A Church In Action

Thus far, we have seen what a church is not, where the church started, and some Biblical facts about the church. We will now direct our attention to an early New Testament Baptist church in action as found in Acts chapter 2. Here, the early church was being blessed and we see what was truly important to the church then, that should be important to a church today.
1.There was Preaching of the Gospel (vs. 22-36) Here Peter was preaching the Truth. Here Peter was not preaching wishy-washy sermons. He was not worried about not offending any lost person with the Truth, nor offending another brother. He preached the Truth as it is to sinners as they are. He says in verse 23, "Ye have taken..." Christ was crucified because of our sins. "Ye have crucified him (vs. 36)". He preached the death, burial, resurrection, and glory of Jesus Christ. He preached the Gospel. If we desire to be a true Biblical church, we need more preaching of the Gospel-the Truth. It may be offensive to a lost person, but it is what this once lost person needed to be saved, and it is what they need too.
2. There was Holy Ghost Conviction (vs. 37)The preaching of the Truth brought conviction. I remember days when my grandfather would preach when the conviction of the Holy Spirit was seen and experienced by all. When people were white knuckled as they held on to the pew. When people cried out in despair as they saw their sinful state. When preaching of the cross and its agonies brought shame and reproach. Hot tears would flow down cheeks. People had to go to an altar to get right with God. People dare not leave with their sin still active in their life. When was the last time we saw that conviction steadily displayed in our churches. Getting God's people to give a testimony seems like pulling teeth at times. Churches have not had people at the altar for weeks and months. People can hear the Word of God concerning their sin and leave unmoved. A church in action with God's hand moving will be a place of conviction.
3. It had proper leadership (vs. 37-38)Peter and the rest of the apostles were the ones the people looked to for counsel and wisdom. A church with God's hand upon it will have Biblical leadership. It is blasphemous to God at the amount of 'disqualified' men in the pastorate today. The Books of Timothy and Titus give us distinct qualifications that should be met if one is to pastor. Please let me preface that I know that there is no such thing as a perfect man, but God does not require a pastor to be perfect, but He does require the following things from a man to be a pastor: (1 Tim. 3)

1. Be a Man (1)A woman cannot be a pastor.
2. A God given desire to pastor (1)A desire not given by a parent, friend, or relative, but by God
3. Blameless (2) Again, not that he is perfect, but that he is not continual in a sin, unrepentant. That he not have ruined his testimony. I believe adultery permanently disqualifies a man, for that wound and reproach is not wiped away (Prov. 6:32-34).
4. The husband of one wife (2) Again, not a woman (for how can a woman be a husband?). A pastor cannot have been divorced. These qualifications may seem extreme, but it is because the role and office of a pastor is of great importance to the Lord's church. The testimony must be one that is above reproach. Because the husband and wife are one flesh, and due to the fact that it is the testimony that is to be protected, I also believe that the wife of a pastor should not have been divorced. One may argue that I am adding to Scripture, but taken in context with the purpose of the qualifications, I believe one can see the importance of testimony.
5. Vigilant (2) On guard against sin
6. Sober (2) Control of ones flesh
7. Of Good Behavior (2) Behaving Good
8. Given to hospitality (2) Accepting people into their homes, their lives, and their hearts.
9. Apt to teach (2) A God given ability and desire to teach the Truth
10. Not given to wine (3) Abstain from alcohol
11. No striker (3) Not a Quarrelsome person, looking to hurt others
12. Not greedy of filthy lucre (3) The pastor should not be pastoring for money. Consumed with making money and building earthly treasures, for he will be a most miserable person.
13. But patient (3) Fair gentle gracious
14. Not a brawler (3) Thinking himself to be a tough guy, invincible
15. Not covetous (3) Of others possessions, churches, abilities
16. One that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity (4)........to be continued, and this is a big one!!!!!

