God for what He has done around the world the past year through the members of First Baptist Church. We are presented with all the mission opportunities for the coming year. And, we have the privilege of reuniting with missionary friends from around the world along with the chance to get acquainted with some new missionaries.
There is one more opportunity the World Missions Conference presents. It gives parents a springboard to speak to their children about the biblical basis of missions. With just a little effort, this could be the event where their understanding and concern for world missions begins. Parents can plant the seeds of missions support into their children's hearts by helping them understand that when it comes to our personal involvement, going and giving are not optional activities. What a great teaching opportunity the WMC presents for us to possibly raise up the next generation of missions minded Christians at FBC!
As a reminder, children K-5th are invited to spend time with some of our guest missionaries this Saturday from 11:00 am till 2:00pm. Parents are invited to stay and participate as well. Everyone will meet in the G-Force area to eat pizza and hear about what is going on in each missionary's part of the world. If you would like to attend this event please call the church office to sign-up!
I am also very excited to know that the church will be providing more opportunities in the future for families to go on mission together. The Georgia Family Trip has been amazingly successful and the testimonies from the families that have gone have been no less than inspiring. The Family Ministry Staff is praying about offering even more challenging opportunities where family members can fulfill the Great Commission while serving side-by-side. I fully expect there to be a growing number of family mission trips in years to come.
I hope that each First Baptist family will take full advantage of this coming weekend and all the great opportunities it provides.
David
P.S. If you have never attended a Friday night worship service during previous World Missions Conferences, you have missed some of the most amazing worship times in the life of our church. Let me urge you to come and take part this year. You will be glad you did!
Monday, November 10
Wednesday, November 5
Election Opportunities
Now that the presidential election is finally over, what should be our response to the outcome? I do not want to dive into details of policy issues even though those things will significantly affect us all. I did however want to share some general insight about how we, as Christians, might seize the opportunities that this election has placed before us.
First, we should seize this opportunity to praise God. The only reason I can say this is because I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. While the outcome of the election was not what I had hoped and prayed for, I trust that God directed the outcome. His will was not thwarted and His plans were not subverted by “the will of the people.” There are no emergency meetings going on in Heaven today! Listen to Job 12:23, “He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.” We can praise God because He is still on His throne and because He will accomplish His plans through our next president. Even if those plans are to bring us to brokenness and repentance as a nation.
Second, we should seize this opportunity to honor God’s Word. Listen to 1 Peter 2:13-14;17 - “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” As many of you know, Nero, the insane tyrant who joyfully martyred scores of Christians, was the Roman emperor Peter is telling his readers to “subject” themselves to and to “honor”.
We must not allow the outcome of any election to cause us to act contrary to this command of our Lord. We must honor the president because through God alone has he received his authority to lead this country. In John 19:10-11 Jesus confirms this to Pontius Pilate, “Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?’ Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.”
We must also subject ourselves to the president’s authority even when we do not agree with his positions and policies. Of course God is our ultimate authority. Our subjection to church and governmental leaders is conditioned on them not causing us to violate biblical principles. I urge you to read all of 1 Peter 2 to see how Christ provided this example for us to follow.
Third, we should seize this opportunity to trust God. He will direct the heart of our new president. Proverbs 21:1 says “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” God works through both godly and ungodly rulers to bring His will to pass. A good friend of mine is fond of saying “When we look at the world around us, we say everything is falling apart. When God looks down from heaven, He says everything is coming together.” I am trusting that God will be active in directing the decisions and policies of a new administration to accomplish His purposes.
First, we should seize this opportunity to praise God. The only reason I can say this is because I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. While the outcome of the election was not what I had hoped and prayed for, I trust that God directed the outcome. His will was not thwarted and His plans were not subverted by “the will of the people.” There are no emergency meetings going on in Heaven today! Listen to Job 12:23, “He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.” We can praise God because He is still on His throne and because He will accomplish His plans through our next president. Even if those plans are to bring us to brokenness and repentance as a nation.
Second, we should seize this opportunity to honor God’s Word. Listen to 1 Peter 2:13-14;17 - “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” As many of you know, Nero, the insane tyrant who joyfully martyred scores of Christians, was the Roman emperor Peter is telling his readers to “subject” themselves to and to “honor”.
We must not allow the outcome of any election to cause us to act contrary to this command of our Lord. We must honor the president because through God alone has he received his authority to lead this country. In John 19:10-11 Jesus confirms this to Pontius Pilate, “Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?’ Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.”
We must also subject ourselves to the president’s authority even when we do not agree with his positions and policies. Of course God is our ultimate authority. Our subjection to church and governmental leaders is conditioned on them not causing us to violate biblical principles. I urge you to read all of 1 Peter 2 to see how Christ provided this example for us to follow.
