Do Unto Others…

By Pastor Josh Wamble

One of Jesus’s most well-known statements is the Golden Rule found in Matthew 7:12:  “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Most of you probably first learned this rule in a children’s Sunday School class if you grew up in church.  I remember being in Sunday School as a kid and learning this from Ms. Betty Lou Powell.  As a craft project, we took 12-inch rulers, covered them in gold paper, and wrote this verse out on them—making golden rulers.

If we are not careful, it is easy to take short concise statements like this out of context.  We can tend to look at this one command as if it stands on its own and not in relation to what Jesus has been saying leading up to this point in Matthew’s gospel.  We can understand Him just to be saying “Be nice to people.”  If we take a minute to consider the surrounding verses and chapters, we will see something much more substantive and complex.

Starting in chapter 5, Matthew has been recording a sermon that Jesus is preaching—the Sermon on the Mount.  It includes the Beatitudes, teaching about living as disciples in the fallen world, expansions and explanations about aspects of the law, hypocrisy in giving, prayer, and fasting, trusting God, and judging other people.  Now in 7:12, Jesus is beginning the conclusion of this sermon.  This whole sermon has been about how Jesus’s followers are to live in the world as citizens of the Kingdom of God.  This verse, treat others the way you want to be treated, is a summary of what this kind of life means.

I had a really good pastor growing up.  When I was in high school and our youth group would be leaving for a retreat or camp, Mr. Walter would usually be there to send us off (if he wasn’t going with us).  He would give us a speech about having lots of fun but also taking the serious things seriously.  He would usually end his speech by saying, “Remember who you are, and remember where you come from.”  This is essentially what Jesus is saying here as he sums up the Sermon on the Mount.  As you live in this fallen world, remember that you are citizens of another kingdom—the Kingdom of God!  What does it mean to live as Kingdom citizens in a fallen world?  It means that the way we think, the way we act, the things we say, the way we treat other people, everything about us should be different.

With all this in mind, then, what does it mean to treat people the way we would want to be treated?  It means not letting anger well up inside of you but being quick to reconcile with those who have done you wrong (Matt. 5:21-26).  It means letting your speech be honest and straightforward (Matt. 5:33-37).  It means not retaliating when someone treats you wrongly but seeking to serve them (Matt. 5:38-42).  It means not only loving your neighbors and those who are good to you but loving and praying for your enemies—and actually treating them as if you love them (Matt. 5:43-48).  It means being poor in spirit, mourning over sin and the fallenness around us, being gentle, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful and pure in heart, being peacemakers, and seeing harm and difficulties and persecution for the sake of Christ in the light of eternity and what those things are doing in your soul (Matt. 5:3-12)

It means being gracious and patient toward the cashier who is overworked and taking too long with the customer in front of you or with the waiter who has messed up your order or forgotten to check your drink for a refill.  It means treating the homeless person who asks for help with respect and honor.  It means being quick to forgive those in the church who have wronged you and quick to seek forgiveness when you wrong someone else.  It even means being understanding and patient with the person who stops in front of you at the round about because they are not familiar with how it works!

Treating people this way is a tall order.  It is difficult to do at times.  But, we are to live this way because we have been made citizens of a new Kingdom—a Kingdom founded on love and grace and mercy.  The One who has made us citizens is also making us into the kind of citizens that He would have us to be—citizens who reflect the truths of the Kingdom and live like the King—people who remember who we are and remember where we come from!

Sabbatical

Pastor Jake Beattie

The Bible says a lot on the topic of rest.  We see from the opening pages of the Bible that God himself takes rest on the 7th day of creation.  Genesis 2:1-3 says, 

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

So from the very beginning of the Bible we see this pattern of rest being established.  God works on the first 6 days of creation and then rests from his work on the seventh day.  Later in the book of Exodus, God gives his people the 10 commandments.  The fourth of the 10 commandments, found in Exodus 20:8-11 says, 

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

In Genesis we see God set the precedent to take rest, but now in the book of Exodus, he is commanding that his people take rest.  This commandment became one that religious Jews went to extreme measures in order to keep the sabbath.  They went to far as to believe it was breaking the sabbath to spit in the dirt on the sabbath day, because that would be making mud, and making mud is work (John 9:14-16).  

