A CONFESSION AND A PLEA TO THE ALMIGHTY

A Thanksgiving poem from Andrew Peterson:

O God, Magnificent Confounder,
Boundless in mercy and power,
Be near me in my apathy.

Be near me, Savage Dreamer,
Bright Igniter of Exploding Suns,
But not too near. I’d like to live,

By your grace, just long enough
To taste another perfect steak.
And to see my children marry,

And, perhaps, to pen a memoir.
Great redeemer of my lechery,
Bright Dawn of Blessed Hope,

Lay waste to every prideful thing,
Each black infraction of your law.
O Swirling Storm of Holy Anger,

Be patient with me. I’m certain
I will make a second gluttonous
Trip to the festal spread of food.

And I might as well admit, O King
Omniscient, I plan to make a third.
And that will lead to sloth, I know,

If only for the afternoon. Awake,
O sleeper! But not yet, not yet.
I want to dream a dream of light

In Heaven’s towering splendor.
I long, my Lord, to walk its streets
Or better yet, to drive them.

I’ve always wanted a motorcycle,
A cool one that blats and rumbles
Like a herd of flaming zebras.

I could totally impress the ladies
With my holy rolling zebra steed,
But only by your perfect pleasure,

Ruler of the angel armies, blaster
Of the horn of strength, would I ride
The golden highways awesomely.

O Wisdom of the Ages, speak!
Sing to me of secret knowledge
Open wide the gates of truth,

And let me learn it, by your grace,
Through the medium of television–
Smartly written situational comedy,

Perhaps, or an epic space opera.
Let me taste the honey of your word,
My beloved savior. Seriously. Save me

From my wit, my words, my songs,
My sin, my bad poems, my vanity,
My every single human impulse,

Except the ones I like and am able
To justify using my corruptible
Reason, my imperfect understanding,

And my belief in your inexhaustible
Forgiveness. When I awake, saintly,
I will consume a dish of pumpkin pie.

And, as I politely swallow a belch,
I will lean my heart on yours, Almighty,
To whom, alone, is due thanksgiving.

Thick Headed and Hard Hearted

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

Have you ever felt thick headed and hard hearted? 

I am mentally raising my hand. And I usually don't recognize it's the case until after the fact; when it is too late for me to do anything about it.

Confession time: I'm extremely thick headed in my marriage. I'll have a plan that I've worked out, but have not communicated adequately, and then when the said plan gets nixed I have a hard time being flexible. (The reason why my plans get nixed is usually because there is a better, more efficient plan that actually makes sense!)

If you feel like I do, you are not alone. The Israelites were some of the most thick headed and hard hearted people around. Just read the book of Joshua sometime.

You know the Exodus 32 story: Moses had been gone some time on the mountain and the people become impatient and demanded Aaron make a golden calf they could worship as the one who delivered them from Egypt. How stupid was that?

It comes as no surprise that God, in Exodus 33, refers to the Hebrew people several times as "a stiff-necked people." (I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want God to think of me in those terms, and at the very least not to make it public for millions of people over the centuries to read.)

"[Go up] to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way."

Of course, Moses intercedes for the people, and God in his graciousness forgives them.

How does this apply to me? I've heard it said that as a person grows older they either age like a fine wine or they stink like old cheese (that's my paraphrase). God help us to grow in grace and to not become thick headed and hard hearted and stiff necked in our relationship with our Lord and Savior and brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead, teach us to be flexible, bearing each other's burdens, and forgiving wrongs out of love.

May our necks be loose!

Bloodlines

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

Check out this powerful video from Pastor John Piper as he shares his story of growing up in the South. Ask yourself the question, "At ABC, how are we working toward racial reconciliation and diversity?"

A Big FX Thank You!

Chuck Thompson
Youth/Missions Pastor

Wow! What a night! Together we had one of our biggest, and arguably one of our best, ministry events ever this past Saturday night. We had workers from elementary school age to folks in their 80’s; workers who are brand new to our ABC Family and some who have been with us for more than 60 years - and we had more team members than ever, too! It was great to see the body of Christ – with all of its Spiritual gifts, Heart’s passions, Abilities, Personalities & Experiences (SHAPEs) in action! We were incredibly blessed to serve with all of you!

“Yes,” it was special to engage, serve and share the love of Jesus with that big BUNCH of folks, but just plain AWESOME to watch our Lord work during the invitation times. Our praying for unsaved folks, our pursuing them in spiritual conversations (bringing Jesus up) and persuading them to come to FX (ultimately Jesus) paid off. We recorded 33 decisions for Christ – most of those for salvation! Please pray for our follow-up touches with these folks this week. We will be presenting many these folks to the church at the conclusion of the worship services this week – I know that you’ll greet and encourage them warmly.

FYI, on Saturday night, we sent our FX guests an e-letter with an invitation to visit our ABC services. We’ll be inviting them to our Christmas programs, too. On Sunday afternoons we’ll make more contact with many of these non-churched folks through RRCONCILE. If you would like to help with this flexible, low risk ministry, please contact Tim (tim(at)apexbaptist.org).

Thanks again for all of the energy, time & love that you invested in our first FX. Every contribution was important, and we trust that as you gave generously, you were blessed richly. If you have any, we want your FX photos so we can post them on the ABC website. Please email these to Adam (adam(at)apexbaptist.org) or drop them off to him ASAP. We welcome, your ideas, too, that will make our FX on Saturday, October 27, 2012 even better!

Lastly, we’d like for you to share a simple blessing, reflection, story or “at a boy” with us about FX so we can rejoice & praise the Lord with you. Send these to Nathan (nathan(at)apexbaptist.org), and we’ll post them on the website. We’ve got one from Jackie Gilbert below:

On Saturday night at 7:00, I had the amazing and totally unexpected privilege to hear the testimony of Kevin Clapp, a member of the FAITH FORCE team, who I had known in Burlington while living there for 10 years. I was in choir with his Mom and styled her hair. Kevin was so sweet, and when he was led astray, she was surprised, heartbroken and asked all her friends, "PLEASE PRAY FOR MY KEVIN". During Kevin's testimony, he told us of the wrong path he'd taken, which mirrored the pain I remembered sharing with his precious Mom. That young man that I thought was lost now stood before me, transformed by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak with such a boldness that made me want to shout! Tears flooded my eyes through his whole message remembering the pain and rejoicing as I was seeing this miracle of Christ right before me. The power of muscles breaking blocks symbolized how God broke the walls of Satan's lies with the message of love- John 3:16. Oh! The power of Jesus love!


I have folks that I'm praying for and Saturday night was a message from the Lord that nothing is too difficult for HIM who IS in control. We just need to continue to trust and pray to Him who is ALL powerful--- He is able to perform miracles!

God is SO GOOD!!