Celebration: Let the Good Times Roll!

John 15:9-11, Philippians 4:4

(sermon outline for Sunday March 29)

Followers of Jesus can celebrate God’s goodness and grace throughout the seasons of life.

• Celebration brings true joy into focus.

The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot.

                                                -Augustine of Hippo

• Genuine celebration arises out of obedience.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 

John 15:10-11 NIV

• Celebration promotes numerous life benefits.
• Creates an aura of festivity.
• Brings a spirit of healing and refreshing.
• Helps us to relax and enjoy the good things of the earth.
• Can be an effective antidote for sadness and melancholy.
• Gives a sense of balance and perspective.
• Frees us from self-importance.
• Leads to more celebration.

• Celebration energizes us to live the other disciplines.

Celebration gives us the strength to live in all the other Disciplines.  When faithfully pursued, the other Disciplines bring us deliverance from those things that have made our lives miserable for years which, in turn, evokes increased celebration.  Thus, an unbroken circle of life and power is formed.     -Richard Foster

Celebration is never a denial that life has its challenges.  Rather, celebration is a confession that every challenge is temporary, the grace of God is sufficient, and our future is secure in Christ.

Celebrating Life at Easter

Spring has sprung, Easter is just around the corner, and we as followers of Jesus are Celebrating Life.

Celebrating Life is the theme of our worship series in April.  As we continue learning to use our spiritual gifts and practice the spiritual disciplines, we are celebrating the many gifts and opportunities God sends our way.

April 5, Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week as we revisit the passion of Christ.  April 12, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.  On April 19 we will commemorate the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection through the elements of Communion just as Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples.  On Sunday evening April 26 we will meet in Chipley Hall for the inaugural concert of our Student Worship Team and Band. 

On April 10-11 we have an awesome outreach opportunity as we share the Easter story through the drama and music of the Pensacola Easter Pageant.  PEP is our gift to the community.  Begin preparing for PEP by praying for the participants and by inviting your friends, neighbors, and colleagues, especially those with no church connection or faith commitment.

These are exciting days at First Baptist Church.  Come and celebrate life with us all throughout the month of April.

Celebrating Life

After 13 weeks of focusing on the Spiritual Disciplines in worship and Bible study, we conclude our series this Sunday by exploring the Discipline of Celebration.

Learning to Celebrate Life through all of our highs and lows, through all of our joys and all of our burdens, and through all of our triumphs and all of our trials really does require spiritual discipline.

I hope that each of us will continue to grow in our daily practice of the spiritual disciplines.  At the conclusion of his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster offers these words of summary, words that become a challenge for me and for you:

    We have come to the end of this study but only to the beginning of our journey.  We have seen how meditation heightens our spiritual sensitivity which, in turn, leads us into prayer.  Very soon we discover that prayer involves fasting as an accompanying means.  Informed by these three Disciplines, we can effectively move into study which gives us discernment about ourselves and the world in which we live.

    Through simplicity we live with others in integrity.  Solitude allows us to be genuinely present to people when we are with them.  Through submission we live with others without manipulation, and through service we are a blessing to them.

    Confession frees us from ourselves and releases us to worship.  Worship opens the door to guidance.  All the Disciplines freely exercised bring forth the doxology of celebration.

    The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life beckon us to the Himalayas of the Spirit.  Now we stand at timber line awed by the snowy peaks before us.  We step out in confidence with our Guide who has blazed the trail and conquered the highest summit.

These are exciting days at First Baptist Church.  Come and celebrate life with us all throughout the month of April.  I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study.

Guidance: Making Decisions…Wisely and Together

Acts 15:22-35           

(sermon outline for Sunday March 22)

Historically, biblically, and currently, God guides communities of believers.

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us….

Acts 15:28  NIV

• God normally provides divine guidance to communities of believers, rather than individuals.

The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with Himself included in that community as its prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.    Dallas Willard

• God guides communities with multiple catalytic influences.

