The Early Bird Gets The Link

On July 9, 2019 By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

Here is your daily round up.

Can the American church regain such a missionary impulse? If we are to do so, the hope rests on common people of God—missionary disciples—infusing their lives with a missionary impulse.

Amazon Sold $240K of ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’ Fakes, Publisher Says

Just as The New York Times put out a report in late June on a surge of counterfeit books available on Amazon, the 70-year-old Christian publisher discovered that one of its own had also “been victim of a highly organized and sophisticated counterfeiting scheme.”

Beg God to Move Again: Seven Marks of True Revival

While we cannot dictate to God what he will do, history shows us that there are some things that happen before and when revival comes that are worth noting.

How Can We Help Our Kids Communicate the Truth of Christianity in an Evidential Way?

God Hates When Christian Politicians Lie. We Should Too.

Does that mean you shouldn’t vote for a Christian politician that habitually lies?

To answer that question we should ask ourselves: Does it promote the common good to elect politicians who habitually lie? Does it bring dishonor to the name of Jesus to elect people who habitually lie and yet claim to be citizens of Christ’s Kingdom?

4 Starting Points for Reading Revelation

This is a very helpful starting point for those who desire to tackle the book of Revelations. If I could add a fifth I would say come to the book of Revelation with a desire to understand what the book is teaching instead of trying to make it fit with your eschatological view.

The Early Bird Gets The Link

On June 25, 2019June 25, 2019 By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

Here is today’s edition of The Early Bird, happy reading.

We Spent Our Best Years Overseas. And They Were Extremely Hard.

On the eve of that grandbaby’s 16th birthday, I’m looking back and can testify to two seemingly opposing truths: They were our best years, and they were extremely hard.

The Secret Enemy in Your Marriage

In that and many other times we walked away from conflict instead of talking through it, my wife and I fell prey to the secret enemy that hides in every marriage.

God, Thank You I’m Not Like Those Prosperity Preachers

Are there times we must stand firm for the gospel? Absolutely. Should we ever compromise truth to reach people? No. But we must resist the urge to swing to the extremes of constant attack or total apathy, becoming little more than Facebook finger-pointers and armchair tweeters. We must remember the “why” behind refuting errors and witnessing for truth. Souls are at stake. Time is short

Trevin Wax on Declining Baptism and Membership Numbers Within the SBC

Trevin’s 3rd reason here is something we need to evaluate personally and as a congregation.

What the New Testament Teaches about Divorce and Remarriage

This is a helpful overview via outline on the topic of divorce and remarriage.

The Early Bird Gets The Link

On August 26, 2016 By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.
Millennials Don’t Want Your Sex for Now. Here’s Why

The next generation inhabits a sexually charged landscape though surprising new research suggests a cooling down

Help Me Teach the Bible: Rosaria Butterfield on Teaching with Openness, Unhindered

Worth listening to.

Remember Their Names

How can you help family members of public figures like pastors, politicians, entertainers, and other community leaders?

Calvinism, Hyper-Calvinism, and World Missions

In his most famous work, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, Andrew Fuller piles text upon text in which unbelievers are addressed with the duty to believe. These are his final court of appeal against the High Calvinists, who use their professed logic to move from biblical premises to unbiblical conclusions.

7 Dangers of Embracing Mere Therapeutic Forgiveness

Brauns does a phenomenal job of showing the difference between biblical forgiveness and what he terms therapeutic forgiveness.

Insights from Mathew: Behold Immanuel

On March 2, 2016March 5, 2016 By joshnnomiIn Insights from MathewLeave a comment

scandalous-grace-1-saving-grace-1-638

” Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

Christmas came and went but the miracle of Christmas, God with us, leaves an eternal impact. God, who is transcendent, the creator of time and space, invades time and space and he comes through a miraculous act of the Holy Spirit on a young lady named Mary, in the form of a baby named Jesus. WOW! Down through the centuries, we have attempted to make this look cute with our porcelain nativity scenes, children’s Christmas musicals and traditions, not that I don’t enjoy those things. But that first Christmas was scandalous. A young woman who was almost married, but not quite, pregnant without having sex, having to explain to her husband to be, she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Imagine being in Joseph’s shoes. To say Joseph is confused and hurt is an understatement. Joseph was planning to break it off quietly until we have divine intervention, grace. God sends an angel to tell Joseph it’s all true, get married and name Him Jesus. What does Joseph do? Exactly what God tells him to do. It could be said of Joseph what was said of Abraham, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3).

The scene of the first Christmas certainly appeared scandalous, but so was Jesus family tree. We see the good the bad and the ugly in Jesus’ lineage. There were some heroes of the faith like Abraham, David, and Boaz. There were evil kings like Abijah, Jehoram, and Ahaz. We have the heroes, the zeroes, but we also have 4 women mentioned, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Mary and 1 woman alluded to Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. The women mentioned are all involved in scandalous situations and 4 of the five are Gentiles. Gentiles in the line of the Messiah? A Gospel to the Gentiles? Scandalous indeed.

