A Sabbatical

Next week, many of you have heard and I've talked with you about my taking a sabbatical during the month of June.  I just wanted to explain a few things, so you can know what's up.

What is a sabbatical?
If you aren't familiar with the concept of a sabbatical, usually it's termed most often in the case of a professor or teacher in college for them to take time to have some professional development, to write or do intensive study and recharge.  It's a time of improving themselves to come back as a better teacher.

While it's known in the US more in those secular circles, it is actually derived from the Biblical term "sabbath", which is a time of "religious observance, abstaining from work".  We are to practice this weekly habit of spending devoted time centering on Christ away from our work.  

Why do you need a sabbatical?
If we look a the life of Christ, there were times when he withdrew for extended periods to recharge and be ready for the next season of his ministry.  This is a practice I try to repeat regularly in short stints, because, as you may know or not know, as a pastor, I'm really never off the job.

How long is a sabbatical and when do you take it?
In many churches and religious organizations, they have started giving their ministers and leaders sabbaticals after certain periods of service in current roles.  It can range from a month to 3 months to 6 months or in some extreme cases, a year.

At First Baptist, after every 7 years of service, you are given a month of paid sabbatical leave, usually encouraged to be taken all at once, to recharge, develop, learn and rest.  This year is my 7th year and next week, I'll be taking one month off of my duties as campus pastor at Bay West Church.  

Will you be attending Bay West while you are on sabbatical?
No.  During that time, I won't be attending Bay West Church, but I will be attending and worshiping elsewhere (I don't a break from following Christ.)  I will be observing other churches, meeting with other church staffs, and if I was at Bay West, I couldn't be off anyway.

Do you just vacation or hang out at your house?
No, but I have presented a plan to our Personnel Team and they have approved my itinerary and plan to make the best of this time away.

Over this time, I will be unavailable.  I'll be spending some concentrated time with my family.  I'll be seeking wisdom from concentrated time alone with God most of all.  I'll learning from other staff members/pastors from some different churches, conducting interviews on the subject of church growth, multisite work and other leadership subjects trying to better myself as a leader as we look to the future of Bay West.  I have been working on writing a book, as well, and will be devoting some time to that, as well as some time to reading and learning myself.

Is there something wrong?
Nope.  We do things like this as a preventative measure, so everything stays right.

Who will be preaching?
Bob Lorenzo, who has taught us several times before, and who you hear indirectly through me a lot because of his influence in my life, will be preaching.  The rest of the staff will be operating as normal.

Will things fall apart?
No.  I've tried very hard to make Bay West not about my presence on a Sunday, but the presence of God and in doing so, you are surrounded every week/Sunday with capable leadership and a sound structure, so things should run like a top.

Can I still be baptized in our services?
Absolutely, but the process is the same.  You'll need to call our offices, we'll schedule a time to meet with one of our ministers to make sure you are ready spiritually, and then we will coordinate the baptism in our services.

What if I have an emergency and/or need a pastor?
Please contact Mandy at  our offices at (321) 723-0561 and Nate, Randy or Raul will help you or if they are unavailable, one of the pastors from the Melbourne Campus will contact you. 

Can I just call you and chat?
Normally, I'm up for that, but since I'm trying to spend time away, that probably wouldn't be best. I'll be back to see you soon.

How long will you be gone?
I'll be back in services at Bay West Church on Sunday, July 6th.

I would like to thank you all for allowing me to do this and it is my hope that I will return as a better Christ follower, husband, father and pastor as we continue together into the future.

Please be faithful, come prepared to worship and learn because as I am listening to the Lord during this time, I expect him to be faithfully teaching you special things through the normal activity at Bay West, that if you were to take a break from, you would miss, so please continue attending, serving, loving, worshiping, giving, cultivating, giving, communicating and being the church.  I'll be there this Sunday, then I'll see you in July.

In Christ,
Jim

Quick recap of Sunday's sermon Week 2 of SIGNS - Yield

Bad news...no podcast this week, because we had some difficulty last Sunday.  Put down some rough thoughts from my sermon notes..

Yielding to God is essential to following God.

The concept of yielding in driving is giving someone else the right of way, letting them go first before you.  The concept of yielding to God is similar, it's giving someone else the priority or the right of way in your life...setting aside your schedule or goals in deference to theirs.

How do we do that?  Enter Jonah...specifically Jonah 2, his prayer in the belly of the fish.

4 stops in the process of yielding.
1)  Understand reality.  Jonah 2:1-6

• God is in control of and owns everything.  All kinds of "your" language in these verses.  It is clear that Jonah is coming to grips with the fact that all this is God's and he'd better get with the program of reality.
  We operate in our own little fake reality so often, where we are in control and God is living to serve us...untrue and just like simply denying that a brick wall is there and trying to run head first through it is painful, damaging and impossible...so is not grasping that all this, including me, was created for God, not the other way around.
• We are hopeless and helpless without God.
  We can't even see what God has given us without Him
  12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
  1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV)

There are 4 sources of authority in everyone’s life and everyone's decisions are made under one of these authority structures. 1)  Scripture  2)  Experience 3)  Tradition 4)  Reason -

At some point, if you are going to follow Christ, Scripture has to become the authority structure that trumps everything.