An object of God's Love

Ephesians 5:25 reads, "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;". So what is a church? As stated in our last post, when one looks up a church in a dictionary, phonebook, or google search, one will find thousands of different answers to that question. We have already seen in Scripture that there is one faith and one baptism. So if there is only one faith and one baptism, then will the true one church please rise?
We can eliminate a vast majority because they do not stand for nor believe in the doctrines found in the Word of God. Jesus said in John 8:47, "He that is of God heareth Go's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." Those churches that are true churches are those that read, hear, and obey the Word of God. I have head many people say statements like, "Well, I don't agree with my church in this area, but..." If that church is wrong in accordance to God's Word, then it is not a church; or if you are wrong and the church is right, you need to get right.
In order to understand what is a true church, we then need to study and see when the church began. There are many philosophies as to when the church began, but we will look at it afresh in the Word of God.
As stated in our last post, Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church..." The Lord Jesus began the church Himself with His disciples. Thus, true churches, must have descended from that first church. The church has a Divine Founder, whose name is Jesus. That is why, as suggested in our letter to Adam Metzger and the Kingsway Fellowship, the church is not ours for "redesigning." Our Lord designed it nearly 2,000 years ago, and it is still perfect today!
The church was not founded upon a man, a pope, or a prophet; but our Lord, Jesus Christ.
When starting this church, Jesus gathered the disciples of a man, John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a man who preached the Gospel of repentance and faith, baptized his converts by immersion, and taught them that the Lord would soon appear. (Mark 1:1-8, John 1:29-37, John 3:25-30).
It is this "Baptist" preaching and "Baptist" baptism that set the standard from that time on. Sadly today, not every church with "Baptist" on the outside is true to New Testament doctrine. The Word of God is being pushed aside for flesh-friendly doctrine. Those churches have lost their first love, and as a result have had their candlestick removed.
A true, New Testament, church, the object of God's love, is therefore a descendant of that church which He began. Our Lord's church was therefore a Baptist church, the church at Jerusalem was therefore a Baptist church. Matter of the fact, there were not other kinds of churches. The Catholic church was begun years later. Baptist are not Protestant. The protestant movement began as a result of Catholic heresy and abuse. Men like Martin Luther, while seeing some of the errors of Catholicism, did not begin nor found true churches. They merely founded "less corrupt" churches. Nonetheless, they were still not churches, and taught a false salvation. Baptist should never make a hero out of men like Martin Luther. If we had lived in his time, we would have been persecuted, if not put to death, by Catholics AND MARTIN LUTHER. Thus Catholic churches, protestant churches, and all men originated churches are not true churches. There is ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM!
I am not saying that all those in churches other than Baptist are not going to Heaven, as long as they have been saved by grace through faith. Just as I am not also saying that every person in a Baptist church is going to Heaven, they too must be saved by grace through faith.
We live in a politically correct world where it is frowned upon to every offend anyone. It is not this author's desire to offend anyone, but to point towards the truth.
The true church is an object of God's love, and while going to church will not get you to Heaven, it is our Lord's desire that we serve Him "lawfully," that is, it does matter what you believe and what church you attend. Many will stand before God and will not receive the rewards that they could have, because they did not serve Him through the local church, the true church, a New Testament Baptist Church.
2 Tim. 2:5 reads, "And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully."

What is a Church?

Opening a dictionary, you will read that a church is "a building for public Christian worship; the part of the whole Christian body." Is that what a church is? While growing up, I was taught by many men I respect and also in college that a church is a "a local, visible called out assembly of baptized believers." Is that a church? Can you use that definition and practice open/close communion? The catholics believe that a church is "all who, from the beginning of the world, have believed in the one true God, and have been made His children." (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm) Now one can believe that definition and practice open/close communion. The very word 'catholic' means universal, in reference to its belief in a universal church. Then we open a phone book and look under "church." Here in our tiny Goshen, Ohio phone book, I find "Bridge Community Church, The Oasis Church, Knox Presbyterian, Whitewater Christian Church, Goshen Assembly of God, Abundant Life Fellowship, Grace Ministries, Adam Tracey, KingsWay, Adath Israel Congregation, All Saints Catholic, Agape Church, Cozaddale Baptist Temple..." Are they all churches? How can things so different be the same? Doesn't Eph. 4:5 read that their is

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

So, they all can't be churches right? So that begs us to answer, which one is a church? Are the others frauds, organizations, clubs, or worse?
The very first time we read the word church in our Bibles is in Matthew 16:16-19,

