So whats the deal with all this "Company is Coming" stuff? Well, that is what I want to talk to you about over the next several blogs.

There is no doubt that "the" church has already received its marching orders. Its found in the portion of the Bible that we commonly refer to as "The Great Commission ." Jesus put it this way:

"Go therefor and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..."

So, the mandate for His church never changes. We are to win them to Jesus, and them disciple and teach them so that the whole process can be repeated until Jesus returns! However.. and this is important!.. the methods we use to accomplish His commission change.

So what does all this have to do with Company Coming? Company is Coming is just an organized way to focus our efforts on fulfilling the local aspect of the Great Commission.

There is more.. much more.. to the Great Commission than just taking the city you live in for Jesus. But, that is certainly a vital part of it!

So how do we do that? How do we go about maximizing our influence for Jesus in our city? That's what we are going to find out over the next few blogs as we look at the big picture and the different parts of Company is Coming, and how they all fit together to achieve a common goal.

Love in Jesus
Tim

The most successful people in like have learned to do the basics.. but to do them extraordinarily well. The renowned musician who spends hours a day practicing his or her scales. The world class athlete who works year round on his drills. The Christian who consistently spends quality time with God!

Yep, you heard that right. As Christians, we have to discipline (hence the phrase "spiritual disciplines") ourselves to spend time with God.

You see, Christianity is all about relationship. And no relationship can flourish without time together. That includes, amazing enough, our relationship with Christ.

It's not hard.. but at the same time, it is the most difficult thing in the world sometimes. Its easy to understand. We spend some time in His Word. We pray. We sing to the Lord. We confess and intercede and worship. But its hard to consistently DO. we get overwhelmed with work or the kids. We fall into a rut, and our time with God becomes mechanical instead of meaningful. We have a thousand reasons why we just "can't get to it today Lord!"

Let me challenge you to do something. Make a plan for spending time with God. Where will you spend this time with God? Is it your bedroom, or office, or living room? When will you spend time with God? First thing in the morning? Lunch? As soon as you get in from work every day? What will you do? That part is easy.. read some of God's word, spent time worshiping Him by singing some hymns or praise choruses directly to Him, and pray.

Make it a point... no, make it a PRIORITY.. to do this for 30 days. I guarantee  your life will change for the better!

Love in Jesus
Pastor Tim

Warning: if you haven't read the blog about the authority of the Gospels please go back and read that first. In it, I discuss the reasons for dating at least some of the Gospels into the late 50s or very early 60s. This blog is an answer to the question, "why is that significant?" There are at least two reasons why the dating of the Gospels is extremely significant.

 

The first reason why this dating is extremely important is that it means there were people alive who had actually witnessed the life and death of Jesus Christ. Now think about this for a minute. If the gospel writers were telling something that was untrue, then there were people alive at this time who could have, "called their hand" on any fabrication or untruths. This is enormously important! Let me put it in modern terms. Not too long ago a writer for a nationally known newspaper made some claims in an article that were false. Not only were they  false, but apparently he just made these events up out of his own imagination. Almost immediately people began to call his hand on it. Now here's my point. Can you imagine these eyewitnesses in the early community of faith letting Mark or Matthew get away with wrong facts or outright fabrications? Of course not! So, the fact that there were eyewitnesses still alive who could either corroborate or deny these written accounts in the Gospels is a very powerful statement for their truthfulness and accuracy.

 

There is a second reason why the early dating of the Gospels is very important. There have been a rash of movies and books about "other" Gospels that are supposed to be just as authoritative as our four Gospels. You can Google some of these other Gospels. Look for names like, "the gospel of Thomas," "the Gospel of Mary," or "the secret Gospel of Mark." These Gospels, we are told, are just as accurate and just as authoritative as Matthew or John. We are also told in these books and movies that the only reason they didn't make it into the Bible is that the early church squelched them due to political reasons. There is a Greek word that describes that perspective. Hogwash!

