Welcome to the MBBC Blog

Welcome to the official blog of the Millett Bible Baptist Church. I hope you are able to find enrichement and worth in your life through the postings made on this site. Please make sure to visit our main site at http://www.millettbbc.org/.We are a Baptist Church by name and a Bible Church by action. Please take a walk on this spiritual journey called life with us as we further our quest of truth in the name of Jesus Christ.We believe in a positive approach to the issues of life and we find the answers to be in the Bible. The Bible contains the answer to life, and they are free for the taking, all you have to do is open it to begin unlocking the rich life God has set for you.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Calling All Heros

Last week was Vacation Bible School and what a blessing it was. The theme this year was from The Pirate's Who Don't Do Anything and we gave a challenge of "Calling All Heroes" for our kids to be a hero for God; first, to accept his salvation, second, to stand up for what is right and witness.

Each night the kids were welcomed by staff who were adorned like pirates, complete with pirate names. Each learning station was decorated like a fun tropical location with really helped to set the mood for fun and learning. The staff and kids all went by their "pirate names" all week and this added an extra fun atmosphere for learning.

Something new we did this year was the concept that "Every station was learning station". Most VBS programs simply have the story time the move on to an irrelevant game, craft, and snack; not so here. We had an 2 hour long VBS program and to use on 20 minutes to convey the truth of Jesus Christ would be a waste of every one's time. Each craft, game, and snack went along with the Bible story of the day. The verses too were specifically chosen. In the end, each child had a full 2 hours of Biblical learning and Spiritual growth. The fruit of it was great!

On Thursday we gave the heaviest emphasis on salvation and 4 responded. No one was pushed to make a decision for Christ; rather, they made the decision to repent of their sin themselves. Following their salvation they all burst into tears of joy as they had been set free from what would weigh them down and keep them from God.

VBS is a lot of work and will undeniably wear one out by the end of week, but it is worth it. Our staff enjoyed it the most I think. It is a bit sad to now say that it is over for another year, but we are looking forward to next year when we can serve God in this capacity again.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

What Will It Take


Wouldn't it be neat if you could push a magic button and take the place of one of the disciples for a moment, or even a few moments? In the back our minds we believe that if we could just see Jesus and sit by his side that our doubts would melt away and we could follow him the way he intends us to. Which disciple would you like to be for you moment? Personally I would rather not be Judas Iscariot. John would be neat but I don't need to be Thomas or Peter; I already struggle with doubt from time to time and put my foot in my mouth. Which would you choose.

This would undoubtedly be a neat experience if it could be done, but would it melt away any spiritual struggles? Unfortunately, no. In John 21 it records Jesus appearing the disciples as they are out fishing. They have been out all night and caught nothing; we probably all know the story, but do you know the background and setting? Jesus has recently resurrected and the disciples have seen him twice already (which you likely think would solve all of your spiritual doubts and shame to have seen this account first hand) but the disciples continue in fear. Before Jesus had been crucified we have accounts of them being very busy in ministry and serving along side Jesus. After Jesus' resurrection we find them in their popular hideout... huddled in an attic in fear of death. Time seems to be stacking atop itself and they have time to burn as they cower. Finally as John 21.3 records, Peter says, "Guys, I'm going out fishing" and almost instinctively some of the others say, "Hey, I'll come too. Wait up." They are doing this under the cover of nightfall. Ask yourself this, aren't these God's chosen people who he trained to carry the torch after the resurrection? Now they are just going fishing when no one is looking, and doing nothing when people are?

Peter and the others are starting to regress from the divine call; they are returning to the people they used to be: fishermen. After the fish all night they find that they have miserably failed at what they thought would be something they could always fall back on. About that time some crazy old loon calls from the shore and tells them to try fishing on the other side of the boat. What do they have to lose? They try it and it worked. They had more fish than they know what to do with and they recognize that the loon on the shore was really the very Son of God, Jesus Christ. He had come to visit them again. But, when did his visit begin? I believe that God had been with them all night. God was the one that didn't allow them to catch any fish to teach them a lesson: Whenever you chase your own plans, thought, ideas, or vocation instead of God's plan for your life you will only come up disappointed at best. God had moved his hand on them to fail in order to direct them back into his will and call for their life. Jesus essentially saw the recovering drunks car and the bar and went in to drag them out.

Back on the sea shore Jesus feed their belly then heads straight for the heart. Talking to Peter, the ringleader of the fishing trip, Jesus tells him to "Feed my lambs" and to "Feed my sheep" (v15-17). Jesus was reminding Peter of his divine call while Peter was sneaking out at night to do his own thing.

