Today was the first time that we’ve had two worship services. I couldn’t sleep very well over the weekend. I was nervous that things wouldn’t go well, that I would preach all the way through Sunday School, or that people would be uncomfortable with the situation. I was pleasantly surprised.

Things went smoothly. The music was excellent in both. We ended up with 80 people in the early service (more than I expected) and 170 in the second service. With about 8 or 10 who stayed for both, that made close to a record attendance. The senior adult class even had a record attendance of 35!

As far as preaching two services is concerned, I noticed that I changed the message just a bit between the services - moving an illustration and re-ordering a couple of points. I also didn’t eat any breakfast so by the time the second service was over, I felt spent! Pleasantly spent.

We have an opportunity to reach more people and we need to focus on growing both services together. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Today we handed out a survey at church asking people to indicate which service they would attend if we did decide to offer a second service as an overflow solution. The answers were all over the board. It’s going to prove difficult to chart because so many made multiple choices - which is actually a good thing. The question the survey answered was, if we offer a second service, will anyone actually show up? I think they will.

Now comes an even more intense time of praying and weighing this difficult issue out. It’s not an easy decision. Going to multiple services will cost us, but the big question is, will it help us reach more people for the Kingdom. If so, then that pro outweighs all the cons on the board. Would you mind saying a quick prayer for us?

I’ve thought this before, but I really think this past Sunday was one of the greatest Sundays of my life! We had a near record crowd and three new additions to our church family. I got to baptize one and receive another for baptism, in addition to watching someone re-commit her life to Jesus. I also preached a message consisting of only one point and it worked! God blessed it. Even more than that, we enjoyed having people in our service who are not accustomed to going to church. That, more than anything else, made my day! WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Sundays don’t feel like worship sometimes! I know that sounds crazy coming from a Pastor, who preaches to and leads an entire congregation in worship every week. But for me, the music portion of our service is usually a time when my attention is arrested by everything happening up front and the message I’m about to preach. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

I’m currently studying Zechariah, chapter 7 in the course of teaching through the Minor Prophets on Wednesday nights. We’ve been covering these dozen books in leaps and bounds, but sometimes I am forced to slow down and really camp out in a shorter passage of Scripture. Such is the case here. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

What does that mean, anyway? Actually, it means “come by here.” We didn’t sing Kumbaya at camp this week, but God definitely showed up! This was my first experience with church camp… ever! I’d been to Conservation Camp in elementary school and hated every minute of it. This week was vastly different. For one thing, thirty-six people got saved!

As I reflect on camp, let me just share the highlights… The quiet mornings by the lake while the kids slept were great. Waking up by singing the song “Climb, climb up breakfast mountain” was quite nice too. Teaching the college-agers brought about some good discussion. I enjoyed watching activities such as human foosball and playing softball. I was encouraged by fellowshipping with members of other churches. Most of all, I loved the worship time. It was awesome to watch kids “own” the service and take their needs to the altar, many of them inviting Christ in as Savior or rededicating themselves to a thoroughly Christian walk.

What did I not enjoy? Only the noises and odors that are the natural result of sharing quarters with a bunch of boys!! Nonetheless, the cabin was comfortable enough and we really weren’t in it much anyway. I’m definitely going back next year, the Lord willing, and I hope to take twice as many campers with me!

In our midweek Bible study last night, we went through a supplementary study on creation and evolution. There were many things I wished I’d had time to cover in the Sunday messages but simply couldn’t. In preparing, I studied areas of science that fascinate me. I wanted to have some basic knowledge on everything from the fossil record to quantum physics (like I said, fascinating!). I was so blessed by the exchange. People asked questions, gave their thoughts, and generally expressed their faith in Scripture as God’s perfect Word.

At the end of the night, I decided to close discussion on the issue. This Sunday, we’ll be moving on to the more personal nature of Genesis, chapter two. I couldn’t help but to add this one thought, however, after reading Job 38. The creation-evolution debate is much like the theological battle that took place between Job and his friends. They reason with one another about the nature of God and God’s world. Then God finally speaks.

