We got off to a great start last night with our Big Apple Adventure for Vacation Bible School. We’ve got a great group of kids, fantastic workers and a topnotch kitchen crew! This is going to be a good week. Pray that we will see fruit from our labor this week.

Sunday will be a big day as we gather for worship and recognize God’s grace given to our Nation. I know that many have plans for this holiday weekend but I hope that you will join us for worship on Sunday morning July 3. We’ll not have evening service on the 3rd and encourage you to enjoy time with family and friends.

It is important to recognize God’s grace given to us nationally. We are who we are by God’s grace. We’ve enjoyed a place of prominence in world events but that is not because we are entitled. It is not because we are righteous but because of God’s sovereign will and purpose. I’m grateful for the fact that the church and the teachings of Christ have played a dominate role in our history but only the most naïve among us would fail to recognize the landscape has changed. We are well on our way to being a secularized society (if we are not there already). The church’s influence is waning, attendance is in sharp decline and hostility towards our faith is increasing. I love this country. There’s no place I’d rather live but we need a spiritual rebirth. We need a fresh movement of the Spirit of God in our land. That comes not through arrogance or demanding our seat at the table. It comes through humility and repentance. It comes as a result of our crying out to God to be merciful to us. It comes when we understand that God does not need the USA but we are helpless without Him.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

This Sunday is Fathers Day. I was joking the other day with a friend and said, “I didn’t get my dad anything for Fathers Day, he already has everything.” I’m grateful for the knowledge that my dad is in heaven enjoying the presence of the Lord and the glories of eternity and I’m grateful for what he taught me. Billy Sunday is credited with saying, “Give a boy a godly mother and any old stick will do for a dad.” I can appreciate Mr. Sunday’s enthusiasm for mothers but I’m afraid he underestimates dad’s role.

A father sets a standard of manhood for his children. He teaches his sons what it means to be a man and he model’s for his daughter what she should expect from a husband. Dad your role is important and it will have long-term affects on your children and grandchildren. My father was not a perfect man. He was a frail child of dust, broken, flawed yet redeemed. Yes I’ve inherited some of his flaws and added a few of my own. But he taught me unconditional love. He taught me to sacrifice myself for the sake of my family. He taught me the importance of demonstrating, in tangible ways, the value of my children. He taught me the power of “presence,” of love and support. He taught me to stand up for what I believe, even if it is unpopular. He taught me to live by conviction. Most importantly he taught me to love Christ, the Word of God and the church.

I hope and pray that through my own brokenness I’ve been able to pass on those valuable lessons to my own children. Happy Fathers Day. I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

What does it really mean to affirm the sovereignty of God? What does it mean to affirm God’s wisdom and goodness? It is one thing to verbally affirm or confess these things it is another to live them. If I believe God is sovereign, wise and good how should I respond with things do not go well? That is the problem isn’t it? As long as life is beautiful I have no problem with His sovereign, wise goodness but when all Hell breaks loose, well that’s different. But why should it be different? Is He any less sovereign, wise or good when times are bad? I started thinking about this because of what I read this morning in The Valley of Vision during my morning devotions. The author prayed, “Help me to see how good thy will is in all, and even when it crosses mine teach me to be pleased with it.”

Help me to see and help me to be pleased with it even when it crosses mine. That really is it. That is how I affirm God’s sovereignty, His wisdom and His goodness. I affirm these things when I’m able to be “pleased” in every circumstance. I know I’m making progress in godliness when His sovereign will has crossed my selfish desire and I’m pleased to yield to His command. I’m delighted to abandon my pursuit in favor of His. For that to happen I’m going to have to pray a lot more! If you think about would you pray for me too?

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

“I understand why we have an offering for foreign missions but why North American missions? I mean there’s a church on every corner here.” It is easy to think that way given the number of churches around Tulsa and the fact that you can hear the gospel hourly on radio and television. Is such an emphasis needed in Christian America? The task assigned to the North American Mission Board is to assist Southern Baptist Churches in reaching the United States and Canada with the Gospel. That’s a mission field of 258 million lost people. That’s 3 out of 4 people living in the United States and Canada. The bottom line is that we are losing ground. The need is great and time is of the essence. Our church goal is $3,500.00, which is not much when you consider the national goal of $70 million but it’s a start.