Third, we should seize this opportunity to trust God. He will direct the heart of our new president. Proverbs 21:1 says “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” God works through both godly and ungodly rulers to bring His will to pass. A good friend of mine is fond of saying “When we look at the world around us, we say everything is falling apart. When God looks down from heaven, He says everything is coming together.” I am trusting that God will be active in directing the decisions and policies of a new administration to accomplish His purposes.
Finally, we should seize this opportunity to teach our children. This election provides a multitude of talking points where families can discuss important issues concerning our government, society, and culture. If your children are old enough to discuss the issues, use this election to help them develop a biblical worldview.
Continue to pray for our country, our president (both current and future), our legislators, and for our Supreme Court. You may ask, if I truly believe that God is in control and His plans will come to fruition, why encourage prayer? Let me close with this quote by Arthur W. Pink:
“To affirm that God will not and cannot bring to pass His eternal purpose unless we pray, is utterly erroneous, for the same God who has decreed the end has also decreed that His end shall be reached through His appointed means, and one of these is prayer.”
Grace and Peace,
David
Thursday, October 30
Christians and Halloween
Sorry for the late posting but my computer has been sick for a couple of days.
I wanted to take some time to address the issue of Halloween and the problems it presents for Christian families. I risk receiving a flood of comments from parents that are on either end of the spectrum concerning their personal convictions regarding this day. Some feel their family has the freedom to participate in the traditional secular activities that surround Halloween. Others have deep convictions that their family should completely refrain from participating in activities on October 31. Hopefully, what I have to share will bring some light to the subject for both groups and everyone in the middle.
Halloween is clearly a pagan holiday. Its origins can be easily traced back to the pagan Celtic festival known as Samhain. I won’t bore you with all the history because that information is easily accessible to everyone. Even many of the seemingly harmless traditions and symbols of the day are rooted in pagan practices and represent evil occult activities. So, I do not believe it is appropriate for Christians to celebrate Halloween or participate in its traditions. Specifically, there a few “off limits” activities I believe families should avoid:
Traditional Trick-or-Treating
Wearing costumes that represent scary or evil people/things
Going to parties that celebrate the day
Watching scary movies
Decorating homes with evil symbols (witches, black cats, jack-o-lanterns, etc.)
However, Romans 12:21 says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is the guiding verse I would use when it comes to sharing my personal philosophy of a Christian’s response to Halloween. Maybe it’s my personality, but I am not very fond of passive resistance when it comes to the devil. I find it difficult to understand how turning off the house lights and cowering in the living room hoping no children ring the doorbell wanting candy can be seen as “overcoming evil with good.” James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” I am promoting an active resistance where we take the fight to the enemy and show him that he will not steal a day that God has ordained for His glory.
I see Halloween as a great opportunity to let the light of Christ shine during the darkest day of the year. I see it as an opportunity to do things that are good in Christ name on a day when there is evil going on all around us. I see it as an opportunity to take the spotlight off the devil and put it on God where it always belongs, even on October 31. I guess what I am saying is that there are many God-honoring activities Christian families can participate in that do not celebrate the day or follow its traditions.
That brings me to KidzFest. This is the Family Ministry’s alternative event to Halloween. Let me take the rest of this post letting you see why the church hosts such an event. As many of you know, the staff of First Baptist Church is very serious about following biblical principles and bringing glory to God in everything we plan by way of programming and events. Here are some specific reasons why I believe it is not inappropriate for us to have Kidzfest on October 31.
KidzFest is not an event that celebrates the origins and traditions of Halloween. It does not celebrate the day as a holiday rather it uses the day as an opportunity for God’s people to show God’s love on God’s property to families in our church and community. I believe it is a true alternative because the spotlight is on God and the motivation behind it is pure and not evil. Several of our people, including one LifeGroup, will be passing out Gospel tracks and doing personal evangelism during the event (allowing the Light to shine in the darkness).
I hear the question now, “What about Trunk-O-Treating? Isn’t it too much like Trick-or- Treating?” My answer is two-fold. First the origin of what we do started with churches. The idea is that we can give, in this case candy, with the love of Christ, no strings attached. This is unlike the traditional form that began from the pagan belief that leaving food or gifts for spirits would prevent them from playing tricks on people. Second, it gives us an opportunity to minister to our community. We are providing a safe and secure environment for families who otherwise would be taking their children door-to-door on our dark county roads. The safety aspect also extends to reducing the risk of children possibly receiving tainted candy and being exposed to sexual predation.
Finally, it helps the church maintain its witness in the community. Over the years we have seen large numbers of unchurched people attend KidzFest. I have seen first hand how our members have shown unconditional love to those families, especially the children. The kindness and gentleness that is expressed on that night is something God can and will use to speak to the hearts of these unchurched families. As an added benefit, as more and more churches host events like KidzFest, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the number of families participating in the traditional way.
