Leading Your Church Through Suffering
Excellent advice here from Matt Chandler on leading your church through suffering.
September 03 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
Don’t Waste Your Cancer
This is the powerful testimony of a man struggling with cancer and his persistent love for the gospel in the midst of terrible suffering.
The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.
April 23 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
And One Beside…
In one thousand trials it is not five hundred of them that work for the believer’s good, but nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, AND ONE BESIDE. – George Mueller
April 21 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
God Knows
There are a number of people in my life right now who are suffering in various ways. Some are suffering from cancer, some are suffering from the loss of a job, and some are suffering from the fear of the unknown.
The other day I was reading through the book of Exodus and I came across a remarkable passage about suffering. The passage is found in Exodus 2:23-25 where Moses writes,
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.
When God’s children suffered under terrible persecution (even having their children ripped from their arms and thrown into the Nile), God responded in four ways.
- God Heard – In the midst of their suffering God was not absent. His ear was attuned to His people. In the same way, God is never absent in our suffering.
- God Remembered – God did not forget that those going through suffering were his children, He remembered them. In the same way, God does not forget His children today. Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” God always remembers and He always shows compassion for His children.
- God Saw – It is not just that God was aware of the suffering of his children, but rather he was intimately acquainted with it. Every lash from the task masters and every bitter tear was cried in His presence and He saw it all. No matter how dark the valley may be, you can rest assured that God sees.
- God Knew – There is great comfort in the fact that God knows our suffering. There is comfort in the fact that God knows our suffering because God is sovereign and good and He is able to minister to us in our afflictions. Not only is God sovereign and good in our suffering, but He is also present. God knows because God does not allow us to walk through suffering alone, but rather he holds our hand and when necessary he carries us.
When we walk through dark valleys in this life, we can be assured that 1) God hears, 2) God remembers, 3) God sees, and 4) God knows.
Psalm 73:23-26 – “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
March 29 2010 | Devotional | No Comments »
Suffering – A Personal Story
Dr. David Powlison is one of my favorite people to listen to, especially when it comes to counseling. This is a touching video relating to suffering and counseling.
February 05 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
My Story (part 5) – Sharpening and Suffering
In the early part of 2005 Amy and I were actively looking for our next church body. We clearly felt God calling us to a new church, but were still unsure of where that calling would lead us to. By May, we had a clear answer as God brought us together with Emmanuel Baptist Church (EBC )in Mount Vernon, WA. Our time at EBC has been and continues to be a sweet season of growth for both Amy and I. The two great themes of this season so far seems to be “Sharpening and Suffering.”
PMC Church served a vitally important roll in my development as a Shepherd, but at the same time the lessons I learned at PMC Church were limited to a fairly small scale. I was able to run my own program with very limited volunteer help, PMC Church didn’t really have any boards or committees that needed to be dealt with or appealed to, and I operated under the close observation of a very gifted Senior Pastor. EBC has afforded me many opportunities to sharpen my skills in areas that PMC simply couldn’t. At EBC I’ve been able to manage a large budget, oversee a staff of over 20 volunteers, learn the inner workings of committees, etc. in a large Baptist Church, serve as an active and vocal member of the board of elders and even work with a large denomination (BGC) on church planting strategies, etc.. In short, God has been very gracious in providing opportunities for me to sharpen my skills at EBC.
At the same time God has graciously provided a number of occasions for suffering during this time which have served to strengthen my faith and draw me closer to Him. Upon my arrival at EBC I learned that things were not well. The church was immediately faced with a tragic case of adultery on the part of a leading staff member, old wounds certainly ran deep amongst the membership when it came to divisive issues such as worship and church polity, and within a year the church faced a large financial deficit resulting in the loss of a pastor. Even something as simple as a biblical understanding of the role of a pastor was a great difficulty. All of these issues and a multitude more were the source of many sleepless nights and many tearful days. Yet through it all God was quietly drawing me closer and closer to Himself and developing a deeper intimacy with me than I would have known otherwise. So while the hurts of this season were certainly real, the joy which I have found through the hurt has been rich.
Even with the heartache that the church frequently brought, the greatest sorrow of this season has certainly been my son Micah’s difficulties with speech (which I have written about elsewhere), and the ensuing season of waiting. There are few greater pains in life than watching a child suffer and wanting so desperately to help but not being able to. Through all of these things God has proven Himself to be faithful and has remained a constant source of comfort and peace for both Amy and I.