 

The truth is that these Gospels were written hundreds of years later than our gospels. Take for example the gospel of Thomas. It was almost certainly written at least 150 years later than the gospel of Mark.  It contains numerous historical inaccuracies. And don't even get me started on the theology of the gospel of Thomas! In no way do these other gospels compare with what we have in the Bible.

 

Here's my point. I recently wrote to you about this tiny metal codex that was found in the Middle East. I made the statement that, "while is exciting to find this ancient artifact, at the very best it will only be an independent archaeological verification of what we already know." Why ? Because we have very early, historically accurate, and extremely precise records of the life of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. Our faith is NOT in a pie-in-the-sky hope so, nor is it dependent on some archaeological artifact.

What makes the four Gospels so incredibly reliable? I mean, we as Christians approach them with an attitude of faith. We trust that God is accurately communicating his message to us in the gospels. We accept that they are inerrant and totally reliable.

But is this just a, "pie-in-the-sky by-and-by" faith with no basis in reality? I don't think so. As a matter of fact, I believe there is every scientific and historical reason to trust the gospel’s account of Jesus Christ.

 

What would happen if we lay aside faith for just a minute? What would happen if we approach the four Gospels with the same standards that we approach other ancient documents with? How would they fare? The answer is, "remarkably and extremely well." As a matter of fact, I would go as far as to say that when we judge the Gospels by  the same scientific and historical standards that we use with other ancient documents? We will find there are excellent reasons for trusting for the historicity and truthfulness of the gospel accounts.

That's a pretty strong statement. So, what evidence to we have to back it up? The answer is, "plenty!"

 

One of the standards used to evaluate historical documents has to do with the age of the document in question. "How soon after the events being described was  this document written?" When you apply this standard to the four Gospels the answer is, "very quickly!" While strictly speaking the four Gospels are anonymous, there was in the early church  a uniform belief that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the authors. There was just no dispute among church leaders that this was the case. So, the uniform belief of the early church was that the gospels were either written by an eyewitness, or by someone who got their information from an eyewitness (Mark, Luke). Historically speaking, that is incredibly powerful!

 

Then we have to ask ourselves, "how much time elapsed between the death of Jesus and the time that these men wrote their accounts?" The answer is, in historical terms, very little! How did we know this? There are at least two reasons. First is an event that happened in 70 A.D., the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. With the Jewish people this would be the equivalent of our Pearl Harbor or our World Trade Center. None of the Gospels say anything about the destruction of the Temple. It would certainly have been included if it had already occurred. It would have been too earth-shattering not to at least have been alluded to. So, we know that the Gospels were written before 70 A.D.

 

However, we have to date the Gospels well before that point. The book of Acts was written by Dr. Luke. Paul is the central figure of the last half of the book. The book of acts ends rather abruptly with Paul under house arrest in Rome. What happened to Paul? We don't find out from the book of acts, because the book was written before Paul was eventually put to death. That means Acts cannot be dated any later than A.D. 62. Since Acts is the second half of a two-part work, we know that the gospel of Luke had to be written earlier than A.D. 62. And since Luke incorporates small parts of the gospel of Mark into his story? That means the gospel of Mark is even earlier. If we allow even a couple of years for each of these things take place? This places the Gospels of Mark and Luke in the late 50s!

 

Why is this so important to the historical reliability of the Gospels? Again, there are a couple of reasons. Tune in for the next blog to find out what they are!

 

 

Recently, an apparently ancient codex was found. If you haven't read about it, here is a link to an article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110330/ts_yblog_thelookout/could-lead-codices-prove-the-major-discovery-of-christian-history

I'm a terrible joke teller. So often, I forget everything but the punchline have to go back and try to remember the setup. Aggravating is not the word. But, I want to do something similar to that in this blog in the next couple of blogs. Here's the punchline: although finding of this apparently ancient codex could be an extremely important archaeological, historical, and religious find? All that it will really amount to is an independent verification of some of the facts that we already know from some other ancient artifacts.

