MY PREACHING ITINERARY

JANUARY 2010

3rd - Mt. Olive P. B. Church, 819 Fletcher St., Thomasville, GA, 11:00AM - Pastor Ronnie Fields


DECEMBER 2009

6th - St. James P. B. Church, 545 Scotland Road, Havana, FL, 11:00AM - Pastor Robert Gaines

27th - New Canaan Baptist Church , 117 E. 7th Ave. Havana, FL, 10:00AM - Pastor Horace Dozier

NO GREATER WITNESS

THERE IS NO GREATER WITNESS FOR CHRIST THAN A GODLY MARRIAGE.

How a man relates to his wife is the primary focus in building a healthy marriage. Here are three things a husband should do towards his wife: Love Her, Lead Her and Listen to Her.

LOVE HER

There is absolutely no mistake about it. The Christian husband is commanded by God to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. So brothers, the key to loving your wife is finding out how Christ loves the Church. It is given to us in Ephesians 5:25-31.

LEAD HER

To lead simply means to go before or to show the way. The husband is in a position of headship and leadership.
Ref. Ephesians 5:23; I Cor. 11:3, 8, 9; I Tim. 2:13

LISTEN TO HER

One of the most common complaints wives have about their husbands is, “My husband doesn’t listen to me.” Husbands usually find it hard to listen especially when their wives talk about problems. According to Jim Gray, in his book Men Are From Mars and Women are from Venus, men find it hard to listen because he feels she is holding him responsible; she talks about a problem he can do nothing about; or he is waiting for her to get to the bottom line and she keeps going and going and going and going…

This is what I've learned:

Listening shows INTEREST- she feels VALUED.
Listening secures INFORMATON - she feels VALIDATED.
Listening starts INTIMACY - she feels VINDICATED.

Remember guys, it is so easy for us to get side-tracked and neglect to LOVE, LEAD and LISTEN to our wives. Here's the key - love her like you would your own body; lead her as if you were in her place; listen to her as if every word were as important as a precious rain drop in a dry desert.

MY PREACHING ITINERARY

NOVEMBER 2009

1st - New Zion P. B. Church, 3845 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee FL, 11:00am - Pastor F. R. Rush

8th - Mt. Olive P. B. Church, 8 Spring Creek Highway, Crawfordville, FL, 11:30am - Pastor Samuel Hayes

15th - Friendship P. B. Church, 5775 Ben Bostick Road, Quincy, FL, 11:00am - Pastor Cedric Spradley

28th - St. Paul P. B. Church, 110 Lanier Drive, Gretna, FL, 6:00pm - Pastor Daniel Williams

29th - Mt. Zion P. B. Church, 20 South 9th Street, Quincy, FL, 11:00am - Pastor Melvin Mobley

This month is turning out to be very busy for me. I pray that the Lord would use me mightily to declare His truth with power and clarity. Glory to His name.

HOW IS A PERSON ADMITTED INTO THE PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH?

As some of you are aware, I am an ordained minister in the Primitive Baptist Church. For the past four years, I have had the privilege of teaching a class of my fellow ministers from our Church Discipline at our annual Church School Convention. Our Discipline is a document that contains our Articles of Faith and bylaws. This year I chose to teach on how our denomination admits members. Below is a skeletel outline of the teaching.

1. ADMISSION BY LETTER

a. Courtesy

Each church owes the other the courtesy of sending a letter or asking for a letter.

b. Connection

By presenting a letter, the prospective church member is expressing a desire to connect with a church of like faith.

c. Continuation

The letter enables a prospective church member to join another church without a break in membership.

d. Commendation

The letter is basically a note of commendation which certifies the person’s character and standing with their previous church.

2. ADMISSION BY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE

a. Communication

A person without a letter should clearly communicate to their new church an account of their conversion and Christian life. If this is not clearly communicated, then the church in which they desire membership has no basis to admit them.

b. Confession

The new member should make a public confession of faith in Christ (not to become a Christian because they have already trusted Christ as Savior and Lord) before the church they wish to join.

3. ADMISSION BY BAPTISM

a. Candidacy

The person seeks admission in the universal Church and the local Church. He is a seeker.

b. Confession

The Bible is clear that before one is saved he must confess Jesus Christ as Lord. The word confession simply means to agree with the Word about who Jesus Christ is. (Romans 10:9-10; Matthew 16:16)

c. Conversion

Conversion occurs when one believes the Gospel. Dr. Lorraine Boettner defines the Gospel as, “The good news about the great salvation purchased by Jesus Christ, by which He reconciled sinful men to a holy God.” Mark Dever says the Gospel is about how God “graciously sent His Son to die the death we deserved for our sin, and He has credited Christ's acquittal to those who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus' death and resurrection.”

d. Ceremony

Baptism is a ceremony, a Christian rite. Properly administered, it is to follow conversion. Baptism is an outward symbol of an inward work of grace. This inward work of grace is the salvation of an undeserving sinner who has placed his trust in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. (Matthew 28:18-19)

DEACON DAVID KELLY

1913 - 2009

David Kelly left this mundane shore to enter his eternal rest on February 16, 2009. We were blessed to have him with us for 95 years. He left us a rich legacy of faith and a constant reminder that God is in charge of all things.

Deacon Kelly became a Christian in 1928 and subsequently served faithfully as a deacom for over 60 years.

He was an encourager. I often tell others that he was my "Barnabas." He encouraged me each time I had the pleasure to speak with him. I always felt more confident after leaving his presence. I became his pastor during the twilight of his years and benefited immensely from his words of wisdom.

I look forward to seeing him again in the life to come.

THE TRUTH WILL STAND ON ITS OWN

I thought I'd share with you an interesting post by Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace To You. In the post, Phil Johnson is responding to someone's question who asked what is the appropriate response when a non-believer is not intellectually satisfied with a biblical answer given in response to a biblical question. Here is his answer.

