From the Pastor for August 31, 2008

This picture is of our pastor and his wife during their dating days. This picture was taken just a few days before their engagement on August 25, 1973.

From the Pastor:
(Song of Solomon 2:1) I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Acceptance is a thing that is desired and needed by every human being. People need to be loved. This verse is not spoken in pride but is a statement of delight. The young lady who speaks here expresses her elation at the fact that someone thinks that she is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.
I remember during our dating months the first time that I heard that Janie thought I was “so handsome.” No one had ever felt that way about me before. I suddenly became the rose of Sharon to someone and it made my heart fill with joy. My grandkids think that I am something wonderful and they are so excited every time they get to come to my house and see me. I am to them the rose of Sharon. It is nice to love and to be loved.
The best love of all is the love of Christ. His love for us is more important than any other. He looked down through time and loved us so much that He came into the world to give His life a ransom for us.
Whether we ever have the love of any other human being or not we have the love of the greatest person who ever walked on the earth. He made us and He loves us. He wants to do great things for us and through us. We need to share His love with those around us. We need to love one another with that same love with which He loved us.

From the Pastor for August 24, 2008

The picture is of our pastor and his wife and mother and father. It was taken at his graduation from Seminary in 2003.

From the Pastor:
John 11:4 “This sickness is not unto death.”
Week before last I was sick for four days. I ran a low grade fever and did not feel well. I never felt that my illness was life threatening. There are many names on our prayer list of people who are suffering from various illnesses. From the story of Lazarus and our Lord’s words we learn that there is a limit to sickness. The word “unto” in this verse is a great comfort for it contains the ultimate restraint from which sickness can not break free. Lazarus might pass through death, but death was not to be the ultimate end of this particular sickness. In all sickness, the Lord says to the waves of pain, “Hitherto shall ye go, but no further.” God's purpose in our sick times is not to destroy us but to instruct us and bring glory to His name. Let us be encouraged by the following:
1. We may be encouraged when we consider that the limit of our sicknesses is comprehensive, covering every aspect of it. God in His providence has limited the length, the intensity, the repetition, and effects of all our sicknesses. Each throbbing pain we feel is decreed, each sleepless hour predestined, each relapse commanded, each moment of depression foreknown, and each sanctifying result ordained of God. Nothing great or small escapes the ruling hand of the One who made man's tongue and numbers the hairs of our head.
2. We may be encouraged to know that this limit is wisely adjusted to suit our strength, to accomplish the divinely set purpose, and to match the grace of God which is sufficient for our every trial. Afflictions come but when they do each blow they deliver is carefully and accurately measured. God who made no mistakes in creating the heavens and the earth, commits no errors in measuring out the cure of our ailments that beset the soul and body. It is not possible for us to suffer too much nor be relieved too late.
3. We may be encouraged to know that the limit is tenderly appointed. “He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” A mother’s heart cries, “Spare my child”; but no mother is more compassionate than our gracious God.

From the Pastor for August 17, 2008

The picture is of Bro. Paul Clark at the Messenger meeting of the American Baptist Association.

From the Pastor:
Job 29:2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
Many Christians look back on the past with pleasure, while regarding the present with dissatisfaction. They look back upon the days which have passed which they spent communing with the Lord as being the sweetest and the best they have ever known. Their present circumstance, like that of Job in this text, may be gloomy and devoid of the glory of the past. Once they lived near to Jesus, but now they feel that they have wandered from him, and they say, “O that I were as in months past!” They complain that they have not present peace of mind, or that, as was the case with Job, those who surround them have no connection with the Lord of Glory. Christians may say, due to present circumstance, that they and those around them have not so much zeal for God’s glory. The causes of this sad state of things are varied. It may arise through a comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected of private prayer is the beginning of most spiritual decline. Or it may be the result of idolatry. The heart and mind have been occupied with something else, more than with God; the affections have been set on the things of earth, instead of the things of heaven. In the case of Job, his longing to be as he was in months past was not due to these at all but to the workings of Satan and Job's so called friends. Christian, if you are not now as you “were as in months past,” do not rest satisfied with wishing for a return of former happiness, but go at once to seek your Master, and tell him your sad state. Ask his grace and strength to help you to walk more closely with him; humble yourself before him, and he will lift you.

From the Pastor for Sunday August 10, 2008

The pictture is of our pastor and his wife at the Texas Baptist Institute Alumni banquet.