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

We see here a few lessons about the church:
1. The church is built by Christ. This is one of the most important works He is presently doing.
2. The church is built upon Christ. Not on Peter (see 1 Cor. 3:11, 10:4, Eph. 2:20), but upon the fact that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
3. The church did not exist until Christ came. The Lord started the church when He "called out" his disciples (Matt. 10:1-5) and commissioned them. The church could not have begun at Pentecost because that day there were "added unto" the church, the church had already been given its commission, instructions for discipline, etc.
4. The church belongs to Christ. He is the head of the church, not a man. He is the law giver, legislator, and leader of the church.
5. The church will be preserved through all generations. Since the time of Christ, there has been the church and will continue to be a church.
6. The church has been given the promise of Authority by Christ.
7. The church is not to be on the defensive, but on the offensive. We read that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church. Gates are used for defense, not offense. Too many times, we as members of churches feel like it is our destiny to be persecuted and beaten down, but 'Praise God, in the end Hell can't prevail against us.' Problem is, that is false teaching. We as members of our churches are to go out and take the Gospel to a lost world, knowing that there is no power that can defeat or hold back the power of that Gospel!
So, what is a church? Is the Yellow Spruce Community Assembly of the Church of God with Latter Day Saints Adventist Ministries a church?
Let us solve this, by looking at the Bible!

Open Letter to Adam Metzger and KingsWay Community Church

September 21, 2009

KingsWay
Attn: Adam Metzger
1138 Heritage Ct.
Milford, Ohio 45150

Adam,

In God’s Word in the book of Jude we read, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is the duty of every born again believer to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. That is the reason for my writing this letter. Recently, many in our church received your mailing asking us to “Rediscover church.” I too am saddened by the seemingly great amount of churches that are dead and reaching no one for the Lord Jesus Christ. I went to your website and watched your video and read your web page. While I believe your motivation is one that is good, your means are incorrect.
You stated in your video, “We have designed this church with you in mind.” The church is not ours for designing. The Lord started the church and the means of worship and evangelism and teaching and preaching have already been established by Him. I believe your focus is that church is ‘boring and irrelevant’ in most people’s eyes. So you are seeking to make church “exciting and a time of celebration…so that people can discover God at their own pace.” Your obvious use of the world’s music (with Christian words), your steady appetite of the world’s entertainment, and your flesh appealing worship will be your means of reaching people. The problem is this is unscriptural.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 read, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” We cannot meet the lusts of the lost in order to reach the lost. Jesus never used the means of which you have ‘designed your church’ in order to reach the lost. Instead, he challenged them with the Truth.
Saints of God are to be new creatures, 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We don’t need the weak and beggarly elements of the world any longer.
I also believe you were mistaken in your recent mailing that read on the cover, “Church (expletive)!” I believe your mailing has done much more harm for the cause of Christ than help. One of our six year old daughters in our church got the mail from the box last week and came in and said, “Daddy what does ‘Church %%%% mean?” Sad she had to learn ‘filthy communication’ from you isn’t it?
You accuse churches of being ‘homophobic.’ I cannot speak for other churches, but I will speak for this one, “We are not homophobic, but rather love all folks.” Problem is, most churches and men like yourselves see preaching against the sin of sodomy as being homophobic. They are lost and need the truth of God’s Word, and we endeavor to share it to them and all the lost and dying world.
Our Lord loved the church and gave Himself for the church (Eph. 5:25). Ephesians 4 reads “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” This faith, our church, was relevant 2000 years ago and it is just as relevant today. You are attempting to use man’s wisdom to reach the lost. Man’s wisdom dictates that if we use their music, their entertainment, their lusts to reach them, they will come to church. But if church is designed with them in mind, if we adapt church to them, what do they need to be saved from? If we use the same vulgar language as them, why should they change? If our music has the same rock beat and dance as theirs, why should they consider conversion?
Adam, I pray you do not feel attacked, as that is not my spirit. Rather, I seek to help. I seek to help you from the error from Scripture you are ‘launching upon.’ I seek to help the people you will minister to, as I fear for their souls. I seek to contend for the faith that was once delivered and doesn’t need revamped, revised, or redesigned.
2 Peter reads, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”
Titus 1 reads, “This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”
I learned last evening, that an elderly lady received your mailings as well, and emailed you concerning your vulgar language. Your response to her email was “Is your church reaching the lost?” Her reply was “Yes” to which you simply responded in tiny letters “awesome.”
Just don’t miss that you can still preach against sin, still practice separation from the world, still sing songs that do not appeal to the flesh, and it all be relevant, powerful, and successful in reaching the lost. You seek to not offend people in order to reach them, but instead all you will do is condemn them, for we can never experience the grace of God until we first realize the truth of God-we are wicked sinners and our ways are filthy. We must be saved by grace through faith and that our conversion will indeed change our lives. We will become new creatures. The things we loved before being saved , we will hate; the things we hated before being saved, we now will love.
Please think on these things.