What can your gift do? A gift of $5 can place a Spanish Bible in the hands of a farmer laborer attending an outreach Bible study. $10 can provide a DVD of the “Jesus” film in the French language to reach the French Quebecois in Canada. $200 provides a case of Navajo Bibles for distribution on a Native American Reservation. A gift of any amount is applied 100% towards mission work throughout the U.S. and Canada. Just as important as your financial contribution is your prayers. Pray for an awakening across our land. Pray that God will open the eyes men and women, boys and girls to the truth of the Gospel. Pray that God would favor us with revival. And remember, it starts here.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

I love church music, I always have. Even as a young person I liked listening to choirs and the music of the church. Don’t miss understand me when I say I love church music. Do not hear me say, “I love the church music of the past exclusively.” I love many of the new hymns and choruses! Granted some of the newer stuff is not very deep. It will not stand the test of time but then not all the music of the past has survived. Of the thousands of hymns Charles Wesley wrote we sing a handful. Not every hymn by Isaac Watts remains a perennial favorite. Music does evolve and that is not wrong nor is it a bad thing. The Gospel must be spoken and sung in the language of the people if it is to reach the masses.

Part of my devotional reading is the reading of hymns. I can’t “read” music and that helps. When I’m reading hymns I’m reading the words, I’m getting the sense of the movement of the message – the tune isn’t stuck in my head (unless I’m reading a familiar hymn). One of my favorite hymnbooks for devotional purposes is Gadsby’s Hymnal first published in England in 1838. While there are hymns by Isaac Watts and John Newton most of the writers are unknown to me. Pastors and poets of past generations whose hymns have not been preserved. In my reading this week I came across this hymn by Gadsby. He speaks of the believer’s rest in Christ. Listen to verses 5 and 6 (there are 7 verses total):

Here’s life, and light, and holiness,
And righteousness divine;
A boundless treasure, all of grace,
And faith says, All is mine.

O what a rest is Christ to me!
How precious and how true!
From guilt and sin he sets me free,
And gives me glory too.

Looking for a good devotional book? Pick up a hymnal and give some serious thought to what we are singing. I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

Foundational to the life we’ve been called to as the people of God is the virtue of humility. Real humility is a hallmark of new life in Christ. I don’t mean the kind of humility that blushes and says, “You’re so kind to say that” while inwardly thinking, “You have no idea just how right you are to think so highly of me.” I mean the kind of humility born of a true knowledge of self. Humility born of knowing exactly who and what you are.

The most humbling thing in the world is to see yourself as you are rather than, as you want to be. The real you not the one you hope others see. I find the reading of The Valley of Vision (a collection of Puritan prayers) good for my soul. It is good because it is so different from most things you find from contemporary writers. I saw myself this morning in my reading:

Thou art good beyond all thought, but I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind; my lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel, and my ways reluctant to amend…My faculties have been a weapon of revolt against thee; as a rebel I have misused my strength, and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom…Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving cross.

We tend to read that as self-loathing. That’s not it at all. It’s genuine humility. Recognizing I’m a sinner owing my life to the grace of God. It’s life free from of delusion and grounded in reality. It is a life that glories in the grace of God. Life’s a lot freer when you stop pretending.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

Ah sunshine! Isn’t Oklahoma weather wonderful? 70 degrees on Saturday then three days later the worst blizzard in state history. Followed by another 5 inches on snow. Followed, a couple of days later, by 60-degree temperatures. You got to love it.