From the Pastor: PERSIS
(Rom 16:12) Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord.
The names mentioned in this verse are feminine in the Greek language. It is to be understood that these were women. It is said of the first two that they labor in the Lord. This means that they worked and that their work was Godly work. Work done in the Lord is done for the Lord. These had no doubt done many good and kind deeds. They had helped the sick. They had helped the poor. They had helped widows and orphans. These acts of kindness were done because of the love that they had for the Lord and they did them for His honor and glory. Women such as these help the cause of Christ. These two ladies labored in the Lord.
Persis also labored in the Lord but it is said of her that she labored MUCH in the Lord. There are some who are able to do more work in the Lord than others. The Lord has, perhaps, put them in such a circumstance that they are able to work long hours for the Lord. The Lord may have given to Persis the talent or ability to do things that not every woman could do. Some women can sew better than others. Some cook better than others. Some teach better than others. She used her talents for the Lord. She may or may not have had children of her own. A woman who is raising children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is laboring in the Lord. To raise godly children is to labor in the Lord. The virtuous woman as described by Solomon is one who takes good care of her family and home. She is to be praised for she labors in the Lord. She is doing the work the Lord has put her on earth to do. Women truly are a vital part in the work of the Lord.
Men, let us learn from these women. May it be said of us that we labored much in the Lord.

From the Pastor for August 3, 2008

The picture is of our pastor and his grandson at pinesprings baptist camp July 2008.

From the Pastor:
(Psa 73:25) Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
The psalmist asks the Lord a question. The Lord certainly knows the answer to all of our questions. This question is a matter of the heart. There is but one person that this and every child of God desires and for which he longs. In all of heaven there are literally millions of people and tens of thousands of angels. Among these are many who are notable and outstanding. It would be amazing to speak with the apostle Paul, or Peter, Moses, Elijah, Enoch. It would be awesome to speak with Gabriel or Michael the arc angel. It would be a joy indeed to speak with grandfathers who you never knew here on earth. It will certainly be wonderful to speak with those loved ones which we watched as they pasted from this life to the next. Far above these is our desire for the Lord. In all of heaven there is none to be praised like the Lord. Indeed all the inhabitants there direct our accolades toward the only one worthy of our worship and praise, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The psalmist also relates that there is none on earth as desirable as the Lord. Living on the earth today are some six billion people. Some of these are notable and might well be worth meeting. Some human beings on earth have done benevolent and courageous things. There are some who might well deserve the praise of men. For the Child of God there is none that compares to our Lord. He stands supreme above all of those persons, places, and things about which we care. He is the one who has saved our souls, who has loved us with the greatest love that man has ever known.

From the Pastor for July 27, 2008

This picture is of our pastor hiking which is one of his favorite things to do.

From the Pastor:
Psalm 42:9 “Why go I mourning?”
Can you answer this question, oh child of God? Or has the question no application to your life and experience. I have never met a man or woman who has not at some time or other in their life mourned for one reason or another. I have mourned over my own failures and sinful ways. I have mourned with those who were smitten with grief due to death or illness. It is OK and even expected under certain circumstances to mourn. The Apostle Paul spoke of a godly sorrow which works repentance to salvation. Mourning is good if the reason is good. Thus the question raised by the psalmist is a valid question. It does matter why you mourn.
When my father died I did not go mourning about as those who have no hope. My father is in heaven and of this I am confident. I am confident that I will see him again for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I do not mourn for the loss of his influence on my life for he continues to influence me by the example he set for me while he lived. I do not mourn the loss of his company for the Lord has taken him away and I will not mourn over that circumstance which comes about to the glory of God. I place my confidence in the promise of God that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. This confidence forbids me to go mourning. I rather rejoice that the Lord reigns and am moved to go praising rather than to go mourning.

From the Pastor for July 13, 2008

The picture is of our pastor at Pine Springs Baptist Camp taken right before he got up to preach.

From the Pastor: Luke 15:2 “This man receiveth sinners.”
Can you see in this verse the great condescension of God? This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, this Man receiveth sinners! This Man, who is none other than the eternal God, before whom angels cover their faces with their wings, this Man receiveth sinners! It needs an angel’s tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful or marvelous because they are of our own race. But that He, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is indeed marvelous!
“This Man receiveth sinners” not so that they may remain sinners, but he receives them that he may pardon their sins, justify them, cleanse their hearts, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and enable them to serve him, to show forth his praise, and to have communion with him. None are so precious in Jesus’ sight as the sinners for whom He died. This fact is still most sure today, he is still receiving sinners. Would to God sinners would receive him.