Delighting In His Will,


Pastor Travis Burke
Psalm 40:8

Something New

Well, a year long adventure is seemingly over. We have studied and written on why we are losing our young people to the world and apostate churches. Is it really as simple as we have written-as one commenter wrote? Was all that work "simple?"-as one author ponders? We shall see.
So what now? What to write upon? I truly would love to have others input on our comment pages in days ahead-just be sure to add your name to it. "Anonymous" is a synonym for coward many times.
Something new....
Recently, I surveyed our high school and asked a question:

What makes up church?

The responses were various, but mostly were "people, pastor, Bible, worship, choir, singing, preaching, specials, offering, invitation, Sunday school, ministries, academy, friends, busses, etc.
I believe we Independent Baptist are many times as caught up in man made traditions as the Catholics. Jesus warned against this in Mark 7:1-9. The Pharisees then loved washing their hands; we read, "For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders." Well, the Lord's disciples ate and didn't wash their hands! The Pharisees accused the disciples of being 'unclean.' The Lord taught a very important lesson here:

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition

The Lord never said 'washing your hands was wrong.' Rather, He taught that the Pharisees had lain aside the commandment of God, and had promoted their traditions as the principle element. Their worship to God was done in vain.
What a terrible thought. They honored the Lord with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. Their worship was all done in vain.
We think of catholics, evangelical, and such and accuse them of this very thing. We, as Baptist could never be guilty of such...could we?
Since becoming pastor, the Lord has stirred my heart to stop doing what we have always done, and examine it closely in accordance to the Word. What does God's Word say about it. Has any thing changed? Oh, yes indeed! I have learned dating is not Biblical, but rather a worldly practice that every Christian should avoid. I have learned that education of children is the parent's responsibility. I have learned that topical preaching is shallow and insufficient when that is what is only preached. I will never forget the day the Lord spoke to me about this. It was after a conversation with another pastor who said the following: "I have a great message put together, I just need a verse." Shouldn't that be the other way around? We are to preach the Word!
I have learned so much since becoming pastor; and I have unfortunately dealt with many heart breaks. But God is good through it all and our joy is constant!
While dealing with problems and re-evaluating all things Biblically, I found something else.
Maybe I am the only pastor this applies to, but most problems I deal with concern the following (probably in this order): our academy, nursery, Sunday School Jr. Church, music, and sin/doctrinal stands.
As with dating, I began to look in Scriptures as to how to handle these ministries and the problems they bring. I was running these ministries the way I had always seen them run while growing up in church. I was adapting principles I had learned at college to help these ministries and the problems they incur to run smoother. Problem was, I couldn't find most in Scripture.
There are no Scriptures for running a church academy. There are no Scriptures for how to organize a nursery. There are no Scriptures for how to use Sunday Schools to train children. There are no Jr. Church ideas in the book of Acts. I can't find one verse on how to use a choir in the New Testament church.
SOOOOOO.....
I then looked to my other passion in life...History!
When did these ministries begin?
Sunday School...1780 Robert Raikes, an Anglican, to educate poor children in the slums in areas such as arithmetic, grammar, and sciences.
Jr. Church...1929 John Higgins, an Episcopalian, an experiment to separate children into their own age groups and reach them on their level.
Christian School...1684, the Jesuits, to educate children with a 'christian' philosophy (now I know all about the synagogues and such, but those are no where close to what our 'christian school are today'.)
Choir...300, Constantine, after his 'conversion' (false) he demanded that choirs be added to services just like the Greek operas and pagan worship he had enjoyed before 'conversion.'
Nursery...Billy Sunday, as part of his crusades, did not enjoy preaching over the distraction of crying babies and had the first nurseries built as part of his tabernacles.
We could go on and speak of invitation, bus ministry, sound room, etc....bottom line:
All man made traditions, and relatively new to our faith. And, may I add, none of them Baptist.
Sadly, the typical 'fundamental, strong, Baptist church member' if asked what their focus was on any given Sunday, would be: their singing special, turn to work in the nursery, their Sunday School class, bus route, etc. We have all but forgotten what church is truly supposed to be.
We are so busy with our man made traditions, that we have gotten far from the Word, Worship, and true Work of God.
Is there anything wrong with these traditions? Well, is there any thing wrong with washing your hands before you eat? It is just, we too often are so focused on our 'ministries' that we miss the purpose of church. Our lips honor him, but our heart is far from Him.
Think on these things.