After Jesus is born, in Matthew 2, we don’t find the Jewish nation flood the town of Bethlehem searching for the Messiah, even though they know the situation and explain to Herod where the Messiah is to be born,

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, ” In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘ And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel. (Matt. 2:3-6)

We don’t see the Jewish leaders searching for the King. We find wise men from the East, Gentiles, searching for the King so they can worship Him. Scandalous!

Could this be? A Gospel that includes the Gentiles? There are certainly missional trails throughout the Old Testament,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isa. 49:6)

And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. (Zech. 2:11)

There are numerous more, but not only do we find a Gospel for the world in the Old Testament. We also find clues, God is doing something among the Gentiles in Matthew chapters 1 and 2. Four Gentile women in the lineage of Christ, wise men from the East, full blown Gentiles, worshipping a Jewish Messiah. A salvation which reaches the ends of the earth, for all peoples, nations, tribes and tongues. God’s plan from the beginning was to send Jesus to save the nations, to save you. Scandalous Grace indeed.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you (I Peter 1:20)

Until Next Time

Soli Deo Gloria

Come and See

On June 25, 2014June 25, 2014 By joshnnomiIn missionsLeave a comment

Come and see, those are some interesting words. We use them to incite intrest in others to come, look or experience something that is happening or has happened that is worth watching. Come and see this video. Come and see this sports play. Come and see this or that.

Here is my question, have we reduced our evangelism to come and see my church?

Come and see our great musicians. Come and see our great programs. Come and see our great communicator. Come and see our great facilities. Come and see… You get the point.

In John 1 we read about a couple of John the Baptist’s disciples leaving him to follow Jesus. They wanted to know where Jesus was staying, Jesus said “come and see” and they spent time together. Later on in the same chapter Andrew starts following Jesus and goes to grab his brother Peter saying “come and see, I found the Messiah.” So we see in Scripture that the come and see approach is used. What can we glean from the way Jesus and Andrew used “come and see” compared to the way we do?

Presence
We underestimate the power of presence. When I read the Gospels I see that Jesus was among the people. Most of his time was spent serving the people. He didn’t put up a tent and wait around for people to come to Him. He went to the people to seek and save the lost. Jesus loved the lost, He spent time around the people, He engaged them in their neighborhood on their turf. When we have presence it shows we care about not only the stuff that happens at our church address, it shows we care about people. When we have presence people are more willing to respond to the invitation to come and see.

Seeker – Sensitive
Now before you label me a heretic or one of those guys, let me explain to you where I am coming from. By seeker sensitive I mean we need to make our hearts sensitive to seeking the lost. We should be the ones doing the seeking in this world. Our mission is the same as Christ to seek out the lost, proclaim the Gospel, so they may be saved. Sometimes we get too caught up in the routine of church life we forget our mission. In John 1, Andrew is the one seeking out His brother Peter to tell him, we found the Messiah. Peter isn’t the seeker here, Andrew is. Another interesting element to point out is the Bible says “first he found Peter,” which implies he didn’t stop with Peter. Andrew continued seeking out people to proclaim the Gospel and bring them to Jesus. Our hearts must be sensitive to seeking out the lost because at one time we were part of the family of lostness, but someone was sensitive enough to seek us out and share the Gospel. We must do the same.

All About Jesus
What we see very clearly in John 1 is everything must center around Jesus and the Gospel. Our presence, seeking and our invitation to come and see is all pointless if we never get to Jesus and the Gospel. Everything we do, even the motivation for doing, must be about Jesus and His glory. All our church music, programs, communicators must be about Jesus or all we have is a social club. When John’s disciples left, they left because it was all about Jesus. When Andrew brought Peter it was all about Jesus.

In the book of Acts when the Gospel spread like wild fire it was because they had presence, they went to the people they didn’t wait for the people to show up. Their hearts were sensitive to seeking the lost. Most important is, it was all about Jesus. May we do the same.

Until next time
Soli Deo Gloria

Project 25:40

On June 24, 2014 By joshnnomiIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This week in Pine Bluff, AR. Watson Chapel Baptist Church is hosting a missional outreach to the city of Pine Bluff. We have partnered with churches from Tulsa, OK. and Republic, MO. to spread the love of Christ to young and old and everyone in between.

The name “Project 25:40” comes from the passage in Mathew 25:40,

And the King will answer them, ‘ Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. ’ (ESVST)

So this week in Pine Bluff we are spreading the love of Christ through backyard Bible clubs in apartments and parks, handing out waters, free car washes, visiting nursing homes. We are going to where the people live, spending time with them, and sharing the message of the Gospel, our only hope. Sounds like something Jesus did when he was walking the earth.

June 23rd, 2014 was our first day and we had just about 100 kids overall, at four different sites. One of the young kids from our church had the opportunity to lead a young boy named Fredrick to Christ.

In the evening we get together for worship and hear a report from each group. We hear about Bible clubs to nursing home visits. Great to hear the Lord working through the groups, but also working in them. My daughter shared last night about the Holy Spirit convicting her with question, why don’t I share the Gospel everyday? Great question to ponder on because us Christians sharing the Gospel is God’s answer for global lostness.

Until next time,
Soli Deo Gloria