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"And it came to pass..."
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ALS, FUNERALS & GOSPEL TRUTH by Jon Cardwell When the doctors were still running me through extensive tests because my symptoms were pointing to the possibility that I had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (aka ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease), many people, though sincere and well intentioned, tried to encourage me that the Lord would heal me. You see, typically, 80% of those diagnosed with ALS have between 2 to 5 years to live. The cause for this disease is still unknown and there is yet no cure. Pastors (more than one, much to my chagrin) even tried to encourage me, saying that if I would just cling to certain promises in the Bible, that I would be healed… because, said they, the Lord could still use me mightily. Though I tried to do so gently, I rebuked these men. Is our God so feeble that He needs me, or any of us, for anything? It reminded me so much of the last funeral I had to minister in. In July 2007, the village of Scammon Bay lost two boys from a God-fearing family to the Kun River. They were 8 and 10 years old. The whole village was in pain and the only place where joy and peace were found was on the faces of the church members of Scammon Bay Covenant Church… and most especially in the lives of the boys’ parents. These two parents were rock-solid because their hope, their trust, their faith, was in the Rock, Jesus of Nazareth. One villager came up to me and said that those “boys are happy now and looking down at us in heaven.” I rebuked that person and said, “If they’re in the presence of the Lord, they’re not looking at us. They’re filled with eternal joy, their gazes constantly upon Jesus with no desire to turn to the left or to the right.” This is what our “Christianity” has come to. We think that ALS, or cancer, or drowning is such a tragedy because Jesus has become, in our preaching, in our worship, in our discipleship, in our evangelism, just something we add to our lives to make our lives better. What blasphemy! Although my prognosis is that I have a rare form of “slow onset” ALS, which will cause my muscles and motor neuron nerve cells to degenerate very slowly, it doesn’t matter to me whether a cure is found or not. If I am in Christ, I won’t be on this planet one moment longer or leave this planet one moment sooner than God intends; and since I am in Christ, I wouldn’t want to be on the planet for a moment longer than He intends, or leave a moment sooner than His providence extends. I look forward to being in the very real and actual presence of my Lord; and when I am, I will not turn my gaze away from Him for even a moment. Because the Lord has granted me just a bit longer on the planet, and because I’ve witnessed the most incredibly strange and unbiblical perspectives come from the mouths of those who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ, my heart burns with a fervent passion to preach the old gospel truths to whomever the Lord gives ears to hear… that the Cross of Christ is the great work, the central work, and the essential work of God in all the universe; that Jesus Christ is NOT something that we add to our lives to make our lives better, that He is EVERYTHING and very life; and that apart from Him we can do nothing, having no life at all; that it is by God’s Word, the reading and hearing of it, and most especially the preaching of it, that the Holy Spirit regenerates the souls of sinful, fallen, and totally depraved men, women, and children.
A HEART FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH by Jon Cardwell I still have a heart for the local church. Because it is throught he local church that God ministers to His people, I have a tremendous desire to see the local church grow in grace and glorifying God. It would seem that the Lord has opened the door of opportunity for me to continue to minister within the local church, now as the pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Anniston, Alabama. OUR VISION: JESUS CHRIST, the holy Son of God, is our vision at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. The Reformed believers of the Christian faith called this Solus Christus, meaning “only Christ.” God the Father, is glorified in the Son (Matthew 17:5; John 13:32). The Holy Spirit brings glory to the Son (John 16:14). At Sovereign Grace, we revere and rejoice in the will, glory, and sovereign work of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (also known as the Trinity). The Old Testament word for vision can just as easily be translated into the New Testament word “revelation.” Vision is a revelation from God. It is a revealing, an unveiling of His will and truth, particularly, the revealing of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus said that everything in the Scriptures was about Him (John 5:39). So at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church we read, study, teach, and preach the Bible to know more about Christ and His attributes in order to grow closer to Him, to honor Him, and to submit to His holy will. If God’s work upon Calvary’s Tree some 2000 years ago was the central, most holy, and most excellent work in all the universe; if His resurrection from the dead is the only sign given to an evil and adulterous generation that Jesus was, is, and ever more shall be who He claimed to be: God in human flesh; if He ascended into heaven with a promise to return; if life is only in Him and apart from Him is eternal condemnation; then, to have a vision other than Christ, to have a desire other than Jesus, to delight in anything else above the Son of