Back to the Basics

As with everything in America's history, we've come a long way in a short time. Sometimes that's good, but in the case of our families, it has gone horribly bad. So now what do we do? Get back to the basics; go back to the beginning. In the words of Ken Ham, Back to Genesis. Chapter one, verse twenty-eight to be exact, the very first commandment in the Word of God, one that modern Christianity has very much forgotten and forsaken - Be fruitful and multiply. Now, I am not advocating bigger families is the cure for our ills; but I am saying that a desire for children is a sure sign things are on the right track. Let me explain. What has been the purpose of this poll? To alert people to a serious problem, not just in our churches, but in our nation as a whole. What is this problem? Well, I think the previous chapters have illustrated it pretty clearly( not that we're great writers, but our subject has really written itself ), our children as a whole are going, going, and some are just gone. Even those still among us are not really with us. Honestly, I don't blame them. Would you want to be where you are not wanted? Wait a minute! How can you say that? Easy enough when many of us already have, if not in our very words, at least in our actions. This brings me back to my point about the size of our families. God has commanded us to "be fruitful and multiply"; not a suggestion, but a command. Is that the desire of the average American family? You and I both know it is not. The typical Baptist couple puts off having children, pushes off the raising their children on the church and/or school, and can't wait to be free of their children. It's not as much a matter of the number we have, as the heart that we have toward them. As with everything else, God is concerned with our heart. If I may be a bit personal for a moment; a few summers back, Shanda and I were preparing for the arrival of our third child. That summer a missionary and his family stopped and parked their camper at our church. That isn't unusual as this happens periodically at our church. But this particular missionary had a message just for me. One day as I was going about my business working at church, this missionary stopped me for a chat. ( the reason I refer to him as "this missionary" is not to hide his identity, but because he was a total stranger, not one of our supporting missionaries) Our conversation is one that I will never forget, though I unfortunately forsook for a time. He began to share with me how after having three children of his own, he and his wife decided they were "done". But he went on to say that God began to work on their hearts through preaching and his personal study, that though that was what he wanted, it wasn't necessarily God's will. To make a long story short, they went on to have several more children. I heard, but did not hear. I ignored this man of God sharing his heart with me and went on my way, thinking I knew better than he. Fast forward to the present. This past summer our pastor changed up our Sunday school schedule to really stress the family and the home. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting with my children hearing from God's Word what I could do to raise them up to serve God. One session I remember above all the others; teaching from Psalm 127, he read the following verse:

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

I must confess, though I was thankful for my children and loved them dearly, I realized then that my view of my children was not God's view of my children. I had been guilty of taking them for granted, and not fully realizing the blessing that they were. I had, at times, thought of them as burdens, and not blessings; of thinking they were here to serve my purposes, instead of to serve God's purposes. God has worked much in the hearts of me and my wife this past summer and I'm so thankful for it. We had developed a very worldly mindset regarding children and the Lord showed us our error; we have confessed it and determined from this point on to see them for what they are - on loan from God, to raise for God. How do you view your children? Is our mind transformed to God's ways, or are we conformed to the mind of the world? I am not questioning if we love our children, but rather do we live for our children? I encourage you, if you have adopted the world's mentality regarding children, humble yourself, confess it to God, and determine to leave a legacy to your children like that of Jonadab. If your children have already grown up and gone on, encourage those coming behind you to see children as God sees them. May we raise up a generation that will be an example for years to come.