Much has changed in the 4 1/2 years that I have been a part of EBC. Our church has undergone what I consider to be a revival as old wounds have been healed and trust in leadership is continually being restored. Micah has begun speaking much more and seems to surprise us with new words every day. Neither Micah nor EBC have arrived, but God has certainly worked mightily in the lives of both and I give Him all the praise and glory for it.
At the beginning of this series I said that my desire was to point out two great truths that I have seen demonstrated over the course of my life: 1) I am a great sinner, and 2) Christ is a great Savior. In reflecting back on the story of my life I am filled with reminders of how great a sinner I am. Whether they be sins of pride, selfishness, or just plain self-centeredness the jury is in and I am clearly guilty. While one would think that this guilt would drive me to despair, quite the opposite is true. While I am a great sinner, the magnitude of my sin only serves to magnify the greatness of my Savior who took my sin upon Himself. It is true that I am a great sinner, but by God’s grace I belong to Him because my great Savior has taken my sin upon Himself and given me His perfect righteousness.
January 11 2010 | My Story | No Comments »
Cheer Up My Friend
There are certainly times in life when we need a little more encouragement than others. When the night seems especially long and the the road seems especially hard, it helps to have a friend come alongside and offer a word of cheer. For some reason these last few weeks have felt a little darker than most, but tonight the Lord sent a friend in the form of a letter written in 1838 reminding me to “take heart.” In the chaos and loneliness of life it may be that you are in a similar place, so I hope that these words mean as much to you as they have to me.
(The following is excerpted from a letter written on November
16, 1838, and was published in the ‘Gospel Standard Magazine’)Dear friend,
O the pleasure, wonder, and delight when the dear Comforter
brings to my remembrance the way He has led me these forty
years in this dreary wilderness–the helps He has afforded me;
His never-failing mercy in supplying me; His omnipotent power
in keeping me; His unwearied patience in bearing with my
devilish, crooked ways; His never-failing faithfulness,
notwithstanding all my unbelief. It is of His mercies and His
unfailing compassion–that I am not consumed. I am confident
that it is because He changes not, that such a worm as I am–is
not consumed. For I am sure there never was such a stubborn,
refractory, stupid, rebellious, proud, presumptuous, blind fool as
I am!
My dear friend, it is here where my poor soul wishes to be living
and dying–enrapt up in the bosom of everlasting love! O what
sweetness to have drops out of this fathomless sea, this
boundless river! And, if the drops are so sweet, so soul
ravishing, so sin subduing, so devil conquering, so world
vanquishing, and so God glorifying; what must it be to be
brought to the fountain-head! What must it be, to be delivered
forever from a cursed body of sin and death, out of the reach of
all the fiery darts of the devil! What must it be, to have no
nights, no clouds, no storms, no afflictions, no frowns forever
and ever! There it will be an eternity of God’s smiles, an eternity
of immortal pleasure–and not one moment of pain nor grief
forever and ever!
O sweet home, heavenly rest–”where the wicked cease from
troubling,” and the poor, tempted, tossed, tried, weary soul shall
be forever at rest–undisturbed forever! O that the dear
Comforter may bless us with foretastes of this heavenly
kingdom, where we shall sing together, notwithstanding all our
present sinkings, murmurings, frettings, wanderings, groanings,
and sighings! All that either the world, flesh, or devils have
done, can do, or ever shall do–shall never be able to pluck usout of the hands of everlasting love!
Cheer up, my friend, though it is through much tribulation–it
is unto the kingdom of God! Though it is through fire and water–
it is into a wealthy place! Though it is through a terrible
wilderness, through pits, traps, and snares–it is into a land
flowing with milk and honey! Though it is through so many
fainting fits, so sickly and faint at times–it is into a land where
there never is any sickness, for the inhabitants there never are
sick.
Blessed be our dear Lord–He picked us up out of the ruin of the
fall–unasked, unsought for, unthought of–and deadened us to
all the pleasures and joys that we once lived and delighted in. He
has burned up our rags of righteousness and made us sick of
them in our very hearts–and brought us to long, pant, and thirst
for His holy righteousness. He has given us many blessed drops
and tokens of His love–that He is ours, and that we are His!
O blessed Lord, do help us, do keep us, do lead us, and do guide
us by Your counsel–and afterwards receive us to glory!