In Matthew 5:15-16 Jesus said “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Even if you do not plan on coming to KidzFest, let me encourage you to let your light shine on October 31. Give out Gospel tracks to the children that come to your door, host a non-Halloween party and invite unchurched neighbors to attend, or do something good like visit a nursing home. I cannot help but believe God will be pleased when his people “overcome evil with good.”
If you want to direct questions to me about the contents of this article please send them to me via email, so I can respond.
Love to all,
David
I wanted to take some time to address the issue of Halloween and the problems it presents for Christian families. I risk receiving a flood of comments from parents that are on either end of the spectrum concerning their personal convictions regarding this day. Some feel their family has the freedom to participate in the traditional secular activities that surround Halloween. Others have deep convictions that their family should completely refrain from participating in activities on October 31. Hopefully, what I have to share will bring some light to the subject for both groups and everyone in the middle.
Halloween is clearly a pagan holiday. Its origins can be easily traced back to the pagan Celtic festival known as Samhain. I won’t bore you with all the history because that information is easily accessible to everyone. Even many of the seemingly harmless traditions and symbols of the day are rooted in pagan practices and represent evil occult activities. So, I do not believe it is appropriate for Christians to celebrate Halloween or participate in its traditions. Specifically, there a few “off limits” activities I believe families should avoid:
Traditional Trick-or-Treating
Wearing costumes that represent scary or evil people/things
Going to parties that celebrate the day
Watching scary movies
Decorating homes with evil symbols (witches, black cats, jack-o-lanterns, etc.)
However, Romans 12:21 says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is the guiding verse I would use when it comes to sharing my personal philosophy of a Christian’s response to Halloween. Maybe it’s my personality, but I am not very fond of passive resistance when it comes to the devil. I find it difficult to understand how turning off the house lights and cowering in the living room hoping no children ring the doorbell wanting candy can be seen as “overcoming evil with good.” James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” I am promoting an active resistance where we take the fight to the enemy and show him that he will not steal a day that God has ordained for His glory.
I see Halloween as a great opportunity to let the light of Christ shine during the darkest day of the year. I see it as an opportunity to do things that are good in Christ name on a day when there is evil going on all around us. I see it as an opportunity to take the spotlight off the devil and put it on God where it always belongs, even on October 31. I guess what I am saying is that there are many God-honoring activities Christian families can participate in that do not celebrate the day or follow its traditions.
That brings me to KidzFest. This is the Family Ministry’s alternative event to Halloween. Let me take the rest of this post letting you see why the church hosts such an event. As many of you know, the staff of First Baptist Church is very serious about following biblical principles and bringing glory to God in everything we plan by way of programming and events. Here are some specific reasons why I believe it is not inappropriate for us to have Kidzfest on October 31.
KidzFest is not an event that celebrates the origins and traditions of Halloween. It does not celebrate the day as a holiday rather it uses the day as an opportunity for God’s people to show God’s love on God’s property to families in our church and community. I believe it is a true alternative because the spotlight is on God and the motivation behind it is pure and not evil. Several of our people, including one LifeGroup, will be passing out Gospel tracks and doing personal evangelism during the event (allowing the Light to shine in the darkness).
I hear the question now, “What about Trunk-O-Treating? Isn’t it too much like Trick-or- Treating?” My answer is two-fold. First the origin of what we do started with churches. The idea is that we can give, in this case candy, with the love of Christ, no strings attached. This is unlike the traditional form that began from the pagan belief that leaving food or gifts for spirits would prevent them from playing tricks on people. Second, it gives us an opportunity to minister to our community. We are providing a safe and secure environment for families who otherwise would be taking their children door-to-door on our dark county roads. The safety aspect also extends to reducing the risk of children possibly receiving tainted candy and being exposed to sexual predation.
Finally, it helps the church maintain its witness in the community. Over the years we have seen large numbers of unchurched people attend KidzFest. I have seen first hand how our members have shown unconditional love to those families, especially the children. The kindness and gentleness that is expressed on that night is something God can and will use to speak to the hearts of these unchurched families. As an added benefit, as more and more churches host events like KidzFest, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the number of families participating in the traditional way.
In Matthew 5:15-16 Jesus said “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Even if you do not plan on coming to KidzFest, let me encourage you to let your light shine on October 31. Give out Gospel tracks to the children that come to your door, host a non-Halloween party and invite unchurched neighbors to attend, or do something good like visit a nursing home. I cannot help but believe God will be pleased when his people “overcome evil with good.”
If you want to direct questions to me about the contents of this article please send them to me via email, so I can respond.
Love to all,
David
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