Global Evangelist. Pastor. Entrepreneur. Mentor.

Lord Forbid.…..

• Great weekend!!!! God smiled on me super good this past weekend in Coquille, Oregon.
• I worked my butt off preaching three times this weekend to 3 different audiences.
• I spoke in Coquille Oregon.
• I still think a dog in a plane is disgusting and a dog should be on a leash or a cage behind a plane.
• The hospitality was incredible. Pastor Finley and Pastor Mark were kind and made me feel at home.
• The Church congregants were gracious and attentive to my one hour sermon.
• The youth group was flexible and teachable. Thanks for all the hard work you do.
• The Spirit is still alive and the flesh is beat.
• My response to the article below: No one human race, no nation on earth, no act of hate or love of religion can diffuse the grace of God. The grace of God will continually explode destroying the power of sin, halting the hand of hate, crippling the myth of religion and striking an atmosphere of forgiveness and faith under the shadow of the cross-James Owolabi.

From John Piper: http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1389_The_Birmingham_Church_Bombing/.

 

Lord, forbid that we—we white and black and all Americans—would waste what they paid for. Jesus did not die for nothing and he does not permit death to happen to others for nothing. His death saves from sin and hell. And the death of those we love saves us from seeking hope anywhere but in him-John Piper.

 

"Today, 45 years ago, four little black girls were killed in the Birmingham church bombing.

Those were the days when black people could buy things at the stores, but they couldn't use the restrooms, or sit at the lunch counters, or get a job at the cash register behind the counter, or drink from the push button drinking fountain. The ubiquitous signs said, "Whites Only."

This was the South I grew up in. So I pause to think about it again. And pray and thank God for mercy.

In March, 1963, Bob Dylan's song, "Blowin' in the Wind," sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, bumped "Puppy Love" from the top of the charts.

How many years must a people exist,
before they're allowed to be free?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind.

The answer was: No more.

It was a costly revolution.

That Sunday, September 15, inside the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, four young girls had snuck out of bible class and were talking in the basement ladies room. They were dressed in white from head to toe because this was the church's annual Youth Day and they had a special role in the 11 o'clock service. Suddenly a blast shook the building, and showered everyone inside with debris. The air filled with shouts, then moans, then sirens.

Maxine McNair searched desperately for her daughter. She found her father crying in the rubble. "She's dead, baby," he said, "I've got one of her shoes." Looking at the horror on his daughter's face made him yell out, "I'd like to blow this whole town up." Ten-year-old Sarah Collins staggered out of the hole in the outer wall. She was partially blinded, and bleeding from her nose and ears. Twenty others had been injured and were taken to the University Hospital.

In the ruins of the church basement, the four girls in white were found dead: Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins and Carol Robertson–ages 11 to 14. (source)

Lord, forbid that we—we white and black and all Americans—would waste what they paid for. Jesus did not die for nothing and he does not permit death to happen to others for nothing. His death saves from sin and hell. And the death of those we love saves us from seeking hope anywhere but in him". Thank you!!! John Piper.

Weekly Buzz for 2nd week of September 2008

• Friday was totally awesome; I met my friend Erica and Matt Corbin for lunch. Boy it was awesome.
• God granted 40 students the gift of faith to wake up and be in church on Sunday. PTL !!!!
• Speaking at Camp Tadmore last summer was a ton of fun. Three students came to Christ that summer when I spoke. Praise the Lord for them. Thanks Jeremy.
• The boy scouts of America sent a certificate of appreciation for me to my pastor. My pastor honored me and presented it to me on Sunday morning during both services.
• North Mason High school wants me to speak at their Martin Luther King Day in Jan of 2009. I am excited this will be a lot of fun.
• Wow the bridge was cool yesterday. It was awesome to see Mandy Marsh again. God is bringing them back our students in very slowly.
• I heard an edited audio version of Jonathan Edwards's sermon read with passion and skill by Max Maclean. Yikes! Edward! that dude had some guts. He makes me feel like an immature coward when it comes to preaching hard texts from scripture.
• This weekend I am speaking three times at Coquille Oregon.
• Last Sunday of the Month I will be speaking at Sinclair Missionary Baptist Church. I love preaching to a predominant black church while being on staff at a predominant black church.
• I will be at Emmanuel Baptist church preaching this Sunday morning.
• Great quote from an awesome pastor "You cannot legislate morality.  Lives are eternally changed not by laws, but by Jesus.  Think about it - - 2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth did not run for the Roman Senate, try to overthrow the ruling Caesar or governors, organize boycotts, or donate to political organizations.  Jesus was about building relationships one-on-one and pointing people far from God to a forgiven future. Behavior modification is not the goal; seeing hearts transformed by God's uncensored grace….. Jesus is what I'm about this election season. His flag is the one I'm going to fly.  He's the One I'm going to point friends and neighbors to. His Kingdom fires up my passions-Making Jesus famous is my cause-JH

The Trinity and the Word..

Thank God for His Spirit and the work His Spirit has does in us. KW says it this way "I have been pondering the disturbing deadness of too many congregations who pride themselves in their orthodoxy and their love of the scriptures. I fear that too often we have turned preaching into a spectator sport and sometimes in my perversity I wonder if it has not become a form of penitence that is ritualistically endured week after week as a way of cleansing the conscience. Awash in conferences, seminars and meetings that merely speak to the choir and take up time and money that could be better spent on the front lines, we are not evangelizing the world as we should, nor are we addressing people in a way that they can understand. This is not simply an educational problem because never have there been more books and courses and sermons available to those who are so inclined etc. Nor can it be fixed if pastors are encouraged to sound 'street-wise' and 'with-it' in their sermons, which usually comes across with all the impact of a pathetic joke. Something more is needed. More accurately, someone more is needed!
Surely the answer lies in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We need him to breathe life into our efforts. Studied homiletic or elocutionary technique will not cut it in the real world and similar suggested solutions to the present malaise betray a basic failure to understand the hardness of the human heart. We need the Spirit of the living God to fall afresh on us and our ministries. Without his presence and power we will become mired in traditionalism or confuse conservative or liberal values for those of the gospel. What is frequently absent is the unstudied eloquence of those who have experienced the wonder of sovereign grace and therefore cannot help but speak in 2008 terms of the reality of God's presence and grace. Bygroves is right. Christians worship the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit" KW.