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Archives For November 30, 1999

Happy, Happy, Happy

Meredith Flynn —  October 14, 2013

dv0301212HEARTLAND | Justin Kinder

I recently started a sermon series at my church in the Beatitudes. I first asked my congregation this question: “How many of you want to be happy?” Most of them raised their hands but a few did not. I repeated the question again, just to make sure everyone had heard me. Again, there were still some who did not raise their hands. I was flabbergasted by their response. Doesn’t every person want to have joy and happiness in their life?

Maybe some of them didn’t raise their hands because they were afraid to do so. Others might have been embarrassed by my question. Or maybe there were some who didn’t want others to see that they weren’t truly happy Christians at this point in their lives.

I can understand how they feel.

Believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I was not a very happy or joyful Christian.  When I was in college, I was a grump.  I knew I was born again by the Spirit of God but I didn’t have the happiness I saw in other Christians’ lives. My roommate Luke, for example, was a very happy-go-lucky person. He would often “torture” me by asking me over and over again, “Are you a happy person?” What was his secret to happiness?

I sought the answer in God’s Word, through prayer, and through a book titled, “Happiness is a Choice.” What I discovered was that my happiness was actually quite shallow. My happiness was based on obtaining material possessions, achieving academic status, relationships with people, and the circumstances of life. But those things were constantly changing!  I needed something that could give me happiness consistently. I discovered the joy of the Lord could help me to be happy even in life’s ever changing circumstances.

You see, Jesus preached a happy, happy, happy, message in the Beatitudes. Over and over again Jesus used the word “blessed,” which has as one definition, “happy.” Happy are the poor in spirit. Happy are they that mourn. What a great message to the world and to Christians who are very unhappy!

But the happiness and blessedness Jesus talks about in the Beatitudes isn’t shallow. It has a deeper mean than we usually give the word, according the Reformation Study Bible. “It includes spiritual well-being, having the approval of God, and thus a happier destiny.”

We will never get anywhere in our search for happiness until we give up trying to find it by our own efforts.  The secret to true happiness is found in loving Jesus and following Him all the days of your life. We will not find true joy and happiness until we find it in Him.

Justin Kinder is pastor of Main Street Baptist Church in Braidwood, Ill.

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Praying for Baptist state conventions

Meredith Flynn —  October 9, 2013

PRAYER | Frank Page

Editor’s note: This column is part of a Baptist Press series designed to follow the SBC Call to Prayer issued by Frank S. Page (photo below), president of the SBC Executive Committee, to pray for revival and spiritual awakening for our churches, our nation and our world during 2013.

Frank_PageState convention season is here!

I spoke at the Baptist Convention of New York’s annual meeting earlier this week to kick off a full season of state convention travel. My goal is to represent the Southern Baptist Convention to as many states as possible. The reason for this is simple: It is a time when I can touch the lives of a large number of pastors and church leaders.

Our cooperative ministries will only thrive when trust is strong among the churches, associations, state conventions and the SBC. I strive to encourage our state convention leaders in the common work for Christ in which we’re engaged. Trust is built when these relationships are strengthened.

Our state conventions serve as partners in many ways. First and foremost, they are involved in reaching people in their respective states with the Gospel. They also provide specialized ministries to a large number of our churches.

With more than two thirds of our churches facing slow-growth or no-growth challenges, many of our churches are hurting. In most instances, when a church needs help, it is the state convention to which it goes for training, encouragement and assistance across a wide range of needs.

State conventions also serve as partners as the conduits through which our Southern Baptist missions and ministries receive Cooperative Program funds to do the work God has entrusted to them. They have taken significant steps in forwarding a larger percentage of CP funds to these SBC ministries, for which we are grateful. Partnerships developed over the decades remain strong as we join together to do the work of God at every level.

It took me a little over a year in my current role to get to every state convention and visit with the executive directors of those conventions. I have found these men to be deeply called and passionate about winning people to Christ. Interestingly enough, most come from the states they serve and have a deep passion for their home base. They also have a clear vision for reaching the nations with the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, both here and abroad.

I have often said that if we lose the base, we have lost the battle. We need to work as partners in encouraging one another. While we have many, many churches in our state conventions, particularly in the South, we desperately need to understand the lostness that surrounds even those churches.

If there was ever a time when we need to be strengthening churches to reach the lost, it is now. Our state partners are true helpers in that needed ministry.

Join me in praying for the work of our state convention ministry partners.

— Pray for your state convention executive director.

— Pray for the church planting and other ministry specialists employed by your state convention.

— Pray for the ministry entities of your state convention.

— Pray for and participate in the missions initiatives of your state convention.

— Pray for the collegiate ministries in your state.

— Pray for me as I continue my assignment of building relationships and hopefully deepening trust as we encourage one another in the good work of our Lord.

I am thankful for our state convention partners and pray this fall will be a time of deepening resolve and commitment to the work of our Lord.

This column first appeared on BPNews.net.

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Music for your Monday

Meredith Flynn —  October 7, 2013

HEARTLAND | If you’re thinking, “I need a pick-me-up this morning,” you’re in luck! Check out this video from Rend Collective Experiment.