October 17 2009 | Blog | No Comments »
Let us Go to Jesus Outside the Camp…
This is a sermon from a Southern Baptist Pastor’s Conference that I really needed to listen to on going to Jesus outside the camp and ministering to the least of these.
September 23 2009 | Blog | No Comments »
What Breaks God’s Heart? (Death)
Several years ago my Pastor (then at Riverlakes Community Church) preached a series on “What Breaks God’s Heart”. The title has always stuck out to me and I have often times meditated on what does break God’s heart. The Bible is full of explicit references to the heart of God being deeply moved, even moved to tears over the heartache in this fallen world. This is the second in a series of posts on What Breaks God’s Heart
In the fall of 2005 I was finishing up my last semester at The Master’s Seminary when I had one of the most intimate experiences with death that I can remember. Each year I got to take a discipleship lab with one of the professors or one of the pastors at Grace Church. This particular semester I got to spend some time with Jim Pile who is the pastor in charge of Pastoral Care at Grace. Jim gets to spend a lot of time dealing with death and dying, so over the course of the semester we go to talk about death and dying quite a bit. Toward the end of the class, I was given the rare privilege of visiting the Los Angeles County Crematorium for an extended tour of the facility. I got to see the furnaces, a small chapel, and a large room full of brown plastic boxes. Each of the boxes held a clear plastic bag of ashes. Standing in this room I listened to the care taker of the facility explain how the facility worked, as I held one of the plastic bags with what remained of a human life in it. As I thought about what was in my hand, the care taker’s words began to fade into the distance as I reflected on the fact that this person used to be someone’s child. He was probably bounced on his father’s knee, he was probably rocked to sleep by his mother and he probably went to school with other kids just like him. Maybe he was even someone’s husband, maybe they were still looking for him or maybe they could care less…and something inside of me just ached.
Death has a way of doing that to us, it always hurts and it seems so completely arbitrary and unfair. In one box you may have found a drug dealer, and in another box you may have found a lawyer who fell on hard times. But, when it was all said and done they ended up sitting side by side and soon they would end up in the same place. Death truly is the great equalizer of all men and yet despite all of the thousands of years that mankind has had to come to peace with our own mortality, death still stings.
When I think of the question, “What breaks God’s heart?” I have to think that death ranks pretty high up there. Death was the ultimate punishment handed down from God to man for his sin and since that time Adam’s tragic epitaph has been written over every man’s grave “and he died” (Genesis 5:5).
Perhaps no single event makes this more clear than the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. After hearing of His friend’s sickness, Jesus went to find that he had already died. As Jesus looked over the crowd of mourners that day the Bible gives one of its simplest and most profound statements, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). I’ve often wondered why Jesus wept over Lazarus death, especially when He knew that in just a few moments He would raise Lazarus from the grave. It almost seems like one of those moments when He would say, “Why are you weeping? Behold the power of God!” But instead we find the Savior, God in the flesh, bursting into tears (BDAG) and weeping over the death of a friend. The only explanation seems to be that death is really that bad. Death always hurts, it is always heart wrenching and it is one of those pains that is so great that it broke the Saviors heart.
As Christians, we live in a wonderful place where death no longer has victory over us (1 Cor. 15:55). We have been given a new life and promised a new body (1 Cor. 15:42), but in some way death will still touch each of our lives and that breaks God’s heart.
Psalm 90:12 – So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
July 06 2009 | What Breaks God's Heart | No Comments »
The Goodness of God
The following quote is taken from J.C. Ryle’s sermon “Do You Believe“. To be honest, I really needed to read this this morning, so I thought you might need to as well.
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” John 3:16Reader, if God has given you His only begotten Son, beware of doubting His kindness and love, in any painful providence of your daily life! Never allow yourself to think hard thoughts of God. Never suppose that He can give you anything which is not really for your good. Remember the words of Paul: “He who spared not His own Son—but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32)
See in every sorrow and trouble of your earthly pilgrimage—the hand of Him who gave Christ to die for your sins! That hand can never smite you—except in love! He who gave His only begotten Son for you, will never withhold anything from you which is really for your good. Lean back on this thought and be content. Say to yourself in the darkest hour of trial, “This also is ordered by Him who gave Christ to die for my sins. It cannot be wrong. It is done in love. It must be well.”
May 11 2008 | Blog | No Comments »