You know John.  He is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Pell City, and one of my favorite people in the world…except when I have to spend 17 days with him in Asia.  He and I plan to befriend one another again in five years.

Here is John’s thought-provoking list:

The joy of preaching…I get to share God’s Word every week…
The pressure of preaching…I have to share God’s Word every week…

The beauty of the Body of Christ…
The ugliness that is often associated with the Body of Christ…

The devotion and generosity of God’s people…
The sheer apathy of some inside of the Church…

The glory of seeing someone come to Christ…
The pain of seeing someone reject Christ…

The pure celebration of a wedding…
The heart wrenching pain of a divorce…

The wonder of a new child being born…
The agony of losing a loved one…

The privilege of being sought for counsel…
The responsibility of being sought for counsel…

The excitement of day-to-day ministry…
The daily grind of day-to-day ministry…

The blessing of writing a daily blog…
The hardship of writing my blog and Ryan Whitley’s blog…

Thank you for your support, Dr. Thweatt.  I could never do what I do without you, especially with my daily blog.

Like Ron Ethridge from yesterday, I find it interesting on what Jimmy never gets used to in ministry. Perhaps you are learning more from the hearts of these pastors.

• Crises that change the direction of ministry and life
• Divorce that separates men, women, children, families and churches
• Critical Deacons who care more about getting their way than finding God’s way
• People not tithing out of self-centeredness and ignorance and disobedience
• Balloon Payments on building debt
• Insurance costs of living in the 21st century and what could be done with that money if we simply trusted God
• Lone Ranger Staff who ignore vision and mission for the sake of their territory
• Being catered to by those who should know better
• The expectation that I know or should know everything about every subject that pertains to everything under the sun
• The church member who thinks I don’t commit sin and the church member who accuses me of sins I don’t commit
• The lack of love and patience from those who say they follow Christ but have no fruit born of the Spirit
• Preachers who do not preach the Gospel
• The institution formally known as the church now sustained by human will, cultural innovation and group manipulation
• Believers who don’t, deacons who won’t, and staff who shouldn’t have.

Today’s insight is from Dr. Ron Ethridge, pastor of Huffman Baptist Church.

Positive:

1. Sensing God’s actual presence when His people meet for worship on Sunday…
2. Observing the joy in a person when God brings them from darkness to light…
3. Seeing people’s eyes and hearing their voices when God reveals His truth to them…
4. Knowing that each Sunday I worship with people I’ll see in heaven forever…
5. The joy of God’s people in Him when they suffer significant adversity…
6. Watching so many of God’s people engage in significant ministries that few know of…
7. The regular and constant encouragement I see and receive from God’s people…
8. The dynamic of God’s presence as I write messages to deliver to His people…
9. Realizing that I get paid to study Scripture, Pray, Visit, Preach, Counsel, and Teach Scripture…
10. The sense of knowing in my spirit that God is actually using me… a sinner… to shepherd HIS people…
11. And there are many more… these are enough.

Negative:

1. How easily I can cause people to stumble by what I say or a look I give…
2. Satan so easily causes people in church to stumble (Refer to previous thought)…
3. Being misunderstood (Refer to previous two thoughts)…
4. Being misrepresented by people about who I am… my vision & motivations… (Ditto)
5. It seems that many are so slow to embrace something that takes faith to accomplish…
6. The constant pressure to serve faithfully and to know that I will stand before God to give an account for everything I say and do as a pastor (Hebrews 13:17b).

• Loving my people
• Laughing with my people
• Praying for my people when they are sick
• Grieving the death of one of my brothers or sisters
• Dealing with people who have an agenda
• Learning to love unloving people
• Trying to discover someone’s motivation
• Counseling someone who is angry at someone else
• Counseling someone who is angry at me
• Confronting a brother or sister living in sin
• Trying to understand people who have a shallow commitment to Christ
• Watching someone walk away from the church
• Saying farewell to a church member joining another church
• Welcoming a church member back after they joined another church
• Saying farewell to a staff member God moves away
• Visiting sick members in the hospital
• Writing notes of encouragement
• Welcoming new members in membership class
• Studying God’s Word each week as I prepare for Sunday
• Preaching my heart out on Sunday
• Feeling exhausted all day on Monday after preaching my heart out on Sunday
• Challenging my sheep to live for God’s glory
• Sharing the gospel
• Counseling someone as they are being born again
• Counseling a new believer about baptism
• Baptizing a new believer
• Loving and discipling a group of men
• Loving and discipling my staff
• Rejoicing with those who rejoice
• Mourning with those who mourn

1. The supreme object of the work of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls.
2. The only power that can do this work is the Holy Spirit, not our own strength.
3. The one and only medium through which the Spirit works is the Scriptures; therefore, we “reason out of the Scriptures” as Paul did.
4. The preceding principles give us the true motivation for evangelism –  a zeal for God and love for others.
5. There is a constant danger heresy through a false zeal and employment of unscriptural methods.

But over the years, some ivy began to grow up around the entrance to this church building. This ivy began to cover the big sign above the door. Soon, the sign simply read, “We Preach Christ.” The members of the church never quite noticed that this took place, because the sign accurately reflected what was going on from the church. Rather than preaching a crucified Messiah as they had in the past, they were now preaching a loving man as an example of how to live.