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When you leave God out of the picture…

Meredith Flynn —  September 30, 2013

pull quote_Kinder13HEARTLAND | Justin Kinder

On January 29, 2007, at about 10:30 at night, our daughter, Melody Anne Kinder, was born into this world. She is truly a miracle and a precious gift from God. Melody changed our lives completely and from the very start, as her parents, we wanted to raise her right. We wanted her to know right from wrong and to be equipped to handle all of the moral and ethical situations she will eventually face as she grows up in this world.

It didn’t take long for these teachable moments to arrive on the scene. Melody is now six years old and we have taught her why it is wrong to lie, cheat, steal, covet, and to throw temper tantrums, just to name a few. We have taught her to tell the truth always, to be loving to all people, and most of all to love God and to put Him first. We have modeled our faith in God in front of her all of her life.

Everything that we have taught her about right and wrong and about God has come straight from the Bible. It is our moral compass in this dark and sinful world that we live in.

When you boil things down and really look at life closely, you will see that there are essentially two opposing worldviews that exist in our culture – one sees God as creator, sustainer, and as the sovereign ruler of everything and the other leaves God entirely out of the picture. The first view is obviously the Christian worldview that we as Christians embrace and the second is what this sinful world embraces.

When you leave God out of the picture, life loses its meaning. Morals are defined by what feels right, feels good, and by what the majority says is okay to do.  But just because it feels good and the majority of people say that a particular sin is okay, doesn’t make it okay. We can’t trust ourselves to know what is right and wrong because our sinful hearts will only lead us astray.

I guess it should come as no surprise then the moral decline and failure that we see in our culture. When you leave God out of the picture, the downward spiral of sin and the pushing of the envelope in what is viewed as acceptable in our society only gets worse.  A prime example of this happened very recently. Miley Cyrus, who for the longest time was known as the good girl, Hannah Montana, recently performed a provocative dance routine on MTV. Our culture responded in two ways: You either were appalled by her dance or you thought it was a great performance.

There is clearly a moral dichotomy at work here.

As a parent of a young girl, my heart goes out to Miley Cyrus and also to all the girls who look up to her. I want them to understand that what she did on that stage was wrong, and not because I said so, but because God and His Word said so. Miley Cyrus is missing that moral compass in her life – Jesus Christ – and I pray that someday she will find Him.  As for my own daughter, I will continue to pray for her and continue to teach her God’s values and precepts that are found in His Word.

The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (ESV)  And in Psalm 119:105 it says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” I want my daughter to hide God’s Word in her heart so that when she is older and sees the world pushing the envelope of sin even further, she will know how to stand for God and for what is right.

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The nations need You

Meredith Flynn —  September 23, 2013

pull quote_PLATTHEARTLAND | David Platt

Editor’s note: David Platt, pastor and author of the New York Times bestseller “Radical,” led this Prayer for the Nations during the Sept. 10 inauguration of SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name in all the earth. O God, cause Your name to be made known as holy among all nations. We confess that You are sovereign over every country and You hold every leader, every king, every queen, every dictator, every prime minister and every president in the palm of Your hands.

None of them are ultimately sovereign over anything. You are ultimately sovereign over everything. You alone are Lord, You alone are holy, You alone are mighty, and You alone are just, so we pray, O God, particularly in our day, rise up and cause Your righteousness and Your peace and Your justice to reign among the nations.

And in Your justice, we pray, remember mercy. Have mercy upon those in high positions. Have mercy upon the hungry, the weak, the oppressed, the poor, the neglected and the persecuted. Have mercy upon our friends and upon our enemies, upon those who are near to us and upon those who are far from us. And have mercy upon Your church, O God.

Help us, by Your grace and with Your Gospel, to proclaim Your glory to the ends of the earth, particularly among the peoples who have yet to hear of Your love.

Lord Jesus, the nations of the world need You. We need You to save us from our sin and to save us from ourselves, and we praise You for Your life, Your death and Your resurrection, which make such salvation possible. By your blood, you have ransomed men and women for God from every tribe, tongue, people and nation, and so we pray today for the nations in anticipation of the day when You will receive the praise You are due from every people group on the planet … in anticipation of the day when You will usher in a new heaven and a new earth and Your people drawn from every nation of the earth will dwell with You in holiness and happiness, safety and security, free from sin and suffering, forever and ever.

We are still today, and we know that you are God. And we trust, we hope, we know that You will be exalted among the nations, and You will be exalted in all the earth. Toward that end we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

David Platt is pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala. This column appeared at BPNews.net.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 8

Meredith Flynn —  September 22, 2013

MIO_blogDAY 8: Watch “Churches Together”

“Illinois is a mission field. It’s our mission field,” IBSA executive director Nate Adams said. But do Christians here really feel that responsibility?

“We simply have to have more aggressive evangelism, church planting, collegiate ministry, ministry centers – all these kinds of efforts to get out into the lostness of our state.” Illinois is a big state, and as believers, we are charged with sharing the Gospel here. At least two-thirds of Illinois residents don’t know Christ. And the lostness is concentrated in the urban centers.

