His Ways

by | Nov 15, 2016 | From Pastor Andrew's Desk, Latest Posts

From Pastor Andrew’s Desk

Greetings FCCB’ers.

Obviously, this week was important in the history of our beloved nation. May the Lord grant wisdom to our new President, and all other elected officials. May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May we continue to pray for all those in positions of authority and for people to unite under the sovereignty of the Lord. May we as His people be following and living in His ways and trusting Him in all things. May we be His witnesses to a hurting world, so that His glory may be made manifest through us.

          This Sunday is a “Vision Sunday” for our church. The occurrence of this theme is timely as we seek the Lord in this season as a church and as a country. When our church was founded in 1701 it was not so that the church would be a nice little “holy huddle” to meet once a week. Churches like ours were founded to be in the center of what God was doing in a town. The church in the 1700 and 1800’s was the heartbeat of communities like Boxford. People came to celebrate, to grieve, to debate ideas, to build lasting relationships, to recreate and to worship.

And God’s people, who are His church, reached out to friends and family members on a regular basis with the love of Jesus Christ. The Lord has sustained this church for 315 years, has placed us in the epicenter of this community and has given us a wonderful parcel of land and buildings for vital ministry. None of this should be taken lightly. I truly believe our church is being prepared by our Lord “for such a time as this” (Esther 4) for our town, region and nation.

 

So what does all this mean for this season? You may be asking, “don’t these seem like some pretty lofty aspirations?” Yes they do, but we serve the God of the impossible.  My sense is that now is the time to be praying, believing and receiving more of the amazing work of the Holy Spirit in your life and mine. So we’ll spend some of this Sunday’s service getting an update and hearing about next steps for “Transformation Inside and Out.” The Lord has led us to do some great things in Phase 1 and now in the beginning of Phase 2 we have much to update you on. Look forward to hearing from Dan Frasier (facilities elder) on these items!

This Sunday we will look briefly at 2 Corinthians 9. Then we’ll discuss specific vision items for the future of our church. In this chapter, Paul speaks to the Corinthians about how he’s been sharing with the Macedonian church the clear ways the Lord has been at work in their midst. In this specific case, he’s speaking of an offering that the Corinthians have given to the Christians in Jerusalem. He states that  “he was telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give: and your enthusiasm stirred most of them to action” (9:2).

Enthusiasm for God and His purposes is contagious for a church and a whole community. We want to be more and more a church that is enthusiastic in generosity as we are growing in Him. This enthusiasm for ministry stirs other people on. Lets be praying how we can stir fellow believers to seek God’s best.
This ministry of encouragement is such a blessing! After all, Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to experience ministry as an obligation or a drudgery. We’ll never take the steps God wants us to take as a church, if we get bogged down with feelings of obligations to give, or to serve or that we have to do things a certain way, or that we care more about “church activities” than a relationship with Him. That’s how Paul speaks of the gift from the Corinthians in
“that it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one begrudgingly given” (v. 5).

The world is longing for hope, purpose and a vision that is worth believing in. So if people see believers without joy or hope, purpose or vision then it looks pretty unappealing to be a Christian. BUT, if they see believers welling up in generosity for the things that really matter, this is eminently compelling and does often cause people to ask, “what is it about that person/church that they pour out their lives so freely and graciously?” There is often a second question from seekers asking about the possibility of an external factor (like the Lord 🙂 who influences His people in these ways. Then we have an opportunity to give an answer to the hope that lies within us (1 Peter 3:15).

 

          Paul states in this famous passage:

“remember this: whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (9:6).
May it not be said of us that we were people that took what the Lord gave us in ‘time, talent and treasure’ and chose to withhold more than we gave away. Rather, may it be said of us that we were a people who laid it all on the line for the sake of the Gospel, no matter what the cost.
I believe
that the Lord is leading our church to enter more into the front lines with Him
that He is calling us to enter into complex spaces in relationships and society to bless many; perhaps many more than we realize in Boxford and the surrounding areas.
We need to ask ourselves some key questions in this season:
Do we really believe that Jesus can open hearts?
Do we really believe that He is the one hope for salvation?
Do we really believe that the Gospel changes lives, churches and communities.

It is important that we wrestle with these questions on a deeper level and get honest about them. If we only somewhat believe them, we’ll never make deeper steps of faith. We won’t think it’s worth it. This is why this fall we are so focused on identity. We truly need to know who we are in Christ to make bold steps of faith:

  • Therefore, the first step in a five step vision plan for FCCB is that we need to enter a season of learning ‘God’s big story: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation.” We also need to learn the big story of Scripture. We’ll be offering classes along these lines and learning the big story through cultivating personal devotional times, starting new Bible studies and listening to words from the pulpit.
  • The second step is to be a church community deeply bathed in prayer. We want to be creating opportunities to pray together. This bonds hearts. The Lord honors prayer as we commit to this.
  • The third step is to become an equipping church, making disciples. The hope is that over time everyone in our church has a Paul (mentor), everyone has a Timothy (mentee) and a Barnabas (an encourager). We want to become more of an equipping church that has this laser sharp focus. The hiring of the minister of youth and family is a key step in this direction. I will describe more of this on Sunday.

The fourth step is to become a church that does community outreach, service and evangelism really well. We want to be expanding our mission footprint to the town of Boxford and the surrounding communities. We want to be developing strategic partnerships in places like Haverhill and Lawrence and then in places like Georgetown and Boxford. We want to be learning needs and then meeting needs. We want to support our current missionaries near and far. “Transformation Inside and Out” also fits in this category as we invite people onto our grounds. We are preparing First Church to be a vital place for active Kingdom ministry to the town of Boxford and beyond. The field, the FLC, the education wing, the carriage sheds, etc. are being prepared as fruitful ministry spaces for a town that truly lacks community space.

  • The fifth step in this plan is to become an increasingly generous church. We pray that we would be a church that gives graciously and joyfully to His purposes in all of these areas. We want to be equipped to understand tithing and biblical generosity well. We’ll look at offering classes and other ways of training in healthy stewardship and financial planning that honors the Lord and blesses others.

These initiatives will take unique preparation and the posture of humility before the Lord to receive from Him true guiding and leading in all things. More on that and all this on Sunday! Look forward to having all of you with us for this important, “Vision Sunday.”

Also, this is a reminder for the Dr. Emmett Price conversation on race next week at 6:30 pm in the FLC. Dr. Price is a leader in Boston and a professor at Gordon-Conwell seminary. Please come for this important evening and vital discussion between Dr. Price and myself. In a gracious and thorough way he and I will look at the big picture of this issue. Also, invite friends to join us. Thank you!

See you this Sunday!

Blessings,

Pastor Andrew