Don't Be Shy

I got an email from Robing, he made it safe back to China.  We will be praying for him and I have been specifically praying that God will connect him with another Christian there in China to help him in his journey.
This last Sunday was his last Sunday with us.  I developed the title and thoughts of the message from a conversation that we had after he was saved.  I was going over some biblical principles with him, telling him about security of the believer and baptism and evangelism etc.
I was trying to encourage him to tell others about his decision and let him read Romans 1:16 and Romans 10:11 in Chinese.  I asked him to tell me what those verses were saying.  His reply was quick and to the point!  He said, "Don't be shy!"  I said, "That is an awesome description!"
I used his description of Romans 1:16 as the title for last Sunday's message.

Continue to lift Robing up in prayer!

FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART

Welcome to our Services

May 24^th 2015

“DON’T BE SHY”

Matthew 10:27

Introduction:   the story behind the quote.

Our church—to help move people to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ

I.                   SPEAK UP—VS. 27

A.    An opportunity—be a light

B.     Upon the housetop—be bold

II.                DEALING WITH FEAR—VS. 28-31

A.    Have courage

1.      We don’t answer to men, but God.

2.      Joshua 1:7-9

B.     Don’t worry—He promises to be there!

III.             DON’T BE SHY!—VS. 32-33

A.    Romans 1:16

B.     Boldness comes from the Holy Spirit

1.      Acts 13:46

2.      Philippians 1:14-21

IV.             PRIORITIES—VS. 34-39

A.    Often misunderstood passage

B.     Being a Christian around your family is often a challenge, but a needed one!

C.     Throughout the Bible, following Jesus is a public decision—vs. 37-38

1.      Take up your cross before others!

2.      Be bold!

I Have Done Wrong

Graduates for 2015

I was so excited about the successes and accomplishments of our graduates this year.  The service was great.  The slideshow went well.  The highlight of the day, had to have been Robing's special.  He sang "My Lighthouse."  If you would like to hear it, check out our YouTube channel.  The audio turned out great. 

If you have not heard about Robing, he is our Chinese foreign exchange student that has been with us since August 11th 2014.  He came to the United States having never flown anywhere and with very limited English skills.

I tried countless times to share the Gospel with him, but just left it between him and the Holy Spirit.  Finally on March 30th, after a revival service with Bro. Micah Carter as the evangelist, Robing accepted Christ as his savior!  

It was one of the most amazing conversions that I have ever had the privilege to witness.  The most amazing statement during the conversation was after Robing watched a witnessing video that I found on YouTube.  It had Chinese subtitles and was very fast-paced with a "Way of the Master" style of explanation.   Robing was sitting there quietly, with his head bowed, looking at his lap.  Micah Carter asked him, "Robing, what are you thinking?"  Robing said, "I have done wrong."  I knew then that he realized that he was a sinner! 

He asked if he could pray in Chinese.  I said, "absolutely!"  He asked, "What are the words?"  I said there are no certain words, knowing he was thinking of ritualistic prayers that he may have heard in the Buddhist temple or something similar.  

He began to pray and prayed and wept!  When he was done, he looked at Micah and said, "I am now your brother!"

Promise Land baptized him 3 weeks later.  Pray for him as he heads back to China.

Shiny Toes

I have been training again and trying to get my weight down for running.  Especially since my last two foot surgeries.  I had some plantar warts removed, TWICE.  It is a minor, but extremely uncomfortable, procedure.  I will be running in the St. Jude Marathon on December 5th of this year.
This will be my second marathon in Memphis.  It was truly one of the most difficult things I have tackled, physically, in my life.  I would put it on the same scale as our hike up Colorado's highest peak (Mt. Elbert).  14,440 feet is a long way.  There is no oxygen up there, but that is another blog!

I am very thankful to even have a shot at attempting something like this.  Pray for the training.  Pray that there will be no serious injuries.  

Now, as Paul Harvey use to say, is the rest of the story...

I got out of the shower and was inspecting another spot on my foot when I heard Karen say, "be sure and have clothes on when you come out!"  Alli, my youngest daughter, was in our bedroom painting her toenails.  She had her nail clippers and polish and other paraphernalia sitting in front of her, as she was finishing up.  

My toenails were a little long, so I asked Alli if she would mind clipping them for me.  (For whatever reason, I like Karen or Alli to clip my toenails.)  She said, "sure!"

So I laid on the bed and she sat on the floor and I let my legs hang down at my knees and she went to work.  She was clipping away and I was laying there relaxing, not really noticing the smell in the room.  She said, "there you go Dad, all done!"  I look down at my short, but shiny, toenails!  She said, "I love painting your wide toenails Dad!  It is just clear-coat!  Don't worry!"  I really wasn't worried, she, on the other hand, was wondering about my response...  

All I know, is that I love my daughter a whole, whole lot.  I don't have a whole lot of time left to spend with her at home.  I have already experienced this once with my oldest daughter.  They grow up!  They move out!  They get married.  Where does time go????

