(AUDIO) Mark Travers: Discipling Our Children

Here is the audio from this morning's message by Mark Travers. It is by no means a professional quality recording, but it seems to be audible enough.

Click on the earphones icon below to listen. Or if you prefer, right click on the icon and select "Save Target As" to download the file to your computer.

Sunday Ministry Recap (Feb. 25)

We were blessed to have Mark Travers with us today. We took a break from the Genesis study as Mark gave a powerful message on discipling our children using Jesus' model of discipleship. I believe many fathers and mothers, and hopefully children, were deeply moved by the thoughts that were shared.

Lord willing, we'll have audio of Mark's message up soon.

We also enjoyed some fine music ... with a worshipful tone and a bluegrass feel ... from the Travers/Boyd/Bailey families. Thanks to all who had a part in that!

Dean S. shared some brief but moving thoughts on the Lord supper as "communion" ... an opportunity to commune with Christ, admire His beauty, and receive all we need from Him.

We shared a bountiful meal together ... and enjoyed loving fellowship with one another ... before leaving with hearts thankful for a wonderful day together.

Once again ... an encouraging men's meeting

It would be hard to overstate the importance of our quarterly men's meetings on the life of our church. These have become indispensable times of rich fellowship and profitable discussion of all facets of church life.

This time we changed things up a bit ... moving the meeting from its accustomed Sunday night slot to Saturday morning instead. We shared a sumptuous breakfast, prayed together, and spent a couple of hours discussing various church issues. As always, the discussion was marked by a good spirit, love for the brothers, and a sincere desire to seek the Lord's will in the life of our church.

Some major items of discussion were:

• The Lord's supper ... how to make sure it is meaningful and celebrated with appropriate seriousness. One change we decided on is to have one of the brothers each week present a brief meditation before we celebrate the Lord's supper. Also, we will encourage fathers to feel free to talk with their families during the Lord's supper. (Note also that our visiting speaker on Mar. 18, Steve Atkerson, will be ministering on the topic of the Lord's supper.)

• The ministry time ... for the benefit of the newer brothers, we had a brief review of why we do what we do during the ministry time. We also talked about ways to involve as many men as possible and utilize a variety of gifts during the ministry time ... including of course teaching, but also exhortation, song, testimony, etc.

• Challenges of growth ... how to respond from a facilities standpoint to the way God continues to graciously bless us with growth and the addition of new families. We agreed that we should be open to the possibility of a larger meeting place if God opens the door. We also agreed that as growth continues we should be sensitive to the Lord's leading about possibly spinning off a new work at some point in the future. We encourage families to safeguard some of the small group intimacy that can be lost in a period of growth by practicing frequent hospitality and participating in-home fellowship opportunities.

• We had a financial report and a brief review of our philosphy on giving and church finances. For a copy of the financial report, see Dean. There is also a copy posted on the bulletin board. This is a summary report ... feel free to ask for more details. Questions on any aspects of church finances are always invited and welcomed.

• We agreed on the need for fathers to be more observant of and involved in the outside play of the children on Sundays.

• We discussed possible upgrades to the church website ... including the creation of a "members only" area and the possible addition of a fellowship forum.

• We talked about the possibility of bringing in an outside speaker to encourage and give practical counsel in the area of courtship ... perhaps in conjunction with our study of Genesis 24 (a bride for Isaac).

I think this covers most of the major discussions. Brothers, feel free to post any additions in the comments section.

Sunday Ministry Recap (Feb. 18)

Scripture Focus:

Genesis 15 & 16 - Covenant with Abram Confirmed; Hagar and Ishmael


Key Thoughts Shared by Various Brothers:

"I am thy shield, and thy exceedingly great reward." In God, Abram had everything he needed, which enabled him in chapter 14 to turn down what the king of Sodom offered.

"And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness." It's as though the marker board were covered from top to bottom with a list of our sins ... but God takes an eraser and wipes them all clean, then writes the word "righteousness" there instead. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is under attack today, even among some evangelicals who are edging toward a Roman Catholic view of justification.

Normally in a covenant ceremony, the two parties to the covenant would walk between the two pieces of the sacrificial animal together. In the covenant ceremony with Abram, God (symbolized by the smoking furnace and burning lamp) walks through alone ... He has likewise done all the work in the covenant of salvation with us ... how grateful we should be for His unilateral action on our behalf ... the covenant rests on His work, not ours!

Abram (as well as other Bible men of faith, such as Joseph and Moses) experienced a delay in the fulfillment of God's promise ... let's be faithful even during the delays. There is always a danger of short-circuiting the plan of God by our own creative, unbelieving alternatives.

"And Sarai said...." Wives, be aware of the power of your words to influence your husbands for good or ill. Ultimately, Abram was held responsible by God ... and by Sarai, even though it was her idea! Men, our wives desire us to be men strong in faith ... if they speak hastily in unbelief or emotion, they want us to be steadfast enough to lovingly disregard their words (while seeking to understand their hearts) and continue to lead the family in paths of faith and obedience.

"And the angel of the Lord found her...." Our God is a seeking God, a God who comes looking for us ... we cannot run from Him, nor find ourselves in any situation where He does not see us.


Next week: Guest Speaker, Mark Travers

Mark Travers to speak on Feb. 25!

