The Blessing of being Poor

The Beatitudes of Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 5 detail to the true believer in Christ what it truly means to live the life of a true believer. He summed up what it means to truly live in the Kingdom of God, to be a true believer and to truly know God. There are many that profess to believe in Christ, but as one really looks at one’s life, the true evidence of salvation is, “Do I live out the Beatitudes?”

The first of these beatitudes is being “Poor in Spirit.” Christ opens up verse three of Chapter 5 with the word “Blessed.” What do you think of when you think of the word “Blessed?” Do you think material wealth, a bigger home, luxurious cars, better high-paying job? All of us would love to have these things. But is that what Christ was talking about? Was He emphasizing to us the American Dream of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?

The word “Blessed” in this text means a “supreme blessedness of happiness.” It can also be translated as “spiritually prosperous.” Here is a very important question: Do you have the inward spiritual desire to be spiritually prosperous? Christ said that in order for us to be spiritually prosperous, it begins with being poor in our spirit.

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit?” It does not mean to be materially broke, financially poverty stricken or homeless. It means to broken in your spirit or soul. It means that you have come to a realization that apart from God’s grace and mercy and His Sovereignty, you are broken and poor and are underneath the wrath of God. (John 3:36) In order to be poor in spirit, you must acknowledge three things. 1) Acknowledge that you are utterly helpless before an Almighty and Sovereign God. 2) Acknowledge our utter lack in facing life and eternity apart from an Almighty and Sovereign God. 3) Acknowledge our utter lack of superiority before all others and our spiritual deadness before an Almighty and Sovereign God. The opposite of being poor in spirit is being full of pride in you. Who is your focus in life upon, you or God? The great Puritan preacher Henry Scougal said this quote in his book “The Life of God, “The worth and Excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” Who or what is the object of your love? Are you poor in spirit? If not, pray and beg for God’s mercy to help you to become poor in spirit and that He will become the focus of your love.

I turned 50 today!!

It's hard to believe I'm 50 today. I am so Thankful that my Heavenly Father, my Yahweh, has blessed me with those years, good health, a wonderful Family and great friends and most of all, a Great Savior!!! I am indeed the worst sinner I know of and in need of a Great Savior!!! To use a football analogy, I'm at half-time in my life. The first half was not always spent in a way which pleases the Master. In fact, pretty much all of the first quarter and a great deal of the second had a few successes but more failures than successes. I sure did fumble the football a lot and threw a lot of interceptions. I missed the first down marker and hardly ever made a TD. My Yahweh has seen me through all of that, forgiven me and has chosen and seen fit to give me hopefully many more years ahead of which I am going to call the second half of my game of life. Now...Let's see what I can do with it. With my Yahweh's help, I will have more spiritual successes than failures. With His help and empowering, I will hold onto the football more tightly and throw more completions for first downs and maybe a touchdown or two. I am looking forward with great anticipation to the years ahead and what great things He has in store for me. What a mighty Yahweh I serve!!

Run with Patience

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1

This past Saturday morning, it was listed on my training days to run 16-18 miles. As I looked at the mileage, I first thought “no problem.” After all, I have already run a half-marathon and 13 miles twice in my training. However, when I got up to mile 14, I really began to struggle. My left knee began to ache, (runners knee), both of my hips were hurting, my back began to tense up and to be honest, I didn’t know if I could finish it. As I ran up one last hill, I was probably running slower than I could walk it. As I began to get to the mile 17 mile mark, my mind began to have thoughts of quitting and calling my wife to come get me. After all, I have already run 17 miles.

As I got to that point, I began to focus on the above verse. I began to concentrate on the last part of this verse, “run with patience.” When I got to mile 9, I began to wish that I was almost finished. But I had to continue running. I still had 9 more miles ahead of me. What does this require? Patience. The original meaning of this word “Patience” is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Here is a question: What trial or suffering has come into your life to tempt you to quit the race? Finances? Marital issues? Loneliness? Self-defeating thoughts? Past failures?

