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Posts Tagged with National Center for Family-Integrated Churches

Special Guests at Eastside Baptist Church

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This coming Lord’s day at Eastside Baptist Church we will have two special guest speakers.

July 14, at 10:30 a.m. Scott Brown, pastor of Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, NC and president of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches will be preaching. Scott and Deborah Brown are the parents of 4 children and have 17 grandchildren.

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July 14, at 6:30 p.m. one of our missionaries to Senegal, West Africa will update us of the ongoing gospel work. Matt is a former pastor of NorthRidge Fellowship in Jerome, ID. Matt and Gayle have 3 children.

Both opportunities will be of a blessing to you and your family.

Preaching with Precision and Power

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This fall, October 23-25, I will be attending the Institute for Expository Preaching conference hosted by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, North Carolina.

Steven Lawson is among the most influential pastors in our day. He is committed to epuipping and energizing God’s people in the western church by preparing a “new generation of biblical expositors.” In John MacArthur’s first sermon at Grace Community Church he told that congregation that the “church is the conscience of the world.”

We are in a day that needs a conscience from a faithful generation of biblical expositors.

Do you know a pastor who would like to go with me? Do you want to partner in getting pastors to this conference? Would you pray with me for this current generation to have a faithful witness of the oracles of God widely preached from the pulpits in our land once again? Contact me with more information.

 

A Daily Devotional: The Word of God Reforms Everything

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Last October I had the privilege to participate in another devotional project that is now available. Daily you can visit this website for thoughts on repentance. Visit daily to spark your spiritual attention upon the word of God and be encouraged by the many faithful men of God in our day reflecting on a most significant day in church history 500 years ago, now simply known at the Reformation. This work of the Holy Spirit to do a work of repentance among God’s people is a longing hope of mine in our day too.

When I think about reformations in years past I find that people were asking better questions than I usually would ask. If the starting point is not aimed in the right direction then the end result may be anything but reformation. Today, are we asking the right questions? Do our questions cause us to search Scripture for the answer? Are we pleased when God gives us clarity in Scripture to our questions?

Today’s devotional is focused upon Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

What Is at the Heart of the Reformation? from NCFIC on Vimeo.

Consider joining me at Ridgecrest in North Carolina this fall, October 26-28, for the National Center for Family Integrated Churches conference on Repentance.

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New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Ac 4:12). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

 

Where Have All the God-Fearers Gone?

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This coming Lord’s Day I will want to address this question from Deuteronomy 17; “Where have all the God-fearers gone?”

To my embarrassment, when I evaluate the length of my days in ministry, I am ashamed of how little thought I have given to the mountain of a subject in Scripture, the fear of God. We so rarely even use the language of fear anymore.

Who even preaches on this subject anymore?

Where is a pulpit in the land today where this phrase is even common?

O how I want the fear of God to be so expected by the hearers at Eastside Baptist that they ask me why I didn’t mention the fear of God in a sermon. May the fear of God once again be championed by the Lord’s elect that this must be considered before we say or do anything.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning… it’s the beginning of knowledge, it’s the beginning of wisdom. We’re more likely to consult with what others are doing before we humble ourselves and seek God’s direction. We’re more likely to read a secular business book based upon a survey of the opinion of men before we begin with prayer. Our usual starting place shows what we think of God. O how I long for this in my own life, in my own church, from my duty in the pulpit.

When you read or hear of godly men/women of old, they would usually be referred to as a “God-fearing man/woman”. That would say a lot about the person. It means something to be called a “God-fearer”.

Today, the label of “Christian” means hardly anything and nearly everything.

But to be among the “God-fearers”…

  • Sermons on the Fear of God from the National Center for Family Integrated Churches conference.
  • My sermon at the Fear of God Conference: During the Time of Your Stay on Earth
    The fear of God is to be our safety net to cover all of our wandering ways, as well as our sinful indulgences and actions against our Creator. However, there are many who spend a lifetime of energy trying to walk “in His ways” (Ps. 128:1) or “keep His commandments” (Eccles. 12:13), without ever actually coming to a true knowledge and fear of Him (1 Peter 1:17). If we are to walk in His ways in a manner that is considered an acceptable service, we are to do so with reverence and awe “for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29). In this session, Paul Thompson explains the importance of the fear of God as we go about our lives during our stay on this earth.

During the Time of Your Stay on Earth

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Join me at the National Center for Family Integrated Churches Fear of God conference
at Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ashville, NC October 27-29, 2016.