I totally agree with his answer for three main reasons.

1. A non-believer's anticipated response to Biblical truth should never diminish our resolve to boldly proclaim it.
   
2. When we hold back from sharing truth because of the anticipated response of the non-believer, our reluctance could be an indication that we are ashamed of the Gospel.
   
3. We must keep in mind that Biblical truth is big enough and strong enough to compete and stand on its own against competing world views.

What do you think?

PICTURES OF THE FAMILY

The whole crew - Our kids (Twila, Kyle, Carlos and Kent Jr.) Me and My wife, Alesia

Is that me on the left or the right?

My wife, Alesia; daughter, Twila; sons, Kent Jr and Carlos
(Taken at Six Flags Over Georgia - Atlanta)

Kent Jr. - ready for church

THE EFFECTS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ON THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH - Part 2

FIRST EFFECT - THE MOVING TARGET OF ABSOLUTE TRUTH: A CONVENIENT OXYMORON

In my previous post, I mentioned that political correctness (PC) has had four key effects on evangelicals. I earlier defined PC as the social pressure to influence the thinking, words and actions of a person or group by convincing them that historical, cultural norms are insensitive, intolerant and divisive. Before I dive into the first key effect PC has had on evangelicals, I want to first answer the question, "What is an evangelical?"

The definition of an evangelical has changed over the years. It is not unusual to find that evangelicals themselves have difficulty defining the word. Some in the news media have given it a definition that does not even remotely hint at its original meaning. In a recent article in WorldNetDaily, Michael Youssef, pastor of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, mentions how political commentators ignore the theological origin of evangelicals and simply use it as a term to describe the politically conservative. Youssef goes on to give, what I believe is the purest definition of the term, when he says the name is applied to a person or group who believes that salvation, redemption and justification come through Jesus Christ and Him alone. He further adds that a belief in the authority of the Bible also defines evangelicals. In other words, being an evangelical is ideally about the exclusivity of the Gospel and the authority of Scripture. With this definition in mind, one has to conclude that the foundation of evangelicalism is biblical truth - truth about the Gospel and the authority of Scripture.

A key effect of PC has been its assault against truth. PC sees truth as a moving target. However, pure evangelicals see truth as fixated, ageless and never evolving. Truth can be newly discovered, but it can never newly exist. When Jesus said, "I am the Truth," (John 14:6) He was in effect saying, "I can be newly discovered, but I can never newly exist."

Modernism rejected absolute truth outright, while postmodernism does not. Postmodernism seductively allows for a truth that is a moving target and constantly evolving. This notion of an evolving, absolute truth is oxymoronic and stealthily dangerous. How can truth be absolute and evolving? Both postulates are mutually exclusive. PC takes this postmodern definition of truth and seeks to make it mainstream. Moreover, the engine that drives this vehicle - the postmodern definition of truth - is PC. In fact, it is being driven down the aisles, through the pews and into the pulpits of many evangelical churches.

When evangelicals make truth claims about salvation and the authority of Scripture, we are exercising what I refer to as sacred audacity. Sacred audacity is the freedom to boldly make a truth claim that is solely unique to one's theology or belief system, such as the exclusivity of the Gospel. If evangelicals continue to kowtow to the pressures of PC, we will relinquish our sacred audacity to proclaim our long held beliefs and become more indistinguishable from other faiths. We have to keep in mind that truth separates us (II Cor. 6:17); truth sanctifies us (John 17:17); truth saves us (John 8:32).

Sadly, a recent report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that many evangelicals are drifting away from a belief in the exclusivity of the Gospel. According to the report, 52% of American Christians believe that some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. This disturbing statistic is clear evidence that postmodernism, through the apparatus of PC, has made significant inroads into the very fabric of American evangelicalism. PC has discouraged truth thinking, truth speaking and truth acting among evangelicals. There are a myriad of polls and surveys that show this - USA Today, Barna Group, and Association of Religious Data Archive (the ARDA), to name a few.

Only sound Biblical preaching can stem the tide of the PC assault on truth. God give us preachers with the sacred audacity to herald the truth claims of our faith without fear or compromise.

Next I will deal with the effects PC has had on gender roles in the church.

THE EFFECTS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ON THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH - Part 1

Over the past several decades there has been a gradual erosion of Biblical truth from the pulpits of evangelical churches and the theology of its members. I strongly believe that one of the reasons for this erosion is due to the subtle and dangerous effects political correctness (PC) is having on the church. According to WordNet, political correctness is defined as the "avoidance of expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against." My running definition of political correctness is the social pressure to influence the thinking, words and actions of a person or group by convincing them that historical, cultural norms are insensitive, intolerant and divisive.

Many have written and spoken out on the effects of PC in our Western culture and in other parts of the world. However, there has not been nearly as much outcry regarding PC in the church. This lack of outcry is evidence that PC has had influence. A politically correct church is a silent church. A politically correct church is a church with a muted message. It is preoccupied with the idea that the worst thing it can do is to offend the churched, the unchurched and all those in between.

The Bible is offensive and intolerant. It does not pass the PC smell test. The writers of Scripture make no apology for its claims. Paul concluded that the message of the Cross was offensive to many. He knew that if he excluded the Cross from his preaching, the offense would cease. (Gal. 5:11) In fact, Jesus is called a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense! (Rom. 9:33; I Pet. 2:8)

Over the next few weeks, I want to focus on four effects of PC on the thinking, words and actions of the church.

These four effects are:

The Moving Target of Absolute Truth - A Convenient Oxymoron

The Blurred Line of Gender Roles in the Church

The New Tolerance of Sexual Orientations

The Drifting Away from an Exclusive to an Inclusive Gospel