We see in the gospels Jesus give clarification on the purpose of the Sabbath command in Exodus.  In Mark 2 the Pharisees are mad at Jesus because they are claiming his disciples are breaking this Sabbath command.  Jesus responds with an example of David in 1 Samuel 21 and then says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  So Jesus makes it clear that the Sabbath command was intended to benefit man by giving him rest, not be a burden on man by giving him strict rules for how to observe the Sabbath.

Everyone has a need for rest.  We have all been at a place where we have been completely exhausted either physically, mentally, or emotionally, and we have felt that deep need to get some rest.  Rest is built into the fabric of our society.  We work five day work weeks (for the most part) and have two days each week set aside for the purpose of rest and being able to do the things we enjoy apart from our work responsibilities.  Most jobs offer vacation time as they know people need a break from their work at times.  For the vast majority of people, we are able to get rest from our work each night when we clock out and when Friday afternoon arrives.  With pastors serving in ministry, this is not necessarily the case.

The roll of a pastor is a unique one.  Pastors are called to care for God’s people.  The analogy used in scripture is that of a shepherd caring for a flock of sheep.  When you are caring for people’s souls, and you know that eternity hangs in the balance, you cannot easily ‘clock out’ each day and return to that work the next day.  A shepherd who cares for the sheep of his pasture is going to have them on his mind often.  This is not to say that Pastors are never given vacation time, they are entitled to and deserve vacation time just like the rest of us.  But often, even on vacation a pastor is hearing from his people.  He is thinking of those he knows are struggling.  He is praying for his people and wanting to know how they are.  

When a pastor has been living this way for years, he needs some extended time away to be able to rest.  Our church recognized this need four years ago, in 2019 when we celebrated Josh Greene’s 10th anniversary as pastor.  One of the gifts we gave to him was a sabbatical to give him some much needed rest.  We all know the pandemic happened in early 2020 and threw off the rhythm of everyone’s lives.  The added stress and pressure of the pandemic delayed Josh in taking his sabbatical.  Now that we are past that, the time has come.  Josh is officially on sabbatical.

With that in mind we ask that you please refrain from contacting Josh with ministry related topics.  We are encouraging everyone to reach out to our church office.  Call or email and we will be happy to get in touch with you for whatever you may need.  We also ask that during this time away for Josh you be praying for he and his family.  We want this time to be refreshing and encouraging to him and his family.  

We are looking forward to Josh returning to his normal duties and being with us regularly, but until that time comes, lets pray for him and allow him to get some much needed rest so he will be ready to continue faithfully serving our church and community for years to come.

Today’s blog post is from our Minister of Music/College Ministry leader, Andrew Crawford.

Most of you know me as the Music minister here at FBC Fairdale, but I spend most of my time working as the Director of the Life Change:Recovery program at Re:Center Ministries. Re:Center Ministries is an organization that works with homeless and hurting people in the Louisville and Southern Indiana area. The Life Change program at Re:Center is a 3-15 month program that targets the root causes of addiction, chronic homelessness, and life dominating sins from a gospel centered approach.  Beginning in the early spring, Re:Center Ministries launched a new job skills and work therapy portion of its programing in partnership with FBC Fairdale. The men in the Life Change program have the opportunity to tend to a 1 acre garden located in the field behind the church. During this time, we teach job skills, a practical theology of work, and work as a form of therapy.

The Bible provides a clear mandate for human beings to engage in work. In Genesis 2, God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). This commandment not only provides a basis for human beings to engage in productive labor but also gives insight into the fundamental purpose of work.

Through our work, we have the opportunity to exercise our creativity, stewardship, and service to others, all of which are blessings from God and outworkings of the Christian life. Additionally, the Bible teaches that work is not only a means of creativity and stewardship, but also a way to honor God. Colossians 3:23-24 states, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” This verse teaches us that our work should be done with excellence and with a heart of service, as we are ultimately working for God and not for human masters.

Ultimately, as Christians everything we do, whether in word or deed, flows from our salvation in Christ and the good works that he has prepared for us in Him(Ephesians 2:10). Our work should be a reflection of the ultimate work that Christ has done in salvation.

In the life of an addict, work is often used as a short sighted means to a destructive end. In the recovery process, it is important to reframe that perspective of work, and instill the disciplines of work ethic, patience, and preparation that are necessary in gardening. Moreover, gardening/farming is one of the most rewarding forms of work, as the laborer is able to see the progress of their work, and enjoy the fruits of their labor. As a church, please pray for the lives of the men in Re:Center’s Life Change program. Please also pray for the men in our church who preach chapel at Re:Center twice per month, and for Josh Wamble, who teaches a class at Re:Center every week. The mission of Re:Center Ministries is to reconcile homeless and hurting men and women to God through the power of Jesus Christ, and that is accomplished in partnership with the local church.