What does He say? To summarize the chapter, it is “Were you there when I created the worlds? Then how do you think you know anything?” He goes on to illustrate His majestic and dynamic creative power. Can you make the sun rise? Have you ever seen the center of the earth? Can you make an intricate snowflake? Can you make rain or suspend clouds of water over the earth? Good questions! We can study, we can observe, and I believe we ought to explore the amazing world God created around us. Science is good, until it goes to our heads.

God ultimately settles the argument. We might say in modern vernacular, the buck stops with Him! God, the Creator and only eyewitness of creation, knows exactly what happened in the origin of all things. So at the end of our quantum theories, evolutionary theories, and Big Bang theories, all of which are questioned and debated regularly by men more skilled than I, God sits above the circle of the earth, stretching out the universe like a curtain and calling out, “Seek me and find me with your whole heart!” The debate ultimately ends with worship!

This past Sunday, I began preaching in Genesis with chapter one, verse one. The message started a lengthy commitment to preaching all of the word. I don’t think I’ve ever been as satisfied by a message in all of my ministry. I had studied and prepared for about six weeks for just the first chapter of Genesis. So how was it? Exhilarating!

The choir was tuned up and did an awesome job. Singing Shout to the Lord with them was great. They also sang a favorite of mine, There Are No Orphans of God.  Angie (my wife) and Tamara (the Choir Director) sang Nothing But A Miracle Will Do. These special numbers highly exalted the King, but it was the congregational song How Great Thou Art that moved my heart most deeply. I’d been studying about the magnitude of creation, the vastness of the universe, and the miraculous nature of all that God brought into being. So when we sang “I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed” I did something rather unorthodox, especially for me. I stood. I stood in reverence and fear of the awesome God we serve. I was overwhelmed emotionally and spiritually. The Spirit of God moved in my heart in that moment, and I stood, raising my hands high toward the God of heaven, not caring what anyone in the auditorium thought! It was unabashed worship, and it ought to be that way all the time!

I can’t wait until Sunday, to move on to the next passage. The Word of God is so inexhaustible, it seems I’ll never preach the unsearchable wisdom of God in this one short lifetime, but I’ll live and die trying!

Last night, the local association officially voted to name Larry Hendren the new Editor of  The Baptist Banner, which will free up that much more time each month for me to spend doing the things that matter. Please keep praying that I’ll have all of my priorities right, spending adequate time in prayer, in study, with people, and with my family. And may God get the glory as we learn to fear Him, love Him, and stand in awe and reverence of Him!

I must confess, as a Baptist, it took me a rather long time to come to understand the healing nature of God. We Baptists, as Adrian Rogers put it, “believe in miracles, but trust in Jesus.” I still believe this is best. But I also freely admit that in our reaction to the extremism of “healing evangelists” like Binny Hinn and other obvious hucksters and false prophets, that we have a tendency to write off all supposed healings as a mere charade.

Scripture, however, clearly teaches that the Great Physician, through His miraculous touch, heals the bodies of many people. Such was the case for the entire camp of Israelites in the wilderness when they reached the bitter waters of Marah. I’m inclined to believe that these poisonous waters made many of the people quite ill. So God steps into the picture, sweetens the waters, and heals the people. So He reveals to them another title for Himself - Jehovah who heals you.

Fast-forward about fifteen hundred years to Matthew, chapter fifteen. A Gentile woman comes to Jesus and His disciples, begging for a demon to be cast out of her daughter. I am especially moved by her form of worship. First, the text declares that she “cried out to Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is demon-possessed.’” Amazingly, “He answered her not a word.” She chases God and He delights in the pursuit. She was apparently persistent for the disciples asked Jesus to dismiss her, saying, “for she cries out after us.”

Jesus continues to stonewall her by explaining that He was sent with Israel as His first priority, so why should He perform miracles for a Gentile woman? His remaining just beyond her reach is really an attempt to lead her on in her pursuit of the Almighty, and of course it works. “Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’”

Instead of responding to her cry, Jesus argues that He really shouldn’t be casting such great miracles before the dogs of the Gentiles. She wisely continues her pursuit, presenting a responding argument that as a dog, she’ll gladly take the crumbs that fall to her. What a great lesson she teaches us. Our worship must always have a heartfelt ring of “Whatever, whenever, however God, just bless me!” to it. So He gives in and heals her, thrilled at her great and faith-filled pursuit. Oh, for such demanding hunger that argues with God for His blessings!

