Well the boxes are fewer and the days are a bit more routine. Things seem to be settling down as we have made our move and are into the work here in our new ministry. The church is doing well and God has seen fit to bring visitors through our doors each week so far.
One or our prayers was that the Lord would begin to bring mature, Christian families to our church. considering our size I knew we would need people to help shoulder the load and also spread the enthusiasm we have about this great work. The Lord seems to have answered with at least one family so far.
Continue to pray that the Lord will help us reach this city. Over 200,000 souls need to hear the Gospel and we understand that we are just a piece in God's plan. However, we want to take back this city for Christ and truly make Him known.
We have begun!.....Let the journey begin!.....The hardest step is the first one!....BROTHER! E-GAD! UGG!
So many cliches and exclamatory phrases come together when one begins this process of packing and thinking about what to keep and what to toss. I must say...the decisions are getting easier the more I get into this. Of course I will not let Kelly see me. No, I have not thrown out anything sentimental or important (to me).
We are finally wrapping up the basement and getting to a measure of control on what we have buried for these past 4 years, but then the real fun of packing up the breakables and everyday things. Kelly is a sport and is getting more and more into the "sport" of packing. We sure are hoping the truck is going to be big enough!
We close on our new home on January 31st. Pray that all the details will be settled and that we will be ready to go on that date. We then have our last Sunday here on February 24. I have the truck coming on Thursday and from there it is a mad dash to load and head out for WI. Pray for safety in packing and travelling. Kelly will be driving with the three little guys.
We are very excited about what the Lord is going to do. For sure we know it will be Him and most certainly not us. After closing we will try to put some additional pictures on the blogs to let those of you who care see what it has for an interior.
Audios for now! (For all those missionary friends learning Spanish like David.)
Came across this from FaithVisuals, and thought I would share it. Seems to have some necessary ingredients for our day and how we approach this aspect of the "worship service." Click on the link here.
August? Hard to believe that it has been so long ago, but I guess this is my world of thoughts and if anyone other than myself is reading this, then, all I can say is, "I am back!" Now we will have to see for how long.
I know we have been on this little discourse about Eternal Security, but I am going to go away for a moment and just catch up with my own thoughts as to where I am these days.
As a family we are soon to move to another ministry come March. The Lord has seen fit to move us from our place here in Nebraska to a ministry in Wisconsin. Sometimes I would love to think that the Lord would have me in a much warmer environment, but I guess we are destined to hang around the arctic regions of this great country. Proverbs 3:5, 6 keep coming up as an age old principle of God's direction and our need as well as our ability to "Trust in the Lord." God has certainly been doing some great things to confirm that this is His will and not our pushing or pulling to have our way.
When we set out as a family to determine if God was certainly moving us from our place here, I was praying that the Lord would establish it within the heart of my wife as well. I was so concerned that Kelly be certain and very connected to this decision. The past few places we have served it has been really more my call and her willingness. This time I was asking the Lord to seal it sure within her heart and let it be her coming to terms with the way the Lord was working as much as in my heart.
I can still remember the night that Kelly and I were on our knees praying about this new opportunity and us both in tears just asking the Lord for wisdom. After we got up she turned to me and said, "Let's go!" Wow!
The other aspect was a place to live. We have lived in a parsonage ever since coming to Nebraska and we had no idea if we even could get a loan or if we could even afford the housing market we were going into. Every time we have attempted to get into the market, it has always been a bit out of reach. So, we went and followed a realtor around for a few hours. Found some places that were really to far away from our church. We were just afraid that we would not be able to host people in our home and be able to offer an important part of our ministry, hospitality. We found one house about 30 minutes away and in need of some repair, but Kelly and I both just had no peace about making any offer on it.
We came home a bit discouraged, and yet we both knew that if the Lord wanted us in this place that He was going to work it all out. On January 6, 2008, I officially resigned as pastor of our church. It was very difficult. And yet in many ways, I find that God is ready to move here as well as in our move to Wisconsin. The morning of that Sunday, our realtor emailed a MLS sheet of a house in the area where we were hoping to find a home. The problem is that these homes are several thousands of dollars above our range. However, this one was in foreclosure and had been marked down "several thousands of dollars" below even the assessed price. I called Kelly and told her to look at it right away. Right then and there I knew that it was the one. Yeah, right! I hoped, but I figured that by the time we actually got back up there to look it would be gone. I know....."Oh ye of little faith."
Kelly and I planned a trip up to the area we are going to live and we set up an appointment to look at nearly 20 homes. We were determined to look and find our home in one day. We knew now what we could afford and so we set out. This house from the email was in our list. It was still on the market. No offers had been made and we were going to get to see it.
We looked at probably 5-6 houses before we got to it. Then, as soon as we walked in, Kelly and I both knew that this was our home. It gives me chills! We put in an offer still lower than what the bank had it listed for. We know that we were going to get it though. Yeah, right! We still didn't understand that God was truly working on our behalf. We got a counter offer that night and we countered yet again. The problem was that we didn't get it into them in time before they closed, so we had to wait all night until 10:00 the next morning. Our realtor, by the way here name is Angel, called and confirmed that we were accepted! We could hardly believe it. Oh, God is so Good! Can you taste it?
To imagine that He would consider me and my family! It does the bank of faith good to see the handiwork of God. It does our hearts good to know that He truly answers prayer. It does our children good to hear that God works and here is proof. We close the 31st and will move in on March 1. May God be praised!
I apologize for the delay in picking up where I left off on this topic of salvific certainty. I have enjoyed some needed time away and the opportunity to see some family I have not seen in actually years.
This topic is becoming more dominant as I travel and interract with other pastors and church attenders. The conversations usually are the same with baffled looks and expressions of "how can they believe this?" The fact of the matter is that there are those within evangelical circles that are being taught that they can lose their salvation. They can miss out on going to heaven. Where do they get this?
Now, last time I mentioned that I had spoken with a lady who felt that one could never be "kicked out of God's family, but you could choose to leave God's family." The basis of this was founded upon "logic." I am in no way trying to belittle this individual. However, the basis of such a dangerous position was not directly from Scripture, but from a feeling of logical conclusions.
To this one and many others the impression is that if I sin and make the conscious decision to abandon God, renounce my faith, and leave off following the will of God, then I am no longer a "born again" individual.
To some other individual's credit they will turn to passages of Scripture. One that really amazed me was when one used Luke 9:23 which says,
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Now I do understand that in Luke discipleship and salvation go hand in hand, but to equate this verse with a possible dropping of the cross meaning you have left the ranks and am no longer a Christian is beyond the context or the intention of what Christ is referring to.
Others use Hebrews 6; 2 Peter 2:20, 21; Romans 8:13; Revelation 22:18, 19; etc. I recently received a book entitled, The Believer's Condtional Security. It was written by David D. Corner who was unknown to me and no biographical information is on the book. The book runs close to 800 pages and tries to discredit the stance of eternal secuity. Corner's contintion amongst many is that an apostate is a believer that leaves the faith. Thus if this one is saved and is then described as Scripture does, then one can lose his or her salvation.
Now we will leave this hanging for a time and I intend to come back with some further provocation as well as some hopeful answers. Take a look at these verses and see if you see a problem with the direction these individuals take them.