Individual guidance must yield to corporate guidance.  There must also come a knowledge of the direct, active, immediate leading of the Spirit together.  I do not mean “corporate guidance” in an organizational sense, but in an organic and functional sense.              Richard Foster

• Teachings of the Bible
• Leadership of the Holy Spirit
• Spiritual discernment
• Visionary and prophetic leadership

• When individuals submit to God’s guidance for the community, good things happen.
• Individuals within community make better marriage and family decisions.
• Individuals make wiser business decisions.
• Spiritual harmony exists within a diverse community.
• Spiritual momentum accelerates and awakens the dormant.
• Spiritual gifts support the overall mission of the community.
• The effectiveness of the group is exponentially greater than the effectiveness of the individuals.
• The community looks more like the body of Christ.

Just as God guided ancient communities of faith, God will guide us in making decisions….wisely and together.

How Accurate is Your Spiritual Navigation System?

A few weeks ago while we were visiting Central Florida, Amanda and I spent an afternoon touring the Kennedy Space Center.  We visited the Astronauts Hall of Fame, we rode the Space Shuttle Simulator, and then we took a bus tour to the launching pad where Discovery was awaiting a re-scheduled launch day.

During our tour, we were informed of the importance of navigational technology.  From piloted navigational systems, to automated navigational systems, to advanced global positional systems, emerging navigational technologies have enabled great advancement in aerospace exploration.

How dependable is your spiritual navigation system?  On a practical level, how does God guide you in your daily living? How do you make wise decisions that enable you to grow spiritually, live authentically, and serve faithfully?

As we continue Celebrating the Spiritual Disciplines, this Sunday we will be focusing on the Discipline of Guidance as we talk about Making Decisions…Wisely and Together.

Also this Sunday we look forward to sharing in the celebration of baptism at the beginning of our Midmorning Service.  Our next baptism is scheduled for Sunday April 19.

On Sunday afternoons we are continuing our ten weeks of Ministry Madness.  Last Sunday many of our folks participated in Meet the Church as we joined with others from around the Panhandle in a variety of mission projects.  This Sunday we focus on the areas where we live as we participate in a Neighborhood Prayer Walk.

Every week I marvel at the many ways God is growing us in faith and friendship.  May God continue to grow us as we gather to worship and as we prepare to serve.

Worship: Close Encounters with God

John 4:19-26

(sermon outline on Sunday March 15)

Worship occurs when the gathered community experiences and responds to the initiatives of God.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.                           John 4:23-24 NIV

• Holy expectancy:  Our preparation for worship.

• Spiritual encounter: Our experience in worship.

To worship is to quicken the consciousness by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.                    -  William Temple

Possible ways we experience God in worship:

• Inviting us to follow Jesus
• Confronting our sin
• Affirming our identity in Christ
• Equipping us to serve
• Confirming our calling
• Re-enforcing our courage
• Building synergy

• Missional living: Our response to worship.

When you gather with other followers of Jesus to discover, encounter, and offer yourself to God, you are engaging in authentic worship.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

Hebrew 10:25  NIV

Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines

During this first quarter of 2009 our church family is studying the Spiritual Disciplines.  Each week in Bible study and worship, we are focusing on one of the disciplines that have helped believers across the centuries become more effective followers of Jesus.  And we are discovering that these Spiritual Disciplines are practical and relevant for the season in which we live.

A few months ago, we began challenging each other to participate in a Spiritual Gifts Assessment in order to discover, affirm, and channel our spiritual gifts into ministry action.  Our goal is for every church member to discover his or her spiritual gifts and to commit those gifts to the service of the Lord in the church and community.  We are discovering that the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines empower and enable us to transform our ordinary lives into extraordinary opportunities for ministry.

Some of us have been practicing the Spiritual Disciplines for many years and we are growing in our consistency of applying them to life.  Perhaps some of us have been introduced to the Spiritual Disciplines and we have practiced them off and on, but not with continuity. Still others of us are becoming acquainted with the Spiritual Disciplines for the first time, and trying to put them into practice seems a bit overwhelming. 

Here are a few suggestions on putting the Spiritual Disciplines into practice in your own life:

• Begin by focusing on two or three of the disciplines most needed in your life and grow from there.
• Do not be discouraged if you cannot practice all the disciplines consistently all the time.
• Expect to discover how the disciplines interact, overlap, and complement one another.
• Remember that the word practice indicates a gradual learning process.

This Sunday we are studying the Discipline of Worship.  In Bible study we will look at a variety of biblical passages related to worship.  And in each of our morning services, I will be describing worship as Close Encounters with God.

Invite a friend to join you as we gather for worship and Bible study this Sunday.