2) A recognition of our personal situation. Jonah 2:7

• Jonah realized that his life was ebbing away...he had forgotten God, he had not prayed to God (only guy on the ship that DIDN'T pray, fyi), and he had turned away from God's presence (the Holy Temple is symbolic of God's presence in Scripture).
• BUT here's the biggest recognition personally for him...vs. 8

“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them."

He was clinging to an idol of his standards and prejudices against the Ninevites for their reputation in cruelty...He was clinging to his own idols instead of God.

3)  Jonah’s response to his situation Jonah 2:9

But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.  I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

• Praise right where he is...don't wait to get out of the fish.
• Sacrifice his standards to God's...God first
• Act on his commitment to God.  In the dark, act on what God has told you in the light.
• Become a verbal and life example of God's salvation.

4)  God's restoration of Jonah.  Jonah 2:10

God spoke to the fish (still in control of his fish) and it spit Jonah out.

Couple of things:

1)  When you come out of the storm of life or the belly of your fish, you won't be where you were when you came in...no going back to what it used to be.

2)  You'll be prepared for what God has for you next.  Some say that even Jonah's "bleached" appearance from the gastric juices inside the fish, may have "augmented" his appearance to make his message to Nineveh more noticeable when he got there.

While many say that Jonah 2 is a prayer of repentance, and inside the fish IS where Jonah turned it around with hints of repentance in vs.7 and 9, the overall theme isn't repentance...it's a prayer of thanksgiving.  The fish saved him physically from drowning in the storm and it also saved him emotionally by forcing him to realize where he was and to respond.

Imagine the worst thing, the most traumatic thing in your life, at some point, God having healed that to such a degree that you thank Him for it...in all things give thanks...28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Scripture references from "True Woman", 2nd part of our YOU series...

From Katye and my talk about Biblical womanhood last weekend in our YOU series, here are the Scripture references we used.

Main passage:

10 Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?

   She is more precious than rubies.

11 Her husband can trust her,

   and she will greatly enrich his life.

12 She brings him good, not harm,

   all the days of her life.

13 She finds wool and flax

   and busily spins it.

14 She is like a merchant’s ship,

   bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household

   and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it;

   with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She is energetic and strong,

   a hard worker.

18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable;

   her lamp burns late into the night.

19 Her hands are busy spinning thread,

   her fingers twisting fiber.

20 She extends a helping hand to the poor

   and opens her arms to the needy.

21 She has no fear of winter for her household,

   for everyone has warm clothes.

22 She makes her own bedspreads.

   She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.

23 Her husband is well known at the city gates,

   where he sits with the other civic leaders.

24 She makes belted linen garments

   and sashes to sell to the merchants.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity,

   and she laughs without fear of the future.

26 When she speaks, her words are wise,

   and she gives instructions with kindness.

27 She carefully watches everything in her household

   and suffers nothing from laziness.

28 Her children stand and bless her.

   Her husband praises her:

29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,

   but you surpass them all!”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;

   but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.

31 Reward her for all she has done.

   Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

Proverbs 31:10-31 (NLT)

About the “responder” characteristic of women

14 But then I will win her back once again.

   I will lead her into the desert

   and speak tenderly to her there.

15 I will return her vineyards to her

   and transform the Valley of Trouble[b] into a gateway of hope.

She will give herself to me there,

   as she did long ago when she was young,

   when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.”  

Hosea 2:14-15 (NLT)

About our responsibility as men to give God-honoring things to respond to.

As far as not being careless and flippant with what we say...

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,Matthew 12:36 (ESV)

What our goal for our conversations to be...

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Colossians 4:6 (NIV)

It’s not just the words, but where the heart is that they come from…

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

   be acceptable in your sight,

   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 (ESV)

We should also respond appropriately for each situation...not just what you say, how you say it, but when you say it...does it fit the situation?

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)

About the beauty characteristic of women

3 Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4 You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.1 Peter 3:3-4 (NLT)

All women are beautiful and the greatest beauty is a heart for the Lord.

As men, do we value that actively in the way we deal with all women (mothers, sisters, nieces, co-workers, friends, etc…)

On what God values…

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.Proverbs 31:30 (ESV)

On the proper place for the physical vs the spiritual

8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

1 Timothy 4:8 (ESV)

On the role of influencer that a woman has…

26 When she speaks, her words are wise,

   and she gives instructions with kindness.

Proverbs 31:26 (NLT)

4 These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children,

Titus 2:4 (NLT)

Men should receive the influence, not resist it.

12 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.Proverbs 12:1 (NIV)

20 Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.

Proverbs 19:20 (NLT)

20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)

Because of their great influence, men should take care what women they allow to influence them.

33  Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)

26 The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Proverbs 12:26 (NIV)

Followup to yesterday's sermon....my bad

Hey guys, 

Every now and then, I realize that I start referring to Scripture that we don't put on the outline or on the screen, and I talk pretty fast or just breeze past the reference once and keep on going to the next thing.  One of the things I'm constantly working on is slowing down and I have over the years at Bay West, but I can fall back into habits periodically.  I apologize for that.