If she wants to give me "shiny toenails," that is fine!  It is just a few more minutes we get to spend together, even in the simple, little moments.  I hope I never take them for granted!

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Eph 6:4 KJV)

May I be the example, my kids need me to be...

I am training for the marathon with shiny toenails.

Mother's Day 2015

Mother's Day 2015 was another great Sunday at Promise Land.  After all was said and done, 406 people squeezed into the pews, making for a very full house!  Days like this are exhausting, but well worth the effort in all areas.

I would just like to take a moment and brag on the mother of my awesome kids!  Karen is the most self-less individual I know.  This is the way she is wired, the way she serves others and the way she raises our children.  I am so thankful for all of the parenting lessons she has taught me and the discoveries we have learned together along the way.

On a different topic, Karen recruited 4 brave, male souls to tackle Children's Church this past Sunday morning.  I think they only had about 32 little ones to corral!  I doubt anyone got pictures, but I am sure it was exciting!  I thank the Lord for the awesome people we have at Promise Land.  We have some of the kindest, selfless and hard working people anywhere.  Praise the Lord for a servant's heart!

SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART

Happy Mother’s Day

May 10^th 2015

MOMS C.A.N.

Proverbs 31:10

Introduction:   Who is this Proverbs 31 woman?

                        The day we live in—Proverbs 30:11

                        Don’t talk back to your mom!—Proverbs 30:17

I.                   MOMS CARE

A.    Tell them about Jesus

B.     Psalm 34:11-17—The Prayer and Mantra of every parent)

C.     Proverbs 22:6

II.                MOMS ACT

A.    Parenting advice from Ezekiel!

B.     Ezekiel 3:1-3—Wisdom from the Word!

C.     Ezekiel 3:4-6—We have a job to do!

D.    Ezekiel 3:7-11—He will give you a “hard head!”

E.     Ezekiel 3:17-19—Our accountability

III.             MOMS NURTURE

A.    The best nurturing—Proverbs 19:18;  22:15;  23:13-14

B.     A Christian Home—Deuteronomy 6:5-9

C.     What kind of home do you have?

WWF in the pulpit!

At the request of Bro. Adrian, I will share the story of the altercation behind the pulpit!
While pastoring First Baptist in Wells, TX, on a Wednesday evening our preaching service had already begun and three men walked in and sat on the back row of the sanctuary. First Baptist, where Josh Luellen is currently pastoring, is right on Highway 69. We would get a lot of people that would stop from time to time and visit with us and of course some that needed some kind of help or assistance.
Therefore, it was not an unusual thing for these three men to walk in during our service.
While I am introducing the subject matter at hand, one of my men got up to take the men an outline of the study that evening. Our crowd, which was usually about 40-50 on Wednesday evenings was down that night to probably in the 30's. We normally had about a dozen to 15 men, but that night we only had about 5-7 men.
The first thing that happened that gave an indication that this would be an unusual service was when the man next to the aisle shouted out to me, "Tell em bout the Holy Spirit," to which I replied, "The lesson is on Abraham tonight," as I continued with my introduction. Before another 60 seconds passed, he shouted out again, "Tell em bout the Holy Spirit." Now everyone was getting a little nervous, including the pastor! With at least one more shouting interuption, the man stood up and started walking down the aisle and shouting, "Well if you won't tell em bout the Holy Spirit, I will!"
At this time, as I look at Him coming toward me and looking around at the shock on many faces in the audience, I could see the ladies of the church shoving their purses and jewlry under the pews and hiding stuff (they thought we might be getting robbed)! I didn't know what to think!
The man walked up behind the pulpit and beside me and tried to push me out from behind the pulpit, as he said, "you sit down I gonna preach about the Holy Spirit!"
As I shoved him back out of my spot I said, "no your not, your not preaching in this pulpit!" (the spirit he wanted to preach about was the spirit of Jack Daniels, because he had definitly been drinking).
He then grabbed my shirt and tried to shove me harder out of the way while demanding that I give him my pulpit! I realized that this idiot had ruined our service scared our ladies (my men are just sitting there while thinking, "alright Bro. Michael, let's see what you got!) and I had finally had enough!!!
I grabbed him by the shirt and gritted my teeth and yelled with spit and volume that made his hair fly up! "YOU ARE NOT PREACHING AND YOU BETTER GO SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!"
The man finally cowered down and said, "you mean your not gonna let me preach?" I yelled, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
As he went to the back of the church I knew the whole service (which was a total of about 10 minutes) had been shot! I apologized to the people for the disturbance and dismissed in prayer. While walking out and leaving the other two men said they were sorry for the actions of their "drunk friend," they were just along for the ride when he drove by our church and told his buddies that he was going to stop by this church and show them how he "could preach" at this church.
While all of the shoving and shouting was going on, I noticed that one of my men got up and walked out and I'm thinking, "where are you going and THANKS A LOT!"
He later told me that he was going to check on the kids in the back!
I later told ALL THE MEN of my church, "I'm the President, yall are the Secret Service, next time somebody take "the bullet." I think they got the picture!
What turned out to be a humerous story could have been a lot worse if their intentions were different!
I hope to never have a wrestling match in the pulpit again!

