Friday, August 21, 2009

WHAT'S GOING ON? ... APOSTASY!

It's Friday night. My wife and daughters have just left along with two other Minister's wives and their daughters for a women's retreat near Carefree Arizona.

I've been musing over the matter of holiness and compromise for some time now. As I continue to do so now in the quiet of my home, I'm moved to write just a little about this matter.

I have some old convictions along with some new conclusions that I reached recently. I just want to share some musings with you.

1) I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican. I'm a registered independent. But, more than that I fancy myself a Christocrat. I know, new word. I made it up some time ago. I want to be a Christian first, through and through. Then, shape everything else on that fact. Including my politics.

2) The Scripture is clear, God has called His children to live holy lives! It's something we can't do without Him. But, He has given us the permanent, personal, presence of The Holy Spirit, His instruction on how to live in His Word, the Bible; and The Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, Redeemer, God, Friend and example.

3) This matter of compromising The gospel for gain must come to an end.

Am I alone or have you also noticed the craziness going on among clergy and laity alike in the U.S.A.?

We've got preachers and pastors preaching false doctrine and calling it the gospel. Pastors, preachers and church members around the country have been caught up in sexual, yea even homosexual scandals.

Have you noticed the number of preaching personalities who've attempted to make the jump from the pulpit to national talk shows lately? And watch this, as "life coach" no less.

What? Did God call you to preach The Gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, what's going on?

Have you noticed the ridiculous emphasis on money among certain ministers and ministries lately? I know this focus has been around for decades, perhaps it just seems to me like it's even more prevalent than ever before.

Have you noticed the move of one church in two, no make that three locations? And, now the move to pastor one church in two states? Now here's the latest I've heard... one church in two (or more) countries.

Now, know this, I'm not against the spreading of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I just question whether or not it's His gospel we're spreading? It seems to me in most, if not all of these cases, men are looking to make a name for themselves. It seems to me as though men are looking to build monuments unto themselves.

Now above everything else I've said thus far, the greatest indictment may not be against the preachers and pastors at all. A case can be made that we have churches filled with people who simply don't know The Lord Jesus Christ the way they say they do. In fact, too many of us don't know our Bibles. If we did, we'd recognize false teaching and preaching when we hear it. And we'd cease doing two things:

1) Supporting ministries that claim to be Christian but are not.

2) Step up our evangelizing efforts and intentionally, fervently share Christ with others.

Okay, I'm going to stop writing now.

Pray for me. Let's all pray for one another.

Safe in CHRIST,
Pastor Fort

Monday, August 17, 2009

Monday Morning Reflections!

I was blessed yesterday to preach at a great church... twice! That great church is Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Mesa Arizona. It's the church where The Lord Jesus Christ has allowed me to serve as senior minister, as pastor for nineteen years now.

The reason I call it a "great church" is because it has a great God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Lord Jesus Christ makes His church great.

Two Sundays ago I started a new sermon series for our Sunday morning time together. On Sunday morning's I'm attempting to preach through the book of Philippians. Two Tuesday nights ago I started a new Bible Study series for our adult class. I'm attempting to teach through the book of Esther. This Wednesday afternoon I will prayerfully begin a new Bible Study series in the epistle of James.

All of these are great books.

The benefits of series preaching and teaching are far too many to mention here. But let me say to any pastor or Bible Study leader that series sharing ... for me at least- is the way to go. I know we live in a day where many people are talking about a "right now word". We hear language that almost sounds "spooky" to the hearer. Language that suggests the preacher/pastor is going to get up each Sunday to share The Word of God, and somehow be supernaturally endowed- on the spot- with this right now word for you. It's almost a seance spirit, a kind of "power of prophecy" hour in ministry.

But on a more stable, stout and sturdy level, let me suggest that series preaching and teaching is a better way to go. Some of the reasons that make it better include: 1) Both you and the people you're preaching or teaching to, know where they're going from week to week. 2) It builds christians in a more dedicated and dynamic way than sharing a new thought, idea or conviction from week to week. 3) It allows the hearer and student to study ahead. 4) It makes the preacher and teacher deal with whatever subject the text speaks of- that is if you're approaching the preaching and teaching from a verse by verse exposition of The Scripture. Etc., Etc., Etceteras

That said, the other thing I've really been trying to practice lately in my preaching it brevity. By brevity I mean, not trying to tackle too many verses of Scripture in a single sermon. For me, there's just too much in every verse, sentence, phrase, etc. And, through the years, as I've made vain attempts to preach large sections of Scripture I inevitably rush it and fail to give justice to the passage I'm attempting to share.