You can follow @recenterfarmgarden on Instagram to see the most recent updates.

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Why is it Good that God is Three in One?

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Last week we spent some time thinking about what the Bible says about God’s nature.  That blog post can be read here.  The Bible says eight things about God that can be summarized by the statement “God is three in one.”  This is the doctrine of the trinity.  God exists as one God in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

We might be tempted to think that it would be easier for us to understand if the doctrine of the trinity were not true.  We might even think that it would be better if God were not a trinity.  There are several reasons why it is good for us that God is a trinity.  Below we will briefly look at three reasons why.

1.  The Trinity Makes Full Revelation Possible.

God is transcendent.  That means that He is separate from us.  He is different from His creation.  He is far removed from us.  He is high and lifted up.  We cannot approach Him.  If we are to know anything about God, it is only because He has made Himself known.  He has spoken to us in ways that we can understand while at the same time remaining separate and removed from us—transcendent.

God has revealed Himself in a few ways.  He shows Himself in creation and the conscience (what is often called general revelation because it is available to all people in all places at all times), but He has also revealed himself in more specific ways.  Sometimes this is called “special revelation” because it is only available to certain people in certain places at certain times.

There were specific times when God spoke directly to specific people in specific times.  Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others come to mind.  He has also revealed Himself in His word.  He did this through prophets and apostles.  The Bible says that the Holy Spirit was actively involved in this process.  1 Peter 1:21 says, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The Bible says that God has revealed Himself even more fully in His Son—Jesus.  God has told us about Himself in His word, but Jesus is the “exact imprint of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3).  In John 1:14, we are told that God has actually taken on humanity and became one of us.  In John 1:18, we read that “no one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

God can remain transcendent and yet reveal Himself to us fully as the Father remains in heaven, the Holy Spirit inspires writers of the word, and the Son, Jesus, takes on humanity so that we can see and know God, Himself, in the flesh.

God can make Himself fully known because He is three in one!

2.  The Trinity Makes Salvation Possible.

That God is three in one also makes salvation possible.  It is absolutely true to say that God saves us.  It is also absolutely true to say that the Father saves us, the Son saves us, or the Holy Spirit saves us.  God in His fullness as Father, Son and Spirit accomplishes the work of salvation.  However, the Father, Son, and Spirit do not do the same things in the work of salvation.  The Father didn’t die on the cross for us.  The Spirit didn’t plan the work of salvation or elect those that He would save.  (In fact, there have been some serious heresies that have arisen at different points in church history by people who have gotten some of these things wrong.)

In Ephesians 1 and other places, we see clearly that the Father planned salvation.  Paul wrote, “³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, ⁴as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.  In love ⁵he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, ⁶for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.”

Of course, we know that the Son, Jesus, accomplished the plan of salvation by living a perfect holy life so that He could be the perfect, effective sacrifice taking our guilt on Himself and giving us His righteousness/obedience.

The Holy Spirit applies this work of salvation to us by convicting us of sin, waking us to the truths of the gospel so that we can respond in faith and repentance, giving us new life in Christ, transforming us, sanctifying us through His word, and eventually glorifying us as He makes us fully like Christ.

Because God is triune—three in one—the Father can send the Son, the Son can take on humanity, and offer his life to the Father, and the Holy Spirit can apply the Son’s work to our lives.  If God were not triune, salvation could not work this way.

God can work for our salvation mercifully and graciously forgiving us while remaining holy, righteous, and just because He is three in one!

3.  The Trinity Makes a Relationship with God Possible.

As we mentioned above, God is transcendent.  He is separate and different and far removed from us, but He is also immanent.  He is near to His creation and especially to His people—His children—His church.  He can have a real and true relationship with us, but how can this be?  How can God be transcendent and immanent at the same time?  It is only because of His trinitarian nature.

