Winter 2013

CARINGPLACE December 2013

on EARTH as it is in

HEAVEN Matthew 6:10

from the pastor

YOUR KINGDOM COME

By DR. JIMMY JACKSON

One of the

most familiar passages in the Bible is found in Matthew 6:9-13 and is called “The Model Prayer” or “The Lord’s Prayer.”

The first petition in this prayer reads: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.”

When we read or quote this prayer to God, what are we asking for? Notice first that the action verbs in this request are passive. We are asking God to “cause” His Kingdom to come and His will to be done. If this prayer is to be answered, God is the only One who can make it happen.

How does He do that? Consider the command of Jesus found in Matthew 6:33—“But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,…” This text makes it clear that followers of Jesus Christ are to seek after the Kingdom of God. So, what does that mean?

The Kingdom of God in the church age is an internal relationship between believers and their Lord. This internal Kingdom has external manifestations as the church works together to effect change in a fallen and dying world.

We are not charged with the task of building God’s Kingdom on earth as a political power. Jesus made that

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clear when He spoke to Pilate just before the crucifixion. He said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) However, our citizenship in God’s Kingdom demands that we work and serve as an active and positive influence as citizens of our nation and world.

God’s Kingdom is in Heaven but it is also extended on earth in the life of everyone who is saved. We advance the Kingdom by leading others to accept Him as their King. When Jesus returns, He will set up His Kingdom on earth, but until then, we are not just to pray for that time to come, but we are to pray and work to call the unsaved to Christ.

One closing note: What does the Kingdom in Heaven look like? What is going on there that would help us know when it is happening in our lives, families, churches, and world?

Right at this moment, worship is taking place in Heaven. All the saints and angels are focused on the Father and Son. They are praising Him. They cannot get enough of God’s presence.

Not only is there worship, there is unconditional respect, loyalty, and love for the Lord. He is honored and

obeyed by all. There is no immorality, no rebellion, no discontent with the provisions of God. Let your imagination run free based on God’s Word. Oh, that this prayer may be a reality in my life and yours, in our loved ones, our homes, churches, and on the job. Let us love Him who first loved us. Let us beat down the flesh and feed the spirit with adoration for and obedience to our King.

The idea of a Kingdom implies the presence of a King. The idea of a King implies that there are subjects over whom He rules and for whom He provides. We are the servants; He is the King. Before the Kingdom can spread through us to others, it must be real and functioning in us. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth (right here in my heart and in the hearts of people throughout the world) as it is right now in Heaven.

And all the people said, “Amen.”

Inside

CARINGPLACE December 2013

OUTREACH

Page 5 This is Heaven on Earth

3 Homeless Ministry

By Lauren Green Eggar 4 Reach Out

By Courtney Todd

RELATIONSHIP

the caring place

WHITESBURG

5 This is Heaven on Earth

By Thomas and Tracy Todd

7 East Asia Story

By Lauren Hatchett

8 the RELEVANT Church

By Lizzie Griffith

BAPTIST CHURCH

Caring Place magazine exists to open a window into the multifaceted ministries of Whitesburg Baptist Church. Our desire is to know Jesus Christ and make Him known.

Caring Place magazine is a publication by Whitesburg Baptist Church, 6806 Whitesburg Dr., Huntsville, AL 35802-2299. (Permit No. 446)

SPIRITUAL

Publisher: Whitesburg Baptist Church Editor-in-Chief: Rev. David Dye Editor: Courtney Todd Graphics & Publishing: Melissa Schuster, Ron Snyder Editorial Assistants: Dana Hubbard, Karen Tidwell, Beverly Dishman Distribution Team: Luke Hamner, Jess Henley

10 Here I am To Worship

By Kevin Reid

Christmas atWhitesburg Celebrate with us this Christmas Season!

Hanging of the Green, December 8 at 11:00 am Children’s Christmas Musical, December 8 at 6:15 pm Winterlude, December 15 at 6:15 pm Vesper Service, December 24 at 5:00 pm

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Homeless Ministry

By Lauren green Eggar I thought

I was living my life for Christ, but I have actually just begun to live. By live I mean daily dialog, constant connection, YOU are my everything live. Like many others, I became a Christian in my youth, grew up in a Christian home and in the church. God has worked in my life since my salvation. Since January, though, I have taken God out of the box where we so easily put Him and really started to live out the Gospel.

God had been convicting me to live out the Gospel with a gracefilled conviction to stick to the lines He has so lovingly drawn for us. One Sunday evening, while driving back to Huntsville from a family weekend, I was listening to David Platt’s “Radical” and the thoughts God had been speaking to me just clicked.

