I was blessed to serve as a Circuit preacher at FBC in Reserve for nearly 8 years. I am so very thankful that Sheldon Wolf answered the call of God and is now the full-time Pastor of the Church! PTL! At FBC in Reserve and at FBC in Glenwood and Magdalena, the congregations get salt and light, the entire Word of God. Too many Churches of all denominations are much like a high school pep rally, you will not find that in Reserve, Glenwood, or Magdalena. I have been super blessed to preach at all three Churches and I am best friends with them all. Sheldon in Reserve, Pastor David Schumm in Glenwood and Pastor Paul Holt in Magdalena. You will find the love and care of Jesus for sure at those Churches. The Pastors care for you, they prepare you for heaven. They will hold you accountable to God’s Word in love. I miss these three Churches and the Pastors very much! Love you all!

The America Church as a whole is having trouble, many have put the salt on the shelf and replaced it with the candy dish! I HAVE PREACHED FOR YEARS MUCH OF THR CHURCH HAS FALIED TO CARRY OUT THE GREAT COMMISSION! THE GREAT COMMISSION IS NOT A SUGGESTION, IT IS A COMMAND BY OUR LORD! WE ARE PAYING A DEEP PRICE FOR THE FAILURE OF NOT CARRYING OUT THIS COMMAND!

As my very Dear Brother in Christ, Mike Jackson told me two weeks ago, “We (The Church) are losing aren’t we.” Mike said it as a statement not a question.

That statement by Mike, such a dear man of God, set me back…….I did not speak for a bit…but Mike is right, we are losing in the SHORT TERM, but JESUS WINS IN THE END! People have a choice Heaven or Hell. Heaven is a prepared place! Are you prepared for Heaven?

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Matthew 5:13

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

The Southern Baptist Convention is having trouble…….

There seems to be as much politics as economics in the SBC task force conclusions. It notes that in recent years, the fear of a “liberal” drift in the denomination has led some churches to leave the SBC or to withhold giving. Part of that dissatisfaction is aimed at the ERLC, and particularly at the Rev. Russell Moore, who has led the ERLC since 2013.

Politics and Economics Invade the Southern Baptist Convention

From Joni Eareckson Tada:

Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 8:2

Ever feel like you’re wandering in circles and getting nowhere fast? When God’s people kept circling around in the desert, they literally got nowhere. At least on a map. But it was a different story for their hearts. Deuteronomy 8:2 describes God’s destination for his people; he says: “God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.” Friend, if you feel as though you’re slogging through uncharted wilderness and getting nowhere, it may be that God is testing you to see if you’ll keep his commands. Will you trust him and remain hopeful? Will you keep praying? Be obedient? Do not be like God’s people of old who kept complaining. Remember, you have a destination, and it is closeness and intimacy with your Savior, Jesus.
 Listen to Joni 

God is Using The Pandemic to Show Us Our Need For Him

From Dr. Jim Dension:

From Dr. Jim Denison:

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms”

We live in a world in great need of courageous altruism.

Yesterday we discussed the rising threats evangelical Christians are facing from censorship and discrimination. Today, I’d like us to reframe such obstacles as opportunities.

A dear friend sent me this profound statement by G. K. Chesterton: “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. . . . A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. . . . He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.”

How can we find the courage to pay any price for our faith? Consider three ways God is redeeming the challenges of our days.

One: He is using the pandemic to show us our need for him.

Gavin Calver leads the United Kingdom’s Evangelical Alliance. In an interview with Christianity Today, he states: “For years the church has been answering questions the world wasn’t asking, but since the pandemic, 25 percent of the population of the UK has been to church online at least once. Normally only 5 percent of the population goes to church. We’re calling it mortality salience, which is an awareness of your own fragility. You might die one day, so you start asking the big questions” (his italics).

God’s word is clear: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The reality of death is clearer for many than ever before, and God is using this clarity to bring many to himself.

Who in your relational circles is asking the “big questions”? Who is experiencing loss, pain, or other challenges in these hard times? If you will have the courage to share your faith and compassion with them, God will use you to draw them to his grace.

Two: He is using our limitations to liberate us.

In Keeping Hope: Favourite Prayers for Modern Living, Michel Quoist makes this remarkable statement: “Your limitations are not simply obstacles to your success—they are also indications from God of the path your life is to take.”

Paul’s closed doors in Asia and Bithynia led him to Troas, where his Macedonian vision brought the apostle and the gospel to Europe (Acts 16:6–10). The Western world would never be the same.

What closed doors are you facing? Have you asked your Lord to use them for his purposes in your life? If you will have the courage to follow wherever he leads, he will lead you into eternal significance.

Three: He is using our community to draw the lost to Christ.

In his Christianity Today interview, Rev. Calver described a meal his church hosted at which fifteen men attended from fourteen nationalities.

An observer asked, “What on earth are you?”

Calver replied, “What do you think we are?”

The man said, “I think you’re the church. No other group in this community can get this diverse group of people around the same table, eating together, laughing together, and being together.”

Calver added, “The church can do something the world can’t do.”

In response to the compassionate unity of the first Christians, “More than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14). When lost people see Christians acting as the family of faith, many will want what we have.

In a pandemic of disease that is escalating a pandemic of loneliness and depression, whom do you know who needs community in Christ? If you will have the courage to reach out to those who would not reach out to you, God will use you to draw them into his eternal family.

“In the middle, we hold firm”

Gavin Calver’s description of his culture relates directly to ours: “The United Kingdom is a challenging landscape. It is an increasingly secular one. Whatever happens that’s really wonderful between now and the end of time, whatever happens that’s really horrible and difficult between now and the end of time, we know, at the end of the story, Jesus wins.

“Therefore, in the middle, we hold firm. We stand firmly on his word, and we do what we can to make him known.”

Let’s join him today, to the glory of God.

See or hear more of Dr. Denison’s interviews here.

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Dr. Jim Denison is the CVO of Denison Forum

Through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, DenisonForum.org, social media, interviews, and articles across the internet, Denison Forum reaches 2.2 million culture-changing Christians every month.

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