So, here's straight from my notes all the auxiliary Scripture that I referred to, but we didn't put on the screen.

In reference to no forgiveness of sin being given without the shedding of blood...
22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:22 (NIV)

In reference to one sacrifice, Jesus, paying the price for all sin...
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV)

In reference to where wisdom begins...
10 1010  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10 (NIV)

In reference to wisdom only coming from God...

About the Holy Spirit...

• He is your teacher 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.John 14:26 (NIV)
• He helps you know the right thing from the wrong thing AND he will help you know the right thing to say...13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.John 16:13 (NIV) 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.Luke 21:15 (NIV)
• He convicts us of sin...8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.John 16:8-11 (NIV)

On Satan being our accuser, who tries to get believers to buy into condemnation...

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,    and the authority of his Messiah.For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
    who accuses them before our God day and night,    has been hurled down.Revelation 12:10 (NIV)

On God finishing and completing everything that He begins in you...
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

On God giving us direction in ways only He can do...
21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

On our righteous deeds on our own being worthless...
6 6  All of us have become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)

Once again, my bad.  Hope this helps...

In Christ,
Jim

P.S.  Here's a bonus.  I didn't refer to this one this morning, but I talked about the concept, but didn't mention the reference...
About God being the source of any real wisdom you hear...
20 He said, "May God be praised for ever and ever! He is wise and powerful. 21 He changes times and seasons. He sets up kings. He removes them from power. The wisdom of those who are wise comes from him. He gives knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He explains deep and hidden things. He knows what happens in the darkest places. And where he is, everything is light. "Daniel 2:20-22 (NIRV)

Dangerous Scripture: “Judge not, lest ye be judged”

In playing basketball, if someone is trying to shoot a three point shot, a defender may run at them to make them uncomfortable so they won’t shoot.  It’s called “running them off the three”.  That’s what the phrase “judge not” has become in our culture, meaning “you can’t tell me I’m wrong because you aren’t perfect”.  It seems ironclad because, who’s perfect, right?  It comes from a verse in Matthew 7, and to use it this way totally distorts what Matthew 7 says..  

 

First, the word “judge” in Matthew 7 means to proclaim as worthless, something beyond our “pay grade” to do.  Telling someone that they are wrong is not sending them to eternal doom.  On the contrary, it implies that you think there is hope for them.  Simply never noticing wrong and saying “they’ll never change”, could in a sense be committing the very sin you are trying to avoid.  Do you want someone to just write you off as hopeless?  Me neither.

Practical questions if this is how you use this Scripture:

• How would that work if no one could ever tell anyone else they are wrong without perfection?  
• What about, say, a murderer?  Do they get an out with the “don’t judge” defense?  Can no one look at their actions and determine them to be wrong until they themselves are perfect?  
• What if someone pointed out their bad direction and helped correct their behavior earlier, would they never have become a murderer to begin with?  In this culture's screwed up paradigm of "Don't judge", no one could confront the person earlier because they themselves aren't perfect.
• Do my actions make the act more or less wrong?  
• The rest of Matthew 7, where that Scripture comes from, gives you distinct ways to evaluate situations and people for sin in those areas, to determine if you should step in or if you should allow them to influence you..  Is that a joke?   

If you even use “judge not” on someone else, aren’t you a HYPOCRITE, since you are trying to correct someone, thereby "judging" them to be wrong and breaking your own advice?If you aren't a Christian, then shouldn't you just leave it alone, since you don't even believe the Bible to be true?  That’s nuts.

And so is this ridiculous way of using "Judge not, lest you be judged"...and TOTALLY not how it was ever intended to be used.  But, as gently as I can put it, this is what happens when the people who follow God and love Him rely on people who don't follow Him or are just surface readers of His Word to decide what a Scripture means...it's a gigantic mess, just like this phrase and how it's now used in our culture.

Matthew 7:5 presses the picture of removing the glaring sin (“plank”) from your own eye before you try to help remove the “speck” from your brother’s eye, because we are never to use someone else’s sin as a means to avoid our own.  We should always abandon our own sin.  Verse 5 gives us clarity on this point as to one reason for that goal.  “...Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”  

One reason you are to keep your life as clean as you can is so that you can see clearly to help your brother/sister out of their damaging behavior.

The expected response after delivering the “judge not” phrase is to end the conversation, just giving each other “permission” to be wrong, but that’s not what the Bible instructs at all.  

The next time someone uses the phrase on you, be true to Matthew 7.  Ask them what is the sin they are referring to in your life.  If they pick their jaw off the floor and answer you, stop right there and confess that to God, apologize to them, if necessary and correct your direction.  Then, say, “Thank you, now let me help you with you sin as well.”  Speak the truth, but do it in love, not in arrogance or anger or revenge.  If you cannot act in humility and love, there is the first plank you should remove.  Trust the real Matthew 7, model humility and don’t let them run you off the three.