When Christ came, He wasn’t convenient, He wasn’t comfortable, He wasn’t an “I’m-on-your-terms” guy. He called for people to literally leave behind their entire lives in one conversation. “Forget burying your

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father, I am more important.” Can you imagine NOT burying your dad, just because you had one conversation with a man you’d only heard of? Yet, this man turns out to be the most lifechanging, self-sacrificing, holy, worthy, and loving man this world has ever seen.

I realized in that car ride that my world was ”my” world. It was comfortable, indulging, and proud.

I had been living in “Lauren Land”loving God, yes, thinking I was living for Him, but all on my terms. I had to get out and live outside the box I had so comfortably placed around my Christianity. I realized that if I let myself live with abandon for God, I would see Him be God in my life. I would truly experience Him for the first time as He intended for our relationship to truly work.

I was living in the Medical District and had been ignoring a call in my gut to help the homeless, reach out in some way and show His love. That Sunday, God got me to the point of true

submission to Him and by Tuesday, I had contacted Jonathan and Stacey Bartlett, a couple in my LifeGroup, and together, we began ministering to the homeless on Saturday mornings once a month. Whether it was cold water or bags of personal necessities, we took to the streets of downtown Huntsville to show His love and spread His word.

By listening and living where He leads, God has demonstrated more of His love, power, and grace than I have ever experienced in my life just by meeting and speaking with our homeless brothers and sisters.

It’s not so much about what you do as it is that you listened and obeyed.

It’s not so much how hard or long you work at something, but the fact that you allowed God to be God to the fullest. So where are you serving? How are you out of your comfort zone? Only God can accomplish whatever it is He is calling you to do. For it is His kingdom come, not ours!

OUTREACH

Reach Out One of the most practical ways to bring God’s heavenly Kingdom to Earth is through outreach. Within the church there are always opportunities for community service and volunteer work. But what if we were to strive for something deeper and even more relational? The answer: small groups. Small groups invest beyond your Sunday morning LifeGroup and provide accountability throughout the week. There are so many options for creating a small group. Everyone

By Courtney Todd has something to give and something to receive. However, it is sometimes so easy to complicate small groups.

The idea of leading a rigorous study each week can be intimidating, but it does not have to be that way. Small groups can be formed around different activities or different seasons of life.

For example, if you are married, why not have a group of married couples bring over a pot luck dinner once a week? Do you like to run or play Frisbee? Are you creative, a high school

student, or retired? There are so many options. You can even create a prayer small group to lift up the service for the upcoming week! God gives us each special passions so that we can use them as a vessel to fellowship with others who share similar passions.

Scripture says, “Where two or more are gathered I am there among them.”

This truth is not limited to inside the church walls. Personal growth and spiritual lives can be revolutionized by the commitment to small groups.

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This is Heaven on Earth

By Thomas & tracy Todd A

layered

delight of chocolate, whipped cream and cream cheese: Heaven on Earth!

Sitting on the beach, waves gently crashing, the sun setting: Heaven on Earth!

Spending an evening laughing with your best friends: Heaven on Earth!

For us: standing in church, singing along with our fellow believers to a worship song... knowing God is near me... my Spirit pulling me heavenward...

I want so much to lift my hands and my whole heart up to give Jesus the praise He deserves. I look over and my sweet spouse is lifting his hands and worshipping our God. Then I look around and see all three of my children worshipping our Heavenly Father and loving Him with all their hearts. I think, can this be just a little of what Heaven is like? This is Heaven on Earth.

It hasn’t always been this way but it is now. So how did we arrive where we are now? Have we “arrived” at all?

Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

So even as good as life has become,

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we still have not “arrived.” What did God do to get us on this journey?

Both my husband and I became Christians at a young age. By Christian I mean we each admitted we were sinners, believed Jesus was sent by God and died on the cross to forgive us our sins, and asked Him to be Lord of our lives. We were saved.

When we met we were both active in church and had begun our careers: an Army pilot and a physical therapist. We had each prayed about a potential spouse. We both had our own budding relationships with God. We fell in love, got married, and became wrapped up in careers, building a family, budgeting, planning, and experiencing life, whatever we each had thought was the right path. We did make some right choices. God managed to get us involved with great churches as we moved around the world. We were involved in Bible studies with other couples that helped us grow bit by bit. Each of us did a small part to serve God: AWANA, teaching Sunday school, helping with RAs and GAs, serving as a deacon, and fellowshipping with other Christian couples. We hosted Disciple Now. We chaperoned camps. We DID a lot of the “correct” things... but it was not Heaven on Earth.

In our home, we struggled with his way/her way of raising children. We struggled with his way/her way of finances. We had discussions that could get way too heated. We were two

hard-headed people with our own way of doing things in life.