We can come to know God as He reveals Himself to us in His word and have a relationship with Him as He speaks to us there and we speak to Him in prayer, but we can come to know Him even more fully as we come to know Him in Christ.  When God entered into our world and our experience of life through the incarnation, we can come to know Him even more fully and relate to Him—and with Him—in a more experiential way, but that was not to last.  In an almost unbelievable statement, Jesus told His followers, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away …” (John 16:7a).  But, how can that be?  Jesus is God Himself with His people.  How can it be to their (and our) advantage for His to go away?  Jesus answered that question in the second half of that verse.  “for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7b).

Jesus was “God with us” (Immanuel), but the Holy Spirit is God in us.  Now, we can have an even more intimate relationship with God!  The Holy Spirit dwells within us.  Now God Himself relates to us as closely as possible leading us, guiding us, encouraging us, convicting us, strengthening us, and helping us.  Paul even says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26).

We can have this close, intimate, immanent relationship with the transcendent God of the universe because He is three in one!

There are other reasons that it is good for us that God is three in one.  In fact, everything that God does, He does as a trinity.  All three persons of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are involved in all of His actions.  They are unified in their purposes as the one God while they are diversified in their individual actions to accomplish those purposes.  Creation is this way as the Father is speaking the world into existence, the Son is the Word of God accomplishing that work, and the Holy Spirit is hovering over the waters of creation sustaining it and making order.

The doctrine of the trinity is confusing and hard to understand, but we should expect it to be so.  God is so much greater and higher than us that it would be surprising if we were able to fully understand His very nature.  It is not only true that God is three in one; it is also good for us in so many different ways that He is three in one.  In fact, it is not an overstatement to say that all the good that we experience from God is due to his triune nature—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit working together for our benefit and our advantage!

What Does the Bible Say About the Trinity?

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Much of the Bible is simple and easy to understand even if it is often hard to do.  When Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, that may be a hard to do (especially without the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us), but that statement is not hard to understand.  The same is even true for the Bible’s instruction for us to be holy as God is holy.  So much of what the Bible says is this way—be known by humility; love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; trust in Jesus alone for salvation, don’t try to earn it; and much more.

While most of the Bible is easy to understand, there are other parts that are more difficult.  Peter even said as much about some of Paul’s writings in 2 Pet. 3:15-16.  Many times, these difficulties come as we are trying to understand how different parts of the Bible fit together.  The Bible says that God is sovereign even over salvation and that we make free decisions.  Those truths are easy to understand on their own, but we have some difficulty understanding how they fit together.  How Jesus can be both fully God and fully man fits into this category as well.  While there are others, we could think about, I want to look at the idea of the trinity—one God in three persons—here.  The Bible says eight things about God that help us to understand (or at least believe) this doctrine.

1. There is Only One God.

The Bible says this in several places, and this is one of the main differences between Christianity and many other religions.  For example, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 say, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  This is only one place where we see this truth—Is. 45:5-6, 45:21-2, 44:6-8, Ex. 15:11, and many others.

No matter how we end up understanding the trinity, one thing is certain—there is only one God.

2. The Father is God.

This truth goes almost without saying.  Most of the time when the Bible uses the word “God,” it is a reference to the Father.  Of course, there are some places that are more explicit than others.  In Matthew 6:9, Jesus teaches us how to pray and tells us to address God as “Our Father in Heaven.”  In John 6:27, John tells us that “God the Father” has set his seal on the Son of Man.

It is clear that God the Father is God.

3. The Son (Jesus) is God.

The Bible teaches that the Father is God, but just as clearly, it also tells us that the Father has a Son.  God the Son who has always existed entered into time and creation and became Jesus the Christ.  In the opening verses of John’s gospel, he tells us that this Son or Word was with God the Father and was Himself God.  Later in John 20:28 when Jesus appears to Thomas after his Resurrection, Thomas proclaims, ‘My Lord and my God!”  Jesus does not correct him or challenge him (the way that angles and others did in similar situations) but allows this statement to stand.  In Revelation, we see several times where Jesus receives worship alongside the Father.

It is clear that the Son (Jesus) is also God.

4. The Holy Spirit is God.

While we don’t read as much about the Holy Spirit in the Bible as we do the Father and the Son, we are explicitly told that he is also fully God.  One of the places where this is made most clear is Acts 5:3-5.  There two early followers, Ananias and Sapphira, had given an offering to the church, but they lied about it.  In verse 3, Peter asks Ananias how he could do such a thing as lie to the Holy Spirit.  In the very next verse, Peter tells him that in lying to the Holy Spirit he has not lied to men but to God.