Peter knew what his divine call was. Peter knew that he had influence on others. Peter chose to use his power of influence to reject his call from God and get others to do the same. Jesus had to bring failure in the life of Peter so he could see that true success came from listening to the voice of God.

Where are you? Have you sneaked out at night to follow your own direction and areas but finding that all you continue to do is fail? Maybe it is time to start listening to the voice of God and returning to what he has called you to do in your life. When Peter listened to the voice of God he found that he life suddenly became so bountiful that he couldn't hardly contain it.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Leading Like Jesus


Today God revealed to me a great nugget of information that is nestled into a Psalm of David. Psalm 28.1 says "Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my Rock; be not silent to me, lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Did you catch it? Let me show it to you.

David begins by saying this: "I am crying out to God, now it is your turn to talk to me. God, if I don't hear from you then I am as good as being in hell". That is a loose paraphrase with emphasis added, but look back to the actual verse and you will see it there along with the state that David might as well be in if he doesn't hear from God. Here is a bit of what brought to my heart as I saw the verse in this light.

First, David is listening to hear from God. You say, "Yeah, so?" This is possibly the most important part of the verse because God could be speaking loudly, opposed to the "still small voice" and if David wasn't listening to God it wouldn't make any difference. David, being a believer if the triune God, is taking the time to recognize that God is wanting to say something and he wants to listen because to him God is his "Rock". If God was not the "Rock" of David's life then he likely wouldn't have cared if he heard God or not. We must make God the Rock of our life and listen for God; He is talking to you and wanting to be heard.

Secondly, David realizes that if he does not hear from God his life is useless and he may as well just go to hell now and save the waste of his earthly breaths. Without the voice of God, David could not write the 23rd Psalm which portrays God as being the Shepherd that leads to the lush great pastures and the calm waters nor prepare the feast before him. David knows that it is imperative that he stay in tune with the voice of God for his life to have meaning and purpose. David knows that as soon as he stops hearing the voice of God his life is over, spiritually speaking. What about you, are you too far from God to hear him speaking? Are you the same as the sinner still bound for hell? Your life has a greater purpose than to be a spiritual couch potato. It is time that we all make God our Rock and stay close enough to Him to hear Him and stay fresh, not stagnate.

Lastly, I was struck with a great truth of a parallel truth of this passage and a series we are currently going through with our 11 am worship services called Follow the Leader where we are learning to not only follow Jesus but to lead like Jesus as well. It has been said that the average person will influence over 200,000 people in their lifetime. If that is the case we have the opportunity to influence A LOT of people with the love of Christ, but if they don't hear from us they are as good as being in hell already. David is crying out to his leader and wanting to hear from them. God was also the mentor and advisor to David and greatly relied upon. If you are believer in Jesus Christ then you are leading someone too and are their spiritual mentor and advisor. No, you should not be their god but you should be the voice of God in their life. If you are someones "spiritual mother or father" they need to hear from you God's voice, and see God's character in you. Are we answering the cry of people who are looking up to us?

God has established the church to be His body in this New Testament church age. We are the ones people are looking to and crying out to for help as they cry out to God. It is time for you to stand up and answer that cry. Live the love of Jesus and lead someone like Jesus would.

ForeRunners


Over the last 3 years we have seen a youth explosion of sorts in our church. I have been with the ministry of Millett Bible Baptist Church for over 3 years; when I came there was one to two teenagers or preteens that came. They were were disinterested and came because their parents came. In the following months we had a man step up and begin taking on our youth work and doing a great job at it. We began seeing another teen and another teen come and see the grace of Jesus Christ. Within a year and a half we were running 6-8 teens (Which is great because as anyone who has started a ministry knows, the hardest part is getting a core.) Our church was excited and we saw the excitement in the teens who came to be known as "Checkpoint". For the past year and a half I have been working with Checkpoint and God has continued to bless more than imaginable 3 years ago. Now averaging 13-15 teens each Wednesday night we are running out of room and needing more assistance in operation. So, where did we go for the assistance? To Checkpoint.

Some people may disagree with me on this next portion but they can post their opinions in their own blog. I believe that leadership needs to be taught to all ages. If you are a child, start leading. If you are an elder, keep leading. I follow the example of Jesus. Even as a child in the temple Jesus was stepping up and being an example leader with the theologians. As an adult in His Father's ministry he lead the masses but he focused on 12, particularly 3. What does all of this have to do with Checkpoint? We have begun a Student Leadership group to step up and become leaders within the students and attendees. That group: ForeRunners... Leading the Way to Jesus Christ.