Finally, the Army moved Thomas before the rest of the family and we were forced to spend time apart. During this time, the Holy Spirit guided Thomas into a walk with God he had never known. He found a church that challenged him to really worship and to KNOW God. The father in our family began to love like Christ loved, and he began to lead us to walk in Christ. He showed us an all-consuming joy in the Lord that the rest of us could not resist. So, we began arriving at that place called “Heaven on Earth”. We have not yet perfectly taken hold of it.

Sometimes we still let the world get in the way of the destination. We veer off track from time to time. Living a Spiritled life in a fallen world is a challenge, but God blesses us with glimpses of a heavenly life. He is so gracious to lead us back to Him every time. We have had the awesome privilege of constantly dwelling in God’s presence as a family. We have seen God alive in each of our kids. We have seen our marriage come alive and grow because we have each drawn closer to God and that has pulled us closer to each other.

After having experienced a taste of Heaven on Earth through our marriage, why do we still struggle to hold onto that every day, every hour? Paul tells us in Galatians 5:17, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary

RELATIONSHIP

to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want.” We both want the Fruit of the Spirit to manifest themselves consistently in our marriage: love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The only time this happens is when we are keeping our eyes on Jesus. When we read His word daily, meditate on it, spend time praying and when we worship Him through every aspect of our life. When we talk about Him with each other and when we pray with each other. Does this mean that we have all good times when we follow what we know to do when we are Spirit-filled? No. We still have struggles. We still mess up. We still sin. We still get self-centered. God, in His amazing grace, still forgives us and calls us back to Him. Some people give up trying when things get tough.

What we have experienced in our lives, with our God, is that He will restore us if we turn our eyes back on Him. If we get out of our comfort zones and talk about Jesus, He restores our Heaven on Earth! We both like to think about Peter when he was in the boat and saw Jesus out in the water. He fixed his eyes on Jesus, got out of the boat, and walked on water! That sounds like a little Heaven on Earth! So we get it right once in a while. We fix our eyes on Jesus, get out of our boat, and walk with Jesus! This is how He shows us Heaven on Earth!

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East Asia Story

By Lauren Hatchett There are three things that last forever: God, His Word, and the souls of people.

This summer, I was blessed to have the opportunity to invest in all three.

My summer was spent with a team of fellow University of Alabama students on a college campus in East Asia.

There, we spent time learning more about God, studying His word, and investing in the souls of the East Asian people. Our hope was to have spiritual conversations and share the Gospel with as many people we could.

On May 31, 2013, one of my teammates and I met with two of our new Asian friends outside a café in the middle of a busy area of campus. In a country that is not open to Christianity, this location was not the ideal place to present the Gospel. I immediately began questioning our decision to meet in such a central location. As our friends went inside to order our tea, my teammate and I prayed for protection and asked the Lord to lead us.

I do not remember the point at which our conversation turned toward the Gospel. I do not remember the words 7 CARINGPLACE | DECEMBER 2013

we said or the Scriptures we shared.

All I know is that the Holy Spirit moved, and these two girls heard of how much Jesus loved them for the first time in their lives that day. They heard the truth and grace of the Gospel, and they both made decisions to receive Christ.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 107:14 says, “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.”

I watched this transformation happen right in front of me. A new sparkle appeared in the eyes of those girls. They now had the same Spirit in them that raised Christ from the dead, and they too had now been raised to everlasting life. It became real to me in that moment that everlasting life begins here on earth, in the moment that one accepts Christ.

One of my new sisters opened her tear-filled eyes, threw her hand over her heart, and said in a quiet voice, “I feel Him. I feel a peace I cannot explain, something I have never felt in all my life.”

This is just one story of many.

Throughout my summer in East Asia,

I saw veils removed from eyes and hearts – sometimes in minutes, other times in weeks. There are some soul transformations I will never have the opportunity to see with my own eyes here on earth, but I trust what Isaiah 55:11 promises - His Word will not return void. Even now, I find myself in tears over the Lord’s faithfulness, redemptive power, and ability to completely transform lives. The most amazing thing? He lets us be part of it.

There are three things that last forever: God, His Word, and the souls of people.

Investing in these things could change your life. It definitely changed mine.

LAUREN IN EAST ASIA

RELATIONSHIP

THE RELEVANT CHURCH

By LIZZIE GRIFFITH

Charles Spurgeon once wrote “The very church which the world looks like is sure to be that which God abhors.” That’s a bold statement filled with so much truth. Far too often the culture transforms the church instead of the church transforming the culture. As believers, we want to be relevant. How does the church do this?

We want to remain culturally engaged but, more importantly, we want to remain Biblical. Where do we draw the line?

These are questions that have been on the minds of believers for many years. Looking at Scripture we can see that our society today bears resemblance to Corinth. The city of Corinth was corrupt at best. They were a sexually-driven society, what one would call hedonistic. Everyone looked out for their own interests and sought pleasure in any way possible.