It is clear from this passage that the Holy Spirit, too, is fully God.

5. The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit.

6. The Son (Jesus) is not the Father or the Holy Spirit.

7. The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son (Jesus).

These three truths go together.  This is where we begin to have some difficulty—in understanding how the Father is God and the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God and how they are all one God and not three.  However, the Bible says all of those things, and we must try to understand how all four of those truths can be true at the same time.

Throughout history, some in the church have tried to explain this by saying that God is like an actor in a one-man play.  Sometimes this one God plays the part of the Father and at other times he plays the part of the Son or the Holy Spirit.  He doesn’t really exist as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they say, these are just ways that He presents Himself to His creation at different times.  This is one way of trying to understand what the Bible says about God, but this understanding doesn’t fit with everything the Bible says.

God doesn’t just act like the Father, He is the Father.  God doesn’t just act like the Son or the Holy Spirit at other times, He is the Son, and He is the Holy Spirit.  The Bible makes this clear in several places.  In Revelation, we see the Father and the Son both in Heaven at the same time.  When Jesus was on earth, the Father was in Heaven.  Now that Jesus has ascended back to Heaven with the Father, the Holy Spirit is acting in and among His people here on earth.

There are a few places where the Bible makes this truth explicit as well.  Often in the gospels, we see Jesus praying to the Father.  He is not talking to Himself; He is talking to His Father.  Jesus told his disciples that when He went to Heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them.

In Luke 1:35, an angel appears to Mary and tells her that she will conceive a child.  He says this will happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon her.  He tells her that the power of the “Most High” (the Father) will come upon her, and the child she carries will be called the Son of God.

Again, in Matthew 3:16-17, we read about Jesus’s baptism.  At that event, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all three in the same place at the same time.  Jesus (the Son) is being baptized.  When He comes out of the water, the Father speaks saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  At the same time, Matthew tells us that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.

God doesn’t just play the roles of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

8. God Has Always Existed This Way.

God never became the Father (or the Son or the Holy Spirit).  He has always existed as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Father has never not been the Father.  The Son has never not been the Son, and the Holy Spirit has never not been the Holy Spirit.  God has never not been God.

The trinity is a difficult doctrine to understand, and we may not ever be able to fully understand it.  But, this shouldn’t be that surprising to us.  When we are thinking about the trinity, we are thinking about the vey nature of God.  No wonder we are not able to fully understand!

Over time, believers have come up with a summary of what the Bible says about God—a summary of these eight truths.  There is only one God, and He exists in three persons.

Next week (5/2), we will publish another article helping us to think about why it is good for us that God is one and three.  You can read that post here.

Three Reasons to Prioritize Sunday Evening Worship

By Pastor Josh Wamble

It seems like families these days are busier than they have ever been before.  With so many activities and teams and groups for kids to be a part of, not to mention schoolwork, it is not uncommon for families to only have one or two nights a week at home with no responsibilities—some weeks there may be no free nights.  For this reason and others, many churches these days have discontinued their Sunday evening service.

At FBCF, we have had several conversations over the years about what to do on Sunday evenings.  We value family time and rest for individuals.  We take several Sunday evenings off during the year including each Sunday in July.  But, we have also decided to continue with a Sunday evening service for several reasons.  We have people who are not able to attend on Sunday mornings because of work or for other reasons, and the Sunday evening service allows them to participate in worship and hear the word preached.  We have several men in our church who are able to preach, and the Sunday evening service provides them opportunities to do what God has called them to do.  Having a Sunday evening service also allows for our students to meet together another time during the week to receive teaching, mentoring, and fellowship.

As busy as you and your family are and as little time our families have these days, I want to ask you to consider prioritizing Sunday evening worship anyway.  There are at least three reasons that I would like you to consider.

1.  To Receive a Blessing. Sunday evening worship is another time during the week for you to hear the Bible preached and applied to your life.  John 17 is an extended prayer that Jesus prays for his disciples and for those who will believe their message—us.  In verse 17, he says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”  God’s plan for making His followers like Jesus is by using the reading and reflecting on and preaching of his word.  The more opportunities you give yourself for hearing the word preached, the more the Holy Spirit will use it in your life.  The Sunday evening service is another opportunity each week to hear the word preached.  I hope that you will prioritize that.