Allow me to encourage you to run the race of the Christian life with patience. Many of those trials in life, God is allowing for our sanctification in order to strengthen us for the journey. As I finished mile 18, I had the feeling of victory that I had accomplished something. After all, it’s the longest I had ever run at one time. It just added to my endurance the marathon I will be running in September.

Lessons learned from a Hawk

A few years ago on a Sunday mornings, I arrived at the church at my customary 7:30 am to unlock the doors, turn on the lights, make the coffee for a couple of ABF classes, etc., etc. As I walked across the street from the church and through the parking lot, I looked up at the steeple and noticed something very striking. There was a large hawk sitting on the crossbeam of the cross atop the steeple. The hawk was just sitting and gazing at the horizon. As I stood there and watched, I began to watch as some black birds were beginning to fly up close to the hawk, taunt and try to remove the hawk from his perch. But the hawk just kept sitting there on his perch and seemed to be paying no attention to the small black birds that were taunting him. A couple of thoughts came into mind.

#1-As a believer in Christ, Satan will send his small blackbirds(demons) to taunt me and attempt to remove me from my perch. What are those blackbirds? Depression? Fear? Guilt? Addictions? A besetting sin? Emotional roller coaster from day to day? Pressure from your job? Loss of a job? Poor grades in school? Remember, as you take strides in your walk with and you increase in your love for Jesus, Satan will send his blackbirds. Consider that a blessing. He will attack whom he fears. He will not attack those who are just  not true believers or who deny the authority of the Scriptures in their life. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:2-4

#2-Just like that hawk was ignoring the blackbirds, as a believer in Christ, I can choose to ignore Satan's blackbirds. " There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 We have been given the strength and power through the Holy Spirit of God to be victorious in Christ.

#3-We can look upon the cross of Christ. Just like that Hawk was sitting on the perch of the crossbeam of the cross, our Savior on the cross paid for our victory. Dr. John Stott stated "The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us." "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16 Remember, there is no blackbird that comes your way without our Heavenly Father allowing them first. Remember Job? (Job 1:8 2:3) God is allowing those blackbirds to draw us closer to the cross.

Let me challenge you to be a hawk for Jesus. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58 

Showing Love in the Body of Christ

Yesterday morning at Lighthouse Baptist, we discussed the teachings found in Galatians
5:13-15 entitled "How the believer shows Love in the Body of Christ."
We discussed one major question:
"How does the believer serve (enslave) themselves to one another?
1. Serve and help
2. Show kindness and gentleness
3. Express care and concern
4. Demonstrate sympathy and empathy

Here are some opportunities we can all do to show our Love to the Body
of Christ.
1. Visit and pray with a shut-in.
2. Visit and pray with the sick in the hospital, rest home, rehab center.
3. Help with the financing and go on a short-term missions trip
4. Pass out door hangers and invite people to the Savior and to church
5. Volunteer to work in the nursery, AWANA, youth group.
6. Help with feeding the homeless at a homeless shelter.

"But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever
wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever
wants to be first among you must be a slave to all." Mark 10:43-44
(HCSB)

"Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that
fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him.
Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." Luke 10:36-37
(KJV)
  
"Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave,taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—even to death on a cross." Philippians 2:7-8

Doctrine does Matter

After researching numerous church websites, I am finding that they are not posting more and more their doctrinal beliefs. This is disturbing. The very doctrine of the Gospel Christ died for and the Apostles continued to teach and died for and the reformers fought and died for doesn't matter to most "Believers" and churches. I submit to you that Doctrine does matter. If you do not know what you believe and why you believe it, you will fall for anything. Pastors, preach and teach Biblically sound doctrine. Proclaim it and preach it. "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." 1 Timothy 4:16

US Army Fort Bragg 10 Miler

Hello Everyone! Today was a true test for my preparation for my upcoming Marathon in September. Today was my 10 mile run at the US Army 10 mile run on Fort Bragg. It was a race of mixed emotions. It was my first long race since running my first half-marathon back in Nov. 2012. It was also my first race to run with my son Brad. While I was able to keep up with him for the first 5 miles, age finally crept in and at my urging, pushed him to go ahead of me. 

