The choir members met this morning for a great time of fellowship and fine dining. Bill Boring (chef extraordinaire) made delicious custom ordered omelettes. The Laslie’s brought outstanding bagels and breakfast sandwiches from Donalds Bagels. Dave Hunt made his signature pancakes. Charlie Hesse made the coffee. All the rest of us just scarfed down the food and enjoyed spending a morning with our choir friends.
If you’re interested in joining the choir, joining the worship team, or singing special music (solo or small group), please contact Bill Boring. We’d love to have you join us as we seek to praise our great God with music.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will require additional surgery after a scheduled colonoscopy on February 11 revealed a tumor in his colon. An initial biopsy indicated that the tumor is pre-cancerous and further tests are to be scheduled, along with surgical options.
Mohler, 48, underwent major abdominal surgery in late December 2006, complicated by the development of bilateral blood clots in his lungs. Doctors will take special precautions to prevent a recurrence of the blood clots with this new surgery. Specialists are consulting on the case, and a decision on the date and location for the surgery is to be made in the very near future. The procedure is likely to require an extensive period for recuperation and recovery.
Mohler expressed gratitude to God that medical personnel found the tumor this early.
“Sometimes we take it for granted that we live in an age like this one, in which God has given us the blessing of medical technology,” Mohler said. “For most of human history, a tumor such as this one would have gone unnoticed until it was too late. I am thankful for modern medicine, but I am even more thankful that we live in a world in which our God hears us when we pray, a Father who listens to his children.”
Mohler said that Southern Seminary “would not skip a beat” during his recuperation.
“I have absolute confidence in the seminary leadership team. We will move forward with momentum,” Mohler said. “God has blessed and is blessing Southern Seminary. We do not take that for granted, and we pledge to be good stewards of that blessing, even through this time.”
Mohler said that his time of recuperation would necessarily alter some of his plans as he gives first priority to his health and his family.
“Some have asked how this new development affects my nomination to be president of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis this June,” Mohler said. “I have decided to give my greatest attention right now to addressing this new challenge and to ministering to my wife and children. This is clearly not the right time for me to accept this nomination. I have asked my good friend Robert Jeffress not to proceed with nominating me for president of our Southern Baptist Convention this year.
“Frankly that decision is made much easier by my knowledge that there is at least one strongly conservative, committed pastor who intends to be nominated in Indianapolis,” Mohler said.
Southern Seminary will release additional information as it becomes available. The Mohler family has expressed appreciation for all concern, prayer and encouragement.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the flagship seminary of the 16-million member Southern Baptist Convention. More information is available at www.sbts.edu.
An Unguarded Heart equals Not Knowing the Will of God!
Proverbs 4:20-23
My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
God woke me up this morning and caused me to read and ponder on the subject of an unguarded heart. I began reading “Living Beyond the Daily Grind” by Charles R. Swindoll which is where most of the information I write here comes from. I would suggest reading his section on the unguarded heart if you want more thoughts and insights on this amazing passage of Scripture.
The subject of an unguarded heart is very dear to me because I teach this concept to young women in my seminars and show them how to ask the Lord for HIM to be the center of their affections. I ask the Lord everyday to guard my heart from anything or anyone who might try to steal my affection.
These are good things. But as I began to do a little more study and reading and thinking on this passage, I discovered the idea of an unguarded heart is much more than simply a concept of whether or not your heart is staying pure in relationships.
Let me explain…
The word “heart” that is found in the writings of Solomon in Proverbs is never a reference to the internal organ that pumps blood. This word “heart” is the word labe which simply means our “deepest inner being”. The heart, “labe” is the center of the mind, will and emotions…the very core of our being. This way of using the word “heart” is not uncommon throughout Scripture, for the word “labe” is used almost 100 times in the book of Proverbs alone!
Look with me at verse 23 in the New American Standard Bible:
“Watch over your heart with all diligence,
for from it flow the springs of life.”
There are three significant points found in this verse:
“Watch over” a direct command to anyone who has a heart (meaning a mind, will and emotions)
“with ALL diligence” a direct precedence…this command should never be done half way.
“for from it” a direct reason for the command of watching over.
Keep these three points in mind as we now turn our attention to some significant key words found in this verse.
In Hebrew, whatever phrase is found first in a verse is the most important of that passage. In the Hebrew, this verse begins this way: “More than all else” or “Above all else”. So we may accurately read this verse knowing that God is emphatic that whatever other concepts may be found in this verse, God holds it in great esteem: “Above all else”.
With this thought in mind, we move to the next part of the verse which tells us that we are to watch closely…very closely…above all else. In the Hebrew this phrase to “watch over” is the word “nah-tzaar” meaning to keep, to protect, and to preserve.
And what, above all else are we to watch closely in order to protect and preserve? Our heart. Another way of writing this part of the verse as a loose paraphrase of the Hebrew might be something like this:
“Above all else that should be watched closely for protection, it is your heart…your mind, will and emotions…”
And why is this such an importance in the eyes of God?
The word “for” in verse 23 of the NASB could just as easily be the word “because” and if we read the verse with the word “because” we now have an obvious answer to our question: “why?”
Because from within the heart something very significant takes place. Look again at the Hebrew for yet another word: “springs”. It’s equivalent in Hebrew mo-tzah means source, direction or way.
Putting all of this together with our new-found knowledge, we see that the reason the heart is to be protected above all else is because the heart is where the Lord directs a person’s life.