Our evening service is structured a little differently than our Sunday morning service.  Preaching the Bible is the main thing that we do on Sunday evenings, and it takes up the most time, but we do other things as well.  Each week, we sing together, we take some time to openly encourage each other, and we spend an extended time sharing concerns and worries that we have and praying for one another.  I hope that you will prioritize these things as well.

2.  To Extend a Blessing. Another reason for prioritizing the Sunday evening service is because it provides another chance for the kids in our church to interact with the Bible and with other believers.  While the adults are worshipping together in the sanctuary, there are groups and classes for children to take part in.  The middle school and high school students spend the hour with seasoned mature believers studying the Bible together.  This is an informal time where the boys and girls are split up and spend time with mentors.  Students in younger grades also have a time of Bible study, fellowship, and fun with other kids and adult leaders.

Years ago, we had a home-made poster hanging in the youth room.  It simply had a fraction written on it—1/168.  This was a reminder that there are 168 hours in the week.  If students attended the youth group meeting every week, that would be only 1 hour that they were being discipled in the things of Christ.  167 hours out of each week they are being discipled by the ways of the world.  This poster was a reminder for students to be praying and reading the Bible on their own throughout the week and not only relying on the weekly meeting.  The Sunday evening service time is another hour each week for the children of our church to hear the word and being discipled by older believers.  I hope that you will prioritize this time for the children of the church as well.

3.  To Give a Blessing. A third reason for you to prioritize the Sunday evening service is because it is a chance for you to bless other people.  The way that the Sunday evening service is structured, gives you several opportunities to bless your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Each week, there is a chance for you to share with other church members how the Lord has been encouraging you, which is also an encouragement to them.  There is an opportunity for you to share with other church members what impact the Sunday morning sermon had on you.  There is also a chance for you to bear other believers’ burdens by praying for them and committing to pray for them throughout the week.  You can also share the things that are weighing on you giving them the chance to bear your burdens.  I hope that you will prioritize these things.

There is also a unique way for you to encourage and bless specific church members.  As mentioned above, there is a group of men who are called to preach who do not have regular opportunities for doing so.  You attending on Sunday evenings gives them that chance.  It is a blessing for you to hear different people preach, but it is especially a blessing to them to have someone to preach to!  I hope that you will prioritize blessing your brothers in Christ in this way.

I don’t want you to think of the Sunday evening service as something that you must participate in.  I don’t want it to be a burden to you or your family or for you to feel guilty about not attending.  But, I do hope that you will take some time to make a thoughtful decision.  I hope that you will not automatically make your decision based on what is easiest.  I hope that you will think through and decide what is best—best for you, best for your family, and best for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Three Ways to Prepare for Church

By Pastor Josh Wamble

I wonder if you have ever heard the saying, “Sunday morning church is a Saturday night decision.”  That is a good saying.  It is catchy and memorable.  It also expresses an insightful truth in a pithy kind of way.  Waiting until you wake up on Sunday morning to decide about church is a recipe for casual and sporadic involvement in the life of the church.

But, I wonder if you ever do more than just decide to attend church.  What are you doing to prepare yourself for worship each week?  Maybe you have never even thought about this question.  Maybe it’s all you can do to get yourself and your family here by 9:30 or even 10:45 each Sunday morning.  I want to suggest three things that you can be doing during the week to prepare yourself for worship and participation in the life of the church.

1.  Read the Bible. Hopefully you are reading the Bible devotionally throughout the week, but I mean something even more than that.  At FBCF, we normally preach expository sermons.  One thing that this means is that we preach straight through books of the Bible covering each verse of each chapter as we get to it.  We don’t skip anything.  One of the benefits that this provides is that you can already know passage from the Bible will be preached each week.  For example, if we finished Revelation 10 last week, you know that we will be starting Revelation 11 this week.  The same is true for most of our Sunday School classes.

Let me encourage you to take a few minutes on Saturday evening before going to bed to read through the verses to be covered in the upcoming Sunday School lesson and sermon.  Put a bookmark in your Bible or send a text message to yourself each Sunday noting where the next Sunday’s sermon will start so that you can do this.  Already being familiar with the text to be studied and preached will help you to understand and follow the sermon better each week.

2.  Spend Some Time in Focused Prayer. You can pray in a few different ways to prepare yourself for worship each week.  Take some time to speak to the Lord about preparing your own heart for worship.  Confess your sins to Him and ask Him to remove any distractions from your mind and heart.  Pray that you would be attuned to the Holy Spirit’s conviction and encouraging and application to your life as you hear the word preached.