Sound familiar? This culture began to penetrate the church. Paul wrote letters to Corinth correcting them on issues from sexual immorality to

idolatry and everything in between.

How do we remain culturally relevant and not become like the culture? This has caused much debate.

The age of our grandparents has long since passed and there should be new, hip, and developing methods to reach the up and coming generation. Or should there? Some would say making a church more aesthetically pleasing will make it more relevant. People will see that we are staying up to date on our technology and presenting a nice, comforting atmosphere. That should do the trick.

Others believe that the music needs to be “amped up” a notch. Dated hymns and old gospel tunes no longer resonate with today’s society. We have become more modern and contemporary, and our music selections should reflect that.

Believer, these aren’t the answers.

While these things can be done and used for the glory of the Lord, they cannot become the driving force of how we reach our culture. They do not

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RELATIONSHIP

guard the church from becoming like the culture or help it remain relevant.

They make people comfortable.

One way the church can remain culturally relevant is to connect with people and “do life” with them. Discipleship should be a key component of every church. In the Gospels, we see Jesus walking with the twelve disciples, day-in and day-out, teaching them and challenging them.

They did life together. It’s fairly simple to see how discipleship is a facet of Jesus’s ministry and how that should be conducted in our churches with believers.

What about unbelievers?

How do we connect with them? 1 Corinthians 9:1923 (NIV) says, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” Paul met people where they were. For the sake of the gospel, he made himself uncomfortable. He got out of the normal routine. To remain relevant to

the culture, we have to make ourselves uncomfortable and go out and minister TO the culture. We shouldn’t be isolated in our churches, but instead raiding the streets with the message of the Gospel. We have to be in the world not of the world. Doing life with people, both believer and unbeliever alike, is crucial. Loving people, both believer and unbeliever, is crucial.

We also must never compromise the Gospel. Presenting a watereddown message is detrimental to the culture and does not help us stay relevant to the culture. Jesus is relevant. Scripture is relevant. It stands the test of the time.

To remain culturally relevant, we need to engage the hard things in our culture with Biblical truth.

David Platt once said, “we should never remove the offense of the Gospel.” He’s absolutely right. 2 Timothy 4:2-5 (ESV) says, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” I say it again; to remain relevant in this culture we must engage the hard things of the culture.

Doing life with people is crucial.

Loving people is crucial.

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The Gospel will be offensive to some.

It should be. However, the truth should never be compromised for a crowd.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Jesus is relevant. Our culture needs Jesus.

The list of ways to remain relevant in today’s culture isn’t exhaustive. I encourage you to dive into the Word and see what the Scriptures say about engaging people. All in all, our love of Christ, His church, and His Word must be what compels us to remain relevant. We are all broken and in need of a Savior. We are all walking in this world in search of something to fill the void. Jesus is what fills that void. The Gospel message transcends cultural boundaries. Believer, let’s pray for our churches as they seek to fulfill the call of the Great Commission and remain culturally relevant.

SPIRITUAL

Here I Am To Worship

By Kevin Reid

“Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you’re my God.” These are words of a chorus often sung during worship service. This is the case with so many songs, but we should not just let the words roll off our tongues. We should come together and let these words be an example of who we are. As a church, worship is an important aspect of our lives if just for the reason that is found in Hebrews 10:24-25. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

As believers, we all make up the body of Christ. Each one has gifts and talents that can be developed and honed, so in the end, they will bring honor and glory to God. It is not a requirement that you have a great singing voice or

be gifted in public speaking. As you can see in the Scripture above, Paul was encouraging us to “stir up” love and good works. That is often done by just a smile and kind word. The confidence that someone knows that others love them and care for them is at the very heart of the “stirring up” Paul was writing about.

We worship together to be able to tell our Heavenly Father “thank you for the love You have shown us through the sacrifice of Your Son.” We worship together to be fed the Word each week. We worship together to have the opportunity to renew and revive our spirit and be encouraged by the Word and by each other.

While our corporate worship is extremely important, it is also vital that we have time in our daily walk to worship as well. We must find time to get alone with God and be able to allow Him to calm our spirits, to provide us

guidance, to speak to us through His Word. The Scriptures are full of times in which Jesus got alone to pray, to go and search the will of God alone on His knees to receive that daily strength and encouragement He needed. The very definition of worship is to pay reverent honor and homage to God. We must find time each day to accomplish that.

Our ability to function as a corporate body effectively begins in the daily walk and private worship of those who claim to follow Christ. Our strength can’t be found in ourselves, but in Him who made us.

Life is hard at times! We need to be able, in our daily walk as believers, to discipline ourselves to spend that time each day to just worship God who has given so much! Then when we come together as One Body we can truly sing: “Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that YOU’RE MY GOD!”

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