 

The first thing that you have to keep in mind is that this could very well be a hoax. If so, it was certainly not be the first one. For example, there was the hopes of the, "secret Gospel of Mark." Wharton Smith was a professor at Columbia University for years. At a meeting of the Society of Biblical literature in 1960, he announced that two years earlier he had made a historic discovery at an old monastery in the Judean wilderness. In the back of a 15th century book he claimed to have found to a half pages of the letter from an early church father, Clement of Alexandria. In this "letter" Smith claimed that it contains excerpts from a mysterious Gospel called the secret Gospel of Mark. The scholarly world went crazy over this discovery at the time. However, it was later found to be a hoax. Handwriting analysis and other methods were used to determine the professor Smith had fabricated the whole deal.

 

The same thing is also true for those who are basically nonreligious. For example, the man who produced the blockbuster hit "Titanic" also produced a so-called documentary about finding the grave of Jesus. Actually what he claimed was an archaeologist had discovered the bone box (kind of the equivalent of our coffin) with the inscription on it, "Jesus son of Mary and Joseph." What he didn't tell you was that dozens and dozens of these bone boxes bearing identical inscriptions had been found. Want to know why? Because these three names (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,) were the three most common names in the time when Jesus was born!

 

So, let's wait only independent scientific verification of the age of this artifact. There will be linguistic analysis done on it as well. Because language changes over time we will be able to tell roughly what time this artifact was made by examining the language.

 

However! What if it turns out to be real? What if this artifact was produced within a few years of the actual life of Jesus? It would be the archaeological, historical, and religious find of the millennium. Exciting stuff! But listen carefully to this next part. It would not, in any way make the truth about Jesus anymore sure and certain than it already is. That's a pretty bold statement isn't it? Here's the reason that I say it: we are already in possession of four ancient documents that are scientifically and historically proven to be accurate! These documents give us a detailed analysis of both Jesus and the times in which he lived. I'm talking about the four Gospels. And the next blog is going to be an analysis of WHY these documents are so trustworthy that this newly found artifact is not going to change any basic truth found in our Gospels.

I just found out a few  minutes ago that I lost an old friend, Jim Cogdill. Some of you will remember Jim preaching at FBCJ a few years back.

 Twenty some odd years ago we met at Southeastern Seminary, he as a professor and me as a student. I was his grader for several years. He was a good professor who became an even better friend. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes, still shocked. He as only a few years older than me. Way too young to die.

Jim had been plagued with health issues for the last few years. Late Thursday, a huge blood clot hit his lungs and he died.. suddenly and unexpectedly. In the email his wife sent me, she said, "Jim met Jesus Thursday night..."

But while I am grieving for my friend, I am also being shocked by the Holy Spirit into examining my life. It' so short, this thing we call life. We need to make it count.. all of it! What good are all the "things" of life-  the big house or the luxury car or the degrees-  if we don't have anything of lasting significance?

When I look at my sinfulness, my selfishness, and my spiritual denseness, it shocks me into silence. But whatever it takes to overcome these flaws in myself, I want to make my life count for Jesus. I hope you do, too.

So, love your wife. Invest in your children and grandchildren. Pour yourself into a handful of fellow believers and disciple them in the Lord. Most of all, tell others about Jesus. Quit sweating the small stuff, and for heaven's sake don't stop walking intimately with Christ! Love Jesus, love your spiritual family, and love the lost around you!

Make it count.

I love small groups. Really... I do!

Acts 2:42 (NKJV)
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

The early church had a unique situation on their hands. "How do we handle the thousands who have come to Christ, and help them become full fledged followers of Jesus?"  The answer was to teach them apostolic doctrine, worship together (the only context where they would be both breaking bread- communion- and praying together), and something called "fellowship."

We get the first two parts pretty easily. I mean, Baptists have Bible studies left and right! And worship? While we might disagree as to what form it should take, we all agree that we should do it.. regularly!

But FELLOWSHIP? Ask a dozen baptists, and you will get a dozen different answers. Most of those answers will include the word "food" in it!