Also, take a few minutes to pray for your pastors and those who will be leading the services.  Ask the Lord to prepare them and that they would be free from distractions and worries.  Ask the Lord to protect them from sin and temptation, and ask Him to use them and their preaching, teaching, and leading.

Finally, take a few minutes to pray for other church members.  Pray the same things for them—that their hearts would be prepared for worship and that they would be free from distractions.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would use the preaching of the word to strengthen them and cause them to trust in Christ even more fully.  Use the Wednesday night prayer sheets to pray for specific concerns and requests that other church members may have made known to us.

3.  Make the Necessary Practical Preparations. Finally, think about the practical things that could get in the way of you worshipping God and being a blessing to other church members.  Many times, when we arrive at church on Sunday morning upset or frustrated, the causes of those frustrations can be avoided with a little forethought.  I am thinking about very practical things here.  Make sure there is enough gas in the car to get to church.  Even something as small as a surprise empty gas tank can make us late or feel rushed and irritated.  Before you go to bed, make sure the clothes you plan to wear are clean and ready to go.  Get to bed early enough on Saturday so that you are well rested and refreshed on Sunday morning.  Make sure that your alarm is set so that you have enough time on Sunday morning to have breakfast and get dressed and get your family ready and the other things that you need to have done before leaving for church.

Sunday morning church attendance really is a Saturday night decision, and attending is something—but it’s not the most or the best.  Let’s commit ourselves not only to attending church but attending and participating in a prepared way—prepared to worship the Lord, prepared to really hear and respond to the word preached and taught, and prepared to be a blessing and encouragement to other church members.  This preparation is also a Saturday night decision—and a Monday decision, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday.

Peace Be With You …

By Pastor Josh Wamble

At FBCF, we have a greeting time in our worship service.  As you know, this is an informal time where we briefly greet and encourage those around us.  Many churches have a similar time in their worship services.  Often this time is called the passing of the peace.  In these churches it is common to hear the phrase, “Peace be with you” and the response, “And also with you.”  I was reminded of this tradition earlier today while I was reading the end of John’s gospel.

In John 20, Jesus says “Peace be with you” three times—twice (vv. 19 and 21) when He appeared with all of the disciples (except for Thomas) when they were locked in the upper room and again (v. 26) when He appeared with all of them (Thomas included) 8 days later.  It is interesting that Jesus never used this greeting before His resurrection but did use it the first few times He met with his disciples after his resurrection.  I wonder if there is a significant reason that Jesus chose to speak these words to His disciples.  Jesus does talk about peace in 2 other places in John’s gospel.

In John 14, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be leaving them shortly.  Of course, he is talking about His crucifixion.  He tells them that He will return for them and that He will leave a Helper to be with them—the Holy Spirit.  In verse 27, He tells them that He will also leave His peace with them.  Again, in John 16, He is telling His followers that he will be leaving.  He tells them that before this happens, they will be scattered and will leave Him to face the crucifixion alone.  He tells them that they will have tribulation and the world will be against them, but He encourages them not to lose heart.  The basis of His encouragement is that He has overcome the world and that in Him they will have peace.

What is Jesus talking about?  There are two ways of thinking about peace.  The first type of peace is subjective.  It is a calm or a peaceful, easy feeling to quote The Eagles.  The second type of peace is objective.  It is the absence of hostility.  It is the type of peace that happens at the end of a war or conflict when both sides come to an agreement of how to live together—terms of peace.

I think Jesus is referring to this second type of peace in these passages.  The last words that John records Jesus saying from the cross (John 19:30) is “It is finished.” or “It has been completed.” or “It has been accomplished.”  Of course, He is talking about the entire work of salvation, and a concise way of summarizing this work is that peace between God and sinners has been achieved!

When Jesus approaches His followers after He has been resurrected, they are still confused about what has happened and afraid about their new circumstances.  Jesus’s first words to them are “Peace be with you.”  He is not telling them to be calm and serene.  He is announcing to them that His work in His life and His death has produced peace between them and God where there once was hostility.  I think of what Paul says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sometime during this Easter week, take some time to reflect on the peace Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection has secured for us by removing the hostility of our sin and guilt by taking them on Himself.

Peace be with you … And also with me!