God, is sin. Jesus Christ is EVERYTHING! He’s not just something. It is written, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Psalm 73:25-26); and again, “And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12). OUR MISSION: When the early Christian Church met in Antioch, they didn’t have a missions conference or a church growth seminar. The leaders of the church merely got together and “ministered to the Lord, and fasted” when the Holy Spirit stirred them (Acts 13:2), and the largest mission movement in history was born. If the truth that JESUS CHRIST is our vision, that He is God and worthy of worship, and that anything in heaven and earth that competes with loyalty to Him is a sin, then our mission is to live every day according to that truth, being transformed daily by that truth, and surrendering ourselves to Him without reservation for that truth. Therefore, because of that truth… …we will be moved by God’s Spirit to minister to our families as husbands and wives, as fathers and mothers, and as children, as a testimony of that truth. …the Holy Spirit will move us to encourage one another as Christian believers in bringing honor and glory to Christ in all our speech and actions. …we will grow in maturity by God’s grace through His holy Word, bringing even more glory and honor to Christ because it has been by His supernatural power to do so. …it will be evident to the community of Anniston that our love and passion for Christ and His truth is so Biblical and so authentic that it could only be possible by the supernatural power of God’s Spirit to regenerate totally depraved sinners into new creatures in Christ. Further, we will be supernaturally compelled to want to convey and express this truth with compassion to every soul in Anniston and beyond. …we will be available for Christ’s call to carry His truth wherever that may lead us, even “unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We don’t have to “start” a mission. The truth of Jesus Christ is the mission!
How would the Lord have us see this vision through and carry out this mission? GLORIFYING GOD The first question of our catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever” (1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 73:25-26). So HOW do we intend to carry out glorifying God? TRUE SPIRITUAL WORSHIP We seek, by God’s grace, to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth privately as individuals in our personal devotions, paticularly as families in our homes, publicly as citizens in our daily business and interaction with the world around us, and powerfully as members of the body of Christ as often as circumstances through God’s providence allows. Jesus said, “God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Therefore, in glorifying God through our worship of Him, we desire to… …MINISTER BEFORE THE LORD IN PRAYER “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). If our prayers bring us to the throne of grace, particularly empowered by the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, then PRAYER is a grace that we should foster in every aspect of our lives as Christian believers. …MINISTER BEFORE THE LORD IN PSALMS, HYMNS, AND SPIRITUAL SONGS “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16). Whether in the joy of the Lord as we sing to Him privately, or whether singing unto God as a congregation when we gather, with one voice, one heart, one mind, and in one accord, we should foster the grace of melodious, spontaneous, and reverent praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord as an expression of the honor we owe and bestow upon our almighty Creator and Savior. …MINISTER BEFORE THE LORD IN PREACHING THE GOSPEL “For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18); “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Certainly, no mere man can sufficiently express the truths of the Cross of Jesus Christ. That infinite, awesome, and glorious work of God is a truth that we will chase down for all of eternity. Yet, one very important grace that we should want to foster in our lives is to preach Christ and Him crucified as the central, essential, and most holy and excellent work of God in the entire universe, and for all eternity; to do so with power, without shame, and without compromise. …MINISTER BEFORE THE LORD IN TEACHING HIS WORD “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:19-20). Whether teaching God’s Word devotionally in our families, expositionally within our congregation, expressively to the community in which we live, or instructionally to all nations within the context of foreign missions, teaching the Word of God should have a great importance in our lives; whether we are teaching or being taught. Most assuredly, there is much, much more, that we can emphasize, illuminate, and expound upon; however, if we seek to be strengthened in these areas, by God’s grace and His good pleasure, then other means that the Lord uses to perfect our faith and mature us in discipline and holiness will be manifested because of these four areas mentioned. May we be a blessing to the body of Christ and a beacon to the unbelieving world by God’s free and sovereign grace.
SCAMMON BAY COVENANT CHURCH Our previous mission was to Scammon Bay, Alaska. Scammon Bay is a Yup’ik Eskimo community on the south bank of the Kun River, 1 mile from the Bering Sea. The area encompasses about 1 square mile of land and has approximately 500 residents. Commercial fishing is the primary means of employment, while construction and handicrafts also provide seasonal income. To learn more about our previous mission to Scammon Bay, CLICK HERE...
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