The word fellowship comes from a word meaning, "common" or "together." In the New Testament it referred to believers sharing, at a very fundamental level what Christ was doing in their lives. In a nutshell, New Testament fellowship looks like this: Sharing the common bond of Christ + transparency + accountability = biblical fellowship.

Now, let me ask you a serious question. Where can these things take place? Where are people willing to be genuinely open, accountable, and serious about sharing what Jesus is doing in their life? To be open about struggles, and to receive guidance and support and prayer?

The answer? Small groups.

Now here is another question: Are you a member of one of our First Baptist small groups? A Sunday School class, or one of our Life University groups? If you want to experience the wonderful spiritual "magic" of small groups, you have to make an effort and get involved in one.

I promise you.. you won't be sorry!

Happy New Year!

The New Year is traditionally a time of looking both backwards and forwards. We look back to all that the last year brought, and we look forward in anticipation to what the new year will bring!

 Its a great time for spiritual introspection, too. What did I accomplish of eternal significance last year? What do I need to do differently this year? What would God like to see happen in my life?

There are some very special prayer requests that I will be making as I intercede for my flock this year.  I am praying for myself and for my people that:

1. God's healing mercy and grace will be poured out on hurting people. Last year was a hard year for so many, physically, economically, emotionally, and relationally. I'm praying for you!

2. We will have a new beginning of obedience to God's Word. "What does the Bible say" should be our watch cry!

3. That we will have a new brokenness and conviction about sin. Even good Christians allow certain sins to make themselves at home in our hearts and lives. Its time to "plow up our fallow ground" and seek the Lord!

4. That we will rally to the binding mandate given to us by our Lord.. The Great Commission!

5. That we will see lost people saved, both from inside and outside the church.

May God's richest blessings be yours in 2011!

Love in Jesus,
Your Pastor


Hosea 10:12 (NKJV)
Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

There is a little verse in James that just rocks me back on my heels each time I read it. It looks sooooo innocent, but MAN does it pack a punch!


Now, I want to tie that in with another concept: Our responsibility to share Christ with a lost world. I know, I know.. thinking about telling someone is, for some of us, scary and intimidating. Its much easier to say or think, "I'll let somebody else do that. Maybe the pastor or some godly super-saint will do it."

But according to James? That attitude is a sin.

We whittle away at fine points of theology. We sit in Bible study after Bible study, accumulating reams of notes. We log in hour after hour of thought and meditation on the Christian life. And don't misunderstand me! I am in favor of each one of those practices! But.. shouldn't those practices lead us somewhere? Shouldn't it ignite in us a passion for our lost neighbor or relative or friend? Isn't the goal to make us more like Jesus, and didn't Jesus love lost people?

At our church, we have many opportunities to learn to share your faith. Coming on second and third Wednesday nights in December, you can learn to "Share Jesus Without Fear."  Its a very low key, easy way to learn to share your faith with someone else. The sin of silence is serious business. Don't be guilty of it.

Hey everybody,

 

Its Thanksgiving, and I just wanted to share some of the things I am thankful for today. I am thankful for:

 

The unfathomable riches of my Lord Jesus Christ. I am amazed to be loved so completely and graciously!

My family. I have always valued them, but as our family grows? More and more I am so thankful for each and every one that makes up our whole. And grandchildren? What a WONDERFUL invention!

My wonderful church family. We are human, and sometimes we stumble.. Me included.. but we are still God's body in this city. I love worshiping and growing with you!

Health. I am 52, and except for a few aches and pains (and reading glasses), I am healthy!

My Sunday School class. What a joy to watch them grow and mature in their faith!

My friends. I am blessed with friends from all over the country, and for each one I am truly thankful.

Those dear saints who have made such an impact in my life, but who have now gone to be with Jesus. I miss you... but I am thankful to have known you.

A sound mind. I can read, learn, grow, enjoy.

For everything that our Mighty King is doing in my heart, and in yours.

For the people God has been drawing into His Kingdom here at FBC Jackson!

Love in Jesus,

Pastor Tim