Revelation 11:18

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Recently, I was talking with a group of men that I meet with each week.  Many would consider these men to be down and out.  Many would look down on them because of their situation in life.  These are marginalized men.  I was sort of surprised when a couple of them started to tell me how much it meant to them that I took the time to learn their names.  They went on to tell me that many people they interact with, even people they interact with regularly, never even bother to ask them their names much less make the tiny effort of learning their names.  I felt heartbroken for them.  Such a small act can have such a big impact on someone!

During this conversation, I was reminded of Revelation 11:16-18 that says:

¹⁶And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.  ¹⁸The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

More specifically, I was reminded of the small phrase in verse 18, “both small and great.”  The way the Lord values people is so different than how people are often valued (or not valued) in our world.

People often find value (in others and ourselves) in wealth or power or “success” or appearances or age or sex.  The list goes on and on.  People often ‘value” others based on what they can do for them or what they can get out of them.

Sometimes, this way of thinking even makes its way into the church.  At times, even believers are influenced by this worldly way of thinking.  If we are not careful, we begin to think of success in ministry as big churches or influence and power in denominational structures or over the internet and social media.  If we don’t work against this way of thinking, it will influence the choices we make in electing church members to committees or other leadership positions.  This is not the way it should be in the Kingdom of Christ!

The Lord has a very different way of valuing people.  When God charged the prophet, Samuel, to anoint the next king of Israel, Samuel began looking for a man who was strong and impressive—a man who looked like a leader.  He was searching for someone who looked like Israel’s first king, Saul.  “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7)

In Revelation 16:18, one of the ways the four living creatures worshipped God was by thanking Him that He rewards those who fear His name—both the small and the great!  Let’s strive to be a people and a church who values people differently than the world.  Let’s strive to look on the heart the way the Lord does.  Let’s strive to value people based on their relation to the Lord and to us not on their outward appearances or their level of worldly “success” or their level of influence and power.

After all, let’s not forget what Paul says about us in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians:

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  ²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  ³⁰And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Zephaniah 3:17

By Pastor Josh Wamble

During our Sunday evening services, we have been preaching through the whole Bible one book per week.  This past Sunday, Robbie Hughes preached through the book of Zephaniah.  That sermon was really good.  If you were not at that service, you can watch or listen to his sermon here.  One verse from Zephaniah stuck out to me, and I have been thinking about it for the last few days.  Zephaniah 3:17 says,

¹⁷The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

There are four things in this one verse that I want to point out.

1.  God is with His People

The God of the Bible is the one true God who created the world and all that is in it.  He is high and lifted up and rules over the whole creation in His might and wisdom.  He is the Lord who has all authority.  But that does not mean, that God is aloof or unapproachable.  Zephaniah says that this glorious God who is exalted above all things is also “in your midst.”  The One who is high and lifted up has brought Himself low to be with His people.

2.  God is Mighty to Save His People

The thought of God bringing Himself near is troubling or scary until we read the next phrase that Zephaniah writes.  He identifies God as the “mighty one who will save.”  This holy and righteous God has come into our midst not to judge but to save.  This is unbelievably good news and the very heart of the gospel—the Judge of all the earth has drawn near to His people offering salvation not judgment!

3.  God Rejoices over His People

Further, God does not work for the salvation of His people begrudgingly.  Zephaniah writes, “he will rejoice over you with gladness” and “he will exult over you with loud singing.”  On Sunday night, Robbie pointed out to us that Zephaniah is explaining salvation to us from God’s point of view.  God loves His people.  He rejoices over His people with gladness and exults over them by singing loudly.  If you are one of God’s people, He delights in you.  This is the source of His saving work and not the result of it.  He wants to do good to you and for you more than you want good things for yourself.

4.  God Quiets His People

Finally, we see the result of these truths.  God is with His people, He is mighty to save His people, and He rejoices over His people.  If this is true, then we can be quieted by his love.  One translation says, “with his love, he will calm all your fears.”  We can rely on God.  Even when situations in life are troubling and seem out of control, we can trust that God is ultimately for His people and will take care of us.

The holy, righteous, mighty, powerful, wise, authoritative God of the universe is on your side and working for your good and your satisfaction.  Rely on Him.  Count on Him.  Rest in Him.  Even when life is crazy and seems out of control, even when you can’t see how or where God is working, even when you are tempted to think that God has forgotten you or forsaken you, trust that He is in your midst, that He is your mighty savior, and that He is rejoicing over you with gladness and loud singing!