ForeRunners had its first meeting last Sunday PM and is lead under my supervision by one of our recent graduates. It is for everyone in checkpoint but not for anyone. Only teens who are eager to learn more about Jesus Christ in their own personal, daily lives is able to come. They must complete daily bible study material and have a regular prayer time. Church attendance, good attitudes, and maintaining an accountability partner is also required. Soon we will be integrating checkpoint officers which will be pulled from our leadership group to begin teaching responsibility and church operations.

The greatest visions we have for ForeRunners is to have our teens become closer to God in their daily Bible Study time and prayer time, draw closer to each other by being in a group setting with the encouragement of each other, nurturing a healthy accountability relationship that helps each other to stick with there commitment to God, Church, and each other, and to learn the Bible so they can build their life upon it and counsel others with it truths.

I am excited to see the life change of our youth as they discover and unlock what God has for their lives. Please pray for ForeRunners.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Player One


A couple of months ago a good friend of ours gave my kids a Nintendo Gamecube. That was really nice but we didn't have any games. We got some and the kids began to become addicted. We have the addiction well under control now and they eager look forward to every occasion they are able to play. After turning down many proposals to play with them I gave in an sat down to play a great game of "Cars" the video game. It was entertaining and enjoyable but there was something else I soon realized; my kids have control issues. Yes, my oldest is 4 and he has control issues. No matter what it is we are going to play on the gamecube he is determined to be player one! To some that may not seem like a control issue but you must understand that player one holds privileges that the other players do not have. The entire menu, the initial game setup, sometime the only ability to pause an active game, etc... No one ever told my kids that player one held more power, but if you ever play with them you will automatically be handed the player two controller as they hold the plastic scepter of power. This made me think...

How many times do we do this with Jesus? We know that we need to have Jesus a part of our life so we invite him into it our "game of life"; we are really excited that we don't have to "play it" alone but then we stick him with the player two controller. Yes, he can still play the game with us and we can enjoy His company but at the end-of-the-day we are the ones in control.

We tell people Jesus is a part of our life, we thank Him for being a part of our life, and we experience his grace but we just can't bring ourselves to let him be player one.

"Any one can die for Christ; that's easy. Living for Christ is the hard part," is what a man recently told me. How true that is.

Being a Blessed Nation


Driving down the road I saw a bumper sticker from a radio station that read, "God has blessed America." I agree. It is undeniable that God's blessing has been upon this country for many years and has helped it rise to be the superpower that it currently is. This makes me consider the verse that tells us exactly why a country would be blessed. Psalm 33 holds the key to a nations blessing; "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." v12

Understanding this verse as truth there are a few things we must understand; this is not the complete verse. The second half of this verse says, "And the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance." God has chosen those who follow him, and those who follow him have chosen to follow Him. This is not to spur a discussion of predestination, but rather the sufficient grace of God. Romans 10.13 say, "Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." This is true with our nation. If we will bind together with our God being the Lord (Jesus the Christ; the deliverer) we will be blessed.

In the old testament beginning with Abraham God established a nation that would be His example people to demonstrate to the world the blessings of making God your Lord, and the consequence of denying God as Lord. These people are now known as the Jews but have bore names such as Israelites, Children of David, etc throughout history. They have shown the world that God does indeed bless a country when He is made their Lord; and they have demonstrated the painful consequence of proclaiming fame, riches, fornication, or power to become their lord. On a roller coaster ride of faith the nation has seen blessing of wealth and prosperity and the struggles of famine and pestilence.

In the new testament church age (which we are now in) the believer in Jesus Christ is the new chosen people of God (there is still a special place and purpose for the Jews) and they are now given the promise of Psalm 33, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." America is called a Christian nation but the percentage of true God followers is declining every moment. As the spirit of the antichrist saturates our society we are losing true believers in record numbers as they are convinced that there are multiple ways to know God and receive his redemption. Yes, I believe that God has blessed America because it has been the strongest Christian country in the world with the most missionaries sent out than any other country. There was once more Christian churches in America than in the rest of the world combined. Still, the promise holds strong that the nation, regardless of which it is, will be blessed if God is it supreme ruler.

The remainder of Ps. 33 spells out clearly that it is not a king, an army, or its technology that wins a war, it is the power of a God keeping his promise that wins the war. Having said all of this I do not desire to press one into a corner of depression and tell us to look around at all the spiritual ruin, rather I urge you to stand up and claim the promise of God and press forward to maintain a nation whose God is the Lord.

This is an election year and you have a voice in the next leader. You can choose someone who will help us keep God as the Lord, or you can cast your vote for destruction. As you cast your ballot in a couple of months remember this verse as you slide your ballot into the machine.