It is out of such experiences that I want to share some of what God has shown me about cultivating patience.  Patience is not something to run from, and the trials and difficulties that help nurture patience are not something to fear.  How could we fear that which draws us closer to Christ?  Furthermore, praying for Christ’s grace and strength to help you cultivate patience is not the equivalent of asking God to send great trials.  Often, God will teach you patience through His word and His Spirit and through the dozens of smaller challenges that you face every day.  That being said, let me share some pointers on how to cultivate patience in your life.

FIRST, Consider Jesus.  This was the first point of Pastor’s Tom’s sermon Sunday evening from Hebrews 3:1.  There is much that we must “do” as we strive, according to the grace of Christ, in the process of sanctification.  However, the point of origin for obedience is Christ’s person, not our self-effort.  We must labor, but rather than fighting failure by just trying harder, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. (Heb 12:2)  Specifically, consider the patience of our Savior.  He labored diligently for the glory of the Father, but His heart was always at rest; never in the turmoil of selfishness and impatience.  He was patient with His own family members when they misunderstood Him, patient with His own disciples when they failed him, and patient with those who had rebelled and wrecked their lives through sin.  His patience was displayed in how he met every one of these challenges with grace and in how He used these circumstances to serve His redemptive purpose.

SECOND, Rest Specifically in God’s Good Sovereignty.  A disobedient child, an unproductive co-worker, an over-bearing teacher, a late delivery, a slow (or crashed) computer, and traffic are all examples of God-given opportunities to cultivate faith and patience.  Not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from our Father. (Matt 10:29)  The difficulties that so often illicit our frustration and complaint are sovereign orchestrations of our God, ordained for His glory and our good.  That disobedient child is meant to develop you into a more Scriptural parent.  That un-productive co-worker will help you to learn more about leadership, service, and conflict resolution.  That crashed computer will develop your self-discipline, lead you to a witnessing encounter, or perhaps be the means by which you procure better resources for what is ahead of you.  And traffic, that is a God-given time for worship, to be still and know that he is God.  Cultivate patience by trusting in His sovereign hand. (Romans 8:28)

THIRD, Develop Biblical Priorities.  Our lack of patience is often owing to unbiblical priorities.  We can often be impatient with our spouse because we are not getting our way or not getting what we want.  But in those moments, we must stop and consider that we have elevated our personal wants and desires above our desire for Christ’s glory in our marriage, above our desire for our spouse’s heart and their growth in Christ.  Getting your family or children to an appointment or event on time is a challenge that often tries our patience.  But should our quest for timeliness nullify the command to be like Christ?  At those times when you are tempted to be impatient, frustrated, or even sinfully angry, take just a moment to ask yourself, “What is really the most important thing here?”  And just in case you find yourself wondering about the answer, here it is:  The most important thing is the glory of Christ, in your life and in the lives of others.  Keeping this biblical priority at the forefront of your thinking will help you to cultivate patience and love in all the circumstances of life.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

That being said, we as the pastors want to give you a window into what we do in our meetings.  I want to do that by walking you through what was on our most recent meeting agenda.

Item #1:  Prayer — we always begin our meetings with prayer.  We meet monthly and we pray for 1/12 of our membership every single month.  This way, we will have prayed by name for the entire membership over the course of the year.  We also pray for pertinent needs within our membership.  At this last meeting, we spent an entire hour and a half in prayer.

Item #2:  Devotion — right now, we are working through D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book “Preaching and Preachers” together.  One of us presents an outline of one of the chapters each time we meet to foster discussion and the edification of one another in our roles as shepherds of the church.  This usually takes around 30 minutes.

Item #3:  Approval of minutes from the previous meeting — we keep a record of what we discuss just like we would in any business meeting.  This serves as a reference point of what we have accomplished or decided and of what we may still need to revisit as matters of our leadership of the church.

Item #4:  Accountability time for Pastoral Evangelism — Every time we meet, we emphasize evangelism by sharing with each other our evangelistic encounters from the past month and writing down the names of specific lost persons to pray for.

Item #5: Usually our most pressing matter of business — the one thing that MUST get done.  This month, it was the discussion and approval of all of the candidates for Deacon and Pastor.  Those men will now be put before the church body for congregational approval.

Item #6:  Membership Discussion — at this point in the meeting, we discuss and approve those who are seeking membership at Morningview, we discuss our on-going efforts to follow-up with the few remaining inactive members, and we discuss active needs, crisis situations, and discipline cases among our membership.  We are very careful about wanting to demonstrate both the love and the accountability of Christ in each of these situations, so this item often takes the largest portion of our meeting time.

Items #7 through #12:  Pertinent Matters of Vision, Ministry, and Leadership — the kinds of things that we are currently discussing are Pastor Accountability and Reviews, the format for our upcoming annual Pastor’s Retreat, the ongoing discussion of designating our cooperative program giving, a discussion of our theology and practice of communion, the manner in which Legacy Leadership Ministries (Reid’s Ministry) will come under the auspices of Morningview Baptist, and finally, when our next meeting will be scheduled.  There are often more items (at times we have had close to 20), and we often do not get to discuss all the items and have to table them until our next meeting.  The shortest meeting we have ever had was four hours (which is rare), and the longest was almost seven hours.

That’s what your pastors do in our meetings on a monthly basis, and any member of Morningview is welcome to attend our meetings (though we must dismiss visitors when discussing the private needs/challenges of church families).  Now that you know a little more about what we do, I hope you will pray for us more fervently.  We are very mindful of the sacred responsibility that has been entrusted to us, and we want to be wholly dependent upon the grace of Christ in all we do.

I also want to let you know that at our next Business Meeting (Sunday evening, July 24th), we will offer a time where the congregation can ask any question about matters we are currently working on, you may ask any question that is on your heart, or you may suggest matters that you would like the pastor’s body to consider.  I hope you will prayerfully consider how you can take part in this open forum with the pastors.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Do you all know that very soon, we could have our church “mortgage” paid off?  That’s right — at our current rate of giving, we could be debt-free in a little over two years.  However, we could also do it sooner than that.  We could be debt-free by the end of 2011 if we pray faithfully, sacrifice accordingly, and give generously.

Our existing church debt is from the construction of our bus barn and the adjacent parking lot across from the church, on the other side of Calhoun Road.  This work was completed in 2005, during the time when Morningview was without a senior pastor, just before I arrived in 2006.  This was a great undertaking at a time when the church was in transition.  The original loan amount was $485,000, and the existing balance on this loan is about $119,000.  That means that we have been able to pay off $366,000 in just six years — to God be the glory!

Due to the faithfulness of members who have been giving above their normal tithes and offerings, we have paid extra principal over the entirety of the loan.  We make a monthly payment of about $4,600, and over $4,200 of that goes toward the principal.  That means that at our current level of giving, we could have the total paid off in about 28 months.

BUT I WOULD LIKE TO ISSUE A CHALLENGE.  I would like us all to make our giving towards our building program a matter of prayer.  I would be the first to tell you that Morningview is a very generous church.  We are blessed with numerous faithful saints who, regardless of the level of their means, give faithfully and sacrificially every week.  We have also added a lot of New Members in the past 5 years, and I would guess that they also give faithfully.  But many of our members, both our long-term members and new members, may not be fully aware of how they can be a part of us becoming debt-free by the end of the year.

On all of our offering envelopes, there is a second line where the amounts are entered.  This line is labeled “GROWING IN GRACE.”  We should all be faithful to give regularly and sacrificially (in terms of our tithes and offerings) to our “Budget Offering.”  This offering provides for the church’s budget that the congregation approves every year — this covers our normal week-to-week ministry expenses.  But our building programs are not part of our church budget.  We meet that responsibility solely through the gifts given to “Growing in Grace.”  Here’s where you can be part of the blessing, if you are not already.

Whenever Morningview has undertaken building programs, we have gathered for a time of vision casting, prayer, and commitment.  Those who are currently giving to “Growing in Grace” are those who prayerfully made the commitment to support the needed expansion of our parking and the construction of a facility for our church buses.  If you are not currently one of these generous members, I want to challenge you to become one.

If you are a more recent member of Morningview (you have joined in the past 5 years) or if you are a longer-termed member and are not currently giving to this need, then please prayerfully consider giving above your normal tithes and offerings by designating additional funds to “Growing in Grace.”  We all enjoy the benefits of ample parking and church transportation when it is needed.  We all enjoy the blessings God has afforded through our assets and facilities here.  So please consider what you and your family can give to “Growing in Grace” so that we can be debt free this year.

The note for the loan has to be renewed this November, likely for a higher interest rate than the one we have currently.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to burn the note because we have paid it off rather than renewing it?  So let’s pray, sacrifice, and give.  And to God be the glory!  I love you all!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: 20110501pm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

But one prayer does not a prayer life make. Prayers without variety eventually become words without meaning. Jesus said that to pray this way is to pray in vain, for in the Sermon on the Mount He warned, “But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

What, then, about Jesus’ teaching in the Lord’s Prayer? Don’t His introductory words to the prayer in Luke 11:2, “When you pray, say . . .” indicate that He wants us to repeat the words of this prayer verbatim? And if so, how can doing this involve “vain repetitions” since these are inspired words Jesus specifically told us to pray?
While it’s true that this command of Jesus in Luke 11:2 justifies praying the exact words of the prayer, remember that when He taught this prayer to His hearers in Matthew 6:9 He began by saying, “In this manner, therefore, pray” (emphasis added). That’s why, even though the prayer has been recited in unison by worshipers since the second century, it has been called the “Model” Prayer, because in it Jesus models all the elements we should include in our prayers. Not even the apostles understood the Lord’s words here to be the exact and only words we’re to use in prayer, for we never read in the New Testament of the apostles repeating them nor of their teaching others to do so. The other prayers of the New Testament follow the model of this prayer, but not its form. Any prayer in the Bible consistent with the Model Prayer may also be prayed sincerely and/or used as a model, but none should be considered merely a script to be repeated ritualistically.

Jesus also taught the importance of perseverance in prayer (Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 18:1-8), meaning that it’s often necessary to pray many times (maybe even years) for the same thing. But frequent prayer for the same thing is very different from vain repetition of the same prayer. We should never think that we have found “just the right words” and make them the sum total of our prayer life.

It may seem simpler to pray only one prayer all the time rather than learning to pray in accordance with all that the Bible teaches on prayer. But in reality such praying is an oversimplification that reduces prayer to a magic formula designed to get God to do our bidding. The entire Bible is our guide to prayer, and to willfully neglect what God says about it throughout Scripture in order to isolate our attention on one prayer is a waste of breath. Besides, talking to God is too great a privilege to settle for “vain repetitions” when the Bible invites you to “pour out your heart before Him” (Psalm 62:8).

From Donald S. Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2003).  Copyright © 2003, Donald S. Whitney. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

PRAY for Bill Haynes to be used as God’s mouthpiece in the delivery of the Word and in the exhortation to faithfulness.  He will be speaking from Romans 8, and our desire is that we as men will be challenged and equipped by God’s truth to be the disciples we are supposed to be.

PRAY for God to give all of us open, humble hearts.  Conviction of sin and inspiration to pursue discipline are 2 key things that each man needs.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to fall upon us with the full weight of God’s truth and to stoke our hearts with Christ’s power as we seek to fulfill the reality of our calling as men.

PRAY for our fellowship with one another.  Pray that we would put aside all of the normal, superficial trappings of our egos so that we can really experience biblical love, accountability, and encouragement as we are involved in one another’s lives.

PRAY for all our church families.  Strong churches are composed of strong families.  God’s design for men is that we serve Him as the pastors of our homes.  Thus, pray specifically for changes to be implemented in our families as God continues to develop this ethic of family leadership in our midst.  Some men may need to drastically reorient their lives and even their jobs to fulfill what God puts on their hearts about leading their family as their first spiritual priority, so pray for Christ’s strength and grace to be evident as such changes are made.

The decisions that are being made right now in our homes have a determinative effect on the future health of our families and upon our church as a whole.  I often think back to what my life would have been like if I had been raised in an atmosphere of godliness.  I love my mother and my father dearly, and I do remember us all going to church together when I was very young.  However, church was the only place where expressions of faith were evident.

I often wonder what my home might have been like if my dad had been a man who loved God and walked with Him as his first priority.  I wonder what our home life would have been like if my father had taught us the Word, led us in worship, and prayed audibly over each of us throughout the week.  Maybe my parents would have stayed together; maybe my family would not bear the deep scars of an ugly divorce; maybe my siblings and their children would be walking with God today.

I do not doubt the sovereignty of God in all of my family circumstances; on the contrary, I know every experience of my life has been the result of His precious providence bringing me to exactly where I am as a husband, father, and pastor.  Yet, to reflect upon what “might have been” is of benefit for making us realize the incredible significance of our present actions and decisions.

What would Morningview look like if every man was pressing hard after the glory of God in his life?  What would we look like if every man was loving his wife as Christ loved the church?  What would it look like if every man was making it his personal responsibility to teach the Word to his children and to raise them up to truly walk with God?  I am not saying that we do not have some good, godly men in our church.  I am truly blessed by the maturity of the men in our church, but none of us has “arrived.”  None of us are doing all we can possibly do to lead our families and our church in pursuing the ultimate priority of Christ.  Thus, please pray for Christ to renew us to our calling through this weekend.  I love each of you dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

When you sign up, we will contact you with further information about how to access the prayer room (the door code) and get you information about how the prayer room works.  We understand that everyone has different responsibilities; so, not everyone can give an hour each week to the prayer room.

Among the slots available, we have:
Tuesday    3:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Thursday    2:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Friday              11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday         6:00 am – 9:00 pm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

This past Sunday was a great blessing.  God’s Word to us all was strong and rich and convicting.  The fields are indeed ripe unto harvest, and we must beseech the Lord to send workers into His harvest.  As we pray, we must also labor.  We will be laboring this weekend as we gather to participate in our Community Missions Service Day (Praise God — all but a few of the teams are full!), but we also need to pray for opportunities beyond the ministries of our church.  Each of us are to be Salt and Light in our own personal circles of influence.

Knowing that, I wanted to encourage you all with some specific instructions about how to pursue and engage in witnessing opportunities.  First and foremost, PRAY daily for specific opportunities to share the gospel.  I promise you God will put people in your path when you do so.  Pray for opportunities with family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, and those you encounter when you are out shopping or eating or attending sporting events.  Furthermore, pray for specific persons that you know are lost.  Do me a favor – take a post-it note and write down the names of 5 to 10 people that you know are lost.  Then stick that note on your bathroom mirror and pray for each of them by name as you get ready each morning.  Put a duplicate of that note on your dashboard and pray for them as you drive to and from work.  Remember, prayer fuels evangelism.

Second, be prepared to share the gospel when God opens the door.  Evangelism is more than just talking about God’s blessings or inviting people to church.  Those are good starting points, but evangelism, at its core, is proclaiming Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.  Thus, take time to re-acquaint yourself with the essential points of the gospel.  Pick up one of our GRACE tracts to help.  You could also practice sharing your Christian testimony as one way to help you open doors to share Scripture about Jesus Christ.  Preparation is the most important component of being able to share the gospel, so know the Scriptures — God’s Word is what is powerful to persuade men.

Third, get out there and do it.  Be intentional about engaging people in conversation wherever you go.  Be intentional about taking part in outreach and evangelism opportunities that we offer as a church.  If you are nervous at first, make it a point to go with someone who is well-seasoned in the practice of evangelism.  Watching them and engaging people with them will help allay your fears and it will help you learn how to initiate spiritual conversations.  One of my favorite ways to turn the conversation to spiritual matters is to ask questions.  After getting acquainted with a person, I like to ask “Do you have a church home?” or “How can I pray for you today?”  These questions frequently allow me to begin sharing about faith in Christ.

inally, be mindful of your goal in evangelism.  Your goal is to share the biblical gospel.  Success in evangelism is achieved by sharing what Scripture says about God’s person and law, man’s sin, Christ’s sacrifice, and the requirement to repent and believe.  Whether or not a person is converted is God’s responsibility.  If they listen to you, you are blessed.  If they reject or ridicule you, you are blessed (Matt 5:11-12).  So do not fear men.  And by the way, studies on evangelism have shown that 4 out of every 5 lost persons are more than willing to politely hear what we have to tell them about Christ.  So tell them!  In evangelism, we only fail when we fall silent in the moment of divine opportunity!  I love you all dearly.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

The church family is invited to commit to pray and fast on Friday, October 2 on behalf of the Southeast Asia Mission Trip October 10 – 23. Those going are Shawn Merithew, Tom Hicks, Jr., Scott Knuteson, Shannon Sullivan, Debey Epps, Bella Epps, and Jodie Jernigan.  We will have a commissioning for these folks in the morning service Sunday, October 4.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

As I said on Sunday morning, the reward for fasting and prayer is personal conformity to God’s will and person, a clearer picture of His splendor, and a stronger confidence in His sovereign purpose.  The model and teaching of Scripture is that fasting is an appropriate undertaking for any weighty circumstance or need:  as a sign of repentance, as an act of mourning, when in serious danger, when facing a significant transition, at a time of deep need, for the healing of loved ones, for wisdom in important decisions, and when seeking the specific will of God.

But in more practical terms, how do we actually “fast.”  FIRST, we need to be mindful and careful of our own physical limitations.  If you have any health reservation, check with your doctor before fasting; you may want to consider only a partial fast from certain foods or only fasting for very small amounts of time.  Even if you do undertake a full fast, be cautious of going any longer than a few days and do not abstain from water so that your body does not dehydrate.  A normal time range for a completely healthy person to fast from food consumption is anywhere from one to three days.

SECOND, understand that the purpose of your fast is to seek God in praise, confession, scriptural meditation, and supplication.  Thus, while a fast is technically only abstaining from food, I would suggest that you also abstain from other non-necessary earthly pursuits during this time.  You may need to go to work or take care of necessities with your family at home, but keep the TV off and avoid indulging yourself with other media (novels, movies, the internet, your iPod, cell phone, etc.).  Also avoid or limit your pursuit of extra-curricular involvements like sports, shopping, and events with friends.  The goal of this time is to make the absolute most of being on your face before God.

THIRD, have a plan for how you will use the time.  Prepare certain Scriptures that are appropriate for your concern to meditate upon and pray through as you fast.  Make a list of your specific supplications.  If you have children in your home, prepare some family devotions that will help them understand why you are fasting and how they can pray with you (and for you!).  If you are married, plan prayer times with your spouse.  If you have to work on days that you have designated for fasting, plan how and where to spend your meal-breaks so that those times can be used for prayer and Scripture reading.  You don’t have to have every minute scheduled, but a plan will help you to stay focused and it will help you to protect your time of fasting from the little things that “pop up.”

FINALLY, be prepared to obediently submit to God in whatever way He reveals Himself and in whatever course He chooses.  He may answer your prayers as you hope He will, and He may not.  He may give you a very clear leading or answer, and He may not.  Be content in His will, follow obediently where He leads, and know that He is God.  Whatever the outcome, you will benefit spiritually just by drawing near to Him and expressing your trust in Him through the disciplines of prayer and fasting.

Given all of that, what are some good immediate needs to consider fasting over?  I would first direct you to our Ingathering for the Seminary in Ecuador this coming Sunday.  We have an incredible opportunity to be a part of equipping pastors who lead and plant churches in that nation.  You might want to consider fasting and praying about how much of the Lord’s money you can give to this effort.

In October, we have a team of seven leaving on a Mission Trip to Southeast Asia.  We would greatly appreciate you fasting and praying for us as we receive offerings for our trip and as we prepare for the work.  Furthermore, my plan now is for our church family to follow that Acts 13 model where we will invite our whole congregation to fast and pray before we send out any mission team.  That opportunity will come early in October, so I hope you will plan to be a part of it.  You may have thought of other needs to consider as you have read this, so just trust Him and seek Him as He leads you.  I love you all!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

There are many reasons for our failures in prayer which I set forth in my sermon Sunday.  We think we don’t know how to pray or that we’re not good at it.  We let worldly concerns and pursuits choke out the vitality of our spiritual concerns and pursuits.  We fail to grasp the extreme significance of prayer in our sanctification.  We think we have nothing to offer – that God will accomplish His purpose, with or without us.  But most honestly, we are simply not drawn to God as we should be – we prefer other more tangible, more entertaining pursuits.

If we want to break the cycle of prayerlessness in our lives, we have to get serious about praying.  So I want to provide you this week with some very practical suggestions on how to develop a deeper habit of prayer.

FIRST, scheduling a consistent time to pray is critical.  If you simply trust yourself to fit prayer in whenever you have spare time during the day, you will never fit it in.  Habits are formed from repeated, consistent action.  So to start, schedule 20 to 30 minutes each day, at the same time every day, to spend in prayer.  Keep this time protected, just like you would protect a doctor’s appointment or an important meeting.  You may have rare days where a schedule change is absolutely necessary, but after such occasions, get right back to keeping your normal schedule.

SECOND, once you have scheduled a time to pray, find a good place to pray.  Go to a place where you have the most freedom from distractions – in other words, find your own prayer closet.  Do not take your cell phone or anything besides your Bible with you.  It may be at work or at your office, or you may need to get far away from your phone and computer.  It could be out on your back patio, in your bedroom, or at your kitchen table.  I’ve heard of some stay-at-home moms with small children who even have their prayer time in the bathroom because that is the only place where they can be alone.  Wherever it may be, discipline your mind and heart to avoid distractions once you are there.

THIRD, take your Bible and pray the words of Scripture.  The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any 2 edged sword.  It is a God-breathed revelation.  The Holy Spirit will use God’s truth to convict and shape and change your heart, and praying the Word of truth is one of the most effective ways to partner with the Spirit in this transformation.  So pick a passage (I suggest you work through entire books), and read a verse.  Consider what the verse means – it’s prevalent principle and thrust – and then speak those truths to God as matters of prayer.  Then go to the next verse and pray it, and the next verse and pray it, and so on.  Don’t worry about whether or not you are doing it right – the Holy Spirit within you will guide you and give utterance to your mouth.

FOURTH, be specific and varied in all the aspects of prayer.  Have you ever noticed how many generalizations fill our prayers?  “O Lord, forgive my sins.”  “O Lord, bless my life.”  “O Lord, you are such a great God.”  Be specific!  What specific sins have you committed?  What specific blessings are you seeking from Him?  In what specific ways is God great?  Also, vary your language so you are not saying the same things over and over (this is where praying Scripture really helps).  Being specific requires much more thought and self-examination – it is harder.  But being specific with our thoughts and words is also what takes us deeper as we truly contemplate the weight of what we are praying.

FIFTH, develop the mental discipline to listen and be still just as much as you speak.  A glorious aspect of deep prayer is simply being still and knowing He is God.  Developing this kind of mental discipline is challenging, but very rewarding.  Train your mind to put aside worldly concerns and “To-do Lists” and focus on Him.  Concentrate specifically on God’s Person by meditating upon verses that reveal His nature and Being.  Let your mind dwell on the specific realities of who He is.  If it helps, picture in your mind specific stories and events and descriptions of Him given in Scripture, and then let those moments of contemplative thought translate into a holy “awe” and love for God in the recesses of your soul.  From there, you will find the Spirit reengaging your mind and mouth with fervent prayers of praise and adoration.  Once again, if Scripture is what is guiding you, there is no way to do it wrong.  Just let the Spirit use the truth of God to draw you deeper into the presence of God.

Developing the habit of deep prayer does take work, but I guarantee that once you have tasted the presence of the Lord at this level, you will never be satisfied with “surface” prayer again.  Taste and see that the Lord is good.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

In Christ,

Barbara Holly

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church