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What are you thankful for?

The past couple of weeks in the life of Wilkesboro Baptist Church have been amazing. I am thankful to our Lord for answered prayers and for souls saved.

In recent weeks, children, teenagers, and adults have placed their trust in Jesus Christ. Some of them will follow through with believer’s baptism on Sunday November 28.

Baptism on November 28 coincides with the final sermon in our current sermon series: LIFE, DEATH, HELL, HEAVEN. The final sermon in the series is on HEAVEN. We will celebrate the professions of faith through baptism and look at what the Bible teaches about HEAVEN in our services this week.

This series has reminded me of some specific things for which I am thankful:

  • I’m thankful that God answered the prayers of family and friends for the salvation of sinners. Many of those who have professed faith recently have been on my prayer list and/or on the prayer lists of parents, Sunday school classes, and discipleship groups.
  • I’m thankful for the opportunity to preach the gospel and to share the gospel personally. It is my calling and joy to preach the gospel, and I’m grateful when God brings sinners to salvation connected to our worship services. But it is also my calling to share the gospel personally. I’ve had the opportunity to share the gospel personally with some of those who have recently come to faith.
  • I’m thankful for parents who are faithful to share the gospel with their children, bring them to church, and pray for their children. The tears of joy in the eyes of parents when their children come to faith is an unforgettable privilege I am thankful for.
  • I’m thankful for our children and student ministries and our ministerial staff who lead them, Tad Craig and Danielle Hicks. Their gospel-centered teaching and leadership help saturate children and students with the good news of Jesus.
  • I’m thankful for baptism. Baptism is the public declaration of one’s personal decision to follow Jesus. It is a time for the church to celebrate with those who have trusted in Jesus Christ.
  • I’m thankful for our Trinitarian God who saves. Before the world began, God the Father planned our salvation (not just the events that occurred 2,000 years ago, but also the personal circumstances that have brought each of us to salvation). God the Son secured our salvation by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. God the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and makes us alive by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Remember this, as much as we want God to save our friends and family, our neighbors and the nations, God wants to save them more.

What things are you thankful for? Give this question some thought this week. Make time to thank God for what he’s done and for what he’s doing.

During this Thanksgiving week, let me encourage you to not only be thankful, but to celebrate with us at Wilkesboro Baptist.

  • Plan to attend either the 9:30 am service or the 11:00 am service on November 28. We’re baptizing in both services, and we will look at what the Bible says about HEAVEN in all our services this week.
  • Invite others to attend. The willingness of our church folks to invite friends and family to attend during this sermon series has been a blessing! Keep inviting. Sunday, November 28 will be a special day that you don’t want to miss.
  • Continue to pray. God is at work. Don’t lose heart in praying for sinners to come to faith in Jesus. God is answering your prayers and mine. Keep asking God to save. Ask God to open blinded eyes, to soften hard hearts, and to rescue sinners from death and hell.
  • Share the good news. The good news is meant to be shared. God rescued us, but he also commissioned us to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus. Look for an opportunity this week to tell someone about the life that Christ has given you.

We ought to be thankful for the salvation we’ve received, and we ought to be faithful to share the good news with those who’ve yet to receive salvation. In this past week’s sermon I referenced a powerful appeal by Charles Spurgeon to his congregation at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Let this appeal both burden and bless us this week as we pray for, invite, and share with our neighbors and the nations.

Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Sermon XX: The Wailing of Risca.”[1]

[1] Quoted by Denny Burk,. Four Views on Hell (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) (p. 43). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

United on a Path Forward (a word about Southern Baptist life)

(This article was previously published here by the Biblical Recorder. For more news and analysis about North Carolina Baptist life and Southern Baptists, visit the brnow.org).

Being a Southern Baptist is who I am. My father pastored Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches. My education came from SBC institutions. Currently, I pastor an SBC church and have the privilege of serving as a professor and board member, respectively, at SBC institutions. I love the Southern Baptist Convention and thank God for what He has accomplished through SBC churches.

Southern Baptists are known for church autonomy and mission cooperation even where theological and methodological differences exist. It’s not surprising that our denomination has differences of opinion, but I believe it is at a watershed moment. 

We are experiencing a crisis of morality. Sexual abuse and misconduct of any nature should never happen in the body of Christ, but it does. If and when immoral conduct is discovered, followers of Jesus are accountable for handling these situations in a manner that is above reproach. 

Abuse victims need care, not cover-up. Messengers at the annual meeting in Nashville overwhelmingly stated that we are willing to face this crisis of morality. 

This almost led to a crisis of polity with the delays of the SBC’s Executive Committee to follow messengers’ expressed wishes. These crises damage the witness of the SBC. 

In The End of Christendom, British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge observed the demise of Christian power structures. Muggeridge’s insights from decades ago overlap with what the SBC faces today: “Christendom is something quite different from Christianity, being the administrative or power structure, based on the Christian religion and constructed by men.” 

Muggeridge noted: Christendom fails. Christianity does not. He reminded readers that Christ founded Christianity, and it will go on. Christians come and go. Denominations and local churches wane. Christ remains.

Our meeting last week in Greensboro included good news. We can be grateful for the positive trajectory for North Carolina Baptists. Yet heaviness lingers about our national denomination and the expected reports in coming months. 

I believe there is a path forward for our denomination. Our path forward through any of the news and division must be guided by humility, repentance, and grace. 

Humility must clothe us on our path. Instead of seeking the applause of our echo chambers, N.C. Baptists should wrap ourselves with humility (1 Peter 5:5) and look first to the interests of each other (Philippians 2:4). 

Repentance must guide our path. Regardless of the final revelations from the Sexual Abuse Task Force and Guidepost investigation into the Executive Committee, we must adopt a posture of repentance. If denominational leaders we appointed mishandled abuse allegations or defamed victims, then we are guilty and must repent (Nehemiah 1:6). 

Grace must light our path. Instead of vitriol and name-calling, we need to share the grace we’ve received. We believe in grace and revel in it. So we must offer grace to one another, especially to the one with whom we disagree (Acts 20:32). 

Here’s my prayer for the recent NC Baptist meeting and for the SBC in general. May our posture be one of prayer. May our hearts be humble. May our eyes be enlightened by the truth. May our wills be willing to confront reality. And may our words be wise in response to what we hear and see.

Photo by Lili Popper on Unsplash