As the years continued, the ivy continued its encroachment upon the sign, which now read, “We Preach.” Again, the people in the church hardly noticed the change in the sign, as the message of the church had become more of a lecture than a gospel proclamation.

Sometime later, the ivy had covered even more of the sign, to the point where the sign simply said, “We.” Again, the church hardly noticed as they were only interested in themselves. By the time the ivy covered the entire sign, the church was forced to shut its doors, due to the lack of attendance.

How did this happen? The church had forgotten Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. May this never be the case with Crosspoint Church!

1. Have you been born again?
2. If you answer yes, what evidence is there in your life of having a new birth?
3. If it is not clear or this question makes you feel uneasy, then go before the Lord and He will show your true disposition.

I ask you those same three questions today.  Have you been born again?  If so, what is the evidence?  If not, and this inquiry makes you feel uneasy then ask the Lord to reveal to you what you need to do.

For I believe God is able enough to reveal to you the lostness of your soul.

Bertha Smith, Go Home and Tell

In some churches we act like God is impotent.  The preacher adds an extra stanza to the closing song, saying the Savior is waiting, we must decide.  The evangelist says he’s only going to give you one more minute, and then the invitation will close.  The counselor tells you this may be your only opportunity to respond to Christ, so you better not leave the room.  Sometimes those pleas make God sound like He is unable to save the lost soul, and that the entire decision rests in the hands of the lost sinner.

The God of the Bible does not need an extra stanza in a song or one more minute in a service or a final opportunity to save someone.  The God of the Bible is constantly pursing the lost person.  He is constantly working on them.  And a man-centered strategy or technique is not going to make the difference.  What makes the difference is the work of the Holy Spirit in that person’s life.

The more I share the gospel with people the more I learn I am just a link in the chain of the gospel message.  And the more I share the gospel the more I realize it is not my technique that saves people.  When someone is saved, it is the result of the power of God in their life.  All I am and all you are is a conduit through which God works.

It is not our ability to convince people to be saved that matters.  It is the power of the Gospel that matters.  Thus it is our responsibility to clearly communicate the Gospel message so that people can be saved.  Perhaps we would we wise in plainly telling people about Jesus and leaving the rest in God’s hands.

Provided for you is a very simple explanation of what it means to be saved.  I have asked the Lord to use this explanation to help you understand what salvation through Jesus Christ means.

1. First and foremost, there is only one God, who is holy, perfect and righteous.
2. The holy God created every human being for the sole purpose of reflecting His glory.
3. God requires every human being to be holy, righteous and perfect before Him.
4. When Adam, the first human sinned, he sinned against the Holy God and thus became a representative of the human race.
5. As a result of Adam’s sin, every human being has inherited a sinful and corrupt nature.
6. Our sinful nature offends God’s infinite holy character, and deserves therefore an infinite damnation.
7. In order for God to receive and accept us God had to do for man what man could not do for Himself.
8. God sent Jesus Christ, His eternal Son, to save sinners from His infinite punishment.
9. As a sinless man, Jesus Christ represented sinners as the One who has perfectly obeyed God’s Law, and by His death died in the place of sinners to fully satisfy God’s wrath.
10. Yet Jesus Christ did not remain dead in the grave.  He came back to life, and He is still alive today.
11. When confronted with the reality that God is holy and man is sinful, the Bible teaches that one must plead for mercy and repent of their sin in order to avoid the wrath to come.
12. This repentance leads to an abiding faith in Christ.
13. All those who repent and believe in the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, shall be saved forever.
14. The acceptance of God that comes by the faith given to us in repentance calls every born again believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to live a life of faithfulness and holiness before God.

Source Unknown

She is the precious young lady who was curious about our profession as pastors. She’s also the one who wanted a copy of the Bible in the King James Version. (Yes, I have a friend working to give her a copy of God’s Word).

Well, check out this latest email I received from her over the weekend.  I have copied and pasted the email exactly the way she wrote it:

Mr.Whitley,

I am sorry to reply you so late. I hope you still remeber me, the guide in the palace. I have tried to browse your website on April 7th, but failed, only John’s page is Ok, but it is a black background and red letters. i am not sure wheather it is what it should be, or it is wrong because of my computer or because of the reason you mentioned. and just now, i tried again,it is great! Everything is so clear and well-designed.i printed the screen and used the attachment sending the photos of the two website to you! If you do not mind, can i link your website to my microblog(similar to the twitter in the US) and also my own blog? so more Chinese people will get to know or know the religion better. Actually, sometimes, lots of foreign website cannot be used in China, even facebook is not allowed! so i think, it is not only the webs about the Lord is prohibited. I believe, finally one day, all the web can be used in China.

Best wishes to you!

Mary

I responded immediately by saying, “Yes, indeed.  Please share my webpage and John’s with everyone you know.

Now that is incredible, isn’t it?

What can we learn from this encounter?

The lesson is simple.  Be sensitive to everyone you meet.  Listen closely to what they say.  Pay attention.  In doing so, you may be given the opportunity to share Christ with them.

By the way, Mary, if you are reading my blog today I trust you know we continue to pray for you.  We want you to know the Lord will save you and forgive you of your sins if you cry out to Him in faith by confessing your sins to Him.  My message is the same for any of Mary’s friends reading today’s blog.  Many of my daily readers are praying for the people of China to learn about Jesus Christ and His desire to set you free from your sins.

*Name has been changed to protect her identity.