But not only brevity in my preaching in terms of text preached, but also brevity in my preaching in terms of time spent preaching the message. Now at this point let me say that I am not placing emphasis on being short- in terms of time for short sake. Rather, I refer to not going so long in the sermon that the people lose interest-because their attention span is only so long.

Finally, by brevity I also refer to announcements and my musing from the pulpit. I've discovered something over the years. I like church, I like serving as a pastor. And, I really like preaching. Sometimes this fact, combined with a few key announcements on Sunday morning make me long in the tooth with respect to talking. Yesterday, I asked our new Church Administrator, Deacon Emerson Turner, to please handle Sunday morning announcements for me going forward.

I did have another opportunity to preach yesterday for the great Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Mesa Arizona. The event was the twelfth appreciation service for Pastor Ottley and Sis. Wanda Holmes. My, my, my, what a great pastor and first lady. They honored me with an invitation to come and preach.

I hope the message was helpful to both pastor and people.

I believe Pastor Holmes is a good person. He's a solid, Bible preacher and teacher. Sis. Holmes was beautiful and gracious. In addition to his duties as pastor of Shiloh MBC, Pastor Holmes also has a weekly radio show on one of our local Christian radio stations where he teaches The Word of God. Sis. Holmes owns her own hat business. And the hat she had on yesterday was beautiful and elegant.

Lastly, I was really blessed yesterday to have my pastor in church at our 10:20 worship service. Reverend Fred Campbell, pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Redwood City, California. I didn't see him until I was walking out of the sanctuary to go in my office for a brief moment during the offering period. And there he was seated in the back (in the lobby in fact). When I saw him, I greeted him, went back into the sanctuary and then asked him to come up and say a word to our church. With reluctance he did. Now, he was brief and classy at the same time.

I'm grateful for Pastor Campbell and other men who have helped shape my thinking, my heart and my ministry.

It's Monday morning. I have two appointments this morning at the church. I'm going to try and leave after that. We'll see what happens.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

On Judging Others!

Mankind has a natural inclination to pass judgment on one another. Even among christians we have a tendency to cast judgment on other Christians.

Now, there is no question that we are called by our God to assess, examine, and make a judgment at times with respect to people, places and things... in keeping with The Word of God and as we are led by The Holy Spirit. But that's not what I'm talking about here.

Here, I'm talking about the manner in which some of us, judge others of us when we should not. I am a christian, who has suffered with a very serious disease called legalism. Maybe you've heard of this illness? The legalism that I speak of is born out of a genuine desire to live a holy life according to The Word of God. But somewhere in the process the person suffering with this illness moves from a desire to live a holy life to a point where they can't move or think without beating themselves up about a particular matter.

The religious leaders of Jesus' day suffered from a type of legalism. They obeyed what the Scriptures in principle, but disobeyed The Lord in practice. That is to say, a surface look at their lives left the viewer with the impression that they were living a holy life... in keeping with the law of God. However, a deeper look at their heart revealed they'd violated the law of God and did not authentically love Him.

And, what's worse... they sat in judgment of others. Calling others hypocrites, referring to others as some kind of immature believer if you will.

In Romans chapter fourteen, the Apostle Paul writes to the saints who live in Rome about this very matter. In the end, he says that we should remember that The Lord God is the only Judge that matters. It's His judgment that is right and pure. His judgment matters.

Paul writes that we should not quarrel, fight or dispute of things that do not matter.

The late Dr. E. K. Bailey said: "Some things are urgent and some things are important. When it comes to The Gospel, it is both urgent and important".

Perhaps we've spent too much time examining the life of another believer, looking for the speck in their eye, and ignoring the forest in our own.

I believe God has called us to holiness. I believe we should seek to live holy lives. And seek to live that holy life in, through and by the power of The Holy Spirit. Being sure that our actions are guided by the instruction we receive in The Word of God.

I believe that we should not do anything in the presence of another believer that might cause that "weaker" less mature believer to stumble. We must recognize that not every believer is aware of the fact that Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death. Not every believer understands that we've been set free. Moreover, if the exercise of our freedom in Christ causes another, weaker, less mature believer to stumble in their faith- we should exercise that freedom in their presence... and perhaps not all.

Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should. Especially, when it hurts or has potential to hurt someone else.

I believe that we should spend our time intentionally trying to win people to Jesus Christ. And intentionally trying to disciple people who are believers already. That is to say, we should seek to help the weaker, less mature believer become fully mature in Christ Jesus.

In the end it is salvation and discipleship that is both urgent and important.

Safe in Christ,
Sherman J. Fort