I was able to finish the race in 1:37 with a 9:40 pace. It felt good throughout and the Ft. Bragg MWR put on a great event. I'm already looking forward to next years run. I will experience some matter of soreness, but my biggest problem right now are blisters on my toes. Hopefully, they will heal soon and I can run a short distance on Saturday.

Once again, if you would like to contribute to my running4missions project, you can send any funds to:

Lighthouse Baptist Church

c/o Running4missions

5991 Rockfish Road

Hope Mills, NC 28348

You can either sponsor me by the mile, or send in a lump sum of any amount. Of course, you will receive a statement for your tax purposes.

Thank you for reading this blog and see you on the trail!

Pastor Dwayne

 

Good Morning runners and fellow brothers and sisters,
My training for the 10 miler is coming along quite well. Last Saturday, my son and I ran 5 miles and this past week we have ran a total of 8 miles. On my off days, I am speed walking in order to keep myself lose and ready for the run. This upcoming Saturday, Brad and I will be running 7 miles. We will going to the Cape Fear River trail if you would like to join us.

Pastors, let me encourage you to watch the following video of a sermon preached by David Platt at T4G in 2012. It gives a great perspective in regard to World Missions.
http://t4g.org/media/2012/05/divine-sovereignty-the-fuel-of-death-defying-missions-2/

See you on the trail!

Pastor Dwayne

Fuel for Running

Hello Runners! As I have been reading training boos and articles concerning training for the big race, one of the main points that is always made is make sure you are eating the right kind of foods before and during the race. I found this great article on active.com that may give some much needed advise.
http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/The-5-Biggest-Pre-Race-Fueling-Mistakes-and-How-to-Avoid-Them.htm?cmp=291&memberid
See you on the trail!
Dwayne

Training Plan

Hello Everyone! I have had a few people ask me what training program I am using to prepare for my marathon. I am using the Salt Lake running training program. I have found it to be challenging but also attainable. http://saltlakerunningco.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/25_week_marathon_plan.pdf

Why am I running 4 missions?

Hello Everyone! As most all of you know, over the past five years, I have taken up walking and running as a hobby. Five years ago, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and adult onset diabetes. I was also about 40-50 pounds overweight and felt awful. I could hardly walk up a flight of stairs without losing my breath, i had horrible acid reflux and my overall physical and spiritual well being was in the pits. Basically, I was a slob and was in sin of not being a good steward of the temple God had given me.
     After being inspired by Darren Hawk, Tom Baughan, and Pastor Sean Harris, I felt led to begin a walking program. Yes, it was difficult at first. There were mornings of pain, total exhaustion and lots of soreness. However, after a year of walking, I began to run, At the Berean Baptist Men's retreat of 2010, I decided to "walk" a 5k. After walking for a minute, I decided to run a portion of it. I finished it in a time of 33:00 and next to last. Thank you to Pastor Mike Boartz for allowing me to beat you.
     Since beginning my running program, I have ran 4 5ks, 1 10 K and a half marathon. I have lost 45 lbs., my blood sugar levels and blood pressure have stabilized. To God be the Glory for giving me the strength to do it.
     Now, my next goal is to run the Fort Bragg Army 10 miler on June 6, 2013 and my first marathon in September of 2013 in Darlington, SC. I am going to use these two runs to raise funds for an upcoming missions trip overseas. I cannot disclose the location due to security reasons. The cost for the trip will be $2500.00-3000.00 depending on the airfare. I am going to ask individuals and corporations to support me by the mile and all contributions will go towards the missions trip. Any funds raised over the needed amount, will go towards any future trips.
     An account has been set up at Lighthouse Baptist Church for any contributions. Your contributions are tax deductible. You may send them into:
Lighthouse Baptist Church
c/o Running4missions
5991 Rockfish Road
Hope Mills, NC 28348
I will keep you updated on my progress as I train.
Pastor Dwayne