So What Have We Learned

In 1997 I began working in the ministry with teens. I poured my heart, my time, my energy, my everything into their lives. As a result, we saw a youth department go from about 12 to nearly 50 each week. We went had two activities every month as we had a S.N.A.C.K. (Sunday Night After Church Knock-out) and a Friday night activity of something like a Blue Gnu or Super Mall Sweep. We went to our Teen Camp, our Talent Contests, and weekly we had around 30 teens going soul winning on Tuesday nights. I was a 'success' as a youth pastor....so I thought. I had the largest Sunday School class in the church, the soul winning crowd was 90% teens, the bus ministry rested on their shoulders, there was life, energy, and excitement each week in the teen class. Other youth pastors were calling me and asking what the secret was. I had arrived....no where.
I estimate in my eight years of being a youth leader that nearly thousands of teens went through our class. There are right now four serving in the ministry and an additional 8-10 still in a IFB church. Success huh? Where are the other 1,982 or so? You can find many on facebook or myspace with their beers, blasphemy, and babies; but not in church Sunday. At first I would get angry with them, considering their actions an act of betrayal against me. I was wrong. Not just for that feeling, but I had been wrong.
With great intentions, great enthusiasm, and great effort, I won the heart of many of those teens. I, as many youth pastors, kept them busy at church and out of trouble, entertained them with activities, contests and jokes, and along the way taught some Bible. I met with parents-when their child was naughty. I did the IFB thing-had fun with them and ignored the Biblical Parental Roles that were missing.
By the time I became the pastor, the Lord had opened my eyes to a problem. Despite our efforts and temporary successes, we were losing them. We were losing the bus teens, the church teens, the preacher boys, the class presidents, the snotty nosed runt and the sharp verse memorizers. We were losing nearly all of them.
In my ministry, I have stopped and re-evaluated everything. I believe we have become so wrapped in our man made traditions, that we do not realize how far we have strayed from God's Word.
It is quite evident that many others are realizing this same problem. The Southern Baptist Church has begun a study on the same topic, as have First Baptist Hammond, Answers in Genesis, and many more. I, nor Pastor Carr, would ever claim to know it all or have the upper hand on anyone. We just are burdened. Hammond will no doubt preach its answers with a loud voice, Ken Ham will teach the answer is getting back to Genesis, Southern Baptist will select a committee to discuss it for 22 years, and so on and so on. Here is what I have learned....
It is our job Dad and Mom. Whether you are on the front lines of battle or the back pew of a dead church, we still can rear our children to serve the Lord. The promises are there in Scripture. It is time to get back to Scripture and leave the man made traditions of dating, letting Sunday School be in charge of spiritually maturing our children, letting an academy be in charge of educating our children, letting a youth pastor get their heart and keep them in church. It is time to grow up dads. Time to put up the PlayStation 3 each night and talk to your son. It's time for moms to quit going to two Pampered Chef parties, ladies fellowship at church, shopping with your friends, and instead stay home and fix dinner and teach your daughters to love their husbands and keep their homes. It's time to set aside our hobbies and sports and to instead get and keep our child's heart. It is time to stop eating dinner in three different rooms with three different T.V.s on and instead to sit around a table and fellowship together in unity. It is time that children hear their daddy pray at home, see their mommys keep the home, and join with parents in song at home. It is time we quit looking for loopholes in Scripture as to why our children may rebel, and start taking responsibility that we can rear them in the ways of the Lord and should they not-it is the parent's fault. It is time we consistently have family devotions, father is the head of the home, children desire to spend time with mom and dad, T.V.s are shut off, computers are shut down, and hearts are opened and shared. It is time for teens to realize they don't have to date fifty to find the one. It is time for the family to be more than a name. It is time that Authority be seen as God's Word. It is time!
We can't afford to sit back and think that our child will be the exception. I challenge every parent to stop, fall on our knees, and thank the Lord for our children, repent for not taking the full responsibility of them, and determine to quit our selfish ways. Determine to not be satisfied with our children making money and having a house. Determine to not expect rebellion as part of life. Determine to quit letting the world entertain and amuse us. Determine that a poll like the one to the right would not reflect failure, but success. Determine to be willing to sacrifice everything to get our child's heart, to keep our child's heart, and one day to give our child's heart to the one person God has for them as spouse.
It is time right now. May God give us wisdom and courage for the days ahead.