In the next paragraph, Matthew records for us that multitudes came to Him and were healed, “so the multitude marveled when they say the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.”

Jesus is the Great Physician, the mighty Healer of the children of men. I find it sad how we overlook the miraculous nature of God. We like to bring Him down to our level. “Well, you know I just think that in modern times, He heals through modern medicine…” Yes, He invented all of it and yes, He uses it, but let us never forget to look for the miraculous and to ask, to beg, to plead for His blessing.

I had a conversation a couple of years ago with a good friend who used to sit under my preaching every week, but who had moved to another town, gotten married, and attended a church of a different denomination. He related to me the story of a funeral that he attended. As he watched the mourners pass the casket to pay their last respects, his heart cried out within him, “Why did nobody ask God even once to heal her?”

Our answer, as good traditional Baptists, might be, “Well, it was just her time, it just wasn’t God’s will to heal her.” Though my friend and I may not agree on all things, I support his question. Why do we no think to ask, to beg, to plead with a worshipful heart to the Almighty Healer to perform miracles. I don’t believe He will always heal, for people do get sick and die, but shouldn’t we at least ask Him?

The theological argument that has arisen from this issue relates to the atonement, and whether or not physical healing for all of God’s people was purchased at the cross or not. I think it’s a moot point either way. The cross proves He heals in the ultimate way, spiritually and eternally. Healing didn’t necessarily have to be purchased, in the sense of a financial transaction, by His atoning death. He was already able to heal, but His atoning death was the ultimate picture of the great work of an Almighty Physician to heal the diseases of the spirit, the soul, and the body.

I think we have naturalized God and have forgotten that He’s a God of tremendous power, who is overwhelmed with compassion, and who desires to give unspeakable peace and joy to His children. He is just as alive and well today as He was in the days of Moses and Jesus. As the old song puts it, “He is able to deliver thee!” So ask, pray, beg, be an intercessor, anoint with oil, believe that He will work miracles, but ultimately trust His decisions no matter what.

God is the great Creator of the entire universe and all that is in it. He created time and He creates every life that enters into the world. In short, God is extremely creative, so He loves creativity.

I agree with many modern church leaders that creativity, in and of itself, is glorifying to God, so long as what we create does not represent any form of idolatry or contradiction to the revealed truth and standards of God’s Word. I have two tables in my home made by my late grandfather. He made them to the glory of God, with excellence. That’s a kind of worship. I have three quilts my grandmother made. They too, represent a form of worship. Creativity is good, so long as its God-honoring (no huge astrological towers allowed - e.g. Babel in Genesis 11).

In recent days, I’ve felt my own creative energy stirred by the Holy Spirit, partly due to observing the methodology of such guys as Andy Stanley and Ed Young. Last Sunday, I took a Dremel into the pulpit to illustrate that faith is not a magic formula that does anything, rather it’s a tool that we must put into action. This Wednesday, I’m taking a fish net with me to illustrate how God caught Jonah in the net of chastisement and Jonah caught God in the net of prayer. To some, I’m sure these symbols may seem trite, but to me, they merely present a way of communicating a truth in a meaningful, visible, and memorable way.

I’m afraid that we often have a tendency to squelch creativity in Christianity. We frown on new methods, new technologies, and that which may distract us from a plain-spoken message. I’m all for the plain-spoken message for that is God’s chosen method of communicating the gospel to all the world - preaching. I’m a believer in the primacy of preaching, but I’m also a believer in getting life-changing truth into people’s lives in whatever way we find beneficial.

I’ve been challenged to think beyond the borders of what is “normal” for me, and I hope that you are challenged to do the same. No matter who you are, no matter where you work, no matter what you do, ask yourself, “what can I create for God today?”