Life just seems to keep getting FASTER!

Finally,
getting a chance to sit down and write a post. I have had a chance to read some of the posts and comments along the way and everytime I want to type a comment or response, all I have is my little bitty keyboard on my phone and that gets old.
Seems like the same old issues and a few new wrinkles and a little Bible thrown in for good measure.
I'll see what I can do, to stir the pot for entertainment sake:
James (our scholar)--Jesus is coming again! I don't know when!
Arch-- (he plays the piano very well)--Do you ever learn any NEW SONGS for worship?
Mike--(he graduated and he's smart too)--when are you going to write a book?
Adrian--(he's from TEXAS)--go climb a mountain and don't fall!
Tim--(he USED to play ball)--let the kid play!!!
Jason--(the SERMONATOR)--just had to get back to LSU country did you?
Joseph--(my new neighbor)--you owe me a catfish dinner! When we going fishing again?
Bro. T--(he's shy, doesn't use his real name)--the way you measure church growth is: how big is it before and then how big is it after? EASY
Micah--(just how big a boy are ya?)--take care of that family and yes Taylor is still coming over to clean your house!
Joey--(MR. DDT)--My truck, Your Car for pinks.
Round Two:
James--keep singing your songs, and don't worry about the pronouns.
Arch--You always make a suit look good, stay modest (in other words, keep covered up)
Mike--Your Indian ancestry makes you want to cover your hairy legs. Come to the Philippines with me out to the island, wading the four foot surf and then preach in your suit. (I know you would do it, because you are always a man of your word! ) You would have a good time though!!
Adrian--I know your relatives and they don't feed the rats.
Tim--Take a Sunday off and your and your wife GET AWAY and go to a ball game. It's OK!
Jason--the Sermonator ate a Baconator--is that alliteration? You preach so loud, I can hear you here in Arkansas.
Joseph--you pastor a LOT of preachers, (do you tag-team)
Bro. T--I'll be praying for you during the revival.
Micah--are you there????????
Joey--do you ever roll your eyes? Congrats also for graduating.

CONGRATS TO ALL THE GRADUATES of the seminaries.

If I left anyone out, I'm sorry. Getting ready for a horribly busy summer.
Youth Retreat this week-end.
Helping Taylor pack for Girls State.
Helping her read all of the "Federalist Papers" and understand why they were need to help ratify the constitution.
Building stuff for VBS in June.
Two remodeling projects going on at church right now.
ABA in late June --see you there!!!
Getting Taylor ready to go to Washington D.C. for her two-week summer course in History and Civics (she will be flying on a Sunday, Oh No! She will lose her salvation and burn forever in Hell!! :-)
Teen Camp at Bogg Springs in July
A week off
Regular Church camp at Bogg Springs (pray for me as I will be preaching all the morning services and teaching the College kids) Pray for the salvation of the young people who need Jesus!!
The following week getting ready for the Rapture (oh no! that would be pre-trip) sorry, my bad! He's coming a little later! Well when He does come! I'll be ready for sure!

Memories

I too, like my two bro-in-laws, and many others, have a lot of fond memories of Bro. Wayne Harper and his family. It was 1986 when I started seminary in January that Bro. Wayne and Sis. Lorinda were both going to seminary also. Bro. Wayne and I were both first year students at LMBIS. Sis. Lorinda was the first family in Louisiana to invite me over to their house to eat.
One afternoon, I was able to enjoy a super visit over at their home eating and fellowshiping. Afterwards, Bro. Wayne, who was also an MP on Barksdale Airforce Base, gave me a tour of the base. One of the most impressive things he showed me was the Missile Silos on the base. He said don't go across that patch of grass, you'll never survive. I didn't try it!
Later on in life, I met Karen Wilkes and the Lord said, join Bossier City MBC so you can hang around Karen, so I did. Bro. Wayne and Sis. Lorinda happen to be the some of the youth sponsors of Karen's youth group. It was a great time, looking back in the hey day of Bossier City MBC.
I later on married Karen, of course, and Bro. Wayne Harper and Bro. Roy Chapman were our matching ushers in our wedding. Bro. Wayne was Bro. Roy's associate at the time at Liberty MBC in Shreveport at the time. Sis. Lorinda was the director of our wedding and all three girls, Dannielle, Carrie, and Tami were in our wedding in some fashion (bridesmaids, flower girls etc.)
That was 20 years ago when I married Karen, my how time has flown by! Bro. Wayne is already visiting with Roy and Cloy Chapman and many others.
I am looking forward to seeing my friend and Bro. in Christ again one day. Well I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts before I left for the funeral in Mountain View, AR.
God Bless and pray for a safe journey and pray for the Harper family!