Mark Travers will be sharing the Word with us next Sunday, February 25. Mark is a friend of many in our church and a gifted Bible teacher. He is an elder at Briarwood Presbyterian Church and the founder of Turning Hearts Ministries, a ministry directed toward the restoration and renewal of biblical family life.



Mark has served the Lord in ministry for over 20 years as a Bible teacher, youth minister, coach, and camp director. One of his greatest joys is in his toughest job: seeking to raise his children in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Mark's wife, Darby, is devoted to her calling as wife and mother. She loves teaching her children at home and has a particular passion to encourage other women. She enjoys writing and a good conversation.

Mark and Darby live in Ashville with their six children – Evan, Graham, Christopher, Michael, Beth Anne, and John Luke – and their labrador retriever, Amazing Grace.





For more information on Mark's ministry, see the Turning Hearts Ministries web site:

www.turningheartshome.org

A few notes ...

American Heritage Christian Academy faculty meeting tomorrow (Friday) night, 6:00 at the church building. There will be refreshments, AHCA updates, fellowship, and a devotional message. All HFC families are invited, whether you're enrolled in AHCA or not.





Men's Meeting next Saturday, Feb. 24, 8:00 a.m. at the church building. We'll be having breakfast together as well as prayer and discussion of church needs and issues. If you have a discussion item you'd like to put on the agenda, email me or let me know at church Sunday.


Scripture focus for this Sunday is Genesis 16 (Hagar and Ishmael). Feel free to comment on Genesis 15 as well.

Find the mystery persons

Just happened to run across this ... click on the links below and see what famous persons you can find in the pictures.

(Hint: They fellowship at Heritage Family Church.)

http://www.homeschoolfoundations.com/

http://www.homeschoolfoundations.com/members.html

Steve Atkerson: The Importance of Being Radically Obedient to God

Steve Atkerson is president of the New Testament Restoration Foundation. He lives in north Georgia with his wife, Sandra, and their three home-schooled children. He will be visiting with us and ministering the Word to us on March 18.



Here is a brief snippet from an article by Steve titled, "The Importance of Being Radically Obedient to God." To read the whole article, click HERE.

(Many other articles by Steve and others are available at the same site.)

In order to have any real hope for success in achieving New Testament church life, at least two things are necessary from the core group.

First, there must be an absolute, resolute and unshakable love for Jesus that is expressed an absolute, resolute and unshakable commitment to obey all His commands. Thus, God’s Word must be held up as the inerrant authority governing all that is said, thought, or done.

Second, the core group must possess an undying love for the brethren. Unless there is a total commitment to both the Lord and His people, any church is in serious trouble (see John 14:15, 21-24 15:9-17).

We must love Jesus enough to bring our churches into compliance with everything Jesus commanded. We must also love the brethren enough to put up with their faults, shortcomings and shortsightedness. People have problems. No one is perfect. Thus, rebuilders must be patient, long suffering and understanding of others in the fellowship.

Whites: Bus Blessing!

The latest via email from the Daniel White family in Mexico:

Fairdale Baptist Church suprised us with a great blessing. Pastor Owens called me to see if we could use a church bus. Could we ever!!

Br. Barbosa had been using his pick-up to bring people to church. All was well until the winter weather hit and it was too cold for the people in the back of the truck, so he was having to make 4 and 5 trips before and after services.

Br. Garza went to Fairdale, brought the bus back and it is now in Guerrero, completely legal and registered. Br. Barbosa used it this past Sunday and the people were so excited.

What an awesome blessing.

Daniel White Family
Misiones 5 Manantiales

Sunday Ministry Recap (Feb. 11)

(Lord willing, I want to resume something we used to do on this blog, and each week provide a brief synopsis of the ministry from the previous Sunday. This hopefully will help to preserve and water the seeds that are sown each week, and be a blessing to those who were not able to be with us. -- Mark)





Scripture Focus:

Genesis 14 - Abram Rescues Lot; Abram Blessed by Melchizedek


Key Thoughts Shared by Various Brothers:

Note the contrast between Abram's cowardice just two chapters earlier and his courage in the rescue of Lot ... am I growing in the Lord day by day and year by year? Abram fought with an army of servants "born in his own household" ... are we training those in our household to fight the Lord's battles?

The story of Melchizedek was the example used by Paul in rebuking the Christians in the book of Hebrews for being "dull of hearing" and lacking in knowledge of the deeper truths of the Word. Let's make sure we are not turned off or intimidated by Bible truths that take a little effort to understand.

When Abram and Lot separated, you might have guessed that Lot would have more influence for good in Sodom, since he was there with them and understood the culture and had more in common with them than did Abram. But in fact Abram had the more dramatic positive impact on the people of Sodom, even though he lived a "separated" life and kept apart from their culture. G. K. Chesterson once said: "The world is moved the most by those who have contradicted it the most."

Dire circumstances (temporarily) adjusted the perspective of the wicked King of Sodom. His words to Abram summarize a right philosophy of life ... "Give me the persons, and keep the goods ...." Investment in people is eternal; investment in goods is temporal. Joy comes from relationships, not possessions.

In addition, we took a quick look back at Abram's "altars" of the previous chapters ... how striking it must have been to the pagans around Abram to see him worship an invisible God. As New Testament believers we have not only an invisible God, but an invisible altar and invisible (spiritual) sacrifices ... for instance, the "sacrifice of praise" (it's a sacrifice because it focuses the attention on God, not on ourselves).

Next week: Genesis 16