Here’s what I didn’t get to Sunday. A little background first…

Habakkuk is basically having a very difficult conversation with God. It begins by Habakkuk complaining to God that His people were not doing right and wondering if God was going to do something about it:

“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (Habakkuk 1:2)

God informs Habakkuk that indeed Judah will not get a free pass without His disciplining hand coming down on them:

“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.” (Habakkuk 1:6)

Habakkuk’s like, “Say what? Now wait a minute.” This bothers Habakkuk’s sensitivities of justice. Why would God use a more-wicked nation to discipline a less-wicked nation? That just doesn’t make sense. But God’s ways are inscrutable and He plans, knows, sees and understands events from the perspective of eternity, we don’t.

The centerpiece of Habakkuk is the principle of how people live: “the righteous live by his faith” while the wicked live by greed, covetousness, violence, perversion and idolatry. When righteous people go astray God disciplines, but what about the way of the wicked? Those who refuse to live by trusting in God will face God’s wrath:

“The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!” (Habakkuk 2:16)

But how and why do the righteous escape the cup of God’s wrath? Think about it, we were greedy and covetous and violent and perverse and idolatrous, we deserve God’s wrath, but through grace and the gospel forgiveness is possible and that changes everything.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

The cup of God’s wrath is a very common image in the Bible. It creates a mental image of God’s condemnation on sin and rebellion against His authority. God’s wrath must be poured out on the judgment and condemnation of sin, and this leaves the world in a particularly bad place. But there is good news – it’s call the gospel…

Jesus drinks the cup of God’s wrath for us. God poured out His wrath of judgment for sin on His own son at the cross (cf. Matthew 20:22; 26:42). Jesus knowingly and willingly drank this cup as our substitute. He stepped in to save the day; He drank it down to the very dregs so we wouldn’t have to even have a taste. That’s simply awesome.

But, for those who refuse Jesus the Bible is very clear:

“…If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angles and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9-10)

Grace & Peace,

Wow, what a blast of cool weather – I love it! I really, really, really enjoy the changing of the seasons, and this season of the year is a particular blessing to me. The cooler weather reminds me of my northern roots, it signals the ending of yard work, it stirs up all kinds of good memories, it marks harvest time...corn, combines, hunting, and the gospel. What does this have to do with the gospel? Read the words of Paul,

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)

We wait for the harvest of souls; it is God who harvests the souls; He is the “Lord of the harvest”, but we are laborers in the harvest.

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” (Matthew 9:36-38)

Yes, God has a part for us in the reaping of those who come to Him for salvation. We don’t just sit idle, twiddling our thumbs waiting for people to “drop into Jesus.” We are part of God’s great harvest plan. We are His hands, feet and mouthpieces.

This means that we don’t force someone to come to Christ; we shouldn’t be manipulating or tricking people into professing to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. Doing that would amount to picking a crop too early and spoiling the fruit – it’s no fruit at all. We wait praying, living, listening, and speaking. We pray for God’s grace and their repentance and belief. We live consistent with the gospel we believe. We listen to their stories, sensitive to pick out how we can share the truth of the rescuing gospel. We speak the story of Jesus who is the real Hero of redemption.

I don’t see a problem with the harvest – it is still abundant; the problem I see is us – we just aren’t laboring in God’s harvest. The first step is that which Jesus asked His disciples to take: earnest prayer to God for laborers. The word for prayer is a unique word, which means prayer that cries out from a sense of need, thus “earnest prayer.”

Do you see the great harvest of souls? Do you see that few are laboring with God to bring that harvest in? I do and so therefore I am compelled to serious, heartfelt, earnest prayer to God for more workers! I hope you see the need as well.

Grace & Peace,

What a great day Sunday! I love getting together with you on Sunday. God’s presence and power never ceases to amaze me; and your love and unity is a beautiful sight to behold as well. I am truly a blessed man to be the pastor of such a wonderful group of Christ-followers. Thank you for honoring God through loving one another.

Let me remind you of the uniqueness of Calvary Church. No, it is not in its programs or big buildings or huge offerings; what makes us special is a commitment to faithfully show love to everyone walking through our doors. That spirit probably won’t bring big crowds, it won’t put us on any ecclesiastical map, and it won’t net us loads of cash; but it will make the name of our great and awesome God famous and build a family of faithful followers. We are not the church to be seen at and we are not ecclesiastically cool. We are a group of people who don’t pretend to have our act together and are honest that we are struggling with “stuff.” When we are transparent like that then the gospel can change us and begin to shape us into the image of Jesus.

It has been my quiet burden that we don’t lose this uniqueness; it has been my private fear that we would when we moved and started to grow. What I have found out is that God has kept us humble by keeping us small. This is what I love about this church. We have no grandiose idea that we are the next mega-church of Spartanburg County; we won’t be and don’t want to be! We are simply trying to love one person or family at a time who will see God’s grace and mercy through that love. And let me tell you, I’ve heard about your love from people who’ve experienced that love not only inside the walls of 4000 Parris Bridge Road, but outside these walls as well!

So I just want to say that I love you, am thankful for you, and am praying that this uniqueness will continue for the glory of God and the building up of God’s church.

Grace & Peace,

Operation Christmas Child is here! Say what? Yes, it’s time for us to get out to the stores and start shopping to fill our shoeboxes for kids all over the world. Barb has already started and she has almost everything to begin packing the shoeboxes at our house. How about you?

Donna Paxton talked with me about two weeks ago about the goal for this year. Our goal this year will be 250 boxes. I realize that is a huge undertaking for a little church like Calvary, but I also realize that it is a goal that can be reached if everyone will get involved. This means that each of us is going to have to do something beyond our ability. Now that’s exciting!

We will soon be putting out more information, but here is probably the simplest way to get started…

This is a wonderful time of year and I’m looking forward to all the wonderful things God will do in the next few months. God bless you as you think of others!

Grace & Peace,

Sometimes waking up to another day is difficult. We have problems leftover from the day before (and maybe you don’t even like leftovers in the frig), and we know we will have to face them and deal with them. Add to that we don’t know what a new day is going to bring. What crisis will we have to face personally? What tragedy will we have to help someone we love get through? What unexpected phone call, email, or text will we get that puts another heaping of trouble on our already full plate? Yeah, sometimes we don’t think it’s worth the effort to even get out of bed.

However, I think that is a wrong way for us to be thinking about each new day that God gives us. God will certainly allow us to face each new day like the gloomy Eeyore character in Winnie the Pooh, but the Bible is pretty clear how we should look at each new day:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:22-24)

Mornings are God’s reminders that we get a new start with a fresh set of invigorating God-sent mercies! I know that I need this reminder every now and then because I get into a habit of being pessimistic about a new day; those are days when I am cynical and looking for the next “bad” thing to happen. But just think what would happen if everyone reading this decided to wake up every morning thanking God for the mercies He guarantees for the day. Take this challenge: write out Lamentations 3:22-24, put it in a place where it will be the first thing you see and therefore think about each morning, do this for 40 days, and then start talking about how God changed your days by thinking of His never-ending supply of mercy for each day.

Grace & Peace,