It was nice to see folks out and about this past Sunday. We had a great time of Bible study and worship. We also had a good and productive meeting with our mission and ministry team. We discussed some ministry projects for the year and we put together a list to help our Sunday School classes develop quarterly projects. You’ll be seeing that list in your Sunday School box this coming Sunday. We want to encourage each of our classes to plan a ministry or mission project each quarter. We want you to be involved with reaching out to our community and touching our world with the Gospel. What you will find is a list of suggestions for the kind of things you might do. This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully it will get you thinking. As you do your projects be sure and take some pictures and give us a report we can share through the newsletter and on the screen before services. We look forward to seeing what you do!

I’ll see you and your family as we gather for worship this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

Brrrrr! Well it has been quite a week. Recorded snow. Cabin fever. Panic at the grocery stores. Of course the most shocking of all…the weather predictors were right! Maybe it is the end of the world. I trust you and your family had made it through round one. As I’m writing we are gearing up for round 2 due to hit Tuesday-Wednesday. We have had damage to our fellowship building. We have major water damage including a partially collapsed ceiling in the men’s restroom. We have water standing in the restrooms out into the main room floor. We have been working with the insurance company since last Saturday. Due to the damage we will have to postpone some events planned for the building as well as make adjustments for Sunday School. At this point we do not know how long repairs will take. Please be patient with us.

On the positive side about 60 brave souls made it to worship on Sunday morning. Thanks to Brian Hickerson for clearing the parking lot and to Mark Dix and Bob Lowery for shovel duty.

We still have a meeting planned for Sunday afternoon at 4:30 for our mission and ministry teams. This meeting is for anyone who is interested in reaching out to our community. We would love to have a representative from each Sunday School class at that meeting. We’ve got some things we would like to do in 2011 and this would be a great way to involve your class in a ministry project.

I hope to see you and your family as we gather for worship this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

I just want to take a minute to remind you that Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm there will be a training session in the worship center for the projection system. Anyone interested in helping with services on Sunday morning or evening is invited to attend this training. You will learn the basics of the system. You will learn how to enter the information for a service; edit that material; add video and run the system. It sounds complicated but the system we use is called Easy Worship and that’s exactly what it is – Easy! While basic computer skills are helpful you don’t have to be a computer genius to run this system. We’ll see all those interested Sunday afternoon.

Also I’m still looking for Scripture readers for Sunday morning. It would be nice to have 4-6 people or more to rotate reading. To date I think 1 person has expressed interest. I’ll wait for another week but if no one else is interested we’ll move in a different direction.

I also want to announce there will be a meeting at 4:00 pm on Sunday, January 30, in the fellowship hall for all parents and grandparents of our youth. We would also welcome any who are interested in working with our youth. This will be an opportunity to discuss plans for 2011, get input, answer questions and find opportunities for service. That’s Sunday afternoon, January 30, at 4:00 pm in the fellowship hall.

I look forward to seeing you and your family this coming Lord’s Day for worship and Bible study.

Rod

A new year. What great and wonderful things are in store for 2011? What sad, disappointing, and painful experiences lie ahead? I’m certain that I will experience both joy and heartache in the year to come. Some wonderful things are going to happen and I’m sure there are dark days ahead. No I’m not a pessimist I’m a realist. I know that life in a fallen world is a life of sunshine and shadows. I know that triumph and tribulation both await. So how are we to face a new year? Do we face it with the joyful anticipation of a child or with the guarded skepticism of a battle-tested veteran? The answer is yes!

We embrace the New Year with courage and confidence born of genuine faith. Faith that God is on His throne reigning over the affairs of men and nations. Faith that God is good and works all things to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Faith that nothing comes to us without His permission and accompanied by His promise to never leave or forsake. I don’t know what 2011 will bring but I know I’m not alone. I know that my future is in the hands of One who loves me and has promised His mercy and grace. I know His wisdom is greater than mine. I know that His will is perfect and righteous. I know that He can be trusted. So I look forward to 2011 as a great adventure filled with promise and the hint of danger. An adventure with an unknown and yet certain outcome. In other words I face the New Year in faith.

If nothing else, its one year closer to glory which is the best thought yet. I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod