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Hello Church Family,
I just wanted to share with you about what today means to me and my family. I never wrote my feelings down before concerning this day...I felt that I needed to do this...
Four years ago...probably around this time as I am writing...my dad went home to be with the Lord. He was 62. This was very unexpected and I will never forget that day as long as I live. For you who have lost close loved one you know all to well what I am feeling. I wanted to share this with you and to testify about the Power of God. I hope you find encouragement by reading this...
I was at work and my cell phone rang. My caller ID said "Mom and Dad" so I cheerfully said, "Hello Mom or Dad!" On the other line was my sister Kim who was clearly upset and said to me..."Roger, it's about dad."
She had talked to him on the phone 30 minutes or so ago to see if she could stop by to visit. As she came in the door she found him lying on the floor by his computer desk unconscious with the phone in his hand. She tried to revive him and called 911. Kim was by herself...I can not imagine the panic and pure terror that she went through. The paramedics came and rushed him to the hospital.
It was weird as I was setting at my desk hearing this, it seems like my mind went into a dream-like fog. My first thought was "No...this is not happening to me. Dad is going to pull through and he will be alright."
Kim had to hang up and go to the hospital. Talking about minutes turning into hours...As I hung up, my heart was racing...I couldn't think or even pray...The waiting was killing me.
Finally, Kim called me from the hospital and from the background voices of sobs I knew that the news wasn't good. My mind went numb when I heard that my dad suffered a heart attack and was dead. This has to be a awful dream. My family was shocked, my sister traumatized and my mother was in South Carolina on a shopping outing with her church group. You see, my dad, who hated to shop, chose to stay home and piddle around the house. As was his custom every morning, He made her coffee and kissed her good-bye as she left for the church. That would be the last time they would embrace after 43 years of marriage.
So what about mom? She is hours away having a good time of fellowship with her senior group. How do you tell your mom that her husband, your dad, is dead? This would be another moment that I never will forget. When she heard the news she lost it. I thank God that she was surrounded by people who loved her and started praying aloud for her as she hugged her friends and cried. The van turned around and took her to the hospital.
Now, I have locked my co-worker out of the office that we shared and he is clueless of what is going on. I realized that I needed to call my wife job to speak to her. She was about 8 weeks pregnant and had a great relationship with my dad. He was her youth minister and those two had a wonderful bond. My dad thought she hung the moon and stars! How was she going to take this news? How would it affect her and the baby?? Again, another conversation I find hard to get out of my mind. I knew I needed to be strong for her but how could I when I am emotionally an total wreck?
I let my co-worker back in and went to see my boss. He drove me home and even prayed for me in the car! That was shocking because he was always giving me a hard time and not being respectful about my ministry.
Back at my house, my mind starts to kick into gear. How can Merideth and I get down to Georgia to be with my family as quickly as possible? We bought tickets to the next flight out to Atlanta and started to throw clothes into suitcases.
I remember packing, crying, and pleading with God that "I do not want to go through this!" I loved my father so much. I gave him a picture of us grilling out and had typed on the photo "Father and Son...Best Friends." That was no lie...we would talk about anything and everything. We loved talking about the Miami Dolphins. We would call each other on our cell phones as the game was being televised and talked about it as we were watching it. He truly was my hero, my friend and my dad. How could I be going through this?? Why is God doing this to me?? I have never hurt this much before...ever! I wish that I could just wake up from this awful nightmare...I was afraid to once again go through the valley of the shadow of death...you see my oldest sister, Debbie, passed away 17 months prior and a part of me still grieved for her.
Well, my dad knew that his heart was weak and had asked me a while back to preach his funeral. I agreed to do it and now it was time to make do on that promise. I plead for God to strengthen me...I felt like I was bracing myself for a huge hit. My heart was convicted. I knew what I needed to say to God but I couldn't bring myself to do it. How could I praise God for my dad dying? How can I be thankful at his funeral? Well, the Holy Spirit did what He does so well...He comforted me, convicted me, taught me and empowered me to rely on His strength and power and not my own. I could not praise God for this on my own strength and understanding...but through the power of God, I was able to worship Him and to praise Him in all circumstances!
I knew that God was with me and that His strength would flow through me. I went through both sermons without breaking down emotionally and embraced the opportunity to share with them how my dad lived his life for the Lord. You see, my dad invested himself in the lives of the people around him. Whether it was friends at work or teenagers that he minister to as a youth pastor, he want to preach through his actions. Now, he was not perfect by any means but you could see God working on him as He worked through him.
Coming back home, I had to preached that Sunday. Again, I felt weak and vulnerable, and once again God manifested His power to me. That Sunday, I gave a testimony on how God strengthens us when we are total weak. He saw me through my darkest hour of trial...I have never hurt as much as this and He saw me through it. People came up to me and marveled on how I kept my composure throughout the sermons...I just shrug my shoulders and say "It's all God."
You know, I had no regrets with my father. He knew how much I loved him. I was not able to say "good bye" but he knew how his son felt about him. Please take the time to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you!
Well, my story does not end there...for it is just the beginning of another chapter in my life. Since my Dad went home, the Lord blessed my wife and I with a son and a daughter. In the same year I lost my father and became one! I still missed him very much, and I think about him a lot. There are days when I can't believe that he is not here. However, my thoughts are not with sadness but with gladness for I worship the Lord for not only allowing me to have such a wonderful father but for HIM being such a loving, gracious, kind, forgiving and amazing God to call me to salvation and who is continuing to complete that good work which He started in me...He will continue on working in me until the day of completion...and on that day, oh on that day... I will see my Lord Jesus...My King who died for me...He will welcome me into His kingdom...I will be glorified...I will be singing with the angels and worshipping my God...my Lord...my Savior...AND I will doing all this not only with that great cloud of witnesses but also....right along the side of my dad!!
I hope that this has encouraged you to be faithful and obedient to Christ Jesus our Lord.
Bro. Roger |
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| Recently, Roger, Justin, and I have begun working on our
church constitution/by-laws/covenant/statement of faith, and I have
been digging around a little in some of the examples posted on my blog. 9 Marks, a ministry of Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, I recently discovered, has launched a new blog called Church Matters, and several posters on that blog are current or former Cliftonites
like Dee Reju and Jonathan Leeman. Despite some playful banter, the
blog seems dedicated to challenging discussions about what a biblical
church should look like. |
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Hey all,
Wow! Talking about having a crazy ride during VBS week! No, I am not talking about riding on the back of a Harley with the motorcycle gang. I'm talking about how we were shown the potential for children's ministry! It is evident that we need to be getting out of our four walls and reach out to our community (funny that the great commish first instruction is to GO). Well I will keep this short and sweet (yeah right). What ways do you see SSBC reaching out to our community? Of course, in this open forum your opinion is respected. Thanks for your input and let us all be encouraged at what God is doing!
Pastor Roger |
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Question from Steve Lawerence -
I don't know if I am supposed to post theological questions on our State Street blog, but I do have a question that I am interested in some imput on. My question comes from the common interpretation of Luke 24:25-27. Does this passage teach that every story in the Old Testament is about Jesus or points to Jesus? or is the passage teaching (as I have thought) that Moses and all the Prophets refers to two of the main divisions of the OT and that the OT as a whole is pointing to Jesus (this seems to be consistent with the messages that the apostles preach in Luke's Acts after their eyes are opened)? Jesus seems to be saying that the OT is teaching that the Christ must suffer and enter his glory. Surely every OT story (or even every OT book) does not point to this (i.e. Easter, Ecclesiastes,etc.)? Doesn't it make more sense that some of the OT is about God the Father? What am I missing here?
Steve |
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I am reading a book by J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness; The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, and I wanted to post an interesting statement reflecting the views of the Puritans regarding the gospel:
The
Puritan position was that only God, by his Spirit, through his word,
can bring sinners to faith, and that he does this, not to our order,
but according to his own free purpose. Our evangelistic practice, the
Puritans would say, must be in accord with this truth. Modes of action
which imply another doctrine cannot be approved.
The
Puritan position seems [undoubtedly] biblical, and ... its implications
are of great importance for the reforming of inherited evangelistic
traditions today. It implies, to start with, that all devices for
exerting psychological pressure in order to precipitate 'decisions'
must be [avoided], as being in truth presumptuous attempts to intrude
into the province of the Holy Ghost. It means, further, that to
[renounce] such devices is no loss, since their use can contribute
nothing whatever to the effectiveness of evangelistic preaching.
Indeed, it will in the long run detract from it; for while
psychological pressures, skillfully handled, may produce the outward
form of 'decision', they cannot bring about regeneration and a change
of heart, and when the 'decisions' wear off those who registered them
will be found 'gospel-hardened' and antagonistic. Such forcing of
tactics can only do damage, perhaps incalculable damage, to men's
souls. It follows, therefore, that high-speed evangelism is not a valid
option. Evangelism must rather be conceived as a long-term enterprise
of patient teaching and instruction, in which God's servants seek
simply to be faithful in delivering the gospel message and applying it
to human lives, and leave it to God's Spirit to draw men to faith
through this message in his own way and at his own speed.
How
does the Spirit work? Does he authentically work through our begging
people to walk an aisle, or does he work most powerfully through the
preaching of God's word? "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through
the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).
Bro. Todd
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I wanted to expound more on my message "The Domino Effect of Traditionalism" (preached on 2-11-07). I got some really great feedback but I just wanted to make clear that I am saying to throw out tradition. That was not my "main idea" of the sermon. My main idea was that tradition is wrong when it goes against the Word of God. Traditionalism is defined as adherence to tradition as authority. That is what Christ was telling the Pharisees in Mark 7:1-13.
We will always be dealing with tradition and I believe that tradition is good. The Lord Supper is a tradition that Christ instituted with His disciples (1 Corinthians 11:17-26). Meeting together as believers is a tradition that is commanded in the scriptures to not give up (Hebrews 10:25). The problem is when we do not want to act out our faith because of tradition. You have heard churches say, "We never done it that way before." If God is moving and leading a church in a certain area of ministry then God forbid if we let tradition suffocate the Spirit of God.
So here is to keeping and even starting Christ-centered, Christ-exalting, and Christ-pleasing traditions! Amen. |
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I am excited about launching this new blogging ministry. I hope that it will stimulate biblical and theological discussions from among the members of our church and to others in cyberspace. I am going to post some extra thoughts that may arise from sermons and bible studies. I hope that you will subscribe to this and be a part of what is going on at State Street Baptist.
In His Service,
Bro. Roger
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