1,000 churches and church plants comprise the Illinois Baptist State Association. IBSA can help churches “win lost people to Christ on their own mission field and in an Acts 1:8 ripple effect on the world,” Adams said. The impact of churches together is far greater than the sum of our individual efforts. Churches together advancing the Gospel can bring hope and faith to the 8 million or more lost people in our state.

Read: Matthew 12:38-41

Think: What is my personal responsibility for missions in Illinois?

Pray for the $475,000 goal of the 2013 mission offering. Pray we surpass the goal in order to expand our work. Pray about your commitment.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 7

Meredith Flynn —  September 21, 2013

MIO_blogDAY 7: Watch “Nations at our Doorstep”

Campus ministry is effective for evangelism. Young and exploring, college students are often open to the Gospel. But campus ministry is also a challenge. Illinois has 172 campuses and 800,000 students. Some 34,000 of those students are from foreign countries. Chase Abner welcomes those challenges as opportunities.

Since we first told of Chase’s work at SIU Carbondale, where he met and led students such as Feng Yu to Christ, Chase has joined the IBSA leadership team. He is leading ministry on campuses across the state. And he is helping churches reach out to the college and university students near them.

“Time and presence” is what it takes to minister to college students, he says. Often far from home, as Feng was, students simply need someone who will “be there” for them. And that opens a door to introduce the greatest friend of all, Jesus Christ.

Read: Jonah 4:7-11; Acts 17:10-12

Think: Coming to faith sometimes involves hard questions. What questions have you faced that may help others believe?

Pray for the 30 campuses with Baptist-led student ministries. Pray for collegiate evangelism strategist Chase Abner and campus pastors and leaders. Pray for IBSA churches to reach out to local college students.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 6

Meredith Flynn —  September 20, 2013

MIO_blogDAY 6: Watch “Bring Hope”

Pastor Cureton is optimistic about his new church in East St. Louis. With help from Illinois churches, Cureton is transforming a dilapidated storefront into a place of joy and celebration, welcoming 50 or more to worship on Sundays.

“Our shelter in this community was recently shut down so we have a lot of women and children on the street. They don’t have clothes, shoes. On any given day, 15-20 people knock our door. They’re hungry.”

Cureton is grateful for the partnership of his local association, several suburban churches, and IBSA. “We need more men and women who will stand up and fight for the cause of salvation, who will knock on doors and ask, ‘Mister, Ma’am, do you know Jesus?’”

Read: Jonah 4:1-6; Matthew 25:31-40

Think: What is the role of compassion in sharing our faith?

Pray for 28 new churches that IBSA helped start in the past year, including Light of Christ in East St. Louis. Pray for Pastor Cureton and planters who are reaching people with hope and faith.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 5

Meredith Flynn —  September 19, 2013

MIO_blogDAY 5: Watch “Choose2 Pray”

Together Illinois Baptist churches baptized more than 5,000 people last year. That’s good, but it’s only a start when you realize at least 8 million people in Illinois do not know Jesus Christ.

At the heart of it, Mission Illinois is about sharing the Gospel with lost people. Ultimately, it comes down to one person telling another person about Jesus. That’s why IBSA’s evangelism director Tim Sadler created Choose2, a prayer strategy that helps people and churches make evangelism a priority.

When we told Mindy Burwell’s story last year, she was one of two people her pastor’s wife, Vicki Hayes, was praying for. Since then, Mindy’s salvation has been part of a chain leading almost a dozen people in three states to faith – all because one person committed to pray twice a day for two lost friends.

Read: Jonah 3:5-10; John 4:19-26

Think: When Jonah preached, the people of Nineveh believed. When Vicki shared her faith, Mindy believed. How does God use ordinary people in saving others?

Pray for the 100 missionaries supported in part by the Mission Illinois Offering. Pray for Tim Sadler and others who help share Christ.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 4

Meredith Flynn —  September 18, 2013

MIO_blogDAY 4: Watch “Big City, Big Challenge”

Metro Chicago is a mix of neighborhoods and small towns and mid-size cities, all stitched together into the urban patchwork we call “Chicagoland.” With 2,000 people groups and 200 languages spoken, Chicago has many people who desperately need the Gospel.

As God draws missionaries, pastors, and church planters to share the Gospel with the region’s 10 million people, he calls some to come from far away. Others he calls to invest their lives in their hometowns.

“When God first called me, I wanted to go far away, like Jonah,” Pastor Marcus Randle said. “But he sent me right back here to the Southside.”

When we first introduced Randle, his congregation was moving into an old church-school complex, with big plans to expand their outreach to at-risk kids and homeless women. Settled in now, the challenges are big for Resurrection House, but the opportunities are bigger.

Read: Jonah 3:1-4; Isaiah 6:1-6

Think: Why does God send people to minister in places where, at first, they refuse to go?

Pray for 80 church planters and their families working in Illinois today. Ask that they have favor in the many neighborhoods without a church.

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