What this small, yet powerful verse in Proverbs is challenging it’s readers to do is to keep their hearts protected and responsive to God. Why? Because from within the heart comes God’s personal direction for each life.
WOW! I never thought about this verse in this way before! Let’s write a loose paraphrase of this verse using all the Hebrew meanings we have learned:
“Above all else that should be watched closely for protection, it is your heart…your mind, will and emotions…let it always be sensitive and preserved because from within your heart comes God’s direction for your life.”
In other words, your heart is what God speaks to when He desires you to understand His will for your life. And to God, this is the most important thing (above all else!): to have your heart always ready to hear from Him, to be sensitive to Him, and to be willing to hear His direction for your life and act upon it.
If our hearts are self-focused and only interested in doing the will of ourselves, we put ourselves in a position to miss out on hearing God’s will for us at that time, because our hearts were not in a place to listen. Our hearts must be in a position to hear God’s will before He will reveal it to us.
And now the personal question: what is the position of your heart? Is it bent on fulfilling your own will? Or is it ready to hear from the Lord? Does your heart have top priority to be protected and sensitive to God’s will?
May God cause us to take what we have learned…to heart.
Sunday all the ladies of the church that particpated in the “Secret Sisters” gathered to exchange gifts and to reveal whose name they had this past year. This was also a time to thank the person who had prayed and left little gifts at the church library for us. Some had already guessed the person who had their name, while others of us had no clue. We had a fun time of fellowship and, of course, food. For a few of us, this was the first year to participate, while others like Peg Hunt (shown in the photos) have been partcipating since the church started this ministry.
In the next few weeks we will start the new Secret Sister year and will pick new names. I love learning about another lady in the church, praying for her, and leaving her little gifts. I would encourage any of the ladies who have not participated to prayerfully consider becoming a part of this ministry. The leaders include a list of all the ladies’ birthdays who are involved. I have enjoyed sending cards to some of these ladies for their birthday, even though they weren’t the person I had for my Secret Sister.
The kickoff meeting for OFRBC’s new Men’s Bible Study, Iron Sharpens Iron, was a great success this morning if turnout, learning, and fellowship are indications of success.
Twenty-six men met this morning to study the concept of making disciples and being disciples of Christ. As part of our study, Pastor Mike challenged us to consider which of the six types of people as described in Gordon Macdonald’s Restoring Your Spiritual Passion most closely resembled each of us:
Very resourceful people: People who stimulate and challenge the ministry leaders. Those whom the ministry leaders consider mentors.
Very important people: People who share with the ministry leaders in their ministry, often considered associates.
Very trainable people: Those who have potential for ministry, who can be trained by the ministry leaders.
Very nice people: Very nice people who add little to the ministry and do very little ministry themselves.
Very draining people: Those who could easily consume most of the ministry leaders’ time and energy. They are takers who seldom become producers or givers—needy folks who drain the ministry leaders of their strength and time.
Very nasty people: Those whose life’s calling seems to be to harass and trouble the ministry leaders. Similar to the Pharisees.
Pastor Mike teaches the men
As Mike drew our attention to Luke 6 and Jesus’ choosing of his disciples/apostles and Jesus’ sermon on the mount (including the Beatitudes), we were directed to reflect on the fact that Jesus made it clear that to be true disciples, we must be willing to sacrifice earthly things. We were asked: 1) Are we willing to make those sacrifices? 2) What roadblocks in our lives are keeping us from being true disciples? 3) What strategies can we devise to remove those roadblocks through God’s power?
This was an outstanding time of study and fellowship. If you didn’t make it to this meeting, don’t miss the next one. You won’t regret it!
We will be meeting the second Saturday every month.
When I Don’t Desire God by John Piper. This is the full version of this book in PDF format. This has been provided by Desiring God Ministries. You may print this out and use it to further your study of this morning’s discussion.
Many of us heard yesterday that the Archbishop of Canterbury made a statement accepting the likelihood that Sharia law will be put into place for Muslims in the U.K. This is evidence of the breakdown of British culture—especially British religious culture. But this article reveals much greater evidence that our Christian brothers and sisters in Great Britain are living in an openly hostile environment.
Matthew 11:2-5 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
So many times I have read Matthew 11:2-5. But until recently I had not noticed that this passage deals directly with what has come to be called the “social gospel”—the idea of taking food to the needy, helping orphans, providing shelter, and meeting other needs, but doing so without particular concern for meeting spiritual needs.
Last night Ranger Horton spoke at our mid-week service. He pointed out something I had never noticed before in this passage. Jesus directly addresses how he met the needs of specific people:
To:
He gave:
The blind
The sense of sight
The lame
The ability to walk
The lepers
Health
The deaf
The sense of hearing
The dead
Life
The poor
The gospel
Did you notice what Jesus gave to the poor? He gave them the gospel. Yes, he fed people—in fact, he fed thousands with a couple loaves and fishes. But those he fed were with him because they wanted what he had to give more than they wanted to care for their own physical needs, so Jesus took care of their physical needs for them. It seems from this passage that Jesus’ main concern for the poor was that they here the message of good news that the Christ had come to redeem mankind through his death on the cross and eventual resurrection from the dead.
Christianity compels us to care for the needs of others and we should certainly feed the poor, clothe the naked, and comfort the hurting. But we must never do it without sharing the gospel. We are not here to save the world—that’s God’s job. We are here to tell the world that the Almighty God reached to sinful man with his love by sending his Son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for the sins of everyone who believes.
What a wonderful message! What a wonderful way to meet the needs of the people around us.
