Have you guys checked out Bob Gonzoles’ blog on Church planting?  He links to a paper (which I have not yet read… it’s pretty large) and he makes some interesting comments.

From Bob’s post:

(1) RB churches need to see the multiplication of new congregations as a core part of the purpose of their churches and associations.
(2) RB churches need to plant churches that are focused on making new disciples.
(3) RB churches need to target large cities in their church planting efforts.
(4) RB churches need to improve their cooperation in order to multiply worshipping congregations.

Any thoughts on this?  Any thoughts about what we could be doing differently?

Here’s a link to Bob’s post:

http://blog.rbseminary.org/2009/07/reformed-baptists-not-doing-a-good-job-of-planting-churches/

“I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.  Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all.  Men will give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science.  But I predict that just when you see with horror that in spite of all your efforts you are getting farther from your goal instead of nearer to it – at that very moment I predict that you will reach it and behold clearly the miraculous power of the Lord who has been guiding you.”

–Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

I read this today concerning eight practical ways that we can spend more time talking to and building relationships with unbelievers.

I found the best way to meet my neighbors is just to work in my yard on any sunny Saturday.  In one afternoon I probably will have connected with all of them, at least with a wave, and often lengthier conversations.

I have talked to my neighbors about having them over for a cookout sometime, but haven’t worked it out yet.  Does anyone have any experiences organizing this kind of thing?  Any other ideas for stuff like this to do with the neighbors?

Oh yeah, another one I am doing is having my neighbors serve me.  Ok yeah, that sounds backwards, but one is a contractor and the other is a painter, so they apreciate getting the business and we get to spend more time talking to them.

I Corinthians 2:9-12

But as it is written:

“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

This passage is encouraging to me for a couple of reasons.  First of all, the the lines which Paul quote are a beautiful reminder that God is working for the good of His people in both this world and the next, even when they can’t see that good and don’t understand what is going on in their lives.

Secondly, this passage reveals the wonder of God’s revelation to Christians.  In the quote, Paul says that “Eye has not seen”.  But then he speaks to the wonder of Christians having received the Spirit to dwell in them.  In receiving the spirit Christians can know what good things God has in store for His people, even during dark providence.  The Spirit dwelling in Christians makes them to know that even during the most difficult times, God is working for the good of those who love Him.

Because the Spirit has made known to us that God is working for our good in all things, we can fully rest in that truth, trusting God, even during the harshest trials.

Deuteronomy 5:29
Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

Brothers, how compelling these words are to me.  How real this struggle is!  In these past weeks God has lavished us with His Spirit.  It feels as if He has been pouring down His truth and love upon us.  I have been warmed to my bones with the power and beauty of our Savior, Jesus Christ. How could we ask for better, this side of heaven, than what we have experienced over the last month?

And yet!  Still, come Monday, or Tuesday, or–rarely–as late as Wednesday, and the stress of work, and life, the cold, and soggy blanket of this world, and the wretchedness of my wandering heart, turn the blaze of my zeal into a sputtering, flickering, pathetic little flame.

Oh that I had such mind always, to fear my God to keep His commandments!

Lord willing, I hope to be preaching this text when I go up to Verona in two weeks.  My mind is full of these words, my heart is overflowing with the beauty of God’s love for us–His desire for our good, His perfect wisdom in His law. How rich, how lovely, how majestic is our God!

But in all His glory He knows us, down here in the dirt, where we are, He knows us.  He knows our weakness.  He knows our fears and our temptations.  He knows we will not always have this mind as we ought.  He knows we will have ups and downs.  He knows His sheep, and His sheep wander.  So, it was a particularly sweet balancing thought to meditate on God’s love last night as Robert Fisher opened up Psalm 23:3.  God restores my soul.

Yes, it is very much better for me to keep this mind, to always burn with zeal and passion!  But knowing that He loves me even in my stumbling, that is fuel for the fire!   O the joy that our beloved Jesus loves us, even in our sins, even in our weakness, and fear, and temptations, even our failures, our Jesus LOVES US!  The One against whom we are sinning, to whom we are so offensive, He Loves us, He restores us, He guides us home–doesn’t that feed the fire?!  That love is the tinder that my heart needs.

May God be pleased to blow upon the flames.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please be praying for me as I prepare to Preach on May 3rd.  I believe Paul Watkins will be preaching this coming Sunday.  Let us lift each other up!

To answer Brad’s questions from his first post:
1)  I’ll probably check the blog every couple days, unless it’s really active, and I’m hopeful I can post weekly.  (That may be optimistic, but I’m hopeful.)
2)  I looking forward to having a calendar we can use to schedule events, and keep up with each other.
3)  All the blogs I look at are already in the blogroll.

UPDATE:  As Pastor Stu just emailed,  Pastor McKinnon will be preaching in Verona on May 3rd. So, of course, I will not be.  But it has been wonderful thinking about this text.  Perhaps I’ll be able to preach it some other time soon.