Register HERE

“How Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways.” (Psalm 128:1)

I will have the opportunity to gather with some of the most looked to men of God in our day. Men like Ken Ham, John Snyder, Joel Beeke, Jeff Pollard, Carlton McLeod, Scott Brown, Craig Houston, and many others. (Full list of speakers)

Over the past several months I’ve participated in a daily devotional on the Fear of God. You may want to take some time to meditate on the Fear of God with these devotions. (All devotion videos)

I will address the Fear of God from the following position.

During the Time of Your Stay on Earth
(Background: Psalm 128:1, Ecclesiasties 12:13-14, 1 Peter 1:17, Hebrews 12:28-29)

It is said again and again in our day; “to err is human”. Could it be said better? “to fear God is human.” This will be our safety net to cover all our wandering ways, sinful indulgences, and actions against our creator.

The philosophy of men gives us permission to sin; even to laughingly brush away the conclusion that, even in our fallen condition, we are called out to fear God and keep His commandments.

How do we keep ourselves from wanting less than what God calls us to; Himself.

A problem many of us are blinded with is that we are more impressed with what God will give us than we are with God. Many spend a lifetime of energy trying to “walk in His Ways” or “keep His commandments” and never come to fear or know Him (1 Peter 1:17).

If we are to walk in His ways in a manner that is considered an acceptable service, we are to do so with reverence and awe “for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

 

The Fear of God and the Voting Booth

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When you live in a blessed land like the United States of America it is a sobering truth that the follower of Christ, as defined by the Bible, has both a privilege and responsibility to engage in this amazing moment in the election process.

From all pages of the Bible we read of a sovereign active creator and ruler and it behooves the sojourning citizen to take serious inventory of our duty.

One could choose to not participate in the voting duty, as it appears more than 20 million professing Christians chose that option in the last presidential election.

or

One could choose to intentionally participate in this significant moment as a person of biblical conviction. I refuse to vote for someone in order to block another from being president. I will not waste my duty on such foolishness. I will cast my vote for the individual I believe will maintain a constitutional republic, and I call on Christians and fellow countrymen to the same. Look closely.

I will vote my conscience within the influence of the fear of God, the beginning of wisdom, and ask God to help me live with joy in him regardless of the outcome.

I think that an honest observation of the current landscape of the candidates of the two primary political parties reveals that we are in active judgment of God. Then, a deeper examination of other options, in other political parties, it appears that God is willing to give the nation a chance to repent. Have you looked at Darrell Castle yet? He is running for the Constitution party (party platform). Take a close look. There is no flashy personality. There is humility and conviction, there is a man stricken with anguish for the direction of the nation and hopeful for the dawning day.

I’m not looking for a presidential “savior”, I’m looking for a candidate who is interested in acting in the best interest of the nation from a biblical worldview.

“If God raised me up and made me President of the United States, what I told the states, what I told you I would do, I will do, or die trying. So help me God.” Darrell Castle

In a recent devotional project with the National Center for Family Integrated Churches I had the opportunity to offer some thoughts on what it may look like when there is no fear of God in civil leaders.

When There Is No Fear of God in Civil Leaders from NCFIC on Vimeo.

 

Do You Have No Fear of God?

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theFearOfGod* From The Fear of God Devotional

There is a benefit to your soul to live out your life with the fear of God.

Is there evidence in your life that there is a decrease of the fear of God or intentional actions you are doing to keep yourself from walking in the fear of God? Do you want the benefit of the fear of God upon your life? Here are some warning signs that may help you identify if you are on a path to keep yourself from the fear of God.

  • Remove yourself from the local Church.
  • Stay away from other believers who will pray with with.
  • Alienate yourself from preaching that will lead to repentance.
  • Remove yourself from the fear of God.
  • Infuse your life with pleasure in the things of men.
  • Increase in your desire for worldliness.
  • Surround yourself with others who will not hold you accountable.
  • Not reading your Bible to know who God is.
  • Reading the Bible for morality.
  • While reading the Bible think the warnings are for other people and not you.
  • No longer delight to obey God.

Here’s a short video where I attempt to express this for a devotional project for the National Center of Family Integrated Churches.

What It Means When You Don’t Want the Fear of God in Your Life from NCFIC on Vimeo.

 

The Fear of God Devotional (updated)

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Since the first week of June I have been participating in a daily devotion on the topic “the Fear of God.” If you have missed any of them or don’t know anything about them get started HERE. The daily devotional is provided by the National Center of Family Integrated Churches.

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