The Lord is Faithful

"I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself." Psalm 89:1-2

Beloved,

The Lord is faithful. There are so many things in life that can cause us to worry and fear. Our country is getting more and more secular. Christianity is on the decline in our nation. The loudest voices are those that mock God and go against His Word. If we look with earthly eyes, we should be filled with

worry and fear. But the Lord is faithful. We have to trust His Word. The Lord is faithful and will remain faithful to his people. His love stands firm forever, He has established His faithfulness in heaven itself. Let us sing of the Lord’s great love and make known his faithfulness to all generations.

As a pastor, I am so thankful for our older members and how they model God’s faithfulness. It is so encouraging and humbling to see the faithfulness of senior saints as they care for their spouses through sickness and pain. It is encouraging because it gives me hope for the future of my own marriage and gives me a picture of what faithfulness looks like over a lifetime. It is humbling because I see the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ overflowing in acts of good deeds and mercy done with love and perseverance.

One of the blessings of having a multi-generational church is that we are able to see different pictures of faithfulness: from the faithfulness of our senior saints caring for an ailing spouse to the faithfulness of stay at home mothers showing grace to their children. All our faithfulness is picture of the faithfulness of our great God. Let us look to each other’s faithfulness for strength in our own faithfulness. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Remember that we can make known the faithfulness of God by showing faithfulness in our own life.

Beloved, I thank you for your faithfulness because it is stirring me up to love and good works. I have seen faithfulness in our church. I know our Lord is faithful. I pray our faithfulness will grow more and more to the glory and praise of God.

The Next Generation

“Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” Psalm 71:17-18

I am so thankful for all the labor of Ellen Justice and her team of volunteers to declare the amazing power of God to the next generation at Vacation Bible School.  God has blessed our church by bringing many young minds and hearts through VBS to hear that God has power over sin in Jesus Christ, our Lord.  It has been absolutely wonderful to see so many volunteers serve our children this past week.

I have been praying Psalm 71:18 over our church for several months.  We are an older congregation with a very rich history.  God has brought this church through many storms and trials.  I pray that God will continue to build this church, that he will not forsake us, until we declare His power to the next generation. Psalm 71 is written by a man who knew the Lord from his youth and now has grown into the twilight of his life.  At the end of his life, his prayer to God was that he would have the joy of sharing His glory and power to the next generation. I pray that our church will be filled with senior saints that cry out to God for our church saying, “Even when we are old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till we declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”

My prayers have been partly realized this week in VBS.  I pray that God would continue to be faithful to Park in allowing us to declare His amazing power to the next generation. May it be so!!

Generosity

“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25

Dear Beloved,

Thank you so much for all the generosity that you expressed to my family this past weekend.  Ellen and I feel so blessed to be part of a congregation that is so filled with love and grace.  I pray that as you have refreshed us that you also will be refreshed.  Your generosity has been overwhelming and has lifted our souls.  We are so excited to see what God is going to do in and through Park Baptist Church. 

Let us be known in our community as a generous and refreshing church.  Let us refresh Rock Hill with the powerful grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us be rich in good deeds and full of words of grace as we interact with our community.  The gospel is the power of salvation for all who believe.  Let us live as a holy and faithful people as we share the message of Jesus Christ.  We have the great privilege and responsibility to refresh our community with the gospel.  I pray that as we refresh others that we will be refreshed.  How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news (Rom. 10:15)!!

In Christ,

Pastor Dave